My First Girl... From Tunguska


First Tunguska Securitate and prototype model of Tunguska Jurisdiction Command was this shy girl in a very static and uninteresting pose. I started with the idea of making Tunguska coherent with my Bakunin force, painted many years ago in cold green with bare metal armor and red accents like kneepads and spacesuits sections joints. Webbings and pouches are brown because it’s good neutral color. I chose these colors for my Nomads during the first edition of Infinity but when sectorial armies pooped up in 2nd edition I chose to play Bakunin… and wait for Tunguska, my first love 😎

I like official studio painting, but wanted something to merge all sectorials in case I someday play Vanilla. I have a solid force of Bakunin, mostly OOP models, and like to plan ahead. For Bakunin I have green suits with some reds and polished steel armor, for Corregidor obvious choice was red suit with steel armor and some green details. Fits well in the schema.  

STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING

For Tunguska I wanted something a little more unique – with more hackers/cyberpunk/future-corpo-mob style. Then  I got the Idea of using Tron: Legacy movie aesthetics with some cyberpunk vibes and a little bit of classics like Deus Ex. That’s why I used black as a main uniform color with Tron-like vibrant green lines and lights (in place of the cold green I used in Bakunin) and steel armor. Later I added metallic red, like red breastplates and some armor details, unintentionally moving closer to the official pallet with a little twist. At first it was closer to Tron. Just pure, base colors and lines of glowing green. I was even thinking of making Rinzler-like Raul Spector based on a Hassasin Fiday or Mukhtar (he even has the right pose), with disc shaped CC weapon… I may do it someday, but as you know, I now have “Raul Spector Ninja Demon” and I like him. But, digression, digressions are plenty, and I want to write something about painting this first female. 

HOW I DID IT?

I started with assembling and basing her on an old standard base with a triple-hex topper made from a rolling pin pressed in Miliput. It’s a fast, good looking and simple method I use on all my Tunguska models. Then she was primed with mat black IDEA! spray (cheep, but very good.), drybrushed with white to show all details and help me define shapes. I usually prime black for dark models or when it will be mainly painted metallics. This time it was both. Someday I will try to use white drybrush on a grey base for a lighter start, but not when almost all the model will be black.

Painting started from the main color of the base – GW Mechanicus Grey – it’s a warm dark grey with some brown vibes, good for painting concrete or stone. It is also far from a little blueish Space Wolf Grey I like to use for highlights on black. Next, I used Reaper Honed Steel on her arms and some other parts, some armor elements on her boots or parts of her gun. Her armored vest was painted gold and washed with a little diluted GW Contrast Blood Angels Red. Later I added the same combo to her gloves. I tried also use black Contrast on the drybrushed white uniform parts, but it turned to dark and I highlight it anyway with GW Space Wolf Grey. I still need some practice with the black contrast – GW Contrast in different colors have different transparency and power of obscuring the colors underneath. I use them usually more as filters and shades than “magic self-shading one layer paints” as GW usually says. 


After the main colors I painted white inside the lines in front and back of her legs and a corrected white on some other elements I wanted to cover with fluorescent green. I useed Vallejo Model Fluo Green, which is in My opinion a little more vibrant than the same color from Game Color palette. You can see the difference on pictures above. You may add some depth to fluo green using as a base light green with white only on the brightest points, but this Securitate was painted in my “lazy way”, as simple and work-efficient as possible. I added elements of fluo green on her gun and inside the circle ports on her collarbone and on right arm. At first I forgot to paint the lines between the armor plates on her arms and had to fix it later. 

Her face was painted with Vallejo Panzer Aces Flesh Base then highlighted with the same color mixed with more and more of Vallejo Bone White. Her eyes were painted black with white and fluo green inside. Then I painted white her collar and added Vallejo Scarf Green to her tie – it’s the same color I use for Bakunin uniforms, so it gives her a shade of continuity with them. Her hair I first painted some light brown with White Bone highlights, but it needed some more definition so I added a wash with watered down Vallejo Cavalry Brown – it’s a little glossy dark brown with red tones, so it contrasts well with her hair color. Similarly with the strips and pouches. I at first painted them grey, but at the end used GW Bestial/Balor Brown with some White Bone highlights. 


Her gun magazine and all its elements painted Honed Steel were at this stage edge-highlighted with GW Mithril Silver, but the contrast on the metal is almost invisible in the photo. Life it looks just a little better. It’s something I can improve later. Maybe by adding some darker shades to make it pop?  I also finished base: added some dark metalic on sewage cover and edge-highlighted rest of the base with white mixed with a drop of GW Mechanicus Grey. One highlight, no shades. Straight and simple. Tip to remember - don't spend too much time on base, the miniature is centerpiece. The finishing touch was a very old GW Metallic Blue on her glasses and the line of fire arc as a tiny strip of the same fluo green. I added it later, so it's not visible on photo.

I think the final effect is good and not very toilsome. It’s also not perfect - needs more definition and sharper dark-light transition on metallic parts. Based on her I painted two others Securitates from the starter pack and the big black guy with a Feurebach, but that’s a story for another day… 


If You read to this point, I hope you liked it. 
Maybe it will help with your painting!

[NOTE] I would like to thank Polynikes Ulaties for helping Me with this text.

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