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Looks pretty good, can't wait for the shed!

(UK modeling is all about the sheds.)

Meer_Cat,

Love the little office and the parts from all sorts of sources.

Cheers,

CB

New pipes are better at being old. But - copper, if You really want them to be copper, is one of the most colorful metals around. It gets brown and green with age, white with corroding elements, blue and red when repeatedly heated. Dusting things down is a good all-round recipe, but... You could try many things pretending them to be coppery.

Thank you Briancj, CB and Wirecat!

True, copper gotta copperate- the chameleon of the metallic world. I've had to clean enough of it in my life to have a better idea of al the colors it can display as it oxidizes, but it's amazing how tunnel-visioned I can get with the 'I saw it this way in some Dakka photo, and that's the way I'm going to try to get it to look!'.

I think part of it at the moment are is the limits on my painting time- it's hard to want to try to experiment- and potentially re-prime and start over- when it takes forever to finish something.

On the other hand, my skills with the airbrush- the original point of the exercise- are an order of magnitude better than they were (anything added to 'zero' is an order of magnitude, right?) when I started. My understanding of thinning/flow enhancing, flow and pressure balance and precision painting versus 'fogging' is much greater. I'm not up to doing the belt buckles on my IG guys yet, but working towards it!

Thanks for looking in- more follows soonest!

So, airbrush learning project is wrapped up. I added some more 'patina' to the pipes, got everything glued down and am putting this aside as 'done', so I can get back to the delivery service flight pad. But what I've learned from this side project will help me achieve some of the effects that I want for the pad, so all good. Here's pics:

















If the question comes up, the blue chalked arrow in the little enclosure is simply because I thought the base was too bland and I wanted something to break up the color that was quick and easy. The uplink antenna is one of the Russian toys that the eBay guys that carry Tehnolog and Robogear also carry. The pump house itself is a printer ink cartridge case- Cam did something similar last year or so. I've got a stack of them hanging around- finally got to use one. Overall, I thikk it is a nice 'gaming quality' bit of scatter or line of sight blocking terrain or small defensive position. Had some fun, learned some things-

On to the next (or back to the previous, in this case).

More on the flight pad, wizard's cottage and a new project (a High Elf Tower based on a brand _new_ bit of flotsom I found) follows soonest!

I was, in fact, going to ask about the arrow.

Nice work all around with the airbrush.

I personally would never set up heavy weapons near pipes that may or may not contain gases or combustible liquids.....seems like a bad idea .

Murphy's Law (of Combat): Never, share a foxhole with anyone crazier than you, tracers work both ways, if you make it too hard for the enemy to get in, you may find it hard to get out, ALWAYS have an exit strategy.

In this case, detonate the pipes carrying liquid Vaporarium

FOR THE EMPEROR! Bring it, biotches! [i]

I may be asking you for some tips when I finally open my air brush. I especially like how your piece looks with the soldiers inside, very cool

Thanks Syro- I have to admit, I suffer from a lot of 'happy accidents'! (Bob Ross, rest in peace)

That is a really excellent piece bud, brilliant use of parts, I have been messing about with pipe ideas for ages and have nothing to show for it. You have nailed it bud. Really spot on.

Late suggestion to a nice finished piece. Maybe, after applying the solid base layer it is worth it to stop and add a heavy black wash or something, to add darkness on all these bends and fittings? They usually are the first places to collect dust too...

Those came out really nice! I've always looked at the Hirst stuff with a sense of ambition, but it seems like such a big commitment to casting that I'd want to go all in... but here you've done something really cool with just a few molds. The color palette and airbrushing are spot on. Nice work!

Thanks Cam, Wirecat and Mac! This project was fun and I learned a lot. I really think the pumping house was the weak point- or possibly the antenna- a little too toy-like (but hey, it _is_ a toy). I have enough extra castings though, to undertake another project to carry on the theme. This time, I think I'll start with the copper base, hit it with a heavier dark grey coat from the airbrush and possibly a Nuln Oil wash as well, then the turquois and finally a very light top coat of white. I also want to try the salt weathering technique- Mac has re-awakened my interest there. I'll paint the joints and/or elbows in 'color codes' for hot, or dangerous, or something and try the technique there.

I'm on the road in New York this week, and the wifi is hit or miss, so it's harder to keep up with everything going on. But thank you for your interest, comments and inspiration- more follows soonest!

Come visit me in Boston, since you'rte road-trippin'.

Really good work on those pipes, and it's good to have some decent smallish terrain pieces to break up a board. Any progress on the landing pad?

Hi LG- sorry for the delay in posting up a response. I've been up in New York helping my mother prepare her house for sale and it made for some busy (and long!) days. I actually got some painting in tonight on both the improvised container office and the Condor itself, plus got the Adeptus Mechanicus mechanic primered. I hope to have pictures up tomorrow evening, all things being equal.

Also want to get going on the Wizard's Cottage, another whack at a pipe terrain piece, an old Kromlech jetbike-mounted Farseer and the High Elf terrain piece that suggested itself when I was cleaning out the tractor bay of our barn- you never know what good stuff you're going to find there!

Plus all the neat things I see you guys doing. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

More follows soonest!

So, got some real work done over the past two evenings- I'm calling the little office done, or nearly so. But first, here's the silver that came with a set of metallic thinned paints for the airbrush- I can't believe a) how easy it was to spray it and get good coverage, b) how little paint it used and c) how unbelievably bright this sucker is now. I'm going to paint the top half blue, slather Nuln Oil over everything and then get started really weathering:



But here's the container office. I used the airbrush to apply the yellow basecoat, the white oxide and the black and orange parts of the graffito (my very first _ever_ in my life), sponge chipping for the black scrapes, a little bit of Erie Lackawana Engine Sooty Black Weathering Powder, brushed rust from Vallejo and three different layers of wash in strategic places- Seraphim Sepia, Nuln Oil and thinned rust:









Next, I think I can stick this sucker to the diorama base and get really into mounting the flight pad. I drilled out the support columns to take the pins for the support braces tonight and also got the taken-apart engine and some other bits primed, as well as a start on the mechanic's face.

I'm not entirely happy with how I slopped the rust around, but I think the overall effect is still better than many of my previous efforts. Who knows- one day I may even paint something to look like new, just to see what it's like!

More follows soonest.

Looking Good!

Thanks Shas! I think what will help around the louvers is some more Erie Lackawana Grime in a Bottle- make it look more like grime and less like badly applied siding stain!

Interesting... I like the dirt and rust on the corners, quite alrighty! That door with the "keep out" sign sure asks for a spray of shotgun lead. Very good work overall, congratulations on another nice terrain piece!

I think the rusting and chipping looking great , personally not a fan of the color of louvers, but then again I’m not a color expert as my wife and youngest daughter always remind me when I dress myself .

Thank you for commenting Wirecat, Theo!

Overall I am pleased with how the rust combined with the sponge chipping came out- but Theo is right- those louvers gotta change. I think I'd batter re-prime them a base color and try griming them again. I may even pry one off, cut out the wall behind it and then re-attach with a stick propping it part-way open for ventilation (because the AC unit on the front works so poorly, you see- Olivia the Mechanic has been meaning to fix that, but keeping the Condor in the air is a full time job all by itself).

I've airbrushed the flight pad and the support columns now, I'm ready to start sticking things to the base using my new favorite 'holds everything'- greenstuff. Then the _real_ detailing can begin.

Thanks again for looking in, it means a lot.

 Meer_Cat wrote:
So, got some real work done over the past two evenings- I'm calling the little office done, or nearly so. But first, here's the silver that came with a set of metallic thinned paints for the airbrush- I can't believe a) how easy it was to spray it and get good coverage, b) how little paint it used and c) how unbelievably bright this sucker is now. I'm going to paint the top half blue, slather Nuln Oil over everything and then get started really weathering:



But here's the container office. I used the airbrush to apply the yellow basecoat, the white oxide and the black and orange parts of the graffito (my very first _ever_ in my life), sponge chipping for the black scrapes, a little bit of Erie Lackawana Engine Sooty Black Weathering Powder, brushed rust from Vallejo and three different layers of wash in strategic places- Seraphim Sepia, Nuln Oil and thinned rust:









Next, I think I can stick this sucker to the diorama base and get really into mounting the flight pad. I drilled out the support columns to take the pins for the support braces tonight and also got the taken-apart engine and some other bits primed, as well as a start on the mechanic's face.

I'm not entirely happy with how I slopped the rust around, but I think the overall effect is still better than many of my previous efforts. Who knows- one day I may even paint something to look like new, just to see what it's like!

More follows soonest.

I'm really digging the container office. Nice.

Meer_Cat,

Liked the container office, but I really loved the small pumping station, the way the terrain can look correct and still fit models.

Cheers,

CB

Hey ORM- long time no see and thank you for looking in! The office is a neat little learning project for me and will be a major sub-component of the flight pad terrain piece I'm working on (I was getting some good progress in tonight until a family phone call took more time than I expected, but all is good). Tomorrow should see some more pics of the whole thing starting to come together.

Hi Captain! The little pumping station was fun, and my first project ever trying to use an airbrush. I learned a lot and had some fun. Game-ability was a design requirement from the get-go, It had to be able to accommodate at least a few individual figures, or one heavy weapons team. I also fulfilled a longtime ambition to use one of the 10,000 printer cartridge packages I've saved for an actual project, so I met that goal too.

More follows soonest, and thank you all for your encouragement and comments!

Keep up the good work Meer_Cat! I like the amount of detail that is going into the container office, both art and fluff

Thank you for dropping in Syro, and for the encouraging words.

Here are some WIP pics to show how things are going to start coming together. Obviously, I owe a lot to Clanmac's inspiring work in his post-apocalyptic Junktown. There's still a ton of things to add- pilot elevator, freight elevator, the mechanic working on an engine (the one I've already built might be too big for this platform, may have to make another) and a bunch of smaller detailing, not to mention the Condor (which got the start of its flight livery colors tonight), but here's a start to the basic structure:









Everything you see here (blurry and badly lit, I know) still needs paint except for maybe the little office (and the louvers are now yellow but need some grunge, so, scratch that last). Nut I'm excited to be seeing some actual progress that you can measure, and wanted to share.

Incidentally, the pillar caps that you see at the top of the support poles ar etoothpaste caps with the lids cut away. I'm right chuffed with that utilization!

Looking good! so the landing pad has an actual office now!

I am not a fan (snicker) of office _under_ the landing pad that is not as thick as a carrier deck. You may survive the down blast, but will You get out when someone screws the approach protocol or an engine gives up?

Nah, it is good! Serviceable.