MkIV Assault Squad - Part I

 

Sir Jumpsalot

While there are plenty of other models that I have on the go, at the start of the year I did mention about wanting "background models", models that I can just paint between other projects. Originally I thought this would be Primaris Marines, but I had these old MkIV Assault troops with upgrades packs and decided they deserved attention first.

These resin models are a little strange. They're somehow smaller than the plastic equivalents, while being more detailed. I can completely understand Games Workshop moving to plastic as much as possible, returning Forgeworld to specialty items. I'm hoping that once painted up however, this lot will fit right in alongside everything else.

Another reason I selected these models is that they have an open pose, sufficient that I judged it possible to full assemble the entire model (including the head) prior to painting. While I'm sure there will be a few hard to reach places, on the whole it looks as though I can manage - and this is really something for motivation!

I've not yet changed anything on how I paint these models, but at this stage it's just a few coats from the airbrush. I am considering changing a couple of things on these models however, one of which is to add another airbrush step. I'm not happy with the the volumetric highlights - there's just not enough value contrast. It's fine on larger surfaces like the shoulder pads, but I really want some more underneath some parts, particularly around the legs. I could go back with the base coat to darken, but that's quite an opaque step and I would rather a filter of some kind. So I might just thin down and glaze over some of the wash instead with a small airbrush nozzle. My cheap airbrush is having some difficulty right now and I fear might not be up to the task, so I'll likely invest in a smaller nozzle for my better airbrush - but only use it for thinned paints, otherwise it will clog too rapidly.

I'm also going to try paint at least some of the metallic base colours before I varnish. I really like the ability of a gloss varnish to allow me to wipe away mistakes quickly, but the coverage of metallics is terrible, particularly the likes of Leadbelcher. I'll just have to be careful in doing so.

I have a bunch of other ideas in the pipeline, and I'm trying to get these jetbikes moving along, but I'm away again soon, meaning no new post for a week and a half (or thereabouts). Painting should pick up steam again after that too (there hasn't been much time the last few weeks for reasons), and I can prepare the next couple of dreadnoughts.

-- silly painter

Legion Scimitar Jetbikes - Part III

 

V8 turbo charged rocket engine strapped to a seat.

Having decided that the jetbikes have been sitting for far too long and need to be finished, I've managed to get a little more done on them. They're fully assembled now, other than the main weapons, but still need an awful lot details to be done, and a matt varnish to cut back the over abundance of gloss that I'd applied earlier.

I'm actually not a huge fan of the colours right now, but I think that's because there's a complete lack of spot colours to break up all that red. There will be blue headlights on the stabiliser wings, some more extreme highlights on the engine, black trim needs highlighting, brighter red edge highlights later to pick out the shape more, and whatever else I can think of. I'm also still pondering over the Imperial Aquila on the nose of the jetbike, and whether that should be a golden colour, or black. I'm leaning towards black, but highlighted in the style of the Blood Angels symbol. That would then make it a point of interest but harmonious with the rest of the model. So I will stay the course and see how it turns out.

The riders themselves are a bit of a pain. I glued them together, painted them, then sat them in place later. This proved to be a mistake, as they don't sit quite properly. I should have glued them in place at the start to get the torso and arms correct, or painted the pieces individually and only assembled at the very end for the same reason. I'm sorely tempted to get the plastic jetbikes one day just for this reason; the riders on the plastic variant will be seated better and I can customise the shoulder pads and helmet to fit with these  models easily enough.

On to some painting ideas: I wanted the cabling underneath the rider to stand out a little bit, without being overly bright, and settled on an orange:

• Squig Orange as the first colour, with at least two coats to build up a little bit of colour.
• Troll Slayer Orange to brighten the cabling.
• Carroburg Crimson to add some shading for definition.
• Troll Slayer Orange again to bring back the brightness in a few areas.

I definitely like the colour for the cabling, but as with most things on this model it needs a bit more variation around it. I'll see how it goes later on.

Most of the brass colours are so far fairly simple:

• Warplock Bronze.
• Castellax Bronze to highlight.
• Agrax Earthshade to shade.

I'll be playing with the colours more after the matt varnish stage. Whatever I decide on, I want to keep that bronze look as very distinct from the silver/grey metals.

There are decals on these models already, which I chose to bring some artistic flair to the bikes. The blacks of the decals is because of the printer used - I might have preferred a gold initially, but actually the black is starting to grow on me. If nothing else, it will fit with the Imperial Aquila rather than being in competition with it.

-- silly painter

Sons of Horus Contemptor Dreadnought - Part IV (Showcase)

 

Traitor with nothing but contempt.

A little later than I wanted, but I'm calling this model done. I could go a bit further with battle damage and chipping, particularly on the black areas, but if I did that then I'm not sure when I'd get the model done! I'm increasingly doing this to models, and it's not a bad thing so long I reserve that extra effort for the special sculpts. Such as Azrakh, which hasn't seen progress is some time and I really need to get to.

Ultimately a Contemptor is very similar to painting a big Space Marine. There's really not a whole lot different; even Terminators felt like they had more detail and troublesome areas to paint. The vast majority of work on this piece was done with airbrushing - but also I've left a lot of parts as "dirty", which meant they were never intended to get precision paint tip attention. On the whole I think the model came out well enough in the end, and as it was really only an initial experiment with slight conversion and re-posing, then perhaps that's more than could have been hoped for.

I did end up finding some chain on cheap store jewellery and used that to hang a couple of skulls on the left arm. That was not an enjoyable process: gluing chain together and in the right place involved dots of superglue and hanging the chain in the right spot, at the right angle, and making sure it remained undisturbed until the glue dried. It took a whole day just to put those skulls in place! It does add a lot of character, so I think the effort was worth it, but I'm not really wanting to repeat it anytime soon.

The skulls on the base kind of detract away from much of the rest of the model. A glaring bright point surrounded by dark, how could it not. I tried to tone them down with Nuln Oil, just to make them seem dirty as befitting their surroundings, but they still stand out too much. Not a whole lot to do about that now - I could add some marble, bricks, etc, to even out the colours and restore some balance with the base, but basically too much effort. I did some freehand where the right foot is sliding into a new stance. The smoother paving underneath gives a story to just how much rubble has built up over it, hinting at the destruction wrought across the battlefield.

In an attempt to draw attention back to the upper areas of the model I ended up with two red dots surrounding the head. I imagine these to be searchlights, but the contrast against the green helps to frame the head, creating an area to focus the viewers eyes on but without overwhelming everything else. The freehand symbols were actually chosen for similar reasons, and intentionally they are not visible from the front angle. This kind of three dimensional appreciation of the art is not actually something I've seen discussed much (or indeed at all), but I think I want to explore it a little more. Most of the time I guess people only consider one angle because that's how it will be photographed, but if at least the front, left, and right angles are planned out then I believe the overall visual impression would be greatly enhanced.

Tally is 11.5 and unlikely to budge for another month. Interruptions galore, and complex models on the go. I'm hoping to at least prepare a resin Contemptor, which I can use to get the pose right for another plastic dreadnought before I start cutting and converting it.

-- silly painter.