Take Caution!

Well, not really!  It's just time to paint some containers!

I used the black craft paint as I usually do in this stage, since it flows very well over the wood texture.

I painted the inside a few different shades of grey...

And even put a bit of rust and grime in there just to make it more interesting.

That's plenty.  Since it's very dark inside the interior, I boosted the colors a bit.

Now for the same treatment on the rig.  I mixed in some brown craft paint with the rust and black.

There were a lot of places to hit on the undercarriage.

These views of the palette should give you a good idea of the color mixes.

Since I was using the craft paint and working quickly, I could do some wet blending right on the surface.

Once all that dried, I hit a few spots with very intense oxidation.

Nothing Sci-fi is complete without caution stripes!!

A touch of weathering, and you're good to go!

Stay tuned for the container next.

Back on the trail again.

Time for more bases!

Yes, among the dozens of other bases that I have made recently, lots of WIld West Exodus bases were among them.

As you can see here, the Mercenary Sand Buggy and the new CCK9 dogs are among the things which needed some bark to stand on, pun not intended.

Most of the bases were of the large variety, such as this one for the Warrior Nation Fire Bringer.

The bases painted with tufts in place.

Many more bases to come!  Stay tuned. :-)

The Crazy Crustacean

This unusual Crustacean is from Mierce Miniatures.  It's part of the "monstrous infantry" segment that I have mentioned previously.

He's pretty large, on a base that is about 80mm.

I had a lot of fun playing with the color contrasts.  Some very warm oranges and reds, juxtaposed with the cooler, muted purples.

I did a lot of work with the filberts early on blocking in all these shades, moving things around, shifting where each color block went, and so on.  This is the great flexibility that the Shaded Basecoat technique allows!

The horde grows...

Here's another pose from the Beastman group.

Again, I was able to use some interesting colors in these skin tones.

I also used the semi-transparent light glazes, mixing 'regular' paints with the Secret Weapon washes and such.

Whatcha readin' there?

Yes indeed, one more Dark Sword figure!  This Swan Priestess is a much more recent sculpt than the previous figures you have seen.

The base was my usual baked sculpey, while the candles were made of polystyrene tubing covered with Vallejo water effects gel to simulate the melted wax.

I have been trying out all kinds of materials for that over the years, and this was absolutely perfect.  It was the closest thing to actually melting real wax. :-)

Obviously I had a lot of fun with the marble colors and patterns.  The idea  was to set up the colors of the dress, but also provide some contrast to all the white... including the candles.

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221804040926?

Another new foliage experiment

Another Dark Sword miniature, another foliage experiment!

It was also an occasion to play with a touch of freehand on the cloak!

This foliage must be a different coloration of one that I have used in the past on some Memoir '44 miniatures.  In that case, the color was a dark green.

You can also see him here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/321784896487?

Union Gal... at the double quick!

We return to the Wild West with Willa Shaw, a take no prisoners character for the Union faction.

She is very unique among Wild West Exodus characters right now, as she has two incarnations.  First, there is Willa Shaw on foot.  Her synergy with Union Hired hands to go get them to move a bit faster.  That can be very helpful if you have to reach those confounded Reb trenches!

There is also a version where she rides a special Iron Horse, with its own Light Support synergies.  That one is in progress!