Kaiserliche Marine Band WW1 (1 Viewer)

[theBaron]

Yep. We call that the Grey Army, and we all have a couple battalions' worth, at least, I'm sure, awaiting fitting out and deployment

Prost!
Brad

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Johnny, Great work. Quick question on the flag painting do you do it all free hand or do you have a template for a rough guide? I am pretty sure I would go blind doing that sort of detail work:salute::

Dave

 

[johnnybach]

Hi Johnny, Great work. Quick question on the flag painting do you do it all free hand or do you have a template for a rough guide? I am pretty sure I would go blind doing that sort of detail work:salute::

Dave

All done freehand Dave. What I do, is first find a couple of good illustrations of what I want, by looking at various Internet sites. My usual start point is Google Images - or even Wikipedia. I then download some images - and using the "paint" facility in Windows, blow up the picture - and study it. I usually make several drawings too - with some at the same scale as the flag - which I've already made up. This gives me sufficient detail and practice to make up my flag - which I do freehand - gradually building up the detail. I put on an undercoat of flat paint first - and sometimes sketch in the outline of the flag in faint pencil. Any mistakes - and just wait for it to dry - and then have another go!

As I always use Humbrol enamels - this means waiting for successive coats of paint to dry - so take a while to complete - but gives that lovely deep enamel look that I like so much. I varnish at the end - which improves the shine and protects the paintwork. This flag was an easy one - as it's mostly black and white. Good small brushes are also essential - I used a 5X0 for this one.

I do use a magnifying lamp - or an "Optivisor", along with my reading glasses - to help with vision for small details - but that's about it.

I think that my recent work on Flats has helped me with my painting too - as 54mm stuff now looks quite large, by comparison!

Glad you like it Dave. jb

 

[johnnybach]

Just had a thought Dave. Below is a Polish Standard Bearer - who will join some Winged Hussars I'm also working on. He's a Flat - and his flag is roughly 20mmX30mm in size. Now THAT'S small. Needs more work yet. jb^&grin

 

[theBaron]

Painting flags is one of the things I particularly enjoy about painting my own figures, though I have one in the works that I have been working on, off and on, for over 2 years. Much of that time has been the "thinking about it stage", though.

Prost!
Brad

 

[johnnybach]

Painting flags is one of the things I particularly enjoy about painting my own figures, though I have one in the works that I have been working on, off and on, for over 2 years. Much of that time has been the "thinking about it stage", though.

Prost!
Brad

Ha-ha! Yes Brad, I know what you mean by that. It sometimes seems that the smaller they are - the more you need to think about it! And yes, they are very enjoyable things to make up and paint too - especially when they eventually come out alright. jb

 

[Al Fisher]

I've been thinking of printing decals for those repetitive scrolls, shields, and stuff one finds in slides. has anyone tried this?

Bosun Al

 

[Al Fisher]

Correction . . . I'm afraid my mind was wandering. I've been thinking of printing decals for all the repetitive scrolls, wreathes, et al that one finds in flags. has anyone tried that?

Bosun Al

 

[johnnybach]

Correction . . . I'm afraid my mind was wandering. I've been thinking of printing decals for all the repetitive scrolls, wreathes, et al that one finds in flags. has anyone tried that?

Bosun Al

I've seen printed transfers on flags from ready-painted manufacturered figures - but for me, part of the enjoyment of painting is the challenge of trying to paint them from scratch.

I know that there are techniques for producing your own transfers on special paper - as lots of collectors of aeroplanes do this for their models. I see no real difference in doing this for any model. It can therefore be done for flags, knights shields, horse caparisons etc, - and again, I've seen adverts from people offering to do it for a fee.

I just prefer to have a go at painting my own Al. jb

 

[theBaron]

I've seen printed transfers on flags from ready-painted manufacturered figures - but for me, part of the enjoyment of painting is the challenge of trying to paint them from scratch...

Amen, John! For me, using printed flags, or decals, would be cheating. It's more fun to do this work by hand.

Of course, I don't think less of anyone who uses any method he prefers, in this scenario, but I'll paint mine by hand.

Prost!
Brad