Heaven is a Halftrack Part 1

When I got back into the hobby many years ago, I remember being worried about painting vehicles more than anything. It was around the time Forge World was really taking off and all these awesome vehicles were popping up everywhere, weathered and beaten and ultra realistic. What's more, people kept talking about this fabled thing called an airbrush, so I bought one. And then it pretty much stayed in the gararge, unused and unloved.

I decided not long after getting into Bolt Action that this would have to change. I wanted my German vehicles to have decent looking camo and an airbrush seemed the only real way to do it. So I dug it out and dusted it down and when I had finished the infantry I decided it was all or nothing.

First step was to stowage up the vehicles (can't go wrong with a little stowage) and give them an undercoat. I don't know why but I find this stage very appealing as the undercoat really ties all the different materials used together by giving it a uniform caller.

When that was done, I got on with the airbrush. I used vallejo air paints, which didn't require thinning and speeded things up. Here you can see one with the base colour on and the first colour applied.

 By the time I had done with the airbrush, the three of them looked like this:

I learnt many things from using the airbrush. Some mistakes were made that I just about managed to cover up and I think I spent more time cleaning the airbrush down (especially at the end) than using it but I hope that this is something that will speed up with practice. I already have four more vehicles of my own to do and have volunteered to do three of a friends so should get plenty of practice in.

Once the airbrush was away it was an evening with the good old brush. I put the decals on first, weathered them in a bit and then chipped the hull down with some sponge work before doing the stowage. A few more bits and all three currently sit at this stage:

I am reasonably happy so far. The tracks need doing before I seal them with gloss varnish and then use some oils to weather them, before appplying pigment. All stuff that is new to me.

So, in summary things I have learned so far is patience with the airbrush and some rough techniques. I also need to get some Microsol and Microset for decal work. But other than that, what progresss! In my 40k days, using normal paints and brushes, a Chimera would have taken me about two weeks. This took my maybe 2 hours in the afternoon and three hours in the evening. So at least I am speeding things up!