Sanguinary Priest

So, my old school apothecary was pretty shocking:

:-(

No matter, time to save myself some money and create a Sanguinary Priest.  Fistly I  stripped him off in Dettol and then set about making him a bit more 'fluff' appropriate...

Early on I decapitated him, as I particularly didn't like the helmetless effort that he came with.  I replaced that with a suitably sanguinary looking helmet.  I then added a chainsword arm from the Death Company sprue, and a really nice shoulder pad.  I also cut and attached a bolt pistol to his Narthecium arm (this was tricky because of the sizes of the bits).  Finally I pinned him to a resin base and added some purity seals etc and he looked a bit like this:

I think much better.  Next stage was to paint him up...so I went for a unique cream and red affair.  I don't really like the bright white on armour, the Deathwing style looks a bit more grimdark I think...and should sit in better with the rest of my guys.

A bit better looking now...

Still needs gems doing, basing and some touch ups here and there but a nearly done WIP.  Let me know what you guys think...This was my first attempt at converting something...so its all new for me!

Retrospective: Devastator Salvage Job part 2

So part 2 then. This is what I had so far, base coated and now washed down to give some tonal depth to the mini. Next step is to increase the tonal variety even more by highlighting up.

My basic recipe for the various colours is as follows:

Red: restore the base colour to the plates, being sure not to disrupt the shading in the crevices. In this case that is with Mephiston Red, thinned down a bunch. Next I apply several more coats of Mephiston (always thin as you like) with the paint on the model still wet. This allows me to do a kind of wet blended effect to transition the reds up gently. Obviously each layer moves further and further from the crevices... 

Once I have pure mephiston on I move to the next shade up. This is super thin Evil Suns Scarlet. Same process again, but keeping in mind how far I wanted to take it (I like the grimdark look). Very final tickle is with Evils Sun's scarlet mixed 80:20 with a yellow...This is literally for the very tips where the light catches. 

I find it quite useful to have a photo of your model to work from when highlighting.  This means you can do some 'objective source lighting' (i think thats the right term) type highlights and make it all look a bit more convincing.  To do this I take a photo of my model just after priming in a dark room with only one light coming down from on top. It will really show you where the shadows fall and what surfaces catch the light.

Other highlight colours I use are:

Leadbelcher to reinforce the silver areas, followed by runefang silver on the very edges.

Gehannas gold to reinforce, and then a highlight of Gehannas and a brass (50:50). Final top highlight of brass and runefang (50:50)...obviously a softer transition if doing a big area...I will do a gold post a bit later on.

Edge highlight of the blacks with 50:50 black and administratum grey. I keep these quite tight to avoid the blacks looking too grey.

So there we go then....the captain is done.  In this shot the base is this fairly dreadful one...so I have changed it to key in better with my other guys, and also because darker bases tends to 'frame' the mini a bit better.  I will hopefully do a bit on basing another day..along with a bit on how I paint the gems. 

Bye for now.

Retrospective: Devastator Salvage Job part 1

This is my first salvage post, about minis that I am trying to bring back from the dead. I hope other beginners might find it a useful (and cheap) way to update their lists. I won't go into too much detail, but I will try to point out the pitfalls...hope you enjoy.

So back in the day I had some devastators, led by my fave captain:

Needs some love

They're all metal or plastic/metal minis, so I did the 'Dettol' trick. Basically brown Dettol (disinfectant) is an ace acrylic paint stripper...it's also cheap, safe and available from most hardware shops.  However, tip 1 is that it stinks to high heaven...my wife was furious with the smell in the house, so just do it outdoors.

Dudes taking a Dettol bath

I left them in 24 hours, and the paint just flies off with a tooth/paintbrush. Metal seems to strip better than plastic, so you may need longer for plastic guys. There are reports that you can leave minis in almost forever and they won't degrade...the longest I can testify to is about 48 hours.  Also, DO NOT DO THIS WITH FINECAST. It will literally melt your models. There are a ton of other strippers about,  but this one works for me...

Stripped and on first attempt bases...I went off of these early on.

Onto paint then...I prme in black spray as it hides mistakes better than anything else...and boy do I need that.  I would totally recommend that everyone primes black, especially when you're starting out (sensible exceptions of course...). Then over sprayed in Mephiston red and base colours put in (leadbelcher, black, gehannas gold, hashut copper) with the brush.  I have picked a fairly narrow pallet for my Blood Angels, as you will see...this is to try and tie it all together a bit. Tip 2: never paint gold onto red (especially not GW golds as they are not heavy in the pigment department). ALWAYS put an undercoat on first.  I use Snakebite Leather, but any dark colour will do (bear in mind you will see the undercoat though the finished gold).  If you want a brighter finish then a silver base (Runefang Steel) is also good.

Tip 3: ALWAYS thin your paints. I used water at this stage, but I am experimenting with medium too...will keep you posted.

So they're back to pretty much how they were, except painted within the lines this time.  The fun starts now, with the washes. I use a combination of washes to get my tones really deep. For the metal areas I used Nuln Oil, followed by a go with Agrax Earthshade (let them dry super loads between coats).  For the rest (literally everything else) I use Seraphim Sepia to key everything in nicely, and then Agrax Earthshade to get the crevices nice and dark.  Tip whatever (I lost count): direct your washes. Use a brush to get the wash into the recesses, and don't let it pool. Avoiding plates of colour can also save you time in the highlighting stages.

Clearly this is a different model...same stage though.  My phone has deleted many of my WIP shots...sorry!

So now the minis are pretty much table top I reckon...time to push on.  Highlighting takes forever and can be a proper pain, but if you stick with it you can get some super subtle effects. I'm gonna put the rest in another post because this got a little long...adios.

First Post

Okay, so I'm new to this...I'm not sure anyone will even read it!

I'm just a guy who has got back into 40k after a long break (20 years!), and I thought I would share some of my experiments and experiences so that others can learn from what I do!

I am a painter first and foremost, and have been repainting a lot of Rogue Trader and 2nd edition era minis...and a few new additions in between!

My first pic is a Brother Deino from the new (ish) Space Hulk. Massive thanks to Striking Scorpion 82 for the basics...as I put up some descriptions, you will see how much of an influence he has been! Also there is my new tyranid colour scheme on my Carnifex..what do you guys think?

So there we go...stay tuned for more pics and some tips on pitfalls to avoid..

Dave