New update - really needed

Hi there,

I haven't posted anything in the last weeks, as usual. But that's just been because either I've been busy doing stuff, or I've just felt too lazy to type in my laptop. Now I can't delay this anymore, so there go my news.

First, I've lost my job. That means a big reduction in my monthly income, but on the other hand a great increase in my free time (who says I don't think always positive?). I've taken advantage of this fact for painting a couple of things I entered in a local GW painting contest, winning best entry in WH40K single and placing second overall. a pity I didn't place first and won the trophy, but hey, the winner entered an old school giant that was really gorgeous. But next year I'm commited to win, be sure of that! (evil laugh on the backstage). I'll post some pics of my entries as soon as I recover them from the store, where they're currently on display.

Later, I decided that if I put together less monthly income and increase in free time I should get something like get yourself some kind of job!. Therefore, I asked at the store if there was anybody interested in my painting abilities for commisions. It turned out that one of the staffs knew a guy who wanted to get some IG tanks painted, so we talked a bit and reached an agreement. He asked me for a top-quality painted Leman Russ in urban camouflage, and the rest was up to me.

Reaching this point, I must admit two things: first, this was the first time I painted any GW vehicle, and second, for the last months I've been really interested on learning how to paint armor in historical style. In February I bought some books, DVDs, painting material new to me (such as oils) and eventually an airbrush. But I was a bit afraid to put all this knowledge in a real model, just because I wasn't feeling too confident with all this new stuff. But now I had the opportunity of trying it and get paid, so I dusted my equipment box and got my hands on it.

First thing I did was assembling the model. Man, that took me over two hours, how can there be son many pieces in a simple Leman Russ? It's much easier with my bugs - body, legs, arms, head, symbiont stuff. In the end I decided to add some extras to the model, such as extra supplies, canvas and so on, because I wanted to get a hardened veteran of several campaigns assigned to a regiment who has been through months of war, and thus damaged by the elements and carrying supplies for its crew. I tried some of those extras and placed them in the model with blu-tack to make myself and idea of the final result until I was happy with the result.



Then, the paintjob started. I used the airbrush for the first stages and for adding dust in the lower parts of the tank, and oils for outlining the armor plates and adding dirtyness. A light drybrush was also needed for adding subtle highlights, and then I used the sponge method for the chipping. And I was happy with the result!


The last part of the paintjob were mostly details: the caterpillar tracks, the already mentioned supplies, the heavy weapon sponsons and also the heavy stubber gunner. I limited the colour palette in all the model to greys for the main colours, browns for dirt and leather (straps, bags and the like), silver for the bare metal and red for contrast. In the end, it turned out to be a solid scheme with which I'm very fond of. I've taken some pics of the finished model, there they go.







The customer was very happy with the job, and he's ordered me another Leman Russ and a Chimera in the same scheme of colour. Well, it seems that at least I'm gonna have enough cash to pay my beers for the next weeks...