After working with car and computer components long enough that are second hand you learn to find good deals and the bad, and I knew this one was a decent bet with a little sweat equity.
So, I picked up another Hawk Turquoise before the paint shift and set to work.
(For folks new to the hobby another post will follow about the tools I have, most on sale, and even more on clearance racks... Getting into the hobby does not have to be expensive.)
More after the jump;
First I inventoried the collection, two whole monoliths of panels, two additional side panels, and one additional back panel. Some had damage that looked good (e.g. could be artistically pushed into "the crypteks couldn't get to it this week" vs. "Dude, wtf happened to your model...") So I pulled out one whole monolith that was the cleanest. Some of the glue was giving out, so I gently broke the remaining pieces apart.
Given that the prime was still good I pulled green plastics out and began using 000 and 00 steel wool to buff down any big gouges like the ones on the main arm of the particle whip. Not sure what it's really called but you see it if you zoom the picture.
Continuing on the process I pulled out the files and got all super glue off the set, bringing it close to what seemed to be the original plastic molds. Since I don't have a brand new one, and since I have liquid green stuff on hand this was approximated to a tabletop standard.
Next, a coat of Tin Bits is liberally applied to the metal sections, messy is ok, since the black will go to a teal later.
Since I'm going to want to move into a gold sheen, a layer of Dwarf Bronze is then dry brushed on, and highlights are then dry brushed with Shining Gold.
For the dark metal a layer of Chainmail is applied, with two coats of Badab Black wash. You'll also start to notice gluing occurring since it's easier to paint some of this in a built state reducing "go-overs" later.
Now a layer of dry brushed Shining Gold is applied again with a 1:1 mix of Devlan mud:water is liberally applied to the "copper" metal sections. Pure Devlan mud washes the dark metal sections liberally as well making sure to "push" the paint way from the edges.
Also, a layer of Hawk Turquoise with 5:1 with water is applied. This makes a thin, easy to spread layer, that will be applied multiple times until coverage is full, but not "filling in" the details. More components are glued in.
A final wash of Devlan mud is applied to all metal, dark and copper alike. This is a 1:1:1 with a Vallejo Medium Glaze and water to help lock in the paint. (washes on flat surfaces are easy to scrape off I've found much to my chagrin.)
All special pieces are placed (the green items) and a few dry brushing techniques are applied prior to detail highlighting. On the teal areas a progressively lighter shade is applied from a 90%:5%:5% Hawk Turquoise:Bleached Bone:Water to eventually being a 90%:10% Bleached Bone:Water. The water is applied only to "stretch" the paint so that I have more time to work, some people prefer a wet pallet, but for this I just use a small plastic cup and a paper towel to wipe off excess.
Now that about seven layers of ultralight dry brushing has happened bringing the teal to a nice layered stone look a fine line of Scorched Brown:Water mix is applied into the crevices in the "stones". Excess is wiped up.
In my case I wanted the portal to not be this ultra bright green, so I applied successive layers of Badab Black to the edges of the portal and picked out highlights of metal to bring it together.
Next fixer-uppers will be the three spyders and five destroyers... They need a lot more love.
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