Show us yer stuff!

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 8:47 pm

Those are awesome!

MechCommander · Post by **MechCommander** » Wed Aug 29, 2018 1:12 am

heres some pics of my recent Canadian forces models, including the jets we almost got.

BurtWolf · Post by **BurtWolf** » Wed Aug 29, 2018 5:04 pm

Like the mix of armor! Thanks for posting!

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:19 pm

A long, long, long, long time ago (1999-2000) I was a dashing young artillery officer and I had the good fortune to be assigned as a howitzer platoon leader. Great bunch of guys â€“ by far the 2nd best job that I ever had. Now that I am a deaf middle-aged old man I am trying to re-live my glory days with micro armor.

Painting 7 vehicles should have been a quick and easy project, except that I am not a great painter, and apparently I am incompetent when it comes to washes. I stripped and repainted several times and after 2 months my ADD flared up and I went with this as my old platoon.

So here is 2nd Platoon, B Battery, 3-29 Field Artillery as they looked in 1999 at Fort Carson, CO.

MechCommander · Post by **MechCommander** » Wed Aug 29, 2018 10:15 pm

Those Jets Cama are 1/2400 scale F-14 Tomcats, there painted up as if there CF-14 Tomcats.

MechCommander · Post by **MechCommander** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:40 am

The CF-14s is one of those fantasy What If aircraft's I like to use for the Imagi-Nation stuff and in a Sci-fi game i play, in real life Canada came close to buying F-14s from Iran back in the 70s but never happened due to the 1979 hostage crisis.

Guroburov · Post by **Guroburov** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:28 am

Nice artilley!

-Steve

PolishGI · Post by **PolishGI** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:59 am

Nice 109s indeed! Yeah, washes can make or break what you are trying to accomplish.

dougeagle · Post by **dougeagle** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 7:47 am

PolishGI wrote:Few Russian items

I like the green...very nice.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 8:07 pm

Thanks, Guys. I'll try that brand of wash, Cama. I was using Citadel brand black wash but I just made a mess of things. I think I might do a bigger unit in the tan color so I should have some more vehicles to experiment with.

PolishGI · Post by **PolishGI** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:08 pm

redleg wrote:Thanks, Guys. I'll try that brand of wash, Cama. I was using Citadel brand black wash but I just made a mess of things. I think I might do a bigger unit in the tan color so I should have some more vehicles to experiment with.

That is one of the washes I use as well.

When I paint the base coat of a vehicle, I intentionally go lighter than the original color by adding white. German grey is lighterâ€¦ Russian armor green is lighterâ€¦ I know that I will be throwing on a layer or two of my black wash. And that will stain the base color a little darker to reach my final shade. (some people seal it at this point with a dull coat)

Once the base coat is down and you are happy, place a light coat of black wash onto the model and fill in all the cracks and get all of the flat panels. I use acrylics and my medium of choice is 91% rubbing alcohol that I refill my Tamiya thinner bottle/container with. Once you hit the tracks (brings out the individual links), the suspension and wheels (contouring), go after the body of the vehicle and fill in the detail to bring it to life. Once the light layer is on, walk away. Give it 12 to 24 hours as your schedule permits. Return to the model and now dip your brush into the alcohol. Donâ€™t douse as it should not be drippingâ€¦ but have some fluid in the brush. Lightly go over flat panels or any areas of choice to â€œpick upâ€ (or remove) the wash you placed down on flatter panelsâ€¦ or barrelsâ€¦ I typically leave the nooks and crannies washed up for the detail. But you just want to lightly go over the model and pick up the wash you â€œdonâ€™t needâ€. If that makes sense. It takes some practice but you will find your rhythm on how to apply it and remove what you donâ€™t need to achieve the look you are chasing.

Once you get that downâ€¦ then you can follow up with another light brush of alcohol and go over the flat panels where you removed the wash to remove a layer or two of base coat paint. Use caution here as too much and you will hit primer.

But that leaves you with wash present in some area bringing out the detail on a model. There are some areas with base coat paint tinted a little darker due to the wash staining it. And there some area where you may have the actual (lightened) base coat on the model giving it a lighter shade (or worn/weathered paint) of color for variation. With any luck, it comes together nicely.

From there, if you want to press itâ€¦ find a wash to added in dirt/mud on the suspension, wheels, underside or rust for spots here and there. As a final step, I add my decals, radio antennas and add terrain to my vehicle base before sealing it again with a dull coat. I use bases for my vehicles to protect them and the ever fragile gun barrels. This helps as we handle the vehicles a lot when running around a table shooting.

We paint in layers, we should also weather in layers by adding and removing what we donâ€™t need. It may take a little time, but practice and patience wins the day. I am still in that learning curve but it seems to work. I just need to figure out my German grey setup and what paints I am using. Russians come out looking ok and dull. My German tanks come out with a little shine to them and its driving me nuts. Lol

Hope this helps and good luck!

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Fri Aug 31, 2018 1:17 am

Thanks, Polish! Iâ€™m going to try that technique out this weekend! Iâ€™ll post some pics after the first attempt!

PolishGI · Post by **PolishGI** » Fri Aug 31, 2018 1:38 am

redleg wrote:Thanks, Polish! Iâ€™m going to try that technique out this weekend! Iâ€™ll post some pics after the first attempt!

Most welcome! Patience and taking your time wins the day! Good luck!

Can't wait to see the pics.

PolishGI · Post by **PolishGI** » Sat Sep 01, 2018 11:10 am

Hetzers are slowly getting thereâ€¦

In the meantime, I am looking at all the paint colors I need to tackle my Fallschirmjagers. What is required less what I currently have equals what I need to buy. Should be fun.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:28 am

So I was trying Polish GIâ€™s technique for applying a wash, but I failed to make sure that I had all of the materials before I started. Rookie mistake. I put the tan on this Bradley and then applied the black wash. I was ready to get the alcohol and start rubbing the wash off, but then I realized that I didnâ€™t have any alcohol. We had some stuff called Witch Hazel that looks like rubbing alcohol, but it didnâ€™t do anything. Desperate, I grabbed the and sanitizer and put some on a q-tip. I guess it doesnâ€™t look too bad, but I need some more practice.