Wednesday 14 January 2015

From KevinS - 28mm WWII Hetzer and Pak 40 (42 Points)



Here's the result of my painting efforts over the past few weeks. The Waffen-SS PaK 40 with three-man crew was painted up using late-war camouflage colours. The figures from Warlord Games' Bolt Action series were nicely sculpted. I'll probably use these, along with a few others you can see lurking in the background, for a game I'm working towards set during Operation Market Garden. 



I used Vallejo colours for the uniforms, and combined them with Wargames Foundry's basic three-part flesh tone set of paints. In recent years I've struggled to find just the right three-colour combination for painting my figures, and after some experimentation I've settled on Foundry's set as the one that gives a subtle variation in tones that are relatively quick to produce and still stand out on the tabletop.


The little Hetzer caused me more than a few headaches. I tried painting it three times, initially using an airbrush, but I just couldn't seem to get it right. I started with Vallejo Aircolor's Dunkelgelb. The airbrush produced a wonderfully smooth and even colour. But when I tried masking and applying camouflage, that's when things started to go downhill. I stripped off the paint a couple of times using Simple Green. I finally settled on a basic airbrushed coat of Dunkelgelb, followed by hand painted camouflage patches of red-brown and green. Then I added in the contrasting triangular touches of colour to produce the ambush camouflage pattern. 




I finally applied a wash of AK Interactive's filter for Nato tanks (AK-076), followed by shadows in the recesses with AK Interactive wash for Nato tanks (AK-075). I painted the tracks with Vallejo's German Grey, and then textured and weathered them with umber and rust coloured MIG pigments.


From Curt:

First, welcome to the Challenge Kevin! It's great to have you back with us this year.

This is a great debut Kevin and a bit of a change of pace from your WWI project.  All troubles aside, the Hetzer's dot pattern ambush camo came out brilliantly and the PAK team is a great piece as well . What rules are you going to be using for this lot? 

Again, it's great to see you on the roster!

15 comments:

  1. The Hetzer was worth your troubles as you did an excellent job on it

    Ian

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  2. Very nice, great work. Your explanation of the airbrush problems is yet another reason I would rather poke my own eyes out than pick one up, but I am always impressed by what people are able to do with them - your Hetzer looks fabulous.

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  3. Excellent work with the Hetzer, and all round good painting for your first entry :)

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  4. Great painting work; they are very nice!

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  5. Nice work. The Hetzer looks the biz.

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  6. Nice camo Kevin, despite the headaches!

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  7. That's some excellent work on the gun and the Hetzer - one of my fave vehicles, BTW!

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  8. Just the job alright, welcome across the start line.

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  9. It's a right paint to have to strip mini's when something isn't right. But these seem to have been worth the extra effort. They look the business!

    Welcome to the fray!

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  10. Outstanding work on that came pattern!

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  11. The Hetzer looks great. Never tried my hand on that particular camo butt looking at your take on it I might give it a try.

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  12. Both cannon and tank are very nice! I have not yet tried an airbrush for camouflage, I may have to give it a try. The Ambush pattern came out very well for all the trouble it gave you!

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  13. I really like the paint job on your Hetzer. As painful as it was it was worth the effort.

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  14. Thanks everyone. Glad to be back at it. For rules I have Disposable Heroes and also Bolt Action. Long before the Challenge started I painted up some US airborne and you might remember the armor from last year's Challenge. All this should be on the tabletop by the end of Winter I hope.

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