Old Predator

Here's another stripped and re-painted tank from my buddies Space Marine collection. It's a Predator set up to take on enemy armor. In the battles played so far the Dark Angels' one weakness has been enemy tanks, particularly those nasty 13-13-13 ones deployed by the Necrons. With both Predators taking the field the force now has a formidable anti-everything fire base.

Having an older, slightly beat-up model gave me the inspiration to try some battle damage and weathering effects. I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of painting, I prefer crisp clean lines but I think it turned out alright. The main worry was overdoing it, and I think I managed to hold back just enough. For the bullet holes I drilled a small hole with a pin vice and then widened it with the tip of a pocket knife, varying the angle to make it less uniform. For the paint weathering I lightly dabbed black paint around the model with a piece of foam, and then did the same with a metal paint on the same areas.

Overall I like the effect, and would like to try and replicate it on a Land Raider which is waiting in line on my work desk.