Topic: FFH's 30K Imperial Fist project

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I'm starting to think I should have painted the black parts first, fixed any mistakes with a couple of white coats, and then paint the yellow.

Live and learn.

[Rowsdower]

When I made an Imperial fists army in 2009, I covered any and all mistakes with scuff marks to suggest battle damage.
I've done the same thing with my Howling griffons

[Feanor Fire Heart]

When I made an Imperial fists army in 2009, I covered any and all mistakes with scuff marks to suggest battle damage.
I've done the same thing with my Howling griffons

I'm on the fence on doing weathering and damage. Its quite popular for 30K players to do it on their miniatures but they tend to over do it and it looks really messy. I am trying to go for more of a clean look, but may do some weathering (like kicked up dust on the leg armor) and maybe some wear (like on the sharp parts of the armor), but I haven't decided yet.


I attended the virtual painting meet and greet. I think I made some major progress on Cadet Rousselle. I added some more black coloring to the details of the armor and shaded everything. I need to clean up the yellow and then I can start the tedious task of highlighting. I want to try for an edge highlight as I feel like it makes units pop.

[Rowsdower]

I also tend to give my miniatures a 'flat' look as I've never figured out how to do highlights and I think that's best for WD painters to better advertise their models. 

[Syphon]

I applaud your guts. Yellow is so hard to do, but looks like you're making it work. 

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I applaud your guts. Yellow is so hard to do, but looks like you're making it work. 

Thanks Syphon, much appreciated. If I didn't have to chase two little ones I could probably make some proper headway on the project.

I keep thinking of stripping all the paint, gluing on the arms and shoulders, and then starting over. It feels like doing sub-assemblies is making this project more mountainous than it should be.

[GamesPoet]

Sometimes life just gets in the way.  However, finishing the few that are already in progress could make sense, and then keep going on the rest on a different way.  Might even be good to do one a different way along side, and then you can determine which way is preferred for continuing after these are complete.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

So I wasn't happy with how these guys were turning out. So I stripped the paint off them, ripped off the back packs, got some true scale torsos from Tortuga Bay (they're a Ukranian based company, hope they're doing alright), and assembled the squad in full. Now I am just waiting for the weather to turn favorable for priming and I can get back on track.









The pointing marine is the sergeant on the tactical rock, the one with the "flag" on his back is the squad vexillia (he's like the standard bearer for the squad and allows re-rolls of failed moral checks). I know it is common or preferred to drill the barrels of the bolters, any suggestions on how to do that without royally damaging the model? I got a modeling hand drill but I've never drilled a barrel before. Any pitfalls to be cautious of?

[Rowsdower]

I wouldnt bother drilling out the barrel. I just paint it black then drybrush scuff marks

[GamesPoet]

I've used a pin drill for drilling holes in figures, but mostly just to install spears, and not worry about gun barrels.  The spears on medieval figures, not space marines.  But if I tried the barrels on space marines, would need a might small drill bit, and not sure it is worth it.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Alright, not going to drill for these guys. The weather was nice today so I went out to the new shed with my re-breather and primed the squad.







Now I got to set up my painting desk and then I can start slapping some colors on.

[GamesPoet]

I like what has been done with these, and wondering what the plan is from here.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Use some matte varnish to fix any seams (the backpack pipes are notorious for having a seam with mkIIIs from GW but not FW), then go over all the hard to reach areas with black and metal, then paint the armor panels yellow. Use brown wash for armor recesses, black wash for metal and black areas. Paint sergeants helmet white. Add a red stripe to the squaddie helmets, then red on the the sergeant's helmet to give the impression that its a red helmet with white stripe. Highlight everything, then do the bear heads (I haven't painted flesh in 20 years! should be fun). Rip off the temp bases and put them on the ones I prepped a year ago.

[Syphon]

Use some matte varnish to fix any seams (the backpack pipes are notorious for having a seam with mkIIIs from GW but not FW)

God, yes. I ran into that with my Luna Wolves. If I get another Mark III kit, I will use sprue goo to fix those.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

One fix I saw for them was to use plastic glue with a paint brush and it should fuse them together. But I didn't discover it until after I primed.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

I'm waffling on which yellow to use for my primary armor color. Phalanx or Yriel.

Phalanx:


Yriel:




Basically do I want a lemon yellow or a darker more goldenrod yellow?

Here's a side by side of the two paint pots. Phalanx and Yriel in that order:

[Jmash]

Personally I've always preferred more golden so I'd go Yriel.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

Ladies and gentlemen. We have yellow (yriel). I am tempted to go over it with Phalanx to brighten it up a bit.

[GamesPoet]

Seems bright from this view.  Although I suppose if you use a wash that'll tone it down.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

So I decided to paint my helmet and do a before (yriel yellow) and after (phalanx yellow). At a glance they look very similar but there is a subtle difference. In the final picture the helmet is Phalanx while the rest of the marine is Yriel. Phalanx is slightly lighter under the cool lamp light, but in normal interior lighting there is a more stark contrast with Phalanx appearing brighter than Yriel and you can really see the lemon (phalanx) against the mustard yellow when side by side.

[GamesPoet]

Lighting source makes a difference.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

After trial and error I have decided to go with Flashgitz yellow and spent all night repainting Cadet Rousselle to Flashgitz. I am awaiting on some yellow ink in the mail to do a couple of glazes and then I can move onto some other colors. I also took off the heads of some of the other squaddies and put them on toothpicks and went over them with wraithbone to neaten up anything that didn't get good coverage from the rattle can.




I know it may be hard to tell from the previous picture I posted, but halfway through painting him with flashgits I took another picture. Everything below the belt is flashgitz and everything above it is yriel. If you take notice of the yriel on the shoulder pad you can see the contrast from the flashgitz of the leg plates, kneecap, and boots.

[GamesPoet]

The difference can be seen.

[Feanor Fire Heart]

My other paints came in. I glazed Cadet Rousselle (9 parts medium, 1 part Casandora Yellow), then took all my other unpainted helmets and did 2x coats of casandora as a base (will put on flashgitz over it once it dries) and I also took my sergeant's helmet and tried apothecary white contrast on it and it came out grey. I think next time I'll use contrast medium and thin it down so it just gets in the recesses. I then went over it with Corax White. I ordered some miniatures masking tape so I can do the helmet stripes and I am waiting for them to come in. Right now, the next step is to finish the yellow on the helmets. shade it, then do the stripes, shade the stripes, highlight and then do the eye lenses. After that I'll be working on the rest of the models.

[GamesPoet]

Sounds like you've been cranking the painting gears, congrats!