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Well, this has inspired me to finally get on and finish painting my Dark Imperium Box - It's only taken me 2 years so far!

Love the Plague Marines, but the Celestial Lions are outstanding - a really interesting chapter, but not a scheme I've seen painted very often - very cool.

I've been really enjoying this thread, and it is really tempting me to sign up for the subscription of models although I don't play marines or death guard.

The conversions are very cool, it's a great way of keeping things fresh with the ETB models. Liking the full army of Nurgle too!

Whoah, that is quite an impressive Death Guard army. If mine looks half as good when I finish painting it I'll be happy.

 GMSchofield wrote:
That's really nice, can't wait to see the rest of the squad.

What will you be doing for the heraldry on the shoulder pads?

EDIT - These exist, no idea if they are any good though!

They are good transfers. I use them on my Lions. There’s no cheap way to print white and at $12 a sheet...

I used them to get some Marines Malevolent transfers.

Now, it has been a while - it there a good tutorial out there for how to best apply them?

Micro Sol and Micro Set?

Gloss varnish the area first?

Something like that?

Not having used Micro Sol and Micro Set myself, I'm not sure how important they are, but definitely gloss varnish the area first.

Some other options ...
https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/?tag=shoulderpad

And this might be of interest to our OP who is producing such fine work.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/2AFPRDQ25/60x-roaring-lions-shoulder-insignia-pack?optionId=63058195&li=marketplace

 Mysterio wrote:
I used them to get some Marines Malevolent transfers.

Now, it has been a while - it there a good tutorial out there for how to best apply them?

Micro Sol and Micro Set?

Gloss varnish the area first?

Something like that?

 Ancestral Hamster wrote:

 Mysterio wrote:
I used them to get some Marines Malevolent transfers.

Now, it has been a while - it there a good tutorial out there for how to best apply them?

Micro Sol and Micro Set?

Gloss varnish the area first?

Something like that?

Not having used Micro Sol and Micro Set myself, I'm not sure how important they are, but definitely gloss varnish the area first.

Some other options ...
https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/?tag=shoulderpad

And this might be of interest to our OP who is producing such fine work.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/2AFPRDQ25/60x-roaring-lions-shoulder-insignia-pack?optionId=63058195&li=marketplace

Very nice find there - thank you!

Are Primaris should pads the same size as regular marine shoulder pads?

EDIT:

Yes, yes they are!

Warhammer Community wrote:

Are the kits compatible with existing Space Marine kits?

Good Question. There are certainly elements of the existing Space Marines kits that will be cross-compatible, while the new armour mark means that some parts won’t mix as easily. Shoulder pads and helmets are the same scale, and will still work, whereas the legs, torso and arms are different, and not quite as interchangeable. In terms of the Primaris sets themselves, you’ll have loads of fun kit-bashing them.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/05/15/primaris-space-marines-faq-may15gw-homepage-post-2/

 Mysterio wrote:

Are Primaris should pads the same size as regular marine shoulder pads?

EDIT:

Yes, yes they are

One thing - all the primaris with the magazine are easy build ones with shoulder pads molded on the model itself rather than seperate.

I've been just cutting off the pads and attaching a new one, but it's a right pain.

Ah, good to know - thanks!

Not like we'll see them here outside of 'Easy to Build' kits, I think, but always appreciate the heads up!

Very nice work on those Plague Marines - and quite a nice army you've already got there!

Blimey, that is a lot more replies than I was expecting!

@Paradigm: I don't actually know what that means or how you find it out. But thanks for the info.

@Dark Apostle: Thank you, the Dark Imperium set is a cracking one and a basis for many an army. Best of luck in completing it, personally I have done the Death Guard side but not the Imperial side. The P and M blogs are great for motivation and inspiration.

@ Tyranid Horde: The subscription is an interesting prospect, just depends if it suits your needs and wallet as it is a long term investment. Let me know if you sign up.

@GMSchofield: Any fully painted army is impressive IMO, I am sure you will do the models justice.

@Ulfhednar_42: I still think I will go the freehand route, I only really like transfers for flat areas on vehicles.

@Mysterio: Micro sol and sel are both completely foreign to me, I have yet to see a simple explanation of what they actually do, and they seem to be a bit of an unusual thing in the UK.

@Ancestral Hamster: Thanks for the links. I like the concept of the shapeways stuff, but the insignia in particular look a bit too thick and chunky for my liking and the edges on the shoulder pads look too bulky for me.

@Azazelx: Thanks Sir, as you know I love your work so am appreciative of any compliments.

So progress wise one great thing about the subscription is that it has reignited my love for the Death Guard, to that end I looked at my "to paint list" and singled out The Tainted Cohort, three Blight Lord Terminators:









The issue is there are more coming with Conquest (who knows when?) so the choppers will be coming out again for conversions. But overall I am happy with these.

Here is also the very early, and messy, stages of more Celestial Lions. These have simply had a layer of Retributor Gold and an Aggrax wash.





As ever, thanks for looking.

Yes, Captain time! Looking forward to it!

And it meant your thread had got the most likes/upvotes ect over a given period, which in turn means a lot of people are enjoying following along with this project. You can see it at the very top of the main forum page, though you've sadly now been deposed by a thread on Space Marine heads... Still, keep up the good work!

Ooof. Got a bit to catch up on!

The plague marines/terminators are coming out great. I really like your style of painting. The large, distinct, colour blocks really appeal to me.
And damn, you make gold look good! The CL's look good before you're even finished with them.

So more progress, got my second squad of Intercessors done. Feels good to already have two units of troops for the army:









And here they are with the other squad doing a bit of investigating:



So with issues 1 and 2 done (bar a few spare Intercessors, but I will keep them for future conversions) what is next? Well luckily the postman came knocking today:



So that gives me :

3 Reavers
6 Poxwalkers
3 Plague Marines and
1 Ultramarine Lieutenant to paint.

Thanks for looking.

The marines are looking great, looking forward to the bit of free hand on the pauldrons.

Nice work!

What's the UM Lieutenant like in the plastic. He looks like a pretty nice sculpt on the site but I've only seen the one angle. Tempted to order issue 5 if he's good.

Really nice work on getting 10 of them sorted. They look brilliant. Have you bought any additional Reivers or are you just going to have three of them for now?

 Paradigm wrote:
Nice work!

What's the UM Lieutenant like in the plastic. He looks like a pretty nice sculpt on the site but I've only seen the one angle. Tempted to order issue 5 if he's good.

I was pleasantly surprised when I got mine - two heads (can only have one at a time though), separate shoulder pads and some additional dangly bits to glue on. The pose works really well, even though it is subtle. I'm selling mine to a friend who collects Ultras - after seeing it in the plastic I was very tempted to buy another one for conversion into a Blood Angel, but I think the ultramarines icons on the sword would be pretty difficult to remove nicely. I'd definitely recommend picking one up if you do collect Ultra's though, and looking forward to seeing how OP turns it into a Celestial Lion.

@Tyranid Horde: do not expect too much of my freehand, I may yet move on to one of the other options.

@Paradigm: the UM Sgt is a great figure, I love him. He is joining my Deathwatch. I just swapped the left UM pad with a Deathwatch one and put the Ultramarine on his right pauldron.

@GMSchofield: Just the three Reivers for now, Conquest provides another three though.

Got my second delivery constructed and based:



No pictures of the Reivers and Poxwalkers as they are just the stock miniatures, here are some more pictures of the Ultramarine LT:







Also very happy with my alterations to the Plague Marines, the champion is the same loadout as the stock miniature but reversed and with a head from the Deathshroud kit:





Now to get painting, thanks for looking.

The plague marines look great, even just with a few head and arm swaps. I have to say, I don't play marines but I'd pick up the UM lieutenant just to have the model, it's way nicer than the others you'd get in Dark Imperium or the new Eldar box.

Those Lion's are fantastic looking when deployed in force. I really like the dark skin on the sergeant. Makes for a nice change.

Wow - some top quality work here and impressive speed.

Found an article about Micro Sol and Micro Set: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/184452.aspx

It seems the first product is what is wanted for decals on a pauldron.

 Mysterio wrote:
I used them to get some Marines Malevolent transfers.

Now, it has been a while - it there a good tutorial out there for how to best apply them?

Micro Sol and Micro Set?

Gloss varnish the area first?

Something like that?

@Tyranid Horde, it is a pretty nice model, and a bit of a departure from most of the Primaris range. I may look into getting another to lionise.

@Snrub: The Celestial Lions are traditionally stated to be of African type heritage, whether that involves other skin colours I shall have to see.

@iGtR: Thank you.

@Ancestral Hamster: Cheers, that seems to make more sense that what I have previously seen. Now to try an experiment with the stuff.

So I have completed my Primaris Captain, Kamau Bakari I really love this miniature so I am wanted to do a good job. The pose is so reminiscent of 3rd edition captains of old. Anyway here he is:







Thanks for looking.

Have gotten issue 3 and the Reivers done and dusted...I thought forward operatives...I thought special ops, the only sensible conclusion was a colour scheme of the traditional bright gold with royal blue accents for these dudes. Before painting these I was never that keen on the look of the Reivers but I am quite fond of them now, especially the helmets which I think would really look good on Night Lords. Here they are:







After digging into more of the lore of the Celestial Lions there are only a few named characters, principle of these is current chapter master Ekene Dubaku. He was granted the position by High Marshal Helbrecht after the betrayal on Armageddon, because of his valour and also being the only Celestial Lion officer left. Helbrecht also granted him an ancient suit of Imperial Fist armour. So how would I represent Dubaku on the tabletop? Easy, steal an idea I saw on Reddit. So here is:

Chapter Master Of The Celestial Lions Ekene Dubaku







Thanks for looking.

He looks great. Custodes body and is the lion cloak from a high elf white lion or something?

Cracking job on the Reivers, while I'm not a fan of the models, you've painted them well! Dubaku looks brilliant, can't wait to see the chapter colours on him!

Really like the Primaris Captain and that Dubaku conversion is SWEET!

Cheers gents,

@pgmason: The body, lion and all, is Trajann Valoris. The head, power sword, plasma pistol and purity seals are from other kits.

@Tyranid Horde: I am holding off painting him for a while, want to get issues 3-6 done first.

@youwasshock: Thank you, though my Reivers are not a patch on the one (assume it is yours?) in your avatar.

A touch of progress this weekend as I have gotten issues 4 and 5 done. First up are the poxwalkers. This is a really basic and quick scheme as I do not see any point in spending much time on a horde unit like this. I already had 38 of them painted up so these 6 take me to 44. They are rough and ready but fit in fine with the ones I already have so they do the job.







Now onto Lieutenant Calsius. I already have a sizeable Deathwatch army and their armour is painted in an unusual way, black with a fenrisian grey highlight. Not traditional but I like the way it works. Oddly whilst most Primaris units are available to the Deathwatch the Lieutenant is not, so if I am to fit him in it will have to be as an Intercessor squad sergeant so an instant demotion.

As it is he can be sequestered into my Celestial Lions to teach the recruits the ropes. Here he is:







Thanks for looking.

Dubaku came out really well. Great use of the custodian as artificer armour. I haven't read the story he features in, but it's certainly a good look for a chapter master. He should look wicked when painted up.