Los Angeles Games Day 2005, Silver, Open Competition
With the release of the Dawn of War Beta version of the upcoming video game, and the promotion they got in White Dwarf 295 (US) in their own Index Astartes article, the Blood Ravens are taking the Warhammer 40,000 universe by storm. I immediately like the look of the Chapter's heraldry from the IA article, and decided to have a go at painting one up. It was a blast, and I honestly feel that this may be my finest work to date (without having too big a head about things, and despite my poor luck with digital images and the color red...).
The miniature began as a simple plastic tactical marine, with the plain chest piece. I had to remove very little to get it smooth, and then used Green Stuff putty to form the Blood Ravens Chapter icon as shown in the IA article. The pointing right arm is metal, from the Devastator Sergeant, with the Storm Bolter from the Captain model. The left arm is a plastic chainsword arm, with the chainsword replaced with Captain Stern's Nemesis Force Sword, which I thought makes an excellent looking power weapon. The backpack is standard, and the head comes from the Space Marine vehicle sprue. He's pinned into a GS rock, the base textured with beach sand and some small clumps of static grass.
There are a number of things I'm rather pleased with, if I don't say so myself! In no particular order, first is matching the dark grey color of the trim and markings from the IA article, and the way that it hopefully doesn't appear to be NMM, next to the lighter NMM silver of parts like the storm bolter barrels. Next is the freehand Chapter Icon (see the close up, bottom left). I was rather nervous about it, but believe I was able to replicate the insignia rather well. The tactical arrow and number are also painted freehand. The blending on the green sword is some of the best I've done so far. I'm quite pleased with the vibrant power weapon effect I achieved, and think the green is a great contrast for the red armor. I also think I was successful in matching the bone-ivory color of the shoulder pads as pictured in the article.
Darn digital camera! The red armor appears in the photos to have very sharp highlights, but in real life they are actually as smoothly blended as the green sword. I wish I could capture how the red actually looks in real life, as these pictures simply do not do it justice. *Sigh!*
I spent much longer on this model than I had wanted to, but something about it hooked me into trying my best on every little detail. I almost don't want to put it up for sale on eBay, but a man has to eat! Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed painting him.
Red Armor: VMC 146 Hull Red, VMC 035 Cadmium Maroon, VMC 034 Burnt Cadmium Red, GW Scab Red, GW Red Gore, VMC 032 Dark Red, Glaze with Red Ink with a drop of Brown Ink, thinned 10:1.
Dark Grey: VMC 167 German Grey, Rpr Armor Grey, VMC 166 Dark Grey, Rpr Ash Grey, GW Codex Grey, Glaze Chestnut Ink with a drop of Blue Ink, thinned 10:1.
Shoulder Pads: VMC 142 US Field Drab, GW Kommando Khaki mixed in gradually to pure Khaki, GW Bleached Bone, VMC 005 Ivory.
NMM Silver: VMC 166 Dark Grey, Rpr Ash Grey, GW Codex Grey, GW Fortress Grey, GW Skull White
VMC = Vallejo Model Colour, Rpr = Reaper Pro Paints, GW = Games Workshop
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