Sculpted 40k Draco Banner Painted

Update: Here is a slightly better picture after I added the layer of Skull White and another coat of Blood Red. Also oxidised the banner head a little more. Look out for Banner Mk2 with a little more detailing....



 Last night I was sat trying to do some Proper Work. Honest. However, I kept catching the Draco banner that I'd crafted the other day out of the corner of my eye - perched as it was on the corner of my desk.. I though the putty looked a bit heavy. Why not have a 5 minute break and quickly whittle it down to something a bit more realistic, I thought to myself. That turned out okay, in fact some of the edges and flat surfaces created by carving away dried modelling putty wood add to the fabric effect. I filed the Milliput wind-sock down a little and that would the night's work done.



Although.... maybe it wouldn't take too long just to get it undercoated in Scorched Earth (superstition, or proven painting method?) So I quickly got out a large brush and gave it a good coating of the Scorched stuff. And I'm sure you can see where this is going, obviously I ended up painting the whole thing. This is unusual for me as I'm generally a daylight-only painter. 

I wanted the Draco to look a little rough and worn as that's the look the Chapter as a whole is supposed to have. I wanted the colours for this one to be red and off-white, these are the colours of the Chapter heraldry and shields - it's also a good historical colour (fluff wise, each Company has a different colour, supposedly. For this a base and highlight of Blood Red and Bleached Bone, with an intermediate wash of Agrax Earthshade, looked spot on. 


Next, for the head (a slightly filed down component from the Chaos Vehicle sprue), it would be my first time using the new Citadel paints, specifically Sycorx Bronze - as mentioned previously, much of the metal work within the Chapter livery is generally of a bronze nature. This was washed over with Agrax Earthshade again, and I decide I wanted the metal to look a little weathered, with that bluish tint of oxidised bronze. I mixed roughly 60/40 Enchanted Blue to Dark Angels Green to make this wash and added it to a fair few spots. This was tidied with a dry brush of Sycorax Bronz and a final highlight of Shining Gold. I think I tidied it too well, it look really good with the patches of my oxidised wash, I may go back and add a little more back in.

An extra component?
I'm not too sure what colour to paint the banner pole, nor whether I should add an extra element just to make a bit more 40k-ised and Imperial-ised. I found what seems to be a banner top in the form of a double faced winged skull, I removed the reverse skull and filed a groove in it to fit round the pole. Not sure whether it's too much or finishes it off nicely. This will be painted in the style of the draco head, and your thoughts as to whether it should stay or go are much appreciated.

The evolution of the Draco...

Also, the height in most photos above is not the actual height of the banner, the photo below shows the height it will be above its standard bearer (which I now need to make), with the hand hold being where the sock of the banner wraps around the pole.


For those intrested in the historical Draco, FECTIO, a Dutch re-enactment group has put together this superb overview. And here's and episode of Time Team where they reconstructed a draco.


Comments

  1. Photos are fine mate, you need to stop apologising for silly things that no-one but you cares about. :)

    I like it a lot. makes me think of a cross between Bettlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas.

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  2. Lol true, I just know how much better they'd be if I could get hold of an XD card for my camera I suppose.

    Thanks very much. Haha, I thought it looked a bit like a corn snake or something

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  3. I thought corn snake too, but since it's for Space Marines it must be modeled after the ultra deadly amphibious sky serpent. It fools it's prey by pretending to be a windsock, the only way you can tell this isn't a real amphibious sky serpent is the lack of rocket boosters behind the head. lol! All kidding aside it's a great looking banner and the colors are very striking.

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    1. Curses, you saw through the ruse! Thanks vey much Chris

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  4. Maybe your blog title needs to temperamentally be 'Do you have a Banner!'
    Looking forward to seeing it with it's standard bearer!
    (and it is ok if you delete my post again, I'll try not to cry too much) ;D

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    1. Thanks very much, I'll try not to be too ham fisted this time ;)

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  5. Striking colours look brilliant. What base colours did you use?

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    1. Not sure how this comment ended up in spam, really not having much luck with comments lately.

      There was no proper basecoat. Just Bleached Bone and Blood Red on my standard Scorched Earth undercoat. Made sure the colours were solid then went over it with Agrax wash, added a little more of the Bleached Bone and Blood Red and eventually a finishing coat of Skull White

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