Shenanigans in the north of Scotland

[Doghead13]

So, with some thanks due to whoever did the cover for Andy Chambers' book 'Survival Instinct' for seeing fit to transform Mad Donna's iconic costume into red leather, I've finally hit on a colour scheme for my Escher that I'm actually happy with. Most of the girls still need based, but,

Red leather, pink fucking hair, 'heated motorbike exhaust' plasmas, and a hazard-striped chainsword. Kicks the shit out of the several other schemes I'd tried, and inevitably with these images I've spotted a few of those F!?@!!ing buckles I've missed, BUT,

Just need to get those last few Emperor-forsaken buckles, base 'em up, get the handful I'd painted in different colours back to bare metal - and get cracking!

 

[Deleted member 10658]

Your Eschers look good and gritty.

I also hate buckles.

 

[spafe]

they look quality dude. Love the shiny blue on the plasma!

 

[MancInventor]

Fierce looking Eschers mate. I love the heat temper on the plasma weapons.

 

[Doghead13]

Wonders of old Citadel coloured metallics. That's a 1990s copper, blended into 1980s metallic purple, blended into 1990s (because the older pot ran out) metallic blue. Given those old paints, the effect is a snap to do - and you see how effective it is. I use it every chance I get.

They're one of the few really glaring holes in Citadel's modern paint range.

 

[Punktaku]

those paints are awesome. i still have mine too! but age has not been kind to them...

 

[Doghead13]

Odd - mine are still as good as they were when new.

 

[Punktaku]

some of mine have gotten a bit thicker, the copper and bronze have become very similar colors, and the metallics are a little less glisten-y.

edit: Most of my other GW paints from this era are still perfect. they're just running low...

 

[Doghead13]

@Punktaku Sounds very much like the pigment has separated out. Metallics use fine metal powder to make them metallic - that can settle to the bottom of a paint, most other Citadel paints don't have nearly the de-emulsifying problems of metallics. Most of the time just shaking it REALLY REALLY HARD will do the job, if it doesn't try stirring the paint - the times I've had to do this I just used a paintbrush handle, but something like a coffee stirrer would be ideal.

This should sort out the copper and bronze too.

If they've gone gloopy, that means the paint has dried a tiny bit. Panic ye not, a spot of acrylic medium will sort them right out. This is the stuff GW sells as 'Lahmian Medium' but I seem to recall hearing the exact same stuff is sold as 'Pledge' acrylic floor polish for a tiny fraction of the price, for our purposes it's effectively the acrylic base from an ink or suchlike without any pigment. Add half a dozen drops to the paint - the stuff's ideal for a dropper bottle - shake the paint thoroughly, repeat until the paint is back to the right consistency.

Lahmian is a truly excellent product - but then the 'Technical' paints as a set are hands down the best stuff GW's putting on their paint racks today.

Whichever way, early generation Citadel paints, anything up till they switched over to the smaller pots with those disastrous screwtop lids and the tendency to weld themselves shut, will last a VERY long time and can be brought back from a mindboggling degree of dead if you know what you're doing.

 

[Punktaku]

pledge floor polish? seriously? not water?

 

[Doghead13]

Aye. It's the same stuff as the paint was originally made using - water can turn the consistency of the paint weird.

 

[spafe]

very useful to know! I'll be getting soem of that next time I pop to the supermarket

 

[Stoof]

Wow, top tip! I have loads of old 80's round pop-tops and 90's hexagon pop-tops that are now getting pretty thick. I've diluted them with a few drops of water from time to time, but it's never a very permanent solution.

 

[Doghead13]

Word to the wise, gents: I've not actually tried Pledge myself. I have been told it's the same stuff as GW's Lahmian, which I -have- used in this way and which works a -charm-, but I'd advise testing it with a pot you don't care about first.

 

[SirFrog]

Possible word of warning with Pledge: The exact product varies wildly between regions, so whatever you do, test it first.
All the pictures I have of it is an entirely clear liquid, but it's a milky white when I get it here in Sweden.
Still dries clear and transparent, somehow.

I've used it to mass-create washes for big terrain projects (using calligraphy ink, water and Pledge), but take care as it come out quite shiny. If you're gonna varnish it matte it won't matter much, but it's good to know. It plays nice with GW and acrylics, but will mess up Tamiya paints.

There used to be a site up with tips, tricks and general advice on it, but it's gone down recently.
Thanks to the magic of the The Wayback Machine, though, it lives!

 

[Doghead13]

Nice, thanks for the info mate!

 

[Doghead13]

Today's builds. ALL the greenstuff!

This guy - potentially the future leader of a Neomunda Orlock gang - used to be an Ork wartrakk gunner.

And this guy used to be a plastic skeleton.

 

[Doghead13]

Half-built foamcore structure + cheap set of battery-powered LED fairy lights =

I realise I'll have to mask each and every one of those LEDs. FFFFFFFFFFF.

... totally worth it, it's gonna look amazing.

 

[spafe]

each time I think 'oh wow this is insane, what a peak to aim for' you go and flipping move the mountain another few hundred Yards higher!

 

[Doghead13]

Working on the warehouse floor. I got a pack of TTCombat's pallets - cheap as chips and, colour me one surprised but happy customer, the pack marked '25 pallets' contained enough parts to make 30 with the leg parts for another 10 left over. That's one very generous 25!

However, something felt missing. Some scrap MDF, 1mm plastic, tiny Plastruct rod, and three fag lighter parts later...

Approx arrangement for the warehouse level interior. The palletizer will be visible through side windows directly to its left, and should be both lit by the glow from and protected from collision with players by the barrel brazier beside it - it's not exactly sturdy so doesn't want knocked. The pallet stacks and loaded pallets will be pushed back against the wall. So far, only the barrels are glued down. The foamcore base went a bit funny in places under the influence of textured spray paint - not sure what's the deal with that. Should end up just looking like scabby conk here, and the worst effected area (the base at the bottom of the steps outside) is getting covered up anyway.

Now to get the bits and pieces for the warehouse interior painted, then I can finally glue the Citadel plassy walls down and go to town on the exterior area.