Painting Iron Hands (Faster)- The new plan:

So I have a lot of Heresy-era Iron Hands to paint. That may be understating it. I have upwards of 40 models to paint still, including a Contemptor dreadnought as well. With so many models to paint, I needed to figure out a way to paint them faster, but I also wanted to maintain a high level of fidelity like I did previously when I applied direct line highlights -like this-.

So I have been test painting various models and I am narrowing down my available options and techniques for the black armor. So far, the method I am leaning toward looks something like this:

1. Primer
2. Drybrush Pewter Grey (non GW color)
3. Drybrush Bright White (non GW color)
4. Block paint 50/50 mix of Abbadon Black / Water or medium. (This one is the tricky part. I have to block only the inside portions of large armor panels, leaving all the drybrushed high points.)
5. Nuln Oil wash (pretty heavy).

This cuts a lot of time out of the edge highlighting. I can always come back and do extreme highlights if I feel like it is needed, but so far the test model looks promising. I like the amount of contrast so far! Still dark and menacing, but you can see a lot of the detail now. So far, this method takes me approximately 1/3rd of the time that the edge highlighting does. So tripling my speed is something I can't complain about!

Obviously I have a lot of details to pick out. But the black is coming along quite nicely and I am pleased with it. Let me know what you think in the comments!