So with exception to the prow, which I somehow didn't even notice till I was editing the photos, this model is done! It took a little longer than I would have liked, mostly due to me breaking a nozzle for my airbrush, rushing it in for extra money, and then losing the new nozzle down the drain later that night while cleaning, but oh well. Also, this has to have been my least favorite model to put together. Satan designed this model. It looks great, but damn is it a pain. Even the driver is in like 300 pieces...his hips are separate from his legs and torso... Anyways, check below for more pictures (YAY!).
So here we go. I did the same airbrush technique that I used on the command barge, but this is a lot smoother of a gradient due to the fact that I have a better grasp of how to use an airbrush and how to properly thin paints for said airbrush. Here we go with pictures now:
The only thing I didn't enjoy with this was painting it in so many pieces. With how I airbrush a lot of it, I had to keep it in about 30+ pieces while I painted it...not fun. Putting models together always sucks more after they're painted because not matter how hard I try, I always get paint on spots where the model connects, meaning I have to carefully clean those spots with a knife to make them fit properly. Anyways, I have three more of these to paint, so woe is me. But after that, I am done with this model. Then I just have 100+ more models to paint for this army...not to mention my Thousand Sons...and my Death Guard...and my Vampire Counts...FML. My work is never done. But I guess that's the tale of those of us who are obsessed with the hobby. I doubt any of us will ever be truly done. We'll either quit, or die. Or our wives will kill us for spending too much. Just me?
I feel your pain... both for the Ghost Ark painting, and the unfinished business. Keep on painting!
ReplyDelete" I doubt any of us will ever be truly done. We'll either quit, or die. Or our wives will kill us for spending too much. Just me?"
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not just you.
I only picked up Necrons because there wasn't anything I really wanted for my Space Wolves or my Eldar that are still mostly unpainted. Not to mention the Tau that got built but never painted or the Chaos Marines that barely got out of the starting gate.
I love the look of your Ghost Ark, and I totally agree with how much of a pain it is to assemble. I have mine in about 30 pieces as well waiting for paint. My Command Barges are in about 5 pieces each. I love the look of the new Necron stuff, but boy did they go crazy with overlapping parts that are a real pain to paint.
By the way, I'd really like to see an article on what paints you use, and what techniques you use for airbrushing. I just picked up a new airbrush and I plan on doing a lot of my Necrons with it, so any tips or tricks you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Yeah, I played Necrons back in the day, and I liked them a lot back then. I took a break from 40k for probably about 6 years, and when I came back, I picked up something else. But the new models tore me away from all my current projects as I just HAD to have them.
ReplyDeleteAs for my paints, I really use a lot of different brands. From GW, I only really use their washes and liquid green stuff. I use a lot of Vallejo colors, though mostly their main line and not much of their Game Color line. I also have been getting my feet wet with Reaper paints as well, which I really like because they are fairly thinned to start, but it is such a pain in the ass to get a lot of a color at one time without taking off the top entirely since the dropper drips slower than anything. There isn't many P3 colors I screw around with either since I prefer dropper bottles, but I do like their Menoth White and highlight quite a bit.
I really bounce around with paints a lot and try out different colors. I think different companies do different colors better than others, so I try not to fan boy it up and use only one brand.
As for the airbrushing, I just screwed around on spare plasticard I primered when I first got my brush, and I also went on youtube and watched a few videos. If you have the money to spend, Brandon Palmer has his video, "The 7 Day Army Painter," which I found to be more useful to the average gamer than any Golden Demon painters video. It has some great tips and tricks, talks about thinning paints, and all sorts of other stuff. I'll try to do a post about my painting techniques and what not though since a few people have asked now.
Interesting, thanks for the tips.
DeleteI know what you mean with the Reaper paints. They actually have a little skull in the bottle to agitate the paint when you shake it, and I think it can get stuck in the dropper causing the slow output.
Do you use those same paints with the airbrush too? What do you thin them with?
Yeah, the problem I honestly find with Reaper paints is that they don't always sell quickly at my FLGS (a lot of the local boys are GW fan boys to the extreme on only use their paints...), so I occassionally get some that have paint already dried in the nozzle...not fun. Comes out relatively easily with a thin paper clip or a small rod for pinning.
DeleteAs for the thinning, I have read that a lot of people use small amounts of isopropyl mixed with water, but I said fuck that noise. I use pure 91% Isopropyl from the bottle, mixed at about 1 part paint and anywhere from 4 to 7 parts of the alcohol. The mixture honestly depends on the color since lighter colors need to be thinned more in my experience, as well as the brand, with reaper paints needing to be thinned the least and GW brands needing it the most. The only thing I have came across is that with Metallics, the alcohol screw up the paint mixture and it goes haywire, usually globbing up and ruining the paint. I just buy the Vallejo Airbrush Colors for my metallics, even though I don't like their Airbrush line.
It drys very quickly on the model (within seconds) and cleans out of my gun easily when you use the alcohol. I don't use large quantities of paint in my gun at once, but it is still enough paint for me to either base coat a single large model, or to blow throw a whole bunch of paint while working on a giant model along the lines of a stompa or other super heavies. I just run plain alcohol through the gun between colors and it clears out the nozzle as well. It all comes with experimenting though what works for you and feels right.
If you go the route of the Isopropyl, you can usually buy a fairly large size of it at any grocery or drug store in the First Aid section for about $2-$3 a container. Very cost effective in my opinion.
I have also heard of people using Windex to cut their paints, and the people I have heard say it seem to be good painters, so it's always worth looking into as well if you feel frisky. I'm sure everyone out there has their own methods, and again, it will all come down to what you feel comfortable with in the end.
Cool. I've tried the Windex thing, but it doesn't seem to be much better than just water in my very limited experience. I've been using some Createx Illustration Base, and that works alright. I'll have to try the alcohol route.
DeleteLast question (maybe ;)), do you premix your paints, or just mix in the cup? I bought a bunch of dropper bottle to try some pre-mixing and to move my GW paints into, so just curious what your experience has been.
Thanks for all the info.
I have little glass jars that I premix my airbrush paints in. If I could manage to find any dropper bottles locally I would definatly go that route though. You just want to check the concistancy before you use the paints, because the alcohol will evaporate over time. I like it to be some where between the concistancy of milk and water, but it's again (for the hundreth time, haha) personal preference.
DeleteThanks.
DeleteFor the dropper bottles, I don't know if you're in the US, but I went through US Plastic online. I was able to pick up 30 2oz plastic dropper bottles for about $13. Specifically these: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=43973&catid=530
Looks amazing!!! I played the old Necrons too when the plastics first came out about 8 years ago. This new army has been calling my name and maybe I'll pick up a few boxes of troops after I get my taxes.
ReplyDeleteI'll check out that video! Sounds awesome!!!
With you on that brother. Between my =][=munda project, Raven Guard Marines, Nurgle Marines, rpg character and npc figs, and now stupid Skaven army I fear I will never ever be finished. And I won't even go into how my wife feels about all this....
ReplyDeleteThe barge looks pretty cool, tho I feel that the reds and oranges needs to be broken up in places with some of that darker colour you've used on the stern piece or even darker than that. maybe even your steel colour, I don't know. Even so, it'll fit in nicely with your other Necrons. Still my fav scheme I've seen to date!
- Dai
Thanks! I know what you're saying with the whole breaking up thing. It wasn't as bad on the Command Barge since it was a smaller model, but I need to figure something out on the larger models like this Ark. Maybe something as simple as putting some snow on the elevated parts of the model, maybe some icicles, who knows. I'm gonna play around with it a bit and see what I come up with :)
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