Gun for Hire: finished!!! 8-29

Edit- I like the character of the scribed one, while the styrene bricks have more uniformity, they have less character, tough call, guess it depends on what one’s going for.

Lookin really good!

What colors/technique (spray it black then dry brush?) did you use for the final coat?  I may use it as I kind of want the house in my fast roping dio to have a similar color/finish...

camo junkie wrote:

glad you like it...it's your "picture"!!

Maybe I'll throw a blue door on mine haha

there ya go, use it on yours although...i asure you i will build that one as well soon enough!!

ark lets see, it's the same technique i used on my mayhem dio in that i primed the spackling with flat black paint, then a.b. painted the spackling (non brick areas) a medium grey. a.b. painted the spackling areas after that with humbrol #187 sand. i made sure i left the grey around the cracks and spackling not covered (you'll see in the picture). very similiar to painting armor/panel lines with an a.b.!! then a.b. painted the (btw a.b.=airbrushed) bricks humbrol #84 mid stone. after that took my same med. grey and a.b.'d the lines in the bricks. (you could probably save this step by simply painting everything med. grey then adding the sand and mid stone colors while leaving the edges of the grey showing).

anyway, after all that, i applied a raw umber wash to all the lines and details. once done i took a wide brush and using just mineral spirits, lightly (very lightly, the trick is to not lift the paint you laid down as it isnt "dry" yet) whisked my brush of just mineral spirits across the entire thing, bricks and all. what this does is "cleans up" the wash residue and also blends & bleaches the paints. let that dry then dry brush lighter shades while progressively adding white. make since?? let me know if ya need any more info or whatever ok ark. i'll help ya any way i can.

btw, i was thinking of calling this "blackwater...red river" but wasnt too sure on that!

HOLY CRAP, TOM!!!! Those buildings/ wall look OUTSTANDING!!!! Seriously! Nice job.

I personally, like the first one. I guess it's the one w/ styrene bricks .... I just like how the brick/ mortar lines are a little more defined. They're probably not to scale, but I think whn things are a little more defined in smaller scale, they just look more real. But that might just be me.

Again, nice job on this one. Will be watching ....

I hear ya. Besides, I think that you "made up for" the detail in your figs etc. I think that you're building in mayhem is perfect. Don't have 2nd thoughts about it ....

I went back and re-read this thread again, and chris brings up some good points. While I think that the styrene brick wall looks good, it's not all that accurate when talking about Iraq/ Afghan. The bricks are more manufactured than they are hand-made. I think he called it .... character.

Just curious, just how did you paint on the lettering again? And how did you come up w/ the phrase?

Thanks Camo!! That's exactly what I was looking for. Such a simple technique too. I'll have to store that one away in my "how-to" book!

BTW ... my neighbor just drove by a gave me a funny look as I was holding the printout to the window ... gee, thanks! HAHA!!!

modelchasm wrote:

BTW ... my neighbor just drove by a gave me a funny look as I was holding the printout to the window ... gee, thanks! HAHA!!!

that's why i used the door out onto my deck (the back one) buddy!!! no witnesses!!

lol camo, I took a lot of ideas for buildings from BF 2 also.  I'm basing my fastroping house from one of them in karkand...

Thanks for the how-to on the wall.  I don't use enamels but I'll find a way to do this with acrylics when I get home...

arkhunter2002 wrote:

Thanks for the how-to on the wall.  I don't use enamels but I'll find a way to do this with acrylics when I get home...

Good luck w/ acrylics, ark .... see here's where I'll fight for enamels and oils ... I know, GASP!!! ... Whatever.

Acrylics are great for painting flesh, airbrushing, etc, etc, etc ... but they dry WAY too fast to really get a good weathering layer down. Especially, when dry brushing. Too, you can't really "water" it down too much either as it will just start to pool the paint in one spot. I don't use much oil (as honestly, I don't feel like I know HOW to use them), but enamels are perfect IMO for weathering. They take a little time to dry when dry brushing, and thinning them isn't an issue either.

Anyway ... just IMO ...

modelchasm wrote:

Good luck w/ acrylics, ark .... see here's where I'll fight for enamels and oils .

didnt want to say anything...just highlight the quote only!!

Just wondering- how hard was it to cut in bullet holes in the styrene bricks? I notice you only had one in the styrene, but the spackling is all lit up.

Also I think that’s pretty interesting that the graffiti came from a video game- especially since jthurston translated it into munfajarat or some kind of bomber warning/calling card. I guess Battlefield 2 put some research into it.

yes, scott, it took me 4 minutes because i couldnt stop laughing for 3!!!

chris, im glad u noticed that. i only made one in the styrene as it just didnt give me the same results i got in the other one so rather than risk ruining it, i stopped after just the one! and yes, bf2 people did their research and got it damn close!!!

MC, I guess I was referring to airbrushing the acrylics for the main building colors, and then weathering in oils.  I have some decent oils at home, just no enamels (well, I have like spray cans of quick dry enamel black and white)...

But yeah, I think that cod4 also has some pretty good graffiti stuff.  I'd have to re look through it, but I like the way the bf2 buildings were better...

I'm looking forward to COD:MWF2 -but is that COD 6? Or COD4 2?

lol I think the graphics in COD were much nicer, probably the only thing that kept me away from the Battlefield series.

too bad chris, ya missed out. cant say anything about cod but b.f. series was good!

as far as my dio, the ground work is drying right now. have some odds and ends to do with that then its finishing painting the figure. could've at least did the flesh on my figure today but was being lazy, just did the ground work. did paint the flesh base coat though today!!