Monday 15 February 2016

Rogue Trader Space Marine Librarian - Non-Metallic Metal

Having finished a few old school Salamanders heavy weapons troopers last week I decided to get another long term Rogue Trader project off my paint station and onto the gaming board. This 1987 Librarian has been undercoated and ready to paint for nearly two years but the poor chap has been consistently put back in favour of other more pressing projects.

However at last his time has come to be painted...




As he is a special character I decided that it would be prudent to spend extra time and attention on him, especially as the rich, blue armour of his vocation will draw the eye to him amid the sea of green that makes up the rest of the force.


If you look closely you'll see there is actually no 'metallic'paint used anywhere on the model... all of the areas of bare metal have been painted using non-metallic metal (NMM) techniques. 

This is my first attempt at these advanced painting methods and I am really pleased at how they have turned out. In hindsight I would suggest maybe not initially practicing this technique on an older model as the quality of the sculpts/casts from back in the day are a fair bit 'rougher' than their modern successors and as such they don't lend themselves so easily to the levels of accuracy such a technique requires.


The main armour panels on the model (both blue and green) were built up through multiple layers of blending to give a smooth gradation of colour. This was achieved by selecting a relatively dark base colour and then gradually lightening it with small drops of skull white.




The eyes of the model were painted with a light red/orange (that annoyingly hasn't come out properly in these photographs...it looks better in real life) to reflect this hardy battle-psyker preparing to summon his ethereal powers to crush the foe...


...which I imagine would look something like this!!!

Hopefully this guy will be seeing some action on the table in the near future!

16 comments:

  1. Great work! Love the transitions with the blues,and the NMM has come off really well too.

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    1. Cheers Preacher! I am quite looking forward to trying out a bit more NMM but probably on some marginally more modern miniatures first!

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  2. Nicely done - bless your patience, I would never be able to pull that off.

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    1. Thanks Conrad! I have to say the NMM is exceptionally time intensive and did wear my patience thin at times! But I think it was worth it at the end.

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  3. You've got to be really proud of this one!

    Top shelf mate, I've always been in two minds about this mini (question mark over the headgear) and seeing yours I've decided to take the plunge.

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    1. Cheers Bruno, I am really proud of it!

      I felt the same about this guy, but he was a joy to paint!

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  4. Smashing ! I consider you as a great painter and yet you manage to raise the standard ! Love every bit of him.

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    1. Thanks Mate! That means a lot as I am a big fan of your work! I'm looking forward to getting him on the battlefield!

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  5. What a fantastic piece of work! This could easily fit in with the models published in an '80s 'Eavy Metal article. I am particularly drawn to that lovely tone of gold you have achieved - excellent and a shade to attempt myself! Thank you!

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    1. Cheers Orlygg; that comment has left me chuffed! 80s 'Eavy Metal is exactly what I was aiming for mate!

      Yeah I was pleased with the gold; it didn't look quite right until I gave it a really watered down glaze of sunburst yellow; then as if by magic it looked good!

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  6. Wooow! The color blending is amazing. Really impressive! 10/10

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    1. Thanks mate! I just wish I had the time to lavish this much attention on all my RT Troops!

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  7. Wow he looks great I love the unique armour pattern, the detail in this sculpt is great.
    You've done an A1 job on the NMM especially for the first time, nothing like the rarity of a model for inspiration.
    I especially like the orangish eyes they perfectly compliment the smirk on his face, which really brings out his character; I can clearly picture him thinking "really? You want to play numbskull?"
    I just got a copy of the 2nd ed sourcebooks and it looks streamlined in comparison to rogue trader, more so than I remember. All I have to do is track down that pesky chaos codex...

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    1. Thanks mate; I have to say I really like this sculpt and it was great fun to paint. The chaos codex does appear on eBay every so often at a reasonable price!

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