The Lord of Death Arrives

+++ Blood Raven Scout - Call-sign: "The Initiate" - Report begin +++

We returned to the city after the last of the Orks were routed just in time to see one of the Chapter's Gunships land.  Only one figure emerged but the landing zone went deathly quiet.  The 'man' was clad in red armor brighter than my bothers' and the air around him crackled with power.  We Ravens are no stranger to Psykers but this one made even our own Librarians uneasy.

His name was Mephiston, I had heard stories of this Librarian.  He was reborn after defeating the curse of the Blood Angels and has never been the same.  I could only hope that he came to assist as the Emperor knows our Chapter is in dire need.

+++++++++++End Report, The Emperor Protects+++++++++++

Let's start with the priming.  I started by priming the model black with Army Painter Black.  I followed up with Army Painter Dragon Red.  This was both my best and worst decision for the model (I'll touch on this later).

 I did not attach the arm at this point.  I didn't want the sword in the way when painting.  I've seen a lot of people do it both ways.  I tried to create both a slight shading look and darkened red.  I was happy with the color but in my attempt to fill in the crevices I put too much primer on the model and filled in some detail.  Specifically the skulls that lined his robe.

My next step was to begin base coating the model.  I focused on providing strong colors that covered up the red.

The next picture is the model with a few shading effects.  I'm slowly trying to improve this.  One thing I tried was leaving some of the brown under the white to give it a higher contrast and 'pop'.  This worked well.  I also washed some of the metal to make it darker and gritty.

At this point he was ready to be 'dipped' in Army Painter Medium Quick-Shade.  I know a lot of people don't like this but I feel its a good product for someone who is new but wants good looking models.  I am slowly trying to improve natural shading effects through washing and layering colors but its a slow process and the quick shade gives me a big bang for my buck.

This is after he dried for 48 hours and had been matted with Army Painter "Anti-Shine".  I'm very proud of the work done here.

For the back I took a back pack that had a skull and cut off the exhaust ports.  Even after this modification the pack didn't fit very well and if you look at the right angle you can see it wasn't intended to fit.  I'm not sure why they provide parts of the kit knowing it wont fit for the model.  Personally with this figure I don't know why they even provide a backpack.  Why not just sculpt a back onto the metal fig that is small and attached to his back?

I wanted to provide a bright picture so you could see the details.  Although he did turn out amazing for my skill level he left me with a lot of new lessons and some things to address when / if I make a new Mephiston.

Lessons Learned:

1) If you are going to double prime ensure you don't spray too much on small details.

2) I used a new quick shade technique where I dipped him then manually brushed off some of the material in an attempt to prevent clotting in details and covering gaps (like between the hilt and his cape).

3) I really need to wash the model prior to priming.  I was told this was fixed with GW models but it seems I should still wash them with soap and water.

Mephiston 2.0?

I definitely plan to make another one day.  You might notice he colors are spot on from the GW one (to the best of my ability) and this is because he's the Blood Angel Mephiston come to assist the rebuilding of the Blood Ravens.  My Chapter has no Chief Liberian right now and he's come to assist in rebuilding and ensuring that the taint of Chaos isn't still infecting the chapter (personal fluff and reasoning for him being there).  When I make a Mephiston done in Blood Raven colors I'll actually make a custom model so that he is unique to my chapter.  Regardless that may be a while as I'm still just trying to get everything painted, based and matted.

More to come everyone!  "Knowledge is Power" - The Initiate