Painting Tutorial: Dust Axis Light Walker 'Hans'

Dust Axis Light Walker 'Hans'.
This model is "Hans". A light Axis Walker from the Dust Tactic board game / Dust Warfare.

I decided to paint this walker with The Dunkelgrau German Dark Grey Painting System. With my own spin on some of the choices here and there. I did not follow the "guide" in the painting system 100%. And added i few more colors!

The color used is:

Vallejo "The Dunkelgrau German Dark Grey Painting System

Primer: Vallejo Black Surface Primer (There is grey in the painting system but I prefere Black)
Model Air #050 Light Grey
Model Air #052 German Grey
Model Air #053 Dark Sea Green
Model Air #054 Dark Grey Blue
Model Air #119 White Grey (not in the set)
Model Air #109 UK P.R.U Blue (not in the set)
Model Air #008 UK Pale Blue (not in the set)
Model Air #029 Mud Brown

Basecoat Shade: 

1.
Undercoat the model black. I used Vallejo Black Surface Primer with an airbrush. Any black primer is fine.

2.
First thing to do was to prime the entire Walker with black primer. Then start with the base shadowing color, Dark Grey Blue.
This color is to be sprayed as pre-shading into the corners and around panel lines and so on.

3.
Then I loaded the airbrush with the Dark Sea Green. Paying attention to the deep corners again and but bringing the color further out into sections.

Basecoas highlights:

4.

Next using German Grey to start highlighting. Keep In mind where the light will hit the model.

5.

Now second last highligt. First Light Grey (this is the last color in the The Dunkelgrau German Dark Grey Painting System) lightening the panels adding even more depth and more perspective of light.

6.

And last White Grey to highlight some of the raised areas.

7.
Paint the weapons with UK P.R.U Blue and UK Pale Blue. Try to keep the prehighlighting done from the steeps with the walker and then just add the two colors lightly one by one. I dit not mask the parts, other than using abit of paper with my hand as I was spraying. 

Shading / Washes:
8.
Apply Gloss varnish to the whole model. I used Vallejo Gloss Varnish with my airbrush. This coat will make the wash flow better. Even if you decide not to use an Oil Wash, I would still recommend the varnish in this case.

9.

Apply a black wash all over the model. I used W&N Winton Ivory Black.

(Les' Quick Tip - How to Make Water Color Washes)

10.

When the wash is dry - it is time to clean the model. The wash will often tint areas you do not want it to.

Use a cotton swab with water and remove the dried wash from any areas it should not be. Especially the raised areal should be cleaned.

Highlights and basing:
11. 
I added white to the base color to highlight just the edges of the amour. Be careful only to paint very fine lines and again think vere the light will hit the model.

12.
The final steps before sealing my work, was to mask the model and paint the base with Vallejo Black Surface Primer, then base with Mud Brown.

Final Note:
13.
As you can see I did use some chipping on the model. I chose not to cover this in this guide, but will do that in my next DUST project. But for now you can check out the link below to see a guide about the Chipping Medium from Vallejo I did use!(Check out this guide "How to make a chipping effect?")