Grey Knights for the NOVA Open

After a long struggle, I've finally decided that instead of Imperial Guard I'll be bringing my much more manageable Grey Knights list to the NOVA Open. The only problem with this is that I have to get 20 Terminators painted so I'm going to try to use airbrush techniques as much as possible to save time and get a good realistic zenithal lighting effect.

I've Primed the model white with P3 white primer then airbrushed P3 Greatcoat Grey evenly on the entire models surface.

After That I airbrushed Citadel Chaos Black from below creating a solid black coat covering all of the downward facing surfaces. I also touched up a few spots that would require a shadow but weren't visible from below the model.



I finished by airbrushing Citadel Astronomicon Grey From above covering all of the upward facing surfaces. Just like with the black shading, I made sure that the highlight was pure Astronomicon Grey. This creates really extreme contrast that's visible from a distance, so these guys should look pretty dynamic on the board.



So here is the final product, I still have a lot of work to do on these models but hopefully a little less than the seven IG tanks I was working on.



I'm probably going to be going for some silver metallics on the engravings in the armor instead of the classic gold and some warm colors for the force weapons. We'll see how fast I can crank these guys out since I'll still need to paint Inquisitor Coteaz and three of his retinues. My ultimate goal at the NOVA is to have some fun and I think the Grey Knights list will be laid back enough with plenty of padding for my amateur mistakes on the table.

Valkyries, A lifetime achievement award

I've been playing with half painted Valkyries for months now and recently decided to take action. Since we all know that painted models perform better on the table I had to finish the job. This isn't a tutorial but I took a few pics along the way so I'm going just mention my progress.

Here is a shot of one of the valks following the initial Tamiya "rattlecan" basecoat from around Christmas time.

Since then I've used sponges from blister packs to apply a chipping effect.

After I had completed the chipping I applied a glosscoat to the model and used oil paints to wash areas filling in cracks and rivets. Following that I did some streaking giving the whole model a weathered look and creating a sense of movement.

In this picture you can see the difference between the Valkyrie with the oil paint (right) and the one without (left). Oils can work well to fill in all of the crevices on a model but they work best on a gloss surface.

The next step was to mix some "Future" acrylic floor polish with GW brown ink and airbrush it onto spots of the model sparingly. This makes certain areas (engines, hatches, etc.) look like they have oil or fuel spills and leaks. The Future gives it a very realistic sheen and really allows it to flow naturally. After the future was dry I airbrushed a bit thinned black paint onto and behind the engines to show exhaust stains. I did the same on the small fin that sits behind the engines and on the small wing tip engines as well.

So their you have it, Valkyries very nearly completed. Plenty more to get done before the NOVA open. Next on the docket, Tanks.