Desert Tyranid Help

[Hive_Minded]

Alright well Ive finally got some Tyranid Models from a friend, and what Id like to do is a desert theme (becuase he did 1 ripper swarm this way and it looks REALLY nice)
I want them to be mainly brown, and their non armored areas/eyes/talons/etc will be black. Maybe a lighter shade of brown too. But my main questions are
What color should I prime them as before I paint them so the brown looks good? (Like a earthy, dirt brown)
And for their backs I was thinking of spreading some elmer's glue, then putting on some very fine sand. Let that dry, then paint it so its a little more brown, then when thats dry seal it with some elmer's glue mixed with water.
I am a n00b...any suggestions?
Thank you from the Hive.  

[gama chan]

all of those i deas sound good and as far as prime goes im not really shure (it might be black)  

[Andreis]

Black Primer.

The sand on the back...hmmm... I dunno. Doesnt sound like a BAD idea per se, but it COULD look rather terrible if done wrong.  

[Hive_Minded]

I will prime them black then.
I know it could look bad (Thank god I have like 40 gaunts to practice with) But if i can do it like this guy did it will look nice. Although I think Ill have the sand on the back a more orange/yellow (Becuase brown sand will just look like dirt, and then my Tyranids would just look like they need a bath)
If I can get pictures later I will. Especially if my Carnifex comes out the way I want.  

[Xenos Mortium]

Now, this will seem as a tad odd, but I'd suggest a white primer over the whole model. After that, paint the armoured sections black, and the entire thing a brownish colour, with the non-armoured parts being lighter. If you manage to be able to paint the entire thing with the same colour of brown, just with different colours underneath it, I think that it could look fairly nice, as if camoflagued well to the environment. Then again, it could look a tad like s**t. I have some Tyranids from the Macragge set, so I'll test that and see how it works for you.

As for the sand, I'd imagine that it'd have to be a very very fine sand, or else it'd look all clumpy on its back. What I'd suggest to attach it, rather than using glue, is to use the paint itself to keep it on there. Have a small pile of sand on a sheet of paper or something and as soon as you've painted your model, or a part of it, dip it in the sand and it'll stick right to it. Of course, then you have to be sure to get rid of all of the excess, lest you have a little drop every single time you touch the model.  

[Hive_Minded]

Xenos Mortium

Now, this will seem as a tad odd, but I'd suggest a white primer over the whole model. After that, paint the armoured sections black, and the entire thing a brownish colour, with the non-armoured parts being lighter. If you manage to be able to paint the entire thing with the same colour of brown, just with different colours underneath it, I think that it could look fairly nice, as if camoflagued well to the environment. Then again, it could look a tad like s**t. I have some Tyranids from the Macragge set, so I'll test that and see how it works for you.

As for the sand, I'd imagine that it'd have to be a very very fine sand, or else it'd look all clumpy on its back. What I'd suggest to attach it, rather than using glue, is to use the paint itself to keep it on there. Have a small pile of sand on a sheet of paper or something and as soon as you've painted your model, or a part of it, dip it in the sand and it'll stick right to it. Of course, then you have to be sure to get rid of all of the excess, lest you have a little drop every single time you touch the model.

Well Im going to prime one white and one black, try painting them and see which works better. Of course this wont be for a little while...Im having to go to my friend's to do paint them (Im very cheap)
Thanks for the suggestions though! The hive will be even MORE awesome now!  

[The Erstwhile Muse]

Not to throw too much of a monkeywrench in your testing scheme, but you may want to consider a grey basecoat (something many people don't seem to use very often except on terrain). The benefits being that it will allow you to get the browns to have good coverage without darkening them like black would, or being too light or crisp like white might make them, rather it will tend to keep them rather neutral. And Black of course goes over the grey quite easily....

Next, on the subject of sand, consider the scale. Even fine grain sand is going to be much larger than scale sand would appear clinging to a Tyranid carapace. What you might try is an inexpensive tub of wood filler. I've used this before, thinned down with some water and spread about with a pallette knife to make snow drifted bases, and it works pretty good. Sand at this scale would have a similar feel/texture. You could thin some down, and apply it as desired to the model before primering them, and since it cleans up with water, if something goes wrong it's easy enough to clean up and retry before you get into the painting.

Last but not least, your title made me think of plans I've had on the back burner now for a while to do some Tyranids up with a metallic scarab beetle type color scheme to them (I may have to break down one of these days and get myself one of the new multi-part Carnifexes just to play around with/paint just for that reason). Your scheme or brown with black accents wuldn't be too far off from the japanese beetle if you did some metallic green highlighting on the black bits (and maybe even a subtle touch of tin bitz on the brown...).  

[FlashbackJon]

The Erstwhile Muse

Last but not least, your title made me think of plans I've had on the back burner now for a while to do some Tyranids up with a metallic scarab beetle type color scheme to them (I may have to break down one of these days and get myself one of the new multi-part Carnifexes just to play around with/paint just for that reason).

I also have this plan on the back burner. I even looked into irridescent car and model car paints for the effect.

I was also going to do it on some Cryx 'jacks for Warmachine.  

[Hive_Minded]

Thanks all for the ideas, but now Im putting the desert 'nids on hold :X
This is gonna be my first army, first time painting, and Id rather wait until Im decent at it. Im going to try an aquatic theme now, making them all blue, then the carapace a darker blue and their teeth/talons/etc. black.
Then Im going to use a light blue to make small lines over them and try to make it look like waves. My friend tried it out and it looks alright on this Gaunt. If I had a cameraId post it.
But wouldnt it be cool to have a Carnifex covered in seaweed and stuff? XD Have little crabs on the base. Or better yet, one of my warriors will have an inner tube.  

[FlashbackJon]

Aquatic Tyranids could be really wicked cool.

I'd personally greenstuff some webbing, fins, etc. But that could just be me. See if you can kitbash the crushing claws into a lobster-style scything talons or some such.  

[Hive_Minded]

I hadnt thought of that! Fins and webbing would be awesome XD Although Ive never worked with green stuff (It wouldnt take much to do webbing between a genestealer's rending claws I suppose)  

[Hive_Minded]

w00t well I painted for the first time today! And I think I have the scheme down. First I primed them all white, then I tried the blue one and it wasnt working out too well, so I tried Ice Blue with a Chaos black carapace (Didnt look right)
So then I started working with Hawk Turquoise, which looked awesome. Then I mixed Goblin Green and a little chaos black to get a darker, seaweed looking green, which I put over the carapace and on sections of the arms/legs/head. It looks good, like the Tyranids got some seaweed on its head or wrapped around its limbs (Im also going to a pet store, Ill see what I can do with that fake-kelp crap you can buy for your fish-tank)
Then I just painted the claws and talons black. I finished by drybrushing them with a little chaos black and ice blue here and there. God if had a camera I could show you >,< I think I did alright for a first timer.
Oh and side note...we got really bored so we made a gangsta Gaunt. He has all gold teeth (his grill) a solid gold gun (Bling) and his feet are painted white with nike logos (He needs him some nice shoes!)
I wonder if I could use the chains from a chaos sprue to give him a necklace.  

[Nubzy2142]

can i just say that whenn doing desert tyranids the best way is with vomit brown and depending on how light u want it a bit of white  

[King Kento]

A year!!!

Its a yeeeeaaarrrrr old!!!

Not even like when someone necros something a few months old.

A YEAR!!!