Check this out… I was amazed… truley amazed.
http://lonelygamers.blogspot.com/search/label/Flames%20of%20War
US Infantry Companies X 2 2nd Lot Part 1
Gee .. if you managed to get past the title then the rest will be a breeze.
I started painting my 2nd Lot of tow US infantry companies.
This lot will be different however. They will include HBT or Heering Bone Twill uniforms, which use the Olive Green colour in place of Olive drab trousers or Buff coloured wool twill shirts.
No immediate pictures at present as I have only painted some of the Buff coloured Jackets and all the brown Boots.
I will post edit this later when I can show you some comparrison photos f the two uniform styles.
I havn’t flocked the bases of the first lot yet as I am going to make a presentation board and harmonize the whole lot.
As I will probalby play these guys in atournament one day… cheezy list with four -five platoons of infantry..
Being
Core platoons of infantry… 1,2 and 3. Plus 1 Ammunition Plt, and a Ranger platoon. Possibly a scout patoon as well.
Luckily enough have spare US infantry soldiers froman online auction which allows me to make a scout platoon which has only 7 stands as opposed to 11 in a standard platoon. Oh the Ragers field 7 as well. thats 54 stands.
Hows your Russian hordes looking Potts?
EDIT: 20/09/2010
Have painted the trousers on half of the figs. The jackets are all done. I have kahki trousers and HBT trouserd painted.
The HBT trousers and shirts require dry brush to ping the colour.
The Kahki coloured jackets only require a subdue inking.
All going well this will be done tonight. Buy the end of this week I should have all the webbings painted and will be ready for the painting of rifles, followed by flesh and finally the helemets.
Eta three weeks.. theni willhave four platoons of US infantry.. cool!
P.S I have a box set of A Bridge Too far Firestorm now. Cool…. so start painting your king tigers and UK airbourne units.
EDIT:
Ok ok ok!
Here some photos showing the three unform combinations I am using.
EDIT:
OK I have now completed all the clothing and the flesh, guns and the like. Have the bazooka’s, Radio packs and Helmets to paint yet.
Oh and also the inking and dry brushing to the finish is needed.
Anyways on to the photos.
Edit 05/10/2010
Finished painting colour on the US Infantry troops last night.
Toniaght I spray paint matt varnish. Wednesday I may peel them from thier card temporary bases, because all thier base now belong to me. LOL
And then I will reinstate them to a real plastic base and coulsd possibly get the plaster laid around them.
Then I will be cleaning and undercoating two HMG platoons.
Hey have any of you read the FOW Big War PDF?
Edit: 06/10/2010
Further progress last night. I sprey painted the infantry with the matt varnish .. ther all set for the next finishing phases.
I also “found” a late war infantry platoon amoung my US infnatry… they are the new sculpts from Battlefront and quiet frankly I don’t like them.. they look like scarecrows.. they hae actual scale and need a little more heric scaling to them.
Also I cleaned up the HMG’s and crew and they are all stuck to card with PVA for priming. Ther isn’t as many as when I painted the last two platoon which was 98 figures.. after counting , I was surprised!
So I might add in the US paras tht I have and paint them too… which should be easy as ther whole uniform is the same colour… a read dipping army if ever I saw one.
Plus some other loose US infantry… So I will have enough for 3 combat platoons a A&E platoon and a Rangers platoon. Also I have another 10 bazookas on the way and a Weapons platoon which has 3 x 60mm mortars and 4 30 cal LMG’s.
Should have enough spares to make up a scout platoon… as well.
Edit: 08/10/2010 : FIxed the soldiers to bases last night. Have some more to go and then plastering of bases to start.
US Infantry 2x Companies – Part 4
My most recent work with the US Infantry platoons has developed quickly over a period of two weeks.
The new spring weather has perked me up no end and my motivation has returned.
I re assessed my procedure and tested the dry brush highlight on the inked models and came to a conclusion that the benefit was minimal to the extensive time outlay for the result desired.
This step was immediately removed even though the first test model showed brilliant results.
I moved on to the varnishing stage and sprayed a Krylon Matt Varnish finish (a can I had in storage for about six years.. still worked well) which layered well and dried remarkably quickly.
I then ordered the figures as to what poses were to which stands and set them out.
The bases were all collected together (including a whole stack of others i need for later projects) and when tot the garage where I set up a hobby rotary tool with a small round sanding cylinder. I then spent about 2 hours burring the top surface of the bases with a course sand paper so that the basing plaster will stick strongly to it later.
After this I had to sit down and do the one part I think I need to redesign in my process.
I had to pare away from the base of each soldier the PVA glue and card stuck to the bottom.
I am seriously considering some king of set of mails and block of wood with holes in it from now on with the use of blue tack to hold them on… but then the blue tack can go soft apparently and also the spray paint can stuff the tack.. any suggestions?
Anyways the base of each soldier still had PVA and torn card fluff so had to carved off with blade.. and later I used a file which was both quicker and safer.
The fun part… gluing the soldiers to the base with cheap Cyanoacrylate this took 2 nights… longer than I anticipated… I think I was cooking that night.
Super fun part.. ground basing.
Now we have options here.. some people use pumice paste.. I don.. I use what is easily available.. Plaster board filling compound, or Pollyfilla™
I use a special secret recipe… standard recipe is 2.5 parts filler to 1 part water.
I add 1 more part water and about the equal of 2- M&Ms sized parts of brown cheap poster paint.. colour.. dark Ochre Brown. The dark brown will fade out heaps when the plaster dries… but it will be a dusty brown colour.. it should look like a medium dampness friable soil colour. Also if your base ever gets chipped during play you won’t see a glaring bright white plaster.
As you will see in this photo I mixed a little browner in the stands to the right than the ones to the left. As of this morning (the day after) the dark brown has kept its dark shade mostly. So if you use about 3-4 M&M size blobs of paint you can get a very dark soil.
I use a deep BF blister scarp to mix my plaster in. I use a ½ teaspoon measure and it is important you do measure reasonably accurately if you want consistent results. Although the paint is proving difficult to measure.
I use a sculpting tool with a fine spear tang tip and a rounded paddle end tip. I used the paddle to mix the paint and plaster and when the figures are based close together the thin spear tip is used to place the plaster.
The consistency of this plaster is reasonably watery. It flows with a little guidance but isn’t so free that it won’t sculpt up to a point. It is best described as being like a soft whipped cream.
I then wipe my finger tips or a tissue along the base edges leaving the grey plastic edge, which looks really neat.
Later I will glue flock and grass to these… the brown colour will look good under that.
PS I tried green plaster once… never again.