The long road of painting the units - Updated 1/16 Vid added

EDIT 1/16

video of the setup, the quality don’t seem good, be sure to watch HD at least.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojggR9lrFVg

End Edit_________________________________________________________

With luck ill post a new country each week, its not as bad as one would think, only thing for me is, my hand starts to hurt… old age :(

The first time I played Japan in G40 I ran out of tanks, so I bought more from HBG, decided to get a different style, I like the variants. Then while I was there I saw the trucks, loved them, so I replaced the mech units. All in all 180 pieces for Japan!

Also there is a little thought into this madness, I don’t know about you, but I hate going over and over again with new players… “which one is a destroyer, which is the cruiser?”… “does this one get 2 hits?” … So, Capital ships, have flags, if it has a flag, gets 2 hits… the 2 gunships have brown decks, those two can do shore bombardments, destroyer does not have a brown deck.

Thanks for looking, U.S. is next to paint!

Thanks for the comments! Cyanight, those ships look epic!

American pieces are going well, on schedule for pics this weekend!

For the carriers I designed them in photoshop then had them printed on a sticker sheet.

Thanks Bravehart! Ive seen his vids, man that guy has a collection!

Its week 2 and America is done, I did more this time, so now I need to update some of the Japanese stuff, like add the side decals on the planes, add ship numbers, etc. Some of this decal work took longer then the painting, especially on the planes, planes are fairly easy/fast to paint.

I have a few changes in the US forces, first of all I swapped out the mechanized halftracks for the trucks, and for the tanks, added more variants. The Stuarts have so much detail, I love them! I also added a couple Hellcats and greyhounds. I also added fighter variants.

For next week, im taking it easy and will be doing France, they don’t have so many pieces, this U.S. collection is 194 pieces.

Thanks again for looking and the comments!

Thanks John! The main issue I had with the decals were the numbers, the decal sheet I got from HBG, each number had to be cut out as the film is a solid run. I also had trouble mixing the blue for the planes, don’t know what happened, took me 3 batches… My girlfriend really saw the nerd in me that evening :) .

I agree, the decal pain is worth it, I plan to use lots more… Also another part I do, is after the decals dry, I matt clear over them with a brush, not only takes away the shine, but seems to really lock them on… I had a few fall off on my first Japan ones.

My initial test was with testors paints, it didn’t take long to realize, those were not for me. I’ve found I really like acrylic water based. Easy mixing, easy cleanup, odorless.

As for the blue, ya that’s the one took me 3 tries ( washing out the failed attempts). I mix all my colors, so I can’t say what it is. I work off images I find, I sit in front if the screen and mix till it looks right lol.

I also started doing a little airbrushing to add dirt, my girlfriend asked me, “you bought that just to add dust?” …… “Yes” haha!

I do use 2 oil paints ( so far) the yellow and red, seems to pop better then the water based.

I just use dark gray primer from Home Depot (which is really close to panzer gray), says “for plastic” on the can :P (which dries pretty fast… less then 10 min). Honestly, the reds/yellows ive used, not sure the dry time, those are the last stages of the piece, then im usually off to bed lol… and thinner is what cleans it, which is why I didn’t like them, stinky  :-(

I did just get some new stains I want to try out, going to test out on the Brits.

I had a lot of changes to the French army, its not stock, cant wait to get these done!

Im back, and a day early :) .

There are many changes in the French pieces here, first of all, I try to be historically accurate in my painting, while trying to make them easily distinguishable… they all cant be green haha.

Me personally, im not a fan of camo, but from what I could find, these were one the common schemes.

First off, I gave Russia back all its units, I just didn’t see France running around with T-34’s and the others. So France received a couple Stuart tanks “Viva la France” style, and the remaining tanks are French Renaults. The Mech and artillery were replaced with Polish (I think) units, they looked more French to me… heck, anything other then Russian stuff. The navy is from my 1999 game, with the exception of the cruisers, as the 1999 version did not have that unit.

The Air force also has a couple changes, I had to keep the Russian dive bombers, as that unit is also not in my 1999 version. However the fighters were replaced with British, and the strategic bombers were modded from German and British. I needed a duel engine bomber, which only Germany has, and I needed the duel rear tail, which only Britain had.

Lastly, the AA guns are from my 1999 game, and I felt these looked more French with the rounded base.

At 102 pieces, thanks for looking!

In addition to this, as I mentioned on a different thread, I plan to take it easy this next week to work on other game elements, such as my gameboard, game aids, custom table. So next week, ill just be doing China… just dudes, a few artillery and a single plane, shouldn’t take too long.

Thanks again everyone for looking and the comments!

Thanks DK, I appreciate the feedback!

Thanks! I was somewhat surprised as to the lack of effort that went into the French pieces. Ive began going through the remaining countries, was a little disappointed with British units, for one, they are wearing shorts lol. If this was Africa Edition, id get it…. sooo I ended up ordering new stuff, for one, infantry… ill still paint some of the infantry issued shorts. Orderd some tanks, I don’t like the quality of the mechanized, but I didn’t find anything I like better on HBG, so ill make due.

Russian mech/tanks were replaced with higher detailed ones from HBG

German mech/tanks were replaced with higher detailed ones from HBG

I know I just finished USA, but I ordered nice shermans, way better then stock… so, gotta do more US.

Have yet to inspect Anzac or Italy.

For some reason, im not picky about aircraft and naval ship detail, I guess the scale is so small, getting more detailed ones is border lined pointless… uness the ones from HBG are bigger… but then, don’t want bigger, sometimes a bomber and a dude is all you can fit on a space… but that is about to change for Europe, I finished my base map layer yesterday with the larger Europe/smaller Africa.