LHoffman's Painted Sculpts For Your Consideration

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    ––I really enjoy seeing the pics of your work as they are all well-lit and in focus, some showing the tanks in quite detailed close-ups. Good Job! I only hope you took a few (dozen) more (G).
    ----I’m very much looking forward to receiving these US Army and USMC Stuart and Sherman tanks along with the Anzac Stuarts. They’ve been a while in coming but I’m very happy that the “WARACHINE TEAM” factory is now producing at full speed and I’m looking forward to literally hundreds more units modified/detailed by Wil and painted by you. BTW, the Anzac ‘Commonwealth’ Shermans should be included Wil’s next shipment to you.
    ––The paint jobs look GREAT and I can’t wait to put my beady little eyes on them myself.
    ––The ‘flag’ decals on the tanks top-rear decks look as good as I’d hoped. I think it will hugely aid in identifying unit ownership from even 10-15 feet away. That’s important on my enlarged gameboard, especially with my 88 year old Dad. Since my Dad almost always plays America he will now have some sharp-looking units to kill my brother and me with, haha.  :-D

    Keep up the EXCELLENT WORK!
    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    Lucas,

    ––I really enjoy seeing the pics of your work as they are all well-lit and in focus, some showing the tanks in quite detailed close-ups. Good Job! I only hope you took a few (dozen) more (G).
    ----I’m very much looking forward to receiving these US Army and USMC Stuart and Sherman tanks along with the Anzac Stuarts. They’ve been a while in coming but I’m very happy that the “WARACHINE TEAM” factory is now producing at full speed and I’m looking forward to literally hundreds more units modified/detailed by Wil and painted by you. BTW, the Anzac ‘Commonwealth’ Shermans should be included Wil’s next shipment to you.
    ––The paint jobs look GREAT and I can’t wait to put my beady little eyes on them myself.
    ––The ‘flag’ decals on the tanks top-rear decks look as good as I’d hoped. I think it will hugely aid in identifying unit ownership from even 10-15 feet away. That’s important on my enlarged gameboard, especially with my 88 year old Dad. Since my Dad almost always plays America he will now have some sharp-looking units to kill my brother and me with, haha.  :-D

    Keep up the EXCELLENT WORK!
    “Tall Paul”

    Oh, you have not received them yet? … I assumed you got them yesterday, as they were supposed to arrive. Perhaps they are delayed a day. I didn’t want to put these up until after you got them in your possession.

    Thanks Paul.

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    ––I just received the Tank Divisions along with their own air cover today, late Wednesday afternoon.
    Wow! I love 'em.  :-D
    ––BTW, you shouldn’t ever need to hold back posting your pics because I haven’t gotten my grubby hands on them yet. But you know, that probably is an astute decision on your part because after I saw the pics,…I WANTED THEM,…haha.
    ----Since they came in I started modifying some new storage trays for them like I had been planning. I’ll fill you in on them later, maybe with some pics, too.
    ----Again, the paint jobs and all of the details are terrific! The black ‘wash’ on all of the tanks is very effective and not only looks great, but accentuates all of the details.
    ----The only thing I think we might slightly alter is to put a light or medium brown “dust/dirt” wash on the remaining U.S. Army units to be done. This would make them visually distinctive from the US Marine units as they look quite simular at the moment. I can “dust” the Army units you just sent me myself. Don’t get me wrong,…They all look GREAT just as they are,…and I’m very happy with them. I just want to make them different from each other. The black ‘wash’ simply made the Army o.d. green units simular to the Marine’s dark green camo stripes.

    Again,…Great Job!  :-D

    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    ––The only thing I think we might slightly alter is to put a light or medium brown “dust/dirt” wash on the remaining U.S. Army units to be done. This would make them visually distinctive from the US Marine units as they look quite simular at the moment. I can “dust” the Army units you just sent me myself. Don’t get me wrong,…They all look GREAT just as they are,…and I’m very happy with them. I just want to make them different from each other. The black ‘wash’ simply made the Army o.d. green units simular to the Marine’s dark green camo stripes.

    Yes, I noticed that this would occur also… unfortunately, there was no way to paint them well without the wash in my opinion. If I didn’t they would very likely look flat. So I added some lighter green on raised surfaces then went over that with gray highlights. This seemed to provide some visual distinction. A second thing I did was to make the US Army versions with light gray tracks/wheels and the USMC versions have dark green tracks w/ camo wheel assemblies. This is not very noticeable from above, but it is from the side. And it aligned more with the pictures I was referencing.

    Glad you like them so much Paul.

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    YES,….I definitely liked them. And I’m not being the least bit critical of the dark gray/black ‘wash’ at all because it makes the units look GREAT! My only concern was it made the US Army tanks a darker overall green and thus are hard to distinguish from the green w/blackish green camo scheme of the US Marine units.
    ––I think the remaining US Army units (heavy tanks, tank destroyers, mech. infantry, artillery, s/p artillery, trucks, etc.) would look better with a dust/dirt ‘wash’ that would lighten their overall colors and make them visually distinctive from the US Marine units.
    ----We might also make the dark gray/black wash a tiny bit weaker on the remaining US Marine units so as to bring out the blackish green camo stripes more.
    ----As far as camo schemes go,…the Anzac camo scheme is Fantastic! I just too bad this scheme is on a minor powers’ units.
    Keep up the good work. Go “TEAM WARMACHINE”!

    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    ––I think the remaining US Army units (heavy tanks, tank destroyers, mech. infantry, artillery, s/p artillery, trucks, etc.) would look better with a dust/dirt ‘wash’ that would lighten their overall colors and make them visually distinctive from the US Marine units.

    I can try something to that effect. I am not sure how a brown wash would differ significantly from the black. But I will see what I can do. I think we want to retain as much of the base green as possible without it looking flat… that is the trick.

    @Tall:

    ––We might also make the dark gray/black wash a tiny bit weaker on the remaining US Marine units so as to bring out the blackish green camo stripes more.

    I can try that also. I wanted to bring out the stripes as much as possible, so I did them after the wash was applied. However, it would really only affect the base green either way, so, we just need to lighten that up a bit.

  • Customizer

    Lucas, Marine units used more disruptive camo due to the closer combat distances of the pacific jungle theater. You could use a lighter brown rather than black to differentiate the units from Army ones. Leave a bit of black on the edges of the stripes to accentuate them.

    Pual, sorry, I’ve been delinquent in my production but things have settled a bit for me to start working on the backlog. Your T34s are finished and I’ll have them sent to Lucas after I take pics of them on my thread.

    Forgot to add. Great job with the painting. The higher contrast does bring out the details. You got any closeups of the Brit Stuarts?

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @sgtwiltan:

    Lucas, Marine units used more disruptive camo due to the closer combat distances of the pacific jungle theater. You could use a lighter brown rather than black to differentiate the units from Army ones. Leave a bit of black on the edges of the stripes to accentuate them.

    I might try doing that. Actually, I flirted briefly with outlining the stripes (in a lighter green) but abandoned the idea after it didn’t show much promise. Your solution sounds more promising.

    I will try it if Paul is okay with the difference between the tanks and other Marine units.

  • Customizer

    Lucas and Wil,

    ––First let me say that both of you do EXCELLENT work and I’m very happy with results thus far.  :-D
    ----I rather liked the USMC camo scheme being o.d. green with blackish-green camo stripes like “Allwork” had done previously and Lucas’ prototype pics had shone.
    ----My only comment was that the black wash had darkened the green on both the U.S Army and U.S.M.C. schemes as to be virtually indistinguishable from each other. IMHO I’d prefer the blackish-green camo stripes on the Marine scheme to be more obvious,…and the plain o.d. green of the U.S. Army units to be just that,…green.
    ----I think that if the remaining units had a tan or light brown wash rather than a black wash the green would be lighter and the blackish-green camo on the U.S.M.C. units would be more obvious. Does this sound logical? I respect and request both of your opinions on this.

    ----Lucas,…if you would please post that pic of the U.S.M.C. bulldozer in the camo scheme and one of the “Flamethrower” Shermans you painted. For some reason I can’t d/l it onto my tablet. Anyway, you can see that the green is almost as dark as the camo color and it isn’t as distinct as I’d hoped for and looks very close to the Army scheme. Do the two of you agree?

    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    ––Lucas,…if you would please post that pic of the U.S.M.C. bulldozer in the camo scheme and one of the “Flamethrower” Shermans you painted. For some reason I can’t d/l it onto my tablet. Anyway, you can see that the green is almost as dark as the camo color and it isn’t as distinct as I’d hoped for and looks very close to the Army scheme. Do the two of you agree?

    “Tall Paul”

    I agree the colors are so close as to be hard to distinguish from any distance. I can try to rectify this in a couple ways. One, may be to not even use a wash, or if I do, to apply it only in the recessed areas. I feel as though any wash, brown or black, will seep into the paint and darken it. I could make the pieces look very much like the Sherman bulldozer picture here, but I would basically apply no wash and lighten up the stripe color. I was under the impression you wanted something more akin to Allwork’s “dark camo” batch, in which the OD Green is dark and the dark green is even darker, almost black.

    Do you like Wil’s idea of brown stripes outlined in black? Or would you rather I just lighten up the scheme as it is?

    USMC Dozer1.jpg
    ALLWORK US Dark Camo.jpg

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    ––I think that it would look better if the overall scheme was lighter, thus making the green camo stripes more obvious.
    ----I would be glad to pay for a TWO prototypes, one using a tan or light brown wash,…and one WITHOUT a wash of any kind to find the best solution. This would be simpler and IMHO better than a brown outlining of the camo stripes. I don’t want to overburden you with highly complex schemes more than necessary as we have a LOT of work yet to be accomplished and I really enjoy your paint jobs. Thanks again.

    ----And using Wil’s request to mask my own,…I’ll ask if you have any close-up pics of the Anzac Stuarts? And I’ll also agree with Wil in saying Great work on the paint jobs!

    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    Lucas,

    ––I think that it would look better if the overall scheme was lighter, thus making the green camo stripes more obvious.
    ----I would be glad to pay for a TWO prototypes, one using a tan or light brown wash,…and one WITHOUT a wash of any kind to find the best solution. This would be simpler and IMHO better than a brown outlining of the camo stripes. I don’t want to overburden you with highly complex schemes more than necessary as we have a LOT of work yet to be accomplished and I really enjoy your paint jobs. Thanks again.

    “Tall Paul”

    No problem. It should be simpler to keep the scheme lighter than to make it darker as I have been. If I need to do an extra prototype (when we get to that stage) I can experiment on one of my OOB pieces… no need to pay for extras.

  • Customizer

    The technique is called pin washing where you don’t wash the whole model but only put the wash in recessed areas to keep the base coat from darkening. The dry bush highlights the dark spots and the base coat but since the basecoat hasn’t been darkened, the color looks brighter.

  • Customizer

    You could also differentiate the US army Tanks with “invasion” stripes around the turret since I have not seen pics of Marine tanks having them.
    Like these.
    http://www.track-link.com/gallery/717
    http://www.track-link.com/gallery/2640

    Actually these were more pre and early war markings done in white. Yellow was later used for lower visibility as in the sherman in the second pic.
    here’s more ideas
    http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/US/M4_Sherman.php

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @sgtwiltan:

    You could also differentiate the US army Tanks with “invasion” stripes around the turret since I have not seen pics of Marine tanks having them.

    As in the white/black aircraft invasion stripes?  Ultimately that would be Paul’s decision; I paint as he requests. But a good thought regardless.

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    ––I guess I must confess to being ‘human’ and ask if you have a progress report on the German Luftwaffe you’ve been working on? You do such great work,….I just thought I’d ask. We’ve got a new thread just for all of the German aircraft and armored units that are in the works. Keep up the good work, buddy.

    Go “WarMachine Team”  :-D

    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    Lucas,

    ––I guess I must confess to being ‘human’ and ask if you have a progress report on the German Luftwaffe you’ve been working on? You do such great work,….I just thought I’d ask. We’ve got a new thread just for all of the German aircraft and armored units that are in the works. Keep up the good work, buddy.

    Go “WarMachine Team”  :-D

    “Tall Paul”

    Being human is the best excuse to ask questions…

    Progress has been slow of late, for many reasons that personally frustrate me, but I can send you some updated pictures if you would like. I will have all aircraft complete and ready for shipment by Saturday the 20th, if not sooner. Given the time I have each week that I can work on them and the remainder of the work left, I will make sure they are complete by this date. You deserve them sooner, for all your patience, but if you can wait until the 20th of this month, they will be ready for battle.

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    @LHoffman:

    Being human is the best excuse to ask questions…
    Progress has been slow of late, for many reasons that personally frustrate me, but I can send you some updated pictures if you would like. I will have all aircraft complete and ready for shipment by Saturday the 20th, if not sooner. Given the time I have each week that I can work on them and the remainder of the work left, I will make sure they are complete by this date. You deserve them sooner, for all your patience, but if you can wait until the 20th of this month, they will be ready for battle.

    ––I truly empathise with your personal frustrations and hope they ease up for you.
    ----That’s cool, the 20th will be OK, but please don’t “rush” your work to make the deadline as I value your excellent work. Also, I don’t want you to feel “pressured” in any way by my asking about them. I hope you have as much fun as always doing these units.
    ––IMHO this “huge batch” took 2-3 months instead of the one month projected. I believe smaller batches with faster turn around times would be better.
    ----Pics of your work are always welcomed and appreciated by everyone, not just me. You should post a couple of them here on YOUR thread showing what your working on. Of course, send me a bunch of pics, too.

    ----BTW, is there any chance you might be able to attend HBG’s Gaming Convention next year? It would really be great to meet and play an A&A game with you and Wil using these detailed/painted painted units. It would mark their FIRST TIME being used in a game.

    “Tall Paul”

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @Tall:

    ––BTW, is there any chance you might be able to attend HBG’s Gaming Convention next year? It would really be great to meet and play an A&A game with you and Wil using these detailed/painted painted units. It would mark their FIRST TIME being used in a game.

    “Tall Paul”

    Paul,

    I truly appreciate working for such an understanding and helpful individual as yourself. It has been and will continue to be fun and an honor to do this for you. I will try to post some pics.

    As for the convention, I cannot say at the moment. What month/day is it supposed to be? I believe I saw that it was in Tulsa, right? I would love to be there… we’ll see what the wife thinks about a road trip out West.

  • Customizer

    Lucas,

    ––Since I am still having some “issues” with my new tablet just post the pics of each German aircraft ‘prototype’ here on your thread as I can see and enlarge them easily here. Thanks, and I’ll look at the pics later today.

    Go “WarMachine Team”!

    “Tall Paul”

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