Saturday, May 23, 2020

Oldhammer: Slambo

Procession of Ancestral Brutalism

Although I love plastic miniatures, periodically, I get the urge to revisit old metal models. There is just something so charming about Citadel’s old range of single piece metal models, from the awkward poses to the sometimes odd merger of fantasy and sci-fi. Years back I painted an old Ork Tinboy and a Imperial Guardsmen from the Rogue Trader era, and Eric painted Hess Poison Breath just last year. I recently came across my copy of the original Slambo model, one I had modified slightly with greenstuff to improve his boots, which had been set aside after I had experimented with making silicone molds with him. Seeing him again, still without paint, and after I had finally painted an old Imperial Guard model from years back, made me come to the conclusion that now was Slambo’s time to be finished.


When painting Slambo, I wanted to experiment with lighting and shadows. To do this I sprayed the model black (Vallejo Black; 71.057) and then did a zenithal highlight with an airbrush using a white acrylic ink (White Acrylic Ink; Daler Rowney). This very quickly established strong shadows that I could work with. With the white ink dry, I used the airbrush to apply a thin coat of bronze over the model (Viking Gold; Scalecolor SC-72), maintaining the heavy black shadows. Next I darkened some of the shadows by glazing in black followed by a dark green (Vallejo Deep Forest Skin; 74.009). The bronze areas most exposed to light were then highlighted with stippling using a range of brighter and brighter metallic golds from Scale 75 (Viking Gold SC-72; Dwarven Gold SC-73; Elven Gold SC-74; Peridot Alchemy SC-78). Since Slambo’s armor makes up most of the model, I was able to pretty quickly complete painting the rest of the model after the armor was completed. To contrast the armor, I painted his base with a range of grey paints, supplemented with some brown and green enamels for weathering. 


I applied a zenithal highlight with white acrylic ink to quickly establish the shadows on the model.


I painted Slambo’s armor bronze, as a subtle nod to his patron god Khorne.


To add depth to the armor, I glazed a dark green into some of the deeper shadows.


Although the horns were not textured, I painted them to appear as though they were, helping to draw your eyes to his face.


Slambo was really fun to paint. Being a single-piece model, I didn’t need to worry about sub-assemblies, or painting behind hidden detail. The model also allowed me to experiment with using an airbrush for zenithal highlighting, which was a good learning experience. Ultimately, I am just happy the model is finished, and that the venerable Slambo finally has some paint befitting of his legacy!

- Adam Wier


5 comments:

  1. I love your take on Slambo! He's an absolute classic model.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words! He certainly is a classic. Good to finally have him completed. :)

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  2. It's a classic for a reason, awesome in it's simplicity. You've done a marvellous job painting this brazen champion of chaos.

    I picked up the modern resin version of Slambo when it was released... No idea where I've put it :D

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    1. I have the modern resin version of Slambo kicking around somewhere too. I think if I ever get back to that version I will need to modify his legs a little so his stance is not so wide...

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  3. Man you really did a good job on him. I love the green glaze in the shadows. Also the lines on the horns are extremely well executed. This has caused me to add slambo to my short list... I'll be tagging you!

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