I began with a heavily thinned (with White Spirit) oil pin-wash using Paynes Grey and then Burnt Umber. This was done very selectively and any excess was removed with a brush dampened with White Spirit. The intention was to highlight some parts such as seams but also to start building up a sense of wear and tear.
While that was drying I sorted out the cricket which is supposed to hang around the paratrooper's neck and which had been painted using Vallejo Olive Drab. The hole for the string had been drilled out in advance and I tried various things for the string, before finally settling on some string which was included with a Tamiya Panzer IV in imitation of some steel cable. This was threaded through with some reluctance but we got there in the end, after some persuasion and swearing at it.
I then used AK Interactive Streaking Grime, mainly on the musette bag but also sparingly elsewhere to provide the kinds of blotches one sees on used cloth. This wasn't used in the streaking format, but I did move on to use spattering effect across the different elements of the model, again very sparingly.
This was followed by spattering of acrylics heavily thinned with water, particularly on the musette bag but also in other locations, using various Vallejo paints such as 941 Burnt Umber, 846 Mahogany Brown, 876 Brown Sand and finally Buff. By this stage there was a sense of layers of dirt and grime over the top of the original painting, which had looked to clean and new. This was followed by some strategic use of Mig Europe Dust pastel, sometimes 'raw', sometimes mixed with their fixing agent, paying particular attention to the lower portion of the helmet and to the lower parts of the musette bag. I'm very pleased with the results which I feel look pleasingly realistic.
At this stage I was able to remove the various pieces of rod and start fitting the different pieces together, including the head, helmet, helmet straps, cricket and smoke grenade. This was perfectly straightforward, with no problems with fitting, etc. The base, which had been painted black, with a hole drilled in the bottom, was fitted with some copper rod and this was inserted into a corresponding hole in the wooden stand and fixed with CA glue. The wooden stand is by Andrea Miniatures and was bought from Historex. It gives the whole thing a feeling of unity and seems a pretty cheap way to present the model in a very pleasant format.
So that's it, all done and I feel a real sense of satisfaction with the final product, notably the musette bag, the smoke grenade, the scarf and the helmet. The weak point is my face painting, which needs work, plus the highlights on the smock.
Some final thoughts:
The kit is perfect - absolutely nothing to fault or query and it's a delight from start to finish. There is so much to draw one's attention, including the various badges, the ace of spades marking, the different pieces of webbing and straps, the neck scarf, and so on, with the result that it feels really busy and there are few large areas of single colours.
As a learning experience it's also very positive and I take a number of points away from the experience:
1. The need for greater subtlety in highlights in particular, especially the final stage of highlights and lowlights, which I overdid on much of the smock. I learned as I went along so the later painting seems more convincing, with areas such as the musette bag approaching the look I've been after.
2. Less really is more and taking time to walk away is a good way to work.
3. The wet palate is superb and I thoroughly recommend giving it a try.
4. The Vallejo paint range continues to astonish in its breadth and versatility.
Now on to the Spitfire and the 25 pdr. Oh yes, and the next Young Miniatures figure...
Zigerastica
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