Ultra marine painting advice |
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Brother-Captain Parzval
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice  Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 5:49 pm |
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Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2003 10:22 pm
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Location: Sweden
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For me theres only one way to paint ultramarines - ultramarine blue base (i dont bother with undercoating - no need if you do the basecoat properly, at least not for epic) blue ink wash, ultramarine highlights. Finally (and this is what everyone else does wrong) I paint weapons and vehicle tracks black, highlight with mithril silver. This gives me real dramatic shading effects - a must on these small minis, I think.
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"We are the sword of fire with which the Traitors shall be cut down."
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mr_mich
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 8:58 pm |
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Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2004 4:10 am
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With such confidence, I assume you'll have no trouble posting pics to show them off? 
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Tas
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Sun Feb 29, 2004 11:49 am |
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Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:01 am
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Location: Sydney, NSW
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| Quote (Brother-Captain Parzval @ 29 2004 Feb.,01:49) | | Finally (and this is what everyone else does wrong) I paint weapons and vehicle tracks black, highlight with mithril silver. This gives me real dramatic shading effects - a must on these small minis, I think. |
I agree that shading makes a big difference in this scale, but think Mithril silver is overdoing it. To each their own, but I think bolt gun metl does enough of an effect without getting the parade gloss finish that looks wrong to me.
I too look forward to pics! 
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Tas
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Legion 4
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Sun Feb 29, 2004 4:48 pm |
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Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 5:13 pm
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Location: Ohio - USA
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Mojarn Piett
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 7:54 am |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 7:35 am
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Location: Finland
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Athmos
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:36 pm |
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Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2003 1:06 pm
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Location: France
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i tend to spend an awfull lot of time to paint my minis, so i won't comment on my techniques (at least not here).
The Ink/transluscent paint on white is a quick and well known technique, and it certainly can be used to get very strong effects.
With a well worked undercoat, it can even (althought it is well out of the speed painting realm) be used up to competition standard minis.
I personaly like UM to be a little darker than the Mr Skull finish, it can easily be achieved with the same method, adding a tiny amount of black ink to the wash.
you can also get an underpainting finish by undercoating black, then drybrush "heavily" with withe (or for a better finish a first heavy brush with fortress grey, then a white one), and then applying the blue wash.
You can then pick details : weapons in metal (or red casing then boltgun clip/muzzle if you can get the time).
picking the shoulderpad rim always give good result with marines, but it's more time consuming.
Most important thing : base your minis. If you are short on time, it's better to skip any detail stage than skip the base.
An UM without any details, say just the white/blue wash only, no weapon detail, no shoulder detail, but with a base, will look better than a "detailed one on bare plastic.
The dip in sand/apply desert scheme is one of the quickest method, and look very good with blue marines (orange and blue are opposite color).
Apply slightly diluted (a drop of water) PVA glue, dip in fine sand. Let dry. Paint graveyard earth, drybrush slightly with bleached bone. Finish.
two easy way to improve this simple base are :
- add a small amount of bigger sand to your base mix : while not making your work any longer, it will add iregularity to the ground finish. this is always good. you can easily find sand in various size almost for free (when you compare to hobby store prices) in aquarium hobbyist store. you can get enough sand to cover many boards for a few $/?/?.
- after the desert scheme, you can put some spot of PVA glue again and dip the stand in static grass. If you want to do so, you may want to use a darker base to get a more earthy tone.
A bare painted mini (base color and no details) on a standard base look way better than a standard mini on a bare base.
And it's way easier to convince yourself to spend a bit more time later to paint the weapons than to get to work on the base of some mini you're not sure you like...
Athmos
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furgie
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:06 pm |
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Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 9:00 pm
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Location: Devizes, Wiltshire
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The more I read the more I think I could get into this painting lark!
I've sprayed white, then blue, a little dry brush of silver on weapons and handles for the tanks and it looks OK.
After painting green, I PVA'd the base and dipped in flock. Should I PVA again?
I'd like to try the sand idea next, that sounds better than the flock.
Thanks again for all the advice,
Furgie
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Mojarn Piett
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:39 am |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 7:35 am
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Location: Finland
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| Quote (furgie @ 01 2004 Mar.,19:06) | | After painting green, I PVA'd the base and dipped in flock. Should I PVA again? |
I use matt varnish on the flock after the PVA has dried.
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I don't know and I let who care. -J.S.
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Athmos
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 8:47 am |
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Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2003 1:06 pm
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Location: France
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i second the method Mojarn proposed, i used it and it it quite good a way to fix your flock/sand/static grass more firmly; I just had a problem with a Spray varnish which was utter poo and came out with big drop instead of an even spray... but this is unnerving mainly if you spent a lot of hours painting a mini (in my case, a Titan that "cost" me more than 12 hours)...
Athmos
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Viscount Charles
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:19 pm |
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Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:49 pm
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Whilst in general I think that the GW paints are pretty poor, and the inks are awful (commercially available artists' inks are far superior for the same sort of money), the only spray varnish I've ever been happy with is the GW stuff.
I've wrecked plenty of figures with plenty of different brands of spray varnish, I've flirted with brush-on varnish in a variety of tins, but I have yet to be disapointed by the bog-standard GW matt spray stuff. Except it is slightly satin rather than absolutely matt. Other painters I know swear by stuff called "Rail Match", which is REALLY matt (absolutely NO stray reflections off that stuff). but I rather like the finish I get from the GW can.
Oh, and my top tip for using the stuff - warm the can slightly before use. DO NOT HEAT IT, but I reckon I get a better finish and a more even spray if the can has stood for 20 minutes in a pan of warm water. Oh, and always remember to shake the can for at least one full minute.
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primarch
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:30 pm |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:46 am
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Location: Edmond, Oklahoma USA
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Hi!
I tend to view painting as a practical issue. I wont spend time and resources making them "museum quality" becuase they are intended to be used, touched, broken, dropped. So the paint jobs should be simple and easy to "touch up" once wear and tear take its toll.
Primarch
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Legion 4
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:45 am |
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Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 5:13 pm
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Location: Ohio - USA
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I'll have to say also, that I am not a fan of G/W's paints, and never have been. I usually use Polly's S paints ... a lot of tactical colors. But I do have a few of G/W's paints ...
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Mojarn Piett
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:36 am |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 7:35 am
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Location: Finland
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| Quote (Viscount Charles @ 04 2004 Mar.,20:19) | | Whilst in general I think that the GW paints are pretty poor, and the inks are awful (commercially available artists' inks are far superior for the same sort of money), the only spray varnish I've ever been happy with is the GW stuff. |
Any web resources available of the inks you mentioned? Or should I just march to the nearest artists' shop and ask if there are any inks present? 
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I don't know and I let who care. -J.S.
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Brother-Captain Parzval
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Post subject: Ultra marine painting advice Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:59 pm |
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Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2003 10:22 pm
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Location: Sweden
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Hi!
Just wanted to say that I dont have a camera, and therefore, sadly, cannot give you any pictures of my ultramarine army (but it does look rather good!)
I also would like to add that I use Woodland Scenics grass over goblin green for the bases. Few others seem to use it as far as epic infantry goes. I like it, even though each individual "piece" of this sort of grass might seem too large f?r the scale.
Check it out at www.woodlandscenics.com
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"We are the sword of fire with which the Traitors shall be cut down."
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And I agree black with metallic dry brushing ... shiny weapons are a bad thing ... unless you want to be a target ! 
