Edit: I've adjusted the title and am adding this bit to reflect that this is now my thread for ALL my Thousand Sons WIP stuff. Enjoy!

Okay, so! I've just started painting my lovely Forgeworld dreadnought, and at some point I decided to do a blog of it because hey, why not. Haven't done a WIP blog before - first time for everything, heh. I'm also trying out blending, so any tips and advice on that would be appreciated!

Introducing Niu! Or at least, all his bits. The shoulders for the CC arms and the plasma cannon are all magnetised, as are the little bolters/heavy flamer/sensor package so I can switch his loadout around. Currently only have the two close combat weapons and plasma cannon. The waist and head are also magnetised, just because. XD I love being able to pose my models a bit.

Those two paint brushes are the only ones I ever use, heh.

The good and bad thing about photographing miniatures is it shows you all those tiny little things that you missed while painting. Sigh. Did a bit of blending on the helm's cheek piece things.


Did some blending on his shin pieces, though it doesn't really show too well here. It's pretty subtle in meatspace too though, so eh.


Is it just me, or are dreadnought toes really cute? Probably just me. Foot on the left is blended/highlighted, right one isn't.


Feet are just dry-fitted at the moment. He balances pretty well! Also showing off the bit of blending/highlighting I've done so far on the torso and shoulder.


I may be unarmed, but I'll still kick you to death! >:|

I like the fading you did on the toes. I think that will look nice if you fade all the blue edges as well as you did the toes.

Also, really interested in seeing how your choice of blue turns out. Darker than what you typically see with the Thousand Son's schemes, specially with all the pre-heresy blogs going on right now. But with excellent edging like that, it should look sick when you're done!

Markillius08 wrote:I like the fading you did on the toes. I think that will look nice if you fade all the blue edges as well as you did the toes.

Also, really interested in seeing how your choice of blue turns out. Darker than what you typically see with the Thousand Son's schemes, specially with all the pre-heresy blogs going on right now. But with excellent edging like that, it should look sick when you're done!

Thanks! Definitely planning on doing that sort of fading on all the edges, at least as best as I can manage. And yeah, I've never been a fan of the brighter blue and yellow that most people use for their Sons. I much prefer a darker blue and an older, less yellow/orange gold.

So, progress! A bit more blending and edge highlighting on the blue parts of the shoulders/toes/torso, and initial pass on the torso's gold parts.

Still dry-fitted with a bit of blu-tak to hold the arms in the shoulders. Niu approves of finally having actual arms!


Flamer and bolter magnetised onto the underside of the torso. Yay magnets!


Niu sees what you did there.

Still looking good! I'm assuming since it's a first pass the gold will be a little brighter on the followup. I agree, not super bright, but its a bit dull for my taste right now.

JEALOUS OF YOUR EDGING SKILLS!!!

Hehe thanks! Man, edging is tricky when y'got shaky hands, heh. And I keep having to redo it 'cause I keep wearing it off when I'm not careful about how I hold the model. :( I think I'm gonna need to get a hold of some matte varnish or something.

As for the gold, it will end up pretty much like the gold on this dude once I'm done:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/279716-Chaos%2C%20Lord%2C%20Sorcerer%2C%20Terminator%20Armor%2C%20Thousand%20Sons.html

Gryphonne Sepia wash and edge highlighting with Mithril Silver.

Heh. I don't touch the poor dude for weeks, then suddenly go mad and paint for about a day and a half - without remembering to take photos during that, sigh. Anyway, update!

Almost done! Still need to do most of the little bits and his second close combat weapon, as well as do some highlighting and more detail work on the plasma cannon.


Greenstuff on the base to make lava! Need to clean it up a bit. Still debating whether or not I want to greenstuff-lava the back quarter as well. Might be a bit overkill.


Not sure if I should make his head-gem red as well. Decisions, decisions.




Chainsaw arms are fine until you want to scratch your nose. Still need to do some highlighting and detail on his arm here.


Need to put a gryphonne sepia wash on a place or two that I missed, whoops.


There's a bubble in his red shoulder-gem, but it just so happened to be about where I wanted to paint the white dot anyway. Might fill that bubble in later, but for now it works well enough, so eh. XD


One problem with magnetising arms is that you've gotta keep in mind that the model won't always have that plasma cannon there, so need to resist the urge to do OSL on his torso as well as the plasma cannon. Otherwise there'd be a random nonsensical glow on his body when he's got some other arm on, heh.


Still got a lot of stuff to do on this guy, but I'm pretty pleased with how he's coming along.

Love the glow effect on the helmet!

That is some amazing work, i very much hope to see more.

That is a cool model.
Good job!

STILL WINNING!!!

Nice plasma glow, and smooth gem transitions. I like how you've gone for muted colours instead of the over the top colours usually used for 1000Sons.

I love the colours you've used on Niu. Especially his head. Also, is he a Rubric dread or is he a Psyker?

Excellent work here! It's always fun to see a great painter work on a unique project (a FW dread, for example ) Subbed!

Glad I found your blog your dread is looking excellent, the OSL effect of the plasma cannon is top notch.

Really like how you've done the gold as well.

Fantastic model and really well painted.....shame GW have to spoil with the crazed rule lol

Thank you all for all the comments!

@ Chaos Raptor: Niu's a psyker, Corvidae cult, and was Dreadnought'd pre-Heresy. He's a cranky old bugger. I figure the Sons generally wouldn't have considered a non-psyker awesome enough to stick into a Dreadnought, hehe.

Awesome enough is an understatement!
How do you do your highlighting?

Really, really nice. Always got a soft spot within me for some FW Chaos Dreads.

Thanks! FW Chaos dreads are indeed awesome. I especially like this particular model's helmet, for some reason. <3

@Chaos Raptor: Very, very carefully. Basically, after the base coat of Necron Abyss, I blend some more of that, watered down, with watered down Mordian Blue to get the fade towards the edges. Once that's done, I edge highlight in Ice Blue, then do a very fine edge highlight just on the corners in Skull White.

As for the gold, it's just the really old version of Shining Gold with a Gryphonne Sepia wash, then edge highlighted in Mithril Silver.

Another update!

Niu himself is pretty much done - at least until I find something I've missed, or think of something else to do to him, heh. Though I'm working on making him a greenstuff man-skirt (what the hell do you call those things, anyway? I refuse to call them loincloths! x_x). Still need to refine it some more, shape it a bit better, smooth it out, so on and so forth. Planning on adding a couple of chains and clasps and stuff to it as well. This is my first real foray into sculpting anything with greenstuff - steep learning curve!


Still working on the base - needs a fair bit more done to it. It'll be a lot darker and less OMG RED GLOWY once it's done. Slowly getting there!


That pre-Heresy Thousand Sons badge is a bugger to freehand.


Planning on giving Niu interchangeable bases - I want to make a snow/ice base for him as well at some point.


More pics of Niu from different angles are up in my Works in Progress gallery for those who're interested - I won't spam the page with them, heh.

Just a short little update this time. I keep getting distracted by other things. Hooray short attention span!

More work done on the tabard thing. Need to get some liquid greenstuff to smooth out the rough bits, then painting!


Base needs a bit more touch-up and detail work, but that's pretty much it.


Almost finished! Just gotta try not to get too distracted by other projects, sigh.

Hm, speaking of other projects - should I make new threads for them, or just stick to this thread? And if I do stick to this thread, how would I go about getting the title of it changed?

Cheers!

Great stuff in here! I love the base. And the gems. And the dread. Wait, that's all of it.

Just put your other stuff in here. As for the title, in order to change it on the front page, you have to edit the title of the first post. Looking forward to more stuff!

Wow, this is epic.

For your first real sculpting with GS, it sure dosen't look like it.

Keep it up!

Thank you! Man, greenstuff can be annoying to work with, heh. And I'll admit I did a couple of practice chains before actually trying it on the skirt itself.

Anyway, other stuff I've been working on!

One of the models I picked up at Games Day was the Forgeworld special Boarding Marine exclusive. Decided to do him up in pre-Heresy Thousand Sons colours (yes, I'm obsessed ).

I'm trying for a deeper, rich red, as opposed to the more orangey bright red I see a lot of models using. Also trying for some zenithal lighting, but without an airbrush it's hand-blending all the way. XD

So far I've been using Scab Red, Gore Red, Mechrite foundation red, and mixing Fenris Grey with Scab Red for the darker, purplish areas. Still working on bringing up the lighter shades - need to figure out what sort of red to use. Blood Red's a little too orange for what I want, so I'm thinking of mixing it with some of the other reds to tone down the orange. Or would a Baal Red wash over Blood Red bring it down enough? Advice?




These two photos hopefully show the actual blending/shading I've got so far a bit better.



Finally, some Terminators I'm modifying for my Sons army. These will be my first major model conversions, so hopefully they'll turn out all right.

Planning on getting them all Grey Knights terminator helms - the one I've got atm I'm just borrowing from a friend to see how they fit and look. Will probably greenstuff them a bit to look more like the pre-Heresy Thousand Sons helms - depends if I can get them looking decent and how lazy I feel. XD Arms are all magnetised for posing/weapon switching, and I'm planning on scratch-building more pre-Heresy looking shoulder pads for them all as well. Chaos leery faces have been cut off and replaced with greenstuff scarabs. Also planning on adding or modifying the man-skirts, and getting rid of as many of the trophy skulls and spikes as possible.






Lots of stuff to do! As always, comments and feedback are appreciated!

Spectacular work! Your dreadnought looks superb. Great highlighting/blending! I like the red on the boarding marine. I'm excited to see how the terminators look when built and with some paint on them. Keep it up!

I like the idea of the scarabs instead of chaos icons. I think the ones you have modeled now could use a bit of a reduction: imho, they are too big in diameter and stick out a bit too far.

We've all seen the man-skirt on Niu, so we know you're GS-fu is up to some excellent 1000son-ifying.

Keep up the good work!
Rawson

that dread! Very inspiring!
If you don't mind I'll try to copy your paintjob for my sorceror dread.

I'm more into post heresy TS, but I really think your work is more than interesting.

Some awesome stuff in here

Subed.

Anything to do with the sons are interesting.

Thank you all for the lovely comments!

@Hyenajoe: No worries, go for it! I look forward to seeing your dread done. I'm a sucker for anything Thousand Sons, though mostly the pre-Heresy stuff, hehe. But appearances-wise I do prefer the blue and gold of post-Heresy. Pre-Heresy Sons look an awful lot like Blood Ravens...

@Rawson: The lack of chaos icons and makin' the armour look more pre-Heresy is part of my personal army fluff, hehe. And yeah, the chest scarabs are a bit large atm - was using 'em to cover up where I'd cut off the leery faces, but hadn't fully smoothed out the chest. I'll probably rip em off and smooth the whole chest out properly, then re-scarab 'em or do something else with 'em. Glad you approve of the man-skirts!

This is bloody amazing.. good job

Thank you!

Another little update! Not much on the terminators yet - just replaced the big ugly scarabs with something a little better, hopefully. Will probably redo these scarabs again, but I'm pretty pleased with the wings.


Now for Rashidi, the Boarding Marine! Still nowhere near finished, but I'm fairly happy with how the red's turning out for now. Need to work more on the gold, the purity seals are about done except for the writing on them. Haven't touched the bits I'm going to do boltgun metal yet. His eye lenses will be green, but they're so deep-set I'm not sure how well they'll show. Will probably have to rely on OSL to actually show what colour they are.


Still in pieces! I have no idea what to do with the head of the hammer (or the rest of it, really...) yet. :(


A bit of a turn-around. Looking at the pics, I think I need to work darker shadows into the shoulderpads a bit more again, bleh.

For those who missed it, Niu is now finished! Along with two more bases for him, heh.

Anyway, more WIP stuff! Fairly short update, I haven't been doin' much lately.

I've done a bit more work on Rashidi. I still have no idea what to do for the head of his hammer though. >_< Also still need to paint the freehand symbols on his shoulders, do some more detail work, and do up his base. Not sure what to do for his base yet either - I'm thinking something that looks like the floor of a cruiser or somesuch, since he IS a Boarding Marine... either that, or a snow base, heh. Decisions, decisions.


Also done a bit more preliminary greenstuff work on my terminators. Once this stuff's dry, then I can add more folds and creases and such.


Man, I dunno if I'm just doin' it wrong or something, but greenstuff can be such a pain to work with. It seems to stick to everything BUT what I want it to, despite using water and such. Any tips from the greenstuff experts out there?

Awesome work! I really like that red, which colors and in what ratios did you end up using?

Thanks you!

The colours I used were Scab Red, Gore Red, Mechrite Red, and Blood Red. The more purple-looking shadowed areas, like the lower kneecaps and shins, I used a mix of Scab Red and Fenris Grey (at least, I think it was Fenris Grey - one of the blue-greys, anyway) to get a rich purple-red.

I can't really say what ratios unfortunately though, 'cause I just mix and blend as I go along, heh. Basically, apart from the Scab/Fenris mix, everything was just layered and wet-blended on the model itself.

Undercoated black, base coat Mechrite Red, then started from the darkest areas and layered/wet-blended up to the lightest areas - Scab/Fenris, Scab, Gore, Mechrite, Blood.

Had to go over some areas a couple of times to get the proper balance. Once all that was done, then I used a fine detail brush and used Asurman Blue wash very carefully in the crevices and shadowed areas, keeping it off the brighter areas.

Hope that helps!

Quick little update - a bit more work on the greenstuff skirts.



That pin and crochet needle are pretty much the only things I use for sculpting. Well, that and my paint water, hehehe.

Thanks, yes I do think that helped! I have been thinking of using a similar palette for my Khadors, the Fenris gray was new to me though!

The GS-skirts are turning out great btw!

Glad it helped, and thanks!

Another little update - got some plasticard in finally, hooray. Testing out the shoulderpad design for my Terminators. This is just rough for now, will clean it up, add a bit more detail and work on the hanging cloth once the current greenstuff's dry. Also, ignore the shoulderpad on the right side of the front-on photos - they were just quickly and messily photoshopped in so I could see what he looks like with both shoulderpads, instead of just one. Those arms are just the first ones I grabbed, too, so ignore the weapons, hehe. Yay magnets!



I'm not sure what positioning of the inner shoulderpad I prefer - keep it level with the outer pad (top photos), or tilt it down (bottom photos)?

Think I'm going to have to trim the back of the GK helmet a bit too - it doesn't quite fit far back enough in the armour socket. Not entirely sure if it matters that much though - does it look like his head's sticking out too far forward? Or am I just being pedantic? XD

Comments and advice very much appreciated!

Looks very good so far, I'm happy you did something else than the eternal usage of Dreadnought Plating for the shoulders.

Subbed!

I reckon you should tilt the shoulderpad down.

Thanks!

drakoon5 wrote:Looks very good so far, I'm happy you did something else than the eternal usage of Dreadnought Plating for the shoulders.

Hehe yeah, that idea was suggested to me, but I didn't do it for a couple of reasons. One, buying or otherwise acquiring enough Dreadnought shin pads would be a pain in the everything, and two, it didn't match the look I was going for at all. Of course, scratch-building all these shoulderpads is probably gonna drive me insane, but eh. XD Worth it, hopefully!

Amazing stuff! Your GS work is excellent, keep it up!

Thanks!

Rashidi the Boarding Marine is now done and dusted! Might redo the base at some point, that was just an experiment and something to use some leftover greenstuff on, heh.

Anyway! Progress has been slow so far - been busy actually playing 40k, hehe. Working on making all the shoulderpads for the terminators, blargh! So... many... arms...



I've cut the axe heads off the two other power weapon arms, planning on replacing them with those Thousand Sons-specific glaive-type blades. I'd really like to use the blades from the Tomb Kings Tomb Guard, but I can't justify spending $69 on a box just for a few blades. And none of the bitz places I've looked have had any. So! Planning on making my own with plasticard and greenstuff, we'll see how that goes. I also need to get a pair of lightning claws at some point. Can't believe the terminator box didn't come with any.



Covering up the skulls on the wrists with leftover greenstuff and turning them into scarabs!


The hanging cloths on the inner shoulder guards still need more work, I think. I also need to get some sandpaper.


Hopefully I'll have more progress to show soon!

Great stuff! For the blades you could use the. Necron bits or turn the axe heads the other way round ( see what I did on my assault marine in my blog) there are also a couple of companies making thousand sons weaponry if you look hard enough. Love the shoulder pads!

JohnnoM wrote:I reckon you should tilt the shoulderpad down.

Second that

I still function!

Work on the termies has been slow lately, alas. Had a couple of setbacks, been distracted by other shiny things, etc. etc. Anyway. Been working on the power weapons, and slapped a bit of basecoat paint on the armour 'cause I miss painting. Also still figuring out what to do with the heads - I'm tempted to trim 'em down and stick 'em further back into the socket, then make the high collar sort of thing in front. Most likely wouldn't work with the apothecary head, but I could probably pull it off with the others. Anyway! Pic.

My, what a big weapon you have...


I'm probably going to have to trim that blade down, I think it's just a little oversized. XD But I do admit I kind of like it like that, heh. What do you think, Dakka?!

Wow lots of work put in here, kudos. They look good.

In my opinion, that weapon is just way to big! You may have got away with using it as a two-handed blade, but as it is I am thinking it looks a bit odd!

The shouldarpads you have made fit incredibly well with the model and the feel of the army what measurements did you use for them?

Thanks for the comments!

@medabee: The inner shoulderpad is about... 6mm high, 6-7mm wide, and probably about 7mm long or thereabouts. Outer shoulderpad is about 10mm high, 11-12mm wide, and 8mm long. Fair bit of trial and error to get them fitting properly, heh.

Yeah, the blade really was a bit too big, so I trimmed it down a bit. Hopefully this works a little better now, heh. May still have to trim 'em down a bit more... but they are in Terminator armour, after all...



Still trying to decide what to do with the heads - if I push 'em back like the termi on the left, I'll probably build up a bit of a collar in front of it as well. Will do a trial later to see how it goes.

Your work is awesome! subbed!

Much better! He really looks the part now.

The OSL on that plasma cannon is amazing.

Thanks all!

Progress has been slow lately. One thing I've learned is that, when it comes to greenstuff, patience is a virtue. And that I cannot sculpt an entire detailed section in one go without squishing bits, so just do a bit at a time and give it time to set, damn it. XD

Apart from making yet more shoulderpads, I've done some other detail work, mostly just to see if I could. The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions art continues to be a source of inspiration, heh.

Detail on top of the cowling:


Trying out a collar and a different head. Still not sure which I like better, I'll probably end up using both rather than just settling on one or the other. Even in the source artwork they had different helmets and collars, so eh. XD

A little bit more progress! Group shot, just to give an idea of what they'll look like all together.


Accidentally dripped some plastic glue onto the apothecary's head and didn't notice until too late. :( Trying to remove the glue kinda futzed up the top of his head, hence the greenstuff. I'll probably put some sort of crest on the front as well, once I figure out what shape would work best, especially with those optical lenses. Need to figure out a way to set that apothecary head back a bit further into the neck socket, too.


Guy in the middle of this pic still needs his helmet greenstuff'd out a bit more, mostly on the sides, I think. It was originally a bare head, so it's not as broad as ones with actual helmets. His collar is also still in progress - more detail needs to be built up now that the backing bit is dry. I also need to adjust the end guy's grey knight head so I can set it further back into the neck socket. The amount it juts out just plain annoys me. It looks like he'd get such a sore neck!


Debating whether or not to add crests to the grey knight helms as well, or whether to just leave them as is. Or maybe just ditch the grey knight helms altogether and greenstuff up more bare/regular heads like I've done with the other two. Thoughts?

Something a little different for this update! I have the attention span sometimes of a gnat on crack, so occasionally I'll work on something else just so I don't burn out on the one thing. Been wanting to convert up some pre-Heresy bikes for a while now, finally got started on one. Zoomzoom tearass!



Very, very much WIP, heh. Only some basecoat colours atm, and the rider isn't actually glued in yet to make painting easier. Arms, head, backpack and glaive held on with blu-tak for now, testing out the positioning. Still not entirely sure about the gold trim - it looks kinda Khornate, though hopefully once all the mods are complete it won't look so bad. XD Though for the next bike I'll probably try a white trim, just to see how it looks.



Random Chaos head scraped down with a stanley knife to get the base shaper closer to what I want. Gonna greenstuff it similar to what I've done for the terminator heads. Considering doing a greenstuff scarab over the skull on the front of the bike, but the twin bolters don't really leave much room in there.



The backpack is one from the Forgeworld MkIV armour - I got a bunch of those guys, and a heavy weapon pack as well. So I'm replacing some of the MkIV backpacks with the heavy weapons ones, and using the spares for my bikes. Still a fair bit of greenstuff to do on the weapon as well - once that's done, then I'll straighten it out and glue it to the hand.

So much to do, so little time...

Your craftsmanship is absolutely stunning! I also love that you are juggling two time periods of the same group. It's like flipping a coin, you don't know which side will show. I will be watching this with rapt attention. Keep it up!

Termies and biker look great! Loving all the stuff you are up to, keep it up!

WOW! This makes me want to get grey knight terminators just because of this!

Thank you all for the comments!

@Odd One Out: Hehehe, maybe I should start flipping a coin to decide which project to work on. Though if I ever need a D6 instead of just a coin to decide... please shoot me.

@Asherian Command: Yeah, the Grey Knight armour is sweet. I have a box of Grey Knight terminators that I'm planning on doing up similar to these, except with the pre-Heresy colour scheme. So much to do, so little time... XD

Finally, update! Alas, not much progress so far - I've been busy with other things lately. Still, have some pics of what little I have managed to get done so far. :p

Bike! Arms and weapon greenstuff'd on finally, weapon details added. A little bit more painting done too, aheh.


Added custom detailing to another terminator torso, again based on reference pics from the Horus Heresy: Collected Visions artbook.


And some more Thousand Sons heads showing a couple of various states of progress! The top-middle/bottom-right head is actually for my biker, the other two are for the terminators. Still more to do on them, but waiting for the latest greenstuff to dry atm. Blegh. I hate waiting for greenstuff to dry.


And now for the reason why I haven't done much work on these lately - here's what I've been working on instead. Showing them 'cause they're relevant to this thread, hehehe. Click on the pics for descriptions and stuff!

I really, really like your painting style and it fits this army very well! The boarding Marine is brilliant yet hoped the Imperial Eagle would have been done away with (so that I could see how you did it so I could steal your idea ).

Thank you!

As for getting rid of the Imperial Eagle - I would've probably done it the same way I got rid of all the chaos icon stuff on my Terminators. By cutting and scraping the icon off with a stanley knife or craft knife, then sanding it smooth.

Pretty sure it'd work the same way on resin as it does on plastic! Just... don't breathe the dust. D:

Biker and termies look incredible! Also loving the sculpted helmets, makes me want to pick up some GS myself!

That is some top notch artwork there, really liking your style. Also had a look through the rest of your stuff, all as good as the rest. Wish I could draw like that!

@ Commander Cain: Thank you! You know you want to get some greenstuff and do some sculpting. If you do, chuck some pics up and lemme know! I'm curious to see what you'd come up with. As for drawing... hehehe. Just practice! I've been drawing on and off for... er. Closing on twenty years now, I think.

Anyway, back to the actual WIP models. Again, not much of an update on them, alas. Though I'm getting close to the point where I can actually start painting the damn things!

Heads pretty much finished! Just some sanding and tidying up to do once the greenstuff's dry. First three are for the terminators, right-most one is for the bike. Still have one more head to do, then all the terminator heads are done!


And something else, to make up for lack of actual WIP progress. Completely forgot about this poor guy. I was at Games Day Australia last year, and participated in one of their speed painting competitions. Painted this guy up in an hour, and won that particular round with him. I'll probably tidy him up at some point (his eye lenses should be green, but I couldn't grab any during the speed paint!), but he can wait for a while, heh.




Hopefully I'll have another, more substantial update soon!

Nice helmets, you have some reall sculpting talent going on!

Is the vets gun pointing downwards? It looks a little crooked to me.

Hehe, thanks! It's been a pretty steep learning curve, figuring out how to use greenstuff over the past few months. XD

Yeah, I think it is pointing down a little, and the scope on top is kinda bent downwards as well which probably doesn't help any. :( I didn't have anything to do with putting that model together though, alas. Just painted him, heh.

Finally, a bit of noticeable progress! Here's Zuberi, all put together and half-painted. I almost forgot about the hanging cloth from the pauldrons - the greenstuff for them is still drying, hence why they're not basecoated yet. Still, getting there!



And something else I've been working on - I picked up one of those 40k starter boxes with the five marines and paints, mostly for the paints. However, the poor speed-painted guy I posted earlier needed a squad! So. Have another pre-Heresy Son. :p He's still not finished yet - I need to do his eye lenses and give him a few washes, and base him of course! But here's some step by step progress shots anyway.





I'll drill out the bolter barrel at some point too. And that bloody symbol never gets any easier to paint, sigh.

Skits wrote:



Hopefully I'll have more progress to show soon!

Vegeta! Whats the scouter say about his power level?!
Fix'd

Skits these terminators are phenomenal! if i wasn't already mired in projects id copy them, exactly the same, i think you've hit the thousand sons look right on the head there, i'm subbed. =] Keep it up.

@J-paint: Thank you! If you ever do end up doing something like this, I'd love to see them.

I'm starting classes again next week, so updates may become even more sporadic, alas. We shall see! Anyway, another short update for now. These two are almost finished, just a few more touch-ups here and there.

Just need to do the haft of his hammer and some highlighting on the gold parts. And base him, of course. Though I have no idea what to do with his base yet. I also realised that, as awesome as the shoulderpads look... there's really not much room on them for icons, whoops. Oh well.


Couple of minor touch-ups needed, and also need to paint the screen on his dashboard still, though you can't see it in these pics.


And this guy is finished, though looking at the photos it looks like I'll have to touch up some bits where paint rubbed off, damnit. And I'll admit I'm not happy with the base. Will probably end up re-basing him at some point - gonna see how the rest of his squad turns out first. I'll take proper lightbox pics of him when the rest of the squad is done.


Any comments and feedback appreciated, as always!

Man, those are some sexy Thousand Sons. This will be a great inspiration to me if I ever start my TS army.

Hehe, thanks! You planning on pre- or post-Heresy Sons?

Post for sure. Egyptian possessed armour with guns and psykers? Sign me up.

Hahaha, truth! The blue and gold is indeed sexy, and there's nothing quite like being able to kill someone with your mind.

Looks great mate! cant wait to see more! +1

Thanks mate! Though I've just started uni classes again, so updates will probably be slow for a while. :(

I'm really liking your stuff, I'm trying to build pre-heresy sons too, but I definetly don't have the green stuff skills like you, I'm going more for the kit bash approach. I really like the mix you have going I'm going to follow this.

Thanks! We need more pre-Heresy Sons around, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. As for greenstuff, just practice and patience! The number of times I've wanted to throw whatever greenstuff'd thing I'm working on out the nearest window... Thanks for the sub!

Anyway, update! Managed to get some more done on the weekend, and some base painting done today before I ran off to my blood donation, but didn't have time to upload/post until now.

I've got a lo~ve~ly bunch of termie heads, doodlie doot doo, there they are all standing in a row... Not finished yet, obviously, but close!


Blue and gold on my second Terminator mostly done! Getting there slowly. This guy will have the head on the right from the previous pic.


Basing! The red guy's gonna have his base painted up as snow/ice, while the chap in blue will have... well, you'll see in a second! Or a minute or two, depending on your net speed.


Better look at the greenstuff work on the termi base.


And Zuberi is now finished! At least until I find something I've forgotten, or something I want to fiddle with, heh. I'll take proper photos once the whole squad's done. Might touch up the stone on the base at some point too, but it'll do for now.

Great model Skits!

I really like the lightning effect on the mace, I'm used to this method, but I wouldn't have thought of using it on a metallic base.

Hehe, thank you! I normally do lightning effects like that on a black base, but I was waffling on what I wanted to do with the mace. Painted it metal, then decided to see how the lightning would work on it anyway. Glad to know it turned out decent!

Dat lava. Me gusta.

Thanks! I love painting lava, it's good fun.

I agree with the others. Both the lava effect and the force weapon turned out extremely well and I really like the look of your golds.

I love that Force Mace. I put one on one of my termies, and currently have a blast coming out the end. I wasn't sure how to paint it though until I just saw yours. Consider it officially stolen I will be painting it and then posting up on my blog here on dakka with my attempt., you will get full credit for the steal though.

@Moltar: Thanks! I'll be so sad when the pot of gold I'm using finally runs out. It's one of the really, really old versions of Shining Gold, and it's a lot... colder in colour than the current version of Shining Gold. I love it for my blue Sons.

@Little SilverGuys: Hehe, thanks! I look forward to seeing your version of it. Glad I could inspire you!

Wow. Your work is absolutely incredible. Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons are just so heroic.

I love the shoulder pads on the termies. You've done excellent work across the board but man I love those shoulder padds.

The dread is gorgeous and imposing at the same time. Subscribing!

@Gorgrimm: Hehehe, thank you! I'm especially glad to hear that about the termi shoulder pads, since they're an absolute pain in the everything to make.

And I absolutely agree that pre-Heresy Sons are totally heroic. I'm looking forward to finishing this current lot of termies so I can start on my GK termies that I'll be turning into pre-Heresy Sons. I just have to figure out what weapons to give them, blegh.

Quick little update.

Second terminator, Jabari, is pretty much done! I'm still trying to decide if I want to do the same power weapon effects on the glaive blade that I did on Zuberi's mace, or if I want to try something different, or leave it as it is. Decisions, decisions.


Jabari and Zuberi, showing off their matching bases!


And another pre-heresy tactical marine in progress - showing mostly for the base. I think this is the sort of basing I'll go for with my pre-heresy guys. Might add a tiny bit of snow flocking to it, but most likely not.

I think differentiating the blade from the handle would help the weapon pop more.

Hmm, good point! Just gotta figure out what specifically to do with it, heh.

They look great. Do you have any tips, or strategy for doing the thousand son's insignia? I'm playing with it, but I'm not much of a free hand painter and struggling. Any help would be appreciated.

I like the ice look of the base. Are you going to rim it in black (or another color) or just leave it with the brush-over?

@LittleSilverGuys: Thanks! About the only tips I can give is to thin your paint, make sure you've got a good brush with a fine point that you clean often, and practice a lot, heh. Patience is key! And don't expect to get it perfect - I'll admit I still have trouble with it, and usually have to tidy it up with the base colour. Hopefully that helps at least a little bit!

@Chemical Cutthroat: Thank you! I most likely won't be rimming the bases, I'm just going to leave them with the brush-over. That way when I finally get around to making an ice board for them for Armies on Parade, the bases will blend in better with the board.

No new progress to show just yet - mostly 'cause my free time's currently being eaten by SW:TOR. ¬_¬ However! I just got some stuff in from Forgeworld, mwa ha ha. Here's a hint as to some of my future projects...

Hi there this all looks great. I've all ways loved TS Both Pre and Post. I was onedering if you could give me some tips on doing the green stuffing on the robes or just tips over all?

@daxx367: Thanks! Always good to find another Sons fan. And I can try!

With the green stuff robes, don't try to do the whole robe at once. Start with just a base for the robes first, don't worry about detail. Let that dry, then you can start adding the folds and stuff onto the base - it makes it a lot easier than trying to sculpt the whole thing at once. Same with any other green stuff - work in sections, let the previous bits dry before adding more detail on top. Finding reference pictures is also handy, or even just draping a sheet or towel over something to get an idea of how the material falls into folds.

Water will help you smooth out the green stuff while you're working with it - I just use my paint water 'cause I don't have room for two jars of water, hehe. Doesn't seem to do the greenstuff any harm, though I usually end up with blue fingers from it. The only tools I use atm are a pin and a fine crochet needle - they're good for smoothing out surfaces and adding finer detail. Keep whatever tools you use clean! Greenstuff has a bad habit of sticking to everything but the thing you -actually- want it to stick to.

Most of all, practice and patience. That's all I can think of at the moment - I'm still learning how to use greenstuff myself, heh. Hopefully that helps, and let me know if you have any more questions!

That was a lot of help thanks and keep up the good work.

Forgeworld goodies? Is that some Rhino doors I espy?

Swordwind wrote:Forgeworld goodies? Is that some Rhino doors I espy?

Possibly, possibly...!

That's a contemptor on the bottom right... right??

Certainly looks like it!

I would squee if it's a Contemptor.

Cue squee in three... two... one...





I'll figure out a proper pose later - right now it's just held together with blu-tak. XD As for what weapons it'll have... that remains to be seen. And of course, I'll be customising it up!

Squeeeeeeeeee

Pre or post colour scheme?

Definitely pre-Heresy. XD My post-Heresy boys already have a dreadnought, so the pre-Heresy lot have laid claim to the Contemptor, hehehe.

...

Sorry about the delay in updating! A combination of classes, SW:ToR, and Mass Effect 3 launching has proven... rather distracting lately, heh. Anyway, despite all that, some more progress has been made!

Kamuzu! Pavoni, apothecary (even though I can't take apothecaries using the Chaos codex, shhh) and generally grumpy bastard, heh. Still need to base him, obviously, and debating whether or not I should do the lightning effect on his claws. Opinions?



And Nassor, Pyrae heavy weapons specialist, still very much in-progress. I'm not sure if I want to keep the round earpieces on the sides of his helmet - thinking about slicing those off. Thoughts?

Heavy weapons yessss. Love the Apoc, the lenses on the helmet look quite nice, thought not very Chaos-ey.

Also, don'y worry about taking ages. My blog is still gone 2 weeks without an update.

The lack of Chaos-ey is entirely deliberate, hehehe.

Heh, I'm just eager to get these boys done. Then I can move onto my next project! Though what I'll do next I'm still not sure. So... many... options... x_x

Chaos Ponies?

If I ever do start 1K Sons I'd probably bump up the green glowing bits. Still Chaos-y but toned down.

Hahaha oh man, chaos ponies. Tempting as it is, I think I'll leave that for people with fewer lined-up projects and more time on their hands.

Mmm, green glowy bits. It'll match their eye lenses! But yeah, my boys don't have much chaos-ey stuff 'cause they basically flipped Tzeentch the bird and told Chaos in general to go jump.

It's all part of Tzeentch's ineffable plan. He let them flip the bird.

Keep the ear things, they look fine.

Is the Lightning Claw guy's arms held on with magnets? Because you can see the joints really well in that picture and it looks thing. The paintscheme looks great though. Nice touch with the little scarabs here and there.

@Swordwind: That gorram cunning Tzeentch! *fistshakes*

@Chemical: Thanks for the input! And yeah, all the termie arms are magnetised. I just kinda messed up with poor Kamuzu there, heh. Unlucky combination of not drilling the magnets in far enough and putting the shoulder pads on a little too far out, alas. Not sure of the best way to fix it - might just have to dig out the magnets and re-drill 'em in deeper or something.

It doesn't look that bad, I think it's just the head on angle that does it. Not sure if it warrants re-drilling, but I figured I'd check.

Fabtastic

@Miss Dee: Thanks!

@Chemical: It's not quite as noticeable from other angles/further away, but there's a definite difference when compared to his brothers. :\ I think part of the problem is that I got the lightning claw arms from a friend's bits, since the chaos terminator set didn't actually come with any lightning claws (seriously, wtf). So the shoulder joint is a little different, but I hadn't really picked up on it until now.

Still, it's not a massive problem. It'll bug me forever, sure, but I'm just pedantic like that, heheh. It's a fix that can wait until the rest of the squad's finished, I think, assuming I ever get around to it at all. It'll probably depend on how much it stands out once the whole squad's done and how badly it bugs me. Thanks again for the feedback!

Have to ask, you do alot of greenstuff work which looks really cool but do you use the liquid greenstuff or regular putty kind. I can't use putty to save my life @.@

@Sasa0mg: Pretty much all my greenstuff work is just using the putty. I don't use much liquid greenstuff at all, except for smoothing out rough bits or filling the occasional small crack or hole. There's a few tiny details on the dreadnought's skirt clasps that I 'painted' with liquid greenstuff, but that's about it. The liquid GS isn't really much good for actual sculpting. It tends to flatten out as it dries, at least in my experience.

Using the putty takes practice and patience. And lots and lots of trial and error, hehehe. The number of times I've wanted to smash whatever I've been working on with a hammer...

I'm just terrible at forming shapes and getting texture xD Trial and error like you said but I'll get there ty for the response!

No worries! Glad I could help out, and good luck with your trial and error!

Looking good, the round things look fine.

Thanks for the feedback! That seems to be the common consensus so far, so I'll leave his earpieces on.

A bit more work's been done on the Terminators, but I have no camera atm and won't again for the next two weeks or so. So here's something else instead. XD

Testing a potential pose for my Contemptornought! And trying to figure out how many magnets I'm gonna need. XD Twin Kheres assault cannons here, though without the barrels atm. I've also got a pair of close combat arms, so I'm trying to get a pose that'll work for both types of arms and any combination of them.



And a fairly quick pic I whipped up today, mostly just to test colour layout and potential modifications. Easier to work them out digitally first than on the actual model itself, hehe. Not sure about the gold studs or the chest beetle - I'm tempted to just leave the Imperial Eagle as the chest icon. I also didn't realise till now that there's no real trim on the Contemptor model. Hmm. Might have to add my own trim to the shoulder pads at least. Also kind of tempted to make the head crest HUGE. Or at least, a bit taller than I have it now.

Thoughts/opinions?

Let em rip ..........

EDIT: double post. See below. Sorry!

My opinion? Add trim to shoulders and greaves, make it a beetle, lose studs above the chest icon, and crest about doubled.

Horrible Paint skills aside, something like...

@Odd One Out: Thanks for the feedback! Cool, I see what you mean. Though I most likely wouldn't trim every single edge like you've got - it breaks the red up a little too much, I think. But perhaps something more like this?

That looks great! Glad to help out. Man, this thing's going to look amazing when you're done with it. Get cracking!

Cheers! I just gotta figure out the magnets, hehehe. Thanks again for the feedback, very much appreciated!

I managed to get hold of another camera for now - quality's not great, but hey, macro, that's all I need. So, another little update!


Base for Kamuzu. I hate waiting for greenstuff to dry, sigh.


One day this guy will get his head. One day... XD


Still need to work on the boltgun parts and paint the shoulder cloths, then work on highlights and other details some more, but getting there!

Finally got my camera back! Not much progress to show atm though, mostly because I was waiting for my camera so I could do a step-by-step of how I paint my white cloth. I'll also be doing a step-by-step of how I paint my lava bases too, at some point.


Now that his cloth areas are done, Asim here just needs the boltgun areas highlighted, and power/lightning effects added to his blade. I also need to finish off the eye in his belt.


Nassor here is almost done - just need to highlight the boltgun areas a bit more, and work up the scorching on the nozzles of the heavy flamer. I'm also not sure what to do with the fingers of his chainfist - leave 'em blue as they are, or do them in boltgun as well? And either way, should I add lightning effects to them too?

Those termis are ace.
Are they converted, or is it some kinda kit?

Thanks! And they're converted, heh. Chaos Terminators with all the chaosey stuff sliced off, detailing & tabards added with greenstuff, magnetised arms and scratch-built pauldrons made from plasticard and greenstuff. Heads & glaive weapons also converted with more plasticard and greenstuff.

I think the fingers look fine in the blue. That guy looks pretty much done as is.

Thanks for the input! And yeah, I just need to highlight and touch up the boltgun parts on him, then he's pretty much done apart from basing.

Ugh. On the final stretch of finishing my Terminators... and my fine detail brush chooses now to die horribly. So. Completion of the terminators is delayed until I can get myself a new paintbrush, sigh.

Got the base for Kamuzu finished at least though, along with a tutorial on how I do my lava bases.



And just for the hell of it, here's a pic of my workbox. A Rhino box repurposed to hold my paints, modelling stuff, random bits and current models in progress, so I can take it all with me wherever I go. Even got an empty paint pot I can use as a mini water pot, hehehe.

Wish I had a system like that. Last time I had to move my stuff over to another room it took me 2 hours.

Also whoo lava base tutorial!

nice work! Really liking your painting!

Don't you ever have space problems? Your box looks like you can't store a whole lot of paints...? But it sure is a neat idea! Might steal it haha

@Swordwind: Hehehe, fortunately for me I only have a few boxes of 40k stuff so far. I think it'll take me a coupla decades to build up enough that it'd take me that long to shift it all.

@SnakeByte: Thank you! And sometimes, heh. But I don't normally take all the paints at once, just the ones that I need for whatever I'm working on at the time. If I really need more paint room, I just take out the coupla boxes of random bits. And there's more paints under the baggie with my sculpting tools and the little paint palette too.

Feel free to steal away! It's quite nifty. Also, I recommend using blu-tak to hold down models in the compartments to keep 'em from rattling around.

The funny thing is I don't have that much. Just two starter sets from different editions and a battleforce. And a ton of paints too, but that's not the point.

Ahhh, hehehe. Maybe you should make yourself a system like this then!

subbed and looking forward to more!

Subscribed... now going to change my pants.

@varl: Thanks! If all goes well and I get around to getting a new detail brush, I should have another update by the end of the week!

@Steeping-Scrotum: Hahaha thanks... I think.

@Skits: I just got done washing all of the Scorched Brown out of my pants. In all seriousness, these things are some of the coolest units I have seen, chaos or not. I can say I never had any interest in playing a chaos army until I saw the wonderful job you did on your sons. Excellent work.

@Steeping: Lol, I suppose scorched brown is better than skull white... And thank you! I'm actually not a fan of Chaos in general myself - I hate playing as the 'bad guy', heh. But the Thousand Sons fluff is just awesome and tragic and I love it to bits. I suspect that love I have for the fluff translates itself into my models.

The AP3 bolters and 4++ invuln saves everywhere don't hurt, either. Horrible dice rolls aside, goddamn my army survives so much crap on the table! So much fun. Just wish I had more time to actually play.

Honestly the only reason I like the Thousand Sons is that they're Egyptian space ghost robots with magicians.

Skits wrote:@Steeping: Lol, I suppose scorched brown is better than skull white... And thank you! I'm actually not a fan of Chaos in general myself - I hate playing as the 'bad guy', heh. But the Thousand Sons fluff is just awesome and tragic and I love it to bits. I suspect that love I have for the fluff translates itself into my models.

The AP3 bolters and 4++ invuln saves everywhere don't hurt, either. Horrible dice rolls aside, goddamn my army survives so much crap on the table! So much fun. Just wish I had more time to actually play.

lol. Reading into this has kind of introduced me to the 4++, but I did not know about the AP3 bolters.. This is leaning me over into thoughts of a second army. Really great models. Ones army doesn't get anymore unique than crafting your own armor for them!

@Swordwind: That is also a very good reason to like Thousand Sons!

@Steeping-Scrotum Hahaha oh man I love the AP3 bolters. And the fact that 'cause the Rubricae are all Slow and Purposeful, I can ALWAYS fire them no matter if I've moved or not. Sure, they move slowly, and they are pretty hopeless in melee, but if your opponent isn't careful and doesn't utilise cover well, those AP3 bolters can potentially wipe out a whole Marine squad in a single volley.

Especially funny when your opponent deepstrikes a Grey Knight squad nearby, and it scatters into the open and in rapid-fire range of not one, but two squads of Thousand Son Rubricae... or runs a squad of Khorne Berserkers past the window of the bunker inhabited by Rubricae...

Crafting your own armour is definitely unique! A pain in the ass, I must admit, but I think it's worth it in the end.

Join the ranks of the Thousand Sons! You know you want to. We have cookies!

cookies!

All the cookies! 'Course, they taste kinda like dust and magic, but still! Cookies!

Speaking of cookies... well, this has nothing to do with cookies, really, but anyway! The Terminators are all finally DONE!



Click for more pics of them in my Showcase thread!

And now I have to decide what to work on next... possibilities include a pre-Heresy Sons Land Raider, an oldschool Forgeword Rhino, the Contemptornought, a tactical squad and/or devastator squad with Forgeworld MkIV armour, a squad of Forgeworld Mk5 Assault Marines, seven more bikes that'll be converted similar to my previous bike, or the squad of Grey Knight terminators that I'll be converting similar to the other terminators, 'cept with pre-Heresy colours.

Decisions, decisions... D: What would people like to see?

Skits wrote:
And just for the hell of it, here's a pic of my workbox. A Rhino box repurposed to hold my paints, modelling stuff, random bits and current models in progress, so I can take it all with me wherever I go. Even got an empty paint pot I can use as a mini water pot, hehehe.

HA! This is a really good idea. If I had to commute to work on the train THIS is something I would do. Great thinking.

Great blog also, will keep an eye on the progress.

@deejaybainbridge: Hehe, thank you! I came up with that box thing 'cause I do a lot of my modelling/painting at my university, and needed some way to easily transport my gear between there and home. Coincidentally, I do catch the train, but I haven't tried actually painting on the train yet. I don't think it'd work too well somehow.

Glad to see your termies are done!

If you ask me I'd say a LR or an old school rhino would look good among your army (but almost all your proposals would look good! )

I just stumbled on this blog, and I have to say that I'm a huge fan of everything that you've done here! Definitely inspires me to keep working on my own Thousand Son force I started!

@Hyenajoe: Hehehe "almost" all? I'm curious now as to what you think wouldn't.

@lizardwolf: Thank you! There need to be more Thousand Sons forces in the world! It's always fantastic to hear that I'm an inspiriaton.

Anyway! Ugh. I apologise for not updating for so long! After getting the terminators done, I couldn't decide what to work on next. Was kinda waffling around doing nothing, then yesterday afternoon I suddenly went completely mad and started drilling holes in my Contemptor.

Magnets, magnets EVERYWHERE. I'm tempted to say the red on the powerfist wrist is blood, but that would be a lie.


I have no legs! Why don't I have legs?!


I have no idea what you're talking about.


What do you mean, I'm not allowed to set the camera on fire?


Heh heh. I love magnets. And pose-ability. I've managed to get it so there's pretty much no sagging in the arms, and also figured out that whatever sagging there might be at the shoulder can be fixed with the addition of a bit of Blue-Tac. Still got another Kheres Assault Cannon arm and another powerfist arm to magnetise. More drilling, more magnets, more superglue. Incidentally, superglue underneath the fingernail has got to be one of the most annoying things ever.

I'm resisting the urge to magnetise the individual fingers on the power fists, 'cause I suspect that may be a bit overkill and would most likely lead to missing fingers. Not sure what to do about the fuel tank/bolter shell clip that goes on the underside of the powerfist forearm either - magnetising them would be nice, but again would most likely lead to me losing those bits.

I'm also still trying to decide what to do with the legs. Do I magnetise 'em as well, or don't I? Decisions, decisions. Not sure how stable it'll be if I do. Anyone had any experience with magnetised Contemptor legs?

Still trying to decide what to do with the Contemptor legs, bleh. In the meantime, began preparations on a couple of other projects...

Land Raider with Helios bits, and a MkIC Deimos pattern Rhino. Pretty much everything's still just dry-fitted at the moment.


I have plaaaaans for this land raider, oh yes. PLANS. Some of which involve MAGNETS. Also, it's kind of sad that I got this entire kit, land raider and resin Helios bits, from Forgeworld for CHEAPER than I would've gotten a regular Land Raider from an Australian GW store. :|


Rockin' it oldschool! This (and the Land Raider) will be painted up in the pre-Heresy Sons colours.

Wow, lots of Forge World goodies there. How do you afford them, bank robbery?

Can't wait to see what you do with them. Magnets are always cool. And don't worry, I take ages between updates too.

Hah! If it were bank robbery, I'd have a lot more Forgeworld stuff, believe me. Or I'd be in jail. Hm. I'm just a tight-ass when it comes to money, hehehe. One day I'll shell out for a carry case for all my stuff... one day...

Magnets are indeed very awesome. I may be somewhat addicted to them. And good to know I'm not the only one who takes forever to update!

save the cash for more FW goodies (you do them justice) and just build your own carry case

Heh, I should! But I've got an entire box full of other Forgeworld stuff I haven't shown yet, and I think my models deserve the very best in transportation! Or at least, something better than whatever hack job I'd be able to do.

I love super-ultra magnetized dreads

I love super-ultra magnetised EVERYTHING, hehehe.

More magnet work! Plus my first foray into spray-priming!

Priming job's not the greatest, but eh, good enough. Also showing off the little scarab plaque I greenstuff'd onto the front of the Rhino. Was thinking of adding some purity seals/oaths of moment, but not sure about that one yet. Can add 'em later if I do decide to do it.


Magnets, how do they work!? With spare sprue and superglue and MAGIC.


More magnets! The lids aren't glued into the rims so I can switch them all around - the magnet on the lid holds the rim into the hole. Didn't magnetise the large hole where the heavy bolter/Helios sensor pack goes though, 'cause the heavy bolter's ammo belts get in the way.


Magnetised sponsons and doors. Doors only need one magnet 'cause they're light, and two would make it hard to get them out. Sponsons need two magnets 'cause the weapons make 'em heavier, and one magnet's not quite enough to hold them in securely.


I have more plans for the Land Raider, so that won't be getting primed for a while. Also still trying to figure out what to do with the Contemptor's base and leg pose, so that'll be on the backburner for a bit as well, I think. I'll probably just keep pushing forward with the Rhino for now.

Wow. This thread is full of awesome, top to bottom. I'd seen that preheresy biker Son roaming around dakka for a while, but it's nice to finally see the source of him! I really like the post-heresy colours you're using - they're a little duller that the bright blue and shining gold I've seen on most other 1K Sons, and I think it looks really good.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you! Hehe, that biker sure does get around a lot - but then again, he's a biker, that's hardly surprising. As for the blue and gold - glad you like 'em! I always thought the usual blue and yellow people use was a little too... cartoon-bright, for my tastes.

Certainly intend to try! Thanks again for the comment!

Just a quick little update today. Here's a bit more progress on the Deimos Rhino! One thing I've learned - next time I get a Deimos, don't glue on the exhaust pipes till AFTER the damn thing's all painted. Aaaagh.

Base colours so far. Some bits still need a little tidying up, but I'll do that once I've finished with the red. It's not glued together yet either, heh.


Drew where I'll be putting the Thousand Sons emblem on the top - and lined it up so that no matter which way the hatch doors are put in, the symbol will still match up with the bits that overlap onto the main chassis.


And because I may be mildly obsessive, painted the inside of the Rhino as well. ¬_¬


And I recently realised that, when I primed the Rhino... I forgot to do the treads as well. Whoops. Ah well, that can wait till I have some other stuff ready to prime as well, hehehe.

Very clean job on the Rhino hull and on the control screens!
I love this kind of détails, even if I'm often too lazy to paint them myself

BTW did you make a mold of your GS scarab plate?

Thanks! The new Citadel base white is great for going over the red nicely - covers it up in only two or three thin coats. I'd originally painted one of the pintle rings red 'cause I was still deciding if I wanted red or white pintle rings, and the Citadel white went over the red very nicely.

And I'm a sucker for details, I can't resist painting EVERYTHING. Which means it takes me forever to finish anything, but eh.

As for the scarab plate, nah, I just make it from scratch. Circle of greenstuff smoothed out and neatened up around the edges, then I just 'draw' the scarab on with a pin. Probably faster and less fiddly for me to do it that way than mess around with a mold, really.

Just another little update today. I've been horribly distracted by Diablo 3 lately. ¬_¬

Moar magnets! 'Cause everyone likes a removable dozer blade, right? ... Right?




Some customisation of the Contemptor. Still legless - I'm trying to decide what to make his base out of. I know what I want to do with it, just... not what sort of material to use. Bleh.


And a little something else I've been working on occasionally. Making those teeny tiny nasal crests gives me hand cramps, aagh. x_x

The contemptors are a really pain to put together, and mine pined and not magnatised. Really good job though. May i ask is it worth buying a helios kit? I want to add one to my space wolves Keep up the amazing work

Young Logan

Thank you! No kidding about the Contemptors being a pain to put together, heh. Arms aren't too bad (especially with magnets!), but trying to figure out how to pose the legs when you can't really dry-fit them and have them stay put is painful, aagh.

As for the Helios kit - I couldn't say gameplay-wise, since I haven't fielded it yet. The resin parts are very nice though, and given that the full Land Raider + Helios bits set from Forgeworld is still cheaper than buying a regular Land Raider from Australian GW stores, it was definitely worth it price-wise for me!

Another little update, yet more things I'm working on. I'm so easily distracted, sigh.

Still plugging away at the tactical marine squad I got in the paint box set when I don't feel like working on anything else. Need to re-base the guy on the right end at some point, that base is crap.


Bit of a closer look at a couple, still working on 'em both. Also need a bit more white dry-brushing and some water effects on the right marine's base to make it look properly icy. I need to work more on consistency between different models, bleh.


And the main reason I've been distracted from my other projects... SUPERTANK. Mmmm Shadowsword. Turret barrel, armour panels and sponsons are magnetised, mostly just to see if I could. XD Turret isn't glued down yet, gonna see if I can magnetise it so I can also use the transport-capable variants of the Shadowsword. Again, mostly just to see if I can, but also because I'm an indecisive bastard, heh. Six different variants? Yes please!

Woa! Its got an interior?! Can you take shots of it?

The Shadowsword? Unfortunately it doesn't actually have an interior - the panel you can see is just the top panel, fallen inside 'cause I haven't actually glued the thing together yet. Sorry. :(

Just another little update - finally got some stuff to make the Contemptor's base with, and glued the legs in position. Not actually glued to the base yet though, it still needs more work. Not sure how well the stuff I'm using will dry - we'll see how it goes. But at least the legs are now finalised!





Need to make his man-skirt, then I can undercoat and start painting. Getting there, slowly slowly.

Skits wrote:

Got Viagra for the tank gun barrel??

Contemptor is fantastic of course! Great posing and my personal favorite for weapons choice.

I am interested in how you did the scarab symbols on the rhino and dread as I wanted to do something similar on my own TS's but being completely new to GS, have no experience in that field.

Keep up the great work man, you are an inspiration to us all out there!

Cain

@DijnsK: Hehehe, working on it! Either MOAR MAGNETS or a prop-stand like the Arkurian pattern Shadowsword from Forgeworld has. Not sure yet, still messing with it.

@Cain: It's actually pretty easy! Just get a small ball of greenstuff, press it onto the area you want it and flatten it out into a circle. Might need to play with how much/little greenstuff you use, depending on how big and thick you want the symbol plate to be. Smooth it out with a bit of water and whatever tool you prefer (I just use the back of my fingernail - SO HIGH TECH ), and neaten up the edges to get it properly circle-shaped. Then use a pin to carefully draw the scarab on - start lightly at first, then make the lines deeper once you're happy with where they are.

If you want, I can make another and take some step-by-step pics of it.

As easy as that huh? Well, in that case I shall have to give it a try, thanks for the reply!

No worries! Good luck with it.

Ugh. I hate waiting for greenstuff to dry. Drags out my modding over days, instead of hours. On the other hand, also means I can work on other stuff while I'm waiting. Anyway!

Progress shots of the contemptor's manskirt. Base of the skirt.


Central fold added.


Added more cloth to each side.


Chains and larger ornaments. Just need to add some smaller ornaments... once the greenstuff chains are dry. -_- Then I can finally prime this guy and start painting him!


And some other things!

Some minor detailing for the land raider.


Managed to get two of the 25th Anniversary models, though one was suffering from some pretty bad mold slip and bubbles and crap. That one (on the right) I'm modding up to turn it into another Thousand Sons model, surprise surprise. The other one wasn't so bad, so I'm keeping it as-is and painting up as a proper Crimson Fist.


Had to re-sculpt half the plasma pistol to fix up the mold slip, bleh. Got rid of the the detailing on the left pauldron - bubbles had ruined half of it and I didn't like it anyway. Also got rid of the Crimson Fist-specific markings and replaced 'em with suitable scarab ones.


Finally, random lascannon marine for my tactical squad! Given to me in return for painting lightning effects on my friend's army - he went through eighteen trades over the course of a month to get this guy specifically for me, heh.

Sweet conversions with the 25th anniversy model

Thank you! I'm looking forward to painting them, heh.

Finally finished the detailing on the ornaments. Agh.


Next step - priming!

What Aquila was the 1k sons had?

Miss Dee wrote:What Aquila was the 1k sons had?

Huh?

Are you referencing the fact that 'only' the Emperor's Children could all wear the Aquila on their armor pre-Heresy?

IIRC, other Space Marines could be granted that honor as well, for exceptional acts of courage and bravery, etc.

I think getting installed in a Dreadnought might qualify as that!

Ummm.... Wow? I love this whole army, Subscribed and Exalted. The free hand on that control panel is stunning, so are the termies shoulders, the bases, the tanks, the green stuff, and well... EVERYTHING! I will be following this very carefully!

re. the Aquila, yeah, pretty much what Alpharius said. When I posted my boarding marine on the Forgeworld Facebook I commented on the Aquila it had, and one of the Forgeworld guys replied with basically "The Emperor's Children were the only ones who could all wear the Aquila, but it was also awarded to great heroes. He looks like a great hero to me!"

And since they generally only put the most awesome marines into Dreadnoughts...

@Urien: Oh wow, thank you! I'm glad you like it all so much!

Nice work here man, he looks really unique from those few small additions!

Thanks! Good to hear he's lookin' unique - that's the intent, hehe.

Just a little update today. Done a bit more work on my poor neglected Deimos Rhino. My attention span these days is absolutely balls.

Fenris Grey/Scab Red mix applied...


... and then blended in with straight Scab Red (though only on this half of the tank in these pics, to show the difference.)


Next step - going over it again with Red Gore, then highlighting with Blood Red. Then cleaning up all the white and boltgun areas where I've made a mess. XD Bloody hell, next time I do one of these types of Rhinos, I need to remember to NOT glue on the exhausts and treads and NOT do the white/boltgun areas until AFTER I've finished the red. x_x So painful agh.

Nothing major today - my camera's been acting up a bit, bleh. Still, have some scenic shots! Was seeing how they look on a field that matches their bases, hehe.

Rhino is still in progress - still needs washes and more detailing. Getting there though! Pondering doing the rivets in gold, hm.


My first five tactical marines are also finally done! I'll get proper pics of them once my camera starts behaving.


Also, I don't actually own any of the scenery, but I did paint the statue. XD

Great work, as per usual! Can't wait to see that Contmptor in Thousand Sons colours! One thing: with the pre-heresy dudes, you might want to put in more 'mystical' colours, like the gold and the really rich red, so they really are the 1k Sons. You got it perfect on the biker in my opinion. Either way, keep up the great work!

Very cool. I love the captain.

Thanks for the comments!

@Urien_Rakarth: I can't wait to get started on the Contemptor! As for the pre-heresy tactical dudes, I have done the really rich red on them, but those photos I whacked up don't really show it properly. They look better in person, heh. I'm also saving the gold trim for the captains and sergeants, the regular guys just get the white trim 'cause they're not as special, hehehe. I also find that the red and gold combo makes them look unfortunately Khorne-ish, so I like the white to break that up a bit.

Anyway - Still alive! Been busy with assignments lately though, so not much progress on my major projects. Finally finished the Demios Rhino, but my lightbox is currently undergoing a rebuild, so decent photos of it will have to wait.

In the meantime, have a random Blood Angels assault marine I painted up in about a day.



One day I'll paint a model that's not red or blue... one day...

I still function! Haven't done much with my own models for a while, been busy with other things. Getting two wisdom teeth pulled out last week didn't help much either, heh. Finally managed to get some paint time in though, and made a bit of headway on the Contemptor. Still very much basecoat phase at the moment.



Wondering if I should add more red to the Kheres Assault Cannons, or leave them completely metallic as they are. Opinions?



And a little something else I'll be working on - chapter masters! Still need to fix up some of the bubbles and crap, and will be modifying them for my pre-Heresy Thousand Sons army.

Skits is alive! Try getting four wisdom teeth pulled, I think I slept for two days solid after the operation!

Dread is looking good, maybe a dash of red on the guns would look good, not too much, just a dash of colour you know?

I had 3 pulled

Hehe, I actually was really lucky with getting my wisdoms pulled, it didn't bother me overly much. My brother and dad both had to have operations to get all four of theirs out. I just walked into the dentist at 2:30pm last Tuesday, then walked out again at 3:30pm minus the right two wisdom teeth.

Didn't even need any painkillers afterwards - which is a good thing considering most of the regular ones don't work on me anyway. Just had a bit of swelling and felt like I'd been punched in the jaw for a few days, heh. Also managed to still speak clearly even when half my face was entirely numb. Dentist said I was one of the calmest, most relaxed patients she'd ever had.

Kinda wish I'd kept the teeth. Figured I had too much junk at home already... then the next day realised that they were ork money! D: Oh well.

@Cain: Yeah, thinking just a splash of red. Just not sure where or how much. The riveted tube part where the barrels come out? The half tube panel behind it with the vents? Both? Decisions, decisions...

Lucky fella! Wish my operations went that smoothly!

I am thinking red on the big riveted tube, should be the best spot for it..

At least now that you've got your wisdoms out, you won't hafta go through it again, right? Unless you're secretly an ork and keep regrowing them... ¬_¬

Yeah, I'm thinking the riveted tube too. Only concern I have is that if I do that, I might need to paint the half-tube behind it red as well, otherwise it might look a little too... piecemeal? Y'know?

Something else I'm working on at the moment - my display board for the Australian Armies on Parade competition this year. Only just started working on it yesterday, aheh. Got less than a month to finish it, hooray procrastination. XD



Nothing's glued down yet, still need to get some glue that'll actually work to stick high-density foam and wood together.

Cool looking stuff... God this blog updates nearly as irregular as my own! Only difference, this stuff is incredible, and mine is sometimes cool. Cool looking board, I'm very interested in that. As I said, I WANT THAT CONTEMPTOR! out of interest, will AOP be pre or post heresy 1k sons?

@Urien_Rakarth: Hehe, thanks! And yeah, I've been bad with updating lately. Life keeps getting in the way. :( Still recovering from a bout of the flu at the moment, which hasn't been helping any. Also been busy with assignments, bleh. I'll be using my post-heresy army for this year's Armies on Parade, don't have enough of my pre-Heresy army done yet. That's planned for next year's AoP.

Anyway! Since Armies On Parade is this Saturday, I've been scrambling to get the board done in time.

Foam glued down, gaps filled and some detail added to the ground:


Base paint:


Mostly finished paint:


Not sure if I want to do too much more to it - considering a bit of ballast gravel to give it some more texture, but eehhh. Also still need to do a bit of drybrushing on the ground itself with some lighter grey. Still, getting there!

Updating my Terminator Lord, Akil, so he's got the same style of pauldrons as the rest of my Terminators. Hopefully will have it done for my Armies on Parade this Saturday, but if not, 'sall good. Will just use the old pauldrons and swap the arms out for another set. Yay magnets!

Under-pauldron with hanging cloth.


Still waiting for this greenstuff to dry before I put on the top pauldron layer.

The Armies on Parade store competitions were on today, and I got my Terminator Lord's pauldrons finished just in time! That being about 1am this morning. Then my display, Hot Crossing, won my store's heats.

My old Terminator Captain Akil with his spanky new pauldrons!






And just for the hell of it, something else I've been working on recently:

First things first: finally completed my lightbox and got photos of my finished Deimos pattern Rhino and Pre-Heresy Tactical Squad.

Anyway! For this post - no model or anything, but still related! Just finished making a carry bag for my Armies on Parade display board. Basically just a cloth bag with a zip around three sides and handles to make the damn thing easier to carry around.

Zipped up with board inside:


Open:


The board itself is wrapped in cardboard to give it some actual protection. And the sewing machine is out to get me, I swear.

Also got that picture I chucked up in the previous post finished:



Now that all that's out of the way, let's see if I can get my Contemptor properly painted up before Games Day this Sunday... x_x

Epic work, the display board looks great! And freaking nice job on the artwork.

Thank you!

Fantastic stuff! I do love the artwork you do for this, it adds something new to the blogs that I like very much! I still wish you would put some pics in the dakka gallery though, I actually dozed off while I was waiting for all the images to load...

Hehe, thank you! I've been drawing a lot longer than I've been miniature painting, so it's nice to get back to that every now and then.

Haha wow, it really took that long? Or were you just that tired already? Granted, that Duel pic was pretty damn large... I normally link my art stuff to my deviantArt gallery 'cause that's where I can put the full-size images, and people can poke through the rest of my stuff that isn't 40k-related if they want. But just for you, Iv'e chucked up my 40k stuff on my Dakka Gallery, hehehe.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Some progress on my Contemptor!

Various bits in various stages of completion:



Torso's almost done, just need to work on the exhaust stacks and do a bit more detailing overall.




Only five more days to get this guy finished in time for Games Day! Aaagh.

I simply love the Thousand sons army you have been working on and i am entirely impressed with it. Excellent work.

LOVELY JUBELY! DDoes the basalt on the board want to be a biiit darker?? Al great, love that nid pic, just awesome. BTW I don't know if you know this, but only the Emps Children used Aquilas pre-heresy...

Thanks for the comments!

@Urien_Rakarth: Pre-Heresy, the Emperor's Children were the only legion who were all allowed to wear the Aquila. However, it was occasionally also awarded to noted heroes of other legions as well, heh. And as the bloke on the Forgeworld Facebook page said in regards to Rashidi when I posted him there: "He looks like a noted hero to me!"

Ok thanks and sorry, I guess... Lovely job on him tho!

Hehe, no worries! You're not the first to point out the Aquila thing to me, and until the bloke on Forgeworld's Facebook pointed out the noted heroes thing to me, I was aware of it and kinda worried about it (and planning to ignore that little detail anyway... )

Hooray for noted heroes!

Do I get one? ;-)

Hehe, have you been recognised by the Imperium as a noted hero?

Anyway! A bit more progress on the Contemptor. It'd go faster if I wasn't so easily distracted, bleh. >_<

Experimenting a bit, attempting some muzzle-flash to see if I can get it to look like the Kheres assault cannons are actually firing, or at least have just stopped firing and are still glowing hot. Not sure how well it's working... opinions? Advice?



All the dakka!



Still a lot to do, and only two days left to do it in...!

Best Thousand Sons I've ever seen. I really like the post-heresy blue marines. The blues are very smooth and they all have a ton of character. The bases are also phenomenal. Would love a tutorial for the lava.


Consider me subscribed!

Consider yourself Lava Tutorial'd!

And thank you!

Wow!
Simply amazing Thousand Sons you have here.
Keep up the awesome work mate.
Cannot wait to see more from you.

Thank you very much! Hopefully I'll have more soon!

 Skits wrote:
Consider yourself Lava Tutorial'd!

And thank you!

Awwwwyeaaaaah. Sweet tutorial! Also, do you do art commissions?

 Darth Bob wrote:

Awwwwyeaaaaah. Sweet tutorial! Also, do you do art commissions?

Hehe, thanks!

I'd like to! Extra cash to feed the plasticrack addiction would always be welcome, heh. Though if I did take any commissions right now, they'd be very slow to get done. PM me?

 Skits wrote:

 Darth Bob wrote:

Awwwwyeaaaaah. Sweet tutorial! Also, do you do art commissions?

Hehe, thanks!

I'd like to! Extra cash to feed the plasticrack addiction would always be welcome, heh. Though if I did take any commissions right now, they'd be very slow to get done. PM me?

Indeed I will! I like your art style.

Just checked out your Lava Tutorial....
Freakin' amazing!
I'll definitely be giving that a try.

Thanks! Good to know that tutorial's still useful, hehehe.

Lovely skits! With the Kheres, the long bits look perfect, but the round bit and firey bit (sorry for my lack of terminoligy) needs to be abit dimmer; at the mo its abit too bright... Lovely tho!

Thanks for the feedback!

The Contemptor is finished and photographed! Now that he's done, I've got to decide what from my long list of waiting projects to work on next...

... doesn't help that I picked up a couple of Deimos Predators from Forgeworld at Games Day, along with a few other bits and pieces...

the muzzel flash shading seems right, the colors just seem darker then they should. Perhaps spray the end of the gun white to make the muzzel colors pop?

@panda: Thanks for the feedback! Unfortunately I don't have an airbrush or anything, and I think I've finished messing with the Contemptor for now. Maybe one day I'll go back to it and fix it up, hehe.

Anyway! Still in that "agh don't know what to work on next" phase between projects, bleh. In the meantime though, I've been messing around with a few other things...

Forgeworld Deimos pattern Predator Executioner I grabbed while I was down at Games Day. Magnetised so I can use either the plasma cannon or the heavy conversion beamer. Still need to work on the sponson weapons though. Nothing's glued together yet either, hooray for dry-fitting.


A Storm Talon my brother got me for my birthday. I dunno why, but I think the baby space potato is the CUTEST THING EVAR and I've been wanting one since they first came out. Still trying to figure out if it's worth magnetising the different side weapon options. Nothing's glued together yet, just dry-fitting to play around with it and see how it all goes together.


And finally, a Grey Knight banner I painted for a friend's army. Looking at it now in the photo, I think I'm gonna hafta grab it off him next time I see him and fix up a coupla things I missed. XD Oh well.


Hopefully next time I post I'll have figured out what the hell my next project will actually be.

Great looking banner!

Before you glue the Storm Talon together, check out this thread for some cool ways people have built it, much better imo!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/453402.page

If you are going to work on the storm talon do make the tail longer by a inch or two, you will find the longer tail gives the brick more of a helicopter feel to it.

Mm, I've been thinking about modifying the baby space potato... but to be honest, I think it's absolutely adorable just the way it is.

... Laziness may also play a factor. ¬_¬

 Skits wrote:
Mm, I've been thinking about modifying the baby space potato... but to be honest, I think it's absolutely adorable just the way it is.

... Laziness may also play a factor. ¬_¬

BURN LAZY DEAMON!

Anyway! Not dead yet! University assignments however are eating up my time, and I'm still somewhat in that "ogod what to do next" funk. However, I do have some bits and pieces to show.

I finally have the brother tank to the Deimos Executioner I showed earlier - a lovely Deimos Predator Infernus! I also have a second Deimos Rhino somewhere, but I'm not sure which box he's in at the moment, whoops.



I'm thinking I'll call them Fury and Wrath, or some variant thereof that can be shortened to those two names.



What I'd like to complete next, but am currently having some trouble working up the motivation for, is a tactical squad of MkIV-armour Thousand Sons. Still trying to figure out what to do with the heads - how much to customise them, etc. Also trying to figure out if I want to model 'em with close combat weapons, or just leave em with bolters. This also kind of depends on whether or not I decide to stick with the new Chaos codex for my pre-Heresy boys, or use the vanilla Space Marines or Grey Knights codex. Decisions, decisions...



Finally, something I've been working on in bits and pieces here and there - I'm painting up a friend's Chaplain from the limited edition Dark Vengeance set. Still a lot to do, but he's good fun to paint!

Well skits, i say stick to the new codex. You can use the comptors as the deamon forges and have some sick powerful units on the table, that are fashionable and sexy. As for the tanks- their tanks! I suggest you do a fancy head set for the marines as well. That was a thing with the 1000 sons. Other wise i am excited to see some finished the work. The chaplin looks off to a good start.

Not dead! Just... busy. Ugh, final project at uni sucks up all my time lately. Still, a bit of progress on the chaplain at least. Tried out a makeshift wet palette for the first time today while working on the smoke, finding it makes blending a lot easier.



Still working on the white on both sides of the cape, and need to tidy up a bit around it. Also need to tidy up some edges where the paint's been rubbing off, bleh. Thoughts on the green?


Two more weeks till classes are done, and then I'll finally have some time to get some solid conversion/painting in...

Beautiful!

Good to see you back, Skits! The cloth work on that chaplain looks great.

Daaamn that is good blending! I feel you pain on university projects as well, just finished all mine and now I have exams!

Thanks for the replies all! It's good to BE back, hehehe. Just one more exam to do myself, then I'm free for the summer holidays. Hopefully I'll be able to update a little more often! And just in case anyone missed it, the finished Dark Vengeance Chaplain is up in my showcase thread.

Anyway! Another little update. Normally when I take WIP photos it's just on my desk, but I've been finding the ceiling light gives a bit too much glare. Solution? Jury-rigged light tent! Paper towel propped up by a half-built rhino behind it, and held up with my camera case and water jug, hehehe. Softens the light enough that I don't get such harsh highlights.



Got a couple more tactical marines in progress. Still a lot to do, but figured I'd show the freehand so far on this guy. The shoulder scarab is a new thing for me, and that bloody Thousand Sons symbol STILL isn't any easier to paint, sigh.



Also trying out armour damage for the first time on this poor fellow. Fenris Grey, edged with Fenris Grey/Black, and highlighted with Blood Red. May try a Blood Red/Bleached Bone mix at some point for the highlighting on the more brightly-lit areas, like the tops of the knees and pauldrons. Still experimenting and playing around with technique and colours at the moment.

Liking the improvised lightbox!

Great looking freehand. That scarab looks good. So good I may just have to repaint mine... Battle damage is a little too hard to see, not sure if it is the camera or not. I found that a bit of Chaos Black (or whatever it is called there days..) highlighted with a really bright orange pops quite well!

Loving the base as well. Is that water effects that makes it so glossy?

Looking great!

Really like how things are progressing on the place just ploughed through the nine pages every thing you have done is remarkable and very insightful on your technique. personally im looking forward to more post heresy marines myself i just dig that blue. kinda curious to see what your take on any other legion would be.

@Commander Cain: Yeah, I'm still experimenting with the battle damage. Probably won't use orange though, I'm trying to stay away from the oranges for my reds. I also don't want to make it stand out too much, heh. I prefer a more subtle approach, personally. Glad you like the freehand! It's such a pain to do, hehehe.

@Urien_Rakarth: Thank you!

@alabamaheretic: Thank you! I'm not sure if I'll ever try another legion - I love my Sons far too much, and have so many things to do for them still. Though I admit I'm thinking about getting the Primarch models from Forgeworld at some point... maybe. As for my post-Heresy boys, I think you'll like this next project then.

So! Another project I'm working on - the Dark Vengeance Chaos Lord I was given in return for painting that Chaplain, hehe. However, there's just one little problem with him...

"...A SLOTTA base?! I refuse to be associated with a lowly slotta base! If I find out who is responsible for this travesty I will shoot them in the EVERYTHING."



This problem obviously needs to be rectified. Solution? Build a custom base! But I didn't want to make it entirely out of greenstuff... then I remembered all the Forgeworld resin models I've purchased, and my little hoarding habit. Behold! Bucket o' blocks!



Greenstuff + chunks of resin =



This is just the foundation so far, I'll be filling it out and sculpting detail with more greenstuff once this lot's dried and the pieces won't move around any more. It'll be another lava base to go with the rest of my blue post-Heresy boys. Stay tuned!

That DV lord is a joy to paint cant wait to see him done up in your colors. I do say your sons are very inspiring and making me want to touch up my word bearers some. Base is looking good man looking forward to the paint.

Really cool army, subscribed

that keyboard made me cry..

Still not dead yet! Just sleeping.

@alabamaheretic: Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting paint onto the DV Chaos Lord! I predict that I will be driven a little bit (more) mad with all the detail on it. I'm glad my army's so inspiring!

@bigfish: Thank you!

@cormadepanda: Hehe why, what's wrong with my keyboard? I've had it for the past three computers, so it's probably around about ten years old or something.

Haven't gotten much done over the holidays so far, shame on me. Still, have some updates!

The base for my Chaos Lord is finally finished, after much procrastinating. Greenstuff/Milliput mix, roughly sculpted on, left to dry, then carved and shaved and sanded into shape.



Now it all just needs the undercoat, and then I can finally start painting this sucker.



And something else I've also been poking at - a couple of progress shots of the 25th Anniversary model that I'm painting up for my pre-Heresy Sons army.

The undercoat and base coat of Mordian Red:


The red on the body mostly finished, along with the base coat of Calthan Brown for the gold and parchment areas and Boltgun Metal for the metal areas. The plasma pistol arm, head (which isn't glued on yet!), and backpack so far only have the Mordian basecoat + the first layer of Scab Red/Fenris Grey in the shadowed areas.




Hopefully I'll remember to take more progress shots of both these models! And hopefully it won't be another month before my next update, aheh.

Look forward to seeing it Skits!

Don't worry about sleeping, we all have to do it

Oh yeah, I f***ing love your ice bases, could you give us a tut?

As for an ice base tutorial, ask and ye shall receive!

Thanks very much! I was using chopped up and scraped flying bases. Think I'll stick with that, but thanks loads, it was really helpful!

No worries, happy to help!

Having just finished collecting my jaw from the floor, where it's spent the last however long I've spent ogling this thread, allow me to say: wow. I'm a massive fan of the Sons - their tragic backstory, their aesthetic, the fact that each of them can kill you with his mind - and I must say, you've done them the most justice I've seen so far.

I found this thread while looking for inspiration, being as I'm currently planning out my own pre-Heresy Thousand Sons; I think I can safely consider myself inspired. I look forward to seeing what new marvels you produce. Needless to say: subscribed, exalted, seethed with envy over; et cetera, haha.

PS.: Thanks, by the way, for the various tutorials, pointers and such you've posted along the way!

@AzraelHunt: Oh wow, thank you very much for the high praise! It's always fantastic finding another Sons fan; I love 'em for pretty much the same reasons you do, hehe. I'm so glad that my stuff is such an inspiration -- it makes all the time and effort totally worth it! Especially if it leads to even more Sons armies being made, muahaha.

I'm glad you like the tutorials and such too -- it's always wonderful knowing that the stuff I've learned and passed on is helping other people! I look forward to seeing your own Sons army, and seeing what you do with it.

If y'have any questions or anything, feel free to ask! I'm always happy to discuss anything Sons or hobby-related.

I really like how you push this concept. consider yourself to have another fan!

@eldertau1987: Thank you very much!

Still as cool as ever Skits, keep up the good work.

P.S. As soon as I get the extra cash, I'm going to PM you about that commission. One day! One day...

@Darth Bob: Thanks, I'll try to! And no worries, no rush. I ain't planning on going anywhere for a while, hehehe.

Anyway, new things! The weather down here has been stupidly hot and humid lately, and I don't want to risk spraypainting undercoats in it. :| But at least my area's not currently suffering from bushfires, unlike further south. I'll take what I can get, heh.

So anything waiting to be undercoated is on hold for the moment. In the meantime, something else I've been wanting to work on for a while; more bikers! Got several second-hand chaos bikes from a friend who'd assembled and basecoated them, then decided he wasn't going to use them in any of his armies and gave them to me.

So here's the start of them. Still very much in progress - waiting for the greenstuff on the head to dry before I add any more detail to it. Getting rid of the chaos stars on the bike cowling was a pain in the everything, agh. De-spiked, greenstuff scarab on the pauldron to replace the skull, backpack converted from the chaos backpack to make it look a little less chaos-y.



Started working on a second bike as well, though the backpack atm is still in pieces like y'see here. I'll cut the mounting bits off the vents, and then greenstuff them back onto the backpack like the first biker. If anyone wants more pics of the backpacks themselves, let me know!



Got three more second-hand bikes to do after these two, then another two brand new bikes to work on as well. So... many... bikes aaagh. Also pondering what special weapons to give them - I've got a meltagun or two, but I'm not sure what works best on bikes. Meltas? Flamers? I'm not really a fan of plasma because I have an unfortunate habit of rolling way too many ones and melting my own face off. Thoughts?

Looks great!

 Skits wrote:

Hey, Skits, something I just noticed about this guy. What's up with his arms? They seem to be overly extended from his torso and the separation, to me, looks really odd. Is it something to do with the magnetized arms? Might I suggest sinking in the magnets more so that you get a tighter arm-to-body fit. Right now he just looks a little off compared to his squadmates.

Great looking bikers Skits! Every time you update I feel guilty about my own neglected T-sons but I console myself in the fact that I can bask in looking at your creations instead!

@Urien_Rakarth: Thank you!

@Darth Bob: Yeah, I messed up on poor Kamuzu there and didn't notice for ages. Basically what happened was that the arms I used on him weren't from the chaos terminator set, so they had slightly different shoulder joins than the other arms. But I didn't notice at the time, and didn't adjust accordingly, so the arms ended up with that visible gap. I'd like to sink the magnets in further, but digging them out in the first place would be a pain the ass and might damage the model. I may get around to fixing it at some point, if I run out of other things to do.

@Commander Cain: Hehe, thank you! And man, don't feel guilty, I can easily go like a month or several between updates, I'm so slack. Our Sons can be neglected together! Or something.

lol! Your termies are stil f**king awesome

Love the work your doing skits keep it up.

@Urien: Hehe, thanks!

@cormadepanda: Thanks, I certainly plan to!

Finally got around to undercoating some stuff... and ran outta spraypaint. Figures. Anyway!

Huh, forgot to post this a while ago, whoops. A little bit of custom detailing on my Deimos tanks. Used Milliput for these, mostly just to see how it handled compared to greenstuff.



And a bit more greenstuff work on the bike. Helmet's still in progress - gotta do it step by step to let the greenstuff dry and so I don't squash bits, bleh.



Also experimenting with making some gear for the back of the bike. These are also still in progress and need more detailing. Or I may redo them entirely, not sure yet. Will see how impatient I get, heh.

Nice work skits! Is milliput hard to work with? I am interested in trying it.

@eldertau: Thanks! As for Milliput, it's pretty similar to greenstuff to work with. Texture's slightly different, it's a little more like clay, I think. Changes a bit more depending on the proportion of the two parts you use, too. Water makes it a little more slick than greenstuff. Dries harder, not quite as rubbery as greenstuff.

Once I actually get my own box of Milliput (I was borrowing a friend's box before), I'll be experimenting with different greenstuff/Milliput mixes to see what that's like. The base I made for the Chaos Lord earlier is a greenstuff/Milliput mix.

Hope that helps!

Looks great! Be careful with the biker, he looks great at the minute, but I can see him becoming a bit of a nob. I'm sure you'll make him laveleh!

@UrienRakarth: Thanks! Though only that half of his helmet is done atm, aheh. But uh, what do you mean by a bit of a nob?

Great use of miliput! Do you sculpt it on the model and then scrape it off to bake it?

@Commander Cain: Thank you! And nah, Milliput's like greenstuff, it doesn't need baking. It's just a two-part putty that starts to cure once you mix the two parts together.

Lovely little thread, gonna keep an eye out for it

Do you see how his frame is arched forwards? This is quite an ambitious pose and I think if it went badly the dude would look like a hunchback, not a superhuman. I'm sure he'll just look aggressive and menacing instead, though

Oh! I see, yeah. I didn't actually pose these guys - they're second-hand and came already glued together/primed. It's a pain in the ass to work around, heheh. And them leaning forward like that is how they're supposed to be, otherwise they can't reach the handlebars. But yeah, I see what you mean, thanks!

Glad you're not gonna get Magnus to rip me limb from limb...
Speaking of Magnus, have you thought of trying to make him?

Heh! I'm more likely to get Ahriman to do that, if I were going to do any limb-ripping.

As for making a Magnus model... nah, never given it much thought. As much as I love the Thousand Sons, I'm not actually all that fond of Magnus himself. Plus, I've got too many other things planned to think about yet -another- project, hehehe. Maybe sometime in the future... I'm interested to see what Forgeworld does with him, if anything. Hopefully he'll turn out as awesome as the Forgeworld Angron model - that'd be cool.

kk.... Shame. Ah well, I'll just wait to see what othere fantastic things you produce

 Skits wrote:
@Commander Cain: Thank you! And nah, Milliput's like greenstuff, it doesn't need baking. It's just a two-part putty that starts to cure once you mix the two parts together.

Ah forgive me, I was thinking of Fimo, looks just like it but you have to bake the stuff!

@Commander Cain: No worries! There's so many sculpting putties and clays out there, 'seasy to get 'em mixed up, heh.

Been a little distracted lately, just finished reading Fear to Tread and Betrayer (omg both so good), and trying to find a solid chunk of time to devour Ahriman: Exile in. Still, got a bit of painting done!

Bit more progress on my converted 25th Anniversary model. Decided I'm gonna finish the main body before I do any more on the head/backpack/arm. Getting close to done here, just need to do the tabard and the edging washes, and a bit of detailing.


Also painted the base for my Chaos Lord, though the rock still needs a bit of dry-brushing on top to bring out the edges and such.

That lava.

How is it not actually glowing?

Incredible work.

Love the gold on the marine! It looks like nmm but still uses metallic paints am I correct?

@lennymaybe: MAGIC. Hehehe, thank you!

@Commander Cain: Thank you! And yeah, it's just Burnished Gold over a base of Calthan Brown, then washed with Gryphonne Sepia and edge-highlighted with Mithril Silver. Some of the Mithril Silver bits then got another watered-down wash of Gryphonne Sepia to blend 'em in a little better with the gold.

man that lava base makes me happy.

Now that dreadnought is absolutely amazing great job!

@cormadepanda: Hehe, the lava makes me happy too. And it makes me happy that it makes you happy! HAPPY ALL AROUND.

@timthehierodule: Thank you very much! The dread is still one of my favourite models.

Anyway, just a short update today. The banner to go with the 25th Anniversary model, base colours. Still need to get some green paint for the gems and the laurels at the bottom, and clean up some areas.

Cool!

Thanks!

Took some more progress shots of the banner to show how I do it (and how messy it can get XD). Used pencil to rough in the letters and symbol. Painted them, then cleaned up around the edges. Then used another wash on the parchment areas to hide the bits where I cleaned up around the letters, and edge-highlighted the gold parts with a bit of Mithril Silver. Still need to finish the rope and pole/crossbar, give the whole thing a bit more of a wash, and get my hands on some green paint for the laurels/gems. Then I need to figure out wtf I'm gonna do as a base for it, heh.


Almost finished with this fellow too - again, just need green paints to finish off, plus a few minor details that I missed/forgot.


Given the recent rain and flooding around the Brisbane area, I probably won't get the paints to finish these off for a little while. But that's okay, got plenty of other stuff to work on in the meantime. XD

i am impressed with the banner work, i will have to try your method

@cormadepanda: Thanks! Good luck with it!

No model stuff atm, I've been awfully distracted the past few days. However, here, have a quick, rough, sketchy thing!

<S> and everyone else is DEAD
<K> Even in death I still surf
<K> I mean... serve....
<I> Venerable Surfing
<st> DID YOU SEE ME CATCH THAT TOTALLY TUBULAR WAVE, BRETHREN?

 Skits wrote:
@cormadepanda: Thanks! Good luck with it!

No model stuff atm, I've been awfully distracted the past few days. However, here, have a quick, rough, sketchy thing!

<S> and everyone else is DEAD
<K> Even in death I still surf
<K> I mean... serve....
<I> Venerable Surfing
<st> DID YOU SEE ME CATCH THAT TOTALLY TUBULAR WAVE, BRETHREN?

Model it. Model it NOW.

Buy me the Contemptor and the Dreadnought drop pod and I will!

s&t the wrong way round there, laddyo. :snigger:

LAV IT

so much want in that drawing.

I STILL LIVE!

Man, it's been a long time since I last posted an update, many apologies! I kind of fell off the 40k train for a while there, but I'm now trying to get myself back into it again. Just had laser eye surgery a few days ago so I don't need glasses any more, hooray!

Haven't got much new to show yet, but I've made some progress on my Chaos Lord, at least!



Got a lot more to do, obviously. Still trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with his sword and what colour to make his plasma pistol - I'm thinking red for the pistol, but I'm not sure yet. Any suggestions?

Red would be nice, work with the base.