Blog Aginor's Painting Blog

Yeah actually it would be better to add more, but to be honest... I don't want to, since those were so much work.
Probably won't play them much anyway...

 

Thanks!

 

Short update:
My bunch of Skinks is finished but I will do their bases together with my next models. Pics soon.

Right now I am working on two additional Citadel woods.

After that I'll do a few Skellies again I think.

 

Still no pics, sorry.
But I assembled the trees and my wife painted the leaves and branches. Next step is to green stuff the holes and then prime them, perhaps tonight.

As a side project I built 10 more Skeletons from two of those easy to build kits and I am seriously disappointed in them. WTF??!! Those fit neither in style nor in size! What were the GW guys thinking? Even Mantic skeletons are closer in looks and size to normal GW Skellies than those guys are. I will paint them and play them but I sure as hell won't buy another box of those. If they were half the price it would make them bearable because they are really quick and easy to build, but the quality is... bah. Probably they fit some old skeleton style from ages ago when the Skellies were resin? Not sure. But they look clunky and comical compared to the normal ones.

/rant

 

Ok change of plans. Kind of.
I did fill the holes on the trees so they are ready for..... wait for it.... Prime Time.
But I also got too angry about my big backlog, so I opened my Deathrattle Barrow Lords box and took a look on the Skeleton Guard sprues. I will prime those in the sprue so I can finally start with them.
I also assembled the Black Knights from that kit (except arms that is) and will prime them as well, probably today.

So my play for today:
- prime two citadel woods
- prime five black knights
- prime 10 Skeletons
- prime the Skeleton Guard in sprue

The problem is: Winter is coming here in Germany and it is damn cold out there. I have a barn which is where I normally spray my models, but the barn doors stop neither cold nor humidity and I am a bit concerned about using a rattle can at 5°C outside....
I will do some test spraying before to check if it works. Last year I spray primed some models when it was actually freezing outside and they turned out well. So hoping for the best.

....which reminds me that I should finally try using an airbrush for priming....
so @airbrush folks: Which airbrush primers do you use? Or do you just use regular colors for priming (like I sometimes do when I prime small parts using a regular brush)?

I normally use four different primers for different purposes:
- Army Painter white (I just like how well you can paint bright colors over white primer)
- Army Painter blue (for Saurus and Skinks)
- Army Painter black (not that often anymore, I prefer white. But for models with mainly dark colors it works nicely and it is more forgiving than white if you make some small mistakes with the base coats)
- Army Painter Skeleton Bone (for Skeletons because it saves a lot of time, but it also works for almost everything else. Bright colors painted over it are almost as good as over white primer.)

EDIT: Btw if I had to choose just one of the above it would be white.

So @airbrush folks: Can y'all recommend me colors to substitute the above rattle cans?

 

Only primer I use is vallejo surface primer airbrush in grey but you can get it in other colours, don't be tempted to use cheaper primers they are crap.

Apply two thin coats and you will be astonished at the detail on your models.

http://cdn.acrylicosvallejo.com/0cf2826f067efa1af64632a8e6d4e279/Colores-Surface-Primer.pdf

 

Ok, thanks!
So... those are 60ml bottles for around 5€ it seems, and you don't need to apply a thinner to them so you use them straigt out of the bottle in the airbrush?
How many models can you prime with that? Is one of those bottles equivalent to one rattlecan, or less? Maybe more?
60ml are roughly half the price of rattle cans I use so that's of interest for me. Although I think I could live with a slightly higher price for reasons of convenience.

 

Thin it a little and it goes a surprising long way as your spraying at a lower pressure than a rattle can, 20psi is more than ample, and remember you don't need expensive thinner window cleaner will do.

 

Y'all know this I guess:
You want to work on something and then something else suddenly _jumps_ into the way...



Great models! I am sure they will be a lot of fun to paint.

 

Ohhhh I’m tempted

 

Aaaaand my hobby ADHD continues.
This is what I did today:

WIP obviously. This is my first prototype. It looked almost perfect until I broke off the tail and had to glue it on again. Went downhill from there.
I still think I'll finish it and do the rest the same way. Just maybe be a bit more careful. I overdid the drybrush in one or two places and the way I attached the tail makes it likely to break off when I play it I think...

 

Almost finished. Reworked some details and added the arms.
I decided to not make the metal parts bronze like I usually do, but used a gun metal color. I also didn't highlight the metal, since a Chameleon Skink would probably try and keep it from glittering in the sun to improve camouflage.



I think I am relatively happy with it. I will try and avoid the errors I made on it when doing the other ones, then they should be OK.

 

He looks really cool, what you doing with the base, X long grass tufts would work well.

 

Still undecided but that's the direction I was thinking as well. Keeping the dirt&grass theme of my army but using more/longer vegetation for cover.
I have some long static grass flock that I can use.

 

Short update:
Last night I made some corrections on my first converted Chameleon Skink and converted another four models. I changed my workflow a bit and it seems it worked, I think those are a bit better than the first one. I am still not perfectly happy with them but they looked nice enough to start painting them. They already have their skin basecoated and the first shade applied.
Tonight I will paint them (maybe even finish them, we'll see) and then I will try and make the parts (casques, eyes, tails) for the other five since those have to harden for a while before I can glue them on. I usually wait around 24 hours.

My homemade sculpting material (a mix of air drying clay and PVA glue) is... pretty OK actually, still a bit more brittle than I'd like it to be (I think when playing them there will be one or two tails breaking off), but way better than pure air drying clay.
Not as good as epoxy putty in that regard but non-toxic and just as easy to use. Plus I can keep it already mixed in a small air-tight container ready to use.
I haven't figured out the best mixture yet to make it more durable, but I have another idea that could work. It is in the mail already and I expect it to arrive soon.
...although when it arrives I will probably have finished the chameleons already so I will use it for something else.

I am not a good sculptor though so of course when looking closely a difference to the smooth plastic is visible despite my best efforts to smoothen the parts with a nail file and some liquid green stuff.

 

@Aginor Why not wear gloves when using 2 pack epoxy that way it does not come in contact with your skin, latex gloves are dirt cheap and easily available.

 

Oh, and I forgot: I have an eleventh one of those Skinks, which I am going to convert to a Chameleon Skink Stalker (Oxyotl).
He will receive a bigger casque (yes I googled that because I didn't know the word for the thing on the head of Chameleons since I am - shockingly - not an expert for reptiles) and will be painted in a different color. Not sure which one though.

I don't want want to make him orange like the GW standard model, at least not THAT orange. I'd like to base his color on my other Chameleon Skinks yet make him different enough to stand out. I was thinking about maybe drybrushing him orange or something. Any ideas would be appreciated.