I've known Mark Brown for some years and he has been painting for me for at least three of those years. He has recently decided to paint for other people and also, sent me ninety painted 28mm WWII Germans. Just before he started working on them, he e-mailed me and asked if he could paint some up as SS troops with the camouflage uniforms. I said "sure", thinking that this was a nice gesture as it takes a little more time for them to be painted that way. These are the kinds of things I am used to with Mark painting for me over the years. The Germans are very well done. Mark uses the black undercoating method, which I have come to really like. It offers the "campaign" look which I so much enjoy. The figures were from the OLD GLORY/WEST WIND PRODUCTIONS line and superb models and Mark reported he really enjoyed painting them. It shows! They are in gray uniforms/greatcoats and Mark used some artistic license, especially with the SS camouflage. Some of the SS have both jacket and trousers done in a camouflage pattern, while others have just the jacket. Some have camouflage on their helmets; others don't. The SS helmets have the distinctive white unit identification symbol on the left side which looks good. The camouflage is outstanding and really spices up the figure. I had sent Mark the "Guard House" set consisting of a guard shack, two sign posts, a two part metal post/gate to block the road, and three guard figures. He did a very good job on this set - the post to block the road is white with red "rings" around it and he painted the signs white and wrote the names of cities on them. I like this set. Belts and straps are clearly done in leather over the gray German uniforms and the contrast stands out well. Weapons are well painted with a clear distinction between wood and metal. Leather straps around helmets are painted. Shoulder insignia is present and looks nice. Some of the helmets are cloth- covered and Mark used a variety of colors for them, another point I like. Several months ago he finished quite a few FAA 28mm Spanish Civil War figures painted up as Romanians for the WWII Eastern Front and I was very pleased with them. Nice shades of khaki with brown leather strapping and gray shirts. Nice flesh tones. Some figures wore kerchiefs around their necks and Mark used various colors on them which gives them a nice look. He has also done 28mm WWII Russians for me; again, khaki colors, different shaded overcoats, some officer caps done in blue with a red stripe around the bottom - looks great!  Back to MWAN #109 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com