Contest Model 6.0 - And Finished!

Rocinante is done and in the display case. This was a really fun model to work on. I love how PP Warjacks have largish but not overly so areas to work on. Just enough room to give good detail and do a few fun things with.

So where did we leave off.... Well after the gloss coat had time to dry. I was able to mix up a black oil wash and all the Silvers and golds were given a heavy wash to bring down the shine dramatically. Then I mixed an orange wash to add to the rust effect.

Once dried I applied some Secret Weapons Miniatures rust pigments across most of the model. It adds a bit of depth and also brings down the shine. I like doing this with the oil wash stage because it helps keep the pigments in place for the final matte varnish.

So here are some pictures. Please leave some feedback and let me know what you think!

Competition Model 5.0 - The Home Stretch.....

I feel all productive today. Made a video. Wrote a review on some editing software. Even managed to work on a model.

I got this little guy put on his base. I really like how the cobble stones came out. I started with grey primer on the base, then dry brushed Vallejo - Grey Black. then up to Vallejo -Stone Grey. After that I used Secret Weapons Miniatures earth powders to give them a dirty street look. I still need to clean up the rim of the base after everything is dried, varnished and ready to go.

I also got the oil washes on. I used a black on the golds and most of the silvers. I needed to knock down the shine quite a bit. I then used a bright orange oil to make a rust wash, This should help with the edges and give it a washed out rust look.

Now I'm just waiting on everything to dry for a day or two (oils take patience young padawan...)

Once everything is "dry" it will be time to coat with a matte varnish then I will add some rust powders to a few spots, finish cleaning up the base and this one will be in the books!

Well you have been patiently waiting so have a bunch of pics.

Wondershare Video Editor Review.

So finally got my shiny new camcorder, stand and all the accessories my heart could desire.

I was looking around online trying to find any information on what most people on YouTube use to edit video as the cost and high level of user knowledge for Adobe is just too high for my taste/time/abilities.

I found Wondershare. I shot a quick (30 minute video) and was able to play with the editor and not only cut out parts of the video with ease (things like painting out of view etc) I was able to add an intro, cut and splice things to make sense timeline wise, add text and really make something I am actually proud of.

Some of the features that make it worth looking at.

1. Easy navigation. Its all right there on one screen.

2. Intuitive interface. I'm still shaking my head how easy it was to use. I did not have to spend 20 hours watching tutorials and reading manuals (or enrolling in courses at the community college).

3. Upload to YouTube was fast and easy. It took about 15 minutes to upload a 20 minute video.

All in all its a fantastic product for under $50.

Oh and here is my first attempt at a video. It has the Wondershare watermark across the screen as I used the free trial version but its still a great first try.

Competition Model 4.0 - The Shining.....

So I was able to finish the golds, brasses, silvers etc on the model today. Now its just about time to start rusting it out, adding the pigments and oil washes and making it look like its been to hell and back. The base from Secret Weapons Miniatures shipped out yesterday so hopefully it will be here before the end of the week and I can have this model wrapped up and ready to go this weekend.

So here are a bunch of photos of what the model looks like before I ruin a perfectly good paint job.

Please let me know what you think.

Exciting news!

I have wanted to create a YouTube channel for a while now but have lacked the funds/equipment to actually do it. Well my amazing wife (she really is the best out there). Decided that it was time and I was able to purchase a camera, tripod, and everything I need to start creating video's to go along with the pictures and walk-threws I have been doing here.

So I plan to shoot and edit my first video this weekend and play with the editing software. I hope to have it up on YouTube next week!

I hope you will like what I produce and am more then open to suggestions for what the first model worked on should be.

Again I want to give a huge shout out to my Patreon with out you none of this would be possible.

Competition 3.0 aka Photo Dump.

I got a good amount of painting done today. I was able to get the silvers and most of the brass and golds on the model. I still need to work on the face's grill and then the final darker silvers of the hands, sword and gun barrel. Then..... muhahaha it will be time to ruin a perfectly good model.

The silver so far is Vallejo Model Air - Aluminum.
The Golds have been
P3 Rhulic Gold
Vallejo Model Color Brass
Vallejo Metallic Alcohol Based Old Gold

It's also time to start thinking about basing.... I chose the Secret Weapons Miniatures line for this. For PP models I usually use the Trench Line but for this one I went with something new. I am going to try they Scrap Yard base. I feel like it will work well with the style I am looking for on this model. So hopefully it will be here this next week.

Here is what it looks like from the SWM website.

Here is a link if you want to buy stuff from Mr Justin (you should, his stuff rocks). 

www.secretweaponminiatures.com/

So yea.......Here have a metric crap ton of pics.

Contest Model 2.0

So today I did a bit of rage painting.

What is rage painting you ask? Well PTSD is a bitch. I was at the point of rage where I needed to remove myself from all of mankind and what better place to go then where I can focus my energy into something productive then the painting table. (I wonder if I can get the VA to pay for my hobby as "Therapy"?

Anywho.... I got some work done on Rocinante. This is the model that I am painting up for a competition based on the theme of Veteran. The idea is to have something that looks like its been there, done that and survived to tell about it. The model is going to be rusted, dirtied, and made downright nasty with battle damage.... But first I have to make it look good before the destruction can occur.

I started by laying the undecoat of browns into reds and up to orange. The base of brown I used is Vallejo Game Color - Beasty Brown. It is a bit lighter than I would normally go for a rust effect but the green I am going to use on the model is very light and it should give a good contrast. After that dried I added a bit of Vallejo Game Color - Gory Red in a 4:2 mix with the Brown. Then moved to a 4:2 ratio of the mix and Old GW - Bright Orange (its a bit more red then most orange out there).

Once the paint was dry it was time to protect the rust layer. This is what we will be chipping down to so we need a good layer of varnish over it so that we don't accidentally go all the way down to the grey plastic when we chip the paint later down the road. I used Tamiya Gloss Varnish because its the best I've found and its tough as nails when dry.

I gave it an hour to cure (worked on some other models I'm not ready to show yet (patience grasshoppers).

Once the Gloss was dry and good to go. I grabbed the Aqua-Net hair spray. This step is key. Use really cheap hairspray. The good stuff is bad for what we want. The hair spray is water soluble so once we are ready to chip we use a bit of water and watch how it dissolves the  hairspray under the paint letting us get a good natural chipping to occur.

Then it was time to start laying down the actual paint layers that will cover the model.

I wanted to keep with the overall feel of the Mercs Faction but did not want to go with a darker green. I used Vallejo Model Color - Russian WWII green and it looks fantastic so far.

Well that's about it for now.

Next up will be to add the silver and golds, but that's another blog entry.

Please leave some feedback. Any suggestions for basing would be greatly helpful.