My 3mm Modern Desert Force, So Far

[bigjackmac]

All,

After a bunch more painting, I'm ready to unveil my modern 3mm desert force.  I say 'so far,' because I'm about as done as I think I need to be with the bad guys (generic Arab forces using Warsaw Pact equipment), but I need to put in another order to Picoarmor to finish off my Israelis, and I have a boatload of US stuff yet to be painted.  Nevertheless, I've got quite a bit done so far, so I wanted to show it off.


The entire force.  What are you looking at?  The far right two rows are Israeli tanks, five M-48s and five Centurions.  The next two rows are 'good-guy' infantry, nine of them, just rifle teams so far.  The rest of the rows are bad guys: 15 T-72s, 9 BMP-1s, 6 BTR-60s, 3 BRDM-1s, one ZSU-23/4, one SA-13, three SAM-7 stands, three ATGM stands (they're actually dismounted US TOWs, but standing in for bad guy ATGMs such as Sagger, Spandrel, etc...), and 12 rifle stands.


Israeli Centurions, AKA, Sho't Kals (or something like that).  I'm showing them again, because now they're finished, that is, I've 'edged' them, and put unit identifiers on them, as seen at far left, with one red dot.  I like it, much less visually intrusive than the sort of stuff I'd been doing.  Not sure why it hadn't occurred to me before...


T-72s.


BMP-1s.


Bad guy infantry.  If you look closely at some of these guys you can see skin.

For a bunch more photos and descriptions, please visit the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-3mm-desert-force-so-far.html

V/R,
Jack

[Ithoriel]

Looking good Jack.

Increasingly keen to do WW1 Western Front in 1/600 with O8s new range.

[bigjackmac]

Do it, Ithoriel, what have you got to lose?  10mm will remain my favorite forever, but this stuff is pretty damned cool for a sit-down game, and it's cheap as hell to get into.

My one complaint is that I'm spending a lot of time getting them ready: spray prime, paint, do my sand gluing thingy, paint the sand, paint the edges, mark the bases.  It's probably running me around 20 minutes per base (kind of a guess because I do them 'assembly line' style).

I need to figure out a quicker way.  I love the look of my 'black-lining' paint jobs, but it takes awhile.  I'm starting to wonder if it's possible to spray prime a bright color (let's say green for allies and gray or sand for Germans, but real bright), then throw a wash on it to bring out the details.  Then you just paint MG/light cannon barrels and windows and be done with the paint job.  I timed myself on a bunch of T-72s; it was taking me between 9 and 12 minutes per vehicle.  If you're thinking that's not bad, keep in mind I did 15 of them, 9 BMPs, 6 BTRs, 3 BRDMs, two AA vehicles, and all that infantry...

I wonder if anyone has tried the above method?

As a second side note, painting these up really has me wanting to do Vietnam-era airmobile and riverine down in the Delta.  Does anyone make 1/600 sampans?

V/R,
Jack

[Ithoriel]

Alas, so far the WW1 range is just 3 tanks - Whippet, A7V and St Chamond.

The idea that one can buy more A7Vs for £3.00 than the Germans ever managed to put in the field at one time is a definite draw.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nicely done sir

[Techno]

Great stuff, Jack !
Cheers - Phil

[Fenton]

Alas, so far the WW1 range is just 3 tanks - Whippet, A7V and St Chamond.

The idea that one can buy more A7Vs for £3.00 than the Germans ever managed to put in the field at one time is a definite draw.

They did release a Spad yesterday which looks really nice

[Si Tyler]

There are also generic 1/600th items which could be used for WW1 in the Tumbling Dice ranges http://www.tumblingdiceuk.com/product-category/1600/land