Saturday, August 15, 2015

Vroom! Vroom! - Painting the Nux car (mini-tutorial)



This week, as well as finishing off four other cars, I also painted up the Nux car. I was pretty excited to paint it, and was quite surprised how little time it took, even stopping between layers to take the photos.

A few people have asked how I've been painting the "shiny and chrome" cars, so here's a quick look.

VMC = Vallejo Model Color
VGC = Vallejo Game Color
VMA = Vallejo Model Air
AP = Army Painter


Step One: Heavy drybrush of VGC Tinny Tin.


Step Two: An overbrush of AP Gun Metal


Step Three: A thin wash of AP Strong Tone over the whole model. Another wash of AP Strong Tone on the areas that will not be shiny. Some specific shading on the flat panels with thinned VGC Charred Brown.


Step Four: Highlight the shiny areas with a thin layer of VMA Aluminum, and then highlight again with VMA Aluminum.


Step Five: Paint everything that won't be metal with black and then paint/highlight each individual area.


Step Six: Glue on your pre-painted thundersticks.

I hope that helps with painting your very shiny cars (or whatever).

Cheers
Dave

18 comments:

  1. Splendid work Dave - witnessed!

    Just wondering if you'd considered using VMA 71.604 Chrome (eternal, shiny and...) in place of the Aluminium for the final highlight?

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    1. Wait, what? They make an even brighter silver? Chrome, you say? I must track this down. Thanks for the tip : )

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    2. The VMA Chrome works very nicely. I used it a lot on the two pink vehicles I've done for CW, and for wing mirrors on others.

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  2. Absolutely superb! You make it look it easy!

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    1. Thanks, Gordon. Thankfully it's not too tough, really.

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  3. Great stuff. Might have to search out some of that aluminium paint, creates a really nice end result.

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    1. Well worth it, Phil, although if they also make a brighter Chrome, you might want to check that out too.

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  4. Looks great. Needs pigments now...
    :)

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    1. Thanks, Tim. With twelve cars now complete, I think it might be time for a dusting with something sandy.

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  5. Superb! I was just thinking that I have all those colours, just need to use them in the right order now! ;)

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    1. It should be pretty simple if you have all the parts ; )

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  6. Beautiful metallics, man - always love the tone and depth those extra steps provide. So are you brushing on the VMA paints or is that step being done with an airbrush? Never tried the model air line and am unclear on what their consistency is like. With as gorgeous an effect as you've shown, I definitely need to give 'em a try!

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    1. Thanks, mate. The VMA metallics are quite thin, but have a great consistency for brushing on (which I'm doing here). Aluminum has taken the place of any other shiny silver I might have used previously, but it's just more shiny : )

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  7. I'm LOVING the little cars. Such a unique project, really brings me back to the '80s :-)

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  8. Awesome Dave! It's nice to see more examples of your technique! Step by steps are always super useful!

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