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Channel: James Wappel Miniature Painting
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Going Places

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This C3 Transporter from Gates of Antares is the first large sci-fi vehicle I have painted in years, since the Dark Eldar army.  I had a lot of fun with it!

I even have a live video of the painting session here:



I wanted to have a very different color scheme on this vehicle, so I chose a pattern similar to the one I had used on that old Dark Eldar army.


I think the base is around 80mm round, so that should give you a good indication of its size and scale.


The base was made from bark and branches, and there's a live video of how that was made here:



These views from above show how that freehand pattern was varied across the entire surface, with emphasis on different sections of the hull.


The combination of very organic and mechanical shapes was really interesting.  Usually you have to "choose" between on or the other.


This is made by Warlord Games, a nice plastic kit which is easy to put together.


I have a few more similar versions of this vehicle, and I will be exploring more freehand patterns in future facebook live sessions, so stay tuned!



On Fire!

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Here's some finished images of the Reaper Fire Elemental painted with the Vallejo fluorescent paints.  This link takes you to the facebook live session in which he was painted:



There's nothing quite like the fluorescent paints.  When they are mixed with the Reaper clear paints, or the MSP colors, you can really get some nice results.


He's also here:



I will keep on painting these glowing figures using the various fluorescent paints, so stay tuned!




Hammer Time

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There have been a few add ons to the Masons team, including this guy.  A lot less of the "Masons blue" on him, with much more armor surfaces instead.


This meant trying to work in as many subtle color changes as I could to distinguish that surface from the marble colors of the base.


As you can see, this base was done to match the original set, with the Masons symbol included :-)  A few more to come yet, so stay tuned!


Captain Nimue

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Legendary Captain Nimue is the first new figure that I have been able to add to my Wild West Exodus forces for well over a year!  It was quite a complex way to restart that task.


It is quite obvious how complex she is with the various parts and angles... but the water effects definitely raised that level even more.


Not only were several layers of water effects added, but many of those were tinted various hues of seafoam green, blues, and so on.  The hope was to create a translucent appearance, giving it the raging greenish waves while also making the tentacle seem as if it was still wet from rising out of the water. 


These images show those lighter greens at work, with subsequent layers of clear water effects over the top to make that have more depth.


You can see the water drops hanging from the tentacle, which also took many layers to create.  They must be made in the same way a regular water drop forms... one little blob added onto the previous blob, so that it looks like a drop and not an icicle!  


Here she is with her stat card.  I really look forward to using her as the boss for my Mercenary force!!


Forest Ranger

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This Stug kit is from Warlord Games, and a rare non early war vehicle for me!


I used oils to paint this, as I have on most of the recent tanks.  


I have 3 different Stug kits, with a plan to make them for 3 different theatres... Normandy, North Africa and a winter version.


While the extra armor can be a little finnicky and fragile, it was definitely worth trying it out!


I really wanted to have the side skirts on this version, because I knew that experimenting with foliage was the plan!


Here's the plan in action.  I had a collection of leaves that I had punched from real leaves using the Green Stuff World leaf punches.  Those leaves were set on some realistic branch foliage from Woodland Scenics.


I even used a few tufts of the Hangar 18 leaf foliage.  That helped to provide a "transition" from the Woodland Scenics to the bigger leaves.


This was photographed on the green backdrop to see just how well it blends in... to see how successful my camo really was!  It's kinda scary to see that it really does!  Now you see me, now you don't!


Dwarf Power

Sword Fighter

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Next up from the Masons Guild Ball team is one more special edition character.


She was a challenge to assemble, with the sword hands being in an unusual configuration, with a small circular piece of pewter that must have been intended to fit inside an indentation on the main figure.  This didn't fit at all, so I had to fudge that.


She was based like all the others on the marble style sculpey bases.


Not so fast, But quite furious

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Another of the old style Lizardman Cold One Saurus riders for you today.  These were a crazy collection of plastic and metal parts, mostly making them very topheavy!


I tried to get some extra counterbalancing weight by making the sculpey/cork basing, and by the usual magnetization.


This was part of a unit that won my very first Golden Demon, way back in 2007.



Taking Shape

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It's time to show off the first painted Shapeways tank!  This is the Panzer II, which was 3D printed by Mike Pennock, AKA Arctic Squirrel on Shapeways.  I had a lot of fun painting it, and it accepted primer, weathering powders, and oils very well...

Here's a link to the live painting broadcast:



As I mentioned in the original "unboxing" post, these are no hassle figures, with no assembly required at all!  I washed it with soap and water, and that's it.  The primer (Badger Stynlrez) worked like a charm.


It was very interesting to work on these road wheel/track assemblies, since they are much more "open".  That is the advantage of the 3D printing.  Instead of a 'flat' set of wheels, these are more independent.


The scale of the tanks are all 1/56, which is Bolt Action scale.  Here is a post that show how well they match up scale wise with Warlord miniatures and vehicles:





The views from above show some of the Green Stuff World leaf punches at work, adding some additional textures to the upper hull surfaces.


On this vehicle, I used the weathering powders mixed with  rubbing alcohol along with the Mig AMMO OilBrusher paints.


Now for some size comparison shots.  The Panzer II matches up very well with the Resin/metal Panzer 38t from Warlord Games.


A few infantry miniatures as well to show you how easily they can all be integrated together.


This early war German force is really starting to come together, as I have since painted the tiny Panzer I!  The expanding range of early war vehicles and artillery pieces means that soon the Wehrmacht will be ready to storm across Europe...


Stay tuned for more links to live painting episodes on Facbook!


It ain't easy being Green

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This old classic was one of the first figures we tried 'hiding' the broccoli bases back in the day, around 2003.  Until then, we didn't know that you could do that, or saw it off that base and pin it to a new one.  It was quite the revelation so long ago.


I used this figure are part of the "Painting Orc and Goblin skin colors" video.  It was a great opportunity to show how to get a lot of variety in those greens, but also incorporating contrasting colors, like purples, etc.


I had a lot of fun making interesting bases for these... at some point I will have to see if I can scare up any pictures of those old trolls that we painted 12-13 years ago!


He's also here:



Hoof and Horns

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Next up is another Beastman from Mierce Miniatures.  This is yet another member of the massive winter theme army that crosses several miniature lines.


He is certainly one of the more unique Beastman figures that I have painted, mostly by virtue of the large horns/tusks on his back.  It was an interesting and unusual way to make him more distinct from the "grunts".


Just a few more regular figures from this unit to go before the group shots, so stay tuned...


Norway's Day

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On Norway's National Day, it is only fitting to have another member of the Narvik force join the fray.  This is from Gorgon Studios, which has an entire range of early war Nordic Campaign figures.


Painting these figures has been quite different from most of the other armies that I have done so far.  In some ways, these early war uniforms more closely resemble policemen, with the exception of the color.  Some of the illustrations at the time have more of a First World War appearance as well.


This army continues, to grow, along with the French Foreign Legion in the sheepskin and anorac.  More to come, so stay tuned!

And to all my Norwegian friends, best wishes!!!


Stripey!

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I did a number of "color test" skinks for the Lizardman army as that massive project moved along.  Each unit was suposed to have a different look, as I had placed a special character in each one of the Skink and Kroxigor units... such as a skink priest or a chieftan.


There were some restrictions on what color patterns would work, based on the various types of skinks and Kroxigor sculpts.  These skinks were more conducive to stripe patterns, but the newer skinks had more texture, so it limited the stripes a bit.

As far as the Kroxigors go, they had much more texture, so stripes were even more problematic there!  I had to stick with color transitions instead of actual patterns.


Winston's Wrath

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This beast is the plastic Churchill tank from Warlord Games.  You can build seven different variants with this kit, but in this case the most "generic" build was the request.  

I believe this is the welded turret, with the 75mm Sherman gun.

Here's a link, which should also show you some of the variants that are possible: 



I painted this with the Mig AMMO oil washes and filters, and also the OilBrushers.  I really enjoy that combination of products, since it offers so much flexibility in approach!


For those who have seen my live facebook painting sessions, you know that I like to take the same sort of watercolor approach, by splashing the filters and washes across the entire surface at once, quickly blocking in the darker tones, and tinting along the way:




This is even more important on potentially "bland" vehicles like this, where you have a massive amount of one color.  The rapid application of those washes, and the subsequent layers of OilBrusher paints allow me to create a number of variations in the tones... some warmer and some cooler.


There are plenty of raised areas that allow for streaking and other discoloration, thus breaking up those larger surfaces.  Where I was going to add effects such as dirt and mud, I tried to make those greens a bit more blue, so that the warmer mud tones would show up just a tiny bit more.


The view from above shows the addition of the leaves, punched from actual pressed leaves using the Green Stuff World leaf punches.  They were attached with sand and gravel paste from Mig AMMO, which I really love.  To tone them down and create even more texture, I fleck a little bit of weathering powders onto the "pile" as well.


These are lighter and darker dirt colors, which help to give the appearance that the crew have been climbing onto the tank.


The markings were also pretty generic, since this was a commission piece, and I was not given any kind of specific unit ID to follow.  This British force is a bit of a hodgepodge, blending many different units together.  Still, I enjoyed painting this a lot, and the tank commander was a nice addition too!


Countess

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Here's one of the new releases from Wild West Exodus, this time for the Enlightened.

She's Countess Augusta Byron, and she has the ability to rejuvenate the dead somewhat.


Not a surprise, as this Franniestien countenance illustrates.  This Boss also has some powerful weaponry, and you certainly don't want to get close to her!


She will join Tesla and the rest of the growing Enlightened force that continues to infringe on the town of Wappelville... stay tuned.



Midori

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I thought that I would have a little bit of fun with purples and pinks on this Reaper Miniature.  I forget what shade of Reaper Blue/purple which was the original mix, but it was quite nice when combined with a lighter flesh color.

This kept everything in color harmony, and kept the colors from getting too saturated.


I did some quick chrysanthemum freehand on the kimono, and carried some of those same colors up into the sword blade.  The teal color was the same, and that was highlighted with the light flesh tone... once again to maintain color harmony.


The marble on the base was also kept as simple as possible in terms of it color/saturation so that it would not conflict too much with the brighter colors of the figure itself.


She's also here:



Mighty Kurgonova

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The officers of my old Imperial Guard army were a tough bunch... the Kurgonova Sisters from Raging Heroes!


Since most Raging Heroes figures trend towards wider stances such as this, it meant that my basing techniques meshed fairy well.  I love making slight overhang bases like this instance, and giving it a bit of a twist by setting the broken door on a slight angle.  

This serves to reduce the width needed on those overhangs, because you are utilizing that angle to take off a millimeter or two from that distance if it had been set 'flat' on the base.

Doing so also increases the drama of the pose, and makes that wider stance have more meaning... as if the character were climbing up the sheet metal, or trying to maintain balance, etc.

Finally, it makes it appear that the character might be dueling with a nearby enemy, unseen in the image but implied nevertheless!


She's available here:



Shaping Up!!

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Here's the next mighty Panzer from Shapeways!  The Panzer I joins the Panzer II for war in western Europe.  This 3D printed vehicle was done by Mike (aka Arctic Skunk), and you can see his great work here:



This was painted in a very different way... I started out with a few layers of the Badger Stynlrez grey primer, and then shaded everything darker with 'washes' of weathering powders from Mig AMMO.  I mixed them with rubbing alcohol, which made them an easy to apply liquid.

I followed that up with Secret Weapon acrylic paints.  The live video can be seen here:



That was a really fun approach, and it worked very nicely with the 3D print white plastic.  I added some mud and dirt effects with the Mig AMMO mud products.


This is the smallest vehicle that I have painted so far, and it presented an interesting challenge.  When you have such a small set of surfaces, it can be that much easier to go overboard with weathering effects.  On larger late war tanks, you can almost "forget" about some parts of the tank!


I added a few of the leaves using the Green Stuff World leaf punch.  That helped to keep it in line with the rest of the early war Dunklegrau tanks that were painted previously.


The Panzer I was more of a tankette when I think about it, barely larger than a mid size SUV, with only a few machine guns.  Now that I have the Perry Brothers gun crew, I will be painting the Panzerjager anti-tank vehicle soon!


Now for some comparison shots.  I also have a painting video of the Panzer II, which you can watch here:



One last set of views... I am not sure if I will paint up the Panzerjager for the Desert campaign, or stay with the Western Front Dunkelgrau... stay tuned! :-)


Striking Gold

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While all non metallic metals are very fun to create, I especially like golds.  They allow for many interesting contrasts between lights and darks, muted and saturated colors, as well as warmer vs cooler tones.  

The key to all NMM is in that reflected light, and reflected colors.  This is interesting on regular metal, but with gold,  using warmer tans and sienna against the purples and blues reflected in it.


You can see the differences in the sword blade, where the same colors were reflected.  However, it is less of a temperature contrast.  I normally use a lot of purples and greens in my gold NMM, and this was an ideal candidate!


He's also here:



Ground Cover

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Some of you have seen my initial posts on the winter American army for Bastonge... and the basing articles on how they were created.  I just discovered these work in progress images showing the method I used to get some leaves, dirt and dust onto the bases, along with some minor applications of snow.


I wanted to have a "little bit of each", with a few scattered leaves, some dirt and a touch of snow.  The previous basing article is here:



Using the Green Stuff World leaf punches (and some previously pressed and dried leaves), I made a selection of different colors and shapes.


I have discovered that the Mig AMMO Sand and Gravel glue is amazing!  It has incredible hold, and dries with a matt finish.  This is designed to hold actual dirt and dust to vehicles, so why not weathering powders and snow?!


In this case, I used Secret Weapon weathering powders.  Image 1 shows the glue and leaves added to the base... all I need to do is scatter the powders gently over the top, which you can see in image 2.


Scattering the powders over the top of the leaves makes them seem like part of the base, as opposed to something that was just tacked on!  The dust also sinks down into the cracks, and generally adds a little more texture to the base.


This set of images shows the process again... place some glue where you want the leaves and dirt, then add your leaves, followed by the weathering powders.

At this stage, you could even scatter a few small piles of snow flock into the glue, which will resemble a dusting of snow.  If you combine that with some of the dirt colored weathering powder, it will look like muddy snow in the streets.


Here are some examples prior to the application of that snow... with only the leaves and dirt.


This one includes the machine gun team... finished images of that are here:



The inset shows what a difference in texture this can make, especially in "rubble strewn" areas like blasted structures.  For those looking to base your troops in those ruined urban landscapes, this additional texture can be a nice touch.


And now for a sneak peek at the finished figures!  I also used the crushed glass method to create slightly bigger piles on some figures, and get some scattered snow onto the figures too.  Stay tuned for more completed images of the army!


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