British Airborne in progress - new paintjob

[Remington]

With the release of Paul Cubbin's excellent painting tutorial for his Paras in Wargames Illustrated, I was inspired to paint some Paras. Actually I started painting one for fun a few days before spotting Cubs' posts on the LAF.

Paras are a fun army to paint... if it weren't for that Denison Smock. Cubs has a great technique involving the use of a glaze medium that I wanted to understand and use out of pure interest. Below you will see two miniatures that were painted with two more or less different techniques. The one on the left has the camouflage "blocked in" and traditionally highlighted, while the one on the right is emulating (poorly) the technique used by the very talented Mr. Cubbin. What intrigued me is the introduction of a bit of chaos and a random element, since you're never 100% how a glaze will apply or dry.

Now is where you come in... I am completely unsure with what technique to proceed. I've added a poll on my blog and I hope you may tell me if you like the Denison Smock on the left or on the right better.

You may give me an opinion here, but if you be so kind and vote on my blog, I could get a clearer picture.

Looking at these minis I've also realised that I need to rethink the metal parts on the rifles. Looks too light for my taste.

[Mainly28s]

Very nice indeed. Love the camo on the smocks.

[Svennn]

I do really like the colour on the helmeted chap but would have like to see a more direct comparison where you had added the darker camo patches before the wash/glazes and the bereted chap looks more complete

[Dave C]

How to depict camo is always tricky issue. My feelings are that it should be, in terms of contrast, slight exaggerated. This allows the figure to stand out, particularly on the 'at arms length test'. This of course might not be an accurate representation of the actual camo pattern but then to follow this line would allow the figures to bend into the terrain. I guess the camo doing what it was meant to do!

I think both of your examples are painted beautifully. If you were painting them for photography go for the right hand style but if for the table the left would get my vote.

[NTM]

The glaze effect looks far more realistic but for me does not stand out enough and will probably get lost on the table top unfortunately.

[Remington]

Thank you all so much for the help here and on the blog!

There definitely is a very clear lead for the one on the left on the blog poll at the moment. It seems that the glazing method is something that I haven't grasped completely yet and I also believe that it fits Cub's painting style much better than mine.

I am also sharing some of you guys' worry that the effect will be lost on the table. I like photographing my models, but at the end of the day... these are meant to see action!

But I am glad that it's a tough decision for some of you as well. For me it was a head-burner.

@Svennn: The two have almost the same paintjob (I didn't write the exact paints down while painting the first one! ) except for the camouflage spots.

[warburton]

The left figure certainly has the look of a denison smock. The helmeted figure, whilst the colours are nice and is well painted, the camo seems to get lost, you have to look very hard to see it is actually wearing camo. Therefore I would go with the left hand method

[Kane]

It's a difficult one. I like them both. But when you aim for table top, I think you should stick with the left one. The right one doesn't seem to have any camouflage on his smock in the first picture.

But I do like the effect on him. Like other said, it's much more realistic.

[Cubs]

You've gotta laugh - I love 'The Talented Mr Cubbin' ... like a Welsh version of 'The Talented Mr Ripley'.

If you want a stronger tone for the Demison patches, just use a more concentrated wash. It doesn't hurt to overlap the brown and green patches a little either.

They both look great though.

[hetz]

I too prefer the one on the left, but, if painting the one on the right was significantly faster I'd be using that method.

[Remington]

Theoretically the glaze technique should be quicker really, but due to the fact that I don't really have a good grasp of the glaze yet I tend to spend as much time on it as with the "standard" technique.

Mr. Cubbin, the truth has to be told. Your Paras are spectacular! Thank you for the tip regarding the glaze, but I had massive difficulties getting the see-through-ness right. Either the coat would be too see through or too opaque. I tried second coats and the glaze went from see-through to too opaque immediately. No idea what I was doing wrong really. Perhaps Vallejo Glaze medium is not the right product. What are you using?

The "glazed" guy might also not have been example of my experiment. I was too careful with the pattern density. Oh well...

I will continue trying this out here and there (I have far too many Para minis), but I think for my main force I will stick to the standard technique for now. Interestingly for now there have been more than double the votes for it on the blog. I would have thought people will find it just as hard to decide as I did.

[Cubs]

No idea what I was doing wrong really. Perhaps Vallejo Glaze medium is not the right product. What are you using?

I use the Vallejo Glaze as well, but for this I probably do half and half with water and add it to the paint until it's about right. You want it to have a bit more opacity than with a normal glaze.

[tin shed gamer]

You can speed it up with a hair dryer.For me its the righthand smock on the lefthand figure.You'd have a much more natural looking figure.As for the colour's smock's fade alot faster than you'd think once you wear the damned things out door's,modern copies tend to be overly bold in the print colour's mainly the copies from the far east.As already mentioned colour overlap is correct.That said it only show's up when you look closely,its a case of how often are you going to sit looking at them once you've finished.
I think you've achived a look that would work well for tan and water camo as the rain drops disappear after ten feet or so anyway.
But since brit's knicked and wore german camo smock's anyway.(Big fans of splinter A and B,also dot 44 the last caused a few issue's with the brass.).

[Remington]

After all the helpful responses here and on the blog, as well as the poll result (thanks, everyone!) my Para production has commenced.

I am painting a batch now, but because I wanted to clarify some painting recipes I decided to finish one completely and see if I'd be happy with the result. That's also a wonderful opportunity to show you him.

So, this is what I am striving for with the Paras. The most difficult part is the face... These old Hicks minis don't have such lovely defined faces as his current ones.

So, here he is! Have a great week everyone!

[Kane]

Gah! Inspiring stuff man. This guy's an absolute stunner! 

And you could fool me saying the face is the most difficult. You brought him quite to life!