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Heya, I'm looking to start an Eldar Corsairs army soon and I'd like to go with the Sky Raiders scheme:






I'm a bit of an intermediate painter but I think I can pull of something decent here. I have a few questions for the pros here:

1) What paints would be best here to create this sort of sky-blue-grey hue?

2) The gold canopies? Does that look more brass than gold?

3) The white Sky Raider symbol - how does one get that on so neatly?

4) The black cracks in the paint - best technique?

5) The dark shading - Nuln oil shade or actual grey-black paint?



I have an airbrush of course for this but it's a low-end Citadel brush. I'm considering an upgrade, would it be worth it? Thanks in advance!

Mercury--
Your pics didnt come through, but I have the Doom campaign book and Ill take a look when i get home.
Do you have your figs yet?
Make sure you get at least one Warp Hunter...they are AWESOME!!!

Hmm, the pics were working when I posted them. Let's try again.

No I don't have models yet... I was thinking of waiting for the new codex (hopefully next month) in case Vypers, falcons, etc get updated. That falcon hull is just ancient.



EDIT: ugh, it seems to work then stop working. Here's the direct link:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6812646072_03e2358a09.jpg

I don't think you're tagging correctly, or possibly using an incorrect address. I looked up the image's address using Firefox's View Image Details right-click option, then pasted it between img tags:

 Gavin Thorne wrote:
I don't think you're tagging correctly, or possibly using an incorrect address. I looked up the image's address using Firefox's View Image Details right-click option, then pasted it between img tags:

That's what I did....

Hmmm, coming up now that I added the images to my post. If I had to guess, I'd say that starting with a Russ Grey and highlighting to Fenrisian Grey, adding white to the Fenrisian for your final highlight would be spot on for a comparable tone of blue/gray. Nuln oil would work for your shading around engine intakes, but you might get better results using Eshin Grey as your basecoat, for both the line detail and the engine weathering.

I believe the canopies are more of a bronze tone than brass or gold. Could be the angle though.

As for the symbol, it's probably freehanded with painstaking patience. You could always print your own, though. Dakka has a few articles detailing that process.

That Phoenix looks much more gray than blue gray to me though.

 Gavin Thorne wrote:
Hmmm, coming up now that I added the images to my post. If I had to guess, I'd say that starting with a Russ Grey and highlighting to Fenrisian Grey, adding white to the Fenrisian for your final highlight would be spot on for a comparable tone of blue/gray. Nuln oil would work for your shading around engine intakes, but you might get better results using Eshin Grey as your basecoat, for both the line detail and the engine weathering.

I believe the canopies are more of a bronze tone than brass or gold. Could be the angle though.

As for the symbol, it's probably freehanded with painstaking patience. You could always print your own, though. Dakka has a few articles detailing that process.

That Phoenix looks much more gray than blue gray to me though.

Isn't Eshin Grey a layer? Base with it anyway?

I was thinking of either grey or black primer, which would you recommend?


So....

1) Prime

2) Base Eshin Grey or Russ Grey?

3) Highlight Fenrisian Grey then Fenrisian/white on the raised bits?

What about the black line "cracks"? I'm worried I wont be able to pull it off freehand... Maybe some kind of airbrush stencil?

Yeah, that's about it.

Prime in a flat gray and basecoat in a dark gray (Eshin or otherwise, I was looking more at tones and depths than saturation of pigment).

At that point, I'd apply a masking agent via brush on the cracks, then highlight with your lighter shades using your airbrush. It's either that or use tape and paper to mask off the area around the lines after you paint the rest then fill the lines with the darker grey, which is probably more work than you want to do.

Something some folks have done is to use a paint pen to fill the line detail on eldar models. It's not always as clean as I'd like it to be, but liquid masking agents probably wouldn't be any better. Depends on how steady your hand is.

BTW, I'm getting a 403 error on the pics now. Did they get dropped or locked by the host?

 Gavin Thorne wrote:
Yeah, that's about it.

Prime in a flat gray and basecoat in a dark gray (Eshin or otherwise, I was looking more at tones and depths than saturation of pigment).

At that point, I'd apply a masking agent via brush on the cracks, then highlight with your lighter shades using your airbrush. It's either that or use tape and paper to mask off the area around the lines after you paint the rest then fill the lines with the darker grey, which is probably more work than you want to do.

Something some folks have done is to use a paint pen to fill the line detail on eldar models. It's not always as clean as I'd like it to be, but liquid masking agents probably wouldn't be any better. Depends on how steady your hand is.

BTW, I'm getting a 403 error on the pics now. Did they get dropped or locked by the host?

I've never used any liquid masking agents before, can you name one? A fine paint pen seems much, much easier though

I have no idea what's up with the pics but for some reason the fist one started working for me. But the other two dont. It you go to the broken/forbidden link though and just click on your address bar it works...

Windsor & Newton makes two varieties, you'd want the Art Masking Fluid. I know for a fact that there are other brands and modelling-specific products out there, but W&N make some good stuff. Here's a guy showing how this stuff can be used with watercolors, which (for most intents) the acrylics that we use for painting models are. The important part is that it reticulates the water-based paint away from the areas that it's been applied to and will peel off easily without taking the previously paint layers with it. Using a very soft, kneadable gum eraser will help remove the mask without damaging your paint. You do need to make sure that the paint you're applying the mask to is completely dry before masking, the mask completely dries before painting over it, and that what you paint over the mask is dry before removing it. Airbrushing should help with that, as long as your paint-to-air ratio is the right mix.