Painting a Clan Coyote scheme
Military equipment for Clan Coyote is painted in varying shades of Black Blue and Gray.
1. I chose a Black Knight to represent the first Khan of Clan Coyote, as described in the fiction from the first pages of Operation Klondike. primed the model in gray and based it on an MDF hex base. The model was modified beforehand by cutting away the left leg from the base to create a walking pose, but that is a tutorial for another time. (As an aside, folk who know the history of this model will recall a bit of controversy regarding the placement of the arm PPC. This artist is not firmly in either camp and although moved by the occasion to invoke the third person for the moment, has chosen to model the PPC on the arm in the position indicated, because he deems it to be cool).
The selection of primer was due to the general scheme being blues and grays, both of which colors tend to be fairly thick with most manufacturers. I wanted the model to have a subdued tone to it, in keeping with the introspective nature of Coyote Warriors. The techniques I used for this model include some simple directional highlighting and targeted washes, as the look I desired was a somewhat lived-in effect.

A word about the paints I am using: save for metallics and the bright and fluorescent reds, greens and yellows, the majority are cheap, easy to acquire craft paints.
2. Once the primer is completely dry, which can take up to 24 hours for a good cure),I painted the model overall in Craft Smart #23678 Sailing Sky. The paint is already fairly thin, and I take care to add just enough additional water to the brush to ensure an even, thin coat. Over the gray primer, the blue takes on a bit of a pastel quality, not fully opaque. This is important in that the model will be receiving additional thin layers of wash and paint and although sparse in terms of detail, we will want to preserve it all.

3. The next step was an overall wash in slightly diluted (about 1 part water to three of wash), GW Asurnen Blue. This coat allows for sharp definition of panel lines and also provides shadows which we will use to good effect as we go on. Be careful at this point not to allow too much pooling of the wash. A little is unavoidable, but keep your brush wet and herd the wash into joints and panel lines.

4. Once this was completely dry, I started painting a few panels GW Codex Gray and GW Basalt Gray for the base color of the accents. I have decided not to use black for this miniature. After this I blocked in areas of metal, using GW Tin Bitz for the actuators/joints and GW Boltgun Metal for gun barrels the antennae and other areas I thought would look good in metal.


I then washed these areas when dry, with GW Badab Black, again diluted slightly to match the wash effect on the blue portions.

5. After the black wash, I painted the gun barrel openings with black along with the cockpit windows. I then took the base color blue and the two grey and very gently highlighted the edges of the panels where I felt the light would be hitting them with the original shades. I also took GW Chainmail and did the same for the steel areas. This may seem like a complicated process but it isn’t a big chore. Less in this case is more, as long as you limit your highlighting to the major panels and mostly in areas that you judge not to be in shadow, and don’t feel you have to hit them all.

6. Finishing touches. At this point I began to add details such as the cockpit lensing in Orange, the small laser in green the mediums in red and the large lasers in Red with a yellow flash. Instead of my habitual blue for the PPC I chose a turquoise with a sea foam green for the high color, as the entire mini is blue and I wanted the PPC to stand out more. At this point I took the opportunity to clean up some of the panel lines with full strength washes of the various colors, drawn into the major panel lines. Many people use micron pens for this, and I cant say they’re wrong to do so, but I had the washes to hand and went to it.

8. Basing. I use the same general basing method for my minis and it consists of three steps: Base edging, Rocking and Flocking. Some folk will expect me to have used spackle or something similar on the base to hide the step between the edge of the casting base and the base itself. Mostly I find that artful application of basing materials can very effectively hide such sins, but you will see the result and can judge for yourself.
Base edging is done by selecting an olive, or earth color appropriate to the general environment you imaging the mini inhabiting, in this case a medium brown (GW Bestial Brown), and painting the edges of the hex base in that color, with as many coats as needed to ensure good coverage, and allow to dry.

Rocking is where I take a slightly different color, in this case Americana Terra Cotta, and thickly coat the top of the base, then dip the wet base in a tray containing very fine sand mixed 50% with fine yellow or brown flock. I then tap and blow off the excess material.

Flocking is where, after allowing the rocked surface to dry completely, I take white glue and some model railroad Talus, or fine gravel, and static grass or foam foliage, and beautify the base strategically.


Having completed the mini and gotten a nice basing effect, and wanting to add a bit more character to the base (she is a Khan, after all), I found a couple of bits of plaster that I had painted up as a rubbled wall for use as terrain, and glued them onto the base, as if she was stepping through an old ruin. Along with that I used some of the fine waterslide decals available from fighting Piranha Graphics. Technique here is simple, brush on some clear gloss varnish (craft paint again!), once dry put a bead of water on the spot you want the decal to go, though not so much the decal will surf its way off the model. Then apply the decal. Once dry, paint over the decal with the gloss. Then when that’s dry apply your matte sealer spray, and be amazed because you wont be able to tell where the border of the decal is.

And that’s it, really.
Watch out, Babylon!