Tags
Hello chaps, I hope you’re all well! I have two minis to share with you this week – again, I have been working through my pile of undercoated but otherwise neglected minis. First up is this official looking chap from the ‘Spacelords’ range from Moonraker Miniatures:
He’s pretty straight forward on the painting front, and is very much intended to fit in with my PDF types on the clothing colours, (though he can also double up as a generic civilian, security guard, robot handler, prisoner transport officer… he’s quite a flexible little fella!). The model isn’t that great if I’m honest – loads of nice detail, but I suspect it is slightly miscast around the insides of the arms… it doesn’t show too much though, so he’ll do:
Secondly, I have an experiment to share. I returned to a mini that I have started and stopped about three times – I have really struggled to find any motivation to paint this guy for a number of reasons… 1: He’s an Eldar, and I really don’t find the faction that interesting (even in RT). 2: He’s an Eldar, and that means clean lines, crisp colours, sharp highlights… a far cry from my usual weathered look. 3: He’s an Eldar.
BUT… this time I grasped the nettle and decided to get this guy off my bench once and for all. I also had an idea that I wanted to test – I wanted to see if I could get a reasonable coloured metallic look out of the new Citadel gem paints, and this guy got to be the guinea pig. I decided to try the green gloss over a copper base coat on his body armour, and it turned out like this:
Hmmm… Not sure if I like the effect or not – the paint is basically a coloured gloss and so looks quite thick and gloopy on the model, (though to be fair, I did get a bit impatient with the application, so this is at least partially due to my own heavy-handedness!). I also think that the colour scheme is a bit ‘meh’, which doesn’t really help the overall look. However, looking at the positives, the end result is certainly is metallic and coloured, so I have to conclude that the test is at least a partial success. I am certain that a more patient approach with thinner layers of this gem paint will likely look much better, and I strongly suspect that the blue one would’ve looked better too. I’ll probably test this idea further, (I quite fancy trying a Sigmarine in blue enamelled armour instead of the usual gold), but I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to decide if you like the result or not :-)
Anyhow, that’s it for another week dudes, have a good one, I’ll catch you on the flip-side.
Leadballoony - It's a lead thing 
Eldar looks good,,,, you should paint some more! ;)
Thanks Warbs, good to get a different point of view – I’m not 100% sure of that myself, but I’m happy to be convinced otherwise ;-)
I think your Eldar has come up very nicely. The Gemstone Paints seem to do a bit of self-shading in the gaps and self-highlighting towards the edges. I’d be interested in seeing some more of your experiments with metallics in general and the GW Gemstone paints specifically.
I’ve done some research – aside from the option of using Army Painter washes over silver, and glossing at the end, there are other metallic options – you can look out for:
Coat D’Arms Enchanted Blue, Enchanted Green, Amethyst Purple.
Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal Blue, Arctic Blue, Turn Signal Red.
Vallejo Premium Airbrush Colour Metallic Blue, Metallic Red, Metallic Yellow, Metallic Green
I’ve got about half of those, which now means I need to find the others.
Thanks mate, it does seem to do the trick re. highlights and shade, doesn’t it! I have heard about the Coat D’Arms and Vallejo metallics, but I never seem to get around to buying anything other than GW :-/ Maybe I need to branch out a bit! Anyhow, thanks for the kind words mate, I will certainly be playing around more with the Gemstone paints over the coming weeks – hopefully to good effect :-)
I just ordered the range of 60ml Vallejo Premiums thanks to the chain of events that your post started. Well, except for Silver (oos) and Blue (which I have). Model Air and Game Air Metallics are beautiful to work with – my highest recommendation, though I’m not sure how much use I’ll get from Metallic Orange at this stage… The Coat D’Arms are actually the old/original Citadel Paints with new names. I used to find the gold and silver paints dubious, but their coloured metallics – again, lovely to work with.
Oh dude – your next post absolutely must be something metallic orange now!!
Oh, and Vallejo Metallic Medium
Hmmm I’ve come back for a second look and see that my comment did not stick. It may have been the reception. You see I was stranded, quite happily, in a log cabin by the beach. Anyway, great painting sir. The first fellow reminds me of Lord Flash-Heart. Must be the gold locks and long leathery coat. I am slowly, very slowly, becoming mildly intrigued by the Eldar so I am impressed! Good work mate
Thanks dude, the Eldar is a funny one isn’t he? I’m still on the fence myself… Log cabin by the beach sounds dandy btw! Lucky sod ;-)
I keep looking at that Eldar and trying to make up my mind about him. Overall he looks good but the glassy effect on the armour makes him look almost like a statue rather than a living creature. I wonder if your idea of using it for Stormcast armour might work nicely though, as the division between the plates would allow a sense of motion (or potential motion) to be maintained? Will be watching how you proceed with this experiment with interest :-)
Great work on the space lord as well by the way.
Thanks mate – I do know what you mean about Mr. SpaceElf… I can sort of console myself with the ‘because alien’ argument :-)
The Stormcast is undercoated and due to be started this evening… hoping to have something to report by the weekend!