Pre Heresy Iron Warriors (Felblade) Pt. 1

Editors Note:  Haha, finally Delusions of Grandeur gets a good article on hobby stuff, other than 'here's my WIP, looks cool, right'!  Ulven is a great hobbyist, and knows what he's talking about.  Anyways, enjoy, thanks for the great article Ulven :)

Hey guys!

In my introductory post last week I had mentioned the many armies that I've collected over the years. Well, known to my local gaming group - I have a crazy habit of selling my armies when I want to play something new, which currently, has left me 40k-less!

Of course, a remedy is in the works. I have been at the drawing boards for the last month or so, attempting to collect ideas for my next 40k army. I eventually decided on Iron Warriors (Using the regular SM codex.) But with a twist...

Technically they won't be pre-heresy. BUT, I want to model them as if they just left the Istvaan massacre and are on their way to Terra. This means that I could potentially get away with purchasing the Forgeworld Iron Warrior Rhino doors (They have the Chaos Star on them) and also using the IW shoulder pads that GW happen to sell.

Throughout this week I started receiving all the bits and pieces to get it all going. Today I sat down to conquer an immense task....a Stormlord (Counts as LR Redeemer!)

Now I will take you through the steps of getting this behemoth started.

Step 1) Prime black. Whatever floats your boat honestly. I prefer Krylon however, it's cheap and hardly messes up.

Step 2) Coat the entire model in Tin Bitz. This layer will provide the metallic shading for the model. For non-metallic models I typically use the primer for the shadow, however for metallic models the Tin Bitz will be the intermediary colour between the primer and the main colour (boltgun metal). See below:

Step 3) Once the model has dried (Being so large it may take a while) We're going to do a very light coat of Boltgun metal over the entire model. Depending on how bright you want the basecoat, you may want to do two coats. See below:

Step 4) Now for the crappy, difficult bit. IW are renowned for their hazard stripes, so I have chosen to place them towards the rear of the tank. Since I use an airbrush for my work, a ton of tape helps a ton in getting the lines relatively straight. Make sure to cover any areas that may be victim to some splash spray (I found out the hard way...). See below:

Step 5) I ended up using a 60/40 mix of Iyanden Darksun and Sunburst Yellow. I initially sprayed it on lightly, then added some more Sunburst Yellow to the mix, making sure to hit the middle of the stripes to start creating some shadow and depth. Once you have done this, repeat the process with a 80/20 mixture of Chaos Black/ Astronomican Grey for the black hazard stripes. Once this is complete, remove the tape. You will most likely see some inconsistencies between the lines, but all you need to do it simply tidy it up with a regular paintbrush. See below:

Step 6) Now, we're going to cover up the hazard striped areas. Now, I guess you could argue (Like my Wife) that we should have done the stripes towards the end of the process, but I get bored sometimes working with just one colour, so essentially it keeps me entertained switching it up. So back on topic, let's cover the freshly painted areas with tape. We are now going to highlight the metal areas with a 50/50 mixture of Chainmail and Mithril Silver. Try to keep this applied to the middle sections of the flat areas, and most importantly, do it lightly! This will enable a smooth transition from the shaded crevasses of the plating to the center of the plating. See below:

And now I'm going to take a break. I'm exceptionally pleased with how the model is turning out. As you can see, there is still a LOT to accomplish, however I will be addressing all of this in the next article. I plan to get the model finished with the following bits completed:

-Tracks

-Weaponry

-Weathering (Oxidized iron, mud effects on the tracks)

And...for the last bit which probably won't happen until the end of the month, a Dozer Blade from Forgeworld that will be coated in barbed wire and hazard stripe goodness.

Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by, stay tuned for Part 2 folks!