General

So according to Warhammer TV you:

• Spray your models a base colour.
• Wash.
• Thin coat of paint.
• Thin coat of paint.
• Thin coat of lighter paint.
• different coat of even lighter paint.
• Repeat for every different colour.

I’m not going to be doing that again.

Instead I’m going to be stripping everything down to basics and trying to find the fastest method of painting that still remains fun.

Here’s my first effort:

Here’s my suggested recipe:

• Prep environment by doing the following:
• Clean your painting area.
• Put everything that isn’t involved in this process away.
• Put all sprays, paints and equipment in front of you.
• As the process involves washes make sure to check the models thoroughly for mold lines before starting. They should also be attached to a base to asset while spraying and painting.

For an upgraded version follow the steps with a * 

Start day 1

• Spray base colour on model – 2 mins.
• Spray Retributor Armour on shoulder pad sprues – 30 secs.
• Glue a single 1mm plasticard riser to each base – 30 secs.
• Apply PVA to base and scatter flock, static grass, lichen and details across it – 2 mins.
• *Tightly cut out appropriate transfer markings (cut 10 and 2 o’clock lines) – 2 mins.

Finish day 1 (5-7 mins)

• Cut shoulder pads from the sprue and glue to model – 1 min.
• Spray base all over with black primer, follow up straight away with ivory from directly overhead at a range of 6″ – 2 mins.
• Apply Dark Reaper (TK) paint in the following order: shoulder pads, boltgun, pipes and padding. Then repeat 3 times – 10 mins.
• Paint Averland Sunset in stripes over the gun casing – 2 mins.
• Paint Retributor Armour into leg details, helmet and areas left after the shoulder pads were clipped out – 2 mins.

Finish day 2 (17 mins)

• Apply Typhus Corrosion wash to areas on base – 1 min.
• Apply Biel Tan Green wash to areas on base – 1 min.
• Apply Abaddon Black to side of the base – 1 min.
• *Highlight selected areas with Stormhost Silver – 5 mins.
• *Apply transfer – 5 mins.

Finish day 3 (3-13 mins)

• Glue model to base, wait to dry – 3 mins
• Wash model except shoulder pads with 50/50 Agrax Earthshade Gloss mix, start from the top and end with the base – 5 mins
• Wick away excess wash while it is drying  – 5 mins

Finish day 4 (13 mins)

Total 38 – 50 mins. Average of 10-13 mins per sitting.

It’s worth adding a caveat here that even though the whole process takes less than an hour, it’s not really designed to be done in one sitting. Some steps require a few hours for the primer or paint to fully cure before applying the next coat.

The bonus for painting Iron Warriors is that due to their renegade nature you can mix and match the faster and slower methods inside a squad.

You can even mix the tones of colours as well. Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade and the Army Painter washes all add slightly differn tones of colour to the models.

If you are thinking about batching painting using this formula you can simply apply all the steps in day one in one go and have a load of transfers, bases, models and shoulder pads ready for you to pick from. You will only need to spend 33-43 mins on each model from that point forwards.

What do you think? Do you want to see me, let me know in the comments if so.

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It’s time to distill some hobby moonshine by breaking down the successes and failures of my previous projects.

[Read more…] about Hacking my painting skills