FINALLY! My dream project – The Black Coach

As this will be a display piece, I wanted to make a fun base for it. I headed into the backroom at the shop and scavenged a couple of Dungeons and Lasers sprues. Amongst them, I found an awesome stone bridge, a funky giant mushroom, and a little extra stone/wood piece that would just add a bit more detail.

I plan to make the base look watery, as though the bridge is crossing a river or something, and the coach itself will be positioned as though it’s taking off into the sky halfway across.

I am nothing if not ambitious.

The wheels have some of the same gorgeous swirly-wirly magic stuff coming off of them as the horses are dripping with. For this, I used Citadel Screamer Pink, faded out into Genestealer Purple, with Dechala Lilac highlights. I picked out the detail on the wheels with the same Tainted Gold as the other metal accents.

So far, I’m really happy with how the colours are looking together.

The wonderfully dramatic drapes were next on my list! This was where I could start to introduce my main colour scheme of purples and magenta. I began with a basecoat of Citadel Naggaroth Night. Next came a highlight of Genestealer Purple, followed by a smaller highlight of Pink Horror, and Dechala Lilac. I finished it off with a highlight just in the centre of each previous highlight using Bleached Linen.

For the “passenger” I kept the coffin the same wood effect as the coach, and chose to leave the lid off so we can see the body within. I used the Tainted Gold for his mask, and for his shroud, I started with a dark brown and highlighted up to Bleached Linen.

I originally planned to pick out the metal details in silver, but seeing how close that would look to the bleached linen highlights on the wood, I had to think again. I decided on the Army Painter Tainted Gold, with a wash of Nuln oil over the top. I’ll come back to add some extra highlights in the final steps.

I spent quite a long time to decide on a colour scheme for this piece. I knew I wanted to deviate from the box art, as I honestly wasn’t overly keen on it. I wanted different colours, and more contrast.

The main structure of the coach is a wooden frame with metalwork. I kept the wood super simple to paint by base coating black and then running an edge highlight and some light detailing on the grain in MSP Bones Bleached Linen. I love how punchy the contrast is, and how quick it was to achieve.

First of all, it was time to assemble. I HATE assembling models. When I’m doing commissions, I get people to assemble and undercoat first. But this time. . . it was a joy. Honestly, the easiest assembly I’ve done in ages. Every single piece fit perfectly. And it’s gorgeous.

As with a lot of the bigger models, there are parts I won’t assemble until after painting, especially the structure on the top of the coach which covers the coffin.