Hobby - Pigment Powders for Legio Vulpa

 A couple of years ago, at Adepticon, I picked up the full set of weathering pigments from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I had used pigment powders before but this set gave a great range of colours and I was keen to put them to use. The ideal project for this is my Legio Vulpa. The engines are based on the Gamers Grass Badlands bases which replicate a dusty red planet. The powders provide the opportunity to tie the engines to the bases by extending the dustiness up their lower bodies.

Vince Venturella did a great video on how to use weathering powders which you can find here.

The first thing I did was make up a tray out of tinfoil and a plastic lid. This allows me to mix pigments together and get variations across the base and the model. I then apply them to the base and the model using a soft brush. The best thing is that this works as both an additive and subtractive technique as you can add or remove to suit your taste. Until they are fixed the pigments can be easily removed by continual dusting of the area.

Remember these are concentrated paint powders and will go everywhere and stain anything if you are nt careful. I removed most of my painting materials from my hobby space and laid down paper towels to catch the pigment. 

In this picture you can see the mess they make, so be careful and whatever you do don't drop the powders on your carpet (I didn't....phew).

Once you are happy with the job you need to fix the pigment or it will easily lift off. There are two ways to do this. The first is isopropyl alcohol which when applied to the pigment fixes it to the surface. You can paint it on but it is better applied through an airbrush.

The second method - and the one I used - is to varnish the model. I used VMS Satin Varnish through the airbrush and it really pulled everything together well.

Things are coming together for the Legio and with a few more hours I should have completed all the finishing work required.