A Mordian march to glory

[duz_]

I've been debating how to paint this... The same debate also encompasses my Baneblades.

 

My only BB is currently a pearled white, but I've decided I want to repaint it too.

My Leman Russes are grey, but I don't want to paint them that because they're too much of a Relic for such a common theme.

I had thought about a blue grey, but not I'm not sold on that either.

My chimeras are a dark blue grey.

 

Initially I had thought to do them the same colour as my troops. However, the reason I didn't do that initially is I wanted it to contrast more.

 

As I struggle with this I have also thought about a white or ivory, or a dark metallic like a magnesium or something.

 

I might just have to goto the local hobby store and stare at all the paints until I give up.

[WarriorFish]

Sounds like you need to sit on this until your settle on the colours you want. That or roll a die and see what happens :P

[GreenScorpion]

You could try to use a scheme similar to the one you used for your BSF navigator. It has a different blue than your infantry, but it is still somewhat linked to the overall look of your forces.
The gold and purple could also work for the details of your heavy vehicles for contrast with the blue.

[duz_]

Well I got the urge to airbrush on the weekend and I decided to try and make some progress on the Macharius

With no real scheme in mind I set to it and failed, twice

After basing it metallic, I used my phone [poorly] to attempt some schemes and solicit some feedback, this was the result of the first attempt:

I hard originally though of having the blue go back further, so I figured nothing lost if I tried that, didn't help

So after 2.5 hrs of painting (mostly preshading ) it got a bath

Fortunately I had a day off today and managed to get it back to square 2:

From here I have decided to do the trim in a gold, designate a panel on either side for colour markings and I am going to attempt to make some banners for the tank.

Upside to the banners is if they don't work I won't have to repaint the whole thing!

Recess washing this thing is going to be a pain

Edited December 14, 2021 by duz_

[WarriorFish]

All's well that ends well. Or rather can be reset well? It's always good to have a plan - I should know given how long I can take deciding on schemes :lol:

[The Pounder]

Glad to see you working on this beast!

 

It’s one of the best models Forgeworld do imho.

 

Liking the idea of banners.

 

I’ll watch on with interest.

[duz_]

Well despite taking a bunch of time off during the holidays I got no where near the hobby I wanted done. So not much progress on the Macharius.

In hindsight would have been great to pledge for the challenge, but thats how things go. I also doubt I would have finished it in time.

I did however get the tricolour done. I think I'm pleased with it. Might hit that specific area with a high gloss when I'm done.

Some of the Eagle eyed of you may have noticed Santa was very generous with one of his cheques these holidays. So much to the chagrin of my wife I spent it on something completely superfluous:

This came in surprisingly quickly! My last FW order took a good month or more. This arrived within a week. Not sure when I'll get to it as I didn't expect it until next month :lol:

If I'm lucky I might be able to wash the dozens of resin pieces this weekend at least.

[duz_]

My, my, hasn't it been a while since I've updated this thread.

Winter was skiing time, followed by some RL stuff. After that with how 9th has gone I got pretty burnt out of hobby and took an extended hiatus from building and painting. I still got my fix of 40k through B&C and audibooks though (I even stopped listening to podcasts for an extended period and now I'm down to just 1 40k podcast).

BCK start a painting challenge in the forge, which saw me complete my first model for the year!  and relight my hobby flame.

So now I am back to finish my Macharius. I still need to wash all the bolts  after that I need to start working on final details. To help me motivate me through this tedious part, I am trying to see how I want to finish of the tank. After being away from it so long, the full metal is a bit much. I am considering adding some gold trim to various parts to break it up. It being somewhat of a relic STC, even if the machine itself is relatively new for the Imperium.  

Here is my dodgy phone mock up of where the gold would go... Thoughts?
I figured this was a better option than just the raised plates since that might seem too much?

[GreenScorpion]

If you need some contests to help motivate you, perhaps it is time for another dedicated guard contest?
I could help with the organizational side of it if you want

The gold mock up seems nice, my only recommendation would be for the aquila to be a different colour if you haven't started yet, since that could highlight it as something different from the rest of the trim, but that is just my personal opinion.

[duz_]

4 hours ago, GreenScorpion said:

If you need some contests to help motivate you, perhaps it is time for another dedicated guard contest?
I could help with the organizational side of it if you want

The gold mock up seems nice, my only recommendation would be for the aquila to be a different colour if you haven't started yet, since that could highlight it as something different from the rest of the trim, but that is just my personal opinion.

 

Thanks GS. 

I thought about a quick hobby challenge pre codex drop, assuming we wouldn't see until later in the year. With the new box maybe only a month or so out seems like a great time to host a new one and I will accept your help if you're offering. 

 

What alternate colour do you think for the aquila? 

I'm also contemplating how I do the tracks. Do I do them in agrax wash then a dark metal dry brush? I wonder if a contrast brown might work too? 

[GreenScorpion]

5 minutes ago, duz_ said:

 

Thanks GS. 

I thought about a quick hobby challenge pre codex drop, assuming we wouldn't see until later in the year. With the new box maybe only a month or so out seems like a great time to host a new one and I will accept your help if you're offering. 

 

What alternate colour do you think for the aquila? 

I'm also contemplating how I do the tracks. Do I do them in agrax wash then a dark metal dry brush? I wonder if a contrast brown might work too? 

I often lurk around the forum without logging in, so helping with organizing a challenge might be a justification to lurk a little less.

 

For the aquila, perhaps another metallic colour would work well with your scheme, for example something like runelord brass which is a bit more copper based, while not being too different from the base colours.
On the tracks, some dark brown would likely work well with your base colour, but I am not sure how well contrast would work. Dry brushing in a darker colour might work well to add some further depth to the tracks. Passing with a large brush with black shade (nuln oil or similar) for a somewhat uniform black shade and then a smaller brush with agrax for the dirty spots could also work, at least in my head it seems like something that could work.

[duz_]

Contrasts can be used like a wash so it would be similar to Agrax in a way with maybe better looking pools? Maybe I can try on the bottom and see how it goes. 

 

I had thought about a bronze? I also thought about a "Mordian" blue, which would compliment the tricolour on the side. 

 

I'll PM you about the event planning later. 

[The Pounder]

I think GreenScorpion speaks the truth! A motivational painting event might be a good way for us all to get ready for the new codex.

 

For my tracks I base coat in Warplock Bronze, then I dry brush with Leadbelcher making sure to leave a little of the under layer visible and finish with Agrax Earthshade.

For my Aquilas I go with Balthazar Gold, wash with Agrax and highlight with Hashut Copper.

 

Hope that helps.

 

[duz_]

Thanks for the input 

Some more bad mock ups. The blue is growing on me... 

 

[GreenScorpion]

The blue would likely work well on the aquila and help link the vehicle to the mordian infantry.

[duz_]

Well I'm slowly bumbling my way through this tank... Started blocking in some of the gold details. When not under my painting lights I'm digging it.... Maybe I do know what I'm doing 

 

Feedback at this point greatly appreciated. 

 

Under lights:

 

Sans lights:

[duz_]

Stumble stumble... 

 

I think I'm getting there? 

[our_baz]

Those tracks look showroom clean! Even the tanks are parade ready. The gold really pops next to the "steel". Good stuff

[duz_]

Thanks! 

 

13 minutes ago, our_baz said:

Those tracks look showroom clean!

 

I did some small detail work on the rear of the tank last night. Now most the gold is done I'll be moving onto the tracks. They'll end up slightly dirtier. Mostly for contrast 

[our_baz]

Unsolicited Advice....

Ratling Grime contrast...great for "dirty" looks metal

Edited October 18, 2022 by our_baz

[duz_]

Unsolicited advice welcome! 

 

Any pics of the end result? I was thinking of using one of the contrast browns I have. I have skeleton horde and something Dunes. 

[our_baz]

T Top of the wing on picture, leadbleacher followed by Ratling Grime.

[duz_]

Excellent, almost exactly what I was going for thanks @our_baz

[duz_]

Slowly making progress... Got all the gold washed now. Every time I finish one thing I realise how much more detail there is left to go 

 

I tried messing around with the contrasts I had on hand and agrax last night... Wasn't happy with any of them. So I bought and tried some of the Ratling Grime @our_bazsuggested. I tried thinned and unthinned. I'm pretty happy with how the latter turned out so I might go with that. I'm just wondering if I should roughly paint the tracks leadbelcher before doing it so there's even more difference in the metals. Currently they're the same metal as the hull. 

 

Below us a pic of all 5 attempts with and without painting lights on. 1 and 2 are Skeleton horde / Aggros Dunes (I forget which is which), clearly too yellow. 3 is Agrax almost looks like nulin... 4 is unthinned Ratling Grime, 5 is thinned. 

 

 

[Emperor Ming]

5 or 3 is my preference

 

No lights looks lighter