Work in Progress: First Legion Predator

I'm not very experienced in painting vehicles if truth be told. I've painted around 60 or 70 basic infantry figures, 30 terminators and 20 bikes, but in terms of vehicles its limited to a couple of Land speeders and a pair of Rhino tanks. Coupled with the fact that black is generally considered to be one of the harder colours to get right on a model (ironic when you think about it!) along with white and yellow, it was with an element of trepidation that I approached this task.

With tools in hand I unpacked the box and set to work. The Predator box comes with many and varied options for modelling, which match its various uses on the battlefield. In order to maximise 'bang for my buck', I decided from the outset to make extensive use of magnets in building the model, to allow easy switching around of the weapon configurations. Fortunately, Elmo9141 of the Bolter & Chainsword forums had kindly written up a tutorial for doing exactly what I needed, so I set about the task with alacrity.

Here's a link to Elmo's tutorial if you are interested!



So, onwards and upwards...

Although I followed the tutorial fairly closely, I did make some minor modifications to the way the weapons fitted into the turret, which seemed to work fine.

I also wanted to change the turret, as I've never liked the underside of the standard Predator turret. It's too much of a 'bullet catcher'. So I used plasticard to slope out the side armour of the turret.

I always like to try new paints or techniques as I go along, despite there being an element of risk, and this model was no exception. In addition to using plasticard (which I've never done before) I also used a new spray paint which I'd seen on tinterweb. It's called Montana Gold, and it's made by a German company. They have a range of over 200 colours, and most importantly it's cheaper than GW or Army Painter sprays and I can get about 40 of the colours from an art shop near me! I picked up a can of Montana Gold in the colour 'Coke', which I guessed was a kind of off-black. The problem with spraying a matt-black, which most of the sprays are, is that you need extensive highlighting to bring out the detail, which then has a tendency to make your model appear too grey. I hoped that by using a 'not-quite-black' spray, I could avoid that issue. Anyway, the spray went on beautifully, and after 2 coats I was very happy to proceed. As a side note, I would happily recommend Montana Gold to anyone!

I set about painting and weathering the internals, prior to doing the outside, and used elements of the techniques used on the Medusa siege gun in Forgeworld's Imperial Armour Masterclass Volume 1 for the floor of the troop compartment. I quite like how it turned out...

2 weeks later and I was making good progress. Here's a shot of the various weapon options all magnetised and nearly completely painted...

The final stages were all about the detail work and the weathering. Again I tried some new things, using a Vallejo weathering powder (they call it a pigment for some reason). I used the Iron Oxide powder to simulate extensive wear and tear around the drivetrain and lower parts of the hull. This was messy but fun! The Dark Angels are also known for their banners and bling, so I put to use some of the bits that I have collected over the years...

Finally, 18 days after starting the project, I was finished... I'll post more pictures of the finished product with its various options in a Showcase post soon.