Thank you very much guys. Kit was great to work with, and the client is super thrilled about them. In fact, he might even have a few more of these gitz to send my way. Pretty neat.
Anyways... Due to a number of uncontrollable factors, I'm going to be going through a temporary pause in painting... Having some troubles over here that I need to find a solution for. :/
Ramos Asura wrote: Thank you very much guys. Kit was great to work with, and the client is super thrilled about them. In fact, he might even have a few more of these gitz to send my way. Pretty neat.
Anyways... Due to a number of uncontrollable factors, I'm going to be going through a temporary pause in painting... Having some troubles over here that I need to find a solution for. :/
Hey guys. Things are still messy over here, but I got some work in on the giant.
Now, Ill preface this with a bit of fluff I have been working with. Both the client and myself happened to stumble across it, and thus far it has been the major inspiration for the piece.
=======================
Galak is Gurk Cloudscraper's BIG brother, an unusually intelligent giant (which isn't saying much, since he's still pretty dumb) who has loved Blood Bowl since he was knee-high to an Ogre. Sadly, as he grew up he found opponents became less and less keen to play against him, until he eventually had to retire. However, his love of the game just would not go away, and one day he came up with an inspired idea. Striding out into the desert, he trapped a herd of zebra in a canyon. After 3 days of skinning, sewing, and cursing, he returned to civilization in his new stripy suit as the world's first giant Nuffle Amorical Football (NAF) referee.
Galak's inability to control his temper when several players gang up on one player has led to numerous calls that he be barred from refereeing. Unfortunately, Galak finds it equally difficult to control his temper when so accused, leading to several very flat and very dead investigating committees.
====================
So zebra stripes then! Interesting choice...
A few reference pictures later and I had a general idea. The model actually made the patchwork ref jersey work even better, i think. The stock paint scheme already had it cobbled from numerous colorful banners, so having them be from different zebras was easy to visualize. I tried to change the angle of the stripes on adjacent cloth areas, and this works better in some areas than others. Looking at my reference photos, it kinda surprised me how uniform the stripes on real zebras were. Occasional branching, but otherwise pretty straightforward and parallel to each other.
The end result? Well.... Its very.... interesting.
This is easily the loudest scheme I have ever painted. Contrast taken to the extreme! No matter how long I look at this thing, it keeps looking plain strange!
Im trying to work out some basing for him too. I imagine him to be on the field, and that got me to thinking of American football (Its what Im most familiar with, after all)
Not sure if this test is too american football-ey or what... Primarily its a test of spraying direct onto flock. In that regard I think its pretty cool. What do you guys think? Any alternate concepts out there? I know next to nothing about Blood Bowl!
As far as the turf goes, the only way I can ever think of the turf being is with a Goblin Green base highlighted with Sunburst yellow. That is the old school style and the only way I could ever imagine it. Does it look garish compared to the grimmerdarker reality based look of today? Yes. But every WD that ever did an Eavy Metal painting article at Blood Bowl's inception painted it like that.
I like what you have with the yard marker-very well done and cool.
In part, Brian is correct about it being based on Rugby-the rules of the game are a mishmash of rugby and football(as in-not soccer).
The uniforms with the huge shoulder pads and helmets are for sure about football. I think that Blood Bowl is the fascination/repulsion of these British blokes creating a game that mimics the tropes and imagery of football without totally getting the rules(or perhaps caring about the rules) and substituting rugby in there. Like, if an American game company created a fantasy cricket game, they would probably substitute in some baseball rules out of pure ignorance or whatever of the actual game of cricket-if bat, then baseball. With Brits it occurs-if tackling and rough play and actually touching the ball with your hands, then Blood Bowl.
I painted my humans gold and red based on the USC Trojans. Fight on!
Cricket has rules? I always thought that someone throws a ball at a guy, the guy hits it. everyone starts running around the field doing a monty Python silly walk. I could be wrong .
Ramos.. I like giant concept and the base works for me!
ps.. there is no confirmed evidence that Moonpie has a simular outfit.
HA! Moonpie as a ref would be fantastic. I can only imagine what kind of ludicrous comments he would make before getting angry and just throwing people out of games because he couldn't make out a color on one of their models.
I love the look of the grass and white lining on the base, though - very convincing, looks just like a field! So, you may need to not have the number on there, since that makes it feel like American football, but totally keep the styling!
The zebra outfit is indeed intense . Looks well done so far!
IceAngel wrote: HA! Moonpie as a ref would be fantastic. I can only imagine what kind of ludicrous comments he would make before getting angry and just throwing people out of games because he couldn't make out a color on one of their models.
I agree... though I think moon would make an actual very entertaining tennis or soccer ref. Making comments or special effects during actual game play. Probably the only way I'd watch.
(If I dont see moonpie at Adepticon with a zebra suit, I shall be VERY disappointed! Make it happen, Ice!)
Weekly check-in time! After a nasty bout of Nurgle's Rot (blasted sinus infection that lasted a week!), Im back to work. More job rejection letters (whyyyyyyyyy!? ), but so long as new applications are going out, I suppose I can still be hopeful. At least I have my painting to keep me busy!
After some thought, the base felt too out of place with the American Football yard markers on it. That got me to thinking, white lines on green grass are kind of boring when you take a very tiny section out of it. The reason the first concept got painted with yard lines was to make it more interesting and full!
As I researched more into rugby and bloodbowl, one thing I kept seeing was the central art in the field, which brought me to the new idea- one I think works perfectly for the task at hand!
Colorful, fluffy, and it was rather easy to do. I literally just broke down the insignia into its color layers and sprayed each color through its own mask.
I also got the skintone painted in on the Giant himself. Starting to all come together now. Hopefully it wont be too much longer!
@Gir: Im glad it smoothed out. Maybe its another case of being too close to the project, but for the life of me I didnt think this thing would work out. Skin tones are my absolute weakest skill, and this thing has just SO MUCH of it!
Unsure if I want to risk washing it again to darken it some more... Might just leave him a bit pale xD
@RT: Thanks! And yeah, I still cant believe it either. Its what the client wants tho, so he's the boss!
No real good progress to show on the giant, but heres another project I;ve been working on (for RiTides, actually!)
Painboy RiTidez of the Silva 'Orde- Part of Waaagh Dakka!
Nice Ork :-) I've been slowly (very slowly) catching up on things from the past month or two i missed! might not get to comment on everything but I do like that Ork, everything else is still fan-bloody-tastic too. sorry about the sinus infection hassling you like the tears from a pus infected wound, but glad you're back on track!
Yeah, your skin tone is good. Keep going with it. See how it looks with the rest of it. A lighter skin tone should actually work better with so much pure white on the figure.
Remember it's a job. Do your best, but mind the clock.
Try not to get down on yourself about rejection. It happens. The older you get, the more inured you become to it. PM if you want some help with resumes or cover letters or whatever. I might be able to find professional help for you.
Fantastic job on the Painboy, Ramos! I've updated the Waagh Dakka mob page for Da Silva'Orde, as this was a model I converted up long ago to be "me", the painboy that put Silva together . SilverMK2 set the color scheme and it was challenging to match, but Ramos did so wonderfully I think!
I know I'm like 2 years late on getting that entry in, and needed Ramos' help, but late is better than never
Thanks Ramos, can't wait to pick him up at AdeptiCon!!
@nerd! Thanks a ton! And I'm glad to see you back, nerd! You were certainly missed around these parts!
@moonpie: Thanks much! And yeah thats all good advice. Just getting way too stir-crazy around these parts, and the job market is bizarrely tough to break into. Never expected this :/
I guess Onwards and upwards, as they say...
@RT: Glad to have been of service! Mini was a treat to paint!
@Cleatus: Hehehe! Thanks! Damn fun little model. RiTides threw in all sorts of odd little bitz that made for some interesting paint decisions. For example, the "syringes" on the back that used the marine missiles bit. Funny how one thing can be given all new life with a lick of paint!
===================================
Alrighty guys. I've been really quiet lately, but Galak Starscraper is complete!
So that leaves me with what... two more days till I gotta be somewhere? Cool.
Maybe I'll get some actual work done on the Marines!
As part of my preparations, I took out every single marine I could find around here so I could start building some lists for pick up games. It then occurred to me just how little I actually have!! All told I have probably a little over 25 marines, all armed with a random assortment of gear. I even broke out the older Rhinos from my Marines Chrysemys (the turtle ones) to see if I couldnt fill out the motor pool a little bit!
Fortunately, Gits has been giving me a bit of coaching as far as marine stuff to take. Hopefully Ill have a few micro updates before I leave for Chicago!
Till then, guys!
I hear you on the tough job market. I've been looking for work for a long time with no joy. You're doing better than me in at least getting replies, I rarely get "no thank you"-s
You're not alone, but then that's part of the problem in the job market...
Well that just means that I have someone to blame when I lose
Much appreciated on the kind words, guys.
And will do, Cyp!
==================
So if anyone's curious, this is what my tiny marine army looks like.
This is everything marine related from the past 2 years. There are a couple unpainted things in there I pulled from my Turtle marines.
Whipping up another Razorback turret currently. Really surprised I had the right bitz! Needs a little bit of scratch building, but I think I came up with a way to make it easily swappable between a Razor and a Rhino.
List is narrowed down to one I think will function properly. Or at least it looks good right now!
HQ: Chapter Master on bike
HQ: Librarian, level 2
TP: tac squad (x6), plasma cannon, vet srg w/ melta bombs, razorback (Las/plas)
TP: tac squad (x5), plasma gun, vet srg w/ power sword, melta bombs in Razorback (TLHB).
FA: storm talon, LCs & MLs FA: storm talon, LCs & MLs HV: devastators (x5 or more), 3 ML, 1 LC HV: Contemptor dread in pod
Heres what we're looking at after we clear the unnecessary stuff off the table. Shockingly, much of it is painted already!
All I need to do currently is to paint up another Razorback, and the Marines Chrysemys were willing to supply me with one.
This model in particular was a rescue project from an old, beat up chaos Rhino. I remember there was a LOT of glue everywhere and some tracks were outright busted. Gaps were bad as well, but fortunately I have plenty of stuff to patch it up!
A few extra bitz and it looks well used and road weary. a complete opposite of the other Razor, which is pretty straight forward and factory fresh.
Turret was an easy enough build as well. A bit from the Chapterhouse kit I got last year and a bit from the ADL kit (that I somehow had sitting in my box), and I rigged up a quite serviceable Razor turret. From WM's other razorback projects I had plenty of the weapons left over, and happened to have a complete turret base for it as well!
Primer is currently drying (Yaaaaaaaay warm weather!!), and after that its just a bit of color!
While painting the white areas, I stumbled on what might be my new way to paint this type of white.
A week or so ago, I had ordered a P3 paint set, really for just one color. Coal Black. Its an awesome black blue-green, and is ideal for highlighting black. Since the kit was the Legion of Everblight set, it included a black, a white, a new container of Carnal Pink. Good solid colors to have around. What I didnt expect was the color "Frostbite"
Its a very light blue-gray, a bit more neutral than the old foundation Astronomican Grey (my current favorite way to paint white details!). As it turns out, it sprays beautifully as a foundation for white, especially in a zenithal scheme. It still needs a wash, but I think that a light gray wash (something like thinned SW gray?) might be just the ticket!
The turquoise is shaded just a touch differently this time, using some scaley green to give it a deeper teal color in the shadows.
From here its on to some edge highlighting and some minor details before my flight leaves. I figure I have most of tomorrow to work on this (and touch up another set of models to enter in Crystal Brush). Tomorrow night is also DnD night. No longer is the group playing Deathwatch (we ran out of steam :/), so its on to testing out the new DnD 5th edition. So far... eh. I guess its ok. Still love my 3.5!
Looks fantastic! I should be finishing packing, but instead I'm checking your plog . My plane takes off for AdeptiCon in six hours! (But I'm arriving super early due to available flights and needing to set up)
@moonpie: I'll do a little writeup after the con. Very short version right now is that 5th ed is FAST. Much much more streamlined in combat, character generation, magic items...
Hope you and Ice can make it up to Chicago for a day or two!
=======================
Not as much done on the Razor as I had wanted, but had some other touchups to do for some Crystal Brush entries. Finally getting the chance to enter!! Big personal milestone
Anywho, heres where we are now with the Razorback.
And here is the obligatory "What Im bringing" shot:
So with this, its off to do the final packing (mostly of minis). Then tomorrow, to Chicago!!
Hopefully Ill see some of you guys there- If you are around the Dealer's Den, come stop on by RiTide's ModCube booth and check it out- I'll be helping out a bit with the booth over the weekend, so come say hello!
Post-Adepticon Update: Trapped in Paradise (well, Chicago)
So hello everyone! Ramos here reportin in from the Windy City via Kindle!
Due to inclement weather, many flights got the axe and yours truly is now stranded at the airport. Whooooooo.
Now its a case of waiting.
Oh god. I can sympathize. Ohare/Chicago is awful. I was delayed for 3-5 hours there on the return from Sweden. My hip was still an issue at the time but, myself and an 70-80 year old woman were told that we could either run to our gates, wait in the 50+ line to request the disability cart, or to kindly feth off by the service desm. (The irony was the cart was empty except for the driver and on standby for this issue roughly 8 feet away.) I was more mad about the elderly woman witha cane than myself. I ran it but, I think I had to take 5-6 Tramadol to feel any relief. (Then I found out about the delay.)
So yeah... it's awful. I hate Chicago, and she hates me. I hope you get out of there ASAP. Keep us posted!
In a completely insane move, my dad actually drove FROM CLEVELAND to pick me up from Ohare. The catch being that I have to buy him dinner- specifically Malnati's deep dish pizza.
He picked me up around 7 (man airports suck to have to wait in!!), so with dinner and a massive drive, we ended up getting home in the wee hours of the morning (5AM).
Now to wait a few days to call United and ensure my ticket is refunded/comped. Should mean that I'm set for next years convention!
So what's to come?
Well, Website is coming along swimmingly. My pack is full to bursting with new miniatures (lots of freebies in the bag, plus some extras from helping RiTides with his vendor booth).
I also spent a bunch at Forge World and other stores along the way, resulting is what would have ended up being another bag as big as any of my carry-ons. Very fortunately, I was able to pass it off to Gits to ship back to me! Incredibly grateful for that!!!
Gimmie some time to decompress and readjust to "normal" operations, and Ill get a little bit of a recap and swap somme stories. Ill also show off some of the new stuff I got from the bags!
Till then, Take care!!
Ramos, signing off from Cleveland (at last!)
===============
@Storm: Wooooooow.... that's damn rough :( Maddening to think, too, cause I kept running into those blasted carts! Seemed to be no end of them!
Giant zebra went over pretty well, I think. I fell in with a group during board game night (Sunday night), and in one of the conversations we had, it got mentioned. The one guy there got a kick out of the NAF logo on the base They were the guys behind the Nerdherders Podcast, If Im remembering it right. Good group of guys. Fun to play with, even though i got soundly stomped in Alien Frontiers by em.
Also got to play Hero Fight (like apples to apples but with you explaining how your hero can win in a fight with the target), Dominion, and some train game that I cant remember. Something like On Track or All Aboard or something xD
@moonpie: Yeah, hes got his moments Im just glad to be home now.
So Adepticon Recap time!
Overall, a great weekend for all. Th enew venue is absolutely massive. Far far bigger than the old one, and I think the hotel is nicer too. The venue is staggeringly huge, and the dealer's den reflects that. I got some demo games in for other systems and picked up a lot of cards as well. Got to rub shoulders with a few world-class painters, too, so that was a treat
Got some 40k in with the other Wardens, including a game with Gitsplitta's Grotzkrieg. I suffered a narrow defeat, but sunk Da Turpitz. Those grot tanks are such a thrill to play against, and look positively smashing! Then I played the one and only Thing 1, Gits' son, and surprisingly managed to hold my own against his necrons. Very very close game.
Local restaurant scene was pretty solid. Got pizza from Moretti's on Thursday with the gang (good stuff, but we made the mistake of getting a bunch of appetizers) and Malnatti's on Sunday (AMAZING butter crust deep dish!). The local "fancy" restaurant in the hotel was Sam and Harry's. Excellent food, but almost too fancy for me. The food was exquisite, but the portions found me wanting a little more. Then I finished my meal with a piece of Black Forest Cake.... Which turned out to be a "deconstructed" cake- two chunks of chocolate cake, a cherry sauce, a ribbon of slightly sweet frosting, and some bizarre (but awesome) freeze-dried meringue. Absolutely not waht I had expected, but delicious. The brunch at Sam and Harry's (all you can eat) was much better, if a little pricier than normal. Still, though... spectacular breakfast!! Would definitely do it again!!!
Swag bag this year was pretty generous. Lots of sample minis, including a Victoria Lamb mini (very cool), a Bones mini (curious to work with this material), and another starter kit from Warmachine. This time I got a Retribution box, and I figure I'll end up painting it and sell it off or something. Looks like an iteresting enough project.
This is only a small portion of all the junk I picked up on the trip, too. I had to send a huge bag with Gits with all of the extras I couldnt fit in my bag. Got a Deredo dread to play with as well as all of the Secret Weapon Washes. Fun fun stuff
In addition to all that, RiTides gave out a few things from his VIG bag to the guys helping at his booth. Super appreciated it, and it's wild how much stuff is in the VIG bags!!
I got the UCM starter kit from Dropzone Commander!
Which of course I already tore into and got assembled!
Plan for these guys is a winter camo. not sure what design, but definitely winter scheme.
In business-related news, I got a bunch of wolves to rebase and do just a smidge of touch-up work on. Its an unusual request, but it lets me use terrain stuff that I dont usually have the chance to use. These are destined to a nice winter theme with plenty of snow.
And finally, the last little update.
Over the weekend, the Wardens and I got together with yakface and a few others to play a game called Boss Monster. This is a card game where you take on the role of an 8-bit villain and build a dungeon to attract (and kill) heroes! Plays very easily and fast, and the game is always different. Its such a great game!
Plus, I absolutely LOVE how they stuck with the 8-bit game theme
It even has an instruction book!
I think we had to have played 10 or 12 games of this over the weekend xD
That's the plan, anyways!
The fliers may or may not see further work (depends how I feel about more detail building and whatnot) but the Razor is definitely on my to do list! It's already well on its way, so I figure I night as well finish it off while the ideas are still fresh in my head! And of course there will be the Deredo (read as "Dorito") Dread that is getting shipped to me with some fliers for gits. Im thinking of painting it in the Badab camo scheme
Incidentally, I took a pic of all the Ork stuff I had to pull out of my army bag in order to transport the marines... Lots of memories on these (and so few actually painted fully! )
This is a majority of the stuff except for 2 dreads, 8 or 9 Kans, a Mek Buggy, and a battlewagon- all of which are in another box.
Status report: Primer applied on the mass of random stuff! Awesome to be able to spray outside again!
Oh Im still painting those guys on and off. (And you bet Im ready for Saturday! Totally ready for some gaming) Been working on the LE Candy and Cola mini lately. Figure shes in the current workpile so i can show it off a bit:
A decidedly different style than the usual (being more chibi and brightly colored), but now that I think I have a handle on how to paint skin, it should go smoothly Fun fun mini.
As to the rest, I put the base colors on the UCM and some Khador. Still might go a bit brighter on the reds, and still need to crack the camo pattern I want.
Well, a mankini nerd is something that's going to haunt me now.
*shudder*
And Tentacle Bento, eh Alf? I am almost not surprised that exists... well huh... right then...
*ahem* So moving on from the rather nerdfest-y Slaaneshi air this thread seems to have come to, I started a quick paint up of some Stormvermin- Yes, another random-assed project courtesy of me!
Think theyll be done tomorrow! Speed and quality is the key here. Trying to push myself now.
Oh I love a random-assed project! :-) I'm huge believer in doing them to excite your own senses as much as give us something to see and consider for our own projects! so please, random-ass project way my friend!
Sorry moon- This is a one-off project I'm afraid! Im not really in a position to start up a new game (even with axing 40k, there's still no game store around here!!). However, if I were, it'd most assuredly be Skaven! They hit the exact same spot that made me fall in love with Orks in 40k. Crazy tech, mob rules, and random random results which usually result in both sides suffering!
As far as them being angled, yeah... they need it xD They are old old metal minis in slotta-bases, which necessitated the angle. Incidentally, they are also sculpts from Marauder, the very same guys that did the big metal giant! Really curious about their other sculpts. These units were just as clean and fun to paint! Wonder what other stuff they did...?
Anywho, Stomvermin Command figures are complete! Definitely a record with these guys!
Alrighty! so next up, lets see.... rebasing the Fenris Wolves! But I've just run out of the brown paint I use xD Time to go to Hobby Lobby...
Suppose I could paint up the rest of that SDM mini and get rid of the *ahem* "issue" it seems to have... That sounds like a good project in the mean time. Lets go with that! xD
GiraffeX wrote: Have you used a different camera for those new pics, the red isn't the same looks very muted.
Seems like your color balance is off .. even the fur is looking green ( unless you meant them to be green! )
So.. it's been 3 days.. lets see what you've done with your time!
I dunno... I've actually wanted to give blood bowl a shot. Not ready to go for an army (well, team?) yet, but the game as a concept sounds pretty neat.
Who knows, maybe some rats will be in the future if I start playing BB
And SL- Plenty of progress to report!
Firstly, the first wave of the SW rebase project is complete!
The Secret Weapon snow effect still makes me super nervous to use- Potentially the most dangerous thing I use these days. I guess this works to my benefit, as I treat it with a good deal of respect and care. The results are nice, too!
Close up of a wolf:
Speeder bases:
These guys are going to get shipped out shortly and I should be getting the next phase over the weekend!
Next project update: Khador!
Base reds are done, save for a final brush highlight. From here on its a bunch of brushwork. Mostly metals.
Hopefully I'll get a little more done before DnD tomorrow- Note to self: Remember to write up my notes on 5th ed for Ice...
Man, that snow is great! Could you describe exactly what you did, I tried a ton of snow options when doing my bugs, but love how yours looks "wet" on the edges.
Also, nice job assembling the UCM for Dropzone Commander so quickly! Looking forward to seeing what paint scheme you do with them eventually
RiTides wrote: Man, that snow is great! Could you describe exactly what you did, I tried a ton of snow options when doing my bugs, but love how yours looks "wet" on the edges.
The Secret Weapon snow is a bit scary as it contains crushed glass, comes with a warning and everything. I looked at it a while ago but decided I like my fingers too much
I am hoping my 5th edition game goes well on Friday. So far, having a blast, character creation was fun, and wasn't just "oh man I wanna do x, y, and z." It was a lot of "I want to be from a, b, and c..." and eventually found myself with a fleshed out Wood Elf Ranger that's leading a bunch of city folk through the woods...
The red looks pretty nice on those Khador man. When they're painted, does this mean we're gonna have to get a game in?
JeffyP wrote: You're in Ohio? I'm in the Akron/Cleveland area!
Ramos and I live in various parts of the West Side of Cleveland. We occasionally game (though it had been a long while since before this past Saturday).
RiTides wrote: Man, that snow is great! Could you describe exactly what you did, I tried a ton of snow options when doing my bugs, but love how yours looks "wet" on the edges.
The Secret Weapon snow is a bit scary as it contains crushed glass, comes with a warning and everything. I looked at it a while ago but decided I like my fingers too much
Gir got it exactly! This is the SWM Crushed glass effect. Dangerous if mishandled, but the looks speak for themselves. I definitely recommend it. Rubber gloves will save your fingers, though!! A dust mask is optional, as its not likely to puff up unless you blow on it or shake it, but its better safe than sorry!
The final result is encapsulated in water effect resin, so its generally safer than the plain crushed glass.
@Alf: Ehhhh I dunno. Warmachine just doesn't have the same pull on me as 40k did back when I started. For now these are just something different to paint.
Maybe, though. Wouldnt mind giving it another shot.
@JeffyP: Yarp! As Alf said, we're in the western side of cleveland. Normally play at a store in North Olmstead.
=================================
So Today was more Khador
The red got its final highlights, all the way up to Blazing orange. This ended up looking a little too tron-esque, so I hit it with a bit of red Minitaire Ghost tint. This really brought the color back to a richer red and resaturated the color. Pleasantly surprised with the result!
So yes! Its update time, gents (get excited, Gir!)
Easter was uneventful (just stuck around the house, really), so I got some more work in on the various projects on my desk. Got some cleaning in, too. I actually have some semblance of organization on my workbench!
Khador box is complete and I'm still learning how to use this snow stuff! (Lots of snow recently, huh? Weird.)
Commander Sorscha
Juggernaut:
And Destroyer:
Pics actually turned out ok this time... blasted camera xD
Anyways, I remembered that there was something in the rules about front/back arcs on models in Warmachine, so I went ahead and did a very light two-tone effect on the bases. Funnily enough they are 2 P3 paints I was trying out, the first being my current crush (Frostbite), the other being underbelly blue. The latter has a more greenish tint to it. Its sort of like the old GW foundation paint Astronomican Grey (I think that was the name), but with a little more green in it.
=============
WHATS NEXT:
I received a pair of boxes in the mail today, both containing two very different projects. In the first: Some more wolves to rebase and play with. The second...
These are actually my own Khador minis, so I was able to paint em however I felt. I just figured that snow base= white rim. Helped that I had 2 different little shades of white that I was wanting to play with.
That was very exciting indeed very nice Khador models. I tend to do my base rims black as well as I like the separation between model and gaming table.
It probably has something to do with goblin green many years ago as well
Looking forward to the knight is that for WM or another client?
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I agree with Moon. I think a black rim would make the snow base pop more honestly. It kind of blends in with the rest right now.
GX - It's mine. Also going to be another battlecannon Knight with the FW armor upgrade to be the Warlord.
I have a suggestion on basing, which I've seen done before - half black, half white. It will signify your front arc, but let you keep part of it white . Worth trying on a test base, maybe (this is why I'll be laser cutting arcs for the gator bases, too).
Don't listen to Moonpie, or whale for that matter, lol. Black rim on a white board would detract from the model and lure your eye away from the great paint job. Bases should blend in not create a contrasting visual barrier between model and board.
Sorry, Swap Shop Mods whose names start with large aquatic animals votes count for 4776031. Double if they have numbers at the end of their names. Keep the campaign going tho, you'll get there.
whalemusic360 wrote: Sorry, Swap Shop Mods whose names start with large aquatic animals votes count for 4776031. Double if they have numbers at the end of their names. Keep the campaign going tho, you'll get there.
So I got a game in with Ramos in the past 2 weeks, and I am Ramos, does that mean I get double double votes?
And then there's the little known "Painter's Rule" (it's a few paragraphs after the aforementioned SwapMOD Aquatic animal and number rule, WM, Im surprised you missed that). If I recall correctly it concerns commission painters votes in this situation. They get p^n votes, whereupon "p" is the number of points painted previously for the client (standard practice is 2 years from the date of the start of the vote) and include 60% of in-progress projects and models. Variable "n", then, is then the number of different gaming systems those points were collected from.
Check and Mate, good sir. It is fortunate that I had these paints on hand:
No need to thank me. Its all in the line of duty
So if the above photos were any indication, I've been busy building! This time around, we wanted a more dynamic pose for the plastic Knight, as he was to be the warlord, so I had to cut apart the legs and re-position them. I was able to reuse a lot of the existing leg pistons with just a little cutting. For those that needed more length I used a handy piece of brass pipe I had around the workbench.
Because its the warlord, we have the FW upgrade kits for the armor plates.
Pretty nice detail on these, and the castings are sharp. They fit pretty well in their respective places, too. No major bending or deformations.
Just need a bit of greenstuff to cover some minor bubbles on the casts and a few gaps from the conversion process.
The other project on my desk is the FW Castigator. Right now he is sitting as you see him in that first image- just the legs and feet. Again, the casts here are really sharp. The kit is really pose-able too, if the legs are any judge. Reminding me a lot of the Warhond kit, funnily enough.
Typical forge world, really
As far as the Khador bases.... You all make good points one way or the other. I dont actually play Warmachine, so at the moment they are just shelf models.
I think Ill just call them done for now and come back to them later.
Till next time guys.... I have some Knights to paint pink
I had to reread the sentence about greenstuffing the shoulder pads. In my mind I read, "Just a little bit of greenstuff work to turn that horse head into a unicorn."
That would go extra special well with a pink and yellow Knight, a color scheme I will, in this particular instance, waive the licensing fees on. You're welcome, Whale. I won't hear the end of this from my IP lawyer, manager, and CFO, but they need to remember who the boss is.
It almost seems, Whalemusic, that you are resistant to this best of color schemes ever designed by man(but inspired, of course, divinely.) This is what doing you a favor looks like. What else would you paint them? Pink and yellow gets people's attention and sets them apart, it sets them aside from the legions of red or black or blue or whatever everyone else has done. There is also the wargaming rule of pink as immortalized in my sig.
So begins the revolution...
Greatly appreciate the profound spiritual revelations and support from the prophet Moonpie as well as the legal interpretation and explanations of point values and unicorns. ( things not often associated or used concurrently in singular sentences.)
The knight looks great. I like the base and it become obvious in similarity to the Warhound because so.
Ramos. I just went to your site on my phone. There was only a two paragraph home page. No links to your stuff only a link to on the lamb games. I thought you should know.
Well that's almost enough to make me get a knight of my own xD
@Ice: Hmmm... I actually dont know how its formatted for mobile devices... Ill ask the tech guy and see. I did use a bit of an unusual template for it... maybe thats whats messing with it all.
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Still building the resin Knight... no interesting pics there!
In other news, I'm just about ready to launch the site now- just gotta polish up a few things and its game time!
So go ahead, have a peek and poke around Little warning, I've noticed the galleries are a bit slow, currently- especially on mobile! Probably the subject of a future upgrade!
If there are any issues or errors you guys encounter, shoot me a message or post something up here!
The site looks really beautiful! For some reason, it is very slow to load the tabs even on my PC with a wired ethernet connection, though - both in chrome and explorer. I think you should have the tech guy fix that, as it could deter people from really following through on seeing the full galleries and then reaching out to you about a commission, etc.
@RT: Thank you! Its nice to finally have a presence online (You know, outside of my presence online! )
Now is it the entire site that is slow for you or just the galleries? If its just the galleries, it seems that that is a common complaint and may need to be revisited soon.
@Alf: Sure, lemme know what's up. Its very likely I missed stuff.
====================
Today I got the FW Knight all built and pinned. Everything is sub-assembled and cleaned and ready to prime just as soon as it stops being monsoon season around here.
One thing I noticed about this thing... its HUGE.
Really huge. Here it is next to the plastic Knight:
Hello hello!
So while I work upon the Magnum Opus that is the BoobKnight (TM), I felt I should do a little announcement.
Every year since I started taking on commissions, I've run an annual prize giveaway to reach out to the community and get a little bit of a buzz going. Its about that time of year again, but rather than the same old song and dance, I thought it might be as good a time as any to fully celebrate the new website!
As part of the celebration, I will be running a super giveaway! This time, its an ARMY!
Specifically, a brand new Mechanicus Army! Included in this are 10 Skitarii Vanguard, 5 Sicarian Ruststalkers, and a Sydonian Dragoon, all painted to our highest standard!
HOW TO ENTER To enter, just go to rollinallones.com and click “Contact”. Fill out the form on that page with the subject “AdMech Army Giveaway!”, shoot it off to us, and you’ll be entered into the drawing!
CONTEST ENDS APRIL 30, 2015!
Thanks again, guys!!
Oh! And if anyone encounters any bugs, errors, or any other general web-related issues, let me know. The site is still young, and we are doing our best to work all of the kinks out as fast as we can!
The sites looking good Ramos but you really need to do something to improve loading times on the gallery's. It took ages just going to the home page from clicking on your website link above, enough to discourage people I think.
On the bottom of the page I believe you need the actual copyright symbol as well as the wording, not sure though.
Thanks to everyone who's already entered. Loving the messages Im getting along with some of the entries, haha! Know that you're making my day with the jokes (and legalese "threats" from some )
@Gir: Odd that the front page is slow to load... Hmm
Slow galleries seem to be a bit of a common issue from what I've been hearing. Gallery upgrades will probably be on the shorter list of site upgrades, then. In the mean time, I guess we'll just have to manage- Sorry!!
@Gits: Love it xD
@WM: I guess its a good thing that my contest is outside the realms of Dakka, then, eh? Otherwise you might get your 40986 entries as per the SwapMod Aquatic animal rules.
@Alf: Hey you are just as likely to win as anyone! I dont do favorites (but I do take bribes)
@Verviedi: Well I know exactly which entry is yours then
@Ice: And lovely it was!
Thanks so much for all your support, guys!!
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So yesterday, I was surprised by a knock at my door- When I answered it, I was greeted by an exhausted postman with a box nearly as large as he was!
Looks like some new projects are in
Why yes indeed! A gargantuan crate full of models from our very own Gitsplitta!
As part of his re-organization and cleaning efforts, he's sent me a number of rather large (and FUN) projects.
2 Storm Talons
An extended Storm Raven (both to be painted up in MW Penitent scheme)
2 Knights
A Knight Lancer (both to be painted in House Taranis colors)
And finally, a Storm Eagle to be painted in Emperors Children colors!
Also included in the box were a few bags full of extra Adepticon swag that I'll document later (after I find some room!).
ON TO THE PROJECTS!
First up in the box of many things, Twin Talons and a Storm Raven!
I am nearly unhinged at the prospect of these models getting painted... especially the Knights as I'm going to pair them with a new Skitarii army (which I'll be working on in the mean time). Just can't wait.
Gitsplitta wrote: I am nearly unhinged at the prospect of these models getting painted... especially the Knights as I'm going to pair them with a new Skitarii army (which I'll be working on in the mean time). Just can't wait.
Ramos, it's clear your work has impressed, it looks like you are booked up . Full disclosure, I have also reserved a slot in Ramos' queue, and will be sending the models tomorrow! (Was supposed to have them out last week, but have been very busy with ModCube preparations, which I'm also excited about of course )
Is the "order of operations" whalemusic, Gitsplitta, my project, or was there another in there ahead of mine? Looking forward to watching all of these develop, although I have to say, mine is the most unique should be a good mental break from all that heavy armor and knights! (It is my converted gatormen project).
Its an odd feeling, really... I don't want to sound all introspective or navel-gaze-y, but even just a year ago I'd have never of thought I'd get so many projects in one go, especially of this scale. I'm absolutely floored and humbled that people are so eager to let me paint for them and are willing to wait for their spot in the queue. I'm just stunned, really...
Thanks, you guys. I really mean that.
But yeah! RiTides Gators are on the slab after the current run of projects is finished! Really a wild project, that one. Insanely varied collection of minis, including a couple that looks GORGEOUS.
Theres one more major project in front of it (in addition to WM and Gits) that has a bunch of Infinity figs. Plus a bunch of assorted infantry scattered all about- Certainly fun times to be had in the future
I'm glad to see it. As nice as it was to have a personal painter, it's more fun to see other projects. It also makes me pick and choose what is higher on my list, which isn't a bad thing.
@WM: I figured eventually Ramos would just move in with you and paint for room and board!
It is nice to have someone helping me out with so many major projects, especially a painter of Ramos' caliber. I could sure use those flyers for a game I'm playing tonight... but will have to do my best without them. :(
Ramos Asura wrote: Its an odd feeling, really... I don't want to sound all introspective or navel-gaze-y, but even just a year ago I'd have never of thought I'd get so many projects in one go, especially of this scale. I'm absolutely floored and humbled that people are so eager to let me paint for them and are willing to wait for their spot in the queue. I'm just stunned, really...
Thanks, you guys. I really mean that.
But yeah! RiTides Gators are on the slab after the current run of projects is finished! Really a wild project, that one. Insanely varied collection of minis, including a couple that looks GORGEOUS.
Theres one more major project in front of it (in addition to WM and Gits) that has a bunch of Infinity figs. Plus a bunch of assorted infantry scattered all about- Certainly fun times to be had in the future
It's because you're good at doing what you do, with a lot of passion and love not to mention quite the affable person just sit back brush in hand and enjoy being a pro at something you love! not many can say that!
Assembly report! Both Talons are now complete as well as the Raven!
And not just any Raven, but an extended one!
This particular cast of the kit was oddly thick on one side- nearly twice as thick as the opposite panel! This made the roof segment end up not fitting at all. I had to slice the roof panel in half and do a little creative gap filling. Looks right enough now, though!
So now its on to painting!
...
Well... It would be. However, I dont have the right paint!
I've ordered them in, but it'll be a few days yet. In the mean time, I've taken on a small infantry commission. Warmachine returns to the blog! (as well as my hideous wallpaper!)
I absolutely love this model... So much flowing cloth! Truly one of my favorite things to paint on miniatures, second to lenses and gems. I figure about a day or day and a half left on this. Blue cloth, blue armor, and brassy armor to go!
Oh, and a taste of what's to come... Ritides has commissioned me to paint his gorgeous Gator army... Quite an eclectic gathering of minis from a number of different manufacturers. Even a couple Deep Wars minis in there, which are pretty neat looking! (*note to self* Get a demo game next Adepticon)
These are still a ways down the line, but I figured some of you might be interested to see what's coming down the line Till next time!
Yeah, I'm happy to wait my turn, but glad they got there safe-ish (except the vault candles). Looking forward to seeing your progress on the heavy armor stuff in the interim
You know... if my color vision is going there's absolutely nothing that an optometrist will be able to do about it. Might as well just shoot me in the head at that point. On my computer... there are distinct purplish elements about it. Maybe it's the red stripe behind it that's influencing my interpretation of the color. Don't know.
Might not be a bad thing though. For my EC... ILL think they're Emperors Children and everyone else will think they're Ultras... so I'll get two armies for the price of one!
Epic Warcaster completed. Just have the alt sculpt of her to go. Currently shes primed. Not nearly as cool as the other warcaster, but a sharp mini nonetheless.
I also put some primer on the interiors of Gits' flyers. Decided to give the STYNYLREZ some extended tests. Thats that airbrush primer I bought at last year's Adepticon- by Badger, I believe. Goes through the brush pretty nicely and dries nice and smooth. I dont think it'll replace my rattlecans any time soon- its just not as tough-wearing- but for interior bits and quick prime jobs its nice.
Anyway, going for a black interior on everything highlighted to P3 Coal Black. Still have a ton of brightly colored lights and screens to go!
Gitsplitta wrote: You know... if my color vision is going there's absolutely nothing that an optometrist will be able to do about it. Might as well just shoot me in the head at that point. On my computer... there are distinct purplish elements about it. Maybe it's the red stripe behind it that's influencing my interpretation of the color. Don't know.
Might not be a bad thing though. For my EC... ILL think they're Emperors Children and everyone else will think they're Ultras... so I'll get two armies for the price of one!
One of my buddies is colorblind, and he does okay with painting. Lots of single colors on his 40k stuff, but his Warmachine, FoW, and various DnD minis all tend to come out okay. If he's going for a scheme, he asks for a color palette to be made up, and buys those paints. I think we could teach you to paint while colorblind
Though I do agree, it was probably the red stripe on the background, because while I know Haley is blue, that cape in the most recent photos looks a little violet-ish.
Gitsplitta wrote: You know... if my color vision is going there's absolutely nothing that an optometrist will be able to do about it. Might as well just shoot me in the head at that point. On my computer... there are distinct purplish elements about it. Maybe it's the red stripe behind it that's influencing my interpretation of the color. Don't know.
Might not be a bad thing though. For my EC... ILL think they're Emperors Children and everyone else will think they're Ultras... so I'll get two armies for the price of one!
This is obviously fate. You have become too famous on Dakkadakka. You shall be our painting version Beethoven! You shall go colorblind and yet, still paint masterpieces!
(I would suggest going and getting tested just to be safe.)
Kill yourself if you are colorblind? Cool. Way to be.
Anyways, Ramos...Nice job on your Haley model. Her epic is by far the best model. I used to use it instead of her normal even when I was just playing her not epic.
Ultramarine Blue is on the purple end of the blue spectrum, as opposed to a Prussian Blue, which would be the pure blue. I know this, because that is what the color wheel tells me.
Gitsplitta wrote: I think it looks beautiful Ramos. And while I can clearly see blue, I still see those subtle violet shades, especially on the front view lower right.
What?? Am I the ONLY person on dakka not allowed to troll once in a while?
Haha! Sure you can, Gits! If you get to troll, then conversely I am allowed to act way overly defensive and offended. Huff! Huff!
For the record, I don't see any purple in it at all.
What's next? Well its the non-epic version of Haley! This means another purple cape for our favorite Ludwig von Gitsplitta
Painted this one up in about a day and a half- actually went spectacularly quick. Probably would get faster if I could keep going for more than a few minutes at a time! Just gotta get into the right groove.
I ended up taking most of the weekend off from painting. Friday we celebrated my mom's birthday at a local Hibachi place, then Sunday I went over a friends place and played a bunch of video/boardgames. Laaaaaazy weekend
On the Gitsplitta front, the twin Talons and the Raven are sitting here ready to prime- all gaps filled and sanded down nicely. I even managed to magnetize everything. Unfortunately it seems that The Warstore didnt ship the spray primer with the rest of the paint (an issue I am still pursuing) so I cant start on the real meat of the paint scheme!
Very aggravating.
In the mean time, though, I got the interiors of all vehicles painted up and looking shiny. Seeing as the primary interior color was black and dark blue, I went with mostly red screens and lights, dabbing in a little yellow and blue here and there. For the Raven, I threw in a little weathering powder on the floors for wear and tear. Guess the Mantis Warriors aren't too big on wiping their feet before coming inside!
So now what... lets see... Cant go further on the flyers without primer, so those are temporarily on hold. -May- end up doing a little assembly on one of the Knights, but I do have a new squad of Space Wolves in need of rebasing.... hmmmmmm Choices choices.
So a bit of a favor to ask- We just did an update on the site to improve loading times in the galleries. Can you guys take a look and let me know how it feels?
First upload was pretty slow, then a few pics (scrolling from one to the next) was fine... then really slow as it loaded more pics. Then again I didn't see your site before, so this might be an improvement.
The site loads much faster, so that was a very good fix!
Gitsplitta wrote: First upload was pretty slow, then a few pics (scrolling from one to the next) was fine... then really slow as it loaded more pics. Then again I didn't see your site before, so this might be an improvement.
Yeah, I'm comparing to before - I couldn't get the DzC gallery to load at all previously. Now, it's a little slow, but gets there after a second or two and I don't think should deter people very much at all.
Haley is for a client, yes, but the Khador are still all mine. Warmachine still just isnt my cup of tea xD Minis are cool, though. May be getting a few more of these warcasters in the future... Client in question mentioned the Major Prime Haley minis- a whole -squad- of this character! Should be a treat.
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Still no word on primer (grrrrrrr...), so I worked on a bit of other stuff. I threw Gits' two knights into the wash and got them all squeaky clean. Should be ready to assemble in a few days (sooner if I dont get my paint!!)
Worked on another project today, too, and this time it was actually something of mine!
On the Lamb gave me one of their new modular boards for EFT so I could play with it and work on some custom toppers for it. Really nice boards- they stack like legos, and assembly is pretty quick. We'll see how they take paint and flock soon.
Haley is for a client, yes, but the Khador are still all mine. Warmachine still just isnt my cup of tea xD Minis are cool, though. May be getting a few more of these warcasters in the future... Client in question mentioned the Major Prime Haley minis- a whole -squad- of this character! Should be a treat.
Major Prime Haley looks cool, was just announced a few days ago. So probably released at GenCon if not a little later (maybe at Warmachine Weekend, which should be before GenCon). And I know how we could get you into Warmachine, Unbound. 150 points per side, 3 warcasters, and like 6 hours to play >_>. It turns this very fast paced skirmish-sized game into a slow game about the size of a 2000 point 40k ga.e
Wait... what? I could have sworn that there was an update before this one.... Uggggggggghhhhhhh....
Well, before I go to reconstruct that, heres today's update:
===========================
Lancer!
So today was more errands, including tutoring my little brother in math and prepping him for a job interview Sunday. Fingers crossed on that one.
When I finally did end up back in the office, I had a nice chat with Gitsplitta about his knights. In particular, we needed to hammer out the fine details of the Lancer's pose. What we ended up with.... well, its gonna be interesting I ended up spending so much time building and pinning it that I didnt even get a chance to put any paint on the MW Flyers. I did prime them, though, so it wasnt a total wash. Warstore held to their word and shot the primer out next day air- really a class act!
My first concept for posing was to build a really dynamic footing- a running pose with the shield braced in front of him. Said pose would have been interesting to try, as I'd have to make sure the whole thing was riddled with pins and was weighted right. Wanted to run it by Gits though to see if it was what he'd want.
Cut to a bit later, and he pitches what we would eventually go with- A much more "realistic" pose (you know, as realistic as hundred-foot tall killer robots go ). Based off of Gits' medieval martial arts experience, the aim is to recreate a suitable pose to spear fighting. Shield held in front, spear along side poking along the side.
Couple of problems with this, not the least of which is that the Knights have stubby stubby little arms and no necks.
Challenge accepted.
So ok, how to go about this. Spear is easy enough. Its nice and long and plenty poseable. Little crooked, but a little heat should neaten it up some. Legs and the rest are the same deal. Still a lovely kit to build and pose!
The sticking point is the shield and its arm. The arm is far too short, and the shield too large in order to have it protecting the front of the Knight. So that's when Gits asked if we could move the mounting point. Instead of the wrist mount, could it be moved to be held in the mech's hand? It has a beautifully sculpted set of fingers, after all.
Sure!
Current plans are to rebuild the shield entirely. Gits isnt too fond of the erector set-looking thing the kit ended up with (nor am I...), so its going to be scrapped and swapped for a teardrop shield design. Got a bit of an exciting treat for that design... will update on that front later once some supplies come in
Grip will be plasticard rod and will be reinforced with pins. By time Im through with it, it'll all be one solid mass of parts- probably the most durable thing on the model!
Wow... so thanks for suffering through all that babble, guys xD I tell ya. Soon as I got off the phone with Gits, my mind was all a-tingle with ideas. Absolutely ecstatic about the plans we have...
Tomorrow is going to be a day off- boardgame day at a friend's place- so no progress expected. Could surprise myself though.... lets see how it goes
At least in theory it sounds plausible. The kit is proportioned well with the legs and body. You can reproduce almost any kind of stance with the kit. I think its going to be the arms that are the final selling point.
Yeah yeah yeah, Ice... I know. The problem is I interview exceptionally well.... its getting the interview that I seem to fail at :/
Bleeeeegh!
Well anyways, had a good day of games and food yesterday, so that was a refreshing change of pace. Today its back to work.
Started to work on a template for the lancer shield- jsut a paper mockup but I think this can work. Posing is coming together as well. Spear will rest alongside the shield- couldnt hold it in place to photograph it, though!
The actual build of the shield will be after a few supplies come in. In the mean time, heres what we're looking at currently.
Here's the template with the old shield for scale. Not much wider, but a bit longer.
And at long last, the flyers are getting paint!
I think Ill have to go one layer more on the green to desaturate it some. Aim is to mimic how Gits does his own greens. Its surprisingly difficult.
Guess that works in my favor then, Gits. By being completely different, they'll fit in
Shield could do with a bit more narrowing. The topmost pic is what it currently looks like held in the knights hand.
I'll skinny it up and recheck the fit for ya tomorrow!
Judging by your pick, you might want to hit a few of the strongest highlight spots with some yellow (or very yellow-blended green). Just to push the contrast between the lights and the darks a little more. I would do so very sparingly though.
A bit more highlighting and the green is done on the flyers. It looks slightly more yellow-green than the picture, but its reasonably close enough.
So then I gave everything a coat of varnish to protect it, then some matte varnish on the areas I'd be adding paint to. I only spray certain areas, especially on large models like this, as it saves time opposed to matte coating the whole thing. Makes the WiP pics look a bit off, though, due to the changes in reflectivity, so it may not look quite right until its finished.
I also threw on little bits of purple here and there, as per the MW Penitent scheme. It was easy to do on the smaller flyers. Pretty simple to compare them to the average SM scheme, with the rear fuselage, engine cowling, and "cheek" weapons (not pictured) painted similar to a shoulder pad.
(**note** The above picture was taken with a different camera than below, so it looks a bit different)
The big guy, on the other hand, was a bit more of a challenge. I dont want the purple to be a distraction- it's a secondary color after all- and just with how the colors come together it turns into a particularly loud color. I'm really hoping I didnt bite off more than I can chew with painting the cockpit armor how I did.
The cowling for the headlights will be picked out in purple later.
I'm thinking it almost needs some kind of stripe on the wings, or something to bring more purple in. Maybe once more details go in it'll look less crazy. Im thinking of painting the missiles in purple.
Tomorrow will be on to blocking out the metals with black, then the metallic paint proper. Still have a number of separate smaller bitz to pick out in purple, but that's gonna wait until I get a refill on my purple paint. Seems I used it all to paint the last of this stuff!
The combo of Liche Purple and Warlock Purple is one of my absolute favorites to use... I try to throw a little bit of it wherever I can. WMs Scorpions swords, my ork armor... Just so happened that Gits' scheme included it from the get-go!
Today I added in the blacked out areas that will soon be metal and added in a few more purple areas- namely stripes to bring the purple color to the wings.
Starting to all come together, but still a very crazy color!
I should note that the camera I used for these and the last few wip pics seems to have made the colors more saturated. I can tell you from looking at it in real life that it looks nowhere near as vivid Much more of a purple and yellow-green (not lime!)
I just want to make it clear that any purple put on these planes has been at MY specific request. I like purple... bold, exciting, contrasting purple. So, if you advise "no more purple" and Ramos ignores you... he's not the one ignoring you... I'M ignoring you! Go make your own bloody green planes!
I can totally see a Luthor Chapter master, Gits. Get on it!
So progress continues on the flyers. Figure I've a couple more days left on them. Hopefully finished Sunday/Monday!
Today I took a small detour and worked on some Space Wolves that a client wants me to rebase. Baking soda removed, that sorta thing.
Currently have the bases all painted and just need to touch up one squad's shoulder pads and then apply the snow and grass to the base.
I also put some more work in on the Lancer, particularly the shield. It is now considerably thinner in width and I think the pose could do well with the new dimensions. Even rigged up a third hand to hold up the spear arm as I took a picture!
Provided that the scale of the shield looks right, I can start to actually start laying some plastic down! Then some more plastic.... and beautiful gears
Ladies and Gents, some important news!! The AdMech Giveaway has concluded!
I was blown away by the response- more than 60 people threw their hats in the ring. Wish I could give everyone something for being awesome, but alas... Much like Highlander, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!
Tossing the names into my most fancy hat, I drew a name for the grand prize- A Skitarri army!
Drumroll, Please!!
Ready....?
I'm unfolding the name.....
And....
TADAH!!!!
Congrats to Evan Myers! You win a Skitarri force complete with 10 Skitarri Vanguard, 5 Ruststalkers, and a Dragoon! All painted up to my best and delivered to you! Congrats!
But thats not all.... You see, I was so stunned by the number of people who sent me entries (and endlessly entertained by the various jokes, jibes, and comments), that I have decided to toss in a couple extra prizes. A second and third prize, if you will. I have a large selection of minis that may never see the light of day, as I'm much more of a painter than a player now... So I want to send them off to a good home. They may not be Admech, but I think I can find a stompy robot or two for you guys
Second Prize is awarded to ALPHARIUS! Third Prize is awarded to Paul Regush!
All of the winners have been contacted through email, and have a week to claim their prize- Once May 9th hits, their name goes away and I redraw!
I just want to thank all of you for your support. A little comment here or a like may not sound like much, but it's a huge morale boost to see people enjoying my work. Even better when it inspires others to paint!
Congrats. Here's hoping nothing bad happens to you.
By reading this it is understood that the writer has fully expressed his good intentions to the ower of this blog and in no way would be responcible for any misfortune that might happen to him by accident or due to the dangers present in everyday living.
ps.. please stick to your daily routine for at least a month
Man that contest was rigged. Probably some fake names and emails just so Ramos can keep the loot. Either way congrats to the winners.(In the most sarcastic tone I can muster.)
Those poor, poor tires, Gits... Nev's got the right idea! Curse the server!!!
Alas, It was not cursed soon enough, for I've heard back from everyone already. Sorry guys- better luck next year!!
The winners' projects should be up on the chopping block after the flyers- a nice in-between project to break up the huge vehicles. Wondering if I want to post them here as I work on them or just let them be a surprise?
Today was just a bunch of touch-ups on the SWs (which are complete now), and some more work on the Lancer's shield.
Its now cut from plasticard, and Im starting to place gears about it to get an idea of where to go with it. In this extremely precise and in no way cobbled together diagram, the blue areas denote further building- the shield as a whole will be trimmed in a crenelated band, akin to the teeth on a cog, an Admech staple of design. The field generator will be mounted a little higher and will intersect with a plasticard crossbar, possibly with some sort of power cabling on it.
For paint colors, the shield itself will be red, with the trim split down the middle in black and white (again, Admech staple!). The gears themselves I think will be left in their own natural antiqued bronze... That will be determined after paint starts to fly- in the mean time they'll be sitting off to the side as I build the rest.
Now if you'l excuse me, my chair seems to have started ticking... Wonder what that could mean
That would be pretty badass, actually xD I think I will do so, but Im not telling anyone where the on-off switch it
Joking aside, We'd have to get better gears than these... these arent toothed the same, so they rarely mesh! So we're looking at just decorative gears...
Coming along rather nicely, if I do say so myself. Managing to get it to fuse into one solid chunk of styrene- NOTHING is going to bust this thing!
Mantis warrior flyers are progressing, albeit a smidge slower than anticipated. Game day yesterday and I've been hiiked on the Lancer's shield for most of the rest of the weekend. Metals are going on and are almost at the wash stage!
Decorative gears! As an engineer, I've always loved this phenomenon
Looks quite nice, Ramos! I wasn't sure about replacing the "empty" shield frame with a real shield at such a large size, but I think this will look really good - particularly if it's slightly curved. The border you've added really helps with the feeling of the shield having depth, too.
Now THAT"S what I like to see! holy hell that idea is brilliant and you did it so well ramos! I'm very happy it worked out so bloody attractive for you! if Gits isn't over the moon .....Oh who am I kidding!? Lol.......of COURSE he'll love it :-)
Perfect! Makes the wimpy-a$$ shield that the model originally comes with look like a complete joke. Once again you set the standard for excellence my fried.
@RiTides: Much appreciated! I'm actually really happy that I didnt have to go with the hollow frame shield. I've always felt that was the weakest element of the model. Otherwise its awesome!
@Stormwall: Thank you very much! Really high praise to call it art Hopefully the paint serves to cement that view!
@Noodles: You'd be surprised at the weight... The gears are not brass, but some kind of soft metal. Not that heavy at all!! Plus Im going to ensure that the plasticard is fused into one solid chunk and that theres a big ol pin going almost all the way through the hand and shield! Should be plenty strong enough to play with!
@Nerd: Cheers man! This has all been one massive experiment after another, and Im incredibly relieved to see that its working!
@SL: The gears are indeed some kind of metal, but its a very soft metal just painted to look like brass. Maybe something like cast aluminum or something. My sprue cutters had no problems in cutting one.
As to the trim, that's all one piece of plastic Figured that was going to be the best way to manufacture it. Fortunately I had just bought a new chisel-blade knife, so I could make straight cuts just by pushing down.
@Gits: Excellent to hear!! Not too much longer for paint!~
@Nev: Thank you!
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Project Update:
Mantis Warriors have aerial reinforcements!!
Talon I:
Talon II:
Raven with extension kit:
All weapon options are magnetized and completely interchangeable. Interiors are all painted and the turrets and Talon engines can rotate.
The only thing left to do on these is the Raven Pilot (whose legs are hopefully en route from the UK). That and the Raven turret guns still need magnets- I just happened to run out!! Hopefully the game store has some in stock.
Tonight is 5e night, then after that its on to a couple of mini projects (gotta get the prizes for my giveaway rolling!) before finally returning to the Knights. Gits got a set of the Dreamforge Leviathan arms for potentially a working conversion. We'll see how those go! Then the Lancer's shield needs a few more power gubbins and greeblies and Ill be able to mark him for primer. Then its just 2 of the regular Knight kits for him.
Good Lord Ramos, those are awesome! I am sooooo pleased with your work! *Insert Gitsplitta Happy Dance here* Don't feel like you have to wait for the legs. Just paint some GS sausages pants-color and you'll be good.
Thank you everyone!!
Must apologize for the lack of updates recently. With mothers' day and boring ol assembly, there was little on my desk worthy of an update. (That and our internet is TOTAL CRAAAAAAAAP!!! )
@graven: They did in fact come in (the very day I sent out these planes to gits xD), and will go on the eventual Storm Eagle!! Thanks again for shooting em out to me!
@WM: Yeeeeeeah, you would, wouldn't you (Oh and I havent forgotten your knights. Im just waiting to do them with the rest of Gits'- Sorry, just my OCD acting up! xD)
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So currently I am awaiting one of the new Knight kits to come in for Gits project, so the mass of knights on the table is delayed a short while longer. In the mean time, I have moved on to the next project in queue: Sisters of Battle and Infinity minis (to be painted in a similar color scheme of black, cream, and red!)
Sisters: 10 Seraphim and a lone footslogger
A number of PanOceania Infinity minis
And lastly, a peculiar Samurai mini from Reaper. Lots of detail on this guy. He also comes with a back banner and bow/naginata that are a separate piece
After black base color- lots of washes and color changes!
Close up
I took a page out of nerdfest's book and stuck to heavy heavy washes in order to bring the color to a more dynamically-shaded black. I started with a base color of Minitaire Raven Black, then hit it with a layer of Charred stone (only leaving black in the recesses), then a final zenithal highlight of VMA Barley Gray. This resulted in a very bright gray, so in order to knock it down in shade. Three heavy coats of Army Painter Dark Tone (which is pretty much old GW Badab Black), and Im left with this rather nice looking silky black.
In the coming days, I will be breaking out the colors- Golds, metals, and lots and lots of RED!!
Thanks, guys! Fell behind schedule a bit today, but finished the reds on the sisters.
I actually really like the Sisters models. (quiet, WM xD) Even though the dex isn't particularly good (especially in the current meta), I've always wanted a SoB army. There's just something about the minis that works for me. Maybe its the rarity of them that draws me...
I actually have a box of battle sisters and a few blisters of Seraphim that I picked up one day. It's just too expensive to get the minis nowadays
Really excited me to get this group in a commission!
Finished the Sisters late last night, and needed only to apply a bit of varnish this morning before calling them done! (Just a quick pic before running off for errands, etc.)
You know, I had a devil of a time with the faces on these gals... Im not even sure why! The paint fought me, the sculpts fought me... Hopefully what I ended up with is acceptable enough. I really wish that the sisters had more helmets. Still dont like armies running around the battlefield with their heads exposed to passing sniper fire!
Also, I never noticed before now, but the SoB sculpts are really really similar to each other, and you get a lot of cloning. Not sure if Im a huuuuuge fan of that, but given the nature of the minis, I dont think theres any way of avoiding that.
Anyways! Now I'm shifting gears yet again and doing the airbrush work on the two Knights I have for WM- Lots of beautiful blues to paint!! (in truth, I wanted another change of pace from the little guys ) Shouldnt be too much longer till we can see some pics of those- depends on how much time I can wring together!
I appreciate it, Gits, but I dont know. The faces are always the weakest parts of my paining, and its frustrating as all get out ><
Even after the class at Adepticon, I find myself struggling with anything fleshtone!
They look very nice Ramos. I've not been able to make myself paint any more Sisters for my army since I did the first batch, they get very boring quickly.
Is odd you were commissioned for a single trooper gal.
As far as the single trooper gal, I think that was a case of the client filling in some odds and ends minis. He originally asked me a quote for 20 minis all about this size. 10 Seraphim and 9 Infinity, and he tossed in the single foot sister to round out the numbers Hes also more of a collector than a gamer- only plays anymore when his daughter(s) are looking for a game to play. Thats the reason behind the eclectic assortment of infinity minis too.
I liked it cause it let me paint up some minis I'd not likely get to painting otherwise.
After a busy weekend, its back to the workbench with twin Knights from House Terryn. (Why yes, that IS another shift in schedule! )
Right now its all the armor base gradients, as well as the first touch of their personal Heraldry. For the regular knight, this was a simple case of taking examples out of the book. After all the design directive from the client was to eventually build the 4 "characters" in the knight codex. Still need to tighten up[ the diamonds (damn bleeding!!), but theyre starting to look familiar now The Castigator, on the other hand, needed to have some heraldry all of its own. I decided on a V-shape, keeping with the simple geometric shapes normally seen on these. The knee will get a smaller version of this design.
The eagle-eyed among you might notice that the plate with the Castigaror heraldry is the upper-most shoulder-pad (the design is 2 layered pads on either side, for those not aware). This is intentionally done in order to make the heraldry stand out, and I think it most closely mimics the layout of the plastic knight's scheme. The plate it rests on is the normal blue/red split. Gonna be tough to figure out how to bring in the black aquillas on the red armor... there are no decals for it (yet ), so I may have to improvise something... But THAT will be something for a later date!
In the mean time, I need to let my compressor cool for the night then its back to the knights to spray metals!
Busy past couple of days, but the metals are on. I also went and painted small details like the toes that I couldnt paint separate from the rest of the model. I also went and blacked out the future silver metal areas on the carapaces and guns.
Getting along! Next big step is to paint the golds, and boy are there a lot of gold areas!!
Oh, and I also picked up an infantry commission- The 4 assassins from the Assassinorium board game! Includes the happiest assassin in the world-
Golds complete, and I've started to highlight the silver metals. Getting close to completion on these, so I've started putting armor on the knights at this stage. A majority of whats left is just the little details like the white embossed details on the resin shoulderpads and the red lenses.
Massive armor addition. Love the poses. The height difference really also amazed me as well. However what I think is a cool feature is the ammo feed belt. It really does looks like it puts out a tremendous amount of firepower.
Oh crap! 100 pages!? REALLY!?
What the hell, man. Where did the pages go
Re: the big sword on the Castigator:
When i first got the kit in hand (and before I spoke with WM about color), I was thinking of painting it as a big power sword. Might not have been terrible looking, but certainly would have had a dramatically different focal point. Might of even been distracting! (to counter, youd need to keep it relatively toned down. Not like my usual intense colors)
After talking with him and going with a plain metal, I figured Id try out a MNMM style on it. Sorta painting it like a power weapon, just with metals. At its brightest, I tried out one of the Reaper paints- Polished silver. Its an even brighter color than Mythril silver- its sorta like a metallic white, so it makes an awesome final layer on highlights like these.
@Januine: You didnt miss the Clockwork Knight- In fact, hell be coming back very soon! The way it went is that Gits added another knight to the group. When I drop these two Knights off, Ill be picking up the new kit from WM.
I just wanted to do all the Taranis Knights (red ones!) all at the same time, so I put off the Clockwork Knight.
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Knights are complete!!!
More pics will be uploaded tomorrow- It took just a little longer to get these up than I thought- kept finding tiny bits I forgot to paint
Anyways, thanks for sticking around with me for 100 pages. Heres to another 100!
Those Knights are AWESOME looking - really great work. My knight just arrived in the mail this afternoon. Gotta love the Korean delivery system - ordered Thursday night, delivered Saturday lunchtime!! Can't wait to get busy building him up once I've figured out how to magnatise all the guns!! Much bigger fig than I reckoned - bonus!!
@Januine: Thanks a lot! Rather impressive delivery time on your knight too (GW one or a FW one?)... here its all up in the air if itll be two days or two weeks! I've had paints take nearly a month to arrive due to being lost in the system :/
Enjoy building your new Knight!!
@Storm: Or perhaps.... Blue with envy
...
On second thought, thats silly.
@WM: You want I should change that? Up to you. I could have sworn that I painted them gold on the last ones xD I cant tell in my photos if its a silver or a gold. They all catch the light juuuuuuust right!
@Gits: Thankee kindly! Now it'll be on to making YOU happy with knights
Wow, those knights look fantastic! I think silver would look good on the aquila, that was the only thing that stuck out to me too (that they were the same color as the panel they were on).
Thanks, guys! Yeah the aquillas on top are now silver, and look MUUUUUCH better! Soon as the paint hit them, it jogged my memory. This is exactly what I had last time
@Gir: the little trees are actually the branches from that GW terrain kit you always see with the leaves that always break off. I happened to pick up some of the bitz in a box several years ago. I just cut the different branches down and paint them up as dead wood. Seems to get the point across pretty well!
Well today I finally retired it. Now I have one that ACTUALLY HAS A BATTERY!!
I saw it on sale and it was so cheap I couldnt pass it up. Gonna take me a while to figure out how to use it, but so far so good. Lots of new features to use too (like WiFi connecting!? weird, but could be neat. and it has a touchscreen!) Really astonishes me how much technology progresses over a few years.
First shot with the new camera is of the updated back side of the clockwork shield. Nothing truly impressive to see, but Ive added in some technical gubbins and power cabling. I just didnt want the back to look like one giant slab of plastic.
Other than that, I worked on the assassins and Infinity minis today- nothing interesting enough to warrant a picture, though!
New camera definitely focuses better... Did some other tests, too, and it'll take some finagling in order to get it to do better Macro.
Anyways, I just happened to be in an assembly mood, so knocked this guy out pretty quick. He is planned to be a Sword and Powerfist knight, posed with his sword forward in a challenge. Tomorrow I'll get further shots of the other two I have ready in this group. Still have a fourth (yes, a fourth!) to be picked up, but thats going to be a week or two yet.
In the mean time I'm still painting the 4 assassins and the 11 Infinity minis I have on hand, as well as the two smaller giveaway prizes from last month. Then (if Im still waithing to grab the new kit), I might give a glance at some Gators....
. Looks well done so far!
), but so long as new applications are going out, I suppose I can still be hopeful. At least I have my painting to keep me busy!
. SilverMK2 set the color scheme and it was challenging to match, but Ramos did so wonderfully I think!
