MrSpoons Ultramarine repaint Thread

[MrSpoon]

So on the approximate 1 year anniversary of my Ultramarine repaint project I thought I would put together a thread showing what I have been up to. 

 

Back in August 2020 I decided that I didn't really like how I had painted by Ultramarines (in true 40K fashion, they were my first army after rejoining the hobby back in 2018).  In the 2 years between I had made some significant jumps in my painting and modelling ability so I thought I would test myself and create a new consistently painted force. One thing I had in mind at the initial stages was that I wanted the scheme to be simple enough that I could paint a squad in a few evenings but to also have something about it that made me enjoy playing with them in a post pandemic world (how innocent I was assuming this would be over by now). 

 

After watching various tutorials, playing with a few models, and making it work based on my paint range I came up with the following recipe. 

 

- Texture Base.

- Prime black (what ever is to hand)

- Vallejo model air French Blue horizontal and above (AB)

- White ink from the top (AB)

- Warcolours blue glaze (AB). Later this changed to Vallejo Premium 62.076 thinned 5:1 due to Brexit and importing war colours becoming a faff. 

- Gloss varnish x 2

- Apply Decals

- Recess wash with nuln oil or other dark wash

- Baharroth Blue EH for characters or DB with a makeup brush for infantry

- Weapons Vallejo Black Grey 

- MIG Ultra matte x 3. This is the secret sauce of the recipe. It brings everything together, makes the DB subtler and makes the paint job very damage resistant. I can't stress this enough, if you haven't used it, it is brilliant. 

 

The rest of the models after this point are just done to taste, but using the above method 80% of the work is done and it is easy to do it bulk. My strategy was to paint approx 80 models up to this point and then move to working on them at a squad level. The contrast between the metallics and the ultra matte armour is quite striking in person and I really like it. For me this is what makes the army pop on the table. 

 

So without further ado here are some photos from the project to date. I don't plan on adding a huge amount more to the army over the next few months but at some point I expect to get the itch to add some vehicles and special characters as they are released. 

 

The Army as it stands 

 

A link to some rushed and poorly composed photos of the army as of today. https://imgur.com/a/OaD9M4V

 

How the models look after the initial stages up to the point of decals 

 

My first completed squad 

 

Slowly improving with faces 

 

A photo that GW asked if they could use on the GW site but never did. I'm not bitter 

 

Playing with white and the contrast paint apothecary white as a recess wash after working up a grey/white armour using the AB 

 

Chunky Aggressors and Eradicators 

 

Blade Guard Vets. I really like how the swords and shields came out on these 

 

Captain. Not my finest work; since taking this photo I went back and painted some eyes (badly) on this chap 

 

First batch on intercessors. 

 

Legacy characters that got some tweaks 

 

Hell blasters. I added some poor mans OSL(AB around the source) at a later date 

 

Yes, more intercessors. 

 

A gaggle of characters 

 

A selection of bikes 

 

Gravis plus a banner 

 

More graves and a Uriel sans head 

 

You made it this far? The Hell something turret thing 

 

So here we are. What next? Well I plan to supplement this force by selectively purchasing from the new Imperium magazine (ATV's and the small turret things are on the menu along with a repaint of Calgar). I also have 3 invictors primed and ready to go. Other than that it will be dependent on where the hobby winds take me. I am light on vehicles so maybe a redemptor could be on the cards along with a speeder. I'm open to suggestions? I did think that maybe some First born troops could be nice, potentially including some devastators? 

 

Interested to hear your thoughts on the army and some potential ways of improving the paint scheme? Like every project, I doubt this will ever end, but maybe I won't dedicate so much of my hobby time to it. 

 

[Ulfast]

They look very good. I think you should be proud. Keep up the good work!

[MrSpoon]

Thanks for the kind words. After putting this together the other day I have been inspired to crack on with my 3 Invictors. Watch this space

[Cryptshadow]

These are amazing looking. gonna try out that ultramatte varnish and see how they look, still learning to use the airbrush myself, looking forward to see more :D

[MrSpoon]

These are amazing looking. gonna try out that ultramatte varnish and see how they look, still learning to use the airbrush myself, looking forward to see more

Let me know how it goes. I usually thin mine out a touch with flow improver and thinner and then shot it at about 30 psi (I know the bottle says to do it at 17 or something but I find this prevent clogs). 

 

Also I had a bad experience with the AK version of the product. It sort of coagulated in the bottle; AK offered a refund but after postage it was cheaper just to buy a new bottle locally. I have had no issues with the MIG variant. 

 

The 3 invictors are being progressed slowly. I'm at the metallics stage; it feels like it is taking forever to get the base coats down but that is probably because it is a bit boring.  

 

Edit: correct an autocorrect failure. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by MrSpoon

[Cryptshadow]

Will do slowly painting them, airbrushes giving me som problems :p.

 

Ah didnt know mig made some, and ya heard aks varnish can go bad, will look up mig.

 

And how is the war colours blue glaze like? Im vert new to painting and the glaxing seems to give marines a very nice color

[MrSpoon]

Will do slowly painting them, airbrushes giving me som problems .

 

Ah didnt know mig made some, and ya heard aks varnish can go bad, will look up mig.

 

And how is the war colours blue glaze like? Im vert new to painting and the glaxing seems to give marines a very nice color

 

I love the blue glaze from warcolours. Like all paint, thin it with some appropriate medium for best results; glazing can be used to "bring colours together". So if you want to improve a blend, or make a colour difference less stark, blend over the top with an appropriate colour. 

[MrSpoon]

A small update on the army. After taking a bit of a tumble on mountain bike a few weeks back painting slowed down significantly. And when I say tumble, it involved a trip to the hospital which could have been much worse if I hadn't been wearing my armour. 

 

But that aside, I managed to get these three chaps complete Not my finest work (poor mans OSL with the airbrush, and more dry brushing than I would normally do, selective application of decals to hide a cockup with the airbrush work) but here they are. Another 3 off the production line. 

 

[Cryptshadow]

A small update on the army. After taking a bit of a tumble on mountain bike a few weeks back painting slowed down significantly. And when I say tumble, it involved a trip to the hospital which could have been much worse if I hadn't been wearing my armour.

 

But that aside, I managed to get these three chaps complete Not my finest work (poor mans OSL with the airbrush, and more dry brushing than I would normally do, selective application of decals to hide a cockup with the airbrush work) but here they are. Another 3 off the production line.

 

[/size]

Glad to hear your doing alright, seen a guy on youtube do mountain biking its looks scary as hell haha, hope u recover quickly so u can go gack to doing more lol.

 

The invictors look great and look very good vfc with the enclosed seat. Saw libra daemonica do some concept for some custom roman armour to for the invictors. Hoping to see that soon when i get sone. And for the glazing would u do it over highlightscas well?

Edited September 19, 2021 by Cryptshadow