paint: iron warriors: recipe

While painting up the Zigouilliers, I used my cell phone, a pencil and scrap of white paper to keep visual notes of what paints I used where. I plan to use these notes as my recipe for the rest of the army, with slight variations depending on troop type or squad. There's some short-hand in the pics, the key of which is here:

• gtts: medical abbreviation for drops
• H2O + FI: a 10:1 mix of distilled water and Liquitex Flow Improver
• ETOH: 70% alcohol obtained from the drug store
• zenithal: applied from above, as if coming down from a spotlight directly overhead

All models are primed white, and any non-stippled, non-wash colors were applied using a home-made wet palette.

Step 1: complete coverage

Step 2: moderate coverage

Step 3: light coverage
(clickable)

Step 4: heavy coverage

Step 5: leaving a good amount of the prior color

Step 6: only hitting the highlights
(clickable)

Step 7: all over wash

Step 8: anywhere you want black or plan to have hazard striping

Step 9: any parts you plan to "bronze"
(clickable)

Step 10: can leave prior layer in recesses

Step 11: highlight bronze areas with an eye towards zenithal highlighting

Step 12: cloth underarmour and any non-ribbed wires/tubes/cabling

Step 13: all ribbed wires/tubes/cabling
(clickable)

Step 14: wash over all underarmour, iron and bronze

Step 15: wash to all wires/tubes/cabling painted grey above

Step 16: highlight to all wires/tubes/cabling painted brown earlier, but not underarmour

Step 17: wash as described in picture
(clickable)

Step 18: thin wash to bronze areas, just enough for subtle patina
(clickable)

Step 19: first layer of any hazard stripes and skulls, as much or as little as you want

Step 20: highlight the hazard stripes, leaving a little of the brown showing
(clickable)

Step 21: zenithal highlight of hazard stripes

Step 22: over most of the eye lenses

Step 23: just enough to make the eyes pop

Step 24: 2nd layer to skulls

Step 25: final skull highlight

Step 26: wash over the hazard stripes to dampen their brightness
(clickable)

Step 27: a couple thin washes should darken the eye recesses and dampen the bone color nicely

It's a bit labour intensive, but there a couple spots I think I can switch around the color order to streamline the process. It's not quite the competition-level painting I originally hoped to achieve, but I think an entire army painted like this will be fairly stunning on the table. I'm confident enough in the look to enter it in GW's "Armies on Parade" competition once all is said and done.

But that's still a ways off. I've got 43 more dudes, 2 walkers and 5 vehicles to paint. I'm thinkin' "Armies on Parade" will be a 2013 kinda thing...

how-to: rivets

Seems like rivets are one of the eternal problems facing any hobbyist looking to branch into heavy-duty conversions and scratch-building. There are roughly seven gajillion different methods to riveting your models, and I've tried at least 10 of 'em. Because my last two 40K forces have had rivet-intensive conversions (emORKgency! and Iron Warriors), I've developed a healthy respect for Grandt Line's line of "Augmentables." There are several useful bits throughout that page, particularly for Big Meks, but for those seeking your standard rivets, you'll need to go all the way to the bottom of the page.

Now, unless you've got a model railroad background, the scales and measurements on that page will probably have you scratching your head in confusion. The first time I saw the page I had no clue what I was looking at. Particularly how to convert the scale and real-world size of the item into something useable.

"Just how big is a 1/4" scale 1" square nut with bolt?"
"Oh. 0.021 inches!"
"Wait... How big is that"

I went with the trial-and-error approach with my first order. I got a smattering of sizes and here's what I've found - when ordering, look at the shape to figure out what you want, then look at the column labelled "Meas. (inches)" to figure out if they've got it in a size that'll work for you. Rivet #154, 0.043", is approximately the same size as the rivets on most GW kits, and the one I've been using on all my Iron Warriors conversions. The smaller bitz tend to look real small real quick and are only good for the fiddly-est pieces of kit - engines, infantry equipment, etc. For vehicles, stick to anything 0.043" and bigger.

I don't have any of the tinier bits handy, but here are a few of the Augmentables from my recent order:

Grandt Line Rivets, Nuts & Bolts (click to zoom)

As you can see, they come 20-35 rivets/nuts/bolts per sprue and there are 5 sprues in each $3.00 pack. Coupled with their ease of use, they really can't be beat. Speaking of ease of use, I snapped some quick shots of how I use them.

Materials: model, glue, rivets, drill w/ 1/32" drill bit, hobby knife

Step 1: drill holes where you want rivets

Step 2: cut some rivets off the sprue

Step 3: put a tiny dab of glue over a few holes
(use a thin glue to avoid "glue bubbles" around the rivet)

Step 4: use sharp edge of hobby knife to place rivets in holes

Step 5: position the rivet flush with no drill hole showing

Step 6: fill all your holes

Step 7: use up all your rivets

Step 8: order more rivets

They're stupidly easy to implement, more consistent than any "home-made" rivets I've ever tried, and having them drilled into the model makes them far less likely to fall off your model from rough handling than any of the "glue to the model's surface" rivets I've used. For Orkz, I use a variety of sizes and shapes, usually switching up the spacing and rivet type between armour plates to give it that haphazard, sons of Gork & Mork feel. For Imperials, I find the regular rivets work wonders and try to keep consistent spacing throughout to give it that mass-manufactured look.

Hope some of you find this useful, and happy riveting!

paint: iron warriors: zigouilliers

Just moments ago I put the finishing touches on my first painted squad of Iron Warriors... (clickable for larger image, please forgive the mediocre iPhone quality)

Ahnighito's Zigouilliers: CSM Havocs

Sure, they're missing a banner (haven't decided on which to use yet), the Iron Warrior logo (my freehand-fu is still too weak), and their bases (vacillating on buying vs. building them).. and there's only a couple months 'till Adepticon... But little mans are done. At least these six are. And I'm pretty damn happy with the results!

Zigouillier Close-Ups: Melta, "Ghost", Hazard!

I've got pics of the whole process which I hope to put up by the weekend. It's only 26 steps from white primer to completion. As soon as it's warm and dry enough to prime again I should be able to knock out the other 43 guys in, what, 2-3 days?

build: carcharadon rhino doors

As mentioned in this post, I've spent a good chunk of December and January working on an "undisclosed project" for a secret santa present. Now that I've confirmed delivery of the present, I can share it here.

My giftee, BigBadBull is one of our forum's moderators, and the guy that always posts up the ForgeWorld newsletters the second they hit. For months he's lamented the lack of ForgeWorld kit for his pet project, a Badab War themed Carcharadons army. When I drew his name for "Deep Strikin' Santa III", I knew what I had to do. After a few false starts, ill-concieved and/or ill-implemented ideas, and a little trial and error learning new hobby techniques, I came up with this...

Carcharadon Rhino Kit: front plate, rear hatch, left and right doors

Carcharadon Rhino Kit: rubber molds with resin casts

Carcharadon Rhino Kit: test fit

DSS3 Present: Original sculpts, Rhino kits and molds

DSS3 Present: packed and ready to go

Molding and casting were entirely new to me, and the process has a pretty steep learning curve. The basic process is ridiculously simple, but getting quality results is not. It took a couple tries to get workable molds without major flaws, and then I had to improvise ways to reduce bubbles after pouring the resin. I'm pretty happy with the end results, but even the best of my casts could probably use some Liquid Green Stuff to make 'em flawless.

I'm going to keep working at it, and have committed to sculpting and casting an Iron Warrior Rhino conversion kit for our forum's annual Toys for Tots charity project this year. I plan to document that process more fully and do some how-tos and/or step-by-steps with what I've learned/continue to learn as I delve deeper into casting my own stuff.

miscellaneous: deep strikin' santa iii

Sorry for the significant lack of updates lately. I've been busy, but I've unable to post what I've been working on just yet. As a member of the Freebootaz forum, I participate in our annual Secret Santa drawing, affectionately known as "Deep Strikin' Santa". While I'm still finishing up the present for my giftee, I came home from work yesterday to find this package on my doorstep...

Inside I found primed sprue with Necron-stuffs...

...and underneath the sprue I found a flying stand and partially completed model!

Some unusual wires offered more than one connection point between the two pieces. A little jiggery-pokery later, I found that the base and model's Wonder Twin powers combine to form...

...a totally badass, BigBadBull Special! This guy is a living legend on our forums due to his insane ability to light-up Games Workshop kits like they were designed for it. I've yet to see anyone else with this guy's wiring talent. And now I've got one of his projects. That's awesome.

Not only is it a light-up piece of kit, it's also the first Necron model I've ever owned and an obvious centerpiece for my next army. The question is, do I finish assembling it as a Command Barge and re-jigger my list to include it, or do I try and commission BBB to make me a second one for the dual-Annihilation Barges I've listed up already...

P.S. Sorry for the poor iPhone pics. I'll be sure to pull out the real camera when I paint it up.

P.P.S. I plan to post up pics of my present to him by the end of the month.

build: work-in-progress: iron warriors, pt. 9

Got a little work done in the last week...

Polybolos Alpha: vanilla CSM squad

Row 1:: plasma gun, bolter, lascannon
Row 2: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter
Row 3: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter

Polybolos Beta: vanilla CSM squad

Row 1:: plasma gun, bolter, lascannon
Row 2: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter
Row 3: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter

Putting these together, I was again reminded how much I hate mixing metal and plastic kits. Such a nightmare. Particularly on the lascannon guys, as their left arms don't quite line up with the left hand molded onto the gun anyway. Had to pull out the grey-stuff and make a couple wrists. Because of the legs I used I also ended up chopping off the power cables and adding in some of my own on the gun arm.

I'm a big fan of the mini-chainsword/bayonets on the the bolters. They took some trimming to get to fit right while being held with the array of arms used, but I found a consistent way to trim them (and the bolters) so that they fit without painstakingly dry-fitting every model.

I still need to figure out basing. Trench-work, while appropriate, seems a bit too obvious. It also means I'd have to go in and add mud and stuff to the armour, which I don't particularly want to do. I don't want to dilute the rust effects with grime, if that makes sense. I've considered urban rubble basing, with mostly greys and muted yellows/greens, but that seems like a ton of fabrication work when translated across 48 infantry bases.

Oh yeah, I'm also waiting on a small bitz order to finalize what style of banner I want to use throughout the army - ragged vs. pristine. I'm leaning towards ragged, but don't have 'em on-hand to know for sure. The banners in the pics are all blue-tacked on so it'll be an easy test-fit and swap once I get the bitz in. Other than that, these guys are pretty much done...

Holy. Freakin'. Crap! That means infantry assembly is... DONE! As in, "No more little dudes to put together"! That is a weight off! Here's what the entire Warband looks like as of now...

There's an obvious hole where a Rhino goes. That Rhino will bring me to 1500 points assembled. That same Rhino, two Vindicators, and two magnetized Dreads will bring me to an even 2000. All things that are pretty easy and straight-forward to put together. The end of assembly is now in sight! With one day of good priming weather in January (50-50 chance here in Texas), having the entire lot finished by Adepticon may not be a pipe-dream after all.

To quote Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott, "Oh! This is exciting!"

build: work-in-progress: iron warriors, pt. 8

Managed to get Breaching Squad Aerugo and Iron Palatine Gibeon put together yesterday.

Breaching Squad Aerugo: counts as Plague Marines w/ Chaos Lord

Iron Palatine Gibeon: Chaos Lord, mark of Tzeentch, daemon weapon

Breaching Squad Aerugo: bolter, plasma, flamer

Breaching Squad Aerugo: bolter, bolter, bolter

The squad, like "Ferrugo" is pretty straight-forward. A bunch of dudes carrying normal weapons and some shields to represent the increased toughness and Feel no Pain of Plague Marines.

The Chaos Lord is less transparent. The backpack is meant to give him status and longevity (it's the backpack from the old Iron Warriors Warsmith model) while the sword and gun combine to represent the Tzeentchian Daemon Weapon. The entire reason I took Mark of Tzeentch with a Daemon Weapon was because I liked the idea of modeling the ranged attack with an exotic gun of some kind. I figured that an Iron Warrior that had served the cause over the course of millennia has probably come across and/or tinkered up a powerful gun or two in that time. I think the gun used, from the ForgeWorld Boarding Assault set, has just enough sense of the exotic to represent that while the big-ass sword is an additional reminder that the Daemon Weapon also serves in close combat.

I know it's a sword from the new Blood Angels kit, but the distinct lack of blood drops make me think I can pull off giving it an Emperor's Children vibe in the painting. It was a gift to Gibeon after a particularly hard-fought compliance during the Great Crusade. Somewhere out there, there's an Emperor's Children commander traipsing around with Gibeon's old master-crafted plasma pistol.

Currently on the workbench I've got the remaining 16 models from the Polybolus squads. If I can get them done this weekend, I'm in the home stretch. Just one tricked out Rhino, two magnetized Dreads and two mostly stock Vindicators to go!