Looking for Cheap way to make Sisters

[Mosk]

I have been collecting Sisters of Battle for several months. I have 2 dominion squads of flamers in rhino and 1 squad of sisters of battle mounted in a rhino with 1 flamer and 1 heavy flamer, but I am wondering if anyone knows how to make sisters of battle cheaply.

I have seen some old links on how to convert sisters of battle with plastics, but Cant find em anymore. ANyone have ideas?

[Melissia]

I don't recall it, but I know it's usually a lot of work . Sisters, sadly, are not going to be cheap any time soon. You can probably find them cheap on ebay though if you want.

[Lady_Canoness]

Yea, making them is a no-go.

Your best bet is to look for cheap buys in your area, though knowing the tenacity and devotion of Sister players, you are in for a hard search.

[Charred Heretic]

The best deal on Sisters models is used botched/abandoned paint jobs on e-bay, preferably in large quantity.

Set up some searches to automatically do the work for you.

Also search and view a bunch of closed sister auctions to see what prices you should expect.

Be patient.

There is a sisters painting project abandoned by a short-attention-span fool every month or so.

 

The models are metal, so stripping paint is never a problem so long as you have a good strong stripper.

Citrus stripper has been my most successful, seconded by Simple Green, and thirded by Brake Fluid

(wash Brake Fluid off skin without delay). Be advised that strippers can melt any plastic, including bases.

 

Greenstuff can be used to easily fashion Meltaguns, instead of paying a premium for them as special weapons.

Flamers are abundant and should show up when you buy bulk.

Heavy Flamers not so much.

The other special weapons are tougher to model.

It's rare the people make special weapons from scratch.

Very tough to do.

 

Set your Sisters w/ Stormbolters aside.

Most WH players don't use them at all, but they might possibly lend themselves to converting to Heavy Flamer or Heavy Bolter.

 

 

Two things that I most wish someone had taught me when I started:

 

1- Testors black enamel (gloss & flat). WHen thinned with thinner coats her power armor effortlessly with a beautiful "glossy stain" that preserves detail better than any other method. Example:

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj115/charred_heretic/Armor2.jpg

(The one on the right is thinned Testors Black Gloss Enamel. The one on the left is acrylic black. The models were shot side-by-side with identical light. The one on the right actually took less time. It is basically a stain job. The Enamel paint is much much stronger than acrylic also.)

 

THis "stain" method works very well on guns, because it preserves detail Even plastic guns as in the picture below. (For comparison, the top one is Acrylic Black, and the bottom one is Black Enamel Stain over Acrylic Silver). With plastic, I first drybrish a thin coat of acrylic silver, and let it dry completely, before adding the Enamel stain. http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj115/charred_heretic/HB_Upload.jpg

 

 

2- The top of the Seraphim jump pack shines beautifully if you have a polisher. It looks very very impressive on the table. THe camera really doesn't do it justice. I used a multi-grit/ multi-sided fingernail file/polisher, which worked very well.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj115/charred_heretic/SHINE.jpg

 

 

THis is the shine tool:

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj115/charred_heretic/Tool.jpg

 

The "finest" grit is actually cloth, and it really works.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj115/charred_heretic/Tool2.jpg

 

Good luck.

[Melissia]

Very good tips. Do Testors have an enamel blue color? if so, I'm in love.

[Charred Heretic]

They absolutely do.

They have several.

Most hobby stores have a Testors paint rack.

Maybe I'll do a sister in blue armor to see how it looks.

 

For anyone interested,

 

PAINTING WITH ENAMEL 101.

 

It seems complicated, but that is not true.

Things that take 2 minutes to show in person,

take several paragraphs to explain in writing.

 

The main difference is that you clean Enamel with

thinner and a paper towel, instead of a glass of water.

Dry time is a day or two instead of an hour.

 

Testors Enamel paint is superior in most aspects.

It dries much harder, the pigments are denser,

and it is absolutely better for painting metal.

 

1) Buying

Unfortunatley the hobby stores that sell Testors, only sell

Thinner an ounce or two at a time. (They are playing upon your ignorance.)

 

Thinner should be bought at an Artist Supply Store, or ask any

artist friend if he/she can spare a a cupful in a glass bottle.

The cap stays as much as possible.

 

2) Quantity.

You only use up 8 ounces (a teacup) of thinner per year if you use it correctly.

But those tiny little Testors bottles that they sell are silly.

 

3) Storage.

I keep a few ounces of thinner in a glass jar.

 

4) General Use.

You need three things to paint with Enamel.

a) Pour a thimble's worth of thinner into a soda bottle cap.

B ) I have a "mixing pallette" (tin foil with thumb-pad-sized "cups" pressed into it)*

c) One Paper towel.

 

5) Painting.

Shake the hell out of each bottle before you start.

 

6) Thinning.

Testor's paint is pretty thick, so I always "thin" it with a few drops of paint thinner.

Example

The leg that you see in the picture above is a 30:70 paint:thinner ratio. (More like a stain, really).

Sisters shoulder pads I want darker, so they would be an 80:20 paint:thinner ratio.

 

7) First time.

Take a stripped model, and paint her with a 30:70 mix.

Slap it all over her. "Push" the paint into all crevices.

(A large hard-bristled brush is actually the best for this.)

Set her aside (standng on a base) and come back a day later.

She will look my photo above.

 

8) TO GLOSS or NOT TO GLOSS?

Testor's "gloss" black will be a little more shiny.

It won't make much of a difference either way.

 

10) Dry time.

One day for thin paint, two days if thick.

 

9) Second coat.

Don't do a second coat of Enamel!

Why?

Old and new will run together.

Why?

Fresh new Enamel paint has solvents within it, (even straight out of

the bottle, unthinned). Those solvents will pull up some of the first coat,

and they could run into each other. It's basically a one shot-deal.

However there are workarounds:

 

10) Start over?

Sure. Just get with a fresh capful of thinner.

Slap the thinner on, and pull the paint off with a dry paper towel.

Repeat if necessary.

 

11) Acrylic over Enamel.

AFTER it's dry, you can paint any acrylic right over the dry Enamel.

Will the Acrylic stick? Yes. (Better than bare metal, actually).

 

12) Enamel over Acrylic.

Yes. It works both ways. I rarely do this except for plastic guns,

(see the example photo above with the two heavy bolters).

 

13) Cleanup.

Cleanign the brush is two steps.

 

A "Paint off the excess":

Dip the brush into thinner in the bottle cap.

"Paint off" the excess onto paper towel.

Two or three dips into the thinner and 12

lines painted onto the paper towel should

remove 95% of the paint.

 

 

B "Swish":

Swish the brush in your main thinner bottle.

If you did it right, almost no paint should bleed out

into your bottle, and you'll get a year or more out of

a teacup's worth.

 

 

Four Brush Cleaning Tips:

 

Brush must completely dry if you want to change over to Acrylic Paint.

Best practice is to leave it dry for a day.

 

When cleaning the brush, most of the paint should go onto the

paper towel, not into the thinner.

 

I paint tight parallel lines into the paper towel for efficient use.

I twist the brush sligtly as I pull it along the towel.

I'm not anal, just too lazy to get another paper towel.

 

There is never any need to "push" the paintbrush against it's grain.

You should always be "pulling" it.

 

 

* The "foil pallette" idea works really well for me.

I have two, each about the size of an index card.

I have pressed about six "cups" into each.

When all six cups have paint in them, I let it dry a day,

and I overpaint a thin drybrush of white Acrylic over it,

and then I have a color-neutral mixing surface all over agiain.

I've been using the same two foil-pallettes for 2 years.

They weigh more now, but are just as useable as ever.

[Melissia]

Personally, I'm attempting this look:

 

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/melissiablackheart/Other/SapphireBlade2.jpg

 

 

It's often difficult to get, especially since I want the metal to look metallic.

[Tauren]

I suggest getting some ink and mixing it in with your metallics. Then for shading water down basic blue paints and glaze over the top of the metal. Mix in a little metallic into the matte paints also works to keep the metallic sheen.

[Melissia]

I'll try that.

 

 

Geh, do I hate painting.

[asianavatar]

Easiest way to make Witchhunters is not exactly easy.

 

It can be done with female eldar bodies, space marine backpacks and bolters. It does require a lot of work, some green stuff and lots of bits. Much better just go go try and find old models.

[Mosk]

Thanks everyone for the helpful hints on painting :wub:

[Mosk]

Oh just if anyone is interested, I am converting sisters repentia out of daemonette bodies, and I just ordered some eldar stuff, and will be converting some sisters of battle soon.

 

if you want to see my progress check out....

 

 

http://ordohereticus.blogspot.com/ It is fairly new, I will be posting battle reports and such, there is one un finished battle report, but this is not how my otheres ones will be, just check it out.

[Charred Heretic]

I want the metal to look metallic.

 

Testors Blue Gloss enamel will absolutely do it.

 

But if you want the metal to look as vivid in the color of the blue sister in your image,

you have to start out brighter, because blue is pretty dark.

 

I'd recommend to first do a very light drybrush of acrylic flat white to turn up the brightness.

Then very lighlty drybrush a very bright acrylic silver over the white to bring back the metal base.

Then add the "stain" of Testors Enamel Blue Gloss.

The result should finish a vivid brilliant metal-like blue.

 

Blue Acrylic paint will never do the same.

Even if you used an acrylic blue shlack, it's still water-based, and the water-based paint will coat differently, and it will obscure detail. The enamel blue stain will render much more detail, and you will have a very unique result.

 

Don't take my word on it.

Test different ideas on a coin to see the results.

There is no limit to what you can try.

Just keep your coats very thin, or you will lose detail, as you can see in my comparison photo.

[Wulfen Lord Leo]

Personally, I'm attempting this look:

 

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/melissiablackheart/Other/SapphireBlade2.jpg

 

 

It's often difficult to get, especially since I want the metal to look metallic.

I got a good colour out of mixing Mithril Silver and Blue Ink. Really looks nice.

[Tauren]

Ya really metallic paints are just bits of metal floating in a clear acrylic solution. This is why when you water them down they tend to separate, but if you water it down with blue ink you retain the metallic and get a vibrant blue color. Glazing with matte paints or mixing metallics into the matte paint will still give you a partial sheen, but at the same time the matte paint is coating the small metallic pieces. Use this for glazing to achieve shading and such. Beyond that melissa it's a pretty scheme... Although I would suggest changing the cloth to an off blue color. Bone white or tan maybe. Turquoise might also work while sticking with the cooler colors.

[Charred Heretic]

Ya really metallic paints are just bits of metal floating in a clear acrylic solution. This is why when you water them down they tend to separate, but if you water it down with blue ink you retain the metallic and get a vibrant blue color. Glazing with matte paints or mixing metallics into the matte paint will still give you a partial sheen, but at the same time the matte paint is coating the small metallic pieces.

Exactly. It seems very few painters realize this.

They "color-by-the-numbers" and use GWs metallic paint. I guess if you don't know much about paint, GWs supplies and techniques are better than nothing, but they are by no means the best supplies and methods for every task. Especially in their metallic paints, those metal flecks in the paint just don't sell me at all in this application. Metal flecks look great if painted into a new mustang with racing stripes, but in the body armor of a 1:72 scale model? It looks terrible to me. The texture that the flecks create is abysmally out of scale, and the way it reflects light completely ruins the realism.

 

Beyond that melissa it's a pretty scheme... Although I would suggest changing the cloth to an off blue color. Bone white or tan maybe. Turquoise might also work while sticking with the cooler colors.

Totally agree. A warm but light tan would offset that blue beautifully.

Something in between khaki and bone white. But that's just my own preference.