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Hi Dakka,
Just a few months ago, we discussed about FW armored battle group.
Here is finally the beginning of this army !
This is a leman russ battle tank without sponsons that I bought from another guy.
It is not finished, I have to do battle damages and the weathering.
Let me know what is wrong or good, and what you think about it.
The camo is inspired by the German camo "ambush" from WW2, but I don't want to do "German Imperial Guard", just that I like this camo.

We can see the mark left when I took off the heavy bolters sponsons. I did not fixed it with green stuff because reasons...
But I don't think it lows the model.
I didn't want to make a lot of markings etc... because of the camo: it would have been unrealistic to paint such a camo on a tank and then to put something would make it too obvious...
Here are the pictures !

I'm loving it!

So, I did finish my first tank !
I added some battle damages and the weathering, but I'm not totally happy with the damages.
Remember that it is my first IG tank, and my first camo/battle damages stuff^^

And this is my Forge World package: a Stygies 8 vanquisher turret for my command tank.
I put it on my already painted tank (this is why it has a hull lascannon) and the previous turret is now and an other Russ, which will be the next to be painted:

I made a tank commander too, and he is removable, as you can see.
However, the FW cupola isn't like a GW one and I can't manage to open or close when I want, I have to glue it open or closed.
Can anyone here help me with this, please ?

I almost forgot:
To make my tank commander removable I did hole in each one of his feets, two in the tank and two in his plinth.
Then I superglued a stem from a paperclip in each of his feets' holes, and I just have to put him on the holes: he doesn't even move.
I just want to share a non painted pilot I did for my Avenger Strike Fighter :
I did it with a tank commander and a respirator from the cadian command squad.
Like the tanks, I bought it second handed, so some pieces were missings.

Looking great so far!

I happen to have that exact same turret for my Command Leman Russ Vanquisher as well:



Good choice!

As for the turret cupola being opened or closed, you need to choose to have it open or closed when you model it and that's pretty much how it's going to be forever more.

I opted to do mine closed (as all my tanks are 'buttoned up' with hatches closed) for consistencies sake and then used other bits such as the big antenna and aquila radar dish on the back to show it off and make it distinct as the command tank.

I like the way the turret looks closed, but ultimately you'll need to decide if you want to model the turret open with the commander sitting with his upper body outside of the tank, or closed up.

Either way, tanks are looking pretty good, and I look forward to seeing more of your work soon.

Take it easy for now

-Red__Thirst-

Nice work on the camo. The tank should still have markings if youre going for somethi g a bit more realustic. However if you check pictures of real camo tanks they tend to have parkings in black paint in unobtrusive locations.

Hi,
thanks for your attention guys !

I will add more markings on the rear of the next tanks I think, but eventually they won't have a lot.

Let send some pic' of your vanquisher, once it is painted !

So this is the first Leman Russ I finished, it is the turret from the beggining of the thread (with smoke launchers and battle damages), on a new hull I just did.
As the hull is from an old model, I had to take the piece FW send me with the Vanquisher cannon to make it fit with the "new" model of turret.
I did a wash with nuln oil, I think I should have done it with agraw earthshade instead.

For my cupola problem, I substituted the vanquisher's one by a GW model's one, and did a little green stuff things (the new cupola doesn't appears on the photo as I'm waiting for the green stuff to dry).
Oh, and the green stuff you can see in front of the turret is threre to stop a gap I did to put a magnet (easier to transport with a magnetized cannon).

ust a quick update to share with you the advancement on my vanquisher: it is almost finished:
We can see the tank commander, painted, and the hatches from a GW leman russ, I succeed to make it movable/mobile (which is the correct word ?).
All my tanks are/will be closed as I prefer it too, except for this one, Red_Thirst.

Looking sharp sir. Keep at it and I look forward to seeing more soon!

Love the Vanquisher turret also. Great work on the camouflage too I'll add.

How many tanks do you plan on fielding? My ABG is rather smallish, only five Leman Russes (Two Vanquishers, Exterminator, Eradicator, and an Executioner), with a pair of Griffon Mortars, a trio of Chimeras. and one Hellhound.

Looking forward to more updates. Take it easy for now.

-Red__Thirst-

For the moment, I don't play with my ABG.
I just began to buy and paint,I wish to change from my marines, this is why I chose armored Imperial Guard: camo and a lot of tanks !
That is very different from my shiny heavy space infantry^^
I have only 4 Leman Russ, 1 avenger strike fighter and about 30 cadian.
I was looking for a griffon or two myself, so what do you think about it ? Do they use to be ok ?
I plan to add a helhound, two chimera with vet, and two griffons. Maybe a thunderer, but that's a lot of money... So rather smallish too^^

So, I finished my command tank, and I will make a break. Maybe paint some infantry or my Avenger.

Hi guys,
I need you on this one:
What do you think about this camo pattern for my infantry ?
I did a quick guard to see.

I don't thik the pattern works quite as well on infantry. I think the disruptive pattern is a bit too sepaerate. You have the larger splotches and the tiny dots and no real interaction to break up the sillhouette. Maybe try and continue the dots over the splotches in a lighter colour?

In fact, I didn't do the same camo pattern, instead I tried to do this :
I will do a guard in the exact same camo pattern than my tanks, just to see if it's more effective.

I did paint a new guard, with the exact camo pattern I use on my tanks.
I think it's better, here it is:

Can I make one suggestion?

Paint the armored shoulder pads and flack armor on the torso black to match the boots and helmet and I think you'll have one of the best camouflage painted armies I've seen to date.

The camo over the entire torso and shoulders works well, but I think having the black armor would tie in the helmet and boots nicely.

Either way, it looks great and hope to see more soon.

Take it easy and keep up the great work.

-Red__Thirst-

Would just do the Shoulder Pads black. I think the tunic being camo makes it look better. I did a bunch of pea drop camo uniforms for my FOW Totenkompf, that was a pain. You are a brave man!

So, I painted a guy with flak armor black, and helmet with camo.
And I think it look better, indeed.
However, maybe just the shoulder black would give an even better result, as you said.
I'll do another try ^^
I have 20 or 25 guys to paint, eventually, not really too much, but, still...

Here he is:

And here is my final attempt to paint a guard :
(oh and yes, feel free to make as many suggestions as you want !)

Love the way the first one came out! The second one looks great too, I am going to agree though the first pattern with the black from shoulder to shoulder on the back plate looks great. Awesome work!

Hi,
thanks for the commments !

I did a little more work, and I decided to add some markings to my infantry.
So I painted a checkboard pattern on one side of the helmet of two guard to see. I think it's fine, and you ?
It's the badge of my regiment (I wanted something white and black, easy to paint, and not to "flashy").
You may have seen it on my two first tank, or at last, the first (can't remember if it is visible on the vanquisher).

Oh, and my infantry have been under xenos attack !

Moreover, I'm trying to make a Voss pattern lasgun (as they are mechanised infantry, they spend a lot of time in confined environnement, so it would be easier with this short pattern).
But I have difficulties with the butt (is it the right word ? I thought it meant "ass") of the lasgun.
Do you have any idea of something fine enough to make the folding butt realistically, and that can be bend easily ?

Thanks !

Ok, so my Forge World command arrived.
I can now begin my infantry !
I will do the same camo I did on my test guardsmen on them, I just hesitate on the peak/visor.
You can see that two torso detached from their sprue during the travel, but they have no damage.
I forgot to buy superglue, so I have to wait for tomorrow to begin the assembly...

A quick view of my work on my infantry: there is still work needed, as on the guy armed with a shovel, but it's almost done.
Better pictutes tomorrow.
What do you think about the spikes on the sergeants' head ? I'm not sure about this, they look like Death Guard cultists...
There is a demolition charge in the two squad, which are represented by the soldier with a missile (with grenades glued on) on his back, on the guard who is holding an ogive and a bomb made of grenades and a flamer tank.

I hope you like it, I'll try to begin the paint work tomorrow.

And this is my first cyclop !
I'm particularly glad with it, I enjoy how it turned out.
As usual, feel free to comment !

EDIT: arrrgh, the pictures are twisted...

Cannot believe I've been missing out post on this! Your Command squad looks real sharp, cannot wait till they get some paint on them! The Camo on your Cadians is coming along nice, I love the symbols on the helmets. Looks great, look forward to seeing more stuff done!

Hey, thanks !
I'm not gonna paint the command squad first, so you have to wait if you want to see it painted^^
painted^^
Here is my first Forge World upgraded Cadian, who is the controller of the cyclop.
I'm really glad of this model too, except the boots (I will do it again tomorrow).
You can see the highlights on the lasgun are only on the last picture, because I forgot it before ^^
Oh, and I didn't paint the hands, because I don't know how to do it: I would have preferred the model has gloves...

Love the helmet and the eyes. He looks great, possibly he has skin tight black gloves on?

I painted my second Cyclop Demolition Vehicle today !
I really love this little guys^^
He looks like the first one, I'm happy with results too.

Those are some handsome looking armored units, and good looking infantry to boot! I'd probably post this in the painting and modeling blogs section since it'll probably get more traffic there. I'd love to see this army develop more!

That's pretty sexy.