Marvel Crisis Protocol by Lawnor

It’s Friday evening and it’s time to test my airbrush and it works better than it has in a while!  Brilliant!  I have plans for it.  First up, the metallics on Ultron and Iron man.  I have a copy of Reapers Hammer and Anvil paint set which I don’t use often.  I’ve found they airbrush well, but I haven’t had good coverage through a regular brush so I don’t use them often.  I thought this would be a good time to use them.

Dark: Reaper 09205 Blackened Steel
Midtone: Reaper 09053 Hones Steel
Light: Reaper 09054 polished Silver
Pinwash GW Nuln Oil

I began with a single all over coat of the dark colour, allowing it to be thin and transparent from the underside.  I then went in for another coat or two from the sides and above only.  I want it to look more black from the undersides.

I then mixed in a little of the midtone and did a lateral and zenithal spray, leaving some of the previous layers showing.  Then came a more targeted layer of just the midtone, then the midtone with some light, then just the light.  The next day, once it was all dry, I pin washed with some GW Nuln Oil to provide deep shading.

The blacks were the other airbrush mission.  I’ve a triad of paints for this from an old Asset Drop box:

Dark: Revell Tar Black 36106
Midtone: Revell Gunship Grey 36174
Light: Light Grey 36176
Wash: Vallejo 72.094 Black Ink mixed with Instar Water+

I repeated the same method as with the metallics above.  I didn’t worry about pushing the blacks too white as they’ll get knocked back down after, although I never airbrushed pure Light grey.

Once they’d been left overnight to dry (I’ve had issues with airbrushed paints reactivating in the past so I’m a little paranoid / overly cautious) I went for the wash.  I’ve been told that adding water to a wash leads to tide marks, so I thinned down some black ink with Instar’s Water+ instead, maybe to 50/50, but probably favouring the ink more.  Everything got a coat and was left to dry.  I decided they needed a second.  Your mileage may vary.

I’m now 3 evenings and an extra hour-ish and I’ve gone from sprues to having a lot of work done, ready for hairy brushing.  It’d likely be 4 evenings if I’d had to build everyone.