Blood tests

Don't worry, I don't have any scary diseases or conditions!
I've just been doing some test paints for the Blood Angels for Space Hulk. It suddenly caught my fancy to finally paint the box set.  I'm trying to figure out how to quickly paint them, in a satisfactory manner. As I've been discovering the joys of airbrushing over the last few weeks/month, I thought I'd try my luck along that avenue. So research was done (through the medium of Youtube instructions mostly) and air plus paint was sprayed over various miniatures from orphaned projects.

Here are the most promising test subjects:

With the Space Marine getting finished to see the final results.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not yet 100% happy with the outcome of this testing. I seem to be just missing the trick (and/or skill) that is needed to make the vibrant red with deep dramatic shading that I'm after.

I've also forged ahead and did the gold on the Space Hulk set:

 This is after the first airbrush passes. Later this will be gloss varnished, shaded and highlighted. the skulls will be steel and the blood drops will be painted with Tamiya clear red, to give them a vibrant, jewel-like sheen. Then I'll mask that and paint Lord Napsalot sat on it along with rest of the Terminators

I had hoped to paint the Terminators over the Easter weekend. But I still haven't found a satisfactory recipe for red, and I discovered yesterday that between work and private life, I may be better off taking a rest over Easter, instead of going at the airbrush hammer and tongs. My batteries seem to have gone a bit empty, seeing how an afternoon of airbrushing yesterday left me absolutely knackered and a bit testy to boot. No fun for anyone... So the Easter plan may be out the window.

It's no news that my focus has been all over the place lately, another sign that I should really recharge and regroup. So many projects, so little time...
There seems to be a common thread to the things that have caught my fleeting fancy lately though: Necromunda, Space Hulk, building a fantasy dungeon. The common thread seems to be the dark and derelict underbelly and outskirts of mankind and tunnelcrawling. Might as well explore that theme.

See you next time!