Some Warmachine Khador Models Soon!

I will be getting some Warmachine Khador metal miniatures next month! I am currently researching on how to play them at Battlecollege and I am excited to paint them as soon as I have them!



The photos below are the models that I will be getting. All of which should be fun to paint as they are well sculpted white metal miniatures from Privateer Press. However, unlike the huge resin model Hordes Mammoth Gargantuan that I primarily bought for painting, the figures below other than the Fenris, Widowmakers, Widowmaker Marksman and the Spriggan ( fat robot with a lance ) are not too interesting to paint. I hope they are fun to field in an actual game though.



I am still learning how to blend colors in hand painting. I am now using Vallejo Mediums while hand painting and I am loving the results in comparison to using distilled water in thinning my paints.

I hope to finish my Shocktroopers soon and will sure to post them here in my blog.



I will get back to my Gunpla commissioned works next month but decided to only work on them during weekends. I plan to paint minis ( miniatures ) for 2 hours a day during weekdays though. Hopefully my 2 hour per day weekday Warmachine painting sessions will slowly help me field a fully painted Khador Army. Dang I hate sleeping much more now than ever before. 8 hours or 1/3rd of my life is wasted on sleeping! 2 hobbies ( Gunpla and Warmachine ) is too difficult to balance!



Anyways, just wanted to share my excitement as usual. I also need to have this list archived here in my blog to make it easy for me to reasearch the list at BattleCollege. Thanks a ton as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

Airbrushing Vallejo Surface Primers and Vallejo Game Airs

I have here some photos on how I painted this beautiful Privateer Press Hordes Skorne Mammoth Gargantuan resin kit. I airbrushed Vallejo acrylic ( polyurethane ) surface primers, Vallejo Varnishes, Vallejo Model Color, and mostly Vallejo Game Airs. I am basically taking a month long ( January ) break from playing plastic robots ( Gunpla ) as I have been testing some of these Vallejo Mediums, Varnishes and the new Vallejo Game Airs on a personal miniature project.



I learned a few very important facts while painting this project and as usual I would like to share them with you. Sharing these facts should help new modelers or miniature painters to eliminate some trial and error with airbrushing using their Vallejos. Some facts I learned from other Vallejo users and some from Vallejo themselves. So here are the list...



1. Clean your kits thoroughly



As usual you should clean or even sand your kits lightly. I clean my minis ( miniatures ) with an old hard bristled toothbrush. I clean using some detergent liquid soap and warm water then finish up cleaning with denatured alcohol ( 90 % alcohol ) with the toot brush. I specially and vigorously brush the metal parts as these parts has obvious white dusts ( used during the molding process ) that will hinder in the adherence of primers and paints.



2. Never dilute Vallejo Surface Primer 



Although you could dilute all of the Vallejo Primers, Paints and Auxiliary products ( Varnishes and such ) with distilled water ( or even with tap water ), diluting the Vallejo Surface Primers ( even with the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner ) will weaken it's bond or adherence to the surface of your kit. The Vallejo Surface Primers has special acrylic, polyurethane and resin components ( all non-toxic ) that are best use undiluted. The more dilution the weaker the Surface Primer gets. I adjusted my .3 airbrush for primer use. I push the pin backwards making the nozzle of the AB bigger. As you can see in the photos, I did not have ANY problem using the Vallejo Surface Primers for the Black and White Modulation. I did post and pre-shading with the undiluted primers without problems ( clogging ).



3. Allow at least 2 days for Curing Primers on Metal Parts



Vallejo insists of allowing the Surface Primer to cure for at least 48 hours for maximum strength. Allowing 48 hours is too much curing time for plastic and resin parts as I personally think that the surface primers adhere to those surfaces well anyways ( after a day at least ). Metal miniature parts even if cleaned thoroughly is a different matter. The metal surface is too smooth thus you should allow at least 48 hours of curing time before handling the kit to avoid scratches. However once cured, miniatures that I painted a year ago have been so resistant to scratches even if I clean with a hard toothbrush. Great stuff once cured! I now plan to prime metal miniatures during Sundays and handle them the next weekend. That should give it maximum strength!



4. Coat with Satin or Gloss Varnish before Masking



After allowing 2 days ( or a day on resin and plastic parts ) for Vallejo Surface Primers to cure ( on metal parts ), and allowing at least an hour before Varnishes ( 2 thin coats of Glass or Satin or Matt Varnish ), and allowing another hour of curing time for the Vallejo Varnishes, you can now be confident to do some masking with some modeling tapes. Allowing those crucial curing time will ensure that you will not have any problems of paint being picked up by the masking tapes after painting.



5. Thin with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner



All of the Vallejo Paints, Washes and Inks can be diluted with water ( Vallejo advises distilled water as impurities in tap water could further weaken or affect the color of the paints ). HOWEVER, diluting with distilled water weakens the adherence of the paints on the surface. I now personally decided not to use water for dilution. I have all kinds of of Vallejo Mediums for diluting the paints during hand painting and I only use the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner to dilute for use on my airbrush. It is important to note that you should NEVER use the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner for diluting paints for hand painting. The Vallejo Airbrush Thinner has components that will harm dried up paint in hand painting.



6. Clean Airbrush in between colors



I have a tub of water in front of me during airbrushing. I just dive my airbrush in the tub of water and gurgle the airbrush for quick clean ups in between colors. I do use a very small amount of Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner as it has some lubricating properties to prolong the need to dis-assemble your airbrush.



7. Dis-assemble airbrush right after use



Vallejo dries really fast and hard! I highly recommend dis-assembly of your airbrush and cleaning with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner once you are finished.



8. Clean with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner



Clean with a very small amount in between colors and clean your airbrush with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner after use OR risk losing your airbrush ( lol ).



Well that is about it! Thanks as always for dropping by! I hope you enjoy your Vallejo paints as much as I do. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post. Just enjoy the hobby! :)

The photo below shows the kit before hand painting. All of the details and metallic colors will be HAND jobbed, I mean hand painted. :)

Hordes Skorne Mammoth WIP - Green Stuff Modifications

I have mediocre sculpting skills ( as of now ) but hope to improve in time. I wanted to take up Sculpture back in college but my Dad did not allow me to, so I ended up taking up Advertising ( I know... kinda corny ) in Fine Arts. Now that I am very old ( lol ) and working as a Lead Flame Visual Effects Artist ( and earning for my family ), I think it is about time I revisit my desire to learn sculpting. I have a ton of Gunpla commissioned works lined up this year, but will definitely learn and practice sculpting and hand painting ( miniatures ) next year ( 2016 ).



Anyways as I've said I am still mediocre in sculpting. But my noos sculpting skills did not stop me to modify this beautiful Hordes Skorne Mammoth Gargantuan resin kit. The photo below shows some minor gaps or unwanted spaces in between parts that I needed ( or wanted ) to fill. I used Green Stuff for this type of work as Green Stuff takes longer to dry and has very good texture for sculpting. It dries to a hard rubbery plastic material when mixed evenly.



See the link below as I also use Green Stuff for Battle Damage effects on toy customs and Plastic robot kits...

Damage Effects using Green Stuff

Other than the usual Green Stuff gap filling and some additional sculpts to enhance the gaps ( see photos below ). The main modification on this resin kit is the addition of the "cannon balls". I used a Tamiya Epoxy Putty for the cannon balls ( as they dry faster than Green Stuff ). I intentionally did not make perfect balls as I thought the imperfections will match the sculpt of the resin kit. I used brass rods before adding and sculpting the blast and smoke effects. I hope this looks cool and menacing once painted. The cannon ball effect should add more energy to the look of the kit.

Well that's about it. I hope you try using Squadron's Green Stuff on any of your project soon! May it be plastic robots ( Gunpla ) you are trying to enhance OR highly detailed and quality resin or white metal figures like here in this post. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next post guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)

Warmachine Khador Warcaster Kommander Strakhov verDC23

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I finished this 30mm white metal ( pewter ) model from Privateer Press a couple of days ago. I added a few highlights and gave it a Gory Red wash. This Khador Warcaster Kommander Strakhov has a really nice sculpt! So many little details to paint and the red Khador uniforn is just so fun to do!



This was fully hand painted with Vallejo Acrylics except for the Vallejo surface primer which I shot with my airbrush. I used so many colors with this build as I am trying to improve my hand painting and trying to improve my color transitions. These white metal models are roughly as tall as 1/48 plastic figures ( in military scale modeling ). I never paint the figures of my Gunpla dioramas like so, I just do not feel like spending too much time on painting small plastic figures. I do feel like spending more time in painting plastic miniatures, much more white metal miniature models as they are expensive and the weight feels so much premium.



Anyways, I hope to improve the color transitions on my future miniature hand painting projects. The photos below show abrupt transitions that needs more blending. As always I think there is so much improvement and learning I have to do to produce better hand painted models. I got a bottle of Vallejo Retarder Medium today that should help me produce better and smoother color transitions using acrylics. The Retarder will retard or slow down the drying process of acrylics, thus I should be able to blend the colors much easier much like using oil paints.



I hope you like this post. Thanks as always for dropping by! Until next completed minis guys! Just enjoy the hobby! :)