Progress Log: Alpha Legion Warband: "The Last Surprise"

[hd3]

So Ive had this fancy base from a stormcast eternal sitting around. It's 40mm so no use until but now I've decided it can liven up the base of my Master of Possession. To get him to fit comfortably though, I need to remove this bit of debris so I have space to mount him. Any tips on how to cut this away neatly?

[Firedrake Cordova]

If you're looking to remove the entire circled lump of stone, probably the best way would be to carefully use a Dremel to take it out. However, you could also remove it by using some heavier-duty snips and gradually "chewing" it down to roughly flat, and then using a knife to neaten up the finish.

 

I imagine any "ugliness" to final the finish can be covered up with putty, texture paint/sand, tufts, skull, etc (in fact, I'd recommend texturing any of the area exposed as the rest of the base has a moulded "dirt" texture).  

[War of the Eagle]

I agree, shops should remove it quite deftly and then maybe put some fine grit sand over to cover the ugly Scar left behind. If it's hallow and leaves a hole tho, a small bit of plastic under the hole then fill with sand. 

[hd3]

So I've finally finished a solitary legionary with the correct colour scheme. There was some weird mottling on his arm though that I can't explain so I don't know it got there or how to fix it so I just ignored it. My  30k AL decals came as well but the fidelity on the shoulder pad sized one seems a bit lacking on the hydra. Or my eyes are getting worse. So I'm thinking I may use some of the other ones to designate special positions and equipment. One for the chainsword wielding marines, one for the heavy weapon guy, one for the squad leader and another for the others.  I really like the rust effect on the bases I'm getting from using the raw pigments. It really looks like the rust is forming on top of the metal as it oxidizes. I think I'm still using too much though the point it overshadows the metal. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by hd3

[Volgon]

Might be more obvious in person but the mottling (I think it's on the bolt pistol arm?) doesn't look too bad at all, looks like a bit of weathering around the elbow pad. I like the scheme! Are you still using the same one linked in your original post? I plan to do an Alpha Legion kill team at some point so I'll take any resources I can get.

[hd3]

16 hours ago, Volgon said:

Might be more obvious in person but the mottling (I think it's on the bolt pistol arm?) doesn't look too bad at all, looks like a bit of weathering around the elbow pad. I like the scheme! Are you still using the same one linked in your original post? I plan to do an Alpha Legion kill team at some point so I'll take any resources I can get.

 

No, I had to make a few changes. The one in the video looks different in real life. It comes out as much more green than in the video, so I switched the akhelian green with  35/65 Tallassar Blue / Aethermatic Blue mixed. Everything else is the same, except the cloth and leather I'm undercoating with corax white before I apply the colours. Also washing the grenades  and tassles with the black templar 50% contrast med 50% mix after i finish the main colours on them

 

Also Ironbreaker on the silver details is a much closer match than runefang steel which is better suited for edge highlightning at the end

Edited May 4, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

It's a lovely colour where it catches the light and you get that metallic highlight.  

 

I can't see any mottling, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or the image is hiding it  Normally, the advice for imperfections is to hide it with weathering/battle damage ...

Edited May 4, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova
typo

[hd3]

42 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

It's a lovely colour where it catches the light and you get that metallic highlight.  

 

I can't see any mottling, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or the image is hiding it  Normally, they advice for imperfections is to hide it with weathering/battle damage ...

Àny advice on how to do that? Haven't really done intentional battle damage before now...

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think it depends on the effect you want - if you want scratches, then a brush with a fine point and your chosen "whatever is under the paint on the armour" colour (silver, white, etc) and carefully draw lines in the area; if you want lots of fine chips then you can tear off a piece of open-cell foam, dip it in paint and lightly touch if to the model.

 

I would suggest trying out any technique on something sacrificial (palette, spare piece of sprue, base rim, etc) before trying it on a finished model for the first time, though!

[hd3]

I'm generally happy with this one, the colouring came out good! and my edge highlighting for the first time, reached a quality i don't immediately want to paint over as it looks like proper worn lines. Its definitely still a focus I need to work on. I screwed up doing the eye lenses on the helmet though, no matter what I did the red kept spilling out off the lens and onto the metal.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by hd3

[ZeroWolf]

That looks really good. I have the same problem with the helmet lenses, I can never seem to do it without having to clean something up

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think it looks OK - any spill isn't immediately obvious in the image.  

 

The only things I can think of are:

• Are you using any optical aids? If not, would a magnifier help?
• Are you using thin paint? Remember not to over-load the brush (e.g. voiding it by touching a paper towel before proceeding to the model), so it doesn't blurt paint everywhere the moment it touches the model
• Embrace it, use transparent paint, and call it OSL glow

 

++EDIT: I completely missed the obvious point - do you have a brush that can be brought to a nice sharp point? If not, something like a Rosemary & Co Series 33, Raphael 8404, Isabey 6227z or 6228, or Da Vinci Maestro Series 10 or 35 in size 00 or 0 would work. If you've got a local stockist where you can try the brushes, a Windsor & Newton Series 7 could also be great (my hesitancy to recommend them is I got several questionable brushes in 2016-7 from multiple retailers and I haven't tried them since - the ones I'd had previously had been great though) - I did hear the GW Artificer brushes are the same but with plastic handles, etc.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova
Forgot about brushes

[Grotsmasha]

On 5/6/2023 at 6:16 PM, hd3 said:

I screwed up doing the eye lenses on the helmet though, no matter what I did the red kept spilling out off the lens and onto the metal.

 

When done correctly, spilling out of the eye lenses can be made to look like lense glow,

 

This is just Talasaar Blue over Wraithbone.

[hd3]

On 5/7/2023 at 2:18 AM, Firedrake Cordova said:

I think it looks OK - any spill isn't immediately obvious in the image.  

 

The only things I can think of are:

• Are you using any optical aids? If not, would a magnifier help?
• Are you using thin paint? Remember not to over-load the brush (e.g. voiding it by touching a paper towel before proceeding to the model), so it doesn't blurt paint everywhere the moment it touches the model
• Embrace it, use transparent paint, and call it OSL glow

 

++EDIT: I completely missed the obvious point - do you have a brush that can be brought to a nice sharp point? If not, something like a Rosemary & Co Series 33, Raphael 8404, Isabey 6227z or 6228, or Da Vinci Maestro Series 10 or 35 in size 00 or 0 would work. If you've got a local stockist where you can try the brushes, a Windsor & Newton Series 7 could also be great (my hesitancy to recommend them is I got several questionable brushes in 2016-7 from multiple retailers and I haven't tried them since - the ones I'd had previously had been great though) - I did hear the GW Artificer brushes are the same but with plastic handles, etc.

 

Actually no, I'm still using the basic GW brushes. I should buy a proper set of brushes with a strong point for edge highlighting and stuff like this?

[hd3]

I tried using black templar here along the border of the silver trim plating but I think it was either too strong or spilled around too much. I really wanted a nice straight tjin line just along the edge.

 

I also switched to evil sunz scarlet for the eye lenses. I found the brighter colour made them pop out much more. 

[Harrowmaster]

Very cool mettalic scheme, I'm doing something similar on my 30k Alpha Legion.

[Firedrake Cordova]

7 hours ago, hd3 said:

I'm still using the basic GW brushes. I should buy a proper set of brushes with a strong point for edge highlighting and stuff like this?

To be honest, "need" is a strong word. Whilst I haven't purchased a GW brush in the last 20 years (you can generally get an artist's brush of the same quality for less money here), the brushes GW sells are supposed to be quite serviceable from what I hear - I've seen Duncan Rhodes paint eye lenses with a 00 Artis Opus,  an Army Painter Detail Brush and a GW Small Layer brush. Really, the main thing is that the bristles can be brought to a fine point.

 

Otherwise, it's a case of making sure that your paint is thin enough that it flows off the brush easily (but not so thin that it runs out of control), making sure that the brush isn't overloaded with paint (it'll "blurt" everywhere when it touches the model, and having too much paint in the brush will make it "puff up" so it doesn't come to a fine point until some of the paint is removed), bracing yourself and the model to reduce the effect of "shaky hands", and making sure that you can easily see what you're doing (i.e. your painting area is well-lit, and you have magnification available if you need it [this is definitely something you notice as you get older!]).

 

7 hours ago, hd3 said:

I tried using black templar here along the border of the silver trim plating but I think it was either too strong or spilled around too much.

Black-lining is a bit of an art - you need the paint nice and thin so it comes off the brush easily, and very light pressure on the brush so it doesn't splay (Vince Venturella has a good video on this). You can definitely thin down the Black Templar with Contrast Medium a fair bit (at least 1:1) - if nothing else, it should make mistakes a bit easier to fix.  

Edited May 14, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

I've decided to colour this section in as a concrete segment, to create a contrast. Any colour scheme suggestions?

[Firedrake Cordova]

Vince Venturella did a video on concrete, if that's any help  (although he doesn't use any GW paints in it)

 

Warhammer TV had an urban base tutorial where they used Astrogranite drybrushed with Terminatus Stone. Really, you could use Dawnstone, Grey Seer, or Administratum Grey depending on how bright you wanted it to be. 

[hd3]

So I used the rust paints slot more sparingly here and put runefang steel over the aquila to make it stand out against the leadbelcher. 

 

For the second Legionnary, I went with the model walking forward so he's crossing from the metal area into a concrete one, which is half Abaddon black, half mechanics grey with a dry brush of dawnstone and a edge highlight of administratum. I really need a small pointy edge brush for edge highlighting though...

[ZeroWolf]

That's looking really good 

[Grotsmasha]

Looking very good.

 

My only suggestion is that rust will accumulates heavier in recesses, so I'd consider adding more rust into the gaps between the panels on the bases. My suggestion to achieve this is too heavily dilute the paint to a wash consistency, then paint it into the recess. You may need to do a couple of passes to get a good colour, but it's more likely to go where you want it.

[Prim]

Marvelous looking legionnaires, the metallic blue is fantastic. 

You could probably get away with dirtying up the bases a little more. Some brown, black and green washes will help give the concrete a more weathered look, while a few spots of brown wash around the vents and recesses of the metal sections would look good. A grimy matt finish will contrast with the shiny armour nicely. 

[hd3]

On 5/26/2023 at 7:49 AM, Grotsmasha said:

Looking very good.

 

My only suggestion is that rust will accumulates heavier in recesses, so I'd consider adding more rust into the gaps between the panels on the bases. My suggestion to achieve this is too heavily dilute the paint to a wash consistency, then paint it into the recess. You may need to do a couple of passes to get a good colour, but it's more likely to go where you want it.

 

That's a good idea. I'm worried it will bury the streaking grime paint though. What if I let the rust accumulate in the recesses and out grime on the raised edges?

[Grotsmasha]

Just now, hd3 said:

 

That's a good idea. I'm worried it will bury the streaking grime paint though. What if I let the rust accumulate in the recesses and out grime on the raised edges?

That should work