Wargames – Page 21 – lighteffect.net

June 12, 2011

Operation “Get Cracking” Pt 2

Well I finished two test solders/figures.
You will notice this is a habit I have started now when prepping to to do a production line of figures… I suggest this to anyone thinking of painting a platoon or more of figs… paint a couple from start to finish and get the process right and change things.

This one was good.. I changed my usual order in which the flesh gets painted. I do however have to change my formula for the dark or ink wash. I’m still getting bath rings forming on my wash. Dish wash soap doesn’t seem to help. I’m thinking the magic wash is going to have to be tried again.. although I will need to buy some “Klear floor” polish first.

So… here is the first wash over the spray coat of desert yellow. This is a pretty dark wash of Khaki by Tamiya liberally applied over

so here is a comparison photo of the finish

I then jumped ahead and painted boots and wood, webbing’s (khaki), helmet (olive drab), elbow and knee knee patches and bags (olive green) and flesh, I then fished the guns and binoculars in black.
The black wash followed (which didn’t smooth very well.

here is the eye candy..

So the result is that the was darkens the base colour too much over all and needs a wash of almost equal colour.. but tinted so that the shadow will sit in the low spots. Of course a dry brush would solve this.. but I’m hoping to avoid it.

June 11, 2011

Operation “Get Cracking!” – US airbourne

It took more than 2 years for the US to train their crack airborne Para troops for WWII.
I however want more for the up coming August offensive…

So I have done some research on painting US WWII airborne and apparently they had two uniforms..the 1942 and the1943.

The 1943 is defiantly more olive drab or dark green and I decided not to go for this but adopted the 1942 with the very light tan colored uniform.

Unfortunately there is no decent color from Tamiya paints that represents the uniform. So I decided to wing -it with colors and expect some variation any way in the final shade.

I have decided to use dunkelgelb or sand yellow… I will use some tinted shades.. much like inks to get the desired effect.

Here are some nice photos of what is desired
This shows the 1943 uniform in comparison… which is very green.

This beautiful figure is the basis of what I am trying to achieve.

On to business.

I have decided to use airbrush and washes/inks to make speed with this job. The desired finish is table top standard.. not display.
Because of the overall color scheme this is much more achievable as the trousers and blouse are all the same color.

Step one:
I have my figures glued to card strip and metal primed already. I just take the trusty snips and cut them to strips of troops.

US airborne glued to cad and metal primed

Cut

Step two:
Assemble my work space… here I have my airbrush, paints, pots and all the other necessaries to air brush.

Step three:

I have mixed Tamiya XF-60 or dunkelgelb with a considerable amount of; Alcohol thinner 100% (ideally 90% works better), Liquifying agent, water, and a tiny amount of retardant.

The mix is very watery. If sprayed at too close a distance it will bead like water on the model. at the right distance it mists the model as a first coat. Because it has so much alcohol ad water in it, it dries real fast. Which means a second coat in about three of four minutes when your on a second cup of paint adheres beautifully.

And that’s is it so far… here are finished results today.

Now I will be brush painting next.

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011

Show us your legs – Pt 2 – The incriminating photos

OK as promised some (actually alot!) pictures of my DIY build a set of game table legs

Chiseling the hinge rebutment in.

Almost finished legs and stanchions…

Work bench and tools.. the bench is a bit flimsy and i had to work into the wall when using the mallet… to keep it all steady.. but a suitable work bench non the less. I’m working in a well lit car port beside the garage

Setting the hinges. Later found I did this wrong… you need to set the pivot outside of the face.. to sit proud.. otherwise the legs wont close flat. I now need to chisel the in side face to allow the legs to close. And get BIG hinges. The distance from face to first fixing hole is what is important.

Using the completed hing or top rail as a template for the remaining three

Almost finished sections, note the hollow core doors in back ground… they will be the table tops.
Also note all the half joints I made. 16 in all. Plus 8 recesses or cut-in joints.

Getting set to assemble. I decided not to use dowel joints.. and I decided not to use bolt joints (even though i bought bolts! I ended up with 4 posi-drive square head screws per half joint. No glue.. even though I intended to… I’m such a hypocrite to my own ideas of perfection!

Screws and corded rope (not sash cord) 6mm thick cord.. 10m long and pretty cheap too. Thanks Zeneth corporation!

Tenon saw required… cut a slope to the feet… no special measuring but no un-accurate either — but doesn’t answer why one leg is 5mm shorter than all the other seven?

Dummy set up… and the timber I decided to put it together too… the timber work passed muster

A side shot of the half joints..a little rough… but still pass in High School classes all the same

Assembly… started with the lower cross rail. I “starter-hole” drilled these and counter sunk the hole with 8mm drill.. because the screws were 50mm screws and the needed to reach the timber into which they have to hold

Then I plain drove the posidrives into the half joints.. two on diagonals on one side and opposite orientation on the other.. I had two joins feign splitting… ouch

All frames assembled.. looks great

Set the frames out head to head to fix hinges… I would have been clever to leave about 5mm between the heads at this stage.. but I was too eager to some chisel work re reset the pins into the frame faces..which in retrospect was a really really really clever idea… NOT.

In the pic above… I have screwed the hinges in with the 30mm posi-drives.
The timber is ceiling batten timber… It is 37mm thick… the screws counter sink themselves.. I had a few poke the points through the other side.. so be aware that posidrives will sink up to 3mm into soft wood.

Finished legs.. here they are doing the Ruhmba… and the Tango.. lets face it they were made for each other.

And here they are supporting a pair of lazy teenager doors… they jut tend to lay around at present.. but when they mature and loose all their disgusting piercings and hardware.. the will be strong supporting members of the war games table community.. but that is another story…

hope you enjoyed this.. G night.