Operation Paintskrieg

[Captain Kiwi]

All posts about my fully customized and painted AA50 set are now on my blog vom-krieg. Thanks for all the support.

Part one - Overview  http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/axis-and-allies-anniversary-part-one.html
Part two - Germany http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/axis-and-allies-part-two-ze-germans.html
Part Three - Soviet Union http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/in-soviet-russia-axis-and-allies-paints.html
Part Four - Japan  http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2011/11/empire-of-rising-sun-axis-and-allies.html
Part Five - British Empire http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/for-king-andor-country-axis-and-allies.html
Part Six - Italy http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/aint-you-benito-mussolini-conqueror-of.html
Part Seven - USA http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/america-heck-yeah-axis-and-allies.html
Part Eight - China and the rest http://vom-krieg.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/china-rest-axis-and-allies-anniversary.html

[beerbelly]

You've done a fantastic job!

[Krupp Steel]

Wow, very nice indeed, can't wait to see tho other axis nations all done up.

[Captain Kiwi]

Thanks guys.

Current plan is to paint the nations in turn order according to the 1941 scenario (Makes as much sense as any other selection system i could think of)

I've done the German Battleships, Cruisers and Aircraft carriers and will try to update pictures later in the weekend.

Off to the model store to grab a flames of war "Soviet paint set" today

[Imperious Leader]

what types of paint did you use and what colors or brushes were used?

[hakan]

NICE!!!

[Captain Kiwi]

what types of paint did you use and what colors or brushes were used?

I have a bunch of Citadel paints from my Warhammer 40k days. Codex Grey was used a lot, as well as your basic colours (Black,Red). All models were spray based by a can of citadal chaos black after i blue tacked them onto a cardboard sheet. (Actually the packing box my aa50 came in chopped up)

For the german specific tones I use the Flames of War German Infantry Paint set. Flames of war is a local New Zealand model company and they do national paint sets based on historic uniforms.

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&art_id=760

Brushes, I use a standard 1 for basing, 0 for most detail and a 000 for real fine work. My brushes are not good and probably need to be replaced as i've been using some of them for about 8 years on and off.

[Blaarg]

very nice.  I used to play 40k and was a pretty good painter if I don't say so myself.

[Gargantua]

But you did say so yourself...

[Captain Kiwi]

So I got home from work to find that my partner had been playing with my Axis and Allies models 

http://s458.photobucket.com/albums/qq305/ithkrall/AA50/?action=view&current=DSCF0411ed.jpg

I had to laugh and take this picture.

[mpc220]

Excellent job!  Love the planes.

[souL]

I'd skip painting seldom used units (Russian naval vessels and Italian bmb come to mind.

[Captain Kiwi]

I'd skip painting seldom used units (Russian naval vessels and Italian bmb come to mind.

I thought about that, but im not really painting the game for play reasons, more of a painting exercise.

I really like painting and just wanted to do a project, for the sake of doing a project almost.

I could play AA with old bits of cardboard, this is just for fun

[Captain Kiwi]

Excellent job!  Love the planes.

I need to do a picture of the underside of the planes as I painted them a very light blue and the contrast between top and bottom is quite nice.

[Captain Kiwi]

Just out of intrest, did you consider dry brushing?.

Also Flames of war models paint up and fit very nicley on the discs, ive tried the dry brush over basic national coulours and  a more detailed approach and don't know which way to go as i kinda like both!!.

I normally do a bit of drybrushing on models, but i fnd the AA50 models too small to really utilize that technique. I did drybrush the metal parts on the German artillery (88flak) however. I tend only to drybrush metal.

What I do instead is a lot of inking. Taking black (or a darker shade of the original colour if black is overkill) and the original shade, mixing them and then applying a lot of water. You then coat the model in the watered blackish mess over the original paint. It falls into all the cracks and once dried, you paint the higher areas of the model again and is creates a nice layered effect. When I post pictures of the fleet you should see that a bit better.

The key to painting, i think at least is practice. Start simple and build up. Be prepared to paint lots of crappy models, you should see my original blood bowl team from when I was 13!

I learned a lot from various friends who paint in a whole league above me (One friend even has a couple of games workshop golden demon placings) . I sat with them and painted horribly for years and they gave me advice and guidance. Slowly, and surely I got better. I'm not a fantastic painter, but i'm not horrible either.