Horus Hersy Jaxom's Astartes Corner: Airbrush experiment 1 9/25/24

[jaxom]

A while back I experimented with some new Space Marine paint schemes and found one I liked. I just was happy with the one I had originally chosen. I finally let loose the arrow to land where it may.

 

 

Before and after:

 

 

 

I've come to appreciate assault bolt rifles and so some conversion work was set upon. I made some simple molds of drum magazine made from an Astra Militarum grenade launcher (originally used as an underslung grenade launcher for the Intercessors).

 

 

Some GS, clipping, and gluing later:

 

 

And of course since Dark Imperium came out the Sergeants have weapon options...

 

  

 

Primed with Leadbelcher, drybrushed with Runefang Steel, all over with Seraphim Sepia, all over with Agrax Earthshade. Blocked in the Vallejo Black Green (over Mechanicus Standard Grey) base color for the pauldrons.

 

 

I didn't firmly attach the models to the corks so I ended up painting the top halves then the bottom halves. So the bottom is without washes.

 

 

 

Now at this point I have a conundrum. Is the red bolter housing too busy; should I go with a more neutral off-black?

 

 

The squad and chapter markings are going to be red, if that makes a difference.

Edited September 26 by jaxom
Updated topic title

[Doghouse]

I quite like them both but prefer the black one without seeing the markings. I think the red one as it stands draws the focus from the marine to the gun because that is what my eye was first drawn to. But the addition of the red squad markings and icon could change that quite a bit and balance it out so it might be worth adding those then ask again.

[Naryn]

It's hard to say without seeing the squad markings; currently I feel like the left kind of blends together and turns into a grey blob, visually, whereas on the right the bright bolter provides a focal point even if it isn't the head. As it stands now the right has my vote, but you never know how the squad markings will change things!

[jaxom]

Thank you all for the advice! I put on the decals and the result was underwhelming. I'm guessing it's hard to have a really saturated red decal?

 

 

 

 

I'm going to try a bolter matching the pauldrons next.

Edited March 24, 2021 by jaxom

[jaxom]

Update time! I ended up going with Wild Rider Red brought down by Nuln Oil. I treated it kind of like an oil wash, reabsorbing the Nuln Oil from the flat surfaces to thin it down to where it muted the red, but wasn't black.

 

 

The transfers... I did the squad for uniformity, but... well, see for yourself.

 

 

 

[jaxom]

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Still need to do the GS for the ammo belt and decide if I want anything behind the head or just clean that area up a bit.

[jaxom]

Brief update as I've started putting colors down. I was curious about the decals over white and then painting green around them. I'm digging the white.

 

 

And the Captain got some paint too:

 

[Slyen]

Good work so far! I think the white looks sharp personally with the red symbology.

[jaxom]

Thank you!

 

Brief update as I've not had much time for painting lately. I tried out Guilliman Flesh at full strength and at 1:1 with Contrast Medium for additional shading on the chest eagles.

 

Full strength

 

1:1

[jaxom]

I tried out something a little different for the four I did for my second re-done squad. I painted the Imperialis on each with Liberator Gold before putting the Seraphim Sepia over the entire model (to get the soft bronze look on the Leadbelcher base coat). I finished it with 50/50 Guilliman Flesh and Contrast Medium.

 

[jaxom]

I sniped a Bladeguard Ancient on ebay because the price was too good to pass up. However, I don't like the walking reliquary look for he's got going on. Instead I plan on using the robed body to make a Primaris Librarian. Here's the start:

 

 

Not sure what I'm going to do for the head and psychic hood yet. I'll do some green stuff work around the hand and handle to make the cables connecting the sword to the armor.

[space wolf]

Good start!!

[jaxom]

Primaris Librarian complete:

 

 

The GS behind the purity seal (on the sword hilt) is part of the cable (obscured by the arm and sword) leading into the armor.

 

I also put a Bladeguard robe on the Dark Imperium Ancient - jeez am I happy I hadn't rushed through putting that all together. I like that the Bladeguard Ancient is Ancient+1, I just don't like the model and all the bones for my chapter. I have a whole thing about how they view the dead and it is most definitely not "put them on a pole."

 

[jaxom]

Bladeguard Ancient conversion is done:

 

 

 

I gave him the Bladeguard Ancient head, shortened the bolt rifle to make a heavy bolt pistol, added a Terminator shield, and magnetized the arm (easier painting and transport).

 

This project is going on hold for a bit. It was a nice palette cleanser from all the dirty green I was doing for Nurgle Daemons, but I want to try to get most of those done before diving fully into a power armor project.

[Naryn]

I'm a sucker for a cut-down boltgun. The end result looks really good! Reminds me a little bit of some old metal models. Nice work!

[jaxom]

I have done a lot of Nurgle, but finally reached the "this is a complete force" point and can take a break. The Black Templar hype is real, but I know for a fact that the converted Librarian won't be wearing the black of a Knight of Sigismund. I often just go with the flow when it comes to one-offs who have some part of the paint scheme that is different from the rest of the army, so not as many pictures of the process.

 

Kantor Blue base, mixed in some Phalanx Yellow for the next layer. I heard that using a warm color to bring up the hue of a cold color can improve contrast.

 

 

Then worked up the blue to lighter hues by using Macragge Blue, followed by Macragge Blue/Hoeth Blue, then Alaitoc Blue/Hoeth Blue with the idea that working in the colder Hoeth Blue would add contrast to the Kantor Blue/Phalanx Yellow layer.

 

 

This is my first time painting up significant portions of a mini without using washes and shades in quite a while, but I'm pleased with the result.

[jaxom]

I had the idea to have the robes be the same color as the normal chapter armor.

 

 

Not entirely sold on it. 

[jaxom]

Completed the librarian and I'm okay with it. I ended up re-painting the sword four times and eventually settled (perfection being the enemy of completion, as it were).

 

[Sgt. Blank]

Looks to me like your patience has paid off, the sword looks good. I like the robe as well, nice counter-point to the blue.

[jaxom]

Thank you! I was inspired by cloth-of-gold items that I saw in a museum, but went with cloth-of-bronze to match the chapter color.

[jaxom]

And pivot time; renaming this thread to reflect a broader focus and not having a separate one for my Knightfall, Templar stuff.

 

Mostly starting with nothing too crazy and building models as-is. 

 

  

 

I had to make one neophyte ninja-running as an inside joke with a friend. Speaking of friends, while I was waiting for the launch box to arrive I made a very special model.

 

Let me tell you about Brother Reimer.

 

Years ago, some friends and I had a decently long Deathwatch RPG campaign. One played a Black Templar named Brother Reimer.

 

Brother Reimer never dodged. For those unfamiliar with the game: a character can attempt to avoid being hit (by dodging) when hit by a ranged attack or melee attack. In a game with Greater Daemons and Hive Tyrants, Brother Reimer never dodged. To quote an oft heard phrase at the table in those situations, “The Emperor protects.”

 

And Brother Reimer always survived.

 

One of the most challenging types of foes to face in the Deathwatch RPG was psykers. Even Astartes can struggle with enemies that can apply kinetic pressure directly to the eyes until they explode (and that’s how the Dark Angel ended up with bionic eyes). Black Templars, of course , had the easiest access to getting the Abhor the Witch talent (helped resisting psyker powers). 

 

And Brother Reimer was never affected by the foul warp-taint of the xenos, the witch, or the daemonhost.

 

The campaign ended with Brother Reimer well on his way towards Chaplaincy and with a very cool signature winged helmet, thunder hammer, and storm bolter full of kraken rounds (before every bolt weapon in the game was nerfed, mag-dumping kraken rounds was the fastest way to erase anything from existence).

 

So when it came time to commit to a small Black Templar force there was only one possibility for who would be the Chaplain (with permission from his player). Brother Reimer left his thunder hammer and storm bolter in the Watch Station Jericho reliquary for the next Knight of Sigismund who takes up the Long Vigil. He has now crossed the Rubicon Primaris with the same faith that saw him survive T’au railguns, Tyranid bone swords, and Daemonic hell-forged weapons.

 

 

Chaplain Reimer won't be "finished" until I can get my hands on the new Black Templar upgrade sprue, but I had to get him down up.

[jaxom]

Progress made on Neophytes,

 

  

 

These are the most "mixed-textured" models I've done in a while that weren't on the larger size. Definitely making them less fun to paint. Part of that may have been I was having an off weekend and I couldn't quite get the Grey Seer consistency right. I got impatient and called it at two coats rather than going for three so some of the arm areas ended up looking a little off. It didn't impact the boots, because Snakebite Leather is made by thrice-blessed soul-bound psykers using secrets passed down from the Sigilite himself.

 

  

 

I know the phrase is "faces and bases," but with my troop units I actually think the hair is more important because of the common angle of viewing (looking down on them). Also, space marines have the melanochrome so their skin pigmentation (for most chapters) will change based on the campaign and be fairly uniform... but that's just an excuse to slap on Guilliman Flesh and Reikland Fleshshade and call it a day.

 

  http://i.imgur.com/WdKnucbl.jpg

 

Next up: shoulder pads.

[Doghouse]

These look fantastic, great GS work as well. This is always an enjoyable thread to read and I look forward to seeing more updates.

[jaxom]

Thank you, Doghouse!

 

I impulse bought some stuff to try out oil washing and did an experiment on some old models.

 

Before and afters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to try a heavier go on a second wash.

 

 

[jaxom]

These are the same wash consistency, but applied a bit more heavily (basically two coats, total). The first was done with the more liquid portion, the second with the more pigment portion and then wiped down with cotton swap

 

 

 

 

I think it could use some tweaking, but this is definitely a technique I'm going to want to use on my post-Black Templar project.