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nice bulk work!

Indeed, always impressed with people who can churn out good looking stuff in mass like this.

tzurk wrote:Kicking butts in here mate. Production line looking good. Bring on the bits!

Well done on the flag too. Details are not my thing either but it turned out great. The red will really stand out amongst all the green. I like the idea of a badge/symbol too. I don't really know anything about decals/transfers but I hope you find the right fit as painting them on would drive me mental. Good luck!

Thank you! It's much appreciated. Yes, still waiting on parts and itching to make more progress.

The flag was definitely a lot different and my first time probably ever at details like that. I was thinking about going for something a little different with the standard. Something the troopers on the ground would see and stand out to them. I would for sure use decals if I do badges haha no way I'm painting all those tiny designs I would go mental

Not Online!!! wrote:nice bulk work!

Thank you! I appreciate it and keep stopping by!

Vejut wrote:Indeed, always impressed with people who can churn out good looking stuff in mass like this.

Thank you! I really appreciate when people say they enjoy how my paint scheme turned out. Helps me take off my critique goggles.
Hope you enjoyed and stop by again after I make some more progress!

Hello everyone!

I know it's been a long pause since the 2nd's last vox transmission, but finally got something at the post office today! Found a cheap lightbox to try out and the long awaited arm bits from Anvil!



While its hard to resist those white puffs I have to remember they are not funny looking Cheetos. I'm glad these products came in and now I'll be able to crank out some more auxiliaries for the project. Also, it'll be nice to take some decent looking photos for y'all with the help of the lightybox. I'm still very new to any real mini product photography so any tips on how to improve my angle or shot from you veterans out there on the noosphere would be really helpful to me!

Hope everyone is doing great and having a good week. Keep at it and earn those weekend liberty passes!

No worries, i know of the power of encouraging blog visits to keep me motivated.

That's a lot of anvil arms, what weaponry do you intend to give the lot?

Not Online!!! wrote:
No worries, i know of the power of encouraging blog visits to keep me motivated.

That's a lot of anvil arms, what weaponry do you intend to give the lot?

It is really nice for people to stop by and enjoy the work I been putting in. Especially in times like now where most of us can't find or meet a hobby group or head to a store.
I do need to check out your painting log as well!

As for weapon choices I want to keep them GW. So I'm collecting more M36 lasguns and Mark 4 lascarbines from the Cadian & Catachan boxes, but my reserve is getting slim. So I'm honestly thinking about getting Anvil laser rifles. Plus it will help because they are designed to fit the arms I'm using. Fitting GW weapons on the Anvil arms is a little wonky.

 Boxhead wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
No worries, i know of the power of encouraging blog visits to keep me motivated.

That's a lot of anvil arms, what weaponry do you intend to give the lot?

It is really nice for people to stop by and enjoy the work I been putting in. Especially in times like now where most of us can't find or meet a hobby group or head to a store.
I do need to check out your painting log as well!

As for weapon choices I want to keep them GW. So I'm collecting more M36 lasguns and Mark 4 lascarbines from the Cadian & Catachan boxes, but my reserve is getting slim. So I'm honestly thinking about getting Anvil laser rifles. Plus it will help because they are designed to fit the arms I'm using. Fitting GW weapons on the Anvil arms is a little wonky.

Can recomend the anvil las rifles. have them used aswell on my 31. generally can reccomend anvil for quality. Shame though they stopped with the good old platoon bundle , etc...

 Boxhead wrote:
Also, it'll be nice to take some decent looking photos for y'all with the help of the lightybox. I'm still very new to any real mini product photography so any tips on how to improve my angle or shot from you veterans out there on the noosphere would be really helpful to me!

Coming along Boxhead.

As for your light box...do not put lamps directly above it...you want diffused light. You can do that with the cover (if your box has one) or just tape some white printer paper over the lights...or even better get your light box near a window during the day, with the natural light coming in behind you (with your back to the window) and you take the photos of your figures.

There are quite a number of members who are also semi-professional photographers because they want the figures they paint and sell to look great...they may have some better tips.

Hope that helps,

CB

Arms! an army of arms, even.

I can say for certain that you do not want to eat the white cheetos. Signed, me at six years old

Great work on the rank and file, it's a really strong theme. I'm interested to see how you fill out the 1000pts with other units and how they tie in, so i'll be checking back for sure. Keep up the good work!

Not Online!!! wrote:

 Boxhead wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:
No worries, i know of the power of encouraging blog visits to keep me motivated.

That's a lot of anvil arms, what weaponry do you intend to give the lot?

It is really nice for people to stop by and enjoy the work I been putting in. Especially in times like now where most of us can't find or meet a hobby group or head to a store.
I do need to check out your painting log as well!

As for weapon choices I want to keep them GW. So I'm collecting more M36 lasguns and Mark 4 lascarbines from the Cadian & Catachan boxes, but my reserve is getting slim. So I'm honestly thinking about getting Anvil laser rifles. Plus it will help because they are designed to fit the arms I'm using. Fitting GW weapons on the Anvil arms is a little wonky.

Can recomend the anvil las rifles. have them used aswell on my 31. generally can reccomend anvil for quality. Shame though they stopped with the good old platoon bundle , etc...

I would love to use the Anvil weapons, but so far I want to keep all the weapons GW to make them easily recognizable, but the temptation sinks in all the time to just shell out more money for the rifles and make the building phase of this project easier. haha

Captain Brown wrote:

 Boxhead wrote:
Also, it'll be nice to take some decent looking photos for y'all with the help of the lightybox. I'm still very new to any real mini product photography so any tips on how to improve my angle or shot from you veterans out there on the noosphere would be really helpful to me!

Coming along Boxhead.

As for your light box...do not put lamps directly above it...you want diffused light. You can do that with the cover (if your box has one) or just tape some white printer paper over the lights...or even better get your light box near a window during the day, with the natural light coming in behind you (with your back to the window) and you take the photos of your figures.

There are quite a number of members who are also semi-professional photographers because they want the figures they paint and sell to look great...they may have some better tips.

Hope that helps,

CB

Definitely gonna be fun assembling troops again with all the parts I got now!

I'll give the paper on the top of the light box a try. The lights are built into the top panel of the box. Also, thanks for pointing out the natural lighting portion. I'll give that a go next time I'm taking photos for the project. Thanks for stopping by again with the advice it's much appreciated!

amazingturtles wrote:Arms! an army of arms, even.

I can say for certain that you do not want to eat the white cheetos. Signed, me at six years old

haha! I have been resisting the temptation of eating the white Cheetos, but I don't know if I can hang on too much longer.
Thanks for stopping by it's apperciated! And yeah, its arm day for all these troopers.

PaddyMick wrote:Great work on the rank and file, it's a really strong theme. I'm interested to see how you fill out the 1000pts with other units and how they tie in, so i'll be checking back for sure. Keep up the good work!

Thank you! I really appreciate it!
For the first 1000pts of the army, I just have a couple infantry squads, a hardened veteran squad, some officers to lead. I want to keep the theme and center of this army based around a infantry company. I do want to add Forgeworld artillery. I've always loved the idea behind Thudd guns so maybe if I can find a Quad mortar I'll add it.

Great job on the assembly line of miniatures. 50 models would take me several months and you blew threw 50 half-models in no time. I am also a huge fan of Anvil and use their heads on my Xhorik 87th, as well as a number of their other bits, such as bionic arms, scopes, etc.

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
Great job on the assembly line of miniatures. 50 models would take me several months and you blew threw 50 half-models in no time. I am also a huge fan of Anvil and use their heads on my Xhorik 87th, as well as a number of their other bits, such as bionic arms, scopes, etc.

Sorry for the late reply, progress got slowed down by work and other things, but I finally got to spend some time at the hobby desk after some time away. Super happy to see some small progress on my project again. I am super happy with the arms from Anvil. Took some time to learn how to properly pose them, such as, trimming the small trigger off of the hand and using a file on the open hand to let the las gun fit better. I am interested in getting other bitz to flesh out some members eventually.

As I said, I finally got to get down and put together some more troops for my rifle company. Here is the second squad with arms on and most of their heads. I got a bunch of heads from Shapeways that I need to prime before adding them to the bodies. Also, I recently ran out of lasguns, but a solution is on the way!



While my Army's theme is based around a Imperial Guard infantry regiment and the lore of 40k specifically states that Guard regiments do not contain organic support like armor, they are allowed to have heavy weapons support elements. So I decided to add these "relic" pieces to my force to stay in theme with my unit's homeworld. Working with resin is new to me, but I'm happy with how they came out. For the thudd guns and laser destroyers crews, I'm thinking of ordering some of those new robot infantry from Anvil Industry as their crew.



Lastly for this return update, I found this mini on the shelf at my local store! I had to take a double take and was super excited. I decided to risk it all and try to convert her with a more "Cadian" look. So far so good. Next I'm thinking of green stuffing sleeves on to the arms and undecided on what to do with the head. Maybe a female head with a beret or putting a loose Cadian pattern helmet bit on top.




Hopefully it won't be such a long break between now and the next update!

Good to see you're still making progress. Is the artillery from Forge World?

 PaddyMick wrote:
Good to see you're still making progress. Is the artillery from Forge World?

Shame to say they aren't authentic. Got them from a friend of mine so they are definitely recasts. But the models are quad-mortars and rapier laser destroyers.

Got a little interesting work done this weekend.



I inevitably ran out of M36 lasguns from the Cadian kits and lots I've collected so far. Fortunately, I was able to get some mk4 lascarbine bits from the Catachan kit delivered to me from back home!
Here are two examples up close to it on one of my freshest Auxiliaries.




The most interesting part of this new batch for me was the plasma gunner. I have been debating on a pattern of plasma gun to use. I tried trimming the plasma gun from the command squad sprue and then mounting it onto a set of Anvil arms, but the look was too bulky for me to get a good fit. I remembered that I had some bitz leftover from the old Betrayal at Calth box and decided to give it a shot. So far I'm happy with the results. This will allow me to keep the regiment's arsenal all GW ... for now.



What do you guys think of the plasma gunner? And the mk4 lascarbines?

Also, due to me doing subassembly for my troopers I'm going to need to use brush on primer. Does anyone have any recommendations? So far I've seen people use Army Painter and Vallejo surface primer with success. I'm mainly concerned with the Anvil parts taking it well.

Comes along nicely Box.

Not Online!!! wrote:
Comes along nicely Box.

Appreciate it!

Now time to find a source of these "old school" plasma guns.

Nice to see you making progress again.

I’ve used plenty of Anvil bits and painted whole models from them as well. I’ve always used spray primer so I cannot comment on the brush-on. I usually wash the pieces in soapy water before priming. I’ve never had an issue using multiple brands of spray primer with them.

 The Riddle of Steel wrote:
Nice to see you making progress again.

I’ve used plenty of Anvil bits and painted whole models from them as well. I’ve always used spray primer so I cannot comment on the brush-on. I usually wash the pieces in soapy water before priming. I’ve never had an issue using multiple brands of spray primer with them.

Thank you! It feels good to be back at it.

I should've sprayed the arms and rifles before mounting them onto the bodies, but didn't realize it until have way through the batch I been working on. I haven't had any issues with paint chipping off on Anvil parts, unfortunately I didn't have any luck with the parts I ordered from Mad Robot Minis.
I'll probably go with whatever they have available at my store when I get the chance to go in.

Finally got around to mounting Sergeant Ripper Jackson's arms and head today.
I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. Decided to keep the head original instead of adding a helmet in order to keep the the more "veteran" and "character" feel of the model.
Thinking if I should green stuff the top of the shoulders for rolled sleeves or just paint them on?



All in all, what do you guys think of this risky conversion so far?

Got my Primaris heavy bolt pistols in the mail today and did a quick build of a squad leader.



So far I like the look. Only thing I would've changed is, I would have ordered Primaris assault intercessor bolt pistols instead. Those bitz appear to have a muzzle/flash suppressor.
With a plasma gun pattern and boltgun pattern picked out now. I can chug through these first six squads and fill out the troop selections for my first "battalion" detachment.

Hey again everyone,

Today I picked up some brush on primer and applied it to the arms. This allowed me to finally feel confident about getting back to painting some troopers.
I did the normal green basecoat and then hit them with a wash. I'll go back tomorrow with the light drybrush. Gotta get the heads primed up and added on too!

Their new arms and weapons look good, pleased to see the brush on primer worked too.

 gobert wrote:
Their new arms and weapons look good, pleased to see the brush on primer worked too.

Thanks for stopping by! I am happy as well with the getting more troopers battle ready. The brush on primer was a charm. Unfortunately, I ran into a couple models with paint rubbing off. I've done some research and hopefully a matte varnish will solve this. Thankfully it wasn't all the minis like one batch I have previously worked with.

-Box

Well that looks promising.

Have you any final destination for that army?

Not Online!!! wrote:
Well that looks promising.

Have you any final destination for that army?

Thanks!

My plan for the army is 2000 or so points of infantry. Organized and divided under the old 4th edition codex's platoons system with some modifications to have the units fit the new detachment system.
I'm thinking of several infantry squads, command squads, special weapons/heavy weapons teams, veteran squads, and officers. I know it's not very competitive to play full infantry guard, but I'm more of a narrative play/lore junkie.

Once this core of guard infantry is completed, I'm brainstorming adding various attached support elements like commissars, priests, ab-humans and psykers.

Last night I finally finished up my second and third squad of troopers. Still need to go back and clean up overspill and work on details, but I think they are battle ready and pass the two feet rule.
Here's some group photos for you guys to enjoy!





Also, here are some close ups of the finished sergeants with bolt carbines.



Lastly, here is the one special weapon trooper (for now) with a plasma gun. I don't know how I feel a bout the green glow now, but it was my first attempt and I only had one paint that could really do the job.



Hope you guys enjoy this update on finished grunts!

Need to work on my officers/NCOs to lead them and I'll have combat patrol!

Looks good, and some nice progress! With the plasma glow, is it the color or the effect you're not sure on? I kinda think its blending a bit with the uniform, but not sure what other color to use, and its a nice glowy green. That said, possibly try some of whatever color that is mixed with a bit of white or yellow as a drybrush over the coils, just push it more towards glow?

Vejut wrote:
Looks good, and some nice progress! With the plasma glow, is it the color or the effect you're not sure on? I kinda think its blending a bit with the uniform, but not sure what other color to use, and its a nice glowy green. That said, possibly try some of whatever color that is mixed with a bit of white or yellow as a drybrush over the coils, just push it more towards glow?

Thank you! Yeah, it was nice to finally push through and get more minis "finished".

Its actually the color. I only had GW's Tesseract Glow on hand. I did two thin layers of that and then a thin wash of Athonian Camoshade. I've thought about getting some Vallejo translucent paint. Maybe a blue like normal plasma guns, but my friend suggested red to contrast the green of my army's uniforms.

I'd suggest a violet/magenta kinda purple, as thats opposed to the yellow and yellow green you're mostly using, but it'd be the only areas of that color in the squad, so I think it'd really stick out? Maybe go with bright yellow, as you're kinda got the harness in that color but its more subdued and you're got less of it to blend with, or just push the green up more towards white? Not sure.