While I was tidying up my desk after I'd finished working on the Legio Cybernetica stuff, I remembered that I had some promethium drums and ammunition crates stashed away from when I painted a couple of Munitorum Containers late last year, so I dug them out and set about getting them ready for painting. In the case of the promethium drums, this meant carefully removing the cast on aquila and skull icons because I knew I'd want to add some more 'realistic' markings using decals later.
At this point, I decided that since I had 6 drums and 3 of each type of crate, that I'd 'pair them up' as I'd probably end up doing this anyway for playing games and for shooting photos, so after a bit of tinkering with positions to get some nice... 'poses' doesn't really seem like the right term - aesthetically pleasing arrangements perhaps? I glued them together and then grabbed some rattlecans to get some basecoats in place.
Now seems as good a time as any to mention that I used to detest painting terrain. Despite poring over photos of the wonderful Warhammer studio battlefields that feature in the Codexes, Battletomes and countless other publications for ideas, I never really felt that any terrain I did paint looked that great.
Over the last couple of years though, I've settled into a place of a bit more comfort around terrain and I think it mostly stems from looking painting terrain as though it's miniature rather than just "scenery". So before I even begin dipping my brushes in paints, or shaking up rattlecans, I think about and plan a little of the story I want the terrain to help to tell which helps to inform the colours and painting techniques I might use for the project.
In doing this, as well as looking at Warhammer publications and tutorials for inspiration, I also try and find real world examples or analogues of what I'm going to paint to give me some frames of reference and help guide the project.
All of this is to say that while I don't always love painting terrain these days, I enjoy it a lot more than I used to and I think that shows in the results I'm able to achieve.
Promethium Drums
I sprayed the drums with Mephiston Red and once that was dry I thinned down a little Mephiston Red from the pot with some water and gave them a once over with it. This helped to ensure that I'd got colour in any areas that I'd missed with the rattlecan, but it also helped to set an even tone for the red as I find that Mephiston from the can is a little darker than it is from the pot.
With the base down for the red, I set about painting in the centre section using Corax White thinned with a little Lahmian Medium. I wasn't aiming for a perfect uniform white, but I still did about 5-6 thin layers to get a relatively consistent tone. Once this was done, I set about applying some decals. This is one of my favourite parts of any project as I think that even with terrain you can really tell a story with the addition of a few markings.
With the base down for the red, I set about painting in the centre section using Corax White thinned with a little Lahmian Medium. I wasn't aiming for a perfect uniform white, but I still did about 5-6 thin layers to get a relatively consistent tone. Once this was done, I set about applying some decals. This is one of my favourite parts of any project as I think that even with terrain you can really tell a story with the addition of a few markings.
After a rummage through my decals drawer, I settled on some Adeptus Mechanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis markings to go on the white stripe - in my mind one of these is the insignia of the refinery and the other is that of the shipping company that owns the drums. For a finishing touch, I added some 'serial numbers' to each drum so that the Adepts of Administratum can keep track of them which came from the Necromunda Palanite Enforcers decal sheet.
Once the decals were settled in place with some microsol and sealed with some gloss followed by matt varnish, I used a sponge to add chips and damage to the paint on the drums. This was done in a few layers, with the decals getting some white chips, the white strip then getting some red chips and finally everything then got chips of Vallejo Heavy Charcoal and then some select areas were hit with Iron Warriors to represent fresh scratches and chips of the paint.
With this done, I used Vallejo weathering washes to add grease and grime around the seams and details of the drums before finishing them off by carefully applying some Nihilakh Oxide to the filling caps and spigots to represent corrosion and/or spilled promethium.
Ammunition Crates
The grey crates were sprayed Mechanicum Standard Grey while the green ones were sprayed Death Guard Green. I then drybrushed the grey ones with Dawnstone followed by Administratum Grey and the green ones with Ogryn Camo followed by Screaming Skull. I kept the second drybrush for each colour relatively light and focused around the upper surfaces of the crates where they would naturally catch the light.
With this done, it was time for decals with each crate getting a serial number in the same fashion as the promethium drums, and then a mix of Astra Militarum, Adeptus Mechanicus markings for the most part, although the big yellow 'M's came from a World War 2 tank decal sheet. Once the decals were fixed, the crates had chips sponged on to them using Vallejo Heavy Charcoal - when doing this I tried to pay attention to the edges that would get bashed when the crates were being moved around and stacked up either by cargo loaders or service personnel, so mostly the edges and the corners.
The final step for the crates was using some weathering wash to add dust and dirt to give them a bit more of a 'used' look.
Barricades
The barricades were done over the last couple of days and were actually inspired by the news that Kill Team Moroch is bringing the combined arms of Phobos Strike Teams to Kill Team. I've been pottering about with the idea of using some Phobos armoured Space Marines for something for a wee while now as I love the look of the armour and how it manages to both hark back to the aesthetics of the early Imperial Space Marines while also fitting in with the rest of the patterns of mkX power armour.I've actually begun to put a Strike Team together, but I'm still awaiting some bits to finish them off, so they'll feature in a future post once they're fully assembled. However, in the meantime I thought I'd paint up a set of the barricades Kill Teams can set up to add cover to the Kill Zone they're engaged in.
Once they were cleaned up, I primed the barricades with a light grey and then sprayed them with white from about a 45 degree angle so that the lower half of their front and back surfaces would be a bit darker. I then drybrushed them with some White Scar making sure to hit the upper edges of the panels the most.
Once the white was dry, I applied the aquila markings which I think came from an old Baneblade decal sheet, After they were sealed and matted back down, I began to add weathering to the barricades starting by apply some chips and scratches which was done using Mournfang Brown applied with a couple of different sponges to get some variety of shapes and sizes to damage to the paint. I then stippled some Skrag Brown 'inside' the Mournfang Brown in a few places to make the rust a bit less uniform.
With the white surfaces looking suitably battered, I turned to the rack and pinion systems on the rear of the barricades that allow them to be opened out for use or closed down for transport. I did these after I'd done the sponge chips as I didn't want to accidentally get the brown on the bare metal surfaces.
I painted both the pinions and racks with Iron Warriors which was then washed with Agrax Earthshade followed by Nuln Oil to give a nice dark finish to the metal which contrasted with the white panels and the rusted damage really well. I then picked out the edges of some of the teeth using Ironbreaker to suggest that despite the cosmetic damage to the paintwork they're not completely dilapidated and non-functional. At the time as I was adding these details to the back of the barricades, I also stippled some Iron Warriors into the impacts marks on the front facings to create the impression that these had happened more recently and so haven't oxidised yet.
With the bare metal painted, I set about using Vallejo Dust and Oiled Earth washes to build up dirt and grime on the white panels, this was done over a few layers, using the washes almost like filters and focusing on areas where dirt would be likely to build up, such as the recesses and lower areas of the armoured panels as well as around the rivets.
In between building up the dirt, I used some Skrag Brown thinned with Lahmian Medium to carefully apply rust around some of the rivets as well as to create some streaks running from some of the chipped areas of paint, partly for a bit more visual interest, but also because it helps to add to the feeling that the barricades are well used, spending more time deployed in the field than stowed away in some forward operating base or starship hold.
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