MacK, on Mar 3 2010, 07:24 AM, said:
Well thanks for the comment Ralph S. I know that grey isn't the most realistic of military colours, but until Lego widely produces a suitable shade of dull dark green/olive in mass colours they'll have to stay that way.
Being that you are one of the better military builders out there what would you suggest I do to make these "stand out" more?
Thanks.
I generally don't build minifig scale military vehicles and it isn't easy to give you advice on this, but I'll try.
I understand that the rarity of more realistic colours is why a lot of people go for grey, but I think that there are colours that are fairly widely available that make for a more realistic look.
Old dark grey is already quite brown/ drab so it's not a bad colour to use. If you mix it with black and pay attention to making creating a proper camouflage pattern I think you'll end up with something nice. Building camouflage takes some getting used to, but
I wrote some pointers a few months ago.
I'm currently working on a few military vehicles (on a large scale). They have two different schemes. I'm building a tan truck and have opted for a woodland scheme on an APC, a mix of black, brown and dark green. The parts selection I have in dark green is pretty poor (mainly basic brick and some slopes, very few plates), but my combining it with the other two colours in which I have a much larger variety means I can use it. I'd rather use the limited amount of pieces I have in rarer colours to build one vehicle that looks really good than building a large number of MOCs that are a bit so-so.
The trucks are too obviously based on the designs LEGO use for trucks in the city line and consequently they look too civilian to me. Real-world military trucks sometimes are based on civilian vehicles, but they'll usually have increased ground clearance and bigger wheels and tyres. I also think the black and yellow markings on one of them look very much out of place. Some of the details on the vehicles seem a bit random, such as the red transparent elements you've got here and there. The armoured vehicles could all do with more ground clearance as well. I know people rave about Halo, but to me the warthog doesn't look too convincing as a military vehicle. It's supposed to be some sort of fast attack/reconnaissance vehicle, but your models look too big for that, certainly compared to the other vehicles.
Please don't get me wrong: these vehicles aren't bad, but I see a so many other minifig scale army vehicles on the flickr military group, including some by very experienced builders (Aleksander Stein and Magnus Lauglo for instance) that it takes a lot for a vehicle to stand out.
Cheers,
Ralph
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