Ok, got my Rosie and went ahead and finished her. It sure is nice to be working on a single figure at a time, instead of 6 squads. You don't work any faster, but you feel like you're accomplishing more in less time.

Anyway, Rosie was a really nice figure to work on. Because she wears such plain clothes I tried not to "dirty her up" too much. I wanted her top to really look white, and the jeans to be recognizable, so I went quite light on the washes. To top it off, I thought since this was quite a cheeky figure (petit blond girl with a huge bazooka giving the enemy the finger) I decided to paint her bazooka pink! I figured it went with the name "Rosie", and would give the figure a bit more character (plus, after her killing spree last gaming session, she deserved a treat). I was a bit scared of it turning out a bit too ridiculous, and it did look like that at first. But after applying the wash, metallic highlights and some sponge weathering, I think it fits in nicely with the rest.

i dig that red white and blue on rosie.  great job.  what are you planning for those walkers?  Ink and edge highlight?

   Rosie looks great!

    The face paint looks fine, you did wonders with a crappy sculpt. I honestly didnt realize the bazooka was pink until you said it, I thought it was weathered red! Thats a little disturbing-whats next? a Hello Kitty decal?

   I kid! It looks fantastic!

  And dont think I've forgotten your walkers! nice start, but I want to see finished, ready for battle, supertanks! My eyes are hungry!

  Have fun blow'n stuff up!........and then painting it pink, of all colors! Sheeesh!

The picture came out a little more reddish than the real thing, but the bazooka is definitely pink. Though I made sure to make it a more "conservative" pink, nothing too garish, to be on the safe side. I do think the colour came out a nice match for the Rosie's white and blue, though. It doesn't look out of place.

As for the tanks, don't get too excited, I'm a bit uncertain as to how to handle them. After doing these metallic details, the plan is to wash them, then add some metallic highlights, then I guess go nuts with a sponge adding some weathering. The problem is that the metallic highlights and the dark sponge weathering kinda seem like opposite finishes competing for the same spots...

   i think the sponge weathering over the metalics would be fine, after all, metal bits get dirty too!

   After the weathering, you might consider drybrush highlighting the Ludwig in the same gray you used for your Axis troop armor, to create consistancy in the army. I tried to do the wash only on my Axis walkers, and the primer just isnt a good enough base layer, it just ended up looking like dirty plastic. I eventualy painted them in Italian Tri color camo ( wich took FOREVER, and drove slightly insane.....).

   I will be patient and stop pestering you.

    Have fun blow'n stuff up!

Not pestering at all, encouraging.

Anyway, here's the progress on the Pounder. I simply washed it and applied some metallic highlights all over:

It's looking good, but too vanilla. Not sure which route I should take. Black sponge on the corners? Speckles of yellow or orangy rust? I think it's just looking too uniform.

 Really nice results with a simple but well executed paintscheme.

I think that the armor plates on the sides (upper leg piece) are great to add some extra color, maybe something like the black and white invasion stripes seen on the plane wings, or just a color band to identify sqaudron (a bold if scratched yellow, red, light blue, etc.).

Some rust on the bolts and rivets is also a good idea, and if you feel like it, add some mud splashes on the lower legs (the armor plates on the "feet" are great to add metallic sponge scratches too).

I've ordered the decals from Dust Models to apply to my tanks and some of the infantry. But I have no idea how those decals work. How do you apply them to the models? Can anybdoy who's used them explain it to me? Please tell my I just need to soak them in water and then apply them to the models, or something like that. Don't tell me I need some fancy fluids. I can't GET those fancy fluids.

   That looks realy good!

    I like the placement of the Maw-Duce, now it looks more crew controlled, and less like someone has to cling like a monkey to the back of the turret!

    I agree, some mud splatter from the feet up would look good, not so much the rust, though. Tank crews, the good ones at least, were pretty good about not letting their tanks rust!

   I usualy feel that unit individuality on a realistic vehicle should come from decals and names and such, not whole sections painted different colors ( except air planes, those thing got painted crazy different!)

   Keep it going! Soon you will have painted the WORLD!!!!

   Have fun blow'n stuff up!

Here's the base colours for my Allied Command Squad. I decided to go with a colour scheme that seem to be the "standard ally" for many people, since these guys are very much the allied face. I hope they'll look much better with the wash and highlights, though. The medic's white gloves and helmet need to be toned down a bit.

But I also want to apply several decals to these guys. A cross on the medic's helmet, Robot Corps logo on the mechanic and radioman, patent on the commander... I ordered the decals from Dust Models, but they'll still taka a while to arrive. I'm not sure whether I should wait until I've applied them before proceeding with the next steps (wash, highlights) or if I should apply the decals after the figures are pretty much finished.

Also, I'd really like some advice on what the process is for applying those decals. Just put in water and apply? Please let there be no fancy fluids...

Yeah, that's more or less how decals work. You cut out the decal you want, and soak it in water until it lifts off the backing paper. Depending on how Dust makes their decals, you may have to cut out carefully, close to the image itself. (With some decals, the image is printed, and then the clear film is applied to the whole sheet, so you have to cut carefully around the image to minimize the clear part that surrounds it. Better decals will only have the clear film over the image with a slight border of film around it, leaving areas of just paper between decals. Which is also nice, as it gives you something to hold onto with tweezers without touching the film itself.)

The tricky part is getting the decal to the model. It's easiest if you have the better ones, as I said. Then, you can just hold the paper with tweezers, and use a damp brush to push the decal off the backing paper and onto the figure. If not, then just be sure to leave some paper to hold onto when you cut the decal out, and scrape the film off that bit with a knife. Once it's on the figure (hopefully without ripping or folding over onto itself, you just need to move it into position with the brush and then let it dry.  You'll probably want to spray some sort of varnish over it when you're done, to prevent it coming off later. (They're not that susceptible to damage, but if they get wet somehow, they could lift off.)

The special fluids are mostly used for special circumstances. Namely, if the surface you're applying the decal to is overly contoured or textured. The fluids (which are more or less the same , one is just a bit stronger than the other) soften the film a bit, so repeatedly brushing them over the decal will help it to conform to tricky shapes. The weaker of the two fluids is also used to prevent silvering, which is when tiny air bubbles get trappe dunder the decal, giving it kind of a silvery look. I've never personally had this problem, and it's usually associated with a very rough paint finish under the decal. Which is why you often hear of armor modellers applying a gloss varnish before adding decals, as this reduces the potential for that problem.

Alright, I just checked my own Dust decals, and they are the better ones, with the clear film screened on over the image areas only. Just cut around the decal you want, leaving enough backing paper to grip with tweezers. Soak the decal in water until you can move it around on the backing paper with a brush. Pick it up with the tweezers, position it near the model where you want tyhe decal, and slide it off the paper onto the figure with the brush. Let it dry, and give it a clear coat.

Thanks, that was very useful information.

But should I do all this before or after applying the wash and highlights?

Hm. I would probably do it before, so that the insignia take on the weathering as well. Otherwise, they might look overly bright.

It's probably not a bad idea to just do one model from the decal stage to completion, in case you encounter any problems. Then, you can avoid having the problems on an entire unit. My biggest concern would be the decal lifting from the wash. It *shouldn't* be much of a problem, so long as you don't work the washing brush back and forth over the decal much, but you never know. The other concern would be how enamels affect the decal, when you go to paint your highlights. I don't see it being an issue, but again, you never know.

Thanks again.

And here are the base colours for my Special Ops squads: Crack Shots and 13 Foxtrot! Since these guys have improved cover, I thought it made sense to give them some camouflage. And since DT is no longer limited to arctic battle, there wouldn't really be any problem in giving them a green-schemed camo pattern. It was actually quite fun doing the camouflage, and looking at other people's examples was really helpful.