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Recently I have been planning on making a Horus Heresy army, the Army I've decided to go with is the Alpha Legion. The main reason I want to go with the AL is because of their color scheme which is probably my favorite of the traitor Legions. I want their look to be similar to that of the Forge World versions you see online. I was just wondering if anyone had a way to paint them that makes them resemble the Forge World models. I'm not saying I want to make them exactly the same, but I do like the colors of Forge world uses and I want my Alpha legionnaires to have a scheme like that.

Very simple, but time consuming
get a silver primer and preshade it with something
Airbrush Minitaire Plasma Fluid over it with two coats(It will look greenish with the first coat.
Then, after you are done painting ALLL the mode, Airbrush a SATIN varnish over the entire model
Boom, done.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Very simple, but time consuming
get a silver primer and preshade it with something
Airbrush Minitaire Plasma Fluid over it with two coats(It will look greenish with the first coat.
Then, after you are done painting ALLL the mode, Airbrush a SATIN varnish over the entire model
Boom, done.

Thanks, I'll take note.

If I recall correctly, it is tamiya clear blue and green over silver. Apparently the finished result is about a 21 step process, and one that they don't seem to want to share. I think you are going to have to experiment to get a result you are happy with.

From FW on the painting of the AL Contemptor.

ALPHA LEGION
1. AIRBRUSH WITH THINNED LEAD BELCHER/ IRON BREAKER (50/50 MIX)
2. AIRBRUSH FROM TOP OF MODEL WITH THINNED RUNFANG STEEL
3. MIX A LITTLE TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE (25/75 MIX) AND AIRBRUSH OVER THE MODEL IN 2 COATS
4. AIRBRUSH ARMOUR PANELS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE. BLENDING FROM MIDDLE OF FIGURE DOWN, SO THE STRONGEST BLUE COLOUR IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PANNELS
5. AIRBRUSH FROM THE MIDDLE UPWARDS WITH TAMIYA CLEAR GREEN
6. USING AN AIRBRUSH BLEND A HIGHLIGHT ON THE HIGHEST PANNELS (HEAD, SHOULDER PADS, TOP OF BACKPACK) WITH RUNEFANG STEEL WITH A TINY AMOUNT OF LOTHERN BLUE, EXTREMELY THINNED DOWN.
7. APPLY THINNED COAT OF TAMIYA CLEAR BLUE OVER THE HIGHLIGHT AND BLEND INTO THE SURROUNDING AREA.
8. USING A BLUE GLAZE, DRAG DOWN THE WHOLE MODEL ALLOWING IT TO SETTLE IN THE DEEPEST AREAS.
9. SILVER – BASECOAT WITH LEADBELCHER
10. WASH WITH NULN OIL
11. HIGHLIGHT WITH LEADBELCHER IN STRIKING MOTIONS TO CREATED CHIPPED AND WEATHER APPEARANCE
12. HIGHLIGHT WITH IRONBREAKER

Yep, tamiya clears are the way to go. It produces a nice scheme. Here's my results and slightly adapted recipe:

- Prime with Halfords Matt Black Car Body primer (or any black primer that bonds to resin well)
- Brush on a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Game Air (VGA) Chainmail and Gun Metal
- Do a top down zenithal airbrush of VGA Silver
- Airbrush a thinned 25/75 mix of Tamiya Clear Green (25) and Clear Blue (75) on the whole model
- Airbrush the upper panels of the armour in thinned Tamiya clear green
- Airbrush the lower panels of the armour in thinned Tamiya clear blue
- Do a tricky top down zenithal airbrush of VGA silver mixed with a little VGA Electric Blue - this is tricky. Try to avoid speckling or a grainy finish, but you need to be pretty delicate and not drown the model in this colour
- Do a tricky top down zenithal airbrush of Tamiya Clear Blue over the silver zenithal coat. Make sure you cover the silver and blend it into the previous coats
- Do an Asurman Blue wash over the whole model to give the blue a tint, shade and to make it look more coherent
- Then paint the details - Metallic is basecoat VGA Gun Metal, Badab black wash then paint on chips using VGA Gun Metal and then Chainmail
- Hosing is Vallejo Model Colour basalt grey and then thinned black is washed over
- Eyes are red using the usual gem painting method
- Weapons are painted black with a little VGA gun metal mixed in to give them a slight metallic sheen
- Pouches are Burnt umber, griffon sepia wash and then burnt umber/bone mix to highlight
- Chip armour edges (knees, elbows, places where they will probably scrape and catch) with chainmail
- Varnish
- Dust on weathering powder
- Base
- Varnish to seal everything (delicately, depending on how you used the weathering powder)
- Job done!

 zedmeister wrote:
Yep, tamiya clears are the way to go. It produces a nice scheme. Here's my results and slightly adapted recipe:

- Prime with Halfords Matt Black Car Body primer (or any black primer that bonds to resin well)
- Brush on a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Game Air (VGA) Chainmail and Gun Metal
- Do a top down zenithal airbrush of VGA Silver
- Airbrush a thinned 25/75 mix of Tamiya Clear Green (25) and Clear Blue (75) on the whole model
- Airbrush the upper panels of the armour in thinned Tamiya clear green
- Airbrush the lower panels of the armour in thinned Tamiya clear blue
- Do a tricky top down zenithal airbrush of VGA silver mixed with a little VGA Electric Blue - this is tricky. Try to avoid speckling or a grainy finish, but you need to be pretty delicate and not drown the model in this colour
- Do a tricky top down zenithal airbrush of Tamiya Clear Blue over the silver zenithal coat. Make sure you cover the silver and blend it into the previous coats
- Do an Asurman Blue wash over the whole model to give the blue a tint, shade and to make it look more coherent
- Then paint the details - Metallic is basecoat VGA Gun Metal, Badab black wash then paint on chips using VGA Gun Metal and then Chainmail
- Hosing is Vallejo Model Colour basalt grey and then thinned black is washed over
- Eyes are red using the usual gem painting method
- Weapons are painted black with a little VGA gun metal mixed in to give them a slight metallic sheen
- Pouches are Burnt umber, griffon sepia wash and then burnt umber/bone mix to highlight
- Chip armour edges (knees, elbows, places where they will probably scrape and catch) with chainmail
- Varnish
- Dust on weathering powder
- Base
- Varnish to seal everything (delicately, depending on how you used the weathering powder)
- Job done!

Sounds good,Cool models by the way.

I've brought it down to a few key steps:

NOTE: Thin the tamiya clear paints with X-20A thinner, as they are isoprobanol based acrylics, otherwise the paint is very thick.

1. Prime GW Chaos Black
2. Spray the whole model GW Leadbelcher
3. Airbrush 2 coats of Vallejo Model Air Silver from the top downwards.
Look at MajorTom's zenithal guide for a guidance here.
4. Airbrush the bottom half of the model in 25 : 75 Tamiya clear green : blue, apply 2 coats for consistency.
5. Airbrush the top half 75 : 25 Tamiya clear green : blue. Again, apply 2 coats for good coverage.
6. Paint in the shoulder pad rims other trim 50:50 Vallejo air chainmail : silver.
7. Paint eyes lenses in red with the standard lenses method.

The method is very quick to get the majority of the model painted, I do a full step for 20 models in an evening.
This gives a strong contrast between the blue and green, and is quite a green model at the end.
On reflection I might add a thin blue wash to tone down the green.

Apologies for the poor image quality, but it gets the colours across.

GW Leadbealcher : Silver top / Blue legs : Early tactical (nearly complete) : later terminator ( near complete)

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