Second attempt

Second attempt was MUCH better. At the behest of Sean I checked out awesomepaintjob.com's painting of White Scars. He started with a primer, then went over it with a dark washthen went over it with a series of grey's to show the transition.

After white primer, I used a dark flesh wash diluted with flow-aid 1:1. After the Dark Flesh wash I went to paint the details of the model (weapon, honors, etc.) rather than the main body. This was another technique shown by awesomepaintjob and I really liked it. I diluted all paints 1:1 with slow-dry, and not only did this allow for me to paint smaller details with the paint getting all goopy it also made the paint last. I didn't use a ton of paint in this process.

With the aquila, I ended up using skull white as a base instead of chaos black with my first model. It definitely brought out the gaps a lot better, but I still think the eagles should be darker. The reds (weapon, honors) turned out perfectly, transitioning between gory red and bloody red. I was very happy with the eyes, and the honors were better, but I'm still not completely pleased with it.

I made more "metal" parts than I wanted to on this one...again. The crux terminatus I made silver, his skull shinuard, as well as a skull medallion hanging from his belt. It doesn't look bad, I'm just not sure theme-wise it fits and I don't want to get off on the wrong foot in terms of uniformity.

All in all, HUGE improvement. Again the photo was with my iPhone so when I get my camera out I'll have a better rendition from multiple angles.