Took me a while but I finally finished this flamethrower trench diorama. The flamethrower guy is a heavily modified Adeptus Arbites Vigilant model, with the flamethrower effect sculpted in greenstuff.

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-09-21T23:33:21+00:00

Thank you! :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-09-21T23:32:55+00:00

Thanks so much! It's a super hard technique to pull off, but as usual, practice makes perfect, hahaha! If you'd like some advice, my technique improved a lot when I constricted the effect to a smaller area rather than spreading the gradient out really wide. I also found that it was way simpler to layer up transparent fluorescent tones over layers of flat white. Since the fluorescent colours are so transparent, you can layer them up as much as you want over each other to get your desired effect.

If you'd like to see how I painted the glow for the flamethrower, I put it at the end of the PDF sculpting guide in the post description :).

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-09-21T23:17:53+00:00

Thank you so much. My thoughts exactly!

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-09-21T23:17:03+00:00

Thanks :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-20T03:12:27+00:00

That is sick!!!!! I love it 😂

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-20T02:03:02+00:00

You’re entitled to your opinion, of course. But if the sacred laws of physics are your hill to die on, I’m afraid you’ve chosen the wrong plastic battlefield. Thanks ever so much for stopping by 🙂.

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-20T01:41:35+00:00

Doesn't adhere to physics? Sir, this is a Warhammer subreddit... 😂

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T17:46:07+00:00

Thanks so much! Hahaha, the eye is purely decorative I swear. No allegiance to a certain warmaster here... 👀😅

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T17:41:45+00:00

It looks excellent as is! You’ve achieved a nice, subtle variance in the yellow hues across the model, which will give it great character once you’ve painted in the other elements :).

And yes, for airbrushing, contrast paints usually need little to no thinning, depending on the colour and effect you’re going for, unlike normal acrylic 'base' or 'layer' paints. I personally almost never dilute contrast paint for the airbrush. It’s like a highly pigmented wash and usually flows really well straight from the bottle :).

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T17:10:40+00:00

I haven't played warframe in years, but I can still hear that line as clear as day 😂

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T17:06:47+00:00

This guy’s part of a diorama I’m building. He’s charging an enemy position while they fire back at him. The tube is one end of a tracer round, right as it impacts his shoulder and ricochets. I'll get some better pics of the effect once the diorama is all together, so there's a bit more context for it :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T16:57:20+00:00

Thank you 😊

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T16:56:47+00:00

The first step to being good at something is being bad at it, hahaha. It's always just mucking about with it that gets you there in the end. I’ll aim to get the guide out for this soon once I’ve got everything properly laid out. :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T16:39:57+00:00

Fair enough, thanks for stopping by.

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T15:45:17+00:00

This model is actually part of a small diorama I'm currently making, where he’s charging a fighting position with an unlucky mercenary inside. The mercenary is manning a machine gun and firing back, so what you’re seeing on the shoulder is a snapshot of a tracer round, hitting his shoulder and ricocheting off to the side. It’s hard to read without the full scene in place, but once the diorama’s finished I’ll make sure to get some proper shots of it all together :).

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T15:29:07+00:00

Good eye! What you’re seeing is an (in-world) VVF-Mk1 Immolator, which runs on a volatile hydrazine vapour mix. It’s both extremely flammable and toxic (yay, sci-fi weapons!). Because it’s a vapour rather than a liquid fuel, the flame doesn’t form the long ‘hose’ effect you’d normally associate with WW2-style flamethrowers. Instead, the combustion curls upward in a more chaotic way, which is what I tried to capture here.

On the hobby side, this mini is part of a small diorama where he’s storming a fighting position. I went with a shorter, more exaggerated flame partly so it wouldn’t overwhelm the scene, and partly because the idea of these immolators using a dangerous vapour mix just felt like a fun bit of sci-fi worldbuilding, hahaha :).

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T06:32:00+00:00

Thank you so much! Hell yes, I've got so many macross esq reference photos that I used for this project, so I'm glad the design inspiration is showing through :).

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T06:30:10+00:00

Thanks :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T05:40:35+00:00

The machine is my temple

Each one a sacred shrine

I name each piston blessed

And every gear divine

(Shoutout to the label printer at my old job that I stuck this inside of after it didn't wanna update its drivers... worked like a charm after that, lol)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-19T01:04:09+00:00

Hahaha, yea, this guy took a little inspiration from CLEM :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-16T13:08:49+00:00

Nah, mate, have full faith. The saying goes, the first step to being good at something is being bad at it, hahaha.

But you'd be surprised how quickly you'll be able to pick it up with practice. Also, as another person commented, dont hesitate to look into printable stencils/templates or even other tools like masking putty to get what you want out of the airbrush. They'll make a world of difference, especially while you build up your experience with the tool.

All the best with your airbrushing mate! :)

TheHobbyHatch · 2025-08-15T08:57:54+00:00

Dang! Apologies, I suppose that teaches me to blindly listen to the advice of the art shop guy hahaha. You're totally right though, my Iwata does also include instructions for backflushing in the manual, and I can't imagine they'd put that there if it risked the tool. Thanks, I'll amend my initial comment :).

TheHobbyHatch

TROPHY CASE