Imperial Sunset- 20mm Early War in the Far East

[Captain Darling]

Your PTO project is coming along nicely albeit slowly.

If I started WW II again I’d have gone all the way with 1/72 or 1/76 or whatever 20mm is scale wise, luckily I did do my Malaya ‘42 campaign in it!

[Hu Rhu]

It's Humbrol 72 Khaki Drill, darkened with 98 Chocolate for the basecoat and lightened with some 121 Pale Stone and increasing amounts of white for progressive highlights.

Thanks very much.  I'll try to match the Humbrol colours with Vallejo.

[Iain R]

Cheers fellas!

A return to soggy weather has finally allowed me some brief bench time to catch up on Project Malaya. Finally got the Buffalo done, the start of an infantry section and a Burmese Buddha statue (which I have subsequently been informed is really not something one would see in Malaya; however since I'm now stretching to the retreat through Burma, as well as the return match in 44-45, I think I can make it work...)

Airfix's 52 year old offering tarted up for the table. That'll do me! I may chop the flight stand down a bit though...







The somewhat incongruous Buddha statue. I don't think I've done him any favours in the painting, the lack of the black lining round the eyes (I'm not that brave!) has rendered him more Mr Bean than Lord Buddha unfortunately...



Infantry for scale

And three AB infantrymen, starting off the first rifle section.

[has.been]

All looking good.
Re the 'eye liner' on the Buddha, why not a tiny touch of
Quick Shade (Strong or dark) applied around the eyes
with a fine brush?
If you don't have Quick Shade, thin a little bit of a dark brown.
When it is dry you can touch up the flesh on the cheeks. Much
easier than the mascara attempts.

[Utgaard]

Impressive painting and weathering on the Buffalo and nicely painted miniatures too 

[Hu Rhu]

Great painting and fine weathering effects on the Buffalo.  As for the eyeliner try using a superfine marker pen. The width is always the same, you just need to apply it carefully.

[Iain R]

Cheers guys!

I'll be leaving the eyes as is, it's a very distinctive style I'd be looking to achieve, which a wash just wouldn't replicate and markers won't be thin enough to pull off. In any case, it's done now, and I need to get more of the actual playable elements done, rather than getting too hung up on terrain... 

[Iain R]

Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun? Ok then...




Bit of an experiment in heresy here, swapped the enamels for acrylics for the flesh (same Humbrol colours, though). While not terrible, there's definitely a different "flow" to them, and I think more practice is required...

[CapnJim]

Lovely work there.  That Buffalo looks sufficiently battle-worn...

[Xenophon]

Nice work!  The Buffalo is impressive, and the staff car is a gem.

[Ragsta]

Lovely work here! I have a strange soft spot for the Buffalo as a design and that weathering is really nice.

[Iain R]

Thank you guys, most kind!

Yes, I am quite chuffed with the way the Buffalo has come out, especially as the first 1/72 aircraft I've painted in decades! Gives me some hope for the outcome of the huge pile of air support I have in the stash for other factions...

Working on some more ground-based stuff at the moment, watch this space...

[sir_shvantselot]

Very inspiring thread. AB are really amazing. I have some unpainted late war Brits.

[Iain R]

Thanks, Sir Shvantselot!

Thanks chaps!

Started the month (or ended the last, at least) with the addition of more scatter terrain, in the shape of some telegraph poles. These are plastic OO gauge Ratio pieces. The civilian telephone network formed a large part of Malaya Command's field signals network (with predictable results), so seemed an easy choice to include them.




Thereafter it was trying to burn through the remainder of A Section. After the initial experiments with acrylic flesh, I decided to persevere. First two were a definite improvement, but still a bit harsh on the shading-



The second pair I was much happier with; still trying to get the hand of the flow of acrylics again, but definitely much more subtle on the transition between tones-



You can see the progression through the five figures-



The completed section holds together pretty well as a whole.

[warburton]

Great stuff. Very well done.