Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt11. Yellow & Red Highlights

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. It was probably round about this time that the panic had set in. This was August 2nd. All through July I had been confident getting these done for the end of the Hobby Season was not only reasonable but a doodle.

But as we rolled into August it suddenly seemed like I could fall at the last hurdle. So I had a couple of days of really productive progress - highlighting both the yellow areas and the first highlights on the red.

There was a huge amount of satisfaction to this, getting so much done so quickly. Especially after how many delays I'd had with earlier steps in the process.

As this is publishing just 9 days before the end of the season I wonder if they'll make it?

But it's really beginning to come alive now. I don't know if this is what I originally visualised when I came to paint this but Like I said before sometimes the result is revealed to you during the process.  

I had some sort of a plan but the models is constantly speaking to me. I just need to be receptive to what it needs or just push on regardless. I mean I was already adding some scratches in places!

The Acheron though was always a little more planned out. That said I had thought it was going to be bottom half yellow, not left half.

But the yellow on shin and carapace is already looking gorgeous.

The Promethium barrels also got highlighted, but I'm not 100% sure what else to do with them yet.

The red on both knights got highlighted but it looks a little pale/desaturated in places. I may have to do a bit to bring the vibrancy back.

I recall using Bloodletter Glaze on the original Lancer, luckily I still have some

I decided to go with a red banner on this one. Somewhat against the usual Adeptus Mechanicus aligned pattern but thought it would be fun and different to bring the red back in, not more black.

Splodges on the Ion Shield - I love just blobbing on texture.

The two chest plates also got highlights.

And comparing it to one of my previous heavy yellow/black knights.

Obviously a bit of damage to add but I have managed to get the yellow a little more vibrant.

Lastly I painted all the pipework in the chest. A lot of it will be hidden behind the armour plates, but it will be just about visible.

I can glue on the armour plates now as there wouldn't be much Blessed Verdigris 🗽 behind them - they'd be protected from weathering. Black highlights next. ⚫

Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt10. Shoulder pistons

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. I had been stuck with the shoulder pistons. They have U shaped socket, which means you can't attach them and they stay in place. And if you glue them you're stuck with that position. So I decided to seal them up first.

I cut the round nubs off some sprue and trimmed them to fit in the socket.

I then removed all the extraneous material beyond the socket and drilled a hole through the centre.

I did it on all the shoulder joints.

I then took the piston...

And removed the bar that would usually locate inside the socket.

A hole was drilled through the centre, which would locate with the newly drilled hole in the filled socket.

All four pistons had 1mm steel rods carefully glued in. 

This created the moveability I was after.

But obviously these elements need painting up now.

The extra resistance from a properly hinged piston will help whatever pose the arm is put into hold. Well that's the plan.

However, I have discovered that the end of the piston does limit the shoulder's potential position due to the locating arms inside the shoulder joint.

I'll work it out but this issue has been bothering me for so long, like the carapace hatch hinges. I'm just really glad to finally solve it.

Imperial Knights - Cerastus Twins in manufactorum pt9. Chevrons

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on the Cerastus Knights. Well this was fun... You know I asked who needs masking tape? Well I do as I adapted my usual wooden coffee stirrers to mark the stripes, by just using them for the thickness.

But following the contours of the carapace just wasn't working. I pencilled in the lines but they appeared off and in the end I started to freehand them.

Basically eyeballing them as a flat surface so that lines just look straight rather than shifting at each corner or recess.. It gets a bit janky toward the back of the carapace, due to the curve of the shell but there's not actually a lot of stripes showing.

There are still some little decisions to be made, whether any additional detailing is required. But I decided that the inside right toe should be black to match the shin guard.

 I know I was holding out for more red, but this just made sense to me. Similarly the yellow toes won't have stripes. I also had a slightly narrower gauge of stripe on the lower torso compared with the carapace shoulder.

You can still see the pencil guides and how off the were. Hopefully I can cover them up with highlights and battle damage.

Well the stripes on the shoulder seem like they follow on from the ones on the carapace.

It's actually very difficult to tell if they would be contiguous or are offset. The red bit breaks the alignment just enough to make it look right.

But I don't think it is!

Again, hours of debating which line to keep yellow and which to be black. You make the decision are happy with the result and then realise it's not right.

But I'm not going to change it like I did with my Helverin. Check out the shoulder panel:

Before, you can see the top right shoulder pad was black, yellow, black, yellow.

After, when I put it on the Armiger I had to repaint it yellow, black, yellow, black.

But this almost looks right.

I also striped the top of the head too.

Next up I need to solve the issue with the shoulder pistons.