Ultramarine Color Scheme Test.

Hello again. While pondering just how I wanted to paint my Reivers  it occurred to me that I haven't completed any Ultramarine models in a very long time. So choosing between painting the Reivers as either Ultramarines or as Celestial Lions would be largely decided by how satisfied I would be with painting the Ultras now. My Ultramarines were painted a very long time ago and if I chose them it would mean the start of a vast overhaul/touch-up project. Whereas going with my Celestial Lions would mean that I would be expanding them from a Kill Team (with options) and into a full fledged army; and that would require acquiring more new models than my budget currently allows.

So I went ahead and knocked one out:

1st completed Ultramarine in ages.

The following will review just how I did it as it involved a few steps and course corrections in mid-stream. I can honestly say this post is more like reference notes for me to refer back at than they are intended for anything else, but hey, I hope you enjoy it anyway:

The "subject"

Honestly, this painting was a rather spontaneous act after an alergy attack derailed Mrs. Neverness and our plans for the day, leaving me with a few hours of free time. Inspired by the paint guide in the Know No Fear book I thought I could quickly do a test painting of an Ultramarine color scheme. I found this model neglected in a box. I got him from Bryan Hunter about 3 summers ago and looking at it I would say he was probably not it's orginal owner. It had a lot of mould lines that need to be scrapped off, which is why it looks so patchy in the above picture.

Space Marine Blue base coat on armor.

The Know No Fear color says they use Macragge Blue as their base coat but I thought this was far too bright. I went instead with Space Marine Blue which was the Ultramarine base color that came with the Space Marine Paint Set from '89. All of our previous Ultramarine models are painted with this as a foundation so it wasn't a tough choice to stick with it.

Basecoats on other area.

After some experimentation I settled on Macragge Blue as the next layer.

Macragge Blue coat on armor.

I followed this up with a layer of Ultramarine Blue around the edges.

Ultramarine Blue layer.

Finally the edge highlights were done using Fenrisian Grey. This follows steps I found in the Know No Fear book as well as various White Dwarf articles over the years. I can never seem to match the colors in those articles but this guy came out pretty damn near close.

Fenrisian Blue high lights.

Finished with the other details such as the gold acquilla, purity seal, etc.

Finished main painting before touch-ups.

After a few more touch ups I figure it was more or less done. And I think this turned out to be a successful color scheme test.  All that is left is a decal or two and I need to expand and model up the base.

Completed painting.

A day later (everything prior to this point occurred the day before) and what the heck, I figured I would base him anyway and do the decals. This actually is an important aspect of my decision as I genuinely loathe applying decals.

Decaled and based! 

OK, so that is done, now back to a choice: Ultramarines or Celestial Lions for my Primaris models? The debate continues...