Lord Macragge here with my first post. I thought I would start out with a brief review of the new Citadel line of paints and the Citadel spray gun.
For this experiment I decided to use a mix of tactical marines I bought last week and a few command squad that I haven't gotten to painting yet. I run Ultramarines (as if the name didn't give it away), so my paint sequence went like this: Chaos Black Undercoat -> Macragge Blue for base coat -> Drakenhof Nightshade for wash -> Altdorf Guard Blue for layer coat.
Right off the bat I have to say I both love and hate the spray gun idea. The spray gun allows you to be able to evenly and efficiently coat models, however you are screwed on trying to detail anything with using it. I think the trade off is worth it, being able to get even and consistent coating on a mass of models and going back and detailing after you spray is more efficient.
If you haven't worked with the spray gun, it is fairly straight forward. The gun (which looks like a glue gun) is powered by a can of propellant (from Citadel, who would have thought?), and has a water pot that contains a mix of your paint and water. It takes a little trial and error to find the right ratio of water to paint. I found that using a little more water for the base coat worked better.
First pic is the base coat:
Straight forward, I primered with the last of my undercoat.
Second and third pic is the base coat of Macragge Blue:
I had to monkey around a little bit to get the consistency that I wanted with the spray. Too much water and it looks like water paint, not enough water and it looks uber thick. Love that the base coat paint seems to go on and cover the black undercoat far easier than before. Definitely noticed it while using Ushabti Bone to do scrolls earlier, took a single coat to cover most of the black instead of the 2+ before.
Fourth and fifth pics are after using blue wash:
Wash adds the deeper blue and collects in the crevices.
Sixth and seventh pics are after alt. guard blue layer:
All in all, I did this in one hour intervals over the past few days, took me longer because I ran out of propellant. So, for about 2 hours (3 tops) I was able to get base coat + wash + layer 15 models. Downside is I now have to go back and do all of the details from black undercoat on. The other problem is that the layer coat seemed to get into every nook and cranny (surprise!) and overwrote the wash. So, I am going to do some touch up on the models with wash and then do highlights.
Also, on another note, I am going to be picking up the remnants of the Chaos Space Marines army for my beloved Land Raider Achilles. I've already decided that I am going to create my own chapter, I think a successor chapter to the Blood Angels that turned to Chaos would be fun. The Ecstasy Angels under the command of Chaos Lord Pennius Penetrato and his right hand man Captain Jayrod Weakhand.
Ta ta.
