How to: Paint a Death Guard Bloat Drone part 1

The Bloat Drone from the Dark Imperium box was one of the most revolting miniatures I’ve seen in a while. It’s battered armour plates, corroded and mottled spikes, and bloated and sagging skin give the model an overall hideous look. If the Emperor does indeed protect, he’ll hopefully see his way clear to swatting them out of existence. I’ve split this how to into two parts, as it’s a fairly long process, and to do it all in one would slow down the page a fair bit.
I’ve started with the bloat drone ready to go for it’s base coats. It’s been undercoated with Citadel Corax White Spray, then washed with Citadel Seraphim Sepia shade. The eye lens was painted with Vallejo Light Green and was done to use up a bit of left over paint, and to give something to draw the eye to the centre of the model.

The first layer was the armour. For this I mixed Vallejo White with Some Citadel Ushabti Bone, then thinned it down with a few drops of water. It’s thin enough that it covers the Seraphim Sepia about 90%. If you look closely, you can see it looks a little patchy, which gives it a mottled, rough look with little to no effort.

Next was the Vallejo Model Air Chrome. I’ve said it before, it’s awesome stuff. Straight over the White it covers and gives a smooth, metallic surface. I did this on the majority of the areas I’ll be painting with Metallics.

For the iconography I used Vallejo Model Air Rust, which gives a good covering over white. I found that over the spray white, it appears to dry out a little quicker than usual, but you can touch it up as you go, so it’s not too much of a problem. The fan blades in the turbines I used Citadel Leadbelcher, which is an equally good metallic in terms of covering the colour beneath.

I took a fair while to paint the bloated and sagging fleshy bits on this model, as they cover a large area, and they do have a fair bit of detail that I wanted to make sure I didn’t obscure. I used Citadel Nurgling Green for the flesh, Citadel Xereus Purple for the tentacles and the bits poking out of the torn flesh and cracked armour, and Vallejo Light Green for the nobbly bits on the Plague Spitter.
The spikes and boney protrusions I painted using Citadel Rakarth Flesh.

It’s time for the washes and shades. On the Rust I used Citadel Agrax Earthshade, on the Leadbelcher and Chrome I used Vallejo Black Shade, then a patchy bit of Seraphim Sepia to areas I wanted to rust. I used Citadel Biel-Tan Green shade on the lens and the green sections of the plague spitter, and finally, washed the flesh with Citadel Reikland Fleshshade – Cheers to Kev for the suggestion.
The bone sections were washed with Seraphim Sepia between the pics below, and the ones below them. Around the edges of the Xereus Purple in the cracks, I used Citadel Druchii Violet shade to darken the recesses.

I tried Citadel Typhus Corrosion last night, and discovered that it makes a really good base for rust, as it is slightly textured, and dries with a texture almost like fine sandpaper. One thing I will say though, USE AN OLD BRUSH. It seems to gather the finer grains within the brush and is a pain to totally clean. It does look good on the model though. I used it on the ends of the broken spikes which surround the turbines, on the broken sections around the turbines, and hear and there on the Plague Spitters and the eyes. Once it had dried, I lightly applied Citadel Rust to those areas.
I picked out the bone sections again using Citadel Rakarth Flesh, leaving the Seraphim Sepia in the recesses. The final thing I did for this week, was using a bit of Nihilakh Oxide on the brass parts to give them an old, corroded look.

My next post will be the conclusion of the Bloat Drone, where we’ll go through painting it’s flesh, corrosion on the armour, tubing, base, and the tiny details that will finish it off in truly hideous style. You can find Part 2 here.
Thanks for reading.

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