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

[hd3]

On 5/26/2023 at 7:59 PM, Prim said:

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. 

 

Thanks! I'll give it a wash of agrax tonight. Alas this is the only base in the unit with concrete.

[hd3]

So my current problem is I don't know what colour to make these thermal exhausts on the alpha legion heavy gunner. There's already black on the handle and plenty of silver metallics contrasting elsewhere but the canoptake alloy on brass looks terrible. I was thinking maybe dull grey? Mechanicum with administratum edge highlights? I'm open to suggestion though.

 

Likewise with the squad leader, I'm not sure how to texture the skulls or do the glow effect on the plasma gun beyond just putting tesseract glow over white.

 

Heavy gunner front

 

 

Legionary front

 

This legionary I accidentally clipped the shoulder plug off. So I'm going to have to do some careful super gluing to get the arms to stick together.

 

The squad leader from the front.

 

I'm not sure how to colour this promontory he's standing on. Some light greys and an agrax wash maybe to stand out against the stirland battle mire?

Edited July 8, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

3 hours ago, hd3 said:

So my current problem is I don't know what colour to make these thermal exhausts on the alpha legion heavy gunner. There's already black on the handle and plenty of silver metallics contrasting elsewhere but the canoptake alloy on brass looks terrible. I was thinking maybe dull grey? Mechanicum with administratum edge highlights? I'm open to suggestion though.

If the area is supposed to get warm, what about a heat-damaged metal effect? Vallejo's Metal Colour line has some nice examples in it (e.g. Jet Exhaust, Engine Manifold), although you could probably get a reasonable approximation by mixing a dull dark brown paint/Contrast/Shade with a silver, and then picking out the edges in a brighter silver to provide definition? Or a dark grey, the same as the under-suit visible behind the knees, etc?

 

3 hours ago, hd3 said:

Likewise with the squad leader, I'm not sure how to texture the skulls or do the glow effect on the plasma gun beyond just putting tesseract glow over white.

For the skull, an all-over wash with Skeleton Horde thinned with Contrast Medium, then a follow-up into any recesses you want to emphasise? They're small enough that it's probably not worth picking out the edges of the eye sockets.

 

For the plasma pistol, is Juan Hidalgo's video any help?

 

3 hours ago, hd3 said:

I'm not sure how to colour this promontory he's standing on. Some light greys and an agrax wash maybe to stand out against the stirland battle mire?

I'd probably go with Dawnstone as a base, and then just mix in an ivory/light grey to it for highlights.  A thinned Agrax Earthshade wash should help integrate it with the brown base a little, although you could always have a little fun with shades on it to shift the colour (e.g. thinned Athonian Camoshade to make it look a little mossy), if you wanted.

[hd3]

With the heavy gun here, I was trying to figure out how to get the grey's and silvers to stick out a bit more. I was thinking giving it a wash with nuln oil and a dry brush of necron compound

 

 

The plasma rifle I'm worried just sort of fades into leather strap loincloth and doesn't stand out enough visually. I guess it might look better after I add the glow effect. 

 

 

 

The plasma pistol came out much nicer, I thought. 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

On 7/9/2023 at 3:46 AM, Firedrake Cordova said:

If the area is supposed to get warm, what about a heat-damaged metal effect? Vallejo's Metal Colour line has some nice examples in it (e.g. Jet Exhaust, Engine Manifold), although you could probably get a reasonable approximation by mixing a dull dark brown paint/Contrast/Shade with a silver, and then picking out the edges in a brighter silver to provide definition? Or a dark grey, the same as the under-suit visible behind the knees, etc?

 

For the skull, an all-over wash with Skeleton Horde thinned with Contrast Medium, then a follow-up into any recesses you want to emphasise? They're small enough that it's probably not worth picking out the edges of the eye sockets.

 

For the plasma pistol, is Juan Hidalgo's video any help?

 

I'd probably go with Dawnstone as a base, and then just mix in an ivory/light grey to it for highlights.  A thinned Agrax Earthshade wash should help integrate it with the brown base a little, although you could always have a little fun with shades on it to shift the colour (e.g. thinned Athonian Camoshade to make it look a little mossy), if you wanted.

 

For the thermal exhausts, I was wondering if I could do canoptek alloy in the middle and do the red glow effect from the video on the heat sinks first, so the bright red glow looks like it's underneath and the canoptek parts are just white hot to the point they've lost all colour.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I like the metal tones on the weapons, especially the plasma gun.  

13 hours ago, hd3 said:

For the thermal exhausts, I was wondering if I could do canoptek alloy in the middle and do the red glow effect from the video on the heat sinks first, so the bright red glow looks like it's underneath and the canoptek parts are just white hot to the point they've lost all colour.

Do you mean that the louvres are metal-coloured, and the background/interior is glowing? If so, that sounds like it could work.  

 

If you're talking about the louvres themselves, then the part closest to the interior should be white, and the part furthest away should probably be metal/black coloured because of how heat transmits. That said, our models don't have to be realistic - go with whatever you think looks visually good

[hd3]

On 7/11/2023 at 3:08 AM, Firedrake Cordova said:

I like the metal tones on the weapons, especially the plasma gun.  

Do you mean that the louvres are metal-coloured, and the background/interior is glowing? If so, that sounds like it could work.  

 

If you're talking about the louvres themselves, then the part closest to the interior should be white, and the part furthest away should probably be metal/black coloured because of how heat transmits. That said, our models don't have to be realistic - go with whatever you think looks visually good

 

The interior would be canoptek alloy and the edges would be glowing and I guess the red glow effect on the sides of the louvre. I don't think I have the skill to pull it off though honestly.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I'm guessing the way to go that is to paint the whole area Canoptek Alloy (so you don't have to worry about neatly painting it into the recesses later), and then apply the glow/heat effect to the louvres - as they're raised, I imagine it should be possible with careful drybrushing or stippling (something like an XS Artis Opus Series D, or any older brush of a similar size?). (Of course, it's possible I've misunderstood the effect you're going for, so if I have, sorry!)

 

If you've got an unpainted backpack of the same design, I'd prime that up and have a go on that. If it doesn't come out to your liking, you can remove the paint with isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush (as long as it's not resin), and you haven't lost anything other than some time and paint. You could then either have another go (if you think practice would help), or decide it was a bad idea.  

Edited July 18, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

Finally applied the decals. Mostly done now, just need to get the paints for the glow effects on the plasma weapons.

 

I applied a bit too much gorilla glue assembling the heavy gunner and had to fix the paint job up a bit about where the glue spilled over. 

And fix the end of a chainsword handle which started to break off. 

 

 

Things I learned:

1: I desperately need a brush for edge highlighting which is very fine and very good at keeping a sharp point if I want my edge highlighting to look any better.

 

2: The GW recipe for alpha legion colours look all wrong in real life compared to studio lighting

 

3: I need to magnetize my figures somehow for ease of transport and I do not have any faith in plastic baggies, bubble wrap or other methods of transportation 

 

Anyway my first unit of my main 40k army is finally done. Now, I'm onto doing the two Obliterators and then the two Greater Possessed that came with the box.

Edited August 6, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

I've started on the Obliterators, doing the cabling on the heads and faces first. The manual saus to use ironarch skin, then carriburg crimson, bruchii violet and flayed one flesh to highlight but it's not a super detailed guide. So if anyone has any alternative guides for doing the obliterator flesh, Id love to hear it. I also discovered there's a gap between the Obliterator front plate and the body as seen in the third photo. Is this what green stuff is for? Filling gaps like that and painting over them?

 

I'm also undecided about how to paint the teeth and fangs etc.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

5 hours ago, hd3 said:

I also discovered there's a gap between the Obliterator front plate and the body as seen in the third photo. Is this what green stuff is for? Filling gaps like that and painting over them?

Yup, Greenstuff (and Milliput) would do fine for sculpting or filling large voids (for smaller ones, acrylic putty would be a better bet).

 

5 hours ago, hd3 said:

I'm also undecided about how to paint the teeth and fangs etc.

Skeleton horde over Wraithbone? For the larger ones, you could apply the Skeleton Horde so there's more towards the base, and then highlight with Pallid Wych Flesh?

 

[hd3]

I went with bugmans glow, and a mix of xv88 with ushabti bone to approximate cadian flesh then a wash of thinned cronenburg crimson and druchi violet for the sinews

[hd3]

7 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Yup, Greenstuff (and Milliput) would do fine for sculpting or filling large voids (for smaller ones, acrylic putty would be a better bet).

 

Skeleton horde over Wraithbone? For the larger ones, you could apply the Skeleton Horde so there's more towards the base, and then highlight with Pallid Wych Flesh?

 

 

Tremendous, I'll grab some putty or green stuff next time to fill the gaps. 

 

Thanks Cordova for the colour scheme! I cheaped out and used just straight ironarch skin here on the Obliterator but that will be very useful for all the bones and claws on the greater possessed later!

 

I'm trying to decide what to do with the eyes growing on the chestplate to the top right of the helmet. I was thinking maybe corax white then tesseract glow and a abaddon black cat eye pupil slit. But I'm worried that would look too warp-ish. I want the eyes to look organic, like they're growing out of the terminator armour.

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

Im trying to decide what colour to do the spine because I wanted a contrast to the exposed metal. I was thinking maybe a really thinned abaddon black or black templar over the spine? 

 

As for the power cables to the flamer, I wanted a non metallic that wouldn't pull too much focus. I was debating mechanicum grey, with a heavy nuln oil wash and then eshin grey or administratum grey around the edges of the exposed metal cabling which would be runelord brass with a thin Cryotek gloss over it. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

6 hours ago, hd3 said:

I cheaped out and used just straight ironarch skin here

It worked well.  Some of the teeth are definitely too small to do much more to!

 

6 hours ago, hd3 said:

I'm trying to decide what to do with the eyes growing on the chestplate to the top right of the helmet. I was thinking maybe corax white then tesseract glow and a abaddon black cat eye pupil slit. But I'm worried that would look too warp-ish. I want the eyes to look organic

GW used a pale yellow on theirs. I think you could probably get a good result mixing Averland Sunset with one of the creams to tone it down a bit?

 

25 minutes ago, hd3 said:

Im trying to decide what colour to do the spine because I wanted a contrast to the exposed metal. I was thinking maybe a really thinned abaddon black or black templar over the spine? 

Having it as a dark metal should work. Don't forget, you're getting extra local contrast due to the skin either side being quite light, too.  

 

25 minutes ago, hd3 said:

As for the power cables to the flamer, I wanted a non metallic that wouldn't pull too much focus. I was debating mechanicum grey, with a heavy nuln oil wash and then eshin grey or administratum grey around the edges of the exposed metal cabling which would be runelord brass with a thin Cryotek gloss over it. 

Sounds like it could work  

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

Mostly finished the first obliterator now except for the gap I have to fix up with green stuff. I think it could use some edge highlighting though, maybe runefang steel on the edges? I still don't have a nice sharp pointy brush for that though. 

 

If anyone has any suggestions for dry brushing or final touches, feel free to say. Comments and criticism welcome!

Edited August 14, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

Decals on! None of the grit survived the dry brushing in the base though so the base looks a bit bland.

[hd3]

The flesh tone came out ok on the second one but the crimson and violet wash were a bit too glossy and shiney. Does anyone have any advice for keeping the colour while pushing it to more if a matt finish?

 

I was also thinking, should I use nuln oil or thinned black templar if I want the metal on the feet and fingers to look a bit darker?

Edited August 17, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

You could paint over the "shiny" areas with some slightly thinned-down Lahmian Medium, as it's essentially matte varnish? (you may want more than one coat, but it's easier to apply more coats than it is to remove them )

 

Otherwise, were the washes GW Shades? If so, the new 18ml pots use Contrast Medium and dry to more of a matte finish than the older ones in the 24ml pots.

 

Or you could just varnish the whole model when you're done, which will give it a uniform finish  

 

3 hours ago, hd3 said:

I was also thinking, should I use nuln oil or thinned black templar if I want the metal on the feet and fingers to look a bit darker

Nuln Oil should darken (stain) everything slightly, with more of a build up around the recesses. Black Templar is a lot stronger and will basically turn it black unless you heavily thin it down with Contrast Medium, in which case you can make it mimic Nuln Oil somewhat (example courtesy of Juan Hidalgo), although if in doubt, paint a spare bit of sprue to see the effect  

Edited August 17, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[Pearson73]

The Obliterators are looking really good! I also recommend Lahmian Medium to dull down the shine.

[hd3]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:55 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

You could paint over the "shiny" areas with some slightly thinned-down Lahmian Medium, as it's essentially matte varnish? (you may want more than one coat, but it's easier to apply more coats than it is to remove them )

 

Otherwise, were the washes GW Shades? If so, the new 18ml pots use Contrast Medium and dry to more of a matte finish than the older ones in the 24ml pots.

 

Or you could just varnish the whole model when you're done, which will give it a uniform finish  

 

Nuln Oil should darken (stain) everything slightly, with more of a build up around the recesses. Black Templar is a lot stronger and will basically turn it black unless you heavily thin it down with Contrast Medium, in which case you can make it mimic Nuln Oil somewhat (example courtesy of Juan Hidalgo), although if in doubt, paint a spare bit of sprue to see the effect  

 

I've been going over everything with a light spray of Mr. Hobby Matt top coat rattle can after the painting is done. Do you think that would suffice for getting rid of the current excessive shine on the flesh parts?

On 8/17/2023 at 10:20 PM, Pearson73 said:

The Obliterators are looking really good! I also recommend Lahmian Medium to dull down the shine.

Thank you so much ^^ Its the little bits of positive re-enforcement that make life bearable.

[Firedrake Cordova]

2 hours ago, hd3 said:

I've been going over everything with a light spray of Mr. Hobby Matt top coat rattle can after the painting is done. Do you think that would suffice for getting rid of the current excessive shine on the flesh parts?

I haven't got any experience with that varnish, so I can't say for sure, although logically it should (I know Vallejo's matt varnish will matt Vallejo Metal Colour paints). 

 

If you're worried about it, I'd say try a coat of Lahmian Medium (on the basis that if it looks OK to you before the varnish step, it won't magically become glossy after it )

[hd3]

Cables and tabard done! I tried highlighting the edges of the tabard with evil sunz scarlet. It's still too glossy but I'm hoping the spray on matt varnish I'm going to use after will fix that. What I'm not sure about is how to paint the wrist weapons. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

He's coming together nicely.  For the wrist weapons, have you thought about using the same colour as the other weapons, but darkened down a bit to create contrast?

 

Funny you said about the gloss on the tabard - I thought you were going for "freshly flayed skin" for it   

[hd3]

Well, I was thinking of just doing them the same as the others. Abaddon black with gore grunt fur edges really thinned down with lahmian medium and then edge highlighted