Gatormen get some gator paintin'

First, the hat:

I know you've been waiting for it. Here's the first two coats of paint -- dark red (Citadel's "Scab Red," to be precise) and a second coat of white (again, Citadel's "Skull White" to be precise). The white and the portions where the red and white meet will get a very thin wash of black ink; then I'll go over them again, using "Skull White" on the fur and Citadel's "Blood Red" on the red portion. The antlers are still a work in progress; I suspect that figuring out how to use the jeweler's wire will take me a few tries.

And now the Gatormen:


They're turning out quite well, if I say so myself. Two of them, almost knocked out in a single evening -- now that's progress.


Here are the back scales. It's the most pathetically easy thing I've ever done -- an undercoat of white primer (P3 spray-on), a thin wash of Citadel's "Snot Green," then ComArt Coulours' "Transparent Forest Green" with just a touch of Citadel's "Chaos Black." The ComArt paint is intended for airbrushes; I have Anthony to thank for turning me on to the wonders that are airbrush paints. I keep looking at these scales, thinking that they were simply too easy, but I can't see what else I'd do to them.


Here's the second gatorman. As you can see, I haven't done any highlights yet, just washes and glazes; I still have to color in the ornaments, highlight all the reds and woods, then add the few metals that need to be added. Bronze, again; it's become the unifying metal for this group.


The blindingly white bases are actually based with sand. That'll get painted black then drybrushed up to brown and then off-white in some places; after sealant, I'll add the clear tacky glue to simulate water. It's worked well on the trogs so far.

Gatormen came in!

My Gatormen Posse(s) came in! I assembled them post-haste (perhaps a little to post-hasty, as you may see in the photos) and threw some ink on one to get an idea of how I was gonna paint them.

There you go. Note that his belly didn't get a lighter, creamier shade in this initial go; he will, though. I've got this great golden-yellow Vallejo paint I've been meaning to use for a while, and I think this is where it gets to shine.

There's not a lot of space for red on these guys. I'm going to have to shoehorn it in where I can -- the necklace, the poleaxe's bindings. The sides are going to be a brown-green; I'll be starting with the dark P3 brown with a drop of green and working up from there. The back plates will be greener. Apologies for not having paint names -- I'm writing on my lunch break at work and the paints are not immediately available. And I'm too lazy to look the names up online. And where they're mentioned elsewhere in the blog. Not much of an apology, but you're the one who pushed the issue. Happy now?

And there it is -- the glaring flaw. I distinctly remember filing away that ridge on this guy's face on at least four of the six models; either I didn't file so good or I slowly (and temporarily) lost the ability to see metal flash. That's gotta come off; I'm just glad I noticed it before I dashed real paint down on the guy. While I love these dudes, there's one thing I really hate about them -- filing away mold lines is a huge pain in the rear. The lines aren't so bad, especially for a limited-run metal piece, but their detail is so shallow that it goes away real quick. A few errant swipes with the file and suddenly your imposing Gatorman Posse is now a smooth-lizard jazz trio. Scales = manly, a known and scientific fact, but they're very easy to remove from these guys.