Summer Hobby Challenge: Ferrus Manus and Horus Lupercal Week Final Update

The end is nigh! Finally we’re at the last post. As I type, hoping that my finger doesn’t pop open and leak blood over my keyboard, I’m doubly pleased that I’ve reached the end of painting Horus. I’ve really enjoyed painting him, and the added bonus is that both Mike and I have a fully painted primarch for our armies now. I’m hoping to be able to take Manus’s head from his shoulders, though it may have to be maced rather than sliced.
This week I assembled all the remaining pieces, touched up the wolf fur along the join, and set about finishing his cape. One thing I failed at, was getting the pieces together without scraping/rubbing some paint off. Now his cloak is super smooth, and despite being scrubbed before assembly and painting, a couple of areas really had trouble holding the paint. I exacerbated this by clumsily putting them together, then having to repaint that area. Previously I’d managed about 1/3 or the post wash base colour, so this was the first thing I worked on. Using Citadel Mephiston Red mixed with a little water, I built up the layers until I had a fairly smooth red finish.

Next up, I added some Citadel Fire Dragon Bright to the red, and highlighted the raised areas of the cloak.

Adding a little more Fire Dragon Bright I did one final highlight to the very top areas of the cloak.

I then moved onto the smaller details, painting the lenses on his armour red and using the techniques for lenses I wrote about here. The wolfskin’s gums I painted with Citadel Emperor’s Children, then washed with Citadel Druchii Violet shade. Its eyes were painted white with a large black pupil, then washed with Citadel Casandora Yellow shade. It’s teeth were painted Citadel Ushabti Bone, then the very tips highlighted with an Ushabti Bone and Vallejo White mix. I also gave it a shiny black nose.
The Sons of Horus icons on the skulls were painted using Citadel Retributor Armour, then highlighted using Citadel Liberator Gold. The laurel was painted Vallejo Flames of War German Camo Bright Green, then washed with Citadel Biel-Tan Green shade.
The lenses and Eyes of Horus I then coated in Citadel ‘Ardcoat gloss varnish to give them a shine.

The final thing to do was the pattern on his cloak, which I painted Retributor Gold, then highlighted with Liberator Gold, and an edge highlight of Citadel Air Relictor Gold. The final touch was to coat the whole thing in matt varnish to protect it.

It’s been a long two months, with plenty happening in real life to get in the way of painting, but, I’m really pleased that I’ve finally got him painted up. With the remaining 14 Sons of Horus and one Sicaran to finish, it won’t be long before I can field him alongside the rest of his army.
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Special thanks to Playmats EU who supplied the high-quality mat that Horus is standing on with his troops. Review coming soon.
Thanks for reading, and over to the Loyalist scumbag, Mike.
Thanks, Rob. I love it!
Well, that’s it. I can’t believe it. I painted a primarch. For the first two weeks I thought, “yeah, I’ve got loads of time.” Then the last two weeks were mad, with a last dash on Friday (I’m in London all weekend!)
Following on from last week, I did the washes on the metals. That’s Citadel Nuln oil on the silver and Citadel Agrax Earthshade on the brass:
 

The next thing to do was to give the silver a highlight, so that it doesn’t look so plain and looks more like real metal which will catch the light. I did this with Citadel Ironbreaker, which is what I used on my Iron Hands. It’s a subtle highlight, but I feel it fits the heavily used metal of the Iron Hands:
 

Obviously the same would need to be done to the brass. This time is was more of a layer than a highlight (covering more of the base), using Citadel Brass Scorpion:
 

The highlight was then Citadel Runelord Brass, which gave the brass much more depth than the silver, but I see this as the Iron Hands’ one extravagance:
 

The only other ‘main’ colour to paint was the Legion badges and skulls, which I did using my usual Iron Hands method (that you can find here). The Fang blended up through Ulthuan Grey to Skull White:
 

As is my style I took a break from the main model to work on the base. I drybrushed the rubble and ruins on the base with a 1:1 mix of Citadel Gorthor Brown & Citadel Dawnstone:
 

Back to the main man. He’s gotta be finished at some point, right? I wasn’t completely happy with how the metal and brass looked. So I decided to give it all a very extreme Cotadel Runefang Steel highlight. You should probably highlight your characters a little lighter so that they stand out anyway. I made sure that this highlight was only on the parts that the light would catch from a particular direction. I chose his top right.
I then used the same colour to paint on some weathering to make the armour looked a bit beaten and worn. This was achieved by essentially edge highlighting the armour plates and painting it onto the modelled on scratches:
 

The best way I have found to paint eyes is to really water down the paint and use a very fine, but good, brush.
First paint a vertical black line in the direction you want the model to be looking. Then fill in either side with a horizontal dot of white. You can then go back over the black line if need be.
The teeth on Ferrus were probably the most frustrating thing to paint, and I have to be honest, I am not very happy with it.
I used Citadel Pallid Wych Flesh and ran the brush horizontally so that it would only catch his teeth. I then mixed some Citadel Reikland Fleshshade with Forge World Clear Medium and used this as an ink:
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There were parts of the metal that I wanted to give over and shade again, such as the pipes and the X symbol on his shoulder pad. I didn’t want this to be a wash that stained, but rather go into the grooves and provide more depth. So, for the pipes I mixed Nuln Oil with some Clear Medium and for the brass Agrax Earthshade with Clear Medium. Clear medium is gloss so it runs nicely into the grooves:
IMG_2506The pipes on his backpack were painted red to give a bit more colour. It works as a nice contrast. This was fine by painting Citadel Khorne Red, Citadel Nuln Oil, Citadel Evil Suns Scarlet, with a final extreme highlight, again where the light catches of Citadel Dragon Fire Bright:
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Finally I need ed to finish the base. I drybrushed the rubble with an old Citadel foundation paint: Astronomican Grey (Citadel Celestra Grey is a good equivalent from the new range).
The skulls on the base once again provide a bit of variation to the colour. So, they are based with Citadel Zandri Dust, then washed with Citadel Seraphim Sepia. I drybrushed Citadel Ushabti Bone. (Drybrushing helped it catch all the edges, which is easier in an irregular shape like a skull.) I then did an edge highlight of Citadel Screaming Skull, and a final extreme highlight of Citadel Skull White:
 

And here is the finished the finished model after a coat of matt varnish. Matt varnish helps to bring the colour’s back down and blend them together, not to mention protect your hard work. (I use Testor’s Dull Coat, but any will do as long as you follow the instructions.):
 

Ferrus Manus leading the forces of the Iron Tenth:
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I’m really proud of this model. It’s not perfect, but my painting improves by having a go at things like this and gives a great sense of satisfaction.

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