This fantastically lurid Warhammer 40k Tyranid Screamer Killer mini is the work of Redditor Vondoober, who set out to give his Xenos army a truly “unique paint scheme”. There’s no question that he’s succeeded: this isn’t traditional miniature painting, but it’s certainly high impact.
Vondoober – who prefers to be known by his Reddit handle, and comes from Ohio – was “originally just going to go with splatter paint on the shell sections” of his Tyranids, but “couldn’t find a good color to make the body”. He wanted his take on the Warhammer 40k bugs to stand out from the crowd. Inspiration struck in the craft store.
He was trying to “find some basing stuff for a different project” when he spotted the UV paint. He “decided splattering that all over would look even better” than what he had planned. Then, just one section over, he saw the glitter. His immediate thought was “This covering the shell would look incredibly stupid… I’m gonna do it”.
As he put it in his Reddit post sharing his creation with the world: “I let the intrusive thoughts win”.
The materials for this unlikely paint-job cost “about $20”, and he has more left for the rest of the force. It took “about an afternoon, probably three to four hours with a lot of experimentation” to complete the project. “The hardest part was trying to actually paint on any sections of the UV paint because that stuff didn’t spread well at all”, he says.
His approach to the splatter effect was to collect “a glob of paint” on the end of a section of sprue, then blast it with his airbrush. The glitter was simply glued in place.
Vondoober says “I can’t really stay on one project for too long without getting burnt out on it so I tend to jump around a lot”. He has a lot of other Warhammer 40k factions on the go, including Sisters of Battle, Black Templar Space Marines, and Death Guard. His next plan for a project “similar to this” is “Imperial Knights in Maid Cafe dresses”.
Wargamer loves both serious and silly conversions. Check out these excellent converted Invader ATVs for an example of the former, and this cute Space Meowrine Kill Team for the latter.