My old comrades. Since last time I used this column to attack a fellow gamer, I thought I would reform by relating some things I picked up recently that have improved my painting. Painting figures is perhaps the most time consuming part of our beloved hobby, and, some thousands of figures later, I am perhaps able to give some help to others on how to speedily turn out acceptably painted figures. First, by way of tribute. What I have learned of painting has been from John Victor, (whose skill and success I still try to emulate), Joe Burgess( who discovered Acrylics) and old Duke Seifried. I must add John Ross, who remains the finest painter of war game figures I have ever encountered.I must add also that the techniques I am discussing were first used to keep Airfix painted. They do, however, work even better on metal figures. FLASH! AIRFIX NOW HAS ON THE MARKET WW II ITALIAN INFANTRY. AND EXCELLENTLY DONE TOO. First let me recommend to all of you the use of Acrylic paints. When I started using them, you could only get them in tubes, hence a lot of detail was lost. Now a vast array of bottled paints are available. They have numerous advantages. They dry in about ten minutes, and thin with water. No fumes and smells. 'They mix with great ease and, when good technique is used, shade wonderfully. In short, they are the best. One caution; do not use really expensive brushes as acrylics eat them! Modestly priced ones last as long and do just as nice a job. Now I am going to go through painting a figure using the techniques taught to me by John Victor and Duke Seifried. They may seem complex. but I assure you that they turn out wonderful figures much faster than standard painting style and having a lifelike look about them. Let's do an ACW Yankee Infantryman. Step I. The figure is base painted in white. Gesso will do or your choice of white standard acrylic. Now let it throughly dry. Step II. The main uniform parts are now done. This is done by thinning the color about 1 to 1 with water and dabbing it on rather than brushing. The thinned paint flows more thickly into the shadowed areas achieving a self shaded effect. For our sample, a dark blue coat, medium blue pants and perhaps, the hat. The skin tone are now added full strength. Step III. The main colors are now Washed with a mixture of the next darker color and water to the ratio of 1 part paint to 3 or 4 parts water. In our sample, black for the coat(extra thin so as not to darken too much), dark blue for the pants, and an orange scarlett for the face. Step IV. The detail of belting, rifle, etc, are now done in the normal way, but care and precision are not too important. Step V. With a black wash, (1 to 3) and fine brush go along the breaks in color and detail the edges with a black line. This really makes a differnce with white striping. Highlighting. Step VI. This is where the figure comes to life. Dry brush the next lighter color over where you been painting. That is--medium blue for our Yank's jacket, light blue for his pants and just a touch of flesh to highlight face and hands. It may indeed sound like a cumbersome system, but not so, my friends. Painting assembly line allows me to turn out a 9 to 12-figure infantry unit, or 3 or 4 horsemen in an evening. That is really fast. The results have enabled your servant to win several painting awards out here, with the older members of PW know a mininmum of talent. The first figure by a local gamer here put my, best to shame. Experience.... well, I shudder. Next time some hints on Airfix and horses in general and perhaps a set of PIKE and SHOT rules. Until then, Bugler, sound the Charge. Back to PW Review December 1981 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1981 Wally Simon 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