Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor Greyfax

Just a short post update since I was stuck home with flu and the next door neighbour's alarm isn't really helping me sleep.

Managed to take the whole day to work on Inquisitor Greyfax from start to finish, thanks to Duncan's guide.

Inquisitor Greyfax. Completed. 6th September 2016

Inquisitor Greyfax. Rear view

The only tough part of Inquisitor Greyfax was her face. The rest was not much of an issue. I think I am gonna drop using Flayed One Flesh for skin as the colour does not vary much from Screaming Skull. It also does not seem to enhance or improve from the Bugman's Glow->Cadian Flesh->Kislev Flesh that I have been using all these while. She looks more like having a Kabuki mask as seen above.

Anyway, 4 down and 2 to go.

Warhammer 40K: Imperium of Man Triumvirates

This post was/will be written, added and edited over several days during this 5 day weekend (no thanks to National Day, Raya Haji (which turns out to be one day earlier then I expected) and the "unexpected" holiday declared on Monday for the SEA Games 2017.

*Updated 5th September 2017

It has been a stressful month (and that is just putting it very lightly) which out of nowhere, I decided to work on my minis as a means to recenter myself. I was suppose to finish up the tyranids in spite of the pieces I needed not arriving yet. But instead, I felt inspired to work on Grand Master Voldus of the Grey Knights and Fallen Dark Angel Cypher. Probably because these two were supposedly easy pieces (all silver and black, how hard could that be?)

Grey Knight Grand Master Voldus

Voldus was a simpler between the two as the model itself was primarily silver with Leadbelcher being the basecoat, followed by a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade wash and Runefang Steel highlight as per recommended on the manual.

Voldus. WIP. 30th August 2017

Voldus. Completed. 31st August 2017

Right rear view. 31st August 2017

Left rear view. 31st August 2017

The red of the cloak was just a simple layer of red with no extra wash or highlights, just to simplify things. The gold were Balthasar Gold basecoat followed by Drakenhof Nightshade wash and Auric Armour Gold highlight. I used Auric Armour since that was the bright gold layer I only had with me. I did not get the recommended Liberator Gold highlight as per recommended since I did not really see much difference between the two. Plus, I was not in the mood to open my new Retributor Armour just yet. I know realise that I should have done that after looking at how Retributor Armour performs. It just blew my mind.

Cypher, Lord of the Fallen

Cypher showed me how, that sometimes, painting the smaller models in multi-part does help make things look good. I might just get a second model at a later time (if I ever feel like it that is)

There were quite a lot of deep hidden areas since I had it assembled earlier as shown below. It is quite easy to miss them since these are hard to reach places. Case in point, the face itself. Looking at the second photo below, I came to realise that his face was only half painted! Luckily, I managed to get it fixed. Hence the second lesson. Always take a photo of your models. I highlights imperfections you never just notice while you are painting.

Cypher. WIP. Angle 1. 30th August 2017

Cypher. WIP. Angle 2. 30th August 2017

Edge highlighting the model is definitely tough once assembled. That does not mean it cannot be done.

Cypher. Completed. 1st September 2017

Cypher. Completed. Rear view. 1st September 2017 

Ultramarines Primarch, Roboute Guilliman

I got some interesting ideas after watching Warhammer TV's painting suggestion here. This lead to a lovely result that had me loving how rich Retributor Armour was. It is certainly interesting way to paint gold first instead of blue for the basecolour.

Roboute Guilliman. WIP. 31st August 2017

At the end of the 5 day session, I was not able to work on Roboute Guilliman since I skipped a day to take the family out.

Inquisitor Greyfax

Inquisitor Greyfax was an easy build, in comparison with all the models from the Triumvirate series alongside with Grand Master Voldus and Cypher. I basecoated it in Leadbelcher as per seen on Warhammer TV with lovely results before moving on to the other colours.

Greyfax. WIP. 31st August 2017

Another model that was left undone since I skipped a day. She is currently next in line on the workbench.

Saint Celestine and the Germinae Superia

These models are also painted following Duncan's guide on Warhammer TV. While the video covers only Celestine, the same can be applied to Eleanor and Genevieve with the same result.

Saint Celestine. WIP. 31st August 2017

Eleanor & Genevieve. WIP. 31st August 2017

Saint Celestine. WIP. 2nd September 2017

Eleanor. WIP. 2nd September 2017

Genevieve. WIP. 2nd September 2017

A little caution when handling Saint Celestine. My fingers were constantly grabbing at the iron halo, which is supported at a very thin piece. That is extremely fragile and will break.

Saint Celestine. Completed. 4th September 2017

Saint Celestine. Completed. 4th September 2017

Genevieve. Completed. 4th September 2017

Genevieve. Completed. 4th September 2017

Eleanor. Completed. 4th September 2017

Eleanor. Completed. 4th September 2017

The excitement working on Saint Celestine and her Germinae Superia fizzled after a day of not working on any models, and the frustration that I cannot get the looks right for Celestine's wings. I decided to just get the models completed instead. Celestine is missing her iron halo in the later shots since I tore it off as the halo was getting in my way. Of course it was reassembled back with a good amount of super glue.

Belisarius Cawl

Belisarius Cawl was a major model to build with tons of smaller parts that, although fits easily, makes it hard to both paint and assemble in the final assembly. The top and bottom also does not fit perfectly, probably only on my model to which I should have probably did some test fit before assembling all the tiny bits for the upper part. The model will be painted based on Duncan's recommendation like the two before.

Warhammer 40K: Rise of Hive Fleet Tiamat

* Updated. See notes at the bottom.

Thanks my buddy joining the Penang Tabletop Group painting challenge, I decided to paint my genestealers in parallel with his daemonettes. While I had some head start since the models were primed some time ago with a few basecoated here and there, I threw in a few additional new models to the mix for a total of 12 Genestealers (Lost Patrol), 1 Tyranid Warrior (a prototype), and 5 Termagants. A total of 2 hours average per day got the whole job done in less than two weeks with a few side test job with my extra Carnifex bits from the earlier Old One Eye model which I did last year.

Also, I just got myself a cheap collapsible lightbox from Lazada that just arrived today. Still need to find the right setting for the camera to get optimum images. They are currently a little blur/blue on display which means, more trial and error for me.

Genestealers

Sample of the newly painted genestealers

A throwback of the first genestalers I did for Death Angels card game

Side by side comparison between the old and new

2nd Shot of older models from a slightly higher angle

Same as above, straight angle

2nd shot of newer models at higher angle

Same as above, straight angle

Termagants

Side by side comparison of the last test models and the recent model. Left is new

I grabbed myself a box of the snap fit Termagants for testing, not knowing that I already did a test paint with surprisingly almost identical scheme here. The only major difference between the old and new is the blue lining on the carapace. The previous model was mostly done via drybrushing, which resulted in a much fader design compared to layering as seen above.

2nd Shot of both old and new paint job

Tyranid Warrior

Tyranid Warrior with venom cannon

2nd shot

This model became the primary test model to how the other units will look like under the same scheme as the Genestealers above. Glad to say, it worked and will now be using this as a basis.

The paint scheme used are based on weekly White Dwarf issue 33 with the Space Hulk Cover
Prime/Basecoat - Abbadon Black
Carapace Layer - Stegadon Scale Green
Carapace Edge Highlight/Carapace pattern - Temple Guard Blue

Flesh basecoat - Daemonette Hide
Flesh Layer - Genestealer Purple
Flesh Edge/Highlight - Pallid Wych Flesh

Weapons Basecoat - Bugman's Glow
Weapons Wash - Druchii Violet
Weapons Layer - Cadian Fleshtone
Weapons Edge - Pallid Wych Flesh

* I decided to run some test on the phone camera settings to find out the best result I can get since I was not happy with the blue tint which resulted in the earlier images. The results are those marked as 2nd shot as above.

Just to note the settings I used:
Metering modes - Spot
White Balance - Cloudy
Exposure Value - +1 as baseline for shots. Adjust accordingly
ISO - Auto (probably a 100 based on tests done earlier)