Fast-paint challenge: I need these by Friday...

I don't really paint for hire much any more, but there is one fellow locally who drops some stuff by once or twice a year (usually 15mm WW2). Last week he called me and asked me if I was up for some German stuff. 

After we went back and forth a bit, it turned out he needed it for this coming weekend! As I was away for work, this meant the soonest I could get to it was Sunday afternoon and he needed it for Friday night!! Eventually we settled on the US cavalry box set for the Ardennes. Plus some howitzers and extras.

This came out to 20 AFVs, 2 armoured cars, 2 jeeps, 8 guns and 30-or-so troops. By Friday! Now, I like a challenge--it is a fun way to shake things up. But this is a fair bit of painting and decaling, although not nearly as much as the German army he also dropped off (that project has longer timelines due to the camo!). So I decided to see if I could pull this off using the speed painting techniques I use and maybe learn something in the process.

Day one was building, and I managed to get everything cleaned and built in about two-and-half-hours. Some of the stuff was very slick and some of it was fiddly (pintle-mounted MGs, for example). But all told, a reasonably fast build aided by the repetition (e.g., 4 Jacksons, 12 Chaffees).

Day two is priming, block painting and detailing. This is presently under way. Above, you can see some M-8s and some M-24 primed and base coated. I decided to spray these to save time. The owner wanted a solid base colour (in lieu of the washes over white I usually do). The base is OD green--the lighting is a bit funny above and they have shifted lighter and yellowed a bit because of the wall colour. Man, spraying is fast--everything done in about 2 hours, including intervals for drying and a couple of touch-ups for tricky undercuts.

Up next: I have block painting underway and will do more tonight. Day three will be washing to pop the details and starting the decaling and basing of the infantry. I hope to have the decaling done Thursday as well as the basing, which gives me a day of slippage in case something bad happens. I also have the club on Tuesday night!