On the painting table ... Tanked
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Warhammer 40K – My newly refocused efforts are starting to pay off. After finishing the third tactical squad I decided to dedicate some time to completing their transports. In order to differentiate the various rhinos I have from one another I used parts of different kits to give them their own look and feel. The vindicator kit and the whirlwind both have some unique fittings that can help to make the rhino stand out. I try to keep the modifications generic enough to be able to represent the various upgrades available that I would consider taking. Also in an effort to make these chassis universal I made some custom gun turrets from some left over bits so I could also use these as razorbacks if need be.
I used a custom purple mix for the base coat and followed this with a wash of leviathan purple. It's not quite the same are the purple ink I used initially with the army and I haven't decided if I need to track down more purple ink from somewhere to get an exact match. One of the problems with dragging projects over long time spans are paints dry out and get discontinued so having an exact match might be difficult.
After getting the base coat down I went in and painted the silver portions as well as picked out the details on the doors and hatches. I have the Forgeworld Raven Guard doors I'm using on all my tanks to some extent and I think it helps to bring out the character of the tanks better than a simple decal on the doors.
After base coating everything and putting down the primary washes I go back in and do the edge highlights and clean up the shading. This is by far the most tedious part of the process but it does equate to a nice clean look on the tabletop. My goal is always to have something that looks good at arms length and stand up to some scrutiny up close. Intricate blends are reserved for showpiece models that won't ever see table time.
Once the paint is complete I'll go in and add decals to match the tank up with the squad it is assigned to. This is a big deal for me as the decision for what squad goes in what becomes pretty permanent once the decals are applied. For me this is ok because the clarity of saying yes single arrow squad 7 is in single arrow seven rhino is better than pointing at the table and saying, "Um I think it was this one..."
