Terminator Chaplain - Part II

 

Channel the rage.

I guess this is the next model to be completed, sorry dreadnoughts. I was inspired by Darren Latham's Legion of the Damned test (I don't have a specific link, but Google should easily show the model. There's freehand skull on a model and I like the colours, figuring they'd be suitable for the skull helm of a Chaplain.

I normally go for a shade of a blue or purple on skulls, but that creates a colder look - which is perfectly fine if I'm going for that, and it suited Lemartes rather well. The method here was a warmer bone finish, which to me fits with the "expression" on this model more, keeping a baleful glare without the starkness of brighter off-whites.

The steps here are again written directly from Darren Latham, but while presented as one colour then another, I mixed and layers between them all. The steps are more of a guideline, with going back and forwards as necessary.

• Zandri Dust base.
• XV88 for shaded areas and darker volumes. The brow and sides of the head are the most noticeable volumes that should be darker, but not the deep shadows of recesses.
• Morghast Bone first highlight. Flow improver was used to thin and glaze this step.
• Rhinox Hide in recesses.
• (Ushabti Bone and Wraithbone were used in the original step, but I skipped these mostly because I was lazy at the time and the details so small that I mixed approximations from what was already on the palette.)
• White for more extreme highlights. This step in particular was mixed with Morghast Bone and flow improver used to make sure the glazing was as smooth as possible.

The flow improver was key to the glazing being smooth, which can be troublesome with whites and lighter tones. I really should start using it more than just water because it really does help and I have plenty to work with.

The eye lenses I layered with pure white in preparation for next steps, and I figured instead of a normal gem or glass reflection effect I'd go for a glow. Maybe there's information being displayed on an internal HUD, but in any case I wanted a red glow to give the Chaplain more of a focused rage look. For this I used Blood Angels Red, and then played with adding white to try brighten the core lens area just to help it stand out more. This does turn pink, but it was helping - however ultimately I went over it all with Evil Sunz Scarlet mixed with a tiny dot of white.

The glow around the lenses I thinned Blood Angels Red with flow improver heavily to create a thin glaze and carefully built up multiple layers around the eye sockets - and even then I messed up a couple of spots and had to glaze Morghast Bone over it again. Lighter tones are troublesome for this, so I might one day try to first paint the glow, and then build up the main colours later, hoping that the red might still show through at the end. Or at least I could mix red in each step as I go.

I'm still torn between if I want to do NMM or metallics for the rest of the model. I have a concern that metallic shine will detract from that skull faceplate, and the head has set the need for more muted colours, but perhaps a matt varnish at the end can alleviate that problem. I'll try to fill in other details while I decide.

-- silly painter.