Tyranid Monsters: Malefactor

When I originally got back into modeling, as opposed to gaming, my enthusiasm was in part sparked by this piece. I knew my way around Warhammer 40,000 pieces and felt comfortable with very small models. The Malefactor, which I picked up for a total song from a local, soon to be defunct game shop, was of a scale I’d never worked on in my adult life. It was studying large model techniques, such as airbrushing and resin assembly that I grew interested in modeling in general. Naturally, the kit which started it all was shelved for years as I worked on other pieces.

What made me go back to the model was a game of Warhammer 40K with a friend and the publishing of new rules by for Tyranid monsters by Games Workshop.

Okay, to the kit. The Malefactor is by Armorcast, a great resin model maker which lost its license for Games Workshop pieces a couple of years ago (obviously to make room for Games Workshop own resin kit company). Nevertheless, Armorcast’s kits were famous for their accuracy based on the Epic WH40K universe, casting quality and uniqueness.

The Malefactor consisted of only 3 parts, the body and two smashing arms. These were very well cast, with very few air bubbles or seams. A bit of minor cleanup and washing (always, ALWAYS wash resin before painting) was all I needed before assembling the kit with simple superglue.

I primed the kit with my favorite resin primer and then went about deciding on colors. Once again, I mixed my own colors, and once again, I used Liquitex acrylic paints based around Yellow Oxide. I toyed with the idea of making it mottled, or patterned, but after I started working on the kit, I like the simple yellow color and concentrated on bringing it out.

I airbrushed the base color in several coats. Maybe it was because I wanted to try new techniques, or maybe it was just that my dry brushing skills and washing skills were atrophied, but I went ahead and used the airbrush for shadowing and highlighting. I darkened my basecoat with Burnt Sienna for the shadows and lightened it with a touch of Titanium White. I was very pleased with the result.

I gave the model a good coat of Testor’s Dullcoat for sealer and then lit upon another idea. My airbrushing of the recesses hadn’t given me the depth I ‘d wanted. I decided to do a wash over the kit anyway. Now, I haven’t had much success with washes at all lately. Occasionally, I’d gotten a good effect on miniatures, but my acrylic washes had left me disappointed overall. I decided that the key to a good wash was chemical difference and mixed up a burnt sienna wash with oil colors. Unlike acrylics which tend to hard lines and blotches, the oil based wash dried as it looked. A WYSIWYG wash. It was great. I carefully applied several washes to the shell which really brought out the pock-marked texture of the beast.

So thrilled was I at the wash, that I decided to try drybrushing. I went back to acrylics and carefully dusted the shell texture to bring it out even more.

I painted the horns my traditional bone mix (which actually is the weakest part of the finished model, I think) and painted the eyes a complimentary purple shade. This I also washed - getting into it now. The bottom and the underlying skin were painted Liquitex Burnt Sienna and drybrushed with Raw Sienna. The warts were tinted with purple washes to make a pimple effect. I hit it with another coat of Testor’s Dullcoat.

The Malefactor is supposed to be a Tyranid Armored Personnel Carrier, but for as long as I’ve owned it, I’ve never figured out how any of the ‘Nids could be carried within it. I finally figured they entered through the vulva-like folds behind the front shell and were stored in a warp bubble within the beast - kinda like Dr. Who’s Tardis “it’s bigger on the inside than the outside.” With this theory, I painted the folds pink, washed it with a red wash, drybrushed pink again and then, after it was dry, I applied a gloss coat to make it look wet. “... nothin’ but net!”

I’m very proud of this piece. I used new and old techniques to bring a large unusual monster to life. I also liked being able to devise my own colors and look for the piece, a luxury when making models as recognizable as the USS Enterprise or Alien.

Back to Tyranid Monsters

Back to Tyranid Swarm 532 Home