Iron Warriors - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - Finished

I added some washes to the details like the pouches, shoulder pads and the back packs.

I then went back and highlighted the bronze in areas as well as the blades.

Next I painted the eyes white and glazed with red, I am liking the result and it is easier than painting each colour in such a small area.

I also finished the banner and head crest of the sergeant. I went for black and yellow to mimic the hazard markings of the Iron Warriors as I have not painted in this detail anywhere else.

The bases I finished with some weathering powder then set in place with water, you lose some of the sandiness but you gain the benefit of setting it in place and less mess afterwards.

These have been the easiest to paint of my four test legions schemes and the final result is very nice indeed.

Now I will have to think of assessing the tests and deciding on where to go next.

Vitor.

Iron Warriors - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - WIP3

 

Still slow going but progress none the less. The next step was to drybbrush with Leadbelcher again concentrating on the raised areas only. The shoulder pads were painted with black and the shoulder pad trim with bronze. I also did some of the details like pouches etc.

Next up is to add some washes, highlight and then complete the bases.

Hoping to finish these guys by next week.

Vitor

Iron Warriors - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - WIP2

 

So progress is slow but purposeful.

I have so far applied a base coat with Leadbelcher, then applied a black/brown wash to darken the metallic look. For me the Iron Warriors care about their armour but not to the extent of say The Emperors Children who are all about display, in my opinion the Iron Warriors armour should represent strength so the dull iron look is what I am going for.

Next step will be to drybbrush with Leadbelcher again. The shoulder pads will be Black with Bronze trim.

Vitor

Iron Warriors - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - WIP

"From iron cometh strength! From strength cometh will! From will cometh faith! From faith cometh honour! From honour cometh iron!"

— Unbreakable Litany of the Iron Warriors Legion

So I am trying my best to find some time during my Paternity Leave to get in some hobby time and I have managed to do a bit. I have made a small start on my fourth test for the Horus Heresy using the fantastic Betrayal of Calth miniatures.

I have put together a 10 man squad and primed with black.

The plan is to base coat with Leadbelcher, apply a black/brown wash then drybrush with Leadbelcher again. The shoulder pads will be Black with Bronze trim.

Stay tuned to see how it comes together.

Vitor

Alpha Legion - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - Finished

All that was left to finish was the bases and the details.

I was a bit perplexed by what colour to paint the helmet crest and tabard., initially I went for red but that looked too much Night Lords so I repainted it grey and washed with black then highlighted with grey again. I think that fits in better with the Alpha Legion colour scheme as well. I did leave the eye lenses red though.

The bases were basically brown with weathering powder applied to give it that dusty Mars earth look.

The models really turned out the way I was hoping for and I am pretty pleased. This just makes my decision even harder now.

Only one legion left to try out.....


Vitor

Alpha Legion - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - WIP

 

After doing my successful testing on using the Tamiya X23 paint as a candidate for the Alpha Legion colour scheme I have started on my next batch of Betrayal at Calth miniatures.

The plan is pretty straight forward.

Prime with black and base colour of Leadbelcher.

Next a good coverage of my 60/40 black/brown wash mixture.

Layer on Tamya X23.

 

 

 

Some observations, the Tamiya had to be applied in three layers to get the rich, deep blue colour I was after. My reasoning is that this legion is all about stealth so the bright blue colour from Forge World is less consistent with the fluff, hence I preferred the deep blue.

The pictures are great but didn't quite capture the colour as it is in real life which is a shame, hopefully the finished ones will.

I need to finish off the details and bases next, so stay tuned for the finished squad.


Vitor

Horus Heresy - Guess which Legion I am painting next?

So as part of my original plan to determine which Horus Heresy Legion I might start to collect, I am experimenting with the choice of colour paint to use.

This Legion is arguably the most difficult to categorically say what colour they use for their armour.

Historically they were like this.

So a purple with green insignia moving on to a blue with green as a more chaos legion.

I have seen many paint schemes in between these as well and they all look good, well maybe not the purple and green one.

Now the latest version from Forge World looks like this.

This is still blue but with a metallic sheen to it, no green in sight and this is what drew me in as it falls into the way I like to paint my miniatures. The problem is how to replicate the look.

I scoured many forums and blogs looking for the recipe and I came across this paint.

I purchased a pot and began to experiment.

The first thing I noticed is it has a warning on the side so read that first.

Some other observations, it is really thick but apparently can be diluted to use with an air brush. To this end I diluted my paint with a drying retarder which caused it to trap air bubbles within the paint so be wary of that. I also had to apply several layers to get the blue I wanted, this can lead to obscuring detail. Applying a wash for shading can be tricky as the dried paint surface does not 'hold' the shade very well.

Here are my test results on a spare terminator model.

I started with a metal base colour

Then applied the Tamiya x23

Drybrushed with the metal to create highlights.

Re-applied the Tamiya x23

Painted in some of the other detail to see what the overall effect would be.

Not as light as the Forge World stuff but pretty good.

Now that I am happy with the outcome I can start on my Betrayal of Calth Miniatures.

Vitor

Betrayal at Calth Combi Weapon Conversion

  

In the box set you only get the option of making one combi-weapon out of a choice of three. This made me think about how to utilize the other bits to make more combi-weapons.

As part of the sprue depending on what you use you are left with extra boltguns and this seems like the logical piece to use. As a reference the melta is the original piece a sit should be made.

I took the bits and cut them more or less in half and glued them under the boltgun to mirror the original and they fit pretty well with a bit of filing.

Will be adding them to a model soon, so keep a look out.

Vitor

Sons of Horus - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - Finished

All that was needed was to add washes and highlights and clean up any mistakes. The picture above shows the whole squad with the Lieutenant from a previous post.

These guys are finished and look pretty sweet. I loved the look of my Nightlords but I think these are even better.

This is the squad without the Lieutenant.

If I wasn't in a jam trying to decide which army to pursue, this is even worse.

Great place to be...might have to collect them all.

Vitor

Sons of Horus - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - WIP

Once I saw how well my Sons of Horus Lieutenant came out I knew I had to complete the squad. The BaC legionaries are great models and this time I added a heavy-bolter and melta-gun to the squad.

I started off with a black primer followed by a base layer of the Lupercal Green paint, then a couple of coats of  Sons of Horus Green paint from Forge World.

Once this was all dry I started to paint in the details with Boltgun Metal for the torso straps, armour joints, backpack and grenades. A Dark Brown for the leather ammo pouches.

Next I need to add the washes for shading, then some highlights to complete the models, happy with the way they are looking so far.

Stay tuned for the completed squad.

Vitor

Night Lords - Horus Heresy - Betrayal at Calth - Finished

I managed to paint up all the details and also complete the bases to look like a red planet using weathering powder from Secret Weapon Miniatures as per my test model. I painted the lightning bolts sparingly onto the armour rather than cover every surface which I think works really well. The skulls I added to the leader also gives a nice touch and I have also used many bits to add detail to each model such as grenades, sidearms and the combat knives to the backpacks.

I must admit they came out  looking very nice indeed and needless to say my desire to produce a whole army is pretty strong right now.

To take pictures my wife volunteered and she did a great job, this is the rest of the unit.

I took a few more pictures on my mobile which are the ones below.

Hope you like them.


Vitor