Fighting the Gray Tide (Miniature Painting)

MGibster · Tuesday at 10:19 PM

I finished my space van. Overall, not bad. I should have used some variations of the base color to simulate uneven sun damage as well as lighter paint chipping. Live and learn.

Aellic Mornbringer · Wednesday at 4:01 AM

Here is the griffon I've been plinking away with. As noted previously, I use Army Painter speed paints and I ran into an issue with my primer coat that @Clint_L made a great suggestion on a few pages back. Basically I did a black base, then a grey dry brush followed by a white highlight drybrush. For most of the mini that worked okay but when I applied the White speed paint over the mostly grey feathers and cowl, the grey was all you could see. I ended up repriming the cowl and end feathers with white primer and I'm trying to decide on a touch up (maybe using the white speed paint to give a little more definition.)
Anyway, to sum it up, when priming for your speed paints, make sure to leave anything that is going to end up white or very bright, primed in white. Otherwise it is very muted.

One last note in reference to the conversation about griffon/bird mini paint schemes, if I recall, I used three browns on the wings. Two main shades of brown and then a lighter coat as a wash to blend them.

Aellic Mornbringer · Wednesday at 4:09 AM

My current project has been the OG HeroQuest Challenge. Heh Wherever possible, I am deferring to the box art for the color scheme.

So far it has been a lot of fun. My metallics didn't do quite what I expected on the Chaos Warrior so I'm going to change some things when I do the next one. I haven't put a matte finish on them yet either which I'm hoping takes some of the shine off of the orcs.

Next batch will be the heroes themselves.

Clint_L · Wednesday at 4:12 AM

Aellic Mornbringer said:
View attachment 435146
View attachment 435148

Here is the griffon I've been plinking away with. As noted previously, I use Army Painter speed paints and I ran into an issue with my primer coat that @Clint_L made a great suggestion on a few pages back. Basically I did a black base, then a grey dry brush followed by a white highlight drybrush. For most of the mini that worked okay but when I applied the White speed paint over the mostly grey feathers and cowl, the grey was all you could see. I ended up repriming the cowl and end feathers with white primer and I'm trying to decide on a touch up (maybe using the white speed paint to give a little more definition.)
Anyway, to sum it up, when priming for your speed paints, make sure to leave anything that is going to end up white or very bright, primed in white. Otherwise it is very muted.

One last note in reference to the conversation about griffon/bird mini paint schemes, if I recall, I used three browns on the wings. Two main shades of brown and then a lighter coat as a wash to blend them.

Suggestion: since you've re-primed the wings, stay away from speed paint altogther on the white parts this time around. Instead, just do a base coat of black or dark grey, let it dry, then a heavy dry brush of regular white paint, which should sit on the base coat just fine (speed paint would soak into it). That'll give you white feathers while retaining all the texture of the quills. I have that same miniature and that worked great for me.

Aellic Mornbringer · Wednesday at 4:14 AM

Clint_L said:
Suggestion: since you've re-primed the wings, stay away from speed paint altogther on the white parts this time around. Instead, just do a base coat of black or dark grey, let it dry, then a heavy dry brush of regular white paint, which should sit on the base coat just fine (speed paint would soak into it). That'll give you white feathers while retaining all the texture of the quills. I have that same miniature and that worked great for me.

Love it, thank you for the suggestion!

Clint_L · Wednesday at 4:18 AM

MGibster said:
I finished my space van. Overall, not bad. I should have used some variations of the base color to simulate uneven sun damage as well as lighter paint chipping. Live and learn.

The weathering looks amazing, IMO.

MGibster · Wednesday at 5:05 AM

Clint_L said:
The weathering looks amazing, IMO.

Elmer's glue. I started with a base of rust color. One dry, I used a sponge to dab on some Elmer's glue and let that dry overnight. I don't know if you need to wait overnight, but I did. Then I applied the blue, the green, and I painted the flowers and let that dry overnight. I needed to make sure the paint had time to not only dry but to cure as well. Then I got a wet tooth brush and lightly scubbed the model which took off the glue revealing the weathering patterns.

For those of you painting vehicles, I encourage you to check YouTube for videos from plastic model hobbyist. They have a lot of techniques that are directly applicable to miniature painting.

MGibster · Wednesday at 2:32 PM

I’m closed to finishing the underside of one wing. I’ve been doing a lot of corrections on this thing.

SkidAce · Wednesday at 3:41 PM

Aellic Mornbringer said:
My current project has been the OG HeroQuest Challenge. Heh Wherever possible, I am deferring to the box art for the color scheme.

So far it has been a lot of fun. My metallics didn't do quite what I expected on the Chaos Warrior so I'm going to change some things when I do the next one. I haven't put a matte finish on them yet either which I'm hoping takes some of the shine off of the orcs.

Next batch will be the heroes themselves.

View attachment 435152 View attachment 435151 View attachment 435153 View attachment 435154 View attachment 435155 View attachment 435156 View attachment 435157 View attachment 435158

Thats what I'm working on...loooks great!

How did your prime them, my 1st attempt (brush) was substandard and patchy...2nd attempt with spray primer seems okay.

Aellic Mornbringer · Wednesday at 7:11 PM

SkidAce said:
Thats what I'm working on...loooks great!

How did your prime them, my 1st attempt (brush) was substandard and patchy...2nd attempt with spray primer seems okay.

Thanks! You and @payn inspired me to dig my old box out and join in.

I was worried when I saw your first attempt with brush didn't work well as that's all I have currently. I ended up giving them a really good wash and scrub as my set definitely had a film and layer of dust on them. After that I just used a brush with Vallejo brand black primer followed with subsequent grey and white drybrushes. The black went on "okay", definitely not as good as with other actual minis but not horrible either. By the time the drybrush coats were applied, it was a pretty good coat. I think these pictures might have been before the final white drybrush, I honestly don't remember.