PanOceania Seraph and Auxbot - Plus Group Shots!

To finish-off my PanOceania faction for the moment I've painted up my Seraph's Auxbot. Not only did it come out quite well for just an hour or so of work (I'd basecoated it with the airbrush already), but it also means I can also legally use the Seraph now!

I was so excited to finish them off that I decided to take a few group shots to celebrate.

PanOceania Father Knight

Continuing on with my PanOceania force, I've now finished off the Father Knight. I can't actually comment on whether he performs well on the field as I actually haven't used him yet!

With all of these Infinity models I've been avoiding metallic paints entirely. It's a new process and sometimes seems to throw a wrench in the works. This time I was really worried about making that thing under his foot look good, but in the end I managed to get a decent effect without too much effort, so I'm calling it a win!

PanOceania Nisses

The next finished model for my PanOceania faction. I really like this model (who doesn't like a cool cyber-sniper). He performs well in games too, which always helps!

I had a bit of indecision about what colour to go for with his trench coat, but in the end I chose a sort of pale grey off-white colour. It seemed to fit well and while I had originally thought of doing it red, it seemed a bit too garish and I wanted the focus to mostly be on the armour.

Again, I've been trying to emulate Angel's style here; going for a sort of blended NMM/Ceramic type look. It seems to be working out, but that guy just makes it look so easy and gets such clean results. I can only dream....

PanOceania Sikh Commando

Things have been a bit quiet on the hobby front for me for the last few days. With that in mind, I decided it was the perfect time to break out some shots of my Infinity stuff that I've been slowly working on for some time.

A week or two ago I was digging through some of my work in progress drawer when I came across most of the PanOceania starter set from Operation Icestorm (the starter kit for infinity). I had painted some of the models, but most of them had been undercoated and airbrushed with the basic blue colour blend without having any of the details finished. In a moment of hobby indecision, I picked them up and started working on them just because it seemed easy and they were nice models.

Anyway, this is the Sikh Commando, which is a sort of drop trooper (hence the techno-pack on his back). I'm really happy with the way he came out - especially the blend on the armour panels and the overall effect it has given. I've relied heavily upon the trachings of Angel Giraldez for this one and his rather interesting Masterclass book (well recommended for anyone with an interest in airbrushing or infinity).

One of the things I've really enjoyed when painting Infinity stuff is not just the really nice sculpts they're producing, but also the semblance to modern day. It was cool to be able to cut a length of old spear pole to shape and use as a drinks can on his base - I like the look a lot and it's one of those touches that would just be totally "wrong" in 40k, but makes a nice feature here.

I'll be posting more of the faction later this week, so stay tuned for some more shiny blue dudes!

I'm rather happy with the "Cola" can on his base.

Infinity - Joan of Arc Ltd Edition Miniature

 

In an attempt to broaden my painting horizons I bought a copy of Angel Giraldez's "Paining Miniatures from A-Z Masterclass" about 6 months ago. The book came with this rather nice Joan of Arc miniature (the book also includes a painting guide - which as I didn't have an airbrush at the time I didn't use entirely for this paint job). I tried to capture some of the feel of his paintwork despite not having an airbrush at the time entirely with a paintbrush and good old fashioned regular techniques.

For those who don't know, Angel is the studio painter for infinity. He has an excellent style built up with a combination of airbrush and paintbrush - characterised by smooth blends and sharp highlights. It wasn't long after painting this model that I actually bought an airbrush so that I could take the technique further myself. The best part was that it turned out that our painting styles were quite compatible, so it was easy to incorporate some of Angel's style in to my own. I think I'll write a proper review for the book later, so I won't say any more now.

The miniature itself was a bit of an experimental piece, so I make no promises as to the actual quality of my work on it. It did inspire me to start playing Infinity though, so I suppose that is one hell of an endorsement for it. For those who don't know, the Infinity range (by Corvus Belli) are all entirely metal models (28mm scale), making them somewhat unique in today's market. The quality is really high too - with more of a focus on realistic proportions and fine components (particularly noticeable with guns) than the "Heroic" scale style of 40k.

Somewhere in the future a reincarnated electronic version of Joan of Arc squares off against a cyber-samurai ... this could definitely happen.

 

I've since gone on to use the airbrush and brush style found in Angel's book on a number of my own projects (some examples pictured below).

I'm still getting the hang of adding highlights to models in 28mm scale with an airbrush.

My Necrons are largely an adaptation of Angel's style used on 40k. Quick and easy too!

PanOceania ORC - Airbrush test

My first attempt at airbrushing a 28mm model - namely a PanOceania ORC trooper. The blends are a lot harder at this scale, and it's gonna take some getting used to!

PanOceania Seraph

Airbrushing a PanOceania Seraph

I recently started playing infinity. This is my finished Seraph which was airbrushed with Vallejo paints and an incredibly cheap £60 Fox Hunter KMS airbrush. As my first venture into airbrushing I highly recommend that kit for the price it is at the moment on Amazon. The only drawback was the limited precision afforded by the airbrush itself, luckily the Seraph is quite a large model (at about the size of a Warhammer Daemon Prince).

I really can't take all the credit for this model, not just because I didn't sculpt it's awesome Gundamyness, but because the paint scheme was both inspired and copied from Angel Giraldez's "How To Paint Miniatures From A-Z", which is a great reference for intermediate and advanced painters looking to get into airbrushing.