Hobby Progress – Space Wolves How-To

Airbrush work complete, these Grey Hunters just

need a few brush strokes and they’re done!

Hello from Fenris! Today I decided to go back and give my Space Wolves some TLC, which they have definitely earned following a mutual beat-down with the Tau this past weekend. That battle report should be up tomorrow, so stay tuned!

I’m running a pair of five-man Grey Hunter teams in my army right now, using up-gunned Razorbacks to help them hold their own if they become isolated. Right now it is five men with a Plasma Gun, shipped on their way without further support. As it was getting late in the evening in my part of the world, I decided to go ahead and do the airbrush work on one of these five-man teams.

I started out with Space Wolves this year by trying a standard approach to their colors. As always, though, I wasn’t happy with the end result. This led me to try something else tonight, which I will break down step-by-step.

First, the models received a black undercoat using Army Painter’s flat black primer. This is my favorite product to use because it doesn’t leave a shiny coating afterward, which helps tremendously when looking for muted colors later on.

It’s also worth noting that I use Games Workshop colors through the airbrush, since they’re already cluttering up the house anyway. I use Vallejo airbrush thinner to get the paint down to the right consistency. You want something approaching the consistency of milk, so don’t skimp on the thinner. Add a little bit directly to the pot, shaking each time. Too little and the paint will not atomize leaving the airbrush, which will cause splotchy paint on the model. Too much and it will run everywhere, necessitating several coats. As long as your paint resembles milk in consistency, you should be good to go.

Khorne Red applied.

Highlight coat of Wazdakka Red added,

Next I sprayed the right shoulder pads with Khorne Red, and followed with a highlight of Wazdakka Red. I only applied Wazdakka to the areas that are pointed upward, to give a vague shadowing effect. The end result is subtle, but I think it suits well enough.

Here’s where we start cheating! I then applied a coat of Vallejo Masking Fluid to the red shoulder pad, covering only the areas that I wanted to remain red. This stuff is magic in a bottle if you want to get the most mileage from your airbrush. Give it about fifteen minutes to dry, and you can just spray over it. While the material goes on blue, most of it will dry clear. This is no cause to wonder if you got a good coat; so long as the area that you covered is shiny in appearance, you’re all set.Once the last of the airbrush work is done, you can go back and peel these layers off. More on this later.

Magic in a bottle…

            

This Masking Fluid is almost ready to take the next coat. Let the blue become just a tad more transparent.

Once the first application of Masking Fluid was dry, I went to the opposite shoulder. These Grey Hunters are from Ragnar Blackmane’s company, so I sprayed this shoulder with Averland Sunset. You can also do the highlights on this side, but I prefer to keep the yellow nice and muted. I may add a wash later in the process, just to pull it down further. Let this coat dry, and then repeat the Masking Fluid process over the yellow.

Averland Sunset applied.

Dawnstone coat drying.

Next I sprayed Dawnstone over the entire model, coating even the shoulder pads. I let this sit and dry, then I blasted Nuln Oil across the entire model. If you have never used an airbrush to shoot washes, I would advise using a practice model first. It can start to pool badly if you don’t have good brush control.

The Nuln Oil has been applied and is dry.

Once the wash dried, I went back with a toothpick and pried up the edges of the Masking Fluid. At this point you can simply pinch it between your fingers and rip it off, leaving you with a clean, hard edge to the shoulder pads. Just take care when prying up the edge, as even the blunt toothpick can mar the paint underneath if scraped hard enough.

This procedure can be done on other areas as well. I picked out a couple of knees with Ragnar’s company colors as well. The sky is the limit! With any luck I’ll have these men completed by next Monday, and then I can share the finished result.

Has anyone used Masking Fluid in the airbrush process? Leave a comment below if you have, and tell us about your successes/failures with the product.