Space Wolves Update

It's been a while, but I've managed to find a few pockets of free time over the past week or so and made some significant hobby progress. The most important thing I did was learn how to *fully* disassemble my Badger Velocity airbrush, allowing me to clean out clogs and run it through my ultrasonic cleaner. With that tool back in my arsenal, I set out to tackle Mike's massive fleet of Space Wolves rhino chassis.

...and there's still a rhino in pieces next to my utility sink!

These were all purchased second-hand by Mike, from eBay and a player at a local gaming store who wanted to play Warmachine instead of 40K. All of them were coating in thick, poorly applied paint of various colors. Rather than compound the problem, I stripped them by bathing them in Simple Green and running them two or three at a time through my ultrasonic cleaner. Some light scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush and almost all traces of the multiple layers of previous paint were gone. A quick coat of Krylon gray primer, and I was left with what you see above.

I ran out of Codex Grey trying to get it to flow properly through my airbrush, so I stopped by Michael's and picked up a couple bottles of cheap gray craft paint. I mixed up a decent match to Codex Grey (Faux-dex Gray, I'll call it - 7 parts Americana Pure Gray and 1 part Apple Barrel black) and used that instead. I needed to thin it heavily to get it to spray, but I was happy with the result.

Krylon Gray on the left, Faux-dex Gray on the right.

Once everything was basecoated, I used straight Pure Gray to heavily drybrush all of the tanks. In retrospect, it might have been fun to try highlighting with the airbrush, but that will have to wait for another project. After that, I used Iyanden Darksun and Mechrite Red foundation paints to add some color to the front track recesses and top hatches, and painted the tracks black. With a couple pack markings on the hatches these vehicles were "tournament ready," which I consider a notch below "tabletop standard" but laying the foundation to progress to that (and beyond). I promise I'll come back to them and add some detail.

They won't win any awards, but you could play these in any tournament.

Once the rhinos were in decent shape, I moved on to the dreadnought's drop pod. That was also hit with Faux-dex Gray as a basecoat, and then I added some black to some panels and any areas that I planned on making metal. Sloppy brushing with Boltgun Metal and some cleanup gave me my three-color minimum, but then I used some new Citadel Averland Sunset paint to add a little panache to the model, picking out the Space Wolf emblems on the outside of the pod doors, and iconic hazard stripes on the edges of the opened doors (we wouldn't want the dread stubbing his toe). I know they're silly, but I love the stripes.

I think that's most of the progress I've made recently. I also finished assembling some Swiftclaw bikes, and cobbling together some more Grey Hunter models. Those should all be primed soon, and join their battle brothers shortly thereafter. That is, unless I get distracted by a new Dakkajet/Bommer model...