For my Wild West Exodus models, I decided to set my faction away from the normal hot and dusty west. Instead, I decided to place them in the ruins of a junkyard. The perfect place for a hideout . . . 

The first stage was to add texture and materials to the bases, for this I have used plastic straws for the pipe work, cable tie’s for the RJ-1027 relays and random plastic components (from an old calculator) to add some interesting shapes. All topped off with the odd screw thrown in for some vertical texture.

Once this had been glued in place, fine sand was glued to the remaining areas with PVA.  Once the glue had properly dried, a base coat of black was applied across the entire base. The process for painting the bases was done in four stages: sand, metal, rust, RF-1027 effect.

1. Sand

• Heavy drybrush of Dryad Bark

• Medium drybrush of Gorthor Brown

• Light drybrush of Karak Stone

• Very soft dry brush of Screaming Skull

2. Metal Work

• Base metal areas in Leadbelcher

• Thin shade with Nuln Oil (let it dry)

• Thin shade of Agraxx Earthshade (let it dry)

• Thin shade of Nuln Oil (let it dry)

3. Rust

• Stipple Balor Brown across areas of metal work

• Stipple Fire Dragon Bright, partially covering some of the previous layer and onto the metal work

• Using Ironbreaker and a fine detail brush, edge sections of the metal work, and add chipping. For natural looking results, try to paint areas that would see contact such as prominent edges, and large areas that would be walked across.

4. RJ-1027 Effect

• For my basing, I have used cable ties to represent the RJ-1027 ‘power relays’, and have added the bright flair of colour to add to the look, and style, of the bases.

• Paint the central strip with Mephiston Red, leaving the outer metal casing in the darker metallic.

• Paint a fine line of Fire Dragon Bright down the centre of the previous layer, leaving the red showing at the edges.

• Very carefully, paint a thin line of Yerial Yellow down the very centre, again leaving both of the previous colours visable.

• Use Bloodletter Glaze to apply a shade across the red, orange and yellow, this will darken the colours slightly but will help to blend the colours together.

• Re-apply the thin line of Yerial Yellow.

Important note: As you may have noticed, I have used the Citadel range of colours, there are many other ranges of paints to choose from so don't feel like you have to stick with my suggestions! 

Why not post some photos of your own work in the comments section below?  I enjoy seeing how other hobbyists look at advice and change it to their own style.