Monday 18 February 2013

Painting my Mat-o-War

The original mat colour was darker than I wanted
Painting twenty four square feet of wargaming mat has to be one of the biggest hobby related painting projects I have ever undertaken. As stated a few days ago my Mat-o-War arrived and on the whole I am very pleased with it. However it was a little darker than I would have liked and as various websites suggested painting it I put out a request for advice here on BLMA and over at TMP. The feedback received was very useful and so this weekend I attacked my new wargaming mat with several cans of spray paint!

The method suggested by those in the know, and adopted my me, was relatively simple:
  1. Lay the mat out in a well ventilated area (in my case, the Garden)
  2. Apply several light dusting's of spray paint in short bursts from about 18 inches range
    • Base: Desert Yellow (Humbrol) and  Dark Yellow (Tamiya)
    • Secondary: Sand (Humbrol) and  Light Sand (Tamiya)
    • Highlight: Ivory (Halfords)
  3. Allow to dry for several hours before handling
The aim is not to create any specific features (although you could do that, adding roads of instance), but merely to break up the uniformity of the mats basic colour  By keeping the can at a distance the paint only adheres to the surface of the fabric and doesn't soak all the way through. This means you could paint the other side a different colour if you so wished.

The unpainted mat is on the right and the base painted colour is on the left
Again the unpainted mat is on the right and the final highlighted mat on the left
The above picture doesn't do the finished effect justice because it really does look much better than the unpainted mat. The overall effect is much less uniform, significantly lighter in tone and compliments the basing of my particular models.

British Heavy Tank Squadron and an Infantry Tank Company on my newly painted mat

13 comments:

  1. Very nice Lee, looking forward to seeing how FoW works out in 6mm now!

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    Replies
    1. Now that I have the mat I really have no excuse not to get a few test games in.

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  2. Hi Lee,

    Can you email me on roguejedi@btinternet.com as I have some desert related items you may be interested in?

    The mat looks a whole lot better and blends in really well with the model bases - how are you tacking ridges and such like?

    All the best,

    DC

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    Replies
    1. Ok, I've emailed you. I'm intrigued now!

      So far I haven't got any terrain items like hills and ridges. I have a few buildings but that's it at the moment. I'm going to Cavalier next week (with the Rejects) and will be looking out for suitable products.

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  3. It looks really good with the figure and vehicle bases on top. You must be pleased...

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    Replies
    1. I am....I was anxious that I'd ruine my mat when I started with the spray paints, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

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    2. "ruine"....?!? How did I miss that spelling error? LoL

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  4. Great result Lee. I guess you could do the other side to reflect the coastal plain with some patches of green to represent cultivation

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  5. Well done Lee. I like the mottled effect.

    Cheers
    PD

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  6. This is really starting to come together.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, I'm pretty happy with my progress. And with the convention season for me about to kick off (with Cavalier next weekend) I'm gearing up towards a summer of 6mm related retail therapy!

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  7. Nice work Lee, the mat does look a lot better with a lick of paint!

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