Category Archives: Painting and Modelling

Painting and modelling projects for miniature gaming

Khurasan 15mm Taliban: test figure washing

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Cloudy day.  Back at Work.  So, I got carried away with the washing and thought I’d apply a gloss coat to drive it into all the nooks and crannies.  This was really unnecessary and I won’t be doing it for the 29 others in this batch. I guess it will protect the figure in the future:

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I then diluted Army Painter Dark Tone ink with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner.  It was about 50/50 and, on reflection, a little too diluted to do the job adequately.  The surface tension of the pigment was lost and the wash dried out of the groove, if you know what I mean (tidal mark central man!):

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I have to admit to feeling a little disappointed at this stage.  The clean(-ish) finished I’d achieved was looking a little dark and my highlights, well, weren’t looking so high.  Ho-hum.  Time to cut my loses and whack on a coat of matt varnish:

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About now, my 5 year old appears and complains that he doesn’t like the snowy base on his figures.  Snowy?!  Why I oughta….Base painted_2091x1177

 

Khurasan 15mm Taliban: test figure highlights

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It’s another gorgeous day.  Hot.  Sunny.  It almost makes you forget a year of rain.  I’m picking up from where I left off yesterday painting that Khurasan Taliban test figure.

Mixing up so white and VMC US Dark Green I struggle to accurately highlight the folds and creases of the combat jacket:

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It’s not pretty but it’ll do.  Next I mix up some VMC Green Ochre with US Field Drab to work on the shalwar kameez:

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I thought I’d try and avoid mixing everything with white.  I’m hoping for a little more contrast without going all technicolour like my Downed Pilot’s vest!  With this in mind, I mix VMC Yellow-Green with US Dark Green and get to work on those ammo pouches.  Avoiding the white-green mix provides a nice contrast to the jacket:

ammo puches highlighted_1534x861

Time for the AK74.  I’m liking the bright orange contrast the glass-reinforced polyethylene plastic magazine brings but struggle to differentiate it from the wooden stock and handle.  Fortunately, good old VMC Beige Brown rides to the rescue:

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The rifle sling gets a straight coat of Yellow Green and as there aren’t many branches of Clarks out in Afghanistan a quick drop of VMC Burnt Umber will do for this chap’s shoes.

I wobble with faces and hands.  It’s all about a steady grip, a good brush, a clean cast and the right colours.  Referring back to that Ethnic Skin tones article, I’m encouraged to go with a VMC Orange Brown and Sunny Skin Tone highlight.  Sounds a little too arty for me but I give it a whirl working with a diluted mix of the two colours and it doesn’t come out too bad (for me!):

Face

 

I’m coming to the wash stage but am hesitating, pondering whether it would be wiser to add a further highlight to some of the sharper edges before going in to the shade…

Khurasan 15mm Taliban: test figure basecoats

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Chunky. Overstated. Robust.  Just a few of the adjectives that spring to mind when I looked closely at Khurasan’s 15mm Taliban.  Compared to Flytrap Factory’s range, they have an almost cartoon quality that’s not unappealing and, to my surprise, they paint up quite nicely to boot.  Sounds like sumfinkabit to blog about…

I’m getting the Boy ready to play his first game of Force on Force.  He’ll be the Taliban and I’ll be the USMC (naturally).  I’m starting with a simple commander figure. No frills, just a your typical Pashtun finest of pakol and combat jacket over a shalwar kameez:

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After basing on a penny and a liberal dose of Vallejo fine white pumice, I airbrush with their excellent white primer (73.600).  Hopefully, this should save me a bit of time as many in this batch of 30 (30!) will be wearing light coloured linens.   At the outset I couldn’t work out what on earth was modelled on this figure’s chest until (after a little research) I realised it’s a typically bold representation of the ?AK ammunition pouches worn by some Taliban:

afghan-taliban

With that issue put to bed, I paint the face and hands first.  I’ve never tried painting Middle Eastern skin before but, after reference to the useful Ethnic Skin tones post on Cool Mini or Not, I start with a base coat of VMC Tan Earth:

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The shalwar kameez is up next and gets dyed VMC US field Drab:

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With the irony not lost on me, the Drab is swiftly followed by dab of VMC US Dark Green on the jacket and ammo pouches:

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Nice, taking shape.  Time for that cap:

pakol

After a little pondering, I plumbed for good old VMC Khaki:

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I finish up the base coats with VMC Dark Seagreen for the AK74 and…urm…beard.  Not sure about leaving the top lip cleanly shaven but for the life of me I can’t make out any beard…

It’s an uncharacteristically lovely day outside.  Shame to waste it painting figures.  Highlighting can wait until tomorrow…

Washed Up Downed Pilot

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In an earlier post, I wrote at length about matte medium and what it did for me. Whilst I was pleased with the subtle shading I’d achieved you might recall that I was blighted by a white residue where the mix pooled.

I’ve spent the last few days trying to wash over the residue lurking on my Marines with varying levels of success using different variations of the same formula.  At the same time – inspired by photos I’d seen of pilots on board USS Nimitz -  I’ve also been painting one of Peter Pig’s Downed Pilots: IMG_2748

Trouble was my downed pilot was getting darker and darker as I attempted to blend and wash my way out of trouble.  Before I knew it I was locked in an miserable cycle of washing and re-painting over and over again as the ink darkened the base coat and the white residue remained a persistent NAGGING THORN <coff,  ahem > in my side…

I woke up this morning and realised this was because I’d fundamentally misunderstood the purpose of matte medium.  Matte medium is primarily used to produce a glaze rather than a wash.

Now, as I understand it:

  • a glaze is a highly transparent layer of paint that subtley changes the colour of the base coat. Matte medium facilitates this by thinning the paint and lowering its viscosity.
  • a wash is a more opaque but highly fluid mix of paint intended to flow in to the recesses darkening the base colour in a simulation of light and shade.

Whilst matte medium lowers viscosity it will leave a white residue where it pools because the stuff that makes the matt matt (chalk?) is left behind when the medium dries.  Whilst matte medium is a great for subtle shading (or glazes), particularly on light colours, I had to accept it was not going to work as the basis of a wash.

Now, if I wanted a really fluid wash that ran off the highlights and in to all the nooks and crannies then what I needed was a flow medium.  Whilst there are many commercially available, I found the answer sitting next to me on my work surface: Vallejo’s Airbrush Thinner.  This stuff works a treat with the Army Painter Quick Shade inks I’ve been using, doesn’t leave a residue and gives a wonderfully smooth result when mixed on a 1:1 ratio.

Vallejo airbrush thinner new formula And relax.

With this aide memoir typed I should now have a recipe I can follow for predictable results everytime… (yeah right).

How did the pilot turn out?

Well, not so bad. He’s darker than I would have liked but I guess I’ll chalk that down to experience (groan…).  I’ve painted the figure wearing US Navy flightgear c. 2009, including a tan CWU-27 flight suit, a green CMU-33 type I survival vest and a pair of Belleville M790 tan boots.  And before you ask: No, I couldn’t face the agony of painting the ace of spades on the back of his helmet :)

Peter Pig Downed Pilot PP Downed pilot left side PP Downed Pilot right side