How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol - Iron Monger

Hey everybody! It's How to Paint Everything time once again and this time we are taking a look at how I painted Iron Monger for Marvel: Crisis Protocol! He's a beefy boy and towers over the standard Tony Stark models, being roughly the same size as the Hulk Buster miniature. As usual, a huge thank you to Atomic Mass Games for providing me with this model kit, I really appreciate the support!

In case you haven't heard of him, Iron Monger is Obadiah Stane. In the comics, he is the head of Stane International, a corporation that focused on munitions. Eventually he allied himself with Howard Stark and set his eyes on taking over Stark International after Howard's death. A task he is eventually successful in, for a time. After acquiring Stark's business ventures he finds Tony's Iron Man suit schematics and sets to work building his Iron Monger suit.

Today, we're going to go over a non-metallic metal technique I developed for creating a beaten and weathered metal surface using non-metallic paint. This will help replicate the finish of his armor. I'll also be going over a few areas that received object source lighting as well.

For the most part, he's a fairly straight forward model to paint since he's basically all one color. But we'll inject a few different colors to make him a bit more interesting, and the OSL will also help with that a bit too.

credit - Brushwizard

Armor

Basecoat - Citadel Chaos Black Spray Primer Drybrush - AK Interactive Dark Sea Blue Stipple - AK Interactive French Blue Stipple - AK Interactive French Blue: Army Painter Fanatics Shieldwall Blue Stipple - Previous Mix: Army Painter Brigade Grey Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Brigade Grey Wash - Citadel Agrax Earthshade Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Brigade Grey Glaze - Citadel Pylar Glacier Stipple - AK Interactive White Edge Highlight - AK Interactive White Dark Lining - Vallejo Model Color Black Stipple - Vallejo Model Color Black

I know it looks like a lot of steps, but bare with me. The results are worth the effort. We are going to start with a basecoat of Black, I used Chaos Black spray paint from Citadel. To add some color to the model, we start with a heavy drybrushing of Dark Sea Blue.

Next we will take a large round drybrush and use it to stipple all of the surfaces with French Blue. This is followed by another stippling of French Blue mixed with Shieldwall Blue. Next, mix a small amount of Brigade Grey into the previous paint mix and stipple it onto any areas that should be catching more light. Do the same with straight Brigade Grey.

Once you're happy with the coverage and highlights, wash the entire model with Agrax Earthshade. This will shade all of the recesses and add some brown tones to the metal as well. Once the wash is dry, stipple only the highest points with Brigade Grey.

Next, over the highlighted areas, do a thin glaze of Pylar Glacier over all of the areas that are being highlighted. This will inject some light blue into the highlights and make it seem as if the light is reflecting the sky a little bit.

The last steps involve one more pass of stippling, an edge highlight on all of the panels using White. The recesses and panel lines are painted with Black to up contrast a bit more and break up the colors. Then it is given a light stippling of Black to add in dark pock marks on the surface.

Chest and Eye Glow

Basecoat - AK Interactive White Layer - Lethal Shadows Fluorescent Red Layer - Lethal Shadows Fluorescent Light Orange Highlight - AK Interactive White

The eyes of the suit and his Arc Reactor on his chest were painted White, followed by Fluorescent Red, Fluorescent Light Orange and then a highlight of White.

Hydraulic Pistons

Basecoat - Vallejo Model Color Black Highlight - Vallejo Model Color Black: AK Interactive French Blue Silver Piston Basecoat - AK Interactive French Blue Silver Piston Highlight - AK Interactive Snow Blue Silver Piston Highlight - AK Interactive White

All of the hydraulic pistons were painted Black. The outer body of the cylinder was then given a simple highlight of Black mixed with French Blue.

The hydraulic shafts were painted French Blue, followed by a highlight of Snow Blue and White. These are small areas, so the highlights are essentially a single line run down the center of the shaft.

Hydraulic Hoses

Basecoat - Citadel Incubi Darkness Highlight - Citadel Incubi Darkness: AK Interactive Ice Yellow

Any visible hydraulic hoses were given a basecoat of Incubi Darkness. Ice Yellow was then mixed into Incubi Darkness to create a highlight color and that was painted down the center of all of the hoses for a simple highlight.

Fire Blast and Exhaust Cloud OSL

Glaze - Army Painter Fanatics Basilisk Red Drybrush - Army Painter Fanatics Burning Ore Drybrush - Army Painter Fanatics Warped Yellow

Before we get to painting the fire itself, we are going to lay down the OSL first. Mostly because we are going to be drybrushing it on and its going to get all over the fire blasts anyway.

To start we are going to thin Basilisk Red and paint thin layers of it around the areas that will be catching reflections. Try to blend this into the original surface color as best you can. Once its fully dry, take a medium size round drybrush brush with Burning Ore on it, and drybrush as close to the light source as possible, radiating out and going lighter as you get further away from it. Then with another clean drybrush and do another pass using Warped Yellow.

Fire Blast

Basecoat - AK Interactive White Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Warped Yellow Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Flickering Flame Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Dragon Red: Army Painter Fanatics Flickering Flame Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Dragon Red Stipple - Vallejo Model Color Black

The fire blast on his back was repainted White, I did multiple coats to ensure that any OSL mess that was made was fully covered. Then it was given a solid layer of Warped Yellow making sure it has good coverage too. Then starting at the tip of the flame I did another layer of Flickering Flame, trying to blend it into the Warp Yellow. This is followed by another layer of Flickering Flame with a small amount of Dragon Red mixed in.

To give it some texture, I used my medium round drybrush and stippled the end of the blast with Dragon Red. It was then finished up with another stippling of Black.

Exhaust Cloud

Basecoat - Army Painter Warped Yellow Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Flickering Flame Layer - Army Painter Fanatics Dragon Red: Army Painter Fanatics Flickering Flame Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Dragon Red Stipple - Citadel Doombull Brown Stipple - Vallejo Model Color Black

The Exhaust Cloud was painted basically the same way as the fire blast was, but instead I added another stippling of Doombull Brown between the stipple layers of Dragon Red and Black to make it look as if it is burning things on the ground and getting a bit more smokey.

Dirt Basing

Basecoat - Citadel Gorthor Brown Wash - Citadel Agrax Earthshade

As usual, the dirt was painted Gorthor Brown and then washed with Agrax Earthshade.

Concrete Basing

Basecoat - Citadel Stormvermin Fur Stipple - Army Painter Ash Grey Stipple - Army Painter Brigade Grey Wash - Citadel Nuln Oil

To finish him all off, I painted the concrete section of the base in my usual concrete recipe. This starts with a solid coat of Stormvermin Fur, followed by a stippling of Ash Grey and another stippling of Brigade Grey. It is then washed with Nuln Oil to stain it a bit and shade the recesses of the basing.

credit - Brushwizard

With that Iron Monger is ready to go! He's currently a staple in my Criminal Syndicate list alongside Rhino. He's been a lot of fun working under Kingpin and has done a bunch of work for me.

Have you picked up the Iron Lad, Iron Monger, Kang the Conqueror & Rescue box? If so hit me up on Bluesky or Instagram! If you're a Patron of Tabletop Battles, join us in the Marvel: Crisis Protocol channel of the discord, its always nice to chat about the game and our hobby projects!

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