How to Paint Heresy Era Iron Hands – Part 5 (Lenses)

Welcome back to our continuing series on “How to Paint Heresy Era Iron Hands.” In this section I’m going to look at how to paint the eye-lenses on your Iron Hands. This method can also be used for any lights on equipment or vehicles. For my Iron Hands I’ve gone for blue lenses as this contrasts the colours in the armour, but you can always go for a different colour.

The first thing to do is a simple basecoat of  Citadel Kantor Blue. The easiest way to do this without getting any on the armour plates is to paint half of the lens from one direction, then turn the model around and paint the other half:

iron hand lens

As we’re trying to make this look like a source of light, you have to consider the way that it is highlighted. For instance, it won’t catch the light on the most raised bit of its surface. The best way to achieve this is to highlight below, like you would a gemstone.

For the next colour, using a small layer or fine brush, paint a thin line of Citadel Caledor Sky along the bottom of the lens. I tend to curve this up towards the back of the lens with the curve of the model:

iron hand lens

Continue this with a further highlight, in this instance I used Citadel Lothern Blue. Like with all highlights, it’s key to make sure that you leave enough of the previous colour to see the transition. (So, I would suggest using an even finer brush for this):

IMG_2678

You can see that already this looks like a pretty good eye-lens, or visor, and you could stop there. On basic infantry a two-stage highlight is often enough when viewed from the tabletop. However, if you want to make it look even more like a realistic lens then you can paint a dot of white in the corner, to show the sun’s reflection. Be careful with this, again using your very fine brush, and thin the white down. It’s better to have too little white and add more, than have too much that you can’t wipe off:

Iron Hand Lens

This will blend in better once the base armour has been dulled down using a matt varnish. (Check back soon for my post on that!)

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