Progress Report 183.19.M3. Blood Angel Intercessor's

Finally completed the last Intercessor Sergeant from the Dark Imperium box.

Now he can join his Squad mates...(Squad One)

Squad Two...

  

No real conversions on these other than adding skulls, purity seals etc to bulk them out a little. The application of battle damage has changed from the first five (Squad Two) to the last five.

On the first ones I made more use of oils to add dirt and battle grime with only a small amount of scratches. By the time I got to Squad One I had kind of reversed the process and gone from  base coating them with Hull Red to Steel. 

I also ad libbed with markings. Deciding to keep only Chapter and Company markings. I wanted to try and give each one a touch of individuality but also keeping them as a whole.  

I'm not totally convinced with the severed head on the backpack of the battle brother in Squad Two. I need to add something more or remove it maybe? Anyway I'll have a think on that one. 

So over all about 18 months to get these completed.

The Emperor Protects.   

Progress Report 139.19.M3

Ticking along nicely with the fourth module. Built the gantries to connect to the central platform.

Kept all nice and simple. But when doing a dry fit found there was a gap between the gantries and platform.

So by capping the ends that problem was sorted.

The whole was given a black undercoat and painting proper began.

Metal areas were given a coat (all by airbrush) of Tamiya Flat Aluminium, followed MIG Ammo Shadow Rust (patches) and finally Tamiya Smoke (patches and low PSI).

The floor and legs of the platforms were airbrushed with Tamiya Deep Green, followed by Tamiya Flat Green and finally Tamiya Yellow Green. But restricted the to edges of the module only with the last colour.

I wanted to give it a worn/dirty appearance with out having to use a lot of techniques particularly sponging on the damage/grime.

I then gave all the metal areas a wash of Seraphim Sepia but by removing most of the wash from the brush so as not to soak the area. The platforms glued in place...

Will probably do some more weathering detail work and have to add a few fixtures and fittings. But coming along nicely. No safety rails on the platforms for playability sake. The walkways are approx. 50mm wide.

Blood Angel given a base coat of Vallejo Steel ready for the red.

The Emperor Protects.

Progress Report 132.19.M3

Busy week. First up Blood Angels Primaris Marine finished.

Having fun playing around with the basic colour scheme on each one. Adding little differences to each figure makes it a bit more interesting with painting all that red! 

Applied a base coat of VMA Steel to this one and then found it made it easier to visualize the battle damage. Finally happy with applying the damage to these figures. Figure nine finally happy!!! The switch from 1/72nd and 1/56th scale AFV's was a little tricky in transferring techniques from one medium to the other. But always learning! I've found that GW Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade are used for the initial weathering then VMC Smoke. Finally a little bit of oil paints to round it all off. When I first started a was using Oil and Enamel based products more with pigments. Which worked fine on the AFV's but not so much for me on these figures.

The above is a 1/72nd scale T34/76 one of the last vehicles I painted about 18 months ago. Weathering drab green with oils, enamels and pigments is so much easier that phonebox red! It's a Zvezda model.

So also made a start on the Escher ganger.

Base for her is completed.

Then painted some ladders for Module three...

Was going to glue these in originally but decided they will be kept loose to make the game potentially more interesting. Who knows, character's knocking them down, stealing them?

A rough idea of what they look like in situ. These are from Hexy Store. Must admit a bit disappointed with them. Bought other items from them which are really nice casts. But some of these ladders needed quite a bit of cleaning up. I've only weathered one side, the good side. I bought these to save time but really all they are, are H plastic rod and T plastic rod..cast in resin. So could I made them myself as originally planned in the time it took to clean them up? Probably not! But the two I have left are the worst of the bunch so may just cut them up to use as debris.

The Emperor Protects.

Progress Report 121.19.M3

Quick update to keep me on my toes. Next Blood Angel Intercessor and Escher ganger built and ready for prepping etc..

With the next Intercessor gone out on a limb by pretty much building the whole model rather than breaking it done into it's component parts as normal. Will see this speeds up the painting process or frustrates it with the Marines it since detail will be hidden.

As noted when I started this Blog it is more for a diary record so I can keep a check on progress on 40K universe projects only. Like every other wargamer out there I have other projects on the go too. One of which can be seen lurking behind the Space Marine.

In case your wondering it's a Chindit for my intended WW2 Far East project.

The Emperor Protects.  

Progress Report 107.19.M3

Blood Angel Intercessor finished (actually a couple of days ago), Quite happy with this one. Painting the red straight over the metallic certainly helped to get the feel for the battle damage. Also meant I did not have to add too much more damage with VMC Dark Rust and VMA Steel.

Used Nuln Oil both gloss and regular versions to add shade/dirt followed by VMC Smoke. I also painted the main body of the bolt rifle in VMA Steel and then added the green then weathered a bit more by feathering the steel along the edges and pulling the brush down. All the gold was painted in Retributor Armour washed with Reikland Flesh Shade and highlighted with VMA Steel. Made for a much quicker job.

The back pack was painted black using the Scale 75 Black and White set. But then I used a brush and sponge to add steel chipping. I then used VMC Black Glaze to dirty the black followed by pin washes of Agrax Earth Shade. For the dirt round the lower legs feet returned to the MIG Abteilung Oils, light Earth and Basic Earth. With a lit bit of Engine Grease in strategic places.  

So I now have only to two Intercessors to do from the Dark Imperium box and then can move onto a different type of marine

Third Escher ganger completed too!

Kept to a simple colour scheme. For the black on the leggings I used Foundry Charcoal Black with a last highlight by mixing VMC Beige Red with the lightest colour of the triad and then using VMC Black Glaze to pull it all together.

Happy with the result.

Also added the floor to Module three. Decided to use cork tile again which has been scored and distressed to represent damaged concrete when painted.

The Emperor Protects.  

Progress Report 99.19.M3

The latest Blood Angel is nearing completion. Few minor details to complete on the main body and then finish the back pack.

Have used Nuln Oil Gloss and Non-gloss plus VMC Smoke for shading and weathering so far. Once the model is assembled will finish off the weathering with oil paints and pigments.

Also assembled the third module for the Underhive board. Added a 2mm MDF base, since I want to make this one appear as if the floor has collapsed. Lets see how that goes!

 
I'm going to put a further base over the top of the MDF, just not sure what material to use. Though I have a pretty good idea what I going to fill the space with.

The Emperor Protects

Progress Report 92.19.M3

More work completed on the next Blood Angel Primaris marine. Decided to try a different approach by airbrushing MIG Ammo Dark Rust over the darker Vallejo Hull Red. Then took it a stage further by airbrushing on the legs only VMA Steel. The idea being I would work scratches into the initial painting and make the red brighter when applied to the new lighter base colours.

 
Happy with the first results I then applied VMA Steel roughly to the rest on the model via a brush. Not to clear in that photo but on the Marines right leg I worked the red up from VMC Flat Red, vermillion and finally Aramantha Red. Then used VMC Dark Rust (which is much darker red brown than the MIG Ammo Dark Rust which is a more orange brown! Confusing!) for damage followed by VMC Oily Steel and some VMA Steel. Starting to like the Vallejo Model Air Steel with it being brighter than the Oily Steel and should show up more on the model. So still adding further weathering with a brush but working off a steel base cuts out some of the leg work.

The black areas have been painted with VMC Dark Grey. I tend used a dark grey or black grey more for a black base than true black.

Also built and primed the next Escher.

 The Emperor Protects.  

Progress Report 59.19.M3

Fair bit done but still plenty to do.

First up; airbrushed the door hatches on the board Tamiya Flat Aluminium, the walls Tamiya Flat White and floors my concrete base mix of Vallejo Concrete, Light Green Grey and Light Grey.

Still more to be done to the base colours before I can start to add details. Also airbrushed the Green Grey roughly onto the walls to give a bit of age.

The lights, power units, and doors have also been airbrushed with Flat Aluminium.

All the wall units I decided to airbrush in a base colour of Tamiya Flat Yellow.

So these all need to be weathered and have details picked out.

Also decided to be  a little unorthodox with the next Blood Angel Primaris Marine...

Heresy!!!! A white stripe on the helmet and right shoulder pad. For this I airbrushed Vallejo Aged White onto the area I wanted to change. Masked it off with Tamiya 2mm and 3mm tape respectively and then airbrushed with Hull Red again.

I intend to go back to the Rogue Trader days before Codex's ruled and your Marines could be painted how you liked with personal heraldry etc. Not saying that isn't happening still now but want to personalise my Blood Angels to make them mine not just another collection of red clad space vampires following the law laid down in GW publications. More like this...

This was taken from a little A5 pamphlet called if a remember correctly 'How to paint Space Marines'. Still have my copy somewhere. It had, beside the illustrated above, Ultramarines, Salamanders, Space Wolves and I think Dark Angels. 

Realistically* Blood Angel armour should have lots of embellishment anyway. Like this...

Artist: Adrian Smith

But unless you are good with Green Stuff and can sculpt the designs onto the armour (which I'm not),  different colour designs or personal trophies are the way to go! Forge World do a few nice Horus Heresy era Blood Angels in over wrought armour but not enough. 

The Emperor Protects.

* Realistically in a fantasy universe! If you read the background and literature concerning the Blood Angels is what I am referring to. 

Progress Report 51.19.M3

Blood Angels Terminator....finished.

I did decide to add weathering around the feet and lower legs. Used AK Enamel Earth Effects first then MIG Ammo Rubble and Concrete powders. The figure was then varnished with Vallejo Gloss then Matt. Once dry further weathering powders added MIG Ammo Dark Earth to the mix. 

Though it may be  awhile before he gets any compatriots in Tactical Dreadnought armour. 

Also weathered the base for the next Escher ganger and Primaris Marine.

The Escher base gets an intial wash of Nuln Oil, the Marine base a wash of Seraphim Sepia. Then use Agrax Earthshade and thinned Vallejo Smoke. Basically go back and forth with these colours, mixing them together, dragging then down to make streaks etc.. The Vallejo Smoke gives a nice oily feel without having to use more specific products. A dry cotton bud can be used to remove any unwanted stains, before the wash dries or to thin streaks. If it does dry then a cotton bud dipped in Tamiya Thinner will remove acrylic paint. Just make sure the tip of the bud is damp not soaking in the fluid.

The Emperor Protects.   

  

Progress Report 50.19.M3

Terminator almost completed!

Just got to decide if I will use weathering powders and enamels as I have on other Marines to complete. At present I have used Nuln Oil and VMC Smoke to add a bit of grime to the figure.

Also completed the base today. So once that is painted that will be the decider on adding any further weathering to the Terminator.

Second base board for the Underhive is built. Again from the Sally 4th Terra Formers range. This is the bunker. The floor is positioned to sit half way up the outer walls. Noticeable from the MDF plugs running across the centre of the nearest wall!

The Emperor Protects