Agrallian Earth

[paladin7221]

Or whatever this 'cracked earth' technical paint from GW is actually called.....

 Simple question - is it any good and for those who have used it, what's the best way to apply it?

[Stretch]

This mean some of your mojo is back buddy?

[Lord Draconiroth]

The thicker the better! With a basecoat underneath

[Geifer]

Things I have found:

Apply it, as said above, fairly thick. I found using a bigger brush (like the minimum size you'd consider for painting tanks), dipping it in the pot and then brushing it off on the base for only two or three strokes, then going back and taking more gives large enough cracks for it to really look good.

Don't try to even the paint out on the place. Thicker and thinner areas will dry to a nice, random pattern. Which isn't to say you should use really thin layers, because you shouldn't. All paint you put on the base should be so plentyful you'd consider it thick, but different thicknesses improve the look of the base overall.

I read that room temperature might affect it, but I started using it in wintry 18°C and found no ill effect.

Agrellan Earth is really neat.

Downsides/things to look out for. Nothing too tricky here, but some things just work different than other paints:

Thin paint will do nothing. It will crack, but so microscopically you don't need to bother.

In that vein, this is probably not a product for horde armies. I am quite bad at estimating, so you may not take this at face value, but I'm not expecting a pot to last for more than 20-25 models. I can tell you more when I'm through that number of models, since I'm using it myself at the moment.

Mixing in other paint, and possibly decent amounts of water, will screw up the mix and the crackle medium inside will be too thinned out to do its job. If you want the effect using Agrellan Earth, but a different color, painting over it is the way to go.

As far as painting over is concerned, make sure you get big cracks for that purpose. Obviously, thin cracks are easily filled with paint.

You should consider a good basecoat. Agrellan Earth does not leave paint on the surface it is painted on when it dries, it all contracts into separate dried lumps. You will be able to see the underlying color, or bare base if you go without a basecoat. Here's a tricky one, but that may only be because I gave it a single try under difficult circumstances: The basecoat needs to stick to the surface quite well, or else it will stick to the lump of Agrellan Earth and get lifted off the base. Happened to me on a painted on green stuff surface, which is less than ideal and may be the reason it didn't work for me.

The paint loses a lot of volume when it dries. Therefore it becomes fairly thin when it's done, and hugs surfaces. As a result you will be able to see underlying surface structures (like where the model goes into the slot of a base on some resin or snap fit models. You'll have to even such areas out before painting (say with (liquid) green stuff) to make the basing look good.

And then there's one for people like me who can't keep their fingers to themselves and have to pick scab. The flakes you get once dried are not exactly the most durable thing. I really, really recommend going over the finished base with varnish, provided you don't seal it with other paint in the first place. It doesn't fall off just by looking at it, but I think it might get damaged in transport.

[paladin7221]

Dec 29, 2013 6:10:15 GMT Stretch said:

This mean some of your mojo is back buddy?

Partly. Considering if Ag Earth cracks on bases then, with a suitable base colour underneath it, perhaps it might give a 'split skin' effect on a Maulerfiend, akin to molten insides under a cracking-up armour coat.

 Experimentation is required, however.

[badfang]

I'd certainly be interested in seeing the results, good or bad. EDIT or both

[Farseer Kyladras]

If only this stuff was around a couple of years back when I had the insane idea of sculpting my own Eldar Avatar, the model I had as an armature was a perfect size and scale and with some of this painted over to form the molten lava skin it might have been a viable option...

FK

[paladin7221]

That's essentially what gave me the idea....

[Geifer]

Dec 29, 2013 16:25:21 GMT paladin7221 said:

Partly. Considering if Ag Earth cracks on bases then, with a suitable base colour underneath it, perhaps it might give a 'split skin' effect on a Maulerfiend, akin to molten insides under a cracking-up armour coat.

 Experimentation is required, however.

I reckon this should work, although unless you happen to want the cracked skin to have this exact brown tone, you might not even need a fitting base color. You could, of course, paint the molten insides first, then carefully paint every skin flake once Agrellan Earth has been applied, but that to me sounds most labor-intensive (to a lazy bum like me) when you consider the (lazy bum) alternative is a white spray basecoat, a coat of Agrellan Earth and a mix red and yellow wash for the lava under the skin. Then it's just a matter of drybrushing the skin to your liking.