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Looking very good. That dread needs his multimelta drilled out though.

Thanks for the compliments, everyone!

Growing up I made and painted model rockets and your regular models like Navy ships, cars, and my favorite was probably a helicopter modeled after AirWolf.

Obviously, I'm dating myself there, but, more recently, and what I attribute having half a clue with painting these models with, I watched a lot of the video tutorials on youtube. Particularly the ones from the guy named after a certain star wars' creature's anatomy. Watching those is basically what flipped a switch and made me think, "yeah, I can do that."

As for the Dread's Melta, I agree, I think it'd look really good, and I do have a pin vice at the ready, but I need to work up my courage for an operation like that. Brother Murphy is my favorite model that I've done so far. I'll have to do some work on some test subjects first.

It can be hard to get a perfect circle. I had to pin vice it, then use a very sharp knife to carve it up. It's a lot of effort...

"Mother, tell your children, 'Never do what I have done.'"

Ok, that's overly dramatic, but I'm posting this epic fail for all to see. If you thought I knew what I was doing.. Nope.


Some of you may have seen this coming, but I figured out why the createx paint was so different on the plastic than it was on the foam.

It's because it didn't adhere to the plastic at all! So I get my recently coated Ork Nobz back to my work area, all ready to start painting them for real, and as I'm handling them I'm thinking 'This paint's quite delicate.' Then I smudge my finger over part of the model and it comes right off. Not a little smudge on my finger, but the paint comes right off, all of it. So I grab a paper towel and wipe it over the model and this is the result:





Yeah, that's not how it's done. Not at all. So let this be a lesson to all, don't use createx paint on your plastic models. It's a waste of time. It doesn't work. The only positive was it was really easy to remove.


Anyway, I go back to try again and with a 1:1 mixture of GW chaos black and windex I repaint these bad boyz and, wow, what a difference. The coat is awesome, one pass, all good, and it dries super quickly as you would expect from GW paint.





That's how it's done.

I ordered some vallejo air earlier, so I'll be able to do a comparison when it shows up next week sometime, but the createx is getting shelved until I have some more foam to paint.

So, yeah, another lesson learned!

If you are feeling adventurous...

Wal-Mart has a flat black spray paint for 99 cents a can. I have found that it works pretty well (except on foam!) you might try it on one model to test it out.

If it works well for you than you can save quite a bit not having to buy GW spray paint.

Ah, perhaps I should have clarified some more. I actually didn't go and buy a can of GW's spraypaint. I used the chaos black from the pot I was already using to paint normally with.

After being mixed with windex at a 1:1 to ratio and put into a little container to keep it airtight, it doubles the volume, and, after having figured out I don't need to go full blast on the airbrush to get good coverage, it hardly used up any of the thinned paint mixture to paint all five Nobz. I imagine what I have left will last a good bit, certainly the rest of my AoBR set and then some. I'm not sure exactly what volume I used since there's no markers on my little container, but I'd guesstimate I put in 3-4 ml before I added windex to dilute it for the airbrush.

Ive always used Krylon Flat Black, also at places like walmart.

While its a little more expensive than walmart brand (2 or 3 bucks or so.... maybe less) I trust it a bit more than the bargain bin stuffs.
I have never ever had a problem with it and its all I prime my armies with nowadays.


Hope that helps, and keep up the good work!

EDITS: Oops. didnt see yer post there. (takes too long typing)

Id almost say definitely use a spray paint to prime. they bond tighter to the plastic and you get a considerably flatter coat. Not to mention its far more durable to scratches and stuff.
(I think it has some part to do with it being somewhat solvent based.... I dunno I failed chemistry twice >< )

I do have some flat black primer spray as backup. It's some generic stuff that I picked up from the local auto parts store. From what I've read primer is really good if you're doing metal models, but for now I think I've got a good setup. We'll see how these nobz turn out!

primer is essential for metal models! (at least it is for me)
The regular paint doesnt stick well at ALL to metal, but a good coat of primer makes all the difference.

Good luck on your nobz!

Even though I'm not finished, I figured it's time for an update!


Still trukkin' along with my Nobz from the AoBR set. They're almost there, but I need to give them the final bits of detail (ie. more than just a coat of green on their heads).




They're also way too clean looking for Orks, look at those spotless shoes, so I need to dirty them up with a wash. Also, I'm not sure I like the brass look of some of the metal pieces I did, as it makes them look a bit steampunk, but, overall, I'm not really complaining. Also did some work on the barrels and ammo boxes from the battlefield accessories set.

You also may be wondering, "Hey, what's that cool looking background?" That would be my new zuzzy battle mat! It finally showed up last week! I ordered it about two months ago in the beginning of August. The original plan was to try and get my Ork Boyz finished before it showed up, but I beat that goal by a mile. It was still worth the wait though. I haven't even painted it yet and I can already say it's awesome.

I've also been collecting terrain pieces over the last two months or so to throw on it. I think it's something like 25% of the board is suppose to be covered with terrain? So I threw it all together, unassembled and unpainted, and it still looks really nice. I haven't played a battle on it yet, but the goal is to finish up the AoBR set and then have at it.

I'll throw up some of my favorite pics of it here, but I've got a few more in the gallery to look at as well:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-30943-11206_Zuzzy%20Battle%20Mat.html





"We're not on Macragge anymore, Frodo"




The second pic there is my favorite shot of the bunch. It really looks like a moonscape with everything being grey combined with the harsh lighting.





That's the best shot of the entire mat where you can see the whole layout. There's no figures on it to give any scale, but that's the entire 4'x6' mat, mostly in frame.









There's no lack of detail here, and even in the monotone grey it looks great, as the pictures speak for themselves.


I was about to give up and just go ahead an order a plain jain green mat to throw over the table, but I'm glad I didn't, as I don't think you can really even compare the two. If this doesn't motivate me to finish up my AoBR set so I can start battling my friends then I don't think anything will. Only four models to go, if I count my Nobz as 'mostly' done.

The Zuzzy mat is great. I have one also. the one thing you have to watch out for is when you actually do play on it, the dice tend to bounce very well...sometimes off the board. Other than that, the rubber makes the models stick a little better and not fall over so easily. I just need to get some paint on mine as do you. Your Plog is really good, keep it up.

"I see some grey stuff and I want it painted black."

Not a huge update for today, but I actually accomplished some stuff over the weekend.


First off, we have some empty sprues! Yes, a whole AoBR box set full of empty sprues! I know that's not all that impressive to anyone but me, but I'm pretty happy with the milestone. I wish I had a before shot I could compare it to, but oh well.




Next up, I got my woodworking skillz on and assembled a gaming board together. It's basically just a piece of plywood trimmed down to the normal 4'x6' area and framed with 2x3s cut to the appropriate size. It's nice and flat and will be a nice home for the zuzzy mat. No big deal here, but it's another piece of the puzzle in place.




Operation 'Paint It Black' commenced approxiately, well, I dunno, some point Saturday night, but I was able to get a good chunk of basecoating in.




I got my last couple of models from the AoBR box set (The Deffkoptas and WarBoss) and the first bits of terrain I wanted to get started on basecoated and are ready to go.








Thought I would have been able to knock it out in no time at all, but ran into some fun with the airbrush. Managed to clog it up for the first time after a good 45 minutes or so of painting and had to totally disassemble it and clean the needle and nozzle and all that. Also had to mix another batch of paint up. I got lucky the first time I mixed it up and just stumbled on a good ratio. I tried to recreate it doing the same thing, but had too much windex and the result was a bit runny and didn't cover the models evenly, and then I overdid it the other way and the paint kept clogging up the airbrush.

You can see where I got my zuzzy mini-mat basecoated. With all the texturing it's near impossible to get every nook and cranny even with the airbrush, but it looks good. Also made my first attempts at drybrushing some layers on top of the black. It seems odd painting something that's grey black, and then going back over the black with grey to do highlights. Anyway, just because you see something that looks easy to do in the pictures and examples doesn't make it so. I guess that's why they call it art, and, considering how long it took me to do this batch of terrain, getting the whole 6'x4' mat done will be a serious project.

So, there we go, another couple steps forward!

This is great stuff dude! And a whole AOBR box painted up by yourself is nothing to be sniffed at! well done.

Save those sprues if you want to scratch make some terrain, they make excellent railings (once trimmed down) or rebar sticking out of a destroyed building wall, or just general debris.

Also the glowy sprue from the blast templates and things can be cut down (with something that is very heavy duty because that plastic is hard and thick... giggity) to make improvised zap guns.

Thanks!

I don't have a bitz box yet, but I should be able to find some place to stash them for the time being.

I may be a bit late on this, but at least for future reference, might I suggest that your bases would actually look better if you only cover part (30-60%) with static grass?

yea... i am always stoked to see that people are going at it out there in the real world. i have a hard time keeping it in my head that there are really other people that have to fight their way through the process of painting and assebling stuff.

Your doin an right good job. you will be able to accumulate a bits box in no time. have fun and keep at it. this forum is a great resource for terrain building too. i am about to post a how too... buiild city fight terrain so when i do... keep your eyes peeled.

Here we go! A post that's been about three months in the making: These are my *mostly* completed models from the Assault on Black Reach set.




I'm not sure what to talk about. It feels good to get to this point. Like I said earlier, it's been about three months since I've started and that doesn't seem all that long ago, and if you would have asked me I would have said it's been longer, but it's still a decent amount of progress. I know they can be improved: mistakes cleaned up, highlights added, and covered with a varnish. I also know these armies aren't legit in that they don't adhere to a FOC or are even close in points, but I assume they're balanced somehow someway, maybe, possibly? Regardless, this will be my starting point in getting some real battles going, as the tac unit vs. ork boyz doesn't really count, but if those are any indication it will be a while before I remember all or even most of the rules.

The next part of my plan is to get my battle mat and terrain pieces ready for action. Here's a shot of what my zuzzy mat may, or may not, look like when I've gone over it with some paint:



After that it will be time to expand the armies and make them into proper battleforces, but, not to worry (not that you are), I'll keep updating, because this is only the end of the beginning! Anyway, hopefully I've inspired someone here or in the future possibly with a "Yeah, I can do that" moment like I had when I started all this. If not, oh well, it's still been fun sharing the updates as I've gone along, and I want to thank everyone for their compliments and criticisms!


Anyway, here's to Assault on Black Reach ...and Beyond!

Great work! Very inspiring.
When you start to expand to army and you wanna save money, write the army list you want first. And Battle Force packages are your friend. Take this from someone who just bought models like this: "Wow, that one is cool" "Damn I need this one too!", now I'm sitting on farm to many unpainted models -.-

Hey everyone!

I haven't updated in a while, but I made some progress over the holidays and new year, and, while I haven't been motivated by updating this thread, after watching the new Ultramarines movie, which subsequently got me reading a lot of Black Library stuff (currently on Fulgrim after having torn through the first four books of the HH series. Horus Rising started off slowly but by maybe half-way through I was hooked.) I'm still pretty motivated to paint. Anyway, I'm still expanding my AoBR armies and I've got my Ultramarines up to a bona fide 745 points with an HQ, 2 Elites, and 2 Troop units for an army that's legit according to the FOC.



I've started working on the Ork side again and have about 40 boyz and some Lootas to do. So far I've only deflashed and basecoated my next batch of ten ork boyz, but you have to start somewhere.

A long way's back I mentioned I ordered some colors from the Vallejo Air range of paints to test out and compare to the other paints I was using at the time. Due to supply issues, it took some time before they arrived and then it was during a lull period where I wasn't starting any new models to test the basecoat out on! That changed when I got to work on the this batch of Ork Boyz and my inital impressions of the Vallejo Air are very positive! I didn't have to pre-mix or dilute anything, just straight from the paint bottle into the airbrush as advertised and, wham, I was in bidness. It's a good solid coat after just a single pass and it adheres to the plastic very well. It's a nice matte finish where it's not too shiny nor looks like the glop from the starter kit I put on my first batch of Boyz way back when.

Considering how long it took to get some of this paint, I'm guessing this isn't news to a lot of you, but, yeah, this is good stuff. I'm so impressed I'm going to look into using some of the Vallejo Game colors for normal brush work as well. The only drawback is I don't believe they're available at my local store.





Also, I busted out some new toys to drill some holes in my dreadnaught's multi-melta. I was really hesitant to do this, thinking for sure I would mess this up and I'd be up a creek with my favorite model, but using these drills it was easy. I first drilled a small starter hole with the spring drill, and it worked perfectly. Unfortunately, the spring drill only holds smaller diameter bits, so I had to use the larger drill to finish the job, but with the starter hole there it was easy work. I need to add some more black paint in there since in the pic I can still see some of the original grey plastic, but you guys were right, this is another one of those little details that make the models look so much better.








Work on my zuzzy mat has also progressed little bit by little bit. So far it looks pretty blotchy and uneven, but I haven't used any washes to dull the colors and make it look more weathered and blended together. Still, it's looking better than when it was entirely grey and then black, and as it progresses it should take on more character. You can definitely see the difference in the mat between these next two pix, so I'll say it's getting there.

(mat w/ just black)


(mat w/ color! w00t)


So, that's about it for this update! As always, I appreciate any comments, critiques, tips, or ideas to try, and I'll probably update again once I get some serious progress on my Orks done and they start looking nice and horde-y.

The battle map looks cool as do your miniatures , can i ask is there any texture to the map or is it just printed ?

Oh yeah, there's lot of texture! You can scroll up and check out the pix I've posted earlier, or check out my zuzzy mat gallery where I posted a bunch of pix after I just received it.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-30943-11206_Zuzzy%20Battle%20Mat.html

Here's probably one of the better pics showing off the texturing, though:

What an absolutely beautiful P+M Blog, thoroughly enjoyed skimming through the stuff on here, keep up the good work!

Wow! Let me dust off some of the cobwebs as it's been some time since I've had an update in here! Doesn't seem all that long ago, really, but there it is.

Anyway, I joined an esclation league back in April and have been pretty diligent in getting an army up to snuff and ready for battle. I didn't document my progress much along the way, so my comments will be quick and dirty but I've got a lot to go over.

Remember when I said I'd update again when I got my ork horde finished. Well I lied. Sorta. I did do some work on some orks. I got another ten shoota boyz finished before I joined the escalation league and went full throttle on my Ultramarines. They've been sitting around quite a while, if you look closely you can see a good coat of dust sitting on them as they've been sitting around for almost six months.



One of my first projects was a set of scouts. I went with them because they're the cheaper of the troops choices, which was quite necessary for the lower points battles. Though overall, they really didn't do much, BS3 snipers is an oxymoron, but they were not totally worthless. I don't think I ever pinned anyone, but I did get some rends in, and of course their main purpose is to hold an objective. Telion was also my first metal model. I'm not too big a fan of metal. I really didn't like it when I first started with Telion here, but since I've gotten more use to them they're not so bad. Just like plastic figures, cept even more so, I dislike prepping metal models, getting rid of 'flash' lines and those metal spikey strands that shoot off and you don't really catch until _after_ you've primed the thing. Flash lines really aren't common, but when they're there, they really are a pain. Telion was also the first and only model I've primed with white. When you miss a spot with white primer underneath, it really sticks out with its stark contrast with the rest of the paint as you can see in the pic. Gameplay wise, Telion's been a bit of a chump for me. Maybe it's because others see him as a threat and want to kill him ASAP, but generally he hasn't done a whole lot.





One of the first additional units I built was a command squad. I was playing against Blood Angels and hated their assault prowess combined with the Feel No Pain ability, so I tried get some in my own army. Oddly enough this is the one unit I have yet to ever field in a battle, but I really like how the Apothecary came out. He's definitely in the top three of my favorites in the army. Also, I loosely based his paint scheme off the Apothecary depicted in the Ultramarines movie, Pythol. Painting him probably took more time than the rest of the command squad combined. I believe I did it the right way, by thinning out the white paint and painting layer upon layer to get the color on the model. Time consuming, but the results speak for themselves. I wish I could have done this for all the other models that had white on them, but I did not have the patience for it.



Somewhere along the line, I had to get some transports for my troops to ride in. If you've read the blog then you know some of the problems I've had with the airbrush, and, man, did painting a color other than black make it even worse. Even using the vallejo air brand of paint I had trouble. I believe part of the problem may be the compressor and its weak power output not doing well but with the thinnest of paints. But, anyway, this could be an entire blog update on its own, but the gist of it is I ended painting two model kits of Rhinos with the airbrush and ended up with only enough parts that looked decent to build one. Considering the cost of the paint and the time I spent cleaning the thing and all the other variables it just was not worth it. I ended up just using Krylon spray paint from the hardware store and haven't regretted it one bit. The models look great, and the color (Oxford Blue for the Krylon, Imperial Blue for the vallejo air) works better for my Ultras I think. Now the finish on the airbrush'd Rhino, looking at it up close, is nicer, but for the hassle it's just not worth it. BTW, the airbrush'd one is on the right.




I needed a unit that was more assault-y, so next up was getting some more Terminators to complement the ones from AoBR. I really like the cyclone missile launcher. It looks cool and it is pretty effective too, but like all good things, expensive.



If more Tactical Terminators are good, then adding some Assault Terminators is even better. These guys turned out alright, but white is so problematic. I didn't use the proper painting method for the white, and it looks blotchy and blah, but they're done. You may notice the Forgeworld shoulder pads. ! They're awesome and add a lot of character to the models. Considering these are my bad , they deserved a little pimpage.





Of course, they needed a Land Raider to cruise around in as the next logical choice, and again I was in the frame of mind to pimp their ride, so I went with the Forgeworld LR door panels. Everyone here has probably heard the horror stories of warped FW resin pieces, and these lived up to the talk. Of the three pieces, one was alright, one was mildly warped, and one was severely warped. I broke out the hair dryer and cooked the warped pieces and, generally, it was pretty easy to get the pieces into shape, but for the cost that shouldn't have even been an issue, IMO. End result was worth it though as it looks really nice.




One of my original mixed up ideas, was to put some Honor Guard into the extra space leftover in the Land Raider, but as you know, and I found out, you can't put multiple units into most vehicles. So that's where the idea for a second Land Raider came from, as I was really big on the assault vehicle idea, not to mention it's just an awesome model.





Everyone online seems to dislike Honor Guard. They're too expensive blah blah and all that. I didn't care, as I thought they looked awesome, and they've done very well for me so far. They've taken down an entire squad of nine Terminators in one go and have killed Lysander twice and pretty much everything they've charged out of the Land Raider has died. If I want to get super-competitive maybe they'll have to go, but for annihilation type games and casual play they are a great unit. Did I mention they look awesome?



Here's my new favorite model. The big boy himself, Marneus Calgar. Not much to say about him really. He's awesome. He's an Ultramarine. He's the Lord of Macragge. Did I mention he's awesome? Yeah, it's getting late as I write this up, but anyway.. In my case, he's been more a vehicle killer than anything, but he has taken down Vulkan. There's obviously better HQs out there, but he's definitely not as bad as some would say. The ability to choose whether to pass or fail any morale check is definitely fun.





I needed another HQ option, so I went with a Librarian. He's been a bit of a bust so far, as I never remember to use his powers, but I'm working on it. He certainly has potential in the right situations.




Now I know I could have done a better job on a lot of these models, but it was certainly a compromise at times to actually get everything finished in time. The vehicles definitely need some decals, as they're pretty barren. Highlights are something I hate doing, but I really should get around to it one day. Overall, I'm quite proud of getting my army to this point, even if every model isn't painted up to even my lowly standards, as it looks great on the table top. I've got nothing but compliments about it, and if anyone ever did complain about it, it would probably be a good sign to not ever play that person.




So, yeah, that's about it. That's all the progress I've made over the past several months, but I've got more to do! I've got a bunch of Marine stuff left to do, but, wait, who's this guy? Where'd he come from?!



I'll keep updating as I go along, hopefully more regularly again, as I won't be all rushed and the 'gotta get it done' mentality will be replaced with a more casual pace.

Hope you guys like the pics, as I've enjoyed getting this far and I'm not stopping just yet.

Where or how did you get or make those green crystals in the picture of the necron? their awesome and I'd like to have some for my necron board

I thought they were pretty cool when I saw them as well! They're available from Gale Force 9 or any store that carries their terrain stuff.

Wow! You work really fast! While there are plenty of details that can still be added, having a fully painted army to a high standard takes years to finish (for me anyway ) Great work!

Necron looks awesome also! Love those green crystals, they fit right in with your board.

Cain

Your painting is great...i PERSONALY think there is no diffeance between the day one painter andf the 20 year pro golden dæmon winner...except for TECHNIQUE..you paint in the lines (which most guys at my store cant do XD) so the models look good for a day one guy, but to throw yourself years ahead you need depth in the models

The wrinkles on the cptn's face are not there, the orks musscles dont look like their popping out and if you put this wash over white (Badab black) , it might seem weird black over white...but just put it on the faces of your termies...they have a ton of details, those models really do...

Take a pot of badab black and wash EVERYTHING generously, then take another picture and see b4 and after...its a real differance..and only will take you about an hour!

This is WAY! better than my AoBR

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

I agree that the glaring pinkie heads on the models aren't very good looking. I knew I could do more and mess them up somehow, so I played it safe and just left them alone. I'll try the black wash on one of the veterans as an experiment and see how it works out!