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Hello everybody! It's been quite a while since I posted anything semi-meaningful. Been trying to get things painted up for Valhalla 2014 in October. But then, as luck would have it, GW decided to release a new product which I was just too excited to pass up on.

This blog is just going to be photos, concepts, and actual WIP shots of my titan.


THE IDEA:

So, after much (little) thought, I decided to make a mercenary house - WHY YOU ASK?

Simply, it's the best option in my opinion for anyone interested int these kits. Here's some more particular arguments:


1) If you paint them as mercs, you can field them as allies to other armies, not just imperial allies. It doesn't make much sense that you have an imperial alligned house helping out xenos.

2) Gives you a chance to paint the model(s) in schemes that are as far removed from your traditional schemes as you want. I mean, who wants to run a <insert color> army, and add 1-3 giant walkers that just blend in to the rest of the force?

3) Most importantly - running mercs gives you the ability to tell a story. These beasts pre-date the Imperium of Mankind (sort of) - and as we all know, noble heritage is often hard to reign in to be part of the bigger collective..... unless you want to build the borg....


SO, to sum it up in one word: FLEXIBILITY!!!


Now, for those of you that are Star Wars fans, you probably have already seen the title of this and thought Fett. Well you are correct - the entire House Mandalore is inspired by our super-warrior friends, the Mandalorians. WHO KNEW!!!?!?!

The initial idea was to paint them all up in a modified Boba Fett Scheme -



ARMOR: Using a blue-green basecoat up to the proper green highlights for the primary armor plates.
SECONDARY: Reds and Yellow
UNDERCARRIAGE: Washed boltgun, drybrushed and highlighted to simulate the grey undersuit

Then there'd be the obvious liberties, burnished gold trim to help hint at the yellow, battle damage, etc. etc.


After some thought, however, I decided that that would just be too simple - and if everyone looked like the Fett, where's the standoutness? Where's the unique flavor? So back to the drawing board.


After scouring the interwebs (mostly wiki's and wookies), I found some more concept art, reminisced over my Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, and decided on another way to proceed.



s.jpg[/img]




This is the image that made it all clear:



WHY DID I NOT SEE IT SOONER? Because I'm thick of course.

Mandalorians (according to the internet) often painted their armor differently. Sometimes without respect to rank and other silly things you don't want to point out to your enemies while fighting.

Wookipedia:

" The appearance of a Mandalorian's armor was largely up to the individual, as the highly independent Mandalorian people customized their armor with different colored paint schemes, clan and unit sigils, personalized glyphs, or other marking patterns in accordance to their own tastes."

Gray= Mourning a Lost Love
Red= Honoring a Father]
Black= Justice
Gold= Vengeance
Green= Duty
Blue= Reliability
Orange= A Lust for Life

With this in mind, it brings a lot of depth to the paint schemes.

Boba Fett - "dad" was killed, very dedicated to his bounties = Green and Red


SO, now each will be painted differently... but I still feel like they need something to tie them together.... you know... since there will be six of them.....



... that'll do.


GAME PLAN:

King, Queen, Jack, Ace, and two jokers - black and red.

Each will have a different paint scheme, different personal crests, but will each have the playing card symbol with the Mandalorian Skull associated some how - either half and half, or overlayed, idk yet.

SWEET!!! Now that the difficult part is over, lets get to working on that model kit:











Oh... wait.... that's been done already....

Well how about conversions? Boba Fett has all kinda of outrageous....... well he definitely has stuff attached to his.......

Okay, so Boba Fett lets his demeanor do the talking. So what about more technical problems, such as transport? Surely there's a way to bring in the all mighty magnet to this seemingly simple model. Right?

In the latest White Dwarf - there's a photo showing that the writer used sprue glued to the pivot on the hips to allow the torso to spin. Good idea, but then you can't take the torso off. So this was my solution!


First, you snip off the nub that fits into the torso. Drill in a bit, glue a large magnet almost too big to fit in the torso hole and BAM:


Next you take a large, round magnet and glue it to the interior side of the torso - I added sprue for extra security.



And BAM.




Strong, secure, and makes storage a breeze. Also, allows your to pivot 360 degrees like a top - smooth as a Mandalorian kill shot.


Now to begin the painting - as you may have noticed, there are pieces missing from the body - leg plates, shoulder stubber, etc. - those are kept separate to enable easier painting later. Right now, just focused on the undercarriage.

Going with the GW white dwarf suggestion:

PRIME: Black
BASE: Boltgun Metal (leadbelcher)
WASH: Badab Black (nuln oil) - went 1/1 with nuln oil to make it easier to coat again if necessary.
DRYBUSH: Boltgun Metal (leadbelcher)
HIGHLIGHT: Chainmail (ironbreaker) - light drybrush to pick out edges
HIGHLIGHT: Mythril SIlver (Runefang Steel) - spot highlight, will be done after model is assembled so that I know where the the highlights will help draw attention to important details.


AND......

Here is the basecoat:





Oh, before I forget, I'd like to point out in the above image how GW pretty much copied DFG's Leviathan modular arms system: Yes, DFG has them in the actual arm while GW has theirs in the arm.

Not knocking what GW has done - honestly it is a welcomed innovation (sad that I feel this way about GW), and when someone finds a better way to do something, there's no point in trying to fight progress.

That's it for now. Hope my random thoughts and comments didn't distract too much.


NEXT POST:

- More WIP for the undercarriage
- Additional Mandalore Musings
- Continued dry humor? I think so.

Keep on Keepin on!

I am subscribed sir, your rants amuse me and I just learned stuff about the galaxies favorite bounty hunter that I never knew before.

I would have gone with six of the large Armored Core models from Kotobukiya to give you a wide range of characters within the same size and weight class. But still, it's an interesting theme nonetheless.

Thanks for the comments on my thread!

Looks like an awesome project. Definitely going to be following this one.

Subbed

Here is a shameless plug, http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php . That is the Mercs costuming group, go deep into the mines young one and see what real Mandolorians can do.

Also Fett never died to the sarlacc he very much survived .

I await with eager anticipation of what is to come.

looks cool. looking forward to seeing more

So, turns out this project is more exciting than I originally predicted!!! Made a LOT of progress tonight, so hopefully this update will be quick.


FIRST: Responses to Posts

bossfearless wrote:I would have gone with six of the large Armored Core models from Kotobukiya to give you a wide range of characters within the same size and weight class. But still, it's an interesting theme nonetheless.

That is an EXCELLENT idea. Haven't thought about Armored core for many years now. After googling some model kits, I have to say that I may have a new side hobby thanks to you!

madmartykmf wrote:Thanks for the comments on my thread!

Looks like an awesome project. Definitely going to be following this one.

Subbed

Not a problem Marty! Actually, you may be hearing from me quite frequently here in a little bit. As you may have guessed from my signature, I backed Tablescapes by SWM. Should be receiving my Urban/Destroyed Urban tiles here in a few months. Already purchased two GW Imperial City Boxe's - the ones with 10+ buildings supposedly. I love the work you've done on your terrain, and will most likely be looking for some feedback from you if you don't mind.

Lucazi wrote:I am subscribed sir, your rants amuse me and I just learned stuff about the galaxies favorite bounty hunter that I never knew before.

All kidding aside, I'm equally excited. I am not a treky or a Star Wars Buff (like both of them), but I recently got into the Star Wars X-Wing miniatures game. I believe it was that combined with a buddy of mine that is taking a Star Wars in Today's Culture course at College that helped spur the inspiration for the house.

BunkerBob wrote:Here is a shameless plug, http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php . That is the Mercs costuming group, go deep into the mines young one and see what real Mandolorians can do.

Also Fett never died to the sarlacc he very much survived .

I await with eager anticipation of what is to come.

Hope my Boba Fett looks like he's survived several sarlacc's! Looked at the site briefly btw - will need to look into it in depth later though.

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:looks cool. looking forward to seeing more

Thank ya Sir! Hope to deliver.


NOW FOR THE UPDATE:

So I managed to get the undercarriage washed, drybrushed, washed, re-washed, drybrushed, and sealed.



Didn't like how it turned out using black for the wash,


so then just used Agrax Earthshade (Devlan Mud) and it turned out perfect! Nice and oily, grimy, and just looks like it's been too concerned with killing stuff to care about hygiene.





So step 1 is complete - still need to come back and do all the detail bits - hydraulics, cables, super highlights, blah blah blah.


So, with the undercarriage out of the way, I decided to test out the paints and see what color would get me the proper green...



After several attempts to blend, mix, and pick one - I gave up.

Not really, but I did have to go make myself some dinner - Shake-N-Bake Chicken and Pork Tenderloin. WAS FANTASTIC.

Took a picture to make you all jealous!



So while I was munching down, I thought about the paint scheme. Originally I was going to do a rust undercoat and then chip paint off to have that worn feel. But rust doesn't really scream professional...



I mean, most professional bounty hunters that I could image would not want rust spots to be their calling card - on their vehicles, tools, or armor in this case. But rust is a natural occurrence, especially when a bounty hunter would be going around to different planets and environments to hunt down prey. And the most dangerous prey typically go to the most inhospitable environments to evade capture.



So, rust happens when the elements get past the paint onto the actual metal.

When this happens you have one of two options - paint over it and pretend like it never happened until the rust spreads so far that the paint won't stay on....

OR

Sandblast the rust off and repaint!


SO: The new plan for the armor:

1) Basecoat armor using faded colors
2) Apply sponge rust and damage in areas
3) Apply topcoat of armor color, and chip away to show the old paint and rust in areas


So after finishing dinner, and cleaning up dinner, and planning dinner tomorrow, I managed to get back to work.

HERE IS THE PRODUCT:





I only laid down the faded armor colors. Plan to let it dry overnight, seal it, then apply the rust. Also knocking around the idea of applying some coffee stains here and there as well. I mean come on - stuff gets dirty.

Also, I have to point this out - I went ahead and applied some white primer over the black to pre-shade highlights before I decided on the new course of action.



And I've done this before on stuff, large and small, and I have to say this is the first time, the FIRST TIME, I've ever noticed actual highlights showing through the color. Probably helps that the green was somewhat opaque.

Well, that's it for tonight/early morning. Hope everyone has a fantastic day.

Keep on Keepin on!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Okay, so I couldn't resist....








Oh yeah, looking good.... though it has become blatantly apparent that I did not basecoat the correct mask.

Love it and is it worth the small fortune you have to pay for it??

 Miss Dee wrote:
Love it and is it worth the small fortune you have to pay for it??

Glad you like it!

As far as worth vs cost, it really depends on your perspective.

As far as a miniature, that is always up to preference. I feel that the miniature is well crafted and highly detailed, but still lends itself to being easy to paint for those with budding skills via drybrushing and washes, while those with more advanced skills have a lot of wiggle room to show off.

BTW, I am by NO MEANS much more than average in my opinion.


Gaming wise, I believe it is a fun tool to have in the kit, but if you want it for strictly gaming I think everyone can wait till the codex comes out and we all know just what it can do beyond the WD rules.


End of the day, I feel it is a thing of beauty - mainly because of what GW has done to support it and help people to build and paint the kit.

Wonder if it will go with my Marines



Automatically Appended Next Post:
And Tau


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Must be a hell of a big mug of Jo

Great work so far and I love the humor, heh. Keep it up!

You appear to have used the wrong faceplate!

Seriously cool looking scheme and idea in general.

There are certain facts in life. The sky is blue, grass tends to be green, and when you take off work Monday and Tuesday, something is bound to go wrong.

Here's a brief recap of last night:



Things were great! Made some progress, drank Almond milk (new addiction), and went to bed at 4:00am CST with a genuine, well deserved sense of F**K YEAH!

Seeing as it was my day off, I woke up around 10:00am, then slept in till Noonish. Rolled out of bed, untucked the bedsheets, and took them to the basement to do laundry.

The Plan for Today - initially:

1) Laundry
2) Lunch
3) Lounge
4) Lick some more painting

Not a bad plan, not an overly adventurous or demanding plan right?

Walked down the stair case to the basement, and as I rounded the to railing I heard this god awful sound - I can only describe it as two sheets of iron being polished with a naked baby.



It was at this point I thought:



I soon found out as my bare foot being submerged into an icy pool of water jarred me to full alertness.




HERE WAS MY NEW PLAN FOR THE DAY!!!




Fortune, Fate, Karma, God, and a liberal slathering of luck was on my side however for two reasons:

1) As I am able to post this to you all, I am obviously not dead. Something that I wish I had thought about before turning on lights and thinking "Wait, shouldn't I have been shocked?"

and most importantly:

2)

IT DIDN'T GET INTO THE WORK ROOM!!!! ATLEAST NOT ENOUGH TO BE TICKED OFF ABOUT!!!!!!

That means the computer, miniatures, and the airbrush station were not ruined, and will be up and operational in a day or two.


SO, what else can I say but how wonderfully difficult it is to look on the bright side of life when things were just peachy yesterday.

I mean, not to belittle how very lucky I am, but now I am faced with water remediation bills, increased electric bills thanks to the fans and dehumidifiers necessary to dry out the basement. Not to mention that if there's any structural damage to the property, my Landlord can come back at me to pay to fix it.

BUT, there is ANOTHER BRIGHT SIDE!!!


I have been an insurance adjuster for almost two years now. This is my first time being on the receiving end of needing to turn in a claim. It is definitely opened my eyes that much more to the strife, irritation, and rational/irrational paranoia that sets in to most insureds when they have to turn in a claim.

I think my buddy Archer said it best:





SO, this brings me to the sudden, daunting realization that I hope you will all understand and support me in.

To deal with the added possibility of some crazy huge bills which are inevitable - believe me - I have decided to start selling off a lot of my NIB and NOS kits that have been building up for later projects.

I'd ask that anyone in need of TAU, NECRONS, or RANDOM STUFF please take a moment to look at my trade thread. If I can help you get something cheaper than retail, you'll help me to get back on the progress bus.



SO, IN MY NEXT UPDATE:

1) Update regarding the remediation
2) Update regarding bills - bleh
3) RESPONSES TO YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS!!!!
4) More WIP photos of the Fett - hopefully. Likely. Sorta....

Goodnight, Godspeed, and always cut the water going to your washing machine when you're not using it. TRUST ME.

Keep on Keepin on!

Big hugs

Miss Dee wrote:Wonder if it will go with my Marines



Automatically Appended Next Post:
And Tau


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Must be a hell of a big mug of Jo

Now that the Dex is out, I know it will work for Marines, and I think it is either Desperate or Convenience w/ Tau

Frankenberry wrote:Great work so far and I love the humor, heh. Keep it up!

Thanks sir! Appreciate the appreciation for my humor. Or lack there of. Depends on perspective..... yeah...

Medium of Death wrote:You appear to have used the wrong faceplate!

Seriously cool looking scheme and idea in general.

I noticed the faceplate issue. Already have the correct one cleaned and primed. Glad you approve of the scheme too!



SO, HERE'S THE SITUATION!!!




1) Basement has been cleaned, but still disorganized like a china shop.
2) Insurance has been in touch (finally), and sending someone to look it over.
3) Still have yet to hear if I have to pay this out of pocket or not, so yeah.....


Besides all that nonsense, things are looking up!! Work room is in (enough) order so that I could start airbrushing again. Took the downtime from painting to go ahead and assemble Knight #2.


THE PLAN (if you can call it that):

Thinking that this one needs to be Jango. Just feels like they'd be an excellent pair on the tabletop - Jango's cooler color scheme and more well kept armor staunchly contrasting Boba's warmer colors and grittier, more well worn color scheme.

Will post photos later tonight or tomorrow if all goes well. The undercarriage is already at the wash stage - decided to start with Chainmail (Ironbreaker) as I wanted Jango to be brighter. Debating mixing a bit of blue wash with the highlight drybrush coat to get a subtle blue tinge. Think a nice, subtle blue hue across the undercarriage would help to punctuate that cooler feel while the Greasy, brown colors of Boba's helps make the model feel more warm and worn.

Thoughts? Comments? Hate mail? Me too. Email, now that's the future!

Keep on Keepin on!

GUESS WHO JOINED THE PARTY??!?!

Mr. Fett Senior! How nice it is to see you!!!



Went for a brighter metal for the undercarriage. Also attempted to mix some blue wash in with the runefang steel for the final highlight to give a cobalt feel. It looked good in the pot, but did not come out so well in the final drybrush. oh well.







Here's a nice side by side compared to Boba's chassis. I still can't get a good enough lighting setup to really show the distinction well.



Here's the basecoat blue. I did not do the white primer pre-shading like I did with Boba. I wanted to do something different for each of them. The end result is to have Jango looking sleeker and less aged - may have mentioned this before.... oh well!







Finally a nice closeup of the armor plates w/ the chassis color. Still has a dirty, greasy feel to it but not as pervasive as Boba's.

Now, just to show a nice comparison:




Well that's about it for tonight. I better hit the hay - big work day tomorrow. Thanks for looking, and as always any comments are welcomed.

Keep on Sleepin on!

Looking bloody fantastic

Miss Dee wrote:Looking bloody fantastic

Thank you! It's turning out much better than I had hoped.


NOW, THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!


HUGE RUSTY UPDATE!!


So I applied rust using the sponge technique. Colors proceeded in the following order:

1) Scorched Brown
2) Dark Flesh
3) Snake Bit Leather

Then I hit it with Dark Flesh again to blend the colors. Did not like how that made it too toned down, so then I mixed Scorched Brown w/ Blazing Orange (not sure on mix ratio) to get a nice pumpkin orange color. Sponged that on top sporadically and BAM!

Finished up with a wash of AK Interactive's Rust Streaks Enamel Rusty Wash Effect. Put it just like a thick wash over the areas of rust. Once it dried, came back with a medium flat brush dipped lightly in white spirits. Started above the rust spots, and just pulled it down. Thinned the wash out and caused it to streak. This allowed the base colors to shine through here and there and actually make it look more realistic.

Sealed with matte sealer, and here's the results! Hope you enjoy as much as I did!!!


































And here's what they look like with the armor plates on:
























Side by Side:









Now, the next step is to start the salt weathering and apply AK Interactive's heavy chipping medium/ chipping medium appropriately. Then basecoats for the fresh top coat off paint, then get to the real weathering!

Let me know what you think guys! REALLY looking for some feedback. I'll catch you all in the next update!

Keep on Keepin on!

Looking awesome. Love the concept and execution, and this project's scale is equalled by the clear enthusiasm. Commiserations on the flood damage.

Looking forward to more.

Paradigm wrote:Looking awesome. Love the concept and execution, and this project's scale is equalled by the clear enthusiasm. Commiserations on the flood damage.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you for the compliment good sir! The project is growing continually, and I find myself struggling to incorporate everything haha. And thank you for the sympathy regarding the basement situation. It's getting easier, and there's actual progress being made on insurance end.



THE RUSTY UPDATE - PART II


So after picking up some course grade sea salt, and mixing it with some standard table sat - this was the result:



After a quick shake, this was the consistency that the first pinch came up with:



So there's a couple ways to apply the salt. I opted to use water first. The problem I ran into is that with the varnish on the pieces, the water pooled and ran off so it was difficult to get the salt applied. Here was the result off a few minutes working on the shoulders:





The pooling is really apparent here.

So with this bit of experience under the belt, I opted to run to the store for some hairspray. This was the cheapest stuff I could find:



$2.50 approx.


So about 15 minutes later and a half empty salt container - BAM!!!











About an hour later, I sprayed another layer over the top of all the pieces just to make sure the salt was secure.


UP NEXT:

Going to let things dry a bit longer, then going to use a brush to clean up some salt on Jango since I want him to look slightly less beat up (starting to feel like I'm saying that a LOT haha)

After that - airbrush a layer of AK Interactive Chipping Medium & Worn Effects respectively, then on to the basecoat - then the chipping begins.

Feeling really good about this!



Keep on Keepin on!!!

Jander Sunstar, original name of Boba, until the rewrite of starwars fluff and made him a clone, can't remember the name of his home planet. old school

This just made me grin a whole lot more than building some sicty Pikemen for Pike & shot ddi! On a differet note, top notch work here sir. Subsrcibed and dont keep us waiting!

That rust method is really good.

I wanna see the finished product :3

landcruiserlarry wrote:Jander Sunstar, original name of Boba, until the rewrite of starwars fluff and made him a clone, can't remember the name of his home planet. old school

Good to Know! I'll see if I can't incorporate that into the final scroll work.

Trondheim wrote:This just made me grin a whole lot more than building some sicty Pikemen for Pike & shot ddi! On a differet note, top notch work here sir. Subsrcibed and dont keep us waiting!

Thank ya sir! I hope you enjoy this update. I don't know if I can make you wait long as I am chomping at the bit to get these guys done and on a table ASAP.

AntomanElven wrote:That rust method is really good.

I wanna see the finished product :3

Wish I could say it was all my own doing - but really just an amalgamation of multiple tutorials and stuffs that I finally broke down and did my own way haha.



LAST UPDATE BEFORE I SLEEP SOME!!!


BOOM - Salt weathered and sexy. Let me know what your thoughts are!

Still needs to be picked out and detailed with metal scraps and stuff in addition to washes, but that's for later today haha.


















Sorry for the short and hopefully sweet update - just sooooooooooo tired.

Keep on keep....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I really like this idea! The only thing I could say is to maybe highlight the armor a bit? (talking about the non metal parts), Like Black lining the armor etc. Otherwise I really like where this is going.

Mix devlin mud and the septa wash and use it on the stacks

Axlangel wrote:I really like this idea! The only thing I could say is to maybe highlight the armor a bit? (talking about the non metal parts), Like Black lining the armor etc. Otherwise I really like where this is going.

No worries, that is definitely going to happen!

Miss Dee wrote:Mix devlin mud and the septa wash and use it on the stacks

Will include all washes after the armor is finished. But I think I can do that!



UPDATE:


BAM!! MAJOR PROGRESS TODAY!!!

I'll let the photos tell the story!

Though it is important to mention that this pictures of Jango's Slave I had an impact on the final paint choices:



And here's the good part:























FANTASTIC WEEKEND for progress!

Please share your thoughts! Thank you and goodnight.

You did an awesome job on the diamond pattern. It looks incredibly straight.

Agreed, love that shoulder pad in the latest pic so far although it may need to be weathered a bit like the other sections.

Do you have any tips on doing the diamonds? I have knight sat on my desk begging me for some diamond love