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Dry Run:

After a week of masking, painting, installing armatures I finally reached a point where everything is coming together.

The Hierophant was the most difficult to do as the chitin segments were quite a bit smaller than the Harridan's on average and the leg armour was quite intricate to get right.

I watch the 'BuyPainted' video over and over with envy over Jaro's seeming ease in applying finely controlled layers of pigment.

http://i.imgur.com/SwmDRCF.jpg


Of course the images displayed here reflect only the two base colours 'Umbral Umber' and 'Light Brown' over a base coat of 'Khaki Brown'.

Hard to believe I am only in the second stage of painting and washes on these magnificent beasts............

http://i.imgur.com/T485Ur5.jpg


I seem to have got a lot of mileage out of two colours and am about to move on to the next layer a subtle orange wash.

http://i.imgur.com/L08Ez4s.jpg


More important is the pose I have decided upon; the Hierophant rearing back on it's haunches in a more threatening stance than the typical four on the floor plodding image.

http://i.imgur.com/LD1LXEd.jpg


Hence the armature.............

Next the Harridan which is in about the same stage of completion........

That's looking fantastic so far , and I'm so pleased you decided to repose it,
as the original pose was very static.

Thanks,

Harridan Wings and Chitin:

After quite a bit of thought I decided to just do the wings in hand rubbed P3 'Umbral Umber.' First applying a base coat of Cardboard Carton paint and letting dry over night



which is a flat beige similar to the AV 'Khaki' but a lot cheaper for large coverage.

I then airbrushed on a light coat of 'Umbral Umber' and rubbed it into the base coat while still wet working the paint into the base coat with wetted thumb and palm of hand until excess came off in fine rolls. This gave a glossy parchment texture to the large wing surfaces.

http://i.imgur.com/TP8rEWz.jpg


The large flat surfaces of the wings came out a bit blotchy but that should be rectified by the next coat of AV 'Light Brown':

http://i.imgur.com/KbQOvIR.jpg



The fringe of 'Light Brown on the chitin segments look too perfect to my taste but we'll see when the washes are applied...........

http://i.imgur.com/YHaEoPp.jpg

Wow that beast is looking great. I like the concept of cockroaches with perfect armor.

Makes me want to break out "La cucharacha"

Thanks,

The Gargoyle Brood:

Well the Gargoyles have finally caught up to the rest of the army; interesting how I found them the most trying to do of all the denizens.

I would be interesting to see these flying in formation with the Harridan on a gameboard.

http://i.imgur.com/a56c9OZ.jpg


Figure included for scale...........

http://i.imgur.com/OC9OhJl.jpg


So the next step I guess is to finish up the orange wash on all the pieces.........mebbe tomorrow.

A couple of off white balance images to round off the evening:

http://i.imgur.com/yKzQ2mW.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/kfFsmHD.jpg

While they look great now, I can't wait to see them with the orange tint to them. Great work on this horde, it will be well worth it in the end.

Hodgepodge:

I needed to see where I stood regarding going to the next step in the sequence of steps to a completed Tyranid army.

okay so the box at the right are the components that still need to have the chitin skutes edged with 'Light Brown' and the box on the left are ready for the 'Orange' highlight. I managed to do about a third today so what is in the box to the right are what remain to be done..........

http://i.imgur.com/Q8xpQkm.jpg


On an aside the Bio-titans are ready for the 'Orange' highlights and don't figure in to this and are not in either box.

What are in the box are the:

Trygon 50% ready

Carnifax 50% ready

Tyranfax 50% ready

Hive Tyrant 100% ready

and the Termagant Brood 100% ready.

and it just dawned on me I have to figure out what parts go to what beastie?

Ha!

That is the beauty of the hive, you can have "mutations" if you happen to glue the wrong part to the wrong critter it could be the next great evolutionary step or a Missing link or you cousin you never talk about (if you don't have one of those it might mean your THAT cousin).

A Question of Acrylic Paint Thinners:

I'm running out of Airbrush thinner and was about to order some on Amazon but the shipping costs are prohibitive.

Then I read a critique on the AV Vallejo paint thinner and the Tamiya Thinner and was apprised that Vodka was an excellent replacement for the much more expensive commercial thinners

So I am going to try using Vodka to thin my paint........ with

Perhaps a drop or two of dry Vermouth

What next Blackadder; an olive perhaps?

Well stock up on the vodka, if it doesn't work out as a thinner then I'm sure slyly can find something to do with it.

Hive Tyrant:

The Hive Tyrant was my first Tyranid unfortunately a metal construct (Metal is good thought I) so it will be the first to receive full treatment starting with the 'orange' highlights.

Spraying on an Orange 50/50 dilute AV Model Air at the lightest spray my 0,5 orifice Point Zero PZ360XS airbrush can achieve deposited just a hint of highlight, my first attempt earlier this year made everything too orange.

http://i.imgur.com/XqcT0Wh.jpg


I assembled the basic 'Tyrant legs, head, and tail fortunately the weapons clip on so but sets temporarily attached:

http://i.imgur.com/ngFwgHW.jpg


This beastie will have wings (purchased separately ebay) so the redundant weaponry is just for show the other CC armoury will be magnetically attached........

http://i.imgur.com/BnVPrRU.jpg


Next will come the satin varnish which I'll apply tomorrow after the acrylics have completely dried.

http://i.imgur.com/x4Cd6fR.jpg


Then the fine detail colours; teeth, veins, black talons, pink and purple poison sack etc will be applied. perhaps the points and edges will stop shedding paint every time the model is touched.

Now for a well deserved tumbler of my special blend paint thinner....Cheers!

Hopefully you didn't get the thinners mixed up , sorry, I've been missing the last couple o days, trying to get my airbrush sorted and paint mixed properly.

I'm a little nervous about the pink and purple idea though, doesn't seem "natural", then again poison sacks on cockroaches only occur in Australia .

A Study In Black:

A very productive day although the images belie the effort.

After applying a satin varnish to about all the pieces of the various models I spent a substantial portion of my modeling time to applying black paint to the claws and talons of all my Tyranid army.

Below is a representative of these so I am in phase three of four the project where after applying the varnish.

http://i.imgur.com/atFEXTl.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/BnvyLe5.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/S5UYoAP.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/AtAHD9S.jpg


Still to do is the teeth and the various washes and of course the final assembly.

Rhymes With Orange Again:

Was this over the top, I can't tell.

I'm hoping I didn't go too far with the orange highlight and the oil wash will tone it down a tad. I certainly need to blend the tail into the body and the black spurs I hope are not a mistake.

http://i.imgur.com/FlHSjMJ.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/J5XLKfU.jpg


The red mouth and tongue are only base coated and will be subdued with purples and blues and black oil wash

http://i.imgur.com/Von3NTm.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/QW74VuP.jpg


Perhaps I should have primed the d-mned thing grey and let it go at that.........

I love the color. I think the oil was will tone it down perfectly. Keep going

Agreed, looks stunning. Love the orange.

Okay, I'm home and have had a couple(3) hours of sleep, and am on my iPad now instead o my phone so I can see it much better now . I think it still looks perfect, no worries, carry on.

This is looking like a great army and is providing me with plenty of inspiration to do my own - thank you!

Dang! I see the Monster legs and think "Crab Legs"

She is a pretty one isn't she!? a pretty big one at that too! lovely work again with this army, the browns are a great choice and you've been whipping out some real jealousy inducing models dammit!

Is this you?

No not quite, while there is very little doubt that The Blackadder is certifiable he hides it well with a staid and benign visage.

M0rdain,

BTW would you please remove the 'spoiler', it locks up Dakka for some reason and I have to restart my to unlock it.

Thanks,

As for "jealousy inspiring" aside from some outrageously fortunate finds at a craft and hobby outdoor market most of the models were purchased at extremely reasonable prices on 'ebay' and 'Amazon' likewise the paints and the airbrush which I cannot praise too highly.

As far as the colour scheme I borrowed that entirely from Jaro of the 'Buypainted' youtube video as well as what technique I could discern from his detailed visual.

The recently acquired ability to apply paint I attribute to the above mentioned airbrush because before obtaining I had not airbrush painting abilities whatsoever. Since using the 'Point Zero' PZ-360XS Airbrush:

http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Airbrush-Valve-Crenelated-0-2mm/dp/B004KNDQMM

with its infinite 'air and trigger control' adjustments I have gained quite a bit of confidence and technique so I have reached a point where I rarely use the trigger control anymore which I liken to, "The training wheels being adjusted high on the bicycle."

This was and is the source of all I have accomplished in this thread...... :thumbs:

When I was first introduced to 40K I found the concept of a cold blooded, hive minded alien race of reptilian/arthropods wearing their skeletons on the outside intriguing but I was put off by the circus clown 'Leviathan' colouration; once introduced to a more natural colour scheme the Tyranids matured into a believable more realistic antagonist. and a worthy compliment to my IG force.

I really like this realistic colour scheme on your Tyranids. The look amazing still in WIP so they'll be gorgeous when finished.

That side on, WIP, group shot where you can see all the scales of tyranid creature is great. I love how they blend in to a sea of writhing, slashing and gnashing teeth and claws, which is exactly how they're described in the fluff. Superb.

The two big beasties are looking most impressive. The Hierophant pose is great just now, is that the final pose you're going for or are you going to go with the "staring the enemy down" pose that is standard?

In my Shelf display I want my Hierophant posed toe to toe with my Warhound in the configuration shown in the above image.

To accomplish that the body will be reared back facing up to the cockpit of the Warhound bio-cannons etc pointing menacingly. Once on the game table the pose will be a more standard configuration but I'll have to see what can be done.

There is very little flexibility on the posing of this model and the tail between the legs is a definitely limiting feature.

When I make my Warlord sized Bio-titan it will be more pose-able.

No, I have no design as yet for this gargantuan beast; suggestions are welcome...........

Love the Hierophant so far, and the orange is looking fine. Keep going!

 RiTides wrote:
Love the Hierophant so far, and the orange is looking fine. Keep going!

As may be appreciated I have a lot of irons in the fire and I need to devote equal time to all the projects as much as practicable. Right now I am working on the Thunderhawk and next week I may switch to the Reaver project. I find I get stale on ideas and grow bored when confined to one endeavor so to be most productive I have to switch. Years ago when I produced Lucie and I was working in my basement workshop there were weeks on end when it became a chore to pick up where I left off on that project and therefore Lucie took over two and a half years to produce. On the other hand Luteus Vexzant the Warlord, a much more complex endeavor took less than 18 months to produce to it's current state and I still having fresh ideas for Luteus and am currently working on an interior.

The Reaver project has demanded in actuality less than six months of my premier time and the Tyranids less than four months even though I am currently learning a new skill i.e. 'Airbrushing' which will do me in good stead as painting skills will carry over to the less than inspired primed models such as the Warlord and derelict Baneblades.

My big problem is rampant ennui so jumping from project to project actually stimulates rather than dilutes my creativity.

Please bear with my particular form of psychosis.

Just ordered the airbrush you pimped there , mine hasn't been working and I had just ordered a $200.00 compressor . I look forward to your next update, whichever thread its in .

I'd like to hear your critique on the 'Point Zero' airbrush. I started with a 'Master' gravity feed but did not have the control to maintain a consistent trigger position for fine line detail. With the PZ-360 with the adjustable trigger stop I had that control until now I find I can usually forgo using the stop because my technique has improved. You sound as if you are more accomplished with an airbrush than I was so it will be interesting to get your opinion. I think the PZ-360 is an excellent training tool but an expert may have a different view. Anyway at $30 buck you can't go very wrong.

I'm just as much a noob with an airbrush as you are, maybe more so. I was given a master g23 airbrush, but was using a compressor from a nail gun which stopped working, so I got a new badger compressor two weeks ago, but he the brush wasn't working right . I'll let you know how this works out though .