Hey there,

finally I found the time and continued painting my Axis forces after my first attempt for the painting competition in 2011. I hope you like them.

I'm aiming for a worn look for both, the models and the bases. The bases represent a worn Axis base in Antarctica under attack. If you like it, the tutorial starts on page 2.

Sigrid von Thaler
As I did not like the single stone under her boot, I modelled a destroyed column.

Markus
For him and his gorilla buddies I tried to keep to the blue-ish skin tones of real gorillas

and finally, the test model for my Axis Zombies
The khaki overall indicates that this poor soldier once was part of an Alled attack force. I was playing around with the skin shades to get an ill and disgusting look.

Amazing paint jobs, and I really dig what you did with the bases!

*envy*

Great paintjobs, both on the minis and the bases!

Very nice work, fantastic expression in the gorilla eyes

WOW, all I can say is WOW! An artist shows his work. The models are great, but the bases....GREAT WORK!

Thanks a lot

The bases are rather easy to do (or better, there is a more complex and an easy way). Rust and dust were done with paint and dry pigments. The yellow and white makrings were done with templates made from masking tape. Afterwards the templates were painted with several thick layers of colour (in this case even directly from the pot) until it is approx. 1mm thick and the embossing of the steel base is not visible anymore. If you remove the masking tape afterwards, it really looks like an real marking like on a highway. The oil was done with watered down black (or a black wash) with a drop of glossy varnish.

I could propably make a short pictured tutorial if you are interested.

I redid the fully rusted bases of my Recon Grenadiers from 2011 to match the current look of my troops.

I finally finished one of the Heavy Laser Grenadiers.

I started with a dark and worn look in mind, but somehow the paints had something different planned. Therefore I'm also somehow surprised about the look

Nice one, i love the set of teeth at the respirator.

The tin laser gun gives me kind of a industrial revolution feel, very interesting colours. Do you pre prime them again or use the default priming colour, laso how many layers it takes to get that great effect?

Dude, your paint jobs are ridiculous. And I totally dig the bases too. I can't wait to get my hands on my minis. UPS says they should arrive Thursday an I can't wait.

Lska said:

Technically I do not reprime the miniatures *g*. Only if I have to remove some big mould lines I use a similar colour to cover the filed off areas (Basalt Grey 869 from Vallejo Model Color).

For the armour I use Field Blue (Vallejo 964; I really like this one) mixed with a bit of Chaos Black (GW) as a dark base. From there on, I start with Field Blue alone for most of the model followed by Field Blue mixed with increasing amount of Skull White (GW). As I am painting with glazes (or at least try to) & a wet palette, I just need 2-4 different "layers" as the colour builds up, depending on how often you paint the same part. On the not so visible or not so well defined parts (in this case, the inside of the troopers legs) I'm a bit more lazy and use less layers and more washes.

The base colour of the gun is Tin Biz (GW), followed by a wash with Badab Black & Asurmen Blue (50:50). Afterwards I paint it with a second layer of Tin Biz, followed by adding Dwarf Bronze (GW) and Dwarf Bronze alone.

Psykostevo said:

I know this. Sadly, here in Germany I have to wait rather long until the new boxes are available :-/ I'm waiting for Operation Cerberus and some of the latest boxes... but I still have a lot to paint, so it's ok.

Ghrik said:

Big thanks for the feedback!

It's going to be interesting to see how different our armies turn out. I think your minis are the beat I've seen on this forum so far

Really nice paint job on your figures! I love the gorillas bluish skin color. The bases are great too.

Great job with these figs and please keep the pics coming!

Thanksfor the nice replies, I'm happy that you like my style

Right now I'm working on the pictures for a step-by-step tutorial of my bases while I'm painting the rest of my zombies (2 down 3 to go).

Ghrik said:

I am looking forward to the how to on the bases.

This is my first attempt to make a tutorial at all. For my bases, I have several methods and this here is the faster one.
I wanted to create the look a worn military base. The floor is made from steel treadplates, with the anti-rust protection fading after the years and with old markings of transport lanes, storage areas and so on.

I hope you find it somehow useful.

Step 1:
After finishing the miniature, clean up the base (Basalt Grey 869, Valleo)

Step 2:
Wash the base with a dark colour (Badab Black, GW) & let it dry

Step 3:
Drybrush the base surface with grey and light grey (Basalt Grey & Basalt Grey + Skull White, GW)

Thes steps are the standard treatment before the fun part begins: the treating with different colours and pigments

a) Markings

Choose a design, e.g. road marking or numbers and paint it on masking tape. For military style numbers and letters, just search the internet (I used “military stencil” as a keyword). The originals were designed to be used as stencils. Therefore it is easy to cut out the number/letter to get a nice looking template.

If you are unsure about the size, print out some samples. I’m working with a size of about 20mm.
Firmly press the template on the base. If you put it on the base too loose, the colour could slip under the template (which you can see later on )

Now start painting.
I used white (Skull White, GW) for the letters and yellow (Golden Yellow, GW) for the road markings.

For a realistic structure, use the paint directly from the pot. Thick paint works better than thinned. Paint a thick layer and wait until it is completely dry before applying the next layer. Repeat his until the structure of the base is not visible anymore.

When the paint has dried, carefully remove the masking tape. If the paint sticks to the tape, you can ether use a hobby knife to make a few cuts for easier removal. Or (as I do) use this as a random method for a wear look.

After you remove the masking tape, the marking should protrude about 0.5 to 1mm. This imitates the look of real road markings. If you marking looks like this, no problem, just clean up the mess with grey, drybrush it again and press the masking tape more firmly the next time

If you want a more worn off marking, just use a hobby knife to scrape off as much as you want. Use either brown or black washes or dry pigments to further weathering.

b) Rust
I have 2 different methods to create rust, one just with paint and another one with additional dry pigments.
I will explain you the first one. You need a piece of fine foam, and 3 shades of rusty colours. I used Dark Flesh, Vermin Brown and Blazing Orange (all GW).

Let’s start with the dark base of the rust with Dark Flesh.
Similar to the markings, I prefer to use a bit thicker paint with little water, as it can give a nice structure to the rust when the paint has dried. Instead of a brush, use a piece of foam. But before you use it on the base, test it on your hand or a piece of paper, because we don’t want big blotches of paint. We just want a random pattern of rust. Dab the sponge on the base until you are satisfied.

After the dark base is dry, the mid tone follows (Vermin Fur). I used a smaller piece of foam and I tried to dab only the dark base to give the rust more structure. Try to start focusing on edges.

For the final highlight I used Blazing Orange with a small piece of foam.

You could now add dry pigments and/or washes and play around even more. Gryphonne Sepia (GW) is a nice brownish wash for a rusty look.

c) Metal
If you want a bit of metal in the rusty areas, you can just use a piece of foam and dab metal paint (e.g. Boltgun Metal (GW) on the rust or anywhere else you like.

I have a different way. For this you need a hobby knife and lead pencil. Scrape off a bit of the graphite and rub your finger in it until you have a shiny finger. And now just rub your finger over the areas of the base where you want the metal look. It looks best on edges. The graphite gives a nice look of worn metal. But be careful if you don’t use varnish at the end as the pigments keep on painting you

d) Oil spills
For oil spills you can use different washes or highly watered down paints. I use Badab Black (GW) or Badab Black mixed with Asurmen Blue (GW) and/or a tiny bit of Chaos Black (GW) for the bluish shimmer of oil spills. For the wet look, mix it with a drop of Gloss Varnish (Vallejo 510).

Let it dry completely before you evaluate the look, If you think it is too light, just add a second layer afterwards.

And that’s it basically
(at this point I usually play around with dry pigments for dust and ash, but this is rather randomly)

A final tip from me: wait with painting the bases until you finished painting the unit. Then you can create connected bases for a nice coherent look of your unit.