Painting Slaanesh Daemons

I have over the years really struggled with painting Daemons of Slaanesh.  I was never happy with them being flesh coloured and I admit I am not a good enough painter to paint them in the grey colour scheme that GW uses on its official models.

So instead I decided to take a different approach and go for a much darker theme.  In the past my Slaanesh units have been very bright such as the very bright and poorly painted chariot I did around six years ago which can be found towards the bottom of this article, along with the new and improved scheme.

 So while painting up my 40k Daemon army, I decided to go with something a little different.  A darker, more serious theme, while still maintaining the key Slaanesh colours to embrace the fact that this is my favourite Chaos god, and I really wanted to do it justice.  Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeench schemes are simple, quick and easy to pull off.

This new Slaanesh one is quite time consuming, as it involved several layers of washes to add highlights which you have to wait to dry.  I am not a pro painter by any stretch, but I do like my models to at least look passable!

Step 1.

Spray the models White.  I used GW white undercoat spray, but really any will do.

Step 2.

Paint the whole model Slaanesh Grey.  It is actually a purple colour when it dries.  Very strange naming convention really.

Step 3.

Paint all the spines in Dheneb stone, or some other bone colour.  I still have the old foundation colour so that is what I used.  I painted the horns this colour as well.

Step 4.

Give the flesh areas a Purple wash.  I used Leviathan Purple.  I then used Nuln oil on the black areas, giving the claws two separate coats.  You need to leave an hour to two hours for the washes to dry.

Step 5.

Paint the details.  I painted the eyes white and tongues pink on the Fiends.  I used the same purple wash on the tongue.  On the Keeper of Secrets I painted the eyes red and the Sword bronze before giving it a black wash.

Step 6.

Once the model is dry it is time to base it. I use a fairly time intensive process for this. If you have a better method please do use that instead. I first coat the base in Calthan brown. I then dip this in slate for model railways which I purchased from my local modelling shop. This is then left to dry for two hours. I am sure you can leave it less time, but I like this to be totally dry for the next stage.

Step 7.

After it is totally dry I then apply a watered down layer of PVA glue over the whole base. Allow all the excess glue and water to drain off. This should be left an hour to partially dry before the next stage. The reason I do this is because in the past I have had bad experiences of the basing coming off models.

Step 8.

The final stage, apply small amounts of static grass to the base. I find this is best to apply once the glue is partially dry so that the grass doesn’t move around too much. I then left this overnight, as the PVA takes around eight hours to totally dry.

Painting Dark Angels

It has been a while since I last put up a painting article.  I figured since I am now working on a new Dark Angels army that I would put down the procedure I used to paint them.

Step 1.
I started by spraying the models dark green. I used Army Painter Angels Green, which is a very good dark green, although not really dark enough for Dark Angels in my opinion.

Step 2.
Paint all of the basic details. In this case I used Mechrite red and Boltgun metal on the gun, and body of the marine, Iyandan Darksun for the yellow eagles.

Step 3.
Paint the details on the model. I used Dhenab stone on purity seals paper, Mechrite red on the eyes and use a light amount of blazing orange to highlight the gun.

Step 4.
Next step is to apply the washes. I used Badab black all over the armour of the model and all the boltgun metal parts, being careful to avoid the red as I wanted a warm red to contrast with the dark green. I used Devlan mud to do the purity seals and robes.

Step 5.
Once the model is dry it is time to base it. I use a fairly time intensive process for this. If you have a better method please do use that instead. I first coat the base in Calthan brown. I then dip this in slate for model railways which I purchased from my local modelling shop. This is then left to dry for two hours. I am sure you can leave it less time, but I like this to be totally dry for the next stage.

Step 6.
After it is totally dry I then apply a watered down layer of PVA glue over the whole base. Allow all the excess glue and water to drain off. This should be left an hour to partially dry before the next stage. The reason I do this is because in the past I have had bad experiences of the basing coming off models.

Step 7.
The final stage, apply small amounts of static grass to the base. I find this is best to apply once the glue is partially dry so that the grass doesn’t move around too much. I then left this overnight, as the PVA takes around eight hours to totally dry.

Step 8.
After the base has dried I applied transfers, which were then sealed with matt varnish.


Photos below!

Stripping metal models

There are multiple ways you can strip the paint from models.  I am going to explain how I do my own.

What you will need are the following.  Metal model with paint on it, a plastic tub, an old toothbrush and some Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner.

First put the model inside the tub.  Ensure the model is covered completely by the kitchen cleaner fluid and put a lid on this tub.

Leave this for a fairly long time period.  I typically leave it around 2-7 days.  It depends on how many paint layers have been put onto the model.  More layers require more time to soak.

Take the model out and scrub it in a bowl of water, with the toothbrush.  This may take several minutes per model.  You may need to use a modelling knife to scrape out the paint that gets caught in the detail.  You need the water to remove any remaining mr muscle from the model.

Dry the model on kitchen towels.  It is ready to be reassembled and repainted.

Painting Pink Horrors

Step 1.

Paint the whole model pink. I used Squid Pink due to GW no longer producing Tenticle Pink.

Step 2.

Use a heavy wash of Baal Red wash. Make sure the wash gets in all of the cracks. I left mine to dry for about two hours.

Step 3.

Paint the details on the model. For these, I used Bonewhite for the claws and teeth and Hormagaunt Purple for the tongue.

Step 4.

Once the model is dry it is time to base it. I use a fairly time intensive process for this. If you have a better method please do use that instead. I first coat the base in Calthan brown. I then dip this in slate for model railways which I purchased from my local modelling shop. This is then left to dry for two hours. I am sure you can leave it less time, but I like this to be totally dry for the next stage.


Step 5.

After it is totally dry I then apply a watered down layer of PVA glue over the whole base. Allow all the excess glue and water to drain off. This should be left an hour to partially dry before the next stage. The reason I do this is because in the past I have had bad experiences of the basing coming off models.


Step 6.

The final stage, apply small amounts of static grass to the base. I find this is best to apply once the glue is partially dry so that the grass doesn’t move around too much. I then left this overnight, as the PVA takes around eight hours to totally dry.

Painting Plaguebearers

This is my first guide on how to paint models.  Please be aware I am not claiming to be an exceptional painter, I just aim for an acceptable table top quality.

Step  1.

Undercoat the models.  I used GW skull white spray.  Many guides on how to paint Plaguebearers use black undercoat.   I wanted a brighter colour to my models, so I avoided black. 

Step  2.

Basecoat the models.  I used a decade old putrid green paint for my base coat.  This is unfortunately no longer available from GW and looking at their current range, Scorpion Green is probably the nearest colour to this.

Step 3.

I applied liberal amounts of Thraka Green over all of the base coat.  Leave this to dry completely.  Due to the large quantity of wash applied I left this for two hours.

Step 4.

Paint all of the basic details on the model.  I used Mechrite Red for the innards and eyes, with Calthan Brown for the wood and edging on the base. 

Step 5.

For the other details I used Vallejo game colour paints because I prefer the coverage of this range to non-foundation GW paints.  I used Bonewhite on nails and horns, Brassy Brass on the musicians bell and on the icon.  The swords were base coated Tinny Tin.  You can of course use Bleached Bone, Brazen Brass and Tin Bitz instead.  Since Brazen Brass is no longer available you would need to use Dwarven Bronze instead. 

Step 6.

I wanted to make the swords appear rusted.  To do this, I used a combination of stippling and lightly drybrushing Gunmetal Metal onto the blades.  You can of course change this to the GW equivalent, Boltgun metal.

Step 7.

Cover the whole model, top to bottom in Devlan Mud.  This is an exceptional colour for adding shade to models.  Leave to dry.  I left mine around two hours again.

Step 8.

Once the model is dry it is time to base it.  I use a fairly time intensive process for this.  If you have a better method please do use that instead.  I first coat the base in Calthan brown.  I then dip this in slate for model railways which I purchased from my local modelling shop.  This is then left to dry for two hours.  I am sure you can leave it less time, but I like this to be totally dry for the next stage.

Step 9.

After it is totally dry I then apply a watered down layer of PVA glue over the whole base.  Allow all the excess glue and water to drain off.  This should be left an hour to partially dry before the next stage.  The reason I do this is because in the past I have had bad experiences of the basing coming off models.

Step 10.

The final stage, apply small amounts of static grass to the base.  I find this is best to apply once the glue is partially dry so that the grass doesn’t move around too much.  I then left this overnight, as the  PVA takes around eight hours to totally dry.