How long does it take to paint Cadian Shock Troops?

[Wassa]

It seems like I'm spending forever trying to paint a unit of Cadian Shock Troops.

 

Granted i'm going for a camouflage uniform scheme and so it takes a lot longer than the standard zandri dust overalls.

 

Do you guys bother do all the highlighting and layering of the front armour?

 

I find it hard to get to and see if I don't paint it first before putting the arms on.

 

I thought I was done earlier but realised I've missed all the grenades and knife/canteens to go on the belts >.<

[Lord Marshal]

For Infantry Squads? Not really. They're going to get removed by the handful anyway and they all have a way of blending together. When I'm bored with some free time I slap a few highlights on here and there, but I tend to obsessively highlight/detail pretty much everything but them.

[our_baz]

I feel your pain, I use white, red and silver colour scheme. It takes a while. And I highlight too to make matters worse.

[Kinstryfe]

Standard troops, I paint quick and easy. Block colors, dip, quick highlight, done. Fancier paint jobs I'll go all out and they'll take as long as anything else I paint will. I usually don't bother unless it's a "showcase" type model because, as said, they're getting removed from the table in handfulls.

[Jam Master Flex]

A while, couple of hours per dude gives me this kinda finish:

 

http://i.imgur.com/Lv5Qkcy.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/q1h88Jb.jpg

 

I'm a slow painter though to be fair.

[Ranulf]

It all depends on how far you want to take it. It takes me forever, but i'm as slow as molasses when painting.

 

This guy's vid is a pretty good guide for tabletop-quality painting - might help with a few shortcuts:

 

 

-Ran

[Hatarus]

honestly it all depends what your plan for the model is i can wip out about two squads in about an hour that are table top quality but it could take me near a day to do half of one squad for something like armies on parade 

[MrZakalwe]

Mine take me too damned long. 

 

Spent about 5 hours painting a sergeant yesterday and getting the detail on the bolter and his feathered helmet felt like it took forever. 

[Wassa]

i can wip out about two squads in about an hour that are table top quality but it could take me near a day to do half of one squad for something like armies on parade 

 

Crikey, I need to get a move on!

 

Takes me about an hour to paint the base coat of their armour!

[Mordian Glory]

Like others have said, I tend to not spend hours and hours on my Infantry because they do get killed very easily.

 

However, I still like everything to look good so I do more then just 3 colours minimum. Including all washes, I can normally complete a squad in 1 day (about 8 hours). If I am doing conscripts I usually dont even wash them and I can do 5 in an evening (2-3 hours).

 

A good technique I use is batch painting. What I do is I base coat all the models and then paint all of one colour on each model before moving on to the next. E.g. I paint all the red body armour, then all the black guns, then all the white helmats etc. That really speeds things up as you can get into a rhythm. I recommend doing 5 guys at a time as doing 10 can get a bit mind numbing. 

 

At the moment I am painting up some GSC cultists and I doing them 1 at a time and it is taking me an evening to do 1. So you can see batch painting can be much quicker. 

[WarriorFish]

With a camo scheme you're probably spending that extra time on troopers already. You can always return to the models for some fancy highlighting additions later :tu:

[JBugman]

Like others have said, I tend to not spend hours and hours on my Infantry because they do get killed very easily.

 

However, I still like everything to look good so I do more then just 3 colours minimum. Including all washes, I can normally complete a squad in 1 day (about 8 hours). If I am doing conscripts I usually dont even wash them and I can do 5 in an evening (2-3 hours).

 

A good technique I use is batch painting. What I do is I base coat all the models and then paint all of one colour on each model before moving on to the next. E.g. I paint all the red body armour, then all the black guns, then all the white helmets etc. That really speeds things up as you can get into a rhythm. I recommend doing 5 guys at a time as doing 10 can get a bit mind numbing. 

 

What Mordian Glory said.  It'll take a couple hours for one guy so have a row of guys ready to batch paint.  By the time the last guy is done you're ready to go back to the first because the paint's dry.  It also sounds like you're painting the arms separate then gluing them on at the end.  Don't bother with that, it's not worth it.  Try assembling the model without the gun and paint him like that.  The gun you can paint on the sprue, clip it off and glue it into his hands.  I use a clipped gun as a guide to get the trooper's arms right.  Hope this helps.

[Wassa]

 

Like others have said, I tend to not spend hours and hours on my Infantry because they do get killed very easily.

 

However, I still like everything to look good so I do more then just 3 colours minimum. Including all washes, I can normally complete a squad in 1 day (about 8 hours). If I am doing conscripts I usually dont even wash them and I can do 5 in an evening (2-3 hours).

 

A good technique I use is batch painting. What I do is I base coat all the models and then paint all of one colour on each model before moving on to the next. E.g. I paint all the red body armour, then all the black guns, then all the white helmets etc. That really speeds things up as you can get into a rhythm. I recommend doing 5 guys at a time as doing 10 can get a bit mind numbing. 

 

What Mordian Glory said.  It'll take a couple hours for one guy so have a row of guys ready to batch paint.  By the time the last guy is done you're ready to go back to the first because the paint's dry.  It also sounds like you're painting the arms separate then gluing them on at the end.  Don't bother with that, it's not worth it.  Try assembling the model without the gun and paint him like that.  The gun you can paint on the sprue, clip it off and glue it into his hands.  I use a clipped gun as a guide to get the trooper's arms right.  Hope this helps.

 

 

But for cadians the gun is attached to the right arm anyway? It makes it a nightmare to paint their chest armour otherwise.

 

 

I remember my old (15yr+) catachans had separate guns. Though the arms had the gun stock so I think you had to clip part of the gun off to actually attach it?

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

My painting times are a bit skewed because I use an airbrush. Guard made me get myself set up with an airbrush. I'm now facing down 60 some infantry to paint. 

 

Cadians do in fact have guns attached to the arms, so easy solution is to paint the arms separately.

[Baldhere]

I allow myself about 2 hours of brush-time for each squad, the drying time is usually spent preparing a new squad or something hobby like. But my color scheme is fairly simple, relying on washes to do the heavy lifting.

[Wassa]

Yep, I got fed up and bought myself a cheap airbrush. If only they did a Castellan Green spray!

[Jam Master Flex]

Yep, I got fed up and bought myself a cheap airbrush. If only they did a Castellan Green spray!

Vallejo do an airbrush paint called Olive Grey which is the same I find

[Mileposter]

For a non camo but detailed paint job, it takes me about an hour per guardsman for just painting. I don't do batch painting, but I also don't need to go back to any model once it's done.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Yep, I got fed up and bought myself a cheap airbrush. If only they did a Castellan Green spray!

There are a ton of good tutorials, on youtube, for how to use citadel paints in an airbrush. I use a propanol/isopropyl thinner, with a bit of vallejo retarding medium, and I thin it to about the consistency of milk. I find that works best for me. My question to you is what do you consider cheap for an airbrush, and did you go single or double action? Are you using canned propellant or did you get a compressor? 

 

It doesn't matter much, it's just a quality of life thing. 

[Wassa]

It was an Abest one on Amazaon for less than £40 including a compressor. Double action I think. You push down the trigger for more air pressure and pull it back for more paint. Bit tricky to get the hang of to start with.

[Wassa]

These are mine, I'm just not a fan of the zandri dust overalls so I went for a camo scheme.

 

Still need to do some base colours and highlights.

 

The paints a bit thick in places as I kept changing the colour scheme!

 

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Very nice work. Keep at it! 

[Colonel Cross]

They look great, Wassa!

 

For the gents airbrushing their guardsmen, does that really save you time?? I'm new to airbrushing but I have just been intending to use it on my vehicles. Yesterday I just primed up my last 40 troopers and maybe I'll try the airbrush out on their armor?

[Wassa]

Cheers :)

 

Well for me it does now I'm going with an all green scheme.

 

It takes ages trying to cover each bit of each man in paint, sometimes needing two coats and having to clean the brush every few minutes to stop the paint drying out is a nightmare.

[Colonel Cross]

I just noticed your Macharius hiding back there in that photo!