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Thinking of freshening up my Marines


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So I have a marine army, they are from the Warmongers chapter, but I've lost interest in playing them recently and I want to shake things up. I was thinking of totally starting a new chapter but then I thought maybe I could try and refresh my warmongers with new units but also a fresh bit of a paint work.

 

Right now most of the model were original stripped and had perhaps a base coats and then one or two layers of paint over them with some brief highlighting here and there. Some of the models and tanks I'm thinking of dropping or replacing bits due to problems like glue drying and being hard to remove I've tried to cover them over with some plastic card before but they just don't look good.

 

I'm also thinking of changing up the shades, atm the colours I've used are Castellan Green and I think Macragge blue over Kantor Blue.

 

Anyway was just wondering if anyone had any advice. I was even considering changing the chapter but that might be to much work.

 

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/628/0czo.jpg

Agreed with MagicMan. There's something about these guys that works for me. I'd say maybe you could do something to increase the contrast a bit, maybe darken up the green with a wash and brighten up the blue with a glaze? I think there's a lot to like about these guys as is. 

 

Maybe something like redoing the chapter symbol would scratch your itch? You probably have a  million white skull transfers. Maybe you could paint over those bits, do your freehand sword, and add a skull transfer to tighten them up and breathe a little life into them/make them look a little more uniform? 

 

Even something like swapping out the trim color for something that would contrast with your blue and green, say a nice red, could help you feel like you're making a difference. Same chapter, but now you're doing the 3rd company, right? 

 

Just a couple of thoughts. But I wouldn't toss the baby out with the bathwater. I like them. 

Yeah took me ages to do the chapter symbols free hand and I know they ain't perfect so I am thinking of removing them, I actually don't have many skull decals though, I kind of suck at adding decals anyhow I think I got the technique wrong, I read you gloss varnish, then apply the decals, then do a coat of lahmian medium, then gloss varnish again and then do another medium over it.

Yeah took me ages to do the chapter symbols free hand and I know they ain't perfect so I am thinking of removing them, I actually don't have many skull decals though, I kind of suck at adding decals anyhow I think I got the technique wrong, I read you gloss varnish, then apply the decals, then do a coat of lahmian medium, then gloss varnish again and then do another medium over it.

 

That's one way to do it, but there are others. I personally do gloss, then use Microset to lay it down. Once that dries I hit it with successive layers of Microsol, letting it dry fully between coats. Once I'm satisfied with that, I usually seal it with gloss again and at that point spray the entire model with a matte varnish. The Microset and Microsol are great, though. The sol breaks down the carrier film little by little, which lays the colored bit down as close to the paint as possible (important for space marine poaldrons with those killer curves) and reducing the 'lip' of the decal. If you're interested, there's a ton of great info out there about working with decals. If you don't have them, though, that could be an issue. Ebay might be your best best. I've got literally dozens of untouched space marine decal sheets laying about after collecting them for so many years while never playing an official chapter. :P 

I've ordered some microscale set and sol, I'm not sure what to do though. I really want a well painted force theres a guy at my store that has a lovely guard force and I want to do something similar, not entirely sure I can rescue this army.

 

Edit: Do you put the decal on before the first layer of gloss has set or after?

As someone said above, consider these a 'basecoat' to work from.  They look great though, clean cut well painted and all marked up, I wouldn't remove or ruin the work you've already put in and would consider just making a new army funds permitting.

 

Whatever you do, may I recommend finding a good test model so you can practise on.  In addition, find something (of the gloss / matt varnish nature) to seal in the existing work that you have already done so if any mistakes are made they can be undone with ease.  Plenty of youtube links for this, and I believe it can aid when doing washes as well since the varnish helps it to run into the recesses appropriately.

 

For freshening up you could look to further shading - I notice the scanner on your Rhino looks like it hasn't had much shading for example?  Perhaps some darker recess washes with a few more highlights.  In addition, you could look at the ends of gun barrels to give them a burned look (where the silver tips turn to a brass like finish through use), as well as looking at the lights and eyes for some 'OSL' effects (glowing eyes, plasma barrels and rhino headlights, easier with an airbrush).  Finally head over to the 30k WIP threads for some 'dirty' marine looks as it can really bring models to life imho.

 

Just a few things that could add a little extra spark.  Whatever you do - test model first! :)

I've ordered some microscale set and sol, I'm not sure what to do though. I really want a well painted force theres a guy at my store that has a lovely guard force and I want to do something similar, not entirely sure I can rescue this army.

 

Edit: Do you put the decal on before the first layer of gloss has set or after?

 

Good question. The gloss coat is to reduce the micropores in the surface of the matte paint (that's what makes it matte) because they can cause 'silvering,' which are tiny air bubbles under the surface of the decal. You should wait for that to dry completely before messing with anything. 

 

As for the chemicals, here's the short version: Microset is used when you first apply the decal. I place my decals on a wet paper towel, and while that's soaking into the paper and loosening it, I take a crummy older brush (I don't know if the chems are bad for the brush or not, but I have old ones sitting around so why not) and coat the shoulder pad with a generous layer of Microset. It dries fast so don't jump the gun too much. Once I apply the decal, I dab any running water or Microset and then coat the whole thing with another layer of Microset. After making sure it's sitting the way I want, I dab off the excess again and just leave it to dry. Microsol comes next. In most cases, I just slather it on and wait. It will start to wrinkle like crazy and you'll swear you destroyed something. Don't touch it. Wait for it to dry and it will flatten back out. If you see any creases or wrinkles, do it again. And again. And again as many times as you need to. After a few passes it shouldn't have any wrinkles, and it should be conforming quite well to the shape of the surface. Then, if you want to protect the decal and further reduce the lip of the carrier film, the second gloss coat on top just acts to fill in the gap between the underlayer and the decal, as well as coating it in a bit of clear armor. The matte coat is just because the rest of the armor is most likely matte, and you don't want this sticking out. 

 

Clear as mud? 

That's great thanks.

 

I'll take a look at what transfers are available and considering the separate chapter again. I can't paint white very well, never get the shading right and the highlighting on black is an utter pain, so I tend to avoid them.

Yeah you can easily breathe new life into them if that is your desire :)

 

If the skull is a PITA you could get a transfer made up and I can point you in the direction of a few companies. And if you want it designed I would talk to Carlson793 he might be willing to design the transfer. The guy is a Legend :).

 

I do like them :)... Have you decided who they are a Successor of?

Yeah you can easily breathe new life into them if that is your desire smile.png

If the skull is a PITA you could get a transfer made up and I can point you in the direction of a few companies. And if you want it designed I would talk to Carlson793 he might be willing to design the transfer. The guy is a Legend smile.png.

I do like them smile.png... Have you decided who they are a Successor of?

I've been going with the idea they're Imperial Fist successors, the yellow sword strikes me as something a IF could have as it relates to the scheme of the fists but also the feast of blades. Also the only known ship that's listed for them is called the Allegiance of Terra and the fists are pretty terra related. It's thin but that's all I've been going off.

Well I would also suggest popping down to the Imperial Fists forums and see if they can come up with some ideas to expand your background smile.png

I was kinda hoping they are DA successors smile.png

Cool, I did use some DA bits for them, such as the sword on the dreadnought for the emblem. They could be of their geneseed but I've never considered trying to play them using the DA codex before. I do tend to use a thunderfire cannon though which wasn't painted at the time I took these pictures, amongst other things like the stormtalon now and then.

I'm currently deciding whether to paint the stormtalon I have constructed in their colours, I also have two other storm talons and a storm raven, I can't decide whether to use them for the warmongers or use them as the basis of a new chapter that's fresh (actually considering Tiger Claws atm).

Micro Set and Sol turned up today and I tested them out on trying to paint a Tiger Claw (Astral Claw Successors) ended up with this.

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/dd28bc.jpg

 

http://i60.tinypic.com/24fbt02.jpg

 

 

http://i57.tinypic.com/rh63q0.jpg

 

Tried to make it look like this

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/e/e8/TigerClaw.jpg

It looks like you are doing it right!  The end goal is for the decal to look like it's part of the surface - better than painted, in fact, as it goes on thinner.

If you notice any "silvering" around the edges (where the decal film may be visible) you can try painting the background color along the edge of the decal to tie it in with the surface.

Was my first time using a spray brush to do a technique, i.e the kind of way the leg's fade from yellow into black, think I should of gone up the leg a bit more now I look at it. Not sure on whether I should proceed with them as a new army. I'm looking forward to applying the decals to my Warmongers.

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