My Imperial Fist slap-chop armor base ... Don't fear the yellow!

[Helias_Tancred]

Hail fellow sons of Dorn. 

 

I wanted to post the recipe I'm using to do Imperial Fists. The results have had a bump or two but overall I like the end result. After over a decade of being a son of Sanguinius and of the Lion I have moved on and morphed in my hobby. Selling off over 24k of marines, and countless other collectible GW stuff I had acquired over the years and didn't use, I 100% rebooted my 40k hobby from the ground up and got into Black Templars starting in October of 2023. 6.1k of Black Templars is my sole 40k collection now. I've always loved their lore, Sigismund has always been my favorite character from the genre since I listened to the audio drama Templar back in 2013, and I even had 1.2k of them back in early 7th edition but sadly didn't do any more than build them, then sell them off a few months later. My second army in 40k were Crimson Fists for a bout a year back in 2014-2015. But anyways .... 

 

So I decided a couple Imperial Fists and Crimson Fists were seconded to the Black Templars for a period of three standard solar years each, and they wound up in the Araxxian Crusade! On the tabletop I LOVE how they stand out among my Black Templars! And I LOVE the lore behind the idea some marines get seconded to other sons of Dorn chapters for a period of time. 

 

I start with a naked model. I brush prime/base it with Averlund Sunset. Then I dry brush it all over and heavy starting with Phalanx Yellow, and then with Corax White. After that I apply a coat of Army Painter's Maize Yellow Speedpaint 2.0. From there I will base coat the other parts of the model. Then for shade I go in with specific targeted shading using Agrax Earthshade in the cracks, crevices etc. I take my time on that to get it looking as good as I can get it, and of course use a smaller brush (AP Wargamer: Character Brush with a good tip). I admit afterwards it's a series of small touch ups and additional edging with Yriel Yellow and Phalanx Yellow. It DOES require a little bit more time than painting most other marines. But I think the result is a winner. Also a message to those considering doing a full on Imperial Fists collection, don't fear the yellow! More work, yes a little, but it can be done, and the results meet your expectations. is it perfect? No. But ti does meet my requirement, and it might with others too?

 

I did a Crimson Fist (hellblaster), even posted him under the my Araxxian crusade post in the Black Templar sub-forum, but in hindsight I don't like how he turned out and he will be going back to the drawing board and then fixed!

 

The first pics are just after the slap chop and then doing the base colors of the non-yellow parts. The last one is a finished Imperial Fist intercessor. 

 

 

[Helias_Tancred]

Oh duh! The BIGGEST problem I ran into with this method is the use of Micro Sol reactivating, a little, the speed paint maize yellow. Just enough that it can run down onto the decal and give it a yellow tint. I'm working on my second one at the moment and this tine I plan on using a matte varnish, letting it dry overnight, before applying the decals and micro sol. I will update this post with the results. 

[Grotsmasha]

Looks great 

 

The only suggestion I have is that you could probably save some time if you did the recess shade after the Averland, before the drybrushing? I'd imagine you could be marginally less precise, move a bit faster, and the drybrushing will cover the worst of the mistakes?

[Karhedron]

14 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

The only suggestion I have is that you could probably save some time if you did the recess shade after the Averland, before the drybrushing? I'd imagine you could be marginally less precise, move a bit faster, and the drybrushing will cover the worst of the mistakes?

 

Good suggestion. I normally shade before highlighting for the same reason.

[Orange Knight]

The final result you've achieved is very solid.

 

Or as Valrak would say... Glorious!

The only suggestion I would make is to shade around the outline of the eye lenses, or use a wash to darken the recesses.

[Galron]

A bit too bright yellow for my tastes but if that was the neon yellow you were going for good job. Looks fairly neat with no stand out highlights. I like that you didnt go with the normal black shoulder trim as a complementary color. I prefer a more buttery yellow if that makes sense without sounding weird. 

[Helias_Tancred]

2 hours ago, Galron said:

A bit too bright yellow for my tastes but if that was the neon yellow you were going for good job. Looks fairly neat with no stand out highlights. I like that you didnt go with the normal black shoulder trim as a complementary color. I prefer a more buttery yellow if that makes sense without sounding weird. 

 

Here he is so far. Just a tad brighter than my last one, but not as bright I think as in the original pics? Also I have him under a bright desk lamp in all of them. 

 

 

[Helias_Tancred]

Also "Don't Fear the Yellow" ... "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, etc lol. I forgot to mention that. 

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

That is a lovely tone of yellow. I'll give that recipe a go myself, thank you for posting it.

 

That basing is great too. Really adds life to it.