Painting Tyranid Genestealers for Warhammer 40K

Step-by-Step

1. Clean and assemble the model.
2. Prime Rustoleum High Heat Almond.

3. Basecoat carapace with Citadel Foundation Mechrite Red.
4. Wash entire figure with Liquitex Raw Umber mixed with some water and Vallejo Glaze Medium (you can use Liquitex too, but I think I like the results from the Vallejo more).
5. Add a little bit of Citadel Bleached Bone to Citadel Skull White and use this to highlight/drybrush the body, being careful not to get any on the carapace.
6. Paint the rim of the base and some of the surface in Chaos Black or whatever your preferred rim color is. If you wait until after the base has been sanded, you'll have patches of the base show through at the rims.
7. Base the figure with sand. If you are really in a hurry to get these figures on the tabletop, then you can do this stage before right after the wash.
8. Wash claws and talons with several coats of Citadel Badab Black wash depending on how dark you want the finished color. Alternatively, you can mix some black (I used VMC Black) with some glaze medium and water. I found this to be faster, but you won't get the nice build up.
9. Apply some of the same Citadel Badab Black wash to the mouth and eye sockets to give them some definition.
10. Paint the rim of the base and some of the surface in Chaos Black or whatever your preferred rim color is. If you wait until after the base has been sanded, you'll have patches of the base show through at the rims.
11. Edge the carapace using a flat brush and some Citadel Blazing Orange.
12. At this point, you probably want to do a QA pass and ensure the wash hit the entire figure. You'll want to apply a little bit of wash where you missed and apply Bleached Bone on anything you want to cover up.
13. Pick out the teeth using Skull White.
14. Use a fine brush and pick out the eye with Citadel Scorpion Green.
15. Paint the tongue with VMC Rose.
16. Use the Leviathan Purple wash to add some color to the joints and various organic pieces on the body.
17. Base.

Post Mortem

These are all of the older Space Hulk figures with the singular poses. My approach might be slightly different with the newer kits.

Notes

Last updated	12/8/08
Author	Michael Kan
Pre-requisites	None
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