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Where to start? Well, mainly for my own personal motivation and to give me the kick up the bum I need to get this stuff finished, I decided to take the plunge and start a P&M blog on my progress. I have loads of armies on the go but the main thing that is capturing my attention at the moment is my Blood Angels stuff. The new releases sparked me to revisit my old stuff and get around to finishing it all off and bringing some old pieces up to date - I have roughly 5k points wise so this is no mean task for me, especially given my title as the World's Slowest Painter.

To that end, I usually try and come up with paint schemes that are easy to remember, quick to complete and require as minimal amount of faffing about as possible. I really don't want to spend ages mixing colours and all that bumpf as it will severely impact on the time I take to complete minis.

My BA scheme is simple - Prime > Mechrite Red all over > Liberal wash of Badab Black > Drybrush with Blood Red > Another coat of Blood Red Drybrush > Highlight edges with Blazing Orange. I find this gives me a quick scheme that looks OK and is of a decent tabletop standard. So onto the pics - first up are the two dreadaughts:



I shied away from painting the Furioso as a pure Death Company dread just in case I want to field it as a 'standard' Furioso.



I think my transfer sheets are ageing! They don't seem to be applying well and the spray varnish is 'clouding' the edges. I had to do some experiments and came up with a workaround of coating the transfer with Hardcoat after applying it that seemed to prevent the fogging.



The Sergeants were all done first, mainly as a test for the colour scheme.





As you can tell, I still have a bunch of terrain that still needs doing too - *sigh*



I did one of my Honour Guard as a test of my gold scheme - not too happy with the results. This was done with gold washed with Gryphonne Sepia. Next time I am going to try a gold drybrush over a dark brown undercoat and then wash.

And the current WIP on the table:



Bases are all still to do of course - I haven't decided exactly what to do with them so have just settled for sanding them for the time being. Also, I will try and get some better shots for the next update, the current pics don't really do the mini's justice. I am by no means a great painter but they do look better in the flesh, so to speak! Next up, once the current crop is finished, is to perhaps start a vehicle - I have two Baal Predators (one old version and one new one) and a bunch of Rhinos and Drop Pods. I am curious to see if the scheme can extend itself to vehicles. I also need to go back to the drawing board with the gold method; I want to have a colour scheme down pat ready for my Sanguinary Guard.

well for a super quick table top paintjob it's good. I might try a more intensive version on a tac marine or two myself.

I agree and if I had any more time to devote to them then I would too. However, I have at most an hour or so per night after work + whatever time I can scrimp at the weekends. On top of all that, our first child is imminent so I can see my time shrinking even further. When you factor in my slowness, my productivity drops even further. For those reasons, as well as the 5 other armies that are demanding my attention as well, I *have* to pick schemes that are super quick otherwise I will never finish anything.

Just another quick meothod if you want to try it
Comes out with a nice cell shaded effect, and since theres no dry brushing involved, there is alot more control in the consistancy and areas of paint.

Spray black.

Paint Mechrite Red, leaving gaps in shaded areas (only 1-2mm thick)

Paint BA red, leaving the black lining and a slight bit of mechrite for another tone of shading.

use blazing orange for hard lining edges.



Takes about 10 mins a model, and gives you a nice solid base colour with shading and blacklining without the effort

Hey filbert, the minis are looking really clean. If you're having trouble with the gold one way I have seen is mithril silver washed with sepia. Takes about three coats but gives a real nice contrast.

No offense meant, but as far as quick schemes go there seem to be a few extra steps compared to usual.

So far, or the one's ive seen for BA, the army painter method seems quickest and has pretty damn good results considering.

http://www.thearmypainter.com/gallery_presentation.php?GalleryId=61&Gallery=Dragon%20Red:%20Blood%20Angel

What do you guys think of dipping? Anyone try it yet?

@ Lennysmash - many thanks for the tip. I have tried the silver / sepia method but I wasn't too happy with the results. I will see how my next test model goes before I decide how to do them in bulk.

@ MajorTom - I have seen the armypainter's methods before but dipping is not for me. It produces good results but it is a lot of hassle. Not sure if you have seen the demo video but I draw the line at wanging my minis around my head with a pair of pliers.

filbert wrote:

@ MajorTom - I have seen the armypainter's methods before but dipping is not for me. It produces good results but it is a lot of hassle. Not sure if you have seen the demo video but I draw the line at wanging my minis around my head with a pair of pliers.

Lol fair enough!! lol

Bit of a minor update; finished a Rhino using the same methods as the marines to tie the schemes together. Reasonably happy, although I was a little heavy-handed with the Badab Black wash that I will tone down a bit when I come to do the other vehicles. I assumed the Blood Red drybrush would cover up any sloppy wash but it didn't cover as well as I had hoped - I ended up repeating the drybrush several times. On a happier note, I have discovered the joys of Micro Set and Micro Sol and my transfers are now applying 100% better. Onto the pics, hopefully of a better quality than last time:



Rhino, front on.



And from the rear.

WIP - currently stripping my Dante model that came off Feebay years ago, along with a very distressed Tycho and Brother Corbulo. I am hoping a day spent dunked in white spirit will cleanse their souls (and claggy paint work).

For tabletop quality, looking fine ^^ They are much, much neater and better than my Red Corsairs.... I wish i'd taken more care with them dammit!

Hey filbert, instead of white spirit for metal models I use superdrug acetone free nail polish remover. You only need to leave the models in the solution for about 5-10 minutes before you are able to start cleaning them. Just don't run the model under water until you've finished cleaning them.
Otherwise the paint will reconstitute and become sticky. Certainly faster than W.spirit though.

Yeah might give that a go - they have been in the white spirit all day and the paint still isn't shifting.

I've actually found that TESCO own brand surface cleaner works really well, seriously, in a couple of minutes I could take the paint off my Rhinos, you know, the lemon scented stuff ^^

Unclean - do you find it softens the plastic if you're not careful? The superdrug one is great for metal but rubbish on plastic. Is the surface cleaner gentler on plastics or do you still have to watch it pretty closely?

want to talk about speed? Wish I had saved pics but I did most of my blood angels in krylon firetruck red, then dipped and detailed.

the krylon goes directly on bare plastic.. and the shading washes or dipping brings back out all of the detail. from there its just decals if you use them and painting guns, lenses, etc

NaZ

Kudos to Lennysmash for the tip on the nail polish remover - Dante, Tycho, Corbulo and Mephiston have all been stripped and are ready to be rebased and repainted. I will hold off on the character models until I have some more rank and file painted up.

Big fan of speed painting, like what I'm seeing so far. Just one thing - I *love* the rhino, I don't think the badab looks excessive, just quality weathering. Also, yeah, nail polsh remover great but boy do you need to be careful with it on plastic: I go for quick dip plus toothbrush rather than soak or you end up with very springy models.


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PS - props on spawning - I'm just waiting on #2 (8 days over and counting...)

Bit of an update, although not much done lately (Mantic minis have been monopolising my time!). Finished a second rhino, some terminators and some more marines - pics to follow:

Similar to first rhino although I eased up on the black wash a little and tried to be a bit more precise with it.





Bases still to be done.

Mini update - made a start on Tycho after stripping him. Providing the gold turns out OK, I will use the same technique for my Sanguinary Guard:



Sprayed black, then I used Khemri Brown. Washed with Devlan Mud and then a Shining Gold drybrush and wash with Gryphonne Sepia. I was satisfied with this so far but the Mrs thought it looked a little like bronze rather than gold so I used a further drybrush of Burnished Gold. Next, I will move onto doing the face/hair and weapon - hopefully tomorrow, time permitting.

Tycho is now finished to my satisfaction - I have long since learned not to fiddle too much as I always end up ruining the model. Pretty happy with how it turned out, although I have to say the gold hasn't pictured well. If anyone can point me in the direction of a good tutorial on using a Lumix camera, I would be most appreciative!

He's looking sweet dude, good job

Quick update - finished a Baal Predator this evening. That leaves a LR Crusader and 2 Drop Pods left to do vehicle wise. I must admit to enjoying painting these vehicles so far, which is odd because normally I loathe painting tanks.





Off to play Red Dead Redemption now - managed to negotiate some man-time with the Mrs!

filbert found something you may like, Dragon Red spray primer by Army Painter. It has a similar colour to mechrite so it will allow you to combine your first two steps, thus making your painting even faster.

@ Lennysmash - that's definitely something pertinent to consider, also bearing in mind I ran out of Mechrite Red this morning (just managed to eke enough out to complete a Land Raider!) - regardless, at least it will force me to paint Dante and Sanguinary Guard until I get some more!


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Latest update - finished my LRC at last. Interesting note; I have had this model for 10 years now and never got round to painting it (it was undercoated black for most of it's life in preparation for joining my now-defunct Black Templars army) but now have finally got round to painting it. No Mechrite Red left until I can get to the store on Tuesday so Dante is next up on the WIP bench.

Latest WIP - my Sanguinor and a member of the Sanguinary Guard. I am fairly happy with the gold method now with a slight alteration to the scheme - Khemri Brown, drybrush Shining Gold, wash with Devlan Mud and then drybrush Burnished Gold and a very faint Mithril Silver highlight. Latest progress below, obviously lots still to do but the main colours are there:





Edit: Just realised I never put up any pictures of my completed Dante so I shall have to get some done soon!

Nice very well done it makes me want to start blood angels!

An extremely belated update.

Been a while since I had the time to do any more work - been very busy recently after the birth of my first child so all things wargaming have taken a back seat. Just before the arrival, I managed to finish off a Sanguinary Guard member, Sanguinor and Commander Dante. Fairly happy with how they turned out although I plan to refine the technique for painting the lightning effect on the power weapons; it's the first time I have tried to do it and while I am satisfied with how it turned out, I want to try and improve it for the next time I use it. Hopefully, I will get some more time to plod on with the rest of the army; I desperately want to finish them off - I hate having half finished armies around, I have too many already. Next up for painting will be a drop pod. I haven't painted a drop pod before so this will be an interesting experience. After that, there are no more vehicles to do so I can concentrate on rank and file.

First up, Dante:



Sanguinor (bit blurry, just replaced my camera and not quite used to it yet)



And finally, Sanguinary Guard (I haven't plucked up the courage to start the standard bearer yet!)

OK so I figured I would resurrect my long dead and neglected painting blog as a way of keeping myself motivated and pressured to keep painting stuff. It won't be the most frequently updated of blogs - my motivation to paint comes and goes in waves - but at the moment, the urge is upon me to get another army finished and I am very nearly there with my Grey Knights; down to the last 4 models to be painted!

I took quite a long time to settle on a method for painting them that satisfied both my aesthetic and my time consumption criteria. My painting speed could charitably be described as glacial so in an effort to actually get some damn armies painted, I adjusted my standards and now try and pick colour schemes that fit in with a certain criteria - that is to say, to be as quick as possible without compromising too much on looks and quality. With a job and two kids, the time I find to paint is limited, so I must be able to 'plug and play' as much as possible and maximise what little time I have.

So to that end, the scheme I chose for my Grey Knights, after much experimentation and heartache to find the right kind of blue steel tinge I was looking for, I came up with the following process:

1. Undercoated with Halfords grey primer.
2. Sprayed with Halfords 'BMW Arctic Silver' spray
3. Wash with a 50:50 mix of Nuln Oil/Water
4. Wash with a 5:1 mix of old GW Blue Ink/Water
5. Red bits done with Mechrite Red
6. Gold bits done with Auric Armour Gold, washed with Gryphonne Sepia.
7. Power/force weapons done in Ice Blue with a Guilliman Blue glaze

This gave me the effect I was looking for and it is a very quick process too - I have been able to complete this army in about 3 weeks of painting evenings. Granted, Grey Knights aren't the most populous of armies but still, that is quick for me! Here are some quick and dirty shots. I might get the light box out and take some better shots if I get time.

The last 4 awaiting completion:



The rest (well, most) of the army (ignore the Epic stuff in the background!):



Castellan Crowe and his Purifier buddies:



The Paladin squad:



Some more freshly finished:



Yes, I know the pics aren't the best but they should help to give some flavour! The last 4 should be finished today and I hope to get an army profile article up ASAP to add to the Death Guard in my sig, who have been somewhat lonely there for some time now!

After the Grey Knights? I am also in the middle of my Tyranid army that I started painting last year, so I might be tempted to finish that, although taking on a horde army gives me shivers! I have of course still got my Blood Angel army that this blog started with to finish up as well, so I might compete that and come full circle!


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Some better pics of the end results. Disclaimer: I am using an iPad camera which I suspect is probably not the best camera in the world to shoot minis with, I can't remember how to set my light box up properly (do the lights go at the back, the sides or from the front?) and I am under no illusions that I am a very limited painter. What I am trying to say is, we're into turd polishing territory here people! Anyway, on to the pics:

Brotherhood banner bearer:



Castellan Crowe:



A bog standard interceptor brother:



As is usual with these things, they look better in the flesh!

Now that the Grey Knights are done, it's on to the next army whilst I still am on the crest of this wave of motivation! And I decided to ignore my half-finished Tyranids, my half-finished Orks and my 3/4 finished Blood Angels and instead start a completely fresh, unpainted army! I must be nuts. I decided to go with my Thousand Sons.

Some time and advice was sought regarding a colour scheme, paints to use and a suitable spray primer/basecoat. Following the ease with which I finished my Grey Knights, I want to stick to a similar technique since I know I can pump out the finished units relatively quickly and nothing helps sustain motivation and enthusiasm more than by seeing finished models/units. I wanted to go with a primer/basecoat, followed by a wash and detail type of technique. The Halfords car colour spray worked out well enough last time so I figured I would stick with what I know. Unfortunately, it seems no-one has tried this yet (or if they have, they ain't telling and Google ain't finding!). Here is the thread where I asked for advice:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/619704.page

As I say in there, I found a suitable colour match after taking my pot of Mordian Blue along and trying to find something that is ever so slightly lighter in colour. I cam across Fiat 'Capri' Blue that seemed about right so I immediately set about getting a test modle painted ASAP to see what the results are like. Here it is after primer and then spray coated:



And at this point I'm thinking 'hmmm - this isn't going to work' - it looks super shiny, as per a car spray really, and I am wondering how the wash will flow and whether the colours and varnish will dull it down. Still I crack on and after a wash with the new Drakenhof Nightshade (as my old pot of Asurmen Blue has run out) it is looking a bit better - the wash seems to flow OK and dulls the shine down a bit. I slap on some paint very quickly - bear in mind this is just a test model, quick and dirty. I plan to take a bit more time and effort with the finished product. This model took about 10 minutes (but it shows!).



But I am a bit more encouraged, the colours go on OK and whilst still a bit shiny, it is getting better. Still, time for a spray with matte varnish to see if that helps a bit more.



And it looks much better. I think I can work with this. Like all my painting, it is a constant compromise between speed and quality. These won't be the greatest painted Thousand Sons army in the world but they will be a painted Thousand Sons army which I have long since learned to live with it as the best solution for me; I might not win a Golden Daemon but at least it will have some colour!

So here are a couple of test models finished to a better standard so I can see what the finished result will look like. Still undecided on the spray - it looks quite dark and only 'pops' in the light. Thoughts? Too dark? I thought the 'traditional' canonical 1K Sons armour was supposed to be a dark blue but most of the better paintjobs I have seen have a lighter colour plus my own painting preference is to basecoat light and dull down with a wash. I have ordered a can of the Army Painter Crystal Blue spray so will give that a try. It is of course a lot lighter but might work after a blue wash.