Six of the Best - The Final Post

 Session 9 - Finishing Off - Very Newhammer and Bit of Oldhammer

Ok so I am calling this challenge done. An interesting little challenge and shows how much I rely on a number of standard technical paints (such as Citadel Shades) and colours (such as different metallics). I probably would have gone for Warplock Bronze base with Hashut Copper highlights and weathering with Nihilakh Oxide if I was painting this model with a free paint selection. Perhaps a more traditional looking Necron. 

I think I was right to paint the miniature on the sprue but perhaps should have done more of the detailing such as stripes before putting the miniature together. But I quite like working out the design as I go along and sometimes this works and sometimes not. But I still think he will come in handy for Stargrave etc. 

So overall he took a bit over 4 hours to paint. I am genuinely surprised how long this one miniature took to paint. I don't normally think about the time I am spending on each figure and I suspect that I would get quicker if I was painting more than one of them. I certainly had to spend a bit of time working how to put him together without a picture of the finished model. In contrast, I  was getting through the halflings very quickly by the end. 

For the base I finished it of with the red mixed with increasing amounts of the grey. I added a few small gold nuggets and it was then finished off with some yellow/orange grated sponge witch is the most alien looking of my available flock stock. 

The Necron or is it a ABC warrior vs. some Desert Waste landers

Picked this up from the Cinema when we went to see the excellent new Dune movie. Always on the look out wargames stuff!

Definitely a fan of the new Dune movie and hoping they get to make the second half. 

A very small space marine against my Necron. My whole painted Wh40K collection!

NB- The Space marine wasn't painted by me but bought off eBay on a whim and in the end I so liked the paint job. I didn't send him to the paint stripper!

Rob 

Six of the Best - Sessions 6 to 8

 Session 6 - Detailing

The figure was given highlights to all the main colours and little bit of touch ups. To try and make the red really bright on the weapon, I undercoated the spots with the deck tan followed by a wash with the Reikland Flesh shade. 

Once the base is done this is sort of at my army painting standard. But I plan to go a bit further and see what else I can add.

Session 7 - Basing

Just a short session to add some skulls and coarse sand to the base.

Session 8  - Detailing

I would have liked to add more stripes but some those sections on the left are just too difficult to reach now the model is assembled. Still this is what can happen if you are working it out as you go along. For the base, I mixed the bright red, a light bit of the grey and some black and ended up with a weird plum colour. This was then washed with Reikland Flesh shade. I am waiting for this to dry before any dry brushing. 

Rob 

Six of the Best - Sessions 4 & 5

 Session 4 - Assembly

Wasn't impressed by the Reikland Fleshshade over the enchanted blue on the test model. It just looked dirty but could be used in small sections will give a nice rusted look in parts. 

So before doing any washes, It was time to put the figure together so that the washes flow in the right way when the model is put together. As I didn't have a picture of the finished figure to hand it did take a few minutes to work how to fit the model together as the head didn't seem to fit when the chest guard was fitted. But after a few choice words it all went together. 

It is also about this stage that I tend to lose a bit of interest (See the last post on Dori the Dwarf)and figures can sit on the paint bench for a bit because they can look a bit flat. But press on as hopefully it will start to come alive in the couple of sessions!

Session 5 - Washes

A quick session having decided to mix some of my own washes. I added a drop of washing up liquid to each of the diluted washes to help them flow. I deliberately let some bleeding occur between the washes to give a 'used' rather than a neat factory finish. Particularly around the weapon as O don't want it to look quite clean. 

Rob 

Six of the Best - Session 3

 First Stab at the Base Coats Plus a Dwarf

Finished the first round of base colours on the Necron and managed to use all five of the base colours. I am debating whether to use the Reikland Fleshshade over the whole model or make up some washes for the grey/blue colours. Before I decide, I am going to do a test wash on spare model to decide if the shading looks good enough. I have found that the Citadel shades give a very precise shading over the painted area. Whereas the classic homemade washes made by watering down normal paints don’t always give a very even or satisfactory finish. Adding a little bit of washing up liquid can help but the truth is that the modern shades are just much better. 

His colour scheme does look a bit like an Ultramarine but I plan to add a lot more red so this should change a bit later. 

Finally Started Dori

After a couple of months quietly sitting on the paint bench. I finally started Dori. I took a quick picture to look at the detailing and realised I it was accidently a nicely staged picture.

Look behind you!

Rob 

Six of the Best - Sessions 1 & 2

 Undercoating & Base Colours

I have decided to treat this project Random Christmas Project a.k.a. Six of the Best a bit differently in that, I will post as I go along instead of a summary at the end and also I will keep track of how long it actually takes. I usually get to the end of painting a figure  but without any real idea how long I have spent. I was particularly interested to know how much longer I had spent of the halfling ranger captain (my entry to the Golden Gobbo) compared to the other halfling rangers. So this time I will keep a record. 

Session 1 - Prep & Undercoating

Ready for Undercoating

First decision before getting onto the painting was to build the figure and then paint it or paint it (mostly) on the sprue before building it. While  the skeletal design meant there could be parts difficult to paint once assembled, I am not really familiar with the figure so it will be more difficult to visualise the finished model whilst still on the sprue. Obviously, there will also be some attachment points to tidy up after removing from the sprue if left on during painting.  However, a childhood of making model aeroplanes etc. decided it. The Necron would stay on the sprue until I am at least done painting the main parts of the model.

I did, however, remove some of the attachment points to minimise this bit of work later. So next step on to the grey primer.

Session 2 - Starting the Base Colours

First go at the base colours

First point, I  have decided that I will use all the six colours (without any black or white) at least once on the model.  Second point, I now realise as I start painting, all of my colours are either bright (blue and red) or light (grey, cream [deck tan] and shining gold) which hardly fit the grim dark universe of WH40K.  I have decided not to go down the metallic colouring scheme, as a bright gold Necron doesn't really appeal. 

As I didn't (don't) really have a finished design in mind, I settled on one feature - the skeletal frame of the Necron. I wanted the skeletal bits to be a darker colour, so used the light grey mixed with black to get a mid-grey. Now the problem with mixing colours is that if you have to use them more than once, then you have to try and recreate the same colour. I used to have lots of problems with this in the past with units of all slightly different shades of the 'same' colour.  Which has led me to buy colours when I need to be consistent. Still rules are rules, so I don't really have any other choice but mixing on this occasion.

I haven't used Tamiya paints before and didn't really pay much attention when I bought this one. But as soon as I opened I realised it wasn't your normal acrylic paint. It has a strong solvent whiff. So I stopped and read the label, it is both flammable and an irritant. So I will treating this one with a bit more care than normal. 

After the mid-grey, the cream on the weapon and the blue armour plates seemed pretty obvious. I know I will have to make washes for these colours and also do touch ups. But overall I quite pleased with the start. He looks a bit more 'bright' future cyberpunk but could come in handy for a few games of Stargrave or Five Parsecs from Home. 

Rob 

Random Christmas Project

 Six of the Best

Whilst browsing the internet, I came across this painting challenge on The Totally Random “6 Paints” Hobby Challenge | Heresy & Heroes (heresyandheroes.com)

Basically, the challenge is to paint one random figure with six random paints over Christmas. Now I am just coming to the end of a couple small projects and thought this would be a fun challenge to do over Christmas. 

1. The Figure

The Figure with trusty random number generators. 

So I dipped into figures and stuff box and came out with a Necron Immortal which a friend gave me as part of one those how to play WH40K magazines. I have painted many WH40K figures in the nineties but never a Necron as they didn't exist in the 1st edition rules. 

Now according to the Games Workshop website he should look something like the one below. But given my paint selection this one probably will not!

2. The Paints

Now I randomly selected two new paints on a trip to Hobby Craft today by start/stopping the timer on my phone and choosing the paint which corresponds to the number equal to the hundredth's of second score on the timer.

This gave me a grey from Revel and Deck Tan (Not even sure what Deck Tan is?) from Tamiya. 

Next up was the one metallic colour (maximum of one allowed) which rolled up Shinning Gold on the dice from my current selection of paints. Ironically, I also got this one from an earlier starter WH40K magazine.

A maximum of one shade is also allowed which rolled up Reikland Fleshshade. 

Leaving me with a Humbrol bright red and an old Citadel Enchanted blue from the 'normal' colours in my collection.  Now the enchanted blue is getting a bit dry and may have to replaced by a similar modern colour.  But I will see how I get on first. 

Now white and black can be used to lighten/darker these six colours but cannot be used on their own. I think you will a agree, definitely a random six paints. 

3. The Rules

The 6 Colours Random Mini Hobby Challenge Rules:

1. Select the mini at random. Use whatever method you wish to make the choice random and not yours or anyone else’s.
2. Ensure it is a single mini. If your chosen method produces a result that is too expensive, something you have painted before, or you really hate the mini, you can use a single mulligan to change to a different randomly selected mini.
3. Use any method to randomly select 6 paints. Exclude technical and contrast paints from the challenge, and there is a hard limit of one metallic paint and/or one shade/wash paint.
4. You are allowed to take a black and a white paint, but you may not use these on their own or unmixed on the mini – they must always be combined with at least one other colour.
5. You can mix your paints however you like with each other and/or with black and white.
6. You may pre-base your mini, but you can only use your six random paints and black and white paints to paint the base. 
7. There’s no official time limit, but try to complete your mini within 2 weeks (just so you never forget which paints you used!)

4. The Challenge

Now I have started to think about paint schemes. Now the obvious choice would be to go for a gold based colour scheme but the point of the challenge is to try different things. So I might go for a red/blue colour scheme making him look more Bladerunner than dark millennium. 

That's it for now on this one, I will start painting over Christmas. Trying to keep to the 2 week target when I start. 

Rob