"Modern USMC for the Desert in 3mm" Topic

All,

Continuing with my 3mm project(s), I was able to finish up some more desert forces this weekend. You've seen the dastardly bad guys, and a few Israelis, now let me introduce the United States Marine Corps. Five M-1 Abrams, eight AAVs, four HMMWVs for a Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT), that is, two with HMGs and two with TOWs, and three LAVs. If you look at previous posts you can see I've got a UH-1, two Cobras, and three CH-46s to go with them, and the infantry are (mostly) done as well.

I apologize as the pics aren't that great, but if you look (and can see) closely at the bottom left HMMWV you can see the TOW launcher is actually manned!

There's a few more pics over at the blog:
link

V/R,
Jack

Are those US pennies?

John – My eyes can take it, I don't know if my patience can! Using this "black-lining" method, as wel as the sand-paint-wash basing is taking up a lot of time… I'm thinking I'll be able to get at least on of the batreps written up tomorrow night.

BrotherSevej – Yep, those are US pennies. Cheapest, most effective bases I've found yet ;)

V/R,
Jack

I was going to make the rather tired crack that at 3mm you could use Zulus and some chariots painted in camo colours for USMC and nobody would be the wiser--but seeing your photos convinced me. Excellent work, and please keep posting!

No sweat Daryl, I have seen quite a few wisecracks at 3mm, which is a little aggravating, but also cracks me up. If you don't like it, swell, but some folks take swipes at 3mm like it was my idea, and I created some sort of monster, or like they expect me to reply, "Oh wow, I didn't realize they were small until you said that, I guess I'll just toss them in the trash"

In any case, I'm glad you like them. There's no denying they're small, and while I marvel at the level of detail the sculptor gets on them, it can be tough to make them 'pop' (i.e., stand off on the table), which is why I'm using the black-lining approach. My aggravation is that this painting method takes me a long time.

I'm thinking to try a really light, but still bright, color, then give it a light wash. Then I'm thinking about trying a fine flock, instead of sand-paint-wash. If that works I could pump these out about 10 times quicker. Anybody out there tried this, or have any other recommendations on how to paint and base 3mm quick with a paintjob that 'pops?'

V/R,
Jack