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PART 1: THE BEGINNER-ING

I posted this model a couple of days ago to the painting and modeling forum, and although I hadn't intended to paint him just yet, I got some nice comments and was inspired to get him finished (he's been sitting on my desk since about March).

Here's the unpainted model:



This is the thread where I wrote a little bit about the process.

PART 2: HEAVY METAL

Here's the metallic parts that I did last night. Mithril Silver, washed down with Devlan Mud, highlighted up to Mithril Silver again, and selectively washed with Badab Black. Took about two hours, drying was sped up by placing in an almost cool oven for fifteen to twenty minutes.





Still some fine detail work on the metal to do, and weathering will be done last.

Tackling the armour next...

Quetions? Comments?

Hmm... one second. The back looks great. Front needs detail as you mentioned.

I would suggest holding the weathering until you have gotten some comments on the "final" paintjob. A crisp dreadnought looks really really cool, and I want to make my own at some point. So far it looks ab-fab mate, I would hesitate to say you needed any criticism.

Oh, remember to add some depth to the "holes" on the cylinder vent things on the top of the back.

Wrexasaur wrote:

Oh, remember to add some depth to the "holes" on the cylinder vent things on the top of the back.

Thanks, that totally slipped my mind.

I'll see what people think before I start weathering, but I'm not a huge fan of 'fresh from the factory' marines, I prefer them to look like they've been on campaign for a few months which means at least some dirt and scrapes.

I understand that a lot of people like weathering, but huge amounts of the stuff can totally ruin a model IMHO. A missile impact, some bolter scratches on the back, and maybe even a broken hose somewhere would be really cool, but you should still wait to make these decisions.

Ok, since it is an ironclad, I would go for making some nicks and scratches in the armour. Don't make them too deep, but make them effective.

The key to these things is thinking about the narrative of the model...

Ironclads have heavy armour, therefore it's going to get hit a lot but the impact will be relatively little.

If your going for the weathered look, rust the metal up slightly and very, very lightly drybrush silver over the armour (I'm assuming Ultramarines blue because of the insignia).

And like Wrexasaur said, bolter scratches and a broken hose would look very nice. But keep the damage subtle!
On that note, I would pass on the missle impact!

I hope this helps.


Cheers,

Jack

I have seen some amazing missile burns, they are usually not supposed to look like direct hits but more like a glance. Imagine a super-sized bolter scratch, possibly adding some scratches from the missiles fins. Not that simple to pull off well, and it could totally be skipped on this model; just a suggestion really.

PART 3: THE JOURNEY OF BLUE

Today's progress was... not a lot. I touched up a few things on the metal and laid down a rough base coat of Mordian Blue, in preparation for a coat of Mordian+Ultramarines Blue which I'm planning on being the base colour for my army.

However, when I came to mix my base, I discovered I'd run out of Ultramarines Blue

Grr...



So that's all I could do until I head down to my FLGS tomorrow to grab some more paint - also must remember to get a bigger brush.

If anyone has pics of weathering techniques to suggest, I'd love to see them. So far I'm thinking mud/dust, oil stains and some nicks in the paintwork, nothing OTT.

I would put another coat of the blue on when you get some paint. I'll see if I can find some battle-damage pics.

Wrexasaur wrote:I would put another coat of the blue on when you get some paint. I'll see if I can find some battle-damage pics.

Absolutely, this is just blocking.

PART 4: BLUE METAL JACKET

I managed to stop by my FLGS today, and picked up the paint I needed - I also stopped at the chemist on the way home. My haul? -



Combine these items in your inventory and you get:



Which is to say I mixed 5mL of the Mordian Blue with 6mL Ultramarines blue to get a large batch of intermediate colour for my army. I wrote the amounts on the bottle so I wouldn't forget how to mix it when it comes time to make a new batch. It allows me to use straight ultramarines blue as my first highlight and work up from there, making my models slightly darker, but not emo dark

So, after applying my new colour, which I shall dub Ultramordian Blue, hitting the recesses with Asurmen Blue wash, then highlighting back up through Ultramarine by way of Skull White, we get to today's progress:



I've noticed a few spots where my blending... didn't, so I'm going to have to go back and fix up those areas later. I'm also tempted to do another edge highlight, but ran out of time tonight. Opinions?

I'm also open to suggestions for what to name him - preferably short so I can paint it on his scrolls

Nice job overall and i must say i never thought about using one of those thingys dont know the english name for em to mix paint i will use that.

Badab Black wash in the recesses maybe?
And here's some weathering tips:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Tank_Weathering

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Dakka_Modeling_FAQ:_Weathering

Nice job overall and i must say i never thought about using one of those thingys dont know the english name for em to mix paint i will use that.

They're really cheap (cost me 50 Oz cents), or if you go to your doctor - or know one - they'll often give you one for free because they get them in by the crateload. That's a 12mL (or 12cc) syringe - anything bigger won't fit in the neck of GW's bottles.

Badab Black wash in the recesses maybe?
And here's some weathering tips:

You make a good point, there are a couple of places there that should be joins that need a darker separation line. Also, thanks for the links, I'll check them out.

Tonight... sarcophagus details!

You're welcome.

PART 5: BREAKING OUT THE LITTLE BRUSH

Not much time tonight, so I decided to have some fun and do some of the details. I like to keep the little interesting things on a big model as rewards for completing long, boring parts. So here's my treat for doing all that blue yesterday:

The Ultramarines U is just highlighted up from grey, however instead of building up to a solid white, I only went to a light grey, highlighting with white. I think this is a bit less bland this way.

The parchment is just Scorched Earth up through Bleached Bone and white.

The seals haven't shown up very well, but they're also a Scorched Earth base with Blood red highlights

The gold took me a while, being Shining Gold (New) washed with Devlan Mud, Highlighted with Shining Gold (from GW's second edition paint range, which is much brighter. The pot is about ten years old and still good. Why did they ever change them?) and then selectively washed with Ogryn Flesh.

I need to come up with a quicker way of doing gold.

I think I'm going to leave the finishing touches on the armour until very near the end, so I can do all the touching-up at once.

I also need to decide what I'm going to put on his little coat-of-arms there. I have no idea, but would love suggestions.

Maybe Burnished Gold, then highlight with Shining Gold

INTERMISSION

No time for painting today I'm afraid, so as compensation, here's a sneak peek at two of the other models that will make it into this army:



They grow up so fast!

Maybe Burnished Gold, then highlight with Shining Gold

Thanks, I'll give it a go - I'll be painting a lot of gold this time around (2nd company) and so I'm going to have to experiment to find a nice balance of speed and finish.

How did you do the metals?

It's looking great so far. I agree on the weathering, I think fresh factory stuff can look good but doesn't scream grim darkness to me. The back looks fantastic.

LBB

littleboyblues wrote:How did you do the metals?

It's looking great so far. I agree on the weathering, I think fresh factory stuff can look good but doesn't scream grim darkness to me. The back looks fantastic.

LBB

Mithril Silver, washed over with Devlan Mud, then highlighted with Mithril Silver again. I prefer the shinier look of Mithril over Chainmail which is what most people use. I also used a follow-up wash of Badab Black in places where you might expect there to be grease, or that needed to be darker, like hoses and grilles.

PART 6: ALL THE LITTLE BRUSHES

I only had an hour to do some painting this evening, so I decided to tackle something I hadn't really been looking forward to - the searchlights. I knew I didn't want to paint them the usual yellow, I wanted them to be off, but that would be much harder to make look good. I am pretty pleased with the way they turned out:



I ended up painting them the same way you paint gems, but in a cool grey (Black + White + Ultramarines Blue until it 'looked right'), and started with a much lighter base colour.

In fact, I got them done quickly enough that I rewarded myself by painting a few more details - the targeting gems (since I already had my eye in on gems tonight it seems) and the shield, which I decided to rim in gold so that it will tie in more with the rest of the army.

I may not have time to do some painting tomorrow, so if there's no painting update, still tune into this thread for another random intermission!

Looks good to me, very snazzy. I really like this.

INTERMISSION PART DEUX

As I thought, no time to paint so:



These are a few of my stormtroopers in my Sisters army, extensively converted helmets and guns. They have an extensive background, but that's a story for another thread!

Looks good to me, very snazzy. I really like this.

Thanks

Oooh, how did you do the converted lasguns to shotties? Those look pretty slick!

Loving the dread. I too have multiple paint pots filled with mixed paint - it saves so much time and ensures consistency across a force.

Agreed the dread is looking lovely.

Really like the look of the dread. Should come out nicely in the end. Im also a big fan of the pose. Well done.

Nice Conversion
Nice paintjob
what more can we ask for

PART 7: THE LEGWORK

First order of business: Thanks for all the nice comments so far guys, I'm glad you like it!

Now, current progress: I got quite a way today, it was nice to have a few hours at a stretch. I finished the few remaining details, as well as the scroll on his leg, which took a while just by itself. I also started to test out weathering the paintwork on his left foot and shin armour, which I'm pretty pleased with:



I went pretty rough with his foot, as I think they, along with his fists, would take the most punishment. The other parts will have less chipping on them, and of course there's the dirt and dust still to go as well.

Excudo translates roughly as: to strike at, which I thought was pretty appropriate for an assault dread.

slice of toast wrote:Oooh, how did you do the converted lasguns to shotties? Those look pretty slick!

It's a deceptivley simple modification. They're cut down, with some of the details shaved off, the top modified with a little green stuff and plastic rod, and a few extra details added from plasticard and slices of plastic rod - I plan to do another squad of them in due course and I'll do a P&M blog about the process in detail if there's interest.

There's always interest in shotgun conversions

That is a brilliant model I really like the Off Searchlights thats utterly awesome and something I've never noticed anybody else doing before!