[Sephyr]

I really want to give my chaos vindicator and my oblits a classic Iron Warriiors look, but there's a csveat: That ultra-cool danger zone yellow-black striped pattern.

Are there any easy or handy ways to pull it off? My attempts at doing it with a free hand have been...catastrophic.

 

[GrimzagGorwazza]

you could use the old masking trick though you rist peeling the paint with it. Paint the section black and use a sealant to varnish it. Cut some thin strips of masking tape at the right size and thickness of the black lines you want. rough the tape up by sticking it to your arm before sticking it on the model, this reduces the risk of it peeling.
Once the masking tape is on paint the white stripes, still be carefull as you don't want white paint going underneith the masking tape.
Peel the tape once the white has started to dry but hasn't completely finished. Then when they are dry use a yellow wash to turn the white stripes yellow. You might need several coats of the yellow but you'll get a vibrant shade by doing it this way and a yellow wash is easy to clean up if you go onto the black, just have some kitchen role handy.

Free hand is about the only way it'll work on the oblits.

 

[Bouncytube]

If you go by free hand just try and take it very slow, another method is to just keep your brush going down on the same angle all the way through in a steady pace. That's the way I do straight lines.

 

[Endymion]

I know this is maybe kinda crappy and obvious advice but it's sort of working for me... Just get a sheet of paper and practice painting straight lines over and over again (or use a ruler and draw some then try to paint along them). My marines have a quartered paint scheme so I can sort of empathise with the pain of the Iron Warrior's "hazard stripes".

Another thing you could do, and I stress that I've personally *not* tried this, is that you could use a ruler and draw out the stripes on the tank (faintly) then paint over them. If you're going to do this make sure that you can actually paint over the pencil lines first, I imagine trying erase pencil off of a tank might not be so fun.

 

[Unforgiven302]

Here is the siege shield on my vindicator. I have had quite a few compliments on it, even from people that are far superior painters than I will ever be, so I guess it is done well.

Here is how I did it.

1) Clean and prime the plastic with gray spray primer.

2) Paint large flat surface with a thinned down vomit brown. It took three coats to get it solid.

3) Paint over with thinned golden yellow. Again around 3 coats to get good coverage.

4) Paint over with 2-3 coats of thinned sunburst yellow.

5) Wash entire surface with a thinned ogryn flesh wash. For a darker yellow use a thinned devlin mud wash.

6) Use a sharp pencil and draw your lines for the chevron pattern. I put little squiggly lines inside the sections that will be black.

7) Use a detail brush to trace your pencil lines with thinned chaos black. I went on the inside of the lines and worked out so I could keep the inevitable squiggle to a minimum.

8) Finish off the black with a thinned chaos black.

9) For battle damage I stippled boltgun metal over it. I kept this to a minimum. I also targeted any "squiggly lines" between the yellow and black.

10) I then stippled codex gray over it. Again, I kept this to a minimum.

11) Use badab black along the outer edges to add depth between the blade and the sides of the shield.

You can also use mithril silver and boltgun silver to add a bit of battle damage around the edges of the shield too with a bit of dry brushing and highlighting. I did it after I was finished with the yellow, but before I did the ogryn flesh wash. It gave the bare metal a rusty effect that I like.

Yes, it is time consuming to say the least. As a matter of fact, it took longer to do that the main body of the rhino. It was worth it I think.
What really made it look straight and even was the stippling. It helps to detract from the straight edges that are not so straight without covering up or detracting from the caution stripes. Hope that helps you a little.

 

[HorusReborn]

wow man, your vindicator does look good... if you don't want to go to that extensive effort, 3M has painters tape that is blue. put it on nice and snug at the edges, it'll stop bleeding and you won't get a gummy residue like you do from basic masking tape. Mask out your lines, though I suggest going on a black backdrop and working on the yellows with the foundation paints in nice thin layers. It's easier to mess up on the black and touch that up than it is to mess up the yellow by painting the black on... touching that up is a problem best left alone.

 

[5tonsledge]

here is what i did when i played iron warriors i primed the spot that i wanted stripes white then bought yellow spray paint and sprayed it yellow. then masked the areas in stripes then spray painted black then peeled of the masking tape off and the stripes are nice and bright yellow. i useually did vehicle doors rhino top hatch and vindicator shields in this method also shoulder pads for my marine. hope that helps

 

[Khargoth]

If you're doing it on vehicles, a ruler and a felt marker work a treat. The marker leaves nice thick black lines, giving you plenty of margin for error while painting the rest in.

 

[SonofVulkan]

Try using Tausept Ochre foundation paint for a base colour for the yellow stripes, it paints over black easy and you won't need to put on so many coats of sunburst yellow.