Tuesday 18 August 2015

Heavy Metal, soft colours.



I'm back from two weeks of wedding and honeymoon and stag weekend. Feeling refreshed and inspired!

So many new ideas for the titan.

But this post will be focusing on what I've done since my last update
So lets start with the super-structure. The giant-lumps of iron and steel that wont be replaced because they are basically indestructible.


These are usually painted for a few reasons, the iron and steel are usually pretty mangy looking after the process of shaping them. Its not shiny and pretty its brown and black and looks rubs. Secondly by painting it you can tell quite quickly if it has been damaged or if oil is leaking out of components.


So here is a breakdown of how I approched this section.

I started by looking at JCBs and other heavy machinery, diggers, wrecking balls etc. You'll usually find that while the super-structure is painted the "business end" is not, the ball, or dozer blades. Simply because it would be a massive waste of time.

So ive gone at my titan with that in mind. Legs painted, the feet are ancient solid iron. It's lasted 10,000 years it should be fine for another 10,000.

 There is no technique to speak of for this. Spray it silver and go at it with yellow and brown and black ink. Dont be precious about it. Maybe a little thought as to where the oil would come from but just slap it on. the more the better. There wont be much on show once its finished.


 The feet are a little more involved.
Paint with tin-bitz or equivilent of brown dark copper colour.
Dab, with a sponge, gold and copper over the top.
Go over the whole thing in a light brown glaze. Like Serephim Sepia, mix with water to give it a dry dusty finish. To tie it together.
Then pick out the edges with some dark metal and light metal on the sharpest parts, again with a sponge.
And your done! Powders will be done at the end when EVERYTHING is painted.
(re-write this its boring)


Next up is the chipping medium from AK interactive. Applied over the dry leg sections straight through the airbrush. Two layers. Wait for the first to dry before applying the next.

Then when both of them are dry (about 2 hours. Very important not to rush) it's time for the paint. I've gone for an off white as it will show up the chips while at the same time show up the oil and wont detract from the fancy armour. Again through the airbrush, Vallejo Air Hemp and Vallejo Air White.


Again wait at least an hour to dry. You have about 6hours of working time for the AK interactive chipping liquid before it stops working and you can no longer chip your paint off.


So your layers are ready and your prepared for chipping this is where my secret weapon comes in.
The bastard brush. Everyone has their brush that has been abused and broken. But if you want to chip metal you need something chaotic. So my "bastard brush" is my go to. After getting a medium dry brush, having it pressed out for a day or two so it's nice and frayed I dip little clumps into superglue. That way you have hard sections and soft sections to tear away paint after the chipping liquid has been applied. Or just putting random chips that don't look too uniform. Embrace the chaos of the bastard brush to achieve truly random results.


Dip your gross brush in CLEAN water and slowly drag it along the surfaces until the paint starts chipping away. Absolute magic and the most satisfying thing ever. The staining around the larger sections is a completely incidental thing that happens with this technique. Usually its just tiny clumps of pigment that havent dryed yet and starts to saturate the white paint. It's little thigns like this that really bring out the realism in a model. The weathering is far from finished on this but its a great clomping step forward. I'll do the upper body before I move on to engine oil and powders and rust and stuff.


Next up is the blue sections of armour. Exactly the same as above in terms of technique, except I've gone for a dark heavy brown metal to reveal to contrast with the blue.


And I under-highlighted EVERY. SINGLE. SCRATCH. If you want to do this get a box-set of something you've watched already and settle in. There is no magic technique for this.

Heres what I used.





The one interesting thing I did here was make my own little mini stencils for the patterns. With masking tape, some thin card, and a sharp knife.



This isn't my final gold. That will be much darker. With silver studs.


Have drink with Jeffrey the lizard.
You've earned it. This post is too long.
 


So here's what's in the pipe... Get it?

Well while on my honeymoon I read Titanicus by Dan Abnett. Which was epic. And I need to do my floating Princepts. This was my first little kit bash but I've decided on doing a shallow pool and a fully converted little princepts to go in it.


 This is what lead me to that conclusion. How cool would that look. semi submerged with the nice glowy light and paint. lots of sketching and working out to do.


And here is tonights fun little task. AAAAAllll the rest of the marble. It took me a whole day to do the sholder plate in the background so I'm saying 3 days for all this rubbish. As you can see I am following my own tutorial on the iPad to keep me on track to achive the same results. This blog is as much for me to remember as it is for anyone else!


Then for this...


Thank you for reading!
Sorry for the EPIC length of this one.
Love and happy painting to all!
Henry

TLDR: Metal, silver. Paint, White and blue.

15 comments:

  1. You under highlighted every scratch? Holy crap man!

    Is there a particular reason you do two coats and also allow for an extended drying time? I've had success with a single coat and 20 minutes. Just wondering if it allows for more controlled effects, etc!

    I'm very curious because I'm doing the exact same thing with my orks right now, so any and all information is extremely useful!

    http://i.imgur.com/8nK6QGc.jpg

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    1. That looks great Greg! I too have experimented with the two layers of different coloured paint.
      The first layer acts as more of a sealent against rubbing to the plastic. and it means the water can permiate through the second and you just go over it again if you want to expose more metal. I didnt want to do it twice so I stuck religiously to my timings. one mistake when batch painting like this and things would go horribly wrong hehee.
      And yes. Every. Single. Scratch.

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    2. Thanks Henry! Ah that makes perfect sense. Basically using the first spray as a varnish for the second coat. Do you thin it any, or spray straight through?

      Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Pleasure watching work on the big guy!

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    3. Not at all dude. Your a proper supporter. :D
      I've always just put it straight through the airbrush. As it breaks down with water there is no problems cleaning it.

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  2. Henry, welcome back and a belated congratulations on the wedding!

    A fantastic post with some great techniques, I've been using several on my Armoured Battlegroup Astra Militarum tanks. I should have bought stocks in AK Interactive before I started that army...

    I'm totally stealing the idea for airbrush templates. Did you cut that Fleur-de-Lys from card by knife?

    Lastly, that Modelmates rust stuff is AWESOME. How are you finding it?

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    Replies
    1. Cheers dude! I did cheat the fleur stencil slightly and put a sticker over it and cut around it. And yes. That model mates stuff is a god send. Oil and rust are my go to weathering for everything. You should be able to buy that chipping liquid by the pint. :)

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  3. "I've decided on doing a shallow pool and a fully converted little princepts to go in it."

    Lol, that's exactly what I said!

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    Replies
    1. I know I know I should have listened from the start! The scale will need to be crazy though. There is just no room for error. I'm thinking of using one of the assassin game models as a base. Body glove, pipes, slim frame. But it's still going to be tough. Anymore pearls that I'll ignore until I hate my own ideas lol

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  4. Great article, I find your work very inspiring. I really like the legs, did you just airbrush Hemp with a White highlight? It fits well with the titan, but doesn't stand out to much. Perfect.
    I had great results with the AK chipping fluid also, and must say that I also had the best results with 2 layers with enough drying time in between. But must times I varnish the model before applying the chipping fluid, but maybe that's just for my peace of mind :)

    Keep up the awesome work, and looking forward to the next article with little step by step tutorials.

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    1. Cheers dude! and yes thats exactly how i did the white! as for the varnish in-between it really depends on what look im going for. as if i leave the varnish off it will pull a little of the brown into the top colours, staining them very realistically. but if im going for clean damage ill varnish first.

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  5. Man, I can't even begin to think about how I would tackle such a monster!
    I really enjoy your blog entries ;)

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    1. Cheers buddy! Im looking at it as loads of small parts rather than a giant soul crushing time black hole. hehehe I do think PB should do a Warhound titan. I would pay GOOD money seeing that.

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  6. Welcome back and congrats :)

    Great tutorial mate! The AK interative stuff is something I'm keen to try, especially if it gives such an awesome result.

    Look forward to where the rest of this goes.

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  7. Fantastic post - Great explainations and thinking.I'm looking forward to what you have for us next..!
    Dealnity

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  8. Finicky post! I am too surprised to see this blog; I want to get more information can you please add more things? panel beaters

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