Getting relatively close to finishing up the sector boards now - and working on the detailing of some marble/stone sections which add a bit of flair on top of the Warhammer TV guide that the rest of the project has followed. Have quite been looking forward to trying this approach out.
After finishing up the metallic areas and washes in previous stage, I'm now moving onto some of the more explicit stone detailing with the T-junction boards first.
That gives a nice base for the Ulthuan grey to sit on top of.
I probably underestimated the time it would take for this next step - rather than slop an agrax wash on the whole thing, I went around the recesses and did more of a pin wash. It's still not as neat as it would be on an army model as the trade off in time was to be 'mostly' accurate and 'mostly' quick, so some stray marks have crept in.
I wasn't sure if the time was worth it after doing the first board as a test - when you stick this one next to one that only has the initial celestra grey it's clear that the wash has both added more depth/definition, as well as having given a hint of brown which better ties it into the bronze surroundings. The ulthuan grey is also worthwhile - the brighter tone looks closer to a white-marble colour.
Having brought all 3 boards up to this level, it actually probably looks ok here - I'm fairly happy with how the shading looks at a distance, and with a final drybrush of vallejo dead white to buff out some of the stray marks it could be left as is. You could pass that off as a stone tablet inlay.
However...
I've been mulling over going a bit more overboard with these and mucking around with some marble effects. Duncan has in fact done some of these effects, albeit in a different project a few years ago on Warhammer TV. Some carefully controlled streaking should look pretty cool and hopefully sell the idea that these plates are carved from marble.
Starting with lighter coloured greys and working through administratum grey, dawnstone and then skavenblight dinge; using more medium to thin out the lighter paints, then going more paint and less wash in the darker colours.
The administratum streaks are about half-half paint to medium. Relatively faint, and maybe 2mm across in many places. I can see it adding a bit of depth already - not quite done though.
Now darken up parts of the stripes with dawnstone. Slightly thinned but heavier than the prior layer.
Some finer dots/streaks with skavenblight dinge, then a few hints of seraphim sepia on some of the streaks and we're basically done.
I'd left the metal strips alone earlier when doing the rest of the bronze - much easier to get the stone in first then come back with some balthazar gold afterwards. Repaint the skulls with zandri dust, then these new parts get an agrax wash.
It probably took 1.5hrs to do the streaking on all 9 tablets across 3 boards. Not great, but not terrible. Up super close, the streaks look quite naff - they aren't very well painted or smooth, and there is something a bit too regular about them.
Also, even though I have tried to paint random angles and wiggles, I've also tried to fill the space where I should have left some bigger patches of blank white too for a more 'natural' look. By the time I got to the last one, I was making a few streaks closer together, then some space, then another couple... this looks a lot more interesting and effective than having regular streaks every 1.5cm or so.
Having now had a go at this on a terrain piece I've...
a) learnt a lot more about how marble effects are built up should I want to do this on something much smaller and expensive, like a character model base
b) managed to make my boards look a bit more unique, given they are 90% following exactly in the Warhammer TV guide
c) they actually *do* look pretty good at a distance, which is how scenery & terrain should generally be thought of, rather than from right in front of your eyes. the stark light colour really stands out on the overall muted board against what is otherwise a metal and concrete landscape.
That essentially finishes off the 3 T-junction boards, and just really leaves the aquilas to paint up on the other three boards before any weathering effects.
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