BeLakor

So, now he is done, and I am pleased. I like how he turned out. I have intentionally keep him as monotone as possible so that all the details in the model does not over power the impression except for a few key colours like the blue flames and red loin cloth. All metals have been made as either rusted iron or bronze with Verdigris to go with the brown of BeLakor himself or the magical flames.

One thing I noticed on this model is that I am coming to the end of what can be done with my dry brushing in terms of shading and blending. I continuously end up wearing away the base layers before I come to the level of blend I am attempting. That probably means that I need to start air brushing, at least parts of the models to get a smooth transition. I will probably continue with the current technique on the armies where I have started this but to evolve I think I need to learn new techniques. Fortunately I have a long running project in the form of the Opus Magna that requires an air brush (since it is to large for brushes) where I can learn.

That being said, the model was both a pleasure and a pain to paint. The parts are large and difficult to hold and once all the small chains etc are attached it is very difficult to handle the wings with out breaking things. And one the wing are on the body it is very difficult to reach all places. I do not understand how any one could paint this if fully assembled before painting. But seeing it coming together is very satisfying and the sculpting is superb with so much detail that I honestly skipped a lot of it and just let it end up in the background.

And I think I am finally coming to terms with bases. The former gamer in me screams immersion breaking but the later collector and painter murmurs something about context and balance. Well, since models like this is more for display than play I have now problem with decorating the ground as well.

Now I have some smurfs to finish, and I need to get going with the build of the Opus so that I can start painting..

BeLakor WIP

The last few weeks I have been working on BeLakor. This is a fantastic model and really shows what is possible to do with current CAD designs and injection casting. It took me two or three sessions just to get all the pieces separated from the sprues, cleaned up and assembled for painting. The joints in the base are well hidden and does not require any extra work, but Belakor him self has a few quite obvious joints  on the back and hips. I filled these with GS and I think I made a decent job of hiding them.

When it comes to paint this is a real challenge as there is just so much details everywhere and it easy to miss some and you have to go back and fix them. For colours I went with a black brown scheme. I have long thought about doing some skin that has lighter parts, like what you would see on some animals, instead of doing a homogeneous colour all across the model. In this case I choose to make the chest and stomach in a lighter shade of brown then the rest of the body and the legs more of a black grey tone. I did the same for the wings with a lighter shade in the middle, toning towards back at the bones.

I also went with my rusted metal look for all the chains and will carry that on to the armour (can see BeLakor sitting around polishing his armour so it would be a bit grimy).

There are a tone of skulls on this model and I added some extra form the skull sett just to fill out the base. Not sure what Khorne thinks about that. I also choose to go with a blue power/lava stream on the base instead of blood/lava stream that is on the box art just to get some colour that breaks with the brown black.

I also added the fallen spacemarine to the base and did him in my Ultra Smurf scheme. 

BeLakor is starting to take shape and I am looking forward to seeing him with his wings on but he will require a few more sessions before he is done.

Blade guard Captain

This week I finished the Priamris Captain from the indominus box. I am not sure if he is also a blade guard as the others equipped with blade and shield, but I will call him a Blade Guard Captain as I have other captains in the collection.

As a model it is very similar to the rest of the Balde Guards from the box and fit in well with the rest. I choose to use the senic base and also to put the downed necron on it. The colour scheme is the same as for the rest of the smurfs except that I played around with using two shades of blue on the armour instead of just one. I am not sure that it made that much of a difference in the end as the metallic dominates the appearance of the colour. I am not sure I am that happy with the gold, for some reason I does not turn out as I wish it would and I do not know why. Also the amount of bone and parchment on the shield gives it a bit of a same same look, especially together with the golden rim. On the blade guards I use a blue white face on the shield which I skipped here, might have to go back and add it to give it some more variety.

The sculpt is as with he other very nice. There are some obvious places where the pushfit design is obvious and a more traditional design would have looked better, but over all a very nice character model that really stands out in the crowd.

Now I will start work on my birthday present from my wife, BeLakor, the dark master. This is a model I have had my eye on for some time but have not gotten around to paint. Well, now it is time.