Moisture Vaporators

I don't often take pictures during each step of a project, but I thought it might be fun to try it this time. Who knows, I may paint some more moisture vaporators in the future and can look back at this for reference.

1. Prime white.
2. Airbrush a dark grey into the recesses.
3. Airbrush base coat of white, letting grey remain in recesses as a shadow.
4. Using a torn sponge (from discarded packign material), blot scracthes onto model using dark red-brown paint.
5. Apply weathering with a small brush. This includes chips of the same dark red-brown paint used previously, followed by spot washes of sepia ink, and finally black-lining around crevices with a dark grey enamel wash. Paint radar/antenna with silver paints.
6. Attach models to a base (already primed in black) and apply base material.
7. Paint a thin coat of a sand color to base material. Follow by re-applying a second thin coat.

Star Wars Legion B-1 Battledroids

Here's a batch of B-1 Battledroids I painted for Star Wars Legion. I followed Sorastro’s video where he almost exclusively used GW's contrast paints. This was my first time using the paint and it wasn't as easy to use as I imagined.

Here’s what I learned:

• Don’t treat GW’s contrast paints like GW’s shades.
• Unlike shades, contrast paints dry reasonably fast.
• Unlike shades, contrast paints transition to a glossy, sticky phase before they fully cure with a flat finish. If you touch the paint when it’s sticky, it will lift the paint and the spot will appear as nothing more than lightly tinted primer.
• If excess contrast paint is not removed, the final color can be much darker than you intended.

My technique was to first load my brush with water, wipe away the excess on a paper towel, then dip the brush into the paint and coat the model. I then quickly proceeded to wash out brush, load with contrast medium and wipe away the excess on a paper towel, and finally mop-up contrast paint from flat areas and high points on the model.

GW's contrast paints seem like an easy-to-use product for models that appear weathered. I'm not so sure about clean models, though. I have a box of Clone Troopers. Perhaps they'll be good candidates to explore that technique.