Juggernaut

There's been a bit of a gap between posts, apologies for that, but there's a very good reason, which hopefully will be revealed soon...

But in the meantime, I've finished my first Warjack!  The pictures were taken outside for a change, I'm not sure if this is an improvement or not on my previous photos, but at least I didn't have to mess around with the lighting.

While being a royal (appropriate word for today) pain in the backside to put together, this great big lump was a blast to paint.  He's meant to look dirty and beat up, and while my battle damage needs a little work I'm pretty pleased with the overall effect.  The miniature is "zenithal" highlighted (I think that's the term, I pinched it from Ron at From The Warp), i.e. the light source is imagined directly above the model, so all the lightest parts of the model are the elements/sides facing up

Red Flag Flying

Red is not a colour I enjoy painting large blocks of, as in the past I've had issues with getting the transitions smooth.  I'm probably a little hamstrung to start off with as I undercoat with black, but I think it's worth the extra effort in the end. The current method I'm using seems to be working and although the red is a little brighter than I'd intended, I'm going to stick with it for my Khador force.

Stage by stage, it goes a little like this:

• Base coat:  A couple of coats of thinned Scorched Brown are applied across most of the model (it's the base coat for the bronze/copper too)
• Shade:  Devlan Mud is liberally washed across the model
• First highlight:  Scorched Brown is reapplied to all but the most recessed and shadowed areas
• Second Highlight:  Dark Flesh is blended in to Scorched Brown, so that the Brown is only showing in the darker shadows
• Third Highlight:  Blood Red is blended in, with the uppermost faces of the model being pure Blood Red
• Final Highlight: Solar Macharius Orange is applied as a top edge and point highlight

The battle damage is then applied to the armour plates:

• The "dent/scratch" is a line or spot of Scorched Brown
• Below the dent or spot I painted an outline of Solar Macharius Orange
• Blood Red is used to blend this into the armour

This gives the illusion of a pronounced edge to the dent.  I prefer this to carving dents and scratches into the model as it's easier to erase mistakes if you've done too much, or put it in the wrong place.  Once the damage was completed, a glaze of Baal Red is applied to tone down the colour of the armour.  If I'm honest, I could have done a better job of the damage, making the dents/scratches smaller and more numerous, but I'm still quite pleased with the way it came out.

Heavy Metal

There's a whole load of "metal" on this model, which was a lot of fun to paint.  As this is a steam powered piece of machinery, I wanted to make it look dirty while still having some shiny bits.

For the steel:

• Base coat:  Charadon Granite
• Shade:  A liberally applied Devlan Mud wash
• First highlight:  Boltgun Metal applied to all but the most recessed/shadowed areas
• Second highlight: Chainmail blended in

For the bronze/copper:

• Base coat:  Scorched Brown
• Shade:  A liberally applied Devlan Mud wash
• First highlight: Tin Bitz applied to all but the most recessed/shadowed areas
• Second highlight:  A 1:1 mix of Tin Bitz and Chainmail is blended in
• Final step:  A glaze of 1:1 diluted Gryphonne Sepia is applied all over

By using a flat rather than metallic base coat, the recesses look dirt filled, especially with the amount of Devlan Mud used.  By going no brighter than Chainmail (or a Chainmail mix), the metal areas aren't too bright, helping to add to the effect.

The Devil is in the details

After the major elements were completed there were a few other things that need finishing off.  The black trims and the Khador emblem were simply a Black undercoat which had Adeptus Battlegrey and Codex Grey blended in as highlights.

A glimpse of flame was added to the grill of the furnace.  The holes here were filled with Scab Red, then Blood Red and Solar Macharius Orange were added in smaller layers, brighter towards the bottom.  A similar effect was used in the face plate of the 'Jack, but with a final layer of Sunburst Yellow added to the centre.   I went a bit literal with the "Ice Axe" - plain metallic steel didn't feel right to me, so after a base coat of Boltgun metal, I added layers of Necron Abyss, Shadow Grey, Astronomicon Grey and then a final highlight of White mixed with Mithril Silver to give it a frosted metal look.  

The base was then done to match Sorscha, and a spray of Humbrol Matt Varnish finished it off.

So one down and one to go.  Now I know what to do with these bad boys, the Destroyer should get done a bit quicker, then I need to decide what I want to go with them - with a new store in Swindon opened, called Gamecraft, that sells Warmachine, this maybe sooner than I'd planned...

I've got a couple of miniatures lined up to do this weekend, hopefully I'll have some daily progress reports as we're in another 4 day weekend.

As always, comments and criticism welcome!