Imperial Warden WIP

Thought I'd add an update on the progress of my Imperial Warden...

The white carapace really reflects a lot of light and this pic is a little washed out - there is more contrast in the shading on the white armor. I just realized I forgot to add the armored 'hat' and Red Scorpion icon to the left knee so I'm off to do that now. The next step is the first stage of weathering - painting the chips and dings.

More pics in a few days...

Building the Imperial Warden

As promised here are the steps I took to build the Imperial Warden from the Imperial Knight kit. There are multiple versions of the warden, but the one I had in mind when I set out was the hunchback with the T-Rex arms...

The hardest part to figure out was how to reposition the carapace, but once solved was relatively easy to accomplish. I built the legs and carapace as per the instructions minus the front plate where the head is mounted. Then I cut up the right weapon arm to get this ball joint and glued it to the hips...

I positioned the carapace as far forward as possible, with the open hole in the waste touching the ball joint and marked the spot with a Sharpie. Then I drilled a hole all the way down into the hip at an angle, glued a steel rod down into the hole, and secured the carapace by gluing a length of PVC tube that perfectly fit my wire on the inside. I also added plastic model glue on any parts that touched (ball on the hips to the socket on the torso, etc).

After letting this dry overnight to ensure a solid construction, I added the front plate at an angle to make the head protrude from below the top (now front) armor. You need to have the armor attached to see the position, but I've left it off for the photo so you can see what I did. You can see it actually ends up behind the tabs that would hold it on a standard knight construction. There is an empty gap above the head, but it is impossible to see it without turning the model upside down. For those of you who paint the interiors on your Rhinos, you could certainly fill the space with spare bits, pipes, etc. I didn't bother...

The weapon arms were dead simple. I used the shoulder joints of the knight with the supports removed and glued the cannon assemblies from a Space Marine Stalker tank. I'd like to say these cannons were spare from my bits box, but I bought the kit to get them... Yes, I could have shopped eBay, but I was on a roll and didn't want to wait for mail order! I can always use the extra Rhino anyway...

The missile launcher was made from both missile pods from a Valkyrie kit (yes, these WERE from the bits box). I just glued them together and used one front and back assembly. I THINK the side struts and swivel mount came from the Valkyrie as well, but I'm not positive as they came from my bits box too. I drilled a hole through the missile launcher and used plastic rod to attach the struts. I drilled a hole at the top of the carapace and used another spare bit of plastic tube to help secure it.

So that's it! I need to add the Imperial crest on the carapace and of course I will glue down the leg armor after it's painted. I'm not going to use the shoulder guards to increase the difference in the silhouette of the knight. I wish it was a little shorter, but there was no easy way to shorten the legs.

The base will get the same rubble treatment of my first knight. As I mentioned in the last post, the warden will be mostly white with yellow and black accents to tie it into House Hawkwind. It will probably get the small Red Scorpion emblem on the knee as well. I don't have rules for it yet, but I will probably just use the Stalker cannons as, well... Stalker cannons. I need to glance through my old Adeptus Titanticus stuff to decide for sure.

I'm looking forward to painting this model, but I have another 'normal' knight on the table at the moment so it may be some time before I get to it!

Imperial Warden

Never one to leave well enough alone, I've been planning on building an Imperial Warden ever since I first saw the kit. I always loved the hunchbacked model and the concept of a 'retired' knight taking up the mantle of the Warden to defend the homeworld. The fact that there are no rules for the model hasn't put me off in the least since I paint more than I play these days. My friends will let me use the model in games if I come up with rules and point values - we will adjust them between games if necessary.

I'll have more on this later, including construction pics, but I am currently working on a second 'normal' knight for House Hawkshroud. I just wanted to put this pic up. Tradition states that the wardens are painted white with a small area picked out in the house livery.

My plans now are to have two Imperial Knights from House Hawkshroud, the Imperial Warden from House Hawkshroud, and a third knight painted as a Freeblade.

Imperial Knight - Part Seven

Finished!

Lots of fun... in the end I opted to hand paint matte varnish (I used Vallejo Model Color) onto the armor plates to retain the shiny bits on the skeleton and trim. I am psyched by the results. I still think I prefer hordes of infantry to lumbering monster targets, but I am looking forward to trying this out on the table.

Imperial Knight - Part Six

Getting close now...

I used an oil dot filter to add streaks of dust and grime to the knight. There are lots of good tutorials online so I'm not going to drone on about it here (search oil dot weathering tank on Google). The hardest part about this technique is getting up the nerve to try it, so practice on a spare bit of kit and you'll find out how easy it is. If you get too much grime on your model, white mineral spirits on a clean brush will take it away! After treating the whole model (I used dots of Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, ans a (roughly) 25:75 mix of Cadmium Yellow and White. The effect is very subtle and adds nice tone variation across the armor and enhances the recess washes. After giving this a few hours to dry, I went back with the Burnt Sienna oil and picked out a few areas where I wanted more pronounced stains (see the vent panel and hatch handle in the pic below).

I also used black oil paint and thinner to add some grease and oil stains around joints.

Whew! Last steps in a few days. I am going to add a few purity seals, blacken the muzzle of the cannon, add some mud and dust with weathering powder (mainly around the feet and lower legs), and add some soot (around the vents). Then the big guy will get a coat of matt varnish to seal in all of these oils and powders and get rid of the remaining shine from the gloss coat. Finally I will touch up small areas like the cockpit window and eyes with gloss varnish again.

The base still needs some work as well, but I'm in the home stretch and incidentally starting to assemble some more knights! My plan is to have a group of three Hawkshroud Imperial Knights, one converted Hawkshroud Imperial Warden (more on that soon), and one Freeblade Imperial Knight where I can exercise a bit more creativity.

Stay tuned!

Imperial Knight - Part Five

Ok, now he's really starting to look like he means business...

...minus the intense shine. I sprayed on two thin coats of gloss varnish in preparation for the next step (should have taken the pics first, but it is interesting to see how the decals have completely blended into the armor plates now).

I used Abaddon Black and Runefang Steel to add some damage to the silver trim in the same manner I treated the armor in Part Four. Then I used a fine sponge to stipple Mournfang Brown and Skavenblight Dinge over the entire model. Don't be afraid of this step... it is easy to use your base colors to correct any mistakes! I also went back and applied Nuln Oil to all of the rivets again.

You can also see I finally started working on the base. It's too monochrome at the moment so I need to add some contrast because later weathering will blend it all together and if everything starts too close in value the effects will be lost.

I've glued on all of the armor now except the shoulder guards (they are held in place fairly firmly by blu-tac) because the next weathering steps need to be consistent across the entire model. I've left the should guards free so I can remove the arms... I am still holding out hope that when Forge World starts releasing bits for the knight (rumors say details may be revealed at the March 30th FW Open Day) the weapon arms will include the shoulder ball rather than just the lower bit. Failing that I want to be able to remove the arm, take a saw to the relevant bit, and add magnets - I didn't do this yet because we don't know where any conversion kits might join!

Up next... oil and grime!

Imperial Knight - Part Four

Roughed 'im up a bit...

Basically, I used my base armor colors to chew up the decals...

Then I used Mournfang Brown to paint small chips and cracks in the plates and gave each an small highlight at the bottom of the damage (using the same edge highlights I used in part three). It looks a little crude when view at ten times the actual scale, but technique is very effective when seen on the model.

I need to refine a few areas and add some minor damage to the pristine silver trim, but it's coming along...

Imperial Knight - Part Three

I have decided on House Hawkshroud. Unlike the other major houses, House Hawkshroud often adopts campaign badges and Space Marine icons as part of their heraldry to show respect for those they have chosen to ally with. I've toned down the yellow a bit to match the gold on my Red Scorpions and used a... errr... red scorpion as part of the knight's heraldry.

The skeleton of the model was painted with Leadbelcher (with small bits picked out in Balthasar Gold), washed with Nuln Oil, drybrushed with Necron Compound, and washed with Agrax Earthshade. The pistons were picked out in Runefang Steel and given a wash of Agrax Earthshade where they meet their housing.

None of the armor plates are glued down yet. Many stick firmly without glue and I used a blu-tac equivalent to attach the shoulder plates and mask for the photos. The gold plates were painted with Averland Sunset, given a careful recess wash with Reikland Fleshshade, and edge highlighted with Ushanti Bone. The black armor plates were simply edge highlighted with Dark Reaper and the rivets were picked out in Thunderhawk Blue. The silver trim was painted in the same manner as the skeleton without the Agrax Earthshade wash and given an additional edge highlighting with Runefang Steel.

It could be finished if I wanted a parade ready Imperial Knight, but I want a weathered campaign look. I'm going to add small chips and cracks to the armor, some rust and oil on the skeleton, and mud and dust. More pics in a few days...

Imperial Knight - Part Two

Here's the big guy at the next stage of assembly. I managed to work out the placement of pins on the feet so the model can be removed from the stand for the initial painting stages. It took several tries to get everything the line up properly, but it will make it easier to paint the base. The chainsword arm is not positioned properly, but nothing is glued yet. Of course most of the armor is still missing as well, but I want to paint the plates separately. With the armor removed, painting the skeleton is 90% drybrushing and washes and it will make it easy to finish a large part of the model.

I'm still not sure how I am going to paint these yet, but I have narrowed it down to one of the houses included on the transfers in the kit. I have five of these monsters and I don't want to buy five extra transfer sheets at $20 each. Actually I think I am going to paint four from one house and paint the fifth as a Freeblade so I can exercise a little creativity with that one.

There are three Imperial aligned and two Adeptus Mechanicus aligned houses include on the kit transfer:

House Terryn (I) House Terryn is blue and gold and is the guy featured on the cover of the box which normally makes me shy away from this scheme.
House Hawkshroud (I) Hawkshroud SOUNDS cool, but their main color is a bright yellow... that seems like an awful lot of yellow. I'm going to pick up the Imperial Knight Companion today (edit: grumble, grumble... none of my FLGS had the companion book yet... thought it shipped the same day as the codex) if I can find a copy and see how much latitude I have to play with the 'official' heraldry. If I can quarter the scheme, say in yellow and black, this might be the winner. I can always tone down the yellow to more of a golden color as well.
House Cadmus (I) House Cadmus is green which kinda feels like WW2 tanks... hmm... I wonder if the knight houses employ camo?
House Taranis (A) House Taranis is red and white and looks like a super hero.
House Raven (A) House Raven is red and silver, but bears a distinctive black and yellow chevron design on the carapace which seems unique.

Sadly, there are only transfers for ONE Freeblade, the Obsidian Knight, but I can either spring for one extra transfer sheet (which has lots of Freeblade emblems) or just make up my own.

I'm going to try and undercoat this monster today and get in some painting next week, assuming I actually decide on a knight house...

Go Big or Go Home - Imperial Knights

Games Workshop rolled out an amazing piece of kit last weekend for Warhammer 40k... a 28mm version of the Imperial Knight from the olden days of Adeptus Titanicus. This one man titan towers above the battle filed at a height of 6.5 inches on the tabletop (or maybe a little taller as we shall see). It was such an amazing model, I bought five of them...

I'm not going to delve into the rules (I think I've said before I suck at actually playing these games because I always field the units I want to paint rather than the best combos), the implications for the future of the game (seems like a lot of tournament players are up in arms about what these types of super heavies do to the balance of the game... I don't bother with tournaments), or GW's price escalation (It's an expensive hobby). I simply thought it was a great kit and the idea of these monsters stomping across the table with TERMINATORS swarming around their knees had me sold in a big way.

I probably should have built the first one straight out of the box, but I wanted one striding through rubble like the picture above. The very fist thing I did to this very expensive kit is break out my jeweler's saw and cut the left leg in half below the knee. There is a perfect guide to follow, but be warned that your saw will not simply follow the groove. Take your time and this should be an easy conversion. I used a knife and a file to clean up the pieces once they were separated. Then I simply glued the two halves together. The angle of the bend needs to leave a small space so you can attach the hose to the bottom of the thigh.

After this, the rest of the construction was fairly straight forward. The only other fiddly bit was replacing the hose on the left leg. I used an old necklace from my bits box, but a bass guitar string would work great as well. I removed the couplings from the plastic hose, drilled out the components used super glue to attach the new hose after gluing the couplings to the leg.

Here are the results so far. The rest of the build should follow the instructions from the kit.

I haven't figured out how I want to paint my knights yet, but I'm not in a hurry. I have another conversion underway as well... stay tuned for more!