Hey Pete,

He is looking nice. Enjoying the sbs.

Joe

Petey outstanding, makes me want to paint a Nazi for a change. You have inspired me, will talk more about it at Atlanta I hope. Will you be bringing this guy?

Larry

Joe - oonga laloonga (i.e "thanks " )

Larry - yes, I'll be bringing it to Atlanta. In fact, it's riding home with your colleague.

What? Your giving it to him? That's the only way he'll have smaller than a 120mm figure! The girly man!

That .... and it's camo.

We can make a man out of him yet!

Oh behave!

Alright brother Petey, where are the pic's..?
I am dying over here!

Hope all is well

Patrick

Hold on brother Patrick. You seem to have forgotten the US Army's golden rule: "hurry up and wait." I'm painting the arms right now. The camo is done.

Hey Pete!

I was worried your camera had been washed away or something!
Are you getting the bad rains down your way?

I'm enjoying the SBS my mathematically inclined friend. I have lost all interest in WW2 Germans, but ya never know if it'll come back, there are few good ones in the grey army!

Cheers
Andy

Alright alright!

At the behest of a certain Lt.Colonel (and his "operator" friends standing over my shoulder as I write this ) I am posting the following in-progress photo of the panzergrenadier. In my defense, I have not had a chance to flatten the finish on the figure, and the left arm is still wet.

Here's the latest ...

Once the camouflage pattern in acrylics is complete, it's time to resort to oils for the highlighting and shading. The reason I like using oils is because of their transluscency. Unfortunately, you'll end up with a somewhat glossy finish, but this can be easily fixed with some flat finish. For this, I'll use about 2 or 3 thin coats of Vallejo's Matte Finish; it's good for building up the finish. My all-time favorite is Poly-S's flat finish, but this one is out of production (I heard that Testor's bought the line and re-released this finish. However, it was not the same as the Poly-S when I used it so I canned the bottle). I stay away from Testor's dullcote lacquer since I hate using my airbrush (perhaps it's because I own a Paasche that clogs after 4 or 5 sprays).

Anyway, I needed to apply a color that would bring all the colors in the pattern together. This is something hard to explain, but what I wanted to do was to apply a glaze of some color in oils that would help blend in the colors within the pattern. Otherwise, the colors would look like distinct layers, which is what camouflage is meant not to do. For this, I applied a very light coat of raw umber and immediately brushed off as much as possible. After about 3 minutes of brushing off the oils, I was left with the thinnest of coats of raw umber. This not only help blend in the colors, but it gave me a layer of oils upon which I could blend in the shadows and highlights much as is done when painting in oils.

For the shadows, I used a mixture of 2 parts burnt umber + 1 part sap green + 1/2 part raw umber. I tried to go with a color that would go good with the violet brown and the different layers of green. I simply painted in a very thin line where the deepest shadows would be, and then gently feathered it out. I've read about approaches where the base color is highlighted and shadowed, and then each individual layer is highlighted and shadowed. Personally, I felt this was redundant since, at a distance, all the colors blend in together. Afterall, that's what camouflage is for.

The other purpose for camouflage is to keep the soldier wearing it from getting shot <sic>, which is why I couldn't fathom the use of highlights as is done with painting solid colors in oils. I mean, I would definitely hate to wear a BDU that had highlights that stood out while in the field When highlighting, sublety is the key, and it's purpose will be to distinguish between the folds in the pattern. For this, I used a mix of 1 part flesh tint with just enough sap green to give it a slight pinkish-grey color. This was applied only on the highest highlights and feathered out so as to only have a thinnest of lines as the highlight.

Once done, I will speed up the drying by placing the piece in a toaster oven at 150 Fahrenheit for a few hours, and then apply some coats of Vallejo matte finish.

Next up: a picture of the finished piece.

Brother,
He looks awesome...I am in awe!

I have never heard of Vallejo flat spray, I take it that it is in a spray can, right?


All the best Petey! Can't wait!

Patrick

Petey, looking great man, can't wait to see it in Atlanta!

Larry & Patrick (the 2 towers),
Thanks, guys. It still needs lots of work. The Vallejo matte finish comes in the same type of bottle as the paints do. Easy to brush on.

Nice SBS Pete! I need to try this out some time. One question: I assume the shading and highlighting glazes would be different depending on the cammo colors. Is there a rule of thumb you use to select the glaze colors, or have you determined which colors to use through experimentation. If that is the case, what do you use for each pattern? (okay, thats two questions).

Randy,
Thanks, dude! This is going to sound a crazy, but here's how I go about picking colors for the highlighting and shading: I take one drop of each Vallejo color I used in the pattern, mix them up, and paint some onto an index card. I then try to mix this color using oils and use it as a base for making a highlight and a shade.

Petey,
How are things coming along with this piece...I'm dying over here...got an update my brother?

All the best

Patrick

Super work Pete.......great sbs too.

Patrick & Guy,
I know I've been bad about posting pictures here. School started yesterday, so I've been busy with that. I'll try to have an updated picture posted tomorrow.

Excellent Petey, looking forward to it...

Hope all is well!

All the best, my brother!

Patrick