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 NidLifeCrisis wrote:

 Novasetri wrote:
Just Curious. Are you using any kind of Macro feature on your camera? If using a cell phone, there are some pretty neat features on there that help with taking pics of Mini's. I've been looking at one of those universal Lenses for my phone to give better quality. Most of them have Macro lenses as well that I think would help get the full model in frame and show off the details a little better.

Sorry for the delayed response, Nova. To be honest dude I'm not really sure what you mean by 'macro feature'. My camera was new five years ago but is starting to show its age quite badly I think. I can adjust the exposure and things like that, which seems to be making a big difference, but that's about as far as I've got.

I took these pictures of my most recently 'finished' minis yesterday. I say 'finished' because I typically never finish a model. I almost always bomb out at the 95% done stage, which I think is due to having such a huge backlog of stuff I want to get painted. Also, for reasons unknown, they've come out looking blurry here even though they look fine on my camera

These are my very unflashy Flash Gitz. I have a confession to make about the Flash Gitz box. Though I absolutely loved the minis (seriously, if that's how cool Ork minis look from now on then just imagine how Lootas might be re-imagined a few years down the line.... ) I truly hate the pirate aesthetic. Skull and crossbones & eye patches make me cringe in places I had no idea I could cringe. So, in order to use them in my army I decided to come up with my own fluff as to why these Snazzgun-wielding maniacs aren't actually Flash Gitz



In my mind, a notoriously greedy crew of cut-throat Flash Gitz was hired by my Warboss, Gazznak Gitchoppa, to join him in eliminating a rival klan. As they geared up for battle, Gazznak presented the Gitz' Kaptin with a token of his gratitude, a monstrous new Battlewagon to ferry the the Gitz into the fight in style...



However, as the last Flash Git boarded the smoke-belching contraption, the ramp was slammed shut by one of Gazznak's loyal Nobz, Gitkrumpa. Quickly sliding the bolts that only that morning Squigmek had welded to the outside of the 'wagon into place, the ferocious nob gave but a glance to Squigmek's burna grotz. The wicked gretchin leapt forward and prepared to incinerate the Kaptin and his crew. Realising too late the deceit, the Gitz opened up with their Snazzguns from inside the Battlewagon. Enormous shells the size of a grot's torso ripped through the reinforced plating of the transport, a cacophonous din that caught the attention of the whole camp. One round caught a burna grot and pulped him instantly into a crimson miasma, his horror-struck snotling assistant left clutching the fuel cannister for his burna.

The blind volley came too late to save the Gitz however and, with an evil snicker, the burna grotz jammed the nozzles of their burnas through the portholes of the 'wagon and turned the Gitz' new prize into a burning hell.

When the flames had been extinguished, Gitkrumpa loped up the ramp and surveyed the charred remains of the Kaptin's crew. As he had hoped, the hefty snazzguns once wielded by the Gitz were still remarkably intact, if a little blackened, but he didn't give two squigs about that. So long as they were good for shooting up some 'umies then he was happy.

Turning with a satisfied sneer, he heard something splutter and choke behind him. Gitkrumpa wheeled around to see the Kaptin, half shielded behind some spent Kannon shells, crawling toward him. His legs were gone; reduced to charred stumps. His once outrageous garb now resembled the singed loincloths you would expect a Zzap gun crew to dress in, and his necklace of teef had been scorched away; the teef scattered. He fixed Gitkrumpa with a hate-filled stare and went to curse him, only to start spluttering, and hacking up blood again. Gitkrumpa smiled; he had just realised that he had a job vacancy. And the Kaptin was a prime candidate...


Phew! That was fun. All the time I've been painting these guys I've been thinking of how I can explain the fact that I've done away with all the pirate insignia, and hopefully this little back story justifies it. The job vacancy at the end is an ammo grot conversion I'm still working on which uses (yes you guessed it) the torso and head of one of the piratey Flash Gitz. More on that, next time!

Hope you enjoyed the update!

Exalted!

I was reading back through some of your previous posts, and I had a thought, re: custom base for a Stompa. What about thick plasticard? (3mm) Or even several sheets of cardstock? Glue several sheets of that together, and put a heavy book on top. Then draw/trace an oval, cut it out, sand the edges smooth with sandpaper, and then seal it (I use DecoArt Americana Multi-Purpose Sealer). I made some custom biker bases with this method, and earlier this year I tried making a larger version for a Gorkanaut. Hope this helps!

Thanks, Cleatus!

You know, it's funny. The thought of making a base out of plasticard hadn't really occurred to me, despite the fact I'm sitting on reams of the stuff! I'd definitely prefer to work with that stuff over wood or MDF.

When you say 'seal it', would plain old purity seal be enough do you think? Or would you need something more heavy duty?

*clicks 'Done' and heads off to Cleatus' gallery hoping to see pictures of aforementioned Gorkanaut... *

 NidLifeCrisis wrote:
Thanks, Cleatus!

You know, it's funny. The thought of making a base out of plasticard hadn't really occurred to me, despite the fact I'm sitting on reams of the stuff! I'd definitely prefer to work with that stuff over wood or MDF.

When you say 'seal it', would plain old purity seal be enough do you think? Or would you need something more heavy duty?

*clicks 'Done' and heads off to Cleatus' gallery hoping to see pictures of aforementioned Gorkanaut... *

I think plasticard is the way to go, especially if you already have it.

Sadly, I don't have any pics of the scratch-built Gorkanaut up. I got sidetracked with other projects. At the moment, I'm busy trying to finish my entry for the LOER terrain competition. Maybe I can return to that next week.

Sorry for the delayed response, Nova. To be honest dude I'm not really sure what you mean by 'macro feature'. My camera was new five years ago but is starting to show its age quite badly I think. I can adjust the exposure and things like that, which seems to be making a big difference, but that's about as far as I've got.

Looking Great man! love the consistency in your models and the backstory only helps to add more flavor! As far as the macro features go (as far as I understand it) it's a feature built into a lot of cameras that help with taking pics of smaller objects. I think it has to do with being able to get really close and maintain focus on the object. My cell phone camera has a button I can click to switch to "macro" mode which helps when i'm really close to a mini. There are also some special lenses you can buy seperately for your cell phone that help increase the quality.

Exalted!

I was reading back through some of your previous posts, and I had a thought, re: custom base for a Stompa. What about thick plasticard? (3mm) Or even several sheets of cardstock? Glue several sheets of that together, and put a heavy book on top. Then draw/trace an oval, cut it out, sand the edges smooth with sandpaper, and then seal it (I use DecoArt Americana Multi-Purpose Sealer). I made some custom biker bases with this method, and earlier this year I tried making a larger version for a Gorkanaut. Hope this helps!

Not a bad idea! Just a word of caution, I have done this in the past and had some issues with the plasticard warping since most of my stuff is in the garage. Texas heat is very unforgiving for minis :(

Loving your conversion work mate. Getting motivated to get some work done now :-)

Aye up, Dakka! A very happy new year to you all.


I've been very busy these last few weeks but unfortunately I haven't got a whole load of pictures to prove it.. Rubbish, right?

I'll start off by showing off something I did manage to take a hurried snap of and that's the base for the Stompa! In the end I considered all your suggestions but I actually went for a very unexpected choice in the end. I was perusing the hardware section of a local store when my beady Mek eyes spotted a circular sanding saw.. thing. Its dimensions were spot-on, it was robust as heck and it cost only a few kronor. Perfect, huh?



We'll see. I'm not convinced it'll all hold together. It seems too cheap and convenient a solution to actually work. Anyway, because of the very rough edge I had to greenstuff around it. I'm still yet to sand it but I think it'll look fine when I have. The cork rocks are the first parts of what will become a mini diorama on the base (hopefully including some kleptomaniacal grots and a hungry squig).



In other news, I got a Deffkopta painted up! Pretty bog-standard with just a little conversion work:



One thing that was significant about this chap was that he was the last guy I painted with my traditional goblin green style for the skin. After this I got started on a Meganob and decided to experiment with 'Death World Forest' and, I gotta say, I love the results. It looks so much more grimdark and menacing than my original scheme, that I'm half tempted to get started on a major repaint...

I'll have to upload some pics tomorrow and let you guys decide.

For now, all the best and thanks for reading.

 Elblondino wrote:
Loving your conversion work mate. Getting motivated to get some work done now :-)

Thanks, Elblondino!

Nice to see some progress on the stompa project! So is the base made out of MDF or some kind of wood?

I'm digging that Deff Kopta by the way. Looks like something you would have seen in the older codex. The weathering is looking really nice around the blades and base as well!

 Novasetri wrote:
Nice to see some progress on the stompa project! So is the base made out of MDF or some kind of wood?

I'm digging that Deff Kopta by the way. Looks like something you would have seen in the older codex. The weathering is looking really nice around the blades and base as well!

Thanks, Nova! I was kind of going for that classic Ork look, partly so that I wouldn't get bogged down trying to come up with a more flashy colour scheme, which is often my downfall.

The base is metal with a rough grainy edge. It was hanging up next to the really vicious-looking circular saws in the hardware shop. If I was only intending for the Stompa to be a display piece then I might well have gone for a circular saw base! You couldn't get much Orkier than that.

I made some progress on him today. A little bit of work on interior detail as well as the beginnings of a huge housing for the myriad guns I'm planning. No pictures I'm afraid as I had to come into work. I've been reduced to sketching down my ideas whilst I'm sat here doing nothing

Not that I'm obsessed, or anything...

lol, I was just doodling concepts for my mek project in the breakroom.

Hope that metal base works out. You may want to use some stronger glue to mount the stompa to ensure it stays adhered to the surface. I usually go with E-6000 for such situations. It's banned in California so you know it's the good stuff

 Novasetri wrote:
lol, I was just doodling concepts for my mek project in the breakroom.

Hope that metal base works out. You may want to use some stronger glue to mount the stompa to ensure it stays adhered to the surface. I usually go with E-6000 for such situations. It's banned in California so you know it's the good stuff

Ha ha! That stuff sounds legit! The thought had crossed my mind that the metal might not take kindly to stuff being glued to it, but it seems to hae taken the PVA + sand + cork well enough. I'll keep an eye for some E-6000 all the same (I can imagine it smells like cake?).

Couple more random/rushed pictures before I go to work today!

Last time I was in the UK I managed to pick up some 'corrugated iron' plasticard. I finally got the chance to crack it open today and I think it's going to look really cool. More rivets, as always, to come:

That Stompas coming along nicely, and I love the work your doing on the interior. The more detail the better I always say .

Good progress.

Don't know it's too small for what you need but old CD's work well as bases.

hk1x1 wrote:That Stompas coming along nicely, and I love the work your doing on the interior. The more detail the better I always say .

Thanks! I couldn't agree more. All the small details will make a huge difference on the final model...

Elblondino wrote:Good progress.

Don't know it's too small for what you need but old CD's work well as bases.

Thanks for the suggestion man but CDs would've been a bit Diddy for this project. I'll try and whack a CD in the next picture I take of the base for size comparison purposes!

Now, some progress!

I have started really blitzing the inside detail so that I can concentrate on the nightmare that'll be making the removable side section, which will be the 'window' into the Stompa. Just small things really but lots of them. I plan to have looooads of grots running around in there and also a handful of boys sciving from Big Shoota duties.



That's the progress on the gun 'arm'. Not much of an arm yet, I know. Right now, my Stompa really needs to hit the gym. The idea is that the platform will be able to rotate; the bigger guns (I'm still looking for a Gatling cannon from the new Knight kit!) will attach underneath the Mek Gun chassis I have now.



Here's a little peak into the area at the top of the Stompa:



And a little shot of the driver's control panel. I'm still to make his right arm!



That's all for now! More tomorrow...

Time for another short update! I've been having fun with the Mek Gun kit... I'm trying to make the most fantastical weapon that I can, so this is still very much a WIP. I still want to add a ton of cables and, of course, busy gretchin:





The white box between the two guns is plasticard, and there's a load of magnets in there to hold the guns together:



Which you can perhaps see a little more perspicaciously, here:



I realised after this latest gun happened that I've been pretty heavily influenced by the Forgeworld Stompa variant, but I certainly don't see that as a negative.

More updates to come!

An update! Hooray!

And this time I actually could be arsed to get my decent camera set-up out as well.

I had the frankly absurd privilege of being able to work on the Stompa for about 7 hours today. You'd be forgiven for thinking that that's ample time to make loads of progress on this beast of a project. However, I've been trying to make every aspect of this build as detailed as possible, so progress was definitely more ambling Mega Nob than greased lightning Warbuggy.

Anyway, on with some pictures.





As you can hopefully see from those pictures, I've been working on the gun deck mostly today. It's hard to really commit to this bit because I'm still missing my ideal conversion part (the Gatling Cannon from the Knight Warden kit) but I've still added a load of details. Modelling the grots from the Mek Gun kit is so much fun!





The above are a couple of pictures showing how I've been trying to beef up the 'floor' level of the Stompa. If the layout of the girders looks a bit odd, it's because not all angles of the Stompa will be visible when the outer shell is on.



I also had to add some detail to the bottom of one of the feet (owing to the fact that I could only buy two of the same foot from a bitz site...)

A couple of other bits of miscellanea:

New skin recipe, seen here on my first Warboss:



I have to say, I love the more realistic hue with this skin tone than the one I had previously.

For the sake of comparison:



Here's the same scheme on a MANZ that I painted up a few weeks back:



I'm painting the rest of the squad he belongs to for this month's Painting Challenge!



Aaaaand finally, I don't know if anyone remembers me saying that I wanted a really specific head for my Feral Ork Warboss? Anyway, I did but I was extremely reluctant to buy the Black Orc Big Boss model direct from GW....

Long story short, I caved in:



I can't wait to finish this dude off now! I'm especially looking forward to making the Mournfang cat into a snarling, mechanical beast.

That's all for this update.

Cheers for reading.

It's that most hallowed of times again: update time!

Basically this update is the fruit of some productive procrastination; in dilly dallying about finishing off my Mega Nobz for this month's painting challenge, I decided to revisit one of the first GW minis I ever bought.

If I remember correctly, I had Grotsnik assembled and painted stock for about 7 years.

Eighteen months ago I pulled him out of a box and decided to try and breathe some new life into the old boy; today, I finished him.





As you can see, I went a bit bonkers with the old plasticard/greenstuff, but I wanted to try and not deviate too much from the old decrepit Mad Dok pose (inexplicable sentimentality?).


Sadly I intended for this paintjob to be my first effort in the showcase thread but, as I hurried I set up my lightbox set-up, I knocked over one of my lamps and it broke. That means the pictures aren't as good as they could be and so I decided to wait until I replace the bulb before I take the showcase plunge.

Now, time to pull my finger out and finish my MANZ!

Thanks for reading.

He looks great. Those cybork eyes make him look even more insane than normal. The klaw looks awesome, too.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
He looks great. Those cybork eyes make him look even more insane than normal. The klaw looks awesome, too.

Cheers, mate! Something that made me laugh was that as I was halfway through painting him, I got a conversion itch and reached for the X-Acto. It was as I was making the first incision into the good Doktor's cranium (to insert the second bionic eye) that I realised I was channelling the true spirit of Grotsnik.

Some more pictures today with some better light. The question is: are these good enough for the showcase forum? I'm terrified! Constructive criticism is always welcome :-)





I was really surprised how well the hazard stripes came out on his backpack. I think the continuous highlight of Ulthuan Grey makes a huge difference.

Here are some group shots of my update Ghazghkull and his BFF's, all ready for the new supplement tomorrow which I am really excited about:







Thought I'd take some better pictures of the Deffkopta I got finished a couple I months back as well:





And finally, my poor, neglected Mega Nobz that are still very WIP but will hopefully get some love tomorrow before the Painting Challenge deadline passes!





Thanks for taking a butcher's!

Nice conversion!

Nice work! Subbed!

As for the base for the stompa, you could ask your local carpenter (if you have a local carpenter, that is) if he could make one for you, for a reasonable price?

Cleatus wrote:Nice conversion!

Oestergaard wrote:Nice work! Subbed!

As for the base for the stompa, you could ask your local carpenter (if you have a local carpenter, that is) if he could make one for you, for a reasonable price?

Thanks a lot, guys!

@Oestergaard - You know dude, I was very close to doing exactly that and then, as if by magic, I noticed that GW actually sell a 160mm round base! I swear I searched their site a thousand times looking for a huge base and never found anything.... In any case, I'm going to order one as soon as I get around to it.

Today's update comes during a furious spell of productivity triggered, as usual, by hobby procrastination. I was kinda sick of painting so I decided to start converting/building, and this lot is what I have to show for it:

First up, a Looted Wagon I've been meaning to drag out of my imaginarium for a while:





This was a TON of fun to make. I've made a massive dent in my Bitz box (which, according to the 'no more models until the rest are painted' pledge I made, is looking rather sparsely populated) but it was so worth it.

I love using the clump foliage to symbolise smoke. Not least here where I was trying to show that some sort of fire has broken out inside the cabin (someone pushed dat...) and this grot is desperately trying to scramble out. I'm also planning on adding some 'smoke' to the back of the big gun:





Slightly less excitingly, I also made some more Lootas (that should round off the squad for now....):



And, least excitingly of all for this update (although I think the standard Shoota Boy sculpt is one of my favourites), Another squad of Shootas:



This afternoon these lads are all getting sprayed and then it'll be back to the grind of painting them all up.


Thanks for looking!

Good day! Well, not many updates this month due to April being one of the most bonkers months of my life (luckily everything that's happened has been positive, but all extremely time-consuming as well!).

So far I've managed to get my Looted Wagon sprayed and given my standard metal basecoat (drybrush Tin Bitz, drybrush Boltgun metal, wash with Agrax) and it now looks like this:



I've also been painting up my Tankbustas, who were all made using the FW Kommando bitz. I think they make for really cool Tankbustas too:



Sorry for crap pictures as usual and the dearth of updates; real life has really worn the trousers this month.

Thanks as always for looking!

How am I only now finding this thread? You're a mad genius! I love the poseable mask. Keep up the fantastic work.

Looking good boss

Looking good!

hungryp wrote:How am I only now finding this thread? You're a mad genius! I love the poseable mask. Keep up the fantastic work.

Hey thanks, man! That comment really made my day

Novasetri wrote:Looking good boss

Cheers, Nova!

A small update today (wife/kids were out for two hours so I got to hobby!! :O!): I got a Tankbustas finished!

I don't usually ask for brutal honesty (my pictures are usually too rubbish to really offer much feedback) but on this occasion I would really appreciate it.



I've been painting Orks for two years now & I feel like I still haven't cracked making them 'pop', while keeping them looking as dirty and grungy looking as possible. I feel like I've come on from my first Boyz, but there's still a ton of room for improvement:



I feel like my choice of spot colours often could be better, but is there anything else you guys would suggest?

One idea I had that I'm planning on attempting on a mob of old skool metal Nobz is painting tribal tattoos. Not like the typical Bravehearty war paint look but full on sleeves! I reckon it wouldn't be super obvious at first glance but more a subtle detail that'd become apparent upon closer inspection. Basically, I want them to look dead 'ard. Thoughts?

Aaaaaand finally, I caved and bought the new Imperial Knight box, so expect a ton of Stompa updates in the coming weeks! I also noticed that the new Orruk boss on Mawkrusha is on the same 160mm base I bought for the Stompa! Just how big is that thing?!?

Thanks as always for checking out my blog!

What a cracking thread.

Love your conversions (the mek on bike is insane) and i really like your painting scheme. Very dark n'nasty. Subbed.


Btw, to make your Orks pop, maybe work in some white dags and symbols, like GeeDub does. Works for them.

Cleatus wrote:Looking good!

Thanks, Cleatus!

MagicMan wrote:What a cracking thread.

Love your conversions (the mek on bike is insane) and i really like your painting scheme. Very dark n'nasty. Subbed.


Btw, to make your Orks pop, maybe work in some white dags and symbols, like GeeDub does. Works for them.

Thanks a lot, dude! I think that's an awesome tip. I'm trying to ape the Forgeworld scheme that they used for their Stompa, and one of the key components there is the white dags etc in the sea of rust. It looks awesome and isn't too much work!

Another quick WIP; I did most of the skin of the crew and started some of the details:



My Knights box arrived! Cannot. Wait. To get started on pimping my Stompa with Knight parts!

The question is: can I cram two Knights' worth of weapons on one Stompa?

I'm digging where your going with this one. Always been a fan of the bronzy or dark gunmetal base rather than the shinier metallics.

Also - I love that tank busta. Major props on the lenses. I'm still having trouble getting that technique down.

 Novasetri wrote:
I'm digging where your going with this one. Always been a fan of the bronzy or dark gunmetal base rather than the shinier metallics.

Also - I love that tank busta. Major props on the lenses. I'm still having trouble getting that technique down.

Thanks as always, Nova! The lens technique is a piece of cake really. I think I used the tutorial on Striking Scorpion 82's channel and just swapped out the colours. Making the paint reeeeally watered-down helps a ton too.

Some minor but dead shooty progress on Da Stompa! I finally got my claws on the Gatler Cannon I'd been so hankering after... I think it looks boss, although it perhaps is in need of some more supports to make it look more plausible.. We'll see..



I also affixed him to the giant 160mm base. I wish it was even bigger tbh but it'll have to do.



That's all for now! This week I'm hoping to raid the Knight kit for more parts and more DAKKA!