Cockroach Coloured Tyranids, a Blackadder Work in Progress

[Canny]

I often wonder about that too, brought my airbrush from supercheap auto for about the same price. I often wonder how much better the results could be with a higher quality one. Any how keep up the good work, I wouldnt be too worries about the blotches I agree with Wargamer afew discolourations and scars on such beat would be in keeping.

 

[Blackadder]

Thanks,

The Gargoyle Brood:

Well the Gargoyles have finally caught up to the rest of the army; interesting how I found them the most trying to do of all the denizens.


I would be interesting to see these flying in formation with the Harridan on a gameboard.


http://i.imgur.com/a56c9OZ.jpg

Figure included for scale...........


http://i.imgur.com/OC9OhJl.jpg

So the next step I guess is to finish up the orange wash on all the pieces.........mebbe tomorrow.


A couple of off white balance images to round off the evening:


http://i.imgur.com/yKzQ2mW.jpg

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

 

[Demihuman]

Yeah, those are going to be seriously imposing on a table. I would love to see some pics with a different colored background. I think the cardboard is killing the richness of your painted browns.

 

[Meph]

Aye, a white or black background would do wonders to those wonders.

 

[Blackadder]

Okay a white background

Hodgepodge:

I needed to see where I stood regarding going to the next step in the sequence of steps to a completed Tyranid army.


okay so the box at the right are the components that still need to have the chitin skutes edged with 'Light Brown' and the box on the left are ready for the 'Orange' highlight. I managed to do about a third today so what is in the box to the right are what remain to be done..........


http://i.imgur.com/Q8xpQkm.jpg

On an aside the Bio-titans are ready for the 'Orange' highlights and don't figure in to this and are not in either box.


What are in the box are the:


Trygon 50% ready


Carnifex 50% ready


Tyrannofex 50% ready


Hive Tyrant 100% ready


and the Termagant Brood 100% ready.


and it just dawned on me I have to figure out what parts go to what beastie?


Ha!

 

[Demihuman]

and it just dawned on me I have to figure out what parts go to what beastie?

Details... how hard can it be???

Browns look better BTW. Orange is going to be great on that.

 

[Zab]

Oh my God, those look nice already

 

[Meph]

Yeah, those colours, do give them a lifelike touch. Hell, I'd put my foot on them if I saw them lying around on the floor.

 

[Blackadder]

The problem is I seem to have reached personal apex with the Tyrannofex body (Seen at the top center of the right box) which was right before my trip to Florida. The technique I had to achieve that level of realism I seem to have lost even with the Bio-Titans. Nothing else I have done compares with the pearly luster and translucent depth of that effort witness the Carnifex body top left box opposite the Tyrannifex..........

Now do I continue with the mediocre in comparison rest of the pieces or try to regain that lost technique; that Tyrannifex will stick out like a petunia in an onion patch?

 

[Meph]

By all means continue what you started, what are you, French?
You can always experiment a bit on the different units. This might give a slightly different look to different subspecies, but that might even be a good thing. Y'know, you can try dry-sponging on some spots here and there (using the same colours) to add some more variation to the pattern here and there. Spots, streaks, stripes, blotches, subtle colour variation. lots of stuff you can do while layering up the carapaces. Between every layer, give them a coat of varnish (satin or gloss). This will create depth to the finished paintjob. Any glossiness can be controlled by a last layer of whatever varnish.

 

[Blackadder]

No not French, my mother had me tested.............

However:

A Question of Acrylic Paint Thinners:

I'm running out of Airbrush thinner and was about to order some on Amazon but the shipping costs are prohibitive.


Then I read a critique on the AV Vallejo paint thinner and the Tamiya Thinner and was apprised that Vodka was an excellent replacement for the much more expensive commercial thinners
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]So I am going to try using Vodka to thin my paint........ with[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Perhaps a drop or two of dry Vermouth[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]What next Blackadder; an olive perhaps? [/FONT]

 

[Blackadder]

Hive Tyrant:

The Hive Tyrant was my first Tyranid unfortunately a metal construct (Metal is good thought I) so it will be the first to receive full treatment starting with the 'orange' highlights.


Spraying on an Orange 50/50 dilute AV Model Air at the lightest spray my 0,5 orifice Point Zero PZ360XS airbrush can achieve deposited just a hint of highlight, my first attempt earlier this year made everything too orange.


http://i.imgur.com/XqcT0Wh.jpg

I assembled the basic 'Tyrant legs, head, and tail fortunately the weapons clip on so but sets temporarily attached:


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

This beastie will have wings (purchased separately ebay) so the redundant weaponry is just for show the other CC armoury will be magnetically attached........


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

Next will come the satin varnish which I'll apply tomorrow after the acrylics have completely dried.


http://i.imgur.com/x4Cd6fR.jpg

Then the fine detail colours; teeth, veins, black talons, pink and purple poison sack etc will be applied. perhaps the points and edges will stop shedding paint every time the model is touched.


Now for a well deserved tumbler of my special blend paint thinner....Cheers!

 

[Demihuman]

How's the vodka working out for you? I wonder if rubbing alcohol and water might be the cheapest way to go. On the other hand, a quart or two of decent booze stashed with the airbrush kit in the garage is something that every married painter definitely needs!

One thing that I have noticed in my limited painting experience is that with a color like orange over neutral tones a narrow, slightly more saturated band, might work better then a less saturated overall tint. The neutral color will really promote the orange and you'll get a little more contrast overall.

A lot of the guys that paint NMM gold will just blend from brown to white and then come back in and add a little band of yellow on either side of the white and that seems to work out very nicely.

 

[Blackadder]

A Study In Black:

A very productive day although the images belie the effort.


After applying a satin varnish to about all the pieces of the various models I spent a substantial portion of my modeling time to applying black paint to the claws and talons of all my Tyranid army.


Below is a representative of these so I am in phase three of four the project where after applying the varnish.


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

http://i.imgur.com/BnvyLe5.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S5UYoAP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AtAHD9S.jpg

Still to do is the teeth and the various washes and of course the final assembly.

 

[wargamesculptor]

These just keep getting better and better the black claws are a really nice touch

 

[Meph]

Aye, black, glossy claws go great with brown 'nid, olives, and wodka.

 

[Blackadder]

Ah sculptor and Meph you're always in my corner............TYVM

Rhymes With Orange Again:


Was this over the top, I can't tell.

I'm hoping I didn't go too far with the orange highlight and the oil wash will tone it down a tad. I certainly need to blend the tail into the body and the black spurs I hope are not a mistake.


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

http://i.imgur.com/J5XLKfU.jpg

The red mouth and tongue are only base coated and will be subdued with purples and blues and black oil wash


http://i.imgur.com/Von3NTm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QW74VuP.jpg

Perhaps I should have primed the d-mned thing grey and let it go at that.........

Full sized image links operating now; Note to Mods, can this glitch be repaired?

 

[wargamesculptor]

Liking the orange tinge, once you use the oil wash should show up the striation nicely while toning the colour down a bit.
You could also try green on the tongue, works well as a venomous tinge

 

[Canny]

I think its good, it needed to be broken up a bit and that looks great!
Very Cockroachy

 

[Blackadder]

Thanks, the oil wash will deepen the spaces between the ribs on this relatively basic FW model. Both this and the Harridan were the easiest resin models I've done as they both have flaws but the genera deems flaws as a benefit much as the Chaos Warhound which I shall be pursuing next.

The tongue and the mouth will probably be subdued with purples and blues and oil wash black; green I feel would be a bad departure from the overall look but may make for an interesting ammunition or slobber residue; there certainly is precedence for Tyranid toxic slime.