Painting advice / help needed.

[Machine God]

Hello B&C.

 

I'm a fluff nut, don't game much anymore and I rarely paint mini's (apart from the past 2 ETL's and a Call of Chaos).

 

I started playing at the end of 3rd beginning of 4th Edition and I assembled my Iron Hands successor's and had a mate paint them up for me (Midnight Blue with Brazen Brass and Mithril Silver highlights) as I've got shaky hands and wanted a good job.

 

During 4th I changed some of the marines to Deathwatch Veterans, but my painted marines stick out as a poor thumb compared to the one's he did that I didn't alter.

 

My ones just look flat and his ones just pop out.

 

I think I am missing something.

 

Here's what I do:

 

I snip off from the sprue, get rid of flash and mold lines, drill bolters and then I assemble.

 

I basecoated Chaos Black (Spray can / paint pot for small things) and then I paint the mini's.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Edit: Missed out words from a sentence.

[Grotsmasha]

Perhaps a side-by-side to help us see the differences?  I'll hazard a guess and say that his have an additional layer of shading and highlighting that yours may not.

 

When I'm painting black, I'll do Abaddon Black over Chaos black, then I'll do my first round of highlighting, about 1mm around the edge of each armour panel. Then I'll Nuln Oil the whole model. Then I'll redo the highlighting about .5mm (on a good day...) with the same colour, followed by a fine edge highlight only on the upper edge of each panel.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Machine God]

Thank you Grotsmasha for the advice, I'll try it but I'm trying to go back to Midnight Blue.

 

What do you do with a model after it is painted? Does have to have any varnish or something else?

[Sviar]

When I painted my Black Legion in early 2009, I watched a tutorial by Dave from Mini War Gaming. He showed the viewers two options by drybrushing his black primed models with some gray and Dwarf Bronze. I could only remember Dwarf Bronze because that was the one that I used. This is the stepp before you add some paint on the mini. I think (my opinion) it looks great as a base.

[Grotsmasha]

If this will be the models third round (your mates blue, then your DW, then your going back to blue), I recommend stripping the models. Whilst a little tedious, each successive round of painting clogs more and more detail. A 24hr soak in Simple Green concentrate (found in most Hardware stores in most countries) and a scrub with and stiff-bristled toothbrush will remove enough old paint to bring back the details.

 

As to painting the blue itself, I would follow the method for the black but substituting in your blues rather than blacks and greys.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Firedrake Cordova]

As Grotsmasha said, I'm guessing your friend has highlighted and shaded them. 

 

For Midnight Blue, you'd be looking at a highlight of Regal Blue or Ultramarines Blue (possibly mixed in with the Midnight Blue if the colour on its own is too bright), and shaded with either blue ink/wash or a mix of blue and black ink/wash.  If the highlights are too bright, you can knock them back a bit by glazing with a very thin coat of blue ink/wash.

 

For Brazen Brass, I'd look at Dwarf Bronze and then Burnished Gold or Mithril Silver, and give the whole lot a couple of washes of brown ink/wash to tone it down a little.