Got some painting in

Group shot: day one.

I found a little time over the past two days to get some painting in.  Despite my earlier resolve to paint inside to outside, I have basecoated most of the models to allow me to do one big wash on the entire mini.  I'm not sure if this will save time or not, but this batch already looks further along than the others have after a similar amount of time (~2.5 hours).  I'll have more time tomorrow and hope to make plenty of progress.  Finishing them is probably too much to hope for, but if I can go back to inside-out and get through the armor done I think I'll be satisfied.

Group shot: day two.

Things are leveling out a bit in the non-hobby world so hopefully I can find time more often.  Time will soon be a factor for the LPC, but if I can finish this batch by next week I'll still have two weeks to paint the Sanguinary Guard.  It's less time than I'd like, but consider that the squad is only five models I think it can happen.  They'll be a new scheme of course, but hopefully I can carry some lessons over from the assault squad.  I'm working on a Warstore order to get the paints I think I'll need for them, plus some Vallejo washes and yellow foundation.  The dropper bottles are amazing, and I think the ease of mixing and watering paint with them has been a factor in my improvement.  Perhaps having the washes in the droppers will help as well.  I still have the jump packs and wings to do, but I think the worst part of those will be finding ways to hold them while painting.  Using a temporary pin and a whole paper clip per model is under consideration, but I'm still looking for options.

Eyes before yellow.

I tried a couple new things this time.  Going back again to the inside-out thing, the eyes were the first thing to be finished.  The eyes were basecoated at the same tim as the black areas and with the same black paint.  Using Vallejo equivalents, I worked up from Dark Angels Green to Goblin Green, then a Goblin Green/Scorpion Green mix to straight Scorpion Green, and finished with a Skull White/Scorpion green dot at the front and pure Skull White at the back.  I wasn't so worried about spilling over because I was going inside-out, so it wasn't as nerve-wracking to do, but there were other consequences.  The sergeant has turned out googly-eyed, but looking at these pictures now makes me think he might have been googly-eyed to start with.  The other two look fine, so I'm sure I'll get better with practice. 

Googly eyes FTL.

This guy will be the squad leader if I ever combat squad this unit.

 I basecoated all the black and to-be metal, the yellow, the armor (including joints and hoses), and the white areas.  Then everything except the eyes got a heavy wash of Devlan Mud.  I tried a Devlan Mud wash instead of a Black Inking over a grey base for the armor joints.  At first I wasn't impressed, but a second coat made things look much better.  My Devlan Mud is already

Overall, I'm very pleased with the amount of progress I've made considering the amount of time invested.  Things will get slower doing detail, but I'll also be able to write off entire sections of the minis and have less to focus on.

The chapter badge got the Mud over grey treatment.

In other news, Grey Knights are hitting the interwebs.  The low model count that the army will apparently have is a draw on a couple fronts.  It would be a different style of play from the Blood Angels as I would have so many less troops that each one would be more valuable, and also more powerful.  Less models also means more time can be spent on each one while also allowing the army to be finished in a reasonable amount of time.  At least reasonable for a guy who's taken better than a month to paint most of a single assault.  Last and certainly not least, a low model count means a cheaper army.  While the Dreadknight is in the Storm Raven price club, the terminators are no more outrageous than other terminators and the power armored Knights are the same as a Death Company box.  Perhaps I could recycle my existing, ancient Rhinos into Grey Knight Rhinos and get new ones for the Blood Angels so everything looks the same.  I can also kitbash bits with books and bits with blood into a Librarian