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.

 ExiledMiniatures wrote:


I'd give it 5/5 for each video. The basic session is the one for £20 (33 AUS), but for £55 (90 AUS) you can join their subscription program ($7.99 USD/ £6/10AUS per month) and get all videos for .01 quid. (.01 AUS - minimum paypal payment per transaction.)
They send out a newsletter every few months with the release schedules of what videos are coming out as well!

*All prices are estimated based on current exchange rates from the USD prices.

Thanks! Worked out to be about $79 for subscription. Will see how it goes. Waiting for download links to start working

Awesome! Glad to point someone to such a great site!

Which video did you start with?

Apologies for derailing and hijacking the topic.

OP: keep practicing and try everything! There is no such thing as too much advice.

Try out every technique and you might even find a better way of doing it or a better way *YOU* do it.

I've been painting Tyranids on and off for a few years now and every time I go back to it, there seem to be are new methods to try and even more excellent advice and tutorials.

Good luck!




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ExiledMiniatures wrote:
Awesome! Glad to point someone to such a great site!

Which video did you start with?

The first one. The complete guide. Keen to check out some of the Advanced ones on White Cloth next! Got me some Deathwing Sargents needing some painting loving.

 ExiledMiniatures wrote:
Awesome! Glad to point someone to such a great site!

Which video did you start with?

Make it two. I'm very intrigued with this site. I now know where part of the next paycheck is gonna end up. Thank you very much for sharing this!

(Sorry about the Off-topic )

Rite, some more photos of my recent work. I would very much appreciate people opinions on these. Before I post them I should say that the parasite of mortrex was second hand and I only attached the wings and repainted it. I am not responsible for the full assembly of the model.
Here they are:

The feathering on the blue is getting better. Could still do with being a little thinner with the paint and gentler with the flow - the trick is that the brush stroke leaves a stronger colour at the end of the stroke.

Base coats still look a bit scrappy, as do the fine details. You've been a bit heavy with the wash on the red; looks like a black rather than brown. Similar layering to feathering (thin coat, work from recess out to smooth away the tide marks) with the base colour should tidy that up.

It's just a case of practicing for a while till you get this neat I think.

These are nicley painted models but i would keep practising before doing commisions.

the armor on the redmagaunt looks pretty dang sexy. A couple spots on the skin needs some touch-ups, and the teeth need a wash, with either a black or a brown: something to get in between the cracks of the teeth and do the work for you.
Greymagaunt needs work on his carapace. Needs to be edged or hilghlighted with a color. You could do it with grey or white, but then the model will wash out. Try using a dark green, or a dark blue to edge that sucker up. It doesn't need to go up to a bright color, it can stay dark, but just a touch of color to give the black some life. (think magpie: those birds have feathers so black they they sheen with color)

You're getting there dude. Keep practicing and you'll improve quickly.
Basing a model properly also makes a massive difference to the end result.

tomcat31 wrote:
You're getting there dude. Keep practicing and you'll improve quickly.
Basing a model properly also makes a massive difference to the end result.

I see your point. Baseing is expensive but I guess if it makes that much of a difference it's sort of an investment. Thanks .


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, this minght be a longshot but since it's £20 for a basing kit at GW it minght be worth asking, does anyone know where I can get some chep basing kits?

 TyranidPainter wrote:

tomcat31 wrote:
You're getting there dude. Keep practicing and you'll improve quickly.
Basing a model properly also makes a massive difference to the end result.

I see your point. Baseing is expensive but I guess if it makes that much of a difference it's sort of an investment. Thanks .


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, this minght be a longshot but since it's £20 for a basing kit at GW it minght be worth asking, does anyone know where I can get some chep basing kits?

Haha, I love the balls GW has. 20 quid for a basing kit? Just hit the beach or a creek and grab some sand, buy a $3 tub of static grass from your FLGS and pick up some white glue and you're done! That's literally all you need. I've been doing commissions for 4 years and I've never needed a basing kit.

~Tim?

Not sure about the UK but here in the states, playground sand and the home improvement stores is like $10 for 10lbs, More than you could use for a decades worth of models. I cant imagine it being that much more over there.

I spend almost exactly $0 on basing. Sand is free (or cheap, depending where you live), small rocks are free, white glue is extremely cheap, and a container of static grass will go a long, long way. Even elaborate bases I've made for dioramas costed me... $1 max.

I never pay for basing materials. You can find pieces of slate and stone just lying around, it's just a matter of keeping your eyes open when you're out and about.
Failing that, you can pick up cork tiles for pennies, wine corks can be broken up and used too

The important thing about basing materials.... Stay out of games workshop, and stay out of the citadel section of your hobby supply shop. One tin of fancy grass from GW is almost the same price as a spice jar of monochromatic stuff from woodland scenics. I bought a pack from GF9 as well, and used the static grasses from there to add color and texture to the monochrome from woodland scenics. Heck, I think even the army painter static grass is cheaper.... Flock is actually also a brilliant tool--when used sparingly and properly. I love using flock to do moss, and since that stuff drinks moisture, once you have it on the base, dried up, a touch of watery red pant, and it doesn't look like astro turf growing on a rock anymore. anyway, buying GWs basing materials wil cost you an arm and a leg to, mmmmaybe, get an army done, or a quarter of your game board.... Better to pay up to stuff geared toward model trains and stuff, much more material for the buck.

I'm also a bit lazy, so, often I will grind down many different green basing materials and mix them together to use as my "wild vegetation"--underbrush material, shredded deer moss, flock and static grass".. You name it. I only use this random crapmix on small patches of the base, specifically because it only looks good in small amounts--too much and the random nature fails to show through, and it looks more like a random mix instead of the random stuff that adheres to the base...

I use play pit sand from B&Q. Can't remember how much it was, a few quid. PVA glue from the same. Cat litter for extra size rocks (mIxed gravel is better, cat litter when wet gets very soft). Slate clippings smashed up from garden shale with a hammer. Stolen from outside public buildings a chunk at a time.

One of the other ways to get cheap basing material, at least stateside, is to go to a stone quarry.
I guess that would be the best description. Here in Texas we have several shops that only sell stone, sand, and other such materials. Usually if you go there and ask for a few samples of various materials, you can walk away with enough basing material to last a very long time for free or a few dollars usd.

Other than that, visit a playground during slow hours and scoop some sand and stone into a cup or container.

Antenociti's Workshop is a UK hobby shop with a fantastic range of basing stuff: here's their grass section. They also have a section for leaves, rocks, talus, etc.

As for sand and gravel though, I got some bird sand and bird grit. Dirt cheap and available from most petshops or places like Wilkos. You get about a kilo and they have great texture, especially mixed together (plus, they're sterile!). I did, however, get the basing kit from GW (both of them, actually, the Warhammer and 40k ones) for the slate and the brass cutouts. They were about £8 at the time though!

Between the two packs they gave you four tubs of differently sized slate bits, which I love to use for my ruined city bases. (Think 40k had the two bigger ones) However, you can almost certainly get slate bits for a lot cheaper elsewhere. But the classic static grass, sand and a bit of grit to do an entire army should probably only put you back maybe 70p each for the sand and grit, and maybe a fiver for the grass.

EDIT: Gravel driveways or gardens, if you have permission from the owner, can also be a great source for small rocks to put on bases. Only problem is that you can't pin into a rock (well not with my tools anyway!). Also make sure that you wash them thoroughly before you use them by dumping them in some hot, soapy water. I'd also suggest attaching them to bases using the greenstuff and superglue method. They can make a model pretty heavy. On the bright side though, they're not going to tip!

I am against purloining things off of public space for obvious reasons, in addition to the fact that it's going to take quite a bit of cleaning to get the useless grit out... I've used sand, and i've bought modelling sand..... It's really not the same. Including, but not limited to, the texture and grain of the granules..... And the finished appearance

 LadyCassandra wrote:
Antenociti's Workshop is a UK hobby shop with a fantastic range of basing stuff: here's their grass section. They also have a section for leaves, rocks, talus, etc.

As for sand and gravel though, I got some bird sand and bird grit. Dirt cheap and available from most petshops or places like Wilkos. You get about a kilo and they have great texture, especially mixed together (plus, they're sterile!). I did, however, get the basing kit from GW (both of them, actually, the Warhammer and 40k ones) for the slate and the brass cutouts. They were about £8 at the time though!

Between the two packs they gave you four tubs of differently sized slate bits, which I love to use for my ruined city bases. (Think 40k had the two bigger ones) However, you can almost certainly get slate bits for a lot cheaper elsewhere. But the classic static grass, sand and a bit of grit to do an entire army should probably only put you back maybe 70p each for the sand and grit, and maybe a fiver for the grass.

EDIT: Gravel driveways or gardens, if you have permission from the owner, can also be a great source for small rocks to put on bases. Only problem is that you can't pin into a rock (well not with my tools anyway!). Also make sure that you wash them thoroughly before you use them by dumping them in some hot, soapy water. I'd also suggest attaching them to bases using the greenstuff and superglue method. They can make a model pretty heavy. On the bright side though, they're not going to tip!

Thank you so much. You've been very helpful. In fact you all have. Though tbh, I'm not going to scavenge basing because of my pride. Also it's not exactly a clean thing to do.

 TyranidPainter wrote:
Thank you so much. You've been very helpful. In fact you all have. Though tbh, I'm not going to scavenge basing because of my pride. Also it's not exactly a clean thing to do.

You should always be on the lookout for awesome things laying around to use with modeling; random rocks outside, scrap pieces of metal and wood, spare lengths of wire, etc. Why buy overpriced rocks when there is, well, pretty much a whole planets' worth right outside of your house?

Look at this: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2009/10/tutorial-overview.html
Go down to the basing sections and read the articles there. Most of those amazing bases they created were made from scavenged materials from all over the place. No one is going to see your work and think, "wow, this guy is so much better for buying insanely overpriced 'basing kits' from GW!" Do yourself a favor and check your pride at the door.

Yeah lots of things you may have lying around house already and no need to really scavenge for. cut a wine cork into wafers, and break apart for rocks, bits of sprue can but cut into 'bricks" and put in piles... old pen's plastic housings can be used as sewer pipes sticking out of ground... wire from broken electronics, gears etc from cheap broken watches.. heck you can even get quit lucky looking in your garden at home, The GW kits are insanely overpiced. I have had a bottle of woodlands scenic flock and static grass for 14 years now.... BEAT THAT GUYS.. lol ok so there was a hobby hiatus in there but still!

instead of pride getting in the way of you getting your models done more affordably, pride yourself in the fact you didn't waste any of your hard earned money (or spend any time working to make that money as opposed to just lookin for a few minutes for spare junk you may have on hand anyhow)

you really never know how much you have right around you that will work, until you try.

Recently I just bought turtle tank gravel that 25% of the bag was too small for my turtle to safely coexist without choking on, so I saved all that stuff (like 4 ziploc sandwhich baggies full) for large rocks for basing. I spent $12-15 on the bag of rocks, which was, probably 10-20 pounds...

You may find that you have lots on hand that will help you save a buck, and learn a trick.


keep an open mind to the advice here, lots of good stuff. work on the things people have said, and repost work and you'll have a new batch of techniques to learn.

good luck in your endeavors, and remember, there is NO shame in saving a buck. That's one less you have to go work for.

-cheers

Scavenge anyway. I keep my eyes peeled, and I've found a small collection of pitch black or milky white stones that are the size of the smallest digit on your pinky or a bit smaller, and polished smooth. If I find enough of them, I'll put them through a tumbler, and start work on Eldar terrain.

Rite I've secured some basing (grass and rocks) for much cheaper than GW sells it for less than a tenner. I also have some colored primer from The Army Painter however I'm not sure if the primer is instead of a white or black primer or wheather it needs to be put on top of it. Help :(.

 TyranidPainter wrote:
Rite I've secured some basing (grass and rocks) for much cheaper than GW sells it for less than a tenner. I also have some colored primer from The Army Painter however I'm not sure if the primer is instead of a white or black primer or wheather it needs to be put on top of it. Help :(.

army painter is usually a colored primer, I think.

You should be able to apply it directly to raw models instead of using white, or black, or grey. be careful you aren't too far away (or too close for that matter for runs and paint being too thick) but being too far away when spraying can make the paint dry before it hits the model and will dry looking like sandpaper, and rub right off

To be honest, your post is a bit confusing, can you rephrase? lol

I think I answered your Q but unsure... Army painter is usually used instead of a black or white primer. Just spray your tyranids blue, then paint all their bone colors, tongues, eyes, etc, then wash the model for shadows, and highlight afterwards is their system I think. (although they dip their models as opposed to washing)... if you go route of using a dip, try out minwax polyshades or something comparable, as the army painter stuff is 3x the cost for the same stuff.

skyfi wrote:
army painter is usually a colored primer, I think.

You should be able to apply it directly to raw models instead of using white, or black, or grey. be careful you aren't too far away (or too close for that matter for runs and paint being too thick) but being too far away when spraying can make the paint dry before it hits the model and will dry looking like sandpaper, and rub right off

To be honest, your post is a bit confusing, can you rephrase? lol

I think I answered your Q but unsure... Army painter is usually used instead of a black or white primer. Just spray your tyranids blue, then paint all their bone colors, tongues, eyes, etc, then wash the model for shadows, and highlight afterwards is their system I think. (although they dip their models as opposed to washing)... if you go route of using a dip, try out minwax polyshades or something comparable, as the army painter stuff is 3x the cost for the same stuff.

Yes you cleard it up. Thank you .

 TyranidPainter wrote:
Rite I've secured some basing (grass and rocks) for much cheaper than GW sells it for less than a tenner. I also have some colored primer from The Army Painter however I'm not sure if the primer is instead of a white or black primer or wheather it needs to be put on top of it. Help :(.

http://www.basecrafts.com

UK based, sensible money. One of their collections will comfortably base a reasonable size army. I've bought a goodly amount from them and not been disappointed.

army painter will tell you what color it is on the side of the can, or by the color of the cap. The first thing you do is spray the built model with primer. LOOK UP INSTRUCTIONS. The bottle should have instructiosn as well.

If you are dealing with a metal or resin model, WASH THE MODEL FIRST. If you've been handling the plastic models for a long time, playing with them, eating chips and picking them up with greasy fingers, then your plastics might need a wash as well. any oils and stuff will cause issues with paint or primer adhering to the model.

all primers are just that, primers. You only really need one color of primer, just be aware that usually primers are best used in concert with certain colors only. If your army is majority red, better to get a red primer, or it's going to be a nightmare painting red over a blue primer.... If it's majority green... best get a green primer.

Black primer is a very quick and "lazy" way of getting shading done, because the lowest layer of "paint" is already black, and you just build up from that. It's universal, but it makes it brutal to work with colors like yellow.

White is the opposite. You don't have shading, but all of the colors are bright and vibrant.

TyranidPainter wrote:Thank you so much. You've been very helpful. In fact you all have. Though tbh, I'm not going to scavenge basing because of my pride. Also it's not exactly a clean thing to do.

You're very welcome. Glad you got something sorted out.

Also, that Basecrafts place is pretty cool, and a treasure trove for inspiration if nothing else . And I thought my bases couldn't get much more over the top...

 azreal13 wrote:
http://www.basecrafts.com

UK based, sensible money. One of their collections will comfortably base a reasonable size army. I've bought a goodly amount from them and not been disappointed.

Wow that site is amazing. And postage is alot cheaper than most since it's a British based company. Thank you for pointing it out to me. I may become a regular customer of that site. Cheers pal .


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 LadyCassandra wrote:
You're very welcome. Glad you got something sorted out.

Also, that Basecrafts place is pretty cool, and a treasure trove for inspiration if nothing else . And I thought my bases couldn't get much more over the top...

Thank you. And that it is, I have a new fave site for basing. Not that I had a fave site for basing before, but hey, I do now lol.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You've all been so helpful to me on here that I kinda feel like I'd be taking liberties by asking you for further help however I'm going to keep seeking help untill my models get to those elusive professional standards. I'm hoping my current project will get there however I realise how ambitious that'll sound. Anyway what I want to know is when and for what purpose do you guys drybrush. What I've done with my current model is primed it, magnetized it, washed it blue and now before layering it with deneb stone and bleached bone I've decided to drybrush deneb stone onto it, for a number of reasons.