'nids part 275 - Tyranid Warrior Termagants, Rippers - MOAR basecoats and shades

Afternoon #warmongers and I've been #paintingwarhammer on those Tyranid models. I was getting all the chitin plates basecoated. The 5 Devgaunts, some made from Hormagaunt 'chassis'.

The Rippers

The lone Warrior

The Hive Guard

And I got the wash done as well. With the motivational challenge of my Deathwing Knights it is always handy to have something simple but with significant impact to a model up your sleeve. 

Washing all these 'nids, alongside all the metallic edging for my Adeptus Titanicus titans gave me a huge hit of progress on a lot of models. It also put me in a position where these can be moved onto the next stage as and when I feel overwhelmed by the Deathwing.

It was however not without issue. I had been using my Valejo sepia wash, mixing in some Instar Water+ to thin it down as I'd got the same crusty deposit in past applications as I did with Seraphim Sepia.

It didn't quite solve the problem, as you can see on the head crest it's still there, but not as bad as Seraphim Sepia. You would expect me to be livid at this point but as I'm running a Strong Tone wash over the top of it I don't think this will be a problem in the end.

Hive Guard conversions got the same treatment.

And there were deposits int he crevices also. I think it's the heavily recessed areas where the wash pools.

Some have suggested it's the separation of the matting agent, who knows?

I quickly remembered to wash these two in Soft Tone as well.

You can see that there was not the same problem with the Army Painter washes.

The Valejo wash does describe itself as a dipping wash so perhaps applying it with a brush is not the best application. Maybe you treat it the same way as an Army Painter Quickshade, although I believe they're much thicker. Doesn't really matter though, I'll just keep on painting.

Dark Angels - Deathwing Knights - CRUX!

Afternoon #warmongers and I am still #paintingwarhammer Dark Angel Deathwing Knights. I had applied my highlights to all the reds - mainly using my vermilion art acrylic. In some areas I regretted it as I subsequently looked at my Dark Vengeance Deathwing and discovered I had highlighted them with a mix of Khorne Red and white to get a different red. Not to mention the purity seals are purple... You'd think I'd learn to consult my existing figures or this blog before I do something.

Anyway, the Crux Terminatus was something that needed 3 sets of highlights, using the exact same Red Planet BASING colours as the base. My Deathwing's Crux are made from the same stone as Ferron Proxima, it's a nice call-back and ties things in a little bit more

I was really quite pleased with the results and it's nice to see elements that have been done to completions. I still have post-it notes with these sub-tasks that I'm removing from my task lists, which is also rewarding.

I also applied the final set of white highlights to this shield and Purity Seals, you can see the difference to the grey one on the right. Not sure about washing the seal parchments as I usually do, at lieast I do on the green-wing my last Deathwing were all white... Can't wait to add the verdigris to the bronze/brass 

The shoulder pad also got highlighted. I'm always surprised how much I like this approach to white. I mean it's far from perfect but Valejo Stonewall Grey > Agrax/Strong Tone wash > Stonewall Grey > White. I think even though it could be considered a 'dirty' grey it actually comes out really clean looking, which sounds contradictory but that's the only way I can explain it.

Anyway, I'll get all the white's done, possibly 2 a session if I'm lucky, which will leave me with the green and final bone highlights on my next sub-tasks...

Dark Angels - Deathwing Knights - SHIELDS!

Afternoon #warmongers and I am still #paintingwarhammer Dark Angel Deathwing Knights and I finally caved into gluing on the shields. I may regret it, it might be too early but I'd highlighted the bone on the shield and just wanted to have them as a whole instead of 10 discrete pieces 

I had tried highlighting the inner shield but the wash was not helping, the end result I just drybrushed, with stiff fine bristled brush, so I could really work the bone in and I think it's a pretty smooth blend all things considered.

I still have his cloak to do, which leaves me with the quandry of how much I highlight in the back here. If anyone has read David Eddings Belgariad the simple answer is I'll know it's highlighted even if no one will ever see, but technically it'd all be in shadow anyway so highlighting it would be wrong...

I also need to do a bit more shading - like the inset shapes on the arch above his hood.

I will do that before the final bone highlight so I don't end up spoiling anything with wash splodges on the highlights.

I'll also need to consider how much tribal markings I add. These are highly detailed miniatures, adding on patterns might just make them too busy.

But the carapace, leg plates, butt plates and thigh plates might be the best choices as the back is pretty plain looking. Afterall this will likely be the view I get so I don't want to get the most boring one.

All the greys need a Valejo Stonewall Grey highlight and then white, not to mention skintones.

At least you can see some depth from the washes on this shoulder pad. I also painted all the rubber joints. I don't think I even highlighted these on the Dark Vengeance terminators last time round. No doubt that's another debate I'll need with myself down the line.

A lot of those rivets'studs are really shoddy looking with the washes/highlights. I wish I could be neater but we are where we are now - c'est la vie.

Steady progress, I'm actually getting there. I know I have still lots to do but I can feel momentum now, I can feel these are 'inevitable'.

That's not to say I'm not dipping into other things - I've made a little more progress on my Adeptus Titanicus models - the Titans are almost fully constructed and glued together and the metallics are just waiting for touch ups and then I wash the whole lot. But, I also want to do my Land Raider at the same time but as that represents a significant effort I don't want to interrupt the Deathwing just yet with those tasks - it's about balancing projects, motivation, resource and workload.

Dark Angels - Deathwing Knights - BONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer Dark Angel Deathwing Knights. Having been disappointed by my last wash it took some significant willpower to finally get back to these and thankfully it has paid off - in getting me motivated at least.

It turns out it takes me around 40-60 minutes to do the first highlight on the bone. Not sure if I should be embarrassed about that but I can't hide the fact. 

In part this made painting all 5 that little bit harder because on the plus side I knew how long it would take, on the negative side that's 5 nights/sessions work... 

And that's not including the 2 or 3 extra terminators I'm doing at the same time as the knights!

A lot to do and as my pace is so slow it's also frustrating because this highlight covers so much of what had just been added in the wash and the original primer/basecoat.

I wish I was either a little braver to keep more of it or less impatient and applied wash more sparingly - a line wash where needed.

As it is I'll probably go back in and apply a line wash to achieve better shading.

With 5 days work under my belt, but still the shields to do I'm also predicted the second set of highlights will take the same time/effort.

But thankfully, despite all the negatives, I finally have the motivation to crack on and complete these.

Even though the 2nd highlight takes up less area it requires more finesse so whatever time savings I make in reducing coverage is made up in being more careful - actually painting.

I need to do all the reds, greens, grey/white, skin, verdigris and glow FXs on the mace's. So much to do it, feels like the opportunity to get stuff done in lockdown isn't quite getting there for me because this is so laborious and slow, but in actual fact these haven't been awaiting completion for 4+ years for no reason.

And here's the other terminators I'm doing alongside.

This was the Dark Vengeance sergeant, that I kitbashed as Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, when they were highly popular for Terminators and before we got Knights which always seemed better. Still, he looks cool.

And my odd Space Hulk Terminator. You can still see some of the Blood Angel iconography . I cut some away but left the rest as I'm confident they won't detract form the model if I don;t draw attention to them  - painting the blood drops as gems for instance

He's got a load of purity seals that's for sure

I also have an old school metal Grey Knight Terminator with lightning claws that I've done a little bit on but don't know if I'll finish that, we shall see.

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Base colours

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. I've done all the metallic highlights and got to a point where I wanted the armour panels on. Typically I'm not sure if that's premature and I'll suffer for adding them too soon.

Washes needed to be added to the metals, but the edging on the armour panels need a bit of highlighting too before that gets to be done.

Now as Legio Gryphonnicus I should be doing these yellow and grey but I do always start with orange. This is the Instar paints IV-17 - a replica of the Macharius Solar Orange Foundation paint. Now the colour matching is looks bob on, it is a great comparison to my original. 

However, straight out of the pot the coverage is nowhere near the same, but that might be because it's not quite mixed thoroughly. I really need to get a stirrer in there to see if there is thicker paint at the bottom. I bought a 50ml pot which was a little extreme, I should have gone with 20ml and got a load of other sample pots to try the range - experience for next time.

The Reaver has not had it's armour plates glued on just yet but it's progressed at the same pace. On the one hand this is going to be a huge success at the end but right now it's a little overwhelming. I'd focused on the Titans for a while but thankfully it helped me return to my Deathwing Knights.

With all the highlights to do on the Terminators I'd been put off and switched to these, now it's time to switch back.

But, when the Deathwing are done I need to get all these metals up to scratch, then shaded so I can focus on the fun of the armour plates... oh and all the weapons. It's weird because with so few figures in a Titan army I was deluding myself into seeing this project like a Warhammer Underworlds Warband, but with 2 Warhounds, Reaver, Knight AND all the weapon options I should have seen it more like painting a 40k Imperial Titan. Or at least it's been as big as doing both my Armigers! Mistakes about the task at hand were made, still we'll get them done in the end.