my ultra-high tech workspace, a sheet of old plywood covers the game table to prevent spills (it also acts as a blotter for my drybrushing) a can of battleship gray housepaint and a three dollar paintbrush, the outside got a heavy drybrushing (twice) while the interior stucco walls got a straight coat of the gray paint, it is crucial to wait between coats to allow the paint to dry
I struggled to get a brown/tan/highlight color group that I liked enough to apply to the Hexagon Tower so I surrendered and went with gray. One interesting effect of adding the gray over the very deep brown was that a trace of the brown paint comes through and adds a sense of warmth to the color. There is still the pale gray and then the white highlight steps before I'm finished, but I'm liking things so far.
the surface-incised stone pattern seems to showing up very well after two heavy coats of drybrushing while the dark brown paint shows through just enough to shift the color scale
a drybrushing with a solid medium gray really brightened up the look
the stonework really "pops" now
a second drybrushing with the medium gray brings up the color so much more, I will have to be very careful with the pale gray and white layers to avoid overdoing it, I do have to say that I'm not entirely happy with the ashlars at the corners and may very well apply paper tabs to make them look better
I went with a very pale gray-buff color for the final drybrush, I had tested my gray and white highlights and it looked too stark so I went with a buff color to keep some of the warmth from the brown base coat, now all that remains is painting the interior and adding the windows
my little mob of lab rats, they are what I test my colors on before I try it on the big model,
the nearest bridge got the pale gray then white and you can see how overstated it looks
That certainly has bought it to life.
ReplyDeleteI think the gray paint job looks fantastic. 😀
ReplyDeleteThe paint looks great. What type of paint do you use on the foam?
ReplyDeleteThanks guys!
ReplyDeleteIrishserb,
Regular latex housepaint. That is what I'm talking about when I refer to the color "mistint", you can usually get a gallon of mistinted top quality paint at the paint shop of the big home improvement stores for a few dollars.
A layer of this seals and strengthens the surface of foam with risk of melting (latex is water-based). Pint size tester pots are available in most colors too. This is what I use exclusively on large projects, it has the added feature of being a pretty good glue as well. When making terrain you can sprinkle sand or flocking directly onto the wet paint and it does an excellent job of holding.
The first sentence in the second paragraph should read "no risk of melting"
DeleteGot it (suspected your meaning), many thanks.
DeleteLovely work on both this tower and the Coliseum. Makes my humble efforts for the TerrainTime challenge look a little lacklustre - but I'm happy how my bunker xame out. I have been lurking for a while (since I discovered your post on using 'garden carpet' as a basis for a gaming mat) but this is my first comment. I just wish blueboard was a little easier to get hold of in the UK.
ReplyDeleteFortunately for me it is common here. Even more fortunate for me a good buddy of mine was working at a company doing upgrades to Stryker combat vehicles, adding insulation for the bitter cold of Afghanistan winters. Vast quantities of this stuff was just being thrown away as off-cuts,; he made sure that some of it ended up in his truck. I still have a pile the size of a delivery van in my garage!
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