The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Heavy metal

A bit more progress has been made on this thing!

In my endeavors to try and break up the solid colors, I have been picking out the parts that I thought might be more metallic - namely the hydraulics, a little bit of the joints, and the claw - and going over them with boltgun again, followed by a bit of Vallejo smoke ink to knock down the ridiculous brightness of Boltgun.

Afterwards, I tried a new trick - I have drab colored pastels that are surely not intended for this, but they seem to do the job!

Grabbing a drybrush, I would dip it in a container of water and then rub it on one of those long chalky things. The pigment would come off, and as I brushed it onto the model, it would pool around things like rivets. I did this with the bright orange one - using a lot of water to make sure that it didn't powder the model too much - and let it dry. It looked awful when it was all dried off as it was all powdery residue, but then I hit both sides with a diluted black ink wash which evened the whole model right out nicely and got rid of a lot of the problems with the powder.

 

So, now I've got two reasonably distinct shades of metal on this thing. In the course of painting it up, I've hit it twice with Testors Dull Cote - the washes I use tend to make the whole thing really glossy. Plus, I figure that I never, ever want the paint to flake or chip off this thing, so repeatedly sealing it can't be a bad thing, right? It takes paint overtop really well, which I don't believe would be the case with Gloss Varnish, but you need to be mindful of how you use it as inks and washes don't go on over it all that smoothly.

Up next is hopefully that time where I start picking colors out. I was thinking I'd do that big, thick cable up in a yellow color, pick the wires out in random shades, and add some orky glyphs or two to it, though I'm not certain where there's room yet.

Final straws

I give up!

Ever since I finished building this thing, I've been asked so many times about it.

'What ever happened to that ork titan, Ein?'
'Did you ever finish your gargant, Ein?'
'When are you going to paint the stompa, Ein?'

A man can only take so much! I concede defeat! And thus, I begin anew on this project, hopefully for the last time. I figured I'd paint it in the order I built it. I don't know why, it just seemed like the right thing to do... So, I started with the claw arm.

I began by trying to drybrush boltgun over the rust primer, but I really didn't like how it was looking. Admittedly, I think I might have gone a little too heavy with it.

Following that, I proceeded to hit it with a wash mixed from Vallejo Smokey Ink and Scorched Brown to try and tone it down a bit. I think I might have succeeded in doing that a bit too well in the following few steps of painting, as I have a mostly uniform rust color now that extends across the entire claw. While I do like the shade of it, it's a bit boring.

 

The colors, as best as I can tell, are a little bit off in these photos, as the gargant looks a very vibrant orange when it's not really that strong in person. Having natural light would have aided in a bit of true color immensely, but I've been trying to assemble a somewhat reasonable photo studio out of the corner of a room, and my lighting tends to be inconsistent based on time of day as it is located right next to a window. Come tomorrow morning, the sunlight should help me take more accurate photography of it, I think. Though, I doubt it'll be looking all the much like that!

I'm trying to come up with decent ideas for coloring it. Obviously the cabling gets picked out in distinct colors... The claw should also probably look like it is used and worn, I think, as it would take the most beating of any part of that arm. Chipped metal in abundance on the talons is probably appropriate. I'm thinking of going over the armor plates on the arm with boltgun as well to try and accentuate them. I was also thinking that big, thick, chunky cable would look good in a yellow color, which would be fairly easy to execute thanks to the Foundation paints.

I want to put checkers on it somewhere but the opportunity doesn't seem to be presenting itself with the particular architecture of the arm. Maybe I can get away with a few gyphs and dags here and there.

Give me feedback on this thing! I'd hate to ruin it with my novice painting, but it apparently needs to be done.