This year I set myself a new challenge - Space Marines. Once I saw the new Indomitus set from GW I was smitten. That Space Marine Captain is just amazing.
Once upon a time, back in 2007, I started a true scale Space Marine project but quickly walked away from it. I lacked the green stuff experience and ability. Now years later Primaris have arrived and with Indomitus they've come of age.
Ever since I learned about Deathwatch I was drawn to them. My old Space Marine Captain had been a returned Veteran. But since 2018 Deathwatch had its own codex, so this was my new force. But Deathwatch means black armour and painting black to a high standard is no fun. Doing it the 'Eavy Metal way is also just silly, at least IMHO.
Edge Highlighting black the 'Eavy Metal Way has always bugged me. Sure it's neat. Sure it's crisp. But every edge picked out with grey and blue is not how black armour or black cloth works - even at 30mm scale. So I spent the summer buying and testing paints and methods of painting black.
I knew I wanted it to be crisp and airbrush based of Inspired by
Jack of Clubs video on painting Black Templars I tried Vallejo Mecha colour. Unfortunately I found these paints gloopy (tending to clog my airbrush a lot) and tending towards a very grey finish. Then I tried a black based on metallic black by Vallejo. But it was a bit dead, and I was edge highlighting anyway.
Then I tried oil washes over a Vallejo Model Air (VMA) Anethrecite and VMA Panzer Dark Grey with VMA Light Grey highlights. But this was me capitulating - I was just edge highlighting black the Eavy metal way. Plus it just never 'sang' to me.
I tried the more traditional drybrush of Eshin Grey and then an overbrush of Dawnstone. I tried that through the airbrush too, but it was boring. I felt like there was no point doing this for display if I was going to do the usual old black recipe.
So I looked around for inspiration and found the colourshift colours by Turbo Dork. The image on their website is actually a 100% accurate representation as to what I got with 3 coats of their 3d glasses paint (ymmv). It's a cool effect but it actually clogged up the detail on my guy a small bit (you can see it in his eyes). But it turns out this is what I'm going to use for my Necrons - so no money lost or time wasted.On a side note. Turbo Dork's Redrum is a must have. If you want Candy Red Marines - this is a great one paint solution. This is the Turbo Dork promotional image but looking at the paint I used on my guy's shoulder pad - it's pretty damn accurate. Just build up those layers slowly.
When I decided my colour shifting purple was not what I wanted as a base for my Deathwatch Marine I felt totally lost. Then I saw this Centurion conversion by
Lazarus Crusader. This was something I understood - brushed metal, metallic black. It was a revelation (not just on how good a centurion could look, but on how TMM could solve my Deathwatch armour question). For some people this might be too Iron Hands or to 30K Dark Angels. That's ok with me - that's honestly what I'm going for here, Knights in Space.
I tried and failed a few times but using the tips from various Youtubers, Redditors and Bloggers I came to rest on the following recipe:
- Prime Vallejo Polyurethane Gloss Black Primer
- Base Vallejo Metal Colour Burnt iron
- Zenithal 45 degrees: Vallejo Metal Colour Steel
- Zenithal Zero and some spotlight detail: Vallejo Metal Colour Silver
- All-over Glaze: 2:4:4 Flow improver, airbrush thinner, GW Contrast Black Templar. Built up in 3 light layers.
When I felt I need one more layer of black I stopped. I left them intentionally more metallic charcoal than pure black. This gives me somewhere to go. Whereas with my other tests I end-up at pure black too quickly. Now I could varnish, and oil wash before the armour was totally black. The gloss primer and zenithal left me with airbrush highlights and a natural sheen to the edges.
The Aquilla, left arm and weapon (and any bionics) were then drybrushed with GW's Necron Compound. And then the red parts get a coat of GW Contrast Blood Angels Red, and the black rubber under armour (and chainswords) gets a coat of GW Contrast Black Templar. Finally the gold parts gets a touch of Vallejo Metal Colour Gold. And teh brown pouches get a base coat of GW Rhinox Hide.
