Showcase; Imperial Knight Errant, Winter Effects Weathering

Hi All

Bluddtoof here, finally I've got round to finishing off the weathering on my Freeblade Knight Errant. It's only taken me 2 years!
So I was really quite nervous about this little project; the knight is probably my best work to date, I was very concerned I'd mess up the finish with poorly done weathering, I'm not experienced at all with weathering.
I'd done quite a bit of research on different methods and materials over the last year or so, a lot of advice came from my code40k colleagues, a big shout out to the boys for the help!
I bought a winter effects kit a while back that has quite good instructions included, Scene- A-Rama is the brand, and I experimented a bit with the various materials with mixed results.
The "snow base" liquid makes an excellent base layer for applying snow in the form of flock or powder, the snow powder in the kit is made of crystals of varying sizes all mixed up, I used it in conjunction with GW snow flock and Bicarb, applied in different layers for the final finish. This came after a great deal of playing around. Some of it I then coated in the "Ice Effects" liquid, a thickish clear resin that sets real quick.
All of this worked ok and was pretty easy after I'd worked out the method.
The tricky bit was Icicles, I knew I wanted the knight to be crusted with icicles hanging from the shoulder guards and carapace to simulate it having stood sentry for ages in sub zero temperatures and now just awoken to the call to arms. The kit has instructions to use the ice resin to make icicles...... it doesn't work, I tried and tried and tried, the resin just spreads and makes an icicle shaped flat sheet.... no good for the application I wanted..... so.... Luko Dakka delivered the solution with a quick explanation of how he used melted flying stems.....some practice later..... and Icicles I'm really pleased with! Hurrah! A word of warning tho if you try the melting plastic method...open a window and wear a face mask, nasty fumes.
In case you've not tried it here's my method I used....
Over a tea candle, hold a flying stem at both ends with a pair of needle nosed pliers in each hand. Hold the stem about 10-20mm above the flame, too close and it will scorch and even ignite...that was an interesting minute or so! Too high and you'll be waiting a LONG time. Keep a close eye on the surface of the plastic, it will start to develop fine striations and very shortly it will sag visibly.. Immediately apply a little tension and REMOVE from the heat, keep the gentle tension applied and the stem should quickly stretch very thin, keep pulling gently and the plastic should keep stretching with the thick end bits slowly feeding into the thin middle bit, you'll feel the resistance increase gradually, keep applying gentle tension until it won't stretch any more. You should now be able to let go and you'll have a long piece of plastic with a really thin middle section flaring out at both ends to fat bits. Chop this in the middle and cut/shape the fat ends to create the bit that connects to the surface the icicle will hang from, 2 icicles from 1 bit. You can then go on to do the same with the chopped of ends too if they're big enough.
This took me a few attempts to get right, it's very much a matter of FEEL with each piece, if you pull too fast it'll snap and then curl up.....ruined! Pull too little it'll just sag, too long over the heat...sag, burn, mess! Thankfully clear plastic flyer stems are cheap and plentiful, you generally get extras with any skimmer model.
One thing I did find tho was that once you've melted a piece and let it set again it doesn't melt cleanly ever again, I'm sure a chemist could explain it!

Anyhoo, enough blather! Piccies....

As you can see I haven't applied a huge amout of snow on it, I didn't want to obscure the paint job too much but I wanted it to look like it had recently had snow fall which has been dislodged as it starts to move.
Hope you like it, I do, I'm very pleased with the finish and I'm looking forward to rest of my Knights and trying different winter effects methods on them.
As ever C&C welcome....

Bluddtoof

Imperial Knight Freeblade, some more WIP

Hi All

So with all the planning for WW4 done I find myself with some time on my hands; when I'm not building hen houses and pens or digging holes in the garden that is.
I've returned to work on my Imperial Knight Freeblade, not much left to do and I hope to bring him to WW4 for some post campaign friendly action. Both shoulder pads and the right arm still to go now.
Here's a few shots of the model so far...

I've fixed the now complete left arm in place, after much thought and experimenting with magnets, I found that magnetising the shoulder pads was just too much effort for the benefit of having removable arms. When it comes to transport I'm going to make some custom cases to fit each knight I make specifically. Also being pretty big and cumbersome I'd rather maintain their structural integrity on the table.
That's it for now, I'll be doing more on this in the next couple of weeks, stay tuned for more WIP and the final showcase.

Bluddtoof

Imperial Knight Freeblade, WIP, work on the left arm

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with an update on progress so far on my 1st Imperial Knight Freeblade.
I've got most of the left arm done now, the Reaper Chainsword, just the 2 coloured panels to go.
I've got the hang of the cream and the red now and I can finish it much quicker.
Hopefully this model will be done in 2 weeks time so I can crack on with my Forgemas entry, for details of Forgemas; our December painting event see here.

Back to the wip, here's a few pics of the current state of play....

Very happy so far, a little more painting to go then some weathering on the complete model to finish, if anyone has tips for modelling/painting icicles I'd like some ideas....

Bluddtoof

Imperial Knight Freeblade, W.I.P, carapace on.

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with an update on the WIP of my Imperial Knight Freeblade.
As you can see I've now completed the upper carapace with lots of lovely thorny vines.
Here's a few piccies....

I'm now working on the arms and attempting to magnetise the shoulder pads so I can keep the arms removable. Tricky tho as the magnets I have are a bit large, I'll be sourcing some smaller ones.

That's it for now, more to come later...

Bluddtoof.

Imperial Knight WIP, torso done and in place.

Hi All

I've finished the torso of the Knight and it's now fixed in place, after a little dry run to get the positioning right. Whilst doing the dry run with arms and shoulder pads in place I discovered that the arms cannot be removed if the shoulder pads are fixed in place as the overhang at front and back stops the arm assembly from fully rotating. So, once I get to the arms I'm going to have to decide if pinning the pads in place onto the shoulder frame will work, as that's the only way I'll be able to have removable arms. I like the idea of removable arms for purposes of packing and moving and also to represent weapon destroyed results.
Anyway enough of that for now, here's a few piccies of the Knight so far....

The next step is the top carapace, more on that to come soon....

Bluddtoof.

Imperial Knight Freeblade, Work in Progress.

Hi All

Time for another update on my progress with my Imperial Knight; I've finished the base and legs now apart from the final weathering which I'll be doing all in one go once the models complete so as to ensure I get a coherent and consistent finish.
Here's pics of it so far...

I'm pleased with the banner sculpt, I've not put the lightest highlights on the red and bone on it that you can see on the plating or the gloss finish, as the banner will  be a tattered piece of grubby cloth once the weathering is done, with the heraldry just showing through the dirt and grime of decades of war without the support of a knightly houses tech servants to repair it.
I've given all the gold trim another coat of Lamentors Yellow Glaze to bring it up a little more. The clenched fist is a transfer and the vines and thorns are all freehand.

Next step is to move onto the torso sub assembly, less plating on that so it should be a little quicker to paint.

More to come soon....

Bluddtoof.

Imperial Knight Freeblade Work In Progress

Hi All

A quick update on my progress with my Imperial Knight Freeblade. I've made quite good progress this week and the legs and base are almost complete.
Here's a few pics....

As you can see the base is now done, the rocks were painted in a dark grey base and washed black then dry brushed with a series of lighter greys up to a final very light brush of white. I've tried to create a few rivulets of frozen ice and water trickling between the rocks; these were initially painted in a pale blue and then highlighted right through to white, they were then gloss varnished.
The snowy areas were first painted white, quite roughly, just to give a good base of colour, I've found that putting snow flock on top of a non white base gives it a dirty grey look. The snow itself is bicarbonate of soda. This is the first time I've used it instead of white flock and I have to say I prefer it, I think it gives a more powdery look, it was simply sprinkled generously over a thinned coat of pva glue and left to dry. The excess was harder to get rid of than snow flock.
I wasn't happy at this point though with the icy trickles, they weren't shiny enough so I decided to use a little water effects on them......this was almost a terrible mistake as I hadn't taken into account the bicarb! It reacts with water (and other liquids) the base went a bit frothy as bubbles appeared all around the edges of the "water"! Thankfully they did dissipate with a little help, next time I'll use the water effects before the bicarb!

Here's a close up of the heraldry I've gone for....

As you can see it's a mix of transfers and freehand vines, I'm pleased though it's a shame about the quality of printing on some of the fist transfers. Each example of thee heraldry will be slightly different depending on the area of the model it appears on. The plates were given a gloss varnish before applying the transfers so as to give a better fix and reduce the noticeable shine common with transfers.

I'm leaving the weathering to the very end once it's all done and put together so I can weather the model as a whole. That will be a first for me too as I don't usually go in for weathering. I'll be experimenting with weathering powders so any hints or tips will be most welcome.

Hope you like it so far, feedback is as ever welcome. I'm currently working on the 2 shin guards and a tattered crotch banner I've made from green stuff (you can see them in the background of the first shot). More pics to come soon......

Bluddtoof

Imperial Knight Freeblade W.I.P.

Hi All

Bluddtoof here with more w.i.p. shots of my Imperial Knight Freeblade.
I've got the armoured plates done on the legs now so all I've got left to do on this section is the iconography some weathering and the base.
I'd hoped to be a little further along by now but the weathers been so hot here this week that I've struggled to paint as the paint has been drying much quicker, sometimes before I've even got it on to the model!
Here's a few pics, including close ups of the green cables as requested.....

Hope you like it so far, I'm thinking I might take the highlight a little further on the red, it shows more in the flesh than on these pics but it's still quite subtle, I'll give it some thought and let you know over the next few days.
As ever feedback is very welcome.

Bluddtoof

Imperial Knight Freeblade, work in progress...starting the paintjob.

Hi All

Time to show the WIP on my Imperial Knight, I started on the legs and have now just got the guard plates on waist, thighs, knees and feet to do before I paint the base.
The plates will be red and bone and will feature the knights personal heraldry.
Here's pics of the wip...

I'm really pleased so far, particularly with the gold, it's layers of balthazar gold, old shining gold and auric armour gold on a base of old vermin brown, highlighted with silver and then washed with yellow glaze to give it a really bright finish.
Also a new one for me is the green cables, I normally just use a wash over the base, this time I used hexus pale sun dry paint to put a really light dry brush over the moot green base and then washed with green glaze, not sure if it shows in the photos but it works well in the flesh.

As ever feedback is always welcome.

That's it so far, more to come soon......

Bluddtoof