40k: How To Paint Yellow… part1

As regular visitors will know, I've been experimenting for a week or so trying to get a recipe for painting yellow marines that works for me. This weekend I made a decision about how I will proceed with my Imperial Fists army and wanted to pass on what I've learned.

I wanted to find a recipe that would allow me to paint the footsloggers rather quickly, but that could be expanded upon with the character models so that they looked awesome. I think I've found it, and all you need is 3 pots of paint (for the basic colour).

Going against all my years experience of painting 40k, I undercoat with white. This recipe does work with my usual black undercoat, but I've found results slightly better with the white. I like to make sure that the white is as solid as possible as it just makes things a lot easier down the line.

Next is a good basecoat of GW Averland Sunset. This is one of GW's base colours and covers almost anything in solid colour. Having said that I thinned it down quite a lot and gave the models a couple of coats to be sure.

Now comes the most time consuming part – adding highlights. This is where you must decide how long you want to spend and how subtle you want the results. In this test model (below) I spent about half an hour trying to get some decent graduations in there that I would normally reserve for character models.

Take your Averland Sunset and start adding white. Do as many or few layers as you like – obviously the more you do the better the graduations and final result – adding slightly more white to the mix each time and keeping the paint thin. You want your final fine highlight to be pretty much pure white.

At the moment our model is looking rather pastel and washed out, but the magic is coming. However, if you find you've lost a lot of the original pure Averland Sunset in the shadow areas, don't be afraid to go back in and repaint some shadows.

More tomorrow (once I've taken some more photos!)…

New Addition…

As a distraction from all the yellow paint, I decided to get on with one of the bigger models from my latest 40k investment.

The Stormraven Gunship is a model that I've never built before and one that I've liked the look of for a while. It's comparable to the Land Raider in many ways… except it's a flyer.

It's taken a couple of evening to get to this point. It is finally recognisable not it has its wings but without any guns or turrets it's still a little toothless. At the moment the model is very back heavy, causing it to lean back. Once the model is complete I will see is this is still the case and may have to jury rig something to add more weight to the front.

I'm still undecided on whether I should glue the front ramp shut or not. I've no intention of painting the interior so having it open seems a little pointless, and leaves the possibility of it breaking off.

I'm also hoping to have some of the weapons interchangeable, but I'm not going to sink lots of time into this. I need to get models painted so it's more important models are built rather than versatile for the moment.

I'm hoping to paint the pilots separately from the main model but again, we will see what time allows. I'm hoping to finalise my yellow armour recipe this weekend, then the mass production can begin!

More soon…

More Imperial Fist Armour Tests

I've managed to get a bit more time this week trying out different recipes for yellow armour.

This time I picked up Averland Sunset, a base paint from GW that they use in their current tutorials. I have to say, even over the bare plastic it produced a lovely solid colour in just a couple of layers. This could be where we need to be!

It is a very orange colour – as you can see above – so definitely a starting point for Imperial Fists, not a final solution. However, it provides a solid flat colour which was the point of the exercise.

I was so impressed with the result that I went back and re-painted the previous three test models in Averland Sunset!

This weekend I intend to pick up some more of GW's yellow paint, inks and glazes. Then I can take this trial to the next stage and make some decisions about a final armour colour. I need to hurry up as I'm filling up my painting tray with unpainted Terminators!

More soon…

Imperial Fists – Yellow Tests 2 & 3

After several days ill last week, and the jobs still mounting in the new pad, it's been a struggle getting any hobby time in – thank god for scheduled posts!

These next two tests for the yellow Imperial Fists armour were a variation on the first. Instead of spraying the Daemonic Yellow directly onto the bare plastic, I decided to undercoat the models first – one in white and the other in black.

I went about adding the yellow spray whilst doing chores today, stopping the work periodically to add some more colour before going back to the job in hand.

At first glance everything looks pretty rosy in the image above, but not so.

As you can see, spraying over a black undercoat makes everything a dirty greeny colour. The coverage wasn't great and there was a lot of texture.

The coverage on the white undercoat was much better, maybe slightly better than Test 1 last week. I thought that I might have found my solution until closer inspection revealed, just like the black test, there was a shocking amount of texture on the model. Once a colour wash hits these yellow surfaces this texture will show up like a neon light. Such a shame.

It's looking like the yellow spray is not the way to go – the search continues…

Imperial Fists – Resin Test 1

I had decided to try replicating the sculpted shoulder pads for my Imperial Fists. The image above shows the official GW pads, after a lot of cleaning up – they were a mess when they arrived, not finished at all. I know from my experiences with the resin bases that without some kind of vacuum chamber bubbles will be an issue. However, as long as they're not too bad they can be written off as battle damage.

Eventually I found my resin gear amongst the boxes still piled high in the garage. I had stuck the pads on a bit of plastic sprue to help the flow and created my silicone mold. The materials I have are quite old now so I wasn't expecting great results if I'm honest.

The mold was left overnight to cure, then the tricky task of digging out the original pads without damaging the silicone began. At times like these my patience goes out of the window as my excitement takes over. Despite this, I got the pads out unscathed.

Next I mixed up (way too much) resin and started to inject it carefully into the mold. A couple of hours later (just to be sure) it was ready and I released my shiny new white pads to inspect the results.

One had a large bubble all but destroying the icon. The other three looked pretty good and I cleaned then up with a knife and file. Alas, in my enthusiasm I broke one, but I still had two which looked pretty good.

The real test will come once they are painted but they'll do for now.

More soon…

Imperial Fists – Yellow Test 1

So I got a few minutes this weekend to try out one of the options for painting up my new Imperial Fists army. Option 1 consists of a large can of Army Painter Daemonic Yellow, spraying directly onto the bare plastic model.

The coverage was pretty good, although the finish was a bit heavy and textured – I mustn't have given the spray can a good enough shake! I also used a ridiculous amount of spray paint for one model, very uneconomical but needed to be tested.

Once the spraying was dry I went in with the same coloured paint on a brush to touch up the gaps. Alas, the tube version of this colour was very opaque and wouldn't cover the last bits of exposed plastic. It did boost the colour of the paint already on the model.

Once this was dry (or maybe slightly before as I was excited to see results) I added some W&N Sunshine Yellow ink – watered down at first, then straight out of the bottle. Again it boosted the colour of the armour and sat in the recesses to underpin the edge of armour plates.

A rather rough looking model at the moment but I've learned a lot. I was a little disappointed if I'm honest as I was hoping this would be the ideal solution straight off the bat. I have a couple of other options to try before I choose which one to go with.

Stay tuned…

The New 40k Project…

As regular readers will know, new projects come and go on a weekly basis in my hobby time. None of them are ever off the table, until they're truly off the table and in the bin or on Ebay.

I was very cynical about the new 40k release – I still am if I'm honest – but with big Ork releases on the way it was a great opportunity for Bull to dust off his greenskins and have more fun with the Waaaagh! I needed to offer him a challenge. I have my Chaos forces in boxes (many unfinished) but we did that when the last 40k was released. It was time for something new.

I was going to finally get stuck in with my long-term Dark Templar marines (which haven't actually been started properly yet) but that seemed like a massive ask – I needed something quick and easy. After my experiences with the Nurgle Blood Bowl team – how quick and easy that was painted – I felt that this was the way to go. I needed a coloured undercoat, a quick colour wash, maybe a highlight or two, then finish off the details. I needed a proper production line approach to painting the new army.

I spent days going over the space marine chapter options versus the colour sprays available. It was a very difficult decision but eventually I went with Imperial Fists – bright yellow armour… I must be mad!

I managed to construct two full Tactical squads from the random sprues I had in the garage, leftover from previous armies. I also found a brand new Rhino and a Dreadnought (which will need some attention). It was now that my attention turned to Ebay.

First on the list was Captain Lysander – a bargain at £5 (albeit it appears to be a dodgy resin knock off) – followed by some additional Rocket Launchers for a Devastator unit. I did toy with the idea of going with some second-hand Terminators to accompany the Captain, but the quality vs final price on Ebay just didn't work for me. On a whim I decided to do the complete opposite!

GW have been doing a army box set comprising almost entirely of Terminators, so I jumped in with two feet. I now have more models than I can shake a stick at. A couple will find their way back onto Ebay to help recoup some of the outlay, but the next few weeks will see a production line not seen since my Bezerker tournament army days.

However, I decided to throw myself a little curve ball. I bought some of the GW sculpted shoulder pads and will attempt to amend then replicate them en masse. This will form a trial run for my Dark Templar marines, for when they finally see the light of day. There's been a lot of theory crafting in this respect since the days of casting my own resin bases. Plus the cost and quality of the official GW resins pads are so prohibitive to use across the army that I needed an alternative solution.

So, let the building commence!

I've got a test model ready for the yellow spray and in the meantime am building as much of the army as I can.

More soon…

Broadside Loot

Yesterday saw Broadside 2014 take place in Sittingbourne. Having a pretty stacked weekend, with jobs and visitors to the new house, I only managed a flying visit to make sure I supported this local event. I did have a couple of things that might be considered a shopping list, but didn't have my heart set on anything.

The Leisure Centre where it is held was quite busy and the main traders/gamers hall was downstairs, so you had to pass through the hellishly hot atmosphere of the swimming pool changing area to get there. Once in the hall there was a lot going on, lots of familiar faces and traders. I managed a couple of laps of the hall, as well as a chat with friends, before I had to make a sharp exit to go home and cut the grass before guests arrived (yay!).

As is often the way, I did manage to come home with a few things. First of all were the two items that I had on my 'list'. Army Painter Daemonic Yellow – spray can and bottled paint. This is for a new project that will appear on the blog shortly – it has been started but not much to show just yet.

Of course there is always the impromptu purchase and this time it was the TIE Bomber for X-Wing and some plastic movement templates. They've been on the long-term list for some time so I thought I would save some postage and get them while they were sitting in front of me (calling to me). I did almost purchase another 4Ground building after the success of the Saxon Hovel, but my restraint (and time) won the day on this occasion.

Guess What I Just Did!!

After two days of unpacking boxes I thought that I deserved a reward. Before I knew it I was standing in the Games Workshop in Ashford with the item above in my hand (as well as a plastic Librarian).

I haven't had more than a quick flick through the books but, since our internet is back up (and I'm waiting for the cordless drill to recharge), I thought I'd post the evidence of my weak will.

As you can see the new 40k consists of three books in a case, each book weighing in at the size of the Warmachine/Hordes rulebooks (or the original Rogue Trader rulebook if you prefer). That's a lot of paper for your £50, even if most of it is irrelevant to veteran gamers. The whole package is big and weighs quite a bit, so new gamers will feel like their getting their money's worth.

Book 1 is the shiny catalogue, 145(ish) pages full of nice model photography, a few ads but not much else (thought this would have painting tutorials in it, but no.).

Book 2 is the fluff book, 128 pages of background stories. Not had an in depth look at this, but could be a good read for campaign ideas.

Book 3 is the rulebook itself. It has 208 pages of the main rules, missions, etc. Not nearly as portable as I thought it might be, so tournament people will still need to buy the starter box in August (assuming their doing another A5 version of the rules). Haven't read this much at all so can't comment about any rules.

More to come on this no doubt…