Assault Intercessor with Jump Pack - Part VI (Showcase)

 

Just took a little off the top.

Finally found the time to actually finish the squad of Intercessors. As usual, things just got in the way - they should've been done a couple of weeks ago - but I also used the time to add smaller details that I might otherwise have ignored, such as the squad marking on the right knee.

There's not a whole lot to say overall, nothing much I haven't already done many times before. The matt varnish makes them show up much more nicely in the final photos, but it does tend to dull down the edge highlights. That the number one lesson to be learned here: push the airbrush highlight contrast even further, about twice what might otherwise seem necessary. I can bring it back at the end if necessary, but it saves a lot of time if I don't have to.

Actually it was edge highlighting that took up the majority of the final steps. I edge highlighted before the varnish, and then again afterwards to bring it back in places. It's a lot of wasted time if I could just get it proper to begin with. I'm considering using Averland Sunset to edge highlight before the red filter, just to see how much of that might show up at the end.

Sheer momentum can be effective.

I can still glaze reds when I want, and this will come in useful for a particular future project, with a good brush and the right medium (acrylic flow improver in this case) helping much more than just water. It also seems to work nicer over the matt varnish, which is something to keep in mind.

I haven't highlighted the metallics as brightly as I have in the past. There just seemed no need. I'm liking the duller appearance these days as it seems more suitable, but with a secondary  benefit of not stealing the show from the main volume highlights of the armour. On the subject of metallics: using Black Legion (Contrast) to base those areas works brilliantly, allowing the metallic paint to give better coverage, and is particularly useful if a gloss varnish was previously applied. That's a definite part of future painting steps.

Not much else to say. I wanted these models because I liked the old jump pack design, even if the new design is still quite tasteful, but also because I don't like the ankle thrusters of the newer models. On the whole, I think this small conversion experiment turned out well.

-- silly painter