Space Marines always have this weird magnetic pull with me. I go through episodes where I'm fed up with the hobby, take a break (usually only like a week or so. That seems to be the maximum amount of time I can stay away.), and then I'll read a cool bit of fluff or see an interesting conversion or army list that piques my interest, and I jump back in with both feet. The army that almost always pulls me back in is Space Marines. They're genetically engineered Human war machines with the most powerful armor and weapons that Humanity can produce. What's not to like!?
I've been waking up super early to hit the gym lately, and with that comes a whole BUNCH of free time in the AM hours. I was sitting there, bored, looking at some models I had originally assembled for a commission job that fell through on me, when I though "hmm... I should paint those..." After a conversation with my old buddy Jay over at Jay's Workshop I realized that painting lighter colors - namely yellow in this case - isn't as difficult as it really seems to be, so I decided to do it up with some Space Marines of the Imperial Fists chapter! I had nothing but time, so I got right to work the following morning after gym time.
I had only five Space Marines assembled, which is only 50% of a full squad, but I had no inclination for build more... call it hobby laziness, but simply didn't want to spend any more time building models. I still wanted the squad to have a lot of firepower behind it, even though I didn't want to build more models, so I looked through my extensive collection of bits and found some interesting things - a combi-plasma, an entire freakin' Rhino that was already assembled, and a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon from the Land Raider Crusader kit. Perfect! With a little bit of work I was able to swap out the top doors of the Rhino with the Razorback gun cradle, pop in the twin-linked assault cannon, and give the Tactical Squad Sergeant the Combi-Plasma for a little extra punch in case he needs it. I assembled everything, cleaned it clean of mold lines and imperfections, then glued some sand on the bases of the 5 marines. Here's a shot of them post-assembly.
The next step was to prime the model. Now usually I'd simply hit the models with a Citadel Skull White or Chaos Black spray, but I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending so much time building up the yellow color, layer after layer over White - and CERTAINLY not over Black - so I decided to go outside my Games Workshop comfort zone and give The Army Painter's products another try. I'd used their products with mixed results in the past, but I still had a lot of Demonic Yellow primer laying around, unused and unloved in the huge bin o' paint in my workshop area, so I decided to give it another go... and I couldn't be more pleased with how it worked out for me. Not only did the new can of Demonic Yellow cover as adequately as Citadel Primer, it also saved me the step of using my Citadel Spray Gun to hit the models with a yellow base coat. It turned a normally hour-long process (for me - I'm kind of slow) into a 10-minute prime job, thus speeding me on my way to finishing the project. What's better is that there's no reason at all that you can't use the primer as the basecoat for your model. Anyhow, here's a shot of the models after they were primed with Demonic Yellow from The Army Painter.
The next step required a little bit of planning, as I had to figure out a decent paint plan for my marines. The traditional colors of the Imperial Fists are Yellow with Red trim, and I wanted to stick with that general color scheme, but I also wanted the marines to look dirty and battle-worn, like they're been in the thick of battle, not pristine and bright like they're on parade march. I realized that I'd have to improvise a bit because the shades of Yellow that are available straight out of the paint pot didn't really work for what I wanted. So I got to thinking about a suitable shade of yellow for the type of painting I was doing and came up with what I have affectionately dubbed "Imperial Fists Yellow" (original, I know). I made this mix with a 1:3:1 mix of Iyanden Darksun : Golden Yellow : Bad Moon Yellow. Bad Moon Yellow is kind of hard to find anymore though, so if you need to you can just use 4 parts Golden Yellow, as they're just about the same shade. I really just put the bighter Bad Moon Yellow in there to brighten the mix from the darker, more pigmented Iyanden Darksun. Here's my "mixing lab", a.k.a. my kitchen counter. :)
Moving on from there, and after drinking some delicious chocolate milk (drool), I set about putting paint to brush and brush to model. Base Coating these models was pretty simple, really. I painted the sand and the base Chaos Black. I did all the metal in Boltgun Metal, the shoulder pad trim, chest eagles and purity seals with Red Gore, and the parchment with Khemri Brown. Instead of using Imperial Fists Yellow as a basecoat at this point, I decided to go ahead and just use the Demonic Yellow primer as my basecoat, and it turned out pretty well. Traditionally, the Imperial Fists' boltguns have black casings, but I thought they'd look cool with casings the same color as their armor. Its a personal preference, and I went ahead with the choice. In retrospect I think it looks pretty good. I always thought the black looked out of place amidst the yellow and red armor. That's just my personal take. Oh, I also basecoated the sergeant's exposed skin with Tallarn Flesh. That's my absolute favorite color for painting skin. It's excellent! While I did the Razorback a day after I did the squad, here's pictures of both of them at this stage. I need to point out that this is also the stage in painting where your model will look like poo. I've seen MANY hobbyists lose their patience at this stage and just stop painting because they think they're not doing a good job. What many don't understand is that at this point EVERYONE'S models look their worst. It's the stages of painting that come afterward in which your models really start to look awesome! Anyhow, here's those pictures I was talking about...
A side note on Citadel Washes - THEY'RE AWESOME! They shade those hard to paint areas well, and they add a great layer of color to anything they cover. They're like cheating at painting! Also, painting a wash on a tank with a wash brush takes a LONG TIME, but its worth the effort put into it. You could use a large drybrush or a tank brush, but that will leave weird bubbles all over your vehicle that will leave unwashed spots after they dry. Save yourself the hastle and just grin and bare it with the Wash Brush. It will look better. Here's some post-Devlan Mud Wash pictures of the squad and the transport.
Alrighty then... the wash takes a long time to dry completely, and you do NOT want to start painting around "mostly dry" wash, so I took a break at this point... which turned into lunch...which turned into a nap... but when I woke up, I started painting again!
At this stage of painting it's time to put that Imperial Fists Yellow to work. I took a drybrush, loaded it will my mixed color, and went about painting all the broad areas of the models. After using washes on a model you will usually have areas where the model has pooled, and a slightly wetter than normal drybrush is perfect for "buffing out" those areas that are too dark. This was pretty time consuming on the Razorback, but it ended up being worth it. The red on the shoulder pads, chest eagles and purity seals was highlighted slightly with Blood Red along the edges, and I think it turned out well. I drybrushed the metal areas lightly with Chainmail on the marines and the vehicle. I also went about doing a bit of weathering on the Razorback around the exhaust vents by stipling on Scortched Brown, followed by Chaos Black to give the effect that soot and dirt has built up. I also did a tad of weathering on the underside of the vehicle to simulate road dirt by stipling on Adeptus Battlegrey, followed by Astronomicon Grey. I forgot that I hit the lenses with Blood Red, and the Sergeant's skin with Rotting Flesh... I figure a 300 year old Space Marine won't have the healthy complexion of youth. Painting his eyes was kind of a pain in the ass, but I got it done and I'm satisfied with it.
Oh, and I also forgot about the bases! I drybrushed them all with Calthan Brown, followed by Kommando Khaki, followed by Bleached Bone, followed by Skull White! Then I mixed up a little bit of PVA glue with a tad of Snow Flock and put the resulting paste in patches on the model's base. Afterward, I sprinkled on a bit of the Snow Flock to the base, blew off the excess, and painted the rim of the base with simple Calthan Brown. Voila! Snow bases!!! Here's pictures of the models at this stage.
Now, I was thinking about doing without the chapter badge decals for the Imperial Fists, because I HATE putting goddamn transfers on my models. It's a pain in the ass, and I end up breaking them. But as The Dude abides, so shall I! After consulting some of the folks in my local hobby communities I was convinced to go through and add the decals, and they look pretty sweet in retrospect. I think I'm going to start adding them to all marines I paint, or simply buying the scuplted shoulder pads. They really add a certain "pop" to the models. Here's some pics of this stage.
After this, I did a couple of things to the models that I don't really remember on account of sleep poisoning. I forgot to take pictures and close-ups of what I did next, but they were all very minor, like highlighting the targeting and navigation lenses on the Razorback. Here's a picture of the finished squad! What do you think?
Well... that's all for now. I'll go about writing another blog whenever I get around to it. I've been meaning to do this more frequently, and I think I'll try to make at least one post every other day. I'm thinking of doing a unit a week... I think that would be pretty sweet.
Anyhow, I'm out of here. Stay tuned!
~Mr Bad Guy~
awesome!!!!!! I wanna do an Imperial Fists army too now... Resist the urge!
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