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This will be my first post. At long last I'll finally have one of each of the Acastus Knights. A Lancer, Castigator, Acheron, Atrapos, and on its way from ebay, a Porphyrion. In addition I have a knight crusader that I picked up from my game shop when I first started playing 40k. As with the Acastus I have now, I'm currently in the process of cleaning them up and fixing some warping issues.

I initially planned to paint them in the colors of Forgeworld Metalica (Alas I don't have any of the Metalica transfer sheets ;_; ) and House Raven, to match my Skitarii/Cult forces in their white robes, albeit with some slight alterations to the color scheme. I'd like to mix in a Freeblade knight or two in my army as well to really make the group pop out and also have fun with other color schemes. I've gotten used to painting small models now but painting such large ones, especially the Porphyrion, is intimidating to say the least.

I need a bit of direction on how to tackle these models. Where should I start? I have been using citadel paints up until now but they're kinda pricey (though they look great and are easy to work with). I'm wide open to suggestions on alternatives paints and substitutes. Also pics of your own works for inspiration would be much appreciated.

Oh, you are going to have so much fun!

If you haven't worked with Forgeworld Resin before, make sure you follow the instructions for cleaning well. It is crucial for the primer to stick to the model.

Don't be shy about using saws, sandpaper and files to neaten up parts and avoid that large gates break off taking bits of the model with it.

Do consider which poses you want, look at a lot of pictures for inspiration.

You will most likely need to reinforce joints with pins, for those models you should be ok with 2mm brass rod - or nails.

Superglue is ok, but you may want to use 2 part glue for larger jobs. That takes time to set, but will be a better joint later.

For knight sized models, painting with a brush is a bad idea, an airbrush is the right tool. Airbrushes are more fun with paints that are produced with airbrush in mind, which impacts pigment size and pre thinning.

Awesome. I'll keep all that in mind. And It looks like I'll be investing in an airbrush.

Another smart way to help with the tall models like the Cerastus Knights, and especially the Porphyrion (which has no base by the way) is to get your hands on some lead weights - fishing weights are a good start.

If you're comfortable with putty, or bondo, what you do is get smaller weights, look in the 2-3mm size, and very gently drill small sockets into the thicker structural parts of the lower structure - feet, lower legs, hell take slightly larger resin bases and add a little plate of styrene under the bottom to give it the space - and you socket the weights into the lower pieces of the model.

It's a daring tactic, and it's not without some risk, but the idea is you take smooth spots, you socket the weights in places they won't blemish the surface, then you putty over the holes and smooth it off so nobody knows they're there.

What does this do? It adds weight to the lower structure of the model, bringing down the center of gravity, which will help with tippy model syndrome.

I actually tried that with some Eldar Banshee models I had that, due to their posing, were very top heavy as well. Great idea.

Unless you do some derpy pose, Porphyrion stands just fine

Good to know.. I might still go with my option if I want to give it a slightly more dynamic pose.