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Started the hobby when I was in middle school with Empire and Space Marines (duh, who doesn't?). Got back into the hobby recently, have loved painting my Empire and Space Marines (I went back to what I knew!) and began exploring other races. So far that's lead me to Ogre Kingdoms, which is a fun MUCH different dynamic army than the Empire. When I got into Ogres, I also explored dipping them.

Well since Imperial Guard is the equivalent to the Empire in 40k, I thought at least painting up a box of Cadian Shock Troops would be cool. I've also not seen many pictures of dipped Imperial Guard, though I'm beginning to stumble upon a few. So now I have that box, and I'm trying to go the cheap route (aka not army painter) so here's what everything is looking like so far.


Group of five undercoated with Almond colored Krylon. This is the best color I could find that matched the fatigue color I was looking for. Hopefully the dip will do it's part well.

Another group of the squad.

So here is our sad little Guardsman. Yes, not the best paint job, but that's the point with the dipping. The only setback I encountered was the paint needed a second coat, as you can see by the streaks. Again, hopefully the dip will make good use of those imperfections.

The point of speed painting is to use a few colors and still get a game table model. I wanted to limit myself to the basecoat color and these three on top.

Yes, I've heard the comparisons of The Army Painter versus Minwax, but honestly I enjoy using Minwax. The price, if for nothing else, is a much better comparison.

Our man is dipped! Well he's actually painted. I prefer to paint the finish on, but I may have to dip as when I was removing the excess dip I was also getting a reaction from the paint. It began to look murky, so I'll leave him alone. 24 hours later I'll add the Matte Varnish and base him.

From start to finish? About three hours. That's including assembling, basecoat drying, painting, and dipping. Viola!

Yeah, it's surprising how quickly you go from start to done with dipping. About as surprising as how it looks like he rolled around in a vat of melted butter right before he ran out onto the field...

Looks good, obviously a very efficient method. I think it might make it look better if you went back and did the stock of the lasgun, the barrel and the trooper's boots. Those could be done super quickly and would make the model look less two-colour and done.

Effective and good looking for tabletop.

Ailaros wrote:Yeah, it's surprising how quickly you go from start to done with dipping. About as surprising as how it looks like he rolled around in a vat of melted butter right before he ran out onto the field...

Yeah, but a quick shot of matte sealer remedies that.


@OP-

Not bad!

Eric

Come on Ailaros, be nice! It was Margarine, low fat. Like I said I'll matte varnish him tomorrow and then hit the base.

to i-bunty-hunt-the-elderly
.....yes, about your name....
lol, anyway, I was thinking about that, but even the GW ones have the green boots. I may throw in some black for the stock and boots all the same. Thanks for the suggestion!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Come on Ailaros, be nice! It was Margarine, low fat. Like I said I'll matte varnish him tomorrow and then hit the base.

to i-bunty-hunt-the-elderly
.....yes, about your name....
lol, anyway, I was thinking about that, but even the GW ones have the green boots. I may throw in some black for the stock and boots all the same. Thanks for the suggestion!

Ailaros wrote:Yeah, it's surprising how quickly you go from start to done with dipping. About as surprising as how it looks like he rolled around in a vat of melted butter right before he ran out onto the field...

Nothing a quick spray of matt varnish cant fix

OP, just to clarify your captioning, is that last pic with or without varnishing?

Use a less saturated green for the armor plates, and work on your brush control. After dipping, use a matte varnish so it doesn't look like greasy

edited by moderators for rudeness.

Manchu wrote:OP, just to clarify your captioning, is that last pic with or without varnishing?

Without , i have the exact same thing

Thanks, Luna, I just saw that I read it incorrectly (mistook "I'll add" with "I added").

I think i dipped too much for mine. took 1 week to dry -_-

Exactly the same as the 'branded' Army Painter shades...

dont forget your Matt Varnish spray after 24hrs to remove the EXTREME GLOSS SHINE

Yes, I'll be spraying on the varnish today. Hopefully I'll have pictures up by this afternoon. Yes I know the green was not the best quality paint, but I'm going on the cheap side here. I understand that I'm getting what I pay for.

And yes it can seem like it takes a week to dry on a model but after you clear coat it, it becomes a lot easier to handle.

Instead of painting the whole boot black, you could try just doing the rims of the soles, maybe?

Matte Varnish and based. Remember the dipping method isn't meant to produce ONE great looking miniature. It's meant for producing armies worth of minis. The varnish helped to bring the shine down. In my other models I paint what I put on the base, whether sand or this rock, but for the point of this demonstration I just put on the rock and some grass from a railroad making kit. If you don't mind cutting it up to make it shorter, this is about the only thing other than GW or Army Painter static grass you can get for this effect.





Now for the other nine...

there ya go.

If fielding a huge guard force in a hurry is the purpose, then this has clearly succeeded.

Its a nicely painted minii no matter what , be it a single figure or one out of 1000

Nicely done OP, any chance next time you'll paint in the eagles on the helmet and the lasugn?

Nice I'd go back and dry brush or highlight stuff its a rly simple next step that can make a big difference.

Alternatively, you can keep the minis separate from their bases when using this technique and add them to their bases later.

Its not as "clean" as army painter. Still looks good though.

TCWarRoom wrote:Its not as "clean" as army painter. Still looks good though.

Looks about the same as Army Painter. I use 'Strong' for dirty results on goblins; orcs; warriors of chaos; and warmachine.

True it may not look as clean, but I like the gritty effect it has. Can't have minis that are too clean. Even so, saving the money by not using army painter is worth it.

I may hit him with a highlight or two, but again think of the overall product: what if you're cranking out 50 guardsmen? Each step adds a ton of time. I heard someone say once that (to a point of course) in warhammer quantity is quality. Having an army of decently painted minis looks better than having one unit painted well and the other 90% of your army just sporting a base coat. It's what you're willing to settle for, and right now having a six month old daughter helps me lean toward getting the mini done and on the table.

To lunahound - I see what you mean. I had hit the eagles with the same silver on the lasgun but it's hard to tell. The other guys will be more defined.

Time to get dipping! Took about two hours to paint on the green, flesh, and silver on these nine guardsmen. Please excuse the poor camera for now, I'll get the Nikon out a little later. I have dipped these guys and they are currently on hold for 24 hours. Joy!

The squad is done and I'm pleased with the results. I don't play IG, but doing this may inspire me to pick up some more models! Total time? About 4 hours for the whole group. Thats with having to paint the green and metal twice. If I upgraded to a higher pigment paint, then it may cut the time to 3.5 hours or less. Enjoy! I sure did.

youthminister40k wrote:The squad is done and I'm pleased with the results. I don't play IG, but doing this may inspire me to pick up some more models! Total time? About 4 hours for the whole group. Thats with having to paint the green and metal twice. If I upgraded to a higher pigment paint, then it may cut the time to 3.5 hours or less. Enjoy! I sure did.

Great Job , the efficiency is too good to pass , i really need to finish my minis and this seems like the way to go.

Problem so far is my dipped minis is waaaaaay too dark. Cant figure out if i dipped too much or the shade i chose was too dark.

Either way it turned my green Nurgle warrior into a black knight pretty much rofl ( which looks decent but its not green anymore! )

LunaHound wrote:

youthminister40k wrote:The squad is done and I'm pleased with the results. I don't play IG, but doing this may inspire me to pick up some more models! Total time? About 4 hours for the whole group. Thats with having to paint the green and metal twice. If I upgraded to a higher pigment paint, then it may cut the time to 3.5 hours or less. Enjoy! I sure did.

Great Job , the efficiency is too good to pass , i really need to finish my minis and this seems like the way to go.

Problem so far is my dipped minis is waaaaaay too dark. Cant figure out if i dipped too much or the shade i chose was too dark.

Either way it turned my green Nurgle warrior into a black knight pretty much rofl ( which looks decent but its not green anymore! )

Generally with Minwax, mixing paint thinner in a ratio of 3:1 is pretty good idea. That can always be lessened depending on the shade of Minwax you use. I did roughly a 2:1 for the Ebony in order to replicate the Badab Black Wash, it looked exactly similar. On a side note, beautiful minis, I am going to be using this dipping method for both my Steel Legion Mech Army and my Russian-Theme Valhallan Army.

It has to be said I am very impressed it wouldn't take too long to get an army up and running although. I would like to see this method used on a vehicle. Do you think he would get the same results?

I did it with my space wolve vehicles and it turned out quite well, I will try and take some pictures for reference.

I'm thinking of purchasing a Sentinel and painting it up. That or get the battleforce and speed painting all that.