Snow in the East?

Here's another Snow Easterling for you.  It is always fun to paint figures in something that is not an 'official' color scheme, especially when that is completely the opposite of said scheme. :-)

I had a lot of fun with this, and it is very interesting to see how this exercise forces you to view that same figure you have painted so many times in an entirely new light!

Second Skin

You have already seen the review of the Rubicon Models Panzer 3 kit, and now it's time for the painted images!!  I thought it might be interesting to add this to my Hungarian army, with a camo scheme and identity markings that are different from what I have seen so many times.

It is also the first time that I have had a chance to paint one of the classic extra armor versions!

Those obviously create a lot of interesting weathering opportunities.  Lots of fun streaks, scratches, spatters and so on!  Here's a link to the live painting video on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209302585015744/?type=2&theater

I was able to put in lots of the dried leaves and dust, using the Green Stuff World leaf punch.

Here's part two:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209317415066486/?type=2&theater

Now for the really interesting part... the removable extra armor!  Yes, it all just snaps on, which means that you can completely change the look of the vehicle, or match your Bolt Action list!

A few more views show how that transforms completely.  Even better, they don't tear away at the paint when you remove them!

The 'regular' version, minus the extra armor.  I was able to do all the fun weathering on these sections of the vehicle too.

Here's a review of the original kit:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2016/10/snap-to-it.html

I used a variety of products on this, such as regular oil paints out of the tube, Wilder oil paints, and plenty of Mig AMMO products.

The first unit of the Hungarian army is ready for combat!!

The Legion

The preparation for Little Wars is in full swing, and that means lots of French in sheepskin and anorac! I will be painting more of these figures in the Gorgon Studios booth, so come and see me there!

It is this weekend, at the Westin in Lombard, Illinois.

I really enjoy painting these figures, which are sculpted by the same artist from Artizan Designs.

Many more French Foreign legion on the way, as well as Norwegians for the Narvik campaign.

The Crusader

I finally got a chance to put the final effects of weathering on the Rubicon Models Crusader!  It wasn't anything terribly complex, just a few layers of sandy weathering powders.

It all worked out as I had hoped, by planning ahead for this very stage!  This meant getting darker colors in critical areas, so that this much lighter dust and sand would be more visible. 

Obviously the darker sections of the camo patterns were a prime location for the lighter sand, but I also wanted it to be visible in places on the lighter sections of the hull and turret.  So, I had added a little bit of additional staining to darken them.

I was also eager to see how the sand would look in the wheels and treads, which were left much darker, with not a lot of extra shading.  The goal was to have this applied sand create the forms.

As I mentioned in the live facebook broadcast, these vehicles are like layer cakes, and each layer is a different form of weathering.  You must plan ahead, and lay the groundwork for something that might be several layers down the line!

Here's a link to that video session:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10209772855572214/?type=2&theater

I look forward to trying out these techniques on the rest of the desert theme vehicles... for the Desert Rats, DAK and the Italians!  Stay tuned.

A Banner Day

Here's an "old school" Lizardmen banner, which is connected to a very key development in my painting.  It was on this unit of Saurus that I first developed the Shaded Basecoat technique!

The basic idea of that technique is to lay down a series of simplified, lighter colors which establish where the basic lights and darks will be.  These lighter tones can be tinted and shaded darker with a series of glazes, followed by more refinement in the "middle tone" areas.

This has several advantages.  First, I can paint entire armies with just 5 or 6 colors, as I have simplified the palette.  I can more easily match a set of colors years later, with no knowledge of which specific colors that were originally used.

Since most of the color matching happens with glazes as opposed to mixing and matching the colors on the palette, it is very flexible indeed!

This is at the very core of my techniques, and it is why I created the Painting Pyramid video series, in order to show this to a greater audience.  I teach this class all the time at conventions such as Repaercon and Nova Open.

Here's a link to that original article from years ago:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/p/using-shaded-basecoat-technique-to.html

Flying Tigers

This was actually the first experiment in painting the freehand patterns on the Gates of Antares Algoryn skimmers.

I had tried this freehand on other Sci-fi figures in the past, and I thought it would be interesting to try out!

The shape of these skimmers is very fortuitous, because the forward part of the craft tends to work well with the locations of the eyes, and even where 'teeth' should be.

The sides are relatively flat, so the pattern is not too distorted.

Stay tuned because more skimmers are in the house, and I have more critters to paint!

Titanicus

It's been a long time since I showed a few of the in progress images, so I finally got a chance to process the finished pictures for you!

This massive beast stands around a foot tall, and as you can see, it has a ton of exposed pistons and other parts under those cowlings.

These views give you some sense of the insanity!

The figure is still articulated at the waist, but the arms were locked in place.  That was the best way to arrange that, since the weapons were just too heavy, and had a tendency to drop the arms down!

I painted this to match the rest of the Mechanicum army, with lots of gears and checkerboard patterns.

This vehicle gave me a chance to try out several of the Mig Ammo products, such as the oil washes, weathering powders and more.

The filters and tints were very handy on elements like the cowlings, since I could get a nice soft gradation on this broader surface with a simple application.

Having the ability to work back into an area a day or two later was also a huge advantage.  The weathering powders were used as a further method for fading the reds in the midtone and dark transitions.

A few "action" poses for you.  The head is also supposed to swivel, but the cowlings above and below it pretty much locked it in place.