Deployment of the Spectral Sicarii (homebrew RG)

[thewarriorhunter]

Bodies are done! I'm resigning myself to not being able to do the white on the eagle crests well at all. I'm actually pretty frustrated. I tried to put a wash on them and lightly brush white over that but it went on very unevenly and into the recesses. I ended up lightly applying a couple thin coats of white so you can still see a little of the wash underneath but it doesn't have the depth that I see in so many other posts :(. Unfortunately you can't even see that because my light washes it out when I take pictures.

 

On to the positive: This means I get to take a break from painting models and I'll start working on their bases. I'm not sure what 'area' of the battle this unit will be on. My sniper scouts bases look like their in a forest. I'm thinking some rocky grassland for this unit. 25mm bases don't give you a ton of room to work with and I think simple is better, but it also means I'm limited in how much of a story the bases can tell.

 

Here's two guys after the wash and lightly dry brush failed attempt. There were two colors of wash to test them out:

 

 

Here's the bodies complete after clean up:

 

 

On to bases!

[Claws and Effect]

Good find on the metal Shrike. I kitbashed mine because I hate the pose they put him in.

[thewarriorhunter]

After looking at the photos again I think the one on the right that was washed doesn't look too bad... I will admit I'm my own worst critic.

 

I'm also wondering if I tried to apply the white on the model while it's upside down if it would paint better. The eagle crest has sharper edges moving up the model. That might catch the white better and allow the wash to still show well.

 

My other set of scouts I bought should be shipping soon so I'll get to try with them!

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

I experienced the same issues when trying to create the blue to white contrast when working on my most recent project as well. I found it very strange because I didn't recall my inks doing that back when I built the bulk of my force back in ~2002.

 

I believe when GW changed out the inks in recent years, the newer inks have a much higher pigment saturation, and this leads to issues when using an ink/wash over white.

 

Also, when you take this issue and couple it with trying to drybrush white, you end up with a cakey/blurry mess.

 

My solution next time around is to try one of the 3 following:

 

1) A different brand of ink (I'm considering just getting Daler-Rowney blue ink and adding my own liquitex medium to dilute it down to a very weak consistency).

 

2) Adding acrylic medium to a blue/grey paint to turn it into an ink to lay into the recesses.

 

3) Biting the bullet and attempting to layer the colors on, starting at blue, then grey, then white. (this option is most likely to cause me to fly into a fit of rage).

[thewarriorhunter]

I use Secret Weapon Miniature washes (got a great deal on their entire line). They do well most of the time. I think a lot of the issue is that the chest piece's ridges aren't different enough to allow my technique to work. On the next batch I think I'm going to layer gray, wash, then highlight white and see how those results turn out.

[Claws and Effect]

When I'm doing white with a wash, I wash the whole thing and re-highlight the white afterward. 

[thewarriorhunter]

That's what I'm going to try on the next batch.

 

I also think I may have a theme for the bases. I'm thinking of getting fancy and having them walk through a stream. I can attach them to the base and then apply water effects around their feet. I'm not sure if 25mm is to small to make that work though. I'm thinking I may have to keep that reserved for 32mm or 40mm bases.

[NiceGuyAdi]

Rather than Lahmian Medium, you might want to try flow improver instead. It should help the ink get caught in the recesses more. I was thinking using gravity (turning them upside down) would also help before I read you were considering that. It can't hurt.

 

What's your leather recipe? It's got a really nice rich look.

[thewarriorhunter]

What's your leather recipe? It's got a really nice rich look.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Leather is super easy. Two thin coats of Vallejo Leather Brown (Game Color) to base and then two light washes of Secret Weapon Miniature Dark Sepia Wash. It may sound odd but on the second wash I try to focus it/pull it into areas that weren't as saturated by the first wash. I've noticed that tends to give it a more well rounded finish.

 

The SWM washes tend to finish a bit shiny but after I use a dull clear coat they really get toned down and look fantastic.

 

I started getting some of my basing material ready tonight  I think I want to try to start including something that's damaged/dead xenos scum on my sgt bases. For units like scouts where the sgt will look like the rest I think it will help myself and my opponent know which model is which.

 

 

 

OK... I had an idea today at work for my scout bases. I really want to do the 'in the water' idea and I think I may have a way to cheat the small top of the 25mm base. I traced a base shape onto some cork and cut that out. That gives me a true 25mm surface to work on while not enlarging the base itself. When I use my TP texture technique I will build up more on the edges to provide a small 'lip' to hold in the water effects.

 

I'd like to know what you fine folks here think about this.

 

Size comparison:

 

 

How it will attach to the base:

 

Edited November 1, 2017 by thewarriorhunter

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Looks good. I see the biggest sticking point being the fact that cork is going to look rough finished, which will sit at odds with the rest of your army and their clean base edges.

 

I have seen it done before where they make a silicone mold out of a 25MM base, then place the mini in the mold and lay down a thin coat of water effects/resin, paint that black, then build layers on top in various water/mud colors, to create the effect that they are wading through shallow water puddles, so the edges of the base will be clear like you plan with the cork, but the bottom will be smooth/flat like a base.

 

I think either could work honestly, and your initial plan will probably be easier/faster. Its just a question of what the finished product will look like.

 

Either way I look forward to the results!

[thewarriorhunter]

Good points and I've seen the resin technique you speak of.

 

I thought about it looking rough (especially the edges) but I think after I do the TP it'll clean up nicely. I plan on wrapping it around and under the edges to help mask that it's cork, and when looking at it from the top you won't notice the odd profile.

 

I went ahead and cut out all of my disks and added bits of cork to help provide elevation for texture. The nice thing about this is I can always pop the cork off and start over if it ends up looking really bad. I've got several busy nights coming up so I probably won't get to work on anything until the weekend.

 

Gotta be efficient when gluing cork down!

 

[thewarriorhunter]

I'm all in on my idea, the only thing I have to lose if it doesn't work out is time, a little TP, and some glue.
 
I put a thick layer of PVA glue down on the cork because it tends to soak of the water effects I do. I'd rather not have that happen so I'm hoping this barrier will help to prevent most of the possibility of that happening when I get to that stage.
 

 

And here they after the first round of TP. The goal here was to get a little bit around all of the edges to help mask the cork. I am going to go back and apply some of the larger sand I use around the edges to work on my 'lip' and then apply a second round of TP over the entire base and edge. I think that will help to smooth things out, give me the texture I need, and provide the barrier to help retain the WE.

 

 

[thewarriorhunter]

Scouts came in today and they are in fact the red plastic that was shipped in Lost Patrol.

 

Very happy that I snagged them for a good price and that I won't have to strip paint off them.

[thewarriorhunter]

Bases are done and primed. Time to start painting and see if my crazy idea will work. They're in the 'it's so ugly it could never work stage'. I'm hoping after paint and some grass/reeds it'll all make sense and look great when they're complete.

 

 

 

Amazing what priming does. Going from multiple colors of texture to a solid color is such a leap forward in visual progress:

 

[thewarriorhunter]

I was able to get several hours of hobby time in today, which is rare for a Saturday. Between this and watching some CS:GO it's been a great day.

 

I pushed forward and painted up the bases and got my scouts attached, and water effects are done. I'm not going to post pics of those though because I want the final reveal to be when they're complete. I'm very excited that my idea came together. I'd do a couple things differently next time but they are minor and I'm probably the only one who will even notice what I'm nitpicking.

 

Here's the water layers done:

 

 

And here's the next step with the dirt/mud done:

 

[thewarriorhunter]

Woke up early this AM and couldn't fall back asleep. Decided to get some time painting. Boltguns are done aside from some edge highlighting. I'll work on the heavy bolter next, and the heads still need to be done as well. I washed those off this morning since they're resin.

 

[thewarriorhunter]

I was digging through my images today and found a pic from a while back. I had custom dice made for myself and my friend who got me into 40k. He plays DA and IH so I made up 12 of each for his birthday. I added 12 of the RG for me because why not?

 

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Dice look good.

 

I was just recently looking into ordering some custom from Chessex. If I may ask, how did you relay the custom side artwork to them? (Vector, PSD, jpeg, etc?).

 

Also, that RG dice appears to be Mother of Pearly White/Black, is that correct? 

 

When speaking with Chessex, they are out of Black/White, White/Black, and Ivory/Black are all sold out for the next couple months sadly :( 

[thewarriorhunter]

They are Chessex, I submitted PNG files because I had to edit them a little in MS Paint. (I know, LOL).

 

They were really good about communicating and making tweaks for me. The IH needed some changing because the original artwork I submitted was too detailed and didn't translate to the die well.

 

The RG is Mother of Pearl with black pips. I was trying to get each die set close to the chapter colors. I didn't want plain white and I'm happy I went with MoP. Veterans are white/black so I feel they fit nicely. My only regret is that I wish I had ordered more.

[duz_]

Those RG dice are sexy.... does anyone wanna set us up a custom order?? :D

I hear thewarriorhunter has the Paint files :lol: (I didnt even know paint could handle png)

[thewarriorhunter]

Here you go!

 

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Custom orders are super easy (from my experience so far).

 

Its like a minimum of 10 dice, you shoot the customs guy an email. He sets it up, you pay them, then you're good to go.

[thewarriorhunter]

Yup. It was a breeze for me and their CS was great.

[Race Bannon]

I had some custom Raptors dice made an age ago and can support the positive experience and communication.

 

Frankly, I am thinking to go back for RG dice.

 

Or ... We make it a forum thing. If BT can do it, so can we right?

[thewarriorhunter]

The more you order the cheaper they are die. I wonder if Chessex would do a huge order and then ship to each person? That would make it easier but still keep the cost per die down. If I recall shipping was a flat fee around $10.