Blood Angels Librarian Dreadnought - Part I

 

Excuse me sir, I have a question.

I've finally returned to some more dreadnought work, though admittedly very little because the bulk of painting time has been NMM trim on a certain other model. Much of the time in preparing a model like this is simply cleaning, positioning, and deciding on sub-assemblies for airbrushing and general painting.

The positioning of the Librarian here is based on some fairly popular artwork in which the force weapon is pointed towards the sky, summoning some psychic power perhaps. The left arm is normally pointed slightly higher, but I've not glued either arm in place just yet, and the photo angle doesn't show the pose as dramatically as a lower angle might (something I'll try remember for a future display). The red armour plates on the torso are also not glued in place just yet, because I intend to airbrush some metallics around the legs and torso just to avoid spending hours with a brush for the same. I have yet to decide if those metallics will be covered in an oil wash or not - it's still an incredibly effective shading technique and gives a much grittier feel that worked so well on the Titanicus Knights, but it's a painting hassle to setup, apply, then cleanup brushes and workspace that I never look forward to.

The airbrushing so far hasn't had a final highlight applied. I've held back so far because the airbrush was getting clogged at the time, and I'm considering if I should experiment with some of the highlighting methods. I could use a thinned white to increase the brightness of the later layer, and even then I'm not sure if I should follow up with Evil Sunz Scarlet or Blood Angels Red (Contrast) paint through the airbrush. I could also use a yellow instead of white, but then it's a consideration of which yellow. I think I'll have to find some spare bits and experiment with several combinations first, to then decide which I like best. It's not like I don't have many, many spare shoulder pads to use for this purpose.

I guess I'll try the various methods and then choose a couple to go forwards with. This isn't the only dreadnought in the pipeline, as I've also assembled a Furioso to work on at the same time and each could use a slightly different approach to the red highlights without looking out of place in the army - simply by virtue of there not being other large walkers to compare them to.

I'm also considering if I should buy a Nemesis Dreadknight as the basis for a conversion effort. I have quite a few spare pieces from the Blood Angels Dreadnought kits, and I could really go to town on that kind of conversion. Unfortunately it would add yet another dreadnought to try get done this year - and I have enough pending that completing them all in the next six months is unlikely as it is. This is also an idea that I'd likely look to ebay for first, seeing as it's an expenditure that won't be considered trivial.

-- silly painter.