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 recently started a new Imperial Guard project, and decided to go for Zandri Dust for the armour plates. After starting on about 20 guys, I realised that I was struggling to get an even coat on over the black primer. I did this thinking it would be alright since in the GW 'how to paint Cadians' video on Youtube, it looked fine. Now, I'm doubting it.

Does anyone else have any tips? I've been trying loads of thin coats, heavier ones (which end up uneven) and it's frustrating since a light brown underneath or a white primer would have made this go a lot faster. Shame is, the damage has already been done to my 20 or so guys with forgeworld upgrades, so I'm not enthusiastic about the idea of starting again....

I actually think Zandri Dust looks good on black primer, better, IMO than white primer. It just takes lots of thin coats (like, 8, if you want it brushstroke free) :X

You can make your life easier by using Liquitex Flo-Aid instead of water, but Zandri is actually not too bad to dilute with water (unlike Ushbanti bone or Screaming skull).

perhaps, watch the amount of paint on the brush -- make sure it's not overloaded, nor too watery, as that causes the paint to break up and dry splotchy.

A wet palette (like the P3 one, or a homemade device with Tupperware) makes life a LOT easier too, for this kind of thing, because part of the trouble is keeping your paint diluted through all those layers.

This tabard started as Zandri over black, and I'm almost positive it was just thinned with water:

On the number of grunts I've got to do, that many coats seems far too daunting. I've been mixing it with lahmian medium. I'd use a wet palette, but whenever I've tried them before it's just been too thin for the number of troops I've got to go through.

I'm testing mournfang brown as a base to go over, hopefully that'll solve it.

 trephines wrote:
On the number of grunts I've got to do, that many coats seems far too daunting. I've been mixing it with lahmian medium. I'd use a wet palette, but whenever I've tried them before it's just been too thin for the number of troops I've got to go through.

I'm testing mournfang brown as a base to go over, hopefully that'll solve it.

Oh, Mournfang covers dead-easy.

If I may suggest a few alternatives, though:

- Are you using a flat or filbert? HUGE difference over round. And I mean absolutely gigantic. Just try painting the wall of your house with a round brush

- You could use an Army Painter colored primer. I think there's on really close to Zandri Dust, then just put a coat of Zandri (with a flat!).

- Buy a cheap airbrush

- I don't think Lahmian medium is a good medium to thin paint with for basecoats, generally speaking. IMO, it falls into the crevices too much, doesn't stick to the surfaces very well (it's not meant to), and makes it so that it takes you an infernal number of coats to paint because, by design, the idea is to make your paint more transparent for glazing. In this respect, Liquitex Flo-Aid is your friend (and has a cost of about 3% of Lahmian Medium... it's diluted 20:1 with plain ol' water). Lahmian Medium actually adds volume, too. So your layer with Lahmian Medium will be thicker. Use a piece of masking tape and compare, and you'll be surprised at how thick it is.

That's not to say Lahmian medium isn't awesome (I go through like, 2 pots every month), just not really for thinning basecoats.

All of the above suggestions are great, but I'd strongly suggest you consider priming grey, instead of black.