Ed's Heresy Kill-Teams: Custodians and ruins

[miteyheroes]

Great, great stuff.

[EdT]

Thanks all, glad people find the idea of the barque interesting! I'm deliberately going to avoid going for a techno-look for the thing; seems to me that the whole Arthur C Clarke "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" thing fits the Sons rather well, and the background I have in mind heavily implies that whoever constructed the barque was also behind the Golden Throne. Like the Throne, it's a combination psychic amplifier and life support machine, but obviously Amenhotep is hardly at the Emperor's level, even if he is a powerful psyker in his own right. That means that the barque, which I see as a sort of Land Raider-sized version of the warp-knife that Oll Persson is using to traverse the universe, doesn't exactly work as intended...

 

Thanks for people's thoughts on the candy cane issue, I'll have to think on it a bit more. I'll also take another photo of Arzani that gives a better sense of the colours; it's a bit more subtle than the last one implied. In the meantime, here's another one of the Sons; this is Hakor, a fairly unremarkable line trooper.

 

[deathspectersgt7]

Unremarkable are the best.So far these are my favorites.

[EdT]

Little bit of a segue here... The other day my girlfriend wanted to buy some watercolours for a friend of hers and so we ended up in an art shop. While I was there, I spotted this;

 

 

It's an interference paint; basically it gives a lovely pearlescent effect that shows the layer underneath. This explains how it works, although it's not the same brand. I've been interested in getting a mother of pearl effect on models for ages, so I had to get one, right? There were loads of different colours; I bought the blue one as an experiment and today I spent the afternoon playing around with it.

 

It's actually really interesting stuff, although to get a proper pearl effect I think more than one layer, of different types, is needed. There are still some reallly interesting applications though! First off, I tried painting up some legs in various shades. From left to right, the first three all have the same base; leadbelcher washed with badab black, highlighted with leadbelcher and finally mithril silver. The far left one has a green ink on top, the second a blue ink, and the third is left as is. The last set is my recipe for white armour; skull white heavily washed with badab black and then re-layered with skull white again. The green and blue legs were done with Alpha Legion in mind; the other two were more aimed at getting a more pearly look. 

 

 

...and here's how it ended up after I gave each one a layer of the paint.  Not massively successful, really, even though it's worth remembering that the effect doesn't photograph wonderfully. The green legs took on an interestingly mottled blue effect, but at the expense of muting the green elsewhere; the blue legs lost all their contrast and looked far less interesting. The metal legs took on a slight blue tinge but not really in a worthwhile way. Perhaps the most successful was the white; it looks very interesting in the light and whie it's not quite pearlescent it's definitely getting there.

 

One issue that became fairly apparent was that the lighter the background, the less obvious the effect was. Because I'd highlighted my test pieces quite heavily, this dulled the effect. I think if I was to go for a cream base rather than white and add layers of the purple and green equivalents to the interference paint on top of the blue, it would potentially look really good. I also suspect that a green interference paint over a blue base could look very Alpha Legion indeed; something worth exploring further...

 

Things didn't end there, anyhow. Looking at the bare metal and white sets of legs, I was struck how it almost looked like they had some sort of force field surrounding them; so I moved on to weapons. My first attempt was a power fist; I painted the whole thing as normal, then gave a coat of the interference paint on top. It's difficult to take a photo of, but it looks really good for a first try.  Next time, I'll drybrush the powered-on area with black, which should then really make the interference coat layer shine. I think this is potentially a really good way of doing lightning claws, power fists and (especially) storm shields.

 

 

 

I then thought I'd move on to power swords, so I dug out some Grey Knight Terminator weaponry to play around with. You'll see the hilts have all been painted the whole way for comparison. The left hand blade started off as a layer of leadbelcher mixed with chaos black to darken it; the middle one was a mid grey with black, and then white, stippled on in a random pattern. The right hand blade was the same as the first, but with 'lightning' added on, first using leadbelcher and then emphasised with mithril silver. All three then got a layer of the interference paint on top;

 

The simplest technique actually turns out to be the best in this case, and looks really interesting (and very shiny) when turned over in the light. It'd be difficult to mistake it for anything other than a power weapon...

 

It's early days yet but I think this stuff is potentially a good addition to anyone's paint collection, although it is quite pricey. I'll see what else I can do with it and report back!

[Daemon2027]

Intresting. I do like the way you are willing to experiement with differnt paints and the like. Really wish the arts store near me hadn't closed. Damn economy.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Really wish the arts store near me hadn't closed. Damn economy.

I know how you feel Brother, the nearest supplier to me stopped selling warhammer stuff due to GW messing with their contract and being constantly late with deliveries, the next closest supplier is in the next town (but I don't drive) and the closest Games Workshop to me is a twenty to thirty-minute train ride away.

[EdT]

It's great to have a good craft shop nearby (and I'm lucky in having one), but to be honest I don't think it's all that neccesary. I get 90% of all my hobby supplies- blades, superglue, pva, etc- dirt cheap from the pound shop down the road, and the rest of it- green stuff, milliput, resin, etc- can generally be tracked down quite easily on ebay. It's brilliant to poke around an art supply shop and indulge in something completely random to experiment with, but I don't actually do it that often. It's even more satisfying to make stuff from things you've scavenged for and repurposed, as well as being cheaper!

Anyhow,I thought I'd update people on how construction of the Barque of Neter-khertet is coming along. To be honest, this is a slightly frustrating process, not because it's not going well,but because I'm still waiting on some bits. I ordered a flying base from the excellent Dragon Forge Miniatures some time ago, and because the guy who runs it has a full order book I've had to wait for quite a while before it's my turn for my order to be casted and despatched. That's fine- I know it'll be worth the wait- but it does mean that I can't really build the underside of the barque or the scenic base it'll rest on until it arrives.

Luckily, there's plenty of other stuff I can be getting on with, and my first task was to make the basic shape of the thing. I took a sheet of plasticard I bought absolutely ages ago and drew the basic footprint of the barque; this was a rectangle twice the length of the wing parts that would form the sides, and of a decent width to allow me to place the crew on there too. I then also drew the footprint of two raised areas; the big one is where Amenhotep's catafalque will be, while the smaller one will be where an attendent stands, along with some of the esoterica I painted up a few posts back. Once I cut the shape out (the plasticard is thin enough that scissors work just fine) this is what I ended up with...

I'm sure this is the point where the likes of Blackadder would spontaneously combust in horror, as I can't pretend to even remotely match his precision; I'm a clumsy person at the best of times so there is the odd nick in the plasticard, plus some of the straight lines might not quite survive the spirit level test. You should see how bad my Christmas present wrapping is! I'm working on the basis that A: this is the first time I've done anything like this and am making up as I go along realy; and B: It's nothing that a bit of greenstuff can't fix later, if it's visible.

Having got the basic footprint, I also cut two rectangles to match the smaller raised areas. They'll go on the shaded areas above, when done.

Getting the basic shape of the barque is fine, but bare plasticard won't look that interesting when painted. I needed some texture for the deck, and I looked to the real Egyptian funerary barques for inspiration. Historically, the smaller Egyptian barques were often made of reeds bundled together, while the big ones were wodden and either had bare planks on deck or covered them with rush matting. While obviously the barque of Neter-khertet is the product of terrifyingly advanced technology and so rushes aren't likely to be a feature in its construction, I could imagine that the deck might be fashioned to recall the tradition; so I found a bit of hessian sackcloth (that's burlap for Americans) and cut a little to match the two raised areas I'd just cut. This is what it looked like...

It seemed to work ok; here's the two raised areas on the base bit of plasticard (it'snot stuck here, so that's the excuse for it all being a bit wonky);

I was happy with the overall look, but now I needed to cut a bit of hessian to fit the main deck. This needed to have holes in for the raised bits, so I got out my felt-tip pen;

...and to my intense relief, when I cut the holes out and fitted the bit of cloth on the plasticard it all worked out ok, although I needed to further trim the cloth around the edges. As the dry fit worked well, I stuck everything down with PVA, which had the handy property of allowing me to rip everything off and start again in the event of me cocking things up.

The deck was now more or less done; now it was time to move on to the sides. These were fairly easy. To make sure everything was braced and on at the right angle, I cut out a thin strip of plasticard just a little bit less than the full length of the two wings end to end, and used that to connect the two wings. This used up a hell of a lot of superglue, but seemed to work well! I also secured the plasticard- and filled gaps- with some greenstuff. I then stuck them on to the side of the deck, taking care to make sure everything lined up properly, which (astonishingly) it did. With the sides attached to the deck, I then added another small strip of plasticard in the centre, to provide a base for the sun disk. I should probably have taken some more photos of this process but was concentrating too hard on getting it right for that to occur to me. Anyhow, the end result was this;

I think it's coming together quite well! Just for the sake of completeness, here's the underside.

There are now two major bits left to do; the bottom, which I can't really attempt until my flightstand comes, and the bow and stern. Originally, I was just going to be lazy and leave these with little more than a small guard rail. However, Egyptian barques were characterised by these really distinctive curved bow and stern sections, and it'd be a shame not to at least attempt something along these lines; so I'm currently puzzling out the best way to replicate that. Watch this space...

[lokkorex]

Amazing!

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Amazing, especially Arzani, are you using Wargod's of Aegyptus bits? Makes me want to make some more sorcerers :P

[EdT]

I am using Warlords of Aegyptus bits, yes! They've proved hugely useful for providing accessories and props for the Sons, and have also provided the tutelary and the two attendents too. Very glad I made a purchase!
 
Time for a few more photos; I've now finished the last of the Sons, and it's a good opportunity to show the whole team so far. First off, here's Ashrat; he's just a normal line Astartes like Hakor, although unlike his brother he possesses a limited amount of psychic potential.
 

 
Then, a picture of Catechumen Arzani and his tuterlary Iset that's rather better than my last attempt;
 

 

 

Here are the four non-catatonic Sons who are travelling on the barque of Neter-khertet; Amenhotep is done too but I've yet to work out how to take a photo of him that works...

 

 

...and finally, here are the two attendents.

 

[geordie]

Incredible work. I love your conversions and painting, always good to see you post more. Looking forward to seeing the barque progress.

[Urauloth]

Those Thousand Sons look amazing. Love the attention to detail in the scaling, and I'm not even usually much of a truescale fan. Good colours, too, that's a nice rich red.

 

Not to nitpick, but isn't this a barge rather than a barque? To be a barque something has to have at least three sails... unless there's some Prosperan terminology I'm missing, of course. Either way, the boat looks terrific so far, and a lot like an ancient Egyptian funerary vessel.

[SalvationOfReason]

Looks great so far! I'm (eventually) going to get around to do a true-scale 1K Sons....

Mind if I inquire the source(s) for the parts on Arzani's staff? 

[EdT]

Thanks all, these guys have been fun to do.

 

On the barque/barge front, the correct answer is that it's both! The word Barque is traditionally used to describe Ancient Egyptian watercraft, particularly the ones used for ceremonial purposes. This is because one of the pioneers of heiroglyphic translation, Jean-Francois Champollion, assigned the word to the hieroglpyphic symbol representing a boat, and the use carried across from French into English. So it's one of those odd quirks of etymology, really.

 

The tip of Arzani's staff comes from here;  War Gods of Aegyptus is a really good source of bits for Thousand Sons, and also provided the tutelary, the attendents (with some conversion), and a whole load of other little things like back banners, canopic jars and the like. You might notice that the staff on Amenhotep's catafalque comes from the same set. The lower part of the staff is Karl Franz's Warhammer, FWIW. 

[Half Goat]

this is the first time i have thought of the thousand sons as cool,  top job as always.  Would LOVE to see you do a wolves vs thousand sons prospero diorama!

[EdT]

Thanks, I haven't quite shaken the XV Legion bug and have some spare parts, so I may well do something like that...

 

Now, time for some further adventures with interference paint. I should say at this point that this is a rather frustrating post to write as the effects I've produced look far less pronounced in photos than they do in person, so you may look at some of this and think 'so what'? Trust me, if you were to try this yourself you'd be quite impressed. Anyhow, since my last post on this I wernt back to the art shop and bought two more pots; one of green, one of purple. I figured that this would give me enough combinations to try most of the things I wanted. Earlier I'd tried blue interference paint on metallic blue and found that it did very little but wipe out all the shading and highlighting; but would the same thing happen with green?

 

 

Not at all; it's difficult to tell from the photo, but the interference paint has generally brightened up the tone, and more importantly the blue now has a decidedly greenish tinge to it in a certain light, especially when you turn it and the light catches it in different ways. It's absolutely perfect for the Alpha Legion (which is why I tried it)- so I decided to do a larger scale test on one of my unpainted models.

 

 

This was the result; again it's bloody frustrating as the effect doesn't come across quite so much in a photo, but basically his power armour is blue apart from the the areas where the light hits the model, which have a green tinge. It's really cool and has really spurred me on to finish off my XX Legion Insertion team.

 

I then started to experiment with layering two different interference paints on each other. I've was always struck by a description in Horus Rising of the (not quite) Warmaster wearing pearlescent armour, and thought that it might be a cool effect to do, either for a particularly swanky Luna Wolf or for a Lord Commander of the III. I figured that if I painted the armour a bone colour (Ushabti bone washed with agrax earthshade, then layered with the original base coat up to white) and then put a green and then purple interference layer on, it'd look quite good; so that's what I tried. Along the way I found that the intereference shades don't mix; this somehow cancels out the colour and you end up with a shiny transparent paint. With that in mind, after applying the purple interference paint I then slapped on a coat of gloss varnish and let that dry before drybrushing on some green.

 

 

This looks amazing in real life. Probably a bit much for a whole suit of armour, but still good. The top coat of interference paint is the only one that shines through in any one place, but as I only drybrushed on a light coat of the green you have a lovely combination of green and purple shine that really draws the eye. I also did it on a Centurion shoulderpad to test how well paint would go on over this sort of coat; the answer is that it works fine, and hopefully this gives a better sense of how it looks.

 

 

Finally, it occured to me that this sort of thing might look good on a power sword. It does, and gives the best idea yet about how this looks in real life, particularly towards the tip of the blade;

 

 

So basically, if you see these in a shop pick up a set; they're well worth playing around with, and in future you'll definitely see me using them. Give an HQ model something done this way and I guarantee that you'll have people commenting on it and wondering how you produced such a cool effect.

[Argent aquila]

I absolutely love those paint jobs!

[malika666]

And there I was hoping the Centurion shoulderpad was gonna be a teaser of a true scale Terminator model!

[Battybattybats]

I wonder if the effect would show up better on video or if it's just a camera vs eye problem? Either way having seen these kind of paints on cars i'm sure it's superb.

[EdT]

So, I've come up with something; I've taken a video on my phone of me turning each piece in the light, then turned each one into an animated .gif. I think it shows things off rather better, although still very washed out compared to real thing. Apologies in advance, these are big files so if you're on a slow connection they may take a while to load; because .gifs are limited in the number of colours they can have, I've had to leave off optimising them too much otherwise you'd not get the effect at all.

 

Each of these first three, as mentioned in the post above, got a base coat of ushabti bone, followed by a wash of agrax earthshade and then layers up through ushabti bone to white. I then layered on some purple interference paint, sealed with gloss varnish, and added a drybrush of green interference paint to finish.

 

So, first off we have the sword; if you look carefully, you can see that the cable on the right is leadbelcher with a layer of the blue interference paint on top.

 

 

 

Then there's the shoulder pad.

 

 

 

Third, we have the legs;

 

 

 

And finally, the Alpha Legion.

 

 

 

Hopefully this helps give sense of things! Apologies again for cluttering up the thread with moving images, but it seems that it's the only way to show off (a rather washed out version of) the effect.

[KrautScientist]

No need to apologise -- the subject matter certainly warrants the thorough exploration ;)

 

The effects do indeed look rather promising. That Alpha Legionnaire is looking excellent! And the sword GIF is excellent meme material, if you ask me -- we'll just have to find a fitting caption for it ;)

 

Thanks for sharing your findings!

[Quixus]

Ooh shiny. Now I think vehicles should have metallic paint coats.

[Slips]

Thanks for Spreading the word on these paints! ITS JUST WHAT IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR, FOR, LIKE, FOREVER!

[BionicBrain]

Very Perlescent white/bone! And the AL looks superb

/BB

[ChromeZephyr]

Well, now I know how I'm painting my relic weapons.  The sword .gif completely sold me on it, though I think I'll go with blue rather than purple.