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Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/09 12:48:57


Post by: Snrub


The Dark Angels



Introduction.
Hello everyone, welcome to my Unforgiven blog.
I'm getting back into the hobby properly after a break of a few years and thought a blog would be good to help keep me motivated.
This thread will ostensibly be about my efforts in collecting those power armoured defenders of humanity known as the 1st Legion, however I will likely post progress of other armies in here from time to time.

A little background.
So I'll start with a little about myself and my history with this hobby. I'll spoiler it in the interests of those who aren't interested in me though.
Spoiler:
I started in this hobby a decade and a half ago, when GW teamed up with De Agostini to release the Battle Games in Middle Earth part works back in '02. A friend was a huge LoTR buff and had the first few issues. I got instantly hooked on LoTR and wargaming after reading through the magazines and seeing some of what the hobby had to offer. So a subscription to aforementioned magazine was begged out of my mother and I was lucky to get in quick enough that I could get the back issues AND the freebie gifts. Many hours were spent (badly) reconstructing the battle for Helms Deep or the heroic charge of Aragorn at the black gate.
That went well for a few years until my friend had to move interstate with his family and I was bereft of a battle partner. If memory serves, 4th edition 40k had not long been released though and my brother got the BRB and the BfM starter set for his birthday. Initially he collected ultramarines but soon dropped them for chaos marines. I dabbled in tau for long enough to buy a few kits before migrating over to imperial guard. Eventually my brother traded in painting and battling for music playing and I absorbed his collection. I meandered in out of painting throughout school as time and workload allowed. I bought the AoBR starter box mostly for the deffkoptas. Bought space hulk because it was the last one in the store and I didn't want to miss out (glad I did though as the miniatures are awesome).
Eventually the inevitable happened and life got in the way and hobbying quickly fell by the way side. Skip forward a few years and I felt like I was in a position to make myself known again. I haven't been totally hobby absent over the last few years, but for the most part I haven't got much done in the way of painting as a whole.

But now i'm getting back into the full swing of it and enjoying it immensely (Enough to impulse buy a copy of Knight: Renegade when I wandered in my local GW a month or so back.).
So you may see me painting a whole mess of LoTR miniatures at some point with the impending release of the new Middle Earth: SBG rules and starter set. There's my new Knights to construct and paint. Then there's my IG army which are going to get a severe make over. I've been learning to play 8th ed at my local GW so i'm going to get Dark Imperium soon as i'm keen to get my hands on those death guard models.

But that's all in the future for now.


The Endgame.
My current goal is to complete the 5th Company, as well as support elements from the 1st, 2nd and 10th Companies as well as some random HQ units. I'm not collecting this army with a specific list or style in mind, it's purely my lore-friendly take on the dark angels.

Progress.
So what's in the pipeline and what's already done?
So far in the done pile is...
Company Master
Command squad (minus banner)
Company Veterans
3 Tactical squads
1 Assault squad
1 Dreadnought
1 Deathwing squad
1 Ravenwing bike combat squadron
1 Techmarine
3 Librarians
1 random Apothecary
1 Predator
1 Rhino

The to-do pile...
Company banner
2 Tactical squads
4 Deathwing squads
1 full Ravenwing bike squadron
3 Ravenwing black knights
2 Techmarines w/4 servitors
10 Scouts
1 Venerable Dreadnought
1 Terminator chaplain
Also waiting in the wings are another 2 mono-pose tactical squads and a mono-pose dreadnought, but i've no plans to paint them just yet. They'll potentially come much later.

Other things to-do...
Create a light box proper light box. Not the piece of gak half a cardboard box with white paper in it i'm using at the moment.
Base everything with urban style bases (Underway)



~~~~~
Onto the models!
If you've seen me posting in the Hobby Motivation Club thread then you'll know i'm in the midst of painting an assault squad and that i've got a couple of tanks lined up.
I'll start by posting some other stuff that's already done though. (I'll also apologise for the crap images.)

First up is Company Master Balthasar.
He got painted up when I initially got DV. But I repainted his robes and cloak recently to help make him stand out better against his command squad. Also added a banner.


Next is 5th Company Veteran Squad 'Seraphiel'
Initially I was gonna arm them to the teeth with power weapons and plasma pistols but I thought about it and decided I liked them with boltguns instead.


Last for now is Veteran Sergeant Seraphiel.
2nd in command of the 5th Company and a hidden member of the Deathwing embedded within the veterans to watch for promising candidates among 5th company.
I created a scabbard for his sword out of plasticard, but i'm not super happy with it, so I may replace it if I find/make a better one.



If you want to see the images up close, click on them to go to the gallery.

~~~~~
I'll use this post as a nexus of sorts in the future and update it as I go along.

So if this project sounds like something you're interested in, I hope you stick around and see it through with me.
I'm always open to suggestions and criticisms about my work. Good, bad or indifferent, I'm always happy to hear what you think!

Thanks for reading!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/10 04:15:35


Post by: Master Azalle


Welcome to the Brotherhood! Can't wait to see what you do! I like the white robes brother, looks crisp.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/10 04:39:03


Post by: Red Harvest


Welcome to the P&M section, Snrub.

I see that you ignored my advice about thumbs.

Everything looks very clean and neat. A good start.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/11 02:07:48


Post by: Snrub


Master Azalle - Cheers mate. Glad to have you aboard! The robes are a real PITA because they need a feth ton of layers. But i'm happy with the results.

Red Harvest - Thanks! Ah yes. The hands. I'll retake the photos later.

~~~
Here's another guy I finished a while back.

Techmarine Ulvo.
Painting this much red was interesting. Took many layers to get it consistent and smooth. Quite happy with how the brass came out on the auspex and other other areas.

Again, a much bigger image in my gallery.


Finished stripping the assault marines. All ready for re-painting now.







Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/11 02:25:53


Post by: Master Azalle


Red is definitely a PITA brother. Came out nicely though!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/14 11:13:01


Post by: Snrub


Thanks Az. I've currently got another two techmarines waiting around for a coat of paint. So I best get accustomed to it.


Progress
So a few things since my last update.

1. Sun came out for a bit and I managed to get my rhino and predator sprayed green. Caliban green spray is a wonderful thing.
2. Painted two more assault marines. This brings the squad total up to 4 complete. (The 2nd marine shown here I painted previously along side the sergeant who I haven't photographed because he's not on a base at the moment.)

First up is brother Saphamedes. 2-i-c of assault squad Quinlon. An aggressive combatant often found at the head of his squads attacks.
I was quite pleased with how his pose came out. I feel like he's got a real sense of movement. Like he's just battered an enemy aside with his chainsword as rushes his next target.


Next is brother Aswarin. Part of Saphamedes' combat squad, Aswarin is always found a step behind his unit leader in a charge.
Again, another aggressive pose, which for an assault marine isn't unusual. His blue eye lenses aren't as distinct as they could be and tend to just get swallowed up by the green of his armour. I'll need to go over them again with a lighter blue I think.


Lastly, brother Helica. (I haven't come up with a descriptor for him yet.)
It's not a great resemblance to be fair, but unintentionally, I posed him somewhat like the old metal (rogue trader?) assault marines. Feet planted, hands on hips and weapons pointing out to the side.


Larger pics in my gallery if you want a closer look.


Other Stuff
1. Ordered enough 32mm bases from a place called Wargamebase to rebase all my marines on 25 bases. They had them on sale so I got 200 bases for $30 including shipping. So they should be here at some point.
2. I found a copy of July's white dwarf lying around at work today in... lets call it the lost and found for ease of explanation. Whoohoo. Free white dwarf. (seriously, not stolen)
3. I've been learning how to play 8th ed at my local GW. I've played two training matches against the manager to learn the basics. I ended up winning 1 and losing 1. I'll put a write up, below.

Spoiler:
The first match I used Balthasar (company maser) and two tactical squads against a primaris librarain, a 10 man intercessor squad and a 5 man reaver squad. I lost by 1 objective point on the last turn.
Balthasar (armed with a power sword and combi-plasma) was an effective all rounder and I can see him getting heavy use in future games. By the end of the match he'd carved his way through the libby, 8 of the 10 intercessors and 2 reavers and only took 2 wounds in the process.
The tactical squads were unfortunately lacklustre and the shooting was..... ineffective at best.
One squad fared badly from the get go. They managed to kill two intercessors, but I had 3 of their own number die by overcharging plasma weapons on the first and second turn.
The other squad got smited to bits by the libby before being cut down by the reavers. They did manage to kill 2 reavers in return.

The 2nd I won handily. I used a regular librarian, a tactical squad, a dreadnought and a terminator squad against a primaris captain, 5 intercessors, 5 hellblasters and 3 inceptors.
Smite is wicked powerful and the libby killed a whole mess of primaris marines with it.
The dreadnought got plasmaed to death by the hellblasters on turn 2. The terminators avenged him though next turn by burning 3 of them to death with a heavy flamer.
The Tactical squad got nuked by the intercessors early on and only had the sergeant and heavy bolter left.
On the last turn of this match I assaulted the squad of inceptors with my terminator squad. This is a mistake i'm not keen to repeat. The overwatch killed two terminators, but given the volume of fire put out by them, i'm surprised I didn't lose more.
Highlight of the match though was the tactical sergeant doing 4 wounds to the primaris captain with a krak grenade. A hilarious feth you before he got power-fisted to death in return.

Things I've learned from these two games.
-Overcharging plasma is deadly. If it works, the enemy is gonna get messed up. If it fails, you're gonna get messed up. And the reroll provided by a captain is nigh mandatory if you want to run lots of plasma. I made the mistake of not having my captain hang around my plasma-tac squad and I paid for it immediately.
-Using terrain to your advantage is key to keeping your big killy things from getting targeted by bastard hellblasters.
-Don't assault Inceptors. Shoot the fethers instead.

All in a very enjoyable two games and an excellent learning experience. We've agreed to have a tie-breaker game once i've got my predator painted up. I'm guessing it will get thrown up against the big redemptor dreadnought sitting in the display cabinet. So I'll be sure to take my techmarine for that one!



Thanks for looking.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/14 23:15:30


Post by: monkeytroll


Hey Snrub, good to see you making progress with a blog and everything I mean, you're following the false emperor and all that, but hey....



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/15 06:31:25


Post by: Snrub


Thanks Monkeytroll . I have plans for a deathguard army. Just need to buy Dark Imperium to start it off. It will require a fair amount of converting.


Progress!
Only a quick one tonight.
Rhino and predator sprayed green and ready to be painted.


The queue currently is 6 assault marines, these tanks and finish off my command squad.
My aim is to have the assault squad and at least 1 of the tanks done by the 24th, which is next Friday.


Other Stuff
Updated the OP and up loaded a finger free picture of the company master. Formatted my last post as it got a bit incomprehensible towards the end.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/15 08:34:08


Post by: Arakasi


Getting in now so I don't miss the start on the Knight. Plus I like Dark Angelz


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/16 09:45:04


Post by: Snrub


Hey Arakasi. Thanks for dropping in. The knight/s wont be just yet, unfortunately. Still working out a few things with them regarding basing and colours, and I want to knock of a few more of these marines first before starting a big project like the knights.


Progress!
Another night, another marine, brother Isidore this time. Half the squad is done now.


This bloke is pretty boring but I changed up his iconography a bit. He has a studded pauldron so I threw the chapter symbol on his knee cap instead of the company symbol. Also used roman numerals instead of gothic numbering.
I made the numeral too big on his right pauldron though and it covered up his assault squad symbol. It doesn't look right now, but I'm not sure I can be arsed fixing it up. Also tried my hand at that engraving style writing on his chainsword that some people are so good at. It's not bad looking (Although the picture doesn't show it well), but there is certainly room for improvement with it.

Can't wait until these new bases get here. I'm sick of crappy unbased models.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/16 10:39:14


Post by: Theophony


Loving the dark green you have on these guys. It’s just dark enough where I could see the confusion of did dark angels wear green or black, but still visually green.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/16 10:41:36


Post by: ingtaer


Nice progress mate, those white robes are especially good! Did you freehand the chapter symbols? Love the posing on the assmarines, very dynamic, wish I had had the patience to try for something like that.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/16 12:16:53


Post by: zahnib


Love the old school Techmarine


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/16 15:46:33


Post by: Master Azalle


Great work with the Assault Marines. Can't wait to see your tank!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/18 16:35:16


Post by: Dr H


Good work, Snrub. I am watching...


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/18 18:53:42


Post by: youwashock


Off to a running start. Liking the Company Master and the hazard stripes on the TM's chainsword. Always a great look.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/20 07:41:51


Post by: Snrub


Theophony - Thanks mate. It's just 2 layers of straight Caliban green. It's naturally pretty dark straight from the bottle, I just highlight it with Vallejo's Heavy Green and leave it at that.

Ingtaer - Hey mate. Thanks, the robes are time consuming, but i'm happy with the results. Yes, all my symbols and numbers are freehanded. I've tried using transfers before, but I've never had any luck getting them on properly.

Zahnib - Cheers! I'm quite pleased with how he came out.

Azalle - Wait no longer, I made a start on it!

Dr H - No pressure then.

Youwashock - Thanks bud. Hazard stripes weren't as tricky as I thought they'd be. It was just getting the yellow to play nice. I like hazard stripes though, so i'm going to try and use them as often as possible in appropriate places. Figured a techmarines chainsword would be as good a place as any.

~~~~~
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF.
Right, so you know when you have plans that you're looking forward too, but circumstances just decide to punch you in the nuts instead? Yeah that was my weekend. My roster at work was such that I had 4 days off, Friday thru Monday. "Sweet" I says. Plenty of time to burn through these marines!
Ehhhh. No.
Friday morning, work calls at 6am.- "We're short staffed, we need you to work a 12 hour shift starting at 8am." Fine, I can do that. "Oh yeah we also need you to come in Saturday as well and do the same, but starting at 6am." Ughh alright. Not gonna say no to time and a half pay.
Saturday evening, get home, girlfriend calls.- "Hey it's my sisters birthday, you said you'd come over and babysit for her so we can got to the pub and get smashed off our tits!" Ah yes, absolutely. I'd love to take care of a 3 month old after working two 12 hour shifts. "Sure honey, be there soon........"
Sunday. I've just sat down with a cup of tea to check out Dakka. Girlfriend comes over. - "Put some clothes on, I need you to come shopping with me."
Monday. - TIME TO PAINT melon-fethers!!! feth work, feth the girlfriend. feth absolutely everything that isn't warhammer/sleep related.



PROGRESS! (finally)
3 Assault marines this time! Still have the jump packs to do, but they're all good to go otherwise.

1st up is brother Alexian. Just a bog standard assault marine. Nothing at all special about him. Moving on...


2nd is brother Hadadezer. I did some checkers on his pistol. I've been painting checkers on random models here and there just to spice things up a bit. (The wonky looking 7 has been cleaned up. It's not so chubby now)
Much like the hazard stripes of the Iron Warriors, the checker patterns found on certain Dark Angels denote something, but what that something is, only the Dark Angels know. They are, unsurprisingly, disinclined to reveal that meaning to outsiders.


Lastly is brother Yafrir. Again, mysterious checkers. This time on his arm. These are larger then others i've done and I managed to keep them relatively square. The light did kind of wash them out in the photo though. (The mould line on the pistol has since been removed.)


I've only got 2 assault marines left know, but they're in bits and not based. So I'm going to leave them unpainted for now and move on to the tanks. I'll finish them off once I receive my order of 32mm bases that I'm waiting for.

Speaking of tanks. Got the command hatch and storm bolter painted today.


The rhino also has a few nice big flat spaces on it, prime for some large scale iconography. I'm thinking either chapter icon or squad icon on the rhinos top hatches with company/squad icons on the front fairing. That should do for starters.

~~~
As always, thanks for looking! And larger pics are in my gallery if you desire a closer look at my worky highlights and the fluff I didn't blow off before I took the pics.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/20 10:32:30


Post by: zahnib


I'm really liking the hazard stripes and checks. Feels like the good old days of 40k 2nd and 3rd edition. I've been considering doing my Ultramarines in the old school second company colours. Your minis are adding fuel to that fire. The freehand markings are also great, adds an extra touch that goes a long way


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/21 09:35:24


Post by: insaniak


Looking good so far! I love the checks, and the white robes are a nice break from the usual bone.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/22 01:34:16


Post by: Snrub


Zahnib - Thanks. The small details are the fun little touches which help liven up a model and are certainly worth the effort put into them, I think. 2nd ed Ultras definitely have that old school 40k charm and yellow pauldron rims are so much better then gold. If you haven't already, check out Brother SRM's old school Ultras. Might just be the fuel needed to turn that fire into an inferno.

Insaniak - Cheers mate. Always thought that the bleched bone robes felt a little... bland. They were never quite the right colour. I had thought about doing them dark grey, but that would clash too much with the already very dark green.


PROGRESS!
Knocked out the rhino last night. Was an interesting change from the marines as it has a lot more straight edges to highlight as opposed to round bits of armour. Ended up going with a tactical arrow on the top instead of the chapter symbol. Thought a squad icon was more appropriate for a dedicated transport.

Seen here is the 6th Tactical Squads rhino transport, "True Keeper", fresh from the repair workshops.











HELP?
The highlights got all washed out but they are there. While i'm pleased with the end result I feel that it's missing something. I think it lacks a 2nd main colour, seeing as it's all green with a splash of red and white. How to achieve this I don't know. I'm open to suggestions though. Another spot colour? Maybe more defined highlights?
Another issue I have with it is the name plate. As it is, it's just letters done in sepia wash over a white background. It doesn't look right though and again, i'm not sure how to rectify it.
Any insight into either of these would be much appreciated.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/22 02:44:31


Post by: ingtaer


On the secondary colour, I think it looks good as is. Maybe add some red tactical arrows to the rear quarters of the side plates but anything more than that I think would be too much.
As for your lettering maybe black letters on bone?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/22 12:40:38


Post by: zahnib


You could take a crack at replicating Adrian Smith's awesome depiction of a Dark Angels Rhino from the old box art. Test out those freehand skills IRONGDOG Studios did an amazing retro Ultramarines project a while back, I'll check out Brother SRM's as well, thanks for the tip.

Also you could try out a bit of weathering, that might help beak up the dark green a bit. But go light!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/22 14:01:58


Post by: Snrub


Ingtaer - After looking at some source material, squad/company icons appear to be standard on the rear track guards. That'll certainly help break up the back a bit. With the lettering, i'd thought about grey on bone/white and wasn't sure how it'd look. Black would seem a safe choice at any rate. I was going for an aged parchment look with the sepia on white but it didn't quite work how I wanted it too.

Zahnib - Good bit of art that one. Shame they stopped using art like that on the boxes. My concern with weathering is that it might be too easy to go heavy handed with it or just stuff it up easily. I've never attempted vehicle scale weathering, so it'd be totally new for me. Must look up some tutorials first.


Guess we'll have to suck the sauce bottle and see.
Thanks lads.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/22 23:08:54


Post by: monkeytroll


Yeah, colours look fine to me as is, just a touch of weathering to bring it to life. But not too much if it is straight from the repair workshop


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/22 23:49:09


Post by: zahnib


Yeah the old artwork on the boxes was great. There is some great watering tutorials out there, but just remember it is easier to add more later than remove it! Duncan has some good simple ones over on the Warhammer TV channel


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/23 00:52:31


Post by: Snrub


Moneky - Yeah some light weathering might be all this gets. The predator might fare different though.

Zahnib - WarhammerTV was my first stop off. Couple of good tutorials on weathering from them, and plenty from other people. I've got about an hours worth queued up to watch. I imagine it'll all be mostly the same stuff, but it wont hurt to see how different people do the same thing.


STUFF.
The dog woke me up barking at the postie this morning. Lovely chap had my bases for me!

200 32mm bases ordered from Wargamebase Store. (Actually 210 bases once I counted them all out)


Ordered them on the 10th of August, shipped on the 11th. Took 12 days to get here from China.
The bases are of good quality. Same size and thickness of a GW base. The edges are bevelled at the same degree as the GW one, which is nice, as they looked to be a bit steeper judging from the picture on the website.
Only major difference between the two is texture on the top of the base, as seen below.

GW on the left, WGB on the right. The WGB is a lot finer in texture, but i'd imagine that makes little difference when you've glued sand and flock and what have you on to it.


In total, paid $23.50USD (roughly $30AUD) plus $2 shipping from China, for 200 bases that got here in 12 days.
Not a bad service.


Balthasar has laid claim to these bases in the name of the Almighty Emperor of Mankind, for the benefit of his Dark Angels.




Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/23 00:57:53


Post by: ingtaer


Mate, thank you so much. The place I used to get flying bases went out of business and I needed a replacement and that place is just as cheap.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/23 01:08:06


Post by: Snrub


Hey, no worries.

His flying bases are dirt cheap and have a decent range of sizes.
If you sign up for his newletter you get 10% off too. It was a bit finicky for me, as it applied the discount on one page, but then said that it wasn't valid on the next. I went back out of the purchase and reloaded the webcart a few times and it applied it on about the 3rd or 4th reload. So play around with it if it dones't recognise the discount at first.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 02:49:50


Post by: Snrub


Quick update.
I've put the assault marines aside for now, as I was getting sick of looking at them. But i've made a start on finishing the command squad off. The unit itself was (mostly) done paint wise, I just needed to find a suitably ornate powersword for the champion and a good DA-esque banner for the standard bearer. And now that i've got both I can get under way.


PROGRESS!
Bought a ravenwing command squad a couple of weeks back. Going to use one of the 3 powerswords that come in that kits as the sword for my company champion.
Namely this one.


Nice and ornate, like I feel a relic like a blade of Caliban should be.


Saw this piece of art in a codex and liked it immediately.


So I went about redrawing it thusly.

It's not fully rendered as flames are hard to draw and the wings are just a pain in the arse.

So I sat and looked at it for a bit before I took some measurements and then rescaled it as accurately as I could to the size of an actual company standard. Came out much better then I expected if i'm honest.

The question now is do I attempt to redraw it on the banner by hand, or do I get some carbon paper and trace it on.


Also re-based my company master and holy moly marines look so much better on larger bases!

I meant to put a big piece of plasticard under his foot so it looked like he was standing on a paver or other random slab of concrete, but I got carried away and forgot to glue it down.
Still, not bad for a first attempt. Got some rubble and gak on there. I think it still needs another drybrush of grey to lighten it up a bit.
Also neatened up a few bits on his helmet and robe and repainted the sword hilt gold to make it stand out a bit.

Any way, thanks for looking.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 03:23:53


Post by: youwashock


Boss man is looking good on his new piece of real estate. Looking forward to seeing how that banner turns out, too. At this point you should probably draw it again right on the banner. You have the scale down and you can refine the image if you like.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 09:54:24


Post by: Snrub


Shock - Cheers mate. I realised I had no carbon paper, so hand drawn it was!


MORE PROGRESS!
I did modify the design a little, mostly unintentionally. Most notably added the scroll underneath like the source art has. Wings are fethed, but I think i'll be able to just redo them on the fly. The angel also looks a little portlier then I intended him too.
Anyone have any tips or advice for painting something like this? I've looked up a few tutorials and I think I have a reasonable chance of not totally bollocking it up, but more opinions are always appreciated.
Apologies for the fingers, I had to hold it up under my magnifier lamp to get a good shot.

Repent, foes of mankind, the fat angel of death comes for you!


Painted the sword to finish off the company champion too. Not real sure about the red on the crossguard if im honest. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now i'm not so sure. Probably should have went with gold to match the pommel. Thoughts, opinions?
Champion Zacharius, newest member of 5th Company's command squad. Wields the blade of Caliban 'Zandak-Tar', which in the old Calibanese means "Biter of beasts".


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 11:09:47


Post by: Arakasi


Practice the banner on copies of your paper versions.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 11:38:09


Post by: Theophony


Great progress on the tank and zacharius (one of my favorite biblical names, my son is zachary because we like the name).

I agree with the others about the color looking good without adding anything more to it. But if you HAD to, maybe find a suitable fantasy shield and sword and add that to the rear door and you could do a spot if heraldry on the shield. Could be the drivers family heirloom.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 20:25:37


Post by: Dr H


Good work.

You can approach painting 2D in the same way as 3D models: basecoat, layer, highlights (although washes won't work).
You just need to imagine where the 3D structure would be that would inform you of where to paint the lighter/darker shades.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/27 21:27:22


Post by: youwashock


Lettering on the shield is fabulous. I agree with Arakasi that you can always work out the kinks on paper copies.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/28 05:52:25


Post by: Snrub


Arakasi - Oh I can't believe I didn't think of doing that. That's exactly what I need to do. Just keep painting on photocopies until I get it right. Thanks!

Theo - Thanks! It's a good strong name, so you can't go wrong with it. It's straight out of the codex though so I can't claim to have thought it up myself. I've decided I like the rhino how it is, so it's getting left for now. It might get revisited after I do the predator though, depending oh how that goes.

H - Cheers. I'll be keeping that in mind while I paint it.

Shock - Thanks mate. Took me a few goes, but got it eventually.

~~~

Ok, so no work to show at the mo, but i'll go put paint to paper and see how the banner comes out.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/28 08:46:59


Post by: stonned_astartes


Cool man, always loved the dark angels, and you've done a fantastic job on them, love the checkers especially.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/28 19:41:05


Post by: Master Azalle


Loving the work so far! Can't wait to see the standard done!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/31 02:16:51


Post by: Snrub


Stonned - Cheers mate.
Azalle - Thanks! The standard has been a challenge so far. But i'm hopeful about the results.

~~~~~

PROGRESS!

So made a bit of progress on the banner.

Happy with it. But there's room for improvement. At the moment I think it feel a bit flat. I think it needs; A) more flames, B) the bottom of the robes needs to be billowier.
Also attempted to do some wet blending on both the red "sky" and the orange flames (orange is an awesome colour to paint BTW, I'm feeling the urge to do an orange army now.). It worked OK for a first attempt, but it was far from successful. More attempts needed!


And if we compare it to the source artwork.



Also had a crack at a few more bases. These ones for the command squad.
Some plasticard, stones and a few skulls for grimdarkness.


Then glooped on some Astroganite Debris. Just needs painting now and I can attach the models.



OTHER STUFF
Another package came yesterday. It took so long to get here I had forgotten I'd ordered them!

My first (and possibly last) Forgeworld order!



Got myself a Ogryn boss with drill, renegade militia torsos and some renegade psyekrs when they all went LCTB.

I partly ordered the ogryn boss just for his awesome drill arm. But I do have other plans for him...


And this guy is surprisingly un-chaosy for a renegade psyker.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/31 04:43:34


Post by: Arakasi


Banner progress is looking promising. Try replicating some of the highlighting and shading in the source artwork, I think that will help remove the "flatness".


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/08/31 15:14:18


Post by: Cardinal Xaphan


Great freehand Snrub, I'll be following the progress of your Unforgiven. I see you likewise picked up some of the FW Chaos Renegades, what's the plan for them?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/01 01:48:04


Post by: Snrub


Arakasi - Thanks. I did attempt some shading/highlighting, you can see it most prominently along the left edge of the shield, but it got a bit lost against the heavy black lining I think. Might tone that down on the next attempt. I think it also suffered from me not having a great range of greens at my disposal. Mostly dark shades. Only lighter shade of green I have is goblin green. Might need to rectify that.

Xaphan - Hey mate, great to have you aboard. No plans for them at the moment. I really bought them just to have them. Might get converted into a kill team if I get into that. Maybe just paint em up for fun. Might even start my own H&R army. But not definite plans for them yet.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/01 12:40:54


Post by: zahnib


Looking good Snrub. Great suggestion by Arakasi to practise painting your banner design first. I'd suggest further refining the design, getting the proportions to a point that you're really happy with. Remember when painting your banner to thin your paints even more than normal as well.

Nice job on picking up the Chaos Renegades, they're great models. Its a bummer that Forgeworld is discontinuing so many of their models.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/01 17:31:41


Post by: youwashock


Coming along nicely, man. Confident this is going to turn out awesome.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/01 21:17:57


Post by: Dr H


Good first try.

Just be a little braver and push the contrast further for the green highlights and it'll look less flat. You have to exaggerate it to take account of it being 2D and light having no effect as it does on 3D models (in a similar way to the way we exaggerate when painting scale models compared to 1:1 reality).


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/02 05:44:22


Post by: Snrub


Zahnib - Yeah it was a great suggestion by him, and i'm thankful he did, otherwise I just would have slapped it straight on the banner and bollocksed it up. I'm thinking one more go on paper should see me right.
Shock - Thanks, mate! I'm quietly optimistic, i'll admit, but i'm not counting my chickens just yet...
H - Cheers. I really didn't account for the need to exaggerate the contrast on my first go around. I have on my 2nd and I think it's working. It's been an interesting experience so far, this 2d v 3d thing.


SEND HELP!
By the Emperor, brothers, I require assistance. Someone lend me some will power!
Went in to the local hobby store to pick up some paints and came out with this instead....



I couldn't help myself. It was on sale because it was the last one and it was all lonesome and sad looking.

So I guess that means it's time to start up both a GSC and DW army... Sigh... Good thing I already had plans for both, eh?!
Anyway...


PROGRESS!!
Righteo. So while I was out buying things I really didn't need, I also bought some things I did, namely paints! Got a light green, a white and Vallejo's Tinny Tin (because it has a funny name).
Had a crack at another banner and it turned out muuuch better.


-So the middle one is the new one. The lighter green made all the difference in helping it stand out. At first I thought it was almost too much. But I don't know now.
-The blending on the flames went much better this time, although it's a little too orange and not yellow enough for what I want. That's easily fixed though.
-I didn't black line the angel this time. But I think he needs at least some very thin black lining to help his arm stand out a bit more and to separate the sword from the robes. Maybe just all around the robes in general.
-Still not happy with how billowy his robes look. It's just not happening for me (yet).
-The wings look much better this time around. Grey/blue base with white lines to delineate the feathers as opposed to all white with black lining.

Any thought or comments? My main concern at the moment is the wings. Do they look alright? Do they need the black lining like the left banner has or is the middle one ok?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/02 06:07:43


Post by: zahnib


That's some great progress on the banner! The second one is looking really good! The wings are looking great with the grey base. I would try and make them a bit more curved in the upper section, hopefully you can see what I mean with reference to the original artwork.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/02 06:19:08


Post by: Snrub


Yeah I agree that the wings need to curve more. Just with limited space it's hard to get them to curve as much as the artwork does without making them too dinky looking.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/02 07:54:14


Post by: JohnnyHell


DW:OK is a fantastic and fun game in its own right! Do be sure to give it a couple of plays through the campaign. Far more than Space Hulk Lite as some derided it pre-release.

I discovered all the Dark Angels names are Hebrew boys names (or associated names from legend), so I have a Hebrew baby names page bookmarked for whenever I need to write fluff!

The super dark green is lovely. Keep it up!




Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/02 09:29:52


Post by: monkeytroll


Nice work on the banner - definitely not too much with the green, that's a good contrast there. As the Doc pointed out, exaggeration is a needed tool at this scale. Agree you need to make the sword pop a little more, either by blacklisting or adding an edge highlight, just as with an actual mini.
And for that really fine detail stuff it might be useful looking up sakura micron pens, for my part I find I can line much neater with a pen than a brush......but you seem to be doing fine as is.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/02 12:30:25


Post by: Syro_


Very nice work on the banners and the 1st legion in general. You're making me want to get back to work on my Dark Angels


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/03 03:45:50


Post by: Arakasi


Much better. I think you can answer your questions by just looking at the source image - it has thin black lining - so should you! Using a pen as mentioned above is probably ideal. The wings only have very minimal black lining if at all - I wouldn’t do any more than that there.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/03 13:07:11


Post by: Snrub


Johnny - Yeah it looks fun. I really like space hulk. Played it a fair bit with my brother. Even got to the point where we were making our own rules and the like. Didn't always work particularly well though. The Overkill tiles actually match up really well with the space hulk tiles, minus the jigsaw connections.
I too have a list of names sourced from the DA novels and codecies i've read. Luckily there are a fair few DA related publications, so there's quite a wealth of different names to draw upon.

Monkey - I think what got me was how much highlighting was needed. I tend not to go in for the super duper highlights, so having to do 4 of them kinda threw me a bit. I had a look at those micron pens. Kinda seems like cheating, don't it? Will keep my eyes out for some though, because they do look useful. Thanks for the suggestion.

Syro - Thanks mate, appreciate it. You should start em up again. Or if not DA, then one of the successors. They have a few interesting ones to chose from.

Arakasi - Black lining it is then. I might just line the edge of the wings rather then the individual feathers.

~~~~~

No photos to show. I did start painting another paper banner, but I went a little heavy handed with the wet blending and the paper got so wet it just ripped. But on the plus side, i'm getting better at blending.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/10 11:24:15


Post by: Snrub


Hey folks, apologies for the absence.

Progress!
So no work on the banner to show you guys unfortunately. I had a crack at painting the actual banner and It didn't go so well. I stripped it and tried again. Again didn't go so well. It's currently getting stripped again.

However I did paint the predator. All in one big hit too I might add! I'm quite impressed with myself.
I'll spoiler the pictures because they're quite large and there's a few of them.

Predator Annihilator "Fury of Heldane"
Spoiler:
"Inquisitor Heldane aided the Dark Angels during the purge of the Han worlds. Although Heldane was killed when his Chimera was destroyed by a Han war-beast, the Inquisitors destain for all Xenos lives on in the tank named in his honour. Currently no other predator in the Dark Angels arsenal has claimed as many alien armour kills as the Fury of Heldane."








So did a bit more free-hand on the hull. Scroll work came out better then I hoped. It does just kind of disappear at the bottom though as I couldn't figure out how to end it properly. Also tried my hand at some basic weathering. That came out much better then I was expecting and the drybrushing was rather enjoyable. The soot build up around the exhausts leaves a bit to be desired though. It just looks like i've put black paint on it. Needs some brown added to it I think. Need to add some kill markings to the roster on the front as well.



Also couldn't resist putting together a few of the DW marines. Some really great sculpts in that kit and they go together so well.
The chaplain, librarian and dark angel are all getting transferred to my growing dark angel army, but the rest will also see action as Watchers of Death.

So first up is the chaplain.
Cassius didn't come with a skullmet, which is heresy. That had to be rectified before anything else could happen. Time to bust out the greenstuff.


The work i've done to him is this...
-filled in the ultra symbols on the crozius with GS.
-got a skull from a tomb kings (?) kit and added some guitar wire and GS and turned into something resembling a helmet.
-left off the and purity seals and used GS to recreate the piping on his plastron.
-also attempted to make a lock holding his Inquisition book to his armour.

Just have to find a suitable arm from him now.

Next up is the Blood Raven librarian.
There's a great piece of art in the DA codecies of a librarian summoning warp lightning in his hands. The Overkill libby happens to be similarly posed.

"I'm going to shove my electrified fist up your heretical arse!"

The model bears a passing resemblance to the art I think. Yelly head, advancing pose (kinda), chest book.
All he needs are appropriate arms, a brazier backpack w/sword and a hood.

Hood was easy enough. 1 down, 2 to go.

I'm also going to adjust the blood raven symbol on his leg to be a winged sword, rather then file it off or attempt to make robes for him.

I also gave both the blood and dark angel a headectomy. We'll have no un-helmeted heads here thank you! (Ignore the previous librarian )


And I liked the torso for the ultramarine so much I decided not to use it on him. I'll save it for someone more specialer. Swapped it out for a regular chest piece and gave him a plainer head as well. Had to GS in a groin piece for him since the actual chest piece left a gaping hole there.



Other Stuff
Also bought some stuff from Secret Weapon Miniatures when the had their recent 20% off sale.
Got a couple of the washes, as i've heard good things about them, and got some rebreather backpacks for eventual use on my guardsmen.


~~~~~
Anyway, thanks for checking in!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/10 17:16:33


Post by: youwashock


Nice work repurposing the DW:OK guys. The Predator is also looking very good.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/10 21:09:05


Post by: Syro_


The paint job of the predator is very crisp. I really like free hand sword and scroll mural on the hull. And great amount of progress


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/10 22:00:16


Post by: monkeytroll


Nice work on the pred....scroll work is great practice for the banner. For the exhausts try stippling some very dark grey with the black, and make sure the vents are black - with them still showing green in the depths the black stands out as more out of place.

Good job on the chappie, and good start to the libbie


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/10 23:35:54


Post by: zahnib


The predator looks great, especially liking the freehand work! The weathering around the treads looks really good as well, helps to add a bit of interest to the mainly dark hull.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/17 02:09:52


Post by: Snrub


Shock - Thanks. I'm finding out that i'm a bit of a sucker for character models. I couldn't just let a good chaplain and librarian pass me by...
Syro - Cheers mate, appreciate it! Got the idea from a DA codex. The studio team did something similar on a land raider.
Monkey - Thanks for the tip. I put some dark grey on around the edges and bit of scorched brown and it looks better now. The green in the exhausts was something I hadn't noticed. Once I got a bit of black in there it became much less distracting.
Zahnib - Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with the weathering, i'll be honest. I haven't done it before and I wasn't entirely convinced of the outcome at first. But you're right in the that it does liven up the monotone hull a bit.

~~~~~

PROGRESS!
So I finally got the assault squad finished. Took me long enough. Much longer the week or something I allocated myself to complete them a while back.
My first squad fully based on 32mm bases. I really like how they look on the larger bases. Gives them something the little 25mm ones don't.

Brother-Sergeant Quinlon
Favouring a power axe and combat shield, the sergeant can always be found in the thickest fighting, axe rising and falling without relent. His MkVI helmet with winged sword detailing marks him out as a former 8th company veteran. In-lieu of a squad banner, rather impracticable atop a jump pack, Quinlon has painted the face of his shield in the companies colours.

I had the sergeant painted up before the rest of the squad, but he wasn't attached to a base and I didn't really want to take pictures of him till he was.


Brother Aradiel

When I bought these guys 2nd hand this guy was mounted on a flight stand with his head angled down, like he was about to land after a jump. Getting his head off without damaging the rest of the model seemed like a fruitless task so I left it be and found the right arms to give him a not ridiculous pose.
But I like him now because he looks like he's about to deliver a killing stroke to a stricken enemy. Almost in a casual way as he runs past.


Brother Zadkiel

Same problem with this bloke. He too was mounted on a flight stand, except he was glued on sideways, almost superman like. I'm a little sorry I didn't take a picture when I first got him. It was rather amusing looking. I've "fixed" him as best i'm able. But I don't know what he's meant to be looking at.

A group shot of the fully completed squad taken in my ghetto ass half-light box. It's much better looking in the gallery.
5th Company, 1st Assault squad Quinlon.



Also took some shots of my first dreadnought. I painted him a while back, just haven't gotten around to snapping some pics of him yet. Fairly standard loadout of asscan and power fist.
And by complete accident he looks almost spot on for a dreadnought pictured in 6th ed codex. I actually had him completed before I got my hands on the codex. So I just changed the name plate to match the codex and added the big 2 on his leg and bam! Literally codex compliant

Revered brother Azmodor.
The second of four "Old Ones" attached to 5th company. Brother Azmodor is interred in an ancient MkV Castraferrum Pattern dreadnought chassis and wields a fearsome box-fed assault cannon and dreadnought power fist. A former assault marine, these weapons suit Azmodor perfectly in his preferred method of war.




And a close up of the sarcophagus. Detailing his company badge, platinum chapter badge and golden angel of death. Received for saving the life of his former company master from a lascannon beam. An action which also earned him internment within a dreadnought.


The silver is a bit messy on the dreadnought, especially on the assault cannon. It's far more obvious in the pictures then it is when just looking at the model itself.
Also one of my early attempts at tiny writing. As you can probably see, it's a bit scratchy. Well scratchier then what I can do currently.

~~~~~

Anyway, thanks for looking!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/18 02:57:29


Post by: youwashock


Looking good, man. Dig the dread.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/18 05:58:35


Post by: zahnib


Looking good Snrub! I actually quite like your bases How's your banner cooing along?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/18 10:25:37


Post by: Snrub


Shock - Thanks mate.

Zahnib - Thanks mate. The bases are still a bit experimental at the moment. Just nailing down the details now. And cheers for those pictures you PM'd me, they'll be quite helpful I think. Eh the banner is still soaking in simple green at the moment. It was giving me the gaks so I stopped looking at it.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/25 07:20:14


Post by: Snrub


Hey folks. Just a quick question today.

Started work on a squad of sniper scouts. I've got the base colours down but i'm a tad stuck when it comes to what colours the rifles power cables should be and also how to tackle the camo cloak.



Scouts are supposed to be "stealthy" (stealth is relative when your a 6 foot +, genebulked 13 year old wearing large slabs of ceramic armour plating ) So as you can see, i've kept the model fairly dark. Grey fatigues, rather then the usual DA scout beige, minimal metal parts and the only skin showing is the top half of his face, over which i've sculpted a rebreather. Because if you've ever seen the current scout heads, they're uhh... less then great.

But I digress.
- Power cables. I've not quite sure what to do with these. The studio paint job has them as red and green. I've already got enough green on the model, and reds not a particularly sneaky colour. The dark angel codex has them in yellow.
I was initially leaning towards doing at least one cable in hazard stripes but i'm sort of on the fence about it.
- Camo cloaks. An appropriate camo pattern would be an obvious choice but i'm not sure that's what I want. I find that camo at that scale either looks messy or detracts from the model itself. My current thoughts are to either just do it a single block colour or to try and give it a "shimmery" effect by utilising some wet-blending. Although what colour again eludes me.
Any input on either issue would be much appreciated.


Studio version scouts for comparsion



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/25 07:31:10


Post by: ingtaer


My thoughts for what they are worth, no to the coloured cabling and use the grey you are using for your bases as the base coat of the cloaks and then something like digital urban if you can keep it clean or something like this


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/25 18:39:23


Post by: monkeytroll


Yeah, a digital pattern could work well on the cloaks. And possibly a very muted red and blue for the cables, I don't think hazard striping is the way forward if you feel a bright red is not stealthy enough


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/25 20:31:33


Post by: ZergSmasher


Very cool Unforgiven! You're taking yours a lot farther than I tend to go with mine, so they look a lot more intricate and cool!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/25 23:47:38


Post by: Red Harvest


I'd go with a gray power cable, and a green cable. Digital Camo. Looks much better on minis than other sorts of Camo.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/26 03:20:01


Post by: Snrub


@ingtaer - Your thoughts get given the same weight and consideration as anyone else who comments on my work. Using the same grey as the bases for the cloaks is a good idea. I like that.
@Monkey - You think muted Red/Blue for the cables, Ok. Hazard stripes aren't probably the wisest choice as a scout, no. But I like hazard stripes and the rifles are connected to big honking power packs so it sort of makes sense...
@ZergSmasher - Hey mate. Thanks for the comment. I'm not one of those people who's able to paint to different levels for different things. Every model gets the same level of paint job as every other one. Which is to say I use all my skill and hope it looks good at the end.
@Red - One for Grey/Green cable. Alright then.

So when people say digital camo, do they mean something like this?



Because that looks like it'd take a fair effort.
This will take some hard thinking about...


Anyway, thanks lads. Appreciate the thoughts.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/26 03:52:18


Post by: ingtaer


Personally I was thinking more a scaled out version of the USMC urban;




Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/26 10:29:43


Post by: Nevelon


Nice freehand work on the pred. Good enough that I’ll forgive you for poaching Ultramarines for your Angels.

Shaving off ’s. What’s the world coming to? This is why we have Chaos people!

(Not that I haven’t borrowed DA bits. Nice robes and swords you guys have over here)

On the scouts:
I like bright power cables. Yellow and orange/red on mine. If scouts are too subdued, they blend in to the terrain. You want the impression of stealth, but not actual stealth. I think of it like a hollywood version of a real life event. You can tell what it’s based off of, but with more car crashes and explosions.

I’m a big fan of tiger stripe camouflage. Fun, retro, and easy to do.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/27 06:01:31


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


Hazard stripe cables sound cool, but again I am not totally sure if they fit in with the camo scheme. As for the camo that digital scheme looks murder to paint, then again it may be fun to give it a go?

As it is really liking the progress on your Dark Angels, best of luck.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/09/30 11:38:30


Post by: zahnib


What about a dull yellow for the power cables? It could act as a bit of a spot colour but also if its a duller shade it can still pass as 'stealthy'. Or maybe a muted bronze?
For the cloak I'd keep it to a camp pattern rather than using wet blending. You could try a simpler version of the digital cams pattern in the image you linked.
Looking good though, I like the rebreather


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/01 12:53:38


Post by: Snrub


@ingtaer - So more greens and creams over varying shades of grey?
@Nevelon - Hey thanks! There was no shaving off of . Just filling them in with modelling putty.... And leaving them off in the first place...! I find it a little odd that after all this time the DA vets are (still) the only marine kit to get robes (barring characters). Tiger stripe camo eh? I'm open to ideas.
@Listentomewarriors - Cheers buddy. It does look like it'd be a bit tricky, for sure. But that's the fun part I guess, challenging yourself.
@Zahnib - Thanks mate, I was quite satisfied with the rebreathers. Piece of piss to do and covers up the janky heads. I did notice though that I forgot to cut the grills into 3 of them. But they're the 3 where the face is hidden, so it doesn't matter much!


PROGRESS!
Hey folks. Been a bit without an update. I've knocked off the scouts. I couldn't make a final choice on what colours to paint the power cables. So instead I took what you guys suggested and did one of each. (No yellow though, Zahnib. I'd already done them when I saw your post. The dull yellow could be an interesting choice though)
Photos aren't great, but they convey the point.







So from top to bottom we have...
1- I left the sgt's cables black. We'll call these the control batch.
2- Green/grey.
3- Red/blue
4- Orange
5- Hazard stripes. (not a great example to be honest as there is only 3 stripes....)

What one do you guys like the best? Any input or further suggestions are much appreciated.
Despite liking them, I can't really see myself doing the hazard stripes. They're a pain in the butt to do on a round surface.



OTHER STUFF.
Anyone have any opinions on 30K? I've currently got both the BoP and BaC waiting patiently for me to get around to them. But I don't really know if I should pick a legion and get painting or just add an extra 60 marines to my DAngles.
I skipped 6th and 7th edition so I have no real idea of how they play. I do know that they were much maligned for being bloated and unwieldy systems towards the end of their run, but on the other hand 30K looks like it's quite well balanced and not as immediately bloated as it's 40k cousin.
The other major factor is I don't know if i'd ever get in any games of 30k. My local GW has zero 30k presence. The manager reckons it's about 80% 40k, 20% everything else. There also aren't many/any gaming clubs in my area that i've been able to find, so that avenue is pretty tight.
Again, any thoughts would be appreciated.


Thanks for looking!



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/01 18:33:52


Post by: monkeytroll


I like the red/blue and the grey/green....a purely personal preference for two colours with two cables.

And I can give zero input on any gaming questions, but think a mix of armour is always (pretty much) cool in one force.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/01 19:06:17


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Liking the scouts you've done, the rebreathers really help the model a lot! I think the cables look best with the red/blue scheme, it breaks up the model a bit and it doesn't clash with the overall model.
In regards to 30k, I've never played it personally but a friend of mine from uni has ~4k of Salamanders. He loves the game and it appears every legion has a decent shot at being competitive. Ad Mech (or whatever they are) aren't MEQ so they're a bit more powerful but expensive to collect. From what I've seen, basic marines are a tax for the big hitters of vehicles etc. as most marine weapons are anti-marines.
Rules-wise, I liked 6th and loved 7th edition. The rules were decent and it was pretty rewarding to play, something I can't say the same for 8th thus far. Big thing with 30k was the lack of "And They Shall Know No Fear".


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/01 21:12:45


Post by: zahnib


I think out of the colour tests you've done the blue/red looks best


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/01 22:23:06


Post by: Nevelon


I like the red/blue.

If you don’t have a dedicated 30k group, I might not venture into it. If you want to do some research and build some models that are cross compatible, that’s cool. But I’d not want to invest a lot in guys who are just going to warm the shelf.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/02 00:23:20


Post by: youwashock


Solid looking Scouts, man. I like the red/blue as well. Last rule set I used for 40K was 3rd, so I am NOT the guy to be giving play advice.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/02 04:31:56


Post by: Snrub


Hah. So it looks like red/blue is getting a lot of love.


Started a trial on the camo cloaks using the image provided by Ingtaer.
The creamy colour is a bit on the nose at the moment, but i'm hoping with a 3rd and maybe 4th colour thrown in it'll settle down a bit.


Thoughts, comments, criticisms?



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/02 17:17:29


Post by: youwashock


That's going to be pretty cool. The cream is super bright right now, but it sounds like you plan to knock it down a bit.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/03 06:52:27


Post by: Snrub


So I started the day by giving my hobby area a much needed clean up. This lead to me finding a bunch of old assembly pamphlets, which, after a brief hit of nostalgia, lead to me going on a small building spree.
I assembled 3 ravenwing black knighs, 2 dreadnoughts and did some modification on 3 ETB plague marines.





Aaand may have started work on something big and chivalrous.


Hmmm. Wonder what this could be.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/03 11:35:32


Post by: Nevelon


 Snrub wrote:

Hmmm. Wonder what this could be.


Crashed Aquila Lander, obviously. Nice 4th edition throwback. Looking forward to seeing it scattered around.

Cool build pile. I should probably tidy up my workbench as well. Nothing like a clean space to help keep things moving.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/03 22:34:56


Post by: zahnib


How have you made that Aquila Lander?? It looks like you've made it from Green Stuff from a cast of the Battle for Macragge crashed piece.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/04 04:09:39


Post by: Snrub


@Nevelon - I suppose I have to accept the fact that you are indeed correct, it is a crashed aquila lander. Yes. You're not wrong about the clean workspace. I find it refreshing to have a clean and tidy workspace. Helps clear my mind a bit and gives me a better image of what i'm trying to achieve. It's just a shame that i'm a fairly messy person.
@Zahnib - You too are correct. I used instamould to make a copy of the part I wanted (the cockpit), filled it with greenstuff, waited till it's set, pop it out and it's ready to go.






Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/04 05:06:43


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


A good start on the camo scheme, and I think you made the right choice with those cables. As for the building spree, excited to see what comes of it, the power picks on the Ravening look cool.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/04 14:25:20


Post by: Syro_


I really like how you made a copy of a piece of the aquilla lander piece. Those are great iconic pieces of terrain. I hope you'll find more uses for copies of the aquilla lander


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/05 00:35:57


Post by: zahnib


Cool as, thanks for sharing! I've got mine stashed away in a box somewhere waiting for me to get around to it


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/05 01:03:34


Post by: Commander Cain


Scouts are looking good! Loving the digital camo.

I've not seen one of those crashed aquilla landers in a while, smart move casting it!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/06 03:24:35


Post by: youwashock


Slick moves with the Instamold. Looking forward to seeing what will be joining it on the base.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/07 12:14:35


Post by: Snrub


@LTMW - Cheers man. I really like the corvus hammers on the black knights. Not sure how well they go on the table top, but i'm keen to (hopefully) crack some skulls with them, that's for sure.
@Syro - Thanks mate. The crashed aquila is a great piece of terrain, no doubt. It's a shame GW never got around to selling it as it's own kit. Great scatter terrain that offers a little cover and could be used as objective locations for narrative themed games, if that's your thing. I believe I will be using other parts of it for other Knight bases.
@Zahnib - I'm debating whether to repaint mine. It's been drybrused and is pretty rough looking. But I was a lot less skilled when I painted it up (12/13+) years ago?? To be honest i'd just probably drubrush it again, but I'd have to add battle/crash damage to it.
@Commander Cain - Thanks mate. I'm actually surprised at how few of them you see around the place. I have to figure people just stash them away as I can't believe there's not heaps out there. They were in a starter kit after all.
@Shock. - I thought the foot gave it away! Knight mate, Big shooty knight!


PROGRESS!

Speaking of...
Haven't had much time last few days, but I did get a little work done on the Knight base.
I've used car body filler to add some mass to the base. Make it look like the Aquila has been parked there for a few decades. Maybe a century or two. Still needs a little more added to the area under the domed window, but its getting there. It's also added a feth ton of weight to that side of the base. So he wont be super stable on anything but flat surfaces. .




Also forgot to post this the other day.
I've magnetised the weapons on the contemptor. Mostly because I thought it would be a fun exercise in using magnets. In addition to that, I had the intentions of repositioning a leg and swivelling him at the waist to make him more dynamic looking. However when I did I cut off the wrong leg and then forgot to cut him at the waist. So nuts to that idea.




That's all for now, thanks for looking!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/10 01:56:34


Post by: Snrub


PROGRESS!

Added more filler to the base. I'm calling it finished for now. I would have like to have smoothed out the hill a bit more, but if I add any more body filler to the base the weight is going to be too much I think.





The Knight is mostly built. Just sitting in sub-assemblies at the moment. I wanted it to be posed with one leg resting on the Aquila, but that's proving to be a little tricky. The knight is a gorgeous kit to work with. Everything goes together seamlessly. However, a downside to the knight is that it isn't awfully poseable in the leg department and any re-posing requires a bit of chopping to the legs. The left leg I've already assembled in the stock pose (maybe prematurely, don't know yet) while the right leg has been cut up.

Like this...


That should allow me to get the bend I need for the pose a want. But the angle is all wrong.

A bit more cutting around the ankle and the lower leg goes from this....


To this...


Now I just need to fill out ankles movement ball with a bit of GS and the hydraulic struts will require some chopping before they're glued in place.
I'm taking this one slow. Cutting up a big kit like this is ever so slightly nerve-wracking.

Any advice, comments or criticisms? I appreciate them all!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/10 02:26:48


Post by: ZergSmasher


Every time I see someone trying to re-pose a Knight, I'm reminded of why I don't try to do it myself. Seems like a ton of work, and it's probably beyond my skill level currently. That said, kudos to anyone who can do it successfully!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/10 03:25:25


Post by: Arakasi


If you are making the leg more upright, do you have any plans to modify the joint at the hip? Otherwise, nothing to add currently other than I'm watching - to learn from your successes and/or failures


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/10 04:31:14


Post by: youwashock


Looks good so far. Just keep going as you have and remember to test fit everything. Twice.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/10 11:33:52


Post by: Snrub


ZergSmasher wrote:Every time I see someone trying to re-pose a Knight, I point and laugh while calling them a fool for getting well out of their modelling depth. "Haha! You've ruined an expensive kit you daft clod."
Oh i'm with you. It's a bit of a gamble that's for sure. But for something as big and centre-piecey as a knight, I think it's worth having a crack at going all out.

Arakasi wrote:If you are making the leg more upright, do you have any plans to modify the joint at the hip? Otherwise, nothing to add currently other than I'm watching - to learn from your successes and/or failures
Bugger. I was hoping to watch and learn from your successes/failures.
I was actually about to pop back into your blog and check how you handled the legs so as to avoid any feth ups. Something I probably should have done before I started gluing gak together! Still, haven't ballsed it up catastrophically yet, but there's still time!
As to the hips, yes I had planned on doing a bit of modification on the hips. Thinking the upper leg needs to be cocked out a few degrees from the hip to lined up with the foot/lower leg. So i'll probably end up pinning it to the... "groin"? and just greenstuff in some tubing.

youwashock wrote:Looks good so far. Just keep going as you have and remember to test fit everything. Twice.
"Measure twice, cut once" always had a strong presence in my house. My mum was a seemstress years ago (and still sews all her own clothes) and my dad is a fitter and turner. So half measures and shoddy workmanship were not acceptable behaviours when my siblings and I were growing up.
So I tend to dry fit things a lot (probably excessively) before the cap ever gets taken off the glue. Even things mundane like the arms on a marine or guardsman get tested many times.



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/10 11:45:22


Post by: zahnib


Looking good Snrub. Remember the toes as well! Though it might be a bit more involved altering the angle of the toes will really helps create a realistic pose. This will be especially true for the foot resting on the crashed lander. Look forward to seeing how you go


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/17 08:49:28


Post by: Snrub


Hey folks. Sorry the absence. Had a made few weeks and it's left me with very little hobby time. I'm actually in the process of moving, so most of my stuff has been packed away already. Might not see light again for another week or two.

I did however have enough time the other day to finish of the camo on the scout.



I..... Hmm.... well I'll post it and see what you all think.


Spoiler:



So... honest opinions?


Let me go first.
It's fething gak is what it is!

That was not what I was hoping to achieve when I started it, let me tell you.
What went wrong? Lets break it down.
1. Squares are surprisingly hard to "just do".
2. Wrong colours. The yellowy colour didn't nearly look as good as I thought it might. Not really sure why I went with it in the first place. That odd pink shade is actually straight dheneb stone. Not entirely sure why it's pink. Also, the black wash I gave the cloak to darken it down a little actually made everything look really patchy.
3. No "pattern". It's just a mismatch of coloured squares rather then actual camouflage.

At the moment I'll probably just repaint the cloak black to match the other 4 scouts because i'm really not happy with it.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/17 11:45:22


Post by: Nevelon


Digital camo is one of those things that looks nice when someone else does it. Theoretically it can be awesome, but practically it’s got a ton of things that can go wrong.

I agree with all of the points you bring up. On point 2 I think a lighter green would help bridge the gap between the dark background and the lighter squares. Right now it blends in too much with the black, so the whole effect falls apart. You end up with a square pattern on black, like some drapes from the 70s, rather then an integrated digital camo fabric.

If you like the concept, I think it still can work. It’s a complex concept, so might take a few tries to get something that meshes.

Good work experimenting and pushing for new techniques. If we don’t try new things, we never get better. But rarely do we hit them on the first try. Don’t give up.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/17 12:20:46


Post by: Arakasi


I think you might need much smaller squares - perhaps even just dots. Might want to try on another piece of paper first


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/19 08:11:34


Post by: zahnib


I reckon maybe try going for tiger stripe pattern similar to the Imperial Guard Sniper's cloak.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/19 11:21:27


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


At least you tried, as Nevelon says it seems like one of those ideas that is better for other people to do. Your difficulty has certainly put me off the idea. Maybe try just randomly placed, and sized, splodges?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/22 14:58:56


Post by: Dr H


You don't know if you don't try.

Painting squares: I've found that the best results for sharp corners is to point the tip of your brush into the corner as if to make it a spike...
Rather than trying to paint 2 lines at 90o to each other and get a perfect corner, approach the corner with your brush at 45o from the inside of the square (after doing the sides as normal).
You almost exaggerate the corner in it's point-i-ness, and I find that makes my squares sharper if not squarer.

However, I think what you are missing is that your squares are too isolated from each other within each colour layer.
Take this for example:
Spoiler:


Notice that even though it's made of squares, each colour layer has shapes made of those squares.
Even though you're using larger squares, you still want to join several into odd-shaped blocks before overlapping the next colour.

Doing this will also take the pressure off for getting perfect squares as you can hide the less perfect ones by giving it a neighbour.

You also want a higher density of squares over your base colour.
You have too many isolated squares floating about a black sea. You need enough to make the black also look like it's made of squares.

Hope that helps. that's how I would approach it.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/23 00:53:46


Post by: shmvo


The first thing i though of seeing the cloak was Klimt, funnily enough

Spoiler:


Anything with sharp lines is always a massive pain to paint... I think it would look pretty decent if you sorted the colours out, that being said, it's a lot to go back and do it all again!

Maybe a simple blend could have a nice effect? Start from black at the top of the cloak, and blend down to a brown colour, maybe dust a bit of weathering powder or a lighter drybrush colour at the bottom of the cloak? Like it'd gotten dirty and discoloured from being out in the field. I think that'd look pretty outdoorsy and kind of camouflaged, and it should be pretty simple to do.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/10/23 01:23:35


Post by: ingtaer


Feel like I have stitched you up Snrub… Have you thought about stippling rather than block painting?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/01 07:42:22


Post by: Snrub


Hey guys. Been a wee while.
Been gone a few weeks because, as I mentioned in passing, i've moved into a new place with my girlfriend. I've finally got the painting desk and computer set up, so i'm hoping to get painting and posting again real soon.

I'm expecting this move to be quite beneficial to my hobbying, as I now have more space to work, and more space to organise and store all my unnecessary crap essential hobby related materials.
Everything bar one of my lamps survived the transfer intact, which i'm overall pleased by. The lamp was old-ish anyway.
I now also have room for some display cabinets, which is nice. My last place really lacked for size.

So does anyone have any good recommendations for a) Lamps? I'm leaning towards one of the big deck-mounted swing arm lamps, but i'm open to anything really. b) Display cabinets. With or without lighting, i'm not fussed. Is Ikea's Detolf still the go to cabinet?


~~~~~

@Nev - Probably didn't help that the piece I used as guide was Talys work, who utterly crushed it. No way I was going to get anything resembling that on my first try. I will have another attempt at it though, that's for sure. Do you mean for light green squares or just light green to highlight the dark green squares? Because highlighting the squares wasn't something i was real sure on. It almost felt counterproductive to highlight the camo.

@Arakasi - Smaller squares would probably help. Might be trickier to get all nice and neat, but I can imagine it blending in a lot better with small squares.

@Zahnib - That's actually amazing and I will defo be giving that a try. I think it'd suit the scouts really well. Much easier to do too!

@LTMW - Random splodges could also be interesting with the right colours. It's not something I necessarily think would look good on marines, but guardsmen, yeah it could be a goer.

@Doc - If I understand you then spiking (lets call it spiking) is actually how I do the quartered company symbols on the knee pads of my marines, although I tend to come in from more then one angle. I hadn't thought of using it for the square camo. That might make it a bit easier to achieve consistent results, even if they're overall not the best. Which will do me.
I agree that the patterning certainly needs improvement. I'll take what you've said and utilise it on my next attempt.

@shmvo - I don't know whether that says more about me, or Klimt! Weathering on the scouts is on the cards. It worked reasonably successfully on the predator, so i'm keen to repeat that, hopefully.

@ingtaer - Eh I wouldn't feel too bad. Stippling is not something I've tried either to be honest. I'll hunt down a tutorial or two and maybe give it a whirl.



Anyway, thanks for sticking around. Hopefully have something for you all in a day or two.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/01 10:26:58


Post by: Nevelon


 Snrub wrote:

@Nev - Probably didn't help that the piece I used as guide was Talys work, who utterly crushed it. No way I was going to get anything resembling that on my first try. I will have another attempt at it though, that's for sure. Do you mean for light green squares or just light green to highlight the dark green squares? Because highlighting the squares wasn't something i was real sure on. It almost felt counterproductive to highlight the camo.


I’ve always had a deep respect for Talys’ work. Good person to set your goals on, hard one to match. I meant a lighter green instead of the dark, not as a highlight. Looking at the colors you picked, you have some bright ones, and then a very dark one. I think the mid range could use a bit more. This is, of course, only my semi-competent opinion. I’ve never actually tried the technique, so am just shooting from what my artistic habits are telling me. And they are not the most reliable of things.

Nice to hear you alive, well, and moved in. Moving is always rough, even when it goes smoothly. I’m quite happy with my Brightech lamp. A few of us here got free ones to review, thread here. Coupon code might still be good. I honestly didn’t shop around, so you might be able to get better cheeper, but it’s a solid lamp.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/03 11:14:59


Post by: zahnib


Wooooo, house moving. Fun times. IKEA has a pretty great range of desk lamps. I've got the Aröd and am pretty happy with it. There's some that probably have a bit more possibility but I'd just go have a browse. And their display cabinets are pretty good too. I don't own any but they seem to be pretty common choices.

Look forward to seeing some more stuff once you're back in action


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/04 18:44:34


Post by: monkeytroll


Glad to hear the move went well.



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 09:12:48


Post by: Snrub


"Wh-what's that Games Workshop?"
"whisper whisper"
"You want me to start an army of the Lost and the Damned using the new Blackstone Fortress renegade guardsmen?"
"whisper"
"But... they're renegades, traitors and heretics. And I'm a good God-Emperor fearing man!"
"whisper whisper whisper"
"O-oh. Mr Roundtree says it's ok? Well alright then, I guess if he says it's fine."
"whisper whisper whisper whisper"
"What do you mean I already collect an army of traitors!?"
"whisper whisper"
"You take that back!"


*Sounds of a scuffle break out and quickly ends with the plastic crack-fiend subdued by his dealer's brand new and awesome product.*


Yes, I instantly succumbed to the lure of the new renegade guard in BSF. Those melon-fethers are sexy.
Time to break out the old Eye of Terror codex and mash up some debased muties and assorted scum! Might need a small force of stalwart Adeptus Arbites to crack some mutie heads too! /future plans/

I couldn't resist the lure and so set about 6 ETB pox walkers with clipper and knife. Initial results are promising. Shuffling plague zombies are now skanky mutant degenerates.



I've done away with all the overt nurgle gak, like any symbols and the maggots and and bizarre pointy growths. The headless dude up front needs something done with his exploding stomach though. He has a hammer and chisel, so I might sculpt him an apron or something and give him a tradesman vibe.


@Nev - Thanks mate. I'll have a gander at Brightech. Thanks for the link.
@Zahnib - Cheers bud. I had a look at the Ikea lamps last time we were there. I neglected to look at the globes though, because they are the telling factor at the end of the day. I'm not sure what brand either of my current lamps are. Neither of them have any markings....
@Monkey. Thanks mate. Appreciated.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 09:28:01


Post by: insaniak


On the lamp - I bought this one from Jaycar a few months back. Currently on clearance for nearly half what I paid for it :(

Magnifier takes a bit of getting used to, to find the 'sweet spot', but otherwise has been fantastic.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 11:21:08


Post by: Nevelon


And another blog succumbs to shiny model syndrome and the filthy taint of chaos.

How many chaplains do you have for your DA? Due to your actions I’m guessing “not enough” but you might want to consider adding one to the queue.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 12:20:15


Post by: ListenToMeWarriors


 Nevelon wrote:
And another blog succumbs to shiny model syndrome and the filthy taint of chaos.



Don't they/we all?

Smooth work on removing those horny growths from the Poxwalkers. I imagine the amount of maggots was a pain though, they are everywhere. Blackstone Fortress does look great, cannot wait to see where a LATD army takes you.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 12:31:06


Post by: Nevelon


ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
 Nevelon wrote:
And another blog succumbs to shiny model syndrome and the filthy taint of chaos.



Don't they/we all?


Some of us just betray our species and turn to xenos. I’d say I’ve never heard the call of the Dark Gods, but I do paint them for fantasy. Although the dark song of blood and brass is always whispering in the dark corners...

Hmm, Chaplain is calling again. Wonder what he wants?



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 12:31:59


Post by: zahnib


Those skanky mutant degenerates are looking good Snrub! I also really liked the look of those traitor guardsmen, and cool that they've brought beastmen back!

With the lamp you can just pop a daytime globe in and you're ready to go! Or were you meaning something else?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 14:19:31


Post by: monkeytroll


Sensible man, the only true path is to turn from the hateful light of the false emperor.

Love a good mutie, so looking forward to this.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/10 15:50:30


Post by: Theophony


They aren’t traitors, they are just the Fuggly loyal arm of the god-Emperor. Thrown to the front lines of conflict with poor armaments and terribly made clothing because they don’t fit the poster child look of the pretty boy primaris marines. Besides who wouldn’t have unusual growths on them after working next to warp field generators and toxic chemicals in the protein recycling pits? TRUE loyalists don’t care what you look like, they just have you fight in the darkfar away from the glory hounds in blue.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/11 10:21:04


Post by: Snrub


@Insaniak - That's bang on for the sort of lamp I'd like to get. One question though, what is the mounting bracket made of, metal or plastic? The magnifier is no issue, I've already got one with a lens in it.
@Nev - Chaplains... Not nearly enough. 2 now. A metal termie chaplain (one of the best models they've ever put out.) and the DW:OK chaplain. Chaplains and Commissars. Don't have enough of either!
@LTMW - Thanks! The maggots weren't so bad. The boils and pustules were the real pain in the arse though. The work continues on removing those.
@Zahnib - The Ikea lamps only take Ikea style bulbs and I'm not sure if Ikea do a day light bulb (that's what I forgot to check last time I was there.) If they do one, then an ikea lamp might be a good option too.
@Monkey - Thanks, mate. The 3rd ed EoT codex had a fantastic guide for kitbashing muties with just orks, zombies and catachans and the chaos mutation sprue. Now 15+ years on, the utter wealth of kits available should make making a mutant horde easy and unique.
@Theo - I'm not entirely sure how to reply to that so i've going to nod my head and say yes! Yes!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/11 19:23:04


Post by: insaniak


 Snrub wrote:
@Insaniak - That's bang on for the sort of lamp I'd like to get. One question though, what is the mounting bracket made of, metal or plastic? The magnifier is no issue, I've already got one with a lens in it.

It's plastic (or at least has a plastic outer casing) with a metal screw clamp. It's pretty solid, though.

They also have (or at least had) an optional wheeled base for it, if you want to avoid having it clamped to the desk. I actually have mine clamped to an old wooden bookend, as my desk top is 3 inches thick and just a fraction to thick for the clamp, but this lets me shuffle it around the desk as needed, which is handy.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/12 01:47:20


Post by: ghostmaker


Very cool!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/11/14 22:28:26


Post by: zahnib


My lamp just has a regular screw bulb, I'm pretty sure they all come with standard sockets


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/01 09:25:03


Post by: Snrub


Hello all.

I'm back.
Again.

Sorry for the sudden silence. We had an issue with our internet provider but it's fixed now thankfully. (I mean I could have posted off my phone I guess, but I don't like phone-posting. It's awkward and clunky.)


Picking up where we left off...
@insaniak - Thanks for the tip off. I went out an purchased one the same night, as your last post. Nabbed the last one in the store. It's a fantastic lamp and well worth the moolah.
@ghostmaker - Thanks bud!
@zahnib - Yeah, mines a screw in too. Maybe i'm thinking of another brand having specific lightglobes..


Moving on...
So I may have made a substantial purchase and hidden the invoice from my missus.



Pre-ordered Blackstone fortress from my crack dealer because I actually needed to get my hands on those traitor guardsmen. Then thought "feth it, lets get Dark Imperium and the DA codex too!". Then as I was about to click the complete order button my hand slipped and I somehow ordered the DA upgrade frame too! But like the boob I am I got the Primaris upgrade instead of the regular upgrade... Oh well I'll still use just about all of it anyway.

And with the black friday sales I bought a few minis from Brother Vinni which i've been meaning to buy for some time and ordered some random gak from Anvil Industries. So yay, that can just get dumped in the rapidly expanding pile.

So where does this leave me?
With a feth-ton of minis to paint for one.
But it means now with the the traitor guardsmen + beastmen form BSF and the pox walkers form DI I know how a reasonable horde of Lost and Damned. Chuck in a few cultists from Dark Vengeance and maybe some Chaos space marines to lead them and it'll be looking like a proper army!
Also means I've now got enough deathguard marines to begin work on a chaos army i've had ideas for rattling around in my head for a while.
Some cool character models to play around with.
And a bunch of limp-wristed canon-wrecking primaris marines to deal with. I mean... I don't hate the intercessor/hellblaster models per-se. But the inceptors are gak and gravis marines just don't do it for me. May sell em. May just let them languish. Undecided yet. You won't find any nu-marines in my DAs at any rate.
But all that good stuff's for later.

For now Dark Angels! With the sunny weather we've had recently I got out and sprayed a few marines. So I've got some tacticals on the way.
I've made some progress on the Knight. Manged to actually get the leg posed how I want it. Just need to glue it all together and hope it works. So i'll have an update on him too at some point.
Finished converting the ETB pox walkers so i'll get some piccies up of them too.


Anyways, thanks for sticking with me (if you are) and I hope to having some proper progress for you soon.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/01 11:15:11


Post by: ingtaer


Nice haul there man, if you are open to a thought you could do with your Primaris what I did with mine, use them as Deathwatch (greyshields). I have Relictors and various radical Inq. types and it seemed the best fit, though I haven't been able to find anyone to take over my Inceptors or gravis :(

And Yes, pics or didn't happen!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/01 12:25:19


Post by: Nevelon


That’s definitely a hide from the missus pile. If you know you aren’t going to get to parts of it for a while, you could wrap them and put them under the tree. Santa brings the good stuff this year, it’s a Christmas miracle!

If you do go Deathwatch for the primaris, (Which seems the best use of them, barring changes in CA) the inceptors are good to toss into squads to let them fall back and shoot.

The primaris shoulderpads should fit normal marines. Well, the ones for the normal primaris will. The agressors/inceptors use the same pads as terminators.

If you do decide to add them to your DA, I hear there are some nice plasma ticks you can pull there...


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/03 09:41:56


Post by: Snrub


@ Ingtear/Nev - Honestly, if I were going to utilize primaris marines, it'd probably be as Deathwatch. Some major kitbashing would be in order though. Can't stand the samey samey helmets and those bolt rilfes would get replaced with regular old bolters for starters. But that'd sort of upset the plans I already have in place for a Deathwatch army. So as of yet i'm undecided.


PROGRESS!
So here's Tactical Sergeant Boreas about 60ish% complete I think.



He still needs...
-Squad markings
-Chamber on the pistol
-Eyes
-Highlights on sword, pistol, plastron icon
-Random highlights around legs adjusted.
-Back pack attached
-Basing.

And some mutant rabble.



So I may have been a bit premature when I said the ETB pox walkers are finished. They were finished. But then I decided the smiling heads were to similar.
Changes to come...
Far left - Done. I like him the way he is. He's largely unmuted and boil free, so he'll probably get promoted to cultist.
Second left - Took his head off. Gonna file down the neck socket and convert a big ol' face onto his chest/stomach.
Middle back - I'm thinking of cutting his head off and gluing it to his chest and then putting another tentacle on the neck stump.
Middle front - Done. I like him how he is too. Cutting the spiny gak off his back left him with a large crater in his shoulder, so I filled it in and attempted to fuse his arm with his head via a fleshy mass. (See pic below.)
Inner right - Fat body is getting a headectomy. I'll find a suitable head to replace it. He's otherwise doneish.
Far right - Done. I didn't touch this guy at all. Only question now is whether I paint the boils up as boils or as a gak-ton of eyes.






That's all for now. Cheers!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/04 10:35:13


Post by: Snrub


@Nev - To expand on my response to you, which I left only half covered; Hiding em under the tree hoping they go unnoticed would in fact be a massive red flag for my missus. I'm not a very Christmassy person (current avatar not withstanding ) and she knows it! So it'd be like waving the invoice in her face going "nope, didn't buy nuffin."
The primaris bits will get used though for sure. Sculpted pauldrons and dangly gubbins are always welcome. And one can never have enough power swords.


PROGRESS!

Brother-Sergeant Boreas leads the 2nd Tactical squad of 5th Company. Like many Dark Angel squad leaders he has chosen to go to battle with a plasma pistol and power sword. These fearsome weapons, relics and rarities in many other chapters, their usage oft reserved for officers and captains, are relatively common-place among the ranks of the Unforgiven.


I had difficulty getting good lighting on this guy. Everything was either casting shadows or got too washed out. For a better look click the image to go to the gallery.
Inspired by Painting_with_Phil and his knack for free-handing, i've tried to emulate the winged dagger on Boreas' pauldron. For a first attempt i'm not unhappy with it, but like everything I do, there is room for improvement.
The squad number on the other pauldron came out little more then a squiggle, but that's a fairly easy fix for later. (That'll teach me to paint while tired)

Anyway, i'm off to bed. Thanks for looking!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/04 21:15:02


Post by: youwashock


Progress! Looks cool. Hard to go wrong with the plasma/sword combo.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/12 07:42:34


Post by: Snrub


Ok, yes. I suck and I know it. I'm terrible at updating this thing.

I blame it on long hours at work and an unexpected re-addiction to Darkest Dungeon.
The current weather trend of 30*+ isn't helping either...


But I haven't been totally idle though. FInished another 4 members of squad Boreas with a 5th almost done and I'm currently building a lightbox so that I can (hopefully) start taking better pictures. I've got the unit itself built, I just need to get some white fabric as a backing piece.

Here's a gak shot of the demi squad as it stands.



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/12 11:50:50


Post by: Nevelon


Crisp job on a nice lot of marines there.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/12 20:28:42


Post by: youwashock


Looking good. The kneepads are a nice touch. Digging the lascannon.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/27 08:03:04


Post by: Snrub


Excuse me while I slink back into my own thread like it's something I'm actually trying to have be a productive and on-going thing...


Right.

So I've got nearly feth all painting done recently. It's been far too hot. I don't like heat. It's not at all conducive to productivity.
But, I did scratch another thing of my list of things to do instead. I knocked up a light box. Yay me.


My MkII Ghetto lightbox.


It's a box.
It has holes cut in it.
It has baking paper thumbtacked over said holes.
It has some weird fabric in it as a back drop.

It still hasn't helped my photography skills none.

As you can see below, the centre of the model is still very dark.



My current thought are the I either A) Should get a third lamp to illuminate the front of the model, rather then just two on either side. B) The black base might not be reflecting any light up at the inner leg/crotch area. C) It's a dark paint job and it's always going to be more shadowed then something with lighter colours on it.
Can anyone with more lightbox knowledge then me... *ahem*... shed some light on the issue for me?


So to help keep myself motivated, I've given myself a tough, but not unachievable goal. I want to have the following painted by Jan 15th.


-15 Tactical Marines
-6 Scouts

That will then round me out to 5 full tactical squads, 1 full assault squad 1 full combined veteran/command squad, 1 captain and 1 dreadnought for 5th company. Plus auxiliaries from 1st, 2nd and 10th company.
After that I'll feel less crappy about moving on to something else.


So, tomorrow, I will have an update. I will have painted something. Otherwise i'm going to be quite disappointed in myself.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/27 12:33:21


Post by: Arakasi


So a light box is, as far as I can tell, about saturating the miniature with diffuse light, the primary purpose being to remove the shadows that one or two light sources create and allowing you to light from all sides. I suspect you just need more (and/or stronger) lamps Good luck with the goal!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/27 17:17:06


Post by: Nevelon


With my light box I still have the side lamps farther forward on the sides then the mini to make sure his front is illuminated.

And don’t think you can step away from this project before you have a full company looking back at you.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/27 17:18:57


Post by: Dr H


From what I understand (and you can judge my level on knowledge from my photos... for good or ill) you do need some more light from the front, as you said.

Also, you are close with what you say about a dark mini' on a light background:
This is to do with how cameras cope with contrast when automated (e.g. it can be fixed in-camera with the correct settings), A dark subject will look very dark when most of what the camera "sees" is light background.
Equally, a light subject will look like it's glowing when in front of a dark background.
These can be fixed in 3 ways;
1. as mentioned getting the right settings. I can't help, I only use a phone and settings are limited there.
2. Fix it on the computer later, adjusting dark levels, colour temperature, and contrast. Not always possible if the photos is too far off from reality.
3. use a darker background for dark models, and a light background for light models.

I use a combination of 2 and 3, and 2 mostly (just the basic Windows 10 photo program)


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2018/12/28 09:46:21


Post by: Snrub


Ok, light from the front it is. I've got another lamp, luckily, but it has a much more yellow light then the two I used. Might be fine though. I will also try moving the mini forward a bit, see what sort of a difference that makes. I also use a phone for taking photos, as I don't have a camera. It's not ideal but it's functional. But I will grab some black fabric to see what sort of impact that has on it.
All round thanks, lads!

@Nev - Damn you! I was hoping no one would say that. If I complete the whole company, it'll be the WHOLE company. Including motor-pool. (It's the goal eventually, but maybe not right now. )



Ok, so this photo isn't worth the time it took to upload, but it's proof of progress. Basecoats are done for these blokes. Green, black, brown and grey. Can move onto layers and washes next. Woohoo.




I'm going to try a bit of battle damage on one in particular, which is something i've shied away from in the past (although the reasonable application of damage on the predator did give me a confidence boost when it came to deliberately wrecking my paintjobs), but i'm going to do it because it suits his role within the unit and the emerging overarching backstory i've had developing for my angels.

I'm also giving batch painting a go too. I normally paint one or two guys at a time, because it helps me maintain focus. But with this, i'm trying to cut down on paint wastage.
So far, so good I guess. Lets see how well I can maintain it though.

Thanks for looking. Until next time!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/01/02 02:10:47


Post by: Snrub


PROGRESS!

10 tactical marines almost done.
The bodies themselves are done, just need some finishing touches in the way of squad iconography. Then it's only backpacks and weapons to go before I can move on to the next 5.


And some closer individual shots.

The last four marines for Squad Boreas.



And the first five for Squad Amanael.



I made myself a suit of MkV armour.


And the first suit of MkIII.
I've really enjoyed painting the MkIII so far. He's come out a lot brighter looking then my normal marines, but I'm guessing that's because he has a lot more highlights then MkVII armour. Need to break up all that green though. I'm tossing up between a silver face plate or a big block of checkers somewhere.




OTHER STUFF
I'm setting myself some 2019 goals. Not something i've done before, but i'm it's all part of my effort to keep myself motivated and doing stuff.



Some are bit more nebulous and vague then others and I don't expect to get all of them achieved, but i'm gonna take a fair whack at them.
8 should really be "paint something not GW related".

Alright, thanks for looking folks. Catch ya next time.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/01/02 05:45:48


Post by: youwashock


Nice! I like the inclusion of the various armor marks. Good luck on your goals!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/01/10 04:13:52


Post by: zahnib


Looking good mate! I'm liking that MkIII especially! With your light box how are you currently lighting it? Two lamps either side and maybe one on top should be enough. Are you using daylight bulbs as well?


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/21 05:21:34


Post by: Snrub


So I dropped off the radar for a bit there, my apologies to those of you who still follow me.


PROGRESS!
It's only a month late, but here it is.
All the tacticals are finished, as are the 6 scouts. Bases on the tacticals are yet to be done, but i'm working on that! I have an idea.
I actually almost made my deadline with these guys. Finished them on the 20th of last month. So 5 days behind what I wanted. I just hadn't got around to putting them up yet.

5th Company, 2nd Tactical, Squad Boreas.

The four marines I painted recently.


The whole squad together.

5th Company, 3rd Tactical, Squad Amanael





*Notably, the sergeant himself is missing. He had a uh... accident. That is to say I dropped him after doing some fiddly conversion work and he shattered into about a dozen parts.*

And the Scouts
10th Company, 1st Close Support, Squad Volcus


The scouts were a bit of a departure for me, in that they had a lot more skin on show then the rest of my marines. Took the opportunity though to try some other skin tones, the black guy (on the right) i'm pretty happy with but the guy on the left, not so much. He was supposed to look middle eastern, but he turned out dusty brown instead of really darkly tanned like I wanted.
They're also a bit less "poppy". I went for a dull, darker metal instead of the brighter style on the tacticals. Also left the chest eagles green instead of bone. The fatigues are also heavily black washed. Makes them very dark and muddy overall, but on the flip side, the faces really stand out.

I will put up some individual shots of each marine, but there's a lot to upload.
As always, check out the gallery for big shots where you might actually see some details!


OTHER PROGRESS!
So after a moment of inspiration the yesterday, I got some work done on the Knight! Yay knights.
With the leg reposed to be standing atop the crashed Aquila, it was causing a dependency in the length of the hydraulic struts around the foot.
Rather then do the sensible thing like go out and get my hands on some appropriate sized plastic rod/tubing, I decided to make my own.

So I got some spruce, glued it together, and sanded it down until it was the right size.

My genius idea.

Cut the ball of the short strut

Cut off and glue in an appropriately sized piece of sanded down sprue.

While I was at it I added a bit to the end of the battle cannon barrel. It looked wrong without the muzzlebreak/shrouding/whatever it is.



WHAT'S NEXT?
Now that i've finished my current lot of green marines (barring the basing), I feel like moving on to something else for a bit. I'm thinking something less power armoured and a bit more squishy.
So that leaves me with a couple of choices.

On the left we have traitor guardsmen out of the BSF game for my burgeoning Lost and the Damned army. Genestealer cultists (with a Mechanicus twist) for my Cult of the Ever Evolving Machine, or Deep-sea diving suited Imperial Guardsmen which will be a re-worked and heavily converted version of my old Imperial Guard army.
Would people be interested in seeing one of those? (Or I could you know, finish a knight or something.... ) Let me know if you have a preference.


So thanks for looking, and sticking with me.
Should hopefully have an update on the knight later tonight or maybe tomorrow since that's all starting to come together in my head.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/21 07:13:42


Post by: ingtaer


Nice work, glad to see you hobbying again! Perhaps we should fire the motivation thread once more?

On your next project I would vote for GSC, especially if you are getting some of the new funky vehicles/bikes. Here is a wild idea though mate, you could always finish your knight first!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/21 11:28:36


Post by: Arakasi


Welcome back Progress is progress, but good progress is even better. I'm conflicted about the Knight - but that's only because it is reminding me of my lack of progress...

I'll do my strut mods with plasticard rod so that we can compare
Battlecannon muzzle is different - yet to form an opinion on that...


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/21 13:37:22


Post by: Snrub


@Ingtaer - First off, congrats promotion you poor luckless bastard. Enjoy having to put up with everyone's nonsense if an official capacity.
Yeah, the motivation thread. I kinda dropped out of that when I started this blog. Might be good to get it up and swinging again.
RE: the GSC. My ideas are a bit more nebulous for them at the moment. I've got a general idea of what I want them to look like, which basically boils down to leaving a cultist sprue and a skitarii sprue in the corner and hoping they have a sprue baby while i'm not looking. Simply put, cultists who live and work on a production line, rather then in a mine. The vehicles, for as gorgeous as they are, don't really fit with that theme.

@Arakasi - Ah, hello my fellow Knight procrastinator. Doing the hydraulic struts with the appropriate sized plasticard rod (2.75mm to be exact (thank you vernier calipers)) will look infinitely better. I really only bodged it the way I did because it's going to be mostly hidden by the shin armour on the inside of the leg. Were it more visible then it is, i'd have gone to the extra effort.
The battle cannon muzzle is a little off looking, i'll admit that. I keep looking at it going "hmm that's not quite right", but one the whole weapon is assembled and attached to the knight it looks more right. I'll take a mock up shot for you tomorrow.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/21 15:40:37


Post by: youwashock


Nice job polishing off the Marines! I vote for more work on the Knight. Maybe split your time between that and the IG divers. Those guys look pretty cool. And I like the addition to the battle cannon.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/22 07:05:02


Post by: ingtaer


 Snrub wrote:
@Ingtaer - First off, congrats promotion you poor luckless bastard. Enjoy having to put up with everyone's nonsense if an official capacity.
Yeah, the motivation thread. I kinda dropped out of that when I started this blog. Might be good to get it up and swinging again.
RE: the GSC. My ideas are a bit more nebulous for them at the moment. I've got a general idea of what I want them to look like, which basically boils down to leaving a cultist sprue and a skitarii sprue in the corner and hoping they have a sprue baby while i'm not looking. Simply put, cultists who live and work on a production line, rather then in a mine. The vehicles, for as gorgeous as they are, don't really fit with that theme.


Um, thanks?!

If you are keen I will start up the motivation thread again next week and we can see if we can keep it motivated! (The beatings will continue until morale improves!)

I can see why your GSC project stalled... I suppose you could think up some sort of justification for the bikes and that if you really wanted (overseers, pallet movers etc.) but yeah a bit of a stretch. I would say do some of each, but that way lies madness and a nose dive in actually getting stuff done!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/23 03:32:46


Post by: zahnib


I second youwashock! Some progress on the Knight would be sweet but those IG divers look very cool! Would love to see more on them!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/24 00:50:12


Post by: Snrub


@YWS/Zahnib - Oh alright. I guess I could do some work on the Kngiht.
@Ingtaer - My apologies, that comment probably came off a little more crass then I intended. Genuine congrats on your promotion to moderator.
If you take the time to start up the motivation thread again, then I'll take the time to post in it! I'll even try to put in the extra effort to help keep others motivated. And i'm all for repeated beatings. The GSC project didn't so much stall, as much as it just hasn't begun yet! I've only put together one cultist so far, just to see how they are. While I don't have any ideas of how to incorporate bikes into the army, I do have something involving Sydonian Dragoons and genestealers that's gaining a bit of traction on the the grey matter.



PROGRESS!
Ok, I've done a bit of work, but haven't snapped any pics, so here's just a quick shot of a deconstructed Knight and an explanation to go along with it.


So, what's been done?
- Pretty much everything is ready to go. Everything that can be assembled without hampering painting has been glued together.
- The hydraulic struts on the raised leg have all been adjusted to the correct length so that the leg sits on the right angle.
- I've cut two of the twos on the raised leg and bent them a little simulate them hanging off the edge of the crashed lander. Also added platicard pads to the bottom of the toes so that you cant see that they're hollow.
- Also added plasticard to the other foot, but to help correct a height discrepancy rather then hide voids.
- Greenstuffing has begun. I've filled in the cuts made on the toes. Also added some to the hydraulic struts to hide some joins and such.

What's next?
- Greenstuffing to begin on the soft armour at the hip joint.
- I'll be painting the whole thing in 3 separate stages; The metal skeleton (in two parts: Legs and Torso), the armour plates and the base.

I've found something that I think will make for a good colour scheme for a Knight house. A dirty, not-quite-off-white with metal trim and green and cream heraldry. Should lend itself well to hairspray weathering which i've been interested in trying.


Anyway, that's it for now, will update when I have something.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/24 01:56:47


Post by: youwashock


Color scheme sounds good, and I look forward to seeing you work with the weathering.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/24 02:16:31


Post by: ingtaer


Snrub, its all good mate I didn't take your comment as being crass and thanks! I will do my best...
Okay Monday it is for motivation thread mkII, the reckoning... Your GSC plan sounds like it stalled, my Undead army I started for WHFB 5thed is still sat in boxes in the cupboard... stalled.

Nice work on the knight mate and I like the sound of your colour scheme, similar to HH Deathguard?
Look forward to seeing your progress!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/24 03:43:14


Post by: Snrub


So regarding the colour scheme.

This is what i'm basing it off. I snagged it out of a thread off another site. I don't know where it's from but i'm pinching it.



So what i'm thinking is start with a grey basecoat, apply salt weathering, build up a solid coat of white, remove salt, then sponge weather brown around the edges. Then silver for the edging and fancy bits.
The green/cream will go anywhere heraldry would go. (Shoulders, shield, knee, etc.)


A BIT MORE PROGRESS!


Got the hip joint started and mostly finished. Just have to add a bit more to the back side of it where it meets the existing soft armour.
The extended struts are glued in now. As well as a rather messy, but largely unseen, ball of putty where the ball-ankle is. (Which I had forgotten about until I glued the struts in )

One problem i've noticed is that now with the hydraulic struts all at different angles, the shin armour no long fits as it should. So i'm going to soak the guard in hot water for a bit and see if I can't gently bend it out a bit do that it fits around.



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/24 13:04:22


Post by: Arakasi


Note to self - cover bottom of exposed hollow toes (as appropriate), double check fit of all Armour plates.
These kits can be very tricksy to modify and not introduce unexpected consequences! Keep up the good work (and trailblazing for us slackers...)


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/24 14:04:18


Post by: Nevelon


Dirty white and green? That’s just a quick step away from Deathguard, plague marines and nurgle.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/25 00:58:46


Post by: zahnib


Looking good Snrub! I'm liking the colour scheme idea


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/25 21:54:59


Post by: Dr H


Good work on the knight modifications.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/26 03:12:33


Post by: Snrub


@Arakasi - I used .5mm plasticard to cover the toe on the raised foot and 1.mm for the grounded foot. Given a choice I would have used .5 for both, but the extra thickness on the grounded foot helped make up for a height issue. The 1mm stuff just makes the foot pad a little too thick for my taste. It's probably not at all noticeable if you don't know about it, but it's gaking me up the wall.
As it happens, I think the ill fitting shin armour is actually a much easier fix then I initially thought. It appears that the plate is just getting snagged on quite literally, two rivets on the stuts. It should just be as simple as shaving off the rivets (which i'm quite sure is some sort of heresy).

@Nev - I've got a bunch of plague marines sitting there ready to be used for a project. It's not nurgle related though.

@Zahnib - Thanks mate. I'm hoping it doesn't turn out to be more hassle then it's worth.

@Doc H - Thanks muchly. This is the most converting i've done to a single model (one that is also large and expensive) and it can be a little nerve wracking hacking it up hoping that it comes out right. It's gratifying that it's worked so far.



PROGRESS!
Quick bit before I head off to work.

First off DON'T DO THIS!
So the Knights feet don't really lend themselves well to being pinned. Lots of thin edges and no bulk to drill through. I (thought) I came up with an ingenious solution. It was not, and in hindsight I should have known better considering i've been at the hobby a decade and a half now.
What I did was take a bunch of small sprue clippings and packed them into a toe, then I poured a bit of plastic glue in as well so they'd melt down bit and harden into a solid mass I could drill in to.
It worked. Actually quite well. However it did also eat through the side of the toe.... As evidenced by the big of a bubble.



So now, both sides and the top of the toe have bubbles in them from where the plastic glue went out of control. As the keen eyed may have noticed, the plasticard foot pad is already in place at this point, which I believe may have contributed slightly as it would have sealed off the glue from the air so it couldn't dry and gas off.
Anyway, i cut the plasticard off, scrapped all the plastic out, drilled the bubbles, and have now filled the whole thing with greenstuff, which is what I should have done in the first place.


Moooooving on.

The hip struts where next in line for some modding.
This is the end result. The left one went on normally, because the left leg is unmodified. The right one actually took very little cutting to line it up properly at the new angle.


Basically...
Take the strut (I've been calling all these hydraulic things struts. I don't even know if it's the correct term...)


Cut here like so...


Shave down the little square bit so it looks like this...


Then glue it back together making sure the cable points in the correct facing. And that's it really.


And lastly, here's a shot of everything ready to be primed

Armour on the left will be grey. Skeleton will be black and the base... Probably also black.
The two guns were a small misstep. I got a little excited and glued the barrels to shield, despite the two parts needing different primers. Not the end of the world though, i'll just have to do some careful taping before I prime them.

Anyway. That's all for now. I should prime them tomorrow, if all goes well with the few final checks and minor mods left over.

Thanks for looking!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/26 05:23:11


Post by: Arakasi


This watching others mistakes is very helpful and enlightening - keep it up!

I think I've got some 0.25mm plasticard to cover the toes if I want to avoid gakking myself up the wall

Just remember to add four rivets elsewhere - heresy avoided!

I hadn't considered feet pinning yet - so adding that to the list. Would it have been easier to cut some sprue to size and plastic glue it in normally? (I don't have my Knight toes nearby to check...) I knew where this was going as soon as I saw the word "poured"... How solid is the greenstuff for pinning? At least those bubbles were easy to fix...

If I was to critique one thing - it would be how far the modified leg extends out from the hip joint - but I'm picky.

Ack - I've already glued by RFBC shield to the barrel too - I didn't even think about the different primers. I was secretly impressed I'd got it all in one piece. As luck would have it, the Thermal Cannon and Las-Impulsor share the same shield, so necessity has meant I've lucked into at least having that separate. I'll need to rethink when I get to the Avenger Gatling Cannon....

Excellent work again, keep it up, I will live vicariously through your progress until I can get back to mine, avoid your mistakes and make some more of my own.

Catchya



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/02/26 16:36:34


Post by: youwashock


Nice work on the foot fix. Now the real fun can start.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/03 04:02:14


Post by: Snrub


Hey folks, just a quick update today.

@Arakasi - 25mm plasticard would work the best for sure. Regarding the toes, yes, properly gluing bits of sprue in would work well if you can be arsed doing it. Greenstuff is fine for drilling through and pinning and I don't expect any problems from it. If I encounter any, i'll let you know. And yeah, pouring plastic glue, not recommended!
For the hip joint, yes I see what you mean. To be honest, I hadn't given that particular aspect of realism a thought when I started modifying it. In hindsight I should have just cut all the soft piping away and started that whole area from scratch rather then going the route I did. Certainly don't regret going the way I did, I'm quite pleased with the results, sub-par sculpting not withstanding. But it's definitely something to keep in mind for any future modifications.
I had a good idea for spraying the guns with different primers (an actual good idea, not a gakky good idea like last time ) that's low effort and yielded really good results. I'll post a picture after.
Thanks for your thoughts though. I'm still keen to see how your avengers come out.

@Youwashock - Cheers buddy. I'm looking forward to the painting aspect of the Knight/s. Got a few techniques that i'm really looking forward to trying out.



PROGRESS!
Ok, so this beastie is primed and ready for painting. All the armour panels have been hit with a coat of grey. The skeleton and weapon mounts were primed black and then given a coat of aluminum spray. The base was given a layer of black and the crashed aquila got a quick squirt of grey.

Not that this image really shows any of it.


So my next steps are to paint little details on the skeleton different metallic colours. Golds, bass, etc. Just to break up the silver a bit then give the entire skeleton a coat of Nuln Oil, of which I have a brand new pot, bought solely for this purpose.
The base will be painted brown and then another different shade of brown. The legs will (probably) then be attached to the base after which static grass and various grass tufts will be applied. (I have placed an order with Greenstuffworld for the grass tufts as they are really hard to find locally)
The armour will come last as that's the most involved. But will essentially boil down to be salt weathering, followed by lots of white, followed by sponging brown all to simulate old paint work.


As mentioned earlier. I over came the problem of priming bits multiple colours by simply using cling wrap.



I took a small piece if cling wrap, poked a tiny in the centre of it, pushed the barrel of the weapon through the hole, wrapped the wrap tightly around the shield and gave it a twist so it would stay tight. And the results are rather satisfactory.

So here you can see where the cling wrap sat on the barrels leaving a small unpainted area. Just a small touch up need on each to match the rest of the barrel.


It take all of 10 seconds to prepare and gives results on par with using painters tape, which is fantastic, but can be fiddly work getting it to cover ever last spot you need.


Anyway, that's it for now.
Thanks for looking.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/03 06:16:44


Post by: Arakasi


Nice update!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/03 06:18:53


Post by: youwashock


Interesting technique and a good bit of progress. Keep it up!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/05 04:24:51


Post by: Snrub


Thanks fellas.

PROGRESS!
Proper quick update today.

Got the skeleton all but done. It's part has been given two coats of nuln oil. I've got spot colours of brass, tin and gold scattered throughout. Gold for the eagle heads, tin for any ribbed piping/cabling and brass for any part that needed to stand out. All these colours got a slathering of Agrax Earthshade (I can see why people love this stuff.). The gun casings have been painted black, although I only intend it as an interim colour, until I can find one that suits better.





I'm not entirely sold on the brass ammo hoppers, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Whether or not they stay that way will depend on how they look along aside the armour.

That's all for now.
Thanks for looking!


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/05 16:17:57


Post by: youwashock


I like the hoppers in that color. You are really rolling now. Looking forward to more.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/12 22:34:52


Post by: Dr H


Good progress.

When deciding on areas of colour, always consider the whole piece constructed; what may look unbalanced on a part may be perfect balance for something else on the far side of a model.

In short, dry-fit it all together with the basecoats on to see if the hoppers "work" with the whole model.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/20 10:20:11


Post by: Snrub


So two good things happened today.
1, I had a moment of... something. Clarity, inspiration, epiphany, call it what you will, I had one on the way home from work. I knew what needed to happen with that mongrel of a company standard.
2. I missed a parcel. Two parcels in fact, but one's not important for the moment. One though, has all the materials needed for me to base my knight. Goody gumdrops


PROGRESS!
Yes, it's back to the DAngels. Specifically the witch of a company standard that was doing my head in before I threw it in the "i'll tackle that again in the future" pile.

The source art.
Spoiler:


First up the background.


The blending came out pretty satisfactory. The red towards the top of the banner is a lot lighter then the picture shows. I've gone with more of a firestorm rather then individual flames like I had initially and like the art has. Which I think was bit of my problem, I was trying to blend flames in when I wasn't experienced and talented enough too. The fade from red to orange on the right side could be better, but I'm happy with the firestorm otherwise.



Next up blocked in the angel and the scroll.


And here I've laid down the base colours. I decided to reposition the shield as well. It was annoying me going across the body, so now it's smaller and just points down.


Alright, that's all I've got for now.
Thanks for looking!



Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/20 11:42:44


Post by: Nevelon


Nice freehand work. Good luck with it. Not a huge fan of painting banners myself.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/20 13:41:03


Post by: Arakasi


Looking very promising.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/20 17:56:02


Post by: youwashock


Looking solid so far.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/22 23:43:54


Post by: Snrub


Thanks lads!


PROGRESS!

So I powered on with the banner, it's almost done bar a few details.



I'm stuck with two bits though.
I'm struggling to come up with a good design to put on his wee shield. Anything that I might have normally done is already somewhere else on the banner.
The other part is the dangly bit in the middle between the company symbol and the purity seals.
If anyone can think of a good design for either area, i'm all ears!

Aside form those bits though, I just need to highlight the company symbol, paint the banner pole and attach the topper. Then that will be the company standard done.


OTHER STUFF
So I went and picked up my missed parcels.
One was a package from Kromlech. Just a bunch of gubbinz and a few heads. Very good, but largely unimportant stuff for my current projects.
The other one was from Greenstuff World and is far more immediately exciting.



Top left we have a whole mess of foliage. This gak's going on my Knight bases.
Next to that we have two part silicone putty, for making very basic moulds
Above, powered acrylic resin. Mix it water, pour into aforementioned moulds.
To the right paint agitators.
Bottom, brown stuff. Similar to greenstuff but better for sharp details supposedly.
And left of that is a tentacle roller for making putty cables, tentacles, etc. Was sold on that after watching one video of someone using it.

Lotsa fun stuff to play around with.


Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/23 00:22:47


Post by: Arakasi


First up, banner is looking very good - well done!

With regards to the wee shield - what is wrong with the red bar from the original image?

Doing a quick google search on Dark Angels banners, most likely choices for your dangly middle bit are:
  • Dark Angels winged sword icon
  • Parchment
  • Or Imperium Two Headed eagle


  • I have that tentacle roller - in both sizes. Still yet to use (forward planning for Imperial Knights, cables not tentacles, specifically Hulk Gallant to build up illusion of muscles - but I'm sure I will eventually find many other uses too! )


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/23 03:00:06


    Post by: Theophony


    Middle bit could be a picture of Caliban of old, just a green world.

    Maybe the shield could have a Roman Numeral on it for the 1st Legion.

    Banner is looking great by the way


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/23 05:35:36


    Post by: youwashock


    You're crushing that banner. I vote chapter symbol for the lower part and maybe a simple half or quartered design for the shield.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/23 12:22:27


    Post by: Snrub


    Thanks for the input guys.
    I've made a mock up of some different options. Although I forgot to make any of the shields 1/4ed, I think it's easy enough to imagine.




    @Arakasi - Thank you kindly, sir. My only problem with the red bar form the art work is that it's far to similar to the symbol of the 9th company. And I just think it might look a little odd having what appears to be a different companies icon on their banner. I have to say though, looking at my MSpaint mock up, i'm not entirely disregarding it now that i've seen it. I'm also liking the parchment block on the dangly bit.
    Also, Hulk Gallent with cable muscles sounds fantastic. Now with the AT knights, will you be considering a tiny Antman knight? The correct answer is of course, Yes.

    @Theo - Cheers, mate. The image of old Caliban is an interesting one. I'd say worthy of a banner in and of itself. Defo's gonna be locking that one away for future use. The first legion I is a good choice too. What colour would you make the shield if you were to do it? My first choice would be white or grey, but I feel that might be a little too stark a contrast.

    @YWS - Thank you very much. Chapter symbol is another very good option. Gotta remind those helmeted cannon fodder which chapter they belong too. What colorus would you be using for a half/quartered shield? Company logo colours or others?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/23 12:25:10


    Post by: ingtaer


    Looking good mate, if you are looking for votes I would go the bend sinister from 1 with the angels symbol from 3.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 03:16:58


    Post by: Snrub


    Well, thanks to you, Ingaer, I now know what a bend sinister is. I thought it was a typo or autocorrect gone wild at first. And yes, that's the combo i'm leaning towards at the moment.

    But i'm still open to completely different suggestions if any one has one.


    Anyway...


    PROGRESS!
    So jumping back to Knight for a hot minute. The armour has been asalted.



    Have I ever used this technique before? No.
    Is there a chance this will go tits up? Absolutely.
    Have I gone to far to back down and will now continue to power through it regardless? You bet'cha.

    Lets see how this ends.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 04:37:10


    Post by: youwashock


    Oh, wow. Not doing that dalt thing by halves, are you? Best of luck!

    I concur with ingtaer. Simon Bar Sinister from 1 and the chapter symbol from 3.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 05:52:52


    Post by: Snrub


    Nope! And I have no idea what the results are gonna be!

    Nothing like learning from your hideous, irreparable mistakes!


    Slightly More Progress!

    The head is finished. I've gone with purple for the lenses. Hopefully a nice counter point to the majority white and metal.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 05:58:58


    Post by: ingtaer


    That is one sexy looking head (as far as big robot heads can be sexy) really like the purple.

    I am excited to see how your salt weathering goes, I was contemplating doing it on a ship the other day but ended up chickening out.

    On the heraldry, well a day where you learn some strange obscure piece of knowledge isn't a day wasted! I think. Actually it is probably a waste of memory cells, but it might win you a pub quiz someday! Or not


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 10:30:34


    Post by: Nevelon


    Very nice work on the stompy robot skull. The lenses are perfect!



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 11:21:36


    Post by: Theophony


    Perhaps do the shield in the white and black quartered scheme like the bottom corner with a big red Roman numeral in the center of it.

    Robot eyes are looking great, you are doing fantastic work on the standard.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/25 17:42:04


    Post by: youwashock


    Beautiful lenses. Liz Taylor's got nothing on him.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/26 10:24:12


    Post by: Snrub


    Thanks for the kind words, all.

    Ingtaer - If you mean on your wee B5 ships. It might work, it might not. They might be too small to get a properly random effect. YMMV. I'd certainly give it a go though. As I think if it came out well, then you'd get a lovely battered up old warship. If not, run it under the hot tap and if everything i've read about this style of weathering holds true, the hair spray should lift and take all the paint with it.

    Theo - Quartered shield could work. I'll put it in the pile for further consideration with the Bend Sinister.


    ON THE SUBJECT OF HIDEOUS IRREPARABLE MISTAKES!

    I got lucky and they didn't happen.

    So here's the armour, reprimed and ready for scrubbing.



    And here is the everything went better then expected results.






    Thoughts? Feelings? Gut Instincts?
    Any questions of interest on my experience with this method of weathering?


    Also looking for thoughts on this.

    Left or Right?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/26 10:56:01


    Post by: Nevelon


    Weathering looks legit. Like something that was actually out in the elements and took a beating. Chalk that up to a win.

    Something needs to be done with the sub-lenses. I can’t think of anything other then doing them the same as the main.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/26 17:58:39


    Post by: youwashock


    Weathering looks great! Like Nev said, like it has really taken a beating. Certainly paint the smaller lenses. Maybe a red or green to stand out from the purple? Blue could look good, too.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/26 20:34:37


    Post by: Babouin


    Wonderfull work on your pieces, but if i can give you an advice for the salt technique, it's to paint it brown/rust first on your titan, and then salt it and cover it with white. At least it's how i proceed


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/27 17:25:42


    Post by: Dr H


    Good work on the head.
    Yeah, more lenses won't go amiss.

    For your weathering; did you salt over the bare plastic / primer?
    I think it's usually;
    paint rusty,
    salt
    paint topcoat,
    scrub off salt > reveals rusty spots
    add streaks, highlights, etc. to set of the chips.

    If you have a plan beyond what you have done then carry on.
    Minimal rustiness and just chipped to primer?

    You did the job well though, the pattern is spot on.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/29 04:40:20


    Post by: Snrub


    @Nev - Cheers, bruv. That's pretty much what I was aiming for. Well, to be honest, less out in the elements and more stashed away in a hanger and forgotten for a few millennia.
    @YWS - Thanks. I'm liking the blue. Different, yet complementary.
    @Babouin - Thank you, mate. Advice is always welcome. I debated doing it that way, which would be the logical way of doing it for rust and elemental damage, but I was hoping for more of a flaking paint and grime look as opposed to the classic rust effect. But thank you none the less.
    @DrH - Thanks, Doc. My method was...
    -Prime Grey
    -Salt
    -White
    -Scrub
    So it does have a grey primer coat underneath although it's probably not immediately obvious. And yes, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. As I said above, less rustiness, more grime and flakiness. So yes, the plan is just add some grime to areas and see how that goes.


    Any suggestions on how to go about dirtying up this big sucker?
    My current thought process is drybrushing on some black, then some brown to build up some colour and then breaking out my Brown Ink for the actual grime. But i'm not entirely sure as i've never really tackled this sort of thing before. Might be time to hit the books and see what's what.

    Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/29 05:24:06


    Post by: ingtaer


    Weathering powders?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/03/29 17:09:17


    Post by: bjorntheimpaler


    That Knight, like all of the other stuff in this thread will look amazing, great work here.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/21 05:43:29


    Post by: Snrub


    Hello hello,

    Got a bit of a scatter shot update today. Been a bit sick lately so I've had feth all energy for painting and the like, but i've gotten a few things done.


    THE BANNER IS DONE! Whoop whoop!


    And here it is...


    Please do click on the image to go to the massive gallery version. I'm very keen to hear what people think of the finished piece. It's taken me long enough to get the fether done and i'm glad I can finally put him to bed.
    -I decided to go with the Aquila for the bottom bit. Got enough winged daggers elsewhere in the army. But not so many golden birds.
    -The bend sinister dexter ( ) i'm quite happy with. I wasn't entirely sure how it'd look, but the end result is quite pleasing.
    -The text on the scroll says "non paenituit" which translates to No Relent. The 5th company is known as The Unrelenting, but I couldn't get unrelenting to translate properly. So i've gone with a fake version of it. Sorta fitting considering GW itself uses faux-latin.


    OK, next up is the big stompy robot. In continuing with how i've handled this knight so far, I decided that, bugger it, I won't look up weathering techniques, like what a sensible person would, i'll just slap brown ink and agrax earthshade over it and see where the gets me. The results have been.. Well no exactly what I had in mind, but better then the catastrophe it could have been.
    So par for the course for this bloody thing really.




    So as you can see it's got brown on it now. It looks a bit gak to be honest, but once again, i'm hoping that once assembled and at arms length the effect will sort of come together and look alright. In bits and huge on your screen you can see too much and it doesn't look right. At least to me...
    To help bring out some of the armour details, ive gone around and black washed any of the lines in between armour panels. Helps break up the white a bit and gives it a bit of depth.
    The grey panels you can see on the shin guards are where the black imperial heraldry will go. I'm going to do the salt weathering on them again so that the black flakes off over the grey instead of over the white. I'm going to do the same with the green and cream house colours, but they will go on over the white instead of grey.

    Not much left to go on him now either!

    Now as you can see below, i've got the legs all taped up again. That's because like the right naff git I am, I forgot to spray the feet the first time around and only noticed the other day. So back to garage they go.




    So the Rolling Stones Paint it Black came on in one of play lists the yesterday and I remembered that someone previously made a comment about there not being enough Chaplains in my army. Well i've fixed that problem.

    Here is primed, two chaplains and 3 black knights because why not.


    I've got my DW:OK chaplain and a metal terminator chaplain.

    So the DW:OK chaplain has had some minor converting done to him.
    Namely... Rosarius and chain removed off left arm, Rosarius added to chest, was given a sgt arm out of of the MKIV squad box as well as a pistol and an old DW pad and “Poached him from the Ultramarines like a fething blood raven”



    This bloke is also intended to act as my version of chaplain Cassius, should I ever need him, so I've bodged him up a combi-flamer as well and strapped it to his backpack.


    Again, fethhuge pictures in the gallery if you want a closer look.


    That's pretty much it for now. C&C always welcome. Thanks for looking!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/21 06:07:53


    Post by: ingtaer


    Liking the banner mate, some real fine brush control there. Did you paint the lettering? Think the Aquila was the right choice, have to point out though that the Angel's shield is now more a bend dexter though... .

    Nice Chaplain as well he looks like he means business! Intrigued to see how the knight gets on.

    Have you had any issues with taping and spraying like you are on the legs? I presume you use gladwrap/clingfilm?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/21 07:15:42


    Post by: Zillian


    Nice banner!

    I have a feeling that's the same banner design I copied out of the 2nd Ed codex, iirc. Wait, no, it isn't. Sword is positioned differently. I painted it at least 20 years ago and it looks suitably faded for a sacred banner. Yours look much better



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/21 10:49:27


    Post by: Nevelon


    You forgot “Poached him from the Ultramarines like a fething blood raven” on the list of changes to the chaplain.

    Good to see you adding some chaplains to the mix. Keep the heresy down. The taint of Chaos is ever-present, we need to remain vigilant.

    Amazing freehand work, well done on the banner. It’s always scary to take something that’s already good and try to take it to the next level. I can’t say I prefer the armor with or without the washes. Still looks good, but it was good before; at least yu didn’t wreck it. Will be fun to see him all together.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/21 19:02:46


    Post by: youwashock


    Banner success! Guess that makes this a banner day?

    That Knight is really going to look like it has been to hell and back. You are really building those surfaces, and when it all goes together that work is going to pay off bigtime.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/22 00:10:48


    Post by: Arakasi


    Banner looks great - worth all the time and effort you have put into it since page 1. I can tell, because I've only now noticed the blue purity seals - what was the thinking behind that?

    Agree with youwashock - Knight is looking really good. Even in the close ups I think the brown is mostly working (maybe just remove some of the harder edges? But only if you aren't layering more on top!). One you put the details in and put it all together, I think you may be surprised at how "un-gak" it is.

    Keep up the good work!



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/22 05:23:39


    Post by: Snrub


    Thanks for the kind words, fellas.

    @ingtaer - I did paint the lettering, although if i'm honest, I feel that it's the weakest part of the banner overall. I had considered using a .05mm marker I have, but I figured i'll never get better at doing it by brush if I don't practice. Ugh, sorry. Fiiiiiiine, bend dexter it is then. . And no, so far no issues with the clingfilm and spraying, assuming of course you mean with spray getting up past where it shouldn't be. It's probably more useful for certain applications like what i've used for, over general all purpose use. But it's definitely a technique i'd recommend experimenting with if you've got the inclination.

    @Zillian - Thanks mate. I like your banner, it has that old school 2nd/3rd edition charm. You're not wrong about them being very similar designs though. If you have a picture of codex art in question, i'd like to see it. The Angels of Death codex is one i've yet to acquire.

    @Nev - Oh yes, ok then. I'll add that too. Sheesh. You guys... You're not wrong about it being scary. I know I can always paint back over any mistakes I make, but it makes it no less nerve wracking. I actually did that while painting the shield white. Smooged a bit out onto his robe. Lucky it was so thinned down the brush just sucked it straight up again and left no trace. With the Knight armour, I may have gone a wee bit overboard with the brown. Not sure though. The finished thing will give the true answer I feel.

    @YWS - A banner day indeed! Still have the detailing to go yet. Mostly silver and little more brass. But I hope you're right and it'll pay off in the end!
    @Arakasi - PAGE 1!?! *Furiously clicks back pages* hell, i've been working on this for eight bloody months now. EIGHT! I can scarcely believe it. I would have guess since maybe new year if quizzed. . But no, I agree. It has been well worth the time and effort put into it. I've very happy with it. The blue purity seals? Mostly because I'd have normally done them red, but because I already have some much red/orange/yellow I'm sure they would have just got lost among it all and the blue just helps separate them a bit. To describe it in wanky art school terms, the piece was too warm and needed something cool to offset it. I was so far undecided on whether to add more brown or not. I think i'll paint the rest of it and then reassess my thoughts on it.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/22 11:18:18


    Post by: Zillian


    Luckily, I had the codex handy. It's the only codex that isn't packed away lol. Looks like I based mine on the Standard of Fortitude.

    Grr. I rotated that pic before I posted it!!

    [Thumb - WeChat Image_20190422210607.jpg]
    [Thumb - WeChat Image_20190422210624.jpg]


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/24 03:32:11


    Post by: Snrub


    @Zillian - Thanks for the photo, I hadn't actually realised how similar the designs of both banners were. I wonder whether the artist who drew the banner I copied based it off the Standard of Fortitude.



    PROGRESS!

    Alrighty, it's getting there.

    Carapace has had the metal parts blacked in. The hatch porthole also based purple.


    This shot sees the four panels that represent Imperial allegiance salted and painted black ready for scrubbing, the carapace has been given a base coat of silver and a black wash. Porthole is also finished.


    Here i've fitted the carapace and shoulder panels onto the torso skeleton. The nobles personal livery on the right in green and cream, also salted and ready for scrubbing.


    The feet have been salted and sprayed white. Ready to be scrubbed along side the other parts. As you can see in the 2nd, very blurry photo, i've somehow managed to completely miss the side of that one toe when I covered them in salt. Not sure how, but too late now.



    All armour panels (including the forgotten knee pad) scrubbed and now weathered.


    Same goes for the feet. These got pretty heavily salted so a lot more grey here then other parts of the armour. But that's alright. All I have to do with these is just paint the connecting ribbing black to mach the waist joints and touch up the small bit of overspray(!) with some metal.



    The carapace painted bar the laurels on the front. Haven't figured out what colour to do them yet. The domey censer things have been painted brass and given a wash of agrax. The metal trim has been given a coat of platinum/light silver, but it's a bit thin and patchy in places so it'll get another coat.


    And I forgot to put this up the other day. I painted the two inner lenses. One purple and the other blue. Much more happy with it now, even though with the face plate on you're unlikely to ever see them. Oh well.



    Some thoughts.
    -I'm less then impressed with how the black came out on the armour panels. In hindsight, using a water based black paint and then scrubbing it with a warm, wet toothbrush probably wasn't ideal. If i had to do it again (and I considering rubbing it all off and trying again) I'd utilise some careful taping to mask off the bulk of the shoulder and then use some masking fluid for the finicky bits and then spray it with black primer, as that holds better then just acrylics.
    -The green and cream i'm not loving either. Came out better then the black, but i'm not sold on it. I wonder though if that's because the white was already so good looking. Again, not being primer and getting scrubbed with a wet tooth brush gave it much the same results as the black in regards to how much came off.

    Still, i'm here now and it's done. So i've going to move on to the final stages of the process and paint all the armour trim black then silver. Once it's fully painted and assembled, it might be a different story.


    As always, I'm keen to have your thoughts and comments on it. If you can see anything i've missed, or think of anything that'd look good, lemme know!
    Thanks for looking!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/24 15:50:49


    Post by: youwashock


    Man, I can't wait to see this thing all together. So much chipping, it is just great to look at. The bits of color work well and stand out nicely against all that ding and dent.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/26 11:09:50


    Post by: Theophony


    I kind of like how the black looks on the shoulder plates. Maybe it because I’m just looking at a picture and not the actual piece though.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/26 19:55:19


    Post by: gobert


    Hi snrub. I think the head looks aces! Really nice lens effect that I think would be a shame to cover with the faceplate. Loving the worn paint effect on the carapace, but I fear the personal colours are too extreme on the chipping. As a secondary application I’d expect more wear, but the green in particular seems too lost to me. Clearly it’s your model and just my opinion though!

    Great work on the banner, those freehand murals are hard work so well done for keeping on keeping on!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/04/27 15:54:29


    Post by: Dr H


    Well done on getting the banner finished. Job's a good'un.

    Armour's looking good with the brown dirt over the chipping.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/07 10:41:35


    Post by: Snrub


    @YWS - Hold on to your butt then, cause it's almost done, my friend.
    @Theo - I think it's grown on me a bit. It's not what I wanted exactly, but it'll suffice.
    @Gobert - Hi, Gobert. Thanks very much. I feel you on the head. I like the exposed head with his eyes, but I really like the face plate too. It's a tough choice. Yeah the green on the shoulder pad came out a bit weirdly. The middle just scrubbed off almost entirely yet the edge against the black was barely touched.
    @DrH - Cheers buddy. It was a tough slog but i'm glad I got there in the end.


    Right, so I was hoping to have the knight done by now, but a trip to the dentist revealed I needed to have ALL FOUR of my wisdom teeth removed. So that happened and it knocked me on my arse for a good couple of days. Funny how having your face cut and ripped and abused can make you not want to do literally anything.
    My face is still fat and sore, but I've been able to do a few things. Sooo....

    PROGRESS!

    The base is complete. The legs are pinned and all bar a couple of details are painted. All it needs now is to be glued and given a coat of varnish.

    First up the chest piece with name scroll

    I used my super fine liner to do this one. .05mm is pretty damn fine!
    Not sure if i've mentioned it before, but the name of my knight house is Valerious. I couldn't honestly tell you what made me pick that name. It just sounded good at the time.
    Actually did a couple of practice runs with this one! The two little scribbles are about the size of the name plate.





    Next up is the base. Veeery happy with this.

    Here it is painted various shades of brown and green.


    Covered in static grass.


    And a couple of shots of the finished thing with various grass tufts applied.





    That's all for tonight. With any luck it should be done tomorrow.
    Thanks for looking!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/07 12:03:20


    Post by: insaniak


    The weathering is looking fantastic.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/07 12:05:22


    Post by: Tyranid Horde


    Agreed, love that weathering, great technique!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/07 15:32:38


    Post by: youwashock


    Woot! Almost there! Digging that chest piece and the base is looking real good, nice and smashed up ground.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 07:13:05


    Post by: Snrub


    Thanks fellas!


    Ok, here he is. Done. Finished. Achieved. Completed.




















    I'd just like to thank you all for the advice and encouragement you've given me over the course of this build.
    I'm not sure I would finished this big bastard on my own. Not any time soon at any rate. I hope he's been worth the wait for the rest of you.

    As always, I appreciate any comments and criticisms you might have for me.
    And as usual, big pictures in my gallery if you wish to see him up real close


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 07:49:50


    Post by: ingtaer


    Nice one mate, lovely dirty stompy robot! I much prefer it without the faceplate on though shows off the great painting of the lenses and makes for some nice spot colours. One slight criticism, the black wreath above the head looks a trifle underdone in the pics. Love the base, very swampy looking, do you use AP tufts?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 07:57:12


    Post by: gobert


    Nice base! Looking forward to seeing the finished product


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 08:06:06


    Post by: Tyranid Horde


    Really like it, great job all around but my only criticism is that the lander needs just a little bit more detail. I know that isn't the main draw and the Knight itself is but just a few spot details would really make it pop!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 08:55:42


    Post by: Snrub


    @Ingtaer - Thanks mate. I couldn't find a colour I liked for the wreath. I considered gold, silver, bronze, etc. None of them seemed to suit. Honestly, my leading contender was actually to try and fake up some red marble. In the end though I just hit it with some gloss black. I used Greenstuff World tuffs. The same as the AP ones i'd assume. I used these four specifically. I'm quite pleased with the base. I had originally intended it to be a lush meadow. But it came out as you see it, and I ended up liking it more then I thought. Too bad I hadn't thought of it earlier or I could have added in some water effects. Although maybe I still can. Also with the face plate, happy coincidence, the angle the head is on means I can actually slide the face plate on and the.... collar (?) holds it in place.

    @Gobert - Are you looking at the right pictures, mate? It is done!

    @Tyranid Horde - Thanks bud. With then lander, I was going to paint the windows blue at first and then mucky them up, but I got thinking that maybe blue would draw the eye too much. So in the end i just washed them heavily with nuln and agrax to give them a dirty appearance. Although saying that, you have identified a problem with the knight itself that I hadn't noticed. And that is that it has no poppy colours. It's just white and silver. There's nothing really to make it stand out. Not really sure how I hadn't seen that before.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 09:54:04


    Post by: Nevelon


    Very impressive stompy robot. Could use a tad more spot color, but I think on the table, and not a white backdrop, that will be less of an issue.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 14:52:12


    Post by: youwashock


    That's just rad.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/08 16:45:49


    Post by: Theophony


    Shear awesomeness . Looks like he gave out as good as he got, and the fact that he is still standing is proof of his skills.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/09 18:56:26


    Post by: gobert


     Snrub wrote:

    @Gobert - Are you looking at the right pictures, mate? It is done!


    So it is! I must’ve loaded the page last night but got distracted and sent the post this morning!

    I was right to be looking forward though, the knight looks cracking! Excellent work on the chipping and metal work! It looks like it’s been sat in a warehouse for millennia waiting to once again roam the battlefield. Given the the long neglected look I think anything too bright would work against the model. That said, if you really wanted more colour maybe the shield would be a way to get it without too much rework?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/10 05:53:22


    Post by: Snrub


    Thank you all. I'm happy he's been well received.

    And again, thank you all for the input and advice given. It means a lot.




    Now, given that i've completed both the Knight, and the Company Standard for my Dark Angels, my two outstanding pieces. That leaves me with nothing to finish and everything to start!

    So I ask, what would people be interested in seeing me do? I have a number of forces laying around ready to go all with interesting ideas to drive them.
    In no particular order...

    -The Lost and the Damned forces of chaos lord Dal Math. A mix of cultist and mutant rabble made up of Blackstone Fortress cultists and beastmen and Dark Imperium Poxwalker mutants aided by a growing cabal of psykers and driven forward by a ruthless band of heretic Astartes.
    -Imperial Guard regiment Aegean "Deepwalkers". A footslogging infantry regiment of diving suit clad Imperial soldiers drawn from the depths of an ocean world. Backed by assault and support squads and Ogryn shocktroops.
    -Genestealer Cult of the Ever-evolving Machine. A cult taken root deep within the manufactorum cities of Forge World Zarkos. Now biomechanical horrors and cultists creep forth to attack the Imperiums hold on the world.
    -Skitarii Legions of Forge World Zarkos. Rallied to defend their home. The elite mechanised infantry units of the Zarkosian Skitarii hound the insidious underdwellers. But theirs is a secret war. Were word of the abominable infection spread, it could bring unwanted attention to their world.
    -Dark Angels auxiliary companies. From one corner of the Galaxy to the other, the Deathwing and Ravenwing work in tandem to complete their objectives. Never resting in their defense of the wider Imperium.
    -The Riders of Rohan. Sallying forth from Edoras, the men of the Riddermark ride to wrath and ruin and the world ending!
    -Terrain. A city tablescape. Manufactorums and hab blocks. A place to wage war upon (or maybe take some thematic photos?)


    If any of those strike your fancy as something you'd like to see me tackle for my next project, then give a shout. Or you know... I have a 2nd knight ready to go if any one reeeeally wants me too...
    I'll leave it open to you guys.


    Automatically Appended Next Post:
    Also I realise that i've been pretty lax in visiting everyone else's blogs lately. So I apologise for that. I'll try and get around to everyone soon.
    Bit selfish of me having everyone come comment on my gak and then not returning the favour.


    Also i'm on Instagram now. I haven't posted anything yet and I mainly just stalk people who's work I like. But if you want an extra follow throw up your username and i'll come stalk you there.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/10 06:24:18


    Post by: gobert


    Guard or Chaos get my vote!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/10 08:17:16


    Post by: Nevelon


    I’m good with any of those options. I think the deep-sea guard could be fun. Heavy conversion blogs of stuff outside the norm are something you don’t see every day.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/10 15:15:07


    Post by: Dr H


    Well done. Job's a good'un.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/19 04:57:12


    Post by: Snrub


    Hey folks, just a quick one today.

    I went back to the knight and jiggered his black wreath.

    Gold skull with black marble. Turned out not bad. Better then the just plain glossy black at any rate.






    I'll have some wip shots of my deepsea guardsmen up later on.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/19 10:25:00


    Post by: Nevelon


    Now I want to see a tech-thrall with a paint roller running after him with a “Wait up!” pose.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/19 21:00:54


    Post by: youwashock


    It's just a little detail, but it makes a big difference. Good choice!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/19 21:10:02


    Post by: Theophony


    Nice rework on the wreath .

    Out of the options given I too like the idea of the Deep walkers But I also would suggest you pick something you want to do over anything we say. I “know” we all know it, but I saw a YouTube video last night on who you should paint for. Basically, paint for yourself and enjoyment/betterment because at the end of the day it’s not about the accolades but how you feel about your work. I myself keep falling into the trap of looking for praise and encouragement from posts and blogs, but if my heart is not in a project it just kills my motivation and I either stop halfway or rush to get it done and feel bad about both later on. So do what you like


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/20 08:07:42


    Post by: Snrub


    @Nev- That could be arranged I think. I know just the model to use too.
    @YWS- Cheers bruv.
    @Theo- You make good points. This is something I've been keen to do for a while now. Just turns out it's a lot of converting work for a 5+ save. It's the sort of thing that if it's interesting to someone else and they want to keep seeing it, then i'll be more inclined to power on with it rather then flip flop between project.

    But I digress. Onward with the converting!

    So previously I posted a comparison shot of a BSF traitor, a GSCultist and my converted Guardsman. Here's some more shots of him and my upcoming guys.
    These 5 are acting as test pieces, so they'll likely all be different while I nail down the final look I want for them. I'm open to any and all suggestions. If you think something does/doesn't look good then give a yell.







    This guy is pretty rough and ready. The greenstuffing is adequate for a test piece, but i'm really hoping to refine it on my further testers. Here's what's been done to this individual.
    -An attempt was made at a helmet porthole. Although if memory serves, I panicked half way through trying to sculpt a circle and changed it to a rectangle and ended up with neither.
    -The neck and chest armour isn't as smoothly joined as I wanted. But I think that comes down to me gluing the head to far forward so that it exposed to much of the neck at the back rather then more under the chin.
    -The weighted boot caps I'm pretty happy with. The plan, when it comes time to paint him, is to do the cap and the sole of the boot all the same colour (brass probably) in an effort to simulate a metal shell the actual boot is inserted into.
    -I've slimmed down the shoulder pads a lot so that they're more rectangular. The stock rounded ones are too big.
    -The... "skirt" (?) area on the pants that is actually the bottom of the shirt coming out past the combat webbing around his waist has been shaved off completely, as have the thigh pockets.
    -The white spacers on the shins and wrists were supposed to be couplings that connect the boots and gloves to the rest of the diving suit. But they haven't turned out at all like I wanted them.
    -The backpack assembly is made from a flamer tank and a grenade launcher barrel with guitar wire for hoses. This one took me a few goes to get right.
    -The gun is a lasgun with the body cut down and a piece of brass rod for an extended barrel. I've also lopped off the power pack and thrown on a autogun drum magazine.




    I managed to achieve a rectangular porthole on this helmet and i've tried for slightly angular toe caps. These 3 are just in the early stages of getting worked on.


    Thoughts going forward.
    -The little green rectangle on the first guys head is supposed to be a suit lamp, powered by (what i'm assuming is) the battery pack on the rear of the helmet. While it turned out fine, and I like it well enough, in the future though I've decided I'm just going to use GSC shoulder lamps instead. They're far more thematic and I have plenty of them purely from the DW:OK and Kill Team boxes. And with what will happen to my GSC eventually, they won't need them.
    -Helmets. Ideally i'd have all of the port holes rounded like what your more archetypal diving suit helmets are. But I think i'll vary them a little just so no everyone is samey samey. My other issue with the helmets is the winged skull. I want to keep it because it's the only form of imperial heraldry on the model. The chest eagle gets shaved off as does the one on the gun. But I can just see it getting in the way of the portholes.
    -Shoulder pads. I'm considering just doing away with them entirely. I had wanted to keep them for squad symbols and the like, but I just don't think they work with the rest of the model. But removing them means a gak ton of extra work.
    -Chest armour. I'm tossing up whether to remove the pectoral layer of armor. This will, if i'm correct in my assumptions, help cut down on angles and make the model itself look more rounded. Which in turn should help match it up a bit better with the shaved down legs and rounded neck/head. Less lines and angles and all that nonsense. Yadda yadda.
    -Wrists/shins. While my initial concept of the diving suit had attachable gloves/boots, this has so far turned out not great in practice. It was envisioned as a plate on both boot and leg that got joined and then bolted together or something. But in reality is just a single piece of plasticard sandwiched between parts. Currently I'm leaning towards just GSing large almost elbow length gloves and trying to devise something with the existing shin guards.
    -The weapon. I'm largely happy with the gun. It just needs the magazine tweaked a bit. I want cylindrical magazines rather then square or round but they're not common. Skitarii weapons have them, but I don't have a ready supply of them.
    -The backpack. This has been arguably the trickiest part of the build to nail down so far. It started out just being the tanks attached to a vox caster, but that was too bulky. Horizontal, was fine but not what I wanted. Vertical is the way to go, but it's just getting the placement and alignment right. I'm also going to divest some Skitarii of their gauges and tack them on to the tanks. But again, not enough of them to go around. 5 gauges per squad of 10 rangers/vanguard. Piss poor effort.

    That's really all I can think of at the moment. Again, if anyone has any comments, suggestions, questions, whatevs. Yell out!

    As always, thanks for taking the time to look and comment.



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/20 09:47:38


    Post by: ingtaer


    Looks good man (as does the Knight touch up) but it looks like a hell of a lot of work for one let alone a squad or god forbid a platoon. If you are not adverse to spending extra dollars then Anvils void torsos could save a heap of time and wouldn't look out of place;
    http://anvilindustry.co.uk/Regiments/Torsos/gothic-void-torso



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/20 10:50:27


    Post by: Theophony


    I’d keep the pectoral armor, helps with the idea of weight to keep him submerged, you might add little circles on it for gauges, or put those on an arm to help sell the underwater idea. Losing the shoulderpads might help after all they will need more flexibility underwater to swim as opposed to just walking.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/20 10:53:53


    Post by: Snrub


    Ya know, honestly, if this was a brand new army i'd all over those torsos like humps on granny. they're pretty much perfect. It's only that i'm converting an existing army that i'm going to all these (ridiculous) lengths.

    I have 40 imperial guardsmen waiting for this treatment (I think i've actually got more, but I don't know where they are).

    Plus most of them need stripping.

    This is defo a loooooooong term project.


    Depending on how these few test models go, I might seriously considering whipping up my own backpack and learning how to cast them properly. Just to save me some effort on that front.


    Automatically Appended Next Post:
    Well know that you mention weights, Theo, I had been wondering whether to sculpt some weights over the thighs where the pockets were. And honestly, that pectoral armour is mostly hidden behind the gun anyway. It'd only be certain poses/angles where it would be visible. I'm certainly not adverse to more gauges though...


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/27 02:26:54


    Post by: Snrub


    Ok so these happened yesterday.









    I'm stupidly excited right now.

    Also I apologise if those pictures are redicuously huge. I'm phone posting at the moment and have no real way of judging their actual size.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/27 02:36:28


    Post by: ingtaer


    Pics are good mate, mine arrived last week and I may or may not have squealed like a school child...
    Looking forward to seeing you break them in! Get painting!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/27 09:59:01


    Post by: Nevelon


    Now remember, those can hold paint all the way to the ferule, require cleaning in hot water, but don’t need any fancy soaps. You can just store them point down in a cup as well. Best for drybrushing.

    Very jealous. Of course, now you can’t blame crappy brushes for anything. So we expect great things from you from now on.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/05/28 03:56:20


    Post by: Snrub


    @Ing - Oh there was defo some childish squealing involved. I was getting queer looks from the missus.
    @Nev - Good points, all of them. I think you can use them for applying PVA glues for basing too.


    Ok so after staring at them for what was certainly far too long I decided to actually use them.
    I started painting a Ravenwing biker and got most out of the basecoats down before i was done for the night.
    First impressions of the size 1 was not great. I have to assume I got a dud brush. Its got a couple of hairs that just will not conform to shape. It struggles to hold a point while I paint with it and when it dries out the hairs split apart. Even with heavy conditioning with brush soap hasnt helped it none.
    The size 0 on the other hand... oh boy thats a damn fine brush. Size 0 was already my workhorse brush, but i can foresee myself just using this for everything. I loooove this brush so much already.




    The way the size 1 brush holds the paint is insane. I manged to go over most of the bike with black without having to reload the brush.
    Same goes for the 0. It just kept going and going.
    Im itching to use that 000 on something now. Say... like... a bikes nav-console screen or something...


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/08 09:08:20


    Post by: Snrub


    Rightio.


    PROGRESS!!

    Smashing these Black Knights. Almost done bar the highlights for the black and a few details here and there. Fantastic kit with some good options and a hell of a lot of useful bits.

    The Huntmaster


    Two Black Knights



    The Riders



    They are a bit plain. Too much black for my liking. Highlights should help break it up though.
    Details left to go are...
    -Huntmasters inner cloak. Varying shades of green are needed.
    -Plasma Talons need some glowy colour on them. Probably do blue.
    -Corvus Hammers need some colour on the business end.
    -Brown areas need their highlights fixed. Pretty messy at the moment.
    -Huntmaster needs a name on his chest scroll.
    -More Squad iconography.
    -Various other highlights.




    Also placed an order with Kromlech for some bitz to use on future projects.

    Got some MkII and MkV heads. Apothecary and Techmarine upgrades. Some banners both loyalist and traitor.


    And some of the most 40k appropriate pauldrons ever.

    'scuse the fingers.
    Zoom in on those bad boys and check out the crispness of those skulls.

    As well as some funky basing bitz.


    If you've been on the fence about placing an order with them, I highly recommend doing so. The quality is superlative and the customer service is excellent.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/08 10:27:14


    Post by: Nevelon


    Nice progress on the bikes, they are coming together well.

    I got some bits once from Kromlech, would second your recommendation. Should be fun to see those put to use.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/08 23:09:33


    Post by: youwashock


    From a big Knight to little Knights. They look good. I also look forward to seeing those skull shoulders used.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/12 10:40:18


    Post by: Snrub


    Nev - I'm absolutely frothing to get those not!MkII heads into action. MkII is my favourite style of power armour and i'm totally livid that FW stopped producing it, the utter . Oh well, just means i'll have to have a crack at converting up some of my own!

    YWS - Ha! Now I just need some deathwing knights to round out the knightly trifecta. I don't know who's going to get a skull pad yet. But I too, am looking forward to using them.



    Ok, so no piccies tonight, but I have almost finished the black knights. However i've stalled at the finish line. So long story short. Can anyone point me in the direction of a nice grey/black paint that would be good for straight out highlighting black armour?
    I've currently got my eye on GWs Dark Reaper and Eshin Grey as well as maybe Skavenblight Dinge. Would any of these 3 be appropriate for highlighting ravenwing models? I feel skavenblight dinge (horrid name) might be slightly too brown, but I haven't had a good look at it up close. I am of course open to paints from other ranges, those were just the few that I hunted out first.

    I'm also thinking that maybe to differentiate the bikes from the riders, I might highlight them with different colours. The GW paint app has a metallic black, which is just black with a silver hightlight and washed black after. This could be good for the bike as it would blend in reasonably well I think, with the large amounts of metal parts already present. Then the rider could just be grey highlights.
    Does this sound like it could work, or might the different highlights make it too stark?

    I'm interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/13 01:21:13


    Post by: ingtaer


    Little knights on bikes! Good progress mate, did you get to try out your teeny tiny brush yet?

    On the paint Qs, I use both Eshin and DR for highlighting black (and DR for drybrushing over black) and they work well. I do find that in certain light the Eshin gets a little lost when it is very fine or thinned but I would recommend either/both. I have no idea on the second Q though, could be worth a go on a spare bit of something?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/13 02:55:11


    Post by: Snrub


    Ingtaer - Cheers, mate. Yeah I did I busted out the 000 for the checkers on the vambrace on rider two. It makes them so much fething easier. There's gonna be checkers on everything now. I was a bit hesitant when using it though. It just seems so darn delicate. Have you used your new brushes yet?
    I'm about to head out and will be near a GW, so I might stop by and get the redshirts thoughts on the DR/EG conundrum as well. He's good bloke and a keen painter, so I'm hoping he might have some advice as well. A test piece for the silver highlights is probably a good idea too. I never think of using a test bit...


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/13 03:12:53


    Post by: ingtaer


    Hey, you spelt my name right
    Wonder how long your new found chequer enthusiasm will last! I have used all my brushes bar the 2 so far, its just too big for what I have been currently painting. Loving them though, as you said the resevoir on them is just insane.

    If you have any bits already painted black it could be worth taking them along to the GW with you and paint them in store. Will show you exactly what you will be getting!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/22 09:22:45


    Post by: Snrub


    Ing - Guess we'll see about the checkers!

    Bit of a scattershot update here.

    So I ended up getting both Eshin and Dark Reaper. I tried them both in store and couldn't quite decide which one I like more. When I got home and laid down some of the DG over the ravenwing, I liked it immediately. Grey, but with a touch of blue.
    At the moment the black knights are all but done. Just need to touch up the bike highlights a bit.
    Couple of random shots.


    Also got to really put the triple aught brush to the test. It's bloody beautiful!


    ^ This one turned out a bit out of focus but what evs.


    Also ordered, received and put together some more paint racks. Then I reorganised my desk!


    Shot of said desk, just because.



    Now I've started work on some Cataphractii terminators. I'm a bit torn on how to arm them at the moment. All bolters and power fists is a likely option. Cheap and simple. They don't come with a great many options unfortunately, neither in the kit nor the codex.
    I had though about turning them into a squad of DW knights. I've seen it done before and they look grouse with maces and shields. But I don't have the requisite parts, so that might have to be an option for a later date. It is a rather nice kit though.



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/22 10:20:00


    Post by: Nevelon


    Bikes are looking great.

    One of these days I need a system for my paints. Problem is all the different pot sizes/shapes.

    I wish they would give the 30k terminators more options. They way they wrote the rules for them in 40k sucks. I built mine all claws, but that might not have been the best idea. I think they only hit the table once or twice in 8th. Did OK. The ability to wound anything of 8th plus a lot of attacks w/rerolls to wound can hurt a lot of things. But SBs are decent these days, and let them put a lot of fire downrange. Fists for crumping anything that gets close.

    Careful putting them together. I think the tabards are keyed to specific legs. I remember having some issues with them.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/22 10:44:04


    Post by: Snrub


    The place I get my paint racks from cater to quite a few different brands. So i've got some for 2 for dropper bottles and 2 for GW bottles, which also fit a couple of other brands as well.
    But they're so damn useful. Really worth the money I think.

    It is a shame they don't have better options. But as you say, the storm/combi bolters are a little beefier now, what with the (formally) beta-bolter rules. 20 shots at 24" ain't bad, D6 shots from a grenade harness if something reaches 12".
    The Cataphractiis better invul save makes them more useful for guarding objectives or maybe area denial then Indominus or Tartaros termies. And I think if you stick a Lt. and/or an Apothecary near them, they could be a bit troublesome. But this is purely speculative. As I haven't played many games of 8th yet. So i'm theorizing here. I may just end up mixing them into other squads for a bit of armour flavour and just playing them as regular termies.
    It would appear that some tabards work better with some legs.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/22 12:18:02


    Post by: Theophony


    The details you’ve pulled off are astounding, the000 brush might help, but your freehand is all skill .

    Jealous of a window to look out of , but then again it would be more of a distraction for me.

    Rocking the color wheel , is that the official GW one from a couple years ago? Or an art store purchase?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/22 16:17:05


    Post by: youwashock


    Lots of exciting things going on. Riders are looking very nice. I think you made a solid choice on the highlight color. Excellent work on the chest scroll. Your workspace is lovely, and I look forward to seeing the Cataphractii develop.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/27 03:31:03


    Post by: Snrub


    Theo- Thank you! That means a lot. The window is great, no doubt and natural light wonderful to have. The view however..... Not so desirable.
    Spoiler:
    Hooray for two half-dead bushes and a window looking right into our study.
    First world problems eh?


    The little colour wheel was a freebie from GreenStuff World. It's nice to have it there not even so much as a resource, but it's delightful little weird colour splash that's good for catching the eye every now and again. I don't know why it's good. But the brain tells me it like it. So....

    YWS - Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am quite pleased with the Dark Reaper as a highlight. It gives the black a nice appearance. Not quite a shiny look, nor pearlesent. But it gives it something that grey just wouldn't have. I'm looking forward to getting into the Cats as well. Quite lovely sculpts I think.


    PROGRESS!

    Right. So Cataphractii terminators. Assembled (mostly), Primed and ready. I also Threw in a venerable dreadnought as well.


    I hit a snag before I even started painting them though. The question was do I paint the white first, then black in everything that needs to be blacked in or vise-versa? I went vise-versa and started with black so as not to potentially mess up any white later down the line. I feel this was the right choice, but It will defo make painting some of the small areas interesting later on. Anyway.
    Two down, three to go!


    And let me just say, the W&N brushes are paying for themselves already. Not a stroke out of place thanks to those fine-tipped little beauties. (well one. But it's a spot that looks like shadow so pfft.)
    I also hadn't realised how similar the Cats are to the contemptor dreads in over all style. They're like mini versions of the contemptor. Can't believe I hadn't noticed before now.

    Now as a motivational reward for painting the Cats, i've got this BAMF ready to go. These blokes will be done in record time!


    This is one of the best sculpts GW has ever done I think. It's up there with the 3rd edition Stormtrooper models, the old metal IG command squad commander, and this guy
    Absolutely frothing to get this guy table ready.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/27 13:10:06


    Post by: youwashock


    Oh yeah, that model is sweet. Some very cool stuff coming up now.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/06/27 14:23:30


    Post by: Theophony


    Always glad to see more Real Marines and dreadnoughts.

    Just put a bird feeder out there and you’ll have something nice to distract you from time to time,.....though being on the upside down part of the planet it might attract drop bears and acid spraying songbirds, so do it at your own risk.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/07/06 17:49:25


    Post by: gobert


    Sweet looking minis in progress here and a great painting station. Looking forward to see how the cataphractii and termy chaplain com out


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/08 12:49:37


    Post by: Snrub


    Hello all!

    I am pleased to say that the Cataphractii Terminators are, for all intents and purposes, done!
    I've left the pauldrons off as I hope that FW will at some point soon release 1st legion shoulder pads for the Cats.



    Sorry the lighting isn't great in this pic. But you get the general idea (hopefully).
    I have to say, that despite my best intentions, and despite the awesome models themselves, painting these guys was not a fun experience for me. I did not enjoy them much. I can't say exactly what it was about them, but I didn't like it. That being said, I am happy with the final results. The brass and white is quite a nice colour combination and I think the green helps offset it rather well.
    They're done now though, which means I can move on to other, blacker, terminator armour.


    After the Cats were finished I needed a bit of a palette cleanser. So I took a step back to my roots and dusted off some old Lord of the Rings minis.

    These blokes are all but done, just need to be based. I haven't found a shade of green that i'm quite happy with yet for the cloaks, so that's why there's four greens for four warriors.
    Really simple models to paint. All done in lovely big blocks of colour with no need for any fancy techniques. Drybrushing and highlights was as advanced as I went with these guys.

    I had forgotten how enjoyable this fantastic sculpts are to paint. They aren't overly detailed, but they don't lack because of it. I'm not sure how long they took me to paint, but the time flew by.

    Buoyed by these initial warriors, I quickly jumped up a few steps in the chain of command and grabbed the good Theoden King, himself. Which you can see primed and ready to go in the above picture (you can actually see three of him )

    Another days worth of painting and I'm really happy with the finished results. This was such a beautiful model to paint. Captured the detail of the movie character almost perfectly.



    I decided not to put any green on this model, even though the undershirt under his red tunic is green in the movie. I just felt like the model itself didn't need it.
    The only painful part about painting Theoden was highlighting each of the scales on his mail coat, which was the last part that I painted. That took longer then I would have liked. And even though I know I could have saved myself a bit of hassle if I had drybrushed it first off, that's just not how this model came together for me.
    In total, at a guess, I think Theoden probably took me about 4 hours to paint. But again, I wasn't really keeping track.

    That's all I have done at the moment but I've got another 3 warriors half painted. So stay tuned for them in a day or two.

    Anyhoo. That all for now. As always, thanks for looking and I appreciate any comments and critiques you might have for me!
    Thanks!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/08 13:09:49


    Post by: Nevelon


    The work on the scales paid off; very nice.

    Hard to tell which green is best for the cloaks. They all work in different ways; depends a lot on what you are going for.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/08 16:37:39


    Post by: youwashock


    Theo looks fantastic. Great job on the armor.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/08 17:38:17


    Post by: gobert


    Those cataphrachtii are nice models, though they look odd without the shoulder pads. Hopefully forgeworld/Shapeways allow you to finish them soon!

    As for the cloaks my favourite is the bright green one, though it’s maybe not very LoTRs movies I suppose.

    Theoden looks great too, his scales look worth the effort. His black and gold chest armour looks tricky to paint, well done!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 01:51:13


    Post by: Snrub


    @Nev - Thanks. Yeah, i'm a bit torn on what green I want. In the movies, it's quite a royal green they use. But i'm not sure that translates so well to this scale.

    @YWS - Thanks, buddy.

    @Gobert - Ooh, I hadn't thought about shapeways. Thanks for that suggestion! The bright green cloak is actually a bit of a throwback to how I originally painted them. So it does have a slight nostalgic hit for me, but as you say, isn't very movie like. The black/gold armour was a bit of a pain, but a Triple 0 brush makes a hell of a difference!



    So something a little different from me today.
    So i'm in the midst of painting that delightful terminator chaplain. He's not entirely done yet, but i've taken step-by-step photos as I progress.






    The last four shots are just the cabling around his head getting brighter. But i'm rather pleased with how 's coming along. I've got a few more shots, so i'll post the rest of the pictures later.
    I've used a couple of guides by the ludicrously talented Darren Latham on how to paint gems and purity seals and i'm super stoked with the results i've got. I didn't think I needed to be taught how to paint a purity seal, but I was mistaken!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 02:42:39


    Post by: youwashock


    That Chaplain is awesome, no doubt. He is turning out quite well. The work on the skull is top-notch.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 08:00:34


    Post by: zahnib


    So much progress Snrub!! The weathering on your knight turned out great, and your painting skills are really coming along! That Theoden, in particular, is looking steller.

    Your chaplain's base is looking awesome as well.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 09:53:17


    Post by: Nevelon


    Very nice work on the chaplain. My once concern is that he is very muted. Any plans on adding some “pop” or accent colors?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 11:21:30


    Post by: Theophony


    Great looking bone skull there, skeleton would be envious.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 11:48:29


    Post by: Snrub


    YWS - The skull was one of those delightful moments of completely fluking something excellent.

    Zahnib - Hey! Good to see you back, mate. Thank you on all counts.

    Nev - You're not wrong, he is very muted. Where i'm up to at the moment the purity seals do add some pop to him, but maybe not enough. He does have a bit of gold on each arm though and there will be some purple added. So we'll see how sparky he is when I get him together. Did you have any suggestions?

    Theo - Thanks bud. Funny you should mention skeletons.... As I had a moment of weekness the other week after watching Jason and the Argonauts and may have quickly ordered the following...




    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/12 14:42:05


    Post by: Theophony


    I just watched the remake of clash of the titans. Not as good as the original Harryhausen one, but the skeletons and scorpions were good.

    I know I still need to finish my Shadespire stuff, but with season three around the corner I think I’m done. I might pick up certain figs, but I’ve only gotten to play once or twice and most of the other figs are just sitting in various states including those skeletons.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/14 06:59:31


    Post by: Snrub


    The original Clash is an excellent movie. In truth, anything Harryhausen had a had in is worth watching, just for his distinctive special effects work.
    That being said however, the remake did have Gemma Arterton in. Which is never a bad thing.

    Ok more of the religious psychopath in the grinning skull mask.


    At this point, the main body is all but done. So I moved on to the arms, which were already mostly done as i'd been doing them in concert with the body. They just needed their own details finished.
    Namely, the green pauldron/gun casing and the purple crozius haft.




    All that's left to do now is highlights on the black, a few touch ups here and there (metal models chip so easily) and to decide on the most importantt aspect of the model, the eyes! What colour to do the eyes on his scary as gak skulmet.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/14 13:39:28


    Post by: Nevelon


    What color do you normally do eyes?

    Red is classic, as well as ominous and threatening.

    As a left field alternative, you could echo the blue from the stuff around the helmet, and go with ice/electric blue glow.

    Green might tie in more with the traditional DA colors.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/14 19:52:54


    Post by: Fifty


    That chaplain is amazing.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/14 23:14:50


    Post by: Snrub


    @Nev - With my regular green marines it varies. I probably do about a 70/30 split between yellow lenses and red lenses. And then every now and again i'll throw in a set of blue lenses just for variation.
    With a model like this, red would have been my go to. It gives that nice visible sense of threat and danger. How ever i'm not sure if i've already used too much red in the gems and wax seals. Two more little spots of red might not stand out as much as they should among all that. As I think is the case with the studio paint job.
    In regards to the blue, I did wonder about that. I feel like blue has a nice menacing feel of its own. A cool, soothing colour on such clearly dangerous individual is not to be trusted. It'd tie in nicely with the cables around the helmet as well, but would it be a little too much I wonder?
    Green is an interesting choice though and one I hadn't given much thought. A nice bright green could give him an unearthly, alienesque vibe. One to look into.
    I would have liked to have just given him black lenses. Give him that nice, dead stare, shark eye look. But black on black is just too black.

    I might have a play around in GIMP, see what I can do with his eyes before I commit.


    @Fifty - That's high praise. Thank you.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/15 00:22:07


    Post by: youwashock


    My first inclination was to suggest black for the eyes, as well. It looks really good in the WiP shots, and if you can make it work it could turn out very cool. Maybe just a hint of deep red around the edge of the lens and a catchlight in the corner, but mostly black.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/15 10:46:41


    Post by: IGtR=


    I agree with youwashock that black, whilst incredibly difficult, would look awesome. Red would be the classic, obviously.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/18 04:09:57


    Post by: Snrub


    Thanks, YWS and IGtR.

    So after getting the highlights on his armour done, i'm actually starting to think black eyes might not look so off. I used dark reaper to highlight his armour and it's made him look not so black and a bit more grey.



    A couple of little touch ups on his helmet to even up some bits I missed, and maybe some very extreme corner highlights to give it a starker contrast against black pupils and I think it might work.


    If anyone can see something i've missed or has any advice, i'm all ears!

    Thanks guys.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/18 04:21:04


    Post by: ingtaer


    Looking really good mate! Really nice to you keep chugging along.
    Not sure on the black eyes to be honest, would make me think after a while I had forgotten to do it if it was mine. But as you have done red and blue spot colours I cant really think of what to do with them that wouldn't look a bit muddled.

    Haven't been keeping up on your blog for a while (been in OZ for X-Wing) so will also say, I really like the finish you got on those termies and the Théoden is great as well. Actually prefer the Rohirrim (sp) with different shades on the cloaks as it never made sense that such primitive people had such fast (and uniform) dyes. Also, also Skellies! You loved painting your chaplain so much that you needed more bone in your life?
    Keep up the good work mate!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/18 06:34:23


    Post by: gobert


    I think I’m with ingtaer on the eyes, if you leave them plain black I think they’ll look unfinished. Perhaps you could highlight them like they’re gems, but with greys? As others have said it might be hard to pull off though. You could use a dark green with the black to do the gems too, that might be easier or look cooler?

    Tough choices!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/20 11:55:02


    Post by: zahnib


    That chaplain is looking great! Personally, I'd go with red eyes, same as the gems you've done. Really nice paint job so far, I'd say its your best yet!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/29 06:28:07


    Post by: Snrub


    @Ingtaer - Cheers mate. You're bang on about the cloaks. A culture such as the Rohirrim wouldn't have uniform dyes. But I have uniform paints, and i'll be buggered if those cloaks aren't going to be all the same!
    @gobert - Painting them like gems/lenses was the plan. But i've never seen a thing on how to paint black gems/lenses. Some experimenting is in order. Dark green is a nice idea though.
    @Zahnib - Thanks dude, I have to agree. He is probably the best thing i've ever painted. Definitely in the top 3 for sure, one of my favorites to paint too since I love the sculpt so much.



    Ok, so no progress to show at all on any front unfortunately. With that being the case, I think i'll take this opportunity to do a "State of the Hobby" style post.

    If you remember at the start of the year, I set myself a list of goals I wanted to finish before the year was out. Now that we're 3/4 of the way through the year I thought it'd be a good time to review.


    Lets see where we're up to with it.

    1. Finish Dark Angels 5th company
    Hasn't happened yet. With 1 more Tactical Squad, and Assault Squad and both Devastator squads left to go, this one looks unlikely to happen. I have however finished all the other squads I had already that needed to be painted. So not a complete failure.
    2. Paint 1st, 2nd & 10th company Aux forces
    Did much better with this one. Painted both my scout squads and the Black Knights as well as one of the deathwing squads (cataphractiis) Still have a RW attack squad and 2.5 deathwing squads left. So there's still time to complete this one.
    3. Assemble/paint 2 Imperial Knights
    Got one done. The other can sit and languish in it's box for another year or two I think. I don't see how people tackle more then one of these at time or in a short time frame. Or anything else of that size for that matter.
    4. Paint some LoTRs models.
    Done! I left this one a bit open ended. But seeing as i've painted Theoden and 4 warriors, it's RAW done. Will definitely paint some more before years out for sure though.
    5. Make head way with at least 2 other armies
    Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know. Not really. Kinda made a start on the Lost & Damned with those poxwalkers. But not really enough to call "head way". And work on the Imperial Guard was practicably stillborn. We'll see....
    6. Make some Terrain.
    Not yet. Soon though!
    7. Paint some Terrain.
    Not yet. Soon thought!
    8. Paint something not 40k/GW related.
    Seeing as I have very little that isn't GW base, this one was always more of a "do yourself a favour and branch out" goal. I have few kickstarter things that would fit this bill nicely though.
    9. Paint something Random
    Bit of a cop out, but I painted some faces at a kids party a while back. Not very well it must be said, but it was more for gaks and giggles then anything else.
    10. Play some games of 40k
    This was one I was really hoping to get too. Hasn't happened so far but might yet. Not holding my breath though, if i'm honest.

    So in total i'm calling this a (very) dubious 3 out of 10 golden Aquilas. (really 2 and 2 half completes and 1 of those completes is a really poor excuse for a complete.)


    On top of all that I still have a few unfinished things to attend too.
    -Left uncompleted are the camo cloaks for the sniper scouts.
    -Tactical squad sergeant w/custom bionic leg.
    -Basing for the full company is yet to be even started. The scouts, assault marines and command squad is based. Everything else is not. I have everything I need. I'm just being lazy.
    There are others, but these are the 3 that my mind keeps circling back too all the time.

    This post has so far been leaning heavily on what I haven't done. What I have done over the last few days though, is go through my hobby area and clean and reorganise. I've shuffled and sorted and moved and ordered just about all of my hobby related material. Which has been good, because now I have a better idea of how to tackle the things I want to in an order that is manageable.
    Maybe the largest benefit of doing this has allowed me to get all my terrain bits and bobs into one place. I have a fair whack of GW terrain, but I also had an obscene amount of cardboard and other detritus that i'd accumulated over the years, the vastly overwhelming majority of which i've never done anything with. Funky shaped bottles and lids and gak that at one point I thought would make for good terrain features, but which never eventuated.
    Well that overwhelming majority is now in the bin.

    There's more I wanted to say but i've been writing this post for an inordinately long time now, so i'm going to leave it there for now.
    In short, hopefully look forward to some more LoTRs minis and some terrain to go along with them. (I've started planing out a Rohan village.) Some painted shadespire warbands and probably some more Lost & Damned.

    Cheers all!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/09/29 10:09:45


    Post by: Nevelon


    Nice summary. I should do one myself, while there is still time in the year to actually check things off. Sometime around November everything just starts to get crazy and not slow down until mid-January; it’s good to plan ahead if you want to make those yearly goals.

    For larger and more open ended goals, those partials count for a lot. Give yourself the credit you are due for making progress.



    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/09 22:52:01


    Post by: Snrub


    Alright guys, I've been pussyfooting around with the eyes for too long now trying not to commit to something that wouldn't have looked good. I should have just listened to the people who said red in the first place.
    I was worried that they'd be lost among the red gems and purity seals, but having done it, I worried for naught.



    Followed Darren Lathams glowing eyes tutorial minus the "glow". Essentially just gave him a set of T-800 eyes. Somewhat fitting given that he himself is in terminator armour.
    Only thing I might do is give the wax seals a black wash to darken them down some.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/09 23:47:40


    Post by: youwashock


    He wants your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle.

    Eyes look good. They definitely don't get lost.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/16 07:09:26


    Post by: Snrub


    Roooight. He's ACTUALLY finished. Glued together, based, touched up. All that good gak.


    Interrogator-chaplain Ephrek of the Dark Angels Reculisam








    Now that he's done he can be put on the shelf and never touched again. He's not a gaming piece, that's for sure. Far too fragile. His arms are way to heavy for even with a good super gluing.
    As always, i'm open to any comments (good, bad or indifferent) so let me know what you think.


    Also received my Made to order LoTR Orcs and Goblins. Fun fun.

    I got a duplicate of one of the orcs by accident, so they (quite promptly) sent me out a replacement for the missing orc. GW customer service killing it once again.
    They've got me in a middle earthy mood, so definitely gonna have some LoTR content coming soon.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/16 08:26:17


    Post by: ingtaer


    Love that Chaplin mate, solid work on a great model.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/16 15:48:18


    Post by: Arakasi


    Love the freehand on the “shield”.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/16 18:45:18


    Post by: Theophony


    The shield work is great.
    Also looking forward to seeing more LotR figs.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/19 02:00:55


    Post by: zahnib


    Chaplin looks great! Love the addition of the shield. And I think red was a good choice in the end Pinning makes that model a whole lot more sturdy, would be a shame for it to just sit on the shelf!

    Look forward to seeing some Lord of the Rings content, its a shame its kind of died out


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/19 07:39:39


    Post by: Snrub


    Ingtaer - Cheers mate!
    Arakasi - Thanks. I'm reasonably pleased with it too! My first attempt at freehanding both a skull.
    Theo - Thanks, mate. LotR inbound!
    Zahnib - Cheer. Every aspect of the paint job came together really well in the end. Regarding the pinning, two things stopped me pinning his arms. My pin vice is old and shity and the chuck doesn't grip the bit hard enough to effectively drill metal models..... I just haven't bought a new one yet. The other is I'd need to varnish him so the paint wouldn't rub off and i'm kinda apprehensive about varnishing him because i'd hate for it to alter the paint job any or do that horrid blooming it does sometimes.
    Interestingly, my local GW has a reasonable LotR following. About a half dozen young fellas who i'm assuming are a bunch of school friends. So the game is still active in my area, which is nice.


    Speaking of LotR. Before I start stripping my middle earth back log, I thought i'd do a minor retrospective.

    This little goblin is the very first miniature I ever painted way back in the early 2000s. Followed the painting guide to the letter except for the fact I used a Humbrol enamel red. Don't know how well that's going to strip!

    On one hand I kinda don't want to strip the paint off them. I get that lovely little nostalgia hit when I look at them. On the other hand, the need to paint must be satisfied, and I ain't made of money. So into the IPA you all go.

    A then and now comparison.


    And a group of various warriors.


    What looking at these old paintjobs has shown me, is that, right from the start, i've been a reasonably neat painter. The skill has improved substanially though, I can say that. I know I never used to water down my paints at all. My style has also changed a bit too. I used to favour brighter colours where now I tend towards a more realistic style.
    And now of course I know about blending and washes, etc, which I never used to. Dry brushing was the extent of my "advanced skills" repertoire.
    I also rarely bothered about prep/clean up. Mould lines generally got left to their own devices and I often ddin't bother removing the chunks of sprue left over on the model after I clipped them off. I was so slack...



    Moving on. I had an absolute corker of a ebay win the other day. I actually got out of my seat and did a merry jig before I contained myself and didn't squeal like a small girl (I squealed).

    Nabbed myself a old games day captain, a 3rd ed chaplain, old flamey hands himself and some servitors



    More excitingly though. I got some OOP FW etched brass. The DA frame and the numerals will be very useful and who doesn't need ~250 tiny brass eagles?!


    But best of all, I got this guy for an utter steal. $20 for a completely intact Ironhand Iron Father. I've wanted this guy for ever.



    Got 3 days off now, so with any luck I should get some Rohirrim smashed out. That is if I don't break down and buy Total Warhammer 1&2, first. Steam has them on sale and the call is intensely strong...
    As always thanks for looking and sticking around.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/19 11:52:32


    Post by: Nevelon


    Chaplain is awesome, you should try to get him on the table to purge heretics where he belongs. No resting back at base for the likes of him!

    Nice drop of cool stuff. I’d not strip your first model if I were you. Nice to keep as a reminder of how far you have come.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/19 17:46:46


    Post by: youwashock


    Excellent finish on the Chaplain. Lots of fun classics from eBay and LotR means good things to come. Keep up the awesome work.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/20 15:32:51


    Post by: gobert


    Nice one finishing the chaplain off. Can’t help but think his shoulder pad needs something above the angel skeleton. Maybe a sword or number 1? Perhaps some writing on his parchment on his top armour too?

    Great win on the GW order too! Everyone loves a freebie!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/24 10:51:26


    Post by: zahnib


    Ah well, I imagine it won't be too hard to pop the arms off once you get a new pin vice And I can relate to being hesitant about using a spray varnish


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/30 11:30:07


    Post by: Snrub


    Nev - Getting him on the table would mean getting to a table to begin with. Something i've been historically terrible at! It would be a shame though not to crack some heads though... I've actually put my first goblin aside. He's blu-tac'd to the computer monitor now. I think I might leave my first Rohirrim as well.
    YWS - Thanks bud. Yeah looking forward to cracking on with the Iron-father.
    Gobert - The freebie got me the glaring of a life time from my lovely, ever-so understanding girlfriend who answered the door for the postie and assumed i'd been buying MORE models. Que garbled explanation. You're not wrong about the shoulder pad though. That got somewhat neglected in lieu of the other frippery.
    Zahnib - Shouldn't be too much drama. Now that we've got a run of decent weather I might do a bit of vanishing research and have a crack at it.


    Ok, so some PROGRESS! has been made.

    I was expecting to get some Rohirrim done on my days off, instead though, buoyed by my success with the Interrogator-Chaplain, I knocked out another chaplain instead!

    Antieus, 10th Company Chaplain.


    [url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1032783-Angel%2C%20Chaplain%2C%20Dark%2C%20Space%2C%20Space%20Marines.html]
    [/url]

    This bloke was done a little different to the TDA chappy. Used Eshin grey instead of Dark Reaper for highlights and tried for more of a polished bone look for the helmet instead of the grittier look on the other one. The main thing though is I really tried to give this guy a sense of movement. The stock model is already in motion, but I tried to add to that with the long flowing purity seal on his shoulder and the a banner that curled in the right direction. Another thing I did, which im not sure is super obvious, but I think really helps, is I put a small wedge of greenstuff under his forward foot so as to tilt him ever-so slightly to his left. Gives him a little extra motion but also makes it look like he's about to bring his crozius around in a big sweeping arc.
    Another thing that was unintentional, but I like so i'm going to run with, was the purple. This guy has a purple book, the others crozius haft is purple. Not only is it a nice spot colour, it also ties the two models together in an additional way. So I think that's a theme I might keep going with the chaplains. I'll also do it with other characters as well like techmarines and librarians too if I can find something that works for them.
    I'm calling this guy done. Although I feel the banner is a little drab, so I may go back to him in the future and add some more colour to it. Maybe a campaign or deathwatch icon or some checkers. I'm leaving it for now though.
    On a personal note though, a shout-out must be given to a bloke named Jonas Wideen on instagram. He's an absolute free-hand animal and he gave me some good advice on doing freehand skulls. So expect to see 100% more freehanded skulls on pretty much everything from now on...

    I've started writing little blurbs for my doods as well. I've found that it helps me "get into the model" a bit more. I'll post them as I post squads/characters. Feel free to completely ignore them!
    While being trained as a Chaplain, Antieus was called up to serve in the Deathwatch. During his tenure, Antieus took part in 84 combat missions and fought over 30 different Xenos species. Upon return to his parent Chapter, there was need of a 10th company Chaplain. Antieus' fifty years of experience fighting dozens of various xenoforms in the Deathwatch, as well as over eighty years as a battle brother before that, made him a natural candidate for the scout company where his knowledge and skill would be put to prime use.
    Antieus carries two trophies from his time in the Deathwatch, two skulls, from his first and last missions. One is the skull of a corrupt planetary governor, who was in the process of handing control of his planet over to Xenos slavers. The other, the skull of an ork warlord, killed in personal combat during the closing battles of the Twohundred Stars campaign.



    As always, comments and criticisms are welcome. Let me know what you think.
    Thanks!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/10/30 13:13:46


    Post by: youwashock


    Look at that banner! That's gonna be the grimdarkiest thing I see all day. Really well done.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/01 01:06:02


    Post by: Master Azalle


    Work well done! Looks great


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/01 16:33:33


    Post by: gobert


    Cool chaplain, love the gem on his pendant it looks great! More good skull painting too. Are you practicing ready for some more Deathwing?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/02 23:10:55


    Post by: Theophony


    Saw the purple book and was going to call it out as awesome, then read you posting about the book being a happy accident . It really is a nice touch and varies what one normally sees done with models.

    Overall a really nicely done model. I like that he is different from your TDA chaplain, but still close enough to clearly be in the same army.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/05 21:39:09


    Post by: zahnib


    Nice dude! That freehand skull is looking great, I look forward to seeing more in the future


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/11 00:05:22


    Post by: Snrub


    YWS - Ooh thanks. That means a lot! I try to inject a little bit of grimness into all my minis (Warfare is a grim business after all). Funnily enough, it's so much easier with a mini like a chaplain!
    Azalle - Hey, welcome back. Thanks! Are you gonna kick off your own Unforgiven again?
    Gobert - Cheers buddy. Assuming you're referencing the bone skulls in relation to the deathwing, then not so much practicing for painting deathwing as just practicing. I do have a few squads worth of terminators waiting in the wings, though I'd be lying if i said I was raring to paint them up.
    Theo - Thanks mate. I too like that he's different from the TDA chap. I think it's important for character models of the same sort to look different, even if only in subtle ways. Otherwise they all blend in and cease to be characters.
    Zahnib - Thanks! I'm glad you're keen for more, as I have another TWO chaplains sitting on my desk! I'm gonna paint chaplains till you all get bored of them! (I'm not. I'm saving them for later )


    Only a small update today.

    Got my first batch of Rohirrim finished off.

    There's a bit of variation with some of the colours on some of these blokes. Most of it was just finding the right colours/mixes for certain things. (Still haven't nailed down a green I like for the cloaks yet). But they are for the most part fairly unified looking.
    10 down only 38 left to go.

    Looking for some thoughts here though. Base rims. Tried out a few different colours.

    Left to Right: Scorched Brown, Gorthor Brown, Chaos Black, Rakarth Flesh, Codex Grey.

    Now normally i'd just leave them black and be done with it. But I think it's too stark a contrast here. Now I don't really like the two on the right, so I am currently leaning towards either the Sorched or the Gorthor brown. Or maybe something in between.
    Thoughts? Opinions?




    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/11 01:37:15


    Post by: youwashock


    Scorched.

    Also, "To ruin, and the red dawn!" All I can hear seeing them arrayed around big T like that. Dig 'em.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/11/11 08:58:02


    Post by: Pomander Cask


    Nice Rohirrim! Black base colour doesn't look that bad to me. Still, the browns look good as well, particularly the Gorthor Brown. I think it reminds me of how bases looked some ten years ago (wasn't it called Snakebite Leather back then?).


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/06 00:32:04


    Post by: Snrub


    YWS - Thanks! That's pretty much what I was going for.
    Pomander Cask - Cheers buddy. That was the colour I was going for too. I believe you might be on the money with the Snakebite Leather.


    Not a whole lot happening at the moment as I haven't had much time for painting recently. So here's some gak i've completed but never got around to uploading.

    Did a tester Orc to see what I could do.


    I'm happy enough with him. Kept the colour palette as minimal as possible. Browns, yellow, metal. A spot of red on the shield. Some washes. It's quick and dirty, probably spent about ~2 hours on him including drying times.

    Here's something I did for a little friendly online comp.
    The mini is Brother Vinnis "Hilda" which is (I believe) based off of Black Library's Ulrika character.


    I had a lot of fun painting this wee lass. The orange hair was surprisingly successful and I managed to not completely balls up her eyes either which was nice. The cloak was a let down though. I realise in hindsight that I should have made it a lot whiter as the cream just blends in with her pants and shirt.
    I wont post all the pics here, but if you click on the image it'll take you through to more.

    While I haven't got much painting done last couple of weeks, I have done a bit of building and made some LotR terrain!


    Again, wont post the full thing here, as I have a thread for that. So if you like terrain and feel so inclined check out my Terrain Thread! (You can ignore all the older stuff though, it's a bit naff. )

    Right, so that actually knocks off another too 2019 objectives!
    Paint something Random and Make some Terrain.

    Spoiler:
    1. Finish Dark Angels 5th company
    Hasn't happened yet. With 1 more Tactical Squad, and Assault Squad and both Devastator squads left to go, this one looks unlikely to happen. I have however finished all the other squads I had already that needed to be painted. So not a complete failure.
    2. Paint 1st, 2nd & 10th company Aux forces
    Did much better with this one. Painted both my scout squads and the Black Knights as well as one of the deathwing squads (cataphractiis) Still have a RW attack squad and 2.5 deathwing squads left. So there's still time to complete this one.
    3. Assemble/paint 2 Imperial Knights
    Got one done. The other can sit and languish in it's box for another year or two I think. I don't see how people tackle more then one of these at time or in a short time frame. Or anything else of that size for that matter.
    4. Paint some LoTRs models.
    Done! I left this one a bit open ended. But seeing as i've painted Theoden and 4 warriors, it's RAW done. Will definitely paint some more before years out for sure though.
    5. Make head way with at least 2 other armies
    Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know. Not really. Kinda made a start on the Lost & Damned with those poxwalkers. But not really enough to call "head way". And work on the Imperial Guard was practicably stillborn. We'll see....
    6. Make some Terrain.
    Made some Ruins!
    7. Paint some Terrain.
    Not yet. Soon thought!
    8. Paint something not 40k/GW related.
    Seeing as I have very little that isn't GW base, this one was always more of a "do yourself a favour and branch out" goal. I have few kickstarter things that would fit this bill nicely though.
    9. Paint something Random
    Bit of a cop out, but I painted some faces at a kids party a while back. Not very well it must be said, but it was more for gaks and giggles then anything else.
    Painted Hilda!
    10. Play some games of 40k
    This was one I was really hoping to get too. Hasn't happened so far but might yet. Not holding my breath though, if i'm honest.

    So in total i'm calling this a (very) dubious 4 out of 10 golden Aquilas. (really 3 and 2 half completes.)



    Getting there.

    Anyway, as always, thanks for having a gander.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/06 01:55:13


    Post by: youwashock


    Nice freehand on that shield. Really works. Hilda looks quite good. A couple of understated and natural looking models. Good luck with those goals. Maybe I should look into some of that, myself.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/26 22:51:40


    Post by: Snrub


    So last post for the year.


    My lovely girlfriend blindsided me completely by getting me a proper lightbox for my birthday! Absolute corker of a gift. (she also got me a ticket to see Opeth, but that's not so relevant here)
    It's a good one too. Comes with all the trimmings. Coloured backdrops, USB light strips and a carry/storage case.



    Which allows me to segue quite nicely into this...


    Théoden King of Rohan.


    Warriors of Rohan



    Taken with my new lightbox. It's a little washed out looking, but I think that's a setting on my phone I can adjust in the future.
    I still can't take a photo worth half a damn, but they're now presented nicely!


    So my last project for the year is something i'm very excited about. So if you don't know Darren Latham is currently running a masterclass series on his youtube channel. The subject matter is the Lord of Blights.
    Now I could only get my hand on a Lord of Plagues, since my store was out of LoBs. But they are very similar models, so it'll still work well enough. So far "miniature prep" and "skin" has been covered with part 3 coming soon.
    Here's where i'm up to at the moment.



    Some of the transitions aren't as smooth as i'd like them to be, but for the most part i'm very pleased with the results. Flesh is not something i've painted in this quantity before, so this was a bit of a learning experience for me. The boils and pustules aren't the flash either, so I might go over them again later on. But this has completely changed how I look at painting fleshy bits now. Not quite as daunting as it was before.
    I highly recommend getting in on Darrens tutorials and especially the masterclass. There's a lot of good stuff to check out and learn.

    ~~~~~

    Ok, so End of Year goal check.

    1. Finish Dark Angels 5th company
    Didn't happened. With 1 more Tactical Squad, and Assault Squad and both Devastator squads left to go.
    2. Paint 1st, 2nd & 10th company Aux forces
    Did much better with this one. Painted both my scout squads and the Black Knights as well as one of the deathwing squads (cataphractiis)
    3. Assemble/paint 2 Imperial Knights /
    Got one done.
    4. Paint some LoTRs models.
    Done! I left this one a bit open ended. But seeing as i've painted Theoden and 4 warriors, it's RAW done. Will definitely paint some more before years out for sure though.
    5. Make head way with at least 2 other armies /
    Actually made good progress with my Rohirrim. Theoden + 10 Warriors painted. Another 20 primed and ready to paint. So I'm counting that as half done.
    6. Make some Terrain.
    Made some Ruins!
    7. Paint some Terrain.
    Painted my Middle Earth Ruins!
    8. Paint something not 40k/GW related.
    Didn't get around to painting anything non-GW.
    9. Paint something Random
    Painted Hilda!
    10. Play some games of 40k
    No games played.


    Four out of Ten. Five i'm generous to myself and count my two half completes as an extra one. Not a bad effort, but not stellar either.
    I'll do better with next years goals.

    ~~~~~

    So thank-you all for sticking with me throughout the year. I know my updates were sporadic at best, but I've really enjoyed interacting with everyone and I hope you've all enjoyed what I've presented. And I thank you all for the advice and feedback on my work, it's been great and means a lot.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/27 11:58:43


    Post by: gobert


    4/10 ain’t bad! They were fairly ambitious too I’d say, maybe roll the remaining on to next year to be fairer? The Lord of Plagues looks good, I’d say his skin looks nice but those pustules... sick is maybe more appropriate! I might have to look up Darren Latham on YT. Congrats on the lightbox too, I might need to get one of those to improve my pics


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/27 15:55:33


    Post by: Theophony


    Cool light box, I’ve considered ordering one myself....might have to get on it now that I see its results in action.

    Rohirrim are looking great.

    I talked to Darren Latham years ago when I ordered stuff over the phone with GW, he was helping the mail order trolls . I fanboy gushed over some of his models in white dwarf. He was fun to talk to.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/28 11:13:22


    Post by: zahnib


    Nice update Snrub. Your Nurgle lord is looking great, Darren Latham's tutorials have been awesome! And nice one on the lightbox, there'd be some handy photography apps out there to help with exposure and all the rest. Well done on your checklist, look forward to seeing more form you next year!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/28 13:33:54


    Post by: Nevelon


    Woot! New lightbox. One of my first goals when I started my blog was to get better at photography. When I got my lightbox it helped that immensely. Of course, now we can see all the flaws in our work better, but that’s the nature of the camera. Helps us improve.

    If you make all your goals, you are not setting them aggressively enough. You want to make progress, but always have to keep reaching forward. Looks like you have had a good year. Looking forward to what you do in 2020.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/29 01:49:19


    Post by: Snrub


    Gobert - I'm happy content with 4/10 goals. They were ambitious, especially given i'd never tried to push myself like before. I've rolled a few over for next years list. Thank you! The pustules are actually what i'm least happy with. They're too green and not as yellow as I wanted them, but I'm prepared to stick with them for now until the rest of the model is finished, then I can go back to them. Definitely check out Darren's YT channel. It's got some smashing content. And he's really good about replying to question and what not. He's really quite friendly. He's also really accessible on Instragram as well, if you have one.

    Theo - Cheers! I've got tomorrow off, so my plan is to have a good play around with it and my phone camera and see what I can do. Ooof. Mail order trolls. That's going back a looooooooooooong way. I can't claim a voice to voice chat, but he has answered a couple of question I DM'd him. . He seems to be a very friendly man.

    Zahnib - Thanks, mate. Good call on the photography apps. I hadn't thought about anything like that. Must give them a look.

    Nev - You're not wrong about the lightbox showing up flaws. The shadows hid how rough and patchy some of the gold on Theodens armour is. It's a bit of a double edged sword in that regard. But the pros outweigh the cons in the end. And you're right about the goals too I feel. They need to be achievable, but not "easy". I think my goal list for 2020 will reflect that.

    ~~~~~

    Something I meant to tack on the end of my previous post. Some statistics.
    Going back through this blog I discovered that this year...
    -My blog grew 5.5 pages, of which roughly 1.5 pages are my own posts.
    -I painted 44 minis + terrain.

    I also tallied up how much I spent throughout the year (because i'm anal about keeping my receipts) but once I got to *Hrummph* dollars I got a little embarrassed and stopped tallying.

    ~~~~~

    Finally, my goals for 2020. I have ordered them in loose priority and given a brief explanation as to why it's a goal. I had a long hard look at the goals I set for 2019 and why they did or didn't get finished and set these ones based off that. Hopefully this set will be achievable.

    1. Play 1 game of 40k a month.
    I bought the Dark Angels codex at the start of Dec2018, in the hopes that if I spent money on the codex i'd feel compelled to use it. Well now with rumours of 9th circulating, i'm bloody well gonna get some value out of it before it goes obsolete.

    2. Finish Dark Angels 5th Company.
    I'm about 50% there. I need only 1 more tactical squad, 1 assault squad, 2 devastator squads as well as company chaplain and 3 dreadnoughts. I'm not counting troop transports in this regard. I'll get them eventually, but I don't really want to buying a gak load of rhinos. I've already got 2 sitting there ready to be built. It's a weighty goal, but I do love my green marines and the need to have a full company is strong. Plus i've been working on this for ages. Time to complete it.

    3. Paint 15% of all Lord of the Rings miniatures I currently owned.
    This was originally a far more ambitious 50%. But then I realised how many I actually have (close on 300) sitting around the place.
    45 minis seems much more realistic. And I love painting these mins, so it's no hard ship for me to just sit down with half a dozen of them and throw some paint down. These will be what I paint when I get tired of marines. (And I have a lot of marines too)

    4. Make headway with 2 other armies.
    I've been collecting the Conquest partworks, and am currently about half way through it. So that has left me with a decent amount of Deathguard minis. These will be one of the armies I tackle in 2020. The other will likely be Lost and the Damned or some AoS skeletons.

    5. Paint a Bust or 54mm Miniature.
    Going to branch out and do something really different. Haven't done either of these things before, so either way it'll be a new experience.

    6. Finish Dark Angels Auxillery forces.
    Deathwing and Ravenwing. I learnt my lesson trying to smash out those Cataphractii. White is a witch to paint. No two ways about it. These will end up being a slow burn task. Painting one at a time here and there to break up everything else. I have 4 Deathwing squads and a Ravenwing attack squadron to paint.

    7. Paint 3x Random things.
    Pretty self explanatory. Spurred on by the massive enjoyment I got from painting Hilda. I have a bunch of singular minis laying around. So they can serve as palette cleansers if nothing else.

    8. Finish Tablescape tiles and enough terrain for a 4x4 table.
    Had my tablescapes languishing for long enough. Time to do something with them. As well as the box of unbuilt terrain sitting on my top shelf. This should be good for my terrain blog.

    9. Enter a competition (gaming/painting/AoP/etc).
    Pretty open to interpretation. Not going to be disappointed if I don't get around to doing this, as I have given myself lots of other stuff to do. But i'd like to challenge myself by entering something like this.

    10. Hit 20 pages on Dakka Blog.
    This is lowest rung on the ladder. Sort of a motivational goal more then anything else. I'd like to crack 20 pages on this blog by the end of 2020. I'm not going to just spam crap. But if I can drive myself to post here more often then it'll mean i'm painting more and it should hopefully end up being a self perpetuating thing.


    So that's what i've got planned. The plan is to just work my through them slow and steady.
    Anyone else have any goals for 2020?


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2019/12/29 11:52:53


    Post by: gobert


    A good set of objectives, ambitious but a still realistic. I’m particularly looking forward to 2, 6 and keeping up with them via 10! Maybe a state of the company photo at the start of the year and another when they’re all done is in order (though I doubt they’ll fit in your lightbox!)

    As for my own targets; first up I’d like to keep my motivation up and keep the steady progress going, after that I want to finish my Blackstone Fortress minis and maybe play the game, paint some more Marines and maybe a few Orks for 40k, finish up my tiny BattleMasters Chaos Warband and some more High Elves for WHFB. As for numbers, if I get past this years tally of 100 I’ll be more than happy.


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2020/01/08 11:29:57


    Post by: Snrub


    Gobert - An army shot sounds achievable. I'll see about that tomorrow. Your goals sound enticing. BSF minis (yum!), marines & orks (classic) as well as fantasy chaos and high elves (also classic). I'll be sure to hunt out your blog and follow along! And please remind me if I don't!


    ~~~~~

    Right so, lets kick off the new year!

    Started out by painting some soldiers of Minas Tirith. The work on these chaps is not nearly up to the standard of the Rohirrim. The silver just did not want to play nice. And I used the tail end of an old pot of black wash rather then use the new pot I have sitting there, which gave the wash some weird results. Seems a bit patchy in places.
    I have to say though these guys suit my minimalist palette style. Black, silver, brown, and a touch of both brown and flesh.



    So that's 5/45 done.

    I also managed to snag the chaplain I want to use for my DA 5th company off of ebay for a tenner yesterday, which was nice. A step further towards the completion of goal 2.

    And to round out the 1st week of the year (already!!), a supply drop (already!!).

    Ugh, sideways pic, but you get the idea.


    I've been absolutely hanging to get my hands on Amalia Novena, but she's been out of stock every time i've checked the GW site. I have her now though! As well as the space marine heroes and some generic walls/fences.

    So with that purchase, i've now amassed...
    7 chaplains (2 painted)
    5 librarians (3 painted)
    and (I think) 5 captains. (1 painted)

    I might have some issues that need resolving...
    No one tell my girlfriend please...

    Next up on the painting block is the Lord of Blights again. I've fallen behind on him and need to catch up!

    Thanks for looking!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2020/01/09 23:20:58


    Post by: Nevelon


    Heh, the problem is that you need more captains! Although chaplains are my favorite HQ, frankly there are limits to how many you need to fill roles, equip options, etc.

    Keep on painting, looking sharp!


    Re:Snrub's Blog: Back for 2023 with a photo dump. @ 2020/01/14 09:01:17


    Post by: Snrub


    Thanks Nev. Chaplains would also rate as my favourite HQ. Although I also have a massive soft spot for Techmarines. Which is another unit I have an unseemly amount of.
    I treat my HQs a bit like Pokemon. Gotta have em all, even if strictly speaking I don't need them.


    Caught up on my Lord of Blights Masterclass piece.

    Stage 2 - Armour


    Stage 3 - Cloth


    Stage 4 - Wood


    This has been a really fun learning experience. Couple of new techniques that I hadn't tired before. New ways of looking at things.
    The armour was an interesting lesson in stippling and i'm keen to try it again and hopefully refine the technique so that it's a bit smoother and not as blotchy. But as it stands, i'm quite happy with it. Looks suitably run down and weather-worn.
    Crosshatching on the cloth showed me that my brush control is nowhere near as steady as I thought it was. And I largely ended up just mushing the effect into a nondescript blur. But it bears further practice as I like the effect it gives once mastered.
    Overall, the net gain from this project has been huge for me and we've still a way to go yet.


    Back to the hobby goals.
    I've been working on these guys slowly over the last few weeks.
    The basic premise is just de-Nurgling the Death Guard range. Lopping off any of the tentacles, growths, maggots, fleshy protuberances and other general corruption. I'm leaving the corrosion, damage, censers, etc though as that fits with the theme i'm angling for.

    (fething sideways picture. Uploaded it 4 times and still couldn't get it right way up)

    I'm aiming for this army to be a Dark Souls inspired warband based around a foot slogging close combat Deathguard force.
    If you know anything about Dark Souls then you might have some inkling of what you might see from a project like this. If not, well then expect stupidly oversized weapons, extravagant oversized armour, a crazy mix of brutal melee and nutty magic. And death. Lots and lots of death.

    Painting and Modelling,
    Colour wise, i'm considering a mix of silver, black and blue for the armour. There won't be much exposed flesh on these guys, but what little there might be will be a horrid lurid yellow. Weapons will likely match the armour, but with a good hit of brass and gold thrown in.
    Modelling with involve heavy greenstuffing. Mostly over areas that i've cut down but need repairs. There will also be a bit used to embellish the armour here and there.
    The plan is to have lots of big two-handed weapons on characters and terminators. Knives and flails of various sorts on plague marines.

    Gaming,
    On the tabletop (should they/I ever get that far) the plan is for lots of footslogging melee plague marine units, backed up by some surgeons and sorcerers/plague casters. Then melee blightlords can zap in and wreck face when needed.
    This is, to my knowledge, not even remotely competitive and is in all likelihood a horrific army to play. But that's ok. By the time I get around to playing with them, we'll be well into 11th edition and it wont matter.

    Anyway, time to get back too it.
    As always, thanks for looking!