writes:
The remaining photos show the finished model. I did not want to have a standard 'Earth-bound' base colour with green static grass, and so choose a 'Martian' red colour. The initial colour is blood-red and brown, with pure blood-red drybrushing. Once that was dry, a Games Workshop black and brown wash was used. I even added a red/orange drybrush, just to pick up the very top or highest highlights. The base sides are painted dark brown, with the plaque painted black.
The whole base and model was then painted with clear gloss polyurethane varnish - and when the varnish was dry, ground-foam vegetation was added.
When I use ground foam, I mix PVA white glue with a little water, ground foam, and dark-green acrylic paint, stir all the parts together, and then add the clumps in small batches to the base with a pair of tweezers. When dry, the finished foam is 'rock solid' and will not fade in colour!
The grass stalk is dried grass, wrapped at the base with fine fuse wire, and superglued into a pre-drilled hole.
Before matte-varnishing the arm and leg sections and the base with artists acrylic matte varnish, I added the transfers (a decal which came from my spares folder).
The model stands just over 43mm tall - base of feet to top of helmet fin.
In summary, the whole project took just over one week. It was an enjoyable project that made me use some new techniques. The Games Workshop washes work very well, but I also found that the standard ink-and-water washes worked just as well. I would say that the washes-over-base-metal finish looks OK, but I will still be using acrylic metals in the future. One other point - I am not sure if satin varnish may not look better than gloss on the metal surfaces - I might try that next time I have an all-over metal miniature.