(AP 2017) The Forty Thousanth Darkest Hour (UP 24/09/17)

[tomrommel1]

Very nice indeed!!!! Like your color palette. Have you thought about printing your own decals . There is a big resource of decals to print on Bolter and chain sword.

[Hu Rhu]

I don't normally look at 40k figures but your paint scheme piqued my interest.  That is a fantastic paint job.

[Major_Gilbear]

They look super, and the coloured bolter casings are a lovely touch. Well done!

As for chapter emblems, maybe these could be of interest?

[Quendil]

Wow they look awesome 

[Plynkes]

Lovely!! More please!

This is actually making me want to paint some of my 40K figures. Something I haven't done since I was a teenager.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Thanks a lot, guys! Particularly flattered by comments from those who don't normally look at GW stuff - to be honest, the same for me for years. Don't know what's changed, but I do enjoy the silliness again. 

Regarding iconography: I did consider printing decals myself, yet I'd much prefer to get something ready to use. Those icon bits look nice, just not sure if they'd look too prominent.
Many thanks for the suggestions anyway!

Here's a WIP shot of today's progress (increasing left to right):



Jury's still out on how to paint those helmets. 

[Major_Gilbear]

Jury's still out on how to paint those helmets.  

I used to spend ages painting bone, but I came up with a much easier/quicker method recently when I had to do dozens of skulls on my Khorne warriors:

• Basecoat the area with a couple of thin coats of ivory. I used P3 Menoth White Highlight, but any bright ivory will do.

• Wash generously with Army Painter Strong Tone.

• Selectively wash again with Army Painter Strong Tone mixed 1:1 with AP Dark Tone. This usually gets applied to the lower/undersides of skulls, and to the nasal openings.

• With some black ink, paint over the teeth and the eye sockets. You can use a dot of black paint mixed with some AP Dark Tone of you prefer, but I like a high contrast.

• Using your ivory again, start applying thin highlights. The first coat will look bad, but the second coat will start looking better. Top of the skull and any prominent areas will take three thin coats to get a nice finish.

• Finally, mix your ivory with white 1:1, and pick out the teeth. You can also do a thin highlight over the brow.

This is actually pretty quick to do, as you're basically just slapping paint on until you get to the black ink stage. It's also very easy to correct with a little Strong Tone wash or ivory as needed - because there's no real colour blends to match. You will also find that on small skulls, the colours need fewer coats too (maybe one wash and two highlights), so the process is even quicker!

[Mad Doc Morris]

Thanks for your suggestion.
However, I'm rather undecided if the helmets need a completely different paintjob, like different (darker?) colours or a non-bone-coloured mask.
With the one above I aimed for a "Ghost Rider" appearance. So even a burnt umber or black skull might work, but then the helmet had to be of a much lighter tone…

[Major_Gilbear]

I think the bone looks good against the dark skin and the green/black of the armour, but it does need to be quite bright to get a high contrast and make it stand out.

Yours is more of a tan/beige colour, which blends it into the flesh and the darker colours too much, and I think that's what's making it look "off" to you.

Anyway, that's my 2c! 

[Mad Doc Morris]

Heads left and centre are still early WIP. Right's the only helmet more or less finished so far.

[Mad Doc Morris]

While still contemplating the helmet colours on those Reivers   I pulled some Plague Marines up the list.



Now I really, really don't like Nurgle-themed stuff. But have to say, these are some great, intricately detailed sculpts. Huge fun to paint.



So, also started on their little fellows. Of course, the whose lot's still very much WIP.
Let's see which of the growing number of not-yet-ready models get finished first. Or any at all.  

[tomrommel1]

very gruesome in a most positive way

[Andym]

More excellent work!

[Major_Gilbear]

They look great - I like the use of the old DG colours.

[Suber]

Wow, jaw dropping work.