Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

For copper I'd sugjest looking at the vallejo model air line of mettalics.

That picture of your tools is the best summary of "What a modeler needs" I've seen in awhile.

You could break up sections of the white on the big model with soot stains from fires in the more damaged areas.

alanmckenzie wrote:As far as painting goes, can I suggest a marble look for the floor? There's a quick tutorial here but there are other tutorials around.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/1710/356350.page

Cheers alanmckenzie - the floor will obviously be checkerboard black and white, but having done some experimentation previously I don't think (unless my painting skills improve somewhat) I'll be going marble, probably more a sandstone effect. The movement trays aren't a smooth surface as they have a fine texture to them, and I've not been able to replicate marble. Yet. We'll see...

Galorn wrote:For copper I'd sugjest looking at the vallejo model air line of mettalics.

Thanks Galorn - I'll see what I can find. That said, I might be moving away from copper - see below..

Briancj wrote:That picture of your tools is the best summary of "What a modeler needs" I've seen in awhile.

I have to admit to being a bit of a Luddite Briancj - while it may take a heck of a lot more effort, there's something a bit more 'personal' about using hand tools like these rather than a dremel. I also don't own an airbrush. Which may mean painting the thing might take as long as building it...

Kandle wrote:You could break up sections of the white on the big model with soot stains from fires in the more damaged areas.

Yep, that's the plan Kandle!

So a last update with a second test panel - this one with more detail on, just to make sure I can replicate the effects rather than on just large plain sections. Thankfully the answer is yes:


For anyone interested, the off white is:
Black undercoat
Denhab stone base
Devlan Mud wash (which is unusual for me - I HATE those washes normally!)
Dry brush Denhab stone
Dry brush Skull white
Reapply Devlan mud wash to select areas
Add some green wash to select ares to imitate mould/mildew (it's there, trust me - sorry for the poor pics)
Line in deep recesses with Brown ink

Metallics:
Black undercoat
Tin bitz base
Devlan mud wash
Dry brush tin bitz
Dry brush Brazen Brass
Dry brush Dwarf Bronze
Light wash Devlan mud
Line in recesses and around rivets with brown ink

The braziers and chain were similar to the above, just starting at Brazen Brass and going up to Burnished Gold. I'm thinking that the copper/gold from the church reference might be a bit too overpowering on the supporting structure, so might be limited to the roof, unless I go with a patina'd green. Not sure yet.

The white was done first - dry brushing the metal bits with a v small dry brush so as not to get any on the white was a bugger! The only problem (only?!) is that I've been using the old range of GW paints, and doubt I'll have enough to do the whole building. So once I've been paid (TFFT!) I'll be heading to my local store to see if the revised alternatives will work just as well...

That's a fair number of steps for something so... huge... but it does look damned good

 GrimDork wrote:
That's a fair number of steps for something so... huge... but it does look damned good

I don't believe in doing things the easy way Grim.. more's the pity

The amount of hobby time I get these days... I just have to do things dead simply or they simply don't get done Dipping my models looks too comparatively good compared to making an effort with layers etc, when you consider the time.

Ehh, I think if you paint that thing to the standard of your test pieces... it may take a couple of years... but it would be truly awesome You could sell photo prints of it, that spiffy.

Lol tell me about it - where did the weekend go?! I wish work passed by as damn quickly...

Maybe I WONT investigate lighting and stained glass windows after all...

Haha, that way madness dwells!

That paint job will be beyond awesome if you can get the energy and drive to do the whole piece. I watch with bated breath, eager for more...

Amazing building. Cant wait to see it pinted keep up the good work!

Ok.. I really need to get out more. I have this whole freaking Cathedral to build and paint, and what have I spent the last two precious hours working on - the Turdis. Ah well.. Walls prepped and glued together, additional support column rivets riveted, work on the revised roof continuing...(movement trays I love you!)


Now, when ready, do I paint it blue or in the cathedral colour scheme...

Oooh that's a hard call. If you don't paint it blue... it may not be so obvious, people might wonder what it is. But it will clash. I guess that's kind of the point of the stuck-as-a-police-box-tardis though isn't it... Maybe there is some kind of happy medium, a light blue done in a similar style to the cathedral? So it's still noticeable and different but it doesn't stick out *quite* as hard given a similar tone.

Phutarf wrote:

It all depends what panel, what part I'm cutting and how difficult it is to get at. I have a pretty basic set up tools wise, most of which have been with me for decades now and have served me well:


If I don't care about the resulting mess then the saw is deployed; if I want a cleaner cut then a lot of laborious work is done with the old Exacto blades (I hate to think how many of these I've been through over the years) - and then to clean up its a case of scrapping with a blade or filing with an appropriate size file. Sometimes the sprue cutters are used to mangle bits...

That's pretty much an exact copy of my tool set, except my drill bit matches the thickness of paperclips (for pinning), my saw is bigger, and I use an additional clipper for stronger thickness cuts. I also use a few different sized hole punches (that are usually for use with paper crafting, but work just as well with up to 1mm thickness plasticard). I use the hole punches to create unique designs or to make my own rivets. Thanks for answering my question. I do pretty much the same thing, was just wondering if you did something different, but I guess we builders all pretty much have come to the same conclusions about building. Cheers!

So, another exceedingly dull and tedious work week over, finally some time to work on things - just a quicky tonight to show progress (such as it is) on the Turdis:

Decided not to paint it all blue in the end, but to go with the Cathedral colour scheme with blue accents. Also, made the top reversible so that I can use either as a toilet (with vent roof as above) or in Tardis mode with the light. Pretty happy with the way that's worked out if I do say so myself!

Anyway, hopefully more on Sunday (busy day tomorrow...)

Just enough blue. Pretty awesome. Got a single manufactorum wasting away... maybe I'll steal your idea and make a turdis for my sister.

 GrimDork wrote:
Just enough blue. Pretty awesome. Got a single manufactorum wasting away... maybe I'll steal your idea and make a turdis for my sister.

Wow... Lucky Sister Grim! Not quite sure what this says about your relationship but there we go....

Anyway, just the one pictorial update today, having made further progress on the Turdis. Haven't painted blue in a very long time so it's not quite how I'd hoped, but frankly it'll do for this mini project:


It's coming along... Slowly...

Looking good keep it up

Good job.

So your cathedral is going inside that then...

 Dr H wrote:
So your cathedral is going inside that then...

I have to second this request. Physics are for suckers.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:

 Dr H wrote:
So your cathedral is going inside that then...

I have to second this request. Physics are for suckers.

Hehe, treat the Turdis a bit like mysterious terrain - as soon as a unit moves to within 3" replace it w the cathedral

My life appears to be flashing before my eyes... With little or no time for my projects :(. Curse this thing called work and packing for house move (t-minus one month.... )

Anyway, finally had some 'free' time today, and thought I'd tackle a new test piece of painting for the cathedral proper, using some of the new range of GW paints - they're not an exact but pretty close match so will now have enough to finish it (once construction has finished and painting proper starts...). That and an an amazingly prescient hoarding of a Brazen Brass when it was discontinued! Anyway, here's a three part WIP of what my Eagles will look like:


Initially I wanted to have a two tone effect on the wings but quickly realised that a) it would be a bugger to paint and b) didn't work in reality as well as I envisioned. So amended to:


Wings all one colour - but painting the building under the wings white would have been nigh on impossible due to the techniques I'm employing - either the white or the metallics would end up being ruined. So onto version three:


This works MUCH better. Still a WIP shot as initially I did the 'underwing' section the same brassy/coppery couloir AS the wings, but this just all blended into one - so have retro painted them and the bits between the upper wings with darker metal (not finished) to make things stand out more. Until I change my mind again (lol...) THIS will be the version I go for.

Anyway, that's it for now - not sure if I'll have anymore updates for a while - may hVe to wait until the move has happened, and I can find the cathedral among all the boxes (once I've dismantled it!)

It's absolutely stunning to see this beast coming to life. Epic work, on every level.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
It's absolutely stunning to see this beast coming to life. Epic work, on every level.

Ha! Cheers Imy.. But it's more of a false start than anything else!

Even still, lookin good

Lovely start to the colours, even if it is a false start

And the little bonus Turdis was great

Phutarf wrote:

 GrimDork wrote:
Just enough blue. Pretty awesome. Got a single manufactorum wasting away... maybe I'll steal your idea and make a turdis for my sister.

Wow... Lucky Sister Grim! Not quite sure what this says about your relationship but there we go....

Anyway, just the one pictorial update today, having made further progress on the Turdis. Haven't painted blue in a very long time so it's not quite how I'd hoped, but frankly it'll do for this mini project:


It's coming along... Slowly...

Haha! Nice work! Very cool! I had pilfered your stair idea, and you've did a fantastic job pilfering the TARDIS... or Turdis... You're already further ahead on yours than I am on mine... Mine is still gw mold grey...

That's what I love about this hobby... How much a small idea can inspire someone else to even greater successes.. Well done!

Some incredible terrain / building builders on here!!

This is top drawer!

Thanks for the feedback guys. Am now drowning in boxes ahead of the house move (SUCH fun - not) but have managed to get a bit more test painting done, including some more of the 'new' GW paint range - hurrah, a decent copper!


A quick test of the supporting buttress scheme - only another 25 or so to go. Also experimenting with the roof/floor tiles on a cut off - looks good to me, but has three different metallics on it so painting all of them this way is - like everything else on the dratted project - going to take ages!

Also further refinements to the Eagle: have gone back on myself and decided I WILL do the lower 'underwings' white as have found it's not too fiddly to do after all - just means lots of touching up (oo-er missus ) to the metal afterwards...

Previously was going to go with a darker 'trim' around the wings, but on discovering the copper have upped the finish - with a bit o gold for highlights works equally well against a darker or white background I reckon
(Nb - it's only the left hand side that's 'finished'...

Looks great. Keep it up