Painting DW Terminators,chaplain and libby questions.

[Brother Immolator]

Well met again brothers!I wish to trouble your minds with a couple of questions.

 

As a dedicated member of the unforgiven i am in the process of painting my deathwing terminators,and i have a problem.

 

I had painted a couple of the old school metal ones and the bleached bone came fine...crisp and nice.

Now i tried to paint the individual plastic terminator parts(chest plate,deathwing legs and arms)i am going to use for my Bel conversion.

The problem is that the paint doesnt settle in the plastic parts.What i mean is that after it dryies(spelling correct?)it becomes transparent showing the damn undercoat.Something that doesnt happen to my metal ones so the only reason i can find is the plastic...but i cant be sure.

I tried multyple coats but in the end it seems to leave a bad texturing behind like if you dont thin the paint enough.

I had used the following method succesfully in the metal ones:Black undercoat,Khemry brown,bleached bone.

So is it the paint?Is it the plastic?Should i change paint(i another companies paints)?

I am a bit dissapointed cause i thought other parts of the mini like the cape i am going to use would prove difficult but in the end it is the damn armor

something i cant quite believe!

I also have the same problems when it comes to painting white...It gets messy!To the point were i baught a white spray in order to prime my apothecary and be done with it.

Got any tips on how to paint the bone and white colours in a nice and crisp manner?

 

Now another question:How should i paint the terminator special chars?Should i stick to the codex astartes?Black terminator chaplain and bluish Libby?

Or should i paint them bleached bone too?I think in the deathwing novel Twoheadstalking had also painted his armor bone.Is the tradition continueing to the rest of the termy libbies?GW site has the termy libby in codex colours and he is clearly a da from what i see from his freehand icons.

 

What my veteran painting brothershave to say about those questions?

[exsulis81]

I don't paint mine with the bone colors. Which is kinda funny as in the novel the squad paints their armor with the ash from the flame making them more of a grey, and GW uses a dried bone set up. It makes sense when you look at the minis from the point of view of Epic.

 

My terminator libi is painted blue with a white shoulder pad, and a red Deathwing logo, same went for my Chaplain(Black with the white shoulder pag). Personal preference in all. So do what makes you happy. If you wanted you could even paint them black to represent before the story.

[Droma]

I've just finished painting a bunch of plastic terminators and I haven't run into any problems painting them. Are you thinning your paints before applying them or are you going straight out of the pot? Sometimes older paint can go on kind of splotchy, I've smoothed it out a bit though by going over it with a wet brush to spread the paint a little better. Even with thinned or right out of the pot though your technique should work. The only thing I can think of is you've either got too much or too little paint on your brush.

 

Maybe upload some pictures so we can see what you're talking about?

[Brother Immolator]

Unfortunently i aint got a cammera at this time.I tried it both ways both thining it and using streight from the pot.One it got transparent the other got splotchy as you say it Dorma.

 

exsulis81:The white shoulder pad idea will make a nice contrast to the chaplain i think!Thanks for the idea.

I want them to be that yellowing bone thingie colour.After all they were painted bone white and white is yellowing after a few years of use no?

[Droma]

New paint is applied regularly to marine armour. They wouldn't really have time to yellow. Battle damage is generally ok to paint on as that happens all the time. But marines take excellent care of their armour they wouldn't let the paint yellow.

 

If you're thinning it then yes you do need to apply several coats after the previous coats have dried. If the paint is old it also splotches more and you've got to be more careful with it. New paint out of the pot goes on pretty well without the need for thinning I've found.

[puck]

When I was thinking of a paint scheme for my librarian I had two goals in mind:

1) he should be clearly recognizable as a librarian.

2) he should be clearly recognizable as a member of the deathwing.

I ended up with this:

Clearly a member or the Deathwing and a Librarian. GW flip flops on this quite a lot (intentionally I think) and honestly I think it comes down to personal artistic preference. How much do you want your special characters to stick out? Part of the justification I used was to say that since the DA are a non-codex chapter why would they follow the standard paint schemes for their specialists?

I've noticed the same "thickness" in the bleached bone paint no matter how much I thin it out. I get the same final texture whether I'm painting plastic terminators or metal characters so I don't think that affects how transparent the paint becomes when it dries.

[Grand Master Neo]

what are you using to thin your paints?

 

water is just awful as all i does is thin and makes the paint lose it's ability to stick to the model. use some clear dettol instead, it has the perfect chemical makeup to thin the paint but force it to stick just as well as if the paint is fresh from the pot

[bevulf]

I always thin paints with water and have no problem with covering. You just need to do it right.

 

for the good looking bleached bone armour you'll need to apply 2 or 3 thin coats over your khemri brown undercoat (use instead of black undercoat) - try even mixing khemri brown with bleached bone in ratio 1:1 and 1:2 before applying pure bleached bone - it wil highlight the base colour and will make it easier to apply a pure bleached bone over it without transparency.

[Brother Immolator]

Thank you all for your time brothers!

 

puck:That is a sweet looking model!!!

 

I like your rime of thinking that the DA are not a codex chapter in the strict sense.I might go the way i did with my power armored libby.Ill paint him most bluish and the areas of the legs,torso and hood a light gold hue instead of bleached bone.

 

Grand Master Neo:I indeed use water.I have no problem with it the only paints i hasd problems like that are white,bleached bone and yellow when i try to cover darker colours.Can you please tell me more about dettol?Here in Greece the only dettol we know of is a liquid soap i dont believe you refer to that do you?

 

bevulf:I might try mixing it as you suggested.

 

Tommorow ill post some results since today i have to attend to my thesis and have no time for painting.

 

Thanks again guys.

 

P.S.I ll go and buy a new paint on mondey since i indeed have that pot a long time.

[Grand Master Neo]

dettol is a multi-surface cleanser. the brown one (not sure of it's actual use) can be used as a paint stripper. it worked wonders on my entire army after getting them back from my ex in pieces and the clear stuff which you would normally use to sanitise kitchen worktops can be usd as a paint thinner instead of water

[Brother Immolator]

dettol is a multi-surface cleanser. the brown one (not sure of it's actual use) can be used as a paint stripper. it worked wonders on my entire army after getting them back from my ex in pieces and the clear stuff which you would normally use to sanitise kitchen worktops can be usd as a paint thinner instead of water

 

Oh we have those.Do they work so good?I have been using pure alchool with to strip my minies.

[Brother Degas]

dettols really good.

 

Soak the models for a few hours and use an old toothbrush to take the paint off, might feel tacky but thats ok.

[he_plays_guitar]

For the lighter colors, especially white and bleached bone, it's important to thin the paints and do a few thin coats instead of one or two thicker ones. I have had great success with painting this way, when before I had the same problems that you have stated. Thinning paints just gives a better look all the way around. It might take longer to paint, since you are doing several thin coats, but the end result is worth it. And, as some have already stated, the age of the paint does matter. Try newer paints, you may have better success.

 

I paint my Librarian similar to the one shown above, he has bone armor, but his cloak is librarian blue, with his shoulder pad being green with the DA logo on it. It makes him stand out, looks really crisp and doesn't look like he is the odd man out. He fits in with the army. However, my chaplain is black. I just can't imagine a chaplain painting his armor any other color, regardless if he is in terminator armor or not. Just my preference :-)

 

One thing I wanted to mention is: are you priming your plastic miniatures before painting? That can make a big difference in how the paint sticks to plastic. The primer adds microscopic "teeth" to the plastic and allows the paint to grab on to it, making it stick better, and making the paint lay on more smooth. Whenever I neglect to prime my miniatures, the paint jobs suffer. Just a thought. Good luck and let's see some pictures if you have any :-)

[Brother Immolator]

Thanks for the heads up he_plays_guitar.I use the following stages in painting the termies:Black undercoat(primer),Khemri brown,Bleached bone.

I will buy a new paint from what i must suffer old paint syndrome.Unfortunently i dont have a camera right now but i hold m breath till the end of the week.

[Grand Master Neo]

dettols really good.

 

Soak the models for a few hours and use an old toothbrush to take the paint off, might feel tacky but thats ok.

exact same technique i use

 

as for the colour scheme, i have used a few different techniques recently. at one point i had the libby and chappy painted skull white with the indented parts of the armour painted as if in PA giving the feel that TDA gets laid over he top. got bored of this and decided to strip them back and repaint them in the standard colours to make them stand out a bit more

[Brother Immolator]

I am all up for listening to my battle brothers ways of painting dw!!!

[Grand Master Neo]

I am all up for listening to my battle brothers ways of painting dw!!!

you can get all the advice in the world on what colour scheme to use but at the end of the day they are your models and if you don't think it looks right then redo it until you're happy. techniques for painting the models is pretty much the same until you have a way of painting that you are comfortable with

[brennus]

I add a little Deneb Stone to my ivory mix (I mix my own color, as my original DW squad was painted in Ral Partha ivory, and I've kept that color ever since). The Deneb Stone adds a little to the opacity, and I can use fewer layers of paint. You will still end up using a good 2 or 3 layers, though.

[shabbadoo]

Command HQs(i.e. Inner Circle or equivalent) wear the colors of the Chapter and their office, even in terminator armor. So, Interrogator-Chaplains in black TDA and Librarians in blue TDA; both with green right shoulder pads with the white word and wings Chapter symbol on it. This has to be with being the upper echelon leadership(and representatives of) the Chapter, not of any singular Company.

 

As other have said though, it is personal preference. Lots of people like a cohesive army look and so paint their HQs in DW forces all in bone/white armor.

[Captain Semper]

Command HQs(i.e. Inner Circle or equivalent) wear the colors of the Chapter and their office, even in terminator armor. So, Interrogator-Chaplains in black TDA and Librarians in blue TDA; both with green right shoulder pads with the white word and wings Chapter symbol on it. This has to be with being the upper echelon leadership(and representatives of) the Chapter, not of any singular Company.

 

Same here. For me though only the Deathwing Terminator armour is white. That's it. Not the Land Raiders, not the Ven. Dreads. Everything is green! (apart from Ravenwing obviously). Oh yes and deneb stone is the colour of preference for me. Not bone, not skull white. They looked a bit strange initially but eventually I like it a lot. It all boils down to personal preference really. Then I moved to Disciples and solved all these issues at once...

[Brother Immolator]

Tomorrow i am going to make an experiment.Ill sprey a metal termy white and wash him with gryphone sephia...And ill see what it looks like.

[Brother Immolator]

Well,i just wanted to thank anyone who took the time to help me on this thread but i finaly got around my problem with a very easy way.Use the army painter spray skeleton bone.It gives me exchactly the tone i need after using khemri brown foundation as undercoat and makes the paint smooth and easy!Just felt like posting this to anyone with the same problem as me.Just google to see some pic results.

 

Thanks again guys!

[Cactus]

Same here. For me though only the Deathwing Terminator armour is white. That's it. Not the Land Raiders, not the Ven. Dreads. Everything is green! (apart from Ravenwing obviously). Oh yes and deneb stone is the colour of preference for me. Not bone, not skull white. They looked a bit strange initially but eventually I like it a lot. It all boils down to personal preference really. Then I moved to Disciples and solved all these issues at once...

 

Yup, me too. Of course, if only the terminator suits were recoloured Deathwing land raiders and dreadnoughts should logically still have their black armour. I try not to think about that. :D

[shabbadoo]

I do consider some Land Raiders to be bone colored, as the DW have their own compliment of Land Raiders that is separate from the Chapter's Armoury. Venerable Dreads, only being a part of the DW, would be bone-colored too. All other vehicles, of any kind, would be green. That's the way I organize it at least.

[krewl]

I paint a bit of the libbie in blue, just one leg guard and a shoulderpad, inverted to the shoulderpad and legguard that I paint bone.

My army is Angels of vengeance where I decided to add 1 bone legguard and 1 bone shoulderpad to link visually to the Deathwing whose rules they use.

So that keeps the specialist models fitting in with the chapter scheme, but also has obvious visual qlue's that it's a librarain (Appart from the blue warp stuff jetting from his hand, that should be a hint aswell :) )

If I did it corectly here's a picture of my libby:(front)

and Back:

He obviously stands out, and yet also belongs in the army, something which (to my personal preference) doesn't happen when you go the all blue/red/black route.