Well, this is what happens when you go down the brush painting rabbit hole.
It started with watching Foxx on ModelMaking Guru build an airbrush free Gundam. That intrigued me a bit, the idea of brush painting. And in that video, he mentioned this fellow named Lincoln Wright, of Paint On Plastic, who is a master of brush painting. So I checked him out too. Of course, seeking more brush painting videos, I ran into Warhammer 40K. And Duncan “Two Thin Coats” Rhodes of Warhammer TV.
Suffice to say, a well-timed Amazon gift card, given as a Christmas present, was quickly exhausted, and I found myself happily building away on one of Games Workshop’s kits. They are designed for ease of brush painting.
Unlike the “traditional” model world, these kits don’t go for all that “subtle surface detail” stuff. It’s fine on a Spitifre, but in this universe, the order of the day is exaggerated. Panel lines are deep, bolts are raised up high, and all the detail in relief is easily drybrushed. GW’s system of paints and painting are as intriguing as the models themselves.
So I began happily painting along, staying close, but not rigidly so, to Duncan’s sage advice for painting things. The basic order is the almost always the same – prime, base color, shade color, layer paint, highlight. All of the paints are coordinated, and all have these crazy names like “Leadbelcher” and “Deathworld Forest.” A handy Citadel paint app helps you pick the right series of paints for any application.
And yes, it’s all designed (in part) to get your money. You could use any paints. But these work very well for brush painting. They’re not replacing my Tamiya and Vallejo colors. But I’m not going to be shy about buying them for any 40K projects (and there will be more) because they work so nicely.
Painting Up A Storm
I started with the interior of this kit, applying a base of Leadbelcher over Badger Stynylrez black primer. (No, it wasn’t GW primer, but I did apply it chaotically, so….) With the lead properly belched – in two thin coats of course – I followed up with a shade of Nuln Oil. Next came a quick drybrush of Runefang Steel. The leather seats were painted in the “triumvirate” of Rhinox Hide as a base, Doombull Brown as a layer, and Tuskgor Fur as a highlight. Agrax Earthshade was used as a shade.
Additional various bits and bobs were picked out in Vallejo paints. I thought about going for a tactical look at first, but then I looked at the squad of oversized, slightly comical space marine scouts waiting to be painted, and decided “why not stay over the top?” So the interior is lots of flashy lights and thingies. And I love it.
These aren’t going to move me away entirely from other genres by any stretch. If nothing else, the premium price Games Workshop charges for much of their stuff will dictate that.
But these will be finding their way on to my workbench with some frequency. They are very over the top, very simple to build and paint, and so far – loads of fun.
Next up: the exterior, painted, in two thin costs! 🙂
Please check out Lincoln Wright and Modelmaking Guru on their respective Youtube channels (linked above). Also consider supporting their creative work on their Patreon pages also:
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