"Rebel Minis 15mm Chinese PLA Troops" Topic

I finally got around to painting some Modern Chinese PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) troopers this weekend. Because I have a screw loose, I decided to see if I could do something similar to the Chinese Highland (Tibetan) Flecktarn camouflage pattern. Now, Flecktarn patterns are not fun in any scale, thinking of trying it at 15mm was really asking for trouble. I used small pieces of natural sponge and dabbed colors until my eyes burned and I had a splitting headache. Overall the pattern came out a little too dark (I should have used a slightly lighter base color), but the overall effect looked pretty good. I have also learned that tiny camo patterns tend to blend the minis into their bases, the background and each other, so sorry if the pictures are a little "fuzzy" in some cases. You might notice the Sniper rifle, RPG and HMG in the pictures as some things not currently available, but I suspect that now that I have these painted, they may appear very soon on Rebels Minis' website. Now I just have at least 40 more of these guys to paint . . . . . my eyes bleed just thinking about it!

More images:
link

Link to PLA at Rebel Minis:
link

I cross posted to 15mm SciFi since some people may want to use these for SciFi, Post Apoc or near future games.

Thanks for looking,

Jeff

Hi JRacel – very convincing camo, it really looks like the real thing.

Impressive. And camo minis blending in can be a good thing. ;) So long as you remember they're there while your opponent goes "Huh…Hmmm. Where…are…they."

Nicely done!

Dan

Nice! Enough cool stuff from Rebel that I'll be sorting out another order soon methinks…

Looks very good to me.

Well done!

Great work.

Wow, that uniform is butt ugly but effective I guess. Nice paint job.

Convincing, effective, and nearly impossible to see at gaming distances. Realistic camo is not the painter's friend.

Outstanding work Jeff.

Good job! I have to do some digital camo. Fist color coat didn't work so well so I'll have to start over.

I like them. Hmmm for modern Filipinos I could use US troops, but painted with their camo-patterns, but where would I get modern Vietnamese and Japanese. This would be for the upcoming Chinese conquest of the China Sea. The Japanese look similar to Americans in fritz helmets, but what about Vietnam? Do they still look like the NVA?

The Chinese would also be nice to pit against modern Russian Federation troops in the a war over Siberian resources.

Good work! I like your battlefield terrain too.

Nice work! I have my 20mm PLA Marines to do. Can't wait to have some free time.

Really nice work

Thanks for the nice words guys and glad you like them. I've been wanting to work on them for a while and just had not had the time. Mike needed the heavy weapons painted so it gave me an excuse to try out the camo pattern. My wife laughed at me (she was waiting for me to finish the bases s we could watch a move) when I realized that the camo made the minis disappear into their own bases, especially the HMG. She suggested that at least the camo was effective . . . .

Now I need to get some more heavy weapons from Rebel Mike and paint up my forces to use with Force on Force and maybe Tomorrow's War. I was also thinking it might be fun to do some games using ATZ or Ambush Z based on the events in China from World War Z.

Let me know if you guys want the list of colors I used and I will add them here.

Thanks again,

Jeff

rvandusen: do some google-fu and I bet you some pictures might turn up. They are a Communist nation and generally don't have the media tag along with them to take stills and so on, but you never know. There might be some pictures out there.

Maybe modern/80ish Russian troops would be a good stand-in for the Vietnam People's Army.

I found this picture by just looking at Wikipedia:

Interesting picture there. Granted, the white gloves are all show but the BDUs look field worthy and the weapons… are those M-16s/M-4s?

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Now these guys have AKs, but it looks like they are wearing Kevlars. Maybe super-modern Russians would do?

Now this picture looks more like classic "Pact" troops:

So maybe the Wikipedia article is a good jumping off point for more Vietnamese Army based research.

link

If this is out there, then there's got to be more.

Very "Red Dawn 2"* for sure!

Dan
* If a Red Dawn sequel was done right, a la 2011 or so.

You did a really nice job on them! you have to quit doing this Jeff. I see a nice paint job by you and Rebel's new figs and then I have to buy them!

Thanks,

John

I see a nice paint job by you and Rebel's new figs and then I have to buy them!

I'm not 100% certain, but I think this is what Rebel Mike wants to hear . . .

While I tend to like to do Military colors, I find it harder to make myself do brighter SciFi colors, so that means I come to folks like you John and Battle Works Studio to purchase additional painted SciFi troops. You guys do great brushwork and use colors that while I think they exist in my 300 or so paints, are clearly in hiding behind an army of military colors.

Jeff

Are the MG, smiper rilfe and RPG avaliable for Rebel Minis?

I've bee wanting to buy a bunch ut without the support weapons I've held off.

@Dennis0302,

I am pretty sure Rebel Mike has them in stock, just not yet on the Website since he needed them painted. I just finished painting these and some new SciFi command packs for him over the last couple of weekends so he could get them on the site with painted pictures. I think he is busy with the holiday, but with some luck we will hopefully see the support weapons listed very soon. I need to order some as well!

Jeff

Thanks very much

Some info on Chinese small unit TO+E

link

Thanks for the TO+E Dennis0302!

Rebel Minis Chinese PLA Paint Color Scheme

Spiky natural sponge pieces used to apply the Camouflage Paint Scheme

1. Krylon Camouflage Spray Paint – 4295 Sand (available through Wal-Mart)
2. Vallejo Model Color – 70976 Sand (First layer of Camo)
3. Vallejo Model Color – 824 German Camouflage Orange Ochre (Second layer of Camo and final layer if too much Black and Flat Earth)
4. Vallejo Model Color – 983 Flat Earth (Third moderate layer of Camo)
5. Vallejo Model Color – 822 S.S. Camouflage Black (Forth light layer of Camo)
6. Vallejo Model Color – 871 Leather Brown (Boots)
7. Vallejo Model Color – 994 Dark Grey (Guns – I added a little light grey to this to do a thin highlight before dipping)
8. Reaper Master Series Tanned Skin (Face and Hands – could have done gloves but wanted to break up the camo colors with some skin)
9. Army Painter Quick Shade Strong Tone (Applied with a brush)
10. Testors Dullcote (at least 12 to 24 hours after the Army Painter and in thin layers – too much or too soon can cause a reaction with the Quick Shade)
11. Based with a mix of Woodland Scenic ballast, static grass and flock.
12. Added some Silfor Grass tufts.

I have just added the packs up on the site! Awesome Job Jeff!

I have 67 more troops that need Flecktarn :)
RebelMike

I have 67 more troops that need Flecktarn :)

Well then, you better get painting! The color list is found above.

Jeff

For the MG'er, you could do a dark wash (dark gray, or black) around his body, in order to cast a bit of a shadow effect, which would make him stand out a bit from the dirt.

Of course, you have to be careful, since if you get it on the minis, you then may have to retouch them a bit, since they'll be made darker as well.

Using the tip of a paintbrush around his periphery, to apply the wash should work well though, and then you'll just need to touch up the dirt, which should be easier.

Mako11,

Good idea. I'll look at that option.

Thanks,

Jeff

Those will work great! For my "Tomorrow's War" battles in the U.S., working on "When Payment is Due" campaign, the basic back ground U.S. defaults on it's payments and the Chinese try to take what's their's.

Nice work capturing the look of the QBZ-95 rifle.

Get your Chinese troops now, in time for the invasion of America:

Dan
TMP link