All posts by Dan Jackson

Painting Blog

Another quick WIP shot.

GV3

I still need to do some final highlights here and there but I usually save those for last. Helps pull the rest of the mini together!

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Painting Blog

Work in progress shots of my first Gal Vorbak.

GV1 GV2

I’m still pretty nervous around this miniature, really trying to take my time with it!

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Painting Blog

Here is a quick snap of my painting table! The Gal  Vorbak have been undercoated since this picture was taken, but the light has gone so no snaps!

galvorb

I have to admit to being a little intimidated by these minis. The level of detail on anything forgeworld is always pretty substantial, and it tends to bring out the deficiencies of my abilities!

Still, the only way to improve is to keep challenging yourself!

 

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Painting Guide: Bases

The following article is a simple guide to basing your miniatures. There are several ways you can base miniatures, this is just the method I prefer and if you have any other ideas you should share them with us!

The level difficulty of this guide is simple, and can be achieved by any one!

What you will need before starting:

– The miniature’s base.

bases1

 

– PVA Glue

pvaglue
– Basing sand

basessand
– A Medium Drybrush

mediumdrybrush
– A glue brush (preferably an old brush from your collection you don’t mind getting damaged)

gluebrush
– Black undercoat

basesspray

– Skag Brown

skagbrown

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Tau Light Ochre

taulight

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Ushabti Bone

ushabtibone

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optional tools:

– Static flock
– Snow flock
– Mourn Mountain Snow
– Battlefield debris (i.e. old guns from your bits box, a spare arm or shoulder pad)
– Suitably sized pieces of stone from your garden

 

For the sake of this article I have chosen to paint up a base for my next Chaos Space Marine biker. Normally I would stick a standard infantry model to its base and undercoat both model and base at the same time. However this approach isn’t suitable for bikers as it makes painting the base difficult and can often lead to a messy miniature.

The Possessed Marines in this picture have been based with sand and stuck to their bases before being undercoated.
The Possessed Marines in this picture have been based with sand and stuck to their bases before being undercoated.

Step 1:
Take your base and clear any flash around the edges. This may require a modelling knife but usually Games Workshop’s bases have very little flash.

bases1

 

Step 2:

In order to align your bike to the base without covering the area you wish to glue the bike to, a clever technique is to paint the bottom of the bike with a bright colour like so.

baseguide1

With the paint still wet, you can then place the bike onto the base and get an approximate place you want the bke to be, and the wet paint will mark out the areas you will avoid further on in the process.

baseguide2

 

Step 3:

Once the paint has dried you can apply a suitably large dollop of PVA glue to your base. I recommend you use an old brush to spread the glue about, and keep it handy so you always have for future bases.baseguide3

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Step 4:

With the glue spread out on your base, try to avoid covering the areas marked in blue in the picture (or whichever colour you decided to use) and then dip the whole base in your sand box.

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You may want to scrape a few pieces of sand away and have a few attempts of dipping the base into the sand so you get the coverage you are happy with. Once you have got the result that satisfies you, leave the base to dry for thirty minutes or so.

baseguide6

 

Step 5:

Once the base has dried it’s time to undercoat. For this I use normal undercoating spray. There are many producers of black undercoat spray, for the sake of this article I recommend using Citadel Black primer spray, but you can use the one you prefer if you wish. You can also use normal black paint, however this is much more time consuming and you run the risk of brushing away the sand as you apply it.

Remember, spraying should always be done in a well ventilated area, preferably outside when available.

baseguide7

I use an empty black box for my own undercoating needs, however if you are doing a large amount of miniatures you can use a stick, and blue tack the models to it and spin the stick slowly around as you spray. For this article I used my trusty cardboard box!

 

Step 6:

Leave the base for another thirty minutes or so to allow for the base to dry fully. If you try to apply the colours to the base too early you will end up removing the sand.

baseguide8

 

Step 7:

Once the base is dry you can now start the fun bit of painting it.

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The first layer will be Skrag brown. You will want a good dollop again of this, and you will want to water it down. The more layers you do the better sealed in the sand will become. You can just do one layer of Skag Brown if you want your base to have a darker appearance, however I like to do two to three depending on the size of the base.

Always let each layer dry before doing another.

The first layer of Skag Brown
The first layer of Skag Brown

Don’t worry at this stage about knocking the odd bit of sand off. Try to be careful but it isn’t the end of the world if small parts of the base lack some sand.

Additionally don’t worry about the rim of the base, you will be coming back to the rim of the base later.

Three layers of Skag Brown later!
Three layers of Skag Brown later!

 

Step 8:
When you are happy with the skag brown coverage, its time to dry brush the base with Tau Sept Ochre.

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Simple as that.

 

Step 9:

Dry brush the base again, but this time with Ushabti Bone.

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Step 10:

Finally paint the rim of the base with Skag brown.

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And that’s it! Your base is finished ready for your model.

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Further ideas!

The above method is a great starting place for your miniatures, but you can always go a few steps further and add other elements to your bases.

A finished bike sits on a base like the one shown in the article.
A finished bike sits on a base like the one shown in the article. This base has had some dead grass added to it, which is done by simple adding some PVA glue to the finished base and had the grass added.

 

This Heldrake's base has had slate stones scattered over it to break up the base a little. These stones are simply super glued to the base just before adding the sand with PVA glue.
This Heldrake’s base has had slate stones scattered over it to break up the base a little. These stones are simply super glued to the base just before adding the sand with PVA glue.

 

wfbsorc1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both the Wight King and the Chaos Sorcerer have had snow added to the base. Similar to the dead grass on the Chaos Bike's base, these effects are added after the base has had the basic work done to it.
Both the Wight King and the Chaos Sorcerer have had snow added to the base. Similar to the dead grass on the Chaos Bike’s base, these effects are added after the base has had the basic work done to it.

 

This dreadnought has the head of a battle sister sitting on a rock...
This dreadnought has the remains of an Ultramarine laying before him…

 

...whilst this Daemon prince stands astride the many skulls of the fallen!
…whilst this Daemon prince stands astride the many skulls of the fallen!

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Painting Blog

Wight King has been finished!

wk3 wk4 wk5 wk6

I have one more Word Bearers biker to do, and some Gal Vorbak are sat here staring at me!

I have Space Hulk arriving next week too…

 

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Painting Blog

Another update on the Wight King.

wk2

Generally speaking I am pretty happy with this guy. I should really have bought some grave guard to practice things on first, like the colour of the bone, the cloak and the armour. But for a one off miniature I can’t say I’m too disappointed.

Hoping to finish him today!

 

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Painting Blog

Just a quick WIP picture of the Wight King!

wk1

Enjoying my break away from the colour red. However I am keen to work on my Word Bearers again! I have also ordered a copy of Space Hulk. So some Ultramarine Terminators will soon be heading their way to my desk!

 

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Painting Blog

For a little break away from my Word Bearers, I picked up something totally different!

wightunpainted

I love undead minis, specifically the vampire count range, and with the End Times upon us I thought it would be cool to pick some up and paint some!

Starting with this fella!

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Painting Blog

Finished bikers!

wbbikesfinal

Well kinda. Two of them need to have some dirt added to their wheels, but other than they are done.

Taken me much longer than usual to finish these due to real life commitments. However my next project is something slightly different to my Word Bearers!

 

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Painting Blog

Well, my goal to finish all three bikers may not have been reached, I have however completed the champion.

bike1 bike2 bike3 bike4

 

 

There’s a few pictures in there without the rider so people could see the bike on it’s own. I love the stretched skin over the bike seat!

I haven’t glued him to the bike yet and I need to finish the base off. Well, one down eight more to go!

 

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