MRNVL Art

Many years ago I wrote a very short intro guide to painting and this is it's logical evolution. I tried my best to anticipate the questions a beginner would have as well as adding in some things I wish i'd have known starting out. There are many links in this post. Use them! Let's start by learning something about paint types. Acrylic :  The "lightest" and most forgiving of the paints. Most acrylics are water based meaning you can thin them with distilled water (Not tap water).  Acrylic paints have larger particles of pigment which causes them to look goopy if painted too thick. I cannot stress enough the importance of thinning to the proper consisten cy. For those airbrushing I recommend thinning acrylics with 90% isopropyl alcohol as it helps them dry faster. Acrylics dry in about 30 minutes and cure in about 48 hours. FAQ:  what's the deal with Tamiya acrylic paints? Tamiya paints are actually acrylic lacquers, that is an acrylic p...

I started painting this a kit to take a break from practicing scribing my own panels and it turned out to be really enjoyable to do a basic build again. The kit is painted in two layers, the glossy grey splits are done in Alclad Black Chrome and the top layer is Gaia Notes Flat Black. The top layer is finished up with some Unicorn series decals from Samueldecal. The only mod done to this kit is replacement of the top leg joints. I absolutely hate ball joint legs so I grafted on the connectors from the hg jesta. The display base is an ordinary picture frame sprayed with rattle can paint. It was originally going to have text on it but spray cans and masking tape do not get along well.

I was first introduced to Dust Tactics by a friend of mine who shares my love gritty and realistic robots.  I was promised feasible mecha designs and a great canvas for camo and weathering and that's exactly what I got. Being a wargame figure I expected this kit to require gluing and welding. That was not the case as it came pre assembled. It looked however as if it was assembled by the world's most underpaid factory worker. There were horrible seam lines and pits all over its surface which were truly a pain in the ass to remove due to the kit being glued together already. Nevertheless I plowed forward because I really do like the look of this mech.  The kit is painted allover splinter camo in Tamiya german grey and ghost grey. The base was weathered with several layers of pigment and then sanded down to reveal the metallic undercoat. I'm loving the reverse jointed legs here. I picked up a lot of design ideas for my jesta project. ...

The changing of the year gave a major case of jet lag. and these little guys almost didn't get finished in time.  The display came out well considering I had no idea what I wanted to base them on. Enjoy the pics.

Wishing all my readers a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope your wives and girlfriends are as supportive of your hobbies as mine! Also a reminder that your group build projects are due in just over 3 weeks!

Two weeks without a compressor will do strange things to a man and mine breaking down could not have come at a worse time. I have a battle group to paint and a group build project to start on, not to mention painting being something I look forward to everyday. Luckily for me painting is not the only part of the plamo hobby and modification takes much longer. This is the first build to which I can say I am applying advanced techniques and rest assured for every thing that goes right five things go wrong. Reader beware: Plastic gore ahead. Some basic pla plating to start off. The original design for the rear waist plate had an asymmetric plating. Which got scrapped pretty quickly in favor of a vent detail. Close up of the vent. 5 plates spaced with styrene scraps. Legs have been completely gutted and converted to a reverse joint style. Much more deatiling will be required. I was going to sb the whole joint but these zaku leg joi...