Space Wolves Drop Pod, WIP #2

Having found that last night was a tiny bit optimistic in finishing the drop pods (due entirely to trying to watch a movie and falling asleep), I've gotten more done today. In this post I'll show the current progress, as well as a bit of explanation on the weathering process thought process. And expand upon upcoming work on the pods (upcoming as in tonight).

When last we left the pods, they had been through priming, shade/weathering layer with masking fluid sponging, and a basecoat layer.

Next I went on to do a shade layer, then a recoat with the base coat color. I used my airbrush at a roughly 45 degree angle to 'touch up' with the base color and leave the shade color in the recesses of the model. Then I used Space Wolves Grey to highlight, using the airbrush at a roughly 80-90 degree angle to give the appearance of lighting from nearly directly above. After that I went back and began to peel the masking fluid, using a mixture of blue tac and a hobby knife (depending on how easily it wanted to come up).

This brings the models to a point shown in the following pictures.

This gives a very effective look of heat damage rusting and paint blasting that a drop pod would get through atmospheric interaction. Metals that are heated rust much faster, due to thermal chemical reactions. And going through an atmosphere will allow any water in the atmosphere to vaporise and interact with the metal in a highly energized state. So paint blistering, flaking, and blow off as well as the rust growth will be rapid in an atmospheric drop.

Next I began the detail work on the exterior. With a brassy gold being used on all of the rivets/bolts, and the aileron pistons in a dull black/charcoal grey. As well as touching up a bit of the weathered area that got scratched with a bit of black in the scratches.

I've also begun to touch up the areas of the upper thruster and panelling with black and dark dark greys. And I'll be giving burn scoring on the ailerons from thruster burn. Once that is finished I'll be using a brassy gold on the retro thrusters on the bottom of the model. Panels for the intakes near the doors will be getting some highlighting from above also. As well as a steely metal on the intake tube grates.

Once that is finished I'll be going to the interior, for a bit at least. Working on the door interiors by repainting the ribbed areas of the doors used to leave the pod. I'll be doing them in a black/charcoal grey, then weathering them with a steel/silver chipping effect to show wear and tear of embarking and deployment out of the pods.

I may have another update on the pods tonight, but that is up in the air. I will be working on a post about weathering without powders tonight.

Comments, critiques, etc etc always welcome! Feel free to post your thoughts!