Two questions. 1 About Paint, 1 About FW/GW Bitz

[Castellan Snaeper]

Hey guys, I've recently decided to get back into the hobby, thanks in part to the fact that I have some friends who are also interested in building some armies to play with me. I have two questions pertaining to the construction of the army I'll hopefully be assembling. 

 

1. Originally I wanted to make a Crimson Fists army, but those seem to be all the rage these days, so I've instead decided to do counts-as IF/CF, and make my own original Chapter of Marines. 

 

The colors I selected for them were based off a scheme I made back for the old Space Marine video game from a few years ago that I ended up really liking, basically turquoise and white. 

 

The problem is that I'm having a rather difficult time finding a shade of turquoise that I really like, this is compounded by the fact that the new GW paints (new to me, anyways) are confusing in that they offer a lot of options, but I don't necessarily know if they'll work. I understand that Layers are thinner colors, so will the color be brighter if I use a white basecoat? I'm also wondering about using non-GW paints (specifically jade green from Vallejo I believe), but I don't know how that color might mix or match with GW's stuff. This has proven rather frustrating, but I'm determined to have white/turquoise marines. 

 

Any help or insight from more recently experienced painters would be greatly appreciated in this manner. You need only look at my avatar to see the colors I'm going for. 

 

2. I'm really liking the idea of going broke buying Forgeworld upgrade sprues to give my Chapter a pop on the tabletop. Also, I dislike transfers a great deal. But I was wondering: Do the Forgeworld Horus Heresy sprues blend well with standard Games Workshop plastic space marines? I was planning on getting some Sternguard and Tactical sets (not to mention using what sprue I've already collected and possibly re-purposing some of my old Black Templars), but I wanted to make sure everything played nice with each other and not just with the other Forgeworld resin armors. 

 

For example: Would the Templar Brethren upgrade sprue work with Sternguard or regular tactical bits like the legs? 

 

Thanks in advance for any insight and advice. 

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Forgeworld Marines are typically compatible with plastic Marines, but lately there have been a handful of kits in which the torso and legs are one piece, the arms and shoulderpads are one piece etc. I don't have a list of which kits have those limitations, though, sorry.

 

Templar Brethren upgrade bits should be good to go w/ Sternguard, but be aware that the 'special' sword arm might be permanently attached to its shoulderpad.

[Ironwulf]

Regarding paint: Vallejo Model Color and Vallejo Game Color paints (in particular, the Jade Green you speak of) will mix perfectly fine with GW paints. They are both acrylic, so there is no issues there. You might try Vallejo Game Color Falcon Turquoise as a color, as it was made to match pretty close to GW's OLD "Hawk Turquoise" from years ago. Also, putting down that white base coat WILL make your turquoise greens more vibrant. That is one of the primary reasons for priming white (rather than black primer), is the fact that you will get bright, vibrant colors with less work than trying to cover black with yellow or white (or turquoise).

[Castellan Snaeper]

First of all, thank you for the responses, I very much appreciate the support!

 

 

Forgeworld Marines are typically compatible with plastic Marines, but lately there have been a handful of kits in which the torso and legs are one piece, the arms and shoulderpads are one piece etc. I don't have a list of which kits have those limitations, though, sorry.

 

Templar Brethren upgrade bits should be good to go w/ Sternguard, but be aware that the 'special' sword arm might be permanently attached to its shoulderpad.

 

That's good to hear, I'm not particularly worried about some of the bits being attached to arm parts, as I was planning on making Honour Guard and Vanguard Veterans as well, and those power swords will fit right in. 

 

 

Regarding paint: Vallejo Model Color and Vallejo Game Color paints (in particular, the Jade Green you speak of) will mix perfectly fine with GW paints. They are both acrylic, so there is no issues there. You might try Vallejo Game Color Falcon Turquoise as a color, as it was made to match pretty close to GW's OLD "Hawk Turquoise" from years ago. Also, putting down that white base coat WILL make your turquoise greens more vibrant. That is one of the primary reasons for priming white (rather than black primer), is the fact that you will get bright, vibrant colors with less work than trying to cover black with yellow or white (or turquoise).

 

Thank you for the insight, I'm still not sure exactly what color I want to use, and what other colors I want to accent and highlight with to get the look I'm going for (at this point, I know what colors to get for the white parts, but am lost on the turquoise still. 

 

If I get Jade Green, I'm going to want to layer and highlight it, but I'm afraid it'll end up looking either too blue or too green. I'm trying to go for a statue of liberty color. 

 

Maybe I should look up to see if anyone has painted a miniature one....

[Ironwulf]

I can't help but ask this: Have you been basecoating/priming with black prior to this? If so, I think that might be one of your major problems. Some people want to start a mini with black primer, no matter the final result, and get frustrated trying to paint bright colors… but in MY experience, you are better off starting with white primer, especially with a light color scheme.  WHY is there so much emphasis on black primer? Supposedly to make it easy to get into the crevices and shadows of the mini, and then paint up to the lines… But if you start with black, trying to get WHITE, it's a LOT of extra work for very little payoff. In my experience, black paint covers better than white paint and you can easily add the depth of shadow (and crevices, scribing, etc.) with black paint over white primer with much less effort.

 

There are other brands of paint to look at as well. Reaper's Master Series Paints have a "Marine Teal" which is a good turquoise color. I'd bet that Privateer Press has a similar color. As long as it's acrylic paint, you can mix it with GW's to your heart's content. Take a little bit of turquoise and just a tiny dash of white to start highlighting it. That's my advice.

[sockwithaticket]

Judging by what you've said about the paint you might like to try Vallejo Model Colour Blue Green, Reaper Master Series Marine Teal and/or Army Painter Hydra Turquoise. Vallejo Model Colour Turquoise or Reaper Master Series Deep Ocean would make good shadow colours.

[Ovidius Incertus]

If you're doing Honor Guard/Vanguard/Sternguard, may I suggest the FW Sevrin Loth and honor guard set.  Not only do you get a sweet mini for Loth, but the torsos for his honor guard are awesome...plus it comes with an entire plastic command squad set (so you get plastic bits for apothecary, champion, etc.).  They look absolutely fine on plastic legs, especially if you're coupling the torsos with legs from vanguard vets or similar.

[Castellan Snaeper]

I can't help but ask this: Have you been basecoating/priming with black prior to this? If so, I think that might be one of your major problems. Some people want to start a mini with black primer, no matter the final result, and get frustrated trying to paint bright colors… but in MY experience, you are better off starting with white primer, especially with a light color scheme.  WHY is there so much emphasis on black primer? Supposedly to make it easy to get into the crevices and shadows of the mini, and then paint up to the lines… But if you start with black, trying to get WHITE, it's a LOT of extra work for very little payoff. In my experience, black paint covers better than white paint and you can easily add the depth of shadow (and crevices, scribing, etc.) with black paint over white primer with much less effort.

 

There are other brands of paint to look at as well. Reaper's Master Series Paints have a "Marine Teal" which is a good turquoise color. I'd bet that Privateer Press has a similar color. As long as it's acrylic paint, you can mix it with GW's to your heart's content. Take a little bit of turquoise and just a tiny dash of white to start highlighting it. That's my advice.

 

I'm afraid most of my experience is painting with a black undercoat, because my first army was Black Templars, and it was just vastly easier to use that for a novice painter such as myself. 

 

Judging by what you've said about the paint you might like to try Vallejo Model Colour Blue Green, Reaper Master Series Marine Teal and/or Army Painter Hydra Turquoise. Vallejo Model Colour Turquoise or Reaper Master Series Deep Ocean would make good shadow colours.

 

Thank you so much for the suggestions, I hadn't heard of Reaper Master Series or Army Painter, I was looking for more options to consider and you've certainly given them to me! 

 

If you're doing Honor Guard/Vanguard/Sternguard, may I suggest the FW Sevrin Loth and honor guard set.  Not only do you get a sweet mini for Loth, but the torsos for his honor guard are awesome...plus it comes with an entire plastic command squad set (so you get plastic bits for apothecary, champion, etc.).  They look absolutely fine on plastic legs, especially if you're coupling the torsos with legs from vanguard vets or similar.

 

They are interesting models, for sure, but I just don't see myself using the red-scorpion specific pieces (I have no experience converting things, either), and given Forgeworld already offers me three options for Torso's, I'll just use those. The Templar Bretheren inspired my choice for the logo as it was, so having the fist and the cross is no problem.