For this tutorial you will need (approximately):

• White Primer (I use Halfords matt primer)
• Thunderhawk Blue (Or dark teal blue)
• Dawnstone
• Administratum Grey
• Foundry Arctic Grey 33B
• Foundry Austrian White C (or any med-light white)
• Skrag Brown
• Tau Light Ochre
• Bronzed Flesh (Old GW - Not necessary)
• Ungor Flesh
• Foundry forest Green 26A (or any dark green)
• Foundry Bright Green 25B and 25C (Or any mid - light green)
• Golden Griffon (or any gold)
• Kantor Blue (or regal Blue for Old GW)
• Abaddon Black (or any Black)
• Eshin Grey
• Rhinox hide

Each stage will contain a separate component to represent the way I paint, this means if you are here for just the skin tone, then that will be separated out in each stage. The picture will be provided before the instructions (please note that pictures will have to be clicked to be enlarged so that you can get a good look at the detail). Thanks and hope this tutorial helps.

Stage 1:

Prep Work: After taking your model off of the sprew, carefully start to file or scrape off the mold lines, watch out for the antenna, they bend but if you move them around too much they break and cannot be glued back on, believe me I tried. I am using metal models not finecast. After you have cleaned up the models it is then time to glue them together with two part Epoxy glue. For those who are unsure, this is a glue that comes in two separate tubes, a resin and a hardener. You want about a 60:40 mix in preference to the resin in only pea sized amounts. If you have too much resin it will not dry, if you have too much hardener it will become brittle. Also use an old plastic cover off of a GW blister pack that used to contain metal minis and a paper clip. DO NOT USE A BRUSH. Also if the glue starts to dry on the mixing surface do not use it as it will not glue properly. If you have any further questions about the glue I use please feel free to ask in the comments section. Oh, and one other thing, DO NOT USE SUPER GLUE!!! It becomes brittle after a few years.

Stage 2: (Ensure model has been left for at least a day for the glue to dry)

Priming: the reason we prime our models is to give us a base layer to work off of for the type of colours we are going to use. Black would be used primarily for a darker coloured model like a model with a lot of chainmail etc. Grey and white are interchangeable, used primarily for models with a lighter colour scheme in mind. White undercoat is better for models with a colour scheme with a lot of washes and glazes. Now, after you have a applied you white undercoat, this is what your model should look like:

Now we want to apply our first few colours:

1. Heavy Wash: Apply to whole model except gun, however this does not matter, it just helps for later stages. For this stage you want to take your old/used number 4 or 5 Brush. Paint wise, we will use the Citadel Thunderhawk Blue in a 80:20 mix with water in favour of the blue, try and get a thick wash with the same consistency as full fat milk. You may wish to do a second coat if you feel your first try was too watery.

2. Layer Basecoat: Apply a layer of Dawnstone, this will not be watered down as it is our basecoat. Apply to all layers of skin including wings and face.

3. A second wash of Thunderhawk Blue is added after the basecoat. This should have the same consistency as milk, or a 60:40, Paint:Water ratio. This helps to add areas of shade and fill in any white dots of primer that haven't taken any of the paint so far. Pictures show front and back so that you can get your bearings of what your model should look like at this stage.

4. Apply First Light Layer: Using Administratum Grey we want to  start to distinguish between our light and dark areas. You can either do 2 or 3 layers depending on how shaded you want your model to be. The first picture shows Left Wing = first : Middle = second : Right Wing = third layer of paint.

The final two pictures at the bottom show what the model should look like after the whole model has had a third layer applied. Please notice that the antenna lines have been painted in with a 000 brush, I'm afraid to say this is a must have for this stage, if not then you will need a steady hand with your detail brush. The lines should almost look like a comb, with a line at the top and teeth coming down from the top, leaving the darker Dawnstone in-between.

5. Now we can start to apply paint to the areas we have ignored before going on to highlight the skin. For this step you want to take your standard brush, about a 2, and paint Skrag Brown onto the armour and the gun casing. Please note that there is an area under the wings that is armour and should be painted now. Before you start fixing any areas you may have gone over you want to take your detail brush, about a 0, and paint the wires and handle of the gun Abaddon black, for reference please see pictures.

6. Highlighting: Now we start to apply our first highlights to the skin. Using Foundry's Arctic Grey 33B you want to create a thin layer, so about 60:40 in favour of the paint. Taking your detail brush, (0), this goes over all the skin you have just done, do not use it as an edge highlight, since the Vespids have light skin, and the colours you have used so far are too dull, this light layer just helps the colour to snap out.

7. Layer: Using your detail brush apply the Tau Light Ochre in all its glory in two coats to all the areas you previously painted with Skrag Brown.

8. Highlighting: Using the Bronzed Flesh (or watered down Ungor Flesh) apply edge highlights to the gun with a detail brush. Also using the Austrian White (or substitute) apply an edge highlight to all areas on the skin and the lines you drew on the antenna. You will not notice much of a difference however it will just make them that little bit brighter and contrasting.

9. Further Highlighting: Apply Ungor Flesh to the gun, but do not highlight along all edges of the gun, just the corners, whether that be on a flat or raised surface. For the black areas apply a first highlight of Eshin Grey. This should be applied along the top where the light is naturally reflected, as a rough guideline to follow.

10. Final Highlighting: Now to add the finishing touches to the areas we have covered so far. For the gun you want to mix 50: 50 Ungor Flesh with Austrian white. Apply this to the most pronounced and distinct edges with your detail brush. For the black, apply small dots or strokes of Dawnstone over the Eshin Grey. Please see photo for reference.

11. Skin Decals: Now for the fun part, well for me anyway. Using a detail brush, use the Thunderhawk Blue watered down about 50:50, you want to start to line in where the bulk of the skin patterns are going to be. For feet and hands you want to paint about half the way up but try to leave a line of the white surrounding the blue area. For the knees just paint an oval at the bend in the knee. For the head, just a circle on the crown of his head where the bony parts are, on his head not the antenna. And for the wings and shoulders, (picture at the top right). Just the top of the shoulders and the middle section of the wings should be painted at this stage.

12. Left Picture: Fill in the Thunderhawk Blue with Kantor Blue, after that paint all the little bony bits Rhinox Hide with your finest detail brush, about a 00 or a 000. Also paint his toe - claws (not toe-nails :D), teeth and stinger with Rhinox Hide.

Right Picture: Now take the Ungor flesh and dab it onto all the bony bits and teeth. Also for his stinger and toe-claws, try and paint on the Ungor flesh so that it comes to a point at the end but leaves the brown in between at the beginning. Like a bone horn. If that description did not help please refer to the picture.

13. Claws and Bones: Apply Austrian White to the very tips of the claws on the feet. For the Bone studs on his skin and his teeth you want to take your finest detail brush and do a small dot of white, like you would do on a gem stone.

14. Left Picture: The Finer Details - In this stage we will start to fill in those gaps of detail with your normal detail brush. For the Pulse Ball in the gun, carefully paint Rhinox Hide Brown onto it filling in the crevasses, then paint the Ball sections gold. Remember you will need to do this for both sides of the gun.

Pulse Crystal - This small and intricate crystal is where you will need to summon your concentration, to not undo the work around it. Apply a basecoat of Forest Green 26A (or dark green equivalent) with your detail brush. Then try and notice the edges on the crystal, paint these with the Bright Green 25B, you should use your 000 brush for this. Next, using your 000 brush apply the Bright green 25C to the edges that occur about half way up the crystal until the point. Finally add a small dot of white at the end and voila it is done.

Right Picture: In this picture I have added the sept marking according to Games Workshop, however you can add any decal you want that corresponds to your army. Also I have painted in around the chest decal with Austrian White. I have also painted the base Rhinox Hide brown before basing.

Congratulations you have just painted your very first Vespid!

I hope that my method of painting was easy to follow for beginners and intermediates. I know these models are not well loved for their rules but I know of so many people who have bought them and do not know how to paint them. Thanks for reading, and until next time, bye for now!

Did you find this tutorial helpful? If so I would love to hear your feedback in the comments so that I can improve on the next one. Please Check out my blog: http://mcneilpaintingprojects.blogspot.co.uk/ for more painting tutorials and painted miniatures.