It's not perfect and that's just fine.

I've been getting into Malifaux stuff recently. Grabbed some Bayou after falling in love with the models. Their goofiness has been a great outlet to just have fun and try out new things. I actually cut and sanded the bottom of this model off to make the pose more fun. Normally, the guy on the bottom is standing in the ground with regular legs and all. Seeing his overalls, I thought it would be easy more comedic to have him carrying his brother through the water.

(dime for scale)

Finally finished up the second half of my two player 5k point set. Individual pics are down below as always.

Hey everybody! I had another opportunity to ask myself why I do things the way I do them. This is going to be more about establishing the why's of metallic paints than the how. Everybody has their own paint styles so I figure it's more productive to have the bare basics established.

Priming

Choosing your primer color is already an important step. In the case of metallic paints, you can use your underlying coat can change your final product in subtle ways. In our examples below you'll see that I went with a black primer to darken the base color I used which provided more overall contrast on the model. However, I went with a warmer tan color to help contrast the gold against the dominant silver.

First Coat

One common issue people have (myself included) is fighting with the metallic paint's coverage. Resist the urge to layer on too much paint at once. You'll want your primer to come through here. We don't want a full on opaque metal coat. Having some of your primer come through will let the pigment as well as the metal flakes do their thing. In addition, metallic paints have a nasty tendency to clump harder than basic pigments because of the extra material suspended in the medium. Don't worry, our next steps will bring the color up!

Wash

There are plenty of ways to get depth with metallics besides washes, but for today it'll be part of our process. Washes will help us get some definition by darkening our low points which will help us elevate the high points more than just a brighter coat normally would. Be sure to give everything time to dry before and after the wash. Any wet paints will flow all over the place and cause some issues with wet washes. You can use a hair dryer on low heat to speed up your washes, but be very careful not to heat one section for too long and do your best to avoid drying big pools down quickly as they'll leave very obvious pool marks. This part of the process will dull your shine, but that's okay at this stage. In our example pictures, you'll see that I used a black wash to really deepen the recesses of the silver and a red wash for the golds to warm the area and provide overall contrast from the model.

Second Coat

This can be either a layer of dry brushing or standard painting with a brighter shade. My progression was from a gunmetal silver to plain silver and brass to a light gold. For the silver in the example pictures I used a dry brush. For the gold, I used the aforementioned thinner coat of paint instead. For the silver, the dry brushing let the model keep the depth the washes provided. Be sure your brush has very little paint and build up patiently to avoid drowning out your lows. The gold was painted on in a thin and careful coat. The edges were easy enough to avoid and I didn't want to risk getting gold on that fresh silver coat.

Golds

These are the gold steps separated out from the silver steps just to make this easier to follow. These are the exact same steps with the small detail that instead of a prime coat I used that tan base coat to help the gold show up better instead of trying to fight the silver.

At the end of the day, easy metals boil down to just a few basic steps.

Choose your base color. Either use a color to help your metallic paint show up better or a color that will add depth by showing through the metal.

Don't fight your paint. You don't want perfect coverage on your first layer. Let your previous layer do the heavy lifting for you.

Wash your first coat, but expect it to dull. Just your primer or base layer, pick a color with purpose. Washes don't just darken your low points. You can use them to help separate the area from the rest of the model to provide a bit more pop.

Use a lighter color for your second layer of metallic paint and make the layer under it do the heavy lifting. This layer is there to help bring your color back up and restore it's shine. If it isn't glossy enough, but it's the right color you can just paint on a thing coat of gloss when you're done and finish sealing your model.

As always, more pics below the wall of text! Quick little side note, these are the guys I used for writing my coffee basing tutorial. :3

Since we're most likely getting Battletech: Mercenaries shipped this year I decided to get a jump on my main faction. One thing to note is that I'm one SRM carrier short, but I decided to just wait for the Force Pack instead of printing one. I'll proxy until then. My colors for these guys started as a need to figure out how mercs with a cause would paint their hardware. I think they would go with heavily utilitarian colors that can be quickly painted so more time can be dedicated to meaningful hardware upkeep. Maybe a few mismatched panels because it's what they had on hand and paint won't help the armor deflect incoming fire.

I love the 3rd Canopian Fusiliers and wanted to create some sort of company comprised of individuals who still believed in he Magistracy. Originally, its members were from the 3rd who were committed to keeping their group together even though it was forced to disband in 2588. I present the Cackling Harriers. I haven't settled on an emblem yet, but I know it'll have a hyena at the very least.

I still need to sit down and really flesh things out. At the very core of the merc company will be a tight social structure that reflects their tactical heritage putting communications and wit above brute force and material superiority. The Cackling Harriers will also never take a job that would directly or intentionally harm non-combatants. I'm toying with them having agents keeping an ear open for the Magestrix or other officials speaking openly of problematic incursions or enemy build-up outside their territory. I'm still conflicted if the Magistracy of Canopus would just happen to leave unguarded hardware and supplies lying around on a minimally inhabited planet after said issue was resolved. Long story short, I'm working on it.

Bonus Round! Here's a few details I'm super happy with. It's just some triangle and hazard stripes, but it was my first time every doing freehand this tiny. Some of you may recognize the red triangle inspiration right out of the gate. If you do, you're a nerd. I mean, I am too, but so are you.

Singles are below the wall of text

Finally, after lots of relearning and waiting on international shipments, they're done! Got the whole lance ready for the table. I'm not too big on the Free World Alliance, but this paint scheme slaps. I started with drybrush and speed paints to let me focus on the stripes and details. I'm not super happy about that choice, but it still more or less worked out. These guys pushed me pretty hard away from speed paints or even washes. I think I'm going to start glazing and manually edge highlighting from here on out. All that said, I'm still fairly happy. This lance most definitely passes the "from here" test and is completely servicable for a small loaner lance for 5KBV games.

My biggest lessons from this go around were:

If you use speed paints and need to fix something in your base layer it's going to be rough to try and land a 100% match to the surrounding area. Speed paints are faster, but require a different skill set to do well.

Don't thin your paints to much for edge highlighting. They will constantly get ahead of you.

Sometimes telling yourself you won't go back to fix something can help slow you down. I found it helped me decide to chill out and take it easy after the first few mistakes I refused to go back to.

I need to get A LOT better at taking pictures :/

Getting my first battlemech up while I poorly clean up the rest of the photos. It's obvious to most, but the line work isn't the greatest on this guy. That said, I can confidently say that going hard on edge highlighting on the models after this one helped massively with shaking the rust off. Looking forward to posting the rest over the next couple of days!

Paying for hobby sand can feel kinda silly, but sometimes that super fine gravel can look a bit off. This is extra true if you're working with smaller scale minis like Battletech. One common solution is used coffee grounds. Right of the gate, how coarse or fine the grind is will change the look. Fine grinds will look more like sand or dirt while coarse grinds will look rockier. I'm particular to a fine grind for most applications and I'd suggest it as a good starting point to work from.

Preparing the ground(s):

Prepare and pour your coffee as normal. Once you're done simply dump your coffee grounds into a hard container or surface in as thin of a layer as possible. Usually large food containers or a baking sheet will do. Let it dry for a day or two before putting it in a container for storage or application. I'm partial to empty spice shakers for most fine basing/flocking materials. You can put the coffee grounds away once they're dried without extra treatment. The process of making coffee will pull most of the oils out and the hot water will clean it up for you.

Preparing your adhesive:

Gluing the ground down is super easy. Grab an old brush that's flat and appropriately scaled to your intended model and base. The glue itself is just a watered down PVA. PVA is just your generic craft glue. You've most likely used it as a kid during whatever arts and crafts you've done. You'll want to add a drop or two of water at a time and mix thoroughly until it's a bit thinner than most minis paints out of the bottle.

Applying your adhesive:

Simply take your brush, scoop on some of the thinned glue, and apply it to the base. One thing to note is that glue isn't paint. For our purposes, you'll want a healthy layer. Don't worry, after a day it will dry solid. You don't need to apply perfectly either. The glue will take some time to dry and can be wiped off easily to clean up the edges of the base and model. Be sure to immediately rinse your brush thoroughly in water unless you want one giant bristle.

Applying the coffee/basing:

This is the satisfying part. Grab your shaker, handful of coffee, or application method of choice and give the base a nice healthy layer. Once you can't see the glue, tap off the excess and set it aside to reclaim or put it back in your applicator for use. Don't wipe off the excess just yet. Make sure the model is over a different surface and wipe the excess glue/coffee and wipe your cleaning tool (probably your finger) on a paper towel. This is important to avoid getting glue in your supply of basing material.

Letting the glue dry:

No, really. Let it REALLY dry. It's tempting to want to start putting paint to model, but the glue needs to be completely dry. You don't want to risk both brushing your fresh basing off the model and getting coffee lodged in your bristles.

Enjoy!

You're done with basing for now! Remember to blow off the excess coffee dust. You can add extra detail with rocks and bits, prime, whatever you want at this point. Even with just a quick prime, single base color, and a quick dry brush you'll get great results. Congratulations on your new awesome looking base, saved money, and even a teeny tiny effort of reclaiming waste! It's surprisingly durable as well due to the glue hardening.