Sergeant Castus WIP

[ste022]

Sergeant Castus, I am painting as a display model for my local gaming store Board in Brum: www.facebook.com/boardinbrum. I really like this model and wish I could keep it. So far I've put around 15 hours into it.

 

[KruleBear]

Nice. I especially like the freehand battle damage.

 

[gorb]

The face looks amazing, very well done!

 

[ste022]

The face looks amazing, very well done!

Thanks, this was my first time using an airbrush to paint a face, so I was pleasantly surprised it came out as well as it did.

 

[mousekiller]

Yes, that face is perfect! Well done mate!

 

[ste022]

Yes, that face is perfect! Well done mate!

Thanks, I've been out of the hobby since 2009/2010. Started back about 6 months ago and a lot has changed, I had never used an airbrush before so that's been a steep learning curve (and expensive).

 

[ste022]

Sergeant Castus WIP Update #1

At around the 25hr mark now, figure is close to completion. just metallics, battle damage and weathering to go. Also I need to tinker with the plasma glow it's my first attempt at it and I'm not completely happy with it yet. As a side note I've replaced my desk lamp bulbs (X2 philips 6500k 12.5w) and as a result the images are far clearer now.

 

[ste022]

Redone Plasma

Redone plasma just needs glow effect adding to gun casing.

 

[ste022]

Plasma re-redone

While I was much happier with the plasma effect second time around, I thought the colours I used were too close to the armour colour so I've redone it again using turquoise instead of blue. Colours used: periscopes 309 (panzer aces), turquoise 966, blue green 808, white 951 and FW white ink.

 

[gorb]

Stunning work man, love that redone plasma glow. Your edge highlights are super on point and consistent, respect.

 

[ste022]

Stunning work man, love that redone plasma glow. Your edge highlights are super on point and consistent, respect.

Thanks, I was pretty happy with my third attempt at the plasma glow. However I made a mess of the reflected light on the casing and it's now sitting in a jar of paint stripper, I guess 4th times the charm. I think I'm going to give using the airbrush to apply the glow effect a try next time. Coming back into the hobby I'm finding everything much more difficult, my hands are stiffer and my eyes aren't as sharp as they were.

 

[gorb]

Ouch, sorry to hear that!

Definitely give the airbrush a try on the glow, the cool thing about it in my opinion is that you can use really thin layers of diluted paint, and slowly build it up and fade the edge away. I'm certainly no expert at it, but 100% if I didn't have an airbrush I would not get the OSL I get now.
I'm 45, and my eyes are turning to garbage, so I use a 3.5x head mounted magnifier. Without it these models are just way too small to do anything with. If you don't have one I can highly recommend getting one.

 

[CyAniDe]

Yep, airbrush produces great results for OSLs quite easily since you can spray very translucent layers that blend in automatically and look really smooth. If you have an airbrush give it a try.
Really like the face. Blends look really smooth even on those large pictures. When I look at the neatly painted Eyes and teeth highlights, your hands and eyes can't be that bad xD

On the eye topic -> using x2.5 magnifying glasses since I got 27 -.-
Before that I used to joke with/about the "old men" that were using those when we met at painting conventions. First realized it myself when I was painting faces and somehow couldn't paint eyes anymore. Vision got blurry. So joke was on me when I got to our meeting in the following year unpacking and waering my own magnifying glasses xD
At first it is a bit unfamiliar but you're getting used to them quite quickly. I prefer glasses over the visors though.
I use these https://www.optik-pro.de/Produktbilder/zoom/60222_2/Eschenbach-Lupenbrille-laboMED-2-5X-bino.jpg -> you can find them on the big online action house for around 10-20$

 

[ste022]

Yep, airbrush produces great results for OSLs quite easily since you can spray very translucent layers that blend in automatically and look really smooth. If you have an airbrush give it a try.
Really like the face. Blends look really smooth even on those large pictures. When I look at the neatly painted Eyes and teeth highlights, your hands and eyes can't be that bad xD

On the eye topic -> using x2.5 magnifying glasses since I got 27 -.-
Before that I used to joke with/about the "old men" that were using those when we met at painting conventions. First realized it myself when I was painting faces and somehow couldn't paint eyes anymore. Vision got blurry. So joke was on me when I got to our meeting in the following year unpacking and waering my own magnifying glasses xD
At first it is a bit unfamiliar but you're getting used to them quite quickly. I prefer glasses over the visors though.
I use these https://www.optik-pro.de/Produktbilder/zoom/60222_2/Eschenbach-Lupenbrille-laboMED-2-5X-bino.jpg -> you can find them on the big online action house for around 10-20$

I have a pair of those visors. The difference is that I used to only wear them for painting eyes, whereas I'm relying on them quite a bit now. The issue really is just that I've had a twelve year break so the difference in my eyesight and dexterity from then to now was very noticeable (gone from 24yrs to 36yrs), I was very short sighted when I was younger and had incredibly sharp eyesight when it came to close up work.
And thank you and everyone else for the positive feedback, I'm always grateful to receive advice/ideas/CC .

 

[ste022]

Ouch, sorry to hear that!

Definitely give the airbrush a try on the glow, the cool thing about it in my opinion is that you can use really thin layers of diluted paint, and slowly build it up and fade the edge away. I'm certainly no expert at it, but 100% if I didn't have an airbrush I would not get the OSL I get now.
I'm 45, and my eyes are turning to garbage, so I use a 3.5x head mounted magnifier. Without it these models are just way too small to do anything with. If you don't have one I can highly recommend getting one.

I had decided against using the airbrush initially because I had spent quite a bit of time airbrushing on a burnt discolouration effect around the barrel and didn't want to completely cover it up, but I think I'll give it a go. Jose Davinci has a youtube video where he does it with an airbrush so I'm going to follow his tips (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK21wWsniYs).

 

[gorb]

+1 on the Jose Davici video, the man is a rockstar. I'm off to watch that video now

 

[ste022]

Approx 40hrs in now, about 90% done. Metallics are done, I've repainted the plasma gun for a 4th time and the base is mostly finished. I'm hopeful to have him finished by the end of week.

 

[ste022]

Found a few more hours to work on it and got the base completed today. just needs dry pigments, but I'll add these once the figure is mounted.

 

[ste022]

Sergeant Castus - All done!!!

Took 48hrs in all. This is easily the best thing I've ever painted, and I'll be sad to hand it over to the store. The final photo shows my photography set-up, the messy desk is optional. I'm planning on handing it over on saturday if I can make it over. I've just got to finish off my orc shaman "Gaznob" figure that I'm working on and then I can finally get on with putting my Kill Team together.

 

[gorb]

Dude this is EPIC!

I love the plasma gun repaint, and even though I'm sorry that you had to repaint it 4 times I reckon by now you can paint that super plasma in your sleep. Level up
The base is terrific as well, and really complements the model. There is a super cool story you are telling with this model, I love it.

WELL DONE!