Ultramarines with more "Bling" (Help and Advice)

[BedTimeBeer]

Greetings !

I'm getting around to painting my first miniatures and yes they will be Ultramarines (Blasphemy i know! :)).

I was thinking of doing in a different way then the most I've seen on the web. 

Has anyone done Ultramarines with more gold details?

I'm talking full gold colored shoulder pads and more golden details mixed with a darker shade of blue (Still Ultramarine colors) for the rest of the armor.

As i've just gotten into the hobby and don't have any prior painting experience, i'm not sure how the whole thing will turn out. Has anyone experimented with such things, or knows someone who has?

I couldn't find any pictures of such marines on the web so i'm not really sure. Would appreciate any advice or tips.

I was inspired by Celestial Lions chapter and the new Guilliman miniature (which has much more golden details and "bling :)).

So i wanted to make my marines look more that way then regular blue+gold details.

Once again, any tips, pictures, advises are really appreciated!

Cheers!

[Brother Captain Ed]

You just want the shoulderpads to be golden fields?

Or you are looking for bits with more details to bling out?

[IronDrake28]

You could try free-handing gold filigree and script onto large empty spaces of armour. I've seen it work wonderfully but lack the skill to do so myself currently.

[Major_Gilbear]

The gold you typically see on many Ultramarines is actually a rendition of the 2nd Company colour (yellow).

 

However, it is also used on many chapter command-level miniatures and Honour Guard (and 1st Company veterans), as well as being a common Pre-Heresy scheme, so I can understand your wanting to do all your Ultramarines that way.

 

I would suggest that rather than just painting more solid gold though, perhaps you might want to consider some gold scrollwork over the dark blue. That would easily acheive the more complex and more golden look you're after, and scrollwork is pretty easy to freehand. If you want, you can also do the same on the solid blue areas, just using a slightly different blue to make it all look engraved.

 

Another thing to try is using either the Upgrade sprue parts, some veteran (Sternguard and/or Vanguard) parts, and some Forge World components to simply increase the amount of detail that can be painted gold to get the effect you're after. As an example, I found the following via a Google search:

 

 

You can use FW/veteran shoulder pads to get the Aquila and the bigger rims, and it's easy enough to paint the edges of the armour gold too (plus, it kinda saves you needing to highlight the Marine much! ;) )

 

Another option is to look at using some Mk3 and Mk4 kits (Mk3 is in Burning of Prospero, but is cheap via eBay, and Mk4 is in Betrayal at Calth, but is available on it's own or via eBay too). The various studs, trims, enlarged shoulder pads, etc., all provide you with more areas than can easily be painted gold. The various kits can all be mixed and matched you heart's content! :)

 

Finally, again via Forge World, there are a number of (admittedly expensive) pre-heresy Ultramarines kits that will give you lots and lots of additional "bling" (link).

[StraightSilver]

I think it works well on MkIII armour or veterans, not sure how well it would work on standard marines.

An example of one of my blinged up Ultras:

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r430/MacraggePDF2/DSC01565_zpsapwli7gq.jpg

 

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r430/MacraggePDF2/DSC01563_zpsebmfbhri.jpg

 

I would suggest rather than painting the whole shoulder pad gold keep to blue (or white) but use the gold decals for your chapter markings maybe?

[BedTimeBeer]

First off, i would like to thank everyone for the detailed responses!

Yes, i was thinking of doing the full shoulder pad in gold, but seeing all the ideas here i've dropped that.

I love what StraightSilver has done with his "blinged up" marines and would be aiming to achieve something like that.

I will see what additional parts can i get at this point (as i've just started this hobby and (like the most people i guess) have limited funds).

The additional problem is i live in Serbia so everything that ships is either uber expensive or people won't ship here.

That being said i think i would have to turn more towards freehand painting some details and working with what I've got.

A really noob question:

Can you paint over decals? (so i can put the decal from the transfer sheet and then paint over it in gold color?)

If not i would have to try and completely freehand the symbols etc.

Noob question #2: When you say scrollwork - you mean like scripts (sentances etc), i like the idea of that as it doesn't seem to hard to make those in gold and i think that it would indeed look nice on the darker blue shoulder pads and larger surfaces.

If anyone has any links towards free-handing guides (especially for scrollwork) i would be most thankful if he could share them here! (of course i will search for them myself - i'm not that lazy :))

Thank you so much!

Still accepting any ideas advises of course!
 

[Major_Gilbear]

Okay, lots of follow-up questions, so I'll do my best to answer them all!

 

Parts

 

If you are willing to try your hand at modelling, you can use plasticard and putty to do rather a lot. Even with modest skill, a little care and patience can produce good results. Before Forge World began their Heresy-era range of models, this is how fans got their models to look that way.

 

You can also buy individual parts or models from a squad on eBay, and distributing these amongst the other models can help too. Although the price-per-part/model is higher, the overall price of buying just a few heads or whatever is obviously much cheaper.

 

 

Decals

 

Yes, you can paint over them. You still need to apply them correctly though, and there is a post here that will help you. If the decals are not applied and sealed well first, then you risk them lifting and messing up when you paint over them later.

 

 

Freehand

 

Some general tips for free had can be found in this thread.

 

Painting freehand in metallic colours is quite difficult though, because the metallic paints don't cover very well, and because they have a different working texture to normal paints. For smaller things, painting the metal over the other colour is simple enough if you're patient. For bigger areas however, consider doing the base colour in metallics, and then freehanding over the top in a colour like blue or similar (i.e., a "negative" process). r.

 

An example of what I mean by scrollwork can be found on the powerfist of this Crimson Fists captain by Kirill Kanaev. This is a big-scale custom model painted by one the very best painters in the world - so don't expect to coy the delicate patterns yourself on your fist try! Rather, some simple repeated swirls should be enough to convey the effect.

[BedTimeBeer]

Thanks for all the answers and guides! This will indeed help a lot!

Will see how my funds go regarding parts and try to get some thing i can locally :)

I will look into the freehand part most, as i think its a great way to personalize your models and really make them unique whilst having them look really cool.

Of course, i don't expect it to be perfect at the start but...practice makes etc. :)

Thanks for all the help guys, will post some pictures when i get to painting and working on the squads!

Cheers!