Many of us will have heard of the Army Painter method for quickly getting a good quality war gaming color scheme on to our figures but I had never tried it. Recently after spending way too much money on some of their basing materials - love the tufts - I watched a short tutorial on their web site www.thearmypainter.com and decided I had to give it a go.
The bottom line is it took me 8 hours to completely paint a regiment of 24 Perry Union figures to a standard I am very happy with.
I used the information in the tutorial to get prepared purchasing a tin of the Dark Shading dip as this works well with the dark Union uniform.
Step One is to base coat the figures in the primary uniform color. I used Games Workshop Ultramarine Blue and used my airbrush to quickly get the figures base coated. Although the blue looks bright what you have to remember throughout the painting process is that the dark shade dip will tone everything down a notch or two.
Step Two is to block paint the main color areas of the figure:
Vallejo (V), Games Workshop (GW)
Flesh - Sunny Skin Tone (V)
Trousers - Dark Sky Blue (V)
Belts - Black, White (V)
Wood - Scorched Brown (GW)
Haversack - Light Grey (V)
Water Bottle - Dark Flesh (GW)
Hair - Bestial Brown (GW)
Metal - Chainmail (GW)
I started out trying to be as precise with my painting as I normally am but it dawned on me very early on that this method is actually very forgiving. If your lines are not totally precise or you miss a bit between two colors as long as its not an egregious error the dip blends it all together in a way that you will not notice the "rougher" style of painting. In my mind this is what makes the dip method so much faster. You an blow through applying all the colors in very quick order.
These pictures show the base coated figures with block painting in progress and completed.
Step Three is the dipping.
Very important point here is to stir the contents of the dip tin very well. Like any colloid the pigment will have settled on the bottom of the tin so get out your trusty screwdriver or whatever you use for mixing large paint tins and get going.
Once the dip is homogeneous lay out lots of newspapers in your dipping area grab some pliers or similar tool, pick up a figure by the base and dip it! Wait for a few seconds then remove the figure and start to flick it over your newspapers to shake off the excess dip. Its a bit of a messy process but if you don't go crazy you can keep the spray to a confined area for clean up later.
By checking the figure you will quickly get to know how many flicks are needed to get the effect you are looking for. This is the first time you will see what the dip does. Its impressive.
The figures now need to be left to dry for 24 hours.
Step Four, The figures are essentially done at this point.
I spent half an hour adding a few highlights of the original colors I had used mainly trouser creases and the faces. This is purely personal choice. The drum was painted separately and the flags are from the Flag Dude of course!
The figures were then based up and given a spray of matt varnish before I added the flock. The picture here shows the Army Painter Regiment (11th New Jersey) in front of a more traditionally painted regiment (20th Maine). On the gaming table you will not see a difference.
So that's it. We probably dont need another Army Painter tutorial on the internet but I wanted to share my experience here. For getting units on to the gaming table fast this is the way to go. I think if you mix them up with more traditioanlly painted figures you will create the effect you are looking for. My next Civil War project will be some Zouaves. I wont be dipping those.
As always I appreciate feedback, positive or otherwise.
Cheers
Belerephone
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