Helloo,

I've been trawling around on the forum (or should that be trolling? Probably...) for a while now and have put up a few things here and there. I'm in the process of starting a Space Wolves army, having some Grey Hunters I've been painting on and off for the past year or so and a Razorback in the cupboard which is in the process of having custom made Assault Cannons (read, PITA cannons) fitted using brass rod...

So, I reckon having a blog of sorts will give me the impetus and the general kick up the backside to see my paint more! I have some Long Fangs and Wolf Guard which need assembly and a Wolf Lord in the sketching phases.

My Great Company will be that of Bran Redmaw, the reason being that I love Grey Hunters (they're cool and their fluff reminds me of chasing the weaker kids through the forests back up in Scotland...).

So stay tuned for some updates, pics and colourful language as I struggle with conversions and hacksaws!

Haha! First update

Having been buried under university coursework, I've just got round to assembling a couple of Grey Hunters and Long Fangs (I did order a couple of other bits from ebay and elsewhere so had to wait for them too).
Anyway, getting a squad of Grey Hunters built using mainly the Assault Marine running legs to give the impression of pursuing their quarry through some Emperor-forsaken hinterland (none of this noncing about standing still nonsense!).

I love the poses!

I agree. I think the poses are very active which is quite appropriate for a space wolf army. Keep updating!

Seconded. Very dynamic, very Wolfy. Can't wait for more.

I like the poses so much, because it adds to the charging effect rather then...." we are waiting for your orders sir!"

Thanks chaps! I'm currently eating a sandwich and contemplating digging my Razorback Assault cannon conversion out *groan*.

I thought it would be "well easy" to make Assault Cannons using brass rod and plasticard.

Stupid boy.

Update time!

Just finished working on the Razorback Assault Cannons. I got the idea from a Baal Predator I saw on the GW website which had its cannons made from brass rod. So I thought it would be cool to revamp the old Razorback I had (which was painted in Dark Angels colours *shudder*) with the same idea.
I used the Lascannons, the ammo hoppers from the Devastator kit, some plasticard/rod and some 1.5mm brass tube. Anyway, the pics should explain how I did it:

Dude! Thats Awsome! I love the idea! I might just use that! Very nice job, well done. Cant wait to see more.

Cheers. I was looking around for the standard AC from the Land Raider Crusader kit but the stores were wanting about 6 notes for one so thought I'd do it this way.
I'm not sure if I want to add cowlings to the front of the barrels like on the Dillon Aero M134a Vulcan...

I'd never think to use all assault marine legs. They are looking good. can't wait to see what they look like painted up. The razor back is looking good.

@ Elnibbus, Im not sure what you talking about. Cowlings? Maby A pic? O...Subed by the way

@PapaPiggy, I totally agree, I never would have thought of that. This thread is going to be so cool!

I'm not sure if I'd be able to put up a pic of what I mean since it would be of a real firearm but if you imagine a cylinder over the end of the barrels. Or better yet, google Dillon M134a and you'll get what I mean.

O....I get it, The gatling guns cowling....sorry I think with the skills that you showed in making the cannon, I think you should be able to pull it off.

I'm sure I could but I don't know if I should- it might look daft!

If your afraid of it looking daft, then just make a test subject. Make a similer cannon and add the cowling. if it looks good then apply it. If not, then dont. Hope that helps!

Really sweet job on the assault cannon, I'll have to remember the tip about the brass rods, thanks!

I'll make a cylinder and slip it over the end of one of the cannons to see what that's like and then decide if I'll go with it or not.
I've run out of parts for the Grey Hunters- I require another box of Space Wolves...

Took a trip to Warhammer World today. Guess who has a Contemptor? MOOOOO-HA-HA-HAAAA.

Nice

Ok, update time. Not a massive one but I applied some paint to the Razorback today- Need to buy a new set of tracks and visor-thing since the old ones went walkabout.

Boom! Contemptor in progress:

Progress has been a bit slow at the moment. Since I'm completely skint now (student living off a loan) I won't be buying anything else for a while. Which is probably just as well since I have the following to do:

4 Wolf Guard Terminators
6 Long Fangs
5 Grey Hunters
Contemptor

Plus I still have to finish off the Razorback and the existing squad of Grey Hunters which seem to be crumbling to dust due to the utter that is GW plastic glue. Every time I open my case, another arm, shoulder pad or head (sometimes all 3) have dropped off. Wonder if they have Nurgle's Rot... Oh, I also have 2000pts of Dwarfs to paint too.

Anyhoo, did a bit more to the necklace around the dread's neck.

Your pose are really good, and i love the assault cannon idea!
Your painting is also very nice, subscribed!

Looking good! Like the necklace on the Contemptor.

ooooh, very nice!
I especially like the actual guys, can't wait to see them painted xxx

Cheers folks. I'm going to get some more bases so I can finish assembling my Grey Hunters and Long Fangs. Just need to finish the necklace on the Dread. I'm not fussed about doing anything like a pelt on it, I think they look better on infantry.

Also drawing up plans for a Bran Redmaw (Yes, I know there's a Forgeworld miniature coming but I'd rather make my own, that way I can use him as a standard Lord, use his own rules or do what I was going to do anyway and use the rules of Ragnar).

Just a quick update to show that I haven't been completely idle- been doing a bit more to the Razorback, mainly battle damage and free-handing the company markings on:

Your weathering looks very cool, mate! I like the effect you archieve with that white!
But while it looks awesome on the first two pics, I think you slightly overdid it on the last one.... sure, the hatch is going to get more battered, but the scratches still seem a little crowded....
But then again, it will propably look much better once you but down some more weathering on that side of the tank, I guess the paint near the tracks will get some serious chipping as well!

Propably needless to say, kepp up the goo painting! I'll be following!

Loving the way the conptemptor is turning out, can't wait to see It done.
Subbed

Thanks. I think you're right about the heavier weathering on the right hand hatch but I don't want to do it again, it's a right PITA. [/b]As for the bottom of the tracks, I'll be applying a muddy/slushy/snowy mix to them. Then I just have to buy a set of tracks and a visor, paint those and job's a good 'un!
Next to buy though is an airbrush (even just the GW one since all it'll be used for it applying the first coat).

DONT buy the gw one! it not even an airbrush! you can use any other airbrush for basecoating as well, but the gw one ONLY basecoats, nothing else.....

have a look at the second link in my sig, its about P&M advice. There is some advice on airbrushes as well!

Kind of only after one to basecoat with though. I have nowhere to keep a compressor/airbrush and not enough money to buy one.

Looking good! I really like the purity seals on the tank. looks great!

Managed to paint a Grey Hunter today, must've taken me about 4 hours all told:

You painted that Rhino without an airbrush.... I feel ashamed now Great work.
Your Great hunter looks really good as well, and your posing is great, much more dynamic.

Yep, painted it without an airbrush- used a GW standard brush (PITA). Photos aren't the best, mainly because I can't be bothered setting the lights up properly...

Another 4 Grey Hunters to go (2 still to build, one with a Wolf Standard which I'm going to have to freehand something onto).

Finally an Infantryman! Great job mate!

^^ Yeh I know, tool my time right? Lol.

My trouble is I have too many things going on at once!

Good job on the marine, he looks great! You seemed to have captured the SW color much better then I did. He Looks Superb!

O and for better pics, no matter how bad a camera you have, (Works best with cameras over 2 megapixls) anyway, A LIGHTBOX!!!!!! All you need is a Cardboard box,aluminume foil(standerd kitchen foil) white paper, and last but not least......wait for it.....TAPE!!!!!!!! Tape the foil to cover the inside of the box, then tape the white paper on the back and the bottom of the box, and vuala! instant inexpensive light box. It is great for taking pics, and will make your models even more impressive! Dont dissmiss this Idea, it is often throw under the couch, but that is a mistake. I will say, my photos were all ways bad until I built mine. Trust me it works.

Nice posing on the marines, and crisp paint job.

Also liking the wolf details on the vehicles.

Keep it up

Cheers guys.

@Imperial Renegade, where does the light come from if all sides of your box are enclosed?


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Oh yeh, to make life significantly easier for myself I've mixed the paints I use for the base colour of my Wolves together and put the paint in an old pot. I used my girlfriend's cooking scales (shhhh!) to weigh out the paints. Now all my Marines will have the same colour armour!

Better not tell your girl friend!

@Elnibbus, The light will come from the front. SO when you take your box, you cut off the four flaps. Leaving the front open. Apply the aluminum foil all around the box, so when you shine the light on your model through the front, the light reflects of of the foil and bounces all around! Leaving a nice white back drop, and a good focus on the model.

Hope that helps. If you want, I can easly take a pic of my lightbox and show you exactly what I mean.

I get what you mean dude

As for more pics- I got a couple better ones done today of another Grey Hunter I got painted this evening (around another 4 hours so I'm pretty consistent). His left shoulder pad is missing at the moment but I couldn't be bothered with that, it is half 12 in the morning...

Pics look great! Did you take them with a lightbox? If not, they look good. I like the model. The blood on the blade looks great.

I really like the detail and weathering on the last one!

Could I ask how you do the weathering?
Looks really good and I want to try it out

Thanks guys.

@Imperial Renegade- I didn't have the time/box to make a lightbox yesterday so just set up 2 desk lamps instead

@rodgers37- the weathering is a 1:1 mix of Shadow Grey and Chaos Black, highlighted by underlining with Space Wolves Grey.

Cool, It looks Great! I like the shoulderpad that he does have on, the fur looks amazing.

I've ordered some tracks for the Razorback as well as a few other bits and pieces for my Bran Redmaw conversion.

But before I divulge too much information on that, I need to make a priority list:

Finish Grey Hunters
Finish Long Fangs
Finish Wolf Guard
Finish Contemptor

Maybe...

Haha....Dont we all have a priority list?? It just seems to me I cant get the things on the list done!

I wanted to get my Razorback done before I got the Contemptor, but then bought it anyway and started on something completely different!

And having ordered and received parts to make a Grey Hunter with Wolf Standard, GW go ahead and release a lovely finecast one... Bah!

So, you know how I said 3 posts ago that I had a priority list and should probably stick to it? Well I may have just gone ahead and bought a Rhino and a Land Speeder today...

Damn it!

Oh yeh, updated the Thread title since it seems to get lost amidst the host of other titles. At the moment I'm sketching out a design for the Wolf Standard, using the theme of the "Wolf Rampant" which is on the standards in the codex. (Which makes me happy since it is a clear nod to the Lion Rampant of the Scottish heraldry )

Update time...

Started painting the Contemptor and just treating it like a big ol' Space Marine!

Nice color, gonna look awesome! I really like the kneepad, great execution

The knee pad looks great! I like the blue color. It really does look Amazing!

The Contemptor is coming along nicely. That kit is such a treat to build and paint.

Nice touch with the knee pad.

Cheers fellas.

Contemptor body is almost done- need to finish the details now as well as the head and arms. It's having an assault cannon and CCW so it can stand in as Bjorn should the need take me.

Waiting on tracks for the Razorback to turn up so I can finally finish the bugger and it can stop looking at me. Also waiting for the parts to finish my 6 Marine Grey Hunter squad, including melta gun and powerfist.

Have made a start painting the Long Fangs.

Looking forward to Thursday because I receive my Land Speeder (to be a Typhoon coz I thinks dey is wkd) and a Rhino. Will also receive the base model for my Bran conversion.

Quick update- tracks arrived for the Razorback today, minus 2 which I forgot to add to the basket which means another order. Add to that the fact that I've ballsed up and don't have enough bodies to finish assembling my Grey Hunters and Long Fangs makes me a little annoyed.

Anyhoo, Contemptor is almost finished- will put pics up tomorrow when it is finally done.

Speaking of tomorrow, I get all my noo luvverly fingz

Contemptor is finally finished! Woop!

Nice paintjob mate, I like the stripes on the cannon the most, but very nice over all!

Ugh....Not Fair! I wish my skills were better!


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Looks Amazing!

Amazing stuff. I love the Space Wolves and especially models with character. Great job and keep going

Great model mate, I love it!

Im loving your painting style the weathering on the armour looks so clean and effective, hope you dont mind but i'll be having a go at this .

Thanks people!

@El' Johnson, have a go at it as much as you like- the technique is actually in the Eavy Metal Masterclass book so I'm probably not the first to try it

As for updates and ting, I'll be away for the weekend so the Grey Hunters and Long Fangs will have to wait til Monday!

you sir, rule !
keep up the good work i cant wait to se other minis coming up with these painting and modeling job

subscribed !

Oh yeh, I started my Bran Redmaw conversion yesterday- let's just say that Finecast would be preferable over hacking up Gabriel Seth...

Now you just made me curious..

Well there's not really much to see at the moment, not much WIP to take photos of. Just sculpting fur, hair and teeth. I'll have some on Monday.

I'll just wait then

The contemptor turned out great.

If anything to add I personally would paint some vertical brown strikes to add bit weathering.

Waiting to see that Bran Redmaw conversion.

I love the dynamic posing!

I'm worried that people may be disappointed when I finally finish it! Expectations may be higher than I can achieve lol. It'll be fairly slow progress because of Seth being metal and I'm having to cut up his backpack and cape (sculpting a wolf pelt) plus I'm having to sculpt hair (including plaits), a beard and fangs. Eviscerator is being replaced by an axe.

Elnibbus wrote:I'm worried that people may be disappointed when I finally finish it! Expectations may be higher than I can achieve lol. It'll be fairly slow progress because of Seth being metal and I'm having to cut up his backpack and cape (sculpting a wolf pelt) plus I'm having to sculpt hair (including plaits), a beard and fangs. Eviscerator is being replaced by an axe.

cant wait!

Nice work on the Contemptor and the Grey Hunters - out of interest, are there any other (finished) elements of the army beyond what you've posted in this thread?

Unfortunately I'm not the world's quickest painter and I've got lots of stuff on- mainly university coursework! As a result, what you see finished on here is what I've managed to get done.

Cool - I wasn't sure if you'd finished any before the start of the thread, that's all.

Lovin your stuff!!!
Just a quick question, what mix or wash or paint ECT. are you using to line your recesses?

Thanks! It's a GW Shadow Grey/Scorched Brown mix.


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Quick update: spent a couple minutes green-[img]stuffing Bran's pelt. I've got it so that the pelt will hang both beneath the backpack and above it with a wolf's head draped across the top. Work has yet to commence on Bran himself, I think I'll start with filling the gaps in the greaves...

Update on Bran Redmaw, just a bit of green-stuffing here and there:

A full shot of Bran


Side shot of the fangs in the mouth and the hair I've added to the head


I green-stuffed over the Flesh Tearer's symbol, filled in the gaps in the greaves and took off the studs:


I then added some plaits to the hair:


On the other side:


And finally I've bodged an axe together:


So, lemme know what you guys think. I'm still quite a long way off finishing yet, need to green-stuff the cape, by putting claws on the ends and sculpting a wolf head over the backpack.

your most likely awesome images are broken.....

I can't get the fecking things to work- I don't know how.


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Got them working now! Woop! ^^

Nice greenstuffing, I'm really liking the hair!

My recomendation is (if you can be bothered) using a pin or something to score hairlines into the hair, as the braids especially look too bulky to be hair. (looking at it I think they need a little flattening to the head a lil more.

But generally looks great, I'm rather impressed that the fangs don't look out of place.

The hair is yet to be completed, needs some more depth and to be built up between the braids (it's going to be built over the backpack). The chest requires filing down and a wolf tooth necklace put in place- something akin to the one worn by the Wolf Guard with Wolf Claws.

That looks Awesome

just the axe that seems a bit odd to me.. might be because it's not attached to the body.. don't know
yet awesome.

Nice GS work mate, wanna see this done!

@Faust, the axe is by no means done- it requires a lot of fiddling, mainly filling in the gaps between the axe head and the haft and doing extra details.

@Selvaggio Saky, I'd quite like to see it done too but it may take some time!

wow, that GS work is top notch!

@Capitansolstice, thanks but it requires some refinement as it could be a lot better. I do think the braids are a little thick like Ovion suggested (I ACTUALLY braided the greenstuff for this...) but I think it may be masked a little when I build up the hair.

Yeah, if you make indentations in the gs, to simulate hair, it would be much better

Love your conversions and GS and painting keep it up !

I dunno the braids being overly large in themselves, just a little big for the amount of hair he has (the Dwarf Lord I painted has severely large braids and[/i] his head is the size of Bran's fist...). Today I'll get some more work done to his hair- going by his fluff he's supposed to be marked by the Wulfen so I'm trying to get an untamed look to the rest of it. I may add a beard but I dunno.


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Ok, so I had a word with a guy who sculpts professionally and he says to build up the hair over the backpack- which means I have to finish the backpack and attach it before I can finish the hair... Anyhoo, will see what I can do today but in the meantime I've been thinking about a paint scheme for his shoulder pads: obviously the left one will have to be white for his company markings but I was thinking of doing a red background and a bone-white celtic knot scheme on his right thoughts? I was also thinking about doing the same for the left shoulder pad except build up from a grey background to white markings with the company symbol on top.

Yeah a Celtic knot would be hard to do, but would look sweet!

This is the design I'll be going for:



I'm already practicing drawing it out. I've done a little bit of work to Bran today but not much, mainly on the cloak and a little on the axe.

Got a little more work done last night- did away with the original right arm since it would be too much of a pain to file away all the insignia. Insignia has been filed away and tidied up on the left arm. Have done away with the braided hair just now until I get the backpack finished. The axe has had the starting of a gem and also a leather hand wrap near the head.

Turning out awesome dude!

So, my Contemptor took a nosedive off the table today and literally explodified all over the place- had to reassemble it and it was a PITA but it's all good now

As for Bran... Urgh. Taking my sweet-ass time with it but he's getting there. I am currently working on him as I type (see, blokes can multi-task too!).

Oh yeh, built a Land Speeder Typhoon earlier too.

I like him. But his axe is big!

Yeh it is big but then again the one in the Terminator box set is just ridiculous! It's actually almost the same size as the double headed axe in the Thunderwolf box set (which would have been a much easier thing to use but hey-ho...).

Got some more done on Bran tonight but pictures will have to wait til tomorrow since the battery in the camera is on charge.

Going to have a bash at making some terrain for the land speeder, some walls and shizzle to break up the base.

I'm kinda mixed about how he turned out but the work you've achieved so far is great so keep it up i'll keep an eye on your thread

Epic work, love the conversion. Looking forward to the finished article!

Pictures of what I've been bothered too:

Wolf Tooth Necklace

Cloak:

Cloak:


Also, doo-do-do-dooooo-dooooo, doo-do-do-dooooooooooo-dooo (Ride of the Valkyries)

I dig your paint job, the conversions (those dynamic poses as well as Bran and his axe) the green stuff work like the contemptors necklace, that was a very nice touch.

Subscribed so I can see more!

Cool new greenstuff work!

A more complete shot of Bran with the axe. I added the right shoulder pad just to see what it'd look like (shamelessly stole the idea for the pad from Sons of Orar):



And from the reverse angle:



I'm hoping to have the hair done by close of day on Monday and might even be able to get the painting started next week

Looks like you got your hands full! Have fun! Its looking really good!

Looking Reaaaal Good !

Well I'd like to say I'd made more progress but a trip to the folks' this weekend took priority and so I've done absolutely nothing with Bran. I did however prime and base coat the Typhoon before I left so I wasn't completely useless...

Pictures!!

There's nothing new to show!


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Right, just done this in the last 10 minutes:





I'm really quite pleased with the way the fur on top turned out. May have to go and redo the cloak. Again. (Though I do suppose that on real wolves it does go a bit more ruffley around the neck and shoulders).

Cool! I tryed my first pelt on an AOBR Captin. I made him into a wolf gaurd. Im was pleased with the results. Mine is not nearly as fluffy as yours though. Personally I like the fur the way it is.

Cant wait to see more! I also want to see that typhoon!

Cheers Imperial Renegade, I just need to tidy up where the head meets the green stuff. I need to sculpt some more of his hair over the fur (I'll give it a go myself and if it's gash then I'll get some help from my sculptor buddy )

Currently on the train home so when I do eventually get in and drink a bucket of tea (or perhaps coffee) I'll see what I can come up with!

Wow, I'm quite fond of your take on Bran! really good idea and executed so well! looking how the wolves should, charging into battle screaming blood curdling battle cries! I look forward to more progress and especially some paint.

Nerdfest09

Thanks very much

I'm now at home slurping through a cuppa (I went for coffee in the end) and planning what the final touches will be- I'm definitely going to give the above Celtic cross a go on the right shoulder pad when painting.

I've seen the Forgeworld Bran Redmaw model but it kinda reminds me a little of the WHFB Dwarf Daemon Slayer...

Ah yes, Coffee I was going to suggest that was your beverage choice! one of my favorites! how do you have yours? I either like strong black no sugar or I have a Gweneth Paltrow (white and none)

Haha! Gwyneth Paltrow? Over in blightey we call that a Julie Andrews (as in SOund of Music White Nun). I have mine NATO Standard (White, 2 Sugars).

Can you guess what Coffee/Tea Whoopie Goldberg is?

Can you guess what Coffee/Tea Whoopie Goldberg is?

Oh I can probably guess well enough! but i'm guessing strong of some description? if we're going down that route do you often partake in a Gary Coleman?

I'm not too keen on espressos (if that's what you mean lol).

Anyhoo, I'm on my second cup and am staring at the stuff I have to get done. I should really get the sculpting on Bran finished first. Then I can fart about with Typhoons and what-not.

I'm not too keen on espressos (if that's what you mean lol).

yep, you got it in one my friend! how can you not like espresso? " Coffee, helping you do stupid things faster" now chug some black gold and get sculpting, i want to see this guy finished!

Right, half way through my 3rd cup of coffee and I have this so far:







Just going to let the green stuff go off a bit then I'm going to poke and prod and smooth it all out at refine it a bit. Some more hair will go over the top (yeh you guessed it, I'm redoing the braids...).

Looking good, just be careful that after 3 cups of coffee you don't lose the hair texture with the fur on the pack! :-) how many braids are you attempting this time? still just 2? or are you going to add more right over the hair you've just done?

It looks really good considering its you 3rd cup of coffe! I like it with the hair going a bit wild. It fits the model better. I also am thinking here.......................... ...........................I think if you give him a beard of some kind, it wil make his face look more full. Only suggesting that for two reasons.....(1) With you skills, you should easyly be able to pull it off. (2) With all that hair and fur, it IMHO would look cooler. But hey, maby thats just me. Keep up the good work, maby I can get somthing done soon.

Lol, I don't think I'll lose the texture- I'm deliberately leaving less depth in the hair compared to the fur. Besides, he's going to be a blondie and the fur is going to be a darker brown

As for braids, I'm still going to do only 2 coming from where his side burns would be (a la 4th ed codex cover work).


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@Imperial Renegade, thanks for the input: I have been thinking about a beard, it should be manageable- I didn't want to overcrowd the face or lose the detail of the fangs but now that you suggest it I think I'll give it a go!

He looks great. I love the wolf pelt. Hair is so tricky to get right, I hope you find the right combination that looks good.

MOOOOO-HA-HA-HA-HA-STACHE!!!!





Quite pleased with the beardiness. I messed about with sticking braids in his hair like I suggested but I think it goes against the whole crazy-mane thing that I imagined him having.

It looks amazing! I really like the stache! It looks much better now IMO.

I strongly approve of the mustarche! Awesome!

I like the way your GS-hair looks. Any chance of detailed tips on getting that done?

Thank you peeps, glad you approve!

@TaWaaagh, for general tips all I can say is be patient and lubricate whatever it is you use to sculpt- in my case I basically hawk on the end of the GW sculpting tool so that the GS doesn't stick to it.

For the hair in particular I would suggest building upon a foundation to get the desired 'volume' of hair.
I then sliced into it going from the front to the back of the head, putting a sweep into it to create the illusion of movement. I started at a point below the ears and worked towards the top of the head- I didn't bother with a parting since it would be all over the place.
Hope that gives some kinda pointer?

I may add a slight widow's peak to the hair line as it looks a little rounded at the moment but I'm happy with it so far.

I think it looks decent!

Looking good dude! i'm just awake and having my first cup of 'Michael Jordan' and it's nice to see your progress, I'm not entirely sold on the facial hair (not that it's not done well!) , I think the face with the flowing hair and fangs is a strong enough focal point considering the other parts of the conversion you've done so well! but I do like the moustache part, perhaps you could leave the lower part of the beard off and give him two longer braided moustache braids? then he can still soak up fenrisian mead and a few Gweneths to suck on later! :-)

Yep that is way better just be careful that the direction which the hair and bear go are the same .
it'll be kinda Odd if the beard seems to fly to the right while the hair fly to the left

don't know if you understand what i'm trying to say, scuse me but I got to excuses for that

1)i'm tired .it's too early for me
2) I'm french

Anyway this is looking good so keep it up Dude !

@Faust, I know what you mean- the beard is going in the same direction i.e straight back via the quickest route (to either side of his face, you can't really show the beard going straight up into his eyes lol). I'll have a play about and see what's what

hey

i really like your models, the painting is really good and the greenstuffing(i don't know if that is a word) is amazing.

Elnibbus wrote:MOOOOO-HA-HA-HA-HA-STACHE!!!!

Great idea to convert Seth! Super ambitious! I think the axe turned out well, and nice use of bits for the cloak! (bloodclaw icons, right?)

A bit of CC: The GS hair/beard is getting a bit ott, imho. The hair is getting a bit lost in the pelt behind (thought that will probably not be the case once paint hits it). I think the hair would look better flowing to the side, instead of up and over. Have you tried texturing for hair instead of sculpting individual strands? That tends to work out better for me anyways.

Keep up the great work!
Rawson

Thanks for the CC Rawson. [/i]I'm actually done with sculpting now- I stopped before it got too silly. Now for some paint (which will have to wait until next week now).

^Why???

Because I'm away at a WW2 themed airsoft game all weekend (we're doing a take on the battle o[i]n the outskirts of Arnhem). I suppose I could start him tonight but I haven't thought about what I'm going to do for the base. I was thinking part of an old tiled floor with aquillas (like from a chapel) which has been demolished and left to the chilly ravages of the planet.

So tiles, dirt and snow. Maybe some grass between the tiles to show age.

Sounds good to me! I love airsoft! I think painting can get postponed for an airsoft event!

Wow really well done! Would not want to meet him down a dark alley!

Wow he looks fast!

Elnibbus wrote:Because I'm away at a WW2 themed airsoft game all weekend (we're doing a take on the battle o[i]n the outskirts of Arnhem).e.

wicked!

Well folks, I'm back after a lengthy sabbatical of no hobby at all but I started painting this afternoon and thought I'd post up something. It's the right shoulder pad from my Bran Redmaw conversion with the celtic cross icon I said I'd try. Hasn't turned out too bad so far.




Bit rough at the moment but will have some touching up done to it before the model is finished. Didn't bother doing the outer cross since, well, I couldn't be bothered!

Elnibbus wrote:It's the right shoulder pad from my Bran Redmaw conversion with the celtic cross icon I said I'd try. Hasn't turned out too bad so far.

If by "hasn't turned out too bad" you mean ing awesome, then I agree.

That pad looks epic mate. Nice job. I've got a quick question.... the lioncloths parts and parchment on the first page tank..... how did you paint it? That recipe eludes me...

That shoulder pad is pure awesomeness!
Great job mate

Shoulder pad of awesome! How long did it take you?

Thanks fellas. I will try and get some more done at some point in the near future.

@S'jet, I started with Bestial Brown and then highlighted up with Bleached Bone (I think, was quite a while ago that I did them and I only just repainted the rest of the tank in SW colours!).

@MrMerlin, erm... About a half hour? Will need to do the trim and touch up before it's worthy.

Thats incredible free hand

Dude, very nicely painted pad! you know it's good work when you get so many positive replies for just one shoulder pad! lol :-) can't wait to see it all done!

Hi guys, thanks for the kind words but unfortunately I don't have an update for you- I've part painted his face and hair but I've noticed a mistake with the sculpting which I'll have to fix before I do anymore painting.

Elnibbus wrote:Hi guys, thanks for the kind words but unfortunately I don't have an update for you- I've part painted his face and hair but I've noticed a mistake with the sculpting which I'll have to fix before I do anymore painting.

Sucks, but you better fix it now. As Redmaw is effectively the centerpiece of your army, you'll always be pissed off if you don't make it right...

No update....

Awesome, job.

I have just started a Space Wolves army of my own and i stumbled upon Dakka Dakka so not i'm scouting Ideas. No Blog yet but maybe one day

Keep up the great work

That shoulder pad.......Holy ! It looks awsome! Man! I hope I hope I get that good soon!

Just wanted to ask is this based of the codex or Imperial Armour 11. I don't know if you have the book, but as a space wolf player i bought it out of interest and it has rules for Bran Redmaw in it. if you are i was wondering if you are going to scuplt a model for the Redmaw, and if so what sort of size etc as i don't really know how big it is meant to be etc. The army looks really good and i love the scuplting, keep up the good work

Young Logan

Better keep an eye out for this blog :3

Hi folks!

I've been away for a looooooooooooooooong assed time: Been studying for exams at university so I have had literally no time to do any painting or sculpting. I will be updating this with more stuff over the coming weeks.

Also, I must be the only person to be pissed-off with GW bringing out the new paint set- I find the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass mix of paints for the basecoat on the armour to be the perfect colour and then they go and change the paint range?!

B*stards...

You are not alone my friend trust me I'm as jacked as you about the paint sets! :-( but on a lighter note i'm happy we'll see more from you soon! I am looking forward to seeing what you've done!

NF09

I want to do Fire Hawks goram-it!

I have issues...

Just keep space wolvin'... they're cooler

Yeah dude you do such awesome space wolves I'd stick to them! mind you, i wouldn't be sad to see you do a 10 man squad of Hawks just to break up your painting and see what you can do, then you can realise you want to stick with wolves :-)

I'm finding it really hard to get motivated into building more of these guys to paint- seems like so much effort! I have to finish Bran, build and paint 4 more Wolf Guard Terminators, paint 5 Long Fangs, build 2 more Grey Hunters and paint 3 of them, build and paint a Rhino and finish the Typhoon...

Then when I've done that little lot I want to start the Fire Hawks. I have a very nice conversion in mind for Knight Captain Elam Courbray...

Just keep painting just keep painting bit by bit

whatever you choose to paint i'm quite sure it will be awesome.

so whatever your projects are, consider me subbscribed to all your futur topics.
good luck,and remember if you don't even appreciate what you are painting. don't paint.


-and i'm backing up,backing up, backing up -

Been painting my Grey Hunter with Wolf Standard today. Seems to be going well and I'll stick some picks up of him when done.

Might stick some sketches of what Elam Courbray will look like- I know someone has already started a Fire Hawks thread on here so I'm hoping they don't mind me hijacking the idea (I saw a picture of them online actually while doing a random search for inspiration and BOOM! I was sold on them).

Hey, Elnibbus, just got a chance to look through your blog. Before I got hooked on Fire Hawks, I was planning a Space Wolves army and Bran Redmaw's Great Company at that. Great minds and all that....

You've got some amazing stuff here. Your painting is great, and I love the scratch built assault canons and the wolf tooth necklace on the contemptor, but the celtic knot work on Bran's shoulder pad is phenomenal!

Are you going to do a model for The Redmaw (assuming you have IA 11)?

I was actually going to use the rules for Ragnar Blackmane in lieu of using the IA11 rules for Bran.

Having said that, I was thinking about using a Vargheist to base the Redmaw on...

Hello folks!

I'm not deadbut have had a huge break from the hobby- I've literally done no painting or sculpting since my last post on this thread.

Anyhoo, I have however been mulling ideas over in my head for little bits and pieces, Space Wolves and others.

I do need to get some new paints- I'm running low on my beloved colours and though I'm loathe get the new ones, I think I'll have to unless I can get hold of the old ones from somewhere...

Nice to see you're back! If you need any new paints, check out Vallejo, you get more paint for less money and they rock!

Cheers buddy, I'm making a list of Vallejo paints as we speak- most of them are for a particular colour scheme I have in mind for something completely un-space-wolves-related...

Pretty stoked to see you coming back on board dude! :-) and you'll love the Vallejo paints, they rock my world! nearly as much as your modeling and painting does! can't wait to see some new stuff from you.

NF09... Damo

Haha! Thanks dude. I'm going order some vallejo paints next week when I get paid. Until then, I'm waiting on parts and I'll be practicing painting wood...

*Almost* time for an update! This evening was spent carving away at little bits of plastic to make things fit. I also spent some of it trying to find my fething green stuff out of one of the boxes which was left over from our house move last month (which means that a lot of my hobby stuff is lurking about in other boxes).

So, without giving away too much, I've been working on Cadians...

Hello people, update time!

So I might have lost the oomph when it came to my Wolves- fear not though, the break won't last too much longer. What I have been playing about with is the plastic Cadian kit and the Empire State Handgunners kit. The result?




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So, the plan is to use the Handgunner arms on all my plastic Cadians. The basis of the army is that of a Panzer Grenadier detachment from the WW2 era Wehrmacht. Unfortunately I couldn't get a better shot of the helmet on the sniper- it has been cut down to resemble an M40 Stahlhelm (very loosely). Colours used will be a grey/green "feldgrau" uniform and dark green body armour. Lasrifles will have wooden stocks.

This is by no means going to be an infantry heavy Guard army because converting and painting loads would take until mid so there will be Panzers! Hurrah!

Or, more specifically, Tigers...

Hell yeah man! they look pretty damn cool! can't wait to see some paint done on them, the idea sounds very interesting and I'm positive with your skills you can do some amazing work! I love the first guy shown with the rifle on his shoulder and bandaged arm.

:-)

Cheers nerdfest! I was going to do more tonight but I was in a vegetative state of mind and consequently sat playing battlefield 3 all evening. I will get back on them tomorrow. Basing wise, I'm thinking rubble a la French town circa 1944 (think end scene from Saving Private Ryan and you're onto a winner).

As for a name... The 16th Jager Battalion.

I'm tempted to make my own Storm Troopers for the actual Panzer Grenadiers, with a Half-Track in the planning stages.

Also in the planning stages are the aforementioned Tiger/Leman Russ- I have big hopes for that.

As for heavy weapons, Heavy Bolters will have wheeled carriages- again I refer you to the 20mm from Saving Private Ryan. Missile Launchers already look like panzerschrecks. Autocannons... Hmm, was thinking Pak 38 style.

Anyway, lots to ponder on!

nerdfest09 wrote:I love the first guy shown with the rifle on his shoulder and bandaged arm.

Me as well! Tons of character

I know it's a bit fiddley, but what about adding las power cells to the guns? I think that would add a lot of realism to your troops.

Keep up the good work! Def subbed!
Rawson

Rawson, I know what you mean about the power cells but unfortunately it looks a bit daft placing them on the sides and there isn't really room for them between the trigger guard and the leading hand, at least not on all the weapons. I'm going with the idea that the cells are up inside the Las gun and ask you can see is the base plate (like on an old school military bolt action). Thanks for the comments though!

Fantastic, I love those spacewolves! The contemptor looks sick, great work!

Cheers dude. Space Wolves are my favourite Marine chapter. Anyhoo, I hope to get some more done to these guys tonight- I have the Standard Bearer, Officer and Medic to do. I'm waiting for my Vallejo paints to turn up so I can get a some colour on them.


Right, more pics! (Apologies for quality, can't find the camera so my phone will have to do!).

Standard Bearer:


Simple filing done to the Medic's helmet:


Offizier:

Looking good dude! I like what appears to be twin dust busters on the commi's back :-) (I know they're mag lenses! lol)

seriously, these are very cool and you are doing the idea justice, already you've managed to convey some great movement and it looks like they've been frozen in midst of battle!

Haha! Yeh, I know what you mean about the binoculars. Next thing is to work on the bases- means a lot of cutting up sprues for rubble!

I got a heavy weapon sprue through the post today, so will be working on a chassis for a 20mm Cannon a-like thingy-ma-jig.


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Bloody hell, making this weapon carriage is proving to be tricky... I decided to settle for an Autocannon instead of the Heavy Bolter. The reason? Looks better!

A bit of fluff:

Smoke drifted across the rubble-strewn street and through the blown-out windows and shattered doorways. Dust and debris trembled as a tank passed below the window in which Reinhart crouched. He peered over the sill and watched the turret traverse backwards and forwards, searching for threats in side streets and in crumbled buildings. Reinhart rested his Lasrifle against the wooden sill and took out a lho stick and lit it with a match, flicking the smouldering match out the window. He took a few draws, reached up, took off his helmet and ran a dirty hand over his closely cropped hair. He looked across the room at his squad mate Haanz as he snored in the corner, his rifle across his lap and his arms folded across his chest, head lolling from side to side with the weight of his helmet.

"Always has time for a nap" Reinhart mumbled to himself. He was contemplating picking up a small piece of masonry to through at Haanz's head when he heard thunder in the distance... Thunder? Most likely enemy artillery.

My 20mm Cannon a-like thing:

Inspired by the battle scene at the end of Saving Private Ryan and by this image: http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu207/marlee2214/German20mmFlakCrewcopy.jpg








For those of you wondering, the mesh on the model is supposed to imitate the net on the real 20mm- for catching spent casings and generally keeping them out of the way!

Awesome piece of atillery, man, well built! But drill the barrel

Cheers dude, the barrel will be drilled as soon as I can either find my bits or buy new ones! Still, got to do the rubble for the base- good job I have lots of spare sprue!

I also have to buy the base tank for my Tiger project... Hmmm.

I'm also thinking about my Storm Troopers (Sturm Abteilung if you will...). I'm going to be using plastic Cadians and sculpting the Carapace armour onto them in the Kasrkin style.
I have a few reasons:

a) I don't like having loads of models in a squad looking similar
b) I don't like the linked-up Hellguns
c) I can modify the plastics to fit more with the German look

So, what I'm going to do with the guns is take standard lasguns, cut them down and make them look similar to the ones on the Kasrkin models, albeit without the cables. I think I can get away with this because ze Fluff Fascists will note that some models of Hellgun can be fed from standard laspacks (so nyerrrrrr).

Helmets will obviously be cut down and shaped like the standard ones however I'll be sculpting the gas masks on to look like these: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Images/Product/AlternativeFW/xlarge/CadInfRes2.jpg

These look a little more in keeping with my overall theme. I'm actually considering using the dude drawing his side arm as the Squad Leader.

In place of energy-cell backpacks, I'll be using the backpacks from the Forgeworld Hardened Vet set.

Bit of an update:

Had a watch of Saving Private Ryan and saw that one of the 20mm Gunners had a ski cap so.....







And I had a play around with making Hellguns, kinda prefer the top version- slightly longer and looks more balanced. Tempted to put bayonet lugs on them...



Thoughts?

Anyone have any comments as to how the Hellguns look? Not sure if I should change them into some kind of Autogun...

 Elnibbus wrote:
Anyone have any comments as to how the Hellguns look? Not sure if I should change them into some kind of Autogun...

I like the top one better of the two, but I don't think there is enough to say "This isn't just a lasgun". If you're interested in making autoguns, you could try this method:



Good luck!
Rawson

Ooooh, that's pretty cool! Thanks dude.

Any advice on how to make the Hellguns more, um, Hellgunny? I was thinking about sticking scopes on the top- either the one from the HW sprue or maybe the SM one? I dunno, either way I'm going to have to get Bolt Pistols or scopes lol.


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Actually just seen on Ebay some awesome looking rifle scopes for 28mm scale weapons- they even have some really sweet looking rifles but I'm not sure if I have the ability to sculpt hands all that well (Obviously the right hand would be holding the pistol grip already on the model but the left hand would need to be sculpted).

Just been painting up my first trooper for the Guard army and my first use of Vallejo paints- I have to say, I'm a convert!









Skin has been painted using the older GW paints (Codex Grey, Tanned Flesh and Bleached Bone).

Maaaate! wow that looks great, no really, fantastic! the skin tones are spot on and so smooth it hurts! I am really hoping you get your paint on a lot more now 'cos i want to see all these painted man!

Elnibbus wrote:Any advice on how to make the Hellguns more, um, Hellgunny? I was thinking about sticking scopes on the top- either the one from the HW sprue or maybe the SM one? I dunno, either way I'm going to have to get Bolt Pistols or scopes lol.

I think scopes are out, Hot shots have a shorter range than your standard lasgun. I think I like a combination of the two models you have there: the short barrel (both breaks the silhouette of your average lasgun and represents the shorter range), leave the normal sights on top (read - no GSing), and the first new stock (if you must change it from standard)

Elnibbus wrote:Actually just seen on Ebay some awesome looking rifle scopes for 28mm scale weapons- they even have some really sweet looking rifles but I'm not sure if I have the ability to sculpt hands all that well (Obviously the right hand would be holding the pistol grip already on the model but the left hand would need to be sculpted).

Cadian troopers have one left hand arm that isn't attached to the gun. Maybe you can pick some up on eBay. Certainly easier than sculpting!

Elnibbus wrote:

Great start! Awesome flesh tones and also the fatigues Are you thinking about adding woodgrain?

Keep up the great work!
Rawson

Thanks chaps! Nerdfest, I'm definitely going to get more paint on these dudes and should hopefully have the squad finished in the next week or so. Might even get the autocannon and crew done too.

Rawson, I actually ordered some small scopes to go on the top of the lasguns because of the extra BS that Storm Troopers have over normal Guardsmen (doesn't matter that they have shorter range, just that they hit the target lol). I have indeed added wood grain to the rifle and it doesn't look all that bad really. Will post pics up when he's done and I have a better light set-up!

Cheers.

Finished the Vox operator:












Scopes for the Hellguns arrived today from Anvil Industries (Ebay shop) and I have to say they are of a very high quality indeed- no mould lines or any of that shenanigans. Problem is I have no Storm Troopers to put them on yet- my Guardsmen haven't turned up (I assume the Chimera they are being sent with has broken down or run out of fuel...).
I'm looking forward to sculpting the gas masks and the carapace armour, should prove to be a good challenge! I am not however looking forward to starting the Tiger conversion...

Just beautiful! the wood grain at such a scale is perfectly done! the pose as i mentioned earlier is great and adds so much character! I love the wounded arm and only thing i'd like to see is slightly darker blood in areas where the wound is deepest? or soaked into the cloth more?

Wow Elnibbus, just had a look through this blog and I'm really impressed, your painting is lovely and crisp and your poses are really dynamic and lifelike! That's without mentioning your greenstuff work on the SW hair plaits, beautiful! The tiger conversion is going to be awesome, want to do something similar so will wait till you have perfected the idea!

Will be following this very eagerly indeed, keep it up!

Cheers fellas! Nerdfest, I was contemplating doing more to the bandages but figured to pull it back a little and not risk it going OTT.
J-paint, thanks for looking- the base vehicle for the Tiger should show up on Tuesday along with the plastic Cadians with which I shall make my Storm Troopers.

For hellguns: tubes with a backpack mounted powerpack is pretty much the first thing that comes in mind and scopes, as far as I know all ''official'' hellguns have scopes on them.

@ Bobthehero, thanks mate bu t I don't like the impractical implications that having a gun attached to your back entails- kinda going for a more realistic feel to these guys.

Though having said that, this is the Grimdark and nothing is ever practical...

Or even sensible! What are you planning for the basis of the hellguns then? Just lasguns with the scopes you've got? (Apologies if you've mentioned this before.)

I'll be using the standard lasguns with modifications to them, such as the scopes and stuff

Sounds good! looking forwards to it!

I'm in a bit of a pickle- I'm not sure whether to buy a Thunderbolt fighter (since, you know, Messerschmitts are well cool) or to go along the Vendetta route (Vendies plus Storm Troopers).

Or EVERYTHING?

EVERYTHING about this thread is WIN!

Thanks very much Byte! I have been painting for about an hour and a half this evening and have painted the fatigues on the Sniper and the Officer- I'm very much enjoying using Vallejo paints (still using GW paints, on things such as the skin and wood effects).
Will hopefully have them completed in another day or so. Wondering what I should do with the camo-cape on the Sniper- I'm thinking some kind of splinter-camo or sumpfmuster (tan and water).

Thoughts?

 Elnibbus wrote:

That woodgrain is gorgeous! I've tried a few things on my Vostroyans, but none of it turned out as good as that. What's your receipe?

I started off with the vallejo camo black/brown followed by thick lines of the old GW bestial brown then started making thin lines using snakebite leather. I then added bleached bone to this and made even thinner lines (not necessarily on tip of the ones I already did, but close enough to it). Final step was to highlight using pure bleached bone. I went for a fairly medium wood colour so you could increase the amount of bleached bone for a lighter grain.

 Elnibbus wrote:
I started off with the vallejo camo black/brown followed by thick lines of the old GW bestial brown then started making thin lines using snakebite leather. I then added bleached bone to this and made even thinner lines (not necessarily on tip of the ones I already did, but close enough to it). Final step was to highlight using pure bleached bone. I went for a fairly medium wood colour so you could increase the amount of bleached bone for a lighter grain.

Why does everything that looks good have to be complicated?

Thanks for the receipe!

It's really not very complicated- it just requires a steady hand and concentration

For the sniper camo I think you should go with splinter camo, would look very nice, I will be very impressed if you can get those angled shapes looking crisp though, my freehand is appalling so never even attempt it! I think go vendetta for now instead of thunderbolt, even though I much prefer thunderbolts a vendetta would probably be a cheaper starting point, either way will be very cool, looking forward to more and the Tiger.

Perfect paintjob on that vox operator, dude. I love the wood effect, it looks great.

Jpaint: I kind already painted the camo-cape...



MrMerlin- thanks very much! Been working on the sniper and the officer simultaneously this evening. Should have the parts for the Tiger tomorrow albeit minus the tracks since the road wheels are being sent from the States...

Started cutting up plasticard and tubes today: parts for the tiger turned up, huzzah! First box of Cadian shock trips arrived too so I might start on them when I get fed up of trying to make this tank!

Very nice painting and love how you convert your guardsman really gives it character.
Count me subscribed!

Thanks Fab! Like I said earlier, I got the majority of the bits I require for my Tiger conversion and here is how it stands after a fretful hour or two cutting up plasticard:



That's right, you guessed it- the base is a Chimera APC. I've elected to go down the curved turret route because that's quite a distinct feature of the Tiger. The rear door will be replaced with exhausts and the hatch at the back will have a grill showing the engine compartment. In fact, I dunno why I bothered buying the Chimera... Still, a good base in terms of scaling.

But for now, I'm making dinner. Toodles!

Lol the sniper looks very nice indeed, glad you didn't do what I said! AS for the tiger, WOW! If this turns out half as well as I'm hoping it will be absolutely awesome! Very promising start indeed!

Thanks! I actually have some more pictures of the Tiger in progress:








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Having thought about it, I should have probably made the effort to make the turret slope towards the front... Meh, this looks more "Guard" i.e. blunt and obtrusive.

Looks mighty good to me dude! 100x better than any plasticard shenanigans I've played around with! I can see that the potential for this build is gonna be huge with your painting skills at the fore! hurry up and get building! :-)

Looks convincing so far! Have you got some reference pics that we could peek at?

Thanks chaps! I've just been using pictures of Tigers from google, such as this: http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/Tiger1-2002-Picz/Tiger1-131-Bovington-2004.jpg

I'm thinking about sloping the top of the turret down, would mean taking it to bit though it may look better, especially if I made the mantle smaller. Thoughts?

*EDIT*

Have made the mantle smaller and I'm putting an extra section of barrel in too...

Hoping this isn't me suggesting things you've already done again but I agree about the more slanted turret, would look more Tiger-esk.

J-paint, I am seriously thinking about taking the turret to bits but don't know if I have the stomach for it!

Actually, just ripped it apart and done it again...

 Elnibbus wrote:
Actually, just ripped it apart and done it again...

Lol, like jumping into a cold swimming pool! sometimes you just gotta do it quick!

 nerdfest09 wrote:
Lol, like jumping into a cold swimming pool! sometimes you just gotta do it quick!

Yep, didn't think too long on it and just cut! Though I at least used a metal ruler to get a straight edge...







Better? More Tiger-esque?

Yes, better a subtle change but quite an impact overall! :-)

Started to greenstuff the gas masks on my Storm Troopers:





Don't worry, the mold lines will be dealt with!

Based on these gas masks:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Images/Product/AlternativeFW/xlarge/CadInfRes2.jpg

Much better! and good start on the gas masks!

Hey, that gasmask is looking pretty sweet! Can't wait to see it finished

Sturm Truppen!!!







Still a little bit of finishing required.

 Elnibbus wrote:
Sturm Truppen!!!

I love this guy! I know earlier I said that I didn't like the GS filled top for the hellgun, but you have created a masterpiece! Easily recocnizable as "Not just your everyday lasgun" Those scopes really do the trick

Now just nine more to build
Rawson

Looks awesome! The gas masks are really good, they remind me of wombles! Not that its a bad thing!

@Rawson: Yeh, I kinda settled on the filled in type of rifle- it looks beefier and I could argue that it's being fed from an overcharged hot-shot pack. The scope represents the targeter and the shorter barrel the shorter range in game.

@J-paint: Cheers buddeh, the gas masks aren't quite there yet!

 Elnibbus wrote:
@Rawson: Yeh, I kinda settled on the filled in type of rifle- it looks beefier and I could argue that it's being fed from an overcharged hot-shot pack. The scope represents the targeter and the shorter barrel the shorter range in game.

Done a little bit more to the Sturm Truppen today, just added some styrene rod to the mask and vambrace on his right arm:



Also got a little head production line going on:



And a few of the updated Tiger turret, showing the addition of the smoke launchers and the 3 sections of the barrel like the real deal:




Can't decide if I should make a muzzle-break for it though?

The new turret looks great, though it does seem a bit plain jane at the end. I say, plenty of rivets, a few IG skulls, and a muzzle break!

As for the Stormtroopers, I'm not digging the extra gubbins on the gasmasks. What are they supposed to be exactly?

I've since moved the extra bits on the gas masks further down the "snout"- I guess they're the filters for the mask. I've based them off of the ones on the Forgeworld infantry upgrade pack.

As for the turret, well, I'm going to zimmerit it...

I've done the majority of the zimmerit on the turret with green stuff and a sculpting tool. Doesn't look too neat but then it never was on the real tanks since it was applied by crews.
Anyway, I'm going to put pictures up later when the turret is finished and the camera has battery. Still need to buy the Forgeworld upgrade kit to make the squad leader (I NEED that dude pulling out his sidearm, looks fooking bad-ass) and equip the troopers with the backpacks and extra kit.

Also have a halftrack conversion in mind too.

Done some more Green Stuffing to a second Storm Trooper:

I've modified the armour to be a lot chunkier looking. I think it looks better.




Zimmerit on the Tiger turret:






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As an aside, I'm struggling to think of a decent name for this particle army- considering they're based on a Wehrmacht theme, I was wondering if any of our German Dakkanaughts might be able to help me out here. I kinda like the sound of the Schwartzwald Panzer-Grenadiers, or replacing "wald" with "weld" (world) or "berg" (mountain).
Also been thinking about names for the vehicles- the "Tiger", as I've been calling it, doesn't fit with the mythological monster theme of naming guard tanks and naming it something like a "Heracles" or "Centurion" sounds more like a marine tank (though I do quite like those names). Has there ever been an imperial guard Minotaur?

Anyhoo, I have the next couple of days off so I'm hoping to have the green stuff done on the Storm Troopers. I *think * the postie is bringing my road wheels on Wednesday so I may yet get the tank all assembled ready for paint this week!

What is Zimmerit? (I feel like I'm playing Jeopardy )

 Elnibbus wrote:
Has there ever been an imperial guard Minotaur?

Yep, sorry. Double earthshaker cannon from FW. What about sphinx? That sounds pretty cool. Although, I don't think you have to worry about it too much, as there is quite a precident for non-mythical creature names: Leman Russ, Baneblade (and all of the superheavies), Malcador, Valdor, Destroyer, etc.

Looking really good, I agree with your preference for the chunkier armour, looks much better.

The zimmerit looks really cool too! GJ, how did you do it?

Btw Rawson zimmerit was like a non magnetic paste put on german tanks to stop people sticking magnetic mines and explosives to the hull. =]

@Rawson: I may stick with Centurion then but it will have the same profile as a Leman Russ, so it probably won't matter either way.

@J-Paint: I did it with 2 different methods, the second one is better though-

I glued 2 strips of 1mm plasticard 15mm apart on a tray and then rolled out a length of green stuff between the strips- this ensured an even thickness. I then took a sculpting tool and scored horizontal lines in it about 5mm long. Once this was dry I peeled it off and glued it to the turret.

For the front part of the zimmerit, I rolled on some green stuff to about 1mm thick and then, using a piece of 1mm plasticard cut to 5mm in width, i poked lines in the putty.

3 hours. THREE HOURS this took! Bloody hell...





For one track unit...

Worth every minute dude!

Agreed! Looks absolutely brilliant! ....should i mention the other side? probably not....

@nerdfest09 and J-paint: Thanks very much chaps!

I'm going to tackle the other side tomorrow when I can be arsed! I've managed to green stuff the legs of 5 Storm Troopers plus I've ordered the Forgeworld Cadian Respirator Upgrade pack (finally) so should be expecting that in the next few days.


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Ok, so I might have lied when I said I'd leave it til tomorrow:

Made an exhaust system for the rear a la the real Tiger




(The small rods and lid in the inner tube are to prevent explosives being shoved down the exhaust)

Not looking too shabby overall:

not too shabby he says!! It looks awesome! The additions of the small details like the zimmerit and the exhaust covers, gives it the realistic touches that take it from being good to awesome in my opinion, Congrats on splashing out on the FW stuff, always a joy to be able to afford stuff from them! look forwards to see what you do with them.

 J-paint wrote:
not too shabby he says!! It looks awesome! The additions of the small details like the zimmerit and the exhaust covers, gives it the realistic touches that take it from being good to awesome in my opinion, Congrats on splashing out on the FW stuff, always a joy to be able to afford stuff from them! look forwards to see what you do with them.

I agree, great job!

Just needs one thing:

@J-paint: Thanks very much mate I'm going to use the torso drawing sidearm dude as the leader of my Storm Troopers.

@Rawson: Lol, it has rivets already! Rivets weren't exactly very prolific on the German tanks anyway but don't worry- I will put more on it! I also need to sort the road wheels out, they weren't exactly the best cast in the world.

Omgurd! Rivets! you could totally go nuts and get a secret handshake to join the Riveters! they're like the cool kids at school that everyone goes "Oh wow there they are! I wish i was half as cool as those guys!"

HINT HINT GUYS! ;-)

 nerdfest09 wrote:
Omgurd! Rivets! you could totally go nuts and get a secret handshake to join the Riveters! they're like the cool kids at school that everyone goes "Oh wow there they are! I wish i was half as cool as those guys!"

HINT HINT GUYS! ;-)

Haha! Very good

I'm looking at the tank at the moment and I just had a profound thought:

"Why the hell did I buy the Chimera in the first place?!"

I do intend to rivet the side plates and then fill the voids with zimmerit and other bitz'n'bobs. I do however need to get an extra couple links of track to complete the other side...

Just fell over your blog and I must say you have both excellent ideas and skills able to prosecute them to a even better finish.

I only thing there is, I wish you were quicker so I could see more of this stuff.

Thanks Gerner, I wish I was quicker too- would have been on it tonight but I was out at the gun club tonight.

Sorry chaps, no picks of progress yet- just a moan at how long it takes Forgeworld to do ANYTHING!!!

Helloooo folks, small update on the Storm Troopers:



Meltagunner (not finished yet):







I love the look of this dude, even if I do say so myself:



As you might have guessed, I changed the helmets for the Cadian respirator ones- I think they look much better than my helmets, fitting the look of the chunkier armour. I've reasoned that they've probably been manufactured under contract based on the Cadian design.

They look great! (Not that the old ones looked bad at all ) Those hellguns are looking snazzy Where did you aquire those heads? I was looking for some earlier, and couldn't find any except for super expensive on ePay.

Look stunning man! Really, not that I had anything against the old heads, but these look fantastic! I agree with the love for the drawing his pistol guy, love that pose so much!

Thanks guys, going to try and get the Meltagunner finished today.

@Rawson: The heads are from the Forgeworld Respirator upgrade pack (£20 but you do get the back packs, the torso drawing the pistol, extra arms and accessories).

 Elnibbus wrote:
@Rawson: The heads are from the Forgeworld Respirator upgrade pack (£20 but you do get the back packs, the torso drawing the pistol, extra arms and accessories).

Yes, I know of that upgrade, but I didn't know everything came seperately. I thought the whole torso, gun, and head were one piece. Good to know...

The torso and gun are one piece but you can choose which head you plonk on there. You get a couple of cool lasgun arms and arms holding mines/ammo boxes.

Overall though, the quality of the casting on the torso is not great, especially when you consider that it's £20 for a pack. I need to re-sculpt the fingers on the drawing hand. The backpacks and heads are pretty decent, couple of tiny bubbles here and there but nothing major.

Having serious thoughts of asking for a Thunderbolt from my girlfriend for my birthday/Christmas but she'd probably laugh in my face lol.

 Elnibbus wrote:
Overall though, the quality of the casting on the torso is not great, especially when you consider that it's £20 for a pack. I need to re-sculpt the fingers on the drawing hand. The backpacks and heads are pretty decent, couple of tiny bubbles here and there but nothing major.

You should write FW: from what I hear, they have awesome customer service (when you're complaining about the miscasts and air bubbles ) It seems that all the titan threads have gotten free stuff from FW when there's something awry.

Problem is I've already used the parts- green stuffed the drawing hand on the torso and cleaned up all the bits. Have almost finished the meltagunner and a reloading trooper.

Well, looks like I can and should call you 'captain inspiration' now, I don't have any real passion to start a guard army but i'm certainly going to build some and customize them after seeing your work! any hints on what i should build regarding troops? I still want them to be legal in case i get the urge later on :-) I was hoping to build a smallish 10 man unit or 2 different 5 man units? thoughts?

and now it means i'll be pestering you to see what awesomness you do next!

@nerdfest09, well I can only apologize for making you want to build Guardsmen! As for thoughts on customizing your troops, what period of military history interests you/which armed force appeals the most? If I had the money I would have definitely done Death Korps and done them as some Eastern Front Panzer Grenadier Unit but £34 for a squad of ten men (not very survivable men either) is a bit steep.
I've tried to convey a sense of realism to the guys I'm building (is it working?!) so do you want them to look "real" or completely Grimdark?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Zimmerit-ed the tank:



And updated the 20mm:





Thank-you-please!

Fethin' beautiful work dude! absolutely fantastic work I love the tank it looks amazing as well as the gun! makes me even more determined to work on something! :-) I would like a pretty grimdark feel to mine I plan on using Mad robot heads with the goggles for the main troops and the beret heads for special troops! in some kind of urban or s.w.a.t type camo?? any ideas?

now, more importantly, when are we going to see paint on these bad boys? i am really looking forward to seeing them painted up, what scheme are you using? plain greens or camo paint/netting etc.?

@nerdfest09, urban camo looks really good on Guard troops- black, white and grey or even the old Cadian 122nd scheme:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRlIUeQfh7nQT8oYls5SpqZNSVKNoU63VmlRovpKq1mWdwYwAVHxg

Have you thought if you'd like to do a mech army or infantry heavy?

I'm going to try and get some paint on the tank and the autocannon by the weekend

Paint by the weekend! oh boy, oh boy, oh boy :-) can't wait to see the progress dude! that tank will be so so good!

and I'm thinking Tank heavy? totally different than my marine army.

have you built any more troops? if you plan on giving them all the level of attention to detail you have so far it will be one of THE best i've seen! ..... evaaaa!

I haven't built any more troops yet- the troopers I have built are actually an elites choice and a HQ choice!

Need to buy 2 more boxes of Cadians and another command squad box to make 1 troops choice and maybe field a unit of Veterans as a troops choice in a Vendetta? I dunno, I don't even have the Codex yet!

I'd like to have more tanks in my army, but building this Tiger has been one royal PITA!

To all those expecting to see pictures of a painted Tiger (I'm looking at you nerdfest09) I must apologise- I've been away since Friday and only just got back this evening with neither the time nor the inclination to paint anything!
I also have an exam for university this Thursday so I should probably do some revision between now and then- hobby is on hold for now.

Apologies again!

Finally started applying some paint to the Tiger. Colour scheme is an approximation to the Normandy scheme used by the Germans in WW2.








The picture I'm using as reference

Love it! honestly looks fantastic, wouldn't be able to tell it was a scratchbuild at all, I'm very jealous of your plasticard skills! The camo looks really nice as a start, assuming its going to get a fair bit of weathering to tone down the hard edges on the camo?

Yeh, it's going to receive quite a bit of harsh treatment in the weathering department!

Oh man, that's looking great! I love the colour of the main hull and the camo scheme is really good too! can't wait for more! I painted up my first guard model the other day! I am slowly seeing the attraction of the 'every man' army! :-)

Great paint scheme you've picked out! Reference pics like the one you've got are super helpful.

My only thought is to use the scale of the camo pattern from your reference pic as well. The one you've done is quite a bit smaller (read = I think it would look better if your green and red patterns were bigger )

Also, where is that hatch from?

Looks like a chimera hatch to me, although I might be wrong.

@Everyone, thanks for the support chaps- keeps my enthusiasm up!

@Rawson in particular, I've gone back and made the brown and green bigger

J-paint wrote:Looks like a chimera hatch to me, although I might be wrong.

No, I think you're right. Just goes to show how many Chimera's I have in my army compared to LRBT's and other types of armor

Elnibbus wrote:@Rawson in particular, I've gone back and made the brown and green bigger

Finally, I have some updated photos of my Guard progress, namely that of the Tiger:











Still a way to go but this blog has been bereft of any work for quite a while now so felt I had to post something!

Nice work Elnibbus! the camo looks even better now, and i spy a bit of weathering beginning there? ;-)

You do indeed spy some weathering nerdfest! I'm really digging the AK Interactive weathering paints/inks/whatever they are. Just need to pluck up the courage to mess about with the white spirit like it suggests on the bottles...
Hope to get it finished this weekend, with the addition of some hand-painted decals and Aquillas. Should I then finish my command squad or my Storm Troopers? Whadya think?

Command squad first I think :-) then amaze us with the torm troops!

Yeh, I'll paint the command squad since they're already on the go. Just out of interest, I'm trying to find the rules for the Vulture Gunship- I have Imperial Armour One with the actual rules but there is no choice for Punisher Cannons/points cost. Is there an update for them somewhere?

i think it is in IA 8 Elnibbus

Found it- Thanks very much alabamaheretic! Will be having one of those on the Christmas list (you can't have a Blitzkrieg without air-support after all!). As for lists, I'm thinking a mech list of Veterans in Chimeras and a Storm Trooper squad in a Vendetta. I'm not going for an all-out beardy list of doom, more of a characterful one which would fit with the aesthetic- I imagine the mech units much like the panzer divisions of WW2, supported by aircraft and Fallshcirmjager.

However, I know for a fact that my Tiger will get blown away on the first bloody turn, much like my brand-spanking new Dwarf Stonethrowers which misfired on the first shot!

yes Enibbus! The tiger looks just as awesome as I'd hoped if not better! Really solid job on that, can't wait to see the addition of the white spirit weathering to it, weathering is always fun.

As for what next I agree on the command squad, they are always fun, full of character. Looking forwards to it.

Finally, finally, FINALLY FINISHED!!!











So yer, added battle damage, weathering and some dried mud on the tracks and other parts which would accumulate dirt and mud.

It was well worth the wait, looks great!

How did you find the weathering powders in the end?

Cheers J-paint. I didn't actually use any powders- it was all AK Interactive Streaking Grime and Rust Effect. Powders tend to leave a mess and don't last long unless you give it a good seal (even then it can come off, as a friend of mine has a carry case stained orange after copious amounts of purity seal).
The dried mud is a mixture of PVA, dheneb stone, snakebite leather, snow effect and modelling sand. Was a bit concerned that it was too light at first but it dries a much darker colour.

So there it is. Have been contemplating a full mech list but I might keep the modifications to my Chimeras to a minimum (to save time and heartache) but I will be making another Tiger as an Executioner variant- will be interesting to see how the real-world style can blend with grim-dark plasma cannons!

Haha! Just got an epic deal on Empire Handgunner handguns- this means there could be a squad of Veterans on the horizon in the very near future! Progress is slow on the command squad though, have done the armour and fatigue on a few but still need to do the skin and weapons. Plus I need to finish sculpting the carapace armour on the Storm Troopers.

*groan*

Keep at it! the results are more than worth it! The empire handgun conversions i'm particularly looking forwards to.

The handguns fit rather well actually, it's actually something I did a few years ago when the Handgunners were released- just a quick chop and a bit of green stuff is all it takes. They also look as if they're aiming down the length of the rifle too as opposed to, well, not aiming at all.

So I was thinking about things this evening, picked up my knife and plastic Cadians and came up with this dude- the first of my Veterans, huzzah! (Apologies for the wanky pictures, but my phone is all I had at the time!).





And just because I felt like making a HB stand-in to more closely resemble something that would actually be man portable:



MG42 anyone? The idea was actually stolen from Digits Drogan thread where he has used heavy stubbers as HB teams- I've just made it look a little more like a 42

The problem I'm faced with is that the majority of the Empire Handguns require the same supporting arm (Arm D I believe) which will require another trip to ebay/some bits shop to procure more!

Thoughts on the above pieces?

The HB substitute looks really good man.

The handguns too look good, I couldn't see how it would work in my head, but now that you've done it it looks awesome.

My only qualm at the moment is the helmet, not sure why but I'm not totally sold on it. It might just need some paint, not sure.

Cheers dude. Looking at the helmet in the pictures doesn't really show it at the best angle- best viewed from side on lol. I just wanted them to be visibly different to Cadian helmets without having the ballache of sculpting the coal-scuttle shape of the DKoK ones. This was my solution to the problem.
Anyhoo, a lick of paint and we'll see what it will eventually look like!
I'm actually thinking about having the 42 on a bipod and having the cover open with the crew loading it- too masochistic? Lol.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oooooh! Do you think I should give the Vets carapace armour? I'm thinking about running 2 squads in Chimeras as my troops choices and their survival rate would be greatly improved with a 4+ save, considering my main adversaries will be Tau and Space Marines. Might also make the positioning of the arms easier if the joins are hidden under armour.

Love the rifle.

The MG42/heavy bolter reminds me too much of a Heavy Stubber, but then again you can't have them for your troops, so its all good.

Hopefully it'll look better when it's finished but yes, it does look an awful lot like a heavy stubber! Needs a stock and bipod plus the ammunition belt.
Anyhoo, I suppose it's back to making veterans and storm troopers!

That Hb substitute is looking great, I might copy the design, thanks!