40k Vehicles

[J.D.Entropy]

Ok, so here we have a tutorial I devised to try and get some wargames people across the basics of scale modelling weathering techniques. This won a prize on the Australian Wargaming forum for best tutorial". All miniatures are at 28mm (aprox 1/64). I used to build historicals in 1/35 when I was much younger, and I'm looking at getting back into that side of things. But I try and bring a lot of the technique from historical modelling into the wartorn world of the 41st millennium. While a lot of the techniques are relatable, the fact that a wargaming miniature needs to take a lot more wear and tear from handling than a display piece does informs both the sculpting and painting techniques.

http://wargamerau.com/articles.php?id=12

A few shots:










some figure work (28mm scale)




WIP scratchbuild superheavy:

[Minsk94]

Thanks for sharing!
Another thing I would like to point out is that wargamers don't use putty on their vehicles, or don't try to clean up press-form seams, or drill out gun barrels and exhaust pipes. I think that would only add on to a visual appeal. But on the other hand - it is more about the game itself than what your vehicle looks like. Maybe that is why they are not concern with all this stuff of extra detailing and weathering?

[J.D.Entropy]

Some do, but as you say, sadly many do not. Much of that can be attributed to the fact that they are usually not working on a single piece at a time but rather trying to get an often quite substantial army finished fairly quickly. So there are a lot of "shortcut" techniques used which I tend to think look pretty average. Another thing to bear in mind is the small scale. Because everything is pretty small, the tendancy is to adopt a hyper exaggerated style to make the piece "pop" on the tabletop. In tournaments your painting score affects your placement, so people tend to go for a style which is high visual impact so it stands out in the poor lighting of a school hall or whatnot. Sadly the kind of "realistic" muted/faded colours and weathering I use does not tend to stand out that much unless you look closely.

Their figure modelling is often really good, but sadly that does not often translate into vehicles.