Steel Legion Tank Detailing - Heroes of Armageddon

And we're back...

Last post you saw all the tanks we painted on Saturday. Lots of airbrushing and a fun experiment with the "hairspray and salt" weathering technique. What is this technique Dave? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Essentially the process is this: a basecoat of a rusty color (or colors) is put down on a model. The model is then coated liberally in a lacquer-based varnish (hairspray) and fine salt is sprinkled onto the areas you would like to see significant rusty weathering. Once the hairspray is fully dry, the topcoat is airbrushed over the top, along with any highlights and/or camouflage patterns. Then let everything dry thoroughly.

Once you've reached this stage, you can start to reveal the rusty layer beneath your top coat. Knocking off the larger chunks of salt is fairly easy, then the next step is to use a large, wet brush to soak through the acrylic topcoat layers, softening them up and allowing them to pull away from the hairspray layer, leaving you with smaller "chipping" alongside your larger clumps of "salt chipping".

Here's a fun YouTube video on the technique, and how it can work really well.

As I mentioned earlier, this was an experiment for us. As we were painting 13 tanks in a limited time, it also meant that any "mistake" we made in the application of this technique would be multiplied across all 13.

Above is an example of a Leman Russ once the salt had been chipped off. At this point I realized we hadn't used enough salt, and the salt we'd used was too coarse.

Not to worry, onto the next stage. Removing the softened acrylics from the hairspray layer.

Above you can see the result of a few minutes of soaking and attacking the paint fairly vigorously with an old, old drybrush. I think it looks quite cool, but comparing the ease of getting the paint off to that in the above video. I really get the feeling we didn't use enough hairspray. Oh well, lesson learned.

The next step was to detail up the tanks, painting all the stowage and accessories and insignia and markings and so on and so on. Once these were painted, I added a few more damaged areas using the sponge weathering technique (applying Scorched Brown). In some of the larger areas I applied a few dabs of Solar Macharius Orange to add depth to the new "chipping".

So here you can see the nine tanks I've detailed up so far. I'll be completing the rest this week, and then tackling the final (I hope) stage of weathering over the weekend, applying the very cool weathering pigments supplied for the project by Justin at Secret Weapon Miniatures.

I hope you enjoy how they're looking so far. More to come next week : )

Cheers

Dave

PS. For some more great weathering pictures, check out the awesome model that is this week's prize over at the Heroes of Armageddon blog, and make sure you donate early and often!

Steel Legion Tank Painting - Heroes of Armageddon

Last post I mentioned that I was heading over to my friend Brien's place on Saturday for a day of Steel Legion tank painting. Well, thanks to Brien and Joe (pictured below, left and right respectively) and their airbrushes, we managed to get the vast bulk of painting for the 13 tanks done in a little over six hours.

Stage One - The first step was to spray all the tanks with Vallejo Model Color (VMC) Redleather.

Step Two - As each tank dried, I stippled certain areas of the tanks with Citadel Foundation Solar Macharius Orange (too add depth to the rust we would reveal later).

Step Three - This was the BIG experiment for us. We sprayed all of the tanks with hairspray, then sprinkled them with salt, particularly in the lower track areas. None of us had tried this at all before, but we'd checked out a few videos online, and chatted withe Justin from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Then we talked it through and just went for it, on all 13 tanks.

Step Four - Spraying on the basecoat of VMC Dark Grey. Getting a nice, even coat was very important.

Step Five - We added a good amount of VMC Light Grey to the previous basecoat and then sprayed on the highlight.

Step Six - The final spraying stage. We sprayed stripes of Citadel Rotting Flesh to form the classic Steel Legion camouflage pattern.

More photos to come in the next few days, where I'll show you how the salt flaked off and the results of the hairspray weathering, along with the detail painting I've done on the tanks so far.

Cheers

Dave

PS. How many models do you think a tanks equates to for my little "Hobby Tracker"? Just one, or maybe as many as five?

Steel Legion Tank Prep - Heroes of Armageddon

The Heroes of Armageddon Project continues to gather momentum, like some massive juggernaut-type beast, preparing itself to roll right over any who dare to get in its way.

Foolish hyperbole or prophetic rambling? I'm guessing more of the former.

Anyway, this Saturday I'm getting together with a few friends to paint the vast bulk of the tanks for the Steel Legion army. As the vehicles are the key feature of the mechanized infantry force, I felt it was important to keep things as close as possible when it came to the bulk of the rolling steel.

Below you'll be able to see 12 of the 13 vehicles we'll be painting this weekend. One of the things that helped me realize I was doing the right thing when I volunteered to lead the Steel Legion Build Team was finding a box of nine painted Chimeras in a closet, and recognizing that they hadn't been out of that box in the nine years I've lived here in the US. Eleven years ago, I painted them up as Jantine Patricians (an elite mech inf regiment from the Gaunt's Ghosts series), and they had been allied with Tanith and Vitrian Dragoons against the Shriven in a massive OZ Games Day battle.

I dusted the models off, snapped off a few offending accoutrements, and then started adding more stowage, some of it from GW, some of it from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Above are the APCs of the 1st Platoon. That's right, the platoon will be one squad larger than the original list.

Here are the APCs of 2nd Platoon. The additional Chimera will be used for the army's Stormtroopers (aka Yarrick's Commissariat Bodyguard).

These two Leman Russ MBTs were assemble for the project by a friend of mine Josh Roberts. Josh is an excellent hobbyist and great dad : ) Thanks Josh.

This Vanquisher and Executioner were assembled by another friend, Bob Weiss. Bob is a veteran hobbyist from waaaay back who just loves his tanks. In fact, he might be the guy who has assembled more of them than I have. It took a little while for Bob to crowbar my old FW Vanquisher barrel into a regular LR turret, but the end result is seamless. Thanks Bob!

I mentioned earlier adding stowage to a bunch of the vehicles. Some of the fun bits were using the "panniers" etched brass sheet from Secret Weapon Miniatures, along with the large and small backpacks from them too. Thanks for the hook-up Justin.

Anyway, the are even more prizes being given away this week. Click on the button in the top right corner of this blog and contribute as much as you can to the cause, that gets you in the draw for the weekly prizes! Then head on over to the Heroes Of Armageddon blog to see what's up for grabs this Sunday : )

Cheers

Dave

Steel Legion Command HQ - Heroes of Armageddon

I've had a few people ask me what unit I was contributing to the Heroes of Armageddon project. Knowing full well that everything was in hand, with loads of volunteers, and a simple painting plan for the tanks, I decided I'd tackle the Command HQ squad.

I also knew that I couldn't just throw something stock into the army's most important position (after Yarrick that is), so I decided to convert the Command HQ squad from some very cool bits that have been released in the last few years. Below you can see the overall look of the squad.

I used a bunch of parts from the Cadian Command sprue, as well as some heads from a Baneblade kit, Valkyrie kit, and even an ancient Steel Legion Commissar (revamped of course). My favorite part of these models, however, are the Combat Armor Torsos from MaxMini. I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a few packs of these at Salute earlier in the year. They look great for long term campaigners who have to travel in confined spaces - a place for everything and everything in its place.

Two of the models used the commander legs from the Cadian Command sprue. The coat is a perfect length match for the Steel Legion. So that the whole squad didn't look the same from the waist down, I used two standard Cadian legs for the models above, and sculpted in some coat tails. I also added a raised Steel Legion symbol to each of the unit's atypical left shoulder pads. The shot above gives you a good look at the back of the MaxMini torso. Very cool indeed!

The Steel Legion Commander is set on the Baneblade commander legs, and equipped with weapons to tackle the nastiest of Ork Nobz. The Commissar is an old model and has they great skull gasmask sculpted on already : ) I added a powerfist and plasma pistol (plus a more ceremonial sword). These will all be primed in the next few days, and then onto the painting table. That's where I think they'll really get their "Steel Legion look".

In the list we have both a Master of Ordnance and a Yarrick. These model are being painted for us by two spectacular painters, Chris Borer and Kirill Zhilkov respectively. Click on their names to see their Golden Demon achievements. Impressive indeed. Chris will also be scratch-sculpting the Master of Ordnance. Check out more of his work at his website here.

An important note about the BASES. The Steel Legion army and the Ork Speed Freakz armies are both using Dragon Forge Design bases almost exclusively. Jeff was kind enough to donate enough bases to kit out both armies. Well over a couple of pounds of resin. Thanks Jeff!

The Artillery Train of Nuln (Part 6)

Before I jump into this post about my ongoing Artillery Train project, I want to share with you a revelation that I had last night while watching a classic sci-fi movie, Dune. The David Lynch movie of 1983 was one of the first I was able to see on the big screen, and a lot of it has stuck with me over the years. Seeing it again last night was very cool, and one line in particular struck a chard with me (in regards to my blogging). Now, to paraphrase Gurney Haleck poorly, "Not in the mood? Mood? Mood is a thing for cattle and blogging"

What do I mean by this? Well last week I was pretty psyched to get a few blog posts up, show you folks what I'd been working on, and so forth. There was a post on Monday, another on Tuesday, and a third on Wednesday. I was about to bang out another post for Thursday when I noticed my Wednesday post had disappeared, along with a few comments. WTF? As many of you know, Blogger had some kind of issue last week that could only be solved by pulling 30 hours worth of posts and comments. I'm not sure what that issue was, or even if I'd understand it if I was told. All I know is that it took the wind out of my sails, left me "not in the mood". So you've had to wait until now to see what I've been up to.

Let's kick off by pointing out the very cool model above, part of the new range of models brought to the world by Laurent of Blight Wheel Miniatures. I've mentioned Blight Wheel before. They are the ones who produced the cool vehicles I showed you in this post. Take a look at their site, and make sure you let Laurent know what you think of his range.

And now, on to the Artillery Train of Nuln. Here you can see the first of my new Handgunner units completed. I have another of this style primed and ready for paint. Then it's on to the two units of Nuln Ironsides. The models are very nice, crisp, characterful sculpts, and I'm looking forward to getting some paint on them soon.

Back rank.

Front rank.

Above you can see the progression on my first cannon base. I've been inspired by a number of historical wargaming artillery bases I've seen recently, so I hope to tell a story with the artillery bases for this army. Below you can see the cannon. I've chosen to paint the gun carriage with Tau Sept Ochre, one of the accent colors I'm using in my force. I like the muted tone that almost looks like it could be unpainted wood (with a great yellow tinge to it to offset the dark metal of the fittings).

And here is the first artillery base I started on, the Helstorm Rocket battery. You can see the "story" arrangement here. Not long and I'll have this finished up completely.

In my first few games, the Helstorm did not treat me well. However, on Tuesday night, while fighting against Jake's Skaven, it did manage to take out over half a unit of Plague Monks in the first turn, so it can't be all bad.

Finally, here's a look at the Battle Standard Bearer I've assembled for the army. I know he technically can't have that pistol, but I think it looks good and fits with the blackpowder theme of the army (as does the crazy clockwork cherub).

Cheers

Dave