75th Anniversary of 1942 (World at War)

Thank you Bish. Ya gotta love the old Airfix 1/48 kits. They have lots of potential.

Been a couple of weeks since i updated but been chugging along slowly by surely.

So i'll start off with the tank. With painting done i aded the decals, all 4 of them, and gave it a couple of shades of dry brushing before sealing with a couple more coats of Alclad aqua gloss.

And then on with the oil. Firstly i did an overall coat of thin raw Umber. But, despite the 3 coats of what i thought were properly applied Alclad, i stil had a few small areas were the paint reacted to the white spirits. This is the 3rd armour build in a row this has happened and nopt sure if its me or the Alclad. But i do know it never happened when i was useing future. I am thinking about switching to one of the new acrylics such as mr Paint or Mission Models. But it will still take me a few kits to use up my enamels.

I can cover the affected areas with equipment.

This was followed by pin washes useing 2 shades of grey and a white oil. The completed tracks were fitted along with all the tools.

Next step with be some streaking followed by dust efefcts. But i won't add the efects until i have loadd some stores onto the back. I realised i didn't have what i wanted so have ordered some boxes. So apart from the streaking, thats the tank done for a few days at least.

In the meantime i will get on with the building and figures. Speaking of which, the inside of the building was painted, cement for the floor and a light grey for the walls.

And then added some variation to the outside brickwork. This was done with a selection of tamiya acrylics.

I used a small flat brush and randomly applied mixes of colurs to the bricks.

Followed by a wash of raw umber oils. Also added the celluclay groundwork around the building.

So next i'll finish off the inside and add vegitation to the soil, then start on the rubble.

And finally the figures. I am useing 8, a mix of Dragon, Tamiya, Mini Art ICM and my first resin figure from Bravo 6.

Given a coat of black primer, these are now ready for painting.

So, while i am waiting for the boxes to arrive, i will be getting on with the smaler details on the building and get to painting the figures.

Thats all for now.

 

 

You've made a lot of progress, Bish.  Great effect on the tank, and the building is looking great.

I've never tried black primer on figures--always white (according to the old school thinking), so I'll be much interested to see how the technique works.

Thanks check. I have been doing it for a while now. Most of my German figure painting comes from the osprey book on painting SS figures and its really helped.

I can see the black Primer working excellent for Panzer Crew figures. But how well do flesh tones come out over a black Primer? Or do you prime the flesh areas in a different color?

Bish,

I'm sure the figures are going to turn out great usual. I'm impressed with the bricks! What a fantastic job!

CM: How about the Tamiya 1/35 M-10? Production started in September 42 and almost 500 were built by year's end, although they weren't in service until early 43. I want to break in a new spray gun and try a new type of paint - this would be an ideal kit for it? If you don't think it fits, I'll think of something else. Eric

stikpusher

I can see the black Primer working excellent for Panzer Crew figures. But how well do flesh tones come out over a black Primer? Or do you prime the flesh areas in a different color?

 

Everything gets the black primer and it helps in creating the shadows. The skin tones are built up in several stages so it covers the black well.

modelcrazy

Bish,

I'm sure the figures are going to turn out great usual. I'm impressed with the bricks! What a fantastic job!

 

Thanks Steve.

Eric:  if it existed in '42, it's fair game for the GB.  It seems like 500 of them were around, so go for it!

Welcome to the GB!  Glad to have you with us.  I'll update the front page.

Hi Bish, looks to be another epic project on the bench, busy busy.

=================

About the M10 tank destroyer, wouldn't they have been present for Operation Torch 1942?

I think the only sticking point is the mid production, maybe they were there too with the initial, but thats being picky.

http://www.tankdestroyer.net/units/battalions600s/195-601st-tank-destroyer-battalion

http://www.tankdestroyer.net/units/battalions700s/244-701st-tank-destroyer-battalion

regards,

Jack

 

Chers jack.

Bish,

You've got a proper project going on here and it's looking sweet. Thinking of doing an armor build for this GB myself. I wanted to do the new Tamiya M-10, but it's a 1943 weapon. So it's either going to be a DML IJA Type 95 Ha Go that came to grief at Milne Bay in September 42; a Tamiya Pz III to help out at Stalingrad or maybe Tamiya Pz IV D - an oldie but a goodie - and maybe a good platform to try a knocked out tank. Wrecked tank would demand more experiments: fun in a way. And anything will nee do some kind of dio or base. I like that too. I'm hoping interesting painting and passable dio will compensate for my basic hatred of PE and resin.

Like a lot of folk I'm getting interested in oils too. I did a major fading on the Beaufighter with white and blue - hard to really get the look in a pic, but I was very pleased. Added to the black basing and that really neat Windsor matt varnish at the end I got the most interesting finish on the Beaufighter I've achieved. (Not saying much.) BTW: I used Adam Wilder's oil paints. I've spent a lot of time at art stores and thought dedicated MIG Abteilung oils were a stunt - any artist oil will do for a model. (I'd guess budget oils would work very well - going to try them out on a mule - like 12 little tubes for $6. Also budget water based oils too.) Trick of course is to put them on a cardboard or paper pallet and let the oil drain out. (I picked up a beastly trick that seems to work with oil washes: thin them with Ronson lighter fluid - it does work and the stuff dries far faster than oil spirits. I've used it on ships several times.) Wilder, however, has flogged his chemists and come out with an odd but effective brew. His oils have a very liquidly consistency - you almost have to rub the tubes - and will waste quite a bit before sticky pigment comes out. But it does and your $5 tube will do a lot of kits - but probably not two lifetimes supply like Windsor, Gamblin or good student grade oils. But the stuff dries fast - maybe an hour. Indeed, you may even want to put some of the liquidy oil mix (looks like a medium thin acrylic) back in to make the dry time longer. It also dries dead flat. Might be worth a look. (A very good Canadian modeler on YouTube Panzer36 is very keen on oils and introduced me to Wilders. He has some very good demo videos on German armor, including a neat shot-up street scene.)

I was a little worried about mineral spirits. I'm almost sure that on my ships I applied Tamiya satin spray can before oils: is that a lacquer? Not really sure. In the auto paint world you can buy a legion of paints called "acrylic lacquers". On the Beaufighter I thinned out a mix of Vallejo Satin and Matt Varnishes and gave it a good hosing and it worked great. (Even Vallejo haters like their varnishes.)  Aqua Gloss is an acrylic product okay and it creates a gloss finish - but there may be something about it that water based acrylic varnishes lack - or have. I admit that I still like Future for clear parts.

I know that oderlless spirits are recommended and I know they work. However, when not using lighter fluid (not recommending yet), I'm a solid fan of Gamblin Gamsol Mineral Spirits. Gamsol is made by the excellent US oil paint company Gamblin (also the best place to get fantastic pigments - at least if you don't want any adhesive qualities like shaved chalk) and is the mildest spirit on the market. It really does, no joke, have no odor. It claims to be the least toxic spirit available and it dries 100% - no residue. Gamsol is available at Amazon UK. (Just noted Gamblin makes a matt oil that dries in 24 hours - it's on Amazon UK, so I can't testify.)

I've got some Mission Paints and will at least try some out. They do test well, but I'm not sure anything in the water based world will beat Golden High Flow. I'll try Mission: I've got some. (I think I understand why they want you to in essence put in polyurethene additive: may be a relative to acrylic extender. Not sure.) Tank guru Mike Rinaldi is making the transition to water based acrylics for base (he is keen on Mission) and doing more and more with paints. He thinks he'll be able to dispense with the huge supply of enamel weathering stuff he has. Of course Mike Rinaldi is a genius and the mileage. He's got a hour plus "new Rinaldi" YouTube show. Of course his new technique is very different than those used in his highly successful "Tank Art" books: should I sell them?

Eric

Bish

 

 

stikpusher

I can see the black Primer working excellent for Panzer Crew figures. But how well do flesh tones come out over a black Primer? Or do you prime the flesh areas in a different color?

 

 

 

 

Everything gets the black primer and it helps in creating the shadows. The skin tones are built up in several stages so it covers the black well.

 

intersting... you have me quite curious now. What are you using do your flesh tones? Acrylics? Oils? When I do stages/layers, I'm always concerned about losing detail.

Hey Bish, the color work on the bricks is outstanding.  I like the look of that Panzer II.

Stik, that cockpit is looking great.  Going to look at that a few more times to get the sequence in my head.

Set aside my Zero from the Midway GB for a bit so I can start on the T-34.  Just finished getting seam marks off the road wheels, so I should be able to get cooking soon.

Great stuff in this GB! 

D

I got hold of a book called Painting Wargaming Figures, by Javier Gomez ("El Mercenario"), and using black primer seems to be the going thing right now.  He uses Vallejo paints almost exclusively.

I've followed techniques laid down by Imrie-Risley for years, and that involved using I-R's primer, followed by a thin coat of white paint for a base.

It'll be an education seeing how Bish's project works.

 

Thanks for the progress report, D.  I'll be looking forward to seeing how both projects progress.

Eric:  I'll take the M-10 off the build roster, and replace it with whatever you finally settle on.  Thanks!

Check, would you say that book is useful for figure painting for the sort of things we do here. I'm open to anything that has some good tips and ideas.

The book i use most if the Osprey Modlling ''Modelling Waffen SS Figures''. Even though its for SS figures, i find it useful for most German figures as it covers field grey as well as personal equipment and skin tones. Only major item of clothing it doesn't cover is the black panzer uniform, but i have another book for that.

I'll be sure to try and give as much detail as i can on the figure painting.

stikpusher

 

Bish

 

 

stikpusher

I can see the black Primer working excellent for Panzer Crew figures. But how well do flesh tones come out over a black Primer? Or do you prime the flesh areas in a different color?

 

 

 

 

Everything gets the black primer and it helps in creating the shadows. The skin tones are built up in several stages so it covers the black well.

 

 

 

 

intersting... you have me quite curious now. What are you using do your flesh tones? Acrylics? Oils? When I do stages/layers, I'm always concerned about losing detail.

 

I use Acrlics. I have a set from Scale 75 that i have been useing for a couple of years. It has a handy gyide on how to paint them which i followed word for word at first, now i am adapting depending on the build. But they will be running out son and i will swicth to vallejo. The book i mentioned above covers faces, so i will be useing that combined with what i have already picked up.

As always, there is more improvment to make, but my figures have come a long way in the last couple of years.

I have made a start on the figures, but i tend to leave the skin until last, so hopefully by the end of the week or early next i will have somthing to show.

Thanks D, much appreciated.

Thanks Eric. I have never used oils for aircraft. I got hooked on them for armour watching guys like karl and Bill Plunk on here.

You might be onto somthing about the Alclad aqua gloss. It will be a few months before my next armour builds, i might run some tests with it.

I use a generic white spirits for thinning oils (i believe thats the same as what you guys cal white spirits. I will check out that Gamsol. Got to be worth getting a bottle and do some testing on.

Thanks for the info.

Bish:  I bought the book for insights on using Vallejo for 1/72 size pilot figures, so, yes, I'd say it's useful for the kind of figures we might do hear.

It's broken down into separate chapters on how to paint certain colors (i.e, black, white, etc.), and chapters on painting flesh, faces, horses, etc.

It's mostly concerned with 28mm size gaming figures, but he included one chapter on "Larger Scales," and another on "Smaller Scales."

I haven't tried any of his methods yet.  Usually he goes with black primer to provide the "lining" that separates color areas, but he does mention priming with white, then using a wash or "patina" to deferentiate the colors.

I haven't painted any pilot figures lately, but when I did, I used Testor's MM paints, and followed the techniques laid down in a paint manual published for MM back in the '90's. 

Thanks check. Found it on Amazon so will grab one of those. As i do both 72nd and 35th figures, sound slike it wil be useful.

Welcome, Bish.  Hope you find it useful.  

I used to do a lot of 54mm miniatures, and used I-R paints.  They were bottled oil paints that could be thinned into washes with turpentine.  When they discontinued them, I gave up painting larger figures for lack of a suitable paint.  I didn't want to get into messing with tubes of oil paint and all that.

A lot of figure painters seem to be moving to acrylics and away from oils. Theres a couple of guys at the model club i belong to who paint really stunning figures and another who does some stunning busts and they all use acrylics. At the last meeting, one said that a year ago he could not have imagined useing acrylics rather than oils, now he has switche completly.

Gamsol is trumps with oil - mildest stuff on the market. However, Gamblin refined some components out that make it very poor to use with enamels. (Probably best for most people not to know what's in enamel or lacquer paints. In theory you can drink water based acrylics - makes them popular in schools - wouldn't do that with Alclad II.) But as noted, Gamsol leaves no residue which can be a problem with something like turpentine. I'm going to buy some of Gamblin's "FastMatt Alkyad Oils" and report in: they supposedly dry in less than 24 hours - probably a lot less for model use. Eric

I-R's old paint was very easy to "feather" into shadows and highlights.  I'm not sure that acrylics can easily duplicate that effect, but I won't know till I get around to trying them.  

checkmateking02

I-R's old paint was very easy to "feather" into shadows and highlights.  I'm not sure that acrylics can easily duplicate that effect, but I won't know till I get around to trying them.  

 

No, i don't think they are. Even dry brushing i found tricky with tamiya, but its nice with vallejo. The approach i am useing is to apply a darker base and then just do the highlights by dry brushing. I have finished the field grey items so will try and get some pics up toniught so you can see for yourself.

One factor about oils vs acrylics is that Vallejo (and I think all the art house acrylic makers like Golden) have at least one retarder medium - probably two. You have to get used to the stuff and try the instruction recommendations for a first shot. In general they come in two types: one is a very concentrated conditioner that is clear and as thin as water - Golden calls theirs "Flow Aid" and you mix it about 1:10 Flow Aid/Water. They also make something that will be called Retarder Medium or something like it: it's clear, but has the viscosity of a varnish - about as thin as Vallejo Model Air. (As usual art house stuff is cheaper. Windsor Newton Fluid Retarder is about $10 for 250 ml. Vallejo's is $3 for 17ml.) You can fool around with this stuff - but there comes a time when too much will mean the paint never properly cures. But I'd say when you're used to the stuff you can at least double working time - triple more like it. And unlike oils, you do things one small section at a time instead of working on the whole model. (Fast drying oils are maybe different. When I used Wilder's oils, which dry in about an hour, I found myself putting thin, oily paints back onto the thicker pigment-rich stuff because it was drying out. Wilder's oils are matte: so is Gamblin's line of FastMatte. Windsor Newton, however, makes an alkyd based oil paint that dries gloss: a painting will be ready in 24 hours, so I'd guess the amount we use it would be done a lot sooner.) But there's no way around it - acrylic paints are simply great to use. I don't want to sound like Vincent Van Gough, but if you want to paint figures with acrylics you should really check out Golden Fluid Acrylics. Golden and Liquitex basically invented the artist/craft acrylics in the 50s (Vallejo was an art house long before adding a model line.) They know what they're doing and their customers are very picky. Golden Fluids are very like Vallejo Model Color in viscosity, but are a higher quality paint - and cheaper - about $4 for an ounce, or $10 for 16 ounces. They don't have military colors, but mixing is fun and easy and Golden has several "mixing" colors that do amazing things. The bottles are great and they last for years if kept closed. High Flow is also fine for hand painting but is really for airbrushing and resembles Vallejo Model Air except that it's a lot better. It also has conditioners that keep it from tip clog meaning you get more working time with it. Blick Art Supply has a full selection of both Fluid and High Flow and shipping is very reasonable. Pick up some retarder while you're at it. Eric

As promised, a small update on the figure. So far i have just completed the field grey uniforms.

I have been building dio's and painting figures for many years. But its only been the last 3 or 4 that i have been making some improvments, thanks of course to people on here as well as useing referance books and watching vids. Prior to useing the book on SS figures i mentioned above, i used Tamiya paints on figures. But when i started following the book i decided to get a few vallejo colour as thats the colour he was useing. I have since almost completly switched to them for figures as i find them much easier to paint with and especially to dry brush.

So, onto the figures. On my first few builds useing the book, i folowed it word for word. The last few i have been making some adjustments.

After the black primer, it starts with a base coat of Extra dark Green, 896, and Field Grey, 830, mixed 2:1. What i know do is paint one item of clthing, then add a drop of one or other of the 2 base paints to give some slight variation.

One coat is perfectly fine even over the black.

Once dry, highlights are added useing the base coat with some US Field Drad, 873, and Ger Camo beige, 821, added. I start with the darker colour then make a second pas after adding the lighter one. Again, between each item of clothing, a drop or two more of the lightening colours is added.

This is the result.

My results are not exactly the same as in the book, his look a lot lighter, but i often think the guides are exagerated a bit to help show the efefct and i am pretty pleased with how it turns out.

Once the whole figure is done, i do some oil washes which help furher with the creases as well as make them slightly grubby and then add some dirt and dust effects.

If anyone has any suggestions or idea, i am all ears.