Emperor's Children Test Mini #2

Using the same miniature from the last post, I decided to try out adding pink. This is a test mini after all, and is destined for a bath in simple green before too long, so why not try out everything. I created a glaze out of GW screamer pink and spread it around really carefully around the armor plates. I tried to make the paint act like a tint rather than a full blown layer. The previously highlighted purple stayed light, and the darker purple turned a bit more red. I finished the model off by adding some line highlights of EC pink. While some of the previous blending was lost, overall the tinting process seems to work. I am not sure I could control this on a whole army's worth of models, but I like this version of the EC better. Imagine rich red cloaks on all of the special characters. I think the tint warms up the base enough so it would look good.

How does this version compare to the last?

Emperor's Children Test Mini

I painted two test miniatures to practice purple for my upcoming EC army. Only one of them is shown here. The other looks bizarre at the moment. On this mini I  used all VGC paints. I am considering removing the gryphon sepia wash from the gold, and going with a more silver tone. NMM gold may have to come into play, though that will seriously reduce my productivity.

So, should Emperor's children be purple, or should they be pink/purple. My next test mini will go with a more pink reddish purple.

Fiber Optics & 40K

I had planned to take some shots of two more alternate emperor's children test marines, but a package from micromark arrived and stole my attention away. I bought these fiber optics on a lark, and now I don't know what to do with them. My original idea included using these as runway lights for next year's armies on parade, but there are so many uses. Perhaps they could end up in a land raider, or inside some tau aircraft. My top choice is to use them on the display base as part of a runway/landing pad.

What would you use these lights for?

Black Templar Champion Using Latham Medium

Black can be a difficult color to paint. Usually I paint it using a very dark grey, tinted brown for warm or blue for cold. I also almost always use an airbrush to paint black miniatures. Last night I tried painting a black miniature making heavy use of Latham Medium. Instead of wet blending, I used very thin layers. At the very end of base coating, I doused the mini in gloss varnish, and used oil washes selectively. I used a dark brown around the armor plates, and streaking grim on all of the gold areas. I then waited till the oil had become tacky (thanks to a hair dryer it only took a few minutes) and used a clean brush with a tiny dab of white spirit to clean off the portions of the wash I did not like.

I was not happy with the miniature last night, but this morning I can see some promise. Unfortunately this finecast model has terrible surface quality and loss of detail, so it is not worth repainting. The right shoulder pad was pitted so badly that after painting, I had to use a heavy dose of gloss varnish to fill in the the imperfections. I think that worked better than green stuff, so I'll use the method again.

The base just happened to be a reject I had nearby. I will use dusty desert bases so these guys could ally with my tallarn. Also it would allow me to put weathering powder on their feet, which will probably look pretty cool.

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!