WIP - Small airships for Dystopian Wars (Part 2)

Added the stripes and some highlights before applying the oil wash.

And finally, my first oil wash.

The jury is still out.  I'm not sure if it's a big enough difference from acrylic washes to go through the trouble.  I wish I had thought to wash some of the models with acrylic washes so that I could compare them side-by-side.

I'm also unsure of what I thinned it with.  I had collected a thinner in a spare jar, and I'm not sure if it's enamel thinner or mineral spirits (or both!).  I was surprised to see the pigments separate a little bit.  It was easy enough to mix them back in solution, but I didn't expect to see a separation.

The wash seems to be drying very quickly.  I won't have a chance to do any more for another night or two, so I'll have no problem continuing with the next step, but I'm going to test it a little bit to see how quickly it dries.

In other ADD painting news, I threw down some base colors on these goblins that have been in my back-log for at least a year.

WIP - Small airships for Dystopian Wars

Picking up from a few weeks ago (prior to the interruption of the Pirate crew), here are my Jager class airships, alongside 3 newer models sporting Tesla weapons on the topside, primed sometime during a spare moment last week, followed by a basecoat. 

Yes, I'm thinking of a predominantly gray color.  The distinguishing feature will be an iron cross decal.  Other than the Tesla weapons, there's not much else that stands out from the model.  However, I still find the general shape and appearance to be very cool.   I need a way to bring out the lines and shape of the dirigible for the Jagers.  For the other ones (forgot their name), the focus should be the weapon.  I want to make it look very mechanical, but it's going to be hard to bring out the details on such a small model.  I'm going to try oil washes for the first time.


Added metallic basecoats today.  Testing the look -- nothing final.

I actually used a bronze-gold color on the Tesla weapon, but it doesn't have enough contrast against the copper and steel mechanisms.  I'm going to need to highlight the gun with a gold that is more yellow, probably.  I want it to look like a shiny brass, though, not gold.

I hope I can paint the rear elevators with the black & white stripes of the other aircraft, but I'm not sure if it's going to work as well on the smaller width.  I'm thinking a grey-blue for the vertical stabilizer.  I could also see the whole bunch of them painted a dingy Red Baron red, instead of the gray.

I'm not crazy about the wing structures being painted steel, but they are a continuation of the front sidebeam, which I do want to be steel.  Hmmm....

Actually the front, the sidebeam, and the wing structures are painted Tamiya Platinum, which is an alcohol-based paint.  I like the unique color, but I've decided I don't like alcohol-based paint.  It gets too viscous, too fast.  I tried it in my ceramic well palette, and it just gets goopy.  It doesn't work on a wet palette either - it separates.  I'm sure I'm probably attempting to use the wrong tool for the wrong job.

What are alcohol-based paints best used for?

Battle Report - Warhammer 40K

This past Friday, I played a Warhammer 40K game between my Tau army and my friend's Blood Angels.  1500 points.  We had some interesting twists and turns, making for some very cinematic moments.

Click on the pic to view the full album and commentary on Picasa.

Exciting new addition to the lead mountain

So what do we have here?  A limited edition sculpt of Paul Bonner's Cyanolith?  For my very own?!

Merry Christmas to me!!

Here is the art on which the sculpture is based.  The art appeared on page 132 of the Cadwallon RPG rulebook, and I'm sure it's littered elsewhere throughout the Rackham catalog, probably in the Gallery section of an issue of Cry Havoc! magazine.  And, of course, there's a fine rendition of it in Paul Bonner's art book.

Paul Bonner is on the same level as Frank Frazetta, as one of my all-time favorite artists.

Limited edition of only 100 copies worldwide.  My copy is #31.  Sculpted by Italian maestro, Carmine Giugliano.  Signed by Paul Bonner.

This sculpt is a very good candidate for my next Crystal Brush project.

Finished - Pirates for Freebooter's Fate

I still have some details and touch-ups to do, but this is what I posted to the Monthly Challenge - Theme: Pirates, on the Dragonpainting forum.  Here is the link to view all of the entries.

As I mentioned on the forum, it sure helped having a time-box to crank out a project that I've had waiting in the wings for probably a couple of years now. I can now introduce Freebooter's Fate to my game group!

I began to stall out on about my 5th session, which is why it really helps to time-box a project like this.  I typically stall out when it's time to do the detail work and the NMM. This challenge was helpful to force me to paint NMM really fast. I was hoping that I would have some revelations by speed-painting NMM, but nothing jumped out at me. Maybe after I sleep on it a little. But the practice is always productive, even if it just develops more muscle memory.

Regardless, I'm pleased with the result, given that I invested only one calendar week.


For the full WIP series see this post.

WIP - Pirates for Freebooter's Fate

Sunday Night

This is the progress I made over the weekend for the DragonPainting forum's Pirate-themed monthly challenge.

The paintjob is pretty sloppy for now, while I'm still laying down base colors.  It will tighten up when I lay down the washes (I hope!).  I'm keeping everything desaturated for now, and I'm following the studio colors for now (except for female pirate, Curly Ann -- I'm experimenting with an alternate scheme), so that I don't have to think about it.  However, I'm not crazy about every color theme, so I'm holding off on some models so I can see if another theme pops in my head. 

I'm glad I didn't attempt to complete this project over just this weekend. I'm glad they extended the contest for a week -- I'm going to need it!


Monday Night

I still have a ways to go for basecoat colors, but I'm definitely over the hump. Still motivated! Although it looks like the two dandies are about to get kicked off the island....

Thursday Morning

Just about ready for washes.  The time-consuming part for this session was painting the three sets of stripes.

I've lost interest in the two dandies, for now, although I do like their hats, and I do think they add some offbeat character to the unit as a whole.  But in the interest of making the deadline, I'll set them aside for now.  Besides, now that I've seen some of the creative ideas for them out there on the interwebs, I actually want to give them some thought.


Saturday Morning

Initial washes.