1/35 US Soldier Iraq

Having brought loads of random figures when I was younger, for the fun of it, I have lots of very random part made or shoddily made figures and kits strewn about my room at home. These figures and models vary in scale and manufacturer. When I was back home at Christmas I found this chap and his comrades in a draw and thought that these would be good to paint up, my thought process then continued and I settled on the best looking (the one that was best put together - damn my younger self). So I retrieved this guy and brought him back to uni where he has been sitting for months unpainted...until now...


Under coat of grey, thought was best for all the light colours I was going to paint this guy with...

Base coat of Vallejo Sand Yellow (916) on all desert BDU parts (trousers, shirt sleeves and hat)...

Boots painted with a random sandy type colour which looks alright and the body armour and webbing given a watered down paint/base coat of Vallejo US Dark Green (893)...

The desert BDU was then given a wash of GW Gryphonne Sepia and then dry brushed with a light sand colour...

On top of the base coat was added large splodges of Vallejo Deck Tan (986)...

...which was followed by small splodges (bordering the Deck Tan splodges) of Vallejo Saddle Brown (940)...

The desert BDUs were then given a light wash with GW Gryphonne Sepia and another light dry brush with the same colour as used the base coat...the body armour and webbing was given another coat of US Dark Green, once dry was then given a wash of GW Badab Black, then waiting for that to dry before giving the body armour and webbing a light dry brush of US Dark Green mixed with Vallejo Khaki (988)...also at this stage the NVGs (Night Vision Goggles) were painted black with the straps painted US Dark Green...

Next the woodland camo on the body armour...first some large splodges of Vallejo Saddle Brown (940)...

...followed by some slightly smaller splodges of black (most blacks are very similar, use what you've got)...

...followed by smaller splodges still of Vallejo Khaki (988)...

The woodland camo was edited a little at this stage as there were a few splodges that didn't look quite right...is always helpful to have some reference photos for camo so you can try and copy...this is what I did and the camo still looked shocking, but is passable :P

The body armour and webbing was given a light drybrush with the US Dark Green and Khaki mix...

Fleshy parts were painted and given a wash with GW Ogryn Flesh, small details were also painted (watch)...

M16 base coated...

Highlights applied on the flesh, watch strap and face followed by another Flesh wash...PAINTING DONE!!!

The base was painted with undiluted PVA and left to stand in some sand while I had dinner...Then once relatively dry some watered down Vallejo Sand Yellow (916) was applied onto the sand until covered...I still need to finish the base but the process will be as follows: drybrush with Vallejo Pale Sand (837), once dry apply small splodges of PVA and apply some small amounts of suitable coloured static grass (I'll upload some pics of this once I've done it)...


Advancing with M16...



The M16 was given a drybrush of GW Boltgun Metal...


I found this website useful when trying to follow other people's painting guides (Color Match). To use select from the drop down menu's at the top the original paint company/type (left drop down menu) and your paint company/type (right drop down menu). Then click submit query and it gives you a list of paints to the equivalent...is awesome...with the lists, the right hand side colours will have some really long numbers under them this indicates how close they are to the original colour, I think less than 1 is good...hope this helps :)

more soon hopefully