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Hey,

I'd like to paint two Necron Ankhs on my Scythe, as in the GW studio army:



...by the way, this is the ankh You can see them on the wings in light green


...and I want to do this because my Scythe's wings are fairly plain. I'm thinking about painting those ankhs in white:



The question is, how do I do that? I have never done anything similar, or seen anyone do anything similar. I don't want to do it freehand, it won't be as precise. A stencil wouldn't work because the shape of the wing. Or could I create stencils that follow the curvature?

I am really lost. Any suggestion or online resource welcome.

Painters masking tape. It will conform to the curve of your scythe.

You can either use the tape to outline the ankh or you can cut the outline of the ankh out in the masking tape.

I would suggest that tracing the ankh shape onto your masking tape, using an xacto to cut it out and then sticking it on your model and painting it in will be the best way.

Will masking tape damage the paint underneath? The model is still unvarnished.

Any particular brand you'd recommend for using over acrylic paint?

Masking tape is designed to be removed easily, so that it won't damage the paint underneath.

Different brands vary of course.

I lay down maskingtape on my cuttingmat since it has a nice gridpattern. I use Tamiya maskingtape and it is very good. I would suggest laying down a layer of gloss varnish though, this will help with bleed and give you crisper edges.

EDIT: And... ofcourse... try on something else before chancing on your done model.

for large areas you can also use frisket paper, which is basically a cross between contact film and masking tape. It's designed with airbrush artists in mind.

Another thought is to use blu tac. You basically paint the minuature the colour you want the stencilled bit to be, then lay on a bit of blu tac where the stencil will be, carefully scrape away the bits that aren't 'stencil' (i.e. you end up with a blu tac version of what you will stencil) and then paint the rest of the model however you want it painted. Allow to dry & remove blu tac.

There are loads of ways to skin the cat. Basically you want a bit of something between that bit you want painted one colour and that bit you want painted another colour.

The beauty of the blu tac method is that you can make the stencilled bit as thick as you like, then air brush at an angle. That will give a gradiated merger of the two colours. This is quite a bit more work, as you have to mask of a lot more (hard to explain, but I'll try).

Imagine you have a square that is painted black. You want a stencilled white circle in the middle of the square, but want it a nice gradient. Well, you build up a blu tac circular blob in the middle of the square. Now, if you spray drom the 'left hand side' the right hand side will have a nice misted curve, but the left hand sice will be a hard edge as the paint has sprayed right up to the edge of the blu tac. So, you mask off that side so that only the 'far edge' is getting painted.

It would probabaly be best to make up a little shield that you could physically hold while you paint.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense.

Varnish the model first then mask it then varnish again.
Don't be afraid to varnish!!

The Tamiya masking tape that Granader suggested is excellent. You can buy it in all sorts of widths, too.

If you own an airbrush, I might spray on the lighter color first, then, mask out the straight edges (with a single piece of tape) and then spray the darker color. Then, I would remove the tape, and use a paintbrush to draw the circle by connecting the lines. Use a pencil to sketch it in first, if you're not that comfortable with freehand.

I wouldn't do the light color first using a paintbrush, because it's less likely that with more successive coats you'd be able to keep it all nice and flat. In that case, I would mask a box to get that perfectly straight edge.

Lots of good advice here, thanks. I think I should buy some Tamiya masking tape (ideally about 2" wide which would cover the symbol completely), cut an ankh shaped hole, apply it to the model, and carefully apply many thin layers with a brush.

I don't own an airbrush. I got your post ravenflight, but since I don't use an airbrush, it doesn't apply really. I learned a bunch of things by looking into blu-tack, so thanks

Repairing the background after painting the ankh would be tedious since it is a fine grey-blue gradient. My phone camera didn't really capture it but it's very visible normally. I'd much rather err inside the ankh than outside.

I will varnish the model first. I was always hesitant to varnish my models since I've only ever seen glossy varnished models and I hate that look. Personal preference, I want everything to be matte. I know that matte varnishes exist but I never took the plunge.

For my 2p's worth, I'd print a guide decal (or set of decals if you're not confident with large decals) and paint that / those. A good way to get a very precise design.

Here's an expensive option (but one that I've done myself).

Get a craft cutter and cut your own stencils for it.

I have a Silhouette Portrait that I use to cut stencils. It saves a LOT of time over trying to mask something like that yourself and it's more precise than cutting frisket paper with a knife. It's not a tool that I use all of the time but when I need it I love having it.

 Dullspork wrote:
Here's an expensive option (but one that I've done myself).

Get a craft cutter and cut your own stencils for it.

I have a Silhouette Portrait that I use to cut stencils. It saves a LOT of time over trying to mask something like that yourself and it's more precise than cutting frisket paper with a knife. It's not a tool that I use all of the time but when I need it I love having it.

I personally love the idea of the Silhouette Portrait, but can't justify the expense.

A brief follow up for anyone that might be subscribed to this thread - after updating my color scheme and painting my new Scythe accordingly, this symbol is no longer needed. My old Scythe is ready to be repainted.

Thanks anyway!

Info and pics here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/659486.page#8122083

Here's what I opted to do instead of painting the large ankhs on the wings. More info here if you're interested to continue the discussion. Thanks!