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So yet another college semester begins.

I had set a goal for myself over the winter break (about a month long) to finish my 5 tanks and typhoon before school started again. I wanted to do this so I could get cracking on my Eldar army finally. Unfortunately, my efforts fell short of my expectations. I did finish the typhoon, but the tanks are still a work in progress. I was able to at least assemble and basecoat everything which im proud of. Comments and criticism is welcomed. Im very proud of how the typhoon came out, specifically the base and the light on the teleport beacon (I know its an insignificant detail). As usual, my work is only partially done, I wanted to at minimum have the typhoon table top ready, I will come back and add details later. Im not sure if it will be visable in the pics, but all the edges have been highlighted with Blood Red.

(click on the pics for a better resolution)

If you set a similar project for yourself over the winter, please post pics of your progress!

UPDATE: The new pictures feature my completed rhino and a WIP Baal Predator. I love the way my lens and lights are coming out....especially on the Baal Pred. I chose to go with a blue light glow for my headlights as I cant understand why people paint them yellow anyway. One would imagine that 40k years into the future, the dim yellow illumination of Edision's bulb would be antiquaited (thats already happening) and replaced by a halogen/xenon lightbulb. So I went blue. Comments welcomed!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Yes, I realize this thread is starting to have the characteristics of a P&M blog. Just wanted to share some of my progress on my Baal Predator....its roughly 3 days away from completion, but couldnt wait to share it; not to mention that I am swamped with trig and chemistry work at the moment, so I shot some pics while I had the time. For anyone who is familiar with my work, you will notice immediately that I actually added some detail to this model. Everything has came out beautifully for me. I still am reluctant to add weathering details, because I am eager to start my vindicator. I gave my Baal Predator the name "Atrialis." I couldnt find the word Atria or Atrium in latin, so I just winged it I wanted to keep a consistent theme for the names of my Blood Angel Vehicles, all will be relative to the Heart. I plan to name my vindi "Ventricus", the LRC "Vena Cava," and my last rhino "Septimus." Attached should be some NEW PICS! Comments, as always are appreciated.

I WISH THE FLASH ON MY CAMERA DIDNT COMPLETELY DESTROY THE TIME AND HARD WORK IVE INVESTED IN HARDLINING MY MODELS WITH A BLOOD RED HIGHLIGHT. THESE PICTURES BARELY DO ME ANY JUSTICE

Hey Element! Really nice work on that Typhoon! Lines are clean and crisp, very nice.

I want to comment specifically on the baseing... wow! (how's that for a comment?) Did you scratch build that base or is it cast resin? Either way... masterful job at painting. The cracks in the tiles and chipping on the beacon are really good & "sell" the piece as a real object rather than an abstract representation. Your work on the light is also really well done, blending on that tiny scale must have taken a tremendous amount of effort.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the rest come into focus, and would love a tutorial on how you did the effects on that base.

Like your ultra marines, the typhoon is so crisp. The lamp blending is really good. Maybe you should give up school and finish them offjk!

Hey thanks for the comments guys. Yeah, I think the only place my painting skill really shines is on my bases . I guess thats what happens when you dont devote much time to detail (not yet at least). Eventually though, these models will have the proper weathering and damage given to them as well as all the lenses, iconography, etc hand painted.

@ Gitsplitta -- hey gits, good to hear from you. My time on dakka has been porus lately to say the least. Im sure from one man with a family to another can sympathize with that . As I mentioned, my bases are the highlight of my army. I am a firm believer that you can be a mediocre painter, but if you spend a good amount of time on your bases it improves your characters to the inth power! Id say my Blood Angels are proof of that! That base is not resin, hand made by myself (using a 60mm IG gunner base and drilled a hole in the center for the clear stand). If you look at my other pics, I have a tornado with something similar. Its constructed using modeling sand and plasticard. The tele-homer beacon was taken from a term sqd. Ill PM you the exact colors and techniques to create the bases. When I have more time ill check in on your Mantis Warriors for an update. Later.

One other piece of detail I didnt capture in my original pics that I wanted to show off. Its the caution wiring on the typhoon launcher housings. This is another part of the paint work that I was really proud of....done free hand

Fantastic my friend! Good to have you back. Will be looking forward to your PM! Lot's going on on my blog... mainly focusing around my first attempt to paint a couple of vehicles in 15 years or so. A humorous... yet painful experience. But all-in-all going reasonably well.

Link to latest pic is broken:(

So my warriors will die to a beautiful typhoon. I might need to bring something fast for the future games.

tipios wrote:Link to latest pic is broken:(

yeah sorry about that....I went back in and added the pic in my original posting, you should be able to view it now.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

ToxicsLayer wrote:So my warriors will die to a beautiful typhoon. I might need to bring something fast for the future games.

Haha! Thats right, finally I can add some fire power to my squads Look foward to the next game my friend.

I can see now, great freehand detail

Update

Like the rhino. Very crisp lines and love the green.

thanks. Be sure to check in for more updates as my progress continues

The vehicles are coming along nicely! You even did a really good job on writing the name on the banner for the tank. Good job.

Just curious how'd you basecoat the tanks? I've been trying to get my tanks to be the same normal red color and not that almost orange color that is GW Blood Red.

Red Comet wrote:The vehicles are coming along nicely! You even did a really good job on writing the name on the banner for the tank. Good job.

Just curious how'd you basecoat the tanks? I've been trying to get my tanks to be the same normal red color and not that almost orange color that is GW Blood Red.

My basecoat method is pretty simple. First I use a spray gun because I dont want a bunch of brush strokes on the flat surfaces of my tanks. I basecoat them with Mechrite Red. Next I spray them with a 1:1 mix of Blood Red/Red Gore. Finally I add a small amount of Blood Red to the Mix (maybe around a 2:1 ratio) and spray just the top portion of the tank. This gives it the appearance that light is shining from above. I agree with the blood red making everything look orange. Ive said many times in previous posts how much I dislike the idea of highlighting Blood Angels with Blazing Orange! So my final highlight is Blood Red (hardlining). Best of Luck!

Nicely done. I like the base on the landspeeder.

Element206 wrote:

Red Comet wrote:The vehicles are coming along nicely! You even did a really good job on writing the name on the banner for the tank. Good job.

Just curious how'd you basecoat the tanks? I've been trying to get my tanks to be the same normal red color and not that almost orange color that is GW Blood Red.

My basecoat method is pretty simple. First I use a spray gun because I dont want a bunch of brush strokes on the flat surfaces of my tanks. I basecoat them with Mechrite Red. Next I spray them with a 1:1 mix of Blood Red/Red Gore. Finally I add a small amount of Blood Red to the Mix (maybe around a 2:1 ratio) and spray just the top portion of the tank. This gives it the appearance that light is shining from above. I agree with the blood red making everything look orange. Ive said many times in previous posts how much I dislike the idea of highlighting Blood Angels with Blazing Orange! So my final highlight is Blood Red (hardlining). Best of Luck!

That is simple! I may have to give that a try when I get the cash for a spray gun. I'm sorta broke at the moment because of college too.

Yeah highlighting them orange looks awful especially when the next step above Blood Red is an orange color...Blood Red should be renamed Blood Orange.

Wanted to post an update since I have some time. Ive completed two more tanks to add to my arsenal. The first is the Baal Predator Atrialis. The second is the Vindicator Ventricus. I am really pleased with how they turned out, especially the details I painted and the lettering. Ventricus is piloted by Brother Catharn who is behind the storm bolter on the Vindicator. His shoulder lettering also came out fantastic! I was curious to see what everything looked like together, plus im a huge fan of the group photo , so attached will be a group photo of everthing ive completed over the last 10 months. Im coming up on the anniversary of the incipient birth of this army and would like to have the final units finished before then. Currently Ive started production on the LRC Vena Cava, Capt Tycho, San Priest w/ JP, and Term Priest. I also have 3 army's sitting on my shelves awaiting paint and to be honest I am tired of looking at red paint and dirty red paint water . Comments and Criticism is always appreciated....oh yeah, I dont recall every taking photos of my Sanguinary guard so there is a few photos of them as well. Keep in mind that I basically just basecoated them as they are an NMM project for the future!

Very clean and sharp looking Element... like the bases and the sanguine guard too!

Thanks Gits...unfortunately only recently Ive figured out that my highlights are just too subtle and it was quite a bit of work to hardline highlight all of my models. It really bothers me because I dont want my work to go unnoticed. I suppose someday when I return to the Blood Angels I will rectify this, as I will have to add detail and further highlights to all of my models. Thanks again for the input.

Striking the right balance is shading and highlighting can be very tricky... still working on it myself. But you have a fine looking force that anyone would be proud to field, so don't sweat the small stuff! :-)

Your paint jobs are always so crisp, I can't wait to see the whole army finished

tipios wrote:Your paint jobs are always so crisp, I can't wait to see the whole army finished

Thanks, I cant wait either! After I finish the time consuming collosus LRC, it should be smooth sailing after that. I will be sure to take a final group shout a few months from now when they are finished and post it. It will be a few weeks from now, but I also plan on putting up a P&M of Capt Tycho as my progress continues. Ive made a pretty sweet base for him and will possibly paint him to completion, simply because he will be my HQ choice (center piece) for every list after he is finished (didnt realize how worthless a regular Blood Angels Capt is!). I appreciate all of the comments a look foward to showing off more of my army as it nears the first wave of completion!

I have one suggestion I too have a BA army and recently I bought a Storm Raven and painted in DC style and if you have just a few vehicles that are painted in this manner it adds some contrast and makes your army pop. Just a thought you might want to consider.

MDizzle wrote:I have one suggestion I too have a BA army and recently I bought a Storm Raven and painted in DC style and if you have just a few vehicles that are painted in this manner it adds some contrast and makes your army pop. Just a thought you might want to consider.

Thats a good recommendation. I saw someone on Dak who painted a great looking Baal Pred the DC color scheme. I eventually plan to add a DC Rhino and a 10 man DC squad with a mix of CC and Boltguns. I try to adhere as closely as possible to the codex in terms of color scheme (although I thought that devastator helments with a purple hue to them would look better than blue and im really reluctant to paint any assault troops with yellow helmets). I think its definately a benefit visually that the BA's have the San Guard and DC to break up the colors a little.

How do you get so good at painting
any tips

Element206 wrote:

MDizzle wrote:I have one suggestion I too have a BA army and recently I bought a Storm Raven and painted in DC style and if you have just a few vehicles that are painted in this manner it adds some contrast and makes your army pop. Just a thought you might want to consider.

Thats a good recommendation. I saw someone on Dak who painted a great looking Baal Pred the DC color scheme. I eventually plan to add a DC Rhino and a 10 man DC squad with a mix of CC and Boltguns. I try to adhere as closely as possible to the codex in terms of color scheme (although I thought that devastator helments with a purple hue to them would look better than blue and im really reluctant to paint any assault troops with yellow helmets). I think its definately a benefit visually that the BA's have the San Guard and DC to break up the colors a little.

Dont attach the helmets, that way you cant paint the yellow, then attach them. Makes it a ton easier. What I do is use my pine vise to drill a small hole in the base of the neck of the helmet, then I stick a toothpick up the hole to have something to hold onto while painting. I have kept alot of the foam pieces from my Sabol trays and I then stick the tooth pick in the foam while the helmets dry. Using this method makes the painting easy, a white primer coat, followed by a hit w/ the airbrush and it really speeds it along!

Ashton

@King_Boo:
tips for painting? Hmm, buy small brushes, patience, perseverance and lots of practice. This is the 4th army I have painted and only now am I seeing the results that I wanted to see 10 years ago. Its simply just a craft you have to work at. Take any painting advice you can and it helps to find good tutorials online as well. Its just a trial and error thing, for the first 3-4 years that I was into 40k I didnt even know how to effectively use washes (so I didnt wash anything). Best of luck with your BA's and Eldar, Eldar is my next project, have already chosen a specific and unique color scheme. Keep an eye out for more projects of mine being finished.

@Redfinger:
Thats a good idea too. Initially I decided not to paint the helments yellow so I glued them on already. Your technique sounds like you have been watching me through a window....thats my exact method, with the exception of the foam....I dont have any laying around. The toothpick is how I painted all of the dev heads and any bare heads you see in my army. But, to get back to the yellow helmets, I guess I sort of justified giving them red helmets because they are not equipped with jump packs . I also thought about identifying them with their right shoulder painted yellow, but then I figured it would clash too much with the purple dev heads. Think I will just stick with painting them all red like the Tactical marines. oh and I wish I had an airbrush, that would be sweet!