Hi all - I’ve been on the forums for many years but haven’t been that active lately. I’m from the Southeast but currently live in the Washington DC area. I got started with Axis and Allies because I loved strategy games, but painting and customizing became my hobby and main way of engaging with the A&A community. You don’t have to wrangle your dad or any friends to play with you, which makes it easier!

I’m always happy to offer painting tips or fawn over your pieces that you’ve painted yourself. Here’s some of my past work and here’s a painting tutorial I put together in the early days when I was much more active on the forums.

John has requested that we begin with the Japanese forces. I have begun work, and will be sharing all of the photos once they are completed. As you can see, John has a mix of HBG and OOB pieces. There are Vals, Tonys, Oscars, Kates, Ritas, Bettys, Zeros, and Topsy Turvy transports. They make for a diverse and intimidating force of contention in the Pacific! So, without further ado…

JAPANESE AIR FORCE
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Flat Green Scheme

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Khaki Scheme

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Mainland Striped Camouflage Scheme

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Guacamole Scheme

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White Zero Scheme

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JAPANESE NAVY

The Japanese navy was a long and hard task, due to the size of the fleet as well as the schemes chosen. However, I am very happy with how they turned out; it is my best naval work to date. There’s nothing better than a mighty fleet to rule the seas! John has a mix of HBG and OOB pieces, with a lot of historically recognizable ships in the carriers, battleships, and cruisers.
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IJN Disruptor Camouflage
[Task Force, Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines, Transports]

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Wood and Steel Scheme
[Task Force, Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines]

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JAPANESE INFANTRYMEN

Ships and planes are nice, but there’s no replacement for boots on the ground! With these fierce soldiers, you can command the Pacific from the Dutch East Indies to Pearl Harbor. The main infantry are OOB, while there are 4 HBG paratroopers from one of their Japanese sets.

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Island Drab Uniform
[Standard Infantrymen]

[Paratroopers]

Parade Formation

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JAPANESE GROUND FORCES

The metal clanking of treads and the roar of diesel engines characterizes this latest batch of forces for the front. There are Chi-Ha and Ha-Go tanks, Ho-Ha mechanized infantry, Type 94 trucks, AAA to defend the skies, and artillery to support the advance of the infantry!

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Mainland Camo
[Armor, Mechanized Infantry, Trucks, Artillery, AAA]

Parade Formation

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Reserved post for American troops.

American P40 Warhawks
The terror of the skies… The plane in the back mid has the stars and bars, while the others have the standard early war USAF roundel. The teeth and eyes on the nose of the plane are hand-painted.

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UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE AIR FORCE

The RAF’s performance in the Battle of Britain is perhaps the decisive event of the European Theater that blunted the tip of the Luftwaffe. These planes will certainly wreak havoc on the Axis navies when they see a game board!

It turns out that decals are more visible on dark backgrounds, which is disappointing. Beyond that, I am very happy with the way that these color schemes worked out!
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Striped Desert Scheme

[Stirling, Lancaster, Halifax, C47 Skytrain, Barracuda, Mosquito, Swordfish, Hurricane, Spitfire]

Night Raider Scheme

Traditional European Striped Scheme

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UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE NAVY

The British navy. Though it is often destined to be destroyed on G1, these ships will serve the Crown with distinction when they enter play. While the disruptor camo of the Pacific pieces was more difficult to paint, there is a subtlety about gray that works well in the English Channel. I kept the yellow and white tips of the carriers to keep them associated with the UK even though they lack the wooden decks of the Pacific navy.
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Atlantic Ocean Gray
[Aircraft Carriers (2), Battleships (2), Cruisers (2), Destroyers, Submarines, Transports]

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UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE INFANTRYMEN

The British infantrymen saw lots of combat with memorable appearances in North Africa, the Italian campaign, Arnhem, and the assault on Normandy. Known for their exemplary training and marksmanship, they were a force to be reckoned with!

This was my first time trying a mottled scheme for infantry uniforms and I really like how it turned out. I will be applying these to my own pieces, as well as an altered blotch scheme to John’s US Marines in the Pacific.
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European Olive Drab
[Normal Infantrymen]

[Commandos]

[Paratroopers]

Mottled Amoeba Scheme
[Normal Infantrymen]

[Commandos]

[Paratroopers]

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UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE GROUND FORCES

While there may not be many photos of the pieces, do not underestimate the British ground forces. They proved tenacious in the protracted conflict against Rommel in North Africa - look closely enough and you might see the dust and dirt on the desert-worn pieces!
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Hedgerow Green Scheme
[Churchill, Matilda, Valentine, Priest, Kangaroo, 25 Pounder Artillery, Anti-aircraft]

Desert Stripe Scheme
[Churchill, Matilda, Valentine, Priest, Kangaroo, 25 Pounder Artillery, Anti-aircraft]

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UNITED KINGDOM PACIFIC AIR FORCE

This air force was quite extensive! I don’t know much about the history of the RAF in the Pacific, but they were certainly active against the Japanese at various points. John incorporated some neat sculpts into these forces, my favorite being the Halifax and the Hurricane. I was really hoping that the Hurricane would make it to us, and thanks to Historical Board Gaming, it has! The gray and green scheme was a historically accurate scheme, and will certainly be making it onto my personal pieces when I get around to painting them.
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Mottled Blue Scheme and Gray Green Scheme

_[Strategic Bombers: Stirling, Lancaster, Halifax]

[Transports: C47 Skytrain]

[Tactical Bombers: Barracuda, Mosquito]

[Fighters: Swordfish, Hurricane, Spitfire]_

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UNITED KINGDOM PACIFIC NAVY

The British navy… it’s finally here. Known for its ability to project naval power, the UK Pacific navy is a very formidable force to stand up against the Japanese. I’m excited to see these pieces make it onto the board. I have a soft spot for wooden decks, so I was glad when John chose a wooden deck scheme.

Deepwater Disruptor Camouflage
[Aircraft Carriers (2), Battleships (2), Cruisers (2), Destroyers, Submarines, Transports]

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UNITED KINGDOM PACIFIC INFANTRYMEN

Some of the most amazing stories of World War II come from the exploits of British infantrymen in the jungles of the Far East. Think long range patrols in Burma, the whole scale surrender of Singapore, and others.

These pieces are a pretty standard khaki in line with the sculpt and British uniform standards. On my personal pieces I like to include a few different skin tones to incorporate the Territorials that the British included in their ranks (Ghurkas anybody?). I forgot to ask John about that though - perhaps in a future nation or set!
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Far East Khaki
[Normal Infantrymen]

[Commandos]

[Paratroopers]

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UNITED KINGDOM PACIFIC GROUND FORCES

I like the dark tones of this green camo, and the new HBG sculpts were so fun to paint. The detail in the Valentines is incredible, and the profile of the Churchill leaves no room for error - the heavy tanks have arrived!
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Double Green Jungle Stripe Camouflage
[Churchill, Matilda, Valentine, Priest, Kangaroo, 25 Pounder Artillery, Anti-aircraft]

@DMcLaren said in Custom carriers from OOB's and painted pieces:

It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the forums and seen your customized work DMcLaren. Just now coming back to it… wow! What kinds of paints are you using that you can get such crisp lines? Are you thinning the paint at all to give yourself more definition on your lines? It looks amazing!

Hi all - I’ve been on the forums for many years but haven’t been that active lately. I’m from the Southeast but currently live in the Washington DC area. I got started with Axis and Allies because I loved strategy games, but painting and customizing became my hobby and main way of engaging with the A&A community. You don’t have to wrangle your dad or any friends to play with you, which makes it easier!

I’m always happy to offer painting tips or fawn over your pieces that you’ve painted yourself. Here’s some of my past work and here’s a painting tutorial I put together in the early days when I was much more active on the forums.

@coedewa What specific questions about camo do you have?

Here is a process I provided earlier in the thread re: a German woodland camo for armor. I’ll reiterate that you want to go light to dark when applying colors.

The woodland camo is a 3 step process. First of all, I painted a dark khaki color, based off of a photograph or drawing. Then I painted a burnt sienna brown in stripes and an occasional “splotch”, to simulate the camo. Then I painted a dark forest green overlapping the brown, making sure to cover most of the piece. There are many different kinds of camo, but as a general rule, it looks better when it overlaps, when it’s not a predictable pattern (you don’t want parallel stripes running along the length of the piece :-)), and when you cover the entire piece, then paint details over it. This makes it look more authentic in my opinion.

@coedewa said in -A Painting Tutorial and Resource for A&A Global-:

So I am just getting ready to start my painting journey, will be my first attempt at painting mini’s. I have a question that I haven’t seen answered yet. What is peoples opinion on the best (easiest) units to start with and faction. I’m thinking maybe planes seem like they could possibly be the easiest.

Thanks

Hi Coedewa - congratulations on starting with miniatures painting! It’s been a hobby that’s given me much satisfaction, many hours of solitude, and a community with other hobby painters. While I haven’t been online for a while there’s a good group of customizers that will be a huge help to you as you begin painting.

I would say the easiest type of unit to begin with is aircraft, followed by ships. They have the most flat surfaces, don’t require a lot of different colors, and allow you to get the basic techniques of brush strokes, paint viscosity (how thick or thin do you want it?) and priming under your belt. Infantry and ground forces can be straightforward, but they are expected to look a little bit more worn and dirty, which takes practice.

Even more important than unit type in determining the difficulty level is the scheme that you decide to go with. A camouflaged fighter plane is much more difficult than a steel gray Panzer V. When choosing a faction, I would recommend beginning with a set of units you know will be straightforward. Tanks, for example, can be pretty basic for all factions. German armor had a nice steel gray, or the OOB Shermans can be a nice army green. Aircraft can also be simple. American fighter planes could be olive drab or a deep naval blue, while the Japanese Zeros are just a white! Once you feel good about the basics, branch out into ships with a two-tone camo scheme, or try a Japanese jungle camo. It’s trial by error. If you hate what you did, soak the pieces in mineral spirits to get the paint off and start over, or buy more pieces from Historical Board Gaming. Or, just move on to a new faction and by the time you finish painting the whole set, you may just find that those first pieces are ready for a makeover. That’s the situation I’m in, and I haven’t even finished my whole set.

I hope this helps!

@DMcLaren said in Custom carriers from OOB's and painted pieces:

It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the forums and seen your customized work DMcLaren. Just now coming back to it… wow! What kinds of paints are you using that you can get such crisp lines? Are you thinning the paint at all to give yourself more definition on your lines? It looks amazing!

Ah yes, the expensive stuff. :) Well, it looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your work with the community.

Hi FastHeinz,

What brand of acrylics are you using? Your colors are so flat and the coats are so smooth. It looks like high end stuff. If it’s not something like Vallejo, did you thin it down and do lots of coats?

Nice work!

Wow, sounds like a neat series! Thanks for the tip. Can you post a link here when he puts up the first episode?

Hi John, and all others looking in on John’s set.

Thank you for the kind words - it’s been a pleasure to work with you and make your creative visions into realities! After so many pieces, it is hard to not finish the project myself. But I’m most happy that you were inspired to paint your own and have found enjoyment in it. It’s a wonderful hobby to share, so I’m glad I could provide some guidance in any way possible. I look forward to some partnerships (or playtime!) in the future, perhaps!

For anyone who corresponds with or works for John, I can tell you that he is exceedingly patient, encouraging, and reliable. I’m sure you’ve seen this from his presence on this site. My activity over the last few years has died down, but it is great to see the community still strong!

Best wishes with your set, JB!

I’m loving the armbands!

@Andy6049:

R DiStefano - How is picoarmor on shipping?  They have many, but not all, of the decals on my list and I may try to buy some from them.

I’ve also used PicoArmor - shipping is fairly cheap if I remember correctly, and it arrives within 2-3 weeks.