Clan Hell's Horses Alpha Galaxy painting log.

[willydstyle]

I'm just getting back into the hobby, so I figured I would start with a unit that I had collected minis for and planned on painting over a decade ago  :D

I ordered some Vallejo paints because they were my favorite back in the day, and picked up the rest at a local game store: Mindtaker Miniatures in Vancouver, Washington. I highly recommend this store as they had a great selection of miniatures, and had these painting and modeling kits that are just a very good value, as well as having extremely helpful and friendly staff.



When I got home, I put on a background movie and got to painting. Here is a WIP pic of a Grendel and an Epona.



It's slow going, but one of the things I appreciate about BT is that I can play with a relatively few number of units so I can just relax and paint slow without having to worry about getting a big army done.

Sorry for the size of the photos. Imgur used to allow an easy resize but I'm not sure how to resize photos these days.

Edit: figured out how to resize photos

[avon1985]

Sweet! :thumbsup:

[willydstyle]

I'm pretty happy with these considering they're my first minis in a decade, but I feel like I didn't do as well as I'd like with the cockpits and lenses. I should do something with the base on the Epona though.

A quick review of the incredibly-cheap brushes I purchased: they were about as good as you'd guess for brushes that come 10 for $4. I think they'll be fine for base coats and such, but I ended up buying an army painter insane detail brush because none of the brushes in the cheap set were anywhere near close to small enough for cockpits and such.

[Louie N]

It is good work.  I think you fixed the picture size Thank you.

I like the basing.  It feels like desert or plains. 

[jimdigris]

 :thumbsup:

[RazorclawXLS]

I'm pretty happy with these considering they're my first minis in a decade, but I feel like I didn't do as well...

Mate, you did a bang up job after a 10 year hiatus. I had a year and half pause in painting, and it felt like I have never taken a brush in my hand.

[willydstyle]

Mate, you did a bang up job after a 10 year hiatus. I had a year and half pause in painting, and it felt like I have never taken a brush in my hand.

Thank you for the very kind words :)

[willydstyle]

Next up on the painting bench, a Clan Invasion box set Executioner, converted to the A configuration with 4 ERML and 3 LPL. Primed (but not Prime) and ready to go!

[willydstyle]

I finished this paint job today. I feel like I need to start thinning my paints more. Also I spend a *lot* of time on each mini layering different shades of each color, and IMO the results that are not worth the time investment. I feel like I should look up some tutorials on how to do legit glazing techniques, or just give up and wash and drybrush everything. I also didn't do the cockpit jeweling on this one because it felt too recessed and too small. While I like the new art for these mechs quite a bit, I kinda miss the old huge cockpits that were easy to paint. I also should have spent more time cleaning up mold lines! Any feedback including constructive criticism welcome :)

[Mecha82]

Very nice. :thumbsup:

[IAMCLANWOLF]

Very nice mod work. Lovin' the Exie A. Very sharp!...  8)

[Crimson Dynamo]

That is really some very impressive work, all the more for being a decade out of the hobby! This is a strange complement I know, but you paint grey beautifully!

[willydstyle]

That is really some very impressive work, all the more for being a decade out of the hobby! This is a strange complement I know, but you paint grey beautifully!

Not a strange compliment at all. You've acknowledged that I achieved what I wanted with the grey, which is a great compliment. Thank you :)

[willydstyle]

I thought my Executioner needed some detail in the head area to feel complete, so I added some "face paint" and tried to give the tiny tiny cockpit windows a bit of an amber glow.



Then next up on the paint bench, a Nova and Adder. I thinned the primer more for these mechs and IMO they have a smoother and more consistent primer layer, so it feels like it was the right move. I feel like I'm starting to get a better feel for paint consistency again, a skill that had obviously atrophied.

[willydstyle]

Finished the Adder and Nova! Now I'm only one tank away from having a full 4 mechs + 2 vees star.

WIP to show the first steps of my process. I thinned my primer a bit more and am much happier with how smooth both the primed coat and the resulting finish came out. I meant to take more WIP photos because I've been asked process questions on my reddit posts about these mechs, but then I got caught up in painting and forgot.



This pre-basing photo I think shows the edge highlighting on the top of the minis pretty well. I changed my method up for both the red and grey for these mechs, going for darker tones on each. The process for the grey was the initial priming and washing steps, then a drybrush of my base grey paint mixed with a few drops of black, then manually painting panels and raised areas with the same mix. I lightened up the grey a for very raised/exposed surfaces, then finished off with some light edge highlighting with the pure grey paint.

I'm super happy with the red IRL though I don't think the shading shows up well in these photos. For previous mechs I started with my base red darkened up with a few drops of green, then finished with an orange highlight. This caused the red to read as orange to some people. So for these mechs, I started by darkening my base red with blue instead of orange, then working up to a pure red highlight. I think the results read as red much better, and in-person the shading is very pretty. I should probably figure out a better photography setup!



And then here are the finished mechs with bases painted and jeweling on the Adder's ERPPCs. I'm not real happy with the bases or canopies on either of these, so it definitely feels like three steps forward, two steps back, but I definitely have learned a lot about my process and re-learned what good paint consistency feels like while working on these mechs.

[warriorsoul]

 I think the cockpits look great, it's a strong contrasting color choice which is often more important than technical perfection in applying it.

[willydstyle]

Even though technically the Hell's Horses don't tend to use mixed-unit Stars, I'm going to go ahead and say this is my first completed star!

Since the process of painting this unit involved me re-learning how to paint, you can see that the units are not very uniform. For example I decided I wanted darker overall red and grey, so the earlier mechs I painted almost read as grey and orange rather than grey and red as I wanted. I also experimented with different techniques and colors trying to get the sand dune base effect, to mixed success IMO. Same for cockpits. I still don't quite have a method down that I love, although I do have to admit the cockpit windows on these modern sculpts tend towards the small. Overall I'm quite happy with how this unit looks, however.



Here's a close-up of the last Epona I painted. I was going for red lightning on the sides of this tank and it looks OKish.



The elementals were quite fun to paint despite some imperfections in the sculpt/mold. For no particular reason I decided one point of Elementals would have a red chevron on their chest, and the other point would have a single red shoulder.





I have some Enyo tanks and a bunch of mixed BA and Clan Jump Infantry that I want to paint in this unit's colors still, but I don't have some supplies I'd want to do them right, so they might need to wait until I have a bit more hobby budget. This might be the last update to this log for a while. We'll see I guess!

[Sjhernan3060]

Next up on the painting bench, a Clan Invasion box set Executioner, converted to the A configuration with 4 ERML and 3 LPL. Primed (but not Prime) and ready to go!

We love to hear a comeback story! May I ask where you got the arm swamps?

[willydstyle]

We love to hear a comeback story! May I ask where you got the arm swamps?

They aren't full arm swaps, I just hacked the hand and lasers off the right arm, moved those lasers over to the left arm, then added the lasers (with some dremel modification) from the Heavy Laser variant of the Nova to he right arm.

[worktroll]

Loving the look, and considering adding the scheme to my Grand Plan.

Couple of suggestions you might want to think about for the Epona:

- For the lava slashes along the side, get a fine-ish point black felt pen (I use the Uniball Micro 0.5mm, more reliable than the thinner pens) and underline their bottom side. It'll add contrast & definition.

- For the missile tips, if you're happy to, paint the missile bumps white, or lighter grey, then use a thick-tip felt pen to add the missile heads.

[Louie N]

You did a great job. 

[Gladius-XC]

I really like your minis, and enjoy hearing your thoughts as you try out different things.  You repainted the cockpit in the Adder, didn't you?  The highlight in the group shot is in a different location than in the picture with just the Nova.  It looks better!

What camera are you using?  Your photos are nice and crisp, which I haven't yet achieved with the crappy iPhone camera that I'm using.

[MarauderD]

Suggestion:  Adder Left arm is a little bent--two solutions (only one applicable here)

1.  Before you prime, get some boiling water in a coffee cup.  Use tweezers to dip bent joint in there.  Straighten to your liking, and then dip in cold water to set it.  Boom, straight arm.

2. After painting, you've only got one option.  Hair dryer, on hot, 15 seconds.  Try to just get the wonky joint, but it's pretty hard to do so.  Then bend joint until you are satisfied.  Then stick in your fridge for 1 minute.  Straighter arm, and also can be done on a finished.

[willydstyle]

I've wanted this mini for a while, but I've been focusing on a different project, but here's Alpha Galaxy's newest Gargoyle C. I'm experimenting with inks for shading, and was going for a more dramatic contrast between dark and light on this mini. I think it looks less clean, but I like the effect at tabletop distance.

[willydstyle]

I really like your minis, and enjoy hearing your thoughts as you try out different things.  You repainted the cockpit in the Adder, didn't you?  The highlight in the group shot is in a different location than in the picture with just the Nova.  It looks better!

What camera are you using?  Your photos are nice and crisp, which I haven't yet achieved with the crappy iPhone camera that I'm using.

Thank you! Sorry it took a while to get this feedback but I haven't been checking this thread. I did repaint the cockpit on the Adder, and I like this result better.

I'm using the camera on my old pixel 2, which was pretty good for the era and continues to work well, but I have to be careful with lighting to get nice clar photos.

[willydstyle]

A couple of Hephaestus finished? I think these are probably good for the tabletop, but I wish they had more of a visual focal point? Should I hit the guns with some metallics?

[Charistoph]

I usually color my weapon ports in metals to help them stand out.  That could work here.

[willydstyle]

I have no idea if anyone except for me can tell the difference, but I wasn't happy with how sloppy the cockpit windows and a lot of the highlight layers were so I went back and cleaned this up quite a bit.

I also like the basing here better than the painted on sand dunes, so I'm thinking of going back and doing the whole force like this.

Does anyone have any feedback on what effect the base of the Gargoyle looks like? I have an idea of what I was trying to achieve but I wonder of it translates.

[God and Davion]

It is nice to see how you are slightly improving with each one. The shadows and panel lines look better now and the paint is more even now. Well done. Not much to add to improve. The basing is good, but some acrylic paste and flocking would help a lot. Keep them going! Might before metal!

[willydstyle]

Two Hephaestus and an Enyo. Tried doing OSL around the cockpits and didn't quite achieve it IMO but otherwise I'm pretty happy with these. I might try to add mud splatter?