This is the 'hero' set librarian - usually with bald/bearded head and skull staff held horizontally in two hands. Modified with a grey knight warding staff, top from the command squad sprue. The warding staff original top is on a grey knight justicar already. Left arm from a tactical marine sergeant option with the open hand also from grey knight bits. Green stuff filling the gaps in wrist and shoulder.
Head is a straight swap for a blood angel 'younger' face and the 25mm base is replaced with a 32mm from the scenic range so it matches the rest of the force while giving a slight step for the right foot. Probably a bit bland but the librarian has so many ornaments already I figured clean was ok.
Finally - 3mm magnet was added to the torso and pack so it can be swapped for a death company jump pack. I opted for the pack with row of blood drops - rare chance to make these red on blue since any used for command squad will need to be a contrast with red.
Basecoat averland sunset on the robes and balthazar gold on the staff head. All good so far.
Skipped photos of a bunch of details being added in and took these at end of session... Blue highlights on the feet/legs with altorf guard and calgar blues; the gold has been washed with reikland flesh shade and added to with auric armour gold. I'm not sure if it's just my pot, but it has been really hard to get a good consistency with auric gold - the pigment/flakes seem to separate out from the binder regardless of amount of mixing/shaking. Might just replace the pot and see if that fixes it.
The robes I am... sorta ok with. I added a second layer of sepia to the recesses (probably a mistake) and as a result then struggled to get a smooth transition from averland sunset into bone from such a dark area. Then got a little reckless with the lighter colours and there are some rough edges between shades. The brown trimming (rhinox hide) was a little sloppy too. The screamer pink underside came out well with a little carroburg crimson wash - but net result, robes are something I'll have to work on a bit further. Less harsh washing and thin the lighter colours further with lamian medium and be more patient layering.
Again... missing proper WIP photos, this is the starting point for the face using bugmans glow over black primer. Immediate reaction from someone looking at it was 'why have you painted hitler?' Extra incentive to make the final result blond.
Librarian pack WIP on the left (the 3mm magnet can be seen in the middle) and reverse side after gold and parchment have been finished up.
Jump pack from the Death Company set and (nearly) completed for the librarian. The blue has only had minimal highlighting, and a healthy amount of black drybrushed over the bottom of the exhausts. I'll probably try an extra layer of weathering (some brown washes or silver streaking) once I get the assault squad packs to a similar stage, but the black could well be enough.
Two similar shots that show a little of the front detail - book, keys, cow-skulls, scrolls and rosarius coloured in, along with some colour added to the staff. Gold areas have also had a hint of relictor gold added to the edges to give some shine. I wanted to add a bit more red to reinforce the chapter colour although the green may have given an unintended Christmas theme. Since the bulk of the librarian was painted during the Christmas week, it may have to stay as a reminder though :-)
The Good:
- The blue was easier to highlight than I remember... coverage with red isn't that straightforward :-)
- First time using relictor gold and reikland shades was pretty positive. Might need to use this more often than my vallejo old gold in future.
- Blu-tac masking for the airbrush was excellent. very clean result on some small areas.
- Red shoulders & knee reinforce the chapter well. Will keep something similar for chaplain/priest effects.
The Bad (I know what went wrong):
- The robes would be better done with minimal shading - light sepia on averland sunset or agrax on brown/greys. Then thin the hell out of the light colours and be patient building up.
- Check conversion parts several times... I measured and carefully fitted the 2 packs/magnets, base, etc. The one thing I should have checked was the replacement head - turns out the open mouth BA head won't fit under the psychic hood so my dude has to have a tilt to nudge in sideways.
The Ugly (needs some more thinking):
- Weathering jump packs and similar parts on characters... I like the black effect but need to find something more thorough and effective than just dusting black everywhere.
- Basing... I'd kept to a rather standard sector imperialis one for the librarian as he has so many extra detailed bits hanging off him, but it could do with something else to signify the rank/importance. Finding a good balance between blank and overkill a focus for the next character.
Final shots including decals coming soon.
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