Painted gold visor effect

I have a lot of sci-fi miniature infantry to paint and many of them have closed visors. Inspired by Halo's Master Chief, my initial idea was to paint the visor gold. With a few images in front of me I soon realised that needed more thought.

I stumbled across an easy method that I think works to produce an acceptable visor at a distance.

To be clear, I am sure there are more attractive solutions with layering and blending, but that is time consuming to do for a tabletop army.

Step 1 - base coat in black

Step 2 - sepia wash

I apply a fairly generous layer of sepia wash. It is likely that other watery paints could be used to achieve the same effect.

The wash must be completely dry before going on to the next stage.

Step 3 - gold lines

To get an initial reflection effect, I paint two vertical metallic gold lines. They both have a gap between the top of the visor and the start of the line and end before the lower edge of the visor. The first is about a third of the way round the visor facing the assumed light source. The second is shorter and between that line and the centre line.

Step 4 - gold dry brush

Next, I dry brush the same metallic gold very gently over the whole lens.

The effect usually looks effective at this stage. The next step is optional.

Step 5 - gloss clear coat

Adding a gloss clear coat is not essential. I usually clear matt coat the entire model to protect it for handling. The gloss clear coat is added only to the visor area, after the matt coat has dried.

==

Airbrush rack

To make it easier to use my airbrushes, I have squeezed in a storage rack for them near to my painting area.

There is space in the rack to fit all the alternate needles and nozzles and some trays for the cleaning brushes and tools.

==

Army bases

Now I have played a few games of One Page Rules - Grimdark Future, I need to paint more miniatures so I can use my own army.

Even before I'd played any tabletop games, I had decided that miniatures in groups look better if they all have the same style bases.

For one off display miniatures, I may produce a more unique base scene, but for the army en masse I've settled on a simple grass effect with the odd tuft of vegetation on some bases.

The photo shows the materials I use. 

Base Layer

I use a brown artist water based acrylic paint that is very thick. I apply it in lumps with an old brush to give texture to the ground. 

Plants

Where I add vegetation, I clear away a bit of the acrylic paint and put a drop of PVA glue. These are stick on plants in various styles and colours. Although the tufts have sticky pads, they do not stick very well to the wet acrylic.

Grass

For this I use fine green or brown coloured static scenic grass. I've settled on Earth Fine Turf. I dust a thick layer over the acrylic paint while it is still wet and tap the model to remove the excess.

Grime

I like my models to look a little weather worn. I often use a little weathering powder, Vallejo earth pigment. It's a dry powder which I apply with a brush to the lower parts of the miniature.

Edge

I like the edge of the base to be a uniform black which I paint on after the scenery has been applied.

Protective Coat

I let the base dry for a few hours then spray the whole lot with Rust-oleum Crystal Clear matt. This protects the paint for handling but also helps to keep the static grass and weathering powder in place.

Unrelated to basing, but very occasionally I may have a model with a section that should be shiny. I overpaint that area with a clear gloss layer after the protective matt clear coat has dried.

==

Paris

Yesterday we took a day trip to Paris.

An early Eurostar out and an evening Eurostar back. Plenty of time to fit in the sights and we arrived in time to have some lunch before going into the Louvre.

It was forecast for heavy rain, but we had some luck. For the worst of the rain we were in taxis.

We had 13:30 tickets for the Musée Du Louvre. Even on this rain soaked winter day, Paris and the Louvre were crowded.

There was enough gap in the showers to walk along the Seine to Notre Dame.

The inspiration for everything gothic.

A flying visit to the Eiffel Tower then back to the Gard Du Nord via a couple of Chocolate Soufflés.

==

Magnetic bases - storage solution

I only had a couple of units painted and already I was struggling with a good way to transport them to the gaming table.

Magnetic bases are very popular, I tried it and was hooked.

Using small 5x1mm magnets epoxied to the bases works but is a little fiddly. I came across Warmag. These are sticky magnetic pads which are deliberately 2.6mm thick That's adhesive pad plus magnet. That is a suitable thickness to fit the inside of standard Warhammer bases. Very quick and easy to apply.

That led me to add steel disks to the top of my painting handles. Again, much easier to mount the model. Works for normal paint layers, but I need to hold the base while dry brushing. Still much more convenient than sticky tack.

==

First game of One Page Rules

Today I played a game of One Page Rules - Grimdark Future. Really good fun, thoroughly enjoyed it.

It is the first tabletop game I have played in perhaps 30 years. One of my friends picked up an interest in Warhammer 40,000 a few years ago. Recently, as mentioned before, that has sparked a very old interest in painting miniatures. I have not finished painting enough of anything to form an army so I played his Dark Brothers, Space Marine figures, supplemented by a unit of my partially painted Space Marines, 

Dark Brothers vs Robot Legions. We fitted in 3 battles and a Sunday lunch. A great day.

==

Opulent cat flap

After a long time of having to leave the door open, we are resigned to having a permanent litter tray. With that decided it was time to fit a cat flap.

Shelley had the idea to make the small exit from the hallway more in keeping.

==