15mm SciFi Minis WIP

I decided to keep track of my progress on this project more closely than usual.  I'm enjoying painting the minis very much, which is surprising considering how small they are.  I'm finding that the more time I spend with them the less small they seem to be.  There is some great detail and they are easier to paint than I anticipated.  Anyway, here's what I've done so far with the Rebel Minis Earth Force figures.

I started by cleaning the flash and then gluing each figure onto a #10 washer.  The sniper team I glued to a 1" fender washer.  They got a spray of my basic white primer and then I used sticky tack to put them onto craftsticks (aka popcycle sticks).  Then I could start the painting.

A layer of thin Khaki over the whole model.

Then some thin US Dark Green on the upper bits.
I eventually also did green on their kneepads.

Coated the bases with some Liquitex Course Texture Gel.

This is the stuff.  Seems like a great product.

You can see the Hobby Lobby price tag.

Painted the bases with Desert Yellow.

Guns and face shields get Neutral Grey.

My workspace.  Need to use bigger craftsticks (tongue depressors?).
These are hard to hold onto.

You can see I'm using Vallejo's Model Color line.  I really like these paints.  Hobby Lobby carries them so I've been slowly collecting the entire set.  I've also been using a "wet pallet", which is something I recently learned about here.  He discusses how to use it in the first video on the page.  I did some searching and found a tutorial on how to make one here.  Very simple.  I can't believe I'd never heard of such a thing before now!  It is a great idea that has made my painting much more enjoyable and mixing paints much easier.

I also picked up some new brushes and a few odds and ends when I was at Hobby Lobby the other day.  The Liquitex course texture gel is good stuff.  You can't see it in the pic above but it fills gaps nicely and leaves a "sandy" surface.  Perfect for this desert project.  It is easy to use and cleans up with water too.  A good find.

My next step will be to complete the base colors on the rest of the platoon.  I've only done 4 as a test strip and to set my pallet.  I will do some highlights by mixing Iraqi Sand into each of the base colors and building highlights, probably 2 layers for each color.  I am hoping that using one shade as a mix for all the highlight colors will give a dusty, desert feel to everything.  We'll see.  I am considering using the Army Painter quick shade product next.  We'll see how that goes too.

I've also been building a table and some terrain so I've been busy.  Look for updates on those projects to come in future posts.  Until next time, carry on!