1. Today's instalment .....

I may come back and edit this post because the glue is still drying as I type, so I may add a few bits. Anyway, to those who have asked about other materials, other mechanisms etc, here's my thoughts on scratchbuilding. Use whatever materials you like as long as the final body dimensions are within about 1 or 2mm of the drawing. Whatever you use, the final structure must be strong! You will be amazed at how tough card built with this method can be! Adding extra mechanisms is entirely up to you, it's your build after all. You may have to design in those factors before you start, and I'm trying to make this build as simple as I can whilst ending up with something everyone will be talking about. So, onwards. I wanted to try and get the main structures at the front of the weapon completed, so we come to the muzzle and our first major headache. The drawings simply don't give enough information to build the muzzle without some guesswork on our part. Furthermore, once again the front view does not quite match the side view. But there are some clues, in the form of two lines that run down the muzzle on the render view. I decided that these form the sides of the lozenge shape of the lower muzzle. I further decided that the upper circle on the front drawing is the barrel and the lower one some kind of laser sighting mechanism? Had I been building this as a full blown project I would have made the lower circle a blue LED and possibly made the trigger a switch, but let's keep it simple for now. I made two panels from cereal carton on which to build the lozenges.

Using the front drawing I calculated some sizes for the lozenge, they may be wrong but there's no other information. Next I marked out a few different braces / spacers, I changed them a couple of times after test fitting because I didn't think they looked correct.

Once I felt that they were nearer the spirit of the drawing I glued them to the panels and added little struts to hold them upright and add a bit of strength.

Now clad them exactly as we did before, however we have the added difficulty that the ends are all angled and shaped. My way of tackling this is to cut them over length, then offer them up and trim, offer them up and trim and so on. If they are a little too long then trim them. If they are a little too short (say 1 or 2mm at most) we can usually get the PVA paste to fill the gaps. If not we may have to do a little filling later on. Once clad I mounted them to each side of the muzzle.

The end of the barrel was made from a short length of plastic pipe. I mounted this to a backing section of card.

The facets were added using short strips of card and then the entire assembly was added to the nose of the muzzle.

Final detailing will all be added later. You now need to carefully clad anything from the muzzle back to the end of the main barrel. It's boring and laborious work but it has to be done. Be especially careful to cover any open corrugations except the base of the magazine which we will do later. Next we will deal with the very simple electronics. OK, now on to our very simple electronics. Looking at the side render there are two very obvious green LEDs. Looking at the top view it is also obvious that the far side has a small pipe entering at exactly the same place as the LEDs on the nearside. Ergo, the two panels MUST be different, but we have no information as to the far side panel. So we'll just add the LEDs to the side we know about. If you want to add some to the other panel go right ahead.

So what do we need to get our two LEDs operational? Well we need a power source, I'm going to use two AA batteries in a battery box (because that's what I've got in stock). We need a switch and we need two Green LEDs. I had two 5mm round ones in the box so I'm going to use those.

We will also need some fine hook up wire and a resistor(s) to act as a current limiter and protect the LEDs. Now, there's a lot of old guff spouted when it comes to the exacting science of electronics, but the reality is that most hobby components are quoted as having a tolerance of as much as + / 20%! So let's not get too hung up on it eh? The reality is that this set up would probably work without any resistors at all, but let's do it properly. Information about standard 5mm LEDs is well documented throughout the internet, so if you are using reclaimed ones don't worry too much. 5mm Green LEDs need approximately 2V to drive them at 20mA. Two AA batteries deliver a nominal 3V so a single LED needs a 50 ohm resistor. They don't make one of that value so the

nearest is going to be 56 ohms. We could wire them up in parallel and recalculate the value, but resistors are so cheap that it's not worth the hassle. We will connect them up in parallel and give each it's own resistor. For a LOAD more information on LEDs and the resistances required for various power sources just do a Google. We need to connect the resistors to the positive leg of each LED, connect both resistors to some hook up wire and then to one side of the switch. From the other side of the switch we connect to the positive side of the battery box. All the negative connections are then simply connected back to the neg on the battery box and we have a circuit. However, even before we can do any of that we have to decide WHERE we are going to put all this crap? We could have mounted the batteries in the Mag, or one of the two big cylinders at the back, or possibly even in the scope. But I think the best place for them is behind the panel itself, that way we can keep it small and neat, have short wires and know where everything is. The down side to that is that we have to make the panel cover removable to change the batteries. I think we can manage that. The other thing to consider is that the connections will need to be soldered. Oh dear, never soldered before? Well either get someone else to help you (best if you've NEVER soldered before), or you can follow this tutorial for very basic soldering when the time comes. You will need to get a small soldering iron, some multi-core solder and a tin of flux. OK, so we will need to make the panel to install our lights and switch. This will have to be completed before we can move on. I did dabble with the idea of painting it first so that I don't accidently obscure them with paint but I want to hold the painting for a separate tutorial. Start by removing the panel from the main template. I had to guess at the shape of the rear part since it is obsured by the pipework. Make a copy of the panel and start to transfer over the design using a CD marker.

Next carefully drill out the holes for the LEDs and the slot for the switch. Test fit the LEDs and the switch and trim as required for a good fit.

Next get some foamies and a couple of bits of plastic pipe (I used part of a pen for the smaller

pipe attachment point). Transfer the design elements to the foamies. With a sharp scalpel blade the foamies will cut more accurately and more easily than card. Use a paper punch to make the small round details, and use a solvent based glue or contact cement to stick them on.

Panel lines and small indentation detail can be 'etched' into the foamies using a pointed soldering iron tip, or the back of a heated knife etc. Here's the finished panel waiting for the switch and LEDs to be installed.

Next step will be to install, wire up and test the circuit. A quick post before we wire up the LEDs. If you are using new, or reclaimed LEDs you need to identify which connection is which. If your LEDs are brand new, then the longer leg is Positive (Anode) and the shorter leg is Negative (Cathode) However if you are using reclaimed parts, then there is a small 'flat' on one side of the body. This is next to the Negative (Cathode) leg. It's difficult but not impossible to make it out.

Right fight fans, let's finish off this little panel. I fixed the switch in place with two tiny blobs of hot-melt glue - taking great care not to gum up the mechanism. Once it had dried I went over the back of the flanges with a little more hot melt

to secure it in place. Then test it still works correctly! The two LEDs were secured with a little cyanoacrylate (super glue) which does not seem to affect them in any way.

Next I collected together my battery box, resistors, soldering iron, flux, solder and a small set of pliers and snips. Also a cocktail stick will come in handy!

Plug in your soldering iron (if you are young get some help so you don't end up in the ER). Leave

it for 10 minutes or so to get hot. A damp sponge will be handy to clean off the tip if required. You can also dab the tip in the flux momentarily to clean it. Next, cut the battery box leads down as short as you can comfortably get away with, strip the sheathing off about 6mm (1/4") of the ends of the red and black wires, twist the ends into neat braids. Then dip the ends into the flux to coat them. Touch the tip of your iron against the end of the solder. A small 'blob' of molten metal should then cling to the end of the iron. Draw the twisted ends of the wires thorough the molten blob making sure that the wire contacts the actual tip of the iron to transfer the heat. You should hear a comforting hiss as the flux is burnt off and see a nice shiny coating on the ends of the wire. This is known as 'tinning' and serves two functions, firstly it will bind the strands of the wire together making it easier to handle. Secondly it means that there s already a small amount of solder in the wire which will help when you come to join it to something else. Next thread the red wire from the battery box to one side of your switch, I'm using a DPDT switch because that's all I had so mine goes to one of the middle connectors. If you are using a SPST switch then there should only be two connectors. Use any one of the two. Now, ideally we would have had plenty of room to create this little circuit, but for this weapon we have very limited space. Therefore I decided to use the resistor tails as the connecting wires and soldered these directly to the other side of the switch. The trick is to loop the wire tichtly around the switch connection, then using a cocktail stick coat the joint with flux. Get a blob of solder on the tip of your iron and then press the iron against the joint to transfer the heat. With small bits like this there should be enough solder on the iron to run into the joint. It takes seconds to make the joint.

Now, what I did next is bad practice but due to the space restriction I didn't have any choice. I carefully bent the resistors to lay flat against the panel and twisted the end around the Positive

(Anode) leg of the LED as near to the base as I could. A dab of flux and a blob of the soldering iron and they were joined. I then cut them off as close to the base as I could get away with. Not good, but saved loads of space! Then I pulled two short lengths of sheathing off an off-cut of the black wire left over from the battery box. These were slid down the Negative (Cathode) legs of the LEDs. I bent the legs down almost flat and soldered the black wire from the battery box to both legs.

All done, now to fit a couple of batteries and test!

Now it just remains to be seen if we can get it all to fit! Note:I will try to keep momentum going on this tutorial, but I have two commissions that have come in and since they are paid work, this may have to take a bit of a back seat for a couple of weeks.

1. I said I'll try and keep it going ......... Anyway, next step is the two receiver side panels. From the drawings it is obvious that these are a slightly different shape to the barrel and that they are stepped towards the rear to accommodate the cylinders. As usual i started off by using the template to create two backing panels, then used the same method as we did for the barrel. Nothing we haven't done before here. The only thing of note is the stepping at the rear. I did the offside one first since I need to figure out how to fit our LED panel to the nearside one. Here are the WIP images:

and mounted on to the right side of the weapon. I will still need to build the panelling on this side as we did for the LED panel.

Ultra quick update. Here's the receiver block on the nearside.

The LED panel is a good push in fit, and with the pipework it won't fall out. Here's the fitted panel:

Update: Firstly I have to apologise to anyone who has been waiting for updates here. I have had a couple of commissions to work on, I wanted to finish off some of my armour and I also wanted to complete the helm.

However. I have a couple of days free so I thought I would try and get a shake on with the rail gun before the weekend. First thing I did today? Change the scalpel blade out for a new one! Then I checked the gun over. It's had a week to dry and is nice and strong. I checked to see if

there were any voids or unclad areas I had missed. Nope. So the next item to work on is the main grip. I checked out the remainder of the templates to decide which bits to start on next.

I decided to leave the cylinders out till last and to ignore the rear stock at this stage. In order to get acquainted with the gun again, I thought I would make a simple addition first.

The base of the magazine. This is simply a rectangle of corrugated card, lined on all four sides with a thin strip of the offcuts from the original template print. I just glued it on to the bottom of the mag.

Now we turn our attention to the grip. Once again we have limited information from the drawings. It is obviously narrower than the mag or we could see it from the front, but EXACTLY how wide it is we can't really tell. We also don't know how 'rounded' bits are for the same reason, so we have to make it up as we go along. There are some clues. By looking at the render I tried to work out which bits fit on top of others and therefore MUST be 'thicker' in cross section. Then, using the template I actually marked out a simple plan of levels marked 1, 2 and 3 with 1 being the lowest and 3 the highest. I used the main template cut out to prepare two base sheets of corrugated card to act as the panel supports and level number 1. I could then build up the main panel off the gun as before.

Now by carefully cutting out the template sections and using those to transfer to card stock I was able to start cutting out the levels required. I started with level 3, which seems daft, but I

wanted to use 4mm foamies for this - didn't have any left so I had to laminate some 2mm card stock. That's why I did these first. I glued the laminates to the backing panels.

Next using 1mm and 2mm foamies I started to cut out, transfer and glue on the different levels marked out on the template slowly building up the grip. I cut out the small recesses and adding felt tip marker to show where details need to go.

Now we need to 'etch' some panel lines and details into the surface of the foamies. I use a small gas torch fitted with a needle tip soldering bit. You could also use a normal soldering iron with a

filed down tip for this.

The way you actually etch the foam, is to draw out the pattern with felt tip first (green in my case), then simply draw back over your design with the torch. It will 'melt' the top 1/2mm or so of the foam leaving a cool indentation which we will enhance with paint later. Once the pattern lines for the grip and the grip pad itself were etched, the panels were glued to the sides of the weapon.

There is a small retaining section below the grip on the template. I'll make that in a short while. The inner faces of the grip also need to be clad. I feel that the grip is a bit to 'square and angular'

in the hand in this configuration, so I will add a bit of rounding to the edges when I clad the inner faces. However, main construction of the grip area is now completed. I will try and get two updates done today. I've had a few thoughts whilst working on and around the grip. I have decided to follow the original artists colour layout, however I will substitute a green where he's used white to lose the District 9 look and bring it a bit more into line with a 'Haloish' theme. I have also decided to rubberise the hatched part of the grip with coloured latex to give it a more realistic 'feel'. Finally I have decided to detail out and undercoat the grip area before I move on so that I can be satisfied that it's nicely sealed and won't get damaged after further work is done to the gun. Anyway, last night I made the base retaining clip at the bottom of the grip. I used the good old box building method we use earlier, so nothing new here.

Now, to get the 'rounded' look I wanted on the grip I used the following method. I cut 2mm foamies and deliberately made them thinner than the final grip will be. I then glued them into

place down the centreline of the grip. I used two lots to give a total 'slope' of about 4mm. I hope you can see the effect here in the grey foamies on the front of the grip.

I have also added the trigger guard plate and some of the lining out of the rear sections which do not need to be rounded off. Then I measured and cut some 1mm black foamies to cover the grey 'pyramids'. The black foamies had extra care taken to ensure that the edges were well glued down. This forces the underlying grey ones to compress at the edges forcing a curve. I hope you can see what I mean in the next image.

Next I lined out all of the back section of the grip to cover the corrugated card and seal it all up.

I also lined out the front section and the trigger guard area. I have spent nearly 4 hours on this grip area this morning. Most of it on rounding the grip. This may seem like an inordinate amount of time and effort on something that will rarely be seen BUT besides improving the look of the weapon, remember that this is a tactile prop. I will be handling it a lot. I will be disappointed every time I handle the grip if it doesn't 'feel' right, and that will ultimately make me disappointed in the weapon itself. Better to spend the extra time and enjoy the prop than not and regret it later. Here's the lined out front section:

Here's the grip section fully detailed out and ready for some rubber and undercoat (once the glue dries). To finish off the grip area we need a trigger. I was going to laminate some card or Sintra, but I found a small bit of 1/4" MDF so I decided to use that. A bit of work with a small saw and the Dremel ....

I simply glued the trigger into place with PVA ..

Next I moved to the shoulder stock. I found some leftover EVA foam from my armour build and cut the upper section as per the drawings and template. This was chamfered and sanded off, glued to some backing card stock and foamie strips added.

When I made up the lower section to the drawings it didn't look right. It seemed too 'square', so I decided to taper it towards the bottom. It seemed better then.

I again chamfered it, glued it to some backing card, then glued both pieces into place.

The sides now posed a bit of a dilemma. In tapering the lower half I had made my work on the sides sections much more difficult. I had planned to box them as we had done earlier, but I now had three chamfers and two tapers to make. I decided it was going to be easier to use more EVA foam and simply sand them to shape using the scalpel and the Dremel.

Once glued into place they looked pretty good to me.

Now, there is an awful lot of corrugated card still showing so I spent the next hour or so carefully covering the exposed bits in card and foamies. A pain of a job and one of the disadvantages of using corrugated card, but it had to be done.

Now, up to this point I have tried to stick pretty religiously to the original artists design. However, when it comes to the gas cylinders I have been mulling over in my head how to go

about making them. Unfortunately the two sets of drawings seem to have differing attachments and don't really make much sense to me. I thought about making them from PVC pipe, cardboard tubes and even foam pipe lagging. But my wife was about to chuck out two interestingly shaped aerosol cans. These were short when compared to the drawings but I really like the 'waisted' can design. I took them out into the yard and taped the plungers down until there was no more gas left in either of them. Cut of the valve stems and had two fab aluminium tubes to use as my gas cylinders! How to attach them was the next problem. I thought about making elaborate brackets, frames and all kinds, but in the end KISS won through (keep it simple stupid!). I used two strips of the EVA foam, and carefully cut with a sharp knife to the correct profile.

I then used the Dremel and a sanding drum to hollow out a rounded section.

I used some hot melt glue to fix the cans into their mounts, then hot melt glued around their edges. I can paint them to look like welds later.

The mounts were then glued to the sides of the gun. I also added the scope rail at this stage.

That concludes the major construction work. With the the exception of the scope all the rest is

cleaning up, sanding, shaping and cladding out the details. Hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer before we are ready for paint! Woo hoo! Still with me guys? Now for the final run at the detailing then it'll be paint. Go back and get all those bits of template that we kept. You did keep em right? Don't worry if not, you can always reprint any bits that are missing.

I started off with that little control slide at the bottom of the mag that we started on very first of all. Seems a long time ago now. Anyway, using bits of foamies I copied the control and then used

the etch method to build in the little grip. I then glued it into place.

Next I tackled the off-side panel. We know nothing about this one other than the smaller pipe enters somewhere roughly where we placed the LEDs on the nearside. I just sort of copied what we'd already done and then glued it to the side.

Next I started to put on some of the barrel panels, simply transferring the templates onto foamies and gluing them on. I also made some 'mounting' points for the rear of the cylinders

using bits of foam and stuff from the scrap box.

I started at the top of the barrel and worked my way downwards.

Same on the other side, with the grip and border added.

I made the front sight from a bit of scrap MDF just like the trigger, and continued to build up the foamies from the drawings and templates.

I did the muzzle part last and just used black foamies to cover it out. I discarded the original barrel nose because it didn't look right and it didn't make sense of the drawings. I carved a new one from a bit of EVA tile foam.

A final go round and tidy up of a few minor bits and the gun is now complete. The pipes will be added later (after painting), and the scope will also be made and added later. I want to play

around with a few ideas on the scope. Here's what we ended up with. Compare it to the original artists concept. Not far out and all made from crap bits and two drawings.

I won't run a tut on the paint job, but I will post the final results when I get it done.

1. I'm going to use a variety of the techniques from the painting tutorial HERE I began by giving the rifle three coats of matt black primer using car body paint in a spray can.

Next I used the airbrush to blow in some basic colour panels.

The scope I had been working on was then glued in place. It was made using the box card and foamies method, I added internal LEDs for the graticule, hence the wires.

Then I gave the rifle it's first 'rough' dry-brush to bring up some of the details.

Next stage will be to develop the shadows a bit, I'll also blow in a little light grey before adding the emblems and motifs, then weathering to finish off. I'm going to use a variety of the techniques from the painting tutorial HERE I began by giving the rifle three coats of matt black primer using car body paint in a spray can.

Next I used the airbrush to blow in some basic colour panels.

The scope I had been working on was then glued in place. It was made using the box card and foamies method, I added internal LEDs for the graticule, hence the wires.

Then I gave the rifle it's first 'rough' dry-brush to bring up some of the details.

Next stage will be to develop the shadows a bit, I'll also blow in a little light grey before adding the emblems and motifs, then weathering to finish off. I added a little extra shadow detail

Then I added various motifs, symbols and whatnot

Finally I added the pipework and then gave it some dirt and weathering with the airbrush.

It's now finished, but I'll get some better shots of it tonight. Tutorial: Painting systems for realistic results 2. Once again I have been asked to produce a painting tutorial, so I have given in this time. Here it is: Firstly I must state that this is not the only way, not the best way, not the fastest way, not the cheapest way. But it is my way, and I'll take the Pepsi challenge when it comes to painting because this way has been around for 400 odd years. Anyone who has read one of my tuts will know that I try to explain what I'm doing as well as demonstrating it. This tut will be no exception, so read it as well as looking at the pictures! Then I encourage you to post, ask questions or even tell me it's crap and that you have a better way, we're always learning after all. The tut will be done in a series of posts since I can't be arsed to write it all in one go, and I need to find a suitable candidate subject to paint to demonstrate all the methods. Part one: The overall explanation In order to understand how to paint stuff to look real we need to understand how the human eye and brain processes images. When looking at shapes it is the contrast not the colour that is important. You can still recognise a banana is a banana even if the image is in black and white, or even if the banana is painted blue! This is because the eye uses the difference between light and shade to determine shapes. It is part of the reason why people 'see' stuff in cloud formations, or burnt toast or the middle of vegetables. Shadows mean shapes. Here's a detail from The Night Watch by Rembrandt, it was painted over 400 years ago (1606 to be precise). Rembrandt belonged to a school of painters who tried for realism in the look of their paintings. Look at how he uses light and shade next to each other to give depth and shape to the faces, the hands and the folds of the clothing.

The problem we have with our models and creations is that if we just paint something 'green' it won't have the punch and realism we want because the contrast is too low. This seems silly on a 1:1 replica, but the early film makers realised that to make something look real we need to give it some 'help' to make it look a bit more punchy. Early prop makers went back to the old masters, like Rembrandt, and tried to emulate what they had done on a flat canvas to help 3 dimensional objects look better. I came into this in the late 1970's. As an art student I was working on a series of models for Bovingdon tank museum. They were all of vehicles that had existed at one time but had either all been destroyed or scrapped. Bridge layers, engineers vehicles, specialist vehicles and the like. Building them from the original drawings was easy enough, but try as I might I couldn't paint them to look real enough....... Then I met Shep Paine and Francois Verlinden at a convention. Shep had done a series of models for Monogram, and Francois for Tamiya, both of them were using the system I will show you now, and it seems that the system originated for props during the making of 'Metropolis' by Fritz Lang. Here's the only vehicle I still have in my collection. It's an M39 utility vehicle and the paint job was all done using three brushes. No airbrushing at all. Notice how all the detail is visible and stands out. This model is about 9 inches long.

It's actually pretty simple to achieve this kind of result once you understand the theory and learn a few simple techniques. What we are going to do is take our basic colour, then darken the shadow areas and lighten the highlight areas. On a three dimensional object this is a piece of cake when compared to what the old masters could do on a flat canvas. Believe me I've tried. Second post will cover the tools required, a paint discussion and an outline of the techniques.

3.

It has taken me many years to assemble all my equipment, but like everyone else I had to start somewhere. Here's a very basic kit list. You need somewhere to work, you will need good lighting, I would suggest a decent chair to sit on, and a bench or table to work on. Some very large items may need special thought, care and attention when being painted. I don't recommend working out of doors on your paint job, there's too much dust and debris around, but a garage would do very well as long as it doesn't get too hot or too cold. If you are working indoors consider ventilation, safety first and all that. Brushes: I have amassed literally hundreds of these over the years. But to get started you should look for a No#4 round, a No#6 round and a No#10 round. You should also look for a couple of flat brushes, possibly a 1/2" and a 1" flat. Use artists brushes, I find the ones for acrylics are best and are reasonably cheap. In the UK I use either Major or Royals which are very cheap but high quality brushes. You will also need a couple of make up 'Blusher' brushes. get the cheap own brand ones. I use a 1/2" and a 1 1/4" blusher.

You will finally need a small soft brush, possibly an old N0#6 round for use with another medium. My system is to keep all the brushes I use for line work (the ones in a row in the image), in perfect condition. They are religiously cleaned after each use and are kept as 'best'. The ones in the pot in this image are for general prop painting. That is all you need to get started, but I tend to buy odd brushes here and there when I see them. In this way you can build up a collection over time. Other stuff you need: You will need some pots to store your brushes (always place them bristles up even when painting, never leave them bristle down in a pot of stinking water!) I use aluminium pen storage pots from the stationers, but anything will do it. Containers for water, or cleaning spirits, some kitchen paper towels, some old newspaper and I keep an old towel for cleaning the brushes as well. For more advanced techniques: Get hold of some very cheap bath sponges, the ones without the big holes in them. Get some scissors and cut the sponges lengthwise then into half again and half again. You will end up with 8 pieces of sponge with straight sides and edges as well as curved faces and whatnot. Very versatile and very cheap. Try and find some 'stipple' sponge, usually available at art suppliers. These have the consistency of pan scourers but with a bigger hole pattern. Useful for trying out paint techniques. Some standard white card (the same type you make your PEPs with). We'll use them as quick palettes.

A mixing palette, you can get cheap plastic ones, but I bought a nice ceramic one. Art suppliers or ebay. The Airbrush: If you can afford one, and are willing to take the time to learn how to use it, then the airbrush will save you loads of time and effort. Don't bother unless you can get a small compressor set up as well. It's simply too frustrating and expensive to use 'canned air'. The Iwata Revolution CR is the best general purpose gun on the market, but I also love Spraymaster guns which are much cheaper. Whichever gun you buy make sure it has a gravity feed cup, and it has a nozzle size of at least 0.5mm, any smaller and it will be forever clogging up! Paints: OK, when I started out we were very limited for choice. There were hobby enamels, artists oils and that was about it. Water based acrylics for hobby use were in their infancy and were expensive. I still use some artists paints now and again, but almost all my work is now done using water based acrylic paints which have come on in leaps and bounds over the last 10 years. I also use auto spray paints in cans - exclusively for primer / undercoat. For these techniques to be successful you MUST use MATT paints. More of this to follow..... Ok so let's just talk paints a little more. I have been told that I can't mix paint types, I should only use this paint or that paint ..... whatever. Try experimenting with the paints and you'll soon see that there are no hard and fast rules. If it works for you then great, I can only pass on my own experiences. You can mix and match paint types on two conditions. Firstly it must be matt finish paint, and secondly you must allow each paint type to dry completely before using a different type over the top. I don't use gloss finish paints at all. If I need a high gloss finish then I add varnish or lacquer as a final coat. Matt paint has a microscopically 'rough' surface that means that subsequent coats will bond to it regardless of paint type. This is why automotive primers are all matt finish, stands to reason. The techniques: There are many variations of the basic techniques. I now use three basic techniques and they seem to cover most things. In all three cases the first stage is to begin with a primer undercoat. Primer has three functions, it unifies the base colour so that you have an even colour surface to work on. It 'seals' and protects the underlying surface from possible damage and offers some basic protection from the elements (it's waterproof). Finally it gives a prepared surface ready for further painting operations.

I use car body paint primer, which is generally still an enamel or organic mineral based paint. It comes in matt black, matt white, matt grey and matt red oxide. There are others, but the ones listed are readily available. I generally go for two or three coats depending on the material being painted. Once primed, leave the paint to dry for at least 24 hours, I leave mine longer if possible to give the primer a chance to really harden off. Obviously try to choose a primer colour that will help with the other colours. So you should now have a primed piece ready for painting. The three techniques are: #1 Brush only (with pastels) #2 Brush, sponge and pastels (or airbrush for touch up) #3 Brush and Airbrush (or more precisely the other way around) Now before we finally start to paint, there are two parts to each and every paint. The first part is the contrast part. This is not weathering. I consider the addition of highlights and shadows to be part of the base system factory finish if you like. Weathering operations are conducted after we have got the thing looking right in the first place.

In all three techniques you will need to learn the dry-brush technique. The only thing you actually need to master, and the one thing that will make all the difference. If you learn to do it with a delicate touch it can revolutionise the look of your stuff. Next post - demo of the brush only technique. OK here we go..... in order to try and demonstrate the differences between the various ways we can go about setting up the paint job I have made up three identical panels. They are all about 6" - 150mm square so about right for a panel in your armour. I have deliberately included card, plastic, metal and foam. The systems can also be made to work well on latex too.

Two of the panels were then given a primer coat of grey and the other one in black. The reasons will become apparent as we move on.

We will use one grey panel for the brush alone technique, one grey panel for the brush and sponge technique and the black one for the Airbrush and brush technique. But before we move on to the actual painting (I'm waiting for paint to dry see), I

want to look quickly at pastels. Artist pastel chalks (not oil pastels) are very cheap, very easy to use and can give results similar to airbrushing if you don't have an airbrush. Remember that worn No#6 brush I mentioned? Well if you get a cheap set of pastels (make sure that it contains a black and a white chalk) and a fine grit sandpaper (180 grit?) you can grind down small amounts of pastel colour on the sandpaper, tap it off on to a piece of white card, then 'paint' it on to the model using the small brush. The effect is very subtle and looks great for smoke stains, dust, exhausts and even shadows. Once on the matt paint surface the pastel will 'stick' and can be over-sprayed with el cheapo 'extra super duper extreme hold' hair lacquer to fix it. As we shall see. Now here's how to make super stencils easily. Get a piece of your PEP card (110Lb or similar), scour the net for motifs, markings, emblems etc. Or simply download a stencil font and write what you like. Print this out onto your card ( I tend to do a load of them on a sheet). Get one of those plastic laminator sheets and place the card inside as if you're going to laminate it.

Then using a VERY sharp knife or scalpel cut through the top layer into the card. Takes a bit of practice but you'll get there.

Then cut out your stencil leaving enough room all around for you to be able to use it successfully. Hey presto a long lasting stencil that can be cleaned off and will resist most chemical cleaners such as alcohol and the like.

Right, what we are going to try to do is make a green panel with a 'metallic' grill in the middle and our logo on one of the flat panels. I'm using an odd green that I had

in my box, mostly to use it up. it's actually a Vallejo Hobby Acrylic 'German Camouflage Green' - a pretty horrible colour but we will use it on all three techniques so that you can judge the differences. We will also need some black and some white paint along with a bit of gunmetal, or steel, or silver for the little grill panel. Next post actual painting, give me an hour or so eh? Right let's paint. The Brush Only System This is how I learned to originally do it 35 years ago. All you need are four brushes and a bit of sponge. The advantages of this system are that it's easy to master, it gives pretty good results, and for small areas it's reasonably quick (if you ignore the drying time). The downside is that it would take a very long time to paint a full suit this way since you would need to do it in small areas. Also the piece needs to be pretty horizontal for this to work, so again small areas at a time. it also uses a fair amount of paint. Begin buy giving the panel a coat of the basic green colour. Paint the grill panel that will be metallised in black. You don't need to be super accurate with the edges. I hardly ever have to mask anything with these three techniques.

Now some people would basically leave it at that, but it looks totally 'flat' and unrealistic even though it's a 1:1 panel. Next we will add shadows. To do this we are going to use a wash. Some people use

straight black paint for this, hence 'blackwash' but I want a more subtle shadow effect. Try for a mix of 80% water, 15% base colour (green) and 5% Black. Don't worry too much about the mix amounts (don't start measuring it!), what you want is coloured water that is a dark dirty mix of the original. I use 10 drops of water 3 drops of colour, one drop of black. If it's too light you can always add more. Give the entire panel a liberal coat of the wash. You don't need to know where the shadows will be, the panel, gravity, surface tension and capillary action will work all of that out for you. If the flat panel areas have too much wash on them, get some kitchen towel in a little ball and dab, don't brush or scrape, the excess away from only the middle parts of the panel. You want the wash to collect in the recesses and around the edges. Notice how the part in the red circle in the image below has automatically 'clung' to the edges.

Now washes take a long time to dry out. Don't be tempted to use a hair-dryer or hot air gun, the airflow will blow the wash into streaks which we don't want. If you want to speed up the drying time, place the panel under a warm lamp for an hour or two.

When dry the effect will be quite subtle. Once the wash has dried we need to start in on the highlights. Remember we want light against shade to give shape. Start with a mix of 50% base colour (green) and 50% white, then follow the video in the earlier post. You want only a tiny amount of paint on the blusher brush and gently stroke it over the surface so that paint only sticks to the raised details. If you have too much paint or the brush is even slightly wet you will get streaks. After the first pass add more white to the mix and go over it again. Finally give it a very gentle pass over with pure white.

Notice how the details are coming out especially where the highlight is next to a shadow? Shadows mean shapes.

Now do the same using a bit of silver only on the grill. It will cover any light green that is there. Also notice how the wash and the drybrush have defined the edges for you? No need to mask, or use tiny brushes to try and get fine line edges. That's a mugs game.

Right, at this stage I consider the panel to be 'factory finished' or as it would have looked when manufactured. At this point we should add any emblems or stencils. Stencilling with a brush is almost impossible. The paint will 'creep' under the edges. Use a bit of old bath sponge and form it into a ball in your fingers. Dip it in the paint and dab almost all the paint off onto some card. Then hold your lovely plastic stencil in place and dab straight down with the sponge. Gentle dabbing will ensure that you get a nice looking stencil and the paint won't creep under the edges.

Finally we need a bit of weathering and strengthening of colours. Here's my cheap artists pastels. You only use a tiny amount and I've had this crappy little set for over 7 years and have hardly used any. Grind a bit onto the card and then pick it up with

a soft brush and paint it on.

Blow off the excess and bobs your uncle. You can add as much or as little as you

think fit. I've added a bit of smoke stain around the grill, some brown marks on the three little vents and some general shading round the panels. A quick spray with dirt cheap hair lacquer and here's the finished panel.

That's the brush only technique. Let me know what you think eh? Next instalment. The Brush and sponge technique. BTW, you can mix and match the various elements of the techniques dependant on what you are trying to paint. The main drawback of the brush only system is the wash. These are notoriously difficult to control and require a fairly level work-piece. Trying to do a good quality wash on a chest armour would mean a lot of small bits being done so that the wash doesn't simply run to the lowest point then drip all over the floor! Worse still would be to get 'runs' in the wash which won't be too convincing. We need to look for another method. The brush and sponge method: This does away with the need for a wash. the advantages are that it all dries much quicker so overall working time is reduced. It requires little extra tools and is very easy to master. It will work even upside down since there's no wash to run off and you can cover bigger areas more quickly. The downside is that it uses a LOT more paint. The final outcome will be determined by how soft or 'spongy' your sponge is! Start by mixing your base colour (green) with around 10% black. Paint the panel as before using this mix. Your shadow colour is now covering the panel entirely. Do the little black grill as before.

Next use the base colour (green) straight from the pot, put a few drops on some card as a palette. Get a cut up bath sponge and dab into the paint until the sponge is loaded but not soaked in paint. Go light you can always add more if needed.

Now start to dab the sponge onto the panel, you want a nice even coverage (or as even as you can). Because the sponge has a resistance to being compressed, the raised parts of the panel will hold the sponge off the surface at the edges. This means that the dark colour underneath will show through on all the recesses and ridges. Exactly what we want so that the dark colour forms the shadows as we did with the wash on the first method.

Work carefully and build it up slowly. Don't be tempted to try and get too much paint on in one go or it will look too blotchy and you run the risk of filling in the edges. Once you have a nice even(ish) finish we simply go through the same steps as

before. Dry brush with 50% green 50% white, then with more white added and finally with a light dusting of pure white. Then do the silver as before as well.

Sponge in the stencil as before.

Then do your pastels as before. Here's the end result with no wash used at all.

That's the brush and sponge technique. Next instalment will be the Airbrush and brush technique. The airbrush technique:

The airbrush is an immensely versatile tool, but it just that, a tool. A good brush, set up correctly and with good paint of the correct viscosity can easily paint a line as thin as a pencil, or as thick as your arm. It can be used to give very light, subtle shades or heavy full coverage base coats. But it can't paint a hard edge, so stencils will be needed if you need to do that. I tend to mix and match techniques as required to minimise the need for anything complicated. I'm a simple soul. The advantages of the airbrush are that it is quick. I painted the following panel in 10 minutes from start to finish. There is virtually no drying time since the atomised particles of paint are virtually dry as they hit the panel. It uses very little paint in comparison to the other two methods and it is capable of very gentle feathering and blending that are almost impossible to achieve with any other method. The disadvantages of the airbrush are that getting set up can be very expensive, and you need to learn how to use it. The only way to do this is to get one and practice. The paint also needs to be of the correct viscosity, this invariably means that you will need to learn to thin the paint. Finally, the airbrush needs to be cleaned between each colour and periodically stripped down and cleaned thoroughly to keep it operating correctly. It's an investment in tender loving care folks. I do not intend to give you a tutorial on airbrushing, but this is an easy project to learn on. Because we can feather the edges of the paint we don't need to put in shadow edges as with the other methods so we have already saved ourselves an entire step. Using the black primer panel, spray your basic green colour into the panels, but don't go right to the edges. We want a bit of the feathered black to show through.

Now drybrush the 50% green 50% white with a blusher brush as before

Drybrush the silver for the grill with a blusher brush as before

Add our stencil, but this time we will spray it using some white in the airbrush.

Now instead of using artists pastel chalks we can use the airbrush for our basic weathering. I've used a little black around the grill and panels and some brown on the vents and whatnot.

Here are all three panels done using the three different methods. Very little difference which shows that you don't need an airbrush to get cool results. It's just a

quicker tool (especially if you have an entire suit to paint!).

I would now spend some time adding small scratches in the paint using gunmetal or silver. Possibly some rust streaks or whatever you like. You now have all the basic techniques to recreate anything you like really. I find it helps if you have some reference pictures (especially game shots or concept art) to work from. You should be able to copy anything!

Here are a couple of images of stuff I have painted using various bits of all three techniques: My Grenadier helm:

My MA37 Reach AR:

As you should be able to see from the tut, it's easier than you think to get realistic results. A No# 4 brush with a good point on it and dry-brush - your looking for an effect, not up close perfection. Most of your gear will be viewed from an average of about 4 feet away, any closer and we're into personal space. So paint for this distance. It's also the reason that I over contrast my shadows a bit - as pointed out by Boba Fett. From 4 feet away it looks more subtle.