Genestealers (Hive Fleet Leviathan)

Sneaky 'stealers looking for jeans.

The genestealers are finally finished. Levi is there, obviously, and look closely and Tyranood can be seen as well. Overall the paint scheme is very similar to the termagants, with some adjustments to account for differences to the model.

As usual, start with black primer, followed by Wraithbone spray over the entire model. It might take a couple of coats, but better to spray it lightly twice than a single, thick spray that obscures detail. An even coat helps later stages, so it's worth the extra caution at this point. Once everything is dry, a rundown of the paint scheme is below.

Main body:

• 1:8 (Volupus Pink / Contrast Medium) over the whole body.
• Volupus Pink directly in gaps between chitin.
• Skeleton Horde over "bones" (typically elbow and heel).

Face:

• Volupus Pink around the "gums", shadows under veins on the head.
• Guilliman Flesh around the "gums", inside of the mouth.
• Highlight teeth with Wraithbone if necessary.
• Flesh Tearers Red over the tongue.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight over the tip.
• Barak-Nar Burgundy, thinned, over the whole tongue.
• Iyanden Yellow over the eyes.

Claws and blades:

• Flesh Tearers Red all over.
• Carroburg Crimson near the base of each.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight along edges and the tip.

Carapace:

• Shyish Purple
• Xereus Purple in lines along edges
• Genestealer Purple in overlaying lines

Base:

• Astrogranite over the whole base.
• Mechanicus Standard Grey if necessary to cover some areas missed by the texture paint.
• Drakenhof Nightshade over the whole base.
• Agrax Earthshade in a few random patchy areas.
• Stormfang drubrush over the whole base.
• Rhinox Hide around the edge of the base.

Little details on the base were painted similar to the genestealer, mostly as extra support to glue in, but also as a hint that genestealers don't openly attack until the world is already in a lot of trouble, and tyranid flora is starting to appear.

Of course Purity Seal was applied at the end to help protect the models. Hopefully it should stop paint rubbing off too easily - something I've noticed can happen with the Contrast range.

Centrepiece type models will be up next for the tyranids, so I will probably spend a little more time on them, but fortunately they're fewer in number.

-- silly painter.