Saturday, 24 March 2012

Gordon Highlanders:  You guys are serious enough to not need the sporran step typed out but I'll do it anyway. Just add a bit more white and drybush. Then drybrush white. Vallejo Brass for the, er, brass and plain black for the tassles. Should take less than half an hour for the lot.  Now have tea.

Friday, 23 March 2012

Gordon Highlanders:  You can see the fronts of the flashes here.  The water bottle (right hip) is painted with Vallejo Flat Earth and the sporran based with the ubiquitous Earth mixed with white.

Eyes; I feckin' hate eyes. Mine have been getting worse these last couple of years and I am totally unable to paint eyes without artificial aids.  I use a hobby headband type thingy with the magnifying glasses. It has a pathetic light on it as well (that I never use), but for a tenner it has been a decent buy.  So that's how I paint eyes.  And sometimes I get it into my head that all the eyes have to be painted. Not a big issue with 6 highlanders, but I have just finished an Anglo-Danish army of over 200 guys and my eyes are killing me because of painting eyes that no fucker will ever see or appreciate.

Oh music. For this I was entertained by the current Take That album - they have emerged to become a most respected and admired group of music maestros, and have sealed a place for themselves in the minds of serious music lovers.
Gordon Highlanders:  Socks and Gaiters and more non-military music, this time some Michael Buble and Girls Aloud.  Gaiters were based with Vallejo Earth with white added in a few layers to build up the colour.  Flashes were done in a dark red with black criss-crossing. This is a lot less scary than it seems.  I did an X on the front and back, followed by a V on the sides (as shown above). See the following pics for the front.  Six models took around 15 minutes. Shoes are black.  Easy.
Gordon Highlanders:  I needed some suitably stirring music to get moving on these boys - not shitty military music, I put on the much underrated song-wizards Banarama.  A Vallejo Brown  Rose and Medium Fleshtone mix was the basis of the skin highlighting, add tiny bits of white to the mix for the raised detail.  A very thin wash (as described earlier) aided with the blending.
Gordon Highlanders:  A dose of Devlan Mud/Ogryn Flesh wash adds the shading on the flesh. I don't use many GW paints but the aforementioned are very good. I used to use Winsor & Newton Peat Brown ink but will admit that the GW stuff is even better.
Gordon Highlanders:  I have a ton of ways to paint flesh and this was the first time I used Vallejo Brown Rose as a basecoat.  Also basecoated belts and rifle with Vallejo Charred Brown.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Gordon Highlanders:  I've never painted highlanders before, perhaps a bit surprising since I joined a Scottish regiment when I was 18, so I always wanted a few of these elite soldiers for a new force for colonial gaming in 19th century Sudan. So, first I did a bit of research and found some good examples of painted figures on the web.  Here are some great ones:
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_35_49&products_id=2389
http://over-open-sights.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/perry-sudan-gordon-highlanders-3.html
http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/showthread.php?17991-London-Show-5th-December-2009-Photo-s-amp-Report/page2
http://media.photobucket.com/image/gordon%20highlanders%20sudan/AndersHeintz/Blog%20Pics/Horan%20Figures/Horan_26_4x6.jpg
http://www.johnjenkinsdesigns.com/GDH02.JPG
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/pages.php?page=sudan-uniform-guide

Then I figured out what paints to use. The Vallejo paints are from the Model Colour range.  Here are the main ones:
Kilt: GW Dark Angel Green
Tunic: Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform
Flesh: Vallejo Brown Rose
Belt/Helmets: Vallejo Khaki
Wood/Water Bottle: Vallejo Flat Earth
Brass: Vallejo Brass
Steel: Vallejo Natural Steel

The tunic was basecoated with Luftwaffe Uniform and the kilt was done with Dark Angel Green.
3 broad strips of GW Regal Blue were painted horizontally around the kilt, followed by thinner horizontal and vertical strips of Vallejo Medium Fleshtone. I find yellows are too bright for this sort of cloth and using the flesh colour makes it appear to meld with the kilt as it does on the real thing.