Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Prufrock's Wargaming Blog

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

First 6mm vehicles

I've done a test run of the painting technique for the winter verdant MERDC camouflage scheme I'm aiming to perfect for my '70s and '80s Americans.  I picked out five of the M113s, safe in the knowledge that there are forty more to go, so if these paint jobs turn out to be duds I should be able to hide them amongst the masses!

First off, I base-coated them with  Mr. Hobby Color Spray No. 70, Dark Green.

I then added the field drab, for which I used Grayish Brown from the Turner Acryle Gouache range.   I've been reliably informed that the colour should be more of a yellow stone, but the only suitable match I have for this is a Gunze Sangyo (Mr. Color) paint (H71), and I struggle to get good results with these in summer so preferred to err slightly with the colour in order to gain with the coverage.

Next up was the sand.  I used the Mr. Color Off White (69) for this and it went on so badly in the humidity here that it confirmed going with the Turner for the field drab was the smart move.  I think next round I'll use a Turner white in place of the Mr. Color, or else really go to town with the retarder.  The white came out quite blobby and patchy and it doesn't have the sharp edges the Turner allowed me to get.

I then used a Gundam marker to put on a little black here and there.  I don't expect it to show up, but it makes the nerd in me feel better to have put some on...

Next was a very light dry brush using Tamiya Buff  (XF-57) and an ink wash mix of about two parts Devlan Mud to three parts water.

Last, I used Tamiya Flat Earth (XF-52) on the tracks.  I'm not happy with this and think I probably need to give the tracks a wash of Tamiya Smoke and then drybrush on a lighter colour for the mud effect, as the flat earth is a bit too close to the colour I'm using for field drab.

Anyway, that's where we are up to now.  After the tracks are fixed up these will have a coat of matt varnish to seal the models and get rid of the gloss patches.

So there we are.  Any comments, criticisms or advice readers care to give would be much appreciated!












8 comments:

  1. I like them! The white highlights will be very noticeable on a board with winter terrain. But, I don't believe the wheels and treads got the camo treatment but I'm just guessing.
    We are playing a Cold War era campaign with 6mm MicroArmor. Most of the units are beautifully painted and the various camo patterns sometimes don't fit the terrain we picked. Oh well, its kinda fun just to research the camo patterns.

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  2. Looking good, but man are they tiny.

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  3. Thanks, gents. I think it's going to take a bit of time and effort to get the hang of doing these small fellas! Still, plenty of stuff the practise on :)

    Cheers!

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  4. And Holdfast, I have to agree regarding the fun factor of researching camo patterns! I must be turning into a real wargamer at last ;-)

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  5. How's the Gundam pen? I've looked at them in ToysRUs and wondered if I should try them out... sounds like it should be much easier than using a brush for little patches like your black.

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  6. The Gundam pen works OK for small patches, Luke. I'm going to see if I can find one in white so that I can thin the sand patches out a bit more.

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  7. They definitely have them in white at my ToysRUs; the problem is the other colours that come with it - they seem to sell them in packs... maybe they are sold single on-line?

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