Fury’s Space Wolf Terminator Captain

20200604 Fury's Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy
Warhammer 40000
20200604 Fury's Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy

Today we are going to throw the page over to Fury to learn all about Fury’s Space Wolf terminator captain. He will tell us about his inspiration for choosing a Space Wolf and how he went about painting his challenge model last month. So, over to you Fury.

It all started with WD112. A younger Fury would spend hours on every WD he got his hands on. Some more than others. It was a different age. No internet, no Google, just images in a magazine. This WD stood out to me more than most because it introduced me to the Terminator Captain drawings by Jes Goodwin.

That brooding face. I even attempted to draw this picture about a 100 times. After this sketch, there were a few others mainly the same captain wearing different sleeves. But the same dark face.

So during our throwback Thursday discussion when the question was asked what’s your favourite mini of all time. It was a quick answer for me. The Space Marine terminator captain.

As it turned out, all three of us had the same mini but had never painted it. So that’s when we decided on a good old fashion paint off. I have always been intimated by this mini. Always wanting to do it justice. So I was determined to sink some time into it.

Furys Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy

Bases Matter

This guy may look clean in the photo at the start but man he was beaten up. The next problem was what base size? The old school 25mm where his feet hang off the edges or the modern 40mm for the larger terminators? I tried all the options. You can see in the images below the 25mm on the left looks very underdone. While I felt the 40mm swallowed the smaller terminator. So I ended up settling for a nice medium, a 32mm.

Perfect! The mini on the right was my test mini. I wanted to try a darker grey for the armour and use glazing to bring out the gradient, I wasn’t exactly convinced of my ability to pull it off. But this was a challenge and there was no way I was losing to Fairy.

The Colour Process

First off a black undercoat then a zenith highlight by spraying from the top down. Then I went about working it to death. At this point, I told myself the armour was done.

But…

I wanted it darker so I started all over again. Thinly, ever so thinly, building up the dark to light. Then I started to add colour and block it in. I get asked a lot about the face. The trick for this is under-painting. I start with a grey base that’s been highlighted from the top down creating the gradient then very thin coats of flesh till it sits right. Don’t overwork it or overthink it. Then to finish off I make the eyes and lines pop with some watered down brown ink.

Furys Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy

Non Metallic Metal

Non-metallic metal is the bane of my existence. But I had a suspicion the other guys would do it so I had to do it too. I have been working at this for years and still have not come up with the right formula. I always tend to overwork it. So for this model, I decided to try and make it pop more. I’m still not happy with it. Needs more practice!

Freehand

Freehand time. I love the image from the old White Dwarf below that shows the Space Wolf Chapter markings. Being an old school Space Wolf player it really feels like home. I wanted to pay homage to these markings.

Furys Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy
Copyright Games Workshop

First, I went all out trying to recreate one of my all-time favourite versions of the mini. That didn’t turn out the way I wanted. Some times with freehand you get it first go or you just don’t get it. Arghhh! The checks went awesome. But the icon. Nooooo! I just need more practice. It was the wrong arm anyway so I went digging in the pile of shame and found the correct arm.

Furys Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy

This time I went for the captain logo seen in the White Dwarf. 

Now for the tail! I practised doing the tail for a few days. Just drawing it free hand till I knew I was confident and certain of all the dimensions.

Furys Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy

Nailed It!

Well sort of. I chickened out and went with a transfer instead. (I knew that was too good to be freehand! – Sparky) After watching a YouTube clip on how to make transfers more realistic I thought I would give that a shot. It worked out so well 99% of people think I did it freehand it. Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone. So that’s looking mint. 

For the base, I used some Vallejo scenic paint and putty to build up the snow effect. Then for the area running between his legs, I poured in a small amount of still water effects. This was about the only time I regretted not going for the 40mm base like the other guys. I could have really gone to town on some snow and ice if I did.

Furys Space Wolf Terminator 40kHeresy

After seeing this all finished I realised I missed the right eye a little. So I’m going to go back and add a little yellow to make them wolfish. During the voting, my face won lots of votes and comments. I will take that as a win!

So a great recap on Fury’s Space Wolf terminator captain. Later in the week will get the other guys to share there progress pics and thoughts on the challenge. To get a sneak peek at what everyone is working on for this month check out Instagram.



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