Spring Clean 2023. Painting everything from 2022

(Apologies for the bad photos).

1. Primed with IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer), then dry brushed with Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color) followed by Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) on the upper areas.

2. Home made Payne’s Grey wash (Payne’s Grey Ink plus Gerry Can wash making).

3. Sepia ink mixed with glaze medium.

4. Brown ink mixed with glaze medium missing out the bridge of the nose.

5. Second glaze of Brown ink mixed glaze medium, then Payne’s grey wash in the shadows.

Nose and claws: Black Ink,  Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air) highlight and Sepia ink glaze

Eyes: Chocolate Brown, then Black Ink pupil and dot of Ivory

Varnished gloss then matt (not really matt more of a satin) varnish.

6. Mouth: Tan Earth then highlighted with a mix of Tan Earth and Bone White.

Teeth: Bone White (Vallejo Game Color) with a Ivory highlight followed by a glaze of Orange Rust.

Wanted a simple scheme for my GCPS so that it’s not too much hassle when it comes to painting the army.

The kit consisted of  hard plastic bodies for the Riot Troopers and Resin for everything else.  5 Riot Troopers and 2 Tac Drones.

The weapon options for the Tac Drones can be just placed in, but you could use blu tac or magnets.  There was 2 of every Tac Drone weapon.

Photo 1: Primed IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer).

Washed with a home made Payne’s Grey Wash (There’s a Gerry Can).

Overbrushed with German Cam Beige WWII (Vallejo Model Color).

Photo 2: Drybrushed Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color).

White Ink in the centre of the riot shield glass and TAC Drone lens, followed by blue ink  over the glass and lens.

Photo 3: Sepia ink on grip/racking mechanism on underside of shotgun then a drybrush of Pale Sand (Not shown in photo but can be seen later on).

Gun barrels painted Black

Varnished Gloss then Matt.

Gun barrels painted with a mix of Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color), Panzer Dark Grey (Vallejo Model Air) and Airbrush Thinner.

Black Shade wash in between barrels.

The Vallejo Model Color metallics  aren’t great but adding a non-metallic paint (Giraldez tip) and airbrush thinner (Gerry tip) seems to make them more useable until I run out and can buy their Metal Color instead.

The Vallejo Xpress Color that I ordered while out of stock in January arrived a few weeks ago so I thought I’d give it a try.

Everything had already been primed in Vallejo IDF Israeli Sand Grey Surface Primer. I then drybrushed the miniatures with Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Colour). Next time I will give the miniatures a wash with Payne’s Grey wash then drybrush to see if that makes a difference (Except for the yellow)

Next I did the skin and eyes, trying to get a slight sunburnt look
Base: Dark Flesh (Vallejo Game Color OOP)
Layer: Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air)
Layer: Barbarian Flesh (The Army Painter)
Glaze: Tan Earth
Highlight: Tan Earth mixed with Ice Yellow (Vallejo Model Color)

I tried using various Xpress Colors under and on top of Black Lotus for the black areas but was getting nowhere so ended up using Liquitex Black ink followed a Pale Sand drybrush.

Apart from the metals the rest of the miniatures were painted with Xpress Colors followed by a Pale Sand Drybrush and if required a glaze of the original Xpress.

Shirts: Templar White
Pantaloons/Trousers, Felt hat: Space Grey
Leather and Wood: Copper Brown
Hair: Wasteland Brown
All the yellow: Imperial Yellow

The metals were base coated black, then after varnishing a mixture of Gunmetal (Vallejo Model Color), Panzer Dark Grey (Vallejo Model Air) and Airbrush thinner was applied leaving some of the black as a shadow.

Bad photo time again. These have came out a bit patchy and lighter compared to what they actually look like. The Vallejo Game Color range has been updated by Vallejo so I’ve put OOP (out of production) after any of the Game Color I’ve used.

The Goblins were primed IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer), washed with a home made Payne’s Grey wash and dry brushed Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color).

Apart from the skin, teeth, metallics and base rim everything was coloured in with Vallejo Xpress Color.

Colouring in with Vallejo Xpress Color:-

• Hats, shoes and wood – Copper Brown
• Shorts were meant to be Wasteland Brown but I may have used Copper Brown instead
• Coat – Lizard Green
• Stockings and tights/pantaloons – Plague Green
• Shirt – Templar White
• Neck Scarf thing – Velvet Red
• Eyes – Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) then Black Lotus followed by Velvet Red

Skin:-

• Base – Dark Flesh Tone (Vallejo Game Color OOP)
• Layers – progressively lighter layers of Dark Flesh Tone mixed with Bone White (Vallejo Game Color OOP) and mixing in Ice Yellow (Vallejo Model Color) for a highlight
• Glaze- Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air)

Teeth:- Bone White (Vallejo Game Color OOP)

Varnish of Gloss then Matt

Metallics:-

• Base – Black followed by a mix of Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color), Panzer Dark Grey (Vallejo Model Color) and airbrush thinner
• 1^st Highlight – Silver (Vallejo Model Color) added to metallic base mix
• 2^nd Highlight – Silver mixed with Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) and airbrush thinner.
• Wash – Army Painter Strong Tone

The Scarecrows were primed IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer) then given a Payne’s Grey wash and dry brushed Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color).

Pumpkin Scarecrow Xpress Color list:

• Head- Martian Orange
• Pumpkin Stem – Plague Green
• Hands/Feet/Chest/Belt – Wasteland Brown
• Cleaver handle/Coat/Trouser patch – Copper Brown
• Trousers/Coat elbow patch/Scarf – Space Grey

The eyes where done with Ivory in the centre followed by an edge highlight of Blue Ink mixed with Ivory. Thinned down blue ink was applied in and around the eye and then the Blue Ink/Ivory mix was edge highlighted again and I tried to get some in the centre of the eyes.

Bag head Scarecrow Xpress Color list:

• Bag head/Scythe handle/Trousers – Copper Brown
• Hair/Chest/Hands/Feet – Wasteland Brown
• Jacket/Trouser patch – Space Grey

The metal parts of the weapons were painted with Black Ink and then the figures were varnished gloss then matt. The weapons then got a coat of a Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color), Panzer Dark Grey (Vallejo Model Air) and Airbrush Thinner mix. This was followed by Silver (Vallejo Game Color) being added to the mix and layered round the blade and edges. A final highlight of Silver and Ivory mixed with airbrush thinner was added before a coat of Army Painter Strong tone.

The Revenants were primed IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer) then given a Payne’s Grey wash and dry brushed Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color).

Any white areas were given a rough coat of Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) while trying to keep some of the under shading followed by Templar White (Vallejo Xpress Color) mainly in the recesses.

Anything black was given a coat of Liquitex Black Ink

Apart from the buttons everything remaining got a coat of Vallejo Xpress Color as follows:

• Skin – Plague Green
• Hair – Wasteland Brown
• British trousers – Space Grey
• Blue Jackets – Omega Blue
• British Jacket – Plasma Red
• Other Reds – Velvet Red
• Yellows – Imperial Yellow

Areas around wounds were given a couple of coats of Vallejo Brown Wash.  After a Gloss then Matt varnish the buttons were painted with a mixture of Brassy Brass (Vallejo Game Color), Red Leather (Vallejo Model Color) and airbrush thinner.

Although I was tempted to do yellow skin and blue hair for the female vampire this is what happened.

The Vampires were primed IDF Israeli Sand Grey (Vallejo Surface Primer) then given a Payne’s Grey wash and dry brushed Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color).

Skin: Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air) mixed with Light Flesh (Vallejo Model Color),

Light Flesh highlight and a glaze of Purple ink.

Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) was applied as a highlight to the Hair, Teeth and Ear Rings.

Female Vampire Xpress Color list:

• Dress/Head flowers – Cardinal Purple
• Dress trim/Bow/Feather – Space Grey

Male Vampire Xpress Color list:

• Trouser/Cuffs/Neck frill/Bow/Shoes – Cardinal Purple
• Jacket/Stockings – Space Grey
• Waistcoat – Lizard Green

Everything was gloss and matt varnished then the Male Vampire’s shoe buckles got a coat of a mix of Gunmetal Grey (Model Color), Panzer Dark Grey (Model Air), Silver (Game Color) and Airbrush Thinner. This was then highlighted by adding Ivory to the mix.

The raccoon got the usual IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush.

The 3 colour patterning was achieved with Liquitex black ink (which was also used on the nose and claws), Vallejo Brown wash over the prime/wash/drybrush and then the lighter areas were done using Pale Sand with an Ivory drybrush and then Army Painter Soft Tone.

The badger got the usual IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush.

The black patterning on the face and underside as well as the nose and claws were done with Liquitex black ink.

The off white areas are Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) followed by a wash of Soft Tone (Army Painter).

Ivory was drybrushed onto the upper areas and all the grey was then given a wash of Black shade wash (Vallejo).

IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush to start.

Sepia ink glaze on the fur.

The tail was Sepia Ink followed by Brown Shade wash (Vallejo), then Black Shade wash (Vallejo).

Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air) was used on the claws.

The wood was Soft Tone (Army Painter) on the bark with Strong Tone (Army Painter) on the hole. Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color) was applied to the chewed end followed by Soft Tone.

IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush to start.

Squirrel

Fur (main) – Martian Orange (Vallejo Xpress Color)

Eyes – Black ink

Nose/inner ear – Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air)

Underside of fur and around the nose – Ivory (Vallejo Model Color)

Nut – Sepia ink glaze

Hedgehog

Back – Sepia then a Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color) drybrush.

Rest of body/face – Soft Tone wash (Army Painter)

Nose/eyes – Black ink

Hamster

2^nd drybrush of Pale Sand then Sepia ink.

Nose – Tan Earth (Valejo Model Air)

IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush to start.

Under neck and inner ear – Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color) followed by Soft Tone (Army Painter).

Rest of Fur – Sepia Ink glaze followed by Black Shade Wash (Vallejo).

Eyes – Black ink

Started with IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush.

Upper Fur pattern – Dwarf Skin (Vallejo Xpress Color) used as an undiluted glaze from my wet palette.

Lower Fur pattern – Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color) dabbed on to area (thicker than a stipple)

Fur between upper and lower areas left as underpainted.

Back, in ears, creases, top and tip of tail – Black Shade wash (Vallejo).

Eyes, nose and lips – Black ink (Liquitex).

Inner mouth and highlight of nose – Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air).

Teeth – Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) then a glaze of Orange Rust (Vallejo Model Air).

Leaves – Black Green Ink (Vallejo)

Wood – Sepia Ink (Vallejo)

Started with IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush.

The main coat is Martian Orange (Vallejo Xpress Color). Over this the tail and legs were given a wash of Strong Tone (Army Painter), drybrush of Chocolate Brown (Vallejo Model Color) and a wash of Black shade (Vallejo).

Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) was dabbed onto the underside of the coat, lighter areas of the legs, inner ear and tip of the tail.

IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush to start.

Fur – Copper Brown (Vallejo Xpress Color).

Ears, tail, nose and baby rats – Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air).

Cheese, grain, nest and eaten apple – Pale Sand glaze (Vallejo Modle Color), then Soft Tone (Army Painter) followed by Ice Yellow (Vallejo Model Color). The eaten apple was then given a wash of Brown Shade (Vallejo).

Apples and Cheese wax – Plasma Red (Vallejo Xpress Color).

Apple leaves – Orc Skin (Vallejo Xpress) followed by Brown Shade (Vallejo).

Sacks – left as the underpainted prime, wash and drybrush.

Started with IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush.

Skin – Dwarf Skin (Vallejo Xpress Color) worked in as au undiluted glaze/tint.

Tongue, back recesses and blood vessels – Deep Purple (Vallejo Xpress Color).

Tongue highlight – Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Air).

Nails, bone, teeth – Bone White (Vallejo Game Color OOP) glazes followed by a glaze of Orange Rust (Vallejo Model Air), then a final glaze near the tips of Bone White.

Sword handle and cross guard – Space Grey (Vallejo Xpress Color)

Rusty weapons and chest rings– Cam Black Brown (Vallejo Model Air) followed by stippling Rust, Light Rust and Orange Rust (all Vallejo Model Air). Gunmetal (Vallejo Model Color) mixed with Panzer Dark Grey (Vallejo Model Air) and airbrush thinner was added to the weapons after varnishing.

IDF Israeli Sand Grey prime, Payne’s Grey wash and Pale sand drybrush to start.

Skin – Used Dwarf Skin (Vallejo Xpress Color) as a tint/glaze by working it in with an older brush.

Mane, tail, lower 2/3rds of the legs and back of ears – Several passes of Black Shade wash (Vallejo). A brown black glaze would maybe have been better here.

Straps on baggage, harness, tin box handles and eye – Copper Brown (Vallejo Xpress Color).

Edge of ears, nostrils and pupil – Black ink (Liquitex).

Under blanket, bedroll and tin boxes – Plague Green (Vallejo Xpress Color).

Inner mouth – Earth Tan (Vallejo Model Air).

Teeth – Bone White (Vallejo Game Color OOP).

Crates- https://www.beastsofwar.com/featured/gerry-can-show-you-the-basics-of-new-wood/Gerry Can New Wood but used what paints I had (Had trouble finding a light brown and the Orc Brown turned out a bit yellow):

Main Crate – Orc Brown (Citadel Colour 90s round OOP)

Supports – German Cam Beige (Vallejo Model Color)

Black Shade Wash (Vallejo)

Orc Brown drybrush

The final miniature from 2022 (on a square base as nature intended).

This was my first attempt at painting fire so I tried following Vince Venturella’s Hobby Cheating 117 How to paint fire (see You Tube video below).

My first mistake was priming in IDF Israeli Grey before watching the tutorial, I should have went for a Desert Sand or something. The problem that this caused was that I had to do several coats of yellow ink which counteracted my zenithal.

For the zentihal I put Light Rust (Vallejo Model Air) in my airbrush cup and gently sprayed from above causing my airbrush to make a whistling sound and occasionally splatter out onto the phoenix as flaky bits of paint/pigment (maybe even rust) clogged my airbrush. After thoroughly cleaning out my airbrush I mixed Tan Earth, Orange Rust and Rot Braun together to an approximately similar colour to Light Rust and sprayed this from above.

The next step was a yellow ink airbrush spray. The yellow ink I have is Firestorm Yellow from Citadel (round tub, possibly from the 90s). I knew that version of ink would wipe off with water after it had dried so I mixed it with Vallejo Matt Varnish and some airbrush thinner, giving a nice yellow colour (until it dried and had a slight green tint, which I thought might be okay once I drybrushed).

Sitting down in preparation for Yellow Belly Tabletop (https://www.youtube.com/@yellowbellytabletop ) I drybrushed with Orange Rust (Vallejo Model Air). The yellow still looked like it had a green tint. So I set the model aside and started removing mould lines from Dead Man’s Hand plastic gunslingers while unintentionally bullying David into painting his spring clean challenge instead of the project he was wanting to work on and getting the feeling that I had also insulted Sundancer.

After several coats of my yellow ink and matt varnish mix I drybrushed Orange Rust again. I then mixed Crimson ink (Daler Rowney FW) with Orange Rust and did a lot of the tips. This was followed by a glazes of Hull Red (Vallejo Model Color).

I then forgot about the Yellow mixed with Orange Rust glaze stage and declared myself done and my spring clean challenge completed.