WIP: Grey Knights Characters - Part 5

Greetings!  Today I'm sharing progress on Grand Master Voldus.  So...much...detail.  I love this model.  The armor and main details are coming along here, but there's still a good deal of painting left to do.  I'm following the paint recipe with good results as well.  He should fit right in with the rest of the characters from this hobby season.  Voldus has the distinction of being my last project for the 2017/18 season. I'm pushing to get him done by the end of the month, but I have several family activities that will keep me away from the desk.

Pulling back, you get a better idea of the progress.  I am following the box art closely since he is a named character.  I feel he should look like he should look, right?  My shades and techniques may not match the Heavy Metal Team's (uh, yeah, no kidding!)  but I want to model to come read as Voldus to anyone who would recognize the character in the first place.  Hi is pretty new, so he's perhaps not as recognizable as the many other well known characters from the 40K 'verse.

Lots left to do on this side, but the armor is coming along.

I'm still lovin' the 360 degree detail.  He's just covered all over with interesting bits like this heavy book on a leather strap. I hope he'll be a stand out edition the the army, perhaps only slightly overshadowed by the Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight armor. 

Taking a break from the main model now, I put some color on the base. I am using Vallejo Chocolate Brown (70.872) and GW Agrax Earthshade. This will get highlighted and shaded a couple more times until I'm satisfied with the terrain.  I typically bring in some greens to hint at life clinging to or re-emerging form the blasted earth.

While things were drying between coats, I started work on the head, which has been attached via pin to a separate (bourbon) cork stand for painting. I think he's coming along nicely.  A bit grumpy looking perhaps.  I don't think this fella laughs much...

I am using my basic skin color recipe here (which is largely ad-hoc to begin with), consisting of a base coat of GW Kislev Flesh shaded with GW Reikland Fleshshade, with dabs of GW Druchii Violet and GW Carroburg Crimson around the eyes, cheeks and mouth.  The lips were painted with GW Wild Rider Red shaded with more Reikland Fleshshade.  Some GW Nuln Oil was dabbed in the eyes while I was shading the beard as well.  The beard is simply GW Eshin Grey highlighted with a lighter grey from an older GW paint line. After shading with Nuln Oil, the beard got a second highlight of Vallejo Game Color Wolf Grey (72.047), carefully drawn on from top to bottom to get more texture in the result.

The hardware got some color too with a light grey/blue on the hoses and everything shaded with more Nuln Oil.  The leather of the cap was painted with GW Steel Legion Drab and shaded with a couple coats of GW Agrax Earthshade.  I hit the service studs with Vallejo Oily Steel (70.865) and shaded them with a small amount of Agrax Earthshade. It's coming along well.  Gotta tackle those eyes and clean things up a bit next.  The head could be glued in at any point now.  I want to be sure I have the collar and psychic hood painted up to satisfaction before I do, though.

I have one more opportunity this week to finish him off before the hobby season ends.  I hope to complete Voldus then, but we'll see.  It's a great model and deserves care so I won't rush it to done. I hope you'll come back soon to check out the results.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!