WIP: Dux's Prize Painting - Paras #1

Well, after I'd posted yesterday I realised that I needed to do another test figure as there was an important item I'd not done colour test on - the beret! A quick root through the pack gave me an officer type in a beret, which I quickly cleaned, primed and washed. Once the wash had had time to dry, I set about painting him up suing my revised colour scheme. Here's the result, alongside the first test figure for comparison.

I was happy with the revised scheme (I had to adapt the webbing colour though as it was too close to the base colour of the smock), so decided to crack on with the 28mm Paras for Dux. I have made one change to the process though - rather than mixing the colours, I decided to try a slightly different approach, using a thin dark coat, followed a bit later by a thinned lighter coat. this seems to have worked quite well. For the berets I actually did a three-step process to get the richness of colour I wanted.

Note to Dux - I've been writing up a painting guide in case you want to replicate them for any reinforcements you add to the section.

I managed to get quite a bit of the way through doing these last night. I've probably less painting to do today, but as it's more detailed it will probably take me just as long.

Having forced you to read all that crap, here's your reward - the WIP pics:

Of course, this does mean that I'll probably be posting twice today so you can see what progress I've made. These are very nice figures to paint, and despite the extra steps they are painting up very quickly.

WIP: Dux's Prize Painting - Test Figure

OK, having stripped the primer and wash off the 2 figures, cleaned up the mold lines I'd missed, re-primed and re-washed them I had a sudden thought.

"Hmmm. I'm going to be trying a) a new technique; b) painting a camo pattern I haven't done before. I really ought to do a test figure to check if the technique works (and find out how much I need to thin the paint down) not to mention checking if the colours I was planning to use are right."

I didn't want to use one of Dux's figures for this, but a quick hunt confirmed my suspicions - I did have a pack of Airfix 1:32 scale WW2 British Paras. So, I grabbed one of the figures from the pack, gave it a good scrub with warm soapy water, rinsed and dried it and set to work priming and washing it. I discovered that the plastic did not like having primer applied, but persevered and got it coated in the end. Once the primer had dried I did the pre-shading wash, then left it overnight.

This afternoon I started work on the test painting. Here's the result (one of Dux's figures alongside to show size):

The metalwork on the Bren doesn't look quite so shiny and the pre-shading does show through somewhat - there are subtle differences in the shading of the colours.

I discovered the following:

I didn't need to thin the paints quite as much as I thought (I think the drops from my wash-mix bottle are larger than the ones from the Vallejo paint bottles)
The base colour I'd used for the flesh (Saddle Brown) was a bit too dark, although probably about right for the lips. It might be OK for a final shading wash.
The base colour I'd used (mix of Pastel Green and Brown Violet) for the Denison smock was too light - I'll use a mix of Green Grey and Brown Violet instead.
The red-brown I'd used (Red Leather) for the Denison brush strokes was too light - I'll use Mahogany Brown instead. The Red Leather will, however, make a good base colour for the flesh.
I'm happy with the rest of the colours.

I'll make a start on Dux's figures this evening.