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Been out of the hobby almost 7-8 years, but lately I've been making some moves to get involved again. First step: rehabilitating my once brand-flaying-new Necron army.

When I took my leave of absence, I had sold off most of my poorly painted armies and just begun collecting the (then new) Necrons. I didn't get very far in my painting though. Most of them have only a quick Chainmail drybrush applied. That's all well and good, I would like a very default color scheme..but on a few points, I'm not sure how to proceed.

I've looked at a lot of Necron painting instructions and FAQs, but my head may be swimming with too many tips because I'm not sure how to achieve (what I think) are a few simple effects. Although I know the most basic techniques well enough, I was always a very amateur painter in the past. I'd like, if possible, to get most of this army right on the first try this time. I ruined far too many models in my youth and played with many I should've left at home (or in the trash). I want something that looks unmistakeably good for once.

Anyway, without any further diversion, my specific painting questions (all links go to GW store):

How could I go about making my models look tarnished like this Destroyer? Is that just Tin Bitz or something? I was always really awful with rust/tarnish effects in the past, so this is something I'm really hesitant about trying myself. A lot of other models (such as these Immortals---see middle 2 models' shoulder pads) have similar tarnish, but I'm not sure if it's all the same method. Could it be some other metal paint..?..Another coat under the chainmail/mythril/boltgun metal..?..A wash..? Any advice would be helpful.


Second question. How can I get the metallic-black effect seen on this Monolith? I've seen a lot of them done up in various metal colors, but I've never really appreciated the look of solid metal. A solid layer of boltgun or chainmail on such a large model makes it look pretty cheap, IMO. But I really liked this metallic-black as a compromise. Not only would it match the rest of my army, but it gives the Monolith model the gravity and seriousness it warrants. But how do I get that effect? At first I thought it was simply a chaos black undercoat with metal drybrush, but the metallic effect seems too smooth and ubiquitous for that. Again, any ideas? Hard for me to just test things out on a model like this, so I could really use some direction. Seems like there are a lot of helpful and experienced painters on these forums, so I hope I picked the right place.. Again, any advice would be appreciated.

FYI: In case this is anyone's advice, I don't have access to an airbrush and have little inclination to use dips (although I'm not entirely opposed--I just prefer painting by hand).

(2 Grammar Edits)

Welcome back to the hobby! I only just got back in April of this year after not painting/playing for the last 12 years. I completely understand what you're going through, most of my older armies are pretty rushed... and, like you, I also chose Necrons and wanted to paint up a complete army to a decent tabletop standard, finally. So I can tell you how I got to the below scheme for my army, paint wise anyway.

It's fairly similar to doing that destroyer you point out but I use more washes to give it more contrast. To do the destroyer it looks as simple as one coat of boltgun metal, a little badab black

Also, the current Necron Codex shows several painting techniques and schemes...



Paints are always watered down 2:2:1 water / paint / matt medium. Washes have a few drops of dish soap added.

Chaos Black primer
Boltgun Metal base coat
Badab Black Wash on everything
Botlgun Metal wet drybrush
Devlan Mud Wash
Another layer of Boltgun Metal, same as before but leaving more brown this time
Gryphone Sepia Wash in recesses
Mithril Silver highlights

When you're applying the wash to the shoulders, apply black to the areas you'll want darkest then blend your way out with each wash and drybrush a little boltgun metal if a little wash gets out of hand. I also normally dab off the wash from my brush when doing the shoulders for a lil more control with the application.

Thanks for the reply Nowoo! Sounds like you have exactly the perspective I'm looking for. Thanks especially for the step-by-step instructions, hand-holding is exactly what I need. Honestly, I couldn't have hoped for a better response. I'll try duplicating some of your steps later tonight...I have very little experience with washes, so it should be a learning experience. (I'll post later on how it turns out!)

That Immortal looks great by the way. I'd be overjoyed to have my models looking so professional.

Any ideas on the Monolith (anyone)? That will likely come last in any case. I'll have to be supremely confident in my painting abilities before touching it. Last time I attempted a model of comparable size (Landraider), it looked like it had sustained several penetrating hits by the time I was done with it...

Would it work the same if I didn't use the devlen mud?

All of the washes Nowoo suggested worked out really well for me. The black wash of course filled in a lot of the detail I'd flubbed in drybrushing the model, but the Devlen Brown was key to getting the tarnish effect I wanted on the Warriors/Immortals. The Sepia was nice for bringing out some gold details, otherwise it was hard to see if it was doing anything after the other washes were added.

For the Destroyer, I liked how the washes looked on the details (particularly the spine and vents), but I wanted the broad parts of the Destroyer body to also have more of a tarnish effect. I did pretty well painting uneven streaks of Tin Bitz over the rear of the destroyer body and then lightly drybrushing over once more with Chainmail.

All in all, my small group of test models are looking less 'factory clean' and more 'tomb planet ancient'. I'm really happy with the results. That said, I could still use some advice on the Monolith! (Please!)

Would it work the same if I didn't use the devlen mud?
-40k Ninja

When I started painting this necron army I started with the foot slogging Necron Warriors. This gave me plenty of test models to play with so I could figure out exactly which colors I wanted to go with for the army. You can use whatever colors you want. I use those 3 washes to achieve the colors I want in the models but you can use more or less... the sky's the limit!
-You can try out using green / purple washes - they don't appear as green or purple as you might think, especially combined with another wash of brown or black.
-You could paint the entire model in tin blitz, highlight with gold, bronze, or even boltgun metal, mix some hawk turquoise with matt medium, water (more than you normally dilute your paints) and some soap to create a wash then make a bronze statue looking necron...

I suggest trying out different combos until you find a method you're comfortable replicating. Again, the codex shows some great examples of Necron Schemes and the basic colors / techniques they use to achieve them.

That said, I could still use some advice on the Monolith! (Please!)
-whigwam

I haven't painted a Monolith yet but if I were going for the look on their website then I'd probably go about it using the following:
Airbrush would be ideal but since you don't have one: Mix Boltgun Metal, Water, Matt Medium (this thins the metallic paint while providing more consistency than water) and Pearl Pigment (this will give it the rougher looking texture along with a metallic sparkle while letting the black show through). We'll call this Monolith Wash.

-Obviously primer this Chaos Black
-Monolith Wash on entire model. Apply this in very thin coats building it up slowly until you get the metallic black look you want. Thin coats will help achieve a nice consistent coat and color for this. Your first coat will be really hard to notice. Try using a blow dryer if you want to speed this up but let each coat dry before applying the next.
-Wash along cracks with Badab Black Wash
-Drybrush Boltgun Metal
-Highlight with Mithril Silver
-Devlan Mud wash applied only in the areas you want that dripy rust look to come from

As for applying the decals. Look up techniques using Micro Sol and Micro Set to get rid of that foggy film look you can get when just using water. Try this site to start, it's a great PDF tutorial (LINKY)