Saturday, May 22, 2010
Ruined Temple 101
To do these bases, you'll need the same materials used with the "Tech Factory" bases - minus the Realistic Water/Oil Stains.
After getting them clipped, filed and looking the way I wanted them to, I washed them in a diluted soapy water (1 part dish detergent to 5 parts water). Then I mounted them and left them overnight to dry.
When they were dry and the glue had set, I gave them a very thin basecoat of Skull White.
When the Skull White had dried, I added the first undercoat. I gave half the bases a Graveyard Earth coat and half a Khemri Brown coat.
When this had dried, I gave them a second undercoat. Again, dividing them in half. One set got a mix of Vallejo Ivory and Vallejo Off-White. The other set got Kommando Khaki.
At this point, I went back into the recesses with a toothpick to remove any built up paint and gave the areas a coat of Devlan Mud.
When the ink dried, I gave them a coat of Vallejo Ivory.
I then gave them a heavy drybrush of Bleached Bone (just short of a full coat).
They then received a drybrush (real drybrush) of Skull White.
So, I now had the basic marble color the way I wanted it. It was time to go back in and work on the grout.
For the grout, I first used a variety of the dark browns in the Citadel range (IIRC I used Desert Yellow, Bestial Brown, Scorched Earth and Calthan Brown).
Try to paint the recesses with the brush angled toward the smaller "strips" of the surface - as these will be covered over later (easier to fix!).
I then painted Ogryn Flesh Wash into the recesses and large cracks and "divots".
So, now the grout is finished. Time to move onto the small surface areas.
I started by giving them a base of Vallejo Scarlett Red (on half) and Scab Red (on the other half).
The Scarlett Red bases then got a coat of Vallejo Gory Red. The Scab Red bases got a coat of Red Gore.
(Though they are basically the same color, it's amazing how different they are when fully dry!)
They then received a drybrush of Blood Red.
The hard edges and upward points of the rubble areas were then given a detail of Blazing Orange.
At this point, I also went back in and "continued" the bases down the side. These bases had a very distinctive "dividing line" around the circumference. The Scarlett Red/Scab Red was continued down to the very bottom of the base. The Gory Red/Red Gore was only continued down to the dividing line. The grout areas got a mix of Bleached Bone and Rotting Flesh all the way to the bottom of the base.
I then returned to the cracks and divots in the base and gave them another wash of Gryphonne Sepia.
The marble parts of the bases were now basically done. I know moved on to the gilding and the hard edging.
For the gilding, I painted a very thing line of Shining Gold on any straight edge (of the red marble) - again, only the straight edges, if there was a crack or divot, the gilding would be lost.
For the hard edging, I went in with Titanium White and painted any straight edge or large "side" piece of the cracks.
To finish the bases I gave the entire surface, sides and bottom one final - and liberal - coat of Gryphonne Sepia.
And there's a set of fully finished "Ruined Temple" bases!
Some shots of them in a nicer presentation:
Hope you find this useful!
As always, happy painting!
Sons of Prospero
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
More (hopefully) this weekend...
Happy painting all!
Sons of Prospero
Monday, May 17, 2010
Tech Factory Bases 101
Recently I acquired a set of 10, 25mm Tech Factory bases from the guys over at Secret Weapon. They are great bases, and I was eager to get into painting them. Here’s a step-by-step of what I did.
Preparation
So, first off, your bases will come in a nice little zip-loc bag package (which is great, because they can be used to store other bits when you’re done with the bases.
Look awesome, don’t they?
Here are the tools I used with these:
· 30mm cork to mount them on
· Hobby Drill to put holes on the bottom, for mounting
· Straight Pins to attach the bases to the cork
· Pliers with wire-snips to remove the heads of the pins, and to later remove the pins from the bases
· A sharp hobby knife (or fine head snips) for removing the flash
· A fine file for removing tricky bits of flash
(As this is resin, remember to wear a mask when filing – the dust is toxic!)
· Whatever paints you favor. I use a mix of Vallejo, Games Workshop and commercial artist acrylics.
· Finally, some “Realistic Water” (available in many forms from different suppliers) and additional ink for making the oil/grease spills
In a pinch, some watered down PVA (“White”) glue will work for water.
I also like to use Liquitex Liquid Acrylics for wide area washes and mixing.
Now you’ve got all your tools ready, and you’ve opened the package. You are faced with this:
Don’t worry! It’s easy to fix!
· Use your snips and/or hobby knife to remove the largest bits of flash. (Warning: don’t get carried away with this, or you’ll end up removing bits of the bottom of the base, as I did.)
· After removing the largest bits of flash, use the file to remove any other imperfections on the base. (Unfortunately, this is the “nature of the beast” with our hobby – any mold process will produce flash.)
· When you’re happy with how your bases look, wash them in cool water with a mild soap. I use a very watered down dish soap for this – it will remove any remaining mold oils.
(Especially with the bases that have mesh flooring, let the bases air dry. Rubbing them with a cloth can cause parts to separate from the base – resin is a tricky item.)
· When your bases are dry, flip them over and drill two small holes, for the pins, in the bottom of each one. I suggest two holes, as the bases tend to spin around while painting when you only use one pin.
· Use whatever super glue you like best to glue two pins into the holes on each base, and let the glue cure.
· After the glue has dried, mount the bases on a 30mm cork (any smaller and you risk the cork falling over and chipping your paint).
And there they are, cleaned, mounted and ready for you to work on.
One final bit of preparation I do is to add a very light coat of primer to the bases (I tend to use Acryl Gouache Metal or Plastic primer). Again, since resin is close to industrial plastics, in some cases, it may “fight” the paint without first getting a primer.
Painting the bases
I started with a base-coat of Vallejo flat black, then added another coat of Chaos Black.
When this had dried, I gave them a coat of Vallejo Blue Grey (GW Shadow Grey could also work here).
When this was dry, I gave them their first wash of Badab Black and let it dry.
When the wash was dry, I started adding the other base colors.
· Grated metal got an undercoat of Tin Bitz. I then alternated shades for the floor panels. Some panels were painted Golden Yellow. Others got a coat of Wolf Grey or Fenris Grey. The stamped metal got coated with Sombre Grey.
When this coat had dried, I added more details.
· The ribbed cables were painted with either Old Brass or Chainmail.
The yellow plates were given black stripes to make the “warning” strips.
The stamped metal was given highlights of Fortress Grey in one direction and Wolf Grey in the other.
Any other “protruding” bits were given a suitable metal color. I mostly stuck with bronzes and silvers.
When these coats had dried, a final highlight was given to areas that needed it.
· The mesh flooring was given a dry-brush of Boltgun Metal.
The “blocks” on some of the bases (see above, bottom right base, between the stampes metal
and the mesh flooring) were also painted boltgun metal.
Guide rails were painted either Mithril Silver or Brass.
Two final things were done now.
· Non-ribbed cables were painted to be “regular” insulated wires. I used red, green and blue for the plastic insulation.
Scratches were put onto the flooring.
When this was all dry, they were given a final, liberal wash of Badab Black.
Making the scratches:
To achieve the scratches I dipped a fine-detail brush into some Boltgun Metal. I then quickly stroked the base in random places – but the same direction. This gives a broken appearance to the paint and makes it look a bit more realistic as a scratch.
When the Boltgun Metal was dry, I went back in with thinned down Mordian Blue and lightly outlined any solid lines in the metal.
Oil Spills
To make the oil spills, I mixed Carbon Black Ink with Transparent Raw Umber Ink with the Realistic Water.
I then used a pipette dropper to suck up some of the “oil” and dripped it on the bases from a height of a few centimeters. In a few places, I also placed the pipette directly on the base – this can give some interesting patterns.
Leave this to set – it takes a few hours to half a day (depending on how much you use) to completely cure.
The last thing I did was give the bottoms of the bases a coat of ‘Ard Coat, as this will prevent the paint from cracking and/or chipping and spreading to the actual base. I won’t seal the rest of the base until a model is attached to it and the whole thing is ready to be sealed.
One last bit, and this is just a personal preference. I like to “continue” my bases down to the bottom. For example, if there’s a chevron pattern on the top surface that goes to the edge, I like to continue that pattern down the side of the base.
And there you have it! I hope you have as much fun with these as I did!
Happy painting!!
Sons Of Prospero
Biting the Bullet
Hope you enjoy what I put up. See you on the flip side.
SoP