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I like the different approaches to painting white on the two. You get the smooth and the gritty. Both look good. Ranger gal is really going to sparkle once you go back and hit all those gems.

Loving the robot so far, pretty impressed with how the white turned out considering it's dry brushed, perfect for base for weathering after. Excited to see what you do to him

Love the idea of drybrushing over the metal of the robot, it's looking really good! Seeing how my robot is only primed leadbelcher, I may borrow that idea, but with another color.

Good work on those old Wolves, and the BSF minis seem to be coming along nicely. I agree with you about the yellow bolters, they look great! It can be a bit of a pain to paint at times, but definitely adds a nice spot color.

Yorkright wrote: I like where your going with these 2, the white is very striking. If I could make a suggestion, have you thought about bringing up the cloaks highlights? The green looks great but building up the folds and edges would really make the fig standout, just my opinion. Otherwise like I mentioned they look great.

You’re right Yorkright, I’ve redone the cloak as the shiny yellow didn’t look right on a fabric elements. I think the Matt yellow makes the highlights more visible.

Captain Brown wrote:Getting models painted gobert.

Salute for winning the war against unpainted miniatures.

Cheers,

CB

Slowly, slowly! 42 down for the year so far is a decent number I reckon.

youwashock wrote:I like the different approaches to painting white on the two. You get the smooth and the gritty. Both look good. Ranger gal is really going to sparkle once you go back and hit all those gems.

Yeah, they’re both pretty effective and I’m liking the finished products too. The gems could’ve gone better, but they look ok so I’m calling them done.

MegaDave wrote:Loving the robot so far, pretty impressed with how the white turned out considering it's dry brushed, perfect for base for weathering after. Excited to see what you do to him

Yeah, on the tutorial their white turned out much darker, but I’m liking the brighter finish I’ve ended up with. Hopefully the finished bot doesn’t disappoint!

Viterbi wrote:Love the idea of drybrushing over the metal of the robot, it's looking really good! Seeing how my robot is only primed leadbelcher, I may borrow that idea, but with another color.

Hit URs with a good wash and some drybrushing! What colour are you going for?

mcmattila wrote:Good work on those old Wolves, and the BSF minis seem to be coming along nicely. I agree with you about the yellow bolters, they look great! It can be a bit of a pain to paint at times, but definitely adds a nice spot color.

Yep, I’m really loving the retro Yellow Bolters, the Wolf Guard Terminators will certainly be getting the same treatment!

So, as I mentioned above I redid Amalyns cloak and I think it looks much better now. All that was then left was the gems, oh so many gems! Some were so small I could barely get any of the orange on them let alone the white dot opposite! A bit of tidying up and she was done;


Next I got on with UR-025. The Man of Iron didn’t need too much work, an Agrax wash on his metal bits. A dry brush of his claw, then it was my first attempt at weathering. Some sponged on unmixed black/brown followed by some drips of Agrax. I think the blog he’s on his head and shoulder are a bit too much, but it’s too late now I guess!


As he’s already primed, I got started on Thaddeus the Purifier. I got all of the base colours down and left his wash drying

Thanks for looking

Nice work on Amalyns there gobert. Doing gems on Eldar are always tough, but they really make the models pop when they are done.

Cheers,

CB

Amalyn is lovely. Really nice work. Big fan of the weathering on UR-025. Especially the right shoulder. Dirty done right.

Don't worry about the weathering on the bot, it looks fine. And regarding your question, I will probably use dark green for the body and pink for the claw on my bot, to tie him into my planned Adeptus Mechanicus color scheme.
Thaddeus is one of the models that I don't warm up to, but good start on your end. Looking at the model, I believe it's the head, that's bothering me, may give my model a transplant

I think that UR-025 looks great, brave to do him white as well. Totally agree on MIss Rangers redone cloak looking better and Thaddeus is off to a great start.

Thaddeus has potential.

The bot Looks great imo as above.

I love how the weathering turned out! UR-025 is probably my favorite of the heroes, probably because i can't help but imagining them as barely disguising their desire to wipe out humanity.

But you know, in a funny way! I'm bad at grimdark

UR-025 looks great! I see what you mean with the weathering up top, but to me it just looks like he had a close call with a meltagun or flame.

That is a lot of gems, and I commend you for doing them by hand and not using the gem paint (like I would have )

Thats the ticket! Ranger looks great that extra work on the cloak and gems really paid off. Robots weathering looks perfect for being ten thousand years old, wandering around the Blackstone Fortress is bound to muck things up a bit too. The priest is looking good, can't wait to see what comes next.

That is all looking great. Really nice whites. Nice cream robes on the priest too.

Great work there!

Amalyn's cloak is looking good. You also pulled the white really well.
And yeah, don't worry about there being too much brown on the UR-025. There is never too much weathering

AH those BFG minis are looking good with some paint on them! Veeery clean white you got on the ranger there!

Good work on the space wolves too!

Captain Brown wrote:Nice work on Amalyns there gobert. Doing gems on Eldar are always tough, but they really make the models pop when they are done.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers Captain Brown, she came out pretty well I think, sooo many gems though! Glad I put in the stint

youwashock wrote:Amalyn is lovely. Really nice work. Big fan of the weathering on UR-025. Especially the right shoulder. Dirty done right.

Thanks youwashock, definitely the right thing to do all those gems and redo the cloak. UR-025 is growing on me, he’s a cool model and probably the character I’d choose when I eventually play the game.

Viterbi wrote:Don't worry about the weathering on the bot, it looks fine. And regarding your question, I will probably use dark green for the body and pink for the claw on my bot, to tie him into my planned Adeptus Mechanicus color scheme.
Thaddeus is one of the models that I don't warm up to, but good start on your end. Looking at the model, I believe it's the head, that's bothering me, may give my model a transplant

Thank you Viterbi, it was a first go at weathering so I’m reasonably pleased, plus he looks good on the shelf. Your dark green sounds cool, keeping your imperium colour scheme across all of the Adeptus’s (Adepti?), I like it! I know what you mean about Taddeus, he’s probably my least favourite of the Explorers, the only saving grace for him is the servo skull.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:I think that UR-025 looks great, brave to do him white as well. Totally agree on MIss Rangers redone cloak looking better and Thaddeus is off to a great start.

Tah, ListenToMeWarriors, the white scheme was curtesy of the Mid Winter Minis tutorial I’ve been following. Their Explorer recipes came out really nice so I’m following them nearly to the letter at the moment. Simple and easy!

Not Online!!! wrote:Thaddeus has potential.

The bot Looks great imo as above.

I dunno NotOnline!!!, Taddeus is a bit marmite, so it was a bit of a rush job to get him done. The bot was dead easy and still looks cool!

amazingturtles wrote:I love how the weathering turned out! UR-025 is probably my favorite of the heroes, probably because i can't help but imagining them as barely disguising their desire to wipe out humanity.

But you know, in a funny way! I'm bad at grimdark

Hehe, I know, he’s a cool sinister “hero” probably muttering “Death to all humans” under his breath.... and now I wish I’d done him as Bender!

MegaDave wrote:UR-025 looks great! I see what you mean with the weathering up top, but to me it just looks like he had a close call with a meltagun or flame.

That is a lot of gems, and I commend you for doing them by hand and not using the gem paint (like I would have )

Cheers MegaDave, maybe Pious Vorne got a bit grumpy with him one day and gave him a light flaming!?! Sadly I don’t have any of the technical paints, so I’ve got to go old school, I think they look ok, but it was a slog!

Yorkright wrote: Thats the ticket! Ranger looks great that extra work on the cloak and gems really paid off. Robots weathering looks perfect for being ten thousand years old, wandering around the Blackstone Fortress is bound to muck things up a bit too. The priest is looking good, can't wait to see what comes next.

Yeah, you’re right Yorkright, the extra work paid off on Amalyn, the gems took ages and I probably still missed a few! Given how bad old versions of Windows are, I guess UR-025 is probably prone to the odd bump, what with being thousands of years since his last update patch!

Fifty wrote:That is all looking great. Really nice whites. Nice cream robes on the priest too.

Cheers Fifty, the Army Painter white I bought is loads better than the ancient Citadel one I have, it’s almost nice painting whites! Taddeus got a bit more highlighting on his robes back to more of an off white now.

Ezki wrote:Great work there!

Amalyn's cloak is looking good. You also pulled the white really well.
And yeah, don't worry about there being too much brown on the UR-025. There is never too much weathering

Yep I’m pleased with the the white on Amalyn (&UR-025), the Army Painter Matt White ISS helping. Having seen your Orks, I’m coming round to more weathering

Snrub wrote:AH those BFG minis are looking good with some paint on them! Veeery clean white you got on the ranger there!

Good work on the space wolves too!

Thanks Snrub, they really are cool minis. I love my old skool, but some of the new stuff is pretty special!

wow! Thanks for all the comments, you’ve all kept me busy for a while with this whole “Social Distancing” thing. Thankfully my kids are oblivious, apart from being sad not to see their school friends next week. We really are living in interesting times. To that end we’ve all got to keep our spirits up, so my wife and I are getting our hobbies on. Yesterday was gardening day followed by painting evening for me (and trinket making for my wife, glittery butterfly kids key rings at the moment).

Using the Mid Winter Minis tutorials I thought I’d finish Taddeus and probably get Drahyak and Rein&Raus to the wash stage. In the end Kroot and the Ratling twins were so similar in colours I basecoated them up together, washed them and then did Taddeus. Once he was done the washes were dry and it was still early so I decided to finish the other 3.

Taddeus didn’t need much in the end, I did an Agrax wash on his gold bits, highlighted his robes with white and added a couple of bits of detail. I couldn’t get inspired with him, so called it done quite readily.





I think he looks alright for my least favourite model in the box and not much effort!

Next up was Drahyak Grehk, again I followed the tutorial and finished him in short order. Nothing too special, but I like the red cloak which is just Evil Sunz Scarlet mixed with Bestial Brown. I figured the Kroot would be quite grimy, but their guns look a bit like Tau tech, so that was brightened up a bit.





Looking at the pics now, I think I missed the wash on his feet and the vials on his leg strap. I’ll have to get those sorted next painting session.

Next up were Rein & Raus the Ratling twins. I’ve seen that some don’t like them, but I think they’re quite cool. Their palette is pretty much the same as Drahyak so they joined him in the paint queue.




Not much effort for decent results I think, though I missed a hairy bit on a foot. It also seems that I forgot to drill the barrels of any of the Explorers, so I’ll have to go back and do that.

When I put them on their shelf I couldn’t help but take a snap of my Blackstone Fortress guys so far

I’m running out of space, so need to build an intermediary shelf to cover the escalation box, plus the Nurgle and Zoat boxes when I get those. I need to basecoat Esperanto Locano and Pious Vorne and get Janus Draik done too. When I’ve done those 3 I’ll go back and tart up the bases a bit.

Thanks for looking (from a safe distance)!

Group shot looks great! (I viewed them on my phone 6 ft away )

I also like the cloak for the kroot, it's a nice color. And I love kroot!

It made me chuckle every time you noticed something you didn't paint in a photo, I do the same thing all the time!

Keep trucking along, enjoying every update of yours!

The Kroot is definitely my favorite of the latest batch. He looks very cool. Love the group shot, also. Can't wait to see the Zoat in all his splendor added to the group.

Not every day you see a kroot model. Liking the cloak!

They are looking real good in the group shot. Well done.

gobert,

The Kroot and Ratlings are very nice.

Cheers,

CB

Great work on this latest batch and Rein & Raus are by far my favorite explorers of the game. Love them just for that mini fridge, I had such a blast painting mine last year, such nice sculpts.

The Kroot is looking shmicko! I hadn't actually realised he had leg warmers on.

Kroot are such an underrated race. They really need some love!

It’s all looking good Gobert, group shot of all the models together is my favorite.

I like the ratlings! Always have so i was glad to see them appear in blackstone fortress. You did a great job with the pair of them.

Hey, a bit late to the party but really digging your Blackstone output. I agree Thaddeus isn't my favorite sculpt in the box but you've done him up very nicely. I think the Kroot is my favorite as well, love the cloak and I like the choice to keep the gun bright. I think Amalyn turned out great, nice depth of color on her cloak. Painting white is hard but you've done a great job each time!

MegaDave wrote:Group shot looks great! (I viewed them on my phone 6 ft away )

I also like the cloak for the kroot, it's a nice color. And I love kroot!

It made me chuckle every time you noticed something you didn't paint in a photo, I do the same thing all the time!

Keep trucking along, enjoying every update of yours!

Cheers MegaDave, I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog and my forgetful nature . I’ve just been too keen to get these guys done as I’m so close to finishing the main BSF boxset... I think it’ll mark the first time I’ve fully painted a boxset! Probably best to view these next lot from 6ft too...

youwashock wrote:The Kroot is definitely my favorite of the latest batch. He looks very cool. Love the group shot, also. Can't wait to see the Zoat in all his splendor added to the group.

Yeah, he’s grown on me has Dahyak, I’m liking his bionic eye in the pics. Sadly youwashock I think we’ll be waiting some time for the new Zoat as GW have shut their factory. Who knows when he/she will appear.

Ezki wrote:Not every day you see a kroot model. Liking the cloak!

They are looking real good in the group shot. Well done.

Yeah, you’re right Ezki, they don’t seem very popular the Kroot. Dahyak was prettty fun to paint, maybe when the pile is depleted around 2030 I should get some more Kroot?

Captain Brown wrote:gobert,

The Kroot and Ratlings are very nice.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks CB!

Viterbi wrote:Great work on this latest batch and Rein & Raus are by far my favorite explorers of the game. Love them just for that mini fridge, I had such a blast painting mine last year, such nice sculpts.

I know, that fridge and sack of food are great touches Viterbi. Their rules look pretty fun so they’ll probably be in my party when I finally explore the Blackstone Fortress!

Snrub wrote:The Kroot is looking shmicko! I hadn't actually realised he had leg warmers on.

Kroot are such an underrated race. They really need some love!

Not sure what schmicko means Snrub, but I’ll take it as a complement it must be pretty cold in the fortress, so leg warmers are a must have item. Every Kroot whose any Kroot is wearing them

Yorkright wrote: It’s all looking good Gobert, group shot of all the models together is my favorite.

Thank you Yorkright, hopefully the rest of the gang will be joining them shortly.

amazingturtles wrote:I like the ratlings! Always have so i was glad to see them appear in blackstone fortress. You did a great job with the pair of them.

Yep, I agree amazingturtles, the ratlings were a fun little bunch back in 2nd. I never got any for my Catachan Guard back in the day, but they add some fun to BSF

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Hey, a bit late to the party but really digging your Blackstone output. I agree Thaddeus isn't my favorite sculpt in the box but you've done him up very nicely. I think the Kroot is my favorite as well, love the cloak and I like the choice to keep the gun bright. I think Amalyn turned out great, nice depth of color on her cloak. Painting white is hard but you've done a great job each time!

Welcome Don Qui Hotep! Great username btw! The Blackstone Fortress minis have been great to paint, so detailed but somehow forgiving of fairly basic paint jobs.

So today I set up my new lamps. Inspired by mcmatilla’s double daylight lamp set up, I added some to my Covid-19 office upgrade order on amazon. Whilst I was there sorted out a new we palette too, just a sandwich box and a thin sponge. I’m hoping it will keep the paint from drying out better than my old one. Here’s the new look hobby set up;

After sorting them out and tidying the office cables and setting up a replacement printer I snuck in a bit of hobby time. I couldn’t be bothered facing the cold evening so didn’t prime Pious and Espern. Instead I based up some High Elf Archers and their champion, along with making a large scenic (ish) base for my old school Repeater Bolt thrower. I had a big stone that was a perfect fit for the thrower, but it meant I’d need to massively build up the base. Not wanting to waste all of my basing materials on a filling job I dug our my old Space Marine bases, left overs from upping their base size, and piled them up.

That means the commander and loader can stand at the same height as the thrower, and it’ll tower over the rest of the army. Then I ended up using a good portion of my basing stuff anyway.

But it looks quite good so I’m not too fussed about that.

The archers bases weren’t anything fancy, but learning from my Spearmen I’ve mounted them to the base straight away rather than battling to get a fit that doesn’t show slotta bits under their feet. Sadly that means I’ll have to be careful when dry brushing the bases.

Anyways, thanks for looking and stay safe everyone!

Yeah. I lament the delay for the Zoat. Maybe one day...

Good idea using those old bases as filler.

It looks like a nice and well organized set up! You do not want to see mine.

I like those old elves, and I'm looking forward to what you do with them

Bolt throwers! Love them. One of the most iconic Oldhammer models, I think. Happy to see it get some modern love. Clever to bulk up using many old bases - that opens up a lot of scenery potential. Perhaps some colonnaded halls of stacked slotta bases!