# Newbie questions on Necron painting/modelling



## Malek Deneith (Dec 15, 2007)

Hello there. I'm starting my first WH40k army (Necron as the title suggests), and I must say that I am totally new to painting and modeling. I looked through whatever info I could find, and I'm counting on a friend to help me out, but there are still some questions that trouble me.

1) While looking through those models I already bought (nothing glued yet, waiting to get everything beforehand ) I noticed that the metal "bar" that my Necron Lord has attached to his feet is a little bit too wide and thick to fit into bases that came with it - should I just use a file on it or are there better ways of handling that?

2) Necron gun rods - I know I have to leave them off until model is painted. What I wonder is should I paint the "end-of-the-barrel" part separatly and put it together in the end or will it work if I put it in place beforehand (most guides I saw show it in place during the painting, but I'm worried if there won't be problems with putting the rod afterwards)

3) Due to an random idea I had while talking to a friend I decided that instead of going "boltgun metal and similar" color scheme I want to give my Necron somewheat ice-planet-ish theme. Right now my thoght is to use white as a base color, some black on joints etc. to give some contrast, and perhaps a little bit of gold on places that neither white nor black wil fit like that coffin-like piece on chest. Any tips/thoughts on that? (White color especially, I fear it might turn out a bit dull)

4) Likewise, is there any way on making "icelandish" bases for my models, or the best I can do is painting them white? 

Thanks in advance for any help, and sorry if the post is hard to read - seems my brain isn't working too good today, had more trouble writing this post than I should. :laugh:


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## HorusReborn (Nov 19, 2008)

Hey man welcome to the forum. I'm not really experienced with Necron fig construction as I have never built an army of them. As for the painting in an ice world kind of way you could do white but I think an off white would be better aesthetically. It could be just my personal taste but I like the idea of the contrast with the fig to the whitish base that will be painted. You could use the GW Snow ontop of some "winter Grass" or Dead Grass... that would look cool, or straight snow with some clear plastic cut into jagged bits glazed with a blue wash to make it look like ice jutting out of the base. Just an idea...


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## Malek Deneith (Dec 15, 2007)

Thanks for the info man, I didn't have idea GW made modeling snow. I like the idea with plastic bits, if I find something to cut such plastic from I'll try it out. :grin:


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## dirty-dog- (May 14, 2008)

try clear cd cases for flat peices of ice.... just cut up with sciccors.

for the base i agree with the off white rather than plain white, then there is more contrast on the model and it doesnt look to "sprayed and little things painted."

im sorry i can't help with assembly, but with the necron lord, just file it, it is much easier, much less hassel and if something goes wrong you can cut the tab off and put him on a normal non-slotta base.

if you wan't a sort of ice white, get some ice blue, and mix about 7 drops of water to one drop of blue, and apply it over the white and it will gve it a blue tinge, and because it is dilute, just keep applying untill you are happy with the result, just don't add too much at one time, that gets messy.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

As dirty says, if the tab doesn't fit just file/cut the extra piece off, some people even cut the whole tab off but this can make metal models a little unstable.

The green rods are usually best left off the model until the last possible moment as any paint or glue that gets on to them will ruin the look, I would be inclined to paint everything lese first and put the gun together after painting.

If you aren't sure on the paint scheme it would be a good idea to test it out on a spare model first, that way if it looks terrible when you are done you wont be too disappointed 

Snow bases can be done with GW snow easily enough, but some people say it is not very good. There are a couple of snow base tutorials that use other materials such as baking soda, here is a search link for you with 4 threads that might be useful.

Hope that helps.

Edit: damn it, link doesn't do waht I want, just do a search in the forum 'tutorials' for 'snow base'.


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## ToxicBunny (Sep 6, 2008)

Recently started assembling and painting a Necron army for a friend of mine. He wants the more traditional look so I have mostly been doing a bolt gun/mythril mix with some black plates here and there shined up to appear as ceramics with 'ard stuff

1. Yes - file that sucker down till he fits
2. You can put the "end barrel piece" on without fear of the adding the rod after the paint job - I have done this with both the metal and the plastic models and both have enough "bend" in them to allow the rod to be added after everything is painted.
3. If your base is going to be white I would suggest either using mithryl silver or gold to make the symbol on the chest POP.
4. could still add mock crystals to the bottom (I tend to slice them from the left over plastic sprue) perhaps paint them in an "ice theme" get yourself some snow-like flock to cover the bases.


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## Pirate Metal Troy (Jun 2, 2008)

Glad to see someone who like the winter scheme. I love it. Here's some pics of a couple 'crons i did a while back.



















They're just done by putting a LOT of white and then some gloss farnish. The metallic parts are boltgun washed with badab black then highlighted with mythril silver. Simple stuff.

So that's the basics of how I did mine. You're on your own for the bases. I haven't even done mine yet.

Best of luck. (Since you obviously have good taste XD)


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## devilgaunt (Aug 11, 2008)

What I would do to achieve a cool looking white would be to go over the whole model with Tin bits, then a thin layer of silver, after that go over the parts you want white with graveyard earth, then bleached bone, then thin layers of skull white. After that you can go over it again with thin layer of Bleached bone, and if you want to you can make some highlights with silver. If you like I can show you an example of how it would possibly turn out like?


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## Mr.Hill (Nov 12, 2008)

Hey, good to hear that you are starting up!
I have a love/hate for Necrons... but that was when i was playing someone who "Knew the rules" and would move "6" inches and be almost across the table. 

The snow idea sounds great! maybe a base coat of a very light blue withe the white over it? could look cool.
Just an idea.
Good luck and I'd like to see how they turn out!


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## Malek Deneith (Dec 15, 2007)

Again thanks to everyone that answered, the link that squeek gave was dead by the time I've read it but the mention of baked soda put me on the right track, and after some googlin I can say this method looks pretty awesome, and simple enough that even I should be able of doing that 

Pirate Metal Troy - nice looking figures there, as for the idea for snowy theme I have to credit it to a friend I'm going to play with (we discussed our lack of terrain and at one point he joked about using his table as an "iceland planet" - since it's sort of transparent-white... and that gave me the idea for theme )

devilgaunt - feel free to show me how your works out, I'm a bit curious.

EDIT


Mr.Hill said:


> Good luck and I'd like to see how they turn out!


I'll try to remember to post some pictures (unless I manage to totally destroy them ), though it might take a longer while, as between job, school and christmas coming next month I might be short on time.


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## devilgaunt (Aug 11, 2008)

OK, I sent it to you in a PM. :grin:


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Malek Deneith said:


> Again thanks to everyone that answered, the link that squeek gave was dead by the time I've read it but the mention of baked soda put me on the right track, and after some googlin I can say this method looks pretty awesome, and simple enough that even I should be able of doing that


Damn it, sorry the link didn't do what I wanted it to do...

Just do a search in the 'tutorials' forum for 'snow bases' it should bring up 4 interesting threads for you.

Apologies, and good luck.


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## Pronoun (May 27, 2008)

I had an idea I was thinking of doing for an arctic Imperial Guard army, the base at least. All it takes is a base, some paints, and as someone said earlier, cd cases. First, paint the base itself white. Then cut out shapes in the clear plastic on the case that sort of match the size of the base, superglue those onto the bases. In the spaces that aren't covered by the "ice", glue on some fake snow. A bit of fake snow here and there on the ice would look good too.

I haven't ever tried this though, so I'm not sure about how it would look.

Edit: Now that I think about it, a light blue would probably be nice for the base paint.

Also, a cool looking thing a friend of mine did is to take your model, put a bit of glue on the tops of the shoulderpads, head, and gun, and then just sprinkle on fake snow. This would look just right on Necrons because they're portrayed as slow moving, so the snow would pile up on em.


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## Otep (Mar 18, 2008)

> Edit: Now that I think about it, a light blue would probably be nice for the base paint.


add a touch of a light blue to white and it should end up a very light and vibrant blue. has nothing to do with the paint jsut the way the light catches on it. 

for an ice feel, snow, white, light blue, 'ard coat etc... is your good friend here  



> Also, a cool looking thing a friend of mine did is to take your model, put a bit of glue on the tops of the shoulderpads, head, and gun, and then just sprinkle on fake snow. This would look just right on Necrons because they're portrayed as slow moving, so the snow would pile up on em.


personally, that sounds hella cool  good luck on your necrons... i gave my blood red/mythrial ones to a friend after i read about the sisters of battle lol


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## Triangulum (Jul 15, 2008)

I cant add much to the painting, the one thing I can say though is having buildt way to many necrons there are one or two things that can screw up each of the plastic models.

1. making the warriors to upright n the torso makes the entire army look like they are craning their necks.

2. not putting the crotch plate on destroyers at the right time in the construction

3. not clipping all the little metal threads off of the metal models

4. getting too flat with your scarabs and having them all at the same level.

hope it helps. None of that is mandatory of course, but it kind of screws with the army's aesthetic quality.


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## Malek Deneith (Dec 15, 2007)

The idea of putting snow is quite interesting. I thought of something like that for monolith, but it haven't thought of using it on regular models - perhaps I'll use it, if I dare :laugh:



> 3. not clipping all the little metal threads off of the metal models


Tell me about it... I did a clipping/filing session of my Lord last saturday, it had metal threads _everywhere_. And who was the genius at GW that connected the staff of light arm to the sprue by top of the staff :angry:

Oh well my money for resto fo the army and paints is coming friday, and I'm set up for painting session on weekend next week with my friend - he mentioned having digicam, so I should be able to get some photos if I do finish anything by then :victory:


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## DarknessDawns (Oct 21, 2007)

remember, when gluing in the glowing rods, dont use super or plastic glue, it makes it trn misty and look kinda bad, add a dab of PVA glue to the ends and stick them in the guns, thats what i was told by everyone i know. just a tip, has anyone heard that before?


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