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@York: Thanks, I'm pretty happy with the Bloodletters. I haven't yet tried plasma on any Inceptors in-game, and I've only run the bolter ones once (and they were pretty solid).

More progress is finally being made. I did a little bit of drybrushing Necron Compound on the plasma weapons' metallic parts, and I also brightened up the weapon casings. In addition, I layered the chapter symbols on the shoulders. Here's where the Inceptors are at now:

Still some work to be done obviously. Mainly I need to do the plasma glow on the guns. I also need to gloss the right shoulders to prepare to add the assault symbol decals. I'm also going to add the company symbol on the knee pads, which for these guys will be the 8th company (reserve assault). The bases will of course need some more work as well, but those will be really easy.

Edit: Page 18! Woot! And once I count all the models I painted for Adepticon that I feel are complete enough to count, I'm already past my total of painted models from last year, so I can cross that goal off my list. I'm going to push for 100 models as my next goal, although I should blow that out of the water as well. Lord knows I need to in order to make a dent in my modeling backlog.

Coming along quite nicely. Year is not half over and you already made your goal? Impressive. I just did a quick survey last weekend and am on track for my 1-a-week goal, but behind by quite a bit if I want to reach what I did last year.

How much stuff do you have squirreled away to paint? What’s in store?

@Nev: Thanks! I made my goal mainly thanks to having Adepticon to prepare for. I must have done more than 40 models just to meet requirements for that event. I've got so much stuff "squirreled away" that I could probably work for a solid year and not get it all done unless I didn't have to actually go to work at my job (which gets in the way of my painting on a very regular basis). My pile of shame is truly a mountain!

One final WIP update on the Inceptors: the bases are almost completely finished. Here's what they look like as of now:

I was thinking of adding some kind of text or something to the sandbag on the one base. Maybe a little freehand aquila and "The Emperor Protects" or something. Other than that I just need to add the janky flight stands for the guys to hopefully attach to.

My next update should feature the completed Inceptor Squad, so look forward to that very soon!

I finally finished the Plasma Inceptors. Actually I finished them a couple of days ago, but getting them to stay on those stupid flying stems is a job and a half, even if they do look cool once they are on there. Here are the final pics of the squad:



There are definitely areas where I was somewhat sloppy, particularly with the drybrushing, but I'm just ready to move on from these guys. I think they are definitely good tabletop standard, which is what I consider well done, so I'm leaving them there. They are super fun models to paint, and the Elrik's Hobbies bases were a very nice thing to have for them. It's the first time I've ever worked with resin scenic bases before, so I learned a lot and I can see why some people use nothing but them for their armies; they are very cool and add some flavor without being so busy that they draw the eye away from the actual model. Feel free to throw a few Dakka Gallery votes their way!

Next up for me will be some Scouts. I've already got one squad started, and another will be the subject of my entry in June's monthly painting challenge. First time I've ever painted scouts, although I've used them in many games and I love them. They'll be a different sort of thing to paint compared to power armor.

In other news, I'm actually selling my non-Nurgle Daemons. I just don't need a Daemons army right now, but I want to keep the Nurgle stuff to ally in with my Death Guard. Basically I'm eliminating the temptation to flesh out my Khorne and Tzeentch stuff, because those could easily become separate armies in their own right, and I already have too many. While I hate to part with stuff I've painted (like my Bloodletters), it'll be worth it to both make space on my shelves and streamline my collection. I'm on the fence about selling the Bloodthirster, as I'm really proud of my paintjob on him. I'm certainly not selling him to the FLGS, as he'll suffer a lot in the used model bin. At the same time, if I can find him a good home with a player who'll actually make use of him, I'll sell him.

That’s a lot of fast plasma, should be fun on the table!

I always liked painting scouts. Gives me something other then power armor to paint for marines. Enjoy.

I’ve got a ton of crap on my shelves I should part with, I just can’t bring myself to actually do it. And I like to keep the shelves loosely packed enough that I can actually get stuff out. But right now all my non-active armies are packed in base-to-base. The next step is being boxed up and stashed somewhere; a fate normally reserved for the unpainted. And if it’s not being used/displayed, why not sell? Active projects can always use more funds. So good luck finding new homes for you old stuff; wish I could join you in the process.

Parting is such sweet sorrow, but in the end if you can make the break you wind up wondering why it took so long to get rid of that stuff in the first place. And like Nev said, there is always new stuff to buy!

Those Inceptors have quite a presence. Nice looking unit.

@Nev: Oh, I'm definitely looking forward to trying the Inceptors out! I'm also already having a blast painting the scouts. As for the stuff I'm selling, I held on to it for far too long really. I should have sold it off months ago, or better yet I should have just not bought it. I never did flesh out a real Daemons army, and doing so now would cost a lot of money that I don't have, so now it seems obvious to sell them.

@youwashock: Believe me, I'm already wondering why I held on to the Daemons stuff for so long. And there is definitely new stuff to buy on the horizon already, so it'll be nice to have some extra funds. Thanks for the compliment on the Inceptors!

So, switching gears, I'm working on Scouts now. I've gotten most of the base colors down on my first unit, so here's a WIP shot of them:

The only parts not basecoated yet are the symbols on the guns and the skin/hair parts, and those will wait until I get the rest of the models finished. Oh, I also need to do the scope on the sergeant's pistol, but that will wait until near the end as well. Lots of fun to paint so far! This is not the squad I'm going to enter for the painting challenge; that squad will be my metal ones with pistols and knives, as those will fit the theme better (Knives in the Dark).

Also scout-related, I've assembled a 6-man unit of Scout Bikers, so here they are awaiting primer:

These should be a fun little unit to paint and play with. My track record for painting bikes is not great, though, so we'll see.

In other news, I recently sold a few Magic cards to my FLGS for store credit. Suffice to say I've had some really good pulls lately so I got over $150 for them. That go toward one of those soon-to-be-released Big Knights. The money from selling the Daemons stuff will also help with getting me some Knight-related stuff. I've actually already gotten offers for most of my Daemon stuff, although I'm not going to make all that much off the models.

More to come on the Scouts soon.

I like how the inceptors turned out Zerg, the weathering on the plasma is really well done.

@York: Thanks, I'm very happy with how the plasma weapons turned out myself!

Progress has been slow due to RL stuff, but I have gotten more work done on the first Scout squad. Shades have been applied, and I've gone back over most of those areas and made them brighter again. I've also gotten started on the skin and hair. Here's the latest WIP shot:

Obviously there's more work to do on these guys, but they are coming along. I probably won't make my goal of having them done by this weekend for a tournament, but they should be very close.

I've also been very busy on the assembly front. One of the models I put together was a kitbashed Master with a Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, and Storm Shield:

There are parts from about 5-6 different kits mixed in on this guy, so it just goes to show how interchangeable the Space Marines range really is.

I also assembled a Talonmaster:

I left the pilots and the heavy bolter separate to make painting easier. The gunner is stock from the kit other than a Ravenwing shoulder pad, but the pilot (the actual Talonmaster himself) is a kitbash using some parts from the Ravenwing Command Squad kit. That kit is a gold mine for Dark Angels bits, especially Ravenwing. Lots of cool weapons, torsos, and heads in there to really give your models some personality.

Finally, I had to get those parts from somewhere, and that would be the kit that let me assemble these 3 Black Knights:

Now I can field a unit of 6 of these guys. I wanted their poses with the hammers to be more dynamic than my last set, and I feel that I accomplished that, although they still look too much like they are just riding down the road. I'm also somewhat annoyed that they switched the bases on these guys; now they are on the oval bases. I had to rebase my older Black Knights, and at some point I'll have to get more of those ovals for my Command Squad guys as I'm out of them now.

Anyways, I hope to get back to more painting soon. Work has been kicking my butt lately, hence the slow progress, but I should hopefully get more done as it should relax a bit soon.

Those scouts are coming along quite nicely. Your DA green goes nicely with the khaki/beige of the scouts' uniforms-- most scouts in chapter colors seem like they would draw a lot more fire than an ostensibly sneaky unit would want.

@Josh: Thanks! I agree about the colors- there is a nice contrast between the very dark green and the very light beige on the fabric. Personally I still don't think it constitutes stealthy, but then nothing in Space Marines really does (until we get to the sniper scouts with their camo cloaks of course! )

I finally finished the first Scout unit, so here are the final photos of the models:



I had a blast painting these models. I feel like my freehand is finally getting to a point where I'm satisfied with how it looks. Granted, for the pics I am only showing the best of it (a couple of the shoulder pads didn't turn out as well) but I'm at least making progress on learning to do neat work. I have already started on the second squad of scouts (which is my entry in the June painting challenge), and I'm glad I did these guys first, as those ones are way busier with different gear like grenades, pouches, bullets, etc. I left most of the extras off of this first squad as I wanted to keep them somewhat simple. The models still look good without needing all that extra crap all over them, which would only get in the way in a firefight anyways.

I also got back to working on my first Dark Talon. Here's the latest WIP of the plane and its stasis bomb:

It's coming along. I'm going ahead and getting it finished because I'm pretty sure it's going to be in most of my Dark Angels lists going forward. Finally got to try it out the other day and it put in some solid work. Plus the model is one of my favorites of all the models GW makes.

I hope to have progress to show on both the second Scout unit and the Dark Talon soon, so stay tuned!

Scouts look good Zerg, that lens effect looks great. Glad your using the Dark Talon it’s one of my favs also. Going to need some pics of it in action

Nice work on the scouts.

Did the flyer finally get decent rules? I’m not up on the DA special stuff, but recall it being luke warm at best in the last edition. Shame, as it’s one of the better looking marine flyers out there.

@York: Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how my lenses have turned out on some of my recent models (well, the ones that have lenses anyways). They aren't too hard to do either. As for the Dark Talon, we'll see about getting some in-game pics of it once I get it finished.

@Nev: Thanks! The Dark Talon has pretty good rules, although it did get a significant price bump in the big FAQ (from 160 to 200 points). Much better than last edition, when both DA flyers were kind of crap.

Small update, the second Scouts are progressing nicely, with most of the major colors already blocked in. The cloth parts are completely done, meaning I'm having to be very careful not to get paint on those areas as I work on the rest of the colors. Here's a WIP photo (sorry it's a little bright):

Like I said, these models are quite a bit busier than my last bunch. Lots of grenades and pouches and stuff all over them. Being metal models, I have learned not to bother trying to drill the gun barrels, as I don't have a power drill handy and my pin vise doesn't do the trick. I'll paint a black dot that'll be better than nothing, though.

Old metal Scouts. Dig it. I like the kitbashed Master, too. Lots of cool progress.

Those old scouts have a lot of kit on them. One of the perks of monopose metals. One nice thing about painting mine in camo: I get to care less about sloppy brushwork.

The scouts look good so far. It warms my aged heart to see those old metal models getting some attention.

@youwashock: Thanks!

@Nev: Yeah, busy models for sure, but that's cool! I'm sure camo will look good on these guys, so I'll follow your progress for sure.

@Josh: Thanks! It's really fun to put paint on old metal models like this. These scouts were the current models probably around the first time I ever heard of Warhammer 40k, long before I actually got into it.

Another quick WIP shot of my Scouts:

They are almost done, only needing some minor touchups, a brighter layer on the chapter symbols, and the bases done, plus some highlights on the faces.

In other news, see my newly reopened Imperial Knights blog to see new progress on my Imperial Knights. Might not be much to show unless the weather finally cools enough to actually prime some stuff. It's been extremely hot here lately.

Finally finished the second Scout squad, so here are the final pics:



These were a blast to paint, even more so than the previous squad. More challenging too because of the amount of gear these guys are toting. I ultimately need to paint at least one more unit of these, but I'll do something else first, most likely my Ravenwing Talonmaster, as it'll give me a break from painting endless Scouts, plus I know I'll need the Talonmaster for a fair number of games with my Dark Angels.

In other news, I have assembled a Primaris Aggressor squad, complete with some Dark Angels upgrade parts:

Not a high priority for painting, but I do think they are cool models, and when I put them next to Azrael in a game, I think they'll mulch anything infantry-sized that gets in their line of fire.

That's all for now, stay classy DakkaDakka!

Yes, I'm still alive, but I haven't made a whole lot of progress on the painting front. Just haven't been in the mood. All that's about to change, though, as my next entry for the Dakka painting challenge is going to be my Primaris Repulsor. Here's where it's at right now:

I need to start by touching up the areas where I missed with the green primer. I'm actually fairly confident that I can paint this thing completely pretty quick. It's not all that busy compared to some models I've painted.

I'll also be working on my Ravenwing Talonmaster at the same time as he's more necessary for my competitive lists. No pics yet for that model, but I hope to have a WIP shot soonish. Between these things and my Knight project (seen in my other blog) I'm pretty well swamped with painting projects.

2018 is already half over. Time is flying by! I'm up to 85 completed models for the year, which is incredible progress for me. I don't *think* I've bought more models than that this year, plus I sold some of my Chaos Daemon models, so the pile of shame has actually shrunk some, which is nice. It's easier to make progress when you've got events to prepare for (like Adepticon earlier this year, and the Siegeworld GT in St. Louis, MO coming up at the end of August). I need to get with the program if I want to have a painted competitive Dark Angels force by the end of August, so wish me luck!

My repulsor was fairly quick going, but I think I put on less of the grubbins then you did, and not as many magnetized options. I also left the grav plates off for painting. Was fun to do, looking forward to seeing yours come together.

I should probably do a mid year count. I think I’m on track, but prefer to be ahead. End of the year has so many distractions, need to go into it with a lead.

@Nev: I wanted to use all the stowage and stuff because the back panels look kind of empty without them, and I couldn't think of much other use for those bits. And hell yes I did a bunch of magnetized options. At $80, I want to get as much use out of this vehicle as possible, so having many configurations usable was a must. I was going to leave off the grav plates, but honestly there's not really any visible detail down there behind them so I just stuck them on to simplify assembly later.

After a few days' hiatus due to fatigue and burnout (mostly because I've been staying up late playing video games), I've been back at my painting desk. I've gotten most of the basecoating done on the Repulsor at this point, so here's a WIP shot of most of the parts of it:

I do still need to clean up the green where I was sloppy with the other colors, but that will be very quick work. Then it'll be on to shades and highlights.

Don’t get me wrong, some bits were worth magnetizing. I did the turret and the main hull gun. But for the effort involved for the difference between the storm bolters and the frag launchers, I just went with the SBs. It might come back and bite me in an edition or two, but there are limits to the effort I’ll put into a kit for marginal returns.

Looking good!

Are you doing your driver in red? That's because he's a techmarine, right? I haven't thought about 40K in so long, I can't remember those little details.

@Nev: I definitely see where you're coming from, and to be honest it was probably overkill. But, at least now I'm covered.

@Josh: Yes, most Space Marine vehicle drivers have the red armor of a Techmarine. He even has the cog symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus on one shoulder pad.

No real hobby progress to show, but I did once again change up my hobby area. It has gone back to the card table in my bedroom. The main reason is because my Brightech lamp arrived, and since I wasn't aware that it would weigh a ton I went ahead and got the clip-on version instead of the floor version. I didn't like the stress it was putting on my computer desk (the only place to attach it is on the keyboard shelf, and that seems to be begging for trouble), so I attached it to the card table instead, where it seems to work (barely). It really needs a proper, sturdy desk to attach to, but sadly I don't have one, so I'm making do for now. I'll do an actual review of the lamp over in the general P&M section and link it to this blog once I use it a bunch and get the feel for it (the company gave me the lamp in exchange for a review). It's taking some getting used to, since it's the first time I've really used a magnifying device while painting. I think it'll come in handy for doing neat freehand work once I get used to it.

Here's a photo of my new hobby space, complete with the new lamp:

I'm making good progress on my Ravenwing Talonmaster; the basecoats are pretty much all done, and there won't be much shading to do at all thanks to the model being mostly black. Here are a couple of WIP shots, taken under the light of my Brightech lamp:

I'm going to have to figure out how to make my camera play nice with the light from that lamp; that first photo is way too bright. I do like the lamp so far, although I'm going to keep on using it before I am ready to render judgement and write a review about it.

No progress to show on the Repulsor; I've barely done any more work on it. Most of my painting and modelling effort lately has been on my Imperial Knight, but that's the subject of my other blog. I'm going to need to rally if I want to finish by the end of the month. Funny thing is, there's really not that much to do to it; it's not really a complex model at all despite its size. I've just got other things I'd rather be doing (like working on the aforementioned Knight). Plus, the Repulsor is not going with me to that GT that I'm trying to prepare for, so if I don't finish it soon it's no big deal for that, hence low motivation.

Hopefully I can get a lot of work done on both the Talonmaster and Repulsor soon. I hope to finish both by the end of the month, so wish me luck!

Very sorry for not keeping up with this blog, but I have been getting some things done (just not nearly as quickly as I should be). I've nearly finished both the Repulsor and the Talonmaster. Both should be done within a couple of days. Here are some WIP shots:
Repulsor:

Talonmaster:

The Repulsor just needs a couple of minor details finished, and perhaps a second drybrush to really bring out the edges, at least on the main hull. The Talonmaster's speeder just needs a couple of details touched up, plus the pilot's skin and hair needs finished (and some detail added to his sword). Easy peasy, right?

In other news, my FLGS had its annual Summer Market Day today. Last year I had a pretty good haul, and this year I scored some decent loot too. Firstly, I picked up a painted Lukas the Trickster for my Space Wolves:

This pic does not do the model justice. Whoever did the painting on this absolutely nailed it! I got a pretty good price on it too, which is nice.

The other thing I picked up was a NIB Chaos Lord on Manticore kit from the old Warhammer Fantasy range. I'm going to use the model as a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (since I already have ones for Khorne, Nurgle, and Slaanesh, though only the Slaanesh one is painted), although it is a bit big. I went ahead and built it with the Sorcerer Lord riding it because Rule of Cool. Here's a pic of it assembled:

The rider is not glued on, as I want to paint him separately. I'll do the Manticore himself in pinks, purples, and blues to represent its allegiance to Tzeentch. My fluff justification for this model will be that instead of becoming a Daemon Prince, the Sorcerer was gifted with a large Daemonic Mount so that he could better serve Tzeentch. Of course he'd better prove himself worthy of such a gift...
Here's a size comparison showing the Manticore without the rider next to an actual Daemon Prince and a Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage:

He's a lot beefier than a Prince, but not big enough to be a Greater Daemon or Daemon Primarch. I might add some stuff to make him look more 40k rather than Fantasy, but ultimately that might just be a dead Space Marine on the base or something. The model itself is almost too big for a 60mm round base, but since that is what a Daemon Prince goes on it will have to do, otherwise I'm modelling for advantage. He's not a huge priority for painting right now, but I'm already thinking about color schemes as I think he'll look cool with Tzeentch-type colors.

Anywho, I hope to have finished pics of the Repulsor and Talonmaster very soon, and I hope to get back to more regular posting in this blog.

As promised, I finished on the Repulsor, so here are the final pics:


Here are a couple of detail shots:

I had a lot of fun working on this thing. I technically still need to finish the alternate weapons, but there are just a couple of small details left to paint on those and then it will be truly customizable.

Obviously next up will be finishing the Talonmaster, but after that I've still got another unit of Scouts to paint, plus some Scout Bikes and some Hellblasters that all need paint by the end of next month when I have a tournament. And that's assuming I don't take anything else. Running a Knight in my list helps cut down my needed model count, but I still need to pick up the pace. It's going to be like Adepticon all over again, I think.

That's a nifty model, kind like a Land Raider/Land Speeder hybrid. You've done a great job with it, as well. I find vehicles really difficult, what with all those straight lines and sharp angles.

Repulsor looks slick! Great job!