(PM03) Ancient Spanish Scutarii - Part 5

Sorry, some of today's photos have turned out a bit blurry. I'm not sure what happened.


Step Thirteen. Painted trim on the tunics and the shield faces dark red.

Step Thirteen: 39 min.
Total: 353 min.






Step Fourteen. Highlighted only the shield faces with the dark red mixed with just a little of bright red. The dark red is transluscent enough that when I painted it over the white tunics, it looked as if it was already highlighted, as the white portions showed through lightening the red in those areas.

Step Fourteen: 10 min.
Total: 363 min.




Step Fifteen. Another highlight on the shield faces. Mostly bright red, mixed with a small amount of the darker red. I did add some highlights to a few spots on the tunic trim.

Step Fifteen: 7 min.
Total: 370 min.



Step Sixteen. Base coat of black patterns on the shields. These are based on some of the ideas I've found in books and on photos of painted figures around the web. I went with large stylized graphics as opposed to smaller details. Also stuck with the red white & black for a bigger visual impact, and less cluttered look than my Gauls, for example. I figured the definitive historical proof is limited enough that I could just go with something that "feels" right & looks good and be happy with that.

Step Sixteen: 16 min.
Total: 387 min.




Step Seventeen. Highlighted the black areas with black mixed with just a small amount of grey

Step Seventeen: 17 min.
Total: 404 min.



Step Eighteen: White borders between the red & black on some of the shields. I went back and gave a quick highlight with titanium white on a few of the shields after this photo, but have added the time into this step for completeness.

Step Eighteen: 13 min.
Total: 417 min.




Step Nineteen. Decided to try a different base color for bronze pieces. This is Privateer Press' Ps "Brass Balls." Yes, really. I understand that its made by the same company that makes Coat d'Arms and the older GW paints. This is the only one I've used. It was a promotional freebie. I'm a bit unimpressed. The paint has serious separation issues, even with extensive shaking and the addition of an agitator bead to the paint. This causes some coverage problems, but even when it does well I'm closing & re-shaking the paint every few figures. Maybe the regular colors are better? I don't know.

Step Nineteen: 40 min.
Total: 457 min.




Step Twenty. Old GW Flesh Wash on the bronze bits. Slightly thinned with a bit of water.

Step Twenty: 13 min.
Total: 470 min.



Step Twentyone. GW Mithril Silver on the spear tips & sword blades.

Step Twentyone: 7 min.
Total: 477 min.





Step Twentytwo. This is actually two steps rolled into one, as I wanted to finish the figures and the photographing takes almost as long as the painting. The crests were painted with the dark red followed by a drybrushing of the light red.

Step Twentytwo: 13 min.
Total: 490 min.


Step Twentythree. Black wash on all the silver parts. I put the intermediate step of the crests between the silver and the wash so that the silver could dry completely. I hate having silver metalic flakes lift off into my brushes & other paints.

Step Twentythree: 3 min.
Total: 493 min.





Step Twentyfour. Sadly I couldn't end it on step 023. For the last step I used a lighter brown to add a lighter grain on all the wood of the spears and the standard.


Step Twentyfour: 8 min.
Total: 501 min.



Finished.

Total time was 501 minutes for 24 figures, giving a rate of 21 minutes per figure (rounded up.) That compares to 17 minutes per figure for the Romans. I thought I would end up with a much larger number, but in the end that's not a bad time. In fact, I feel a bit guilty for cutting a few corners when it started looking like it was taking forever.

After basing these guys up I will post photos at my "regular" blog.

Time to consider what to do for the next project!