Hobby Roundup. Spring Clean 2024.

I used the same metallic colours for all the Romans. The feathers on the helmets were painted with Xpress Seraph Red and highlighted with GW Wild Rider Red. The shields were painted either Xpress Iceberg Grey or Legacy Blue. Different shades of those two colours were achieved by thinner or stronger application of the paint. More paint was deliberately left at the spines of the shields . The darker blue spines were highlighted with GW Calgar Blue and the lighter with GW Fenrisian Grey.

This rear view better shows the cloth colours I used. I used the same two reds I mentioned previously and also Xpress Mummy White and Templar White. I highlighted the ‘white’ cloth with Vallejo Off White and the Seraph Red with GW Wild Rider Red and the Plasma Red with GW Fire Dragon Bright. I had used these colours to highlight the shields too. I painted the flesh with Xpress Dwarf Skin and highlighted it with GW Kislev Flesh mixed with Valllejo Pale Flesh. The ringmail was painted with Vallejo Duralininium washed with a diluted Liquitex Carbon Black Ink and highlighted (using the side of the brush) with GW Stormhost Silver.

I undercoated the front of the minis white and the rear black with Halfords rattle cans. I then painted all the areas that were going to be metal black. I did this so that I had a black line between each colour and also I prefer painting metallics over dark colours. Before spraying the figures I used Tamiya masking tape to cover the contact points of each strip. This was to ensure as clean a join as possible when it came to gluing the strips together after painting. I used Vallejo Xpress colours as much as possible. Any areas that I needed to paint white after the undercoat had been applied were obviously done before they were applied. I used two colours for the shields : Seraph Red and Plasma Red for a bit of variety. I did not have a good bronze colour in my collection so I purchased Vallejo Game Colour Bright Bronze. I was absolutely delighted with this colour. I shaded it with Liquitex Burnt Umber on the helmets and added some highlights with the original metal colour.

As I mentioned in a previous post the problem with Spring Clean is that you think you are making progress and then get distracted with the latest new thing. In this case hundreds of Epic Carthaginians and Romans. Cannot wait to paint the elephants!

Here I thought I would explain my more detailed method for skin on figures. I used Army Painter Barbarian Flesh as a basecoat and washed this with an old GW flesh wash that I had mixed with their Seraphim Sepia. I then applied a glaze of GW Screaming Pink around the cheeks, and nose. If teeth are showing I will pick them out with an ivory colour. The bottom lip is painted with GW Tuskgor Fur. The gap between the lips or the inside of the mouth is done with GW Rhinox Hide. Glazes of the original flesh are done to highlight the cheeks,brow, chin,lips  and nose. Further highlights are done with this colour mixed with Vallejo Pale Flesh. For WWII figures especially I like to add stubble. This is achieved with glazes of a 50/50 mix of GW Terradon Turquoise and Space Wolves Grey. Make sure you apply this carefully with not too much paint on your brush.

The rifle was base coated with Vallejo Flat Brown. Highlights were done with GW Zandri Dust and wood grain was applied with Rhinox Hide. The ‘wood’on the rifle was then glazed with Scale 75 Inktense Wood. The metal parts of the rifle were painted black and then rubbed with a soft pencil. Extreme highlights were done with GW Leadbelcher.

SS troops often mixed camouflage and field grey in their uniforms as well as obviously wearing all field grey uniforms. This recipe will suit SS and army uniforms. Start from any field grey paint ( I used Army Painter’s Warpaint version). Wash with GW Agrax and then highlight with the original grey mixed with Vallejo Grey Green. This I think gives a simple but effective finish.

This was done in exactly the same way as described for the Autumn version. Again start with the same base coat I have described and substitute the following colours: Vallejo Yellow Olive , Vallejo Deep Green and Moot Green by GW.

I started from a base coat of a 50/50 mix of GW XV88 and Scale 75 Thar Brown. I then added large irregular shapes of GW Thondia Brown. About 50-70% of the dark brown had irregular shapes of GW Mournfang added within and sometimes to the edge or even overlapping into the pale brown base colour. Smaller ‘dots’ of this were painted on the pale brown too. Dots and small irregular patterns of Vallejo Bright Orange were then placed within the larger brown areas and even within some of the smaller dots. The uniform was then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. The orange areas had highlights of GW Fire Dragon Bright placed on them and the original pale brown mix was highlighted with a slightly brighter mix which was achieved by adding more of the Thar Brown into it.