Krankenstein paints miniatures!

By player1823837, in Star Wars: Imperial Assault

The miniatures are not realistically of the highest quality comparing to actual miniature/model companies, but they look very good and even excellent in "board game" environment.

The models have less than desirable mold lines and the material is hard to work with. Feels like soft resin as opposed to plastic. This causes the miniatures to be a bit troublesome to work with especially in the cleaning up department.

But with a little paint on the models are much better looking already!

Enjoy! okPIKM.jpg

The bases will be left light grey due to the amount of different terrain they will be traversing across. Now I am happy to wait for the ally/villain packs :)

I'll post these images in sets.

ALL minis apart from probe droids and Darth Vader were undercoated/primed with Vallejo Acrylic Grey Primer with an airbrush.

I usually work mainly with the airbrush when painting minis and my approach is to usually paint pretty much all parts separately. These minis were pre-assembled so airbrush painting was not really possible to same extent and accuracy to which I was used to. Painting the miniatures before assebling allows to do some awesome zenithal lighting shading and off-source lighting. Without cutting the models this cannot be easily achieved with these minis without extensive masking.

Anyways...

Here are the first three heroes. Jyn, Mak and Fenn. iIIisk.jpg

And on to Gideon, Diala and Gaarkhan.

I usually never paint eyes on this scale humanoids. The eyeballs will look too big and if pupils are added the models look like they are on drugs... These also show a bit of the sloppiness as my brushwork is nowhere near my airbrushing skills. I hate going back and cover up leaks with a brush. :P 76Gvq9.jpg zs5hPh.jpg

More later...

Vader time!!!

Vader was primed black and his cape was highlighted with dark grey and light grey. I picked some details with light grey and his chestbox buttons were painted with blue and red.

The lightsaber is an excellent example why red is a PAIN to highlight/shade. Mixing it with black produces brown and mixing with white turns it pink... Neither are desirable effects. The saber was first painted white and then with bright red. The highlight was done with an airbrush and given a short cover of white to the tip of the lightsaber. The shiny parts of Vaders' armour was coated with a gloss varnish.

EDIT: I gave Vader a subtle offsource lighting which is not very visible in the photo unfortunately. The problem is that black absorbs light and would not really reflect light very much unless the surface was polished. That said there is an awesome OSL Vader on this forum where it works marvelously!!!

All painted minis have a Vallejo satin varnish to protect the paintjobs.

The royal guard was primed with grey. The recesses of the cape was preshaded with mahogany and the raised areas were given a short burst of white preshading. After that they were given a thin coat of Scarlet red. This leaves the shading visible. Thinned down black wash was give to "blackline" helmet and cape joints to make them pop up more. Helmet was also given a gloss varnish coat on top of the underlying satin varnish coat. cH9oJ7.jpg

Really though. The models will see some use, so I HIGHLY recommend giving them a coat of varnish to protect the paintjob especially if you are using vallejo model air color range.

Trandoshans next!

This started out as a "paint with washes"-experiment. Because I decided to keep the bases grey I created two differently coloured groups. After priming the models grey I gave a Thraka Green wash on the green ones on top of the primer twice (dry out between). I used "Aged White" coloured base for the others and gave two sepia washes. After that I painted the guns with steel, the clothing with a thinned down blue paint or blazing orange and the backpacks got a calthan brown base. Thinned down black wash on the aforementioned parts and the highlighting with the same colour. Backpacks got a snakebite leather highlight and eyes were painted red. Lv6TJE.jpg

Here is the AT-ST

Primed grey as per my usual style. Then shaded with dark grey using an airbrush at low angles. Then airbrushed with black wash. Fail completely. Prime again with grey. Shade with dark grey as before. Coat with satin varnish. Wash with thinned down black using a BRUSH this time. Use grey primer sparingly on parts that would have lighter color due to light hitting it. Get slightly frustrated. Highlight edges with "Longbeard Grey" very hastily. Add final coat of satin varnish.

Yeah this was a mess... But I guess it turned out just fine :) eEQ13v.jpg hRLeJS.jpg 2Glp4T.jpg

Not completely happy with the end result but I am too lazy to go back and fix things more ;)

:)

Next up the Nexu!

Primed grey and then given a light sand colour as base colour with an airbrush. After that the models were airbrushed from sides and above with dark brown (I believe the colour was burnt umber) lea ing the base colour in the belly areas and in the "undercarriage". Prominent body parts were highlighted with an airbrush with Vallejo Mud Brown. Most prominent features were highlighted with aged white (fur, teeth, eyes, claws, spine). Cover with satin varnish. Wash with gryphonne sepia (Citadel wash) to dull the contrast a bit. Re-highlight with the base sand paint so that it does not cover completely the previous highlights. Eyes were picked put with blazing orange and the pupils were painted black.

I am mostly happy with the result considering how straightforward these were. The only thing I am a bit disappointed with, are the eyes. They are a bit too dark and do not really pop out from rest of the mini. Oh well...

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Droids of probery!

Lovely model which unfortunately suffers a bit from the laws of physics. One was detached from the base and one had 2/3 legs detached from base. "Loctite"-gel based superglue fixed the problem very effectively and I was almost tempted to reinforce the unbroken one.

Primed with Vallejo Acrylic Black primer. Airbrushed with dark sea grey and added a light grey shading spraying sparingly from above and at an elevated angle. Lenses were painted with light grey and then covered with a thin layer of scarlet red with a brush. Coated with satin varnish. Edges highlighted with light grey. A few extra details picked out with light grey. Final coat of protective satin varnish. Easy peasy and a quick model to paint. Glue, paint and varnish actually reinforces the rather flimsy legs surprisingly well!

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Fantastic job sir! I love the highlighting on your AT-ST :)

Imperial Officers!

Straightforward approach. Prime grey. Airbrush with dark sea grey. Wash with Nuln Oil. Highlight with light Grey. Pick chest details with blue and red. Paint face with light grey and wash with Ogryn Flesh.

I really applied a lot of speedpainting as my only goal was to finish the whole bunch in one weeks time for our opening campaign. :)

"Line of sight can be traced through this!"

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I love how blended the highlights and shading on the AT-ST are, the whole model has the smooth, yet weather finished on it. You gotta paint that base a different color though, it would help the feet to pop a bit more.

Although, both the Probe Droids and the AT-ST are kinda begging for transparent bases.....

Best AT-ST I have seen yet. I have painted everything else so far but have yet to tackle the walker. I was waiting for Sorastro to post his version before starting but this has certainly given me something to go on. Wonderful.

Sold all of my painted minis to a friend and got in return his unpainted minis.

Here is the Nexu mk II

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Finally some new expansions! Had to paint ALL of the IA miniatures again before even thinking about the expansions. So here we are. I have chosen a very lazy approach for minis now, applying speed painting wherever possible and cutting a lot of corners. This helps me getting all the minis painted (IA core + expansions) in a week and a half.

The Royal Guard Champion.

Primed with vallejo acrylic grey primer with an airbrush. Hastily airbrushed red parts with scarlet red. Then used Vallejo dark grey to paint the black armour pieces. Wash armour and cape with GW Nuln Oil. Highlight with GW Fenrisian grey to get the slightly blue hue which can be seen on the artwork. High light red parts with GW blazing orange. Tone down with a GW Baal Red wash (Carroburg Crimson nowadays). Paint staff with Vallejo Aged white and wash heavily with GW gryphonne sepia. Highlight with aged white. Paint blades with Vallejo steel and wash heavily with GW Nuln Oil.

Apply Vallejo Satin Varnish for protective coating.

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Dynamic Duo!

Chewie and Han

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Lots of washes and speedpainting. Primed grey as per usual. Seraphim sepia wash for Hans' shirt and Reikland Flesh for his skin.

Image reference points to a red stripe his trousers.

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Droids of probery!

Lovely model which unfortunately suffers a bit from the laws of physics. One was detached from the base and one had 2/3 legs detached from base. "Loctite"-gel based superglue fixed the problem very effectively and I was almost tempted to reinforce the unbroken one.

Primed with Vallejo Acrylic Black primer. Airbrushed with dark sea grey and added a light grey shading spraying sparingly from above and at an elevated angle. Lenses were painted with light grey and then covered with a thin layer of scarlet red with a brush. Coated with satin varnish. Edges highlighted with light grey. A few extra details picked out with light grey. Final coat of protective satin varnish. Easy peasy and a quick model to paint. Glue, paint and varnish actually reinforces the rather flimsy legs surprisingly well!

QLVbSN.jpg

may i ask how you did the spherical glass look the eyes on this model? as far as i can tell it looks like you painted it red and washed only the center of the eyes and left the edges free of wash

am i correct in assuming this? or is there a trick to what you did?

*edit, wow i should probably read first -_-

Edited by executor

wunderbar!!

Nice. Especially love the shading on the royal guards - these guys really pop. Nexu mark II are awesome - better than mk I.

Will be painting Han soon - what colours did you use for his skin tones and shirt?