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.

Legion Scimitar Jetbikes - Part III

 

V8 turbo charged rocket engine strapped to a seat.

Having decided that the jetbikes have been sitting for far too long and need to be finished, I've managed to get a little more done on them. They're fully assembled now, other than the main weapons, but still need an awful lot details to be done, and a matt varnish to cut back the over abundance of gloss that I'd applied earlier.

I'm actually not a huge fan of the colours right now, but I think that's because there's a complete lack of spot colours to break up all that red. There will be blue headlights on the stabiliser wings, some more extreme highlights on the engine, black trim needs highlighting, brighter red edge highlights later to pick out the shape more, and whatever else I can think of. I'm also still pondering over the Imperial Aquila on the nose of the jetbike, and whether that should be a golden colour, or black. I'm leaning towards black, but highlighted in the style of the Blood Angels symbol. That would then make it a point of interest but harmonious with the rest of the model. So I will stay the course and see how it turns out.

The riders themselves are a bit of a pain. I glued them together, painted them, then sat them in place later. This proved to be a mistake, as they don't sit quite properly. I should have glued them in place at the start to get the torso and arms correct, or painted the pieces individually and only assembled at the very end for the same reason. I'm sorely tempted to get the plastic jetbikes one day just for this reason; the riders on the plastic variant will be seated better and I can customise the shoulder pads and helmet to fit with these  models easily enough.

On to some painting ideas: I wanted the cabling underneath the rider to stand out a little bit, without being overly bright, and settled on an orange:

• Squig Orange as the first colour, with at least two coats to build up a little bit of colour.
• Troll Slayer Orange to brighten the cabling.
• Carroburg Crimson to add some shading for definition.
• Troll Slayer Orange again to bring back the brightness in a few areas.

I definitely like the colour for the cabling, but as with most things on this model it needs a bit more variation around it. I'll see how it goes later on.

Most of the brass colours are so far fairly simple:

• Warplock Bronze.
• Castellax Bronze to highlight.
• Agrax Earthshade to shade.

I'll be playing with the colours more after the matt varnish stage. Whatever I decide on, I want to keep that bronze look as very distinct from the silver/grey metals.

There are decals on these models already, which I chose to bring some artistic flair to the bikes. The blacks of the decals is because of the printer used - I might have preferred a gold initially, but actually the black is starting to grow on me. If nothing else, it will fit with the Imperial Aquila rather than being in competition with it.

-- silly painter

Legion Scimitar Jetbikes - Part II

 

Some angels have wings. This one has a jetbike.

Managed over the course of a week to get some of the major colours blocked in on the jetbikes. This was mostly an exercise in airbrushing up to now, with the next steps switching to a normal brush to clean up a few details.

The red doesn't much explanation at this point, but regardless:

• 50/50 Dryad Bark / Mephiston Red base layer.
• Mephiston Red midtone.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet for the highlight.

The metals were nothing special either, but were actually done before the reds:

• Leadbelcher base layer.
• Deathshroud clear into shadowed areas.
• Iron Hands to "highlight" (it didn't really make much difference to me).
• Castellax Bronze lightly applied across the top engine cover.

The last step just gives some variation to the metal areas, acting as a very slight colour filter that adds some visual interest. After the matt varnish step I'll likely push it a little further from the silver tones with metallic glazing. I actually find the metallic paints quite effective at glazing, but it will need to be done later to restore that metal sheen.

The riders are being done at the same time, but the temporary handles attached for painting don't make them easy to add for photos just yet. I'm hoping to have them ready in time for the next update.

Painting the metal areas separately from the red panels and using an airbrush presented an interesting challenge: how to mask off pieces of the model, and which order to do them in? I ended up painting the metal areas first, reasoning it was easier to fix them up than try to re-paint red gradients and transitions. In hindsight, this was the correct choice. Masking off areas however, that took a bit more thought. First of all, let the metallics sit for at least 24 hours to ensure they're fully dry and cured, giving them maximum adherence to the model. Don't really want the masking medium to strip the paint off. To mask areas off, I ended up using very cheap branch blu-tac. It's not as flexible or sticky as branded, but that actually made it fit for purpose in this case: the cheap variant was pliable enough to cut to shape and press over areas, but also peeled off very easily later on. As an added benefit, I can re-use it for masking other models in the future as well.

I've decided to properly glue all the flying stands in, but not glue to the clear bases yet. The stand will always be used anyway, and I find it useful when holding the model for painting.

Next steps are to fix a few small areas that weren't masked properly, or accidentally masked off entirely, before adding edge highlights to the red panels and then sealing it all with a thin gloss varnish. The matt varnish step later seems to be dulling the edge highlights, so I'll likely make them a little bit stronger this time and see how it goes. I'm also toying with the idea of adding a black strip across the front of the jetbikes, similar to the Thunderhawk Gunship, but black trim and gold filigree are a contender as well. That's a decision for another day.

There are likely to be sporadic posts over the next weeks, and possibly rest of the year. I'll still be painting, but trying to give weekly updates will be giving way to the necessity of a more flexible timetable.

-- silly painter.

Legion Scimitar Jetbikes - Part I

 

Admit it, you want to make "vroom vroom" noises.

Despite a bunch of Terminators still to get some attention, I have motivation to start on yet more models. This might put a bit of a strain on "numbers on the go", but at the very least I can get these started. The design of these jetbikes is visually incredible, and I've been wanting to have some of my own done up since I first saw them - and now is the chance.

A suitably large amount of planning has gone into assembly, colours, and even which stand height to use. These will be Blood Angels, naturally, and will likely be part of the 30k force that I have enough models for now. For this reason I'm using some of the older Forgeworld MkIV shoulder pads - the design is ever so slightly more ornate, and reflects the IXth Legion style, as opposed to the Blood Angels Chapter style. It's a small thing, but important.

There are three jetbikes in the kit, and I'm highly unlikely to be expanding that number anytime soon, so I can afford to be a little more careful with these models. While perhaps not a centrepiece, they will definitely demand attention on the tabletop, so I want them to look nice. The rough colour scheme will be red (of course) with black trim, and then gold filigree patterning on the armour panels. I'm considering a black/red split on the helmets, perhaps indicating them as a specialised unit, but that's not set in stone. More than likely I won't be going with yellow helmets, for no other reason than I consider that a 40k choice and helps to separate Legion and Chapter more.

I've magnetised the weapon options, which turned out to be a not too terrible experience. Just a matter of getting the right drill bit size, making an indent where the centre is, making a pilot hole and then drilling out just enough to fit the magnet. I didn't bother with any putty to help keep the magnets in place, but can easily adjust that if they come out later on. Aligning the magnets was also much easier than I'd originally thought too: there are convenient matching slots that can be used for this purpose. Without that I would have had to do a lot of careful measuring, marking, and slow drilling to get everything just right.

Speaking (writing) of alignment troubles, I did have to pin part of the jetbike in place. Where the rider's seat connects to the front, the attachment points aren't the best. There was just not enough surface contact to form a proper bond, so a small piece of paperclip is helping to strengthen that. To make sure this was all aligned properly, I first drilled one side and then used a smaller piece of paperclip sticking out. By putting a dot of paint on this and then connecting as close as possible to what it should be, I was able to get a matching guide point. A pilot hole and then drilling out more for the paperclip, and all just kind of worked. The hole is about a half-millimeter (or less) diameter larger than the paperclip just to give some wiggle room in matching the pieces - the glue will fill that in readily enough.

There are naturally some gaps when working with resin, and I used milliput for some of them. I tried liquid green-stuff as well, but that didn't work quite as well. The particular milliput I used was fine grain, and sanded back quite smooth. I suspect it will be my go-to for future resin gap filling. I also used milliput to add some padding underneath where the jet engine connects to the piece behind the rider. There are again poor connection points around there, but I couldn't get a good angle for pinning it. Seems to have offered good enough gap filling to keep everything securely in place.

For the joys of working in resin, this is one model I wouldn't mind seeing a plastic version of. Still, they're all assembled now, excepting some pieces left off for painting.

The bases I'm not decided on - I could leave them clear (and have covered parts in a masking glue to prevent paint getting on those areas) or paint up the base. And I still have to decide how to magnetise the base, if at all, for storage and transport. Plenty of time to decide on that, but I will glue the stand in place fully. The connection point could use the reinforcement, and I can always drill it out if I want to change anything later on.

Hopefully i can get started on airbrushing the bikes this weekend.

-- silly painter.