US Airborne Revisited

As you can probably see from the contents of my blog, the US Airborne has always been a favourite subject of mine so I decide it was high time to revisit the uniform.

At the time I was pleased at how my attempts came out but always felt I had never really captured the elusive colour of the M1942 jump uniform, fast forward a few years and many experiments I (hopefully !) have something that looks a little more like the image in my head that I wanted to portray.

There was obviously a great variation in the colours of both the uniform and the equipment, as these re-enactment photos show.

My earlier efforts were more on the lighter side but I wanted to try and capture the warmer tones of the figure on the left in the top photo.

I suppose Band of Brothers had a little to do with this, it's de-saturated style seemed a lot more gritty and gave it a more authentic feel.

So this is my previous palette, you can find a full rundown on the construction of this Dragon figure here and the full paint guide here.

And this is my latest attempt on one of Alpine Miniatures' sublime figures.

Here is a rundown of the paint palette I used, mostly Vallejo Model Colour but a few Lifecolor (UA Prefix) and one AK colour. As it turns out, the main one.

M1942 Uniform

Base colour - AK3076 Canvas Tone

(this can be substituted for a 50/50 mix of Vallejo 988 Khaki and Panzer Aces 317 British Tank Crew but it's easier out of one bottle)

Highlight 1 - add UA430 HBT Light Shade

Shadow 1 - add UA422 Wool Olive Drab

Shadow 2 - add 887 Brown Violet

At this stage I used a filter of 880 Khaki Grey to try and bring in the mustard colour to the midtones. Once happy with the overall colour I enhanced the highlights slighty by adding a little 845 Sunny Skintone and darkened the shadows by adding Andrea black.

Reinforcement Patches

Base Colour - 80% 830 Field Grey, 20% 988 Khaki

Highlight 1 - add more 988 Khaki

Highlight 2 - add 972 Light Green Blue

Shadow 1 - add more 830 Field Grey

Shadow 2 - add Andrea black

Equipment

Pretty much anything goes here with the webbing and equipment, the trick is to mix and match different complimentary colours and tones to separate the equipment from the uniform but to retain the colour harmony.

Webbing

Base Colour - 879 Green Brown

Highlight - add 976 Buff

Shadow - add 941 Burnt Umber

Ammunition Bandolier

Base Colour - 924 Russian Uniform WW2

Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone

Shadow - add Andrea black

Afterwards I thought this looked a bit too similar to the uniform so I gave it a filter of 967 Olive Green to try and bring it back to a more greenish tone.

Waterbottle

Base Colour - Panzer Aces 314 Canvas

Highlight - add UA430 HBT Light

Shadow 1 - add 887 Brown Violet

Shadow 2 - add Andrea black

Rifle (Metal)

Base Colour - 50% Vallejo 721 Burnt Iron, 50% 950 Black

Highlight - add more 721 Burnt Iron

Shadow - Scalecolor Black ink

Rifle (Wood)

Base Colour - 50% 872 Chocolate Brown, 50% 846 Mahogany

Highlight - add 876 Brown Sand

Shadow - add 872 Chocolate Brown

Glaze - thinned Scalecolor Chestnut Ink

Boots

Base Colour - 50% 872 Chocolate Brown, 50% 875 Beige Brown

Highlight - add more 875 Beige Brown

Shadow 1 - add more 872 Chocolate Brown

Shadow 2 - add Andrea black

Glaze - thinned Scalecolor Chestnut Ink

The ink gives the boots a slight sheen whilst imparting a really nice red leather tone, once dry any scuffing or additional highlighting can be added using 819 Iraqi Sand.

Once I decide what I am going to do with this fella I will add some weathering to blend him into the chosen base, other than that I think he's about done.

Obviously I'm not daft enough to paint on the 101st Airborne badge, this is a dry transfer from Archer Decals, blended in with a very thin wash of the base colour.

So, a slightly different colour palette, and I think I prefer this one.

Until the next time..

Alpine DAK Fallschirmjager Finished

That's this one finished. Had a great time painting this one and learnt a few things about painting lighter colours.

Things I would do differently next time but there always are.

I'm going to paint up the companion piece from this set and place the two figures in a little vignette, stay tuned.

Alpine DAK Fallschirmjager

So after my initial slight hiccup painting the face on this figure, this is how things stand at the moment.

Most of the upper torso is finished with just the legs and a few small details to paint. This was a little more difficult as I had to leave both arms off so I could get to the body parts to paint them effectively. Glueing and filling the arms then painting them in situ can be a slight issue, especially when I'm trying to match up the paintwork.

The focus of this piece was to try and practice painting a light coloured uniform, actually to pre-empt the painting of the figures for my SAS jeep vignette. Light colour uniform painting is something I struggle with, hopefully it works but it is something I still need to practice.

Sometimes it just goes wrong

Things don't always work out the way you planned, after a long lay off from figure painting sometimes it just takes me a while to get back into the groove.

Thought I would post this to illustrate that every now and again there is that project where no matter what you do it just doesn't go how you want. Maybe I left it too long between figures, maybe I was trying too hard or maybe I was just rushing it. Whatever the reason, sometimes it's better to cut your losses, strip it and start again.

This is my first attempt on Alpine's beautiful Ramcke Brigade figure #35125, face is not very neat and definitely not inspiring me to continue at all.

Back to basics then. I stripped the paint off the face with a cotton bud and some neat IPA.

To re-acquaint myself with face painting I watched the excellent youtube videos by Jaume Ortiz, you can find the two videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-pXKtjDd8E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7c6d8zFlZg

Although Jaume's technique is demonstrated on a 75mm head, the technique and colour palette is exactly what I used here.

A base colour of Vallejo 876 Brown Sand, highlighted by adding 815 Basic Fleshtone and shaded by adding 859 Black Red.

This is how face attempt number two turned out, better I think and now I'm more inclined to get on and finish this one.

So if there is a moral here, don't try and force something when it clearly isn't working. Come back to it with fresh eyes and if necessary, start again.

Alpine US Tank Crew #1

Some final snaps of the figure I've just completed, Alpine Miniatures 35051 WW2 US Tank Crew #1.

Painted with Vallejo Model Colour and Panzer Aces acrylics.

Alpine Miniatures BAR Gunner

There can't be many in the modelling world that haven't heard of Alpine Miniatures, their extensive range of resin figures has continued to grow over the years and I for one eagerly await their new releases.
This figure depicts a US Army BAR gunner in typical winter dress with a somewhat relaxed pose. I painted this recently and thought it would be a good idea to note which colours I used, not only to share but also to remind me what I did too.


Generally I will use Vallejo paint, on this occasion I also made use of Lifecolor and Andrea Acrylics too. (The Lifecolor references below will start with a UA prefix).
I find that sometimes Vallejo colours will dry with a slight sheen; to avoid this I generally add a small amount of Tamiya Flat Base into the mix; this isn't usually necessary with Lifecolor or Andrea.
You will have noticed I make use of Andrea black instead of the Vallejo one. As I mentioned above, some Vallejo colours dry with a slight sheen and this black is one of them; it is also slightly lighter than the Vallejo black and I reserve the Vallejo colour for when I really need to go dark.
So below is the breakdown of paint colours I used for each of the specific parts of this figure along with a few work in progress shots;

Flesh

Base - 876 Brown Sand
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add 814 Burnt Cadmium Red

Helmet

Base - 50/50 mix of 893 US Dark Green and 822 German Camo Black Brown
Highlight - add more 893 US Dark Green, then 988 Khaki
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Helmet strap (Canvas)

Base - UA421 Olive Drab M1943
Highlight - add UA426 Olive Drab Green Tone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Helmet strap (Leather)

Base - 50/50 mix of 872 Chocolate Brown and 875 Beige Brown*
Highlight - add more 875 Beige Brown
Shadow - add more 872 Chocolate Brown


* You can see here that the base colour is made up from a dark tone; Chocolate Brown; and a light one; Beige Brown; this technique is really useful as by altering the ratios you already have your light and shadow colours without introducing a new colour that may change the tone.


The head is complete here and the jacket has been blocked in with the base colour.

Scarf

Base - 50/50 mix of 887 Brown Violet and 875 Beige Brown
Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Jacket

Base - 314 Canvas (Panzer Aces range)
Highlight - add UA430 HBT Light Tone
Shadow - add 887 Brown Violet, then Andrea Black


Jacket pretty much complete here, webbing is still in the jacket base colour.

Webbing & Medical Pouch

Base - 988 Khaki
Highlight - add 986 Deck Tan
Shadow - add 822 German Camo Black Brown

Webbing Buckles

Base - 862 Black Grey
Highlight - add 990 Light Grey
Shadow - add Andrea Black


I like to paint buckles in this Non-Metallic Metal (NMM) style, I find actual metallic a little bland for this but that is purely personal preference. Webbing complete here, starting to work up the BAR pouches.

BAR Pouches

Base - UA426 Olive Drab Green Tone
Highlight - add 815 Basic Skintone
Shadow - add 899 US Olive Drab

Waterbottle

Base - UA421 Olive Drab M1943
Highlight - add UA430 HBT Light Tone
Shadow - add 899 US Olive Drab

Gloves

Base - 890 Reflective Green
Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Trousers

Base - 893 US Dark Green
Highlight - add 845 Sunny Skintone
Shadow - add Andrea Black

Boots

Base - 50/50 mix of 872 Chocolate Brown & 875 Beige Brown
Highlight - add more 875 Beige Brown then a little 819 Iraqi Sand for the final highlights/scuffs
Shadow - add more 872 Chocolate Brown then Andrea Black for the final outline.
The boots are then glazed with a thinned Chestnut brown ink, Scalecolor in this instance. This imparts a slight sheen to the leather and unifies all of the colours together.
The soles were painted with 862 Black Grey, highlighted with a little 988 Khaki.

BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle)

Metal Body

Base - 50/50 mix of 721 Burnt Iron (Vallejo metallic range) and Andrea Black
Highlight - add more 721 Burnt Iron
Shadow - outlined with Black Ink; Scalecolor here but any black ink will work

Magazine

Base - 50/50 mix of 703 Dark Aluminium (Vallejo metallic range) and Andrea Black
Highlight - add more 703 Dark Aluminium
Shadow - outlined with Black Ink

Wooden Parts

Base - 50/50 mix of 872 Chocolate Brown and 846 Mahogany Brown
Highlight - add mo876 Brown Sand
Shadow - add more 872 Chocolate Brown
Wooden parts then glazed with Scalecolor Chestnut Ink.


So that about does it, really pleased with how this one came out; these Alpine figures really are a joy to paint - Until next time.