Fiddler WIP Part 3 - Weathering step 1, oil discoloration

This is my 3rd post regarding this build, and I am getting into what I would like to be the focus of this WIP series, weathering with oils. First a few thoughts on how I look at weathering.

1. To mimic the weathering that takes place in real life I feel like you need to work in layers.  The much that you find on a tank, or the sleight discoloration that you see on equipment that is left out side did not occur over night, it happened over time, layer upon layer.  I think representing realistic weathering in modeling is best done the same way, layers.

2. Oil paints.  I really like using oil paints for realistic weather effects. I have a bin that is full of enamel paints, oils paints in tubes, brushes and orderless mineral spirits, this is the core of what I use for weathering.  When oil paints are applied over an acrylic surface, you can easily erase, mix, move around and blend the oil colors while safely leaving the bottom acrylic layer safe.

3. Patience.  Oils take time to dry, and steps need to be taken between applications to ensure that previous work is not disturbed.  Some modelers do not like "steps", this process takes time, and patience, if you are not willing to learn them, experiment with them and use them, maybe oils for weathering are not for you. 

So what are my "layers" that I use to create realistic weathering effects.

1. Primer - a good primer goes a ling way to any project.  Often times with the type of weathering I like to do I am masking, scrubbing, rubbing and scraping the surface.  A good primer will keep paint from peeling.

2. Quality paint - I use p3, Tamyia, and Vallejo paints.  I find there colors to be very vivid and for the most part the coverage is great.  For heavy paint chipping I do prefer to use Vallejo and Tamyia paints over p3.  I find the p3 gets a little "gummy" when trying to do paint chipping.  This layer will sometimes consist of multiple layers and includes the layers of the paint chipping, and the top layer, along with any other colors that may be used to create the effects that I am after.

3. Surface discoloration - This is typically my first layer of oil paint weathering. I will go into more detail later about how to this layer works and the purpose it serves.  This layer also helps to tie together all the paint chipping you have done, and kind of helps to unify everything.

4. Panel discoloration - This is the second layer I do where I will pick random panels or areas of a model and alter the base color of the model slightly, either making it darker, lighter or change the tone slightly.

5. Specific Weathering - This final layer is where I will go back to some of the chips I made, create rust streaks, grime streaks, or emphasize some chipping.


These are just some of the general thoughts that I have regarding how I approach weathering a model, onto talking about surface discoloration.


To start with here is an image of the model I am working with and the supplies I am using.  You will need a paper towel, brushes, Odorless Mineral Spirits, mixing cups, a palette and of course your paints.  I picked 3 specific colors for this part of the process, Yellow Ocher, Dark Rust, and Starship Filth. The first 2 colors are pretty warm colors, I did this because as you can see in the photo my original surface is pretty cool.  The third color I picked, Starship Filth is a pretty cool dark grey, this is an attempt to just even things out a bit.  The whole purpose of this initial layer is to create the general discoloration that comes from exposure to the elements.  This weathering is applied all over the model and will change the final color, so when choosing your base color, keep in mind that it may be different than what you intend the final color to be.

The process is started by dipping a wide flat brush into the mineral spirits and then "wicking" as much of the excess off on a paper towel. Then take this brush to the area you intend to weather and brush the mineral spirits on to the surface.



This is an image of the area before applying the mineral spirits.

Here is the same area with a coat of the mineral spirits.  This is probably a bit more than I should have put on, but I was juggling a camera in all this, I actually let this layer evaporate a little before moving on. You will notice that the surrounding areas are flat.  I prefer using a flat surface when working with oils, I know there is a lot of back and forth on this topic, but the way I look at it is canvas is a flat material, so maybe keeping my surfaces flat will help me work with the oils better.

The next step is to randomly apply the chosen oil colors all over the area.  There is no rhyme or reason to this, it is random and will all be blended together to create a nice, discolored surface.  I keep as many brushes handy as colors I am using, that way you do not need to rinse between colors.  As you can see from this photo as well, you do not need to be pretty about how the dots are applied. Also a word about color choice, there is no right choice.  If I wanted to enhance the cool look of the original surface I would have gone with dark browns and blues and maybe some green, but I choose to go warm so I went with reds and yellows, the choice is yours, experiment and don't be afraid to mess up, you can fix it easily with oils.

The next step is pretty simple. Get yourself a second wide flat brush(remember your first one was used to prep the surface, a second one will be used to blend the surface), dip it in your mineral spirits and "wick" as much of the excess off onto a paper towel, you will need to experiment with how wet you want your brush to be, but the basic idea is to begin to work in a vertical motion working your brush up and down blending all the colors together.  If your brush is to wet, the colors will come off in one or two passes.  If your brush is to dry, you will smear the colors all around, it really is about finding a balance that reflects the look you are after.  I like to work is small sections at a time, it helps create variety in the over all appearance and allows me to easily step away for a bit and come back again if I need too.

Here is an image at about the half way point.  I have completed the center cockpit area and the surfaces to the left of that.  You can see the clear difference between the left and right side of the model.  Notice how the chips on the left appear now to look more natural and the surface color appears blotchy and weathered in a very subtle way.  Even the decals now look less like decals and more like they were painted on.

Here is another image showing the top completely weathered.  At this point the model will be allowed to dry for 24 to 48 hours, and then sealed with an acrylic coat of Vallejo Matte Varnish and Future Floor Polish.  I will then move onto discoloring individual panels to really add some more depth and variety to the surface of the mode.



One last thing with these last two images, it kind of shows an unintended result of this process.  You can see how the oils paint has collected as a "muck" in some of the cracks and crevices, as I move on this will only increase and help show off more of the detail, although it looks like I need to go and remove a stray hair that found it's way onto the radar dish!

FIddler WIP Part 2

So I am back with part 2 of this wip.  I have gotten quite a bit done since the last post, but I failed to document it, because it was basic paint and weathering stuff that I have covered before, or will be covering in future posts on other projects.  With this project I would like to focus on using oils to weather and enhance the surface of the model, I will be demonstrating 3 specific uses, how to use oils to discolor a surface, how to use oils to create panel variation and how to use oils to create weathered effects.  That will all come in my part 3 of my WIP, but for now I just wanted to show some pics of where the project is currently at.

 I have always been a fan of the Naval Aviators known as the "Jolly Rogers", perhaps one day I will pick up a F-14 or F-18 and paint it up in those colors.
For now though I felt like using that scheme to influence how this mech is going to look.  I sourced some skull and cross bones decals and busted out my paints, airbrush and masking tape and went to work.

Here is the result so far.  A quick rundown of the colors used for the base coat was a 50/50 mix of VMC Neutral Grey and VMC Off White.  I also through in a drop or two of VMC Blue Grey, and VMC Flat Earth.  The end result is a color that is a little more blue than I would have liked, but I like the final result so far.  When I bust out my oil paints I can modulate the color a bit then. 

Anyway my custom color was applied over a dark grey automotive "etching" primer.  I find this product is great for use with resin and it creates a really nice, durable surface that paint will adhere to easily.

The grey color was applied via airbrush over the primer is a random pattern, basically I airbrush a lot of squiggles over and over an area and slowly build the color up.  This results in a finish that has varied amounts of the dark grey primer showing underneath.  I will be doing a tutorial of this on future projects to better describe the process.  In this picture that I posted I have a 1/35 scale figure I have been working on to provide a sense of scale.

After I got my base layer painted I went in and started to add in my paint chipping, and some alternate colors.  The yellow areas were masked off then taped and the white areas were hand painted.  I really wanted this model to heavy a heavy used "urban" look.  When I go in with my oils I will not be doing a lot of rust, probably just more grime and what not.

After the paint of course came the decals. Here is a close up of some "fiberglass" decal that I added on the front nose area.  I think it kind of gives the model a ED-209 look.  I am kinda of thinking this is more or less some kind of optic or sensor array that allows the pilot to obtain a virtual image of the world outside the cockpit.  You can also see the Jolly Roger I added as well as some decals along the left side of the image that actually have a pilot name there.






Finally here are a few images of some of the weaponry. The rounds on the belt feed are not completed yet, as are some of the other details as well.  This is because of the weathering I will be doing, some details will need to be cleaned up after the fact anyways. Next post will be the oils and the process that is involved in using those!!

Fiddler WIP Part 1

This is the first part in a mulit-part process documenting the build up of the the Fiddler Mech by White Dragon Miniatures.  It is a really cool original design, it comes in 1/35 scale, but if gamers were interested in using it in systems like Infinity or even 40k, it does scale nicely with 28mm figures.

In this project I am going to attempt to replicate the pose of the Mech that is in the artwork on the White Dragon Website. When I saw this artwork I knew immediately I wanted to build it.

The kit is a multimedia kit consisting of mostly resin pieces and some brass rods for the barrels on the weapons.  I felt the packing was a little lax as far as the pieces went.  They were organized loosely
into 3 bags and then packed with foam.  I think some better thought could have gone into organizing the spurs.  There is a lot of pieces in this kit and it was hard to keep everything straight at first.




 I found the pieces of the kit to be, for the most part well cast, albeit a little soft on the details in some spots.  The 2 areas I was disappointed with the most was the wench and the greeblies around the shoulder joints.

There was a few parts that the casting was quite horrible on.  The lower leg sections seemed to suffer the brunt of this miscast.  In addition to the legs there were several pieces that had  sleight mold lines, sometimes I feel like the small mold lines are at times worse than the big ones, to me it seems like it takes more effort to putty and clean those, than it does the large ones.  But, this is resin and semi-professional casting so I am willing to live with some imperfections.

Over all I am really happy with this kit and I am looking forward to finishing it.  I have already seen a few wip's on it, with a variety of colors, but I think I am going to be going with a light blue-grey color.  I have also sourced some appropriate scaled decals to add a bit of realism to the over all build.

Onto some build up info...

So have assembled the Fiddler into its major sub-components, upper and lower hull, weapons and base.

 During assembly I also took care of some of the softer details, I replaced the wench with a scratch built one, and I drilled out all the anchor points as well to add a little more detail to the model, at this point I am not sure if I will be doing anything to the detail on the shoulders as it is all well hidden when fully assembled. I am pretty much ready to move forward with primer and paint, I am going to need to wait a few days for the snow to stop before I can prime, but once I do I will get more pics posted of the progress.

Here are a few more pics of my favorite part of this model, the big ass gun!!

Well, almost a year since my last post, but this post comes with some information and the announcement of some changes coming up!!  I will be graduating in 2 days, this means more time to get back into painting and and updating things around here on a more regular basis!! So I thought I would take some time to post some of the stuff that is in the pipeline so that everyone knows what is coming up.

I have been doing a lot of gaming commission lately, and I have been feeling the need to get back to my roots and do some regular modeling.  Over the next few weeks I have a few projects that I will be posting on that I am making progress.

The first of them will be for all those Star Wars geeks out there!!

I have picked up a couple of 1/144 scale model kits form Fine Molds!!  The Millennium Falcon and Slave I are the once I currently have, given some more time I will probably pic a few of the 1/72 scale fighters, like the X-Wing, Y-Wing and Tie Fighter.  Rest assured it will be enough to pin to geek meter for just about any one!  If you are interested in picking up any of these kits swing on over to Starship Modeler's web store, they usually have all this stuff in stock!!

The next piece of modeling that you can expect to see in the next weeks is this beauty here!!

 

This is a 1/35 scale mech called the "Fiddler" it is produced by a company called White Dragon Miniatures . This is probably the model that I am most excited to start!!  I have had it for a while, but due to school and other demands it has been collecting dust.  I pulled it out today to asses things a bit better in preparation for working on it....

Some other things that you can expect to see from me some time in the next year would be a few of the models over at Industria Mechanika. It is a very cool website by a very talented modeler.  Specifically I am looking at their Dust Buster and The Rook.  There is some other items that I will definitely be picking up as well as there release schedule dictates.

In addition to these I have some more commission work that I am working on for Jay and Trevor over at Chainattack Podcast.  For Jay I have already done quite a bit of stuff for him, here is a link to a gallery of some of his stuff. Also worth mentioning is that Jay owns Discount Games Inc.  He has some fantastic prices on what he sells, I highly recommend him for all your gaming needs, and his increasing hobby line as well.  Some of you know Trevor from Chain Attack as well, I have slowly been working on his Orange Skorne.  There will be some more contributions to his army as well over the next few weeks.

The other thing I will be working on is some reviews for some of the mini's that I have painted.  However, what I plan on doing is assessing them from a assembly and painting standpoint.  One thing I have certainly learned is all model and mini's are not created equal.  I am working on a grading system that will asses a models assembly, paint-ability, convert-ability and over all fun hobby score.  This is something I have always wanted to see that I think will be interesting to do.

Look forward to seeing how this year goes, thanks for checking in!!

Malifaux; Never Borne Battle Group

Well, those few followers I have may have noticed that I have not kept up on my weekly updates.  I was hoping by doing weekly updates it would generate more discussion, but that has not changed, and putting together weekly updates take considerable time.  I will continue to update things regularly as I finish projects and write up a few articles, but until more discussion happens on a regular basis, the weekly stuff will be put on hold for a while.  In addition to this change, I have also added a feedback page and changed some things up for my commission pricing to more accurately reflect the interaction and effort I have and put into my clients projects....nuff of the technical stuff, lets get to some pictures.

So a several weeks ago, a friend from the gaming store I use to hang out at before I moved asked me if I would be interested in painting up some Malifaux, we talked about some ideas and through some numbers around and eventually I ended up with the commission.  What really interested me about this commission is the rich character of the figures that Wyrd produces.  Each model is unique and has some really life to them, in addition Josh, the client, wanted the basing of the figures to represent a "child's nightmare" this presented some interesting challenges from a painting and basing standpoint.

One of the things that I really tried to do on this commission is to work with and use color to provide the shadow and highlight to all the models, in addition I wanted to keep my pallet very limited so that the battle group would have a cohesive look to them, lastly I knew I needed to keep things dark, and shadowy, yet retain the vividness that we have all had from time to time with our dreams and nightmares, so that meant things needed to be painted with high contrast.

So to start things off here is the first of the figures to show.  His name is "Lord Chompy Bits".  When I first pulled this mini out of the box, and I saw the post of the arms, I immediately knew that I needed blood, but I didn't just want painted blood, I wanted it too look wet, and fresh, something that could be very scary to a little child.  I started researching blood effects and found an interesting technique that uses UHU Glue, and Tamyia Clear Red.  I really love the effect and I am very happy with the results!

The other figures were all painted in similar colors and fashions, some received an additional degree of semi-gloss after the dull coat, and others did not,it was all dependent on the effect I was going for.  These guys were a ton of fun to paint, and I am looking forward to doing more Malifaux again in the future!

Here is a sample of a few of the pieces;

Blog Update #4 , Sorry missed a week

Well, it looks like I missed a week in my updates. Though I have good excuse, last week I was nursing an infected tooth, and the week ended up with me having a root canal and a new crown. As one who hates the dentist, let me say that one should never underestimate the power of laughing gas It takes the edge off and really makes the experience more enjoyable.

Well onto some updates!

First up are some Bretonians. This is a rather large commission and I will probably have weekly updates with it. The customer, a friend from the local hobby shop where I used to live, wanted this band of knights to all have a cohesive element to them. So all the barding is painted blue, while the shields on the barding and their personal shields will bear unique heraldry. The client provided me with some older Bretonnian decals for this purpose. The horse on the left has the decal placed, a little touch up with a brush, and some highlights and I think it will look great.

Another interesting thing about this commission is the gold on the helmets. As many in this hobby will witness too painting gold is a major PITA! So I thought with this project I would try something new, and see how it went. Basically I did what has been done before. I painted the area in GW Mithril Silver, then once dry I added about 4 to 6 coats of Gryphonne Sepia. This really brought the gold color out. Then once I achieved the look I was after with the sepia I went back in and added some black, this really made the gold pop!

Next up is going to be an ebay project. As part of a trade a while back I received a Forgeworld Dreadnought, a World Eater one. I was playing around with what to do with it for a while and I settled on this pose. The "tortured" victim on the wrack is a converted Privateer Press mini that I had in my bits box. The wrack was built out of aluminum and copper tubing, with some Chaos bits.

Lastly, I have made some more progress on my Imperial Fist army. Many of the "Bad Ass Space Marines" that I posted pictures of in an earlier
post are going to be for this army. I am really digging the yellow, the Cadmium Yellow is such a bright and vivid color. These guys have been painted with oil paints, the bases are a mixture of bases from Secretweapon and Base Contacts, they have been weathered with pigments from Secretweapon.

Blog Update....

It is Friday, and thank goodness....for me that means many things, and among them now is the weekly updates I will be doing for my blog. Theses updates will be where I will talk about tutorials, showcase some work, and share thoughts in general.

Before I get into showing some stuff off I want to talk a little bit about what I call the 30min rule. Here is the situation;

A friend of mine approached me the other day and we were having a conversation about painting, he is currently working on Grey Knights and is feeling a bit bogged down by all the painting. So I shared with Bobby my 30min rule....Basically when I am painting my army I don't spend more than 30min painting a single figure, unless it is a centerpiece or vehicle. This is alows me to keep things moving and progress through units rather quickly. One thing I feel that new players get hung up on is trying to make each piece be a stand out piece....This will drive a player insane and lead to discouragement, resulting in many times as burnout. A great thing about limiting yourself to 30min a figure is you really begin to polish your painting skills, and after some practice you can sit back and see just how far your skills have progressed. I would like to share a few tips that I use when using my 30min rule to help speed up my process....

1. KISS--Keep It Simple Stupid....not sure where I picked this acronym up at, but it is a mantra I try to live be, life is as complicated as YOU want it to be, and miniature painting is not much different. Dont try to get all creative on every figure. As I will talk about later you can change some colors around here and there, and change poses of your models up a bit, but the bottom line is, at 3 to 6ft away, a CLEANLY painted mini can look just as cool as a showcase piece.
2. Color Pallet and Planning--This is a very important step, keep your color pallet simple, say between 3 to 5 colors tops, and I would say that includes highlights too. Plan out what colors will be where, decide where your light source is coming from and above all if you mix colors, write down the ratios! Color is also a good way to give a little variety to your guys. Perhaps some grenades are painted green, and some red, and others yellow. Unify units of space marines or other troops by painting a certain part of each guy the same color. This is where you have a lot of room, but keep it simple, remember, you only have 30min a figure
3. Keep it between the lines--Brush control, this perhaps is the biggest skill to focus on as a painter, putting the paint where you want it. As I mentioned earlier, a cleanly painted unit can look quite impressive. If you keep your lines clean and crisp, as soon as you put that unit on the table I guarantee it will get compliments, because there is a "cool factor" that takes over when a unit gel's together because of a clean paint job, dont get "clean" and "nice" confused, they are very different terms.

So there you have it, 3 simple things to keep in mind when you paint to help you move through those figures, just keep it simple!

Lets move onto some updates!!


First up is one of my all time favorite mini's Sigurd, from Reaper's Dark Haven line. I dont know what it is about this guy, but I love to figure. This was a personal project, call it a practice if you will. Recently I attended a painting class where using a wet pallet and some other painting techniques were discussed, so I took some time to practice on this guy, I dont think he turned out to bad considering it is really my first time using this blending technique. I have some other figures that I will be doing as will over the next few months to help reinforce these skills and make me a better painter. He is about 95% done at this point, I ordered some UHU Glue from the UK today to add some nice blood and gore effects to the axe, that too will be a bit of a practice, as currently I have some Neverborne on my workbench that are going to get a nice gory treatment....





Lastly...here is a Imperial Fist tac troop that I finished up. The unique thing about this guy is he was painted with oil paints, and it took about 30min. I will be posting a tutorial on oil painting soon, but
the more I work with it the more I like it. It does have a steep learning curve, so be prepared to get a little frustrated from time to time. As far as the model goes, it is a set of FW Mk V shoulders, and legs. The knee caps will drilled and a steel bearing was inserted to match the artwork in the SM Codex. The base is from Secretweapon Miniatures and has been weathered with pigments.


Well that is it for this week, check back next Friday for some more updates!!

Ashton

I am BACK!!! and this time I have company!

That is right folks, I am back in contact with the real world. I will be ramping back up to full painting production with in the next week, still have a few boxes here and there to unpack. In the meantime though I was able to get this guy painted up. He will be auctioned off at a charity event called "Clash for the Cure" I was trying to strike a balance between playable and showcase. In addition I was also trying out some new wet blending techniques, I think as time progresses and my skills increase, it will definitely be a technique that I will use often.

Another unique thing that I tried out with this model was playing with colors. Typically my go to color for shading reds is Vallejo Black Red. I decided to try something different this time and I shaded with a Vallejo color called, "Dark Sea Blue" it is a really nice deep greenish-blue color. I really like the resulting effect as it seems to add a richer deeper red to the over all scheme.

Another new thing I tried was the base, it was actually colored using pigments form Secretweapon Miniatures. Pigments are not a new thing to me, I had used them quite a bit in my military modeling days, but I found that using them on mini's was no fun. After talking to Justin over at Secretweapon, come to find out that many of the weathering powders out there have a binding agent in them, like a wax or some other thing...in the small scale of mini's this often translates into a mesy, or blotchy look, Secretweapon's powders are pure pigment, no binders, so they go on much smoother and have a more even appearance. The base turned out a little darker than I would have liked, but I am happy with the results.

Lastly, I know things have been a little sporadic around here on updates, going forward I am going to have weekly updates, talking about everything from recent completed projects, to tutorials, and possibly rants on my own gaming experiences. Look for those updates to come on or about Friday of every week!

Ashton

Death Company Dreadnought and transport!

I recently took to fielding DC in my lists, they are pretty fun, but in the end I decided that DC was not for me, I am far to conservative of a player to field DC. But these guys were done up so nicely that it is worth the mention.

The rhino/razorback combo is now how I am building all my transports, with the ability to have the stormbolter and top hatch removed so that the transport can be ran as a razorback if needed. In addition the weapon, las/plas, has been magnetized as well so that I can switch things out if needed too.

The big guy is a conversion I did a while ago and was quite fun to do, basically I looked at the BA dread box and said, "there is no way a DC dreadnought should be standing still like that!" So out came the plasticard, and razorsaw and an hour later I had a pose I liked.





Ashton

Bad Ass Space Marine Conversions!

I love Space Marines, I think the fluff is awesome, I think the models, to a degree, are awesome, and I love painting and converting them...So when I set out to build my Imperial Fist army, I decided that I really wanted to take my time and make each marine as unique as possible. In addition I have been reading a lot of the 40k battle books, and though it does not translate so well sometimes in the game, Space Marines are freakin uber!!

So the decision was made to try and make my marines look "bad ass" I know when you see the title to the post you might be thinking that I am implying that these are "bad ass" marine conversions, but that is not what I am leading to at all, in fact I think in some ways my conversion skills are sub-par at best....the conversions I am talking about here are conversions that make marines look "bad ass", as opposed to the Space Marine "two-step"....lean to left, lean to the right...

So in the end my goal is to build the entire Imperial Fist 5th company, and to make each tactical marine, and maybe the others ;) unique in some way, something that can contribute to the "bad ass-ness" of their appearance.

Feel free to check out my Imperial Fist album, it has more pictures there of other conversions in various stages of build. In case your wondering too, the bases are resin bases from Base Contacts, tell him Ashton sent you when you order your stuff from him!

Ashton

1750 "Extra Crispy" Tourney Army

Here is the 1750 list that I took to a local tournament recently. The photos aren't the best, I took them the day of the tourney and it was a bit cloudy outside

Anyway the army was a TON of fun to play. The Heavy Flamer's proved to be quite useful and were definitely something that people were not sure how to react too. I had the best finish I have had since I started playing 40k a year ago, 6th out of 80+ players!
The FOC restrictions made for some creative list building, and ultimately the Immolator Spam template the Kirby over at 3++ came up with was the starting point that I used for this army.

The models are not painted in the traditional Blood Angel manner, this is my DIY successor chapter, "Sanguine Templar's" I really like the look of SM's done up "Black Templar" style, but I also like the BA rules....so wala!!! Sanguine Templar's

Here is a break down of the list that I took;

HQ
Libby
-Shield
-Fear the Darkness

Elite
Stern Guard x 5
-Combi-Meltax 2
-Razorback
-HK Missile
-Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer

Troops
2 x Tac Squad x 10
-Missile Launcher
-Melta Gun
-Comb-Melta
-Razor Back
-HK Missile
-Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer

3 x ASM x 5
-Melta Gun
-Infernous Pistol
-Razorback
-HK Missile
-Dozer Blade
-Twin Linked Heavy Flamer

Fast
2 x Baal Predator
-Flamestorm Cannon

Heavy
2 x Dreadnought w/ 2 Twin-Linked Auto Cannons

One thing that this army proved to provide was target frustration for my opponent, where do you start? What do you kill first? In addition to a great finish, I also took "Best Painted Army" and the "Players Choice" award!

More army pictures can be found here

Thanks for looking and feel free to leave any feedback!

Ashton

Grey Knight Justicar

Here is the first of 5 Grey Knight Terminators that I am working on. This one here is the Justicar. The base comes from Basecontacts, their "rubble" base, and the right hand on all terminators has been magnitized so that it can accept any weapon, hammer, halberd, sword, or staff.

The armor was painted using vallejo colors, base coat in black, gunmetal, steel, then highlighted in aluminum. Pin washes of Badab Black were used to give more depth to the armor.

The face was based coated in Luftwaffe Green, then highlighted using using Basic Skin Tone. The eyes and highlights surrounding were done in Electric Blue.

The gold parts of the armor were done in Vallejo Gold, then washed with Sepia and then Badab Black.

The power sword was painted using Black, White, Electric Blue, and Sky Grey.



Ashton

New contact info

Hello everyone, I have a new email address that I can be contacted through and would appreciate all communication going through the new address.

Additionally I have updated and revamped my pricing guidelines in order to provide better customer service. Take a look !

redmodeling@gmail.com


Thanks!

Ashton

Wraith Lord conversion complete!!

So here it is, all done! It is supposed to be a Striking Scorpion Wraith Lord.

The commission was a bit more challenging and time consuming that I thought it would be. All of the dreadlocks were rolled by hand, the chainsword needed to be scratch built, the Britelance converted to a rifle, and the legs and torso re-sculpted to the positions that they are in.


However after talking with the client the pose shown to the left was the one we came up with. As beautiful as the inspiration picture is, I felt like I wanted to do something that conveyed more of a sense of motion and "striking".

Sadly I will not be painting this guy as much as I would like to, but I will make sure and post some pictures of it painted when the client sends them to me.

Ashton