Hobby Article - Painting the Tyranid Mawloc

As I’ve been screaming the praises of the Great Devourer for the past week, I’m sure it will surprise no one to find out that I’ve been painting a test model to get my Hive Fleet Nug scheme under control again. I wanted to do a large, individualized bug to start with, rather than working on some soulless gribbly. I decided to start with the Mawloc, since I’ve never painted one and the pose allows free access to all parts of the paint scheme.

I still have a few minor touch-ups to complete, and I really want to do something more detailed with the probes on the Mawloc's back and head. The following pictures showcase the first model in my new Tyranid army. I’ve painted more than one hundred Tyranids in this scheme before, but it was rough going as I remembered how to paint the stripes and exactly how much wash to use.

 

 

I primed the model black with Army Painter primer, which is amazing stuff if you’ve never tried it. I then used the trusty airbrush to throw a layer of Screaming Skull on his exoskeleton. I didn’t worry too much about a solid coat here, as the inconsistencies turn out looking fine in the end.

Once this dried the exoskeleton got a generous wash from Agrax Earthshade. In fact it turned out a little too generous in spots; one thing I re-learned while painting this model is that the wash requires control on such a light basecoat!

 

The chitin was then painted Rhinox Hide, with striping done in Screaming Skull as well. I used a very fine brush for this effect, wiping off most of the paint to create a dull, grungy look to the stripes.

Finally I picked out the mouth and tongue with Abaddon Black (which I may change later) and the teeth in Pallid Wych Flesh. The eyes were touched with Dawnstone; I really like the image of dead eyes on Tyranids, as if they’re nothing more than meat puppets being controlled by some invisible force.

I really did miss the Tyranids; I expect to knock out half a squad of Gargoyles over the rest of the week. Comments and constructive criticism are more than welcome!