Normaliser's new force

[Normaliser]

Morning all, 

 

I was a serious Blood Angels player from 2nd-3rd edition and am looking to get back into it, I will be combining forge world kits with the current 40k stuff, as well as some of the classic models that I dig out from my bits box.

A few of questions for people in the know;

 

1: the metal Blood Angels shoulder pads that games workshop sell, are they the correct size? I had a problem with my previous Black Templar army with the metal pads that I got looking too small

 

2: Advice for undercoat, I always used white, with blood red and blood angels red for the armour, now many moons have passed and everyone seems to use black, and blood angels red is no longer a paint! I am willing to experiment but any advice would be greatly appreciated 

 

3: Gold... last time I bought gold paint from GW it was some form of gross metallic orange, any advice on an equivalent to 2nd edition era shining gold? I have about 6 pots that have dried up in the years I was away from gaming :( 

 

I will stick some photos up of my progress, I plan this to evolve into an apocalypse army (because titans)

 

Cheers!

[Memento Of Prospero]

1 : they are too small.

2 : White, always white. even for dark colours. Reds onto black basecoats are just awful.

3: GW golds are not recommended. Try P3 or Vellajo for better results. you can get better result wiht GW golds by using a brass base.

[Normaliser]

OK cheers! I will get some white undercoat after work. your conversions are sweet by the way!

[Memento Of Prospero]

If you want Blood angel shoulderpads, The Death company and Sanguinary guard kits are full of them.

[Normaliser]

yeah, that was pretty much my thinking, I like to have a lot of 'Standard' ones too though, I might even try the dreaded transfers, will have to see how it goes

[Xenith]

1 : they are too small.

2 : White, always white. even for dark colours. Reds onto black basecoats are just awful.

3: GW golds are not recommended. Try P3 or Vellajo for better results. you can get better result wiht GW golds by using a brass base.

 

With respect, I disagree:

 

1: They fit the 2nd ed marines they were designed for, however are a touch shallower than modern pads. You get plenty of BA wing pads in the new boxes, and look for bits sites, or make your own press mould.

 

2: I base black, only black, even for bright colours, including white.  Mechrite red went over black perfectly, and Mephiston red goes over black even better than that. I have found that white is less forgiving, an you often end up with visible streaks. I have also found that chaos black is god awful going over a white base, and often rubs off, while the ceramite white base is excellent. My recommendation is to try both black and white bases. They affect the brightness of your final paint scheme, but go with that you think is best, and easier to work with.

 

3: I recommend GW golds. Gold base (balthasar?) is a good mix of old shining gold and scorched brown, gived decent coverage. Gehennas gold is pretty much shining gold. Auric Armour is a bit brighter than burnished gold, however not so good. It's a bit thin. The gold dry formula works well for final edge highlights (dont use it in its intended role as a drybrush paint)

[knife&fork]

3: Gold... last time I bought gold paint from GW it was some form of gross metallic orange, any advice on an equivalent to 2nd edition era shining gold? I have about 6 pots that have dried up in the years I was away from gaming

These pots can be very likely be saved.

A temporary fix is filling the pots with water and just leave them for a week. After that you should be able to stir and mix them into shape. They will dry up very quickly though.

For a more permanent solution you can add acrylic medium instead of water.

[p34ce]

yeah, that was pretty much my thinking, I like to have a lot of 'Standard' ones too though, I might even try the dreaded transfers, will have to see how it goes

 

1)

 

I agree somewhat with what people are saying about the DC/SG kits, but I have a niggle with the way a lot of people use the Death Company shoulders/legs/arms with the cross on them, and just paint it a different colour. Also, seeing the ornate Sanguinary Guard shoulder pads all over the place. Please don't do this!

 

The DC box in particular contains two shoulders with large moulded, ornate BA symbols, and one with what is essentially an up-to-date version of the old metal pads you mentioned. The best thing about the Death Company box (for normal marine use) is the heads. At least four of the helmeted, and all of the bare heads are usable for ordinary troops.

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping your marines plain; they are supposed to be ordinary troops, so they should have ordinary equipment.  Obviously, if you wait a month, the new tactical, sternguard and vanguard veteran boxes will be out, and you'll have much better parts to work with.

 

2)

 

Always prime with grey. After that, base with a light coat of whatever works best (I often use Ceramite White). White will always be a pain, but it does give red, yellow and blue a little extra pop. Grey works for just about everything, and you can always put a proper base coat over it.

 

3)

 

I'm with @Xenith, the GW metallic paints have always been high quality. Their golds are great. As for me, I don't use much gold on my models so it's not much of an issue for me.

[I am Legion]

1) The new shoulder pads from the DC/SG kits are much nicer than the old metallic ones. I have the mettalic ones on my old BA army and compared to the new bits, they are awful. Keep in mind that blood angels are a very vain army and decorate their armour with tons of being of they can. Besides I prefer marines to be decorated somewhat at least since a lot of these things can be considered medals and awards through countless heroics, EACH!

 

2) it depends on if you want the red to be bright or dark. I always use black, and you can view my gallery if you want to see the results.

 

3) gold...other people will give you a better answer, I'm going for the NMM look. I'm not great at it but I prefer that look to the gold paint.

[LegioX]

I like the new resin BA shoulder pads for my ASMs left shoulder signifying the chapter, and I like the old metal ones for their right shoulder signifying companies 2-5. I don't find them to be too small and they look rather nice and it gives them all a uniform and clean look which I like.

[dreadmad]

As for the red, when I did my BA I painted over a black base with layers of Red Gore and then washed with green, gives a really nice dark red. May be too dark for what you're looking for though.

[Normaliser]

Cool, lots of interesting ideas here, I agree with the not using DC markings on normal marines, My general look is going to be a mix of heresy era armour and more modern, I want to keep them bright but not like they've just walked out of the fortress monastery if that makes sense? I think they need to look bright and clean because nobody else does!

 

I will test out black, white and grey primers, and see what the best results are for me, I am not exactly on a schedule to get these finished for anything, so if it takes a while to get them perfect then so be it.

 

I like the idea of them looking at least loosely uniform, so I will try to give them squad/company markings, unfortunately there seems to still be a massive problem with the fact that the battle companies have 2 assault squads in each, which is far too few for my liking (my 2nd/3rd edition army had around 50 assault marines), so I will have to think of a reasonable way to just ignore that and pretend that the 4th company have lots of assault marines...