20mm Modern USMC Paint Tutorial

A reader asked if I could explain the pretty quick method I used to paint my 20mm Modern USMC by Elhiem Figures so here it goes. This is a little different than my usual post so I hope it is understandable.

It just so happened that I just received another batch of figures that needed painting up so I thought I would grab a bag, paint up the figures and snap a few pictures as I went along step by step.

First off I'd like to say that the basic colours and techniques are taken from the Enduring Freedom book by Ambush Alley Games. Piers Brand wrote  how he had painted the figures for the book and I mostly followed that changing some colours and techniques to match colours I had in my collection. 

The first thing to do is pick out the figures to paint and clean them up before glueing them on bases and priming them.

The selection I had to pick from

The figs as they came out of the package. Note the bent guns and various metal flash & vents. 

I straightened out the guns, careful not to bend them more than necessary and cut off any flash and scraped down a few mold lines, all with the knife.

Next they are glued on bases with super glue. In this case I used pennies.

Then I took them outside to prime them with a spray primer(GW Chaos Black) being careful to try to get the figs pretty well covered.

I brushed on some black paint to get into areas the spray could not get into.

That is the prep done which did not take very long. Now to get into the painting.

These are the colours I use for the main uniform. Vallejo 873 US Field Drab, 819 Iraqi Sand and 837 Pale Sand.

The main uniform area in 873. This doesn't have to be tidy.

All 4 done. I will only show one figure for each step though I am doing 4 at a time.

A heavy dry brush with 819.

I put this on brushing from various directions to cover most of the darker base coat except in deep folds. After it drys I do it again to make the Iraqi Sand more solid.

I then dry brush on a lighter coat of 837 Pale Sand.

I then put on a wash of GW Devlan Mud thinned down with equal parts water and mat medium to blend the colours together while adding some shade.

 

For the webbing, gear and boots I used 921 English Uniform and 988 Khaki.

Webbing, gear and boots painted 921 English Uniform. From here on you have to paint carefully to make sure you don't get any on the main uniform.

I then applied the same wash I used on the main uniform.

 

I then dry brushed with Khaki.(I've also used British Uniform with some white added)

The team finished with the details painted. Skin, guns, sunglasses and the mounting bracket on the helmets.

After that it's time to do the bases and take them to the table.

Hope this helps and excuse the photography, it really doesn't show the colours very well.

Thanks for reading,

Rob