I may be on to something here...

Hans von Hammer

Member since
June 2008
From: Iowa

I may be on to something here...

Posted by Hans von Hammer on Monday, June 30, 2008 12:32 PM

So far, it's experimental, but it may have some merit. When it comes to painting complex camo patterns, I'm about a 2 on a scale of one to 50, but I still wanted some Waffen-SS figures for my Dios... Searching the internet for Waffen-SS dot camo patterns as a painting guide, I came across some pics of bulk fabric for reproduction uniforms with the pattern (as well as the German splinter and U.S. Woodland and 6-color Day Desert) . I printed out a copy to more or less 1/35th scale (using the Mk I eyeball) and cut out a nice square of it, then rolled, balled, folded, spindle, and crushed the paper until it was more or less as flexible as cloth. Then I took a 1/35 scale German figure and started gluing strips of the paper onto the figure using white glue, pressing down hard on it, burnishing it into the little crevases and over the pockets with a chisle-tip toothpick until it took on the detail of the figures' uniform. Surprisingly, it turned out rather well, as I brushed the glue on VERY thin, so it didn't bleed through and ruin the ink.

Bad side is that the glue didn't hold to the plastic and the paper started to peel off... Switching to Testor's liquid cement, it worked much better, although you have to VERY careful with application and work rather quickly before the cement evaporates. I then "stabbed" the figure with a cement-moistened (not wet) brush until the "fabric" lay tight. After 24 hours, it's still holding. I'm a bit stumped on how to do arms and legs that are tightly bent, but for standing and sitting figures, it appears that I have a solution that's workable...

Maybe the next step is buy a decal making set for the fabrics, but as it stands right now, this is a pretty fair compromise for us "Auld Pharts" with bad eyesight and shaky hands...

Also, I'm a notorious skinflint, (not really, I'm just poor) so I'm always looking for a cheaper way to do something without delving into the world of after-market add-ons... I'll post some pics whenever I figure out how to hook up a web-cam... (I'm not very computer saavy.)

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 30, 2008 12:35 PM

That's pretty creative...someone actually already makes camo decals for both figs and AFV's---not sure of the maker though...

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Tankluver

Member since
June 2006

Posted by Tankluver on Monday, June 30, 2008 12:40 PM

Ive tried painting camo before on falllschirmjager. The thing that worked best for me was to paint the figure like I was painting a tank.

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FingersEddie

Member since
April 2006
From: Essex, UK

Posted by FingersEddie on Monday, June 30, 2008 1:18 PM

Your wastin' your time and effort with this technique. Because you can buy decal camo' sets for 1/35 figures from here: http://www.lsamodels.co.uk/Camo%20Decals.htm

These guys are in the UK, jus' like me, check 'em out. You'll need to use some decal settin' solutions which'll make 'em look like they've been painted on, hope this helps ya'.

"Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country is doin' to you!" "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." "Say 'NO' to censorship, it leads to a dictatorship!" http://public.fotki.com/paulyrichard/

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Hans von Hammer

Member since
June 2008
From: Iowa

Posted by Hans von Hammer on Monday, June 30, 2008 6:24 PM

Thanks for the link... But... Falls into the category of buying after-market stuff... I'm trying to avoid that...

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Hans von Hammer

Member since
June 2008
From: Iowa

Posted by Hans von Hammer on Saturday, August 23, 2008 4:34 AM

Ok...After much trial & error... My printer-paper camo..

Gotta admit, I like the jacket cuffs...

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mpkev31b

Member since
May 2008

Posted by mpkev31b on Saturday, August 30, 2008 2:15 PM

ss camo actually isent that hard to recreate matching the colors is probably the hardest , but vallejo has SS camo colors just do a search at squadron. for the pea dot pattern i use like a light beige or medium brown for a base coat, after that dries i paint on light blotches of dark ss camo green and mabye some light black then go around with a tooth pick and dot everywhere with light green, dark dreen, and a light beige comes out pretty good

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sfcmac

Member since
October 2004
From: League City, Texas

Posted by sfcmac on Saturday, August 30, 2008 4:41 PM

Actually I was a little skepticle but after seeing the pictures it does look pretty good. The Cuffs and the texture look pretty cloth like. I'm like you kinda limit the expensive AF parts for those special projects. I was thinking of trying some of that testers decal paper. But that is some finicky stuff to use. Very thin and tough to get to slide odff the paper. There may be better decal paper out there though.

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Hans von Hammer

Member since
June 2008
From: Iowa

Posted by Hans von Hammer on Saturday, August 30, 2008 5:24 PM

I did break down and buy the Testor's decal kit.. Haven't done much with it though. Down side is that it's another ten bucks to buy the software that allows you to download and print other artwork to make decals. The stock stuff that you get with the kit isn't but about some flames and a couple sets of US insignia. I made some rank and division patches with it, and they turned out ok, but you're gonna go through ink becasue you have to reproduce decals of any consequence at photo-quality ink setting, or the are pretty transparent. The OD rank worked well on OD shirts though... I too, had problems getting them off the paper...Another drawback is not being able to position my paper in the printer well enough to use the whole sheet, but that's my printer's fault, not the decal paper... Still, I think with some more tweaking, the paper camo will work well... It sure beats 14.00 for a sheet of decal-camo, IMHO...

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Hans von Hammer

Member since
June 2008
From: Iowa

Posted by Hans von Hammer on Saturday, August 30, 2008 5:27 PM

mpkev31b wrote:
ss camo actually isent that hard to recreate matching the colors is probably the hardest , but vallejo has SS camo colors just do a search at squadron. for the pea dot pattern i use like a light beige or medium brown for a base coat, after that dries i paint on light blotches of dark ss camo green and mabye some light black then go around with a tooth pick and dot everywhere with light green, dark dreen, and a light beige comes out pretty good

I have several sets of SS and Heer camo smocks in my collection, along with a 30-year career's-worth of US Army uniforms and I can sit there with one right in front of me and botch the painting... Trust me... If there's a way to intercourse it up, I'll find it...

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sfcmac

Member since
October 2004
From: League City, Texas

Posted by sfcmac on Saturday, August 30, 2008 5:36 PM

A have a couple hints with that decal paper. One the software isn't of much use for what we need. I use powerpoint. I can just tape the paper to a regular sheet of printer paper. The power point slide is the same size as the printer paper and you can position the decal paper right on the corner and be pretty exact where you print it. Also resizing is as simple as grabbing the pic corner with the mouse and manipulating it the same way you would a computer window. Had lots of luck with that.

Also don't bother wasting your decal setting spray trying to make them thicker and easier to use. Just makes them glossy. Still thin and hard to slide off the paper.

Really think I could work some real magic with better decal paper.

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