Barbarossa Crusade Army Project

[madmatt]

Here is Terminator No. 5. He´ll also be equipped with lightning claws in the final version though they´ll be repositioned. I really like how Gregor sculpted the finger scratches on the tabard that date from the last superfluent attemps of aggression of a heretic or foul xenos scum. I´ll fix a small Templars cross or something like that at the end of the chain. The rivets on the leg are my work.

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvatrekkut277pgz3.jpg

 

So now it´s time for the grand final: the squad leader and I´m really excited what he will exactly look like. Can´t wait to see him finished... :-) Make sure to have a look around the next days.

[madmatt]

Hi brothers,

 

many have contacted me and asked for a tutorial on how I paint my Templar armour. So here it is. I´m quite sure it´s not the quickest and best way und certainly quite unprofessional way of doing it, but it works fine with me and that´s what counts for me...

 

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvcb7rjyxpxwkuw7x.jpg

 

Step 1: Basecoat

I don´t use 2k-basecoats on my Templars. I use one or two thin layers of GW Chaos Black from the spray can.

 

Step 2: Removing the black gloss

I don´t like the glossy black of GWs Chaos Black Spray, but I really love how it sticks to the plastic. That´s why I use it. To remove the gloss, I mix a very watered down mix of Revell Aqua Color Matt Black (you can use Chaos Black instead if you don´t have any of those Revell colors). Then I add some small drops of Badab Black and a tiny brushtip of Graveyard Earth. The mini gets a 2nd thin basecoat with that mix and all of the gloss should be gone. Great. A positive side effect wil be that the next layers of color will stick better to your mini :-)

 

 

Step 3: Pre-defining Lightreflexes

As I find it really hard to get smooth transitions when painting light colors on black I try to do this step quite quickly achieving a rough base for light-reflexes in the later process of painting. I mix a watered color of milky consitency from Adeptus Battlegrey, a little bit of Kommando Khaki, some Bleached Bone and a tiny little droplet of Badab Black. Sorry, there is no exact recipie as I always mix my colors indiviually, so that there are always minor differences in color tones to represent, that some of them are more worn-off than others. Well, as you can see in the picture, apply this mix generously to the surfaces that shall get a black to grey transition late on. When you have finished this step, your minis will look really messy. Don´t worry, that´s about to change in step 4...

 

 

Step 4: Defining light-reflexes and smoothing the transitions

Now it´s time to use the rests of your mix from step 2. I put layer after layer over the areas that have to get darker again. Therefore it´s important to use the "flat" side of the brush with little paint on it only. The strokes must be directed towards the darker regions of the part thats being painted. This is really time consuming. Don´t overdo it, because, then you´ll have to counterpaint with lighter color again. There´s another reason not to overdo this: Most likely you´ll add some battledamage later. Nevertheless, try to get smooth transitions and it´s quite helpful to put the mini under harsh white light form above and take some photos if you aren´t sure where to put the centre of light reflexes...

Once the smoothing is finished, add some more chaos black to your color mix, to make it a harder black again and put some blacklining into the darkest corners of your mini.

Finelining/ accentuation and battledamage will be the subject of the next armor tutorial.

 

Bye

 

Matt

[Krikey]

I've been away for awhile, or I would have commented before now. These are absolutely amazing paint jobs, and you have my utmost jealousy. Well done!

 

~K

[Marshal Rohr]

Seeing the Mk7 Crusader pattern head on the Iron Armor has convinced me of the rightness of buying the Armor Marks.

 

Well Done.

[madmatt]

Seeing the Mk7 Crusader pattern head on the Iron Armor has convinced me of the rightness of buying the Armor Marks.

 

In my eyes MK III and MKV looks so cool knightly that I couldn´t resist including some of them into my crusade. If you like this kind of "kitbashing" wait for my castellan... :lol: I could put my hand on some really rare bits :-)

[madmatt]

Here is the second and last part of my templar armour tutorial dealing with battledamage...

 

http://666kb.com/i/bved0l2rz41fz2hio.jpg

 

Step 1: Accentuating the edges

Having finished the light reflexes on the surfaces it´s time for accentuating the edges of the armour. Therefore I use a mix of Fortress Grey and Bleached Bone which is watered down a little bit, but not to "runny". So paint with the flat side of the brush and only little amount ouf color around all important edges an put some dots onto the rivets. Be careful to make the accents as narrow and decent as possible!

 

Step 2: Sponge(bob) technique

I used to use an old blister sponge for this, but in the times of "fine"cast it´s quite hard to get your hands on those :-(. My wife uses some yellow square kitchen sponges for washing up (really looking much like Spongebob [i mean the sponge, not my wife!!!]). Those are great surrogates. I tear of a little bit, take it with the pincers and dip it into pure, unthinned Chaos Black. Then I remove the recesses by pressing it onta some kitchen paper, before carefully, I repeat CAREFULLY, applying my battledamage to the armour by dipping the sponge onto the surfaces. Really: BE CAREFUL! You don´t want to destroy your work you´ve done before. On the other hand, battledamage is quite helpful to cover minor mistakes at the light reflexes. Great. If you want to have a more scratchy look, then you can use a detail brush to paint on some more damagey by hand.

 

Step 3: Accentuating the battledamage

Now you apply thin lines (the thinner, the better!) directly under the black dots and scratches. Therefore you should use the mixture of Step 1 of this tutorial. Et violà, battledamage is finished. Surely you could go further, adding some rusty pigments or start with oil colors so that the damage looks older and more grimy. But I don´t want that on my templars and so, it´s time to stop here and finish all the other details on the mini :-)

[Commendator Arn]

Thank you for this awesome tutorial.

I passionately follow your thread (and Dantes) at the gw-fanworld.

Soon I try to set up my own Army Project and hope we can stay in touch, so

you can advise me from time to time how to improve my painting skills.

[Dark Scipio]

Most awesome. Thanks for doing a tutorial.

[madmatt]

So the three Initiates from the tutorial are finished and ready for service. They are meant to bring three of my 4 crusader squad on battlestrenght of 6 Initiates each. Squad #4 already has got 6 Initiates. Now it´s time to put in 2 Neophytes each. I know there´s some space left in the drop pods even with ICs joining the squads but I prefer "smaller" squads.No tactical thought behind that, just a question of personal taste...

Before I´ll start painting those missing Neophytes I´ll go and finished the drop pods I´ve started quite a while ago, so be prepared for some "heavy rain" :-)

 

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvf4yn8x22v55kkw4.jpg

[madmatt]

What a vivid day!!!

 

Gregor has just finished the sculpting conversions on my Termie Squad Leader Swordbrother. He won´t keep those lightning claws, as they´ll be replaced by either Stormshield and powersword or a two-handed power sword. But now, welcome Swordbrother Heinrich and his righteous anger!!!!

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvfex6rm416uktio4.jpg

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvff0r8c2zfymtolg.jpg

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvff1g8iz87dt20g4.jpg

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvff2604e5fwxmguc.jpg

[Marshal Rohr]

I :( -ed my pants.

 

Thats amazing.

[Pulse]

I :( -ed my pants.

 

Thats amazing.

Agreed, those knightly armour feet additions are awesome!

[Marshal Rohr]

I want shoes that look like that. NOW.

[Mercadius]

Thank you Matt for the armour tutorial!

 

There was a forum user that was looking for a method to paint glowing eyes, I found a link for them but it was for green eyes.

I think the red ones you do look amazing...

Also I spotted an Ork skull in the sand on one of the initiate bases! ;D

The small details like that make your crusade story come to life on your figures!!

 

Hope to see more of your amazing crusade terminators painted soon!!!

[Hogun]

Thanks for doing a tutorial. Hope your enjoying your holiday :D Oh and great looking work :)

[Dennis]

Those termies look promising!

Thanks for the tutorial as everyone said. I've been trying out some battledamage on my black models without the necissity of metal paint, but its hard :)

[madmatt]

A little WIP of 2 of my last 4 drop pods. The more decorated one is for Dreadnoughts/ HQs. There´s still quite some work to be done before they´re finished...

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvpkwa755gq9c2624.jpg

[I_Heart_69]

I'm in awe. Your armor and glowing eye effect is very impressive. Keep painting, I want to see more!

[Chapter Master Furious]

praise the master of mankind, thoughs are some awsome templars! lovein them! keep up the great work

[madmatt]

My holidays are quite busy. I´m about to finish my "flotilla" of drop pods. So here is #2 of 5. The weathering was mainly done with oilcolor which I hadn´t used on miniatures before today. I´m quite satisfied with the results. I really want my pods to look very used, because I think every entry into atmosphere must be literally "hot" and exciting.

 

3 more pods (which are by now halfway done) before I can finally commit myself to painting some neophytes and doing some glowing eye tutorial. As I need to make some bases for my new Terminators, I think I´ll do a basing tutorial, which has been requested by some readers, in between.

 

Enough talking...

 

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvqkkzxic5h5e30ye.jpg

[Trignama]

Gorgeous my friend, enough for any player in this game to be envious!

[madmatt]

This morning I got up quite early for my lifestyle (4.30) as I needed silence and all my concentration for a special task: building my contemptor dread! I have to tell you, this model, if you can handle its looks, is outstanding. The most poseable kit for Wh40k I´ve built so far. Well, I know, there are quite a lot of haters of this fellow. BUT I love it and had ordered mine about 3 minutes after having seen the first pics at the FW page.

 

I must admit, it´s not so templar-like but I think being a second founding chapter and being the former "elite" company of the Imperial Fists makes up a definetely good chance to have some of them being around in the Black Templars Chapter. Well, back to optics. The following picture is extreme WIP (WORK IN PROGRESS !!!) :eek but should allow you a first impression/ idea, where we´re going to walk this one. I exchanged the sencond fist for a massive sword (If I modify or keep it like that i´ve not decided yet, but he´ll keep a d**n big sword. That´s it on my part for the beginning, as I´ll send the mini to my chap who made those outstanding Termie-Customs. He´ll put on a tabard and some decoration: some chains and badges. When the big one will be back in my hands after that, I´ll add some further decoration like sigils and some rivets and get some more life into his basing. So keep your eyes open for updates, brothers...

 

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvs78idlhym2180xn.jpg

[T14]

Looking fab! It would look better if he gripped to sword with dccw fingers rather than that dreadknight hand.

 

In my opinion the sword would benefit from having the cavity filled in. Even better; Add a black-sword style inscription with "In Hoc Signo Vinces" for wow-factor.

[Roesor]

I shall most likely be doing the same but with a Ven' Dread's left hand.

[madmatt]

Hello brothers.

 

I have to admit, that I´m still working on my last drop pods and thus haven´t found the time to paint some initiates in order to make that glow-tutorial for you, but be assured: it´s not forgotten.

 

Meanwhile, during the drying periods of the paint on the pods, I´ve made some scenic bases to get my army finally based. As some have asked my how I do my base decorations, I´ve decided to share that in two little Tutorials with you. The first one is about making the scenic base and the second one about how to fix your minis properly and fixing gaps between feet and base of the mini. So here´s part 1

 

http://666kb.com/i/bvulgeu0m4r265aio.jpg

 

Step 1: Preparations

Well, this is some work for outside as it is dirty and the superglue stinks.

So you need:

+cork: The cork I use comes from IKEA where you get it as about 1 cm thick discs that you put under hot cooking pots. It´s really cheap.

+sharp cutter knife

+bases

+sand & small stones: Sand for bird cages mixed with some rougher grained sand is great. The stones are thought for decorations at home and I bought them at some 1-€-store.

+bits: some small bits are nice ammendments to your base decorations. I mainly use ork bits or the GW Skull Pack. Helmets and lost guns work well too.

+superglue: I know I could also use PVA glue, but superglue works better and faster. Nevertheless, the GW stuff is too expensive for this work. I use some really cheap superglue from a German Hardware Company. 8 gramms for about 1,25 $. The downside is, that I has got a strong acidic stink which is typical for all those superglues. So going outside and letting the stuff dry outside should be better for your health than having it next to your bed, I guess.

 

 

Step 2: preparing the cork

I break the cork plates into smaller pieces about the size or slightly smaller than the bases that should get some love. As 1 cm (about 2/5 Inch) is too thick I cut the cork pieces CAREFULLY (mind your fingers!!! ) in two, thus getting two almost identical pieces about 4-5 mm thick. Perfect.

Next I put some superglue onto the downside ( the smooth side) of the cork pieces. The cork will soak it up and in about 5 minutes, the superglue will be hardened.

 

 

Step 3: glueing the cork onto the bases

After the superglue has dried on the smooth side of the cork pieces I put on some more superglue onto the same spots - I´m quite generous with the superglue here in fact. Then put it onto the base and press the pieces together for some seconds. If you have some smaller pieces of cork you can put on a little cork mosaic and you´ll get some really interesting looking base.

Once the cork pieces stick firmly to the bases I use my fingernails to roughen up the cut surface of the cork or take away disturbing flocks of it. But don´t overdo it. The trimming and fixing will be done, once you have decided which miniature you will put on.

 

 

 

Step 4: Sand, stones , bits

It´s time to put some glue onto the plastic areas of the base you can still see. I don´t do it for the full base at a time but rather do it in quarters, preventing sticky fingers or glue running of the surface onto the sides of the bases. Then I put some small stones randomly onto the glue and after that (without new glue!!!) I let some sand "rain" into the gaps. Maybe you´ll have to do several layers , if you want it to get higher. If you want to include bits, just glue the bits to the surface and again let some sand rain onto the glue. Your bits will stick better to the base like that and it looks more natural. If you do several layers give your glue some minutes to harden between each layer.

 

 

Step 5: hardening

As cork is a quite soft material, and you surely don´t want to get damaged during "duty" (meaning when playing the mini), it´s necessary to harden the cork. Put some drops of superglue onto the cork (all over the cork but not onto the sand!!!). The cork will again soak up all the glue and get hard as a rock - almost. If you have really big pieces of cork as maybe on a 60mm base, you should repeat the step once or even twice. But don´t overdo it as your rock might lose precious details.

Now you should let it dry for about 12 hours or even better a day (outside!!!).

 

That´s the end of tutorial 1. The next one, coming in the next few days, will show you how to fix your minis to the base and how to adjust the base to your mini properly.