Dropping in 3: Falconry

To go along with the Sabres from last post, it's the turn of the Falcons to get some paint.  My small force needed two Falcons (they're the UCM version of present day Apache helicopters), but even two tested my batch painting skills (or lack of them).

OK not really, they were so quick and easy to paint, I got both done in an hour or so, while watching football!  They're tabletop standard with dry-brushed highlights, and like with the Sabres, the small scale, and large number of hard edges on the models means dry-brushing really does work well.  They were painted in pretty much the same way as the Sabres, so a quick recap:

Green:

• P3 Cryx Base
• Castellan Green
• Death World Forest
• P3 Thrall Flesh

Grey:

• Eshin Grey
• Nuln Oil
• Codex Grey
• Pallid Wych Flesh

Once the grey was finished, I gave the top of the model a very light dry-brush of Pallid Wych Flesh to pick out the top edges, and coloured in the insides of the engine exhausts with orange and a dot of yellow.

The last thing to do was the pilots canopy.  I wasn't a big fan of the way the Hawk Wargames guys did theirs, so I tried to go for a dark, orange lit effect.  I used a base coat of Abbadon black, then quickly blended in some Rhinox Hide, then mixed in more and more Squig Orange towards the bottom of each pane of the canopy.

After, I'd sprayed the model with Dullcote, I went back and painted the canopy (sans frame) with GW 'Ardcoat to give it the glassy look.

...and they're done.  The group of reprobates that comprise our gaming group will be at Colours in two weeks time, where I will pick up the rest of the miniatures to make up my force (or I'll buy the two person starter box if it's out, not sure which yet).  My current force list comprises:

UCM Skirmish Roster [494/500 pts]

Armored Formation [248 pts]

Sabre Squad: 3x Sabre, Condor(+Missile Pods) [152 pts]

Falcon Squad: 2x Falcon [96 pts]

Legionnaire Corps [80 pts]

Legionnaires: 2x Legionnaires, Raven A [80 pts]

Special Ordinance [166 pts]

Rapier Squad: 3x Rapier, Condor [166 pts]

This list was created using the very nice force creator app that can be downloaded from here: http://www.dzc-ffor.com/.

(Image taken from the link above)

It's really easy to use, and if you hit print, it will print out the force list, stat sheet, model listing, and a shopping list (if you remember to fill in the database of what models you already have)!  I'm a huge fan of this application and there are a few other companies that could really learn from this.

In other news, I backed the ArcWorlde Kickstarter from Warploque miniatures.  I don't usually do the Kickstarter thing (and I'm very glad I skipped the Reaper Bones one), but the miniatures really appeal to me, and it's nice to support a smaller company.

My apologies for not being active in commenting on other people's blogs, I've recently started a new job at my company, which has been a bit nuts (I guess that's what I should expect when I get promoted), and I've had a load of DIY to do, plus attending this years Fforde Ffiesta (a small literary festival dedicated to the works of Jasper Fforde).  I do however read everyone's blogs that I follow, and you are all doing some fantastic stuff, and given me a lot of inspiration to get on with my own painting.  Hopefully (he says with no confidence whatsoever), I should have some more time to both post and comment now things are starting to settle down.

I seem to recall saying that before...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Dropping In 2 - Dry-brush-tacular

So in my previous post, I said I wanted to paint the Dropzone Commander UCM stuff to tabletop standard, so I could get a force up and running quickly.  Usually this plan never works, and I spend way too much time on each miniature because I'm never happy with them.

This time though I may have got it sorted...

I started off with the green, as it was the biggest block of colour.  I used a base of P3 Cryx Base, applied in a couple of thin coats, making sure I didn't obscure any detail.  I didn't bother to put a wash on the green as it was dark enough already, so I moved on to the highlights.  As you can see from the pictures, to get everything done quickly I dry-brushed nearly all the highlights, going in the order:

• Castellan Green
• Death World Forest
• P3 Thrall Flesh

...with lighter and lighter brush strokes as I moved through the colours.

With the green done, it was on to the grey.  I chose grey rather than a metallic colour because I think it works much better at this scale.  It's not intended to be non-metallic metal, just a "colour" rather than bare metal.  I base coated with Eshin Grey (GW had been missing a proper dark grey from their paint range for longer than I can remember), and washed with Nuln Oil, and once the wash was dry, I dry-brushed the highlights, first the old Codex Grey, and then Pallid Wych Flesh.

The last major part left were the tracks.  I used Dryad Bark for the base coat, and washed it again with Nuln Oil.  this was highlighted with Steel Legion Drab and Karak Stone, making sure I caught the bottom edges of the skirts to give the dirty/dusty look.

With 99% of the model done, I gave the top facing parts of the model a very, very light dry-brush of Pallid Wych Flesh, and picked out the lights on the "turret" base.  A quick spray of varnish and they were done!  They won't win any prizes, but they don't look bad for a quick and dirty paint job, and I'm particularly pleased with the way the muzzles of the guns look.

I've got two Falcon Gunships to do next, then it's time to buys some more...

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Dropping in...

It's been a little quiet on the hobby front recently, with a promotion at work, DIY, WOMAD and life in general taking up a lot of time.

So just to let everyone know that I'm still around, here's a picture of the latest project:

They're Sabre tanks from Dropzone Commander, a little bit different to your usual tank design, but they went together really well, and they're ready to be primed tomorrow, and painted over the weekend.  I'm going to try for a quick, simple tabletop standard paint scheme, so I can get an army up and playable as soon as I can.

Yeah, we'll  see how THAT goes...  ;-)