Noob Dark Angels and things

[Axineton]

So I've decided to take the plunge and start painting my minis. Was going to do a white consuls chapter scheme but thats fell by the wayside now and I'm going to go with a homebrew chapter.

 

Thinking of calling them the Sol Destroyers and may be a successor of the crimson fists or the imperial fists I've not decided yet.

 

Since I've not painted any Space Marines since 1994 I'm currently into buying a few minis every month on ebay for cheap till i can get confident enough to paint my Dark Imperium Marines and all the other bits and pieces I've collected over the last few weeks.

 

My original colour scheme for the Sol Destroyers was going to be pretty much all black and with a yellow helmet and shoulder pads but I think I'm going to either go with a light/ sky blue or even light green colour scheme. I started today with one easy to build intercessor (I think!) it was already assembled so thought why not.

 

 

 

 

Primed him black a few weeks back and basecoated (2 coats) today with a Ultramarine blue from army painter. will do the weapon and pouches tomorrow if i get time.

 

Also did three (count them!!) 40mm bases I have lying around that came with some AoS Liberators (again easy to build cos they're cheap.) Now I've never ever in the history of my time as a painter ever painted any bases but I'm happy with the results I got today doing these. I'll probably use these for some well painted marines once I've done some

 

 

 

 

 

All bases had a armageddon dust texture applied followed by nuln oil shade. Then the left base was drybrushed with ushbati bone. The middle base was drybrushed with dry rust from army painter and finally the base on the right was drybrushed with moon dust also an army painter paint.

Then all applied with a few wasteland tufts from army painter too.

 

 

And this is as far as I've gone. Like I said I'm new to all this and in the last month or so I've had a few disasters with priming and painting but it's all a learning curve and I'm determined to actually finish my minis this time round and get some games in eventually.

 

Anyway I think I've rambled on enough now.

[Honda]

Well, I think you're off to a really good start. The Primaris models are a lot of fun to paint and they look good in every scheme I've seen so far. So have fun.

 

"Sol Destroyers" is a pretty cool name, though it sounds chaosey. Was that your intent?

 

I should also say that your bases turned out really well. I liked all of them, but think the version on the far right will show off the blue (if that's where you settle) better.

 

Play on good sir!

[Ryno]

1 - Love the name.
2 - My vote goes to the blue, and for an accent colour I think a silver or gun metal would look nice. Maybe a bit of white or yellow to reference Sol?

[Axineton]

Well, I think you're off to a really good start. The Primaris models are a lot of fun to paint and they look good in every scheme I've seen so far. So have fun.

 

"Sol Destroyers" is a pretty cool name, though it sounds chaosey. Was that your intent?

 

I should also say that your bases turned out really well. I liked all of them, but think the version on the far right will show off the blue (if that's where you settle) better.

 

Play on good sir!

I’ve been reading Souldrinkers and it sort of came from there but I thought Sol as in the sun sounded cooler than sun destroyers.

[Axineton]

1 - Love the name.

2 - My vote goes to the blue, and for an accent colour I think a silver or gun metal would look nice. Maybe a bit of white or yellow to reference Sol?

Yep I want a sun in my chapter badge but still need to design one.

[Axineton]

So was playing about with blues today and came up with this.

 

Basecoat of Tetric (I think) blue and mixed with Ceramite white.

 

 

 

It dried a lot darker which I'm happy about and prefer it a little bit darker.

 

Still not 100% sure though until I get some more detail on it.

 

[Ryno]

That's a very nice colour (says the colour blind guy) :)

[WarriorFish]

Blue is a solid colour, and will work nicely on any of those bases as they all look good. I think I prefer the middle one though :tu:

[Axineton]

Blue is a solid colour, and will work nicely on any of those bases as they all look good. I think I prefer the middle one though

 

I'm liking the middle base as well mate.

[Bryan Blaire]

The only thing I would caution if you are not using a premixed color is to take careful notes on how you mixed the color you used in a notebook or on here, in case you need to come back to it after some time - I'm not great at judging similar hues, so this really helped me try and get more consistency between figures where I used mixed paints for the base coat.

 

I like your base color, it looks really nice! For the base itself, if you are using brighter colors for the pauldrons, details, weapon casings/bodies and the like, I would go with the middle base. If you are going with darker details, pauldrons and weapon bodies, then I would do the right-most base.

 

No matter what you choose to do, good luck to you!

[Axineton]

The only thing I would caution if you are not using a premixed color is to take careful notes on how you mixed the color you used in a notebook or on here, in case you need to come back to it after some time - I'm not great at judging similar hues, so this really helped me try and get more consistency between figures where I used mixed paints for the base coat.

I like your base color, it looks really nice! For the base itself, if you are using brighter colors for the pauldrons, details, weapon casings/bodies and the like, I would go with the middle base. If you are going with darker details, pauldrons and weapon bodies, then I would do the right-most base.

No matter what you choose to do, good luck to you!

Thanks mate. Yep I’ve made a list of what mix of blue and white I need. Still not sure what colour to do the raised bits on the shoulder pads though.

[General Strike]

Remember, shades/inks/washes are your best friend. A blue or purple wash can darken up your blue and add layers to the details of the model. I'm not sure which to use, maybe drakenhof nightshade?

[Axineton]

Remember, shades/inks/washes are your best friend. A blue or purple wash can darken up your blue and add layers to the details of the model. I'm not sure which to use, maybe drakenhof nightshade?

If I used that shade, would I be best to literally go over the whole mini with it or just in the recesses? I tried using a 000 Winsor & Newton series 7 brush yesterday on a different mini for the recesses and i had trouble just sticking to them. Managed to get nuln oil everywhere

[Ahistorian]

 

Remember, shades/inks/washes are your best friend. A blue or purple wash can darken up your blue and add layers to the details of the model. I'm not sure which to use, maybe drakenhof nightshade?

If I used that shade, would I be best to literally go over the whole mini with it or just in the recesses? I tried using a 000 Winsor & Newton series 7 brush yesterday on a different mini for the recesses and i had trouble just sticking to them. Managed to get nuln oil everywhere

 

 

I personally don't use pin or line washes. I choose one wash that will shadow the entirety of every model in the army (usually a brown or a black), and occasionally a flat wash for other areas too (purple for skin &c). Looks well on the table, since it smooths out the differences between colours as it shades.

[General Strike]

I agree with Ahistorian, I go over the whole mini, but I have Astral Claws Primaris and Custodes so far, which lend themselves well to that.

[Axineton]

I agree with Ahistorian, I go over the whole mini, but I have Astral Claws Primaris and Custodes so far, which lend themselves well to that.

So wash over the whole miniature not just the recesses?

[Bryan Blaire]

So wash over the whole miniature not just the recesses?

It really depends on the effect you are trying to achieve.

 

The way I typically shade is to wash over the entirety of the portions of the miniature that are in shadow, but do a recess only wash on those parts of the model that would be in the lighted portions, and clean up with the base color over any sloppy areas. For metallics, I generally wash over the entirety of the area, but with a matte shade for the parts that are in the shadow area, and a gloss shade for the parts that are in the lighted portions.

 

Then I build the base color back up as necessary and proceed to layering on the lighter colors, then to final highlights.

[Ahistorian]

 

I agree with Ahistorian, I go over the whole mini, but I have Astral Claws Primaris and Custodes so far, which lend themselves well to that.

So wash over the whole miniature not just the recesses?

 

 

I wash over the whole mini, and then depending on my inclination I highlight various bits. Faces, bases and flags is the motto in historical gaming when it comes to apply effort sparingly to make a unit look good. Shoulder trim and chapter iconography are also good time investments for a quick going over (either in the base colour or a lighter one).

 

Since you're doing blue marines, I would recommend washing the whole guy in either Nuln Oil or a homemade Payne Grey wash. Don't fret about the black on skin - by highlighting the face carefully you can make it look like stubble.

[Axineton]

Cheers for tips mate. I’ll see how I get on over the week.

[Axineton]

So while the snow was causing havoc last week I had a go at putting drakenhof nightshade all over it and I think I've ruined it

 

 

so I then thought sod it I'll just keep going with some other bits because at the moment I'm not to worried with these test pieces. So added greedy gold from the army painter range to the shoulder pad bits that stick out (not sure what they're called) and I put some yellow on the eyes which need another coat. Also did the gun holster leather brown, again army painter paint.

 

Will i be able to paint over this shade to tidy it up or is it ruined ?

 

 

Also these last few days Battle for Macragge turned up and I now have some Ultramarines and Genestealers or are they Tryranids?? they've all been painted but I'm not sure if I should strip the paint off them or not??

 

 

 

 

I only bought it for the crash landed ship thats had a few bits painted that I'm going to strip.

 

 

and thats as far as I've got. I'm hoping the weather is good enough to get outside and prime some of the start collecting box of space marines I've started assembling because I have nothing else to paint at the moment and really want to start moving up to actually doing a few at a time.

[WarriorFish]

The Ultras look nice to me, but it depends what you want to do with them. Personally I don't use models I haven't painted myself! Genestealers are part of the Tyranid army yes so maybe a new army there

 

As for your Marine, I know from experience that repainting and rewashing doesn't always go so well. Given you're starting out maybe best to leave him for now and continue to revise/perfect your colour scheme. Do you know what went wrong with the wash? It's important to give them a good shake first, and apply evenly (according to your needs, i.e: all over, or in recesses etc) and then to make sure you leave the model until the wash has dried completely.

 

If you're stuck, asking for help from the team at GW is never a bad idea and you could have some practical help too

[Canadian_F_H]

Genestealers are part of tyranids or genestealer cults... unless 8th did something weird with either or both.

[Bryan Blaire]

Over that color blue, I would not have applied a wash/shade to the entire model - just putting it in the recesses and cleaning up anything you sloshed over the sides would have been better. If you need a darker blue and you are already mixing paint, then mix a darker base color from the get-go. However, if you are dead-set on washing the whole thing at once, do it in manageable portions: only wash/shade one easily managed area at a time, such as one pauldron, or just the thigh plate, etc. This way you concentrate on getting everything right on that part, plus if it is drying funny, you can stop before you feel like you have ruined a whole model.

 

Alternatively, you may have gotten splotches because you put on the shade in too thick an amount, or you were disturbing the wash as it was drying, causing some weird tidal effects. If you are going to apply shade over an entire model, I would suggest either suitably thinning it and shading in multiple thin layers like a glaze, applying the shade with an airbrush to get a more consistent application across the entire model, or finding an appropriate sip shade and use a dip method instead. Applying an unthinned shade color across an entire model with a brush is bound to give you at least a little pooling as you found on your model.

[Axineton]

Yeah think it was just me applying a lot as I've never done this before and its all new. Gonna keep it anyway as it's my first one in 24 years and its still better than what i did back in the 90's

 

Warrior those Ultras aren't bad mate, the transfers have all come off. The paint is a bit thick when you look closely but who am I to judge!! I might strip them as like you said I 've not done them myself. I've definitely decided my non Primaris marines will be Ultras as a homage to me first getting into 40 k all those many moons ago.

 

And yes the nids do sound like another army idea and a great one at that!!

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

Because of the way the Genestealer Cult rules work, you could also build yourself a Genestealer/Imperial Guard army and half of it would be able to ally with your Astartes too, or could be used as a standalone Guard army. Three potential armies with the same miniatures. More bang for your buck.

 

And there's nothing at all stopping you from then taking the Genestealer half of the Cult army and building it up into, say, a 2k Tyranid Splinter Fleet army.