Tag Archives: Tutorial

Modular Dreadnought

July 28, 2010 Shawn 2 Comments

If you’ve ever purchased a GW plastic vehicle kit you will be familiar with all the leftover bits that you can’t use. Example; a Space Marine Predator comes with all the parts to make a Rhino, but you can’t make the transport because the sponson mounts use up the two side exit ports. Build enough vehicles and you’ll amass a considerable pile of mostly useless bits. This is where a little planning and some rare-earth magnets can come through and save you some cash. Modular units FTW!

I decided to take advantage of me assembling a FW Dreadnought for a friend as a nice intro to the concept of modularization. This method can expanded on to produce some pretty cool results and allow you to take full advantage of all the elements of many plastic kits.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Rare-earth magnets (D203 from K&J Magnetics)
Superglue
Glue accelerant (to save on time)
Side cutters
Hobby drill
Dremel (1/8” dia)

Step I: use your hobby drill to bore a starter indentation into center of the body’s arm joint. This is to provide a guide for the Dremel to drill straight.

As a side note, all the drilling in this tutorial can all be done manually with just a hobby drill. You will have a lot more control over how deep/shallow you make your holes but it will take a lot longer to do. As this is a Forgeworld resin kit that is a viable option, but if this were a metal dread you would want to kill yourself halfway through this project.

Step II: Grab your Dremel and using light pressure, drill a hole into the center of the body arm joint. Make sure it’s deep enough for the magnet to fit almost flush into the hole. You’ll have to eyeball this as this drill bit is designed for the magnet to fit in the hole like a glove and you’ll have a damn hard time getting it out. If you are unsure, make the hole slightly deeper then you think you’ll need. After doing this several times you’ll be able to eyeball this process flawlessly.

As a point of safety I need to inform you about safe Dremeling. Never drill towards your hands and fingers. Holding a model in the center of your hand and using a power tool is the path to blood and tears. In that order. I’m serious people. A hobby vice is not a bad investment when using the God of Hobby tools.

Step III: Add a dab of superglue and install your magnet. I like to tip the model on its side and use the surface of my desk to press the magnet in. You’ll see that it fits snugly into the hole. Again it does not have to be flush.

Step IV: Complete these three steps on both sides of the Dreadnought.

Step V: Just like in the shoulder joint of the body piece, drill a starter indent into the center of the arm piece.

Step VI: Using the Dremel, drill your magnet hole again. You’ll need to be EXTRA careful on this step as the Dremel tool is very strong and this material is very light and you can end up drilling completely through the arm. Take your time, go slow on the slowest setting and you should be fine. Make sure it’s deep enough for the magnet to fit but flushness is not necessary.

Step VII: Sit a magnet on the outside of the one installed in the body. The strength of the magnets will cause them to align themselves correctly. Then all you have to do is add a dab of glue into the arm hole and press the arm firmly onto the body to make it fit. Pull the arm off and hit it with some accelerant to cure the glue and that’s it.

Now comes the cool part, any additional arms you may have can be added to this model. You just have to start at Step V.

The possibilities are endless.

Tutorials, Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy

Snow Bases

July 6, 2010 Shawn 1 Comment

I’ve seen this technique on several sites and I’ve noticed that people are having trouble replicating it. Some sources require that you locate and use bicarbonate of soda instead of baking soda because the former does not fizz up as much. They are the same thing people, Sodium bicarbonate. The reason I’ve found that separates success from fizzy failure is active vs. stale bicarbonate.

I am no chemist, but as far as I understand, baking soda that has been sitting around too long or has been kept in warm or damp places will lose its carbon dioxide making it closer to sodium carbonate or washing soda/soda ash. The trick to this technique is you need stale baking soda.

When I first tried this basing technique, I was fortunate enough to have an old box of Arm & Hammer (A&H) sitting in my pantry. It had been used once, but I have no clue how long it had dwelled there awaiting its true calling.

I will experiment with this method using a fresh box of A&H vs. a box that I’ve staled and post it as an addendum to this tutorial. I need to make sure I know what I’m talking about because we all know that there be R-Tards out there scouring the interwebs for ill-informed articles to correct. So stay tuned.

Anyway, here’s a rundown on making your bases appear like your army marches through a land gripped by a harsh winter. It’s really quite easy.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Small mixing cup (a box of Dixie Cups would be perfect)
Sculpting tool
White PVA glue
Baking Soda
Teaspoon
Shallow plastic container
Soft bristled paint brush

Step I: Squirt a measure of PVA ( I used white Elmer’s Glue All) into your mixing cup. I filled the bottom of my Dixie cup about 1/4th of an inch.

Step II: Grab your teaspoon and add a spoonful of baking soda to your glue.

Step III: Grab your sculpting tool and stir. It will ball up on the side of your cup at first but as the soda becomes saturated with PVA it will settle down on the bottom of the cup like a thick paste.

Add PVA till you get a smooth thick paste with stiff peaks. You will know you have the right mixture when the paste turns damp and shiny when allowed to settle. This quality is required for Step V so be sure it’s mixed well.

Step IV: With the flat end of your sculpting tool scoop your paste onto the base and a position it as you see fit. If it was made to the right consistency it will level out some but won’t spread off your base.

Step V: This is the most important step! Place your base into the shallow container and cover it with several heaping teaspoons of baking soda. Make sure the entire base is covered. Set your container aside and let it dry.

You need to allow the PVA plenty of time to dry before moving on to the final step. I don’t handle my bases for at least 5 hours to allow complete drying time. That may seem like overkill but trust me, if you move onto the next step with the PVA still damp you are going to be royally pissed off when it does dry. The damp quality needed in Step III is what makes this technique look so cool when it’s done. As the PVA dries it absorbs more soda onto its surface. This process continues until the glue is completely dried. Removing the excess soda while the PVA is still moist can cause the base to cure with a glossy texture and your base will appear to be covered in white slime. So set them up and go to bed, visit some friends, knit a quilt, anything just leave the damn bases alone.

Step VI: Knock off the excess soda into your drying container and dust off the remaining soda with your brush. And you’re done! The soda even sparkles in light like real fresh snow. Pretty damn cool eh? You can still use that soda from your drying box so don’t discard it!

A model’s base is the one part that can make or break a project. I’ve seen many great minis ruined by a sub-par base, and just as many average paint jobs elevated by an excellent display base. Try to put as much thought into your basing as you do your project and you really can’t go wrong.

Tutorials, Warhammer 40K

Hazard Stripes

July 6, 2010 Shawn 2 Comments

Hazard Stripes are a requirement to complete the look of an Iron Warriors Army. They are surprisingly easy to do, and they look great everywhere, especially on chain swords, power fists, and bolters. This technique takes a carful hand so take your time.

Here’s what you‘ll need:

Chaos Black, Vomit Brown, Golden Yellow, Sunburst Yellow, Skull White paints (GW)
Fine Detail Brush

Step I: Paint the area you want the stripes to be black. Next paint on several diagonal stripes in Vomit Brown. Keep the lines as straight as possible. If you mess up, just clean it up with black.

Step II: Using Golden Yellow, paint a highlight stripe onto the Vomit Brown stripe but don’t cover it up all up.

Step III: Now using Sunburst Yellow, paint another highlight stripe on top of your Golden Yellow.

Step IV: Using Skull White, paint a fine line at the very edge of the hazard stripe bar on the Sunburst Yellow highlight you did in step 3.

Step V: Now using Codex Grey, paint a fine line on your black stripes. That’s it!

Space Marines, Tutorials, Warhammer 40K

Easy Iron Warriors

July 6, 2010 Shawn 24 Comments

Back when I owned this army I received quite a few inquiries on how I painted my Iron Warriors. To answer all of your questions I have decided to make this my first painting tutorial. Click on the image thumbnails for a better view.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Black Primer
Air brush
Tank brush
Latex/Vinyl rubber gloves
Cheap brush
Badab Black & Gryphonne Sepia Washes (GW)
Boltgun Metal, Mithril Silver, & Shining Gold (GW)
Chaos Black & Bestial Brown paints (GW)

Before I get started I would like take some time and inform you on proper priming. The most important rule on priming is to never prime miniatures on rainy or humid days. Repeat this line ad nauseum!!! Moisture gets on your mini when it’s humid outside, you may not be able to see it, but it’s there. That moisture gets caught between the mini and the primer, and when it dries your miniature will look like it’s been sprayed in fine black or white sand. Getting that stuff off is a real pain, so save yourself some heartache and only prime during the proper weather conditions. That being said, let’s move on.

Now I used to use Future floor wax for this tutorial, but with the release of GW’s (Game Workshop) Citadel Washes that noxious mess is no longer required. Mixing Future into your washes, rather than straight water, breaks up the water’s surface tension and causes the pigment in your paints and inks to settle and dry properly in the recesses of the model, rather than on the surface of your miniature. While useful, Future does come with some problems:

I. Future leaves your minis coated in a medium to heavy gloss depending on how much you use. The gloss is also pretty resilient and will act as a protective varnish for your minis, but I’m not a fan of polished models on the tabletop.

II. Future is toxic if ingested. Many hobbyists out there like to lick their brushes after washing them off to reestablish a nice brush tip. That habit is easy to forget and can make you sick when using Future. If you use that stuff PLEASE be careful to not ingest any or leave it in a place where family/pets could get into it.

Since we are using GW products with this tutorial we don’t have to worry about ingesting toxins and gaining all those cool superpowers the following morning. All that said, let’s get started!

Step I: After the black prime has dried, it’s time to basecoat the minis in Boltgun Metal with your airbrush. I suggest you check out my tutorial on Airbrushing and practice on some old unused minis to get this technique down before starting on your precious traitor marines. A complete coat is important for this step so make sure no black is showing. Don’t forget your pistols/guns!

Use your gloves for steps 2&3. That is unless you like shiny silver fingers…

Step II: Wet-brush (just like dry-brushing but keep more paint on the brush) your minis with Mithril Silver using your Tank Brush, and let them dry. Just like in Step I, a complete coat is very important. The washing in Step III relies on total coverage.

Step III: After the silver has dried it’s time to apply the wash (GW Badab Black). The new Citadel Washes from GW are pretty damn useful. They pool in the recesses and when they dry you’ll find all your joint shading done all at once. Another fine quality of these washes is that they can be used right out of the pot with no watering down. You’ll want to use a brush that can hold a lot of wash so you can do your mini’s assembly line style to save time. You can find some nice cheap soft bristle bushes from Michaels Arts and Crafts.

The only negative I’ve found with these washes is the time it takes them to dry. You’ll have to wait around 30 minutes or so for the model to dry naturally. I have a halogen lamp on my desk that trims the drying time down a bit but it still takes my minis at lest 10-15 minutes. Make sure they are completely dry before moving on to the next step.

Step IV: Pick out the detail of the mini with Shining Gold. Hit the trim on the greaves, shoulder pads, chest, belt, backpack, pistol/gun detail, and helmet. Now grab your Sepia wash. Use a detail brush to paint the wash onto the gold trim being careful not to get any on your newly dried iron armor. It gives the gold a very ‘rich’ look I am quite fond of.

Step V: Paint interior of the shoulder pads, the spots between his armor plates (backs of the knees and such), tubing, helmet, and sides of your pistols/guns in Chaos Black, then paint any horns with Beastial Brown. Highlight the horns with Bleached Bone. Now it’s time to make these guys into real Iron Warriors: it’s Hazard Stripe Time!

After the stripes, apply your decals and you are done! Base your minis, and give them their weapons, it’s time to slay the lackeys of the Corpse Emperor! “Iron Within! Iron Without!

Glaven

Tag Archives: Tutorial

Modular Dreadnought

Here’s what you’ll need:

Snow Bases

Here’s what you’ll need:

Hazard Stripes

Here’s what you‘ll need:

Easy Iron Warriors

Here’s what you’ll need:

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