Dawnguard preview

I finished these guys up yesterday, and slapped them on their bases.  It's pretty exciting to see the results of a four week long process, and I couldn't be happier with how my bases turned out.  They were painted using the method Torka Thor used on his awesome base for his Hyperion. 

  

All in all I spent about eight or so hours on this unit, and use of the airbrush really speed things along.  Had I done all of the white armor with a brush, I would still be working on getting the blends just right.  Heck, to base coat the unit would have taken the better part of a day just to get smooth, even coats.  The weathering on the legs of the Dawnguard was a blast to paint as well.  It took very little time, and makes the models look even more realistic.  No troops with armor that white can keep themselves clean all the time!  To achieve this effect, I mixed brown ink with flat Vallejo sealer and some water and sprayed it on.  I then used the flick method to get a little mud splatter on the legs.  To make it look like another layer of dirt and dust had accumulated, I added blue ink to the previous mix.  I'm excited to apply this to 'jacks, as you can see the Hydra and Manticore are a little too clean.

I'm still not quite pleased with the metal parts, but I think un-tinted metallic paints fit my style rather than the metal formulas found in the RoS book.  Another difficulty I faced with this unit was painting the arms separately from the models.  Attaching the arms to their holders proved awkward, but in the end I was able to paint them and get them to their respective bodies.

The two Myrmidons in the photo are older paint jobs and they were both painted with a brush.  They took much longer than the Dawnguard unit did, and I'm excited to use what I've learned from the Dawnguard on the Vyre 'jack I recently purchased.  The Hydra got scratched by the people who cleaned the fire damage from my house, but I think I can turn that into some battle damage for the model.  

I apologize for the continued use of cell phone pics.  I'm in the process of getting a permanent light box set up and better pictures will come soon.

Let me know what you think!