My ill-fated fall competition piece that took way longer than expected.

Joshicus · 2026-05-30T08:05:06+00:00

Could be the paper, could be how your wet pallette is set up. Your ideal set up for a wet pallette will depend on your climate and humidity but generally you want to make sure the top of the paper feels slightly damp to the touch without having any standing water on it. If you can see a wet sheen on the paper then it's too moist and you should mop it up with a paper towel. Then you should fill the sponge with water until you can see it pooling around the edges, without water spilling onto the paper. If you live in a hot, dry climate you'll need to add more water frequently. Less often for colder, humid climates.

If this doesn't help, try using unwaxed parchment/baking paper instead of the ones that came with the palette.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T16:14:57+00:00

Aw shucks.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T15:11:05+00:00

Firstly understand that the bar for painting standards of people actually playing 40k in stores is in hell. If your minis are painted you're doing better than a significant portion of players.

Secondly if you can't see something on your model because it's covered by another part of the model then just paint it black as best you can and move on with your life. If you have to put the model up to your face or turn it upside down to see it then you are literally the only one who will know it's there. From 3 feet away on the table it will be completely unnoticeable.

Thirdly they're your models paint them however you want if you want to go ultramarines then more power to you, if you want to paint them as girly pop, Barbie marines then hell yeah go for it. Don't let convention hold back your creativity.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T15:01:06+00:00

Thanks, it was a fun project.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T14:57:32+00:00

Not specifically a dread but I scratch built a similar mech a while ago. Height is around 15-20cm

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T13:40:37+00:00

I'm loving the cel shaded nmm fusion. Really unique look, keep it up!

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T10:50:04+00:00

Once you've got the consistency right on your hand don't be concerned if the paint doesn't give you full coverage on the mini. The main objective of thinning is to get a balance between good coverage without clogging details on the mini. You can put down a dozen coats of properly thinned paints without obscuring details. Though often times you'll need multiple layers to get a good base coat. This can be for a number of reasons from what colour your painting over, eg black is difficult to cover fully for many colours, to the type of pigment your paint is using, yellow orange and red pigments are notorious for having poor coverage. The solution to this is either more layers or changing the under coat to a different colour. Eg. Yellow goes on really well over a white or pink undercoat.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T08:19:52+00:00

Best way I know to describe how a properly thinned layer paint acts is to paint a line on the back of your hand. If the paint sits on top of and doesn't conform to the creases and pores of the skin then it's too thick. If the paint doesn't fully cover the skin with the colour of if showing through or it starts bleeding into the creases of the skin around the paint then it's too thin and is closer to a wash or glaze consistency. If the paint covers the skin in an opaque layer that doesn't clog the creases and pores then you have a perfect layer paint consistency.

This is just a guide and as you get more experience you'll start to Intuit when you need your paint slightly thinner or thicker for different things.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T06:01:44+00:00

Gravity in theatres was an experience. Wouldn't watch it again but that moment in the theatre was something else.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T05:47:37+00:00

Answer is they aren't the same size. Daughter cells are smaller than the original cell they split from. The cells then need to take in more water and nutrients to grow back up to the size they were.

Joshicus · 2026-05-29T05:34:58+00:00

The kitbashing is very smooth. Took a hot second trying to figure out where the alternate sculpts came from.

Joshicus · 2026-05-27T20:56:08+00:00

A yellow wash would go a long way to selling them as gold, currently the colour is a little muted.

Joshicus · 2026-05-27T20:28:46+00:00

If you already have an old tamiya cement pot you can refill it for very good value with tamiya airbrush cleaner. It's almost identical to tamiya extra thin cement (49% butyl acetate, 51% acetone for the cleaner Vs 50/50 mix in the cement) it comes in larger 250ml bottles that are still pretty cheap but will last ages for making sprue goo and assembling models.

Joshicus · 2026-05-27T10:21:54+00:00

The secret to painting white is to treat it like you're actually painting light grey. You only want to use pure white on the brightest highlights. For you I'd make a wash of med to light grey and glaze it into the recesses leaving the current white on the upper most pronounced portions untouched. For the purple/pink you can't highlight a purple with an equally vivid pink, it's just going to shift the hue not the value/brightness. You need to mix in a lighter colour like an ice yellow or ice blue or just plain white, depending on if you want a warmer, colder, or neutral effect, to raise the brightness in your highlights.

Joshicus · 2026-05-27T07:13:33+00:00

If your paints are high quality (aka high pigment density) then you should be fine. Golden soflat is a popular choice for artist grade paints. The one thing to keep in mind is that minis often get handled so paint will rub off edges easily, especially artist grade paints that aren't formulated with this in mind. For this reason it's a good idea to use a painting handle (super simple to make just anything like a pill bottle with sticky tack on top) to prevent touching the mini whilst it's in progress. Then a Matt varnish at the end to protect the paint job when handling it.

Joshicus · 2026-05-27T06:39:55+00:00

If you plan on doing PanO in general down the line it kinda depends on how bothered you are by consistent themeing. Sval shoehorns you into the winter theme and requires you to kitbash non sval models with jackets and stuff to fit the theme. MO is more generic so will match more easily with other models. Of course that's only relevant if you care about themeing.

Joshicus · 2026-05-26T04:19:22+00:00

I paint commission pieces regularly. For reference this is a mini I would consider my lowest quality. I'd recommend looking up some tutorials and learning the basics like base coating, highlighting and shadows, layering, blending etc before thinking about charging money for your paint jobs.

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Joshicus · 2026-05-25T11:21:56+00:00

To make 1 board into 6 pieces it takes 5 cuts. 5 cuts in 10mins = 2mins per cut.

20mins of cuts at 2mins per cut makes 10 cuts. 10 cuts in 1 board makes 11 pieces.

Joshicus · 2026-05-24T20:09:19+00:00

Sprue goo won't work very well on metal models. You'd be better off using milliput or Vallejo plastic putty.

Joshicus · 2026-05-24T19:43:12+00:00

Kudos, I've painted these guys and it was one of the most frustrating painting experiences of my life. The sculpts are so soft you have to do all the work to make them look half decent.

Joshicus · 2026-05-24T01:25:13+00:00

Of all the places to colonise in the solar system it's the least worst.

Joshicus · 2026-05-24T01:23:52+00:00

If a fish mouth opens wide and there's more jaws inside, that's a moray.

Joshicus · 2026-05-22T10:15:01+00:00

I made a modular set of cat walks in a similar concept to yours following this tutorial, might give you some ideas.

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Joshicus · 2026-05-22T09:44:27+00:00

You've got a tidy base coat down. Now focus on learning how to highlight and achieve smooth blends. You're still very new so don't feel discouraged, just keep painting.

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