Ashton's Skaven - Before & Progress

Hey guys,

So I'm finally getting around to posting pics of my Skaven warband... and you'll see why I hesitated... i don't think there's anything good about them, but I figure it can't hurt.

I'm going to start re-painting them soon... or I might just make new ones.

Enjoy,
-Ashton





Here's the Rat Oger, which was painted by the friend who got me into Mordheim. I actually think it's pretty bad-ass. Please give me your C&C on him.


Thanks guys,

You painted as good as me (it's not a compliment ), the blood on the blade isn't realistic, no shades, ...

But I like the global atmosphere, dirty and dusty as skavens should be !!!

Dirty and dusty indeed.

But a new aproach to them would not hurt.

Here and there it looks like alot of paint on them, sp you might want to strip them before adding the next coat.

Lanyssa Ryssyll wrote:

You painted as good as me (it's not a compliment )

LOL!

lord siwoc wrote:

you might want to strip them before adding the next coat.

Absolutely.

It's really funny: on this pic it's hard to believe the buildings and the minis are from the same painter. The shading on the buildings is perfect and neat, but the skaven are somewhat the opposite How come?

When you repaint the skaven, think about maybe keeping your blue/white colour scheme. It might be worth a try. I think it's refreshingly different from standard "black" skaven, really!

Admin Tom wrote:

lord siwoc wrote:

you might want to strip them before adding the next coat.

Absolutely.

Yea, definitely. (I'll probably make a bunch more new models... as these are pretty boring, but for the ones I'm repainting: ) I saw your (Tom's) blog post on brake fluid as a paint remover, which in the end you didn't recommend... but do you guys have any other great ideas to save me 10 hours of paint removal?

Admin Tom wrote:

It's really funny: on this pic it's hard to believe the buildings and the minis are from the same painter. The shading on the buildings is perfect and neat, but the skaven are somewhat the opposite How come?

To explain fully: I was 14 when I painted these models, and I really did not care I wanted to play, not paint.

But now, I'm "older" and I don't have any one to play with... so no rush

Admin Tom wrote:

When you repaint the skaven, think about maybe keeping your blue/white colour scheme. It might be worth a try. I think it's refreshingly different from standard "black" skaven, really!

I haven't seen many other Skaven warbands, so I don't know the "norm", but I am planning on keeping the navy blue color. I don't like having black on my models any more... it's just too boring. If anyone has any pics of skaven warbands, I'd love to get some ideas.

(Tom I've already decided to pinch a couple ideas from your Skaven and Ocr Warband )

What do you think about the rat Ogre?

Brake fluid is great! I DO recommend it. It's slow at cleaning the minis and toxic, but it works.

Just don't flush it down the toilet please!!!

Sweet. Good to know. It's on my "grocery list" muhahaha.

A nice easy paint remover for water based paints is window cleaner [like Parsom's or Windex] the higher the ammonia content the better. Soak & then do a little scrub with a bristle brush [a stiff toothbrush would do in a pinch or for a large piece]. The window cleaner softens crazy glue, which may or not be a plus..

DeafNala wrote:

A nice easy paint remover for water based paints is window cleaner [like Parsom's or Windex].

Wow, that would be perfect... I was just cleaning some windows lol.

has anyone else had any luck/knowledge with this?

My advice: paint the assasin's robes with Purple and his fur brown - turn him into the great Master Splinter!

Hahaha.

Yea...

So I went ahead and started my Windex Test. I have two window cleaners I'm using... so far (1.5 hours) really nothing has happened...

From what I have heared, Simple Green is the way to go!
It's pretty cheap, and works like a charm. On both Metal, Plastic and Resin!

If the window cleaner doesn't work, try this!


Hope this helps.

Thanks Pfreck. I'll add that to my grocery list too.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Rumor has it that acetone also works. I don't know for sure but I guess there is acetone in window cleaners and this is the reactive component (they smell a little acetone-ish).

Simple test for that: try it with fingernail-varnish remover (women use it). That stuff contains acetone. If my hypothesis is right, it should work too.

Admin Tom wrote:

Rumor has it that acetone also works. I don't know for sure but I guess there is acetone in window cleaners and this is the reactive component (they smell a little acetone-ish).

Simple test for that: try it with fingernail-varnish remover (women use it). That stuff contains acetone. If my hypothesis is right, it should work too.

It does works for Metal miniatures. I always use it to strip my Metal models, it's very easy and doesn't take (that) long to do. I usually soak the model in the Acetone/Nair Polish Remover for about 30 minutes (or less!), after than scrub the miniature several times with an old toothbrush.

However, if you do this with plastic miniatures, they'll melt.

Pfreck wrote:

if you do this with plastic miniatures, they'll melt.

Gotcha.

i have used finger polish remover on metal models and it works pretty good, but even after 24 hours of soaking i still had to scrub with a toothbrush and there were deep cracks in the model where paint would not come out.

Never tried amy of these other methods

Ashton wrote:

Hahaha.

Yea...

So I went ahead and started my Windex Test. I have two window cleaners I'm using... so far (1.5 hours) really nothing has happened...

You have to give them a bit of a scrub, old buddy.BTW the ammonia tends to soften crazy glue, so you might find them coming apart.

DeafNala wrote:

You have to give them a bit of a scrub, old buddy...

Yea.... I wish you had said that 7 days ago My test isn't really valid cause I didn't scrub them... I ended up using brake fluid... and it worked (hopefully not as well as the windows cleaner did)

I'll update with some pics later.

Edit: Clarify

OOPS! I sent what should have been a post as a P.M.: God, I'm a jerk.

Anyway to make my apology public: Sorry about that. Having the awful minis I'm called upon to repaint come apart is a plus. It didn't occur to me you might want them intact until too late. I hope this didn't screw things up too much for you.

Here's a quick update. First Skaven I've painted in 8 years:






C&C pls,

Looks quite good!

But, if I may say so, I think the tail would look better if it weren't so white. More of a human skin colour would fit better IMO. And the spear's blade (or whatever he's wielding) would benefit from a little dry brushed chainmail... or is it supposed to be a muddy blade?

So with your new orcs and this skaven I wonder what you are going with next. How about painting a full warband?

cianty wrote:

I think the tail would look better if it weren't so white. More of a human skin colour would fit better IMO.

Good idea.

cianty wrote:

And the spear's blade (or whatever he's wielding) would benefit from a little dry brushed chainmail... or is it supposed to be a muddy blade?

Yea... I was trying to make it look not so shiny...(like the orcs) I'll keep working on it

cianty wrote:

So with your new orcs and this skaven I wonder what you are going with next. How about painting a full warband?

Hahaha, yea. I've got two warbands to make, Orcs and Skaven, and I want to make sure I got all my painting "tactics" down before I make a warband that sux... I try to be a perfectionist when I can.... It took me like 2 hours to paint this little rat... so hopefully I'll get faster and more confident (and better). I think I'll do a goblin next.

I plan to have two beautiful warbands (and a board of nice terrain) in 2-39 months

Ah, sooo many projects. I'll keep busy, and by the time I have someone to play with, I'll have enough for everyone =]

Sounds like a great plan!

39 months is pretty crazy though!

Hahah, yea. I'm hoping for two months, but I could definitely see me working on this forever since it took me four months to make two buildings, and another 2 months for 3 models... lol.