Painting Guide Archives - Steven's Balagan

Vallejo Triads – Three colour shading with Vallejo Model Color Paints

8 Oct 2022 by Steven Thomas

Ilya asked me about Vallejo Triads which combine a base, mid tone, and highlight paint. Foundry made this triad painting style famous amongst wargamers with sets including a shade, main colour, and highlight. Reaper now do the same and probably others.

Unfortunately there is no official source of Vallejo triads and Google didn’t reveal a comprehensive Vallejo triad system. So I pulled a set together from what I could find. These triads use only the Vallejo Model Color range of paints – I think that makes life simpler, certainly for me since I don’t use other paints.

The triads are listed in Vallejo sequence order for the mid tone. Choose your desired mid tone then look up suitable base and high light colours.

Painting haystacks for Crossfire fields

17 Sep 2022 by Steven Thomas

Haystacks-6 Fields with haystacks - Banner

I wanted some 15mm haystacks to enhance my carpet fields. So I purchased and painted some. I’m not Monet, but they’ll do for a game of Crossfire.

WW2 Painting Guide: 14th Army in Burma

15 Aug 202131 Jul 2021 by Steven Thomas

In my pile of lead I have two, count them, two battalions for the 14th Army in the Burma Campaign. One Welsh. One Gurkha. So I figured I needed a painting guide. Luckily most of the troops in the 14th army wore the same kit. Same with the Chindits. Whether the early redyed Khaki Drill (KD) or custom Jungle Green (JG) the troops in 1943-45 wore “grey-green” which was, once in combat, far more grey than green. Recommendations are for Vallejo Model Color although I occasionally mention alternatives using Humbrol paints.

I’m indebted to the various wargamers that have gone done this journey of exploration before me, particularly Mark Davies (aka Jemima Fawr), Doms Decals, Mick in Switzerland, and Paul Scrivens-Smith (AKA scrivs).

I found a new Dulux paint for Dark Sand

8 Aug 202126 Dec 2020 by Steven Thomas

Back in 2014 I started using Dulux Paints for Wargaming Bases and Terrain. Dulux paints are house paints and much, much cheaper than modelling paints like Tamiya and Vallejo. And I use a lot of paint on bases and terrain so saving money was a big incentive. But the last couple of times I’ve been to the Dulux shop they said “Sorry we don’t have 23YY48254 Medium W45 / RAL1001 any more.” This is the Dulux equivalent of Vallejo (123) 70.847 Dark Sand, a colour essential for flocking my bases. Oh, no. Disaster.

The good news is I’ve found an even better replacement.

WW2 Painting Guide: Anglo-Indian Tanks in Burma

9 Aug 20216 Dec 2020 by Steven Thomas

Tac Signs for Stevens Anglo-Indian Tanks in Burma - Banner

I have already chosen my Anglo-Indian tanks in Burma and now I need a painting Guide for them. My guide is customised for the vehicles I want. If you want something wider in scope then I can recommend two invaluable sources for Anglo-Indian tanks in Burma, both by Mark Davies; British & Indian Armoured Units Of the Burma Campaign: A Painting Guide (V1.8) and his excellent series on the 14th Army on his Jemina Fawr website (lots of links below). I have used both for my own guide.

Rafa “Archiduque” paints Minairons’s Spanish Civil War Figures

1 Feb 2020 by Steven Thomas

Every now and then I have a chat with Rafa, aka “Archiduque”, from Rafa “Archiduque” Miniatures Painting Studio. He got in touch recently and, after our chat, I had a look at his blog. Specifically his Spanish Civil War Gallery. Wow.

Rafa has kindly let me post some of his work here. Amazing. Have a look.

Spanish Painting Guide for the Thirty Years War

8 Jul 20227 Aug 2019 by Steven Thomas

30YW-787 - Spanish - Pike and Shot - Banner

Since I’ve published Tilly’s Very Bad Day I figure I should update my painting guide for the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Although the title refers to the Spanish this is the guide covers all troops in Spanish service whether Spanish, Italian, or Walloon.

Imperialist Painting Guide for the Thirty Years War

8 Jul 20226 Aug 2019 by Steven Thomas

Since I’ve published Tilly’s Very Bad Day I figure I should update my painting guide for the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). This is the guide for the Imperialists throughout the war.

Swedish Painting Guide for the Thirty Years War

8 Jul 20225 Aug 2019 by Steven Thomas

30YW-871 - Swedish - Pike and Shot - Yellow Brigade - Banner

Since I’ve published Tilly’s Very Bad Day I figure I should update my painting guide for the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). This is the guide for the Swedes. It is applicable for Swedes throughout the war but of course it is most relevant to the Swedish Phase (1630-1635) and after.

Painting a 15mm knocked out T-34 as a Crossfire objective

1 Jul 20228 Dec 2018 by Steven Thomas

I seem to be collecting potential objectives for Crossfire in the form of wrecked vehicles. Last time it was a wrecked Portuguese staff car. Before that was a crashed Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (stork). This time the objective is a destroyed T-34/76.

Painting 15mm Jarvis city barricades

21 Sep 202117 Nov 2018 by Steven Thomas

A long time ago I got some 15mm Jarvis city barricades. Perfect for WW2, perhaps Stalingrad, or Spanish Civil War. I finally got around to painting them. There are a lot of different bits on these features but it was pretty straight forward. I’ve paint almost everything on here before … except the corrugated iron. That was new.

Painting the windscreen of a wrecked Portuguese staff car

1 Aug 20226 Oct 2018 by Steven Thomas

I got a Destroyed Mercedes model from Peter Pig. Don’t ask me why. It seemed cool I guess. So while I was painting my reconnaissance vehicles, I thought I’d paint this baby too. As a wrecked Portuguese staff car for the Portuguese Colonial War.

Painting Recce Vehicles for the Portuguese Colonial War

31 Jul 202229 Sep 2018 by Steven Thomas

I’ve had a busy week. At work and at home. But I found few hours to paint some Portuguese vehicles, mostly reconnaissance scout cars and armoured cars. All for the Portuguese Colonial War. With so many to paint I got into a bit of a production line. Here’s how I did it.

Top 20 Pages on Balagan

26 Jul 20182 Apr 2018 by Steven Thomas

I started this blog on 21 Feb 2001 and then Migrated Balagan to WordPress on 15 Sep 2013. So, roughly 4.5 years ago. One of the great things about WordPress, compared to the hand crafted HTML site I had before, is that I get statistics on page views. Apparently I’ve had 1,176,779 views since I migrated and 1,125 comments. My biggest day (23 Feb 2018) brought 2,420 views – this was because Reddit got hold of my Academy of Street Fighting: Tactics during the Battle of Stalingrad post. Today is a typical day with 750 views.

WW2 Painting Guide: Kiwi and British in the Mediterranean

25 Jun 20228 Oct 2016 by Steven Thomas

This WW2 Painting Guide shows how to paint the 2 New Zealand Division, and other Commonwealth/British, who fought in the Mediterranean. It solely uses Vallejo Model Colour range of paints.

I have used four sources: Battle Front, SHQ, Artizan Designs, and Crac des Chevaliers.