OK, no… Stripping was actually the right move! I might need moisturizing cream on my hands for the next couple of weeks, but the paint was finally gone. 96º Ethanol did the trick. I was sensible enough to be using a respirator (a real one, not like those used to stop deadly pathogens this days) and I saved myself a couple neurons for later use.
I was not going to repeat the six layers of thinned down white by brush, again… So it was time for a change of plan, scheme and approach. I’m going for black armor, now… let’s see how fancy I manage to pull it off, without making it tedious, but leaving room for improving through more of the fancy styles I’m currently learning through the last projects.
So I hit the familiar black primer, which I had in canned form… if being of the Vallejo brand, it’s more matt than I would like it for those deep forgotten shadows, but did the job!
I had a moment of doubt on the next step to take… I’ve been liking the start from a nice gradient made with spray-cans (something tells me I would enjoy having an airbrush) so going back to the not making it tedious, I kept thinking about how the metallics have been kind of a nightmare to paint in either with the right coverage, or without unwanted texture issues… Due to the very nature of the paint, I’m afraid… So while it wasn’t going to be predominantly seen as a big portion of the foreseen finished thing, I decided to get the silvers out of the way, and set my base and first shadow values out of an overall metallic coverage of the whole miniatures. I also used some color in there, an opposing hue of both lilac and teal, it gets mostly covered, and more to come, but it does make the metal a lot more rich! I intend to use it as a guide to highlight or shade the base colors that will be applied to the other parts… Or that’s the game-plan! I had tested this in what I had called “my 30 seconds Necron” at the base of the Indomitus Primaris Captain…
To really test things out, at least one step in advance… (no 3d chess, here) I’m using a goofy looking Khorne Berserker I had laying around, conveniently black primed already… I’m throwing all my bad ideas at him, before I need to make another stripping exercise on my sweet five little angels… of death and zealotry, don’t get any stripping ideas. Because this girls are not about that… like.. at all.
With those opposite sided colors stablished over the black primer, I then used a neutral metallic over the main front and back sides, keeping the angle straight. I reinfroced that with a zenithal of chrome.
A lot more promissing this time around! No squeaky-clean white layer to start from, but rather an already quite grimdark-looking base, with some interesting hues already in there… and I might need to touch up, and fix blunders here and there, but having the dreaded metallic grays I had planned for those wings, chains and trims… it’s a huge weight off my dedication/enjoyment balance for this kind of thing.
Have already started working on the black, and tomorrow I will hopefully share the whole stage finished on the five, and more if I have the time.
On the other side of the deal… The bid on that pack of Dark Angels on eBay has finished with it being sold to a gentleman in Italy, for the minimum price set… No bidding war, I’m afraid, but the little money it brought, will help, and… weather it reached a fair price (for my ego) or not, at least I’m proud of what I have put out there, and I want to think, that person will think that he scored some nice miniatures! And better even… Imagine they actually get to see some gameplay! Could have gone better, but I’m actually happy that I sold them!
Túbal Villar - Virakotxa 