SW1

Dude your a fine painter. I have to press mould icons onto pads as I can't put transfers on curved surfaces and my freehand sucks big time. By getting them off a company you've ended up with a much more reliable level of quality to your details while mines a bit hit and miss having to re-stamp several times depending on the details I'm trying to replicate. We all start off at different levels but we all improve over time. When I started there was no advice on thinning paints and my brushes were not even GWS level. I was too young to buy spray paints so everything got hand undercoated with paint right out of the pot.

Hope everything goes well with the little one. Liking the leather look on the masks. :tu:

So how's the plans for the ETL vow going? Looking forward to seeing what you'll be working on!!! :devil:

It's good to catch up on your blog. Still bringing Awesome to the table I see. ;)

So the plan was to use washes to do the bulk of these models. Yesterday saw that plan scuppered a bit as my brother coated all the models in purple wash rather than just the flesh bits. We then decided to try doing a bit of a wash on the carapace bit but had to ditched the idea quickly as I ended up having to stop a repeat of the previous wash. So we tried a bone carapace for the GS's by going brown then over brush dark cream and then bone. He didn't like the look so black with a jade edge highlight was tried. At this point I was knackered and seemed to be the paint monkey with the paint quality dropping as layer upon layer was going on. So a final back to black we went then red over the top for the carapace. I put a bit more effort in making the claws/nails/teeth look neat and tidy which helped make it look neater than it actually is. I can see this army getting the fast and dirty paint treatment. Pics will follow Tuesday as I'm working all weekend.

Don't buy GWS branded ones. They are medium quality at best and find the professional equivalents instead. For example Swann-Morton produce surgical scalpel blades if you go for surgery then you'll likely come under their blades so they know how to make sharp implements to the very highest standards. They also make ones that haven't gone through a sterilisation process and you can buy them in bulk for pennies each if you buy them in a 100 pack. They are much better quality that the GWS blades and the retractable blade handles are really much safer than having a cap that can fall off covering the blade when not in use! I got 3 boxes each of a different blade profile about 5 years ago and have enough for a while yet. Small saws can be bought from the likes of Xacto. I got a double pack about 2 years ago and they haven't shown any signs of blunting yet. Greenstuff can be bought on ebay in a foot length for less than the price GWS sells a few inches. I got 2 foot for £8 including p&p a few months back. Side cutters just go to a hardware store and buy a mid priced one. Should be about half the price GWS sells them for and made out of harder metal so will last longer.

Track guards over the bulk of the tracks mean you don't need to worry about the placement of the tracks. ;) Who'd not up armour the weak spot on their tanks? The other option is cast some of the missing parts up if you have any of the originals still not glued. Or see if anyone has any spare? Who's got some in their bits boxes? If you have send a PM to the OP and make his day!!!

Lol ... I've got a txt asking if I've finished painting them yet. Hmmm ... I may need to borrow that BCK. :lol:

Looking forward to following this closely. :devil:

So my brother has decided that he wants me to help him paint up his GSC models. They were badly assembled by him so I've cleaned them up as well as I can. The plan is to work out a quick and easy paint scheme he can replicate. First off everything is getting sprayed with grey car primer and then drybrushed white. I managed to get him to do 3 before I ended up doing the rest ... The plan is to use washes so he doesn't have to worry about layering and highlights. But I can see he's likely to start the odd model and then leave it to me. So quick simple paint job it will be.