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So I'm feeling a little brave wading into these waters! So many people have so much good work on here, and here I am contributing my measly little bit, but I got some nice comments in my intro thread and thought I'd keep posting my progress and so this thread will be my little piece of Dakka real estate to come back to and share my pictures!

This is my first time collecting and painting miniatures and have found it to be pretty relaxing and enjoyable so far even though I'm mostly a video game player. Part of my nefarious plan is to get my xbox playing compatriots in on the silliness, so my overall idea here is to get a couple of small starting armies for variety and have a nice terrain board built for maximum effect, but there's no rush and first things first!


I've recently finished (more or less) the Space Marines from the AoBR set:





This was just a random shot, but I really like the overhead lighting on it.




I'm really happy I managed to finish these guys up and I'll revist them in a bit, give them final touch ups, and provide more pics, but for now, it's time for the ORKS!!



Here's a picture of some raw Ork Boyz before I started:





It took a couple sessions but I managed to file off most of the flashing, but some will probably need another look before I get some paint on them.




And that's where I stand now.

I'm considering going ahead and putting some sand on and doing the bases before I start painting the models to get better coverage and to make it easier. At least that's the theory after doing the basing of the SMs after I painted them, so we'll see.


...And so it begins...

Hm, looks okay so far, but I can't really tell without closeups.

I have a few other pictures in my gallery, but none are super close up yet.




That's my favorite so far, and about as close a pic as I've got now, but I'll be sure to get some next time I take pics.

Looks nice man, good work!

It's looking pretty good I must say!

Looks really good!

I just LOVE your Dreadnought!

Do you varnish? you should. $3 can of matte clear krylon from wal-mart works wonders.

lord marcus wrote:Do you varnish? you should. $3 can of matte clear krylon from wal-mart works wonders.

I have not yet. I do have a bottle of GW's 'ArdCoat (gloss varnish), but I've read that it's not good to apply when it's humid, and it's very humid here in the southeast right now.

Does the spray on matte varnish have the same problems? I definitely would like to get some varnish on the models at some point.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks for the kind words so far, everyone!

I don't have much to show for this update, but I am finishing up the bases for my Ork Boyz. I base painted them with Khemri Brown and then painted the rims with Graveyard Earth.



The ugly one in the back was me experimenting with just skipping the Khemri Brown step, but as you can see, it looks like so going over the plastic with a foundation paint first and then moving on to a 'regular' color is definitely the way to go. That way takes two steps, but you're not saving any time doing it the other way because it just does not coat evenly at all. Next step is to get some sand on there and then get cracking on the actual models.


Also, as promised, here's another closeup pic. This is my Captain from the AoBR set:



He needs some touching up still, especially seeing him all zoomed in and catching stuff my normal eye just does not see. I haven't gotten brave enough to do his eyes and mouth yet either. Also, doing the border between his cape and power armor was a nightmare. Paint some white and touch up the blue. Touch up the blue and then have to re-do the white. Repeat. I think there's a special level in Hell reserved for model painters where this process goes on for eternity.

Nice work - and you're doing it 'how you should'!

Finish up what you've got before buying the next batch!

It keeps you motivated, and keeps you from having closets full of... stuff!

Nice work, they look really good for a first try.

As a tip, I hate doing faces, if you paint and highlight the whole face, then give it a thin wash with black or a darker tone, you fill in the eyes and the mouth, it worked great for my scouts.

You should be good to go. I live in florida and varnish regularly. no problems yet.

Zen2k wrote:

lord marcus wrote:Do you varnish? you should. $3 can of matte clear krylon from wal-mart works wonders.

I have not yet. I do have a bottle of GW's 'ArdCoat (gloss varnish), but I've read that it's not good to apply when it's humid, and it's very humid here in the southeast right now.

Does the spray on matte varnish have the same problems? I definitely would like to get some varnish on the models at some point.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks for the kind words so far, everyone!

I don't have much to show for this update, but I am finishing up the bases for my Ork Boyz. I base painted them with Khemri Brown and then painted the rims with Graveyard Earth.



The ugly one in the back was me experimenting with just skipping the Khemri Brown step, but as you can see, it looks like so going over the plastic with a foundation paint first and then moving on to a 'regular' color is definitely the way to go. That way takes two steps, but you're not saving any time doing it the other way because it just does not coat evenly at all. Next step is to get some sand on there and then get cracking on the actual models.


Also, as promised, here's another closeup pic. This is my Captain from the AoBR set:



He needs some touching up still, especially seeing him all zoomed in and catching stuff my normal eye just does not see. I haven't gotten brave enough to do his eyes and mouth yet either. Also, doing the border between his cape and power armor was a nightmare. Paint some white and touch up the blue. Touch up the blue and then have to re-do the white. Repeat. I think there's a special level in Hell reserved for model painters where this process goes on for eternity.

Thanks for the tips, and I'll be sure to pick up some varnish on my next supply run and check it out as well!

Here's the next update on my Ork Boyz:

I've got ten sand bases ready to go. I did a little experiment and used regular sand on half and the GW sand that comes in the starter kit on the others. As they stand, I'd say the GW sand does look better. I could just use them as-is and they would look alright, if not pretty good. The plain jane sand is expectedly so-so, but after a coat of paint they will probably be fine.




He's pretty ugly, but I've got my first model painted.



I mainly wanted to see how the colors looked together and just generally see how things might go. I may swap the colors and make the armor red and the hair black. I don't know yet, and as much as I'd like to do a checkerboard pattern, I'm just not feelin' it for these guys. These are the basic troops, afterall, and are probably suppose to be pretty bland.


So far, I dislike the black undercoat paint found in the starter kit. Paints do not go very well over it, even the darker stuff like the vermin brown for this guy's pants. If I do another black undercoat on the next batch, I'm going to try something else with a, hopefully, less shiny appearance. Unfortunately, I've already covered ten guys in this stuff:




It is a learning experience, but I am glad I went ahead and did the single test model, and, once I've settled on the colors, I'll have a clear plan of attack to follow for the rest of them.

Starting to see the potential of these guys finished up is nice!

Houston, we have Orks! W00h00!


I took pictures as I progressed through these guys over the past week. It's kinda neat seeing them progress in order. Maybe I'm easily amused.. anyway..

I started off with the black undercoat and then covered a good bit with khemri brown.





You can see even the foundation paint doesn't go over the undercoat very well. If I had just painted on plastic, it would have been more even after just one coat.





Next up, I put scorched brown on the leather straps as recommended in the AoBR book and vermin brown for their pants. I used orkhide shade as the base for their skin. Also painted the two armor plates mechrite red.





After that, it was finishing the weapons and smaller details with boltgun metal and touching up with chaos black. I was going to paint all the axe and sword shafts beastial brown, but I liked the look of the black and it saved a step too, so there's one redemption for the black goop. Also drybrushed goblin green over the orkhide shade.




Lastly, I finished them off with a coat of thrakka green wash. Considering they're made of algae or whatever, it made sense. It looks pretty good overall, except for a couple spots where it pooled up too much, but the greenish tinge on some of the metal looks great.





Here they are based. Obviously, I still have to cover up the plastic bar across the base, but I didn't let that stop me from taking pictures. Overall, I'm pleased with how they turned out. Not as nice as my marines, but I've got twice as many to do!



Also, here's a closeup pic between of the GW sand vs. sand bases after some graveyard earth was applied.



Can you tell which is which?



Thought I'd close this update with a pic of the whole gang (so far):

The Orks! They've... multiplied..

Didn't get a whole lot done last week, but this past weekend I managed to make some progress on my second batch of Ork Boyz from the AoBR set. I don't have progress pics like last time, because I followed the exact same process aside from trying to do them more quickly. There's a few blemishes because I haven't done any touchups (yet) and I still think they look alright, though I doubt they'll wow too many folks here on dakka, but they'll look impressive enough on the table.





I'm pretty happy I finally have enough models painted to do some starter battles (as described in the AoBR mini-book)! Sure, I could field of bunch of plain jane grey models, but for some reason that just doesn't appeal to me.







Oh yeah..

Well I must say your AoBR set turned out better than mine did.

If I might sugest.

Seeing as you havn't painted the teeth yet. The way that I painted them was by takeing my smallest brush getting a small amount of paint on it, wipeing it once across a piece of paper, and then gently dragging it over the teeth several times until I got the desired color.

there are probally better ways to paint teeth but it worked alright for me.

Thanks!

The teeth are definitely one feature I really do need to go back and do. After looking at the pics in the mini book, I also want to add some tin bitz to their weapons or maybe a red wash to make them look old and rusty. Also some highlights possibly, but I want to look at a good example so I can copy/steal their idea before I try it.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've already run into that dreaded drop of paint at the end of the brush. Sometimes I try to work it to my advantage, when the surface area is large enough, but trying to get into little nooks and crannies with a blob of paint is asking for it!

One thing I like about updating this blog of sorts with my progress is it keeps me motivated. If no one had chimed in, I probably would have just coasted and not touched up the Ork Boyz' teeth, but they really do look a lot better with that finishing touch.






It's a big improvement, no? I'm not saying it wasn't a PITA to do, but definitely worth it.

Having hit one of my milestones of having enough painted models to do a starter battle/first game (tac marines vs boyz), I made a slight detour after finishing those up and did a quick terrain project over the weekend:








I followed the instructions in the Necron codex, although I skipped the Dark Angels green and just drybrushed Snot Green. It still turned out pretty well I think. Although, when I painted the base, it warped a bit and I've been trying to flatten that piece out before I glue it all together.

Still, if you don't count all new tools I got to start doing this, this seems like a pretty cheap way to make a lot of cool terrain. I still like GW's terrain. Stuff like the moon craters at a good price are a no brainer to me, but I think adding some custom pieces will be fun and spice it up a bit as well.

Anyway, there's a good chance my next update will include some progress on the gaming board I plan on starting this weekend. I'm looking forward to it, as I've got some cool stuff on the way.


In the meantime, I've started on the home stretch, as in I've started on the Ork Nobz and WarBoss, leaving only the three deffkoptas left on my AoBR sprues.




I'd like to pimp the deflashing tool that you may have heard about in the picture. It's pretty cool. If you can get a good angle so you can put some pressure on the tool, it takes the flashing right off. At first, I didn't like it and thought it may have been a waste since I was pretty comfortable with my files, but as I used it more and got the hang of it, it grew on me. There are still some spots that I like using the file better, like on the gun barrels and such, but the deflashing tool is great for tiny little ridged bits like the Ork fingers and some of the wrapped handles. Using files on those tend to take away a bit of detail, though you still have to be careful. Overall, it's definitely a nice addition to my tool collection.


Slowly but surely, I'm getting there!

This is fun to read. I still have not painted my aobr stuff, doh!

Which is horrible considering I play orks and marines....

My only advice is what you'll hear from everyone, take your time, do your best, and just have fun with them.

you can always come back later to finish/correct, so don't sweat little things (like white cloaks on blue armor....I would have to say that sounds horrible, ).

Thanks for the feedback! If people are enjoying reading it, then it's definitely been worth the time uploading the pics and sharing my progress through the set!

Like I said earlier, it's keeping me motivated and it's fun!

Looking great so far. Can't wait to see more.

That's a good start!! You probably painted more minis in a month that I'll do in a year, so congratulations!

Thanks guys!

Yeah, looking at the almost empty sprues in the box, I definitely feel a good sense of the progress I've made so far. I can still remember pulling them out for the first time and not knowing where to start. Good stuff.

Are you still hand painting on the undercoat? You should really try spray priming. If you're worried about humidiity, do a test coat on some sprue.

Really nice stuff! How about painting the eyes? I'd recommend doing it before you do the skin

Actually one of the new toys I've got is a cheap airbrush. It's a Master G23. It has a dual-action trigger and is gravity fed and it works, well enough for what I need it for, and the kit came together with a low psi compressor that cost me about the same as a GW sprayer and a few cans of air. My first experiment with it was actually coating the crystals and base in my terrain project.

I'm still trying to get a feel for the right mix of paint/thinner (windex) and painting the plastic isn't quite the same as painting the foam. The foam absorbed it better, but it also took two coats to get good coverage. The paint took to the model pretty well on my first pass except for the extreme edges, but I'm thinking the paint may be too diluted or I had the airbrush too close to the model when I applied it. I just need to experiment more. I also want to experiment with the actual paint. Right now I'm using the basic createx airbrush paint, but I'd like to try the vallejo air brand and see if there's any difference. Would be nice if it dried faster, but that's not a big deal. Anyway, cool toy!

Here's a pic of the little setup I've got going for it:



It was taken after I put down the first coat on the crystals. I've got a little gatorade bottle (just what I had around) to spew the cleaning solution (windex) into when I'm cleaning up afterwards. And, yeah, those are some of the supplies for my gaming board in the background that will be this weekend's project.

As for painting the eyes, damn you, but now I probably will go back and give it a go. Have to decide what color, though, and I'm going back and forth between a white/black or red/orange combo.

I like that idea of painting the eyes before the skin! I'll definitely try that on these Nobz when I get to that point. Thanks!

Haven't done much the past couple days because I've been watching my Braves get destroyed in Philadelphia but with that trauma over with I plan on getting some stuff done. Also keeping my fingers crossed a certain package shows up in the mail tomorrow or saturday.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/103752-.html?m=2
Red and yellow combo incase you need some inspiration

I live to spread chaos

Nice painting

Yeah, that does look pretty good! Just picked up some golden yellow on my last trip to the store, too.

So...have you been painting before you bought AoBR? O won't believe you if you say no

These look great! Much better than how my AoBR stuff came out.