The Painting Corner

Greetings and Happy 2015 to you!  Things have started to settle down after the wild holiday season so I have been able to allocate some time to showcase a few of the projects we have been working on in the Painting Corner.  The first is my Israeli Ch'ir Mamochan or Motorized Infantry platoon for Flames of War's Fate of a Nation supplement.

I have really enjoyed assembling and panting the models from this particular range.  While I have several different WW2 armies; getting to paint and play with vehicles and equipment from the Cold War Era has been a welcome change.  Furthermore, this is my first foray into a desert environment so the basing and gaming surface challenges have been a great experience as well.  

One of the FAL Rifle Teams

I primed them in black and then based coated their uniform with Vallejo 881 Yellow Green.  Their web gear, ammo pouches etc. were then picked out in Vallejo 884 Stone Grey while their helmets were painted in Vallejo 886 Green Grey (the same color I used for the IDF tanks).  I left the FALs black but the Uzi SMGs scatterd among the NCOs I picked out in Citadel's Leadbelcher. 

From this picture of modern IDF female soldiers, you will
notice the difference in skin tone among
them even now

Painting Middle Eastern skin tones was something that I experimented with a little and from the pictures you can probably see the different shades I tried out.  For the most part, I started with a base coat of Vallejo 875 Beige Brown.  Then, after giving the whole model a wash with Army Painter's Strong Tone ink, I highlighted the skin with a variant mix of Vallejo 875 Beige Brown and Vallejo 955 Flat Flesh.  Depending on the mix ratio, I came up with a variety of shades--I erred on a lighter shade 50% of the time as I can imagine many of these solders being the children of European immigrants that settled in Israel after the Holocaust and World War 2.   

The Platoon CO

The final step in painting the IDF troops was to add a final layer of highlighting.  I have tried various ways of doing this over the last few months and have sort of settled on a method that is quick but still looks pretty good. Since the Strong Tone Ink darkens/browns the model, to add a highlight I simply go over the raised areas of their clothing or equipment with the same color as the base coat.  I am sure I could have mixed in a little white to make it more pronounced, but I rather like the look just highlighting with the base color gives.  As I said, it is fast and still accomplishes what highlighting is supposed to!  The only area where I did not do this was with their helmets; for that I simply dry brushed the raised "camo net" pattern with Vallejo 884 Stone Grey.  

FAL teams supporting a M50 "French Sherman"

Once all of the models were complete, I faced my final challenge--basing.  These are the first desert bases I have done so was a little unsure of how to proceed.  After a few trials, I think I hit upon a formula that seems to work.  After gluing them to their bases, I game the top of the base a coat of PVA (Elmer's) glue and dipped it in sand.  Once that dried, I based coated with thinned out Vallejo 913 Yellow Ochre.  After that coat dried, I gave the top of the base a wash with Vallejo's Dark Brown ink followed by a drybrush of Vallejo 847 Dark Sand and then a final drybrush of Vallejo 918 Ivory.   To complete the base, I painted the sides with a coat of Vallejo 983 Flat Earth for some contrast and then added a few patches of underbrush to each one using Army Painter's Static Field Grass and some of their Highland's tufts. 

All in all I think they came out pretty good!  Here are some "textured" shots to mimic some of the grainy combat pics from the 1960's:

"Holding the Line"

 

LMG and Blincade Teams from the Weapons Squad 

"Watchers on the Wall"

Thanks for looking!  I should have some pics soon of the Egyptian SU-100s and some Egyptian infantry coming soon!  

See you on the table!

-Travis