Tuesday, August 25, 2009

57 - TOEMP Challenge #2 Is Complete!


5 Blood Ravens Terminators coming right atcha! Some definite problems with them, but overall, I'm satisfied, not least because I managed to beat the deadline by about 2 days. In all honesty, I have to admit that I started to lose interest in painting up these Terminators about a day ago and was kind of just rushing through the finishing touches. Thus, they have plenty of issues I'm unhappy with - for instance, some of their helmets aren't as uniformly white as I'd like; I didn't really feel like properly bringing the Opaque Red basecoat back up after the wash step; and I hardly did any highlighting at all.

The most glaring things missing from the models are the freehand Chapter symbols and heraldic markings I originally wanted to paint onto the right shoulder pads and the small shields near the left shoulder pads. I did try to freehand the Blood Ravens symbol onto one shoulder pad, but again, the result was so horrifying, I had to get rid of it. I had to admit to myself that at this point in my hobby-life, I have zero ability to freehand. I can barely draw a circle with pencil on a blank piece of paper as it is. I'm going to have to practice freehanding more before giving it another go; in the meantime, I'm going to buy me some water transfer paper and just go with decals.

One more thing - I keep telling myself that when I'm painting a model that's primarily red, I will not prime it in Black. Unfortunately, I forgot my own reminder with these terminators. I think part of the loss of interest I experienced with these models was how frustrating it was getting proper coverage with red acrylic paint over a black undercoat. I think 75% of my time painting these models involved layer after layer of red basecoating. Very boring. Very monotonous. I probably won't prime in white when painting Blood Ravens since their red is more on the dark end of the spectrum. I think I'll experiment with just priming them red from the get-go and see how that works.

Okay, let's tally up the points for these fellows:

5 Foot Sloggers = 5 points
5 Lenses/ Eyes = 5 points
Meeting Deadline = 1 point
Beating Deadline by at least 24 hours = 2 points

So 13 total points (unless I give the freehanding another try hehe). Can't wait for Challenge #3!

Click here for more pics of the Terminators.

6 comments:

Mordian7th said...

Looking sharp! I really like what you've done with the bases, the more I look at mine the more drab and uninteresting they seem - I need to do more scrub and such like you've done, for certain. I hear what you're saying about having a tough time keeping up enthusiasm on projects - it's the bane of my painting as well. Red is one of the hardest colors to get looking right in my opinion, but I think you're doing great! Keep it up!

Paul Wu said...

@ Mordian7th:

Thanks for the kind words!

I love basing. I find it incredibly enjoyable because it allows a certain level of freedom and creativity that the models themselves sometimes don't allow (unless of course conversions are involved).

For the brush effect on the bases, I used the moss that's cheaply available at craft stores like Michael's and AC Moore in America. I believe "normal" people use them to decorate indoor plant holders or some such nonsense hehe. A bag's worth is like $5 and the bag is huge. The moss also comes in different colors and textures.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on finishing the challenge. The only suggestion I can give you for red is to use GW's Mechrite Red foundation paint. One coat of the foundation paint and then a single coat of your chosen red color should do the trick!

AoM said...

If you want a red that isn't quite as dark as the Mechrite Red, try out some P3 Skorne Red. Add some P3 Khador Red Base, and you're done.

Paul Wu said...

@ Jonathan and AoM:

Thanks for the red paint recipe tips. I'm especially curious about the foundation paints. Are they essentially primer? Or something else? Do they need to be thinned down? Thanks!

Grégory Privat said...

Foundation is pigment rich paint and maybe some more stuff that make it useable as a primer. I use them most of the time for close o anything (not just as basecoat). And I like the tonality of the color range.

Grats on your termies.

What I like the most : you did some holes ))

What I like the less : the white shield on the shoulder pad looks a bit flat. I would have washed it (devland mud) and then re-painted the high parts.

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