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.