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Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/05 11:06:50


Post by: darkkt


Hi all, been a while

I got out of the hobby and posting to DakkaDakka about (checks notes) 2014 (over here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/244402.page ). A brief stint in Covid-related Social Isolation caused me to pick up the paints again, so I figured I would start posting as well . Rather than necromantically revive my previous blog with all its bold promises and failed attempts, I figured I would just post some stuff I have actually finished here.

I have two things to share - some Khorne Berserkers and some Iron Warrior flavoured terrain. I'll start with the Iron Warriors Aegis Defence Line


These were good fun to make (scratch built) using pressboard, some scrap black plastic plumbing pipe and some ABS rods/scrap sprues.

Step one:
Cut out the pieces of the pressboard board. These parts are the front faces:




Glue the front to the base:


Make the sides:


Make the Chaos Star:


Finish assembling:



Glue on the mesh (this is cut from plastic fly-screen):


Glue on spikes (these are made from bits of sprue ground sharp using a Dremel). I also used PVA glue to make rivets on this one.


Then I painted it up and applied weathering powders. This one was the first ‘test subject’ to see if the colour scheme worked.


I was pretty happy, so carried it forward on the remaining pieces (4 short pieces, 4 long pieces):

Here are the finished shots:


The banner on this one was done free-hand.


Some gristly decorations on these three:


Almost forgot that I added some chains!


The rear view showing off the weathering powders and washes.



This guy should probably be a little grubbier lol


One of the longer pieces:




This long piece has a sword rack:




And some ‘action’ shots:




I like how this bit turned out – but it was a huge pain in the ass to paint the striped cable!


I might post the Berserkers separately. Let me know what you think of the Barricades!
Cheers



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Part two: The Berserkers.
Apart from the iron warrior terrain, I thought I would finish off some of my pile of shame – so I brought out the old dancing Berserkers. These were amongst the first models I ever bought and have sat assembled and undercoated for over a decade.
So between 29 March and 5 July I finally got these models finished. 26 damn models.
Can I strongly recommend *against* batch painting? At least – don’t do it if you do the hobby for fun. Starting to Edge highlight the 23rd model of 26 is a particular type of hell.

I’m just going to post a bunch of finished shots (I didn’t get any wip photos). Let me know what you think.
Cheers











































[img]https://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2020/7/5/1068123-2020%2C%20Back%20In%20The%20Hobby%2C%20Batch%20Painting%2C%20Glowing%20Eyes.JPEG
[/img]


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/05 18:30:15


Post by: CTMNine


A lot of effort clearly went in to that. Looks fantastic.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/05 18:55:19


Post by: Fifty


Love those defensive lines, and you made those crappy Berserker models actually look decent.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/11 00:16:58


Post by: darkkt


G'day - thanks for the comments CTMN and Fifty, appreciated

Dont have a heap to post but figured I'd drop some WIP picks of my Iron Warrior progress.

Like everything else these lads were lost to the warp (i.e. linen cupboard) back in 2014 and have just emerged back into realspace to get their paintjobs finished.


Some closer shots of their 2014-level status:






This dusty boi was the only Iron Warrior I actually finished way back then:




And now the (very slight) progress I have made in 2020 (i.e. last week after finishing the zerkers) - just photos of one dude so far:








I have done some more on the other models (I'm focusing on 4 at a time) but I still need to photograph those.

Cheers all!




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/12 11:22:42


Post by: darkkt


Quick update - worked on the horns & tried painting a shoulder-pad:










Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/12 11:45:29


Post by: amazingturtles


There's a lot of excellent work here! I really enjoyed seeing the process behind the barricades. And the new old guys are looking nice.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/12 13:34:09


Post by: AtlasTelamon


That corrupted aegis line is stellar work!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/12 21:51:31


Post by: darkkt


Cheers Bignob & Turtles

Two more shoulder pads that I finished last night - need to work on the expression on this first guy (he looks a bit goofy).






I think I’ve procrastinated enough - time to move onto fixing the hazard stripes (ugh)


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/15 02:38:33


Post by: darkkt


Howdy all, posting a few more WiP pics - these two bois are practically done except for the weathering powders. Those Hazard stripes were painful to do lol.











Two more to do (hope to get them done by the weekend) and then I can get into making them (slightly) rusty!

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/15 03:48:47


Post by: brushcommando


Looking good! I've always thought that if I strayed from the Emperor's light that the iron warriors would be a cool army to collect. But the thought of painting those hazard stripes have always kept me on the straight and narrow. You have my respect.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/16 01:02:04


Post by: darkkt


Cheers @brushcommando

On the recommendation of a few youtubers, I've been specifically practicing a few techniques recently - working under the theory of "deliberate practice". The idea is to consciously work and practice a specific technique to get better at it, and to get clear and obvious improvement while doing so. Unstructured/non-deliberate practice is still important; but the deliberate practice is meant to force me to extend myself by trying difficult things.

The freehand shoulder pads, the neatness of the hazard stripes and the glowing-eyes have all been the focus of this squad.

Once this squad is done I'm thinking I'll choose something else to focus on - maybe blending (specifically wet-blending) - and 'brightening' my models. Not sure which models I'll use for this... I'm sure I've got some slaaneshi deamonettes somewhere....

Anyway - these guys are as done as I am going to get them as far as painting goes. Next up is the washes and weathering powders - I want to touch them up with some light rust and oil/mud smears.

(I was attempting to model the Iron Warrior glowing eyes on Killzone. Not perfect, but I'm happy enough I guess to leave them as is.





Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/16 19:24:43


Post by: gobert


Nice Iron Warriors darkkt. I like the idea of deliberate practice, it certainly seems to be paying off for these bois! The freehand shoulder pads are particularly cool. Great stuff with the Aegis defence line too, very Grim Dark!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/17 12:05:41


Post by: darkkt


Thanks gobert!

Well, the 4 Iron Warriors I've been working on are finished (remembering that I had half the painting done before I put them away in 2014). Going to find something new to do tomorrow, before I return and pump out another 4 or 5 IW.

Anyway - here they are:
























Cheers
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/17 12:09:33


Post by: maxwin


Some really nice work here! thanks for the wip pics very inspiring


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/19 00:14:44


Post by: darkkt


Thanks Maxwin

Didn’t get much time last night, but I did kick off on 5 Slaanesh Daemonettes. Wet blending... was a fail lol - I need to watch some more YouTube videos to get my head around what I’m supposed to be doing.

I also discovered that it’s important to let your model dry before taking a photo; I took one shot of the model and then the pink wash I’d put on her hair dripped down her back! Recovered it easily enough, but... yeah. Patience is a virtue.

Anyway, one Wet Work-In-Progress (WWiP?) Slaanesh Daemonette:



Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/20 00:33:49


Post by: darkkt


G'day

So - I learned something yesterday. If you leave a GW red wash for 6 - 7 years it may dry into a gluggy goop. Whilst you *can* add some water to 'resurrect' this goop back into wash, and it *will* look fine when it is wet, the wash will not dry as well as you expect. The Daemonette's hair dried pinkish but also had these ugly red spiderwebby strands throughout it, and it did not look good.

Sigh - so I took it back to the drawing board and painstakingly painted in the effect i was looking for. I also expanded on her tattoos - I'm not sure if these are working yet... I'm going to leave them for a while and work on her claws and armour, then come back at the end to decide if I keep them or paint over and start again.





https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1069860-Front%20tattoos.html



if you have a view or even better advice, let me know!

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/20 01:17:55


Post by: youwashock


That hair is wicked. Tats are good, too.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/20 21:58:50


Post by: darkkt


Thanks Youwashock

Sorted her armour/clothes out now, just the base to do (and then 4 more... sigh):







Cheers


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/21 16:57:01


Post by: gobert


Loving the blue/purple/white/pink transitions, a really imaginative colour scheme. Hopefully the next 4 go smoothly for you!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/21 21:52:12


Post by: darkkt


Thanks Gobert I hunted around for a scheme i liked for ages. Eventually found one that was similar colours but a lot brighter than this one. Looked great, but I didn’t wanted to straight up copy & was keen try for a ‘pastel scheme’. The tattoos were Borderlands-esque inspiration.

She is finished now - finished the base; time to hit the others tonight!





Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/25 07:25:28


Post by: darkkt


Time for a quick update: finished the Daemonette squad’s hair & faces. Up next, the armour!














Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/25 13:11:36


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Such a great scheme! Might be worth stealing for my Witch Elves... Hmmmm...


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/25 14:15:05


Post by: maxwin


Beautiful work on those daemonettes, they look proper evil!!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/26 22:55:57


Post by: darkkt


Hi maxwin; thanks I wasn’t convinced I could pull off evil via pastel pink purple & blue, But I think the ‘extreme eyeshadow’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting

Hi Gwyn; thanks & steal away - I ‘heavily borrowed’ someone else’s scheme in the first place! This one to be exact (it’s on the GW store page; finding an image to link too is mind numbingly difficult) : https://images.app.goo.gl/dxiVGPkXxKmHo2D69

Anyway... got the armour mostly done, and the tattoos done to a stage I’m ‘happy’ with (totally over lol). Time for the metal trim, the bases and some horns washes to add depth, and then (Finally) it’ll be time to I’m move to some different models.



Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/27 00:53:52


Post by: youwashock


Digging those head shots. The markings look really cool. Almost there!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/30 04:46:41


Post by: darkkt


Thanks youwashock

havent progressed these in a few days; been busy both reading the new core rules, as well as cutting up and rebuilding a bunch of mordnheim models so my kids have something to paint.

Got back on the job last night and I realised I still need to paint the claw. not quite as far as I had hoped lol.

I'll try to update with some actual progress on the weekend. Cheers



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/31 01:30:10


Post by: darkkt


Ok, got some work done last night around the claws - might do a touch more smoothing, but I think they are pretty much there. Attached some photos of the claws that also show off different angles of the tattoos:









Cheers
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/07/31 08:04:11


Post by: gobert


Nice work darkkt, the pink and blue really have a nightmarish edge to them, especially on the claws. The tattoos are well done too


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/08 00:00:22


Post by: darkkt


Thanks Gobert

Despite the lack of updates I have been slowly (soooo sloooowwwwly) painting this week. The Daemonettes are done. My final pics are below.

I’m very happy with them - I can see the improvements I’ve made in my painting skills and the effect of some techniques I tried (some worked, some I didn’t pull off and needed to redo). I can also see some things I’ll continue to work on in the future - ie whilst I’m happy with the tattoos, I think deciding a clear ‘style’ and working on consistency would have looked better. Things for next time; these ladies are finished.

Squad shot


One;




Two:




Three:





Four:





Five:





I’ve now moved on to 3 death guard models and have been significantly changing the colour scheme I picked almost a decade ago. They are reasonably advanced, so I’ll take some WiP photos and post them later this weekend.

Cheers
KT








Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/09 01:48:42


Post by: gobert


Good work finishing the ladies off. The face in the one with a pony tail is really quite scary!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/12 03:48:38


Post by: darkkt


Hi Gobert - thanks and I agree - i think ponytail looks the most evil despite that (perhaps because) her face is arguably the least 'overtly monstrous'.

Anyway, the update I intended to post on the weekend - We've moved to Plague Marines, and I've shifted from just a basic dark green to 'cream with green highlights'. These are all in varying states of WiP at the moment, but attached for your consideration:

For reference, here is my original colour scheme (circa 2010):



I quite liked this at the time... but now I can sort of see it for what it was - a quick (but careful) job to get it table ready. Being more about the painting now, I've mixed it up.

My first change was to try out a few 'lighter elements' (basically adding a cream colour) and to try out the new Tesseract Glow technical paint (which is great and i'm sure I will heavily over-use from this point on). This guy was the test case:

front shot


shoulder pad showing the tesseract glow


a 'leggy' shot to show off the dirty green/cream work I've done that isnt really visible from the other shots of the model.

I liked how this looked so I stepped the brightening up a bit, adding more of a cream colour. These guys will all darken up substantially after they get a number of washes (camo green and agrax earthshade) but you can see the difference here. they are all very wip atm


(what is going on with that breathing tube entering his chest armour? is he smelling his deodorant? Lynx 'Barbarus Body-Spray'?)


This scuba-looking dude always makes me think of 'Underwater friends', and then I'm singing to myself lol (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxOtD7OZ294)

and

''its all fun until someone loses an eye'.

I expect to have more updated photos before the weekend - hell, I might even get them finished! These guys have been a lot of fun to do, once ive dealt with the pile of shame, I might look to picking up some more modern death guard.

cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/12 07:15:29


Post by: gobert


The pale death guard look nice and nurgley. It gives them a nice other worldly feel


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/12 12:26:05


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


I always loved the pale creamy Death Guard. I find them much grosser than just the drab green. Great work!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/15 08:36:07


Post by: darkkt


Cheers guys
The pale Death Guard turned out a lot darker after they had a wash in earthshade. Too dark? Maybe... still, all done now and here they are:

One:




Two:




Three:





Four:





Very happy with these. Next up are 3 Iron Warrior Bikers!




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/15 10:03:38


Post by: gobert


Very Nurgley, they’re more a mid tone now they’ve had a shade. My 4yo daughter says they look pretty... not sure what to make of that!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/16 23:53:23


Post by: darkkt


 gobert wrote:
Very Nurgley, they’re more a mid tone now they’ve had a shade. My 4yo daughter says they look pretty... not sure what to make of that!


Pretty?
*grandpa nurgle starts blushing*

haha - thanks (to you both)


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/20 00:40:04


Post by: darkkt


Time for an update - working on three iron warriors bikers. these guys had... issues with their guns - some had fallen off, others were misaligned... sigh - its why the fronts are a bit... rubbish I guess. They also all have spikes broken off and one of them even has some serious glue melt happening. I've got 9 or 10 bikes in total and almost all of them are damaged in some way.

Anyway, I'm painting the models *sans* guns first, then going to try and see what I can do to fix them up, the rest will be covered up and classified as 'battle damage'. Fingers crossed I can recover them enough to get by.



quite happy with this guys face





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/20 03:56:52


Post by: SlaveToDorkness


One thing I recommend doing to make your glowy marine eyes pop is a darker rim around the lenses seperating the glow reflection from the actual source (the lenses). This will give extreme contrast and make your highlight seem brighter. A magenta/black/brown wash touched to the lens edge should do the trick!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/20 13:17:11


Post by: youwashock


IW biker's face did turn out well. I like the Death Guard, too. Very dirty. The day-glo green is a nice accent.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/21 20:39:53


Post by: gobert


The melted bits on the bikes might work in your favour, add a bit of rust around them really lightly as though the corrosion has started inside the iron. Iron within and all that!

I like the sound of SlaveToDarkness’ suggestion, a magenta tinted shade should work really well with the green glow


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/22 04:13:00


Post by: darkkt


 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
One thing I recommend doing to make your glowy marine eyes pop is a darker rim around the lenses seperating the glow reflection from the actual source (the lenses). This will give extreme contrast and make your highlight seem brighter. A magenta/black/brown wash touched to the lens edge should do the trick!


Thanks StD, I’ll give that a go


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 youwashock wrote:
IW biker's face did turn out well. I like the Death Guard, too. Very dirty. The day-glo green is a nice accent.


Cheers youwashock


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 gobert wrote:
The melted bits on the bikes might work in your favour, add a bit of rust around them really lightly as though the corrosion has started inside the iron. Iron within and all that!

I like the sound of SlaveToDarkness’ suggestion, a magenta tinted shade should work really well with the green glow


Howdy Gobert - that’s exactly what I was thinking The best thing about weathering & battle damage is never having to say you made a mistake


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/25 01:37:45


Post by: darkkt


Time for a Biker Update

Getting towards the finish line now - got some freehand work still to do, then the bases and the weathering. Few nights work yet, I guess, but they have certainly started to come together.

Let me know what you think!

The 3 amigos


Some computer screen work


Is this my good side?






The glue/mess problem I was worried about doesnt seem to really be very obvious now that I've got the models further advanced. I might keep the rust and weathering light, otherwise I think I'll risk bringing focus to the problem instead of disguising it. this is the most obvious bit you can see (the foot and the engine behind) - and it just isnt noticeable enough to warrant special treatment.







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/25 13:02:44


Post by: youwashock


Those hazard stripes are fantastic.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/26 20:14:54


Post by: gobert


Sweet work on the bikers, they look perfectly dark and dirty. Very grim dark!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/26 21:37:16


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Nice bikes. I know that kit is one of the oldest in our range but I still love it; the angry biker face is my favorite CSM head and has appeared on many non-biker models.

Well done on computer effects. The Iron Warriors scheme looks great; I really like how weathered the grey comes out.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/27 07:30:56


Post by: darkkt


 youwashock wrote:
Those hazard stripes are fantastic.

Thanks mate


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 gobert wrote:
Sweet work on the bikers, they look perfectly dark and dirty. Very grim dark!

Cheers - I've added a little weathering powder since then just to finish them off, hopefully not too much though!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/27 23:53:48


Post by: darkkt


 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Nice bikes. I know that kit is one of the oldest in our range but I still love it; the angry biker face is my favorite CSM head and has appeared on many non-biker models.

Well done on computer effects. The Iron Warriors scheme looks great; I really like how weathered the grey comes out.


Thanks I'm pretty happy with the weathering now - enough to consider them finished - I'll post these pics shortly... or maybe now?

...

Now it is, I guess!

Squad goals:





mah stripey bois










Some more free-hand shoulder pad attempts:





I'm ready for my close up



[url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1074839-Bike%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Iron%20Warriors.html][img]https://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2020/8/26/1074839_sm-
Bike%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Iron%20Warriors.jpeg[/img][/url]




My 'focused improvement goals' for painting this squad was pretty simple - I wanted to properly free-hand the hazard stripes. Prior models have involved a frustrating process of taping incredibly thin strips of awkward to manage model masking tape in an attempt to get consistently spaced and neat looking stripes. this time I only used a little tape - on one model only - to put light markings down in white. Once i completed one model, I used that as a visual guide to do the others. this wasnt as hard as I feared, and really sped things up.

So - I'm moving onto 3 iron warriors with Bolters and one Aspiring champion with a power fist. Not entirely sure what I'm going to focus on for those ones... maybe I'll just try to practice/reinforce some techniques rather than trying anything new.

Cheers
KT




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/28 02:01:05


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Great job on the freehand, both the hazard stripes and the shoulder pads. The chaos star is particularly impressive.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/28 13:06:35


Post by: youwashock


Yup. Those shoulder pads are sweet.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/31 01:28:41


Post by: darkkt


Thanks youwashock and Don Qui Hotep

A couple of quick pics on some of the WIP I hit over the weekend. Unsurprisingly I'm doing more Iron Warriors, and I'm finally finishing painting an old-skool Chaos dreadnaught (this bad boy is transitioning from Black legion to IW).



Had some fun trying some cheeky freehand on two of the helmets. Let me know your thoughts:









Very happy with the skull face dude - and I'm happy *enough* with the star eyed guy (Paul Stanley?)


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/31 06:03:27


Post by: maxwin


Nice work on these and yes the first thing I thought while scrolling down was KISS!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/31 13:13:21


Post by: gobert


Nice! Skull face guy looks really cool, the back of his head is a bit Darth Maul too. I want to see some KISS themed Noise Marines now!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/31 13:19:25


Post by: youwashock


Love that helmet. Starchild and Skullface are awesome! Much respect for the old metal Dread.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/08/31 13:48:17


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Great helmets, the freehand adds a lot of character!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/01 23:58:13


Post by: darkkt


maxwin wrote:Nice work on these and yes the first thing I thought while scrolling down was KISS!


gobert wrote:Nice! Skull face guy looks really cool, the back of his head is a bit Darth Maul too. I want to see some KISS themed Noise Marines now!


I did a quick google for KISS themed noise marines and found this which is cool as hell! Not sure how cool a Peter Criss/cat whiskers model would be though...


youwashock wrote:Love that helmet. Starchild and Skullface are awesome! Much respect for the old metal Dread.


I really like the old boxy dread look - the helbrute is still pretty sweet, but metal dread is a classic.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Great helmets, the freehand adds a lot of character!


thanks - I've started experimenting with giving each model an 'individual' look - something that shows they are more than just clones... not sure if this is a good idea considering the quantity of models I've got in my backlog though!

Cheers folks, appreciate the kind words I've not done a lot over the last few nights, but I'll try to post an update tonight/tomorrow.




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/02 08:17:07


Post by: gobert


Must resist buying a Noise Marine... but it is a cool model and that scheme Rocks!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/02 18:17:23


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Incredible. Lots of fun there. Great job on the freehand helmets! Remind me of these schemes from the 4th edition chaos codex; you get the sense that the livery is moving on its own. Nice chaotic chaos marines.



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/03 05:03:01


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Must resist buying a Noise Marine... but it is a cool model and that scheme Rocks!
it is pretty sweet ...Ive actually got a handful of noise marine models sitting in the pile of shame...

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Incredible. Lots of fun there. Great job on the freehand helmets! Remind me of these schemes from the 4th edition chaos codex; you get the sense that the livery is moving on its own. Nice chaotic chaos marines.



Cheers DQH
I always liked that 4th edition freehand scheme - its fantastic.

Ok, quick update and I've played around a bit with the squad a little more, trying to get the powerfist to look a little more 'power weapony':




thoughts?

Otherwise the stripening continues...



and boxy boy




Hope to have a few more updates after the weekend
Cheers all



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/09 15:50:53


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Oh hey! I missed this update. Glad to see that boxy boy is getting some stripey love. Once again, really good free-hand work, specifically on the powerfist - I see at least two tones painted neatly over very thin lines. Good brush control on display there.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/10 03:48:21


Post by: darkkt


 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Oh hey! I missed this update. Glad to see that boxy boy is getting some stripey love. Once again, really good free-hand work, specifically on the powerfist - I see at least two tones painted neatly over very thin lines. Good brush control on display there.


Cheers mate Its white paint applied as fine lines of lightning with tesseract glow tech painted slightly wider over the top. I added a few more touches here an there to give the more of the fist a green tone without specifically having a highlight to stand out.

Other work has been... slow going (tidying things up, hitting highlights etc). Got some shoulder pad work done so I'm dropping another update













hoping to finish them next week, and I'll need to move away from Iron Warriors for a while. Time to head back to the pile of shame and see what else is sitting around.
Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/10 03:54:31


Post by: youwashock


The lightning on the fist is outstanding. All the other symbols and chevrons are knocking my socks off. Your freehand is highly enviable.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/11 09:01:55


Post by: darkkt


 youwashock wrote:
The lightning on the fist is outstanding. All the other symbols and chevrons are knocking my socks off. Your freehand is highly enviable.


Thanks mate too kind. Every attempt at freehand takes 4 or 5 restarts - but I feel I’m slowly getting closer to putting on the model the ‘ideas’ I see in my head

Ok - bunch of pics coming cos the squad is now done!

The Dreadnought








The aspiring champion w powerfist







Marine #1







Marine #2





Marine #3







And I thought I’d take some shots of the current army:












Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/11 14:49:24


Post by: youwashock


Downright striking. Love the Dread.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/11 17:38:26


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Awesome freehand work. All those little details rock.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/11 21:54:17


Post by: gobert


Great freehand! The bit on the dread looks awesome, has a bit of an 80s Rock vibe to it. I missed the sparky power fist, I reckon it looks cool


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/12 23:06:28


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 darkkt wrote:
 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Oh hey! I missed this update. Glad to see that boxy boy is getting some stripey love. Once again, really good free-hand work, specifically on the powerfist - I see at least two tones painted neatly over very thin lines. Good brush control on display there.


Cheers mate Its white paint applied as fine lines of lightning with tesseract glow tech painted slightly wider over the top. I added a few more touches here an there to give the more of the fist a green tone without specifically having a highlight to stand out.


Oh that's clever; I'll have to give that a go when I'm back at my painting desk. I like that strategy because you don't have to perfectly get over the first layer.

Killer army shot! Looks great all together. Are those barricades scratch-built?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/14 05:18:50


Post by: darkkt


youwashock wrote:Downright striking. Love the Dread.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Awesome freehand work. All those little details rock.


Thanks guys! The freehand can be super frustrating, But i do like the final result

gobert wrote:Great freehand! The bit on the dread looks awesome, has a bit of an 80s Rock vibe to it. I missed the sparky power fist, I reckon it looks cool
cheers mate - the boxy dreads are very retro - simpler designs yet somehow wildly overdone at the same time The powerfist has grown in me - I think the only thing I’d do differently is work on the fineness of the lightning strokes.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:
 darkkt wrote:
 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Oh hey! I missed this update. Glad to see that boxy boy is getting some stripey love. Once again, really good free-hand work, specifically on the powerfist - I see at least two tones painted neatly over very thin lines. Good brush control on display there.


Cheers mate Its white paint applied as fine lines of lightning with tesseract glow tech painted slightly wider over the top. I added a few more touches here an there to give the more of the fist a green tone without specifically having a highlight to stand out.


Oh that's clever; I'll have to give that a go when I'm back at my painting desk. I like that strategy because you don't have to perfectly get over the first layer.

Killer army shot! Looks great all together. Are those barricades scratch-built?

Thanks mate - yes, the barricades are scratch built - they were the first thing I did at the start of lockdown here in South Australia. I posted a bunch of ‘WiP ’ pics as well as finished product pics at the very beginning of this thread: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/789728.page#10854152

New project - My 4 final death guard models. I forgot to take Early pics Of my current WiP so these ones are almost finished. Coming together quickly now I’ve Figured out my process for them. Almost at the finishing touches already lol
Given we’re getting a new Death Guard codex, I may have to finish off some green stuff projects I’ve been playing with...









Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/16 19:03:39


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Nice! I love to see these old Death Guard models. I don't hate the new ones or anything, but they are definitely turned up to 11; these guys looked definitely diseased but a little more grounded.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/17 23:26:34


Post by: darkkt


 Don Qui Hotep wrote:
Nice! I love to see these old Death Guard models. I don't hate the new ones or anything, but they are definitely turned up to 11; these guys looked definitely diseased but a little more grounded.


I think youre right – the new ones are somehow less… subtle? They divert further from the core space marine gone bad – the corruption is far more overt. Still, I would like to buy some of those new models…
Anyway – the plague marines are done, and here they are!

Did some more free-hand work, and here is the obligatory ‘shoulder pad focus compilation shot’:








I’m moderately happy with these – the skulls ended up pretty well, but my flies look a bit more like mosquitos than I had hoped lol
I am very happy with the weapons this time round though – the nurgle power sword and green glow plasma gun worked really well imho.



PM Aspiring champion with plasma pistol and power sword:




Skull faced PM with plasma gun:









PM - McStabby




PM with plasma gun (‘Squinty’)




Next up – My “Thousand Sons Painting Occult Symbols On Every Model Insanity Posts”!
Cheers
KT















Automatically Appended Next Post:
Quick follow up with some of the 1ksons freehand work that will almost certainly have me fondly remembering the good old days of hazard stripes.









KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/18 06:33:51


Post by: gobert


Those classic nurgle chaps look great, and I agree that the power sword came out well. Good luck staying sane with your Thousand Sons freehand, at least you’re getting a bit of variety with them!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/18 12:08:29


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Gorgeous, but must be very time consuming!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/18 13:16:24


Post by: youwashock


The Nurgle guys are fabulous. Love the plasma gunners. 1K Sons are going to be mind-blowing.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/21 02:01:49


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Those classic nurgle chaps look great, and I agree that the power sword came out well. Good luck staying sane with your Thousand Sons freehand, at least you’re getting a bit of variety with them!


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Gorgeous, but must be very time consuming!


youwashock wrote:The Nurgle guys are fabulous. Love the plasma gunners. 1K Sons are going to be mind-blowing.


Cheers guys - appreciate the encouragement
I've finished a single Thousand Sons Model as a Proof Of Concept. I wanted to test a few things here:
- aesthetics - all the cool ideas in the world don't work they look too busy or messy.
- table top look - these are playing models - would they still look good on a table top when a metre and a half away? In a group of 5 troops? 10? 20?
- capacity - could I do it? I've been doing more and more freehand, but the plan here was some to look at some seriously tiny work.
- sanity - hazard stripes already sent me perilously close to the warp, could my failing eyes and fragile mind survive such an assault?

I *think* I've managed all these (although time will tell about 1) the group aesthetics and 2) my sanity) but i'd appreciate any feedback . Feel free to point out any criticisms too - If I'm feeling open-minded*, I may even take your comments on board!







This photo is a close up of the Robe and the bolter - ive tried to add a green glow to the open chamber and barrel to show its an 'inferno bolter'.


Cheers
KT



*open-mindedness not recommended when viewing thousand sons. If opening your mind around thousand son occult symbols results in: headaches, coughs, susurrating voices just beyond audible range, strange shadows that leave faint traces of black corrupted taint, bloody stools - please seek the assistance of your local Inquisitorial representative.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/21 13:11:00


Post by: youwashock


Looks good to me. The glowing bolter rounds are great.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/21 21:45:59


Post by: gobert


Yep they’re looking good to me too! One word of caution would be to not overload any surfaces as you might end up a bit too close to Night Lords. I think you’ve hit the right level with this chap though. Good luck maintaining the sanity when doing more


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/23 21:58:55


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


I'm blown away by the detail here. Really complements the kit here, with the newer kits being a little too overdesigned. You've got a lot of potential canvas to fill - I love the right shoulderpad and the runes on the tabard.

I can't really speak to the stamina/sanity issues for yourself, but I can say that your labor here really paid off with a beautiful model!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/24 22:44:00


Post by: darkkt


youwashock wrote:Looks good to me. The glowing bolter rounds are great.
Cheers youwashock, I’m having some fun with that Tessaract paint

gobert wrote:Yep they’re looking good to me too! One word of caution would be to not overload any surfaces as you might end up a bit too close to Night Lords. I think you’ve hit the right level with this chap though. Good luck maintaining the sanity when doing more
agreed. The scheme (set 7-10 years ago) is dark (goth 1ksons lol), and with the glowing thin lines It *is* edging nightlords territory. If i ever pick up
Nightlords models I’ll need to be careful fielding them together.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:I'm blown away by the detail here. Really complements the kit here, with the newer kits being a little too overdesigned. You've got a lot of potential canvas to fill - I love the right shoulderpad and the runes on the tabard.

I can't really speak to the stamina/sanity issues for yourself, but I can say that your labor here really paid off with a beautiful model!
thanks man, appreciate the kind words. I haven’t spent any time with the new chaos yet, but you echo some Other stuff I read. There’s a view that the new models are ‘better’ in level of Quality and detail, but don’t have the same Available space of the older ones and are more ‘fixed’.

I’ve continued to progress my little 5 man squad (and will post an update shot in a few days) but I’m interrupting my Thousand Sons with a new Project: a Kitbashed WarpSmith! I recently joined an iron warriors discord and will be participating in their monthly challenge. This October is a kitbashed HQ. Time to try out some ideas I’ve had floating about lol.

Some of the first night’s work:

Obligatory ‘beginning’ shot (fyi I’m @wildbilbo on discord & twitter, @darkkt_wildbilbo on insta)



The ‘core’ parts are spares from the Old Dark Angels company veterans sprue- termi legs, a bare head with bionics. Imma adding some other weapon bits as well. old CSM torso & arms. An IG sentinel chainsaw. Old guitar strings, dead Ink-gel pens, fuse-wire, plastic strapping, etc etc etc

My bits box is pretty eclectic lol

Started with the head & made the most basic ‘loyalist-to-traitor’ Conversion possible: I added a spike.



I then worked on the legs:







And kicked off the Axe:



So - long way to go on it, and I’m expecting some failures etc, but let’s see how we go!

Cheers
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/26 01:59:54


Post by: darkkt


More conversion updates:

Making a cobblestone base - little known fact: bread tags are made from a polystyrene plastic - the same as GW miniatures/bases - so they bond fantastically with regular Plastic cement.









Partial Assembling Of the kitbashed Warpsmith



Pen plastic? Many are also High impact polystyrene (The outside bit at least). Stuck a small ring in the middle to add a little height:



Adding head & backpack






Quick height comparison to some existing models (all older GW models not the new ones):







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/27 01:08:33


Post by: darkkt


Moar updates! Moar!

Creation of the bionic arm:













Still needs tidying, gap filling, etc - but pretty happy so far
Cheers
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/27 15:23:12


Post by: gobert


Great progress on the warpsmith KT. The guitar string works really well as a protected cable. The bread tag cobblestone base is great too, gives me inspiration for my bases. I’ll be watching keenly to see how they develop!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/27 17:08:34


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Nice work on all the occult symbols, you dirty heretic.

McStabby -


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/27 17:19:24


Post by: RobertsMinis


Great painting and converting, enjoyed everything you have done so far!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/28 07:46:11


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Great progress on the warpsmith KT. The guitar string works really well as a protected cable. The bread tag cobblestone base is great too, gives me inspiration for my bases. I’ll be watching keenly to see how they develop!


Cheers - the guitar string is great for little cables, I'm just a little less sold on them as mechadendrites (see below). They 'kink' instead of curve as I would like. Still, might have to leave them as is - there is only so long I can be bothered mucking about with them!

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Nice work on all the occult symbols, you dirty heretic.

McStabby -


Thanks mate, death to the false emperor and all that

RobertsMinis wrote:Great painting and converting, enjoyed everything you have done so far!
Thanks Robert - appreciate the feedback

Another quick update showing some more guitar strings and some gardening wire, this time as mechadendrites:



















Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/30 04:46:03


Post by: darkkt


Another update:

Cables, cables, moar cables!





Also - whilst I thought gluing on endless cables was time consuming... goddamn learning how to use greenstuff is a sllllooooooooowwwww process lol.

Ive done a tiny bit of green on the axe, which looked like this last time I posted it:



It has (slowly) transitioned to this:



then:


And now (on one side at least):


Cheers
KT







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/09/30 09:26:42


Post by: gobert


GS is tricky stuff, but you seem to be doing well with it so far! The bits on the blade look great (cool serrated/broken edge)


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/02 02:21:56


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:GS is tricky stuff, but you seem to be doing well with it so far! The bits on the blade look great (cool serrated/broken edge)


Cheers mate, appreciated. I kinda cut the blade roughly just to get it done, intending to neaten it up afterwards. But I kinda liked it when it was done, so I just filed a couple of edges and called it done - I'm pleased at least one other person thinks its ok

and thanks re the green stuff, im glad the stuff Im posting is coming across. Of course, no-one sees the stuff I put on and scraped off a dozen times because I couldnt get it in the right damn place lol. I'm not taking many photos of my failures

Moar updates - greensuffing a butt covering and the insidious spread of chaos...



Not a good photo (camera just wouldnt focus on the right stuff) but it gets the point across. I wanted to change the transition from 'model' to 'cables' just a bit as the mechadendrites seemed to come from nowhere as they were glued in. I'm *mostly* happy with the cloth, but the GS chain is not working for me. Thinking I'm going to scrape it off and just use some real chain.

And some tiny tentacles




(this picture has a shot of the 'teeth' I added to the bottom of his breastplace too)


I'm hoping I havent gone too far (i.e. entered Nurgle territory) on this guy. I really wanted to get some real chaos flavored distance from the Dark Angels Veteran head that I used for this model, but once you start greenstuffing, Ive found it can be hard to stop!

Cheers all
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/02 02:59:29


Post by: youwashock


Wow. You are slapping that GS into line. Looks quite good.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/02 17:39:51


Post by: gobert


Looking good, I think painting some of the bits as cabling will keep it clear of being nurgley


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/02 19:39:35


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


This is a really fun conversion. That model is full of character. Nice tips on the bread tags - I'll start saving mine for future uses!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/04 21:25:05


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Someone posted somewhere on here a tip that helped me with GS. Carve a tool out of wood. It absorbs water so it stays wet longer, and doesn't stick to the GS as much.

Really excellent work, though. The tiny tentacles are sweet. Love all the cables.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/08 23:57:25


Post by: darkkt


youwashock wrote:Wow. You are slapping that GS into line. Looks quite good.
thanks mate - hot tip - super thin tentacles are easy to make and even easier to make look good (imho)

gobert wrote:Looking good, I think painting some of the bits as cabling will keep it clear of being nurgley
Cheers I've slapped some paint on it to see where it goes, will be aiming for a 'fleshmetal' sort of approach - although how this will be achieved is anyone's guess lol.

I'll be hitting the gallery shortly, but if there any good examples of fleshmetal that people are aware of please drop me a link in the thread!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:This is a really fun conversion. That model is full of character. Nice tips on the bread tags - I'll start saving mine for future uses!
Thanks mate - it took a longish time to do I guess (cutting and filing the little pieces)... if you were doing a bunch, maybe using a different method might be better. Still now I've dropped some paint on it i really think it worked well.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Someone posted somewhere on here a tip that helped me with GS. Carve a tool out of wood. It absorbs water so it stays wet longer, and doesn't stick to the GS as much.

Really excellent work, though. The tiny tentacles are sweet. Love all the cables.
Thanks mate. The thicker cables are (obviously) mostly guitar strings and thick gardening wire , the thinner ones are stripped out from broken headphones and busted phone cables. I knew there was a reason i didnt throw that crap out

wooden tool? I'll look into that, thanks for the tip. I've been using some metal and some silcone tipped tools that are quite good (all lubed up with spit cos I'm an old school brush licker) but I'm looking to do more GS in the future, so plenty of opportunity to try new things.

Been slow progress because of work, but I managed to slap some paint down recently. Let me know what you think:

All your base (is belong to us)


Painting yellow over black sucks


Careful observers will note the cable on the bionic leg (inner seam) has split. I'll either need to replace it, or paint some dribbling oil running down his leg and pooling on the base.

Cheers


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/09 01:41:37


Post by: youwashock


That axe is epic. I like the idea of ruptured tubes leaking hydraulic fluid.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/09 02:43:07


Post by: darkkt


 youwashock wrote:
That axe is epic. I like the idea of ruptured tubes leaking hydraulic fluid.


Cheers mate - I'm happy with the way the axe is built - but not so sure about current green power scheme. It's very prominent and I think it might overpower the rest of the model.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/09 18:17:18


Post by: Roknar


Nice greenstuffing and good work on the axe. Making your own custom weapons is never easy. Might even have to steal the double head thing for a thunderhammer.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/11 23:34:21


Post by: darkkt


 Roknar wrote:
Nice greenstuffing and good work on the axe. Making your own custom weapons is never easy. Might even have to steal the double head thing for a thunderhammer.


Thanks mate - a hammer... damn, now I'm wondering if I should have left it without the blade lol

I did repaint the axe and I'm much happier with it now. Might still tinker with it (smooth some of the transitions, add a tiny bit of OSL etc) - but basically I'm good with the colour scheme now.







I knocked back the lightning to a minimal amount, and took the very green blade back to a black colour. From a tabletop distance it looks far less 'jarring' and draws the eye a little less. Started the hazard striping too.

I was also throwing out some rubbish and had a basing/metal plating idea with some plastic packing straps that I had kept (for some reason I cant really remember). It's rough af (its just meant to be a trial) but I reckon I can get some half-way decent metal diamond plate looking bases.






Proof of concept, but let me know what you reckon.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/12 00:35:05


Post by: Vaktathi


That's an impressive conversion piece, it's looking great, I do not envy the hazard striping work


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/12 03:38:27


Post by: Vejut


Looking great, and the diamond plate looks pretty clever!

I'd heard that using something an orange brown, something like Vallejo Sculferous or Parasite brown as an an underlayer can help make yellow on black less of a pain train?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/12 18:58:09


Post by: gobert


Smithy is looking good. I must admit I was dubious about the flesh cables but I think I was wrong. Already they look good, kinda freaky, which is what you want with Chaos! I think you made the right choice to darken the blade, much better now. The packaging bases work well, I need to look for similar stuff to convert some duplicate cast bases that I have.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/14 03:02:49


Post by: darkkt


Vaktathi wrote:That's an impressive conversion piece, it's looking great, I do not envy the hazard striping work

Thanks Vakathi - appreciate the kind words The hardest hazard stripes were on the tiny and difficult to access cable in his 'back skirt' that I could absolutely have just left black or any other colour but I decided to be fancy... lol


Vejut wrote:Looking great, and the diamond plate looks pretty clever!

I'd heard that using something an orange brown, something like Vallejo Sculferous or Parasite brown as an an underlayer can help make yellow on black less of a pain train?


And thanks to you too Vejut

I've got my hazard striping down to a system now - i use thinned averland sunset as the base in one or two (or three or four or five...) coats. I then hit it with whatever bright yellow I have on hand (I've a bottle of of Army Painter Daemonic Yellow I picked up during the 2-3 months my local GW store was shut for Covid). Again - this needs loads of coats but I like the result (see below).




Regarding the Hazard Stripes - these need a touch up or two, but otherwise I'm very content with these stripes. Getting some of these parts both neat enough and evenly spaced enough was tough given the angles I'd left myself with, but the shoulderpad, the leg and the backpack are all basically done. the pistol needs some tightening up to really get those stripes to pop. These are all free-hand stripes - I've got more confidence in my ability after a few months practicing.

HOT TIP for hazard stripe neatness - I always 'get down my smooth yellow base and then map out where the stripes are going using a thinned down *white* paint. White paint allows you to easily cover over mistakes. Going straight in black or other dark colour sets you up for lots of difficult re-work.

Deciding to paint the left leg (which was angled towards the back and behind the axe) required me to remove the model from the base. This was a bitch because (as I think i mentioned already) I used plastic cement on the bread-tag cobblestones and it bonded like it was part of the model itself. So - despite the difficulties I guess I'm happy to confirm bread-tags are a great basing option


gobert wrote:Smithy is looking good. I must admit I was dubious about the flesh cables but I think I was wrong. Already they look good, kinda freaky, which is what you want with Chaos! I think you made the right choice to darken the blade, much better now. The packaging bases work well, I need to look for similar stuff to convert some duplicate cast bases that I have.


Thanks Gobert. I attempted to add a metallic sheen to the tentacles, but it either wasnt visible at all, or (when it was visible) it just looked bad - so I went back to a mostly flesh colour and tried to give them a slightly reddish pink tint. Let me know what you think now!




I'm pretty close to the end of this guy now - finish the metallic highlights, neaten some transitions, freehand the shoulderpad (this will take some time). It's been a fun process

Drop a comment if you feel like it, I'd love to hear what you think or what you're up to yourself.

Cheers


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/14 22:49:33


Post by: darkkt


double post


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/15 12:55:46


Post by: gobert


The pinkish tone works on the cables, adds to the soreness vibe! I like the OSL around his red eye too


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/15 13:10:18


Post by: youwashock


Fantastic details. The keypad on his chest, the fleshy bits, that awesome bionic eye. All great.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/17 07:16:00


Post by: darkkt


Thanks guys

...and it’s done! It’s been lots of fun to build & paint this warpsmith, I hope you’ve enjoyed watching the process.

Here are the final shots:









These photos highlight some points of interest:

This one shows the axe & osl, freehand shoulderpad, and the fleshy tentacles.




This one shows the bionics (including the oil leak that can be difficult to see from the other shots).



Ahhhh. Feels good to finish.

Back to the thousand sons squad I guess!
Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/17 09:05:57


Post by: gobert


Great job darkkt! The OSL is really nicely done both on his eye and from his axe. It was brave applying it over his freehand shoulder pad, but you pulled it off!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/17 09:09:29


Post by: Not Online!!!


This is one , awesome, warpsmith .


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/17 15:34:44


Post by: Roknar


Not usually a big fan of OSL but it works well here and that freehand turned out really nice. Well done.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/20 04:18:25


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Great job darkkt! The OSL is really nicely done both on his eye and from his axe. It was brave applying it over his freehand shoulder pad, but you pulled it off!


Not Online!!! wrote:This is one , awesome, warpsmith .


Roknar wrote:Not usually a big fan of OSL but it works well here and that freehand turned out really nice. Well done.


Gobert - cheers the green OSL on the backpack, the side of his head, and the shoulderpads are the *gentlest* of touches with the tesseract glow tech paint. was holding my breath doing it too lol.

And thanks to everyone - I appreciate the kind words. Really happy with how it turned out - I'm thinking I might need to revisit some of my older abandoned conversions.

I'll post some update pics of the thousand sons tonight.





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/21 03:27:40


Post by: darkkt


Things have been busy, so my updates might be a little disjointed at the moment...

Anyway - quick shots of the thousand sons. Hoping these will be done sometimes next week - There are only 5 of them after all.

Close up


Closer...


now the full squad!



I also mentioned my 'abandoned conversions'? First in line might be the (too many) Daemon princes.

this nurgle DP:


I have two slaaneshi planned:


Gunna slap some wingalings on this guy, make him Iron Warrior prob



Not sure whether to just fix this guy or do some more serious conversions.
'

Gotta be honest - no idea about this guy just yet:


Cheers
KT










Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/21 18:56:38


Post by: gobert


Those symbols on the sons are great! Good luck getting some of the Princes progresses too, you do have quite a few!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/21 19:24:45


Post by: youwashock


Oooh, the Devout sisters. Always a good base for modeling. Warpsmith turned out great, skintacles and all. Lots of awesome detail. Ksons looking good, too.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/24 20:09:59


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Great work on the Warpsmith, especially the face and freehand shoulderpads. Really excited to see the next phase of Thousand Sons!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/25 23:35:51


Post by: darkkt


Cheers all

Those DP's have been abandoned for over 7 years now. They are on my long long list of things to return to!

Thousand son time! We have more progress














Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/26 02:08:29


Post by: youwashock


Showin' that freehand skill all over these. Nice and glowy, too!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/26 10:43:41


Post by: gobert


These boys look fantastic! I particularly like the glowing bullet effect, the blue barrel is amazing


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/10/28 23:06:26


Post by: darkkt


Thanks guys work is busy and progress is sloooowwww... but its still happening. More work on the last two loincloth/aprons:







Cheers!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/01 04:14:21


Post by: darkkt


And they are done!

Finally finished the 5 Thousand Sons - seemed to take forever, but I did break for a few weeks doing the Warpsmith, so overall it wasn’t *too* time consuming.

I’m happy with the finished results; here’s a buncha pics, let me know what you think!

Squad:

































Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/01 08:47:44


Post by: gobert


I’d say they’ve been worth the wait! The glowing symbols are perfect for the KSons. Great job darkkt


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/01 10:12:32


Post by: RobertsMinis


That freehand work is great and symbols really pop against that dark blue. Love them.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/03 04:30:27


Post by: darkkt


Cheers Gobert & Robertminis appreciate the kind words.

Got started on this month's project - my Iron Warriors Heldrake!

I've only just started it, and I'm comfortable reporting that 'yes, painting yellow still sucks'.







When I dont really feel like painting Ive started dabbling in greenstuff sculpting. Baby steps for now, trying to keep things simple and learn how the green goo works. Below is my efforts over the weekend in my attempts to convert a (crappy) WFB zombie into a (less crappy) poxwalkers/deathguard cultists.









I took some inspiration from the GW pox walkers - the occasional bionic limb, mutations, swelling parts etc. These models were sitting around not doing anything so I'm more than happy to 'go a bit wild' while I practice my skils. I've got about 20 sitting around, so I've plenty of opportunity to practice







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/03 13:40:16


Post by: gobert


Ooh! The helldrake is a cool mini, it’s gonna look great in Iron Warriors colours. With yellow being a feature have you considered priming them all yellow and then basecoating the rest black?

Nice start on the GS zombie-poxwalkers


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/04 02:06:11


Post by: youwashock


All is dust. And awesome freehand.

Thousand Sons look fantastic. And that GS work is sweet! Nice and gross with great textures.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/04 04:42:22


Post by: darkkt


Cheers

Didnt get much painting done last night, but did pound through some solid work on the Heldrake base. For some reason I decided to double-down on the bread tag work and ahhh... let's just say my fat fingers are wishing I'd chosen an easier path lol














Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/04 08:36:42


Post by: gobert


Fancy tile work , though I don’t fancy doing the triabgle pieces around the building... maybe some debris to cover them and a bomb hole to cover the rest of the base?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/04 14:43:18


Post by: Fifty


This blog is fantastic and I need to keep a closer eye on it. I've missed a lot since page 1!

There is some really excellent greenstuff work and the freehand is excellent, and on so many models, not just the "special" ones!

Keep up the good work!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/05 04:47:30


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Fancy tile work , though I don’t fancy doing the triabgle pieces around the building... maybe some debris to cover them and a bomb hole to cover the rest of the base?


Fifty wrote:This blog is fantastic and I need to keep a closer eye on it. I've missed a lot since page 1!

There is some really excellent greenstuff work and the freehand is excellent, and on so many models, not just the "special" ones!

Keep up the good work!


Thanks guys

Gobert - I did some covering up work with a metal ramp walkway (for those servitors with wheels) and scattered some debris around - I think i've done a reasonable balance so far. Once its painted, if there is something I think needs to be changed, I'll think about adding some additional details (like a large rug lol).

Thanks Fifty - I do appreciate the kind words

Last night I got the rest of the way through building the base - back to the heldrake painting tonight!







Let me know what you think


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/11 00:20:40


Post by: darkkt


Ugh, been busy busy at work at the moment - meaning I'm behind on my posting. I am not however, behind on my painting.

Progressed the heldrake and undercoated the base: - here's some WiPs:











I also took my two kids (7 & 9) to a Warhammer store to get a free Witch Aelf and do some painting. The witch Aelf was tough to build and would have taken ages to get ready, so the kids painted some free space marines instead

This is from Ms 7:



And this is Mr 9:



And some of my Witch Aelf progress pics:







This is the first model where my attempts at wet blending seems to be working (i.e. her boot) - so that's encouraging.

Cheers
KT




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/11 01:02:32


Post by: youwashock


Fun times with free minis. And a tip of the hat to getting the kids painting. I am not quite there yet. However, I did the same thing this weekend and they have a Marine and a Stormcast waiting for them. My Witch Elf came assembled. And not done so with an abundance of care. So if I get around to painting her I will first be removing mold lines, sprue nubs and glue strands/patches. But hey, FREE! Yours is looking good.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/11 03:04:02


Post by: darkkt


youwashock wrote:Fun times with free minis. And a tip of the hat to getting the kids painting. I am not quite there yet. However, I did the same thing this weekend and they have a Marine and a Stormcast waiting for them. My Witch Elf came assembled. And not done so with an abundance of care. So if I get around to painting her I will first be removing mold lines, sprue nubs and glue strands/patches. But hey, FREE! Yours is looking good.


Thanks

I only restarted painting myself this year when the kids were complaining about being bored at the start of lockdown in South Australia and I dredged up a bunch of unpainted minis. I got them to do some base coating to start with (they basecoated the Berzerkers i posted early in the blog) before I assembled some spare marines and other excess models (I had some necromunda orlocks and a bunch of mordheim models a friend left with me). The lad just got the recruit edition and is working through his necrons at the moment.

Its good fun getting them involved


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/11 15:07:00


Post by: gobert


Good work getting the kids involved they did well! Your wet blending isn’t bad either . The Helldrake is looking good so far, the base has come together really well!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/12 02:54:20


Post by: darkkt


Cheers Gobert - the kids had a great time the wet blending seemed to be failing every time I paint on the model until suddenly it worked for some reason? Happy with the results regardless

Speaking of results, I consider the Witch Aelf done! let me know what you think













here's a larger version of the the leg shot - I think it best shows the wet-blending I attempted (from purple to brighter red).



Cheers
KT







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/12 11:26:21


Post by: tzurk


Love the warm flesh and cool hair on the witch elf. Blending looks great, well done!

Good job to both the kids as well - both produced solid results! Can't wait til mine are old enough to slap some paint on dad's army men.

Can't wait to see more of the heldrake - both base and mini are looking aces.

Thanks for sharing!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/12 15:19:18


Post by: youwashock


She turned out really good. Love her tattoos.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/12 19:41:48


Post by: gobert


That’s some fancy transitioning! Did you blend the highlights on the armour too? They looks to have a nice transition too. Her hair looks great, nice and icy to offset the red/purple.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/12 23:58:27


Post by: darkkt


tzurk wrote:Love the warm flesh and cool hair on the witch elf. Blending looks great, well done!

Good job to both the kids as well - both produced solid results! Can't wait til mine are old enough to slap some paint on dad's army men.

Can't wait to see more of the heldrake - both base and mini are looking aces.

Thanks for sharing!


Cheers mate - getting the kids involved is awesome. Its the accumulation of careful indoctrination in my nerdy interests over many years

youwashock wrote:She turned out really good. Love her tattoos.


Thanks man

gobert wrote:That’s some fancy transitioning! Did you blend the highlights on the armour too? They looks to have a nice transition too. Her hair looks great, nice and icy to offset the red/purple.


And thanks again the highlights were not exactly wet blended, but they were really lightly applied with watered down bright red and orange (not quite glazes). required a lot of coats, but it dried almost instantly so was more repetitive than time consuming.

I've been hazard striping more, but dont have any updated photos yet. I did play a bit with the base - enough to put down a rough coat of bone on the floor and dry brush the pavement:



I'm very happy with the way the cracks in the concrete are showing up. getting those into each bread-tag paver That process involved me sharpening a super cheap clay modelling tool (kinda like a woodworker's pointed hook knife) and gouging lines and cracks into it.

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/13 01:09:03


Post by: Roknar


Wait, you carved those? That's pretty impressive.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/13 01:25:28


Post by: darkkt


 Roknar wrote:
Wait, you carved those? That's pretty impressive.


Thanks! Technically yes I carved these... keeping in mind that I'm using "carved" in the sense I gouged lines in little plastic rectangles with a sharp bit of metal


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/13 18:10:31


Post by: gobert


The base is already looking fab, the cracked pavers are great. It’s inspiring me to customise some of the Sector Imperialis bases I have with bits from the kitchen! Good luck with the hazard striping!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/16 00:58:37


Post by: darkkt


Quick update - the hazard stripes continue at their traditional slow pace (getting them looking straight on those uneven wings... sigh). I find I'm spending more time on the base than the heldrake itself - Every night spent striping needs two doing something else

So - base update:







And some close ups:





Cheers
KT


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Testing


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/16 18:50:44


Post by: gobert


Lol! Not content with stripes you’ve gone for chequers as well on the base! It’s looking great, and I’m super impressed that you’ve put the effort in to highlight the tiles. Will they be getting some dirt? They look a bit bright to be in a destroyed building


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/18 01:01:17


Post by: darkkt


 gobert wrote:
Lol! Not content with stripes you’ve gone for chequers as well on the base! It’s looking great, and I’m super impressed that you’ve put the effort in to highlight the tiles. Will they be getting some dirt? They look a bit bright to be in a destroyed building


Too clean for a ruined building? I think you're failing to account for the sheer power and tenacity of modern Imperial cleaning servitors!



Kidding - the base got its first layer of grime with Agrax and some painted on cracks.









(these are effectively the same pics but taken in different places as I see what lighting works better).

NEXT UP - weathering powders and then the scary bit (attaching the stand).



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/18 01:49:12


Post by: youwashock


That thing is getting downright epic. Look forward to the finished product.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/18 04:43:04


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Wow, amazing stuff you've been working on. Dark Aelf looks ace. Really impressed by the quality of detail on the Heldrake base. Excited to see more!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/18 07:34:48


Post by: gobert


Much better! Even Mr Sprakle-o cannot clean up the imperium!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/19 22:52:41


Post by: darkkt


youwashock wrote:That thing is getting downright epic. Look forward to the finished product.


Don Qui Hotep wrote:Wow, amazing stuff you've been working on. Dark Aelf looks ace. Really impressed by the quality of detail on the Heldrake base. Excited to see more!


gobert wrote:Much better! Even Mr Sprakle-o cannot clean up the imperium!


Thanks guys - the base is finished! I have attached the stand now (carefully scrapped off some of the paint and then glued it down) but I havent taken photos of it yet.

Normally I disable voting on WiPs, but as the base is properly finished, I thought I'd leave it open and see what the reactions are

The last layer of weathering was done with weathering powders:


'Full shots'







'Focus shots'
Pipe work: (broken bic pens, lollypop sticks etc)


Robed statue painting:


Lamp & OSL











Automatically Appended Next Post:
cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/19 23:04:55


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Gorgeous colours and detail. Absolutely fantastic.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/19 23:08:51


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Nicely done, properly weathered!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/20 18:44:13


Post by: gobert


Proper fancy, great work darkkt


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/21 23:18:51


Post by: darkkt


Hey all - thanks for the kind words about the base

I've attached the clear plastic stand now, happy that I managed this without causing any unnecessary damage. That said - I am glad I took some photos before attaching it.




I've also been progressing a little freehand pattern down the iron parts:




and worked on some of the fleshy parts - I'm really happy with how this worked out, particuarly as I was pretty much making it up as I went along I reckon it looks unpleasant enough to be daemon skin.











Cheers
KT




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/22 08:52:33


Post by: Vejut


Yeah, that skin looks nicely unhealthy, and the stripes and trim are as ever, excellent.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/22 09:30:55


Post by: gobert


The freehand and skin came out great. It certainly looks daemonic and not too happy about all the metalwork.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/22 19:43:38


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


I really like (well, I think it's super gross) the daemon skin! Sallow, fleshy, cankerous. I like how you are kind of blending it into the metal at the base of its tail as well.

Freehand on the wings is super impressive! Can't wait to them splayed out, in the air. This is one heck of a centerpiece model.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/22 21:54:34


Post by: RobertsMinis


The fleshy colour is really nice, it is a lovely contrast with the metal and gives you a real feel of part machine/part daemon aspect of the model. Great work.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/29 07:15:03


Post by: darkkt


Hello all

Vejut wrote:Yeah, that skin looks nicely unhealthy, and the stripes and trim are as ever, excellent.
Thanks Vejut Nicely unhealthy is exactly what I wanted to hear (and reminds me I'm due for a skin check...).

gobert wrote:The freehand and skin came out great. It certainly looks daemonic and not too happy about all the metalwork.
Cheers man the purple and red washes I think really made the difference here.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:I really like (well, I think it's super gross) the daemon skin! Sallow, fleshy, cankerous. I like how you are kind of blending it into the metal at the base of its tail as well.

Freehand on the wings is super impressive! Can't wait to them splayed out, in the air. This is one heck of a centerpiece model.
It's the longest I've spent on any model so far, and I'm very chuffed with the results

RobertsMinis wrote:The fleshy colour is really nice, it is a lovely contrast with the metal and gives you a real feel of part machine/part daemon aspect of the model. Great work.
Cheers RobertsMinis, appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for the comments, the feedback is encouraging and greatly appreciated

So, it has been a little while between posts, but only because I was putting the finishing touches on the Heldrake. That's right -

THE CHAOS CHICKEN IS NOW COOKED!
ALL HAIL THE CHAOS CHICKEN!









I've included a few close ups and odd-shots for those who are interested in the parts of the model that aren't immediately obvious:

Underside:






the cloaca:


Close up of the back


and a close up of the head (as it tends to drop out of focus in the wider shots):


And finally I tried to capture get some army shots. It's not exactly "Armies on Parade" but I gotta say the IW Crew does look all dressed up and ready for the town...





Anyway - thrilled to get this beast done, very happy with the result, and I'd love to hear what you think about it
Next up... hm.
I'm not sure tbh.

I'll get back to you.

Cheers
KT




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/11/29 09:48:54


Post by: gobert


Wow! That’s one tasty looking chaos chicken! The skin and metal work are fantastic. It’s the amount of freehand that’s most impressive though, not content with hazard stripes you added the red barbed wire/thorns. Excellent stuff as ever darkkt


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/01 19:21:43


Post by: youwashock


Robot Chicken isn't fooling around. Awesome piece, man. The group shots are great, too. A very striking force.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/01 20:56:36


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Excellent work. That base could stand as a piece of its own, and then you add the demon-chicken.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/01 21:51:31


Post by: RobertsMinis


Awesome work. Looks brilliant.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/02 09:09:54


Post by: Roknar


Wow, you outdid yourself. That came together really well.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/02 09:22:10


Post by: Ragsta


I have read through the thread so far and your work is really nice. Cool freehand work and I really like the Zerkers and Iron Warriors in general, I have a fond place in my collection for Berzerkers! Bloomin nice Thousand Sons and Plague Maribes too, thanks for sharing


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/04 08:44:28


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Wow! That’s one tasty looking chaos chicken! The skin and metal work are fantastic. It’s the amount of freehand that’s most impressive though, not content with hazard stripes you added the red barbed wire/thorns. Excellent stuff as ever darkkt


youwashock wrote:Robot Chicken isn't fooling around. Awesome piece, man. The group shots are great, too. A very striking force.


DJJazzyJeff wrote:Excellent work. That base could stand as a piece of its own, and then you add the demon-chicken.


RobertsMinis wrote:Awesome work. Looks brilliant.


Roknar wrote:Wow, you outdid yourself. That came together really well.


Ragsta wrote:I have read through the thread so far and your work is really nice. Cool freehand work and I really like the Zerkers and Iron Warriors in general, I have a fond place in my collection for Berzerkers! Bloomin nice Thousand Sons and Plague Maribes too, thanks for sharing


Cheers everyone I’ll be posting my beginning steps with the next project shortly, but for now I thought I’d share a cool thing :



https://www.twitch.tv/warhammer/clip/OpenAssiduousPancakeChefFrank?tt_medium=mobile_web_share&tt_content=clips_viewing




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/04 09:17:53


Post by: RobertsMinis


Well done on getting on the Hobby Round up. Well deserved.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/04 13:49:50


Post by: gobert


That’s cool to be featured in the round up! Well deserved that’s for sure.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/05 00:54:45


Post by: darkkt


Hi folks - thanks again to everyone for the very kind words; the feedback helps with motivation and keeps me pushing to try new things! This year has been an odd one, but I'm very glad to have gotten back into hobby

So its new month and new Project and I'm doing another IW discord group challenge. December is:

Legend...
.
.
.
.
...wait for it...
.
.
.
...ary Units

I didnt actually have to think too long about this one. 10 or 12 years ago I picked up a bunch of Chaos bikers for cheap on ebay. One of these was actually an Ork biker where the dude had literally just put a chaos body on ork legs! Its been begging for a conversion for ages, and so I've started to kitbash a Chaos Sorcerer on A Bike!

I've already spent an hour or so breaking things apart and playing with some greenstuff, so here's some wip shots:

First shot:


Breaking the bike:




And the beginnings of some greenstuffing



I've also begun hitting the sorcerer's head - I wanted another helmetless guy, but felt he needed to be corrupted, so I went to the old school csm mutation sprue...



ignore the scribbles on this pic, I had a mate joke that he wanted a 'signed headshot', so I sent him this lol

a little greenstuff





and the begininngs of a rebreather/vox speaker


And a little adjustment to an old space marine backpack I had in the bitz box. these 'bits' are the claws from the old school csm mutation sprues

Cheers
KT







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/05 02:08:26


Post by: youwashock


Celebrity!

The brand/scar on the back of the head is gloriously metal. Shaping up to be another epic mini.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/05 09:08:24


Post by: gobert


Nice project, I have a few random bike components so I’ll be watching with interest for yet more darkkt inspiration!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/06 00:00:06


Post by: Roknar


I like the sigil, that convinced me to give it another shot myself...eventually. I just got a new rig so I'm going doing the cyberpunk hole for a whi.e


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/07 01:26:36


Post by: darkkt


youwashock wrote:Celebrity!

The brand/scar on the back of the head is gloriously metal. Shaping up to be another epic mini.


Celebrity?

*in my head* "Don’t worry, Nero, I’ll remember you little people when I’m famous." - Loken, Horus Rising

It was definitely nice getting the chicken shown up on screen for 2 minutes of fame I also had a conversation with my wife that prompted me to make the following gif:





Cheers - the brand I think turned out well - but I'm a little worried now that its being a bit hidden by the 'collar' of the power armor. Guess I'll see what happens!

gobert wrote:Nice project, I have a few random bike components so I’ll be watching with interest for yet more darkkt inspiration!


Cheers man - pics below, but the bike is getting further from the original model every time I touch it and I wonder if it would have been simpler to just scratch build a new one entirely! Let me know if you do start building one -I wouldnt want to miss it! (I do check in on a lot of blogs (including your own) - mostly lurking - but I do fall behind and miss stuff ).

Roknar wrote:I like the sigil, that convinced me to give it another shot myself...eventually. I just got a new rig so I'm going doing the cyberpunk hole for a whi.e


Cheers Roknar - I havnt picked up cyberpunk yet as I dont have the time to commit to a bigass game right now - have fun

So photos - again I've done a bunch over the weekend and need to drop some 'build' shots.

First off, the backpack (that I completely forgot to actually post last time)...


...has now got some extra height to it with the classic backpack icon:







The spikes are styrene square rod hacked with a scalpel, and the hoop is a sliced up crystal bic pen (made from HIPS styrene). goat Skull is from skeleton WFB kit.

I've also worked on the sorcerer himself:

I dont have legs yet, still figuring how I'm going to do these (greenstuff I think eep). I've added a little height with a thin insert (slice of bic pen again)


I made a force stave:

- out of another skull from the skeleton wfb kit, a hoop cut off an old toy, and half of a 54mm metal genestealer Magus staff.


Otherwise most of my time was spent on the Bike.

Hmmm....

the original bike was almost certainly one of these:

only with a chaos torso glude onto ork legs and ass (because a chaos space marine cannot fit this bike). This has had real scale problems, and I found myself getting... a little frustrated.

(I attacked it with a saw)



anyway, I spent a furious night googling chaos bikers, and found some inspiration I felt I could work towards:



Not all of it of course, but i thought I might be able to replicate that 'prow'...

My attempt:

Step one: add the structure with some old sprue


step two - cut your self while hacking up breadbag ties to uniform shapes. Glue onto frame wrong, get annoyed, remove, re-glue them on, correctly this time you idiot.


step three...
?

Step 4: Profit


So - I'm happy enough with the fundamentals here I guess. More 'flash' work to do, but no point until the base bike is done.

I've also added some bits to cover up some unfortunate ugly bits.

COvered a big gap under the bottom by putting in some exhausts (lolly pop sticks and the inside of a gel pen)


A book was added to bring focus to the front and add a little sorcerer flavour - found this in the dark angels veteran kit

that bookmark is up for some serious work if this dude is hoping not to lose his page

Put the spikes on the skull icon. I was having a terrible time getting the greenstuff to look neat enough, so I used the lid of a takeaway coffee cup! Great choice because its also (wait for it) polystyrene! Superglue would not have imo - this worked a treat



Mounting the book on some unused chaos spikes





New problems - I have no idea what I am going to do with the handlebars given this guy is sitting so far away from the front of the bike lol
I think I'm just going to have to have super long handlebars and hope it doesnt look ridiculous!










Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/07 12:48:02


Post by: gobert


Looking good! It’s like an episode of American Chopper. It’s 40k, so I vote for ridiculous handle bars. It’s chaos so they need spikes too. The snow plough looks great, will it be getting embellishments?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/07 14:47:09


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Tbh obnoxiously long handlebars is Very Chaos(tm).


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/07 14:48:27


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Reading on a chopper, that's dedication to the forces of chaos right there.
Looking good.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/07 16:45:16


Post by: Vejut


Extremely long handlebars is in character, but I'm wondering if you could do something with modeling chain from one or both arms or hands to the bars, chariot reigns style.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/07 23:44:39


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:It’s 40k, so I vote for ridiculous handle bars. It’s chaos so they need spikes too.


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Tbh obnoxiously long handlebars is Very Chaos(tm).



Vejut wrote:Extremely long handlebars is in character, but I'm wondering if you could do something with modeling chain from one or both arms or hands to the bars, chariot reigns style.


Hmmmm -I'm hearing long handlebars, spikes and chains....

*googles*


I have... thoughts...






Automatically Appended Next Post:
 gobert wrote:
The snow plough looks great, will it be getting embellishments?


Thanks man

Yes - although I dont know what yet. I want to get the structure all done first and then Imma make some decisions


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/08 02:56:04


Post by: Vejut


That works too! I was thinking something more like
https://images.app.goo.gl/8HmvX82jB8qGDEJF6

Or
https://images.app.goo.gl/YhYodSDWBu4errp48

But with chains and the handlebars as the horses, full on "demon bike fighting the rider style"

Edited to links to google seach because I'm bad at bbcode


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/10 06:24:11


Post by: darkkt


Vejut wrote:
That works too! I was thinking something more like
https://images.app.goo.gl/8HmvX82jB8qGDEJF6

Or
https://images.app.goo.gl/YhYodSDWBu4errp48

But with chains and the handlebars as the horses, full on "demon bike fighting the rider style"

Edited to links to google seach because I'm bad at bbcode


I like that idea - if my chain handlebars dont work I might look into it. here's the handlebars so far:

I set the chains lightly in bluetack to hold them in the shape I wanted and then put superglue on it to get it to hold:


I've done one side and I like the look of it. Problem is I dont think I can get it to stay fast - the superglue is too brittle.

I might have a look at threading through some wire to keep it in place. If doing so doesnt ruin the appearance, I'll remake the existing handlebar.




Now its time to show that yes, this Sorcerer has got legs!


dropping a gif reference that instantly reveals my age


...kinda.

I made the legs out of the inside of a gel pen on the top, and the inside of pump tube of a shampoo bottle. they were threaded on some garden wire and filled with greenstuff. Then I've glued on some mutant bits from the old chaos mutation sprue as feet



Trying some new things with this conversion - so if the legs or feet end up looking a little odd at the end, I might go back and change things. Or maybe not.
Same holds for his arms - attempted adding eyes to his pauldron. the Greenstuff needs some sanding and fixing, but i figure its a reasonable start.



Cheers
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/10 09:35:53


Post by: Tyranid Horde


That's a great looking turkey, and props for getting a feature on the WarCom stream!

Looking forward to more on your chopper, I expect big handle bars!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/10 13:55:48


Post by: gobert


It’s a shame the chain is too brittle, it looks really cool. Hopefully the wire works out. The mutant foot looks brutal, and neat solution you came up with for the legs


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/10 16:59:30


Post by: Vejut


Looking gribbly! good luck with the sculpting.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/11 06:51:31


Post by: darkkt


 gobert wrote:
It’s a shame the chain is too brittle, it looks really cool. Hopefully the wire works out. The mutant foot looks brutal, and neat solution you came up with for the legs


Tried the chain - threading it through was far too visible and distorted the shape, so no solution unfortuantely.

The chain hasnt broken YET - but it really feels a little fragile. I'll give it a little 'table top wear and abuse' (i.e. drop it a foot) and see if it survives. If it does - Perfect. If not, Ive grabbed some cheap two part epoxy that I think should work instead.

Last night I didnt feel like doing much sculpting, so I played with the base. I only have the thin 25 by 50 rectangular bases for these bikes (they pre-date oval ones) - and they look a terribly short for the long-ass bike I've put together. So I cut and glued a 40 circle base and 40 square base... and then glued on some bits to make it more interesting.




Here's a crappy old toy bit I have no idea of the origins of - but its finally proved useful:




And with the base all glued up, it was time to do the classic 'Bat out of hell cover shot' (currently this is blue tacked on only - I'll paint it first)



and with the sorcerer:



Yeah baby!




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Update - the handlebar survived a six inch drop, so maybe it’s good enough?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Update - the handlebar survived a six inch drop, so maybe it’s good enough?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/11 13:46:46


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Amazingly metal pose!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/11 14:19:52


Post by: gobert


Handle bars sound promising having beaten the drop test. Gwyn is right, it’s very Metal! Are you sure he’s a sorcerer and not a Noise Marine


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/16 01:05:52


Post by: darkkt


Hi folks - not much progress on the soc-biker - I’m actually on holidays & my wife allowed me to bring paints, but not converting stuff (which admittedly looks like random trash).

Here’s what I did before leaving...

...Flame on!













I also made this base for the Warhammer model of the month -








I tried using 2 part epoxy glue as a water effects - not 100% success, but not bad for a first shot:






While I’ve been on holidays I’ve been painting the death guard model. I’ve not taken any progress shots, so I’ll post a completed pic once it’s finished





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/17 00:47:21


Post by: darkkt


Model of the month is done! Let me know what you think









And focusing on some bits I think are cool





Few more days of leave & then I’m back home & back to the legend sorcerer biker



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/17 01:40:34


Post by: youwashock


You painted the heck out of that mini. Great work. All the detail, the belly-mouth, the helmet. All awesome.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/17 15:42:20


Post by: gobert


Nice, well, not nice but you know what I mean! The green glow is great! I might be stealing that when I do my ETB Plague Marines for BSF.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/18 00:21:14


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Slime ahoy! Great work on the glow. Congrats on making it to the Hobby Roundup!

Your scratch-building skills are on full form, this fiery doombike is something special. I can't stop thinking about that bookmark!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/18 16:14:26


Post by: ShadowsAndDust


That is a very well done Death Guard Plague Marine. I just started following this thread and I am very impressed with how your builds have been coming along. Keep up the great work!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/21 00:30:03


Post by: darkkt


Back from holidays!

youwashock wrote:You painted the heck out of that mini. Great work. All the detail, the belly-mouth, the helmet. All awesome.
thanks man, very happy with how it turned out - particularly the tongue I worried that it might contrast too strongly, but it worked as the flash of colour i was hoping for

gobert wrote:Nice, well, not nice but you know what I mean! The green glow is great! I might be stealing that when I do my ETB Plague Marines for BSF.


cheers highly recommend the tesseract green glow paint - is easy to use and a little bit has a huge impact.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Slime ahoy! Great work on the glow. Congrats on making it to the Hobby Roundup!

Your scratch-building skills are on full form, this fiery doombike is something special. I can't stop thinking about that bookmark!


Thanks Don - very pleased with the Hobby Roundup, and the bike is coming together nicely - considering im making it up as I go along, its currently 'exceeding my expectations'.

ShadowsAndDust wrote:That is a very well done Death Guard Plague Marine. I just started following this thread and I am very impressed with how your builds have been coming along. Keep up the great work!
Thanks and Welcome ShadowsAndDust I appreciate the kind words

So here is some updates! Been hitting the greenstuff hard now, the build itself is pretty much done - let me know what you think!

A few details of the sides of the bike:




Details on the Legs







And now the bike and the sorcerer is glued to the base:







Still to do - he needs a left hand, needs robes, and I need to touch up his feet a bit to make them look a little more natural.

Hot Tip - got left over greenstuff? Slowly build yourself a nurgling!



Cheers all











Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/21 09:15:08


Post by: gobert


Good to know that’s tesseract green, I might have to add it to my wish list!

Excellent work adding to the biker, he’s looking rockin’! You shouldn’t have posted the nurgling though, he kinda steals the show!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/22 02:33:40


Post by: Roknar


Going all out I see


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/22 07:19:02


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Good to know that’s tesseract green, I might have to add it to my wish list!

Excellent work adding to the biker, he’s looking rockin’! You shouldn’t have posted the nurgling though, he kinda steals the show!


Tesseract is *fingerkiss* sweet to use. I hit areas I want to be bright green with a skull white, drybrush the surrounding areas with white to 'fade into' the main skull white area, and then loosely go over all the white and some of the nearby areas with a light coating of tesseract. for small 'osl' reflections, I just hit the main areas with Tesseract - and that's generally enough!

The Nurgling is one of three I have started with scrap greenstuff - but he's the only one that's progressed beyond 'ugly blob' stage

Roknar wrote:Going all out I see


Indeed! Given that:
1) that a legendary unit isnt going to see much play,
2) I'm not eligible to win the 'competition' I'm putting him in anyway, and
3) The ork bike needed truckloads of converting to get useable,
I might as well go 'all in'!

Ok - final pictures of the model pre undercoat. I could do more (at least make things smoother or neater) - but not without sacrificing my sanity and my sense of fun. This is where My Chaos Sorcerer on a Bike is officially built, and I can start painting.

First thing I needed to do was the missing hand. I didnt have a left hand that would look remotely balanced, so I decided to make one. I created a frame out of sprue and cut up breadtag plastic:





and then did my best to greenstuff a demonic hand around it;


I also worked on his heels and the robe - and its done!








To the paints!









Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/22 08:56:17


Post by: Not Online!!!


OK, wow, that is amazing..
Also how did i miss this thread entirely?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/22 10:32:30


Post by: gobert


Hells bells! He looks cool, good luck with the painting


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/22 20:36:18


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Radical. This really feels chaotic, as in anarchy; a fallen Hell's Angel, screaming out of the Warp. Really good attention to detail, I like the silhouette of his staff, the left hand turned out well, looks like it can shoot warpfire out of the pores.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/23 12:23:57


Post by: Fifty


I am anvious of your greenstuff skills.

I wish I could use up greenstuff my making little Nurglings like that!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/26 04:15:40


Post by: darkkt


Day after Christmas posting ahoy!

Not Online!!! wrote:OK, wow, that is amazing..
Also how did i miss this thread entirely?


Thanks N.O!!! welcome to the thread!

gobert wrote:Hells bells! He looks cool, good luck with the painting
cheers

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Radical. This really feels chaotic, as in anarchy; a fallen Hell's Angel, screaming out of the Warp. Really good attention to detail, I like the silhouette of his staff, the left hand turned out well, looks like it can shoot warpfire out of the pores.
cheers - the pore holes were really just a last minute ’detail’ I threw in on a whim.

Fifty wrote:I am anvious of your greenstuff skills.

I wish I could use up greenstuff my making little Nurglings like that!
I hope to build up enough to make a few nurgling bases (I’m patient ) . The nurgling I posted is one of three I have on the go and this guy is the only one I like the other two need some serious adjustments - or they may end up as the bottom of the nurgling pyramid.

I’ve actually progressed a fair bit on the painting - here’s a few pics of the process:

Undercoat & some beginning colours:



Yellows...


Everything basecoated



Then I Worked on the flesh:

(Dude looking a bit raw)


(Then built up some greasy looking skin)



It’s at this point his arm fell off
It’s no big drama, I’d deliberately only done a light glueing in case I wanted to reposition. Gave me an opportunity to use the better access I now have to hit some previously hard to reach details.



Here’s looking at you kid


Currently particularly happy with how this occult symbol is working out:



It’s based around the chaos star (of course) as well as the ‘seal of metatron’ from the Silent Hill games.

Feeling comfortable I can get it done within the deadline (31 Dec) - which I was less confident of *before* I started painting lol

Thanks for checking it out, Let me know what you think!








Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/26 10:19:55


Post by: gobert


You’re right to be proud of the symbol, it’s fantastic! Is the flame going to stay gold? The eyes are looking cool too


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/26 14:55:38


Post by: Roknar


Oh my god, that symbol looks amazing.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/26 19:13:57


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Wow painting progress is rapid!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/28 03:21:34


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:You’re right to be proud of the symbol, it’s fantastic! Is the flame going to stay gold? The eyes are looking cool too


Roknar wrote:Oh my god, that symbol looks amazing.


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Wow painting progress is rapid!


Thanks all - I’m on leave at the moment & have a fair chunk of time to dedicate to painting atm.

Gobert- yep, the ‘flames’ on the side of the bikes are staying gold; I planned them as edge trimming. Is it the best call...? who knows

This is probably the last update before I finish the model - just a single pic, focusing on some specific areas I like



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/28 03:25:01


Post by: ShadowsAndDust


I honestly thought that the symbol was a decal. That is some most excellent free hand, my friend.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/28 09:32:26


Post by: Not Online!!!


That skull top for the staff though.

Also agreed on the symbol, greatly done.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/28 09:57:27


Post by: gobert


And now you’ve gone and outlined the symbol in white! Brave choice that has paid off. You must have a very steady hand. The gold flames and jaws work well, I was expecting all the flames to be that lovely green like the staff. Great work, good luck getting him done ahead of the deadline


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/29 04:28:24


Post by: darkkt


ShadowsAndDust wrote:I honestly thought that the symbol was a decal. That is some most excellent free hand, my friend.


Not Online!!! wrote:That skull top for the staff though.

Also agreed on the symbol, greatly done.


gobert wrote:And now you’ve gone and outlined the symbol in white! Brave choice that has paid off. You must have a very steady hand. The gold flames and jaws work well, I was expecting all the flames to be that lovely green like the staff. Great work, good luck getting him done ahead of the deadline


Thanks all - the symbol was a little painstaking to get done, but it was still fun to do. Outlining it again in white though... that's just me setting up a future insanity plea

Anyway, it is finished!

CHAOS SORCERER ON A BIKE

Introducing Sava'gom, a heavily mutated Sorcerer of the Iron Warriors. Despite the intense distaste for psyker witchcraft and warp corruption that is widely held by the sons of Perterabo, Sava'gom is tolerated due to his battlefield effectiveness, his incredibly sweet-ass bike, and his ability to consistently create awesome af album covers.















And a shot of the squad out for a ride:


This was a lot of fun to do, and I'm super happy with the result - but I'm also glad to get it done and to move on to something different. Gotta keep that ADHD at bay

Cheers all - hope you all have a great new year and see you again in 2021!
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/29 10:06:46


Post by: gobert


Nice one darkkt, that insanity plea looks a dead cert now! . Well you could barely tell it started life as an ork war bike, the conversion is so complete. The OSL on the tyre marks is really nice and certainly adds to the metal album cover feel!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2020/12/29 22:58:10


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Excellent work as usual, great freehand on the prow (do bikes have prows?). I really like the hazard stripes on his armor, it's showing off your sculpted texture, like his armor is writhing beneath the paint. Looks great leading the unit of bikes!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/03 00:49:00


Post by: darkkt


Happy new year everyone!

2020 brought me back into the hobby, and I’m pretty happy with the amount I got done . I’ve started slowing down a bit now, but I figure that’s ok as long as I keep pushing myself to try new things. Here’s to more improvements in 2021!

First up is Eddy the Excess Greenstuff nurgling who is finished.







Now I’ve only got 49 more to make in order to get a unit of nurgling bases lol. Luckily I mistakenly bought 36” of greenstuff on eBay last year

New month means new challenge on the Iron Warriors Discord - January is Ranged Weapons Specialists, so I’ve selected a unit I’ve been avoiding for 10 years... my metal Obliterators.





Conversions ho!



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/03 00:57:51


Post by: MobileSuitRandom


Heh - this bike is so METAL I can't believe most parts are plastic Good job!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/03 10:38:37


Post by: gobert


That’s some serious conversion commitment! Can’t wait to see where you go with these guys


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/04 20:48:52


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


I still like those obliterator sculpts, the new ones are lovely but they don't feel like they're in flux like these gribbly guys do. Eddy looking cute and pestilential. Great use of extra GS.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/05 01:23:24


Post by: youwashock


Hell bent, hell bent for leather! That bike rides on a wave of win. The arm eyes are fantastic. The excess GS nurgling is adorable and brilliantly done.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/05 16:19:28


Post by: ShadowsAndDust


I really like your sculpted Nurgling.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/06 04:16:02


Post by: darkkt


MobileSuitRandom wrote:Heh - this bike is so METAL I can't believe most parts are plastic Good job!




haha, thanks man

gobert wrote:That’s some serious conversion commitment! Can’t wait to see where you go with these guys


Things are progressing - dropping the latest photos below.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:I still like those obliterator sculpts, the new ones are lovely but they don't feel like they're in flux like these gribbly guys do. Eddy looking cute and pestilential. Great use of extra GS.


Given your thread on retro/out of prod models (v cool thread btw), I'm not that surprised that you like the old skool models
To be honest - since starting to work on them I've solidified what I do and dont like about them. They are not entirely terrible. My main issue is the fact they now look squat compared to the new oblits, and their gun fingers hands look... lame. fleshy lumps with random barrels jutting out looks rushed and unfinished.

Hence - conversions!

youwashock wrote:Hell bent, hell bent for leather! That bike rides on a wave of win. The arm eyes are fantastic. The excess GS nurgling is adorable and brilliantly done.


Thanks YWS The eyes are the only thing I think I should have spent a little more time one, and only to try and get the eyes looking in a consistent direction (so they look like they are looking at something as opposed to looking around randomly).

ShadowsAndDust wrote:I really like your sculpted Nurgling.


thanks mate

And now the obliterator progress...

First off - adding a little height and a little width


I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller...




Then I looked at my main problem with the models - the terrible right hand. Although it isnt a hand, its a stump with gun bits glued on.

my poor stumpy bois


So I decided to give my large sons the finger.

Ah, fingers.

This took twice as long as it should, as I originally glued the fingers together but they were too fragile, so I had to pin them with paperclips. Sigh.

Obliterators, now with twice the high-fiving capacity! Does this count as twin-linked?


Since then I've added the first bit of greenstuff to the legs and the shoulders, and started adding in some fleshmetal guns




Fleshmetal gun sounds like a euphemism tbh. GW might as well have called them 'meat pistols'.


Fleshmetal...


...hehe... he thaid fleshmetal guns... hehe



Just the lads, hanging out, being lads


I also started scratch building a plasma cannon looking gun. It's very, very early stage right now...


Wife: hey - have you seen the red pen I was using?


Me: Ah.... No. No I have not.

I'm not sure how this will work tbh - the rippled grip struck me as suitable for approximating the plasma coils, but I'm really not sure how its going to work overall. Still, gotta do something while greenstuff hardens

Catch you all in the next update!

KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/06 09:16:37


Post by: Fifty


That is a great idea for how to replicate a plasma weapon, at least on a large scale.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/06 18:12:38


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


 darkkt wrote:
Given your thread on retro/out of prod models (v cool thread btw), I'm not that surprised that you like the old skool models
To be honest - since starting to work on them I've solidified what I do and dont like about them. They are not entirely terrible. My main issue is the fact they now look squat compared to the new oblits, and their gun fingers hands look... lame. fleshy lumps with random barrels jutting out looks rushed and unfinished.

Hence - conversions!


All good points! Last year I picked up some finecast obliterators (ugh) and it wasn't clear what was finecast flash and what was gribbly detail. A really fun thing about your blog is how you elevate these old models, highlight what works and converting the bits that work, um, less well. Adding height and girth helps them fit in with the new upscaled marines.

Great use of bits 'n sprues 'n pens, looks like a plasma coil to me!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/07 22:37:23


Post by: ShadowsAndDust


I like your point about the "flesh metal guns". lol

But seriously though, the fingers you added to the models look really good.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/08 18:32:50


Post by: Roknar


Got any scale comparisons with those resized oblits, they looks like they'd fit right in with the new models...nice.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/08 20:33:31


Post by: youwashock


I'd say you deserve a hand for the great work, but that would be silly. They are looking much better, and the plasma coil is a perfect starting point.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/09 07:14:01


Post by: darkkt


Fifty wrote:That is a great idea for how to replicate a plasma weapon, at least on a large scale.


Fingers crossed it works! I'm going to try for an organicky kind of look on the gun, otherwise I would have been a little more fussy with the sprue I cut down for the barrel

Don Qui Hotep wrote:
All good points! Last year I picked up some finecast obliterators (ugh) and it wasn't clear what was finecast flash and what was gribbly detail. A really fun thing about your blog is how you elevate these old models, highlight what works and converting the bits that work, um, less well. Adding height and girth helps them fit in with the new upscaled marines.

Great use of bits 'n sprues 'n pens, looks like a plasma coil to me!


Thanks mate - I try to make an effort to find what I like about certain models and try and retain those bits. Many conversions are light as a consequence - whilst others (looks askance at my mostly greenstuff poxwalkers based on wfb zombies) have less I want to keep.

ShadowsAndDust wrote:I like your point about the "flesh metal guns". lol But seriously though, the fingers you added to the models look really good.
Thanks, I'm happy with how they turned out.

Roknar wrote:Got any scale comparisons with those resized oblits, they looks like they'd fit right in with the new models...nice.


Hadnt thought to check good idea!
quick photos later


I dont think its up to the new size even now - although the shoulder mounted guns add a chunk more height. My problem is that I havent actually seen one of the current oblits

Just a few more models if this helps



youwashock wrote:I'd say you deserve a hand for the great work, but that would be silly. They are looking much better, and the plasma coil is a perfect starting point.

Damn... a bad pun I missed. I'll never be able to show my face at the Dad conventions again :(

Time for a few more progress shots:









Here's the plasma gun progress - going to try for a very 'organic' look to it (whilst the others will be more inorganic) - partly because I'm having fun with greenstuff at the moment, and partly becauyse I'm not sure how to scratch build one lol










Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/09 12:10:55


Post by: MobileSuitRandom


Oh yeah, these are so much better than the unconverted originals! Funnily they have a bit of a Tzeentch Horrors vibe now, with the spindly legs and the face somehow in the middle of the torso ^^ ... BTW I just checked as I have a new oblit assembled, they're ~55mm without bases


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/09 17:34:29


Post by: Roknar


I don't know about the new ones, don'tcare for them. Those look way better and they fit perfectly in scale imo. They are bigger but you can still see what they were and they're still at a reasonable upscale. Really liking the bolter guy.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/10 20:41:12


Post by: gobert


Oblits are coming along nicely, the plasma gun is looking sweet. Then again I’m a sucker for guns with faces!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/12 03:06:38


Post by: darkkt


Cheers guys

It was a busy weekend so I had limited opportunity to get much done on the models - I'm pretty much just in greenstuff territory now - but I did get an hour to work on their new 50mm bases:









I'll base coat these tonight and then I can paint something while I wait for any greenstuff work I have done to cure.

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/12 06:38:59


Post by: Roknar


How are you cracking those bases like that? That looks nice.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/13 04:06:23


Post by: darkkt


 Roknar wrote:
How are you cracking those bases like that? That looks nice.


Thanks - they’re not actually cracked, I just gouge (mostly) straight lines using a small hook like sculpting tool. I google cracked tile images to try and keep things looking vaguely realistic.

The plastic I’ve been gouging is an old CD case (which are polystyrene), plastic cemented on with regular model glue.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/13 20:15:02


Post by: ShadowsAndDust


Well, it looks really good, like good old fashioned natural cracks.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/18 03:30:17


Post by: darkkt


Hey all! Been a few days between updates - my weeks have been very busy and the greenstuff work is slow going as I do little bits and then need to wait for them to cure before going further. There have been too many instances where I have done work I like and then stuck my fat thumb on it as I move the model to do a different area

Here is the current work - its coming along, but my greenstuffing still needs lots of practice.







Gribbly plasma!


Grumpy the obliterator











Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/18 08:54:59


Post by: gobert


Great progress KT, I’m not sure why the middle one is grumpy... he has a great big gun to shoot! With teeth!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/18 12:05:00


Post by: Tyranid Horde


You're doing those old Oblits an absolute service with the additional sculpting you're doing on them. Great basing too by the way, the cracks are very realistic.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/18 16:45:44


Post by: youwashock


They are starting to look quite mutated and monstrous. Greatly improved over their start.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/20 07:17:58


Post by: Viterbi


As a loyalist marine player I can't say this too loud, but that's amazing stuff you did with these oblits. Very daunting for me to just think about converting metal minis, but you did a great job. The greenstuff looks very eerie and absolutely dials the body horror aspect of them up to 100!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/21 02:59:22


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:Great progress KT, I’m not sure why the middle one is grumpy... he has a great big gun to shoot! With teeth!

Toothy guns are the best guns...

Tyranid Horde wrote:You're doing those old Oblits an absolute service with the additional sculpting you're doing on them. Great basing too by the way, the cracks are very realistic.

Thanks mate - Now I've added some paint (see below) and tried something with some varnish... they didnt quite work as well as I'd hoped. Oh well.

youwashock wrote:They are starting to look quite mutated and monstrous. Greatly improved over their start.

Cheers mate - integrating these guns with greenstuff was a challenge!


Viterbi wrote:As a loyalist marine player I can't say this too loud, but that's amazing stuff you did with these oblits. Very daunting for me to just think about converting metal minis, but you did a great job. The greenstuff looks very eerie and absolutely dials the body horror aspect of them up to 100!

Thanks mate - too kind . Converting Metal Mini's is a bit more difficult than plastic - to be honest, I wouldnt bother most of the time (but the oblits def needed something )

Paint update - finally decided I was done and threw on a leadbelcher primer. then a nuln oil wash followed up by my beginnings of yellow. Conclusion - when painting yellow over primers, leadbelcher is no easier than chaos black.







I also tried a dark blue marble effect on my flat base bits, sprayed on a varnish, then tried to highlight the cracks with white paint.
(kind of this effect?)

My success was... a little limited.







Now I'm not super disappointed in this - they look fine (if a little dark) from arms length, and it is just a base... Still, next time I attempt marble do it I'll make sure I have more time to get it right.

For now, its full steam ahead on oblit painting.

Cheers all
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/21 19:12:02


Post by: gobert


I like the marble, it looks cool. The white in the cracks works well, the sample pic seemed to have a creamier colour though, and the lighter blue was more extreme. Kudos for giving it a go!

As for the oblits themselves, they look like they could be bought models, really great integration of all of the pieces. I can’t wait to see them with a full lick of paint!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/23 15:55:54


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Both bases and oblits are looking great! Fantastic conversion job modernizing some really antiquated models.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/25 01:33:36


Post by: darkkt


gobert wrote:I like the marble, it looks cool. The white in the cracks works well, the sample pic seemed to have a creamier colour though, and the lighter blue was more extreme. Kudos for giving it a go!

As for the oblits themselves, they look like they could be bought models, really great integration of all of the pieces. I can’t wait to see them with a full lick of paint!


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Both bases and oblits are looking great! Fantastic conversion job modernizing some really antiquated models.


Cheers guys

Well, the painting isnt complete yet, but they are progressing. While I was doing the flesh, I got a result that I quite liked in a small place so I thought I would make notes of my process (because I keep forgetting exactly what my steps are from one model to the next lol). So, bear with me while I drop my notes here for future reference!

I've actually finished (perhaps) the flesh on all three, but dont have these photos yet. It's possible I took stage 4 too far and need to do a rewash - but I'll look at those with fresh eyes tonight. I'll take some photos of these too

The Result I Want to replicate:


So this is the effect I want on my demon-infected flesh - kinda messy, kinda pale and kinda raw looking:



I'm still using my old pots of Citadel Wash from 2013 and (as I think I've mentioned before) a few of them had dried to a gluggy glue consistency. I resurrected them with some water, but they stayed a bit gungy/stringy and caused me problems (back when I was doing the daemonettes hair). On these guys though I thought it wouldnt matter, and I even lucked out getting some cool long 'threads' of wash that stuck in an area and kinda look 'veiney'.



There's no way these can be seen without looking super close... but I still think its a win

The process:

1) Base coat of Tallarn Flesh (now Cadian Fleshtone I believe). I didnt take a pic of this stage.
2) Layer of Elf Flesh - not sure if this is 'Flayed one Flesh"? Pics:





3) watered down washes - red and purple. I used my old Baal Red and Leviathan Purple - which are Carroburg Crimson and Drucci Violet I think... I was experimenting here. Some are well watered down, others less so. Some I used more red than purple, others the reverse. I think the ones that turned out super purple are going to be the toughest to get back to where I want them, so lesson learned - go lighter on on the purple!

This is probably the level I want to go


Too light


Probably a good example of the goal for the washes on the back and the shoulder. The hand has already had the next stage done (stage 4)


One of the pinker ones that I quite like:




And some of this is a bit too purple (and also sideways...)



Stage 4
...

Stage 5:
Profit!

...No wait...

d
Stage 4 is highlighting the now washed flesh with a nearly translucent mix of elf flesh and medium fluid.

This is a slow process that knocks back a lot of the wash (I dont have photos of these but I might have over done it and need to add wash back to some areas - it's not an exact science) and brings the pale flesh back to the surface. If I do it properly, it looks a bit like thin skin over muscle flesh because the darker colour of the wash still shows through. Doesnt work every time, and its easy to keep going until you lose the benefits of stage 3!

Ah well, I'll keep trying.

Here's some shots I took as I was progressing.

a little blurry, but I've highlighted the muscle directly under the gun , the lower right back and the bulbous growths on his legs.


Again, mostly around the lower back:


and here's a shot of the three bois from the back - i'm not entirely sure what stage they are at here lol



Anyway - more shots tonight, and I'll determine if Ive over done and need to go back to the washes!

Cheers
KT






Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/25 14:26:53


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


That is some fantastic daemon-fused flesh, really bringing your conversion to reality!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/25 15:40:17


Post by: Tyranid Horde


Really nice work on the flesh, it's suitably warped and a fantastic contrast with the inorganic components!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/26 17:04:10


Post by: gobert


A great step by step of your flesh technique, it really has a necrotic/daemonic look. Thanks for sharing


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/26 17:34:02


Post by: youwashock


Great post. Love seeing the process. Skin looks nice and awful, in a good Chaos-y way.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/27 05:42:03


Post by: darkkt


Thanks all - glad you liked my demon skin process (which was very nearly titled 'does this look infected?)

The results... mostly good, some were a little over corrected. plan is to go back and hit them with a really dilute purple and red wash mix in very specific areas. I doubt the changes will even show up in the pics, but l can see it, so I'mma make the change

three meaty chonky bois


This flesh worked really nicely imo - kinda pallid with that unhealthy darkness just underneath.








This one worked ok too - probably the flesh on the connection from the shoulder to the gun is my favourite bit:




The left hand on this guy im very pleased with - the greenstuff and painted flesh looks kinda wrinkled and moist like the dude drowned.


The right hand though looked at bit overcorrected imo - so I'll touch it up with some more wash:


plasma cannon guy's face looks good close up, but is a bit too subtle to see from any distance. So I've already dropped some more wash on him last night.


The plasma cannon itself... not sure it its as integrated as I would like. I dont hate it at all - but its super gribbly state means its almost an entirely different style from every other gun my obliterator bois have. Not changing it now, but I consider the lesson learned - pick a style and stay consistent (at least within a single model).

Apart from this I've pretty much finished the bases:






And I got a head start on February's challenge - the ebay rescue!
Strictly speaking this guy was bought on facebook marketplace, but I think he's worthy of a rescue. It was part of a cheap bundle of ultra marines being sold by a guy who had painted them when he was young (8 or 9). He'd obviously made the same mistakes everyone does when they are 9 years old and painting like the Anti-Duncan (moar thick coats!!!) so any unfortunate mistakes are 100% understandable

This biker is currently taking a long bath in dettol, but I remembered to take the before shots







Cheers
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/27 12:52:19


Post by: Viterbi


That flesh looks sick and disgusting... so great job
Excited to see, how the biker will work out, once he's stripped.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/28 01:09:10


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


I got pretty queasy looking these pics over, great job on daemon flesh.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/29 00:36:34


Post by: darkkt


Viterbi wrote:That flesh looks sick and disgusting... so great job
Excited to see, how the biker will work out, once he's stripped.


Don Qui Hotep wrote:I got pretty queasy looking these pics over, great job on daemon flesh.


Haha - thanks guys, I'll count 'vomit inducing' as a win

No pics to post today - I'll finish them over the weekend and post the finals. This is just me dropping in the competition videos from the Iron Warrior discord challenge from November (where I submitted the heldrake) and December (submitted the Chaos Sorcerer on a bike).

The iron warriors discord can be found here: https://discord.gg/XCDRYYYazV - they're a pretty friendly bunch as long as you dont say the 'D' word (Dorn)

November was the first video:



And December was only posted recently:



Cheers and catch you when the Oblits are finally done!
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/30 10:39:43


Post by: darkkt


And I can now present:

Converted Iron Warrior Obliterators









My three large (converted metal body) sons:

Mike (grumpy plasma cannon son)







John (thicc assault cannon type thing son)






David (termie helmetm + flamer son)









These guys took a lot longer than I expected... then again, I did convert three models metal models, so maybe i didnt do too badly time wise

Pretty happy with these guys, although I might leave the more extreme conversions to the side for the next project. Speaking of the next project, tune in tomorrow to see the beginning of February's challenge - The Rescue Rider (chaos biker) !

Cheers all
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/30 19:47:49


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Nicely done! Love seeing them on their bases, looking powerful and POed. I don't think I said it earlier but I really like the terminator helmet. My personal favorite is Mike, would never guess that his cannon began as a pen. I didn't notice you'd sculpted eyes on it! Great detail.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/01/31 20:16:40


Post by: gobert


The Oblits look great! Proper gribbly and mechanical. The plasma gunner is my favourite, who’d have thought His gun started as a biro! He really needs to cheer up though. Unusual choice of names for them, are they named after anyone in particular?


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/01 04:10:36


Post by: darkkt


Don Qui Hotep wrote:Nicely done! Love seeing them on their bases, looking powerful and POed. I don't think I said it earlier but I really like the terminator helmet. My personal favorite is Mike, would never guess that his cannon began as a pen. I didn't notice you'd sculpted eyes on it! Great detail.


Cheers DQH, appreciate the kind words the terminator helmet was a conversion by the guy who sold them to be about 10 years ago! He actually had two termi heads, but I felt that the second head didnt work as well. Grumpy Mike's head was from the chaos mutation sprue, cut right down to fit. The plasma cannon eyes are interesting - they are actually the ball ends from some tyranid gaunt arms (that go into the gaunt body). They're nice and round and had cool 'wrinkles' to them

gobert wrote:The Oblits look great! Proper gribbly and mechanical. The plasma gunner is my favourite, who’d have thought His gun started as a biro! He really needs to cheer up though. Unusual choice of names for them, are they named after anyone in particular?


Cheers Gobert, thanks The plasma pen is mightier than the chainsword...
As for the names... well, I had been calling them my large sons at home. When asked I explained it was a meme, and I then looked it up: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/large-adult-sons the names come here


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/02 00:03:16


Post by: darkkt


And here we are at the start of a new month, and new month means new challenge!

eBay Rescue, ho!

So - you may remember my model was this -


Now - if you look *really* carefully at this pic you can see it looks a bit... lumpy? or maybe 'gritty' might be a better word. Well the stripping process (just used dettol which has worked perfectly fine for every previous model and so I dont think is at fault here) revealed why:



eep!

I dont know for sure, but I think its original primer job might have had problems, so... the challenge is now more challenging than I envisaged! I've been slowly scraping it with a scalpel in certain places to strip it back, but in the main I think I think I will have to go with a 'heavily weathered' look on this dude.

Sigh.

As far as other conversions.... I'm planning on making him a Chaos Biker Champion - so leaving his bike with combi-bolters and giving him a second combi-bolter in his hand. Pretty sure that's legal atm. I'm also giving him a Chainsword that I've got to attach to the bike itself (kinda 'strapped or maglocked' in place). Otherwise not much else. Bit boring I guess...

...unless you count the big f*ck off banner I'm putting on the back of his bike!

I've decided to make this guy stand out with a bold attempt at freehand painting a banner; which obviously involved baking a banner.

How to Bake a Banner (not a typo)

Step one:
Cut some thin plasticard, or if you're like me, sacrifice a beloved old CD cover (jewel-case) (goodbye Vengaboys, the Vengabus is no longer coming )

Use a ruler & cutter to score across the cover and break out a strip of the size you want:


Step two:
Place the strip in a metal dish you dont care about, on top of some smaller things that wont melt when you apply heat (I used some old screws and fittings, i.e.:


Step three:
Bake in a preheated oven at 100 Celsius for... a couple of minutes? it doesnt take long to start deforming.



move it or the weights around if necessary


I was looking for a gentle kind of wave, and I wasnt worried about deforming the plastic.

Take it out, and it cools very quickly.

Step four:
carve your banner with a scalpel (work slowly to avoid cracking or splitting the plastic), files and sandpaper).

here's mine glued to a metal rod:


Step 5:
add details prime and paint!
(two bits of chupa chup sticks cut and superglued on and some primer).



I think it turned out pretty good - let me know your thoughts!

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/02 17:22:56


Post by: gobert


Wow! That’s a great technique to shape the banner, and very effective. I really hope it was the Vengabus CD case and you slip an Easter egg or 2 in


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/02 20:37:47


Post by: Roknar


Yep, I used a similar technique for my big banner, but using a heatgun instead of an oven. Plasticard responds really well to a a bit of heat and it hardens afterwards to your usual rigidity so it's not going to bend easily and paints well. Not to mention it's plastic so it works with plastic cement. So far it seems to work better the bigger the banner/cloth, but I don't have much to go on either.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/04 02:59:02


Post by: darkkt


Cheers again all

gobert wrote:Wow! That’s a great technique to shape the banner, and very effective. I really hope it was the Vengabus CD case and you slip an Easter egg or 2 in


The carving with a scalpel was a delicate procedure, but once we washed the blood off I think it worked really well

Easter egg? I'll have to think about that...

Roknar wrote:Yep, I used a similar technique for my big banner, but using a heatgun instead of an oven. Plasticard responds really well to a a bit of heat and it hardens afterwards to your usual rigidity so it's not going to bend easily and paints well. Not to mention it's plastic so it works with plastic cement. So far it seems to work better the bigger the banner/cloth, but I don't have much to go on either.


I really need to get heat gun - it would allow for far more targeted bending and deforming than throwing the whole piece of plastic in the oven and hoping it works.
Plasticard is great - I have some left over square and round rod sitting around - but I dont have any on hand at the moment. Still - both plasticard, GW models and bases, and CD Jewel Cases (as well as bread bag tags and certain cheap bic pen sleeves etc) are made from Polystyrene. I believe plasticard and cd cases are both HIPS - High Impact Polystyrene - meaning that they add something to make it stiffer and more brittle. Plastic cement (which is basically a solvent like butanone) will of these polystyrene types and they form great bonds.

I've found that sometimes the HIPS takes longer to melt than the GW models, so I tend to place the cement on the HIPS and then wait a little while before placing it on the GW model or base.

This is a super quick update as to what I got done over the last few nights:

1) a quick nose job:

I will make some more changes to this, but I think tiny bits at a time are the way to go

2) A little bit of work on the backpack:

this guy is supposed to be an aspiring champion, he needs to look the part

3) Replaced an arm to create a combi-bolter

Strictly speaking this looks to be more of a 'combi-bolt-pistol' but it is what it is lol




pew pew

4) and I've attached a chainsword to the bike



The chainsword is made by from a standard chainsword blade attached to a CCW sword hilt from the Khorne Zerker's sprues.

From a lore perspective I could have just glued it in place on the basis that it would be mag-locked, but It looked kinda ... just glued on. Adding the 'sword clip' to hold it on looks a little better in my view - thoughts?

Cheers all
KT







Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/04 04:19:00


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Hmmm, I'm now suspicious the lore-writers invented mag-locking to let lazy converters get away with it!

Your work is, as usually, anything but lazy. I like the sword clip but by brain is having trouble figuring out how it's staying afloat - it's growing out of the bike, so I'm looking for a pincer or tentacle that's gripping it. Regardless, yer doing the lords work, gussing up these poor orphaned chaos marines.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/04 06:07:38


Post by: Viterbi


Love the group shot of the Oblits, now that's what I call body horror
Love the technique for building a banner, really cool stuff.
And interesting to see the ebay rescue develop. It's probably to late now with you already greenstuffing him, but I have good experiences stripping metal minis with Biostrip20.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/04 16:00:36


Post by: gobert


Biker Champ is coming along nicely. The paint in the recessed actually looks like a good start for some heavy rust. The GS additions are looking good already, really bringin him in to the IW fold.

So I’m embarrassed to say, but I’ve just googled the Vengabus... it turns out it was a Black and Yellow school bus with Vengaboys on the side and Vengabus on the front... perhaps the banner could include IW stripes with his name emblazoned on it... just throwing it out there that his name could be Venga?

Also feel free to ignore my crazy ramblings!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/05 00:31:18


Post by: darkkt


Ven-ka B'uuz....

...is coming


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/05 00:47:08


Post by: youwashock


The Obliterators are a triumph. Just awesome work. New biker looks to be another mad conversion gone right.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/05 04:13:17


Post by: darkkt


Cheers Youwashock I'm quite pleased with my obliterators as well! Fingers crossed I get the bike doing what I want it too.

Speaking about the Obliterators - the Iron Warrior Discord paining challenge for January is now voting. I *think* you can check out the entries here: https://forms.gle/CzVjSfLDV56T1ZW77 - if not, I'll link to the youtube contest video when it drops and you check them out then..




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/06 01:36:27


Post by: darkkt


Quick update: I thought I might actually try [i]planning[u] what I put on the banner, given it’s going to be a pretty big feature (it’s as long as the bike itself lol):

My plans:







I think it’ll be difficult to pull off... but that’s the point isn’t it


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/06 03:37:18


Post by: youwashock


Your ambition is inspiring. Looks great already. Those colors are just going to explode with some hazard stripes for contrast.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/06 05:51:53


Post by: darkkt


Cheers mate
I’m thinking The other side of the banner will be a little bit like this (but way nearer):



Also I hated that head after I ran the pen over it; I’m going to try for one closer to this:



Should be easy
*starts sweating*


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another quick update today (a lot of free time this weekend lol) - practicing painting the chains (large scale for reference)


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/06 11:05:33


Post by: gobert


Cool banner sketches! Is the idea that the banner started life in that shape? If not, maybe adjust the positioning of the second design so that bits of it are missing where the fabric has frayed?

The practice chain is looking fantastic, it looks pretty metallic for the nmm paints


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/06 12:43:59


Post by: darkkt


Hi Gobert, thanks
That’s a really good point re the second scheme- some details would’ve been lost at the frayed edges. I’m definitely going to revisit it now, the more I look at it the more it feels rushed.

Ive been really enjoying the test scheme painting & have done a little more:

The chain:


Super subtle, but I’ve added a brown wash over the bottom half of the chain & a blue ‘wash’ (thinned aethermaric contrast paint) over the top. I feel it adds a lot.

The small mask:


Same process, I really like the teeth on this guy

And finally (i gotta go to bed!), the big mask:


Scaling down to the banner size will be interesting, but the practice has given me a lot of confidence

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/06 14:10:32


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


This banner is going to look amazing!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 15:02:44


Post by: Viterbi


Loving all the sketches for the banner, this will look amazing!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 16:32:14


Post by: gobert


Cool tests, the blue and brown washes add a lot of depth I think. Good luck scaling down!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 20:18:12


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Love seeing the process here, how conversions come together. Nice yellow blending on the banner itself, it looks suitably aged around the edges. The concept drawings are sweet. I'm getting some classic Blanche vibes from the skull designs.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 20:49:39


Post by: Fifty


Not a fan of those obliterator sculpts, but you make them decent.

The banner though, that is amazing and I'll be coming back to try and do something similar myself! Cheers!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 21:30:17


Post by: darkkt


What up everyone! Updating again - pics Later this morning - the banner doth progress at speed!

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:This banner is going to look amazing!



Viterbi wrote:Loving all the sketches for the banner, this will look amazing!


Thanks folks I’m super happy with how this is working out so far!


gobert wrote:Cool tests, the blue and brown washes add a lot of depth I think. Good luck scaling down!


Cheers G

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Love seeing the process here, how conversions come together. Nice yellow blending on the banner itself, it looks suitably aged around the edges. The concept drawings are sweet. I'm getting some classic Blanche vibes from the skull designs.


Ahhh Blanche was so good & responsible for so much classic 40k imagery I didn’t specifically have his art in mind but his work saturates my view of chaos so definitely an influence, thanks DQH.

I’m keen to keep posting process pics- mostly so as I stumble around I can remember what I worked & what didn’t. If it’s entertaining for others then that’s a nice bonus

Fifty wrote:Not a fan of those obliterator sculpts, but you make them decent.

The banner though, that is amazing and I'll be coming back to try and do something similar myself! Cheers!


Hahaha given the hate these sculpts generally attract, I’ll count ‘decent’ as a major win!

Sweet- I’ll look out for it when lurking on your blog


I’ll post pics of banner start & greenstuff work in a couple of hours!
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 23:19:15


Post by: darkkt


Ok - pics as promised.

Greenstuff Work
Ive been interspersing tiny amounts of greenstuff work while doing the banner (and the planning thereof), which is working out well from a 'Giving Greenstuff time to harden' perspective it does mean progress is slow though.

Aim is to 'fancy up' my aspiring champion as the base biker models dont have a lot of variation.

Back Pack and Bike 'rack'



The backpack is working ok, but my bike rack (which was initially supposed to be kinda 'boney' like ribs hasnt exactly worked as expected. I think I'm going to scrape them off and try something else.

Lower leg & elbow


Just some Slightly fancier trim

Skull-face on bike front


this one seems to have turned out looking ok - but some of it may be covered up when I glue the guns back on.

The Banner - process:

Step one:
redraw your planned pic on the banner in pencil and then in the finest permanent marker you can find (im using a 0.1 nib).Make sure to stuff up in one spot threatening all your hard work so far. Wipe away tears and Slap on a rough cover layer of averland sunset and redraw.

Cross fingers that this area will be covered up by other colours.


Step two:
apply multiple thin Base coats of Astronomicon Grey (or whatever its called now) over the metal bits. Keep going until it is well covered.





Step three:
Apply thinned coats of Black paint to the black areas. Multiple coats until covered.



Note that the big assed f-up is now entirely covered. Deny it ever happened in the first place.

Step four:
Apply dark and light reflections. I used two colours for this:
- dark: Charadon Granite (old Foundation paint)
- light: Ceramite White



waitaminute, where the hell do I put these relfections?
I... dont have a good answer for you. I did hours of research. I took screenshots of metal chains and then applied instagram filters and picture edits (contrast, brightness, shadows etc) to isolate colours and shadows. I Googled and Pinterested for examples of art and metal helmets and skulls etc... I got lots of ideas but found out that there are few strict rules.

This is probably because a reflective surface like metal looks different depending on what it is reflecting.

So Ultimately I absorbed what I could and practiced on the paper. Note that there has been no attempt at blending on this. I'm still working on wetblending and cannot pull it off on this sort of tiny freehand surface yet. Still, I think it delivers a good result.

Step 6:
Apply 'washes'
- super thinned aethermatic contrast paint on the top parts and
- thinned gryphonne sepia wash on the bottom.
aim is to a) add colour and b) give the illusion it is reflecting the sky on the top and the ground on the bottom.

Once it is try, hit the top highlights with white again:





And this is where I am at the moment!

Probably will not get much done tonight, so will update again in a few day. Cheers all
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/07 23:35:46


Post by: DJJazzyJeff


Grisly and gory skin work.
Nice gs with the biker. The flag is coming along well, too.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/08 14:13:46


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Flag is coming along amazingly!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/08 20:51:17


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Excellent progress on the banner. What big f-up? I'm inclined you just made that story up so you can keep slumming it with the rest of us.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/08 20:51:59


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


EDIT: Congrats on 10 pages!

 darkkt wrote:
Ok - pics as promised.

Greenstuff Work
Ive been interspersing tiny amounts of greenstuff work while doing the banner (and the planning thereof), which is working out well from a 'Giving Greenstuff time to harden' perspective it does mean progress is slow though.

Aim is to 'fancy up' my aspiring champion as the base biker models dont have a lot of variation.

Back Pack and Bike 'rack'



The backpack is working ok, but my bike rack (which was initially supposed to be kinda 'boney' like ribs hasnt exactly worked as expected. I think I'm going to scrape them off and try something else.

Lower leg & elbow


Just some Slightly fancier trim

Skull-face on bike front


this one seems to have turned out looking ok - but some of it may be covered up when I glue the guns back on.

The Banner - process:

Step one:
redraw your planned pic on the banner in pencil and then in the finest permanent marker you can find (im using a 0.1 nib).Make sure to stuff up in one spot threatening all your hard work so far. Wipe away tears and Slap on a rough cover layer of averland sunset and redraw.

Cross fingers that this area will be covered up by other colours.


Step two:
apply multiple thin Base coats of Astronomicon Grey (or whatever its called now) over the metal bits. Keep going until it is well covered.





Step three:
Apply thinned coats of Black paint to the black areas. Multiple coats until covered.



Note that the big assed f-up is now entirely covered. Deny it ever happened in the first place.

Step four:
Apply dark and light reflections. I used two colours for this:
- dark: Charadon Granite (old Foundation paint)
- light: Ceramite White



waitaminute, where the hell do I put these relfections?
I... dont have a good answer for you. I did hours of research. I took screenshots of metal chains and then applied instagram filters and picture edits (contrast, brightness, shadows etc) to isolate colours and shadows. I Googled and Pinterested for examples of art and metal helmets and skulls etc... I got lots of ideas but found out that there are few strict rules.

This is probably because a reflective surface like metal looks different depending on what it is reflecting.

So Ultimately I absorbed what I could and practiced on the paper. Note that there has been no attempt at blending on this. I'm still working on wetblending and cannot pull it off on this sort of tiny freehand surface yet. Still, I think it delivers a good result.

Step 6:
Apply 'washes'
- super thinned aethermatic contrast paint on the top parts and
- thinned gryphonne sepia wash on the bottom.
aim is to a) add colour and b) give the illusion it is reflecting the sky on the top and the ground on the bottom.

Once it is try, hit the top highlights with white again:





And this is where I am at the moment!

Probably will not get much done tonight, so will update again in a few day. Cheers all
KT





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/09 17:39:30


Post by: gobert


Seriously, what happened to the surface of the plastic on this biker!?! It looks as though it’s been corroded by something.

Seriously good work on the banner. If you hadn’t mentioned the screw up we’d have never noticed. So good recovery! As for not wet blending it’s so small most wouldn’t notice and in any case the washes have helped with the transitions anyway.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/09 21:34:47


Post by: darkkt


Don Qui Hotep wrote:Excellent progress on the banner. What big f-up? I'm inclined you just made that story up so you can keep slumming it with the rest of us.


Me, sharing pics of the banner progress:



And thanks 10 pages! Yikes, this blog isn’t even 1 year old yet. Looking back to before I drifted away, I managed... 4 pages between 2009 & 2012!

gobert wrote:Seriously, what happened to the surface of the plastic on this biker!?! It looks as though it’s been corroded by something.

Seriously good work on the banner. If you hadn’t mentioned the screw up we’d have never noticed. So good recovery! As for not wet blending it’s so small most wouldn’t notice and in any case the washes have helped with the transitions anyway.


I know! I’ve no idea; pretty sure I didn’t do anything wrong with the stripping... anyway, imma try to work with it I guess.


& thanks to you too

Only one pic today. Only a little neatening to do & this side of the banner is done!





Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/10 01:33:25


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


It's beautiful!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/11 23:40:42


Post by: gobert


that’s awesome! Great work darkkt, you’ve achieved a great effect with the nmm. Good luck with the other side!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/12 00:06:21


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


All hail darkkt, first of the Neo-Blanchians!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/12 02:45:16


Post by: darkkt


Thanks guys, feeling good about that side of the banner

Of course this has meant I've got 'banner paralysis' as I've not been happy with any of my ideas for the other side! I'm deep in planning at the moment and then trialing pics at larger scale
Simple But Interesting is the plan.

In the interim I have been progressing my greenstuffing - last night was a quick but still substantial change to the dudes head. Let me know what you think:



"All right Mr DeMille I'm ready for my close up."


I'm mostly happy with it, although From a strict scale perspective I dont think Its *quite* right (that eye socket is oversized). I'mma blame that on the 'distorting effects of the warp' rather than 'over-estimating my greenstuff abilities'. I'm going to add some tiny scraps of 'scalp flesh' to the top so that the line isnt so neat (like the flesh was torn off, not neatly excised).

I didnt take a pic, but I did rip the GS and plasticard work off the rear of the bike - made a mess too lol. As nothing is quite set in stone yet, I'll get it to the state I want and then share it here

Of course I needed another distraction and last weekend I took both my kids to the Warhammer Store and picked up our model of the month. My son and I got a Reiver each and my daughter got a slaanesh daemonette. At some stage this month I will be painting mine up (and then giving it to my son who has a small space marine army). I'm planning to paint it a scheme my sons chose after playing 'Infamous Second Son" - its half Blue and half Red (bisected down the middle) and its icon is the red and blue 'Karma' symbol of two birds.

How detailed or simple this model ends up will depend on how much time I give myself to get it done

Catch you all next time and have a great weekend (its Friday arvo here in Australia)
Cheers
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/13 10:42:56


Post by: darkkt


Got very little done today, but I still reckon I’ve finished the greenstuff work. Tomorrow it gets an undercoat!












I also had an idea for the other side of the banner - a pic of our aspiring champion himself. I figured these guys would have a pretty huge ego, so a personal pic on a huge flag sounds like something they’d be all for

I knocked out a quick digital sketch on my Surface & followed up with a larger painted attempt.






I’m not super happy with the paint job at this stage, but I’m going to try it again at a smaller scale before hitting the flag.

Cheers
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/14 10:33:14


Post by: RobertsMinis


Bike and flag is looking impressive. Enjoying watching this project evolve.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/14 10:35:24


Post by: gobert


Cool progress, the chaos star on the rear especially so! A vanity banner sounds right for a Chaos minion, good luck translating down to size. Fingers crossed the weird surface takes primer well


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/14 13:21:23


Post by: darkkt


Thanks Robert & Gobert

Quick update cos it’s very late here: freehand on the banner is done - this was the process:

- draw the test piece at scale:



- redraw on banner:



- block in base colours:



- add contrast & highlighting-



And we are done!



Bedtime for me, will check back in tomorrow!
Cheers
KT



Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/14 13:36:22


Post by: Viterbi


So cool scrolling through all the progress in one go, that banner is so metal, amazing work! Greentuff looks equally good, can‘t wait for primer to unify everything.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/14 14:09:53


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


That banner is simply awe-inspiring! I can't wait to see it in place on the mini!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/14 20:55:59


Post by: youwashock


Man...I don't even...

That looks really good. Absolutely love the comic book style. It hearkens back to old Realm of Chaos banners.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/15 00:03:06


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Great job, dude! Fun concept, excellent execution.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/15 18:42:52


Post by: gobert


Really great work on the banner. Viterbi is right, it’s like he’s from a Metal album cover!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/15 23:15:23


Post by: darkkt


Viterbi wrote:So cool scrolling through all the progress in one go, that banner is so metal, amazing work! Greentuff looks equally good, can‘t wait for primer to unify everything.


cheers V - primed and washed photos below! I hope they live up to the hype

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:That banner is simply awe-inspiring! I can't wait to see it in place on the mini!


Thanks GcG - too kind . the banner is nearly as long as the Bike itself, so it might be a trifle ott... but really - what in 40k isnt ott?

youwashock wrote:Man...I don't even...

That looks really good. Absolutely love the comic book style. It hearkens back to old Realm of Chaos banners.


Cheers mate Ah realm of chaos - I shouldve googled those for ideas, mightve saved me some time!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Great job, dude! Fun concept, excellent execution.

Thank you!

gobert wrote:Really great work on the banner. Viterbi is right, it’s like he’s from a Metal album cover!


and thanks G - maybe that Iron Maiden album I was listening to as I was painting (yes, I really am that old lol) was more of an influence than I figured

Thanks to everyone for the motivation - time for a quick update:

Combined a couple of steps here:
1) leadbelcher primer
2) Nuln oil wash (heavy) - wait to dry
3) Agrax Earthshade wash (heavy)

I wanted a dark aged metal - very unlike the shiny metal of the banner, but chaos has never been worried about truth in advertising







Then I did the blacks and the yellows. I attempted to add some depth to the yellows by blending in a little orange towards the edges. It's supposed to be subtle but noticeable... noticeably subtle? is that a tautology?






I also hit his head with some flesh and bone and then agraxed (agrax is a verb now) them both




Thinking I might drop a bit more orange into the yellow bits that are in the shade (like the back of his leg) - if I can do that without causing myself too many problems, I move onto the hardest part - the stripes.




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/16 13:36:48


Post by: Fifty


Still loving the banners and the gribbly bike gets better and better too.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/16 14:47:06


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


The contrast of the weathered model and the bright (lying) banner is going to be amazing!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/17 01:51:12


Post by: darkkt


Thanks guys, back with another quick update - Hazard Stripes are down.









Also did a little highlighting on the flesh and the skull.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/17 02:41:46


Post by: Vejut


Excellent stripes as always, and the face looks nice as well.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/20 12:17:22


Post by: darkkt


Vejut wrote:
Excellent stripes as always, and the face looks nice as well.


Thanks Vejut

My EBay* Rescue Challenge is complete! Pleased to show the final product- A Chaos Space Marine Biker Champion!

This was done as my entry into the Iron Warriors Discord Painting Challenge. Check the pinned post on the IW reddit page: https://www.reddit.com/r/IronWarriors/

Had lots of fun with this guy, even with the weird rough surface I found after stripping the paint off. Really happy with the banner which was a major stretch for my freehand abilities!

*actually FB Marketplace

The Pics:









And some close ups of some interesting bits:



The 1/2 skull:


The combi-bolter:


The backpack greenstuff work and the back of the bike:




Changes to the skull on the front:


A little more freehand work on the shoulder pad:


Its late here in South Australia (For an old man like me), but let me know what you think!

Cheers
KT


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/20 13:59:07


Post by: Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll


Amazing. Just jaw-dropping. (I almost just wrote "draw-jopping" I think I need more coffee this morning).


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/20 22:50:18


Post by: Don Qui Hotep


Smashing. Looks great from any angle. Plenty of detail to get lost in, thanks for sharing the close-up pictures. Really love how star on the back of the bike turned out.


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/21 09:58:47


Post by: RobertsMinis


Absolutely amazing and inspirational. Deserves all the plaudits it receives!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/21 10:58:03


Post by: gobert


Amazing work darkkt, the whole package. The banner looks even better mounted on the bike and the GS work raises him above your average biker. The Half skull theme running throughout is fantastic!


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/22 05:05:47


Post by: darkkt


Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Amazing. Just jaw-dropping. (I almost just wrote "draw-jopping" I think I need more coffee this morning).


Don Qui Hotep wrote:Smashing. Looks great from any angle. Plenty of detail to get lost in, thanks for sharing the close-up pictures. Really love how star on the back of the bike turned out.


RobertsMinis wrote:Absolutely amazing and inspirational. Deserves all the plaudits it receives!


gobert wrote:Amazing work darkkt, the whole package. The banner looks even better mounted on the bike and the GS work raises him above your average biker. The Half skull theme running throughout is fantastic!


Cheers folks - can't say how much I appreciate all the kind words This one was so much fun to do and I'm really pleased that its been received so well!

Thought I would drop a biker squad shot now that I have a few in place (FYI - I dont envy the dude forced to ride behind our champion with that huge flag blocking his sight lol)






and for the next few days (while I wait for the March competition to be announced) I'm working on my Model of the Month - the Primaris Reiver - painted up in my son's homebrew chapter scheme. The Sons of Infamy - half blue and half red (or as I call it - Ultramarine in the Streets, Blood Angels in the Sheets).

WiP of course:




I'm not entirely sure what I will attempt with this one - bolder highlighting perhaps? Not sure. Anyway - I Will be giving this one to the lad when finished - might as well swell his army .

Cheers all and thanks again.
KT




Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/22 16:42:58


Post by: Boss Salvage


Really enjoyed the reclamation process on the bike, props on the end result from the gnarly beginning. And that banner! Which I appreciate the tip for forming plastic, I've never been a paper banner person but cast plastic ones rarely fit the physics of a conversion (weird wind patterns and whatnot).


Darkkt's 2022 P&M Blog @ 2021/02/22 23:15:08


Post by: Roknar


One hell of a rescue.