The great thing about the Corehammer Facebook group is that there is no shortage of talented dudes willing to drop some knowledge, and share the wealth. Here’s Craig O’Reilly showing his amazing airbrush skills with the Imperial Fists
Paints you’ll need:
Vallejo Grey Primer
Vallejo Airbrush Thinner
AP (Army Painter) Desert Yellow
VMA (Vallejo Model Air) Burnt Umber
VMA White
VGA (Vallejo Game Air) Golden Yellow
Vallejo Satin Varnish
W&N (Windsor and Newton) Burnt Umber Oil Paint
W&N Black Oil Paint
White Spirit
VMA Sand (Paint, not actual sand)
AP Greedy Gold
VMA Chrome
VMA Black
VMA Gun Grey
Citadel Khorne Red
Citadel Mephiston Red
VGC (Vallejo Game Colour) Hot Orange
VGC Hawk Turquoise
P3 Arcane Blue
1: After undercoating with Vallejo Grey Primer, apply a basecoat of AP Desert Yellow
2: Apply shades with the airbrush using VMA Burnt Umber
3: Apply highlights with VMA White
4: Apply a ‘candy’ with VGA Golden Yellow. Candy is an airbrushing term for applying a thin layer using a semi transparent colour to show the shades and highlights underneath. At this point you can make a decision whether you are happy with the highlights, if you want to go a step further you can add white to the golden yellow and apply another quick highlight to the armour.
5. Basecoat the details, I used Citadel Khorne Red for the armour trim and purity seal wax, VMA sand for the rest of the purity seal, VMA Black and Gun Grey for the bolter, VMA Gun Grey for any other silver details, and AP Greedy Gold for any gold details such as the chest aquilla
7. Apply a coat of Vallejo Satin Varnish, let it dry, then apply an oil wash of 80% W&N Burnt Umber and 20% W&N Black. To mix to oil wash just mix the paints and add white spirit until you have the desired consistency, I go a similar consistency to the old GW inks, so quite thin. Apply the oil wash directly into the recesses and it should flow into all the recesses without having to brush it in, then clean up with a brush dipped in clean white spirit. This takes a bit of practice but once you get it right it’s such a useful technique (I actually messed up the oil wash on this model, I thinned the satin varnish too much so the oils didn’t flow as well as I would have liked, this was easily fixed in the next step though.)
8. Brush highlights, this is the stage that really makes the miniature pop. I edge highlight the armour first using VMA Sand and then VMA white, all gold and silver areas with VMA Chrome, the armour trim and purity seal with Citadel Mephiston Red and then VGC Hot Orange. I then paint the eyes with P3 Arcane Blue, shade the upper section with VGC Hawk Turquoise, highlight lower section with P3 Arcane Blue/VMA White 50/50, and then add a small white dot to the upper shaded section.
All that is left to complete after this is to apply any transfers and paint the base. I won’t go into details on this, as you can just base the miniature to match the rest of your army. If you do have any questions, feel free to email me on paulcraigoreilly10@gmail.com or PM me on Facebook
