Jewel of July: House Taranis Cerastus Knight-Castigator WIP - week 1

Greetings.  This week I kick off a new community challenge Jewel of July with a Cerastus Knight-Castigator, painted in the livery of House Taranis. I bought this model a couple years back and finally built is last year.  It has since sat waiting for a paint job (although I had at least painted it's interior before setting it aside). So this model was a good pick for a challenge on completing projects.

I started out air brushing the panels and main skeleton of the Castigator according to my House Taranis paint recipe (see recipe tabs above). The one change I made was using ScaleColor  Black Metal (SC-63) for the skeleton instead of starting with a steel dry brush over the primer.  This brightens the model a bit, but still offers a nice contrast to the chrome and steel accents that follow. I started using the black Metal with the Adeptus Titanicus Titans and I like it a lot.

After masking and air brushing the various colors, I got started on the legs.  Vallejo Chrome was used on the piston shafts and Vallejo Steel was used on the armor panel trim.  Vallejo Dark Rubber was applied to the flexible joints where the legs join the hips. All of this will be shaded soon and that will help things look more defined.

We're only six days in, but there has been solid progress so far. I hope this will be a fierce looking knight to lead my House Taranis force.

Not much to see from the back yet, but still a good illustration of all the great detail on this model.

I plan to leave the carapace loose (probably magnetized) so I can get in to see the great detail on the optional pilot cockpit kit that I added when building the model. As I recall, this was available separately from Forge World.  Not sure if it is an option anymore, but I felt it was well worth the extra money at the time

.

The pilot is keeping tabs on the fight, tracking both allied and enemy engines. I pre-painted the cockpit before assembly and so had a jump start on that bit of painting going into this challenge.

That's where I'm at so far.  Check back towards the end of the week for more progress. I'm trying to keep up my regular two-post-per-week cadence, but I'll fill in a post or two on other projects no doubt as the month moves on.

Best wishes for all of the other Jewel of July challengers out there.

Stay safe.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!