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I've put this up in the P&M section as I'm not sure that's it's totally completed. A little while back, before this Landspeeder was completed in it's 'clean' version, I put out a thread asking how to go about weathering a Landspeeder. A few Dakka members responded with some great advice about how to go about weathering the Landspeeder. However... Now I get to the part where I'm ready to start weathering, I'm finding it hard to reconcile the idea with myself of possibly destroying my model with a first attempt at weathering. Having never done weathering, and this being the first vehicle (Other than a Dreadnought - which I'm not sure counts as a vehicle ), I'm not sure if weathering would complement my attempt. So, I'd like to ask you, Dakkanauts, which route I should take. Will it be the clean, un-weathered one? Or would weathering take it up a step? (I've attached a poll for your convenience)

I welcome all advice, and should you want to give C&C on simply the clean version, then that's fine too! So, on to pictures (I'm getting to grips with GIMP 2, so please bear with any bad/high contrast pictures ):









PS: I don't know if it's cheeky to ask this, but what standard would you rate my painting?

I think it looks great as is, I do like seeing well weathered vehicles and sometimes even when it's overdone but, in the case of the Salamanders I feel that they would take greater care of their vehicles. I always love seeing a clean Salamanders vehicle.

If you do decide to weather it, I would stick to small modifications around exhaust and where the wings/hard surfaces are and soot/particles could collect.

@jb1981 - Cheers for the advice mate. The pictures may not show it, but the engines currently have soot effects similar to the multi-melta barrels. I wanted the used look on them, but I just wasn't sure of an overall full-scale weathering.

I definitely wouldn't weather the model, just some effects like jb said for the exhaust and what not. It's a land speeder skimmer, so I don't really see it get covered in mud easily, and as he said they're the salamanders, they love to keep their stuff running well!

True Bobaram... However, the weathering I had in mind was to be more of a battle damage orientated weathering - scratches, grazes etc.

Land Speeders don't get scratches. They go from factory-fresh to a smear on the landscape, with no dings in the middle. AV10 skimmers don't get battle scars...

I like the clean look. If you do want to bang it up a little, I would use a very light hand. This is not some rhino that routinely goes crashing through the brush and/or brick walls. Maybe some scratches on the fender or a couple of marks from random small arms. Possibly a little chipped paint on the wingtips.

If there is a range of weathering in your army, this should be at the bottom of it. Just a few marks to fit in with the rest, so it's not the only untouched thing in your army.

@Nevelon - I would say though, as Minus, pointed out in my other thread - a Land Speeder is routinely skimming at 1-3 metres above ground, in the face of small arms fire, explosions and grit/sand/dirt whipped up from it's passage - surely that would at least give it scratches. However, that's by-the-by really - I'm still undecided whether to potentially ruin it with weathering. The rest of my Salamanders have no weathering as I rather liked the clean look, so I don't know if weathering this would fit the rest of the army :(

It's simple. Leave that model alone. Go buy another and slap some paint on it. Then figure out how to properly weather a vehicle.

At some point you'll figure out whether you want to weather it or not...

I voted no itle ruin it, mostly because I can't see them going out on deployment in a beat up speeder. Being Marines, they have access to the best manufacturing complexes and all the tech marines and servitors you can shake a stick at.

That said, they would certainly take fire, collect soot or grime, and light damage/weathering while out on the field doing what they do best.

Nothing more than small arms fire though; frankly if these are hit by anything mid sized or above... its probably going down!

Some dust, sooty marks, light bullet holes is about the maximum I could imagine happening to it before its hitting the ground.

I'd say it kinda depends how you think of your Marines; If theyre fresh on the battlefield, theyre going to be pretty clean, if theyve been operating for some time... 30 minutes might even count as a long time for a marine deployment then they might have some light wear and tear... mostly dust. I bet these things would kick up a lovely dust storm as they hover around - rememebr that Marines are typically shock troops. They dont usualy hold the lines, thats the Imperial Guards job. Once in a while sure they have been known to hold the line for extended durations in the fluff books... but I would expect a typical Marine deployment to be over pretty quick.
Its a matter of answering the distress call for re-enforcements form the guard, show up in a blaze of glory, push tot he objective, take it, secure it, kill it, and get back up to the orbital crafts.

They can't hold the line for long because of ammunitions and logistics. To resupply troops on long missions I guess they would drop pod in ammunitions, The Imperial Guard use lasguns instead of bolters primarily because of the logistics of moving that many bolter rounds compared to the lasgun power packs.... with that logic I assume the Marines don't hang around long enough to run out of ammo much. - as such not long enough to take serious damage from the environment too

Oh yeah; the paint job
Nice work, its pretty good to look at, I really like the freehand on the wings, not so much the writing... looks tacky to me. But I realise posh nice writing at this scale isnt easy I don't think I can do it lol
I'd say high end of table top at the least, perhaps the lower end of showcase? ...lol do hate labeling the quality of paintwork though as its so subjective.

@clively - Possibly the best advice yet. It seems counter-productive to start weathering, if I'm still not entirely sure of whether it needs it. That was the purpose in asking Dakka's opinion on the matter.

@HairySticks - I think I'm being swayed away from weathering... I appreciate that Marines would have little weathering due to the durability of their materials and the constant maintenance, but the weathering I had in mind was more of, as you put it, light wear and tear. No matter how durable ceramite is, armour will still get paint chipped off if it's getting high velocity rounds chucked at it. But I do agree that anything heavier would be out of character for marines.

Regarding the paint, thanks for giving me a little indication of where I am. I had to ask, simply because I don't know anyone else who paints, so it's hard to judge where I'm at without a second opinion. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled that it's even considered merely 'table-top'! I was very pleased with the free-handed dragons, which represent the White Dragon of England and the Red Dragon of Wales (Although in a 40K context, they're just dragon emblems). On the subject of the text though, I can appreciate that it looks a little too 'tacky', but unfortunately, with white on black freehanding, it's the most I can currently stretch too - rather ironic considering my own handwriting is habitually in italics (Many a person have commented on my 'Pirates' handwriting! ) I aim to slowly increase the complexity of my free-handing, but it's a slow process.

I would have to agree with a few others. That Land Speeder looks great as it is, I wouldn't weather it if it was mine.

Personally I would say leave the speeder as it is. As was said before, the Salamanders in particular are known for their craftsmanship with all their means of war. The most I could see, would be afew chips along leading edges of the fender or wings.

I'd weather it for sure. Some light chipping, Some streaks here and there using oil paints and such. But then again, that's just my personal obsession

Ahh! I'm in two minds now. On the one hand, I agree with HairySticks, stratssj and mazzhammer that the Salamanders are master-craftsmen and probably wouldn't countenance having their wargear all chipped and scratched. On the other hand though, I feel it could do with something - anything! Even, the poll isn't useful for helping me make my mind up - It's roughly 50:50 either way!

@Meph - Oh dear Lord... I'm not sure I could justify that much weathering! I've browsed your Blood Angels Terminator thread and good God do you have an addiction to weathering - I'm not even sure that's healthy! Just on the subject - it's looking absolutely fantastic!

 Warpig1815 wrote:
True Bobaram... However, the weathering I had in mind was to be more of a battle damage orientated weathering - scratches, grazes etc.

I think that wouldn't be too off then, maybe a graze along the side or a piece out of some armor on a marine or the windshield, but not too much!!!!!

lol, yeah, I like my mahweens beaten up and seasoned.

But for your speeder, yeah, indeed, just the odd little scrape, soot, or oil smear. Just some small detail to add that extra layer of 'life' to the model.

Hmm, it appears that I should possibly form a compromise between the two. I think I'll add a little sponge weathering to the nose and possibly the tail-fin leading edges. I'm not convinced I can 'artificially' reproduce weathering by adding in hairline scratches and such, but adding some sponge weathering would give it a more natural feel.

@Bobaram - I think I'll go with what I've said above, however I'm avoiding weathering the marines, simply because I feel a Space Marines wargear is personal and weathering it would indicate that the Marine is negligent in his upkeep - even more so for a Salamander!

Cheers for all the advice people - guess I'm just going to go for it - a bit of light weathering/battle damage.

There are certain vehicles and certain armies that look good weathered, but space marine land speeders are no the army nor the vehicle. The space marines arent demons, orks, or even guard and the land speeder doesn't roll around on the ground and smash into buildings. If the land speeder took any damage that would weather it, chances are it wouldn't be around any longer.

So to me, it doesn't make sense to weather a space marine land speeder. However I am sure it would still look good either way.