Vash's AM pLog, battle report p.12

[Vash]

Hello,

This will be a blog or whatever we call it these days, for my upcoming army. At the moment I don't own that many models, but as the months go by, I'll add more to my collection and hopefully it will be complete before this year ends.

What I need to paint is (well this could change as my list might change over the time):

- 23 Militarum Scions (with exchanged torso, don't like the medieval armour...)

- 25 Cadian Veterans (head swap, don't like the huge helmet...)

- 1 Inquisitor (made from mostly Tempestus parts)

- 1 Vulture (converted into a helicopter, from a Stormtalon kit)

- 1 Vendetta (converted into a helicopter)

- 3 Tauros (not sure if I will do a head swap yet)

- 3 Tauros Venators (same thing here as above)

- 4 Assassins, one of each.

As of now I have completed a test unit. I am a speed painter, and I have very little patience... So usually my squads get speed painted, and the individuals "might" get some extra time.

I kept the color scheme simple and with easy methods.

Basically I spray it with two sprays. A space wolves greyish color, and then followed by a white spray from above to give some "light source" effect. Not that it shows at all... But it adds a gritty look on the models.

Then its all up to the Darkenhof Nightshade shade. That color takes care of most of the job for me. Shades and fine tuning of the armour tint. Add some black on the fatigue, and then follow up with details.

A squad of 5 is done is approximately 2-3 hours (not counting the time for the spray to dry though).

Anyhow enough talking...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/40k/Astra%20Militarum/TempestusscionsplasmaunitWIP.jpg

P.S.

I saw now that I have taken the picture from a to low angle. The base is not really shown. The flat areas are cracked earth made from GWs technical paint set.

[WarriorFish]

If you didn't say I'd have had no idea that was a speed paint... they look fantastic! Colour scheme is great too, not too flashy but they still stand out. The torso swap is inspired, really works well and gives them a much more distinctive look. Great work indeed, I might consider this for my Scions if I have enough torsos spare. I will be eagerly awaiting more progress! :tu:

I'd love to have a break down of exactly what steps you follow to paint them, I'm flabbergasted that you can product models this good in just a couple of hours

[Vash]

Well thanks WarriorFish!

 

It all runs down to preparation and laziness over the years :D

First of all you need to clean the models from mould lines and other things such as air bubbles and holes. The cleaner the model is the better the result will be later on. 

 

Then I go to the painting part. 

 

1. Spray - Space Wolves grey (all areas)

2. Spray - White (from above)

3. Darkenhof Nightshade shade. This part is a bit tricky. It needs to be just the right amount of shade on the brush. To much and the model will be to dark, and to little and the shade will dry to fast and leave the model in a different hue/tint that you want. It is generally better to take to much, so it won't dry. With wet paint/shade you can still move it around. Also I avoid painting the weapon

 

4. Chaos black is now added to the black areas

5. Brown is added to straps

6. Metal to the details

7. Nuln Oil on the two above colors

 

8. Kiselev skin tone on the face. 

9. Wash with purple wash/shade (a strange choice of wash/shade, but it works for skin. This due to the blood vessels and details I can't remember.)

10. Layers of Kieslev skin tone and skulle white

 

11. Paint the eyes, white 

12. Add pupil with black. 

 

13. Screaming skull on the backpack cloth

14. Follwed by gryphon sepia shade

15. Watered down screaming skull in two layers (or one if you get it right).

 

16. Green on the displays and lamp

17. Yellow mixed with green, then high light on the display and lamp

18. Add some white to the mix and draw heartbeat on one screen and text on the other. Add a glare dot on the lamp

 

19. The weapon lens I just used GWs technical blood paint. Gives a glossy surface. 

 

20. Weapon is painted with Darkenhof night shade, but not washed. I paint with the shade the camo on the weapon. 

21. Same thing with Nuln Oil. Paint camo on the weapons. 

 

22. Fenrisian grey as high light on some few selected edges. 

 

23. Eshin grey on the black. Don't need to paint all the edges. I focus on the beret and "crouch" area. The weapons top edges too. 

 

Base another story and thats up to each one to decide what they want on their bases. 

 

 

23 steps might sound a lot. But if done on 5 models at the same time, and you know the steps by heart, it will go fast. 

If there is interest, I could of course take pictures of each step. But that will take some time for me to do. But I would not hesitate if there is anyone with interest for it. The technique can be used for many other colours. 

[GrandMagnus]

They definetly look great. And much better with the regular cadian bodies instead of that stupid barroque chest plate.

[elmo]

Excellent work and nice paint guide

2-3 hours well spent.

I am looking at using Cadian bodies with Scion arms for my vets so it is nice to see another take on them. I will definitely be taking some pointers from yours.

I think the phrase at the moment is plog (painting log).

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

That's astounding quality for a mere 2-3 hours!! I'm extremely jealous of your mad painting skills.

[Vash]

Thanks guys. 

Plog is it... thanks :D

 

The baroque chest plate is... well strange. It does suit the WH40k fluff, and it could pass in some AM armies. But... looking at the cadians, Elysians and such, where there standard infantry have modern armour, it feels strange to "upgrade" your tactical armour to a medieval armour. I feel its a step back. 

It could work for armies like Vostroyans and DKoK. Even the Steel Legion I think it could work with to some extent. 

 

@Elmo

I would love to see that conversion, unless I beat you to it. I have some spare parts... I think. hmm.

[Kierdale]

Excellent work!

As others said, I wouldn't have thought you could do it so quickly.

 

Very much looking forward to seeing your next models!

[WarriorFish]

Thanks for the write up Vash, I would like to see some pictures for a full tutorial on it please. Such a technique must be shared! :D

[walter h]

Thank you very much,I will be using that method shortly.

[fabambina]

that's alot of production for such a short time. speed painter indeed. how long do you take to plot out your painting process before you go to it? 

[Vash]

Thanks again. 

Working on what I do have at home. As I said before, I only own Tempestus Scions as it is for now. So the next 5 models are my deep striking Scions with meltaguns (what a surprise... meltaguns). 

Anyhow, decided to go with helmet on these guys as they intend to deep strike. I am guessing doing that without a helmet as a mere human would be kinda stupid. 

Going to attempt to make the helmets have a skull print over the face. Not sure how that will end up yet. 

 

@WarriorFish

I am working on a Speed paint guide now with pictures. So hopefully by the end of this week it will be done. 

 

@fabambina

Well the process is fairly short these days. I have been speed painting for 10 years or more. It has come with experience in what order to do things for different models and color schemes. 

But if I would reboot and go for a new color scheme I haven't done yet, that process is pretty long to be honest. First of all I need to find the right color combination I want. Painting up test models. This usually takes 1 hour (basic colours just to see the "result"). 

When I am satisfied I try to find techniques (unless I have already) to speed the process up. This is the time consuming part. Dry times, amount of paint on the brush, when to shade, when to dry brush. What colours can use the same wash, and so on. I am guessing 6 hours for a simple infantry man for this. Trial and error... 

 

But as it stands of today I have these  5 steps:

 

1. Spray the model in the wanted main colour. 

2. Spray with a lighter colour from above to give some blended high lights on larger areas. 

 

3. Shade/wash the whole model 

 

4. Add details (weapons, belts, pouches etc) and shade/wash the details

5. Highlights and fine details (eyes, lenses).

 

 

Now in between these steps there could be optional steps. Such as secondary colour that covers the whole model. A Cadian infantry model have two main colours, screaming skull fatigue and green armour. Here I would spray the model with screaming skull, wash/shade it with gryphon sepia, followed by retouching with screaming skull. 

After that I would repeat the process but with armour areas. Add base coat, wash/shade, retouch if needed. 

 

I very seldom break from this pattern... could seem a bit boring for most, that I paint in the exact same way all the time. But by doing it in the same order all the time, I don't really need to think much of what to do next. 

[WarriorFish]

No rush Vash, get it done when you have the time :tu:

[Vash]

Ha ha :D 

Well since five models are painted fairly fast, the guide progresses pretty fast. 

I am actually done now, only waiting for the base PVA glue to dry so I can paint the base. Once dry a picture will be taken then, and after that some cropping of the pictures.

The skull helmets I am fairly satisfied with. Going to post them soon so I can get some pointers on what to add or correct. 

[fabambina]

 

1. Spray the model in the wanted main colour. 

2. Spray with a lighter colour from above to give some blended high lights on larger areas. 

what type of spray do you use for this step? from the can or a gun?

[Vash]

At the moment I am using a mix of Games Workshops spray cans and I complement with Army Painter for the colours Games Worksop don't have. 

 

I don't use GWs spray gun, as I need the special pigment in the sprays. 

[Vash]

Well then. Next unit done, although the first one is not done yet... missing 3 members. 

 

Anyhow. This unit is a 5 man strong meltagun unit. Deep striking into battle... so basically a suicide unit in game terms. Hunting tanks and such. 

But to boost their moral, they have been given medals/purity seals and "cool" helmet paint jobs. 

There will be another meltagun unit, but I am not sure if I am going to do the same with them, or go with another approach. Respirator masks and berets? Or should I keep the theme with skull helmets?

 

Well, any suggestions on what to improve och change is welcome. My first time painting skull helmets (well free hand onto a normal helmet that is), so there should be some things to learn there. 

 

I took two photos, one from the front, and one from an angle above so you can see the simple bases I have given them. 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/40k/Astra%20Militarum/Tempestusmeltagununit2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/40k/Astra%20Militarum/Tempestusmeltagununit1.jpg

[Kilofix]

Yay - more Storm Troopers!

[Vash]

A simple paint guide follows here (I could make a more in depth one if needed with fancy intro text, preparations etc). 

 

Step 1 - Spray/coat

First I spray the whole model with a space wolves grey colour. I used a spray from Army Painter. Then I follow up with a white spray from above, and here I used GWs skull white. 

Now... on this model it turned out that I got to much on the model of the white. But I know that the next step will correct it, and perhaps give him a slightly different hue, giving him a armour that is either older och newer than his team mates. 
The result I am after is actually something totally different... It should be darker from below and lighter from above. But on this model it totally failed. But its not a big issue on infantry models. 

Also to note, small models like infantry men are not really optimal for spraying wit normal spray cans when it comes to "high light". If you have an airbrush, that would be optimal. This technique with spray cans works best with vehicles and larger models. 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus1.jpg

 

 

Step 2 - Wash/Shade

Second step is both the easiest and hardest step. It is very easy once you have "mastered it" but it has a big learning curve. Its all about getting the right amount of paint/wash/shade on your brush. I usually recommend to much, as this allows you to move the paint around before it dries out. To little, which is very common, results in the wash/shade dries. 

Anyhow, I used Darkenhof Nightshade here. That shade is perfect, as it turns very bright colours blue and where it collects, in gaps, it becomes black. You can get a similar effect with most shades. But you need to shade in two steps then. First with your main shade, say red, then followed by Nuln oil or Agrax earth shade. 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus2.jpg

 

Step 3 - Dark coloured details

Here I paint the black areas, metal and brown/leather areas. 

I paint all areas which will be using the same shade/wash.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus3.jpg

 

Step 4 - Shade dark areas and painted light area details

Shaded the previous step with Nuln oil and painted the back pack and helmets skull print. 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus4.jpg

 

Step 5 - Shade light areas

Shaded the lighter areas with Gryphone sepia. I added this picture to show how effectful that shade is. We could just stop here with the skull if we wanted to. 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus5.jpg

 

Step 6 - Details and light areas high lights

Painting the lenses and high lighted the previous areas. The high lights are screaming skull and white. 

The lenses are painted with Elysian green, followed by a green shade, then elysian green mixed with yellow for high lights and finally add some white into the mix for the screen indications.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus6.jpg

 

Step 7 - High lights and base

This step is the one I dread the most. High lighting... but as it turns out, these guys don't need that much high lighting. It is also guided where to high light already. All I did was to enhance those edges. 

I used Fenris grey as an high light. 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/VashDime/Guides/Tempestus7.jpg

 

 

 

Hope this serves some good for someone. If there is a request for a better written guide in a separate topic I can do that too of course.

[Kilofix]

Have to say it again:

 

Like your conversions, like your paint scheme, like your paint style, like your tutorial.

[Kierdale]

A great tutorial, and I love those skull helmets!

[Idlem]

Thanks for the wonderful photos! You've given me some great inspiration for converting some Scions to look a little more like the older Kasrkin.

[elmo]

Nice work

You have got me thinking, the top spray method is how I do my vehicles. Base spray in matt black then top spray with the green which naturally gives shadows. So that is what I have been doing

[Vash]

Thanks. 

Looks like I'll go for another unit with skulls then :)

 

@Idlem

Yah, they kind of resemble the old Kasrkin models, and I had an old plan of creating a whole army of those guys. So some of the inspiration was from them. 

[elmo]

You are getting me impatient to get mine done now... Baneblade or Kasrkins...