The Manufactorum: Sons Of Horus Reaver Squad

Part 3 - Painting the Helms

First stage was to prime the model with GW Chaos Black spray paint.

Please follow the instructions provided as this can be trickier than it seems, weather and temp can really play havoc with the finish.

First part I painted after that was the lenses, I did this as it was easier to tidy up around them rather than try to fit it in post armour.

A few layers went into this stage.....

I mixed a little Lahmian Medium with White Scar and painted two layers on each eye piece.

After this I used an Agrax Earthshade wash, this added a touch of shading to the recesses.

Next up is three layers of Tamiya Clear Red, try to keep each layer thin and build up rather than one big blob.

I then painted another white layer, keeping it to a smaller area, follow this with another two layers of Clear Red. Finally add a dot or two white to represent light reflecting off the glass and glaze with Bloodletter.

The layers of Clear Red should hopefully give you a nice shiny lenses with a touch of depth.

Ok this is where things get a little experimental for me.

Hairspray technique....

I've tried this only once recently and it could go either way. The theory is it to get nice natural looking wear and tear.

Basically you paint the areas you want to weather in a contrasting colour, in this case with the black armour I went with a primer grey look.

First off I painted a thinned out layer of Dawnstone, I wasn't too bothered about getting a uniform colour. Next I added 50% Ulthuan Grey to the mix, again this was added in a random thin layer.

My reason for that was I wanted different shades of grey to come through when weathered, hopefully adding to the effect.

A wash of Agrax and Nuln Oil in a 50/50 ratio was added to bring out further depth and randomness to the primer shades .

So here's the fun part.......

Seal the model with a few light coats of Purity Seal, try not to overload with this and it'll eat your details down the line. This will protect the paint below and make the chipping phase possible.

Once that's out of the way the hairspray layers can go on.

Spray a few thin layers of this all over the model, let each layer dry and keep the same logic with this as the seal as it will clog the details up if too thick. Bonus is you can wash it off and go again if it goes wrong.

The armour was then painted in two thin layers of Abaddon Black.

Now on the art work I was looking at, which I think was pulled from one of ForgeWorld books, depicted a green tint to the helm.

This was my guide for the colours and look.

I mixed a small amount of Castellan Green into my black from earlier, this was thinned to a glaze type mix and applied in thin layers and built up. This will aid with blending. Remember we're aiming for a green tint.

A Nuln Oil wash was added to the recesses.

The final highlights can now be added.

I used a layer of Castellan Green, again thinned to a glaze type mix. This was added in smaller areas where the tint had been placed.

Now I go off on a gamble and add Ulthuan Grey since it was a black green I was after. Keep this as an hard edge highlight and very slight. This was toned with a glaze made from Beil-Tan Green and medium. Aim for a GW type glaze.

Right, now we go back to the hairspray....So if everything went to plan we can start to chip these suckers.

Below are the tools I used, although a toothpick will do.

For this you'll need some lukewarm water and a bit of restraint, it is very easy to over do this bit.

Wet an area of armour and leave it for a few moments to soak into the paint layer.

Once you've done that take your tool and scrape with the edge or tip, do this with a steady hand with a good idea where you think wear and tear would be. All being well the hairspray below the top layers will lift and show you the nice primer layers below. The Purity Seal will protect that to a degree, unless you go to heavy with the scraping.

Alrighty now we move on to the metal areas.

Boltgun Metal was mixed with Abaddon Black and painted to the lower face plate and spikes.

We then move on to highlights and weathering.
Below are the paints and powders I'll use. I'll be using a technical paint from GW as well, Typhus Corrosion. This range they have brought out is quality and adds good effects with minimal fuss. Blood For The Blood God is awesome..I'll use that in a future episode of this series.

I highlight the metal with a drybrush of Boltgun Metal and picked out the edges with Leadbreaker.

I then followed that with a wash of Nuln Oil.

Now for weathering, mix the Typus Corrosion with Lahmian Medium and apply a few thin layers to the very bottom of the face plate. Around the vents and where the breather pipes are. Then I used the Tamiya Weathering Master, Burnt Red was rubbed in to the lower half of the metal and the in the upper half I used the Burnt Blue. I like to think it adds a bit of something to the highlights.

Then with Mithril Sliver I picked out the edges in a random fashion to imply chipping. I then used a coat of Lahmian Medium to seal the powders .