PAINTING RUSTY NECRONS

In this article, Dave Allen explains how he went about giving his Necrons a rusted appearance using some quick and easy techniques.

I wanted to give my Necrons a heavily corroded look, after all, the background makes mention of the cruel joke of the C'Tan in giving them such lumpen and graceless immortal forms and obliterating their sense of self as they did so, so I doubt they would take much care of their appearance.

Some of the best pieces of Necron art show them as being very weathered and rusted too. Using some of the techniques that the 'Eavy Metal team used when painting rust on Ogre equipment, I set about painting a Necron Lord and Wraith...

ASSEMBLY

I assembled the models pretty much as standard, though I used two sets of knife hands for the Wraith as I think they look far more threatening than the sets of surgical equipment the model also comes with. I gave the Necron Lord a Resurrection Orb from the Destroyer Lord kit, as this is such a useful piece of kit I didn't want my Necrons to be without.

I placed the green plastic rod in the Necron Lord's warscythe before painting as I wanted to try and achieve a glowing effect using Rotting Flesh.

Once I assembled the kits I glued sand to the base and then undercoated them with Chaos Black spray. I find that painting the bases as I paint the models greatly expedites the process and means you should have to correct less mistakes than you might if you'd left the bases until last.

STAGE ONE

Stage One - Click to enlarge.

The majority of the model was going to be a heavily corroded iron, with contrasting details in a verdigris copper.

I base coated the iron areas with Scorched Brown. The areas which I was going to paint copper were given a coat of Dark Angels Green. The tattered cloak on the Necron Lord was cleaned up with a coat of Chaos Black.

The bases were given a coat of Snakebite Leather.

STAGE TWO

Stage Two - Click to enlarge.

I used a Large Drybrush to roughly stipple the iron areas with Dark Flesh. This started the process of making a mottled effect which is good for rusted metals.

The copper areas were given a heavy drybrush of Tin Bitz.

At this stage details such as the rod in the Necron Lord's warscythe, the Resurrection Orb and the eyes were given a coat of Goblin Green.

The Necron Lord's cloak was given a very rough Snakebite Leather drybrush at this stage.

STAGE THREE

Stage Three - Click to enlarge.

The iron areas were given a light drybrush of Blazing Orange. Watered-down Blazing Orange was then dotted over these areas to stimulate spots of extreme corrosion. Particular attention was paid to large flat areas, such as the carapace on the Wraith, where moisture might collect.

The copper areas were painted with Brazen Brass, leaving areas of Dark Angels Green and Tin Bitz showing through in the recesses.

STAGE FOUR

Stage Four - Click to enlarge.

Boltgun Metal was painted onto the edges of the armour plates and areas where I thought the rust might have been scraped off.

The copper areas were given a careful highlight with Shining Gold - paying particular attention to areas such as the blade of the warscythe.

The rod and the Resurrection Orb were highlighted with Rotting Flesh, then further highlighted with a mix of Rotting Flesh and Skull White.

The bases and Necron Lord's cloak were given a drybrush of Bubonic Brown.

STAGE FIVE

Stage Five - Click to enlarge.

To finish the Necrons, I highlighted some of the areas of Boltgun Metal with Chainmail. I highlighted the blades on the Wraith's fingers with Mithril Silver.

The models were then varnished with a matt varnish and the Resurrection Orb and rod in the warscythe were given a coat of Citadel 'Ard Coat Varnish.