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Don't tell me you needed that extra ad on the front page, Git, your blog is already overloaded with traffic!!!

Good job though, you were the first to try it out, so it's well-deserved...

This last update is a nice one, I'm just sad the Drop Pods won't be yellow... I guess that's too late now!

I missed the Inquisitorial Squad somewhere in the maze of your posts, they are some very beautiful marines. If I could paint that well I'd send you one to join your squads!

The pod looks amazing, I would be worried to do anything else to it myself if I had one that looked that good. A bit of yellow will make it perfect I reckon, but on the wings rather than the doors, as once the doors go down, you can't see them any more.

Sorry Yggs, there was just no time. I have one month... hell, it used to take me a month to do a single tranquility vet... I did the last two in three days! (three very long days) My back is up against the wall so I've got to go with what I know I can accomplish to a decent standard in short order. Besides, the logic for using only green pods is sound.

As a caveat... I have 3 other pods (1 built, two unbuilt), so in the future... when there's time. I can do tranquility pods if I want.

As to the front page... there's nothing wrong with a little self-promoting as long as the product is good. What makes this thread so good (in my opinion) isn't my work per se, it's the fact that everybody is pitching in ideas and figures and doing their own Mantis Warriors, etc... so I don't feel so much like I'm saying "Hey everybody, look what I did!"... it's more like "Hey everybody, look what WE did!" And I'm not being modest... that' really the way I see it.

Some of it of course is self-serving in that the more eyes I have on the blog, the more good ideas I'm going to hear & the better my army will be in the end! In future, there are other people's blogs that I'd like to pitch, but since I know my own best and could whip out the blurb in what... 3 minutes??... it was kind of a natural fit.

Neat thing is that some of the obvious blogs that I *would* have written blurbs for are run by DCMs... so youz guyz can do your own self-promoting! That leaves me free to concentrate on folks who haven't made the "leap of cash" yet & get them some front-page action.


My advice for writing your news article? Think of a "hook" to capture the imagination of the casual reader as that front page gets hit-on by a much broader variety of search engines than an blog buried in the bowels of Dakka does. Assume you're talking to someone who may not even have any forum experience & draw them in by catching them with the unique or unusual qualities of the blog you want to highlight.

Grats on the front page! I agree that the community part really comes ot the fore in this blog, always makes me check in to see what's new.

BishopGore wrote:I missed the Inquisitorial Squad somewhere in the maze of your posts, they are some very beautiful marines. If I could paint that well I'd send you one to join your squads!

The pod looks amazing, I would be worried to do anything else to it myself if I had one that looked that good. A bit of yellow will make it perfect I reckon, but on the wings rather than the doors, as once the doors go down, you can't see them any more.

You paint well enough. Just post your interest on the GMS blog along with a couple of pics of the things you've done already and see what happens! I think I'm behind in about 3 trades, but when I get caught up I'd be delighted to trade with you.

Grats on the front page Gits!

I like the look of the pod as well, and think, like others, when you get the Mantis sign on the doors it should break up the green nicely. Also while I like yellow, having it in the wing things might be a bit much maybe? But I think once you've done the signs and beaten up/scorched the pod a bit it'll look great.

Another congrats on the front page! This blog is a real testament to the community on Dakka, long may it continue!

I saw the pod and thought that the Mantis heraldry would hit the spot perfectly, chevrons may make it too cluttered or messy. You could give it a go with one of the other pods at some point.

What ever you end up doing, if the rest of the army is anything to go by, I'm sure it'll be awesome!

Keep it up Gits!

Great work Git. The two newest snipers look full of action. Way to go on the front page. I have been going numb looking at how many pages you've got on this blog.

maybe yellow panels on the DP? I know it's WIP, but I'm imagining it with metal and decals, but it still seems too...one-coloured to fit in with your other vehicles.
just my two pence/cents/euros/yen/whatever the heck you lot use.

wow. your either insane or really dedicated to your Mants warriors. Love the old models and the custom cast bits. this is going to be awsome.

Having decided to add custom chapter symbols to my Drop Pod I agree with Gits, its a lot more work than you first think of! After casting five resin badges I was pretty sure I won't be doing it again...decals would be a much better option if possible

Oh i didnt mean do 3d symbols, just painting a symbol on the doors (although thats fairly time consuming as well!! )

Nice Pod dude. it really looks great

Beautiful shading on the pod!

Thanks everyone!

Symbols on doors will happen eventually, when is a matter of some debate. If I can make decals they'll happen before Adepticon, if not, it'll be after.

@sennacherib: little of both

@BLACKHAND: thanks for the back-up bud... appreciate it

@Vit: Even with painting... too time consuming (and irregular), keep your fingers crossed for decals.

@fatty & stompydakka: Thanks! check back tomorrow, I should have a final or at least near final pic (though any decals will take longer to produce)

Question:

Should the bottom of the pod be something like a grey, washed with badab black... or black with a boltgun dry brush? I'm referring to the section on the outside below the base of the doors. Keep in mind I'm on a tight schedule so it's got to be simple for time's sake. I want a contrast with the green, but am open to ideas. In either case I will add scorching... it's just the base color that I'm concerned with.

I'd go with the boltgun drybrush, I think they'd leave it metal as all paint would get burned off on entry anyways, and like you say keep it simple.

maybe combine them, chaos black->boltgun drybrush->badab wash?

I certainly could, but the greater issue is if I want it to look noticeably metallic or non-metallic. The top of the pod is done black with a boltgun dry brush. Here's a re-post of the pic for reference...



I could re-paint the top to match if necessary. That's why I'm doing this one before doing the other two... want to nail down the prototype design before I crank out the other two (which will hopefully go faster).

Bolt gun deffo

hehe, it is kinda funny to me, how you have over a 100 pages in the blog, for only 12 and a half compleated models xD
lookin good so far!

where the darker colours are edged with red from the entry to the planet.

Cjsuner wrote:hehe, it is kinda funny to me, how you have over a 100 pages in the blog, for only 12 and a half compleated models xD
lookin good so far!

Now, now... there are more than that...

Lessee...

10 sternguard (2 have been given away)
20 repainted scouts
2 repainted dreadnoughts
1 venerable dread
1 iron clad dread
2 razorbacks
1 Pedro Kantor counts-as
1 Telion counts-as
1 trooper (Brother Six)
1 chaos mantis warrior, Brother Benedictus (part of GMS)
1 modern mantis warrior, Brother Inushi (part of GMS)

Things that add to the blog but I did not paint myself:
10 GMS marines for my Inquisitional Squad
3 objective markers (one made by me)
3 reader created mantis warriors

So that's 42 models that I've painted myself and 15 models painted by others towards the cause or in emulation of it...
OH, and well over a dozen unique sculpts done by readers specifically for the Mantis Warriors & a custom shoulder pad commissioned from a merchant.

Not bad for less than a year. Averages less than 2 pages per model.

...

OH, and one ork nob pretending to be a Mantis Warrior!!

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

That telt 'im Gits.

Been a while since last post and you blooming well front page the thread.

Well... where to begin... Ah yes, the sternguard look sweet. Lovely smooth paintwork with perfectly executed camo once again. The drop pod looks great, the gradient painting is really effective on the model.

Also, I made some progress on the Chaos Marine I promised you. Gone for the MW colour scheme and I'll be turning it into an objective. And, do you want me to leave it unbased for you?

Thanks GS! Yes, unflocked please so I can make him match the rest of the army.


Well... I think you could call tonight an unmitigated disaster.

Yep, that about sums it up.

Sorry I'm late! Works been mental and it's taken me forever to find the references I was talking about.

Check this post/blog out.. particularly the chimera and front scoop about 3/4 down the page. This is the effect I was suggesting.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/246107.page

Then have a look at the tutorials, even though he explains the method a few times in the blog above it can only help to get more than one spin on it.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/527528/message/1176229975/Whitewash
http://www.chemicalall.com/paint/hairspray-technique.html
And one by Dakka's own monster of helpful advice Grey Death http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/235327.page

The salt technique not so much but it could help with gradient weathering as the burnt metal meets the coloured metals.. tallmantims effect is much more striking for a realistic high activity metal like a dozer blade/burn up from pods.

I am a grammar nazi (blame my computing teacher from last year). This one was just bugging me; It is Misspelt, not mis-spelled. Otherwise its all great.
I have to say that I LOVE the deathwatch squad, they look brilliant altogether.

Gitsplitta wrote:Well... I think you could call tonight an unmitigated disaster.

Yep, that about sums it up.

Did a mini black hole appear in your games room and suck several of your best loved models into it's super dense mass before popping back out of existence just as quickly as it appeared? I hate it when that happens.

Gitsplitta wrote:You paint well enough. Just post your interest on the GMS blog along with a couple of pics of the things you've done already and see what happens! I think I'm behind in about 3 trades, but when I get caught up I'd be delighted to trade with you.

Cheers Gits, might well do that. Need to concentrate on getting my own force done for now and then choose one of my chapters to supply someone from.

@Monkeh: Thanks for those. Unfortunately I don't believe I'll have the time for those techniques, especially since in order to be consistent I'd have to do them to all the models in the army. But I will keep them for later on.

@ImpMonkey: I appreciate that... but in the US we say mis-spelled. I'm not arguing that it is the correct way to say it, but it is the accepted standard over here.

BishopGore wrote:Did a mini black hole appear in your games room and suck several of your best loved models into it's super dense mass before popping back out of existence just as quickly as it appeared?

No, I pretty much just screwed the pooch on every single thing I tried on the model last night... not only didn't they work but they essentially damaged the existing paint job, some of which were in ways that are not fixable without a complete re-paint (which isn't going to happen).

Got up early this morning and spent an hour working on repairing what I could. Wont get to work on it again until very late tonight.

For some reason the phrase 'screwed the pooch' makes me giggle like a school girl.

Good luck tonight Gits, hope it doesn't set you too far back.

Gitsplitta wrote:Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

well i am from Holland and we smoke a lot of stuff but models??? a heck worth the try let me clean out my bong (note i dont own a bong and not everybody in holland is a stoner. we need some dudes who grow it )

on to the pod ( i am on a roll here ) why dont you do the underside silver and dirty it up with some cole's? you know the stuff that you use to bbq. just grind some of it and powder it on the metal areas. that should give a nice effect.