Stay Frosty

Guest Tutorial by Jessie Carlile

With the release of Operation Kaldstrom, I wanted my Yu Jing White Banner figures to reflect being on the snowy world of Svalarheima. So, I got some Xiguan bases from Warsenal, and set out to make some simple bases that complimented the Yu Jing color scheme and would still look good with snow.

I chose Vallejo Periscopes to be the base color as it will be a good contrast for the orange/yellow of Yu Jing's armor, but not draw too much attention away from the figure. I chose Vallejo Model Air Hellblau to be the highlight color, and Vallejo Ivory to add for the final highlight.

I started by mounting my bases on dowels I have cut down to use as handles.

I then used my airbrush to prime the bases with Vallejo Black Primer. 

I then painted a base coat with Vallejo Periscopes. Since this is not an airbrush-ready paint, I had to add some Vallejo thinner and a drop of water to make it "airbrushable".

I then added some Hellblau to the previous mixture. Since this is an airbrush paint, I do not need to add any more thinner or water. When applying highlights, stick to the edges of the bases to represent where the light would hit. The center of the base will be covered by the core of the model, so avoiding highlights in the center of the base will help it look more like a shadow is being cast by the model.

I then added some more Hellblau to the previous mixture to add to the highlights.

I then added some Vallejo Ivory to represent the final highlights. Since this is not an airbrush paint, I had to add more thinner and a drop of water like I did previously.

I added some more Ivory for more highlights.

I then thinned down some pure Ivory for the final highlights.

Then, I airbrushed a glaze of Daler Rowney Paine's Grey ink to smooth the highlights, and then focused on the center of the base to help strengthen the shadows.

I then singled out the bases that had grates and painted Utrecht Liquid mask on the blue parts so I could airbrush the grates.

I airbrushed the grates black.

I then added some Vallejo Model Air White to the black to add highlights

I then pulled the mask off, and you can see how some paint flakes are left. You can use some BluTac to remove these flakes. Simply knead up a piece and stick it to the areas with paint flakes and it will pull them off.

I then added another glaze of Paine's Grey to the bases to help smooth the highlights on the grates.

Now, it's time to add the figure to the base and add some snow! I missed some between step pictures here, but you can choose the base you want to add your figure to and drill a hole to pin the model to the base. A handy trick here is to add a piece of BluTac to the base, and wet the bottom of your miniature where the pinhole is, and press the model on the base. Once you remove the model, you'll have the exact spot where you need to drill marked in the BluTac. Once the model is applied to the base, you can do some edge highlighting on the lines of the base and grates. Then, you can make it snow!

Snow is simple to make. All you need is Woodland Scenics Snow and Woodland Scenics Realistic Water. Put some snow in a cup, and add the Realistic Water.

The more Water you add, the wetter the snow will look, the more snow you add, the dryer it will look. A good trick to use is to add dryer snow to bases, then, using a brush, add some straight Realistic Water to the edges of the snow you just applied and it will look like the snow is starting to melt on the edges.

Once applied and dried, you'll have a snowy Yu Jing model ready to patrol Svalarheima!

Related Products:

Xiguan bases

Operation: Kaldstrom