"Painted a few 15mm Spugs" Topic

Well, I've been trying to do some painting as therapy for the insanity at my workplace and to try and work my way through the mountain of 15mm Modern and Sci Fi stuff I picked up recently. Cloudcaptian is very guilty for increasing the size of my 15mm lead piles along with the weak pound!

As the start of my bug army, I decided to knock out the majority of my Spugs (Space Bugs) by Sriggan Miniatures in the UK. Mine came from Rattlehead Games where Brandon provides top notch service. I have a second batch of Spugs on order with him now.

This first batch includes troops from the normal 6 Spug packs, the Alpha Spug and the gunners for the gun battery (still working on the guns). I have Spug jet bikes, but they have not gotten to the paint table yet. Minis were attached to Popsicle sticks for painting. 65 minis have so far been completed.

How they were painted:
1. Spray paint with a nice medium green
2. Highlighted the entire mini with a light green dry brush
3. Paint the guns and details with sharply contrasting colors to bring the spugs an animated almost cartoon feel. I was trying to avoid them being too dark and characterless.
4. Add a few highlights to the additional colors. Just a fast dab of some color.
5. Coat the entire mini with Army Painter "Strong" tone Quickshade (could have used a Future wash) to give some depth and to bring out the details.
6. I used Dullcoat to remove most of the shine left by the Quickshade.
7. All the minis were based on washers that I had spray painted brown using Liquid Nails to glue them together.
8. All the special troops had their bases color coded for Ambush Alley.
9. The bases were covered with a mix of Woodland scenic ballast and fine green flock using Woodland Scenic glue.

I am using large clear plastic storage containers made for scrapbooking to house my 15mm minis. The cases are lined with 60mil magnetic self adhesive vinyl. This is the strongest sheet magnet that you can normally by. I ordered a 10'x 2'roll of it, so that will line 20 1' x 1' cases. The minis will not more at all, even if carried upside down or sideways.

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Nice effect. Definitely green.

Nicely done! I like the variety of colors on the weapons. I am starting to prime my 15mm Spugs I just got in the mail. I picked up 72 Spugs, 12 Alpha's, 10 Gunners and 15 Bikes. I have been sucked into that 15mm Scifi/near future modern black hole recently. So, I understand completely. All my Combat Wombat/Gzg armored vehicles are also waiting for paint.

Thanks,

John

All my Combat Wombat/Gzg armored vehicles are also waiting for paint.

I think I have stuff from every manufacturer of 15mm Sci Fi and Modern that needs attention. The large boxes from GZG, Old Crow, Peter Pig, QRF and others are littered all over my basement. I also have a ton of Heavy Gear mechs waiting for attention to be used with 15mm forces (both the 1/87 and 1/144 varieties).

Lots and lots to build and paint!

Jeff

WOW, those look great! That's alot of bugs to paint too. As far as unpainted 15mm sci-fi minis goes, I feel your pain.I almost got 1 15mm army done.And already started to paint 2 more.

Ahhhhhhh the joy!

:-D

Ha! Ha!

Jeff I'm also painting 6 packs of Spugs this weekend, again to shake off the insanity in my workplace!

I've gone for using Citadel Wash over a light undercoat. Disappointingly bland in my case and not as vibrant as my SPARTAN miniatures. Certainly don't look as good as yours.

The Citadel Washes are vibrant on bare metal but without the depth of the old Citadel inks on painted surfaces.

I'm going to take on board some of your tips to 'lift' my Spugs.

Thanks for the post.

Cheers
Mark
dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com

They look really nice… So far i am resisting 15mm SF but people are making it really hard.. especially with things like that.

Thanks JR, I have some 15mm spugs and 15mm Rebel US Special Forces on order and they are my first try at 15mm. Your tips will help when they get here. I think I am going to try a redish color to go with the fire ants that live in my yard…

Thanks a lot guys. Glad that you all liked them. They were fairly easy to paint,my problem was more of continuous interruptions than anything else.

I think I am going to try a redish color to go with the fire ants that live in my yard…

I have some more on order that I plan to do in different colors. These will be my Spug Special Forces. I also ordered a few of the 28mm Spugs in Power Armor to use as Mecha so the spugs have some firepower to battle the Heavy Gear mechs I have for the other forces. I also still have to work on the Jet Bikes, Ixx and arachnids from Khurasan. I should have a nice bug army in the not too distant future.

The Citadel Washes are vibrant on bare metal but without the depth of the old Citadel inks on painted surfaces.

I agree on the washes. I like the way they cover and dry flat, but they just don't POP like some of the old inks (I still have the very first inks GW ever sold . . . . and still use them . . . ). I really like the SPARTANS you did and have some GZG Israelis on the painting table waiting to go green and blue.

Jeff

Wow, so much better than mine. I may go straight home and throw them in the Pine-Sol.

<sigh>

Tim

Wow, so much better than mine. I may go straight home and throw them in the Pine-Sol.

<sigh>

Tim

That would seem a little excessive. I got out of 28mm since I could never get my minis to look as good as other folks without more hours of work than I could afford. I've found 15mm much more my speed. In many cases, I am using a base primer that is the main color I want, applying highlights to the base color, adding some details and then using the either Strong or Dark Quickshade from Army Painter or a Future wash (I often gloss coat the minis before a future wash to protect the underlying paint colors from getting too dark). The effect is quite good without a ton of time and effort.

I would leave my already painted ones alone and maybe order some more to paint differently and use the old ones as cannon fodder and the new ones as elite troops. They're not too expensive . . . . .

Jeff

I forgot to mention that I am using Kravak vehicles for my Spugs. The Heavy tank nad Strike Skimmer feature. Otherwise, my human forces would have smacked the bugs.

Thanks,

John

I forgot to mention that I am using Kravak vehicles for my Spugs. The Heavy tank nad Strike Skimmer feature. Otherwise, my human forces would have smacked the bugs.

This is why I ordered some of the heavy armored 28mm Spugs as Mecha and the Khurasan bugs as bio tanks. I am really thinking about some Heavy Gear Southern Dragon Stiders as large Spug War machines. They are expensive, but with the current sale . . . . . .

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Jeff

I broke down and ordered some of the Heavy Gear Southern Dragon Stiders . . . my Spugs will now be well armed with three striders . . . .I guess magnets will be used to allow me to change out the weapons.

Jeff

Those are some nice lookin' Spuggers! Good job!

Where do you get the 60mil magnetic self adhesive vinyl?

Where do you get the 60mil magnetic self adhesive vinyl?

I ordered from Magna Terra magnetsupplier.com

If you look under Adhesive Magnets you will find the rolls. link

The 60 mil roll is $77.00 USD plus around $20.00 USD shipping since it weighs 34 pounds. Keep in mind that most hpbby stores and craft stores only have 1'x 1' sheets of 20 mil and those cost $7 USD – $10. USD This breaks down to about $5.00 USD a foot for a much stronger magnetic sheet. Not cheap, but still cheaper than some of the other options out there. I'm happy with it, so for me it was money well spent.

Jeff

Nice…times sixty-something! I love the vibrant colors. I have come to realize non-historical 15's look best when the really stand out!

The wash really worked well, too.

These look very good. It would be fun to play you just to enjoy the look of your army.

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

Jeff

I realise it's a bit late, I've been kinda distracted lately, but those spugs look fantastic!

It's almost disheartening when you see other people can paint your own miniatures better and faster than you can yourself :)

I really must do more sculpting…

Great looking army!!!

Jeff,

Seeing your awesome paint job on those figures is what got me to dive in and place my first order.

Now I can't wait to get home and see what's waiting for me in the mail!

TMP link

CC

Glad you like them CC. I still really need to finish them. I have all the support equipment / critters, but have not had a chance to get back to them. Hopefully I will soon.

Can't wait to see yours painted.

Jeff