Tutorial: M8 Greyhound (Bolt Action)

Hello again,

After painting my very first Bolt Action model recently (Sherman M4) I got kinda encouraged by positive feedback and was also asked some questions about colors and materials used. So while waiting for US infantry arrival I ordered another model for the game I really liked and tried to paint it using similar colors to Sherman, so both vehicles fit the battlegroup.

That model is M8 Greyhound: 6-wheel scout car.

I was taking some photos while working on the toy trying to show how it was going step-by-step. As always in my case wip photos didn't turn out spectacular, but still hope some of you might find this walkthrough useful.

So the model arrived: once again I chose Italeri brand: all parts fit peftectly so assembling process brings no problem at all. Here's what I found in the box:

As mentioned above - casting quality is just great. Assembling the piece took me like single afternoon (while babysitting kid at the same time). To make painting easier (and possible in case of the interior) I decided to split models into sections, which will be put together later.

Assembly test - checked!

And here are the sections. I like heavy models so both here and in Sherman some scraps of metal were hidden inside.

Please note: it's just gaming model, so if you don't feel like painting the guts of just want to have the job done fast, simply paint interior black. Unless you remove the turret no one should see the difference.

Painting started by applying undercoat: I used simple car spray.
It's pretty "heavy" paint which actually gave some texture the armour. That will give more natural, realistic look in the end.

Base color of interior walls and floor is white. I used misty grey followed by white highlight and the applied delicate black wash glaze - just to provide basic shading.

Basic colors for other parts are yellow olive for the floor, black for seats and earth for planks. All from Vallejo Game Color range. Radio is simple black drybrushed with misty grey.

Yellow olive was glazed with olive + smoke + charred brown and then highlighted with yellow olive, planks washed with brown ink and highlighted with earth + bleached bone, fire extinguisher (that bit behind driver's seat) was painted with gory red and then highlighted with bloody red.

At the same stage I painted turret's interior with same colors: gun - olive, seath - black, walls - white. Extra ammo is just brass washed with smoke and highlighted with pure brass.

I also added some dirt and scratches on the walls and gun - just to break the tones.

All painted elements were sealed with Revell's supermatt varnish. It smells gorgeous but it takes a while until it gets dry so it's good moment to take a coffee, smoke, take a dog for a walk or empty dishwasher.

Or all above.

Especially dishwasher - your ladies should be pleased.

Seat backs are barely noticed (looking from an angle) but other details look nice.

Now I started painting bottom part of the model: wheels and chasis.

Like in case of interior it's kinda optional: if you want it done fast simply hit it with cark olive, drybrush highlight and then add load of dirt.

I decided to play bit longer with painting: underbelly and wheels were painted with yellow olive, then glazed with olive + charred brown. Highlights is just olive and rainy gray drybrush.

Tires were painted with black + bit grey and drybrushed with rainy grey.

Paint is dry so wheels were attached to the chassis and then side armour added. Be careful with superglue - if you pour too much there might appear pain in the ass to remove "stains".

Some chassis details were painted with black and steel. After drybrushing whole chassis was glazed with olive and smoke ink wash (yes, the same color again but hey - it's WW2 war machine, not WH40K toy).

Now something we're been waiting for!

Something which is not optional and is pretty well seen: the hull!

Once again - model was painted with mix of yellow olive and some brown...

Nice and dry!

Model was now glazed with smoke ink with some olive and brown chalk added. That's for getting more dirty and "think" shading. Wait until it's 100% dry before next step which is...

Drybrushing!
I started with yellow olive, then I was adding more and more rainy gray and if I remember correctly some misty grey in the end for the final highlight. That's the first layer of drybrush...

And this is the last one.

Pretty striking, isn't it? You can actually see delicate texture of the undercoat on the turret.

To get smoother transitions and color more similar to what was planed whole hull was glazed with diluted yellow olive. Don't get carried away by this, it's better wo paint 2-3 thin layers instead of single, too thick one.

Model is ready for gaming but it's also ready for decals and details.

Decals pattern was described in the instruction. If any of you have problems with decals here're some tips:

- paint place where you want to see decal with gloss or satin varnish,

- apply decal trying to keep it wet (it makes sliding and positioning),

- remove excess of water with brush, 

- when decal is dry - paint decal medium on it, this stuff makes decal fit surface much better.

I didn't like the star on the back - it was just too big for my taste. Like signal for Luftwaffe machines circling over battlefield: "Hello, I am here if you're feeling like some target practice!".

While still wet of at least damp taking decal off is no problem at all.

At this stage also details were added:

- fuel canisters with dirty orange,

- extra wheels (whatever these parts are for) with boltgun metal,

- the same for antennae and machine guns barrels, 

- blass for hmg ammo,

- front lights - blue, rear lights - red of course.

And the dirt - the best fun of all this.

There are many ideas dependable what you want to achieve, my model is pretty "fresh" so I painted only basic weathering.

I mixed some chalks - brown, orange, yellow with sating varnish and lots of water. I mean it: cahls are very concentrated and mixture must be very diluted to use it on models.

With thick brush the mixture was applied on the whole model. I waited a bit and then excess was wiped off . I tried to leave dirt where it would naturally appear during exploatation.

Also some chiped paint was added - it's just dark brown and steel applied with sponge. Once again - not too much, it's US Chariot Ov Destruction, not piece of junk.

And aerial look on the batlefield and the palette :)

The job is done.

I am pretty happy about the final effect, Greyhound is not as dirty as I was planning initially (varnish wiped off some dirt) but looks just like vehicle shortly after getting into action should look like.

Hope you like it too and find the article anything useful. In case of any questions just shout.

By the way, there are still some followers needed to reach magical number 200 so you know... <nudge, nudge, wing, wink>

Thanks for reading!
(and following)

Sherman M4 + Warzone + terrain building

Heyah,

It's still summer so as mentioned previously and farther back - there's more oldie Warzone stuff served but not only! In fact there are some pretty new bits (at least for me) so with no further babbling here're the toys.

For starters - Ilian's High Templar.
This particular model was purchased second hand early this year or about last winter, but the sculpt has special place in the history of my hobby:
this was the very first model I saw in the flash back in 1996 in the local book store. I still remember the moment when I saw it, my first thought was something like:
"Woooah! That's fucking amazing! How can anyone paint such tiny thing?"

The second thought was:
"What??? 6 zł?!? (*back then it was $2,15) Who'd ever pay so much for a toy solider???"

A month or so later I got my answer for questions above...
After all those years I still like the piece - it's nothing fancy but just cool. And it made my blood coursing faster while painting so apparently Warzone stuff is good for health. Apparently.

Color scheme was based on "official" colors spotted in Mutant Chronicles zine and I like the final result. I am bit disappointed about the red eyes and "vents" - was hoping to achieve more glowy effect, but all in all I can live with that. There are still 6 or 7 more old templars in the lead pile - too bad there were only 2 sculpts available. So, here it is:

The next thing is something I haven't done for a long time: terrain piece.

I always liked trees made basaically of twisted wire and sponge so finally decided to give it a try. What I achieved is definitely test piece - tho the result is far from what I was expecting I think I learnt quite a lot about: twisting trunks, applying foliage, composing whole thing.

Next ones will surely look better: I am going to make my own sponge-foliage and built more european looking trees. These two look like taken from some sort of tropical garden at best.
But still they are fine for gaming purposes: there's clear line of "wood" and I can easily place there even tank size model. What I actually did on the top photo.

For leaves I used 5 different color sponge sets, that's the reason from above the terrain looks like puddle of puke but still - that's great cover agains aerial attacks ^^

And the cherry on the top of the cake: Sherman M4 tank!

I wanted to paint something from Bolt Action range for a long, long time and I must admint I had lots of fun working on this one. I tried not to get carried away with weathering (like on this one) so model turned out pretty "fresh".
For my standards that is...

The plan was to paint it close to official paintjob but it turned out the only olive tone which didn't dry totally was yellow olive from Vallejo Game Color range so it was base color. I realised adding some browns or greys I can nicely modify base color and the result is just nice. I like this toy.

Deeply hope to paint another model from US army range when I am back home next week - those half tracks have always been tempting me. And with 2 vehicles painted I'll have to add some G.I.'s to assemble basic fighting Bolt Action fighting force!

Hope you like my new wheels.
Seeya next weekend!

Warzone: Billy and Nepharite of Muawijhe

Hello again,

Half of summer break has just passed (of course for those who have summer break...) so as I wrote in the previous post - more Warzone goodness arrives.
This time there are 2 evil-doers: special character Billy and nepharite of Muawijhe.
I am far from judging someone else's sculpting work (especially all I can use modelling mass for is filling gaps) but let's be frank - these two are not the most fortunate models from the old range (diplomatically speaking). And that's even for old WZ standards.

But since I had them in the lead pile and used to field nepharite many, many times in the back days (this cocker had 6 action points!!!) they sure deserved some care and attention.

So let's start with Billy.
This little pest is just really medicore special character. Thats's it: pity characteristics, special rules aren't mindblowing either. As for sculpt - well, you can judge youself (his face looks bit like Jack Nicolson's, pretty badass. The best part of the model).
I cannot recall I've seen it in action ever, in fact I purchased the models last year (?) together with some missing stuff and decided to give it a try.

I tried to paint it close to the artwork: red pants, black/violet leather jacker, blue jumper. Horrible combination, definitely worthy devoted chaos cultist.
Painting this one was nice and easy, I am pretty satisfied about the final look and had lots of fun working on face, but once again metalics got screwed. Even though in the flesh it doesn't look horrific I am more and more convinced to try nmm (or anythig similar) to take decent photos. Maybe on the next one. Adding grey paint to silver maybe.

See? See? Shining!
"Here's Johnny!"

And the other dude: nepharite of Muawijhe.

This model was must-have unit in my old battle groups - 6 action points says everything. Sadly despite cool artwork and nasty game stats the model looks for me like sort of cosmic granny wearing bath cap... (yet it's still better than Billy).

The model you can see is the second copy in my possession - the one I got in the 90's suffered severe damage from failed conversion experiments so best thing I could do was leaving it under lead burial mound.

I remember I tried to arm it with brotherhood sword and added 6 horns which ended up with thumb amputation. As for horns - back days I didn't have small drill so I carved "sockets" for placcy horns with modelling knife. Result was just fucking drastic...

As for painting - again I tried to stay close official color scheme. It's just really striking and in my opinion fits well servant of the Lord ov Ultimate Madness. Watching at the piece in the glass case I think this idea has lots of potential and it would be great to see it's modern incarnation - with all those chains swirling around and maggots looking like maggots, not like bucket of noodles.

That was for you, guys from Prodos, you hear me? Poland demands new nepharite! ;-) 

Hope you like this update. Next time there should be something about terrain building.
And more Warzone!