French and Indian War Pennsylvania Rangers

Here's another unit painted up for Loyalhanna Outpost of some rangers from the Galloping Major Miniatures French and Indian War line of figures. These are painted up as the Pennsylvania Rangers:

The coat is painted with Cell Vinyl's olive, then highlighted with a drybrush of Cell Vinyl's Olive Drab. A light wash of a mix of our homemade olive and a darker green was then applied.

The leggings are a mix of different colors: Cell Vinyl's Light Brown #10, Brown #10, and Vallejo's Gold Brown. Some washes of some homemade browns provided the shading.

Ground cover is a simple two step process: First a layer of Woodland Scenics' Earth Blend with a second layer of patches of Scenic Express' Alpine Meadows blend. It takes a little bit more time to do two layers on the basing but it does help to step up the appearance of the figures by a bit.

 Again, these are nice figures: detailed with lots of character. There's a nice variety of equipment to give the figures in a unit individuality.

Vampire Count's Undead Dragon

Assembly and Painting of the Vampire Count Undead Dragon: or How I Nearly had an Aneurysm

The same patron that ordered the Coven Throne and Mortis Engine also commissioned to have the Undead Dragon done.  Although I was more interested in doing the bat version with the ghoul riding it I dove right in and found it to be a daunting task. 

As I said in the previous posts about the Throne and Engine I don't usually do the assembly.  I think that it is misleading for a person who "usually" or "always" puts together figures, especially complex ones, to comment on difficulty or time required.  Well, for all of you who read this, I AM A NOVICE.  Additionally, glue and I don't always get along, especially super glue.  Once, I superglued my hand to the emergency brake of my Hyundai while trying to fix my shoe.  So, okay, laugh, chalk it up to female incompetence like, "Why were you fixing your shoe with superglue in your car?"  Yeah, yeah, I know - not so smart.

This model is a trial in patience for the following reasons... 

Problem 1: you think you can assemble it before painting (oh how wrong). 

Problem 2: the directions are all but useless (and don't tell me I have to buy the damn White Dwarf).

Problem 3: it is damn near impossible to get the wings, legs, feet, extra claw and rock positioned and glued (aneurysm).

Soooo...I stared out by painting the primary (largest) parts of the dragon Vallejo Red and then washing it with Leviathan Purple.  However, with the wings I only placed the wash right along the ribs of the wings, not on the main leathery part.  You can see what I mean in the picture below.

This close-up of the wing also shows that I didn't paint directly into the ribs of the wings with the Vallejo Red, I just kinda over brushed and allowed the black underneath to show through.  The centers of the wings are solidly painted with the red.

I also painted the fleshy parts of the legs the same red and washed them also.  Notice, all these parts are separate, were sprayed black separately and will be painted separately until they can then be assembled.  Reasoning?  Well, there are a bunch of inner details on the main body of the dragon and around the neck that would be virtually impossible to reach if the model were to be assembled either fully or partially.  I kept all the pieced separate until I was sure I got what I needed.

Here you that I have highlighted the body and wings with Cel-Vinyl Red, Vermilion and a touch of Yellow Orange.




In the two images above we see the Leviathan Purple wash, it helps bleed the darkness near the ribs toward the center fleshy portion of the wings without blackening.

The next step is to embark on the bone colors.  Again, all was painted separately.  Those ribs that are glued onto the main body below were done separately then glued on, as was the entire head.

For the bone I used Cel-Vinyl Tan 16 (Bleached Bone), washed it with Devlan Mud, over-brushed with Tan 16, then dry-brushed Tan 6, and finally White.

For the horns and claws they were painted Cel-Vinyl Burnt Umber.  Using Tan 16, delicate lines were painted starting at the base of the horn at its thickest and tapering off thinly toward the tip of the horn.  You may need to slightly dilute your Tan 16 with flow improver or water so that it won't clump.  Also, I didn't make my lines run to the very tip of the horn or claw, they end part way up.  After the lines dry I washed the whole horn/claw with Sepia, then Devlan Mud in the middle, and very tip with Badab Black.  Do all of this while each is still wet, that way they will blend into one another.

The dangling black skin is nothing more than Black, highlighted with Chardon Granite and Chardon Granite + Shadow Grey.

You continue with those primary elements until all is painted.  Then the fun starts, final assembly.  This is where it got tricky.  I first tried to glue the wings on and let them dry thoroughly.  But, when I went to put on the lets the wing wouldn't line up with the claw that is attached to the rock.  Plus, the one leg, although it was in correct position, wouldn't sit flat on the base once it was glued into the remaining talon pieces  <<shrug>>.  While trying to position the piece both glued wings snapped off.  At this point I was either going to have an aneurysm or throw the model against the wall.

Thank golly that the model is beautiful once put together.  With some modification I was able to level out the foot to make the dragon sit flat.  I also glued his tail to the base for added support.  Final touches to the base also proved to be difficult as I didn't want to flip the model over to knock off loose talus or flock.  Base your model with care, I used a small spoon to place gravel and flock and a large fluffy brush to knock excess flock off of places.

Crisis Averted and Piece Finished...

The Vampire Count's armor is Cel-Vinyl Red with Leviathan Purple in the creases only with an over brush of Red again, and Vermilion.  Yellow Orange was used to spot highlight where the armor is sharp.  His gilded armor is Shining Gold, Ogryn Flesh wash, with a highlight of Burnished Gold.  The black is the same as black flesh of the dragon,  only spot highlighted (pseudo-Dallimored) instead of dry-brushed. 

Can you see the fade of the three washes?  Sure, first Sepia, then Devlan Mud, then Black at the tip.  Remember, make sure they are all wet when you apply so they can flow and blend into one another.

With Love, Allison

Painting the Host for Mortis Engine/Coven Throne

In the previous post I instructed on a method of painting the Engine and Throne; doing so mostly on the sprue rather than a fully assembled model.  In the case of the Host, this is no exception.  The Host was painted separately of the Engine or Throne and it too was painted on the sprue and in stages of assembly.

The Host...

Initially the Host was airbrushed with white coming down on the tops while the undersides remained black-ish.  Then Vallejo model air pale green was sprayed on, highlighted with Vallejo model air camouflage light green + white.  Beyond the airbrushing, the rest was just what I came up with and felt comfortable doing. 

First wash over the initial airbrushing.

 Bob sprayed a gloss clear coat to help the washes move down into the crevices; that was a neat trick and it worked quite well.  I used a series of washes that we created, the first is like a diluted Scorpion Green.  Do this selectively, notice that I only placed the wash in certain areas and left other places untouched.  That may not seem apparent.

Second wash step.

 This second wash is a blue-green turquoise, it most closely resembles the Hawk Turquoise I suppose.  It is mainly focused around the skeletons and skeletal floating heads, and just beneath the armour of the horse and rider.

Notice where the green-turquoise wash is focused.

 Next, the whole piece is lightly brushed with white from the top down.  I don't go from all angles because I really only want the tops of the clouds and skeletons to be 'white' the underneath can have a green-gray cast from the original airbrushing colors.  As a tip, if your white is misbehaving and it seems streaky or creates ridges keep your brush moist, not WET, MOIST.  You will have to do multiple layers of the white, lightly.  If you attempt to apply too much at once it may streak or run or just glop.  Remember, you can always add paint but you can't take it away as easily.

 Now the metal needs painting.  I just used Chainmail washed with Armour Wash although you could use Badab Black just as well.  Then, where all those holes are in the armour, that's when I used the green-turquoise wash to make it look as if the 'spirit' is oozing out.  I like that magical touch.

The Base...

 This is what I did to the bases since they were just plain old rectangles and GW didn't bother to make any bling to go with the model.  These are plaster moulded rocks with some talus and ballast.  I glued them on, let them dry and painted them in secessions of gray.  That's up to you if you choose to paint them gray or not, some people like brownish rocks.  I like gray because they provide a neutral backdrop for the rest of the piece.

 I think sometimes people go overboard with the bases and they distract from the model.  Meh, to each his own.  When we photographed pottery and sculptures in the art department we always had gray walls, gray pedestals, gray drop cloths...so I keep that in mind...the model is like the artwork and the base is just the display.  It's okay if there is stuff on the base but it shouldn't be overwhelming.  I kinda wish there were a few skulls or a trampled victim underneath or maybe just a fallen shield.  I think that would have been okay.

Apparently, at some point, I lost the other photos that I had of the basing...  I had something that was a little more step-by-step than just these.  After painting the stones Cel-Vinyl Gray 28, I would brush over with Gray 20, then 10, then 5.  Obviously these are progressively lighter shades of gray.  You could accomplish the same effect if you were to add increasing amounts of white to your preferred tone of gray, like Chardon Granite.
When the painting of the stones is accomplished we paint the base an earth colored brown.  I try to avoid painting where the model is going to be glued so that is why you see pencil marks on the black base above.  I just paint around the pencil marks.  After that I put my base flock on, the model is glued to the base, allowed to dry thoroughly, and finally tufts of grass and do-dads are added.

Of course the completed versions of the Coven Throne and the Mortis Engine are more impressive than the individual parts.

Bob added some gloss to the cauldron of blood.

 First we glued the Host to the base and let it dry thoroughly before adding the remaining flock and tufts of grass.  This way there wouldn't be all the weight of the Host + the Throne/Engine pulling on the two contact points of the base.  I was just waiting for it to fall apart; I would have cried.

FYI: These spirits were a super pain to glue on.  They look super cool though and were painted just the same way as the Host was.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below, email or facebook us.  We'll be happy to answer.

With Love, Allison