First MERC Finished!

I've finished my first MERCS miniature - the CCC Yellow Jacket Trooper! I also finished the base coat on my next mini, the Incinerator - completed Trooper and WIP of Incinerator (click pics to enlarge):

The camera really helps bring out the imperfections. When I hold my Trooper in my hand I think he looks great - but the photos tell the story of my lack of smooth blending skills, which I attempt to hide with a simple dry-brush.
Well, I think the important thing is that I'm happy with mini. I think it looks great on the tabletop and on the shelf next to my computer. I follow a pretty standard painting strategy:

1. Prime: as Yellow is a dominant color, I've primed with the Citadel Skull White
2. Base Coat: see pics above. I usually don't spent too much time on the first base coat, as I do a touch up coat later...
3. Washes: do all the washes for all the colors
4. Touch-up: general clean up of the mini, going over pretty much everything that is NOT in the recesses with the original base coat color
5. Dry-brush highlight: go over the whole mini with close-to-white colors. I've found that this gives the mini a worn, battle-weary, dull look which I've grown to like
6. Clean-up: small touch-ups here and there where necessary

So I based my paint scheme on the scheme they've used on the MERCS website:

I never like using the absolute default paint scheme, simply because I believe personalising miniatures is one of the most interesting aspects of the hobby. What I usually do is take a good long look at the original, close the picture, then start painting my own mini. This leads to slight variations to the standard, or what I feel is my interpretation of the original concept.
Obviously my skill level in painting also changes the overall look of the mini - my inability for smooth color blends leads the mini to look more worn, as opposed to the picture above which looks brighter and much cleaner.
I did consciously add a red band on his leg, just to add a bit more punch to the mini. I quite like the way it turned out, so I'll do that with the rest of the squad and keep it consistent.

I'm still unsure as to what to do with the basing - the basing I'm most comfortable with is dirt, rocks and rubble. That wouldn't really the suit the battleground I've created though (see my last blog) so I'll think on that for a while.

Sync out.