Deathwatch Chaplain WIP #2, Grey Knight WIP #1

When not in use, armour must still be stored in a mighty pose.

Alongside Chappy, there's also one of the Grey Knights I'm also simultaneously painting. Only the one Grey Knight was painted previously, so it's time to finish the rest.

Starting with a couple things in common, the Chaplain and Knight have what I deem to be "white cloth". I like to build this up multiple layers to really give it some depth, and make it look somewhat thick (and therefore more durable during battle). I also leave it mostly unadorned, for no other reason that I don't trust my freehand to not mess up all that hard work! The cloth for the Chaplain is attached at the left hip.
The usual process is likely to now be:

• Zandri Dust (base)
• Agrax Earthshade (wash)
• Karak Stone (layer, leaving deeper recesses alone)
• Screaming Skull (layer, leaving more recesses alone)
• White Scar (layer, very thin coat, here only applied for the Chaplain).

Layering is done with thin coats, and quite a bit of patience. It's very difficult to get the layers blending just right, and I often make mistakes by going over areas still wet. This is bad because it often just removes paint. Really do let each layer dry completely before adding another - it makes everything so much easier in the end.

Scrolls and paperwork are done slightly differently in the hope of giving a different texture at the end. I'm still working on this, but the approach used long ago on the Sanguinary Guard is:

• Steel Legion Drab (base)
• Ushabti Bone (layer)
• Agrax Earthshade (wash, thinly applied)
• Pallid Wych Flesh (layer, thinly applied)
• Black (for the writing; the somewhat ruined black that's now thinned down a lot works really well here)

I'm toying with the idea of going over it with very thin Seraphim Sepia if it's too white at the end. I'll see how the scrolls on the Grey Knight go - they've been base coated, but not layered.

They Grey Knight was airbrushed for the base coats. Basic Leadbelcher, followed by Ironbreaker, and then a (far too thinned, darn) directional of Grey Knights Steel from Forgeworld, and an opposite direction of Deathshroud. A good deal of layer paint, particularly Ironbreaker, was used to fix things afterwards and add some edge highlights, along with a bit of brushwork using Grey Knights Steel. Drakenhof Nightshade around select edges, sometimes with multiple coats to make it very dark, and that's the base armour complete. It sounds fairly easy, but it was a bit tedious at times. Still faster than entirely by hand, and though different to the original Grey Knight, still just as good in the end.
Inset gold writing was, however, quite easy:

• Retributor Armour (base)
• Liberator Gold (layer, applied to try and just catch the writing)
• Seraphim Sepia (wash, applied with a small brush and allowed to pool lower than the lettering)

Letting the wash flow into recesses really makes the wording stand out and easy to read. If done carefully, it doesn't take away too much shine from the raised areas, and it's not so bad if it does; there's enough metallics on the Grey Knights that a little lack of shine on the wording can sometimes add to the model anyway.

-- silly painter.

Deathwatch Chaplain WIP #1

Chappy

Hot on the heels of the "minigun guys" comes the model of the Deathwatch Chaplain. He'll likely end up as a Blood Angel Chaplain, mostly because I don't have a Deathwatch force, and because he can fill the role of a Chaplain without a jump-pack.

So why this model next? Simple really: black armour. Horus himself needs starting, even if his base isn't yet finished, and I wanted a bit more practice with black before I went there.

Using the airbrush, I started on a first highlight with Mechanicus Standard Grey (air), followed by Dawnstone (air), followed by a light coat of Administratum Grey (air).

This did not work. I appear to have damaged part of the airbrush, and it was sputtering and spitting far too much. Couldn't get an even coat. I also probably have been using too small a needle (the 0.15mm) for this kind of work to learn properly, so I'll switch to a larger (0.4mm) for the next models, and have ordered something in between (0.2mm) to hopefully help in future. On a side note, after the current set of models I might go on a run of the Legions simply for airbrush practice. We'll see.

At any rate, with the airbrushing done there was something to work with. Fortunately, I have a black base paint that is now useless as a base paint. Leaving it out overnight can have that effect, but it was recovered with some flow improver and heavy shaking. It now has more in common with a layer paint, and is therefore excellent at blending highlights back into a darker area.

Let this be a lesson: that paint which is ruined, don't get rid of it, try and make something from it! Just because it's no longer useful for the original purpose doesn't mean it's not now useful for something else. A bit of thinner and it can be turned into a wash, or it might be good for dry-brushing, or good to just mix with something else. Experiment and see: it's not like there's anything to lose.

With the somewhat disastrous airbrushing now fixed, a bit of Dawnstone (layer) around selected edges, and that's the basic armour complete. Trimming was always going to be gold, which in this case became the following list:

• Retributor Armour (base)
• Druchii Violet (wash, over it all)
• Gehenna's Gold (layer)
• Auric Armour Gold (layer, edge highlighting)
• Liberator Gold (layer, fine edge highlighting, lots of shaking & stirring to mix the bottle properly)

In this case, Balthasar Gold probably would have been a better choice to start with; as it turns out, Retributor Amour and Druchii Violet more or less has the same appearance of a dull Balthasar Gold. I could have used the wash more sparingly to only do careful, select areas for a bit more depth had I started with something else, but lesson learned.

The Crozius Arcanum had a couple more steps done, namely the addition of a small amount of Druchii Violet at the end to help define a few places, and also some Reikland Fleshshade (wash, gloss) applied sparingly to tie together some of the metallic blending, and give some extra depth (for lack of a better word) overall. The Crozius will be a focal point of the entire model, so it deserves that little bit of extra effort.

Scrolls and parchment are likely to be painted next, allowing the missing shoulder pad, backpack, and head (skull-shaped helmet of course) to be added without trouble. The pace of this model has been surprisingly quick, but that probably as more to do with some spare time, and knowing which colours to use and how to achieve a desired look.

4 other models have actually been started as well: the remaining Grey Knight Terminators. That, however, is a post for another day.

-- silly painter.

IX Legion - the "Minigun Guys"

If one minigun doesn't work, try five.

They're classified as "complete" now. A few decals to round things off, simply because the Forgeworld ones seem to be of good quality. Didn't know how these fellows would fit into the legion hierarchy, so gave them 2nd company. One day I might paint something else on to indicate heavy support, but for now I'll just leave it as is.

Backpacks contain ammo storage, and I didn't want that to just be silver. Bullet casings elsewhere are more copper or brass in colour, so it didn't fit to just be some grey metal colour. Instead, Brass Scorpion was applied to give it just enough of a (brass) sheen. It also ties it in with the red armour just a little bit.

Pauldrons are edged in black, and given an Eshin Grey highlight, followed by more edging with Dawnstone. Same was done for the straps on the backpack, while the helmet only had Dawnstone applied. No highlights were done to the other black edging of the armour on accounting of wanting some of the black to show.

The insignia was based with black, and then highlighted with Dark Reaper, with final edging of Russ Grey in places. This helps separate the insignia from the shoulder pad edges, while still giving it that black look. I did try to put some 'Ardcoat on a blood drop, but it was far too shiny and really didn't harmonise with the rest of the model.

One thing missing from this set is an edge highlight of Wild Rider Red. I normally do that as a final highlight on red armour, but in this case it wasn't needed. Such highlights serve as a border around panel areas, giving more depth to the model. This was instead served by the black edging.

The barrels of the rotor cannons do not have any burnt or heated metal effect applied. If there would be anything, it would be a blackened muzzle. More or less didn't want that, because the gun was black enough as it is. Regular maintenance and more efficient propellant might help reduce blackened endings as well.

All in all, these models were a lot of fun to paint. Just would have liked the arm and weapon positioning to be less of a pain, but with plastic variants of the armour available, perhaps that won't be such a problem in future.

-- silly painter.

Legion IX Rotor Cannon

The "minigun guys", as I've come to call them, are progressing along at the usual slow painting speed.

The enemies of Mankind definitely have time to bleed.

As is usual, the photo doesn't show the nuances of the painting scheme. Highlights and blending can't really be seen, but no matter. The models are completely assembled now, and there starts to be an impression of just how they'll appear when fully done.

One slight annoyance that I'm not going to fix: the left hand thumb. If I could think of a non-destructive way to bend it over, I would. Instead I guess it's some kind of "ready hold".

The ammo feed was a little tricky to get glued in right, though I mostly had the knack by the 5th model (not shown). In future, it might be a better idea to glue the ammo feed to the gun and backpack with neither fitted to the model and before trying to bend the ammo feed, but that assumes the gun will fit to the hand pose nicely. Regardless, I found a fairly simple method was to glue it to the gun first, then when dry point a hair dryer at the ammo fee. It becomes quite malleable, which is a sign to quickly bend it to the right place and wait a minute to cool down (obviously with the hair dryer turned off). This sets the resin in place and makes gluing to the backpack much, much easier.
Even so, a couple of places were snipped to give a better, if angled, connection.

For the ammo feed, bending it was done before painting. Normally I'd use some black spray as a primer, but that wasn't really an option here. Instead, a thin coat of Imperial Primer, followed by black with a brush. Leadbelcher on top, with some Brass Scorpion to pick out the rails. A wash of Nuln Oil later, and that's really it.

The backpack still needs some attention, the rotor cannon needs some highlights picking out on the barrel, and possibly some scorching, shoulder pad trim needs a highlight, and the Blood Angel insignia (which is black this time around as well) needs some highlighting too. I'm tempted to try a black marble effect there, just for something different.

-- silly painter.

Still About

Long time since the last update. Moving and work basically, but some small level of painting has started again. Sneak preview:

Sometimes, raw firepower has its uses.

These guys have been interesting, to say the least, to get even this far. Airbrushed to start with, and kind of just touched up from there. The arms do not align with the weapons properly, and a good deal of cutting and green stuff was used to get them looking semi-acceptable. Most of that is covered up when the shoulder pads go on.

The bases are Sector Imperalis, 32mm. They're not incredibly detailed, but perfect if you want to paint something interesting very quickly. Chose to replicate something I'd seen from a "Duncan Video" and used Death World Forest as a base for some of the struts. A bit of green to contrast with the red of the armour. Steel Legion Drab was added for other areas: I couldn't decide if this was on a world or a starship, so neutral brown. Could be earth, could be wooden flooring. Just to give the base a bit more going on. A bit of Reikland Fleshshade in places, particularly about the rivet to make them look like they're starting to rust, some Agrax Earthshade in places, and that's about it. Except the obvious metal of Leadbelcher and Nuln Oil.

Next will likely be the backpacks glued on, and then the shoulder pads. Only going to paint enough of each part to get the model assembled, and then finish painting them once that's done.

-- silly painter

Horus Base WIP #2

Some work has actually be done on Horus' base. It's painfully slow, but worth the effort really. Seen below, there's still a lot to be done. I think I've also taken the marbling a little too far, and it needs to be brought back in places. I'm considering dabbing at it in places with a drybrush just to soften some of the harder lines, and may well continue to tweak the stairs right up until the entire model is finished.

Step by step.

Marbling was done by:

• Seraphim Sepia, to add some basic shading to the steps.
• Agrax Earthshade to draw out lines.
• Fuegan Orange to deepen the colour in a few places.
• Seraphim Sepia again to blend a few colours together.
• Karak Stone to pull back some of the worst mistakes (a job that will be ongoing!).
• Ushabti Bone to add some edge highlighting.

The eagle has only had some Drakenhof Nightshade applied sparingly, but the idea is continue to add some more contrast using the same method. Some very light lines might be added, but the eagle should more more of a white marble, and looking at statues there aren't actually streaks threading through most of them. So the marbling will only be very soft in this case.

After doing a bit more on the eagle and stairs, I'll likely start on Horus himself next. The base won't be completely finished first - that will be done at the end, to make sure that Horus and the base tie in together harmoniously.

-- silly painter.

World Eater (Finished)

Fred went to extremes to open bottles of tomato sauce.

 Well, there he is. World Eater in his crazed appearance, complete with blood stains on the chainsword. I decided not to go overboard with copious amounts of blood everywhere on the model, as it would serve no other purpose than to distract from the model itself.

Something about that being a knife...

Not much was actually done since last time. Mostly just getting the metallics sorted. The base ended up being Astrogranite with Drakenhof Nightshade, a bit of Agrax Earthshade, and a little Nuln Oil in places, e.g around the feet. A bit of drybrushing with different blue hues (forget which now, but Stormfang was in there), and that's it really. A blue hue is my go-to for urban rubble, and just makes it a little more interesting than shades of grey.

Thanks go out to Matt for the use of his camera. I must get myself something decent soon.

-- silly painter.

World Eater WIP #1

You! Over there!

 World Eater work in progress, just as a side distraction. As a white base, this was where the airbrush fell down. Just too grainy, but I do think that's the paint.

The blue is worth mentioning properly here:

• The Fang (base coat)
• Calgar Blue (layer highlight)
• Guilliman Blue (glaze to help tie things together)
• Drakenhof Nightshade (wash, to darken a few areas)

The model could possibly use with another highlight colour to create more contrast, but it's good enough as it is, and shouldn't go about stealing the focus away from the head.
Shoulder pad trim was:

• Balthasar Gold (base)
• Sycorax Bronze (layer)
• Skullcrusher Brass (layer, minimal highlight)

And you too! Over there!

Nuln Oil has been used in a few places to bring out the edges of armour, being careful not to overlay the white. A bit of Ulthuan Grey was used to tidy up mistakes, just because it seemed a better fit over White Scar.
Eye lenses were:

• Khorne Red (obviously)
• Wazdakka Red (layer)
• Wild Rider Red (layer, highlight)
• Carroburg Crimson (wash, to darken around the edges some more)
• White Scar (layer, dot on the lens to look like a reflection)

Still got some metallic highlights to go, need to play around with the black components, and a knife holster on the backpack, but then the model is basically done. Not sure if I'll add scratches on the armour, but there will have to be splashes of blood about because....World Eater.

-- silly painter.

Still About

A very quick note that I'm still about, and occasionally finding time to pick up the brush. The base for Horus is still being worked on, but is looking quite marble-y with the simple addition of very thing coats of Seraphim Sepia over the steps, and Drakenhof Nightshade on the eagle.

World Eater (pre-Heresy) have a white/blue colour scheme going on, but I want it to be different to other blues. It seems like it should be more of muted than Ultramarines, but not quite as grey as the Space Wolves. So I've gone for a base coat of the Fang on the shoulder pads, and will highlight that with a blue layer paint later (undecided which one yet, though Thunderhawk Blue is very tempting).

Some problems getting photos right now, but hopefully that will be sorted soon enough.

Airbrush work deserves another post, but suffice to say that they really cut down on time - but only if you get the mix right, and white can spatter horribly.

-- silly painter.,

Rhino Transport WIP#2, Horus Base WIP#1

Watching TV on the way to battle.

 Not terribly much to write about here, mostly it's just a work in progress and wanting to save some shots of the interior before it's assembled. The screens are mostly Caliban Green (base), with some Warpstone Glow (layer) highlighted around them, and Nuln Oil (wash) around the edges. Moot Green (layer) for writing, with a few red words for alerts, a bit of 'Ardcoat over the top, and there's a screen.
The side screens are:

• Thousand Suns Blue (base)
• Ahriman Blue (layer)
• Nuln Oil (wash, just around the edges for definition)
• Baharroth Blue (edge)

Some assembly still required.

 A few steps of washes here & there to give a good outline, and the interior is complete enough for assembly. I do not like decals, even here, as they give this kind of shine that detracts from everything. Purity Seal might help with that, but at this point I just want to assemble and get on with the exterior.

All your base are belong to...

As an extra for today, the base for Forgeworld's Horus model. I've had it for some time, and only just recently decided to start on it alongside the rhino. The steps didn't quite turn out according to plan, but the eagle statue turned out better than I had hoped for. Not that it matters greatly - this is just the first step, and there's plenty more work to be done.
To start with, a black spray undercoat. I was trying to decide between black or white, but in the end decided that a darker feel would suit more, and so black it was. Horus will likely have a white undercoat, if for no other reason than to more easily pick out details later. He'll also be painted a lot darker than the base, so it evens out.
Following the undercoat:

• Dryad Bark (air) over everything, giving it an even coat.
• Baneblade Brown (air), trying to leave some of the previous coat in recesses.
• Zandri Dust (air) over the staircase, again more in larger areas.
• Terminatus Stone (air) over the eagle statue, and also the stairs (but only very lightly in select areas).

There isn't enough of the Dryad Bark in the recesses for my liking on the stairs. I could go back over the Baneblade Brown stage with another of Dryad Bark, but it didn't seem necessary at the time. Still brush work to do, that can be compensated for. The eagle statue, on the other hand, has somehow allowed for every piece of detail to be well defined. If it was any other model, it might be enough to be considered finished already - but of course, being an extra special model, this deserves a lot more attention.
It's also worth mentioning that the statue is currently pinned to the main base. Not sure if I should more fully glue it all together, and pin the feet of Horus later, or allow the detachable base and glue Horus on. So pinned for now, decision to come later.

-- silly painter