Wanted: Advice/Technique on painting halved (or quartered) power armor...

[Kuhlbert]

So I have a shiny copy of IA:9, The Badab War part 9 in front of me. And my FLGS is considering a mini campaign. So flipping through, I decide I like the idea of the Marines Errant. But, I'm a little nervous as well - I'm a thoroughly average painter - not horrible, but not that great either. To be blunt, the painting of the halved breastplate/helmet/backpack has me concerned, because I don't always have the steadiest hands...

So I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how do to this, or any clever techniques. Obviously one can just freehand it... but perhaps someone out there has some ideas. Can you mask it with tape or tac (seems a bit small and irregular to do that...but maybe...).

Thanks for any advice!

-- Andy

[BuFFo]

Post a pic of what you mean?

[Kuhlbert]

[url]http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Marines_Errant[/url]

Half white, half blue. Just wondering if there's any trick to painting that other than freehanding...

[Nosmo75]

So I have a shiny copy of IA:9, The Badab War part 9 in front of me. And my FLGS is considering a mini campaign. So flipping through, I decide I like the idea of the Marines Errant. But, I'm a little nervous as well - I'm a thoroughly average painter - not horrible, but not that great either. To be blunt, the painting of the halved breastplate/helmet/backpack has me concerned, because I don't always have the steadiest hands...

So I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how do to this, or any clever techniques. Obviously one can just freehand it... but perhaps someone out there has some ideas. Can you mask it with tape or tac (seems a bit small and irregular to do that...but maybe...).

Thanks for any advice!

-- Andy

I have the painting tip that will save your life. Pick up the model you want to paint in your off hand, and pick up your paint brush in your painting hand. Now, put your... Ahh it's difficult to explain, look at the third photo down on this website, instead:

[url]http://z2.invisionfree.com/herdstone/index.php?showtopic=21029&st=0[/url]

Or, alternatively, brace your thumbs together at the base. If you're unsure what I mean, have a gander at the 'How To Paint Citadel Miniatures' book (available at all good FLGS'), there's a photo of a guy demonstrating the technique. =)

[OCdt Mephiston]

My home-brewed chapter has a halved color scheme and I hate how good it looks... I have yet to find a quick and easy way to do it and have resigned myself to many hours of painstaking painting...

[fuzzbuket]

masking tape? but being careful?

[SotonShades]

As Nosmo suggested, resting your painting hand against your holding hand can give you much tighter brush control. The other advice I can give on that front is that when you find yourself struggling to paint neatly, put the model down, shake your hands out, grab a drink and try to relax. The more you tense up, the harder it is for you to get the accurate motor control you're looking for. Also do the same with your eyes; give them a rest when you have been painting for a while, even if that just means focussing at something at the far end of the room or out through a window for a few minutes.

As for the specifics of painting halved/quartered Power armour, the best advice I can think of it to take your time and break up the lines along the splits in the armour. I think the longest continuous split line is along either the cod-piece and/or the helmet, with only a few breast plates not having some form of decoration to separate the lines. take your time over these sections and just do each armoured segment at a time (ie do the belt buckle, then the tiny strip between the bottom of the breast plate and the chest decoration, then the strip above, etc). Take your time. It's a lot of work, but a relatively easy effect to do that will look very striking on the table-top. Keep your paints thin and you can go over any mistakes you make.

I wouldn't suggest trying to mask the area off and sprying them. You'll spend nearly as long trying to get the tape or putty into the crevices of the models as you would just painting them, and even the slightest gap will let a flood of paint in.

[fuzzbuket]

when i suggested masking it was merely as a guide to be filled in with a brush! but for tanks spraying it would be a good idea.

[RedScorpionsGirl]

I've done a quartered scheme with my deathwing minis. The easiest way I found, is by priming it one of the two colours to start (in this case I'd recommend white to you, unless you feel comfortable painting white, some people don't)

A few tips:

1. Ensure you have a hard copy of the paint scheme, that is a photocopy (so if you get paint on it while painting, you don't faint)

2. Consider the parts of the mini. Are you planning on painting the arms on the model or off it? This would be the time to decide one way or the other, and prime all the parts at the same time. If you're using army painter primers, I'd actually say you could prime the arms different colours if you are keeping parts separate. This could also confuse the daylights out of you if you're not used to the idea of priming bits separately, so no harm no foul if you don't like the idea.

3.Priming, as thin of a coat as possible, especially here, so you don't have drips and runs that you need to worry about covering up with the second colour.

4. Use very thin coats of paint to build up the colours. I can't stress this one enough. While it willl take a few, over white, but it's well worth it so there's not huge lines where the two colours touch, and it gives you more control to fix a mistake if you make it. Also, if you have to touch up one side or the other, it makes it easier for you if they're not thick and heavy. I recommend P3 Mixing Medium to thin the paint.

5. Use a pencil to mark your scheme on the model, lightly of course. Doing this over white primer allows the blue paint to mask the lines, thereby getting crisp clean lines. Same technique they recommend for painting camouflage.

6. You could consider using masking fluid, but:
A.With various groves and details on the model, you will have difficulty getting all the masking fluid
off.
B, If you attempt to paint, and varnish over it because you can't get all of it off, in due time it will simply
flake off, effectively ruining the paint scheme, and frustrating you.
C. It can pull paint off when you go to rub it off (had this happen with my Red Scorpions).

7. Masking with tape is okay, on vehicles, with careful painting. A few major drawbacks include:
A. Iit gives very defined lines, with paint tending to be thick right next to the tape.
B. When you pull the tape off, it will have a huge defined line, that will detract from the model, as the
other side's paint will be significantly thicker, and more raised.
C. You also have the chance that the masking tape will simply pull paint off. There's plenty of painting
tape that advertises that it comes off within 7 days, however, they speak of using it on walls, not
miniatures. I've had a GW model on more than one occasion don't take primer very well, and these are
the most likely candidates for this problem. I'd also be cautious about using tape on resin for the same
reasons.

8. Check our paints, to make sure they don't have chunks in them, especially for doing this.

9. Don't use GW Foundation paints for this project. These paints, while heavily pigmented, dry far too fast for them to be useful for this project. You want to use a paint that has forgiveness, which these don't, unless you use slow dry with it, in a 90 paint to 10 slow dry mixture. These paints will be more likely to cause you to have large marks in it, clumps, and thick spots, as they don't give you a lot of time to work with them out of the pot.

10. If you have access to it, I recommend the P3 Cygnar Blue Base and Highlight as the blues for your scheme. The reason I recommend these over the GW paints are for several reasons:
A. Cost. At least in the US, P3 is less expensive than GW.
B. Quality. Their paint is also a bit thinner, but still the same amount of pigment GW has. In my
opinion this brand of paint tends to go on much smoother, and have a better covering quality than the
GW paint line.
C. Consistency. P3, Vallejo and Model Colour paints have a better track record than GW with this. The
GW paints tend to differ from batch to batch, even after the paints have been well and thoroughly
mixed. For a project like this, consistency is the key to producing great results.


Good luck with the scheme, and if you have any questions about anything I mentioned, feel free to email me at [email][email protected][/email]