Earth Force Marines - 15mm SciFi WIP

Between holding a crying baby, running errands, doing chores, being a taxi driver for my older children, working out, working and trying, generally, to keep life running as smoothly as possible, I've been painting some Earth Force Marines from Rebel Minis.  Some of these pics are repeats from previous posts but I thought I would put them all together to give an overview of how I've painted these minis.

I need to say that I've been pleasantly surprised at how well they've gone.  I expected 15mm to be very fiddly but these have not been bad at all.  Of course, I'm not painting them to my usual standard but still, they've been pretty easy so far and I think are turning out pretty good.

Figures cleaned and base coated with flat white primer.

A base coat of Vallejo's Khaki.

US Army Dark Green on the helmets, backpacks and body armor.

Some Liquitex acrylic textured gel medium on the bases.

Desert Yellow on the bases.

Neutral Grey on the guns and face shields.

I used Iraqi Sand mixed with the base colors to create the highlights. I did a 50/50 mix - Iraqi Sand to Base Color - for the first highlight and about a 75/25 mix for the second.  On the bases I simply dry brushed with straight Iraqi Sand.

Complete base coat and highlights.

Another view.

For those unfamiliar with 15mm, the US penny in this shot gives you a sense of scale.  These are tiny figures but the detail is incredible and they paint very nicely.

My next step is to shade with Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade.  I've never used this stuff before so I'm a bit apprehensive.  I'll try it on a figure or two and see how it looks before doing the whole batch.  Hopefully it will help the details pop and be a quick way to get a good finished look.  The final step will be a coat with matte spray varnish.  I'll post final pics when they are done.  Until then, carry on!