Paintstation - Wetpalette

So, there I was, having suffered from a slight paint-block in my vain attempt at painting vehicles. For some reason these models keep being my nemesis - no matter how hard I work on them, they always end up lacking 'oomph', which in the end means that painting vehicles is some of the last things I do.

However, this time around I tried something new altogether; a wetpalette! Now, to those who have yet to discover this 8th wonder of the world, the following is a short introduction on how to assemble your very own. Note that all images show various danish household items and shop inventory may vary around the world.

First step; acquire cd-case.

As can be seen, I cannibalized an average CD-case for my purposes. The main reason for using a cd-case is that I can close up the lid and keep the moisture locked in, for those short and frenzied painting sessions, scattered across an average weekend.

Second step; purchase pads and paper.

Now you need to purchase some make-up pads as well as some sort of baking-paper or similar (in Denmark we have something called "mellemlægspapir" which is basically what we use to shield our open sandwhiches from getting squished together in our lunchboxes). You could also use any wax paper - but this is as cheap as it gets.

Third step; getting it all together.

Put the a couple of pads in the case, add a bit of water (not as much as I used in this photo, because then you'll suffer from overflow and having paint slowly reduced to washes, which isn't our goal!) and put on the paper over the pads. Let the paper soak for a while (roughly two-to-three minutes). Once it is moist, pour up some paint on the palette and start painting!

Painting a Protolene Walker.

And here is then the preliminary result of my attempt at painting the Protolene Walker for the Imperial Expedition Force. The wash used (Devlan Mud / Agrax Earthshade from GW) was put on far too heavy and all over the place. I was trying my standard method when painting model soldiers - but found out that it didn't really work out in the end.

So, armed with the wetpalette I went to town; getting quite a boost in keeping a consistent watered down paint that I could wetbrush the model with; leaving the recess shaded by the wash and hitting all the flat surfaces. Once the major areas were painted, I finished it off by drybrushing some Tyrant Skull (some of GW's new paints, designed for drybrush use) all over the model and finished it off with some minor detailing on the guns.

All in all, I think It went over quite well. Although I found that I had used too much water for my initial try, then the wetpalette definately has merit; I found that I got more brush control and a heck of a smoother coverage than before - definately a good thing when painting vehicles. Next up is another walker, but this time; lesson learned and I'll attempt to figure out a new method for painting this one. Stay tuned!