Hunker in the Bunker

Today I decided to give my tank brush a workout and settle down to painting some basic scenery.

I have some of the expanded foam scenery released by GW over the years. Until now, it was all unpainted, with just the basic Games Workshop primer coat that was sprayed on at the factory. Getting tired of always playing over the flat light grey and green static grass pieces, I decided to paint up a piece tonight.

Here's the before:

And here's the after:

Since the model was already primed grey, I didn't bother priming it.

I started with scorched earth as a base coat for all the earthworks. I then highlighted it with Khemri Brown, and finally added in some bleached bone and a touch of codex grey for the ultimate highlight.

For the sandbags, I did a heavy drybrush of Snakebite Leather, with some scorched brown brushed into the shadows and crevasses. I then added a touch of Bleached Bone and did a lighter drybrush. Finally, I added a touch more bleached bone for final highlight. I didn't want to go too bold with the highlight as I wanted a darker more weather beaten tone, which I achieved with a light dusting of a pale mix of grey.

The timbers and wood were painted with Scorched Brown, then drybrushed heavily in Khemri Brown, and finally in a mix of Codex Grey and Khemri Brown. I did this to make it appear somewhat aged and weather beaten, as wood tends to turn grey when exposed to extreme elements and time. However, I left some of the brown showing through as I don't want it to appear too old.

The drums, metal beams and plates I painted in Charadon Granite. This is a nice dark olive drab type of green, which highlights nicely with a touch of Bleached Bone mixed in. I followed the same aging method by adding in a light grey, to help keep a similar tone across the weathered elements. I then stippled the metals with light grey, followed by several browns, black, and finally with some metal. This simulates a light rust with some ongoing wear and tear, as though it's an old bunker that sees occassional use.

In order to give it a story to indicate why it sees moderate use, I then proceeded to add scorch and burn marks. Particularly around bullet holes, and especially on the communication console in the corner. I stippled this heavily with black and greys to make it look burned out, with a touch of grey wash to show that it has been abandoned, but not too long ago. I then added some scorch marks in the grass and other areas of the bunker to tell a story of how it might have been attacked with a flamer, or plasma weapon, driving the occupants back.

All and all, this piece only took an hour to paint, and I'm quite pleased with the results, and look forward to the next game where it will surely see some action.