[Babypowder]

My main suggestion, though my advice really isn't worth much cause I'm a learning painter as well, would be to put shadows on that yellow some how. The vehicle as a whole looks very bright. The colors seem cleanly done and all but I think it would really go a long long way to have darker colors under them to bring them out. I think I would try to use a dark brown color to fill in all the gaps in the armor plates and stuff like that. Like a wash if you have it. Then for the blue you could do a little highlight line of a lighter blue around the edges.

Just doing those two things I think would make your vehicle look pretty good.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Babypowder]

Thanks for checking my log out! I wish I had more time lately to work on them.

My suggestion is kind of the same. Look up washes, its a really simple technique and does wonders for you. Pherions suggestions are great as usual too. He is a better painter than I am.

The thing I'm seeing with your guys as well as the falcon earlier is that its like solid color meets solid color. You seem to have the colors down and be able to actually pin point where you want those colors, which is more than I can say for myself haha. So if you took a wash over it all the dark colors in the recesses of the model as shadow would really make the colors you have pop pretty well I think. So that would definitely be my first step.

The way I do it, if you dont want to actually buy washes, is I just really water down some black paint. Then I just lay the model down and brush the watered down paint over the whole model. It kinda looks dirty and all but it darkens everything and the watered paint rolls down in the cracks and where there would be shadow. Then when it drys I flip the model, basically doing this to every side I can using gravity. Then when its all done and dry I take my original color again and paint back over it but don't go over the places the shadow would be. Some people say if you are making your own washes like this to add stuff to them like floor wax and such, but I just used water mostly, recently I added a little soap to the water, it seems to do about the same thing but maybe sinks it into the cracks a little better.

Just something really easy to try if you want, it will probably feel like a lot of work cause you have to basically paint everything like 3 times with the paint, then wash, then paint again but it looks pretty cool when you get it done.

Then if you want to go really crazy is when I'd add highlights. Just small areas around edges and such with a lighter color.

Oh ya, for your yellow parts too, instead of using black paint for the wash I'd probably try and use a brown color(I think Pherion suggested sepia? that'd probably be good but if you dont have it any brown-esque color you like would probably work.)

Another thing, if you don't like those paint jobs on your older minis, don't be afraid to strip them and repaint them. Stripping is another thing that is alot easier to do than alot of people usually think. And then you have a nice clean model to repaint the way you wanted it.

Keep up the work! Hope this helps.

 

[Babypowder]

Another good option is this stuff called Purple Power. Its a degreaser found in alot of auto sections at department stores. Its basically a strong cleaner like Simple Green. I just used it recently to strip my entire witch hunters army and some of the eldar I'm planning on adding to the one I'm working on(Ironically it was an avatar! haha) It was really simple and once I figured out what I was doing it only took the stuff soaking over night then I just run water over them as I pick them up and toss em in a bowl of water, then after a few more minutes dump the water out pick up the minis and let them dry. I didn't even really have to scrub them, but admittedly I'm not much of a perfectionist with it so there are deeper parts that still have specs of paint and such.

 

[Babypowder]

The purple power stuff pretty much removes everything. I've mostly just stripped metal models with it but I did do one plastic guardian. It removes the spray paint I used to primer them, which was just a primer spray bought at a dollar store that's used on outdoor stuff. It removed GW paint, It removed normal paint bought at walmart, it also kind of removes super glue, so you'll probably have to rebuild models after your done, but it doesn't always get the super glue. It will also mess up green stuff if you have anything made with that so I wouldn't use it on those unless you are trying to get the green stuff off the model. It basically cleans everything off...so I'd say it will remove gloss varnish also though I didn't have any models with it on to see.

It's also biodegradable so no worries there. Its not like brake fluid or what not, it's just a degreaser/cleaner. I think the only reason its in the auto section instead of chemicals sections is that it's meant to clean car parts.

Of course Simple Green is sold right next to it at the walmart I buy the purple power at. So I'd say they are very similar products. I chose the purple power because while like...90% of reviews on simple green stripping paint people swear by it there were actually a few reviews that said its not as good as they thought it would be. There are also two different types of Simple Green, which I think is why those few negative reviews didn't have as good experience with it. The one is the good stuff you buy it in a jug basically and its the pure simple green, while they also put out a spray bottle simple green that is kind of diluted and meant to clean around the house with basically.

I would say that basically what ever you can find in that section that says it's biodegradable and is a degreaser will probably work at stripping really well without the toxic mess.

Good Luck!