Orinoco's Occasional Forge Fathers Project

Next in the painting queue was some Steel Warrior Specialists that I had assembled a while ago but not primed.  This allowed me to use a different primer to try and skip a step.  The result was a bit darker, but for me close enough to stand side by side and just claim that the older one has been window weathered (apparently someone did this in a magazine once).

The lighting is slightly different as I had a led bulb’s driver explode so got rid of the whole batch and got a different brand that are hopefully more reliable.

This is just the first entry for the batch I’ve painted.  I’ll post the rest over the next few days.

What I did:

• Primed – Vallejo Russian Green Primer
• Washed – Paynes Grey Ink (Daler Rowney) homemade wash (https://www.beastsofwar.com/featured/gerry-can-how-to-make-diy-professional-washes/)
• Dry brushed – Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color)
• Painted any cloth Green Grey (Vallejo Model Color) followed by a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone and another dry brush of Pale Sand
• Glaze* – Reflective Green (Vallejo Model Color) and some Vallejo Glaze Medium was applied to the armour to tint the highlights and smooth out the armour
• Anything that was going to be metallic was painted black
• Purple – Sam Lenz’s How to Paint Glowing Eyes – Painting With the Pro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOCaK3H-EmM  using Purple Ink and White paint
• Base – IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer) then rimmed with Heavy Grey (Vallejo Game Extra Opaque)
• Gloss Varnish
• Basing Material – Home made mixture of bird sand and stuff https://www.beastsofwar.com/featured/gerry-can-how-to-make-custom-basing-mix/
• Matt Varnish (Not really matt more of a satin but I’ve got tons of the stuff Vallejo Matt Varnish)
• Metallics – Base coated Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color) mixed with a spot of Panzer Dark Grey (Vallejo Model Air)
• Metallics – Washed with Army Painter Strong Tone
• Metallics – Highlighted with Silver (Vallejo Game Color) mixed with a spot of white

*At the moment when I’m glazing I put a drop of Vallejo Glaze Medium on my wet palette separate from the paint, then dip the tip of my brush into the medium then the paint and mix that small amount separately on another part of the palette.  I find that if I mix more than the amount I want on my brush the mixture absorbs too much water from the palette.  Conversely using a dry palette increases the working time considerably compared to just paint but the mixture is obviously drying out and becomes thicker over time.

As mention previously Medium Olive (Vallejo Model Air) is a match for Reflective Green (Vallejo Model Color).  The Model Color of Medium Olive does not match either.