Field Report: Tyranids Old School Style

Tinweasel brings back the Old School with a great Genestealer Patriarch. Some good recipe info there too. Head over and check it out.

Expect more quick redirects in the future akin to our Facebook linking. Got a great link you'd like to see put up? Send it to us at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com. Just be sure it has something a bit more useful than a pretty picture! It's all about learning folks!

Friday Quick Tip: Grime Streaks

With one of my latest projects, I've come to realize that I haven't gone over this very simple, yet very effective little bit of weathering, grime streaks. I have been making good use of them for a long time now, hearkening back to the pre-GW wash days. Luckily, with the advent of the wash in a pot, the process is much simpler, and in my view, better looking.


For the sake of this step by step tutorial, I've used the tank from the masked white wash tip. You'll also need a sharp tipped brush with a nice sized belly to allow for continuous painting. I used a standard round brush in this instance. You'll also need a pot of Gryphonne Sepia. You might find a different color more acceptable for your scheme though, so don't be afraid to think outside of what's presented in this tut. Any color would be acceptable so long as you feel it fits to the desired effect.


When starting, look for spots that would have rust marks or water streaks. I stick mostly to rivets, armor joins and battle damage for much of my grime. But feel free to explore a variety of locations. Keep in mind any place that water could accumulate or run over. These spots will make the model come alive with use, wear and tear.


Here you can see a single rivet with one quick layer of grime streaking down. I go lightly for any first layer. You always want to be sure that your brush isn't overburdened with wash, so be sure to test your brush on a paper towel or palette to keep from blobbing the wash on the model.


Your first layer is key so take your time, and place your brush strokes where you want them. Just don't be too afraid of messing up! This is weathering! It's supposed to get a little bit messy! You can see that the lines all go (roughly) vertical, starting from a rivet or join of some sort. If you happen to paint some battle damage onto the model as well, be sure to use those spots as starting points as well.


In this final photo you can see what another coat of wash will give you in terms of effect. Keep in mind that any successive layers of wash will be FAR heavier than the first application. It's up to your eye to decided whether or not another layer is necessary or not. I also highly recommend giving this technique a go on a test piece, maybe just a scrap armor plate from your bits box. It will save you much more time using that piece instead of messing up on a near finished model and having to correct your mistakes!

There are a lot of different ways you can go about this effect. This just happens to be one of the easier ways I've found so far with very little time and effort being invested for a very satisfying result! If you've got another method, we'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment or shoot us an email at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

Friday Quick Tip: Intro to Airbrushing

Today's Friday Quick Tip is on a topic that has been popular around The Painting Corps lately: airbrushing.

Here LBrusley of AwesomePaintJob.com gives us a quick overview of his airbrush materials, techniques and a few other hobby tidbits.

Get out there this weekend and start airbrushing!

Ask the Corps: Arctic Highlighting

Somehow this slipped through the cracks a few months back. After digging back through TPC's email, I found it again. With our recent post of the Tank Whitewash tip, I thought it a good time to bring up another winter related post here in Ask the Corps.

Dane writes:

Greetings oh ye Gods of painting,
I stumbled on this site though the wet blending video on youtube and I cannot thank you guys (and gals) for the work that goes into everything. The Painting Corps is a truly invaluable resource for all hobbyists (especially those who's standards FAR exceed their abilities...like me ^_^)


So here is my problem. I am attempting to paint an arctic/winter/snow world army and after several attempts, Ive washed and scrubbed the same squad ten times now, I feel I have finally found a decent paint method that yields acceptable results.

-Prime with Armoury White Spray
-Basecoat with 1:1 mix of Astronomican Grey/Skull white
-Wash with 3:1 mix of Badaab Black Wash/Astronomican Grey
-Several Drybrushings of Skull white
-Freehand camo composed of 2:1 Codex Grey/Chaos Black

The entire process yields a decently crisp white with greyish black shadows. The issue is, as Ive learned is the case with most heavily drybrushed minis, the skull white comes out very "chalky" and takes away from the entire model. I have been told by hobbyists at my local gaming store that this color scheme is likely one of the hardest to pull off correctly and I should try something else. So I have. I have tried around fifteen totally different schemes and while they look ok for one of my skill; they aren't what I want and I never had the satisfaction of completing something challenging. So, I turn to the masters for advice. Is there anything; any trick or technique or product I am missing out on? Or will this be a case of keep trying until I have the experience to pull it off? Thanks in advance for any advice/help you can offer. Again, fantastic website.

I know there are folks out there with a lot more experience in painting your winter themed models. If you've got a nugget of insight, let's hear it!

Friday Quick Tip: Tool Time

I love hobby tools almost as much as the hobby itself. And while I love my local game store, the few things I'll shop around for are tools. Mainly because I love my favorite local tool store and never visit without finding something wonderful. Here's the result of my latest shopping trip.

I've been looking for that wheeled punch for a long time. Now I can create rivets from 2mm to 4.5mm with ease. If you are looking for such a tool, look at tools for working with leather. This third hand was just handy and I needed an extra knife (or three!), and this one was a bargain. Speaking of bargains, all three of the above cost me $11.

I also found a tool to solve another problem. For a while I've lamented my 15W foam cutter. Even though it is a great design, it just didn't have the muscle when I had to tackle a large project (like the radio tower I did for BoLSCon-- carving a cubic foot of foam).

Well now I've found a foam cutting "sledgehammer" for when I need it:

Not only does it have adjustable temperature (for more power when you need it), but it will heat up to 840 degrees F. This baby will cut insulating concrete forms, nylon rope and probably half the furniture made by IKEA. Anyone need to hack up a Baneblade?

And let me be the first to say, in tone of the recently popularized video: "My 130W foam cutter is the greatest power for evil!"

What hobby bargains have you found out there? And what are some of your favorite tools?

Friday Quick Tip: Liquid Masking Tank WhiteWash

One of my favorite finishes for armor has to be the World War 2 style white wash. It's always had a special spot in my tread head heart since the first photos I'd seen looking through library books when I was a kid. It just holds so much story for the vehicle, the crew, and the environment. When I made my first steps into wargaming, I always knew I'd love to do a tank in that manner, and luckily it's a cinch to achieve the effect!


To get started, you'll want to paint your base color. This is your vehicle's typical summer pattern. You could start with any color, though usually you'll get a more visually pleasing look with a bit darker color choice. I went with VMC Brown Violet for my base, painted on using an airbrush.


The star of the show for today's tip is Liquid Mask. You can typically find this at any arts and crafts shop and it won't run you too deep in the pocket. My applicator is a simple piece of blister foam, with the edges ripped up a bit for a nice random effect.


Apply the mask as heavy or as light as you want, paying special attention to high wear spots like hatches, flat surfaces, lower quarters along the side armor. If you think the crew would be around an area often they would likely wear away the whitewash around it.


Here you can see the dried mask. This make goes on white and dries clear, but I've seen other mask that goes on different colors or stays a color. Be a bit delicate when in this stage, as you don't want to prematurely rub the mask off. It's rather easy to remove!


When it comes to liquid mask, I've found that it comes to painting over it for removal later, thinner is better. You don't need an airbrush to get thin paint for this step. So if you're without one, take your time, water your paints down, and do it in layers. If you have thick paint on top of the mask when it comes time for removal you're going to be pulling up big chunks of paint around the mask that you didn't mean to!

For my whitewash I've used VMC Off White painted on lightly using an airbrush.


When it comes to removing your masking you can use a few different tools. I have used a hard eraser before to good effect for this. For this tank, I've gone with a ball of sticky tack that worked like a dream. To start removal, just rub your finger along the surfaces to pull up the big spots. Remove as much of the mask as you can this way, and when you get to working in the small details break out the sticky tack. Be sure to loosen the tack up by ripping it apart a few times and mushing it back together. Don't push into the model too hard though, as you'll end up removing more than just the mask!


You can also use a light scratch with a fingernail to add some streaks of pulled up paint along the sides or rough up other areas a bit more. Again, just be careful not to push too hard or you'll end up pulling your base color up as well.

The effect is extremely easy to achieve and relatively quick. A bit of detail work as well as some additional weathering, and the tank will be ready to deal its death to those who oppose it!

There are a few other methods for whitewashing vehicles that I hope to cover someday in the future, but I'll leave it up to you, the readers, to figure out what works best for your vehicles!

Friday Quick Tip: New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year, Corps! It has been a great year of tips, projects and growth over the past year and it wouldn't have been possible without all of the support and inspiration from our readers. Thank you all!

But now we are embarking on a new year (and a new decade) and I'm sure we all have plenty of hobby resolutions for 2010. I did pretty well last year with my resolutions: I got two of my three armies painted for tournament play and one of those will carry over to this year. But a few times I lost track and squandered my painting time. So what's the best way to make progress and knock out all of your painting projects? Get motivated. And if you can't self motivate, what's the next best way? That's right, public peer pressure!

With that in mind, submit your New Year's Hobby Resolutions below in the comments section. Then each weekend we'll gather together pictures anyone participating and post an update each Tuesday. Now this isn't a picture of just the model or project you are working on, but a picture of your whole working space. I'd like to see progress, but also get as many hints and tips that are hiding in peoples' workspaces.

For example, check out these paint stations from the GW Studio:

Not only can you see what people are working on, but you can see hints, tricks and personalities. Some are messy and disorganized, some and clean and neat but all of them have little hidden tips. You can see the Game Developers store their brushes point down (top pic, in the upper right). Bad game developers! They also store some of their paints upside down so you can quickly find the right color in the big pile of paint pots. (Good idea!)

I also see Joe Tomazewski uses the same palette I do and that Christian Byrne paints the tops of the Foundation Paints with the enclosed color (since you can't set those upside down). Also, undercoating an Ork Trukk silver-- what a great idea! Spray it silver, throw on some latex mask and then spray and paint it the color of your choice and you only have to peel away the latex mask to get a great chipped metal effect!

Resolution time! What's on your to do list for the coming year? If you'd like to participate in the weekly update, send your goals and picture of workspace via email to thepaintingcorps@gmail.com or leave them and some links in the comments. We'll update the progress each week and see who will be naughty for 2010 and who will be nice.