"28mm Fantasy - Rackham, Reaper, etc. Pic Heavy" Topic

I've decided that I have way too much lead to be painted conventionally, thus I've decided to speed paint my collection.

Tamiya TS-1 Red Leather spray undercoat/basecoat or Army Painter leather spray primer on occasion.

Then 1 coat, with highlights sometimes on hair or the odd dry brush here and there.

Army Painter Strong Tone dip, painted on with a soft brush. Bit of turps used to wick up the pools.

Dullcote matt varnish, then application of coarse pumice mixed with sand and brown craft paint and dry brushed with cream craft paint (have switched to Citadel dry paste "Tyrant Skull" for a laugh. Not bad.)

Silfor tuft stuck on. No glue required for this it seems.

Steve Jackson Games – "Off the Wall Armies":

Marauder – "Empire Flagellant":

Reaper:

Rackham:

Wow, man- colour me impressed.

I particularly like how the some of the skin tones, the darker tan and light-to-mid-brown leathers, and especially the dirty blonde hair turned out on a lot of them.

If you don't object, I might have to pick your brain for more specifics on how you went about it sometime, once I start making headway into the assembly and priming of a substantial number of both some ragtag/feral sci-fi troopers I've been piecing together, and an army of Zulus for actual colonial-era battles (yes, I hear the gasps of those of you who know me, at the notion of me actually using figures for their intended purposes).

Really great work, though. Sincerely.

- Monk

Thanks Monk!

I tried to use as much of the Tamyia Red Leather (TS-1) spray undercote as possible (so I don't have to paint. ha ha).

For the browns;

Little bit of this too:

Hair:

Vallejo model colour 70877, Goldbrown (with a bit of white or buff added for highlight):

p.s. the now OOP Snakebite Leather would do the trick too.

Citadel Foundation Tallarn Flesh for the skin. Mechrite Red for the reds.

Hope this helps! The Army Painter strong tone does most of the work.

Wow, so it really was just that easy?

I was sure you must've done at least some blending and highlighting/layering over the top of the AP Strong Tone.

I mostly use Reaper Master Series paints (I have a very mild form of tonal colour blindness with certain shades- particularly a certain range of very light greys, blues, purples, and pinks, so I love me some triads for obvious reasons) and Liquitex Artist's Inks, with a smattering of assorted old Citadel paints (from the "made by Coat d'Arms" era), a few Partha and AdiKolor paints, and some artist's pigments, so I'll have to do some experiments myself, I suspect, but from what you've shown me today, I really do owe it to myself to check out the Army Painter Strong Tone.

Am I correct in assuming that the key is learning to both properly apply the Strong Tone itself, and properly soak up/leach away any excess to keep it from turning into a single massive smeary smudge?

Also, do you use an aerosol dullcote matte varnish, or a brush on? If a brush-on, any particularly type?

- Monk

Good work! Keep them coming.

Wow…Awesome looking work for short order minis!

Approximately how long does it take you to go from undercoat, to finished mini?

Thanks very much!

@Ravenseye; Tricky one to answer as I paint in batches. Pretty quick for ones that are mostly brown leather or metal. I'm also interested, so I'll report back. :)

@Sumatran Rat Monkey; Yep, the key is to be neat, going back to repaint or if you're quick enough, wet the brush where an error is made and clean it off (Although, I mostly pretend my mistakes are not there and move on..).

The other key point is to have a spare not too stiff brush on hand to use with turps to soak up the excess, although you can overdo it. Best to move the "dip" around with the brush first and then come back in a minute or so and have a go with the turps. If you try without the turps once the "dip" has started to dry, it can smudge and look crap.

I'm using Army Painter Strong Tone but have used other, cheaper stains in the past. Minwax in the US and Wattle in Australia and many other brands can do the trick.

I use Testors Dullcote spray in a can to take the shine off. You MUST wait at least 48 (some people say 24) hours before hitting with the dullcote or other matt varnish as otherwise you can get nasty cracking of the paintwork and matt varnish is temperamental enough as it is not having to worry about that.

I really like the Reaper paints too. I mainly use Vallejo Model Colour as I really like their browns and the opaqueness of the paint. Goes on like a Citadel Foundation paint but with better flow and doesn't dry on your brush or in the pot.