World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - Finished

 Going to call these done and ready for the table, although I'm still toying with mounting them to bases.

mSPW S307(f) with Pak 40 ATG by Mad Bob Miniatures

15cm sFH 135/1 (Sf) auf Geschutzwagen Lorraine Schlepper (f) by Mad Bob Miniatures

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - Recovery

 I sat down with these and finished them up. First thing I did was stir my matte varnish really, really well! I used that to cut the glossy shine down and give a nice matte surface for the pigments to adhere too.

First the dust up. I applied some dusty colored pigments to the top surfaces and the bogies and tracks. I wet that down with white spirits and then wiped off the excess with a makeup sponge. Maybe a little heavy but not bad.

I followed that up with some more pigments. This time I used the Pan Pastels and applied three layers.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - AARGH!!

I hate this, and I know better and managed to do it anyway. From the last session I cleaned up the pigments and added back in some of the oil stains and such on the bogies. Then I applied some of my favorite pan pastels to finish everything off and was pretty happy with the final results.

Here comes the mistake, and I managed to make two of them. I have a bottle of Liquitex matte varnish, big bottle, will last forever. I sprayed it on and it was only watching it dry that I realized that I just lost all my pigment work. That was bad enough, except that on top of that I must not have shook up the varnish very well and instead of a nice matte finish I got a nice glossy finish.

Bottom line I have to re-apply the pigments and get rid of that nice gloss coat. I forgot about not being able to seal the pigment effectively, although using the pan pastels in a more heavy handed manor will work, hence why I'm seriously considering bases for the vehicles this time around. The pan pastels hold up much better to handling than regular pigments so its still up in the air. In the mean time it will take another session or two to fix the finishing mistakes.

Pretty happy at this point, just a little pigment adjustment and they are good to go.

Definitely to enthusiastic on this side

 

Here they are all finished up just before I sprayed them.

A bit more subtle on this side this time

Pigments disappeared and looking nice and glossy!

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - Weathering I

After the experiments with streaking I finally feel like I can start the weathering process. While a good portion of what I have finished would also be considered "weathering" for me weathering is the getting things muddy and dusty.

I started off with more streaking, in this case with a dust color (avoiding buff which was my first choice but I used that early in the process to fade the dunkelgelb). The technique is the same as the regular streaking just with a different color and this time I only used the make-up sponge as my brush. I did this streaking twice to intensify the effect yet tried not to go overboard.

I followed that up with a combination of pigments applied to the track bogies, drive and return wheels as well as the lower hull behind them (I'm not sure how much of the lower hull should really exist on the S307). I "fixed" the pigments, more or less, in place with white spirits. This allows me to adjust things a bit after the pigments have dried. I could have used a "fixer" that pretty much seals everything into place but good luck making any adjustments after that!

Of course I haven't done this in a while and as you can see, I may have gotten a tad over zealous with my application with the pigments. Fortunately pigments are easy to adjust with a brush or even with your finger if need be.

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - Streaking II

I gave the streaking effects another shot. I used the oilbrushers and the enamel wash again, but I have decided that I'm not going to bother with the enamel wash, it doesn't cure fast enough for me and I tend to wash it completely away when I pull the streak down. Along with a regular chip brush I also pulled out a make-up sponge to try. I like the make up sponge quite a bit for streaking. I think this maybe my go to method for streaking at this point. We will see though. 

I think the streaks are more evident this time and didn't become a "filter" like the first attempt. Still need to practice with this effect but its looking better.

Not perfect by any means but better the second time around.

I think the S307 maybe the best of the lot.

Possibly my new favorite "brush" a make-up sponge. And no I didn't steal this one from my wife. I actually bought a whole package of these things about a year ago. I think that some of the sponge tips that I use with the pan pastels may work really well for this too.

And the a paints; Oilbrushers; grime, rust and dark earth. The jar is streaking grime (a bit on the brown side).

World War II Project - Return to Normandy - The Gangs all Here - Streaking

This is really my first attempt at trying to create streaks and I don't feel like this first session was particularly successfully. It feels like I ended up with more of a filter than streaks. Again gaming pieces so they are good for practice and will look fine on the table. I think I'm going to do a second round of this just to try out a different method.

All of these products are from Ammo by Mig. The Oilbrushers are oils, the jars are enamels. The basic technique doesn't change since they are all, essentially, oil paints. The Oilbrushers are "liquid" version of tube oils, just with a much thinner viscosity. The enamels are pretty thin as well which I found to be a bit frustrating to work with.

The streaking effect is really hard to see on the more heavily camouflaged S307.