Trewets journey into Bolt Action German Panzer Grenadier 901st

Take your desired brown base material,here I am using dried used coffee grounds as I find it gives a rich brown colour when finished.It also smells great.

Mix a 10% concentration of isopropanol in water( 1 part iso to 9 parts water,roughly)

Then take equal parts of wood glue(PVA) and the isopropanol  and mix together into a thin consistency.

If you dont have isopropanol it is fine to use just plain water but the coffee grounds can stick to your brush through the base process due to the surface tension of the mix.

Apply the mix to your base, making sure to get in all the hard to reach areas using an old brush.Add more PVA till the base is covered with the glue mix in an even coat.

Dip or sprinkle the base material until the base is covered( I dip my base into a small container and leave for a few seconds till the glue has had time to pick up and soak into the desired amount of material) this is hit and miss and down to personal preference.

Let this dry….it can take a reasonable time ,quicker when warmer.

The base material may look stuck down but not quite yet,another soaking on the glue mix is required over the top to seal it to the base.Again this may take some time to dry.

The final result will give you a mixed muddy base.Depending on the glue you use it may come out with a satin finish which can be knocked back with a Matt varnish later.Or disguised with other effects like I am going to do(snow).

Have had a few more days holiday this week and have progressed the painting and basing of the squads. The first squad is almost finished and have added a brown base material( info on that in next instalment) the second squad has some base colours blocked in but have to finish all the little bits and bobs before giving the a wash and highlight.

Here I have put a base grey primer down on the figures and then a wash over that to give a low light.

The figure with white smocks are given a dry brush with warm grey colour just above the washed grey…this gives an area to highlight with the pure white that looks more natural than just going in free hand.

The darker grey uniform is based using the army painter uniform grey,washed with a dark wash then highlighted with the uniform grey.

further washes could be used with thinned out washes using Matt medium,as this gives the washes a better “flow” on the model and a thinner transition from dark to light.

As you can see in the last photo I have put a small amount of the medium into a dropper bottle for better control over the larger container.

Next step is to colour the weapons and other bits of kit.

Two grenadier squads

one howitzer

one sniper team and an officer that should come to about 500 pts

Here are the first figures of winter German infantry that I am going to base my army from, The  German 901st grenadiers that fought around Bastgone near the village of Marvie.