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Cheers guys! Rofl@ the legendary thread pic!

@Fetterkey: Well, I kitted them out quite a bit as I intend to use them to transfer the elite models. And they're not quite finished yet. There are lots of details that still need attention, like some small skulls, the bullet impacts etc etc. The intention is to have them quite dirty and battle-worn. i didn't want them to be too clean & polished. Any suggestions for alternative weathering techniques are always welcome.

The first tactical squad almost is complete. I'd say it's at roughly 90% finished. I just need to apply some more decals but I'll have to make & print those first. I thought to cook up some righteous mumbo-jumbo for the on the larger pigments and I need some black blood drops for the right shoulder pad as I decided to make them from the 5th company. I'll freehand some stuff on the smaller purity seals and such. And they need some basing done as well.
For the rest I think they turned out quite nicely. I didn't want to go too elaborate on them, both in terms of colours and painting technique. The idea is to have them at a decent table-top quality. The size of the pictures does tend to show the drybrushing a bit harsher than it actually is.
Oh, and I think I'll use some black oil paint to outline the details and panels.

I made some progress on the sarge of the Dev squad, I went with a grey/khaki robe. I wanted to avoid the standard cream coloured ones. Whaddayathink?

I think it came out ok but somehow I'm contemplating to give it some washes and glazes to give more depth.

And in the mean time, I thought it was time to get ahead (badum-tsh!) and start painting the devastator heads. Right now they're looking a bit spacewolfish but I intend to give them quite a few glazes/washed with thinned blues & blacks to give them a good full dark blue tint. I want them really dark so the blue doesn't clash too hard with the red. (I still want to slap the guys who came up with the blue helmets in the first place)
The guy with the masking tape collar is the unlucky fellow who got his head glued into place before I realised it had to be a Devastator. The tape will make my life a lot easier when applying the glazes and inks.

And as a last pic, meet the crew for the Land speeder Squadron that's in the pipeline. One Land Speeder is the first plastic type, sitting in a red base coat since a decade, and then I've got two of the latest kits; one already full magnetized for all weapon options and undercoated, and one is almost assembled but still needs to be magnetized.




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I did some more work on the helmets this afternoon. I drybrushed the helmets with some pure Skull White and then I gave the devastators three washes/glazes with blue ink, with a little bit of black and thinned by some water, about 2:1. The yellow ones received a white drybrush as well and then two washes with sepia ink, with a little bit of devlan mud, and water.

The camera does show the drybrush in a rather harsh fashion, but then it's also some ridiculously close close-ups of a tiny bit. The effect does look a lot softer on the model and the blue appears much deeper as well. When the lighting conditions are a bit better I'll take some more pics. It's a bit too sunny atm for good model photgraphy.

All the details have been basecoated, ready for inking. Maybe tomorrow or so.
I'm continuing the 'minimal' palette as with the Tac. Squad. Just some metallics and a few detail colours. After the inking's done, I'll gently drybrush the black as well as the details. Then I just have to apply the decals, paint in the tiny details, such as lenzes. And finally I'll outline the details with thinned black oil paint. The end is in sight! (for this squad).

C&c welcome as always,

Nice raider mine is also blood angels but i made my own scheme.

Cool, feel free to share a pic I'm always eager to see other Blood Angels.

Love the way those dev's are coming along Meph. Nice work.

high quality work. Your assembly line style of production with the corks and such is a great idea.

Cheers guys! Yeah, the corks are very handy. For the next Dev Squad I'm going even one step further and paint the backpacks separately as well.
While it may seem a hassle to set them up, it makes it so much easier during the actual painting process. Less miniature juggling and brush-twirling to get in the little black details and highlights. It's such a stress- and time saver.
Everyone hates that tiny black line or spot that went astray and defiles a finished, basecoated, drybrushed, inked, and glazed colour...

And a good excuse to drink more wine of course.

Hmmm, I'm wondering what colour to paint the lenzes on the Dev helmets... Red, green, or yellow. Personally I'm leaning towards a light green perhaps. What do you guys think?



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Bazingah!



And here for some zoomtastic orgasmatronic extravanganza.

Sweet Raider I gotta invest in a spray gun Btw check out my BT crusader on:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/357296.page

Keep the BA going they look really epic Love the heads

Cheers mate.
Cool, that's a nice tank you've got there as well. The cross looks great on the LR. Lovely, lovely

Thanks How you going to base your men?

LOL, haven't really cooked up a concrete plan for that. Last time I've based a mini was so long ago that just sticking on sand and painting it green was still considered to be hot.

So I've got some sand... and I did make an effort and bought a basing kit with some resin bits and pieces. I think I'll keep it simple; some sand, some resin, a tuff of static grass.
I'm not sure about the colours for it though. I don't want to go too bright, but not too bland either... Any suggestiosn or examples are more than welcome.

I'v gone dusty desert with my BT with a scrap look i'll post some pics or start a blog

Very nice, very smooth colours. do you use an airbrush much?

The tac and dev srgts are just amazing.

and the yellow is definitely the right colour for the dev eyes

This is some great work! I need to get me a drill like that.

Thanks fellas!

@Jonny_Lunchboz: on the vehicles I use the GW spray gun for basecoating. (if treated correctly, a great tool, no matter what anyone says). I've used an airbrush for some subtle shading on the vehicles, and sometimes I use it when using oil paints or weathering powders. I can definitely tell you I'm never basecoating a mini with a brush again....

@djphranq: Aye, that hand drill is one handy tool.

Beautiful work! Yet again!

Really cool style on these guys, very gritty, in a good way.
The giant mold line on the kneeling devastator is a killer, but as it appears to be a fluke, I'll let you slide.

Yeah, there are a few mold lines here and there. They got overlooked in the cross-eyed haze of cutting, cleaning, and assembling some 40 marines and a few vehicles :S

It's a big no-no on a presentation piece to be sure, but these are just meant to be a table-top army. Of course I want to give them a good look but I'm not too fussy for about the odd line or missed spot here and there. It's already taken me little over a year to get this much painted up...

And then a mate of mine went and made it worse... (The same guy who's Space Wolves is in this post as well) He got me a Stormraven for my birthday with the explicit request to convert it as he's well aware of my disdain for the awefully unbalanced look of the standard GW model. I seriously detest that ugly turret on top, that out-of-place intake behind it, and the ridiculous front-heaviness of the front vs back end.

That being said, I do like the look of the main cockpit, the front thrusters and the engine/wing assembly. I've been looking at as much self-made and converted Stormravens as possible ever since the rules appeared in the BA Codex. And actually quite recently I've found the best conversion I've seen so far.

It's the one from 1hadhq (he made two actually). After asking about it, he was kind enough to provide me with two links to his beauties.
Painted: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-6838-16466_Stormraven%20-%20Slightly%20Altered..html
Unpainted: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-6838-15713_Storm%20Raven.html

I absolutely love his engine/wing setup, the way he elongated the main compartment, and the canards in front. I'm not going to copy his design 100%, but I'm going to use a similar layout. I ordered some extra bits of off Ebay and once they arrive, the project begins. My plan is to have higher tail rudders (Sukhoi Su-35s ftw!) and I'll elongate the rear hull section using a pair of double side pieces I ordered to cut up. I'll also add some Defiler legs as Dreadnought grapple.
I'm also thinking about the placement of the turret. I intend to use a FW Razorback turret for it but I'm not too happy with the placement on top, with the Stormraven being a gunship and all. During construction I'll see if I can pull it off to locate the very top hull section (inc. cockpit) somewhat more forward so it sticks out above the front loading ramp. If I then can place the FW turret upside down under the 'beak' of the forward cockpit, and it doesn't unbalance the look too much, I think I'll go for it. It will give it a nice attack chopper look I hope. Whaddayathink?

Have you seen the Chapterhouse kits for them? They look quite nice (should have mine soon, I'll get pics up when I do)

Oh, didn't know they did Stormraven kits as well now. I'll have a looksee immediately

Don't think they are on the site yet, but can be seen here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/510/347567.page
and ordered by emailing Nick.

Wow... That's actually almost the exact look I had envisioned for the elongated hull... :O
The site mentions the kit in their news page but it's not in the shop yet.

Aaaand, mail sent. ^^

Sub'd. You're doing a great job Meph, and I can't wait to see what's next. Keep up the great work!

If they are sold out let me know, I can send one of mine until they become available again. I ordered 4 kits but only have need of 2 in the here and now.

Cheers, Cypher!

whalemusic360, wow, that's mighty, mighty generous of you :-O
I'll definitely wait for the Chapterhouse reply and see how it goes.

Yarr, just got a reply back from Chapterhouse, presales have ended since a few weeks and it'll be a while before it ends up in the stores as they first are going to catch up with the back orders... :(