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Straight off the bat, let it be known I'm something of a compulsive collector. I collect even when I know full well It will probably be ages before I get around to painting it... like the LRC a friend gave me nearly two years ago... I think I've put the metal guns together at least...

Anyway, I like to think that I've improved, a little from my first foray into painting years ago (a older white dwarf model that now seems to take up the mantle of dwarven champion), and then recently... about two years ago I guess my first disastrous attempt at painting a squad of initiates... I'll have to strip and repaint those guys one day, but for now they shall be known as squad slapdash, so eager for battle that they slap on a coat of paint and go running off to shoot at things in the name of the emperor... Some work in progress stuff here, but for now, here's what I've got photos of.



Above we can bask in the horror that is the first squad I ever painted... the paint wasn't thinned, and results in the above effect. That's why they're squad slapdash. They'll get stripped and repainted one day... one day...



Second squad. I'm rather happy with these fellows. They need to be based and have their shoulder pad decals applied (I'm awful at free hand so far), but otherwise, I like them. They were an experiment in a painting method for my templar army in an attempt to mix things up. It's basically Adeptus Battlegrey with multiple coats of black wash over the top. I probably could afford to do a few more coats, but for now, they can be my Almost Black Templars.



Here's third squad in all their uncompleted glory. As well as the black reach sergeant now modified and the black reach captain, missing his backpack. Of all the squads I've painted (so... uh... two), I'm really pleased with how these guys are coming out. At the very least, they don't make me want to gouge out my eyes... not yet anyway.



Here's some power sword wieldin' marines, going from really badly painted (Brother Shiny) on the left, to badly painted, to, passable but may cause your gag reflex to go off involuntarily. The space marine commander on the far right needs to have his eyes redone, although I'm really pleased with the gold effect I ended up with.



Here are a few Assault Marines and Assault Terminators, accompanied by a pair of squishy gardsmen. I've worked on them since taking this photo, well, the marines at least, the IG, not so much.



This is an early shot of some of the guys from squad two, in a picture I like to call "The perils of shaving in the 41st Millenium". Looking at the pic, it's almost as if the captain there helped a little too much with the shaving... The goal with the three on the left was two fold, experiment with painted bases, and try out a different method of doing white tabards other than me struggling to paint them and attempt to crash course myself in blending. Basically it was spray undercoat of white, wash with black (badab black...), and then drybrush white over the top. It... didn't come out quite as planned, but otherwise, it does break it up from being a flat white at least.



Here's a terminator Chaplain. He's a cheery fellow, grinning all the way. We call him Gary... I'm happiest with this model compared to the others I've done. First "character" I've spent some actual time on and focused on him alone rather than jumping from model to model as the fancy takes me. I've since painted a few of the "jewels" on that model... which I noticed I'd missed AFTER I had dullcote'd it... good stuff me.



For reasons that escape me, when I first painted this, I did the top of the chassis by hand, and not with a tank brush. After that I decided that large flat bits can be better serviced by spray cans. I'll get around to finishing off the BT doors on it, but that could be some time away.



Here's one of three vindicators with a Landspeeder Tornado (I always get the variants mixed up, so for now, we'll call him Land Speeder Shooty). The Vindicator needs a lot more work and maybe a little white to break up its profile a bit, and the landspeeder needs some markings, and probably some weathering to make it look like its been used. So far, it just looks, extremely dulled I guess. Not going to work on the base for quite some time though...



Here's a shot of the bits under the table... the box on the right isn't for bits though, it's the Xbox's coffin, so pretend it's not there.

I'll take photos of whatever I happen to be working on as I get to them, but I can't guarantee masterful work... in fact, I'd suggest bracing yourself.

In the qeue of things to work on, we have: 3rd squad arms/heads/backpacks, fourth squad, a devastator squad (with 5 tactical marines to fill out the heavy weapons sprues), Helbrechts retinue (Dark Angel Vets), third land speeder, Terminators with assault cannon, Jump Chaplain, 2 vindicators, Land Raider Crusader, Games Day Captain (not sure if I'll make him a BT yet) with Thunder hammer (I assume), 18 odd IG troops, IG Heavy Weapon team, IG Sentinel, a few Assault Terminators, a Baneblade, a Forgeworld Valkyrie, various models for use as sword brethren (including sword brethren figures), and a command rhino (rhino with the FW bits... kinda regret that purchase but oh well). I need to resist buying stuff... I really do...

"it's the Xbox's coffin"
What happened to the Xbox
Great job on the BT. My BT will be in a tourny tommorow. I like the way you painted them.

Good stuff!

kharndude wrote:"it's the Xbox's coffin"
What happened to the Xbox
Great job on the BT. My BT will be in a tourny tommorow. I like the way you painted them.

That was for one of the times my 360 Red ringed... well... third time it did. I'm onto number four right now.

In relation to my painting, I've got to take a better photo of Brother Notagen, a poor attempt (I say so anyway) at showing a Dread with a old Space Hulk marine inside it. My painting of him, he looks suitably necrotic, but the bits I tried to green stuff around him, coupled with the cabling from old wires I threaded in around him, I bit off a bit more than I could chew. Once I get the chance, I'll take a photo of him in natural light, and we can all bask in my mistake of using "semi-gloss" varnish. Their (as in, Testors) gloss varnish must turn things into mirrors... I'll take some shots of the various Termies I have sitting about too, most of whom are completed, as well as one that had a quick slap job of altering the angle of his arm in an effort to make it look like he was yelling out a challenge... I think he's missing his head at the moment though, I'll have to dig him out of a bits box to be sure.

Figure I'll just edit this post with photos rather than chucking another one on the end.


These Terminators were painted before the latest squad, but they're not quite finished, with the left most guy missing his head, and basing. I don't think I'll paint the basing sand on these guys, as I'm not overly comfortable with the result I got with the third Initiate Squad, but I'll see. The left most guy is meant to be shouting a challenge, which made sense to me with how his arm is splayed out like that. I modified the shield arm slightly to give it that sort of look as well, but I'm not entirely sure I succeeded, but we'll see with the final product.


Close up shot of the middle guy. If you pop into the gallery, you'll notice the lovely layer of dust that's slowly building up on these guys. The joys of living near the coast... My paint coverage isn't perfect here, and needs a recoat/strip and clean with repaint, but as I'm aiming mostly for table top quality, the up-close stuff isn't that irksome for me. I do need to dull their helmets a bit though, they're currently just a little TOO white. And yes, I know, mould lines, I'll be going back over those eventually, as I'm not happy with how they've turned out.


Dread with the Orc Boy that came with a WD. I painted up the Orc boy as an experiment, and now I guess my BT have someone to beat up on. The dread is a bit odd, the cannon arm seems to stick out far more than it should, and no amount of sanding on my part has solved it, so I guess I need to sand more... I want his weapon to be swappable with a assault cannon for those occasions where I feel I'll be facing lots of infantry more than tanks. You can barely see the entombed brother within the dread in this shot...


Here's a "better" shot of the dude inside the dread. I think if I ever revisit this concept, I'll get a zombie or something and use that, or damage the features a bit more. The green stuff was initially aimed to be there as a sort of buffer, and then I realised it would be visible, so I'd need to do something with it. The green bit is a poor attempt at a sort of diagnostic screen for when the techmarines need to take a peek inside. I really did bite off more than I could chew with this mini-project.


Annd another shot of the dread, this one slightly more visible. Not sure how it'll turn up on other monitors (maybe a litle too bright), but you get an inkling of what I mean by his being too shiny. I may have to remove the pilot of the speeder so I can paint him, not sure what possessed me to stick him in before painting but oh well. The tape is there as I was originally aiming to do the wing tips in white, but haven't gotten around to it as yet. Any suggestions for the cockpit controls in terms of scheme? I did green for the screens/dials last time and reds/greens for the buttons. it's hard to get a decent shot though of that. The detail is mostly obscured, but I'm one of those that's of the mind "if the detail is there it's there to be painted"... I bring it on myself I guess.

Critics, suggestions and the like are welcome. Always learnin' after all.

tisk tisk tisk ! i see mold lines on those thunder hammers ! :O haha don't worry i used to do it, and still do if i forget !

theyre looking nice, perhaps a wash may do taht white some good, maybe black. nice choice of marines black templars have always been a favourite of mine

Personally I think you're being a little hard on yourself, good vindi though!

I like your templars, crisp and clean IMHO!

Thanks for the compliments guys, it makes me feel better about my paint job. Still slowly working on my figs, and recently spent far too much time on a Veteran Sergeant model. He's maintained pretty much everything he would have had, save that instead of a storm bolter he now only has a bolt pistol... oh and a ruddy great big Power fist. I've yet to base him and plan on using a spare helmet if I can locate any in my pile of bits on the ground with a bit of battle damage to explain why he took the thing off. Also been trying to remove the worse of the paint/glue that's caked onto an old metal model given to me... I have the holes in my thumb to prove it too.

I'll try and upload some shots soon, but hoping to start on my LRC at some point too. I bought the FW extra armour for it (reinforced style), and am planning to use the grenade launcher from the scout bike (maybe one each side) to represent the forward frag launchers as my current solutions for replacing the LRC frag launchers has them sitting far too high for my tastes. I'll work something out... eventually. For now, here's a shot of my workspace... may do a few other shots, picked up a 50mm prime for my camera for general tinkering and it handles light better than my other lenses, but we'll see.

Latest additions, a veteran sergeant model with a weapon swap (he originally had a storm bolter), and a normal trooper with a power axe (because I've had this axe sitting in my bits box primed since almost forever, and I figured it was time to use it). If you want a biggerised image, it's in the gallery. Now to finish building the rest of the troopers squad... you can see part of the flamer wielding guy on the right there...

I know what you mean, apparently I'm a collection addict as well and I build, build, build, then eventually paint.

You have done an excellent job, well done.

interesting use of Epic LR / Rhino

Mik