Post by Dr Carnivean on Jul 22, 2015 8:15:15 GMT -5
So I'm working on a new theme army for 40K, like with the He-Man Dark Eldar I did a couple years back, only this time with minimal sculpting and conversion work. I'm doing an Eldar army with the theme of retro pulp science fiction from the 1950's through the 1970's, so I'll be riffing on Planet of the Apes, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Godzilla, and other generic clichés with clix conversions, model kits, and some nice stuff from small independent miniature people. The focal point is martian war machines from the original War of the Worlds.
I picked up three of the kits from Pegasus hobbies. I was going to get more and do wave serpent spam with them, but they're much too big, so they're going to be the hemlock fighters or the bombers, since the size and wingspan is right (same span as tyrannid hivecrone/harpy)
My question now is how to approach the painting of them. Do I want to leave it as a matte with a shine, or try to do highlights & drybrushing. Below is how someone on a modelling blog did theirs. They just went for the matte look, but I don't know how that would play on a table full of other miniatures. What do you guys think?
"To me, this looks like it should be copper in color. I chose a color from Vallejo that looked pretty good. Hoping that it would stick well to bare plastic, I sprayed it on using my Aztek A 480 airbrush. The wide pattern nozzle was a real help and the color went on well, though it was a bit on the matte side. It dries to the touch in just minutes though I let it set a few hours before picking it up and polishing the surface with a soft cloth. I'd recommend an undercoat for this paint as quite a bit came off on the cloth. It did show a few areas I missed so the parts returned to the workbench for a bit more filler.
Back to painting, once I had the coat in place and gave it wipe with a soft cloth, I used Testors Metalizer Sealer to keep the paint in place. This has the benefit of drying quickly and is quite resistant to damage. To be sure, I used some Testors automotive clear coat to put on a thicker layer and provide some additional shine, though I left the 'neck' and gun pretty matte."
So what I want to know is what kind of technique should I be using, and with what colors? I've never painted elder or anything with a lot of large smooth surfaces so I'm kind of at a loss here for how to proceed, and any help is greatly appreciated.