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A random series of articles on war gaming in 40K, FOW and other systems. The headings are, WiP; Conversions and models in various states of assembly. PiP; Paint works on various models. Mission Critical; scenarios or missions to bring a bit of a twist to a normal game. MiA; rules for units and characters that could/should/might appear in a game. Dig In; How to guides on making various types of terrain for different game systems. Sit Rep; Battle reports and after action reports on games played

Monday, January 28, 2013

PIP (FOW ): painting wall



I seem to have hit a painting wall lately. Painting is being done but there is not much to show for it. There are two main reasons for this

Work in progress half track.

first is the new air brush is being tested. This is airbrush number three. The first was a Revel kit that used enamel paints it worked fine but took too much preparation time and I did not want to stick with the enamel paints. The second was the Games Workshop kit. Again it worked fine but in the long run was a bit too expensive to keep stocked with cans of propellant at GW prices. Plus to get the most of the cans I kept having to heat them up using a gas heater and a pot of boiling water. It is a clever way to get more volume out of can but it seemed like a possible Darwin award. The current learning challenge is how to avoid the paint separating after spraying this could be due to too much filler in the mix or the fact it is damn cold in this parts ( it should hit -12 C tonight) meaning the paint dries slower and has more time to separate.

Shermans on the hunt for Free French decals

Two units have been painted with the airbrush so far . Both a Forged in Battle models. The M3 halftrack platoon is great and just ooze character. It is covered bits of baggage and has a real lived in look. The second unit is a platoon of Sherman. Compared to the half tracks they seem a bit functional. The Sherman are destined to become 1èmesection 3ère Compagnie de Combat del 501ème Regiment deChars de Combat de la 2éme Division Blindée francesa when I find a source for 15mm Free French decals.. The half tracks will join an armoured rifle platoon ( also in the painting queue) as part of Task Force Butler

4 grenadiers down...

The second time sink is Volksgrenadier Kompanie C. The Kompanie is at full strength and has been reinforced with several platoons for a total head count of 200+ men. It looks good on paper but all the little buggers need to be painted. I have based the models on lollipop sticks rather then the normal do the bases and then paint up. The sticks make it easier to reach those awkward places on a model. Plus I wanted a slightly rag tag look to the Kompanie so having the same poses on the stick allows me to alternate painting the same parts of the models to break up any repetition.

....197 to go



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1 comment:

Two-Dice said...

Hi Darragh,
what kind of airbrush do you have now? The paint should be almost dry when it hits the surface, so I am asuming that you are using too much paint. Also a double-action airbrush and most of all a proper compressor would help avoiding that problem!

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