40k-Speedpainting-Challenge: A Battalion of Kasrkin in one Weekend ***COMPLETED***

There they are… in all their glossy glory…

But don’t worry. They have been dry to the touch for a few hours now and soon there will be matt varnishing.

And back in. The Dip has cured to my satisfaction. Meaning I can continue the work on the Kasrkin and hopefully finish them this evening. 3 steps are to go:

• Matt varnishing / coating to get rid of the Gloss from the Dip
• Gloweffects on Power Weapons, Lasersights, Buttons etc.
• Bases

So I’ll start with Army Painter Matt Varnish from the dropper bottle. I would love to use the spray can, but the weather won’t allow it. And the brush is much more precise.  Next update will be after varnishing.

Well, that was boring. And took longer than expected. But nevertheless here we are.

As said before I used Army Painter Anti Shine from the dropper bottle. But as this leaves the surfaces of models quite rough or raw I don’t use it pure. Don’t try to thin it with water. It immediately goes to some weird icying effect. Same if you put in on a wet palette. I just mix it 1:10 with GW ‘Ardcoat. This is a very strong Gloss Varnish and a single drop into 10 drops of anti shine has quite the effect. It is still a matt varnish, but not over the top and without the roughing up effect.

On some parts I like the roughing up. So i used pure Anit Shine on the scrolls on the psykers staff and the epaulettes and sash of the prime. The primes black sword stayed in gloss making it some kind of Obsidian. But take a look for yourself.

Next up will be glow effects. Buttons, Lasersights are first. This should go fast.

Ok. Just finished the “glows” on buttons, displays and lasersights. I used 3 colors from the GW Technical range: GW Waystone Green, GW Soulstone Blue and GW Spiritstone Red.

I used them over the greens, blues and reds from yesterday. Love the effect and it is so simple. Judge for yourself:

Next up will be blue OSL on the plasma weaponry and the Sarges power swords. Red OSL on the meltas. And purple on the psyker.

OSL is my nemesis for years now. I changed to a careful drybrushing method as it is much faster and I just can’t get the ultra-thinned-10-layers-method to work properly. Wish me luck.

This was much more fun. And under the stress of time it worked quite well. I am satisfied. But I am still 49 minutes behind schedule and only a bit over an hour is left for the bases. So I will make my words short:

Blue OSL went on the Plasma Coils, Plasma Backpacks and Power Swords. Its based on GW Ultramarine Blue and mixed step by step with white until I reached pure white. I painted 6 layers (first pure blue, last pure white).

Same goes for the purple that went onto the Psykers Stave. It’s Army Painter Alien Purple and then mixed with white again. But only 4 layers here.

The Red OSL that went on the muzzle of the Meltas and their backpacks is a bit different. It’s 4 layers but of different colors. If you mix red with white it only gets pink. Colors in order are: GW Red Gore, GW Blood Red, GW Trollslayer Orange and lastly GW Yriel Yellow.

What do you think of this very fast painted OSL?

I made it. The Bases are not where I want them to be. But I think this still counts. Just one photo as proof. As soons as I have them ripped from the nails I make some better pics.

Bases are GW Martian Ironcrust. A thick layer. Then the same drybrushed on the boots and a knee here and there. Lastly a black rim on the base.

As promised here are some better pics of the entire army (yes 17 models is an army in 40k 😀 ). But before I begin I have to make a confession. I cheated. After posting the 2359h pic I went back to the minis and fixed the bases. So actually I finished on 0042h. But as this is still Sunday in the UK (I’m German timezone) I am hoping you wont judge me too hard.

What I further did to the bases:

• Wash the entire base with GW Carroburg Crimson
• Drybrush again with GW Martian Ironcrust
• Glue some bushes / tufts onto the bases here and there.

I think the wash and drybrush give the bases much more depth than just only with the ironcrust. And it fits my other armies better.

Now. Onto the pics. There are a lot of them.

That’s it. Even with a little cheating I say: Challenge completed. In total I spent 25 hours and 52 minutes of painting in the last 60 hours. And I loved every minute of it. Ok that’s a lie, but I loved most parts. But I am really glad that I’m finished. And thats an average of 1h 31m per Mini. Not too bad. Could be faster.

Thanks for all the comments and best wished here and in the weekender thread. It really helped to keep me going.

At last a pic of what is coming next. It has been too long since I’ve built a table…