Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Colonial Adventures => Topic started by: Remington on 08 March 2011, 06:06:13 PM
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Last night, while waiting for some Saxons to dry, I grab one of my newly bought Schutztruppe Askari miniatures that I bought at the Tactica. I tried to paint him as quickly as possible and managed to finish him in about 1,5 hours (light speed in my book). Now, this is the first time I am doing light coloured Khaki and I was wondering what you experts think of it. Is it too light? Too dark? Or within the expected parameters? I am thinking that maybe it's a bit too yellow. I used Vallejo Green Ochre and highlighted it with Vallejo Beige. Any suggestions?
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa49/Histamenos/Askari2.jpg)
EDIT: Updated the picture
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A little too yellow for my taste if I am honest but he has come out well and I think will look different again when based. I also think that when he has some buddies to stand along side they will look very nice this colour en masse.
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Yeah I would say he's a little too yellow. Thats a top notch paint job tho especially for only 1,5 hours work!! Wish I could knock out a figure at that speed :(
Is that a copplestone sculpt? Its a great looking model.
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As Svennn said : the hue should be a light tan, although I don't know how fast the original dye was. Sweat and exposure to the sun would probably induce fading relatively quickly, resulting in various shades of light khaki in the field.
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It is a bit yellow BUT that looks a-okay!
My Colonial Germans are painted with orange ochre and one of them looks a little silly but the whole group together ties the color together and looks just fine.
If it will keep you awake all night, annoyed by the yellowishness, then repaint. Otherwise, I think he looks great and not at all unrealistic.
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I would'nt re-paint to be honest a bit too yellow or not, he looks great.
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Thank you for your opinions, guys. No, I am not considering a re-paint. I am fine with having different shades of Khaki in the group. What really interests me is getting it a bit better next time. I guess that highlighting the Green Ochre with Beige makes it too yellow. Next time I'll start darker and highlight my mixing in an off white rather than a yellowy tone. Should you have a good Khaki recipe using Vallejo or Foundry paints, do also feel free to let me know about it.
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Is that a copplestone sculpt? Its a great looking model.
Brigade Games - I have a unit of these chaps - I have always been a little disappointed with them as not having quite the same depth of detail (faces & uniforms) as other Brigade figures - but Remington seems to have brought out more detail (or my older figures aren't as crisply cast).
And yeah - my 2 cents for Remington FWIW - I think that uniform colour should be a fair bit darker - as I understand it was a very Khaki uniform, like the British Indian Pattern uniforms pre-WW1, so wouldn't be the yellowish shade... And of course in WW1 they ended up wearing mostly British Uniforms anyway...
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Whatever the shade of khaki, they are beautifully done. You've got the eyes spot-on, which is always a good indication of an expert painter.
I can't wait to see a complete unit of them :D
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Sorry, I forgot to answer the question on the maker. This is actually a Copplestone model. Although I like the style of Mike Owen, the Brigade Askari Riflemen don't shake my tree as much as the Copplestone ones do. But thankfully Brigade have loads of extras that are splendid.
Thank you, Mycenius. I will go darker with the next ones. I guess this guy got a "faulty" uniform. :) I gave him another layer of green ochre mixed with Ivory which has reduced the "yellowness" a bit... Next ones will be closer to Green Ochre and I'll use it as my base colour and not my shade, as I did on this one.
Thanks, GM. The eyes on Copplestone miniatures are quite a pain in the bum, so I am always happy when I'm done with them. :D
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Sorry, I forgot to answer the question on the maker. This is actually a Copplestone model. Although I like the style of Mike Owen, the Brigade Askari Riflemen don't shake my tree as much as the Copplestone ones do. But thankfully Brigade have loads of extras that are splendid.
Ooohhhh... Copplestone - yes that explains things (Re: Detail) - much nicer looking figure I think... (Actually I had forgotten Copplestone do some - I'm pretty sure my figs are the Brigade chaps - hence why I was certain he must of been a Brigade fella).
Thank you, Mycenius. I will go darker with the next ones. I guess this guy got a "faulty" uniform. :) I gave him another layer of green ochre mixed with Ivory which has reduced the "yellowness" a bit... Next ones will be closer to Green Ochre and I'll use it as my base colour and not my shade, as I did on this one.
No worries - anyway they are your troops so go with what you prefer :) Certainly a fantastic paint job all-round regardless. If I get time tonight I will try and post up a quick pick of one of my guys to give you an idea of the colour - it may not be 100% historically accurate but it'll give you an idea anyway...
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Thanks for the info on the manufacturers guys.
Painting eyes are a pain in the butt i'll agree with that one. I can understand why some people avoid painting them.
Hope you'll post up a pic or two of the unit when its finished, and the whole army for that matter :)
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A very nice paint job Doc, especially for 1.5 hours :o if only i could paint that fast... :'(
For khaki i have a recipe using P3 paints:
Beast hide
Beast Hide + Hammerfall Khaki
Hammerfall Khaki
Then add white to Hammerfall Khaki for successive highlights.
Hmm, maybe this is why it takes me so long to paint minis - all those layers... :'(
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Mycenius, thanks... Should you also be so kind to mention the paints you are using would be great. I am not aiming for 100% accuracy by the way... I am just looking for a khaki that looks good but also isn't too far off the mark. I hope I haven't given a false impression of what I am trying to achieve. For example, I have no idea if the following tone is accurate, but I would like to achieve something like that:
(http://www.hamburger-tactica.de/tactica/img/tacticamini/letto_vorbeck2.jpg)
I've asked Frank what colours he's used and he did say it was basically Green Ochre... So now I just have to get the balance. I am guessing he mixed some dark brown into the Ochre first to get his shade colour. Somehow I seem to be blind in matters Khaki. It's very a hard to judge colour for me.
RJ, the speed surprised me as well... Go figure. Maybe it was a good day. Thank you for the list of paints. I'll go over to your blog and see if I can find examples of your Khaki tone.
Cram, I think I am rather going for a skirmish force. For a start 10 Askari and a leader or two. But there are also some Saxons to paint.
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Late to this party but if you think it is too yellow - and you are willing - ink the figure judiciously and I think you'll get a spectacular figure where you have a very nice figure. Just my opinion.
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Mycenius, thanks... Should you also be so kind to mention the paints you are using would be great. I am not aiming for 100% accuracy by the way... I am just looking for a khaki that looks good but also isn't too far off the mark. I hope I haven't given a false impression of what I am trying to achieve.
Unfortunately Rem I can't answer that as the figs I have were an 'opportunity buy' off a chap in the U.S. - I have a second unpainted unit of another 20-figs so have the challenge at some stage of replicating the colour myself and trying to provide a compatible outcome so I can mix the 40-figs together to produce 2 units cotnaining some of each...
For example, I have no idea if the following tone is accurate, but I would like to achieve something like that:
(http://www.hamburger-tactica.de/tactica/img/tacticamini/letto_vorbeck2.jpg)
Well I think vLV is looking pretty smashing above and not too far off the right colour. WW1 Officers (most notably in the Colonies) still often had their own tailored uniforms anyway (at least early war) so can have some variance too - but I personally think if you can emulate Frank's colours you've got a pretty good final result there - and the colours did lighten with age (fading, etc) so can be lighter - I have some Schutztruppe in Sudwesters who are probably a bit too light - they err towards a yellowy off-white rather than Khaki (which I'm not sure is very historical)...
Anyway here's some rough photos to illustrate the type of colour I was thinking of - NOTE: I don't think this is necessarily an ideally accurate colour - it's probably too 'light brown' but should give you an idea of the direct to err in - I have taken these shots with the camera hand-held and using a flash (with diffuser) so the colour may not exactly reflect what it really is (especially if your monitor and graphics card are not calibrated to the same colour standard, etc, etc). But hopefully they will illustrate the point about not being scared to err towards a light/faded brown look - I think most people have a bit too much yellow in their Khaki (which should really only be appropriate for the odd British Khaki worn in the 1880's in the Sudan, etc)...
(http://wargaming.info/images/forumimages/brigade_askari1.jpg) (http://wargaming.info/images/forumimages/brigade_askari2.jpg)
Needless to say your chaps should end up looking many times better than these regardless of what colour 'Khaki' you end up with.
FWIW I think I have to figure out if I can ink or wash (and/or Dry Brush) these chaps of mine a bit to get more detail out and such (before contemplating doing anything with the unpainted 20) - or whether the combination of the Brigade Games figures low detail relief (something peculiar to these particular Brigade figs IME) and the existing paint job mean I'm better to just sell them on EBay and buy some Copplestones to mix with the other Brigade chaps and do all 40-figs from scratch...
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I would keep the Brigade ones. One can always own Brigade and Copplestone. :) To tell you the truth, the only reason I didn't like them as much were the puttees. The Brigade ones are a bit too thick.
The colour of your Askari looks like a dark Vallejo Iraqui Sand. Maybe I could use Iraqui Sand to lighten up my base colour of Green Ochre. My strategy for the next ones seems to be that I will darken the Green Ochre for the shade and then from from there with either Iraqui Sand or Dark Sand. We'll see how that works out. This guy was given a glaze of Green Ochre and it was darkened a bit by that. Also the yellow bite has become a bit milder. I am happy with him now and he will be varnished soon.
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Hey guys. I am still in my mad chase for a good Khaki tone and I was wondering if you could give me an opinion. I found this in Tom Weiss' site and I was wondering whether or not the tone he used for his US Paras would be a good tone for African Schutztruppe Khaki.
You can see it here:
http://www.twfigurines.de/wwtwo/uspara/uspara01.htm
Whatcha think?
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I'm sure Plynkes must have painted some 19thC Germans in Khaki. do a search for him and you should get a good idea of what they should look like (as well as having a good laugh reading his game reports).
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Nah, my Schutztruppe were done yonks ago and are a bit shit to be honest. The colour of the uniforms especially is all over the place. I've already spoken with Dimitri on the subject via PM, but unfortunately we speak different paint languages. I can just about ask directions to the train station in GW and Coat d'Arms, whereas he speaks Vallejo and Foundry. We need an interpreter! :)
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My silence is due to the fact I use CDA and hobby paints not vallejo or foundry. I do think they would look superb in the Tom Weiss yank colour though
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I am probably pestering Plynkes enough as it is! :) And as you've said, Dylan, we're used to different tools. Yet, I did place an order for your Khaki paints and I am looking forward to try them out as well. I love learning new "languages"! :)
It's been a bit frustrating last weekend. I was hoping to paint some proper miniatures (Saxons or otherwise) and I got stuck trying out different Khaki solutions overpainting and rejecting over and over again. Very annoying. Thankfully, next to Plynkes, Frank and the Professor also gave me some advice, so I am hopeful. Sorry if I've gone a bit overboard with this. ::)
PS: Thanks Svennn. As I am trying to produce a mixture of Khakis in this unit I will try TW's guide as well.