Well, a bit more time has passed since the last installment than I had anticipated, but these are busy times...
As I posted earlier; I was not at all satisfied with the result of the weathering powder rust I had applied. But after they had sat on my desk for a couple of days, as I pondered what to do, the colour started to grow on me. And since I already had been satisfied with the actual effect, I decided to just push on.
First thing to do, was to fixate the powder. I had applied it mixed with water, and I knew it would just come right off, if I painted over it, so I decided to seal it with a matt varnish.
However; being impatient, I had in the meantime already painted on the bronze, and I didn't want to dull that down (just yet), so I couldn't use my regular method of spray on varnish. So I went out and got myself some brush-on Windsor & Newton matt varnish from the art suppy store, and dabbed that on (as opposed to brushing, since that would pull off the accumulated rust effect again).
I was a bit apprehensive about this approach, but in the end, it worked pretty well, and the stipling even added a little bit of texture to the rusted areas too.
Then I wanted to do a pin-wash of a very dark brown/black on those areas, but I didn't have the right materials. And being the stupid git I apparently am, I didn't bother checking the multitude of tutorials on this matter and just went ahead with what I thought I knew, and got myself a bottle of isopropenol. Because I thought that was the stuff to use when making a pin wash.
It wasn't...
Turns out I confused the information on two separate topics (fixating pigment powders and pin washing). And using isopropenol as a wash is a guaranteed way to completely remove all paint from the area! The fact that it's known as cleaning alcohol should have warned me, but as it was, I luckily found out when I mixed the paint with the stuff on my palette, which is coated with so much layers of acrylic paint that it's twice its original weight by now.
And as I saw that the isopropenol was beginning to melt off layers of paint, I realized my mistake and stopped right there. I dabbed off the liquid with some paper towels, and retreated to contemplate what went wrong.
So I turned to Youtube, and quickly caught on. Isopropenol is used to fixate pigment powders, and white spirit with oil paints is used for pin washes.
Easy mistake to make, right? Right? Anyone?
Yeah; so with that learning experience out of the way, I grabbed some black and burnt umber oil paints, a bottle of white spirit, and made my first pin wash.
And what a revelation that was!!
For me, this was the discovery of the year. No more faffing around with 0000 brushes and acrylic paints thinned with water and flow enhancer just right, doing everything by hand, usually with many, many little mistakes to correct. This stuff just flows, nay, runs right where you want it, in very thin, and perfectly even little lines.
I ended up black-lining many other parts as well, especially armour plates and cuts, scrapes and other hard edges. It's super easy, and I can't believe I never before tried it.
For certain I will be using this method a hell of a lot from now on!
The end result may be a tad shiny (as exaggeratedly visible on the great cleaver, on the right in the picture), but nothing the final coat of varnish won't cover.
So after this little triumph (it's in the little things, isn't it
), it was just an easy application of some very thin edge highlights, just on the pronounced, raised edges, and even then just sparingly, of Vallejo Model Colour Oiled Steel, before I turned my full attention to the bronze areas.
These I gave a wash of Armypainter Dark Tone first, and then a very thin wash of a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Model Colour Light Turquoise and Sky Green, repeated here and there for effect.
The metals now only require some more black-lining in certain parts where it needs to be a bit more pronounced, and some actual black paint in holes, grilles etc. But the extremely oxidized look I was going for has been achieved.
As usual, the picture does not do the effects justice, but on the guy with the flail (second from the right), the rust effect can be seen best, especially on the Plague Knife, and the raised spoilers/trims on his backpack, and also on the guy with the Blight Launcher (third from the left), on the gun and the backpack vents.
Oh; and I also did the base coat on the bases already, so I can better see the match up of the colours against the eventual base colour. White bases really throw off the colours as perceived otherwise. No worries; they will be finished in a more pleasing look in the end...