Accurate Miniature Equivalents for Custom Painting your 1940 E&P

@LHoffman:

@allworkandnoclay:

Not going to bother saying my excuses hah. All things come in threes.

UK Infantry

Hey Chad,

when you paint the infantry, which areas of the body do you paint first… after priming that is?

I just think of them as a person putting on layers - skin, then hair, then clothes, then accessories.

@LHoffman:

@allworkandnoclay:

I just think of them as a person putting on layers - skin, then hair, then clothes, then accessories.

Logical. Cool, thanks.

I think this approach works best. You’ll find that skin often needs more than one coat to get the correct color, and by the end of the job, you need to touch up some parts anyway. I generally do a base coat on everything, then once I get to the accessories (IE gun, backpack, etc) I start putting the paint on thick. After all the basic coats are finished I go back and touch up the skin, then helmet, then clothes.

Make sure to use exact recipes when mixing paints (IE 1 to 1, 1 to 3) and to write them down, as when you go back to do touch-ups, you’ll have trouble blending in with previous colors.

@Steel:

First off, awesome job on the paint jobs and camo schemes.

Second, have you ever considered making physical modifications to the pieces? Things like making national flags on the ships and carving headgear to make bush hats or Para berets or filing down the shorts socks combo on the British infantry?

the last one bothers me because I always disliked the British infantry sculpt having a uniform that was only worn in the western desert (ok, briefly in Burma until they realized it was a very bad idea) The British infantry sculpt was the only one that doesn’t reflect a universal looking figure.

Thanks!

Yes - the uniforms drove me nuts as well. I started off on one unit grinding down the large socks and pants folds, and then I filled in the void with some ‘green stuff’ (two part sculpting epoxy). It turned out pretty well, but took nearly and hour and a half each unit. Though the inaccuracy made me grit my teeth, it was just too big of a time investment to make too many alterations.

As far as other mods I do plan on doing: making flight stands out of dowel rod nips topped with a national roundel; and then making a similar roundel flag stand to identify the naval (just a flight stand with a flag decal basically - the various navies can be a bit tough to see at large).

UPDATE:

UK Ground Support

UK Mechanized Infantry

UK Artillery

UK Tanks

UK Ground Support European Camo

UK Ground Support “Mickey” Camo (D-Day)

UK Ground Support Desert Camo

UK Ground Support Far East Camo

UK Ground Support

@Dylan:

Is the navy or air force next?

RAF next.

@LHoffman:

@allworkandnoclay:

@Dylan:

Is the navy or air force next?

RAF next.

Chad, I saw pictures of someone else’s painted pieces and he used these small decals which he ordered online from a company. They seemed very appropriate and very strong in terms of color…. would you, in your professional opinion, recommend usage of such decals for someone else painting a set? Do you know if they are generally durable enough? (The decals were national symbols and other related markers.) His thread is under the Anniversary Ed. SubForum.

I don’t use any decals myself, but they work just fine. They’re durable - just make sure to seal your paint job first. I’ve never heard anything about sealing the decals under the paint, but I doubt it would bode too well. Good luck!