Painting a Imperial Guard Valkyrie for Warhammer 40K

This is part 2 of my Valkyrie guide. The first part, Magnetizing Your Imperial Guard Valkyrie, will walk you through how to make the model more flexible. For basic assembly tips, the Games Workshop site has a very good step by step Imperial Guard: Valkyrie Stage-by-Stage Assembly and Painting, which I highly recommend.

As a note, I get my magnets from K&J Magnetics and have provided their part number and link when I first reference a magnet size. However, you can find magnets from a wide range of sources.

Step-by-Step

  1. Prime and paint the cabin interior (see below). The Games Workshop walk through instructs you to paint it after assembly, but this will be a huge pain in the ass.
  2. Clean and assemble the model as desired in accordance with the guides linked above. I assembled most of the major pieces, but left them unglued until after priming and basecoating to make sure I could get at everything.

  3. Prime Rustoleum Camo Green

  4. Camouflage will differ person to person. I used a large round brush to stipple on Astronomicon Grey (Foundation) and then a smaller flat brush to smooth out the edges. VMC Basalt Grey was used for selected edge accents. This was my first go at camouflage, so I'm still working out the techniques.

  5. Paint the metallic pieces (engines, landing pads, weapons, etc) VMC Gunmetal.
  6. Wash the metallic pieces with Paynes Grey and then highlight with VMC Silver.
  7. Use Badab Black to line the large grooves in the wings.
  8. Use a mix of VMC Russian Uniform WWII and Reaper Polished Bone (Bleached Bone would work too) and a #2 flat brush to line the hard edges of the Valkyrie.
  9. Weather as needed. I just did a couple of metallic patches on the corners and some of the hard edges.

Here is the finished model with all of the options.

Cabin Interior

I primed the interior pieces black and then gave everything a nice basecoat of Gnarloc Green (Foundation) and then dotted the various buttons and dials with a couple of colors here and there. Pipes and hoses were painted VMC Brassy Brass, Ultramarine Blue, or Mechrite Red depending on how I felt. Everything was then given a Paynes Grey wash. The last step was some edge highlighting with Citadel Camo Green. Before you prime, test fit the pieces and use some tape to cover up the edges that will be glued. After you're finished with the painting, assemble and then mask the side doors with some tape or foam.

Cockpit

Like the cabin interior, I dotted the various switches and dials with whatever color I wanted, being careful to find colors that would be bright enough to be seen. The entire cockpit was then washed with Badab Black. I didn't use the normal Paynes Grey, because the Badab Black is a little thicker and won't flow out of the lines as easily. The screen was painted Enchanted Blue and then for giggles, the screen graphic (Space Invaders) was picked out with a very small brush and thinned paint.

Crew

I stuck to a fairly basic scheme for the crew: Basalt Grey for the flight suit, VMC American Dark Green for the helmet and armor, Citadel Chaos Black for the mask and VMC Black for the large visor. Oddly enough, my VMC Black dries glossy, so I wanted the shine for the large dark visors. After basecoating, everything was given a Paynes Grey wash and then highlighted back up.

Post Mortem

Gluing in the tail booms holds the sliding doors in place. If you forget to put in the doors ... like I did ... you can, very carefully, force them in, but it's not something I'd want to do again. Painting the pilots separately helped out a lot. The figures will fit, but you have to be very careful with arm placement during assembly. I test fitted them with blue tack first to make sure they would fit, and then test fitted them again while gluing. Having them separate made them much easier to paint. That's probably the overall theme of this kit. In hindsight, I have a hard time seeing how I would have gotten everything painted had I completed assembly first.

Last note, for those of you who have never worked with clear canopies before, do not spray them with matte sealer, it will cloud up your glass.

Notes

Last updated5/15/09
AuthorMichael Kan
Pre-requisites None
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