Easy Army Painting: Bolt Action Canadians Made Simple! [How I Paint Things]

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Canada's full-time professional army was less than ten thousand strong. By war's end, more than one million men and women would have served in uniform for Canada. Canada's contribution to the Allied war effort was Herculean - by the end of the conflict the nation had the world's fourth largest Air Force, and third largest Navy!
Grab your own British & Canadian infantry box from Warlord Games: store.warlordgames.com/produc...
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - What is Canadian Green?
03:43 - Priming by Hand
05:22 - Painting: Basecoats
11:09 - Shading
12:08 - Painting: Highlights & Finishing Touches
13:36 - The Finished Soldier
Thanks to Producer Patrons Alan Nuttall, Kyrie Crawford, Andrew, Jimmy, and Rod - as well as all the other Patrons that made this video possible, and Exit23 Games for recording equipment that helps keep the channel ticking over! Find out more at the following links:
/ sonicsledgehammer
/ sonicsledge
/ sonicsledgehammer
ko-fi.com/docwholigan
exit23.games
THE BASE: PVA and sand left to dry, followed by watered down Flat Brown. Drybrush with Brown Sand and finally Dark Sand, then add static grass and tufts as you like.
PAINTS USED:
PRIMER:
Brush-On Primer (Army Painter)
VALLEJO:
Russian Uniform WWII
Khaki (Model Color)
Khaki (Game Color)
Dark Sand
Refractive Green
Beige Brown
German Grey
Flat Earth
Gunmetal (Model Air)
German Camo Beige
ARMY PAINTER:
Tanned Flesh
CITADEL:
Death Guard Green (Base)
Agrax Earthshade (Shade)
Lahmian Medium (Technical)
Cadian Fleshtone (Layer)
Kislev Flesh (Layer)
VARNISH:
Varnish+ (Instar)

[@justanothercaptain6566]

As a proud member of the Canadian Armed Forces, that is what I call the perfect Christmas Present 🎁! Thank you so much! You will never have the “wrong” colour for Canadian uniforms. We NEVER matched the British. Not because we didn’t want to, we just couldn’t get the correct dyes or materials. When I was a young Trooper in the 80’s, the WW2 Vets would tell us stories about getting “chewed out” on leave overseas for wearing “mismatched” coloured uniforms. The Canadians wore whatever they were issued and were more worried about it fitting then the colour. So you’d have been right if you used different coloured paints and jackets. They were often called Gypsies by British. So it was nice to that you captured that. Thank you! And a very merry Christmas to you, your family and all your viewers! Cheers 😄

[@primeaardvark646]

Canadian rations look way way way better than British ones.

[@justanothercaptain6566]

@@primeaardvark646 honestly, after the novelty of the 1st one wears off, they all taste the same! Salt Peter is Salt Peter no matter who’s country cooks it! 🤣🍻

[@andrewwilson4975]

I second what "Just Another Captain" says...also as a former Canadian Army officer. Great work on stating the Canadian contribution to WWII! Most historians leave us pretty much out of the picture.

[@bobw2552]

I remember reading the WWII trilogy written by a Canadian Army veteran named George Blackburn of his experience fighting in NW Europe. He was a forward spotting artillery officer who was near the front lines to correct the fall of the shells. In his series he mentions that there was a difference between the colours of the Canadian and British battle dress. He gives one antidote in the Netherlands where the British were taking over a part of the line from the Canadians. A few days before the switch British officers came to the line to recon their new positions - to maintain security the British officers were required to wear Canadian uniforms since there were an obvious color difference that was well known to the Germans.

[@1nONLY_DRock]

The funny thing is that when you look up history even the uniform colors weren't that... uniform. There were variations on the color due to different manufacturers and their different dye mixes trying to get the same color. Some were more green than others, some more brown than others. That sort of thing.

[@dwightgrosso5481]

A very nice and simple solution to how to paint Canadian uniforms!

[@MorrowindES17]

I just bought the British, and Canadian will use your guide to paint them

[@Th3HondaGuy]

I've just started working on a Canadian Bolt Action force (the third one after Italians and Germans), your videos have been a go-to whenever I get to painting! I really appreciate the information given for picking colours and history sprinkled throughout.

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Troy . 🐺

[@georgemartinezjr]

My favorite Painter

[@cadian139]

I’ve been trying to replicate Canadian BD for a long time. I did something really similar to this for my Canadian army. However after further testing with different paints, I personally found Vallejo panzer aces Canvas or P3 Battledress green to be a great out of pot paint for Canadians. Love your videos! Keep up the good work.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Ooh... Panzer Aces Canvas really would be a good base now that you mention. I'll have to give that a shot myself.

[@oldschoolfrp2326]

Fantastic results! Stands out just enough from typical British kit. Someday I’ll find a WWII miniature that can’t benefit from some Vallejo Russian Uniform, German Grey, and German Camo Beige, regardless of country, but today is not that day - I wind up using them on everything.

[@DaveLife25]

Me and my friends bought into Bolt Action and I chose Canadians, so this video is perfect!

[@ARed-TailedHawk]

Awesome! I love the in-depth discussion of finding the proper color, and glad to see some WW2 on your workbench. I may have to do up a squad of Canadians now. Thank you!

[@moof1315]

Haven't yet dived into bolt action painting yet, let alone a particular faction, but I just enjoy having your commentary on while I'm working. Thanks for putting out so much good content.

[@irishtom30]

I really appreciate these videos that express the small differences that can bring a lot of personality to an army, it's a great way to make your force stick out without making it any more difficult to paint!

[@simdoyle]

Nice ideas on colour - thanks a million for another great video!

[@CallumRFord]

Of course just as I'm onto the last squad of my Canadian & British starter box 😂

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Well, at the very least you can see there's no real wrong way of painting them! ;D

[@CallumRFord]

I have already taken tons of inspiration from your previous Commonwealth tutorials so it's actually pretty close! Just Dark Mud over Russian Uniform!

[@StackingLimit]

Very Timely as I am painting up some 1 Canadian division troops for the battle of Ortona. Thanks Troy, Love Just Another Captains post as well.

[@naterossi21]

Always love watching you work, but the added insight into your process is just icing on the cake. I might try stealing this recipe for a Guard kill team I've been meaning to tool around.

[@chrisrobinson196]

Cool to see! I muddled my way through 20mm Canadians and more or less ended up with the same flexible approach. Have 6mm to do at some point too!

[@thepiratepenguin4465]

1945 Canadian green was re-introduced in 40,045 as Cadian green. LOL

[@Jim-yk9if]

Once again, excellent tutorial!

[@Ishpeck]

Your mini makes me wish I had an Enfield pattern rifle. Those Brits made a great bolt gun and the .303 was a round way ahead of its time for ballistic performance.

[@sleepsinleaves]

Man, wished historicals wasn't dead in my area.

[@Strawfoot]

Always happy to see another video from Sonic Sledge!!!

[@monitor1862]

Nicely done and you've given my next project. I've painted British, Australian, and Indian troops. Next up I'll do some Canadian and New Zealand troops.

[@tedwilliams491]

Great stuff mate I have a load of 28mm Empress LW British to paint and this has got me fired up to finally do them, cheers !

[@johnkelley9877]

Thanks for sharing this tutorial as you cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had on Canadian WWII uniforms. I had thought the uniforms were identical in color but now I have a formula for painting them. Have a merry Christmas and stay warm.

[@cameronward9443]

I would go for a little bit of edge highlighting to cleanup some of those dry brushing lines that came out a bit chalky.

[@desertzombie]

FoW mentions using Brown Violet for Canadian uniforms.

[@seanmcwatt9818]

Looks good, but Division patches would really complete the mini.

[@TheEccentricMan]

Just a low ball to add in that to save space and weight on board the transport ships and freighters the Canadians used the British kit at their destination.......🤣🤣🤣🤣 Nice work as always.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

So after all that, I'm laid low by logistics... 😂

[@TheEccentricMan]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio 🤣

[@Red_Entropy]

Thanks for posting this video! It's quite timely as the missus gifted me a Canadian starter army for Christmas :D Now to figure out how to paint my Churchill and Bren Carrier... Do you have any research tips?

[@julianorentani1046]

Great video!

[@rottiehood3872]

Thanks again for the tips! Maybe in the future have an episode on wet and dry paint palettes? Thanks

[@Zoulezouzou]

comme d’habitude ,super travail avec de très belles couleurs,,j'adore !

[@trainboy1739]

Oooh the brush on primer looks the business! Right oh, off to buy more! Thanks again Sonic Cheers

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It's good stuff! You having bought some reminded me I actually had it, which made this muuuch easier than trying to nurse a frozen can of primer. 🤣

[@trainboy1739]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio agreed, always looking for ways to paint without the cannon a cold day

[@stevenbuerkle9329]

Great work as always 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼. Another outstanding video by the master. I think I painted my Canadians almost the same way. 😆😆😆. Cheers 🍻🍻🍻

[@patahern692]

Thank you sir!!

[@huwtindall7096]

Love the history snippets included in your videos. Come for the paiting. Stay for the history. Are we going to have another video ike Bob Semple?

[@256Smurf]

wuhu i asked for it and you did. :-D awesome

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Hope you like it!

[@256Smurf]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio yes very much. i will paint my minis exactly like this for my next project for chain of command. thanks again !

[@hedonia2497]

Many thanks for this. What would you use to create the shade of green that the Canadians wore in Hong Kong in 1941?

[@nickdavis5420]

Mmm once I finish my death fields ruamjager I can paint some bulldogs as space Canada

[@leiferickson5602]

Marvellous job, as always! Which of the 3 colours you'd suggest for canadians in the italian campaign, especially beetween 1943 and 1944?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It's a leap, but I'd probably go for US Field Drab. The British manufactured battledress would likely have been what they resupplied with, and in the sunny conditions of Italy (outside of those long, wet winters!) would quickly bleach a lot of the greenish tint out of them. Light brown works well for lots of stuff.

[@leiferickson5602]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio I'll take the leap!

[@delbhoy5675]

What do you think of Vallejo Panzer Aces British Tanker Crew 317, for uniform?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It's brown, rather than green? 😅 It's a good colour for British battledress, so theoretically you could use it for Canadians supplied by the British, but it wouldn't be my first choice if I was looking to paint Canadian-produced gear.

[@wellsalan8569]

If you had used a spray primer, any suggestions?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

For these guys? Probably a simple grey primer in its place, Vallejo's grey spray or Uniform Grey from the Army Painter work well.

[@RedTheSaviour01]

what color should I use for the ammo pouches ?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

They'd be the same colour as the rest of the webbing. ✌

[@RedTheSaviour01]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio tysm! :D is it the death guard green or the iraqi sand ? XD