Tuesday, November 3, 2009

PAINTING: Thunderbolt assembly line

I spent a couple of hours painting my AI Navy squadron last night.

As soon as I began I realised that this was going to be a big job, not the twenty hour blast I had previously assumed. The problem is that the kits are heavily detailed despite their small size and I couldn't bring myself to just slap the paint on and call them done. I want to do the best paint job on these models as I can.

I started with the four Thunderbolts. I am painting them in a desert theme to match the desert terrain I will probably play most of my games on. I thinned down some Iyanden Darksun foundation paint to use as the initial base layer, going on over the black undercoat. Next I mixed in some Bleached Bone and went over the planes again, this time concentrating on the raised areas. The Thunderbolt front left is at this stage while the others are one stage behind.

Once I'd added the Bleached Bone/Iyanden Darksun mix to all the Thunderbolts I washed them all with good old Devlan Wash. It did exactly what I wanted it to do, turning the parchment yellow basecoat into a deeper, warmer yellow-brown. It has also picked out all of the lines between the plating.

I had originally thought I'd go back over the planes again to tidy up the edges but I'm loathe to start mucking about with wash as I really like the finish it has given. I might start working on the other colours first while I'm pondering my options.

3 comments:

  1. I've never seen these little guys before but I really like the way the full size FW Thunderbolts look. These ones look pretty good too for being so small.

    My only thought is that they look a little bland - maybe some kind of squadron stripes or something?

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  2. For such a simple paint scheme, they've turned out really well mate. The wash works wonders bringing out all the details.

    Can't wait to see the bombers.

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  3. I'm a long way from actually finishing the planes!

    This is only the base coat. The next stage is to add a darker camo stripe in brown then I want to add red tail fins.

    I'll have more progress shots up shortly.

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