Exorcist Follies

So my Boyfriend was awesome and got me a fancy Exorcist tank kit for Xmas. Of course when we opened it up and started playing around with the pieces we discovered that the main U shaped pewter piece was warped. Basically the right side was smaller than the left side and bubbled up.
He had to shave of the fluer de lis on the sides and hammer the frak out of it, and bend it back into shape with some pliers, along with shaving down the plastic piece that it sits on in order for it to fit. And of coure the round servitor's hidey hole didn't fit properly and again the plastic had to be shaved out in order for it to fit.
The topper is the actual pipes don't fit together properly either. they are pretty warped and look like they bow in along the edge.

I sent GW an email with what we did and the pics but of course i haven't heard back yet. I've been told to call them. although i'll probably wait till after the new year holiday to do so. I dont' really want a replacement or anything i just want them to get their ass in gear and fix the damn problem with the mold.

SoB Blue Squad 2009

Inspired by my Blue SoB squad from 1999 (Check it out here!) I decided to paint up a new blue squad with the same paint scheme.
Here is the Sister Superior that can double as a Canoness (i've always wanted one with a jump pack)
Also i should mention the bases are from Dragon Forge Designs http://www.dragonforge.com/ a fabulous small company that is worthy of support! Seriously go and buy some for yourself today! For those of you like me, who hate making your own bases this is the way to go.

Here is the whole squad and as always you can click on each image to see a larger version.



Now it's on to building that Penitent Engine!

*Tutorial* Non-Metal Metallic Armor

Ok Guys and Gals here is my second tutorial, this is how i paint those elusive non-metal metallics. I won't say this is easy or fast because, well it's not. It's time consuming but it can be lot of fun, or you could honestly be throwing your mini across the table halfway through.

Here are the paints we are going to be using today... Warm greys, a crazy green and a few washes.
Scorpy Green, Stonewall Grey, Basalt Grey, Black Grey, Black , White, and Turquoise (not shown)
Badab Black, Asurmen Blue and Skin Wash

As for brushes i'm using mostly a 3/0 round, 5/0 round, a 12/0 round and a 20/0 monogram (which is just a longer bristle round)


So here is how we left off: just a base of Badab Black over the Basalt Grey.
Notice where the darker areas are and what color your miniature is.
Mix your paint at this point, I like using a wet pallet as it gives me more working time with my paints. Mix your Black Grey with your Basalt Grey until you get a color slightly lighter than the current color of your mini. cover 95% of the armor with this while leaving the black wash to show in the creases. Don't worry if it looks funny right now.. ok so this was the easy step.

Now mix a little bit more of the Basalt Grey into your mix and cover less area than you painted before. you want to basically build color steps. at this point you should figure out where your light source is coming from. to make it easy just assume it's above the mini. you can use your painting light to see where the shadows are cast and which areas are brighter than others. Start to mimic this with your paint.


At this point you should mix more of the Basalt Grey into your mixture and you will probably be at 90% of Basalt Grey at this point. (I always like to have a small amount of the darkest color mixed in to keep the hue of the paint consistent.) highlight even less areas while using your desk light as a reference. As you can see by the picture above there isn't much difference at this point but don't fret it's moving along just fine.


Now add a bit of Stonewall grey and just a dash* of scorpy green into your mixture and highlight the peaks. You can go lighter at this point if you want by mixing up to the stonewall grey but you don't have to. You could even go as far as white but just painting a few tips with it. it's all up to you.
* by Dash i mean a very very tiny amount just to give your grey a green hue.


Now it's time to dirty this girl up!

Bring out your Skin Wash and water it down a bit and apply to the areas you would like to dirty up a bit. i've added it to the flamer front, the funky cables around her neck and on the back of the gun and the fuel pot on her back.

Now here is the trick to really make your NMM pop. Mix together some Black Grey and Turquoise paint. I also like to add some P3 mixing medium to it to avoid wash rings. Get it nice and dark with a hint of the turquoise. then just like a wash make sure your paint it thin but not too thin. and start adding it to the areas you want shaded. Around the rivits, between the fingers, in the creases, any and everywhere you want. I also put a couple coats of it on the top of the skin wash on the gun. I use this mix to blend the darker greys together. In the darker areas feel free to do more than one coat of this.

This wash usually helps blend in the darker areas so that your lighter areas really pop. Also in this pic I added a coat of Asurmen Blue to the end of the flamer to simulate a scorched weapon. you can also add a bit of black wash to really darken it up.
Also to help sharpen up your paint job, use the 20/0 brush and line the creases with a watered down black mix. After all it's not how well you paint, it's how well you do touch ups!

Here is a side by side view of each step. I hope that helped...

*Tutorial* How I paint Sisters part 1

Ok first off I was going to put this all in one post but i figured i would break it up into segments since these SoBs take me so long to paint.

Of course first clean, file off all the mold lines, and drill out the gun barrels. If you miss any mold lines they will show up when you prime your model and should be easy pickins after that.

Here are the paints i'm using for this post:

I chose white primer because it's easier for me to see all the details. I use krylon primer, it's cheap (about $5 a can) and works great. These models are a bit harsh as they had been painted before and recently had a bath in simple green.


First I used a flat brush with a rounded tip to block out the areas i want to paint. I tend to do the whole squad at once. Basalt grey first then flat blue. I try to be good and color within the lines but it doesn't always work. no biggie. Nothing a little paint can't fix later on.


Then it's time for the black wash. I like to black wash the whole thing to give me an idea as to where the shadows are going to lay. No skimping on the wash, i added a second layer into the creases of the armor for later. Granted this could be seen as a waste of good wash. but i find that it helps with the process.
Now it's time to paint the blue, using a size 0 round brush I start off with with Dark prusia blue as seen above and water it down and add some mixing medium to it.

I cover all the blue quickly so the paint is still wet when i add the next color.

I add a little flat blue to the dark blue and lighten it a step up then apply it to the hills of the robes and make sure to leave the valleys the darker blue to imply shadow.

I continue mixing up to almost flat blue but i make sure to leave a little of the dark blue mixed in. (Switch to a 3/0 round brush) Then I mix in a bit of the Deep sky blue to lighten it and continue to paint the hills on the robes while painting less and less area each time.

For the final coat i add a little bit of white to the mix just to make it pop but not over powering.

All of the layers are watered heavily but not so much they get splochy. I guess to about the consistency of 1% milk.
Granted you probably don't need to do all that layering to get the same effect but it does stand out from over 12 inches away.

After i finish i check over the mini and make sure the steps blend in enough for my tastes if they don't, i take a really watered down Dark blue wash and add a layer or two over those specific areas till it looks ok to me. You could also do this step and the first blue step with a GW blue wash as it's about the same color.

At this point I don't bother with the super fine details like the weird rivets on the robes as i save those for the 'touch up' session when everything else is done and I have out my 20/0 paint brush for the finer points.

Let me know if you have any questions or if i'm out of my mind.