An army painting journey

[MrHlaine]

Hello to everyone that may decide to follow me on this journey.
 
A little background on me to explain where this is going and why I do things how I do them.

I'm a slow painter at heart, with the, let's call it standard, approach to painting of applying a basecoat, shading, highlighting and so on it takes me ages to paint a unit.

Adding to that the fact that when I apply basecoats on 10+ models in a row with a brush I feel like my soul  is being sucked out and you can easily see why the idea of painting a full army is terrifying for me.

BUT, I love fully painted armies. 

In my whole 17 years of hobby i only managed this feat twice, the first time it was a Black templar army (a weird one since it hade 6 land speeders thyphoon in it and it was almost a gunline, that packed some serious punch tho) and the second time an army for warmachine (other zealots with a penchant for flamethrowers).
With the free time getting less and less as the years go by I started a journey of efficiency improvement and I'm now trying to paint a new army and finding my own way of speed painting at the same time.

I want to point out that I greatly enjoy assembling and painting miniatures, just not basecoating.

I decided to build a loyalist Alpha Legion force to start the process with the end goal of having a flexible force, playable as the different space marines chapter supplements and if needed even as chaos later down the line.

Here's a teaser of what I've completed so far. 

Tactical demi-squad Hecaton.
 

 

A quick couple of notes, I plan to go back and redo the plasma effect and I suck at taking pictures  .

Tell me what you think and what you like and don't, what I mostly enjoy of forums is the great degree of interaction with other hobbysts.

[Pearson73]

I feel you on the grind against painting, that said, those Alphas look great, you've achieved a really nice tone. I like the helmet crest too, very characterful.

[Imren]

Beautiful paintjob, it's quite clean, do you consider doing some weathering?

 

Some 30k neckbeards might complain about them being done in an anachronistic armour version, however they ought to turn a blind eye to it since you obviously have made a great effort with good looking results.

 

Is that silver base coat with contrast paint glaze on top? I use the FW method with Vallejo metal colors silvers as base and then Tamiya clear blue and green mixed to a turquoise with silvers and clear blues as highlights, that method is not as monochromatic turquoise as yours.Yours look much cleaner turquoise.

 

Edit: At a close look in the zoomed in photograph, looks like its colorshifting between blue and turquoise..

Edited January 30, 2020 by Imren

[MrHlaine]

@Pearson73 thank you 

 

@Imren thank you for the kind words, as strange as it may sound this army is for 40k, I'm resizing everything to the primaris scale because I can't stand how old school marines compare with primaris, thy look like sons near their fathers. I love the standard marine concept so I'm using standard bolters, helmets and backpacks on primaris bodies.

I have both plastic mkIV and mkIII to use (incidentally my favourite patterns of armor) and a good number of primaris to sacrifice for the cause.

I don't have yet decided what to do for intercessors, I really don't like the bolt rifles, way too long for me, any idea is welcome.

For the paintjob:

These and the other minis I've already painted and that I'm going to post next are done in a very quick and simple way:

- Black primer (rattlecan)
- sprayed "Tamiya light metallic blue" (TS-54) all over
-2 thin coats  of GW technical color for gems Waystone Green
-Matt varnish to kill the shine 
-black in the crevicces

it's really fast.

the idea is that using a metallic color I don't have to manually paint lights and shadows on the main armour panels and I can concentrate on the other details that I enjoy much more.

Since painting these I've bought an airbrush and at the same time discovered a way to replicate the same exact color (actually a little better even) with 2 colors, no spray can and a brush.

-2 thin coats of vallejo duraluminium (I'm going to use an airbrush but the test was done by brush)
-2 thin, controlled coats of Contrast Talassar Blue (brush)
-2 thin coats of Waystone Green

- matt varnish to finish

I also tried using terradon turquoise but it's not enough green for my tastes with only one coat and too dull with 2

[noigrim]

Have you ever tried colour sprays?

[MrHlaine]

Have you ever tried colour sprays?

If you are talking about spraycans it's how the scheme started. I used a light metallic blue for these and then shifted it towards green.

 

I love the immediate results spraycan provides but I really hate being dependant on weather, humidity and temperature to spray, and not being able to safely do it inside. Plus a can of this specifica color is around 7/8 euros here and it's small, you can expect to properly prime no more than 15/20 minis, not exactly the best for my wallet 

[noigrim]

Boh, I bulk primed lots of marines it cuts down painting time sizeably

[MrHlaine]

So, here's some pictures of the other things I've completed thus far.

The difference in lighting makes the metallic color look kinda different but it's the same recipe every time, same for the basing.

a couple of captains

 

 

a redemptor

 

 

Infiltrators

 

 

for the infiltrators I added suppressors on the barrels and modified a couple of the duplicated poses 

Edited January 31, 2020 by MrHlaine

[OakRiver]

Slow or not, this is beautiful work, and I look forward to seeing this army grow.

[MrHlaine]

Slow or not, this is beautiful work, and I look forward to seeing this army grow.

 

Thank you! The main goal is to keep pushing forward and steadily complete new units.

 

Here's some insight on how I'm operating with the new recipe I'm trying out.

 

After the black undercoat I airbrushed duraluminium all over

 

Next 2 coats of talassar by brushed, being careful of not letting it pool or stain the flat surfaces too much

 

 

Then 2 coats of Waystone Green to shift the metallic blue more towards green

 

 

The final step will be hitting the armour with matt varnish, the technical color is quite shiny.

[Majkhel]

Very nice job! I especially like the Infiltrators

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

They look great so far the color scheme is really cool!!

[MrHlaine]

@Majkhel and Kolgrim DeathHowl thank you both! 

On the infiltrators I tried a little bit of personalization with the beakies, I like these heads much more than the stock ones, plus the lack of a visible "mouth" on the faceplate always gave me the feel of silent purposeful warriors hence the choice of using those for a stealthy unit.

here a pic of the next painting step, cleaned up and washed the metals and the black, next will be highlights and details; I also panel lined the armor.

 

]

Edited February 3, 2020 by MrHlaine

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Looks good love the color scheme really well done!!

[MrHlaine]

the project got slowed down quite a bit with the lockdown and quite a few personal life changes.

I've been testing applying the blue contrast paint with the airbrush to maximize speed and efficiency.

Here are the results on the test model after applying the green filter on top. 

some parts are really shiny because I didn't apply the matt varnish all over.

2

 

 

 

I have to say I am quite satisfied with the results, I tried to test it again on a full squad of intercessors but the airbrush is having issues that I need to solve first 

 

being able to transform the painting process without losing consistency is excellent.

I hope to get back in gear soon, there's an redemptor in the airbrush booth as well, and I want more infantry...

[Brother Lunkhead]

Very fine Alpha Legion build The metallic paint scheme is nicely done. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[MrHlaine]

After a long hiatus, I have some update.
 

I've since painted a small batch of minis but I noticed the pics I've taken are not the best, so I will take them again.

In the meantime here's the test models for my first squad of Intercessors with Assault bolt rifles

 

 

I used  Reiver carabine for the rifle adding a scope and a magazine from the intercessors kit.

I also swapped the head for one taken from the infiltrator's kit, I find it gives a more Sneaky feel that really suits alpha legion marines imo.

I also decided to try and add a full complement of accessories on the belts, pouches, holstered pistol and sheathed knife but it's doesn't show in the pictures.
I'm really having newfound fun in building marines, the bigger primaris bodies really helps with conversions and adding details or trying out new stuff.

[MrHlaine]

 

the squad is ready!

I've gone for a 5 man squad  for now because I'm planning on getting an impulsor down the line to cart them around with a charachter. I also find working on units of 5 more manageable from a painting point of view.

here's a couple closeups on the most interesting memebers of the unit.

 

 

Went for a thunder hammer to add some power in melee since the squad is meant to be close to the enemy.

[MrHlaine]

made a start on the 3d printed terminators. I love these sculpts, I can finally have a terminator squad that's properly sized and has all the bulk and menacing look they always had in the artwork.
Really happy I have found these, terminators, especially the ranged variant, have always been my favourite marine unit.

I also basecoated with with the same color my Alpharius-Guilliman stand in. It was a fun conversion to do! So i can play with Alpharius in 40k with proper primarch rules without creating issues for my opponents, since it has both the righ blade and gauntlet.

[phandaal]

Those Terminators are very cool! Where did you get the file?

[infyrana]

Nice job with the silencers.  I also much prefer the Infiltrator heads on those Intercessors, are they sporting AimPoints?

 

Keep up the great work!

[MrHlaine]

Those Terminators are very cool! Where did you get the file?

I got the on Cults3D search for Fummelfinger, basically everything he does is really cool

 

Nice job with the silencers.  I also much prefer the Infiltrator heads on those Intercessors, are they sporting AimPoints?

 

Keep up the great work!

Thanks, I didn't know the name of the scopes but I'd say yes, the idea was something very similar. The best part is that those are all GW bits, so i have plenty with the standard kits !

[Shovellovin]

Excellent work! Your metallic paintjob is really well done. I like how you've swapped weapons, helmets, backpacks to give your army a look all its own. I'm interested to see Alpharius completed.

[MrHlaine]

Excellent work! Your metallic paintjob is really well done. I like how you've swapped weapons, helmets, backpacks to give your army a look all its own. I'm interested to see Alpharius completed.

Thank you very much! 

 

I am quite curious myself, Alpharius will be the very first primarch I'll paint, I'm, quite excited at the idea!

[MrHlaine]

Made a start on Alpharius, 
here's with the 2 layers of talassar Blue

 

 

 

here's after the 1,5 layers of waystone green

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by MrHlaine