Stormraven Part 2

As you saw in my last post, the first part of my stormraven project requires me painting the interior of the model for my client.  I have just finished that up, but I wanted to spend a minute talking about painting large models such as vehicles. 

I applied a base coat of GW foundation paint Gunmetal last night.  I used an airbrush to do so.  If you haven't used an airbrush they are great!  I can't stress how great they are for giving large flat surfaces an even, smooth coat.  I can't imagine trying to hand paint the entire surface of my stormraven by hand.  An airbrush, even a cheap single action one, provides a smooth even coat of paint for a model.  This means no brush lines or uneven spots.  I have painted a rhino or two by hand and if I had had this airbrush then, I would have had fewer headaches. 

The key to using the airbrush with GW paint is to thin the paint down correctly.  I use roughly a 50/50 mix of paint to water.  If you get too much water, it puddles and looks really bad.  If you get to much paint, you run the risk of gum up your gun which also isn't fun.  It takes some practice but I find that it comes pretty quickly.  So, here is what I have done since the last update:

As you can see, I went in on the hull and even on the pieces still on the sprue and airbrushed them with the GW foundation color Gunmetal.  This gives a dark metallic look to the model which I can then go in and layer up with boltgun metal, chainmail, and mithril silver to give highlights. 

The main goal with the side panels of the hull was to give just enough detail that if someone were to poke a flashlight inside, they would see that the screens are painted and the seats have some detail.

More the of the same.

The main work on the interior came with the boarding ramps.  I thought they needed a little pop so I used the standard hazard lines to help them stand out. Also, you may not be able to see well here, but I went in with Devlan Mud wash and went over all of the grating to give it an oily, machine dirty look.

A final touch I used on the boarding ramps was to add some wear and tear to them.  After all, guys in metal power armor go tromping out of these boards, they are probably a bit bunged up. 

So that is it for now.  In my next installment, I hope to have some additional assembly done to show off and then we have to start the tricky business of highlighting this big bird.  Thanks for reading.