eBay Miniature Rescues is tackling a new project this week! He’s saving Abaddon from the recesses of the trash bin with this painting tutorial!
eBay Miniature Rescues is a unique channel that shows you how to take beat up, damaged minis, and restore them to their fullest potential! It’s a relatively new channel on YouTube and it’s super fun to watch what Casey is able to do with some once hopeless miniatures. This week, he shows us how to save an old Abaddon mini.
Saving Abaddon From Ruin: EMR Painting Tutorial
Here’s how the model looked when he purchased him for 17$. Tons of excess glue, pewter messed up and falling apart everywhere. Let’s see how he can save Abaddon from here!
To get the model stripped and clean he uses 97% and above isopropyl alcohol. He places the model in a ultrasonic cleaner along with the alcohol and lets it do it’s thing until the model is clean. Once the model is clean he moves on to the base.
Editor’s note: the flashpoint of IPA is about 53º F, meaning that there could be a potential for ignition depending on the conditions, so be careful if you do this!
He clears all the old glue and paints off, then adds some corkboard and a piece of bark to add some height to the model. He rounds out the base with some sand to give it a more natural look.
To begin the spraying process he starts with Stynylrez Black. He goes over the entire model getting a good base built up but avoids getting any clumpy spots. He then takes off the claws and the sword from the model so he can do some cool airbrush stuff on them separately. Next, he hits those pieces with Khorne Red.
As a note, he does a lot of the next steps with an airbrush. If you want some tutorials before you start, check some out here.
Then, he adds Citidel’s Troll Slayer Orange to the airbrush and starts hitting the highlights on top of the red. He wants to cover about half the red to give the model a gradient effect.
To get the final highlight on the weaponry he mixes Liquitex Titanium White in with the orange to lighten things up ( you can use the white from ProAcryl too it’s very similar). This is how your model should look once you reattach the weaponry.
Time to start hitting the metal! He goes with Vallejo Dark Aluminum as his main color for all the metal, just giving all the metal pieces a once over and a good thick base coat. Nothing fancy, just make sure everything has good coverage here. Vallejo Metal Copper is next up, he uses that as a highlight and to change up the scheme a little.
He then uses Khorne Red, Mephiston Red, and Firedragon Bright to paint the loincloth from dark to light. Starting darker and doing layers brighter and brighter. This ties the model together paint scheme-wise, nothing too crazy here.
Now we move onto the face and highlights. For the sword and edge highlights he uses Vallejo white and just edge highlights around the sword and claws. Next, he moves to the head of the model starting with Citadel Kislev Flesh as a base and Scale 75 Pale Flesh as the highlight.
Once the paint is dry put a gloss varnish on the entire model. Then does a wash over the entire model with Tamiya Panel Liner. Both of these steps are applied to the entire model so no need to be too delicate here. He then uses a dry brush to wash away any excess oil before it dries. Just make sure you have an even coat over the entire thing!
And that wraps it up for this hobby rescue! With a little extra effort, you can have one amazing looking model!
Watch the full video, and be sure to follow eBay Miniature Rescues on YouTube now!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
