WW2 British Airborne Command - WiP

[Cubs]

It's not really a WiP, because it's months old, but in response to polite interest and entirely unsolicited photographs of various forum members wearing woollen underwear, here's a stage-by-stage I did months ago.

So, with some long-standing commissions out of the way and them thar Perry's Napoleonic British Infantry done at long last, I'm moving on to another half-finished project of mine, namely the Bolt Action Paras. I've almost got the whole platoon done now (some tasty supports are still to be done, but they're very much strap-ons and easily side-stepped for the time being) and only these command models and the very lovely 'Bolt Action' LimEd model to do.



I thought you'd appreciate a wee peek before the paint goes on. This morning I've been mostly fiddling about with thin electrical wiring, twisiting single strands together to make the cables for the radio operator. A few 1/2mm holes drilled here and there, a few wires poked in and glued, a plastic aerial strand from a cheap dustpan and brush later, and I'm really liking how it looks so far. He's even got some short lengths of wire from the headphones before they disappear behind his arm. He's holding the mic to his mouth with his left arm and a Sten across his body with the right, so the lengths of cable at the front of his body would all be obscured anyway, which makes for less work for me. Result.

The LimEd model is going to have a thin card strap for his Sten glued on as well before undercoating and I was struggling to try to make a buckle from wire, before abandoning the silly idea and making one from thin rolled greenstuff instead. It's much easier, it's what I've done with all the others in the platoon and I have no idea why I decided to muck about and change things now.

[Cubs]

Okay, well, first of all is a simple 3-stage in the Denison base colour - namely a sandy beige. Don't get yourself too hung up on the exact shade, since they varied quite a lot in the field for all sorts of reasons, but I've mixed my own 'Demison' up (Demison, Denison, Dennison, there seems to be no end of spelling varieties out there for some reason ... I've even seen a dodgy Denizen, no doubt through sloppy Spellcheck work ... are you reading this Mr Sawyer?). Once you add the brown and green staining it will deepen the shade considerably too, so I try to make sure it's a little lighter than you'd imagine.







For those dippers out there, these classic BA Airborne by Paul Hicks have superb deep, crisp detailing and will take an ink or wash superbly. So if you prefer one coat of paint and then the shading ink after you've done the brown and green patches, that will probably work very nicely too.

I do recommend getting a good book or website and really learning about the various bits of kits the Airborne guys had hanging off them. It really does help even in the early painting stages an awful lot if you know which bit's a toggle rope, which bit's webbing and which bit's a pocket.

[Cubs]

Okay, next stage is the staining.

**NERD ALERT**

The models are shown wearing the Mk1 Denison, with it's ribbed cuffs and brass buttons. The material pattern for the Mk1 was still made by the plain cloth going along a roller, with someone splatting green dye on it with a brush and someone else splatting brown dye on it with a brush. The disruptive pattern achieved was entirely random and due to the whim of the factory artiste, so you really can't go wrong with where you put the green and brown patches.

I mix up a batch of thin mid green glaze/wash, whatever you want to call it, and then do like the factory worker did, but smaller. It really isn't a specific green, just kind of mid, leafy, ivy, whatever you want to call it. It must be thin though, because this will give your dye patches the right effect and give you depth without you trying to highlight them. Then I do the same process with a sort of mid brown with a slightly reddish tint, making sure I overlap the green in places. Something like a chestnut colour maybe. Anyway, that's what you can see below.





Then, I get my jar of dark brownish grey gloop that I labelled 'Grimy Ink Wash' (for this read Army Painter Strong Tone ink, Devlan Wash or equivalent) and just give some shadow to the creases and folds. This just adds a slight dimension and stops the pattern looking too flat.



Next up is the jump wings. I realise this brings some people out in a sweat because it's fiddly, but just go slow, use a tiny brush and don't be afraid to get it wrong half a dozen times before you get it right, the worst that can happen is that you just paint over it. I had to a couple of times.

The shape is quite simple, it's just a grey ice-cream cone with two wings jutting out to the sides. I like to paint a dark khaki green backing cloth on first, but you could just put that in as an outline after you've done the rest if you want. I do tend to go over the outline anyway to clean up the lines afterwards. The parachute is, like I said, just a light grey ice-cream cone shape, with lightly-brushed 'lines' suggesting the strings. The chute and the wee dangling figure are lighter blobs, almost white. The wings have a definite blueish tint, so I use the old GW 'Space Wolf Grey' for that, with a quick off-white highlight flick here and there. Easier to do than explain really, but go easy, take it slow, and I sketched some out a couple of times onto paper before trying to put paint to model.



When done, I just flicked a thin glaze of a light creamy colour over the tops of the arms and shoulders as a highlight, put some khaki green cuffs in with a simple 3-stage paint job and there's the Denisons complete. I'll put some dull brass buttons in later when I'm doing all the metal.

[Cubs]

Okay, the trousers are pretty easy colour-wise, they're just a sort of mid dirt-brown colour. I tend to start at a chocolate brown (think old GW Scorched Brown) and highlight up to a pale earth shade (think old GW Graveyard earth). Again, more of my 'Grimy Ink Wash' sees the light of day here and it will continue to do so at stages along the way.



The webbing is a really good chance to get loads done with a single shade. You use a khaki, greyish green for the webbing, and I take the opportunity to get the puttees done in this shade too. It's not an exact match, but it's close enough for government work and anything I can do to save time and effort without sacrificing too much quality ... When in doubt when faced with a suspicious looking strap, just cover it in khaki and it won't look out of place. Keep an eye out for the toggle ropes though, because they're in there somewhere too.

You don't have to do all the webbing a greyish green, because that colour comes from the 'Blanco' (a cleaning agent and preservative) that was applied by the soldier, on pain of getting a roasting next kit inspection or parade. If you want, you can leave the odd bit here or there the natural greyish yellow colour of webbing straight from the quartermaster, or the 'Desert Blanco' sandy shade (to depict a lazy Para / someone who has just had new kit issued / someone who has come from North Africa and not re-Blanco'd all their kit yet).



The last two are turned away because they have delusions of being early incarnations of Jim Morrison and also it's handy to show the backpack and entrenching handle stowed at the rear. I was originally going to do the scarves and the radio body this same shade, but then decided I wanted to do them in an Olive Drab colour I have mixed up and ready to go. I will take closer shots from here on in because it's going to get more fiddly, with faces and stuff.

[Cubs]

Right, now for the scarves, helmets (for those who have them) and the water bottle and entrenching tool handle.

I have a mix I labelled 'Olive Drab', which is a grey green colour and, as the name suggests, drab. It's not far off the khaki green shade I use for the webbing, but has more of a grey tint and less of a yellowy tint. You may decide the difference between this and khaki green is so slight that you can safely use just the one shade for all, it's really just a matter of personal preference.

The scarves just had a dark base coat, a light grey-green colour drybrush ... and in fairness you could probably leave it there. What I did, however (in extreme anal retention), was to add a nice dirty wash here using my 'Grimy Ink Wash' mixed with brown ink. Then when dry, I gave it another light drybrush. These final two stages just gave it a tiny bit extra dimension to my eyes. There is plenty of variation available for these, with some being brown and some having brown patches on green, but I've kept all mine in the platoon the same shade for convenience. Later on I may well go back and alter one or two, but not yet!

The helmets were done in a similar way to the scarves; the helmets given the same olive drab base coat and light grey-green drybrush. Then the scraps of camo cloth were painted khaki green and khaki brown in the same sort of simple dark base and light drybrush way. Then, as with the scarves, the whole got a nice dirty wash and when dry I drybrushed over the whole with the same light grey-green shade again.

Trying to balance between an indistinct bunch of colours and clear distinction between the various shades, is trying to balance between 'realistic' camouflage and an attractive paint scheme. As such it's always going to be down to the taste of the individual, but this is the compromise I like.



There's plenty of wee fiddly bits hanging off the webbing of the Airborne guys, so if you can get some of it done as you go along, it might be less indimidating to do than in one gert big lump later on. Here I've done the waterbottle in a shade I label 'Butternut', ie. a sort of wishy-washy grey-brown shade. The handle for the entrenching tool is the same dirt brown shade I used for the trousers.

[Cubs]

Sorry the pics are a bit blurry this time around, I guess I must have still been shuddering after the appalling rugby the Ospreys played last night.

Now, flesh tones time. I use a range of paints I mixed up myself, which I have labelled 'European Flesh'. It's got a peachier tone than the GW ones I used to use before and is handily sat in its pots, pre-mixed and ready to use.

First of all I slap on the base coat, which is kind of a terracotta-ish shade. Then I do the eyes straight onto the base colour. I blob a goodly amount of an off-white shade (much better than white, because it doesn't glow out the head eerily) into the eye sockets.



Then to neaten it up I put a dark brownish shade over the top, to delineate the upper lid of the eye and into the dip towards the bridge of the nose, and then more of the base flesh colour to delineate the lower lid. Unless I want the model to be wearing mascara (could happen - saucy girls, Persians, lonely Greeks, urm ...) I only put a dark line on the top, not the bottom of the eye. These days, unless I'm copying a picture that forces me to do otherwise, I try to keep the eye as a thin slit to show the subject squinting, either in sunlight or because of the strain of combat. It's not always appropriate to do this, because someone might be in a relaxed situation, in shade (such as the jungle, more on that much, much later with any luck), staring in shock, looking upwards, etc .. etc ..



Then I put the iris in, but I don't add a pupil unless I'm painting for ultra-close-up photos. I use a blue or brown iris because I've found that green just looks like blue and I will usually do a 50/50 of the two, unless there are genetic reasons for it to be otherwise. It's important to get the irises matching up so your soldier doesn't look either cross-eyed or like Marty Feldman, so I tend to put the right iris in first (as in, the guy's right eye, or left as I look at it) and then the left. Being right handed, I find it easier to keep control of where the paintbrush is going when I'm not swerving over the nose or being obscured by my own hand. Thus it's easier for me to match the left to the right, instead of the right to the left. Does that make sense?



Then the flesh highlights go on. I have an obsession with lower eye lids these days and I always try to get them in with a very thin brush and a steady hand. I go right up in stages to an extreme highlight of milky white just on the bridge of the nose and cheekbones, plus a little on the uppermost knuckle of the hand. It still looks a bit odd at the moment, because I've got to do the hair, moustaches, eyebrows and stubble on.

[Cubs]

So that's the final bits of the faces done. I tend to do three stages with hair, one dark, one medium and then one very light highlight - so it's like skipping two stages for the final part.

I like to put eyebrows in where possible because it really helps form the facial expression, but if you get it wrong, it can go really wrong. I always end up repainting at least one set of eyebrows in every batch, either because they look like draught excluders or because they look like drag-queen arches. In general, because I want my guys to look mean and moody, I keep the eyebrows low near the nose, with plenty of shadow here, and then they fade out over the eye socket in a gentle arch. Go too low and he'll look Neanderthal, go too high and he'll look like Barbara Cartland. I completely understand people who just skip them.

Stubble I put in by mixing up a mucky mix of brown, grey and blue (blue is important, but skip it with a blonde subject) with plenty of mid flesh colour. This is thinned right down to a subtle wash and then brushed on in layers, starting at the jawline and working up. If it dries too heavy, there's always the option of gently lightening it down by gently brushing a flesh highlight glaze over the areas you want to tone down.



Okay, I'm not sure what bit I'll do next to be honest, I haven't planned that far ahead. I'll look at it tomorrow and see what takes my fancy, but toggle ropes need to be done soon.

[Cubs]

I ended up doing the weapons next, which just happened to all be stens, and I swapped the subject model for the photos because he's showing his mg off nicely. The metal is very dark, almost black, but obviously the surface will pick up light, so it's about trying to keep the metal still looking like dark gunmetal, but also shiny.

It should be no surprise to hear that I have a 3-stage colour mixed up labelled 'Gunmetal Grey'. The base is nearly black, with just a hint of blue/grey; the midtone introduces a little more metallic blue tone and the highlight is a pale grey/blue slightly metallic shade. So, on went the dark base coat and then a streak of the midtone went right down the weapon, placed where I judged the light likely to hit. As this line reached a raised area or detail, it picked up and left a little blob on it, carrying along the edge of it a little. The highlight stage just reinforced this, but went sparingly down the barrel and a then final extreme highlight, which was just a diluted silver, was left as light spots on the raised areas. You really don't need a lot of light spots to fool the eye, just a little in the path of your light streak.

The wood was more of that dirt brown shade, as seen on the trousers, applied with a thin brush in little streaks to hint at woodgrain. Then I thinly applied a little brown ink over this to add a rich tone. Notice I wanted the wooden stocks to catch some light too. The brass plates were simple as well, with just a whisker of light catching in line with that on the stock.

Incidentally, although there aren't many bugles to be painted in WW2 stuff, you may want to know how I did this one for other periods. It's really just mucking about with the old NMM contrasts of light and shade. I put streaks of light down the length of the bugle and then around the rim where I thought the light would catch. Notice the light streak on the side blends gently downwards through copper shades, but above the light streak it's abruptly dark. Putting dramatic changes of light and dark in like that help to create the illusion of polished metal. Again, go sparingly with your lightest shades or it'll get messy; there's just a tiny spot of white right at the edge of the rim where the sun is catching it.



A quick rear view shows the toggle rope. Eh? A toggle rope? I think these were usually kept for paras and commando types. The men each had a length of rope (6ft? 5ft?) with a loop at one end and a toggle (like the fastener on a duffle coat) on the other. The idea was that a group of men could combine their ropes, the toggle of one securing into the loop of the next, to form a long rope should they need to scale any high obstructions (the toggles also forming handy footholds) or for other useful rope-type uses. It stopped any one man being weighed down by a huge coil of rope and the loss of a single soldier would not then risk a vital length of rope going missing.

The models show the rope looped around the back of the neck, then going under the arms and around under the backpack, with the toggle holding in it place in the small of the back. Until I got a book showing paras carrying the toggle rope, this unexpected bit of texture on the models had me absolutely flummoxed. I've also seen pics of men carrying the ropes tied in a neat bundle and hanging from the belt, but all the BA models seem to have them around the neck. Once again, it is that dirt brown colour here that is used for the rope, with more of that 'Grimy Ink Wash' to add shadow and definition.



The end is in sight now, which seems unnaturally speedy for one of my paintjobs. Next up I think I'll be doing berets and then the various 'fiddly bits', encompassing buttons, buckles and the odd detail here and there.

[Cubs]

I find painting hats very difficult indeed, especially soft cloth hats like the berets. You're obviously going to have a lot of light hitting the top of the hat, but you can't have too dramatic a change in shade, or it'll look shiny, yet at the same time you want some depth of colour to show somewhere to give the material some of it's natural hue. Anyhoo, basically I just go with thin mixes over and over to the final highlight and then hope it comes out alright. 

The cap badge is my 'Gunmetal Grey' highlight, with a very light silver highlight.

[Cubs]

... and we're done!

Buckles and buttons were just done in a dull brass colour over a dull brown base. Boots were a simple 3-stage colour using blue/grey highlights, because I knew I'd be smothering them in tinting powder anyway.

The bases are done in a mix of red-brown brick colour and dark grey, with the wood splinters being a grey-brown. Everything was drybrushed over with light grey and then a light cream colour, just to make it all look dusty and dull. then after varnishing I globbed loads of pinky brick-dust colour tinting powder all over the shop with a tatty old brush and blew away the excess. You really can't have them looking too grimy.






The face on the radio operator came out really well and I'm well chuffed with those wires. Well worth the effort.






I decided not to give the medic an armband, but instead he has red cross patches on his satchels.






And here's the special Bolt Action model. It's not a great photo, but I just snapped up my shots tonight as soon as the varnish was dry! I'll see if I can get some better ones over the weekend as I fiddle with the posh camera, but I hope you can see enough to appreciate the model. It was an absolute joy to paint a sculpt this good, it's just one of a kind and I'd happily pay £25 for it without the book.

[majorsmith]

wow! fantastic! great tutorial too, i love the arm badges you have painted, the figures look fantastic, love the gritty realism of your painting!

[Kane]

My hero!  . Marry me! 

Absolutely stunning work! I wish I was this good.

[marrony]

Breathtaking painting.

[moiterei_1984]

Thats simply awesome! 
I didn't even know the BAM Paras are that well cast (only having had the Fallschirmjäger and those I disliked) but your painting is absolutely inspiring! The skin I like especially.

[Arthur]

A brilliant tutorial indeed, Cubs