A painting hat trick

You know it, you love it: the group shot.

Three days in a row of painting is a pretty nice thing.  I got more done today than I thought I would.  I did the helmets, blacks, and whites finished, plus the armor up to the highlighting.  While highlighting the weapons it occurred to me that I should have done them like I did the chapter badges, meaning a grey base and Devlan Mud washes.  I want the squad to all look the same though, so the weapons got the usual treatment.  Even if I didn't use the idea this time, it'll be something to try on the next batch.  The painting has definitely been going quicker this round, though I am still uncertain if it's because of practice or feeling the time crunch.

What to do with this tabard...

 Whatever the cause,  I like the result.  I've put perhaps five hours into these guys so far, and they should be finished with a couple more, which is quite the improvement on the first two batches.  Having checked the backlog just now, I see that I painted the first batch of three from January 16th to February 8th, a 24 day period.  The second batch of four took from February the 10th to the 24th, 14 days.  If I can finish the stragglers by this Monday (the 14th), then only six days would have elapsed since I started them on Tuesday (the 8th).  It still takes a long time per model, but it's getting better.  If I could get it to five models per week, which should be doable, I could paint a 20-30 model Grey Knight army in two months, allowing some extra time for delays and the like. 

I love the chalice charm.

More pictures.  This one is a little blurry, but only a little.  I think I should do something more with the chapter badge, especially the blood drop, but I don't know that I want to paint it like a gem.  I'll see if there are any similar pads in the completed pile.  Thinking of sculpted chapter badges, I was looking forward to doing a yellow badge on the sergeant.  Highlighting black is a work in progress, but I think I have a pretty good handle on yellow.  Unfortunately, the sergeant has a blank left pad.  Hopefully I have some yellow transfers.

Sergeant Toastmaster.

This last one is the sergeant.  I don't know that I like the power fist.  I considered doing some sort of power weapon glow but didn't want to get into that.  I have the greens and metals left to do, plus writing and transfers.  The next good painting opportunity is probably Sunday, but I should be able to get them done up to varnishing with a bit of focused work.  The idea of having a squad finished, except for those pesky jump packs, is a nice one.  I put in a Warstore order this morning for Vallejos: foundation yellow, metallics, decal liquids, and a couple washes.  My pot of Iyanden Darksun is starting to dry out, and my Devlan Mud has made the turn to half empty.  Tuesday or Wednesday is the next likely painting opportunity, and with any luck I'll have the required paints to start on the Sanguinary Guard.  I'd like to do a drybrushing test model, but I don't know if there will be time.  I can still finish on time, but I'll have to stay on top of things.