Help picking paints...

[Lord Scytha]

This is the colour scheme I've picked for my DIY chapter.

The pale half is (according to the painter) Bleached Bone and the dark half is Necron Abyss. In real life I want it to be a creamy white and a dark bluish navy blue.

Now it's been a long while since I've painted models and I have never used foundation paints so that's completely new for me.

So I was hoping to get some advice and run a list of points that I'll need for this colour scheme.

I'm planning to under coat it all in black. (Or is white better?)

I'll paint the pale part with Dheneb Stone FP before painting on Bleached Bone CP and high light with a mix of bleached bone and skull white.

The dark part I'll paint with a slightly watered out Necron Abyys FP directly on the undercoat and then high light with a mix of necron abyss and either Liche Purple CP or Regal Blue CP.

Metal parts and the Aquilia I'll paint first black with Chaos Black CP and then an appropriate metal paint.

Insides of joints I'll paint Chardon Granite FP.

The eyes is painted Scorpion Green CP (according to the painter).

So then paints I'll need then is.

Dheneb Stone

Bleached Bone

Necron Abyss

Liche Purple or Regal Blue

Skull White

Chaos Black

Chardon Granite

Scorpion Green.

Some metal paints.

Does that sound like a smart paint plan and a good list of colours to achieve the paint scheme I want?

Finally, washes? Do I need to bother with them?

[Griffon Games]

In general I would say your approach sounds good. I might take a look at the P3 line of paints from Privateer Press for your white side, though. They have a really nice selection of Off-Whites that could work really well with what you're doing. Also, They have a Coal Black that is essentially a blue-back that might be good as the darkest portion of the blue side.

 

Washes? It's really up to you. You can do them on white but you need to be careful with them lest they overpower delicate shading. On really dark colors they can just get lost so they may not be work it. And with a split-scheme like that you may have difficulty keeping them where you want them so that might be the biggest reason to avoid them.

[Ironwulf]

This looks like a very interesting color scheme! It should look cool on the battlefield.

 

This is just MY opinion- But I believe that you'll have an easier time trying to paint the off-white half if you start with white primer.

 

Starting with a black primer might make the navy blue side quick, and it will make some of the detail areas of the off-white already black-- but you will probably have a bit of frustration trying to get a smooth coat of paint to cover the black primer, in order to get the off-white color down even when using foundation paints. For the navy blue part, you can then paint half of the marine with a thin coat of black, and treat it as if it were black primer. It would work very much the same.

 

Your Mileage May Vary.

[Boltergeist]

I agree about the white primer-- it will save you a lot of headaches.

 

I'd suggest regal blue instead of the purple. In fact Regal may still be a bit too dark to see, so you might want to use Mordian Blue FP in your highlight mix. Your plan for the white sounds good. As far as washes go I think they always help, but as stated above it may be hard to see on the dark half. I'd use Gryphonne Sepia sparingly on the light side, hitting only seams rather than going over the whole thing. Same thing with black on the dark side-- if you just hit the seams and shady parts it should show up and look good.

[Lord Scytha]

Thanks for the input. It really helps. :)

 

 

So white primer.

 

 

Dark side paints washes

 

Necron Abyss

Mordian Blue

Badab black

 

Pale side paints and washes

 

Dheneb Stone

Bleached Bone

Skull White

Gryphonne Sepia.

 

Miscellaneous parts and details

 

Chaos Black

Chardon Granite

Scorpion Green.

Burnished Gold

Chainmail

 

 

 

I've seen several examples in WD of using washes on metal pains esp. gold to give it a patina. They used Devlan Mud though but will it still work and not look odd using Gryphonne Sepia?

 

Also how long does paints survive storage?

Have a few old paints but they are couple years old. The have the newer pop up top at least. Anyone know if you can see when they were made or something like that?

[Boltergeist]

Devlan Mud is darker so will probably look better. It's a good catch-all wash so I'd recommend having one on hand anyway.

 

As far as shelf life it depends on container, brand, and even color within a brand. If they are the old hard black cap citadels they are probably gone. That being said I have some of the old old RT and 2nd ed citadels with a soft white plastic cap that are still good. You can add water and either extender or matte medium to dried out paints if you really want to try and salvage them, but I usually just get new ones and save the hassle. Props to GW for the recent change; these new caps should keep the paint fresh for a long time.

[Ironwulf]

Right. The only way to know if they're any good is to open 'em up and take a look. If it's solid, pitch it out and buy a new pot. In many cases, depending on how thick they have gotten, I'd pitch em. But, with that said, there might be some good paint left in them. Depending on where you live, humidity conditions, and how well they were actually sealed, you might still have some paint worth keeping and using.