Acrylics Painting Whites - With a twist

[legend69]

Hi Everyone,

I am sure the topic of how to paint WHITES has been discussed to the limits of the earth, however I have a small twist.

I do not want to paint a german uniform, or a crusader cape or any othe military white. I want to paint a Knight Models Scout Trooper on his speedbike (picture below). To make things simpler a clone trooper or the famous storm troopers from start wars.

I have alwasy used acryilic paints but the whites have always given me trouble.

The armour is not gloss but it does have a sheen to it. What paints to use?, how do you get an even distribution of white with a paint brush?, or do you use an airbush?. How do you shade? how do you achoive the subtle sheen or shine of the armour?

All comments, insight, knowledge are welcome and appreciated.

Regards,

Anthony

p.s. if this has been discussed before, I apologize and please point me to the necessary thread.

 

[Tarracus]

Hi Anthony, I think your best option is painting, lighting, shadowing and wheathering with an airbrush and leave the paintbrush just for scracthes and that kind of stuff

 

[FigureLover]

I also have this one in the grey army to start on soon hopefully. As the trooper isn't all that big, I was going to airbrush as much as I can of the whites first, a few different shades here and there using Tamiya or Vallejo white. I dont care at this stage if its matt or not (the more flat the easier actually). I would then add the black underbody suit areas then do any chips or scratches on the white. The last thing I would do is spray a semi gloss over him to give him the sheen that is nessecary. I use Model Master varnishes as I can mix the semi and the flat to get the sheen I want, and they wont go yellow over time. Hope this helps and would love to see your progress
Ben

 

[Tarracus]

I also have this one in the grey army to start on soon hopefully. As the trooper isn't all that big, I was going to airbrush as much as I can of the whites first, a few different shades here and there using Tamiya or Vallejo white. I dont care at this stage if its matt or not (the more flat the easier actually). I would then add the black underbody suit areas then do any chips or scratches on the white. The last thing I would do is spray a semi gloss over him to give him the sheen that is nessecary. I use Model Master varnishes as I can mix the semi and the flat to get the sheen I want, and they wont go yellow over time. Hope this helps and would love to see your progress
Ben

I'll be following both speeder bikes with enthusiasm!!

 

[legend69]

Hi Anthony, I think your best option is painting, lighting, shadowing and wheathering with an airbrush and leave the paintbrush just for scracthes and that kind of stuff

Hey Gerard,

Airbrush - thats what i was afraid off. I have one but I am still learning to use it.

 

[legend69]

I also have this one in the grey army to start on soon hopefully. As the trooper isn't all that big, I was going to airbrush as much as I can of the whites first, a few different shades here and there using Tamiya or Vallejo white. I dont care at this stage if its matt or not (the more flat the easier actually). I would then add the black underbody suit areas then do any chips or scratches on the white. The last thing I would do is spray a semi gloss over him to give him the sheen that is nessecary. I use Model Master varnishes as I can mix the semi and the flat to get the sheen I want, and they wont go yellow over time. Hope this helps and would love to see your progress
Ben

Hi Ben,

I was wondering if the fisrt coat of paint should be a darker colour, maybe a "splinter Camouflage" number 345. It is slightly greener/darker than the clear 344 white, which i find difficult to control...even with the airbrush. I am a bit anxious as I am not that experienced with an airbrush and I am not sure how to shade correctly with the airbrush.

Ant

 

[MarquisMini]

Ant, i have no experience on painting Armor ,but i could tell you some about painting white.
The first thing that you want to do is decide if you want to go towards the 'cold whites" or "warm,creamy whites".
I think that for Armor i will be leaned towards the cold whites, and that is a simple mix of vallejo pure white and a dab of vallejo game color Cold grey.
I will add more grey for shadows and lights simply adding more white with the lightest almost pure white with a ratio of i drop of paint 3 drops of distilled water.
The other option is using Vallejo Panzer aces " german winter white" ,add a tiny bit of cold grey , for shados use vallejo greman grey ,for lights use pure white.
When you finish you could spray the entire figure with Testors Dullcote ,once is dry use Vallejo Satin varnish ,comes in a bottle like the paints and you apply it with a brush on the Armor , if you want more shinier apply vallejo gloss varnish.
I think that'll work , if not you are more than welcome to curse me
Best of luck to you

 

[FigureLover]

Hi Ben,

I was wondering if the fisrt coat of paint should be a darker colour, maybe a "splinter Camouflage" number 345. It is slightly greener/darker than the clear 344 white, which i find difficult to control...even with the airbrush. I am a bit anxious as I am not that experienced with an airbrush and I am not sure how to shade correctly with the airbrush.

Ant

Hi Ant, I would start with your darker shades, I dont know the vallejo numbers but I would use straight white and add a bit of either black or blue but only a very small percentage to get the shadow colour. Spray this from below the figure to get into all the areas that would be naturally darker or shadowed. Then add more straight white to this and spray at 90 degree angle to the figure to hit all the middle areas. Finally use straight white and lightly spray from the top to hit all the top areas that would get the light.
Remember that its not a big figure so use the airbrush sparingly, dont flood the figure with paint, just go lightly and you will get a good result. Also thin the paint at least 50/50 to thinner
Ben

 

[Blind Pew]

A great question, i do fancy this figure myself. Gloss paint doesn't tend to work too well in minature. Consider perhaps an egg-shell, semi gloss finish.

 

[MarquisMini]

A great question, i do fancy this figure myself. Gloss paint doesn't tend to work too well in minature. Consider perhaps an egg-shell, semi gloss finish.

gloss varnish from vallejo works quite well ,give it a try

 

[legend69]

Hi Ant, I would start with your darker shades, I dont know the vallejo numbers but I would use straight white and add a bit of either black or blue but only a very small percentage to get the shadow colour. Spray this from below the figure to get into all the areas that would be naturally darker or shadowed. Then add more straight white to this and spray at 90 degree angle to the figure to hit all the middle areas. Finally use straight white and lightly spray from the top to hit all the top areas that would get the light.
Remember that its not a big figure so use the airbrush sparingly, dont flood the figure with paint, just go lightly and you will get a good result. Also thin the paint at least 50/50 to thinner
Ben

I have read about this technique before, i actually tried it with the colour blue, but i am hesitant with white. I think this is my best option. I will definately not use a brush on this figure. Now that I have the technique I have to figure out the colours. hmmmmmm.

 

[legend69]

A great question, i do fancy this figure myself. Gloss paint doesn't tend to work too well in minature. Consider perhaps an egg-shell, semi gloss finish.

I am researching the colours. Thanks for the suggestions. The only certain thing is that there will be alot of experimentation before i actually put some paint on this figure.

 

[legend69]

Thanks everyone for your feedback, It always helps to get as many opinions and thoughts before embarking on something new !!!

If you got them keep them coming, i will be researching this quite a bit before i start painting (it doesnt help that I have gone to Naxos - Greece - and I am sitting on the beach for a long weekend).

Thanks again, Ant

 

[legend69]

Ant, i have no experience on painting Armor ,but i could tell you some about painting white.
The first thing that you want to do is decide if you want to go towards the 'cold whites" or "warm,creamy whites".
..............apply it with a brush on the Armor , if you want more shinier apply vallejo gloss varnish.
I think that'll work , if not you are more than welcome to curse me
Best of luck to you

Hi Daniel, this is going to be atough one. I think your choice of colours is the closest to what i hae in my paint box...

 

[chippy]

I would suggest you go ahead a paint white as you normaly would and when it's complety dry paint over it with a satin water based varnish . You could even thin the varnish down first with water to reduce the satin sheene . It's pretty cheap so it's worth playing around with it before hand to get the correct amount of gloss and it dries in no time .
chippy

 

[jknaus]

I have found when painting white on planes or the like that spray painting Tamiya flat white gives a nice coverage. It is very brite and does not seem to have the problems I get spraying gloss white. Then I will either spray a coat of gloss white over it or if it looks okay as is, I'll spray a satin or gloss coat over it. Hope that helps some.
James

 

[housecarl]

This is using blue. http://www.chevaliers-du-centaure.org/downloads/Tutorial_SM/WIP_space_marines_Painting_EN.pdf
But it's still nice to look at.
If you want the sculpt, that's also nice to look at.
http://www.chevaliers-du-centaure.org/downloads/Tutorial_SM/WIP_space_marines_EN.pdf
Carl.

 

[legend69]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your comments and thoughts. The figure of Leia Organna "Boushh" comes first..and then after some carefull thought ( and reading over all the comments again) I will start the Scout Trooper on his speedbike.

Thanks again.

Ant

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