Thunderhawk Gunship - Part II

 

Na nana na na-na, Thunder(hawk).

While working on the multiple marines I've also been keeping the Thunderhawk nearby for some airbrushing work. This might have at first seemed something straight forward to get done, but actually it subtly trickier. I wanted to use the same basic colours for everything else Blood Angels, but the shading wouldn't quite match due to the scale difference. I've also been leaning towards highlighting panel surfaces rather than edges, so again needed to approach the airbrushing differently there.

The end result is giving edges of panels a darker shade to help outline the general shape of the vehicle, and I'll go back in later to apply either a directed shade, or oil wash and pin shading. I've not yet decided which I'll go with, but I can make the oil wash thinner and much darker, which might suit the scale better. No reason I can't do bother either.

I think so far the airbrushing has turned out well. It will serve as a good base to work from, helping give depth to the model while also presenting an obvious Blood Angels colour scheme. In a stroke of good fortune (for me), the Forgeworld resin 40k Thunderhawk is painted up for the 9th Legion, and so I'm going to essentially copy that colour scheme. On the one hand it's always nice to come up with your own twist, but on the other hand there's enough of a challenge in painting a scaled down version and I don't want to be spending weeks or months figuring out the colours and making no progress.

Weathering will be done on this model. I don't ordinarily do such things, but a Thunderhawk would benefit from a little bit to further sell the impression of a machine of war. Most of the weathering is very likely going to be simple streaks of black on leading edges, which can be drybrushed on easily enough.

-- silly painter.

Retrospective - 2021

 Going to take a moment out of the normal posts and write a bit of a retrospective about just what I managed to do painting-wise for 2021.

I started the year with a sort-of goal of one miniature per week. I didn't reach that (at the time of writing). Am I sad about this? Not at all. I've had far less painting time this year than last, I still managed a good number done (for me), and I also painted quite a variety. From Sons of Horus, to Allarus Custodians, various planes for Aeronautica Imperialis, a Lamenter, the Sanguinor, Assault Intercessors, and of course finishing Horus.

All of these models offered different colours to work with, different textures to explore, and allowed more practice with the airbrush. Then there's Project 20 Marines, which is still ongoing. While that project was originally just intended to get numbers done, it's become an exploration of batch painting, efficiency in painting, and how well my formula of painting Blood Angels holds up. Fairly well, fortunately, which makes them much easier to progress with - I'm not constantly thinking of how to paint something, instead just getting something done. On those areas where I need to consider it a bit more, I can just keep going with something else while mulling over the options. After all the fun of the other models during the year, it's actually relaxing now to just painting something familiar for a little while. Maybe I can always have about 10 in the background on the go in future - painting I can get done without constantly considering.

And this leads into perhaps the most important thing at the end of the year: am I still as motivated to paint now, as when I was at the start of the year? Yes. Absolutely. I might have been less so if I'd forced myself to get models done just for some arbitrary "one model per week" idea - that helped keep me going as a great-if-I-could goal, but it should never come at the cost of actually enjoying the hobby.

It has now come to a point of next year. I would like to try for one model a week again, if only to help clear the backlog. I would however also like to explore different styles of painting, different approaches to textures, and maybe pushing myself a little on things I've not done much of before, e.g object source lighting, more NMM, that sort of thing. There's also the recent grimdark style from Trovarion that would look great on Death Guard, or some other models I have in mind. Just to mix it up a little.

Some discipline in only buying one new model for every two painted has been a good choice. I've curbed my hoarding, and started to really think about whether I really want those certain models or not. The main benefit behind all of this is again related to motivation: seeing piles of miniatures in boxes is actually a little disheartening, where as seeing a shelf of painted models just wants me to get more done.

There are some side projects that I've started and made some progress on, but haven't mentioned on this blog at all. There are reasons for this, but they're very slow moving because I've been wanting to do other things instead. They'll appear here eventually.

And the Thunderhawk isn't paused either. Actually that's something I'm thinking about the next steps for, but with a bit of luck won't be too far out.

Highlight of the year has to be getting Horus finished, and not just finished but actually looking as well as I wanted him to turn out. Very pleased with that, made the long time spent on him well worth it.

-- silly painter.

Project 20 Marines - Part V

 

Lightning fast knee to the xenos.

Problem with painting twenty marines at once is that there isn't too much to write about for a weekly based update. I have managed to experiment more with the oil paints however, and have now done seven in this manner, with the rest catching up over the coming days.

The photo shown above is one of the earlier test models. I've actually already applied a matt varnish to this one just for photography purposes, but I will very likely get more painted before that stage on the rest. Painting over gloss varnish is trickier on larger surfaces, but once that first coat is applied (and dry) then the next layers are fine. The recess shading / panel lining on this particular test model is also thinner than what I'm going for with the others, because it doesn't give quite enough depth that I'm going for here. Except on the backpack, but that was done without oils.

The verdict so far is that yes, oil washes are much quicker, but aren't as strong. More mineral spirits allows the mix to flow much easier, but naturally thins out the pigment. I could either do multiple coats, or thin it less; I'm trying for the latter. I'm also using a magenta oil, where Crimson Carroburg is darker, so it might be worth investing in a black oil paint to mix in. This would definitely overcome some of the issues I'm having, so I'll very likely give it a try as soon as I can.

I will admit that using the acrylic washes I so far prefer overall for quality, possibly just because I'm used to them, but also they don't come with the hazardous chemical requirements. The catch is that they're much slower for pin shading, and mistakes are more difficult to fix.

In the end, the speed of application for these models is winning out. It's just that much faster right now, and I'm really trying to teach myself ways of painting larger numbers of models. Prior techniques can remain the domain of special characters or other stand-out models that will have that extra bit of attention, but for getting through twenty "normal" marines at a high quality, the oils is good enough. I do want a high level of finish, but I'm also very aware of just how big my backlog is. I'm hoping in the coming year I can have a constant stream of squads in the background while exploring new techniques and styles on some more singular models.

Finally, the idea of dots of PVA glue is really helpful. Even after all the priming, painting, and varnishing, the masked areas come off nicely and help glue sub-assemblies in place.

-- silly painter.

Project 20 Marines - Part IV

 

Showing Raven Guard how it's done.

With the backpacks ready to go, I've been busy preparing the main body of each marine for the final airbrush highlight. This is when I realised a few things that could be done better, making this whole experiment not just about painting a lot of models in one go, but figuring out the best approaches to doing so. This takes extra time, but the experience gained is well worth it.

In particular, while busy edge highlighting with Wild Rider Red, it occurred to me that some of the edges would not be airbrushed over with Evil Sunz Scarlet later on. I was so busy just edge highlighting that I'd forgotten to really picture the end result. Such a small detail, but it will be important later: some edge highlights should be done with Evil Sunz Scarlet directly, or Mephiston Red. Having all three paints on the palette makes this take no less time, it's just a matter of picking the right one for each edge. Knowing that will take some more practice.

The other conundrum that's been occupying my thoughts is how to recess shade later. That takes a long time for me to do, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it - perhaps had been delaying these models longer for that reason. So I decided to do something about and turn to oil washes. The little Tau drone is something used to experiment with that, and it worked so well that I will almost certainly be doing the same across all twenty marines (after confirming on a single test model of course).

Oil washes come with their own issues, and require more chemicals to work with, so this wasn't something I did on a whim. I prefer to have a small painting area that I can just use whenever I feel like it, and the oil washes do take a little bit of preparation. The thinner also smells; there are odourless mineral spirits, but these just mask the toxic chemical in the air, and I'd rather know if I'm not ventilating the room properly.

The basic idea with an oil wash being used for pin washing is:

• Apply a gloss varnish. This helps break surface tension.
• Mix an oil paint with some mineral spirits (or white spirits) to a wash consistency.
• Dab the wash into recesses, and the solution will naturally flow into surrounding recessed areas.
• Leave to dry for a few hours.
• Apply a matt varnish afterwards to remove the gloss.

The last step might be suitable for later where I normally apply that anyway, but it depends how well acrylic paints will apply on the gloss surface. I'll just have to see. Either way, before the last varnish step is the ideal time to apply transfers. It's also worth bearing in mind that pin washing doesn't have to be done immediately at this stage, it can well wait until much more of the model has been done.

The prototype for this approach is the Tau drone. It has lots of panels to outline, so served as a good practice for how it might work on a marine. I picked up Magenta (from Winsor & Newton) which seems to match Crimson Carroburg rather well, but it was thinned a little too much here. I also put a dot on one area and just used water with the brush to smooth it out. Using a very small dab of the spirits would have worked better and allowed a much smoother transition, but I can see the potential.

Next steps are to finish edge highlights, start on the final airbrush highlight, and then try a test model with the oil paint. It's extremely promising, and I'm hopeful it will take just one day to recess shade all the marines instead of taking a full week.

-- silly painter.

Avatar of Khaine - Part I

 

Yellow Man.

This series might take a little while to get posted, as I'm intending to write out everything in steps, then post everything at once or in short succession.

This is the Forgeworld Avatar of Khaine, spear version. As is typical from Forgeworld, the detail is incredible, and will help in painting this monster. There are very few defects in the model as well, only minor places that were easily fixed with either a bit of putty, or closed up with a dot of superglue. I was concerned with the weight and how few contacts points on the base there are, so that has been pinned and glued. I intend to strengthen the pins with some putty underneath as well, but for not it's a solid connection to the base.

This Avatar will be Ulthwe, with a few tweaks to match that. Shin and forearm armour (decorative only when it comes to an Avatar) I'll go for a bone colour, and generally black elsewhere. This lends itself naturally to the typical magma appearance most commonly painted, and I'm not inclined to make something different right now.

To start with, the model was of course fully cleaned and then primed black. A necessary step with resin, as other layers will easily come off if this isn't done. I then had the clever idea of using an airbrush to spray white into all the magma cracks - only it wasn't that clever. The paint didn't really want to go into the cracks at all, so I ended up just giving the whole model a light "dusting" of White Scar through the airbrush. I'd thinned the paint well beforehand, making it more of a white ink than anything else.

Fortunately the initial white layer helped more than hindered in the end. It picks out details clearly, and serves as a good base for working with Contrast paints. It's also much finer than using a spray can, so I'm going to keep this in mind in future.

Back to a paintbrush, I thinned White Scar with a good amount of flow improver (basically Lahmian Medium) to turn it into a wash, and then directly fed it into all the cracks and left it to dry. This process was repeated about four times until a solid white built up. It's good to allow this to spill over the cracks as well, so don't worry about that.

Next step is to cover all these areas with Lamenters Yellow, the good old glaze paint. I liked the yellow this gives - a very bright, but pale, yellow that fits for the fiery core of the Avatar.

Next is Iyanden Yellow (Contrast). This is basically thinly applied over most of the "skin" but not in the deep of the cracks. Sides, and upper layers, and anywhere that should be ever so slightly cooler. Despite the name, the paint actually appears ever so slightly orange in comparison to the previous step.

Following on, Blood Angels Red (Contrast). This is quite a strong paint, so thin it with contrast medium about 1:1, or even 1:2. This mix is then glazed onto the skin, slightly back from the cracks, and blended where possible into the edges. Use as many coats as feels right.

Finally, Black Templar (Contrast), thinned with the medium in about 1:1 and applied further back from the cracks and given multiple coats to really darken the areas between the cracks.

I've not yet done anything further, but I'm contemplating a slight drybrush of something onto the blackened areas just to give them a little bit more depth. Picking the right colour will be key, so I'll wait until I've gone around the whole model with the contrast paints first, and then see how it looks.

The base has very few adornments. I'd considered buying a specialty base, but will probably just go for some freehand wraithbone styling and then build up scorch marks around it. Plenty of time to think about that step.

-- silly painter.

Thunderhawk Gunship - Part I

 

More speed required; quick, paint it red!

The Aeronautica Imperialis scale Adeptus Astartes Thunderhawk Gunship (to give the entire title) has been recently released, and naturally I had to pick one up. It will of course be painted in Blood Angels colours, and will very likely be considered the centrepiece of any Aeronautica squadrons I end up collecting. This is not foreseen to be a quick project.

The model itself is wonderfully detailed. Casting processes and CAD designs really have improved over the last few years, and Games Workshop was correct to wait for now to be releasing such things.

Assembly was fairly good, not much cleanup required, and everything fits together well. It's difficult to put pieces in the wrong spot or the wrong way around, and I was impressed with that aspect. The front foils, and the tail, have to be glued in place carefully or they'll be leaning off to one side too much, but that's really the only assembly issue I had.

Oddly enough, the kit doesn't come with wing attachable bombs, even though that's an option on the included rules sheet. I still have spares of those from the Thunderbolts, but it's odd to give an option that the kit can't provide. The missiles are all there, and I suspect will be what most people want anyway, but given that some tournament rules are "the model must represent what it has in the game" then this might annoy some people.

The landing gear can be either up or down. I have it in the down position because I like it for display that way, but I haven't glued it in place. It doesn't look suitable for magnetising to swap around either, not without a lot of hassle and far more experience in such matters than I currently have, and that's also a shame. I'll just be using blu-tac for now; I can always change my mind later.

So with this model, and Project 20 Marines, and a couple of other things in the works, I'm really getting bogged down in any feeling of progress. Fortunately a lot of it is Blood Angels, so I am familiar with the colours, I will be using the Forgeworld paint scheme for reference, and I should be able to swap around projects to keep interest going. Expect things to be a little chaotic for the rest of the year.

-- silly painter.

Imperial Navy Marauder Destroyers - Part III (Showcase)

 

Flying in very tight formation.

Skipping straight to the showcase of the Marauders, here they are. I was busy of late and had little time for posting any works in progress, but there's really not much different to how the Thunderbolts were handled. The canopy, trim, guns, all the same.

What is different with the Marauders comes down to the flying lights, exhaust soot, and varnishing.

The red and green lights are incredibly simple. Corax White, and then either Spiritstone Red (for the red of course), or Waystone Green (for the green funnily enough). And that's it. The gemstone paints really give a bright and glossy finish when applied over white, and it's a very little detail that really adds to these models.

Exhaust soot is much more apparent on these when compared to the Thunderbolts. More engines and some kind of vents on the upper wings couple with a greater wingspan to fill with something interesting just make it more natural to add black exhaust staining. This is again very simple: Abaddon Black drybrushed on. That's it. Obviously the brush cannot be overloaded, but it gives an excellent weathering effect that gives an appearance of an aircraft that's seen a good deal of use.

Next up is the varnishing. I attempted to use Vallejo Premium Airbrush Matt Varnish. It didn't give a matt finish. I possibly didn't shake the bottle properly, so I will attempt it again at some point, but using a brush managed to tone down the worst areas. At least there's no frosting.

About the missiles: painted exactly the same as the Thunderbolts, and I think better to have them than not. Makes it look a little more capable than a simple bomber. The missile heads are possibly too bright, but it provides a little bit of framing for the rest of the model and works ok.

In wrapping up I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on painting Aeronautica scale models in general. It's not something that fits my usual style of painting very well - details are simply too small to pay much attention to, and careful blending and edge highlighting is pointless. What really works well is the panel highlighting with the airbrush, recess shading to outline it all, and effects such as the exhaust soot. Some details really do help (such as the strobe lights). Drybrushing is sufficient for most of the model, or a simple base, wash, single highlight. I started to go beyond that in places and it was simply a waste of time - and I was beginning to lose motivation despite liking the look of them. It's the difference in scale that impacts things the most - it differs how light is expected to behave to the eye. The airbrush steps, and weathering, are the most important for aircraft. Titanicus is the same scale, but not familiar shapes and so they can be painted more like a Space Marine. Aeronautica Imperialis needs a slightly difference approach.

Let's see how I get on with the Thunderhawk.

-- silly painter.