First post is now spoilered, explaining the original purpose of the thread. As it goes now, it's an army blog, I hope all new comer enjoy, and the regulars continue to enjoy.
This army is intended as a fluffy looking (ish) Ultramarines 3rd Company, with parts of the 1st, and spooky reinforcements from the Legion of the Damned.

[Original post]


EDIT: As is explained later down, I've now turned this into just a 3rd company blog, from about halfway down page 1, the blog turns into a fully army blog.

That looks badass for sure. Though I feel like he is aiming too high in the air, perhaps lowering his pistol slightly would work. But other than that, the addition of the random bits looks well placed and not overdone and crowded. Good stuff! I look forward to seeing it painted

Cheers bro, glad you like it, I wanted him to stand out without looking overburdened. Now you mention it, it does look too high, I'll try and get it at a better angle.

He's definitely got an Ultramarine feel to him. Very good job

As Anticitizen suggested, I've lowered the aim of the pistol, I also removed the back tabbard after deciding that my GS skills are pretty good for getting rid of imperfections, yet too lack lustre for sculpting.
Here he is with the first coat of Macragge Blue, more pictures when I add the next shade and if it's suitably different, if not, a few layers down the line. Also, if anyone has any ideas for improvement or ideas for what to do with the banner, they'd be gladly appreciated.

Honestly, something pretty close to your profile pic would be cool for the banner, with the wreath passing through the Ultra and the skull in the center. Maybe put a ribbon underneath that has his name on it. It would be a challenge to freehand but it would look awesome if you could manage it.

That's a pretty good idea, I might get my hands on the FW brass and transfers and see if I could get the effect with those, I know I'd be disappointed with a freehand version, no matter how well I did it

The blue is done, and the first coat of red has also been applied. Upon seeing the pictures, I've noticed a few bits that need a little touching up, so they'll get done asap. Once again, I need your opinions though; what colour should the crest be? I'm thinking maybe deep red, white, or some kind of striped combination.
Also, these may be the last pictures I post for while, the girlfriend is on my back to do some real building and finally put up all the flat packed furniture in our new flat. Bloody woman...

Looking good so far! Do you mean the crest on the top of the banner?

The head crest, I can't decide how to do it. And thanks bro.

I'd go for a bright red headcrest... Is the blue meant to be so... how should i call it... irregular? I like it, mind you, but it looks to me as worn armour... not at all ultra-like...
Keep it up, i'll keep an eye on this

It looks good but I read somewhere that ultramarines looked down on servo skulls? Is that true or am I imaging things?

I like the crest on his helmet a lot.

I've always seen them shown as white...I take it he's based on a Honour Guard model. Take a look at artwork of the roman legions before you decide the colour as well.

I think it would look cool as red, with an occasional black stripe to break it up. Do you get what I'm saying?

Cheers for the input guys, I'm going to try and get some more work done on him as soon as I get time to anything other than work and do DIY.

@MauS: That's reflection from the camera flash and shoddy highlighting on my part making the blue look so worn, it doesn't look as bad in real light and actual size, I work nights so I can't get a daylight picture really, and since we've just moved into the new flat, there's nowhere to set up decent light box. I wanted to stay away from a bright red crest though, since he's 3rd company captain, I don't want to overload him red.

@Rotgut: I've never heard that before, I hope it's not true though since I love servo skulls and I use them to represent digital weapons.

@Liamahead: He's based on the Sergeant Kallistus model, he was a limited run model in a 2004 army box. Nightmare to try and find one these days, and always at a ridiculous price, there's a picture of him SM codex on the showcase page with all the veterans.

@Willnaut: I really like that idea, I think I'll go for a deep red with a few black stripes.

I finished working on the red yesterday, I tried out a new technique with the red, I think that'll be changing that, as the drybrush is a little pale and sticks out too much, not as much as it looks on the pictures, but still enough to annoy me. The eyes need some orange and white, and I'm changing the gems to be green.
Now for the bad news. Captain Fabian no longer has a company to lead. Me and my girlfriend broke up earlier today, and this is the only model I have managed to get back. Now, in the midst of moving into the new flat, I am now moving back to the family home, I have to rebuild a company, and I have no time to be doing any painting or modelling. So, for the last time in what might be a very long time, maybe even for good, here is Captain Mikael Fabian.

Too bad about your girlfriend and the rest of the army. The model was really starting to looking good.

Cheers man, but these things happen, just gotta get on with it. I managed to pull myself together and get some metal done on him, so I'll post pictures up later, which, unfortunately, will be of inferior quality due to her keeping the camera.


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Now, as I said, these pictures aren't the best quality ever, but they show what's been done. I did some work on the gold and made a start on the silver of the power sword.





The gold on the backpack and right shoulder is paler than the rest, just to mix it up a little.

From what i can tell it looks really nice. Are you planning on putting power effects on the sword, or will you just leave it silver?

I'm going to paint power effects on it, but only around the anode and cathode.

The love life is sorted, so the project is back on track. The white is done, the brown of the leather still needs finishing, the base has been started, and I've done the crest. The sword is also done, but I still need to start the plasma pistol, other than that, all that needs doing are the purity seals and scrolls and the servo skull. and the banner, that bloody banner...





EDIT: And I forgot to add that the soft armour needs doing, and that the face grill will not be gold, I'm not entirely sure what made me paint it gold in the first place.

[[[+Deleted under orders of the Inquisition.+]]]

That's looking really nice. Have you thought about doing/already done something with the parchment on the backpack?

Thanks man, I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, I might stick a symbol or something on it, or just some writing, I'm going to have to think it over. I'll probably decide after doing all the other purity seals and scrolls, just to see if there's already too much writing on him.

I haven't gotten round to doing anymore painting, I've been trying to make a decent helmet for my Chaplain Cassius. The Genestealer skull didn't work out, but here he is.
I've also removed the tabbard, as I've already stated, I'm crap at doing them, but I still keep trying.

Right, since pretty much nothing escaped the break up and get back together, I've decided to just cut my losses and start my 3rd Company all over, so here's how they're looking so far, obviously, nothing is anywhere near finished, as it's me and I switch projects every few layers, but all are in different stages of WIP, and WILL be finished.
I've also got Cassius to be left bare for a few days, until my very super Ultramarine Sternguard come, as they are my collective vow on the B&C. As a side note, any Ultramarine players who have anything to get done, head over to the Bolter and Chainsword forum, get to the Librarium painting challenge and enter for the Ultramarines forum, we need the vows.
But, anyway, here's the pictures, I like to give the Tactical squads an individual flavour, and I try and make all sergeants from all squads stand out as individual characters.

Tactical squad I


Tactical squad II



Assault squad I


Devastator squad I


As always, C&C are welcome.

Not a huge update, but good news, got a few weeks off work so I have more time for painting, and not partying, ignore the bottles in the background, they lie. Since I'll be doing more though, I'll be posting more regular updates, hopefully with more work done. Also tomorrow I have to pick up Sergeant Chronus from the Post Office, so I can make a start on my Sternguard.

As you can see, I decided to add stripes to the helmet after all, and re-did the tabbard and the banner, they were boring me.


And the knee, I swapped the knee decoration to the other knee, I almost forgot about that, it's so petty.

Hi! I saw the link in your signature and thought it would be some kind of story you'd written, and I'm pleasantly surprised! They look really nice so far, I really like that crest the most though,how did you do it? And when will you get around to finishing the captain? I know it's neary done, but I want to see the rest of the stuff done too. And some of those tactical guys look like a few in your gallery, are they all that survived? Not even the two rare metal ones?

Hey, thank you very much. The crest I did with a coat of Celestra grey, then a Drakenhoff Nightshade wash, then I decided to add two stripes of Khorne red with a wash of Nuln oil over the red bits.
As for finishing him, that remains to be seen, I spent all the time I had for painting yesterday doing the squad sergeants, so all are now blue and have the red bits started, and since I have to pick up more stuff today, I'll be distracted again, I will get him done soon though, I just prefer to paint blue over any other colour, and I get distracted by modelling new things far too easily.
And unfortunately not, they're me remaking them in a similar way since I liked the idea I had originally, this time I did the whole squad though. And nope, not even the metal guys, the Legion of the Damned are okay though, but I daren't go and rescue them just yet.


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Well, the squad sergeants are all blue, and have the first coat of red, I need to touch up the places I got red on now though and then finish it off. I've also swapped the gun on the Devastator sergeant for a combi-melta.
And in other news, I picked up Sergeant Chronus and the Sternguard weapons sprue today, I also got my other two combi-flamers and his head in the post. Unfortunately though, the powerfist and shoulderpad only got despatched today, so there's no pictures of him until he has an arm.
But, without further ado, the sergeants:

Tactical squad I


Tactical squad II


Devastator squad I


Assault squad I


Unfortunately, the highlights don't really show up on these pictures, I'll take better ones soon, because I spent a long time on those highlights.


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After much deliberation, I've decided to scrap the powerfist on the Sternguard/ Tyrannic War Veteran sergeant in favour of a lightning claw, it seems like it'd be better for killing 'Nids, it looks cooler, and I figure it'll work better for character challenges after the enemy has been softened with massed flamer, well, fire. I've also decided to give sculpting another go, sculpting part of the Tyrannic War Veteran badge under the parchment of the shoulder instead of putting on a Deathwatch pad, I'll be saving that for another member, when I decide what figure I'll use.

That's a really cool idea using the war veterans as sternguard veterans! And well done on the sculpting, but why is his flag already painted?

Thanks, the Tryanic War Veterans were basically the Sternguard of the 4th ed. Codex, just not as good, but I love the models, and Sergeant Chronus to lead them and the flag was from my bits box , it's been laying around for a while.

Not a lot done today, as usual, but I did get the Sternguard/ Tyrannic War Veteran sergeant painted up to the same level as the other sergeants in the army, the highlights show up a little better on these pictures, but not too well, I'm going to finish the red off and start the white next. I might try some freehand on the banner, give the TWV badge a go, but that's a big might.
But, here we go, I think he's one of my favourite models so far, very Ultramarine, in my very Ultramarine looking army.




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The white has been started, there will probably be no update tomorrow due to hangover, so I decided to update tonight. If anyone still follows this though, I need opinions, do this flag white with blue detail, or blue with white detail? I'm leaning towards white with blue bits at the moment, but I'd like other opinions too.

Not really an update here, just better pictures, I'm going to do a fair bit today, so this is one of a couple of updates.







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Did a little more work on Sergeant Ardias, he's really coming together now I think.

I've been getting really shaky hands the past few days, I think I'm coming down with flu or something, so I've done pretty much nothing, here's what I have dragged myself into doing though.


I've also ordered the rest of his squad, but I don't pick them up until a week today, hopefully I'll be feeling better by then though and I'll have something done.

That guy looks really good, you put lots of time into your characters don't you? But one thing is really bugging me.... Why did you change his name?

Thanks, I do try to yes, a bit too much sometimes at the expense of the rest of my models I think though.
And I originally called him Ardias, just a homage to the former Captain of the 3rd, but I changed it to Venator because that's Latin for Hunter, and since he's a Tyranid Hunter, I thought it was pretty fitting. It was either that or Delitor, Latin for Avenger, since he'd be avenging the death of the 1st by the Tyranids.

Those are some sweet looking veterans man!

Flu sucks, nothing is getting done. I was going to wait until I had this guy based and had the rivets painted, but that may be a while. Pretty happy with him though.

And cheers Willnaut, I have to pick up the rest of the squad on Friday, but could be a long time before they even get started.

So, as I'm feeing better, there's a British Blizzard. For those of you unfamiliar with what a British Blizzard is, it's when we have a little bit of snow and the entire country goes insane. Like actually insane, transport has gone to Hell, people are panic buying and we've put down so much grit salt that we'll probably run out soon. Again.
The good news, is that I managed to pick my Tyrannic War Veterans though. I've made a start on them, but two are still left untouched. The bionic arm guy is getting a heavy bolter, he's going to take a lot of work, and the grenade guy is getting a combi-flamer, again, lots of work. Here's the two I've done, still need to scratch off a couple of mould lines, and green stuff a sheath for that guy's leg knife. Might post more later, but I've just ordered pizza and I've sliced my fingers and one thumb to bits carving out the first guy's head.

Done a fair bit of work over the past few days. Captain Fabian and the Sternguard Sergeant are done, they just need basing. Managed to save my Legion of the Damned from my girlfriend's mum's house where they were before the break up/ get back. Also made a start on Cassius too. Well, enjoy:










I also need to finish Fabian's banner, but that'll be a while until I get the transfers from FW. But, C&C guys? Liking them, not liking them?

The Captain looks really nice now! Also, are you starting some Damned Legionaries or is that going to just be veterans? Either way I'm looking forward to seeing them finished.

Hey thanks a lot man, and thanks for sticking with the blog so long. And yeah Legionnaires , they'll be getting painted up soon(ish) still got lots more to do first though.

In other news, I've finished building the Sternguard, all 6 (including the Sergeant above) and I've done a bit more on Cassius. I've been lazy lately though, just little bits every now and then. Work and real life have gotten in the way, I'll put pictures up tomorrow.

These look really nice! I like your captain quite a bit and the idea is great


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These look really nice! I like your captain quite a bit and the idea is great

This is just a thought but if you washed the ropes on the chest of the captain with Seraphim Sepia or Nuln Oil and then just re-painted the raised portions in pure white it might give them more contrast and help break them up a little.

Late update again sorry guys, not a lot of time on my hands. Took Willnaut's advice on the rope, looks great, so thanks man. Also re-did the power weapons, pretty happy with the result. Cassius is still very WIP, and the Veterans are not painted yet, the heavy flamer guy needs his hands GSing too. But enough talk, here's the pictures!

The characters look great and the veterans are coming along nicely.

Thanks a lot man, glad you like them.
But now, back to business. Pretty much finished Cassius last night, just needs the 'Nid painting (suggestions?) and basing.

Big news everyone! Finally had my first game since 4th ed. the other day. 'Twas a lot to take in, but a blast all the same, had two games and neither guy cared that my army is mostly unpainted.
But the second guy, he was a gem. He ran Deathwing, all new models of course, and he did a lot of bragging about his Grey Knight army. I think I may have finally met TFG that people keep telling me about. The main part that stuck out for me though was his complaining about my Captain not having a cloak. Apparently, even with the huge crest on his head, it's too hard to identify who my Captain is (I'd identified the good Captain to him before the game, and pointed him out twice during), and he accused me of MFA. So, I got home and decided to play along. Here's the result, still need to highlight the cloak a little, it looks misshapen in the pictures thanks to the lack of highlights and shading. I highly recommend Anvil Industry, great capes.



Also, I swear I'll get some real work on the rest of the army soon. Probably.

How can that be MFA? You should put cloaks on every model in your army just because of that comment.

And I really like the captain, conversion & painting! The other ones are great too

Oh wow, they keep getting better! Cassius is fantastic, your best work so far I think. I'd do the Tyranid in Leviathan colours though, aren't they coming for Ultramar?

Hey thanks guys. You know, I am tempted now you've said it, but maybe I'll just get a load of Honour Guard instead.
And yeah, they're on their way, I'm just worried that it wouldn't stand out on the base.

I don't see how it's hard to tell that he is a Captain, but the cloak actually fits pretty well anyway. Maybe put a thin black line around the the red side, just a little it in from the edge. possibly put a wreath design in the very corners. There is an example of what I mean in the Blood Angels codex if you have any way of looking at it. If not I can post a picture of what I mean.

As a side note, you gave me a great idea of how to break up my Librarian's front loincloth thing by adding a gold stripe. Thanks for that, and keep up the good work!

Cool blog so far, loving the fact Captain Fabian is getting some love. Looking fowards to seeing more.

I think I know the guy you mean, the Captain holding his helmet? I quite like that idea, nice and simple, but it'd break up the red nicely.
And I'm glad to help, I'd love to see some pictures if you have any?

Yeah it's the helmet guy. I don't have any pictures right now because my camera is pretty low quality but I'm going to borrow my friends so I should upload some pictures eventually.

Dude, love ur work so far! I'm currently doing the ultras 4th, that was not MFA! Tbh i dont get what you can count as MFA in ur army..Apart from count as modles, which persionally i love, same with proxies if theres only 1 or 2. I have a freind who doesent like proxies or count as modles at all!!!! Very anyoing, that if theres a arm broken off the modle has no weapon?!?!?!? Anyway ill stop the rant, very nice army, i have most of my army built atm but just need to paint it!!! Atleast ur army is painted! What coulor scheme do you use?

Subbed,

HAZZER.

Btw please check out my blog...(link is in sig)

Hey man, thanks a lot, but barely anything in my army is painted, there's only three that actually are, but I've got a full day off tomorrow, so I'll do some stuff. And your stuff is great by the way, I've been following it for a while now, keeps getting better.
As for the colour scheme I use; it's Chaos Black under coat, Macragge Blue base coat, Drakenhoff Nightshade wash, Altdorf Guard layer and then highlights in Calgar blue for characters such as Sergeants and Veterans, but for the line troops it's a drybrush of Etherium Blue instead.

Now, on to the updates: I've been busy with outside stuff as of late, going to gigs and bars, taking the girlfriend out, going to work, you get the picture.
But I haven't been totally idle, I finished off the cape and re-did the loincloth in the same way. Then I browsing eBay the other day and spotted the Black Reach Tactical squad for £14, fair game.
Swapped out the flamer for a plasma gun and did some converting on the Sergeant. They only came today, so they still need cleaning properly, and I've just realised that I've forgotten to glue the Sergeant's head on. Silly me.

Anyway, C&C guys?
And thank you to everyone for all the kind words so far, and to everyone who's watching.

Looking good! Btw for causis id do the nid behemoth 9red skin, blue carpace) as thats what the ultras fought against in the trynanic wars, or do lethanman (white skin, purple carpace).

Well, as the new title says, I've actually done some painting. I've been signed off work again for the foreseeable future, which means even though I have more time to paint, as you may have noticed, I rarely have much motivation. But, I have finally dragged myself into doing something and finished the blue on the Veterans, and put the base of grey down for the white. These guys are getting a lot of gold on them, just to signify their veteran status. I also scraped the heavy flamer guy, he was pretty naff, and swapped the combi melta to a combi flamer.

C&C guys at all guys? I'd love to hear any input.

Look pretty good me thinks. What clulor recipe do you use btw?

Same as the one above;
Undercoat: Chaos black
Base coat: Macragge blue
Wash: Drakenhoff nightshade
Layer: Altdorf Guard blue
Highlight: Calgar blue
Glaze: Guilliman blue
I stole it from the GW site, minus the drybrush, I only use that on the rank and file troops, in lieu of the highlight, for speed's sake.

Thanks for the positive feedback

Hello there fellow Ultramarine fan

Looking good so far, like the attention you're giving each figure Looking forward to more! xxx

Thanks a lot, I've been watching your blog too, looking good!

Buuuuuuut, update time. Had to send my phone off for repairs, so no pictures sorry, but I did go and pick up the remaining pieces of broken models from my girlfriend's mum's and I've been able to (mostly) rescue two of them. The 2008 Gamesday Captain (my former Captain Fabian) and the 2008 U.S webstore promo Sergeant. Now, there are pictures of them a while ago in my gallery, but the old Fabian has lost his gun and hammer arm at the elbow.

I'm thinking of forming them into part of Fabian's command squad, just to really have a special looking squad on the field. I'm thinking of making the Captain into Company Champion, and the U.S Sergeant as a Veteran Sergeant, what do you guys and girls think of that?

Right, trying out my girlfriend's new camera, here's the test picture, Fabian with his redesigned tabbard.

There's a strange flash effect on the banner looking like white dots, no idea about this.

Aaaaand, the WIP Company Champion, former Captain model that got severely broken before I ever finished him, so is being rebuilt and re-purposed.


What do we think about how he'll come out as a champion?

And please ignore the hair brush...

Looking good so far! Ever thought of giving hima master crafted storm bolter? Like this guy;

I've been looking at that guy, looking good.
I gave Fabian the plasma pistol/ power sword combo because that's what he used in the first story I read about him in, whilst blowing the face off a Hive Tyrant. And the Champion now just has a sword and shield, with the pistol holstered on his hip.

And now for the pictures. I actually did some painting last night. Quite a lot actually, I even managed to finish the Champion. Upon seeing the pictures, I've noticed a few bits need a touch up, but you get the idea. I also did the helmet skull too thickly.



And here's the good Captain with his new faithful bodyguard.


What do we think then guys and girls?

Nice.

Nice poses. Good color.

That Champion is one of my favorites that I have seen you do so far! I do have a question though which is what color you use for the base layer of the gold. Also, as I can't really tell from the photo, are the raised parts on the mouth grills painted a metallic color? If not, have you ever thought of doing this? The same thing works with the backpack vents and I have found that as long as there is some black left in the recesses for shadows it can be a small detail that adds a lot to the finished model.

Thanks for all the positive comments guys!
And Willnaut, I use RuneLord Brass as the basecoat for my golds. Thanks for the tip on the face grills, I'll give that a go.

Thanks a lot man! I've been looking for a good gold color and that seems like it will do the trick.

Ever look at a great model and realise you painted it awfully? Since I painted Fabian, I think I've gotten a lot better, and his Company Champion looked better than him. I may also have gotten jealous of Davian Thule's and Indrick Boreale's fantastic gold armour. So, here's what I'm doing about it.

There's also the next member of the Command squad brewing in there too.
Now, I know blue helmets are the norm for Captains, but do we think gold could work?
I'll be keeping the right gauntlet leather looking, the cape will get fancier, I may or may not sculpt some fancy decoration on the greaves, and I'll be doing the chest piece and greaves gold, just the decorations if I decide to do them. I'm going to make him even more of a well deserving Ultramarines Captain.

I'd just freehand the fancy smerf stuff tbh. Do fancy wite lines and a few U's while ur at it!

ur models look solid, nice job
friendly advice, read my signature

Here's how the repaint is looking so far. There's been some debate on whether the gold plate would work, both on here and B&C, had loads of great feedback over there about getting gold on without going overboard, but my heart was set on a gold chestplate, I've been talked out of the gaudy legs though. Here's the body so far, highlights and more layers of gold pending.

Now you have started the painting the gold chestplate looks good! But I think thats all the gold you need as you dot want him to be too blingly and be mestaken for a BA!

So I stripped Fabian again, he was getting a bit too blingy. Whilst i decide how to keep him looking good I was going to finish painting something at least.
Then I bought a Stormtalon instead. Oopsies. Now that this badboy has kept me busy on my night off, I can't decide how to finish it off. I'm against magnetizing, I'd much rather just buy a few models to get more options, so I need to decide how to arm it, I'm leaning more towards Skyhammer or Typhoon missiles, but I'd ideally want it to make a decent bodyguard for the Stormraven I intend on getting soon. So if anyone has any experience with it, that'd be very much appreciated.

Cheers in advance guys and girls.

Well, I went ahead and put Skyhammer missiles on the Talon, that many shots was just too tempting. I also added a few shinies to it too, a spare Iron Halo, a heraldry shield, couple of extra Imperial eagles, some scrolls. Just some nice subtle things to keep the model looking great, but with my little twist on it.



I also painted Fabian's arm. Yes, just the arm, but I'm really happy with how it looks, the newly re-primed Fabian should look great when he's done now, not too garish, but, as the original thread was; An Ultramarines Captain, worthy of the title.


And excuse the 20p, I needed something to prop it up.

Any C&/orC guys? Cheers for looking anyway!

That gold is by far better! As for the storm tallon I'd not to bother to glue on the weapon options so then you can just swich them around as they can just slot in. Sorry a bit late now that you have glued it! TBH both missles are fine, one is the best tho can't rember! But your lodaout is pretty good for tanks...

Thanks a lot bro, I'm really happy with how the arm came out, and you can't really see it on the picture, but I managed to get the glow of the plasma coils looking a lot sharper, I was gunna try some OSL, but I think it's looking pretty good.
As for the Talon, it's for taking down light vehicles, and troops, I plan on getting it around the back of fliers and just spamming them with shots, so hopefully it should do the job.

Now, I need everyone to make me promise to have some form of update up tonight. Work have given me the night off, so I should use this new found free time wisely. I will have an update on here within the next 12 hours!

Can't wait!


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Can't wait!

Backpack and cape painted


I quite like the darker cape, and I've found a dark brown to be better for scroll work than black. I'm going to make a start on either Fabian himself or the servo skulls in a minute.

Here's how Fabian's looking so far. The gold bits and the loin cloth are done, the armour needs touching up, highlighting and glazing, the purity seals all need doing, as do the eyes, the leather parts have had their first coat, the grenades, shoulder trim and sword all need starting, and the piping on the stomach needs doing too. There's also a ton of parts need adding on, such as the finished bits above, 2 servo skulls, the banner, a small eagle clasp on the rope, signum and the GS extension of the cape to be modeled on last, after the whole thing is assembled.
So, lots to be done, but he's shaping up nicely, far better than his previous form, and now out shadowing his champion.




So, what does everyone think of the good Captain?

And Hazzer, you haven't been updating as often lately, this makes me sad.

Looking very good man! As for updates currently working on somthing... Should have somthing done soon!

Lovely looking ultras.

HAZZER wrote:Looking very good man! As for updates currently working on somthing... Should have somthing done soon!

Great news, I'll be waiting for any updates.
Also, anyone reading this, go check out Hazzer's blog, it has even more Ultramriney goodness.

tigerstein wrote:Lovely looking ultras.

Why thank you kindly

But now, here's the paints I've used so far on Fabian this time around, and bear in mind, I've still got other bits to paint...

One model, one small model, and all that so far.

Serious picture time though, here's Fabian as he is now. Couple of little touch ups need doing, and I still need to paint and glue on 2 Servo Skulls and a small Signum. After those are done, I can get the GS out and bring the cape around over the shoulders and onto the clasp, and when that's dried, I can stick on the new clasp from the Commander box. When all that's done I can glue on the backpack (thankfully already painted, see above) and make a start on my old arch-nemesis... The backpack banner!
But yeah, Fabian:


EDIT: And I need to paint the power sword. Oh woe is me and my slow painting hands.

Man, he looks a lot better with the gold helmet! Keep up the awesome work

Thank you very much, I'm really happy with how he's shaping up now.
Just getting a quick update in before midnight, that was personal challenge, get one more update before midnight. Painted the skulls and signum and glued them on, I'll start the cloak later tonight, or in the morning, depending on whether I sleep or not.

Apologies for bad camera work, as I said, in a rush to fulfill my little personal challenge. But I'm loving the new, more imposing look I've given him.
All C&C, as always, much appreciated.

Far better than the previous version! But mind you second time round the paintjob is allways far better!

Why thank you Hazzer, I'm made up with how he's turned out. He's finished now, except for the back banner. I hate that banner, it's always laughing at me, my imagination is allergic to Fabian's banner.
But yeah, as the original thread was 'Building a better Ultramarines Captanin', then 'An Ultramarines Captain worthy of the title', I thought I'd change the name back, in honour of Fabian's rebirth. Here's the old and new pictures:

And the back view:


I'd love to hear what everyone thinks of this now. I think he's now my favourite model I've done. I wanted him to look more regal and imposing, someone who can call down exterminatus on one planet, but have the adoration of another, one who can take down a group of renegades, and inspire the those they betrayed. You get the picture, mighty warrior king.

New Fabian looks excellent mate!

Looks nice. My only thought is that there should be some white on him somewhere. The "U" on his shoulder might be a good place. To me, it's the classic accent color for the ultramarines, so I miss it on him. If he was surrounded by a command squad, I might not notice, but standing alone it pops out.

Ah yes, the white, that's going to be his primary banner colour, like Captain Sicarius' banner, so I didn't want to really put any on him, so the banner stands out a bit more. I'm going to be getting the Forge World transfers and brass etchings to do the banner and possibly some small knee decorations. Thanks for the input though man, the rest of the command squad will have a little more white on them.

The Veterans are pretty much finished, they just need touch ups and details doing, I've also redone the helmets to get a better white, but I'll photograph that when I've finished the touch ups. Here's the picture of them with the Sergeant and Cassius.


On a side note, I've realised that the reason I'm going so slowly is that I'm getting bored of doing blue. To remedy this, instead of building a new army, I'm going to start a little side project to keep me entertained. Blood Ravens fall to Chaos all too easily, if you play the DoW at least, so I've decided that I'm going to paint up a Blood Ravens Commander, very heroic like, then a version of him falling to Chaos, and then a version of him as a full blown Chaos Lord. I've just ordered the parts for the loyalist Commander, so when the bitz arrive, I shall begin building. What do you guys think of my idea, too cheesy, or quite interesting?

That sounds like a very good idea! Can't wait!!! Also your capt is looking far better too!

Thanks a lot man, on the subject of Captain Fabian, my Forge World order arrived today, so I can finally finish my old nemesis, that back banner...

Really nice ultramarines, how do you find the finecast stuff?

I love it, Finescast is actually such a pleasure to work with compared to metal, thanks for the compliment by the way.

And now, who wants to see the banner?


I know that he's not Invictus, but I thought that since high ranking Captains are given Chapter relics, what better relic than Invictus' banner from when he was 3rd company Captain? Invictus fell at the Battle of Macragge, which was Fabian's first major engagement as Captain of the 3rd. And since he must have served under Invictus at least once, either in the 3rd company before Ardias took over, or as a Veteran in the 1st before Ardias fell, it only makes sense that he should get the banner.
Plus there was no transfer or brass etch that said 'Fabian'....

Well, the parts for the Loyalist Blood Raven Commander came today, here he is:



I also may have accidentally walked into Games Workshop on my way to get shopping that I didn't need to travel all the way into the City Centre to get. Ooops.




As always, all C&C welcome and encouraged, especially on the Dreadnought, I'm pretty happy with how he looks so far.

All looks good from me!

From a game standpoint, I dislike PCs on dreads and think the venerable ones are overpriced.

From a modeling standpoint he looks awesome. I own three dreads, but after seeing that one I'm starting to think I need a fourth, just to attempt to get one as cool looking as yours. Looking forward to seeing some paint on him.

Thanks guys, I'm really happy with the Dread, I wanted him to look like the honoured warrior that he's supposed to be, not a square tank, it was really easy to pose him the way he is, just a bit of fiddling whilst the plastic glue dried to make him look like he had a bit of movement going on.

I also intend to have a big painting tomorrow, well, later today, so barring unforeseen circumstances, I should have a decent sized update tomorrow.

Here's what I've done today, 30 odd marines, the Talon and the Dread all done Macragge blue with a Drakenhoff Nightsahde wash, that's all the blue marines done with at least the first two layers now.

After painting so much blue in one day, I've decided to start the LotD Sergeant, he still needs highlights, details and touch ups, but he's at least painted to TT standard.

As always, all C&C welcome and encouraged, and apologies for bad picture.

Looking good matey!

Thank you very much.
I changed my mind about the Blood Raven, I've decided to use him as part of the Command Squad, but with a twist. He's a Deathwatch Captain who's Kill Team were killed before the Ultramarines arrived on the scene, and he's been given permission to stay with the 3rd for the rest of his tour of duty, because in a chapter that does a lot of xeno killing, the company called the Scourge of the Xenos are going to be pretty good to learn from, right?
I want him to be from a Codex Chapter of Ultramarines descent, over on B&C the guys have suggested Scythes of the Emperor and Mentors. One chap suggested the SotE who was with Cassius, and now believes he's alone, so joined the watch and is attached to the Ultramarines for a while. I quite like this idea, just wondering what you all thought of it?
Here he is at the moment btw, just got the basic colours on, still needs a lot of work to finish, but you can get the idea.



And just incase anyone's interested, here's the whole army at the minute, bearing in mind, most of it's just plain blue.

Looking good!

DAmn. Awesome work. You should focus more on pimping out your troops. Scythes of the emperor for the deathwatch guy i think. Cuz whats cooler than a scythe . Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the kind words guys, I will be concentrating on the troops soon.
But now my reason for lack of updates. A friend of mine came into a lot of second hand models, all caked in glue and paint. He came round to mine for my help prying apart a Predator and to make use of my bitz box. Now, as a grown up, I should be trusted with very sharp blades right? Wrong.
I now have a 2" gash in my left thumb that reaches upwards and inwards an inch and a half, nicking the bone and severing a nerve or two, almost lost my thumb. I have a consultation with a plastic surgeon on Sunday to see if we can repair any nervous damage, or at least regain full control once the wound is healed.
On the plus side, he's giving me the one and a half Dreadnoughts he got in the lot, they'll require a lots of work, but I'll be careful with these.
So sorry for long silence ahead, I'll try to get my Larraman Organ working to full capacity for a quick healing, but in the meantime, good luck with your own projects! I'll still be around the forums, but excuse any slow thread replies, and feel free to PM me any questions regarding my project that you may have.
Cheers guys,
Sam

Ouch! If you don't like the answers your doc gives you, get a second opinion from an ork. Powerklaws are more useful then thumbs anyway.

That does sound like a plan, we were actually talking about Yarrick's klaw when the knife hit. Maybe it's a sign?

Ouch! i feel a bit bad not pointing this out earlier.... if you feel like stripping and loosening superglue sometime in the future i recommend checking out this article. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/365067.page i found it very useful for similar reasons to what you wanna do. i use a plastic butternife to remove superglue now. or mamybe you use it just to strip paint and not glue cuz ya dont know
also your painting has finaly inspired me to paint finecast, and i finished my chappie with a jumppack(hes alll covered in blood!DDD) anyways i hope you will get better soon cuz i favorited the article or whatever and i think its brave of you to try something other than the bog standard golden shoulderpads.

Today I got my cast off, had some physio and got to see the mess that is my hand. There's exceedingly little feeling, and a tiny bit of movement, all movement does cause extreme pain though, but I'm allowed to do small tasks, such as button my shirt. I decided I was going to do some painting. I've done next to nothing, just managed one coat of Kharak Stone on the scrolls, but it took me almost two hours. Nevertheless, I have never been prouder of my work, it's going to be a long road, one that I'm being forced to take in small steps, but I'm going to recover, and I'm going to do some serious painting.
Here's the Sergeant of the Assault Squad, much as he was in previous pictures, just now with some beige bits.

And thanks for the kind words Largeblastmarker, I plan on getting a Jump Chaplain myself soon, how is the model?

chaplain is now the centrepiece hq of my army! he looks just quite like the regular one, except instead of greyiish line highlights, i used blood dirt and scraped metal to break up the black armour. if you get one i cant wait to see it! PS: also consider a storm sheild. the 3+ INV save is excelent when you get hit by a chaos fliers' torrent flamer. does way more than a power axe could. ever.

Hey, finally got a chance to check out your blog. Loving your work so far, especially how you paint gold and your very unique special characters. I hope you have a speedy recovery for your hand, and am glad that you're back to painting.

Looking through this, it is wonderful to see your painting improve not a great fan of smurfs myself but once this army is finished it will look brilliant. Keep up the good work

Young Logan

Adding a jump pack to a foot troop is a simple fix. That's how my chaplain acquired his jump pack. So if you like the look of one of the normal PA chaplains, you can work him up. On a related note, Cassius is a killing machine. You might want to look into some magnets so you can swap jump pack/bolt pistol for normal pack/combi-flamer. I know you might not be up for conversion work atm, but something to keep in mind.

Mind the wisdom of the apothecary, and you'll be back smiting heretics soon. Praise to the Emperor for your swift recovery.

Looking good mate!

Hope your recovering well Sir Samuel Buca, I like how your blog/plog is shaping up
I will repeat what other dakkites are saying - there is definitely marked improvement with your painting style, especially with the Fabian mini. Keep up the good work!

A little suggestion for your gold, try some Mithril Silver on a couple (but not all) of the extreme edges of whatever it is that's golden; it will make the gold object really stand out

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, praise and advice guys, makes me feel a lot better. Nevelon, I'm only really getting the Jump Chaplain because I like the model, I've got Cassius in the army already, he'll probably be the one I one I use most of the time, he's a killing machine.

On a modelling note, though I am really not up to doing any converting, my friend popped round today with the Dreadnought and a half he said I could have for injuring myself helping him. One is just legs and exhausts with a separate front plate, he's been put aside for now. The other is very static, caked in glue and slathered in paint, he's currently being stripped of all paint, I've ripped the leg guards off, which were destroyed by glue, and pulled both arms off. I'm going to use some of the many left over parts from the Venerable Dreadnought kit to rebuild him, and I'm going to try and repose him as best I can. This will all be in the future though, since I caused myself a great deal of pain ripping the arms off (with my freshly repaired thumb almost joining them!).

Aside from all this, I managed a bit more painting, not much, but the Assault Sergeant is coming along, I may even get him finished by tomorrow.

Looking good!

Looking good, as a relative newbie to the site just been catching up on this thread and have to say i like your work, keep it up

I recommend just putting some caliban green on a strand of a brush and working it over the assault sergeants eyes. Over light greens clash a bit. Also i like how you do you plasma. also, his purity tabard is crying for script!

Cheers guys, keeping me motivated, sorry about there being no update yesterday.
@Largeblastmarker: There will be script don't worry, I'm mainly using this guy as practice really. I can't paint for longer than a few minutes at a time, and I'm on pretty potent pain killers half the time, so I'm a bit jerky. The eyes should be darker, I just went OTT with the Moot Green, so they'll be darkened, don't worry
I'm going to finish him today, no matter how much pain it causes, it's good hand exercise anyway.
Once he's finished, I'm either going to get the squad done, finish the LotD off or work my way through the Sergeants, I haven't decided yet.

As promised, here's the finished Assault Sergeant, I know it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with the result. Obviously there's parts where I've highlighted too thickly, I'll clean it up when I have proper control back.

Where do you get all the neat border only transfers?

 Largeblastmarker wrote:
Where do you get all the neat border only transfers?

Enjoy. Cannot recommend them enough.

Add 1 more thing to the list of what California lacks; forgeworld. D:

Well guys, sorry for the silence these past few days, the Doctor had a go at me for using my hand too much. I painted up another member of the assault squad and had a go at painting scorched thrusters. I've got the rest of the squad roughly 40% done too, so things should keep going, slowly but surely.




All C&C appreciated and encouraged as usual guys.

And on a side note, I'm picking up that jump Chaplain tomorrow, don't know how long it'll take for me to build him though, I'm not really too good with a knife at the moment, so I don't want to carve another chunk o' hand off trying to trim the Finecast.

Jp chaplain is like a 3 piece model. You shouldnt have to cut much!

There was barely anything to cut off him, a thoroughly pleasant model to assemble.
After a weekend involving a fake stag prank, one of my best friends losing his girlfriend and helping my dad train his new puppy, I've finally got some time today to work on my army again. Here's a little teaser.


As you can see, I've given Cassius a cloak and resculpted his helmet, not too happy with the helmet, but I'm quite happy with the cloak, it just needs extending over the back, some large decoration at the back and the backpack gluing on.
The marine and Chaplain need painting, I don't think I need to expand on that really.

Ummn... didja wash the chaplain in soapy water.If not, i strongly recommend dumping him in whatever you use to strip your paint and then washing him with soap and toothbrush. otheerwise for some reason i have found that paint simply does not stick to him! and it apears to be flaking on yours

I wash all my Finescast is soapy water as part of the prep, what do you mean it appears to be flaking? You may be seeing something in the picture that isn't there. I'm holding him now and all the paint I've put on appears to be fine (and there's now more colours than on that picture).

Awesome work! i have habbit of jabbing a knife into my thumb, but never anything that dramatic, you musta got a 6 for rending.

Serious love for the Captain, he was well worth the effort of repainting. can i ask how you apply your transfers? i have a tonne of ultramarines who need some shoulder pad love. Do FW ones apply better than the ones that come with the tactical squad?

I'll be keeping an eye on this, and may start uploading more pics of my ever growing 2nd company.

Keep it up!

Yeah, I think I just need to roll a better armour save next time haha.
Cheers about Fabian though, I'm made up with how he ended up, he's the new standard for all my models now.

What problem are you having with the transfers? The problem I used to find that they wouldn't go on straight, so I started cutting into the empty parts of the transfers to allow them to fold over themselves and better contour to the ridges of the model, it really helps and it takes less than a second extra prep time per transfer. The FW transfers to appear to be ever so slightly gummy though, and they the transfer sheet is tougher, so the transfers themselves are more durable.

You should totally upload some pictures, I'd love to see them.

I'll be posting more pictures up soon, I've gotten a fair bit done since I haven't been out the house for the past two days. Though not going out means I haven't bought any batteries for the camera. I'll pick some up after physio tomorrow and then take some pictures.

Yeah i find they bunch up and crease like crazy. Most of my tacticals are from AoBR or DV so alreasy have the tactical markings but unfortunatley my free hand U's look awful!

I will get my Marines out and have a go at snapping some decent pics (i have a few on my profile but the lighting isn't great)

I admire the detarmination to paint despite doctors orders, i think i would be exactly the same.

I suppose it was lighting or the flash from the camera that make it seem like there are a bunch of white areas on him.

There's no easy way to say this guys, so I'll just come out and say it. I didn't take the doctor's advice and I've now seriously done myself in. Because of this I'm having to totally pack in, it's a tough one to handle, but I may have completely destroyed the delicate bits of my thumb, so I an't do anything for a long time.
I'd just like to say thank you all for following me and putting up with my late posts, all the kind words when I've shared my problems on her, and the encouragement you've given me. Hopefully one day I'll be back with another blog, and I'll be able to build the 3rd company up even better than before. Until then, thanks for watching, it's been a blast

Oof. Sorry to hear that. Hope things turn out for the better in the long run.

Aww man. sorry it turned out this way. thanks for all the inspiration though!

Really sorry - its been a great blog and its a shame to see it go down. Hope your thumb heals soon enough

Sorry to hear that. Hope you make a full recovery and can get back to plainting table as soon as possible!