October Project: Day 27 "Basing (III) Shade to Highlighting the Earth"

Painting the base proper!

Note to self: Now you do have to let this bit dry thoroughly out or you court disaster if you press too hard on the brush and to be fair it is hard mot to.

Anita's Acrylics yet again come to my rescue, starting with a plain lick of Earth Brown (11014) covering the base using a wet-brush rather than a dry brush technique. You can judge for yourself if you think the extra 'watery base coat of brown-black" was worth it from the previous stage (see below):

Next mix Earth Brown with Anita Acrylics Coffee (11044) in a 1:2 ratio. Again a rough and ready wet-brush application but less searching out the nooks and crannies than the first brown layer (see below):

Then despite it sounding slightly crazy, add Anita's Acrylic (11055) Lemon Yellow on a 1:1 ratio with the left over mix from the previous stage. This time I adopted a very lazy "let and let live" approach to painting, dabbing here and there as a lot of this will be covered in a layer of flock. Why bother at all then? Well, over time the flock will drop off or go bald, so if/when this happens the base still does not look too bad (see below):

Finally to the remaining residue add Anita Acrylic White (11001) to add that final 'rim' highlight on prominent raised places on the base. Less is definitely more here and subtlety is the watch word, so I pretty much reverted to more of a drier-brush than the previous stages (see below):

Here's one I may slightly of over done (see below):

With that it is the end of the painting! Moving onto the final phase of where I got to the in the original 2009 Painting Guide.

Next: For the "FLOCK" of it

October Project: Day 26 "Basing (II) Brown and Black Earth"

Once the sand has dried, or in the case of impatient and impetus people like myself, is "almost dry" (say 80% there) slosh together a very wet [think along the lines of a heavily coloured "wash" constituency] dark earth mix (Anita's Acrylic Earth Brown 11014) and apply it to the miniatures base, letting the sand soak all the paint up (see below, the platoon formation):

An individual MG Gunner (see below);

Just to be different, I then mix a dab of black (in this case the remaining Airfix Acrylic Matte Black from a starter set) into the watery mixture, leaving the figures for a few hours (again almost but not quite dry) and re-coat it over (see below):

This gives the base a bit more shadow that I can work up from when I layer the paint on. Again still going to plan aka the original 2009 Painting Guide.

Next: Painting the Base, from Shade to Highlight

October Project: Day 25 "Basing (I) - PVA and Sand"

Time to temporarily put down the paintbrush and pickup a bottle of PVA and "tub of wargaming sand". Watering down the PVA to a semi-fluid rather than treacle consistency, I dabbed it around each figure's base then dunked the feet into the "sand-box" and gave it a gentle "shake and swirl" (see below, the platoon result en masse):

An individual (see below, Rifleman "Shultz"):

Note: The sand has "chunky" bits in it, possibly on the large side as I had previously been working in 25/28mm.

Again still going to plan aka the original 2009 Painting Guide.

Next: Paint the Base

October Project: Day 24 "Boot Grey Day - Final Highlight"

The project has progressed to its final slot of painting the figures before 'basing' is addressed. This really is a final touch up job. If I were completely honest I was of half of a mind to miss it out, but by comparing the 'master 2009' figures with what I had done so far there was still just a subtle difference - so what the heck, "in for a penny in for a pound". Vallejo Game Color Stonewall Grey was added in small highlight dabs to prominent boot points (see below):

The Whole Range of Figures: 

MG Gunners: 

Riflemen:

Again still going to plan aka the original 2009 Painting Guide.

Next: Start of the Basing Process

October Project: Day 23 "Woodstock"

Next up is the little finishing touch highlights I want to apply to the wooden surfaces, which in the case of the Panzer Grenadiers is 95% rifle and MG weapon stocks and the odd hand grenade (potato masher style) in hand, belt or boot (the latter must have been unconfortable). This is done by a Vallejo Game Color Beasty Brown, with a subtle extra dab to highlight the highlights mixed with Tamiya XF-3 Matte Yellow (because that was all I had to hand at the time). Almost there now (see below, mostly grey with a bit of colour here and there):

Again still going to plan aka the original 2009 Painting Guide.

Next: Final dabs of grey on Das Boots!

October Project: Day 22 "Gas Mask and Helmet Highlight" Part (II)

Once I had painted the "new" Panzer Grenadier figures I took a look back at the 2009 completed set and saw that I had to apply a small highlight to bring both sets into alignment (see below):

Again still going to plan aka the original 2009 Painting Guide.

Next: Woodstock (aka rifle butts and the like)

October Project: Day 21 "Gas Mask and Helmet Highlight" Part (I)

The raised surfaces of the "helmet and gas mask containers" need special attention, courtesy of Tamiya (XF-61) Dark Green mixed with Tamiya Yellow (XF-3). In fact I got so obsessed with it I did a dab of yellower highlight on the first highlight (see below):

Riflemen:  

The MG Gunners and a Rifleman: 

All this obsessing meant that this little highlight layer spanned over two days. Again I think I can say it is still going to plan aka the original 2009 Painting Guide.

:)

Next: Some more Gas Masks and Helmets