Mechanicum WIP 4

Gday Guys,

Keepy here with the last WIP for the 1000pts Mechanicum army project. During this post we cover weathering, oil washing and decal application on the Castellax Battle-Automata and Thallax Cohort. So without further ado lets get to it!

So back to our hundreds of parts on sticks - I gave one of the models a test coat of an oil wash over gloss and it come up a treat. There is a tutorial to using oil washes here.




Test oil on the Carapace only

I also applied decals at this stage - An affiliation to the Sons of Horus on the black pad with squad markings and Mechanicum on the right. There is also a serial number on the chest

Decals were applied using Micro Set and Micro Sol so the line of the transfer looks less apparent. Make sure you gloss up the surface before applying as this helps for a better adhesion and seamless blend into the model. I have used some less used Sons of Horus iconography to represent these being attached to the 63rd Expedition and have been given a sutle mark to show support to the Warmaster prior or during the Istvann III campaign. They will make a great allied or embedded force to compliment my Sons of Horus legion.

I did a test of chipping with Mechanicum Grey and Leadbelcher using the sponging technique and it came up rather well. For a tutorial on sponging head over to Macca's post here. All the weathering was done before the oils but after the decals were applied, this ensures that damage goes over the top of the decals for a more realistic effect.



With the oil test done it was time for some weathering on the whole fleet before more oils could be applied

Weathering, decals and oils done on the carapace only

Fresh oil coat

Test model in progress



The whole Castellax fleet weathered

Oils to come next

Oil coats done

Castellax basically done, just need a matt coat to dull down the gloss and retain detail

Thallax detailing done

Thallax decals done, about to apply damage and oils

I was really pushed for time to get these done for a tournament in time, so to accelerate the oil drying process (which usually takes about 24hrs) I tried a bit of experimenting and put them in a fan forced oven. Really. Don't go over about 50 Deg C and check it constantly. If the temperature is too hot you will start to smell burning resin, take them out immediately! My minis escaped any damage despite being a bit soft and bendy and after about 4-5hrs the oil was dry enough for me to finish the models.

In the oven!

Hurry up and dry!

With all the components painted and finished it was time to assemble to force en-masse. Much cutting of toothpicks from models, each part had to have the paint removed from the joining points so the parts would stick together. If this is not done then the paint will just peel away and your model will fall apart.

Finally off the sticks and onto the base. I ended up with a mountain of toothpicks by the end of the build


Well that's all for this post, I am getting together some high res photos of the Mechanicum force, I was pretty blown away with how well they turned out.

Thanks for dropping by, as always your comments and criticisms are welcome.

Cheers


Keepy

Links:

1. Mechanicum 1000pts List
2. Mechanicum WIP 1
3. Mechanicum WIP 2
4. Mechanicum WIP 3 - Basing
5. Mechanicum WIP 4
6. Mechanicum 1000pts Completed!