Hey People, I've started a secondary project aside from the OSS army I'm painting. Going with a Mass Effect Cerberus theme. The terrain comes from LosBlock . Particularly their CITY 3000 - Armotek Corporate Unit <<< WARNING!!! PIC HEAVY!!! >>> Here's some concept art that inspired me: I'm going with a monochrome theme with yellow as a contrast. Here's the first building I finished: Off to a strong start! More pieces to come. -Soul
Here's the 2nd & 3rd buildings. Closed Living Cell Additional Floor Combined More pics to come. -Soul (www.Glaven.net)
Pretty much ALL HDF/MDF terrain drinks paint, that's why it needs a good primer/Sealer coat. It's why most people tend to recommend enamel sealer/primers (they "soak in" less than acrylics, but form a good skin and surface for paint adhesion). They take longer to properly dry and cure, but I've not found an acyrlic sealer primer that did the job especially well.
The Antenociti people recommend a shellac sealer before priming, and i've heard that Army Painter primers also work well on it. Plus anything not acrylic as chromedog just said.
Sorry for the late reply. This week has been madness. I'm pretty new to painting MDF terrain and the nuances involved. I didn't know people primed their buildings prior to painting. I’ve been using my airbrush for this project and I’ve found that this terrain is VERY thirsty. It can soak up paint and leave areas blotchy/ununiformed. To counter this I’ve found myself pre-staining the pieces before paint. I do this just like staining a piece of wood; gently rubbing in paint with a cloth. I need to be careful doing this so I don’t fill the etch lines. Kind of a pain to do but it cuts down on the paint needed for airbrushing. Need a better solution. Talk to me about these MDF priming methods… I got a pile more pics to upload. I’ll upload tonight.
Typically what I've done in the past on my buildings is I get a rattle can and then a second lighter shade. Go outside give it two lighter layers of your base then give it an initial highlight with the second as it were a single action airbrush. Works alright. What you've got so far is looking great though :)
As previously mentioned, Antenociti recommends white Zinnser's shellac but clean up is a little more complicated. Any enamel spray paint will work well too.
Typically, I take them outside and give them a couple of light coats of a spray primer/sealer for timber (and then I let them dry for a couple of days between the two coats). After that, you are free to airbrush to your heart's content. I continue with rattlecans (Because although I have multiple airbrushes, I lack the compressor to hook them up to since my venerable machine killed itself). If I wish to tape mask, a light coat of varnish first usually prevents the tape lifting paint (even low-tack painter's tape has lifted paint. This pretty much doubles the time needed to do it, though. Which is why my terrain is usually primer, basecoat and maybe highlight. That already takes me around a fortnight to do.
I use regular rattlecans, MDF sucks up paint like no tomorrow. especially the cut edges! I used almost an entire rattlecan of Testor's Flat Red to paint the Warsenal Torii Gate: Yeah, it took about 4 coats before it stopped being blotchy. One of my bigger terrain pieces (some 20"Lx13"Wx8.5"H!): Took about 3 rattlecans of khaki and the inside of the towers took another 2 cans of white (I was trying to brighten the inside of the towers with the smoked glass, didn't seem to work). Once base-painted, I added greenery to the 'trellises' (the square-cut areas) and a few other details. Still need to print off some paper-terrain beach umbrellas and chairs, though.
Damn! I thought I was going crazy how much acrylic ink I was running through. This material is so friggin' thirsty! When I used to rattle-can prime I used Krylon Camouflage 4290 Black. I haven't had a need to replenish for a few years. I'll go on a hunt today for some. In the mean time, more pics! Universal Modules - Glass fronts Here's a few group shots of the finished buildings: I've started work on the ground tiles so I don't get bored painting buildings. I'll have pics of those ready soon. -Soul (www.Glaven.net)
Wow I hope that someday I have room and time to build a table like this those are some amazing buildings and they are drool-worthy
Gorgeous work on the buildings. I have the very same warsenall torii gates as section9. Mine got primed with rustoleum 2x (it's a timber sealer AND primer) in matt white, then I brush painted mine in old GW blood red (to use up the pot) and a Vallejo matt black (then after they were dry, gave them a spray varnish). They'll actually see a table for the first time in a few months - they've been done for over 2 years. I primed an entire table of shark mounted lasers terrain with one can of the 2x sealer/primer, the base coat took another can of matt white paint. Then went through 2 cans of orange for the roof sections. I know other people who went through a can of regular spray on 2 and 1/2 of those buildings. It just sucks the paint down. Enamels don't penetrate as deeply, and form a skin on the surface instead. Acrylics tend to soak in.
Glad you like people! I picked up some krylon flat white/black acrylic spray from Walmart on Saturday. I need to thank you guys for pointing me in that direction. This monochrome scheme is made MUCH easier now that I can finish the base colors right on the sprues! I do need to wait a day before I can work on a piece due to drying but that's ok, I can basecoat whole buildings at a time this way and just frontload my work. I'm working on the ground tiles and I've been having some trouble. I'll post some pics and get your opinions here soon. -Soul (www.Glaven.net)