WIP: Tyranid Carnifex complete

I took a few hours over the weekend to wrap up my first Carnifex. Details after the jump.

I've been making slow and steady progress on my Carnifex brood, and completed the assembly of one of the models. Here's how I put the final steps together:

I glued together the lower and upper sub-assemblies, but did not attach the heads, arms or bases. This will allow me easier access to the parts when painting.

I mounted each of the limbs and the heads on cork caps with wire. This lets me spray and brush paint the parts without touching them. I can also easily rotate the parts to see and paint whatever angle I need.

I primed all the parts with vallejo grey polyurethane airbrush primer. I let the model sit for 24 hours before applying any more paint. This helps the primer cure to the model.

In the image above, I have already base coated the arms with vallejo bleached bone, and am using poster putty to mask the arm during the airbrushing of the scything talons.

I used a the same technique on the body. You can see from the legs and tail that the bleached bone base coat, and agrax earthshade wash have already been applied. Placing the poster putty around the completed areas allows me to use the airbrush to paint the carapace without ruining any of my previous work with overspray.

I applied sand and cork to the bases using PVA glue, then airbrushed and drybrushed them. Notice I've marked where the feet need to go, to allow for the model to be properly glued to the base.

Here is the completed torso mounted to the base. I've done all the detail work on the carapace and body BEFORE attaching the head and limbs to make things easier.

And Here's the completed model! It's not totally finished, as it needs a varnish coat, followed by some gloss 'ard coat in spots to make it look suitably slimy - but it's close.

-trip