Painting Diary - Dread Lord on Cold One

Hey guys, after beginning to work on my new Dark Elf figure I knew he would be a great model to do a report on. So tonight before I primer him up I'm going to take some pics of how hes been pinned to the base and his torso pinned so that I can paint him easier. Really a fantastic model and a fun theme with the fantasy tourney coming up.

look forward to seeing him!

Ok so lets start with the basic tools I’m using.


In the picture you can see the files I use regularly, below that is a wire brush that attachable to a Makita power drill. I use that on pewter models to remove mold release dust that may cover the model. I have a few different kinds that I use but I just wanted to pass on the idea. next to the files in the middle are drill bits, right of that is green stuff to fill in gaps or add designs to models.
Below the green stuff is my drill, modeling tools, exacto knife, clippers and a couple sewing needles. The needles are used to pin pieces of the model together and was also used to help secure the Cold One to the base. Not pictured here is the mix of sand that I used to base the model and also the sheet of cork I broke into bits to make two larger rocks.

After first inspecting the model for damage I used the files to first sharpen his sword a bit. I really hate a dull blade ;^)
Then I went over everything else and removed any flash I could find. That is, areas where the mold pressed together during production will leave a faint line. Use your exacto blade and or files to carefully remove the lines.
Clean the model first with the metal brush with or without a Makita, then wash with soap and water and using a toothbrush clean it up nice.

At the time I took the picture I had already drilled out holes for the lords torso to be pinned to the cold one. I wont glue this in at all as it will make the model much easier to pant and then later transport safely. I used a large flying base to hold the top half of the lord for priming and also painting.



The cold on was glued together IC-2000 (it’s a black glue that takes forever to set but is pretty solid once its in there). Theres only one foot that actually touches the ground and the designers used a lump of pewter under the foot to give it stability. So, what I did was drilled two holes one in front of the toes and one behind the foot. Taking two needles I measured where I would need to drill into the base, inserted the needles and then bent them forward in the groove. Between the model and the base was used superglue and below was first super glue and them greenstuff as you can see in the picture.


In the torso I used a bit of paper clip to make a stem to hold the model and act as the pin for the cold one. Once the torso was done I place the model onto the cold one to get the idea of where I wanted the shield to rest. Then drilled out the holes, pinned with a needle and glued it while the lord body was still on the cold one. That way it would anchor itself in the right position.

I used Elmer’s glue to add the sand and cork to the base and left the model over night to dry. Today I took pictures of the figure and primed the model.

I am going to let the figure sit over night so that fumes from the primer can dissipate and not effect my paint.
Tomorow I'll show the primed up model and get started painting.

Are the legs attached to the Cold One on this model?

yea, but I was happy with how it came together. The shield arm is right where it needs to be to hold the reins and look good. I would have to say that this is one of the better models I have seen from GW in a long time. I would have liked to have swapped out the sword for a more rapier or thinner blade but in person it looks pretty good still.

Yeah, their new metals look really good overall. The SM Masters of the Chapter look really nice. I can't wait for the opportunity to field them in a non-apoc 40k game.

Well as far as the Dark Elves are concerned I noticed that they are still releasing models for the new range. I'm hoping that the old riders are replaced with something as cool as the new chaos marauders.

Nice post Carl. You are WAY to organized.

I think you can go a bit bigger on those pics to really show what is going on.

I can't wait to see the rest.

Looking good man.

I'm with John, you are waaaay more organized than I am.

So, yesterday I was busy and didn’t get anything done. Tonight I managed to get most of the base layers done on the cold one. So, here he is so far…



Ok, first I did a wash of black over the model. Just to make sure everything was how I wanted it. Then I mixed grey and military green from Vallejo to make the first layer for the skin. I went over the armor plates and chain mail with boltgun metal. The cloth was a mix of black and lich purple . the base for the gold is a mix of gold ochre and shinning gold. For the base I covered it in raw umber then stippled on some gold ochre ( I know it looks odd now but after there’s three layers, two types of flock still to go down so be patient ;^) . I buy my raw umber and gold ochre in large bottles to use on terrain mostly.
I’ll show more later as work progresses.

nice...can't wait for more.

coming along very nicely. I really appreciate the detailed description of what you're doing. keep it up. I can't wait to see more.

Looking good man.

Ok, The armor and cloth was the same as in my previous post. The face was based with vallejo dark skin tone. After letting it sit for a bit I mixed the dark skin tone with elf flesh and worked my way thru the highlights. Then I went over it with vallejo pale flesh. then washed with elf flesh. The lighting doesn't do it justice, though. I'm going to build a proper station for taking pics one of these days.

I will be doing the eyes next. hair and then working on the rest of the model.

Heres what it looks like together so far

Not only does it look great, but you progress very rapidly.

My slowness is jealous of your speed