Bod Painting (My Way)

As with all things there´s more than one way to peel an orange and that´s goes for adding colours to Bods.

Over the years I´ve been asked "what paints, what brushes?" do I use,  or seeing Questions like "how does one stop the paint flaking?" so an attempt at answers below.

The painting method Shown below is a fast (ish) one to create numbers of finished bods to fill up a wargames base and stand the "it looks ok from three feet away" test.

Make of Colours used.
I don´t go for having loads of different shades in expensive Little 12ml pots that are specifically marketed at the Hobby.
First time I Held one in my Hand and smelt the Contents ..I said to myself.."aha!, Floor cleaner". I can´t remember the Name but it´s The type that gives the dry Floor a matt Shine.
I Did a test with the paints named below. Added a drop of Floor cleaner into the mix and guess what? The paint seemed to flow a wee bit better but the end result had a matt Shine. Also..the paint could, by Scratching with a finger nail, be peeled off. 

Acrylics naturally but the stuff from Hobby / Craft Shops, in my case Marabu, Kreul or Hobbyline. All give a matt finish unlike some paints I could Name which end up a bit shiny,  which, if a matt finish is wanted,  means paying out for overpriced, in some cases, Health and enviroment damaging, matting agents. IMHO, a waste of time and Money.
Big 50ml pots of the stuff for a couple of euros each. Black, White, Brown, Red, Yellow and Blue. 20ml pots of Gold and  Silver from Plaka or Rico..two more Hobby/Craft shop paint lines. They do have a wide range of Colours so an advantage  for those not familiar with a Colour Wheel or like having the Colour quick to Hand with no mixing. 

Also, ever considered who actually makes the tinsy winsy overpriced pots of paints? Does anyone really imagine they actually have a factory producing paints just for them?  Do some Research, you might be suprised. 

Ah, mixing. I use a pallette..an old CD or the like. Using the tip of the handle of the Paintbrush, I get a bit of paint out of the pot, wipe it on the CD, clean the handle and repeat the process with the next Colour. 

The mixing water..tap water with a drop of washing up liquid added. 

Brushes
Cheap n´cheerfull from Rico. None of this "ooh, I´ve got a Special non slip Turbo brush with LED´s,  some twonk firm Name on the side and instruction manuel in 16 languages" 
None of that helps if you´ve got no idea how to paint. Tinsy winsy brushes that are only visible with a Elektron micropscope   don´t help in getting a fine line. If the tips sharp and loaded with a decent measured amount of paint,  then, as the old saying goes, in this case, slightly turned on it´s head,   "size  doesn´t Count" .

Obviously, the same result won´t be achievable with a 3" wall paint brush but trying to reduce the size of the brush tip to microscopic Levels won´t make the tip any sharper. 

If one thinks it helps to have overpiced Colours and brushes, then fine but I don´t like the idea of feeding an Industry which, IMHO, by adding a brand Name to anything,  rips us off. The bods and vehicles cost enough as it is without chucking away more cash.

Do I wash the bods first? No. The base paint gets added and finish. Never had a Problem with flaking..and I´ve dropped enough to test wether the paint holds. Maybe there´s some sort of plastifier in the Hobby paints or "scrubbing" the paint on has some adhesive effect..TBH, I don´t know. 

OK...Paints and brushes covered. What Comes next is a Basic "how to" on painting. My technique is similar or the same as a lot of painters so basically, if you like the way you paint and the results, stop reading now. 

The Bod used is a Standard pose from the Airfix Waterloo British Infantry set. Cream softish plastic, bought ca. 1975. The head has been Twisted to the left to give a front facing "Ready" pose. 

First base paint. Black, Marabu/Kruel acrylic "scrubbed" on with an brush that was originally for fine painting, then lost it´s fine Point after being abused for dry brushing and ended up Looking a bit like a chimney sweeps brush.

Skin*
First I paint (using marbu acrylic Midbrown) the face and Hands. Arms and legs don´t really Need this stage but Hands and faces do. The midbrwon Acts as a Bridge between the black base and the final Colour.

Now I paint the Areas using a 50/50 mix of the mid Brown and Game colour Pale flesh (yes, I do have one or two "specialist Hobby paints" * :) )

I try to not paint the Areas between the fingers..not always with success.

Now I dry brush the same mix as stage two but with a tiny bit more pale flesh added. The drybrush goes only onto the raised Areas, nose,  ears, chin, cheeks, backs of Hands, etc

How much more pale flesh is added  depends largely on how well the percentages of the  stage two 50/50 mix worked. 

The Bod has now had his sideburns replaced (painted back)and the Wood parts of the musket painted with a midbrown/mid red** and a tiny bit of black mix (all Marabu or hobbyline acrylics)

Next..Clothes etc.

I like to and try to paint from the "inside out", to dress the Bods as it were, so the jacket is next.

A mid red with a touch of mid Brown (a mix of roughly 80-20% )

I try as far as possible to stay inside the lines, ie; paint ony what will eventually stay red but as will be seen, it isn´t necessary and trying (particually at this scale) is a pain.

Next, just the mid red as a drybrush. This may look a bit dark in the pics as there´s no contrast of the White belts yet, but when they are added it can be better judged as to wether the red is "scarlet" enough or another lighter drybrush Highlight is needed

Adding the "White bits"

Bit more difficult, especially the very thin lines like the ones around the cuffs, collar,  waistband and the hat.

TBH, you don´t Need a tiny brush to paint things like straps etc..a smallish one will do as it´s the tip of the brush that adds the paint, a sharp Point Counts, not the total size of the brush added to which a trick can be used to thin down the lines.

In the top pic the lines around the cuff, waistband, collar and hat are bigger than wanted so:

..in the bottom pic they have been "backpainted" with black as it´s easier to paint up to a line than paint the line.

Also, the Addition of the White has made the red visually brighter so it was, in this case, worth waiting to see if another Highlight was necessary.

I still might still add a Highlight but I´ll wait until I´ve added more Detail and painted a couple more (I usually paint 4 or 5 at a time) so I can see what a group  looks like. 

Cuffs etc added and Barrel/bayonet painted (silver with a bit of black added)

Now the trousers. (Note, Barrel and bayonet got a metal highlight) 
First a mid Grey  over the black base..then..

...a drybrush Highlight with  light Grey.

More or less finished. Buckle and Badge added

I mix all my own colour shades..basically all I Need is the Primary Colours added to  black and White and silver and Gold..although in reality I have a few more colours than that, one being a "european flesh" colour.

All that´s needed, a pallette ( I use old icecream or margarine tub lids - waste not, want not) and a cup of  mixing water with added flow enhancer (a drop or two of Window or floorcleaner)

The black/White mix is an example of how I mixed for the trousers,  the Brown/"flesh" mix for the faces..1 being (roughly) the shade of the second coat over the black base  and 2 the final (roughly) covering by drybrush.
**At this stage I usually "cheat" and add a bit of black to the Brown and paint Things like rifle stocks, spears, shoes and the like. Then add a bit of White and dry brush. Saves time and paint. 

Yellow..The Hobby shop yellows tend to be a bit..?.Meh! So a trick. I start with a mix of 50% mid Brown to 50% yellow and then highlight with 70% yellow to 30% Mid brown, final drybrush with yellow.....or add a bit of white to the last 70/30% mix.
Cold White, start with light Grey and highlight with White.
Warm White, White with a bit of mid Brown added, then a highlight with a lot less Brown and drybrush with White.
Blue? Depends on end effect wanted. Either start with a bit of black added to the blue or a bit of Brown. Either add White to the first mix to highlight, or more blue to the second mix.

Ok, the above aint going to win any prizes and I don´t always follow the above Methods depending on wether I´m painting an individual or the usual Batch of 4-5 at one sitting but it´s quick and for me, with practice, easy and, En masse, they look. IMHO,  ok

* Since creating this post I´ve started experimenting with using a mix of Brown/Yellow/White to create european Skin. Works fine and once you´ve got the hang of it, as quick as using and save having to buy an extra, a pot of "skin colour".

Anglo Saxon Skirmishers - Tumbling Dice

Set AS5.
8 bods in seven poses. 8 Loose shields.

Archers and Javelinmen. Bowstrings added as shown HERE

I wouldn´t normally paint a repeat pose unless it had been converted in some way but adding a shield is a small alteration so acceptable.
The slinger with the red/white shield is the same pose but with a  head swop from the Norman light slingers set

So..I´m slowly getting through the Dark Ages Bods from TD so I´m going to be  getting some more from them..specifically the Renaissance (WotR´s) range (HERE) and the Frankish Crusaders (HERE)
I´m getting the Frankish Archers, Crossbows,  Peasant archers , Peasant Levy and Robinhood command* sets from the Franks range and the 3 artillery sets, WotR´s foot command, mounted archers (both armoured and liveried) from the Renaissance Range.
Any requests for other sets from both ranges?

*I can´t imagine what characters will be included in that one!😊

Norman Archers in Chainmail - Tumbling Dice

On the TD site labelled as NF6 Chainmail Archers.
8 Bods in 4 poses and 8 kite shields. The shields I haven´t used.

Viking Command Mounted - Tumbling Dice

VK11
4 bods in 4 different poses, 4 nags in 4 different poses, 4 shields and 4 different flags/standards.
I used an axe from my collection for one of them and used 2 flat shields from another TD set.*

The winged helmet. Ok, it´s not historically accurate but here it looks spot on. 

*The shields.
It can be seen in the Saxon General Fyrd, that there are two types of shields. Flat and curved. There´s debate as to wether the Anglo Saxons sometimes used slightly curved shields. TBH, I reckon flat shields would be the most common on grounds of ease of construction and flat shields are better for creating shield walls. A curved shield would be slightly more advantageous in close single combat, the opponents weapons would be better deflected due to the curve..so maybe leading/better warriors used them as a supprt to the shield wall (?)
Anyway, the shields come as pairs, one curved and one flat cast on the same sprue. IMHO, it would be better to have a range of castings for the shields;
Pairs of castings with 1x curve and 1x flat  and castings with  only flat. Why? The flat pairs could be used for the Viking sets, the falt/curved for the Angl saxons.

Viking Huscarls with Axes - Tumbling Dice

Set VK1, 8 Bods, 7 different poses and 8 shields.
How the repeat pose selection is done I don´t know. It could be that each set of eight has the same repeat pose I got or it´s a matter of one of the seven being doubled to make up the round eight. Whatever,  they are all great poses so  it doesn´t make much of a difference as to which one is repeated.
I´ve attached shields to 4 of them.

Close ups.
The two on the left are the doubled pose.

Size comparison pic
Emhar Viking Warriors, Strelets Stamford Bridge, Zvezda Vikings (conversion) and Tumbling Dice

Norman Light Archers - Tumbling Dice

Set NF9. 8 bods in 4 poses
As ever, I´ve stuck to my "Paint each pose only once" rule.
Bowstrings added.

Comparison pic.
Revell, Tumbling Dice, Strelets
Note, The base of the TD Bod is thinner than the other two

Norman Crossbowmen in Chainmail - Tumbling Dice

Set NF7. 8 bods in 4 poses, 4 loose crossbows and 8 loose shields.

Rear view. Although they don´t show some form of strap across them suggesting some form of securing the shields I added them anyway.

Viking Ship Gokstad

I thought the Airfix Golden Hind would have been my last ship build  but never say never.

The Build
The hull and decking fit together easily. I decided to go for the under sail version which meant covering all the oar holes. The covers are tiny and adding them was fiddly to say the least.
A couple of hours and many layers of paint.

The Sail.
After trimming the sides it (it´s one of those preformed plastic sails) was scored with fine sand paper to remove the shine and give a paintable surface. Fine thread glued on along the edge of the top and both sides. Several layers of paint. The 1st two in opposing directions and layed on with a course 1/2" brush to give some texture, then 3-4 dry brushes. Masking tape and the red stripes added.
Holes drilled and attached with thread to the spar.

The Rigging.
The Emhar instructions are a bit, er?, not that good. They suggest drilling holes in what are essentially, very thin ribbing to secure mast ropes, nothing on how to rope up the anchor and some other oddities that don´t strike me as being quite right.
After looking online I found two examples;
1. A Dusek kit HERE
2. Another wooden ship (make unknown) HERE
I used both as inspiration for the following rigging, except I´ll use plain slightly modern blocks instead of the odd looking "H" things shown on both the above linked builds.

As soon as I added the sail, it became very apparent I´d need three hands, one to hold the ship and another two to attach the rigging so...
...I made a stand out of some old polystyrene packing.

Most of the rigging completed.

Prefit of the rudderman. The Emhar Bods are hard plastic, so the arms can be altered into position and they stay put without warm water treatment

The Crew
Mostly Emhar and one Strelets bod. I know, there´s only 14 but I haven´t found enough decent poses that would be usefull for crew members but I´ll add some more as and when I find them.