(PM03) Ancient Spanish Scutarii - Part 2

Step Three. First flesh highlight.


Step Three: 16 min.
Total: 83 min.



Step Four. Second flesh highlight.

Step Four: 10 min.
Total: 93 min.






Step Five. Flesh wash in eye socket. White on eye, then black.

Step Five: 10 min.
Total: 103 min.



I'm 20 minutes behind where I was with 18 Romans using these same steps. There are 6 more figures in this groups, but I think it's also the simplicity of the Romans that made them easier to paint. Less flesh, so less work at this point, also. I'm curious to see how the timing continues...

(PM03) Ancient Spanish Scutarii - Part 1

I'm taking a momentary break from Romans. With many distracting possibilities available to me, I decided on some Spanish infantry that I can use as allies/auxilia/enemies for the Romans.

The figures are a mix. The back three rows are Old Glory figures. There are three poses (one per row) and all are a bit more heavilly equipped - with a helmet, greaves, shield and throwing spear. The front ranks are some more lightly equipped figures with sword & shield, as well as a few command figures, all from Crusader. 24 figures total.



Step One: Flesh. Took longer than I expected. These first few steps will be familiar to anyone who's read the previous Paint Machine projects. I forgot to include the paint bottles in these first two photos.

Step One: 58 min.
Total: 58 min.



Step Two: Flesh Wash.

Step Two: 19 min.
Total: 77 min.

Rules and Holiday

I've started updating the "Rules of Paint Machine." Finally. Just a few thoughts that came to mind as I sat painting and relaxing on the day after my Christamas festivities. I will hopefully continue to expand them in the near future.

I hope all those who are celebrating holidays of whatever sort are enjoying them.

(PM02) Swiss / Landsknechts

I'm working on some commission figures. In talking with the owner, he brought up the idea of a "basic" paintjob for less money. I don't normally do this. But I thought I would give it a try and see how it worked out, since I'm trying to cut the time on some of my own figures. So in this process I skipped or simplified a few steps, and wasn't quite as precise as I might normally be with figures like this.

They were painted in a single color scheme, at the owner's request. But I varied the way in which the colors were used. I've not included step by step instructions on this, nor have I included the time, which I tracked privately.

The next project will be another one of my own and include all the details. I just thought I would include the photos for this one, since I had taken the time to track it all for my own reference.








Base Flesh.

Flesh Wash.

Flesh Highlight.

Eyes (Flesh Wash Socket, White, then Black).

Tidy up flesh mess.

Yellow base.

Yellow wash.

Yellow highlight 1.

Yellow highlight 2.

Blue base.

Blue wash.

Blue highlight.

Steel base.

Buff leather base.

Dark grey (black leather) base.

Red-brown leather & wood base.

Wash on every base since steel.

Base hair. Wash hair with GW Delvan Mud (not shown).

Base grey feather. Drybrush white feather.

Dark gold on sword bits.

Base white shirt.

Wash shirt.

Next Project?

Time to consider the next Paint Machine project. Right now most of what I want to get done is more Romans, and some assorted single Skaven (WFB) figures.

But possibilities for the next project here include:

Ancients:
24 Spanish Scutarii (Crusader & Old Glory)
28 Carthaginian infantry/veterans (Crusader)
28 Thureophoroi (Crusader)
8 Balearic Slingers (Foundry)
12 Cretan Archers (Black Tree Designs)
30 +/- Numidian infantry (Wargames Factory)
30 Ancient Germans (Wargames Factory)
30 +/- Numidian infantry (Old Glory) (When/where did I get these!?)

Medievals:
25 Low Countries Pikemen (Old Glory)
12 +/- Low Countries Plançoniers
12-16 (or more) Assorted Artillerists
30 Landsknecht Pikemen (Old Glory)
10 Landsknecht Handgunners (Foundry)

I have some other medievals but don't know what I want to do with them yet.

Fantasy:
All of the fantasy stuff I've got on deck at the moment falls into one of three categories, either a single figure, something I need to purchase more of (and I'm on a mini buying "freeze" at the moment,) or something I don't see myself using in the near future (like more Empire infantry.)



There are a couple in the list above that I'm considering, more than some of the others. If anyone cares to have any input, feel free to reply.

(PM01) Romans - Part 7

Step Twenty-Two. Painted all the helmets, shield bosses, greaves, and a few other bits with VMC Old Gold.

Step Twenty-Two: 22 min.
Total: 287 min.




Step Twenty-Three. A slightly diluted GW Flesh Wash on all the gold. I would prefer something a little darker but less red/orange. As much as I like the new GW washes, they're not strong enough on gold for the look I want. Last time I tried it, I had to use two coats. So for now I am sticking with the old Flesh Wash.

Step Twenty-Three: 6 min.
Total: 293 min.




Step Twenty-Four. I highlighted some areas around the tops of the helms, the spine of the boss, and other areas. On the cornu (horn) I made a second pass at highlighting with some old GW Shining Gold mixed into the VMC Old Gold.

Step Twenty-Four: 3 min.
Total: 296 min.




Step Twenty-Five. The crests on the helms were already painted black, so I hit them with a little mix of Black and Mississippi Mud as a sort of highlight. While I had both of these paints out, I also quickly drybrushed the wolf pelt with the Miss. Mud, and painted the opening on the cornu black.

Step Twenty-Five: 5 min.
Total: 301 min.




Step Twenty-Six. Quickie step, but not much to see. Another light drybrush on the wolf pelt with Coat d'Arms Horse Tone Roan. Then a drybrush of GW Dark Flesh on the bear pelt, followed by a light drybrush with Snakebite Leather.

Step Twenty-Six: 2 min.
Total: 303 min.



All done! Way ahead of my initial estimate -- almost half the time, exactly. I really did push myself, and in all honesty these are relatively simple and they are not my best work. But I have a lot of Romans to paint, so I'm looking to make some compromises.

303 minutes /18 figures = 17 minutes per figure (rounded up.)

Not bad. I have 9 more sets of 18 to finish, so that's good news. I will be doing some of them in slightly different colors. The process should be the same, however, and should take a similar amount of time. The time above doesn't include the prep time & basing, of course.

(PM01) Romans - Part 6

I'm just going to lump steps Seventeen through Twenty-One together. Each one involved a thin layer of the dark red I used for the base, mixed with an increasing amount of Vallejo Model Color's Rojo Mate (Matte Red). The first mix was maybe like 1/6, then 1/3, then 1/1, then 2/1 then straight Rojo Mate. Honestly, I have no idea if those numbers are anything near accurate. Sorry. I mix paints by "eye" not by measurement.








As with my previous update, I'll stand by the decision to paint a few extra layers. The total time for all of these steps is only slightly over a minute per figure. Cutting back on a couple of steps may have saved me 10 minutes, but like the final effect.

One note, though... and this may sound a bit like excuse-making, but because of the differences in the finish (sheen) of the two paints, the reds always look more extreme in the photos than in real life.


Step Seventeen: 7 Min.
Step Eighteen: 5 Min.
Step Nineteen: 3 Min.
Step Twenty: 3 Min.
Step Twenty-One: 5 min.
Total: 265 min.