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So, as my third army, I'll be starting Vanilla Marines. I have come up with my own color scheme, the Blue Knights.



With this symbol on the white shoulderpad:



I would like opinions on how this looks, things I should change, etc. Constructive Criticism is greatly appreciated!

.... honestly, it looks like a ultramarine with a white shoulder and a horse...

It has potentiol, just not my taste

Papaskittels wrote:.... honestly, it looks like a ultramarine with a white shoulder and a horse...

It has potentiol, just not my taste

Well, they are an ultramarines successor chapter, so some resemblance is bound to occur.

Maybe drop the gold on the trim and details and replace it with another color. The Blue + Gold scheme is mainly an Ultramarine thing. Try Making the Chest Eagle White and giving them a Silver Trim and details (thinking of Shining Knights here but not trying to move too far away from the Blue part). And maybe give them predominately metalic Bolters with a decorated grip (just the area around the grip) to symbolize that the Bolter is their sword. That should still give a feel of the Ultramarines, but diversify it enough so that it doesnt look almost like them.

The Blue Knight was a pilot during WW2.

His grandson Steve started the Blue Knights squadron/gaming society in the early 90's on the Imagination Network.

If you would like, I can find the original coat of arms of the BK's. A few of us are still around and wear our colors.

"For God, For Country, For Beer!"

General Hobbs wrote:

The Blue Knight was a pilot during WW2.

His grandson Steve started the Blue Knights squadron/gaming society in the early 90's on the Imagination Network.

If you would like, I can find the original coat of arms of the BK's. A few of us are still around and wear our colors.

"For God, For Country, For Beer!"

Yea, that'd be cool. The logo I'm using is the logo for Blue Knight Energy, the oil company where my dad works.


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Well, here's the revamped color scheme.

I never understood the hate around vanilla marines, honestly in my opinion they're just as cool as space wolves or black templars...I really like your new scheme, I would highly encourage you to go ahead with it

Just a question, were you going to do all guys with the full greave, or are you going to have guys with knee pads, and if so, what colors would they be? Any markings on them?

Fosner1703 wrote:Just a question, were you going to do all guys with the full greave, or are you going to have guys with knee pads, and if so, what colors would they be? Any markings on them?

I'm going to try for the full greave. I like the look of it better than the kneepads.

Is the Blue Knight Squadron you mentioned this one General Hobbs?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMM-365

Back to the model, I'm kinda curious to see what the model would look like if it had metalic Greaves. It might look interesting. But in the end it's all dependent on your tastes =).

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:Is the Blue Knight Squadron you mentioned this one General Hobbs?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMM-365

Back to the model, I'm kinda curious to see what the model would look like if it had metalic Greaves. It might look interesting. But in the end it's all dependent on your tastes =).

Probaly not, as V-22's have only been around since recently.

Mabe try for a metallic blue instead of a pure Ultramarine Blue?

brother_zach wrote:Mabe try for a metallic blue instead of a pure Ultramarine Blue?

I'm mixing the Ultramarine Blue with a bit of chainmail to get a great looking metallic effect. Then, an extremely light drybrushing of chainmail gets it looking just right. The colors in the picture are the base colors.

Flaming_Spider wrote:

brother_zach wrote:Mabe try for a metallic blue instead of a pure Ultramarine Blue?

I'm mixing the Ultramarine Blue with a bit of chainmail to get a great looking metallic effect. Then, an extremely light drybrushing of chainmail gets it looking just right. The colors in the picture are the base colors.

That sounds pretty promising. There's a trend over at the B&C called "Viva Metallica". Basically, its a metallic undercoat (usually silver, darker metallics give darker finishes) followed by several washes of the color you would like. Its important to note that the old inks are perfect for this stuff. The new washes are going to require more coats.

For that technique, try Calligraphy ink. It's cheaper than GW brands and it gives a much more deeper coverage with a single coat. I personally use Calli-brand Calligraphy ink.

If you want to use GW ones though Boltgun with one wash of Badab Black and two washes of Asuramen Blue works. It's how I do the armour for my Dark Elves but gives more of a cold steel look.

I've got a marine spare so I'll paint it up because I'm interested to see how it comes out. I'll post it up later today probably.

n0t_u wrote:I've got a marine spare so I'll paint it up because I'm interested to see how it comes out. I'll post it up later today probably.

I'm interested to see how that turns out. I'll hold off painting anything until I see how it looks.

I like your second version best..... add black legs might less smurfy....

Love the silver/white/blue combo. If I ever decided to do ultramarines I might consider the blue knights or something like it instead, living in Indianapolis I am constantly bombarded with the ultramarines symbol seeing as the colts football team uses a horseshoe, and their colors are blue and white...

DODcrazy wrote:

Love the silver/white/blue combo. If I ever decided to do ultramarines I might consider the blue knights or something like it instead, living in Indianapolis I am constantly bombarded with the ultramarines symbol seeing as the colts football team uses a horseshoe, and their colors are blue and white...

I can see how that one make one tired of Ultramarines. The only exposure I get is my friend who plays them and never shuts up about how great they are.

Lol, I'm really not biased towards any chapter since I don't even own an army yet, but I do commission painting for friends and play the video games. Fluffwise as long as they fight in the name of the emperor, they're ok in my book, Soul Drinkers included.

The lighter grey on the Bolter is that just white or still metallic?

n0t_u wrote:The lighter grey on the Bolter is that just white or still metallic?

Took me a while to even notice a difference. It's the same color as the shoulder highlights.

Love the second scheme I think the lighter colours give a subtle variation from the standard ultramarine scheme very nice however I'm not 100% sold on the name to be honest.

Little update while I wait for the current wash to dry.
This is the model I had leftover to try it on.


After the basecoat I noticed the mold lines, but couldn't be bothered removing them as it would make it take ages.


Then drybrush Boltgun Metal.


Three semi-heavy coats of Asurmen Blue wash later.

It's still drying at the moment as I took that picture just after the latest wash so might need one more, but maybe not.

That's looking incredible! I think that's the same technique my friend uses to do his Crimson Fists, and I'll be damned if it doesn't look good!

Thanks
Got some more, after these I stopped taking pictures after each step because I got a bit lazy with the step by step comparison and wanted to get it done.

White areas got two thin coats of Codex Grey.


All the metal parts were then repainted Boltgun Metal and the existing Boltgun parts were cleaned up.


A bit of Skull White was then layered onto the Codex Grey


After this I washed the metal and white with Badab Black. The reason why the white wasn't done completely is because I found that building it up to that level then washing it with Badab Black before building it back up allows it to look a bit smoother and still comes out clean.


Also the reason why the gem is now black is because I wanted to give this tutorial by vent a go as well.

At the moment I'm just cleaning up the soft armour parts and going to give it a look over to see if I've missed anything then it should be done.


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Done

I noticed some blue that's still on some of the metal parts, but it's not visible outside of the pictures so I'm not too worried about it as it's a practice and the point was to try out a few new techniques along the way.

For the eyes and lens I pretty much did the same in that tutorial for Blackstone Gems I linked in the last post, but instead of making the entire space black it started with Scab Red instead. Once the white was done it got a light wash of Badab Black to add more detail and depth too it. Just a personal preference as it looks too cartoonish to me without it.
The blue also needed no highlights unlike the metal as it basically highlighted itself as I went along. Three semi-thick coats seems to be enough, but as the washes may vary just keep adding them untill it looks good to you. Making sure to allow it to dry in between each one of course.

I liked how the blue came out though, if I ever get around to doing Thousand Sons they're all going to be metallic.

Well, I'm sold. Those look amazing. Not sure I can pull off a paint job of that caliber, but I'm going to try. Thank you for doing that.

No problem and good luck

Yep, not so "ultramarine" now so its looking good.

add some highlights so it doesnt look like a dark blue blob.

So, after posting this on my gaming club's forum, we came up with a new design.



Just added in the red cape and changed the bolter highlight to white. The biggest problem I see with this is getting a lot of capes, because all my marines will wear them.