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I liked the cream color a lot, but with that bluish helmet it's even better . Also nice generic chapter symbol.

Thanks Theo. Glad you like how they turned out. The helmets are grey, but with the blue eyes and the contrast with the red they do appear slightly blue.

Quoted for page over:

Dr H wrote:And... I think I've got them all. Done!

I took photos from many angles with the intention of showing you lot the best, but in the end all the angles seemed necessary...
Go...photo-dump!
All zoom-able and vote-able.













I'll have these up on Etsy soon.

Nurgle soon...

The bases are beautiful doc! If you'd done an edge highlight on the boltgun parts in silver, it would've worked, but silver is too bright on it's own. I've been trying the Vallejo Metallics lately, they are really nice.

Nicely done Doc. Those red boltguns take me back to 1995. Ah, the days of 2nd edition... A glorious mess that one. But fun.

Those are incredibly well done Dr H. Oh my gosh, I just love them! The bone color on the armor is expertly executed. Wow... just wow.

Nice work Doc !

dsteingass wrote:The bases are beautiful doc!

Thanks Dave. They came out well and not too difficult for the area (perhaps too much for a large terrain piece...).

If you'd done an edge highlight on the boltgun parts in silver, it would've worked, but silver is too bright on it's own. I've been trying the Vallejo Metallics lately, they are really nice.

Are you talking about the chrome helmet idea or the metallics on them now? I did my usual gun-metal base, black wash, dry-brush silver on these. But my silver pot is on it's way out and possibly went on a bit too heavy in places. However, I want these to look really new as the Primaris are fresh off the factory floor; hence the lack of verdigris on the brass bits.

The chrome helmets just didn't look right with the scheme. The light, bright, coolness of the grey-metal just didn't sit well next to the warmness of the rest of the scheme, together with it all being quite light too. Needed the dark helmets to contrast against it.

Thanks Red'. I was aware of 40k back then and did do many drawings of space marines as a child, but never got into to game or miniatures (even though I also built many Airfix kits back then too). We had (still have) space crusade as my main exposure to space marines etc. from back then though.
Maybe something from those days sunk in because I'm always receiving comments about how "old school" my 40k models turn out in their aesthetic.
I just like the look of red bolters.

Thanks Gits'. Great to hear.

Thanks Big'.


Had a bit of a break to work on my Fallout 4 mod after a YouTuber showed it glitching out after I thought it had been fixed.
So I went in and re-did the performance optimisation for the interior of the cave and fixed various issues that came up because of it.
It should be as good as it's going to get now.
If you are still playing Fallout 4 check out my Coastal Cottage Cave mod.
On the Nexus (for PC users): http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20715/?
There you can find the original mod and the compatible version (for if you have mods or buildings in the way).

and/or on Beth.net;
for the PC: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/3330304
or compatible: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/3426532
for the XB1: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/3330375
or compatible: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/3426516
for the PS4: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/3330818
or compatible: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/3426493

That fix took most of two days.

Now it's done though, back to models.
I'm pulling out the Plague marines, building them, and then making notes on what I might change.
One so far, but I'll be back once I've been through all 7 and share my thoughts.

Stay tuned.

Did some painting... of the kitchen walls.

Also, my thoughts on the Plague marines, one by one:

But first, in general. They are pretty good models.
Not as much bling or unnecessary details as some of the Dark Vengeance chaos models (thoughts on this may change when it comes to painting...).
The poses are all along the same lines in terms of the idea; that is, all of them (except 1) has a relaxed / confident pose. I get that this is the Nurgle "thing"; no pain, slowly lumbering up to the enemy, etc. but only one of the 7 is actually in an attacking pose. It's no simple job to change this either (I may give it a go on one of them, see below).
Not every limb needs to be hacked off as some arms are separate at the shoulder, this makes life easier for some re-posing. Although usually the other arm is not so simple.

For all of them I'll be adding crusty rust and goo / pus, and I'll be deepening the pits in the armour and roughing up the edges of them (they are just too smooth to be believable damage from war or corrosion).
There's also a few casting/mould-making issues here and there that will be fixed too.

As for individually...
#1

My first thought was to make his mace more deadly looking, but I think now that that is a plague grenade, so will make it look more grenade-like.
The grenade belt on his front needs a hole for a removed grenade.
His metal tabard will be shortened by removing the two indicated plates and re-attaching the lower one at the top, then adding a cloth underneath it.
I'll give him a third eye lens, off centre to his right (nurgle's all about 3's), his head is just a bit too neat.
The armour about the sprouting hoof on his right leg need to look more broken.
The dangling plague grenade at his back will be removed and have it's "hair" removed, then may be placed somewhere else (more as a trophy); I just don't like how the hair/smoke/whatever has been done on it.

#2 Which appears from the loadout to be the champion

The hood is going to be cut down to reveal more of the face and the dangly bits will be removed.
The sword hand/arm will be rotated forwards to a more threatening pose (instead of "come at me bro" pose).
The fly will be moved to the left shoulder (think "pieces of 8").
More tentacles.

#3

Going to bring his tongue outwards / forwards.
Change the horns on his head, shape-wise.
Move his sword outwards, maybe upwards (less relaxed).
The smiley face on the shoulder pad to be changed to a skull.
Move his plague grenades... where? I don't know.

#4 The one and only "action" pose.

The little tentacle holding a bell to be changed into a more impressive tentacle.
Rotate the sword arm a little.
More tentacles...
?

#5

I really like this guy's head. Which is a shame, because it's easily replaced. Won't be.
More tentacles.
Change horn of left shoulder, too neat.
Break up the armour more around the spikes on left leg.
Move the sword, possibly to hip. (has the same backpack as #6, with the sword attached. both need to be changed to be unique in the world).
More fleshiness to the backpack...
Tentacle peeping out the hole in the chainmail.

#6

In theory, I like that GW did with #5 and #6. They have the same body, legs, left arm and backpack; with different chest, head and right arm. Getting these pieces to fit the same base model is very clever. Needs changing to be more unique though
Change the horns on the head (interfere with armour a bit too much)
Give the gun a strap.
Change to an aiming pose (if possible); raise gun and place head accordingly.
Move the tongue from the shoulder pad from around the arm (as it is above for #5).
Change horn on that shoulder.
Change horns on leg to tentacles, and break the armour a bit more.
Move sword, this time to right side of backpack (on his back, not the pack).
Add horns to backpack.
Alter the horns on his right shoulder.

#7

Give his gun a strap.
Add a third eye/lens above left eye.
Add smoke to various smokestacks (to match the style of #4).
Add goo/pus to broken armour on right arm (maybe a tentacle too).
?

And there you have it.
There may be more changes as I come to them, but we'll have to see...

Beautiful work on the primaris marines.

Nurgle next and some interesting ideas, getting a distinct tentacle theme so far.

Looking forward to the Nurgle, those PM are really nice, great colour choice.

Those are masterful.

Should have sent you my plague marines for a make over. Primes look fab and now I cant wait to see your PMs, what color scheme are you thinking of, old school or something different?

Excellent repositioning work doc!

Great job on the Primaris, the size they should have been for decades!

Nurgle Marines looking like a nice project to paint!

Sorry for absence, I had an impromptu PC upgrade that required a re-install of Windows (and therefore everything else too). Slowly getting the settings back to how they were.

OneManNoodles wrote:Beautiful work on the primaris marines.

Thanks.

Nurgle next and some interesting ideas, getting a distinct tentacle theme so far.

As well as red bolters, I like tentacles...

Camkierhi wrote:Looking forward to the Nurgle, those PM are really nice, great colour choice.

Thanks Cam'.

Gitsplitta wrote:Those are masterful.

inmygravenimage wrote:Excellent repositioning work doc!

Hold your horses there chaps, the above Plagues are just stock. The changes start here.

Yorkright wrote: Should have sent you my plague marines for a make over.

I can be convinced to fiddle with anyone's models if you throw money at me.

Primes look fab and now I cant wait to see your PMs, what color scheme are you thinking of, old school or something different?

Thanks. My thoughts at the moment are for the Plagues to be a variety of typical greens and/or browns. But each will be his own shade and the paint on the armour will be "old" looking (chipped and dirty etc.). Maybe to look as if they were "normal" SM colours that have faded to the final green/brown, if I can come up with a good way of doing that.

shasolenzabi wrote:Great job on the Primaris, the size they should have been for decades!

Thanks Shas'. There's so many opinions of the new tall-marines on the net. Some like them, some hate them, some think this is how marines should look, some think they will replace tiny-marines... I see them as variety, nothing more , nothing less.

Nurgle Marines looking like a nice project to paint!

Will be an interesting change. My first Nurgle. *Need an Orkmoticon picking it's nose*

Due to PC work (and kitchen decoration), this is all I have achieved modelling wise:

This is just the taking-away stage, apart from the added lens to the helmet... Holes deepened, roughened edges, other damage, shortened tabard, etc...
...next comes whatever I might add... Maybe a tentacle or two...

Tentacles!!

Well you have started at least, nice to see, these are so busy a model interesting to see how you go.

Wow, Dr H! 57 pages in and I didn't realise you had another blog
Those primaries marines are absolutely beautiful, the bone colour works very well. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the plague marines, and it looks like I have some catching up to do!

Thank Cam'. Yeah, there is a fair amount of detail on these chaps as it is. So I am trying to be careful to move, replace or alter details rather than add more. Does make them more difficult to unique-ify them.
Some of them are easier to change than others, this first one is not the best example; there's not much I can do to him (without major, time-consuming, changes).

Lo Scarper. Yeah, those sneaky 2nd (3rd, 4th... in some cases) blogs that are easily missed and lead to you wondering where a certain poster has gone. Can sometimes feel like they are cheating on a project or army
At least it's the smaller of my 2 blogs you have to catch up on (rather than my 137 page "army" blog). Have fun with the catch-up and feel free to comment on anything you like.

Thanks on the Prim-marines.

and the additions to Plague #1 are done (for now).
The tabard is on and tattered and I added smoke/fumes to the grenade to give it a Molotov cocktail look rather than "is that a club?" look. You should be in no doubt that he's about to throw something at you, rather than bash your head in.

With painting, weathering and goo, he should look unique enough.

Next up is the leader of the gang (the order I'm working in follows the order of construction in the instruction booklet, no other reason than that).
Quite a few more changes to be made on him...

Very nice. I shamble corrected.

Thanks Graven.

Oo, while I'm here, I forgot to ask you lot out there; What grass do you use for a field/lawn finish for your bases?

I believe static grass is the thing to look for, but I'm not sure where/who is best.
I want proper blades of grass looking stuff.
I've only ever done tufts of grass with brush bristles, never full covered bases.

The plan is the base these plagues on grass bases where their footsteps show as dead/dying grass patches.

Thanks.

Those marines look great and help that the models have better proportions than the squat marines we usually see.

For basing, I tend to use Woodland Scenics ground cover products - they have a great range of colours and textures for various effects. Not the cheapest, but look great: https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/GroundCover

I will though be investing in some grass 'tufts', similar to the Army Painter range (https://shop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=3), although I've seen various sellers on ebay offering this stuff with competitive prices.

I have an old pack of static grass from GW (purchased back in the late 90s I believe), never used it, but want to give it a try...

Here's a nice little tutorial for woodland type bases that would fit well with Plague marines - could easily add fungus sprouting up in their footsteps...
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/making-wood-themed-bases-is-easy-to-do.html

Thanks Ruglud. And thanks, that gives me a good starting point for what to look for.

And number 2 has had some work done:
Removed the dangly bits from the hood and cut it back around the face (much more difficult than it looked),
Added a tentacle from spare putty,
Rotated the sword arm,
Removed the fly from the backpack's horn,
Given the fly some legs...

...the original legs for the fly are a mass a plastic that I did try to cut into a spread out, but the majority snapped off and didn't look good for placing it on the shoulder. So I added some new ones.
First, I moved the abdomen outwards (originally it's curled up under the body), and used the gap to add the rear set of legs,
Then drilled holes through the body for the front two sets of legs.

I'll leave him off (as well as the backpack) for easier painting, but the legs will be drilled into the shoulder pad so it'll be secure.


This should give him a more threatening pose (less "ta-da!" and more "I'm going to stab you in the gut") as well as a bit of fly-falconry... fly-conry... with his pet fly. Rather than it buzzing about his head.

Thoughts and more opinions on grass options welcome.

Position of fly finalised.


And did someone mention tentacles...?

...Oh yeah, that was me.

As this chap has quite a few tentacles as stock, I thought I'd go a bit further.

And in case you wonder how it's done, suction cups:

Looking good and slimed there Dr. H .

Very much enjoy the tentacles. The suction cups add a lot!

Davy Jones in Space - just need to change the power fist for a power claw and give him a bionic peg leg

(Note: not a reference to Davy Jones of Monkees fame...)

Magical work, Plague are looking fantastic, love the tentacles.

@ Ruglud, Wonder what they would find in Davy Jones (the Monkees) Locker?
Oh and @ Ruglud, just ask, I can make you tufty bits no bother bud.

OK Static grass. Nothing wrong with Ruglud's suggestions, though I find them expensive.

Watch this...


This guy has some great ideas, worth checking out, though like every other Youtuber, seems to be out for the magical millions, puts me off a little.

Their website:
http://www.war-world.co.uk/

2mm will give you realistic normal grass, 6mm is more like a meadow. I have only ever applied it with PVA and sprinkled it on, and give it a little blow to give it some look of direction of the wind type of thing. It goes everywhere all the time. You could get fancy applicators, but to be honest unless you are doing vast areas it is simply not worth it. Talking of which, If you were to get say a 100g bag as above, that will be close to a lifetime supply for the likes of you and me. Beware of the colour, have a good close look at some of this stuff, for instance the summer mix for all companies tends to have some really blue fibres in, I am being stupid finicky, but when I look closely at the model (like on my monitor after taking a 14Mb pic) you notice it. Want to go through and pick them out, but must resist, for there lies madness.

For your footsteps idea, good old fashioned twine, dirt cheap at the hard ware store, snip it with scissors and sprinkle on as like a separate coat in the footsteps, will look like dead grass.




"Borrowed" from Luke Towan youtuber.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRkUtHQ774mTg1vrQ6uA5A

As usual, disclaimer, I am no expert and will happily bow to better knowledge on the subject, certainly I should imagine Dave or Red, are what I would class as experts for this type of thing.

Hope this helps.

Now that's a good idea. I've used sisal twine before, but never thought to use it as trampled grass. Always as a stand or tuft of dried grass or wheat or such-- you stick a length in a glue filled hole. Let the glue set, then untwist the twine. Boom! You can also bundle it around a shape to make hay/straw bales.

Nice idea for sculpting tentacles.

Oops, got distracted with building in Fallout 4 again.

Thanks Theo'.

Thanks Scarper. Can't have too many tentacles. I liked the suction cups enough to add them to the other large tentacle.

Thanks Ruglud. lol

Thanks Cam'.
Good suggestions. As I managed to find WWS on ebay and they had an offer on (I'd say "special" but it wasn't that special; buy 3 get 20% off the 4th), I've ordered some from them. 200g in 4 flavours and 2 lengths, should be good for all possible possibilities for the foreseeable future.
Very useful as always.

Thanks Red'.

And I couldn't reply without something to show so I have something to show...

I wanted to paint the above chap's fly just to see how it looked without bright green legs and it seems to have worked: When someone won't approach any closer than the door, even after you've told them it's plastic, it should do for realism.


and together:


I'll be back with #3 once I get around to him...

Fly looks outstanding!