Elysean Drop Troops project log - Jan. 31 update

[hasdrubal]

My 2011 main gaming project is to build an Elysean air cavalry army under the Imperial Armour 8 rules. I want to be able to play under the standard IG codex rules should it be needed, so models and weapon choices need to be done with consistent proxying in mind as well.

I have always loved the Forge World Elysean Drop Troops and purchased the bulk of the forces needed for the army as my own Christmas present. After spending a fair amount of hours building the models and priming them, the first Veterans squad is reading for painting:



I’ve been in and out of the Hobby for the last 15 years or so, and resumed painting and gaming seriously (well, mostly building painting) a year and a half ago. This is the first time I work with resin and Forge World models, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the level of details on the models. I’ve also had a few nasty surprises, namely:
- Assembling the lasgun arms. They come with matching weapon arm and pointing arm, and were a pain to put together because of the quick drying time of superglue. I ultimately had to greenstuff a few gaps at the wrists.
- Converting the special weapons. I had to chop through the plasma guns of the weapons upgrade sprue in quite a few areas in order to make them fit with the arms and get a suitable pose. Considering the price of the models, I’d have expected the weapon to come with suitable arms, oh well.
- Gluing the shoulder pads definitely was a frustrating experience, as most pads will contact the torso by the side only.

I definitely recommend using gel superglue instead of liquid one, as it allows to fill in the tiny gaps that exist in some gluing areas. Some elements, such as the heads, almost require pinning to be glued in place.

All in all, the cleaning, cutting and assembly stage took around 13 hours, which is quite long! I expect it to decrease as I get more experience with the models, but I assume it will still take about 1 hour/model.

The models have been primed with Grey Primer (Vallejo Air Colors), thinned to a 1:1 ratio with Vallejo gloss varnish, and with the addition of a couple of Vallejo thinning medium. It was sprayed through the airbrush (I use a Haarder Steinbeck Evolution 2 in 1 with a 0.4 needle) at about 15 PSI. I then did a pre-shading by spraying Black (Vallejo Air Color) mixed with gloss varnish at a 1:1 ratio from below the model at around 10 PSI, and pre-highlighting by spraying White (VAC) mixed with gloss varnish at the same ratio and at the same pressure.

The color scheme I’ve chosen is based on the standard city/desert camo pattern adopted by the US Army. It will consist in light tan fatigues, light grey body armour and brown accents for the belts, straps and boots. I will try to post progresses as they occur during the month.

Thanks for reading, questions, comments and feedback are welcome!

[StillANoob]

Good luck with your project! Hope to see many more models.

SaN

[hasdrubal]

The painting is progressing rather well considering the amount of time I can dedicate to the models.



I’ve started by airbrushing the fatigues. Let me first explain the standard mix I’m spraying. It is a ratio of 3:1 Vallejo Air Color / Vallejo Gloss Varnish. After several trials, I’ve found this one to be the easiest to handle. The varnish acts as a needle polish and limits clogging as much as possible, while also enhancing the solidity of the layer. I tend to favour VAC over Tamyia or Lifecolor paints because the range of colors available is larger, and darker colors can be brushed on quite well.

So, I’ve started by spraying the whole model with a 1:1 Flat Tan / Radome Tan mix as the basecoat. I’ll need to be more careful nxt time to ensure every accessible area is sprayed, as some of them aren’t covered that well under a close examination. For a good tabletop standard, which is what I’m shooting for, it’s OK. I then shaded the fatigues by spraying straight Flat Tan from under the model is order to catch all the darkest recesses. I followed up with the first zenital highlight, straight Radome Tan, from an angle of about 35-40 degrees up. Again, I realized afterwards I should have made sure to catch all the model in the spray. As is, some legs didn’t receive that much paint, but again this is only noticeable on close-ups so it is acceptable as a first batch (and because the model will be washed with Devlan Mud later). I ended with a last zenital highlight of 1:1 Radome Tan / White, sprayed almost at a 90 degrees angle.
Those 4 layers took me about 2 hours of time, including the intermediate cleaning of the airbrush between layers.

I then brushed a 1:1 mix of Light Grey Green (VAC) / Glaze Medium on the fatigues padded areas. My intention was to give the pads a green hue with several glazes, you can tell from the picture I went a bit heavy-handed on this model. I’ll check later how I can patch it up with a light Rotting Flesh (GW Citadel) drybrush.

The third step was to paint all the armor pads and plates with Dark Sea Grey (Vallejo Model Color), which is a nice light-to-mid grey color. The pads are easy to paint, the body armor requires more attention has there are lots of details and recesses to catch. 2 layers are needed to get a nice coverage, and you can still notice some variations in color here and there. They focus towards the hard lines, which will ultimately be edge highlighted, so no need to handle them at that stage.

The skin received 2 layers of Flesh Tone (Vallejo Air Color) mixed with Glaze Medium to a 1:1 ratio. It will further be faded and highlighted.

The boots and gloves were painted with Leather Brown (VMC) to contrast from the lighter fatigues and armor, so was the neck strap of the helmet. At this stage, I am debating whether I should also paint some of the belts and straps (elbow and knee caps straps, trouser belt and straps) in this color or not. Doing so will enhance the readability of the model, but at the same time I want to retain a military feel to the painting, and most modern uniform have belts and straps of a matching color… What would you recommend?

[hasdrubal]

The basecoating is nearly fully done. The armor pipes and the firearms have been painted in Charadon Granite (GW Foundation) to contrast with the fatigues and body armor. The lasguns grip received 2 layers of Light Grey Green (Vallejo Air Color) to tie the weapon with the fatigues and make the gloves more noticeable.

Additional equipment (combat knifes, frag grenades) were painted in Boltgun Metal, and the coils of the Plasma Guns received a Mordian Blue (GW Foundation) basecoat, followed by Ice Blue, 1:1 Ice Blue / Skull White and finally pure Skull White (all GW Citadel) drybrushes to highlight them.



I’ve decided to experiment with oil paints to work on the visors in order to help with blending. The basecoat is Raw Sienna, with a Burnt Umber line at the top of the visor. The layers are then blended together. The last step is to wipe out the oil paint at the bottom of the visor to reveal the light tan underneath as a final highlight. I’m still experimenting with blending, so the results aren’t that nice, but they’ll hopefully improve.



As usual, comments and suggestions are welcome!

[chromepip]

I like the colour scheme. i don't know if it's the quality of the photo's but i don't see much shading on the fatigues. Is the bottom photo already shaded with Devlan mud?

[hasdrubal]

Thanks, I've been trying to define a color scheme that would look modern and avoid black.

You're correct, the fatigues haven't been washed yet, though they've received a zenithal highlight to define the areas hit by the light. I'll do the washes after all highlights are been done, which is what I am currently doing.

I'm not yet sure about whether I'll use Devlan Mud of Gryphonne Sepia for the wash. Maybe a wash of thinned Gryphonne Sepia, followed by Devlan Mud in the recesses only.

[hasdrubal]

I¡¦m making good progress on the Elyseans The basecoats are done, it¡¦s highlight time now!

The fatigues pads have been drybrushed with Rotting Flesh (GW Citadel), the armor pipes with a 1:1 Charadon Granite (GW Foundation) / Bleached Bone (GW Citadel) mix, then with pure Bleached Bone. The weapons have been edge highlighted with Dark Sea Grey (VMC). This last step took about 20 minutes per mini, a few more for the plasma guns¡K There are indeed numerous lines to hit! The boots and gloves received a Graveyard Earth highlight; I may end up doing a final Graveyard Earth / Bleached Bone one for the extreme ones.
The guns, pipes and metallic areas where then washed with thinned Badab Black (1:1 wash / VMC Glaze Medium); followed by a Boltgun Metal drybrush to highlight the metallics.

The fatigues had been basecoated and zenithally highlighted with my airbrush; which tends to flatten the recesses. I¡¦ve washed them with a 1:1 Gryphonne Sepia (GW Citadel) / Glaze Medium mix, holding the models upside down to better catch the folds.

The squad looks like this now:



To do:
- Edge highlighting of the body armour, followed by a very thin black wash to accentuate the recesses.
- Finalization of the leather parts with a Devlan Mud wash (and last highlight?)
- Rework the visors by adding a thin white edge at their bottom
- Edge highlight of the lasguns¡¦ grip with a lighter greyer version of the basecoat.
- Basing, with a urban theme. I¡¦ve got some Administratum parts to crush to add ruins ƒº

C&C, suggestions welcome!