British 6pdr WIP (3)

I wasn't happy with how the cannon looked as I mentioned in my post yesterday and have decided to add a coat of Army Painter's 'Dark Tone'. This was in response to AD's comment on the last post, informing me the metal should be very dark (almost black). I have to admit, I went off a mixture of sources for the painting style, primarily from the way other bloggers have painted similar models or those models on the Perry site which seem to vary from a very bright silver to almost black (or silver with 'black lining').

I think it looks quite good after being 'dipped'. I used a brush to paint the dip onto the metal areas and removed any that settled on the lighter wooden areas. This was to darken the silver and add a black line around the outside of it. It will be varnished again once the model has dried (around 24 hours after application). I think it looks quite good like it is now (I couldn't bare another re-paint!) and will look even better once based and the crew have been added.

Once again, please leave your thoughts and feelings as a comment on this post as they are invaluable to the project, other gamers and myself.

Dip technique - 28mm Renegade ECW Pikeman

Here is my first attempt at trying to recreate the dip-highlight technique pioneered by Saxon Dog on an ECW pikeman from Renegade Miniatures. I feel I've done well and managed to paint a figure of a similar standard to that achieved by Mr Dog by highlighting after a layer of Army Painter or 'dip' was applied.

The base colours are blocked in and the dip is then lightly brushed over the figure and left to dry for 24 hours (this drying time is of vital importance! If not left to dry, the dip will crack when varnished). Once dried, the lighter colours are essentially painted over rather than highlighted, only leaving the recesses with the darker original colour (this is shown pretty well on the second photo on the satchel strap). A coat of matte varnish is then applied to finish the miniature. I only highlighted the buff and yellow as the dip made them look very muddy. The highlighting had little effect on the dark trousers so I decided not to bother.

The key to using the dip, I feel, is to use as few colours as possible. As you can see, I used the same colour for the buff coat as for the satchel and the sword attachment/strap. I found I was using too many colours for my AWI infantry and this didn't really work well with the dip so I may try and minimise on colours, sacrificing a little historical accuracy for a better aesthetic effect on these figures.

Feel free to leave any thoughts or suggestions and I'll get back to you.

WIP shot - Pikeman

This pic shows the test figure I was working on a few days ago. He's a Renegade miniature with a pike from Foundry I think. Didn't take too long to paint. He's been blocked in and dipped. He now just needs highlighting post-dip in a way similar to the technique Saxon Dog uses and then matte varnished.

On a 60mm base of pike, there will be 5 pikemen, a drummer and a flag bearer. There will be 6 musketeers on each of the two remaining bases that will make up a unit.

The picture doesn't really do the figure justice and is only half-finished. Expect more photos next week when the whole base should be finished and i'll have made a start on the musketeers.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments and I'll get back to you.