My latest effort to spur conversation and the propagation of ideas:
How do you guys paint your pioneer tools to make them look realistic (wood handles and metal parts, i.e. shovels)
When I was in the Army, all of our pioneer tools were always painted OD to protect them from the elements. We never left them on our vehicles, except sometimes in the field.
John
Helicopters don’t fly, they beat the air into submission
I use craft paint like Americana, Apple Barrell etc. I paint the metal parts a graphite color. Then sometimes I give it a darker wash for effect. The wood is another problem/subject! I’ve got several shades of browns and tans in the above paints.I have yet to find a combo that I am set on. I put a shade of brown then highlight with a lighter color. This is one area I could really use some advice on too. Thanks for bringing the subject up.
Matt
Pioneer tools , I tend to paint them the base color of the vehicle, with some wear to the metal parts( mostly on modern armor). Basically , I check my references , on the vehicle , I am modelling , and come up , with a common denominator , and paint from there. The Leopards , we use here in Canada , they are painted the base color of the vehicle, but you are not wrong if you paint , the handles ( I.E. shovels ), a natural wood color. It could be a recently refurbished vehicle , or the tools , got damaged , and they came fresh , from the storesman. I have seen many pics , of WW2 tanks , with the wooden parts of the pioneer tools , in colors ranging from light wood , to a reddish brown. On vehicles with a winter cam pattern , the tools , are usually overpainted with the " white wash".
Frank
“PERSEVERANCE”
The pioneer tools on my humvee are wood handles with OD metal. Thank god I havnt had to realy use them cause they would be hard on the hands. So needles to say, thats pretty much how I paint mine. But I have seen the wood painted the OD. I like to dry brush the working ends of the shovels, hammers, ect with a little silver to give them a used look. As for the wood, I paint a base coat of black, followed with a streaked coat of MM wood.
Just looking at the shovel I have in my garage, I have noticed a few things- the wood is more of a grey-ish color than brown. The blade is more of a dull brownish color than steelcolored and there is lots of dirt and scratches on it. i also noticed that my shovel is old and I might need a new one! Now I cannot be sure how they made shovels back then, but I would think wear might be similiar.
Any unpainted/unprotected wood, left to the elements does not stay the “wood” color we think of. However, the “norm” in modeling seems to prevail when it comes to painting and weathering. May not be accurate, but it’s what gets looked at the most. It’s what a judges eye wants to see in a contest. It looks better. So this is how we seem to all fall in line behind. Not saying it’s wrong, just they way I perceive things. And I sure am no expert.
Ya, a light gray, or a light tan would best suite the look of the weathered wood. I totaly agree with you tedium, peer preasure is a son of a gun! LOL I’m not sure how you would do it, but the wood is also pretty darn rough.
also sometimes it tends to crack along the grain, as my crappy shovel in the garage is doing. Perhaps I will just say that their tools fell off in combat and not worry about it[;)]
For the tool heads I use a mix of Royal Blue and Flat Black (both Tamiya). If you use Polly Scale, you can use Prussian Blue instead. I drybrush with metallic grey, and use the edge of a sharp pencil along the edges. I haven’t made the wood look right yet, so I can’t help with that. I got this out of Lynn Kessler’s Armour Diorama book.