Finishing Up
I needed to paint a few more models to finish off my Deathwing army, so I got down to it and did them this week. Yesterday, actually. Like the Deathwing Terminators last week, I wanted to get them done quickly and I used an assembly-line method. Total time (including setting up beforehand, working out where I wanted the colors for the paintscheme and cleaning up afterward) was 1 hour for the three models together.

After I assembled the first model, I decided I wanted more dynamic poses. I leaned the sergeant's bike at a steep angle like he's carving a tight turn. The other I leaned a bit and put into a wheelie. The poses were fairly easy to achieve. The main thing I had to do was hold them in position and reapply glue around the area for more stability.

I started by painting the models with a prime/base coat of Chaos Black. The only areas I didn't hit with the Chaos Black were the areas that would become Skull White or Bleached Bone. Those areas I painted with Dheneb Stone to keep from making the lighter colors too dark. If you want to get something painted fast, using very thick colors that also work well as primers (the Foundation Series or Chaos Black, for instance) is very handy. Then you can combine your basecoat and primer steps into one. You'll probably have to go back later and touch it up, but skipping a step is a nice time-saver. So is using that tank brush I mentioned last week. Big time-saver.

Once everything was basecoated, I did the Skull White and the Bleached Bone bits. Using the Dheneb Stone as a base for these was almost required. (The other option being the use of 4 or so layers of White/Bone to get the look right. Ugh. I don't have that kind of time.)

Next up was Blood Red. This was a bit of an accent color. Only the guns and the helmet lenses and the inside of the sergeant's robe were this color.

After Blood Red came Boltgun metal. This is when I recognized something bizarre about the codex paint scheme. Almost all the interesting colors are on the bike, not the rider. The rider has red eyes and one or two white Ravenwing details and is otherwise simply black. Apparently the bike is more the focus than the rider is. I wasn't too worried about it, since the Terminators are my focus in this army, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.

Finally, I went back over the models with a critical eye, looking at each color in order. I started with Chaos Black and touched up any black areas that other colors had gotten onto. Then I did the same with Blood Red, Skull White and Boltgun Metal. By doing one color at a time on all 3 models, I saved some time by limiting the areas that I knew I'd need to look at. I also saved some energy by focusing on just a few details at a time. If you need to look at each model in turn and work out where your mistakes with 5 or more different colors, you'll either overlook some mistakes, or you'll take a long time to do it. Save time and energy by keeping a small focus and it'll really pay off.

Theoretically, I have a couple of details to finish up with this army before I can say it's completely ready. 2 of the bikers need to have right arms with meltaguns painted and attached, and I need to attach an Apothecary Narthecium to one Terminator and an Assault Cannon to another. Unless I suddenly desperately need a project to do, I think I'm going to leave the LandRaiders painted in their old colors for now. Somewhere down the line I'll change that, but it's good enough for right now. Besides, it's time to start looking at the Dark Eldar!

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