Men with Green Faces

Ranger, LRRP, SEAL, whatever this guy is supposed to be, they all went by the nickname "Men with Green Faces".

Whilst I was playing with different colours to get a pleasing result for the tiger stripe pattern, I decided to have a go at the camo face make-up. I have seen this done very well on large scale busts but have only tried it once before in 35th scale, I only used a dark green then and it ended up looking a little like batman !

Not deterred however, I decided to have another go on a spare Hornet head just to see how I got on

I painted the eyes first and then outlined them with my flesh base tone, 804 Beige Red in this case. The light green, 922 US Uniform Green, was then applied in thin coats. For the dark stripes I used 889 US Olive Drab then highlighted both colours by adding a little of the flesh mix to each one.

Honestly ? I'm not sure I like it, I think it may just overpower the figure once the camo pattern is painted on the fatigues. Luckily there is photographic evidence that these guys went out on patrol without camo make-up so I may just use some artistic licence and not bother.

Until the next episode...

US Airborne Reference

Took these shots of re-enactors at the Yorkshire Wartime Experience earlier this year, great event and great reference material.

Head for the Huey

Well the postman delivered the final piece in the reference puzzle, Schiffer's Tiger Patterns by Sgt Richard Johnson. Think I have enough to begin on the painting now !!

All together now, " I see a red door and I want to paint it....." GREEN

Head for the Huey

Been a long time getting to this bit, mainly because I mis-judged just how much detail was in this guy, but I think we are about ready for some paint. Yay !

Still need to add a sling for the M79 and the arms and backpack are just tacked on here. It would have been far too complicated to paint this as one piece so I have kept some bits separate.

The smoke grenades are again from Bravo 6 and these come with photo-etch pins and decals for the markings, these too have been pinned and loosely fitted so I can remove them for painting.

So, on to some practice painting that Tiger Stripe before I commit to a pattern (there are several).

Denison Smock - British Airborne

Well with the plethora of British Airborne kits being released at the moment, I thought it best to try and get my head round painting the denison smock.This guy is from the Miniart set 35148 "Market Garden".

I kept the head as-is this time instead of using a Hornet one, ugly begger isn't he ? The only addition I made was to add a helmet net and some scrim as described in my US Airborne blog.

Base for the smock is 70% 914 Green Ochre + 30% 988 Khaki. Add 921 English Uniform to shade and 917 Beige to Highlight.

Green patches are 890 Reflective Green, add 950 Black to shade and 918 Ivory to highlight.

Brown patches are 983 Flat Earth, add 872 Chocolate Brown + 950 Black to shade and 918 Ivory to highlight.

Final outlining is done with 822 German Camo Black Brown.

Obviously still work in progress but looks the part I think.

Head for the Huey

Little more done, Vladimir Demchenko of Bravo6 kindly sent me some boonie hats and waterbottles for this figure. Cheers buddy !