Blood Angels Legion Terminator Praetor - Part III

 

Back to base-ics again.

With some brief moments between busy stretches, I finally painted up the base for the Praetor. The lighting is pretty bad on the photo, but it's the impression it gives that counts rather than perfect colour balance.

I originally had the idea of painting up another marble base, similar to the steps on which Horus stands, but replicating that needs a lore more attention, time, and most likely the airbrush to get the same colours. Instead I simply played fast and loose and then ended up liking the stone appearance so much that I skipped on the marble effect altogether. There's enough detail on the base that trying to add marbling could easily ruin the look, and besides which most of it will be hidden by the model on top anyway.

The first layer (or four) was Zandri Dust. My pot of that paint is less than stellar and I'll likely need to replace it soon (along with many of the other colours used here), but it's just workable enough that I can thin it with water and apply several coats to give proper coverage.

Next paint was actually Rakarth Flesh. It's almost useless, but a bit of stirring and I managed to get enough for a thin layer or two. Predictably this tinted everything towards a very unusual flesh tone, and so I mixed in Karak Stone (with a subtle amount of white from palette) to again build up a kind of sandstone colour. It's the mixing of these colours, along with random impurities from the palette, that give depth and subtle variation to the final result: don't try to be too perfect or it looks flat, dull, and uninteresting.

Agrax Earthshade around deeper recessed areas and across rubble, then Seraphim Sepia to bring some random colour onto the stone areas, and it's actually at that point when I decided completely to skip any sort of marbling. I pondered whether I should fill in the tile designs with something else, but the return on investment there just wasn't going to make it worthwhile. A final edge highlight and "dusting" with Ushabti Bone and the base is just about done. I still need to paint the rim, which I'm thinking to make a dark brown or ochre. Black just seems too stark of a contrast.

The base itself was made from green-stuff and a texture roller, with texture paint to fill in a few places that didn't turn out properly and give it a damaged look. The cracks in the stone are simple carving into the green-stuff for fun - although next time I should do that before the green-stuff has fully cured.

And there we have it, a simple but effective base with character and very little effort required to paint. It still needs magnetising before I glue the Praetor on top; I'm still deciding whether I should just glue the feet down, or pin the model in place. Pinning would certainly give more solid contact, but could interfere with the magnets.

-- silly painter.