Dreadball Spring Clean Hobby Challenge 2022

Drybrushing.  For when you want to get stuff done FAST, and aren’t feeling too precious about the results!

We’ve just had the Easter weekend.  I don’t know where you are or how your country handles things, but for us in the UK that means we’ve just had a 4 day weekend and some pretty nice weather with it too.  This means I’ve had a lot of free time and some solar powered motivation to go with it.  I’ve got a lot done over the last week.  I doubt I can fit it all in one update.  I’m not convinced I can remember it all  lets plug ahead with this and see how useful my notes (quick pics of a line of paints next to a model) actually are.  All pics are taken after the model was finished and varnished.

So where was I?  Ah yes.  Sann-Gar…

I pic washed the orange armour to give it the depth it was lacking.  I made a wash out of AK11079 Burn Orange mixed with a little P3 Khador Red Base.  once dry, I carefully drybrushed him with AK11076 Pastel Peach.  it made all the difference.

I then went to finish off the silvers.  I reached for the Vallejo Chainmail and grabbed VGA 72.752 Silver by mistake and didn’t realise until later.  I highlighted with this and then added glints with VMA 71.064 Chrome.

The yellow gems(?) were given many coats of Mission models MMP-159 Iridescent Lemon Yellow.  This isn’t as good as their pearl red unfortunately.  I put a coat or two of Mission models MMP-148 Pearl Red inside the glowing thing on his glove.  Once everything was varnished, these red and yellow parts got a final coat of Gloss Varnish, along with the eyes.

The teeth were picked out in GW Screaming Skull and highlighted with P3 Menoth White Highlight.

This was all done in a couple of evenings across the week, and he was finished except the varnishing by the end of Thursday.  Everything from this weekend was varnished collectively Monday afternoon.

It’s now Friday morning and I’ve got no active projects.  The colour shifted robot types looked like quick wins so I went with them next.  Alo-Khan, The Praetorian, and the Neobot Captain.

Silver/Iron

Base: VGC 72.053 Chainmail Silver
Wash: Jan’s Magimix (see earlier post)
Drybrush/brush Highlight: VMA 71.064 Chrome

Yellow eyes

Based as above then painted with 2-3 coats of A.Mig-097 Crystal Orange

Blue Glow

Undercoat with highly thinned white
Base with watery P3 Arcane Blue
Highlight with watery P3 Arcane Blue mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight
Reclaim silver as appropriate

White Stripes on Red Robot

Base with Reaper MSP 09150 Bloodless Skin
High with Bloodless Skin with some pure white mixed in

While everything usually ends with a coat of matt varnish, I allowed all colour shifted areas to keep a final coat of gloss varnish, and then brushed on matt varnish around them.

According to the date stamps on the pics on my phone, this was all I got done on Friday.  The new season of Diablo 3 started at 4pm and I jumped on to that and spent the rest of the evening playing instead of painting.  One of the perks of a 4fourday weekend is that the pressure is off to get stuff done by a deadline.

I also caught up with Picard.  Were we supposed to think that was Dr Julian Bashir?  Was that a deliberate choice to make us not think, or a poor, confusing casting choice?

It’s Saturday morning.  I’ve garden work to do, but I’m not awake enough for that yet, even if the sun is already out.  Yesterday I finished off three colour shifted guys, but there’s one left on my tray.  He’s not a robot though.  He’s a Yindij, and I’ve another of those so I’ll paint them both at the same time.  The two animal/bug free agents are staring at me too.  I know what I want to do with their flesh and I know it’s going to take lots of washes and long drying times so I’ll do all 4 models at the same time.

The free agent things were painted using the Khardic Flesh guide from Privateer Press’s Forces of Khador.

The Yindij Flesh was painted using their Farrow Flesh guide from Forces of Minions.  Eventually the free agent tusks were done using this guide too.

There is some red armour on both creatures and I wanted that done before I got to their carapaces.

Base GW Evil Sunz Scarlet
Wash GW Carroburg Crimson
Drybrush GW Wild Rider Red

Dark Bluegreen Carapace

Base P3 Coal Black with a little black added
Wash GW Nuln Oil
Highlight 1 Drybrush Coal Black
Highlight 2 Lightly Drybrush P3 Trollblood Base

Somewhere around here I knew I had a long wait for washes to dry so I went and tore down the last on my lean-to, chopped up the waste and filled the bin (It’s overflowing and there’s still more waste!), and mowed the lawn.  I then went back inside and took my shoes off before remembering I needed to go to the shops to buy stuff for lunch.  Still, that’s the last of the responsible adulting that needed doing this weekend.

Living Bone Carapace & Claws/Nails
Base Mr Paint MRP-F059 Brown Grey
Pin Wash recesses with Brown Grey with a little P3 Umbral Umber mixed in
Drybrush Mr Paint MRP-F060 Dust Grey
Lighter Drybrush of Mr Paint MRP-F063 Bone White

Yellow Armour Rims
Undercoat White primer
Base P3 Mouldy Ochre (It’s got great coverage for a yellow)
Highlight P3 Cygnar Yellow

Yindij Light Brown Cloth

Base P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush Ammo A.Mig-0620Dark Sand Dio Drybrush Paint

Black Armour
Base VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Drybrush P3 Pig Iron, but not too heavy
Wash GW Nuln Oil

Claws/Toe Nails

Base P3 Cryx Bane Base
Drybrush P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Wash GW Nuln Oil

Leather
Base P3 Bootstrap Leather
Drybrush P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade

Silver

Base VGC 72.053 Chainmail Silver
Wash Jan’s Magimix (See previous posts)
Highlight 1 VGC Chainmail
Highlight 2 VMA 71.064 Chrome

Gold

GW Retributor Gold

It was about 10pm so I called it a night there and hopped in bed for another chapter or two of Heretics of Dune.  I’m enjoying the series, but I kinda want it to end now.  I’ve come too far to not find out how it ends though.  I’m not convinced this whole book couldn’t have been a chapter, or a paragraph in the next book.  There’s time for it to surprise me though.

It’s Sunday morning.  I’m between models looking at my To Do tray with no immediate inspiration so I go with the three purple fleshed guys.  They should be simple enough, and they’re already based and shaded.  They got a quick drybrush of GW Genestealer Purple.  I know what I want to do with the Nameless Bloodsuckers carapace, but he really needs his rusty metal doing next.  I’ve 3 other models that want rusting so I set him on one side to do with them, and finished off the two big purple guys, Krastavor and the Nameless Spawn.

Krastavor’s Black Metal
Base VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Drybrush P3 Pig Iron (heavily on the parts that will end up Iron)
Wash GW Nuln Oil

Nameless Spawn’s Brown Armour
I was concerned about this looking like leather, so I tried something new here to try and make it look more like metal: I mixed some iron/silver in to the brown.  Not enough to take over.  Just enough to give it a sheen.

Base VMC 70.873 US Field Drab with a little Hataka Have Glass Grey FS36170 (it was in a dropper bottle and in front of me unused.  Hataka paints tend to be a bit thin for my tastes
Drybrush lightly P3 Pig Iron
Wash GW Agrax Eathshade
Drybrush P3 Hammerfal Khaki
Drybrush super lightly P3 Pig Iron

Iron

Base P3 Pig Iron
Wash Jan’s Magimix (see previous posts)
Drybrush P3 Cold Steel

Yellow Armour

Base P3 Mouldy Ochre
Highlight P3 Cygnar yellow

Green Glow

Undercoat with watery white (p3 Menoth White Highlight)
Undercoat/Base P3 Necrotite Green in the middle of the big light only
Base 2:1 P3 Yellow Ink : P3 Green Ink.  Apply a few coats as needed.  Splash a little outside the lines as glow.

Nameless Spawn’s Lighter Brown Cloth

Privateer press’s Hammerfall Khaki recipe from Forces of Mercenaries, as below

The red lights on the spider were just given a quick coat of GW Evil Sunz Scarlet.  The eyes were based P3 Coal Black and given a tiny dot of P3 Menoth White Highlight.  The fangs were painted with Menoth White Highlight.

It’s almost 4pm and they’re both done. I think I took a little time to play Diablo while some washes dried.

On to the rust.  This goes on the Nameless Bloodsucker, Grak, and both versions of Frank Burke.

Rust

Base P3 Pig Iron
Wash GW Nuln Oil
Paint and/or dab on P3 Typhus Corrosion to taste  Leave the iron showing through in variable amounts as you see fit
Drybrush GW Ryza Rust over the previous layer.  Go heavier and lighter in different places.
Drybrush P3 Pig Iron wherever you want a little shine showing through

It was while I was working on the next stage that my doorbell went off.  I wasn’t expecting anyone.  I had a friend who was supposed to pop around to grab something the weekend before so I could only assume this was him.  Nope.  Its an 8-10 year old boy with a plate full of cake to offer me.  I thought he was just offering me a slice, but it was the whole plate.  He’d come from next door and wanted his ball back from my garden.  He didn’t need to bribe me to get it, but it was very much appreciated!  They’re a polish family and there appears to be two different polish cheesecakes here, unlike anything I’ve had before.  The cheese part is usually very moist, but in this  the cheese part was dry like cake.  Google tells me it’s called Sernik and it’s made from dry cheese curds.

Does anyone know if there’s any polish (I assume they’re polish, but I could be wrong.  I know English isn’t their first language and they sound polish, but what do I know?) traditions about giving cake to neighbours at Easter, or did I just get super lucky and they’d baked more than they could eat?

Anyway, I didn’t eat it all right away.  I was in the middle of painting

Frank Burke’s Trousers

Base P3 Cryx Bane Base
Drybrush P3 Thrall Flesh
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade

Grak’s Flesh/Fur

Base P3 Gun Corps Brown
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush P3 Hammerfal Khaki (His beard didn’t have any detail to pick this up unfortunately)

Leather Belts

Base P3 Bootstrap Leather
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush P3 Hammerfal Khaki

Grak’s Mouth Insides

Base P3 Midlund Flesh
Wash GW Caroburg Crimson

Grak’s Red Armour

Base P3 Skorne Red
Wash P3 Umbral Umber mixed with p3 Exile Blue
Pin Wash with the previous mix, with added P3 Coal Black
Careful brush highlighting was the used for all the highlights (Possibly the one and only time I’ll do this in this project!)
Highlight 1 was P3 Skorne Red
Highlight 2 was Skorne Red with some P3 Ember Orange
Highlight 3 with more Ember Orange added
Highlight 4 with some P3 Heartfire added

I called it a night there.   It was getting late, and I had cake to eat and a book to read.  The next morning I got back to it. The red may have been done Sunday morning.  My time stamps are lacking for this stage.

Grak’s Black Armour

Base VMC 70.994 Dark Grey
Drybrush P3 Sickly Skin
Wash GW Nuln Oil

I played a little Diablo while waiting for everything to dry thoroughly.  After lunch I got the airbrush out and varnished everything and applied a base coat and some highlights to 3 more models

Apparently, I’ve only room left for one image when I want two so I’m ending with a gallery.  At the end you can see the models I’ve been prepping.  They may look lightly zenithal primed, but I promise you, that’s black and grey paint in prep for black armour.  The final image is my To Do tray as of the end of the four day weekend.  Only 25 models left to go, many of which already have paint on.  This seems a lot more manageable.  There’s about 9 weeks left in spring so that’s about 3 models a week I’ve got to get done on average, and there’s more bank holidays to come too.

With my airbrushing all done by mid-late afternoon I threw myself back in to Diablo 3.  I’m now max level and I’ve completed the first 3 tiers of the season, unlocking 4 of my 6 set armour pieces..

So here I am with only 25 models to go and over the last week I’ve found I’m working on more and more of them at the same time as there are similar colours and it’s just more efficient to paint a small group of models at once.  You can paint 3ish identical models in the same time it takes you to paint one.  The biggest time sinks are in switching paints and waiting for the previous coat to dry before you apply the next one.  You could be painting that same colour on more models.  These waiting times are also when I find I’m most prone to being distracted.

This stage of the project going forwards might be a good example of how to get a lot of diverse models with recurring colours or schemes done all at once.

So yes. At the end of last week I’d used the airbrush to lay down a “black” base coat and some highlights on three models.  First, they got a coat of Revell 36106 Tar Black, then I mixed in some 36174 Gunship Grey and sprayed from the sides and above, then just from above using only Gunship Grey and from a distance.  I cleaned up my airbrush and didn’t paint again for a few days, by which time I’d realised two more models needed to be black (Hexen and Eko’o) so I fudged them with a base of Vallejo 70.994 Dark grey.  There are two more models that want the black (the Zee), but they’re better off having their red done first so I’ll come back to them later.  Everybody got a drybrush of Revell 36176 Light Grey, and then a wash of GW Nuln Oil.

This wash was going to take a while to dry, so I pulled out two models that have a darker  green skin tone to paint, and thought I may as well paint the vines on the Treebeast the same colour while I’m at it.  They were given a few coats of Coat d’Arms Tank Drab, and then put on one side for later.  It was getting late on Tuesday evening, so I packed up and went to bed.

I next picked up a brush on Thursday evening.  I’m working towards doing the reds on these black models, and so I can bring the Zee in to the mix, but the manbat feels like I’d be better off doing his flesh first.  Some of the red goes over it, and it means I can afford to be a little messier with a drybrush this way.  here’s a recipe I’ve used before.  I found it didn’t work so well on the textureless wings here, but its good enough, and done is done.

Vampire Flesh

Base GW Rakarth Flesh
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush 50/50 P3 Menoth White Base / P3 Thrall Flesh
Drybrush less/lighter with GW Pallid Wych Flesh

This appears to be all I got done on Thursday after work.  I must have gotten distracted.  I suspect I played some Diablo 3 while waiting for the wash to dry, and stopped early to watch the new episodes of Picard and Moon Knight.

It’s Friday evening, work is done for the week, and it’s time to paint the red on Eko’o, Hexen, Nightshade, and the two Zee.  I’ve a recipe and some paints from an old Asset Drop I’ve not tried yet and I’d like a different red to the others I’ve used in this project, so lets see what it looks like.  In their guide, they’re using it on a dragon’s wing, rather than a metal surface.  It turned out after it works better on natural surfaces as it’s more of a desaturated neutral red, than a vibrant eye catching painted metal surface. I’ll use it again for sure, but these surfaces could have done with something a little more poppy.  Once again, it’s good enough, and done is done.

Red

Base Mr Paint RP-F073 Red Shadow
High 1 brush on a 2:1 mix of Mr Paint RP-F073 Red Shadow and Mr Paint RP-F070 Pink Fleshtone
High 2 same as above, but make it 1:1
High 3 the same as High 1 but 1:2
High 4 Drybrush gently to catch just the edges with Pink Fleshtone
High 5 Catch just the tips with a mix of Pink Fleshtone and any White
Shade with Mr Paint RP-F072 Brown Shadow
Pinwash Shade with Brown Shadow and a little Black

It appears I didn’t finish the final stages of the red until Saturday lunchtime.  I suspect more Diablo distractions while waiting for washes to dry.  I lost some of Friday to a window fitter appointment that got cancelled last minute.

With the red done, I painted the black armour on the Zee’s, repeating the steps above using the Vallejo Dark Grey.  While working on that I also painted the hair on the Vampire, and then got the leather belts and boots done on the Zee

Bat Hair

Base P3 battlefield Brown
Drybrush Troolblood Highlight (done at same time as for the Zee boots)
Wash GW Nuln Oil

Leather Boots

Base P3 Bootstrap Leather
Drybrush Troolblood Highlight (done at same time as for the Vampire’s hair)
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade

With those washes dry (and probably after a little Diablo, or a lunch break) I picked out the steels on Hexen and Eko’o

Steel

Base P3 Pig Iron
Wash GW Nuln Oil
Drybrush P3 Cold Steel

Hexen’s gold trip was then carefully picked out with GW Retributor Armour, without highlighting or shading.  I thought I was done with him, so i started work on the pale blue flesh of Shojuun.

Pale Blue Flesh

Base P3 Frostbite
Wash P3 Frostbite mixed with Warcolours Marine 1
Highlight P3 Frostbite
I may have mixed a little white in to Frostbite for a final edge highlight on the nose and perhaps eyebrows, and maybe knuckles and fingertips.

I then remembered Hexen’s stupid masks with their stupid shallow detail, and stupid hand and backpack in the way.  I couldn’t tell you what they’re supposed to look like as the detail just isn’t there.  Here’s my recipe.  I’ve used it elsewhere with more success

Hexen’s white mask

Base P3 Menoth White Base
Wash P3 Trollblood Highlight
Reclaim with base
High 1 Menoth White base mixed with Menoth White Highlight
High 2 Menoth White Highlight
High 3 Menoth White Highlight mixed with White.  Keep adding more white and painting more layers, until you’re happy
High 4 glint highlights with pure white, if required

Back to Shojuun, picking out the remaining details on him

Shojuun’s wires: Reaper 09024 Amethyst Purple
Shojuun’s eye sockets Mr Paint MRP-072 Brown Shadow (it was already in front of me)
Shojuun’s “Backpack” was painted the same as the Steel above for Hexen.

The last remaining colour on these minis was Caucasian flesh tones, which also appear on five other models, so I painted them all at the same time.  One of those models is Brute Force (Power Loader Ripley from Aliens).  Her yellow was painted back at the start, but it needed a little something more so it got a drybrush of Scalecolor SFG-41 Hykey Yellow.  Doing this first meant I could be messy.  I then got to work on the flesh.  This has lots of washes which I know take a while to dry so i played a lot of Diablo and watched X-Men Dark Phoenix (Not as bad as people have said.  It had it’s problems, but I think it annoyed me less than some other X-Men movies, perhaps only because my expectations were so low at this point).  I got the final wash in before going to sleep, and drybrushed the highlights in the morning.

It’s now Sunday, and I’ve finished the flesh highlights.  My D&D group is starting up again this evening after a month or so off.  I’m running things and it’s the start of a new adventure.  I’ve been doing prep for months, but it’s like the day of an exam.  There’s cramming that can only be done on the day, and there’s some nerves too as I’m out of practise, and in theory, they have the option to derail everything, and have multiple paths available to them, depending on who turns up and what they want to do.  So yes.  I’m a little distracted and I know I’ve got to buckle down after lunch and get some “work” done.

Rather than embrace a large stage of the project, I found myself drawn to Brute Force.  I’d ben avoiding her as I was afraid that she was too soapy and I wouldn’t be able to tell what’s what on her.  I was also afraid that she’s a bulky model in a cramped pose and I’d have great difficulty painting her.  Now the flesh is on I can see her better, and I’m feeling a lot more confident on her.  I can also see she doesn’t match the studio model on their website.  Mine doesn’t have that canister above her head.  I can’t remember if she came pre-assembled or not, but I cannot see an obvious attachment point for it.  I’m confident that the studio paint jobs are done on higher grade casts than are sold to the public, which feels cheeky at best, and an outright lie and a con at worst.

Where was I?  oh yes.  Painting Brute Force.  I painted her trousers and shirt at the same time.  They’re both military greens, so a lot of the same paints and steps were used.  I got her hair done while waiting for the wash on the clothes to dry too.

Green Trousers

Base P3 Traitor Greem
Drybrush P3 Thrall Flesh
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade

Green Shirt

Base P3 Ordic Olive
Wash P3 Agrax Earthshade
Reclaim with Ordic Olive
High with Ordic Olive mixed with a little P3 Bog Moss
High 2 as above, but with a little Thrall Flesh

Hair
Base P3 Battlefield Brown
Drybrush P3 Trollblood Highlight
Wash GW Nuln Oil

I think I allowed myself to be distracted by Diablo until early afternoon, when I buckled down with my homework, and we eventually had what felt like a good D&D session.

I said in my last entry that I need to be averaging 3 models per week in order to be done by the end of spring.  I have 6 models here I’m calling done, and I’ve made a lot of progress elsewhere too.  I’ll do everyone’s eyes, bases, and blue glow all together at the end, just before varnishing.  It just seems more efficient that way.  I have undercoated with white where the red will go on all the bases already, while waiting for other paints to dry.

There’s 25 models left to be completely finished, 6 of which just need eyes, bases and varnish as a bulk job at the end.  That’s 19 models that require bringing up to that standard.  I was busy across the week so I focused on a small job I could fit around stuff.  Melissinandra was almost finished, so I worked on her.  On monday evening I painted her hair and based hr shoulders, and on friday I finished her off.  If you look at the studio scheme she’s painted black and covered in lots of nice thin green glowing lines.  So clearly, those lines must be sculpted on so you can pick them out?  Probably nice thin trenches you can pin wash, and hard edges you can run the side of a brush along?

Nope.  Nothing.  Worse than that, there’s impossible to remove mold lines in the way of these lines.  Its a hard to see mess.  Once again, the studio/shop display piece is not the sculpt they’re selling (And their painter is much better than me).  I painted on the lines by hand as best as I could, but I didn’t do as many.  I’m not a mad man.

Turquoise Hair

Base Reaper MSP 9078 Surf Aqua
High 1 Gently drybrush 50:50 Surf Aqua and white
Wash Reaper MSP 09471 Bright Turquoise
High 2 Dryrbush Surf Aqua
High 3 Repeat High 2 but even lighter

Turquoise Metals

Base MP0017 Aquamarine
Wash with MP0013 Deep Bronze Green
High 1 with base
High 2 with base mixed with P3 Menoth White Highlight
High 3 & 4 add more and more Menoth White Highlight

Green Glow

Undercoat with white
Base 2:1 P3 Yellow Ink: P3 Green Ink.  If this is a glow, don’t be too afraid about going outside the lines.  It can look like OSL

Once that was done I went to bed and watched the 2003 Daredevil Directors cut.  With Multiverse of Madness coming up, who knows what’s going to get pulled in.  I’ve this theory that Jennifer Garner has filmed something MCU that we haven’t been told about.  Look at The Adam Project film.  Most of the others are MCU actors, or we’re waiting for them to get pulled in.  It feels like a side project started while something else was getting made.  She played Elektra back then and I’ve not seen that spin off yet.  I can see her potentially reprising that role for a few minutes in a multiversal situation.

So I remember Daredevil being ok, but not brilliant.  It hasn’t aged well.  The special effects on the exaggerated jumps are bad and overused.  Bullseye is clearly auditioning for a role in a Matrix sequel.  Daredevil gets a bit rapey towards Elektra!  When they meet in a coffee shop she tried to leave and he chases after her.  She refuses to give him her name while insisting she’s leaving.  She’s showing no signs of interest.  He doesn’t want her to leave so he grabs her and starts a fist fight because she won’t tell him her name!  It ends up flirty on both sides, but to begin with he is straight up attacking a woman because she said no to him.

The film does nothing with Elektra either.  She’s just there to die.  Her only back story is that she’s got rich parents and knows how to fight.  one good thing about this movie though, is that it didn’t kill off any of it’s bad guys.  They learned from the Batman movies.  There’s another problem.  In terms of tone and wonky camera angles, this film often felt like it wants to be somewhere between Michael Keaton and Adam West’s Batman.  Not a good choice.

It’s Saturday morning and I’m between models.  The blue cloth on Weiss and the prison warden has been intimidating me since the beginning.  It’s not something I feel I can just drybrush. It’s going to require time and focus and proper painting techniques.  A Saturday morning seems like the best time for that then.

Blue Cloth

Base VMC 70.899 Dark Prussian Blue, previously airbrushed on over a zenithal prime
Pin Wash GW Nuln Oil
High 1 Cygnar Blue Base
High 2 Cygnar Blue Highlight
High 3 Cygnar Blue Highlight with increasing amounts of P3 Frostbite
It was all then unified with a glaze of P3 Blue Ink which I may have thinned with a little GW Lahmium Medium

So Weiss is now all done except his red.  I can paint the wardens tie red too while I’m at it.  I need to paint his shirt white first though, and there’s another models who has red and white on him so I should do him at the same time: The Teraton Kraato Gon.  He’s going to need his skin painting first though.  While doing that I got tempted in to doing his shell.  I don’t think I’ve ever painted a tortoise shell before and wasn’t sure how to do it.  I came up with something.

Teraton Flesh

Base P3 Mouldy Ochre
Shade GW Agrax Earthshade
High 1 Drybrush P3 Mouldy Ochre
High 2 Drybrush P3 Menoth White Base
(I’ll come back for the bony protrusions later)

Tortoise Shell 

Base P3 Battledress green
High 1 P3 Beast Hide drybrush
High 2 P3 Hammerfall khaki drybrush
Wash GW Athonian Camoshade
Targeted spotty GW Agrax Earthshade wash, while the last parts of previous stage are still damp
Repeat Drybrushes lightly to taste

Light Brown Leather

Base P3 Beast Hide
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade
Drybrush Hammerfal Khaki (Done at same time as shell)

For some reason, this model didn’t want to dry in a hurry.  He seemed to have areas where paint wanted to pool and just sit there.  I had ample opportunity to go and do some light gardening, and wash some sprues for a later project.

With him all caught up, it’s time to paint the white.  I grabbed a light grey and based with that, and then kept adding more and more white to it to develop the highlights.  This was done to the Teraton and both Wardens only.

White Cloth

Base Reaper MSP 09148 Ghoul Skin
Highlights Ghoul Skin with more and more pure white, never going full white

I delayed the red a bit here as I decided to paint the wardens skin next.  According to the studio schemes I had 2 other models to paint the same, so I grabbed Tracer and Rathmar Ul-iheq and did all 4 models at the same time.  I followed a Asset Drop Guide 7 using the Foundry African Flesh triad.

African Flesh

Base Foundry African Flesh Shade 126A over a zenithal prime
High 1 Foundry African Flesh 126B over all but the darkest regions
High 2 Foundry African Flesh Light 126C
Shade Pin was Army Painted Strong Tone in the darkest recesses

I quickly and lazily painted the cigar here too

Cigar

Base P3 Beast Hide
High P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Wash AP Strong Tone
Put a dot of P3 Ember Orange on the end

It was apparently getting a little late, and I wanted to watch a movie so I called it there and went and watched the 2005 Elektra Directors Cut.

Elektra was something of a bland movie.  A huge shame as I’ve always liked Jennifer Garner and I think she was a much better stage fighter than Ben Affleck.  her back story doesn’t seem to gel with what we saw in Daredevil.  Now she’s been an assassin her whole life, even though in the previous movie she was sheltered by her daddy and not allowed out alone.  Either that, or in the 6 months between films she’s had a life of martial arts training, and a life as a killer for hire.  It doesn’t work.  It feels like someone tried to force their existing script to fit Daredevil.  All the cast appear to be TV actors, except General Zod / Stick, so I’m guessing this had limited budget and support.

Anyway, that’s me all caught up on every Marvel movie since the first X-Men film in time for whatever Multiverse of Madness decides to pull in or reference.  What?  The Punisher had a sequel?  Oh, and I’ve forgotten the Legion TV show, which I’ve not even seen a trailer for yet.  And there’s the fabled Roger Corman Fantastic 4.  Oh well.  Another time perhaps.

It’s Sunday morning on a bank holiday weekend.  I’ve got a D&D game to run tonight so I can’t paint all day.  On to the red.  I tried drybrushing on the highlights here for speed, but it really didn’t work.  I couldn’t safely do it in most places, and it just made a mess of things. I had to go back over it with traditional highlights, but I’m sure you can still see some of it.  This was painted on both Weiss’s, both prison wardens ties, and on the Teraton.

Red

Base GW Evil Sunz Scarlet
Wash GW Carroburg Crimson
Reclaim with base where appropriate
Highlight with GW Wild Rider Red

Thats the Weiss twins finished, and the Wardens and a few brush strokes off too.  let’s get them done next

Badges and Buttons

GW Retributor Armour

Shoes

Base P3 Umbral Umber
Drybrush P3 Beast Hide
2 Washes of GW Nuln Oil

That’s them done.  Five models already finished this weekend, with a target of three.  Time to spread the love around the others.  Let’s focus on skin and hair so I can batch paint clothing etc as appropriate.  I did the African flesh yesterday, so lets do their hair next

African hair

Base 75:25 P3 Umbral Umber:Black
Drybrush P3 Bloodstone (Its a redish brown)
Wash GW Nuln Oil

While that’s drying, lets look at the Blaines.  I’ve already glazed a few coats of P3 Turquoise Ink over their zenithal’ed trousers, so lets do their skin

Blaine Flesh

Base P3 Hammerfal Khaki
Wash P3 Rucksack Tan.  I really didn’t like this.  It didn’t look right.  Don’t do it.
Wash p3 Beast Hide
Drybrush GW Screaming Skull

Lets go back to Coach Fergus.  I did some airbrush work on his flesh a while back, but he needs finishing.

Base 50/50 Mr Paint MRP-F074 Purple Shadow with Mr Paint MRP-F039 Swamp Green, airbrushed all over
High 1 from sides and above only , 1:2 Purple Shadow : Swamp Green
High 3 Swamp Green from above only
Pin wash 1 Purple Shadow
Pin wash 2 Purple Shadow with a little black
Drybrush 1 Swamp green mixed with Mr paint MRP-F062 Undead Skin
Drybrush 2 Undead Skin
The mouth insides were given two coats of GW Carroburg Crimson after this pic was taken

I’ve only found one example of this guy painted online.  There’s not even some company artwork for him.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to copy this paint job as it looks like more work, and trickier work than I’m looking for in this project, but let’s go for it.  if I’d made this decision earlier I would have included him in with Weiss’s red.  Probably best I didn’t as that didn’t go too well.

Fergus’s Red Cloth

Base P3 Khador Red Base
Pin Wash Carroburg Crimson
Reclaim where needed
High 1 Khador Red Base mixed with some P3 Khador Red Highlight
High 2 add more Khador Red Highlight
High 3 just Khador Red Highlight on select spots

Next up, is his yellow jacket.  There’s also yellow on the scientist guy, Dr. Zarathusa Kain so lets grab him too.

Fergus’s Yellow Jacket

Base 50/50 Miniature Paints MP0088 Golden Brown and Miniature Paints MP0061 Canary Yellow
Targeted Shade with just thinned Golden Brown
High 1 with thinned Canary Yellow
High 2 add some Miniature Paints MP0064 Lemon yellow to above.  Then add some more
High 3 just Lemon yellow for glints and edges

I also painted the scientists collar, but forgot his belt.  This turned out to be for the best later, when I got to work on his white coat

Leather Collar Thing

Base P3 Beast Hide
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade
Brybrush P3 Jack Bone

At some point I also finished off the green Flesh tones I’d started a week or two ago on Blitz and Ardia Shi’Lek, and the Treebeasts vines

Green Flesh

Base Coat d’Arms Tank Drab
High 1 50/50 Tank Drab and Coat d’Arms Khaki
High 2 Khaki
High 3 50/50 Khaki and Coat d’Arms Putrid Green
High 4 Putrid Green
Wash with Instar Camo Green Wash

With her flesh done, I then painted Ardia’s dress and the dwarf’s tunic the same colour: Sanguine

The last thing I got done was to apply a base coat of white on Coaches Fergus  and Tracer, and Dr. Zarathusa Kain.  I’ve gone for two large brush fulls of P3 Morrow White mixed with one drop of VMC 70.992 Neutral Grey (The lightest pure grey I think I have).  I’ll look in to pin washing the shade next time I sit down to paint.

So here’s the update.  Here’s what I’ve got “completed” this weekend.  Two Wardens, Two Weiss’s, and Melisandre.

And here’s the state of play on all the remaining models.  I’m liking my progress. It feels a lot like I’ve been setting up dominoes for a few weeks and there’s only a few more in the box and I can then knock them all down and it’ll be super satisfying.

I want them all done before the end of spring, but my current ideal goal is before the 4 day Jubilee weekend.  I’d love those 4 days of without having this project weighing over me.  I’m hoping to teach myself Kingdom Death that weekend and get a few games in.  There’s other hobby projects that I want to give my attention to too.

I had a weird stomach bug this weekend which wrecked my Friday evening, and ruined my plans to see Dr Strange over the weekend.  Someone pointed out the list of Covid symptoms had expanded and I’d experienced 5 of the symptoms, but none of the classic ones.  I eventually got a test Monday evening and got an all clear.  I ended up going to work on Monday and regretted it.  I was more than well enough to work, but not well enough to leave the house.  I took Tuesday off, but by Wednesday I was symptom free and back in the office.  This means I got a 3rd day off to paint to make up for my lost Friday evening.

Anyway, on to the painting chat.

First up, lets finish what’s already on my tray.  The Doc had the remaining leathers painted the same as before, and everyone had their metals painted

Iron/Silver Jewelry etc

Base VGC 72.063 Chainmail Silver
Wash Jan’s Magimix
High VGA 72.752 Silver

Red/Orange Lenses
Base VGC 72.063 Chainmail Silver
Glaize undiluted Ammo Mig Crystal A.Mig-097 Crystal Orange

I then painted their boots, and perhaps some other models boots too.

Dark Brown Boots

Base P3 Umbral Umber
Drybrush P3 Beast Hide
Wash GW Nuln Oil

Coach Fergus’s gem then got a glaze or two of slightly thinned P3 Blue Ink.  All tablets and screens on remaining models were painted true black, and would get a final coat of gloss varnish, once all other varnishing was done, as would all lenses and gems.

Dr’s Grey Hair

Base P3 Iron Hull Grey
High P3 Cryx Bane Highlight

And that finished off those three models

I looked over at my WIPS and decided I wanted to try Blitz.  All he had left to go was his armour.  It’s a reddish leather in the studio scheme and I had some ideas how to try that that I was curious to attempt.  I think they worked out quite well.

Red/brown leather

Base P3 Bloodstone
Drybrush 1 P3 Bogrin Brown
Lighter Drybrush 2, favouring higher and sharper areas P3 Rucksack tan
Pinwash Only GW Agrax Earthshade

And that’s him done too, and it’s only lunch time.

So what next?  Looking at my tray, I see three versions of Blaine needing more work than everything else, but it’s three models so a little work can go a long way.  First up was the messiest part: The Fur.

Fur

Base p3 Cryx Bane Highlight
Wash 50/50 P3 Beast Hide / P3 Thornwood Green
Drybrush P3 Jack Bone
Drybrush Lighter with P3 Menoth White Highlight

Grey Shirt
Base P3 Greatcoat Grey
Drybrush gently with GW Screaming Skull
Pin wash only with GW Nuln Oil

Dark Brown Coats

Base VMC 70.939 Smoke.  This usually acts like a contrast and I was hoping one coat of this would be all that’s needed.  I didn’t thin it though and I assume I usually do, so it didn’t work as expected and I had to paint it properly.  it still did a little natural shading though, adding darkness and depth, of not highlights
Drybrush Scale75 SC27 Iroko

This just left the metal, so I returned him to the WIP tray until I was ready to do the irons on everybody at once.

On to the last model without any paint on it.  The one model I really don’t like.  the Azure Forest trophy.  A completely pointless model, and one I feel lacks the detail needed to make it work.  it’s like the sculptor never got time to do anything with the shield, beyond whack on the basic shape.  Anyway, I need it out of my pile of shame, so it’s getting a basic I-don’t-care paint job

Stone Base

Base P3 Trollblood Highlight
Drybrush 1 GW Karak Stone
Drybrush 2 GW Screaming Skull
Drybrush 3 P3 Menoth White Highlight

Shield Leathers
Base VMC 70.884 Stone Grey
High 1 VMC 70.986 Deck tan
High 2 VMC 70.918 Ivory mixed with Deck tan
High 3 VMC 70.918 Ivory

I then went on to paint the brown leather laces and straps, which I also painted on the cheerleaders skirt and on Blaines’ boots.

Basic Brown leather

Base P3 Bootstrap Leather
Drybrush P3 Trollblood Highlight
Wash GW Agrax Earthshade

This just leaves the leaves, my first job for Sunday morning.