Salamanders space marine is done. Not the best paint job, but I think the freehand symbol isn't bad.

Still not much hobby time, but I have been putting a little more paint on my Ultramarines.


I also sculpted a Blood Angels symbol on a shoulder pad yesterday.

Slick sculpting once again

Thanks Graven I actually feel like I should have been able to do a better job, but the putty really wasn't behaving. I remember reading about a GW sculptor in White Dwarf talking about how hard green stuff was to work with on a really hot day.

I'm happy to say that I finished painting seven marines today.
The two Ultramarines from the flamer squad:


And the Sternguard Veterans are finally done, after having to repaint some mistakes.

Repaint... or repent? looking cool, like the combi plasma dude especially

Thanks Graven The combi-plasma and the heavy bolter are my two favorite sternguard.

I finished the Blood Angel. Only the Space Wolf is left of the flamer squad. (Sorry the pictures are blurry)




I just bought Space Marine: the board game, today.


I also bought a first born space marine librarian when I heard they were being discontinued. Been playing with molding.

I have been making some custom paints and testing them out on the start of my Tyranids.


I have also been making weapon arms for my favorite type of dreadnought to give it the same weapon loadout as a Ballistus Dreadnought.



I have also started base coating my Space Wolf

IRL isn't leaving me much hobby time lately, but I got a little sculpting in yesterday.

I have finished painting the Space Wolves marine, that's the last of my flamer marines. I should set up a group shot next time.




I have also gotten some more sculpting done on this one from yesterday.

Here's all the flamer marines together for the group shot I said I would make (I didn't realize the back line was so blurry. The Imperial Fist looks cell shaded)


I've also finished painting my Tyranid ripper swarms

The photo of all the flamer marines, each from a different chapter, reminds me of my earliest days playing 40K, back before every model had to have the same paint scheme. Very nice!

Thanks Josh!

IRL got pretty terrible, so I have been away for a little while. But, it's hard to stay away from this hobby.

I have built 6 more Plague Marines from the kit, bringing the total to 14.


I also finally have magnets, so I have attached two new weapon arms to my favorite kind of dreadnought to represent the Ballistus dreadnought from the Leviathan box set. Once this guy is painted I will have completed the entire space marine side of my homemade Leviathan box set.


I have also decided to try to scratch build an Earthshaker cannon for this months painting challenge "Suns out, Guns out".



Thanks for stopping by

Hey
Sorry RL is kicking you bud. Loving papa's boys and can't wait to see your big dakka!

Clean use of bits on this cannon Syro_, and cool plague marines ! Stay strong mate !

I love your blue little robot! It's so cute. I hope life gets better for you soon.

Thank you, you three. I appreciate the words of support.

I have been working on sculpting a Death Korp of Krieg guardsman. I started with a copy of the torso and legs of a chaos cultist.

That's a really cool build. Simple and effective GS work. Have you considered guitar wire for piping?

I also started a big squiggoth 14 years ago and have not finished it.......so you still have time!

@inmygravenimage: Thanks Graven! I'm happy with how it's turning out. Hopefully I can get better pictures of it. I have heard about guitar wire many times and keep meaning to try it, but never have. I never remember to get any, and I'm not patient enough to pause a project when it would be useful to use. Do you have any suggestions on which size/key of guitar would be best?

@Tommygun1918: Luckily I did finish my one big squiggoth after 10 years. Just not the other four

Jokes about g strings aside, I steal bass strings off friends

The Krieg guardsman is looking really promising!

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Jokes about g strings aside, I steal bass strings off friends

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for that size.

@Slinky: Thanks!

The variety of stuff you keep churning out always impresses me! Keep up the good work.

Thanks Commander Cain I'm equally impressed how you stay so focused and productive without jumping around topics the way I do.

I've been to busy to get much progress, but I did a little more work on the barrel and started building a wheel that I plan t make a mold of. The wheel started as a cast copy of a terminator base, 35mm.

That's some super scratch-building!

Thanks Slinky, I'm sorry to say that I haven't worked on it since that last post.

Work and the baby have been leaving me with barely any hobby time, but having recently bought the original Apocalypse book (I already have the one for 6th/7th edition), I've gotten excited and started trying to build a warhound titan using a paper craft file I found.

It's taken around four days of work to get this far on the feet:

After I cut everything out, before folding and gluing:


This is taking longer than I expected, and it made me think about how so far it has been pretty straight forward geometric shapes, all the complexity has been folding to give width. So I cut a copy of the pieces I have made so far out of XPS foam in about an hour.


About a month ago, my nephew wanted to run a Percy Jackson inspired D&D game. The big bad is a giant named Caucus who appears in the book in boxer shorts a robe and slippers. He can also breath fire. I made this guy for him in a single 3-hour sculpting session. I will have to try to grab a picture of it painted, I think my nephew did a good job painting him.

The paper craft warhound feet so far:

Nice feet. They look the part. My only concern would be how much weight they can support. A war hound is a proper engineering project.

Thanks theCrowe And your concerns may be well founded. I'm just following the directions, we'll find out together if it works or not. If it doesn't work I'll start trying to jury-rig it into working. I was surprised that this papercraft doesn't have any tabs for attachment, so I have been making tabs as I go.

I have been adding pistons (but ran out of styrene tubes)


While I wait for my order of more styrene tubes to arrive, I continued building.

Go for it. Looking great so far. There is a great deal of interpretation needed in these designs, from memory. I referenced pics alot and altered applicably. Your off to a great start.

Wow, that's a really great start!

Rock on, Syro! Consid4ring how full life is for you just now, it gives me some grit to keep at my little projects even more. It's one thing to have an established color scheme on familiar figures and mechanically crank things out by rote; it's another thing entirely to creatively design something from the immaterial goo (in your case, glue stick) like the giant or actively interpret the instructions for the War Hound- takes brain power.

Your progress in all the variety of your imaginative projects is impressive- keep having fun!

@Camkierhi: Thanks Cam! I remember you made a cool Warhound for someone as a gift before (Was it Sir Donald?) Were you following any plans like this, or just picture references?
@Slinky: Thanks! No way it will look as good as the warhound you just finished painting, but hopefully it turn out well.
@Meer_Cat: Thanks so much Meer_Cat but don't sell yourself short. I remember lots of amazing scratch builds on your blog, and everyone is enjoying the great job you are doing on the pixies

The styrene tubes should arrive in a few days, and with the long weekend over I won't be able to work as much on this. It feels good getting some hobby time in, it feels like it's been forever. I've worked some more on the legs:

Not everything has arrived yet, but I thought I would share my holiday hobby haul.


48 new fantasy miniatures.

A new ancient historic wargame.

And perhaps most exciting (since my unfinished Warhound titan isn't enough) my brother has been printing me a Reaver titan.

Wow! Double Titan build! That’s some serious hobby-load going into the new year. What skin-tone will you be painting them both?

Those monsters look interesting too. What are they?

Thanks theCrowe, a double titan build is a lot of work to take on. Me being ridiculous, I am actually trying to build three titans currently. I'm making a second warhound out of foam. I was feeling irritated about how long it was taking to make quite basic geometric shapes the paper craft way, so I wanted to see how easy/difficult it would be to craft mostly from XPS foam. I haven't decided on the titan paint job yet, but maybe I should try to have it from the forge world that I made up?


As for the monsters, they are Wildspire miniatures. This set:
https://wild-spire.com/products/monsters-of-solan-set-of-68

I just finished a Dark Angels space marine tactical squad today that I have been slowly painting for over a month during little snatches of free time.


I also finished this custom miniature for one of my D&D players a few weeks ago:


I have been trying to rush out some D&D minis for a new adventure, this is a quick giant electric eel (I have another mini at school that I can't photograph):

Progress on the warhound legs. I'm worried I will have to order styrene tubes again before this project is over.


I also forgot to post earlier, but my freind's Joseph broke in her Nativity Scene, so as a gift I am scuplting her a new Joseph. Everything but the face is sculpted.

So many projects on the go!

Good luck with the titans build - legs looking good so far. I'm making note to buy shares in styrene tubes in 2024...

Love the D&D work - we finally got to play a one shot after about a 9 month break from our Curse of Strahd campaign due to real life stuff. I like making minis for my players too - nice halfling (?) - and is that eel from a kit somewhere or did you make it out of hotglue/something similar?

Some sound sculpting on display with Joseph too - check out those hands!

Great stuff Syro.

Thanks tzurk
Awesome to hear that you were able to get back to playing. And yes, the sculpt is a halfling, an extra small halfling. And as for the eel, yes it was a quick and dirty hot glue creation.

A little more progress on the warhound, but that I have to make up the tabs for every piece slows things down a little. These will be the waist sections.

Jiminey, Syro- everything looks great and all kinds of talent showing up! The detail on the Warhound legs is amazing. I've always liked the idea of playing with different diameter tubes to make hydraulic or pneumatic actions on things, but never to this degree!

Wondering if you can't embed an LED and battery (or conceal the battery in a 'water weeds' stand for the figure) to make the eel light up? I may have to play with my hot glue gun!

rock on!

Go for it with playing with your hot glue gun But don't tempt me with that cool idea about lighting the electric eel, you can see how I over complicte things with my titan project And thank you.

I think the few new pieces really tie the warhound legs together


I'm also continuing to make pieces for the foam warhound titan. No that the card warhound's legs are done, I have a better idea of how to put together the foam warhound for a more dynamic pose

That's very exciting. I admire your ambition with this cardboard beast!

Thanks Graven!

I realize that I should share something hobby adjacent that I completed this year. I finished collecting the entirety of the Horus Heresy novel series.


I've injured my back, so I can't set up all my minis for an end of the year hobby retrospective yet, so I will just talk about it.

I sculpted a total of 54 miniatures this year (30 less than my record last year). Some highlights are Heracles, the prisoners from the D&D adventure "Out of the Abyss", and attempting to make my own custom made Leviathan box set.



I painted a total of 230 miniatures this year (23 more than any previous year).
Highlights include a homemade Ultramarines terminator captain, a member of each first founding space marine chapter, the big squiggoth from the first page of my blog, Mamon the daemon prince (also from the first page of my blog), a fire snake made from hot glue, and lots of tiny American revolution soldiers.


The highlight of terrain is that I went back and finished making Tresendar Manor from the D&D starter set.

Happy new year! Amazing work on the titans, and congrats on an awesome total for 2023!

Thanks Slinky!

" I finished collecting the entirety of the Horus Heresy novel series. "

Oh, you poor, poor man. You'll go blind!

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
" I finished collecting the entirety of the Horus Heresy novel series. "

Oh, you poor, poor man. You'll go blind!

Blind and broke
I finished 5 Horus Novels last year plus 9 other Warhammer books in 2023. Already finished two more HH novels this year because of my back injury.

I made this for a D&D game in late December, but left it at school, so didn't get to photograph it until today.

That's a huge output for the year mate, well done.

I actually saw a Horus Heresy book in real life for the first time the other day when I took the kids to the library. I did a bit of googling and got stuck in a rabbit hole before I'd ever read a single word of the series so good luck to you!

Sweet lobster boi too!

Thanks tzurk!

That giant shrimp (?) is an amazing scratchbuild, nicely done!

Thanks Slinky! I like how it turned out, especially since it was surprisingly fast to make.

Here are the first 7 painted minis of 2024. 6 more chaos gnomes and a giant electric eel.


I have also been working on making my last seven plague marines to use up the last of the bits from the kit.


I took out all of my painted (or mostly painted) space marines, and by 6th/7th edition rules my total painted force is 2201 points (though many aren't legal to play)

Using the entire Horus Heresy as a backdrop for your marines is so meta.

Nice work on the sculpting as always. Was eyeing up your Tresendar Manor too. Looks like a great table for skirmish gaming on too. Hope it stores away well.

How’s your back?

Thanks theCrowe, I thought it made a fun background
Luckily, Tresendar Manor packs up decently well, except the central chasm piece. I have a plastic bin that I hope to be able to fit everything for the entire starter set play through. I'm not sure if it will work. I will probably have to design something different for tree storage.

And thanks for your concern about my back. It's much better than it was, since I was basically bed-ridden for a while. My chiropractor says he's impressed with how fast my improvement is, but it's much slower than I would like. I miss being able to lift and carry things, and being able to exercise.

Small update. I've started slowly piecing together the second titan's foot. This titan is my attempt to see if I can improve on the paper craft titan build in speed and looks.

A little progress on the foam foot

Lecky eel took the paint really well!

Foam foot lookin good. Are you finding it faster than playing around with cardboard?

Thanks tzurk Making the shapes for the foam titan is definitely much faster, but unfortunately it's having plenty of it's own unique challenges.

 theCrowe wrote:
Using the entire Horus Heresy as a backdrop for your marines is so meta.

I'm realizing it will be hard to have the group photos of everything I made/painted in 2023 with many of them at school. Here is my entire painted ork force at the end of 2023, with appropriate backdrop . By 7th edition rules it is 1319 points.

Waaaaagh to you good sir !

Thanks Kernel Terror

I'm nearly finished making my last 7 plague marines, just a few more arms and details.


I had also already packed away my death guard shoulder push molds, when I realised I needed to decorate a plain pauldron, so I sculpted this creepy face on it.

I really love that cheeky wee face!

Nicely sculpted!

Have to exalt the painted army post there Syro_

Cheers,

CB

Thank you all, for so many comments

@inmygravenimage: Thanks Graven. For such a fast and simple sculpt, I'm quite taken with it's look too.
@Slinky: Thanks!
@Captain Brown: Thanks CB, it feels good to get them out and look at them.

With the two custom sculpted shoulder pad brothers, I am officially done making my Death Guard Plague Marines.


To not have left over bits and feel I got my money's worth, I have built 21 Plague Marines out of the kit of 7.

Impressive! Papa will surely bless you.

Great army shot of the orks - they look awesome all ranked up!

Very clever work getting triple the bang for your buck with the plague marines there too. Love the shoulder faces - Mike Wazowski and the Staypuft Marshmallow Man?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Impressive! Papa will surely bless you.

I wonder if that's why I have been fighting a cold for the last 5 days

@tzurk: Thanks tzurk. The shoulder faces may be doppelgangers for those two

 Syro_ wrote:
...I have built 21 Plague Marines out of the kit of 7.

My man! Looks great too.

Thanks jabbakahut, and good to see you again. It's been a while.

I saw a post of a Warhammer Facebook group talking about Warhammer book collections and thought maybe this group would enjoy seeing mine (Rather than just Horus Heresy)

I have been collecting Siege of Terra for when I finish HH, but don't want to wait and get scalped like I did on some of the HH books.


I have read nearly all of the books on the bottom shelf, and I think now on the shelf above it Got some of these in book lots.


To read after Siege of Terra and because I seem to be having more trouble with impulse control, I've started collecting "The Rise of the Beast" as well. The Apocalypse Warzone books were Christmas and birthday presents.


Horus Heresy again, just to have the pics together (I'm 2/3 of the way through HH #33 "War without End"):


I also have the Forges of Mars Omnibus (not pictured), one book in the mail, and one pre-ordered. Not to mention I gave away around 20 of my 40k books to a friend about a year ago. They were duplicates and books/authors that I didn't like. This will be a lot of reading.

These four are a slow burn project that I hope to eventually finish, but am not expecting to any time soon.


I also just finished and sculpting a model that I am keeping as a surprise. Now I just need to paint it.

If anyone visiting my blog doesn't already know about theCrowe's TONKs blog, you should go check it out. It has a lot of fun builds and battle reports. With four elimination battle over, we are now into the semi-finals. And remember, root for Tekno-Rex
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/811749.page

In support of theCrowe's TONKs blog and Tekno-Rex, I give you Tekno-Squiggoth made in support of Tekno-Rex.




This was the model I was keeping as a surprise. I have been working on it for a little over a week, every since Tekno-Rex won its first battle.
WIP

I felt inspired to make an Alpha legionary for the current Dakka monthly painting challenge, because how could I not with that description?
"This month, keep an eye out for what comes From the Shadows -- A knife in the dark, camouflaged sniper, or any blow that your opponent will never see coming. Subtlety and deception should be the order of the day."



Going is slow with how busy and tired I am. I also keep forgetting putty and sculpting tools at school. I am teaching some of my students how to sculpt miniatures.

Good luck in the monthly painting challenge Syro_

Cheers,

CB

Thanks CB IRL is kicking my butt right now, so unlikely I will finish on time, but still progressing slowly.

Finished building/sculpting my Alpha Legionary:

Loving your work sir.

Thanks Graven

I just finished (possibly) Alpharius for the Dakka monthly painting challenge.

Great job on that alpha marine, Syro. Helmet really captures the hoplite vibe and goes great with the scales. Good luck in the challenge!

Thanks tzurk

Was a joy to browse through your recent (and not so recent) creations. They always make me smile!

Creating that many Plague Marines out of a single box is quite the accomplishment!
It was fun to see how there were less and less plastic bits from the kit the further away from the box the models stood, yet they still looked like they fit the group!

Thanks so much Ezki
I tried to arrange the plague marines in order of when I made them. I'm glad you like the effect and think they fit together.

Not much hobby time this month, but I have been working on fixing up and painting my six scratch built killakansfor the monthly painting competition.

Ooooh, this is awesome.
But can you put pringles in them ?

That's some very nice scratchbuilding, they will look great once done I am sure!

Amazing work on those Kans.

Wow, thanks for all the support.
@Kernel_Terror: heh heh, thanks They are too small to fit Pringles in, unfortunately. Also they are glued shut.
@Slinky: Thanks Slinky, I hope you like how they turned out.
@Not Online!!!: Thanks so much

The Kans are done

Those are some really funky models. They look exactly like something a Mekboy would throw together in his workshop.

OK, those killa kans are just plain fun.

Very nicely done- gotta say: my favorite is the one that appears ready to beat something to death with the upraised sprocket- that's orc-atude for ya!

Thanks so much Josh, Tommygun and Meer, I'm glad you guys like them.

I just finished painting all my remaining Dark Angels space marines with plasma cannons for this month's Dakka painting comp.


I started with these many pieces from Dark Vengeance starter sets


I was missing pieces, so cast some:



Painting process:




Thanks for stopping by!

Serious production going on here. Excellent work.

Thanks Cam, it feels good to accomplish something hobby wise after having no time/energy for so long. I hope I can keep up my momentum, because my next project is even more ambitious: I plan to batch paint all my remaining Dark Angels tactical marines.

There's been quite a few hold-ups and set backs, but I am chugging along with my tactical marines now. Though I seem to have lost enough of my plasma guns and bolters that I don't have enough on hand.

I have finally finished painting my Dark Angels green.


I also finally have someone to play Wrath of Kings with, so I'll be starting to work on that soon.

That's handy! They look fairly armless!

Great work. Nice neat work too.

Thanks Cam
Yep, perhaps foolishly I am painting them in sub-assemblies. None of them have hands, guns, or backpacks yet. I'm still in the process of figuring out how many bolters I need to cast, and finish priming them all.

Speaking of armless, I've started priming the guns and backpacks