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Howdy doody, I've just returned to mini' painting after a 10 or so year break and decided to jump back in with both feet and tackle building an entire Blood Raven company.

Does anyone have any advice on paint schemes, (I've read about loads of different styles from white undercoat with bloodred and wash finishes to black undercoat and thousands of layers of red gore,) etc or even which company to choose?

My only advice would be this: Go with black primer. It is going to yield a smoother texture and result. Something that wasnt around 10 yrs ago and is available now; foundation paints. these are high concentrated pigmented paints intended to ensure your light colors actually turn out light without hundreds of layers. Look into the foundation paint mechrite red....this will definately improve your frustration level when painting and will help you avoid painting layer after layer.


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welcome back to the hobby!

Element206 wrote:My only advice would be this: Go with black primer. It is going to yield a smoother texture and result. Something that wasnt around 10 yrs ago and is available now; foundation paints. these are high concentrated pigmented paints intended to ensure your light colors actually turn out light without hundreds of layers. Look into the foundation paint mechrite red....this will definately improve your frustration level when painting and will help you avoid painting layer after layer.


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welcome back to the hobby!

Thanks for the advice, I've experimented with the foundation paints on a few mini's but haven't quite got the hang of thinning them down to the magic skimmed-milk formula without the pigment seperating. Guess its all just down to practice, practice, practice.

Why not just basecoat in red? Seems like it would be the same effect but a lot less time.

stigweard wrote:

Element206 wrote:My only advice would be this: Go with black primer. It is going to yield a smoother texture and result. Something that wasnt around 10 yrs ago and is available now; foundation paints. these are high concentrated pigmented paints intended to ensure your light colors actually turn out light without hundreds of layers. Look into the foundation paint mechrite red....this will definately improve your frustration level when painting and will help you avoid painting layer after layer.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
welcome back to the hobby!

Thanks for the advice, I've experimented with the foundation paints on a few mini's but haven't quite got the hang of thinning them down to the magic skimmed-milk formula without the pigment seperating. Guess its all just down to practice, practice, practice.

Well that's your problem! You shouldn't be thinning the foundation paints near that much, it totally defeats their intended purpose!

Sure you can thin them a little bit, but only by a small amount or they lose their only benefit, excellent coverage.

yeah, foundations intent is 1 normal coat to do your basecoat, instead of 2-3 thinned coats. Don't thin it very much, if at all. Just don't pour it on either.

Cheers for the advice, can you tell its been a while since I've painted mini's?

I've found it quite a step learning curve getting back into things as the technology seems to have changed so much in such a short time. I probably should have mentioned that I don't really play the games, I tend to paint more for show and collections so don't mind taking the extra time to apply several coats. Having said that I may regret saying that trying to paint an entire company.


I've always wondered if there's any benefit in using other manufacturers paints or if they're basically the same? Anyone use anything other than the starndard GW range?

Element206 wrote:

Thanks for the advice, I've experimented with the foundation paints on a few mini's but haven't quite got the hang of thinning them down to the magic skimmed-milk formula without the pigment seperating. Guess its all just down to practice, practice, practice.

Hey man this thread is like looking in a mirror, I too have come back to the hobby and have chosen Blood Ravens as my project. I've been panting a black undercoat, then red gore, blood red then darkend with a black wash. For the shoulder pads I base black, then paint bronzed flesh then finally bleached bone. Hope this helps, I'll soon be starting a blog with my WIP I'll be sure to post it when it happens, best of luck brother!

CryEffect wrote:Hey man this thread is like looking in a mirror, I too have come back to the hobby and have chosen Blood Ravens as my project. I've been panting a black undercoat, then red gore, blood red then darkend with a black wash. For the shoulder pads I base black, then paint bronzed flesh then finally bleached bone. Hope this helps, I'll soon be starting a blog with my WIP I'll be sure to post it when it happens, best of luck brother!

Scary!..what made you want to start Blood Ravens? Must admit that I got sucked in after reading the Dawn of War books and the heavy numbers of librarians.

stigweard wrote:I've always wondered if there's any benefit in using other manufacturers paints or if they're basically the same? Anyone use anything other than the starndard GW range?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/320476.page

Welcome back to the hobby Stig! Vallejo make their own version of the Foundation paints (as well as every other paint) for HALF the money. I'm also a fan of the Coat D'arms range (as you're likely to find out!).

Hi Tek, cheers for the heads up. Do you know of anywhere in the UK that you'd recommend to get hold of some the Vallejo range?

I sure do!

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/
http://www.legendgames.co.uk/acatalog/Acrylic_Paints.html
http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/
http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/

My reccomendations are Maelstrom or Wayland. Pros and cons with either.

cheers very much for the links!

I'm quite amazed how much you could save using vallejo...almost wish I'd not just bought a mega paint set from GW

Looking at the bottles I'm guessing there the range that are the 'squirty' kind so there's no need to ruin a brush getting paint onto a pallet?


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Finally managed to get some pics of the mini's from build time round 1 taken. Took this round as an experiment in getting some realistic damage 'scratched' into the pastic rather than just creating the effect at the painting stage. Any and all comments most welcome

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-25322-11366_Wip.html

Brother,
Like it was ealier in then thread Vallejo is the way to go there paints are excellent that is all I use and its all cheap too lol
Thanks,
Ordo

With vallejo, what are their versions of bleached bone, devlan mud, lich purple and leviathan purple wash?

I'd love it if I could get large quantities on the cheap. My Tyranid horde goes through them like water.

don't know if these bits are of any interest?

http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.browse&category_id=20&vmcchk=1

shoulderpad wise.

Orinoco wrote:don't know if these bits are of any interest?

http://chapterhousestudios.com/webshop/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.browse&category_id=20&vmcchk=1

shoulderpad wise.

Wow great find! Only trouble is the shipping to the UK would cost more than the pads Time to break out the greenstuff me thinks!

-Loki- wrote:With vallejo, what are their versions of bleached bone, devlan mud, lich purple and leviathan purple wash?

I'd love it if I could get large quantities on the cheap. My Tyranid horde goes through them like water.

If you haven't done a search for a conversion chart but for -your- edification (okay, mine as well ) I found one

http://www.evicerator.com/vallejotogwconversiontable.htm

Granted I haven't tested it to make sure it is true but...

Paladin109 wrote:

-Loki- wrote:With vallejo, what are their versions of bleached bone, devlan mud, lich purple and leviathan purple wash?

I'd love it if I could get large quantities on the cheap. My Tyranid horde goes through them like water.

If you haven't done a search for a conversion chart but for -your- edification (okay, mine as well ) I found one

http://www.evicerator.com/vallejotogwconversiontable.htm

Granted I haven't tested it to make sure it is true but...

Didn't even know that existed. I might order some and give them a go.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

Keep it Dakka people!

Tek wrote:http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

Keep it Dakka people!

Nice one Tek!..I'll throw my hands up and yell I'm a believer! Did some searching over the weekend into the Vallejo colours and can't believe how much money I've wasted over the years with GW paints. Just searching for the right pack to replace some of my empty GW pots

Oops, had a small setback with starting a Blood Ravens Company. After reading through as much background info I could find and after re-reading the Dawn Of War books I've costed up the idea of adding in enough librarian models to represent a true Blood Ravens company and found its rather stupidly beyond reach. As I wanted this company to be an ideal codex build I've decided to return to my first love and switch tracks to a Salamanders company. Good job I decided to build all the models needed first then paint rather than paint on the go just in case this kind of problem came around.

Thanks to everyone that posted advice, especially about Vallejo paints, managed to find a great deal on ebay for a game colour set and will never be looking back...hope you'll continue to look in on the new blog I'll be setting up over the next few days.