Nurgle Rhino [WIP - A Refit and Two-Tone Primer Coat]

Having come to terms with my W40K collection not ever seeing action on the tabletop, I'm left with two options on what to do with them. I could either sell the new-in-box (NIB) items at lower-than-market-price to local hobbyists or simply paint them up as display pieces. A long neglected Chaos Rhino Transport model kit will undergo the latter path as I use it to start my journey into painting and weathering armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). And it begins with a Nurgle refitting ...         

Chaos Rhino - refitted as a Death Guard Plague Marine transport

Initially I had build this Chaos Rhino as per gaming rules for a Khorne army. But since I no longer plan to do any W40K tabletop gaming I refitted the transport purely on creative grounds. I added bits and bobs to make it a little bit more fun to paint as a Nurgle Rhino (see below).     

What was once for Khorne is now Nurgle's to claim

A plasma gun was cut up into a poison gas container while the Rhino's front was 'prettied up'

Right side of the Rhino saw a hook, a chain and a head added

Being a Nurgle-inspired AFV means lots of weathering of the rust variety - pools, stains and streaks of rust plus plenty of chipped paint. To prepare for this eventuality, I primed the Rhino in two shades of rust using the Mr Oxide Red Surfacer 1000 and the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Oxide Red. 

Two tones of rust primer: Mr Oxide Red Surfacer 1000 and Tamiya Fine Surface Primer

In my experiment to creating tonal variation on the primer coat, I first sprayed on the darker hued Tamiya Red Oxide Fine Surface Primer followed by a lighter coloured Mr Oxide Red Surfacer 1000. For a mottled effect, I had tried spraying the latter primer coating through a thinly cut out sponge which had above average pore sizes. End results could've been better as the rust tone variations lacked contrast. Among the things I would've to do differently in future tests include: not being too heavy handed with the second primer coat or use a variety of acrylic rust hues with greater contrast after the initial primer coat. The latter I won't be able to do yet as I do not own an airbrush system.     

Process to create a two-toned rust primer coat

Not entirely a successful attempt but some valuable lessons were learned

Up next will be the salt chipping technique so do stay tuned. And as for letting go of some of my other W40K collections it will be hard to do. Sadly it's a well-trodden and necessary path for budget-constrained hobbyists like myself. Unused old stuff needs to be sold off not only to generate funds for new stuff but also to clear space for them. So if you are a local hobbyist looking for bargains on NIB Chaos stuff do click on the 'Shop' tab above and pm me if anything strikes your fancy. I'll be going through my old stash and adding more things over the coming weeks so stay tuned for that too.