Photos of Weathering Using Pigments, and Pencils

I have had these tanks for a while, and have been using the forger world Model Masterclass Volume One for my weathering techniques. I started the chimera tread weathering last night, and have not decided how far to take it. I thought I had used the same mixture of pigments, rust and dust, but the tracks look really different. If only I had built these models better originally! Maybe that is the thing with weathering, since it is primarily a texture thing, maybe it is even more important to clean up the model prior to painting. I really hadn't thought of myself as a model builder, but more of a painter until recently. With the no holds bared use whatever works style of forge world I am really digging the modeling experience. I still have not used any of these tanks in a game. On the Oni aquila rating scale I give the FW pigments a 4.5 out of 5.

Last Blood Angel Honor Guard

I've finally finished painting the last major portion of my Blood Angels Honor Guard squad. It has taken a year, probably because I never played large enough games to field these guys, and probably because my initial dry brushing was done poorly. A bad start can easily end a project for me. This last mini was a pain to paint. The casting was pretty bad, and apparently a year ago I did not believe in trimming flash or filing off poorly cast details on the model. However I am pretty happy how the squad turned out. They are not my best minis, but the look good together and are pretty interesting models. Now......... the horrible bit...... These guys have weird scenic basing as part of them. Since my blood angels are all on flat desert bases, I need to fit these guys in somehow. I am now behind on my basing for about a dozen models, so I need to buckle down and take care of things.

Original Rhino Photo Parade

I've played and painted warhammer 40k for a lot of years. When the first rhino kit came out you got three rhinos per kit! My custom space marine chapter, the Iron Scythes, have a rather patched together relic-like motor pool. I thought about simple greening these tanks, and turning them into my chaos tanks, but I think they are kind of fun the way they are. All kinds of wrong bits, terribly thick painting, skeleton parts do not detract for me. Had I taken a shot of the bottom's of the tanks, you would have seen the original grey they sported when they carried the Imperial Guard! The predator and the demolisher are the only tanks that have always been space marine in the force. I am building up an Inquisitional force just so I can throw guard in rhinos again.

Weathering Rhino Tracks With Powers

So I decided to try weathering some extra rhino tracks using the following steps:

1) paint on dry powder

2) heavily douse with thinner

3) wait

4) take a pencil and highlight the treads

I am really not sure I like this method more than just dusting the model and wiping off the excess dust. The tracks did dry a little nicer looking than they were when wet. They are definitely an improvement to some of my older vehicles, but I am not sure making all my vehicles look like scavenged derelicts is a good thing.

*EDIT I added a photo of a second track link where I used the ash color, and then dabbled in a little bit of the rust. I think the second one might be the keep. The photo is very large so you can see the texture better.

Weathering Powders

With my recent forgeworld purchase I received a set of the weathering powers. I have used charcoal before, as well as pastels for weathering, but this is my first attempt at using the real stuff. Initially I added acrylic thinner to the powder and dappled it on, but towards the end I ust put the powders directly on with a damp brush. I like the way the black soot turned out, and I like some of the rust. It is a little hard to imagine a unit wanting to use a tank that looks like this. I am considering adding rust, soot, and the light and dark soot to my IG motor pool.

Incidentally this last photo is the side of the turret that I accidentally sprayed white after grabbing the wrong can of spray paint. I rubbed most of it off, but the transfers took a pretty big hit.'

I was planning on using the Oni Aquila scale for rating the powders, but I am just not sure about them yet. Any thoughts from other raw pigment users?

Chaos Terminator WIP

I had a little problem with the white primer, but plowed ahead anyway. I suppose I will finish off the other two squad members and simple green them at some point in the future if I run out of other stuff to paint. I guess today was one of those days where I should have just stopped painting when things started to go wrong! From a distance the mini looks ok, but the surface is covered in earthquake like primer cracks, and the detail is muted due to excess primer. Maybe they will look better when they are properly based and in a squad.

*edit. I just added a shot of some recently painted Imperial Guard. These guys look like old school Russian soldiers. I love these old minis, though I only have two of them. I decided to make them a weapons team instead of a basilisk crew because they just looked too small as vehicle crew. They are on my bog standard ruined city basing, though it needs a little more orange wash to bring out the rust.

Chaos Obliterator WIP

I've gotten used to people complaining about the chaos obliterators on forums and blogs. Until now I was in agreement. However after picking one up and hitting it with washes, and bone, and oranges, I've changed my mind. The sculpts are hard to work with, but I think the pose and the design lends a sense of weight. Regardless, I had one, and after reading a twitter from a poster about painting it I decided to give it a go. The lighting makes it very difficult to capture the shading, but the basic idea is there. Posed next to my plague marines, or my traitor dark angles, I think it will look pretty good. (I know I said guard were next on my painting list, but I picked up the chaos marine codex and realized I only needed a few more units to have a playable force!)

Glass Display Cases

So I have have finally reached the point where I am not terribly embarrassed for people to know that I paint toy soldiers. This may be the result of having two serious surgeries and ceasing to care what people think of my hobbies, or maybe I have matured a bit on the way. My wife is very supportive of the hobby, so when it came time to furnish our new condo, in addition to all of the regular furniture, I decided to hunt out and buy some display cases. Since I don't game that often, they would allow me to see what I had accomplished painting-wise. The key for me was getting some nice glass cases with doors that could keep the dust off of the miniatures. I was also hoping to find a case or cases that did not ruin the look of my office.

Years ago I used to store my figs on a bookshelf, but over time they accrued dust with the adhesion properties of glue. It turns out that glass display cases are a pain to find, especially ones that could fit in my corner pie shaped office. After hunting long and hard I just broke down and bought the ikea display cases pictured here. They were inexpensive, costing two for the price of one and third baneblades. I've just finished building them, but have not populated them yet.

Oh, the other thing about surgery. It led me to just go out and purchase all the minis I ever wanted to paint guilt free. The more unpacking I do the more surprises I find. I know it is gauche to show one's loot, but think of this as a preview of what I will be painting. I have a small Grey Knights detachment, Krashkin storm troopers, Valhallan ice troopers, and a large amount of voystroyan. These guys will all be painted up to go with my ruined city bases for use with my cadians. The voystroyans will be painted in a cleaner fashion, allowing the cadians to look more like grungy mud troops. I think the traditional voystroyan paint scheme will look really nice with the grey knights. As usual, I will try to keep the reds similar so there is a cohesive look to the force. I think it will be really cool to field an IG based army with each of the different IG models Games Worship has produced. Of course, that would require me to get in a game or two every few months. Anyone up for a game in DC?

*EDIT added photos of guard and blood angels in the case!