Spring Clean 2023. Painting everything from 2022
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About the Project
I swear I only bought 4 wolves. This is what was added to my pile in 2022. My Spring Challenge for 2023 is to paint it. Most will be done simply, but I'm going to have to learn to paint fire for the Phoenix. The miniatures are from The Assault Group, Archon Studio, Northstar and Mantic.
Related Genre: General
Related Contest: Spring Clean Hobby Challenge 2023
This Project is Completed
Bears (The Assault Group)
(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.
GCPS Riot Troopers and Tac Drones (Mantic Games)
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.
Bandits (North Star Miniatures (Metal))
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.
Goblins (North Star Miniatures (Metal))
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
- 1st Highlight – Silver (Vallejo Model Color) added to metallic base mix
- 2nd Highlight – Silver mixed with Ivory (Vallejo Model Color) and airbrush thinner.
- Wash – Army Painter Strong Tone
Scarecrows (North Star Miniatures (Metal))
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.
Revenants (North Star Miniatures (Metal))
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.
Vampires (North Star Miniatures (Metal))
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.

































































































