+ inload: Titanic metals +

+ Sound the warhorns +

+ As you'll see, things have progressed. I've completed the trim and metals on three of the Titans (and discovered Runelord Brass, a pot of which has lurked at the back of my painting drawer for years, is an amazing colour for adding some subtle variation here.

I'd hoped to have things set for the oils to go down tonight, but with two still outstanding, I'll finish the other two before doing them all in a batch on Wednesday. That will – Machine God's mercy-be-granted – have them finished and dry ready for the weekend.

That will leave me a day's grace to polish up the 'stretch goals' of the various objectives and banners. +

+++

+ Mea Culpa – the perils of storing things in too many different places +

I had a bit of a [+CASCADE-MEMFAIL+] moment when I thought that I had ordered the wrong terminal nameplates from Obsidian Forge [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. Champion that he is, Fraser at Obsidian Forge  read the post and immediately offered to print up a quick plate in time for me to get painted up for the weekend – what a result!

As it happened, however, when he looked back through things to ensure he was getting the name correct, he found the plate alongside the others in the digital file for my initial order... and after a bit of digging around I discovered that I had ordered it, he had supplied it – and I'd simply started painting the wrong one [+SCRAPSHUNTERRORABORT+].

So, a happy ever after to that tale, and I thought it the least I could do to share my sheepishness here and encourage you to pick up some plates (or other cool stuff) from Fraser at Obsidian Forge!

+++

+ Enough of plans, what got done? +

After painting the last outstanding weapon (Fors Clavigera's Barrage Missile Launcher) in the same way as the rest of the weapons, I turned to painting the trim, using a combination of Citadel, Vallejo and Army Painter metallics. These were added as light layers on top of the existing dark metal established right back at the start of the painting process – thus if any bits were missed, darker metal will be revealed, rather than anything bright and eye-catching.

This has given the Titans a bit more 'pop' for the moment, and the plan is to use oils to integrate the very bright areas (trim, transfers etc.) while enriching things overall.

+++

The trim on Old Three Skulls goes a long way to bringing out some much-needed contrast and visual interest to the Titan, which was otherwise looking rather red and monolithic. In particular, the gold around the head and forward shoulders (unique to this Titan) helps to tie him in with the others, addinga bit of punch that the white gives the remainder of the Maniple.

You'll also spot on these Titans that the Moderati banners have been added, too. These are made from metal foil taken from the capsule of a wine bottle – simply cut out the shape you want with scissors and wrap it around a length of paperclip. 

+++

Rounding off the trio from last night is Ferratus Tertius – or Castigator Lacrimarus. You'll spot the Titan banner (between the legs) has had the transfers applied to evoke the original. All looks a bit flat at the moment, but some highlighting and weathering will bring some interest to these bits.

+++