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Howdy folks,

Firstly a bit of info, 2012 is my year of getting things i always wanted to do done! both hobby and personal wise, so far its going rather well, with some lovely new rib tattooing that i have been promising to get done for 10 years! so with that nearing completion its time to get some hobby done!

Now I have never posted any kind of blog before but i'm hoping to get feedback and motivation so any help and advice is appreciated, and having trawled most of the blogs, showcases and painting advice sections i certainly wish I had the talent of many Dakkanauts, however being awesome takes practice so practice I shall.

Being an ex staff member from the Bournemouth GW I have tonnes of projects still shrink wrapped awaiting me to be inspired and get my arse in gear, I have been busy painting dystopian wars so far this year but i have a few other things I need to get sorted! so when i bumped into an old friend who was getting back into the hobby with his housemates mentioned they were doing a tale of 3 gamers I opted in to make it 4, and after much deliberation I chose to actually paint that 5-6K tyranid army I had to have when I worked for GW but never even put most of together.
Unwrapping the battleforce and digging out the fincast hive tyrant (cos resin tyrants might not explode into pieces when they are gazed upon) I began my work in earnest.
The April goal was a biggy an HQ choice and battleforce in a month, and I decided to go with one with possibly the most models (I am sooo smart).
The first job was to build and undercoat, I did find some built gaunts and some warriors a mate gave me that he assembled (what looks lik in th dark) many years ago that needed tlc!


This was my start point 3 weeks ago, and having had a week off about that time i did all the ground work then.
I decided termagants were the place to start so batch painting in fours

I managed to get them done in plenty of time, now only a hive tyrant, 3 warriors, 8 Genestealers and 16 Hormagaunts to go and its only the 20th of the months, this will be easy right?
Here is how it stands so far...


Oh and here is a linky to my Dystopian Gallery and my steampunk penguins!
http://s780.photobucket.com/albums/yy87/angelz87/Dystopian%20Wars/

Well the weekend didn't see a huge amount of painting getting done, but i have had a few moments spare to get to work on a hive tyrant! and play about with my new airbrush and compressor, so firstly here is the bug guy:


I took the talons off to ease painting, and I can repose them a bit as i wasn't wholly happy, so we shall see how this goes.

I also began base coating the rest of this months projects giving me a big box of purple!


I also got over excited and bought a tyrannofex that i took some time to start building, it was staring at me in its box, here is a quick size comparison to a heirodule that never got finished many years ago:


this thing is huge I can't wait to paint him!

Tonight's treat involved finishing the tyrant, I got to sit down without any distractions such as errands or snake feeding I sat myself down with some episodes of bones and got cracking, and am pleased to say I got him finished.




On to the hormagaunts next and with the purple done on them I even managed to make good progress and have 4 nearing completion, I might even make the may deadline!

Great entries, well written. The scheme is pretty neato and for the most part, well painted. Looking forward to more.

Looking good. Nice colour scheme.

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.
There was supposed to be more progress but heading down to Poole gw to paint and catch up with folks I got roped into a 40k tournament over the next 3 weeks!
After cobbling together an army (1000pts) out of the stores necrons from the cabinet I got in a game so didn't manage any painting.

I'll take some photos next week and report back, not sure what to use as I have to muster 1850 and the bids won't be there for a while, so I'm thinking death wing/ raven wing force.

I did manage to get some hormagaunts started so will do some photos tomorrow.
Again thanks for looking and always remember try not to get eaten by bears...

Yay progress! its been a busy couple of weeks but i managed to squeeze some painting in, and am about to sit down and get some serious work does (and try to remember to do some more WIP shots!



I have managed to get 8 hormagaunts done with another 4 close to completion, then 3 warriors and thats April done, loads of time to spare honest!

Lets see how this goes and i'll get back to you fine fellows tonight!]

Right a few days have passed, all of which have been full of furious activity not enough of it painting :(
I'm house sitting for my cousin at the moment so can't get pictures of the camera (I'll sort some out tonight from my tablet but they won't be great) mostly I have finished the hormagaunts and just have another 20mins or so work to do on the warriors.

I'm fairly certain that month 2 will be a little easier for me, the plan is to sort out the tyrannofex, 2 venomthropes, a Tyranid Prime, and another 3 warriors. considerably less than the 44 models of last month, but now i'm pretty much done with all my little guys, i'd like to paint 10 gargoyles somewhere down the line, i have a flyrant that I built ageas ago and he got some shopping dropped on him by someone halfway through painting so he might get some repair and finishing this month too.
My roleplay group will also be starting a deathwatch game next month so obviously i need to sort out a model for that (even if we don't use them) hopefully i can use the forgeworl apothecary, as mostly it gives me an excuse to buy more toys!

The turquoise on the carapace looks great, and works really well with the purple. Can't wait to see more!

OK I promised pictures then got distracted by newly arrived Spanish students, whom I had to cook for sort out bus timetables and get settled in, this house sitting is cutting in to toy time!

So here are the pictures of the hormagaunts, from wip to complete!






The colour scheme itself is rather quick, which was rather important for a tale of four gamers. The red is the only part that I have struggled with, I need to blend each layer more to get a smoother gradient. It hasn't been to much of an issue but I noticed it on the warriors (sorry for the lack of pics) I'm hoping it won't be so noticeable once I get the carapace done I might get to apply brush to model tomorrow night...maybe!

Yay spare time!
It has been most productive, as I have warriors all done!
Before

After


So that's the first months done only 3 days late, not bad for 40+ models in a month, but wait I hear you cry there is no evidence of genestealers you are full of lies and deciept! Well no I say, I did them early on but never sorted photos so here they are!



Next we will mostly be building venomthropes and a tyrranofex whip pics to follow!

Okay so we have had a bit of time for me to sit down, I even went into my own flat for a bit....

I got round to doing a group shot of the first months mammoth task all finished

I got some time to think about month 2, I want to get a tyrannofex, 2 venomthropes and 3 warriors done. I plan to finish a Tranid Prime as well, he is mostly done from when I started the army, but needs a weapon swap, I won't be counting him in my targets this month.
Also I got somewhat distracted by my tattooist:

For those who don't speak Binary, it translates to "Flesh is weak worship the Machine" this is only the first session, more work to go later to tidy it up and add more detail to the numbering.
And the while recovering got on with some building, firstly I got cracking with the first venomthrope so fresh out of the packet I had the trepidation of a finecast model and the usual horror that that brings, and i wasn't dissapointed, plenty of bubbles and gaps, the pieces had to be soaked in hot water to allow me to even consider them going together, and I had to invest in some liquid greenstuff to make this guy presentable, but its a good investment as this stuff is brilliant.


So he all went together without too many worries, one of the tentacles had a bubble almost all the way through, but it has been filled and seems stable, I am so very glad i never bought these guys in metal though, it would be a most horrendous model to build.
Here is an example of how much work the back vents took to get in place:


I also decided to get my prime painted, since he was almost finished from when I first started painting this army about 4 years ago he is mostly ddone, but I swapped his arms for the new Bonesword bitz, which came out rather well in finecast, only 1 or 2 areas to work on, as it was just the arms to paint here i grabbed a pot of the imperial primer to basecoat them with and well need i say more than this:

At first I thought I had watered it down too much, so i used it neat from the pot and got the same effect, this stuff is most definately not Ronsil and does not do what it says on the tin, so back to basics i'll pull the arms off and spray them black then paint them and reattatch, safe to say not impressed by this new primer!

Well thats all for now, I might get some time to get more done on the tyrannofex and get the other venomthrope built, then I can spray the lot and get painting.

Sooo ten days since my last update, and unfortunately not much to report!
The tyrannofex is fully built and the second venomthrope is all cleaned and green stuffed (which took forever) then I finally get some quality hobby time and my super glue is all dried up!
So I sat in front of iron man and continued to plot my deathwatch character and felt the need to paint power armour, so I sorted out a dark angel veteran, or sternguard (depending which codex I'm using) I built most of the squad ages ago, but never got round to painting them.
Here is the first.



Sorry about the rubbish pic but I was too engrossed to find my camera and take proper pics, I'll try and sort some tomorrow after a trip to the Poole gw!
More bid related goodness to come shortly, and I even have a week off work soon so that will aid my progress!

Huzzah! So i got to poole to find out that the 40k campaign was over and no one bothered to tell me! shame as i was feeling dark angely and had dusted them off come up with a reasonable list and fought through road closures, car park closures and other traffic and late working mayhem! so I came home dejected, checked on one of the snakes who is shedding and got snapped at (she is grumpy when she is blind) and took some photos, and finally finished building this months challenge pieces!

So we have on the table, 2 Venomthropes, 3 Warriors and a tyrannofex, there is also some arms for the prime and another sternguard, i really enjoyed the change from purple flesh! not much got done as it was late but i took a few piccies of the guard and uploaded some work in progress shots.

basecoating isn't fun but has to be done!


The green here is done and all the detailing is picked out with a base coat, i do this so i can see where each section interacts for highlighting.



The finished article! I really need to sort a light box, but i really have trouble with space my flat is rather small, so i need to make a collapseable one realistically!
Those eagle eyed may spot the green stuff, i actually noticed the bolter wasn't sitting right and had to adjust the arms once that is dry i can cover it pretty easily, but mostly thats 1 down 9 to go! i'm gonna use my dark angels to break up the nid painting otherwise my tiny mind gets bored!

Well thanks for looking, and C&C is much appreciated, i do want to get a more realistic look on the marines i feel my style is a little cartooney, and i want to get into more realistic colour schemes for next years big project!

Looking damn sexy, Mazz!

The DA looks awesome, the Nids look sweet, and the tattoo is amazing. Love it all!

@Chowderhead Thanks dude, much appreciated!

Well another generally unproductive day of avoiding painting nids, hope to get them basecoated tomorrow when i am visiting a friend, then i can airbrush them purple when i get home, in the meantime i spent my food budget on more flames of war soviets and some foam to store more dystopian wars goodness!
I have a game tomorrow with a friend and still haven't reaached 1500pts of soviets but this gets me damn close!


Only need 4 more artillery pieces to get to a passable 1500, then all i have to do is learn to paint 15mm scale toys which so far has not gone well! my old collegue from the bournemouth store will hopefully be able to offer me some assistance, he has taken to the smaller scale rather well but i for some reason can't adjust! I will be looking into getting these and the other 40 stands done once the tale of four gamer's is over in august.

Here is where I stand on this months challenge:

as you can see the forge world open day models are also begging for some hobby love, but i haven't really thought about what i want to do with them yet, for now they will go to the black space of the project shelf! (yes this is more like a chest of drawers, book shelf and large number of boxes)
I'm also still searching for a decent spray matte varnish, so if anyone can point me in the right direction i have a few bits i would like to have a better finish but i can't find a good one, the last one i bought gave everything the shiniest wet look finish ever, and has been relegated to a friends use for his casting experiments, and upon finding how tough the varnish was he cast some dungeon floor tile coasters, most excellently geeky!

Well thats all for now, hopefully i can sort a battle report and some in game photos from tomorrow, the plan is also to trial my first game of the new fantasy rules, time to dust off the dark elves!

Well another successful day of getting beaten senseless at Flames of War, but 5 game in 5 games lost (i think) and i'm still enjoying it, starting to work out the rules so i can figure out what's good and what isn't, also many painting tips imparted by my friend, so we shall see how things go, might do some test models to paint during my upcoming week off.

In actual task news i got everything undercoated but not having the motivation to break out the airbrush and purple them up tonight, might have to do that tomorrow, then on to painting during the week, but which to start with the tyrannofex or the venomthropes?

So got home, set up the airbrush, got all excited then realised how low on purple i was, and promptly use the rest to basecoat the venomthropes and warriors on this months agenda, but i can't go any further until i get the time to go to a gw and grab more purple! aaargghhh the gods conspire against my alien painting.

Feeling a bit soviet at the moment so i might have a crack at an infantry stand to see if i can do any better!

Also I want some of this to inspire my troops:


anyone know where i can get it in the uk?

Haven't seen it in any shops but you can try ordering it :
http://candy.overlord.positive-dedicated.net/store/Leninade-892458019174.html

Nids are looking great so far, keep chewing through them. It's going to look fantastic when it's all done.

Thanks Rabies, i'll be ordering some on payday!

Well I have been a busy not painting bunny over the last few days, mostly doing lots of excersise, making a fool of myself and recovering!
But in the midst of it all i aquired more liche Purple! so i can get on with more nids however i am the king of procrastination so i painted some flames of war soviets to test some new theories provided and further wasting time posting them here!


And some other views hidden here:




They have alot more definition than my previous attempt, and were rather simple and quick, which is important when you have 70 stands to paint!

Still enough putting it off, to the shops then back home to maul some paint onto models!

As always C&C welcome!

Yay productive on topic painting!

As you may be noticing I get easily distracted, so today I spent the. Morning getting to grips with the tyrannofex, I got all the purple done on everything for this months challenge:
That totals 1 tyrannofex
3 warriors
2 venomthropes
And a tyranid prime.

I broke out the airbrush and base coated the purple, and spent the day getting them all purpley!
This morning I have enjoyed some sunshine and made the most of the good light and got the green dealt with on 2 legs, this beast is so big I am painting him in sections.




I'm slowly working my way round him, but his back is going to be an absolute pain!

ok so it has been a few days where i have gotten much less painting done than i wanted, i can't seem to sit through this bloody big guy, and i have beenworking on him in bits, only the head and back armour plates to go and he is done, then its just a case of sorting a base out and i can crack on with the venomthropes, which i still have no idea how i am going to paint?

Purple tentacles or red? red makes them look more like the weaponry (and i wasn't sure what to do red) but i'm not massively confident on getting the highlights right on them, on the other hand they are already painted if i leave them purple.....arrrghh the dilema!

No piccies today as i'm being massively lazy and haven't sorted them out yet!

He is finally finished!




Thats alot of work and painting time devoted, now i'm on to the prime and venomthropes, still trying to figure out how to do the poison sacs and tentacles, i'm thinking i'll keep the sacs purple and giving them a wash, i'm thinking hawk turquoise or scorpion green, any thoughts?

It looked alright at first, this stuff. But after finishing this page I must say your painting is pretty dang impressive especially because you did it all in a month. Well done mate!

I like your painting but i feel your purple skin is lacking highlights and colors. Either way good work!

cormadepanda wrote:I like your painting but i feel your purple skin is lacking highlights and colors. Either way good work!

Indeed the camera pulls some of it out but the wash has brought it down further than I expected, given a bit more time I will look to go back and re do the highlights, it is much more noticeable on the big guys, the main job first is to get them to tabletop, then I can make a fuss of the big guys :-) I'm not sure if it is worth going all the way up to bleached bone before the wash?

Well real life conspires again, and my painting time was taken, so I still have 3 warriors and a venomthrope to do, and I'm not completely happy with the venomthrope I have done. And already I have to consider what my June tasks are.
The army list I am working to is :
Hive tyrant, hive commander, and 2 tyrant guard - 255pts
Tyranid prime, bone swords, death spitter adrenal glands - 105pts

2 hive guard - 100pts (I have 2 painted already and one unpainted)
2 lictors - 130pts
2 venomthropes - 110pts

6 tyranid warriors, deathspitters, adrenal glands - 240pts
10 genestealers, brood lord, alons for the brood lord, and toxin sacs for all - 218pts
16 termagants - 80pts
16 hormagaunts, toxin sacs - 128pts
Tervigon, adrenal glands, catalyst - 185pts

Tyrannofex, rupture cannon - 265pts
Mawloc, adrenal glands - 180pts

Total 1996points

So I'm thinking the 2 tyrant guard and hive guard and the tervigon need to get done, I also have 10 gargoyle that I want done so I figure that will be my June mission. Hopefully I can complete Mays tasks on Sunday so more pics then perhaps.
For now I'm off to baby sit and fix my sisters house,
Have fun guys!

Ok to i have been slacking on the update and hobby department these last couple of weeks, mostly i have been busy with life and family commitments :( i have however received some lovely sexy scenery pieces from those wonderful folks at warmill, and i just couldn't resist some building and painting!

First up this rather spiffing process unit:



And the first part of the fencing, the "quarantine zone style"


Assembling this stuff was pretty easy, i also got a P.U.P and walkway set which is built and i'm planning to do in the yellow.

It will be being used for infinity and necromunda, and probably 40k, i have to say very pleased with it.
My gaming group are starting a necromunda campaign and i have started work on a scavvy gang, however i seem to have lost all my old scavvy models, i only have the new ones for now, but thats not really enough for a gang, i'll just have to keep searching boxes, maybe even convert some.

Good evening all!

Right so i have been a little absent recently things have been a bit hectic and i blame sins of a solar empire for taking my painting time!
Still i have made a bit of progress and have stuff to report (lots actually) Huzah!

So firstly I have completed all of Mays tasks they overan by loads and quite frankly i have no excuse i just failed in an epic fashion...
Still here is the tide of flesh so far!



notably missing the Genestealers because i forgot to get them out of the case, and one of the venomthropes, although this is due to catastrophic finecast failure and he snapped off the base, so he is hanging between some paint pots and setting as we speak after 2 hours of pinning and greenstuff work, he will likely need alot of repainting too! Still onwards and upwards I have plenty of tim for this months stuff and here is the project shelf to be completed in June, no time off won't help but hey i love a challenge! so we have 1 Hive guard, 2 Tyrant guard a Tervigon conversion and if i get chance for bonus points 10 Gargoyles!



I got more work done on the warmill bits i purchased and tried using the dreaded transfers that i haven't used since i was about 14 (before electricity and stuff) but with the aid of some wonderful articles regards the use of decals and the need to learn how to use them for my soviet 15mm tanks i figured some practice was in order. so here we have the pup unit!




For thos of you who have poked about in my gallery and noticed that there are battle report photos, i promise i will sit down and write it up soon

Time for a little more progress posting! had a crack at the gargoyles, and revisiting the method for the purple example here:


I went 2 stages higher including almost completely to bleached bone before a wash it looks much better, takes a bit longer but much less to paint this month, so i should be fine!

Thanks for the advice guys any more C&C welcome as always, in the mean time

Try not to get eaten by bears!