Hobby Tricks: Prepping symbols, Sticks and BLOOD!

TJ here to share a couple of basic things I have used/ noticed that have helped me save time or just plain kicked ass. Let's take a look.

So the Alpha legion symbols you have seen on my Berzerkers and Oblits are all pretty well shaded and highlighted. I didn't paint each one of those painstakingly over the course of hours. NOOOO! I painted them all at once with a regular brush and some help from plain old Blue Tac.

I stuck these ALpha Legion Symbols onto the blue tac and then primed them right on the blue tac. DOn't worry, you can still use the blue tac afterward and it is $2 if you can't (but you can). Then you come through with a big brush and paint base them all and then come back and dry brush the highlights. No cleaning up the surrounding shoulder pad, no being careful. Just get 100 or more done at a time. It saved me hours on the Alpha Legion and is still saving me time. I just glue the symbols on later.

Another thing I did was use the blue tac ($2) and stuck it to some yard sticks that I had cut in half (less than $1 each). This let me airbrush and highlight the models super fast. I know this trick isn't new and isn't unknown, but I know I thought i was fine without the sticks and man was I wrong. I based and highlighted 115 models with three colors of blue in an hour and five minutes. 115 models! I can't believe I knew this trick existed and never tried it. It costs three dollars to set up. DO IT!

The last little trick I have that I have been using lately is just mixing 50/50 Blood For the Blood God technical paint with Secret Weapon's Realistic Water effect medium. Take a look at it dried on that base. That's completely set. It looks wet and passed right over the skulls to pool looking pretty much like fresh blood to me. You could go heavier on the BFTBG to make it thicker too. I was just stoked by the final result and wanted to share it. BTW, I have used a bunch of different still water and I was really impressed by SW's formula. It just works better and easier and is very affordable compared to the alternatives.

Anyway, those are just some tricks I have tried and found recently. I think I might do something like this once in a while. Have you tried any of these? Let me know how it worked.

More Silly Putty Masking!

So I have talked about Silly Putty masking in a previous post when I painted a camo pattern on my Dust Warfare Mickey ... but I have been at it again and really can't say enough about this method for easy masking. The Night Scythe above is one that I really need for a tourney tomorrow and I like to play with painted models, so you know I had at least on project on my desk when I woke up this morning. I painted the badboy Balor Brown using my Iwata Airbrush, then hit the model from above with Yriel Yellow. Then I covered it in this very fleshy looking Silly putty.

Quick Tip! Gaming aid for transports!

Its been a long time since I've had a good tip but I have an 'ard boyz inspired one!

Tired of you (or your opponent) loosing track of which unit is in which rhino?  Tired of your opponents army being led by David Blaine?  Me too.

Weathering Effects with Foam

Hey everyone, quick tip here for some easy to do vehicle weathering. The video for this isn't the best; i misplaced my tripod so it's a really close up video on a Flip which doesn't like close up. I have some still pictures to try to make up for it.

This technique can be used for other things than just adding silver to a vehicle to look chipped. For example on my librarian dread a long way back I used it to get a pretty sweet looking fade on the hammer. Also, Grey_Death uses it on his Sons of Medusa to get the battle damage effect using grey and some like spots of highlight.

I really like the method over drybrush because it doesn't leave streaks the way dry brushing can. Its more of a chip pattern. Also, I find it easier to control than when I try and drybrush something.

Here's a quick list of materials-
sliver paint (whatever tone you like)
Brown paint (dark tones work best but this is your mud/rust)
a piece of foam from your mini tray or from a blister




So here are some better finished product still shots. These are after I went all the way around and a little up the sides.


Before and after the added brown for a mud/rust effect. I didn't use any sort of wash for it but one could be added if the model were painted a different color than black.