Dark Angels 4th Company

The Dark Angels

I keep talking about and mentioning my Dark Angels. I've shown snippets of them and such, but not much else. In my downtime, I have taken a few pics of my 4th Company Marines. This is the beginning of their time on the blog.

I started my Dark Angels way back in 2003, after finally giving in and doing a Marine Company. I had been completely sick of Marines being everywhere and beating up on my Mordian Imperial Guard and Order of the Martyred Lady: Adepta Sororitas. I did paint up a squad of Deathwatch Marines previously that I used alongside those two armies, but otherwise I had no Marines at all.

Why the Angels? Everybody had blue, black, grey, or red Marines at the time. I thought about Salamanders, but I just didn't dig their background as much as the Dark Angels. Besides, the Dark Angels give the option of three different armies if wanted, with the Deathwing and Ravenwing added on.

My Marines have been painted in three waves. The first wave was done in fairly generic GW form, painted Dark Angels green, with varying light greens for highlighting. This was when I was starting to really hate painting bleached bone... It's coverage was so bad, yet I persevered. All the guns were done in black as I couldn't stand the red guns that were shown in the original pictures. Anything laser or plasma got a red cowling around the barrel. The first wave Marines were to get me a functional 1500pt army on the table.

No matter what, each squad was equipped with the same armor, helmets, and backpacks. This was chosen to add uniformity. Every member had their company emblem painted into their kneepad. I don't remember why I chose the right knee. At some point it came about that it was supposed to be their left knee pad, no matter. 

A majority of the banners are from The Dark Fortress. A wonderful website for almost anything regarding the Dark Angels. In this case, I printed the PDFs and sprayed the entire back of the page with an old can of GW Bleached Bone. The banners were then cut out and attached from there.

My second wave of Marines started to get brighter and a bit sharper highlights. This wave was to begin to fill in holes that I found in my army. When I build a squad, I don't go for the magnet route. If I need a Marine to have 'x' weapon, I will build a guy with that item. Or in these cases, I just build another squad. 

With the fourth squad I started to give the individual members different items or emblems. While keeping to the same helmet, chest, and backpack, I switched up the squad insignia. I stretched myself some with this squad, the Marine with the empty bolter using his pistol. One with a bolter strapped around him. The fourth squad is probably my best but not my latest.

The third wave of my Marines came about with the Dark Vengeance box set. At its release I had completed squads 1st thru 4th, 7th, and half of 9th and 10th, a little over half. Painting up the Dark Angel Squad from the box put me close to finishing a complete company.

When the box set came out, Games Workshop had already dropped their Dark Angels Green paint. Since they couldn't trademark the name, they created a new color, Caliban Green. These guys re not painted in that color. I found it too 'off'. I used the Army Painter Dark Green for the third wave models. Still, it does not match up. I was also more subtle with the edge highlighting; that could have been a mistake. Especially with the 6th Squad, where the highlights are too subtle. The sergeant for the 6th Squad is an old special release that GW had for a while. 

Updates: Dark Vengeance

So what have I been doing? I have decided to take it upon myself and completely paint all the models in the Dark Vengeance set. I've been sitting on it since it came out. Here are some quick picks of the results.

I went for the Emperor's Children scheme. The back of the Champion was done with glazes over a white base. An experiment that came out fine. The Chaos forces just have so much detail to them that I really enjoyed painting them... What does that mean for my 'All Imperial' forces?

And with the Dreadnought, I decided to go the hard way and put more skin on it. He's the one that came out the best.

With the Dark Angels, I used the standard Dark Angels Green. I still had a bit left. The Caliban green just isn't right. I even went out and got a quart of what was remaining matched so I can still add onto my force. The only change I made was to use one of my old backpacks for the Sgt. This way I can give him a matching banner stating what squad he is with.

I did have issues withe Terminators in that they do not match what I currently have. The newer ones are lighter. They still came out good, but there is a slight difference when compared to my originals from 2005. The way I did these was with an old can of Bone White then highlighted with Vallejo bone white and ivory. Much easier than, the same spray, wash, repaint, and then highlight. I'm all about the quickest, most effective way to completion.

The Bikes are completed too. Although, I had to add to the three that it came with. I'll post pics of those in the next update.

Vengeance Weapon Batteries

In the process of painting up some of the Vengeance Weapon Batteries. They are part of the GW Apocalypse release. Very simple models with very few parts and no spruces. I purposely left all the gothic add on off of the models. I want them to look more like field fortifications than armed pieces of architecture.

I still have a few steps remaining and will post finished photos of them.

The finished product. With some weathering and a layer of Testors Dullcoat

Four Color Camo Scheme on Chimeras

Two completed Chimeras in 4 color scheme

This time I want to show you how to do a four color camo scheme. It's actually quite simple. Even more so if you have an airbrush. If you do not, then do not worry, you can do the same thing with standard spray cans. Here is the final look of my Chimeras. I would love to show you what I had envisioned from the first Imperial Armor, but I don't want to cause any issues with the big guys in Nottingham.

There are a few rules to remember when using spray cans. These are basic pointers, if you already know these skip to the next paragraph. You want to spray the paint on lightly. Spray the paint on from side to side or up/down. You also want to begin spraying before you actually get to the model and carry through till you completely pass the model. Keep the can about a foot away from the model, too close can be too thick, too far can lead to it drying too soon, very not good. Check the humidity in the air, this too can cause bad things to happen with the paint.

I first primed the vehicles with black. Any brand of black will do, although I used Army Painter. This is just a base coat for the paint to adhere to. This initial layer was left to dry overnight. I then used a grey. In my case it was the remainder of my Adeptus Battlegrey, now Mechanicus Standard Grey. I also used Reaper Ash Grey later on for other vehicles. I tried to give the tank a good coverage of the grey. I wasn't too intent on making sure every nook was painted. As I put other layers on, they should get those locations I missed. In addition, having some of the black, or other future colors, peeking through gives it some variety. While this layer was drying, I laid out a strip of Tamiya Masking tape of about 8-10 inches in length.

I then randomly placed the tape onto the tank. The designs can be completely up to you. Be creative if you wish. Cut holes into them to let other layers through. Go round, or add more than 4 sides to each piece. You can vary the sizes from small to large. These will mask the grey under the tape from any other colors that we may put on. When it is finally done and all the tape is removed, the grey will have the appearance of being the last color put onto the tank. When the tape is placed onto the tank, be sure to burnish the edges down to prevent the future layers from seeping under the tape. For this you can use most anything that is smooth and rounded. I used a sculpting tool. Once I was happy with the placement, I proceeded to add the next layer of paint. The next layer happened to be leftover Tamiya Desert Yellow in a spray can. Tallarn Sand is a good replacement. I sprayed this onto the tops and sides of the tank. I didn't go for the bottom of the tank or the bottom of the 'wings' either. Then while that layer was drying, I again got the tape out and cut more designs. I then airbrushed on Graveyard Earth, which is now replaced by Steel Legion Drab. I got the tape out again, but this time I went for varied stripes of tape. Another point, try to have your tape pass over, contact, or in some way contact your previous pieces of tape.

Finally, the last layer of paint was a dark green. I went back to a spray can of Army Painter. I want to point out one thing here. Ultimately, you want to use a spray paint that you also have in bottle form. If you have to do any touchups for any reason, you want the colors to match. This is one of the reasons why using an airbrush is preferred over a spray can. This last layer I tried to get a good coverage over all the tank. In the real world, this layer would usually be the base layer that all the other colors are then added onto.

I let this layer dry after approximately 30 minutes and proceeded to remove the tape carefully. Using an exacto knife to lift an edge on a mask piece, I removed it with tweezers. Here you will see that around the first pieces of tape that there could be raised spots where the paint has built up. You can break these down with a fine sandpaper.  

The next step I took was to complete any extra paining. The guns were painted and washed. The pouches were painted and washed too, the shovels, etc. I then sealed it with a light layer of gloss and applied decals, sealing it again. The gloss coat allows for the decals to settle easier. In addition, the weathering layer is much easier with a smooth coat. 

Using oil paints for weathering is the part that gives most people pause. As they work so much differently than the standard acrylics, many people don't like to step out of their established comfort zone. In this case it was extremely simple. Get a can of turpenoid and a small tube of Van Dyke Brown or even Burnt Umber. Squeeze out a small amount of the paint. I put mine into the lid of an old jar and poured out some turpenoid to create a wash. You may need to experiment here to get the consistency you like. Then, using a detail brush just touch around the rivets with your wash. The paint will fill in the area around the rivet like magic. It'll make you wonder why you never tried it in the first place! Even better, if you went to far or don't like how it came out in some spots, you can wet a qtip with turpenoid and just wipe it away. Here is where the gloss coat really helps you out. Another trick you can try is to dampen a flat brush and lightly drag it down the sides of the vehicle pulling the paint down to create a nice effect akin to rain washing down the side.

Knowing these simple to use tricks, you can change things up and try different combinations. Go for a striking color shame if you wish. This can also be used to great effect of Tau and Eldar craft as well. Imagine a large dragon template cut out in tape and placed onto the edge of a Wave Serpent.