Chris Joins The Afrika Korps (Part 2)

Chris

Chris Joins The Afrika Korps?
Part 2 - Would the Real DAK Sand Please Stand Up
With so many projects on the go I've been making glacial progress on my DAK. Of course they have been on my "to-do" list for years so slowly working on them won't be the end of the world.

Find Part 1 of Chris' article here...

Because I've never painted a DAK army before, and I've never been truely happy with any of the North African armies I've painted in the past (Kiwis with lots of Honey's and a small Italian Raiding Force) I thought I'd start off airbrushing some tanks using the various Sand colours I've picked up over the years. Each tank was then given a quick round of sponge chipping with some Panzer Grey to see how each of the colours compared in the light of day.

A quick disclaimer: For this army I am really not going to be too fussed about what colour is 'right' according to the history books. I want a sand colour that I like with lots of worn chipped paint showing through to make it feel like an army that has been through hell and back - or is that Halfaya Pass and back (sorry, dad joke!).

Another quick disclaimer: I'm also looking for what I call an 80/20 paint scheme. By that I mean something that takes only 20% of the time of a really nicely painted army, but looks 80% as good (to me). This means I want to work out a process where I touch the model the least number of times but still have something I am happy with at the end.

Test One:
I was most excited about this colour before I started doing any painting. It looked great in the bottle and reminded me of the worn Panzer II that you can see in the Afrika Korps book in the painting section.

Once sprayed on it looked a bit sad in person - so on to test subject number two...

Chris' DAK

Chris' DAK

Test Two:
Spoiler Alert, this is the colour I am probably the most happy with. However I am still not convinced as it lacks some of the richness in colour that I was hoping for.
Test Three:
This colour reminds me a bit of the clay I used to dig up when I was a kid so good memories there, however it says "Italians" to me rather than "DAK" so moving on...

Chris' DAK

Chris' DAK

Test Four:
Okay, so this one isn't really a test as I just grabbed one of the Studio Panzers and added it to the line-up for a comparison.

I find this colour to be really compelling which is probably the reason that James and Aaron selected it.

Here you can see my two favourite options lined up next to each other. Certainly the Battlefront Panzer III on the right looks a heck of a lot better than my base coated and chipped tank. But it probably should given one tank has had 5 minutes of work put into it, and the other has had hours right?

 Chris' DAK

So where to from here? Good question because I don't know the answer. Right now I am thinking I will probably perservere with the tank on the left and use some of the techiques in the Afrika Korps book and give the tank a wash or filter and see how it looks after that. Stay tuned for more...

~ Chris