In my last article I talked about building custom conversion parts for a Chaos Shadowsword.In part 2 I'm going to talk about painting it. Keep in mind that both the conversion and painting techniques I'm discussing here could be used on a wide variety of models and for different game systems. Making and painting custom structures and decorations will allow you more creative freedom regardless of the type of models to which they are applied.
Of course, being Brass Scorpion, as you might guess I tend to put extra effort most frequently into Games Workshop Chaos models.
The first thing I did for painting was spray prime this model black as I use black and dark blue as the main colors on my Chaos Renegade legion. Black also makes a great undercoat for the metallic brass trim in my color scheme as well as anything that will be painted to look like steel.
In this work in progress photo below the model is well on its way to being finished. The irregular blue blotches were done with two different tones of blue, one very dark and the other slightly brighter. Steel areas have been drybrushed with metallic silver colors.
Black areas have been drybrushed with grey. The end of the gun barrel was painted a glowing green to brighten the model's otherwise dark tones and to imply some sort of possible Chaos magic or possession on the vehicle. Note the gun barrel is still mostly black, but it didn't stay that way as you'll see farther below.
Here the model is completely finished being painted down to the smallest details like sensors and headlights. Note the star nebula pattern on the gun barrel. I began adding this flourish to all my larger Chaos Space Marine renegade legion models last year and on some of the troops as well.
If you want to know how I did this I covered how to paint such patterns in my article How to Paint Starry Nebulae. I have painted nebulae patterns so far not only on my Heldrakes and Forge Fiend and Mauler Fiend models, but on the pauldrons of my Warp Talons and the tabard of my Chaos Marine Sorcerer.
In this front view of the model you can clearly see that bright colors have been used on small details like sensors, lenses, and view slits to give bright accents to an otherwise dark color scheme.
The rear view shows that I kept the paint job fairly simple on the back of the model, but all details are painted. Imperial iconography on the rear has been removed or covered with a Chaos Star before painting began.
I'm not done with Chaos Super-heavy vehicles yet, I'm currently painting a Lord Of Skulls. There are more projects daemonic and not on the hobby schedule after that. With the great new Apocalypse rules just released I'm again contemplating doing a Big Mek Stompa conversion for my Orks.