Picked up some art masking fluid from a craft store (it's meant for watercolours, but works great - by winsor & newton) and have been giving it a go. I did one whole model through to see how it looked, so in the end I decided instead of batching the rest, to get one at each 'major' stage through the process, to give you a mini guide.
Some background. I wanted the grey for the camouflage stripes to match the grey of my other Space Sharks. So I decided I would do the armour the same, and use a mask to protect the camo pattern, painting the yellow overtop. I did this to hopefully keep them more closely visually linked with the 4th company sharks.
WARNING: This stuff will RUIN your brushes, not even good as a drybrush. I ended up switching to using a toothpick/paperclip to apply it, if you do use an old brush - wash it after each dip. Dip, paint, wash, dip. Trust me.
First, here's a group shot for me to list the major steps.
Left to right;- prime med sea grey, black wash, light grey drybrush, boltgun metal drybrush.
- paint over tubing and apply camo pattern with art masking fluid.
- iyanden darksun, gryphonne sepia wash, drybrush golden yellow.
- use an eraser, toothpick, etc. to scratch off the art masking fluid. clean using a dry brush.
- painting details, decals, etc.
Here's a close up of the guy with the art masking fluid scratched off. I have a couple little fixes to do, but nothing drastic. Note: by this time I was using a paper clip to apply the art masking fluid.
Here's the guy who I completed first to sort out colours, etc. from all four sides.
I really like the masking fluid. Another thought I had to use it with would be for difficult quartered/halved patterns (Novamarines anyone?). If you have any great ideas please let me know.
ps. the space sharks have just surpased the novamarines for chapter tagged the most.
8 comments:
That stuff works really well, I'm impressed! Might have to pick some up for my valhallan winter-camo schemes...
I don't think I'd ever considered using it on minis.
I might actually try to do some quartered schemes, but this certainly makes me think about doing camo.
Interesting work again Tristan...love the camo...looking forward to more updates.
What kind of primer do you use?
The primer is actually just tamiya medium sea grey. Don't think it's a primer per se, but it's the colour I wanted.
Thanks for the warning about the masking fluid but the technique is great! Couple of questions: How hard is it to rub off the mask? Did you consider lining the camo markings with black to make them pop? Can we see a shot of how they match with the other space sharks? They look great and thanks for the post!
It's easy enough to rub off the mask, but it's quite sticky so it'll take time. Use an eraser to start and toothpick to finish.
Not going to line the camo markings, as I'll probably just mess it up. Also no lines in the badab pic.
I just took a screenshot comparing my finished guy with the badab pic. I'll try to get a pic of him with a 4th company shark for comparison and post them both tonight.
Ah..thanks Tristan...need to go look for it...
Any train or RC hobby shop should have it. Just note they DON'T sell the same colour in pots. I had to go with plain medium grey and the difference is quite noticeable. I lucked out and it just made my sharks armour look dirty, but keep it in mind.
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