This week we spotted something excellent for all you Italian players out there as Dan Hoyt from RedOverBlue showed off an interesting painting technique for weathering your armour, in this case the AB41 Armoured Car:
Dan: Here is a tasty little addition to my burgeoning Italian army, the AB41 armoured car from Warlord Games. Armed with a 2cm autocannon, coaxial MG, and oddly enough a rear facing MG, this car will bring some much needed speed and mobility to my foot-bound Italians.
The model itself was straightforward to work with and assemble. I painted it in a basic desert yellow scheme, and instead of painting camouflage I chose to add complexity by doing more weathering. This paid off, especially with the oil streaking that was achieved with an alcohol filter. I have some more Italian vehicles that I have recently finished, including a swarm of tankettes, so hopefully you will get to see these soon!
Alcohol filter technique:
The technique I used for the oil streaking on the AB41 is one I’ve been toying with for the last while called an alcohol filter. It is essentially an acrylic paint wash (paint mixed with clean water) with a small amount of rubbing alcohol added. The alcohol changes the drying properties of the wash so that the pigment doesn’t go entirely into the recesses, rather some of it dries quickly on the surface.
Though this technique is useful for a variety of purposes (such as green patina on a bronze statue) I use it mainly for the effects of oil and lubricant spillage and streaking. I mix a wash of approximately one part black acrylic paint to ten parts water. Once thoroughly mixed, I add about two to three parts rubbing alcohol to create the filter.
Using a fine detail brush I lightly streak small amounts of the filter down the sides of any large vertical surfaces, trying to mimic the look of oil by streaking from panels and rivets. I do this in several layers, progressively adding more streaks, but less is more. For oil spillage, such as around fuel tanks and engine decks, I just use an old brush and splurge a large amount onto the surface. I am continuing to perfect this technique, but I am quite happy with the results thus far.
Do you have an article within you? Are you itching to show your collection to the world of Bolt Action? Then drop us a line with a couple of pictures to info@warlordgames.com or share with all over at the Warlord Forum
Dan Hewitson
Tom Mecredy
Craig Nixon