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.

Really nice camo scheme, I was thinking of something like that for my Axis command squad (white - dark grey - azure grey).

That's pretty much what I plan to do for my axis Special Ops.

Yeah, I did green/brown cammo for my allied spec ops, and urban cammo for my axis troops too. Just seemed like the obvious thing to do - looks like I wasn't alone!

And talking about camo patterns, here's the base color coat for my Manfred. After the good result I got with the specops camo, I thought I'd try a little tiger pattern for him. Quite pleased with the result:

Very good work!

Can't wait to see more of your walkers though.

Thanks. The time for walkers draws nigh!

But first, here are the base colours for the Kommandotrupp. I thought I'd give them a somewhat fancy look, the axis always had a flare for the dramatic and nowhere should this be more apparent than in the commanding officers. So I gave them a nazi-flag colour scheme of red, black and white, that hopefully will blend in a little better after the wash.

And finally the base colours for the Axis Special Ops: Sniper Grenadiers and Beobachter. Went with a 4-layers urban camo scheme for the fatiges that I think turned out nicely.

Looking good Sir! I am looking at putting my Germans in this camo pattern:

Wow, that looks like a lot of work. Brown, beige, black, dark and light green, all in blotches and dots that don't seem to have a progressive stacking order. You'd have to separate the blotch and dot passes for each colour... Good luck with that, buddy. Try not to go cross-eyed!

Am impressed by your Axis Special Ops cammo.

Loophole Master said:

Time intensive, but not too bad. A pass with each core color, light brown, dark brown, light green, dark green, and then a pass with dots in the same order.

I stayed with one of the three tones for speed, but I have been tempted a few times.

And here's my finished Manfred:

Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed at how much the camouflage faded under the wash and highlights. When I do the Special Ops I'll try and be more careful by diluting the wash a bit and going very light on the drybrushing.

And for completeness' sake, here are the extra soldiers I painted so I can turn the Gunners and Battle Grenadiers into the Bot Hunters and Panzer Killers. Same paint scheme as the original squad, just changing up the colours of the bazookas. For the Panzer Killers I also needed an extra soldier so that nobody was carrying panzerfausts around.

You never want your camo too real. It looks cruddy since Camo is ment to break up a person or tank's shape. Under the circumstances you did a great job! looks real and looks good!

Every time you post a pic of a miniature, it looks better than the previous one. Great job!

That's quite reassuring, thanks.

Well, I'm done with the infantry for now (until I get my decals so I can finish the command squads and special ops) so I guess I better turn to the walkers...

Finally churning out a couple of walkers!

First up is the Pounder. I was already pretty happy with what I posted here earlier, so all I did was add some black chipping and some brown "mud" or whatever to the underside. I thought that was enough texture to give it some interest and realism.

After that it was time fort the Wildfire. The light walkers don't have much area, but are full of fiddly bits. The paint scheme was VERY simple, just some metal and detailings. More work actually went into the driver. The wash had made the green parts a bit too dark, so I highlighted them with some lighter green. Added some black chipping, silver highlights for the metal parts, and voilá! Pretty sweet-looking machine.

Nice chipping! they look real fine!

Are you planing to flock the bases?

Thanks. No, I don't plan on doing anything else to the bases. I like them plain and neutral.

Those walkers look incredible! great use of weathering and highlight! Its hard to see, but did you do a design on the light walker pilots jacket? I did an easy one, a big yellow smiley face!!!

No, no design on the jacket, that's just the highlights.