Ultramarines: Tanks Basecoat Finished

I managed to pull myself away from my PS3 long enough to finish airbrushing my Ultramarines tanks and make this blog post, but it’s going to be a short one because time spent blogging is time spent not playing Space Marine.

Unfortunately I don’t have a ton of useful information to offer with this post.  It’s really more of an update on my progress, but what I have learned thus far in my airbrushing experience is:

1. Learning distance vs. trigger pull (amount of paint allowed to flow) is key.
2. Just like using a bristle brush multiple thin coats is still better than one heavy/thick coat.
3. Moisture traps are a necessity. When the compressor starts to get hot their will be condensation that accumulates in the air hose. If not dealt with it will create splatter spots on the model.
4. Citadel Foundation paints will clog your airbrush if not thinned properly with Liquitex airbrush medium (or other quick-dry medium) and warrant a little extra effort to clean up the airbrush after using them.
5. The fluid nozzle does not need to be removed and cleaned after every use.
6. The airbrush needle is a lot more rugged than what I was initially lead to believe. This may be solely the design of the Grex needle as I have nothing to compare it to.

An airbrush is an amazing tool and I regret not buying one sooner.  Next in line are the infantry squads, two tactical squads and a terminator assault squad.  I’d like to note that tanks, especially the Land Raider look infinitely cooler with the Forge World extra armour kit.

On another note I keep making headway on the Fortress of Redemption (FoR).  I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned that I’m working on this before now.  The FoR is a superb kit and to say it’s big is an understatement.  This kit is massive.  I bought the kit on its release day and have struggled painting it from day one because of its size, but never the less I chip away at it little by little when I can.  The tower section has undergone three paint jobs before I could get the angel to look how I wanted it and while it’s still not finished I have the foundation correct for where I want to take it.  Tonight I started the floor sections using the MIG Vietnam Earth weathering pigment.

I’m taking leaps into all kinds of unknown hobby techniques…  airbrushing, weathering pigments.  Where will it end?  So far I’m not enjoying weathering pigments.  They’re incredibly messy and get on absolutely everything.  The amount of time I’ll need to invest in touchups makes me weary to use them often if at all.

So this post ended up being longer than anticipated, but that’s OK, its not like Space Marine has an expiration date on it.  Which reminds me, my milk does expire today so I need to go make a giant glass of chocolate milk.  I’m off to do just that…  Thanks for dropping by and reading.  Cheers!

Back In The Saddle

It’s been awhile, but now that the thunderstorm looming over my head is finally gone I can get some hobby done and some blog posts up.  If you’re wondering where I’ve been… I’ve been dealing with a preverbal shit-storm of bad fortune.

To sum it up as quickly as I can… Both the wife piece and myself wrecked both of our cars two weeks apart, no one was injured.  She needed to buy a new vehicle because hers was deemed totaled. I then bought a new one because I wanted to.  Thanksgiving came and went, much travelling was done.  After the holidays the wife piece and I both became ill.  Thankfully none of that H1N1 crap going around.  A month later we’re well and I’m back in the saddle and ready to go.

I just finished up my one set of Urban Barricades after leaving them only primed for months.  I kept them simple, but made sure to do enough that they wouldn’t be bland.  Each piece was first primed black and then given a base coat of Chardon Granite by means of heavy over brushing.

The door in this barricade was first painted with Camo Green and then given a liberal coating of Devlan Mud.  The rusty grate was done using the technique described in this months White Dwarf.  (Painting The Coach Inn p.86)  I started with with a base coat of Dark Flesh, then stippled on some Bestial Brown followed by a tiny bit of Blazing Orange.  I have to admit the new GW Stippling Brush was the VIP here.  I’ve used old worn out, cut off brushes to stipple before, but the new GW brush is designed for the technique and really does do a better job.

On this barricade you can see the lite dry brushing of Graveyard Earth around the very bottom to give the effect of dust and dirt being kicked up onto the wall.

  The gold on this was done very simply by dry brushing on Shinning Gold followed by a highlight of Chainmail and washed with Devlan Mud.

Take note to the fallen statue in front.  To make this barricade have bit more personality I focused on making the statue a lighter color.  I started with a base coat of Dessert Yellow followed by a highlight of Bleached Bone and then finished it by painting a small amount of Devlan Mud into the deepest recesses.

Here’s another example of the rust technique.  This one would have been pretty boring without some additional contrasting colors in the mix.

Lastly the wrecked bike.  The gold is done exactly as described above, but the body of the bike started with a base of Modian Blue, washed with Badab Black and then highlighted with Mordian Blue.

That’s all for now.  Thanks for stopping.  Cheers!

The Mega Post… Moonscape Finished

I finished up my first set of Moonscape craters tonight.  I have to say… The results are better than anticipated.

I wanted these to match my Realm of Battle Gameboard so I opted for the blasted dirt look rather than the gray up heaved bed-rock scheme.  The colours are those used in the Citadel Scenery Pack and the edges were textured using the Vallejo Black Lava.  Here’s a picture of them sitting on my desk after being primed.  The Black Lava does a nice job to cover up those horrid and unsightly flat edges.

After priming them black I used the Citadel spray gun and applied on a nice even coat of brown over the whole crater.  I then used a large flat drybrush to make the black blast area in the center and then drybrushed Ochre brown over the outer edges.  Finally I applied Devlan Mud wash to the deepest crevasses.

Here are some other projects that I am slowly working on.  Three tanks for my Space Marine army.  I’ve not done much other than prime them and use the spray gun to give them a coat of Mechrite Red, but it’s a start.

My most recently painted Space Marine squad got their decals and were designated tactical squad no. 10.

I assembled my Shrine of the Aquila.  Honestly, I had forgotten I bought the thing.  I was under the bed pulling out some paints and such for the Moonscape and there it was.  I’ll most likely paint it up to match the picture on the box, but somehow tie it in to the rest of my buildings.  The Shrine is HUGE…  Frosty the Snow Marine gives you size comparison.

 

Well, I’m afraid that’s all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Cheers!  :)

Imperial Bastion Stage-by-Stage

Great looking Imperial Bastions in just four easy steps…

I picked up the Imperial Strongpoint the other day and was so excited I jumped right into it. I have to say that this set is amazing, both the bastions and the defense lines. You get tons of stuff and the detail on all of the pieces is incredible.

Step 1: After assembly and priming the bastion Chaos Black I used the Citadel spray gun to spray the entire bastion Catachan Green.

Step 2: Once dry I used the Large Flat Drybrush and went over the entire bastion with Camo Green. TIP: In this step when drybrushing the bastion make sure to get almost all of the paint off the bristles and use a circular motion to drybrush. Using a circular motion will eliminate streaks and really brings out the detail.

Step 3: Again, using my Large Flat Drybrush I picked out only the most prominent features of the bastion with Rotting Flesh.

Step 4: This last stage is two parts. I used my Large Drybrush (not the Large Flat Drybrush) to bring out the detail on the Heavy Bolter’s, as well as some of the other metal bits, with Boltgun Metal. Lastly I stippled some Chaos Black into the battle scars and called it finished.

I hope this little tutorial helps you get those bastions painted up and ready for games of Planetstrike. Comments and constructive criticism welcome as always. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Cheers!

Sanctum Imperialis

Despite my busy life I still manage to get things done every once in awhile.  This is the third building to be assembled from the Imperial Sector box set.  There’s even a fourth and enough bitz left over to do a small fifth, but I saved them to be combined with my 2nd Imperial Sector box.  Enough rambling, on to the pictures…

I thought about doing the colour on this one a little differently than the others, but in the end decided to keep it the same.  This decision was mostly influenced by the release of the new Shrine of the Aquila.  I wanted to have at least one building in my set that stood out amongst all the others, so it could be easy identified as an objective.  The Sanctum Imperialis was going to be that building, but no longer.  The new Shrine of the Aquila will be better suited for the job.

Thanks for stopping by.

Basilica Administratum

I managed to get another one of the Imperial Sector buildings completed today.  I kept the same paint scheme and over all simplified design as  the Manufactorum. 

When I think of war torn buildings of the 41st millennium, I don’t envision many pretty or lavish colours.  I think of of dark and bleak ruins that are haunting and eerie, especially given their gothic nature and design.  This theme will be carried over to the next few buildings as well as the urban barricades and I hope that in the end it’ll all come together and make a really nice battle field.

Manufactorum

Here’s a nice change of pace.  No Space Marines this post.  Now that I have my Genesis Chapter painted up to a point I’m content with I’m turning my focus to working on the Imperial Sector buildings for my Realm of Battle Gameboard.  I have four buildings assembled, based and primed, but they’ve been sitting on the side lines.  This is the first I’ve completed…

I tried to keep this as simple as possible.  I primed the whole building black > Dry brush Charadon Granite > Litely dry brush in a downward only motion Codex Grey.  The base ruble piles are just left over bitz, cut up sprue and some basing sand.  Colour scheme is the same as the buildings, but with areas painted Brown > Badab black wash to create some unevenness > Very lite dry brush Ochre.  The rust was done with a mix of Brown + Blazing Orange mix heavily watered down followed by Fiery Orange also heavily watered down then finally hit with some Devlan Mud to better blend the colours, tone down the bright orange and create some unevenness.

Let me know what you think and as always thanks for stopping. Cheers!