[BFG] Zeus Light Cruiser

[Vaaish]

wow. That works great for a desert tank especially over some old rusted out hulk. I think your second try worked much better. Just remember that washes typically need to be darker than the color you are covering to work best or you'll end up with a result kind of like your first try.

[mangozac]

[mangozac]

After a couple of days away I had some free time this afternoon and did a little more painting. Finished all of the main sand colour, finalised with a very light white drybrush. The weapons and engines were painted in dark grey, but I think I might redo them in a metallic.

The prow is a very dark olive green but I'm not happy with it. Am thinking of changing it up to a lighter green.

Overall this model kind of proves I'm not the world's greatest painter. There's a lot of texture to the paint also which I'm not happy with. I was thinking of doing the rear keel fin in green too to add a bit more interest to the model - at the moment it feels a little boring.

[madrobot]

Did you apply any highlights to the nose? I can see them quite clearly on the body of the ship. Maybe try a few pronounced highlights on the nose and tail. Another way to add interest is to look for a few precise points to place some kind of running lights, either red or green, something that to add contrast. That idea might not suit your style but it would definitely add some interest.

Overall it looks really good.

[Vaaish]

I think you need to check your whitepoint balance on your camera! It's making it hard to see the colors with the red tinge countering the olive.

If I had to choose though, I would leave the keel fin as is and add color, a stripe or chevron or two, to the wings and highlight the green a bit more.

[mangozac]

Thanks guys. Madrobot, are you referring to highlights on the gold, olive or both? Not that it really matters since I haven't done either yet!

I think Vaaish's suggestion of a stripe on the wings is definitely better than painting the keel fin green, so I'll ask it up and do that. Like I said though, I will go away from the olive colour and to a more rich looking green though.

Sorry about the colour balance. I tried fixing it but when I used the background as a white point (the background was some white styrene) the photo became too washed out. I think the bad colouration came from taking the picture above the green cutting mat rather than on top of another piece of white styrene like I usually do. I'll take a better photo next time!

[mangozac]

Well I think this one's going to be put down to experience and working out the best way of doing things. My attempt to add a green stripe on the vertical wings failed dismally. Not only did the masking not work, resulting in the base colour running, but the colour toning is completely off, which clashes with the primary sandy colour.

Fixing the vertical fins will be too hard and most likely fail to properly match with the rest of the hull.

So at this point I feel like dumping the whole thing into some stripper and starting again. I have contemplated just pulling the fins off and soldiering on but the perfectionist in me would rather start again.

I'm certainly happy with the sandy primary colour. Next time I'll probably go with red prow/stripes rather than green (yes I realise I haven't finished painting the prow green). I see that the gun port type pieces under and behind the bridge need to be painted in metal too. I'm not keen on the brass colour I used on the prow either. It's not that I don't like the effect, but rather I just don't think it's working well with the sandy primary colour. Perhaps it's just the unfinished green painting on the rest of the prow - perhaps with white it would work better?

[Hatemonger]

Surely it would be easier to just fix up the green rather than starting all over, wouldn't it?

If you don't like the color, try mixing some of the base color into it so it won't be as far off.

- H8

[Vaaish]

ok, that's nowhere near as bad as you sounded. Just make the stripe a bit wider or use some black to edge it like I did on the warlords I just posted. Should fix it up easily. As for the color variance, I guess you could go over it again using a less intense green (mixing codex gray and catachan is what I did for the titans base). Your not the only one to decide a color doesn't work. Those warlords started with their heads green and blended in too much so I made them red which stood out too garishly before ending up with the bone they are now!

[mangozac]

Yeah maybe I did overreact a little bit. It's just that I'm disliking more than I like about the model, so it's easier to start over in my mind. In fairness, the running of the stripe undercoat is much worse on the other side (I should have photographed it facing the other way!).

I quickly photoshopped a picture with red accents instead of green, but I don't feel like it looks any better. I did the same with white and brown, but none of them work as well as I'd like.

I think perhaps the problem I'm having is that I still don't like the brassy/gold colour on the prow. In fact I'm not a fan of gold for anything, so I'm thinking it may work better in the gunmetal colour like the engines/weapons.

[Vaaish]

At this point then I think you might want to consider repainting the wing on the prow either white (which doesn't contrast with the sand) or a 65% black with a touch of blue. that would work alright with the red stripes.

[mangozac]

Just the wing? Or all of the gold parts? Adding another colour to the prow (in addition to the gold) seems to make things worse...

[Vaaish]

I was thinking all of the gold parts. With the sand/white of the hull it'll be difficult to find a color for both the prow and the gold areas if you are trying to repaint it.

[Seb]

There's a lot of warm tone in that model, which is one reason the prow doesn't really pop to the eye or sit right, particularly if you want contrast.

I agree with Vaaish above. Look forward to your retouching efforts

- Seb

[mangozac]

Did a little bit of painting tonight:

Have repainted all of the metallic grey areas to a flat grey which I feel looks much better. Also painted a lit more areas of interest in the same dark grey colour. As you can see, the prow eagle has also been painted dark grey and I've done a dark red/brown base coast over which the red areas will be painted. Starting to feel much happier with it!