John Brown's Painted G1940 Set - by Spitfire38

@Dafyd:

Spitfire; truly amazing work.  I have painted some small sacle models before but this is …well…truly amazing work.  I am curious, how do you prep the pieces to be painted?  Do you use Kylon Fusion paint to hold the colors to the polypropolene plastic or do you use the acrylic paints and then clear coat them so the paint won’t come off from handling them?  Your roundels; are they paonted or are those a micro decal?  I don’t mean for you to give your sevrets away, but I was just wondering with admiration and trying to figure out how you did it.

Don’t worry, they are not trade secrets. I don’t know if I have any of those - much of the reason that my pieces turn out how they do is just the fact that I have been painting for a while and have a good sense of what works!

To prep my pieces, I spray them with a basic gray primer. I try to keep the coats thin. This helps the paint bond to the piece much more easily than if it was straight onto the plastic. If you want more information, look at my tutorial thread, which is stickied at the top of this subforum.

The roundels are a decal. On my personal pieces I hand paint them, but decals give you crisp and uniform work, especially when you get in to things like flags, stars, etc.

And finally, thanks for your praise!

@Scipe:

Just recently purchased my own set of G40 2nd Ed. Was thinking of doing the magnetic Carriers and attempting to paint the units. How long does it normally take to finish a full set? I understand that John had OOB and Aftermarket units.

I might end up purchasing some aftermarket pieces in case i REALLY mess up on painting and can’t rectify the issues with my amateur skills.

Well, the amount of time it takes depends on your process, how detailed you’d like to be, the quality of your paints (and therefore how many coats you have to do, etc…)

However, I can give you a rough estimate for my work. For each group of pieces (navy, infantry, air force, ground forces) it takes me approx 7-10 hours to paint 40 pieces. So, for one OOB nation, it might take (8 hrs x 4 = 32 hours) for one nation. Multiply that by the number of nations, taking into account that some nations have more than 40 pieces in their sets, and that would give you an estimate of how long it takes. It’s going to be a large number, I can certainly tell you that.

@Scipe:

Hey it’ll be a fun learning experience. Just got back from Michaelswith magnetic tape and the paints you recommend in your guide. Wish me luck.  :lol:

That’s awesome! I’m excited for you. Happy painting, and let me or the community know if you have any questions.

Hi all! Here’s a few teaser photos for the UK Pacific pieces that are to be finished in the next two weeks. Some are unwashed or unfinished, but they are nearing the final stages.

@jwo1984:

These are looking good spitfire…some very colourful selections for the brits! Cool green and black combo on the Matilda tanks.  Did or have you painted the Stirling bombers yet? ( if it made JB’s roster selection)  I also like the grey in the Lancaster.

Yes, I have painted the Stirlings! They were fun to paint because their size gives lots of room to play around with patterns.

The lighting is a little off in the photos, so the tanks are a green and a very dark green that appears black. Once I add the tracks and maybe some drybrushing, it should look more complete.

I would have to agree about the Lancaster. The gray and greenish scheme for the air force was my favorite scheme to paint out of all the UK Pacific pieces.

Thanks jwo and LHoffman!

After many months and so many hours of painting, I am so very happy to present the UK Pacific pieces to you all.

The British Empire will finally have something to protect their interests in the Far East! Though the end of British control was to come soon after the war with independence in India/Pakistan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, they are still alive and well and eager to push the Japanese out of their territory.

Glamour shots below - see the individual photos on the earlier pages. I have edited the UK post with the photos.

Enjoy the pieces, and may you all continue to paint and share!

@jwo1984:

wow man they way you have them photo’d its like they are being assembled painted and presented straight out of a factory! they look so impressive all in rows together this must have been a lot of work! did you just paint one color at a time per unit just cause of the sheer volume of units ?  The british paratroopers and special forces look very cool! love the burgundy beret hats! hats off to you Spitfire!  are we going to see you tackle the germans or americans next??

Thanks jwo! The red berets for the special forces were based off of the British paratroopers that jumped into Arnhem in Operation Market Garden. Interestingly enough, the PIAT anti-tank weapon that this paratrooper has in the image below was the only anti-tank capabilities that the British troops had to fight off the SS Panzer division stationed in Arnhem. The consequences of bad intel…

As to my painting process: I always paint in an assembly line fashion unless I am painting a few of my personal pieces. I will go through and paint a certain layer on all the pieces, and then move on to the next layer for all the pieces. For example, the infantry begin with the base color of their uniform, which is followed by the base of the piece, then the rucksack, then the helmet, gun, canteen, entrenching tool, etc, and then the flesh. It’s definitely a process. It makes things efficient, conserves paint, and ensures a measure of quality control and consistency.

And John is having me paint the UK Europe pieces next, so you’ll see more of the British!