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Hi DakkaDakka!

Long time reader short time painter of miniatures. I recently bought a Landraider and wanted to do a really nice job on it (the thing costs like $60 so yeah...). Anyway, everything is progressing nicely but I would really like to detail out the lascannon sponsons. I've seen plenty of examples of very nice looking 'cannons but not a whole lot of 'technique' or painting guides. Has anyone seen any here (or elsewhere) that would help me in my quest for a fine looking LR? Or could you write me up a blurb?

Thanx!

Could you post an example pic of what you think is "a really nice job on it"?

If I can I (and surely others as well) will try to write down how it was probably done.

Sure thing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99226768@N00/3397027291/

I love the look of this cannon! What I'm really at a loss for is how he painted the barrels. I know it's not a LR official one but many of the parts are represented on the LR's version.

Thanx,

Eric

edowney wrote:Sure thing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99226768@N00/3397027291/

I love the look of this cannon! What I'm really at a loss for is how he painted the barrels. I know it's not a LR official one but many of the parts are represented on the LR's version.

Thanx,

Eric

What exactly are you wanting to know about how to paint the whole thing?

From the guy's comments, it looks like he did NMM('Non Metal Metallic') painting on it, which will mean you'll need to do a lot of source lighting etc on it.

I can't help you on that part because I loathe NMM.

If you've got any other examples, I'd try to figure out some way to help you with that though.

edowney wrote:Sure thing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99226768@N00/3397027291/

I love the look of this cannon! What I'm really at a loss for is how he painted the barrels. I know it's not a LR official one but many of the parts are represented on the LR's version.

Thanx,

Eric

Definitely not NMM, though maybe that was his goal. I think this one should be pretty easy to replicate. The barrel/tip has that dusty/stippled look you get from drybrushing.

The "metallic" parts: A dark grey, followed by a lighter shade fine highlight around the edges (you can see this best on the tip of the barrel). He then did a drybrush with what looks like the same lightgrey over the rest of the parts. He may have gotten a bit fancy with the drybrush and tried to focus more on the raised areas, to create a bit of a rough shading.

The blue/energy portion: Just progressively highlighted blues here, from a darker regal blue to an ice blue (obtained by adding white progressively to blue). He may have blended this, but you could get the basically the same effect with thin layers of gradually lighter blue, focusing the layers smaller and smaller on where the light is going to strike.

Ianifel wrote:but mostly only his shoulder pad bands and wrist bands.

That's his reply as to if he used metallic paints or not.

The barrel just doesn't look right to be metallic.

Kanluwen wrote:

Ianifel wrote:but mostly only his shoulder pad bands and wrist bands.

That's his reply as to if he used metallic paints or not.

The barrel just doesn't look right to be metallic.

Yea the barrel isn't done using metallic paints, it's done using different greys, but the technique isn't nmm, you can visibly see the 1 highlight rim he put on the tip, then the "dusty" drybrush look.

NMM really refers to, as you alluded to earlier, using grey's to appear metallic based on a good understanding/attention to the lighting, you're essentially painting the "shine" and metallic luster. This uses grey instead of metallic paints, but it doesn't do the true NMM technique.

Ha! Considering the image, and mine are mine I can tell you exactly how I painted it. First off there's zero NMM going on there. It was done a very long time ago, when I was learning, so it's not spectacular. The technique is pretty easy though ^_^

It was undercoated with black primer, but the wrong kind so the finish was quite rough. I used Foundation Battle Grey for the housings, then highlighted with Astronomican Grey. For the barrel it's Battle Grey then drybrushed with bolt gun metal then a wash of brown (I think Orgyn Flesh), then highlighted with Boltgun metal again...

Hope that helps ^_^