Back to 'nam
Ride of the Valkyries
I can’t paint helicopters for ‘nam without the images from the Ride of the Valkyries screen from Apocalypse Now coming into mind.
I have cracked on with painting the Cobra, two Hogs and 1 Slick helicopter. I started by using AP Military Shader all over the helicopters to darken the AP Army Green and also to pick out the panel lines. I started with the windows, but didn’t have the Sky Blue I wanted so had to mix it from P3 Exile Blue and Vallejo Sky Grey. The windows are finished with some P3 Traitor Green to provide the idea of some reflection of the jungle. A bit of Vallejo Sick Green did for the top windows on the Hueys. The weapons and noses were painted with Vallejo German Grey – I am concerned with how shiny it has turned out, but hope the decals help knock it back to a matt finish. Next up is weathering and decals.
I did my helicopters last year, AP Military shade may work for you.
I used AK Interactive panel liner Emanel für the panel lines and cleaned the mess with Ak white spirit on Q-tips. The trick to remove the shininess was to use a vallejo premium matt varnish (my favorite) after the decals (softener and fixer) and then finish the windows with a gloss varnish:
https://www.beastsofwar.com/project-entry/1705354/
The cobras show the good results:
https://www.beastsofwar.com/project-entry/1703685/
Or the Loaches:
https://www.beastsofwar.com/project-entry/1703457/
Thanks I have bottles of both varnishes that I can use.