Mercury's WIP Blood Angels

[mercury]

Just thought I'd post a WIP update of my progress in the Librarium Painting Challenge thus far.

 

My vow:

I, Mercury of the Blood Angels, vow on the honour of my Chapter to paint and present at least 5 Blood Angels Terminators, 1 Blood Angels Captain and 10 Blood Angels Tactical Marines on or before the 31st of March, 2010. I promise to provide at least two WIP updates, preferably with pictures, in that time. I vow that if I should fail, I will provide the Librarium with an article and wear the Signature of Shame until my penitence period is done.

 

Because I was feeling a little crazy, I thought I'd start with the most detailed (difficult) models: Space Hulk Terminators.

 

Below is a step-by-step guide to how I approached them:

 

1) I use a pin vice and 1.0mm drill bit to hollow out the barrels of my storm bolters. The barrels of the assault cannon are actually a little smaller, and to this end I used a 0.8mm drill bit.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0761.jpg?t=1267614752

 

2) I attach the models to a 40mm base, and use green stuff to merge the Space Hulk stands with each base.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0762.jpg?t=1267615778

 

At this point I jammed all of my excess green stuff into the bottom of the Black Reach Captain's base. That model is so top heavy that I felt it needed a little ballast!

 

3) I now base and primer my models. The figure is based using PVA glue and Citadel's exorbitantly expensive modelling sand. I use the standard Chaos Black spray as a primer.

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0765.jpg?t=1267615072

 

4) I find myself to be unusual amongst my gaming friends in that I insist on painting the bases of my models before I do anything else. The logic behind this is simple: painting the base is the messiest part of my painting and is generally the *only* area of my models which I drybrush. I don't want to risk ruining a decent paint job by doing the messy stuff at the end, so I do it first!

 

I paint the bases as follows:

Bestial Brown > Devlan Mud wash > drybrush Bestial Brown > drybrush Bubonic Brown > drybrush Bleached Bone

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0768.jpg?t=1267615426

 

5) Next I move onto the red armour. My painting technique dictates that all areas receive a basecoat, sometimes followed by a shade, then two highlight coats and a glaze if necessary. The red is painted in a number of stages, as follows:

Mechrite Red basecoat > shade with Scorched Brown wash (made up by mixing Scorched Brown with Formula P3 Mixing Medium and plenty of water) > Blood Red general highlight > Blazing Orange edge highlight > Baal Red glaze (50:50 mix of Baal Red and water)

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0769.jpg?t=1267615625

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0770.jpg?t=1267615643

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0773.jpg?t=1267615665

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0775.jpg?t=1267615714

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0777.jpg?t=1267615687

 

6) Right about now my plan to give you a comprehensive painting guide with pics goes completely awry, as I finish the models during a couple of quiet night shifts on-call at the hospital where I work, and do not have my camera with me.

 

Anyway, I next paint the black areas of the model (gun casing, left power fist housing).

 

I saw an episode of Father Ted once where it was said that only priests wear truly black clothes; everyone else is just wearing very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark blue (or something to that effect). I apply this principle to my painting, and use the colour 'Mercury Black' as a basecoat for my black areas. This colour is basically just a fresh pot of Chaos Black which I top up (almost to the rim) with Regal Blue, and mix well.

 

So my blacks are painted thus:

Mercury Black > edge highlight of 70:30 Mercury Black:Fortress Grey > finer edge highlight of 30:70 Mercury Black:Fortress Grey

 

NB: some of my models have black cloaks (Lorenzo, Black Reach Captain). These are painted using the same colours, but with additional intermediate highlights, and are a rare exception to my basecoat + 2 highlights rule. The cloaks also receive a glaze of watered down Badab Black after their highlights are complete.

 

Now I paint the gold areas of the models (including the chest plates):

Basecoat of 80:20 Dwarf Bronze:Scorched Brown > wash of 50:50 Devlan Mud:water > general highlight of Dwarf Bronze > edge highlight of 70:30 Dwarf Bronze:Mithril Silver

 

Next is generally the parchment:

Basecoat of Calthan Brown > general highlight of Vomit Brown > second highlight of Bleached Bone > edge highlight of Skull white

 

I paint the Crux Terminatus grey, to try to give it a stone-like effect:

Codex Grey basecoat > wash of 50:50 Badab Black:water > Codex Grey highlight > Fortress Grey edge highlight

 

At this point my models look like this:

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab87/mercury82_photos/Blood%20Angels/DSCF0780.jpg?t=1267615906

 

7) I have to confess that I have some kind of weird mental barrier which means that I simply *hate* painting silver and therefore never bother to take the time to do a particularly good job of it. In an effort to get the metal areas out of the way as quickly as possible, they are painted thus:

Basecoat of 80:20 Boltgun Metal:Chaos Black > wash of 50:50 Badab Black:water > edge highlight of Chainmail

 

I now have only the finer details to complete.

 

Leather areas are painted using non-Citadel paints. This is a tried-and-tested method of mine, and I just happen to like the effect:

Basecoat of Formula P3 Umbral Umber > highlight of 60:40 Umbral Umber:Bloodstone > edge highlight of 20:60 Umbral Umber:Bloodstone.

A similar appearance could probably be obtained by using Scorched Brown and Bestial Brown instead.

 

The armour embelishments (purity seals, gems, blood drops) are painted purple:

Warlock Purple basecoat > highlight of 70:30 Warlock Purple:Skull White > edge highlight of 40:60 Warlock Purple:Skull White. A final dot of pure Skull White is painted onto the gems and blood drops, to imitate the effect of light on the gem.

 

The lenses and targeters are painted green:

Dark Angels Green basecoat > Snot Green highlight > edge highlight of 60:40 Snot Green:Golden Yellow. A small dot of skull white is applied to imitate the effect of light on the lens.

 

I paint the base rims of my models Chaos black, and spray a coat of Vallejo gloss varnish (and allow to dry thoroughly!) before applying any water slide transfers to my models.

 

The models are finished with a spray coat of Citadel Purity Seal and static grass is applied to the bases in patches, using PVA glue.

 

Here is a link to my finished models:

Mercury's Blood Angels

[IronKobra]

niiiiice

[Brother Ash]

Wow loving your painting skills. That red is amazing and I like this Mercury Black you've developed. I might give that a try...