Painting a US Infantry Platoon

The US Infantry Platoon only took me a couple of sessions to actually paint. Working on a total of 32 figures I broke these down into two manageable groups; two rifle squads and the medic as one group (17 figures) and the third rifle squad, platoon command group and HMG squad as the other group (15 figures). Adopting a 'production line' method of painting these figures resulted in them being completed in only a few hours over the course of a couple of evenings. The most time consuming part of this was repainting the flesh areas prior to applying a flesh tone wash.

On the other hand, preparing, painting and finishing the figure bases took me considerably longer. Initially I had planned on leaving the bases painted a plain green but reconsidered this after looking once again at Barrie Lovell's own figure bases which are considerable enhanced by making each individual base a small vignette.

Painting Method

Each figure was painted separately before attaching it to a base. I undercoated all the figures with a black primer spray (GW Chaos Black) and then dry-brushed them quite heavily using Colour Party US Olive Drab.

I then applied an intial full-figure highlight to the base coat consisting of a mix of Olive Drab and GW Bubonic Brown which produces a light sand/ochre colour.

Accoutrements and Helmets

It is clear from photographs of US soldiers in Vietnam that the helmet covers and webbing tended to 'bleach' as a result of the elements and fade into a lighter colour than the uniforms.

To create this I then further highlighted the accoutrements and the helmets by mixing a little more of the light sand/ochre colour (GW Bubonic Brown) into the Olive Drab to lighten it.

A final, even lighter highlight, was applied to the crowns of the helmets.

I did not paint the boots of the figures, leaving them for the most part as black, since they are covered later in the process when the 'grass' is added to the base.

Weapons & Ammo

Weapons were then all repainted black taking care not to overpaint the hands of the figures. All ammo belts and helmet accoutrements were also painted black at this stage.

Using a metallic silver (GW Bolt Gun Metal) I delicately dry-brushed those areas of the weapons that are metal. On the M-16's, which were primarily black plastic, this is the barrel and the firing mechanism/magazine. In order not to have the metallic areas too 'shiny' I then applied a lightly watered black wash (GW Armour Wash) to tone down the brightness of the metal.

In order to pick out the bullets on the various belts of M-60 ammo, I gently brushed over the surface of the belts using a brass metallic paint (GW Brazen Brass). Again, since the bullets are modelled in relief on the belts, this results in being able to pick out the individual linkage.

Final Touches

Helmet accoutrements were painted off-white, or a light olive drab, to represent things like field dressings, insect repellent and weapons oil/cleaning fluid bottles. I always make sure that these accoutrements are 'black-lined' so as to emphasise their relief and make them stand away from the helmet to which they are attached.

Finally, the platoon commander's map was picked out in white and I added an antenna to the RTO, which I made from a bristle taken from a broom head, painted black.

The platoon of nine stands, or bases, took me only a few hours in total spread over several evenings but could be done in less time if it was not necessary to continually wait for various stages in the process to dry before moving on to the next stage.

The Completed US Infantry Platoon

The Finished Platoon (L to R): Platoon HQ, Squads 1 to 3, Medic and HMG Squad

Close-Up of Command Group, Medic and HMG

The Platoon maneuvering into Dense Forest

Platoon in Skirmish Line