All posts filed under: Tutorials

How-To: Adding LEDs to 40k Tanks

Published by Andrew Dart

When I go into my local Games Workshop store, people can’t stop talking about my models. Why? It’s because they light up! And I want to show you how easy adding LEDs to your 40k tanks, vehicles, and terrain can be. Guest post from Andrew Dart, originally posted on his blog, which he is phasing out. Instead, find him on Instagram as @hobbyvices. This post is helpful for me because I’ve been trying to add LED lighting to my Knight Titan and Stompa as I build them. Shine on! My land raider was the first time I’ve ever used LED wiring components in my entire life, and it was ridiculously easy. Â Much easier than I anticipated. Â I’ve repeated the process on a Rhino transport for my Berserkers to do a step-by-step for anyone curious or scared at the idea of dealing with LEDs. Ordering the Supplies All materials for wiring and lighting came from Evans Design. Â I find them to be the best quality, and alarmingly straightforward – they come pre-wired! Make sure you match …

Painting guide for the Mi-Go from Mansions of Madness

Painting the Mi-gos from Mansions of Madness

Published by Joe B

Back to another monster from Mansions of Madness. This week I have the Mi-Go models – odd looking fly/bat/mosquito creatures that like to eat brains. I went for an other-worldly look with pink and purple skin and blue carapace, and of course, blood. I used two main techniques on the Mi-Go: drybrush and wash. This allowed them to be done relatively quickly while still pulling out the details. Step 1: Base Colors After a white primer, I painted all the base colors to get a sense of where each would go. This has been particularly hard for the Mi-GoÂ as they were going to be pinks and blues – which can get a bit garish if not balanced well. Step 2: Dry Brush Electric Blue The first layer was doing the carapace. I chose to do dry brush from this model for two reasons: it would be quick, and it has lots of textures that work well with dry brushing. So grabbing my small dry brush, I applied a layer of Electric Blue over all the …

Painting Tutorial for Mansions of Madness Cultists

Cultists – Painting Mansions of Madness

Published by Joe B

Ready for another Mansions of Madness painting tutorial? This week I have the Cultists adorned in their fancy robes. While these guys are nearly worthless by themselves in the game, they have a habit of sacrificing each other to turn into monsters – which is awesome! Painting the Cultists When I started painting the cultists, I decided to mix them up a bit. While this messes with the game’s concept of each character having slightly different abilities, it does make them more interesting to look at. So I split the six cultistsÂ models and painted half of the robes black with red trim and half red with black. They were then also divided into three different skin tones: light, ‘yellow’ and dark. I started with painting all the base colors to block in each area. You might notice I wasn’t too concerned about getting a perfect coverage on the robes as I will later add additional layers and washes. This is an excellent example of how to speed up some of your painting. Since I am …

Painting Dark Skin Tutorial

Published by Joe B

So as I’ve been painting the Mansions of Madness set lately, I’ve decided to add some diversity to the set. About a third of the humans were painted to look African American (the others were light skin and yellow-brown skin tones). In doing so, I decided to put together a painting dark skin tutorial. I also have a light skin version availible as well. When I started, I looked for some other tutorials and found an interesting one on the CoolMiniOrNot forums where Chrispy looked at different ethnic groups and created a color paletteÂ for each. The Thing to notice about the color pallet is there is noÂ black in the skin, and it even gets up to a relatively pale color for the highlights. Even the pallet for the dark skinned Africans in his example are at mostÂ Black Brown color and still highlight up to the same pink/brown color. Alternatively, I found an article on Perry Miniatures where he painted up aÂ Sudanese warrior. Instead of going the light brown routes, he highlighted with additionsÂ Fortress Grey until …

Painting Guide for the Witches from Mansions of Madness

Painting Witches – Mansions of Madness [May be NSFW]

Published by Joe B

Not all of the enemies in Mansions of Madness are monsters or direct combat combatants. The Witches are more of a horror causing distraction (as hinted at by their, um, clothing choices). I’ve put together a guide to painting witches. As these have lots of exposed flesh, I focussed on painting the flesh tones. One witch was painted in a dark brown skin and a second in a pale skin. To keep the rest simple, both were painted with the same color robe and hair. Step 1: Base Colors As with most of my painting, the first step was to base in all the major colors. I started with the skin tones as they are the ‘lowest’ sections of the model and take up most of the area. The dark skin was based with Mahogany and the light skin with Medium Fleshtone. The purple ‘clothes’ (as much as there is) were based on Royal Purple. And finally, the hair was based in Stonewall Gray to give them a bit of eeriness. Colors Dark Skin: Model …

Painting Kate Winthrop – Mansions of Madness Investigator

Published by Joe B

I’m back with another Mansions of Madness painting tutorial, this week with Kate Winthrop. Kate is a supporting investigator, the scientist who makes uncovering clues and solving puzzles much faster for the investigator team. As I’ve been exploring different skin tone options as well as wanting a diversified investigator team, I decided to paint Kate with a dark skin tone. I also explore some of the shaded basecoat techniqueÂ where you paint a few layers of highlights before washing it back down. Step 1 – Base Coats So the model was prepped by removing the grotesque number of mold lines and attempted to fill in a few seems. She was then primed with white primer spray and let dry. The main color sections were blocked out. This allows me to get a sense of how she will look in the end and rebalance colors if needed. The skin started with the dark Mahagony brown, the dress a nice deep purple, and of course the lab coat with an off-white base. Colors Skin: Model Color Mahagony Brown …

Painting the Maniacs from Mansions of Madness

Published by Joe B

Another painting tutorial for the Mansions of Madness game. This week I have the Maniacs, crazy ax welding office workers who want nothing better than cut you down a few pegs. Before we start, yes these are rough sculpts and I did miss a few mold lines. But, I hope that this painting guide will help with any of your projects. Each set of models I am trying out a few different techniques, both to push my own bounds but also to provide a variation in the painting guides. For the Maniacs, I wanted to see what could be the minimum I do and still have them look good enough for the game. With that said, the main paint is as simple as a solid base coat, dry brush each section and a full-body wash of dark brown. The rest of the model was covered in an obscene amount of blood spatter so it made up for any mistakes along the way as well. Maniacs Base Coat Both maniacs got a solid base coat over …

Painting Ashcan Pete – Tutorial and Painting Guide

Published by Joe B

A second investigator joins the team of painted models, this week with Ashcan Pete. As with the other models of the Mansions of Madness game that I am painting, I have put together a painting guide for him and his faithful dog. Preparation As Ashcan Pete is traveler and vagabond, I painted his clothes to look more worn and threadbare with dry brushingÂ gray over the base colors. It also seemed fitting to give him a rough beard. For prep, the mold lines were shaved down – well at least most of them. There are still a number of noticeableÂ ones on both Pete and his dog, but for a board game piece I was content with the ones I did manage to remove. A white spray primer was used to provide the base coat for all the paints. The primer allows the acrylic paints to adhere to something much better than on the initial plastic. I don’t use anything fancy, just white spray primer I pick up at Home Depot. Painting Order So I broke down …

Painting the Hounds of Tindalos

Published by Joe B

This week returns to one of the odder monsters in the Mansions of Madness: the Hounds of Tindalos. The hounds were added into the Cthulu mythos byÂ Frank Belknap LongÂ and have never had an ‘official’ description or look. The closest I could find was that they have blue ichor. Fantasy Flight Games (the maker of MoM) decided to go with a serpentine look and mishappen arms. No one has awarded them with the greatest sculpts, but I made the most of it and went with lava or inner fire for the bodies and almost neon blue for the mouth and eyes. Painting the Hounds of Tindalos A quick note: don’t have time to read this now or want to save it for later? I created a downloadable PDF that I can email you for later. Fill in the subscribe box at the bottom and give it a look. Why lava skin? Well, in short because I haven’t had a chance to do so to this point, and I thought the articulated plates would lend themselves well …

Jenny Barnes PDF Tutorial

Published by Joe B

Hey guys, in case you missed it earlier this week, I put together a downloadable painting guide for Jenny Barnes as a PDF. It provides the step-by-step tutorial on how I painted her but also adds the paint recipes used. Even if you don’t like the miniature itself, could you do me a favor and check out the downloadable tutorial? I am looking at making more of these for future tutorials and would love to get your feedback on style, size, and picture types. Why PDF Tutorials and not just blog posts? In part, it’s all Adam’s fault with his Golden D6 magazine. He was able to take one of my blog post tutorials and add even more to it by removing the limitations of the web page (or at least my abilities with web development). You can check out my review on issue three here This is all part of an experiment I’m running with Broken Paintbrush this year on providing more tutorials and other ways to help hobbyist improve their skills. If you …

Jenny Barnes – Painting Tutorial

Published by Joe B

Jenny Barnes is one of the heroineÂ investigators from Mansions of Madness board game. AÂ pistol-toting flapper that hunts cultists and zombies in high heels and a tight dress. Rather than have her run around as gray plastic, I painted Jenny in her iconic blue outfit and gave her a fairly pale skin. Below I put together a tutorial on how to paint her. Don’t have time to read it all or want a nice, printable version? I also put together a PDF version, just jump to the bottom and fill in your email. From Beginner to Happy, Painting Jenny Barnes Preparation The models from Fantasy Flight Games are in relatively good condition for painting except for some mold lines (see the brim of her hat below). I used a hobby knife to scrape most of the lines off but as you can see I missed a few. Step 1: Primer After priming with White Primer, she was ready to paint. The remaining mold lines (like her hat) were scrapped off as I painted and noticed them. …

Tutorial on how to paint zombies from Mansion of Madness

How to Paint Zombies Tutorial – Mansion of Madness

Published by Joe B

This how to paint zombies tutorial start with a Christmas visit where my brother-in-law brought over Mansions of Madness, a Cthulhu-based game from Fantasy Flight Games. I enjoyed the game so much I convinced my wife to get it for my birthday. This led me into deciding to paint the miniatures. As I do, I figured I would provide tutorials along the way, not just how to paint the MoM minis, but hopefully keep them broad enough for other ranges as well. I started off with the Zombies as I also received the VallejoÂ Skin Set and wanted to try them out. With that said, nearly every step uses paints from the set. If you want to save this tutorial for later reference, I created a downloadable PDF version that includesÂ a bit more information on the paints used. If you want to get the PDF, fill in the form at the bottom of the post and I’ll email you a link. How to Paint Zombies – Mansion of Madness Tutorial Step 0: Prime The first step …