Allarus Custodians - Part IV (Showcase)

Shoulder pads that are nigh Exterminatus-proof.

 Well I managed to get them finished a little bit quicker than I originally anticipated, if later then I wanted. They were both easier and more difficult to paint than I was thinking when I started, with the difficulty ultimately coming down to subtle decisions about precisely which colours to use where, and what scheme to go with. Ultimately I'm satisfied with the gold - it's different from how I paint Blood Angels, yet still golden armour and something that would hopefully transfer onto the rest of my Custodes (one day).

I'll begin with the base. Unusually for a photo, I decided to show how I was holding the models in place one I had glued them to the base - and yes, Blu-Tac, or whatever derivative/alternate name. During previous steps I had notice that the bases bent ever so slightly when clipped into the holder and was concerned that this might crack the superglue keeping everything in place. So I had to improvise. Not the best, but didn't have much further to go and so it was...alright.

I tried the now infamous "wet-wipe" approach to a marbling effect on the bases, first trying it out on some thick cardboard. Black undercoat, cover with a pulled wet-wipe, followed by Russ Grey and Wraithbone. At this point I'd decided it wouldn't work for me with the bases directly, but enough places on the cardboard seemed good enough that I could use it directly. I also didn't want single pieces, so cut it up into squares, superglued these onto the bases to form marble tiles, and then trimmed the edges to fit. I also thinned down some blacks on the wet palette to add some more distinct lines in places. Ultimately it's good enough, but in future I may well go back to just doing everything by hand. The wet-wipe approach does serve as a good reference to work from however, which is worth considering too.

Ropes are a muted white, and I decided this was good enough. I didn't want them too bright lest they start to look reflective:

• Base of Celestra Grey over all the ropes.
• Basilicanum Grey Contrast over that.
• Using a thin brush, highlight the ropes again with Celestra Grey.
• Ulthuan Grey applied with a fine tipped brush to complete the highlights.

Pteruges had an edge highlight of Doombull Brown mixed with Evil Sunz Scarlet and stippled / striped in key places. I never wrote down what was done before that unfortunately - some browns, highlighted with rust tones, before the final look. Not terribly impressed with how they all turned out so no great loss - I'll try again next time and come up with something else.

Leather straps are borrowed from a previous model:

Thondia Brown over the leather areas.

Gorthor Brown used for some highlighting.

Gorthor Brown / Celestra Grey (1:1) mixed and used for scratches and general wear and tear lines.

Thondia Brown / Abaddon Black (1:1) thinned heavily and added to recessed areas, just because I was too lazy to dig out the Agrax Earthshade for what would be the same effect.

The top knots were quite simple in the end:

• Mephiston Red over the entire top knot.
• Wild Rider Red to highlight some areas.
• Carroburg Crimson to shade the entire area.
• Wild Rider Red to highlight important areas more, if required.
• Flesh Tearers Red Contrast applied to generally darker areas, and then feathered out from there.

These are impressive models, no two ways about it. They each have a lot of character about them, and the armour is festooned with detail. Quite glad I'm finally able to add them to the "finished" collection, but there remain many more of their brethren to paint up yet.

-- silly painter.