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So, like everyone else out there, I've started up Grey Knights. And Grey Knight Librarians are made of win.

Picked up mine just a couple days ago (hooray for one of the last metal Librarians ever) and honestly, he just didn't look the part. And that's where bruteforce modeling comes in.



While he came with a storm bolter, I didn't like that he'd lack uniformity with the rest of my army so much. So I gave him one of the extra wristmounted bolters from the Terminator kit. Threw on a heraldry plate as well. I didn't feel like he had enough stuff, so I handed him some grenades and a reliquary.



I was really hesitant to pull off the Crux Terminatus since I did want him to stand out somewhat from other Grey Knight Terminators.



However, he still needed a Sword and Book symbol somewhere. . .


And of course, because he's a Grey Knight, he has a sword.



This last part is the one I'm least certain about. I really wanted to keep the eagle element, and it does look sort of neat to me, but it feels a little awkward. Any comments/advice?

Nice, but I agree with you, the eagle doesn't suit the sword. I suggest you stick the blade to the other end of the staff, so that the blade itself is behind him, the pose may look a bit odd at first but then you'll get the eagle you want.

you could cut the Eagle off and put it on his banner

Very nice work but I was disappointed, I read the title and was expecting Hamtaro in powerarmor

I like the sword where it is now, but I also like Valkyries suggestion about attaching it to the bottom of the staff, though that looks like it would require repositioning that arm. He knocks his back foes using the eagle end of the staff like a mace, and stabs them with the blade on the bottom of the staff when they're knocked on their back.

edited for grammar

the original being a staff, there's room behind the body for the blade if I move the reliquary I attached to his back.

I am now also considering putting the eagle on as an ornate pommel and putting a normal nemesis sword hilt, but that would require moving the arm a little further out, and I'm pretty bad at repositioning.

And here we are, the final conversion. I ended up not keeping the wacky Aquilasword, moving it to the pommel. I think it turned okay as a back-balanced sword, and I like how the improvised Grey Knight chapter symbol on the right shoulder came out. I really like the Librarian figure, so I will probably pick up another and make him with the aquilasword just because, assuming I can find a finecast one that doesn't fail.

I like the work! Nice job with the sword through the book on the right arm. It's little stuff like that that can be the most obnoxious if there's even the smallest gap, but boy do the small things make the biggest difference!

PROPS!

Thanks, that one little sword tip fragment was surprisingly easy, I just filed down the chain underneath the book and flattened out the blade on the other side to get it to sit rather neatly.

And here, we have the Librarian's assistants. Dreadnoughts. When they tell you to be quiet in the library, they mean it. Silence will be enforced by autocannons.



The guns are the IG heavy weapons squad ones, the bases filed flat to fit more neatly, with the extra Venerable Dreadnought front panels placed to make them look more like a purpose-built piece.



I put a magnet on the inside of the arms since it was a lot easier than trying to drill a socket or even just smooth down the inside to glue. Plus, flexibility is always nice.



The side panels made great spots for iconography, but sadly I suck at freehanding.

Once again sir, you should be proud of your work. One of the most interesting and outstanding methods i've seen of making TL/AC for the dreads. The side panels you added add a LOT to the model. I also like how you used dark metallic colors for the plates on the legs. I've only ever seen them done gold, and your method fits VERY well with your paint scheme.

THUMBS UP!

First, I like your decision to paint red and white heraldry on the dreadnoughts. It's bold, striking, and unique. That said, some of the painting lacks depth. You could easily create the illusion of depth (to a tabletop standard, anyway) with thin washes of Gryphonne Sepia + Chaos Black, perhaps on the Librarian's face and in some of the recessed areas of the dreadnoughts. I don't think you should go for a muddy look; I think the 'clean' look suits this force, and with a little more attention to detail, it could go from good to great.

I actually did give the Librarian's face a very thin layer of gryphonne sepia, I think the camera's light overpowered it. I wash a 3:2:2 mix of asurmen blue, badab black, and water over everything to give it a sort of blued steel look, and felt that it did the recesses well enough. If it's not even visible here, I suppose a second application of Black wouldn't be out of place.

The Jurassic Park cup in the background brings me warm fuzzy memories.

Light definately overpowered the face. The metal looks...dull? Problem with the washes is they dull it all down whereas GKs are meant to be a bit more shiny. Perhaps experimenting with some varnish for shine? Or if you can, find some of the old inks.

Or perhaps glazing the blue tones...

Heh, I keep painting water in a couple of ancient JP collector cups from some fast food promo in the 90s.

I actually did want the metal to come out more dull. That way random reflections don't betray their position at night or in cover. One of the reasons I used the wash that I did was to take away much of the shine from the boltgun metal. I feel like GK armour is very, very old and the lack of shine should show that.

GreyHamster wrote:Heh, I keep painting water in a couple of ancient JP collector cups from some fast food promo in the 90s.

McDonalds. The one visible in the photo up there is the Triceratops cup. With a close up of Ellie on it.

Had the whole set once but they died in time.

And I see the point about dulling it down but I think perhaps just using one colour or one mix? Was it as one mix or layers?

What's on there is just one layer of a mix of colors. I tried the straight up blue on a couple of power armour guys and thought it was too strong and bright, so I added some black to the mix and thinned it a bit more.

Here's the Librarian with his face with a thinned gryphon sepia, then a thinned badab black applied.