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mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/09/25 22:58:02


Post by: mcmattila


Hello Dakka! I've been a lurker for a while, but decided to start a plog of my own, mainly to share and document my hobby progress, but hopefully this motivates me to keep up at least some kind of painting pace I returned to GW miniatures around a year ago after about 15 years, and have slowly been building and painting 40k, Shadespire and AoS models. When I got back to the hobby, I decided that I was going to concentrate on the hobby side first and foremost, I'm not too interested in gaming. This allowed me to model and paint according to the "rule of cool", which is great after doing almost everything according to box art in my teenage years! I did end up getting Shadespire, mainly for the awesome models, but dabbled in the game as well and found it great fun. So maybe I'll get into other GW games as well in the future, who knows..

But enough talk, time for some pics. I'll dump all of my finished minis from the last year here in a chronological order.

First minis after the long break, five cultists. I had the spray varnish frost on me..


Some color tests with Battle for Macragge marines. A proper orange peel skin, courtesy of frosting. I haven't dared varnish my minis after these guys


Shadespire warbands. I nicked the SCE paint scheme from Tale of Painters' Banzai1000's Silver Lions.








"Shadowpike" 3d blocking terrain for Shadespire


Half of a Space Marine Tactical Squad. These were actually started right after the cultists, but I got distracted with Shadespire I'm currently working on the other half, hoping to finish it this week. Only a year to finish a squad..


Tomb Banshee. The model was a birthday present from my fiancé.


And the latest, Blood Reavers from the AoS starter set. I thought I'd try to get the set done in a reasonable time, so I thought I'd try speed painting by following an article in WD (Jan 2017), and just do basecoats + washes for the majority of a model. I did use a few more colors than in the article, with 4 skin tones and 2-3 colors for straps, cloth and fur. Worked rather nicely, and only took me a month Yes, I'm a slow painter.


So there, a year's worth of painting! Comments and criticism are greatly appreciated!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/09/30 10:01:18


Post by: mcmattila


I actually kept my schedule and finished the rest of my tactical squad! And just in time to participate in Azazel's September challenge, completing minis started at least six months ago I might end up changing the missile launcher for a plasma cannon and putting this guy into a devastator squad, but we'll see when/if that happens.



And a shot of the whole squad:



Also, a progress pic of the AoS starter set. Everything is built apart from the two leaders, and one mob is finished (as seen in the last post). I did a couple of conversions as well, see if you can spot them



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/07 16:30:19


Post by: mcmattila


I managed some progress on my Shadespire Orks. The armor is now mostly done, apart from some silver highlighting. This was my first time trying sponge weathering, and I got to say, it is awesome
I also based/sanded all my Stormcast Eternals this week, so they'll probably get primed soon.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/17 09:17:05


Post by: mcmattila


Last week was not too productive, but some progress on the orks nonetheless. I basecoated and washed the small details like straps and trinkets and finished the clothes and the boss' cape and fur pelt. I also added some copper to the weapons and weathered the checkering. There's not super much to do anymore, I might actually get these finished this week!



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/21 11:25:09


Post by: mcmattila


Oh my word, I finished Ironskull's Boyz last night! Well, more like Copper'ead's Boyz I'm really happy with how these turned out, probably my best work to date, and I tried a couple of new techniques too! The recipes for the orange armor and the green skin came from Tale of Painters' Amy, big thanks to her!





I also dug out some of my old models from 15 years back and stripped them. The Space Marines and the Orks were half-painted, with paint straight out of pot and no primer. Now I got to clean the mold lines, drill the barrels and rebase the Marine sarge, and then I can paint them. I probably won't do anything with the two metal Marines as the casts are pretty bad (skewed), but the sarge from Battle of Macragge has a pretty cool pose, I'll just try to change his little shrine for a flag. The Orks are some of my favorite models that I converted and I always regretted not getting them painted. But hopefully I'll get them finished now, probably not in this Orktober, sadly, but maybe in Norkvember? The guy in the middle is apparently a 1st edition Warzone Capitol model, originally a model of my brother's friend. I don't have a clear idea what I want to do with him, but I think the model's pretty cool.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/23 12:28:36


Post by: mcmattila


I did some work on the previously stripped old models, plus two oldies that I had only assembled. I cleaned up the mold lines, of which there were plenty and drilled all the plastic barrels (Very satisfying to do the big ork guns). The SM and CSM models were rebased to 32mm, and the SM sergeant got his flag. I even managed to remove the shrine without damaging it or the backpack! For the Warzone guy I also gave a 32mm base, and thought I'd try something other than sand and skulls for it. I really like the resulting industrial style base with steel floor, some piping and cables. I really need to get some copper wire though, the iron wire I currently have is tough to work with when it's cut short. With the industrial style base and reference pictures from a rulebook I found online, a paint scheme is forming in my mind: urban camo, black, gray and a US flag design on a shoulder pad.

In addition to these 7 models, I also primed my Stormcasts and the Khorgorath, so I've now got plenty of models ready for painting! I'm actually toying with the idea that I'd paint at least some of those orks this month, trying to finish a single model in a day or two, but we'll see how that goes..



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/23 21:36:49


Post by: JoeRugby


Cool stuff dude, love the undead


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/27 10:20:07


Post by: mcmattila


 JoeRugby wrote:
Cool stuff dude, love the undead

Thanks, the skellies are some of my favorite models too!

---

More orks for the Orktober! I finished the one Uruk-hai warrior I had unpainted. He's from the Two Towers paint set, so from around 2002? I worked on the guy for maybe two hours, so veritable speed painting for me! Though it has to be said that the model is tiny..





Better pic of the freehand-hand detail It was nice to paint as I didn't have to worry about being smooth.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/28 09:43:44


Post by: mcmattila


Painted up an old metal 40k Grot yesterday. This might actually be my first model ever that I painted from start to finish in one day I've been on a roll this month! This model was fun to paint apart from trying not to screw up the finished model while painting the base. It was also good practice for doing Moonclan Grot skin, if and when I get Nightvault and Zarbag's Gits.





mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/28 15:32:50


Post by: amazingturtles


Everything you've put up here so far is really impressive, it's tough to pick a favorite! Though yes, the skellingtons are exceptionally good. And I always love a good grot.

Keep it up!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/28 17:09:46


Post by: Captain Brown


Nice work mcmattila.

Cheers,

CB


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/28 22:34:05


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:Everything you've put up here so far is really impressive, it's tough to pick a favorite! Though yes, the skellingtons are exceptionally good. And I always love a good grot.

Keep it up!


Captain Brown wrote:Nice work mcmattila.

Cheers,

CB

Thank you amazingturtles and Captain Brown, much appreciated!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/28 23:55:11


Post by: Commander Cain


Oh wow that's a lot of awesome in so few posts! Great paint scheme on the marines and aos stuff!

It's nice to see a bit of lotr bits as well, I've always wanted an isengard army but have too much stuff to paint as it is.

Keep up the good work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/10/29 13:00:42


Post by: mcmattila


 Commander Cain wrote:
Oh wow that's a lot of awesome in so few posts! Great paint scheme on the marines and aos stuff!

It's nice to see a bit of lotr bits as well, I've always wanted an isengard army but have too much stuff to paint as it is.

Keep up the good work!

Much obliged! To be honest, that Uruk-hai warrior will probably be my first and last lotr contribution, as I only had the one and I'm not too keen on those models (or, as keen as I am on WH stuff). I do have two or three sword-Uruks that I painted as a teenager, maybe I'll take and post photos of those some day. Would make for a fun comparison..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/02 09:01:07


Post by: mcmattila


Some progress on two Ork Boyz that didn't quite make it in Orktober. Will probably finish them soonish..



I also started working on my old Ork Dreadnought by making a base for it. It was my first time making a cork base and I did the mistake that I put the rough side of the cork board up. Tried to fix it with a layer of PVA, but I don't think it did much. Well, live and learn. It'll probably be OK. The cork pieces are slanted a bit, inspired by the classic Space Marine Dread base. I also threw in a vintage tank trap piece from the 3rd ed. 40k starter set and an Ork helmet with the head scooped out.



I worked a bit on the Dread as well, cleaning up the leg bits. I'm so happy that we have nice plastic kits nowadays, as while the metal parts have nice detail, they have so much flash and mould lines that no part quite fits without a lot of filing. And then there's the additional work of pinning parts.. Anyways, I've been thinking about the color scheme and I think I'm leaning towards the box art with some alterations. While the orange would probably look nice as well, I don't really want to paint that much orange! And Dreads to me have always been very Goff! It's also a good piece to practice different blacks/dark metals.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/04 12:05:26


Post by: mcmattila


I finished building the Dreadnought today, and I got to say it was a pain. But I think the result is pretty good in the end. I've got a number of sub-assemblies: the legs, the body, the arms and the guns. I magnetized the big shoota and the rokkit launcha, so they're exchangeable on the right side of the Dread, the burna will be glued to the left. I'd like some sort of a handle for the body when painting/priming, but I'll see what I can work out.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/04 19:53:38


Post by: amazingturtles


Man, that is a hunk of metal. That would probably drive me crazy trying to assemble.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/04 22:23:29


Post by: Ezki


Glad to hear you got back to the hobby after so long time.
I gotta say, amazing models!

It might be the nostalgia talking, but I kinda like the old Ork Dreadnought model. Looking forward to see it painted!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/04 22:44:58


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
Man, that is a hunk of metal. That would probably drive me crazy trying to assemble.

Yeah, it's a hefty one alright! I mean, one reason for the sub-assemblies was that holding the whole thing while painting would have probably been impossible I'm so happy were working with plastic these days, I'm hoping this is my last metal kit that I'll work on (single figures are okay though)..
 Ezki wrote:
Glad to hear you got back to the hobby after so long time.
I gotta say, amazing models!

It might be the nostalgia talking, but I kinda like the old Ork Dreadnought model. Looking forward to see it painted!

Thanks, it's great to be back! Seems like a great time to be in the miniature hobby!

I'm right there with you about the Dread! Might be a touch of nostalgia, but the model is pretty awesome and has aged well. The new plastic kit looks great as well and is surely much more fun to work with, but the old one's still competitive in the looks department! I'm trying to finish the model by the end of the month for Azazel's November challenge, and am hoping that it won't be that big of a job. But who knows..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/05 04:12:39


Post by: youwashock


Solid paintwork, man. The marines are very cool, and I love how smooth the silver is on the Stormcast trio.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/05 17:02:35


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Some really cool stuff in here! I really like the Uruk-hai warrior you've done and those are some great oranges on your Orcs.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/05 20:23:14


Post by: mcmattila


youwashock wrote:Solid paintwork, man. The marines are very cool, and I love how smooth the silver is on the Stormcast trio.

Tyranid Horde wrote:Some really cool stuff in here! I really like the Uruk-hai warrior you've done and those are some great oranges on your Orcs.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it! The marine scheme is my own, altered version of the Revilers, and I'm really happy with how it came out. The paint schemes/recipes for the Stormcast and the Orcs came from Tale of Painters' painters, so much kudos to them. When I eventually get back to my AoS starter box project, I'll have a whole army of Silverlion-sigmarines! Well, a small force anyway..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/13 21:21:52


Post by: mcmattila


Last week was a bit more busy than normally and so a there's been less painting. And this week is not looking much different.. A small update however, I've been laying down base colors for the Dread. I did the checkers and the freehand today, though I'll probably go back to the skull. I'm not sure I like the ribbed horns, and the skull could maybe be slightly bigger. After that, next up on the agenda is to finish the base colors, shade it and do some sponge weathering/highlighting. Hopefully I can get to it in the weekend.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/14 16:03:15


Post by: Ezki


That freehand looks really great!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/17 23:00:11


Post by: mcmattila


 Ezki wrote:
That freehand looks really great!

Cheers! I went back to it and refined it a bit, I think it's closer to the box art and I like it more than the previous version. I've got the base colors down now, minus some details, so the model is ready for some washes!



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/17 23:09:26


Post by: amazingturtles


Checkers! always fun to see. And i do think the skull looks best with the filled in horns, like that.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/17 23:14:15


Post by: King Thor


How did you paint the grey on your space marines?

They look very crisp!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/18 09:41:08


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:Checkers! always fun to see. And i do think the skull looks best with the filled in horns, like that.

Thanks, I prefer the solid horns as well.
King Thor wrote:How did you paint the grey on your space marines?

They look very crisp!

Thanks! The grey is standard GW recipe: mechanicus standard grey base, nuln oil on the whole model, layer with dawnstone leaving the recesses darker, edge highlight with administratum grey. Dawnstone is the longest step, it takes 2, even 3 coats at places to get solid coverage.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/18 09:59:10


Post by: SJM


Love your colour choices, your oranges really pop.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/18 18:11:03


Post by: JoeRugby


The dreads coming along great


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/18 22:52:28


Post by: IGtR=


Love the dredd - v orky!!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/19 11:30:04


Post by: mcmattila


SJM wrote:Love your colour choices, your oranges really pop.

JoeRugby wrote:The dreads coming along great

IGtR= wrote:Love the dredd - v orky!!

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

And we've reached page 2! This is a respectable thread now! I hope I get the Dread done soon so we can have some pictures on this page as well. Shouldn't be too long as I washed and weathered the model yesterday, now there's pretty much only the details and the base left to do before assembly. Of course, the final touches tend to take the longest, for some reason..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/24 22:19:17


Post by: mcmattila


Just as I thought, finishing the Dreadnought took a bit of time. I only had a couple of painting nights this week, and actually got sidetracked for a bit with a miniature "rescue mission" (more on this later as I make progress).

But it's done now! Well, I still got to paint the rokkit launcha, but that can wait for now.. Really happy with how this came out, and how fast (by my standards) and simple it was to paint. I did almost zero edge highlighting, instead using the sponge weathering to highlight as well. The dark gunmetal also looks really good, I'll be sure to use that in the future. I think the base's colors ended up looking good, although I had a moment of doubt after basecoating the cork slabs Zamesi Desert. Looked like the Dread was standing on wedges of cheese! Amazing what a wash and drybrushing can do...

Anyways, pictures:









I really should get a small display board/mat and some scenery to do sweet action shots... Some day...


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/26 22:09:38


Post by: mcmattila


Okay, so I've been doing some building for a change. First, some Space Marine characters that I plan on painting next. The veteran sergeant was actually built more than a year ago but I finally got around to basing him. The captain I built yesterday. As some of you probably notice, I've tried to recreate the metal models from Jes Goodwin's 3rd-ed.-era command squad with plastic parts. I did take some liberties, but overall I think they're pretty good modernizations. I want to eventually make the standard bearer too, but I'll need to buy some bits before that can happen. I know the command squad is no longer a thing as such, but I'm doing this because the models are really cool to me. Part of the reason is perhaps that the command squad was, iirc, the second mini box I ever bought.



Second, the "rescue mission" that I mentioned in the last post. I had these two models in among my unfinished stuff from the teenage years, an Ork boy with a converted big shoota and a Chaos Space Marine with an Ork arm (that's some mutation!). As far as I recall, I gave the Marine for my cousin to try painting on, it was missing an arm so the Ork arm was attached from my bits box.. The Ork boy was kind of an awkward conversion even back then, so it never got painted. Well, last week I thought that as these guys weren't going to be of any use as is, I might as well try to rescue them by "de-converting", stripping and repainting them.

Before:




After:


The boy was an easy job with the arms and the gun cut of and new ones added. I reused the shoulder pad and the targeter. The Marine was a bit more involved: the arms and weapons changed totally (still didn't have a ccw arm, all of these bits are from the same exact box), the head changed, one shoulder pad made from a SM one and the body was realigned. I'm glad I finally found a use for the mutated head! While most of the mutation bits were a bit gak, this one was always cool, reminds me of Vic Rattlehead!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/27 03:17:12


Post by: Commander Cain


Great conversions! I really like the two marines in particular, they have great heroic poses without being too over the top.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/27 19:16:38


Post by: mcmattila


 Commander Cain wrote:
Great conversions! I really like the two marines in particular, they have great heroic poses without being too over the top.

Thanks Commander!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/27 21:18:49


Post by: amazingturtles


Ha! I remember making a big shoota conversion like that back in the day. Mine looked even worse i think. Nice restoration work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/28 09:07:22


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
Ha! I remember making a big shoota conversion like that back in the day. Mine looked even worse i think. Nice restoration work!

Heh! Great minds think alike, eh? I got the idea of the extra shoota barrel from the Ork codex of the time, and made plenty of them from two shootas. This heavy bolter design was more experimental, and didn't really work as well in practice as I had thought it would. The heavy bolter was actually taken from a broken Land Speeder that I still have, maybe they'll be reunited in the future!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/28 14:28:40


Post by: Thousandeyes


Everything is coming along nicely, really a scattershot choice of what to paint eh?

Sticking to a single project is tricky for me as well.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/28 18:12:40


Post by: mcmattila


 Thousandeyes wrote:
Everything is coming along nicely, really a scattershot choice of what to paint eh?

Sticking to a single project is tricky for me as well.

Thanks! When I came back to the hobby, I decided that I was going to stay firmly at the modelling and painting side and not worry about gaming. Now I can paint any cool minis that I happen to like! I have made a small "army list" for the space marines, but I'm in no real hurry to complete it. As it stands, I consider each unit/single mini as a project, so I don't feel bad about neglecting a (bigger) project. I just enjoy making a dent into the unpainted pile of shame


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/29 00:00:13


Post by: King Thor


Love your thread! I find that having different projects on the go let's you jump around when you get burned out on any particular project. Looking forward to your next update...


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/29 00:22:07


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Your marines look great, I like the bases you've done on them, especially the one with the pipes sticking out. You've also done a good resto job on your Ork and CSM.

It's cool to see you've picked to go with the P&M side of things, can definitely get burnout if you paint too much of one thing. Looking forward to future updates!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/11/29 15:10:27


Post by: mcmattila


King Thor wrote:Love your thread! I find that having different projects on the go let's you jump around when you get burned out on any particular project. Looking forward to your next update...

Thanks! I definitely enjoy painting all kinds of different models!
Tyranid Horde wrote:Your marines look great, I like the bases you've done on them, especially the one with the pipes sticking out. You've also done a good resto job on your Ork and CSM.

It's cool to see you've picked to go with the P&M side of things, can definitely get burnout if you paint too much of one thing. Looking forward to future updates!

Cheers! Glad you like the bases, I've been lately trying to do a bit more elaborate bases than just sand, a skull and a tuft. Especially with the Dreadnought I felt it was a must, as a flat 60mm base would look very boring. The captain on the other hand needed a bit of a lift to stand out, and I felt it was a good opportunity to try broken flooring with random pipes sticking out.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/02 20:04:00


Post by: mcmattila


Time for another update! I got the sergeant from Battle for Macragge finished today. I started painting him while waiting for the veteran sarge's and captain's primer was drying (I like to leave it over-night), and as I had gotten to a good start, thought I'd finish him off before starting on the other two. As for the painting, it was pretty straightforward, the only challenges being that I had to freehand the banner's circle and scroll, and the face/eyes having almost no definition. I think the result is pretty good, although I do have a lot of room for improvement on the freehand department The "RAGE" text on the banner is a nod to his Macragge-origins, as well as a step towards naming all(/most of) my squads after video games.





mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/11 10:06:01


Post by: mcmattila


Last week I had only a couple of days to paint, so not too much progress. The veteran sarge got some paint on though, and with the armor finished and the yellow mostly done it's pretty much just details left now. Hopefully I can get him finished in the next couple of days so that I'll have time for one more mini before Christmas. The original plan was to paint the captain, but now I've been thinking I'd like to paint something red and festive.. Well, at least red.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/11 11:00:03


Post by: Ezki


The Dread turned out great!
I really like the way you do yellow on those banners, well done!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/12 09:24:54


Post by: mcmattila


 Ezki wrote:
The Dread turned out great!
I really like the way you do yellow on those banners, well done!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing your Dreads finished! The yellow is just standard GW recipe and I still can't get it as smooth as I'd like, but it comes out good enough. Works well with the grey, I think.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/12 20:51:21


Post by: neil101


You have a great eye for colour schemes . Love those Marines


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/13 17:34:59


Post by: mcmattila


neil101 wrote:
You have a great eye for colour schemes . Love those Marines

Thanks neil, much appreciated! Can't take all credit for the schemes, but at least the Marines are my own, even if very inspired by the Revilers


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/16 12:10:42


Post by: mcmattila


Finished the veteran sergeant last night. I had some trouble with the skull decal as the pauldron was touching the backpack's exhaust, leaving no room to insert the decal cleanly. I ended up cutting away part of the decal and touching it up with white paint afterwards. I also tried to blend the tufts to the base with a bit of agrax earthshade (a tip from Vince Venturella), but the result was not that great. The shade just dried to a dark clump and was too strong.. I have to try it again with some lahmian medium. But aside these small things, I'm very happy with him overall. I gave him a white mohawk as a nod to the original 'eavy Metal box art.





You can see from the rear that I gave him a mk4 backpack, which is basically an HD version of what came with the original metal mini.

Next up will be my Khorgorath, the captain will be put on hold for a bit. Need a little change from power armor, layering it is such a chore..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/18 02:02:11


Post by: Ezki


Neat work, well done!
The face looks really good.

I like the pose of that model.
It's like he is saying "No! The fighting is that way!"


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/18 11:44:16


Post by: mcmattila


 Ezki wrote:
Neat work, well done!
The face looks really good.

I like the pose of that model.
It's like he is saying "No! The fighting is that way!"

Thanks Ezki! I like the face as well, I think it's the best one I've done yet.Also, it was much more fun to paint than the last one, which basically had zero sculpted detail And I agree with you about the pose. They make a fun pair with the captain, both pointing to different directions. "Onwards brothers!" "Sir, sir.. The fighting's that way."

I've been painting the Khorgorath and pretty much finished its skin last night. I'm following Duncan's tutorial pretty closely for this one. Some of the transitions and highlights are a bit sloppy, but as I'd like to finish this before the weekend I call it good enough. I've converted the model a bit as I thought the original was too busy. The headswap was inspired/stolen from Will Vale. The problem with that is of course that I now have to come up with some way to patch Korghos Khul's collar when I eventually get to building him..



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/22 10:43:23


Post by: mcmattila


The Khorgorath is done, and with it, my last model of 2018! There are a couple of dabs of paint in the wrong place, might go back to fix them at some point, but they're not too big of a deal. I had an idea of doing something like a dried out, cracked, river(/stream) bed in the middle and used Agrellan Badlands for it. It did crack, but so little that you can't really tell. I thought I put plenty of it on the base, but apparently not enough.. But no matter, I'm very happy with the model, as well as the speed that I managed to finish it!

Anyways, happy holidays for everyone!





mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/23 20:43:28


Post by: amazingturtles


He is neat! I like how you got the stormcast shield on the base, the way you painted the bony parts make it look a lot like it's really bursting out, nice and unsettling. Happy holidays!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/24 11:05:18


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
He is neat! I like how you got the stormcast shield on the base, the way you painted the bony parts make it look a lot like it's really bursting out, nice and unsettling. Happy holidays!

Thanks turtles! I desided to paint the shield in the colors of the Silver Lions, as I'm going to go for that color scheme on the SCE side of the starter. It was also fun to build the base, it was like a mini diorama, which I think is necessary for these larger bases. It was a bit expensive-ish, as I used greenstuff to create the mounds and bigger rocks Also, I'm glad that you like the bony bits, as that was the color that took by far the longest to paint!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/26 20:12:47


Post by: JoeRugby


Cracking Job mate

Hope you had a good Christmas Looking forward to what you do next year


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/27 19:17:37


Post by: mcmattila


 JoeRugby wrote:
Cracking Job mate

Hope you had a good Christmas Looking forward to what you do next year

Thanks Joe! I sure had, hope you did as well! I got Spiteclaw's Swarm as a gift, so that'll probably be my project for January. Also got a reprint copy of "Noidan Käsikirja", originally "Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World" and some nice beer, which might be good for inspiration



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/28 00:29:51


Post by: Tyranid Horde


That's a tremendous looking paint job on that daemon, the blending is really nice and the bone offsets the red really well!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/28 17:30:27


Post by: mcmattila


 Tyranid Horde wrote:
That's a tremendous looking paint job on that daemon, the blending is really nice and the bone offsets the red really well!

Thanks Tyranid Horde, much appreciated! I was surprised by how fast and easy it was to paint the skin using Duncan's tutorial.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/28 17:47:44


Post by: IGtR=


The spacemarines are great and sooo clean. Love the Khorgorath too - mine is missing a few bits so will likely steal the stolen conversion to try and bodge a new head for the thing as it seems to look pretty damn good like that!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2018/12/29 22:48:04


Post by: mcmattila


 IGtR= wrote:
The spacemarines are great and sooo clean. Love the Khorgorath too - mine is missing a few bits so will likely steal the stolen conversion to try and bodge a new head for the thing as it seems to look pretty damn good like that!

Cheers IGtR! From what I can tell, plenty of people seem to think the Khorgorath's original head is a bit silly, but happily that has led to some great headswaps! I like this eyeless daemon skull, as it reminds me of Doom's Hell Knights.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/07 22:36:07


Post by: mcmattila


Alright, a new year, time to rev up the hobby engine! Didn't get much done during the holidays as I was visiting friends and relatives, but I did manage to build Spiteclaw's Swarm and some scatter terrain / objective markers for Azazel's January challenge. I started painting the metals on the Swarm, the terrain pieces will be primed and painted some time during this month. Shouldn't be more than a couple of days work when I get to it.. BTW, it was cool to see that those Battle for Macragge force field projectors are getting a face lift in the Urban Conquest box that'll be released in two weeks.





mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/08 13:18:17


Post by: Ezki


Yet another success with that daemon!

Looking forward to see the rats painted. The metal pieces are looking good already.
Do you prime the metal parts with different color or paint straight on top of the grey?

Hope you enjoyed the holiday season


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/08 21:56:58


Post by: mcmattila


 Ezki wrote:
Yet another success with that daemon!

Looking forward to see the rats painted. The metal pieces are looking good already.
Do you prime the metal parts with different color or paint straight on top of the grey?

Hope you enjoyed the holiday season

Thanks Ezki! Holiday season was very enjoyable, and I even got to play a couple of games of Shadespire!

For the metals on the rats I followed RobPaintsModels' tutorial, I didn't really prime with different color, but basecoated with Rhinox Hide. Then a drybrush of Warlock Bronze and another of Leadbelcher. I then gave it a coat of Agrax. I still have to do a highlight of Runfang Steel, I'm thinking a light drybrush and maybe some selective edge highlighting.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/09 21:56:28


Post by: Tyranid Horde


That new urban conquest box is quite tempting. I don't have any terrain so some scatter would be good! Agree it's cool to see some of the old pieces get updated, although I'd say quite a few people won't recognise them!

Liking the metallics on the Skaven too, may be stealing the method.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/11 05:36:40


Post by: amazingturtles


I was surprised to the see the macragge terrain pieces in there, nicely surprised though.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/11 10:02:13


Post by: mcmattila


Tyranid Horde wrote:That new urban conquest box is quite tempting. I don't have any terrain so some scatter would be good! Agree it's cool to see some of the old pieces get updated, although I'd say quite a few people won't recognise them!

Liking the metallics on the Skaven too, may be stealing the method.

Thanks! Yeah that box contains some really nice pieces. I don't play the game though, so I don't really have a use for them, or the rules at least. Could be nice for photoshoots though, so maybe I'll eventually grab a set from eBay..
And go for it, we're all thieves here
amazingturtles wrote:I was surprised to the see the macragge terrain pieces in there, nicely surprised though.

I'm glad! They're remnants of my teenage hobby years, it's pretty cool to go back and pick up where I left off. I curse myself for throwing away the crashed lander though.. One day I'll get another!

---

Finished the metals, apart from some rust streaks that I'll add when the minis are otherwise done, and basecoated the furs. I'm going to go with more hairy rat-men than GW's naked man-rats, and a different color for each. Skritch was inspired by Adventure Time's Rat King, and Festering Skaven is obviously painted Eshin Grey. I'm now at the stage of painting where I'm doubting myself a bit all as all the different colors look really.. different. I'm sure washes, highlights and the team colors on the robes will tie everything together though.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/14 10:57:30


Post by: mcmattila


I've finished the hairy bits on everyone except Skritch and started on the fleshy parts. I tried to do some hair-like texture rather than just regular layering, I think it worked out pretty good.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/14 12:12:23


Post by: lipsdapips


Seconding all the comments about clean marines. Your paint scheme is really cool too - I love all the helms with the yellow halves. Just discovered this blog, made for very pleasant reading. Consider me subbed


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/15 10:24:12


Post by: mcmattila


 lipsdapips wrote:
Seconding all the comments about clean marines. Your paint scheme is really cool too - I love all the helms with the yellow halves. Just discovered this blog, made for very pleasant reading. Consider me subbed

Thanks lipsdapips, I appreciate you stopping by! It's cool to see that people seem to like my marines; there's not a lot of original paint schemes in this thread, but the marines are pretty much my creation! They're also a bit of a pain to paint, but the end result is worth it


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/21 10:06:33


Post by: mcmattila


Not as much progress on the rats last week as I would've wanted (=they're not yet ready), but I'm getting close. I painted all the brown straps and wooden bits and started on the purple cloth. Skritch's cloak is pretty much done, though I'm thinking of adding one more highlight for some added contrast. After the purple is done, it's only some detail work, minor clean-up and bases before they're finished.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/22 17:17:42


Post by: IGtR=


Love the use of purple on scaven. Wouldn't have thought that it works, but nonetheless, I think it is great. And the metals are fantastic.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/23 22:33:35


Post by: mcmattila


 IGtR= wrote:
Love the use of purple on scaven. Wouldn't have thought that it works, but nonetheless, I think it is great. And the metals are fantastic.

Thanks IGtR, I appreciate it! Yeah, I could only find a couple of examples of purple skaven, though apparently there's an "official" purple scheme on Clan Septik. I thought I'd try it, as I really like the color and also I try to paint each warband/faction with a different spot color, and I'm glad it's working out. I did have my moment of doubt while painting though..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/24 03:42:47


Post by: amazingturtles


That is a very good purple. I'm a fan of purple in general mind you, but it works very well with their fur here.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/25 21:36:06


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
That is a very good purple. I'm a fan of purple in general mind you, but it works very well with their fur here.

Thanks again turtles! I also think it's a very good purple I did add another highlight to it, and I think it made it even better!

I'm on the homestretch with the Skaven, with the rats basically done and most of the work done on the bases as well. I should get them done by the end of the weekend. We're having some guests over for the weekend, so that cuts on the painting time, but I'll be able to continue on Sunday at the latest.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/27 22:12:02


Post by: mcmattila


Spiteclaw's Swarm is finished, a week later than I hoped, but then again, a week sooner than I initially expected! These were a Christmas present from my lovely fiancé. She's not a fan of the rats, but got them anyway since she knew they were my favorites!

I had much fun painting the gang and choosing different fur colors for each rat. It did cause some minor headaches as couldn't paint the straps the same on each of them, but I think the end result is really nice. The color purple was something that I hadn't used previously, and other than Genestealer Purple being a bit of a bitch to paint, I'm a fan. Not the creamiest of blends on the back of Skritch's cape, but looks pretty sweet as far as you don't stick your face to it.I wanted to add some color modulation to my go-to "sandstone" bases, which I achieved by using a couple of washes, and painted some green around the sewer, to look like theres moss or something growing there. Finally, there was the problem of how to paint the water in the sewer/ditch. I didn't want to do the "radioactive green goop", and blue would've been weird by any standard. I ended up wet-blending some brown-green mess, washed it with Agrax and Camoshade and finished with 'Ardcoat. Not that visible in the photos, but I'm pretty happy with it.






Also, for 2019 I thought that I'd start a hobby bingo card, courtesy of Rob Hawkins. Got to stamp the "color scheme you don't normally use" box with the Swarm.

Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/27 22:20:58


Post by: Oshii


Skavens looks awesome, love them, great job.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/28 23:42:17


Post by: JoeRugby


Great job dude


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/01/29 11:30:22


Post by: mcmattila


Oshii wrote:Skavens looks awesome, love them, great job.

JoeRugby wrote:Great job dude

Thanks guys!

I've started working on the scatter terrain and objective markers by laying down some base coats and washes. I need to get a move on as I'm trying to finish these before Friday. Should be possible though, as these are mostly wash-and-drybrush kind of painting. The pallet might not get finished by that deadline as I forgot to prime it with the rest of the bits, but we'll see..



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/01 10:22:06


Post by: mcmattila


I finished the scatter terrain / objective markers last night, just in time to enter them in Azazel's January challenge. These were fun to paint and a nice change of pace, but I got to say that I did not like painting the models without bases. Having to wait for the paint to dry to is a bummer in a middle of a coat.





While I was looking for ispiration on how to paint the BfM markers, I looked at the original BfM booklet that I still have in my bookshelf. I noticed that they had used some pre-production models for the photos, I bet that wouldn't fly today!

Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/01 12:28:18


Post by: Theophony


Those skaven are fantastic. They are the set that had me thinking of getting shadespire and eventually building a skaven force....must resist.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/01 16:22:22


Post by: Ezki


Skaven look really good. The different colored furs give them a lot of character.
Also like the scatter terrain. Agreed that it's pain to paint something without a base. I usually am too hesitant to start painting the other side and get paint all over my fingers..

Good luck with the hobby bingo!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/01 23:31:24


Post by: amazingturtles


Ha yes, I just get paint on my fingers anyhow. Of course i do that when painting bases too.

They are all good, and i like the ooziness of the barrels.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/02 14:28:38


Post by: mcmattila


Thanks everyone!
Theophony wrote:Those skaven are fantastic. They are the set that had me thinking of getting shadespire and eventually building a skaven force....must resist.

Yeah, the models are brilliant! Sadly most of the AoS kits aren't up to that standard.. Well, maybe the sturdier models are better for large forces, Spiteclaw's Swarm is really fiddly! But anyway, I've got a couple of Plaque Monks in the pile of shame for a future project..
Ezki wrote:Skaven look really good. The different colored furs give them a lot of character.
Also like the scatter terrain. Agreed that it's pain to paint something without a base. I usually am too hesitant to start painting the other side and get paint all over my fingers..

Good luck with the hobby bingo!

amazingturtles wrote:Ha yes, I just get paint on my fingers anyhow. Of course i do that when painting bases too.

They are all good, and i like the ooziness of the barrels.

Yes, many fingers were painted! Not only by touching wet paint on the model, but by drybrushing and washes as well!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/03 08:29:22


Post by: Midget Gems


Good work on the scatter terrain, you have a really nice eye for detail with the little bits of weathering etc.

Love how the Skaven turned out, tbh the bases are wonderful and my fav part.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/03 11:18:10


Post by: aku-chan


Lovely job on the Skaven!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/04 21:09:03


Post by: mcmattila


Midget Gems wrote:Good work on the scatter terrain, you have a really nice eye for detail with the little bits of weathering etc.

Love how the Skaven turned out, tbh the bases are wonderful and my fav part.

aku-chan wrote:Lovely job on the Skaven!

Thanks for the compliments guys, I really appreciate it! The Skaven bases are one of my favorite parts as well, they were fun to work with and ended up looking great.

---

Azazel's hobby challenge is based around neglected models this month, which is.. well, we all have a lot of them I decided to go back to the AoS starter set and get the SCE Liberators painted. They will be done in the same Silverlions scheme as my Steelheart's Champions. During the weekend I did the armor and the black armor joints for the 10 Liberators. I decided, however, that I'm going to do them 5 at a time from that point onwards. Today I basecoated the red on the first group. If all goes to plan, I should have each group done in a week.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/04 22:58:58


Post by: Tyranid Horde


To echo the comments on your Skaven, they look brilliant! I really like that you've gone for purple on their clothes, it bounces off the browns really nicely!

The objective markers look excellent also and I'm looking forward to seeing more of those Stormcasts!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/05 00:26:25


Post by: Ezki


Good start!
I bet these will look great when finished.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/05 12:30:13


Post by: mcmattila


Tyranid Horde wrote:To echo the comments on your Skaven, they look brilliant! I really like that you've gone for purple on their clothes, it bounces off the browns really nicely!

The objective markers look excellent also and I'm looking forward to seeing more of those Stormcasts!

Thanks! The purple was chosen mostly because I liked the color and didn't see a lot of it on Skaven, but I'm glad that it works well with the different fur colors. Of course, gray and brown being neutral colors it's pretty much a given.
Ezki wrote:Good start!
I bet these will look great when finished.

Thanks! I'm fairly confident as well!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/10 11:16:23


Post by: mcmattila


I got the first batch of Liberators done last night. I wanted to get these done pretty quickly, but as the main armor is quick to paint and there's not that much detail I decided to do basically the same steps as I took with Steelheart's Champions. I did skip the highlights on black though, and was a bit more lax with mistakes. I'm happy with the results, they're really close to the Champions, and were painted in much, much faster!

While I was painting/looking at these, I noticed that the 40mm bases would really need something more to them than just sand and a piece of gravel. The flatness of the base starts to show. The tufts did a pretty good job of adding interest, but in the future I think I need to do some proper landscaping on bases this size. These models were always supposed to be rather quick projects though, so it's fine.





The one thing I couldn't color match was the cloak on the Prime. It ended up brighter than on Steelheart, but I think I like this more, so no biggie.



The next five Liberators are next in the painting queue and should be done next week.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/10 13:21:02


Post by: Tyranid Horde


They look great! The flash of red really makes these guys pop. I see what you mean about bigger infantry bases, I'm working on some Sons of Horus and they're based on 32's and my usual approach of sand and grass wasn't going to cut it.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/10 20:04:53


Post by: IGtR=


I quite agree on the bigger bases, definitely a mixed blessing. Whilst they give you much more freedom to create a more diorama-style base, one does feel obliged to do it for every bleedin' model on a 32mm and above. It has really delayed the basing and painting of my Ork Nobz, and I'm starting to think it was a conspiracy to sell those sector mechanicus and hero bases


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/11 03:22:59


Post by: amazingturtles


The purple handles to the weapons are a nice touch. All i do in this thread is praise the purple bits but dang it they are nice.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/11 10:45:53


Post by: mcmattila


Tyranid Horde wrote:They look great! The flash of red really makes these guys pop. I see what you mean about bigger infantry bases, I'm working on some Sons of Horus and they're based on 32's and my usual approach of sand and grass wasn't going to cut it.

IGtR= wrote:I quite agree on the bigger bases, definitely a mixed blessing. Whilst they give you much more freedom to create a more diorama-style base, one does feel obliged to do it for every bleedin' model on a 32mm and above. It has really delayed the basing and painting of my Ork Nobz, and I'm starting to think it was a conspiracy to sell those sector mechanicus and hero bases

Thanks guys! I feel that on 32s sand, grass and skulls/stones still work, but definitely wouldn't hurt to add something more interesting. At some point in the future I'm planning on doing some models with scratch-built industrial style bases, which will also be pretty flat, but of course it's more appropriate in that case.
amazingturtles wrote:The purple handles to the weapons are a nice touch. All i do in this thread is praise the purple bits but dang it they are nice.

Thanks again turtles! Purple is a nice color (and this is a different hue than on the Skaven), so praise away! I don't mind

---

Yesterady I took a break from painting and finished building a Devastator squad that had been neglegted for ages. The basic models were finished around a year and a half ago, but they lacked accessories and basing. The sergeant's arms were also originally pretty awkward (raised too high), which I corrected some time ago. So last night I added a lot of grenades, pouches and purity seals to the squad, and the sarge got an auspex to represent the signum. I don't usually add a lot of the accessories, as the size of especially the big pouches and holsters are pretty huge, but I think it worked out okay with these guys.

As for the models themselves, I wanted to give them heavier armor than the standard mk7, and used the mk3 instead. I'm not much of a fan of the mk3 helmets or powerpacks though, so I used mk7 for them. My reasoning is that the more advanced helmets would have better targeting and the powerpacks would be at least as powerful as the old ones but in a smaller, lighter package.





I'll probably start painting these guys after the Liberators are done, so next week. I'd like to get them done by the end of the month, so I could enter them in Azazel's February challenge, but that might be a pretty tall order..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/17 11:49:53


Post by: JoeRugby


Lovely job on the sigmarines dude


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/18 22:23:29


Post by: mcmattila


 JoeRugby wrote:
Lovely job on the sigmarines dude

Thanks Joe! Here's some more

So the next five Liberators are armed with swords instead of hammers. I happen to have a box of five multipart Liberators, and as it comes with both swords and hammers, decided to go for a simple weapon swap. Drilling holes for pins was a bit harrowing, as it left the weapon handles with 0.1mm walls, but amazingly I didn't screw it up on any of them. Finally, as I had access to a two-handed sword, I swapped one of the monopose models for a multipart one, and gave him the big sword. For some reason the arms were a nightmare to pose and required a lot of greenstuff.. The pauldrons were also really weird, so needless to say, my I didn't much like assembling a proper multipart SCE. Well, I still got four of them left for later, so I'll see if it gets better with a more standard loadout.

On the painting side, the only thing that differs slightly is, unsurprisingly, the swords, which didn't get a purple wash like the hammers did. I was originally a bit concerned that the large swords would be too similar in color to the armor, but the golden guards and leaving the wash off created suitable contrast. I played with the idea of some blue wash, but decided to leave it off as these are just standard swords.







mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/19 04:27:42


Post by: amazingturtles


Nice! The gold really does set the silver off well. A set of stylin' fellows.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/19 12:06:36


Post by: zahnib


Awesome work mcmattila! I love your remake of the old auspex marine from the 3rd edition command squad, one of my favourite models. Your Ork Dread is also great. You've got a very neat crisp painting style


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/19 15:29:11


Post by: Ezki


Good looking bunch! I enjoy the red cloths, well done.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/19 18:41:50


Post by: CommissarKhaine


Not a huge fan of the fantasy muhreenz, but I must say: very well executed! I love the richness of the red in particular.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/21 16:34:27


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:Nice! The gold really does set the silver off well. A set of stylin' fellows.

Much appreciated turtles!
zahnib wrote:Awesome work mcmattila! I love your remake of the old auspex marine from the 3rd edition command squad, one of my favourite models. Your Ork Dread is also great. You've got a very neat crisp painting style

Cheers zahnib! The auspex sarge is one of my faves as well, hopefully he'll be joined by the captain soon enough! As is probably evident, my painting (marines especially) has taken a lot of cues from WHTV, but staying "between the lines" has always been important to me. We'll see how my painting evolves as time goes on, but I'm definitely happy with neat and crisp! Thanks!
Ezki wrote:Good looking bunch! I enjoy the red cloths, well done.

CommissarKhaine wrote:Not a huge fan of the fantasy muhreenz, but I must say: very well executed! I love the richness of the red in particular.

Thanks Ezki and Commissar! The reds were a joy to paint!

---

On the painting front, I've primed and started basecoating the Devastators. There's not too much progress yet, so no pic this time..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/25 09:40:05


Post by: mcmattila


Last week was more busy than normal on the "real life" side of things, so I didn't get as much painting done as I would've wanted. Still, even a little progress is still progress.. I got gray, black and steel basecoated and washed on the Devastators. Next thing will be to layer the gray armor with Dawnstone, which frankly I'm not really looking forward to, though the mk3 armor looks like it might be more fun to paint than mk7? We'll see.. One thing I've not yet settled on are the lips/trims on the armor panels: whether to paint them gray or metal. I'll start with gray, but if that looks dumb I'll repaint them to steel.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/25 21:48:19


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Those Sigmarines look sweet! It's a nice break from the norm.

I have a soft spot for MkIII armour, if it wasn't for the fact Primaris marines are about, I'd want an army of them, heresy or otherwise. The only issue with them is the amount of edges!
I like the mix of armour marks too.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/02/27 07:57:52


Post by: mcmattila


 Tyranid Horde wrote:
Those Sigmarines look sweet! It's a nice break from the norm.

I have a soft spot for MkIII armour, if it wasn't for the fact Primaris marines are about, I'd want an army of them, heresy or otherwise. The only issue with them is the amount of edges!
I like the mix of armour marks too.

Thanks Tyranid Horde! I've seen some Primaris with mk3 helmets, they look pretty badass! I haven't got to highlighting the armor yet, but it seems to me that while there are a lot of edges, most of them seem to be so prominent that you can just use the edge of your brush, so they would be pretty quick to do.. The rivets though! There's at least 100 per model? You're bound to miss some..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/03 21:32:48


Post by: mcmattila


Small update today, I've layered the Devastators' armors. Judging by the pictures, looks like nothing much changed, but nonetheless, it took me about 1,5h per dude.. I should probably change to a bigger brush? Anyways, next update will probably take some time/be a small one, as I'm on a holiday trip and won't be painting again until Saturday at the earliest.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/04 01:22:35


Post by: amazingturtles


I can tell the difference! That's a good grey, and the lighting shows it off well. I think that armor is my favorite for marines and it looks especially good for these guys, all standing around and being tough. Possibly tuff.

Wait, no, never that.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/06 01:54:43


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
I can tell the difference! That's a good grey, and the lighting shows it off well. I think that armor is my favorite for marines and it looks especially good for these guys, all standing around and being tough. Possibly tuff.

Wait, no, never that.

Thanks! Tough armor for tough guys!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/09 12:17:09


Post by: JoeRugby


Coming along Great McMattila

looking forward to more progress pics


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/11 21:50:44


Post by: mcmattila


 JoeRugby wrote:
Coming along Great McMattila

looking forward to more progress pics

Cheers Joe! I'm hoping to get back on the painting track this week.

While I didn't paint anything last week, I did build a couple of models during the weekend! Long ago I stumbled upon Eric Sexton's Imperial Skaven, and wanted to give it a try myself. Now I have! I'm liking the sergeant, but I'm not a 100% sure about the neck/head pose of the rifle-rat.. I may try to reposition the head to be a little lower. Also, I'm going to go into a new and bold direction with these models, and paint the models and the bases separately! I built some industrial style bases which I'm pretty happy with, and should be fun to paint as well. Speaking of painting, the Devastators are still at the front of the queue, and I have yet to settle on a paint scheme for these guys, so it might be a while before they get any paint on them.





mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/11 23:30:53


Post by: Ezki


Oh these are looking mighty fine! That's a cool concept.
If I remember correctly, the Skaven are one of your favorite races? If so, this must be a fun project.

As a suggestion, the rifleman's head could be a little lower? As in a shorter neck.

Are you planning to make a bigger force out of them?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/13 10:18:54


Post by: mcmattila


 Ezki wrote:
Oh these are looking mighty fine! That's a cool concept.
If I remember correctly, the Skaven are one of your favorite races? If so, this must be a fun project.

As a suggestion, the rifleman's head could be a little lower? As in a shorter neck.

Are you planning to make a bigger force out of them?

Thanks Ezki! The Skaven are up there, yeah! I don't know if I'll ever collect a whole army of them, since I don't really fancy painting hundreds of rats, and a lot of their core models are really starting to show their age.. But, with this project I get to explore them a bit, along with the Imperial Guard (towards which I have very similar feelings ). My plans are to do something Kill Team-sized (around 10-15 models), though as I don't play the game and don't know much about the rules, this will be more like building a bunch of cool models. Currently, I have bits to do three more rats and the next one will be armed with a flamer. For the final two I'll have to decide if I'll make more rifle-rats or something else. I'd like to make a sniper using a Skitarii rifle and a heavy bolter team (I know they're not legal in KT, at least not yet..), but don't have bits for those yet. I've also been thinking about a Commissar to lead them and maybe a Sentinel or a Chimera for support (again, waiting for that eventual KT - Vehicles expansion!).

On the hobby side, I ripped the head of the rifle rat, cut it a bit more and repositioned it, I like it much more now. I still have to greenstuff him a new neck/collar. I also got some painting done: highlighted the Devastators' armor and washed all the rivets. I'll post more WIP photos when I get some more P done..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/17 13:21:31


Post by: mcmattila


Okay, time for another update. The Devastators are coming along pretty nicely, though there's still plenty to do. I've now basecoated and washed pretty much everything except the sarge's head and the bases.



And I did some more work on the Skaven. As I mentioned in the last post, I repositioned the riflerat's head (still the same head, the skull's showing on the other side). I also built the next rat, with a flamer as intended. Came out great, I think, the head especially is fitting. Now after sculpting the necks and collars of the two rats, I've been thinking about redoing the sarge's neck as well. Doesn't need to be reposed, but maybe giving him a collar like the rest.. We'll see..



Closer look at the sculpting:


The group so far. I think they look pretty good together.




I'm also counting these guys as a square for the bingo card. They could have worked for a lot of different squares, but I'm going with "sculpt something on a model".
Spoiler:



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/18 13:59:23


Post by: amazingturtles


Those skaven are neat! The one with the head's pose changed looks a lot better, a lot more natural.

Also i missed seeing that bingo card, it's a fun idea.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/18 22:26:11


Post by: gobert


Cool idea on the skaven, the flamer dude and the sergeant look a particularly good start!

Nice looking Devs too, crisp and clean highlights are coming together already


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/19 13:16:43


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Clean and crisp Devs, great job on splitting the colours on the helmet. Add me to the list of people liking those Skaven! I'm impressed with how well the guard arms fit to their bodies.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/19 19:00:23


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:Those skaven are neat! The one with the head's pose changed looks a lot better, a lot more natural.

Also i missed seeing that bingo card, it's a fun idea.

Thank you! I very much agree with you on the repose! And yeah, the bingo card is a fun incentive! I found it at the tail-end of 2018, and thought that I'd try to fill it in 2019. Curiously, Warhammer Community also seemed to find the bingo card a good idea, as their Middle-Earth Hobby Bingo card looks suspiciously close to this Rob Hawkins one..
gobert wrote:Cool idea on the skaven, the flamer dude and the sergeant look a particularly good start!

Nice looking Devs too, crisp and clean highlights are coming together already

Thanks for the compliments and for dropping by, gobert!
Tyranid Horde wrote:Clean and crisp Devs, great job on splitting the colours on the helmet. Add me to the list of people liking those Skaven! I'm impressed with how well the guard arms fit to their bodies.

Cheers! To be fair, the guard arms are attached to guard bodies! But there was a possibility of the heads not fitting in when the arms were attached. Some arms probably won't work, but thankfully the flamer fit just fine (had to do some minor cutting where the head touches the flamer strap).


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/03/27 23:07:47


Post by: mcmattila


Finally! The heavy bolter Devastators are now done!
Not much to say about the painting, it was a bit of a slog, the gold shoulder pad trims especially took a little back-and-forth (Auric Armour Gold is terrible..). My Raphael brush that I had been using for general purpose painting lost its tip (or got so bad that I didn't tolerate it anymore) while I was painting the lettering on the banner, so I pulled a fresh one for the face. Oh my word, I think I never had this good tip on the last brush! Well, I probably ruined it right the first time I used it.. But this was the first time I could paint the eyes without having to clean up the eyelids afterwards! Makes me kind of want to try and do eyes with dark outlines, like the big boys do! Just got to keep this one in good shape..





The next project will most likely be an Ironclad Dreadnought, as I've had one in my queue for a long time and it happens to fit Azazel's April challenge. Though I'd also want to do something really quick for a change, as the Devs took a whole month, so I might paint some one-off model before painting/finishing the Dread..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/03 07:51:44


Post by: mcmattila


Okay, I ended up doing a quick project before the Dread (though I have built it). I thought that my one Warzone 1st ed. figure would be perfect for this. It’s either a Capitol Special Forces Trooper with M516D Shotgun (according to the Warzone rulebook), or a Light Infantry Captain #2 (Prince August).

Painting him was pretty fun, and as this was a single miniature, I could try out some techniques that I wouldn’t have tried with a whole squad. I painted a camo pattern on the clothes, chipping on the armor and a freehand shoulder pad design. I’m very happy with the chipping and the armor panels, but the camo pattern didn’t work out as nicely as I had envisioned. Part of the reason I think is the fact that the sculpt was completely flat (and weirdly blocky), so that washes didn’t really help.

I thought about the paint scheme for a good while (the figure had been primed since last October!). I originally thought I’d go for an urban camo, but when I found PDF-copies of some Warzone rulebooks, I spotted a cool illustration (see below). The American flag design really caught my eye, and I decided to go for it. The camo pattern might not be the best fit for the base, but it’s not an impossible match. The trooper could be in some industrial complex in the middle of a jungle.





Inspiration:


Again, one square off the bingo card! I’m calling this guy a pre-painted model, as I don’t think I’m going to repaint any factory pre-painted models any time soon..
Spoiler:


Okay, back to that Ironclad..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/03 14:01:01


Post by: Maharg


Gem of a blog here - great variety and all really well painted. Looking forward to seeing what you do next


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/03 17:58:10


Post by: amazingturtles


He is excellent and very american. Possibly overwhelmingly so.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/04 07:43:49


Post by: mcmattila


Maharg wrote:Gem of a blog here - great variety and all really well painted. Looking forward to seeing what you do next

Thanks for the praise Maharg, and welcome to the blog!
amazingturtles wrote:He is excellent and very american. Possibly overwhelmingly so.

Cheers turtles! I was humming the Team America theme song the whole time I was painting him


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/04 15:39:26


Post by: Ezki


Wow, I really enjoy the shoulder pads!
Infact the whole mini looks very good. Very close to the source image.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/07 17:32:05


Post by: gobert


Cool mini, that shoulder pad is so neat and smooth, great work!
The Devs finished up really nice too


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/07 18:32:58


Post by: aku-chan


The chipping on his armour looks great!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/08 13:35:09


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Great stuff since I last checked in. I honestly hadn't realised those were guard bodies on your skaven! I'm blind apparently


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/10 07:22:15


Post by: mcmattila


Ezki wrote:Wow, I really enjoy the shoulder pads!
Infact the whole mini looks very good. Very close to the source image.

gobert wrote: Cool mini, that shoulder pad is so neat and smooth, great work!
The Devs finished up really nice too

aku-chan wrote:The chipping on his armour looks great!

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it! Painting the freehand design was fun, and the chipping really tied the model together. I maybe went a bit overboard with it, as I originally was going to just do something very subtle. But it was so fun to do that I did a bit more, though I don't think it's too much..
Tyranid Horde wrote:Great stuff since I last checked in. I honestly hadn't realised those were guard bodies on your skaven! I'm blind apparently

Cheers Tyranid Horde! It's probably nothing serious, but I'd get your eyes checked just to be sure!

---

Haven't had too much time to paint lately, but there's some progress at least. The Ironclad has now been started, with the steel done and gray basecoating started. I hope to get the "clean" version done by the end of the week, and then do some weathering with my new chipping skills! I just have to try and keep it pretty subtle this time, as the rest of my marines are all clean.

Modelling-wise, the Dread will be very basic and utilitarian, which I think fits the brawler nature. I thought about magnetizing the hunter-killer missiles and some other accessories, but I should've done that before gluing the body together, so I ended up not doing it. Also, I'm not too keen on the Ironclad faceplates, but as I don't have any others on hand, I used a small dab of super glue to attach the current faceplate so I can later easily change it if I want to. Maybe the design grows on me though..



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/16 15:14:46


Post by: mcmattila


Work on the Ironclad continues, and I feel pretty good about the progress. The armor is now basically done (apart from that one edge on the right arm that I missed when highlighting..). Layering took a whole lot longer than I had anticipated, but at least edge highlighting was fun and easy. Next up will be the weathering, and after that just a couple of small details, lots of rivets, the base and assembly.

One important thing to note! If you're using MicroSet/Sol when applying your decals (you should be), don't be lazy and apply some gloss varnish before laying down the decal and the chemicals. I wanted to try if it was really necessary to use gloss varnish first, especially as I had only smooth surfaces on the model. Everything went fine until I decided to use a paper towel to dry some excess MicroSol. I noticed that MSol had softened the paint as well, as the paper rubbed of some paint (fortunately I didn't touch the decal). Now, this wasn't a serious issue, I just waited for the chemical to dry off and repainted the spot, and then gloss and matt varnished the decals. But it is something to keep in mind, and from now on I'll be sure to always use gloss varnish before applying these chemicals.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/16 18:12:05


Post by: Captain Brown


Wow mcmattila,

That is a very smooth grey finish on the Dread.

Good advice on the transfers, I always take the extra step with the GW ard'coat before first applying them.

Cheers,

CB


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/17 22:38:39


Post by: mcmattila


Captain Brown wrote:
Wow mcmattila,
That is a very smooth grey finish on the Dread.
Good advice on the transfers, I always take the extra step with the GW ard'coat before first applying them.
Cheers,
CB

Thanks CB! The gray did take some doing, but I got there in the end I had also used 'ardcoat every time before this one, but it was late in the night, I was lazy and a bit curious.. Won't be skipping that step anymore!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/17 22:43:13


Post by: Ezki


Wow, that gray looks oh so smooth!
Thanks for the tip regarding the decals. I will keep that in mind if I decide to use them in the future. Never have tried them before, but there is always a first time.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/19 17:50:34


Post by: mcmattila


 Ezki wrote:
Wow, that gray looks oh so smooth!
Thanks for the tip regarding the decals. I will keep that in mind if I decide to use them in the future. Never have tried them before, but there is always a first time.

Cheers Ezki! Decals are really nice to use if you can find suitable ones. Of course, you miss the opportunity to hone your freehand skills..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/29 08:11:39


Post by: mcmattila


Alright, another model done! This guy took quite a bit longer to paint than I though it would, it's a fairly simple model after all. But I did lose two weekends to travelling, and a couple of days to a flu (insert a Nurgle joke here). And as I said, layering the armor took ages! Well, it's ready now and that's all that matters. Overall this was a fun project. I tried a couple of new things and learned some important lessons.

This was my first vehicle in my current Space Marine collection, and I thought I'd have to do some battle damage so it wouldn't look too boring. I'd have to keep it from going too extreme though, as my marines have no weathering. I think I overdid it a bit, again, but I'm happy with most of it. Another new trick I tried was masking: I did the soot on the flamers/exhaust pipes after finishing the (clean) armor, and not wanting to mess up that I tried some Faskolor tape that I have left over from my RC hobby. Worked out nicely!

In hindsight, I probably should have improved the base a bit with some fine sand and such. Well, at least I've got an example of the OG (at least to me) pre-molded scenic base in my collection!











Finally, as with most of my models lately, I was able to claim a square in the hobby bingo: "paint a vehicle".
Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/04/29 16:05:03


Post by: amazingturtles


Excellent and congratulations! And i like the advice on decals from earlier, i've always been so bad at applying those that i usually never try


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/01 13:37:42


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
Excellent and congratulations! And i like the advice on decals from earlier, i've always been so bad at applying those that i usually never try

Thanks again turtles! I used to be wary of decals too, but when I started painting these marines, and wanted to give them proper insignia too, I knew I had to give decals a serious try. Happily it has been working out really well! I still have to check if I can leave the chemicals out on flat surfaces, only using varnishes. Reducing the number of steps is always good!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/01 19:04:34


Post by: gobert


Nice dread! Though it’s bugging me where the spent brass on the base came from. Did his enemies fumble a reload in fear of his awesome visage!?!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/02 11:27:18


Post by: mcmattila


gobert wrote:
Nice dread! Though it’s bugging me where the spent brass on the base came from. Did his enemies fumble a reload in fear of his awesome visage!?!

Thanks for the comment gobert! I did think about the brass on the base while painting. To me, they're just random debris on the battlefield. And while the shells seem big enough to fall close to the gun (assault rifles and such throw the casings pretty far), they could be anyone's, friend or foe. I thought about drybrushing them with the base's highlight color to make them look dusty, like they've been there a while, but then thought that they would look better from a visual point without it.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/04 15:44:50


Post by: Ezki


Really crisp paint job on that dread! Love the weathering

That's a classic duel setup right there. I'm cheering for the Ork dread


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/04 16:07:08


Post by: gobert


 mcmattila wrote:
gobert wrote:
Nice dread! Though it’s bugging me where the spent brass on the base came from. Did his enemies fumble a reload in fear of his awesome visage!?!

Thanks for the comment gobert! I did think about the brass on the base while painting. To me, they're just random debris on the battlefield. And while the shells seem big enough to fall close to the gun (assault rifles and such throw the casings pretty far), they could be anyone's, friend or foe. I thought about drybrushing them with the base's highlight color to make them look dusty, like they've been there a while, but then thought that they would look better from a visual point without it.


Given how close he is to the Ork Dredd I guess he’s catching some brass from the Autocannon!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/05 22:11:18


Post by: mcmattila


Ezki wrote:Really crisp paint job on that dread! Love the weathering

That's a classic duel setup right there. I'm cheering for the Ork dread

Cheers Ezki!
Trash can vs. washing machine, an epic battle!
gobert wrote:Given how close he is to the Ork Dredd I guess he’s catching some brass from the Autocannon!

Haha, you might be right!

---

I've been working on my Captain for the Revelators. And it's about time too, I built the model last November! I wanted to try some new techniques with this one, as it's going to be sort of a centerpiece model. Inspired by a Ben Komets video, I wanted to try out some panel modulation. Not really NMM, but maybe a bit more reflective armor than what I've done so far. This was a relatively easy model to practice on, since I didn't need to do the backs of the legs! Painting the armor was surprisingly enjoyable, and felt like I got it done pretty fast. I don't think it was faster than what I normally do, but I don't think it took that much longer. Also, I only used a wash for the three studs on the collar! I'll probably do some blacklining at places, but I was surprised that I didn't really need washes for any part of the armor.

I also wanted to do a freehand design on the cape, so as not to be too boring. I was a bit nervous about painting a white design on black, but it worked out pretty well. I did put the small triangular rays to the wrong place and need to correct those, and do some refining, maybe an extra highlight on the black, but it's coming along nicely.

Still have quite a lot to do, and I'm not quite sure about all the colors on the small details, but I guess I'll just have to lay down some basecoats and see how it looks. All comments and critique are welcome!



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/08 17:18:46


Post by: Maharg


Well done with the new armour technique, looks really effective. None of the reflections look out of place so you have a good eye for this style. Maybe the left shoulder pad could do with an extra highlight to my eye. Good job with the free hand too, particularly as it's on a wavy cloak surface. I always chicken out of doing this sort of thing on an already highlighted surface as I don't want to have to rematch the highlight mix when I cover up mistakes, hope this doesn't give you too much trouble when you fix those triangles


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/09 11:26:32


Post by: mcmattila


Maharg wrote:
Well done with the new armour technique, looks really effective. None of the reflections look out of place so you have a good eye for this style. Maybe the left shoulder pad could do with an extra highlight to my eye. Good job with the free hand too, particularly as it's on a wavy cloak surface. I always chicken out of doing this sort of thing on an already highlighted surface as I don't want to have to rematch the highlight mix when I cover up mistakes, hope this doesn't give you too much trouble when you fix those triangles

Thanks for the comment Maharg, it's much appreciated. There's a highlight on top of the left shoulderpad, which isn't showing on the photos, but I think you're right, it could be enhanced a bit. I got the freehand fixed without too many issues, though I guess it helps that I only used two colors on the cloak (I did add a third after it was done.)


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/09 17:06:08


Post by: gobert


That’s a really nice finish on the highlighting technique, you’ve executed it really well. Looking forward to seeing him complete with head!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/09 17:38:07


Post by: amazingturtles


I think the freehand bit looks great! it is very smooth and well defined.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/10 08:22:45


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Great looking dread and the base makes it pop nicely!

Keen to see more progress on the Captain, that freehand is very nice


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/10 09:18:52


Post by: mcmattila


gobert wrote:That’s a really nice finish on the highlighting technique, you’ve executed it really well. Looking forward to seeing him complete with head!

Thank you! Shouldn't be too long before I get this thing finished..
amazingturtles wrote:I think the freehand bit looks great! it is very smooth and well defined.

Cheers! It's even better now, I reckon.
Tyranid Horde wrote:Great looking dread and the base makes it pop nicely!
Keen to see more progress on the Captain, that freehand is very nice

Much obliged! You're in luck, here's a progress shot:



I got the body basically done, just have to fix one finger and maybe some other stuff. I'm pretty happy with it, though there are a couple of things that could probably be improved. The weapon sling for one. I also wasn't sure about the yellow rope, as it's on top of the gold aquila. But I think it works well enough. Now it's onto his backpack and banner, followed by the head.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/10 22:25:26


Post by: Maharg


Looking great now with all the details added and good job fixing the freehand. Finished model is gonna be awesome


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/15 05:41:09


Post by: Ezki


The freehand on the cloak is looking really good.
I love the effect on the armor, good job.
I gotta check out that tutorial and give it a shot


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/05/15 18:05:41


Post by: mcmattila


Maharg wrote:Looking great now with all the details added and good job fixing the freehand. Finished model is gonna be awesome

Thanks! It's finished now, and it is pretty awesome!
Ezki wrote:The freehand on the cloak is looking really good.
I love the effect on the armor, good job.
I gotta check out that tutorial and give it a shot

Thank you! I do recommend the tutorial! Even if you don't end up following it, it's amazing to see mr. Komets paint such a nice model quickly, and make it look easy!

---

The Captain's now finished! A couple of unexpected work days slowed me down a bit, but no matter. With this, I’ve finished what roughly equates to a Start Collecting! box plus some extras, giving me a game legal army (at least what was legal back in 4th..). I’m not planning on playing any time soon, of course, but that’s neither here or there..

I've talked about painting the armor already in previous posts, so not much more to say about that. The backpack of course had more flat surfaces, which had to be approached a bit differently, but I think it looks pretty good. With the face I decided to try doing the "eye liner" to define the eyes more. Worked out well enough, though doing it was somewhat messy.





I also took a picture of my Revelators collection so far. They're starting to look respectable! Just look at all them banners!



And claimed a square in the bingo card, by painting a new version of one of my old character models:
Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/05 16:17:02


Post by: mcmattila


Oh man, I haven't updated in a while.. There has been some progress on the painting front, however, so I come bearing photos of newly finished Retributors! These were supposed to be a two-three day job, but for some reason they turned into two-three week project..

So what's been going on in my life lately, and why have I painted so little? Quite a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, which has cut into my hobby time a little. First, I started a summer job, which is the most time consuming part, and the new schedule takes a little adjusting to. I also got my master's degree done, which has been a long time coming. And finally, I had my birthday too! So lots of nice events, but some nights I've just been too pooped to paint at all.. Hoping to pick up the pace a bit though.







mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/05 17:04:29


Post by: Ezki


Still rocking it with the metallics, looking really good!
Projects tend to take much longer than first anticipated, but such is life.

Also many congratulations and happy birthday to you sir!
Graduation is always a good thing. Trying to get there myself, with mixed results


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/05 18:35:56


Post by: youwashock


Wow. There's a ton of cool stuff here. The marines are fabulous. I really like the way you have blended the different armor styles. The Stormcast are also very well done. That deep red is an amazing accent for the silver. And lastly, the old-school Warzone guy makes me smile. Great work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 1100/06/25 08:48:19


Post by: Theophony


The marines look great , especially love the split helmet paint scheme.

The sigmarine guys are looking excellent as well. Just jumped headlong into Shadespire as well, your guys are a true inspiration for that.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/06 00:41:03


Post by: amazingturtles


Much congratulations on getting your masters, and the retributors also look great! it took me like three tries to spell retribultors, i do not have a masters.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/06 10:16:35


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Happy belated birthday and congratulations on getting your Master's, it's a lot of work and completely worth the effort, trust me!

Awesome looking marines and retributors, had to catch up on a few posts but great job!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/06 15:37:03


Post by: Maharg


Congrats on the masters. Nice job on those stormcast, the red works really well on them


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/06 17:50:08


Post by: mcmattila


Wow, thanks for all the kind words everyone!

Ezki wrote:Still rocking it with the metallics, looking really good!
Projects tend to take much longer than first anticipated, but such is life.
Also many congratulations and happy birthday to you sir!
Graduation is always a good thing. Trying to get there myself, with mixed results

Good luck with your studies! I guess the only advice I can give is to just soldier on, there's not much else to do.. Though I know that summer's not the best time to be thinking about theses and such, so many distractions..
youwashock wrote:Wow. There's a ton of cool stuff here. The marines are fabulous. I really like the way you have blended the different armor styles. The Stormcast are also very well done. That deep red is an amazing accent for the silver. And lastly, the old-school Warzone guy makes me smile. Great work!

Thanks, I've had a lot of fun painting the models! The Warzone guy had some weird sculpting, but other than that he was an enjoyable nostalgia project.
Theophony wrote:The marines look great , especially love the split helmet paint scheme.
The sigmarine guys are looking excellent as well. Just jumped headlong into Shadespire as well, your guys are a true inspiration for that.

I'm honored! I'll definitely check out your Shadespire progress!
amazingturtles wrote:Much congratulations on getting your masters, and the retributors also look great! it took me like three tries to spell retribultors, i do not have a masters.

Haha, GW and their naming conventions!
Tyranid Horde wrote:Happy belated birthday and congratulations on getting your Master's, it's a lot of work and completely worth the effort, trust me!
Awesome looking marines and retributors, had to catch up on a few posts but great job!

Hopefully I'll get a job in my own line of work before too long!
Maharg wrote:Congrats on the masters. Nice job on those stormcast, the red works really well on them

I also think the red works, though I'll probably try purple for some future Shadespire/Underworlds SCE gang, just to differentiate them. Should work out great as well..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/06 18:53:53


Post by: gobert


Happy Birthday! Did you get any plastic to add to the collection?

Nice retributors! Is that a bit of purple in the shades of their armour? It gives a good effect. Their scaley tabards look great too! Keep up the great work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/07 16:04:57


Post by: mcmattila


gobert wrote:
Happy Birthday! Did you get any plastic to add to the collection?
Nice retributors! Is that a bit of purple in the shades of their armour? It gives a good effect. Their scaley tabards look great too! Keep up the great work!

Thanks gobert! Didn't get any plastic, but a couple of new toys anyway: a new lense for my DSLR and a nice watch (combined graduation and b-day presents). However, I had my first payday today, so I treated myself to the Nightvault core set, which I had set as a graduation prize a long time ago! (as a side note, it was the first mini box I've bought in a year!)

And it is indeed purple on the armor. It's 1:1 Druchii Violet and Lahmian Medium mix applied to random places, more as a glaze than as a wash.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/10 23:35:00


Post by: Heretic Tom


Your Revelators are awesome!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/19 18:45:10


Post by: mcmattila


 Heretic Tom wrote:
Your Revelators are awesome!

Thank you very much, and welcome to the thread Tom!

---

Oof, yet again I've let updating this thread slide.. I haven't had as much hobby time as I'd like to, especially as the weekends have been mostly booked for other things. But I haven't been completely inactive, I've made some progress painting the 40k Skaven. I've tried to keep painting them fast and loose, with varying success, but I think they're coming along nicely. Hopefully I'll get them done next week. In addition to the rats, I assembled the Nightvault minis, which you can also see in the background of the photo.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/19 21:32:31


Post by: amazingturtles


Sci fi skaven are delightful, and these guys are very good. The one with flamer is especially nice.

I briefly thought the one with the yellow hood had glorious Fabio style hair. I will try to stop picturing that however.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/19 23:09:32


Post by: squall018


There is a lot of great stuff in this blog. Just found it and have had aa great time looking through it all. Keep up the good work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/06/22 08:43:01


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:Sci fi skaven are delightful, and these guys are very good. The one with flamer is especially nice.
I briefly thought the one with the yellow hood had glorious Fabio style hair. I will try to stop picturing that however.

Thanks as always, turtles! The flamer dude is probably my favorite too, the gladiator style eye protectors are always cool and the screaming mouth gives and impression of a crazed flamer lunatic!
The Fabio hair remark gave me a chuckle, and perhaps some ideas..
squall018 wrote:There is a lot of great stuff in this blog. Just found it and have had aa great time looking through it all. Keep up the good work!

Thank you squall, much appreciated! Thanks for stopping by.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/04 14:38:56


Post by: mcmattila


How time flies.. But, at least I've finished the Imperial Skaven! As I've discussed the modelling previously, this post is dedicated to the painting and my thoughts on how these vermin fit the 40k universe.

Painting the Skaven was a lot of fun, and I got to try a new fun technique. I decided to go with the vanilla Cadian scheme, but make the clothes really dirty and the equipment scratched and worn. I started with the beige cloth, borrowing the idea from Jeff Vader's brilliant Nighthaunt. The dirt was spattered on with a toothbrush, and afterwards the cloth was drybrushed and washed to give highlights/shadows, and also to further the weathered look.

As I'm doing this project as a sort of a Kill Team, I wanted to further differentiate the models, so identifying them would be easier. I decided to do this by painting the hoods in different colors. I reckoned yellow would suit the leader, and red would fit the flamer. As the plain colors looked a bit boring, I thought I'd do some simple freehand designs on them. Worked nicely enough, even if they're a bit Orkish.. Good practice for the eventual Underworlds Gobbos!

I used a number of decals on these models, and it was great to see that they worked as they should, considering they were something like 10-20 years old (the "31" on one of the bases comes from a Dark Angels sheet in the Warriors of the Imperium box!). As you might have noticed, there are a couple of different designs on the shoulder pads. I'm not too familiar with the Imperial Guard identification conventions, and went mostly with what looks good to me. I also scribbled some "graffiti" on the models, to hint that the equipment might not be meant exactly new, or suitable for combat..

So what about the "fluff"? These days, as far as I know, the Imperium considers nearly all abhumans as abomination to be shot on sight. Nothing wrong with that (narratively speaking), but this was too good a modelling opportunity to pass up. Back in the third edition days, there were mentions about various abhumans serving in the Guard, and I thought that even with the contemporary Imperial policies, there would be some backwater planets out there that would find it necessary to recruit outside the "pure" human genepool. Not many men would willingly fight with the filthy vermin, but they could be given any old equipment that happened to be in the storage and made surprisingly effective fighters, especially in confined spaces.

I enjoyed this little project very much, and have plans for many more figures. I've already ordered a couple of bits for the next models, but we'll see when I get my hands on those. Anyway, my next task will be to delve back into the Underworlds, and to finally start the Nighvault models that have been sitting on my desk for almost a month!











mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/04 19:19:41


Post by: gobert


Awesome sauce as ever in this blog! The rats look fantastic, they have a great battle worn look. I reckon they’d fit in nicely in necromunda as well as kill team, some underhive mutation of ex-guardsman or something. The rat with half his face missing is probably my favourite, real grim dark!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/05 00:20:29


Post by: bbb


Very fun stuff.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/05 16:18:52


Post by: amazingturtles


Aw, he no longer looks like Fabio, ha. But they look great so the change can be forgiven.

I always figured that no matter what the "official" fluff says, one of the charms of the setting is that it's so big you can still break the rules, in regards to the abhumans issue.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/06 00:16:36


Post by: Maharg


Rats look good, great weathering effects


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/07 17:23:47


Post by: mcmattila


gobert wrote:Awesome sauce as ever in this blog! The rats look fantastic, they have a great battle worn look. I reckon they’d fit in nicely in necromunda as well as kill team, some underhive mutation of ex-guardsman or something. The rat with half his face missing is probably my favourite, real grim dark!

Thank you very much gobert, that's high praise! I think you're right about Necromunda, though these guys are not going to see any kind of game table any time soon.. The half-face is probably my favorite too, though originally I was a bit sceptical about the skull sculpt. After painting it my mind changed. I was actually debating whether to do Terminator-style metal skull, and to add a red bead for an eye, but I think a lowly abhuman wouldn't merit bionic parts..
bbb wrote:Very fun stuff.

Cheers bbb! And welcome to the plog!
amazingturtles wrote:Aw, he no longer looks like Fabio, ha. But they look great so the change can be forgiven.
I always figured that no matter what the "official" fluff says, one of the charms of the setting is that it's so big you can still break the rules, in regards to the abhumans issue.

Haha! I just might do a Fabio of some kind in the future!
I'm with you about the fluff. The universe is so big that almost anything goes, and you can still make it believable.
Maharg wrote:Rats look good, great weathering effects

Thanks Maharg, I'm glad that you like them.

---

I started work on the Thorns of the Briar Queen, but I'll paint just a bit further before I post WIPs.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/14 15:39:13


Post by: mcmattila


Alright, update time. I've been painting the Thorns, and I think I've made pretty solid progress. The rags and the black ghosty bits are done, and the white ghosty bits are basecoated. After I finish the heads and the arms, there's only some detail work and the bases left to do. Fingers crossed, the warband should be done some time next week.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/14 18:53:21


Post by: Theophony


Nice take on the ghosts

What’s your metal recipe, I like the look of that.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/14 19:50:26


Post by: amazingturtles


Nice, they are lookin' ghostly. The rust is a good touch, i always like a bit of rust effect


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/14 21:55:36


Post by: Ezki


The Skaven guardsmen turned out excellent!
They look like something you could buy as a modelling kit

Good work on the Thorns so far, digging the rust!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/16 13:54:42


Post by: mcmattila


Theophony wrote:Nice take on the ghosts
What’s your metal recipe, I like the look of that.

Thank you Theo! Of course, credit where credit's due, I nicked the paint scheme from Jeff Vader. Obviously mine aren't nearly as nice..
The rusty metal on the other hand is taken from RobPaintsModels. Basecoat Mournfang Brown, sponge on Skrag Brown, Firedragon Bright and Leadbelcher, and finally a bit of edge highlighting with Runefang Steel. In tight spots and near the finished cloth I used a brush instead of the sponge.
amazingturtles wrote:Nice, they are lookin' ghostly. The rust is a good touch, i always like a bit of rust effect

Thanks! Rust is always good! It makes the grimdark that much more grim-y.
Ezki wrote:The Skaven guardsmen turned out excellent!
They look like something you could buy as a modelling kit
Good work on the Thorns so far, digging the rust!

Cheers! The Skaven are a pretty straightforward conversion, though you do need to do a tiny bit of greenstuff work. And happily both of the needed kits - Cadians and Plague Monks - are older and hence cheaper kits. Official 40k Skaven kits could be cool though!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/28 12:35:27


Post by: mcmattila


Alright, my Nightvault collection is now officially started, as I've finished the first warband, Thorns of the Briar Queen! I actually got these done last Wednesday, but was too busy to make a post here before now.

As I was building these models I couldn't help but admire the quality of GW's new kits. Virtually no mold lines to speak of, and the dynamic poses of the models with only 1-3 pieces is astounding. Like all Nighthaunt, they are intricate, and sadly the ghost with the plank strapped to his arm lost a finger at some point. Well, he's a tortured soul, so what's one digit..

Painting the gang was mostly enjoyable, though more time consuming than anticipated. Painting the robes, the rusty metal and the black ghost bits was actually really fast, but the rest of the details (granted, there wasn't an impossible amount of them) bogged me down a bit.

As I said in the previous reply, I used schemes and recipes borrowed from hobbyists much more talented than me. The Nighthaunt scheme is from Jeff Vader, as already tried out on my Imperial Skaven. The rusty metal is from RobPaintsModels, which I also used for my Sepulchral Guard, with the crucial difference that I didn't ruin it with an all-over wash of Agrax this time. While I love the dirty robes, I think my favorite part of these models are the roses, the red spot color brings some much needed contrast to the otherwise quite drab scheme. There's a couple of details that I'm not too chuffed about: the white could've been smoother at places, and I didn't quite know what to do with the diamonds on the Queen. They're quite small details though, so I guess it's OK..

I think I'll take a short break from painting now, and get back to building a couple of models. I recently got my ebay bits package, which allows me to start working on some new conversions that I've been looking forward to.











The Thorns got a game in pretty much straight away, as we had organized an Underworlds get-together with a couple of friends this weekend. I don't get to play very often, but now that we played the Friday night and the whole Saturday, I'm good for the next six months or so Much fun was had by all, and I even managed to win a couple of times!



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/30 17:39:23


Post by: aku-chan


Great ghosts! I love their dirty robes.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/31 03:02:21


Post by: amazingturtles


Man, the three player game looks like it was a blast! And they make a good showing on the table too.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/31 19:14:18


Post by: mcmattila


aku-chan wrote:Great ghosts! I love their dirty robes.

Cheers! It was fun doing the robes.
amazingturtles wrote:Man, the three player game looks like it was a blast! And they make a good showing on the table too.

Thanks! The three player games are great, though probably inherently a bit less balanced than two player ones. But we don't take it too seriously (it's not like we have competitive/optimized decks), it's all about socializing, catching up with each other and having a good time. I think the Thorns didn't win a game the whole weekend (they were close though), but they sure looked good doing so


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/31 22:18:41


Post by: Theophony


Love the metals you’ve done on these guys.

Ghosts really need better laundry workers. You’d think being ethereal that they would have less muck all about.....


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/07/31 22:37:17


Post by: Maharg


Ghosts look great, really effective scheme, and you're right about the roses, they do add a surprising amount to the finished look


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/03 22:40:26


Post by: Ezki


Well done sir! Also liking the cloth.
I agree the GW kits keep on getting better and better. It's always good to have more dynamic models.

Looking forward to see what conversions you have brewing!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/07 08:01:29


Post by: mcmattila


Sorry for the late replies, I've had a bit of hectic time and on top of that now seem to have caught father Nurgle's blessings again..
Theophony wrote:Love the metals you’ve done on these guys.
Ghosts really need better laundry workers. You’d think being ethereal that they would have less muck all about.....

Haha! I think they're a bit selective about the ethereal bit. And the dirty clothes go with the whole scary shtick they've got going on.
Maharg wrote:Ghosts look great, really effective scheme, and you're right about the roses, they do add a surprising amount to the finished look

Cheers Maharg!
Ezki wrote:Well done sir! Also liking the cloth.
I agree the GW kits keep on getting better and better. It's always good to have more dynamic models.
Looking forward to see what conversions you have brewing!

Much appreciated! Hopefully you don't have to wait too long..

---

I've been slowly building a couple of models: a couple of new Skaven and some SM scouts, but I'll try to finish the modeling before showing any WIPs. Still need to do greenstuffing and basing, but shouldn't be too long. Really need to get painting some models by next week at the latest.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/13 18:55:41


Post by: mcmattila


Okay, at last something to show. Not much, but it's something.. I've built a couple more 40k Skaven, and also begun working on a SM Scout Squad. I'm still working on the bases for the Skaven, no pics of those yet.



First the Skaven. I've built a sneaky sniper and another riflerat, though with a small conversion this time. To reflect the idea that these guys are using any old hardware that can be mustered, I wanted some autoguns in their hands. I converted one from a Cadian lasgun by changing the magazine to one from a bolter, and took a barrel from an old Catachan lasgun.



The sniper was a bit more involved conversion. I wanted to use a Skitarii rifle, and with it would come the hands and arms as well. I did want to retain the Cadian shoulder pads though, so I needed to do some cutting. It didn't go quite as nicely as I'd envisioned, and before greenstuffing I was a bit unsure if I had botched the arms. After the sculpting I reckon he looks good, no need for a redo. Which is good as all the Skitarii rifles are unique, so I couldn't get the same pose again.

I originally thought that the sniper wouldn't be carrying a lot of equipment on him, "traveling light" instead. But he seemed to need something on his back to balance the rifle on the front. Happily I recently received my small order from Kromlech (more on this later), and they had put in two freebie backpacks as well. I felt the other one was perfect for the sniper, and it even fit without any cutting.



Then on to the Scouts. I've actually had the Scout kit and the Scion heads to go with it for a long time, but before I got to building them, I saw West_minis' brilliant Crimson Fists Scouts, that used Scion backpacks as well as the heads. Naturally I had to put the project on hold until I could get my hands on the rest of the Scions kit. This happened last week, and I set to work. The shotgunners were pretty straightforward, requiring only cutting down their back humps and a bit of greenstuff on their necks. Though I got to say that the arms were a right pain to get aligned. Still not sure if they're how they're supposed to.. I'm pretty sure I won't be building another Scout squad after this (other than the Sniper squad I've got in my pile of shame..).



The sergeant on the other hand required more cutting and fixing, as I once again wanted to retain the original shoulderpads. With a bit of creative cutting and some putty, the Scion bolt pistol and power fist arms fit the Scout model pretty great! He's also got a regular Space Marine head from the mkIV kit. It took some effort to attach, as I didn't have a correct drill bit, but I got there in the end. I also cut off the service stud from his forehead.

I started painting the Skaven tonight, making good progress on the robes. I'm hoping to finish them before the end of the month, to enter in Azazel's August challenge. Maybe I could also squeeze in a Scout or two.. Might be a bit too optimistic though.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/22 19:35:20


Post by: mcmattila


Seriously, where does the time go..? A little progress update, this is where the Skaven are right now. Tan cloth done, other parts basecoated and washed. Can you tell that one of the rats has its robes painted darker than the other? No? Me neither.. I'm not 100% sure about the red hood/dot pattern, but will see how it looks when finished. I also discovered that when you're flicking paint around with a toothbrush, you can thin the paint too much. As a result, not much speckling on these models. I'm pretty happy with the urban camo pattern though!



So obviously I'm not going to get any scouts done this month, but there's hope for the Skaven yet.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/22 21:31:15


Post by: amazingturtles


I think the sniper conversion actually came out great! That gun looks nice and stylish, and a bit like an old heirloom. I like it a lot


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/24 19:09:59


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
I think the sniper conversion actually came out great! That gun looks nice and stylish, and a bit like an old heirloom. I like it a lot

Thanks a lot turtles! Yeah, after it got some paint on, it looks very much like a real model! I was thinking about cutting away some of the trim on the rifle, but they give the impression of an older gun and are of course very 40k. Also, less work.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/25 03:22:16


Post by: The Riddle of Steel


I’m liking the 40k Skaven. Rat-men with guns are definitely fitting of the setting.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/25 19:54:53


Post by: Theophony


Do we call militant skaven guys with head wraps and autoguns “Cheese-hadists”? Pretty please?

They are looking great by the way


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/26 19:32:14


Post by: Heretic Tom


The sergeant is awesome, great work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/28 17:36:14


Post by: mcmattila


The Riddle of Steel wrote:I’m liking the 40k Skaven. Rat-men with guns are definitely fitting of the setting.

I think so too! Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment TRoS!
Theophony wrote:Do we call militant skaven guys with head wraps and autoguns “Cheese-hadists”? Pretty please?
They are looking great by the way

Haha! I've been trying to come up with something other than "40k Skaven" to call these, but "Cheese-hadists" doesn't quite roll off the keyboard.. Maybe Jiz-hadists? No, wait, not that..
Heretic Tom wrote:The sergeant is awesome, great work!

Cheers! He's my favorite also!

---

Alright, so August was pretty abysmal in terms of painting, but at least I got these two ratmen finished. Still, progress is progress is progress.



I got most of the paint work done during this past weekend, when I got to spent a night on each model. In a couple of hours, I was able to get them from the "tabletop-ready" state that you saw them in the last WIP photo to basically finished. Sometimes it’s nice to just concentrate on one (small) figure at a time: seeing the progress and getting it done quickly is so satisfying.



I think the urban camo came out pretty nicely for a first try, though the wash and the highlights might have blended the colors together a bit too much. What do you think? I also tried to do some intricate freehand work on top of some decals, and have hopefully pulled it off without making a huge mess.



I intended to take separate photos of the finished bases before I glued the figures on, but I guess that I was so excited to get the minis done that I completely forgot. I did make an extra base so that I could have more choice, but I think I'll show that with the next batch. If I remember to take that picture..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/28 21:11:05


Post by: amazingturtles


 mcmattila wrote:

Haha! I've been trying to come up with something other than "40k Skaven" to call these, but "Cheese-hadists" doesn't quite roll off the keyboard.. Maybe Jiz-hadists? No, wait, not that..


You could go with current naming conventions and call them Astra Rodentia!

Great work, and the bases are very nice. I hadn't noticed the metal hand before but i really like it.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/08/30 16:03:25


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
You could go with current naming conventions and call them Astra Rodentia!
Great work, and the bases are very nice. I hadn't noticed the metal hand before but i really like it.

That sounds pretty good, but might be a bit too noble sounding for some backwater abhuman scum. Though propaganda has its merits..

Thanks again turtles! I was originally against using a bionic hand, as I thought that these guys would be so expendable as to not get them. But as there wasn't much choice in the Skitarii rifles (1 or 2 rifles with both normal hands), I ended up with this pose that had one bionic hand/arm. I figured that maybe a sniper, who's got marginally better aim than its fellow ratmen, would be eligible for a replacement hand


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/09/01 21:25:43


Post by: JoeRugby


Great job on the rats, love the scarves


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/09/02 16:10:35


Post by: gobert


These Sqrats/Astra Rodentia/Space Rats/Space Skaven/40k Skaven keep getting better. Love the little dots on their head scarfs, gives them a nice rag-tag militia feel.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/09/05 16:11:12


Post by: mcmattila


JoeRugby wrote:Great job on the rats, love the scarves

Cheers Joe! The scarves are one of my favorite parts as well, though I'm starting to have trouble coming up with different schemes for everyone..
gobert wrote:These Sqrats/Astra Rodentia/Space Rats/Space Skaven/40k Skaven keep getting better. Love the little dots on their head scarfs, gives them a nice rag-tag militia feel.

Thanks a lot gobert! The rag-tag militia feel is exactly what I've been going for with these guys. I want them to look like the Imperium hasn't quite tamed them yet, and for each model to feel individual. Would be good for identification too, from Kill Team perspective etc. Not that I have plans of playing anytime soon, mind..

---

I've gone back to Nightvault and started working on the Cursebreakers. The metals are pretty much finished sans the Druchii Violet wash, and I've basecoated the robes and other cloth. The color scheme is pretty much the same "Silverlions" that I've used for my other SCE, but with the red changed to purple. I was also feeling lazy with the gold, and kinda wanted to try something different with it, so it's just basecoated along with the steel, then the whole thing got washed Agrax, followed by a drybrush of Runefang Steel.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/09/09 00:00:26


Post by: Maharg


Those last two rats are your best yet, really like those head scarves. Solid start on the stormcast too, your quick gold method looks to have worked out well


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/15 19:11:03


Post by: mcmattila


Maharg wrote:
Those last two rats are your best yet, really like those head scarves. Solid start on the stormcast too, your quick gold method looks to have worked out well

Sorry for the super late response, didn't notice your reply at the time! Thanks man, hopefully I'll keep raising the bar with the coming rats.

---

Apologies for the vox silence, I've been a bit busy lately: I and my wonderful fiancé got married the weekend before last! The wedding prep took quite a lot of time last month, and naturally the hobby slowed down a bit. I'm hoping to get back up to speed soon, both on modelling/painting and on reading/commenting on people's threads here, something which has also fallen by the wayside.

Nevertheless, even though progress has been slow, I haven't been completely idle. I've managed to get the Cursebreakers done!



Model-wise, there's not much to say as they're a stock Nightvault warband. Nice models. I had to do some gap filling, which didn't come out super smooth as I only had greenstuff and it wasn't ideal for the job. I've since bought Milliput, which is maybe better? We'll see in the future, once I get to try it out..



As I said in my previous post, the paint scheme is the Silverlions, as I've done with all my Stormcast, but changed the red cloth to purple, which helps to differentiate the SCE warbands on the board. From fluff POV, I see the cloth color signifying different chambers, a bit like Space Marine chapters mark the companies.



Another new-ish thing I tried with these models was to practice blends, mainly with the hair on Ammis and Rastus, and the flame on Stormsire's hand. I chose to paint the hairdos on Ammis and Rastus differently, again for easier identification on the board. Both started from purple, but on Ammis the color transitions to pink, and on Rastus to blue. I think the colors work pretty well, as they're found in other parts of the models: blue on the glass vials, pink on the weapon straps. Also, stereotypical boy/girl colors



Most examples of Stormsire's flame I've seen have been in some "magical" color. Cheap parlor tricks, I say. I thought that real(-ish) fire would complement the rest of the color scheme best, and I'm pretty happy with the result. To complement the fire, and to draw attention to Stormsire's head I wanted to try red hair. Not quite as intense color as on dwarfs, but still reading as ginger. The image on my head was of the GoT Tormund Giantsbane, which I think I achieved, as my wife looked at the model and said "looks quite like the wildling boss man from GoT."



Finally, by completing this warband I also finished my Nightvault core set, and claimed another square in the hobby bingo ("Paint all minis in a board game and play it")! I've done the tasks in reverse order, as I played the game before painting the models, but I'll still count it. Hopefully I get to play again before the end of the year though!
Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/21 22:25:32


Post by: aku-chan


Nice! Love the fireball!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/22 19:01:14


Post by: gobert


Sweet purple cloaks! Really nice transitions on the cloaks and flames. Love how clean your metals are, gold is a particularly tricky metal if you ask me but you’ve got it’s vibrancy down


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/26 08:31:29


Post by: mcmattila


aku-chan wrote:Nice! Love the fireball!

Thanks aku-chan! I'm pretty happy with the flames as well!
gobert wrote:Sweet purple cloaks! Really nice transitions on the cloaks and flames. Love how clean your metals are, gold is a particularly tricky metal if you ask me but you’ve got it’s vibrancy down

Cheers gobert! Hah, the metals literally couldn't be any simpler, just base + wash + drybrush, but I'm glad it's working so well. And I think I'm starting to get a bit better (more restrained) with the DBing.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/31 16:42:17


Post by: mcmattila


Just before Orktober turns to November, I've managed to complete the Herculean task of.. Painting two Slugga Boyz. Well, progress is progress, and at least I get to submit a token entry for Azazel's monthly challenge.



This month the challenge was two-fold: Orks or neglected models. These models qualify for both, as they started their lives quite a while ago. I actually built the models and started painting them around 15 years ago, but as my interest in miniatures was waning at the time they were left unfinished. This was a shame as I thought that these were some of my favorite conversions I had done (especially proud of the helmeted head with an open mouth). Well, last Orktober I set out to paint them. I stripped the old paint off, based and primed them, and started with the painting. I quickly got distracted by another project, however, and despite thinking that I'd go back and finish the Boyz pretty soon, here we are a year later



I used the same main scheme that I used on the Ironskull's Boyz. I think that greenskins look pretty good in orange, and haven't seen too many examples by other painters. Maybe it's because orange is a bit of a pain to paint.. If I'd ever end up building a whole army of Orks, I'd probably not go for orange, but for a couple models it's alright. I did try to speed up my painting a bit, as if to practice painting a bigger group, but also because I was a bit strapped for time this month. All in all, these two guys didn't take super long to complete by my standards, and were fun to paint. I still have one Boy primed, and a couple on sprue, so sooner or later I'll return to the orange Waaagh! (working title). Probably in Orktober 2020



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/31 19:15:51


Post by: amazingturtles


I think orange is one of my favorite colors to see and yeah, you don't see it that often. They look great, nice wear and rust.

I once did try an orange scheme paired with blue before being told it was some football teams colors, which saddened me into giving up on it.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/10/31 20:39:06


Post by: gobert


Great work on the Orks they look good in orange. The scar on the one without a helmet is a cool addition


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/11/01 00:37:00


Post by: Maharg


Congrats on the wedding, certainly explains your absence for the last month or two. Could you imagine the trouble you'd have been in if you didn't get round to ordering the flowers because you were finishing your Stormcasts and sharing them on Dakka! Good to see you back painting, Stormacasts look great and really love those orks, would love to see a full army of them painted like that


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/11/01 01:51:23


Post by: tzurk


Orange really looks brilliant against the natural skin tones of the orcs - very nice. I also can't stop looking at the stormcast, the purple robes are beautiful. Love the thought you've put into the scheme; they've come out looking cohesive and gorgeous.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/11/03 20:32:10


Post by: mcmattila


Thanks for the amazing feedback guys!

amazingturtles wrote:I think orange is one of my favorite colors to see and yeah, you don't see it that often. They look great, nice wear and rust.
I once did try an orange scheme paired with blue before being told it was some football teams colors, which saddened me into giving up on it.

Orange and blue go together very well, it's not long ago that almost every action movie/game poster was in blue/orange. And there's bound to be a football team for every combination of colors! I say give orange and blue another go if you liked the scheme!

gobert wrote:Great work on the Orks they look good in orange. The scar on the one without a helmet is a cool addition

He really should've worn a helmet, shouldn't he? The scar was already on the model, I just gave it a bit of color!

Maharg wrote:Congrats on the wedding, certainly explains your absence for the last month or two. Could you imagine the trouble you'd have been in if you didn't get round to ordering the flowers because you were finishing your Stormcasts and sharing them on Dakka! Good to see you back painting, Stormacasts look great and really love those orks, would love to see a full army of them painted like that

Haha! I'd imagine that I'd have quite a bit more time to paint right about now, and a distinct lack of a lady in the house.

I'd also love to see an army of these Orks, but don't know if I'd love to paint it! But who knows, maybe a kill team? Definitely a slow grow project thought..

tzurk wrote:Orange really looks brilliant against the natural skin tones of the orcs - very nice. I also can't stop looking at the stormcast, the purple robes are beautiful. Love the thought you've put into the scheme; they've come out looking cohesive and gorgeous.

That's high praise indeed, much appreciated! And welcome to the blog tzurk!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/11/04 19:44:06


Post by: aku-chan


Great Orks! Love the weathering.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/06 15:06:12


Post by: mcmattila


 aku-chan wrote:
Great Orks! Love the weathering.

Thank you very muh aku-chan!

---

Once again it appears that it's too long since I last posted. Work has been a bit hectic every now and then though, so when I've had some hobby time it's gone to painting and modelling instead of posting... But anyway, let's play catch-up!

After finishing the Orks in my last post I’ve been building stuff for a change. The biggest and most involved piece has been a Sentinel to accompany my Astra Rodentia (after a bit of thought, I like the name. Thanks amazingturtles!)!



I’ve always loved the look of Sentinels, but this was the first time that I’ve actually bought and build one. I’d heard about the great posability of the model, and the kit did not disappoint! To showcase the posability, I decided to model the Sentinel descending a ruined factory floor. The right leg is at its shortest, while the left is extended as far as it goes. A “flex” pose if you will. I also cut off and reposed a couple of the toes to better conform the feet to the base. The cockpit was angled down a bit to further enhance the descending motion.



To integrate the Sentinel to my Skaven, I obviously had to convert the pilot into something more appropriate. I cut off the pilot’s torso and replaced it with one of the unused Plague Monk torsos from making the regular infantry (oh yes, a use for them!). This had two benefits: I got the hunched pose that would’ve been lacking with the human torso, and the head fit with without any modifications (I did greenstuff the neck joint a bit after taking the photo). The arms slotted right in like they were made for it, however I did remove the small screen from the other steering stick. I was a bit worried if the Skaven head was going to fit under the cage, but luckily I had zero problems. The pilot fits in with good clearance around him. If I have one regret it’s that I used the original pilot legs for this model, as you can’t really see them at all when the chassis is assembled. If I’d do this again, I’d just put a blob of greenstuff or some other spacer under the torso, and save myself a pilot for some other projects..



Building the base was fun, though before painting I was a bit worried if it was too far from the infantry bases, aesthetically/thematically speaking. Unpainted it didn’t look too industrial, but thakfully painting fixed it. Oh yeah, and just before priming the model, I added a giant rat from the Plague Monk sprue to the base!



And the finished model:



On to the painting! I’m super pleased with how this one came out! The first thing I needed to do was to decide on a paint scheme. As my rats are supposed to be a ragtag group of fighters using kit from various sources, I could basically choose anything I wanted. I didn’t want to go with the default Cadian scheme, but due to most of my models so far have green flak armor, the scheme could have some green in it. The rats are also fighting in an industrial setting, so some sort of urban camo would be appropriate. With this in mind, the classic Steel Legion vehicle scheme seemed like a perfect fit, and I’ve always liked the scheme too!



It took a bit of research to figure out what colors to use for the gray and the green. Some sources said that the gray was Fortress or Codex Grey, and the green was Rotting Green. While the latter seems accurate, the gray was surely something darker, or something’s up with the old photos of Steel Legion vehicles. But anyway, I used Dawnstone and Nurgling Green for my model, and I think it works pretty well. The camo was painted by first painting the basic shapes on the model, after which the two colors were mixed together and painted on the borders of the two colors to blend them in. The old sources suggested drybrushing for this blending, but the shape of the Sentinel didn’t really work for that so I just painted it in the normal way instead.



In addition to painting a camo scheme on a vehicle, this project was also a great opportunity to practice some new(/ish) techniques. I’m very happy with how all the lights and lenses came out, and had lots of fun doing all the freehand scribblings and weathering. Speaking of weathering, I finally got myself Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust (largely inspired by davekay and Azazel), and used them for the exhaust pipes and various other bits. Fun stuff! Painting the base was a bit of a challenge as I wanted to have a bit of color in there so that it’s not just all solid gray, but at the same time I didn’t want the base to steal the show (which a bright red barrel could easily do). Some yellow warning stripes, the red barrel and the wonderful little rat took care of the color, while drybrushing the whole thing with light gray for highlights / dust effects pulled the base together nicely. I also used some other white-ish colors afterwards to introduce a bit of variation, which worked wonders. Now, traditionally speaking, there’s probably not quite enough contrast between the base and the model, but we’re not letting that bother us!



Finally, I’m using this model to claim a square in the hobby bingo: paint a unit and add scenic bases. I’m perhaps cheating a bit, but a single Sentinel can be a unit so I’m counting it. It’s pretty clear now that I wont be getting a single bingo this year. Looking at the grid now, I think I could’ve claimed at least a couple more squares with the models I’ve done so far, but even with those, no bingo. That’s okay though, the card has been a fun additional motivator and I’m sure to try again next year!

Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/07 02:54:09


Post by: amazingturtles


Aw, nice, I'm glad the name stuck. Astra Rodentia forever!

Sentinels are tons of fun, they're one of my favorites to see because of how creative people get with them and yours is amazing. the pilot looks perfect in there and the more animals on bases the better, i say.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/07 23:12:27


Post by: gobert


Sweet work on the Astra Rodentia Sentinal! Nice stalking pose, perfect for these vermin.

How did you get the near vertical face at the rear of the base? Was it cutting layers of cork or just smoothed filler?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/10 19:54:16


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:Aw, nice, I'm glad the name stuck. Astra Rodentia forever!
Sentinels are tons of fun, they're one of my favorites to see because of how creative people get with them and yours is amazing. the pilot looks perfect in there and the more animals on bases the better, i say.

Thanks again for the suggestion!
Animals on bases is indeed good, I'd been looking for an opportunity to use those rats that come with the Plague Monks for ages, and I'm glad that I finally got to work with a base bigger than 25mm!
gobert wrote:Sweet work on the Astra Rodentia Sentinal! Nice stalking pose, perfect for these vermin.
How did you get the near vertical face at the rear of the base? Was it cutting layers of cork or just smoothed filler?

Thanks gobert! The rear of the base is indeed just cut up cork. You can see the layers and the pitted texture, which I'm not completely happy with, but it does somewhat resemble concrete.. I would like it to be completely vertical and smooth, and to paint it black, but I'll have to come up with a way to do it so that it looks nice. I did think about filler/clay, but I wasn't confident that I could get it straight and smooth by hand.

---

A bit of a sneak peak of what I'm working on now: a Lord of Plagues. As you can (maybe) tell, it has been zenithally undercoated which is a first for me. Since taking the photo I've started painting him, and already have the skin and armor pretty much done. So hopefully I'll get to show the finished model very soon! His base is pretty much done, just the SC helmet to paint when I decide on the color. Also, the dirt on the base is quite a bit more red IRL, the basecoat is Doombull Brown. Couldn't get the hue right with my phone cam.



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/13 07:38:31


Post by: gobert


Great work on the base, surely the stormcast helmet needs to match one of your units?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/13 10:23:49


Post by: Pomander Cask


The Lord of Plagues looks promising, especially the base. Also, the sentinel from last week is fantastic. It looks a bit like the driver has torticollis in the WIP pictures, but with the sentinel leaning forwards, I think the pose makes sense. You've done a great job with the painting, too, with all the weathering effects and crispy details. More Astra Rodentia, please!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/14 20:28:15


Post by: mcmattila


gobert wrote:Great work on the base, surely the stormcast helmet needs to match one of your units?

Thanks gobert! That's a classic idea, and I thought about it, but that would mean the only option is to paint it silver. I'll have to see if it works okay with the rest of the model, or if gold or some other color would be better. Of course silver/gray is a neutral color, so it should be okay.
Pomander Cask wrote:The Lord of Plagues looks promising, especially the base. Also, the sentinel from last week is fantastic. It looks a bit like the driver has torticollis in the WIP pictures, but with the sentinel leaning forwards, I think the pose makes sense. You've done a great job with the painting, too, with all the weathering effects and crispy details. More Astra Rodentia, please!

Cheers Pomander Cask, and welcome to the blog! No worries, more rats are definitely inbound I've got plans for a lot of models, but they'll have to wait until next year. I'll have to finish the Nurgle Lord first and maybe some other projects too..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/20 10:50:02


Post by: zahnib


That sentinel looks great mcmattila!! I've been meaning to pick some up for my Vostrpyans but haven't gotten round to it yet!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/23 14:15:32


Post by: mcmattila


 zahnib wrote:
That sentinel looks great mcmattila!! I've been meaning to pick some up for my Vostrpyans but haven't gotten round to it yet!

Thanks zahnib! I can heartily recommend the kit!

---

Lord of Plagues is now done!



I bought the model last month after a pretty insane work week, deciding I had earned something nice The Lord was on stock in my FLGS, and as the price isn't as extortionate as GW's more recent character models I picked him up. I know this model is often used for all sorts of cool (INQ28) conversions, but as the basic model is so close to perfect I wanted this one to remain in stock form. I did however build him a bit more elaborate base to make him stand out a bit more.

As this model was bought purely for painting and not for an existing army, I thought it would be a good platform to try out some new things. Firstly, the model got a zenithal undercoating, as you saw in my sneak peek from the last post. I can't really tell if it has a lot of effect on the finished model, as I might have still painted with too thick paint, but it certainly helped me to position shadows and highlights more easily. It's definitely something that I want to come back to in the future though.

Secondly, rather than trying to paint the armor smoothly, I wanted to use stippling both for easier color transitions and to give an impression of the armor being pitted and banged up, which I think work well as there is already quite a lot of sculpted damage to begin with. There's still room for improvement in my stippling, but I'm pretty happy with the light-to-dark contrast that I achieved.



For the paint scheme I wanted to do something a bit different from the default green. I had seen Andrew King's rather wonderful blue Nurgle army in White Dwarf, and decided to try something like that. Andrew used Thunderhawk Blue as the basecolor for his armor, but as my local shop doesn't stock it I used Stegadon Scale Green. The color was a bit more green than I'd have liked, but glazing some Guilliman Blue on top worked out well to correct this.

To complement the colder blue tones of the armor I wanted the base to have warm red dirt on it (now you can see the actual color). Happily, WHTV recently published a tutorial on the new Underworlds Goblin Riders. I used the basing recipe (with some alterations) in it and got a really nice result. Some weathering powders could probably take it to the next level, but I'll leave experimenting with those for another time.

I'm using this model to claim a square in the hobby bingo: "paint a model from an army you don't already collect". Now, while I don't expect him to grow into an army anytime soon, I might just get some Plague Bearers for him to broodingly watch over. Or maybe his little brother, the Lord of Blights!

Spoiler:


And with that, my 2019 hobby year is pretty much over. I might try to sneak in a bit of building before the new year, but definitely wont be finishing anything. I still want to do a wrap-up post for the year, but as I'm not going to get it up before tomorrow, I wish happy holidays to everyone!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/23 17:18:43


Post by: aku-chan


Love the armour, the stippling worked well.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/23 17:26:13


Post by: amazingturtles


Yeah, i like the stippling a lot. He turned out excellently!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/23 17:51:01


Post by: Theophony


The armor and skin are great . Also love that verdigris.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/23 19:55:53


Post by: gobert


Great stippling on the Lord of Plagues, really adds to his best up look, and the dusty dry brush on his lower half ties him in nicely to the base. Nice work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2019/12/23 21:07:12


Post by: Pomander Cask


Yes, very nice work! Your idea of complementing the blue armour with a red-brown base really worked out well. Also good work on the hobby bingo, you've checked off more squares than me.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/02 17:52:52


Post by: mcmattila


aku-chan wrote:Love the armour, the stippling worked well.

Thank you very much!
amazingturtles wrote:Yeah, i like the stippling a lot. He turned out excellently!

Much appreciated!
Theophony wrote:The armor and skin are great . Also love that verdigris.

Thanks Theo! The verdigris was actually one thing that I wasn't super happy with, at least on the axe head. But I don't really know how I'd change it either.. Good to hear that it looks good to you! I'll keep experimenting
gobert wrote:Great stippling on the Lord of Plagues, really adds to his best up look, and the dusty dry brush on his lower half ties him in nicely to the base. Nice work!

Cheers! I was also really happy with the drybrushed dust effect. I mean, I do it with basically every mini, but there was something with this one that it worked surprisingly well!
Pomander Cask wrote:Yes, very nice work! Your idea of complementing the blue armour with a red-brown base really worked out well. Also good work on the hobby bingo, you've checked off more squares than me.

Thanks a lot Pomander! Ahh, a fellow bingo player! I had fun checking off squares, but still couldn't get a bingo (see below). But maybe this year!

---

All right, time to look at what I managed to paint during 2019!



Above you can see the tally (apologies for the photo quality, my setup still isn't ideal for big group shots). When they're all brought out like this it.. Doesn't actually look like much. But I'm very happy with each and every one of them, and with space (and wife's tolerance) being a limited commodity I think my output has been just right!

All in all, I finished 57 models, which was about the same as last year, and more than a model per week on average, which was my target at the beginning of the year. Here's a list of all the models:

Spiteclaw's Swarm (5 models)
Scatter terrain and objective markers (12 models)
SCE Liberators with hammers (5 models)
SCE Liberators with swords (5 models
SM Devastator Squad (5 models)
Warzone Trooper
SM Ironclad Dreadnought
SM Captain
SCE Retributors (3 models)
AR infantry (5 models)
Thorns of the Briar Queen (7 models)
Stormsire's Cursebreakers (3 models)
Ork Boyz (2 models)
AR Sentinel
Lord of Plagues

So yeah, not too shabby. During the past year I've embarked on a number of new (slow-grow) projects, such as the Astra Rodentia and Orks. I've also continued adding to older ones, such as my Revelators Space Marines, Underworlds warbands and working on the AoS 1st edition starter set. I've upped my weathering game and dabbled on more complex freehand designs than last year. I got to say that painting various projects with different color schemes and mixing things up with new techniques definitely helps to keep things fresh and motivating.

Speaking of motivation, there were/are two bloggers that deserve much credit for influencing me to pick the projects that I did and actually getting them done in a timely fashion! One is of course Azazel with his monthly hobby challenges. I did have a little time management mishap and missed one month's deadline, but for the other 11 I got at least one miniature done.

The other blogger is Rob Hawkins, whose hobby bingo card has been a fun additional game on top of finishing models. Below you can see my finished card for the year. After finishing the Lord of Plagues I looked at the card and noticed that I had painted some models that hadn't been used for the card even though they could've been. I used the two SCE squads to cross off two additional squares, but even with that I couldn't get a bingo. No matter though, I'll try again next year with a little more ambition, and try to get at least that one bingo!



Of course, there's still one more blogger that I shouldn't forget when it comes to motivation: me! Sharing my work here on Dakka and on my blog and getting amazing feedback from you guys has pushed me to paint and finish stuff much more consistently than I otherwise would. So thank you, reader, for taking a look and commenting!

And that's it for 2019! Here's hoping for an even better 2020! I already have some great models in the queue and many plans in my head, hopefully I'll have enough time to transform many of those into finished minis!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/03 01:17:57


Post by: Ezki


I have been absent for a while, so had to do some catching up. It's always fun to read a well laid out hobby thread with good quality pictures, writing and modelling work!

So, firstly: late congrats on getting married dude! It's a big step.

You have produced a bunch of really amazing looking models during the autumn.
I liked the Cursebreakers a lot. The colors on them work really well and you pulled the blending effects nicely.
The Astra Rodentia (a fitting name btw) models are maybe my favorites. And oh boy does that sentinel look badass! The dynamic pose works wonders.

First time hearing about zenithal priming. I have to do some research and give it a shot when I find a suitable project.
I have been a bit lazy when it comes to researching new techniques. I should do that more.

Also, what kind of photo setup do you have at the moment? I'm still trying to combat the darkness that covers our grim student flat with mixed results. I bought a small light box from ebay which helped a lot, but that is way too small for group shots. Might need to buy a bigger one anyway.

Keep up the good work in 2020!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/03 12:15:25


Post by: amazingturtles


57 isn't small at all, it's an impressive number! It's been a blast following your progress this year, so I say keep up the good work too.

Astra Rodentia forever!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/05 10:13:35


Post by: zahnib


That's some awesome progress over the year mcmattila! Super diverse range of very well painted minis! Your Lord of Plague looks great, I especially like the pitted effect on the armour and the flesh around the belly.

Look forward to seeing what you get up to in 2020!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/05 23:58:05


Post by: gobert


I’ve gotta agree with turtles, 57 is a good number. Especially with such quality! Shame you didn’t get a bingo, you’ll have to strategise a way across the board or two!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/06 12:15:55


Post by: mcmattila


Ezki wrote:I have been absent for a while, so had to do some catching up. It's always fun to read a well laid out hobby thread with good quality pictures, writing and modelling work!

So, firstly: late congrats on getting married dude! It's a big step.

You have produced a bunch of really amazing looking models during the autumn.
I liked the Cursebreakers a lot. The colors on them work really well and you pulled the blending effects nicely.
The Astra Rodentia (a fitting name btw) models are maybe my favorites. And oh boy does that sentinel look badass! The dynamic pose works wonders.

First time hearing about zenithal priming. I have to do some research and give it a shot when I find a suitable project.
I have been a bit lazy when it comes to researching new techniques. I should do that more.

Also, what kind of photo setup do you have at the moment? I'm still trying to combat the darkness that covers our grim student flat with mixed results. I bought a small light box from ebay which helped a lot, but that is way too small for group shots. Might need to buy a bigger one anyway.

Keep up the good work in 2020!

Welcome back Ezki, and thank you very much for the kind words!

The AR are probably my favorites as well, and the Sentinel might just be my model of the year..

I recommend Vince Venturella's videos on Youtube for zenithal priming/undercoating. I think he uses it for basically every model, and his videos are really informative and thorough. I think Miniac also did a good video on the subject.

For my photography setup, I use an old, entry-level DSLR with a cheap 50mm lense, and a tripod (a cheap one from Motonet). My lights are just a couple of wildly different desk lamps, which to be honest are not ideal for photography (or painting). I take photos of single models/squads on a piece of printer paper (and using the aforementioned lights), but this latest group photo was taken on our kitchen table with just the ceiling lamp (not much light coming from the windows either). The key to the setup is the tripod which allows me to increase the shutter time (more light), and the manual settings mode which helps to get the colors correct. I shoot in RAW and use (mostly) the auto settings on Photoshop to get the colors as good as I can. I also recently got a gray card which helps to get the colors right even more accurately, but to be honest it hasn't made a huge difference. But more than anything, I suggest reading this article from Tale of Painters. What I do is basically all learned from there. There's also one for smartphones, though I haven't really dived into it.
amazingturtles wrote:57 isn't small at all, it's an impressive number! It's been a blast following your progress this year, so I say keep up the good work too.
Astra Rodentia forever!

Thanks for the compliments, and for naming my rats! Astra Rodentia forever!
zahnib wrote:That's some awesome progress over the year mcmattila! Super diverse range of very well painted minis! Your Lord of Plague looks great, I especially like the pitted effect on the armour and the flesh around the belly.
Look forward to seeing what you get up to in 2020!

Cheers! Variety is the spice of (hobby) life!
gobert wrote:I’ve gotta agree with turtles, 57 is a good number. Especially with such quality! Shame you didn’t get a bingo, you’ll have to strategise a way across the board or two!

Thanks! Yeah, I'll have to plan out my bingo projects a bit better this year, and hopefully get at least one whole row by the end of year. I think the issue in 2019 was the terrain related squares. I'll have to try and rectify that this year! Nevertheless, the bingo will have to wait just a little while, as Rob said in his end-of-2019 post that he'll redesign the board a bit for this year. I'll wait and see what's it like first.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/06 23:42:13


Post by: Ezki


 mcmattila wrote:


For my photography setup, I use an old, entry-level DSLR with a cheap 50mm lense, and a tripod (a cheap one from Motonet). My lights are just a couple of wildly different desk lamps, which to be honest are not ideal for photography (or painting). I take photos of single models/squads on a piece of printer paper (and using the aforementioned lights), but this latest group photo was taken on our kitchen table with just the ceiling lamp (not much light coming from the windows either). The key to the setup is the tripod which allows me to increase the shutter time (more light), and the manual settings mode which helps to get the colors correct. I shoot in RAW and use (mostly) the auto settings on Photoshop to get the colors as good as I can. I also recently got a gray card which helps to get the colors right even more accurately, but to be honest it hasn't made a huge difference. But more than anything, I suggest reading this article from Tale of Painters. What I do is basically all learned from there. There's also one for smartphones, though I haven't really dived into it.


Thanks for the tips!
It seems we have quite the similar setup, even the lens. I think I have to play around with the lights a bit more. Could also try to use a bit slower shutter speed, which was a good tip.
I have also thought about getting a grey card, but have not bothered yet. Could give it a try. So far I have been fixing the white balance in Photoshop with a few different techniques.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/09 00:07:20


Post by: Maharg


Love that nurgle guy, particularly that disgusting gut and the stippling on the armour has worked well too. Nice end of year shot, a collection to be proud of.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/12 13:21:11


Post by: mcmattila


Maharg wrote:
Love that nurgle guy, particularly that disgusting gut and the stippling on the armour has worked well too. Nice end of year shot, a collection to be proud of.

Thanks a lot Maharg! I'm very proud of the collection, and look forward to making it bigger this year! Unfortunately I'm soon running out of display space on my Detolf, so I'll have to start looking into storage solutions for some of my minis..

---

Alright, let’s get the hobby year 2020 started! I wanted to pick a small project to ease myself back to painting after a bit of a hiatus, so here’s Lieutenant Varras from the Battle for Macragge box.



I didn’t get any hobbying done during Christmas / New Year, due to not being home for the majority of them. But since then I’ve slowly been building and prepping models to eventually paint, and during last weekend and Epiphany Monday managed to paint up one of them. Varras had been sitting on my table for pretty long, and of course he’s been in my possession since the release of BfM in 2004. I had actually painted the model back then, but as he wasn’t really a part of my Ultramarine army, and I was never really happy with how he looked, I decided to strip him and give him a new paintjob.



Painting was rather straightforward, I used the same palette as for my Revelators, with the difference that I painted the pouches and holsters brown instead of black to bring in some additional color. I also tried out Citadel’s new paint triad for dark skin, and am very happy with the result. Definitely using it for some other models as well!



Painting this model pretty much finished the Space Marine side of BfM, as I have already painted the objective markers and a Tactical Squad (will have to do a marine with a flamer at some point). The squad is of course not the one from the box, but that’s fine as, to be frank, the BfM marine sculpts and casts were mostly terrible. I might get to the Tyranids at some point, as I think I’ve got most of the minis still in my possession. I’ve also tried to get hold of the Aquila lander terrain pieces (I still kick myself for binning those as a teenager), but so far the prices have been a bit too much.

Finally, I’ll begin filling the hobby bingo card as well. The card is a bit different than last year, as Rob redesigned it just this month. Let’s see if I’ll do better this time! I’ll cross off the “to-do pile model”, I think Varras qualifies.
Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/12 14:26:35


Post by: Theophony


Nicely done alt. Vargas there.

I think I will print out that bingo board and start work on it. I just bought the start collecting set for Khorne and I’m on my way to building/painting it. So you have laid down the gauntlet sort of


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/14 22:09:47


Post by: IGtR=


Love Lt Varras. Boy that lad is a blast from the past! Still have a few of them knocking around which I keep meaning to paint up in the classic ultra scheme


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/15 20:29:14


Post by: Ezki


The skin turned out really really well! The model looks very good all around.

Good luck with the hobby bingo in 2020!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/13 18:21:21


Post by: mcmattila


Theophony wrote:Nicely done alt. Vargas there.
I think I will print out that bingo board and start work on it. I just bought the start collecting set for Khorne and I’m on my way to building/painting it. So you have laid down the gauntlet sort of

Thanks! I'll be sure to follow your progress, let's see which one of us gets more squares crossed off I don''t think I'll be able to get that starter set square. Unless.. Hmm.. If I finish the Khorne side of the AoS1 starter, that could count..
IGtR= wrote:Love Lt Varras. Boy that lad is a blast from the past! Still have a few of them knocking around which I keep meaning to paint up in the classic ultra scheme

Cheers! I was debating for a long time whether to paint him like the box art or some other scheme, but in the end I went with my chapter colors / a neutral gray. If I had more copies (and I wouldn't say no to them), I'd surely paint one as an Ultra.
Ezki wrote:The skin turned out really really well! The model looks very good all around.
Good luck with the hobby bingo in 2020!

Much obliged! I'm off to a good start at least!

---

Time for a WIP pic, of which I feel I haven't been posting much lately. Too busy painting (and playing video games..) to snap photos I'm back to the Underworlds, working my way to finish my collection of Shadespire warbands. The Farstriders are up, and I'm trying a new color scheme. So far I've got the armor, the black leather and the cloaks done, and basecoated the brown-red leather bits. I still have to do some red spot colors, the metals on the weapons and some details, the bases and the bird. I still haven't settled on color scheme for it, but maybe when I get the other stuff done it'll be easier to decide.







mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/17 23:39:56


Post by: Maharg


A very educational visit for me this time. Interesting to see the GW skin tones on your latest model (great paint job by the way) - I recently got them but haven't got round to using them, good to see they work well.
I'm also painting the farstriders at the moment, and hadn't noticed the fur cloaks go round the front of the model until I saw yours. I like the aged look you've gone for on these, I think it's a better loo for them than the normal clean approach, wondering if I need to change mine up a bit now...
Thanks for posting the photography link, I've just bought a DSLR but have no idea how to use it properly, that guide will save reading through many, many pages of instructions!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/18 08:04:16


Post by: Viterbi


Farstriders look really cool, that muted gold sets a nice atmosphere and the fur cloaks are great. Excited to see how you'll finish the models.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/19 20:33:37


Post by: Ezki


Liking the gold, good job!

Sometimes figuring out the color scheme is the hardest part of a project.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/19 21:34:41


Post by: aku-chan


Great capes!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/19 23:28:58


Post by: gobert


Sweet work on their golds, very ancient looking! Care to share the recipe?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/20 01:30:44


Post by: Theophony


The armor is great, but those cloaks are fantastic.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/20 08:34:33


Post by: zahnib


That armour is looking really good! I'll second gobert's request for the recipe!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 0023/01/31 22:57:47


Post by: The Riddle of Steel


Lt Varras looks great. Scheme is crisp and bright and skin/face looks good.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/25 14:18:48


Post by: mcmattila


Wow, thank you all very much for the amazing response! Sorry it's taken so long for me to reply (starting to look alarmingly like a trend)..

Maharg wrote:A very educational visit for me this time. Interesting to see the GW skin tones on your latest model (great paint job by the way) - I recently got them but haven't got round to using them, good to see they work well.
I'm also painting the farstriders at the moment, and hadn't noticed the fur cloaks go round the front of the model until I saw yours. I like the aged look you've gone for on these, I think it's a better loo for them than the normal clean approach, wondering if I need to change mine up a bit now...
Thanks for posting the photography link, I've just bought a DSLR but have no idea how to use it properly, that guide will save reading through many, many pages of instructions!

That's great to hear, I like to help out if I can! The small bits of cloak on the front of the Farstriders are pretty easy to miss, nearly happened to me as well! I wouldn't change your gang as you've already done them, just get another SCE warband and paint them more weathered
Viterbi wrote:Farstriders look really cool, that muted gold sets a nice atmosphere and the fur cloaks are great. Excited to see how you'll finish the models.

Me too! Hopefully not much longer now!
Ezki wrote:Liking the gold, good job!
Sometimes figuring out the color scheme is the hardest part of a project.

It certainly is!
aku-chan wrote:Great capes!

Cheers!
Theophony wrote:The armor is great, but those cloaks are fantastic.

Much appreciated!
The Riddle of Steel wrote:Lt Varras looks great. Scheme is crisp and bright and skin/face looks good.

Thanks a lot!
gobert wrote:Sweet work on their golds, very ancient looking! Care to share the recipe?

zahnib wrote:That armour is looking really good! I'll second gobert's request for the recipe!

Of course! The recipe is actually GW's brass recipe with added Nihilakh Oxide. I was inspired by a Minotaurs tutorial on From the Warp, and mostly followed it but used the new GW colors instead. The whole process was like this:

Basecoat Warplock Bronze
Shade Agrax Earthshade (I don't know if this had much/any effect in the end)
Overall wash of 1:2 Nihilakh Oxide : Lahmian Medium mix. I didn't paint it on the eye sockets though, didn't want glowing eyes.
Heavy drybrush of Warplock Bronze, which cleans up most of the NO and brings back shine. I might've gone just a bit overboard, as usual, but I didn't want heavy oxidation so the subtle look is fine.
Drybrush of Brass Scorpion, top-down strokes only.
Light drybrush of Runelord Brass, top-down strokes only on head/shoulders/chest/knee guards.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/25 15:05:11


Post by: amazingturtles


I want to give one more shoutout of "great" to the cloaks! And to the varras guy. I've still got my macragge stuff around here somewhere, most of it still waiting for paint...


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/28 12:17:53


Post by: Arakasi


Would you mind sharing the recipe for the cloaks as well? Just completed all nine pages - very nice work and well worth it.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/30 10:49:11


Post by: zahnib


Thanks for sharing the gold recipe, really nice application of it. I might give it a crack on my Ultramarines when I get back to them.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/30 11:35:09


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:I want to give one more shoutout of "great" to the cloaks! And to the varras guy. I've still got my macragge stuff around here somewhere, most of it still waiting for paint...

Thanks turtles! Heh, it took me quite a while to get to the Macragge box as well!
Arakasi wrote:Would you mind sharing the recipe for the cloaks as well? Just completed all nine pages - very nice work and well worth it.

Many thanks Arakasi, and welcome to the blog! I'm glad you're enjoying it. As for the cloaks, I'll do my best to try and memorize all the paints I used, as I didn't write them down. My reason for this is that with an organic, natural material like fur the exact colors aren't vital, so if I'll do this again I'll just grab some colors that seem like they could work, like I did here. But anyway, here are the colors and my "process" as I recall:
Spoiler:
Brownish cloak:
*Basecolors*
Ushabti Bone
Zhandri Dust
Steel Legion Drab
Rhinox Hide
Abaddon Black
*Wash*
Agrax Earthshade
*Highlight*
light drybrush Screaming Skull + the basecolors except Abaddon Black

Reddish cloak:
*Basecolors*
Ushabti Bone
Zhandri Dust
Jokaero Orange
Rhinox Hide
Abaddon Black
*Wash*
Reikland Fleshshade
*Highlight*
light drybrush Screaming Skull + the basecolors except Abaddon Black

White-ish cloak:
*Basecolors*
Ulthuan Grey
Celestra Grey
Dawnstone
Eshin Grey
Abaddon Black
*Wash*
1:1 Nuln Oil & Lahmian Medium
*Highlight*
light drybrush White Scar + the basecolors except Abaddon Black

Note on the basecoating: to make painting easier I started with the midtones (Zhandri Dust / Celestra Grey). The pattern was roughly painted in with the basecolors, and the borders were then blended by either mixing an intermediate color on the palette or wetblending on the model.
Additional note on the highlighting: while I started by drybrushing each color band with it's lighter color, I ended up drybrushing basically the whole cape with the lightest color anyway (Screaming Skull / White Scar).

Hope this helps!

 zahnib wrote:
Thanks for sharing the gold recipe, really nice application of it. I might give it a crack on my Ultramarines when I get back to them.

No problem, always happy to help! Looking forward to seeing how it works on those Ultras!
---

The Farstriders are now done, but I still have to take the photos. Should be able to post them tomorrow!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/30 16:53:58


Post by: Arakasi


Awesome - you are a star - thank you!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/01/31 17:09:53


Post by: mcmattila


 Arakasi wrote:
Awesome - you are a star - thank you!

No problem!

---

And my Shadespire collection grows by yet another warband! Here are the Farstriders! That makes six finished gangs, and two more to go to complete the first season of Underworlds.



Now, to be honest these could’ve been finished a lot sooner, had I not bought myself Hades from Steam. I’ve sunk so many hours into it during the last month that had I used them all painting, I’d probably have my Shadespire collection finished right about now.. It’s a pretty good game though!

Anyway, the Farstriders. As you could see from my WIP pic, I decided to change my default SCE color scheme to something else for this group. At first I toyed with the idea of going with the box art golden boys, but then I felt that I needed to change it a bit to make it mine. I thought I'd just change the blue to red, but then I decided to change the gold as well, to a more weathered looking brass. This was basically the Space Marine Minotaurs scheme, and I finally got to follow a tutorial on FromTheWarp which I had come across ages ago. Well, loosely speaking. I used Citadel paints and their brass triad, just adding verdigris effects before all the drybrushing. I've used Nihilakh Oxide a couple times before, and have been a bit unhappy with the results, thinking that the paint went on too opaque, even with 1:1 thinning with medium. This time I diluted the wash even further, to 1:2, and think that it looks good to me (as long as I only go over areas once). Well, I erased most of the verdigris with the drybrushing anyway, so it didn't really matter even if I put too much on.



My favorite part of the models to paint were the capes. As you might have noticed, I'm a bit of a sucker for differentiating my warband models in some way, and here I decided on making the capes in different colors. I used around five base colors for the initial pattern in each cape, which I then washed with different washes and drybrushed them to finish them off. While painting the initial pattern, I mixed the paints on the borders to achieve a smoother transition, either by mixing an intermediate color on the palette or by wetblending on the model. (See my last post for more detail on the recipes.)

There are a couple of things I'm not totally happy about on the models. One is that I probably should've pushed the highlights on the reds a bit more, as compared to the black leather bits they look a bit flat. Speaking of red, with these models I tried to make the reds on the topknot, pauldrons and the loincloth(?) a bit different, and brighter on top to draw attention there. Success, I think? I'm also not sure about the color choice on the bird: I tried to mimick a golden eagle, but brown and white doesn't really stand out from the brass armor and white cape. But these are considerations for future models, I'm calling these ones done.



Last but not least, I'm claiming a square on the hobby bingo: a team painted specifically for a skirmish game. Seems like the year has started well on the bingo front, one month down and two (/three) squares completed! If I can keep this up, I'll be finishing the whole board before the end of the year! (Yeah, fat chance..

Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/01 10:55:03


Post by: zahnib


Farstriders look awesome! Those are some nice rich reds, it works really well with the bronze armour


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/01 21:45:58


Post by: amazingturtles


Nice work! I've got to love the hawk of course, GW could do real business with me if the sold all the little animals from these various sets seperately.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/02 11:33:40


Post by: Ezki


Looking really really good!
I like the bird, he pops out so nicely. And the metallics are good as usual.

Feeling you, as I spent most of my winter holidays playing video games when I could have been painting


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/02 11:39:14


Post by: mcmattila


What the f... I noticed that my Farstriders post was for some reason cut short, missing a lot of text and photos. Hopefully it all shows up now..

---

zahnib wrote:Farstriders look awesome! Those are some nice rich reds, it works really well with the bronze armour

Much obliged, I think so too!
amazingturtles wrote:Nice work! I've got to love the hawk of course, GW could do real business with me if the sold all the little animals from these various sets seperately.

Cheers! Haha, I knew that the bird would be your favorite! Have you checked bits sellers / eBay for the individual animals and critters? Might be somewhat expensive per model, but not as much as buying whole kits.
 Ezki wrote:
Looking really really good!
I like the bird, he pops out so nicely. And the metallics are good as usual.
Feeling you, as I spent most of my winter holidays playing video games when I could have been painting

Thank you very much! Good to hear that you can separate the bird from the rest of the model, I was a bit worried Regarding the metallics, The steel colors on the weapons are actually something new: I got myself two pots of Vallejo Metal Color paints, and used them here. So far I'm really impressed! I'll be experimenting with them a bit more with my next model really soon, I'll probably write something more about them then.

And I think as long as we're having fun it's all good, whether it's miniatures or video games (or whatever). We can have many hobbies! No reason to beat yourself up too much!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/02 20:42:57


Post by: gobert


Great work on the far striders, those cloaks really are fantastic. Not just the fur side, I like how the highlights seem to match the Nihilakh Oxide. The blends on their top knots and shoulder pads are just

Looking forward to see where you go next!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/02 21:09:11


Post by: amazingturtles


 mcmattila wrote:

Cheers! Haha, I knew that the bird would be your favorite! Have you checked bits sellers / eBay for the individual animals and critters? Might be somewhat expensive per model, but not as much as buying whole kits.


I should! If i could find just the little gryph hound from the warpriest set alone... man i would never stop


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/06 16:50:19


Post by: mcmattila


 gobert wrote:
Great work on the far striders, those cloaks really are fantastic. Not just the fur side, I like how the highlights seem to match the Nihilakh Oxide. The blends on their top knots and shoulder pads are just
Looking forward to see where you go next!

Thanks gobert! I'm glad you noticed the highlights on the black, I did think about them matching with the NO! And here's a sneak peek of what I'm currently working on:



The colors are a bit off, as is the way for my WIP pics taken with a phone, but it gives you some idea.. I still have to paint his face/skin and the base, and add some freehand details and weathering.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/06 18:45:01


Post by: youwashock


Always good to see one of the old Imperial nutters. The Stormcast are superb, as well.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/06 23:49:34


Post by: Maharg


I love that old priest model and you're doing it justice so far. Farstriders are really good, they look great with the dirtier grimy scheme. Top stuff


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/07 08:47:28


Post by: Viterbi


Loving the robe on the priest, the highlighting is really great, even if you say the photo doesn't show the real colors.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/08 14:13:11


Post by: mcmattila


youwashock wrote:Always good to see one of the old Imperial nutters. The Stormcast are superb, as well.

It really is! He (along with many other Inquisition models) has been a bucket list model for me for the longest time.
Maharg wrote:I love that old priest model and you're doing it justice so far. Farstriders are really good, they look great with the dirtier grimy scheme. Top stuff

Thanks, he's one of my favorites as well. I think the more weathered look suits the Farstriders, they're supposed to be scouts after all!
Viterbi wrote:Loving the robe on the priest, the highlighting is really great, even if you say the photo doesn't show the real colors.

Thanks, I'm very satisfied with them also! My goal was to try and push the highlights and contrast more than I usually do, and am pretty happy with the result. I might add some more shadows, but we'll see..


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/08 15:29:18


Post by: amazingturtles


He's got a lot of personality, that's for sure! And a chainsaw, which is a personality in its own


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/12 20:34:54


Post by: mcmattila


 amazingturtles wrote:
He's got a lot of personality, that's for sure! And a chainsaw, which is a personality in its own

Thanks! Now with a face, hopefully he's got even more personality! And the chainsaw's got some more too!

---

Alright, I got the priest finished last night. That's another bucket list model done!



I actually had a hard time finding info or a picture of the studio paintjob of this lunatic (maybe someone can help me out here?). The model's tab said it's from 2002, but even with a couple catalogues from the era I couldn't find an official image of him. Rules-wise, I don't know which faction he belongs to these days, but I'm guessing Sisters of Battle. Not that it matters too much, it's just an awesome model! I've wanted it in my collection for a long time, and after seeing Heretic Tom's awesome (and growing!) collection of Imperial Cult miniatures the temptation just grew too strong. I bought the model from eBay and it arrived around Christmas.

My goal with the model was to achieve a "blanchean" color scheme, with mostly warm palette, a lot of red and some classic motifs like the checker pattern. I also wanted to try and push my skills on certain areas, as well as try out new things. The main things were the red robes - I wanted to push the contrast by shading with purple and highlighting all the way to orange; and the face - adding a bit more color than I've previously done. I also tried painting marble on the base, and experimented with some new metal paints.



There's not much to say about the red itself, but painting it was surprisingly fast and I really like the result. I got to say though, that it's amazing how much each successive highlight, or the final details, add to models. Each little dot and hash adds so much to the final model, and as you're always painting smaller and smaller areas, it takes almost no time at all! Looks like the law of diminishing returns does not apply to miniature painting.. Case in point, I painted the face first as I normally would (base/wash/layer/highlight), but then added some thinned down washes below his eyes (purple) and nose/cheeks (crimson), as well as a couple of lines to his lower lip to imply cracks. A lot more character with very little effort!

Now, the metallics. I recently stumbled on an arts/crafts store that stocked some Vallejo Metal Color and bought myself two pots. I had heard good things about them from Vince Venturella (as in, they're the only metallics he's using), and I can confirm that they're totally worthy of the praise. So thin and smooth, but the coverage is still unbelievable. I actually already used them on the Farstriders, but thought that I needed to experiment further to say anything. With the chainsaw blade I got to do some rudimentary wetblending, which works pretty well. I'm definitely getting some more Metal Color pots in the future, and changing to them instead of GW's steel paints.



I wanted the preacher to have a thematic base, and what could be a better fit than a crumbling chapel? I cut down some thin plasticard to make the stone tiles, and glued down a few patches of sand so that the base wouldn't look too sterile. I was a bit unsure about the skull at first, as it's a bit bigger scale than the preacher, but in the end I really wanted it there and just called it a space marine skull! The tiles got a marble effect following an old WHTV tutorial, and I added a roman numeral on the skull for a bit of extra detail. This is something that I've wanted to do for ages, as a reference to some amazing old pieces of 40k art such as this one. To finish the model off and tie it to the base I drybrushed and stippled some bone color on the robes/parchment/base, which was as harrowing as ever, but seemed to work as it always has.

As has thankfully been the case with all my other models this year, I can claim a square in the hobby bingo with this one as well. I'll take the "model from a faction that I don't already own any painted minis for". Although I'm not exactly sure which faction this model belongs to!
Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/13 05:18:31


Post by: Arakasi


Lovely mini and lovely writeup - much appreciation for taking the time to share both.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/13 06:35:29


Post by: Viterbi


Excellent work, really tempted to get that model myself

There's a picture of it in the "Forces of the Imperial Inqisition Collector's Guide". Yours does look better


[Thumb - Bildschirmfoto 2020-02-13 um 07.31.15.png]


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/13 06:35:43


Post by: Pomander Cask


The priest looks great! Thanks for sharing your tips as well, I appreciate them a lot.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/13 11:36:25


Post by: zahnib


The priest looks awesome mcmattila! Those inquisition/deamonhunter models are the bee's knees, so much character. Nice work Viterbi on finding the image


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/13 22:32:13


Post by: gobert


Great job you’ve done on the preacher! The marble base worked really well as did the purple shadow and orange flecked highlights on the cloak.

What’s next? Diorama or eternal spell?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/15 20:13:43


Post by: mcmattila


Arakasi wrote:Lovely mini and lovely writeup - much appreciation for taking the time to share both.

Thank you very much! It means a lot to me that you like the writing as well. I like to write it, but it's good to know someone's reading too
Viterbi wrote:Excellent work, really tempted to get that model myself
There's a picture of it in the "Forces of the Imperial Inqisition Collector's Guide". Yours does look better

Thanks! If you get the chance, I can recommend the model. And many thanks for the pic! So many cool models there.. But yeah, I like my version of the priest better too!
Pomander Cask wrote:The priest looks great! Thanks for sharing your tips as well, I appreciate them a lot.

Cheers! No problem, good to hear that my scribblings help someone!
zahnib wrote:The priest looks awesome mcmattila! Those inquisition/deamonhunter models are the bee's knees, so much character. Nice work Viterbi on finding the image

Thanks a lot! You're right, there's so many cool Inquisition models I'd like to get my hands on.
gobert wrote:Great job you’ve done on the preacher! The marble base worked really well as did the purple shadow and orange flecked highlights on the cloak.
What’s next? Diorama or eternal spell?

Much appreciated!
Heh, there's actually one other square I've already completed (more on that soon). Completing the diorama and the eternal spell squares might take a bit of time, but thankfully I have more than 10 months to do them! I've some ideas for a diorama, but I've got a bit of problem with the spells/abilities, as I don't play the game(s), so I'm not too familiar with them. I'll have to do some research, but I'm confident that I can come up with something to claim the square sooner or later.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/15 21:23:19


Post by: amazingturtles


He looks excellent! And of course, congratulations on cheking off another box! I'm trying that bingo thing now too, so thank you for showing that it exists!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/16 10:57:57


Post by: Ezki


Great work on the model!
It's always nice to read such a detailed write up. That's one of the best ways to share techniques and ideas with other hobbyists

That being said, I think I have to give those Vallejo metal paints a shot when I come across some.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/18 20:15:48


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:He looks excellent! And of course, congratulations on cheking off another box! I'm trying that bingo thing now too, so thank you for showing that it exists!

Thanks a lot! And no problem, hope you have fun with the card!
Ezki wrote:Great work on the model!
It's always nice to read such a detailed write up. That's one of the best ways to share techniques and ideas with other hobbyists
That being said, I think I have to give those Vallejo metal paints a shot when I come across some.

Much appreciated! Again, it's nice to hear that people appreciate my rambling


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/23 15:41:15


Post by: mcmattila


No miniatures today, but some updates for my hobby table and a development in the real life.



First up, I've updated my lighting setup. My old setup had two lamps (see above), but they were wildly different from each other. The other was a desk lamp with really warm, comparatively dim light. The other was a floor lamp with a bright white light, but the light cone was so tight that at times it was difficult to keep the model under it. The differences meant that I often had (harsh) shadows on the figure, and that when I was taking photos I had trouble with white balance as I had two lamps with different temperature values.



I've thought about the update for a while now (well, basically since I got back to the hobby a couple years back), but after I recently saw a video on the subject and noticed how affordable the update could be, I decided to pull the trigger. I got two Tertial desk lamps from Ikea and two led bulbs from the local automotive store. These bulbs are nice as they have three temperature settings: warm, white and daylight. After installing the two lamps (had to modify the clamp on the other one slightly), I've gotten rid of most of the shadows. This obviously makes painting, as well as photography much easier. I think the lights could be even brighter (the video recommended 13W, whereas I found 9W bulbs), but for now I can certainly get by with these. They're a big improvement!



Secondly, I've made myself some new brush pots! Okay, this is probably not that interesting, but whatever.. Some time ago I found some very decent (good even?) cheap brushes from the local super market. They come in packs of five, and I've bought four so far. My old Coca Cola cup started to get a little small for the lot, so I decided to get a second container for them. I then realised that I could make it myself, and ended up doing a bunch! I've worked as an insulator (/scaffolder) since last summer, so I've got access to all the aluminium that I could ever need and the tools to work it. Now, these pots could be described as prototypes, and aren't really too nice. But they work as intended and are a nice memento from the insulation work. I made some others as well, a bit neater even, but my wife took them to her work before I could take a photo of them



Never one to pass an opportunity to fill a hobby bingo square, I'll claim the "something for the hobby that's not for battlefield" with these pots!

Spoiler:


Finally, I'll be starting a new job tomorrow, and this time it's on my own field of work! I'll be a substitute English teacher until the end of May, which should be interesting. While this is definitely a good thing for my career, it probably means that I'll have less time to work on hobby projects. The job is also on the other side of the country, so I'll lose access to some equipment for some time. I'm taking some minis and paints with me, however, and we'll see how it goes. Expect fewer updates though, especially on new finished minis.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/23 15:53:55


Post by: Ezki


Firstly, congrats on the new job! Changing the scenery for a while might prove interesting.
Good that you are able take some of the hobby with you.

Don't worry about regular updates, we'll be here.

Regarding the setup: it's looking good! The brush cups are ace!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/23 18:44:33


Post by: King Thor


Love seeing your hobby workspace! I just got a new lamp a couple of weeks ago, and it immediately made painting easier. Congrats on the new job. Work always comes first, but looking forward to your updates once you are settled in.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/02/23 22:47:03


Post by: gobert


Congrats on the new job! Being away from home for such a long time is tough, but having something to while away the evenings is good.

The new hobby lights look great, how are they temperature wise? LED should help on that front, I really should invest in decent lights myself


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/07 14:17:54


Post by: mcmattila


Thanks to everyone for commenting, and sorry about the late response once again!
Ezki wrote:Firstly, congrats on the new job! Changing the scenery for a while might prove interesting.
Good that you are able take some of the hobby with you.
Don't worry about regular updates, we'll be here.
Regarding the setup: it's looking good! The brush cups are ace!

Thanks! Yeah, taking some hobby things along was a must, and in the end I probably went a bit overboard, hauling most of my stuff to the new place..
King Thor wrote:Love seeing your hobby workspace! I just got a new lamp a couple of weeks ago, and it immediately made painting easier. Congrats on the new job. Work always comes first, but looking forward to your updates once you are settled in.

Cheers! Lights make such a big difference in painting, I'd now say they're the first thing you should consider after a good brush.
gobert wrote:Congrats on the new job! Being away from home for such a long time is tough, but having something to while away the evenings is good.
The new hobby lights look great, how are they temperature wise? LED should help on that front, I really should invest in decent lights myself

Thank you! There's not really any temperature to speak of. They're slightly warm if you put your hand right up to them, but you're definitely not going to work up a sweat painting near these. I can heartily recommend the investment, the two lamps and bulbs cost me less than a box of Space Marines!

---

All right, it’s high time for an update. For the last three weeks or so I’ve been on build mode whenever I’ve had some hobby time, and have now got a couple of models to show you. First up, a couple of Ork boyz!





The two unprimed boyz are built from bits fresh off their late-90s sprues, while the primed one is a rescue job (parts are still from the same box, though!) that I did ages ago. He’ll be painted along these two new ones, whenever I’ll get to them The shoota boyz are pretty stock builds, while the slugga boy has a number of minor adjustments, such as reposing the hands and the horns on his helmet.





Next we have my latest creations, two more members for the Astra Rodentia. These guys take me a plenty of time to create as I fiddle with most of the parts. Getting a chainsword on a right hand was quite an exercise, I can tell you! Another conversion/scratchbuild was the radio pack: I wasn’t happy with how thick the antennas were, and made some new ones from paperclips and thin wire. I also added a phone(?), haphazardly hanging from its cable. While building it, I noticed that the Skitarii backpacks would’ve had the same elements, but I didn’t want to wait for an order to arrive.



Finally, a bunch of Space Marines. The two tacticals above were actually built around six months ago, and have since been based and primed, and the sarge on the left has got his banner. I’m using this old image as I have a couple of subassemblies on them, here they’re reasonably assembled. Fun fact: the sarge was actually built around the right, open, hand that was found in the Devastators kit! I’ve also built two more shotgun scouts, which completes the squad I started building.. last summer? (where does the time go?)





I’m using the scouts to claim the conversion square in the hobby bingo. The slugga boy might’ve been a more ‘optimal’ choice, but fug it, I’ve made more progress than expected already!
Spoiler:


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/07 15:23:18


Post by: amazingturtles


All nice bits of progress! I like the radio antennae, it looks more rough and ready than the skitarii bits would i think, and that fits with the overall model better.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/08 08:16:47


Post by: Ezki


Nice looking bunch of models!

I'm really digging the new Astra Rodentia guys. They are definitely worth the time!
The converted radio pack looks very good.


 mcmattila wrote:
I noticed that the Skitarii backpacks would’ve had the same elements, but I didn’t want to wait for an order to arrive.


Ha, I can feel you there. When the inspiration hits it hits. There's no time to wait for deliveries!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/08 08:56:21


Post by: Viterbi


Shotgun scouts look great, really nice conversion. And light is something I definitely haven't optimized at my hobby station, that is now on my list.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/08 13:30:36


Post by: gobert


Cool, more Space Rats! The conversions already look great. As do the heads on the scouts, are they scion heads?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/10 21:01:18


Post by: mcmattila


amazingturtles wrote:All nice bits of progress! I like the radio antennae, it looks more rough and ready than the skitarii bits would i think, and that fits with the overall model better.

Yeah, I like the the IG antennae, and the whole radio box for the same reason, the Skitarii ones would've just had the phones on them by default. Of course, I could've mixed the two if I had the bits..
Ezki wrote:Nice looking bunch of models!
I'm really digging the new Astra Rodentia guys. They are definitely worth the time!
The converted radio pack looks very good.
 mcmattila wrote:
I noticed that the Skitarii backpacks would’ve had the same elements, but I didn’t want to wait for an order to arrive.

Ha, I can feel you there. When the inspiration hits it hits. There's no time to wait for deliveries!

The rats are probably my favorites as well, a real labor-of-love kinda project for me. And I think I might be getting a bit quicker with the basic construction process! Of course with each one I come up with even more ambitious conversions
Viterbi wrote:Shotgun scouts look great, really nice conversion. And light is something I definitely haven't optimized at my hobby station, that is now on my list.

Cheers! Good luck with the shopping!
gobert wrote:Cool, more Space Rats! The conversions already look great. As do the heads on the scouts, are they scion heads?

Thanks! The helmeted heads are indeed Scion heads, with some very minor trim detail removed (from the top and the back of the head). Not an original conversion by any means, but it's the coolest headswap for the Scouts that I've seen. The backpacks and the sarge's arms are also from the same source.

---

And some more progress to share! Last weekend after finishing the AR rats I got back on the painting saddle, and continued working on Uriah Jacobus. You might've seen him lurking around my desk in a "just-about-started" condition, but now he's much closer to completion:





As you can see, I've gone for pretty much the studio scheme for him, as I've always loved it, and wanted to try my hand at painting the flag and it's skull design. It's obviously not as nice as the original, but I'm pretty happy about the proportions and the general look and that's the important thing.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/10 23:43:24


Post by: gobert


Uriah looks fabulous! Really great transitions on the highlights, but the writing on the script looks like actual words... did you really write out a sentence? That barbed wire skull is really cool too!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/11 07:05:24


Post by: Viterbi


Great work on Uriah, love the scabbard, the hazard stripes and their weathering are ace!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/12 03:31:28


Post by: King Thor


Love the hazard stripes on Uriah! How did you do them?


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/12 21:15:03


Post by: zahnib


Uriah looks awesome! Those hazard stripes look really nice and the banner is looking fantastic!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/13 08:53:50


Post by: mcmattila


Thanks again to everyone for the kind comments!
gobert wrote:Uriah looks fabulous! Really great transitions on the highlights, but the writing on the script looks like actual words... did you really write out a sentence? That barbed wire skull is really cool too!

Haha! No, that's just scribbling, not actual words. But I'm glad it looks like it! It's fun to imagine what it would say though.. Actually, I don't even know what the capital letter should be, just tried to copy the original.
Viterbi wrote:Great work on Uriah, love the scabbard, the hazard stripes and their weathering are ace!

Much obliged! I think that this time I didn't over-do the weathering !
King Thor wrote:Love the hazard stripes on Uriah! How did you do them?

Cheers! Started with averland sunset & abaddon black, agrax earthshade on top. This looked too flat, so I highlighted the black with eshin grey and mechanicus grey. The yellow was highlighted with yriel yellow, and further shaded with very watered-down skrag brown. Weathering with rhinox hide and the highlight colors. All of this creates something of a 3d-effect which might not be too realistic, but creates nice definition.
zahnib wrote:Uriah looks awesome! Those hazard stripes look really nice and the banner is looking fantastic!

Many thanks!

---

Alright, ol' Jacobus is now finished. I'll try to get some halfway decent pictures of him during the weekend. I don't currently have access to my DSLR, so I'll have to make do with my phone. Proper showcase pics will follow in the future


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/20 13:54:35


Post by: mcmattila


Alright, I finally have proper pics of the old Protector of the Faith! I actually did take some pretty decent photos with my phone, but before I got to upload them, we got word of schools getting closed, which meant that my work continues from home. And that meant a trip across the country and access to my DSLR and a proper photo setup!



I got the model at the same time as the chainsaw preacher, and from eBay as well. This was right after GW had pulled Jacobus from sale, so I rushed to eBay and managed to get him at an acceptable price, albeit of course more than what I could've bought him for a week before. The model was properly old though, as it came in an unopened 3rd edition era blister pack, which was pretty cool.



Even if the model is positively ancient, I think it has aged really well. There are some details that are a bit clumsy, such as all the skulls, the fur, and the comically large hands, but overall ol' Jacobus still holds up. Of course, just the pose and the concept of a "shotgun preacher" are cool enough!





Painting the model was largely similar to the last preacher. As I previously said, I chose to go with the studio paint scheme with this model because I wanted to see if I could replicate the awesome skull design on the banner. While it's not as nice as the original (big surprise, right?), the important thing is that the proportions look good to me and I'm happy with the result. Two other things I practiced while painting this model were the hot coals on the banner top and the more refined hazard stripes on the chainsword. I'm very happy with how both of these things turned out. Especially with the stripes, I feel like I'm approaching a good amount of weathering, and not over-doing the chipping.



And finally, I managed to claim another bingo square with Jacobus, this time for using a technique I haven't mastered yet. I mean, really I could claim it with any model as even my basecoating could surely be improved, but this one is for practicing freehanding.

Spoiler:



mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/21 12:57:50


Post by: amazingturtles


Yeah, that guy is pretty amazing. I like his one tooth, and like you say, the whole thing is just brimming with personality. He's ragged looking in the best way.

The shotgun preacher thing reminds me of father grigori from half life 2, so it's definitely an idea that can be a lot of fun.


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/21 19:28:20


Post by: gobert


Jacobus came in amazingly well. The work on the coals and hazard stripes was definitely worth it! Loving your highlights on the fabric too, great touch!

Edit: I’ve been back through and see your cloaks shaded with purple and highlighted up to orange but couldn’t find the exact recipe, any chance you could share it? I’d like to use it when I come to do Pious Voronezh from Blackstone Fortress. It looks like you basecoated grey, and did flecks to represent the fabrics texture for the orange highlight, but I could be seeing things!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/22 00:17:20


Post by: Ezki


The freehand on the banner turned out great! The banner all together looks good.
I also really like the worn out look you got going on: the metal on the shotgun looks especially good.

Keep up the amazing work!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/22 09:35:26


Post by: Viterbi


Congrats on finishing Uriah! He and his buddy look like really restrained and open-minded priests
The glowing embers on top of his banner look great and the freehand is amazing!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/22 19:55:30


Post by: IGtR=


Jacobus looks fantastic. Really awesome job replicating the studio scheme on him. And he has aged fantastically!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/25 19:50:42


Post by: mcmattila


Wow, thanks again for the amazing response!
amazingturtles wrote:Yeah, that guy is pretty amazing. I like his one tooth, and like you say, the whole thing is just brimming with personality. He's ragged looking in the best way.
The shotgun preacher thing reminds me of father grigori from half life 2, so it's definitely an idea that can be a lot of fun.

Ah yes, father Grigori! There's definitely some connection!
gobert wrote: Jacobus came in amazingly well. The work on the coals and hazard stripes was definitely worth it! Loving your highlights on the fabric too, great touch!

Edit: I’ve been back through and see your cloaks shaded with purple and highlighted up to orange but couldn’t find the exact recipe, any chance you could share it? I’d like to use it when I come to do Pious Voronezh from Blackstone Fortress. It looks like you basecoated grey, and did flecks to represent the fabrics texture for the orange highlight, but I could be seeing things!

Cheers! With only one, relatively small model, it's quick and easy to do some extra highlights/details.
As for the red recipe, you are indeed correct so far. It was something like this:
(gray primer)
basecoat khorne red
some really quick, broad layering with mephiston red on "upper" surfaces
wash the whole thing druchii violet
highlight by doing small lines and dots, simulating fabric texture, with the following:
-mephiston red
-evil sunz scarlet
-wild rider red
-fire dragon bright (seriously, just a dot or two here and there)

sound like a lot of steps, but it goes really fast if you just lay out the colors on your wet palette.
Ezki wrote:The freehand on the banner turned out great! The banner all together looks good.
I also really like the worn out look you got going on: the metal on the shotgun looks especially good.
Keep up the amazing work!

Thanks a lot Ezki! I'll definitely try! I think the shotgun got some extra worn out look from the metal model's texture and/or priming
Viterbi wrote:Congrats on finishing Uriah! He and his buddy look like really restrained and open-minded priests
The glowing embers on top of his banner look great and the freehand is amazing!

Haha! I think they'll at least leave a lot of open-minded bodies in their wake
IGtR= wrote:Jacobus looks fantastic. Really awesome job replicating the studio scheme on him. And he has aged fantastically!

I'm glad to hear that IGtR, thanks!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/26 15:46:25


Post by: gobert


Thanks for the recipe, I’ll have cook up some fanatical emperor worshipper!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/26 23:58:42


Post by: zahnib


Uriah looks amazing! Iw as going to ask for the red recipe but gobert beat me to it! Really really nice job on him, the freehand is super crisp and the hazard stripes on the chainsaw as well as the weathering are top-notch!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/28 20:07:06


Post by: mcmattila


gobert wrote:Thanks for the recipe, I’ll have cook up some fanatical emperor worshipper!

No problem! I'll look forward to him/her!
zahnib wrote:Uriah looks amazing! Iw as going to ask for the red recipe but gobert beat me to it! Really really nice job on him, the freehand is super crisp and the hazard stripes on the chainsaw as well as the weathering are top-notch!

Thanks a lot zahnib! I really appreciate it.

---

So I’ve jumped aboard the Contrast train! I wanted something simple to test the new paints on, and what better candidates could there be than the humble Poxwalkers.



I’ve been interested in the Contrast paints for some time now. Not for using them exclusively to paint minis, but to speed up the painting process in some areas. The greatest sources of inspiration for this have been Vince Venturella, Darren Latham (channel will close in May, go watch the videos if you haven’t already) and most recently JuanHidalgo with his ‘Eavy Contrast tutorial series. They all show great examples of how to use Contrast for basecoating or effects, and more traditional paints to refine and finish a model.

About a week ago I went to the FLGS and bought a box of easy-to-build Poxwalkers and a bunch of Contrast pots (not cheap..). I decided that I’d revisit the zenithal undercoating, and at the same time try out how that works for multiple figures simultaneously. Well, multiple minis seemed to be fine, but I had some problems with my rattle cans: the gray one clogged which left me with black and white only, and I ended up messing the white and creating a bit of texture on the models. Well, it’s Nurgle so not too fuzzed about it.. Of course, it probably affected the flow of the Contrast paint to some extent. Oh yeah, I’m using regular automotive primers, not the GW recommended ones.



Painting with the Contrast paints was very enjoyable and in about half an hour I got a model all basecoated apart from metallic parts which I wanted to do with TMM paints. The result looked pretty good actually, and if I’d have to paint dozens of these for playing games I’d happily leave them at that. As I don’t, I spent an additional half an hour per model to refine the paintjob. I layered, or rather glazed the larger surfaces of skin with Flayed One Flesh and then highlighted everything with Pallid Wytch Flesh. The pink tentacles and the orange cloth also got some layering, and the yellow pustules got a glaze of the now OOP Lamenter’s Yellow. Finally, a further 30 minutes were spent painting the metallics (Vallejo Metal Colors, Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust) and the base.

So all together, it was around an hour and a half per model, which I suppose is not all that quick, but I reckon a lot faster than what I could’ve done with traditional paints only. I’m calling this experiment a success, will surely use the paints for other models as well. For example, I have the Shadespire dwarf team still on my to-do list, and I now think that I’ll employ Contrast paints for the majority of the models.

I’ll also use these fellers to claim a square in the bingo: paint a model in a color scheme you don’t normally use. So far I’ve painted very few mostly naked models, much less Nurgle afflicted ones, so I think this counts.
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mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/28 23:16:49


Post by: gobert


Cracking job on the pox walkers mcmatilla, they look suitably nurgle! Their pustules are particularly disgusting!


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/29 06:06:12


Post by: Viterbi


Nice first foray in using contrast paints. I love them and mostly use them for leather, skin and over metals. Atm I‘m painting models only using contrast and no other paints. Really helps with learning more brush control, that stuff is flowy


mcmattila's hobby projects - 40k, AoS, Underworlds @ 2020/03/29 07:16:51


Post by: Pomander Cask


The pox walkers look great! I'm thinking of testing contrast paints too and it's good to hear you like them.