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FW Space Marine

49K views 181 replies 51 participants last post by  LoreSeeker 
#1 · (Edited)
After lurking here for many years on the site I decided to post my recent project. First real painting project since many years. Last 10 years I've been mostly modeling in 3D Studio Max but about a month ago the bug bit me again to paint something. And since that has become a rare event, I thought to do it well...

It's a large scale Space Marine from Forgeworld. Since it's a very detailed and expensive model I'm not taking this lightly. Over the past few weeks I've been slowly prepping the model and the last bits just came today, which are some separate etched brass icons to further enhance the model.
I also did some preliminary paintbrush testing on a piece of cardboard and some advanced weathering tests on a half-painted Dreadnought model that had been gathering since 3 or 4 years. I noticed that for future model shots, I'll have to set up some sort of light box or just block off any direct sunlight with white paper to allow for translucency but no glare.

So here are some pics.

First off: the gathered materials. In the background you can also see my PC used for my 3D madness.





Second some shots of my test-cardboard, the yellow technique will be used for one shoulder pad, the red for the rest of the marine.






And third, some shots of the new-style dreadnoughts I have painted over the past 15 years or so.
The first is the original model as they first came out, so god knows how old it is...




Second is a heavily converted one I made around 10 years ago, the left arm is fully converted. +-10 or 12 years old





The third is the most recent (metal) model and is still being finished. (hence the masking tape). +-4 years old, just been weathering it since a week or three (slowly).






Enjoy. :D
 
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#7 · (Edited)
Thanks guys!

@M'ichal: Well, it's actually thĂ t model that spurred me on to proceeding with his. I'm by no means a sculptor so I will not be able to achieve his level of originality of modeling but I am going to aim for his level of painting. I'll be happy if I approach, say, 70% of his skill... :skeleton:
I'm going to make it a Blood Angel as I've had a little Blood Angel fetish ever since I saw those first terracotta-coloured marines from Rogue Trader around 20 years ago, way before there was any talk of blood drinking and mmmMMMadness!

@fallvictim: Cheers man, I'm hoping to maintain my pacing and patience to produce something worthwhile. The cardboard received: undercoat, metal/rust coat, salt-weathering, base coat, and oil paint weathering, no highlights.

@Backdraft005: Well, I had the exact same view on it untill this year. A change of jobs and a drastic finance increase took care of that hurdle. And seeing that it's some sort of 'limited' model as it can only be cast untill the mold breaks, I thought what the hey! ;)

@All: Don't hold back now, any comments and critiques are always welcome.

I've added some etched brass detailing to the model and today I'll finilize the undercoating. I think I'll make him a veteran or vereran sergeant, because of the detailing he received. but I never was a big fan of the indtroduction of fully coloured yellow/blue/gold helmets for assault/devastator/veteran marines. Way back in the beginning a sergeant was indicated by just a sort of 'racing stripe' line running over the helmet.
Perhaps I'll go down that road and just paint his central intake-thingy gold with the lines tapering to the point of the snout.

For the shoulders pads, the one with the added detail I'll make with a cracked yellow, the other one, I'm not so sure yet. Either black to denote him as a sarge or keep it red, just to have some more red :D

Also I'm going to have to find a way to get a big-*ss Blood Angel sign on there, either by hand-drawing/printing one on masking tape and airbrushing it on or try and find a decal of that size.

Any thoughts on this are welcome.

I'll post some pics later today. I think I'll also start a miscelaneous thread of some other models I've got lying around. I did some terminators with some interesting helmet markings several years ago, perhaps I'd like to do something similar to this marine's helmet.
 
#11 · (Edited)
@Backdraft005: Cheers mate! :beer:

@danjones87: true, true, I don't want to mess this one up...

@niko: Hehe, thanks, good idea actually... add some extra flare to it, put it in a frame... who knows, who knows :D

In the Mean Time, some progress on the marine.

First, an undercoat of black






Then a light coat of boltgun metal, some metallic medium and Klear. This is not meant to cover the metallic parts but rather provide some metallic patches here and there after the salt weathering. The urge to make a Grey Knight is suddenly tempting...







Next a light coat of rust coloured paint, made from mixing various brown paints, inks and Klear. This is also applied irregularly to provide the rust flaking after the salt weathering process.


 
#16 ·
Then a light coat of boltgun metal, some metallic medium and Klear. This is not meant to cover the metallic parts but rather provide some metallic patches here and there after the salt weathering. The urge to make a Grey Knight is suddenly tempting...





Is there somthing up with the bottom of the blood angels badge on the shoulder pad?

Have you thought of mapping the model before salt masking?

Dan
 
#15 ·
Thanks guys! :)

@King Ulrik Flamebeard: Indeed it is. Every single piece is almost the size of a miniature, I'll post some comparisson shots tomorrow. It is fun though, the airbrush allows for a very relaxed painting technique once you get the hang of it. It's really interesting how you can build up layers and highlights without any apparent thickness increase in the layers you're applying.

The parts are salted right now but I'll post some pics tomorrow.

In the mean time I could use some feedback though. I did a little colour mockup in Photoshop of what I have in mind for the helmet. Never mind the crappy shading, it's just for colour placement.
What do you guys think, is this pattern good enough to go for?

 
#18 ·
In the mean time I could use some feedback though. I did a little colour mockup in Photoshop of what I have in mind for the helmet. Never mind the crappy shading, it's just for colour placement. What do you guys think, is this pattern good enough to go for?
My first instinct was that it looks like it has a mohawk instead of having some meaningful helmet coloring. Might turn out good in the end, but that was my first reaction...
 
#20 ·
@danjones87: Indeed there is, it's a leftover from what is know as skin-texturing. Hard to avoid with tiny and thin brass detailing. No matter how few superglue one uses, there is always one drop that manages to squeeze itself out from under there and froms a neat little union between epidermus and model... On the actual model it's hardly visible and creates a perfect spot to apply some weathering powers and have a nice rusty patch there. but on the enlarged photo it does look a bit grotesque. :D

@The Paint Monkey: Ebay... Airbrush, new, 28 GBP, Compressor with air tank, new, 75EUR. Dunno how much that is in kiwi-dollars though... :soldier:

@Niko&TPM: Yeah that stripe is not sitting right with me either. It seemed like an ok idea in my head but even when I was making it in PS i got increasingly insecure about it. I think I'll ditch it.

My dilemma is this: the Space Marine helmet is such a cool shape that I don't want to 'waste ' is with just an even red or gold. I'd like to incorporate some element to denote it clearly as a veteran's helmet. I even toyed with the idea to paint some wings on the side but the curvy side is suited for neither masking or perfect symmetric paining. I'll do one more mockup and if that isn't heralded by hirnblowers and applause I'll cut it down to either fully red or fully gold. (the salt is alreayd applied and I don't want to wait too long.

*EDIT* Did a quickie mockup, never mind, fully gold it is and will be. Gives a good opportunity for some heavy weathering.....
 
#23 · (Edited)
Noooo torso-less marine! Don't kick the helmet!:qq:




The red basecoat.

Candy anyone?










First highlights. I gently sprayed two separate and gradual highlights on some parts of the model. Finally i gave some parts a soft touch with pure white to gain soem mroe contrast. As I thought and anticipated, this made the colour a bit faded and pinkish so I gave the model a sprayed red wash to enhance the depth of the red and then finally a gently yellow wash on white-highlighted parts to transform the pink shine in a soft yellow shine. This is a small shortcurt to avoid having to use half a dozen or more red/yellow mixes. Also, because the model is so large id does not need large and harsh highlights. A lot of weathering still to follow.






Then played around a bit with the shutter settings of the camera.











Higlights on the rest, as you can se, sole salt blew away during the airbrushing but this doesnt matter, they give some depth to the red as further highlighting and the washes faded them out a bit.







 
#30 · (Edited)
Thanks fellas!

@danjones87: indeed, i just used some ordinary, cheap brand hair spray. :peace:
I didn't want to use too fine salt as on my test carboard that resulted in sandy patches as the fine salt just absorbs too much and sticks too had to the underlayer. It already ground down the rock salt a bit, but true, it could have been just a tiny bit finer. Luckily 'dry-sponging' on some black/rust/metallic paint will go along way.
After that then the scratches/chips need some individual highlighting.

@GLD1: Cheers man, well I'm indeed going for the very weathered, battle-worn look of a marine that's been in the thick of it for a few weeks or months. I toyed with the idea of making some actual battle damage but I didn't want to risk ruining such a great model...:secret:

I got a good solution for the perfect gold colour, the idea came from giganticdark over at Coolminiornot.
Vallejo has a gold pigment is an alcohol sollution. Alcohol's not too friendly to the airbrush so to be able to use I poured some into a tiny cup so it could settle and let the alcohol evaporate over the course of a day or two.
Then I scooped the gold sludge into an airbrush jar, mixed it with acryllic thinner and voilĂ , almost true gold colour. I used it for the helmet and will be used for other detailing too. The cool thing is that you can actually polish the stuf by gently rubbing it. One I removed the salt I'll up some more pics.

The gold paint came out a bit too thick though on the first run, hence the odd texture the helmet has now. I'll rub that down and add some more thinned layers of gold to lessen the contrast from the chipped weathering. The shine is also very difficumlt to capture on camera. It really has a very nice shine and feel to it to see in person.

I'm currently still updating the red a bit too, the top of the shoulder pad was a bit too peppered indeed.
I got a full way ahead of me for weathering. Dry-sponged chips, oil paints for rust, panel lines and oil stains, weathering powders, graphite weathering (pencil)...:confused:








 
#31 · (Edited)
The Helmet after some extra sponged on weathering, followed by a misted on, thin coat of gold again and then a prayed on wash of some Burnt Umber-like briwn ink wash, heavily thinned with Klear and some light touches of a similarly thinned yellow/brown ink. One this is dry, it's ready for some subtle highlighting and then it'll be time for thinned oil paints and some weathering powder.






The rest of the model received some sponged on weathering with a dull metal mixed colour as well as some Bolt Gun chipping. The paints were put in a very small percelain tray I use as palette and was only used when decently dried to an almost sticky consistency, then I used some small sponge, actually, just the little sponge/foam thingy you find in each model blister, cut to size a bit. then dip it slightly and dab it off on some cloth untill almost fully dry and the I went to work.

Backpack







Torso






Legs








Shoulder Pad







Arms








I especially like this photo, taken with a very short shutter time, looks almost like you might find in a display case in a dark exhibit somewhere...

 
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