Das Boot (Redux)

After the major project of the Warlord Titan I needed a quick palette cleanser do knocked off the U Boat from Cruel Seas. Really simple and done with the same sea base as my other naval work. 

The Cruel Sea

My main Christmas present this year was Warlord Games new WW2 naval game, Cruel Seas. The rules seem fun and I'll playing the first game tonight, but obviously first I needed to paint the miniatures.

The two types of boat in the main box are British Vospers and German Schnellboots (called E-Boats by the Brits), both Motor Torpedo Boats or MTBs. Painting them up was very easy, and some simple weathering with rust pigment finished them off. The finishing touch was rigging the radio antenna on the Vospers using some metallic thread.

The game seems to envision the boats being used without bases but the models as they are, although pretty, lacked dynamism. I wanted to give them a sense of movement and drama and to do that they needed a base.

Thankfully, I had learnt how to do sea texture for the U-Boat diorama a while ago, so this was basically a stripped down version. As I know a lot of other people have recently got into the game, here's a simple step by step.

1. make the base. 

I used plasticard as the water resin is quite heavy and I wasn't sure the effect it would have on mdf.

I estimated base sizes for the two ships and then added texture. On 1/1200 I'd use plastic putty, but I wanted larger waves here so went with polyfilla.

2. paint

I used vallejo deep sea green and then sponged some random sky grey and off white. These shouldn't follow the contours of the base as they will appear beneath the surface and are just there to add depth - although it's probably handy if you put a lot around the wake at the stern.

3. Water effect

This comes in two stages. First, a layer of Still Water. This provides a gloss surface and, more importantly, self-levels any lumps and bumps in the polyfilla.

Then add the Atlantic water paste (there are other ones available with different colours). This is applied quite thick and will dry with some decent depth to it.

When this has dried, add a second layer.

MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE AT LEAST 24 HOURS FOR EACH OF THESE THREE LAYERS TO CURE BEFORE YOU ADD THE NEXT.

4. more painting

You can faff around with this bit to your heart's content, but I use a mix of the Atlantic paste, off white and glaze medium to sponge around the higher areas. This is then followed with a final sponge of pure offwhite on the highest points.

5. Wave texture

Glue the boats down at this point. You don't need much glue or to worry about any gaps as the boats will be bedded down more securely in the next step.

To add the first part of the wake, dip some plain white tissue paper in the still water effect and then push it along the side of the boat. Scrunch it up to give shape to the waves and add more still water to blend it into the base.

Then, if you have any parts where the boat is breaking a wave, or you want to add more body to the waves, do the same with cotton wool.

The process for all of the boats took no more than two hours - but spread over four days. Patience is the key, but I think the final effect is worth it.

Dasvidaniya Rodina

The Soviet T-34 was the tank that won the war. With its revolutionary design and the ruthless industrial might of the USSR behind its construction, it helped halt wehrmacht advance and turn the tide of the war. After watching me building the submarine, the Eldest asked for a model of his own; when he asked for a tank, I knew there was only one to make him. Along the way - although I knew this would be a display model -  I experimented with a few new techniques I intend to use on some wargaming miniatures.

Apologies but this going to a very detailed and pic-heavy post as I want to recrod step by step what I did for fufutre reference.

Step one, as always, was construction.

There were a few buts that needed filling. 

Sealing the rubber tracks required a bit of medieval technology....

But we ended up with a final piece. 

I painted the interior of the turret and breech - althought it seemed very unlikely you'd see in. 

making the antenna used the same candle to stretch some sprue - this is the first time I'd ever done this; normally I'd use very thin brass rod. 

Now onto the new techniques. I airbrushed the whole thing in rust tones (actually the same as Uruk Hai flesh but with orange patches. 

Then I hit the whole thing with Chipping Fluid and let it dry for an hour. 

Then I sprayed my base colour; given the historical variation in green paint used across just 1943 alone, I didn't feel too constrained. 

Then I started chipping the base colour off, revealing the rust beneath. 

Once happy with the overall look of the first layer of subractive weathering, it was timeto start adding. The first was a layer of grime - very, very thin smoky ink in this case. 

 I added the decals and then scraped them off to match the chipped paint beneath.

Then detail painting of the stowage and metal chipping added with a brush and sponge on some hard corners.

The painting of the tank was now finished. 

 Time to star weathering. This was all done with pigments and airbrush thinner or binder. First, a very thin mix is used to paint dest streaks on all flat areas.

Then a thicker mix with binder creates a paste which becmes mud on the tracks, mudguards and undersides. 

Finally a thin mix is gathered onto a flat brush and flicked on a cocktail stick; this creates mud splashes all over the sides, front and rear. 

Now it was on to the loader, peering out of the hatch to direct the tank. This turned out to be phenomenally easy - 1/35 is significantly larger than 28mm. 

 I was even able to add bags under his eyes and stubble.

A final daylight test to checkl the colours...

And on to the base. One tip I picked up from the Vallejo youtube tutorials was to use cheap picture frames on the bases - it's amazing how much more professional it makes the thing look. I roughed out the basic look...

Then libreally coated with polyfilla - making sure to create tracks for the tank. 

At this point adjusted the mud on the wheels having now got a feel for what the ground will look like. 

Aibrushed the base, making sure to change the colour of the disturbed mud where the tracks had churned it up. 

Static grass added

And then cracked the old favourite leaf punch out. 

And added some water effects in the deeper puddles. 

It was then just a matter of gluing the tank down and blending in some more pigment mud paste. 

The final piece: