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 hk1x1 wrote:
That is a very nicely painted piece, don't be surprised if i start asking you for painting tips some time next year .

Well, I don't think my 'skills' are such that I'll be doing that, but thanks anyway :p

So, I've done some more work on the test piece - think I've got the glass/enamel process sorted now - the secret is the application of the gloss varnish at the end - however, taking decent photos is proving difficult:


That aside, I've decided to stop with the manufactorum for the time being and actually start painting the cathedral. Yes really. The first piece will be part of the ruined section housing the energy plant/mechanicum shrine, which I've finally finished modelling this afternoon - the plan being that I can make more mistakes on a ruined part thsn starting the paint job on an I damaged bit!

(Photo of section to follow in edits as I can't get more than one pic on a post atm without losing all text)

Looking good so far. I love the verdigris on the exposed parts of the damaged wall.

I thought I was crazy making a fortress monastery out of cardstock and Sanctums... I stumble across this thread, and I turn sane.

Thank you for the therapy.

Seriously though, learning so much for my SoO fortress Monastery from this! Inspiring process.

It's great fun inspiring others Coldwill, although I would suggest no one else embarks on such a scale of lunacy unless they are declared clinically insane...

As for the verdigris Warboss - I caved in and bought the GW specialised paint on a whim - turns out to be quite good actually! Still learning the best way to apply it but it'll definitely come in handy on the project


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Blimey... This painting malarkey is going to take me a while...

Quick update on today's progress - after undercoating black and base coating last night, applied a VERY liberal wash of Agrax Earthshade:

(Manufactorum forlorn in the background....)
Then after waiting an eternity to dry, proceeded to 'wetbrush' (like dry rushing, but wetter ) the base coat back on top ( rykarth flesh or whatever it's called)

Followed them by Palid Witch Flesh and a final white on top of that (mainly on edges but a bit on the walls too)

Obviously only half done on the final stages ATM, and still have to do the interiors.

Then I'll need to reapply some shading to recesses and general dirt/grim, although I'm now eyeing up some Forgeworld weathering powders. Then I'll start on the metallics, and finally the interesting green bits!

Liking the Color, kinda gets away from the ever so common greys for 40k buildings. should be beautiful once finish

Thanks Physh - although at the rate in painting it'll take even longer than the build (which still ain't finished!). But yes, this isn't going to be your standard, grey, drybrushed boring building - this is going to be blinged to the max lol

On that note, I've been experimenting with floorings:

While I could stick with a straightforward black and White checkerboard floor, I'm quite taken with doing a green glass type effect to complement the wall panels - but it's tough to get a consistent look, and the texture on the movement trays doesn't help. What do you think? (Nb - it's only the bottom middle two tiles that are done, just in case you didn't realise!!)

That glass effect is unique and just amazing. (How do you do it by the way?)

The glass effect looks spot on my nan had some old victorian tiles that looked just like but the cheque tiles look great I might have to borrow that approach

Glad to hear you are taking a different approach to the colour scheme, it would be a shame not make that no wait an insult to go a standard scheme approach to this

Liking the green tiling, as you say it ties it in nicely with the wall panels. A little bit of inconsistency in the tiles isn't an issue - there would be minor differences in the tiles anyway, and wear and tear as it's a floor would only add to that.
Are you planning for them to be all green, or maybe some kind of checkerboard effect utilising the green?

Thanks guys. I'll persist for the moment with the tiles then, although I do need to get some of the new paint range as I only have one pot of dark Angels green left, and that's not going to last if I do ALL the floors like this!

The effect is (in theory) quite simple- black undercoat, orchids flesh base, dark angels green layer. Then blend a tiny bit of black ink into the centre, and wet blend goblin and snot green towards the edges. Once dry, a couple of coats of gloss varnish, and hey presto.

The problem I have is making sure the dark centre is balanced by the highlights so that neither is too prominent - but then I'm a fussy bugger...

At work today (on lunch break) so need to get a job lot of new greens and try and replicate afterwards - more updates to follow....

Oh, and still haven't decided exactly what tiles will get done like this (if I do) - will probably be a mix of black/white and then a 'feature' bit in green glass. Probably

This will look amazing when it's done! Caliban Green is the new Dark Angels green if you didn't know already. Or if you wanna do lots of it you could try and get your mitts on the Caliban Green spray can (not available now at GW but I'm sure if you do some digging on eBay or independent retailers you should find some)

Phutarf wrote:

 hk1x1 wrote:
That is a very nicely painted piece, don't be surprised if i start asking you for painting tips some time next year .

Well, I don't think my 'skills' are such that I'll be doing that, but thanks anyway :p

So, I've done some more work on the test piece - think I've got the glass/enamel process sorted now - the secret is the application of the gloss varnish at the end - however, taking decent photos is proving difficult:


That aside, I've decided to stop with the manufactorum for the time being and actually start painting the cathedral. Yes really. The first piece will be part of the ruined section housing the energy plant/mechanicum shrine, which I've finally finished modelling this afternoon - the plan being that I can make more mistakes on a ruined part thsn starting the paint job on an I damaged bit!

(Photo of section to follow in edits as I can't get more than one pic on a post atm without losing all text)

OK I have to ask as this is bugging me everytime I look at this picture why is some of the plastic showing ?

The thing is are you painting directly on to plastic or is it a undercoat that is just very close to the original plastic colour ?

It appears that phutarf is painting directly on to the plastic. Honestly with how everything looks, I wouldn't bat an eyelash at this.

Could also be using primer by hand or that gesso stuff. It's starting to get cold where I am, could very well be keeping indoors for all of the painting now

Looking good btw.

 Alfndrate wrote:
It appears that phutarf is painting directly on to the plastic. Honestly with how everything looks, I wouldn't bat an eyelash at this.

It's not that it annoys me or I think it's wrong I am just amazed the paint is staying on the plastic without any issues, I have found directly applying paint without undercoat has some irregular or unsightly effects however this is doing the opposite.

More a case of envy on my part

I think mold release is part of that. Hard plastic can have it, washing it tends to make that issue go away. Or so I've been told.

I love this thread.

I honestly can't wait for you to finish painting this beauty Phutarf.

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
It appears that phutarf is painting directly on to the plastic. Honestly with how everything looks, I wouldn't bat an eyelash at this.

It's not that it annoys me or I think it's wrong I am just amazed the paint is staying on the plastic without any issues, I have found directly applying paint without undercoat has some irregular or unsightly effects however this is doing the opposite.

More a case of envy on my part

I did chortle a bit at the discussion going on here... Just to clear up any misunderstandings, the piece you were referring to lone dirty dog is simply a test piece, and as such the bits that look like raw plastic are just that - they didn't gey under coated. Everything else with paint on starts with an Abaddon Black coat or two (although being a Luddite, this is ALL done by hand/brush - no spray paints or airbrushes here thank you!)

That said, the new GW Base paints do appear to work quite readily straight onto the plastic I find - but I'm old school, so even the White bits get a black undercoat - I find it gives the finished effort more depth.

As for envy - well, I don't think I'll be winning any Golden Demons any time soon, so I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder


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 JoeRugby wrote:
I love this thread.

I honestly can't wait for you to finish painting this beauty Phutarf.

Oh dear - you'd better be in this for the long haul then....

Thanks for clearing that up I just could not work it out as I figured that you had under coated other parts with black, so seeing the grey made me wonder if it was grey undercoat or just plastic.

Any way that's that resolved so thanks for clearing that one up, and you should realise you have talent and yes I am envious of it

Well, another weeks gone by with seemingly little progress...

Ok, that's not entirely true. I have made SOME, just not a lot that's visable or pic worthy. Here's the WPI shot for you - Metallica are coming on nicely after a bit of trial and error on the window 'bling':

The original gold was too yellow for the rest of the colour scheme, so had to tone it down a bit - I think this muted tone works well.

Have also been doing some additional modelling/gluing/undercoating to keep things ticking over while I try to get the greens right. Turns out the Caliban green is a very poor substitute for Dark Angels green, so had to wait until I could get back to my local GW store today to try out some alternatives - more experimentation will now occur using Lamenters yellow glaze - I hope to have some results for you later this week!

Dear god man, if you ever get this done all the way it's going to be one of the most stunning pieces of scenery ever. I mean even in sprue grey it's impressive, but your colors are really nice.

Thanks Grim.

Of course, I know exactly what's going to happen once it's finished - I'll cart it off to a store for Armies on Parade and trip over or some such and break it into a zillion pieces. Years worth of work gone in seconds and a grown man reduced to a pitiful sobbing wreak...

Yeah don't let that happen. Get a spotter in front of and behind you for sure

So I don't understand how "blog view" works, as I went through it and came here to comment yet there is stuff here that isn't in the blog view?...

Anyway, looks awesome, I really dig the paint scheme you are using. At first I thought this was going to be one ugly grimdark building of same GW parts, but that paint job looks so good and unique. I can't wait to see it done.

 GrimDork wrote:
Dear god man, if you ever get this done all the way it's going to be one of the most stunning pieces of scenery ever. I mean even in sprue grey it's impressive, but your colors are really nice.

I second that!

and if anyone would ever ask me to show them something "awesome" or "epic", i would link them this thread..

jabbakahut wrote:So I don't understand how "blog view" works, as I went through it and came here to comment yet there is stuff here that isn't in the blog view?...

Anyway, looks awesome, I really dig the paint scheme you are using. At first I thought this was going to be one ugly grimdark building of same GW parts, but that paint job looks so good and unique. I can't wait to see it done.

Yeah, I've never quite worked the blog view out either jabbakahut, so stick with the standard view... As for the paint scheme - I could have gone for the same industrial grey dull dull dull that everyone else does, but.... no. While it would have been quicker (soooooo much quicker!) it wouldn't do the building justice - so like you, I can't wait to see it done either!

DiDDe wrote:

 GrimDork wrote:
Dear god man, if you ever get this done all the way it's going to be one of the most stunning pieces of scenery ever. I mean even in sprue grey it's impressive, but your colors are really nice.

I second that!

and if anyone would ever ask me to show them something "awesome" or "epic", i would link them this thread..

Thanks DiDDe. You can also file it under "insane"....

Sadly, back at work - how did it get to be monday again already? - I'll attempt to get some more wip pics this evening for you all. Chow for now...

So glad you took a different direction to the traditional Grim Dark scheme as your pallet choice has breathed life into this magnificent structure, I also like to think that due to the status of this architectural brilliance the colour reflects that.

Like it was designed to stand out amongst the rest of the cities dwellings and to have a sense of importance and grandeur, either way its bloody marvelous in every way and you will need an entourage if you ever leave the house with it

Ok then... Here's today's update - not much in terms of volume but plenty in terms of process refinement:


Turns out that the Lamenters glaze works a treat in making the Caliban green greener

The biggest problem I now have is that it's going to take FOREVER to paint all the tiles like this...

My god but undercoating, base coating and washing on this scale is DULL.....

Phutarf wrote:
My god but undercoating, base coating and washing on this scale is DULL.....

Hey you made the bed now lay in it plus I hope to see it finished ..............................................one day