GW Medium

So Mike Cho, posted a nice tutorial on how he paints power weapons over on his blog. Since, both of us are working on the Redemption of the Fallen charity project, and both of us have different painting methods, I thought I would try to pick his brain and learn some of his techniques. He's got some games day daemons under his belt(presumably on a shelf somewhere and not actually under his belt).

Now, I usually paint power weapons using an air brush, which I think looks fantastic, and is completed in a couple of minutes. The layering method using 5 paints, thin coats, and latham medium looked much harder to me. Certainly it looked more tedious. On the other hand, sometimes I want to paint  irregularly shaped power weapons such as power axes. To do that I need to learn how to use GW medium, and layer like Mike. I've already painted up a BA model using extreme blending and the medium stuff to great affect, so since Mike was kind enough to put up a tutorial, the least I could do was follow it. I had to make a few alterations, as I do not have Ice Blue, but overall the painting was pretty easy. Like any test piece, this is only painted on one side. Tomorrow I'll try pushing the light colors a bit more, and maybe skip the final regal wash.

(full disclosure--this is the second attempt. The first version was done sans tutorial, and is fortunately hidden by this coat)

Games Day Sons of Horus Command

Games day was really chill this year. No speed painting, noisy games, and thankfully only a single waaaagh. Three redemption of the fallen painters were present, mike cho, Dave Taylor, and myself. It was particularly cool that Dave picked up another demon. Mike continued his painting slacking this year entering nothing. I regret not pulling something from my display shelf, but there is always next year. The quieter atmosphere was really nice for those of us who wanted to focus on the painting.

Memphis is BBQ central, so food and drink are fantastic. I think I may try to arrange an after party next year. My wife and I hung out in the hotel bar with gw staff for a while, but an organized event would be fun.


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Location:Beale St,Memphis,United States

Just landed in Memphis

In my way to the hotel for games day! After such a hard couple of months this is a really nice break. I decided to not bring my army, but that just made traveling so much easier. If you see me say hi. Oh wait, you have no idea what I look like. ;)


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Location:Winchester Rd,Memphis,United States

Oil Drips & Dried Mud on DKoK LR

It may be hard to tell, but I started this off tonight, by highlighting the edges of most of the raised edges with a mid tone mix between the dark sea green and the grey color. Once that was done I decided to give mud a try. I started with a light brown powder mixed with alcohol, and spritzed it onto the tank using my air brush. I followed the tan with FW dark earth. AK Interactive engine oil was then placed around each of the moving parts, and drips were allowed flow.

I am not sure how effective this is. It kind of looks like the tank is oozing oil to me. On the other hand, this is my first try with the technique. I really like how the glossy oil plays off of the textured mud. This application is bad, but you can bet I will use it on my titan pistons.

I wish I had a dozen of these extra LR pieces so I could try out more things in a single day. Thank goodness for simple green!

Armor Test Scheme

I wanted to try something different this afternoon instead of jumping right back to titan painting, so I decided to crack open IA Vol 1 and see if there were any IG schemes to try. I decided on a DKoK scheme and pulled out a spare LR piece to see what it would look like. What you see above is the result. I was eager to see how well the flash card template would work, so I did not shade the base coat.     I think I missed an opportunity by not shading, but I added a lot of other techniques that seem to work.  I planned to add some dry and some wet mud to the tracks, but that will wait till I have cleaned enough off my desk so mud splatter does not inadvertently hit other models.


I think the scheme is too busy, but I don't hate it.

Warhound Oil Wash

I've been experimenting with oil washes for a couple of weeks, and even planned my titan painting around them. I think these shots speak for themselves. It took almost no effort to slop the oil wash on along the gold trim. After that all I had to do was take a brush slightly dampened with white spirit to clean off and blend the washes in. The oils almost disappear under the barely dampened brush.

Painting like this feels like I am leveraging magic. Huge plug for AK Interactive products. They are the bees knees.  I can imagine painting miniatures using oil washes.

Guess The Titan Legion

Now that the base colors are pretty far along, I don't feel so bad about the white pellets of sealer all over the legs. I think weathering will hide them just fine. I searched far and wide for references for titans, and found very little. I chose this color scheme because I like the colors. I know virtually nothing about the legion or its history. So can you help me out by guessing the legion and then filling me in on the fluff?

Warhound Now With Purity Seal Spotting

The main leg portions were finished last night, and while waiting for the them to dry I tried out the colors on the armor segments. The green area on the right shoulder and the left knee will have white stripes. The head armor will be white as well.

The bad news is that my purity seal left spots of white all over the legs. I have not been able to get these off. I've tried white spirit, gloss varnish etc. At this point I am going to paint the rest of the titan and touch up the white spots by hand. They soil the really nice look of the legs, but want to get this guy 99% complete before touch ups.

Tonight I plan to paint the power weapons on the NOVA Charitable Foundation Deathwing terminators and do their basing. Next week is the GW springfield store's birthday celebration, and one squad and the LR will be entered into the painting competition. If you want to see them up close next week is your opportunity.

Warhound Titan Ebay Find

I found this warhound titan, while trolling ebay for Eldar. Now, I already own one of these that has not been put together, so even partially built, this gives me a chance to practice building one of these guys and painting it before I tackle my pristine one. I had not taken into account how terribly the legs had been glue-mangled or gluangled(TM). I tried to remove the super glue, trying nail polish remover, super glue de-bonder, and even simple green. No dice. The good news is that the previous owner left the armor plates and the main body alone, so those will be a lot of fun to paint. I foresee a lot of mud and grime on the legs.

I am really looking forward to painting this. Now what Titan legion should this guy come from?

Redemption of the Fallen WIP 3

The light was really good this morning, so I thought I would snap a few photos of the Land Raider.
The tank is magnetized to make Godhammer, crusader or redeemer variants, though I am only showing two in these photos. Another round of chipping is in order, but only on the green areas. Basically those need to show chipped tan paint underneath. Outside of that I am getting ready to stick a fork in this and call it done.

We are trying to raise money for Doctors Without Borders through the Nova Charity Foundation.  If you follow that link you can enter to win.

Redemption of the Fallen: WIP 2 Landraider Everything Edition

With the terminators well under way, I decided it was time to get some paint on their dedicated transport. The box came with the everything necessary to make every variant, so I went a bit magnet crazy and made it possible to field every variant. While I love magnetizing, it does dramatically increase painting time.

At this point the tracks are on and weathered, but the tank has not been weathered itself. Chipping is next, followed by grime streaks.

As before, you could win this tank, along with the two terminator squads, as well as the rest of the army, by purchasing a raffle ticket on the Nova Charitable Foundation website.

Redemption of the Fallen: Charity Army WIP 1

These terminators could be yours. The special weapons are magnetized, their land raider is magnetized, and the best feature of all, is that they come with a beautifully painted army wrapped around them.

I was lucky to be offered the chance to paint up two squads of terminators, along with an 'anything' pattern land raider to help support Doctors Without Boarders for the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation, and have had a blast painting these guys .

For a measly dollar you could win an army designed by some guy named Mike Brandt, and painted by a diverse group of awesome painters led by Tim Williamson (Tau of War). This really is an all star team and then me. It really is a privilege to work along side these folks, and hope we can convince you to pony up some of your hard earned cash to support a really worthwhile charity.

Now as to the Dark Angel's list...well it is a list. I don't know who this MB thinks he is, but everybody knows terminators should be armed with two heavy weapons. (yeah I know it is not legal, but have magnets will magnetize!)

I wish everyone a happy 4th of July