# Zion Does Stuff!



## Zion (May 31, 2011)

I decided to start a different plog because I'm prone to having project ADHD so this let's me be less focused on what I'm working on and just get stuff done as I see fit. :grin:

So to kick things off, here's the Shadowsword I made (by mangling the perfectly good Stormlord I had and rebuilding it) all painted up Vostroyan style:


































Oh, and I finally figured out where my light box wandered off too, so now I have less crummy photos!


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## Tugger (Jul 22, 2013)

Wow. That paint job is immaculate man. Well played sir, well played. If I have one point of criticism (of the constructive variety), is that I notice on the cannon that you have some gaps/mould lines. I dunno if trying to fill em in will harm the paint job too much or not though.

Anyways, like I said man, immaculate paint job.


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## Loki1416 (Apr 20, 2010)

About time you do something.......I mean, very nice job! I am a huge fan of the "simple look" (as if any good paint job can be simple) and I have to say that your paint job is a perfect example of a paint scheme that looks good.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Tugger said:


> Wow. That paint job is immaculate man. Well played sir, well played. If I have one point of criticism (of the constructive variety), is that I notice on the cannon that you have some gaps/mould lines. I dunno if trying to fill em in will harm the paint job too much or not though.
> 
> Anyways, like I said man, immaculate paint job.


I tried cleaning up up before painting but it had some issues. I actually think the cannon itself was a little warped when I put it together as one of the ends didn't want to stay closed.

If I hadn't torn apart a Stormlord to build it I'd probably be more annoyed by it myself but as the model was an excuse to practice with my airbrush some more I'm not one to stress it too much.

And I appreciate the compliments about paint job, it's largely the airbrush (as mentioned) but I do take some pride in the detail stuff I did by hand. Though next time I'm going to give it more time to paint one of these in parts to an even neater paint job that doesn't need me to muck about with masking it (as much).



Loki1416 said:


> About time you do something.......I mean, very nice job! I am a huge fan of the "simple look" (as if any good paint job can be simple) and I have to say that your paint job is a perfect example of a paint scheme that looks good.


Vostroyans are all about the simple vehicle paint schemes actually (not mine):









For mine, I took some advice on colors I saw someone online mention they'd gotten from some folks at their GW: Karnak Stone for the undercoat then a liberal (and somewhat heavy) drybrush of bleached bone (I used Screaming Skull which is as close to the old Bleached Bone as I'm aware of). 

If I keep doing Vostroyans (beyond painting the squad of them I have on my desk) I'll definitely keep that up as my paint scheme for vehicles.


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## Tugger (Jul 22, 2013)

Yea I get what you mean. My helbrute I got in the DV set doesnt want to stay together, and the parts keep pulling away from each other.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Tugger said:


> Yea I get what you mean. My helbrute I got in the DV set doesnt want to stay together, and the parts keep pulling away from each other.


Basically my situation on that barrel. I think the excess glue is actually holding it together at this point.


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Zion said:


> Basically my situation on that barrel. I think the excess glue is actually holding it together at this point.


Super glue and laundry pegs. It's the stuff of the gods.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Nacho libre said:


> Super glue and laundry pegs. It's the stuff of the gods.


Well it's staying together _now_ the problem was more when I was building it. I was afraid of mucking with it too much just in case it split back open again.


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Looking good Z, the bone in particular. In fact the depth of the bone is what draws my attention to the metals (gun barrel mainly) and the red which are looking a bit flat to my eye. Even just a brown wash and a quick dry brush over the red will really bring up to the same level as the bone and same goes for the metals (except black and a lighter metal obivously). Have you also considered a bit of heat effects at the end of the barrel?


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

I actually don't think it looks all that much like bone personally, but then again I tend to do bone differently so maybe it does and my brain hasn't caught on. They red was intentionally flat, mostly because I hadn't decided what I want to do with it. 

And now, I haven't really gotten to a point where I'm weathering/aging/distressing stuff like that -yet-. I've got the old FW Mastercraft book though and the airbrush REALLY cuts painting time down (I was done in a couple of hours compared to a couple of days) so in the future I'll be less worn out by the time I'm done with my projects, which is great for wanting to do more stuff. Plus I've got some Kosher Salt too (great for helping with paint chipping and the like).


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Small bit of cheating as none of this is currently painted (some of it -was- but I took the paint back off to do better):










Yes, most of that is Sniper Rifles. No I don't care how bad the internet says they are, worst case scenario I'll use them as Melta Gunners just to use the models. 

Those two massive slabs of metal up top? Vostroyan Banner Bearers. Here's a painted one by James Wappel so you can see how awesome these guys are:









So yeah, much more badass then some of those wimpy banners we see now, right?

I've got more stuff ordered from GW as well, but for now this is what's on my desk. GW is out of the Vostroyan Squad at the moment so for now I can't get anymore of those guys, so I'll be working with what I do have for now.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Awesome! Can't wait to see them painted. Always loved the Vostroyan models


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Mmmmm Da, is goot!


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

ooh I like me some vostroyans, should be interesting to see you paint them up, and a good job on those tanks !


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Haskanael said:


> ooh I like me some vostroyans, should be interesting to see you paint them up, and a good job on those tanks !


Sadly I'm running into the usual road blocks of metal and a poor selection of paints to choose from for priming with. I blame my local Wal*Mart on the primer front but I'm just not really getting anywhere satisfying with the models just yet.

I should get a lot farther with my other project though: I'm doing a Flesh Tearers Battle Company.

Yes a _full_ Battle Company as laid out in the Apoc Book: 1 Captain, 1 Chaplain, 1 Command Squad, 1 Command Squad, 3 Dreadnought (I'm doing 1 Librarian Dread and 2 Furioso Dreads), 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads and 2 Devastator Squads.

After that I'll be doing a "full" Death Company to match the Black Rage formation_. I may_ go as many as 10 DC squads in the end if I'm feeling particularly crazy.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

So I'm not dead yet, and have begun work on the first part of the Battle Company. So far I've got 10 Tactical Marines and a Librarian Dreadnought in sub assemblies (I'm airbrushing things so this will make it easier to base coat the black and red sections). I hope to have some actual painted models up this weekend for you to see but in the mean time (so people don't think I'm just abandoning this thing) I did a head swap on Seth (because I prefer my models to have helmets, plus this way I don't have to worry about painting skin, or eyes): 









I apologize about the image quality here, I was having issues getting my camera to focus on him up close to I had to take a smaller scale image and enlarge it. I'll be using my light box when I take images of the actual painted models though, so there should be less issues then.

This weekend I'll also be fully magnetizing a Baal Predator's turret and sponson options.


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## LTP (Apr 15, 2009)

Gorgeous paint job on the IG dude  love the colours looking forward to seeing more


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I completely agree about the head swaps, it's what I do! Have you considered giving him a helemt crest made from an Ork buzz saw?


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Jacobite said:


> I completely agree about the head swaps, it's what I do! Have you considered giving him a helemt crest made from an Ork buzz saw?


I'd have to buy Orks do to that! But it's not completely out there as an idea.


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Well there are other options but it's one I would really consider if I were you. You could make one out our plasticard, just requires some very careful cutting.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Jacobite said:


> Well there are other options but it's one I would really consider if I were you. You could make one out our plasticard, just requires some very careful cutting.


I've dealt with plasticard and it's a PITA to do stuff like that with. I may look at seeing if I have an extra chainsword around instead though.


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

The hard part would be getting the curve if you are using a chain sword although you might be able to do something with a chain axe like this:










The trick I have found with plasticard is to make sure you knife is very sharp, if I'm ever going to work with plasticard I was always make sure I use a fresh blade in my box cutter. Also remember that with something like this you don't need to use too thick a piece. To get the curve I would use a dremel (or any cheap rotary tool) to get the shape (both the inside and the outside of it) it's surprisingly easy to do, it can be done with a file but the dremel really does make it a peice of cake with 15 minutes practice. Then all you need to do is just cut the teeth and then clean it all up with a file. It'd be fiddly but possible.


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## fatmantis (Jun 26, 2009)

the baneblade is nice..but waaaaayyy to clean LOL


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

fatmantis said:


> the baneblade is nice..but waaaaayyy to clean LOL


It's just how Vostroyan tanks look! 





Plus I don't have any of the Technical Washes for grittying up the vehicle.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Jacobite said:


> The hard part would be getting the curve if you are using a chain sword although you might be able to do something with a chain axe like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I just used a chainsword blade and shaved it thin enough to get it to follow the curve (sorry, crappy lighting and focus again, I'll do better when I actually get him painted):


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I stand corrected! I would have done the blades face the other way so when he head buts somebody it's going to cut them on the way down but great work! I will remember this one!


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Jacobite said:


> I stand corrected! I would have done the blades face the other way so when he head buts somebody it's going to cut them on the way down but great work! I will remember this one!


I went with the teeth forward to match the Flesh Tearers symbol which is always teeth forward (towards the enemy).

But, yes it worked well. Shaving it down was the hardest part honestly.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Chainsword helmets! I can get on board with this.

Love that conversion, looks really clean and fits the FT very well :victory:


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## Moriouce (Oct 20, 2009)

Zion said:


> I just used a chainsword blade and shaved it thin enough to get it to follow the curve (sorry, crappy lighting and focus again, I'll do better when I actually get him painted):



That is simply awesome! +rep


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

Love the chainsword helmet, and Vostroyans have always been one of my favorite sets of models GW produces--something about their baroque, over-wrought style of them... I can see how a Sororitas player could naturally make that leap.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Thanks for the Rep guys! Well I couldn't lose momentum that quickly since people were actually looking at this little project of mine so I started work on Seth, and while he's not done, he's come a long way in the few hours I've been working on him:









Just trying to get him to my "table top" standard (which has me using 14 different pots of paint *so far*. Yeah, I don't know why I do this to myself either. I'll be aiming to make all of the models this level as well, but they have a lower amount of "bling" and a much less pressing need for the gold so it'll be easier to work on them. Plus I'll be airbrushing their base coat instead of hand painting it so that'll go a LOT faster than Seth's did).

I have no idea what the basing will be just yet, I'm still thinking on that one.

EDIT:


Mossy Toes said:


> Love the chainsword helmet, and Vostroyans have always been one of my favorite sets of models GW produces--something about their baroque, over-wrought style of them... I can see how a Sororitas player could naturally make that leap.


Yeah, the design of the Vostroyans just hits all the right notes for me. Sadly I just can't stand painting metal models just because of all the little things.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Not done _yet_ but he's getting there. I just need to give the blacks some highlights, paint some gems and his helmet lenses and get him based. But I wanted to tease a little so here's a shot of him and all the pots of paint I've put into this so far.


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

I have that problem too, with my accessory-laden CSM and their excessive trim. Then my Eldar-playing roommate washes and drybrushes his white-primed Eldar (wraithguard and the like) and calls them done, and my Nid-playing roommate slaps on three colors and a wash and calls it a day. Arg.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Mossy Toes said:


> I have that problem too, with my accessory-laden CSM and their excessive trim. Then my Eldar-playing roommate washes and drybrushes his white-primed Eldar (wraithguard and the like) and calls them done, and my Nid-playing roommate slaps on three colors and a wash and calls it a day. Arg.


At least I'm not alone in the suffering then!

Probably help if I wasn't doing 2-3 colors per...er...color. You know what I mean.

Going to order a bunch of Chain Axes and some Brass Icons from FW next week. I don't feel it's right to use chainswords for my Assault Marines when the Flesh Tearers are one of the loyalist chapters that actually does use Chain Axes (Reaver gets an exception because it's basically an Eviscerator, and I love Eviscerators).

Probably should get some for my Death Company project too.

Which reminds me, anyone know of a good DC tactica thing? I have no idea how to build an effective looking DC and if I just go with what looks cool it'll end up running something ridiculous points wise.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

So progress report for the day:
I didn't finish Seth just yet, but instead opted to get some airbrushing out of the way and base coat a whole bunch of stuff (save for an arm I overlooked and will need to do still, but either way this gets a lot covered and shortens a fair amount of painting time):









Of course this still leaves quite a bit to do (highlights, washes, metal bits, icons, gems, helmet lenses, the details on the Librarian Dread) but I feel this still cut off quite a lot of time in getting these guys "done".


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Zion said:


> So progress report for the day:
> I didn't finish Seth just yet, but instead opted to get some airbrushing out of the way and base coat a whole bunch of stuff (save for an arm I overlooked and will need to do still, but either way this gets a lot covered and shortens a fair amount of painting time):
> 
> 
> ...


Goody goody goody goody.... I really love Libby dreads. Wings of sanguinius on a fucking dreadnought.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

The Libby Dreads look like a lot of fun to play too. The other two for the company are going to be Furiosos. Mostly because they're a lot more durable than the regular ones and thus are the kind I actually expect the Flesh Tearers to have kicking around being such a small chapter now.


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Zion said:


> The Libby Dreads look like a lot of fun to play too. The other two for the company are going to be Furiosos. Mostly because they're a lot more durable than the regular ones and thus are the kind I actually expect the Flesh Tearers to have kicking around being such a small chapter now.


Are you running fragiosos or blender fists?.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Nacho libre said:


> Are you running fragiosos or blender fists?.


Good question. I'm going to -try- and magnetize as much as I can so I could in theory do both, but failing that I'll likely go Fragioso and save Blenderfists for the DC project.


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Zion said:


> Good question. I'm going to -try- and magnetize as much as I can so I could in theory do both, but failing that I'll likely go Fragioso and save Blenderfists for the DC project.


same I magnetise pretty much all models like that... you know? landraiders, predators and such


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## venomlust (Feb 9, 2010)

Awesome stuff, Zion!


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Well Seth is finished but I really feel it's time to get a proper camera. This one on my phone is just driving me crazy since they "updated" it and took all the manual setting options away. Well at least these are in focus, if a little brighter than they should be:


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## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

Zion said:


> I'm going to -try- and magnetize as much as I can so I could in theory do both, but failing that I'll likely go Fragioso and save Blenderfists for the DC project.


Magnetizing the hands is annoying. I got the faceplate on magnets so I can swap between Fragioso and Libbynaught...that was enough work for me. On Blenderfists and DC dreadnoughts: you might be surprised at how much you miss having AV13 by slapping on black paint. I play one of my Furiosos with talons and he has never failed me in CC (outside of endlessly lucky Invulnerable saves and Daemon Prince MCs).

That Seth model looks amazing painted up, great job. Never noticed how awesome his backpack is, I'm going to try to make something cool up for my next Captain model based on that winged idea.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

If magnetizing them is that bad I'll just go one of each then. It'd be better than trying to make me hate life, the universe and everything by magnetizing the darn things.

And I'm glad you like how he came out! I'm not satisfied with how the pictures came out, but I do like how the model caem out overall.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Another image, this time of the 2nd online exclusive model with the backpack of the first. Honestly swapping packs between them was a good move as the other one, with how ornate he is (to a degree that honestly exceeds the 2nd Captain) looks more fitting with a back banner, while I feel this one looks better with the halo. Naturally such a nice model has to become my company Captain.










This will be my last update for about a week I think, largely due to this next week being a crunch week with finals the week after.


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## SonofVulkan (Apr 14, 2010)

That Seth model is awesome mate. Love the helmet.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

SonofVulkan said:


> That Seth model is awesome mate. Love the helmet.


Thanks! I like how it worked out for him too.


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## Insanity (Oct 25, 2011)

Hey Zion, Glad to see you're still here.

Everything is looking great.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Lovely work on Seth there, Z :good:


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

So I've started playing around with NMM and want to share some early attempts and get some potential feedback. Now these are both the same blade, only I horribly screwed up my blending on one side when trying to touch up blade a bit. This is quite honestly my 3rd attempt at NMM (I had one failure with trying to bite off more than I could chew by doing Celestine in NMM Gold before realizing I had no idea how to do it well, and a much more recent attempt were I mucked up a spear blade I was playing with and now it needs to be stripped before I try using it again).

So the side I goofed on:









The side I didn't screw up so badly:









Obviously for the first one the solution is to not screw up so much, but for the second, does it come across as too dark? Should I be looking to draw the lighter grays out more? Anything really would be nice for advice as I'm still learning here (I'm actually considering picking up a box of Grey Knights just to use their weapons to practice on since they have such nice, large blades).


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Another go but I don't think I've nailed it yet:


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

I'm not a big fan of nmm but it looks ok to me. I'd say maybe the shadows need to be a bit darker.


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## Saintspirit (Jul 31, 2013)

Agree with Varakir. You have done the nmm well, but you still need some more contrast in it - try making the darkest parts even darker, so to speak.


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

It's already been said twice but I'm going to say it too, you need to have darker contrasts on it. The darkest part needs to be damn near black for the nmm steel look to really take effect. 

All in all though it's looking great, I've always been a fan of nmm, they just look cleaner on miniatures. Actual metallic paints are kind of "meh" on models in my opinion. Looking forward to seeing more.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

My first sword I posted contrasted all the way to black. The second has black but the areas are much much smaller (and ended up covered almost completely near the blade tip).

I'll keep playing with it.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Gave it another go, this time with more bluish grays and a glaze of Guilliman Blue:








And it does fade all the way to black, I just can't find a good compromise that lets me show that and show the more bluish grays as anything but a hard to see blob at the moment. I seem to be able to get one or the other but not both in a photo at the same time.


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## JAMOB (Dec 30, 2010)

Maybe try a red background? Construction paper or a shirt or something. Anyway, it looks pretty good to me!


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Zion said:


> Gave it another go, this time with more bluish grays and a glaze of Guilliman Blue:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I really like this method, consider it pinched.:grin:


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

If you're going to nick a method you might as well nick the better version: http://pinselwut.blogspot.de/2012/10/step-by-step-nmm-steel-sword.html

I don't quite have the right shades of gray (namely for the shade he uses, I improvised with Russ Gray) but it came out okay. I smoothed out the transitions with the glaze and then touched out the white again afterwards. Sadly it's not perfect on Celestine's sword because her blade is a bit thick on the edges (unlike other ones that come to more of a pointed edge) but for practice it works fine.

EDIT: And here's another method I like but I don't have the colors to play with yet: http://eurekaminiature.blogspot.com.es/2013/12/non-metallic-metal-o-nmm-tutorial.html


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

An experiment with using The Fang, Russ Grey, Ferensian Grey and a slight glazing of Guilliman Blue:


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Zion said:


> An experiment with using The Fang, Russ Grey, Ferensian Grey and a slight glazing of Guilliman Blue:


That one looks pretty cool. Similar to the glaive encarmines on my sang guard.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Yeah it's a good look, and probably not that far off of what GW does for their GK Force Weapons (fitting because that's where the sword came from). For swords I rather like it, but for things like armour I think I'll need to take a different approach. Good thing I've got a box of Grey Knight Terminators to fiddle with, eh?


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

That last one is looking much better, nice work :victory:

I think once the hilt is painted it'll look very nice indeed.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Varakir said:


> That last one is looking much better, nice work :victory:


Thanks. I think it might be my approach for power weapons from now on. Probably not for swords in Fantasy or silver armour if I get that far, but it's a good power weapon look.



Varakir said:


> I think once the hilt is painted it'll look very nice indeed.


Actually that gives me an idea. The hilt would be a good place to play around with NMM Gold.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

So I played around with gold and while I largely like my color choices (starting with a Mournfang base and then layering up through the following: Skrag Brown, Balor Brown, Screaming Skull, and White Scar with intermediate layers and a Casandra Yellow wash over it to give it a softer gold feel) I think my placement of highlights and how much I highlight needs some work. Plus I probably should base in Black + Mournfang and then layer up from there to give some darker shadows in places.

My self criticism aside here you go, my first completed attempt at NMM Gold:









I don't know how yellowish it is for you guys but in person it's got some strong yellow tones on those highlights (which admittedly should work up towards white to look "right" instead of stopping at yellow).


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

That looks great! Nmm are so clean looking. Great work. Looking forward to seeing your gold done on something that it can really show on.


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## Deus Mortis (Jun 20, 2009)

You could probably afford for the light bits of the sword to be even lighter, to provide a greater contrast to the dark areas, but that's a petty niggle. It looks great


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Zion said:


> I'll keep playing with it.


Didn't you end up in court last time......? :laugh:




Zion said:


> An experiment with using The Fang, Russ Grey, Ferensian Grey and a slight glazing of Guilliman Blue:


That is epic. :good:


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