I've done a quartered scheme with my deathwing minis. The easiest way I found, is by priming it one of the two colours to start (in this case I'd recommend white to you, unless you feel comfortable painting white, some people don't)
A few tips:
1. Ensure you have a hard copy of the paint scheme, that is a photocopy (so if you get paint on it while painting, you don't faint)
2. Consider the parts of the mini. Are you planning on painting the arms on the model or off it? This would be the time to decide one way or the other, and prime all the parts at the same time. If you're using army painter primers, I'd actually say you could prime the arms different colours if you are keeping parts separate. This could also confuse the daylights out of you if you're not used to the idea of priming bits separately, so no harm no foul if you don't like the idea.
3.Priming, as thin of a coat as possible, especially here, so you don't have drips and runs that you need to worry about covering up with the second colour.
4. Use very thin coats of paint to build up the colours. I can't stress this one enough. While it willl take a few, over white, but it's well worth it so there's not huge lines where the two colours touch, and it gives you more control to fix a mistake if you make it. Also, if you have to touch up one side or the other, it makes it easier for you if they're not thick and heavy. I recommend P3 Mixing Medium to thin the paint.
5. Use a pencil to mark your scheme on the model, lightly of course. Doing this over white primer allows the blue paint to mask the lines, thereby getting crisp clean lines. Same technique they recommend for painting camouflage.
6. You could consider using masking fluid, but:
A.With various groves and details on the model, you will have difficulty getting all the masking fluid
off.
B, If you attempt to paint, and varnish over it because you can't get all of it off, in due time it will simply
flake off, effectively ruining the paint scheme, and frustrating you.
C. It can pull paint off when you go to rub it off (had this happen with my Red Scorpions).
7. Masking with tape is okay, on vehicles, with careful painting. A few major drawbacks include:
A. Iit gives very defined lines, with paint tending to be thick right next to the tape.
B. When you pull the tape off, it will have a huge defined line, that will detract from the model, as the
other side's paint will be significantly thicker, and more raised.
C. You also have the chance that the masking tape will simply pull paint off. There's plenty of painting
tape that advertises that it comes off within 7 days, however, they speak of using it on walls, not
miniatures. I've had a GW model on more than one occasion don't take primer very well, and these are
the most likely candidates for this problem. I'd also be cautious about using tape on resin for the same
reasons.
8. Check our paints, to make sure they don't have chunks in them, especially for doing this.
9. Don't use GW Foundation paints for this project. These paints, while heavily pigmented, dry far too fast for them to be useful for this project. You want to use a paint that has forgiveness, which these don't, unless you use slow dry with it, in a 90 paint to 10 slow dry mixture. These paints will be more likely to cause you to have large marks in it, clumps, and thick spots, as they don't give you a lot of time to work with them out of the pot.
10. If you have access to it, I recommend the P3 Cygnar Blue Base and Highlight as the blues for your scheme. The reason I recommend these over the GW paints are for several reasons:
A. Cost. At least in the US, P3 is less expensive than GW.
B. Quality. Their paint is also a bit thinner, but still the same amount of pigment GW has. In my
opinion this brand of paint tends to go on much smoother, and have a better covering quality than the
GW paint line.
C. Consistency. P3, Vallejo and Model Colour paints have a better track record than GW with this. The
GW paints tend to differ from batch to batch, even after the paints have been well and thoroughly
mixed. For a project like this, consistency is the key to producing great results.
Good luck with the scheme, and if you have any questions about anything I mentioned, feel free to email me at
[email protected]