Neurolimal posted:

So, this is literally my first real miniature; while I was picking up supplies for a similar hobby I noticed a display of Reaper miniatures, which I recognized from kickstarter knowledge of being high-quality sculpts without the disgusting tabletop-game markups (I've really wanted a Warmachine to mess with, but i'm not going to pay 22 dollars for an eighth-pound of tiny plastic), so I decided to pick one up to try out.

I decided to try out painting the base first, since it would be easier to strip or scrap that than the actual figure:

(I already know that i neglected to paint all of the sides of the rocks, I intend to touch that up tomorrow)

The point of this post is mainly just to get some second opinions before I move onto the figure proper. This is also my first real hand-painting project; my only other experience has been flat single colors.

Here's what my process went, in case I hosed something up: i started with grey Rustoleum spray-primer, followed by Liquitex brand acrylics for the painting. After thinning the paints I started with Yellow Oxide for the base of the sand/soil, followed by painting most of the large areas with Unbleached Titanium (returning with Yellow Ox around the rocks and where the ground dips downward), then used Raw Sienna for the footprints (was sloppy here since the indents would be covered by the feet). Then I put a touch of Ivory Black into the Sienna alongside a shitload of water to use it as a wash.

The rocks were a little simpler; base was a Neutral Gray Value Five, followed by an overly thinned Ivory Black applied harshly to give it some mineral detail. Then the entirety was given a very light (almost-but-not-quite drybrushing) coat of Silver to give it a nice metallic sheen. Tiny rocks were given slightly thicker IvoBla for a greasy coal look.

Once I'm satisfied I intend to seal it in with Future (since thats what I use in the other hobby). +1 to whoever can guess the miniature just off the base!

goodness posted:

It looks like a chocolate chip cookie.

dexefiend posted:

I got another 2.5 hours in! I love painting!



I need to rust the hell out of the smoke stack on the robot, work on the bases, and learn how to paint women's faces.

goodness posted:

I would change the small black rocks to a brown/light grey shade. Or change the base color of the ground.

The silver rocks could use some variation in color, different greys and such. Probably do a wash on the whole thing to turn it down from being so shiny.

BULBASAUR posted:

As a stand alone, it needs more contrast. But-

The base isn't as important as your miniature. I learned this the hard way myself. If you go too crazy on your cookie then the model atop it won't be nearly as appealing. You want it to either compliment the miniature slightly, or provide contrast against your miniature (but again, not enough to be distracting)

BULBASAUR posted:

Easy. Get a plastic cup a bit larger than your bit. Next, put some clay on the other side of this (the side with that little dent in the 3rd picture):



Next, stick your bit into the cup with the clay side glued/secured to the bottom of the cup. Your bit will basically be floating at this point. Coat your bit with talcum, mix some silicone, and slowly pour it in from one side. Stick it on a vibrating washer/drier and let it set. When its dry take out the silicone from the cup (you can cut the cup if you need) and remove the clay. You should be able to wiggle out the bit through the hole. If not, use an xacto knife to cut a little line into the top of the mold to make it release easier. Once it's out you have your mold.

This is called a 'sleeve' mold btw. Pretty easy and works for 90% of bits.

Neurolimal posted:

Neurolimal posted:

Yeah, I think a part of it is just the nature of how the thing is shaped, I'l just have to hope the weird bird-footed werewolf crab demon distracts from it

The rocks do look lighter than in the pic (I'm terrible at taking pictures), but it won't hurt to do some light drybrushing before I move on to the miniature proper.

goodness posted:

It really is the shape. Unless you change the color of the ground and small rocks, it will just be the cookie

What does the model look like?

Ten Becquerels posted:

I don't have a lid for it, but the paint still stays usable for a few hours at least

Electric Hobo posted:

This sounds super easy if I'm understanding it correctly. I basically place it on the clay so I get a hole in the silicone where the bit is flat anyway, right?
I forgot to mention that I'll be adding a small round base to it, but I figure it'll still work if I make a small vent and carefully cut the silicone along the back of the bit.
Either way, this is just the advice I was looking for! Much simpler than mucking about with a 2 part mold.
Thanks.

BULBASAUR posted:

Yep, you got it. Avoid 2 part molds. They take a ton of effort and a sleeve works 90% of the time.

Electric Hobo posted:

This sounds super easy if I'm understanding it correctly. I basically place it on the clay so I get a hole in the silicone where the bit is flat anyway, right?
I forgot to mention that I'll be adding a small round base to it, but I figure it'll still work if I make a small vent and carefully cut the silicone along the back of the bit.
Either way, this is just the advice I was looking for! Much simpler than mucking about with a 2 part mold.
Thanks.

Neurolimal posted:

Z the IVth posted:

If you're going to add a base to it make it a simple one part open mould. Stick base to a bit of glass or plastic then build a box around it (legos, foamcore, plastic). If the base will fit neatly into the cup then you can use the cup itself as the enclosure.

You'll have experiment a little as a one part mould *may* not work the best for your thing. Off the top of my head I can see a number of places which are likely to be bubble traps. If you did a 2 part, you can cut vents there to release the bubbles, but then you will have mould lines to deal with.

How many of these are you planning to make? If you're only doing a few a one part mould and then just cleaning up the bubbles manually would probable be less effort and quicker. If you're planning to make a lot then I would go for the 2 part mould simply because mould lines are easier to scrape off compared to bubbles which you have to fill and resculpt.

Post your piece when finished and I can give you a best guess as what's most likely to work.

Cooked Auto posted:

So I've been looking to paint some winter themed wood elves for a while now but haven't been able to settle on a paint scheme until I spotted the colour variants in one of the older army books. However I'm not too sure what other colours it uses aside from The Fang and Karak Stone. Anyone have an inkling of what colours I should just that would be similar to the picture or just generally complement the colour theme it has going for it?

Slimnoid posted:

The dark brown looks like it'd be Scorched Brown/Rhinox Hide, with a khaki highlight. The gray loincloth and patches of armor look like The Fang with a light gray highlight, probably done with a 50/50 mix of the two before going straight to light gray. Elf skintone is whatever fair skin color you prefer (typically Cadian Fleshtone > Kislev Flesh > white).

Southern Heel posted:

Looking for inspiration for a dark SPESH MARINES-type scheme to use for Panhuman Concord:



They are already primed black with a light dusting of grey for a mini-xenthal thing going on. I'm going for strictly tabletop-ready. I already have red/black/white, blue and light green armies. I am thinking a white drybrush followed by a glaze of something like turqoise would get me a dark base to contrast with yellow and orange, but I'm really up for suggestion - I've got bundle of Vallejo Foundation paints, so really any colour scheme will work if it's based off black.

Southern Heel posted:

Well, decided to go with Minotaurs scheme:


I figure dark red on the shoulder pauldrons and lighter red on weapon casings, energies in light blue?

Geisladisk posted:

I'm losing my goddamn mind with tin models. They just don't want to stick together. If the piece is large enough to pin, it's fine. I pin it, and it sticks on. But anything that's too small to pin just falls off constantly, if I can even get it to stick in the first place.

I'm using superglue. I don't put it on thickly. I clean off the glue whenever things break. I wash my models in warm soapy water before gluing them.

How the absolute gently caress do you get your models to stay in one piece?

Geisladisk posted:

I'm losing my goddamn mind with tin models. They just don't want to stick together. If the piece is large enough to pin, it's fine. I pin it, and it sticks on. But anything that's too small to pin just falls off constantly, if I can even get it to stick in the first place.