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    Painting Wargaming Models: Armoured Vehicles in Europe, 1943-1945
    Painting Wargaming Models: Armoured Vehicles in Europe, 1943-1945
    Painting Wargaming Models: Armoured Vehicles in Europe, 1943-1945
    Ebook242 pages1 hour

    Painting Wargaming Models: Armoured Vehicles in Europe, 1943-1945

    By Andy Singleton

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    About this ebook

    For many wargamers, WW2 is synonymous with large fleets of tanks and other AFVs battling each other across the European countryside or amidst the rubble of cities. Here Andy Singleton lends the benefit of his experience as a professional modeler and painter to help you get your own armored force ready for battle. Andy starts by discussing the tools and materials required and explaining some basic techniques, such as dry-brushing and stippling. He then moves on to detailed step-by-step instructions for the main paint schemes of each of the major combatants, British, American, German and Soviet Union. Each step is illustrated by a color photo, paint number and the type and size of brush used, and there are variants for use with or without an airbrush. Adding national emblems and other markings, either freehand or by using transfers, is also covered. In addition to the basic paint scheme there is guidance for adding weathering effects and wear and tear, such as dust, chipped paint or even winter whitewash. Finally he shows you how to enhance your models with finishing touches such as the addition of stowage and camouflage measures such as netting or foliage. Throughout it is packed with useful tips and tricks of the trade.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPen and Sword
    Release dateJul 30, 2024
    ISBN9781399051774
    Painting Wargaming Models: Armoured Vehicles in Europe, 1943-1945
    Author

    Andy Singleton

    Andy Singleton has been modelling and painting since childhood, having built subjects across a broad range of subjects, scales and genres. In 2014, Andy decided to stop having a proper job and picked up his brushes full time to become professional figure painter, with his business Volley Fire Painting Service. In addition to painting legions of figures, he has worked with many manufacturers across the industry and examples of his work can be found in many rule books, magazines and websites. Andy is also a co-host on the podcast ‘A Few Brits and the Hobby’.

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      Book preview

      Painting Wargaming Models - Andy Singleton

      I

      Getting Started

      Between the world wars, the level of technological advancement was really quite staggering. Aircraft went from canvas-covered biplanes to fast, cannon-armed aluminium monoplanes, radar entered service, machine guns became lighter and easily portable, and tanks had begun to evolve into incredibly powerful war machines.

      In a similar vein, there is a huge and ever-increasing selection of hobby products on the market. The variety of products is quite overwhelming, even if you have been in the hobby for a long time. In this book, I will attempt to cut through some of the technical terminology and give a bite-sized description of what is required for a few of the most commonly used techniques. The past few years have seen the rise in the supply of contrast or speed paints by several manufacturers, although due to space considerations, I’ve not been able to provide guides for these.

      As a solid rule of thumb, when it comes to purchasing tools, you’re better off buying better quality. These may prove more expensive, but will work out cheaper in the long run, and the results will be more than worth it. It’s also worth scouting the internet and asking club mates or friends for reviews to determine whether a specific tool sounds like something you would find useful and fulfils your specific tastes and needs.

      Readers of other books in this series will be familiar with the following chapter, but for completeness, I’ve repeated it here for those new to the hobby, and have updated some of the information in line with changes in common practice.

      PLASTIC, METAL OR RESIN?

      The Second World War is probably the most widely supported period for models, in any and all scales, with thousands of different products available. Generally speaking, for gaming purposes these are provided in either white metal, resin, or hard and soft plastics. Recently, thermoplastic has started to appear as a material from several manufacturers: this combines the features of both metal and plastic models, although it requires assembly with superglue.

      Once a rarity outside of 20mm wargaming, plastic is rapidly becoming the most common material for wargaming models. This is doubly true for vehicle kits, with a staggering number of models available in a myriad of sizes and scales. Kits range in complexity from simple wargaming kits of a few parts to high-end collectors’ pieces with hundreds of components. It is easy to distinguish these by noting the manufacturer. If the kit is produced by a wargaming company, it will typically be a simple build, whereas a kit produced by a scale modelling company will be more complex. Some manufacturers, though, are starting to produce simpler kits aimed at the wargaming market. If you are in doubt, it’s worth checking the Scalemates website. This invaluable resource contains reviews and instructions for a vast array of kits.

      (© Hornby Hobbies Ltd 2023)

      Probably the most common material for the production of vehicle models in sizes smaller than 15mm, however, is lead-free metal, although kits are available in all different sizes in this material, especially amongst older or smaller ranges. Metal can be tricky to work with and can involve significant cleaning up, removing moulding lines along the sides of parts, and tidying up areas of excess metal called flash. This is a simple task and requires scraping along the line with the blunt side of a blade or a quick sanding down with some files. Again, I’ll cover this a little later.

      Metal models need to be assembled with superglue or equivalent. Larger models such as artillery and cavalry will require a degree of patience as they can quickly become somewhat frustrating if you try to rush putting them together. When assembling any model, patience and test fitting will always pay off.

      Resin is another common material used in the production of vehicle kits. It can be found in both printed and cast varieties, although working with either is largely the same. It’s also worth giving resin a wash in warm soapy water to remove any mould release agents that can hinder assembly and painting. Resin can have large casting lugs attached to parts, and these will need removing with a razor saw. Other than that, resin is much like working with metal, and requires superglue to assemble. Many kits actually combine metal and resin parts, and these can be glued together easily. It’s worth pointing out that resin dust can be toxic, so it is advisable to wear a mask when sanding and filing.

      At first glance, thermoplastic appears very much like a soft plastic, although it is far harder and more resilient, and not prone to bending, or flaking paint. Thermoplastic is incredibly durable. Unfortunately, this also makes the material very hard to clean up. If you attempt to remove moulding lines with a file, you will end up simply tearing the model rather than sanding the lines away. Instead, use a very sharp knife blade, and carefully clean the part up. You can also use very fine wet and dry paper, at least 1000 grit, to polish the part to a smoother finish. Thermoplastic models are a type of resin, so will not bond with normal plastic glues; you will need to use superglue.

      KNIVES, CUTTERS AND FILES

      The first thing you’ll need to do, of course, is to get the component parts of your model ready for assembly and clean away any residue from the manufacturing process. This can take several forms, but the most common are flash and mould lines, which develop when the model is cast. These appear as either prominent lines around a part or as chunks or ‘worms’ of excess material, most especially on edges and undercuts of the component. These casting imperfections can appear in any material and removing them will massively improve the appearance of the finished model, especially when you are using the drybrush techniques.

      HOBBY KNIFE

      These broadly fall into two types: those with replaceable blades, such as the ubiquitous X-Acto hobby knife, and the Stanley knife. Either one of these will probably be your most frequently used tool in preparing your models, as the sharp side of the blade can be used for cutting things, whilst the blunt edge can be used to remove mould lines by simply scraping it down them a few times. This works, as the blunt edge is more forgiving of slips, and follows the contours of the details well.

      Which type of knife you get is entirely up to you, but I’d recommend one of each, especially as they can be bought for good prices from pretty much anywhere that sells tools or hobby supplies. The replaceable nature of the X-Acto style allows for different styles and shapes of blade to be fitted, as well as for the blade to be replaced once it becomes dull. The slender, sharp blades do have their limits, however, and can blunt quickly when working with metal. They may also struggle with cutting through thicker plastic sprues. They are very sharp, though, and give you a lot of control, especially for scraping off moulding lines or the remains of tabs after using side cutters. The Stanley knife is handy if you need to do some heavier duty cutting, such as trimming parts off for a conversion that side cutters can’t perform as cleanly as you need.

      SIDE CUTTERS

      Also known as sprue cutters, these are vaguely similar to scissors, but with a shorter blade and more powerful, tensioned action. As the name suggests, these are good at cutting things. Perfect for removing plastic parts from their carrying sprue, it’s best to trim the part leaving a small stub of plastic that you can then trim with a knife or file. Also handy for metal, these can be used for removing casting lugs or parts from moulding blocks. Sprue cutters can be found in the majority of model shops, both on and offline. I’d recommend getting maybe two sets, and having one for metal and one for plastic if you’re likely to work on a lot of both materials, as the set for metal will blunt faster than the set used on plastics.

      FILES

      Files are another immensely useful tool and can be purchased from most tool or hardware shops as well as model and hobby shops. Ideally, what you want is a set of jeweller’s files, or needle files. These typically come in sets of several different files, with each being a different shape to allow the cleaning of most parts of a model. A file with a blade more than a centimetre wide will probably prove to be too big for modelling purposes, so aim for something quite fine. These are great tools for removing mould lines and getting rid of the contact points of sprue gates.

      Excess plastic is removed with a file.

      GLUES

      Now that we have established what the models are made from, and have trimmed

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