Thursday 28 April 2016

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Jaguar

As mentioned last week, April's addition to my Shaltari escalation force is a Jaguar.
Much like my other Shaltari, I followed the same colour scheme, so I've written up a shortened version below as it's covered in-depth in other posts.

Like always colours are from the Valejo game colour range unless stated otherwise.


I started by undercoating white using Halfords white primer.
I then liberally smothered the model in Army Painter Strong Tone
Then once the Strong tone was dry I drybrushed several times with Bonewhite (72.034) (I defiantly did this time, well with most of the model anyhow, I some how forgot to drybrush the AA turret)
I then drybrushed Dead White (72.001) several times - you can see the difference between the main body and the AA turret.


The pads were painted Electric Blue (72.023)
Then the Gauss cannon, AA guns, leg joints and leg points were painted Chainmail Silver (72.053), then coated with GW Nuln Oil, once dry I lightly painted the areas Silver (72.052).



Next I drybrushed all over with GW Ceramite White. On previous models its shown and made a difference however this time I don't think it's shows as much. This could be because I used a different drybrush, I'm just not sure.
The canopies were painted with Black (72.051)
The models were then cleaned up where needed. After which they were coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies, and the Gauss cannon barrels.

Thursday 21 April 2016

Miniatures: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari:Jaguar

Among this months additions to my Shaltari escalation force is a Jaguar, here is my personal review of the model and my experience with building it.

The Packaging

I'm not really going to say much here, as it's the same for all Hawk blister, so I think going forward I'll skip this phase referring to "standard packaging" unless it changes.

The model

The model consists of 10 parts: 3 legs, 2 Gauss cannons, 1 leg-to-body piece (probably has a better name but I'm unsure), 1 twin AA gun, 1 AA turret, 1 cockpit and the main body.

The majority of the detail is exceptional, however some parts are lacking a little: The cockpit is very detailed on top however the underneath is blurred, and less detailed. Nothing big as it's underneath the model but it is a little disappointing.

Building the model

Once the excess resin had been removed (just some resin tags and some mold lines) it was building time!

Lessons had been learnt from building the Coyote and used a combination of superglue in the leg recess, water on the leg ball joint and patience. This worked a lot better than before, happy times.

I checked the gauss cannon holes and notices they had excess resin within, so carefully scraped it out with a craft knife, which allowed the guns to fit better - using the superglue technique mentioned above.

The AA turret was a little tricky, which I was surprised at after recently building 6 plastic Kukri (that's right folks I've bought another starter set). The issue appeared to be that the neck of the turret was wider than the pole which connects the AA guns. So after a little trimming on the turret neck the guns snapped into place, and a little superglue was added to secure them.

Within a fairly short period this Jaguar was built. I haven't glued the AA turret down to allow for all over painting and for ease of transport. I'm considering magnetising it but doing that on the coyote was a pain so I may not...haven't quite decided.

Friday 15 April 2016

Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari: Spirit Gates

While I was away on business I also painted my spirit gates but I have only just got around to writing up the process.

Much like the Yari I apologise for the change in photos and again I hope it doesn't distract from the painting process too much.

As ever paints described will be from the vallejo game colour range unless otherwise stated.


The spirit gates were under-coated white using Halford white primer, then liberally washed with Army Painted Strong tone.


Much like the Yari I definitely didn't paint over the wash with bonewhite and went straight to drybrushing with Dead White (72.001).


Next I painted the fins and transport crystal with Electric Blue (72.023)


Then I painted the transport nodes with Chainmail Silver (72.053), then carefully coated with GW Nuln Oil. Once the Nuln Oil dried I lightly painted with Silver (72.052).


Then tidied up the white areas where blue and silver had accidentally come into contact with it, after which I drybrushed GW Ceramite. Which really made the models pop however when drybrushing the fins it highlighted the imperfections.

Next I painted the canopies Black (72.051). Once dry I did a little tidying around the canopies and coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was applied to the black canopies and transport crystal.

Although I am generally pleased with the result I am a little disappointed as I feel the paint didn't cover the imperfections of the model as much as I had hoped.

Thursday 7 April 2016

Miniatures & Painting: Dropzone Commander - Shaltari:Yari

Sorry for the absence of a post last, this was because I was on holiday. Since being back I have given my blog a little organisation and have added pages for easier access to posts., I hope you find it useful. I know I have.

So in addition to my spirit gates I have some Yari to expand my 1k escalation force; I felt that the scout option was the right way to go.

As these are tiny models I will combine the miniature review with painting them.

The Packaging

As per previous posts these models come in a blister, which contains the models, firm foam and a card inlay

The models:

The model consists of 3 parts; vehicle body, turret and weapon. You get the choice of both Microwave gun and AA, but you can only build one type per model (unless you can work some wonder with tiny magnets).

The detail on these models is typical Hawk quality, which was a nice relief following the disappointment with my spirit gates.

Building/Painting the models:
This section/post type has been combined as I didn't want to finish building the model until they were fully painted so not to obscure any part  of them and to get an all over paint job.

As ever paints described will be from the vallejo game colour range unless otherwise stated.

You'll notice that these pictures are different to the normal format, this is due to being on a business trip when painting them. I hope it doesn't distract too much from the progress pictures.


The Yari were under-coated white using Halford white primer, then liberally washed with Army Painted Strong tone (I know I must have shares in the stuff). Now this stage was an absolute arse; due to the numerous holes, and indentations. I had to apply coat after coat of strong tone directly into those areas.


This time I definitely didn't paint over the wash with bonewhite and went straight to drybrushing with Dead White (72.001), which as you can see created a dirty white, so this stage shouldn't be skipped (especially when lots of strong tone has been used)


Here I painted the fins with Electric Blue (72.023)


Next I painted the weapons with Chainmail Silver (72.053), then carefully coated with GW Nuln Oil. Once the Nuln Oil dried I lightly painted with Silver (72.052).


Then tidied up the white areas where blue and silver had accidentally come into contact with it, after which I drybrushed GW Ceramite White including the microwave gun silver area but avoiding the AA guns silver areas.

Next I painted the canopies Black (72.051). Once dry I did a little tidying around the canopies and coated all over with Matt Varnish (70.520), followed by Gloss Varnish (70.510) which was only applied to the black canopies.

There we have it, four complete Yari: 2 with microwave guns, 2 AA. These are fiddly little models that go together nicely and although painting them meant painting most of my fingertips (and using lots of strong tone in the initial stages). I have learnt not to skip stages if I want a cleaner looking white...but maybe a dirty white works for scout units.

Tuesday 5 April 2016

Painting: Wasteman - Cybjorgs

A while back, prior to the DZC escalation league, I painted up my Wasteman Cybjorgs. Here is how I did it:

Paints mentioned are from the Vallejo Game Colour range unless other indicated.


First the models were given a good overall undercoat using Halfords Matt Black. Once dry the areas of skin were given several coats of Tan (72.066) to provide a consistent coat.


Next the skin areas on the models were drybrushed several times with Dwarf Skin (72.041)


Then the skin areas were lightly drybrushed with Elf Skintone (72.004)


Next the areas of skin were given a liberal coat of Army Painter Soft Tone. Now I don't usually use Soft Tone opting to use a darker wash more, but for these Cybjorgs I didn't want to lose too much of the skin tone I had already built up, but I did want to darken the folds in the skin, and I feel that soft tone worked well.


Once the soft tone dried I mixed Pale Flesh (72.003) and Elf Skintone (72.004), then drybrushed it all over the skin areas


This picture covers a lot of different stages:
The metal areas were painted with Chainmail Silver (72.053), then washed with GW Nuln oil before painting with Silver (72.052)
Tubing was painted with GW black, & Cold Grey (72.050) then washed with Army Painter strong tone
The wires were painted with Bloody Red (72.010), Electric Blue (72.023) & Sun Yellow (72.006)
The weapons were painted with yellow then Sun Yellow (72.006), then Moon Yellow (72.005)
Their tongues were painted with red and their sensors with Bloody Red (72.010)
Weapons were painted with GW black


The guys on the left and in the middle were painted similar to the guys above:
The metal areas were painted with Chainmail Silver (72.053), then washed with GW Nuln oil before painting with Silver (72.052)
Tubing was painted with GW black, & Cold Grey (72.050), then washed with Army Painter strong tone
The shoulder pads, "cups" and weapons were painted with GW black

The guys on the right was my first attempt at NMM, not the greatest but I was relatively happy with it and too lazy to strip to start again - more practice is needed for sure.
Starting with Cold Grey (72.050), then attempt at Stonewall Grey (72.049) before highlighting with Dead White (72.001)


In this final picture you can see that the areas around augmented parts have been painted red to reflect the scarring. This was a mix of Squid Pink (72.013) & Bloody Red (72.010). This was initially too bright and looked like fresh wounds which isn't what I intended so I drybrushed Elf Skintone (72.004) over it.

I then drybrushed the black areas with Stonewall Grey (72.049).

I added hazard lines to the "crushing claw" of  then dabbed Gory Red (72.011) over the "teeth".

Finally I varnished them with Matt Varnish (70.520)