"Stay on target... stay on target..."

After finishing the massive project that was the Chaos Knight I needed a little palate cleanser so knocked off this lovely little Bandai kit. Don't let the tiny size fool you (yes, that is a penny!). It went together like a dream and was a joy to paint.

Weathering was.by doing a base coat of dark grey and then sponging liquid mask on before applying the main coat.

Get Your Motor Runnin'

I've done my back in moving classrooms and so my progress has been somewhat slowed. I have three separate projects on the go that I am chipping away at in the short periods I can sit at the table and I should have them finished over the next couple of days. 

The first to get done is the last of the Imperials from Legion. Obviously, like everyone else my age, I loved the speeder bikes from Return of the Jedi so doing these was great fun. It also meant that I couldn't bring myself to go with the black gloss base of the other imperial troops - they had to have an Endor forest floor base.  

The armour was done with the same recipe as the stormtroopers but I couldn't take as much care over the black under suit due to pain. They're neat enough for the moment and I can go back and add a highlight when I'm feeling better. 

One thing I did do was to think about the base markings. In legion the arcs of fire are marked on the base. Here I added a tuft at each of the points to allow you to still see the arcs without any ugly lines. 

Next up is a present for the Eldest and then a present for the Youngest. 

"Prepare your troops for a ground assault..."

These were a bit of a challenge. Painting white is always a bit of a chore, and getting the very clean, cold look of Imperial Stormtroopers is quick difficult for someone whose usual painting style is grimy and naturalistic.

I'm happy to admit that I got it wrong first time out and had to repaint. The mistake I made was painting them as people; I started them as grey and started layering up to white like I did with the organic shapes of Gandalf the White. What I should have done was treat them like objects, exactly the same as if I were painting a tank or something else.

In the event, the final process was this:

Spray white.
Paint white.
Gloss coat.
Thinned down black wash as a line wash.
Repaint white.
Black for undersuit.
Gloss coat.

Sprayed White

wash thinned with wash medium and carefully lined/slathered all over

Flat panels repainted white

Bish bash bosh. Pretty quick once I'd cracked the workflow, but two of them ended up loosing a bit of detail due to the number of layers of paint I did while trying to figure it out.

One major thing I did was a bit of cutting and shutting. I am a touch irritated that FFG are shipping a premium priced product with single, duplicate poses. I'll take that for a Blood Bowl team or Necromunda gang, but not in a Big Box game like this. So the trusty jeweler's saw came out and various arms and waists were re-positioned so every member of the squad was unique.

Trying to decide now whether to do the Rebels next or complete the Imperial side by doing the speeder bikes - but before I do that I have something rather big to deal with...

The Power of the Dark Side

"I find your lack of faith... disturbing."

For my birthday last week my beloved Good Lady She Who Must Be Obeyed got me lots of goodies to paint and a brand new game system - Legion.

Obviously, the first thing I started painting was the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader.

As with most other predominantly black figures, the trick here was to get enough differences in tone. So various glazes, edge highlights and use of gloss and matt black were used to provide definition.

The final decision was whether to add an OSL effect from the Lightsaber. I decided in the end to do it as it added just an extra little difference in tone.

Next up will be a present for someone else and then some more of my goodies.

In Soviet Russia, Bounty Hunts You

Here's the finished T-34 Firespray, complete with oil streaks, over washing for grime and chipped paint: 

Doing this has reawakened my love of X-Wing so you can expect to see some of the other miniatures pop up on here. 

Even better, this was bought last year so it's a plus for the Pledge!

A Long Time Ago In A People's Republic Far Away...

Look, I realise this is something that everyone knew ages ago but please don't mock me. 

Today I realised I could very easily paint over the prepainted finish of my X Wing miniatures. 

First Up: the T-34 Firespray. 

With some glazed highlights:

And with red highlighting: 

Just needs shading and weathering and she's done. Frankly a lot better than the Boba Fett paintjob, but your mileage might vary. 

The next question: Vader's TIE Advanced - to pimp or not to pimp?