Thanks Dolf, Chris, greatly appreciated.

Off to a good start with the Cammo Ski
Steve

Thanks Stevo!

Adding Camo Pattern Details

Looking closely at many smock examples there is actually four colors visible. In places where the red tones were brushed across the green tones there is actually a darker green tone that appears.Trying to duplicate this with a simple swipe of the red tone over the green won't get it done.I'm using acrylics for this portion, not oils.So, I added a darker green tone in those areas, including the brush marks that are visible in some examples.

The real trick here is to make sure no area is left undone, so combing over these areas slowly and carefully is a must. Looking at these pics I see a few areas that I missed during my last inspection, oops.I'll focus on those areas mue pronto!

Here's the first three pretty much done, but they will have another go-over before the oils flow. Also, light Olive Drab has been used on the web gear.It's a decent tone that is not too tan or too green.






The Bren gunner is in the first stage of the camo pattern and will be completed soon.




More to follow and thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.

Beautiful camo painting Steve! Very well done with all those details!

Keep it up!


Cheers!

Thanks Dolf and Nap!

Yes, Nap, I'm going to work one of the figures, get the fading and shading figured out and let er rip. This camo pattern has a lot more detail than a desert camo pattern, so dealing with each tone will be interesting. I'll post em when I got em.

Thanks Gents, Ski.

Outstanding so far, Steve - especially on the smocks. One point - on the seated rifleman figure, you've painted his waterbottle carrier the same colour as the bottle itself. '37 Pattern waterbottle (canteen) covers came in 2 different variations; a skeleton cruciform type & a hollow web sleeve with a buckle on either side at the top for attachment to the shoulder braces.

This figure is wearing the hollow web sleeve type, which was probably simpler to manufacture. The sleeve covered the bottle up to the top seam of its blanket covering, so would be the same colour as the rest of his webbing equipment. The photos of Cpl Reynolds' group which you've shown earlier in this thread illustrate this well.

Also just noticed that when Steve R. cast these figures, he showed the safety catch for the No.4 rifles in the correct "Off" position as if they were in action.
Kudos for that, Steve - it's a point often missed by some manufacturers!

Thanks Chris. Your observation was brought to my attention by another fellow paint sniffer. I now have a ref pic and will correct that. Good eye Amigo, on both accounts! I will be correcting that issue mue pronto.


Colors Used

I neglected to mention the colors used, here's the line-up. I did not use AK's Intermediate Green, AK3058. I was way too light for my taste and really isn't representative of the actual uniform color. You can see all the colors I used below.





More to follow soon.

Hi Steve
Sorry I’ve been offline for a while, but I wanted to give you props for the camo painting on the Denison smocks. I’ll be following your progress on this project. Ruck on mate

Thanks Tony, the oils are flowing and it's getting fun

Oil er up!

Now the fun part begins, the oils. I decided to do a test run on shading and highlighting to figure out how to go about this particular camo pattern.What I'm finding is there is no easy way about it.Each area is being treated like a separate canvas and I am having to switch colors on the spot while transitioning through a particular area.

It's really not that big of a deal, but tone matching for realism is my concern. I don't want to end up with a white wash look after covering a large area to realize I have to go back and tone it down.But, it is a test run.In this session I have done the front chest area, right arm, and upper portion of the left arm only.

Initially I ran a light wash of Windsor Oxide Chromium, which is almost an exact match for my light green tone, mixed with a spot of Ivory Black over the entire figure to seep into the creases and crevasses. Then I went back and wiped off that tone from all the tan and reddish areas.Pin lines have not been added to the seems, etc., not yet.That will be the last detail to add before the brass buttons, clips, and zipper.Sorry about the pics, they aren't the greatest.





Also, the web gear shoulder straps will be returned to a more tan-ish appearance closer to the ammo pouches. I got carried away with the excitement of finally painting in oils I forgot to bring it back home to a more realistic tone, lol.The paint is still a bit wet and shinny, but it's the overall appearance I'm looking at right now.

So, some serious thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated at this point, especially from my fellow oilers, if you please.


More to follow. Cheers, Ski.

Excellent stuff, Steve! Keep it going!


Cheers!

Nice work on those oils Ski.
Cheers
Steve

A tip I was given by I think Housecarl was to run a wash of the base colour over the completed camo to help it "blend" into the figure
Steve

Thanks Steve. I did a green wash, seemed to work ok. I'm going to hold off on a tan wash for now, may run one on the next figure to see how it goes

Thanks Dolf and Stevo, greatly appreciated.

I reckon you've nailed that Denison smock, Steve - the colour wash seems to have blended everything nicely.

Thanks you guys.

I'm seeing a "white-out" syndrome occurring the further I take this on the bench, so there may be a bath in order real soon. This is a "test" run after all, right? Lol. Ya, it's frustrating seeing it drift into the white spectrum, but what's the 'ol Chinese saying, "If you're riding a dead horse, get off.", or something like that? I'm seeing way too much white glare the further up the arm I go, so rather than continue I'll wash it and start up top to retain the tonal range more realistic rather than "stage lighting", so to speak, argggggggggggg.........! This certainly isn't my first time doing a "retake".

Pics to follow soon Gents, thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.