Mechanicum WIP 2

Gday Guys,

Just a quick post to give an update on the 1000pt Mechanicum Army I am working on. This one is pic heavy - if you want any close ups of anything just ask and can post them up for you.

Undercoating with Knights Flat Black enamel

With all the prep done, it is time to undercoat. A couple of mates from our local gaming community have been using a spray paint from Bunnings as a primer. I have always been hesitant to use this but thought I would give it a go. I used "Knights - Matt Black enamel" spray and I have to say it works really well. No peeling or chipping, you can even try and scratch it (within reason) and the paint wont come off. The Citadel paints stick really well to it as well so win win. I guess the real test will be to see how it goes over a couple of years, but at $6 AUD a can you cant go wrong.

More undercoating

For the Magos I used GW Mephiston Red and gave it a highlight with the airbrush using GW Evil Sunz Scarlet.

Magos Dominos with reds reminiscent of Mars

The Castellax Battle Automata used the same reds as the Magos. The reds look a little bright but after some detail and weathering it will tone them down a bit. I really like these reds as it looks a lot like I would imagine the surface of Mars to be. I have seen quite a few darker reds used on Mechanicum but I think this will do the trick.

A Castellax Battle-Automata on the assembly line

Mephiston Red highlighted with Evil Sunz Scarlet via airbrush

Thallax Cohort were done with a pure GW Sycorax Bronze. I tried to highlight this one with the airbrush using GW Gehenna's Gold but it came out much brighter than I wanted it to. It got redone with the rest using straight GW Sycorax Bronze and will be highlighted by hand.

A Thallax with Gehenna's Gold highlights, this would be later repainted with straight Balthasar Gold

For the golds on the Castellax I used GW Balthasar Gold as a base, and worked up using two layers of GW Sycorax Bronze and GW Gehenna's Gold down the centre line. Another technique that I trialed was the use of Blu-tac as a mask for airbrushing. Like the primer, I was dubious at first but this turned out to be a great material for masking awkward corners and otherwise hard to mask with tape areas. I used this technique for painting one of the shoulder pads black. The black pad was then airbrush highlighted with GW Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Masking up with Tamiya modeller's tape and good old Blu-tac

Masking en-masse

First layer of Balthasar Gold

The Bolt Cannons were given a light dusting of GW Mechanicus Standard Grey and skulls were airbrushed GW Bleached Bone.

Gold done, black with Mechanicus Standard Grey highlight

Darkfire Cannon barrels are airbrushed with GW Runefang Steel.

Base coat and highlights for a Castellax Battle-Automata complete

Up close with a Castellax

The inner shoulder pads are based with GW Balthasar Gold, then highlighted with GW Gehenna's Gold giving a burnished effect.

Edging done on an inner shoulder pad

The Magos headpiece was the same as the Castellax, base of GW Balthasar Gold and layered with GW Sycorax Bronze and GW Gehenna's Gold.

Magos gold with highlighting done

This angle shows the highlight down the centre line

So there you have it - 1000pts of Mechanicum base coated and ready for some detail!

The Mechanicum Army in it's entirety

Castellax Battle-Automata with Darkfire Cannons

Castellax Battle-Automata with Bolt Cannons

Magos Dominos and Thallax Cohort

It's been a solid slug so far, with some detailing, weathering and basing left. I will give another pic heavy update once my next stage is complete. As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

Cheers

Keepy

Links:

1. Mechanicum 1000pts List
2. Mechanicum WIP 1
3. Mechanicum WIP 2
4. Mechanicum WIP 3 - Basing
5. Mechanicum WIP 4
6. Mechanicum 1000pts Completed!