I am keen this year to really get my Astra Militarum army to at least 1250 points, painted, and then possibly get a Baneblade variant to add to it (I love the model). My last attempt at painting was loosely following the normal Cadian paint scheme but one thing that never sat well with me was the khaki fatigues that went along with the green armour that they wear. It just seemed like the model would stand out like a sore thumb. I there fore decided to go to a more green overall scheme:
The model still has enough contrast to stand out and I think looks more realistic in terms of what a Cadian soldier might wear. Sure it would be nice to add some camo pattern to the them but I am going to have to paint scores of these guys, which brings me to the next part.... Airbrushing! I have decided to use my airbrush for more than priming. These guys got a Zenith highlight in white, basecoat in Vallejo Green RLM 62 (this was applied as a dusting to the whole model), then highlighted with Vallejo Camoflage Lightgreen and the GW Straken Green. I then used Vallejo Beasty Brown to colour the base and add a mud affect to the boots and fatigues. All of this was done with the airbrush and in a fraction of the time it would take to do with a brush. It also meant all my highlights were added in.
Something else I tried with this was a watercolour wash. I mixed some black and some burnt Umber to create a dark wash and applied it liberally. Once this was dry I then dampened a cotton bud and wiped it across the model. This leaves the wash in the recesses but removes the excess on the raised surfaces. It's a bit of a faff but way faster than touching up afterwards and it also means that the airbrush work isn't ruined or covered up. I did go in afterwards and add some Nuln Oil to some of the receses in a controlled manner but this took little time.
Overall I'm really happy with the look. I'm looking forward to getting the others painted up!
Gotrek
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