Aeronautica Imperialis Wrath of Angels WIP - part 2

 

Hello!  Today I bring progress on the Aeronautica Imperialis Wrath of Angels box set. The bases are complete (see below) and I've started in on the planes. By the end of this month, I hope to have this last box set completed as a bonus on the hobby season, before I go back to painting space marines and tiny titans.

The bases came out well, once again.  The painting recipe is working and I'm getting the consistency I want even with gaps between painting projects. This is a good thing, as I still have plenty of bases to paint in the collection.

The Asuryani planes got a solid air brushing with Vallejo Surface Primer Black and then Proacryl Burnt Red.  After that dried, I tried dry brushing Proacryl Bold Pyrrole Red over everything, with some focus on the edges.  This presented a nice highlight and some variation across the surface of the planes.  Next, I applied a shade over everything using a roughly 50:50 mix of GW Agrax Earthshade and custom medium (GW Lahmiam Medium would work).  This had two effects - warming things up a bit with a richer hue and shading all the recesses to add some definition. 

Asuryani Nightwing Fighters

The photos pretty much wash that effect out, unfortunately, but it did make a difference! Now I'm working on the details slowly.  The smooth surfaces and subtle, rounded textures make the detail painting a bit more fussy.  I painted in the spirit stones (yellow/green bubbles) , weapons, air intakes and engines so far.  I don't paint Xenos, so I may be doing these planes a serious disservice.  But in my defense, I've done a bunch or research through the books I have and online to get a sense of the Asuryani (Eldar, Aeldari, etc.) aesthetic.  In the end, I decided to go with the box art. 😂 In the end, I am only aiming for attractive playing pieces for the game board; not some new statement on finery of the Asuryani air crews.

Since I'm batch painting these planes, they are coming out in a satisfactorily uniform manner. I liked the black panels for the bomber flight leader.  I have six more Nightwings to paint, so I'm waiting to pick out a fighter flight leader/ace when I take on those planes. I think I'll be looking at transfers and the cockpit glass next for these planes.  They are otherwise coming along nicely.

 

The Astartes planes have been primed with a base coat laid down over top. I decided to stay with the 40K time period to match all the other planes and not paint these using colors from the Age of Darkness (Horus Heresy).  Since storm eagles land troops, they will be painted in the dark green of the Dark Angels, while the Xiphon Interceptors will be painted in the black of the 2nd company (Ravenwing). Those colors will lend me some variety on the painting table and hopefully won't be too confusing on the gaming table.  I expect that the chapter iconography will tie things together, so we'll see. I like the idea of the Ravenwing providing air cover for the other companies of the chapter as they launch their assaults.

And that's were I'm at, roughly halfway through the month.  The Asuryani have given me pause while I sorted out how I wanted to paint them, but the Dark Angels planes should go much more quickly.  I've painted loads of Astartes stuff and know exactly how I'm going to tackle their planes.  I'm pushing to complete this project in time to start "Squaduary" next month, so we'll see. That's it for now.

Best of luck with your projects.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!