So as you all might know by now I’ve started putting together a home brew Space Marie small allied contingent. So I thought I’d throw together how I go about painting the suckers. It’s a very easy process that anyone could follow if they wanted to. Now I don’t have the pleasure of owning an air brush so I’m forced to paint everything with brush. This tutorial of sorts will be brush based but can be adapted to air brush as easily as falling off a log.
So to start off here is my small work station:
It’s not ideal but it’s what’s available to me. A few things that I would
recommend to budding hobbyists out there, is to use adequate lighting. Mine is subpar
and I will need to get a couple more lamps in the near future to help me out. And
it’s a little messy but I’m not going there…
So back to the models:
Step 1:Wash your models with soapy water and air dry thoroughly. Under coat with grey undercoat, I used Tamiya Fine Surface Primer L - Light Gray, because that’s what I had lying around, but anything will do even white if you have it. I’d stay away from black as you will need to use too many coats of base colour in Step 2.
Step 2:
Lay down your base colour. In this case I used Citadel Base: Jokaero Orange for my base coat. I would thin your colour down with clean water, but not too
much as to lose paint cohesion (i.e. doesn’t stick to model’s surface anymore).
2 or three thin coasts should do the job
Step 3:
Next I’d lay down your final orange colour; I used Citadel Layer: Troll Slayer
Orange for this. I also thinned it down a touch as before. Another 2-3
thin coasts will cover quite well at this stage.
Step 4:
At this stage I picked out all the details that I wanted a different
colour all the silver bits I used Citadel Base: Leadbelcher and for the Purity
Seals I used Citadel Base: Mephiston Red for the round top bit and Citadel Dry: Terminatus Stone for the ‘tassels’. Terminatus Stone is not
ideal as It’s meant for dry brushing but I watered it down considerably and It
worked within reason, just wouldn’t us it for any larger areas but It’s the
only colour I had at the time that came close to cream.
Step 5:
After all the details where picked out I liberally washed the model in diluted Citadel Shade: Nuln Oil I used 4 drops of Nuln Oil to 10
drops of water. Any areas were the wash mix pooled to heavily I used a dryer
brush to remove the wash a little. A word of warning with diluting washes with
water, I have been finding of late that even though it appears fine when
applying the dilution, when dry the wash takes on a chalky almost white look
that can be counter to what you planed, try using distilled water for the
dilution.
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| Here is a line-up of the different stages. You can definitely see transitional progress to the models. |
Step 6:
Finally after the wash was dried I picked out other details like the
eye lenses and shoulder tactical symbols & squad markings.
Eyes lenses:
I first applied a medium thin layer of Citadel Base: Ceramite White using a fine brush. Turning the model upside down may
assist in getting into the recesses of the eye lenses of the off side of your
painting hand. Then I delicately placed a small drop of Citadel Glaze: Guilliman Blue on the dried eye lenses making sure it covered only the whit
areas, using a semi dry brush I carfully removed some of the wash from the very
middle of the lens so as to leave a lighter highlight area. When everything is
dry I followed this with a layer of Citadel Technical: 'Ardcoat just on the lenses.
Tactical Symbols & Squad Markings:
On these Dark Vengeance models the Tactical Symbol on the shoulders are
slightly raised making painting much easier. I use Citadel Base: Ceramite White for them. The Squad Markings are old water transfers that I was given. I
first applied a layer of Citadel Technical: 'Ardcoat to allow a
better surface for contact and applied the water transfers in the usual way and
then once dried I applied a thin layer of Citadel Technical: Lahmian Medium to make it all matt again.
Basing:
I wanted a supper simple basing method that I could easily reproduce. So
basically fill all any holes or irregularities with Citadel Technical: Liquid Green Stuff. Base coat with Citadel Base: Dryad Bark and once dried
paint a liberal layer of Citadel Technical: Agrellan Earth when using
Agrellan Earth paint it on thick! Basically get a blob of paint on an old
paint brush and put onto a portion of the base away from the model’s legs, then
carefully ‘push’ the paint out around the feet so it’s even across the base.
The paint will crack as it dries and allow the base coat to show through. Remember
the thicker you put it on the larger the cracks and pieces will be, if you
paint it on like ‘normal’ paint it will not crack at all, so paint it on thick.
I then washed it with Citadel Shade: Agrax Earthshade to darken up the base
and add a little more character to the colours.
And there you have it!
