Sword of Light--AGoAC + Beginner's Box Mechs

[MarauderD]

Just finished 1/2 of the mechs from the first two box sets.  These are my first painted minis in about 32 years!  I went with 5th Sword of Light for a paint scheme I thought I could handle. 







Group Shot:


So after watching B1b Flyer's Easy contrast Red video on camospecsonline, I thought I would give painting a shot again.  I took a gray Colormax primer as my base.  Then I liberally applied the CW Blood Angel's Red contrast paint.  First thing I noticed was that it came out a VERY dark red, because the primer was fairly dark.  Lesson learned there, I think. 

Next step was I did some drybrushing on the red with CW Tuskor Fur.  Unfortunately, that highlight came out more pink than rust red.  Another lesson learned.  (I'm not great with seeing variations in color, apparently.

Then I moved on to the black highlights with Vallejo Black.  That went alright.  Drybrushed on Vallejo Stonewall Gray.  That was the first step that I felt went fairly well.  It gave all the knuckles and gun barrels a nice effect.  Felt good that something went right!

On a different video I watched the artist do a full wash with Agrax Earthshade, so I gave it a go.  Very mixed bag there.  Now they are truly a dried blood reddish/brown.  Not the overall effect I was going for, but hey, this is a first try, right?

Lastly I used some CW Auric Armor Gold on the cockpits.  It actually went fairly smoothly (for me) and I thought they turned out well.  I've got some Fighting Piranha Decals on the way, but thought I'd post pics now that I'm done painting.

I wanted to shout out some thanks to WorkTroll and Weirdo for past encouragement in other threads.  I actually really enjoyed painting and have just started the other half in Lyran Guards colors (Razorclaw has given good advice here).  Thanks to B1b Flyer for those helpful videos.  I definitely wouldn't have tried this if I hadn't seen some examples online of the painting process.

Cheers all.

[Mecha82]

Those look really good. :thumbsup:

[RazorclawXLS]

Apart from that red being really dark for Sword of light, I don't see anything wrong with them. I am liking what I am seeing. I am impressed you did the cockpits and other details cleanly, taking into consideration that these are your first mechs after 30 years.

You can always redesignate them as mercs if the red bothers you, Marauder.

I would encourage you to do laser lenses and PPC effects, to break up that red somewhat.

[MarauderD]

Apart from that red being really dark for Sword of light, I don't see anything wrong with them. I am liking what I am seeing. I am impressed you did the cockpits and other details cleanly, taking into consideration that these are your first mechs after 30 years.

You can always redesignate them as mercs if the red bothers you, Marauder.

I would encourage you to do laser lenses and PPC effects, to break up that red somewhat.

You know what, I did do the PPC and medium lasers on that first group--they came out so dark, you'd need a flash to see them.  I thought about putting a dot of white paint to lighten them up, but don't have any white on hand yet.  I used some of the GW metallics you suggested in the Lyran Guards thread.  I did two coats of the blue for the PPC's, and a single coat for the Large Laser lens on the Thud (although that barrel is pointed nearly straight down).  I did a coat of green on the smaller medium laser ports on the Locust, Shad, Wolvie, and Thud.  I rewatched the video B1b did on lensing effects but wonder if those ports are so small it would be hard to get the layering effect he was demonstrating. 

I haven't purchased anything to seal them with yet, so I've got time to try to fine tune it.   

[jimdigris]

 :thumbsup:

[Elmoth]

You know, I am planning to paint my own Mercs a dark red, so your thread is a godsend to me. Great stuff and congratulations if these are your first.mechs in 3 decades. They came out better than mine will come for sure.

[worktroll]

Thumbs up on the metallic cockpits. I find I'm doing the same more & more, and buying metallic blues & reds to complement different paintschemes.

[RazorclawXLS]

You know what, I did do the PPC and medium lasers on that first group--they came out so dark, you'd need a flash to see them.  I thought about putting a dot of white paint to lighten them up, but don't have any white on hand yet.  I used some of the GW metallics you suggested in the Lyran Guards thread.  I did two coats of the blue for the PPC's, and a single coat for the Large Laser lens on the Thud (although that barrel is pointed nearly straight down).  I did a coat of green on the smaller medium laser ports on the Locust, Shad, Wolvie, and Thud.  I rewatched the video B1b did on lensing effects but wonder if those ports are so small it would be hard to get the layering effect he was demonstrating. 

I haven't purchased anything to seal them with yet, so I've got time to try to fine tune it.

For weapon effects don't apply more layers of gem stone colors on top of a gem stone color layer. If the layer bellow isn't dried, all you will get is a darker hue. They are meant to work that way. Where the color is thicker you get a darker hue, where it's thinner you get a lighter hue, that's how the jewel effect works.

I forgot to mention that, but I had the same problem with Awesome and his PPCs, the blue wasn't "shinning" enough. The PPC barrels are more recessed, so not enough light is reaching the gem stone color to give it that shinning jewel effect.

Paint another layer of metallic color you use for base and then do another layer of gemstone color on top of that. Try to get enough color on the brush to create a bead of color at the tip of it, and apply it in one touch. Try to get that color applied as bead/drop of color on the surface, don't smear it.

Also, I added a bit of a gloss paint on top of each weapon effect when they dried, for extra shine. Wouldn't hurt.

[MarauderD]

For weapon effects don't apply more layers of gem stone colors on top of a gem stone color layer. If the layer bellow isn't dried, all you will get is a darker hue. They are meant to work that way. Where the color is thicker you get a darker hue, where it's thinner you get a lighter hue, that's how the jewel effect works.

I forgot to mention that, but I had the same problem with Awesome and his PPCs, the blue wasn't "shinning" enough. The PPC barrels are more recessed, so not enough light is reaching the gem stone color to give it that shinning jewel effect.

Paint another layer of metallic color you use for base and then do another layer of gemstone color on top of that. Try to get enough color on the brush to create a bead of color at the tip of it, and apply it in one touch. Try to get that color applied as bead/drop of color on the surface, don't smear it.

Also, I added a bit of a gloss paint on top of each weapon effect when they dried, for extra shine. Wouldn't hurt.

Success!  You were right.  I'm still building my group of paints and didn't have a metallic silver.  So I picked up one and put it on top of where I needed the color, and then bam, it worked perfectly.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll post pics when the paint is dried.  The pop of color helps and is noticable.





Cheers,

Mad

[MarauderD]

So in the above pics I can see it came out a little too bright this time:  the PPC's on the Awesome and the Medium Laser port on the Wolverine may have a little too much pop.  That being said, I think the flash on my phone made it worse. 

Perhaps next time I'll try just using a dot of the metallic silver in the middle of the PPC and then a larger dot of the gemstone paint on top of that when the silver has dried. 

I'm satisfied that these are table ready for my skill level, so once my decals get here and I get them on, it'll be time to seal these up.  I'll probably add the Dragon, Panther, Jenner, and Spider from the Clan Invasion kickstarter to round this force out to two full lances next year when wave 2 finally ships.

[RazorclawXLS]

So in the above pics I can see it came out a little too bright this time...

Nyet, the rifle is fine.