Firestorm Armada: Tarakian flotilla WIP2

These are taking longer than I expected, but I’m quite pleased at how they’re coming along.

I’m now using fluorescent orange to really brighten some of the detail.

The most important thing that you need to do when working with fluorescent paints is to undercoat the areas that they will be used on with white. Many of them are semi translucent (more on that later) and will just appear murky if painted on anything else.

I’ve also added more interference orange, as the effect of that had faded somewhat with the ink washes that I’d been using.

The fluorescent paints I’ve used on these models are Chromacryl - £2.40 per tube (75ml) from Lawrence’s, my local art shop.

The interference paints are by Liquitex.

POSCA markers in Orange, Metallic Orange, Black and White, and a Montana Brown (POSCA’s browns are feeble, at best) were used to make many of the straight lines you see.

I use Staedtler pigment black liners in 0.05mm size for much of the detailing

After fluo orange

Before fluo orange

A similar effect on a cruiser

To create the two-tone fluorescent effects on the forward fins, I used a white marker to draw lines on the brown base. Then, after the white was dry, I painted over the whole fin with fluorescent orange – the translucent colour allowed the design to show through.

I’m heading for the final furlong with these miniatures now, and I’m hoping to complete them (maybe only the battleship and two cruisers) to enter into the painting competition at Salute 2012, this coming weekend.

The 'Should Know Better'

The 'Bog Standard'

The 'Tramp Steamer'

The 'Impetuous Pig'

The fronts

Here the spars on the underside and
 the front corner are painted white
to prepare for fluorescent orange

The whole flotilla at present

The fluorescent spars and front completed