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Sweet! I'm really liking the scheme that you've picked. Definitely suits them and the background.

What sort of basing were you thinking?

One dead simple technique that I've recently discovered lifts a model to the next level with minimal effort/new skills is simple weathering.

Sponge-weathering I haven't tried yet, but simply doing a rough light drybrush of Rhinox Hide upwards over exposed edges you think would get dirty (like boots, the bottom of the leg armour and the lower edge of cloth tabards and such).

To a point it's the rougher the better, so it's not a very intensive technique to pick up

Seeing the finished models I now wholeheartedly like the sabres! Your choice of colors are spot on and your painting skills are more than fine, would enjoy setting across the table with an army painted to this level.
Can't wait to see a squad painted up to this level and what about that base? Can you give us a clue what your plans are?

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Sweet! I'm really liking the scheme that you've picked. Definitely suits them and the background.

What sort of basing were you thinking?

One dead simple technique that I've recently discovered lifts a model to the next level with minimal effort/new skills is simple weathering.

Sponge-weathering I haven't tried yet, but simply doing a rough light drybrush of Rhinox Hide upwards over exposed edges you think would get dirty (like boots, the bottom of the leg armour and the lower edge of cloth tabards and such).

To a point it's the rougher the better, so it's not a very intensive technique to pick up

Thanks! I'm not sure about the basing as of yet which is why I just temporarily painted it black in the meantime. I haven't ever tried sponge weathering although I used to incorrectly (over)use black wash for some very bad weathering when I started 20 years ago with fantasy figs. I'll consider trying it for these guys (especially if I decide to do a "dirty" mud or soil basing) but I'm a bit hesitant to as I was going for a shiny, clean look. One thing I'll be trying with the next fig is to actually lighten up the metal further by painting directly on the black primer with the silver instead of adding a chainmail/boltgun metal middle step.


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Yorkright wrote:
Seeing the finished models I now wholeheartedly like the sabres! Your choice of colors are spot on and your painting skills are more than fine, would enjoy setting across the table with an army painted to this level.
Can't wait to see a squad painted up to this level and what about that base? Can you give us a clue what your plans are?

Thanks. Not sure about the basing as posted above. For the next fig, I'll be trying to lighten up the metallic colors by getting rid of the darker middle step. Additionally, I'm considering changing the aquilla on the chest to white feathers instead of gold/brass but keep the aquilla frame metallic (to mimic the back frame/feathers). With the red on the shoulder pads and tabard, it looks to me like the main part of the model could use a little bit of white as well in addition to the wings and that's the part that thematically and physically would fit. The armpit guards on the next model also will be gold so it might be too much of a gold overload on the model. As for the next models, I've got most of the parts I need to convert hopefully two honor guards with powerlances/axes (depending on which honor guard they'll be.. index or codex). I'll try a single wing on each of them instead as they'll have decorative penants on their lances to give them additional flare.

If anyone has any thoughts (especially on the chest aquilla color change to white from gold), feel free to share as I'm still up in the air on that one.

I quite like the layered metal stuff. I've found just doing a flat layer of metallics over primer sort of makes lem look a little flat.

If you want to keep the clean shiny look then perhaps restrict any weathering to the boots and lower legs. Even on clean designs i find it helps tie a model into its base really nicely and adds just a dash of realism, to the point that seeing unweathered/dirtied models looks a little odd to me now, like they're sort of floating above the battlefield or stopping every couple of paces to polish their boots

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
I quite like the layered metal stuff. I've found just doing a flat layer of metallics over primer sort of makes lem look a little flat.

If you want to keep the clean shiny look then perhaps restrict any weathering to the boots and lower legs. Even on clean designs i find it helps tie a model into its base really nicely and adds just a dash of realism, to the point that seeing unweathered/dirtied models looks a little odd to me now, like they're sort of floating above the battlefield or stopping every couple of paces to polish their boots

That reminds me of an old 40k joke pic...

Haha precisely!

It's been a while since I made any progress on this small project for some reasons under my control while others were not. Regardless, I decided to try and finish my second model (along with a final Tau suit) before the end of the year. I decided as mentioned above to try and lighten up the overall look of the model. I decided to change the aquilla on the chest to white to better mesh with the wings (as well as to not overload the center torso with gold due to the gold armpit shields). I also skipped my middle step of a darker metallic on top of the primer by just using the brighter corresponding metallic instead for both base coats and post wash highlights (so silver instead of chainmail and gold instead of brass).





The second pic shows the differences between black primer/chainmail, black primer/chainmail base coat/silver highlights, and black primer/silver base coat and highlights (from R to L). While I like the lighter overall tone (not exactly shown well in flash photography with my camera), I'm not sure about the change of the chest aquilla to white from brass/gold. It does form a nice connecting line from the wings to the chest to the knee but I liked the look of the previous gold aquilla on the armor and how it related back to the sample Hussar armor I posted in the OP for this thread. Let me know if anyone else has any preferences in that regard or other thoughts. Apologies for the multiple edits but I've been trying to get a working animated gif 360 image added.

Welcome back Warboss, good to see you back working on the marines, was wondering what became of you. Life certainly can get in the way of hobby time.

Up close the white stands out from silver but the last pic from a distance it is very hard to pick out, my vote is go for the gold.

Thanks! Yeah, I've very noncommital on the aquilla. I might keep it white on this model as an elite/hq leader type and then switch back to the gold for my next two honor guard that I have planned. I also didn't notice until uploading that the blue wash on my powersabre somehow rubbed off for the part closest to the hilt. Weird....

You know, I was just searching for conversions of Death Korps cavalry and a set popped up with the feathered Hussar banners (ironic given the Death Korps' inspiration) and I thought 'I wonder where that kickass Hussar/Primaris conversion's got to'...and lo and behold your thread pops up

I'm liking the new guy. Scheme looks great, although my personal preference is for the darker metal (not that either's any better than the other, I just have a personal penchant for darker metals).

I'm happy with the bone aquila though. Ties it in nicely with the one on his leg (although again, both in brass would look just as good).

You could do the Aquila in red as well.

 John Prins wrote:
You could do the Aquila in red as well.

That a good plan having 3 varieties makes it seem like it's an intentional variation, and will help to break them up and make them look varied. You could also alternate between light and dark armour so each Marine looks like it's unique.

I'm not sure on the history of Hussars. Did they provide their own equipment (so it would be varied), or was it provided for them?

Ynneadwraith wrote:You know, I was just searching for conversions of Death Korps cavalry and a set popped up with the feathered Hussar banners (ironic given the Death Korps' inspiration) and I thought 'I wonder where that kickass Hussar/Primaris conversion's got to'...and lo and behold your thread pops up

I'm liking the new guy. Scheme looks great, although my personal preference is for the darker metal (not that either's any better than the other, I just have a personal penchant for darker metals).

I'm happy with the bone aquila though. Ties it in nicely with the one on his leg (although again, both in brass would look just as good).

Thanks for the compliments. I'll put you down as a maybe for going back and changing an aquilla.

John Prins wrote:You could do the Aquila in red as well.

I have to admit that I never thought of that. I really like the look of the brass/gold one on the original fig but was afraid of bling overload on the second one due to the circular armpit shields. I'll have to try and see if I can cobble together some sort of comparison with red as that would fit nicelly in between the shoulders and tabard.

Ynneadwraith wrote:
That a good plan having 3 varieties makes it seem like it's an intentional variation, and will help to break them up and make them look varied. You could also alternate between light and dark armour so each Marine looks like it's unique.

I'm not sure on the history of Hussars. Did they provide their own equipment (so it would be varied), or was it provided for them?

While I'm not sure how they'll end up, I do prefer that something as prominent as the chest aquilla should be consistent across the models. YMMV. As for the equipment, my research (mainly online searches and wikipedia) when I started indicated a bit of both. IIRC, the individual Hussars provided their own horse and armor but the king provided the lances.

Hopefully a quickie amateur color swap on the chest aquilla can help visualize the options better.

The red aquila doesn't overwhelm the model. You've got an almost entirely silver model there.

I would suggest some color on the feathers, though. Maybe just colored tufts on the ends of the feathers.

The red aquilla draws my eye upwards to the face of the model.

Yorkright wrote: The red aquilla draws my eye upwards to the face of the model.

Is that a good or bad thing?

John Prins wrote:The red aquila doesn't overwhelm the model. You've got an almost entirely silver model there.

I would suggest some color on the feathers, though. Maybe just colored tufts on the ends of the feathers.

I might try that. I actually put two different (white and cream) colors there plus the wash but I agree it doesn't show much.

I think it is a good thing Warboss, with just the red on the "loincloth" your focus is there and not the face or head of the model.

Yorkright wrote:
I think it is a good thing Warboss, with just the red on the "loincloth" your focus is there and not the face or head of the model.

Agreed. You've got a silver model with silver weapons and some gold trim, the eye will be drawn to the big red loincloth (and shoulderpads) more than anything else. Looking at the image of the sample model you did without the helmet, the shoulderpad and loincloth really draw the eye.

Or you could just paint the helmets red. The gold faceplate gets kind of lost in the sea of bright silver anyways. Gold + silver is hard to balance well - IMO Grey Knights benefit from a darker silver/gunmetal for this very reason.

First off, let me say thanks for the advice and back and forth. Normally, I just vacillate alone on this kind of stuff and it's nice to have new varied viewpoints.

John Prins wrote:

Yorkright wrote:
I think it is a good thing Warboss, with just the red on the "loincloth" your focus is there and not the face or head of the model.

Agreed. You've got a silver model with silver weapons and some gold trim, the eye will be drawn to the big red loincloth (and shoulderpads) more than anything else. Looking at the image of the sample model you did without the helmet, the shoulderpad and loincloth really draw the eye.

Or you could just paint the helmets red. The gold faceplate gets kind of lost in the sea of bright silver anyways. Gold + silver is hard to balance well - IMO Grey Knights benefit from a darker silver/gunmetal for this very reason.

I don't think that I'd be willing to change the helmet as I wanted that part to stay true to the original historical armor representation that I'm basing it on. Similarly, I'm hesitant to change the aquilla to red in part for that reason (white was different symbolically, see below) and also for consistency with the rest of the potential force (loincloths will be limited to veterans/leadership) but I am slowly coming around to your idea. The extra red on the aquilla does look nice on that model but I'd plan on keeping it gold on the rank and file so I'm a bit torn. My inital idea with the red was to form a "V" between the shoulders and loincloth under the white "V" of the wings and aquilla (a nod to the polish flag similar to the white eagle on the chest/leg and the flag). I agree though that in practice it hasn't turned out as well as I hoped.

Yorkright wrote: I think it is a good thing Warboss, with just the red on the "loincloth" your focus is there and not the face or head of the model.

Thanks for clarifying. I thought maybe you considered it too busy with red up there. Out of curiosity, do you and John think the same of the earlier model? He too had a red loincloth but it doesn't seem to draw the eyes to his crotch in that case. I agree with you both, now that you pointed it out, that I can't stop looking down there initially. I don't know if it's the pose or the white aquilla that made the change or if it's just me.

Here's a couple more digital "what ifs" that I cooked up before I start to dangerously strip only part of a model *queue dramatic music*. This should be the last time I ask so I again appreciate the advice. Any preference among these?

Seeing variants of the little shield, gold is best. One thought I had was to keep the aquila in white and paint the gorget red - it might emphasize the shield and helmet's colors better and draw the eye upwards in the same manner. It would also make the shoulders/shield/gorget look like a mantle/cloak, which might be neat.

 John Prins wrote:
Seeing variants of the little shield, gold is best. One thought I had was to keep the aquila in white and paint the gorget red - it might emphasize the shield and helmet's colors better and draw the eye upwards in the same manner. It would also make the shoulders/shield/gorget look like a mantle/cloak, which might be neat.

That's an interesting idea and definitely one I wouldn't have thought of. It's definitely striking and succeeds IMO of drawing the eyes.

This last one really looks the best, I would never had thought to paint the gorget red.

Yep, that makes the helmet more defined and draws the eye upwards.

Thanks for the tips! I tried to bright up and differentiate the white a bit as it looked dull after the appropriately named dull coat varnish as well as changed the gorget to red. Over the past week, I've also slowly been working on converting my first power lance armed honor guard. These guys should be a midway point between the standard marines and the more ornate officers. I wanted to keep the tabard for officers (and somehow incorporate a leopard print sash for a future captain) but veterans will still get a single wing on their back. I'm still mulling over the paint job for these as well regarding the aquilla. I'll definitely add the red gorget though to chapter standard paint scheme especially as they'll be missing the red previously on the tabard. I'm not happy with my multiple cut/pin/glue/gap fill job on the Grey Knight power lance when incorporating the pennant but it's hard to tell how it'll look prior to the primer. I basically had to mangle the power lance to get the pennant as well as have it on the left hand. It's a converted two handed spear where I got rid of the second hand (filling the gap) as well as had to cut and reposition the blade's edge at a different angle as well as extend the gap to fit the pennant.



edit: I have primed the honor guard and it doesn't look too bad on the staff after some filing down prior to priming. After seeing the pennant, I'm debating though whether to continue with that model immediately or do a second pose of the same lieutenant I just finished but with a different loadout. I really like the model (it's probably my favorite 40k sculpt since the release of the 3rd edition Space Hulk board game in 2008ish) and I'm curious how a jet pack and lance with pennant variant would look. I have both regular jet packs, original Rogue Trader ones, and a Sanguinary Guard pack to choose from. I wasn't entirely confident how my conversion would go so I actually got two of my favorite pose just in case.

I worked on correcting the ugly gap filling job on the Honor Guard Lancer this weekend along with assembling another primaris Lieutenant model (this time with a jump pack). For the former, I just corrected/filled down the flag wrap around that I did when connecting the pennant to the spear. The latter was a bit more work. With my previous just finished Lt from the same pose, I was worried about how the whole thing would come together when assembling my first two models and didn't want to overdo the Hussar theme. When it turned out well thanks to help here, I was a bit emboldened to try again and go full hussar this time. I decided to try and incoporate armor details that I skipped the first time around like the pennant on a spear (instead of the sabre), the crest on the top of the helmet, and the leopard skin pelt.



The pennant went easily enough with some test fitting as I was using the much less troublesome right arm spear this time around. I temporarily entertained the idea of wrapping the flag around the spear but my troubles with the other model dissuaded me from doing so. For the crest, I tested the method out first on my remaining Ancient head and I think it worked out well in the end. The leopard skin was definitely the biggest issue this time around. While the glue was drying (and redrying as I changed course mid assembly and had to reglue several things), I decided to try out a homemade painted pelt out of a tiny bit of fabric. I'm not sure of the results though and would definitely like some advice about whether adding the fabric to the model would constitute "too much" crap and whether the plastic paw bit I glued on is enough to convey that aspect of the model.



I decided to go with a Sanguinary Guard style Mk IV jump pack as it allowed me to attach the wings much better than a traditional modern jump pack would. I realize the typical go to choice for the model should theoretically be on a bike as it's supposed to be heavy cavalry but I didn't actually have a bike handy and, more importantly, I wanted to keep the rest of the model primaris style intact and wouldn't have been able to do so with cutting the legs off to fit onto a bike.

Just a minor update with an animated gif and group shots of the primed/painted models. I tweaked the new captain model of the Lt character by adding a second skin under the other armpit shield as that side was looking a bit bare along with a few other minor things (like repositioning the model on the base for better balance). I'm hoping to use this model in both poses as my RPG character if I ever restart 40k roleplaying. Next step should be painting!

I like the jump pack, was considering doing that with one of my Lts. in the boxed set but was not sure which type to use. Idea stolen!

Feel free! Just for the record, the standard jump pack looked good as well when I test fitted it and made it a bit clearer from the front that the model had the pack but I couldn't fit the hussar wings on with it. The position of the air vents to either side of the head didn't leave me with any room to mount the wings except way down or way back. I just lucked out that I had bought a single sanguinary guard jump pack 5 years ago with a bits order otherwise I'd have to use an old Rogue Trade style turbofan.

Here's a preview of the alternate paint scheme I tested out. I'm still obsessing over the aquilla so tried it out with gold again. I used modern Ultramarines as a basis for a gold aquilla/trim pattern so changed the shoulder pads to match as well. For the tabard, I initially kept the purity seals white but it looked like it would be too white so I changed them to red secondary cloth. I'll have to see if adding the white eagle decal will be enough white to brighten up the torso. It's hard to explain (and maybe I'm imagining it) but visually in person in natural light the gold aquilla looks better but blow up with flash macro focus photography the white aquilla look improves significantly. Maybe someone more experienced in photography could explain that.



For the original model, I added the fur pelt to the left chest after I decided the two pelts on the jump pack model didn't look right. I added a bolter to the jump pack model as well as the side looked empty (and that actually helps by making the model WYSIWIG if I use it as a captain or lieutenant). Additionally, I added the crest to the helm. Both the fur and the crest are minor additions but typical historical hussar embellishements that I was hesitant to do with my initial modelling. Next up, I'll put on the decals and see if I need to change up the tabard seals back to white. I might try now to photoshop that right now to get a preview of how both would look. Advice on the above would be appreciated.

I think the gold aquila looks better. The problem you're having with the photography might be due to the white background messing up the white balance; try it with a green or blue background to see what happens.