First forays into AT - House Orhlacc and Legio Crucius

[Fajita Fan]

Looks great! I haven’t used oils but they seem more effort than they’re worth.

[Kenzaburo]

Thanks, FajitaFan. That's what I thought, too, at least for the pretty small warhound. Might go full monty with the Warlord though - there the visual benefits of the oils will show better. Panel lining by hand was a bit of a pain though (blacklining between trim and panels) and looks a little bit rough on the white. But that's more due to the white. 

 

Got a lot done yesterday. Now I still need to paint the plasma coils, apply decals, weather the hell out of my first god-engine and build a base. Oh yeah, and find a name, of course. Then the first titan of Legio Crucius is ready to walk. :)

[Fajita Fan]

I struggle with the extract same thing, my trim and recesses don’t look good on my white armor. :(

[Kenzaburo]

I'm gonna try adding some flow improver in my thinned down mix of black and brown and see, if that helps, to make it more washy. But yeah, that's where the benefits of the oil washes may be.

[Fajita Fan]

I’ve seen people varnish models and the washes immediately seek just the recesses where the surface is almost hydrophobic but I doubt I have the talent. One guy was doing Custodes and he just dabbed a brush to the model and it flowed in there.

 

My white titans are really giving me trouble where I shade the trim and I get big splotches in those groves on shoulders. I was trying to use a bigger brush keep things moving but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s best to use a really thin brush and just keep reloading it. I tried flow aid and it made the stuff almost too runny, it wouldn’t stay in the grooves and dripped down. Vallejo makes a neat rust wash but their black was is runnier than Nuln oil in my experience. The gloss stuff will give you an oily look if you’re going for the petroleum oil sheen on hydraulics, I just don’t know if that’s appropriate at AT scale. It looks great on dreadnoughts but I don’t know if oily sheens would be visible on building-sized models.

[Kenzaburo]

I’ve seen people varnish models and the washes immediately seek just the recesses where the surface is almost hydrophobic but I doubt I have the talent. One guy was doing Custodes and he just dabbed a brush to the model and it flowed in there.

 

My white titans are really giving me trouble where I shade the trim and I get big splotches in those groves on shoulders. I was trying to use a bigger brush keep things moving but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s best to use a really thin brush and just keep reloading it. I tried flow aid and it made the stuff almost too runny, it wouldn’t stay in the grooves and dripped down. Vallejo makes a neat rust wash but their black was is runnier than Nuln oil in my experience. The gloss stuff will give you an oily look if you’re going for the petroleum oil sheen on hydraulics, I just don’t know if that’s appropriate at AT scale. It looks great on dreadnoughts but I don’t know if oily sheens would be visible on building-sized models.

I've been messing around with a few things - what worked well, was a mix of contrast paints, black templar and goregrunta fur, thinned down with a bit of water and flow improver. Maybe give that a try.

 

Meanwhile, I've painted one of the guns:

 

It's the first time I painted a plasma gun, after 20+ years in the hobby. :D There's a first time for everything, I guess. I'm alright with how it turned out - could've been cleaner but I was rushing it a bit.

[Fajita Fan]

That looks great, is that with contrasts as well? That's what I did on my plasmas but I wasn't that clean.

[Kenzaburo]

That looks great, is that with contrasts as well? That's what I did on my plasmas but I wasn't that clean.

Thanks, mate. No, actually it was just a lot of fine detail work. :)

 

I started with some Vallejo Model Air blue and a bit of Vallejo Electric blue as a basecoat. I then painted broader ares with a mix of more Electric Blue added in then some pure Electric Blue for the middle section.

 

Once that was done I started adding white and picking out the ridges, going brighter and brighter until I reached pure white. I then thinned down my original basecoat of Model Air Blue and Electric Blue and carefully let it run between the ridges. I used that same thinned down colour as a glaze for the surrounding areas with some of the brighter blue highlights I had used on the ridges as edge highlights for the surrounding trim and stuff.

 

I tried a bit of contrast paint, though, but the colour was not to my liking. 

 

Anyways - the beast is almost done. I only need to add some decals, do the weathering and fix some minor mistakes, finally tackle the base and the warhound is good to go.

 

[Sherrypie]

Looking sharp, I like the subtle highlights on the carapace curves.

[Kenzaburo]

Thank you - they turned out so subtle, that they are easy to miss in the wrong light. :D

[Sherrypie]

That just means they're working better than expected :D

[Fajita Fan]

Yeah, they're gorgeous.  Highlights at AT scale should look different than dreadnoughts at 40k scale but I don't know how to compose them, my eyes can only tell if they're done right. 

[schoon]

Agreed - very well done on these.

 

I look forward to seeing more of your work!

[Captain Semper]

Fantastic work Kenzaburo! Very clean and well-defined! Bravo!

[Kenzaburo]

Thanks, you guys. Means a lot from all you Titan-afficionados. :) And I get what you're saying about different highlights with different scales. Less pronounced highlights seem to work well for the god-machines.

[Gore Crow]

Great stuff, looks amazing. Very nice plasma glow too!

 

What are your plans for the base?

[Mendi Warrior]

Superb! Love the plasma glow and ... well, all 

[Kenzaburo]

Great stuff, looks amazing. Very nice plasma glow too!

 

What are your plans for the base?

Thanks for all the great feedback! 

 

The base will be along the lines of the Orhlacc knight I posted on page 1. I've built a base comprised of some sand-coloured ruins and a strip of concrete street. Of course, Crucius would have profitted from even more contrast in the base colour, but since Orhlacc is already a purple knight house and I need a unified basing for the army, I'm gonna stick to sand-coloured ruins and a couple of conrete streets.

[Kenzaburo]

First titan done - and with it my pledge for Titans of the Heresy 2020! 

 

Here's the "Beast of Antioch", part of Legio Crucius' Black Hand maniple - ruthless titan hunters they sent to hunt down the vilest traitors of the heresy. 

 

 

I had such a blast finishing the model, after I had struggled so much with the trim before - but building the bases with just some plasticard and plastic rods at these base sizes will prove difficult. I really suck at base building in general, still, I'm quite happy with this one.

 

What do you guys think?

[Fajita Fan]

I love it, clean and scary looking.

[Mandragola]

That looks like a great first engine.

 

Basing is a challenge, particularly due to scale. For your bigger guys you could grab some of the FW scatter terrain or the containers, maybe. It’s nice to have stuff going on.

[Mendi Warrior]

Very nice!