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I see your creativity and awesomeness have only flourished in my absence. Slaaneshi is looking very nice and well executed. I guess I'm going to *have* to wade back through what I have missed

Schank - Many thanks! Dr Robotnik lives!


Arakasi - Well as I've been out for a few years myself I'm not sure flourished is the right term And I'm not happy with my current painting - too much reliance on inks and washes, and trying to rush through it. Need to get some pieces finished that will forced out of that habit.
And I think it'll be paddling rather than wading, what with my absences....I seem to recall even the cyborgs got little love for a year or so before my break....


Didn't feel like a painting evening today, so looked around for something to chop up


And I found something







Although to be fair, there was only a little bit of chopping....the original legs had been chipped off previously to use on some scuttling thing (used to be some kind of crab-man - claws have also been donated to the Limbs For Slaaneshi Veterans fund).
As a bit of a change this one is favoured by Nurgle. No idea what it is yet....a servitor maybe?


And as I had the greenstuff out...





Gap filling the fur, and smoothing the arm joints....Although I wish I'd looked at the picture earlier, that close-up shows it's not as smooth as I thought.
This fella will end up as a daemon Prince for the Slaaneshi beastmen that are floating around somewhere. Don't have any suitable claws for him yet, so may have to attempt some real greenstuff work. Considered some techy bits on him, but had nothing I liked. Possibly a weapon hand, have to see where he goes.






Mainly gap filling again, to allow further sculpting later, but a few details crept in. Only thing I know about this guy so far is he'll have at least three arms.


Interestingly, all three of these guys have no plan in place - no blu-tacc'd concepts or mock-ups before I started, just straight in with glue and greenstuff, which isn't unheard of, but is definitely unusual across several projects, especially when they're all of above average size. Wonder where we'll end up?

Making stuff is so much more satisfying than buying something! It's amazing to see the finished results of your mind's creativity... keep up the fantastic work!

Private Benjamin - Many thanks! I, like many others in these parts, have an inherent inability to make something out of the box


So didn't have to try and sculpt a big claw for my beastman keeper of secrets, managed to piece one together out of the region bits not being used for the other daemon prince.



Also got a set of talons from one of the daemon princesses I have laying around - no longer sure who's from where as they've all been sitting untouched for years. (After commenting on someone's titan-forge daemon the other week, saying I must get one as it would suit my techno-slaanesh vibe I actually discovered I had one I'd completely forgotten about )
And after several different fits I decided on the soul-grinder's sword.


And after priming and washing





More just to get a feel of colours than anything else. Red cloth, reddish armbands, belt either black or red leather, claw purplish, think I'll change the breastplate to brass, and thinking the sword may have a blue lava type effect (black with blue shining from the cracks), gold details.

I was thinking I might try for a pale skin, with blond fur, almost albino like. Not sure if I can pull that off.
Not sure I can pull off all that skin on a big model anyway Going to try and take my time with it, work on layering and blending. Was tempted to start earlier, but I need more paints, and knew I'd just end up rushing through with the wrong colours and being disappointed in the end. So he's definitely sitting aside till payday


As I'm pulling out various kits I bought years ago to see what they actually are I did come across a set of Japanese spaceships (United Nations Combined Cosmo Fleet from Space Battleship Yamato)


I believe they were probably bought thinking there might be some interesting gubbinz for orky meks to play with

Started only pushing bits together (I do love how most Japanese kits fit together) and realised these were the squid I was looking for.

So a quick delve into the bag of tentacles ...











These are the two baby squid-drones. There's two more similar to cone, then four bigger ones

Floating cyborg squid - The inevitable results of a team-building /bonding session in town between the dark mechanicus and the dark biologus...

Nice conversions on the big Mierce bull

- Salvage

Good work all over.

Like the robo-squids. The sort of thing Dr. Robotnik would be proud of.

Salvage - Cheers Boss! Tried to keep it fairly simple, but did discover I actually have another version, so may try some more interesting chop-shop shenanigans with that one (don't hold your breath obviously)


Doc - Merci! Hopefully he'll be more nervous of them when done.


And on that note, four littl'uns and a big'un under the brush.....

Great looking KOS , well executed, even just the wash phase makes it look menacing.

I must be the only guy on DakkaDakka that doesn’t have a stash of space ship Yamamoto

Those robo squids are ace.

I'll have to look for that kit for my own space fleets.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Schank - Many thanks! Dr Robotnik lives!


Arakasi - Well as I've been out for a few years myself I'm not sure flourished is the right term And I'm not happy with my current painting - too much reliance on inks and washes, and trying to rush through it. Need to get some pieces finished that will forced out of that habit.
And I think it'll be paddling rather than wading, what with my absences....I seem to recall even the cyborgs got little love for a year or so before my break....


Didn't feel like a painting evening today, so looked around for something to chop up


And I found something







Although to be fair, there was only a little bit of chopping....the original legs had been chipped off previously to use on some scuttling thing (used to be some kind of crab-man - claws have also been donated to the Limbs For Slaaneshi Veterans fund).
As a bit of a change this one is favoured by Nurgle. No idea what it is yet....a servitor maybe?


And as I had the greenstuff out...





Gap filling the fur, and smoothing the arm joints....Although I wish I'd looked at the picture earlier, that close-up shows it's not as smooth as I thought.
This fella will end up as a daemon Prince for the Slaaneshi beastmen that are floating around somewhere. Don't have any suitable claws for him yet, so may have to attempt some real greenstuff work. Considered some techy bits on him, but had nothing I liked. Possibly a weapon hand, have to see where he goes.






Mainly gap filling again, to allow further sculpting later, but a few details crept in. Only thing I know about this guy so far is he'll have at least three arms.


Interestingly, all three of these guys have no plan in place - no blu-tacc'd concepts or mock-ups before I started, just straight in with glue and greenstuff, which isn't unheard of, but is definitely unusual across several projects, especially when they're all of above average size. Wonder where we'll end up?

That robot in the first pics would make a great Chaos titan in 6mm scale!

Good job on the squiddies. Good colours.

Theo - Thanks, in twilight it looks like it's done, then I see it in light and remember I now have paints and need to crack on.....I'm blaming the heat for not doing so

And don't worry little Petey doesn't have any batt......what's that Pete? Oh yes. That is a very fine spaceship cruiser you have there. hmm. Sorry, yep just you....


KK - Thanks a lot. HLJ are obviously a good bet, but you know this stuff better than me There are a few more kits in the same range that are rather nice too. I've been dreaming of a full army of robo-sqids recently.......


Malika - True. It's only gained one arm so far, so could still go in a variety of directions....


Doc - Cheers. I haven't progressed further as yet, I'm now debating their actual origin, which may change the scheme - at least on the technological parts.

They were planned (in as much as I 'plan' anything) as servitor types for some dark mechanicus, or at least a dark magos connected with a Slaaneshi warband. Then I started thinking a bit of weathering around the 'vanes' on some of them might be nice, show them as multiple working parts rather than a whole. That coupled with vague ideas of creating more cyber-cephalopods (currently planning an octopus as I have a great body for that, but keep forgetting to pull out the milliput - GS tentacles will not hold the weight of this one) has led me to question what I want them to represent, and that will in turn affect the scheme. Industrial yellow is always a favourite of mine when it comes to weathering, red might be good, but a little too close to the bio-parts, green if they're militarised - none of those feel right if I keep them as Slaaneshi, mechanicus or otherwise.
Basically, I'm thinking about it



And with uncanny precision, I have a new post with new stuff, rather than finishing old stuff. It has been ridiculously hot in my water-borne tin-can though, so I really haven't felt like painting would work all that well.

There's been the afore-mentioned arm on the nurgly thing, but that's not worth a show. There's been some cutting and gluing and prodding around some nurgly marine types, but that's all still just various pieces.



So there is a new daemonette to go hang around with the other girls as they wait for full make-overs in acrylic colours.





And I figured the couple of cultists I have awaiting final touch-ups paint wise need some more back-up.



Like the others, a very basic weapon swap on a Judge Dredd cultist.




And a sigmarite sister (?) waiting for her new GS hoodie to cure so I can finish it off. Think she'll be keeping the two daggers...she's some kind of priestess or oracle in the cult, going to have her hood extend into the 'scarf' as a rank signifier.


The actual basic members from the Sect of the Sacred Internal Light are all armed with fairly basic weapons, these are the guys sitting in the pews during the standard meetings and ceremonies, dressed in their robes, with whatever weaponry they could get easily.

They also have a more active arm comprised of the Light Bringer units. These guys have a bit more training, and access to a reasonable armoury. They're the trouble-shooters, the snatch-squads, the guys that actually get stuff done.



The heavy. Considered having the hammer resting other way up, with his hand resting on top, may still go back there. Originally it was going to be a huge chainsword, but..... Might also give him another hand weapon in his other hand.




The blade master. Started with eldar blades, didn't feel quite right, switched to two of the larger ad-mech blades, but they felt a little clunky together, so a classic katana/wazikashi combo updated for the 41st. May have a bionic hand for the larger, may get a head swap too.




The sniper. Was going to base the rifle off a skitarii weapon, but felt too much.




The gunslinger. Was going to be the tech-guy, with more conversions than just a head swap - may still be.....




The tracker. Illicit technology provided by the cult. Wheels and possibly mechadendrites to be added.




Together with the already started leader (for now, already has several formidable opponents lining up to relegate him to second-in-command, or possibly The Enforcer) and The Shotgun Guy.




Oh yeah, and there was this guy:



The Watcher. A vid-pict capturing scribe-servitor for a radical, or perhaps heretic, inquisitor. I like him, but he's sitting on the side for a while as I decide if I like him enough to actually make him in this form.



Thanks for popping in.

Looking good. Quite taken with the blade master and curious to see how the Watcher turns out.

Gunslinger is a glorious kitbash. You mad wizard you.

Arakasi - Thank you. Blade master was originally going to be the Sniper, but I was having too many issues getting the arm and gun right.....As is often the case, all the better for it I feel. Still debating whether she gets a snazzy van Saar helmet, or a harlequin half mask, or just keeps her head - either bald or with a punk-do. I'm curious too....it's not quite what I was after, but close enough that I don"t want to disregard it just yet.


graven - Cheers fella! Just a minor head swap though It's tempting to take him out of the gang and work him up as a Wesley Dodds Sandman though



Priority of the day: getting the various cult members glued down, under-coated, and first layer of turquoise down.

Not going to surprise anyone if I reveal now that is not what happened.


Recently I've doodled a number of little sphere based thingies on the edges of various notepads atvwork. Tentacled, legged, winged, tracked...And The Watcher was the first attempt at doing something with the idea. As I've stated, not quite what I wanted, but almost there. So started hunting for alternative legs (rather than just switch to a different variant - I know the tentacles one would seem a no-brainer for me ).

Sentinel is too big, but that idea is a place-holder for working with a bigger sphere - too big for a scribe, but potential for something there.
Old egg style sentinel not too bad, need to thin out the rather spherical hip joint though to avoid just a bunch of spheres. And still a little bit too big.

Don't immediately see the iron strider legs, but think they'll be too long again. So go digging in some boxes. And The Watcher goes out the window...




So we start with the armiger hips (told you Watcher was relegated )



Need to narrow them, so the hip joints get sliced off and saved for later. The opening this leaves is a little small for the ball socket that's going in there, so cut away a bit of excess plastic, and funnel shape the opening a bit. That then gets filed smooth, but that was after the picture.





Torso of the armiger gets put together, making sure the tentacles and pilot survivor are in place and he can seeing the open-top.

No! That's not where we're going, don't fear. However the top does stay off, as I don't know what the top will be. In fact I realise at this point that all I do know is something about the legs.

Time to play with some blue-tac then.




These fit nicely along the top edge. May be handy knowing that later.




That looks like it might be kind of fun. Requires some filling underneath, and either green-stuff to complete the 'exhaust fins' or some rather awkward chopping of the remaining tyranid armour to utilise the plastic. But still interesting.


As the blue-tac is out, and things are getting tried, it might be worth seeing what can be done overall.




Now that does seem promising. May need a 'tail' to balance it out a bit if so.




Interesting. More Slaaneshi with that head, will need some fiddling to get it to fit better, and a bit of work to get the armour segments looking right. Armour may be a little too angular against the rest.






Big rotary cannon and some tentacles you say? Why not indeed. Pretty standard load out for me, but always a fun one. The original head looks a little small now, and gets lost with that angular segmented armour. Shoulder pads seem okay though. That'll depend on what armaments end up there I guess.

The legs are a tiny bit shorter than the originals, I had thought I was going to create an extension similar to the bottom of the sentinel legs, but it seems fine without it I think. Maybe if it gets that actual loading I might do it, just to bring it a little taller?


In the middle of this fun, also chopping away at another pair of legs



Now pay attention. Not to me, to what you're doing. If you don't, you may just end up with a huge cut right down the length of a thigh, rather than across a hip. If you're sawing sonething...give it your full attention, and ensure you know where you're cutting and why.
Little right angle chunks taken out of the hip...plus a little space to fill with that bit of green-stuff you get left over after making whatever it is you're making






Another baba-yaga steed for some Slaaneshi rider. I think this one may not get an actual steed's head, maybe just a servo-skull wired in under the front. Tail will come when I green-stuff the connecting tissue 'tween bio and mechanical.




Sorry watcher....Maybe next time?





And for those who accuse me of getting side-tracked too easily I give you :









Giant spiky robot-fish monster from the depths? Who ordered that?


Couldn't help but notice the armiger torso made a good head for something, and when I thought of those shoulder pads as eyelids, well it was obvious


Now, there is another armiger in the box, so who knows.....maybe that will become a thing.......


Thanks for stopping by, stay frosty.

Let me get my flamer to serve that fish robot monster up, no cyber-sushi here.

Great options all around on the Knight. I liked the first one the best .

I like that you just let your dark muse take you where you wish.
No extension required. Looks ace.
On a separate note, "fish robot" feels very blight drone to me. In a good way

Good work. Nice combination of bits.
I like that last thing, has a good personality in that pose.

Theo - I think you might need a heavy flamer at the very least, he's quite a beefy fish......

I'm still umming and ahhing on the basic build....I think it's going to be close to that first one......But not totally sold on the exact details of the entire carapace and shoulders......



graven - She gives me no options......

Cheers, I've come round to agreeing with that....for this iteration at least

I have several times picked up that body and wondered what exactly it needs for a blight drone style thingummy...although with a Slaaneshi twist....



Doc - Thank toy, appreciated.

I like it too....it was just a fun thing, purely for that photo and statement........But now it's in there......working it's way through the bit bits box in my head........



So finally started chopping for the LOER comp.....






Some wordy stuff about those pics on the LOER thread....


And in stark contrast to my whimsical fish related statement at the end of my last post, let's carry on with some existing projects.....





A quick little poxwalker








And a quick nurglitchy marine. Just to get a taste....










A little more of the techno-organic steed action going on..this one airborne.












And as I continue passing bits of the hellbrute off as other things, here's his torso armour acting as a trike.

A marine head will be added to front of the 'torso' , something to suggest there were once shoulder pauldrons at the top of the wheel arms......haven't decided on if there'll be little creepy arms at the front. This is a biker who has fully become one with his bike, and quite likely a daemon too.....



Sorry? You can't recall seeing any of those previously? Well they were existing projects all right....they had existed in my head ......

Nice use of the hellbrute torso as trike mudguards.

Good work.

Yeah, much better use for the Helbrute part that using it for the Helbrute.

Arakasi - Thanks, inspired by my use of a marine dread for that ork trike all those moons ago


Doc - I knew you would approve of any alternative use for hellbrutes



So finally got round to uploading photos from my compact the other day, which has work on my LOER entry. Apologies for those who have already seen my posts over on that thread, but progress on any figures is tiny at present, and I felt a need to keep this thread moving

I really should have done some colour correction to these first ones, they're not quite the right shades, but give the idea.

If you weren't following, I was working on the idea of chaos barricades formed from flesh, a very literal meat-shield. Plan was to use some of the techniques I p!she's with back when I made the moebius strip roadway.







This is after the first layer of crackle has dried, and a wash of nightshade applied.






This after a second layer of crackle and a yellow wash. Wasn't acting in quite the same way as I recall from the moebius strip experiments. For now I'm putting that down to possibly using different inks. I'm wondering if I was using my W&N calligraphy inks back then.....I didn't this time because I have also found that they're not as water-resistant as some, and can blend with other layers, so I use them less now. I had to fiddle with different mixes to actually get the ink to flow and fill the cracks in the way I wanted, but even then had to apply overly heavy layers which, as you can see, have coloured everything.....previously I was getting good results with the ink just flowing through the network of cracks and filling them. My final blend here was a mix of GW washes and vallejo inks, with just a splash of Averland Sunset.







Hit it all with a couple of drybrushes of my fleshtones to bring it back close to my plan, and made a start on some red washes in places. Again I had to mix inks, washes and paint to get the flow I wanted. You can see in places that the yellow didn't take in all the cracks....not so much a bad thing as just a different thing - it's not what I wanted, but the effect is still that of damaged, oozing flesh.







Looking at the general effect. I'm not sure how effective the magnetising of the ends actually would be in a gaming scenario, I just figured it might give a bit more robustness to the overall layout, not convinced it was really worthwhile, but hey-ho






And some shots in the evening light which show a better colour. (Benefit of working in polystyrene on a boat is that the piece floats if it falls off the railing when being photographed........ ) Also show how the yellow has more tinged the entire thing than filled the cracks as intended. I'm definitely going to have to play more and make notes on how various inks/washes/paints act with the crackle......
The various tentacles will ge some subtle washes of colour on top - I was originally planning for them to be multi-coloured, but in the end figured they work better as being really the same as the main bulk....this is chaotic, but manufactured more than magical.....


And then today I started to physically play with ideas for the mobile flesh vats. These get placed at strategic points and then the meat walls flow forth to create a defensive position. I see these as being used by the dark mechanics and their allies, hints of the warp mixed with biological tinkering.






First one I tried. Chopped up a tube of vit-C tablets, added fans to the top, additional vat off the rear, tracks, and the extrusion nozzle. Quite like these, maybe a tad small.




Second version used a couple of party shot glasses, again with fan, additional containment vessel, tracks and nozzle.



A variation with two nozzles either side. This was one of the first extrusion ideas I had, albeit with tall narrow apertures rather than cylindrical pipes.


The second version is a bit bigger, and although this is chaos, with pressurised vats holding warp-tainted ingredients, that still feels a little better to me.
It may be that I use both....I did originally conceive the idea of a couple of secondary flesh-tanks with a larger control vat, so may push in that direction a bit.....

So onto locomotion. I had thought of walkers that settled down before extrusion processes began, which looked cool in my little mind-movies, but didn't seem to get as a static model. Sure that idea will find use somewhere though.




A track unit set completely under the main vat. Logically makes sense, feels a little ungainly (which isn't always a bad thing, but....) That could just be because I haven't found the right unit though.




Tracks built around the main tank. This feels better to me, and also brings the whole thing slightly lower, which makes sense as it's a fairly tall narrow shape.




Flying version. Makes a lot of sense, flies in, drops into position, more mobile than the tracks, so good for rapid deployment of defenses. Would have to switch out the secondary vat for this style, and figure out a landing gear type affair, but has potential.




Low rider. Presents smaller target profile than all the others, which seems sensible when you consider this is a defensive mechanism. Not feeling it as much as the others though.


And starting to play with ideas for potential control vats, not sure where I'll end up, but presently thinking maybe the first two, a couple based on the second variation - maybe minus the secondary tank for those, and one larger unit.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Looking at the general effect. I'm not sure how effective the magnetising of the ends actually would be in a gaming scenario, I just figured it might give a bit more robustness to the overall layout, not convinced it was really worthwhile, but hey-ho

Heresy! Magnetising is always worthwhile!

It's been a while, so my memory may be a bit foggy, but for the washes there should be a couple of more things you can try:

Mix in Lahmian medium to dilute the wash

and/or use 'ardcoat on the surface first (and let dry!) so that the wash flows better.

Arakasi - Well, this is the Heretical Ramblings, so...... You're right of course, playing with magnets is always worthwhile, even if the results don't actually warrant it

Both worthwhile suggestions that I will be trying at some point, but definitely not what I did when playing with the moebius strip.





I'm guessing it was that I was using those W&N calligraphy inks, as I was just dropping in straight over the crackle. I'll try to put aside some time to do a full range of tests on the stuff and make notes here. All effects are useful, but handy to know which does what


So started in on the two smaller versions of the flesh-vats whilst I decide on the second variety. Just runs and fans glued in place so far, so not much different than the concept pics.


Did however put this dude together








Most of the Slaaneshi beastnmen so far have been more barbaric, with the exception of the ratkin, who I now think will likely be joining the ranks of the beastmen. I wanted some more high tech versions, and the arkanaut torso just looked perfect for one of my ideas.
I'm thinking this guy is probably a sergeant of sorts, so I either need to come up with a squad for him, or decide what he and the potential other two I can build are.....



And started to put some actual colour on the daemon prince for the beastmen...







Unfortunately, due to my slowness with a brush the pictures were under artificial light so doesn't show up so well.
Based with Vallejo cobra leather, selected wash of reikland flesh, a tidy up with the leather, then a layer of tallarn sand. Several more layers to go. The fur has a heavy drybrush of a tan/yellow mix, that'll likely get a wash and a re-brush, then once the flesh is done it'll get hit with a light yellow, possibly an off-white on top.
P3 blighted good for the metals, and variations in screamer pink for the loincloth and wristbands.

Great!

Beastman looks nasty, deamon prince is coming along beautifully, and the barricades are utterly disgusting, which I reckon is the point,

Maybe a three-legged landing gear for the flying "seeder"?

I have tried drawing inks, they (the ones I used, local brand, at least), do not cure, and keep being water soluble after drying, so only resulted good for a last layer.

Ok haven’t posted for ages but as always you never underachieve to impress me

You some how always manage to combined the strangest of kits and household remains and create some kind of masterpiece.

Where to start, besides the mass of bio mechanical creations which I love from the fish to the walker beast (the watcher) so much so I want to build one of my own damn you

Also love the little bots and the tentacle octopus things, they all remind me of childhood cartoons and anime that I loved so much as wee snapper.

Which brings me to the trike that is pure genius love it so much, you have an imagination that seems to combine the oddest of parts yet some how works every time.

Last but not least is the Sarge beastman that is so cool and badass, which I think would work better than the FW necromunda as a replacement.

Thanks this has been a real pleasure to read and admire, plus to steal from in mass ha ha ha hope you don’t mind buddy

Once again glad your back and creative as ever, plus the two pics of the watcher which are my favourites.

Hey Monkeytroll, brilliant thread, mate.

You've got a serious eye for bizarre conversions. Some serious "wtf" gak going on. Do you consciously work through parts looking for bits that work well together or do you just put glue on a bit and throw it into the bitz box and see what it gets attached too?

That shot of your desk in the OP is inspiring and terrifying.

Lt - All good to hear

Three legs is a fairly common theme around these parts, so very likely I'm slightly less inclined towards the flyers at the moment though, as using those fans to make the props is the only way to get enough right now without scratch-building them all, and that just won't happen quickly. And the problem with Those fans is they have now been used in the two smaller versions, as vents, so it would take some doing to make them obviously something else on two models in close proximity.
Doesn't mean I won't go feth it and use them anyway

Yeah, I found that they started blending with the next layer when I've used them for normal minis, which is why I didn't use them this time round. But if that's what I used previously I need to know, at least I'll know to seal it between layers, or maybe another layer of crackle will do that.....time to science the feth out of stuff.

The other alternative I just thought of was that I used the last of my precious old-school GW inks on the strip......



dog - Good to see you around buddy Appreciate all the kind words, and I fully encourage you to go build something Some big-ass bio-mechanical cyber elephant carrying a gun-toting robo-mouse maybe? With tentacles.

And always happy to have ideas looted, it's the way we all grow.

And just like old times, I need to nit-pick on one detail.... that's an as yet un-named bio-armiger/daemon-engine/war-servitor, The Watcher is the little one dude with legs......



Shrub - Thanks for stopping by dude.

'wtf' is what I like to hear, always a compliment to big-meks and dark magi More semi-concious I think

Let that desk serve as a warning....it only gets worse from there on.........



So no building today, but may have a poke around the bits this evening, but did make an effort to carry on with the big fella.





Layer of karak stone. Later on I realised there was supposed to be zandri dust before this....







Ushabti bone and some colour on claws. This layer was not as smooth as it should be, could do with being thinned a touch more, also a bit ragged with the brush in some places.









Final touches of screaming skull, a highlight on the fur, and a start on some details.

Needed more layers, and probably should have stopped earlier to prevent brush fatigue - longest I've sat and painted in many years. Thinning the last layer more would have made it all a little smoother, and indeed, could probably have thinned all layers a bit more, maybe take each colour layer to three thin coats rather than two to build it a little slower and smoother.

Tempting to try an overall wash to bring it all closer together, but I'll avoid that.

I was also trying some new brushes for the majority. Had read some good reviews on Raphael, so picked a couple up a while back. Much bigger belly than W&N, but all the reviews stated they kept their point as well, or sometimes better, and the extra load they could hold seemed good for a big guy like this. After the basecoat yesterday I tried out the size 1. Much bigger head than I'm used to on a model style 1, but was really nice. Until about two -thirds of the way through the session, when the point got lost completely. I'm a slow painter, so I clean throughout even single colours to prevent paint drying inside the hairs, but it still blew out. It has a good clean and re-point with brush cleaner since, I'll give it another go later to see how it performs. It could be this heat is affecting things.

Today I was using the 00, again much bigger than my usual, but nice to use, the bigger belly means it would maybe obscure tiny details up close, but those sort of details I'd likely still use a series 7 or similar for anyway, as I wouldn't be loaded with paint so much. Towards the end of today the point starting fraying a bit again, enough that if I was doing very fine details it would be no good. Again, cleaned and repointed for further testing.

So maybe I got a bad batch, maybe the heat is affecting the paint (Well it is certainly, whether that's the reason for this.....), maybe I'm not as careful as I could be These two don't strike me as viable alternatives to my trusty W&N at the moment, but I'm willing to acknowledge it could be any number of factors at present.

4 armed beasty is looking good

Good work on the beastie. Looking nice.

Good range of concepts for your tanks, but I'm surprised you haven't tried one with legs... or tentacles...