Sunday, May 16, 2010

Change of Plans



Yeah, about those Fallschirmjager...

With camo smocks and a butt-ton of miniatures to paint in a relatively short amount of time, I've decided to make a switch. I'm still doing Germans, but this first force will be a SS Panzerkompanie from the 3rd SS "Totenkopf". This will allow me to do a couple of things:

1. Practice painting 15mm scale vehicles
2. Actually get a FoW force done and painted for the Market Garden campaign

Before anyone howls about it, yes, I know Totenkopf didn't fight in Market Garden. However, I love the Eastern Front, and you have to admit Sturmtigers look pretty badass!

The above picture shows only the beginning of the paint scheme that Nick Chew has helped me out with. Thus far, I've done the following (in order)

1. Assembled the models (duh!)
2. Undercoated them in Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown
3. Basecoated them in Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow
4. Added camo stripes in Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown
5. Added second set of camo stripes in Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green
6. Applied a green filter to the entire model(s) with heavily diluted XF-58 Olive Green
7. Applied soot/exhaust stains to muzzles and exhausts with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black
8. Painted small spots of Vallejo Gloss Varnish to decal sites.
9. Applied decals from Flames of War SS Decal range
10. Covered decals with another thin coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish
11. Painted tool handles GW Snakebite Leather
12. Painted tools GW Boltgun Metal

Note: Steps 2 through 7 applied with an airbrush

That's all I've done up to this point. Subsequent steps will get the tracks done, gloss varnish the entire model, and then apply oil-based pin washes to all panel lines and whatnot. I'll do some weathering, pigment powders, and finish it all up with a matte varnish to bring it all together. So far, I'm really happy with the start I've gotten this weekend.

Once these Sturmtigers are done (and assuming I'm happy with the results), I'll do the same thing to 10 Panzer IVH tanks. Once those are done I have a full strength SS PzGren Platoon, and a two section SS Mortar Platoon to round out my initial 1500 points. I love it! :)

Until next time...

5 comments:

  1. Those sturmtiger are coming along nicely! This is looking to be a nice looking tank force coming up. The Irish and Welsh Guards are looking forward to face these guys

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  2. Nice job bro. I have to remove my Punjabi's from the shelf, now. I am embarrased have them next to your beautifully painted models...mine looks like....you know what!
    I have to spend more time with my models in order for them to look this cool.

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  3. @Azlan- Thanks dude. I'm going to do a bit of weathering and paint the tracks tonight, along with a gloss varnish and the oil-based pin washes tonight. Once those are dry they'll just need a matte varnish and a light metal drybrush on the tracks, and they should be good to go! I've got my fingers crossed...

    @Doc- Don't sweat the looks of your army- it's awesome that you're getting into FoW! If you ever want to pull up a chair and hobby with us sometime @ hobby nite instead of chucking dice, we'd love to have you. Maybe we could trade painting tips...?

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  4. Looking good dude. I personally find that getting tanks to look realistic at this scale is quite difficult coz of the amount of detail u need to accomplish in small model. Also you'll need to think about how your infantry models so that they have the same finish.

    Nice freehand camo work there dude :) Sign of growing confidence in using yr airbrush. Will be good for yr scratch built project.

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  5. Many thanks, Khairul. I'm happy with how they've started, and tonight I'm going to continue working on them. Tracks, detail painting, paint chipping, and oil pin washes are on the menu. :)

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