Bit of an unplanned project this one... when moving some models around in my display case, my Imperial Knight fell off its base! I wasn't very upset by this; I never really liked how I originally based the Knight anyway! (original base can be seen here) What this occurrence allowed, though, was for me to strip the base down and do something better!
I wanted to go with an urban rubble style base and I used the below video as inspiration.
Using the above video in combination with the ForgeWorld modelling masterclass book, I followed the steps detailed below:
Step 1: To get some additional verticality, I glued some spare lozenge shaped bases onto the Knight base. These were placed where the Knights feet sit on the base. Next up I covered the base with DAS modelling clay and, whilst the clay was still pliable, I placed various items of detail such as a Bolt Gun, Rhino door, Chaos Marine backpack.
Step 2: I covered the base with PVA and applied various sizes of grit, stones and sand to create the main texture on the base. Once the initial cover of PVA had dried, I applied a further diluted coat to fix everything in place.
Step 3: I primed the base with Vallejo Black Primer through the airbrush. I then picked out some details with Vallejo Grey Primer.
Step 4: On to the painting! To match the colours used for my Space Marine army, I used Mournfang Brown as the main colour. I then used various lighter/darker shades around the base.
Step 5: Painting the details. I airbrushed the rocks and rubble with Mechanicus Standard Grey and highlighted them with Dawstone and Administratum Grey. The skulls were painted Zandri Dust and highlighted with Ushabti Bone and Screaming Skull. The Rhino door and white details on the Storm Shield were painted Celestra Grey and highlighted Ulthuan Grey and White Scar. The various Space Marine details were painted to represent the colours of the Chaos army my friend uses - Khorne Red and then highlighted with Wazdakka Red and Squig Orange.
Finally, I airbrushed a very diluted mix of Steel Legion Drab and water to represent dried dust. This helped tie all the details together prior to shading and highlighting the base. To protect the base and prepare if for shading I applied airbrushed a couple of coats of Vallejo Gloss Varnish.
The following steps will involve using Brown and Black washes over the gloss varnish. Once those have dried, I will drybrush the various details to bring the colours back up and provide more contract. Further weathering will be applied before, finally, sealing the base with matte varnish.
So it has taken a while, most of June in fact, but I have finally completed my Imperial Knight. I'm really happy with how he has turned out however I strongly believe that the model is of such a high quality that its much more difficult to do a bad job than a good job.
I'm really happy that I decided to go with a colour scheme which links the unit to my Space Marine chapter and will post a photo of all my units together in the coming days.... then its on to a Contemptor Dreadnought.
He is starting to come together! As you can see, the weapons and shoulder plates are now complete. I'm really happy with the standard of the painting that I've managed to achieve on this unit so far... however I'm a bit annoyed with how the decals have turned out on the shoulder plates. As you can see in the photos, the Aquilla's have tiny folds in the transparent sections. I will try and flatten these out with a craft knife, and the visual impact isn't deal breaking (from a distance) but it has dampened my satisfaction with the model.
Its taken me a week or short, but often painting sessions to complete the lower section of my Imperial Knight. Not much to really say as I've uploaded a few photos of where I currently am at with the model. I think I will focus on the weapons next, then the shoulder pads and finally the main torso and top armour plate. Enjoy!
So, after seeing the below photo on Facebook I became intrigued with the idea of painting my Knight in my Space Marine chapter colours. Originally I wasn't a fan of this idea due to fluff reasons, however, the visual impression that the below photo had on me led me to question my choice. After lots of pondering I came up with a plan to pacify the fluff monkey in my head!
Some background info - my Marine chapter takes its name from the gaming community which I create and built over 4 years (Light Knights) until I moved away from PC/console gaming last year. I dreamt up the idea of creating the chapter whilst still part of the community and I had envisioned creating characters within the chapter based on prominent members of the community. My Lysander is the representation of me and is called Oane (my 'main' character name in MMOs). In order to link a noble Knightly house to my chapter I decided to create House Runninglight (this being Oanes family name). Very nerds and rather obscure I know; but these are the subtleties to the hobby which a lot of us love.
So yeah, I am now painting the Knight in my marine chapter colours along with some funky hazard lines and the addition of deep red armour sections for the Imperial Aquilla. He is coming along great and cant wait to show you guys more!
This epic bad boy has been sitting on my shelf for what seems like an eternity! After I used the painting of the Hunter/Stalker (a Christmas Present from my awesome other half) as motivation to spur me on with the completion of my older unpainted models, the Imperial Knight became a further incentive as I promised myself that once the Hunter/Stalker was finished I could move on to this model.
As you can see, I have been working on the Skeleton of the Knight. Using the airbrush I was able to coat the model in a fraction of the time it would have taken to paint it using a brush. After watching the very good 4 part guide on how to build, paint and apply transfers to an Imperial Knight over on the GW YouTube page I decided to paint my Knight in the colours of House Taranis. Whilst this paint scheme does not include any hazard lines (which I was preparing myself for having to paint), I do like the overall colour scheme as it doesn't feel overly intricate and is focused around colours which are not part of my Space Marine colour scheme.
