Slave horde strip

Slave horde strip

Tuesday 15 March 2011

One Tip to Change your Hobby - Physical Metal

     Here lies one of the biggest tips to rule them all. So big that it is in fact staring you in the face - why paint metal on a model made of the actual stuff? Yes - I'm talking about using the metal of the model, rather than paint it. Don't spray up your mini - you can base coat him later. To do this just take a piece of fine sandpaper/wet wet n' dry, and abrade the surfaces of your model which are meant to be metal 'till they are relatively flat. Then get an object like my trusty 'metal-ended' pen (it can be anything with an edged - not sharp - hard metal surface) and scrape in any direction. You should notice a magnificent polished finish is appearing on your metal model, like a superbly polished armour plate. Just water right down some black paint and wash it into the recesses of the to represent metal parts of your model. When it is half dry, rub your finger in the direction that is not against the recesses, once, on the washed areas - to naturally highlight and remove wash from the higher points of the model. You can glaze it to dull it up/colour it if you want from here, but otherwise - it's done! Very simple, time saving, and as real as the real thing!

I tried it out on an Uruk-Hai - a bit shiny for one, but never the less a great test piece. Came out awesome first time!

Anything like this will do! - Use any metal bit for different tasks!

2 comments:

  1. Heh - good bit of lateral thinking - for batch-painting large numbers of gaming pieces, you've saved a lot of people a lot of time I think!

    Here's an additional thought - after a while I guess the shiny surfaces that you've exposed to air might start to dull as they oxidise. I wonder whether a quick coat of varnish would be advisable to seal the surface away from the air and preserve the finish? - or alternatively you can just give the area a quick buffing every now and then to keep it shiny.

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  2. Thanks! You're right about the varnish thing - the guy who wrote the modelling book I got it from said to do just that - he said you should tint the varnish with black, or dark yellow (for bronze e.t.c.).

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