Tutorial

Okay, I don't count my other lighting project a success. It had a lot of benefits, but it just wasn't as bright as I was hoping it would be. So I found other lights to use:

Portable LED Photography Photo Studio Light Kit from Amazon:

Of course, the problem with these was that they were just too direct. They needed diffusion. So I made a couple of handy diffusers for them!

Here is my attempt at a portable LED light to use for miniature painting and photography.  When anybody asks me what's the most important part about Miniature Painting or Miniature Photography, my first answer is "light!  And when you think you have enough light, get more light!"  It really helps you see what you're doing, and it really helps bring out the truth of your fantastic paint job.  

I have been known to comment that some vehicle modellers can perfectly weather a tank but are let down by the figures they place in a diorama with it. Their figures look like lifeless mannequins with thousand yard stares.

A friend of mine sent me a link to a book on modelling techniques. In this book the author mentions a (doubtless expensive or rare) product that can be used to create mud effects on vehicles. He describes the made up compound as resembling “papier-mâché”, which got me thinking and resulted in the following experiment.

There are many ways to do rust effects on a model. Some rely on special products. Some use hairspray, salt, ground pigments, make-up powder and so on. This tutorial uses paints that you may already have.

The most basic rust effect I use is to just coat the metallic part in a thin coat of GW Tin Bitz/ VGC Tinny Bitz. This is an easy way to add a bit of tarnish to a weapon or other metal part that looks too shiny and new.

        I get to see many very nice model vehicles, many of them in 1/35th scale. While many of these are very detailed it is often the figures that are with them that let them down. It seems some modellers can perfectly weather a vehicle but paint figures that end up looking like lifeless mannequins with thousand yard stares.

        One piece of advice I would give to miniature painters is to investigate a variety of paint brands. Independent shops are good for this since they usually stock a number of brands.

        Several of the tutorials I have written have included drybrushing as a technique so some further words on this may be in order. While there are a many articles already written on the subject many of them neglect what I consider to be intrinsic points in learning how to drybrush.

        Recently I painted an Ambul, and not including the base/undercoat it took me less than half a day.