August 4, 2011

The Avatar of Menoth

Okay its done... finally done! It might not be my best work ever but he is done. The Avatar has possibly been one of the reasons I have been so demotivated to paint recently. He has been sitting half started for a very very long time on my desk. This model sucks... well at least he sucks to put together. I also guess he will suck to keep together. So much of this model hangs precariously over the edge of the base I know the second I transport this model it will break in numerous places. I can see him sitting in my cabinet for a long long time.

Most of the problems I have with this model I have to admit are due to my own failings when attempting to assemble him. The rest of the problems came from my over zealous use of an airbrush. As you can see in the links below I had a really tough time getting this guy to go together. I really still didn't manage it very well as the head of the model is looking downwards, so I glued the body at the wrong angle. I think a lot of the problems came from the fact that I treated him as I would a more standard Warjack. These are relatively simple to put together. The Avatar isn't. He comes in a lot of pieces that don't easily hold to one another meaning you need to balance a lot of pieces at once hoping that they form a decent bond. Those legs and tabard nearly had me throwing the model in the bin.

Another problem I had as shown in the selective stripping article below is that I really swamped this model in white paint. Having put some brown undercoat and hairspray on didn't help much either. The problem started with the hairspray that can be difficult to control. It tends to clump and doesn't flow very well. It can really easily swamp detail and as it is totally clear that can be hard to notice before the next coat of paint goes on. When I can to putting the white on my airbush (or rather the propellant I use) was not behaving well and I had a very variable rate of coverage. Combined with the hairspray some areas were completely obscured. I stripped as many as I noticed back to the metal and repainted them. There are still a few areas on the model that would have benefitted from that. At least I know to be more careful when it comes to the next few character jacks and eventually the Battle Engine.

So I would like to add some more battle damage to this model but finding a nice flat area that will take it is hard. I don't want to have to work to close to the intricate details and this then just leaves the same few large white areas. Anyway for now he is done and can reside with the rest of the collection!

The Saga of the Avatar:
Why the Avatar sucks!
Selective Stripping
Preview
Shield complete

2 comments:

  1. You should be able to tone down that white with some washes.

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  2. My camera and lights combine to bleach out any shading (though I don't have that much to start with!) that is on the model. For instance their is a nicely shaded interior to the three recesses on the top of the carapace but here it doesn't show at all!

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