John Brown's Painted Axis and Allies Pieces

[John Brown]

OK guys, I’m going to attempt to take your advice, and adopt all these methods. I did forget to wash these pieces, I just primed, but will start doing it for now on.

As you know, I’m starting with the German air force first. This will include all planes made by OOB and HBG, until the new set comes out, then I will add the new ones later.

I will be attempting to do 135 planes in 5 schemes. I will do the night camo first, the green camo next, the desert with cheetah camo third, the snow camo fourth and last, but not least, the gray camo.

This is my favorite country as far as schemes and equipment.

I will do the naval force, after the air force. I will do ground and AAA guns, after the naval forces, then the infantry last.

This will take me some time, but I will not be posting any more pictures, unless I’m completely satisfied, myself, with them.

After I’m finished with the air force in the night camo, I will post some pictures, then proceed to work on the next air force scheme and so on.

Once, I’m completely done with a country, I will put the overall pictures of it, in the appropriate blank posts, I made.

Wish me luck, because I will need it, LOL.

Once I finish a particular country, I will put it on the 1939 Global Map on this thread, until the 1936 HBG map comes out, so continue watching out for this thread, as I journey into the world of miniature painting.

Hopefully, I will get better as time goes on to where I can post something, I’m proud of.

Thanks guys! :-D

John

[Spitfire38]

I’ll chime in with my two cents -

@John:

Guys, I did 4 more planes over the weekend, but I’m disappointed in them.

When I put the setting solution and decals on, it smeared my paint jobs, and it is frustrating, because they looked pretty decent for a beginning painter, but now I don’t know what to think.

The planes looked like they have been through a war.

I just have to put the matte coating on it next.

I did 2 more BF 109’s and 2 Stuka Dive Bombers.

I will post them Thursday.

I got some questions for you painters. Spitfire38, has answered some of these questions, but would like to hear others opinions.

1. After you prime the piece, when you do a two or multiple camo scheme, do you paint your primary color first, and how long do you let it dry?

2. Do you immediately start the second color or do you wait a day?

3. Do you paint the cockpit, stripes and nose pieces first on the primer or after your paint job?

4. How long do you wait to put decals on, after a paint job?

5. How long after your paint job and decals, do you put your protective coat?

6. What color primer is best for the different colors?

7. Do you do anything special on camo striping?

Getting these questions answered can help me show you better pictures. My ultimate plan is to paint OOB and all HBG pieces for a continuous global game and beyond.

In order for me to be a better painter, I have to ask these questions, because of my inexperience.

Your expertise will be valuable to me, because I want to get better and give you better photos.

Thanks guys! I will be looking forward to your responses. :-D

John

1.) and 2.) I paint in assembly line fashion, so by the time that I am done with the current coat on the 20th piece, the coat on the 1st piece is usually dry. I wait for probably 10-20 minutes for my pieces to dry, but it would never ever take longer than 40 minutes for a piece I am working on to fully dry. A lot of the problems you describe sound like they have to do with the materials you’re using. Would you mind posting photos of the paints that you use and the decal solution you use? I think that would give some more useful information, since my experience is specific for my paints.

6.) I use a gray primer on all my pieces for simplicity’s sake. What IWillNeverGrowUp wrote is true about the different base coats for different colors. I just can’t afford that, but if you can, there are a lot of specialty primers specifically for miniature war gamers that are out there. I know that both Warhammer and Flames of War offer these.

[John Brown]

@Spitfire38:

I’ll chime in with my two cents -

@John:

Guys, I did 4 more planes over the weekend, but I’m disappointed in them.

When I put the setting solution and decals on, it smeared my paint jobs, and it is frustrating, because they looked pretty decent for a beginning painter, but now I don’t know what to think.

The planes looked like they have been through a war.

I just have to put the matte coating on it next.

I did 2 more BF 109’s and 2 Stuka Dive Bombers.

I will post them Thursday.

I got some questions for you painters. Spitfire38, has answered some of these questions, but would like to hear others opinions.

1. After you prime the piece, when you do a two or multiple camo scheme, do you paint your primary color first, and how long do you let it dry?

2. Do you immediately start the second color or do you wait a day?

3. Do you paint the cockpit, stripes and nose pieces first on the primer or after your paint job?

4. How long do you wait to put decals on, after a paint job?

5. How long after your paint job and decals, do you put your protective coat?

6. What color primer is best for the different colors?

7. Do you do anything special on camo striping?

Getting these questions answered can help me show you better pictures. My ultimate plan is to paint OOB and all HBG pieces for a continuous global game and beyond.

In order for me to be a better painter, I have to ask these questions, because of my inexperience.

Your expertise will be valuable to me, because I want to get better and give you better photos.

Thanks guys! I will be looking forward to your responses. :-D

John

1.) and 2.) I paint in assembly line fashion, so by the time that I am done with the current coat on the 20th piece, the coat on the 1st piece is usually dry. I wait for probably 10-20 minutes for my pieces to dry, but it would never ever take longer than 40 minutes for a piece I am working on to fully dry. A lot of the problems you describe sound like they have to do with the materials you’re using. Would you mind posting photos of the paints that you use and the decal solution you use? I think that would give some more useful information, since my experience is specific for my paints.

6.) I use a gray primer on all my pieces for simplicity’s sake. What IWillNeverGrowUp wrote is true about the different base coats for different colors. I just can’t afford that, but if you can, there are a lot of specialty primers specifically for miniature war gamers that are out there. I know that both Warhammer and Flames of War offer these.

If I have some time, I will post the primer and paints and brushes, I bought.

Thanks buddy! :-)

John

[John Brown]

Guys, I’m going to take a picture of all my paints, primers, the protective coating. the setting solution, the brushes and the lighted magnifying lamp, I’m using.

It will be later tonight, before I have the picture up.

This way you can see what I’m using. :-)

John

[John Brown]

Okay guys, I got 10 pictures of the supplies, I’m using. Here are the first two pictures. :-)

[John Brown]

Here are the second set of pictures. :-)

[John Brown]

Here are the third set of pictures. :-)

[John Brown]

Here are the fourth set of pictures. :-)

[John Brown]

Here is the last set of pictures for supplies. :-)

[John Brown]

As you can see I have plenty of supplies. I think the problem was more of my  method than the supplies, but I will let you all determine what I was doing wrong.

At the current moment, I’m working on the night camo for the German air force. I’m doing 27 planes in this scheme. I’m currently about to start the windows, nose pieces and stripes, tonight.

The only question is, do I protect the paint before I put the decals on, or do I do the decals before I protect the paint with a gloss or matte coat?

One person has answered, but is there more than one way of doing things, when it comes to decals?

How much setting solution do you put on the plane? Is there a thing as too much?

These are questions that would help me. :-)

Thanks,

John

[Spitfire38]

@John:

As you can see I have plenty of supplies. I think the problem was more of my  method than the supplies, but I will let you all determine what I was doing wrong.

At the current moment, I’m working on the night camo for the German air force. I’m doing 27 planes in this scheme. I’m currently about to start the windows, nose pieces and stripes, tonight.

The only question is, do I protect the paint before I put the decals on, or do I do the decals before I protect the paint with a gloss or matte coat?

One person has answered, but is there more than one way of doing things, when it comes to decals?

How much setting solution do you put on the plane? Is there a thing as too much?

These are questions that would help me. :-)

Thanks,

John

Wow, you have quite the stock of supplies there! I’m very jealous, especially of your Vallejo paints - they’re purportedly the best. I can’t immediately identify any problems from your supplies. It all looks in order. You do have three different kinds of paints, so you are dealing with three different consistencies, three different drying times, etc.

Decals: I know someone offered their method earlier, which was to put decals on after the protective spray. It seems to work for him, so I guess it should work for you. I personally put the decals on before I spray the piece with enamel, in hopes that the enamel will coat the decals as well and provide an extra level of protection to keep the decal on the piece. That works for me, so it should work for you. Sounds like it comes down to personal preference.

You only need a little dab of decal solution where you want to put the decal. You may even want to dab it onto the piece and soak up any extra so that it doesn’t create a puddle. For example… when I apply decals to the wings of planes, I brush some solution over the wing of the plane, but I don’t want to put so much that the decal is swimming in solution when I apply it. Your solution application should be pretty localized. I don’t want to dip my piece in a vat of solution lol.

[John Brown]

I think you nailed my problem. I think I’m soaking my plane with setting solution to get the decal on where I want it. Could that be messing my paint jobs? :?

[Spitfire38]

@John:

I think you nailed my problem. I think I’m soaking my plane with setting solution to get the decal on where I want it. Could that be messing my paint jobs? :?

Quite possibly. When you say soaking the plane, do you mean literally covering the whole plane in solution, or just applying liberally in the areas that you are putting the decals?

The nice thing about acrylic paints is that they reconstitute very well with water or watery liquids. (They become runny again). This can be used to your advantage when your paint in the palette is drying out, but it will cause you problems when you apply too much on your finished paint job. So yes, the decal solution can ruin your paint job if you put a lot on, just as your paint job would be ruined if you dip your piece in water and run your brush over it a few times.

[John Brown]

@Spitfire38:

@John:

I think you nailed my problem. I think I’m soaking my plane with setting solution to get the decal on where I want it. Could that be messing my paint jobs? :?

Quite possibly. When you say soaking the plane, do you mean literally covering the whole plane in solution, or just applying liberally in the areas that you are putting the decals?

The nice thing about acrylic paints is that they reconstitute very well with water or watery liquids. (They become runny again). This can be used to your advantage when your paint in the palette is drying out, but it will cause you problems when you apply too much on your finished paint job. So yes, the decal solution can ruin your paint job if you put a lot on, just as your paint job would be ruined if you dip your piece in water and run your brush over it a few times.

Applying to liberally on the plane, itself, I’m afraid. :oops:

[John Brown]

I just finished all the cockpits on the night camo. Tomorrow I will do the nose, engines and stripes to some of the planes.

If I follow all of your instructions to a tee, I should have something to view at the end of the week, if not sooner. :-D

[John Brown]

The real test will be the German green camo planes for me, but these black German night camo planes is a good scheme for beginners, like me, LOL.

Wish me luck guys on this first batch! I’m really trying to learn, LOL. :-D

[John Brown]

Guys, hopefully, by Sunday, I will have phase 1 of 5 of the Luftwaffe done. That is 27 planes in the black night camo, with 9 having yellow noses and stripes, 9 with white noses and stripes and the last 9 are all black.

I’ve been working extra hard on these. The only thing I have left is for them to dry, then I will put a protective coat, then decals and finally more protective coating.

I have followed little bit of everyone’s advice, except the washing of the pieces. that was my only mistake so far.

Wish me luck on putting the decals on without making a mess of the paint. :-D

Thanks,

John

[Wizl007]

Good luck :)

Hope to see pictures soon.
I have two small palanes from Revell to paint as test subjects before i start painting A&A figures :D
Maybe some risk figures as well … I wouldnt want to mess up everything :)

[John Brown]

@Wizl007:

Good luck :)

Hope to see pictures soon.
I have two small palanes from Revell to paint as test subjects before i start painting A&A figures :D
Maybe some risk figures as well … I wouldnt want to mess up everything :)

Well, if your beginning like me, you can expect a couple of mistakes for sure. You can ask any painter, and I bet everyone has made a mistake in their paint jobs, here and there, but I’m having fun and learning. I hopefully will get better, as time goes on.

I can’t wait too see what you come up with, on your paint jobs, and good luck to you, as well.

Tuesday would be the latest on my planes, but I have over 100 decals to put on these planes, and yes, I will need all the luck, I can get, because decals are very hard too do.

Thanks for the comments! :-)

John

[cyanight]

Hey John, sorry I have been preoccupied playing league games, hehe.  You have quite the setup. Very nice!

I mostly use Vallego paints except for the primer and sealer.  One thing you might want to consider is a carousel for your paints.  I have over 200 paints and it was difficult to find them sometimes. I got this cheap carousel from the war store. It helps me locate the color I want. http://www.thewarstore.com/product44011.html

For spray paints I love Plastic Soldier paints but they are difficult to find in the US. I have been using Army Paints instead since the other is not available.

For decals I use Vallejo Decal fix.  I apply only to where I want to put the decal and let dry at least 15 minutes.  Then I put a small drop of water on the same spot and brush it lightly.  Next I place the wet decal from a brush onto the piece and move it until it is in place.  Next I take a small tissue to absorb the excess water and the decal flattens to the piece.

Good Luck and hope to see your work soon.