20mm American WWII Infantry (Airfix Battles and Chain of Command)

With an eye to playing an American force with the 'Chain of Command' rules and using figures instead of counters in Airfix Battles I gathered together my various "virgin, part painted and fully painted" plastic US Infantry figures. None of the "fully painted" category makes it to the full OrBat as required so some "painting tray" work needs to be done. As it stands I have US Infantry (excluding paratroopers and US Marine Corp) from the following manufacturers:

• Valiant Miniatures (23mm)
• Plastic Soldier Company
• Caesar Miniatures
• Revell
• Italeri (new not old Esci)

Given the OrBat needs of "riflemen" no one manufacturers (with the possible exception of Valiant) packet suffices to make a whole 'Chain of Command Platoon'. However each manufacturer's packet can easily make an individual squad though. Therefore by careful deduction as I need three squads plus a HQ section, multiple manufacturers shall be used:

• Platoon HQ: Lt (Carbine), Sgt (SMG) and Bazooka Team (Bazooka + 2 Crew)
• Squad 1: Corp (SMG),  Rifle Section (8 Rifles) and BAR Section  (BAR + 2 Crew and 1 Rifle)
• Squad 2: Corp (SMG),  Rifle Section (8 Rifles) and BAR Section  (BAR + 2 Crew and 1 Rifle)
• Squad 3: Corp (SMG),  Rifle Section (8 Rifles) and BAR Section  (BAR + 2 Crew and 1 Rifle)

I decided to paint a section from the Plastic Soldier Company, (new) Italeri, Caesar and finish painting up a squad I started a decade ago of Revell 'Ardennes Infantry' which gives me four squads (yes one more than I need, but there are extra things also required from the American "support list" and an extra squad is one of them). They are also all 'size compatible/interchangeable' something that Valiant fails at (it would have to be a full OrBat or nothing). This means the "painting tray" looks rather full (see below):

I am following my preferred painting pattern as of late. Airfix Grey 01 Acrylic primer followed by a Vallejo Wash, in this case Black. The Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) are first up "primed" (see below):

The "washed" Black (see below, though this may not go down in history as the most informative picture I have ever taken!):

Next stepis to follow my old posts on Valiant US Painting instructions.

A field of Valiant American GI's

After many hours spent with modelling knife, plastic glue and super-glue behold my Valiant American GI's from Normandy line up in raw plastic.

The trial batch were processed a while back, so the rest of the "battalion" makes its way to the production line. As per the instructions in the packet the figure poses were chosen to field a Rapid Fire US Infantry Battalion 1944 with a few (or more than a few) spares left over (see below).

Also seen is an Italeri M8. Nice to see new mouldings hit the market and it goes well with my Skytrex metal M8 and M20. I will probably get the Italeri M20 if I see it (and if it is under a £10). It is a nice kit though with fiddly parts, to counter this they have wargame mode instructions which leaves out the bits that will probably break.

That way I have the makings of a US Combat Team Recon Group. My (old original ECSI) M3 Scout Cars, plus Hasagawa M3 and M4 Half Tracks should do nicely as transport for the Armoured Infantry.

Seen here in nude plastic wanting, nay yelling for paint. One could also ask where oh where are my metal Platoon 20 British 1944 Normandy infantry, left so near to completion at the start of this year. Waiting patiently is the answer

:(

Valiant's GI's Passing Out Parade

The excitement was tangible, the final dry brush of the base and ceremonial flock complete, the first sprue of Valiant 1944 GI's (all sixteen) were wargame ready. Squeezed in for the camera below, front facing:

And back:

True I have already spotted some catch up jobs to do. I don't like the helmet straps (green instead of brown) and I didn't pluck up the courage to paint the US flag on the sleeves of the jackets, as per the Flames of War painting guide description. These can wait for another day (if ever).

They are colourful and playful enough for my liking :)

Valiant's Multi-Pose GI's Figures

I had to face facts. I was avoiding the dreaded task of cutting out the the arms and torsos off the Valiant plastic sprue. It was one of those things that was something worse in thought than in doing, so with a sigh I gently picked up a craft knife. The result being the figures in gray below (with an escort of Platoon 20 British Infantry)

There that was not so bad, I said to myself. Mostly good in fact, although it took longer than I expected, and a few of the poses look a bit questionable, though let's see how they paint up. The two GI's with guns slung to the left could perhaps have been done better (somehow?). Another view of the same thing below:

In the background you can see my second squad of British Platoon 20 infantry have advanced to the "shades" stage. But look:

This angry man wants attention! A metal Morian Goblin, I avert my eyes and go do some housework instead, it's just a mental thing with me at the moment, akin to writers block, figure "brush freeze" :(

The first batch of Valiant's GI's painted: Saving Private Ryan?

Quite simply I enjoyed painting these tremendously and I will be seeking out the other Valiant packs, especially the British. :)

It was also very good fun to work with the Vallejo paints and mixing Vallejo with other paint ranges I have lying around. I am afraid I break the Vallejo doctrine of only using "distilled water" and I think the state of  my water jar in general would make them shudder, particularly at the irregularity of its changing to clean and the murky deposits at the bottom.

Anyway back to the GI's, these first eight figures are the "complete/whole" figures from the sprue needing no construction work done on them (FYI: Sixteen figures to the sprue, four identical sprue to the box, 64 figures in all, a nice generous amount). As hinted at the remaining eight figures require a bit of glue in assembling which of the multiple pose/variant parts (different satchels, heads and things to attach) you would like to use. These first eight I used as virgin, although I will doubtless tinker with those that follow on. Put it this way your 'spares box' will start to bulge. For some reason these first eight (see below) I associate strongly with "Saving Private Ryan". Not quite Rangers but good enough for me:

I think I will probably stick with individual bases, though people may shake their heads when I try and play CrossFire or Command Decision with them. The objective is to base up enough for a Command Decision battalion (which is roughly equivalent to a Crossfire company). I accept that they are chunky and large when next to other manufacturers but I forgive Valiant because the figures are so nice. I guess my challenge is for that not to happen on my wargames table (too often).

Painting techniques:

I used two different methods but with the same materials. The results of method one are shown below to the right, that of method two to the left. Note: Remember I did not need to PVA these boys as the plastic is really hard! A++

Alas the picture does blur when you click in, I still have to work on taking decent infantry shots :( 

Method One was my standard approach:

Base Coat Black (GW Chaos Black), Base Shade areas as per the Flames of War US Infantryman Painting Guide (Click into product to see a slightly blurry version of the guide [Vallejo Paints]), subbing colours from GW and Anita's Acrylics as required (remember I do not possess the Quartermaster Set, nor see the need to) and then highlight up the Vallejo paint with a cheaper Anita Acrylic (see the various paint squares I have on transparent ex-stationary items). The result is not bad (I'd actually say petty good as it pleasantly surprised me), though perhaps a tad heavy on the shadow lining. I did seven out of eight of the figures that way.

Method Two was a throw away approach:

I was playing around with a figure I had not yet undercoated and basically was slapping on the Vallejo paint still left on my brush. I followed method one but then gave it a relatively weak black wash (Anita's Acrylics) in the cracks and crevices. Annoyingly I think it is as good as or even better than my more time consuming method one. The shadowing is much less pronounced. It seemed that much quicker as I was prepared to put the paint on much rougher. There maybe an important moral here ;)

Any comments appreciated :)

Queue Jumping GI's -They made me do it Sarge!

Well I just had to do it. I so was beefed up to the hilt with plastic American Infantry figures and painting guides galore. If I didn't have a go I'd burst. A fast forward to the results of my first GI figure painting experimentation session being:

But how did I get there (and what about those metal Moria Goblins)?

The final  nail in the coffin of restraint and dignity was the 'impulse buy' of (ha ha, he laughs but unbeknownst to him, deep down in his sub-conscious his hobby mind had been planning this purchase for a long, long while ) the Flames of War packaged Vallejo"US Paint Set". This was despite not owning the prerequisite "Quarter Master Set" - I figured there were plenty of near matches available from my GW, Tamiya, Humbrol Acrylics (this latter one is a really old set, but I see they are back out on the market, as advertised on the Valiant web-site) and the very reasonably priced, aka cheap and lots of it, Anita's Acrylics. Yes, great just what I needed another dilemma, yet another confusingly complicated paint system. I didn't realize there quite so many different shades and colours (or should I say interpretations) of Khaki across the paint manufacturers :(

In the back of my mind I was also conscious of Arquinsiel's previous comment regarding Vallejo colours not quite matching the guide 100% so I wanted a firm test of what they could do before inevitably buying wholesale into it. Nevertheless the Valiant US GI's were squarely fixed in my sights and I was 'as curious as a cat' to see if Al's comment on their size viz other painted figures (which I knew would be smaller) would made me run screaming away. Those interested may note an old painted Revell US Ardennes infantryman sitting atop the Yellow Tamiya paint pot in the background of the first picture, double-click in for details.(Also note while in the hobby shop I also picked up - no I couldn't stop myself,  a new set of Italeri US Infantry. The lure of "new toolings" proudly marketed on the front of the box quickly claimed another victim. Not so their repackaged old Esci ones, despite the their noticeably harder plastic than I remember as a kid, I managed to put them back on the shelf). Don't forget I also possess a stash (150+) of unpainted late war Revell American (Ardennes) Infantry which means the US paint set won't run out of subject matter any time soon.

Enough of the preamble, what did I do? First of all I washed them in detergent like a good boy, then cutting them carefully off the sprue convinced me that I did not need the dreaded PVA coat, the plastic is really solid. Which is an A+ benefit in my eyes. Yes, they do look large next to other manufacturers1/72 scale infantry (again you'll see a Revell chap in  the first picture), but not enough to put the likes of me off. However I would only battalion Valiant kit together with like Valiant kit, but I see that as a fine way of distinguishing between OoB units on tabletop. I guess I am shameless as I am happy with these giants fighting beside midgets.

The undercoat was Choas Black from GW and this gave a very good seal to the figure. (Note Fraximus and Paul both recommend Halford's car paint primer so I will have to check this out, but I am in experimental mode and just used what was at hand). I do like GW Chaos black as it always feels to me more of a thin plastic skin than just a flaky surface covering, but this is expensive when you consider it is basically an undercoat that is immediately hidden. A deep intake of breath and turn to the Vallejo paints and Flames of War, Valient and Italeri painting charts. Nothing quite like getting conflicting advice, plus the artistic impressions gleaned from my Uniforms of World War II book! Meanwhile ... the Vallejo paint went on lovely :)

True the Vallejo paints needed a real good shake before I got the true colour, but the end result was good, in that for the first time I really was happy with the way the US infantry looked. I have to say I am now a very big fan of Valiant infantry, big figures or no.They paint as easy as Games Workshop starter plastics and I think that is a huge compliment.Experimentation to follow is how to highlight and shade, but for now I am happy.

Note: Any comments/tips on photographing 1/72 infantry figures appreciated, as I find it a complete pain :(

PS : Just don't mention the Goblins (on the painting tray) as I can see they are upset. I 'will' (eventually) finish that HoTT army :(