118 - Chimera Progress: Part 7

Work is nearing completion on the Chimera's. And I found another transfer/lettering/stenciling idea. Whilst searching round for a suitable size stencil in a one of the arts and crafts stores near me, a stand with some letter sheets caught my eye. The letter sheets in question are in fact transfers made by Letraset, and they make them in several typefaces and colours. Now they're not waterslide transfers like most model companies produce, but rub on transfers.

What you get is a sheet of transfers, a backing sheet, an instruction sheet and an applicator (which is basically a lollipop stick). The Letraset website says that the transfers are for flat surfaces, so tank panels are ok. For people like me who aren't very good at freehand lettering, these were worth trying, and the Chimera's were the test subjects. Basically, you place the transfer where you want it and then rub over it gently using the applicator. You then peel the top sheet off and admire your work.

Here you can see the letters after they were applied to the tanks. Overall I found them easy to apply, although sometimes it was tricky to hold the letters in place whilst applying them. A few of the letters did break but to be honest this can be sorted with a little bit of weathering or carefully painting them in.

I now had to add some weathering to these names, so out came the sponge and the Vallejo Model Air Black Green. I did also use a little bit of Vallejo Model Air Camouflage Light Green (I think as I'm not at home so can't look at my paints) to show the camo pattern breaking through as well. You can just about see this on the next lot of photos.

With the sponge weathering finished, I cracked on with painting all the details and things that still needed doing before attacking the tanks with pigments.

Here are some pictures of how far I have managed to get. I've drybrushed the tracks with GW Leadbelcher, followed by GW Brazen Brass and then a light drybrush of GW Mithril Silver. The track sections on the turrets also got this treatment.

The stowage was painted with GW Calthan Brown and then washed twice with GW Gyphonne Sepia. The straps are GW Adeptus Battlegrey, with a GW Devlan Mud wash. Once all of the washes were dry, I drybrushed the stowage with GW Balor Brown, and then a light drybrush of GW Zamesi Desert.

Weapons were painted with GW Warboss Green and GW Leadbelcher. To give them a really used and dark look they got a heavy wash of GW Devlan Mud. This gives the weapons a bit of a bronzy sheen to them rather than the dark metal look when I've used GW Badab Black before.

The front sections on the tanks were quickly painted with GW Mechrite Red, to match the roof identification stripes, and then washed with GW Devlan Mud. these will get a light drybrush of orange but the wash hadn't dried in time. Lastly, the viewing slits were painted. I started with a base of GW Mordian Blue. GW Ultramarines Blue was painted over about half of the slit in an L pattern. A thin L pattern of GW Ice Blue was added. Finally, a small dot of GW Ceramite White was placed in the opposite corner. These slits will get coated with gloss varnish once the whole tank has been matt varnished to help them shine.

Thanks for reading, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.