126 - The Mystery Shelf of Unfinished Models

I feel like I'm flitting between projects like a bird searching for food at the moment. But at least it stops me from getting burnt out. Having done all of 10 minutes more to the Mahreens, I decided I would revisit one of the (many) unfinished projects I have on my shelves.

I would like to be able to say that there was a method and great deliberation over what to continue with, but it was more like reaching for a light switch in the dark - stick out a hand and hope you find something. And that something is............the FW Artemia pattern Hellhound!!!

There are a surprising number of projects sat on the shelf that are pretty near to completion, but for whatever reason I've just not had the time/effort/(enter another excuse here) to do them. Today, however, I have the required time and enthusiasm to crack on with something. Anyway enough of my blabbering and on to some actual work.

I made a quick list of what needed to be done, and also put them in what order I would try to do things.

1. Finish applying transfers which involved:

a) Tidy up unit name and designation transfers

b) Adding Turret markings?

c) And then sealing all of the transfers with clear varnish

2. Paint any details, such as viewing ports

3. Apply a light coat of varnish before beginning weathering

4. Paint and attach the tracks

5. Let the weathering begin:

a) Sponge on battle damage

b) Add rust and smoke weathering powders

c) Apply pigment fixer

6. Check over the model to make sure I haven't missed anything (very important)

7. Finally, several light coats of matt varnish

The transfers took a few minutes to sort out. After a quick search through my pile of transfers, I found some nice crossbone one's on the Baneblade sheet. These looked pretty good when tested on the rear quarters on the turret, so out came the MicroSet and MicroSol and the transfers were on in no time. Once the setting solution had dried, I gave the whole tank and turret a quick couple of coats of gloss varnish from the GW spray can I've had for a while.

Once the noxious fumes had cleared I started on the details, with the flamecannon the first in my sights. The weapon housing got a quick rough coat of GW Knarloc Green and then a couple of smooth coats of GW Warboss Green. The metal areas had a couple of light coats of GW Leadbelcher before the whole weapon got a liberal wash of GW Badab Black.

I left the wash to dry, and then rather than doing anything useful I merely sat their impatiently whilst browsing the internet. I did use the time wisely, and tracked down a tutorial on From the Warp about how to do heat stained gun barrels. I've used this tutorial before, but wanted to refresh myself. I decided to focus on the flamer tip and here are the results.

Sorry for the wonky first picture, but the turret wouldn't stand up properly while I took the photo. Here you can see the fruits of my labour and I'm very happy with how this turned out. I will drybrush the metal areas with GW Mithril Silver and the green with GW Camo Green.

I also worked on the weathering and other details. I painted the pipework on the storage tank, but haven't gone too overboard as I didn't know what else to do to it. I am aware that the tank is a big slab of plain green, but there's not much I can do about that now. I also painted up the hatch detail.

Sticking with the details, I painted the viewing port on the turret an the chassis. This was GW Necron Abyss, followed by GW Enchanted Blue, then a thin line of GW Ice Blue. I then used GW Guilliman Blue glaze to blend the colours together. Once this had dried I added a small dot of GW Ceramite White in one corner.

I also added some weathering using a sponge and some GW Adeptus Battlegrey and then GW Codex Grey.  I went a bit heavy on the sponging in some places. Next up is to finish off the weathering with pigments and maybe some scorch marks on the edges of the tank where the turret might reach.

Thanks for reading.