Base coating your Blood Angels?

[kalenein]

I started building and playing Blood Angels this winter, and I have amassed myself a sizeable force that is almost all assembled and ready to start painting, and coincidentally the weather is starting to get warm enough to spray prime outside. So before I got started I wanted to see if anyone has found any one technique better then another. Normally I prime black then either Spay the base color if they make it or use watered down paint from a pot and brush on. but I am not sure what is going to get me the best result with my BA. I was thinking of getting a couple of cans of Mephiston Red and just going to town so I thought I would ask and see what peoples methods were for getting there base coat of red on there marines.

[Ushtarador]

I always basecoat the miniature completely black, and then apply a dusting with Corax White from above to get zenithal highlights. Personally I then proceed by brush, but you could also use thin coats of Mephiston Red Spray as a next step. The two-layer basecoat should give you some automatic color gradients which makes painting easier I feel, just don't spray the red too thick or it will be lost

[Imren]

Space marines is such a perfect army for airbrushing. Big flat surfaces of the same colour. For the money you spend on GW cans, you might as well get a cheaper airbrush set (airbrush, compressor and mask) and airbrush the undercoats and base coats.

 

As as starter set I recommend a cheaper set such as:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush-Multi-purpose-Dual-action-Compressor/dp/B001TO578Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456497116&sr=8-2&keywords=master+airbrush+set

 

That one costs USD 80 with free shipping, add USD 20 for a few bottles of vallejo polyurethane undercoat, red paints of your choice and some airbrush thinner, you're up at USD 100.

 

Compare that with:

 

2x cans of GW chaos black/corax white for USD 17.00 each and 2x cans of GW Mephiston red for USD 19.50 each (what you'll be using for a 2-3k points collection), which totals up at USD 73.00 you see that its worth getting the starter airbrush set and get to learn airbrushing and spray in a more consistent manner with way smoother surfaces compared to spray cans.

 

Also four dropper bottles of vallejo (2x undercoat and 2x red paint at 17 ml each) lasts longer than four GW cans. Even if you try to spray from cans in an canny way (pun intended!) because you have more control and less wasted overspray with a airbrush and compared to spray cans.

 

I, as many, started out with undercoating with spray cans and then later moved over to airbrushing. So I have experience of both. And looking back I can say that apart from better quality results with airbrush for undercoating and base coating (even with cheap starter sets) you save lot of money airbrushing compared to using GW cans.

 

Cheers

[MadMek83]

I use dark reddish brown (also for my Flesh Tearers same thing) most often what I use is Vallejo German Red-brown surface primer as its primer and base coat, then proceed with Mephiston red and other reds. With red-brown primer that is also a basecoat, I also don't need black basecoat and lessen one layer less helping preserving details.

[marine7312000]

I can definitely second picking an airbrush and the Vallejo German Red-Brown as a base. It comes in a larger bottle as primer and gives good results.

[Xenith]

Ive had a bad experience with mephiston red going poorly over a black undercoat, it needed like 4-5 layers to get to the same shade as meph red from a pot. I think it's designed to go over white?

[sebs_evo7]

I use army painter dragon red spray then water down mephy red and apply that over the top. I find once it's dry it's the perfect base for me

 

Just watch out for the army painter sprays as they can go on very thick if you aren't paying attention

[Charlo]

I've had some good and very bad experience with Mephiston Red from a spray.

 

Good was it covered my drop pod fins rather nicely, but you have to be so careful with how much you spray on.

 

The bad, was I pretty much ruined a set of heads from the BA Tac box: all gunky and clogged up details.

 

Pro tip: just spray it in short bursts and if you think there isn't enough, stop first.

[Jimm]

I've had some good and very bad experience with Mephiston Red from a spray.

 

Good was it covered my drop pod fins rather nicely, but you have to be so careful with how much you spray on.

 

The bad, was I pretty much ruined a set of heads from the BA Tac box: all gunky and clogged up details.

 

Pro tip: just spray it in short bursts and if you think there isn't enough, stop first.

Spot on. Personally I'm not a fan of spray cans but if you don't have an airbrush and have to use them just take your time and do it in short busts and dont get to close.

[SevenExxes]

I use cheap spray paints from the local hardware store. Undercoat black for a darker red. Undercoat white for a brighter red. Then slosh Nuln Oil over them for that whole "Grimdark" look and finish them off with a fine detail brush for the fancy bits.

[Riot Earp]

I prime only with the airbrush today.

I use vallejo black survace primer first and then add gory red (also vallejo) either thin or thick depends on the miny and how much dark should shine trough.

Gory red on black is a little dark but i like my bloodies that way.

Here you see a difference to some gw (i dont know which) red. The pods left and right are painted with gory red.

http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums/ag185/Slaughter3000/DSCN2360_zpsvwbcj7jq.jpg

[The Unseen]

I prime everything I paint grey, and work up from that. Just regular old Krylon matt grey, goes on quite nice, and pretty cheap. I've found that priming either white or black gives me to much trouble painting its opposite, and all of my schemes for my armies have at least some white or black on them, so grey is easier. If your model is almost entirely one colour however, I would highly recommend an airbrush and just spray the color you need.

[keeblerartillery]

I agree with Najanus - marines are perfect for airbrushing and you can get some great colors just from the priming process. I base coat black, then do xenithal sprays with german red-brown and dark yellow primers (for vehicles I skip the black and add shadow later). Then just put on my red of choice and it looks great. 

[kalenein]

Sounds like I am going to need to learn how to air brush, thank you for all of the input!!

[Lucumon]

Sounds like I am going to need to learn how to air brush, thank you for all of the input!!

Do it. I started about 6 months ago and can list the awesomeness of airbrushing:

 

1. Easier to highlight using the objective light technique

2. Less toxic

3. Cheaper in the long run when compared to GW cans.

4. Coats are thinner than a spray can... and if you over spray, it wont hide details

 

And more... but those are the big ones.

[Remtek]

This is what i have been doing on transports. Black with white or light grey highlights. Then a basecoat of scarlet red (evil sunz scarlet) It ends up being similar to Mephiston red due to the black.

 

http://remtek.be/BARhino2.jpg

http://remtek.be/BARhino.jpg

[Xhris the Unpronounceable]

Love that effect Remtek - am just about to start on some vehicles and will be using that technique :)

[Hildebrandt]

I use army painter dragon red spray then water down mephy red and apply that over the top. I find once it's dry it's the perfect base for me

 

Just watch out for the army painter sprays as they can go on very thick if you aren't paying attention

 

I also use the dragon red spray as my base. The only annoying thing about doing it this way is that it can be hard to hide little red bits in the recesses.

[sebs_evo7]

I am painting some assault marines at the moment and it's very annoying. I find black needs to be gone over several times to cover over any red spots but it's quicker for me than priming with a brush