The 13th starts with just one man...

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**FarseerAndyMan**

NIce!!

My Astral Claws are based very much the same.

Have you experimented with long grasses?
I think they are just dyed hogs hairs.
The stuff i use is from a company called "Woodland Scenics". They do alot of scale railroad stuff.
Dont know if you guys have that over in Poland.
Keep up the great effort!

**Dante72**

Thanks. I'm having ALOT of fun with these. With miniatures in general. So far, I've done 4 SM, 3 CSM, 1 Ork and 2 Grots.

I haven't tried the tall grasses yet. I use GW sand and static flock from Galeforce Nine - spring, I believe. They have an autumn color I wanna get for the Orks and Grots...

**fleetwolf**

You should be very happy with your efforts mate. For a first go that's a really good solid start

**BrotherOfBone**

Wow. Wow, that's your first model?? Mine was so much worse than that!!

**ajmerrifield**

Considering how my first miniatures looked, I hate you... LOL Joking aside, though, great job. They look fantastic. Can't wait to see what your miniatures that you paint a year from now look like!

**Dante72**

Thanks for the kind words guys. I just got a box of Assault Marines so its time to graduate from snap and fit to regular Marines. From what I see the details here are much more prominent which should make for some fun painting...

**Hoff Starr**

I am really impressed, these are better than I can do. That includes the bases!
Good work! I'd like to see what you do with your assault marines...

**Warsmith262**

Dante72 wrote:
Thanks. I'm missing grey paint and I didn't want to do it with silver . I'm gonna go back and do the gun casing highlights and try (the key word being "try") to put the white dots in the corner of the eye lens...

I also need to buy a new detail brush. The Army Painter one I have frayed just as I put it into water :( After close examination, i noticed that the metal part is bent anyways. Must have been damaged in production.

I like to use Boltgun to highlight black casing as it gives it just a slightly used look..

**Dante72**

Just a quick update on the 13th. Started my first Assault Marine today (and first model which isn't a snap and fit mini). Maybe its the fact that this is still, like the 6th marine I've ever painted, but it took me the better part of 7 hours (including drying time for bases and washes) to get this far.

Would love to know what you guys think. I'm try and finish him up tomorrow...

got a little dark so this photo isn't the best

**ColeFournier**

Heck of a lot better than my first attempts at painting.

And your basing is a nice subtle addition.
Great job man!

**Largeblastmarker**

THAT WAS YOUR FIRST ULTRAMARINE???

i bet secretly he has been painting his whole life.

awesome work

**Paradigm**

Looking great, you've really got the hang of this! Keep it up!

**Overlord Thraka**

Very nice! Keep up the good work!

**Dante72**

Thanks everyone for the kind words and comments. I gotta say that after a hard days work. coming home and sitting down - even if it's just for a few minutes, is really therapeutic and very rewarding

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Another quick update. Didn't post all week, but manager to get some more work done on the Assault Marines.

Here's the finished "beakie" marine:

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I finished the second marine and finally got the Ultramarine shoulder pads from GW so I don't have to keep doing tchem free-hand (I really hate transfers for some reason)

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The last instalment is the sergeant. I decided to go with the Powerfist and Shield (maybe not the best combination for playing, but right now I admit, I was looking for an esthetic option rather than a functional one).

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions if there's something I can change or do better.

Cheers

the gang's all here

**Largeblastmarker**

that is my favorite way to build a sergeant. Also, line higlights. your work is very good, keep it up. (don't fear the transfer!)

**Gutsnagga**

Wow! Well done so far, something I love about painting is that there's always a higher standard to attain than what we can currently do, I think you're well on your way to painting at a very high standard.

**Dante72**

Largeblastmarker wrote:
that is my favorite way to build a sergeant. Also, line higlights. your work is very good, keep it up. (don't fear the transfer!)

I may have to use the transfers, especially ofr the assault marines... Not gonna freehand those markings

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Gutsnagga wrote:
Wow! Well done so far, something I love about painting is that there's always a higher standard to attain than what we can currently do, I think you're well on your way to painting at a very high standard.

Thanks, dude.
I love that about this hobby. You can always improve and make your mini's even better.
Problem is the thousands spent on newer and newer sets ;-)

**stargasm**

Loving the work. I've recentently started tidying up my own ultramarines, its such a great paint scheme.

**Dante72**

Thanks. I just love the Ultramarines. Can't wait to finish these up start my Command Squad

**Dante72**

Here's a better pic of the sergeant with shoulder pads already done. I have finished the jump pack but, don't have a pic right now. Hope to share that soon...

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In the meantime, I started my Command Squad with the veteran sergeant and the tactical marine

I wanted to keep the gold parts cleaner as they are part of the Command Squad so, I used Balthazar Gold from GW and on top of that, Greedy Gold from AP. I then washed with Earthshade and finished with Auric Armor Gold

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I think they're coming along pretty nicely. Decided to give the sergeant the red Bolter and since, they are Command Squad, went for the thin gold highlight around the mouth piece...

**Dante72**

Just wanted to share the Terminus shoulder pads. I think they came out rather well

and here is the current stage of the first 2 members of the Command Squad. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

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Just outta curiosity, how long do you guys usually take to do one mini? For exmaple the Sergeant took me about 5-6 hours to get to this stage. Of course, I don't glue and prime the whole figure. I leave the head, backpack and arms off to get better access to all the different areas...

**Gutsnagga**

For me, painting times really vary. Usually for basic troops I batch paint, so not very long. However, sometimes on single characters I take days.
Also, just noticed that the parts underneath where you glue on shoulder pads are painted. A hint for next time - Try to leave the bare plastic showing on these parts, as this will mean a stronger bond forms when you glue it, and so the model will be sturdier when fully assembled.
If you spray undercoat them, just put some blue tac or masking tap on the bits that you want to keep clear of paint.
Good job on the command squad so far! I love classic red bolters.

**Dante72**

Thanks for the advice. I always meant to leave those areas free of paint, but once I start, I always seem to paint over it :(

In the meantime, finished up the first 2 squad members...

even got a Chance to base the heavy Marine

**Thortek**

Very nice work dude!

**ixlar**

The painting looks really nice. I only bring this up because I'm super picky about this on my figures. You didn't file off the seam on the figure before you painted it. I like to do a bunch of prep on all the pieces of a figure before I even base coat them. But that's just me. The painting looks really good. Keep it up.

**Dante72**

Thortek wrote:
Very nice work dude!

Thanks !!!

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ixlar wrote:
The painting looks really nice. I only bring this up because I'm super picky about this on my figures. You didn't file off the seam on the figure before you painted it. I like to do a bunch of prep on all the pieces of a figure before I even base coat them. But that's just me. The painting looks really good. Keep it up.

Thanks for the that. I usually remove the mold lines from the legs and heads. those are the most prominant. For some reason, I skip and/or miss the smaller ones on the arms and Bolters (just noticed that on the pic of the Sarge).
Will keep an eye on that. Thanks for pointing it out

**Largeblastmarker**

Imo the only good way to equip a command squad is a bunch of special weapons and no cc stuff. they are way to expensive points wise for cc. But your painting style is very excellent. I recommend getting some gw glaze to make the minis a little less purple and a bit more blue.

**Dante72**

Largeblastmarker wrote:
Imo the only good way to equip a command squad is a bunch of special weapons and no cc stuff. they are way to expensive points wise for cc. But your painting style is very excellent. I recommend getting some gw glaze to make the minis a little less purple and a bit more blue.

Thanks, dude. I really love painting and even though I just started like 2 months ago, I find myself sitting at work thinking about how I need to get home and prime another Space Marine

I think they look a little purple cause of poor lighting and the fact, that the pics are taken with my iPhone. I did think about usung a glaze, but I tried it out at the local GW store on one of their snap n'fit models and it came out all blotchy. Maybe I put too much? Now, I'm worried about ruining a paint job which took my hours to do :(

**Largeblastmarker**

for glaze, the trick is to shake the paint pot very firmly and take a brush,put some of the glaze on a pallet, and work the brush to get a flat edge and a small amount of glaze in there. then work it over large armor plates like the head and legs, making sure to do it all in the same direction. it should come out very nice and thin. Then let it dry.sometimes more than one layer is good. Also It serves as a good color leveler in the sense that if you have two highlight areas next to each other, it will make them more like each other. Good luck!

**lipsdapips**

This is some brilliant work, especially for your first few miniatures! Far superior to what my first were like. I'd recommend trying to introduce some thin, layered highlights to really make the models stand out. I think you have the skill level already to attempt this, but for me it had to come with practice D: