Advice on Treasure Golem (Bones V)

[painthirst]

I've seen a few really good paintjobs of the Treasure Golem from Bones V, however none of them kept the transparency, and since I feel like it's a shame not to take advantage of the unique effect that the transparent plastic allows for I wondered if anyone has any advice on that.

 

I've made a couple of attempts already, first attempt I found the gold paint wasn't adhering very well (even though I used a varnish in place of primer) and perhaps since I hadn't fully painted the gems I found they became difficult to notice amongst all the gold.

 

Second attempt I painted the gems and then started painting on a black primer everywhere else, however I noticed this really darkened the transparent gems (since you can see through to the bottom coat on the other side of the model)

 

I'm now considering whether to try using brown instead of black as my undercoat for the gold to stick to but I feel like even that will darken (and probably even muddy) the colour of the gems.

 

So I'm just reaching out to see if anyone's had any luck or if trying to retain the transparency in the gems is more effort than it's worth and I should just go for a normal zenithal prime?

Edited March 12 by painthirst

[TGP]

Is stripping the model back to zero paint an option for you? — Or are you looking at painting over what has been applied so far?

 

~~~~~~~~~
 

Starting from an unpainted model:

 

Paint a clear coat on the gems. 
(Mainly so you could easily wipe off the next step if your brush blorfs.)

 

Prime the [rest of the] miniature stark bright white. Possibly doing two coats. But avoid the gems. 
 

Paint the gems with thin ink washes in various colors. 
(Do you have Tamiya Inks? Good results have been reported with those.)

 

Cover the white primer with a layer of Brown Black or Brown Liner. (A brown-tone undercoat for gold is a good plan-great idea.)

 

Highlight up the gold coins doing your usual method for gold. (Are you inclined to do Non Metallic Metal, or use metallic paints?)

 

~~~~~~~~
 

The interior of the model will be a white background as seen through the gems. 
 

2¢

Edited March 12 by TGP

[painthirst]

On 3/13/2023 at 1:45 AM, TGP said:

Is stripping the model back to zero paint an option for you? — Or are you looking at painting over what has been applied so far?

 

~~~~~~~~~
 

Starting from an unpainted model:

 

Paint a clear coat on the gems. 
(Mainly so you could easily wipe off the next step if your brush blorfs.)

 

Prime the [rest of the] miniature stark bright white. Possibly doing two coats. But avoid the gems. 
 

Paint the gems with thin ink washes in various colors. 
(Do you have Tamiya Inks? Good results have been reported with those.)

 

Cover the white primer with a layer of Brown Black or Brown Liner. (A brown-tone undercoat for gold is a good plan-great idea.)

 

Highlight up the gold coins doing your usual method for gold. (Are you inclined to do Non Metallic Metal, or use metallic paints?)

 

~~~~~~~~
 

The interior of the model will be a white background as seen through the gems. 
 

2¢

Yeah, I can strip the model, I've already done it a couple of times.

 

Great advice, I don't know why I didn't think to just do a white primer for the non transparent areas...I guess I wasn't thinking about the fact I could just go with brown or black over the top without affecting the bottom layer.

 

I don't have Tamiya Inks, but it may be worth me picking some up. I was gonna use either Vallejo inks or citadel washes otherwise.

 

And I was gonna just paint the metal parts with true metallic paints, I don't have a lot of experience with NMM and I feel like it would be pretty overwhelming to try with this model.

 

Thanks again for the advice, I feel like I've got a solid plan now.

[golldan]

Not sure if this would help at this point, but some of the posts on this forum about the translucent minis might help. https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/87575-experiments-with-translucent-bones-models/#comment-1855327

[Count Urlik]

I shot this guy with an airbrush.  Undercoated with dullcote, then sprayed very thin paints (2 drops paint, 4 - 8 drops thinner).  Thinner was 20% alcohol in water.  I built up with 5 - 10 coats because I wanted more opacity.

 

[Ziggy]

Thank you everyone for this thread and the advice, ive got one on my table staring at me and wasnt sure how to proceced.

[snitchythedog]

On 3/15/2023 at 10:54 PM, Count Urlik said:

I shot this guy with an airbrush.  Undercoated with dullcote, then sprayed very thin paints (2 drops paint, 4 - 8 drops thinner).  Thinner was 20% alcohol in water.  I built up with 5 - 10 coats because I wanted more opacity.

 

That is a thing of beauty. 

[GoldenPiggy]

I just stumbled across this thread, and I too have a loot golem miniature staring at me and I'm not sure what to do with him.  I barely did anything other than trying to paint the gems.  But seeing this, I now have an idea what to try doing.  Thanks!

 

On 3/12/2023 at 9:45 AM, TGP said:

Starting from an unpainted model:

 

Paint a clear coat on the gems. 
(Mainly so you could easily wipe off the next step if your brush blorfs.)

 

Prime the [rest of the] miniature stark bright white. Possibly doing two coats. But avoid the gems. 
 

Paint the gems with thin ink washes in various colors. 
(Do you have Tamiya Inks? Good results have been reported with those.)

 

Cover the white primer with a layer of Brown Black or Brown Liner. (A brown-tone undercoat for gold is a good plan-great idea.)

 

Highlight up the gold coins doing your usual method for gold. (Are you inclined to do Non Metallic Metal, or use metallic paints?)

 

~~~~~~~~
 

The interior of the model will be a white background as seen through the gems. 
 

2¢