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I am getting ready to start on a custodes army using the GK models. I am at a loss on how to paint large amount of gold and having a consistent tone through out the range. The paint scheme will be gold/red I had dabbled with the idea of purple for the cloaks for a royalty theme as well for sergeants/veterans etc.


So to the many more experienced painters and modelers on dakka I beseech you in the name of the holy god emperor, how do I paint this?

The Custodes doesn't wear power armor...

But to answer your question, Vellejo Liquid Gold.

I would start with a basecoat of tin bitz over a black prime coat & work up from there.

Note that purple usually covers black really well, so no problems there with the black prime coat.

Testor's makes some nice ranges of gold, simply spray the entire model gold, then go back and pick out the details.

Ashton

They do wear power armor before the hearasy at least, I really like the look of them and I have never seen an army in person of them.

I have heard greatthings about Vellejo Liquid Gold

jacetms87 wrote:They do wear power armor before the hearasy at least, I really like the look of them and I have never seen an army in person of them.

I have heard greatthings about Vellejo Liquid Gold

While this is true... The armor they would have worn was closer to Mk1 Thunder Armor, not anything that the GK would use.

It was the most advanced of the day, in any case, the GKs were chosen for thier models, and the abundance of halaberds.

Comparing armor that was state of the art pre-heresy to the advanced Ageis armor that the GK currently wear is like comparing a WWI Tri-plane to an F22. Sure they operate on the same principles, but no one is going to mistake one for the other...

People aren't going to see your army as Custodes, they are going to see them as GK painted gold...

That is your opinion and you are entitled to it.

I'm doing the same thing (basically)

liquid gold goes on VERY smooth and covers VERY well

be prepared to hit it with a brown wash afterwards, and drybrush overtop if you really want it to be great (but the brown is not optional it really helps)

Can't wait to try out the Liquid Gold range - but alas, my FLGS dropped the ball on my order which means I will get them next week or so - if nothing goes wrong this time...

Funny thing is, I placed three different orders: One from the US, one from the UK and one from my FLGS, which is approximately 15km from my place - You have three guesses which took the longest :-P.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

liquid gold is awesome
just be sure to use a straw or something to get some paint out, dont leave it open as it dries quickly

Prime/basecoat in Mithril Silver and use Gryphonna Sepia or Ogryn Flesh.

Depending on which you use and how strong you make the wash, it'll tint the silver accordingly.

I like boltgun metal with gryphonne sepia for more of a worn, battered gold, and boltgun metal->shining gold->burnished gold->gryphonne sepia for more of a gleaming, shiny gold, like GK shoulderpads.

I've never used the other brands so I couldn't give an opinion about them, but the GW metallic paints are decent in my experience.

I've never painted a whole model with it, but when painting the helmets of my Veteran squads, I start with a black prime, then base with tin bitz, hit it with a 50:50 mix of dwarf bronze and shining gold, wash it with Thraka Green to compliment the colour, then add highlights of shining and burnished gold. A bit of mithril silver for the extreme edge highlights.

This method produces a little bit more of a copperish, reddish gold from the bronze, might compliment the red well.

Cheers, I'd love to see some pics when you've finished a few models!

I plan on doing a wip for this army so you will definitely. Have some pics

I agree with others on the Vallejo Liquid Gold. I just finished painting my Sanguinary guard with it. Base in Copper, Mid-tones in Red Gold and highlights in Old Gold.

A few things though. You need to have a set of brushes dedicated to this as these paints are alcohol based and need to be treated differently. You also have clean the brushes differently too. Go get yourself some 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol. You do not want any water touching the process as the paint can literally rust. Also you need to have something to stir them too. They are actual metal particles suspended in alcohol, so you after a little bit, the metal will clump at the bottom. Usually no amount of shaking will distribute it. You need to stir it first, then shake it. and when you are using it, you need to shake it every 10-15 minutes.

All that being said, and they do sound like a pain, but they are totally worth it! They are hands down the best looking and smoothest applying metallics out there. They look as close to real as you are going to find.

Catyrpelius wrote:Comparing armor that was state of the art pre-heresy to the advanced Ageis armor that the GK currently wear is like comparing a WWI Tri-plane to an F22. Sure they operate on the same principles, but no one is going to mistake one for the other...

People aren't going to see your army as Custodes, they are going to see them as GK painted gold...

Put away the haterade and drink something smoother.

The only other option to make them look distinct would be MKII squads from forgeworld.

Good luck mate

Synchro wrote:I agree with others on the Vallejo Liquid Gold. I just finished painting my Sanguinary guard with it. Base in Copper, Mid-tones in Red Gold and highlights in Old Gold.

A few things though. You need to have a set of brushes dedicated to this as these paints are alcohol based and need to be treated differently. You also have clean the brushes differently too. Go get yourself some 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol. You do not want any water touching the process as the paint can literally rust. Also you need to have something to stir them too. They are actual metal particles suspended in alcohol, so you after a little bit, the metal will clump at the bottom. Usually no amount of shaking will distribute it. You need to stir it first, then shake it. and when you are using it, you need to shake it every 10-15 minutes.

All that being said, and they do sound like a pain, but they are totally worth it! They are hands down the best looking and smoothest applying metallics out there. They look as close to real as you are going to find.

Hey man you want to post up some pics?

Ive been doing standard Liquid Metal gold, then a dark brown wash, then drybrushing with it again, but would love to see a fancier gold scheme

the only successful way to paint this is to build it up, regardless of how you choose to go about it and what colors you choose to use.

every one of the methods involves a black undercoat, then tin bitz or darker bronze-ish color, then the primary armor color mixed with the barker bronze, then the gold armor color by itself, then it mixed with another color to bring out its highlights, with final highlights being done with yet one more mix of brighter colored gold. it doesn't much matter who's paint you use.

this army, because of its color scheme, will not paint quickly, and painting an all metallic army is high risk/high reward proposition. they models can look great on all metallics, especially gold. however they can also look really, REALLY bad if its done wrong. this army will take forever to paint. take your time and build the color up.

Synchro wrote:I agree with others on the Vallejo Liquid Gold. I just finished painting my Sanguinary guard with it. Base in Copper, Mid-tones in Red Gold and highlights in Old Gold.

A few things though. You need to have a set of brushes dedicated to this as these paints are alcohol based and need to be treated differently. You also have clean the brushes differently too. Go get yourself some 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol. You do not want any water touching the process as the paint can literally rust. Also you need to have something to stir them too. They are actual metal particles suspended in alcohol, so you after a little bit, the metal will clump at the bottom. Usually no amount of shaking will distribute it. You need to stir it first, then shake it. and when you are using it, you need to shake it every 10-15 minutes.

All that being said, and they do sound like a pain, but they are totally worth it! They are hands down the best looking and smoothest applying metallics out there. They look as close to real as you are going to find.

Thank you very much for this process, I will definatly try a model in this ( pics will be coming this will be a long project, but one I am looking forward to, )

Sc077y wrote:the only successful way to paint this is to build it up, regardless of how you choose to go about it and what colors you choose to use.

every one of the methods involves a black undercoat, then tin bitz or darker bronze-ish color, then the primary armor color mixed with the barker bronze, then the gold armor color by itself, then it mixed with another color to bring out its highlights, with final highlights being done with yet one more mix of brighter colored gold. it doesn't much matter who's paint you use.

this army, because of its color scheme, will not paint quickly, and painting an all metallic army is high risk/high reward proposition. they models can look great on all metallics, especially gold. however they can also look really, REALLY bad if its done wrong. this army will take forever to paint. take your time and build the color up.

It will definatly take a long time and will require dedication, I will do my absolute best so it will look great I was disappointed with my orks ( painted them in a rush to get to play) and I didnt havt fun with it I dont really care how long it takes to make these look great as I just want them to look great. This will definatly be high risk high reward, all of the pictures I have seen of custodes armies are either breathtaking or really not to my liking ( not sure as to the forum rules on a paint job you dont like)

Grundz wrote:Hey man you want to post up some pics?

Ive been doing standard Liquid Metal gold, then a dark brown wash, then drybrushing with it again, but would love to see a fancier gold scheme

Not sure I would call these fancy, but here ya go. They are a work in progress for sure, but the main gold armor color is basically done. I need to touch up a few though. Also the arms are not on the one as he is magnetized. Neither is his pack or wings. The other one is without his pauldrons, pack, wing, etc at they are not done yet.

Excuse the photography and lighting. The pics were done quick and dirty. Unfortunately these pictures do not highlight the smoothness of the paint either.

My favourite type of gold = mithril silver with a sepia wash applied but it's a specific look, might be hard to pull off on something with a lot of gold, works very well with muted schemes

For some reason this thing wants to double post. Sorry about that.

Looks great idk how well it will turn out for a lot of models as it is very bright but for a set off point of the army that Dante will look great.

It is also very bright as I took the pictures in direct sunlight. In normal light, it is not as bright. Also, I have not put the burnt umber wash on them yet either.

I paint yellow over black.

Shining Gold.

Highlight of Shining Gold and Mithril Silver.

Vallejo Brown ink Wash.

Highlight of Shining Gold and Mithril Silver again.

Mithril silver alone for final highlight.

Not the best gold, but I'm comfortable painting it.

Synchro wrote:It is also very bright as I took the pictures in direct sunlight. In normal light, it is not as bright. Also, I have not put the burnt umber wash on them yet either.

Ahh that must be it, the wash and normal lighting will really help, hmm will definatly try this meathod, and my FLGS opend uptoday ( owners were on vacation) so I will be picking up liquid gold today.

malfred wrote:I paint yellow over black.

Shining Gold.

Highlight of Shining Gold and Mithril Silver.

Vallejo Brown ink Wash.

Highlight of Shining Gold and Mithril Silver again.

Mithril silver alone for final highlight.

Not the best gold, but I'm comfortable painting it.

I think that looks excellent, I dont know it is will work for an entier range but that is what testing is for.