All,
This is from the wonderful Mr. Nick over at Northstar, who hooked me up with a platoon deal to serve as the core of my early war Waffen SS force. Specifically, these are metal figures from Crusader, and they're lovely. Nice and hefty, great detail on weapons and gear, great proportions, and though I love my Warlord plastic figures, it was such a blessing to not have to build all these guys!!!
I bought a regular rifle platoon, then augmented with some weapons teams and engineers. I wanted the early war force to have a uniform look, so I painted the rifle platoon and some of the supporting weapons teams in Oak Leaf pattern camo, and I painted the engineers and ATG crew in Plane Tree camo, just to set them apart a bit.
These guys were NOT done using Contrast paints. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do SS camouflage using Contrast paints (not sure if it's possible or not, but I didn't experiment with them as I've done quite a bit of SS camo and I know exactly how to get what I'm looking for with acrylics, so I was looking to use Contrast paints for everything except the camo smocks and helmet covers, but then I messed it up when I was doing the base layer of the camo smocks and helmet covers (got it all over the place, on stuff I wasn't supposed to), so rather than go back and fix all of that in order to be able to use Contrast paints, I just charged ahead and used acrylics for everything but the flesh. What can I say, it was NOT a pleasurable experience. I'm so used to how quick and easy Contrast paints are that it was really a pain in my ass going back to acrylics; I'm sure some of it is just in my head, but I'm telling you, it takes so much more time. With Contrast paints you just open the pot, dip the brush in, and lay it on the mini. With acrylics you're having to shake them for quite a bit, get the on the pallet, get them mixed to the right consistency, brushing them on (a lot more time brushing than with Contrasts, which you just drop and pull), having to do multiple coats because certain colors won't cover over certain other colors, paint on the pallet and on the brush getting gummy, wiping it out, re-shaking, re-shooting, re-mixing, cleaning the brush, painting, and then getting to go back over all of it with a wash. I love my Contrast paints! Give it a quick shake, dip it in, slap it on, and done.
My only complaint on the models is that the MG-34 LMGs don't have bipods molded on; it doesn't really bother me that much, but the early war Fallschirmjager are done the same way and several people commented negatively on it. And I broke a barrel off, somehow...
Pretty cool little unit. And if I've got early war SS, then you know what's coming next.
V/R,
Jack
Absolutely superb work on these Jack! I agree completely re. contrast paints. I painted a Punic Wars Carthaginian elephant and crew this evening (20mm) in 10 mins. With acrylics, it would have been an hour at least...To be honest, en masse, I do not even see the difference any more...and the key thing, is that i paint a lot more now, because it is so much faster. Contrasts have saved the hobby.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Darren, and AMEN! It's no joke on why I've been able to knock out so many forces, it's the paints, and to your point: they may look a little rough up close, but on the table, it's pure magic. This was the force that really cemented it for me, Contrast paints are the way ;)
DeleteV/R,
Jack
Amazing job on the camo! That must have taken a lot of practice, it looks just like the real thing. The strange pistol is indeed an anti tank pistol firing a small HEAT round. I forget the designation now (it might even be a special round for a flare pistol, I can't remember).
ReplyDeleteMartin,
ReplyDeleteThanks, yeah, I’ve gotten pretty good at oak leaf and plane tree. You’ll see my attempt at pea dot tonight, it’s shaky at best ;)
I’m told that is a “Sturmpistole,” an early attempt at making an AT weapon for the everyman, weighing in at almost six pounds!
V/R,
Jack