Hobby Progress March 16 - Paint Scheme Tests and the Land Raider of False Economy

Now that I’m nearing the end of the assembly stage for the first batch of Iron Hands it’s time to start making decisions about the paint scheme. For Iron Hands this is problematic as they are primarily black. Black is painful to paint as it takes away one of the most effective tools in my armoury – using washes to add in shading. For me, shading with washes is the point at which the model starts to come alive. It brings colours together and adds depth. But as you can’t go darker than true black, shading isn’t a viable way forward.

From the research I’ve done, all of the different techniques circulating out there seem to boil down to two options.

The first option is to use only highlighting to provide all of the depth to the model. Life would definitely be easier if I were to purchase an airbrush as zenith highlighting could be used to rapidly create a simple effect. One of the guys at my club showed me how his Raven Guard had received most of their highlighting from a quick spray of Vallejo grey-black from a single direction and I have to say that they looked pretty good. This method can be done with a spray can and lots of black washes to blend the result in, but the results I’ve seen all look too imprecise for my taste.

That leaves applying highlights with a brush. At a minimum (and given my painting skills, the minimum is probably where I’ll end up) that means lots of very patiently applied edge highlighting. There are some great examples on painting forums of people creating layered/blended highlights on curved surfaces such as pauldrons, but that is probably beyond my skill and patience. So option one will probably be one or two layer edge highlighting, with natural light being left to take care of the very difficult curved surfaces.

The second option for painting black is not to paint black at all, but instead use a very dark grey, green or blue. This means that washes can be used to make nooks and crannies darker. On a number of forums I visited there was a lot of noise about this not really being a black paint job, but quite frankly I couldn’t give a monkey’s. If it looks good, and it’s fun to paint, I’ll go for it.

Whichever route I choose, I’ll also have to make a decision on colour. Oddly enough, black is very rarely totally black, it usually has a hint of something else. Whether this is a reflection from the environment, a quality of the material or a product of the light source, black surfaces will usually have a hint of colour. At the moment I’m leaning towards a cool blue tone, as blue wash works well with metallics and using blue highlights on the black armour and blue washed metallic on the trim might potentially bring the whole model together quite well.

The only way forward is experimentation. Step forward a small warband of chaos space marines assembled but not painted that have volunteered to be used as test subjects.  As their purpose is purely to demonstrate whether or not certain paint combinations work, the test models have only been done to a very basic standard.I basecoated these guys despite the fact its too cold to spray outside. Even though I put down loads of newspaper I still managed to spray part of my living room carpet chaos black, but it was still totally worth it.

First up is a model designed to test whether or not working from a grey base colour and then adding black shading will work. Evil chaos space marine Brian below has had his power armour painted with Vallejo German Grey with Leadbelcher trim and Vallejo Blue Grey highlights. This was then washed all over once with Nuln Oil. The base is Agrellan Earth with Khemri Brown on the sides.

I quite like how Brian has turned out. The trim could use a silver highlight and the Blue Grey highlight could do with being preceded by a second highlight in a shade that blends more closely with the armour. It might also be worth doing a version that uses army painter strong tone as the shade.

I'm particularly pleased with the Agrellan Earth technical paint which is basically a vinyl paint that cracks as it drys to yield a surface like baked mud. If I use a vinyl paint I'll cover it with a varnish as I'm quite worried the surface will flake away with handling. I'll also experiment with washing and drybrushing the Agrellan to see if it gives it more depth.

Next up is evil space marine Darren. Darren's armour has been painted with Vallejo Gunmetal Blue with no highlight (it could have really done with one, probably a 50/50 mix of Gunmetal Blue and White). The trim is Leadbelcher again. I used two washes of Nuln Oil to try and bring down the brightness factor on the Gunmetal Blue and make the model look more like grim Iron Hands should look. The base is Blackfire Earth drybrushed with Dark Flesh.

I didn't do too much work on Darren as it was obvious this wasn't the way to go. The Gunmetal Blue is gorgeous, but it is just too bling for the Iron Hands. It would be great for Alpha Legion though and I very nearly strayed off course and started a side project. The armour looked great after the first wash but just looked dirty after the second. The back shot gives the best view of what it looks like without too much wash on it.

My initial plan was to use Blackfire Earth for the basing for my marines, but I'm very glad that I tested it first. It comes out very orange (you can still see some of the original colour around Darren's feet) and I couldn't find a way to wash it and highlight it to create anything I liked. Darren will be the last of his kind unless I succumb to the call of chaos and do Alpha Legion.

Evil space marine Keith is very similar to Brian. His armour is Vallejo German Gey but I've used Thunderhawk Blue as a more subtle highlight. The trim uses Scale 75 Black Metal and the whole thing has been washed with Nuln Oil. The base is Armageddon dust with Steel Legion Drab on the sides.

The Thunderhawk Blue will combine well with the Brian's Blue Grey highlight to create a nice two stage effect if I can pull it off. I found the black metal to be a pain in the butt to use as it was hard to get coverage, but the end result looks good. The Black Metal takes the shade well and it should contrast well with a lighter highlight which I'll have to add.

The Armageddon dust texture paint was a disappointment. The tub I was sold a couple of weeks ago had pretty much dried out when I opened it and I again struggled to find a decent way to shade and highlight it in a way that I liked; something I've never had a problem doing when I use my usual go to of Stirling Mud. I ended up drybrushing the yellow of the Armageddon Dust into non-existence with Steel Legion Drab as it just didn't work with the blues and greys of this scheme.

Finally evil chaos space marine Lionel is a little different. His armour is Abbadon Black with a Mechanicum Grey highlight and Leadbelcher trim. He's then been given a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade to get a blue wash into all the nooks and crannies. He's then had a Guillaman Blue glaze applied all over to tinge everything blue and provide a bit of consistency over the model. The base is Martian Iron Earth technical paint with Dark Flesh on the sides.

I need to be a bit more careful with the shade which has gone blotchy over some parts of the trim. Again the trim could do with a highlight. I've also forgotten to do the eyes, and the red there would have helped tie the model into the base. Finally the base needs some more depth, definitely from a shade and perhaps also from a drybrush if the the vinyl can survive that.

That being said, I quite like Lionel. The fact his armour is true black is a big bonus as he more closely resembles my mental picture of Iron Hands. He is also quite easy to paint which is a nice bonus. In particular I like the Martian Iron Earth base which is a real surprise as I had very low expectations from that product.

Overall I would say that Lionel wins; he shall be the template for my legion.

Its just as well that I'm coming to a conclusion on the paint scheme as assembly is nearing the ends stages. As mentioned in February's post, I had an Iron Hands land raider assault ramp door left over from the Sicaran Venator and decided to buy a land raider to put it on. So this month I built that and got it as far as I can before spraying base coat.

Also snipped all the marine shoulder pads from their sprues and got them ready for spraying.

The Venator is now being fully assembled (though some components are still loose to facilitate painting). I'm particularly pleased with how the symbol that has been cut out of the land raider doors fits the sponson fittings perfectly.