Airborne recon platoon

These guys will fill in my 1500 all US parachute company. It's been nice painting up some vehicles for a change. I'd say they're around 80% complete.

Just need to paint up the gunners, apply decals, some washing and weathering and hopefully they'll be ready for war come this friday night :)

Currahee!!!

US paratroopers anti tank platoon completed

The final element of my 1K US paratroopers force is finally done :)

I'm glad i painted these last because they are really nice models. Nice silhouette esp from the side. You gotta some really big balls sitting behind those guns waiting for tanks to appear esp if u see and hear a big tiger rumbling close by.

Well, they're not fearless veterans for nothing huh.

Not one to rest at the moment so my next project is the paras recon platoon consisting of 8 armored jeeps equipped with .50 cal machine guns.

This is to complete my 1.5K list and will not feature in the market garden campaign....well perhaps they could. Lets see how fast i can get them done.

Silver Skulls test model

Minor distraction last weekend. This model was done last Sunday.

It's another test model for a project next year. Lesser known space marine chapter. It would certainly be a more affordable and doable project than the pre-heresy Emperor's Children, which i will do one day :)

My initial choice was the doom eagles but finally settled on silver skulls. Ditto on doom eagles coz their chapter specialty is assault marines....and after my descent of angels list, i'm in no mood to paint more jump pack marines.

The silver skulls have a darker metallic tone compared to doom eagles and after reading up on them i was hooked. An ultramarine 2nd founding successor chapter who believe deeply in signs and portents.

As you can see, i'm experimenting with weathering for this project. Although i don't want to over do it.

I still need to work on making my chips look more realistic. And i'll be getting the gw silver skulls shoulder pads so please forgive the crude freehand rendition.

In the past i would've been pleased with this result but a change is needed.
I have to learn new tricks :)

And in case you're wondering, no i haven't forgotten my airborne troops. The guns for the anti-tank platoon is all done :) 15 more infantry models and my 1K parachute infantry list is all done!!!

Appreciate your comments guys :)

US paratroopers Machine Gun platoon completed

These were actually completed yesterday morning but i wanted to share the matt varnish tip first :)

Apologies for the dark pic.

And continuing my color coding system, this platoon got light green dots.

This platoon will be divided into 2 and attached to 1st and 2nd infantry platoon. They'll be providing covering fire while the brave fearless vets mount their assaults. Also useful for providing defensive fire in case the platoons are assaulted. No bazooka teams because i didn't have the points. For my 1.5k list i will definitely have 2 bazooka teams for added anti-tank threats.

I just have to paint my anti-tank platoon to finish this 1K list and they'll be ready to take part in operation market garden :)
I'll start on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, yesterday afternoon and the most part of sunday will be occupied with a test model for a project scheduled for next year.

Of course when i say test model you know it won't be FoW models hehe.

In the next post :)

Matt varnish

I was having trouble with matt varnishes going all dusty white a while back. I tried using gw and vallejo varnishes and both gave me the same results. After airbrushing the varnish on, white dusty specks would appear after the varnish dried up. Maybe its because i used an airbrush to spray it on. It can't be the product because i bought both quite recently.

Anyway, my good friend Jeff suggested another product. Share and share alike :)

These are the 2 products.

1. Daler-Rowney soluble varnish matt
I got this at Arts Friend at Gardens for around RM25-30. Sorry guys, i forgot the actual price.
It is an acrylic resin based varnish. The liquid is quite thick and needs to be diluted for our use.

That's why we need product no.2

2. Ace Hardware mineral spirits odorless paint thinner.
Again i apologise for not remembering the actual price but it shouldn't be more that RM30.
You should be able to get this at any Ace Hardware store. I got mine at Midvalley.
We'll use this to thin the varnish down. Its odorless so it won't stink up your hobby area. But do work in a well aired area for safety reasons :)

Because the varnish is quite thick, you don't need to use a lot. I use a ratio of 1:3 varnish:thinner and it's worked beautifully for me.

The color after diluting. Its ready for airbrushing now. I've always used an airbrush to varnish my models.

But for the sake of my friends, i tried using a brush to see if it would produce the same results.

Before varnishing.
After varnishing. The one on the left and in front was done using a brush and the other using an airbrush. As you can see, they produced similar results. Fuhhhh :)
I can't quite show the level of mattness (is this even a word?) in this picture but I am very happy with the results. I would swear by them :)
Next time, i'll buy the gloss or semi-gloss and see how it works.

2 lessons from this methinks.

1. Share and share alike. If you're having a problem just tell your friends, they could hook you up with a solution.

2. Go outside the standard hobby range of products. You never know what gems you can uncover. This varnish should last me for avery long time. Not bad for a RM50 investment :)

Thanks for sharing Jeff ;)
No going back for me.

Machine gun platoon update

Started work on the machine gun platoon last Sunday. They would've been done except that i think just 2 models on the normal base leaves it looking rather empty.

There isn't much reference on the net that i've managed to find and even the FoW site has just one clear pic. So i decided to paint an extra figure for all the teams.

Should get these guys done by this Saturday.

1 week for 1 platoon...just going with the flow :)

Easy Company 2nd platoon completed

Completed 2nd platoon today. Changed my style of painting from single bases to doing the whole platoon at one go. Through trial and error, i believe i've got down my process and painting these models are becoming a bit quicker. Which is good because i still have a lot to paint to finish this army :)
I've continued with using different colors to differentiate each platoons. 2nd got blue.
And this is what i've managed to paint so far. Co HQ with 3 bazooka teams, 1st platoon, 2nd platoon and field artillery battery. Not bad huh :)
And all of them fits snugly into these trays which i will share in the next post. I'm sure you guys can guess where it comes from. Suffice to say, they're AWESOME!!! Must buy for FoW players/hobbyists.
Next up is the machine gun platoon.

As always, i appreciate all comments and suggestions.

Thanks for reading guys :)