@leebear By far the most laborious part of the painting was the infantry. All the other stuff was fun to paint but you have to really focus on small detail with infantry to stop them looking a mess. If you look closely you’ll see a couple of shortcuts I’ve used such as with Japan and Germany where I’ve painted the bases and the boots the same colour to avoid having to etch my way around the boot line on every model.
The infantry (especially the German Waffen-SS, Wehrmacht & Paratrooper units) are extremely time consuming to paint - and multiple colors are needed for those uniforms.
Since we always play with the Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion, I had to find a way to distinguish the various infantry units from each other.
The base on which the infantry stands has a specific color to determine which type of infantry it represents.
To solve this, the Color System I came up with is (Humbrol):
I mostly use Humbrol paint (turbentine based paint) since they can withstand wear & tear. After panting is done & dry, I spray all units with matt varnish for extra protection.
@the-captain Ahh, yeah you’d certainly need a comprehensive colour scheme like that to play with those rules, from what I’ve seen.
I’ve actually gotten better by the end of painting 600 miniatures than I was to start with, meaning I keep wanting to repaint the ones I did first. Its like a never ending cycle!
True - I’ve just painted another 1248 pieces, so that I have 2 complete Global 1940 games ready for use.
Several of our members have painted pieces - and they are all following the same color system to avoid confusion.
I’ve attached some pictures of “How to Mass Produce Painted Pieces”.
@the-captain That’s super helpful, thankyou!
@the-captain In the pictures you presented of your painting technique, I spy some old pieces - specifically, some of the old Table Tactics pieces - landing craft, jeeps, and land mines. Are those original or reproductions? If they are reproductions, how / where did you get them made? Or is this just an old picture?
I would dearly love to find a new source for those old pieces, now more than 20 years old…
-Midnight_Reaper
Those pictures are from three weeks ago, when I was painting a G40 Complete Second Game for use with Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion and Global 1943 Expansion - since we need an extra complete game for tournaments.
I had to dig my way through some of my old stuff up in the attic - and found an extra box of Axis & Allies Accessories and Central Powers - they were more or less intact.
I bought them back in 1995.
I ran out of G40 OOB Mechanized Infantry units - so I use the Jeeps instead.
Brings back a lot of memories:relaxed:
P Panther moved this topic from Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition on
Went to watch a 42 game where 2 players will be playing my gamefirst time and wanted to meet. These pics Captain are buddy’s German inf he has done.
That is truly a great job:+1:
Does these German infantry units have special capabilities?
@the-captain said in Painted pieces. Take a look!:
That is truly a great job:+1:
Does these German infantry units have special capabilities?
No not as of now. Basically just play oob rules with them.
He said like desert pieces, Finland etc based on locations.
@general-6-stars Those look amazing!
I’m in the process of varnishing mine. I’ve hand varnished all the infantry and tanks so far but I’d like to speed the process along. Is it possible to use a spray can on the bigger units like ships? I understand that I’d have to be careful not to blast them too quick but are items of this size a little too finely detailed to be “mass” sprayed?
I use a Spray Varnish Matt.
After the paint & decals are dry, I spray with the varnish - at a distance from app. 30 cm - to get an even layer.
After varnishing, I leave the units to dry & the varnish to harden for at least 24 hours.
Those Waffen-SS Paratrooper units (see picture below) are more than 10 years old now - and they have been used in several hundred games - and have been moved multiple times during each game.
So the varnish a good investment.
You got a name for this varnish matt spray please ?
@the-captain
Well, that’s amazing to hear as it looks like you just finished them. I’m off over to access models in Newark to get some matt spray varnish then.
Bit of trivia for you…Access models, here in Newark, England was the first retailer to sell Citadel miniatures (if you’ve heard of those). The old fella in the shop was telling me about how Steve Jackson came in back in the early 1980’s and did a deal with him.
This spray varnish is just one I bought in a supply store. There are several other companies that produce similar products.
Important is to check the exp. date - since the varnish gets “chunky” when it is too old - or have been stored too cold.
Yea - I know of both Access Models and Citadel miniatures.
We buy our Axis & Allies scale 1/600 Aircraft from the UK company Tumbling Dice.
Tanks & Vehicles scale 1/285 we buy from GHQ Models in US.
Both Tumblng Dice & GHQ Models are super detailed - and their size are identical to the OOB Axis & Allies game pieces.
@the-captain
I went and got some Humbrol matt spray varnish earlier. I warmed it up a bit and gave it a good shake which seems to have produced pretty good results. I’m just letting everything cure overnight now.
That’ll do it - and after you have used your playing pieces for a while, you’ll see if you need to spray a new layer of matt varnish.
2-3 layers - each layer thinly sprayed - and dry 24 hours between each layer.
You units will last a lifetime:+1:
