In the home stretch...

I was able to spend a few hours working on the Rhino and other GW tank last night. Basically I finished up the weathering and then sealed it with a matte varnish (to keep the pigments in place).

The weathering beyond the chipping is pretty easy to do. First thing is to gloss coat after the chipping stage is done. This basically puts a barrier between anything and the hairspray that is still under the paint. Once the gloss coat cured it was time to add the wash. For this model I went with Red Ochre oil paints mixed into a wash by adding mineral spirits. The oil needed over night to dry. Then I used Secret Weapons Miniatures - Rust Red weathering powder to give it a good rusted, dirty look. Then sealed it with matte varnish. The thing to remember about pigments is that they will always darken a bit after being varnished.

So here are the tanks. Now to just finish up the turrets and weapons and this one will be done.

Batch Painting - a few thoughts.


I was waiting for the next gloss coat to dry on the GW tanks yesterday but wanted to get some painting done. I had a few models laying around (who doesn't really?) that were primed and and patiently waiting their turn in line on the shelf. I decided to get them at least base coated. I knew that all of them were going to have strong reds and figured "why waste the paint?"

Batch painting, especially with an airbrush is pretty easy and can save a you a bunch of time. Make sure all of your models are prepped and ready to go. Keep them off to the side so that they are not picking up any over spray, and have at it. Simple really but what a time and effort saver. From base coat to under ehighlights to inks all four models took less than an hour.

So here are some pics....

GW Rhino 3.0

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a week since I have been able to post any work updates. Darn life has been getting in the way of painting time.....

Thank goodness I was able to get a few hours in tonight! In picking up where I left off. I finished up the slivers on the tank treads and all the fiddly bits, and tried a new technique on the smoke stacks. I was looking at pictures of exhaust pipes and thought about how they typically go from silver to gold to blue I wanted to give it shot on the model. I already had the base gold laid down, so I took a new paint in my collection P3 - Blighted Gold and used it as a transition to the top of the stacks. Then I mixed a blue and black acrylic was together for the uppermost part and I really like how it turned out. Then it was time to add a bit more weathering to the model. The first step is the oil wash. I used W&N Red Ocher and applied it liberally to the model. Once this is dry it will be time to go with a good rust colored weathering powder and this one will be in the books.

So here is a bad picture of the progress so far.

GW Rhino 2.0

I got a bit more work done on the tanks last night. I worked on getting the rust effects looking right. I used the hairspray method as mentioned in the last post. Once that was done I sealed the model with Tester's Gloss Coat. then it was time to work on the Golds and Silvers. The golds are Vallejo  Alcohol based - Red Gold, and the silver is P3 - Pig Iron. Pig Iron has been my favorite silver since the old GW - Chain Mail went by the way side. It has similar dark tones to it which makes it a great base for highlighting, it also has amazing coverage.

So here are a few pics to keep you satisfied. I also need to fix the line between the purple and white. As you can see in the picture I got a bit of bleed over when using water to activate the hairspray underneath the paint.

GW models you say? 

Yep, I figured I'd mix it up a bit and work on some Games Workshop stuff. 

So this is a tank (I think a Rhino?). I am told that this is a Chaos model so it's going to be all rusted out and nasty looking. 

I started with an undercoat of brown/red/orange mix. Once that was dry I hit it with a good coat of Tester's Gloss Coat to seal in the freshness.... Well OK to facilitate the next step in the process. Once the gloss varnish had time (overnight) to cure I then applied a coating of hair spray. I use Aqua Net as its really cheap and water soluble. 

Then it was time to add the main colors of the tank. I was going for a split color of white and purple. This step is critical. You need just enough paint to cover the browns, without saturating the hairspray. to do this I turned up the PSI on the airbrush and shot from a bit further away than normal (about 6 inches) so that the paint was just about dry by the time it hit the model. 

I started with the white coat of paint. waited for it to dry completely, then masked off the center with painters tape. It was then time to use the purple. 

I let everything dry overnight again (nobody said this is a quick process). 

And it was then time to activate the hairspray and chip some paint. Doing this is fairly easy. Get a fresh cup of water, a paintbrush and something to chip the paint with. I personally use a straw that has been cut on the bias. It's sharp enough to chip up the paint, but not so sharp that it will cut through the varnish. 

Here are the steps for the rust chipping. 

1. take your paintbrush and get it good and wet.

2. "paint" the water onto the section you want to chip.

3. wait about 30 second for the water to get under the paint to the hairspray.

4. chip the paint gently with the tool of your choice. 

5. when you are satisfied with the level of rust. dry off the area with a clean paper towel. 

After the chipping is done it was time to seal the model with another layer of Gloss Varnish. 

And you get something like this. 

Once the Varnish cures it will be time to work on details, washes, powders and all the fun stuff to ruin a perfectly good paint job!

I was on a webcast.

For those of you who don't know Menoth John. He has had a webcast over the last three years. The show is primarily about painting, Warmachine and other twists and turns.

I was invited onto the show last night to discuss lighting and miniature photography.

So have a look and see if you like it.

And of course. Go over to www.flightmedicgaming.com and grab a dice tray or two while you enjoy the show!

Major Announcement Time!

As I promised at the begging of the year, I have been expanding the blog. So far I have worked on different models. I have started on the product reviews (stay tuned for more and better!), and now for the next. 

We are officially launching the store today!

The first product that we are offering are dice trays. Not just any dice trays but cognizable trays that don't cost a fortune! The trays are made from real wood, with the most durable felt we could find (and believe me we tested a lot of felt).  You will be able to add lettering to the sides and logo's or pictures to the bottoms, to truly make your dice tray unique! All this for the low price of $45. 

So what are your choices? 

You can choose felt in Red, Black, Blue or Green. We will have three differnt fonts avaiable for the lettering on the sides and logos on the bottom will be 6in by 6in. The Dice Trays themselves are 9in by 9in so they offer plenty of room to roll dice, carry models, cards, or anything else you can think of. 

So come over to the store and check it out! 

http://www.flightmedicgaming.com/

As a side note the blue tray is the only one showing right now (working on it!) You can still order any colors you would like. When checking out you will be asked what text you would like, Just let us know what color felt you want and we will make it happen!

Oh and I'd bet you'd like to see the trays. This is one of the trays we did for the one and only Menoth John.