After a glorious Waitangi Day filled with sunshine & BBQ we're back in the office for for another Flames of War Friday. This week I've been working on the test models for my Japanese infantry.

Proper Preparation Prevents…

Whenever you're starting a new painting project, especially a large project such as an infantry company its always a good idea to do some test models first to try out the colours and techniques which you're going to use. Otherwise you could run into problems halfway through and have to strip the paint and start over again.

So I've taken a selection of the models from the Hohei Chutai and started my test run.

Priming & Pre-Shading

When painting metal models its very important to use a good primer, otherwise the subsequent paint coats can wear or chip off when handling. I'm use the Colour Primers from Army Painter, who also produce the War Paint Sprays.

I started by spraying the models Black, and then gave a light spray of White vertically down on top of the models. This is a fast way to give some pre-shading/highlig­hting.

Uniform Base Coat

One of the great things about painting early war Japanese troops is that their uniforms are primarily one colour, which makes a refreshing change from painting more complicated uniforms such as SS camouflage.

I've chosen to use Vallejo Japanese Uniform, which is slightly lighter and yellower than the Khaki Grey which the FOW painting guide recommends. This is because I'll be using a dark brown wash to shade the infantry later on.

As I'm using an airbrush I add some airbrush thinner to the Japanese Uniform and mix it so its a similar consistency to blue milk. This is then airbrushed onto from all angles.

The pre-shading/highlig­hting done during the priming stage shows through quite well and I add to it by applying another zenithal highlight.

Add a little Model Air Off-White to the mix and airbrush this downwards at around a 60 degree angle. I just use a couple of light passes with the airbrush to keep this coat quite light.

Starting the Detail Work

Now that I'm happy with the uniforms its time to start basecoating the details. For the leather items such as the boots and ammo pouches I first paint them Chocolate Brown, followed by Flat Brown, and for the rifle stock and tool handles I also start with Chocolate Brown, followed by a mixture 50/50 mix with Light Brown. The rifle barrels are painted Gunmetal Grey.

The Helmets and water bottles will be painted Brown Violet and their straps Khaki. Finally for the faces and hands I'll be using Flat Flesh.

While you're base-coating the fine details don't be too concerned if you have some small overlaps , as the next step in this method is to use a wash, which will cover these colour transitions.

In Part 2 I'll detail how to add the washes and highlights and how to protect your finished paint job.