"Rookie Painter - attempts at some terrain/animals" Topic

Hey all! Wanted to post some progress shots up of some stuff I'm working on in 15mm.

First up are some basing experiments. I tried two different methods and was curious if anyone had any feedback. The animals on the left hand side of the below picture were a mix of PVA, future floor polish, and sand mixed in then globbed onto the base. The ones on the right where the same PVA/future mixtures painted onto the base, and then sprinkled with sand.

Close-up of the brushed on PVA/future with sand sprinkled:

Close-up of mixture that was combined first, then brushed on:

To me they look about the same, though guessing the combined mixture might prove to be sturdier, though I doubt that'll matter once I prime them.

Here's some sheep:

Would love some suggestions for the sheep themselves, the bases will get some dry bushing and then static grass.

Some cows:

Finally some terrain, in this case trees.

The finished product:

And last but not least, I was trying some experiments with water effects. I tried using some clear silicone. Here's how it worked out.. on the left side I painted the base blue, then coated clear silicone over top (One thick layer, then dry brushed some light blue over top). The middle is just blue base, and clear silicone over top. The right is blue base, medium blue mixed with silicone over that, with more clear over that.

For water effects go see what the model railway community can achieve. There are some really useful tutorials on the web and the results those guys are getting are amazing.

On the bases of the animals, I've never heard of mixing Future with PVA -- never mixed anything but sand and PVA, myself. Never had an issue, thus far. I usually paint the PVA on, using a 'school paint brush', 20 for $1 USD at Wal-Mart; then I sprinkle sand over the base, tamp off the excess, and let dry; then I paint it. If the sand comes off/is loose, I paint on a coating of PVA to further secure it. Works well, quite simple, inexpensive, and easy.

On the sheep, I would suggest The Dip, for shading. I use 25mm goats, and chickens, as "Shaken", and "Routing" markers, respectively, for my units. I just used gray for the goats (pink on their udder regions), and then Royal Walnut Minwax Polyshades Urethane-Stain for The Dip, to finish them (followed by a dull-coat). Good enough for me.

As to the water, I really like the far left example, with light blue dry-brushed over the top of the clear silicone. Water, in the real world, looks green, but I still prefer the blue on the tabletop. ;-) The far right technique makes it appear to be quite deep, which is not a bad thing, IMO. Nice work. Cheers!

Thanks for the response!

I had some future around for thinning some of my paints out.. after all I had just picked up some cheap craft paints as I'm just getting my feet wet in this hobby. Used it to water it down a bit, made it easier to mix/spread onto the bases.

I'll look into shading, though seems a bit confusing as you dip them, then apply a matte finish over the dip? Guessing that is just to cut down on the shine?

Precisely. The Minwax comes in gloss, and semi-gloss. Actually, The Dip name is a misnomer: you can dip figures into it, but it turns out better, is easier, if you paint it on, with the aforementioned school paint brushes (discard them when done, not worth bothering with cleaning them up with solvents).

If you go the route of using The Dip, seal the figure's paint with a straight coating of full-strength Future, first: the craft paint dries with a rough texture, and it will attract The Dip where it should not, giving a much dirtier look than you will want. The Future coating will smooth the surface, and The Dip will concentrate only in the nooks, and crannies, where it should collect.

If you want to experiment with it, get some Army Men figures, and do a quick paint job on them. Then play with The Dip, and Future, to get the hang of it. They're great for experimentation: minimal cost, easy to work on (54mm-60mm scale, typically), and you can always give them away to someone's boy to play with. Cheers!

Awesome.

Yeah I just did some reading and saw that some people even use the future for this magic ink procedure. I just tried that now, so will see how it turns out.

These animals really aren't that important, really just picked them up to hunt in After the Horsemen, from Two Hour Wargames. Got a section in there for hunting for food, lol. Been nice to play around with them and see what works/what doesn't.

I'll have to look into the Minwax. What shade do you get? Or is it just the clear poly topcoat?

Got some more progress done.

Here's what I've got. Just need to paint the base on the animals black to finish them up.

Some more trees!

Hills/terrain features:

And finally tried the water effect for a river. I think I'll need to use a bit brighter shade of brown to come through properly, but I think it works 'OK' for a fairly decent water effect fairly cheap. I plan to use the $2 USD 10oz tubes available from Home Depot (local hardware store), so will try again once I pick some up. Will also use some large sand to create some rocks/etc for use in the river itself. Maybe even some logjams/etc. Here's the shot:

Also, figured I'd toss this up here. I'm working on some "building interiors" for use with Two Hour Wargames. I wanted to be able to randomly generate the buildings when I enter them. Check out the details!

Modular Building Trial!

Alright, I've got my trial building concept built up.

Again, my idea is for city blocks to be BASED on 6" x 8" sections, and when you
"enter" the building, you will remove the building and replace it with the same
sized base (again, 6" x 8") however instead of the building it will be a
top-down layout with randomly generated doors/walls/etc. Here are some shots of
this layout in a trial run.

I present: Flocked vs naked! (I'm planning on using these animals for prey in
ATH; small feeders and medium feeders. Got some large ants on order from
Khurasan for Ferocious!)

I should note that I didn't cut all slots for the doors/walls, but here is my
concept:

Small: 1 x 3 (2" x 2" interior space)
Medium: 3 x 3 (1.5" x 2" interior space)
Large: 4 x 3 (1.5" x 2" interior space)

Onto the pics:

In posting, I realize I might not even do exterior walls, OR, make all the
walls/doors shorter overall for ease of placement of miniatures.

No, not clear. I buy the Royal Walnut (dark brown, good all-around color for most things), or you can get the Tudor color (coal black, most folks prefer this). It is wood stain mixed in with clear polyurethane, so the idea is that you stain, and clear-coat your wood, all in one step. It doesn't work the best, on wood, IMO, but it is fantastic on miniatures.

The disadvantages to The Dip are:

-solvent based
-difficult clean-up
-toxic, flammable fumes
-takes days to cure/harden completely

Still, I prefer The Dip, to Magic Wash, in most cases, as it seems to give better results, overall. YMMV. Cheers!

Sgt Slag,

Thanks for all the advice! I realize now that my highlighting is quite dark. Amazing when working under florescent light how the detailing pops out, but on the table the brown cow just looks brown with zero highlight. Quite interesting concept, minute detail when painting and then looking quite drab on the table top.

Yep, subtle shading and detail looks great close up, however, on the tabletop it looks flat and lifeless.
A figure that has harsh shading which is exagerated looks not so good close up but looks better on the tabletop.
You kinda have to exagerate things in almost cartoonish way. Something realistically painted somehow doesn't look as good as something that is exagerated in a kinda 'wargamey' way.
Good luck with getting it right. I've changed my style over the years and still not really happy with everything i paint. Teh internet is great for viewing and learning how other do it though, so enjoy!

Sgt Slag,

I've got a trip to Home Depot planned, so will most likely pickup some Minwax.

So to understand the technique correctly, you say to full strength coat with Future, then use the Minwax. I'm assuming I'll be applying both with a brush?

After the Minwax, do you coat with anything else or just those two steps?

Thanks!

Here are two that I redid. They have some better highlighting from the table, but look worse up close? Haha. Also, they appear pretty "rough"

Man I've got a LONG ways to go in this, but I'm enjoying it. It's proving a challenge.

I went back and highlighted both, then again tried a wash with future/water/black paint mix. It looked real nice when it was wet, but the effect has faded since drying from last night.

Oh, and I painted the black around the base edge (and THAT is hard too.. especially with it getting into the flock/base material.

I use Future, full strength, no water. Apply it to the paint before applying the Minwax Polyshades: the surface of the acrylic paint is rough, on a microscopic scale, but it will suck up the stain, making the whole surface look grainy, in a black way… The Future coating will fill in the microscopic holes, creating a smooth surface for the Minwax to flow over. The Minwax will still collect within the folds, which is where you want it, but it won't stick to the microscopic pits, as they are already filled in.

After the Minwax coating dries (several days…), hit them with a matte clear coat, to dull the shine. The best matte clear coat, is Testors. Spraying it on, is much faster, and more efficient. Use a cardboard box to hold the figures, as well as to contain the spray. Use a light dusting of matte, as too much will give them a frosted look. Cheers!