Review: Forge World Model Masterclass Volume Two

While finishing prep work on some new projects, I thought I'd review one of the cooler books I recently picked up: Forge World's (FW) newish Imperial Armour Model Masterclass Volume Two.

This modeling and painting guide follows FW's popular Model Masterclass Volume One, and is laid out similarly to its predecessor.

The latest volume features detailed how-tos for painting FW vehicles, like an Imperial Reaver Titan and a Land Raider Proteus. It also shows the building and painting of several dioramas, including a pitched battle between Eldar and Imperial forces on an ice world, a snapshot of an Imperial airbase just before a mission, and an Imperial city sector captured and turned into an Ork stronghold:

There are also a number of shorter spreads on various FW models that touch on a few aspects of painting or just showcase the painted model itself, such as a Khorne Great Brass Scorpion, a Nurgle Blight Drone, an Imperial Guard (IG) Vulture Gunship, and a Renegade IG Minotaur. In total, the book covers 17 projects/models.

Additionally, the new volume details painting concepts not touched on in the first, including marbling (also called enameling), mottling, which is similar to marbling, lacquering, and lettering. It's worth noting that many of the techniques covered require an airbrush.

Almost all of the techniques covered, including weathering, metallics, and tonal variations, as well as the new concepts, are applicable across modeling platforms, which is one of the best things about the Masterclass series: You can take what you learn from the books and apply the knowledge to nearly any modeling project.

Overall, the new volume, like the first, is well organized, has beautifully detailed photos, and includes thorough step-by-step instructions. Still, much of the content is a holdover from the first volume, which in my opinion provides a much more thorough explanation of and better foundation for basic techniques like weathering and metallics.

Thus, I don't consider this latest volume to be a must-own like I do the first, and would only recommend purchasing it if you have an extra $40 lying around.

Showcase: Cawdor Gang Members

And now, right here, for your viewing enjoyment, the first five members of the Crimson Brotherhood:

Multiple angles of each member:

I'm really pleased with how these guys turned out. It was something to finally see them finished and attached to their bases, especially since it's been seven months in the making.

And while I hit a few snags along the way, I feel like I achieved what I set out to do, which was to paint up the first batch of my Cawdor gang to a high tabletop standard.

My next batch will be much smaller. I'd like to speed up my painting process and five models were just too many for me. I think Stahly had the right idea with two models at a time.

So, until next time, keep painting!

WIP: Cawdor Gang Highlighting

Well that took a lot longer than expected! The busy holiday season plus a couple painting snags equaled very slow progress. But the highlighting is coming along:

Before applying highlights, I laid down a quick coat of matte varnish with the airbrush to lock in the shading.

The first stage of highlights was a reapplication of the various basecoat colors to tidy up my overzealous shading efforts.

One of the first snags I ran into was highlighting the skin. I had a difficult time lightening my 1:1:1 basecoat of Vallejo Game Color (VGC) Dark Fleshtone, Citadel (GW) Rotting Flesh, and GW Bronzed Flesh. I ended up dropping Rotting Flesh from the mix, and worked in more Bronzed Flesh to lighten the skin.

After highlighting the skin, I applied a thin glaze of Bronzed Flesh to pull the highlights and shading together.

I also had trouble with the eyes. I probably redid each model's eyes three to four times. I finally had to say enough and just leave them as is.

Several areas, like the gaiters received just one layer of highlighting. Other areas, such as the boots, gloves and masks, as well as the tunics and pants, received multiple layers.

For the leather items I mixed increasing amounts of VGC Filthy Brown to the GW Scorched Brown base color. For the tunics and pants, I also added increasing amounts of Filthy Brown to Vallejo Model Color (VMC) Burnt Cadmium Red (814).

After highlighting the tunics and pants, I applied a thin glaze of Burnt Cad to pull everything together. While it helped tone down the highlights, it also unfortunately dulled some of the great contrast I had built up with the shading.

I still have the gun casings, canteens, and knife sheaths, as well as the belts and pouches to highlight. There are also a few odds and ends that I'll need to tidy up, but I'm nearing the finish line on these guys.

Next up: my first group of Cawdor models finished and on their bases with proper pictures!

So, until next time, keep painting ... even if it's not going as well as you hoped.