Friday 29 July 2022

Painting Update - Basing Colours

Howdy Folks,

Happy end July to everyone...the month has surprisingly gone by very quickly, and definitely seen some interesting weather come through the province. The last week has been especially interesting given how much changing air pressure messes with my injuries...and last nights weather really was quite something to watch. Luckily all safe here, most of the really 'interesting' stuff developed south and east of us, and I hope all is safe where you are interneting.

For this post, I thought I would give a psuedo painting update and quick tutorial or guide on how I paint up my bases. The idea came for this came from a Reddit post I saw where someone was looking for some advice on getting more texture and colour out of their base painting. I've done this before in the past with some Cold War Infantry from Battlefront, as you will see at the link and below, I definitely have a system and standard-ish scheme that I like to use.

Hope this is of us...have a good one.

All figures are from Empress Miniatures and unless stated I'm using Vallejo, from left to right I have 3 different colours. Base colour is Burnt Umber, then dryish brush of Flat Earth, and then a dryer brush of Beige Brown.

I then had the idea of just putting the paint bottle behind the figure so you could see the name of the paint and the progress of the layers. So as above, left to right, with the inclusion of a standing sniper at the bottom of the pic. In this case, the base layer is still Burnt Umber and then dryish of Desert Yellow.

So you can see the next layer for each model, again left to right with Flat Earth for prone sniper, Beige Brown for green jacket, and Tan Earth for green toque.

Progressing the figs...I'm now adding Iraqi Sand for green toque, a fairly dry brush of that, I don't want it to overpower, just to lighten a little.

For my standing sniper, I thought I'd catch up...Desert Yellow was layer two, and then a dry brush of Iraqi Sand to make stuff pop...my next step will be to flock and overcoat...you'll see the finished figure on a follow-up post.

Just catching the other figures up...you can see Tan Earth for the prone dude, and Iraqi Sand now for green jacket.

For prone dude, I added some Army Painter Strong Tone to the base and I'm just hitting creases and areas that I want shadowed tone. Helps to break up the terrain from the figure and give some depths, especially to the improvised wall he has built up in front of him.
 
Overhead shot...just trying to capture the various tones and shades...

And in case anyone is curious on what I used for these bases, I do often use Citadel technical paints...I really do like the, they're pretty handy and makes some of the basework easier...especially when I am feeling lazy and don't want to break out my filler or sand.


Again, hope this is of help...Cheers!

Friday 22 July 2022

Painting Update - Spectre Miniatures

Howdy folks,

I hope your summer is going well...we're getting a taste of the warm weather this past week and looking into the next, but up until now I can't really complain about the weather. As mentioned a few posts or so ago, I dipped my toe into Spectre Miniatures with a small purchase of a few models and most recently I also subscribed to their Patreon.

Prior to the Patreon decision, I was quite prepared to dislike their figures. On their website, the figures look great, the scenery is pretty nice, and they really compliment each other and makes it look quite attractive. So being cautiously curious, I bought a couple of metal figures and when I got them and took them out of the box (a literal small box for the figure) I was somewhat disappointed. The figures I bought were the GRU Spetsnaz LMG and an Insurgent MG - Bravo. I wasn't too happy with the thinness of the metal for the weapons and the fact the barrel of the LMG was wrapped around pointing back to the figure made me a little grumpy. It also looked like the figure was missing a portion of its bipod.
 
So with that as my first impression I packed them back in their box and left them aside for a few months.

In between that time, I however kept seeing battle reports and various posts of Spectre figures and when they announced their Patreon page, I became interested again. The main thing I was curious about with their Patreon was the offer of STL files. Thanks to my buddy Duncan, he has been kind enough to assist me with printing...and by assist, I mean I don't have a printer, he does...super appreciate his 'assist'.

Well, Duncan printed up a couple of figures for me and I took them home and painted them up...and to be super honest, they were a lot of fun to paint. They were resin printed, took the paint well, and there was a really good dynamic to their pose that I really liked. SO, I then took the metal figs that I had bought out of the penalty box, straightened the barrel and saw that all the detail was there (hooray for stowed bipod).
 
I painted them up last week and DAMN!! I have to retract my initial impression...not only did they paint up well, they look great painted and I'm super happy with how they turned out. I obviously was bitchy the day I took them out of the box, but have to say I am really happy with the figures...
 
So, I hope you enjoy the pics. Cheers.
 
The figs...Insurgent MG, STL CIA dude, GRU Spetsnaz LMG, STL CIA dude. I really like how these figures turned out. 

The Insurgent armed with an MG, pretty straight forward pose, tried out some different paint schemes for the headscarf...I actually don't think I've tried one before...
 
The GRU Spetsnaz with RPK LMG...I am really really happy with how this paintjob came up...I wasn't trying to model a specific pattern or anything, rather I just wanted to get some general similarity in colour with a few random patterns. Oh, and a nod to 1980s Soviet spec ops and airborne troops in Afghanistan, i chose to paint him up with blue tennie's.


 
The pair of metal figs...


And now the psuedo-looking ZZ Top operative...this STL was listed as a CIA operator, so I found a paintscheme in a Force on Force book for the Offensive Actions Detachment (I think?) and chose the black on grey scheme for Agent Lynch (thank you A-Team) on the right. The Dude on the left I tried painting up with just colours that seemed appropriate.

Painted

15mm               30
28mm+             27, +4
 
Bought              25, +2 (Spectre prints)

Progress          +32