Primaris Blood Angel (Continued)

Not much further done on Horus yet, and very little painting in general, but one out of the five Primaris Marines is painted enough to be fully assembled. Still a lot to go, but moving onto the second now. Just painting each enough to fully assemble, then finish all five at once.

Looking at something interesting.

The snap together models (well, non-posable at any rate) have given the designers a chance to make some very good poses and action stances for these models. Some chapter icons would have been nice, but maybe they're very new.

A proper camera definitely helps in taking photos. The colours show much better, though I'm still trying to get the focus right.

Chest eagle is the usual now for "black" wings: Black, Dark Reaper, Russ Grey. Shoulder pad trim only has a thin Eshin Grey edge highlight, though I'll add Dawnstone at a later date more selectively. The same goes for the gun casing. Not shown, but pouches attached to the belt also have Eshin Grey highlights, but that's given in a drybrush style to make it look more like worn leather rather than hard armour plating.

There's not enough contrast on the armour highlights, so I'll look to increase that with the next one. This guy is obviously more in shadow than the others will be.

Overall though, Primaris Marines are definitely much easier to work with, mostly due to their increased size. Hopefully this will allow me to move back to "old" marines much easier later on once I'm more experienced with the airbrush.

-- silly painter.

Warmaster Horus Test, Primaris Blood Angel

Raise your hand if you're Horus.

Started some initial testing for Horus. I was fairly certain on going a for a blue hue to the armour, and that's turned out "ok". I'm not entirely happy yet, but I think it's enough to do more and see how it goes. I think so far there's not enough shine maybe, or not enough contrast. So it looks actually more blue than black. This may change later - I think more of the model is required to really know.

The plan if it does look too blue is to grab a dark grey and desaturate the colours with some glazing.

So far the armour is a base of Black (several thin coats to get it nice and even), followed by Dark Reaper for initial highlights, and then Russ Grey for edges. A little more Russ Grey is still needed in some parts.

The trim is Balthasar Gold washed with Reikland Fleshshade, highlighted with Sycorax Bronze and edge highlighted with Runelord Brass. This is similar to the Grey Knight weapons on purpose: Grey Knights use pyschic powers and force weapons, and Horus' armour was supposed to offer psychic shielding. So this basic brass theme has now become the go-to for (Imperial technology base) metals related to pyschic uses.

I did try a Warplock Bronze base on one small part of armour trim, but it was a little too dark for my liking.

Overall though, the armour does offer colours reminiscent of Solar Auxillia. This kind of fits in with Horus seeing himself as the proper leader of Imperial forces. Horus should look evil, no doubt there, but if I can put in hints that he didn't see himself as evil and corrupted, then it might give that much more character.

Bedknobs & Broomsticks, 40k style.

Above is part of a side project to Horus. One of five primaris marines. I've adjusted the colour slightly, but it's made the top look orange - it doesn't look that way in reality, just in the photo.

This model is the first play test with some different approach to airbrushing. Basically a mix of Mephiston Red and Rhinox Hide, overlaid with Averland Sunset for highlights. Over that goes Mephiston Red, and over that goes Evil Sunz Scarlet.

The Averland Sunset didn't really show through, and I messed up the last layer - the paint was far too thin and I couldn't apply it proper. Also the compressor on the airbrush is basically gone, as it keeps kicking in and getting extremely hot. So I'm having to fix up again with a paintbrush. The photo doesn't do things justice sadly (the camera just doesn't capture the gradient), but I am getting better at the red.

At any rate, once the current lot of marines are done, the next batch will be:

• Rhinox Hide (all of the model)
• 50/50 Rhinox Hide / Mephiston Red (most of the model, try leave the deepest recesses)
• Mephiston Red (less of the model, mostly mid range highlights)
• 50/50 Mephiston Red / Evil Sunz Scarlet (less still, highlighted areas only)
• Evil Sunz Scarlet (less of the highlighted areas, if it's needed)

Wanting to do more airbrushing will hopefully motivate to get this lot done relatively quickly, and I do have Tolmeron to use as a reference for colours too.

-- silly painter.

Warmaster Horus

Just in pieces over the Heresy.

So I've finally started on the main model of Horus. This is going to take some time to get done.

The model is incredibly detailed, and I had to take quite a bit of time removing flash, mould lines, and generally tidying it up in preparation for priming. Owing to the feet attached to inserts that slot into the base itself, I've decided to leave the main body on the resin block from production, at least for now. It's easy to hold. I may change my mind and find a way to attach everything to a miniature handle, but I'll see how I get on with the painting first.

Although black is a better primer, I went with Corax White this time. The white might make some areas brighter than they should be, but it also make it much easier to pick out detail - and I'm going to need all the help I can get for that.

In terms of colour planning, the current thinking is for the main armour to be a base of black, highlighted up to a blue hinted grey (which basically means layering using Dark Reaper and Fenrisian Grey). This is intended to give things a bit of a (temperature) cool look. The character was not given over to emotional outbursts, so something more cold, calculating, and yet clean, seems to fit.
Filigree and edging will be more of a bronze than gold. Gold edges towards yellow more, and runs the risk of distracting from the darker and somewhat sinister nature that Horus' character had become. Bronze is a somewhat earthier colour and shouldn't "brighten" the model too much, but still offers quite a range of saturation that can be used to shade and hightlight the details.

There will of course be red lighting coming from within the armour itself, which will take some effort to show in the face properly. The face is definitely a focal point of the whole model - surrounded by black armour, well above the lighter tones of the base, it's the face that will prove most difficult to get right. It can't be too stark in contrast to the armour or it will look like a floating head, but too dark and it doesn't stand out. More planning required there.

Looking around, the shoulders are often depicted by others with some level of green as a nod towards the colours of the Sons of Horus. Although it's somewhat of a copy-cat move, it's still a great idea and one that I'll follow.

The cape I'm a little torn on. Purple might be nice, and I've seen it being pulled off well elsewhere, but I have the feeling that a red velvet might tie in better to the base. I'll keep an open mind on that a bit longer.

As for where to go from here: probably start blacking in armour, firstly around those areas that would be hard to reach fully assembled. Painting will proceed with that in mind: get enough done to assemble each piece, and then complete the model once everything is attached.

-- silly painter.

Rhino

vroom vroom

The rhino is officially complete, although some decals may be added later, and some freehand on roof hatch might be done at some point too.

This was the first model really started with an airbrush, and it turned out rather well when not in a photo. The shading in particular helps define areas, so much so that there was little need to edge highlight anything.

Actually in general I've been doing less edge highlights of late, and trying to make them less bright when I want to. Shading and blending work better in my opinion, with edge highlights helping make something in particular stand out rather than being used to define every edge of armour plating.

There aren't any new techniques that haven't been covered before, so there's really not much more to say about this model. The name scroll was done with pencil, black, and Lahmian Medium, as noted in a previous post. Look closely on the actual model and some of the pencil is visible still - something to look into getting rid of on future models.

All in all, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I didn't go overboard on the vehicle, but decals and shading keep it looking interesting anyway. I'll save going overboard for something....bigger.

-- silly painter.

Imperial Fist

Say hello to my little friend.

Another test model, mostly as an excuse to try out some colours with the airbrush. In this case, the following:

• Averland Sunset (air)
• Flash Gitz Yellow (air)
• Angron Red (Forgeworld Clear)
• Phalanx Yellow (Forgeworld)

It's a shame that Forgeworld have stopped their airbrush range. I was just getting into it, and the quality of them is far superior to the GW range. Especially the clear paints - they are just brilliant! But, have to make do with the GW range now I guess.
A few problems in working with yellow here - mainly the speckling from an airbrush is very apparent. This could perhaps be covered with a bit more clever airbrushing in future - namely use the base colour over the shade and highlight colours to help blend it all together. So long as the base colour is kept thin, this should work. Picking a proper base colour is key, so if I were to do the same I might do something like:

• Averland Sunset
• Red (of some kind) for shading
• Phalanx Yellow for highlights
• Flash Gitz Yellow all over to blend everything together.

Moving on, some paintbrush application of Casandora Yellow (shade) to give better definition to a few areas, a tiny bit of Fuegan Orange (shade) where I wanted that definition even darker, and a sparing edge highlight with Dorn Yellow, and the armour is done.
It's probably worth noting that I messed up on the angle of shading on the shoulder pads. I'm leaving this as it is, as a reminder to do better in future. Proper planning should have solved this, but obviously I didn't think through the final pose.

Not much more to say on the marine. The eye lenses are Mephiston Red, Evil Sunz Scarlet, Carroburg Crimson, Nuln Oil, and a dot of White Scar.

The base is entirely freehand. Just playing with shades of blue and purple. Seemed to fit the feel of Imperial Fists, and was a great excuse to play with more marbling effects.

Also, this model was done very quickly compared to most. Yay.

-- silly painter.

Lieutenant Tolmeron

Or, as I prefer to call him, Lt. Toblerone.

Run closer, I want to hit them with my sword!

So this guy has been done relatively quickly, at least for me. The reason is actually quite simple: this was the first model to really build on all the notes used previously on how to paint each component. In essence, the first production model!

After much thinking, the sword was done by drybrushing instead of adding a pigment colour to one of the metallics. The deciding factor was wanting it to look similar to the Sanguinary Guard.

The helmet was coloured gold for veteran status, and done the same as the Sanguinary Guard. The sword hilt was:

• Screaming Bell
• Reikland Fleshshade (Gloss)
• Hashut Copper
• Fulgurite Copper (edge highlight)

I wanted more of a reddish colour for the hilt - almost red gold, and distinct from the helmet.
The rest of the gold was more like that done on the recent Chaplain, with a wash of Druchii Violet to make things a little bit darker.

The armour itself was done with an airbrush, and tidied up afterwards. It's certainly faster for basic highlighting, but less controlled than a paintbrush. It should work fine for Primaris marines, at least until I'm better with the airbrush and can move back down to smaller models.

-- silly painter.

Grey Knights (Finished)

One has gone ahead, we're the backup.

So, they're done now. Only the recently completed models are shown here - the first painted has a different base, and while I could rebase that particular model, the armour was also painted differently. So that squad member is obviously ranging ahead, teleported slightly further away and is busy fighting his way back, or is on deployment elsewhere.

Not really too much of note. The hammer didn't quite turn out right, so I ended up drybrushing with Hoeth Blue, Lucius Lilac, and Praxeti White over the ends. It's not the same as with power weapons to try give the essence that psychic energy, power from the warp, is flowing through it.

With some of the finer details, I'm finding myself heading back to using flow improvers more (so basically Lahmian Medium). Using water has a habit of drying out the paint too quickly on the tip of the brush, and can flow too easily where you don't intend.

The blades I may have rushed a little, but didn't know what else to really try. Something more detailed would probably be better, but for now....they're done.

-- silly painter.