|
|||||||||||||||
| Starship Troopers | |
| Product # | MGP9100 |
| Manufacturer | |
| Suggested Retail Price | $74.95 USD |
Back to ASSEMBLING THE WARRIOR BUG: END RESULTS
Back to Workbench
| Sky Captain writes: |
You can have too many Bugs. I have about 30 toy + 20 miniature Warriors now. I could use another 20 but that is about it. Which works out since I could use another squad or two of MI. Great paint job - I won;t have the time to do mine till this weekend, although they are all put together. I was too busy trying out the new rules last night. |
| Revision Log | |
| 21 April 2005 | page first published |
8,687 hits since 21 Apr 2005
©1994-2025 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?
I'm certainly not a Master Painter, so let's just consider this One Guy's Attempt to paint the Bug. Maybe you'll like my approach, maybe not - but hopefully, we'll both learn something from the experience...
From looking at various movie stills and rulebook illustrations, I think the basic Warrior Bug color is black or black-brown or gray, with red highlights on the upper surfaces (down the back and the upper mandible, on the claws). I didn't see any evidence for the red-on-the-legs or red-on-the-fangs that I've seen other people trying - but hey, whatever works for you.
However, there's a lot of evidence that the under-surfaces have some kind of tiger-striping going - brown/yellow or even brown/yellow-white. This would apply to the inside mandibles, inside fangs, inside the claws, and the underside of the legs. (I have no evidence for this, but I think the same coloring might apply to the under-body, maybe to the under-part of the upper body, maybe the bottom of the lower mandible...)
So much for the "historical research" portion of our article. 
I decided to go with the "black" body concept, so quickly proceeded to prime the Bug with black spray paint.
Note: If you want a quick-and-dirty paint job, find a can of black spray paint that is satin finish or semi-flat. This gives the bug a realistic shine without getting too glossy. In my case, however, I used both semi-flat and flat (only because I ran out of semi-flat in the middle of the project!).
(Imagine picture of an all-black Bug here.)
Next, I drybrushed with gray I had available - specifically, Aleene's True Gray, but any medium gray should do. (If you want to get complex, then read ahead and don't worry about drybrushing any areas that you'll paint over later. But it's simpler - and takes less brainpower - to just drybrush the whole darn thing.)
This gives us a two-toned Bug. What I wanted to do next was to darken the highlights and blend them into the basecoat. There's a rule that nothing in wargaming should ever be painted true black - supposedly, there are no perfect blacks in nature - but I felt like breaking that rule. I wanted a very dark Bug, with highlights that were very subtle.
So, I applied a black ink wash to the entire model. The ink I used was Reaper's Black Ink Wash, which is a very strong, dark ink that leaves a gloss effect.
The million-dollar question is: how strong of a wash? I first tried a 100% application of the wash (no dilution), which is almost too dark but works (though it might darken too much if any sealer coat is applied).
On a later model, I've tried a 50% ink/water wash, which leaves a "grayer" Bug but with more highlights visible. (The model used for the rest of this article is the 100% one.)
As you can see - well maybe, depending on how bright your monitor is... - I've got a very dark Bug.
