Dipped Delaques



Ready for action

With a view to using them as one of my gangs in a Chain Reaction demo game I was having with a club member, there was a push to get my Games Workshop Delaque (Necromunda) gangers ready for the table. I'd bought these from a club member a few years ago. I'd liked the way they looked on the table when he was using them, but only when I saw them close up after purchase did I realise how rough the paintwork was (it was a teenage lad after all!), althought he price was still good. With the "Good on the tabletop" picture still in my head I decided to just touch up the paintwork (or re-paint in the same colours) and then dip them for speed.
Now every gaming blog seems to have a "Magic Dip" post in their locker somewhere, so this is mine! I don't use this technique very often. Perhaps it feels like cheating. Or too sloppy. But having seen the effect again in practice I will be using it more frequently where applicable.


Base coated ready for dipping

One base coat was done, trying to keep the majority of colours light to give the dip a chance. After a bit of research a few years ago I ended up with  B&Q Walnut Quick Drying Woodstain (as I'm in the UK). The dip is diluted with water. You'll have to experiment with what looks good to you. I've had a made up jar for a couple of years and I add woodstain or water every now and again. This time a quick stir and test piece proved OK and I was away. A quick shake/spin of the figure afterwards and a wee blow/brush wipe to sort some unwanted pooling and they were left to dry. Even the basing was fast tracked - Javis Tarmac effect flock.


The equipment is readied (except the vital gloves!)

A pre and post dip duo.

Warmachine - Cryx Nightwretch & Defiler

The final 'jacks in my Cryx force, a second  Defiler and Nightwretch

Usual rust theme. Not quite as bright as some of my previous rusty beasts, but close enough to match in (older rust maybe?).

The dreaded [War]-Jack Frost strikes again.

When the pictures of my new Space Marine Dreadnought were being taken, the model had not been varnished yet, due to a period of wet weather in up here in normally sunny Scotland (yeah, I know!). Finally I looked out of the window one breakfast time last week and saw it was dry and sunny. Excellent! So I rushed out to give the piece and quick coat.


The dreaded frost


Unfortunately, it would appear that it was still to damp or cold or at least clammy, as the dreaded varnish frosting hit my smooth clean paint-job. Now I've experienced this before on my Warmachine Slayer last year, so I was disappointed but not panicked by the prospect of trying to get it back to some sort of fit condition.

After a coat of gloss Varnish

So first job - hit the effected areas with some gloss varnish. This is what I did last time, and it fixed most the problems. This time - not so good. It has improved some areas, but not all. The effect is more visible, ironically, because of my simple faster paintjob, as the imperfections show up on the simple flat surface more. On the areas with more variation (such as the scroll on the left leg) the effect has decreased enough for me to leave it. I will however try a "Plan B" for the front surface, as it is most evident there and if the need comes to repaint it's just a coat of blue!

Post nail polish remover

Plan B is nail polish remover on a cotton bud. As you can see it seems to have taken most the varnish off and some of the paint. This is why I have shyed away from applying it to a more detailed area. It's still a little rough though, so some light sanding will be needed.

Repainted

I did a small amount of light sanding (with some wet & dry paper) but the finish was still a bit rough. I stopped there anyway and re-applied the blue paint. Not as good as the original silky smooth finish, but alot better than I started out with, and should be fine on the table.

Defending the Drawbridge

In a desperate attempt to get back on track with posting I'm going to resort back to White Dwarf artwork. Not that this is really such a bad thing. Check out this beauty.

We have here an untitled piece that made up the back cover of White Dwarf #136 (April 1991) expertly created by Michael Perry. As ever, any other information is very welcome.