Tuesday 19 December 2017

Tau Ghostkeel Battlesuit - 4 Hour Speed Paint



As a bit of a challenge, and for a bit of a change of pace, I painted this Battlesuit (and the 2 drones) over the weekend. I had the idea that I would try to paint it to a high standard as fast as I could. With that in mind, I thought I would aim for about 3 hours on the main suit (with some additional time given to the drones that I didn't really factor in). In the end, he came in at 4 hours 30 minutes, but that includes 30 minutes on the drones. I also ended up applying the undercoat with the airbrush rather than a spray can due to the cold weather and that ate up at least 20 minutes or something. Still, I'm happy with the results and it made for a great Sunday afternoon slice of hobby.




Colour wise, I painted the body with a black through to white blend (2 layers of grey there in the middle). I went back and added a bit of Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue to the recesses to get some interest and to stop it being so monotone. I highlighted the upper edges of the panels with Vallejo white.

I painted the base with Vallejo Cavalry Brown, washed it with Khorne Red and then progressively drybrushed Vallejo Orange Brown, Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh. For the OSL bits, I airbrushed in a dot of Vallejo Escorpina Green. I then washed the area with Waywatcher Green and highlighted with Moot Green and then a mix of Moot Green and white.



That pretty much sums it up. I hope you like the finished mini. Did you notice the incredibly unintentional mistake (one of his lower legs is on the wrong way round! Whoops!!). I plastic glued it too, that sucker is permanent! Luckily, it doesn't notice really. I only worked it out half way through painting him.

7 comments:

  1. Love it, to get this kind of finish in only 4.5 hours is amazing work, seriously!

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    1. Thanks. To be honest, I wouldn't have thought it was possible a few years ago, but with a well planned scheme and plenty of airbrush use/abuse it can be possible. Relying on quick patches of colour from OSL and other effects can also really improve the results and allow you to inject another colour into a scheme fast. The bright base also helps lift the scheme a bit (so another trick there).

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  2. Love it as a speed paint, but for gaming or keeping, are you going to add some brush work details, like power grilles or lenses etc? Nice colours too.

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  3. Yeah, I will probably go back at some point and pick out some more details - those power canisters on the top of the guns for example, at a later date. I would also like to smooth a few of the transitions; particularly the blue bits.

    I haven't done too much hobby stuff, so a random battle suit seemed like a good way to keep my eye in.

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  4. I think it's a great afternoons work. Well done man, now all you need is to blast out an army of them!

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    1. First I need to somehow obtain an army of them....

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  5. Blues and greens of the tau look great in contrast to the rusty hued base.

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