Horus Heresy: Night Lords By DiStudios Lightning Stike Fighter W.i.p

Greetings all, here is last weeks overdue army update. As regular readers will be aware, I have been waiting on various bits and bobs this month (all of which were delayed) in order to proceed with finishing certain builds. Most of this items have arrived now; including Sevatar; but a few key items are missing for the Glaive, which sadly means delays on that progress. On the plus side, I finally put paint to the Lightning Strike Fighter and after some major issues (read on) it seems the model is on the road to completion.

Above is the current state of the model, I am just waiting on the second coat of gloss varnish to dry, before I go ahead and start the weathering process. Despite how it looks now, I had a very big problem with it yesterday, when I originally unmasked the identification stripes...

The above is what I was left with after some hefty hours in the chair airbrushing, as you can imagine I was not impressed. Despite using Tamiya brand low tact masking tape, the paint underneath had come off completely, leaving bare resin underneath. Having consulted fellow wargamers, ideas including 'strip it and start again' were advised, but seeing how far I had already come, the idea of doing so would have put me off the kit entirely. The cause of the lack of paint adhesion has become a heated discussion, ranging from inadequate cleaning to weeping resin. All I can say, is that I did the same thing I have always done with Forge World miniatures since I started collecting them in 2001/2002 (I miss my Baneblades!), which is 24 soak, and then a good scrubbing with a toothbrush and washing up liquid.

In the end I managed to 'fix' the issue, applying a very watered down solution of liquid greenstuff over the exposed areas and retracing the painting steps of hand primer, base coat to highlights. To mask the inevitable uneven finish, I applied mild weathering to the stripes, which in my opinion; I think has gone well. I am sure that once I start adding the metallic weathering and grease stages, it should be fully masked, and with three solid layers of varnish, I am hopeful that the paint will stay on the model now. 

 

 

I am happy(ish) with the touch up job thus far and now have the confidence to move forward with the rest of the model. Still a long way to go as the detailed parts still need cleaning and priming, but hopefully a couple of weeks tops - assuming I don't lose motivation.

In regards to the colour scheme, I have done this in what I consider to be Night Lords Auxiliary Support colours, I wanted to reflect the insular nature of the Night Lords Legion and the gang affiliation from Space Marine to human staff, this aspect is probably one of my favourite things about he Night Lords Legion as a whole. There will be no lightning strikes on this model, I am leaving that purely for the Space Marine infantry models and drop pods, but I am considering adding a Squadron badge at some point, along with 8th Legion Roman Numeral transfers, just need to find my set...

So that's pretty much what I have been up to! It is nice to be painting again, as opposed to constantly building, I am looking forward to digging into some infantry once the Fighter is fully done.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

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