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Well, I've finished my second Panzergrenadier platoon and my company command and 2nd in command.  Let me know what you think.

 

I've also started my first Panzer IV F1.  All the insignia and numbers are hand painted, because I wanted to give it a shot.

 

Check it out on OT Signal from the Wastes - Thanks to Malfred and the OT Brigade.

 

http://www.felixnation.com/otsignal/heretics/hordini/003FOWIV/003fowiv.htm

 

All input is appreciated. 

Thanks,

Hordini

good painting. I'm just not interested in historical themes for tabletops

Non-GW miniatures! Good to see them.

The color for the helmets seems to be a bit off.  What color did you use?  I agree with you that the flesh tones are quite good.  Definately use that mix again. 

The Panzer IV is a bit rough, but perfectly servicable on the table top since your pictures are about twice the size as the actual vehicle. The road wheels on the rear deck of the Panzer should be rubber yes?  Hard to tell from your picture.  I like the quicky Afrika corps marking, definately servicable. 

Some day I will get my own stuff finished and up here, but right now I am groaning under the weight of lead bought during the Command Decision sale, so it is off to the side.

The painting on the soldiers is extremely clean and well defined for such small miniatures. I'm very impressed with the infantry.

But praise doesn't make you any better, does it? Here's what I'd change:

The bases- they're a little messy. I realise they're supposed to be sandy but I think they look muddy. You might want to try extremely fine sand (the kind that tends to produce a light mist in the air for a bit when you drop it from your hand).

The markings on your panzer are a little sloppy. I'd try stripping them (painting over them won't work well since the paint is already too thick) and adding some decals. Use gloss varnish as a surface for the decals then put matte varnish over top to hide the sheen.

I hope you realise that I mean this all in the spirit of improvement- and notice that I don't think you can improve the soldiers themselves all that much- they're steller!

I apologize for not posting this sooner.  Finals have a tendency to get in the way of everything else.

Thank you all for the compliments, and thank you for the critism as well.  That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for Drake_Marcus.

I think I may try to find some very fine sand for my next platoon of infantry or anti-tank guns and see what happens.

As to the markings on the Panzer - I realize that decals would look better than what I have now (I have a bunch of decals), but I made a concious decision to hand paint the markings.  This is because I think skilled hand-painting looks much much better than decals, and I would like to try to get to that point. 

I figured you have to start by giving it a try, so I started it here.

So basically, I agree - decals would look better than what I have here.  However, I'm not going to use decals. 

If you have any advice on how I can improve my hand-painting of markings and insignia, I would be most grateful.

Thanks again everyone!

-Hordini

Edit - Oh, and lasgunpacker, you are correct about the road wheels on the back - they should be black rubber.  I have now corrected this problem.

Aw...no one's got any advice on how to improve my hand-painting of insignias and numbers?

well, if you really want to get better at hand painting numbers and the like, practice is clearly key.  Thining out paints, using only new brushes and similar advice can be useful if you are not already doing so.

Also, you may consider thining paints with ink instead of water so the color stays sharp. 

Anyway you slice it, painting the two color later war german numbers is going to be a pain.

Also I think it might actually help to try writing the sybols out alot. Pen/Pencil control is closely related to brush control. Keep posting pics- I'm a big fan of the FoW minis, but no one here plays and I'd rather start yet another wargame.