I need constructive criticism on IG Tank

[lomaxxdurang]

So I traded at my local FLGS for a couple of Leman Russ Hulls that were badly painted and not very well put together. When I say badly painted I mean when stripped the creme, blue, and crimson paints molted off like snake skin.
They were just the hulls and missing all kinds of pieces. I had to get turrets, a front cuppola, and sponsons, plus any other basic bitz.
I got the pieces I needed (left over bitz from other tanks, some online ordering (btw the turret is a cast someone sold me as a legit piece I was annoyed) and then I also got some plasitcard and traded for the sponsons.

Then I decided to paint it but I was really interested in experimenting with the whole weathering concept.
I wanted a tank that looked broke in and old and that is, has, and will always be in battle.

I took the Plasma cannons from the demolisher kit along witht he turret gun and gained an armament.
Then I green stuffed the main gun to the crappy resin mold I mistakingly purchased turret.
Now I built the front cuppola and its heavy bolter set up in its entirety except for the heavy bolter.
I made the old russ sponson kits similar to the new demolisher sponson kits so the guns would be interchangeable.

I seem to be getting low 5s and 4s with this model. I did a lot of work and I don't know what I did wrong.
I mean for this to not even qualify for table top quality in many peoples eyes says something.

Here are some pics as well as the links here on the site so you can perhaps help me out.

http://coolminiornot.com/247876

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/durangmaxx/DSCN0072.jpg

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/durangmaxx/DSCN0071.jpg

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/durangmaxx/DSCN0077.jpg

Any idea why 3 of the 4 pics I did have which have been voted on (the three listed here going to my photobucket) are all back in waiting for approval status?

Joe

 

[Wyrmypops]

Sure went to some effort to make it eh.

CC: Most significantly, it's not got much contrast. It could benefit from shading, more dark tones in the recessess, and highlights on the edges and higher portions. That'd give it some pizazz and make it leap out more to the eye. As it is, if we consider Black a 10 and white a 1, all the tones on the tank are currently somewhere around the 5-6 area.
Was it undercoated white? With a black undercoat, that can provide definition - doing the same kind of paint job, but leaving a thin sliver of black edging each area, that "black lining" technique a great shortcut, and a decent place to build on with further shading.

That plasticard housing for the front heavy bolter, it looks like it's made from plasti-card. Could use a mite more work on that. Like, adding a rim to echo the other areas of the tank. A raised edge added from more plasti-card. Preferably with rivets added, they can be made from pin heads amongst other means.
By the sounds of your bitz box you may well have a spare Imperial Aquila icon rattling about, could maybe add them to the gun housing to give it some authoritive validation and make it look more part of the tank and less like a plasticard addition.

 

[lomaxxdurang]

I like the idea of the aquila (its IG you can never have to many aquilas) as to it looking like plasticard it was the first thing I ever built out of plasticard.
So here was the painting technique I used.
Sprayed a base coat of black.
Then I brushed on a second base coat of a mix of tin bitz, scorched brown, and scab red ratio of like 3:1:1.
Then I taped off all the red areas and the tracks and guns and any other random parts I didn't want gray and I hair sprayed and sea salted it. Then I went through various levels of gray highlighting from adeptus all the way to fortress.
I then took a tooth brush and water and weathered the tanks paint. In person it has a little more depth to it. I just suck with the camera i guess. So anyhow it created a dirty chipped and torn up look on the tank.
Then I did the same thing with the red spots and taped the areas off, hair spray and sea salt, then I painted red both scab and red gore. I scrubbed on that till it came off.
I washed everything heavily in baal red, devlan mud, and badab black. The blue of course got asurmen as well.
So I am unsure about adding that black line without taking away from the realistic look that it really has.

 

[Wyrmypops]

Oh no, a black line is a basic technique. Good for bog-standard gaming troops. For something with with this much work on its construction and weathering it'd look weird to add it in now. But, it could have been employed earlier in the process, and a be start to the shading. And it's never too late to get busy with some shading.

Ink washes, slapped on, can be unforgiving. And by their and the techniques nature, a bit strong and random. But can use those washes, applied sparingly, with greater control, to insinuate some shading to areas that need it. Like, those areas of red plated and metal trim, a bit of shading where they meet would add some punch of defintiion, and not neccesarily be unrealistic.
It might be an idea to apply some with one brush, and have another brush on stand by - just in case you feel obliged to rush in take away some ink. Or with a damp brush, wiggle it along the edge of the ink, breaking up the line to blend it in.

 

[Torn blue sky]

First thing I noticed looking at your CMoN pic was; Lack of angles. The full front stare doesn't really show it off. Secondly I thought "This looks pretty flat" As wyrm said, try and inject a bit of definition, even subtle works
I like the weathering, it's done to great effect, but I think that's where you fall down mainly. It looks far too orky to me. Even a tank bttn in the field maintains it's kit, as you can imagine the IG are full on screw the nut type guys when it comes to drill etc. There is such a thing as tooo much. I think the rule here is "Less is more".
I know it sucks hearing that after all the hard work I can imagine that went into it, just throwing in my requested 2 cents =) Hope it helped!

ED: In fact, regarding your statement about wanting it to feel battle worn; i'd consider adding extra armour and scarring to the hull. Add honours etc, trophies. If it's been around it's gonna have picked up a few notable honours after all

 

[Einion]

I seem to be getting low 5s and 4s with this model. I did a lot of work and I don't know what I did wrong.
I mean for this to not even qualify for table top quality in many peoples eyes says something.

That's a good point but don't take the actual number too much to heart, some people don't vote a true tabletop figure as a 5 but more at around 3 or 4.

In terms of lower/higher scores though, have a look in the galleries for high-scoring vehicles and compare the photos directly to yours. Should be easy to see some of the significant differences when you do it that way - better contrast overall, shading, (proper mould-line removal!) and 'better' weathering. I say 'better' since there's a huge amount of taste involved in weathering, the style of it as well as how much is done.

In addition to your photos being a little weak (which many people will vote down on immediately, since you really can't see the thing properly to judge) you should definitely consider a multi-angle pic for the CMON gallery entry. Not essential but desirable, especially if you want to show off the work done on something - various parts of which can be best seen from specific directions.

Einion

 

[Dragonsreach]

Any idea why 3 of the 4 pics I did have which have been voted on (the three listed here going to my photobucket) are all back in waiting for approval status?

Yep they had all been reported as "Broken Images", when I released them this morning.
This is something we see a lot of with externally hosted images when people either, can't be bothered to wait for them to download or see part of the picture and then aren't interested in it.

 

[lomaxxdurang]

ah i love impatient people.

 

[BPI]

...With a black undercoat, that can provide definition - doing the same kind of paint job, but leaving a thin sliver of black edging each area, that "black lining" technique a great shortcut, and a decent place to build on with further shading.

I just tried to add you rep. for that Wyrmypops but the system rebelled! A nice & concisely written piece of good advice. It would have taken me rather more words Worth keeping in mind Lomax for trying out on your footmen :good:

Cheers, B.

 

[lomaxxdurang]

Im going to borrow my friends HD camera and then use some software I was shown to combine images so there is multiple views in one image so I guess we can see from there.