Painting a Asteroid, A how to guide

[Mansworth]

Greetings and well met.

I thought id throw together this little guide for any of you aspiring asteroid makers. I hope it’s of some interest and I hope its in some bit accurate.

I am not going to focus on how to make the actual asteroid here (Mines just a big plaster ball really) but instead on the critical (Iron powder paint).

So without further delay, this is how I made a asteroid.


Step 1: Getting the object to paint.



For this demo I have used a smaller “asteroid” made from a polystyrene ball. Modelling a asteroid is similar to making any other  rock effect. I believe there was a good article on creating ork roks that could be of interest. I would offer the following advice though.

1)   The finished thing will be heavy! I used close to 5kg of iron power on my big asteroid. So if it’s big its gonna weight a lot.
2)   Avoid sharp features. By this I mean jagged peaks or deep and narrow gauges. The practicality of your asteroid depends on the magnets ability to make contact with the surface. Sharp features can make a strong contact difficult, and you don’t want your mini falling off.

So actually a small test piece like my polystyrene ball is rubbish as its sharp rounded surface provides a poor contact point.

 
Step 2: acquiring the iron powder paint



The “paint” is actually a mixture of:

Sintered Iron powder
PVA glue
Water

Sintered iron powder is a 50/50 mix of powdered iron and resin, used in cold casting to add colour and weight to the cast. I found mine by googling it, but its also available on eBay and probably from some craft shops. If you can find a source of powdered iron without the resin then go for it. My big asteroid has used 4-5 kg of the powder – heavy metal.



The PVA seams to work better when slightly watered down. Mix the three together till you get a dark grey colour. You want it like a thick paint rather than a paste. It may bubble a bit but I think that’s just the heavy iron.

I is probably not a good idea to breathe this stuff in, so a mask is a good idea. It seams fairly harmless though.

Step 3: Paint your asteroid



Just paint the powder on like any paint. Use a old brush as I expect it will ruin it. Also keep the mixture sired up, or the iron will settle at the bottom.

Your probably need at least 3 layers of it before it’s useful. I have used 5-6 on the big asteroid. It dries fairly quickly depending on how fluid it is.



Once you have many layers you can do some cool things with it.



Step 4: Finish him!



I used rock effect spray and a red coat on the mini asteroid. My experience from this is keep the paint layers thin to keep the iron near the models A base coat followed by a highlight should be fine. A thin layer of vanish is a good move too, just to try and protect the surface.

Step 5: Buy Magnets

The last step is to get some magnets

I would recommend fridge magnets for 15/ 18 mm normal models and high powered neodymium for bigger models. You may get away with fridge magnets for plastic 28mm, but not tried.

Just a warning though, magnets can be dangerous, so be careful with them. 


And that’s it, I hope you enjoyed this brief guide and it may have been useful. Feel free to PM me or post here if you want any more info, hope to see a few more asteroids popping up here soon.

[rob_alderman]

That was a wonderful article Rich, very well written and easy to read. The pictures were also useful in aiding your description so very good!

I love the pic with all the stuff on the asteroid, I bet that took a while to configure without it being too heavy on one side!

The minis you have been painting for it are looking rather good too! Well done that man!

I look forward to future updates. 

[Hauptgefreiter]

Wonderful 
I might have spent a lot of money on magnetic paint. This sounds like a more feasible solution. Thank you!

[YPU]

Great work man, I expect many war gamers to use your experience and advice in the future.
Actually the idea of a sci-fi game on the outside of a spaceship seems feasible suddenly.

[Puuka]

I would almost make a few of those smaller ones and make rules to have them randomly drifting around the big one at different elevations. Figures can jump on to them, maybe move them (slowly) if they have a propulsion pack.

At the end of each round, they move 1d6 inches around the main asteroid. (This may move them in or out of range or line of sight to a target)

[rob_alderman]

We used to toy with those rules. You can also jump too far and come hurtling off the rock into the abbyss. 

Originally the plan was to have a small asteroid belt going on with Orks and Space marines fighting over it. I forget how Rich got to VSF, but I think it suits it far more! It can also help some of the inexplicable natures in the game.

[Argonor]

Wonderful... Are the critters Killer Haggis?

[Mansworth]

Indeed they are

I am thinking of using them as asteroid dwellers in the game

[Argonor]

Love them. Being a sucker for all things celtic/gaelic I can't but rejoice for somebody having sculpted those