It has literally been years since I last did a Warhammer 40k vehicle at a showcase painting level. But now I want to take on the challenge again: two weeks ago I bought the new Imperial Valkyrie.

Today I finished the assembly, which was quite straightforward. Everything fits very well and most parts are really big and easy to handle. GW did make one mistake however: if you're looking for the small bits that go underneath the wings (above side doors): don't waste your time, there not on the sprues.

I left some parts off to make painting easier: the canopy (of course), the crew members' bodies, the landing gear and the armaments underneath the wings.

I already have a paint scheme in mind... it's going to be quite simple because painting this vehicle in just one color is going to take up really much time. I plan on using more Vallejo Pigments and use some techniques from classic military modeling.

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In my last post I told you about two new products from Vallejo: washes and pigments.

I was very curious about the pigments especially, but at the same time I was aware that they would require a lot of practice to get used to. There are also plenty of options to use them: dry, mixed with water, with other paints and mediums ...

So it was time for some experimenting. My victim was an Assault on Black Reach Terminator which I got free with a White Dwarf half a year ago or so.

First part of my experiment was the paint scheme I had in mind for some time. It involved an off-white (platinum) shaded with a reddish brown and highlighted with white. The base features some Army Painter barbed wire.

When all the basic painting was done it was time to apply the pigments. I applied them dry and at first I only wanted to put some on the legs, but it looked so good I brushed a light coat all over the Terminator. I also put a lot of the stuff on the base, and this creates a really realistic look in my opinion.

Although the painting isn't top-notch I'm happy about the final results.

There are a lot of pictures of painted Valkyries out there, but only a few of them of showcase quality.

Recently I found those two links:

First of all a step by step guide on painting the Valkyrie with the help of some oil paints: http://akaranseth.over-blog.com/pages/Step_by_Step__Valkyrie_Imperial_Guard-1335315.html

The second link are some high quality photos of a finished Valkyrie which I really liked: http://forums.ttgamers.com/forums/yaf_postst1370_Finished-Valkyrie.aspx