Thursday, January 31, 2013

Motoring

Last night was a hectic night so I mainly worked on general stuff instead of trying to put in some serious painting time. It was all stuff that needed to be done so was a good use of time as well. I finished up one Rhino and  got another started, I also got it completely filed and cleaned so it's basically build and be done. I need to print out the Rhino DA images so I can cut out the stencils for the top hatch and sides.

I was also thinking about my list and may add in a Dread so I glued the AoBR dread together, not that it takes long for that thing haha.. it's seriously seven pieces! But I'm going to have to build up another Drop Pod most likely ..  and man do I hate building those. But I've had the pod sitting in a box since I got the Mega Force the year before so will be nice to have it built up.


I also got all the Tacts sprayed base green and they will be moving on to the table for some assembly line style painting. Once I get these guys rocked out I'll probably move onto the Terminators. So far I've been pretty happy I've kept focus and have stayed on plan but I've had the urge to paint some Eldar.. 8) Though really not trying to worry about them till the Dex drops. I don't want to have to build up an army that can hang only to have to rebuild when they finally get a new book. I've been hearing a Eldar Flyer will be released this upcoming mini wave. Hopefully that is the case and hopefully it looks decent. If it looks decent I'll be getting one of them at least for sure.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Prepare to Surface..

Priming. It's one of the most important parts of painting a miniature. It may not seem like it's that important but it will affect many aspects of the model.

1) The primer color will affect the top coat colors, black will obviously make colors darker but white will make colors brighter and more vibrant. I usually prime my marines with black because I want a grittier look but when I paint Eldar I'll start with white primer. To me Eldar would rock brighter more vibrant colors.

2) How smooth is the primer? Have you ever bought one of those primer spray cans and after you prime the minis you notice they are scaly? Nothing is more annoying, it doesn't matter how great of a paint job you put on a mini if it's all crinkly looking.

3) Details. A lot of the spray can primers can eat a lot of the fine miniature details. You have to be careful your don't over load the mini with a ton of paint.

4) Minor details. It can stink and you don't want to spray indoors. And since you have to do it outside the weather needs to be warm and low humidity.

Since I purchased an Airbrush I've been priming with it. It works sooooo much better then the spray can. But I've been looking for a good Airbrush primer and it was a hard find. I tried Createx and thinned down primers but I was never really happy with the coat. Looking online I found Vallejo Surface Primer and noticed that a good many people also use it. But here in the States it's actually kind of hard to find. I was ordering it online from the UK or Canada and I'd get it but it was pretty costly. Over the weekend I went to Hobby Works in Bel Air to pick up some dark green static grass and as we were walking out I walked down the paint isle. And there it was chilling on the end deck BOOM.. Vallejo Surface Primer. Awesome. Hopefully they continue to carry it, so nice to actually be able to just go pick it up.

With normal primer your can easily rub it off while painting the mini. Typically more on metal minis and on edges. But the Surface Primer is a Polyurethane paint and is way more durable. It can be a little tougher to clean up but that also translates on the model. I haven't had any issues with the paint peeling or rubbing off and it's always smooth. That is more of an airbrush thing but it's nice to have such smooth even finish. If you are looking for a primer to use when airbrushing I'd highly recommend the Surface Primer. Definitely the best  primer product I've ever used.



I had run out of black primer so I was going to just spray the Nephilim with white then spray it with the ComArt Black. But thankful I found the primer at Hobby Works so I just went back over it with black primer. Two coats of primer and no loss of detail at all.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Punch it in Brosif..

I finished up the Tut Tact guy last night 8) .. I didn't have much time so pretty happy that I could finish him up so quickly. I'm going to spray the rest of the guys soon so I can get cracking on the rest of the squads.




I also started working on the Veterans last night. I originally wanted the walking dude to be rocking the Plasma gun but I think the bolter looked cooler so I went with it. The walking set of legs is by far the best looking in the kit. The other legs I find kinda blah.. I don't know what it is but ... I don't like it. haha..




Monday, January 28, 2013

How I paint Dark Angels

I've had a few people ask about the colors I use for painting the Dark Angels and what steps I go through so I figured I'd make a how to for it. It will be similar to the How to Paint Blood Angels. It's a pretty simple process and this is another basic blend. For the standard Tactical Squads they are going to be quickly painted so they will be what I consider table quality. Again it will only be a  few colors so you can do it using only a small investment in paints, but it still gives a nice look.

Materials:
(** I used mostly GW colors for this as I haven't gotten to the store that carries Vallejo in my area **)
Vallejo Poly Black Primer
Iwata Com Art - Opaque Cobalt Green Hue
Caliban Green (Dark)
Snot Green (Mid - This is the older GW Color. They say it's the same as Warpstone but mine is a little darker. If you don't have it you can just use the Warpstone as it will get covered with Thrakka which darkens it but more on that later.)
Warpstone Glow (High)
Thrakka Green (Green Wash, this can be made by thinned green ink/paint as well. Biel-Tan Green new GW color)
Badab Black (Black Wash, this can be made by thinning black ink/paint. Nuln Oil new GW color)

(** You could honestly paint something close just using Caliban Green and Warpstone Glow, then use Black paint thinning it for a wash and use Caliban to make a very thin wash to darken the first coat of mid highlights**)

Lets get this party started.. oh and don't mind the crazy white fingers, I was priming white before and the poly primer takes some serious scrubbing to remove!

1. I prime the mini and then spray it with the Cobalt Green Hue. Priming and base coating with an Airbrush will give you a smoother more even finish and will speed up the process. But it's not required at all, the last few guys I brushed as I didn't feel like getting the AB out for one mini.

2. After it's dry I then go back and hit some of the shadow areas with the Caliban Green. Caliban is a little darker then the Cobalt Green Hue and will offer another blending layer. If you don't use the Com Art color to base coat you can just brush the model with the Caliban Green.


3. With the Caliban applied use the black wash to further darken all the recess and shadowed areas. If you brushed on the Caliban this will be the only shadow fading so start in the recesses and work your way outwards away from the darkest sections. Try to keep the black even and don't let it pool up. Applying many thinner coats will give you a better look then a few heavy coats that can pool and dry uneven looking. Also remember if it's pooling up you can always add more water to your brush and just spread the black out or wipe it off with the brush itself.


4. Now you want to start working on the mid blend so using the Snot Green (or the Warpstone if that is all you have or want to use) and start hitting the highlighted areas and edges. I usually thin the color 50/50 with water making it very close to a wash and start on the larger areas I want to highlight. I don't just want to have the extreme edges done, I want there to be a few blends on the armor sections here and there giving it a more realistic look. After the area blends are done I'll then go back and use a thick blend of 80/20 paint to water to hit edges and highest levels.


5. After the first mid blend I go over the whole model with Thrakka Green to darken all the blends. This will bring all the mid highlights down and if you only used the warpstone it will darken it enough to make the Warpstone highlight still pop.


6. Now you'll start on the highlights with the Warpstone Glow. You want to hit all the edges and the highest sections that capture the light. This is where I'll even outline some of the details on the armor that I haven't touched yet. Thin the paint 70/30 paint/water and be careful to keep the lines very straight when outlining the details. Keep the lines straight and even, if they are crooked it will throw the look off. They should be hard edge reflections.




7. Now the green is mostly done. At this point I may go back and hit some of the darker areas with the black wash again. I haven't done this yet on this mini as I'm going to wait until I have the rest of the colors on the mini and I'll use the black wash on the entire mini (not a coat over the entire thing just in all the areas that I think need it) and all the darker sections may get two or three coats.


Here he is with the rest of the base colors added but no more blending. I'll finish him up in the next few days when I get a chance. I just wanted to get the how to up to show what he'd look like with the added colors and a complete look. I'll be blending the gun, leather and other small details to give him a finished complete look but even if you stopped right here he looks decent enough for table quality.

This is a pretty basic blend that can be done very quickly and will give you a nice finished product to field. This weekend I primed up the rest of the Tacts so I'm going to motor through them to get them all done up. I hope this helped..  ENJOY!

EDIT:
Finished him up. Other then a shoulder icon.


Friday, January 25, 2013

Lean Green Machine

Last night I worked on the Tact, he's pretty much done. I think I will give his gun a little more love but other then that I think he looks decent and it's pretty quickly done. I'm going to try and knock these guys out table quality and not try to go too far on them. The Tact guys are going to mainly be filler haha.. so TQ will be good enough. Sorry homies. But with just 3 colors and black wash they can be rolled though pretty quickly. Hopefully this weekend I can get around to building the new Termies that just came in. At least have them built so I can test out the list I made up. But I also need to get 2 Rhinos, Attack Bike and a Land Speeder done. Not to mention the rest of the bikers, and they are going to take a little longer as I want to pose them. So probably won't be done this weekend haha..

Greens Used were:
Caliban Green (Dark)
Snot Green (Mid) (Old colors)
Warpstone Green (High)
Black Ink Wash

They are all GW colors as I haven't gotten to the store that carries VMC lately. On the next guy I'll try to make up a Tut for them.


I also worked on the Deathwing a bit too. I'll be putting more time into these guys so I'm trying to find a look that I like.
So far I've been using VMA Sand for the body and have been playing around with washes of Chestnut Ink and Umber Ink. Some of the deep recesses got hit with black. After that I mixed some pale brown with the sand and started the clean up process. He's looking ok so far but still have a ton more to go til I'm happy with the look.


My black texture paint is mostly gone and dried up so I might be taking a trip to AC Moore to grab some more for basing. The bases will be a very dark deep wet forest look. The Tact needs a little static grass added and the base will be done. The static grass I have is light so I might have to pick up a dark green cut.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

No Starfighters, no plan? One ship, you, me, and that's it?

Last night the Dark Angel stuff I order came in so I de sprued, sanded and cleaned. I still had some time and energy so I built the Nephilim and have to say it really looks slick. I still need to clean up some of the extra glue that seeped on a few parts but it's almost ready to prime and then break out the airbrush. Sadly I think I may have popped a seal on my Velocity so that may be out for repair. Not really sure what caused it but when I hit the air the pot will start to bubble. I seem to have bad luck with airbrushes, not sure if it's me or them haha.. my Talon clogs up something fierce. Even with the Comm Art which is crazy as I never have an issue in my Badge brushes. I typically have to sit there with a Q Tip with cleaner on it and have to clean the tip of the needle every few minutes.

I know a lot of people are ripping this thing for it's cost to abilities but it just looks so damn good. And hopefully it will come out looking just as good when painted. Not sure what color I'm going to go with for the Wings on the .... Wings 8)..  thinking of maybe going Green to stay with the DA colors. But Bone would also look good but I want it to stay dark, who knows. Just want to figure it out before I remove the mask from the wings and all. For the canopy I have a few ideas I want to try, I want to keep this thing dark as possible so it will be a form of blackout but don't know how it will turn out so I'll probably test it on something else first.