Friday, January 21, 2011

Foundry Silver Shields Test Figures

Tried a new (for me) technique on these Foundry Silver Shields. Hoping to save some time, I spray painted several figures with silver for a base coat. The idea is the shield, helmet and greaves are silver (or silvered), so these areas wouldn't need to be brush-painted. It seems to have worked out alright. Here's what the test figures look like. NOTE: I got the idea from James B's blog where he used the silver undercoat for some Romans - I'd forgotten where I'd seen it, but now realize it was on his blog.
Only four basic colors are used, aside from silver; red, blue, white and purple. I actually mixed the same blue and red with white for the purple. So, I guess you could say I only used three colors. The silvered areas were given a wash to bring out the details. I did have to go over some of the silver areas with a dry brush to lighten up some areas. Otherwise I think this method will work. I painted these three fairly quickly. The rest should go quicker now that I the steps down. This unit will have uniform armor; although their shields will have three slightly different designs. Maybe the order for shields went out to different armorers and they interpreted the design differently. I also have some Foundry Hypaspists - these will have their linothorax in different colors, but same shield design - the Alexander the Great head transfer from LBMS.

12 comments:

  1. I think it worked out nicely.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  2. Thanks. The Vallejo paints went on very easily over the silver. I thought it would be runny, being gloss, but it was fine. The silver is actually a good undercoat for the white linothorax and also the flesh. I did give the area with pteruges a wash of black to go into the recessed areas. Then I went over it with a dry-brush of white. Regards, Dean

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  3. Nice work on the shields and very good effect

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  4. glad to see you trying the silver undercoat, looks like you got a fantastic result

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  5. They look great. I'm impressed the silver spray worked well. I've used non-metalic colored sprays for a base coat, but have feared the idea of using silver. I may have to give it a try in the future (especially when I get back to late medievals) based on your results!

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  6. Thanks all.

    James:

    I couldn't recall where I saw the method done, and had looked at a lot of blogs trying to find it and give credit where credit is due. I now realize it was your post - I'm going to add a comment to this post about it.

    Warm Regards, Dean

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  7. Very nice indeed!

    Another approach might be to prime the minis white, and spray and paint the shields separately (brown on the back, silver on the front).

    I really love those Foundry minis. I see you've cut the original shields off, they do look good for that...

    Simon

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  8. The silver is perfect- clean and crisp!

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  9. supurb Dean,

    looking good!

    working on some successors myself at the moment!

    cheers
    matt

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  10. Thank you all for the great comments.

    Matt:

    Same here, a small unit of Foundry Hypaspists are next. Followed by some Cataphract cav & later a Scythed Chariot - not sure which maker yet, though.

    Regards, Dean

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