The UK has been in lock down for 3 weeks now, and on top of that I’ve also had a week of isolation so I’ve had 4 weeks of glorious hobby filled painting, right!?!?! Ahh well, as idyllic as it sounds spending all that time at home with family, reality is that I’ve had just as little time to myself as if none of this had happened. Yes, I can hear your snorts of laughter and groans of disbelief. I hold my hands up, I’m as staggered as you all at my apparent lack of progress.
The good news is, I have painted my garden fence panels…well until I ran out of fence paint (the wife says they need another coat).
“So what have I been doing worth writing about then?” I hear you ask…
My last two posts have been about the Ordo Sinister Warlord Psi-Titan. Sadly I’m still waiting for some Scibor parts to be delivered, so that is on hold. My last post also included the Warbringer Nemesis Titan I built and magnetised for Legio Solaria. So I can show you the progress on the Warbringer.
She has had a base made up out of various odds and ends; a cable tie, old epic base ruins, cork sheet, 3d printer scraps, sand, plasticard, copper wire, and even a left over nut cap from a swinging seat for the garden (the wife has had me doing plenty of garden stuff recently).
Painting has even commenced, spray primed black and then for the skeleton a heavy drybrush gun metal silver (GW Leadbelcher) and a black wash (AP Dark Tone), with a lighter drybrush of a bright silver (VMA Silver) for highlights, nice and simple and quick. I also picked out some of the skeleton’s panels in dark grey (VMC Black Grey) watered down a little thinner than I’d normally paint to show some of the metallic through and followed by a Dark Tone wash over the top – pretty much self highlighting/weathering in one go – well for the less prominent panels at any rate.
The mottled green armour panels follow the method I used on my Reaver Titan, see this post.
The red armour panels have been airbrushed VMA Fire Red, VGA Bloody Red, and then Bloody Red mixed with VMC Sunny Skin Tone. The panels have also had a few passes with Scale 75 Inktense Red to get a rich red look too (possibly too heavy handed there). I still have a way to go yet.
So you may have noticed a slight discrepancy in the above image. There are an awful lot of armour panels and guns that do not belong to the Warbringer. That’s because if I was going to be batch painting a host of red (and green) armour panels, I may as well make the batch worthwhile.
So in an attempt to bring the Warlord to the table top I’ve been painting her at the same time as the Warbringer. Obviously the same process was followed for both the Warlord and Warbringer.
The armour trim is painted with Scale 75 Necro Gold, which then has a quick paint with some AP Strong Tone. This really adds a dark aged look to the metal trim. Currently I’ve not done any highlighting of the trim on any of my titans – but it does need it.
Oh My God!!!! the trim a never ending chore!!! Next Titan Legio I paint had better have no trim to paint!
Naughtily I keep adding to the ‘batch painting’ I have to do, I’ve got a host of Titan weapon options to paint up. Some aren’t even built yet, and I am thinking they should wait till the Titans are actually done, I’m just concerned motivation will drop once the Titans are almost complete.
The Warlord has been in progress since August 2018 – how embarrassing – I need to complete her. I think the Imperial Hunters colour scheme has caused most of my perturbation in this project, I should have gone with my initial idea of Warp Runners. The Solaria scheme runs hot and cold with me depending on my mood 🙂
Here is a picture of the test assembly of the Warlord’s current progress.
Here is the same for the Warbringer. Its a funny looking beast at the moment with its leg armour missing, and poor camera angle.
I have plans to do some white stripes on both the Warlord and Warbringer. Thinking of having white stripes on the Warlord’s shin plates, and Warbringer’s knee or possibly shoulder plates. I just need to keep the momentum going on these Titans and get them finished.
Speaking of finished (well they aren’t yet but they are getting there) check out the last of my Solaria War-Nouns. The Warhounds which were started back in late 2018. The painters block has been to do with the Solaria scheme on all these guys, but I’ve pushed through it over the last few weeks, and its been good to see these getting close to the same point as the Reaver Titan.
Finally, here is the first to make it to near completion: the Reaver Titan.
Legio Solaria – Bringing the War; I’m now up to date with about 4 weeks worth of hobby time. Having got it all written down and photographed I have surprised myself with my actual progress.
Splayed Paint Brush 
These look wonderful, especially the Warhounds! I’ve been playing around with the idea of a scheme involving some oil paints, because I have so many of them lying around from when I did that sort of thing especially as I missed getting Ignatum transfers. Did you do anything different from your 2018 tutorial, because I feel like I like this new set of titans more – as they seem paler to me and truer to the Titandeath scheme. It might be the light or that there are more flatter/larger panels here. And what did you end up doing to the Warhound heads?
Great work man!
Hmmm not surd if anything was done differently. So it’s probably just the light. The photos were taken outside in the evening, maybe it’s poor photography across both posts.
Oh – that last pic of the Reaver, it’s the same Reaver as the 2018 post!
How long do you leave the oil paint on there for? Obviously you don’t let it cure, but about a day? It’s sort of implied on your other post that in normal circumstances where you don’t revisit it, the whole process would be done in one afternoon?
Yes, about a day. My painting time is sporadic at best so the green oil paint was probably last job of one painting session. And I’d have made an effort to get it finished the next day.
Interesting thought though, what if it’d had been left a week? I’m assuming the solvent would still have reactivated the paint to wipe off, but the green staining would have been a lot heavier?
Thanks for the comments, nice to know people find stuff on here useful or worthwhile. But what did you mean in your first comment about the warhound heads? How did I do the red marbling?
Oops I think we hit the wordpress limit for replies. Yeah I just meant how did you do the purple/dark streaking on the heads. Unless I’m just being dumb you don’t mention it in this article. A lot of the other mottled Solaria schemes to me seemed too scruffy for the noble daughters of Tigrus – the glaze here gives it a less “painted model” look. The heads work to tie it together for me – less solid color, more interesting to match the body. The Solaria transfers I found to be disappearing from most English GW sites so I picked up two and will probs have at least a maniple now. I’m thinking a lighter trim of pale gold compared to yours and maybe some bone here and there but I love the green and red you’ve done.
The red armour is supposed to be my next Solaria post – when I get round to writing it – but in summary:
1, paint the red armour, including highlighting and shade.
2, use a dark brown wash paint on a squiggly line, leave it to partial dry. With a clean brush wick away the wet paint. The tide marks that are left behind are the veins in the marble.
3, once that’s done, go back and paint a few very thin lines with a purple ink.
I struggled deciding on the trim colour, I had a few tries with a couple of golds and a silver trim colour. Still not sure on this one if I’m honest, but it’s does still need highlighting if I can be bothered (hate painting trim lol).