Vanguard Vets (WIP) Update 9 - Face Painting

Really close to complete now.  Almost all colors have been shaded and highlighted.  What is left is lettering on the various scrolls, and the face on one of the two alternate sergeants.  Saving the hardest parts for last.

While I have painted a few faces before, looking back they were fine for my skill level at the time, but in the past few years I feel I've really improved a lot.  For this attempt, I was going to follow Darren Latham's technique.  I've used his contrast paint technique for a face before, but this would be the first time with conventional paint.

Starting Point: 4 or so coats of Bugman's Glow

With these zoomed in images, I can tell that I'm still not quite on the high level that I see from other hobbyists/professionals online, but I do see improvement from my own work in the past.  One thing that stands out though is the bumpiness - I think this is the spray primer which continues to disappoint, but when I look at the models in person they look much better.

Basic highlights added

I found Darren's instructions really detailed and easy to follow and I'm really pleased with the results.  Below I have the basic steps and paints for my own reference.  I don't typically work with paints thinned down to washes so much, especially since it tends to pond/pool, but after watching his work and trying this out, I think I've actually made a breakthrough in how to control the watery paint and draw it off if its ponding.

Basic shading added

The model itself has really extremely exaggerated cheekbones, more so than the primaris space marine head that Darren used, so I used deeper shading, but otherwise I mostly followed his instructions (from his youtube video) directly.  Also, this miniature has barred teeth, so I used some Zandri Dust and Screaming Skull and it worked great (I felt white would be too much).  I used white ink for the first time and it is a lot better than white paint.  

Color glazes and final highlights added

The model seems to have one eye open and one eye closed (or the primer obscured the detail), and the open eye seems to have a deep scowl so you can only see the side of the eyeball.  Thus, I decided that, after the step to black out the eye, I just needed to put a dot of white on the side of the eyeball, and use the existing black to create the iris.  Since the narrowed eye and the direction he would be looking would mean you wouldn't see the white on the other side of the iris, it massively simplified the hardest steps of painting the eyes.  I think it turned out great, especially when viewed in person.  With my magnifying glasses, I can tell it still isn't quite perfect, but overall I'm really happy my first time trying this technique out, it worked much, much better than the methods I had pieced together before.

Final details: eyes, teeth, etc added

This time I skipped adding stubble/ 5o'clock shadow.  Either the sculpt has scaring on the left side of the face (in shadow here) or the primer/finish kinda messed up the details, but either way I decided trying to go for the stubble wouldn't turn out.  Maybe next time.  Looking forward to trying this again and using darker shades to vary the skin tone.

Finally, here's the whole troop (just before painting the face):

Another Dive into Green Stuff: Seams and Such

I have moved on from sculpting rocks.  The original reason for the dive into green stuff was to be able to mount the space marine jump packs with enough of a gap to allow for the shoulder pauldrons to fit when the character is lifting the weapon up. I found that to support the raised arms, the jump packs had to be tilted back a bit and there wouldn't be enough surface contact to create a strong bond.  This is exactly what green stuff is supposed to fix.

I also wanted to learn how to use the stuff for smaller seams as well, such as the gaps between the two halves of the torso for the veteran sergeant, and the two halves of 2 plastic jump packs.

I think I did a pretty good job with the interface between the jump pack and torso for the veteran sergeant.  I even added some texture to simulate connection cables/joints.  I didn't get pictures of the metal miniatures but there I just went a bit more basic and kinda just extended the block from the back of the torso.

Using the sculpting tools I feel I was able to get the green stuff into the recesses and flattened and smoothed on the various surfaces of the jet pack pretty well.  

On the torso, which was actually the first thing I tried, I think the visible areas were pretty good, but I could have done a bit better job around the gorget.  Luckily, with the head in place, all of this area should be well hidden.

Finally, to add a bit more 'bling' to the sergeant, I used another bit from the Ultramarines upgrade sprue and attached an ultima to the jump pack.  I think they intend for it to mount on top like the final on a flag, but I prefer to avoid things like that where possible (already enough things that can break off) so instead I wanted to mount it flush.

Late 1st Edition Devastators & MkVs

Didn't accomplish a lot of painting in 2020 and my Chappy n' Cappy project was on hold for awhile, but here in 2021 I'm getting back into it!  After finishing up some minis for D&D, I decided to finish off these late 1st Edition Devastators and MkVs that have been sitting around primed and ready for probably decades.

First, the MkVs are the classic Jes Goodwin sculpt #070197/3 from the 1992 Green Citadel Catalogue.  I mixed in some slightly more modern arms and weapons a bit (just bits I could find).  Its really cool to see whole armies in modern Warhammer 30k that use a bunch of new poses in the 'retro' patterns - but this is the original!

The sergeant also features my first serious attempt to do 'object source lighting' (OSL) from the glow from the overcharged plasma pistol.  It turned out really well, I focused on being very subtle.  I should have read up and refreshed myself on the technique first - I had to redo it a bit because I forgot that the deepest areas were the brightest and you start basically in reverse.

Overall I'm really happy that I'm continuing to progress in finer lines and thinner paints.  I'm seeing steady improvement as I go along.

The devastators are #070099/2 and #070099/3 from the 1992 Green Catalogue.  All of these are technically 1st edition RT models, but very late since they aren't in the '91 catalogue and 2nd edition was released in '93.  I know I bought the MkVs first hand, but not exactly sure when I acquired these two.

I continued with my classic scheme with red for most weapons.  This was my first time working with Khorne Red and Mephiston Red from either Vallejo or older Citadel paints.  Overall they are still thin and tricky, but I felt they were a bit better.  I had a lot of fun with the magboots too.

These models were always a bit wonky and top heavy (the weapons are pewter) - attaching the weapon on top of the shoulder and nesting the backpack was not straightforward.  I really should have pinned them, but I didn't.  But, if they fall off then I'll pin them.  Mainly, there's no guides for getting the arm/shoulder pad in the right spot, so I didn't want to drill into the wrong spot and have the arm end up having to be too low/high.  But if they fall off then I think I'll be better able to see where to pin/repair.

These additions really were to add more options to my army, so I don't have to play these two unless I need a 2nd heavy bolter or lascannon (and I dont play often), so it should be fine, but it really does complete the classic look.

The new sergeant with 5 earlier ones painted ~2012

With the other Devastators

The special weapons

Magnetized Arms

I have one terminator that I wanted to double as a Sgt for 2x 5 man squads or as a power glove for a 10 man squad.  Thus we magnetize!

The first magnets I got were small enough to fit into the standard arm hole, but as anyone that has done this knows, those magnets are a bit too small and so the arm will droop.  I had read this too, but of course I had to make the mistake myself.  Luckily the local gaming store (seems like the only ones left in my area) had 1/8" magnets which work better.  I would now have to drill both the arm and the body, but its ok.

I first snipped off the arm post from the body and since the mini is classic metal (I think pewter) it didn't cause other problems.  I then used the pin drill to put in a pilot hole.

Later at my dad's house we used the Foredom to drill out the holes.  This machine was handed down by my grandpa who was a jeweler, its great. 

The metal wasn't as hard to work with as I was worried about.  The main problem was just extracting the smaller magnet I had tried in one of the arms.  Again my dad's workshop came to the rescue, he has very fine dentist drill bits for the thing that allowed me to dig around and pry out the smaller magnet.

Then it was a matter of drilling to the correct depth and putting them in with a bit of glue.  I eyeballed the depth and got lucky I think.  The magnet into the body didn't even need glue.  One of the arms didn't quite seat properly, so definitely should be more careful next time.

And the arms stay in position!

Painting sergeants

Started working on the marines again after cleaning out the garage in September. There were 14 Mark VII marines in one of the original metal box sets. Additionally there were some unique models from blister packs. Many of these had been loaned to my dad for his army. Later on when it became apparent that we wouldn't finish them together I took them back. It was time again to finish them. Of all the models, 3 of the unique figures started to take shape just the right way. They were then promoted and I focused on making sure I practiced techniques on the others first. I found several blogs including The 40k Hobbiest which gave me even more ideas to try. In the end though, most of my accomplishments were from practicing. Figuring out how the paint behaves and being patient were key.

I use a classic technique right out of an early Citadel how to magazine. I highlight the edges of the armor with lighter and lighter shades of blue, leaving black lines in between plates. The key to mixing paint is to use some slow dry mixing medium, it really helps. As I said before, figuring out how the paint works takes a lot of practice but is the main battle.

The chest eagles turned out well. It was a base of brown, then orange, then chestnut ink and then golden yellow. For the jewel it was black and then shades of red. Finally after the dull coat sealant I went back and painted on 'ardcoat to make it shine as recommended by Drew in his blog. It looks great.

For the plasma pistols I went with a purplish energy since I haven't otherwise gotten to use those colors. I've used that in the other plasma weapons later and I like having consistency in the game "physics."