Brother Christopher's Purple Marines Project

[Brother Christopher]

Due to a very welcome turn of events, I will soon have become an owner of some Primaris MarinesTM. In anticipation of this, I've started the arduous process of choosing a colour scheme for my Marines. Recently, my decisiveness isn't at it's peak and I really want to make the right decision for this side project. I don't want to have any major regrets in the future.

 

I know that I want to have some fun painting the new models - a break from my primary and only army: my oldschool Black Templars. I want to experiment with colours and test my painting skills; however, I don't want to overdo it. With limited hobby time, I want to limit the time-per-model to a maximum of 3-4 hours. That's why I intend do use some shortcuts for a finish that looks good at a distance, is more engaging than the usual edge highlighting for black but will probably not stand professional scrutiny. I think I have a good feel of the basic process that I want to use.

 

The colour scheme is supposed to be that: I don't really care about painting a proper chapter. To be honest, I think I'd like to go with something generic, without any idiosyncrasies. So at least that's out of the way.

 

The problems, however, are more significant: what colours and what paint scheme. Since I want to have some 'fun,' I'm thinking about using two primary colours. I think I'd like to give it a go with whites (painting white appears to be extremely difficult but the stark contrast it creates is quite cool) and something more; blue, green or purple appear to the most appealing colours. I know that I don't want to use any of the colours from the Black Templars palette (beige, red), yellow (I have bad experiences with this one!) or orange (as cool and 'fresh' as an orange paint scheme is, I don't want to tread on Brother Argent's toes with his excellent colour scheme).

 

For my first attempt a non-black, I decided to go with a colour scheme similar to the Storm Wardens/Tempest Guard:

 

 

This is a WIP mock-up. The finished bits in this test are the legs and torso. The head, chest eagle and shoulder pads are not ready. I wanted to focus on the general feel of the model, see how the blue will turn our and see whether I'm even capable of tackling larger areas of white.

 

I think that on a Primaris Marine, the approach I used should look better since, I expect, the edges and details to be much more defined. As a first attempt at painting 'white,' I think I did a relatively god job with adding some depth or gradient. The blue is quite fresh; however, I'm thinking about maybe replacing the blue with a purple.

 

In terms of the paint scheme (not colours), I don't think I want to go hardcore mode and do a quartered or half-scheme army; however, something like this above feels like the 'right' level of complexity. That's why I'm considering to the extent nearing certainty of using a second primary colour but limit it to the helmet, shoulder pads and lower legs or arms (like in the mock-up above or similarly to the scheme used by, e.g, Angels Redeemed).

 

At this stage, any and all feedback is welcome :)

 

For the Primaris Models, I'm planning on doing some conversions and am genuinely excited to take a break from my main project. I'm curious how much I'll underestimate the time needed for some of the ideas and what the final result will be.

Edited August 8 by Brother Christopher

[Boc]

Doesn't it make you feel just a little bit dirty

[Firedrake Cordova]

As a colour scheme, that looks like it should be pretty workable - it looks not-dissimilar to the Mentors Legion, but blue instead of green.  Do you have any ideas for the colour of the eye lenses?

 

Reading the first couple of paragraphs, I was ready to suggest the Silver Skulls, then there was the primary colours "plot twist".  Personally, I always like the colour scheme of the Celestial Lions, and I always found the Contrast-over-metallics approach for some of the Horus Heresy legions visually interesting.  

[Brother Argent]

8 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

 I don't want to tread on Brother Argent's toes with his excellent colour scheme.

 

Dude.  I certainly don't own or have a monopoly on the colour orange.  Heck, if you even wanted to paint some of my Interdictors I wouldn't care, or even just use the same scheme and slap your name on it.

 

As for your scheme, I agree that either blue, green or purple would be a good mix.  Green is already somewhat done with the Mentors but all it often takes is a little tweak and your can come up with something original.  Purple is rarely seen and can come up really good. 

 

I would like to warn against white.  It can be an absolute nightmare.  But if you manage to pull it off it can work.  Just remember if you are painting a Codex Compliant scheme then veterans are supposed to have white helms so already having a white scheme can be difficult.  If you do go white start from a grey or white undercoat, depending on the amount of effort and shading you want to put in.

 

I would also suggest having the last part at the top of the legs also white.  Except for the crotch plate.  I find it just seems to flow better.

 

For a really effective and kinda awesome blue I have managed, that is also incredibly easy, I did a Wraithbone Undercoat, Talassar Blue Contrast, Drakenhof Nightshade Wash and then a fine edge highlight of Aldorf Guard Blue.  Its a scheme I used for my librarians and my dire avengers if you have seen either of them.

 

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing how you go.

[Xenith]

Plenty of white-based chapters out there - consider Mentors, Sons of the Phoenix, etc.

 

As a diametric opposite to the black and red of the templars, white and green would work, which would be mentors, or maybe sons of medusa? 

 

Why not play around with the army painter:

 

https://bolterandchainsword.com/bcp/smp.php

[Firedrake Cordova]

If you want inspiration (or to avoid a clash) Fandom has a complete list of existing Space Marine chapters, with pictures. It's so long it's split into two parts, though - part 1, part 2. Probably best to have a recaff ready before you start scrolling ...

Edited February 13 by Firedrake Cordova

[Brother Christopher]

I've been here for many years, but am always amazed how awesome this community is. Thank you for the feedback - all of that is good food for thought.

 

2 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Do you have any ideas for the colour of the eye lenses?

 

Not yet, haven't gone that far. Right now I'm trying to find a colour, as well as means of achieving it, that feels right.

 

2 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Personally, I always like the colour scheme of the Celestial Lions, and I always found the Contrast-over-metallics approach for some of the Horus Heresy legions visually interesting.

 

Yes, they are - I've been considering doing them, too. They have a striking, contrasty colour scheme. Admittedly, I haven't used contrast paints, yet. But for this project, I think I definitely should give them a try, as a way of discovering new creative avenues, or some such.

 

33 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

If you want inspiration (or to avoid a clash) Fandom has a complete list of existing Space Marine chapters, with pictures. It's so long it's split into two parts, though - part 1, part 2. Probably best to have a recaff ready before you start scrolling ...

 

That's pretty cool! I had no idea that there's such a list on that website. I used a JPEG chart of SM Chapters I found elsewhere but this is way better.

 

2 hours ago, Brother Argent said:

Purple is rarely seen and can come up really good. 

 

This will be my next try. However, I don't have any paints, apart from the rubbish Army Painter Alien Purple. Regardless, I want to give it a go and if it works well enough, I'll get more paints.

 

2 hours ago, Brother Argent said:

I would like to warn against white.  It can be an absolute nightmare.  But if you manage to pull it off it can work.  Just remember if you are painting a Codex Compliant scheme then veterans are supposed to have white helms so already having a white scheme can be difficult.  If you do go white start from a grey or white undercoat, depending on the amount of effort and shading you want to put in.

 

Thanks for the warning. Admittedly, I'm very hesitant about doing whites, too. My first experiment was quite satisfying but I keep on calculating the threat of getting annoyed with it. It's very unforgiving. You're also right about the helmets: the helmets, as well as an Apothecary (the base for Primaris ProjectTM is the prize Leviathan box) could be enough white to satisfy my masochistic tendencies.

 

2 hours ago, Brother Argent said:

For a really effective and kinda awesome blue I have managed, that is also incredibly easy, I did a Wraithbone Undercoat, Talassar Blue Contrast, Drakenhof Nightshade Wash and then a fine edge highlight of Aldorf Guard Blue.  Its a scheme I used for my librarians and my dire avengers if you have seen either of them.

 

I do like your blues. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have no idea what most of the paints you listed are but I'll make sure to check them out.

 

@Xenith Thanks for the link to the painter. For some reason, I struggled to find it.

 

9 hours ago, Boc said:

Doesn't it make you feel just a little bit dirty

 

Oh, you wouldn't know. I feel VERY dirty. But I just couldn't miss out on the opportunity of working on some bigger Marines after getting some for free.

 

The good thing is that I'm still quite adamant about not buying from GW so any uncontrolled growth of this project should be under control. I'm considering getting a second-hand squad of Intercessors to swap out some of the flamers from the Leviathan box. But the limit is set on 30 Marines.

[TheArtilleryman]

6 hours ago, Brother Argent said:

 

Purple is rarely seen and can come up really good. 

 

 

My original marine army I painted in the 90s was purple and white:

I had a whole company at one time but never finished them all. I didn't keep even a single one ... sigh

 

Edited February 13 by TheArtilleryman

[Guest Triszin]

Grins

[Brother Christopher]

Sooo, I've made a decision. It's gonna be purple body + white arms. Still haven't made my mind about the colour of the shoulder pads and lenses, though.

 

I think I'm going to use Phoenician Purple as the base colour and work from there. In anticipation of the actual minis arriving, I'm planning to experiment a bit with the 'formula' and see whether I need to buy more paints. I just need to strip and paint some old push-fit marines.

 

Right now I want to see whether I should go with a black or grey primer. I haven't used the paint yet so I'm quite curious how well it covers.

[TheArtilleryman]

A long time ago I changed to black for everything. Not sure about grey though. I’ve heard you can get good results for white by using grey seer spray, then painting the recesses with nuln oil, then highlighting up from there.

Edited February 14 by TheArtilleryman

[Brother Christopher]

I started using a grey primer for my limited attempts at painting board game miniatures. Since these are mostly fantasy things, there's a lot of greys, greens and skin tones and I find that it's easier to work with the grey undercoat since the colours are lighter and more vibrant more easily. However, I don't pay that much attention to these board game pieces since the quality of sculpts isn't that great: I also like the lighter colours because I heavily rely on washes for these models and after applying a wash, the colours aren't as dark as with a black primer.

 

For GW miniatures - models that are both bigger and have better-defined edges - and a smaller-scale project, I'm not so sure, though. I'll just need to experiment a bit. I suppose the final decision will boil down to which base colour feels better. Luckily, I have some spare OOP marines, as well as both a black and a grey brush-on primer to do some tests before the proper models arrive.

 

I'm also inclined to try some 'underpainting' (if that's a term). Allegedly, a layer of a different coloured paint should affect the layers on top. With my skills, though, I don't think it'll work, i.e., I probably won't be able to see any difference.

 

On the topic of plans and experiments, the slightly depressing thing is that I really wanted to try something new, in terms of my painting skills and workshop, but will probably end up with using all the tried techniques and go with edge highlighting all the way. I think my sense of aesthetics is affected by oldschool paint jobs and 'Eavy Metal. The biggest difference will be some attempts at blending since I'd like to add some gradient to my colours. Nothing fancy or excessive, though.

 

I'm still considering adding some weathering, dirt and battle damage. I'm not sure how to achieve any of that but I'll do some research. As I understand, there are weathering powders/pigments out there which yield cool results.

 

I think I'll also pass on using contrast paints (or competitors' equivalents). They are a bit expensive and based on what I saw online, I can't see any proper use for them, especially on power armour.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I don't know if it's any help, but Juan Hidalgo has a video on White Scars, and Warhipster has one on an Apothecary, which might help for the white bits? They both use Apothecary White, though ...

 

29 minutes ago, Brother Christopher said:

I'm still considering adding some weathering, dirt and battle damage. I'm not sure how to achieve any of that but I'll do some research.

I think the main ways are pigments (mud/rust), watered-down paint (streaks), and drybrushed paint (dirt), and paint-on-a-sponge (chipping).

[TheArtilleryman]

Just watched this video on doing white and it has blown my mind …

 

 

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback and recommendations. I've never truly explored this side of the hobby (i.e. the works of people on YT and their tutorials) but I'll make sure to take a look at what you recommended in my free time. I'm sure it will be informative and helpful.

 

After all, due to my decision to keep the style of my army more or less uniform, the bulk of my painting skills originate from late 4th edition and How to Paint Space Marines.

[TheArtilleryman]

Pretty much with you. Most of my painting revivles around successive layers of drybrushing or a base coat and two highlights. Sometimes a wash gets in there. That’s about it lol. I don’t normally watch tutorials either but that one looks so simple I’m dying to give it a go now.

 

Only problem is I have nothing that needs painting white and no white spray paint … XD 

[MoriyaSchism]

42 minutes ago, Brother Christopher said:

After all, due to my decision to keep the style of my army more or less uniform, the bulk of my painting skills originate from late 4th edition and How to Paint Space Marines.

Classic stuff, I own a copy of that along with How To Paint Citadel Miniatures. Are you planning to do any special modelling or conversion work with your Primaris Marines or will they'll be out of the box uniform Primaris Marines?

[Gnasher]

If purple is your colour I'd recommend the Silver Guard, they are an unkown successor & have a pretty cool role in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade:

 

 

 

URL for more info:

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Silver_Guard

 

Edited February 14 by Gnasher
Added source url

[Brother Christopher]

3 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Pretty much with you. Most of my painting revivles around successive layers of drybrushing or a base coat and two highlights. Sometimes a wash gets in there. That’s about it lol. I don’t normally watch tutorials either but that one looks so simple I’m dying to give it a go now.

 

Haha, that gets the job done, right? I have a very vague idea that the painting landscape has evolved in amazing ways. There are entire businesses revolving around the wargaming miniatures hobby dedicated to making exotic paints. I sometimes feel so old that even GW's paint range looks a bit confusing. People are using some kind of oil solution to 'wash' (shade?) their miniatures that you later remove with spirits. There are translucent paints, contrast paints (and the like) and glazes. And airbrushes are much more wide-spread. And it looks like everyone knows their business and knows all about these things ;) Back in my time there were 'normal paints' and washes and basically no one online, nor in my local community mentioned all these new tools.

 

I'm not complaining, though. It's quite amazing what one can do right now. The 'hobby landscape' has become much more professional (or semi-professional) and it's amazing. From my perspective, there's the added drawback of having to explore another cavernous layer of the hobby. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the time or actual will to do that. Don't get me wrong, especially with this side project, I want to paint miniatures to a higher standard than usually but there are limits to that as well. As much as I'd love to have a small collection of expertly painted models, I probably don't have the resources. Many of the recipes in the tutorials I've stumbled upon over the years include around 4-5 paints for a single colour. That's a lot if that colour is rarely used in my collection and paints are not eternal. Speaking of eternity, there's also the time factor. As I mentioned, I want to keep the time down to 3-4 hours per model and I understand that people tend to spend way more than that to achieve really amazing results.

 

All the above is kinda on topic: as part of the Primaris ProjectTM I wanted to try out new things but I feel a bit overwhelmed by that. Also, based on my 'research' and the limited testing, my regular approach should be enough, with the addition of glazing/blending for a bit of gradient on the armour. That should be satisfying enough and yield decent results.

 

4 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

Classic stuff, I own a copy of that along with How To Paint Citadel Miniatures.

 

Ah, yes - I only had that one in PDF. But they were cool publications, really, really helpful and concise. Also, they encouraged people to experiment with the limited ranges of bits.

 

4 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

Are you planning to do any special modelling or conversion work with your Primaris Marines or will they'll be out of the box uniform Primaris Marines?

 

I'm planning on some 'fixes' to the Primaris range. I'm trying to temper my plans and ideas, that's for sure. As a result, I don't know what the extent of the conversions will be. I don't want to overdo it and repeat the mistakes of the past. Simply put: I don't want to bite off more than I can chew and end up with another 5-year long project (please remember that I've been working on a DIY Thunderhawk for years!).

 

Initially, I wanted to do a proper de-Primarisification: replace their guns with 'regular' versions and fiddle with the torsos and backpacks on all models. Right now, I don't think I'll be going to such extreme lengths. I've settled on the Primaris weapons but am hoping that I'll be able to diversify the models a lot. I certainly intend to use older marks of helmets, see how the older backpacks look and modify the greaves and knee pads. Generally speaking, I'd like to bring some of the older SM aesthetics back.

 

My biggest gripe with regular power-armour Primaris is the uniformity of the models. The new proportions and size are cool and all but it really bothers me that all the models use the same armour. Unfortunately, this trend doesn't appear to go anywhere, judging by the Black Templars release, as well as Horus Heresy.

 

But I don't know how difficult and/or time consuming these conversions will be and how many of these ideas will come to pass. I've never handled Primaris models and don't know what to expect.

 

In terms of the collection, I'll have the contents of the Leviathan box and plan on adding 5-10 more Marines (5 to start with).

 

• I will keep all the combi options from the box.
• I want to have a plasma gun and a melta gun in this force (so, this will require some conversion work).
• I think I'll want a missile launcher marine.
• I'll also want ~5 regular bolter marines so I expect to replace some of the flamers from the Leviathan inferno squad with rifles.
• I'll probably sprinkle in some chainsword marines into the mix and keep some of the original flamers.

So the force will be models-first with the option to use the minis in Kill Team. It's extremely upsetting since I'm quite fixated on keeping to the 5-man squads organisation but I suppose it'd be too limiting and would probably result in the project growing uncontrollably. That's why I'm trying to restrain my enthusiasm and finish the ~25-30 models first without thinking about gaming and stuff.

 

After all, for gaming purposes I have my 'proper' army of >300 Marines still waiting to be finished.

[MoriyaSchism]

17 minutes ago, Brother Christopher said:

Initially, I wanted to do a proper de-Primarisification: replace their guns with 'regular' versions and fiddle with the torsos and backpacks on all models. Right now, I don't think I'll be going to such extreme lengths. I've settled on the Primaris weapons but am hoping that I'll be able to diversify the models a lot. I certainly intend to use older marks of helmets, see how the older backpacks look and modify the greaves and knee pads. Generally speaking, I'd like to bring some of the older SM aesthetics back.

 

My biggest gripe with regular power-armour Primaris is the uniformity of the models. The new proportions and size are cool and all but it really bothers me that all the models use the same armour. Unfortunately, this trend doesn't appear to go anywhere, judging by the Black Templars release, as well as Horus Heresy.

 

But I don't know how difficult and/or time consuming these conversions will be and how many of these ideas will come to pass. I've never handled Primaris models and don't know what to expect.

 

In terms of the collection, I'll have the contents of the Leviathan box and plan on adding 5-10 more Marines (5 to start with).

 

• I will keep all the combi options from the box.
• I want to have a plasma gun and a melta gun in this force (so, this will require some conversion work).
• I think I'll want a missile launcher marine.
• I'll also want ~5 regular bolter marines so I expect to replace some of the flamers from the Leviathan inferno squad with rifles.
• I'll probably sprinkle in some chainsword marines into the mix and keep some of the original flamers.

So the force will be models-first with the option to use the minis in Kill Team. It's extremely upsetting since I'm quite fixated on keeping to the 5-man squads organisation but I suppose it'd be too limiting and would probably result in the project growing uncontrollably. That's why I'm trying to restrain my enthusiasm and finish the ~25-30 models first without thinking about gaming and stuff.

 

After all, for gaming purposes I have my 'proper' army of >300 Marines still waiting to be finished.

The first thing I gave up on was modifiying all the breastplates. At most I will be doing sculpted on tubes for Mk VI. I tried transplanting the laurel wreath version of the Imperialis onto a cleaned up breastplate and that turned out to be way too much trouble. Only way I would be able to fix this if I cut off the chest portion and try to splice in older parts. The basic Primaris breastplate could fit Mk VII and Mk VIII with gorget modifications. I personally think the legs are the easiest fix. Default Primaris legs with the trimmed poleyn could fit the Jes Goodwin style Mk VIII Errant concept. Mk VI and Mk VII greaves require a bit more modification. As for weapons like default boltguns the best source of arms and boltguns would be Phobos kits like the Infiltrators. If you need empty hands for weapon swaps the Desolation Squad is the only Primaris unit with old style empty grip hands.

The backpacks from old Marines fit Primaris size models in my eyes, but to get them to fit I had to fill in that blank spot here with putty. Doghouse's thread in this section of the forum has some visual examples of Primaris bodies with old backpacks.

[Brother Christopher]

12 hours ago, Gnasher said:

If purple is your colour I'd recommend the Silver Guard, they are an unkown successor & have a pretty cool role in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade:

 

Thanks, that's basically what I have in mind for the colour scheme. I'll take a look at their lore!

 

@MoriyaSchism I'm a bit concerned about the difficulties with the chest plates you mentioned. I mean, it was to be expected, but I'll probably have to wait and see for myself. For regular bolters, if I decide to use them, I have plenty from my firstborn bits box. However, I think I'll leave the bolt rifles - as far as I can tell, they're basically an elongated and slightly tacti-coller (with the rail on top and the weird rotary-looking thingy) versions of the classic bolters.

[MoriyaSchism]

1 hour ago, Brother Christopher said:

 

Thanks, that's basically what I have in mind for the colour scheme. I'll take a look at their lore!

 

@MoriyaSchism I'm a bit concerned about the difficulties with the chest plates you mentioned. I mean, it was to be expected, but I'll probably have to wait and see for myself. For regular bolters, if I decide to use them, I have plenty from my firstborn bits box. However, I think I'll leave the bolt rifles - as far as I can tell, they're basically an elongated and slightly tacti-cooler (with the rail on top and the weird rotary-looking thingy) versions of the classic bolters.

This is something I haven't tried since I always get rid of the round cylinder thing above the bolter's chamber, but you can try splicing together Infiltrator boltguns with the magazine and receiver piece of the Intercessor bolt rifle. All Primaris variants of the bolter have rails on them. The receivers on all Primaris bolters I've handled have the same width. This is just a matter of personal preference on my end as I sometimes prefer the Infiltrator arms with less armour plating on the vambrace and I like the feel of the shorter boltgun. Phobos arms add a bit more work as I always end up having to shave a bit off the shoulder off on the right arm.

 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I don't know if it's any help, but @Doghouse converted some Intercessors using "firstborn" torso fronts (here's the post).

[Wormwoods]

14 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

Initially, I wanted to do a proper de-Primarisification: replace their guns with 'regular' versions and fiddle with the torsos and backpacks on all models. Right now, I don't think I'll be going to such extreme lengths. I've settled on the Primaris weapons but am hoping that I'll be able to diversify the models a lot. I certainly intend to use older marks of helmets, see how the older backpacks look and modify the greaves and knee pads. Generally speaking, I'd like to bring some of the older SM aesthetics back.

 

So, I've largely done this with my Crusade Army. I've mixed in a lot of earlier mark helmets and shoulder pads, shaved off most of the chest eagles to allow for variance by way of freehanded heraldry, and generally tried to introduce some extra personality. It's been working well enough. I wouldn't be super comfortable trying to re-create specific armour marks for the chests, but not having the whole squad with the same winged skull does a lot of work. Scraping it off with a knife and cleaning up with a file is quick and easy.

 

 

[Guiltysparc]

On the topic of white, I've had really good results with GW"s contrast white, apothecary white i think its called.  Put it over a base coat of grey seer and then edge highlight with ulthuan grey, spot highlight with white scar, super easy.  For an example, you could look at my Sprue Hungry thread, i painted up a first company ultramarine veteran on the base of my master of executions, so he has a white helmet and white shoulder trim.

 

For another option, I did a whole world eaters 30k army in classic white and blue before the contrast line came out.  For that i primed them white and then used a very thinned down dilution of nuln oil as an all over shade before dry brushing with ulthuan white.  It turned out nice, but i like the contrast paint a lot more.