A PROPER ASS KICKING

Finisging an Onager for Pax Bochemannica

In part one of this two part series I described how I scratch built this master model for the Fantasy/Historical game Pax Bochemannica which pits Orc Noman Legionaries against Boche Halflings. Once built, the master was cast in resin by Maveryc Games/Hysterical Games

but that was over ten years ago and – having recently rediscovered the model and tidied up the rough casting – I really wanted to give it a very special paint job deserving of its rarity.

I’ll start by saying that the resin model was badly miscast with a base that was 10mm thick on one side and then super thin on the other. I used a belt sander (which I employed while wearing a facemask and goggles) to level up the base and then ensured a flat even surface by sanding on a piece of medium grade wet and dry paper pinned in place over an old kitchen worktop. Once finished, I placed the model in some warm water and pressed it flat on to the same worktop.

Painting followed a good clean in warm water and washing up-liquid, before it was spray painted with grey undercoat. I then used a white spray paint to give it a ‘zenithal’ highlight before adding some ‘contrast style’ paints over the wood areas.

I have recently been watching YouTube

videos showing various oil wash techniques and tried this over the Contrast paint areas. I used cheap oil paints bought in The Works to add light tints of different colours which were ‘feathered in’ with white spirits and a large brush. This was not the only time I have used this painting trick but it was the first time on a piece of wargame terrain and I like the effect.

Next it was back to more traditional acrylic washes (Citadel and Army Painter washes) which added even more warmth to the wooden areas. Detail painting was done with acrylics, a basecoat, drybrushing and then washes. The base and groundwork was painted in a slightly darker colour than normal – in keeping with my Pax Bochemannica miniature collection.

With the model now varnished in a mix of both matt and semi-matt (for the leather areas), I went back over the model with some watercolour pencils to highlight the wood grain and then a 3B pencil over the metal areas to add some graphite and a more realistic metallic sheen.

The base was then decorated with static grass and static grass tufts applied over PVA or superglue and the model was ready for my gaming table. The Onager is 120mm long x 45mm wide x 60mm tall to the top of the wooden arm.

Rather than just list the products, I have detailed a wide variety of different paints and painting styles while finishing this model hence the expanded list on the right...

1. RESIN PREP

The slightly miscast and ‘wonky’ resin casting had some of the excess resin base removed with a belt sanded which ensured a flat and smooth base before being cleaned with warm water and washing-up liquid.

I then attached the main arm, capstan and levers with superglue.

The model did need a little filler particularly around the base of the wooden arm which was done with ‘watered-down’ acrylic filler.

2. ZENITHAL INSPIRATION

I then sprayed painted the model with a grey undercoat and later a zenithal highlight of white spray paint directed from above and while the grey was still ‘wet’ which I think helps to blend the grey and white together.

There has been much written about this zenithal basecoat technique and I can see some merit in building this up – I chose to use a grey base rather than the more usual black colour which I think is more subtle. On wargame figures I have sometimes used a dark brown/light brown mix.

3. CONTRASTING OPINIONS

In a major change to my usual painting technique, I used some custom ‘Contrast Paints’ or homemade contrast colours by mixing plain acrylic paints with acrylic medium and applying light watereddown coats over the wooden areas.

I quite liked the effect and think that the zenithal highlight helped to better define the model when painted in this way.

4. OILED UP

Another major change to my usual painting technique was to apply oil washes. I used cheap oil paints bought in a set of 12 from The Works and squeezed out a small quantity of each colour on to a piece of cardboard. Once the excess linseed oil had been absorbed into the cardboard I mixed up some light oil washes with white spirits and applied these colours to the wooden areas. The beauty of oil washes is that you can easily darken them by applying more paint or remove them with white spirits if they don’t work. The oil paints and white spirits mix flows so much easier than acrylic washes and in my opinion is more subtle.

5. WASH & BRUSH-UP

Although I thought the initial contrast paint, oil washes worked well, I still went back over all of the wooden areas with a variety of bought and homemade washes. I started with an old tub of bluetopped Citadel Flesh Wash which I thought gave the wooden areas a warmer tint then applied all sorts of washes, red, blue, green, strong tone and even some black in different areas and in different intensities.

These washes helped to pick out the sculpted detail and highlight the wood grain.

6. LEATHER & DETAIL

The detail painting was done with a fine tipped Rosemary & Co Sable mix brush and the groundwork painted in a slightly darker brown than usual, in keeping with the rest of my Pax Bochemannica miniatures. I picked out various details and added even more subtle washes.

I watched a number of YouTube videos showing how to paint leather before embarking on painting the leather area on the buffer. In the end, it was painted with acrylics, detailed with a pieces of sponge before adding cracks in the leather with a very fine brush. Once again I used washes to unify the effect.

7. SPIT & SHINE

The whole model was then given an all over matt varnish and then the leather area on the buffer was varnished with a 50/50 mix of matt and gloss varnish to add a satin sheen and differentiate it from the rest of the model.

The limited amount of metal areas were given a gloss varnish.

8. PENCIL THAT IN!

With all the painting complete I went to town with some watercolour pencils and added green mould to the base of the Onager, wood grain effects to the wooden areas and some rust effects around the metal areas. I’d like to say that I was subtle with these effects but found it quite therapeutic and might have gone a little too far!

You can buy specialist ‘chipping’ pencils for model making, but good quality watercolour pencils can be picked up quite cheaply – my set was bought for just 50p from a charity shop.

9. AIRFIX INSPIRATION

The finished model with a couple of Noman Orcs alongside to show context. As I said in the previous article, the Onager is a 1/56th scale model copied from an article in the Airfix Magazine Annual

6, pages 68 to 75 as such I could also be used in any historical Roman army. The base was decorated with some static grass and ground foam, glued in place with either PVA glue or superglue.

After ten years I finally got around to finishing and painting my model and am very pleased with the experimental painting techniques which I think do justice to this rare resin model.