Painting – Page 3 – Late War Live Launch Website

Aaron’s Oil War British Part I

with Aaron Te Hira-Mathie

The release of the new British book for World War III set my brain whirring as to a unique theme for a miniature of HRM’s finest. I quickly decided that the obvious standby of the black and green camouflage scheme, whilst iconic and well suited to our notional 1985 conflict, was a little too
pedestrian for my tastes. With the standard scheme discarded I started to tax my memory (and images on the internet) for a look that was still ‘British’ but that would tick the box for being a bit unique.

Because the new Challenger Mk.1 MBT and Warrior IFV plastic kits come with the applique armour as optional parts I considered going with an Operation Granby (1991 Gulf War) look, however I heard murmurs around the office that at least one of the other very talented staff members was
considering this option, so I felt that would be duplication… and that just wouldn’t do, however much I liked the idea of an arid theme.

Armed with a thematic concept I considered that the green and yellow ‘BATUS’ (British Army Training Unit Suffield – Canada) would make for an interesting semi-arid camouflage scheme. But for where?

I looked at my bookshelf, and it hit me, Oil War takes place in an arid environment and is part of our hypothetical mid-1980s war. Eureka!
The backstory for my Brits was born, if any of you heard my interview with Simon Berman from The Brush Wielders Union you’ll know that I like to create a little backstory as this helps me to develop a look and feel for a
painting project.
The backstory that I developed was that this force would be part of a British task force sent to the Middle East as part of the NATO/Western contingent taking part in the battle to halt the Soviet juggernaut using Iran as an invasion corridor in order to seize vital Oil resources, denying them from western forces embattled on the battlefields of Germany.

I decided this army should look ‘battleworn’, showing the signs of taking part in the bitter combat on the Middle East front. I wanted to do a proof of concept model, however the Challenger 1 models had yet to arrive here in
New Zealand, so I substituted a ‘Stillbrew’ equipped Cheiftain MBT in its place. At the same time I had an interesting idea for a Lynx AH.1 helicopter modified for this theatre of combat.

What follows Is a series of step by step photographs (and brief descriptions) detailing how these two models came into being.

Oil War themed British Main Battle Tank:

Step 1:
was putting together a tank that had some obvious wear as well as a ‘lived in’ look. So I cut off a couple of panels from each of the side armour shirts, and added some spare road wheels, Jerrycans and a cloth roll from my spares box.

Step 2: After building the base of the ‘canvas’ I decided that I wanted the vehicle to be liberally draped in ‘Barracuda’ type camouflage nets much like one sees pictures of British military vehicles on field exercises from the era. So I created the basic shapes of the nets with very thin pieces of Miliput modelling putty in various spots of the hull and turret as well as wrapped around the gun tube, being careful to try and avoid blocking optics or access hatches.

Step 3: With the basic shapes and locations of the camouflage nets in place, I then add the ‘leaf’ type texture of the net by brushing the dried Miliput with heavily watered down white glue. Then I cover these parts of the model with model railway ground clutter, and fix this in place by touching the ‘nets’ with a second coat of even more heavily watered down white glue, before leaving it to dry.

Step 4: I homogenised the colour of the model by spraying it with an all-enveloping coat of Vallejo black surface primer. This stage is a good idea as it gives the following paint something to ‘cling’ to as well as cutting down the likelihood of colour variations.

Step 5: Next I sprayed an all over coat of Vallejo Model Air 71.011 (Dark Green RLM83) as the base green for the camouflage pattern.

Step 6: After the base green dried I added the camouflage pattern using Vallejo Model Air 71.143 (UK Light Stone BS361). In keeping with photographic records the scheme is random, but applied in such a way as to ‘break up’ the shape of the vehicle when viewed from a distance. At this stage I also elected to keep one of the armour skirt sections in the base green to give the impression of a replacement plate having been added but not painted camouflage.

Step 7: After applying the camouflage pattern to the model I highlight the raised details and the edges of the model with an all over drybrush of Vallejo Model Color 70.837 (Pale Sand). While this is a very light colour to highlight the model with, it almost disappears on the finished product, but adds just a hint of definition. It also has the added benefit of slightly fading the two main colours.

Step 8: I start painting the colour of the netting. In this case I went for the brown side out due to the arid nature of the battlefield, so started with a
coat of Vallejo Model Colour 70.921 (English Uniform).

Step 9: Once all of the camouflage net elements are the same colour I liberally coat them with Vallejo Game Color 73.201 (Black Wash) to add some depth to camouflage nets.

Step 10: Once the black wash has completely dried I do a heavy drybrush of Vallejo Model Color 70.921 (English Uniform) so that only the very deepest recesses remain black.

Step 11: The camouflage netting looks fine at this point, however for a little extra definition I lightly drybrush them with Vallejo Model Color 70.873 (US Field Drab), concentrating on the most raised parts of the net texture.

Step 12: Next I paint the tracks and main armament muzzle using Vallejo Model Air 71.251 (NATO Black).

Step 13: I paint the rubberised sections of the front guards with Vallejo Model Color 70.862 (Black Grey).

Step 14: To further add to the battleworn appearance of the model I add some chips and scrapes to the camouflage paint. To do this I paint small random shapes in likely high wear areas, such as around the bottom of track skirts, hatches/panels and on some corners, using Vallejo Model Color 70.837 (Pale Sand) on the yellow areas and Vallejo Model Color 70.886 (Green Grey) to simulate the paint wearing down in those spots.

Then I go back and paint spots of Vallejo Model Color 70.822 (German Camo Black Brown) over the previously ‘worn’ paint to simulate the paint wearing down to primer. In order to add some depth to the dark coloured tracks, gun muzzle and rubberised sections, I give these area a light drybrush using Vallejo Model Color 70.866 (Grey Green), concentrating on edges. I also take the opportunity to paint any of the exposed parts of the thermal sleeve surrounding the main gun tube with Vallejo Model Color 70.880 (Khaki Grey).

Step 15: At this point I paint all the smaller details.

Optics and Glass: Vallejo Model Color 70.816 (Luftwaffe Uniform)
Cloth Roll/Air Recognition Panel Vallejo Model Color 70.956 (Light Orange)
Jerrycans and MG Ammo boxes Vallejo Model Color 70.889 (Olive Brown)
Fire Extinguisher bodies and Tail Reflectors Vallejo Model Color 70.957 (Flat Red)
Exhaust Pipes Vallejo Model Color 70.822 (German Camo Black), then half covered with Vallejo Model Color 70.826 (German Camo Medium Brown), followed by covering half of the 70.826 with Vallejo Panzer Aces 301 (Light Rust) to make them appear slightly rusty.
Commander’s MG Vallejo Model Color 70.863 (Gunmetal Grey)
Fire Extinguisher heads Vallejo Model Color 70.865 (Oily Steel)
Headlights and Commander’s Spot lamp Vallejo Model Color 70.997 (Silver)

Step 16: I coat the cloth roll, Jerrycans, Thermal Sleeve and MG with Vallejo Game Color 73.201 (Black Wash) After the wash is dry I repaint the Thermal Sleeve, Jerrycans and cloth roll with the same colours as before, making sure to leave the deepest recesses black.

Step 17: I spray coat the whole model with a gloss varnish.

Step 18: Once the gloss coat has set, I then cover the model with a dark brown enamel wash, in this case Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color (Dark Brown)

Ste p 19: Leaving the enamel wash to dry but not set (Usually 24-48 hours) I then clean most of the enamel off with white spirits using an old brush and cotton buds.

Letting the enamel getting to the mostly dry point, allows you to clean off most surfaces while leaving it deposited in around detail, giving your model shading and delineation. I left the cleaned model to set and dry for 48-72 hours, then gave it a full covering of matte varnish.

Step 20: Once the matte varnish dried I then loaded my airbrush with a light dusty colour (in this case Tamiya XF55 Deck Tan – However any light dusty coloured paint will suffice). I then sprayed a very light mist over the entire model to simulate the dust from an arid environment covering everything on the vehicle … be careful with this step, less is most certainly more. With the dusting done, I then concentrated more of this colour on lower portions of the model, to simulate old dust kicked up by the vehicle as it moves.

Step 21: To simulate dust that has been more freshly kicked up by the vehicle I loaded my airbrush up with a slightly darker dust colour (in this case Tamiya XF78 Wooden Deck Tan – however any dust colour will suffice). With this application of fresh dust, I concentrate entirely on the lower surfaces of the model.

Step 22: To finish making this Tank look like it is fresh out of action, I select a few obvious run off points around the model, from which I apply a few streaks of Vallejo Environment 73.824 (Streaking Grime) to simulate various types of grime flowing down angled surfaces from light rain. Then I apply a final coat of matte varnish … and job done.

And the finished product:

Wittman’s Last Day

with Chris Townley (Battlefront NZ)

Like many Flames Of War players, I have quite an interest in the German Big Cats (Tigers, Panthers and so on) and have featured them in many of my armies. I cannot put my finger on the primary reason for my love of these tanks, but it is probably a combination of factors including in-game performance, and real-world respect.

With the D-Day: German book I found myself really wanting to build a few lists (nothing like new plastic kits passing across your desk to get you excited) but thanks to my Big Four commitments I was reluctant to dive down the rabbit hole – that was until inspiration hit me! I have a box of partially assembled Tigers sitting in the man-cave (okay, garage) at home that I started and then stopped after being distracted by something else shiny!

Five Reasons I Love The New Plastic Tiger…

Now, you cannot think about Tigers without thinking about Michael Wittmann and his exploits in Normandy. His actions have become somewhat legendary amongst the modelling and gaming communities. We even made a specific model for him back in the day (see the article here…)

I’m drawn to building a list around him for a few different reasons;

I can slowly build an all-Tiger force of seven (or eight) vehicles
Because it is a compact force, I can really go to town on the models
He faced off against the British and Canadian forces in Normandy and was probably killed in an engagement with a Firefly tank (AT 14 beats Front Armour 9 all day!). Having just finished my Firefly tanks it could make for a good match up.
It can be fun to build a specific real-world force, based on actual events, with no plans to growing the project outside its specific scope. Thanks to the internet I can actually track down all the tank numbers and details for the tanks that he rolled out with on that fateful day.

So what’s my plan? First step, start building the army. I am going to be heavily inspired by Blake’s outstanding article over on the Flames Of War site – stop reading this now, click this link and come back – which is overflowing with great ideas.

Next, do a little reading and figure out a how to paint them.

Lastly, find someone in the Studio to play a game against and hit them with seven Tigers and a small pile of Tiger Ace Command Cards!

Gareth’s Panzergrenadiers

with Gareth Richards (Battlefront UK)

It is had been a while since I last painted a German Army for Late War, my first being a Herman Goering from 3rd Edition. With D-Day: German‘s launch, I’m excited to start a new German army. I like to try and get my armies painted quickly and on the table so that I can get games played and then tweak my list as I go along. With my play style I like a balanced force that allows me to have some flexibility. Reading through the new D-Day: German book I settled on the Armoured Panzergrenadiers.

I spent a couple of afternoons hunting through the web to find German units in Normandy and found myself drawn to the 21st Panzer Division. I wrote a few lists and looked at Panthers and Tigers, but these did not really suit my need for a flexible army. With that in mind I hit the book again and the web and settled on 125th Panzer Grenadier Regiment commanded by Major Hans von Luck.
In my army I started with my core choices and went with full strength Panzergrendier platoons with added Panzerfausts. They will either rush forward to take the objectives, dismounting and then digging in to make them difficult to shift off the objective, or be a mobile assault force against other enemy infantry.

I also want to make sure that I can pin enemy infantry down and have the ability to take out lightly-armoured enemy vehicles so I have chosen a battery of 6 Hummels, now this does take up a large part of my army points, I am then adding some a couple of Tigers to either refuse a flank or go enemy tank hunting trying to ensure that I can get on the flanks to make the task easier.

To round out my points I have taken some 7.5cm armoured guns and a couple of pumas to spearhead them onto the flanks and again cause my opponent to maybe alter their battleplan

I think this is a nicely balanced force that will give me some good options during the Hobby League, but I can also easily swap out anything that does feel right or not working well in the game.

My biggest challenge is getting this army painted is my infantry as it has never been one of my strong points, with my figures always coming across too dark and blending with the bases, so I am going to try working off a white undercoat and see if that brightens up the paint scheme.

A Tale of Two Tigers

Chris has already mentioned in his article how much of an exceptional resource Blake’s Tale of Two Tigers series of articles is.

Even so, it’s worth repeating.

Check out Blake’s series here…

In it, he takes you through a series of techniques and methods to reproduce truly characterful Tiger tanks, which he uses to represent the famous Wittman Tigers.

There’s a lot to learn, so make sure you have the article bookmarked if you’re planning to put together your own Tiger-based list… Although there’s nothing to say you couldn’t transfer some of the skills to our new Panther kit…

Pete The Wargamer D-Day: German

Pete the Wargamer shows you how to paint your new German forces from D-Day: German.

Painting Tropical Fallschirmjäger

with Victor Pesch (Battlefront NZ)

I’m currently starting a new force from D-Day: German, the Fallschirmjäger StuG Assault Gun Company. Instead of having it themed for Normandy, I’m using it to represent Fallschirmjäger & StuGs in the Italian Campaign.

Here’s how I’m painting the new Late-War Plastic Fallschirmjäger figures for my Italy themed platoon in tropical uniforms.

Basecoat

First I primed the figures with a black rattle can. Then to speed things up I airbrushed the figures Khaki. This gave me a light base colour to work over rather than trying to paint beige / tan over the black primer. It also meant I could drybrush on the German Camo Beige for the smocks to create initial shading. Then I simply block painted all the items, trying to be as neat as possible.

Wash

This step is simple as I just cover the entire figure with Black Wash. This darkens everything quite a lot, but I like the way it defines all the elements. It also makes it easy to re highlight with the same base colours without having to find lighter shades.

Highlights

As mentioned above, I generally go back with the base colours and highlight the raised surfaces of everything. Then I sometimes do a second highlight with a different colour on some items.

See below for all the colours I used, but feel free to experiment with your own:

Quick Tip- Worn Leather

A simple way to achieve a worn leather look on straps and bags is to gently dab the edges with a lighter colour. It’s like an edge highlight but the dabbing action gives it a more irregular, worn look.

Now that I’ve figured out my colour choices, I’ve got a lot more figures to paint, and also all the StuGs! I think the platoon will look quite interesting with it’s mix of yellow and field grey pants, and the yellow un covered helmets.

Speaking of uncovered helmets, one last tip: Sponge on some German grey to show the yellow paint chipping off.

Alex’s Luftwaffe Feld-Division

with Alexander Nebesky (Battlefront NZ)

My first Flames Of War army was German, my Fortress Europe army was German, and when Hobby League started up and everybody had gravitated to the other three forces it seemed like I was destined for Germans again. Luckily for me, with D-Day: German on the horizon I was able to take a deep dive into all the exciting German forces and pick a unique and colourful force to work on.

The key to embarking on any project, Flames Of War or otherwise, is to latch onto something you find interesting. For me, that meant the opportunity to either modify units in my force or paint a colour I haven’t painted before- because after two lots of grenadiers in Field Grey, I was frankly not that interested in doing it a third time around.

A tabletop approximation of 16. Feld-Division (L) in Normandy, 1944, offers me both of these chances— an opportunity to paint Luftwaffe blue, and an opportunity to modify a few grenadier uniforms to reflect the very swish LwFD camouflage smock.

Having spent an afternoon spitballing with Phil and Andrew, I came up with a list representing 16. Feld-Division (L) roughly as they were during Operation Goodwood, supported by bits of 21. Panzerdivision.

I’m working out of the very exciting D-Day: German, which isn’t out yet—but then again, what’s the point of hanging out at the Battlefront Studio if I can’t get a little early access. With this in mind, here are my first 50 points:As I’m sure you can see, my first 50 points give me a playable formation, but it is also all infantry, which is something of a mountain to climb in only a month—especially since I’m also hoping to pull off some figure modifications to make the miniatures

A Brief History of Luftwaffe Field Divisions
The Luftwaffe Field Divisions were raised from the ranks of regular old Luftwaffe ground crew. They weren’t the most exceptional troops on account of having never signed up for infantryman duties, and their inception as dedicated field divisions was more a response to suggestions that the German Army could do with a few hundred thousand more warm bodies than it was the establishment of a military unit full of guys who found their natural calling as foot-sloggers after making a brief detour into air force work (kind of like switching your major at university mid-degree because you found out anthropology was really more your thing than law). In any case, the LwFDs kept their organisation and remained under the leadership of Luftwaffe officers until late in 1943 when they were reorganised and transferred to the Heer.

Project Research
Up until their transfer, Luftwaffe Feld-Division boys were outfitted with the traditional feldblau Luftwaffe Uniform, making them a distinctive blue on the battlefield, quite obviously different to the feldgrau of the Heer. After being subsumed into the army structure, the LwFD boys were outfitted with regular feldgrau Heer uniforms as their original blues ran out. This will give me the opportunity to paint a mixture of Luftwaffe and Heer uniforms and equipment for my force, as by 1944, there would have been a good mix of kit and uniform. A great source for uniforms is this here 18th Luftwaffe Field Division https://18thluftwaffefielddivision.weebly.com/our-kit.html> reenactment group (who don’t appear to have any info on their ‘About Us’ page, so I can’t thank them), and there is a full list of kit I could apply to my LwFD (you can follow the link and see the list yourself) and there is also this handy tidbit on the subject of mixed Heer/Luftwaffe uniforms:

“Very frequently we can see, especially as the war progressed into 1944-45, the use of Heer uniforms and insignia within the ranks of the LwFD. Not only was supply of uniforms and equipment transitioned to Heer supply, but also the replacements of men. It is for these reasons that we find such variance in equipment and uniforms through to the end of the war.”

Smock and Roll
One of the key features of the Luftwaffe field boys was their iconically formless and ubiquitous camouflage smock. The picture at the top of the article shows a man of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions in one of these splinter-camo smocks. The plastic grenadier kit doesn’t happen to be wearing these smocks. If I were playing my LwFD as kitted fully in Heer or fully in Luftwaffe standard service uniforms this would be no problem, I would just paint then feldgrau of feldblau or a mixture of the two and be on my merry way. But no, I’m going to model a selection of my figures in this iconic smock—and that means Green Stuff.

The simple recipe is to trim off the bottom of the uniform jacket, slice off any pockets, and then with a rubber clay brush (as tiny as you can get it) start spreading the green stuff around the waist of the figure and down to just above his knees. The Luftwaffe camo smock did not have any breast pocket, so you could either shave those off the figures or very thinly green stuff around them to hide them, but in most cases there is enough webbing and extra bits of equipment already covering them. The smock did have a pocket on either thigh which you could model with two tiny squares of green stuff.

After priming, I painted the smock according to the instructions in Colours Of War, a mixture of German Camo Beige and Green Ochre, then highlighted with German Camo Beige. To separate my Luftwaffe camo pattern from the Heer I picked a slightly different colour combination, using Vallejo Panzer Aces Splinter Blotches I & II, which give a brighter colour palette and are a good colour choice for FJs too.

The guys in blue also benefited from Colours of War, as I followed the Luftwaffe Jaeger instruction in the book to get that bright blue I was so looking forward to painting.

The Rest of the Stuff in the List
My 50 points of modified Luftwaffe infantry is certainly a bit ambitious, but it’s comforting to know that the following months will see me painting only a handful of tanks, so it’s not the end of the world. The 10.5cm guns in the support are being modelled as captured Russian guns from the Eastern Front just to add another point of visual interest to the list- they are close enough in use and effectiveness that it’s not beyond the pale to use the 10.5cm Unit Card for those models.

The elements of 21. Panzer that backed up the Luftwaffe in Caen will be represented by a pair of Tiger tanks, a handful of three or four StuGs, and a captured Sherman Firefly. Instead of keeping the list strictly to 100 points, I’m actually painting up a few more points worth of things so I have the option to switch and swap the odd unit or two to give the force a lot more modularity.

Make sure you check back on the Hobby League page each week to see what the gang has been up to, and to see how you can get involved with the Hobby League in your local store or club.

Wayne’s Big Four Germans

with Wayne Turner (Battlefront NZ)

The Big Four Of Late War is a four-man journey through Late War starting with an army box each and working through every Late War release of V4.
With everyone in the Big Four selecting one of the four major Flames Of War Late War forces, it fell to Wayne to work on a German force which you can check out here on the Big Four Website…

Be sure to regularly check out the Big Four website during the course of the Late War journey- as you can see from the quality of Wayne’s painting here, the Big Four put a lot of effort into presenting exceptional armies.

Follow the Big Four on Instagram here…

Painting US Airborne- Evan’s Guide

with Evan Allen

All my figures are painted with the Vallejo range of paints. These are my personal suggestions only so please treat them as a guide and not “gospel”. I’ve also refrained from my usual technique of adding a little Deck Tan VP986 to the basic uniform colour and drybrushing highlights so you can see the actual colour more clearly.

The M1942 Uniform
The first combat uniform issued to US Airborne troopers, the M1942, was purpose designed for Airborne troops by Maj. William Yarborough (who was also the designer of the US Airborne parachute wings). The design included features such as pockets cut on the diagonal to allow easy access while wearing webbing equipment and large, expanding, bellows style leg pockets that became a trademark of the wartime US airborne trooper. The M1942 uniform was used only by Paratroopers and wasn’t issued to Glider troops. The Paratroopers taking part in combat jumps in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy wore this uniform and even one battalion that jumped during “Market Garden” in Holland was still wearing this uniform.

This uniform was made from light cotton that was a pale greenish-tan colour and I must admit to spending an awful lot of time experimenting to achieve, what I hope to be, the closest match possible. I try to avoid mixing different colours to achieve my basic uniforms but this uniform seems to bring on my OCD (Obsesive Colour Disorder) to get it closer than just plain Olive Drab (887 gets). The Olive Drab (887) is close but a bit too dark for my taste so, eventually, I settled on a 50/50 mix of Khaki (988) and the Olive Drab (887)

The other colours I chose are:

Uniform Piece	Vallejo Colour
Webbing & Equip.	Green Grey (886)
Helmet	US Olive Drab (887)
Helmet scrim	Khaki (988)
Weapon Furn. (wood)	Beige Brown (875)
Jump Boots E-tool handle Pistol holsters	Flat Brown (984)

The M1942 uniform was practical to wear in combat when it was warm but it offered no protection from the elements when the weather turned nasty. Also, being made from lightweight cotton, the knees and elbows tended to wear out quickly so many an airborne trooper bribed his unit parachute rigger to sew patches over the elbows and knees. The material commonly used for this was cotton duck from old parachute packs and was green in colour. I’ve painted patches on the elbows and knees of this figure over an otherwise standard M1942 uniform with US Dark green (893). You could even mix these with “unpatched” troopers for a bit of variety.

The Glidermen
The Glider borne troops were basically standard infantrymen who woke up one day to find themselves called Glidermen, there were no calls for volunteers here! With a job equally as dangerous as their Paratrooper brothers they were denied the extra “jump pay” until just prior to the “Market Garden” landings when, finally, they achieved official recognition of the hazardous nature of their job. The uniform worn by these intrepid airborne soldiers was almost exactly the same as the “leg infantryman”. The only allowance for airborne duties was the issue of jump boots to a few fortunate troopers and, other than those few, they are the same as an ordinary infantryman in the M1941 uniform.
The colours I chose are:

Uniform Item	Vallejo Colour
Jacket/leggings	Khaki (988)
Trousers	USA Field Drab (873)
Webbing	Green Grey (886)
Helmet	US Olive Drab (887)
Boots E-tool handle	Flat Brown (984)

The M1943 Uniform
After the US Airborne forces were withdrawn from Normandy they were refitted and brought back up to strength ready for the next mission. This included the widespread issue of the brand new M1943 olive drab uniform to the veterans of the 82nd and 101st divisions. This wasn’t just a paratroop uniform but the beginning of the US Army’s push to standardize the combat uniform. All airborne units received the M1943 uniform, even the Glider troops, but the paratroopers were quick to modify theirs by adding bigger
leg pockets.

The new airborne divisions arriving fresh from the States already wore this new uniform and it was the

uniform seen dropping from the sky, or climbing out of a glider, during “Market Garden” in Holland and
“Varsity” over the Rhine and into Germany proper.
This figure is painted as wearing the new M1943 olive drab uniform. The uniform colour I used is US Dark Green (893). The rest is the same as for the earlier paratroop uniform colours details. For all the airborne equipment, like mortars and bazookas etc. US Olive Drab (887)

as the US Army used pretty much the same colour of Olive drab on everything.

I hope I’ve given you enough to help get you started on painting your airborne force and also a feel for the kind of troops that you’ll be leading, I’m sure, to tabletop success whether from the sky or as elite “leg infantry” with a bit of Armour in support.