This Paint Job is Terminated...

Finally finished up my first batch of Deathwing Terminators.  Br. Tremiel is ready to teleport into battle!

The dip worked very well with the bone base, which I expected and it also layered some nice depth on the white banner and parchment.
The banner gave me a chance to try simple free-handing of the Deathwing emblem, which came out rather well.  I originally wanted to add some text, but ended up running out of space.

Two main lessons from this batch.

First, never ever use old primer.  I do not know why I ignored this wisdom.  The models ended up with a terrible, sandy texture which really obscured some finer detail on the robes and swords of the autogunner.  Fortunately I was able to cover the damage and it's not visible on the finished models.  But I was worried for a bit there.

Second, the P3 wet-palette is excellent for wet-blending. I only blended the power-sword, but this technique will be very useful on the character models.

Next up, my strike force gets some speed with a 6 bike Ravenwing squad.

Brother Hesdiel's 2nd Tac, 3rd Co.

The second tactical squad of the 3rd Company is complete.

I used pretty much the same technique as with the first squad, with minor tweaks. This time around I spent more time highlighting each marine's power armour contours to bring out the shape. I then ended up going back to the 1st squad and adding those same highlights.  Without them, the dipped green was just too flat looking.

The big differences were with my painting equipment.  Two major improvements: new paint brush and the P3 Wet Palette.

I pained these guys mostly with a Winsor & Newton Minature Series 7 Nr. 3 brush. Yes, that brush does cost more than twice what a normal brush costs, however, so far I am very happy with the results. It provides a perfect balance between area coverage and clean lines. 

I also tried using the Privateer Press P3 Wet Palette for the first time and I am very impressed. I think it is essential for anyone paining larger groups of figures with the same colour, because it makes the paint last forever on the palette. Especially if you have to custom blend a shade, having it dry on the palette within 10 minutes is very frustrating. With the wet palette, you can keep on painting and painting.  One word of caution, it is very easy to get thin paints overly watery, so be careful when using thin colours. 

With my core Troops done, it's time to move on to Elites.  One squad of Deathwing is coming next.