One more robot down, one more left until I have completed the set of old Rogue Trader robots for Orclord. This is the one I have been looking most forward to painting, although he turned out to not be nearly as fun to paint as the last two.

I knew I wanted the bulk of the model to be green, based on its insectoid appearance. Initially, I was going to go with something fairly earthy and natural looking. But while thinking about it, I decided that these were Rogue Trader models, and needed to be painted with bright 1980s colors. I did reserve the back to be painted with more earthy tones to act as contrast.

Like many early models, this model was more pockmarked than an Edwardian sailor. But, because of all the flat surfaces, it was easily fixable. I applied a couple of layers of Gunze Sanyo's Mr. Dissolved putty to most of the model and let it dry overnight. The next day, I did a lot of sanding and touched up some spots that didn't get properly filled and repeated the process.

When it came time to paint, I airbrushed the carpace with a mix of Vallejo Game Air Bronze Flesh and White. I applied a couple of highlights by mixing in more white. Afterwards, it got a coat of gloss varnish. I gave the varnish a few days to dry and cut a mask to fit the white portions (well, those intended to stay white!).

The next step was to airbrush Vallejo Game Air Snot Green. I then applied some shading with Vallejo Game Air Dark Green. Then I switched to brush painting and added further shades by mixing in Caliban Green and then black. For the highlights, first mixed in GW Scorpion Green to the Snot Green, and then, eventually, I began adding in yellow.

For the metallics, I began with GW Ironbreaker, which was washed with P3 Armor wash and highlighted up by mixing in GW Stormhost silver.

The giant eyes were painted with GW Khorne Red, shaded by mixing in black and highlighted by mixing in orange.

At this point, I had to touch up the white. But thankfully, Bronze Flesh is a very strong color, even when thinned. That's one of the reasons I used it for a base! After I was done touching up the white, I applied a wash of Bronze Flesh mixed with a little GW Gryphonne Sepia. This dirtied it up a little too much for my liking, so I reapplied the highlights again.

Finally, I applied a thinned wash of Ammo of Mig's Rainmarks Effects. After that dried, the body got a coat of gloss varnish. The next day, decals were applied.

It was at this point that I noticed that the shoulder of the right arm was still really pockmarked! So I had to redo the Mr. Dissolved Putty and lightly sand it to smooth it out. I repainted the green, achieving what is probably the single best blend I have ever painted. It goes so smoothly from Caliban Green to yellow that it looked like the kind of blending some of those crazy good French painters pull off.

Unfortunately for you, the reader, the giant, empty shoulders were mocking me. So I put decals on them, covering up my amazing blend! The shoulders got another wash of thinned Rainmarks Effects to fade them a little.

After the final coat of varnish, I applied pigments to the gun barrels and to the feet. Orclord has since requested that I tone down the dust on the feet, so the finished model looks a little different than what is pictured here.

Right behind that emblem is some of the best blending ever, I swear!

Check out my back tats, bro!