LTPK5: Rasia (02811) and Dain (02823)

[Emli]

For my next trick, I will finally finish off my last LTPK: #5 Armor. In my last LTPK adventures, I decided not to work on the models concurrently. This time, I'll do them both at the same time again! 

 

Step -1: Review the instructions. 

Oooh, I know what all of these things mean now! I'm not planning to completely stick with the included colors, primarily because we now have entirely too many shades of ... everything. The metal bits that are the purpose of the kit will follow the instructions, for sure. For Dain, his cloth will definitely not be blue (not decided on what color yet - Edit: hmm, greens sound good), and I think his hair will go more to the orange-yellow. For Rasia, she looks like she needs black hair, and I'm not sure yet if I'll do her skirty bits as metal (silver or silver-blue like her armor) or leather. Both of them will have their leathers and accessories done up with whatever feels like a good idea (or happens to be on the palette) at the time.

 

Step 0: It's all about the bases. (Sorry, I failed my catchy music save)

Waaaaay back when I started doing the metal LTPKs, I primered all the minis involved, then superglued them to 1" tiles. Ah, well, it doesn't count as shame if its only primer and glue, right? 

This may not have been the best of ideas in this case, as I also failed to remove Dain's shield before I glued him down. In an attempt to salvage my errors, I removed the shield sprue bit, and glued down some mixed size sand to hide the nub. I also gave Rasia the same treatment, since I already know that this simple sand treatment works with the tiles. 

 

Step 1: Paint

To be continued...

 

No pictures yet, because everyone knows what primer and unpainted sand looks like.

 

P.S. I did find the old open thread, but its super old and I didn't want to necro it. 

Edited March 24, 2015 by Emli

[Silvervane]

Looking forward to this.  I had fun going through all of them.  Love seeing other people tackle these kits.

[CashWiley]

I, too, love seeing people tackle the old kits. I attribute a lot of my early progress to really tearing into those lessons.

 

Dain is also the only mini I've painted unassembled! I didn't clip his shield off the base until he was almost completed.

[Emli]

Oh, it would have been fine if I hadn't glued him to a tile already. I should have taken a picture of it that way. It was super classy.

 

Minor progress -

Cleaned up mold lines where I could, because I also failed to do that many moons ago:

Dain had a bunch of random flash on his helmet and behind his additional weaponry. He also had some mis-alignment on his leg and foot that I tried to pare down a little.

Rasia was slightly mis-aligned all the way around, which is just annoying. I didn't do much to fix it on her because it seemed like a lost cause.

 

It's not great, but I'll live.

 

Some paint! Well, really just Brown Liner on their sandy bases. I thought I might try to do most of the basing first, instead of trying to dry-brush sand after I had already painted them. Crazy, but I'm going to go with it.

 

No pictures yet, because no *real* progress.

[Emli]

More minor progress. I've taken to painting over my lunch hour, since life seems to keep filling up my evenings. I'll try to take some pictures tonight.

 

Bases all done up with dry brush layers of Russet Brown, Tanned Shadow, Mystery Tan Sample, and Fair Skin. Then I went around the edges in Pure Black.

 

I started the skin bits, since they're small. I either thinned my Rosy Skin too much initially, or it was mixed poorly, or both. It wasn't sticking real well at first. A few layers later, it was time to stop. I haven't decided yet what to highlight/shade with, but I will line the edges of the skin with Walnut Brown. 

 

I also found that Dain appears to have some sort of violent run-in in which he lost his left eye. Or maybe just a mold issue. If I can't paint him a serviceable eye, he gets an eyepatch.

[ub3r_n3rd]

I find your distinct lack in pictures disturbing...

[Emli]

OMG PICTURES NOW.

 

This is my fancy way of storing Dain's shield.

 

 

And here's a closer look at Dain's ... injury. You can also see some of the places where is detail is messy on his hat and near his sword hilt. Someone in the old open thread mentioned a similar problem. In the event of an actual emergency, I'd probably have requested a replacement. He is adequate to practice techniques on for the moment.

 

 

I like the way Rasia's base came out better than Dain's. I think he lost too many of his larger rocks in the process of drybrushing. You can't really see her mismatch problem here, but it's not awful.

 

 

Moving on: Finish up the skin and eyes, then lining of said skin. After that, it's time for undercoat madness!

Edited December 6, 2015 by Emli

[Emli]

Yesterday's work:

 

Skin recipe from L2PK2 Laurana and then eyes for both.

Walnut Brown all around. I'm not a huge lining fan, so I kept it just to the edges. 

 

Dain's a little blurry tonight. Must have been the ale.

 

 

On further reflection, Dain's bad eye looks a bit odd on all the other painted Dains I can find where I can actually see that eye reasonably well. With the angle of his helmet and a bit thicker lining right there, I've decided to try and sell that it's just hidden under the edge. I am considering a bit of red/pink glaze when I get out the color for their lips, to imply scarring.

 

Next steps will be some of the under-things bits. The instructions jump right from the skin to the metallics, leaving the hair, clothing and everything else for after. That way lies madness. I will be doing their cloth and boots before moving on to other, potentially metallic, bits. Dain will go forest green, and Rasia will be sporting dark grey. I'll use Al's boot recipe for their boots (see previous WIPs, or just wait until I get round to detailing).

Edited December 6, 2015 by Emli

[Emli]

Woo, lots of progress to report!

 

Everyone got their boots done: Walnut Brown, then Ruddy Leather, then Mystery Tan Sample.

 

 

 

Dain's axe handle got the same browns as his boots.

His greens: Christmas Wreath, then Viper Green, then Viper Green + Linen White.

Undercoat: Walnut Brown + Ultramarine Shadow, per the instructions

Silvers: Honed Steel, then Polished Silver, per the instructions. I'll add the final highlight of Pearl White at the next session.

 

It's hard to tell yet if his greens will need more futzing. I'll be able to tell better after I get to the golds, I think. After I finish that last bit of silver highlights, I will work on his hair and remaining leathers before I move on to the golds. I didn't preserve much of the lining around the silver as the instructions did. That's more my preference, as mentioned earlier.

In my practicing of NMM, I had forgotten how strangely the Reaper metallics behave. I'm not sure if I'm doing it wrong or what, but if I thin them enough to make them flow properly, they have barely any coverage. If I don't thin them, its like painting with modelling paste. This makes controlling where the paint goes much harder than usual. Overall, it's very hard to touch up non-metallics over metallics, but I stand by my painting order. I just need to be more careful. I haven't done Rasia's tinted metals yet, so maybe adding non-metallic paint will help that.

 

 

 

Her greys: Armor Grey, Armor Grey + Linen White, Linen White

Undercoat: Walnut Brown + Ultramarine Shadow, per the instructions.

 

It's a bit hard to see her greys with the undercoat slobbered all over. I'm still deciding what to do with her skirt, but that will depend on how much trouble I end up having with the metallics.

Her undercoat came out decidedly more blue hued than Dain's. I thought I mixed the same ratio, but I guess not. It works out for her, though, since her armor will be metallic blue. Next up for her will be the blue parts of her armor, then I may do like Dain and finish her hair and remaining leathers before I do her chain and golds.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Emli

[ub3r_n3rd]

Looking really good!

[Emli]

No picture interlude: I did Rasia's initial blue metallic layer today at lunch. I used the suggested 50/50 Ultramarine Shadow + Honed Steel. Wow, that made a huge difference in the way the paint behaved. After looking at the pictures, Dain needs some cleanup before I call his silvers done. I'll try some Sealer or Matte Medium to thin the Honed Steel and Polished Silver instead of trying to do it with water. 

 

Post lunch planning brainstorm:

- Leathers/woods. Same recipe as boots for bags, belts, scabbards, hilt wraps, Rasia's scale skirt and the back of Dain's shield. 

- Hair. Rasia: Nightmare Black -> Ashen Blue -> Ghost White; Dain: Rusty Red -> Golden Yellow -> Pale Saffron?

(Rusty Red glaze for lips/scar, while I have it out)

- Golds, per instructions. Full coverage of undercoat. Line with Walnut Brown where necessary.

- Rasia's chain, per instructions

- Dain's horns, TBD

 

I think that's everything.

[Emli]

Just a quick bit here. I'm back to working on these guys. I'll admit, I had to go back and re-read this thread to remember what on earth I was up to.

 

Here's a terrible update picture!

 

 

My most recent efforts:

- I re-painted Dain's silvers after thinning with Brush-On Sealer. They behaved so much better.

- Highlights to Rasia's armor, per instructions. It looked weird when I went as high as the instructions seemed to indicate, so I toned it down a little. The contrast police have already sighed at me.

- Basecoated various brown things in Walnut Brown: leathers, woods, etc.

 

Next time: highlights on various brown things, perhaps some hair, and touchups to skin where I've made a mess.

 

Oh, right, that guy in the back. Mr. Bathalian is my test piece for Cthulhu color ideas. He's been over-primed in Army Painter Alien Purple. He is very irritated about that, and contemplating taking it out on the others.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Emli

[CashWiley]

Burple.

[Emli]

Um. Hi. Imma painter. I should paint.

 

Oy, 6 months its been? Sheesh.

 

Preview update:

- Dain had his leather bits, horns, and hair finished and is almost done, I mainly need to re-do his golds and attach his arm and hope I don't need to fix anything else up. There was an interlude where I fought with the gold, and then had to go back and fix a lot of things.

- I basecoated Rasia's hair, and did her random leather bits. She needs golds, chain and hair highlights, and a couple of other minor fixes.

- Bonus note! Bathalian of Testia got slobber-washed with Nightmare Black, and his staff is a light grey which I forgot to note.

 

I promise a picture or two. Pinky swear.

[Emli]

Double post! Woo?

 

As promised -

 

This is what my pretties looked like after I painted sometime between July and November:

 

 

But less blurry and better lit.

 

Here they are after I painted sometime between November and tonight:

(P.S. I got a new phone. Still terrible at taking pictures though.)

 

 

 

I fixed up Dain's gold and attached his arm. I didn't highlight the much more because so. done. I'll just say that mistakes were made with respect to his metallics. I do like his overall color scheme and I'm going to file it away for a different mini. 

 

I didn't mess with Rasia at all tonight. I was metallicked out, so I played with my Bathalian. I'm not sure I'll really WIP him, since he's more of a test piece for a larger idea.

 

I'll finish up Rasia next time, and maybe do one more post for her, and then off to the showoff with them both.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Emli