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.

So I got pretty sick of painting my Paladin squad about a week ago, and decided to take a break. However, I was still in the painting mood, so I picked up my plain-jane servo-skull tape measure and decided to paint it. It became a little bit more than a side diversion and more like a pet project for me for three days. I decided to keep the paintjob relatively simple since I didn't want to put in too much time into it. I hope that this might be something to inspire you guys to do something similar/spectacular and do a better job than me!

I decided to go for a "bleached bone" kind of look, partly due to not wanting to keep washing it down, the paint not holding very well, and the fact that I just like it having the "clean" look of pure white.

One thing I noticed was that the plastic of the material didn't hold my basecoat and the layers very well. Paint scrapes off VERY easily, even after about five layers of varnish, on the main contact points on the bottom after a single game. I ended up basecoating it twice, leading the front to be accidentally too thickly-sprayed, and it showed up on the paint. Oh well. Also, if you're planning to follow me in doing this, don't forget that there are contact points in the "augmented area" for when you press it to retract the tape measure. It's also my first time using an airbrush, for the lenses.

Enjoy!








Also: ewwww, mould lines in the last picture!

Neat. Although I imagine you're going to need to use a more hardcore seal since the tape will see a bit of use.

Very cool!!

Nice work!
The base coats not sticking, im 99.9% sure is because it wasn't prepped surface for painting.
i.e sanding it with appropriate paper... its plastic so I would stay above 400grit at a minimum. There should be zero dents / scratches so a bit of scotchbrite might've done the job.

For a top coat, get a spray can of lacquer high gloss is very durable, you could scuff the gloss coat and then apply a matt coat if you dont want shiny. That way you still get the protection of the gloss coat on the paint work.

When im spraying pu plastic the best base coat is one called e.s.p or easy surface primer. Its clear and drys tacky so your undercoat binds to it. Its what we use to paint pvc pipes and window frames.

personally I'd do some sort of brown wash for a more "old bone" colour

and I'd GS over the screw holes (cause im crazy like that )

I love it. I would have tried to make the lenses glow red and blue or something (Blue layered up to white in the centre etc.) or paint them like gems, but I have no idea if that would actually look any good at that sort of large scale. It might take ages to get right and you did say you wanted a quick project.
Saying that I think it looks great as it is.

Thanks very much for all the feedback and comments guys! Really appreciate them! I am considering getting a servo skull (when I'm bored again) to do one nice paintjob on, including GSing the screw holes and stuff. I didn't know whether I'd ever need to take the thing apart, since it IS a GW product and I don't know how reliable it's going to be.

HairySticks wrote:Nice work!
The base coats not sticking, im 99.9% sure is because it wasn't prepped surface for painting.
i.e sanding it with appropriate paper... its plastic so I would stay above 400grit at a minimum. There should be zero dents / scratches so a bit of scotchbrite might've done the job.

For a top coat, get a spray can of lacquer high gloss is very durable, you could scuff the gloss coat and then apply a matt coat if you dont want shiny. That way you still get the protection of the gloss coat on the paint work.

Yeah. I don't think it was prepped for painting. Never considered sanding it down before, but thanks!

BewareOfTom wrote:personally I'd do some sort of brown wash for a more "old bone" colour

and I'd GS over the screw holes (cause im crazy like that )

Yeah, I wanted to do the wash too, but it seemed like a lot of effort (for a quick job) and would probably scrape off really easily. I'll definitely do that and the GSing of the holes (I didn't even realize it till after :( ) for the next servo skull I do, though! I got particularly inspired by these servo skull trophies that I saw in one of the recent 6th ed tournaments, I can't remember which it was.

_Lightbringer_ wrote: I love it. I would have tried to make the lenses glow red and blue or something (Blue layered up to white in the centre etc.) or paint them like gems, but I have no idea if that would actually look any good at that sort of large scale. It might take ages to get right and you did say you wanted a quick project.
Saying that I think it looks great as it is.

I tried it with normal paint at first, didn't look too good, it just didn't blend properly. Same went with painting them like gems, the effect looked too "fake", though it looked great from a distance. I ended up trying my hands on an airbrush for the first time to try doing the blue-layered-to-white-center but again, first time using an airbrush so that didn't end too well. My final result was as above, but I slapped a couple of layers of GW's gloss varnish on it to give it a "shiny" look.

You could have also applied some plastic adhesion promoter, to help your basecoat stick. Its something people use a tone when re-finishing xboxes etc.

I just realized that this should be under the Showcase section of the forum... Any way of moving it?

we should start a thread for these. I painted mine too. couldn't stand the idea of it being a manufactured skull instead of augmented.