Hello again, Sam here with another instalment of the ArcArmy Challenge...
We left the last article with my board was primed and ready for some paint. Let’s follow some of the next stages of what I’ve done since then!
I didn't plan on making such a big display board, it just kind of happened. I would of preferred to finish my army off first but it's been good having another project on the go at the same time. When it's been nice outside or the kids wanted to give a hand, some progress was able to be made here and there.
To start, everything was dry brushed with a black / white mix of Golden Acrylics paints. They are great for this kind of job as they are artists grade and big tubes (59ml). The mix was continued to be lightened with more white until the desired contrast was achieved.
The whole board was then sprayed with blue contrast. It looked flat at this stage but the overall look was satisfactory. To bring the contrast back, a light drybrush of white was applied over the top, picking out the highest edges. The circular feature in the middle of the board was then worked on.
The aim was to create a simple marble effect, something I’d never done before but was keen to give it a go.
The first step was to cover the area that would be marble with a grey primer. Then, using a stretched wet wipe, it was fairly easy to airbrush some black primer over the top. The last layer was pure white, again sprayed through a wet wipe for the random marbling effect.
The trick here I found was stretch the wet wipe slightly more than you think you needed. Otherwise the paint didn't go through enough. Also, it’s important to remove the wet wipe strait away - otherwise it will stick to the surface as the paint dries. It looked quite messy at this stage but it can be touched it up afterwards.
Texture was added to the walls and bottom level using coconut husk, but it needed to be brought out, so AK's Moss was used. It's an enamel paint and was a little old, so some metho had to be added to the mix to improve the consistency. This may have been a mistake as the moss effect didn't really come through, but it did create a nice green layer that was added to with various shades and washes.
In the next stages I intend to add more weathering powders (the order is already on the way from Shadow Edge Miniatures). But at this time I’d been able to make a start on the burnt piles.
So first step was to add some Green Stuff World fluro red to try and create an ember effect, then that was followed by a healthy amount of Forgeworld Ash on top.
It feels like the whole board is getting there... At this point just have to say that I am relatively happy with the display board.
However, it felt like it need me to try and create a more contrast, so I decided to add a bit of warm ambient backlit to the display board. It was a very simple process, to get the OSL effect, but I'm not sure how much of this will be viable once I have added the background.
What next? So much to do and so little time; if I have time, I want to add a top level and a background to try and create more depth to the display board. Also, capture some of the features in my original inspiration photo. I also hope to have time to add a heap of little finishing details that will hopefully tell a story and illustrate why Be'lakor is coming to Arc40k 2023. The answer is to harvest the Souls of a load of Space Marines!!!
