A bunch of phoenix kings walk into a bar with some scrubs...

For an upcomming game, I'm planing to field a bunch of reapers. Two OOP metal exarchs from eBay as well as 10 old metal reapers which I painted last year that are well in need of a second chance at a half-way decent paint-job. When prepping those models for painting, I dug out a bunch of other models that were still blank. The paint scheme for those is different, but any batch priming, sealing or shading makes things go smoother than individual bits and bobs.

After spending what seems like an eternity cleaning and prepping the models, I primed them black with a strong white zenital highlight, both using Vallejo Airbrush primer. There rest of the way, I painted using Vallejo Model Air and Game Air colours with a regular brush.

I'm particularly happy with the result of Vallejo Game Air Black mixed 1:1 with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner and painted in several layers over the black to white primed bits to keep the recesses but change the colour of the entire area, darkening at as I went. Some of the reapers I consider a problem since there is colour in there, but hey, the others look fine. Might be useful to distinguish squads.

Here they stand after all the base colours, as well as varnish and oil shade applied. Only gems and bases to be done!

Making that post - even though it is just for myself really - motivated me to push through the last bit. Three layers of sand to tank brown, followed by Tamiya clear red for the gems and my usual alibi-base decoration.