Black Legion Aspiring Champion (part 1)

 My squad of Black Legion Chaos Space Marines is in need of a leader. I foresaw this pending need for a few Aspiring Champions last summer and purchased 2 of the clampack models that GW currently sells from a reseller on ebay (hey, the modeling/hobby budget was virtually zilich back then!). But only now did I finally realize a true role for these guys. Well, this guy anyway...

I was stymied somewhat in recent times by these clam-pack models costing so much, and with their multiple part assembly I can understand why, to a degree. I appreciate the sheer amount of detail these multiple part kits contain, but in the end I would much rather have more weapon options on the sprue than say, a three piece shoulder pad! These models also are very limited in pose options, and that's a bit of a turn-off for me. However, once painted up properly they look great with the rest of their army. That is assuming you don't have multiples of the same model. Otherwise multiple Deathjestors squatting identically on a rock looks strange...

Back to just this model though, and my challenges with figuring out just how he is going to go together and how I will approach painting him. There is so much detail on this model that I am having to paint him, at least the base to mid-coats anyway, prior to full assembly. Nothing new for me, but I find that these models tend to hold together better if I can glue unpainted surface to unpainted surface. 

So far I am following the paint scheme used on the Black Legion unit, however this guy just has all kinds of weird details (tongues?) that are going to take me longer to paint than I had originally estimated. He has subtle mutations throughout the model that I have been stumbling on and some that I just didn't know what I was supposed to be looking at and I had to refer to the pics in the Chaos Codex to figure them out (i.e. leg tongues?). 

Anyway, this is where I am at with it. I am working on him at the same time as the Black Legion Bikers, we'll see which I get finished first...