Brother Christopher's Purple Marines Project

[Brother Christopher]

I think I'll go with gold! Thanks.

 

Yellow for the regular squad members (as a role designation) and green for the sergeant, yeah. I sure hope that the yellow will look right. I quite liked how it looked as a tertiary colour on the shield Captain from the previous page - this has given me a confidence boost to try it out on larger surfaces.

 

Here's a small update. I think I managed to get most of the armour and leather done.

 

 

 

 

 

The idea for the backpacks is to keep the 'base' of the pack purple to match the armour and paint the top part/thrusters black. While it's probably not apparent from the photos (the output is quite similar), I'm looking for ways to make the painting process more enjoyable. I think for regular troops, I'll settle on relying on drybrushing for base of the highlights. 

 

However, with only a week left, I'm a bit concerned (and pessimistic!) about getting them done by the month's end for the 12 Months of Hobby vow. 

[Rusted Boltgun]

I really like the black on the jump packs. They are getting there!

[gaurdian31]

Yellow for the standard helmets should work well I think and I agree with @Rusted Boltgun I really like the black on the jump packs as well. Great job!

[The Pounder]

Agreed, yellow would definitely add to them. The beauty of the black thrusters is that it’ll speed things up as well as giving them a bit of variety.

 

Really great work all round!

[BadgersinHills]

Great work!

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the responses! They mean the world to me. My last painting session was really something – I made a lot of progress, but I also ran into some pretty significant setbacks.

 

Here’s a personal story/rant where I’ll probably overshare my... well, what probably boils down to a total hissy fit. Feel free to skip this part.

 

I took a day off from work to get up to speed with these guys, thinking it’d be great to actually finish them this month. I had hoped to get to a stage where, after an extended Friday session, I’d only have the heads and backpacks left to do.

 

In retrospect, I think this was a mistake. It mentally shifted what painting means to me; instead of a relaxing way to spend free time, it began to feel like a chore. Spending hours on them felt like missing a deadline and became frustrating, even though I was actually making good progress.

 

The absolute worst part was when I decided to try applying transfers for the chapter/squad markings instead of freehanding them like I usually do. I knew I couldn’t expect to get them right the first time (I have basically zero experience with decals), so I was prepared for some failure. But instead of doing the reasonable thing—like experimenting on a test model—I went all-in and applied gloss varnish to all the shoulder pads. Long story short: the transfers were a disaster, and I was left with four ruined pads and another six that were just... glossy.

 

I got quite annoyed with myself. I tried to rush and paint the markings over the mess, which turned out exactly as well as you’d expect. With my agitation rising, I realized (for the umpteenth time) that if you want to do something properly, you need time, patience and practice. I failed pretty badly at the Fast Attack arrows, and my frustration reached a boiling point.

 

As silly as it sounds, I started questioning the whole point of painting more Space Marines. I was on the verge of "quitting" the hobby, seriously considering selling off some models. The day's frustration just fueled the embers of doubt I’ve been having lately: what’s the point of a collection if you’re a "hobby loner"? I’m not a pro painter, and I don’t use them for gaming. Sure, they’re fun to paint sometimes and look cool in a cabinet, but what’s the point of painting the same mini over and over, especially when I feel the need to "fix" or convert them for variety?

 

Filled with righteous anger, I went for a run. It actually helped clear my head and get rid of the negative thoughts.

The only "negative" realization I’m left with is... it’s probably time to stop buying more Space Marines. I think many of you will agree that browsing and buying is a huge part of the hobby, but given the sneak peeks for the new edition, it looks like more of the same. And honestly... yeah, why bother with more Intercessors?

 

End of rant.

 

I’m now left with some Fast Attack symbols that need fixing and a set of mostly finished bodies. I’ve been away for the weekend, but I’m actually looking forward to getting back to this squad.

 

The worst part about my hobby process is that I can’t decide what I really want—I’m still torn between my current aesthetic and trying to find a more hassle-free way to get things painted. But I know that’s a "me" problem that only I can solve.

 

In the end, I suppose, I at least have a decent idea of the project size and "army composition." Plus, I’ll have some leftover models for more ambitious painting attempts later on.

 

Thanks for reading!

[MoriyaSchism]

Deadlines and trying to chase events really changes how I deal with the hobby. I tend to get careless and sloppy when I feel rushed, it results in the hobby feeling a lot less fun. Last time I rushed to do hobby stuff I ended up making mistakes and it resulted in injury. If you're going to move onto using transfers I recommend Microset and Microsol. It should make things easier, in some cases it doesn't even require gloss varnish just a bit of patience. I can't imagine doing transfers without these anymore. If you search the products up some tutorials for it will pop up as well. 

 

Only time I ever buy anything these days is if I can clearly see the parts and the sprue. Any Space Marine purchase I make is based on how easily I can cut the models and if I can use any of it for my plans. I've completely given up on new books and editions which leaves me with more money at the end of the day. For army composition and to limit the scope of the projects I'm doing to a manageable size I usually follow the initial army size suggestion from 3rd edition books then expand from there once the initial HQ and troops part of the list is done. These days I mostly build Kill Teams. 

[Rusted Boltgun]

You have my sympathy @Brother Christopher as I have done something similar in the past.

Ever so often, to take a break from real life I have taken a day off work to do some painting. I might do this in a period when Mrs Boltgun is away with her job so I am solo parenting and need some breathing room.

 

Some of my Assault Intercessors still don't have their crosses on them as the last time I tried I screwed them up. First of all I cut them too tight and then I struggled to apply them properly, ruined a few a gave up.

 

What is that phrase? No plan survives contact with the enemy?!

 

I have found that pivoting to a single miniature gives me some space to just have fun, experiment with techniques, different colours, paints, etc. Then my marines feel less of a chore and their regular batch painting steps are almost soothing in their repetitive nature.

 

But that is just me, it won't be right for everyone. For me, the hobby is more painting than gaming until I can really get my son involved. 

 

And decals do get easier with practice (and decal softener/fixer) but I can't get them as smooth as the videos you see on the internet. But I can't paint as well as the internet either so who cares?!

 

I reckon you'll get those decals sorted in the next session.

[Brother Christopher]

11 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

Deadlines and trying to chase events really changes how I deal with the hobby. I tend to get careless and sloppy when I feel rushed, it results in the hobby feeling a lot less fun. Last time I rushed to do hobby stuff I ended up making mistakes and it resulted in injury.

 

Self-imposed deadlines are sometimes (or the 12 Months of Hobby) are sometimes a great source of motivation in my regular enviroment where I have none. But this time, yeah - it didn't work. 

 

I'm also sorry to hear about your poor experiences!

 

11 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

If you're going to move onto using transfers I recommend Microset and Microsol. It should make things easier, in some cases it doesn't even require gloss varnish just a bit of patience. I can't imagine doing transfers without these anymore. If you search the products up some tutorials for it will pop up as well. 

 

10 hours ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

And decals do get easier with practice (and decal softener/fixer) but I can't get them as smooth as the videos you see on the internet. But I can't paint as well as the internet either so who cares?!

 

Before my attempts, I watched/read a couple of tutorials and I know that these products exist. I think I'll look into them since I'm still quite positive about using decals to get some details. For the squad and chapter markings, I think I'll stick to freehanding them. I think decals should be easier to do properly on flat (flatter?) surfaces, like tilt shields or greaves.

 

11 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

Only time I ever buy anything these days is if I can clearly see the parts and the sprue. Any Space Marine purchase I make is based on how easily I can cut the models and if I can use any of it for my plans. I've completely given up on new books and editions which leaves me with more money at the end of the day. For army composition and to limit the scope of the projects I'm doing to a manageable size I usually follow the initial army size suggestion from 3rd edition books then expand from there once the initial HQ and troops part of the list is done. These days I mostly build Kill Teams. 

 

That's also the case with me. I don't buy more stuff on an army-scale. I still am open to the idea of buying a single cool model off the second-hand market. I have also been eyeing Kill  Teams for some time - they look like fun, small manageable side projects and an excellent avenue for trying new stuff out. But I haven't made a purchase yet.

 

The worst part is that for over a year, I've been quite intent on buying the 11th ed starter set. I've really been hoping to see a Primaris retro-style-refresh, similar to the one Space Wolves have gotten. But, alas, it seems it's not going to be the case.

 

10 hours ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

You have my sympathy @Brother Christopher as I have done something similar in the past.

Ever so often, to take a break from real life I have taken a day off work to do some painting. I might do this in a period when Mrs Boltgun is away with her job so I am solo parenting and need some breathing room.

 

Thanks! I appreciate that.

 

I can't imagine adding a proper family into the hobby mix, though! As always, I have all the more respect for you and your progress.

 

10 hours ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

But that is just me, it won't be right for everyone. For me, the hobby is more painting than gaming until I can really get my son involved. 

 

I can imagine that the prospect of having your kid play with you is pretty great! It sure seems liek a great source of motivation to paint stuff, as well as an excellent way to avoid GW's rules churn.

 

10 hours ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

What is that phrase? No plan survives contact with the enemy?!

 

That's the phrase, yes - and it is a great summary of my Friday's progress.

 

10 hours ago, Rusted Boltgun said:

I have found that pivoting to a single miniature gives me some space to just have fun, experiment with techniques, different colours, paints, etc. Then my marines feel less of a chore and their regular batch painting steps are almost soothing in their repetitive nature.

 

I think that this is my ultimate hobby goal. Realistically, I see it happening in 1-2 year's time. I want to finish my Firstborn Templars and the Purple Marines force (basically squad-based painting) and in the future, focus on painting single models, trying to up my game, and as you said, try new stuff and experiment. 

 

For better or for worse, I'm quite stubborn when it comes to larger projects. Sure, I can reassess the size of my armies but I don't see myself downsizing by more than, say, 30%. I don't like the hassle of selling stuff. So, after army reductions, my Black Templars still need ~20 more minis. And my Purple guys need to have they fair share painted, too. While I don't want to sell my Primaris minis (yet), out of fear of regretting it in the future, I've already conceptually reallocated some minis to a separate 'pile' that I intend to use for fun side projects, i.e. custom kill teams of 3-6 models.

 

***

 

In other news, I'm back home and did some painting - basically fixing the pads and squad/chapter markings. They're not as good as I'd like but I think that they're good enough.

 

I should be able to make headway tomorrow, but I think I won't be able to finish them by the month's end deadline. I still need to decide on the colour of the shield.

[MoriyaSchism]

6 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

That's also the case with me. I don't buy more stuff on an army-scale. I still am open to the idea of buying a single cool model off the second-hand market. I have also been eyeing Kill  Teams for some time - they look like fun, small manageable side projects and an excellent avenue for trying new stuff out. But I haven't made a purchase yet.

I don't think you need to buy anything if you have miniatures on hand and a full bits box. I've bought 4 Kill Team boxes over the course of 5 years, but most of my Kill Team ideas are based on going to the GW website downloading the free rules and trying to make things that fit them from the contents of my miniature collection. For example my Ordo Astartes Vigilants are based on the Raptors Kill Team rules and the Wormwood Sons are made to fit roles in all other Marine rosters (Imperial and Chaos). 

 

6 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

The worst part is that for over a year, I've been quite intent on buying the 11th ed starter set. I've really been hoping to see a Primaris retro-style-refresh, similar to the one Space Wolves have gotten. But, alas, it seems it's not going to be the case.

I've been thinking about that too, but it all depends for the reveal. If the miniatures are good and the sprues aren't a pain to work with I might wait for an Ork player to sell the Marine part of their box. Or waiting for a post launch box with the multi-part versions of the kits from the starter. 

 

Edited April 27 by MoriyaSchism

[Brother Christopher]

7 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

I don't think you need to buy anything if you have miniatures on hand and a full bits box. I've bought 4 Kill Team boxes over the course of 5 years, but most of my Kill Team ideas are based on going to the GW website downloading the free rules and trying to make things that fit them from the contents of my miniature collection. For example my Ordo Astartes Vigilants are based on the Raptors Kill Team rules and the Wormwood Sons are made to fit roles in all other Marine rosters (Imperial and Chaos). 

 

It sure looks like you have things planned out. Good for you - I think it's a very healthy approach to the hobby.

 

As an aside: As a hobbyist who was active during 5th/6th edition and skipped most of the changes of upheavals post 8th edition, I still struggle to adapt to the 'new norm' where many kits' availability is limited and the pace of turnaround is breakneck, given my progress. Back in the day, I never struggled to get the kits I wanted and the shelf-life of products appeared to be longer (or even indefinite). Now, things are clearly different: characters locked in boxes or available later for quite ridiculous prices, discount boxes being limited runs etc. And there's this inherent pressure to this: get things now with a discount or risk missing them out entirely or having to pay full prices. I find this "new GW landscape" quite frustrating. And it's great that I'm not in the hobby loop since I find myself very prone to these kinds of addictions :D 

 

7 hours ago, MoriyaSchism said:

I've been thinking about that too, but it all depends for the reveal. If the miniatures are good and the sprues aren't a pain to work with I might wait for an Ork player to sell the Marine part of their box. Or waiting for a post launch box with the multi-part versions of the kits from the starter. 

 

It seems we have a very similar approach to the hobby. These are my thoughts and plans, too. I'm quite happy to get the new speeder, though.

 

***

 

In terms of staying on-topic within this subforum, here's some actual work in progress.

 

The botched squad markings after my first attempt:

 

And after an attempt to refine them without resorting to painting them from scratch:

 

I now regret not having taken a 'before' photo of the other pads, but here are the finished ones with the chapter symbol:

 

These are also a great example of my limited imagination/foresight. Initially, I planned to paint the blue cross on top of the yellow stripe and... it turned out the that there wasn't enough contrast between the two bright colours. That's why I decided to put more work into these and paint a purple line/border to help set the crosses of from the yellow stripe. I think I got it right in the end but, frankly, I should've thought about it beforehand.

[gaurdian31]

Sorry to hear that the last painting session did not go to plan. It can be really disheartening but I am glad that the run gave you an outlet for the negative experience. I will say the end product of your painting came out great! The chapter and squad symbols look really good. I really like the guy with the combat shield having the extra black stripe. 

[Dr. Clock]

Jeesh! Good job on them at any rate! I don't usually go too wild with the freehand, but I know it can be very frustrating, especially when trying to have consistent squad markings. I took the coward's way out of this quandry years ago and just bought 3d printed applique markings and chapter icons for my Storm Lords... While very few of my Salamanders ever actually got markings of any kind. Deathwatch was the most fun because each one is different lol. 

 

Beyond that, I understand how your experience would be disheartening for a moment, and hope that you can find your way through to right-sizing the hobby in your life. 

 

For a few years in my mid-20s I was overseas with no access to new minis or gaming. But that's when I really locked in on a daily painting habit, and was able to raise the bar on my skills primarily through just trusting the process and being okay with missteps and 'trying again'. It seems like you've got some of that figured out for yourself, but for me the heart of the hobby really is the daily 'hour of power'. More than 60 minutes at a stretch usually starts to feel heavy, and even on a quiet weekend I will rarely do more than 2 sessions in a day. The nice thing about this though is that my eyes are not, as they say, bigger than my stomach. I know how big to make each batch of minis so that I can make my way through at least a full step an hour. 

 

Anyway - I love seeing your updates and hope you stick with it!

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.

[BadgersinHills]

Very nice! Just tried some freehand the other week and it was pretty harrowing, especially on a white base that I'd painstakingly stippled and oil-washed.  Yours looks amazing.

[Brother Christopher]

On 4/27/2026 at 3:11 PM, gaurdian31 said:

Sorry to hear that the last painting session did not go to plan. It can be really disheartening but I am glad that the run gave you an outlet for the negative experience. I will say the end product of your painting came out great! The chapter and squad symbols look really good. I really like the guy with the combat shield having the extra black stripe.

 

Thanks for the support and positive feedback! 

 

In a way, I'm surprised that you've noticed the black stripe - I think it wasn't defined properly and the lighting in the photo didn't help. I'm impressed by your attention to detail!

 

18 hours ago, Dr. Clock said:

For a few years in my mid-20s I was overseas with no access to new minis or gaming. But that's when I really locked in on a daily painting habit, and was able to raise the bar on my skills primarily through just trusting the process and being okay with missteps and 'trying again'. It seems like you've got some of that figured out for yourself, but for me the heart of the hobby really is the daily 'hour of power'. More than 60 minutes at a stretch usually starts to feel heavy, and even on a quiet weekend I will rarely do more than 2 sessions in a day. The nice thing about this though is that my eyes are not, as they say, bigger than my stomach. I know how big to make each batch of minis so that I can make my way through at least a full step an hour. 

 

Anyway - I love seeing your updates and hope you stick with it!

 

This is my usual approach to the hobby now. I usually either paint for around an hour before I go to bed or take a 20-minute break during the work day. Since we're quite avid Civilization VI players with my wife and spend afternoons playing the game in hot seat mode, I also sometimes squeeze in some painting between the turns, provided that I'm not at a stage requiring a lot of attention to detail. I've been trying to stick to it for some time now; however, April was a month full of (usually pleasant) disturbances from the routine, with some trips, holidays and whatnot. 

 

My current realistic hobby goal is to either paint a 5-man squad or 1-2 larger/character models in a month.

 

18 hours ago, Dr. Clock said:

Jeesh! Good job on them at any rate! I don't usually go too wild with the freehand, but I know it can be very frustrating, especially when trying to have consistent squad markings. I took the coward's way out of this quandry years ago and just bought 3d printed applique markings and chapter icons for my Storm Lords... While very few of my Salamanders ever actually got markings of any kind. Deathwatch was the most fun because each one is different lol. 

 

Beyond that, I understand how your experience would be disheartening for a moment, and hope that you can find your way through to right-sizing the hobby in your life. 

 

I think I really should look into 3d printed pads/markings; then again, with years' of practice, I am quite confident with the Maltese crosses and - frustrating as it may be - trying out the regular role markings ultimately is fun.

 

17 hours ago, BadgersinHills said:

Very nice! Just tried some freehand the other week and it was pretty harrowing, especially on a white base that I'd painstakingly stippled and oil-washed.  Yours looks amazing.

 

Oh, don't mention oil-washes  I'm more and more curious and open to trying them out. The process of using them (requiring varnishing, drying, waiting) seems a bit annoying but the result's I've seen online are stunning. And I totally get your anxiety - given my understanding of the process, it seems that seamlessly fixing mistakes is quite difficult.

 

***

 

In other news, I've gotta admit: I'm quite looking forward to the 11th started unboxing on Friday. Regrettably, at the moment I'm not excited at all for the starter. I probably needlessly have gotten my hopes up too high for some time: I optimistically thought that we'll get more of the old armour marks than I think we're bound to get. I sure hope that the proper reveal will stir something in me. Even if that doesn't happen, I should at least have some more clarity as to what I want to do with the hobby. Something that I badly need, to be honest.

 

This constant content churn GW is doing at the moment is a bit too contemporary for my taste when it comes to a physical product. Sure, I'm here to blame for my poor time- and purchase-management, but I still have a Vindicator, Predator, Stalker and a Storm Raven to finish - just before they get axed, if the rumour is to be true.

 

While I risk oversharing again, I have to admit this: with the rumours, reveals and painting progress, April was an interesting month that got me involved in the hobby way more than I thought I needed. I think that the underlying reason for this is that the new starter appears not to be what I expected. As such, I found myself reassessing my hobby - an engaging activity in itself. This was particularly interesting since I've been convinced that I have a good plan for this project and my future. I think I'll share more of my thoughts and plans after the reveal. Miniatures aside, I'm now interested whether GW will do something similar to AoS Spearhead game mode in 40k.

 

But right now I'm preparing myself to take a definitive decision and convince myself to stop buying Primaris minis altogether, i.e. stop even considering it. Last year I only bought a second-hand Bayard's Revenge, but I've been eyeing kits. Transitioning to a completely no-purchase policy is a tough one. But I suppose that it's reasonable for a number of reasons. Purchase-wise, I might, however, move to kill-teams in the future.

[The Pounder]

I’m loving your iconography, loads of cool freehand!

 

Well done.

[Brother Christopher]

@The Pounder Thanks! Glad you like it!

 

-- PROJECT REPORT --

 

Well, life is full of ups and downs. I've gotta say: the most recent negative experiences eventually turned out to be quite welcome and productive. I am vaguely aware that going from a hobby-low to a hobby-high in something around a week might might be a symptom of some mental disorder, but I don't care and I'll just roll with it!

 

Together with the preview of the new edition, I now feel I found more clarity as to the direction of me doing Space Marines. It's a strange sensation since I've been CERTAIN thought I had things sorted out pretty well this time. Apparently, there's always room for change and - dare I say - progress. 

 

After, yet again, looking into my hobby heart I decided to:

- reduce the current collection by 5-10 minis. I will be getting rid of a 5-man assault intercessors squad and - perhaps - a 5-man bolter intercessor squad;

- distil the scope of armour modifications even further to make it even more uniform; I won't be going into detail here but I feel I've made progress - it's strange that I needed 3-4 'test squads' to figure it out but THIS TIME I'm fairly confident that I sorted things out;

- allow myself more time to work on my Primaris-scale minis; this includes reopening the conversion/kitbash door that I've promised I had closed after finishing the Assault Marines I'm working on now; I want to make my own Tacticus Apothecary with a scenic base, as well as a Master of the Forge Techmarine based on a Gravis model; this way, I'll have sets of 2 regular and heavy characters (e.g. Tacticus and Gravis Apo; Tacticus and Termie Captain);

- if GW doesn't go overboard with the price and there won't be availability problems, to buy the 11th starter set;

- to die a coward, i.e. boring Loyalist Astartes collector.

 

On top of all that, for the next batch of models, I will be trying to streamline the painting process to get more fun out of it and - hopefully - avoid frustrations similar to those suffered while painting my Assault Marines. 

 

And the most important thing is that I found a little notebook and allocated it to my 2026 Warhammer stuff. This means that I have personal, handwritten notes and scribbles connected with what I've summarised above and there is something magical and binding in handwritten stuff. I believe that this will help me stay focused.

 

However, with so many cool ideas, I'm a bit too excited and would like to try ALL OF THE THINGS OUT all at the same time. There are three most exciting 'projects:'

- exploring the new painting method and checking whether it'll work;

- doing the small conversion project: building and painting 5 bolter & chainsword marines based on Assault Intercessor bodies;

- doing the big conversion project: building either the Apothecary or Techmarine.

 

Unfortunately, I will do the reasonable thing and finish the Assault Squad. 

----

I do hope that this will be the end of my confessions and reflections this quarter. So that I can refocus on the most important thing in this sub-forum: works-in-progress. But I'd like to believe that mental work, including planning, is also a work-in-progress.

 

I should post progress photos soon. I took a healthy break from 40k over the weekend but got back to it yesterday.

[space wolf]

Bro! How did I miss all this progress! Those assault marines look GREAT! Youve really nailed the oldschool look. Which as a child of the 90's I truly appreciate!

 

I seriously understand your frustration with GS dry times. Lifehack: if its something like those straps and not something hanging loose on the model, you can put it it front of a fairly strong space heater, and it will cut the dry time by 2/3s. Im talking like 40 min to cure, tops. What i do is i take a little ball of GS that i had mixed at the same time, and stick it next to the mini, that way i can check the status of the cure without touching the model. WARNING: the putty gets softer before it gets harder (as its warming up), so make sure its something fully connected to a model, and you shouldnt have any problems :)

[Brother Christopher]

20 hours ago, space wolf said:

Bro! How did I miss all this progress! Those assault marines look GREAT! Youve really nailed the oldschool look. Which as a child of the 90's I truly appreciate!

 

Thanks! I'm glad you like them, In retrospect, I think I should've and could've gone a bit further, by removing the auxiliary thrusters and flaps. It turns out that after seeing the minis half-painted, I realised that they are more distracting and unpleasant that I imagined. Oh well, here's another example of my poor imagination ;)

 

20 hours ago, space wolf said:

I seriously understand your frustration with GS dry times. Lifehack: if its something like those straps and not something hanging loose on the model, you can put it it front of a fairly strong space heater, and it will cut the dry time by 2/3s. Im talking like 40 min to cure, tops. What i do is i take a little ball of GS that i had mixed at the same time, and stick it next to the mini, that way i can check the status of the cure without touching the model. WARNING: the putty gets softer before it gets harder (as its warming up), so make sure its something fully connected to a model, and you shouldnt have any problems :)

 

That's a great tip! I'll try it out the next time I get around to doing batches of green stuff bits.

 

***

 

And here's a bit of the promised update:

 

And some close-ups:

 

 

And I started adding some glow effect to the thrusters, too:

 

I'm quite pleased with how the yellows turned out BUT I should really get more yellow paints. Looking at the models now, I think a warmer tint would work better with the purple. Having said that: I'm not toughing these. The only thing left with the helmets are the eye lenses.

 

All in all, I feel I'm soon to make a difficult decision. I'm liking using sponges for painting initial layers of colour more and more. I think they're great for a decent, striking and cool gradient that's a great base for adding more stuff later. This is what I tried with the helmets, by the way. The lighting in the photos is a bit too strong to see the result, but in person the helmets look a bit nicer. I'm also more and more inclined to use sponges for painting some foundations layers of entire models. The only drawback is the texture sponge-painting leaves - something, I fear, is unavoidable. I tried to dilute the paint, experimented with pressure and there's always this chalky finish to it.

 

In the end, it wasn't that bad with on my Techmarine and - frankly - it's not as pronounced IRL as in the photos, but it's something that bothers me. Yet, the results are quicker and more relaxing. Hence, the difficult decision.

 

The next squad that I'll be painting will be based on sponge-painting and drybrushing, followed up by a more more careful fixing-stage. Hopefully, this will result in a quality-looking squad achieved without the recurrent mid-painting crises. 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

They look great - the yellow of the helmets really pops

[gaurdian31]

These are looking great! Love the yellow helmets and the green helmet looks great on the sarge. What are you going to be doing with the shield? As for the sponge technique, you said it yourself and emphasis is mine: "Yet, the results are quicker and more relaxing." That's the most important part.

[phandaal]

7 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

The next squad that I'll be painting will be based on sponge-painting and drybrushing, followed up by a more more careful fixing-stage. Hopefully, this will result in a quality-looking squad achieved without the recurrent mid-painting crises. 

 

Hope you find it enjoyable! This technique is a lot of fun for me personally. You will probably be surprised at just how good it does end up looking when you are finished!

[Brother Christopher]

10 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

They look great - the yellow of the helmets really pops

 

8 hours ago, gaurdian31 said:

These are looking great! Love the yellow helmets and the green helmet looks great on the sarge.

 

Thanks for the feedback and reassuring me that this was the way to go! While I did decide to limit distinguishing battle roles' by altering the livery, I figured I want to add at least some variety and with these guys, the choices seem to work surprisingly well. Probably not as fun as painting larger surfaces with a secondary colour, but the result definitely visually striking.

 

3 hours ago, phandaal said:

Hope you find it enjoyable! This technique is a lot of fun for me personally. You will probably be surprised at just how good it does end up looking when you are finished!

 

8 hours ago, gaurdian31 said:

As for the sponge technique, you said it yourself and emphasis is mine: "Yet, the results are quicker and more relaxing." That's the most important part.

 

Truth be told, I wanted to take a break from 40k and finish my AoS Sigmarine Guy-Commander-Person on a Stardrake (I'm not really into AoS lore and don't really care to even remember the name of what I'm painting), but I think I'll postpone that larger project and see how painting 5 guys will actually be like. And this shift in priorities could also be a great reason to test my v.3 conversions and do my bolter and chainsword guys... So yeah, I expect that I'll keep on posting here with another 5 guys.

 

8 hours ago, gaurdian31 said:

What are you going to be doing with the shield?

 

I'm not sure yet. I suppose, it'll be something simple. IIRC, box-art assault squads of old had simple combat shields schemes, with the board following the chapter primary colour.

 

Since this seargeant is supposed to be a homage to the "original" Assault Squad (i.e. the box that was available when I started), I think I'll just paint it purple and slap a cross or some scribbles on and call it a day.

 

 

On top of that, I think I'd like to finish this squad ASAP - despite all the time and passion I put into these, I'm not a huge fan of the poses and deep inside treat this squad as another 'test run.' I feel it's time to rush it and call it a day, similarly to what I did with my Tactical Squad sergeant’s banner.

Spoiler

 

This is what I have after today's painting session. I quite like how austere it looks at the moment, too. But I think a splash of colour and/or detail won't hurt. 

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks good

 

I think going with the chapter icon or some litanies on the shield would look great - it'd add a little bit of visual interest, whilst also being true to the style of the older models.

[Heraclite]

I'd combine scribled litanies on the shield, maybe in 2/3 columns with a bigger, maybe coloured letter at the beginning (I just looked at the translation for the french term "Lettrine" which seems to be "Drop Cap" in english, please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

And, if it's not too late, one or two purity seals hanging at the bottom, as a nod to the original combat shield

Edited May 7 by Heraclite