(Sorry - I accidentally double posted and am unsure how to delete the second post )

Leia is looking really really good Sorastro!!!

Thanks Darksidenet!

The Leia tutorial is live - I hope you all enjoy it

Love your highlights and blends.

Hello dear painters! It's time for another tutorial - this time it's Saska Teft. I hope you like it

Just primed up Saska and Mak.

I don't think I have all of the paints you use, but since these are figures that don't see a lot of table time for me, I'll just improvise if I don't have the right colors and not worry too much about it.

Thanks Sorastro!

Just curious, I really like those bases but shipping for me to Canada is more than the actual cost of the set, lol. So ordering in bulk will help, but is there any other recommendations people can make for more North American friendly base stores?

Just curious, I really like those bases but shipping for me to Canada is more than the actual cost of the set, lol. So ordering in bulk will help, but is there any other recommendations people can make for more North American friendly base stores?

This place has them but I have not ordered any from them yet. I will need a lot! An awful lot!

http://www.thewarstore.com/product47922.html

I ordered some from the war store and still waiting on them. I ordered them on October 1. So not sure when I will get them.

Hrmm wow the shipping there to Canada is 20 USD flat rate, that is about double the other store! lol

How can it be cheaper to ship from Europe than the States? Now that is confusing.

Maybe check out the Secret Weapon bases? A set of 10 is $10 USD, with international shipping on $10 orders being $5. Bases: http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=79_2_5 Shipping Policy: http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=shippinginfo

please do Obi Wan Kenobi!

So I am painting Vader, everything is going pretty good I think I am getting a lot better at the blends. Then I start on the light saber. I did a coat of Ceramite White, then started doing the red, but as it dries it is looking like a wrinkled up hot dog off the BBQ. I did an extra layer of red to try and smooth it out more but it didn't really help, it looks like crap. This is very frustrating as I was doing so well and I really don't want to have to start all the way over, but the light saber is one of the most important parts.

What did I do wrong? Or more importantly, is there a way to fix it? The Ceramite White seems a lot thicker than the other base paints, is this normal or is it possible I got a bad batch and that caused the lumpiness?

It seemed to dry evenly though which is weird.. if it was supposed to be Kylo's light saber it might actually work pretty good lol

The first thing I can think of is the base coat of Ceramite White wasn't thinned enough or mixed well enough with water to get a smooth coat. If you didn't notice the lumpy look until after the red coat was applied, then perhaps the red coat was a bit too thick. I've picked up three separate pots of Ceramite White, and it's extremely thick and clumpy compared to other Base paints. I make sure to mix it very well with water before applying. I asked a GW retailer why this paint was so different than the others from the Base line, and he told me it's because of the dense pigment. Mephiston Red, while not nearly as chunky as CW, is also a pretty thick Base paint that I need to make sure to mix well before applying.

As far as fixing it, you could try a very gentle, light sanding with a high-grit sand paper or hobby equivalent. You could also try using a hobby knife to scrape off the lumpy paint, but that'd be the last resort, honestly.

Best advice I can give you regardless of how you choose to tackle the fix is to be patient, take your time, and work on small sections to test out your method before working on the rest of the problem area.

Good luck!

Ya so I didn't thin it at all, that was my errorr. I am a little nervous to sand it as I did try rubbing some off with paper towel/by hand and it flaked off on to the figure, so some spots I got a red hue where I didn't want it . But the sand paper probabaly picks it up as it goes better, and I guess I could sand towards the cloak as that gets glazed anyway. I appreciate the response and thanks as well to sorastro who responded to my patreon query. I'll start with the sand paper and see where that gets me.

Success! I wrapped the figure in tin foil and stuck it in a ziploc bag with just the light saber sticking out and went to town with little chunks of 220 grain sand paper. It is not Sorastro perfect, but it is about 90% back to normal I would say. the back is worse than the front as it is much harder to get at, but that is ok nobody sees that part. I think I should be able to just put on a THINNED layer of Mephiston Red and continue on as normal. In one little spot I took off right to the black on the back side of the tip, and a few little spots some white is showing through but otherwise it is just all still red.

That looks much better! I'm glad it worked out for you.

Finished my Saska after doing my best to follow along with what I had rather than buying all the new paints. Had to improvise on the lighting effect material which made it not so subtle. had to mix Russ Gray and Elisian Green for the pants. I also tossed some red in with the Rhinox Hide for her hair to make her more of a redhead.

Alright so I have finished painting Vader and am now done the core Imperial units... and IG-88. Cheated and skipped ahead a bit as I had almost all the paints I needed for him. I'll post the images in spoilers for size. Nothing is perfect, but I think I've come a long way with the ST's being my first ever mini painted. Still lots of room for improvement but I am having so much fun. Sorry for the potato quality pics I took them with my iphone and have a lot to learn about lighting and all that

Storm Troopers: Ahh stormies, lol. Great place to learn. Batch one was horrible I need to fix them, but 2 and 3 turned out much better.

Probe Droids: I wouldn't say 'easy' because obviously that would imply I did a perfect job. But a refreshing level of difficulty after the ST's, I think I went a bit heavy on the dry brush though.

E-Web: I used the Gloss coat on them by accident so the gun is a bit shiney, I think I need to try the dull coat and then go back over the ST's armor with Ardcoat. Then darken the blaster damage a bit on the armor and throw some Ryza Rust in there (I did not have it when I did these guys or the ST's)

Royal Guards: My first one was the grey II and my last one was the red II. I think you can see a big difference between my blending or shading technique from 1 to 4. I definitely improved, but I still don't think I had a great grasp on it till Vader. But great to learn on these guys.

Imperial Officers: I went with the cheaper grey option and I didn't do as much high lighting as I could have on the uniform. I mostly just hit the folds on the arms/pants above the boots with a lighter grey and then did a slightly lighter shade on the shoulders/upper chest/upper back. I definitely could have done more but wasn't confident in my ability. I put gloves on the elite and gave him 3 stripes of red/blue where the regulars only have 2. I attempted the 5 o clock shadow, turned out better on some than others but from table top distance it looks good.

AT-ST: This was my favourite to paint and has gotten the most comments from people. They love the terrain, the corrosion, the battle scar.. it just fits. I wouldn't say it is the easiest, but it is definitely the most simple while having a lot of creative freedom. The Probe Droids were much easier, even the ST's and the E-Web but the AT-ST allowed the most creativity. I would have liked to texture the base just a bit more like Sorastro did, more peaks and valleys for the dry bush to hit/miss and give a better contrast. There is also a few spots you can see my first batch of high lights and then I over compensated with the dry brush.

IG-88: He was fun, like a cross between the AT-ST and Probe Droids. I really like how the Red/Blue shading turned out.

Darth Vader: Vader was tough but fun, the light saber scare took me for a ride but I think I was able to do a good job of salvaging it. I really hit my stride with the high lighting here, I think I nailed the helmet and now I have a much better understanding of what Sorastro is talking about with the patience and just slightly altering each layer. Excited to apply this moving forward!

Big thanks to everyone in this thread who has been so much help to me. We have such a great community on this sub forum with so many talented painters to inspire me. But a huge thanks obviously to Sorastro for the incredible videos. Hopefully I've done you somewhat proud so far! Looking forward to improving as I go.

Well done, sir!

Alright so I have finished painting Vader and am now done the core Imperial units... and IG-88. Cheated and skipped ahead a bit as I had almost all the paints I needed for him. I'll post the images in spoilers for size. Nothing is perfect, but I think I've come a long way with the ST's being my first ever mini painted. Still lots of room for improvement but I am having so much fun. Sorry for the potato quality pics I took them with my iphone and have a lot to learn about lighting and all that

.....

Big thanks to everyone in this thread who has been so much help to me. We have such a great community on this sub forum with so many talented painters to inspire me. But a huge thanks obviously to Sorastro for the incredible videos. Hopefully I've done you somewhat proud so far! Looking forward to improving as I go.

What a fantastic set of minis Evan, and your Vader is really quite stunning! I totally agree about what a supportive community there is surrounding this game and how lucky we are

Loku incoming!

Outstanding.

Outstanding.

Thanks a lot Darksidenet! He was a lot of fun to work on. I'm now looking forward to painting the wampas next

I've got some Longbeard Grey and Praxeti White dry brushing work on the Wampas myself.

The Wampa's are perfect timing for my Hoth campaign this winter

The Wampa's are perfect timing for my Hoth campaign this winter

likewise. would like to see the other two heroes (Verena and the droid) painted next. Most of the rest of the Hoth set should not be too tricky.