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Hey everyone, new guy here. I've recently caught the bug again, and have been painting a Dark Elf army for fantasy. But, the bug got worse and I decided it would be a fun project to completely repaint an old space marine army I painted when I was a kid. Oh my, what have I gotten myself into. But I want to do it while spending as little money as possible. I know the new kits are awesome, but I don't want my wallet to hate me too bad...

I've got a random hodge-podge of old old guys, dating to the late 80s. Lots of beakies, including the original Rogue Trader plastic kit. I've got various other lead figures I bought back before the hobby was brought to its current standards and I was lucky to find anything at the one hobby shop in my city.

I've been using Pine-Sol to strip paint off the lead figures, and Simple Green to clean the plastic. My painting skills have gotten better since I was a teenager, and I also have quite a better set of tools and paints now, as well as patience. Back then, I would just slop paint on thickly, without even trying to thin it. Although I did try my best.

So here's a pic of what I'm working with, my whole army I managed to collect and paint from back in the day.





I was initially really into Dark Angels, then Blood Angels, then White Scars. I've played a few games with this force...and lost miserably! This time around, I'm going to buy some more tanks!


Here's my first squad, they're just going to be tactical marines and I've got 5 more or less done. I'm going all out this time, and naming each squad for maximum geekage. This one I've dubbed "primae."

The chapter I'm creating is going to feature a Jack-O-Lantern as their icon. Yeah not very characteristic of marines I know, but it does have the advantage of looking cool and being relatively easy to paint freehand. Not sure what I'll call them, I'm thinking either Halloween Marines or Octoberforce.





I'm going for a heavily weathered and war-torn, battle scarred look with these guys. I got out my Dremel and just went to town, gouging and scratching tear marks and battle damage, as well as bullet holes. Technically, with a date of 1987 on these lead figurines, they're by definition Venerable.


I'd love to hear any feedback and I'll be enjoying reading the other worklogs here!

I'm in - I love old minis because of the powerful nostalgia I feel when I look at them - been doing a very similar blog.

Your chapter is definitely unique

They do bring back memories. I remember getting the Rogue Trader manual with the kit of marines it came with--it was unlike anything I'd seen before and totally sucked me in. I especially liked how back in those days everything was less defined, you kind of had to use your imagination a bit.


Here's some more pics!

Simple green bath time! These guys have actually been painted twice, so there's two layers of fairly thick paint built up on them. I tested the simple green out on some backpacks earlier, and it came off fairly well after about 4 hours and some vigorous scrubbing with a tooth brush.

These five will fill out this tactical squad, giving me a flamer and missile launcher. Are melta guns really worth the points? I only have one and haven't really got to use him.



Close up of the sarge. I really like this figure, very clean sculpting on him.



Marine with lots of bullet holes




Tomorrow I'm gonna finish up their backpacks, and if I get plenty of work done perhaps I can start on the next 5 guys to fill out this tactical squad.

In the hot hot world of competitive 40K, Meltaguns are all the rage, due to the increased survivability of Vehicles. 'mech' lists are very, very popular.

Keep the old skool coming!

--Brian

Well today was fairly productive. I cleaned the paint as best I could off some old plastic Rogue Trader beakies. I had really caked it on there, and had repainted them several times, so it was thickly layered and quite a job to remove it. Not that these figures are especially detailed, but I did want to remove as much as possible. The Simple Green works fairly well, but my glove tore and I got some on my thumb, dries your skin out pretty bad. It's non-toxic, at least.

Here's a shot of them assembled and more or less as clean as they'll ever get. I used my Dremel to rough them up, and create dings and scars on the armor, which makes them significantly less boring. Space Marines sure have come a LONG way since these guys were made.



Here's the basic paint job. Macharius Solar Orange, which is a rather nice paint, it dries fantastically with a very flat, almost chalky finish as opposed to that waxy finish many Citadel paints have. Is that the difference of the Citadel Foundation line?

I'm a fanatic for standard bearers, so every squad must have one! I drilled a small hole through this guy's hand, and will have him holding the flag pole.



And my first stage of washing is done. I use Bestial Brown diluted with Tamiya X-20A thinner. I love this thinner, I use it for practically everything. Makes any paint flow so nicely, and dry very thinly, preserving detail.



And lastly I picked up one of these today. I've been craving tanks, and the price was right on this one.



That's it for now!

Cool!

I remember buying with fondness the old RT01 box set (or whatever it was called) with the plastic space marines!

They were cool at a time you would make skimmers out of deodorant bottles.



As above, quite nostalgic.

These guys are coming along nicely, I've totally caught the bug for painting marines!

I've been doing a lot of work on the bases, adding in scrap bits and wire and other random pieces to create my own little world for each base. I want to take the war-torn theme even further and make it look like they are advancing through a field of wreckage or blasted scrap metal, along with blackened earth and dead vegetation.

I've been experimenting with various types of flock and plants from model train set/diorama stuff. Some of it looks good, but some of it just really doesn't work for 40k models. At any rate, five models are done and I'll clear coat them and be ready for gaming!











Cloved-footed space marines...this is just a bizarre model, kind of cool.



Flamer unit beakie, I need to work on their weapons...



Bolters seem hard to get 'right.' I kind of want them to look like real world weapons, which are painted black and weather to silver. But everyone always paints space marine bolters like a silvery color. Not sure how I'll proceed with these.

Nice old-skool marines. Keep 'em coming.

I love the theme you've picked. So totally awsesome and unique. Can't go wrong!

Hey fellow painters! Last few weeks have been a frenzy of paint stripping, modelling, painting and fun! So much in fact I've barely stopped to take a breath!

So, this is quickly becoming more than a pet project...more like an obsession. I've completely stripped the paint off my old old Rogue Trader boxed set beakies. That was a pretty laborious process, as I had repainted them several times and quite crudely as a teenager. It also makes one hell of a mess, using a toothbrush causes paint flecks to go EVERYWHERE. And I'm doing it in my kitchen

I've managed to construct 3 full tactical squads from all my Rogue Trader era figures, which is cool. Some of them required a bit of creative modelling, as I was missing arms, bolters, heads etc. A few have more modern bolters and weapons. I've also done a fair amount of modelling on them, drilling in guitar string into the recesses behind their shoulder plates to create cables etc.

Also using the guitar string to insert into their heads to create bionic implants and weapon linkages. In keeping with the spirit of Space Marine artwork, I've tried to make the bionic implants as grotesque as possible! One guy even has a servo-skull wired into his head (an idea I kind of stole from some guy doing superb Space Hulk termies).

I've also purchased and painted 2 rhinos and a razorback. I want to have a fairly armored force and eventually I know I'll have to own one of each tank at least. I also have 2 more full tactical squads I can repaint, 10 assault marines, 8 terminators, 1 newish dread (made of pewter) and one OLD style dread made of lead, and an old style predator tank that I can repaint. I want to keep my costs down, as this is already getting out of hand. Anything I can repaint = less money I have to shell out!

Here's what all those old beakies looked like just after I finished stripping all the paint:



And another squad I've yet to paint:



So here's some pics of work so far, I finished up squad Primae and their transport:







And I've more or less finished 10 more tactical marines, I call them squad Grim!



Here's the Sarge, this guy has a servo-skull that I made from various pieces of wire, guitar string and other miscellaneous bits, the skull came from the old HeroQuest game from the early 90s. There was some guy on here posting some amazing Space Hulk models and he totally inspired me to give this a whirl.



This is my favorite tank so far, the dozer blade turned out real well. It was leftover bit from an old Chimera kit my friend gave me. On this rhino I've gone a little experimental, utilizing the dozer blade and the hunter-killer missile. I've no idea if either are good or not, and it will make the tank fairly expensive, but I love the way it looks!



The antennae are made of heavy-gauge guitar string, and there are many bits from various Tamiya 1/35th scale tanks on both these rhinos.





Now I'm thinking about stripping the paint off this old predator and remodelling it. I initially had modelled this as a looted Ork predator, but lost any interest in painting and collecting Orks:



Problem with this model though, is that it, well, sucks. It's just wimpy looking, and nowhere near as detailed as the modern predator. I could buff the armor up with sheet styrene, and sort of "cool it up" with bits, but still it's just kind of a lame ol' duck. However, it would save me about 40 bucks if I used this instead of buying a new one...

And last pic...this is the pile of unbuilt models I've been accumulating. I'm starting to think this is an obsession. I'm always looking at more models I'd like to buy, and outside of warhammer stuff I do LOVE Japanese mech kits. I've also got a Dark Elf army that I've been working on, but has been put on hold due to my space marine painting frenzy!



This hobby is its own peculiar kind of madness, isn't it? I suppose it beats wasting your time watching TV or playing video games, I mean at least you have something to show for your time and hard work.

Anyways, love to hear any comments or suggestions!

Ah brings back so many memories - I love your old school minis.

You have some of my favourite models.

Your painting is pretty awesome too!

Hey, don't dis' the Classic Predator! (I have four!)

Your army looks awesome. I absolutely love the theme. I've been waiting literally years to see someone make orange look good on marines, and you seem to have managed it almost effortlessly!

Fifty wrote:Hey, don't dis' the Classic Predator! (I have four!)

Your army looks awesome. I absolutely love the theme. I've been waiting literally years to see someone make orange look good on marines, and you seem to have managed it almost effortlessly!

Hey thanks man! I love orange think it's my favorite color, and I looked and looked at the various codices and noticed there are no orange Space Marines, so thought I'd take a stab at it. Did you do anything to your preds? I was thinking of making new sponsons and downgrading from lascannons to heavy bolters, using the leftover heavy bolters from my razorback kit.

You can see one of them in the blog of my sig. I am just about to go outside and finish undercoating it. That one has been converted into a Baal Predator - Assault Cannons and Heavy Bolters. The other three need stripping and repainting, but are currently in the classic Autocannon/Lascannon configuration. I'll probably keep them like that and use them as the Heavy Backbone of my Astral Claws army.

Alrighty got some updates here! I've more or less finished a razorback, just needs some detailing at this point. I'm going for the extreme weathering/damage on all my vehicles, I've decided. I've got a land raider crusader/redeemer in the queue, which I think I'll build as the redeemer.

I've got the bits to assemble 10 assault marines, which I will give the redeemer to as a transport. I do have 8 termies which I could put in a land raider crusader, but they're tactical termies and perhaps better suited to a shooting role.

And I've finished converting 6 Sternguard from various older lead figures and bits, some in Mk 7 armor and some in the rare Mk 8! I couldn't be more pleased with how they're looking. I gave them all combi weapons with bolters from the devastator squad, and imperial guard flamers all of which I picked up for a few bucks off eBay. Also added in various shoulder pads, grenades and pouches and purity seals to give them that 'veteran' look. One guy has a heavy flamer from a terminator that works out pretty good I think.

I've been wanting to do dioramas and fun stuff like that, so I stopped wanting and started doing. I took an old useless board, covered it with spackle mixed with sand and painted it. Kind of a barren planet or moonscape I think. I'm mainly using this to photograph my models, with background paintings from some sci fi artbooks I have. I'd eventually like to try my hand as a matte artist and see what I can whip up, but for now this looks pretty cool I think.

Here's some glamour shots of my tactical squads:





This guy is just a solid vintage citadel model, really one of my favorites:



I'm assuming this guy got shot and dropped his bolter, pulling out his bolt pistol in a last desperate attempt to kill the enemy!





Yes, that's a Chapter Approved Space Marine Tactical Field Handbag. I wanted it to look like he was carrying a satchel or something useful, but it does look like a ladies' handbag!



Here's a preview of my Sternguard, with their dedicated razorback transport in the background:



And a closeup of the razorback, nearly completed!



Ok so that Predator I have, well I gave it the Simple Green treatment and I'm slowly working it up, added a hunter killer missile and hatch spare from a rhino kit. I kind of want to build custom sponsons for it and use the leftover heavy bolter bits from my razorback kit, mainly because it would be cheaper than the lascanon sponsons, which double the cost of the tank. The old lascanons are also somewhat interpretive, as they don't look like the new stuff.



And lastly, I haven't been getting as much work done as I'd like to due to this game!



And yeah I built that computer, too. I should post some better pics of it, it's a complete warhammer 40k computer mod.

I want...your...computer...

bunnygurl wrote:I want...your...computer...

haha thanks, it was quite a lot of effort to make a functional servo skull with USB ports

Beautiful. All of it. I really enjoy the love RT/2nd edition stuff is getting. And the servo skull is delightful.

Fantastic painting, distinctive color scheme, and ancient models? I like everything here

Make a showcase thread about that badass computer case. I'd love to see more pictures of it, and I'm sure others would too!

Really cool exept the one beakie looks like his hands and face are melted. It could have been the angle or I'm just dumb lol.

Wow the new rhinos look really good with the old minis, i wouldnt bother with the predator, get a new one instead.

risewiththefallen wrote:Really cool exept the one beakie looks like his hands and face are melted. It could have been the angle or I'm just dumb lol.

I think he's supposed to look like he got shot...but the quality of the lead these guys are composed of isn't all that consistent. Some of the details are pretty bad.

Anyways, been working on these guys I've now finished 6 sternguard and their lascannon razorback and 90% done with my dreadnought. I'll have to get some pics up when I have more time, though.

Next will be 10 assault marines and their land raider redeemer transport. I think I'll buy a Chaplain with jump pack to be the HQ for my army, but I've also got a couple rogue trader era librarians, a terminator librarian and several captains I could repaint for free. And I also kind of want to get Pedro Cantor as my HQ cause he seems like a badass. I'm not really sure!

What does make a good HQ choice for codex marines? You only get one right, so I can't have a librarian and a chapter master and a chaplain all at once can I?

This thread is so awesome, old miniatures are fantastic, especially Rogue Trader era stuff. The new paint-jobs are incredible, so much character! You've really refreshed the plastic beakies and made them really very exciting personalities. the battle-damage is particularly attractive. Keep on cranking, definitely want to see more of the classics!

Ok I've got a few more classics here that have been refurbished and reborn as Sternguard.

These are some Mk.8 and Mk.7 figures from the early 90s, and I dressed em up with various bits procured from eBay. Lots of purity seals, decorative pauldrons and combi flamers. I call them squad Pyro since they mainly have flamers. The Sergeant is actually a captain, but I've given him a demotion along with a new paintjob!



Heavy flamer arm from a terminator!



Mk.8 'errant' armor with its neckbrace...pretty cool looking IMO.





This guy has an extra plastic head from a rhino kit, I had to drill into the lead figures neck quite a bit to properly seat it, but I think it turned out well.



And the Sergeant:



These guys have a dedicated Razorback transport, which I love and want to make another similar squad and razorback.





Ready for battle!



I've also finished repainting a dreadnought, but needs some finishing touches on the base. Current project is 10 assault marines, which took a bit of work since their weapons were all non-standard/illegal...guys dual wielding power swords etc. This squad will also have a land raider redeemer dedicated transport, which I'm rather looking forward to building!

Anyway, thanks for constructive criticism.

This army oozes 'fun'. Fun to build, fun to paint, fun to keep track of, and hopefully fun to play. Oo-rah!

Great painting, great concept. I personally don't like weathering all that much. But with Marines, I am going to play Ultramarines, and they are so regimented that the tanks would gleam

Thanks guys. I've really got to work on playing, as I've only played two 5th edition games and both were horrendous, epic defeats lol. I don't know the rules very well, or tactics. Hopefully I'll do ok. It sounds like there are some units and tactics that are essential, and some that are useless. But then again there is an element of luck and thinking outside the box, too.

I'm not super competitive and I don't want to game with rules lawyers or people who only care about winning. I wanna have a good time, make some friends in the hobby and admire other people's painted armies.

Been a while since I updated this. I've actually made a lot of progress, but I just haven't taken any new pics, so here's a few.

I made a bin to transport my army, since they're all magnetized, even the tanks, they all stick firmly to this piece of metal. Really nice way to move them around.



And now I've been working lately on my land raider redeemer. It's a very cool looking tank but I'm having some second thoughts on it and am wondering if I shouldn't have made the crusader instead. Giant flame throwers sounded cool, but bolters might have been better in practice. I won't know for sure until I play more.

I had some seriously bad luck on my first game with this army, and an eldar vehicle destroyed my redeemer with a lucky roll on turn 1.

But anyways, here's a few pics of it.



I'm trying something new with this model, something I've been reading about on modelling forums. And that is using oils on top of the acrylics. I've seen some amazing paint jobs on real world tank models on various sites, with incredibly detailed and realistic weathering and I'm discovering that this effect is typically achieved with oil paints, like the kind you use to paint a picture.

So I've been experimenting with them, not only to create effects of rust, dirt, scorch marks etc, but also to vary the base color of the model, to kind of glaze it and see what sort of finish I can achieve. It might look bad or could look awesome.

In this pic you can see a few spots where I was laying down some test spots of oils, just to see what it looks like. So far I rather like it, as they spread very easily, and you can wipe them off if you make a mistake.

Very Nice.

Call me crazy, but i am rather a fan of some of the older SM models, kinda have a nostalgia to them.
and the redeemer looks sweet as, awsome job

So I've neglected this thread for a while now, but I certainly haven't been idle. I've been working on my army for a while now and thought I'd post pics of the troops and units I've painted. I've been gaming with it a few times as well and I'm still learning how to use it effectively....which can be challenging!

I've also gotten into Malifaux recently and painted up an Ortega gunslinger crew and a desperate mercenary. Those figures were kind of a pain to assemble, but I had a lot of fun painting them and playing the game! I'll definitely be buying more malifaux and playing it often.

And finally I've returned to what got me back into miniature painting after a 10+ yr hiatus: Dark Elves. See, back in October, I got entranced by the idea of a massive Dark Elf army for fantasy battles. Since it was October, I thought having a pumpkin as their icon would be fun and as well as just having a general halloween theme.

I worked hard on the battalion boxed set, and painted a few units up complete with custom built magnetized movement trays and the works. However, I then started eyeballing the boxes of old Space Marine figures I had. These figures weren't especially well painted as I did most of them as a teenager.

I painted up one lone unpainted lead figure as a joke, continuing with the halloween/pumpkin theme. I decided that orange Space Marines looked cool and then the sickness took hold fully, and here I am, on nearly a year-long tangent of repainting old Space Marines and buying new stuff. Pure madness!

Now I'll come full circle and finish the Dark Elf army, I think, while simultaneously collecting more Space Marine stuff and Malifaux. If I get really crazy I may even give WarMachine a try, since everyone at my club seems to be playing it all the time.

Anyways, on to the pics! Some of these are a bit blurry, apologies...






Assault Terminator Squad "brute"

This was an amazingly fun kit to build and I did some experimentation with the paint job. The highlights are actually done with oil paints thinned down with distilled turpentine. I find that it blends extremely well and lets the base coat of citadel acrylics remain visible, adding to the overall tone. Takes damn near forever to dry, though.



Assault Terminator Squad "brute"



Assault Terminator Squad "brute" and dedicated transport

The land raider was also painted over almost entirely with oil paints after the acrylics had set.



Dreadnought "bob"
repaint of the original pewter dreadnought from mid 90s.



Assault Marine Squad "mortis"
refurbished pewter tactical marines with jump packs from eBay.



Assault Marine Squad "mortis"



Tactical Marine Squad "primae"



Tactical Marine Squad "primae"



Tactical Marine Squad "grim"



Tactical Marine Squad "grim"



Sternguard Veteran Squad "pyro"



Ortega Gunslingers crew for Malifaux
I love the look of these minis and had fun painting them. They also kick ass in the game!



Dark Elf War Hydra
This model has been sitting on a shelf primered for many months. Finally decided to paint it up!





Dark Elf Cold One Knights

This kit here is what started it all, my re-introduction to painting miniatures after 10+ years. A very fun and challenging kit and it took me several weeks to complete.