WIP: Heresy Era Dark Angels Tactical Squad in Mark IV Plate - part 2

Hello and welcome back for another WIP session on the Calibanite tactical squad. I had a bit of a vacation last week and that cost me a bunch of time on these guys, however, I was not all idle since the last post. As I complete base coats and get ready for shading and highlights, I need to complete the squad heraldry so it will blend in with the shading, et. al.

For this squad, a vertical checkered stripe was added to the right shoulder pad instead of the horizontal one I used on the first squad.  These simple details will mark the squads out instead of using squad numbers. I think things are just busy enough! I did want to add the tactical squad marking as shown in the Forge World imagery.

Image originally from the Forge World "Black Books"

Now...is that white or is that grey or is that silver?  Seems more white than the trim, so I'm going with white to match the checkers.  Great choice...now after searching my large collection of decals (some 25 years worth) I was alarmed to find I didn't have white tactical arrows.  I have red galore thanks to 40K Dark Angels...and lots of single white arrows pointing up (looking at you Index Astartes)...but the art here clearly calls for the horizontal double arrow. After failing to find these in any volume on the Forge World site (I think they may be on one of the legion decal sheets, but only like five or ten and I'm going to need at least 40 before I'm done), it was off to the Mr. Google for some web searching.  This brought me tho the following sheet from the The Bolter and Chainsword.  It printed nicely on a sheet of "statement" size white decal paper from Testors.

I didn't want the black circles, but the black allows for nice black borders to outline the arrow, making it easier to cut cleanly, nice to layer over the checkers.  Here's an example cut out.

The black ink from my inkjet printer cracks as it dries on this paper which it a bit annoying.  This happens with the checkers as well.  But it's an easy matter to touch up later, so no worries.  This was A LOT more cutting hassle than I was hoping for (I would have preferred white icons on clear paper), but it worked.

SO between the close up, the glare, and the cracked ink this looks pretty bad.  Trust me that it looks better in person and under normal vision.  Plus, the black will all get tidied up in the next step so the cracking with white showing through will be gone. Standing back, the heraldry is coming along fine.

So I think I can fit in two more session before February 1st, when this squad MUST be set aside for Squaduary 2019! I'll post part three either Thursday or Friday as a wrap up.  I'm not going to get the HQ character done this month as planned.  But I still will have managed 2 squads and a total of 20 marines in one month which is a record for me.  I won't call these squads DONE yet, but they will be much better than simply table ready.

For Squaduary 2019, I'm pledging a five model 1st Legion tactical support squad with plasmaguns and a six model 1st Legion heavy support squad with missile launchers. That effort will complete the bulk of my infantry models for the first 1000 points of this force.  Then it's back to the character and other big stuff as a reward. Oh...and TITANS!  OK, baby titans, but still.  I still have the Titanicus bug and look forward to painting up more Legio Tempestus titans.

So that's all for now.  Look for a follow up WIP later this week, then it's on to Squaduary and back to a more regular posting schedule.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!