I’ve not particularly enjoyed these figures. It’s a long tedious process. God knows how I would go with a second platoon, or a Russian swarm. As a result my progress on these has been painfully slow. It hasn’t taken particularly long to paint them as I go with an assembly line, but that does mean it’s not particularly stimulating. Mind you, I’m not sure if painting 54 15mm infantry figures in identical camouflage will ever be stimulating. I’ve got a couple of WiP pictures that show how I do things. The first picture shows a strip with just the base camouflage colours, and pictures two and three show the completed test strip.

The US Infantry platoon has 11 poses with 4 minis each, one pose with 8 minis and another with 2. I start by separating them into their individual poses. They’re then cleaned and where necessary glued together. I then superglue (just a tiny amount, you’re going to break this join later) them onto Popsicle sticks: 4 on each stick with a space on one end to write a number (useful for keeping track of where I am) and holding the figures. I start and finish one particular stick first. I find completing one totally lets me get into a groove and test that my plan will work. I write down the steps and colours (which you can see below) to help me remember. After the one stick is done I then do the other stands completing a colour before moving onto the next. I wait until I’ve varnished them and I then grab the base and break the superglue joint to the stick.

Uniform – Woodlands BDU:

The colours I used are similar to those detailed for the M113s. However, I’ve changed the order slightly and added a light dry-brush to bring out some more details. There are also a couple of things not present on the tankers (like boots) that are on the dismounted infantry. Lastly I used four different flesh colours to give a little ethnic diversity to the unit.

• Base coat (airbrush): Luftwaffe Camouflage Green (VMC 70.823)
• Camouflage I: Saddle Brown (VMC 70.940)
• Camouflage II: Black Grey (VMC 70.862)
• Camouflage III: Khaki (VMC 70.988)
• Skin option I: Dark Flesh (VMC 70.927)
• Skin option II: Medium Fleshtone (VMC 70.860)
• Skin option III: Beige Brown (VMC 70.875)
• Skin option IV: Flat Brown (VMC 70.984)
• Webbing & equipment: Brown Violet (VMC 70.887)
• Guns: Black Grey (VMC 70.862)
• Boots: Black (VMC 70.950)
• Dry-brush: Deck Tan (VMC 70.986)
• Wash (except skin): Dark Wash (A.MIG-1008)
• Skin wash: Tracks Wash (A.MIG-1002)

Basing – Spring Snow:

I’ve decided to go with a bit of a theme to justify my paint scheme. It’s very early spring and the Combat team has been involved in exercises throughout the winter. So while it’s Spring, the unit hasn’t yet applied its summer paint scheme. As a result they’re still in their Winter Verdant scheme, but it’s muddy and dusty. For the infantry, while it may be a little fresh, after the long winter the troops all feel quite comfortable in their standard kit.