My latest project is an update of the classic ‘Screamer Killer’ Carnifex released by Games Workshop way back in 1992. Although the first Warhammer models I ever bought were Blood Angels, my first full army were the Tyranids. In fact, Tyranids are the only army that I have consistently purchased a codex for in every edition of Warhammer 40K! So it’s a happy coincidence that I finished this on the same week the the 9th edition codex is being released.

Building & Painting

I have many happy memories using this model back in the 90s – mainly in unsuccessful attempts to beat my friend’s Avatar in close combat – but it definitely needed a little TLC after years languishing in a box. As well as paint-stripping and updating my previous ancient paint-job, the other goal of this update was of course to add a little LED magic to create a ‘bioplasma’ effect. I think it almost goes without saying that drilling through the chunky metal leg and body of the Screamer Killer was a lot more onerous than drilling out a plastic Space Marine leg! You can see the route of the wire in the images above. I was influenced by the classic Mark Gibbons artwork shown above, and hopefully you’ll agree that I’ve captured the look. I tried to echo the pose as well, although there’s only so much that can be done with the limitations of a chunky metal model.

The LED bioplasma effect was achieved using the techniques described in my Simple LED Muzzle Flare tutorial, only with a green 0805 chip LED instead of the yellow one listed in the tutorial. Additionally, the acrylic gel was simply painted with Citadel ‘Technical’ Hexwraith Flame instead of the yellow colours listed in the tutorial.

When it came to the painting I wanted to stick fairly close to the original scheme, especially as all my other Tyranid models are in red and bone. I deviated slightly from the classic ‘Eavy Metal scheme for this model by making all the armour plates and all the flesh areas a consistent colour. The original scheme had a bit of a mish-mash of colours in different areas that, in hindsight, didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I also added the mottling to the head to give a bit of visual interest to what is otherwise a large area of flat colour.

As ever, when I list my painting recipes on this blog, I’m not only recording them for those of you who are interested, but also as a reminder for myself! All paints listed are from the Citadel range and are applied over a grey undercoat.

• Red Flesh
• Mephiston Red base coat
• Agrax Earthshade shade
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight
• Wild Rider Red highlight

• Bone Armour
• Zandri Dust base coat
• Contrast Skeleton Horde shade
• 50:50 Zandri Dust / Ushabti Bone highlight
• Ushabti Bone highlight
• Screaming Skull fine highlight

• Pink Flesh
• Corax White base coat
• Carroburg Crimson shade
• Emperor’s Children layer
• Fulgrim Pink highlight

• Dark Pink Flesh
• Screamer Pink base coat
• Drakenhof Nightshade shade
• Pink Horror highlight

• Purple Mottling
• 50:50 Genestealer Purple / Emperor’s Children base coat
• Genestealer Purple layer
• Xereus Purple layer
• Naggaroth Night layer

• Green Organs
• Waaagh! Flesh base coat
• Biel-Tan Green shade
• Warboss Green highlight
• Skarsnik Green highlight

• Yellow Eyes
• Averland Sunset base coat
• Agrax Earthshade shade
• Yriel Yellow layer
• Rhinox Hide pupils
• Corax White fine highlight

• Green Bioplasma
• Hexwraith Flame base coat

• Urban Base
• Mechanicus Standard Grey base coat
• Nuln Oil shade
• Dawnstone drybrush
• Administratum Grey drybrush
• White Scar drybrush

That’s all for this week, I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane – or enjoyed seeing the ‘Screamer Killer’ for the first time if you joined the hobby more recently! Hopefully see you back here again soon. Don’t forget you can also follow my work on Twitter and Instagram.