How I paint Aeronautica Imperialis - Orks - Deathskulls

 

The Orks were one of the first two factions released for Aeronautica Imperialis. The Orks of the Deathskulls Clan are thieves and lootas, thinking nothing of 'borrowing' anything that isn't nailed done. Members of the Deathskull Clan often paint their equipment blue, firmly believing in the old greenskin idea that 'blue ones are lucky'. Strangely, bullets do seem to miss the fuselage and the weapons on these aircraft are remarkably accurate.

For this painting guide I am going to paint my dakka-jet blue.

Here is the link to my Ork faction review.

More of my Aeronautica articles can be found here.

More of my How I paint... articles can be found here.

Paints required:

• Chaos Black spray
• Mechanicum Standard Grey spray
• Kantor Blue
  
• Alaitoc Guard Blue
• Alaitoc Blue
  
• Hoeth Blue
• Leadbelcher
• Nuln Oil
• Ironbreaker
• Averland Sunset
• Yriel Yellow
• Flash Gitz Yellow
• Jokaero Orange
• Trollslayer Orange
• Skrag Brown
• Fire Dragon Bright
• Abaddon Black
• Eshin Grey
• Corax White
• White Scar
• Gryph Charger Grey
• Balthasar Gold

The plane was undercoated with Chaos Black spray. I then gave the plane a very light dusting with Mechanicum Standard Grey spray. I find the dusting really helps brighter colours to cover the black base.

The plane was then given a base coat with Kantor Blue. Once the base coat was fully dry, Nuln Oil was painted into the gaps between the panels. Do not wash the plane
with Nuln Oil, you want to carefully place the shade paint in
between the panels. If you do make any mistakes they will be corrected
in the next step.

I began highlighting the plane by dry brushing Alaitoc Guard Blue on to the miniature with a medium size round ended brush. The purpose of this step is to cover up tiny mistakes made with the Nuln Oil.
Ideally, you should keep the drybrush strokes moving from the front of
the aircraft towards the back. Once this step is complete repeat with Alaitoc Blue(there
is no need to clean the brush). Again, make sure to drybrush in one
direction from the front of the plane towards the back. This causes the
lighter colours to build up on the leading edge of your miniature. A final very light drybrush was done with Hoeth Blue.

Metal details on the plane, such as the engine, thruster jets, weapons and exhaust pipes were painted with Leadbelcher. The glass of the cockpit was painted with Corax White.

Once the Leadbelcher on the metal was dry, this was given a wash with Nuln Oil. Allow this to fully dry before moving onto the next step.

The glass in the cockpit was painted with Gryph Charger Grey.
The plane was then turned upside down to allow the paint to dry. This
contrast paint gives a nice shiny finish for the glass. It also pulls to
the frame giving a transition of shade across the glass pane. I
usually, paint the glass twice to get the desired finish, but the paint
must be fully dry in between each coat. I judge it with each miniature.

The metal was highlighted with a light drybrush with Ironbreaker. Be careful not to get this on the blue fuselage.

The
next steps are about adding the checks and flames that decorate Ork
aircraft. The section of the miniature that are going to have black and
white checks were painted Abaddon Black. Additionally, some panels were painted Averland Sunset or Jokaero Orange to break up the solid blue of the plane. These black, yellow and orange panels should be fairly randomly distributed across the plane, after all
the Orks are not known for their planning.

Black hazard stripes were painted onto the yellow panels with Abaddon Black.

Guidelines for the white checks on the black panels were painted on with Corax White.
Make sure to thin the paint with water to help it flow more easily. The
guidelines were painted, so that they were parallel to the edge of each
panel. 

The Orange panels were given a second basecoat with Trollslayer Orange.

Corax White was then used to fill in alternate 'squares' on the grid. Try to fill each 'square as neatly as possible, but do not worry about the odd mistake. Tidy up the black squares using Abaddon Black. Keep the paint for this detail work thinned down with a little water.

The yellow hazard stripes were painted in with Yriel Yellow.

The rear edge of the orange panels were painted with a 1:1 mix of Skrag Brown and Trollslayer Orange. This was then feathered towards the front of the panel to create a gradient in the colour.

Finish the white checks by carefully filling them in with White Scar (I prefer to use Army Painter Matt White). This paint was watered down to help it flow more easily. Tidy up the black squares using Abaddon Black. Keep the paint for this detail work thinned down with a little water.

The yellow hazard stripes were highlighted with Flash Gitz Yellow. The black hazard stripes were highlighted with a Eshin Grey.

The front edge of the orange panels were painted with Fire Dragon Bright. This was then feathered towards the rear of the panel to create a gradient in the colour.

The metal 'teeth' around the nose of the plane were painted with Leadbelcher. These were then shaded with Nuln Oil. These were finally highlighted with Ironbreaker.

I thought I had finished the fuselage decorations with the previous step, but the front of the plane needed some additional decoration. I added white checks directly to the blue body, using the method described above.

The engine was finished by drybrushing the final half with Balthasar Gold. Then the final third of the engine was drybrushed with Abaddon Black. Together these two colours give the appearance of heat damage and soot on the engine.

I
really enjoy painting my Aeronautica miniatures. It is amazing how a
few simple techniques can result in nicely painted table top miniatures.
If you have any questions you would like to ask, please put them in the
comments below. Thank you for reading and Happy Hobbying.