Welcome to my first painting submission to the Paint All The Mini’s website. What I will be covering today is how to paint a vehicle in a single session (under two hours) using cheap and super easy techniques that will guarantee you get your mini’s on the table in no time at all. For the vehicle I have chosen a plastic Taurox Prime from Games Workshops Warhammer 40k range. These are robust and well armed infantry assault vehicles used to carry around Militarum Tempestus, the elite fighting troops of the Astra Militarum.

I use the following items in this guide:

l Army Painter Primer spay cans (Black/White/Red)
l Blister pack foam
l Army Painter wash (Dark and Soft)
l Vallejo Game Colour Bright Bronze 72.057
l Vallejo Game Colour Polished Gold 72.055
l Vallejo Model Air Silver 71.063
l Vallejo Model Colour Orange Red 70.910
l Army Painter Gun Metal
l Army Painter Pure Red
l Secret Weapon Blue/Black wash
l Vallejo Air medium Grey 70.049

*Note - I use whatever paints I may have available to suite my needs, they are a somewhat eclectic mix and I have a philosophy of close enough is good enough!

Step 1 - Primer

I have used three spray can primers from the Army Painter range being black, white and red. I first sprayed the black underneath and around the bottom end closest to the ground and the white at the top. Over this I sprayed the red, what this does is it pre-shades the vehicle with light red at the top and dark red at the bottom. It is not necessary however and you can go straight to Red over plastic if you want to save time and money. Drying time is only a few minutes however depending on your weather conditions this may vary.

Step 2 - Wash

Using the Army painted Dark Tone wash I give the entire vehicle a coating. I am not subtle with this application and it is fine if some areas are thicker than others. The idea behind this is to start the colour variation and to give the recesses a nice dark feel. It may take about 20 minutes or so to dry depending on how thick you apply it, use this time to listen to a new PATM podcast and make comments on the PATM Facebook page.

Step 3 - First foam application

Taking some blister foam from a discarded miniature pack tear it in two, this will now be the super expensive paint application device. I started using this technique when I got tired of cleaning airbrushes (ok I was lazy) but still wanted variation on single colour schemes. There is no right or wrong way to do this, basically you take the part of the foam that has become uneven where you broke it and dip it into the paint, dab some off then apply it to the vehicle. It is that simple.

A few things to take note of though is that you do not want too much paint on, less is more when you start as the paint will soak into the foam and be released with the pressure of the dabbing. I use a bit of paper to test on until I am happy with it. You do not want to apply it like a brush with an even coating either, you really want some areas covered and others not, it should be mess as the variation is what will create interest and depth.

For the first layer I take the Army Painter Pure Red and apply it all over, naturally the high points and flat surfaces will be covered and the recesses will remain dark. You should start to see some nice variation even on this first layer.

Step 4 -Second foam application

For the second layer we are going to mix into the red an equal part of orange red then apply with slightly less coverage. Do it in such a way that you start to create a story with the paint, such as which way the sunlight may be coming from. It may be noticeable

Step 5 - Third foam application

This time just use the orange red and again apply with even less coverage and focusing on points of interest. What you will now notice is some really great variation in colour on your vehicle. I have only used three layers for this guide however I may use up to seven or eight depending on the colour and how smooth I want the transition. The amount is entirely up to you and it is really worth just playing around with the technique. Given most people just throw away blister foam it certainly wont cost you any money!

Step 6 - Metal and Gold

Now that the main colour is done we can fill in the extra detail. For the metal I use the Army Painter Gun Metal but any metal will do. For the gold trim I used a Bright Bronze as I ran out of a similar gold colour and cant be bothered buying a new one when this one is close enough. I then put a blue/black wash over the metal and a soft tone over the bronze.

Step 7 - Chipping

Lets get some more use out of that expensive blister foam by doing some chipping. Adding some chipping is a good way to show that the vehicle has seen some action and not just rolled off the production line. For this I use a medium Grey 70.049 as black tends to be a little too strong a colour. Dab that foam again and just go around randomly applying it, predominantly to areas that would be exposed to damage.

Step 8 - Highlights

To make the chips stand out more you can add small amounts of silver like the metal has been exposed. Be careful not to overdo the weathering as too much can make the vehicle look like it should be scrapped rather than just adding a subtle yet interesting effect. Use the silver to highlight the metal parts of the vehicle, such as the canons, and the gold to the areas where you applied the bronze.

Finished

So there you go, a perfectly functional paint job that was done in a single session of about an hour and a half and is ready to hit the table. You can really expand the use of blister foam to suit whatever you are painting, in fact I just finished some some Eldar and it works really well on their armoured suits. It is a great method for making flat areas interesting and recycles some of that blister foam that you had lying around. It really works great using light colours as well, check out the Predator I have done for my Space Marines Chapter using the same technique.

Give the technique crack and let us know how you go by posting pictures to the Paint All the Mini’s Facebook page.

Patch's Paint Tutorial - Taurox Prime