My gaming group have done a couple of challenges where we all pick the same model or base off a theme and see what we can create. It’s a fun way to paint something new and try out new techniques.
For our fourth challenge the focus was on painting a Space Marine Primaris, more specifically a Captain or Lieutenant. With that in mind, we had a month to paint. I knew I wanted to go bigger with this project and I wanted to take a stab at making a mini-diorama display.
The Diorama
This was my first time painting an Ultramarine (or heck, any loyalist really) and I wanted to do the goodest of the good, the company sworn to defend Ultramar — the 4th Company. But just because this Bladeguard Captain had won the battle, it doesn’t mean the war is over.
And with my love of painting Nurgle figures, I couldn’t help but hide a nurgling to help spread Grandfather’s gifts…
Making the Diorama
I knew straight away I wanted this to have a funky shape. But rather than just a cropped out rockface, I thought about having a sewer cutaway. I used some scrap foam bits to start with the base and carve out some bricks. Then used a bottle cap to make the sewer pipe and some pvc rods to make a broken sewer grate
From there, I started to build upwards. Using some cork as a base and starting to add on bits of terrain bits.
Once everything was blocked in, I started to use some miliput to build up the ground texture. I used a wadded up ball of aluminum foil and an old rock to press into it to add some texture. Also pressed some gravel into it to add randomness.
I then primed it all black. After seeing it all together, I wasn’t sold on the 360 view of the brick so I added in more miliput and extended the rocky/earthy texture
From there it was building up the various bits. First the base, then the marine
If you wanted a closer look, I put up a 4K showcase video on my hobby Youtube channel