Military Miniatures

It has been nearly 18 months since I last picked up a paintbrush or updated this blog. The reason for the long delay was that at the end of 2009 we emigrated to live on a small farm 2000 feet up in the Andes in Argentina.

But now we are a little more settled it seemed the right time to dust off the crate of model kits, paints, workshop clutter etc that came with me and start painting again.

One thing that did not become apparent until I did open the crate of modelling gear – I had not brought any plastic modelling cement with me. And our local town does not have a model shop either. My nearest model shop is a 500 km ( 300+ mile ) round trip! So next time you moan about having to walk down to the town for something – count yourself lucky!

Some time ago I decided to do something very different from my normal Napoleonic dioramas and the idea of a broken down WWII lorry convoy arose. (First posted here).  Out came the Zvezda kit of a Soviet GAZ-MM truck and with a cup of coffee on the table, work commenced.

The GAZ-MM kit

I decided to have this truck as being the one broken down in the convoy to Berlin, and although the bonnet assembly should be one piece, I want it open so a little modification will be needed.

A triangular section of bonnet was cut off and the side panel was glued on top of the bonnet to simulate it being open and folded back.

The bonnet has been modified to open to show the engine

The cut edges need a little tidying up before final finishing, but so far so good.

The engine from the front

I am going to hand paint paint the chassis and engine compartment. When I left work in the UK some colleagues bought me a stunning airbrush kit as a farewell present – but that will remain in its packaging until I can construct a workshop on the farm.

The GAZ-MM’s driver (there is not one in the kit, so another kit will have to be raided to provide a figure) will be looking inside the engine compartment. But let’s wait and see, dioramas have a habit of growing or changing as they are created.

After such a long break from modelling I was quite pleased with the results so far.

I have had a letter from a visitor to my site asking for hints and tips on how to paint military figure models.

Here is part of the reply that I sent, and I have posted it here in the hope it can be of use to others too.

“How did I learn to paint? I just started and learned from my mistakes as I went along. It takes time, but here are the things that I have learnt from experience and things that work for me.

1. I have to be in the mood to paint. Sometimes weeks go by before I get in the right mood.

2. Don’t rush. Some of my figures took up to 100 hours to paint! But not all in one go.

3. Look at real life. For example, I guess you have a pair of jeans. What colour would you paint a figure with jeans? Blue? Wrong.
Really look at your jeans. They are actually white and blue in fine stripes. So paint a light blue base coat on your figure and then dry brush a little white on the top. This gives the two colour look that your jeans have in real life. Look at the folds in your jeans. The top of the fold is lighter than the bottom of the fold. But there is no line separating these colours. So pain a lighter blue on top of a fold. A darker blue at the bottom of the fold. Now blend with THIN washes between the two. You will get a graduation of colour from light to dark.

4. Dont paint where you don’t want paint. Silly to say, but so true for ‘sharp’ colours. For example. You have a figure wih a red jacket and white belts. Don’t paint the whole figure red then try to paint the belt white on top of red. I don’t know why, but it does not work. Paint the jacket red, but carefully ‘miss’ the belt. Then paint the belt white. This will give a clearer colour and will also make a very sharp line contrast between the two colours.

5. Don’t rush – use lots of thin coats of paint instead of 1 thick coat for the main surfaces. For a jacket I would paint a number of thin coats of paint. Then a number of slightly different coloured THIN washes. Then the graduated highlights on the folds. Finally over the whole lot another VERY THIN wash of basic red. This will give you a jacket that is a myriad of different colour reds, but the eye sees just a realistic red jacket instead of a single red layer of paint.

6. There is a tendency for people to paint a really good figure. Then, for me, they spoil it because they outline in black every single detail. In real life do you see a soldier’s belt with black lines painted either side of it? No. So don’t do it. Use the technique in 4 above to get a natural sharp contrast. If you want to outline a detail to make it more visible, use ink and a 000 brush so the line is very fine and almost invisible. That works just as well as their thick lines but is far more natural.

That is probably enough to be getting on with at the moment. If you want any more help, please feel free to drop me a note and I will do what I can to assist”.

In August 2006 I made and painted “Comrades in Arms” which depicted a member of Napoleon’s Old Guard carrying a tired Drummer Boy on the retreat from Moscow in 1812.

With the help of a print called “Napoleon’s Retreat From Moscow” by Adolf Northern, I have taken short video clips and have produced this short YouTube video.

My belief is that this media can really give models like these a ‘life’.

Hope you watch and enjoy it. Best seen in full screen.

Thank you

The parts have been dry fitted together,  the joints tidied up with swiss files where possible, and where not possible, filled with “Miliput”.

If you look at picture below, you cannot see the joint between the Cuirassier’s body and his arms. You do not have visible join lines in real life, so why should your military model have them?

Showing the area where both the left and right arms join the figure.

Fill the joint with a little too much Miliput, or similar compound. Smooth off with a wet finger or spatula and try to leave slight ‘lumps’ to mimic muscles. It gives your 54mm model a better look, and it is not as difficult as it seems.

The figure of the French Cuirassier has been allowed to dry and then undercoated ready for painting.

See a video of my British Infantry Square at Waterloo on YouTube