Marik Militia Fire Lance (picture heavy): For the glory of purple through delivered ordnance

[Xiwo Xerase 12189]

BattleTech is one of my long time loves for games and it's what got me into the miniature hobby.  I have actually been avoiding painting my BattleTech minis for a while so I'm hoping this will give me some amount of momentum.

 

The four miniatures featured in this WIP thread are, from left to right:

• Catalyst Game Labs Cyclops, plastic, from the Fire Lance Pack.
• Iron Wind Metals 20-200, Griffin GRF-6S, metal (standing in for a Griffin GRF-3M).
• Iron Wind Metals 20-211, Archer ARC-8M, metal (standing in for an Archer ARC-2R).
• Catalyst Game Labs Catapult, plastic, from the Fire Lance Pack.

 

 

These make up the Fire Lance of the Marik Militia company I have painting off-and-on (mostly off).  The colors of the Marik Militia are purple, with blue highlights on one side and red highlights on another.  Here's an example I've already painted:

 

The metal minis have been based using Iron Wind Metals hex bases.  The plastic minis have been removed from their integral plastic bases and based on Proxie Models plastic hex bases.  All of the minis have been glued via glue gun onto little holders I made from spare parts (PVC pipe, a wooden dowel, and washers).  These are mounted via magnets on my normal painting holders (plastic tubes with a squared base).  The point of the holders is for easy removal from the holders for photography.  (This was actually my first time using a glue gun so if some of the minis look crooked compared to the base, that's why.)

 

The minis have been primed white using Reaper Brush-On Primer and then painted with a mix of Brown Liner, Brush-On Sealer, and water to show details.  (All of them but the Archer were painted using a 1:2 mix of Brown Liner and Brush-On Sealer.  The Archer was painted using a 1:1:1 mix of Brown Liner, Brush-On Sealer, and water.)  The bases have been covered (or filled) with paver sand glued down with superglue.  (I'm pretty sure I picked this up from @Weird-O.)

 

Here's an obligatory picture with Sir Forscale:

 

I've included pictures of the minis in spoilers:

 

Archer

Spoiler

 

Catapult

Spoiler

 

Cyclops

Spoiler

 

Griffin

Spoiler

 

I'm going to point some of the obvious mistakes to get those out of the way:

• There are some mold lines that didn't get filed down.
• There is some detail that should probably have been enhanced (for example, filing down more on the Griffin's missile pod and recreating that detail, or drilling some of the missile launcher holes deeper).
• Some detail in the Archer's missile launchers has been obscured by CA glue and will need to be recreated with paint.  (Gluing on the missile launcher doors was painful.)
• When the Catapult was removed from its integral base, it's outside toes were mangled.
• Neither of the metal minis are pinned.  This is a pretty big mistake and will be painful if either of then fall.

 

Some of these mistakes won't be addressed.  I'm going to live with that.

 

So let's talk painting.  The guiding principle, beyond the Marik Militia parade scheme is "rule of cool".   It doesn't make sense for weapon barrels and joints to be metallic but it looks cool.  The planned colors are:

• Primary purple: Amethyst Purple
• Blue accents: Cyan Blue
• Red accents: Phoenix Red
• Weapon barrels: Honed Steel, enhanced with the Bones metallics
• Joints: Tarnished Steel, enhanced with the Bones metallics
• Hands and other rubbers: Stone Grey
• Base sand: Yellowed Ivory
• Base rim: Gem Purple

 

I'm still trying to decide the cockpit glass color.  On the other Marik Militia minis I've painted (like the Black Knight above), I've just used Adamantium Black.

 

(An aside about base rims: When I paint BattleTech minis associated with a particular fashion, I paint the rim of the base a color based on the faction.  Since the Marik Militia are part of the Free Worlds League Military (except for when the League doesn't exist), the base color is purple.  I have a spreadsheet of faction colors I made some time ago, before the Bones paints came out.  It uses some HD paints that aren't going to be rereleased, so I'll need to revisit that.)

 

 

The challenge here is to paint all four minis to tabletop, in a timely manner, and without drybrushing (except the base sand, which will be drybrushed).  Let's see if I can finish this by, say, the end of July.

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Basecoats are done.  One problem with BattleTech minis is that they take a couple hours to basecoat each.

 

 

I've since applied washes but I don't have pictures yet.

 

In case you're wondering, the guidance for the paint scheme is: "The Marik Militias use a color scheme first seen in 2620--purple with red accents on the right side and blue on the left."  You can see examples at Camo Specs Online.  (The link goes to the page for the 2nd Marik Militia.  There are other Marik Militia regiments with additional examples.)

 

One more thing you probably won't see in this WIP is decals.  I have some of the decals I need but not all of them.  (Nor do I have Micro Sol or similar yet.)

[Glitterwolf 201821]

I like the colours!

[Xiwo Xerase 12189]

Here's how they look after the washes:

 

The Archer got knocked down during the process of moving from the holder to the photo area.  That has dinged the paint in three places that I'll have to touch up.  The patch jobs may not quite match the washed colors but that should be fine.  All three places are facing up and would be highlighted anyway.

 

Each miniature was covered in a roughly 2:1 mixture of Reaper Brown Wash and Flow Improver.  The metals were then washed again using a similar mixture but with Black Wash.  (Maybe Steel Wash would have been better?)

 

I spent my hobby time tonight basecoating a different 'Mech to try out a color scheme.  That took about three hours.  (The primary colors were Peacock Green and Fresh Blood.)

 

Next up for these guys: Highlighting and deepening shadows where necessary.

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These are mostly done.  I have yet to do the cockpits and missiles.  There are some panel lines that will need to be cleaned up.  And after that, sealing.

 

 

You know when I said I'd do this without drybrushing?  Well, I didn't.  And I'm not sure I did much better with the highlights than I would have with drybrushing.  On the plus side, I think the metallics might be better.  (And whenever I drybrush metallics, I seem to get flakes where I don't want them...)

[Darcstaar 10615]

These look great.  I love all the little accent colors.

[Corsair 27712]

On the cockpits, maybe just a little blue and silver to make it look like a reflection since the frames already are really nice. Overall, a fantastic job.

[Xiwo Xerase 12189]

On 8/19/2019 at 10:32 PM, Darcstaar said:

These look great.  I love all the little accent colors.

Thanks!

 

54 minutes ago, Corsair said:

On the cockpits, maybe just a little blue and silver to make it look like a reflection since the frames already are really nice. Overall, a fantastic job.

Thanks!  On the other 'Mechs in the company, I just used Adamantium Black.  For consistency's sake (and, well, laziness), I'm tempted to do the same here, although with a light amount of cockpit jeweling.  (I suppose I could always watch The Matrix and pay attention to the agents' shades.)

 

Also!  I did take individual pictures of each of the 'Mechs in case there any you would like to see at this stage.

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And we're done except for sealing:

 

I have pictures of each miniature individually, which I'll post tomorrow evening.  (It's late now and I should have been in bed half an hour ago.)

[Corsair 27712]

They turned out great!

[Xiwo Xerase 12189]

Pictures of the individual minis, pre-sealing:

 

Archer:

 

Catapult:

 

Cyclops:

 

Griffin:

 

When they're sealed and I have new pictures, I'll post the show off thread.

[Xiwo Xerase 12189]

The Show Off thread has been posted.