Khorne Daemonkin Part 1 Heldrake

For today I wanted to show the progress I've made on my Khorne Daemonkin.  There are plenty of models to work with but the Heldrake is a really cool looking model and I wanted to start there.

The yellow color is done over a brown base coat.  You could use GW Mournfang Brown but I found a cheap can of Rustoleum Flat Red Primer at the local hardware store.  It said red on the can but it was more brown than red.

To create that yellow color required a few layers.

1st - Base coat the whole model with Vallejo Model Air Burnt Umber no. 71.040

2nd - Spray with white (any airbrush white) into the middle of the panels and between the raised areas leaving the brown along the edges.  There will definitely be some overspray so just remember not to spray everything white just parts you'll need to be brighter.

3rd - I used a mix of P3 Skorne Red and Khardor Red Base mixed 50/50 and then sprayed the armor panels red.  Don't go too overboard but cover up all the white areas.  You'll notice that the red is much brighter because of the white.

4th - I used GW Flash Gitz Yellow.  For once I actually used the GW air paint as it did not have as many particles in it and is a nice bright yellow.  I did have to thin it though.  Just remember that it is very easy to use too much yellow so spray a little on one panel and move to the next then repeat.  Mostly this prevents the paint from running and ruining all the other work you just did.

That's it.  Four steps with the last one taking longer.  The brown will show up on the edges and the red will allow the brown and yellow to blend together for a smooth transition.  The more yellow you apply the brighter the model but don't go too overboard or none of the brown will show through.

The purple is a lot simpler.  Just three colors that blend well together.

1st - Spray the areas you need to be purple with a white (again any airbrush white will do).

2nd - GW Xereus Purple over all of the white.  Just be sure to take note of the angle you are spraying at so that you don't accidentally hit one of the panels.

3rd - A highlight of Vallejo Game Air Alien Purple.  Apply this to the areas you think will be brighter than the rest.

4th - Vallejo Game Air Squid Pink as a 2nd Highlight directly over the Alien Purple.  Use this sparingly as it is very easy to spray too much.  You want a lot of the Alien Purple to show through.

Until next time.   Cheers

House Orhlaac Part 3 and Custom Decals For Warhammer Miniatures

Good morning,

   It has been a few days since my last post but I have been very busy figuring out how to make custom decals.  I won't go into the gritty details because that would be very tedious to read but I'll give you the highlights.

The first step is choosing your decal paper.  I picked this up at a local hobby shop just for the sake of time.  When it comes to decal paper for miniatures you really have two big choices.  You can either go with white decal paper or clear decal paper.  Clear is good for anything that is dark.  So blue, red, yellow or any combination of those will work well with clear.

My problem was that most of my decals would need to be white.  White decal paper is good for anything that needs to be brighter.  So your yellows will show up better and of course you can print a black outline, cut out the shape, and then get a white decal.  Since most printers do not print white I had to go with the white paper for this project.

Here is the first test print.  You can see how the lines don't quite match but that was a problem I made in Corel Draw and not the fault of the printer.  It is still important to print test pieces on regular paper  so that you can fix mistakes before using the more expensive decal paper.

Once that was fixed I did a real print, maximizing the workable area on the sheet to get as many decals as possible onto one page.  I did that because it is inevitable you will make a mistake and waste a decal.  This way you have plenty of extras.

I hope the results speak for themselves.  This armor panel was done with the custom decals I printed and then weathered to blend into the armor panel and match the source artwork.

Until tomorrow,
  Cheers

Stormast Eternals Part 1

Good morning,

   Just starting some stormcast eternals for Age of Sigmar.  I had actually started these a while ago but hadn't settled on a scheme.  I was going for a gold and black theme but decided to switch the secondary color to violet.

I started off with a Vallejo Liquid Gold in my airbrush.  This is the 792 Old Gold Color which tends to be a little darker but turned out perfectly.  Just be careful when applying it since it dries very quickly and can clog your airbrush.  Also make sure to clean the airbrush immediately after you use it.

Next I decided to go with my regular GW Seraphim Sepia Wash (on the right) but this turned out too dark for my taste so I did something I've never done and cracked open my pot of Reikland Fleshshade in the new gloss variant.  I'm not a huge fan of gloss on models so I was hesitant but the gloss preserves the shine of the airbrush paint (on the left).

Next I applied a couple layers of GW Xereus Purple over the gold, fixing any mistakes with more of the Vallejo Liquid Gold.  The Liquid Gold can be used with a regular brush but don't apply it with your favorite brush and keep some mineral spirits to rinse it out with.  

There they are all bright and shiny.  Only the first model has a wash on it.  I also picked up some judicators so this project will continue when I get free time.  Hopefully I'll convince a friend to split the starter set with me so I can fill out my army.

Cheers

House Orhlaac Part 2 and Heat Scoring Weapons

Today I got the rest of the airbrushing done for the House Ohrlaac knights including the heat scoring on all the weapons and the rust effects on the armor.

I'll start off with the masking techniques I used to make sure the checker pattern looked right and make sure I did not cause any overspray with the airbrush onto the metal I already airbrushed.

Here is the heraldry I was going for on the shields:

You can see the corners are different colors so I used Tamiya Masking Tape to section off each piece. This tape works best because it sticks very well and does not pull up any paint.  Just make sure the paint is completely dry before applying the tape.

You can see how I cut the tape into corner sections.  Make sure you use scissors to give it that nice corner.  This makes it easier to keep your lines straight.

For the chainswords SILLY PUTTY is amazing.  Thanks to my friend Will for telling me how easy and cheap it is.  The silly putty only sticks to itself so it will not pull off any paint.  Plus it is reusable.  Just pull it off when done spraying and knead it until the paint goes away.  The stuff lasts forever and for $1 at most toy stores it can't be beat.

Next I airbrushed all of the rust effects onto the barricades and the armor joints.

For this I used Vallejo Light Rust airbrush paint.

Next came the heat scoring on the weapons.  I wanted to make sure each was unique and the colors were all different.

The battle cannons were done with Minitaire Ghost Tints.  I've applied the yellow and brown ghost tints over the metal and then added Vallejo Air Nato Black for the carbon at the end.

The thermal cannons were a bit harder as I had to use a bunch of paints from different ranges.  The orange is a Vallejo Air Bloody Red followed by a GW Flash Gitz Yellow (thinned down for the airbrush).  I used three or four coats of the yellow because it is so thin.  Then I took a Forgeworld Pyroclast Orange Airbrush Paint and sprayed the entire gun to blend the two colors and tint the bare metal.

The avenger gatling cannons were very easy.  I applied Calth Blue, Eidolon Purple, and Angron Red. They are all Clear Forgeworld Airbrush paints and I highly recommend them. Then I finished it off with the Vallejo Air Nato Black.

I hope this is all useful and please feel free to ask questions.  

Until tomorrow.

Cheers.

House Orhlaac Part 1

It has been a while since I started posting but in order to get back into it I want to try and post something daily.  Whether it is some food for thought or a cool project I'm currently working on, there will be something every single day.

Kicking things off I wanted to get into Imperial Knight House Ohrlaac.  I'm going to approach this from a painting perspective but if you want the house lore here is a link.

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/House_Orhlacc

As you can see they have a very distinctive purple and black scheme with some gold edging.

Figuring out the scheme was a trick because I wanted to do kind of a royal purple.  Think a dark purple with hints of blue.

I ended up doing a mix of four GW paints to accomplish this:
-Kantor Blue
-Screamer Pink
-Genestealer Purple
-Naggaroth Night

all in equal parts.

Here's a quick photo of the results:

The Edging was done with Balthasar gold and the results are better than expected.

Next I started on the heraldry.  I'm currently waiting on some custom decals for the house from Fallout Hobbies but they are taking way too long so I decided to try some freehand at least on the main armor panel.

Here is what is is supposed to look like:

Remember when you're doing freehand it is best to practice a bit with a piece of paper before you get started.  

I knew that this would end up being done with a brush so I decided to pick up a brush pen to make sure the practice would directly result in what I wanted.  It took a while but I got the idea at the very end (look at the bottom left design where I actually did it in the gold I would use on the model):

     

Then I actually applied it to the model:

I think the results worked out nicely especially with the black armor as I was able to clean up the lines a little with some black paint.

That's it for today.  I know the post is long but I kind of like them that way.  If you have any questions don't hesitate to leave a comment and I will see it.  For tomorrow it's onto the rest of the knights... Five in total for this house.

Cheers