Austin K2 question

[Steve-the-Duck]

But surely, it should all just be in shades of grey?

Go on. I dare you...

[Tim Marlow]

But surely, it should all just be in shades of grey?

Go on. I dare you...

Sorry bud, not going to happen…..great idea though.

[Steve-the-Duck]

Here's a detail about western desert vehicles I've never heard of anywhere else.
My partner's dad was with the Kings Royal Rifle Corps in 1943, and he said evert truck they had the underside chassis had a covering of sand and oil mixed as a protective coating. So, a rough sand colour rather than mid stone or whatever appropriate colour

Hmm, now I've set myself that challenge I have to get the 28mm K2 model that actually comes with the appropriate set of figures...

[Mini Me]

Go for it Chris. :thumb2:

[Tim Marlow]

Here's a detail about western desert vehicles I've never heard of anywhere else.
My partner's dad was with the Kings Royal Rifle Corps in 1943, and he said evert truck they had the underside chassis had a covering of sand and oil mixed as a protective coating. So, a rough sand colour rather than mid stone or whatever appropriate colour

Hmm, now I've set myself that challenge I have to get the 28mm K2 model that actually comes with the appropriate set of figures...

Got some options there Steve.

Airfix did a 1/76 model in one of their airfield sets and Millicast do a nice looking one in the same scale.

Perry miniatures and Warlord do one in 1/56 (28 mm), with the bonus that the Perry one comes with figures.

Go for it mate…….you could even do it in black and white…..

[Steve-the-Duck]

The Perrys one is what I mean, with the 'Luke Warm in Cairo' figs, which have BOTH nurses and Anthony Quayle with radio pack and VERY short shorts!

[Tim Marlow]

The Perrys one is what I mean, with the 'Luke Warm in Cairo' figs, which have BOTH nurses and Anthony Quayle with radio pack and VERY short shorts!

Never saw them….need a look I think. Have you used Perrys figures before? They are nice figures, very good sculpts and usually accurate but can suffer a bit with flash.

[Tim Marlow]

Just had a shufti…….Cracking figures aren’t they…..wish they did them in 1/35

[Steve-the-Duck]

Just had a shufti…….Cracking figures aren’t they…..wish they did them in 1/35

And therein another reason I downsized from 1/35 to ever expanding 28mm
See, I've had figures and stuff in this scale since it was 25mm!

Not like I REALLY need an excuse but I may now HAVE to do the Katy in b+w. I have so many shades of grey in Gunze paint

[Tim Marlow]

And therein another reason I downsized from 1/35 to ever expanding 28mm
See, I've had figures and stuff in this scale since it was 25mm!

Not like I REALLY need an excuse but I may now HAVE to do the Katy in b+w. I have so many shades of grey in Gunze paint

Difficult one that…..not all greys are created equal, some are blue grey, some are green grey, some are purple based, etc. I would pick one mid grey that you like and lighten or darken it as required…..

[Steve-the-Duck]

Difficult one that…..not all greys are created equal, some are blue grey, some are green grey, some are purple based, etc. I would pick one mid grey that you like and lighten or darken it as required…..

I think I've got about five different GREY greys, let alone the greeny- bluey- ones. And I don't even make modern US aircraft!

[Tim Marlow]

I think I explained that badly Chris…..and don’t take any of this as gospel because I’ve never tried it. It’s just the way I would approach the subject if I had to.

What I was trying to say is that all greys are really just desaturated versions of a colour. If you mix different greys from different bottles in the same model the result won’t work as a greyscale image because the underlying colour variation will be evident when they are placed next to each other. For greyscale painting to work only one grey pigment base needs to be used, and it is then just lightened or darkened to show highlights and shadows.

Using this image as an example shows what I mean. In this picture the colour of the sand to the left of the truck bonnet, and the top of the bonnet, are pretty much the same. The shadows under the sand mats are also extremely similar in colour to the shade on the scrub in the background. Further, both of these examples are just lighter and darker versions of the same shade. To paint this you could only use one grey as your base.

Using Vallejo colours as a basis, if you used mid grey for the scrub and sky grey for the sand it just wouldn’t work. They have pretty much the right weights, being as dark and as light as these examples, but when they are next to each other one will look warmer (more red) and one will look cooler (more blue).

Not sure which colour I would use as a basis myself, but there is definitely a yellow brown component to that still so any grey with a blueish tinge is out. I’ve seen several models done in grey scale, and this is the aspect that has let them down to me. They’ve always been too blue……

One things for sure, it’s a lot easier to paint them in colour

[Steve-the-Duck]

And that's why I love this forum, a proper analysis of greyscale...

Soddit, I'll just use my usual Halfords primer and say 'that'll do!.' Ha ha

[Guest]

This discussion reminds me of how, about 15 years ago, I had the idea to screw with 40K tournament organisers who deduct points for having unpainted armies and require at least three colours on a figure for it to be considered “painted”: make sure all your figures are plastic with at least one metal part each (or vice versa), then paint the grey plastic parts a medium grey, paint the white metal parts a dull metallic grey, and finally, paint the black plastic base black …

[spanner570]

It's times like this that I'm so glad I'm a 'Near enough and it'll do for me' merchant!

Pablo Picasso