Showcase: Renegade Knight Titan

Greetings! I have crunched my time hard and painted up an Imperial Knight Titan as fallen to the lure of Chaos. Meet the Renegade Knight, codified as Proditor.

Bwomp.

Yes, the eyes and thermal cannon are lit up via LEDs! My dad had given me a set, along with an effects PC board, as a gift a couple years ago, so I wanted to put it into something special. Once it became feasible to acquire, my wife then got me the new Renegade box to essentially get another knight for free as well, so it's an extra special knight to me, really. Anyway, enough of the feelings, on to the kit!

I wanted to get it ready for NIMCON, and unfortunately the weather wasn't agreeing, so I wasn't able to prime when I wanted to. This left me with about two weeks from prime to finish...and I didn't take complete advantage of it, naturally.

Proditor is Latin for "Betrayer". Fitting!

I did work on the metal parts for a few days, so at least I got that out of the way...up to the day before. I started the armor panel banding on the Friday afternoon before the event, finishing the metal by dinner, and starting the armor panels themselves around 7pm. I finished coloring them in by...2:30am I believe. I then did decals and started the weathering process by 3 something, finally finishing up around 4, dropping into bed a few minutes later...and getting back up at 7:40 to get ready to go. Classic Andrew!

It glows, it GLOWS!

Despite my setbacks, I got there and had a good time. It won a gold medal, and was chosen as the best of all the Sci-Fi/Real Space/Fantasy models, wooo! So that was fun.

You may have noticed that it isn't on a base; I didn't have time to finish the base, and since it stands on its own easily enough, I just let it stand!  I also didn't have time to finish a carapace weapon (though I will almost always be using one in games), so I rummaged through the ol' bits box and stuck a spare icon from the Defiler kit in the hole. It fits perfectly and looks the part!

Pictured: The Cost of Procrastination

I also converted a chainfist for the sole reason that I wanted to use the gauntlet bits (love the look!) but mainly wanted to use the chainsword in games because the rules are superior. This basically lets me use it as either one as I want, so it works out!

Pictured: Brutality

I snagged the idea from Nusquam, a member on the Bolter and Chainsword forum. I thought it was rather metal and knew I needed to have it on my own! I also magnetized the non-LED arm so I could swap out weapons as desired. Stay tuned to this page, as I'll be writing articles about how I added the LEDs and magnets to the kit.

I looked into a bunch of different paint schemes, trying to sort out which one I wanted. It definitely needed to look Chaosy and grimdark, and somewhat neutral so that it could go with any of my Chaos armies.

I cast about for a few days, hemming and hawing, but in the end I came back to the box art and ended up really liking it. It has a dirty industrial look, and the orange gives it a little splash of angry color.

Conveniently, there was a painting guide printed in the White Dwarf released alongside the box, so I put it to use! I had to make it my own of course, and changed up a couple colors to be more to my preference.

I also heavily referenced the first two Imperial Armour Masterclass books and they were of immense help; if you haven't yet acquired these books, they are golden for inspiration and techniques.

So, you've read this far thinking you would have read my paint shopping list by now, and I'm afraid to have disappointed you. Let's change that! I used all Games Workshop paints, though more than a few are from the older ranges. Here are my recipes for the various colors:

White Armor Panels
- White primer undercoat (grey might have worked better)
- Celestra Grey basecoat (required 4-5 thin layers)
- Agrax Earthshade recess wash
- Ulthuan Grey highlight level 1
- White Scar highlight level 2

Black Armor Panels
- Black primer undercoat
- Abaddon Black basecoat
- Dark Reaper highlight level 1
- Fenrisian Grey highlight level 2

Orange Lines
- Tape off areas to make clean lines
- Jokaero Orange basecoat
- Fire Dragon Bright overcoat
- Bleached Bone highlight level 1

Metal Trim 
- Black undercoat
- Warplock Bronze basecoat
- Brass Scorpion overcoat
- Reikland Fleshshade all-over wash
- Runelord Brass heavy drybrush highlight level 1
- Mithril Silver drybrush highlight level 2

Metal Skeleton
- Black primer undercoat
- Leadbelcher spray basecoat
- Nuln Oil all-over wash
- 50/50 Reikland Fleshshade patchy washes in various places to add variety
- Chainmail drybrush
- Agrax Earthshade all-over wash
- Chainmail drybrush highlight level 1 and stippling
- Mithril Silver drybrush highlight level 2 and stippling

Oiled Pistons
- Mithril Silver basecoat
- Brown Ink all-over wash
- Mithril Silver drybrush, painted horizontally for striations

Foot Pads (I wanted these to be hard durable metal)
- Abaddon Black basecoat
- Tin Bitz stippling
- Shining Gold stippling
- Chainmail stippling around the lower edges
- Mithril Silver stippling on the corners

Fingers (also wanted to be hard metal, but a different kind to the feet)
- Follow the steps for the metal skeleton
- Nuln Oil all-over wash
- Drakenhoff Nightshade all-over wash
- Chainmail stippling over edges

Loin Banner
- Rakarth Flesh basecoat
- Gryphonne Sepia all-over wash
- Rakarth Flesh drybrush highlight level 1
- Pallid Wych Flesh highlight level 2

Scrolls
- Dehneb Stone basecoat
- Gryphonne Sepia all-over wash
- Agrax Earthshade recess wash
- 50/50 Scorched Brown/Abaddon Black scriptwork

Engine Shroud (over the metal colors already there)
- Hashut Copper basecoat (mine went over very thinly, needed two layers)
- Agrax Earthshade all-over wash
- Hashut Copper overbrush
- Mithril Silver drybrush highlight level 1

Thermal Cannon Shroud
- Hashut Copper basecoat (mine went over very thinly, needed two layers)
- Agrax Earthshade all-over wash
- Hashut Copper overbrush
- Mithril Silver drybrush highlight level 1
Heat discoloration:
- Fuegan Orange section wash, blended into the metal at about halfway up the shroud
- Carroburg Crimson section wash, blended into the orange wash about 2/3 of the orange surface
- Drakenhof Nightshade section wash, blended into the crimson wash about 1/2 of the red surface

Red Chaos Stars
- Blood for the Blood God

Decals
- Gloss coat the area to have a decal
- Dampen decal til it can be slid off
- Brush some Microset on the area
- Slide off decal into place
- Once in place, use damp paper towel to push out any air bubbles and firmly set in place
- If necessary, brush on some Microset or Microsol
- Once dry, cover in gloss coat
- Once dry, cover in flat coat

Weathering
- Charadon Granite sponging and thin lines for chipping and long scratches
- White Scar/Fenrisian Grey/Bleached Bone (depending on area color) highlight on the bottom edge of the chips and scratches
- Gryphonne Sepia stippling for grime and oil
- Abaddon Black heavy drybrush for soot/charring on engine stacks and thermal cannon

Used pictures of real chainsaws for reference.

Hot cannon!

Here's where all the batteries and wires are.

So that's it for now! In the near future I'll be writing up how I lit up the knight with LEDs and my simple conversions.

Thanks for reading!

Miniature Monday: The Neverborn are...born

For Miniature Monday I decided to show off my wife's very first miniatures!

Over the weekend we sat down with the Malifaux Starter Box and started painting some figures. That is to say, she painted some figures, while I helped show her how to paint. The main thing I drove home (as all veteran painters should know by now) was to thin the paints! She wouldn't want to have a clumpy dude and lose all that detail after all, so we started with the most basic of characters: the two Bloodwretch figures.




These were a great platform to learn on, and she took to it rather quickly. Here are the Games Workshop colors used, and how the effects were achieved.

Skin:
- Rakarth Flesh basecoat
- Reikland Fleshshade wash
- Rakarth Flesh heavy drybrush layer 1, hitting everywhere except the deep shades
- Pallid Wych Flesh drybrush layer 2, hitting the higher points
- White Scar light drybrush layer 3, hitting only the spots where light would be shining on the brightest

Shirt:
- Rakarth Flesh basecoat
- Athonian Camoshade wash
- Rakarth Flesh light drybrush

Pants and Horns:
- Zandri Dust basecoat
- Agrax Earthshade wash

Hair:
- Abaddon Black basecoat
- Dark Reaper light drybrush

Stains:
- 1 to 2 mix of Carroburg Crimson and Lahmian Medium wash, in strategic staining locations

Blood:
- Blood for the Blood God around the mouth and chin, then flicked on the shirt for effect


Expect to see more minis from the starter box painted coming soon!

(the Imperial Knight tutorial is on hold while I wait for the right LED's to come in)