Holy Vessel of Judgement

During the last article I promised some snaps of completed Vassal Mechanics and Holy Zealots, so consider this post an interim article…

I have decided to try and get the whole Menoth faction painted, something that I’ll likely not complete, but will certainly give it a go.  iBodger collection manager has my Menoth faction painting at about 50% so I guess I’m half way there already – trouble is that the Judicator is calling as well as other shiny toys!

After ogling the Judicator and sticking some unwanted 40K/WFB on eBay in an attempt to fund “Nick’s Menite Colossal fund” I felt I should crack on with the Menoth Battle Engine; Vessel of Judgement.  Podcasts seem to think this BE is the best one, I’ve only field tested it once and didn’t really feel I got 9 points worth out of it.  I’m going to field test it a bit more however and feel that it is a stunning model and would make a great centre piece to the army.

Work in progress

I haven’t got any photos of the bare resin/metal, but suffice to say that the sculpt was relatively clean, though there is always some clean-up of mold lines etc.  The parts were a bit ill-fitting in places however I was able to make the worst of it not be visible with greenstuff and filing down.  The final assembly was pretty good and I primed the model with Halfords car spray primer, then Citadel Chaos Black.  It may not have been necessary, perhaps just a hang up from the Forgeworld resin kits which needed stronger undercoats.

As with many Menite models I start with the gold, as discussed previously it is quite messy and I prefer to do it first.  I took some snaps of the before and after stages with the wash I mentioned in the last post so that you can see the ‘warmth’ the chestnut wash adds to the gold.

Vessel with three tone gold drybrushes

Vessel with chestnut wash applied

I started ‘the Dude’ who pulls the Vessel first, he was painted not in-situ with the base, but rather on a piece of plastic with pins holding him in place, basically because the 5” base is too big to handle!  Additionally if you look carefully there are pins and flat areas for the Vessel to sit comfortably when painted.  The base needs tufts and static grass applying, but this will be done when the Vessel is ready to be glued down.  I took extra care on the skin of the Dude as he is a muscley fellow and took the opportunity to make those well defined.  Interestingly he has a huge Menofix brand on his back which adds character, I’m not sure if he was very naughty or very pious to get such a huge brand mark!

Great pose for pulling the Vessel, really dynamic

That is one painful looking brand mark!

This dude is one strong mutha

Below are some photos of the WIP Vessel, the base colours are done with a first shade to the white, highlights yet to be applied.  I did take the time to painstakingly ink line the gold leaf where it meets the white.  This adds a strong definition and can look quite messy without it.  It does take forever and a very steady hand as well as a 5-10 zero brush!  At this point the gold leaf needs to be re-highlighted as the black ink has  been allowed to run over the original finish.  The black/purple menofixes need to be highlighted as well as the silver metals.  The priest also needs to be fully painted.

Work in progress 1

Work in progress 2

Work in progress 3

Hopefully the Vessel will come out as a great centre piece, but the time spent black ink lining the gold leaf will lift the model and hopefully make it stand out.  I got a good look to the Dude and if I can get the robes well defined on the priest it will meet my expectations.  Fingers crossed!