Still About

A very quick note that I'm still about, and occasionally finding time to pick up the brush. The base for Horus is still being worked on, but is looking quite marble-y with the simple addition of very thing coats of Seraphim Sepia over the steps, and Drakenhof Nightshade on the eagle.

World Eater (pre-Heresy) have a white/blue colour scheme going on, but I want it to be different to other blues. It seems like it should be more of muted than Ultramarines, but not quite as grey as the Space Wolves. So I've gone for a base coat of the Fang on the shoulder pads, and will highlight that with a blue layer paint later (undecided which one yet, though Thunderhawk Blue is very tempting).

Some problems getting photos right now, but hopefully that will be sorted soon enough.

Airbrush work deserves another post, but suffice to say that they really cut down on time - but only if you get the mix right, and white can spatter horribly.

-- silly painter.,

Rhino Transport WIP#2, Horus Base WIP#1

Watching TV on the way to battle.

 Not terribly much to write about here, mostly it's just a work in progress and wanting to save some shots of the interior before it's assembled. The screens are mostly Caliban Green (base), with some Warpstone Glow (layer) highlighted around them, and Nuln Oil (wash) around the edges. Moot Green (layer) for writing, with a few red words for alerts, a bit of 'Ardcoat over the top, and there's a screen.
The side screens are:

• Thousand Suns Blue (base)
• Ahriman Blue (layer)
• Nuln Oil (wash, just around the edges for definition)
• Baharroth Blue (edge)

Some assembly still required.

 A few steps of washes here & there to give a good outline, and the interior is complete enough for assembly. I do not like decals, even here, as they give this kind of shine that detracts from everything. Purity Seal might help with that, but at this point I just want to assemble and get on with the exterior.

All your base are belong to...

As an extra for today, the base for Forgeworld's Horus model. I've had it for some time, and only just recently decided to start on it alongside the rhino. The steps didn't quite turn out according to plan, but the eagle statue turned out better than I had hoped for. Not that it matters greatly - this is just the first step, and there's plenty more work to be done.
To start with, a black spray undercoat. I was trying to decide between black or white, but in the end decided that a darker feel would suit more, and so black it was. Horus will likely have a white undercoat, if for no other reason than to more easily pick out details later. He'll also be painted a lot darker than the base, so it evens out.
Following the undercoat:

• Dryad Bark (air) over everything, giving it an even coat.
• Baneblade Brown (air), trying to leave some of the previous coat in recesses.
• Zandri Dust (air) over the staircase, again more in larger areas.
• Terminatus Stone (air) over the eagle statue, and also the stairs (but only very lightly in select areas).

There isn't enough of the Dryad Bark in the recesses for my liking on the stairs. I could go back over the Baneblade Brown stage with another of Dryad Bark, but it didn't seem necessary at the time. Still brush work to do, that can be compensated for. The eagle statue, on the other hand, has somehow allowed for every piece of detail to be well defined. If it was any other model, it might be enough to be considered finished already - but of course, being an extra special model, this deserves a lot more attention.
It's also worth mentioning that the statue is currently pinned to the main base. Not sure if I should more fully glue it all together, and pin the feet of Horus later, or allow the detachable base and glue Horus on. So pinned for now, decision to come later.

-- silly painter

Rhino Transport WIP#1

Paint first, assemble later.

It's time for a tank.
The Rhino troop transport offers an excellent vehicle for more airbrush practice, and to see how quickly it can be painted up. It's also not as complex as other models, and can be cut from the sprue quickly and easily enough.

The first step is to paint the inside compartment. The added bonus is that if things go a bit wrong, it really won't be seen that much, so I can afford a bit of experimentation to see what works, and what doesn't.

First step, as always, is a primer base spray. After thinking on the matter a good deal, I used black. This was with the trusty spray can, and provides a good surface for paint to stick to afterwards. Black, because I didn't want it to end up brighter than the troops it's meant to transport.

Getting out the airbrush next, a coat of Zandri Dust (air), evenly applied. Dryad Bark (air) in the corners and around objects next, followed by some Terminatus Stone (air) in an attempt to highlight a few areas. That last step turned out to be too bright, so back to Zandri Dust (air) to cover it all, and blend back over the Dryad Bark a little bit.
The results are quite acceptable, and very quick to do. Takes longer to tear down and clean the airbrush than to actually use it! Anyway, using an airbrush for initial base, shade, and highlights looks more feasible every time I try.

A few points of note:

• The airbrush blending is effective, but trying to replicate it with the normal paints is very, very difficult. So trying to correct mistakes is going to be very difficult - experience will help with that, but don't even plan on going back over large areas. Leave fix ups to smaller sections.
• The paint applies differently, blends differently, so painting over the top of it does look a little bit different. It's something to keep in mind. Not shown, but I did try the usual blend approach over the "boxes" (darker brown) in the compartment. It wasn't quite the same, took a few goes to get things right.
• Karak Stone provides a good edge highlight. Only on the very edges, but definitely helps give definition over everything.
• Decals of the Legion number, in honour of the Primarch.

On a final note, again not shown in the photo, the "boxes" ended up with:

• Dryad Bark (base)
• Gorthor Brown (layer) (bottom 2/3 of the boxes)
• Baneblade Brown (layer) (bottom 1/3 of the boxes)
• Agrax Earthshade (wash) (draw from bottom to top, let it dry so the wash settles in the same direction)

Still a good deal to go for the inside, but it's a start.

-- silly painter

Stormcast Eternal Liberators

Hammer hammer hammer hammer hammer...time!

Before anything else, ignore the join lines! These models were an exercise in relative speed painting, and the first group to receive airbrush attention. The painting standard was therefore intended to be less than perfect - I quite expected to make a few mistakes.

For the first time using an airbrush however, quite a bit was learned. Airbrushes do not work the same as a normal brush, and the same techniques cannot be applied. I wanted to see if highlighting could work; it can, but is necessarily different. Point of source lighting, or colour transitions across large areas, that sort of thing seem to be best suited: anything that doesn't require the fine control that a good brush affords. The speed of painting though is very much faster. Stay tuned for more airbrush soon....

Overall, the colour scheme for the Liberators made them fairly quick to paint as well. Lots of gold trimming, made easy with the gloss shades. Stock standard approach: Retributor Armour, Reikland Fleshshade (gloss), Liberator Gold. The only interesting part was the "clouds" on the bottom. Purely drybrushed approach this time of whatever was on hand: I believe it was Mechanicus Standard Grey, some Dawnstone (dry paint), just dabbed on with a drybrush. It's not a bad effect, and certainly quick, though it doesn't give as much depth as the original.


It's probably the most tabletop standard I can do. Acceptable for mass painting though, so i'll keep them as references for that.

-- silly painter

Lizardmen Cold One Cavalry (Complete)

Lemmings to the cliff.

Well it took a while, and the photo is (as usual) incredibly bad, but they're finally done. Nothing particularly special about the riders that hasn't been covered before, with the possible exception of the "banner". Decided that a pure gold banner would look too much, and be considered too heavy to hold aloft going into battle. Instead, it's mostly Dryad Bark with some gold edging in places to make it look fancy. Also decided that it was a fire snake of some kind, and the leaves would be dyed to reflect that, so they've been given a fire type look.

The bases are not the originals, but instead the Shattered Dominion oval bases done up to look like a swap overtaking some ancient ruins. Fairly easy in the end, and gave some opportunity to test out the airbrush a little (hint: if you have an airbrush and are using the Citadel Air range, get some squeeze bottles to put the paint into!).

• Black (air)
• Terminatus Stone (air)
• Lustrian Undergrowth (technical)
• Elysian Green (layer) (just on some plants)
• Niblet Green (dry)
• Hexos Palesun (dry)
• Dawnstone (dry) (just on the stone areas, funnily enough)
• Agrax Earthshade (shade)

The cracks in the bases were made to look like little streams running through the undergrowth, just by painting them a dark blue/green. This ended up being:

• Macragge Blue (base, watered down to shade consistency)
• Drakenhof Nightshade (shade)
• Colia Greenshade (shade)

 That's about it really. I'm not a huge fan of the detail (or lack thereof) with the Shattered Dominion bases, but they give something to work with at least. Just be nice for a bit more detail in them.

The airbrush adventures deserve their own post, but I'm still learning with that. The idea is to make the base colour and initial highlight steps much faster - something I can only really play with more on the next set of models.

-- silly painter.

Legion Praetor Tribune (Complete)

 I actually finished this model a couple of weeks ago, but had it on display in the local Games Workshop store (or Warhammer store, as it's called now). An incredibly fun model to paint.

Gimli

 There's not too much to say about the painting, although a couple of points stand out. The gold trim was a combination of several layers, being:

• Balthasar Gold (Base)
• Druchii Violet (Shade)
• Gehenna's Gold (Layer) (Most of the area, leaving recesses alone)
• Auric Armour Gold (Layer) (Less area, mostly edges)
• Reikland Fleshshade (Gloss Shade) (Selected areas)
• Liberator Gold (Layer) (Edge highlights)

And my axe.

Another point of interest might actually be the base. After covering it with Astrogranite, some Mechanicus Standard Grey helped to even out the colours and bind the texture paint down. Multiple drybrush applications, picked almost at random and I can't recall exactly what was used now and then different shades applied. It's the different shades that ended up being the most useful: Nuln Oil, Reikland Fleshshade, Seraphim Sepia, Agrax Earthshade, even a little Drakenhof Nightshade. It all just helps to give extra definition and depth to the base. Incredibly simple, but quite effective.

Last note: messed up the head a bit. Couldn't quite get the eyes right, so he's a little battle scarred.

-- silly painter.

Legion Praetor Tribune WIP #2

Arm-ament ongoing

A short update on the Legion Praetor Tribune, including a very bad photo. Hoping to get that sorted out soon - a proper lighted booth and turntable to take photos in.

The usual armour higlighting was done, however a coat of Purity Seal was added part way through because everything became too "shiny" from the flow improver (Lahmian Medium alternative) used. This really can't be seen in the photo, but the effort to he basic armour highlights, as ever, pays off in the end.

Gold trimming was a bit of an exercise this time around:

• Balthasar Gold (Base)
• Druchii Violet (Shade)
• Gehenna's Gold (Layer), first highlight
• Auric Armour Gold (Layer), second highlight
• Reikland Fleshshade (Gloss Shade), just in select areas
• Liberator Gold (Layer), final edge highlight

The blue wings on the chest piece works nicely as a bit of balance, and will help to create more focus in that area. A different head to the standard will be used, but it's not painted yet. I've decided to attempt to give the head a blue glow, emanating from within the armour itself. This is partly in preparation for when I work on Horus, and also just for something different to make this model stand out from others.

Next, however, I will likely concentrate on enough to get more of the model assembled.

Another Lizardman Rider has been finished too. Only 5 more of those to go.

-- silly painter