WIP Land Raider

[Aidoneus]

Working on painting one of my two GK Land Raiders. It's taking a while, so I thought I'd post it up here to encourage myself to keep working on it. Of course, any advice y'all can give would be much appreciated.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0925.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0924.jpg

 

My color scheme is mostly Brazen Brass (looks more like bronze than like brass, I think) and red over a black primer. Details are generally in Boltgun Metal and Bleached Bone, where appropriate, with Scaly Green and Regal Blue wires.

 

I use two reds in my scheme. The first is an off-brand that looks something like a mix between Red Gore and Teracotta, and is very matte. The other is Blood Red for highlights (and lettering on the GKs). The red you see on the Raider (I know, it looks orange in the photos, but it's really red) is three layers of the off-brand with a drybrushing of Blood Red on top.

 

I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to paint the rest of the Raider yet. The guns and gun casings all still come off, and I'm working just on the chasis for the moment. I think I'm going to paint some Boltgun wherever there are exposed metal pieces (gratings, rivets, etc...), and see how it looks. I'm leaving some of the sunken-in surfaces (like on either side near the front) black. Not sure about the doors yet.

 

Any suggestions on what would look good (within my color scheme, of course)? Thanks!

 

-Aidoneus

[GKTELIAS]

Looks very good, especially the brass parts.

[Red Lost Soldier]

Looking good man! Something different is always good. I'm not very good with colour co-ordination, but I think the side/front hatchs need a 3rd colour for themselves, that also can be used for little bits like the HB covers and stuff. Then some little details like electric blue or green for the lascannon couplings etc.

 

Motivation is always hard to come by. But your LR is looking good with only a few colours so few, so keep up the good work! Might have to take your initiative and find my camera.

[mercenary]

Always great to see a variation in the standard grey knight colour scheme. I think it really goes well with the other Grey Knights we have seen from you. As to being a slow painter, don't worry about it I think with this hobby it is never ending there will always be something new to paint. I have been trying to finish two 1500pts DH & WH forces for over a year now. I am almost there, two dreads and retributor squad to go. :sweat:

[Aidoneus]

Thanks for the comments so far guys!

 

RLS: You're right about the doors. I've been painting a bit more today (I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow), and the doors have been a real sticking point thus far. I thought briefly about painting them red or bronze, or leaving them black, but all three of those options just don't look good in my head. Unfortunately, those are the three main colors in my color scheme. My girlfriend recommended Boltgun Metal for the doors, which would work within my scheme (more boltgun than on most of my models, but at least the color is on my other models). Her reasoning was something along the lines of, "It's a tank; it should look more metal." Not sure if I agree with her logic, but boltgun might be my best option all the same. Any suggestions?

 

Also, what about that section sticking up slightly on top, where the pintel storm bolter is mounted? What color should that be. Again, my girlfriend recommends boltgun, for the same reason. I was thinking of leaving it black. Which would look better? (not gonna be red, 'cause I think that'd look funny)

 

Lastly, I'm starting to think about the casings for the lascannons. There's sort of an outer housing, that's attached to the hull, and there's an inner casing, that's attached to the tops of the lascannons. What colors should those be? My first thought was to have the outer housing painted bronze and the inner casing painted red. But would it be better to match the outer housing with whatever color I paint the door? Or something else I haven't thought of yet?

 

Thanks for the help,

-Aidoneus

[Aidoneus]

Anyone?

 

...please?

[InquisitorPhred]

I'd paint the outer housing the same color as the body panel it's attached to, let shading and highlights worry about giving it depth. Not a fan of patchworky paintschemes for most tanks.

[MedPig]

I'd paint the outer housing the same color as the body panel it's attached to, let shading and highlights worry about giving it depth. Not a fan of patchworky paintschemes for most tanks.

 

 

Yeah, that looks a little like the scheme was designed by a committee, but you're NEVER going to lose it on the table, that's for sure...

 

:) :woot:

[number6]

Anyone?

 

...please?

You don't want my opinion! All I can offer is that I think what you have so looks very cool. I can't bring myself to leave the comfy codex-specified color box, so it's refreshing to see what you're doing. Please keep posting pics!

[Aidoneus]

Been painting some more. Got more pictures to share.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/Models/DSCN0927.jpg

Pretty much the same as before, but with a few touch-ups and the rivets painted Boltgun.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/Models/DSCN0928.jpg

Got the engine pretty much completed.

 

I still don't know how I'm gonna do the doors. I might move on to the guns themselves, then work outwards from there and just see what looks good as I go. Other than the doors, the treads, and a couple little things on the top of the tank, the chasis is pretty much done. Guns'll take a while though.

 

InqPhred & MedPig: I appreciate the criticism, and I see where you're coming from. But remember, this isn't a stand-alone model. It has to fit my army's paint scheme, which consists of Brass, Red, and Black. I'm not sure if you've seen my other posted GK models, but they look much less "patch-worky." The GKs are almost all Brass, with deatils in other colors. And the Inquisitorial stuff is mostly Red, with details in other colors. This tank might look amalgamated on its own, but hopefully it'll look better amidst my infantry.

 

Any other comments?

[InquisitorPhred]

I wasn't saying the model as is looks patchworky, I like it. I merely meant that if you were to say, paint the outer housing of the lascannon red instead of brass, you would be heading in that direction.

[Aidoneus]

I wasn't saying the model as is looks patchworky, I like it. I merely meant that if you were to say, paint the outer housing of the lascannon red instead of brass, you would be heading in that direction.

Ah, gotcha. Now that you put it like that, I think you may have convinced me to paint those outer housings brass. I assume you recommend brass for the side doors as well? What about the assault ramp?

[LoneSniperSG]

Oh my Emperor. Gold-plated Land Raider. Very shiny.

[archonbrujah]

I like it. I just have to keep thinking red instead of orange to get the colors straight in my head.

 

Where are the pics of your infantry, I'd like to see them?

 

Thanks,

 

Archonbrujah

 

*EDIT* for spelling

[Aidoneus]

Yeah, the orange is weird. Next round of pictures I'll try to play around with lighting to get the colors more accurrate.

 

I posted my first few DH models here a while ago. I've got a few more painted by this point, but that should give you an idea of my color scheme.

 

Edit: Ick; just went back and looked at those infantry pictures, and the lighting sucks on them too. Colors look accurrate, but it's all really dark. I'll try to get some better shots of them too.

[Aidoneus]

All right, got some more painting done, and I've got a whole lot of pictures for y'all. Some of these are the progress on the Land Raider, while others are my other painted/WIP infantry units.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0929.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0930.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0931.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0932.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0933.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0939.jpg

 

Hopefully the reds will look a bit better now. As you can see, progress on the Land Raider has been mostly on the front assault ramp and the starboard lascannon sponson. I think the ramp is finished, although I might try to paint a bit further into the interior. The lascannon is clearly still WIP. I've put on the basecoats of darkish red, but haven't yet drybrushed the Blood Red on. I also have to paint the Boltgun bits, all the wires, and the targeting-thingy on top.

 

Now for the infantry. I'll post these as links, so this post isn't ridiculously huge.

 

IST front

IST back

 

Inquisitor Konrad von Marburg front

Konrad back

Konrad side

This is my converted Psycannon-toting inquisitor. Got the Van Helsing inq from a friend who used to play WH and dremeled off his flaming gun. The psycannon is made up of two drum-feeds from IG grenade launchers, part of the barrel from the same, a couple bent paper clips, and a bit of guitar wire. It's not the best psycannon conversion by far, but it could have been worse.

 

Sage

HB Servitor front

HB Servitor back

Mystic front

Mystic back

WIP inq retinue

Credit where credit is due, my girlfriend painted the mystic. She's a real beginner, but quickly becoming quite talented. She'll pass my abilities soon enough. And yes, I am keeping track of how many kills the squad gets on the Sage's parchment. Kill count is exactly 35 so far.

 

PAGK front

PAGK back

PAGK with Psycannon

WIP PAGK squad

The colors on their bases are to tell the different squads apart. So the models you see actually come from 3 different squads. However, I started painting those 8 minis before I divided my PAGKs into squads based on poses, so that's why they're not going to end up together.

 

So there, that was quite a long post! Sorry about that. Any comments or criticisms about the painting in general? Any advice for the future? Specifically about the Land Raider?

[Silent Requiem]

Nice work. It's really great to see people building their armies, and I think threads like this are a great way to keep everybody motivated.

 

*sigh*

 

If only I had IT skills. I have a great many models that would appreciate additional motivation.

 

PS. Without criticism to the codex painters, it's really nice to see original colour schemes on GK's.

[Red Lost Soldier]

Nice work Aidoneus. Looking good.

[Charred Heretic]

If somebody described this color scheme to me, I'd wretch.

But in reality, it's really nice to look at. I like it quite a bit.

You're really pushing the boundaries of realism, but that doesn't seem to hurt the piece as I would have expected.

That's some good choices that you've made.

 

tiny suggestions to consider

1) I think the heat shields on the exhaust pipes should be a flat steel.

It does not seem right to use a decorative metal where there is discharge.

Kinda like a gold toilet seat: trying too hard.

 

2) I'd also suggest changing the yellow headlights to white with a maybe some blue inking.

The yellow just looks unrealistic on my monitor. If you really want color, then make one of them white with amber ink.

 

3) THose f-ing rivets.

There are a million rivets on a landraider.

I think they're all worth doing. (I can't tell if you did them in these photos)

In your case, (since your base colors are so bright), you might first do them black

and then a tiny silver dot in the center. THat will give you contrast and depth.

 

4) Ink the silver on the lascannons.

 

It looks like you did a high quality job on the rear-facing vents.

That is very important.

[Aidoneus]

Thanks for the suggestions Charred Heretic! And I'm glad to hear you like the look of the tank more than if I had described it to you. ;) Couple questions though.

 

1) I'm not sure if I'll change this or not. From a realism standpoint, you're absolutely right. But as you said, my tank isn't very realistic anyway. I do like the Brass there. I'll have to think about it. In the meantime, can you perhaps point me in the direction of an explanation of how to paint grime around smoke exhausts?

 

2) If I just put white on over the yellow, and let a slight yellowish tint show through, would that look good?

 

3) Not so much a question, but I have been painting the rivets Boltgun. You can kinda see them in the second-to-last picture in my most recent post (the closeup of the lascannon).

 

4) What color ink? And would that look good, if nothing else on the model is inked at all?

[Charred Heretic]

1) how to paint grime around smoke exhausts?

That's fun and easy. Either drybrush or watery paint will do that. Use the method that you're more skillful with.

Start at the top (hot smoke rises & would accumulate mostly at the top), making the top 25% of the heat shield almost pure black. The bottom 25% should have no smoke residue, leave that clean. And the middle 50% you will try to have the black paint fade out. If you use drybrush method (probably easier) maybe swirl it, so as to get a billowig cloudy shape. The "border" where you the smoke ends and the clean surface begins should not have any jagged edges or angles. Since it was made by smoke, the edges would be like a cloud.

 

2) If I just put white on over the yellow, and let a slight yellowish tint show through, would that look good?

I think so. The resulting Off-white will look more realistic. Those metal grates that protect the headlight glass are very important. Headlights are the "eyes" of a vehicle, so doing the detail really noticeable.

 

4)... would that look good, if nothing else on the model is inked at all?

This is a question of consistency. To me, that steel looks very bright. It could be that it's hue is contrasting to the other earth tones that dominate the piece, making the steel seem brighter than it really is. That silver barrel seems to jump off the page. So I think muting it is probably a good idea. I'd start with a very weak black/charcoal, just to fill in the shadows and to mute the shine. But maybe it doesn't look as inconsistent in life. A Lot can be lost in the translation onto a PC monitor. So if the consistency passes for you, then so be it.

 

These are just tiny suggestions, really. You've made an interesting piece with some risky choices.

[Aidoneus]

Thanks again. One more question I forgot to ask: how should I paint the treads? I was thinking of leaving them mostly black and doing a really light drybrush of something just so the details show up better. Would that work? Is Grey (Codex Grey) a good color, or is there something else that would work better?

[Charred Heretic]

(you're welcome. & thanks for sharing pics. it's always fun to see new ideas)

 

I never went too far with treads.

My simple answer is a tidy Steel-on-flat-black-background.

 

Follies of reaslim:

I've tried to make treads look "used" with drybrushing steel & grease & dirt & rust, but I never had the patience to achieve a level of realism that I thought justified the effort. Even if you had extreme patience and carefully drybrushed realistic steel and bits of rust, grease, and turf, I just don't think the effort is worth it. The result is that it will look kinda messy. While I usually admire that kind of "beat up" realism on 40K models, in the case of Land Raiders' treads, it doesn't seem to pay off, unless the whole LR has the "used/scarred/beat up" characteristics all over it.

 

Mud and grease seems to be at home on Ork vehicles, because they are crude overall.

 

My last set of LR treads I just spray painted a base of flat black. (Testors is expensive, but a nice quality paint)

Or just brush on flat acrylic-- whatever it takes to get a fairly smooth flat black finish.

 

After drying, neatly brush on steel on surface of the tread detail that protrudes up. That's all I suggest.

(I did the steel with a silver marker, and was done really really fast, but the marker, even though "permanent", wears off if you touch it much, so you'll have to spray on a clear mat over the marker). I now brush on Testors "steel" paint, because Testors enamel paint dries very hard, and needs no additional protection.

 

Now technically, this silver-on-flat-black-base that I am suggesting is actually backwards.

In reality, the detail that rises off the tread would actually be (black) rubber grips (to allow the vehicle to travel on pavement). The rest of the tread would be greasy/dirty/rusty/dark, unpainted steel. But if you paint this reverse scheme, (black on silver base) it doesn't look too good (to me), because if you paint the whole tread steel, it will reflect too much light, and brightness coming from within the treads will hinder realism. When you look at real treads on a tank, they usually appear black, because there is so much shadow within all the crevices. There is no shiny steel. Real treads have a lot of space and shadow.

 

So if you were really hung up on achieving "realism", the "base color" would be a base of silver with a lot of black-ink shadowing, enough to make it almost pure black with a hint of metallic. Then add a little of greenish black (greasy/dirty/rusty) smears on the flat, recessed areas, and the protrusions would be a plain flat black to simulate rubber.

 

Like I said, I just don't think that effort is worth it on your piece.

Furtherrmore, your piece is kinda surrealistic, so I think high realism in one area is potentially less profitable in your case.

Additinally, the tread pieces that GW gave us for the LandRaiders are not at all realistic, (rubber mounted on flat boards= no way realistic).

High realism & detail on the treads might also introduce a level of detail that is inconsistent with your piece as well. Approaching a surrealistic piece with a highly realistic method is prone to be incongruous.

 

The simple raised-steel-on-flat-black looks very uniform and tidy.

It will "match" the character of what you have achieved.

It's very easy to do, and it's very hard to beat if you ask me.

I think it's the best choice.

 

(Whew. That was a lot to just say, "just do the simple").

[Aidoneus]

Yay for update! I painted the treads and headlights like CharredHeretic advised, and am pleased with the look. The jury's still out on the inking and changing the heat shields to Boltgun. Also, I finished the first lascannon sponson! Hurrah! Did a few other little touchups that probably won't show up on the pictures, but it looks cleaner in real life.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0960.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0962.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/Aidoneus42/DSCN0963.jpg

 

My next step will be to finish those three sensor arrays in front. After that I need to paint the other Lascannon sponson like the first, then paint the HB turret more-or-less to match. Then there are just a few details like skulls and wings and such, and then I'll be done.

 

Any comments so far? Advice for improvements? of for the HB turret?

[Charred Heretic]

Wow. That's a lot of love in your Las Sponsons.

I and many others are properly shamed of our own.

 

The alternating metals are a very effective method when you have metal hardware that is very detailed.

I've used alternating brass and steel on some servitors with great effect as you have on the sponsons.

I tend to reserve the Brass for the round/circular pieces and Steel on the flat, angular pieces, because Brass (being a softer metal than Steel) would be more practical for difficult sculpting (round is more difficult than flat/angles in metal work).

 

I like the blue/green for the heavy cable on it.

Cables can be an interesting opportunity to introduce a small streak of a bright, unlikely color where it makes good sense.

People will enjoy seeing your LR on tables.