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I recently learned that “reorganizing” Photobucket photos into folders is really idiot talk for “lose-all-photo-addresses-on-all-forums & blogs that you’ve ever posted anywhere.” Woops. Anyhow, I figured instead of going through the last 3 years of postings here, there, and somewhere, I’d restart & do it right this time: on Dakka!!

So this thread will be a random listing of stuff I’m working on presently and have worked on in the last three years.

Presently, my local gaming group is running a campaign based on the Planetary Empires map. Here’s the map I painted up:





To make this board, we built the map out of the tiles then I took it home. I traced the entire map onto a piece of foamboard, then cut out the shape. Second, I took the frame and glued it onto a second full size foamboard. I glued on some styrofoam "mountains", bits to represent buildings, and primed & painted & flocked. Here's some close ups:







Oh yeah, I also drilled out all the holes and inserted RareEarth magnets. Then I magnetized the little buildings. We're still in the process of making our own flags out of nails. I've used the Planetary Empires hexes before & it always drove me nuts when the pegs broke off in the little holes so nails w/ magnets elliminate that problem.



Some of the players can't make it every week so I made up a BFG fleet to represent those guys. Here's some of it:



Whenever that player shows up, he "teleports" down to the main map.

But then three weeks ago, we attacked his ship and had to pretend a city fight table was the space ship. That didn't sit well with me so my next project was the interior of an Imperial Cruiser or maybe just the interior of a planetside command post or underground bunker. Either way here it is:

I do like that board

My latest army has been Salamanders. Here's the progress up to May 2010. I've done more since but little by way of photos.









I've since added a pair of techmarines, one with Thunderfire, one just regular, a librarian, a chaplain, dreadnought w/ pod, and pair of landspeeders.

Here's an old photo of the Chaplain:

Looking great! Only criticism I can come up with is that you could work a bit with your white. It needs some depth, just now it's looking very plain.

yeh, some deeper shading colours would pay dividends because the freehand on the back of Vulkans cloak looks brilliant!

I agree with both of you about the white. I just can't get it right. What works?

I have since added lizard scales to his shoulders so that it matches the GW version more, but the white still looks off. I scrapped the white of the banner and just painted it black which looks good. Here's photos of him today:

You can paint your white with a brown to bonish base or you could start of with greys. Then just leave some of the base coulors in the *deep parts* (can't find a word for it now, sorry) but you ad the paint so that it gets a layered effect and ads a bit of shadowing or whatever you would call it. I hope this help with something.

^ Above would work, also maybe a thin black wash? Or shade down by blending down to codex grey or chardion granite....

Here's a pair techmarines that I did in May 2010.

I'm also hoping to finish my gaming table this summer. My basement is chilly in the winter so I did not get much done in the last few months. The table is an old box spring that I tore off the material so I could have a basement level to the board. I got the idea from Scarab's tables. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/187995.page



After attaching legs & one shelf, I wrapped vinyl flooring around the edge. The pattern I picked out had a stone look that fit with the 40K City feel I was aiming for. It also wrapped around the rounded corner of the box spring perfectly. I left an opening so that people could see into the underhive.

http://www.homedepot.ca/catalog/vinyl-tile/172577



Then I added molding all around.







I've since sanded & painted the molding and it frames out the table nicely.

The underhive has two rooms. One in the table & one on the edge. Both can be covered if I don't want them as part of the game.



I built each room & slid it into the frame when done.

For the white a pale gray wash followed by a thinner or more controlled wash of a slightly darer gray would probably look best. Black would probably be a little to extreme. Within 2 hours I'll have a picture of a cape with both options because I'm curious about this.

EDIT: Black is on the left gray on the right
black looks a little bit dirty while gray just adds shadow. after the wash they probably need a dry-brush of the white.
Sorry about fuzzynes.

Just finished retooling my Dakka thread on display trays that I was all fired up about last summer.

These videos pretty much sum it up, but if you want more info, check out the thread.




>


Thread link:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/263460.page#1176084

Your wooden trays do work out extremely well I will admit.

When I first started 40k about seven years ago now I had no idea what I was doing & just bought whatever models appealed to me. I ran IG with predators and all sorts of weird funkiness. Anyhow, after about 2 or 3 years of painting without much playing I wanted to repaint a Predator that I had. I thought it would be a bright idea to soak it in Acetone over night.

Guess what? The paint never came off & I was heartbroken to find out that my $30 tank melted on me.

Eventually I sold it to a fellow who used it in his Nurgle army & I've been wondering what I could have done with it ever since. So now I'm toying with the idea of starting a Plague Marine army just so I can try it again. Here's my recent attempt at melting a rhino:

BEFORE:






AFTER:












If you're going to try this at home, use a WELL ventilated area. DO NOT do this INSIDE your house!!!! And don't paint model right after its done because the thinner needs some time to work itself out. Notice the white "frosting" that appears on the model after two or three days.

Wow some really nice boards here,
Like the salamanders too, part of the underhive looks like the star wars scene.

Some photos of campaign our local gaming group is running:


This first photo was my game & I didn't take enough photos, but to sum it up: Don't charge Vulkan against a Slaanesh sorcerer with a force weapon... ever.

Since beginning this thread I have worked on the following armies. I update this particular post whenever I get around to it. More photos of each army will be added as replied to the thread whenever I get around to it.

Orks: I didn't start with this army, but this was the first army I ran regularly.




Grey Knights begun in 2007 but added some more over the years. First army.


Imperial Guard begun 2007 but added lots over the years, most recently Valkyries.



Tau that I painted & sold on eBay.


Dark Angels that I painted simply to be able to play Sammael, sold in August of 2011

Space Wolves:




Fists of Dorn. Painted these for Scarab in February of 2010 , but never took photos of final product.


Salamanders, finished right after I did Scarab's Imperial Fists.


Black Templars that I based today & thought I was done until I realized the Apothecary isn't finished. Have added 2 Vindicators, dread & LR since this photo.


Chaos project from winter 2011... or earlier?

Bought a Space Marine Battle Company in the summer of 2011 and worked on these in the Fall & Winter of 2011-12; still not done though:


Imperial Fists that I painted Fall 2011 & Winter 2012. Wanted to try painting yellow after doing Scarab's army that I was not thrilled with.(Not completed)

Painted these Blood Angels for a friend (LordArtex here) and then was inspired to paint the Flesh Tearers in the next photo for myself:
(Not completed in photos)


Ork Deff Skullz army for a client in the Winter of 2012: (Not completed)

I really like the spaceship board, you have some really nice looking salamanders, the captain conversion is cool.

I say now as I have always said to you... you have a hell of an understanding wife.

So I've been slacking on taking photos lately because my setup was lousy, but yesterday I got my act together & built a lightbox with some muslin cloth & a cardboard box. My goal for the beginning of the summer was to work through all my armies & complete painting every one. Well, guess what? That went nowhere. Three frenzy filled days of eBay later and I began a whole new project, bigger and longer than anything I've ever done before. Here's the progress:



This beast is going to double as either a Khorne rhino/ Land Raider or an Ork Battlewagon. I'm having a hard time getting the cab to stay glued to the "wheels" because I used sprues & still need to reinforce.





This is not the rhino from the earlier post. This time I tried acetone. After three hours (I should have watched it more closely), the thing had almost lost all detail. I was horrified. Fortunately, only the bottom half was sitting in the acetone bath. Then things got worse. I washed each model ( 2 rhinos) off thoroughly with water & set them outside to dry. An hour later and they had blown up like balloons. Egads! Back under the water to cool down.

After a few days I worked up the courage to deal with it and tried sawing off the bubbles to give the rhino some of its original shape. Turns out this was the best thing to do!! Each bubble was actually a bunch of tiny bubbles that, when cut, look awesome. So my horrendous mistake turned out to be a neat learning experience. Later I took it easy with the Land Raider.

These photos are after I primed with ArmyPainter spray.







Hmm... Khorne rhinos, Nurgle rhinos, big daemons, what is he up to?

Another hint:

Some nice stuff there - my adventures with acetone resulted in a grey pool of gunk so the only advice I can give you is to not leave CSMs in it overnight.

Progress on the first 5 legions:

Just got back from GamesDay which was a blast.

I haven't taken photos in awhile, but I just took these of a project in progress (that I haven't worked on in 2 years.)

I like the way that is heading.

It's looking pretty sick.

nerdfest09 pm'd me about the spray that I use to texture things so I figured I'd better come clean about my cheaty ways. Here's my confession: I love Michael's craftstore. That place rocks. They have all sorts of cool sprays & paints & resin molds & trays & foam and everything a gamer could love.

In particular, I love this stuff:

I use it on all my bases before I glue on the models:



I spray it on my table to give it a uniform look over big areas of open terrain:



I spray it on my Planetary Empires board to look like rocks (see top post).
I spray it on vehicles to look like mud splatter (see Salamander posts above).
I spray it on terrain to look like crushed concrete (see cathedral post above).
I spray it on my cat to prevent fleas. (see divorce proceedings).
It's great.
Here's some test shots on posterboard:



Here's if you spray on alot. It will gather in little piles. This happens because water (or something like it) sprays out with the stuff so the surface gets wet and the spray congregates in areas.


Here's over a basecoat of brown primer. This how I do my bases.




It comes in different colors, but I've only worked with light grey, dark grey & brown.

More info:
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1RNNN_enUS370US370&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=stone+spray,+american+accents

Thank you, thank you, thank you

You're stuff is amazing, as always. I've been thinking about picking up a can or two of that spray to see what it's all about, after seeing your last post, I think I'll go ahead with that. Thanks for informing us!

I had a great day today when GW posted a photo of one of my terrain pieces on their website. I immediately went out & bought more terrain. Go figure.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=12500050a

Hey, congrats! It is always a good feeling to be showcased on the GW website.

--Brian