kev d vac form

7/30/2019 Kev D Vac Form

1/5

I was looking for some buildings for ScienceFiction photographic backgrounds and as anHQ building for my ever increasingZaporoskiye Brigade. I was recommendedto have a look at the Amera PlasticMouldings (www.amera.co.uk). They do alarge array of plastic Vacform buildingsfrom ruins to temples and some that suitedwhat I wanted. So I thought I'd have a go andsee what I could achieve with them. They allcome in clean, white plastic, the detail issomewhat soft as you would expect withVacform, so careful finishing is required tobring out the best in the models.

Pic 1

The first stage was to trim off any excessedge; I did this with a decent pair ofscissors which seemed more than up to thejob. I left a little bit of an edge to give a flatbit where the models touch to ground as it

were. I then went over the surface of themodels with very fine sand paper to roughenit slightly to give a key to the primer. Theonly additions that I did to the basicbuildings were steel shutters to the turretroof, from Plasticard, and a couple ofhatches in the main roof to provide accessto that roof (still can't stop being anarchitectural technician after all theseyears!), from Old Crow. Then I washed themodels in warm soapy water, (do not have ittoo hot as the plastic may distort), and leftthem to dry on the plate rack by the sink.

Pic 2

Once completely dry I then sprayed thewhole model with grey acrylic car primerand left it to dry for an hour or two.

The next step was to mask out all the areas I

the models with a coat of Games WorkshopRoughCoat - Textured Spray. This stuffreally does work and gives a nice semi-

did not want to have a more rough concretefinish, like doors and shutters which Iwanted to portray as metal. Then I sprayed

Pic 1

Pic 2

PAINTING VAC-FORM

kevin dallimore


2/5

BUILDINGSPic 3

Pic 4

uniform rough concrete/render like finish.Before applying, you must shake the canthoroughly, and you have to be quite firmwith it, and spray like you mean it,depressing the nozzle fully at times to get thefull rough texture, otherwise you will just getthe carrier paint. This, however, does allowyou to vary the texture quite a bit over themodel, which is nice. At first glance the

texture may not appearthatrough, but in thepictures you can see the marked contrast inrough and not rough areas, and it doesprovide an excellent surface for dry-brushing, which is coming up next! Once themodels were coated I put them aside to dryfor an hour or two.

Pic 3

RoughCoatdries to quite a nice mid grey, butI wanted a more worn concrete colour so myweapon of choice on this occasion wasFoundry Granite because it has a touch ofbrown about it. Starting with the middle

colour Granite 31B (the shade colour 31Abeing too dark in this case), I heavily dry-brushed the whole of the models, leaving alittle of the under-colour showing, but

Pic 4

I then did a similar thing with Granite Light31C, but this time a lot lighter coat allowingmuch more of the previous coat to showthrough, trying to pick out the rough detail,and concentrating efforts on edges andcorners, making them the lightest areas.Make your brush-stokes random across themodel.

Pic 5

I then added Canvas Light 8C to the GraniteLight 31C, 50/50 mix and treated the modelsto yet another dry-brushed coat, again lightercoverage still, and again concentrated at theedges. On this coat I was less random withmy brushing, often streaking the brush workdownward in the direction water would stainthe concrete in real life, and this is the start ofweathering the models.

tryingnot to clag theRoughCoatfinish. Try not tobrush all in the same direction on the model.

Pic 5


3/5

Pic 6

The last bit dry-brushing for the momentwas a final edge only dry-brush of CanvasLight 8C to sharpen up those edges and givethe models a worn look. Now you have avery clean if slightly rough model that needsa bit of detailing to bring it to life.

Pic 7

I decided on painted metalwork, so first I didall this in three-stage Forest Green 26. I thenpainted on marks where the paint has wornoff to reveal the metal underneath, withArmour 35B. Try to put these in likely areasthat will receive wear and damage.

Pic 8

The next step was to add weathering. FirstlyI used a thin wash of Granite 31B for themain vertical water staining; you can makethis quite thin as the paint attenuates verywell, mix 50/50 with water. Streak itdownwards in the manner that water stainsreal concrete. Don't let it run down; draw itdown with your brush so you get it whereyou want it, you won't need much on yourbrush. Then I added streaks of Phlegm Green28B, thinned in the same manner torepresent algae staining. Lastly I addedstreaks of Orange Shade 5A to be rust; thiswas not a wash but just thinned to normalconsistency. I concentrated the rust aroundand on the metal parts like doors. I alsoadded some more washes to areas wherewater was liable to pond and stand. Like atthe bottom of wall and on the flat roof.Fortunately you can't really over stainconcrete as it just goes on getting morestained the longer it survives! And that's itfor the washes.

Pic 9

Time to get out the MIG weatheringpowders! These are basically pre-ground up

Pic 7

chalk powders and are great for more subtle

and less watery staining. I only have twocolours, oily smoke which is a black powder,and light rust, which is, well, a light rustycolour. I applied them with a stiff old brush,I used the smoke principally for the shellsplashes that you can see on the

superstructure, and rust colour for streaking

rust on the metalwork and some ruststreaking onto the concrete in suitableplaces. The overall effect was a pretty dirtyand stained building! It is worth noting thatthe MIG powders, particularly the lightercolours, become less obvious when they

Pic 6

Pic 8


4/5

have been varnished, so you need to be quitebold when applying them.

Pic 10

The last stages are to add a scenic base, in mynow familiar manner and then varnish thewhole thing. The scenic base starts with alayer of sharp sand (best stuff is horticulturalsharp sand from the Garden Centre, as this iswashed and cleaned of most dust ands salts)stuck on with white PVA wood glue, thinnedto about 70% glue to 30% water. While theglue is still wet, pour on the sharp sand. It's agood idea to sieve out the larger lumps fromthe sand first. Shake off any excess and thenleave it to dry. Once the sand glue mix is dry,paint the base with Base Sand Shade 10A.You will need the paint quite thick aroundthe edge of the base, but thin it down a gooddeal before painting the sand otherwise itcould clog the sandy detail. Next dry-brushthe base with Base Sand 10B and then give a

Copplestone Future Wars Mercenariespainted as Genetic Infantry by me!

Pic 9

Pic 10

Pic 11

Main building is Bastion Stronghold from Amera Plastic MouldingsModels are all Copplestone Future Wars painted by me and Darren Matthews


5/5

Fortified Barricade from Amera Plastic Mouldings manned by Copplestone FutureWars Bio-Chem Squad painted by Darren Matthews.

and it worked fine. Hopefully it will standthe test of time, but I did these mainly asbackground photographic scenery so theywon't be subject to too much wear and tear.

Overall I was quite pleased with the resultand I think the Amera Vacform scenerycomes up well, and although it does needcareful work to get the best out of it, it is verycheap, easy to customise to your ownrequirements, looks good and won't break

your toes if you drop it on your foot! (This isa good thing if you have to carry your

scenery on your back).

You can see more of my painting atwww.kevindallimore.co.uk and will find afuller description of my painting style, in mybook published by Foundry, available at

www.wargamesfoundry.com. Steve Dean will

occasionally have oldpainted models of minefor sale at www.steve-dean.co.uk.

Fortified Barricade (Damaged) and Tank Trap from Amera Plastic Mouldings mannedby Copplestone Future Wars Mercenaries painted as Genetic Infantry by me!

I give permission to use the images supplied for this article but the images and this article all remain copyright Kevin Dallimore

final dry-brushing with Base Sand Light10C to really emphasise the rough texture.Once the texturing and painting is finishedadd some chopped flock nylon 'grass', alsoknown as 'static grass'. Paint white PVA gluein irregular blobs on the base and add theflock in patches with a pair of tweezers. Itlooks much more effective spaced out insmall areas rather than covering the entire

base. Allow the flock to stand for a couple ofseconds before knocking the excess backinto the container in which you keep it.When the glue is dry, the grass can be dry-brushed with yellow Ochre 4B to tone downthe shine on the grass.

Pic 11

The last job was to varnish the buildings.This time I used Testors matt spray directlyon the models without glossing them first,

kev d vac form

Documents