House Hermetika - Millest builds a Household!

So after months of playing around and teasing and generally not getting anywhere done the Knights of House Hermetika are complete (albeit with a small job on the carapace still outstanding).
The models took some time and the pics below show the various progress and some tips and tricks I've picked up along the way.
To accompany my Skitarii and be useful in both 30k and 40k games I decided I wanted a few different variations and I wanted an Ad Mech house (my true 40k knights will be imperial aligned) so as you may have seen already I decided on Hermetika but with some variations to their scheme.
My favourite knight to both build and looks is the Atrapos, the combination of the Ad Mech Armour and the Cerastus pattern body is brilliant so I had to have one.
The model was a pleasure to build and had an awful lot more parts than I was expecting (each piston is a two part piece with a shaft and tube - uber detail!) but went together so well.
Here he is looking hardcore on a Secret Weapon Scrap Heap base.
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Once built he joined my "standard" knights. All presented undercoated are a styrix and magaera (which will count as battlecannon and melta versions for 40k) and finally a warden. All have the FW ad mech armour which is brilliant and adds a lot of character.
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for the metallics I finally used my airbrush and started with the GW Air paints, their lead belcher is so smooth and once applied gives a lovely finish.
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I decided to add to that metallic finish by using a variation on the "Cherry red" scheme that is popular with FW Ad Mech knight. In the guide they base using a very bright silver but I decided to dull it down slightly and use plain lead belcher to give a darker tone. I also chose to use the FW paints as per the Imperial Armour Horus Heresy Masterclass for a number of reasons but mainly because I knew I could obtain them, so all steps below follow that guide more or less.
First steps once the base coats of silver (lead belcher as opposed to the guides lighter silver - this is my only major deviation) were dry seem counter intuitive but that is to shade all the "edges" or curves you'd like to pick up with Calth Blue! It seems crazy but bare with it, these transparent paints are magic.
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next up comes several thin coats of FW Angron Red, this "clear paint" gives a lovely smooth coat and dries with a nice sheen as you can see below - in the book it says a number of coats, I found 3-4 was sufficient.
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here is some further detail of the carapace armour to show how the blue banding presents through the red and how it highlights the curves, I guess you would call it "pre-shading".
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Here are some rough assembly and WIP pics of the knights to give you an overall idea of the look I was aiming for.
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Once dried the details and brass was then applied to the appropriate surfaces and detailed.
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During detailing and looking at the best way to re-do any silver parts I was concerned about masking areas and destroying the red underneath, when I posted about this on Facebook I introduced to a substance called "Parafilm". I don't really know what it is but it seems to be a type of clingfilm with a layer of parafin or something similar to stop the paint sticking and it sticking to the surface.
On this leg panel the red was already in place and I used parafilm to mask it, ensuring it was fully pressed down and flat in to all corners.
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once the airbrushed silver above was dry (I got busy and ended up leaving it about a week) I inked and dry brushed the silver for some more depth and then removed the parafilm as below.
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As you can see the film masked perfectly and left no damage to the red below, I can not recommend this stuff enough to anyone looking to find a good solution to masking whilst painting. I used it on several areas for both airbrushing and standard brushing with no issues.
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Finally just prior to our trip to Nottingham House Hermetika and the forces of Mezoa mustered for packing. Unfortunately they are only 90% done here and need final touches but those should be done soon (no transfers yet as none from FW at the moment) and more detailed pictures will be up once done.
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+++HERMETIKA WALKS+++
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Again and again the binaric cant resolved itself in the corner of the helmet lens of Ro-Lep Sigma. Again and again the binaric cant resolved itself in the audio receptors in that same metallic dome as a roar of vengeance.
Again and again the war horns sounded.
Bolstered by the power of the machine Ro-Lep felt something unacustomed to one of his kind, Pride!
Emotion was something in short supply amongst the Skitarii Contingent of Mezoa. However as the Red sheened Knights of House Hermetika positioned themselves around his cohort in defiance of the Eldar host facing them, the almost too human emotion of pride was the only thing he could equate the odd chemical imbalance in his brain to.
These weren't the walkers of the Titan legions, the God-Engines of Mars, no these were something more primal. Closer to the man he once was, in his humble (though possibly illogical) assessment the Knight Warriors were a perfect amalgam of machine and a single man.
Gleaming red for the Glory of the Machine-God and silver for the metal of Mezoa they rose above the Skitarii ranks. This unaccustomed pride at being able to fight alongside these Avatars of the Machine made him do the unthinkable, he took a knee and joined in the cant:

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+++HERMETIKA WALKS WITH US+++
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The Knights of House Hermetika are my first attempt at painting with an airbrush and I am surprised by the outcome. I used the techniques in the Forgeworld Horus Heresy Masterclass book. I slightly modified some of the techniques to fit with the look I wanted and overall very happy. Some of the techniques are almost counterintuitive but are super effective, I highly recommend the book.

Finally though in to all those detail pictures I have been promising for ages! First up we have the glorious Knight Atrapos "Terminalibus Gravitas" (Terminal Gravity) striding over the fallen corpse of the enemy.

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The purple effect on the giant lascutter was remarkable simple, just light silver with a Forgeworld Eidolon purple sprayed over the top, the green of the Gravition cannon was done in the same way but with the Mortarion green brushed in to the recesses.

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Next is the Questoris Knight Magaera "Fulgar Scientia" (Science of Lightning) patrolling the workshops of Mezoa. Painted in the same vein as the Atrapos with a limited pallet of reds and metallics and Games Workshop gem paints on the lenses.

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Next is the Questoris Knight Styrix "Maligni Indicies" (Indices of Malevolence) joining its fellow knights in patrolling the workshops of Mezoa.

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Finally we have the Knight Warden "Rationes Exitium" (Calculations of Destruction) joining its fellow knights in patrolling the workshops of Mezoa.

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Armed with the Nelanton pattern rapid fire pattern battle cannon and gatling cannon the fire power from the "Exitium" is enough to make even the toughest foes think twice before advancing.

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The bases used for these models are the Secret Weapon Scrapyard bases, all have been modded in some way to increase the variety and hopefully help tie the forces together.