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Here are the pics for my first completed mini; the Warhammer 40k imperial knight. My takeaways from the experience are under each pic.

Full body
I don't think I'm using the right environment for pictures in general, but the color scheme was as close to Taranis as I could get (without a codex to consult). Mephiston red highlighted in Evil Skunz Scarlet.


Saw


Cannon


Booty
I kind of wish I would have spent some more time detailing the little details in different metallic shades, but I am happy with the grungy, mechanical look.


Pauldrons
Okay, the transfer sheets were some of the biggest frustrations of this model. I didn't anticipate how incredibly fragile they actual transfers were. I ended up ruining the big skull/cog transfer that is supposed to go on the rear of the Taranis pauldron. Thusly, this knight is waffling in terms of allegiance and has raven wings on the black portion instead.


Glass
I'm very happy with the glass portal. I do think that I ended up with too much white compared to the other colors, but overall I am pleased. Also, this is a good view of a really bad glaze attempt on the white (explained further in the pic below).


Rear flap
This shows one of my attempts to glaze. IMO it turned out okay here, but pretty terrible on the white half of the pauldrons. In retrospect I think my mistake was glazing with abbadon black over white scar. I didn't realize that, by using a base color to glaze with, I was using the color base with the most pigment despite being VERY watered down. The first swipe resulted in a very prominent, unblendable dark grey line on the white. I think I should have used a layer or shade color instead of black. Is that accurate or am I misunderstanding the basics of the colors?


Base
The base was extremely fun. It consists of some pink board foam with some sector 9 pebbles glued to the top. Tons of chopping with a knife to get the edges of the rocks and several layers of paints topped with some sector 9 dry grass. The leg bone was added by my sweet little daughter, she thought it would look great I used a drill to make precise holes in the knights feet up to his ankles to insert a small chunk of metal coat hanger which snugged down quite nicely into the foam, advice which was given here on this forum, so thank you! He feels quite stable and secure despite a few toes hanging off the edge.



EPIC FAIL UPSIDE DOWN!
I was so focused on preserving the structure of the transfer that I completely failed to notice that it was upside down. Not until it was fully dry and I was applying a coat of lamia medium to seal it did I see my mistake. As I said, he is a very confused knight.



I had SO much fun making this miniature. He has many flaws but I love him and I'm very excited to continue.
If you feel so inclined I'd love to know your thoughts about how I could improve. Thanks!!

A very good first attempt!

Try using a beige or light grey rather than black for your first glazes on the lighter colours - more mixes makes for a smoother result.

As for the upside down decal on the shield - a simple fix might be to remove the shield and re-attach it upside down?

That's your first model?!
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...
...
I think I have some personal improvement to do.

I'm with Verviedi, either you're lying or I'm terrible!

Great looking model. From the first picture I wouldn't have seen any of the little imperfections you pointed out.

Also(I've no knowledge of the knights just so everyone knows) I had no idea there was a House Taranis! I've always had an obsession with Taranis as he was the Celtic god of thunder and wheels... yeah, it's best to leave out the last one. So I may have to get my own Knight of Taranis now...

Thanks so much for the kind words! It is indeed my first model but, as my wife would testify, I spent a LOT of time on this knight....

The really sad thing is, that after painting models (including an IK) for 6 years now... You're still a few leagues ahead of me. *quiet sobbing*

Pretty damn amazing for a first model!

That's a nice knight.

Nice first model I would never be able to do something like that now, let alone when I started

You guys sure know how to make a fella feel good. Thanks!

That is really awesome! You may have spent a lot of time on the model, but be assured none of it was wasted if it got you these kind of results! Puts my crude efforts at painting a Knight to shame.