SHOWCASE: Blood Angels Baal predator

Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels Baal predator

It's finished! My new (and very small) Blood Angels force can now call upon some serious mobile firepower when they go to war in the far future. For various reasons, this has taken longer than I originally expected, but I'm glad to see it finished.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (assembled)

Blood Angels Baal predator... now fully assembled

This is my last work in progress post for my Baal predator. The last thing I have to do on it is apply the battle damage. In the image above, you can see it looking all clean and tidy, just as it might have been when it rolled out of the factory on whatever forge world the Blood Angels commission their tanks to be built. Naturally being exposed to years of warfare on countless planets isn't going to help keep a machine like this in such pristine condition. The next time you see it, it will look a little different. Watch this space...

WIP: Tau Piranha TX-42 (edge highlighting and decals)

Starting to take shape

I've done a little more on the piranha since my last update. The most time-consuming part was going around all of the armour panels and edge-highlighting them (twice in some cases). I had to keep the paint really thin and almost glaze them on in places as the blends with the camo stripes needed to be a different colour. I used Elysian Green followed by Nurgling Green for the main colour and Kabalite Green for the stripes. In terms of painting, the only other thing I've done is pick out everything (except the inside of the cockpit) that isn't 'armour' in black, although I'm looking to do something more with that panel that crosses the top of the hull, just in front of the driver. I'm currently experimenting with a slightly different edge colour, but I think I need to make more of it.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (now with sponsons)

It's starting to look more like a tank!

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted an update on my Blood Angels Baal predator. Any normal painter would have finished it, and probably half a dozen other things by then. Alas, not me... but I am close. The picture above shows how this model looked after another brief session on it at the weekend. By the time you read this, there's a slim possibility that I'll have had another evening on it and it'll be a bit closer. I did say slim, didn't I?

WIP: Tau Piranha TX-42 (airbrush test)

My first documented attempt at airbrushing...

I'm pleased to say I had some painting time this weekend. I'm not going to pretend I did a lot because, really, I didn't. I did, however, manage to get the airbrush out and have another look at this Tau skimmer. Since getting the airbrush, I've done a couple of tests with it to get used to how it works, but this will be my first actual project. I picked this particular vehicle for a couple of reasons. The first, I admit, is that I'd had it for a long time. The second is that Tau vehicles really suit smooth paint schemes and I really liked the idea of using an airbrush to achieve that.

WIP: Tau Piranha TX-42

Warhammer 40,000: Tau piranha TX-42 (just assembled)

I confess I've been a bit lame on the hobby front of late. I've done bits and pieces here and there but very little worth reporting. Despite the four day weekend just gone, I've had very little time to work on anything. I'm hoping to spend some time in the next few weeks to get a few projects finished and clear the decks for some new ones... Something I have made time to do is assemble this Tau piranha. I've had this kit for several years and (surprise, surprise) done nothing with it. The recent arrival of my airbrush has positioned it within my sights once more.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (metals)

Moving on from my last post, I've now done the metal work on the main hull of my tank. This is a simple but time-consuming part that involves going around the whole tank and picking out the metal areas. I use three colours (Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil and Runefang Steel, the latter applied sparingly as a highlight).

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (highlights)

Just another short update today. Progress on the predator is slow for various reasons, some of which I'll cover in future posts. That said, however, I have managed to go round and do the highlights for the red on the main hull. After tidying up the initial basecoat, post-shading, I highlighted with Wild Rider Red first with a very light dry-brush technique. I did this to give it a slightly rough look. The tank will be weathered before it's finished, which should blend this in really well. The last highlight was Ungor Flesh, as with the other models in the 'army' so far. This was applied sparingly to the highest edges. Afterwards, I applied a glaze of Bloodletter to the whole tank. I admit I wasn't thrilled with the result of this stage, but that was entirely my fault. The blend worked, but there were a lot of brush marks left on the flat panels. Some of them I was able to buff out with a large, dry brush (not dry-brushing but an actual dry brush). Hopefully they won't be too obvious in the finished piece. More on that soon...

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator (shading)

Due to a number of non-hobby-related issues, progress is slow, even by my standards. Needless to say when I have had time to look at it, painting has been extremely therapeutic. Anyway, onto the update proper... The bulk of the shading is now done on the Baal predator. This has involved 'black lining' all of the panels. It's a bit of a misnomer in this case as I haven't used black, but the principal is the same: that it entails painting a darker colour (thinned down) directly into the recesses and, for the most part at least, leaving the rest as is. In this case that colour is a shade, specifically Agrax Earthshade, so it didn't need thinning. If anything it needed a couple of coats in some cases. Next up I'll be doing a little tidying with Mepheston Red before I start the highlights... time permitting...

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator undercoat and basecoat

Black undercoat

My Baal predator has finally seen some paint, but alas has yet to be touched by a brush. Having done the bulk of the assembly work earlier in the week, I've since brought out the spray cans to get it undercoated and basecoated. This is the first model I have used a spray basecoat on, so I'm interested to see how that will work out. I'm hopeful that it will save some time and, if so, I'll use it more often in future where there's an appropriate colour available. Regardless of what colour a model eventually gets painted, however, the most important step remains the undercoat. This helps the other layers of paint stick to the model and provides a solid surface to paint onto.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator assembly

Main chasis

I apologise in advance for this: I won't be including pictures of the sponsons and main turret until a little later in the project. Due to the nature of the components and the way I plan on painting it, they're all in so many bits that to get them all photographed at each stage would be a huge chore. As such I'll focus on the main chasis, where the bulk of the work will be anyway. Once the sub-assemblies are put together, I'll start including them in the updates.

WIP: Blood Angels Baal predator

Blood Angels Baal predator (still boxed)

Just a quick heads-up post to get the ball rolling this week (or maybe to get the Baal rolling*). With my Blood Angels army now up to a dizzying six models, I thought I'd throw a tank into the mix to flesh it out a bit. The Baal predator is a variant of the standard space marine predator specific to the Blood Angels and I'm treating it as a reward for the work I've put in on the rest of the 'army' so far. I'll be honest: I have no idea how long this will take. I've painted a number of tanks in my twenty-plus years in the hobby, but by the standards of other models, they're few and far between. More updates soon!

* Because puns based on the name of the Blood Angels' home world are always fun...