"Quick painting tips" Topic

Would anyone care to share some quick painting tips for 1/300 scale ww2 mini's?

I've never painted this scale (honestly, haven't painted much of any scale….new to the hobby).

I'm taking the mentality of "I'm a gamer, not a model maker" so, they don't need to be pretty (maybe down the road I'll care more about that) but for now, I just want to slap some paint on them and get them on the map.

Thanks

They're so small and easy to paint, there's not much to it.

Just brush, or paint some on, as desired. Some use a primer first, but others don't. Then, apply decals.

I do recommend sealing them though, after painting and adding decals (some recommend a clearcoat before adding decals, in order to get them to fit more flush, and then after as well).

Some really nice effects can be obtained by drybrushing a bit of the base colors that have been lightened with a little white, over the base paint color, in order to represent paint oxidation on your minis.

Cockpit color choices are usually light blue, or dark gray. I tend to prefer dark gray. Add a glosscoat of that, and don't dullcoat that portion, for a more realistic "glass" effect.

I use a fine, mechanical pencil (0.3mm) to fill in the panel lines, instead of black ink, or paint.

I hope that helps.

I responded to your 1/144th posting, but see it's been deleted.

Let me know if you are still interested in prepainted, 1/144th, since I have some brand new, WWII aircraft in that scale, as well as the Dogfight Flight Stands, shown below.

They work great with WWI – ultramodern aircraft, in 1/72 – 1/300th scales (aircraft shown in the above pics are 1/144th scale), spacefighters, spaceships, dragons and other flying creatures, etc..

E-mail me at:

rkentjr AT Hotmail (d0t} c o m

if you want more info.

Hi Captain,

Prime in black after sticking the tank etc on a base. That way it's easier to hold and paint. I choose different colour base coats to make the armies recognisable. German grey and Allies green for example. Then drybrush with a lighter coat to pick out details. You can stop there or do the tracks in black or brown.

Have fun.

Wich rules do you use with the Dogfight Flight Stands ?

If using decals – gloss coat first – otherwise you get a thin coat of bubbles that gives the whole decal a white sheen – ask me how I know…

And if you are going so far as to paint the canopy lines – don't paint, cheat by drawing them with a gundam marker (used for the Japanese robot models). I just use black for most every camo scheme.

For painting tips, I primer with a mid-gray, paint the top camo then paint the bottoms last – easier to get the straight lines along the bottom-sides (no need for fancy spray feathering at this scale).

Hal

You can use pretty much any rules system you like, with the stands, hexed, or hex-less.

Personally, I use Duel of Eagles (WWII) and Clash of Sabres (post-WWII – 1970s/1980s), since they have altitude rules included in them. For 1/144th scale, I just increased the size of the turning templates by 100% (they're similar to those you see for X-Wing). You can choose not to do that, if you prefer, or if you use 1/300th scale minis. Personally, I use the larger templates, since I think they go better with the larger 1/144th scale, aircraft models.

Our local club uses them with the WWI Canvas Eagles rules (can use the Knight's Cross WWII rules as well) and 1/144th scale aircraft, both of which are available for free. I've also used them with the AirWar:C21 rules too, which while they don't really have multiple levels of altitude included, do have various rules for banking, Immelman's, etc., so you can use the swiveling heads to represent the aircraft in more dynamic and interesting poses, rather than just flying straight and level.

They'll also work with Check your Six, and other rules as well.

If you want really fast to paint planes choose the Pacific theatre. Some US aircraft are plain gloss dark blue and some Japanese planes weathered to a mottled green over bare aluminium. Both really quick to do, you could spray the former.

I don't bother with the panel lines.

Great decals are available for both.