Cerastus Knight (Showcase)

 

Born to the purple.

Having recently completed one of the Cerastus Knights in the box, and having the other assembled, not much motivation was required to try and quickly get the other done. I was debating whether the entire force would belong to the same battle group, but that really only makes sense if I'm playing it against some opponent. I don't play the games so I decided a different colour scheme would be far more interesting - and besides which, having opposing forces would help if there was someone interested in playing but didn't have models of their own.

I've gone for a rendition of Legio Mortis in this case. Officially they're black and red, but I always felt like the artwork tended more towards dark purple and red (specifically on the very dark pink side of red). These colour invoke regal imagery, and yet keeps the model dark (one could almost say grim dark).

The purple is Naggaroth Night, shaded down to black and with no real highlights to speak of. 

The red is more complicated and I can't actually remember which base colour I started from. It was either Gal Vorbak Red or a 1:1 mix of Dryad Bark and Mephiston Red. Either way it was then highlighted with Mephiston Red, and edged with Wazdakka Red. This was heavily shaded down with a black oil wash.

The same oil wash was used everywhere else and then removed with a cotton bud dampened with odourless mineral spirits, exactly as was done on the previous model. I'm actually wonder now, despite the excellent result it gives, if similar would just be done with Nuln Oil (Gloss), or any shade that's given low surface tension. I varnish it later anyway, so any gloss appearance would be removed well before the Ironbreaker drybrushing step. I will consider this in future.

To balance out the dark reds and purples I opted for an almost fluorescent green on the "eyes". Dots of Dorn Yellow later covered with Hexwraith Flame is all that needed - and the latter being applied over a yellow works extremely well. If I paint Necrons again then that's probably the step that I'll use for at least some of the green glow on their weapons.

There's not too much else to really say other than intentionally I kept some areas less clean and crisp than my usual painting style. The model is dark, looks slightly unmaintained, and is quite possibly going mad - all of which fits the storyline for Legio Mortis. The downside is that while thematically it very much fits, it also feels like I've done a relatively messy job of the whole model. I'm trying very hard not to care however, as it's still another model finished.

The tally in total now stands at 14 models that I can buy. There are some things I definitely would like to get, but I'll hold off longer just to see if maybe I can get that number a little bit higher first.

-- silly painter.

 

Imperial Fist Contemptor - Part II

Yellow!

Yellow is an interesting colour. I have experiments on Imperial Fist models from before, and while they worked out well enough I wanted to try the approach of filtering yellow on top of other paints to see what I could make of it.

It did not work.

To look at why, first consider that it's rare to get "pure" colours - pure yellow, red, blue. Some colours are very close (Mephiston Red for example is very red, without too much deviation in the direction of purple or orange), but yellow pigments are seemingly not the best at this. Phallanx Yellow is actually closer to "bright yellow with a hint of green". Averland Sunset is a "dull yellow with a hint of orange".

The idea was to undercoat with red, then zenithal highlight with white, and then cover with Phallanx Yellow. The red areas would turn more orange, the white would give a brighter yellow for highlights. I strongly suspect a strong pink undercoat would have worked better, pulling the result further into orange rather than just the weak yellow it turned out as. The highlights worked ok, but really stood out as shifting more towards green.

The latter issue I could work with: I wanted the upper surfaces to be hinted at from sky reflections, which might give that subtle yellow colour shift, and the ground shadows and reflections being warmer tones and giving more of an orange. I decided to go with that and try add more depth by using Angron Red (Clear), but made the double mistake of not waiting for previous layers to dry first, and applying it too heavily. The result was far more fluid than I intended and pooled improperly on the model.

At this point I could simply have stripped the model of paint entirely and started again, but I rolled with it and decided to see if I could recover the painting with a brush and weathering. Firstly I mashed Averland Sunset into select areas - and yes, mash is the correct verb to use. It wasn't drybrushing, it was more like putting some paint on and then mashing the paintbrush around to kind of smear the colour out. If done quickly enough, and occasionally mixed with Phallanx Yellow, then actually it's a very fast approach at blending. The trick really is to use a heavy hand and move fast - don't feather the paint, smear it like butter instead. Copious amounts of this restored some kind of yellow gradient to the overall miniature, covered up some of the worst mistakes, and was just enough to work with.

Next steps are weathering, something I'm not that good at. I don't normally do weathering, but the large panels with hard edges lends itself nicely on these dreadnoughts. Stormvermin Fur, some black, and some edging of Dorn Yellow or Phalanx Yellow gives plenty of scratches on the armour, hides more mistakes, and still fits with the feel of Imperial Fists.

Decals have been added to further give visual interest, but I didn't varnish over the surfaces first. The decal softener I used therefore reactivated some of the paint (the Angron Red clear in particular) and messed up more areas. Back to weathering to fix that. One decal even has a pink tint to it in the white areas, which again will need to be fixed later on. I've done the decals now (or at least most of them) so that weathering is applied over the top of them, helping to further incorporate their design into the rest of the model.

Next time I think I'll just go with the more traditional base / layer / highlight / edge highlight when airbrushing Imperial Fists!

I haven't rushed to coat the model in a varnish yet, which is typically my next step before applying shades / panel lining, explicitly so that I could do the weathering. I've noticed that airbrush paints (or at least the Air range from Citadel) rub off easily, especially with a stiff bristled brush. This isn't the best for handling models, but when adding realistic weathering then it's actually very useful - I simply attack with a suitably old brush and the result guides where to paint scratches, dints, and dents. It gives a very natural result because it is natural - it's a result of normal wear and tear.

I'm confident that the model has now been recovered enough that I have a solid base to work from. It's by no means anywhere near finished, but I can at least start to visualise better what it will look like.

-- silly painter

Legion Scimitar Jetbikes - Part IV (Showcase)

 

Not the most subtle of attack bikes.

After some considerable time spent in the background, the scimitar jetbikes are finally finished. While I'm overall happy with the end result, there are a few things I might change in future relating to the colour scheme - but even so, getting these painted up allowed me to learn a lot.

There is no weathering on these models. In all honesty, yes it would look very nice, but adding scratches, chips, etc, is just going to take far too much effort at this point. In miniatures I find that weathering is not so much about realism, but instead helps to break up large and otherwise boring surfaces - and I tried instead to use colour gradients and some interesting decals for that purpose. If I did want to add anything it would be some chips and scratches along the front and leading edges to show them powering through debris, smoke, and the odd bit of enemy fire.

All the main weapons are magnetised. I couldn't decide which one would look better at the start and so just painted all of the options. The plasma gun is a little different though, because that extra glow from the charging coils just didn't seem to fit and so I painted them copper instead. I figure it would heat up from whatever material it is and that's where the glow comes from - obviously there's better cooling on a jetbike whizzing through the air so it would need to be a really powerful shot before those coils start glowing. As for which weapon I prefer, I it would be either the volkite or the heavy bolter.

As a small aside, when painting the weapons I did all twelve (the meltaguns are not shown here) at once, and it's here that a wet palette really helped. I could just set out the paints and then switch between them as I went without having to stop and change paints out. The black areas I actually did in semi-reverse: edge highlights, then glazed/blended volume highlights, blended in that with the dark grey that is Corvus Black, and then shaded in and outlined with a deeper black. It turned out well enough, even if I was attempting to rush by that point - I just wanted the models finished!

The decals are great. They really add some character to the bikes. I think I'll be trying to use more of those with vehicles in the future, and they do give an excellent foundation to work from for freehand. Just another tool in the box, as the saying goes.

Random notes:

• Dorn Yellow, then Blood Angels Red gives a very simple and effective glow.
• Baharroth Blue, then Asurmen Blue, works wonders for blue lighting. White Scar can be used for extra brightness in the middle.
• Glazing metalllic colours is extremely underrated. Using any of the metallics over a basic silver gives excellent results, and was used on the engine cover here.
• Edge highlights after the final varnish step really helps outline pieces and make the red seem more vibrant.

Final note on these models relates to their storage. I'm not yet sure how it will go, but a solution to not wanting to drill magnet holes into clear bases is to create a sort of magnetic clamp to hold them down. I've done this by using green-stuff and superglue to attach magnets to popsticks - the height should be just enough to hold the bases down and stop the models sliding around. Two of these "clamps" per model (one each side of the stand). If it works well enough then I might use that as standard for anything with a flying base.

-- silly painter.

Cerastus Knight (Showcase)

 

Pilot's favourite game: poker.

Sometimes I'm motivated to paint a particular model that I hadn't planned on that day or week. This is one of those occasions. I've actually had a couple of Titanicus scale Cerastus Knights assembled for quite some time now, and I wanted to test out a smaller nozzle on one of my airbrushes. I just wanted to see what level of control I could achieve, what limits of painting parts there would be. The Cerastus Knights were already painted with some metallic paints, so trying to get just the armour panels seemed like the ideal practice.

I followed the same scheme as used with previous Knights, but in this case I went too heavy with the second highlight layer and it just made everything a brighter blue-grey. A mistake, but not a terrible one because it makes this model stand out a little bit more. I just need to remember to mix the paints a little next time and keep some of the base layer showing.

Another change this time around was that when looking over the whole model I decided that it was both very detailed, but also heavily oriented towards metals. Instead of trying to pick out tiny details and then later add weathering I decided to give an oil wash another go. Before I had used them for panel lining, but this time I thought I'd wash the entire model and then remove the excess. I have to admit, this worked brilliantly: recesses are darkened which helps with light/dark contrast to read the model, and the use of a cotton bud to remove excess from larger panel areas naturally leaves behind some smudging and smearing. This fit the theme perfectly and I was pleased with the results.

Following on with experimentation I drybrushed over the metal areas with Ironbreaker. Drybrush is perhaps not the best term, but it does help explain the reduced level of paint in the brush's bristles and the motion used to apply paint to upper surfaces. There are some areas that I considered too detailed for this approach, but they're very few and easily fixed up later with a "normal" approach.

Much of the rest is as it's seen. I used Screaming Bell on the shield and the lance to help them stand out from the armour trim, and actually used less black armour than on previous Knights. Shadows on the ground is a continued theme to help represent some impression of scale, though I would like something else there - street cones, a lamp, something. Perhaps on later models I can do that, which will give these ones the same feel through association when standing together.

The base has one small addition that was a bit of fun: an explosion crater. It was make by prodding Astrogranite into a small circular mound, smoothing away the outside edges and then later painting in various browns. Nothing too fancy, but it definitely adds character. A character that some people could do without in the real world, sadly.

On the running tally I'm not at 12 models that I can allow myself to buy.

-- silly painter.

Blood Angels Contemptor - Part I

 

I see a black model and I want it painted red.

The last of the my plastic Contemptor Dreadnoughts (for now at least) is assembled and re-posed. The adjustments made are rather more progressive than previous attempts, but also more straight forward. I've purposefully taken a photo after priming so that it can be seen how it might look when painted and more cohesive rather than all the different putty and plastic colours confusing the imagination.

Right off the bat I'll admit there is more that could have been done to this model. I didn't change the position of the torso relative to the "hips", so it looks kind of weird when viewed straight on. I debated this for a while before deciding that watching a massive mechanical monster charging was bound to look strange to begin with, and I didn't want to spend half the year perfecting the pose and not painting it.

This charging Contemptor will be paired against the original Sons of Horus I painted up. It was always my intention to have that be part of a duel, although given the defensive stance of the Sons of the Horus combatant, the Blood Angels clearly have the upper hand in this fight.

As usual the most difficult part of everything is the left thigh. I had to completely rebuild that, and after painting it will show. I think I've done a better job than last time, but there's still a ways to go. When using putty I've determined a few aspects that definitely help:

• Build up one layer and let it completely cure before adding any further layers.
• Don't be afraid to mix layers of milliput and green-stuff. The latter seems to adhere better to the model, where the former gives better detail.
• Put putty into a sealable bag, pushing out as much air as possible, and keep it in the freezer. I learned that one from Juan Hidalgo's Youtube videos (seriously, go check them out). It makes it so much easier to keep going whenever there's free time, rather than needing to mix new putty every session. Not sure where he learned it from, but that's where I found out about this trick.

The right arm is also slightly readjusted from normal to allow the power fist to be used (the upper arm was originally for an assault cannon) and to bend it in towards the torso more. This gives a better running pose for very little effort. The other arm was entirely untouched.

The right leg is angled slightly different against the body, and the "toe" was cut and carved back to give give the "foot" more of a bend and impression of force being applied as part of running movement. Actually this was more difficult than it should have been, but well worth the effort to sell the idea of motion.

My original thought was to have the left leg raised slightly into the air. That really did sell the idea of momentum, but I ended up abandoning that when I couldn't get the miniature to stay properly on the base. It was simply too heavy. So instead I had to build up rubble and rocks to get both feet touching the ground. A minor annoyance really, but these models are more about learning and having fun rather than entering into competitions so it's not all that bad. I also had to pin both feet in place - the connection points to the base weren't large enough for plastic glue to hold it, so out came the paperclips and drill bits.

The head I could have left alone, but with so many spare helmets I decided to add something distinctly Blood Angels. A normal marine helmet is smaller than a Contemptor "head", but I figure it probably doesn't contain anything more than sensors and input feeds to the actual Space Marine entombed within the body anyway. I could have bulked out the helmet more, but really I could also just be more clever with painting to not draw attention to size differences to other models.

And there we have it. Three Contemptor Dreadnoughts now awaiting initial airbrush work as the Year of the Dreadnought continues.

-- silly painter.

Imperial Fist Contemptor - Part I

 

Strictly speaking, 12 barrels of firepower.

I've decided to continue to prepare more models rather than get any painting done, and so here is the next Contemptor Dreadnought being prepared. As the title suggests, this is going to be an Imperial Fist. With twin assault cannons and a purposeful stride forwards I couldn't really imagine it being anything else.

This is the only "Betrayal at Calth" pattern mono-pose dreadnought kit that I'm not changing too much of. There's the assault cannon that replaces the power fist (with said power fist going to yet another dreadnought in the works), but otherwise I'm keeping the pose as it is. This saves a lot of converting effort and I actually think it fits the feel I'm going for. The arms aren't glued in place yet, so I can still adjust them slightly, but I don't think I will. The only reason for not gluing them in, is that it makes painting much easier at this stage. I can also verify that assembling the plastic assault cannons is so much more pleasant than their resin counterparts, and they don't really look any different. Had I known this before then I might have simply bought spares from ebay, but too late now. 

There are plenty of examples of Imperial Fists dreadnoughts around the Internet, and I'm likely to take heavy inspiration from some of them. Black shoulders, at least one black kneepad, white helmet with a red stripe down the centre. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary there. Weathering is going to be difficult, but overall it should be fairly straight forward if I wanted it to be.

The real trick about it will be the base. It took me a while to come up with an idea for that, surprisingly enough. In terms of sculpting it's all quite flat, which will force me to add visual interest with colours and lighting. The grating on the ground I'm intending to be drainage, so something old and corroded fits with that. Spare sprue glued together and covered slightly to fill gaps will act as a sidewalk perhaps. The dreadnought it likely standing on a road, which I can make blue/black to contrast with the brighter yellow of the Imperial Fists. The road I can also use as a source of secondary reflective ambient light, making the legs darker and more desaturated. I've already started browsing imagery of bulldozers to see how yellow behaves in different lighting and environments, which I'm hoping to then use with the airbrush to play around a bit with this model.

Aside from perhaps a little bit of rubble and any other minor details, this model is now ready to be primed. I may get that far soon, but as alluded to earlier there still remains one more Contemptor to prepare before I get stuck back into painting.

-- silly painter.

Ancient Rylanor - Part I

 

Why put weapons inside the fist?

After a couple of weeks away, I've not returned to the multitude of in-progress models, but instead decided to try and assemble another Contemptor. I had the notion of using it to try and experiment with poses, but actually it became too difficult if the pieces weren't firmly held together. Instead I just kind of went with the flow to see what would happen, and this is what I ended up with.

It wasn't the most pleasant assembly experience in the world. I've had worse, but a few key points stuck out:

• Carving out flash and mistakes was an absolute pain.
• Some of the pieces don't quite align as nicely as they should.
• The torso was hitting the "hips" and needed some putty to lift it slightly.
• The pelvis joints need to swivel quite high if there's to be a slightly wider stance.

At one point I'd finally had enough of all cutting and carving and decided to go at it with a Dremel. Doing this outside, wearing a respirator, gloves, and properly cleaning afterwards should mitigate any health risks, and the absolute time saving was astounding. It's just so much easier using a Dremel to reach and drill out specific areas. I'm definitely using this again in future, it saves so much time and effort.

I ended up using Milliput in a few key areas to plug some holes, fill some gaps, add some rocks to the base, that sort of thing. I also used it inside the torso to lift it up very slightly. It's not much, but it allows the torso to clear the legs and give a more interesting pose.

The original idea was to have the assault cannon being pointed somewhere and firing, but when I put together the other arm I liked the idea more of pointing at some infantry or perhaps a bunker slight and sending forth a gout of flame. It makes no real sense to put the barrel of a weapon inside a power fist like that of course, so I would imagine the barrel and retract into the arm and shield of some kind would slide into place. It does look cool though. At any rate, with that decided on then it seemed natural to let the assault cannon angle downwards slightly while attention is momentarily elsewhere.

On the subject of the assault cannon, that was not pleasant to assemble, and even now it's not entirely as lined up as I would like. It's not going to be very noticeable, so I'll leave it alone, but in future I would actually consider trying to use the plastic kit instead for that. The resin body (and legs) are amazing, but the weapons might be better in plastic.

The head is not yet glued in place, and the same for the "fist" of the power fist. I'm leaving both of those to later just for ease of painting, but otherwise everything else is ready.

And why Rylanor? That's simple really. I didn't want to paint this up as a Blood Angels Contemptor simply because I have enough of those set aside (four in total) and so I needed to decide on a different Legion. I debated about much of it until I realised that with the eagle symbol it really does naturally fit with Emperor's Children, and from there it's only natural to paint the model as that most famous of their dreadnoughts: Ancient Rylanor.

I'm actually thinking to now leave this model for a little while, or perhaps just do some initial airbrush coats, and instead switching to assembling more Contemptors. No particular reason other than I'm on a bit of a roll and may as well try continue with that. Guess I'll see how I go.

-- silly painter.