Help matching an old Forge World colour scheme...

[Astartes Consul]

Hello Friends,

 

I'm trying to work out a way of painting armour to match an old Forge World scheme that I saw in a catalogue in the early-2000s and completely fell in love with. The model in question is probably one of the reasons I've been fascinated with FW kits & vehicles ever since.

 

Anyway, here is the scheme. The first photo is a low res of the product image on the FW site. The second is the kit still on display in Warhammer World as of of 2010, sourced from here.

 

 

 

I've been playing around with various brown, yellow, bone and green colours. My issue really is getting the right tone of desert yellow with just a hint of green in it, as this seems to have. My best attempts have been on this spare Rhino side, though this is far to green I think.

 

 

Would appreciate any thoughts or advice on getting a better match to the scheme!

 

[Xin Ceithan]

I tried something like this to make Plaque Marines along the ines of the Artwork in the Sieger  of Vraks FW books some rather long time ago…

 

Spoiler

 

Think the base colour would be something close to a actual WWII  “Dunkelgelb” armour drab - which is widely available and saves the trouble to mix the right around of dirty yellow.
I used it from a  can straight out of Armypainter’s Flames of War range and then darkened it with the old GW “Kommando Khaki”.

 

Hope this helps? 
 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

My first thought was that maybe the recipe is in one of the old Imperial Armour books? (I don't own any, unfortunately, but that was my gut reaction).

 

My second thought was that the "yellow" looks quite similar to the colour used on the Armageddon Steel Legion coats. Tyler Mengel had an article on Warhammer Community - don't know if that's any help?

[Urauloth]

I think the green you're seeing comes from the whole model being basecoated with charadon granite before the browns and yellows were airbrushed on. Unfortunately, that's a notoriously difficult color to approximate or find a replacement for.

[Bung]

Based on the FW books they used old Desert Yellow as a basecoat over Grey or Tamiya Colors on the Thunderbolt from Mark Bedford.

Base Coat - Tamiya Nato Brown over Grey Primer

Tamiya Dark Yellow as Highlights

Tamiya Dark Yellow + Flat White for final Highlights.

 

[Xenith]

That looks a lot like Zandri dust - I'd start there, then stipple lighter and darker shades over the top.

[Bung]

56 minutes ago, Xenith said:

That looks a lot like Zandri dust - I'd start there, then stipple lighter and darker shades over the top.

 

Zandri Dust wasnt around when that miniature was painted, but its close to the old Desert Yellow (Citadel Classic Line)

[Xenith]

Yea - that's the point - getting close to the old scheme with new paints. Zandri dust being close to the original, available in spray, and probably easier to get than OOP desert yellow. 

[Bryan Blaire]

I think you could do a pretty reasonable similar scheme with GW colors exclusively by going:

Mechanicus Standard Grey spray -> Tallarn Sand -> 1:1 Tallarn Sand:Zamesi Desert -> 1:2 Tallarn Sand:Zamesi Desert -> Zamesi Desert -> 1:1 Zamesi Desert:Ushabti Bone -> 1:2 Zamesi Desert:Ushabti Bone -> edges and spot highlights only with Ushabti Bone or Screaming Skull

 

I think it would also work with a RAL7021 Dunkelgrau/Panzer Dark Grey base color (which has a green tone to it), then sprayed with layers of RAL7028 Dunkelgelb/Dark Yellow, then mix of the Dunkelgelb w/ RAL1001 Elfenbein/Sand (Ivory) - those colors are out of a Vallejo Model Air set I have - the Dunkelgelb is a darker sandy yellow than Zamesi Desert.

 

You could also mix them up, going from Dunkelgrau RAL7021 -> Tallarn Sand -> Dunkelgelb RAL7028 -> Zamesi Desert -> mix of Zamesi + ivory/Ushabti Bone -> pure ivory/bright ivory

 

I think any of those could get you a reasonable approximation.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Bryan Blaire

[Bung]

2 hours ago, Xenith said:

Yea - that's the point - getting close to the old scheme with new paints. Zandri dust being close to the original, available in spray, and probably easier to get than OOP desert yellow. 

 

I am not that much into GW colors anymore. I prefer a more consistant paint line.

[Firedrake Cordova]

3 hours ago, Xenith said:

Zandri dust being close to the original, available in spray, and probably easier to get than OOP desert yellow. 

Vallejo Game Color Desert Yellow should match the old Desert Yellow pretty closely, and is available in an "air" version for airbrushing (if you don't want to dilute it yourself).

Edited October 17, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova

[Lay]

6:30 - "1/3 of RAL 7008 grey-green sprayed over the basecoat of RAL 8000"

[Oldjedimaster]

Undercoated with:

GW Desert Yellow (spray can)

 

Airbrushed with:

Tamiya Desert Yellow XF-59

Tamiya Flat earth XF-52

Tamiya Flat black XF-1

 

Drybrushed with: 

GW Bleached bone

 

I was commissioned by Forgeworld to paint the initial test kit for display. Then Tony asked if I could paint another one 

so as to make the two into a mini-diorama. The GW paints were not that good so I used what worked well in my airbrush.

Later on I painted the updated FW kit (pics below) using the same colours. 

You mention "green" in your break down of colours. Not quite, this apparent look comes from layering the paint.

Undercoated yellow, then airbrushed black pre-shading, then tidied up airbrushing XF59, so where this was done a bit thin

the black shows through more so changing the tint of the yellow.

 

Once painted I used a rust weathering powder and brown oils for surfaces & recesses.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Guy.

 

[andes]

Man, this makes me want to start a desert themed Guard army. Thanks for posting.

[tychobi]

4 hours ago, Oldjedimaster said:

Undercoated with:

GW Desert Yellow (spray can)

 

Airbrushed with:

Tamiya Desert Yellow XF-59

Tamiya Flat earth XF-52

Tamiya Flat black XF-1

 

Drybrushed with: 

GW Bleached bone

 

I was commissioned by Forgeworld to paint the initial test kit for display. Then Tony asked if I could paint another one 

so as to make the two into a mini-diorama. The GW paints were not that good so I used what worked well in my airbrush.

Later on I painted the updated FW kit (pics below) using the same colours. 

You mention "green" in your break down of colours. Not quite, this apparent look comes from layering the paint.

Undercoated yellow, then airbrushed black pre-shading, then tidied up airbrushing XF59, so where this was done a bit thin

the black shows through more so changing the tint of the yellow.

 

Once painted I used a rust weathering powder and brown oils for surfaces & recesses.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Guy.

 

did you put the mesh on after painting or during the process?  Amazing work!

[Oldjedimaster]

The mesh (a cheap fishing net) was applied with P.V.A. during the process, all main colours and shading were done, mesh applied then weathered.