21 January 2022

Random scenery

After finishing my new building I got into a bit of a scenery kick and knocked out these Reaper models over the past few days. They were relatively straightforward thanks to the magic of spray paint.

I've owned all three of these pieces for a while; I've had the dumpster since May 2020 and it's my third after this one and this one. I've got a fourth dumpster floating around somewhere and it's on my to-do list. The two containers were bought just before Christmas.

All the pieces were painted the same way: spray with a red-brown primer, daub Vallejo Liquid Mask on randomly with a bit of sponge, spray on the top coat and then rub off the paint over the mask. It's the same process I used with the Mustang I did for Apocalypse Now last year.

This 10-foot container was easy to glue together, and I left one of the doors slightly open to give it a slightly creepy air. After the white coat was scraped enough, I used a brush to add Vallejo Rust, which is orange, to some areas, then dirtied it a bit with a sponge dipped in Grey Wash. The final touch was to add some Citadel Casandora Yellow wash to discolour it a bit, but in hindsight I'm not sure that worked.

The transfer across the bottom of the side is the serial number from a sheet of graffiti decals. And I'm 99% sure the doors are on upside down...

I went a bit all-out with the decals on the dumpster. I used white again as the transfers are printed on transparent paper, so without white behind them they're just see-through. Once again the use of Liquid Mask really helped get a realistic rust effect, although I buggered up a bit by forgetting to put it on the top white piece so I had to use Vallejo Dry Rust paint to fix that mistake. The lid was sprayed black and just highlighted with some Black Grey.

I really like these Reaper dumpsters. They're a doddle to assemble and paint, look good, and are a must for any post-apoc cityscape.

This is my second large shipping container after the one I painted for last year's Season of Scenery. It turned out not as well as I'd hoped, which is down to the yellow paint. I bought some deep yellow spray paint a week ago for a project I'm hoping to start on soon. Unfortunately I could only get it in gloss, but I figured I could just spray over it with matte varnish. Easy, right?

Well, despite shaking the can for a solid two minutes and giving the container two coats, it's a real mess. Either the paint wasn't mixed properly or it just wouldn't cover the dark red-brown primer. It's also cracked in a few areas. And even after two days it was still slightly tacky, so I sprayed the varnish over it... and immediately remembered that I had yet to scrape off the yellow paint. Awesome.

I tried using my fingernails to remove the paint, but no luck, so I switched to the blunt side of an X-Acto blade. It worked, but worked too well in some places, taking the paint right back to the plastic. I had to touch up several spots with Dry Rust, and although the cracked paint adds to the worn look, it doesn't bode well for my project that needs yellow spray.

14 comments:

  1. Shipping crates are a must have in a modern or post-apocalypse setting. I need to order some more as the single one I have is not enough for gaming purposes and this is a nice reminder for me. Everything looks great here and if you choose to do some gaming in the future, you ought be getting close to having enough for a really nice looking board now!

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    1. Cheers, Jeff! The post-apoc scenery collection is getting there, and I can't wait for next week when I finally get to have a crack at my new buildings! The Reaper shipping crates are pretty good for the money, I've just ordered another one.

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  2. Excellent looking terrain Matt, sorry to hear about your woes with the yellow paint, it's a colour sprayers try to avoid, mostly due to the problems you listed. Before shaking the can, warm it on a heater for 5 minutes, then shake well, you'll get a better mix.
    By the way the doors on the top one are the correct way round, as containers get loaded on top of lorries, and you wouldn't be able to reach up much higher ! LOL

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    1. Thanks, Dave! It was a shame the way the yellow came out, but I can live with it for the shipping container as it adds to the worn look. I've ordered a different spray yellow to try, it's outdoor paint and is satin instead of gloss so I'm hoping for better results. Nice to know I did get the doors right LOL!

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  3. Excellent stuff, Matt, despite some woes. They all look very good to me and I think the rusty chipping looks absolutely spot on.

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    1. Thanks, Simon, using the liquid mask works really well to do this weathering effect. And it's a doddle to do.

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  4. You see flaws I see some really cool looking terrain. Yeah upside down doors, but that won’t matter on a tables full of terrain mate. Great work!

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    1. Cheers, Dai, I've really got into terrain and scenery over the past year. Glad to know my techniques work!

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  5. All great additions to ypour collection of scatter terrain and whilst the upside down doors would irritate me, in a game nobody would notice. Love the chipping paint effect on all these models.

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    1. Thanks, Joe! The latex works so well for doing this type of weathering. I need to use it more.

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  6. More great scenery mate, you are fast becoming the "go to" person when I need tips on painting this sort of stuff, Oh and Dave called it, the handles go toward the bottom of containers most of the time.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Wow, Roger, thanks, that really means a lot! I'm looking forward to doing more soon!

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  7. Fantastic weathering Matt, they look great.
    As for upside down doors, well, they aren't upside down, the container is. It fell on its roof from a stack after that last zombie attack, right?

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    1. Thanks, Justin! I love doing this weathering effect, it's easy and very realistic. And yes, the container did topple over thanks to some over-enthusiastic zombies LOL!

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