Help painting Napoleonic 42nd foot

[steve]

My next painting project is the 42nd foot does anyone have any tips for painting tartan, it looks a little daunting?

thanks
Steve

[Phil]

Tartan paint?

But on a more serious note. Examine the tartan you want to paint. See which colour is the base colour, and paint the whole area that colour, then pick the broadest check and paint stripes of that in both directions. And so on, but bear in mind that you may not manage all the colours, so just pick the most important - better to do a good job of a few colours than a poor job of lots!

And pick lighter/brighter colours than reality - it'll look better.

The basic techniques are just like those I used for the 'skirt' on Boadicea here: http://www.warlordgames.com/?p=7892&preview=true

Phil

[Cubster]

As Phil says, plan your pattern and familiarise yourself with it. I recommend having a test run with the paint on a piece of paper first. It will really help you to understand what you're you're going to do on the model and means you aren't starting cold.

Go slow and don't look at the pattern as a whole, it'll make your brain hurt.Think of it as basically two sets of check, one after the other. Each set of check is just a set of vertical lines, then a set of horizontal lines.

There's no such thing as a shortcut if you want it to look half decent. Take it slow, deal with each step in isolation.

Have a leather belt on standby to gnaw at if it all gets too much.

[grant]

The Black Watch are the way to go for "first tartan". Base green. Add different green. Add blue. Job's a good 'un!

I painted Black Watch, Cameron, and Gordon Highlanders from Victrix, and the Cameron were the toughest.

[Greystreak]

Sometimes a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Try this site, which I have found helpfull: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/ToySoldier/tartan.htm .

[steve]

Great site - thanks for the link, will start next weekend back to work tuesday.
thanks all will try and take pics when complete
steve

[gorgarrak]

A tip i have found very useful is before the final highlight, add a wash of equal amounts of GW Thraka Green, Asurmen Blue and water, it tones everything down and ties the colors together, hope this helps.

Mike

[Invisible officer]

Don't forget that the Grenadier company wore a setting with extra red stripes.

The best tip is: Do not fear to make something wrong. Just start, it will look better than expected.

[DeanMoto]

I use a simplified method using two shades of blue and two shade of green. Than use a Micron pen to draw the pin stripes in the green. Here are some pictures of this method 1) basic pattern: http://wabcorner.blogspot.com/2010/06/v ... wip-4.html 2) Micron pen stripes added: http://wabcorner.blogspot.com/2010/06/v ... wip-5.html Granted, it's a simplified version of the actual pattern, but looks decent on the table. Best, Dean