Testing Painting Techniques - Non-Metallic Metal Steel

I got Sir Coates, and the pug, as part of Duncan Rhodes’ Two Thin Coats kickstarter. I wasn’t expecting him to be metal if I’m honest. Personally, I can’t stand metal models and I have gone to great lengths to purge any metal models I had from my collection. Oh well, what can you do?

Initially, I was going to airbrush him with Vallejo Metal Colour Magnesium and do the standard wash and highlights. But then I realised I could use him to practise painting techniques. Plus I feel there’s some irony in painting a metal miniature in a non-metallic metal scheme. I had done non-metallic metal on a miniature before and the results were alright. The basic method I used to that one was to paint the miniature with a gloss black, take a photograph then use that picture as a reference to paint in all the high-shine areas, thus reflecting a metallic-like finish. As mentioned, the results were adequate. 

For Sir Coates, I wanted to take things a step further and go for a more blue-steel look rather than black metal. Realistically, all this meant was adding a teal paint to my palette. In this particular case, I went with Thousand Suns Blue. The rest of the palette for the armour was made of the usual Army Painter Matt Black and White, and Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey and Dawnstone. 

As I had primed Sir Coates black, I decided to work from the shadows upwards. So I mixed some Matt Black, Mechanicus Standard Grey and Thousand Suns Blue into a deep colour not unlike Corvus Black. I used this on any areas that would be near black on the finished model, this might seem like a redundant step but the true goal here was to matt the slight satin finish of the primer.

With the shadows done I could start blocking in the mid-tones. And by blocking in, I mean applying the paint using small scratches similar to what I did for the cloth and leather on the Wurmspat. I also didn’t blend any of the layers together, as the scratchy broken divide between the tones really helped to sell the look as metallic. Not having to blend the layers also saved me a lot of time, once I had done the shadows all I needed to do was scratch in a layer of Mechanicus Standard Grey and Thousand Suns Blue mixed together, and then scratch in a layer of Dawnstone and Thousand Suns Blue mix. I could then finish the armour by first highlighting with a mix of Matt White and, you guessed it, Thousand Suns Blue and then adding point highlights on the corners with pure Matt White. 

With the armour’s overall tone of blue, thanks to mixing in Thousand Suns Blue into every layer on it, I decided to make as many of the details as I could orange. Why orange? Because it’s on the opposite side of the colour wheel to blue, so it would contrast the most. Hence why we had that brief period in which every film poster was blue and orange. And why I used orange and blue on my grisaille underpainting test model. With the theory out of the way, I set to applying a few base coats of Jokaero Orange to Sir Coates’ cloak. After which I gave it a wash with Nuln Oil and then layered back up with Jokaero Orange again. For the highlights I first used Troll Slayer Orange then mixed in some Flash Gitz Yellow to add as point highlights on the most extreme edges. His helmet plume by contrast I did paint blue, first base coating it with Macragge Blue, before washing with Nuln Oil. I then layered with Macragge Blue and highlighted with Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue.

I went with a similar scheme for the shield; painting the tear drops and central chevron with orange and the background with blue. To add a bit of textural variety I heavily thinned the paint and applied it to the model in small stabbing motions that left little splotches of paint. The idea being that you build up paint in the mottled appearance that armour might have. I can’t say that I pulled this off too well, I don’t think I thinned the paint enough to be honest.Oh well, something to practise again later I suppose. 

The remaining details that I needed to do were the face, belt and the wood on both the back of the shield and the base. For the belt, I basecoated it with Rhinox Hide then used Dryad Bark and Skrag Brown to add small scratches into it, similar to how I had done for The Wurmspat. For the wood I stuck to my usual recipe of basecoating it with Vallejo Khaki then giving it a coat of Wyldwood contrast paint. For highlights, I then used thin lines of Khaki on the wooden log on the base. I didn’t highlight the shield as I felt that it already looked pretty good and I didn’t want to draw too much attention away from the armour. 

At last we come to the part that I was dreading, his face. I’ve never been good at faces and the fact that his face is mostly covered in facial hair, was not a comfort. In any case I base coated the skin with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone before giving it a wash with Reikland Fleshshade. Before finally layering with Cadian Fleshtone and doing some very small highlights with Kislev Flesh. For the facial hair, I base coated it with Mournfang Brown, washed it with Strong Tone and highlighted the raised areas with Skrag Brown. For the most difficult part of the model, the eyes, I first basecoated them with Ulthuan Grey before adding a small dot of black for the iris. 

The base I kept quite simple to not detract from the miniature. First I smeared on some Vallejo Thick Mud, and once that was dry I washed it with Army Painter Strong Tone. To finish off the earth, I then drybrushed it with Tyrant Skull. To finish off the base, I dabbed on some PVA glue then sprinkled on some Forest Ground Cover and Patchy Plains, both from Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready range.