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@LDD - That was very helpful indeed sir, thanks very much! I will give it a go on this guy!

@rustproof - Pretty? lol! perhaps we shouldn't say that when he is in the room, he might feel emasculated

@San - Aren't they just gorgeous, they have inspired me so much, the plain white and black has always put me off, but the background is my absolute favourite, I will give your idea a good go, annoyingly I havn't got any glaze medium, will have to make do with water for the time being

@Gits -

@Valhalla - Creepy is what we aim for! thanks!

@STC - Full tribute goes to your awesome painting guide!

@ Dr H - Why thank you, I must admit it took an absolute age, but the result is quite nice and subtle, quite pleased!

@Baiyuan - Phew! Glad I managed to make the cut! Feel like I've made it to the next round of some weird reality TV programme, every week Baiyuan will unsubscribe from 2 plogs, who will stay, who will go!


So thanks for all the alpha support guys, unfortunately being the hobby butterfly that I am I have started a Black templar, I wanted him to look as OTT as the artwork, which I love! This is my first real attempt at a greenstuff cloak so go easy on me!

Also as for paint, I was thinking black armour, a dirty bone white (like in the spoiler in my last post) and maybe purple as a spot colour? I want to be a bit different from the usual red, do we think it will work?







And I have FINALLY learnt not to stick everything together to make it easier to paint:

@Baiyuan - I love it!

@lipsdapips - Aren't they just awesome, I for one am really quite impressed, (less so with the price, but hey!)

@Gits - Ah they are actually really easy, just copper wire inside the plastic casing of a paperclip with a bit of green stuff on the edges.

@rustproof - Lol thanks rust!

@San - I think I may have gone overboard on the purple, its less of a spot colour, more of a major percentage of the model!

@comrade - Thanks comrade, the sepia idea was indeed vair useful.

@Sageheart -

@Archmagos- Amadeus - Thanks man, I know what you mean about the hood, do you prefer this bare head??




So then guys here is my Black Templar that I painted up for Nerdfest's painting competition on faces, I am reasonably pleased, the zenithal black is nowhere near as good as I would like, but It will do! The transfer going down the side of the cape is also a bit rough, will have to buy some microsol on San's advice. Overall though it looks as grim and gothic-y as I was intending, the cherub with the sore looking chest implants and the sepia white skulls were my personal favourites!

Which head do you guys prefer?









Or with this head:




Ignore the bit of fluff on the hood, damn stuff!!!

@Gits - Gits, you are far too kind, I think the next thing I do you should go out of your way to find a minor flaw, really nitpick!

@Valhalla - Bare

@Moltar - Agreed, probably better for competition's sake! and thanks, its because it was a bigger surface than purity seals, you can actually get some letter definition in!

@Livanbard - Yup, agreed, might have worked if it had been different colours, but as it is its too much beige!

@Baiyuan - Baldy it is!

@San - The recipe is actually no different from when I made one for my valhallans however many pages ago, (I will find the link for you!) I'm glad you commented on the gold actually, normally I just wash it down and leave it, but this time I went ahead and did all the fiddly steps like highlight up to bright silver and glaze with different colours to give depth, a trim on the cloak is a good idea, I will have a think, see If I have the patience! Edit: The face tutorial was on page 14 San: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/390/417230.page

@Comrade - Not a big hood person? I and everyone else seems to agree.

@Lipsdapips - Nah its really not that good, most of it is the moody lighting And ooh, a vote for the hood, you are shaking things up!

@Reaper - Long time no see Reaper!! good to see you again! Thanks for the comments, I was thinking maybe taking the alpha legion advice and doing a bone coloured helmet if I do another? The crests are actually plasticard and GS, well, the first one was, then I made a mould and cast them, even so they are a nightmare to attach properly!

@LDD - Agreed, I think I rolled it out too thick for the hood, as you say, too heavy.

@Paradigm - Ah you say that, but now that it has been rejected it may just sit, bluetac-ed to my painting light for a few months!

@Ruglud - Pah I really don't even compare to those guys, I honestly don't know how they do some of the stuff they do, NMM for starters!

@Iron-encore - menacing does sound like something a BT would be...

@GiraffeX - Another bald vote, good, that is decided then!


So wow! thanks for all the comments guys! And the Bald head has won by an absolute avalanche! Except for the few quiet dissenting voices in the background (lipsdapips!) So I have now stuck down the bald head.

So having done this Black Templar I was feeling a bit nostalgic, so I had a root around through my old collection of models from before I posted on Dakka, and I thought if you wouldn't mind that I would share a few of the more interesting bits! The only ones I will actually put on the Dakka gallery are these salamanders, the rest are nothing special really!

So here we have some salamanders I did just before I joined Dakka, they were an attempt to be as absolutely well painted as I could manage at the time, and looking back the freehand on the shoulders is probably better than I could do now! The only thing I dont like about them is the overly bright green and the cartoon style paint chipping, but anywho:







So then I delved even further into the box and found my old black templars:



Then finally and at the bottom of the box I found my skaven!

@nerd - Thanks Nerd, yeah sometimes its nice to to look back and think, yeah I have improved! The issue there is you then want to go back and repaint everything all over again!

@Gits - That's more like it Gits...well, almost! I was actually thinking about making a mantis warrior at some point, I never realised they had such cool background!

@LDD - I really have not! These were a few select bits of the very best stuff I did before I came on dakka, just for you I will dig out one of my less impressive attempts, if they were a wine, well...a better description would be vinegar they are so bad! Not that I have anything against vinegar!

@Panda - Thanks, always cool to reflect sometimes.


So about to start my PhD on the 1st so am cramming in a last little bit of painting before all my free time evaporates, just a few more dolosians for you:



My Sniper finished:





And also the sentinel from ages ago! I covered it in stowage to make it look more like a scout, am fairly pleased, what do you all think?







And I left the weapons off so I can change them if it turns out plasma cannons on sentinels are rubbish, (I personally just like the look the most!) I only painted the flamer as an alternative so far, might do the auto cannon too.

@bebop - Thanks man, means alot coming from a painter as accomplished as you!

@Valhalla - Lol they are really alot easier than you'd think!

@Moltar - Thanks Moltar, I really agree about the randomly floating backpack, it bugs me too, but I couldn't think of a good way to suspend it.

@San - Thanks San, you really really should, I can imagine you would come up with something incredible.

@Gits - Pah, you are more than a good enough champion, your mantis warriors are beautiful

@Comrade -

@LDD - haha the close combat guy is indeed something of a mentalist, the sniper does has a pattern but its become a bit too subtle and faded.

@Warboss - Sorry for the slow reply, its actually the skull head from the vampire counts fantasy caine wraight kit.

@Valhalla - Lol it could indeed!



So I have been having more marine fun this weekend, namely an iron hand, I have got really caught up in their fluff, they are awesome!

Before paint:


After paint: Any tips on how to improve the black armour would be much appreciated, I have tried to go for a realistic weathered look, but I can't decide if it has worked perfectly?

@Gits - Thanks Gits, your being too damn nice again though! Remember what we talked about!!

@San - Thanks man, as far as the black/silver and bright gren as a spot colour goes i'm fairly pleased with the result, but the black itself is still bugging me, its such a nightmare to paint well! The model itself is actually mostly a finecast techmarine with added bits from the new sternguard kit with a small amount of greenstuff, you can see it fairly well in the first picture, nothing special! I wonder if you could help me with my question below San, you seemed to know what was what when it came to black armour when I asked in your thread.


So whilst I was fairly happy with this Iron hand it was not really the look I had intended, it was just the direction it took because it was what felt comfortable, what I was aiming for, and was going to use as a guide was this picture:

Does anyone have ANY idea how I could imitate this kind of look, or is it only possible due to the fact that its a digital image? The black in particular is interesting because it looks metallic, do you think mixing a dark silver into the black would give a good look, or would it just turn into an iron warrior?

@Gits - sigh! If I ever get round to getting an airbrush you will be able to criticise me as i learn how to work the thing, your airbrushed green is a thing of beauty!

@Vit - You live Vit! Hooray! I think I am going to agree with you there, both you and San have suggested that and I will be giving it a go, you sir need to update your PandM blog, I need more!


So been thinking about how to copy the picture I put up in my last post, I have decided that I would probably need to use a NMM technique to paint the black to get it to look shiny but not properly metallic.....now this is a terrifying idea, especially as i am getting psyched to buy a heresy era IH army (the new FW stuff is exquisite!!) Anyone know if Black NMM works? Or does it jsut look like steel? Its almost the same thing.

@Dr H - Thanks Dr H! You have some really good ideas there, I think I will really challenge myself and go for the nmm effect (well, try!) But thanks for the thoughts!

@San - I had that problem for a while too, seemed to sort itself out after a while fortunately! Unfortunately I fear the NMM looks like it may be the way to go, I think that picture looks really promising, and 9.2?? agreed they are very harsh critics over there! And haha oh it would, but that would be too easy San, we have to make it absolutely impossible for some reason, I havn't even tried NMM before!

@Gits - I had alook and your right, perhaps something like that with a bit more blending might work well!

@nerd - Whats annoying is I actually thought that would be a quick fix, but when I came to try it it just looks like a very very dark silver, frustrating!

@bebop - Now the make up applicator is a brilliant idea! Do you have any examples of when you have used this technique? It sounds great, but also a bit too good to be true! especially as I don't have an airbrush, sounds like the perfect alternative. Your recipe sounds really good actually, I will have a bit of an experiment!

@Theophony - ...I agree.

@

 STC_LogisEngine wrote:
I'll just leave this one here, don't know the artist but I guess it is just the sourcematerial you need J-P.




Enjoy tearing your hair.

STC I actually hate you! why oh why would this exist without an in depth tutorial!!!! I will reward several internet cookies to anyone who can work out who did this!

Ty bebop I will! especially as this other method takes 16 hours just to do the black per figure!

Moltar - You sir are a gem! thank you!



SO then just in case anyone else is interested in how this astounding black was done, well we need not worry, apparently it's very EASY! This is what the guy said: (He is from Poland, but compared to my Polish its pretty impressive!)

'Painting black colour was kind of easy. I was looking on miniature and start imagine where the colour schould schine. Next I mark this point with mix of adeptus battlegray ( 50:50 ) an chaos black. next made a smaller mark witch pure adeptus, and next with adeptus and a little bit scull white and than i did it again, and again with more white paint until i decided it looks good enough. And it took me some time because I was trying to make this very smooth.'

To summarise he just uses pure skill! And about 16 hours for the black on one figure! If I ever was going to do a squad for Golden demon I might consider this, as it is, life is too short!

So I have tracked down another amazing example of black by the damned artificier, who's black looks like this:



And he has a tutorial on how to do it, so even though it is a bit more blue in hue, I think it will still look pretty good, still time intensive, but hey, hopefully not as bad! The only thing is he has used an airbrush for this technique, do we think a mere paintbrush will have the same effect or will it look too chalky? I guess I could always try and apply the colours with bebops make up brush idea, I will buy some paints then experiment when I get some free time.

 the damned artificer wrote:
As promised a while back here's a tutorial on how I painted the black on Abaddon.


Note that this is for a simulated high reflective black, and not everyone likes this particular look for black

I used VMA 71.005 intermediate blue, VMA 71.075 sand, VMC 70.950 black and Secret weapon washes W002 heavy body black.

1. Basecoat model VMC black.

2. First highlights are airbrushed on with Intermediate grey, making sure to focus on the area where the light would pool.

3. Next hightlight is 1/5 VMC sand to VMC intermediate blue. Again focus on where the light would pool, and make sure to leave part of the previous highlight.

4. Next highlight is roughly 2/5 VMC sand to VMC intermediate blue. By this stage you'll start to think "what am I doing, this doesn't look black at all..." Which is why step 5 is needed

5.To re-define the black I use the wash from secret weapon which leaves a slightly shiny surface, which is really great, any black wash with some gloss varnish added should suffice though. Now you blend back the highlights to define them and make some contrast.

6. This is the final stage and also the detail stage of the model. Using a brush touch up any areas that needs to be a bit darker with the black wash, also use it to blackline all the rivets and panel lines. Then using a 1/1 mix of VMC sand to VMC intermediate blue highlight all the edges. If you prefer add a further highlight of 2/1 VMC sand to VMC intermediate blue to make the edges of the "light pools" stand out a bit more.
Add all other details like the red, gold and steel detail in this case. (the model isn't complete as I didn't have the time atm.)

Hope this is useful to some of you guys

Here you are Gits, this is doubly useful as now I have it easily accessible on my thread too! Hope he doesn't mind me copying it like this So here is a link to the page as well:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/513627.page

@STC - as I said on your thread, your PIP is simply stunning! All grumblings are withdrawn, please share your method?

@Giraffe - You are too modest, those pics you sent were awesome!

@Comrade - Your a harsh taskmaster comrade! That will take a lonnnnnnnnnnng tim, but you may well be right!

@San - Tell me about it, researching these different methods of apinting blacks has really flagged up my inadequacies more than anything!

@Ephrael - Now that is another very interesting idea sir, I would love examples of both the metallic black and the rub n buss if you have them? Would be really interesting to see what sort of results they give! Thanks for your thoughts btw.

@nerd - Agreed, in fact the forge world masterclass book advocates that rub and buff stuff for gold if I remember right, you might remember, you have read it more thoroughly recently!

@Ephrael - Sir that is a stunning link, thanks for bringing that to my attention, and still looking forwards to hearing more about these rub and buff things!


Right guys so no update for a while because the PhD has really started in earnest now, every evening I have come back exhausted and wanting to do nothing buy lounge around, so you'll have to excuse me if progresss is shakey and intermittent from here on in, but I will try my hardest!


So some of you may well remember my crows that I did a while ago? For those that don't here is a pic:



Now I always really liked these but for whatever reason never got round to making any more, so I thought I would fix that! Now I like my dolosian paint scheme so I initially thought I would stick with that, but I have also played around with grey armour as it gives definition, but I really cant decide which I prefer, I need help Dakka! GREY or BLACK or another colour armour altogether? If you need you can zoom in the gallery.

BLACK:



or GREY?

@Thanks Vik, yeah these were overdue a return tbh, they are cool! And oh thats an idea, do you like any of these?

@Moltar - Thanks Moltar, I know what you mean about the black, it works better on almost every level except the head shape becomes a bit of a shadow whereas ideally i want it to stand out, any of these better?

@Dr H - Ah i'm doing microbial biosynthesis, so lots of mucking about with bacteria and getting more and more annoyed when they don't behave! That link is hilarious btw, I have stumbled across them before, they are sheer genius. And ooh, a vote for the grey, you rebel! everyone I have spoken to so far has said black, and oh wow that buffing stuff really is quite dramatic, I will have to get some and play around a bit, seems cool!

So just spent a few mins on paint messing around to see if there is anything I particularly like, for me the purple and gold (bottom right) are really sticking out for me out of these, as well as the standard black, do you think the gold or a brassy gold would be ott?

@Moltar - lol I know what you mean about the overly bright colours, did seem a bit forced, hopefully this is a bit less brutally trying to inject character but still gives a bit more of a striking appearance

@Onemannoodles - This is very true, the damage is immensly easier on black, thanks for the input sir!

@Dr H - I would tend to agree with you, I'm actually trying to do nice controllable reactions but the bacterial context is the equivalent of throwing ten thousand spanners in the works! Its interesting you went for the grey, and I agree the bright colours were too much, hopefully this is a good compromise

@Sheep - As ever Sheep your posts are incredibly insightful and always encourage me to look at things in a slightly different way, I am currently thinking they will be in the same army but a different regiment, so I think following your logic the green greatcoats make sense, and the bone helmets are unique to this regiment, so can be justified pretty easily, I did actually try the bronze, but for whatever reason it didn't grab me as much as i expected.

@Comrade - (Y)

@San - You have to be difficult don't you San! And I'm not sure if this is what you meant with your last comment, but if it was then its very spooky because I decided on this final scheme independently, great minds hey!



So as I unfortunately warned you guys the PhD has been sucking my time from me like some sort of evil sponge, but I have finally managed to get a bit of time this weekend to do something for me, and I have decided that you were all right, black armour is the way forwards, BUT the head needed to be accented slightly so I have decided on this, and I am actually pretty happy with it! By the way I hope you all like the pose etc, as I only had one DKOK body left it took me a while to settle on it, but I think it looks pretty badass! If I ever get anymore time my next plan is to do a whole squad.

Although I havn't had any time I have had a small amount of money spare so I have gone and blown some on a valkyrie, which I'm insanely keen to start painting, I have wanted one for years now! I am planning on having the pilots using the same heads as these latest crows guys, an avian theme for a flier is pretty appropriate me thinks!

Also I have been very intrigued by the latest inquisition ecodex thing, i may well end up getting it, just because its EXACTLY the sort of customisable/small project I love to do, will start planning!

Anyway, enough rambling, here is the finished prototype for the new 'crow' regiment which will be fighting alongside the Dolosians:

@Moltar - Thanks yeah the neutral colour was definitely what I was missing

@Paradigm - (Y)

@Dr H - Thanks H!

@Gits - Cheers Gits

@San - Me too! Just unfortunate that it seems it will be a while away yet

@Yggdrasil - That is what we aim for!

@comrade - cheers panda

@sageheart - Once the last of the eldar die off I will make good use of their armouries!

@bebop - Wow, these really are going down well, thanks for the encouragement!

So I feel very inadequate with the amount of praise you guys have given me that I have so little to offer you in return. I have decided that I will do a whole platoon of these guys, and to tie them to the dolosians, the troopers will have bone crests, the sarges will have red crests ans the platoon commander will have a purple crest, and on which note I will leave him here, you will have to forgive the slow progress, hopefully christmas will bring a reprieve and a large painting window!

@Paradigm - cooler? definitely not! just a bit different-y!

@San - Lol how do I do it? lol its mostly due to me seeming to be unable to use any other colours! i keep going, ooh this would look nice in blue...yet sure enough in about a week it appears in the same green and bone and brown =p And the bare headed idea is a great one and something I had thought about too, the short answer is yes definitely! The idea of a vox with his helmet on floor is genius, I will be shamelessly stealing that!

@Gits - thats really weird gits, that's just what i was aiming for, I wanted troops that might be able to do high level missions for inquisitors etc, but who were effectively still just guardsmen, just ....dignified!

@comrade - why thank you

@nerd - you have brought down the tone of this whole thread, get back to your own depraved corner of the interweb!

@Lamby - Thanks, yeah i was struggling to get the helms looking like enough of a feature, when in doubt just paint it brighter than everything else! Thanks very much for dropping in btw!


So then guys an update is well overdue, but i'm afraid I actually have very little to offer you! But i will pad out my meagre finished oferrings with some WIPs, something this thread really has lacked so far! so stay tuned for half-formed ideas and basecoats galore!

So my only real finished offering is this chimera which some of you will remember i used as an example for the tarp tutorial a while ago, well before I moved on I wanted to get it finished otherwise I never would, the end result is OK, but im not overjoyed, it suffers because it didnt have the attention the large battle tank had lavished upon it: Also I need a new matt varnish, the bottom of this can seems to be a bit glossy and the glare totally masks alot of the weathering effects, anyway:







Now onto the WIP padding for this post! Now my little hobby mind has been wandering lately....as long time visitors will know it is wont to do, and I have found myself drawn in by the inquisitor28/inquisimunda crowd, whose creativity and customisation skills are beyond comprehension! For those who have not seen any such blogs I will gladly direct you. But i digress, I was then tempted to start my own little inquisitorial band, and chose the ordo xenos, because i feel they are the least loved by GW, and decided that a borderline renegade inquisitor with close ties to the eldar, particularly the harlequins would be awesome, because the warband could have all sorts of cool alien models I don't normal get to think about from a model perspective, being a loyal member of the imperium.

So far a hobbyknife and blu-tack has got me to this embryonic stage of WIP, so please note that EVERYTHING is liable to change, but I am currently quite sold on the harlequin mask and claw/digital weapon combination, but any other thoughts, ideas would be very welcome. let the creative juices flow.......(I said creative juices nerdfest....)





Now whilst making this inquisitor I came to the conclusion that if he is friends with harlequins it would really be a crime to not make any, and just to make it difficult, i intend to kitbash them:

[/spoiler]


Not content with this, my imagination then decided i would need a whole small force of eldar allies, so I also did this to one of the rangers that came with my inquisitor body:




And then to top off a fortnight of ADD hobbying I started on this: Please note this is still PIP!

Lol no I wish, its a cute little thing I found, made by these guys, here is a link to their newsandrumours thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/441038.page

@Whalemusic - not personally, but i may be tempted at some point in the distant future! they are damn cute!

@Bepob - alas as with allthe things I do, i only wish I had the time.,#

@Giraffe - Thanks man ! yeah i'm excited to see if it meets the picture I have in my head

@Sheep - As per usual Sheep your perceptive comments are most welcome and reflect exactly my current worries! I agree that unfrotunately the eldar rangers are going to need a different design if they are going to be remotely involved with the guard, back to the drawing board!

@San - Sorry San, this reply might have been interesting a month ago but seems a bit like picking up a dead conversation so I am sorry, but as far as I know Inquisitor 28 is used to refer to a variety of things, either small games of 40k using just an inquisitor and his retinue or using the proper inquisitor rules but just using 28mm models instead, I'm mostly just using it as a modeling excuse for the time being and will also be trying to stick to the restrictions ni the recent inquisitor codex, just to keep it usable if possible!

@ghost - Thanks!

@Paradigm - Yay! thanks, i thought it would be a relatively unexplored avenue in terms of modelling, might be fun!

nerd - Oh nerdy nerdy nerdy...what will we do with you!



So I have failed to do barely anythign since my last update guys....i apologise, i really do, but my enthusiasm has dried up with the onset of illness, the stress of christmas and being away from the bulk of my modelling stuff, but hopefully i will be able to get a little bit done in this limbo period before the hideous work recommences...sigh.....

First thnigs first though, i got the single coolest 40k related present ever from my sister this christmas, CHECK IT OUT!!!: If anyone is really interewsted i'll try and get some more pics when the lighting is a bit better




As for the modelling side, this is just a flying visit so i'll drop my current WIPS here, with no explanation, (I know, i'm terrible!) and flee, I will return later, but for now I'm going to make the most of a brief hobby window!

Hahah! of course whale you deserve an explanation really, well the mauled guy is a WIP statue, as either an objective marker or something similar, I'm messing around with GWs new cracking paint to get a cracked stone effect that I will then repaint in grey (Y) Hopefully will look quite cool!

The middle two women are my WIP eldar harlequins, I wanted them to be seriously dynamic! and the new witch elves look like just the base kit to make that happen! the one with the hair flowing behind her though I'm a bit unsure about, it somehow completely changes the look of the model.

As for the ranger conversion, that is my WIP ordo xenos inquisitor who is buddies with the harlequins, I still havn't finished the green stuff on her yet, but id say the basic structure is all there now, just needs detailing, pretty pleased so far!

@giraffe - Thanks giraffe, the second harlequin is proving a bit more difficult to look dynamic enough, its a bit of an annoying pose with the arm above the head. We will see, i may have to bend her arm a bit,

@STC - Its not much yet!

@Yggdrasil - I was/am, but its quickly becoming my nemesis, I forgot why i gave up on my last harelquin project, i LOVE the concept to bits but I struggle to put that in miniature from that I am happy with, in both a modeeling perspective and painting, the bright colours make it far too easy to make it look goofy, and the checks make it the most time consuming thing ever!

@Paradigm - Thanks paradigm, your the only one who picked up on the picture, tommorrow I will take some better pictures for you, its an oil painting on canvas, hopefully will be a bit clearer with better pics! As for the stone, it is literally just the new paint, really cool stuff!

@Gits - The GS is actually not as good as i thought, having undercoated it! can still see where it ends, and i thought I had been soooooo careful damn it!

@Nerd - You can indeed you living saint! I was struggling to make it look like my inquisitor wasn't wearing a dress, when i spied your little bag of elysian goodies and i thought.....ah yes! Nerd has done it again! talking of which, your overly generous commissar came through this week! I am truly incredibly grateful, and as such i will lop of his head asap and put him to good use

Nothing new today guys, feeling rather ill, and have spent the majority of the last two days copying this fellow: I put down some block colour on the first harlequin but tbh i'm pretty unhappy with the results, but i'll put them up for you tomorrow.

lol! It is not the most fitting end for a honoured hero of the imperium, but he will be reincarnated, unless i get distracted.....which is not impossible.

Nerd - lol! exactly!

Well as promised for paradigm i took a few more snaps of my picture which i'd like to share, think they do it alot more justice.

The whole thing, any gallery votes please go here:



And a few more close ups of a few of the best elements:







Now I have no picture of the harlequin i promised, but i have finished up the imperial statue, i for one am really really impressed with the results of the new cracking paint, what do you all think? (also tried to do a clever all in one image, only took me half an hour, damn technology! ) Sorry, the second to the left is a bit out of focus on reflection,..but what the hell!



Finally a tiny bit more work on the inquisitor, getting really excited about this one, is fitting the picture in my head pretty well so far!

@Paradigm - They really are worth it, pick them up!

@Yggdrasil - Thanks A bit of moss always helps stuff look old.

@San - The Pic was actually all painted/designed by my sister, (jesus, you asked about that 3 months back, apologies blackadder!)

@Physh - It is a little large for most stuff, but they have some smaller stuff too, its good if your after cheap and cheerful, but it doesn't match GW for wuality of clean-ness imo.



Oh wow, has it really been 3 months since I last posted here, well I did warn you all this damn phd stuff was going to devour my time, but now I am a bit more settled I'm hoping to strike up a bit more of a healthy balance!

So I must say that what with work and real life in general I have been generally unable to get much into much hobbying lately, but myself and Bubble attended the forge world open day and I have to say it was fantastic, really boosted my enthusiasm for all things 40...and 30K.

As if that wasn't enough the new guard codex has also invigorated me to pick up my brush and sculpty stick and dive in.

So there isn't a great deal to show at the moment but I have ordered the new scions and have made a mock up of what I want to do with them, my obsession with tinkering means i couldn't possibly use them as they are, even though they are fantastic, but here is my current plan for them, you'll have to excuse the odd colour filter I choose in a dreamy state



Now I (wierdly for me) have not lost enthusiasm for my previous obsession, my inquisitor who is slowly but surely getting paint slapped all over her, here is her current state:


Now I figures seeing as how as she is from the ordo Xenos she could have some really exotic companions, (one of the main reasons i wanted to make her in the first place) And inspired by the insects and syther from pokemon, remember him?! I came up with this guy, who I have to say kinda freaks me out!




He's bloody massive!!





Which leads me on to the thunderbolt pilot above who is still PIP, but I was really happy to pick up, as I really wanted the model ever since I first saw it.


Now other than that I have a few more guard (I refuse to call them astra militarum....I feel like a child, but I'm still bitter) PIPs: A few more crows and a vostroyan who i thought looked really cool:






Also I briefly got inspired to make guard with roman velites style wolf headdresses, but i cant work out how to make the back look less goofy so I have give up for now:



Finally as I said I went to the forge world open day, and even though I was sooooo restrained I still came away with an iron hands mug and some thallax guys......Tbh this is originally a mechanicum thread so it's only fair!

Now I have no problem with the normal heads btw, but i don't actually seem to be able to stop myself changing stuff! at least it's only the head!



Incidently I had no idea these guys were so frigging huge!!!




Now finally finally, I wanted to mention that I have finally relented and bought an airbrush! I'm absolutely terrified of it though, can't wait to try it! Hoping to give it a go over my 4 whole days off for easter!!!





.....And finally finally finally I totally forgot at the time to put up a picture of my trophy from nerdfest's painting comp, so here it is, in all it's glory, it now sits in pride of place on my modelling shelf, thank you Nerd!!!

@Darth Bob - Hahah! exactly! I should probably make a servo skull coloured like a pokeball....or maybe the world is not ready for such a thing!

@Paradigm - Really psyched you like the inquisitor paradigm, its really a labour of love! probably spent more time converting her than any other mini in this plog!

@San- The airbrush and I probably need to get properly used to each other before I utterly drenchsomething in paint by acciddent =p I might start on some paper.

@Nerd - Hahah the floodgates are truely open Nerd, need to read up on some of my subscribed plogs too, which includes yours, massively behind in the world of hobby!

@Brotherofbone - The black templars?! dear lord I wish they were mine, they were my inspiration for what I would do if I was a painting god! I only have the one recent black templar I did for nerdfests comp and its not in the same league as that crazy guy!

@STC, Elnibbus, Hoe Jarris, Warboss_Waazag - Thanks guys! The enthusiasm really is sending my desire to get back to painting into overdrive!



So being at work and all no pictures, but I am planning to get paint on syther/xenos guy tonight, I'm thinking green has to feature prominently, but you guys have any other ideas for painting him??

I entirely do! I think that sounds like a fantastic idea, blending in patches of brown or orange might make it look quite interesting! I'll give it a go.

STC I have only just flicked through, but judging by the last picture that has already got waaayyyy out of hand! I am subscribed! I will comment properly when i get a chance to read through properly. p.s. your inquisitor is simply stunning.

@STC - That is anything but a trifle!!! and lol if you did that to a reaver....i would have no words it would be so cool.

@ Brother of bone - Yours are awesome too, just had a peak! I love your Lord Executioner conversion!

Anyway guys so true to my word I have managed to slap some paint on my syther alien thing, its nto as neat as I would like because I was working to a time limit, something I rarely ever do, so it was mostly washes, but the over-all look is not far off what I had in mind, what do you think?

Also paradigm I was going with autumn leaves colours until the purple somehow jumped on my brush and ruined it! I'm sure there must be purple leaves somewhere

Picture dump!

@Darth bob - Thanks man, it was really hard making it not just look like an oddball tyranid.

@Bebop - Coming from you sir, that is fantastic praise, and also hahah! i wont be able to look at it the same way again now!

@ Gits - Lol! i thought i might get someone by putting it first =p apologies!

@Paradigm - Its really not all that special, just washing for the most part.

@brother of bone - tell me about it, i find that roughening up the surface of the resin to be glued tends to help a great deal, just small superficial cuts into the surface, strengthens the bond without going full on pinning.

@Valhalla and Bossfearless - Bossfearless said it far better than I could have, I always imagine having aliens working for you as an inquisitor is a bit more of a grey area, if you have a daemon its undeniably evil whereas if you happened to encounter a race of star wars ewoks for example you'd be hard pressed to claim they would destroy the imperium of man....plus aliens can be used for all sorts of useful things as fearless says, scouting, translators etc.

@stoleyourwatch, hk1x1, Two spartan, Moltar - Thanks guys! Cheering always makes runners run faster, can only hope it's the same for painting.



So guys as I roughly illustrated on the last page the new scions are pretty damn cool and I have had a play around, now despite it being an insanely expensive conversion per trooper (I'll try not to think of it like that) I really love this look. My only reservation so far is the gun, i want to swap the gun barrel for a catachan style one, if anyone has an abundance of spare catachan lasguns give me a shout and I will be happy to sort out a swap or payment of some kind!




What is annoying me is that despite the DKOK legs being smaller they dont look ridiculously out of proportion on this guy, but with the already obsenely oversized flamer it looks kinda goofy:


Anyway, I think I will crack on anyway, the heads are time consuming but maybe once I get into a routine it will be easier




Lastly I had a quick play around with the airbrush last night, DEAR LORD it is the best thing ever!!!!! I stripped the hellhound from earlier in this blog to test on, and I got to this stage after like 4 minutes, really really impressed. I admit I am not even using it properly yet, more as a way to lay down undercoats quickly, but I can already see the potential is amazing!

@Gits- Hahah, exactly.

@Gian - Thanks!

@Brother of bone - I would strongly recommend it, only been using it a day and it's already made my life so much easier! I bought this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200600974912?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Which is a really good value (from what I know of these things) set for beginners, obviously if you have a bit more money to splash out a better compressor might be a good idea, especially if your going to use it alot!

Anyway guys I put some paint on my first scion, whilst I am happy with the scheme I am immensely annoyed once again by GW's purity seal, which has totally failed to give a matt finish. If anyone has a good reliable matt varnish they use which doesn't change paint tones too much please let me know, I'm sick of either this or the weird white foggy effect I seem to get with purity seal, even when used as recommended,

Until I get some new matt varnish here is a (slight shiny) couple of pics.

@Elnibbus - Cheers man, although they aren't terrible as is!

@Chemical cutthroat - Lol! well spotted, i was waiting for a catachan style lasgun barrel but got too impatient so painted it without when it turns up i'll add it on

@Valhalla - No problem, im not sure it even has been asked tbh, originally I just drybrushed on earth colours but I found it a bit chalky, more recently i use a mix of three earthy weathering powders and just brush them on gently dry then brush off the excess, insanely simple, just need to varnish or something after to make it stay.

@ Sheep - Thanks for the advice Sheep, I think if it works good for you its more than good enough for the rest of us mere mortals! I will try and pick some up soon. As for the legs, they are odd, they do look fine, but they are still a teeny bit too small and from a few angels they look a bit off, its been bugging me since I finished that first guy.

@Gits / Sageheart - Too kind.

@Nerdfest - Hahahah you smooth talker Nerd, we all know this is a mild walk in the park compared to the size of the projects you take on!



So guys I have had an urge to do more vehicle stuff lately what with the blessing that is my airbrush, so I thought I would have a play around with an old tank, see if I could get anything to work, at first it was a bit hit and miss and I think I will need to strip this:




But it made excellent practice for my real project, my valkyrieeee! Now I don't really have enough WIP stuff, so here, lets go on a painting adventure together, it may end horribly, my airbrush still isn't used to me yet.

So first of all I had a play around with just getting some nice green highlights using the airbrush, I have to say this was amazingly fun and easy:




Then I went a bit crazy:




After spraying white, I took off my impromptu blue tack mask:





This afternoon I have started chipping it, next will be oil washes and generally dirtying it up!