More on the IF Drop Pod + Confessions of a Brush Killer

It's not much, but I finally found time to get around to painting more on the drop pod.  Like I said, not much.

All I did was start laying down a coat of P3 Thamar Black where I'm going to lay down metallic paint. This isn't the only part that'll be metal (thinking of P3 Pig Iron then some weathering/scorching from re-entry/dirt from landing effects).

Now to the confessions of a brush killer.  I usually used cheap crappy brushes because I mistreat my brushes.  Paint in the ferrules, splayed ends, all that junk.  I finally bought some higher quality brushes to help improve my skill.  I used a P3 small flat-brush (found at any webstore/FLGS who carries Privateer Press products) and I was using the Army Painter's Vehicle/Terrain brush.  TAP's brush was stiff, but it's about a quarter of an inch wide so the point is to lay down paint on large areas quickly.  I was quite impressed with the P3 brush and quickly found that I was abusing it by having black paint the first time I used it all the way in the ferrule; but there is redemption.  I picked up The Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver and I may have found salvation for my brushes.  Here's a pic of the brushes and the cleaner.

Anti-climactic pic, I know.  I may update when I have more black down, or the update may come sometime this summer when I have some metallic down.  Thanks for reading.

Drop Pod-Theory not in Practice: Primed

Once again, I'm attempting some "under-painting" with my primer to get some built-in shading.  First, I primed it all white with P3 primer.  (I want the yellow to really be bright.)

I was going to flip it upside down and spray with Armory Gray primer at a 45 degree angle to get shading.  I was out of gray, so I used black.  A little too stark, but I'm experimenting anyway.

Now for the yellow:

I did a little more tweaking with the yellow, attempting to cover up the black so it looks less black and more of a deeper shade of yellow:

The yellow itself is TAP's Daemonic Yellow primer and may be too thick to properly do what I'm trying, but it looks like it's working.  I'll eventually find the right balance.  Now onto actually painting it. 

WIP Drop Pod: Works in Theory, not in Practice.

I used to enjoy shooting pool with the kids when I did group-home work.  It was something they could completely own me in, and for them, who rarely had any control over anything in their lives, schooling the program manager felt good.  I had my high school physics class, so I feel like I have good grasp on vectors and other junk.  So, I can see my shot, how it lines up, angles, etc....  Take the shot, and miss.  In theory, I can see what is supposed to happen, in practice, well, it doesn’t happen.  Thus, drop pods.
 
I have my first 40k vehicle, the drop pod.  Some days, I am too incompetent for this hobby, but....  I wanted this drop pod, one that I can have closed until troop deployment, then open on the battlefield; so line of sight, can be actual line of sight.  Tricksy little bugger to put together, I get close, and realize I put all the harnesses together wrong and glued them in backwards.  Awesome.  I break the harnesses out of the drop pod, and think, hmmm, now it’s the drop pod for my still half finished dreadnought.  Fiddling around with opening/shutting doors and I realize that a lot of things just aren’t lined up “right.”  I make the decision to chalk it up to first time drop pod assembly and decide to glue the doors shut.  Some things still don’t line up properly, but here is the assembled picture:

 

Not too shabby, now let’s go stretch my painting muscles.  The plan is for it to be an Imperial Fist drop pod.  My painting also works more in theory and practice, but I’ll work on improving while painting.  I’m hoping for this year (2013) to finally finish at least one model to a level of personal acceptance.  (You see, I still haven’t played one single game.  I want to have a fully painted force ready for tabling prior to playing.  I know I’m never going to win a Golden Demon, and that’s not even my goal for painting.  My goal is to have a painted army.  Painted better than the “3-color minimum.”  Painted better than basic tabletop; and to be vain, just painted better than the average player’s army.  Pride cometh before the fall.)  I digress.  I’m going to attempt to do some underpainting for shading on this thing.  I want to have an airbrush before 2014, but for now I’m going to prime the entire thing white (P3 white) which is how I start all of my IF miniatures.  Then, I’m going to flip that thing upside-down, and lightly spray some Armory Gray (not my favorite brand of primer,  I prefer The Army Painter and P3, but I don’t like TAP’s regular line) at a 45 degree angle to get some shading.  Then, if necessary, flip it back right side up, and 45 degree the P3 white again to bring up my highlights.  Lastly, I’ll blast (lightly so I can get the yellow, and hopefully some natural shading) the entire model with TAP Daemonic Yellow for my base coat.  Let’s see if I get that far satisfactorily before I move on.  Pictures will come soon.  Thanks for reading.