Moving right along, I painted all of the little details that needed done by hand. As you can see above, I tacked most of the kit together temporarily for photos.

Here is the Long-Nose shown with my original Fantastical Fish-Shaped Submersible build for size reference.

Now onto the dreaded weathering. When I started weathering the original copper sub, I was innundated with emails and forum posts saying “don’t do it!” However, I like things to have a nice aged look… I love rusts and patinas and any opportunity to replicate one is a good thing! To start out, I airbrushed VERY thin mottled layers of the following AK-Interactive products:
Dark Streaking Grime (dark brown-green), Wash: Brown-Blue (muddy blue-green color), and Filter: Blue for Panzer Grey (dull blue). These are enamels so I made sure I first coated the fish in a coat of semi-gloss Future Floor Acrylic to keep it from interacting with the enamel metal colors.

I then took a deerfoot-shaped brush wet with odorless turpenoid (because it’s easy on the enamels, not strong or damaging) and tapped/blended the thin filter layers on the surface. This breaks them up and makes them look mottled, more natura, and also helps them act like a wash of sorts.

For some small photoetch brass parts I didn’t use paint and instead suspended them in a jar with a little ammonia in the bottom. The fumes help speed up the natural patina process giving you a nice blue-gray patina as opposed to some products that will act as a blackening agent for brass. Both ways are good, just make sure you use whatever one is appropriate for the task/look at hand. YOu can see that my painting looks very similar to the natural brass patina except for the light blue-green areas. Those I’ll need to add with oil paint next.

Also shown is the little PE brass valve wheels and the painted white metal propeller.

Moving right along, I’ve been working on the brass paint and base-tarnish/panel definitions. I’m painting this similar to the real Longnose Butterfly fish that it’s design is based on, but in bare metal tones. I use a multi-stepped process for this brass finish and as usual with bare metal, it looks better in person, but the final photos should show it off nicely, just like my original copper fish.

First up was a coat of Dumplicolor Black primer. Simple enough!

Next I sprayed on a base coat of Alclad II Jet Exhaust and let it cure overnight.

Next up is a fine misting of Mr. Metal Color Brass. This was then buffed with a soft toothbrush. As you can see on the top center panel, I masked it and started the panel discoloration…

The prepped brass-painted panels, masked off 1-2 at a time, were sprayed with a random mottling of the following paints in this order:

1: Tamiya Clear Blue
2: Tamiya Clear Orange
3: Mr. Metal Color Copper
4: Mr. Metal Color Brass
5: Mr. Metal Color Brass + Iron 50/50

This if done in a nice random mottled pattern will give the look of heat-tarkished brass with a rainbow of colors like a wet oily road. It’s hard to photograph however. When doing the panels, try to make the panels that touch not match to make them look varied.

The lower nose was sprayed with Mr. Metal Color Aluminum, buffed, them misted with Tamiya Flat White then buffed again to give the look of patina’d aluminum. The top was misted over with Mr. Color flat black, then Mr. Metal Color Iron, then buffed.

Next up I’ll start picking out details and painting the interior.

My new steampunk Fish Sub model kit is about to start shipping for those that preordered it, but meanwhile, the caster sent me my advance copy to start building up. I did my last sub design in copper, but this one is begging for brass since the real fish I based this on (The Longnose Butterfly fish) is mostly yellow.

I started off by gathering some old brass watches in my collection to use as paint reference. What’s great is that the tones of brass are quite varied even without the patinas and staining. The kit comes with the brass photoetch I designed for it, but the sheet-brass has a natural grain to it that makes it look out of scale. So unfortunately I’ll be painting most of the etch as well, but the good news is that it’ll match the rest of the sub better which in the long-run is ideal. I like that in the watches, they’re not all brass. There’s other gray metals (stainless steel?) in there as well which will help to break-up the brass tones.

Along with the reference I’ve pulled out a plethora of brass and gold-toned paints from the shelves. I’ll use these straight from the bottle and mixed with silvers and coppers to adjust and vary the tones so that the panels have some nice variance to them. Just like I did with the original Fish Sub.

The brass photoetch is pretty easy to work with. Simply use a razor to snip the parts from the sprues and lightly sand the nubs down. Lightly sanding the entire sheets before cutting as I did will allow for better glue and paint adhesion later.

Let’s start with the brass gauges. Cut then from the sprue and stick them to some reverse rolled tape. Spraypaint them in whatever color you choose for the recessed faceplates. I used cheap gloss black spraypaint. Let dry then lightly wet-sand the faces on some fine grit sanding film glued to a styrene block to reveal the raised brass. Really simple and nets some attractive results.

The resin is cast in Industria Mechanika‘s typical light grey which makes cleaning it up easier than the plain white or cream colored resins. Clean-up is a breeze however thanks to some great casting. The pilot figure turned out especially nice. Overall minimal sanding is needed and so far, no putty!

The figure gives you a good idea (if you’re familiar with 1/35 scale) of the size of the Fish Sub. For those that are not, nose to tail the sub measures a little over 8.5 inches (21.5cm) long.

I decided that since this is a promo build-up for shows and such, I wanted the head to be removable to show off the inside. This was really easy since the head fit is VERY good. I used several neodymium magnets (small, but crazy strong) to keep the head in place.

There was a hair of light that could be seen yet which bothered me so a thin strip of styrene embossed with rivets (nail pushing on the reverse side) was added on the rear hull inner seam. This will block any light bleed. As you can see from the first pic of the resin above which the magnets are holding in place, the fit is really good. Nice amount of interior space on this one.

The layered photoetch brass fins are my favorite part of these subs. The side fins are 4 parts each (unless you also use the optional riser as shown below) while the other 3 fins are 3 parts each. A main fin shape and 2 decorative brackets. The dorsal and anal fins have holes in their brackets where a brass rivet included in the kit can be inserted to secure the brackets to the hull. These brackets need a little bending to get them in the right position, but that’s relatively easy.

Above is a 3-part riser that one can use to make the pectoral fins stick straight-out like traditional dive planes on a submersible. Otherwise you can skip these and have them look more fish-like and to the sides as I’ll be doing.

Next up I’ll be starting to paint the interior.

This is going to be a long one… I’ve been thinking a lot about copper finishes lately for my Steampunk Fish-Shaped Submersible product. While considering how to achieve the look I wanted I realized that I have a LOT of copper products. Not sure why… maybe I’m looking for the perfect copper or just love metal finishes. Either way it’ll make for an interesting tutorial. Here’s a photo of all of the copper products that I have. (or at least those I remembered)

There’s Copper leaf, Sophisticated Finishes Copper Patina set, Apple Barrel “Pure Bronze” (looks like copper), Tamiya Acrylic Copper, Mr. Metal Color Copper (there’s also a Mr. Color Copper that I haven’t tried/bought), Alclad II Copper, Hawkeye/SnJ Copper Polishing Powder (they also make a paint that I’ve not tried/bought yet), Mig Productions Fantasy Pigments Copper, PearlEx Antique Copper and Sparkling Copper, Autumn Gold (copper) Rub n’ Buff, and of course copper sheet, rods and tubing.  I’ve tried every one of these for one project or another. Every one is useful in some way, but combined they make some great colors.

Here’s a bunch of swatches that I made tests of the above on. These tests are to create a realistic looking copper with patina. Patina is a fine coating of oxide which forms on the surface of the metal when exposed which protects the surface from weathering. Here’s a link to the oft mentioned Future Floor Acrylic clear-coat mixes.

1:  Sponged on Apple Barrel-style acrylic paints. Used Regency Blue, Bright Blue, Green Sage and White. Then dry-sponged  white streaks vertically. Then applied Hawkeye/SnJ copper powder with finger. (doesn’t show up, not great look anyway)

1:  Sponged on Apple Barrel-style acrylic paints. Used Regency Blue, Bright Blue, Green Sage and White. Then dry-sponged  white streaks vertically. Applied Autumn Gold (copper) Rub ‘n Buff mixed with a touch of black oil paint using a somewhat dry-brush. Airbrushed flat coat of Future Floor Acrylic.

3: Primed with black spray paint. Painted with thinned Autumn Gold Rub ‘n Buff thinned with Odorless Mineral Spirits. Mineral Spirits started to eat primer unfortunately. Buffed with cotton t-shirt rag.

4: Primed with black spray paint. Airbrushed on Alclad II Jet Exhaust. Airbrushed on Alclad II Copper in a mottled light pattern.

5: Primed with black spray paint. Airbrushed on Alclad II Copper.

5A: Track Brown Mig Pigment blended in with Odorless Turpenoid.

5B: Coated half of #5A with Gloss Future Floor Acrylic.

6: Primed with black spray paint. Airbrushed on Alclad II Copper. Next a mixture of Zombie Green, Ashes, and Neptune Blue Mig Pigments was sprinkled/dabbed on with a brush. These were then blended with Odorless Turpenoid. Clear-coated with Satin Future Floor Acrylic.

7: Primed with black spray paint. Airbrushed with Mr. Metal Color Copper.

7A: Track Brown Mig Pigment washed on with Odorless Turpenoid. Next a mixture of Zombie Green, Ashes, and Neptune Blue Mig Pigments was washed on with Odorless Turpenoid. Coated in Satin Future Floor Acrylic.

7B: Coated half of #7A with Gloss Future Floor Acrylic.

8: Primed with black spray paint. Copper foil leaf applied.

8A: Bottom half of Swatch #8 was dipped in ammonia cleaner then left to air dry. I repeated this twice. A month later, the result is as seen. I love it, but I fear it’s unpredictability.

9: Primed with black spray paint. Copper foil leaf applied. This was then soaked in ammonia cleaner for a few days in a patina/tarnishing attempt. The only result was clean copper and a slight dissolving of the glue under the leaf making it shrivel/warp.

10: Primed with black spray paint. Sophisticated Finishes copper paint sponged on. When dry the patina solution was applied. The effect and look are not so great in my opinion, but maybe I did it wrong. The patina solution on it’s own works nicely on real copper though.

Here’s more shots of the above in various stages of completion.

Here’s some real copper (right) and brass (left) bits placed in salt water for 6 months as a test. Why so long? I forgot about the sealed jar!!!

The method I liked best from my test is that seen in swatches #5, #6 and #7. I’ll demonstrate this on the figure bust below:

Primed figure with flat black spray paint then airbrushed on Alclad II Copper. (above)

Track Brown Mig Pigment washed on with Odorless Turpenoid. Allow to dry fully then airbrush on a satin coat of Future Floor Acrylic mix. (above)

A mixture of Zombie Green, Ashes, and Neptune Blue Mig Pigments was sprinkled/dabbed on with a brush. These were then blended with Odorless Turpenoid. Finally it was clear-coated with Satin Future Floor Acrylic. (above)

Side View… (above)

Another Angle… (above)

Watch my Fish Sub Build-Up thread for more copper techniques as I’ll be documenting what I learned above as I apply it to an actual model. I’m sure there’s more methods and products than those I showed above. If you got one, send me a pic and process. If you make a copper product, contact me and send me a sample to review! I’ll add them to this post or if cool enough to an all new post.

Still adding grass as you can see. Been a little busy with a garage sale last weekend  (thank goodness THAT’s over!!!!) so this has been slow going. You can see that I’m adding clumps of the Jute grass and teasing it around while the glue is still wet so that it doesn’t look like hair plugs. When the entire base is filled with grass I’ll apply the same flower/weed mixes as I did to the back of the beastie.

At this point the beastie is just about finished. A few touch-ups here and there and he’s complete. I still however need to make the Druid “pilot” and finish the base grass. First things first though…

Moss! Before applying the moss I first mixed up some of Mig Productions new Fantasy Pigments to create a moss color for a base coloring. Mixing together 50/50 Zombie Green and Graveyard Dirt gave me the color I wanted. I applied this with an old brush and then airbrushed on a thin coat of the pigment fixer to seal it.

After this I applied the moss Per’s way as shown in my last update. Basically you’re mixing Fine Turf, White Glue and water then eye-dropping and drybrushing (when dry) paint to tint.

Once the moss was done I began applying the grass using Jute twine as seen in my tutorial here. The only difference between that tutorial and this is that all of my Jute was dyed a deep green with thinned cheap acrylic paint. I also applied roots as seen in the Dagobah Diorama to some of the creature. I want to add more to his right hand side as I forgot about that.

It took about 4-5 hours of unsteady work to apply all of the grass. Most of the grass clumps were about .5″ long give or take. Randomness is best here. Longer grass was used near the edges so that I could drape and curl it up nicer and shorter was used in the “chariot”.

When the grass was dry I teased it up, trimmed any long out of place strands and masked all the stone in aluminum foil. I thought for a while about how to get nice little scale flowers without using REAL flowers that would fade/become brittle over time. Woodland Scenics makes a flower mix which comes on a card with 4 individually packed colors. Red, White, Yellow, and Orange. The Red, Yellow and Orange are just very fine turf. I had hoped the white was too, but it was basically their flake snow. I was annoyed at first as I wanted purple, pink and white clover (as I see EVERYWHERE this time of year) and figured the turf could be easily dyed. As it turns out though, the flake snow makes AWESOME flowers and weeds.

Just pour some of the WS snow into a cup and add a few drops of thinned acrylic paint and mix. After it dries you have colored flower flakes. Fantastic! Store leftovers in some small zipper bags for future use.

First I sprinkled green and yellow-grass turf onto the grass as well as some of the green flower mix. This was all to make the grass look more like thick leafy weeds. I misted on some thinned matte medium to stick the weeds on and then sprinkled on my flower mixes to simulate  clover and wildflowers. Again, randomness is best.

Since the last update I’ve finished the painting for the golem and added his bronze accessories.  I also made and painted some more megalithic rocks for the base as well as constructing the base and basic groundwork. I’m really quite pleased with how my rocks have turned out. I’ve always had trouble painting rock to look like natural stone. Because of this I tend to use real stone when I can, but that really limits what one can do. Being able to make and paint realistic rocks may not sound like a big deal, but it adds a lot to a scene. Below I took a shot of the paint I used and my sponge bit I used for aplication.

The base is my typical plywood bottom encased in basswood then finished. Crumpled paper, wire mesh then a thin layer of Celluclay make up the groundwork. I painted it with a dirt color, (I need to darken it I think) but for the most part it will all be covered in grass.

Here’s my moss tests. Moss was done using Per Olav Lund’s method as shown on the Mig Productions forum. Basically it’s a mix of fine turf, white glue and paint. With my tests though I found my best bet was to not mix in the paint, but instead use an eyedropper to apply it later as I ended up smearing paint where I didn’t want it as seen on the rock between A and A2 below. Dropping a “dead” yellow-brown to the dry mix soaks down and looks like the brownish roots and die-off as seen in “A2″.

A: Light Green fine turf with a touch of “Earth” fine Turf.

A2: Dead-colored paint eyedropped on later.

B: A blend of Light Green, Soil and Earth fine turf. Dead-colored paint eyedropped on later.

C: Soil fine turf only

D: Earth fine turf sprinkled with real dead moss “dust”. Can be applied is parts of other mixes for die-off.

Everything was finished baking so I began priming and painting a few days ago. I primed everything with Duplicolor Light Gray Sandable Primer. Metal chains were first primed in Duplicolor Green self-etching primer, then in the Light Gray.

I gave a lot of thought to how I wanted to paint everything. Not just colors, but textures and methods as well. Would I airbrush first or hand-paint it all. Having lots of references really helped. I’ll split this update into painting the rocks and painting the bronze patina parts. I painted it all with craft acrylics from Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics. I used a combination of paints spanning several brands so I’ll probably focus on colors and technique rather than getting too specific.

Rocks »

First I hand painted all the rocks with a thin dark gray mixture. Mostly this darkens all the primer, fills all the divets, cracks and details, and serves as a base-coat. When that dried I stippled all the recesses and areas I wished to be shaded with flat black. Again when dry I stippled it all with a sponge and unthinned “cobblestone” gray paint. After that dried I sponged on raw umber and chocolate brown here and there. Mostly this was for variation, but some rocks recieved more browns to make then be a different color. Then over that I stippled on a light gray and when dry more light gray, but in a random pattern to highlight certain areas. Remember that acrylics darken as they dry so it might look really light then be darker than you wanted. Wait for it to dry fully before lightening or darkening. After that I sponged on more browns where necessary and more highlight gray. Then everything was stippled/dry-sponged with a black-green mix. (dry-sponge… kind of like drybrushing, but smearing the color with an almost dry sponge) Then some pale lichen color was sponged on.

This looked like rock, but it was too neutral gray in color. I knew this would be the case and planned for some washes/filters to warm the color. This was done by mixing some very thin yellow/brown and applying it as a very thin wash over it all. Some areas received more or less to alter the color. Basically the key is to be random. If it’s too uniform it’ll look dull and lifeless.

Patina »

Now onto the bronze parts. In my prior post I showed an aged bronze shield that I was using for reference. I first painted all the metal parts with a thin black-brown. A few coats of this darkened it up nicely. Then I sponged on a “Pure Bronze” then a Venetian Gold which is a dark gold color… almost bronze. This as you can see is VERY shiny and bright.

That’s fine though as it’ll get aged away really quick. Next mix up a green-blue patina color. Not too light yet! Split this into two and use half for a thin slurry wash. Dab this all over all the parts with a brush being aware not to deposit too much into recesses like a wash. Once this dries use the thicker mix and sponge it on randomly. Then sponge on in parts some dark blue-violet and dark green. It should look like below. Kinda crazy but the next step will tie it all together.

Now mix up your very light green-blue patina. Sponge this on and also drysponge it on as well. And that’s that! Aged patina bronze.

Here’s all the pics from this session. Next I’ll start adding grass, lichen and thick in-scale sheet mosses.