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A Tyranid a day... Okay, if you've been playing along at home, you know that I'm taking a Tyranid army to the Seattle Grand Tournament. (If not, go read the last sentence, I'll wait) You may also know that, although I already have a Tyranid army, I got a whole new one for the GT, one that was assembled and primed by someone else. I've adjusted the list a little bit, and now I just have to paint and base it. While I want to paint this army better than my previous Tyranids, I realize that there are 110 models here and not a lot of time before the GT. I decided that I'd want a simple and dramatic paint scheme. After a bit of thinking, I decided that I really liked the Red with Black Chitin schemes that I'd seen around. I picked up a can of Blood Red, to give them a good base coat. Then I started painting black on the various bits of carapace and chitin. After a bit of waffling back and forth, I also decided on some Jade Green details to stand out against the Red and Black. I painted up a test Tyranid and was fairly pleased with the results. I just had to have a final step to bring out their details and general alien-ness. 
I had read about dip-painting a while back, and one of my friends mentioned it recently, so I looked into it. The basic idea is to apply a combination of wash and protective coating in a single fast step. The step is to dip the model in one of the Minwax Polyshades colors. These are a stain and polyurethane coating all in one. They are primarily used for floors and other wood things, but they are supposed to work quite well for miniatures as well. You simply dip the model into the bucket, then swing it at the end of your arm, shaking the excess polyurethane in the process. You can see some pictures about it here. Although what little artistic sensibilities I have were offended by such a crude operation, I decided to give it a shot. I got out the can, stirred it around and dipped the first model in. It came out looking like a reject from Hive Fleet Oil Spill, with huge globs of polyurethane hanging off it. I tried to shake or swing it off, but with very little effect. Seeing every bit of detail (including large details like legs!) obscured with the glop, I panicked and grabbed an old brush to wipe off as much as I could. After brushing off the excess and letting it dry, it looked like this: 
Maybe my Minwax had dried out a bit in the can, or was a thicker consistency than the one on the page, or maybe I just didn't swing or flick it hard enough. In any case, there was no way I was going to repeat that on the rest of my Tyranids. I picked up some paint thinner and added it to the Minwax, (about 30% thinner) until I was happier with the consistency. Then I took that old brush and painted it on. It results in a slightly lighter effect than before, but it still brings out the details and gives some of that glossy look I like so much for these Tyranids. Even with brushing it on, it still only takes 1-2 minutes for each small model, so it's not much time, and, since I'm brushing it on, I don't feel like I'm cheating on the painting. It's still dark enough that I believe it will obscure the Jade Green details, so I'm going to paint those on afterward. Here is what they look like after the brushing: 
This Sunday I went through and painted then washed all 24 of my Spitters (the bio-plasma-wielding gaunts) So I've got the whole squad done except for the detailing in Jade Green. 
Although I've been sick these last two days, I did manage to get 6 of the Slashers done as well. 
Now, I just have to finish off the rest of the army. Here are the painted ones, along with 80 of their closest friends (fiends?) You can see that the Hive Tyrant and Lictor need some work (including paint, damage repair, basing, a new base for the Lictor and wings for the Tyrant. This, by the way, is the Tyrant that is on the main page. Hopefully, when I've got it painted and ready, I'll get another picture of it and put it up on the main page.) 
Okay, while I do have my work cut out for me, I do have a plan. I'm going to be doing 12 of the Gaunts every day for the next week. (I've got most of tomorrow off, so hopefully I'll be able to do a few more to make up for being sick the last two days.) Once they are all done, I'll begin work on the Tyrant and Lictor. Aside from a bit of adjusting and damage repair, I don't think they'll be too big a deal. After that, I'll be free to base them all and do my display. Woo! Seattle GT here I come! If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |