Prot Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I'm sure this is one of my weirder topic posts.... but I'm stuck. My Dark Angels have been a bit stagnant hobby wise since the end of my personal 'grind' to finish my double vow which I nearly failed.... I have had the wandering eye normally reserved for a stale marriage and a mid life crisis. I still have so many Dark Angel models to complete... and since I started with Ravenwing, those might be the most plentiful. Part of the problem is what I find 'fun' to paint are some of the worst units in the codex. For example at the tip of my list for fun is: Dark Talon, Vengeance Speeder and a Ven Dread. It seems pointless to focus on 'fun' units that sit in a box and don't get played, and I'd say I play in a slightly -too competitive- group to coast on poor units. (no one likes losing...a lot.) So I've come full circle and come to realize that fun isn't important when it comes to a hobby (wow, that came out wrong). Let's say bikes *can be fun for me* but I LOATHE painting them.... I am a stickler for using the proper colours so please don't recommend I go 'Rainbow Warriors' for my bikes. But what I have noticed is some of you have done some really kick butt work in the Ravenwing department. Where I have failed to do more than some grey lining, some of you have finished literally dozens of bikes. So help a dude out here... spill the beans. How did you do it? How do you 'assembly line' paint bikes so they don't look like the Emperor's ear hair and they still are inspiring to paint? So before I embark on another army, I'd like to see if I can find inspiration here! Thanks for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Avoghai Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Actually I do like that : I take a dry brush and brush all the metal parts of the bikes in warplock bronze and then in ledbelcher. You can use Nuln oil at will but this is not necessary. Then I use abaadon black to recover the "collateral damages" of drybrushing. Then it's all the fun stuff : the purity seals, the robes, the gold, the feathers etc etc... AND I finish with the work on the black... Personnally I do it with blue but it works with grey. Why finishing with black? 1st because it's not the funniest part (actually it would not IF you START with it) 2nd because once you've finished with all the other colours you'll see that black won't need much work to highlight... juste a few spots like the head of the shoulder pads, the top of the helmet and 2 corners of the front wheel. That way, I've made black passing from beeing the most boring aspect to the last touch that literrally give life to the model. try it and don't feel afraid to ask for more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interrogator Stobz Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Think of painting the units you loathe as grown up fun; it hurts and challenges you but leaves you better afterwards. That's all I got :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Think of painting the units you loathe as grown up fun; it hurts and challenges you but leaves you better afterwards. That's all I got How's that thunderchicken coming along Stobz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeChisler Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Key to getting a decent finish is to draw the eye to key areas I've invested in a airbrush the front and back feathers are blended in as are the bikes and the front back and main bike are painted seperatly with the front/back done on the sprue. As has been said a dark blue (I'm using reaper +black) then either a grey blend or drybrush for the highlight then a black wash/glaze sprayed on Weathering powder has been a decent buy gives the tyres/lower area the driven through mud look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interrogator Stobz Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Think of painting the units you loathe as grown up fun; it hurts and challenges you but leaves you better afterwards. That's all I got :P How's that thunderchicken coming along Stobz? ^_^ Haha, I had a feeling I'd get a ribbing for that :D It's coming along at it's own speed ;) I actually dislike painting DW tanks and RW Bikers more than anything green so I stillhave a little bit of pride left :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SvenONE Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I paint my Ravenwing in classic black. I give it enough spray black to make sure it's even and dark. My riders are separate, I glue them on when I'm done. Then I go in this order: Metal (the most time consuming part) - all the washing/highlighting, sergeants get gold trim on their bike, I'll wash with agrax/sepia in certain parts. Boltguns Wings on the Front and Telehomers in the back, any RW symbols on the bike Seat (I do them brown and drybrush them lighter brown Handlebar details (display) Highlight the edges grey along with my riders/Sarge Robes Drybrush the wheels. Black Knights get the same process but their bikes have gold trim. I also don't glue their arms (since BK arms come attached to the handlebars in their sculpt). When they're all done I fit them on and glue their feet to the pedals and their hands to the bars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prot Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Thanks guys. I've picked up some good tips here so far. I think I've been too labour intensive in my process... unnecessarily so. I don't even think you can see a lot of the work if you get too stuck in on useless detail. At the end of the day I have a lot of bikes/speeders to do so I gotta get moving with a simpler process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfax Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I can feel your pain, I must say I also had a hard time getting myself to paint bikers although for me it really helped that I use them in games (getting to use actual black knights instead of proxy them with regular bikers is a very good feeling). Additionally what made it extra enjoyable is that I try to make each biker unique to some degree, which also tones down the dullness a little bit. I pretty much do exactly what Master Avoghai does, although I paint the black at the last stage of the basecoat (before wash) instead of the very end. This way you can paint the bike pretty fast, no problem if you go 'outside the lines' at this stage. I then wash the whole bike but an advantage of black is that even after wash, it is a color you can easily touch up with unwashed abaddon. And wash itself also helps to touch up. Additionally leaving the rider off the bike during assembly (if possible) helps a lot, makes it loads easier to paint. For highlighting I don't have real suggestions to speed it up, except perhaps for the grey highlights. Also here abaddon helps, as you can easily use it to 'sharpen' those highlights if they didnt come out as smooth as you wanted. My ravenwing force is up to 19 bikes and 1 speeder now, usually I have the most problems getting the 2nd or 3rd bike done of a batch but you just have to pull through! Think of how great they'll look purging xenos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarbonBased Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Wish I could help, but I'm one of those "rainbow bike" guys. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.