64 Man Project, Day 6

The penultimate day of painting is done, and I still look to finish on time. Today I painted the linothorax on the remaining 18 men, highlighted tunics, highlighted leather, painted everyone's toes, painted the shoulder ties, attached and painted the standards, and painted the base colors for the shields.

Here's the result of one day's prep and five days' painting: some figures who lack only shields to be complete.

First are the command figures, an officer, a musician, and a standard bearer. I did two of each of these poses.

Now the chain mail equipped men, who I needed because I was four figures short. I painted two of each of these poses.

Finally the linothorax wearing spearmen who make up the bulk of the units. I painted 18 of each of these poses.

Tomorrow I'll paint shield designs, highlight the shield faces, attach them to the figures, and paint the bronze shield rims. Then all will be done but the basing, which will have to wait on a Litko order.

64 Man Project, Day 5

Two days left, and it looks like I'll finish on time. Today I finished the bronze armor, tidied up the brown sword straps, and applied the linothorax main coat to 2/3 of the men. All that's left on these figures are the linothorax on the remaining third, the highlight of leather equipment, and the tunic highlight. Then I'll paint the shields and call it done!

Back from Trip

For my anniversary, I took my wife out of town. We're back now, and posting (and the challenge) will continue tomorrow.

64 Man Project, Day 4

After falling behind yesterday, I managed to catch up today. I painted the basecoat on the rest of the linothorax, painted flesh highlights on all the figures, and started the bronze armor.

64 Man Project, Day 3

I was only able to get in about 90 minutes of painting today. I was able to paint the base color on all the tunics and 2/3 of the linothorax armor. This day puts me seriously behind schedule.

64 Man Project, Day 2

I'm in a bit of a painting funk lately. My 250 man ACW project helped me jump start my production a couple of months ago, so I think it's time for another painting challenge. This time I'll try to complete two Libyan spearmen units in seven days. That's only 64 figures, but they are 28s and they do include shields. I'll also be painting these to a higher standard than my ACW figures.

I'll be using Old Glory figures with North Star spears. Yesterday morning I prepped the figures, using a Dremel to drill out the hands. I washed the figures in dishwashing detergent and allowed them to dry. Then I glued the spears inside the hands and glued the figures to popsicle sticks. Yesterday afternoon I primed the figures brown then set them aside to dry overnight. That was the first day of painting.

End of Day Two

Today I started by painting all the spear heads black. I also painted any exposed beards black, and I painted the horsehair plumes on the standard bearers black as well. I was four figures short for this project, so I used four Libyan spearmen in captured Roman mail to bring the units up to strength. I painted the mail black. I painted the plumes on the officers mudstone. This completed the first phase of basecoating.

Next I drybrushed all the spearheads with enamel silver, and I drybrushed the four mail figures silver as well. I painted the officers' and standard bearers' sword blades silver, but left the hilts brown.

Using a broad, flat brush, I drybrushed territorial beige on all the sandals and spear shafts.

I used some enamel gold on the horns and on the standard bearers' scale armor.

I drybrushed all the beards and the standard bearers' plumes with storm grey. At the same time, I drybrushed the officers' plumes with white.

I painted all the flesh with my special mix for flesh basecoat. It's darker than the basecoat I usually use for 28mm figures, but these figures will have a darker skin tone than my usual northern European types.

Finally I painted the red tunics on two sticks of figures before giving up for the day.

Here's a detail shot showing what I have done after two days' painting. Tomorrow I'll finish up the basecoats on tunics and linothorax and probably start the bronze work. I may also prep and prime the 60 shields.