Desert scheme on moderns

[paul]

I've done any desert vehicles and I'm trying it now but not having to much success. The track is a darker gray and I've done a dark brown wash on the grills on the front of the track and the driver's hatch. If I try the brown anywhere else it just does not look right. My road wheels I did in black and it looks to heavy. The base coat is Testors Desert.

Any suggestions on how to make it look less plastered on? Also, what color would be used for a highlight.

Regards,

Paul

[WargameHub]

No specific advice on the color but in the desert nothing is black. With dust on it at the most it's dark grey but we had NATO color scheme Bradleys and during the field exercises in Germany it was almost to a dark tan/grey there was so much on it.

In RGB colors (if you have PowerPoint or something else to match)
roughly 57/57/55.

I usually use a Panzer Grey or Black Grey and then drybrush tan over it.

[paul]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I'm going to have to do something different.

[pmskaar]

Cama

It looks like your very well painted Magach 3 is riding on a piece of desert Terrain Maker that I provided to GHQ a while back for some of their photographs.

Pete

[pmskaar]

Hi Cama

For the texture, I actually used Woodland Scenics earth brown fine flock.

Here are my steps that I used.

1. I painted the hex with Sherwin Williams Ligonier Tan. I put 1 layer on before flocking as the paint will immediately absorb into the hex.

2. Put a second layer of paint on and then flock with the fine brown flocking material. Let this dry.

3. I then thin the paint out quite a bit and apply over the flock. Let this dry and repeat. I usually use 3 to 4 coats of the thin paint before I'm done.

4. Add shrubbery as desired. I use Woodland Scenics Coarse Earth for this because it seems to give about the right color that I am looking for - a greenish brown color almost like a light Olive Drab.

5. I did the road in this way. First, I outlined the road by dragging a finishing nail along each side of the road to mark it. Then I used a large paper clip to make some ruts but dragging it along the styrofoam in the road boundaries.
For the road, I use a lighter shade of paint, in this case Sherwin Williams Sunporch which is the next lighter shade from Ligonier Tan. I use several layers of paint as well but no flock on the roads. The goal is to cover the flagstone effect that the natural styofoam shows.

My method is designed to give that sort of fine gravelly look to the desert rather than sand dunes or boulders.

I admit that my method is not the fastest way to get terrain on the table for a game but I have been pretty happy with the results I get.
Tanner has some very nice looking terrain as well and he uses pumice jell to get the texture.

I used to have some pictures of my desert layouts on the Show Us Your Games thread that were taken by Thunder but those appear to have been pulled a while back. I will see if I can do some shots of my layout in the near future.

Have a great day!

Pete

[ferret701]

For US desert vehicles, I generally do the following:

Base in PollyS US Desert Storm Sand (though any yellowish-sand color works fine)

Drybrush lightly with Sand (or Desert Storm Sand mixed with white)

Paint tracks in Vallejo Black Grey, plus anything else that is going to be dark (machine guns, for instance). Drybrush wheels with same color, not getting them too dark.

Wash whole vehicle with Vallejo Earth Red or something similar. Wait 'til it fully dries.

Wash running gear with a dark ink, such as Army Painter inks.

Wash engine grates with thin black wash.

Drybrush whole vehicle again with Sand, doing tracks only very lightly.

Paint details.

Seal with Dullcote.

The outcome:

[chrisswim]

I have used Dark Tan from Testors, and use black paint. Here is my FB. Chris's Micro Armor.

https://www.facebook.com/chrisswim2/photos

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

I need to post another thousand pics.
Chris

[Luca]

Hi cama, I like the technic you have described. I'll try it.

A question: does it apply also to camo schemes?, I mean the wash after having applied the base colour. Doing so would force you to repaint over the camo pattern.

Thank you for sharing.

L.

[paul]

Tried Cama's approach for the tracks and they look much better than what I had. I will have to get some glass coat before I try the wash. Since I have already used a brown wash, but without the gloss, the color settled all over the vehicle. I will try dry brushing the areas to see if I can get a better look for those vehicles. Once I get the gloss I will try the wash again, though a dark gray I think will look better.

Thanks everyone for helping me out.