Cap and Black Widow were slightly different to the other models I’ve painted, as due to the colours I was using (especially white and black), I needed to do the build-up I normally would, rather than getting a quick tabletop paint job down which I could fix later. That being said, this shouldn’t be too complex and an intermediate painter should tackle this with ease.
Equipment
A quick word on what I use at the paint table, noting I consider myself a good painter, not a great painter. I have three main brushes I alternate between, Windsor and Newton series 7 size one and double zero (which need a clean, incidentally), and a no brand sable brush in size zero.
For my paint during painting, I use a wet palette, which is simply the lid of the container I use as a water pot with some folded paper towel and a piece of greaseproof /baking paper on top. You can get a similar style of container at K-Mart for under $2, so this is a cheap and effective wet palette. I use water to thin my paints, and haven’t used drying retarder or anything for quite a while.
Step One
I primed Cap black, using my airbrush and Vallejo black primer although, again, a rattlecan would probably serve. One thing to be aware of is making sure your coat of paint is as thin as possible, especially on his shield. I didn’t think about this until I was brush painting, and the grooves on his shield are so fine I had difficulty picking them out as painting progressed.
I then put down a base coat of Vallejo Air Colour Blue, but after it dried I realised it was too dark as I ultimately wanted a bright model, so I then went over it with Vallejo Air Colour French Blue, although concentrated on avoiding some of the more recessed areas.
Step Two
For this step, I wanted all my main colour areas blocked in, as I had a game pending and wasn’t sure if I’d get time to finish before it. With this in mind, I used:
- Vallejo Game Colour Kahaki for the white areas
- Vallejo Game Colour Scarlett Red for the red areas
- Citadel Adeptus Battlegrey for the base
- Citadel Rhinox Hide for the brown areas
- Citadel Cadian Fleshtone for the face
The Khaki base and subsequent colour build-up is for a warm white, which I choose given the predominance of blue (a cool colour) on the model. There may be some more advanced painters out there who can opine on whether this is the way to go or if a cool white would be better.
Step Three
Starting on the highlights, we paint all but the most recessed areas of each colour as follows:
- Vallejo Model Colour Beige on the white areas
- A 1:1 mix of Vallejo Game Colour Scarlett Red and P3 Skorne Red on the red areas
- P3 Bootstrap Leather on the brown areas
- A 1:1 mix of Vallejo Air Colour French Blue and Vallejo Game Colour Magic Blue on the blue areas
- Vallejo Model Colour Bassalt Grey on the base
I’m intending to drive towards what I feel is a very ‘cartoony’ colour with the use of magic blue, so the model will be very bright and clean. One thing to note here, is that you need to thin your paints when painting these highlights, which may mean needing two thin layers for good coverage, it takes a little more time and patience, but the results are worth it.
Step Four
Next layer of highlights, which we’ll put on with the idea that you’ll leave some of the prior layer visible when you put them on:
- A 1:1 mix of Vallejo Model Colour Beige and Vallejo Game Colour Deadwhite on the white areas
- Vallejo Game Colour Magic Blue on the blue areas
- P3 Skorne Red on the red areas
- Citadel Baylor Brown on the brown areas
- Vallejo Game Colour Stonewall Grey on the base
Step Five
Starting to look a bit like Cap now, another layer of highlights:
- 2:1 mix of Vallejo Game Colour Deadwhite and Vallejo Model Colour Beige for the white areas
- 1:1 mix of P3 Skorne Red and Citadel Trollslayer Orange for the red areas
- 1:1 mix of Vallejo Game Colour Magic Blue and Vallejo Air Colour Light Sea Blue (I thought I had an equivalent colour from the Citadel range but couldn’t find it, so used air colour instead) on the blue areas
Step Six
At this point, we’re just putting final accents and getting our colours locked in on the blue and white, as well as putting down some washes to give a bit more depth to the other areas.
- Vallejo Game Colour Deadwhite on the white areas
- Vallejo Air Colour Light Sea Blue on the blue areas
- Citadel Reikland Fleshshade on the face area, I then do the following few colours while this dries, then put a wash of Citadel Druchii Violet down over his face as well
- Citadel Nuln Oil wash on the base
- Citadel Agrax Earthshade over the brown areas
- Citadel Baal Red wash over the red areas (excluding the shield)
Missed taking a photo here, apologies, but as you’ll see in the next step it’s very close to done….
Step Seven
There’s one key thing here, being going back over the face with Cadian Fleshtone, which you want to do with thinned down paint to help make transitions. I also realised at this point that I hadn’t done anything to the shield straps he’s holding, so I painted them the same as the leather areas (Rhinox hide, bootstrap leather, Baylor brown).
Conclusion
I left Cap here, as I was pretty happy with where he’s up to and have plenty on my painting table to go on with! I’m planning on going back and doing some further work on all the bases, maybe add some grass, moss or perhaps some rubbish to make it look more like a distressed urban area.
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