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Wow dude, that is amazing.

Excellent work. The scatter pieces from the roof can also be placed along the walls too. Versatility: A Good Thing. It will look very nice on the table. Especially with one of those urban game mats that are all the rage.

Future reference: a way to affix a skybridge/catwalk/w/e they are called.

There used to be an Infinity forum member called T e h Mik. I had to space the letters to avoid the forum auto-correct. I cannot for the life of me imagine that a mis-spelling of the definite article holds any power to cause one to take umbrage. Which of course means that it probably does. Meh.

The forklift is next. A truly magnificent bit of work, that.

Yes, fanny packs are still used. Men have them too. Oh, grow up. Stop the tittering. Yes, I said tittering. Why has it intensified.... bah!

Good lord those are cool...

So good mate. All the big bold colours, the shapes- totally works in all its neo future glory.

Does the forklift move the painting desk too?

I wish I had a dance party. Instead, I got a no dance party.

Thinking outside the box Dr. Always requires new angles of perspective, and perhaps even more sides!

Lovely piece completed. I do find it amazing how we just have to stop painting otherwise we could paint ourselves into forever smaller and smaller details.

Mmah, not bad.

Totally with you on the"gotta stop" bit. I manage to call it a bit sooner than you, mind you. Unbelievable level of detail, excellent execution. Some very lucky soul will have this on the table for every single game they play, I am sure I would. So pretty. Well done bud.

Well it was all going so well... and then I poured half a bottle of poly' cement over the intercessors...

More on that later, first replies:

Thanks Heretic Tom.

Thanks Red'. Yeah, I like versatility in the models I produce, hence the design on the wooden hut and wooden boxes I (try to) sell.
I did briefly consider something to do with a skybridge. Making a universal connection point is probably better for multiple pieces; a single building like this is not going to match anything else out there. Maybe next time. Is there a set width of walkway that is universally used?

Thanks Gits'.

Thanks Graven'.

Thanks Comrade. The painting desk is not going anywhere without the rest of the room being moved first.

Thanks Cam'. The perfectionism is strong with this one. But I can at least spot when it's time to stop before I start circulating over the same things.

So yes, I had a boo boo.
Was just smoothing over some details with the poly cement I knocked the bottle over while returning the brush/lid to the pot.
It could have been worse. I did have all the marines standing up on their bases.

You can see here they are together:


So what happened?

The bases got the worse of it, but without fine details on they are fine.
Two of the marines were out of shot and were untouched.
One had his arms and gun laid out already glued in position; the underside of the arms were melted. That is mostly hidden against his body.
One has his left heel and lower leg melted. That will become battle damage.
But worst of all, three of their backpacks (which were laid out and not attached) were mostly cleaned of all details.

Therefore, a day later after calming down, I set about ways to replace the backpacks.
The squad leader has just had a straight replacement from my stock of SM parts. I'll worry about replacing that lost backpack at a later date.

I've rotated his gun arm up as the stock pose just looked odd. Otherwise he's unchanged.

This shows the state of the the three backpacks and #2 with a cast of one of the untouched backpacks.
I nearly showed the mould and state of the cast before removing mould lines, but it's a bit too close to re-casting and would likely be removed (well, it is recasting, but I am doing it as a replacement not to create extra).
You may also see his melted leg that will become battle damaged.

Strangely enough, he's more balanced with the putty backpack...

Number 3 is where things get interesting.
Originally he was an exact copy of #2 (there are 2 pairs of SMs in this squad, I have to have them unique). So I swapped his legs with #5.
This involved sawing the back of the body from the legs and the belt from the front of the body.
The belt was glued on to the legs and the bodies were glued together and had a piece of plasticard glued to their base; this was shaped to fit into the new legs.
The gaps were then filled in with putty after the accident.
I also decided to give this chap a head swap for a beakie, which needed the neck lengthening to allow him to use the helmet. More on this later...

His replacement backpack is made from a combination of the top of the least melted backpack at the bottom of an old SM backpack

A sprinkle of uniqueness.

#4 is stock and is here for reference as a comparison to #5 below.


And the other half of the leg swap, #5

He's also had his arms raised so that at least one of the squad is aiming for a shot.
Also a head swap. He has a helmet to be placed on his base, to be damaged.

So what's all this about the beakie?
The plan is, for this squad, to paint them up as separate chapters. Brought together as a quick response squad, staying true to their origins.
I believe it's in a book, where they keep their armour colours and have a grey square over their chapter markings...?

The question is, for those of you still reading, what chapters do each of the above look like?
In their posing etc.
Or just suggest what chapter you'd like one of them to be.

The squad leader is likely to be Ultramarines, they are the best after all
#2 with all the battle damage, some chapter that likes to get stuck in?
#3 chapter that likes beakies? And maybe something to do with old tech, due to his backpack.
#4 Up for grabs, I've got nothing special here.
#5 More aggressive. Likely to keep going after having his helmet damaged...

Thought appreciated.

A happy accident, then, in the end
#1
#2 Iron Fists. Weathered yellow should be fun.
#3 Raven Guard.
#4 Rainbow warriors. Do it. Or Mentor Legion, but done properly, with an Owl
#5 Salamanders. Rock the dark skin tones.

Just my 2 imperial credits

Llama tell you , there's nothing wrong with eating https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

The workshop looks fantastic mate, it is the clutter that makes it, make people change there basing to fit your terrain

No idea on the Chapter per se, but the melted bits could be nicely explained as tyranid damage, a "facehugger" on the helmet or something.

Thanks Graven'. I can't say I'm happy with the accident, I'd have rather chosen to vary the backpacks then have 3 melted ones.
All good options.

Thanks Big'.

Big H wrote:...make people change there basing to fit your terrain

Or they could pay me to change it for them, I'm fine with that.

No idea on the Chapter per se, but the melted bits could be nicely explained as tyranid damage, a "facehugger" on the helmet or something.

Ta. I am considering themed basing for them, so a dead 'nid is a possibility.

Forklift has been primed and basecoated.

Going to be two-tone in theme. Mainly because the top half (or at least the arm) has to be white and I don't want to paint the whole thing white.
Why does the top have to be white?
You can see part of the arm through the cab's windows and there's no way to paint that side of the white plastic. Showing my lack of planning ahead... sometimes you just have to build...

Still looking for input on what chapters these Intercessors should be.

Beak guy raven, leader ultra, messed up guy blood angel, messed up guy white scar, salamander last.

Love them fork lift colors. Glad it kept the painting station down.

White and Green for the Intercessors - This guy just shouts Buzz Lightyear at me...

Sorry about the spill Doc though if anyone can put them back together my money is on you.

Thanks Comrade. There's some agreement between you and Graven'. Anyone else with opinions on what chapters seem to fit the individual Intercessors?

Thanks Ruglud. There's a couple of chapters... or at least one that's white and green?
Most SMs are a set of wings away from Buzz. Might be a bit of a tough sell to the usual marine buying crowd though. Although my mixed squad might be a step too far anyway...

Thanks York'. I can put them together again, no prob'. I'm just peeved at the loss of time and glue.

While contemplating the basing of the Intercessors (that may be informed by their possible chapter choices, of which opinions are welcome), the forklift continues:

Many layers later, we have yellow:


Now I just need to match that in "white" for the top half... *sigh*

Nice yellow! will you be adding danger stripes as well? Oh, and is there a reason the interior couldn' thave a different colour than the exterior?

Caution stripes on the legs are needed.

Good luck on your white.

Good lord, Dr. H, I've missed a lot on this thread whilst I've been away. That forklift is incredible - I was about to ask where you'd bought the kit (as I really want one), only to find two pages back that you've scratchbuilt the damn thing. Really, really impressive detail work - hadn't even considered that it wasn't a kit.

Need to delve back further now and see what else is in here!


p.s. can I please ask your recipe for the aged wood effect on your recent painted pallets? I'm working on something similar, and it's something I'd love to replicate

CommissarKhaine wrote:Nice yellow! will you be adding danger stripes as well? Oh, and is there a reason the interior couldn' thave a different colour than the exterior?

Oh yeah, there'll be hazard stripes all over the place, I have plans for 2 flavours at least (yellow/black and red/white), as well as different piston colours for top and bottom.

You mean, in reference to why I'm painting the top half white? That's not to do with the interior colour of the cab (that is dark grey), it's to do with the bit of arm that is visible through the windows of the cab; you can (just barely) see plain white plastic and I couldn't live with myself it the colour of the arm didn't match that bit.

I should have left the arm separate, but forgot while having problems with the hinge and glued it on.

cormadepanda wrote:Caution stripes on the legs are needed.

Good luck on your white.

There will be stripes. It's construction equipment after all. Ta.

Scarper wrote:Good lord, Dr. H, I've missed a lot on this thread whilst I've been away. That forklift is incredible - I was about to ask where you'd bought the kit (as I really want one), only to find two pages back that you've scratchbuilt the damn thing. Really, really impressive detail work - hadn't even considered that it wasn't a kit.

Thanks Scarper, that's the highest of praise.
Well, you have 3 options for a forklift like this: Buy this one when it's finished, Pay me to build one for you, or follow along with my wip and build your own.*

*you only need some plasticard, various plastic tubes and a couple of square plastic tubes for the bulk of the build.

Need to delve back further now and see what else is in here!

There are helpful links to all finished projects in the OP. You just have to scroll backwards to see the wip.

p.s. can I please ask your recipe for the aged wood effect on your recent painted pallets? I'm working on something similar, and it's something I'd love to replicate

My wood method is covered in my Sprue hut tutorial, complete with varieties of wood, many photos, and translations from my paints to GW paints.
That can be found here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/545398.page#5935106
About half way down that first post.

I tend to choose the quantities of each colour by eye, and will occasionally use a slightly different paint for the base, mid or highlight to give variation to different pieces of wood.
It's mostly dry-brushing from a black layer to mid-brown, light brown to cream then white.

You mean, in reference to why I'm painting the top half white? That's not to do with the interior colour of the cab (that is dark grey), it's to do with the bit of arm that is visible through the windows of the cab; you can (just barely) see plain white plastic and I couldn't live with myself it the colour of the arm didn't match that bit.

Oh, ok, missed that bit. Wouldn't it be possible to slide a piece of paper or thin cartd next to the window so as not to mess it up and then basecoat the crane arm?

Doc, you could paint enough of it yellow, using fat stripes, or manufacturer name, etc.

Being the Klutz that I am, I've knocked my liquid glue over often enough to lose the lines on my cutting board and to melt my keyboard together, big blobs of blue tack are my solution.

Mentors Legion is green & white, as graven says.
Howling Griffons, Crimson Fists and Raptors are some of my favourite schemes. Blood Ravens like "acquiring" old tech.

Hate painting yellow yet? It looks good so far, quite utilitarian, if yellow can ever be called that.

I have a quick question, what do you recommend using to make a tarpaulin, like you have used on your pallets?

CK. That would be fine for the sides of the arm next to the windows. But I'm talking about the side of the arm that is flat against the window; there's no getting to it (without breaking the model apart).

Thanks Red'. There will be a manufacturer or hire company name somewhere on it.

Ta OMN. Yeah, I've got a huge section of my new cutting mat that no longer has any markings on it. And yes, I've added blue tack to my bottle too.

Good thoughts on the chapters.

I have no major problem with painting yellow. It's a matter of layers, and I tend to use many layers for any colour I paint, so it's no different.

OneManNoodles wrote:...I have a quick question, what do you recommend using to make a tarpaulin, like you have used on your pallets?

Normally, I'd just use tissue and have not thought about possible alternatives. However, for these I found a sheet of material in my box of "useful potential fabric pieces" and gave it a shot.
I don't know where it came from, exactly. I believe it was some packaging for something. It feels like fabric, seems to behave like cotton, doesn't really appear to have a structure to the fabric though, it pulls apart fairly easily so is not woven cloth, maybe pressed... Can't really say more about what it is.

I'd say, you can use whatever you want for tarp's. Soak it in PVA/water as you lay it on and the main trick is to get it laying right. If it has creases in the "right" places and appears to be affected by gravity, then it'll look "real".
Hopefully, that helps in some way.

While I layer on the paint for the white sections of the forklift, I've made some progress on the Intercessor's bases:
Starting with the usual mud n' rocks, they've all got one piece of flavour terrain.
A couple of them just have skulls; Mr Ultramarine I'm the best squad leader, and Mr Raven beakie.
Melted leg guy (with the replacement backpack), has part of a dead 'nid (made from a cast of a Hormagaunt body, a Termagant arm, and a genestealer's head.. with the acid maw...) and I've added his leg damage with a dremel. Blood angels are particularly linked to the 'nids aren't they?!
Vanilla guy got a chaos bit (from my chopped up Helbrute), so that may inform his chapter choice: what chapter really dislikes chaos?
And the helmet-less chap now has a damaged helmet on his base.

The bases will get a layer of grass and won't just be plain mud. This'll be not quite entirely war-torn battlefield look.
These will be painted then the grass added and the chaps glued on.

Still looking for thoughts on which chapter should each chap be, based on their poses (and now basing).

Happy chocolate day to you all for tomorrow.

Afraid I am no help with the chapters. However will say, all looking good. Nice basing. Forklift is awesome.

The forklift looks like it’s going to be forking great.......sorry couldn’t help myself :(

Blood angels almost got kille dof by a Tyranid fleet, so they do have some history

If the forklift arm is flat against the window, no can do.

Thanks Cam'.

Thanks Joe'.

Thanks CK. Yeah, I thought I'd read something about the Blood Angels being attacked.

CommissarKhaine wrote:...If the forklift arm is flat against the window, no can do.

Yeah, photos below to show what I should have shown before to make it easy.

As to the intercessors chapters, I think the decision has been made.
I had a look over the various suggestions to see what personalities fit and the colours of the squad as a whole... this led to a revelation which means less than exciting schemes, but a coherent squad concept.

Starting with the squad leader, he was always going to be an Ultramarine since that thought struck me.

#2, with the dead 'nid and battle damage; Is a good argument for Blood angels.

#3, the beakie; Seems to fit the Raven guard well.

#4 was open until the end...

and #5, Mr aggressive; didn't get a better suggestion than Salamanders.

And so we come back to #4, and many suggestions. However, many of the suggestions had to be discounted as their chapter colours matched one of the others already chosen; Blue, Red, Black, and Green... (can you spot what's missing?).
Some of the other suggestions were more complex schemes, which when standing next to the above 4 would also look out of place; they are all plain, single colours...
Therefore I took a look at the chapter poster and noticed a link between the above chapters that didn't match any of the other suggestions... They are all, top row, first founding chapters. Can't throw in a random child chapter into the mix...

And what's left after all that ... first founding, single colour, and fits the Blue, Red, Black and Green... The Yellow of the Imperial Fists. (Had he been another beakie, I'd have gone White scars).

There you have it, the most boring, obvious choices, arrived at by the longest, most complicated route. That sums up so much of my life in a way...

They are now glued to their painting sticks and will get primed tomorrow ready to move over to the painting desk...


...Where the Forklift is progressing.
Mostly white, still need to do the black-lining (which may not actually be with black) and highlights (if they actually show up).
You can also see some angles to show how close the arm is to the side of the cab, and views through the cab (I thought I'd done a better job of keeping those windows clean than I apparently have) with arrows to show the arm.

Should also get on with the pallets too, they've been part-done for a while.

Nice work all around Doc!

I'm studying how you apply 'grime' to a working vehicle without burying it in dirt. Sometimes I want to do 'the subtle', but to get away with it you have to have a good, tight structure underneath. Some of my stuff requires a bunch of trim to hid the sins of the father.

Love the painting stick trick- hadn't seen that before and will give it a try on the _next_ set of figures I do (the Raging Heroes are already mounted on their bases).

More lessons please!

Excellent. Are you thinking deep rust brown is the new black for the lining?

Thanks M'Cat.
I do tend towards subtle grime rather than covered in mud for my models. I'll try to remember to talk through my process when I get to the weathering.
Yeah, the first step is to paint up a "clean" surface. It's not easy to plan exactly where the weathering will go, and it's just easier to paint the whole thing rather than try and "miss" some areas: I'm a "paint on the paint chips" kind of person, rather than use salt/hairspray or chipping fluid. Nothing wrong with those techniques, I've tried the hairspray technique before (without salt lumps), but it wasn't particularly successful. Dave (dsteingass) did a good tutorial for this technique recently. And if you're looking into painting on your paint chips, I'd look at the tutorial done by bebopdrums2424; lots of good advice for making them look 3D.

But for subtle grime, stick around and I'll try to show how I go about it.

Meer_Cat wrote:... Some of my stuff requires a bunch of trim to hid the sins of the father.

I'm pretty sure that most of us hide more sins than you realise. I know I do.
For example, the extensions I added to the forklift's kneecaps are there to prevent you seeing down into the lower leg and noticing that the cables don't go all the way down.
There's also quite a few not-quite-straight bits on this forklift. These will be highlighted with weathering, rather than hidden; if you can't fix it or hide it, make it a feature.

...Love the painting stick trick...

I've seen a few people use a similar technique for groups. Theophony has done it on a large scale with lengths of wood wrapped in tape for huge sections of armies, never mind squads.
I don't always use a painting stick, and when I do it's often just for the basic paint work and they'll end up on their bases for the little details.
It's more useful for bulk priming, zenithal highlighting and basecoating type work.
The purpose is to give you a way to hold the mini' without touching it. If nothing hangs off the base then being glued to the base is not much of a problem (although it can get in the way of some painting angles).
An alternative is using these painting handle things; they clamp on to the base (typically) of a mini' and give you a more comfortable way to hold it. But they only hold one at a time... a stick can hold many.

Use a dot of superglue on one foot to stick them to the stick. They are then just snapped off once you've finished with it.

Camkierhi wrote:Excellent. Are you thinking deep rust brown is the new black for the lining?

Thanks Cam'. Not for the lining (see below), but there will be some rusty areas like that later as part of weathering.

I went for a dark blue for the black-lining to give the white that really clean, whiter than white look. To contrast with the yellow.
Once the weathering is on some areas will look less blue.

You'll also notice that I've coated the pistons with white in preparation for their final colour; bright blue for the upper and bright red for the lower.

The highlighting does show on the white... if you look closely...
It does work IRL, I don't know how well it'll come across in photos.


Now to finish off the metal bits and then the various other things (lights etc) and then signs/symbols etc. before the weathering can begin.

And the Intercessors have their bases done up to the "pre-grass" stage.
Although the 'nid and the tentacle will get some goo added.
And the discarded helmet of Mr. Salamander will be painted as he is.
And I need to remember the brass shells on Mr. Raven's base...

Leviathan appeared to be the hive fleet in question for the Blood Angels woes, so that's what I went for.

The actual Intercessors have had their recesses darkened, next to do is the proper basecoating (well except for Mr Raven who is black... obviously).

Onwards.

Bases are looking great Doc.