Is that a Jagdpanzer in your Bush? – Page 2

Preparation and Painting – A lot of simple stuff that I use to make my figures look better than they really are.

OK, having decided what we are trying to do (or maybe you’ve just skipped the first step, as you’ve just got a lovely bag of lead in the mail and the first thing you want to do is get the paint

H&R T-72 after de-flashing. Where’s that paint brush?

out), now comes one of the more boring bits. That’s right, cleaning up the castings. They should probably be washed to remove demoulding material, but I’ll confess now that I don’t, and its probably not necessary (FWIW I always do this! – Ed). Then get out a file and knife and remove casting flash. This varies from company to company. Try and identify what is detail and what is rubbish (all my M1’s for example don’t have the wind/temperature sensor on the back of the turret). How many Models should you do at once? I try to paint a whole battalion at a time.

Now, you’ve done some research about what colours you need, haven’t you… Well, since (in this case) its a Russian tank, it’s dark green. Oddly enough, I use Humbol U.S. dark green. I don’t think it makes too much difference on which dark green is used,

The base colour goes on.

as later painting will alter the colour quite allot.

Make sure all the surfaces are covered, and use 2 thin coats rather than 1 thick coat. It just buries the detail. This bit IS important, and makes or breaks allot of the following steps. The next step is to paint the tracks. I normally use a rust colour. remember that tanks are big dirty beasts, and don’t get clean at all. If you need to apply a second colour then this is the time before the next step.

Next, I dry brush the whole tank with a light brown/dust colour (mid stone is my colour of choice). This just brings out the raised edges (dry brushing involves taking an oldish brush, dipping in paint, and then removing most of it on a rag, then brushing it across the model until it

T-72 model after it’s black wash.

gathers on the raised edges).

Now, here’s the most important step. I use a thinned down mix of Tamiya Smoke X-19/XF-19 (A Brown Ink works well with light desert coloured models too – Ed) and water about 50/50 with a couple of drops of industrial alcohol to lower the surface tension (Liquid Floor Polish, e.g. Johnson’s Kleer, is an excellent alternative to alcohol and has several extra benefits such as providing a hard varnish like protection – Ed). Paint this across the model and let in settle into the crevices and hollows on the model (Thinner is better, you can always do a second or third wash if needed – Ed). This gives us shadow’s, which are missing on a lot of models you’ll see out there on the Net.

The finished model.

Here we can see (well, sort of…) that the raised edges are highlighted compared to the previous picture, and there are are also areas of shadow. Its a bit shiny, but a coat of matt varnish soon sorts that out. Be warned though. I’ve had some horror experiences with matt varnish which almost put me off painting. I’m still working on this one. This is also the point where you may want to add other details as well.

Here we have an added tank commander, and I’ve also added a number on the turret (all right, I was young and stupid, OK?).

Basing your figures – Since you’ve got all these nicely painted figures then you should do something nice with them…

So, Now you’ve got a stack of painted models and you want to base then to play with. here’s a quickish run through of the techniques I use to make mine, with a few examples thrown in for good measure. The first thing to do is cut out a stack of the bases (mine are just from 2 mm card) and paint them a light olive to grass green. I use Humbrol Matt 159 (no idea what the name is).

Select a colour that is a bit darker than the flock you will use on the bases. This brings us to another important point. Choose a colour of flock that is close to the colour of the base cloth that you use. If your group uses terrain squares this bit will be really easy, as you can paint your bases the same colour and flock them using the flock that was originally used. This part is quite important for overall visual appeal.

Pages: 1 2 3