Anyways... I do feel better now. With these projects behind me as well as a healthy dose of pineapple upside-down cake, my mood is back to level. Also I get to play engineer with scratchbuilding a kit, so theres that *wheeeeeeee*
The legs of the Skyshields are relatively simple, various shades of gray and a very fine edge brushing of light gray. Then the closest to the ground is a dark gray and is getting a dusting of gray grime and such. Gets a rather nice stone effect.
Then the big light is a dark blue glossy color.
@Payne: Yes! Plane project!
Im converting two Storm Talons into counts as heldrakes.
Earlier in the blog I posted this vague plan.
Hopefully I can make it come to life within my time limit!
No terrain painting today (you buncha sadists...), for today the Storm Talon conversion has begun!
First order of business was the most destructive, as many parts (as well as fingers) met a grisly fate at the hands of a hacksaw and razor knife.
Gone are the circular attachment points for the engines, and the tail is cut to allow it to be extended. The missile mounting points are gone, giving us a nice sleek front half of the fuselage. This leaves us to the current stage, with the engine pods attached horizontally to blend it into the wing structure.
Took a little to get the engines aligned properly, I think this super glue is past its prime, but with a bit of patience it seems that they've set up nicely. This shoul'd get me the gently curved wing structure I want in the final design.
Im working on both at the same time. I didnt think I'd have much time for experimentation, so its pretty much designing and building on the fly. Vague idea for the final project, No idea how to get there!
Nore work, this time bulking out the new tail segment.
At this stage, the main fuselage is nearly completed at its base structural level. Im gonna fill the major gaps with milliput and then sand/file it nice and flat. It is a bit chunky, though I dont think overly so. The top is looking like its going to be quite flat, so Ill need to think up some greeblies to make it look more interesting. To that end, I decided to remove the transmitter bit and its cowling and move it further back.
@Payne: Definitely sticking closer to an Imperial-esque design. My marines are still loyalists, after all.... They just use fun toys sometimes
@Gits: No templates, though I dont think it would be terribly hard to adapt some once the final mini is complete.
Biggest thing for me at this stage is expediency, and Im not exactly the most precise builder when it comes to building in a hurry. This resulted in a few minor alterations in the design between the two craft, mostly different angles between parts like the engines.
Im sure that given slightly better tools (im currently running a very orky mek-shop here... Lots of dull blades and hacksaws xD), I could get a far more exact build.
Parts of it, however, are much easier to reproduce, like the wings I now have a base structure for:
The main structure is complete now, and Im currently putting milliput in all the cracks before putting more details on it. (I seem to be on my last 1/3 of a sheet of my super thin stuff.... distressing, as there are no places to buy more around here!). This might not become a problem, though, as Im likely gonna be skimping on the super detailing in lieu of actually getting it to the minimum 3 colors.
It's becoming surprisingly rigid for it being mostly .5mm plasticard and superglue. Has a nice heft to it, too. Starting to feel like an actual model!
Also worked some on a new flying base. Its similar to the other base, but naturally will have its own little story to it (even though I seem to have angled the ruin area the exact same direction ><'' )
I dont think im gonna keep the sandbags, especially with the guardsmen sitting right there. Theyre scaled for military models (maybe 1/35?), but I think theyre oversized for what I want. Plus I think a more ramshackle barricade would look better overall.
Yay the thing I was looking forward too, good start, how about some ridged plastic made to look like jagged metal sheeting if you don't like the sandbags, can usually get something appropriate from a cookie packet.
@WM: Indeed, though if ya remember these guys actually were built first! Works well enough for wound markers, and adds a nice tiny narrative to the base. Storm Dragon does seem to be a rather apt descriptor for these guys.... I think thats what these guys'll be named
@Ignatius: That's actually a pretty good idea. I actually have a crimper on hand that I use occasionally (normally used for paper, but thin plasticard seems to work awesomely) Definitely think Im gonna work towards that scrap barricade idea. just gotta keep it away from the Orky side of things... My creations always seem to have that little bit of Big Mek-ness to em xD
So today while milliput cured on the Storm Dragons...
... I decided to knock out the shields for my Nurgle marines.
Would have loved to do some freehand on them, but at this stage its mostly a case of simply getting em to playable levels!
Incidentally, i think I figured out a neat way of doing the flamer turrets using the tops of some Tau drones I had lying around. They fit perfectly in the normal turret recess, and give the overall profile a git more of a sleek look. Definitely nearing paint stage for these guys. Like the marines, though, its gonna be a quick smash and grab paintjob for now. Just enough to get them playable!
Dragons are very close to completion now. Not completely detailed, but I think they are nearing a point that I can throw some paint on them and reasonably call them "completed" for play.
This shows off a few ideas I had as far as detailing it and getting it up to WYSIWYG. I used the Typhoon ML bitz as a stand in for unguided missiles (the Vector strike ability of the Drake), and added landing pads to the wingtips. Very much inspired by the Nephilim in this regard.
Id like a bit of feedback to this in particular, as Im unsure of where to go as far as detailing the top and bottom of the wings (Im running out of plasticard, too D: ) I also worry that the choice to have the rockets mounted on the engine leaves the wings rather bare. Though the Talon kit has relatively unadorned and stubby wings anyways...
Firstly, Do the rockets work where they are currently? I used the bitz as a quick alternative to building the rocket tubes from scratch. The angle fits pretty flush to the engine housing, and theres not too huge of a gap between the underside of the card wing and the corner of the launcher... The gap between fuselage and weapon housing is about a quarter of an inch, and I think works well enough for it being mounted where it is- more of a modular pod than a built in weapon.
Secondly, the landing gear. I think what I may do is cut the ones currently sticky-tac'd on there in half, and remove the short angular bit from the front. Convert them into more of a landing pad instead of an extendable pad (so more like the Nephilim).
Finally, Wing detail. How should I spruce up the top and bottom (particularly the top side) so that it looks more like a real kit? Flaps? panels? Random greeblies of indeterminate purpose?
I leave you guys with some close ups of the turret. Very simple, but I think it will work for what I need it to do. Fluff wise, most of the worky bitz can be internal Still gonna run a couple cables from the tips of the flamer to the turret body. probably going to run them through the recesses where youd normally place the drone antennas.
Scribing in some panel lines and flaps will add to the wing surfaces, possibly one or two greeblies, but I think they're more of an underside thing than top surface.
Those missiles work as is, any change to positioning is going to require a different build for them.
Do the wings drop down enough for them to have landing pads on the ends, or do they need to look extendable to provide landing clearance?
Ramos, how would it look if you put the missile launchers on top of the wings just above the engines? It seems to be getting crowded underneath and you said you'd prefer something else on top. It may even come across like a the Storm Eagle from FW.
@monkey: Why, yes! They actually do curve down enough!
Id like to say this was intentional, but id only be half right. Part of it was purely coincidental. I put the pads on just now, and it actually looks pretty damn perfect!
@WM: Or eagles, maybe?
@Ice: I did try that earlier, but it ends up looking a little silly. The launcher is too thick and chunky to work in the same manner as the Storm Eagle. The design could work if I had two long bars of missiles rather than the two thick pods. Not to mention, the kink in their geometry really limits their placement.
As it is they end up looking a little too clunky, so I guess Ill have to wedge them underneath.
I think I've got the pieces shaved just right now, so I think the under wing may just manage to work.
Alright. Just a little bit of messing with the top wing details and a small bit of GS work on the turret.
Other than that, I think they're ready to prime now. Then i can see if there are any rough spots I still need to sand down.
I'm loving those guys with the shields, they just scream out badasses. I also like the way you have converted the stormravens too makes them look really awesome
@Wolf: Thanks, man! Its funny how they came about- I had just bought the bits for 5 of them because I thought they looked cool... Fast forward a year and WM and me come up with the idea to us them as Marines with Mark of nurgle! (Extra toughness!)
I love the idea of big badass shields... Plus theres a massive flat panel ideal for freehand
So no progress today, only another of my famous battle reports! (so you know.... abridged with no pics xD)
Faced off today against Alf and his Nurgle CSM. Learning and re-learning a lot through the game, as we really havent played since november! He ended up winning 7-4 after killing just about everything of mine save for one drake.
Notable events:
Right off the bat, Lord botches his mutation roll with an unworthy sacrifice. On the other side of the table, the shield sergeant rolls max possible multi-boons, getting a total of 4: one was an unworthy sacrifice, then he got +1 Armor, Stubborn, and Poison. All in all, an amazing roll... on the NOT HQ MODEL!
Lord ended up failing countless rolls (though he tied up a group of spawn, the Lord, and a squad of plague marines for most of the game), only just managing to kill the opposing lord (plus a sergeant who came in later) and 3 spawn. He didnt get anything too special with boons :/ he ended up getting worn down by the onslaught of spawn and marines.... Sad end to a sad marine. Sgt. Shield on the other hand, charges valiantly into battle with a small squad of Plague marines, botching his attack rolls completely in the challenge vs the other champ. He was eaten by the power axe ><
Drakes continue to faff off and dont come in till turn 4 (might have come in earlier but we didnt remember the rules right till later >< They still did awesome work of the squishy marines, even though one was hammered by a ADL quadgun the turn after it came on.
All in all, a blast of a game, even if my dice were incredibly incredibly bad. I seriously failed more rolls than I have in the history of my gaming!
WM, neither is my 1k point list, since it's what I would use when we'd play team games at my flgs.
It was a good game and the drakes being delayed until turn 4 saved my bacon as it freed up my Havocs and Quad-gun to fire on Cultists and his Havocs, and my Plague Marines showed his MoN Marines what it meant to truly be blessed by Papa Nurgle.
Unfortunately, what did my Lord in was switching to my Power Axe forcing me to fight on Init 1 instead of at the same time. But the spawn and plagues did their job
And like any good fight, we didn't get picture proof of it >_<
Hah! Yeah I totally blanked on including lists. Brain was clearly not firing on all cylinders xD
Alf'll have to pop his list up later (I know most of what he had, but not how they were equipped ). I do know that it was still as per Adepticon rules, though. That was one thing I wanted to make sure of!
My list is the one Im taking to Adepticon, naturally. For the uninitiated that's:
HQ Chaos Lord on Juggernaut :: Mark of Khorne, Axe of Blind Fury, Gift of Mutation, Sigil of Corruption
FA Heldrake :: Baleflamer
FA Heldrake :: Baleflamer
TRP Cultists x20 w/ autoguns, Flamers x2
TRP CSM :: Mark of Nurgle, Plasmagun x2, Veterans of the Long War, Champion w/ Power Sword, Gift of Mutation
HVY Havok Squad x5 :: Autocannon x4, Veterans of the Long War, Champion
Today was rather productive.
Finished the base for the second Dragon, building a ramshackle barricate out of plasticard and some other random bitz:
I also finalized the wing details on the Dragons.
If I had more time, Im sure Id go back and spruce up the rest of the model with these armor panels. However as time is of the essence, I decided to say the heck with it and started to throw paint on it. My goal for these is to simply have the blue and white mostly done, as well as the metal. This would bring the Dragons up to a similar level as the Nephilim was last year.
Currently they have the primary colors up to an airbrushed shade and highlight. I still need to go and blackline it with a micron pen, but ended up screwing my last one due to the white VMA paint I used. It seems that its gone bad, and is behaving nothing like it should. Way thin (even compared to what it was when I got it...) and it seemed to be weeping after I sprayed (weeping meaning expelling fluid after "drying"). Dunno if is the color or the bad bottle or what... Gotta get the minitaire white- Really like those paints!
So with this, my Adepticon list officially has everything basecoated at least. In the case of the planes, they will be "playable" bery soon. Just kills me I wont have em truly finished!
Thanks Nerd! And absolutely, moonpie- Im always happy to talk shop!
Today I got a majority of the Dragon's base done. It looks slightly different, but what can you expect after switching from old paints to some new ones... Close enough for government work though!
I also started on the Trolls for OTL. These guys are based off of Deathwatch Beetles.
The larger chitinous plates are lightly sponged with a lighter brown, like most of the reference pics I found. I think i got sort of the gist of it.
And of course I needed to rig up some bases for these guys. Painted to match the Legion I did earlier.
Tomorrow I think i will finally be biting the final bullet and painting more terrain. Gotta push through the remaining parts of the fortress!
Ramos Asura wrote: ... I decided to knock out the shields for my Nurgle marines.
Would have loved to do some freehand on them, but at this stage its mostly a case of simply getting em to playable levels!
I happen to be doing the exact same thing for my Alpha Legion plague bearer!
The drakes are coming along nicely, though until you mentioned Nurgle marines it hadn't clicked that the drakes were non chaosy... All makes sense now!
Alright, so today I finished a few minor models, namely the Trolls from OTL and the Guardsmen for the second Dragon's base. No pics just yet as I still gotta spray varnish them.
in other news, the Aquila Strongpoint is very nearly complete!
Major colors are complete save for the floors. Im gonna use a good deal of rust powders on it to give it a well used and worn look. I've also about half of the black to tidy up yet, but that is thankfully rather easy work. The silver metals took most of my time today, but now that they are finished I think Im only a day, maybe two, from finishing this piece completely!!
Then its back to my beloved single infantry models xD
Don't worry, you can put off terrain after Adepticon for a while. Other then the missile part of the Aquila. And the Skyshield I'm giving you. Other then those 2 things, no terrain.
Miss Dee wrote: I have a question can i cut my flyer stands down ?
You 'can' do whatever you want.. However there could be some issues with Line of sight or modeling for advantage in some eyes. Depending on your opponents view point and adherence to the rules. I’ve see some strange figures/ conversions ( even at Adepticon ) that the judges have let slide that even as forgiving as I am wouldn’t let on the table. Profiles reduced ( wings clipped so the flyers can overlap closer together. Flyers height increased so they get better LoS. Ect.
I'm guessing Ramos's look ( and probably are ) very close to the original height.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Terrain look great.. good job finishing early. What color did you use on the walkways?
As far as the flying stands go, mine are the basic height. The cork raises it about an eighth of an inch, but it doesnt factor in all that much once the plane is on the stand (it sinks in that much anyways!)
I think the general rule of thumb is no matter what you do, try and keep as close to the vanilla measurements as you can. That way there can be no disputes over modeling for advantage.
SL: Walkways on the Strongpoint are a base of dark flesh and boltgun with a patchy drybrush/stippling of pure boltgun over top. It was then heavily dusted with rust powders.
So I would have a picture for today, but it seems that with the server migration a number of glitches have arisen, namely that the upload is buggy. So that'll have to wait till after its all fixed!
Today was rather unproductive anyways, as 99% of my time was spent attempting to fix my dads computer. Its incredible what one can do to a computer when one doesn't fully grasp the concept of malware and READING before installing downloaded games. I had to have deleted 30 or so programs that were just extraneous BS. Then a good scrub with avast!
Unfortunately the time was wasted, it seems, as the initial issue, him being unable to connect to the internet, is still there. Something about the ethernet adapter not being configured properly? Ive no clue anymore. Gal at best buy thought it might be a firewall setting, I thought it was a virus... Whatever it is, NOTHING connects to the internet. Not the built in wireless card, not a cable, not even a new adapter. It senses the wireless network, but cant resolve itself. Ive told him to turn it over to a friend of his who's better at computers than I. Hopefully he can fix it.
Anyways, the two guardsmen are complete, save for the medic's right arm (gotta figure out a build for it) and a cable or two I just now saw on the medic backpack.
Juggerlord is basecoated white and blue and has its first wash. Everything is technically playable at this point, being over 3 colors, but hopefully Ill get a little further on most of it!
EDIT:
So hey! images work again!
They fit together a bit oddly, but thats because theyre removable. The magnets just want to go wherever they want to. Good enough for what I need, though!
Great lookinng base~ Great job on gettting the massive amount of work completed. Some year you might actually finish early and have a few days to relax..
I dunno, man. Might have to shoot for early 2030 for my completed army One day... One day...
But yeah. Really at this point Im in the home stretch. One week + a few hours and I'll be rolling out to meet the crew in Chicago. Majority of my army is technically playable, but now its a case of me getting them to a nice point where I can be happy playing with them!
Today I burned out a Micron pen while neatening up the Dragons. They now all have nice defined panels, with the exception of a few panels on the bottom of one.
The Lord also got blacklined and neatened up. His metal areas were also blacked out.
Lots of other stuff got black too. The torso/arms for the Lord, the Dread im using as a Daemon Prince... Lots of progress, but none that makes for an interesting read!
A ways to go yet!!
hehehe! Well a new pack is on the docket before my next ME project anywho... Gotta figure out how to lengthen the tip some, so it can more easily get into the recesses... A project for another day, i suppose.
And yeah, I saw that, and theyve since been knocked out xD
Shield guys are done, yes (just gotta glue the Plasma guns to em). Autocannon dudes are just base colors on the guns atm. The marines themselves are painted near to full.
Hey. Great job on the titan. Come to Adepticon with your medic kit. You'll need glue and black and gold. You can do it, tiger!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, and a funny thing happened when I was at Ice's checking it out. I was looking at the rusted out Chimera on the base and said, "Man, this is my favorite thing." And Ice goes, "Um, that's your FAVORITE part?" Ok, maybe not, but that was a great bit. The rust and rusted out look is perfect and really puts the rest of the model in a neat frame. It makes it look powerful and heedless. Rad.
[/b]@moonpie: heh! Thank you kindly!
I'll be bringing along a small repair kit, including glue and black paints. Cant bring the Gold as its a much harder paint to work with, it being alcohol based (not to mention the container is rather large xD)
Really glad ya like the rusted tank. It was one thing that I knew I wanted to do right from the get go. Sure it may not be perfectly realistic, but it really let me experiment with the powders! Now if I could only find a use for the blue, green, and yellow ones that came with the kit!
Repairs will probably be done Thursday sometime. Might need to see if I cant find some accelerator at Target or something. Will make reassembling some of the parts that much quicker. Debating whether or not to bring the epoxy. Really should, as that'll get me a stronger and more durable bond.
Currently Im waiting for a wash to dry on the metals from pretty much the entirety of what Im currently painting.
The Lord's axe in particular I'm gonna need to do something special with. I dont want to paint it like a power weapon, and no way will it look nice with a metal paintjob. im thinking something close to what I did to the Techpriest's axe. More of an obsidian crystal. Especially if I highlight with a purplish color, it should give a good contrast to the rest of the mini.
The Dread is coming along as well.
Really not a fan of how the colors turned out. i was too cautious with the airbrushing- shoulda gone with a much more intense gradient. Nothing that can be fixed now, but something to note on the next dread (or a repaint of this one, depending how I feel about it)
Silvers are done, and the golds are nearly there, too!
The jetbike is starting to really come along:
The Contemptor's head was painted a while ago (actually knocked it out when I did WMs dreads), and I jumped right in on it by painting it gold. I figured a revered war machine would get all the bells and whistles.
I neglected to consider the surrounding mass of gold on the EC dread body, however.... And so I dry fit the parts together:
I think its definitely serviceable. Painting the cavity black gives it a bit of definition... What do you guys think, though? Should I pick it out in a different color or leave it gold?
I like the gold a lot. On of the things I like about quartered or halved patterns is when you have the head faced in a not straightforward way, so that there is some offset where the head is facing. That being said, I like the gold.
I would leave the front mask part gold...but maybe play with the top part of the helmet and do the white and turquoise in a opposite per the rest of the body?
Spent a good bit of time messing around with the Dread head today. I really like Denua's idea of striping the head, but no matter what I tried, both split scheme and inverted, it just didnt work for me. The head is shaped in just such a way that it looked off when I had it painted in a split scheme. And so I defaulted back to gold. :/
Glued on the arms, and the white one is actually magnetized so I can swap it out in the future. Im gonna be running black lining after I gloss coat, so dont worry about it seeming a little undershaded
Seeing as the new stuff has dark gray base rims, I went back and painted the older minis to match. Pity I ran out od Adeptus Battlegray... Really one of the best paints for stone and highlighting black!
Plasma guns also got popped on to the two shield marines.
Today saw lots of line highlights on the edges of armor plates. Doesnt show up particularly well in wip photos, though... Hopefully tomorrow will see some finished pics!
Progress pics for the day are Autocannon Havoks before painting in the metals At this stage the white and teal are complete.
@SL: Perhaps, perhaps. All depends on what I have done and if I can figure out a good spot to shoot them. At the very least the army will get final shots at Adepticon.
@nerd: Thank you!! Glad ya like em! Its funny how I just kinda ended up withe Marines Errant... my other choice woulda been Exorcists- simple red and black! (although I might have actually managed to pull off full armies in time, were I to have gone that direction xD ). Me being me, i.e. an idiot, I went with the more tedious path... Halved schemes! Im glad I did it, though. I really dont see halved and quartered schemes that much, and Im happy to contribute to their number!!
Oh, and I must apologize profusely for neglecting commenting on yours and many others' blogs... During my Adepticon rush, I've been neglecting my posting duties. After adepticon (or mayhaps even before then) I'll return to my irregularly unscheduled duties!
So the Autocannon Havocs are complete (well, complete enough for the torney, anyways) I may end up having enough time to do squad markings and the like on them... who knows.
The Contemptor and Lord are at similar stages, though i think Im gonna wait till theyre totally finished before posting up shots of them (prolly tomorrow).
Thanks Gir- Ever since I found the effect while working on WM's Razorbacks last year, its been a favorite of mine! Super simple too!
And SL: yeeeeesssss.... We shall meet upon the field of battle, and IT SHALL BE GLORIOUS!
So.... A bit of an April fools on myself it seems, but my camera has bitten the dust. Battery just has no charge in it whatsoever anymore, even fresh off the charger!
Today was incredibly slow painting, as much of it was spent attempting to repair my mom's Kindle Fire, which has the charging issue common to the device. 4 hours of soldering later (and two failed attempts) and Ive nothing to show for it but a bunch of scorch marks on my desk... I did manage to complete the Lord and the Dread, however. It may just need to wait till after Adepticon before I pop up new pictures.
Incidentally, I've decided to run a giveaway to encourage a bit of traffic around my tumblr and facebook pages (both of which I keep updated with semi regular progress logs)
Iffin any of you all were interested in maybe scoring a little free swag, or even just helpin a guy out, gimmie a like or a follow and you might find something come your way
So ladies and gents- Its time!
Tomorrow I set off to the Windy City to do battle with foes unknown (and to smack down some Xenos Scum! )
No army shots, as I dont have a good place for photos (plus the planes haven't changed much xD), but i do have some new finished shots of a number of models. I came to the decision between either getting everything to an unfinished but equal level or getting a handful of key models painted to completion.
As you can already guess, I went with the latter.
I figured that there were two key minis that needed to really shine, as they were really the signature pieces of my army. The Lord and the Dread. And so I set to work polishing them up. The Dragons would have been awesome to finish as well, but it would have taken far longer to finish just blocking out colors, let alone getting it all detailed up! (Plus, I still want to go back and add in new details with plasticard, so Id need to repaint parts anyways) That said, theyre at just under what the Nephilim was at last year- Base main colors and metals blacked out.
Without further ado, some finished pics:
Firstly, the Lord on Juggernaut with the Axe of Blind Fury!
In the end, I did go with the "Nipple Head", mostly because at this point I only had 2 heads anywhere near painted, and this one fit the best That being said, I think it works well enough. Maybe should have gone with another color to signify veterancy, but the halved scheme is fine for now.
Its difficult to see in these pics, but the axe is super glossy and is painted to be a dark purple crystal. Definitely not a power weapon, but definitely no mere axe!
Also completed are the Havoks, complete with squad markings.
And finally, the Contemptor!
Now to pack up and make ready!
See you guys at Adepticon!
Looks good all around. I think if you could get the head from a Palitine Blade, all in gold, would look sweet. Might even be worth picking up the kit for Special Characters.
Adepticon kicked ass (even if we got our own kicked ), and it was great to hang out with the team again.
Ice and the others are gonna be doing their usual recap thread HERE, so definitely give it a read!
As far as my part in it, I had a blast. Tournament put us up against 5 excellent teams that I would love to play again. From Dakka Detachment One (fascinating to meet yakface in person) to a band of Norwegians (who gave us beer) and Boltgun and his crew from columbus (who gave us shots =D ), there wasn't a single person whose company I didn't enjoy.
During our final game i was even put into one of our opponents' "Book of Grudges" for my cheerful attitude and "Helldrakes" (and yes, he put them in quotes too)
Apart from horrid dice the whole weekend (and the annoying prevalence of Serpent Spam and Taudar lists), The lord sadly proved to be rather mediocre, as he failed way too many daemon Weapon tests and charges. I only later learned you can take invuln saves versus these, but even after that he seldom proved effective. That 3+ armor just needs a little more behind it. Hes great when he rolls +1 armor!
The Drakes were the stars of the show, as far as Im concerned, especially in the last game where they vector striked a Doom Scythe into oblivion. (coulda had the other one as well, but wanted to make sure one died!) They tended to only get one turn in, but when they were on the field they burned everything in sight!
==========================
With another Adepticon drawn to a close, a new year of painting and other activities opens up.
First and foremost, the goal of securing employment is still my top priority. I even spent a lot of time today retooling my resume and attempting to make it suck less. In the coming weeks, Im hoping to redouble my efforts, sending out more letters to potential employers.
My second order of business today was to clean up my office. With the rush to the finish line, the dust and shavings were starting to pile up, as well as the stacks and stacks of uncut sprues and other models. A few hours of vacuuming, dusting, and unpacking later....
I can actually see the desk now... I knew i had one under all of that newspaper and resin dust!
Thirdly, I needed to unpack! Several things wont come until later (specifically some new Minitaire paint and primer I couldnt take on the plane), but everything else in my bag is now back in its proper place. The AC swag bag was impressive this year, with a full box of Khador and a decent (from what Im told) Black Library book. Then there was the show mini from Victoria Lamb (which is lovely) and a peculiar mini from Wild West Exodus. The Lamb mini I think im gonna take a shot at soon. Couldnt afford a whole set, but I got to see them first hand. Rather like the Female Guardsman look they have.
Next, I set to work giving my personal EFT collection a nice wash in preparation for painting. Ive about 16 or so minis, plus 2 from BF that i just couldnt pass up! Expect pics of these guys later in the week!
Oh! And when i got home I found a little box from Tazmania.... inside it were 3 vials of the most beloved of washes.... Devlan Mud! Thanks a million nerdfest!!
Finally, I took inventory on the remaining commissions I have from WM and OTL.
For OTL, Kernish Terriers and Tanuki Samurai (At Adepticon I also picked up the new Crusader mini for EFT, as well as a box of Fox Shinobi and Otter Ashigaru for Brushfire)
For WM, I have a few Zombicide guys and an Exalted Chariot of Slaanesh. I also pulled out his Wraithlord out of storage, to be painted in the Mymeara scheme. He'll be holding a TL Brightlance built as a rifle. A sword will likely be at his side in some sort of oversized scabbard.
@nerd: Why yes indeed, that's the absolutely ghastly wallpaper in my work room. Must be more than 10 years since it went up- back then this area was the "craft room", and it didn't matter really what was on the walls. Now its just part of the environment- unlikely to change, as it seems my family is fervently opposed to things changing!
Not gonna lie, though... I really wouldn't mind an NF mural on my wall
@SL: Definitely! Once I get settled back in and clear out some of the OTL stuff i have backlogged, I'd love to chat with ya!
@Cyp: Was great to meet you as well! Heh. To be fair, we did meet very briefly last year, however it was more in passing than anything else. At the time I really barely knew who Cyp really was! Now that she's my boss, I guess I gotta remember her now xD
So there ain't no rest for the wicked, as the saying goes, and I'm busily painting away. I started to clean and assemble the many EFT minis of my own collection, painted a little of the Terriers, then went and knocked out the base color for WM's Wraithlord.
I really do love this scheme. Its almost iridescent.
Looking at reference photos and comparing them to the Eldar I already have completed, it does strike me that I've reversed the gradient on the Mymeara coloration. Theyre supposed to be jade green with a teal gradient about their shoulders, but through some course of events, I managed to have a base of teal and a jade green top coat.
As I painted the wraithlord, I figured why not just keep it going that way. It'll match the rest of the army after all! Not only is is a nice break from the "stock" scheme, but I think it looks pretty good! (plus who wants to repaint a mass of Guardians!)
One day..... one day.....I shall Mural ALL your walls! everywhere you look will be ensconced in Nerd.... Nurgle in your toilet..... Slaanesh in your bedroom..... Marines in your lounge and shattered warzones across your hallways!
Automatically Appended Next Post: and that goes for Solar too :-)
As they are modeled after celtic warriors, the scheme will include a good bit of green and earthy yellow brown. One reference picture I found had the warrior clad in a cloak of green tartan, So I attempted to replicate the effect. My only previous attempts at the pattern were a couple small areas in blue (an admittedly far easier color to choose shades for) on some of WM's Infinity stuff.
At this point its pretty much "done", but Im not sure how I feel about it.... Are the bands of color too thick and uneven or could this work?
It's work like this that makes me climb back into a dark corner and wait for my skills to improve.(yes I fully understand that my skills won't improv by not trying, I just didn't want to say I pout )
Excellent work by the way
Er... Well then, I guess the Tartan's going to stay then Thanks you guys!
@Theo & Alf: Really its a super simple technique. Takes more time than skill, actually. You dont even need to make the lines particularly straight, as that only adds to the flowing appearance of the fabric.
I've written up a brief little tutorial below. Give it a shot! Worst that can happen is that you get a bit of practice in!
Im always willing to do a painting day, Alf (and WM, iffin you wanted ) I love talking shop, and painting is one of my real joys (even though I do so much of it nowadays xD) Not an exceptional teacher by ant rate, but Im always willing to try!
Terriers got more color. yellow areas are complete now. Metals just got basecoated
I actually only had a little bit of time to paint today, as I got to play my first mission in Deathwatch!
Rather funny how I found the group. The GM was in the store the very same day that Alf and I were playing a practice game of 40k, and we started talking. Fast forward to a bit later and I got myself and my little brother into a campaign
As with anything with optional figures, I had to whip up one for my character- Black Shield Nero of the Deathwatch:
He still needs a jump pack, but I want to try and get a hold of one of the Chapterhouse bits, where it looks like an older mark of pack. I also cant wait till he has enough renown to grab a power sword! Really love the twin weapon fighting- For most of our first encounter he was grappling with a Shrike in mid air xD
I've only a little bit of a concept for his story, but so far the group is promising. As a Black Shield, he has forsaken the ties to his parent chapter because of some misfortune or misdeed, bearing nothing but the black shoulderpad of the Deathwatch. I'm something of a black cat to my party already, as we seem to have wildly fluctuating luck. One moment we're shredding a pair of Tyranid Shrikes, the next we are universally failing to notice Tyranids lying in wait. Certainly a memorable first mission, resulting in us blowing up a Promethium Refinery amid the alien shrieks of Tyranids as we are extracted in a thunderhawk.
My only problem now is that we play every other week! Gonna be killer waiting till next session- Mission briefing states we're gonna need to deorbit a moon
Naw, thats alright Dee! Im working on a bit of an alternative route that I think Im gonna really like. Lots of kitbashing and bit swapping, but no real pics yet... Very much appreciated though!! ^_^
Terriers are about done right now, but cant clearcoat em right now cause its late. Expect those tomorrow!
Heres an older pic (a few hours ago):
I also put more colors on the Wraithlord, including white on the gun and rear "fins".
Decided to experiment with some green flock I bought years ago and never used. At first I thought it would be unusable, but as I read more and more tutorials I played with some alternate techniques. I think ive got a decent way to get a grassy kind of terrain that I think will fit what Cyp was looking at getting at. Add that to some repurposed model trees, and I think we'll have a nice little grasslands base!
whalemusic360 wrote:I wasn't sure you even went this year alf. Didn't see you orange shirting it up the dozen or so times I went by otl.
I wasn't there
Cyporiean wrote:
whalemusic360 wrote: I wasn't sure you even went this year alf. Didn't see you orange shirting it up the dozen or so times I went by otl.
He didn't come, the slacker.
I made the conscious choice to visit TempleCon this year instead of AdeptiCon, depending on how things happen, I'll probably switch back to AdeptiCon next year, or maybe some other show OTL will be at.
Or tell them to pound sand and go to a show as a visitor instead of an exhibitor I mean they'll never find out, no game companies actually read forums.
Gracias!
Slowly but surely I'm starting to get a decent grasp on painting fur. Funny how it all started with a handful of dogs
Today saw the Tanuki Samurai get their furs painted and black/metal areas blocked out.
And the next batch of minis got assembled: Fox Shinobi
Carrying along pretty well otherwise. Wraithlord just needs a little highlighting and an oil wash on the whites before its complete. I've also built up most of my own OtL minis, including Tajir and Kardax, two of my favorite minis so far I've decided to try and paint up the Victoria Lamb Adepticon mini. Its a beauty of a model (chainsword is a bit of a pain to stick on right, tho), but I kinda worry about doing a blah job on it xD
Definitely gonna look into it. Will definitely give me something to watch as I paint after polishing of MST3K! Its interesting to look at how certain Sentai morphed as it came to the US.... Decided to watch a few more intros, including the one which would come to the US as "Power Rangers in Space". Absolutely fascinating.
So I ran out of Brown paint, and starting to run dry on black. Gonna need to swing out to the stores (hopefully tomorrow) and pick more up.
I want the squad to look cohesive but still have individuality in the ranks. As such I'm going to paint their sashes in a matching purple and I've chosen to limit the armor and jacket colors to three variations: Red, Blue, and Black/gunmetal. The rest will be relatively neutral whites and browns.
The one in the middle front row is going to be a small exception to the rule, as I think Im gonna go crazy and give him golden armor. A similar suit came up during my research for these minis, and I really liked the effect it had with black cloth
Also got bases made up for the Foxes and Otters. Nothing spectacular just yet, but its progress
I'm currently looking at experimenting with making Bamboo for the bases using toothpicks and some greenstuff. This should add to the Japan theme as well as set the armies apart for future "in action" shots. If I can manage to do it without overcrowding the miniature, I'll be super pleased!
Is that going to be zen garden sand or "winter duel from Kill Bill" for those bases?
On the Sentai subject....Its also a weird spectrum of 'quality' on each show, They have a number of directors/writers, like any show, but overall one season to the next can be dark to just flat out silly. The episode of Shinkenger that really won me over had: A Dream Rhino monster chasing them with dream boulders + One of the Big-Bad Generals origin story, where she kills the man she loves at his wedding to someone else, turning herself into a demon. I'll let you in on a secret to what won me over...It wasn't the Dream Rhino.
Originally, the bases were planned to be painted in earthy tones (using a warmer brown than the bugs and Terriers), then having bamboo sticking out of some of them plus whatever light green clump foliage I happened to have on hand. Now that you say Zen garden... Well, more down below.
Re: Sentai... Iiiinteresting. Though that situation is one of those that seems insane taken out of context xD Its rather remarkable, but a lot of the effects I've seen thus far (especially in the intros, as thats what Ive mostly seen) could be considered super cheesy or "bad" if it was made stateside. Culture here seems to be "realistic or get out", opposed to i guess what you could call a "more fantastical" take ala the Sentai. The bizzarre effects seem to really add to its feel as a show- Really strikes me as reflecting the same aspects of the culture as Anime. I think Im starting to really look forward to watching this stuff
Dont think I should do it while painting, though. i tend to run things as white noise in the background, so I'm likely to miss a lot of the experience. That and I'll need to be reading the subs lest I want to be completely lost!
So today i was incredibly uninspired as far as painting went, so I putzed around the house and later went shopping for, among other things, black and dark brown paint. I ended up with a VMC color called "German Camo Black Brown." Darker than scorched brown, but it looks like a more natural and balanced brown overall. I'm really pleased with it thus far.
After dinner, I felt a little more like painting, so i slapped on the brown and gold on the Tanuki and gave everything a wash of Devlan Mud.
Words cannot describe how much I have missed my Mud wash. Its just such an amazing product!! Perfect color balance and flow properties for what I want to do with it... And now I have 2 and a half whole bottles, thanks to the amazing Nerdfest!
Thanks a ton, nerd!!! You are a saint among painters!
Anyways, Getting back to the Zen garden talk, I really started to reconsider my basing options on these Ribenguo minis. My ultimate goal is to make each army with a different base scheme and really drive the point across on what belongs where. Already i have an arid badlands theme for the Cult of Exomorphism and a grassy scheme for the Axony minis (like the terriers). In both cases, its a brown earth base ringed in brown, almost too close to each other were it not for the addition of greenery on the Terrier basing. And so I pondered....
Thats when i thought of it: Zen Garden. Distinctly Japanese in flavor, with tons of opportunity to go wild in details to make them stand out (even some bamboo!). The bases would give me all new colors to work with, basing the sand in grayish blues and rimming the base with a light gray. Plus if I was going to get to do a Zen garden theme, it was going to be this army or nothing!
On my shopping trip today, I picked up two new materials to attempt to capture the look and feel of a Zen Garden. The first is GOLDEN's Coarse Pumice Gel, recommended to me for desert basing by misterjustin of Secret Weapon miniatures fame. The second, Liquitex Coarse texture Gel. I set forth on my mission, applying them to a large base from one of my EFT Trolls (just happened to have it closest at hand xD )
The unraked and mounded area is a test on how the gel will serve as a desert base. Needs a few touches, but I think I can get something workable.
The light white is the Liquitex stuff- Nowhere near as coarse as the Pumice Gel, and its much more fluid, so the rake marks didnt stay (probably could have let it set a bit more, but eh). Not particularly awesome for the Zen effect, but I think it definitely has some potential as a sandy base material for beaches or even the desert basing i want to do. The Pumice is far coarser, making it good for gravel, but it may be too much for the kind of windswept desert i envision.
I am very heavily considering rebasing the Tanuki and redoing the rest of the plaster bases in the Zen theme.... Pending approval from Cyp, of course!
I'll give this base a test prime job once it fully cures, and as soon as the weather stops being insane! Perfect spring weather the past coupla days, and today BOOM! Snow!
Im through with the white stuff... Bring on the Spring!
Maybe maybe... Im sure I could start working on a few odd little bases here and there. The minecart bases may be as good a place as any to start- I know some people were asking about it on the Beastmen. We'll play it by ear
Today, Bamboo floors!
To pull slightly away from the Zen garden theme, we decided to introduce some bamboo floors, bringing it to more of a Dojo-esque theme (though Im still putting in my raked sand )
So I set to work experimenting.
First thing I did was to find round toothpicks. These had the silly little frills on the one end, which is why you see bits of blue still left on.
Those points need to go, so I cut them off around where the stick starts to taper. You must keep in mind that bamboo is generally cylindrical in shape as it grows, unlike trees which taper up.
With my bamboo "blanks," I then etched lines in them by rolling them against a cutting mat with a shaping tool. You can use just about any hard-edged tool, from the back of an exacto knife to the back of a razor saw- the key is that it is a relatively dull hard edged tool. You want to score the lines, not cut the stick in half!
Repeat every so random distance, making some spaces longer and some shorter. Bamboo is natural, so randomness is exactly what you want!
Once you have a collection of mini bamboo, just smack em together and youve got your floor!
Now to experiment on an actual base! Then, probably, the rest of the minis!
All the bases for the Ribenguo forces have been redone in the dojo/gardens style. Gravel needs touch ups here and there, but overall, not too shabby!
Pumice gel takes forever to dry though!
Looks good dude!I love the bases with the bamboo, that's something I may attempt for something special down the line! really cool stuff! ;-)
Hey, did you get the Devlan Mud wash I sent? should certainly have got there by now if the customs workers haven't nicked it wondering why i'm mailing small pots containing the pure scent of Satans anus?
Ramos Asura wrote: .... Words cannot describe how much I have missed my Mud wash. Its just such an amazing product!! Perfect color balance and flow properties for what I want to do with it... And now I have 2 and a half whole bottles, thanks to the amazing Nerdfest!
Thanks a ton, nerd!!! You are a saint among painters! .....
So yeah, dude. Received and infinitely grateful!! Absolutely love this stuff!
Alright, so after a busy couple of days, I didnt get as far as I'd of liked on my minis. Between visiting my Grandma and some really bizarre 24-hour flu (got really congested last night, then it cleared up this morning), I havent been able to paint all that much!
Today, however, I got more forward progress! The bamboo bases are painted up now (bear in mind, some of the paints took on a little shine. It'll all get matte varnish after the minis are finished!):
And the Tanuki have settled in comfortably:
At this stage, they're about half-way done. Theyd probably have been finished by now were it not for my rebasing them all xD
Lets see how much more I can get done tonight!
Yup yup. This week's the on week for the campaign.
mission sounds like its gonna be an interesting one. Deorbiting a space station infested with genestealers into an asteroid, which will then deorbit a moon, which will then destroy a Tyranid infested planet. [/ArtMajorPhysics]
Oh yeah, and its a promethium refinery, from what I've been told.
At the very least, Ill see how durable my marine is... Cant shoot for crap, so hes pure close combat... and guess what Genestealers excel at..... :/
Little large for scale. There are some rad looking sunflowers in 1/48 scale. The above is/35 scale. They look like a pain to put together. Pretty cool though.
Awesome! Glad you got the Mud! I must have missed that post from you lol! and the painted bases look perfect! I saw them on FB the other day and was/am super impressed with your thinking and execution of them! such a simple idea but one I've never seen anywhere before...
@carlos: Those certainly look the part, but i dont think the scale'd be right. HO scale is generally very tiny in terms of model railroads (iirc the tracks are around an inch wide from rail to rail).
That said, depending on how large they actually are, perhaps they could look good if they were intentionally used as mini-trees (bonsai, anyone? ) Im hoping to make a trip out to a model RR shop near here and look through terrain stuff there. Maybe theyll have these so I can see em in person!
@monkey: Those look crazy to put together O_o'' Depending how big the pieces are though, it might get the windswept blossom look I want to try. Thanks!
@bebop: Thank you, thank you! I'm more than a little interested to see what you might end up using the effect for... Though Im liable to get envious if (more like when) you end up painting them nicer than me!
@nerd: Thank you kindly! Yeah Im a little surprised I hadnt seen a similar effect online... I even looked a little! Closest I found was to simply paint the indentation on it in a darker color. Then there was the ever popular GS ridge method, but my GS-fu is far too weak for that!
So today I finished the Samurai!
Unfortunately, the photos dont do them justice :/ My camera seems to be becoming increasingly finicky and grainy (though the latter might be my skills as a photographer), so the pictures have uneven shades and the colors arent quite true. I will need to see if I cant borrow my brother's camera again and take a few shots. Maybe changing the color of the background might improve things? Who knows?
Anyways, A group shot first, as is tradition.
The twin sword Samurai:
And a pair with Katana:
And the bow Samurai. The blue coated one is my personal favorite!
In other project news, I tested out a new product today from Badger. During Adepticon, I picked up the three primers they were selling, as well as a good selection of their minitaire paints (had to resist buying the whole set!) The name of the primer is unpronounceable... "STYNLREZ" Makes no sense to me, but whatever, haha
So I took the lovely Victoria Lamb miniature we got in our swag bag, and used it for my test....
It says it doesnt need thinning, but its rather on the thick side of things, imho. So I mixed it with a bit of Windex, just as I would any other paint, then sprayed.
Good coverage, and its nice to be able to prime indoors. A gentle fingernail scratch test later, and it seems pretty stable. Scratches off if I go to hard, but I imagine that'd happen just the same with a rattle can primer.
Definitely interested to see how well it works out in the end... next step of the test is to add paint!
@WM: Yeeeeeeeeah I know... But at this point I think the dragons have a better chance, as the Neph was pathetic in game comparatively speaking xD
@Moltar: Thanks man! I always try to avoid buying what I can make myself. That said, prefab bases have their place. Really helps class up a mini without too much of a time investment! I used to cast my own bases, but after I ran out of rubber, my resin base use kinda tapered off Maybe next round of Zen bases Ill cast up... Been thinking of designing some crystal mines bases for EFT minis, too... I really like using them on the ones i paint for OTL, and having the prefab bases could really speed things up.
This does bring up something I was curious about as I look at the Tanuki and their bases... Does the gray work as a base rim? Or should i maybe change it for an off-white beige color to more match the sands? The gray seems to jump out a little much, is all.
@Alf: Hmmmmm... Well, we could playtest some Miasma War stuff, iffin you had any you particularly needed to do. Alternatively the base game is always fun (if I hurry up and paint them already, I might even have my own minis :O ) Then we've got Story Wars and Chrononauts as far as games on my end go. (cant wait till Kingdom Death comes iiiin )
So not many pics today, as much of my work the past day and a half is pretty boring. Base colors on a group of Zombicide Zombivors (and Ned the hobo), plus base colors on my Deathwatch Marine. Wraithlord is ready for final touches and varnish, and everything else is in various assembly states.
I did, however, get a good chunk of the new EFT Crusader mini completed:
Should be painting up a Necron Command/Annihilation Barge and a Thraka model soon here, too. Gonna see about getting some color on a Slaanesh Chariot too Definitely some interesting stuff in the future.
Its my favorite way of painting it- something i sort of adapted from Ifalna's golds. The Vallejo Alcohol Metallic Gold is a key component at its base, but Devlan Mud is vital to the shading!
After I ran out, I feared Id never get the hang of it again, but thanks to the nerd... well, I think ill be set for a good long while
I dont think the grey on the bases jump out...more the oppisite.The eyes are drawn to that direction, but I think thats because you tend to notice the brightness of the bamboo and the sand rather than the grey rim.
Eh. After Adepticon, My updates were never gonna manage to be one a day xD Plus, we went out with my grandparents to the West Side Market in Cleveland for most of wednesday, so no progress at all then- Plus the Deathwatch game yesterday
@WM: Bamboo color could work nicely... I was mostly attempting to avoid another brown (as everything else gets a brown ring so far) but the bamboo color is definitely gonna stand out on the field
@Denua: i think that contrast is whats throwing my eye. It jumps out just a little too much, I think. Might just be my eyes playing tricks or me overthinking things again! Definitely appreciate the input- Thank you!
@Alf: Can definitely do some 40k. Would be an interesting change, me getting to play it outside of Adepticon xD
Ill have to think on a list, but a bigger game than 1k would be fun. Depending what kinda list I build, Im sure I can rig up some proxie marines and vehicles. Then whatever else I can borrow from you would be great! ^^
Oh and btw. Cell phone is now fully armed and operational!
So aaaaaanyways, more stuff is painted, this time its Zombicide dudes and the Wraithlord (who only needs his shoulder guns painted up!)
These dudes are totally chewed up... Bruce Willis stand-in especially!
Look good. Nice to see some zombie love, really need to get more of them done, especially the survivors/zombivors.
Can you grey up the wraith lord base a bit more? Totally forgot they come with premolded eldary bases. Even just some grey grit on top should be enough to tie it in.
Heh. Yeah the Zombivors were a real change of pace. Was nice to change up to them Definitely can work to gray up the wraith base, though. I was just thinking about that, actually. Ill mess around and see what goes!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Next on the bench (apart from the aforementioned Zombicide stuff and the Crusader who just needs varnished now):
A necron Command/Annihilation Barge (magnetized)
And Ghazghkul Thraka!
Now I’ve worked with Ghaz in the past (and still love the mini, even tho the pewter weighs a ton) but this is my first Necron kit. Overall, I really like it. It went together quickly and the details are beautiful!
So after I built up the Barge and Thraka, I went on something of a building spree. Cleaned my desk, put a coat of paint on Thraka, and gave my "Box o' WM Commissions" a long-overdue cleaning!
And so my desk is now filled with tons of models of all shapes and sizes xD
Including the Exalted Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh, now primed:
A band of 13 Kriegsmen (as it was a rescue project, I ended up with more bodies than arm pairs, and had to resort to a ton of special weapons!)
A pair of Dark Eldar Clawed Fiends (one was missind its leg, so GW ended up sending me a whole new resin model... detail is really nice and crisp. Some pitting here and there on the claws, but a bit of GS work should clear it up)
And finally for On the Lamb, the now assembled and based Otter Ashigaru (front) and Fox Shinobi (Back)
Getting some colors on the Chariot now. Lots of airbrush work to play around with!
And yeah man! Bring on the Kriegers! Some of my favorite 40k minis xD
Also, Ive been thinking... Maybe I can figure out a way to build a new leg for the one-legged Clawed Fiend... I had a moment of inspiration, and thought of something like the hand of that stupid white orc guy from the Hobbit movies. Sort of that skeletal and spikey look.
@SL: Hahaha! Well Im not behind yet! Soon as my Adepticon army needs to be painted, though, Ill suddenly get smashed with work xD And yes, I know the animals arent your particular cup of tea Plenty of other stuff for ya to watch though! Daemons and Fiends and Orkses...
@monkey: To be honest, Im surprised how much I was storing in the box. Theres also a couple eldar bits (no full models) including the top half of a Wave Serpent and a headless farseer. Got the remainder of his Brushfire Dogs in there too...
Clawed Fiend was an interesting find, too... I dont really see that much Dark Eldar, let alone lists that actually take the beastmaster or whatever it is!
So my eyes are insanely sore after building out the chariot model... i painted all the blades on the sprue (mostly cause I couldn't figure out a good way to paint them when they were all together)
Even with the instructions, I made several mistakes during construction that I didnt catch till it was all dry fit together!The parts just look so close to one another, plus not all of them were used!! xD
Several hours of careful assembly and reassembly and re-reassembly later, and I got the wheels of the chariot done!
Its at this point I find out that I seem to be missing a piece- the middle of the back axle where the chariot sits!! Damn it Past Ramos!! I also had to cut and separate a couple pieces that I glued together, like the idiot I was. Mostly seamless... Im gonna need to figure out how to rig up the rear axle now, though!
I also put the blacks on Thraka, and highlighted them with the colored pencil technique I used on the Inquisitorial Razorback. A lot of this area will be chipped later in the project, so dont worry about it being a big lump of black!
Blargh... After all that madness with the chariot wheels, i need a drink xD
@WM: No cuts, but my thimbs are sore from where I was pressing them together xD Damn these things are sharp!
@SL: Yeah, I thought it was a bit too think, so when I used it I cut it a bit with windex. I used roughly 2 parts paint to 1 of windex, and that seemed to spray fine.
I definitely think a bigger needle'd let it spray better undiluted. On the bottle they recommend a .5mm or larger... Damn massive!
Today saw the rest of the Annihilation/command barge get magnets, and Ghaz got some colors. Really nice to see him start to come together!
Skin needs a wash or two, and reds are at their first highlight. Then its gonna be a ton of metal areas!
Oh and cross-posting this from OTL's news thread... They are launching an expansion for Endless!!
Goes up tomorrow at noon-- I definitely recommend giving it a look!
How do those horns fit on that model? I've got a (second hand) Ghazzy that I re-painted... and I have horns that *look* like those... but I can't for the life of me figure out how one is supposed to fit on the other (perhaps they don't).
The horns have a very specific placement that lines up with the ridges of the mega armor. Easiest way to judge is that theres a sharp, acute angle towards the inner side (outer side is thicker and fits over the corner of the armor plate). Final result should be the horns curving up and angled out from each other.
Its a surprisingly snug fit... I didnt even need to pin them to get it to stay tight.
This guy is the 80-lb pewter Ghaz. They do have a finecast mini now, but ya know... Finecast and all
Ghaz is now all done!
I really do love this mini.... Im gonna need to repaint my own Warboss one of these days... Maybe after a new codex or something, who knows. Im also experimenting with a black background in my pictures (supplied here with a convenient black piece of cardstock). I really do prefer this to the white, though the card is harder to bend and work with. I think I'm going to be looking into some kind of fabric canvas or something.
Also complete is the Crusader from Endless!
In other related news, today i received a small, heavy package in the mail today, courtesy of good ol' misterjustin, of Secret Weapon fame:
Cracking it open, I found a bunch of awesome new supplies that should give my basing the boost in quality it so needs. Thanks Justin!
Lots of clump foliage and grasses, as well as one of their newer items: Crushed Glass. Its supposed to make really nice snow effects! I also got some of the bricks they have- should do nicely as groundscatter in city-themed basing!
Good to hear Ghazzys still a viable option. Im very curious what will happen in a new ork dex...
@nerd: Ahhhh Ive seen some similar kits in the past. Definitely on my shopping list!
So today saw the Necron Barge get some work done, however nothing really picture-worthy.
I also fully assembled the main body of the Chariot. So many little spikes... And it really fills up a base!
Then I put the first base color on the steeds and Daemonettes, opting to keep them to the traditional purplish gray. Rather nice color I ended up with!
The steeds will get brighter from here, probably to an almost pure white. The Daemonettes on the other hand will have much more purple in the shadows.
Once the wheels are assembled, though, the kit is really simple. Just two Daemonettes riding the chariot and a further two riding 2 of the 4 Steeds. For this kit, we're opting to leave the steed riders off.
So I came down with a really bizarre cold yesterday... Woke up and was stuffy headed and had the whole congestion thing going on, so didnt really want to do much painting!
Today, though, I feel a bit better, so I went to work on the Barge, as well as putting more layers of flesh on the Chariot minis.
This is my first cron paintjob, and wow there are a lot of little lines!
This is just the base layer, probably why it took so long, and there are several more highlights to come!
Briancj wrote: Please be VERY careful with the crushed glass! Follow ALL of the instructions!
Step 1: Pour entirety of contents on bed.
Step 2: Woah, that was a lot of work. You should probably take a nap.
Step 3: Why would you do that? Seriously?
Step 4: Hospital.
Step 5: Why are you still reading this thing? And really, how can you even read if you thought the above was a good plan?
^ Because you are like a preacher to us and if you say it's a good plan then we'll think it's a good plan! i'm off to have a nap in a bed full of crushed glass!
nerdfest09 wrote: ^ Because you are like a preacher to us and if you say it's a good plan then we'll think it's a good plan! i'm off to have a nap in a bed full of crushed glass!
Already did it. Let me offer a piece of advice: DO NOT DO THIS AND SLEEP ON YOUR STOMACH IF YOU ARE A GUY. I won't go into details but I will say this, certain parts of your body will NOT appreciate the end result. Oh and the ensuing doctors visit is...awkward. And apparently hilarious. For them. I think. I was too busy crying to be sure.
Yikes! Sounds like this stuff is one of the more dangerous things I've gotten my hands on. I'll bear that in mind when I start using it! Thanks for the warning!
@WM: Yup- the client asked for it to look like the one on the box, so its all stock pait except for the crew. Theyre a bit brighter than stock, but apparently this works perfectly for his existing troops!
So no interesting pictures of the green lines (theyre onto the second highlight color at the moment). Instead, have a progress pic of some Endless figs. These guys are from my own collection, and Im hoping to have some work completed on them by Sunday, as Im making a trip with Alf to a game store down south to play.
For basing, Im going with a ruins basing scheme, then finishing either with snow or some kind of leaf litter (Either way I get to experiment with the Secret Weapon stuff! The stones are cut from plasticard, then beveled on the edges. I made a quick press mold to get them completed quicker, mostly for the slimes which cover most of the bases anyways! I figure why build a base if its just gonna get covered up!
Not pictured are the daemonettes and Steeds of Slaanesh for the Chariot. All of them have armor basecoated and skins complete.
Progress is hitting the "wall" that seems to appear sometimes during these projects. That and things became stupidly busy around here the past few days, including today's trip south to play a little bit of EFT. Fun game, if a bit absurd for the amount of tokens I used for my Earth troll. (short story on this is that he can place tokens that do a bunch of stuff, including acting as explosives. Gels can copy this ability and place their own... There is no cap on this )
Camera still sucks, so picture quality is crappy anymore. Add that to the list of stuff I'll need later! ><
Hopefully this Barge will see completion some time tomorrow!
True story... every microwave I've ever used has burned the crap out of popcorn when I use that damn button!! I guess Im just unlucky, is all...
Anywhooooo.... Barge is done (and very shiny!)
Seems that with the black background and the relative shittiness of my camera (that I am continuing to force into service), the crons really got bright. In reality the minis are all much darker.
Annihilation barge and lord on foot
Command Barge:
A rear shot, showing off the heat damage on the engines. I also put the effect on the Tesla weapons, figuring that all that raw electrical energy was bound to warp the metal a little bit!
The Lord on foot (Magnetized for convenience!)
And a close-up of the bases. Client decided on obsidian rocks and ashy plains, so I took a bit of influence from Minecraft and made the obsidian slightly purple. (black wouldnt look as nice!) Again, the rock is not quite that bright purple!
@moonpie: Bit of a funny story about those rocks... Theyre just pieces of slate I picked up on the side of the road (got a ton of the stuff!) I found it as I was walking to what is now my favorite FLGS in Columbus (The Guardtower). For whatever reason, I decided one day to take a little walk to check it out... A little 5 mile walk. Nothing terrible, nice day and all, but on the way back, I decided to take a "shortcut," adding an additional 3 or 4 miles onto my hike xD Needless to say, I was a bit tired after that!
@WM Hes thinking of some more Crons right now. Possibly a Night/Doom Scythe and a Ghost Ark.
@SL:Maaaaaybe later.... Gotta clear my backlog of commissions first!
@Ir0njack: Thank you! Trick to keep in mind on the glow effects is lots and lots of thin layers. I was thinning the paints to almost a wash with the scorpion green. Then it was covering less and less of the area with the layers as I went along.
Worked more on the Chariot (hopefully finished in a coupla days).
I want to do a bit of a twist on the stock GW scheme, so Im keeping the pale lavender skin and black armor... but Im planning on a particularly vivid color for the hair on the steeds and daemonettes! The skin at this stage is the only thing complete on this. everything else is basecoated or in progress:
And the steeds, who just need a little work on the leather straps and metal armor:
Finally, I did a little bit of EFT this weekend for a change of pace (Went down with Alf to play a bit down near Columbus. Battle report of sorts is here).
The goal with these guys was to break a little from the stock paint schemes... In the wizards' case I inverted it entirely!
I really like how the steeds ended up being a warmer tone of purple than the chariot itself. Glad that it turned out that way!
And a closeup of the steeds (this is a much better demonstration of the colors, btw):
At this stage, the harnesses need to be painted up to match the saddles, then the crew just need a few details knocked out. Should have a finished product tomorrow!
Titan repairs are complete, save for cabling, which im still hunting for.
In other news... saw Godzilla yesterday. NOTE: Im a massive cynic... bear this in mind. you've been warned, haha. Also, I dont think there are any spoilers in there. Go see the movie yourself!
Overall, Id rate it a solid "eh". The monster scenes are awesome, and I love the design and concept behind Muto (though i dont think EMPs are as devastating as it makes it seem... Though im no physics major, of course). I love the movements of the creatures as well as their behaviors... really shows some research on behalf of the animators!
However, and thats a massive however, the human scenes were overly drawn out and the leading guy and his wife were awful actors... Shoot, the movie really just shoulda had Watanabe's character as its focus rather than the bland pair and Cranston's story at the beginning. Coulda stuck a lot more Kaiju in there!!
Other than that, the storyline was the tried and true Godzilla film. Monsters fight each other and humans are ineffectual. Nature balances itself, nukes are bad xD
The trailers all looked terrible, too, including a god awful movie that rolls with the whole "humans use 10% of their brain" fallacy. Just makes me foam at the mouth that such a stupid concept makes it to screen. On top of dumb science, its bad writing that brings nothing more than a lame revenge plot we've all seen again and again. Another Tom Cruise movie=meh... Then The Giver looks like a huge overwritten dramatization "inspired by" the book... Cant even remember any of the other blah trailers.
Its like nothing but garbage is coming out these days :/
Ugh, "Lucy" is the 10% brain movie, I've seen that trailer a number of times and its just....ugh.
I will say, Godzilla movies are infamous/notorious/classically oddly paced with long stretches of human scenes juxtaposed by shorter kaiju scenes.
I will agree that the 'main' characters were not particularly lovable. My only other issue is more naustalgia than anything: the lack of practical effects. Particularly the stages used in the Heisei/Millenium movies. The work and detail put into creating destructible Tokyos and Osakas is just amazing.
In the end, I kept comparing it to other movies in the same genre, especially the first american film, rather than to movies as an entire medium. Personally, I'd call this the best Kaiju movie I've seen.
Did you catch the Mothra easter-egg? I'm not a particular fan of her, but it was cute anyway.
The dude is Kick-Ass and the new Quicksilver in Avengers Ultron and the chick is the Olsen sisters' younger sister but has been in some good movies including Marth Marcy May Marlene and is the Scarlet Witch in Avengers Ultron.
We watched it on Tuesday in Atmos and I was literally cheering in it. Plus "Tom Cruise movie" otherwise known as Edge of Tomorrow formerly known as All You Need is Kill contains an power armor wearing Emily Blunt, so schwing!
Plus next week is Xmen Days of Future Past. New transformers movie coming out. Guardians of the Galaxy. Interstellar looks amazing. Movies this year are awesome.
Haters gonna hate.
Also, dig those chariots. Nice work even if the subtlety of the color is basically lost on me. Smoove.
Zilla was more old formulation than the last one. Thou it's based on the new directing styles the SE's was very good and the story was at least consistant ands centered on the main human character. That said I did want more monster and less human. I think the " kick ass " actor was the weakest element.
I agree with moonpie ( wait.. what? ). Xmen looks great and got decent reviews. Thou again I dislike the directors choice for quicksilver ( esp the way way they designed him in the film) . Hoping the Cruise movie will be good. Thou probably be better without Cruise. ( what.. was Daivid Spade not available?)
Catching up...movies all sound so-so except 'zilla, sounds like classic kaiu fare to me - daemonettes and steeds lookking good, especially liking that metallic on the steeds - but the burning issue that's been raised for me is 'popcorn button'?
You guys have a pocorn button on state-side microwaves? We just have to listen for the pops over here.
(............and here comes the swarm of Brits to nay-say me and tell of their wonderful 'button-for-everything' nuclear cookers )
Hahaha Huzzah for being on topic with our off-topic-ness
@misk: I did catch that, actually! Got a chuckle out of me, for sure. I think they had a Godzilla toy around that same scene, too... though i may have been seeing just a regular ol dinosaur toy.
This movie seemed to focus even moreso on the "struggles" of the humans than normal... or at least it was presented in such a manner that it seemed much longer... Didnt do anything for me except to make me want the scenes to move on already! I can sort of agree with missing a bit of the practical effects, though in this day and age its hard to come by. I dont know if its any easier or cheaper (thoughts are "yes" to both), but CG rules the road nowadays. At least it was still very pretty to look at!
@moonpie: Hahaha! Yeah well, like I said, Im too much of a cynic for my own good... Movies just dont "do it" for me anymore, in general. xD New transformers get an instant "meh" from me, as I really thought the second and third ones sucked, haha. I will say, though, I am kinda interested in Interstellar, if only for watching how they present FTL travel. Looks in the trailers to be a decently hard-sci-fi look at warp travel. Might be nice! Not sure I'd pay to see it in theaters.... but eh. Who knows
@WM: Its worth seeing, I guess, iffin you dont mind my complaints above. When the monsters are on the screen, its an amazing movie. Humans, less so.
@SL: Yeah I appreciated how they got back to basics with the story after that (wonderfully) awful 90's movie (though I wasnt nearly as bored watching that one as the human parts in the new one... hmmm...)
You might want to see a doctor about agreeing with moonpie though... Let us know if your lamenters suddenly start turning pink
@Gits: Many thanks!! Pastel colors like the skintone I got here continue to be one of my greatest challenges. Its so easy to muck up the colors and make them too bold (as my normal paint technique tends to be). All the horrors of painting white just seem to grow as soon as you slightly tint it xD
@Alf: Gracias!
@monkey: Yes indeed! Behold the miracles of 'Murica!!
Like I said, though.... I always burn the popcorn after using the damned thing! Listening to the pops is still the best way.
@GX: Thanks!! I wanted to try to keep my palette limited on this mini for a change, and tried to mix the purple color into all of the others. Even the magenta color has it mixed in at its darkest.
So Chariots done!
Was a PAIN to get a background for! Its huge... Hard to pick up, too, being so spindly and spikey... Cant imagine gaming with this thing xD
I really only eat popcorn from a 52oz popper... Movie theater popcorn FTW! We have a filter, oil system. agitator motor, heat. lights. warmer. and oil dispenser button, so....still have to listen for the pops-cause I'm a pro.
As far as movies go, of course I'm not going to pay to see them. I only pay for art house flicks. I paid to see Under the Skin and Only Lovers Left Alive. Really liked Lovers. I get to "quality check" X-Men DOFP on Wednesday night in Dolby Atmos, which is the only way to go(other than IMAX, of course). Good to see your work.
You have anything on the plate for your own collection or are you too far behind on commissions?
Also, did you see Solar agree with me? Gold Star Day!
Thant's glorious Ramos. Truly. Some of your best work. The model itstelf is stupid and makes no sense what-so-ever.... but your paint job is just brilliant.
Gitsplitta wrote: Thant's glorious Ramos. Truly. Some of your best work. The model itstelf is stupid and makes no sense what-so-ever.... but your paint job is just brilliant.
You forgot the part where it also isn't very good. Whatever, daemon lawn mower of DOOOOM doesn't care.
"Hey, you look stupid, make no sense, and aren't very good, Miss/Mr. Daemonette."
"Oh, yeah? Well, how's about we f*** and I suck out your everliving soul?"
"You know what? That sounds like a plan!"
@moonpie: I rarely eat popcorn at home (probably because of the aforementioned burn issue putting me off xD). When its popped from the machines at theaters it just tastes so much better!
Killer setup you have... "Quality check" riiiiiiight. We all know whats really goin on
As to colors used, it varies on the different parts. The chariot itself uses all Minitaire paints from Badger, specifically their "Gun Alloy" and purple/Midnight Blue Ghost Shades (I finally found a use for them!)
The Daemonettes and Steeds were painted with various mixes of Hormagaunt Purple and white (mostly white with a tinge of purple), and the Daemonettes got a purple wash to make them different from the Steeds. the hair is all based in Warlock Purple and then heavily washed with SWM Ruby and Amethyst washes, then brought back with a little more Warlock. Metals on the steeds is chainmail washed a few times with GW purple wash and Agrax Earthshade (thinned, of course!)
As to my own stuff.... Thats actually part of today's progress log!
@WM: Yeah man, Ive no damn clue how Id ship the thing xD So many bitz that'd get busted or bent up.
@SL: Thank you kindly!
@Gits: Thank you so much!! I'm inclined to agree with you in that regard... I'm kinda pleased with myself on the steed skin in particular. Ill figure out these pastel tones yet!! Heh... Seems that whenever I get a mini "just right" like this, its always a giveaway or commission xD
As to the mini itself... Its insane. I truly cant imagine gaming with it in any way. No idea how you can move it (haven't found a good gripping point on it) let alone transport it!
So with all the Commission work I've been doing lately, I've neglected my own collection. Today I spent part of my painting time messing with a Brushfire mini I got for my own collection (and one of my favorites), Kardaxx!
An unusual coloration for an alligator (though the concept art makes him look like a croc!), but I think i nailed the orangey clay-like color in the art:
I've decided to give him a naval-themed base, so I started to build up some planking for a dock or a pier. The empty space will be filled with some water effects.
Finally, cause Im a workaholic and need to keep going on commissions, I started painting the last chunk of Death Korps for WM.
Thanks, Gits! And Dee... That... that joke was just awful
So in between my youngest brother's grad ceremony Wednesday and nearly missing Deathwatch yesterday (the passage of time is chaotic here, so I often forget what day it is >< ), I did some work!
Kardax is finished!
Still not sold on how his sword came out, but it'll do for the mean time... Also, the milky stuff in front of him is water effects... just hasnt cured all the way just yet!
And Gels!
Finally, I worked on repairs for WMs Titan, including tightening up a particularly loose joint and building new cables for the weapons! The old ones had busted off during its shipment to Adepticon, and with the arms having been glues into just so slightly different positions, they would never fit again without some serious work!
I figured that since we need to redo them anyways, why not implement something we had planned on future Titans: Flexible cabling!
The smooth tubes are a thin hose I bought a while back for a project that never got off the ground. I think its some kinda water or fuel line. the bundled cables are literally that. Bundles of cables I pulled from various electronics I had in my scrap drawer. I glued 6 wires around a central larger wire, then took a tiny wire (one of the actual wires with insulation ripped off) to act as the wire wrapping.
This way, even though the arms may move slightly, the cables will bend with them!
That Croc is very well done Ramos, the white jacket is superb man! very well done the highlights aren't too sharp for clothing and the actual colour is smooth as!
Thanks a ton, you guys! For the white, I tried something way different than my usual method. Rather than shading with blacks and grays, it's based in 1:1 Dheneb Stone and Skull white, then I gradually added more white. This got the creaminess and more "realistic" shade. Definitely something Ill be keeping in mind for the future!
As far as his skin goes... Heh... Im glad I waited to paint him until I got his art from Cyp... I'd have went and painted him green (though Im considering getting another of him to paint that way...)
So today's progress:
The remaining batch of 13 Kriegsmen got their grays finished, so once again its time for detail work!
I also painted and installed the new flexi-cables on the Titan:
They went in a damn sight easier than the resin ones did! I just need to figure out a better way of making the bundled cables.
I really like painting these guys.... Once I get into the groove, I can zen out and paint big batches of em super quick! (relatively speaking, of course!)
With this... I mostly cleaned up my desk. A few little things here and there, but most of my "clutter" recently was between the Kriegers and the Titan.
Nowhere close to being short on projects, though, haha!! I've still got some OTL stuff to do, plus a little bit of stuff for WM (an Enforcer and Mastiff jumps to mind, as well as a pair of Zombicide minis), so maybe we'll jump into that tonight. Lets see what I can find...
Thanks YB- (Good to see you're still around, mate ^^ )
So one of the many things I've decided to work on are the Clawed fiends. If you remember, one of them was missing a leg, so I ended up with a replacement mini. After thinking on it a bit, I wondered if I couldnt just build him something of a Bionic leg?
Cut to a few hours of messing around later, and Im left with something like this:
note: still VERY rough, bear it in mind! xD
Very much so inspired by the Hobbit movies (even though the white orc is a stupid and pointless addition [/moviecynic]), I wanted it to look Dark Eldar-ish, so I had the main body made from an Eldar Missile launcher bit. the claws are pins I cut and bent up to look the part.
From here, it will be tied closer into the model (obviously ), so the mechanical bit will be covered by tufts of fur and whatnot. The lower leg is gonna get beefed up, so it tapers from the knee to the foot (think smooth transitions like the brightlances on the Wraithlord).
The foot will probably remain wiry as is.
Actually that might even work better. Ill stick him aside for now, then!
Think its time to do some more of SL's favorites: Barnyard Critters! (Foxes and Otters for OTL )
While we were at CMON Expo this weekend I was able to have our other painter take some really high quality pics of the the EFT line using CMON's equipment.. So here is the work Ramos did for us:
Man.... that pro equipment gets some wicked pictures.
Cant help but groan at a couple of them, though... A few of the weaknesses are showing through on my painting (like.... the rhapsodist face, and the blue on the Dragoon)
That said, though.... other pics look so good. I love how the Dark Dragoon and the Dark Knight came out!
Dude, Alf, you should totally drop on by if yer free
So damn. Today actually was a pretty good one. Kept busy painting and made great progress, and threw an application to a job that, if I score it, will be right up my alley! My dad did work for a woman who works at a law firm in Cleveland, and she said that theyre always looking for people for research and stuff like that. Shipped her my resume and she took it right to their HR gal. At the risk of jinxing myself, Ive got a really good feeling about this one... Might actually get an interview this time!
Who knows... Fingers crossed ladies and gents!
Anywho, today I broke out the airbrush and ran it for a good few hours. After the dust cleared, i ended up with a bunch of progress!
First up was a bit of work on the Fox Shinobi. Lots of really cool color on these guys. Its surprising how bright Red Foxes are, and the mix of orange, white, and blackish brown really come together awesomely! At this stage, they need a wash and various touch ups and highlights.
The Otter Ashigaru got paint on their fur as well, though with decidedly duller tones. I decided to split the colors in the group to add some visual interest- a dark brown and a lighter coffee color.
Finally, I took a bit of a cue from nerdfest and messed with painting red on a Khorne Lord. the shininess is a result of the red glaze I applied to bring the colors towards the red end of the spectrum.
And there you have it. Onward we go, paint paint paint....
Till next time!~
OHHHHH!!!! Called out! If he's getting to the bottom of my "Random Crap" box, I expect he's open to some stuff.
And hes getting Knights. And maybe some zombicide stuff. And also maybe some Axony just to cheese you off (and I actually want a playable force for BF, instead of a pile of boxes).
Glad your getting him the knights. Since I don't know what axony is I'll ignore that! Even if you give him the pile of boxes you 'll still have more pile of boxes..
Your like the rest of us ( have more stuff than we can paint) with the exception that you have more stuff than Ramos can paint!
Truth. There is a good chunck of stuff that is painted that I havent ever used. Trying to get away from the bucket of random things and more into the usable stuff. A bunch of cool single things, while neat, just sit on a shelf.
Sorry about no update yesterday- Dakka was being oddly laggy and unresponsive last night. Who knows :/
Anywhooooo..... More progress on the foxes.
As they are shinobi (ya know, ninjas!), I'm aiming to paint them with muted tones. I really liked the green on the box, so I'm gonna be using the very grassy "Gretchin Green" as a base color. With a bit of gray added in, the color turns to a really nice desaturated green. And as always, Khemri brown cloth is my go-to light brown color.
Im planning painting the sashes in purple as an "army color". The samurai I've painted previously all had them, and the Otters will have a little bit on a sash as well. It may be a little of my 40k (in)sensibilities, but I really like the idea of having an element to tie an army together, be it a color, basing scheme, etc.
At this stage, the sand and foot wrappings are based and washed, and the cloth areas are washed and brought back to base coats. The fur is just about done (havent even touched the eyes and noses yet!)
Otters so far just have their fur tones done.
I may, may think of doing a little terrain soon... dont know If I could stand to do another super gingerbread Fortress, but the skyshields werent too terrible, overall...
But yes! The biggest project in the future is a group of Knights, which Im super excited to play with! It looks like an amazing kit. (pity its gonna be all black and white, but what'cha gonna do )
@SL: Dude, get on with the lottery winning so we can make this happen!
And dont worry, 40k painting is coming! Next week I may have a Necron Ghost Ark, and I'll have the Knights for sure on the 7th
And Alf... Nick responded with this simple phase:
"At least I have a Magnet."
But yes! The biggest project in the future is a group of Knights, which Im super excited to play with! It looks like an amazing kit. (pity its gonna be all black and white, but what'cha gonna do )
Nah, going with House Terryn. Big ass blue and gold robots.
Hahaha! You know that's an awesome idea, nerd. Im kinda afraid youd kick my ass.... Im not known for my speed, after all (Mr. "Hey so I painted a bunch of marines, a rhino, and some marines in a day, but really its not all that much") Then again, perhaps thats just the kick I need to paint them swiftly.... and to get you back to em!
So I finished these last night, but only got varnish on them a little bit ago (the morning was spent doing yardwork... yaaay...)
Fox Shinobi, from OTLG's Brushfire:
This is also the first test of my new backdrop. Nothing more than a yard of black fabric I bought from walmart, draped over my computer monitor. So far, so good! Hopefully it doesnt pick up too much dust and junk from my desk/room.
In other news.... the G/Morkanaut.
Am I the only one who's kinda underwhelmed by the mini? Its pretty blah. Even for orks it has too much of a "tonka toy" look to it. (I mean plus its only a little cheaper than a stompa... which look awesome). Really leaves something to be desired.
Apart from the lackluster mini, What the hell is with a 6-man transport capacity? (according to rumors, of course) What use is that exactly? Especially in Orks, where you want to have as many troops as possible in one squad. 3 meganobz seem like an expensive filler for this thing... Keep in mind im not the greatest tactician out there (I eat paint after all!), so ymmv on how reliable my thoughts are...
Its shooty, though...
I think the new naut could look pretty cool with a better KFF. The one it comes with is small and stuck on looking. I suspect it may be good with some burnas, lootas or meganobs, or without starting anything in it (good spot to hide a weakend troop late game). A stomps is close in price, but twice the points, and a super heavy only kosher in agreement with who you are playing with.
New kits look solid imo. Maybe some more blue faces orks coming soon to a paint desk near you.
And yeah, I know the Stompas a superheavy, but still it has that look. (plus, how long before they letcha take more superheavies in regular games? alreadty have the knights!) I dont know how to explain it but it just -looks- right. The naut just looks like a kiddie toy. Really blocky and random just tacked-on details. It doesnt have any life in it. If ever I actually run one, its gonna have to be a scratchbuild/conversion...
EDIT: And thanks Cyp! Glad ya like em! Im really a fan of the minis, myself.
Ninjas looking good dude! great colours and the actual Foxy bits look very Foxy! if you're down for a knight off i'm keen :-) just let me know the specs and time frame and i'm there!
So how many of the Brushfire? minis have you painted lately? you seem to be churning through it all! and I might add they are all done so nicely, your paint really suits them down to the ground!
@WM: Shush you!! I just never got back around to it I really should though... One of my first major builds, and itd be a shame to see it languish in the foam. Maybe after Im set with commissions Ill go back to it! Gotta keep bread on the table, after all!
I did think of the Tater Titan when i first saw the GoMoNaut... Though I still REALLY prefer the Tater. That at least has character and some kind of indescribable orkiness to it that makes it work for me. The 'Naut just still really doesnt cut it for me.
@SL: Thank you! And don't you worry... For sure gonna start some 40k stuff later this week. Not much longer for the Farm Critters
@Cyp: Excellent! Glad to hear they arrived. Hopefully we didnt have any casualties along the way- USPS is rough sometimes!
@CC: That project is one of the first I saw of Orks back when I started. Really got my inner Mek going! As I look at it nowadays, there are bits and pieces of it I would do differently (Im more of a fan of smaller rivets, personally), but his execution, vision, and paint is exceptional!
I believe its Iron Dog studios or something of the like.
Anyways.... Its been a slow coupla days around here. Part of it is the weather- Already starting to heat up, and without any kind of AC, the house is barely habitable sometimes xD Hopefully the new fan I got can help remedy the situation... Adding to it is a general sense of restlessness- Guess its just a touch of anxiety waiting to hear back from jobs. Im just really eager to start already! :/
I did do a hefty bit of cleaning and reorganizing today. Consolidated my junk drawer and started to organize the massive box of 40k sprues I got a while back. Pretty sure I've a bunch of Fantasy stuff in there too. I know I saw some Skaven in there!
Finally, I got a chunk of the basement sorted, freeing up an incredible amount of space.... Only took 2 years of prodding my mom to come down and help sort (its 99% her stuff anywho). Now its only half-covered in junk instead of 3/4!
But thats enough about me... Thats not why you're here. You want to see some minis!
The otters got some progress (I'd wager about 1/3 done). Fur colors are mostly final, save for the top-knot guy who needs a bit more love. Each is getting his own armor/cloth combo, similar to the Samurai.
Bummer to hear, though Im glad damage was relatively limited. Sorry about that all the same :/
Wonder if marking future stuff fragile would help at all. Postman mentioned it wouldnt cost anything extra...
Ramos Asura wrote: Bummer to hear, though Im glad damage was relatively limited. Sorry about that all the same :/
Wonder if marking future stuff fragile would help at all. Postman mentioned it wouldnt cost anything extra...
I've found that it doesn't help much.
Don't loose any sleep over it, its nothing serious. I've had worst wear & tear transporting the models to and from shows.
Thaaaaat kinda makes sense.... He is the one Tanuki who thought he could fly. As I was heading outside to glosscoat them all, he decided to take the plunge right onto the brick patio >< Popped him off his base and scratched a bit of paint.
Gravity is a cruel mistress...
So otters keep on going. Not too much to go now.
At this stage, most of them have their armor and cloth complete (two of em need another highlight). Then its on to their belts and weapons.
If all goes to plan, I should have these done tomorrow!
Actually took me a bit longer than I thought today, as I decided to work on consolidating some of my many boxes around here. In my adventure, I uncovered a wealth of untouched minis, including a bunch of Fantasy stuff and like 30 Ork Boyz I never got built all the way (plus another 2 unopened boxes of em!). Then I found some Sternguard, Kaptin Badrukk, a landraider.... And i havent even started to look through the other stack of banker boxes!!
@misk: Thanks! It actually popped into my head as I was painting the bases. It just seemed the right thing to do. Rather than a long metal shaft or painting woodgrain on it, I figured bamboo spear! Long poles of a durable material that had the benefit of looking different. Glad ya like how it turned out!
@SL: Indeed! Also found a dozen Skaven clanrats and a Screaming Bell that I ended up selling to a friend of mine. Now I've got a bit of lunch money!
So today I got in the next phase of a Necron commission (same guy who's Barge i painted a while back).
This time its a Ghost Ark.
First thoughts on the kit- holy crap. So many little parts, and the sprue layout is impressive. Definitely the most densely packed Ive ever seen. Relatively easy to put together.
I did, however, find a couple of typos on the kit... one or two parts were mislabeled, but with a little logic its not too hard to figure out.
Nearly finished building it into its subassemblies- then PAINT!
@nerd: Its... well... It's gonna be interesting, to say the least!
Though After its done, Its Knight-time!! WM dropped off the next massive batch of minis, as detailed later in the update
@Gits: Assembly actually was super easy.... Painting is looking to be a whole other ballgame. I think it actually has more sub-assemblies than the titan actually did!!
That said... I'd love to see one painted in your scheme. I still adore the gold and turquoise!
So it looks like its time for a MEGA WEEKEND UPDATE!! Lots of pics, so prepare to have your phones self destruct. Computers, too if it's a Dell...
Saturday, WM popped up to pick up "Timmy", the Warhound Titan (we randomly called it that a coupla times and it seems to have stuck! ), as well as a number of other projects I've recently wrapped up. He also dropped off a new huge batch, including a pair of Knights, a squad of Stormboyz, 3 Eldar Hornets, an Eldar Phoenix, and a multitude of Zombicide Survivors.
(thats a looooot of plastic/resin crack!)
After that, we played a long and insane game of Zombicide, which ran on so long WMs character broke free of the game's rules and transcended to an invincible zombie-blender-incarnate. Ended up simply insta-gibbing up to 13 zombies every action in melee!! xD
Before he left, I snapped several new, much nicer pictures of "Timmy", using my new backdrop. All I can say is WOW does it make a difference!
After WM left for home, I excitedly tore into the Knights. What an awesome kit!
Both went together wonderfully easily, and allowed me to leave separate most of the armor plates (which will be primed white and painted blue) from the main mechanical bitz (which will be sprayed black to start, and painted a dark boltgun metal). The first one was fully assembled in a few hours, and the second in much less time. Throw in an hour for building their bases, and we're left with a pair of Knights ready to party!
Its been rainy all day, so no luck on getting primer on these quite yet. Same for the Ghost Ark and its billion and a half assemblies.
Good recovery on that Titan. Can't tell anything happened to it. I would love to get to work on some of those Knights. Just cool models. That Ghost Ark model would haunt me in my sleep.
@moonpie: All told, he survived surprisingly well. The only major paint damage was on the laser, and that was a simple case of airbrushing it back. I also brightened the whites, which had gotten a bit scuffed and dirty during its many travels.
@Gits: Thanks a ton!
@nerd: Well I gotta keep busy if I'm ever gonna keep up with you! (ya lousy speedpainting git...) Im not gonna be starting on the KNights past this point till the Ark is done.... SO YOU BETTER BE READY TO ROLL WHEN THAT HAPPENS!! Should be interesting having a Knight off- Do you (or anyone else, really, haha) have any ideas what the parameters should be? Im rather out at the moment
@SL: Oh goodness, no. Definitely a transfer. Im nowhere near that good with freehand, especially on a surface covered in a gradient! Glad to see its not too obvious as a transfer! ^ ^
@WM: Glad hes home safe and sound.... Really nice to have my desk space back!!
@Alf: It's a neat little model, but like all new GW stuff, I cant justify its price. One day, maybe... One day.... In the mean time, Im just pleased I have the chance to work on them!!
Good to hear 7th isnt completely awful... Still very confusedly curious about it.
Today I ran a few errands with my little brother, who is graduating from college now (goddamn it Im old!), and primed a little bit of stuff after getting back.
Did I say a little? I meant a ton. That Ghost Ark, man... More subassemblies that both of the Knights!! After it all cures, its off to touching up the black and then the many many many little green lines!
Ramos, I'm trying to sell some HeroClix so I can buy the rulebook if you and/or your brothers would be interested in playing it (and so I can play it lol).
I've got all the peripherals atm (tactical objectives and psychic cards). And I'm looking to play more because, and I'll deny it publicly, it was the most fun game of 40k I've had in a long while. It was 3000 points (2 armies of 1500 each) and it was 1100 points of Chaos Daemons (guy was just starting that army) and 1900 points of Chaos Space Marines vs 3000 points of Guard with a Stormlord. tactical objectives are fun, psychic powers are almost infuratingly hard to cast, but at the same time it's just as much a pain for you as it is for your opponent (though on another table, an Eldar player was sporting 16 dice on average...).
We still have a lot to learn about the tactical objectives, but we all enjoyed ourselves.
whalemusic360 wrote: Get it and then come down here for a day of guns of both the small plastic and large metal kind.
Have you not picked up the rules yet? My biggest concern is the fact I can't get the rules separated from the fluff and model book. They're all images I can see on the internet and all fluff I've known since I started this hobby three and a half years ago.
I could acquire the rules... but I hate deciphering stuff on my computer/tablet...
Nope, I'm holding out for a starter set, or hanging with 6th. I play about once every other week with a guy that is still learning. And has no models of his own, so I don't really have a reason to learn it. Even at the discount I can muster, seems like a waste at this point.
whalemusic360 wrote: Nope, I'm holding out for a starter set, or hanging with 6th. I play about once every other week with a guy that is still learning. And has no models of his own, so I don't really have a reason to learn it. Even at the discount I can muster, seems like a waste at this point.
That's a completely logical way to go about it. I'm holding off until a starter set comes out, but if it was anything like 6th edition, It'll be out in August or so. Which isn't that terribly long, I'm just horrible with waiting.
whalemusic360 wrote: Nope, I'm holding out for a starter set, or hanging with 6th. I play about once every other week with a guy that is still learning. And has no models of his own, so I don't really have a reason to learn it. Even at the discount I can muster, seems like a waste at this point.
That's a completely logical way to go about it. I'm holding off until a starter set comes out, but if it was anything like 6th edition, It'll be out in August or so. Which isn't that terribly long, I'm just horrible with waiting.
If its Orks VS someone I'd be willing to split it with someone for the Orks.
Unless its Orks VS Tau, then I'm going to buy like 3 for myself.
Sounds interesting, Alf. Though like I've said before, unfortunately Im the only wargamer in the family. The others just dont have the interest in it. Sure Nick'll play a game once in a while, but he really prefers stuff like boardgames and the like!
I wouldnt mind playing a little bit of 40k on Thursdays (or whenever), though. Might be nice to actually use some of the minis I've been collecting for so long!
Totally up for a trip down south Lemme know when you're free (Saturdays are the ideal, according to WM). Im always free, as is tradition! xD
Would be nice to see a Tau vs Ork starter, but I dont like the thought of adding more Riptide spam to the game ><
Plus I dont think GW is ready to part quite yet from the Ultrasmurfs. Maybe a Tau vs SM, but that'd be a odd choice.
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HEY LOOK OVER THERE!
The crew of the Ark are painted up to full silvers. Love the Minitaire Gun Alloy, even if it is a bit bright for what I initially got it for.
I also put the bronzes on the Chaos Lord Ive been painting. Other metals soon to follow.
Not the time to lose one's head
That's not the way to get a head in life
It's a shame he wasn't more head strong
Well he'll never be the head of a major corporation
I think it'll be Orks and Marines. Ork codex is due really soon and GW is putting out new Ork models. This leads me to believe something is right around the corner. As for Marines I assume that GW isn't gonna abandon their mainstay Marines over a nitch army. Thou It's GW so who knows? We should know soon enough.
I don't think there has ever been a set without marines. Ever.
There was a time when the Dark Eldar were with the Marines and the Dark Eldar codex was out of print. This was when I worked in a GW store, and we still had to try to sell the thing. That sucked.
The rumors have been saying Blood Angels, but who knows?
