Hey guys,

 You may know me from the Helicopter forums, or possibly other websites (mostly ARC), but I also like painting the occasional figure.  Here are some pics of my attempts at the ACU camo pattern using the salt technique (or as I understand it) on two figures.  Please give feedback, as I am not exposed to the ACU regularly.

Thanks,

Austin

That looks pretty darn good to me.  ACU's always seem a little more grey to me, but I'm used to seeing MARPAT daily.  I'm going to give the salt method a try at some point, probably when I build my LAV.  Thanks for showing your results.

Here is how I paint the ACU (example is the legs from "Kicking In Doors Iraq" from Verlinden").  The tools that I use include clips/tweezers to hold the figure, two clear plastic cups (one for salt and one for water), salt and water (both in cups), a toothpick, a fine paint brush, a large, soft-bristled paintbrush, and an airbrush.

First the paints (IDK if they are the accurate colors, or not, but they look good enough):

Then I painted the green on first, that is my base coat:

Then I waited until it was dry (in this case, it was atleast 24 hours, because I painted the green on, but walked away for a day or so), and I dipped it in a cup of water.  Let the water bead up and then sprinkle salt over the green.  Not all of it will stick, so then sprinkle some more.  If there is too little water, there won't be enough for the salt to stick, so, using a fine brush, apply water that way.  Then take pinches of salt to sprinkle over the wet area.  While the salt is drying, and you think you put too much in a certain area, use a tooth pick and move the salt around:

Once dry, spray the next coat on, but be careful so you don't blow away the salt.  I will have to look at the actual PSI that I use and get a good estimation of the distance at which I spray.  Then you spray your next coat, which, in this case, is the darker grey:

More to come as complete this paint job and clean him up as the weekend presses on.

 Hope you enjoyed,

Austin

Now THATS what I call a helpful tutorial! Nice photos and good descriptions. Im going to have to try this, looks good to me, Im interested in doing this on a larger scale for Ma.K. figures....very very cool!

thanks for the photos and text

David

Great SBS, thanks arkhunter2002!
As said before, the colors don't seem to match but the method is very effective.

Mario Matijasic's article (the one on Historicus Forma) is on a 120mm figure. The colors he uses look definitively closer to the real ones.
Working in larger scale it was "easier" to paint the figure without using the salt technique.

Final personal note: weren't the armies that adopted a digital camo schemes thinking of us modelers when they made their choices?!
These schemes are a real pain to paint!

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Klaus


Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Final personal note: weren't the armies that adopted a digital camo schemes thinking of us modelers when they made their choices?!  These schemes are a real pain to paint!

 I tried to tell the Army that, but no one would listen to me!!!! 

Okay guys, here is my second go around at this.  Comments are very welcome.  I replaced the lighter grey with a sand color.  I gave it a wash in the first pic, and I went over it with the Tamiya's weathering set B(?) with sand and light sand to see what it would look like in an enviornment such as Iraq.

Take care,

Austin

excellent use of the salt technique, another "why didn't I think of that?" moment.

My only comment is that the dark green you are using is too dark, even brand new ACU's don't have a green that dark.  Sage green or foliage green is how it's usually classified. 

At a distance, the ACU usually looks fuzzy, and greenish-gray, (Desert Marpat comes off as light brown) and I think you have achieved the overall effect.

Great lesson here... since it does not look like the DoD is going to switch back to a single color uniform like OG 107 or Khaki anytime soon... Oh the strain they put modelers eyes through!!!

For the colors M1, I suggest Tamiya Deck Tan for the sand, Polly Scale RLM 02 Grey for the gray green, and Testors SAC Bomber Green for the green.

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"Well, we can't all be lion tamers..."