Blackstone Fortress - More Terrain

 I'm trying something different - I made a video this time:

Warpgate Dice Tower Part 2

 I deepened the shadows a bit more and then really pushed the highlights with my Krome airbrush. Then I used Vallejo's Ultramarine as a filter (really water-downed) and softened the highlights to a blue. Then it was the old brush and some DR white on the veins of the warp.

Since it's terrain, I think I'm going to stop here. I glued it all together and I watched a video where a guy glued felt to the bottom so it was softer on the table, so I'll probably do that at some point.

Warpgate Dice Tower

We'll, I've been putting off this one for a while! 

This is a dice tower that you can purchase the STL files to 3D print from Dragon's Gate. I love the support they've been doing for Blackstone Fortress.

I surprisingly got way further than I expected, but that goes to show how powerful an airbrush can be!

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Core Box Complete!

Wow! It almost took me a full year, but it's done! All the core models have been painted!

Here's a summary of my favourite to least favourites to paint.

I still have some Escalation models to paint, but I'm going to reserve that for when I finish the game and move on.

For my next project, I need to complete some stormtroopers for Star Wars Legion that I started last year!

1. Pious Vorne (sorry for the over-exposure)... loved doing the flames with the airbrush!

2. Janus Draik... his details are amazing

3. Amallyn Shadowguide... Just because I'm an eldar fanatic

4. Taddeus the Purifier... I was happy with the details and the whites turned out pretty good!

5. Rein and Raus... I think because they went super quick and they were the first heroes I did.

6. Beastmen... the drybrushing turned out awesome!

7. Ur-ghuls... the first baddies I did and I enjoyed the easiness of painting this plus the purple hands.

8. UR-025... I just love his orange hand... great complimentary colour scheme.

9. The two squads of Traitor Guardsmen... Took the longest, but lots of dark washes to make them look really drab!

10. Espern Locarno... I thought the purples would turn out better but I think it was just my beef and my edge highlighting was a bit too chunky for my liking.

11. Rogue Psykers... Just two models so it wasn't that bad.

12. Obsidious Mallex... Not a Chaos fan... but my blacks turned out okay I guess.

13. Chaos Space Marines... same as Mallex

14. Spindle Drones... too spindly

15. Dahyak Grekh... it was a pretty boring model and I made it too orky

16. Negavolt Cultists... the. absolute. worst. And I screwed up a great skin tone by using the totally wrong wash. I hated painting them so much that I just didn't care. They're boss in the game though.

And... here's the whole hero gang together:

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Janus Draik

I started this guy last night but my phone died just as I was taking an in-progress photo.

I put it off until the end because I dreaded painting him but he ended up being one of my favourites to paint!

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Pious Vorne

It's been a while. Got sucked into the TV.

Finally got around to starting Pious Vorne. I'm still working on getting black done. I do great with the highlights, but I haven't figured out the filter part. I tried using Contrast Black Templar but I have to get the right mix still I guess. It's good practise, as I have a Ulthwe Eldar army and a decent-sized Deathwatch army to do still.

I did the black, her head, and started the fire. I got too fancy and screwed it up, so really I did it twice tonight. I will update this with more when I get around to it.

April 30 update:

May 1 update:

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Dahyak Grekh

Well, back to BSF!

I've been putting off painting the remaining 3 figs, as I have already painted the ones I'm playing the game with. This one seems really easy to paint so far. It's a start anyway.

A couple of days later... I think he's done. The finished product doesn't look as great in pictures as in real life... 'tis okay I suppose.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Amallyn Shadowguide

Got a bit of painting in tonight. I got her to base colours and washes down. I can just do up the highlights tomorrow night hopefully!

I really enjoyed painting this one so far.

Next evening: Just got a bit of time to highlight. Edges could be cleaner but not bad.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Taddeus the Purifier

Wasn't excited about painting white but I think it went well and I think this guy was the quickest to paint so far which is a shocker!

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Espern Locarno

I was pretty excited to do this guy because I do like painting with purple.

I don't know, I think I've forgotten most of the skills I learned in the CK Studios 101 class. I'll have to really study my notes again.

It turned out okay - my only complaint is my thick highlights on his legs, but from a tabletop distance, you'd never notice it. I'm my own worst critic I guess!

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - UR-025

I had a really good thing going with this one... I love my new Krome brush too.

However, I effed it up with the filter. It was too saturated and rather than go over it all again, I decided to use a thin line of nuln oil everywhere. It turned out pretty good in the end.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Rein and Raus

These guys are so small - and easy! Not really much more to say...

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - the Heroes

I got my new Badger Krome airbrush today, so I was eager to try it out and see how small of a line I could make. I think I definitely like it better than my Sotar so far.

I got my heroes primed into 3 groups: white, grey, and black. I also tried the Krome a little bit on Rein and Raus with some skin tone to see how much overspray there'd be. I think I'll leave them to a brush for the rest due to how small they are and I'll see if I can airbrush more on the other models later.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Traitor Guardsmen Part 2

This weekend I was able to complete these guardsmen. Even though this was the biggest squad, I thought they turned out great. It was a hard ugly phase up until the wash - painting grey looks horrible until then!

 Black helmets

 Metallic helmets

 With completed bases

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Traitor Guardsmen

The units I've been dreading! I've really enjoyed painting these small 2-4 man squads and now, I have 14 to do!

I grey primered these guys and then only had time to get the blacks and browns done. My wife wanted to binge watch a show with me tonight so not as much done as I had hoped.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Negavolt Cultists Part 2

I'm not really happy with these guys... I had a good skin tone going and I screwed it up with the wrong wash colour. Oh well, they have been my least favourite to paint so far anyway!

 With completed bases

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Negavolt Cultists

I didn't get very far, but I got a bit of a start on the Negavolt Cultists. Definitely too much small detail to do so I couldn't use a airbrush for most of it. I just did the skin (love the colour I chose - a Vallejo Model Air Blue).

The metal parts are taking forever, hence why only 2 of them are at that stage. Hopefully next weekend I can get a bit further.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Chaos Space Marines

This is the 2nd attempt I've made on airbrushing these guys! The first time I didn't trust the process and I didn't do enough grey shading. This time, I think I did a good job, but the black filter I sprayed wiped some of the highlights out. C'est la vie.

This is painted up until the wash stage. Highlights to come, as well as the bases for these guys and the Rogue Psykers. I hope to get a bit more painting in this weekend to finish these guys off.

Next day update:

Managed to get a bit more painting in and finished these guys off. I also did some more bases as hoped.

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Bases

I was going to leave all the bases to be painted at the end, but I was sick of looking at the ugliness! Especially if I get a game in some time.

I 3D printed these bases off of the Dragon's Rest collection. I had hoped to just glue them onto the regular bases, but unfortunately, they are a bit bigger. They are not quite as tall as a standard GW base, but they are close enough and if all the models are on the same height, it wouldn't matter.

I was truly scared of dealing with the Spindle Drones... they are barely on the base as it was!

Airbrushing Blackstone Fortress - Rogue Psykers

I got a late night session in tonight... and managed to take care of the Rogue Psykers. Thankfully there's only two models to deal with!

I mostly enjoyed painting them. I might do some blue effects on the one who's touching his head with his fingers to show he's using psychic powers. We'll see!