How I paint Aeronautica Imperialis - Orks - Bad Moons

The Orks were one of the first two factions released for Aeronautica Imperialis. The Orks of the Bad Moon Clan are the richest, due to the fact their teeth grow the fastest. Members of the Bad Moon Clan often paint their aircraft yellow, to show off their riches.

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

Paints required:

• Chaos Black spray
• Zandri Dust spray 
• Averland Sunset
• Cassandora Yellow
  
• Seraphim Sepia
• Contrast Medium
• Yriel Yellow
• Flash Gitz Yellow
  
• Agrax Earthshade
• Leadbelcher
• Nuln Oil
• Ironbreaker
• Abaddon Black
• Mephiston Red
• Evil Suns Scarlet
• Wild Rider Red
• Eshin Grey 
• Gryph Charger Grey
• Balthasar Gold

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

The plane was then given a base coat with Averland Sunset. This took three coats of thinned paint to achieve a nice smooth, solid finish. When the basecoat had fully dried the plane was washed with a 2:2:1 mix of Cassandora Yellow, Seraphim Sepia and Contrast Medium. This was painted across the whole plane with a shade brush. The wash enhances the brightness of the yellow but also gave the plane a dirty appearance, in keeping with the Orks. This wash was not allowed to pool on the miniature, any excess was wicked away from the plane with a damp brush.

Once the wash was fully dry, Agrax Earthshade was painted into the gaps between the panels. Do not wash the plane with Agrax Earthshade, 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 Yriel Yellow 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 Agrax Earthshade. For this step, the drybrush was used in a circular motion, as though I was trying to polish the yellow of the plane. Once this step is complete repeat with a 1:1 mix of Yriel Yellow and Flash Gitz Yellow (there is no need to clean the brush). This time the drybrush was used 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. The plane was then dry brushed with Flash Gitz Yellow. A final very light drybrush was done with a mix of Flash Gitz Yellow and Screaming Skull.

The nose cone of the aircraft was paint with Abaddon Black before the 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 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 red checks were painted Abaddon Black. The edges of the black panels were defined with Nuln Oil.

Guidelines for the red checks on the black panels were painted on with Mephiston Red. 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. 

Mephiston Red 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 red checks were then carefully filled in with Evil Suns Scarlet. 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 red checks were finished by carefully filling them in with Wild Rider Red. 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 flames were started by painting a line of Abaddon Black to denote the bottom of the flames. Tiny lines were painted on to the
previous line to both thicken it and provide a look of little flames. 

Next, S-shaped lines were added to the yellow line with Abaddon Black, finishing the base of the flames. The flames were then highlighted with Eshin Grey. The highlights were built up towards the front of the pattern, on the leading edge of the wing.

Eshin Grey was also used to highlight the nose cone of the plane. Additionally, a few panels were picked out in other colours to make it look like the plane had been patched up occasionally.

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

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 tabletop 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.