This article is part of a larger series on how to paint BattleTech. To return to that series, click here.
The Kell Hounds are one of the OG mercenary units, created by Michael Stackpole very very early on for the Warrior trilogy. They’ve always had main-character energy, being connected to nobility (the vanity projects of a Lyran Duke), led by one of the very best mechwarriors to ever live, and fighting in many of the most important conflicts. They’re had some ups and downs, though vastly more ups, and are perennially popular with a simple and striking color scheme.
Their color scheme is described as black and red in no particular layout, though nearly all art depicts them as having a red torso, black limbs, and occasional red accents on the limbs.
You can see some other examples on Camospecs here, and read more about their history on Sarna here.
Painting Kell Hounds
Step 1: Primer
I start with a dark grey primer. It gives me enough lightness that painting the red over it will be straightforward, while still being dark enough that any recesses I miss aren’t glaringly obvious.
Step 2: Red Basecoat
All the red areas get a basecoat in Proacryl Burnt Red. It’s a simple, rich that coats nicely and sets us up to add vibrancy in the next step.
Step 3: Brighten It Up
Coat the red in Proacryl Bold Pyrrole Red. This is almost certainly the richest red I’ve used, which is helpful here as drybrushed highlights have a tendency to desaturate reds a bit. Starting from such a rich base protects us.
Step 4: Highlighting
Drybrush Vallejo Game Color Hot Orange over most of the red. Avoid the lowest edges, but try to hit most of the upper and side edges. Do a second lighter pass over the upper edges with Vallejo Game Color Orange Fire.
Step 5: Pants
Paint in all the black areas with Proacryl Coal Black (or any other black of your preference). Take your time, as cleaning up any overpaint onto the red will be annoying.
Step 6: More Highlighting
We’re going to do a two-step drybrush again here, this time using some bluish greys to get some cold/warm contrast going with the red. The first pass is with Vallejo Model Color Dark Grey, followed by Vallejo Model Color Dark Blue Grey.
Step 7: Shading
To finish this up we’re going to pinwash the red. Start with a good coat of gloss varnish, then carefully apply Nuln Oil to all the red panel lines. You can do it on the black too, but you probably won’t see enough to justify the time spent unless you went overboard on the drybrushing. This is a good time to apply any decals you want to use. When done, matte varnish it.
Now that all the base colors are done, I can go through and paint up metal details, windows, and lenses using the techniques I describe on the main page.
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