Fulgrime done

Now this model that has left me somewhat confused as to whether I like it or not. I mostly like the design apart from some details like the big open wound at the front. But my biggest issue is with painting this thing (I do not see how you could do that with it fully assembled). I tried breaking it down into subassemblies, as I usually do with big models, but there were not god way of doing this for the body. Either I had pieces where I could access all necessary parts, or I could assemble the model so that I did not get big seams at the front of the model, but I had to choose. Here I really think the sculptors should have a good discussion with the painters, so that they place joints where they can easily be hidden for breakdowns.

I am also not sure about the contrast in the face so I might need to go back and add some inks to give it some more depth, it might also be that the lights I used to take the pictures saturated the colours a bit and that's why it looks so bland.

Over all I am happy with how it turned out. I gott to play around with some new techniques, and I think the result is ok, but it is getting more and more obvious that I need to start working with the airbrush as it is to hard to get to all the places with a brush for smooth blending on these new complex models. I did not follow the box art colours for the model, instead I tried to match it to the Keeper of secrets that I have (which needs to get its base fixed). In particular I am happy with the combination of the dark and bright gold. The wings also came out nicely. I am also glad that I did the base and not just let him slither around on the ground.

It was an intense journey painting this thing. There are so many details and things to paint that it is easy to forget or miss something so you have to constantly go back and fix things, and when you think you are done you notice some more things that need sorting.

Well that is it. Now I have all the big four Demon Primarchs painted up. Next will have to be the Lion. 

But I have some other things to do first. Just need to figure out what it is.

The base of Fulgrim

Just a short update. Once I finished the Liaisons for my Forge Lord I started painting on Fulgrim. I am not really sure what to think about this model. Appearance wise it looks cool, but it is very difficult to break it down for painting and this makes it a bit of a pain to paint. But once the colours are down the result is very nice. My main issue is the snake body. As it coils around itself there are some places that are very hard to reach but are still highly visible from some angles. I decided to go for a blue purple colour for the main body with a pale, skin toned underside. Blending the colours were not easy and I hade to try some new techniques which is nice. I am still not fully done with the body as the fins need some more attention and the scales on the back are still not painted. I am at a bit of a loss on what colours to make them. Either I keep them blackish or I go for a bone colour. The later would tie in nicely with the base.

The model also do not come with a scenic base as most newer large scale demons do. So I had to build something so that he does not look so out of place with the other ones. I played around with some ideas of ruins etc but in the end I decided to go for a more simple platform. This was painted in rusted metal with some marble inlays. Once again I had to try some new techniques to get the marble effect I wanted. I am not sure how much of this will be seen once Fulgrim is on there, but it was nice to paint.

Once the body is done I will need to move on the the wings and try to colour match them to the snake body. Lets se how that turns out.

Infernal Enrapturess

This year I got the Infernal Enrapturess from my wife for my birthday. The model was somewhat delayed due to Brexit and Covid so the model did not arrive until well after the day, so my usual birthday model painting did not take place as usual, but instead I have slowly been chipping away at the model for some time. It has taken a lot more time than I thought, but not due to the complexity of the paint scheme but due to problems with the paints and the techniques I use. For some reason the base layer did not stick to the spray paint that I used on the plastic. This meant that as I tried to get nice and even blends using dry brushing I wore away the paint on the raised edges, leaving black marks all over the model. To fix this I had to go back and repaint the base coat, which then has a completely different tone to the already drybrushed areas, so I had to restart the process which then ended up with the same result. So I think I have painted the model at least three times before I got to this stage. Once I got the paint to stick more or less I had rally lost the mojo for the model so it has been sitting around my painting station, just waiting to be finished, which is really sad as I do like to paint the models I get form the wifey.

From a design perspective I think the model is excellent. It has a very dark vibe to it while still being very elegant. I am however no so sure about the face (and the faces of the other demonets), it is not as seductive looking as one would expect form Slaanesh demons, not like the old metal ones that had more triangular faces, and not as masculine as the current range. But one can not get everything, and considering that it was rumoured that Slaanesh needed to die because he/she was to sexualised ( which was harmful for children), I get that GW needed to done it down a bit. So overall I was pleasantly surprised that the dared to do this model and now that it done I am very pleased with it.

More Naked Demon ladies.

Once again, time has flown away and I do not know where it went. Hobby wise I have been busy doing nothing, or at least not finishing anything, until now. I have been working on Fenrirs legs, finishing up the pistons and cables. After hours of fiddling and scratching the paint job I got everything in place. Note to self, attach the pistons before painting. I also started the GS work on the waist part and the reactor blocks. Hopefully I can get the torso part of to paint within a foreseeable future.

Parallel to this I started a couple more Naked Demon ladies, including their matriarch. The two "normal" models were as the last couple, excellent prints, but somehow I screwed up the painting and got some noticeable frosting. Also I was not on top of the detail work, I really need to get my eyes checked. It is really hard focusing on the small details and it is giving me a head ace.

Then, as if I did not have enough on my plate I stated a completely new project. I got me a Astra militarum Scions start to collect box and some Atalan bikers and a ridge runner. The idea is to make a desert light attack force, a little like the Humvee soldiers in Generation Kill. I "just" needed to make them more realistic with some chest pouches and cargo pants. Can't go on mission in just your harnesk. I also need to build the Tauros and convert it to a wheeled version and add antennas and external cargo packs. The Ridge runner will be more or less stock as it looks good as it is, just the crew that needs to get scioned up. 

Well, this will be a build project on the back burner... as so many other things I do lately. And soon the outdoor season starts...

Keeper of Secrets

After finishing Varangian I felt I needed to clean the palette and do something that is not rusted metal and weathering. So I picked up a Keeper of Secrets. I think this model is fantastic as it is disturbingly androgynous and very intimidating even though it is not in a classic battle pose. There were however some minor details around the chest area were I felt the sculptors had been censored to much to really portray the model in it true form (or atleast that is my opinion). Well, that was some thing I could address with some GS. Perhaps not as clean as the original sculpt but still more to my liking.

The model was painted in my standard blue grey slaanesh tones, with purple robes. I tried to keep it to a minimum of colors but still adding depth to the colors. This was done by first airbrushing the model in three tones of grey. Then applying very watered down colors in multiple stages as well as using dry-brushing and wet blending. One problem I had with this approach was that the very thin layers of paint flaked of at some points and that the dry-brushing easily wore through the layers down to the black base. So if one looks closely one might see black edges and holes here and there as a result of this.

All the metal parts were made a heavily oxidized bronze buy using a dark green base, dry-brushed with bronze, copper and mithril. This is then washed with bright blues and greens before getting a second pass with the dry brushing to get the edges more metallic.

All and all an interesting model to paint.