Hot off the Desk: Shadows of Brimstone BEACON Drone (Derelict Ship)

Larry, Moe, and Curly - ready for the table.

Maybe 14 or 18 months ago, I started working on the Shadows of Brimstone Derelict Ship expansion.  There are 3 different monsters included (Autocannons, Necro-Nauts, and the subject of this post - BEACON drones aka "Probe Droids"). 

The Derelict Ship has some super-cool models, but I remember being really unhappy with the molding quality (gaps, in particular), and my enthusiasm for the project waned quickly. 

Then Kingdom Death arrived, and all other projects were shoved aside. 

But, coming out of Reapercon a few weeks ago, one of the things I realized was that I really need to get my painting volume up.  Not meaning that I should spend more hours per week painting (if only, hah), but that I need to find ways to become more efficient in the limited time I have and turn out more finished minis. 

Next to my table is a very sad little box of half-painted minis.  Over the past 18 months, my painting methods have changed dramatically, and as I moved from project to project there were a few things that got abandoned-in-place due to the level of quality and the amount of rework involved to bring them up to my "new standard." 

But, the models aren't doing anyone any good in that box ... so, this project was intended to try some really time-efficient methods (i.e. airbrushing) and attempt to salvage a horrible start. 

BEFORE:  This was my starting point:  I'd previously done an airbrush primer and then quickly applied an uneven basecoat of AP Gun Metal.  If I'd continued, probably would have dry brushed the hoses, applied a liberal wash to the globe, and then fussed a lot with the lenses, and been unhappy with the overall result.

First Step - Mixing some blue paint into some AP Blue Ink, I made the silver a lot less "disco-ball" and then used Liquitex Carbon Black to shade the underside of the globe.  This took me maybe 15 minutes and was really fun.

I hadn't given up on the silver, and re-airbrushed 2 shades of silver on the top to try to give a highlight.  But the result was still too damn silver and I recoated it in more blue ink/paint mix.

Finished product. I decided not to take the time to "gem" out all the lenses and simply painted them silver and then shaded the undersides with Liquitex Burnt Umber.  There are 18 lenses and 9 hex eyes, and I did all of them in about an hour.

I turned this project into an exercise shading and grime.  I hand-shaded all the arm joints (Reaper Black Wash with a little Adamantium Black for sparkle) and then touched them up with the airbrush (Liquitex Burnt Umber).  The hydraulic hoses were painted in Reaper Rusty Red and then given an AP Soft Tone ink to make them look rubbery.

I kept the hose 'legs' simple - gray shading with the airbrush and then a wash (Reaper Black Wash), followed by Liquitex Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna for some dirt.

Sure, I could have done more with the central globe - vent details, more battle damage, "gem" style lenses, and other general cleanup.  But I put the brushes down and moved on to the next!