Thursday 20 March 2014

Imperial Knight (Completed)




Another of my "quick paints to a deadline" was this freelance Imperial Knight, for entry into a Canadian Games Workshop Imperial Knight painting competition. After a day of assembly and five days of painting over three weeks (probably about 30 hours total paint time after spray painting the greys and reds) I am happy to have finished the model, and use him in many games with my Blood Angels. After such a speedy paint job for such a large model I have a better understanding of how glazes flow across large surfaces, and how thin you can mix them down until you get ugly water marks. I chose not to use pigments for the weathering, merely GW technical paints, as I feel any more black smudges or rust marks will darken an already dark model.



I had the most fun with the "copper" muzzle and exhaust, mixing orange and pink before a few washes and glazes to add the redness and oxidation. The freehand was a last minute addition, as I find the included decals a little garish, though it shouldn't be too hard to repaint in the future. In hindsight I may have also made the "metal" sections on the rear appear too flat, but this may be a result of painting individual sections and then assembling them, lessening the ability for the shadows to convey depth across the whole model. I couldn't imagine painting one of these without the use of sub-assemblies.

Behind the scenes: Making the base and Undercoating the sub-assemblies using spray cans.

8 comments:

  1. Bloody hell, that was quick.

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    1. I can't quite believe it myself, where did March go??

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  2. Awesome. That shield heraldry looks great. And the model looks suitably grimy without going over the top.

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  3. Looks like you've spent waaaaaay more time than thirty hours on this beast. That must have been an incredibly challenge, doing so much NMM. Looks great!

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    1. It was five days/three "weekends" of painting, six hours per day a rough estimate, and the main challenge was all the grey areas! Once the red and gold was started it all came together quite quickly, I'm sure you will find it the same, though I recommend taking your time on all the small details, I can already see many missed opportunities on every part of the model.

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  4. Stunning work. The first pic was impressive enough, but that second pic (of the back) really blew me away. The various tones used really make it appear as if it was a gigantic piece of industrial machinery that's seen some hard use (like the boiler room of the Titanic). The colour modulation on the gold trim is fantastic as well... really gives it some depth. This is also a great example of edge highlighting done right... not as a shortcut, but as a finishing touch added to some already great shading and highlighting.

    I'd love to see this in real life though... the pics look a bit washed out. I can only imagine how hard this huge monster was to photograph though.

    And I'd love to see you give this beast a name, and write it on the scroll on his chest. Something like this needs a title / name to give it a bit more character. Imagine if the Bismarck or the Yamato were simply called "battleship #1" or "grey battleship"? It just wouldn't be the same.

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    1. Thanks Kelly, the model is currently at GW Highgate and I agree the photos are a bit washed out. My edge highlighting has certainly changed since your article, and I look forward to trying some black armoured models in the future using newer techniques.

      As for naming I definitely agree a machine like this needs something fitting across its torso, and maybe a banner or two? Many spring to mind but none are quite right... yet!

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