Painting the Warlord Games Panzer II with Aerial Recognition Flag

The subject of this Guide article is the Panzer II ausf A/B/C model from Warlord Games in 28mm (1:56). This model was originally painted for my friend Phil as part of my Lend Lease program (see article here). This will serve as a showcase of some of the basic vehicle painting techniques I use on many of my projects, As Phil is gearing his collection towards the 1939 Polish campaign where the Luftwaffe enjoyed air superiority, I chose to model the tank with an aerial recognition flag draped across the back as was common at the time. Vehicle crews used the German national flag at the time, in red with a centred swastika surrounded by white. I will not get into the political correctness of modelling swastikas on ones miniatures, but I chose to obscure the centre of the flag so as to hide the swastika. It must also be noted that I do not use Vallejo, GW or similar paints as used by most wargamers (though I do keep a small stock of specific products from these brands on hand for limited uses). Instead, I use the Americana range of acrylic craft paints from DecoArt, available at most hobby stores. I find these to be just as good as any other brand, more importantly they are a mere fraction of the price for a large bottle. In addition, I prefer to mix colours to get the desired shade rather than rely on having a very specific paint colour to paint the belt buckles on my German Fallschirmjagers. My philosophy is that there can be tons of variations in paint or uniform colours, not to mention when mud and dirt is applied, so there is no need to get too stressed out over having the 100% accurate shade. These are toy soldiers after all!

Materials/Tools Required:

• sharp knife
• files
• tweezers
• old tooth brush
• soap and warm water
• super glue
• tin foil (aluminium foil for you Brits)
• printer paper
• thread
• PVA glue
• small scissors
• Krylon Ultraflat Camouflage Khaki spray paint
• Discarded packing foam
• Baking soda
• Army Painter Light Tone Dip (in the can, not the dropper)
• Paper towel
• Paint thinner (mineral spirits)

Paints Required:

• Use DecoArt's handy colour chart for matching to your paints
• Zinc
• Payne's Grey
• Slate Grey
• Grey Sky
• Bittersweet Chocolate
• Crimson Tide
• Shimmering Silver
• Burnt Umber
• Lamp (Black)
• Primary Red
• True Red
• White Wash
• Medium Flesh
• Flesh Tone
• Buttermilk
• GW Nuln Oil wash

Step 1: Cleaning and Assembly

Prepare your model for assembly by cleaning any flash or casting flaws with a sharp knife and/or file. Clean all resin and metal pieces in a bath of warm soapy water, scrubbing with an old tooth brush and then rinsing with cool water. This is integral to removing the mould release agent used in resin and metal casting and will ensure that your primer properly adheres to the model. Once the pieces are dry and free of water, assemble them using your preferred adhesive (I use the Lepage line of super-glues, available in many consistencies).

Step 2: Aerial Recognition Flag

The method used for modelling the aerial recognition flag is one that I have been puttering with for some time, mostly with infantry carried flags. This involves sandwiching a tin foil between layers of printer paper. This allows the flag to be shaped and posed with the tin foil better than paper alone. The process is fairly simple, first decide upon the size of the flag you want. I went with approximately 25mm x 15mm, cutting this size out of printer paper. Lightly coat one side of this printer paper with PVA glue and adhere it to a larger sheet of tin foil. Once dry, cut along the edges of the printer paper sheet (ensuring it is flush) to get your flag.

You will notice that the flag is very easy to manipulate and shape thanks to the tin foil. Bend and shape it into your desired shape, testing it on the back of the vehicle to ensure it looks the way you want it to. Using a small dab of super-glue on the underside of the flag to fix it to the engine deck. Once this is dry, coat the flag in a 50:50 mix of PVA glue and water. This will harden the flag and make it suitable surface to paint on.

Cut some small (approx 5-10mm) strips of thread to use as ropes to model those holding the flag to the vehicle. Affix these with super-glue to the corners of the flag, once dry coat in a 50:50 mix of PVA and water.

Step 3: Priming and Basecoating

I prime most of my miniatures using Krylon's Ultraflat Camouflage range of spray paints. These come in four colours: black, dark olive drab, khaki, and dark brown, all with an ultraflat finish. I find these four colours cover most priming needs for my WW2 project. I have painted all of Phil's German vehicles with the same basic method. Prime the model with khaki coloured primer (this would also work with a light grey or any lighter colour). Ensure you do this in a well ventilated area (I do my priming outside), keeping the spray nozzle about 30cm from the model to avoid over-priming. I always apply at least two coats to ensure I get all the recesses.

Once the primer is dry (at least 15 minutes per coat), basecoat the vehicle with a dark grey (4 parts Zinc, 1 part Paynes Grey). This basecoat is applied more as a heavy wash, in a mixture of approx 60% water. This allows the lightness of the khaki to show through, while the darker grey stays in the depth.

Step 4: Highlighting

On top of the basecoat, apply a medium drybrush of Slate Grey to the entire vehicle. On top, apply slightly lighter drybrush of Grey Sky. The grey colour is really coming together at this point.

Step 5: Block Painting Details

With the standard dunkelgrau complete, its time to block paint the details. Each of these is applied in a 30% water mixture:

• Tracks: 4 parts Payne's Grey, 2 parts Bittersweet Chocolate
• Flag: Crimson Tide
• Ropes, Tools: Bittersweet Chocolate
• Metal Parts, Coax Machine Gun: Shimmering Silver

Step 5: Sponge Weathering

The sponge method of weathering is one that I have been using for some time. It is quick, easy, and perfect for batch painting a large number of vehicles. It can provide variable levels of "wear and tear" to a vehicle. With this model, I was going for a relatively conservative amount of weathering, but you can tailor this to your needs. Using a small bit of packing foam (the same sort as would come in a blister pack) and a set of tweezers, dab the foam into some Bittersweet Chocolate (no water, 100% paint). Wipe off some of the paint from the foam, then dab it along edges and areas that would receive more weather than others: fenders, fatches, turret ring etc. This will take some experimentation, but the foam creates a pattern akin to paint chipping that cannot be achieved with a paint brush.

Using Burnt Sienna and a fine tipped brush, go along some of the now sponge worn edges, picking out any prominent points to create rush. You do not need to go overboard with this step, just a few dabs here and there on the most exposed and worn edges will do.

Step 6: Baking Soda Mud

I have already outlined my baking soda mud technique in detail in a previous article so I will not go into the method too much. Create a mixture of Burnt Umber and baking soda, the consistency should be about the save as wood filler or toothpaste. Using an old stiff brush, dab it onto the tracks and running gear to create dirt and mud build up. Just like the sponge weathering it is best to be conservative with this technique (less is more).

Step 7: Final Details

Before applying the final wash on the vehicle, a couple more details need to be picked out. This step could easily be done while block-painting in Step 5, but I prefer to "juggle drying times" and it made more sense to do it in this order while other sections of the model were drying. Block paint the face of the commander in Bittersweet Chocolate and his uniform in Lamp. As the center of the German national flag was a white circle, base this area in Grey Sky, the edges of the swastika in Lamp, then picking out the details on the white circle in White Wash. Using Primary Red, pick out the fold and raises edges on the red section of the flag.

Step 8: The Dip

I like to have my vehicles extremely gamer friendly. That means being able to withstand the rigours and "bear paws" of your average gamer. To that end I use The Army Painter light tone dip on all vehicles I paint. The effect is two fold, firstly it acts as an excellent wash that brings the entire model together. Secondly, it acts as an extremely durable varnish to protect the model. In fact, I recently dropped one of my vehicles onto a concrete floor (by accident I swear!) and there was not a noticeable paint chip or mark on it, except for a bent machine gun. It is obvious that it would  not be easy to dunk an entire vehicle into a can of dip as you would with an infantry figure, but there is an easier and more effective method: using a brush.

Using a large old brush, a small container of paint thinner (mineral spirits), and a pad of paper towel, apply the dip directly out of the can. Between brush strokes, wipe off excess dip onto the paper towel and dip the brush into the paint thinner. This helps prevent the dip from building up in any spots and thins it ever so slightly so it can flow more like a traditional wash. This method takes little practice to master and I use it on all my models now, vehicles and infantry.

Step 9: Finishing Touches

With the dip dry (approx 12-24 hours), it is time to apply any finishing touches. My standard method for painting faces and skin is fairly simple and involves a basic layering technique. The Bittersweet Chocolate applied in Step 7 to the face of the commander forms the base. Using Medium Flesh, outline the basic features of the face, leaving the recesses in the base colour, cheeks, nose, forehead, chin, and lips being the prominent points. Onto this layer pick out the most prominent spots with Flesh Tone, again the nose, cheeks, chin, and forehead. To complete the commander, pick out his cap badge in Shimmering Silver. All of the metal bits on the vehicle (tools, machine gun) receive an application of GW Nuln Oil wash. Pick out the edges of the folds on the flag in True Red. Apply a very light drybrush of Buttermilk to the tracks and running gear of the vehicle, to pick out the detail in the mud.

Step 10: Decals, Dullcote and Finish!

For markings on this vehicle I chose to go with the large yellow and white crosses (from Warlord Games' early war German decals) as used by Germany during the 1939 campaign, as these are quite striking and peculiar to this period. Application of decals is a fairly straightforward process, but made much easier with the help of a decal setting agent (I use Testor's decalsol). Brush on a thin coat of the decal setting agent onto the area, apply the decal (after soaking in water), use a dry brush to soak up any excess fluid. Once dry, apply a thin coat of the decal setting agent and wait to dry. As you will notice, the vehicle has a conspicuously glossy finish leftover from the dip. Using your favourite mat varnish (I prefer Testor's Dullcote) apply several thin coats to dull the finish down. Once dry, the vehicle is complete (after any basing of course).

I hope you enjoyed this exposé into some of my painting techniques. I engineer most of my techniques to be quick, simple, and easily reproduce-able for batch painting. If you liked this sort of tutorial, let me know!

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