John Brown's Painted Axis and Allies Pieces

@John:

Thanks guys, I appreciate the words of encouragement. Since you guys are so supportive, I will go ahead and show you, my only two paint jobs, I’ve done.

I painted 2 German BF 109’s.

The first one was a black BF 109. I tried to paint a simple white stripe by the side decals, the problem is, I don’t know how long you too wait for the acrylic paint to dry before you do nose coloring, stripes or camo. I used a gray primer, then I painted the main color black.

If you want a crisp line or distinction between the two layers you have you should wait for the first layer to completely dry. This varies based on how thick the paint it, but generally I’d estimate 5-10 minutes. When in doubt, wait. At least we’re not using oils haha. You’ll come to know the properties of your paint the more that you practice. I try to paint thin coats, rather than globs, so that it dries faster and it makes it lookes crisper and less of a “glob of a mess”. :)

When I tried to paint the stripe, I had problems, even worse when I tried to paint the nose of the plane, it would have black still showing underneath. It was looking like one big glob of a mess.

This is a problem that you will run into when painting a lighter color over a darker color (especially). Well, really any color over another color, as your brush will leave a a streaked layer of paint, so the bottom often shines through the top. The solution? Multiple coats. I often paint a stripe, and then revisit it a few minutes later and go back over it to make sure nothing shows through.

Plane noses are just hard to paint without looking globby. Use a small brush and spread it around as best you can, and then just accept the fact that it will often look globby :/ Especially on the Bf 109. Other models have better shaped noses.

Can you all explain how you do those things and make look smooth?

The second BF 109 was suppose to be a German Green Camo, with dark and light green stripes, here again, I don’t know when to add the next camo color, because I don’t how long you wait for it too dry.

For some reason, it came out awesome, because I smeared four colors and made this affect on the plane. Now, it doesn’t have the distinct camo lines, as the German green camo, normally has, but I think it still looks sharp.

Yeah, if you wanted distinct lines you probably didn’t wait long enough, but as you said, it looks pretty cool! I have never been able to blend colors like that, so maybe you can teach me a thing or two! :D

I would fly it, LOL.

HA!

Also would have liked to had a yellow nose with yellow side stripes, but maybe, you all can give me some advice.

See above advice on painting over another color. Warning: Yellow doesn’t have very much pigment, so it is notoriously hard to paint anything yellow. I normally paint two coats on the base of an infantry piece, but with the British (yellow base) it took 5 coats. Don’t let that dissuade you from using it; just know that you will probably have to put more paint over it than you’d expect.

General rule of thumb: The thicker the paint on the piece, the more vibrant the color will be. For example: a thin coat followed by a follow up coat will generally give you crisper lines, but sometimes it helps to put more paint on the piece and make the layer thicker to make it cover the bottom layer more effectively. Does that make any semblance of sense? Sorry if some of this is intimidating or useless.

Without further delay, here is my first works. Enjoy! :-D

Nice start!

John

Nice application of the decals by the way.

@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?

This advice comes from experience as a Miniature Wargame painter (WH40K, Bolt Action, etc), but it applies to Axis and Allies pieces as well (which I also did several years ago now).

Prime, wait 24 hours, then start painting (I do each color as the previous one dries to the touch and paint in batches - All base color, dry, next color, dry, etc)

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

Details are done after the main paint job is done otherwise I’d end up painting over them.

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?

Let the paint dry completely (24 hours typically) then a gloss protective coat.  THEN decals.
Then wait another 24-48 hours, then another protective coat.

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

White if you want vibrant bright colors, black if you want more muted, richer colors.  Grey for somewhere in between.  Or, find a primer in whatever your “main” color is to save time painting the base color.

Wash the pieces in hot soapy water and rinse before you prime them.  This will remove any mold release agent left from the casting process

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.