Platoon's 12SS HJ Normandy ala Tan: Part 4

(A forgotten update prior to the big move)

Priming and undercoating

Having split the figure into manageable sub-assemblies and cleaned them up, I always prime a figure. There are many different ways to prime a figure, and some folks prime, others don't. As with so much in this craft, it's a personal choice.

One of the reasons I like to prime is that it helps to highlight where I may have missed a seam or flaw, and allows me to rectify it prior to it only being picked out by a dry-brushing which makes it glaringly obvious. Another reason is that I believe it provides the paint something to bite into. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but it works for me.

I prefer to prime my models with Tamiya's Surface Primer. I'm not to hassled whether I use the white or the light grey. After priming, Calvin's technique calls for a second primer coat, this time with black. I should mention that this isn't priming, as Calvin calls it, this is actually an "undercoat". Again, I'm going with a Tamiya product. No particular why, other than it's what my LHS stocks. And that's good enough reason for me.

Prior to priming, I place bits of poster tack over parts I don't want primed. All this really does is saves me from having to scrape the paint away later when I need to glue a piece down. In this case I placed the tack in the arms sockets, collar area and on the hip where the bread bag et al would be located. I rolled sausages of tack as well to hold the parts while they were being sprayed.

Below you see first the primed parts, and then the undercoated parts.

If spots were missed by the primer, or the primer is scraped down where a seam is fixed, there's no need to reapply primer, the undercoat will cover it. If however spots are missed with the undercoat, these should be filled in as the undercoat is essential to Calvin's technique. You can simply brush any missed spots in with your acrylic black paint.

Next up we get into the real painting of this figure: the head! Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be a bumpy ride. :)

Platoon's 12SS HJ Normandy ala Tan: Part 3

(A forgotten update prior to the big move)

Putting the paint before the assembly

All to often we are asked by newcomers to figure painting "Should I assemble the figure, and then paint? Or visa versa?" And the answer is always a frustrating one: it depends. It really does depend. It depends on the skills of the painter, the complexity of the paint scheme, the pose of the figure, the subassemblies of the figure, and the list goes on.

I tend to treat every figure differently, but generally I do try to assemble as much as possible prior to painting. If you're not sure whether to assemble first, a trick I use is to dry-fit the figure together with poster tack, and then simulate painting using the various brushes I'll later be painting with. If I struggle "painting" the figure in the dry-run (excuse any pun), guess what? I'll struggle when the brush is loaded with paint.

In the case of this figure, the only part I could safely glue on prior to painting was the entrenching tool. The rest will be painted separately. This is partially due to the camouflage, partially due to the hand of the arms in relation to equipment, and partially due to some of the techniques we'll be trying out later.

Below you'll see the parts (with the exception of the rifle which will be painted much later) in their sub-assemblies next to the can of primer which will be used shortly.

Platoon's 12SS HJ Normandy ala Tan: Part 2

Preparation: Information Gathering

 

The first thing I do when starting any figure is to look for reviews of the topic. Now unfortunately it appears the only review of this figure is mine. In a way that's a pity, as I would have liked to have seen if the experiences of others were the same as mine. On the other hand, it's quite flattering.

Next I'll look for painted versions and interpretations of the figure. Again a search, albeit a quick one, yields nil. It's always nice to see how someone else interpreted the figure, although it's important not to merely clone their figure.

That was the "informal" and easy part of the information gathering. The next phase can become time consuming but it's an important stage as it will not only help you ascertain the accuracy of the figure (if that is important to you), but it will help you place the figure in terms of groundwork as well as defining your colour palette.

These are the references I used when reviewing the figure:

• “Waffen-SS Soldier 1940-45”. Warrior 2. Bruce Quarrie. Illustrated by Jeffrey Burn. Osprey Publishing. 1993.
• “Waffen-SS in Combat”. Robert Michulec. Colour Plates by Ronald Volstad. Concord Publishing.
• “Waffen-SS (2) From Glory to Defeat 1943 – 1945”. Robert Michulec. Colour Plates by Ronald Volstad. Concord Publishing. 2000.
• “German Combat Equipments 1939-45”. Men-at-Arms 234. Gordon Rottman. Illustrated by Ron Volstad. Osprey Publishing. 1991.

However as I now need to actually paint and place the figure, not only will I recheck these references, but I browse through more sources including Wehrmacht references.

Something else I tend to do before undertaking a figure is to browse through my figure modelling books. For this figure the two books in particular that I referenced are:

• "Modelling Waffen-SS Figures". Osprey Modelling 23. Calvin Tan. Osprey Publishing. 2005.
• "Modelling Fallschirmjager Figures". Osprey Modelling 31. Jaume Ortiz Forns & Daniel Alfonsea Romero. Osprey Publishing. 2006.

I also reread though an excellent camouflage article on HF to help motivate me: Painting 3 Types of German WWII Camouflage by Pete Becerra Jr.

As I mentioned though, during this build I will be applying Calvin's technique, so his book will become my primary reference.

 

Preparation: Supplies

 

Having gathered enough information (is there such a thing as enough information?) I put together a preliminary list of colours I will be using on my palette. In recent times I've gradually been moving away from enamels and oils to acrylics. Unfortunately my wife appears to have some sort of allergic or chemical reaction to oil based paints and solvents so I need to minimise their use when she's around. And so, I've gradually been replacing my trusty old Humbrols with Vallejo's Model Colour range, as well as acrylics by Citadel and Tamiya where the Vallejo's are unavailable. Unfortunately Vallejo is not too popular in South Africa, and only one LHS in Cape Town stocks them. Colours like Sunny Skintone seem to always be out of stock, and you're not always guaranteed to find everything you're looking for, and so you are forced to substitute where you can.

But back to the list of colours, as I said, this is a preliminary list of colours I'll be requiring:

VC#	Chart Pos	Name	Comment
837	7	Sand light
915	14	Deep yellow
845	20	Sunny skintone	Out of stock. Sub w/ 815 Flesh Tone
909	28	Vermillion
835	37	Salmon rose
899	50	Dark Prussian
833	80	Germ.cam.
975	89	Military green ja
890	90	Reflective green
889	91	Us olive drab
924	94	Russian uniform WWII
896	99	Cam.extra dark green
830	102	German fieldgrey WWII	Out of stock. Sub w/Tam XF-22
821	103	Ger. cam. beige WWII
986	110	Deck tan
988	115	Khaki
847	123	Dark sand
824	128	Germ. cam. orange ochre
981	131	Orange brown
875	135	Beige brown
984	140	Flat brown
921	141	English uniform
873	142	Us field drab	Out of stock. Sub w/?? Maybe English Uniform or Burnt Umber?
825	144	Germ.cam.
985	146	Hull red
871	147	Leather brown
822	150	Germ. cam. black brown
950	169	Black

I'll also be using Humbrol Silver 11 and Tamiya X-21 Flat Base.

Tip: Prior to going to the LHS I always make a complete but preliminary list of all the materials I'll be needing for the project. I then cross off all the supplies I already have. You will note I sort the AV colours by chart position so as to make finding them in the LHS's paint rack a bit easier.

Paint however is not all we need to finish a model, is it? I'll also be using Tamiya filler putty, CA glue, epoxy glue, paper clips for pinning parts, paper or plasticard for straps, brass or fuse wire for buckles, and maybe the other odd bit or bob.

How about the base and groundwork? I have a general idea in mind of what I want to do. Something rather simple in fact, the figure's going to be complicated enough as it is, no need to recede my hairline further by complicating the groundwork. The groundwork will probably consist of epoxy putty, fine gravel, static grass and the odd root or twig. Later I'll add some WS Flock and grass.

Now that I have gathered the supplies, it's time to start cleaning up the figure and preparing the groundwork.

Platoon's 12SS HJ Normandy ala Tan: Part 1

Against my better judgement but doing it for the sake of my HF peeps I have decided to participate in Historicus Forma's latest contest: The Pegaso Painting Contest 2008 (PPC2008). For more info, check out Historicus Forma - see the link in my sidebar.

The figure I've selected is one I reviewed a few months back, Panzergrenadier ‘Hitlerjugend’ 1944 from the Platoon range of figures. Here's the review: In-box review

These first pics are those of the box art and not my work:

These are the parts in the box, and as I have yet to start still in this state:

I am an absolute glutton for punishment. Not only do I hope to finish the figure on time, but the plan is to paint the figure using techniques described by Calvin Tan in his "Modelling Waffen-SS Figures" book which was published by Osprey a few years ago. These are techniques I've never tried before.

To compound the situation further, the plan at the moment is to attempt to paint 3 different SS camouflage patterns on this figure. I'll not say which schemes or which parts yet, but know this: this is the most "technical" figure I've yet to undertake as this will be my first real attempt at camo (previous attempts being bad attempts a BDU and choc chip many, many years ago).