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 Guardling wrote:
Thanks all
@Gobert the Aquila is off the top of the "electric fence" things then cut in half so I had two
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Some final wips on Inquisitor Lamia:


I have no idea what the gun is that makes up the end of her tail but I liked the idea of something that could lock together and wreck someone's day...

Really cool model.

There was a time Ordo Xenos Inquisitors could take conversion beamers, seems like a good fit for weird archaeotech gun.

Ohh, that is a fantastic concept. Very 40k!

@Haighus: Thanks, I don't actually play so I don't have very many rule books to check what legal or not, I'm just going by what looks cool...

@Illumini: Thank you

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Anyways, I got myself a new place to live last week, but it is grim. I spent most of my time cleaning, removing rubbish and documenting defects.
I've been spoiled by my last landlord, so now it's back to regularly scheduled broadcasting...

Now that's done, I have the sad task of packing all my hobby stuff...

This sad pic is my ONE THOUSANDTH IMAGE!!!1
that's my entire hobby space packed away, I had to some pretty heinous things:

Like dump all my minis in one box, hopefully they'll be safer that way, there'll be a cas-rep later...

+++

In the meantime I have some painting WiP pics of my ordo xenos warband:







The Mentor and the Salamander marines are more or less done, but I'm not sure about the edge highlighting, might need some blue in it...

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That's it for now, gotta get furniture in place this weekend, but hobby stuff is pretty low on the list of priorities right now, hopefully be posting again by the end of the month.
See ya!

Good luck with the move! Had a similar experience last summer, not pleasant.

Oh, I don't care much about current rules, I think conversion beamers were an option for Ordo Xenos Inquisitors in the 5th ed Grey Knights codex I mentioned it only to point out there is precedence in the lore for Ordo Xenos Inquisitors to use a big weird cannon

The warband looks good.

Moving sucks, especially if the new place has issues. Hopefully the landlord gets them sorted.

The inquisitor and her retinue are looking awesome. The juxtaposition of her bow and arrow vs the tail gun is fantastic!

Good luck with the move Guardling.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks all!
Managed to get myself set up in the new place, got a new desk too:

Looks a lot nicer than the old one and now I have a terrain shelf

And now the minis are spread out again in their proper boxes time for the cas-rep:

Most just lost their bases
Two spindle drones, surprised it's not more given the small contact points
UR-025
The little juvie also lost his base
As well as an old plastic Goliath ganger I had lying around who has completely lost his base.

Finally Tech priest Amstrad lost his servo skull

+++

So now I got my stuff back together and some room it's time to catch and finish all the different projects I've started over the years:

Like this paragon warsuit I got from the magazine last week...

And this train carriage that existed in my head...

And I wanted some guitar wire for making cables as well...

+++

Anyways this is where I went with the warsuit:


I'm having problems with the crotch (and bum), can't find the right part for it and hands hurt too much to make anything small enough...
I am also having trouble finding the right head, I have nothing I like left in my bits box...

+++

That's all for now!
See you later!

The War suit conversion looks good. What's he for? First thing I thought of was a 54mm scale Inquisitor!!

As for his bum/crotch you can always cover those up with some tabards, chainmail and armour plates.

Quick update while I can, my current obsession is Dragon Quest Builders 2:


Filled out the spare Autocannon magazines with some filed down sprues so they match the loaded one better...

 Lord Borak wrote:
The War suit conversion looks good. What's he for? First thing I thought of was a 54mm scale Inquisitor!!

As for his bum/crotch you can always cover those up with some tabards, chainmail and armour plates.

Thanks, it's for the sake of making things, probably will be a denizen of Necromundas Ash Wastes...
As for crotch, I was avoiding a tabard as it makes it to sistery, might look into chainmail, not happy with the current round bit....

+++
Been busy working away so got some time for a Van Saar Instagram shoot:






Glittering carapace moves through the Underhive like insects... Valen does not like this analogy, he views the men and women of Van Saar as superior, not bugs to be crushed underfoot...

I've had these guys for a while but looking back I only took one photo of the gang that wasn't brilliant...

+++

Got a few hours to put some paint on my warsuit:

Tried experimenting with stippling thin layers on for the red and white, happy with it so far, gonna add some thinned down washes for additional shading and weathering ...
Still undecided about the head, now ering on the side of one the Skittarii sallet helmets...

+++

That all for now, away for work again this week so gonna try and find some time to do more on Inquisitor Lamia...
See you later!

Love the warsuit, I've been looking at ideas to convert some SOB warsuits I've got and this might just be the best so far

Really nice updates Guardling, the white and red on the warsuit is fantastic.

Excellent work Guardling! The Van Saar pics are awesome, really moody underhive pics, thanks for sharing. The warsuit is coming on really well too, I wonder if giving the circle bit some nice OSL glow would change your mind?

@LordBickerstaff: Thanks, this has very much been a make it up as I go along conversion, but AdMech servitor parts go quite well with the Paragon kit
@Olthannon, thank you, I had originally accidentally painted it the same as the Van Saar so had to find something that didn't match what I already had
@gobert: Thanks, crotch light is an idea I may add later, but I'm not really confident enough to try OSL

+++
First up, been trying to catch up on all my little projects so got some outcasts done:




There's no rhyme or reason to their colour scheme, these guys are just criminals that started working together rather than an actual gang.
Seeing they blend in well with other civilian, they'll be great to do a perp hunt with some Enforcers

+++

Onto my main project, the Warsuit;
The Servitor known as UR-464:




About half an hour before posting I decided it need a bit of fluff:
+++Investigation Log+++


+++

What's next? Well, Inquisitor Lamia is nearly done painting and I'm in the process of doing her base, should of taken some WiP pics but forgot. Also getting some ideas to flesh out her warband a bit...
See you next time!

So been a busy bee the last week or so...
My display shelf did not survive the move to the new house (on purpose) so it's time to make a new one:

Here's what I had bodged for pictures:

Looks alright and all but doesn't really make any use of the larger space I now have and the background is just foam board cut offs that I've jigsawed together...

Time to change that with a quick trip to Hobbycraft:

Got me some new foam board, a couple of cheap paints and some modge podge to throw in with the other bits I already had.

I was super prepared and had measured the inside of the shelf accounting for the thickness of the foam:

Pretty much a Perfect fit!
In order to save money on the big sheets, I decided to do the floor in three pieces that were taped together, the idea being that the seam could be covered in with sand.

I then painted my background:

Started with the cream paint mixed with some water and Podge Podge and then added more and more chocolate paint as I tried to get a dust cloud look...

While I was waiting for that to dry I started on the floor:

I used some spray glue to do some uneven patches of model train ballast and suspicious sand and then fixed it all with some spray varnish I had.
I'll be honest, that didn't work out as well as I hoped.
I ended up mixing some chocolate paint and water with Modge Podge and the forgetting about it for most of the week...

When I got the energy to continue I hit it with a dry brush of the cream paint, but this didn't look very good and quite different from my existing ash wastes, uh, ash (right side)

So I made up a wash to try and get a similar colour to Contrast Skeleton Horde (left side)
I heard somewhere that you can used dish soap as a flow improver so I did, but then I had to use a hair dryer to knock out the bubbles when using it.
I also added a bit more Modge Podge for sealing.
No idea if the soap helped or not but it went down well enough and gave a colour that I was happy with.

A quick dry brush later and I was ready to fit:

Looks good, fits good, my only issue was as I had only painted one side there was some warping...
I mostly solved that by leaving a box of shame on it over night...
Haven't got lights back in yet, gonna need some rethinking for that.

+++
While I had the Modge Podge infused paint out, I thought I'd quickly do the sides of my Necromunda tiles:

Much nicer...

Wait, I might as well do these as well

So much for quickly...
But now I have done something on my unfinished tiles I can forget about them for at least another year...

+++
Now I have a background:

+++The Agents+++


Rumours are abound that the insidious xenos known as the Tau may be trading in the Ash Wastes.
While xenos trading is not unusual on Necromunda, the vast distance from the Damocles Gulf where the Tau are usually limited to does bring some cause for concern.
And so the Ordo Xenos sends Inquisitor Lamia and a Death Watch assault team to verify thier presence and discover how they have travelled so far so quickly...

Inquisitor Lamia:



Trying to do some sandy weathering with some washes of Palid Flesh, kinda getting the hand of it...

Death Watch Kill Team:




Phew, that's another couple of projects actually finished!

+++
Time to start working on another old project:

See you, space cowboy!

Great blog! The inquisitor is very cool, the outcasts are characterful, that space in the shelf you've created looks good too.

Do you have MDF square bases on all your necromunda/zone mortalis tiles?

Thanks Ph34r!
Yeah most of my tiles are hot glued to TT Combat MDF tiles, I wanted something to hold them flat that I could also lock together.
The only flat surface I have big enough for wargaming on is my bed so I needed something to go over that.
TBH I'm not that impressed with them as they are not consistent in size and are a bit flimsy.
A friend is using using Anomalia game's terrain tiles which has options for different elevations which would be hand for ash wastes so I'm considering switching...

Lovely bit of fluff for the servitor, nice little cherry on the top of the conversion work & paintjob! That's the first time I've seen the warsuit used for anything other than its out of the box purpose.

Inquisitor Lamia herself looks great all painted up too - and those bugs excite me as I've just ordered a box of them myself for an exodites project. Can't wait to see what you do with them!

My dumb bum used up all the correct arms for the bug riders so now I have to build them some new ones:

 tzurk wrote:
Lovely bit of fluff for the servitor, nice little cherry on the top of the conversion work & paintjob! That's the first time I've seen the warsuit used for anything other than its out of the box purpose.

Inquisitor Lamia herself looks great all painted up too - and those bugs excite me as I've just ordered a box of them myself for an exodites project. Can't wait to see what you do with them!

Thanks, I'm keeping two as "wildlife" as I've used the riders for other conversions...

+++
Been away for work so not much progress this week...
Mainly been attempting to get the nomads finished so to do that I started some birds:

Lefty has been gently shaved off of the Inquisitor I got with the last Imperium magazine package, righty is from the Kroot Killteam...


Kroothawk got painted up as a vulture with some hidden flashes of colour.
Didn't get very good pics as I was in a rush this morning, gonna have to redo later...
Also not sure on a colour scheme for lizard bird.

+++

I did manage to (mostly) stay in the ash wastes and get some paint on a Nomad biker:


Quite happy with how the conversion came out, had to scratch build a tank for the left flank of the bike and I think I nailed the nomad look...

Of course, now they're ona a bike, they need something to chase...


A bike riding courier, this guy is an alteration of a previous model that I wasn't happy with...
Looks good now and is much better at getting my intention across...

+++

And finally some more Underhive denizens:

Going with the Hunter, Crone, Missionary and possibly a Tailor ...
These were intended to try and use up some bits (mostly the smaller scale frost grave parts) that I would normally just hoard...
Need a bit more green stuff work to smooth them out but they're looking good so far, just need to find some suitable arms for a cloth trader.

That's all for now, gonna try and not start any more projects for now...

Love those Underhive scum - Very original and characterful. Great work!
Also, the finished Inquisitor and retinue look awesome! Impressive work!


Capt. Hodgeheg

Some cracking updates Guardling! Love the display shelf, lets you get some ash wastes nicely in to the pics. Looking forward to seeing the bugs on the shelf

@ Capt. Hodgeheg: Thanks and there's more underhive scum today!
@ Gobert: Thank you, also on today are some nomads!

+++
Been doing lots of painting lately, got my paint queue down to just eight models, four of which I've only just made...
First up some more outcasts:




Same as the last lot, Outcast arms on old empire militia bodies...

+++

Also while I'm in the Underhive, I painted up another bit of terrain:


This is one piece using the wall to locate it on the Zone Mortalis grid.
Eventually it will have some pipes around it as well but I had separated it for ease of painting.

Will probably get some fences or something to use as platforms over the pipes

+++
So moving out into the Ash Wastes today...
The Courier:


Zagga enjoys racing over the wastes with his precious cargo. He relishes the chase when the nomads try to intercept him, he likes to think that they have a friendly rivalry, always giving a friendly wave when he sees them.
He knows he'll make a mistake chasing that high.
Maybe they won't cut his head off and mount it on a stake.
Maybe they'll let him go.

+++

And following closely behind Zagga, chain lance at the ready:


Just gave them some tidying up since the last pic.
Lagging a bit behind are the Helamite Riders:


As I mentioned last post, I used the "correct" arms in my previous nomad conversions so had to build them some new arms out of bitz...
Also made some "wild" Helamites for the nomads to round up:


+++

Speaking of wildlife, birds are done:
Carrion Eater:


Literally just a kroothawk that I painted like a memory of a vulture. Kroothawk have four eyes, but I just painted the lower set to look like beak.

Leaping lizard:


This one got painted like the memory of a leopard gecko.
Both of these have ZM bases that I've tried to make look like they are out in the wastes...

+++

That's it for now, bit later than I intended as I just got stuck into my new little project:

A Study in Stålenhag

Great updates Guardling, really like the paint choice you made for the Helamites. Makes them look very realistic. Looking forward to your bird project!

I love those insect riders, they're so cool looking. Everything looks really lovely, nice to see some animals too. Thank you for sharing.

Much goodness here- I particularly like the photography of the gangers- blue filter? Or lighting? Really makes the look for the Underhive!

@Olthannon: Thanks, the "soft parts" on the bugs were a happy little accident on the test model that I then went with
@MakeitOrky: Thank you and no problem, Underhive Fuana has been on my to do list for a long time...
@Meer_Cat: Thanks, the blue comes from a cheap colour changing LED strip that does most of my fill lighting, it's not set up properly yet, and was just in a plastic tub on top of the scenery so it was a bit hamfisted in those pics...

+++

Anyway, today is brought to you by the letter S, for Stålenhag.
Like pretty much anyone, I'm always trying to improve my miniature skills despite my physical limitations (bad hands)...
While I do have my very own (basic) style I think it is good to try and break out of it now and then in order to put fresh ideas and new working methods into my head.
A long time ago, when I was in school, we were often tasked with "studying" an artist and replicating their work, hence this week's project:

A Study in Stålenhag.

Stålenhag is an artist from somewhere in Scandinavia, I don't know, I only look at his (?) pretty picture.
Anyway they are probably best known for the Tales From the Loop collection which has since been made into a TV series, a roleplay game and has at least one videogame based on it.
They have been a couple more collections since, but for the most part they follow the same theme.

Giant robots, desolate environments, a clash of ordinary and extraordinary, sounds a suitable for Necromunda/Inquisitior right?
To make it more fun, a lot of these robots seem to be from abandoned theme parks...

I have had the idea to try and make a miniature based off of Stålenhags work for some time now, and it wasn't until I lucked out and found a cheap plastic toy from a charity shop that could finally get started.
You'd be surprised how hard finding toys suitable for conversions is getting, almost no charity shops in my area keep them in stock, it's all clothing and teddy bears...

Enter Birb, very cute, shakes its head, opens its beak and sings.
My original intention was to keep the electronics functioning but sadly it was wired up with super delicate hair thin wires that snapped the second I touched them...
So first thing I did was prep the toy:

Taken down to it's component parts sanded and gaps filled with Milliput.
This gives me a surface I can glue and paint on easily...
I mostly used superglue seeing as my plastic glue was not very effective on the plastic here.

With no moving parts like I had intended, I settled on posing it as if it is looking at something close up, like a bird with one eye



One of the defining elements in Stålenhags work is a lot of hanging cables, which I tried to replicate.
I am still keeping 40k in mind so I have added some obviously 40k elements as well, such as the the batteries from lascannons and the removable power cell from the thermic plasma conduit set
Most of my cables are 1mm garden wire or 0.5mm brass wire.
I also repositioned one of the wings for a bit of visual interest.

A few more cables in-between the legs and I was ready to get some paint on:



I put on a basic metal layer of Dryad Bark, some stippling of orange in certain areas, then a heavy drybrush of Mournfang Brown and finally a light drybrush and some stippling of Leadbelcher.
I went back with some more super thinned orange and did a few pinwashes and rust streaks
For some reason I went over board with the eye, layering up most of my red paints and then giving it a glaze of a red Contrast paint to tie it together...

Next layer was the "primer" coat:


This layer will help by being an under layer for the colours I'm using later and be the edging you sometimes see with worn down and chipped paint
This was Administatum(?) Grey stippled on avoiding many edges or areas I thought would get some wear.
I was going to leave the legs as bare metal but later decided against this.

And here's the finished birdy:

Definitely my biggest model in a while, its about the same size as an Armoured Container and I think I put it on a 70mm base...


I kept to the original colours of the toy, and threw on some washes of Gulliman Flesh, Reikland Fleshshade and Agrax Earthshade.



I also added some more thinned orange and some Dirty Down to bring some of the rust back
Base just had Zone Mortalis platform glued to it and surrounded in ballast to create an transition area between Underhive and Ash Wastes.
Feet also got a thinned wash of Rakarth Flesh for dust

Lastly the top view:


+++

So after all that I'm pretty happy with my results and definitely much more comfortable adding dangling cables to things.
My partner complained that the top and upper sides were a bit plain and featureless and they're right, most of the detail is on the underside which is great for photos and such but not so good for display or gaming...
Perhaps additional panels or decals on the top could help with that in the future...

See you next time!

That is awesome, cute and terrifying in equal measure. I'm not sure why it's terrifying...........but it is. You've really made it look like an ancient clockwork bit of archeotech.

Love anything related to Stalenhag, so kudos!

(one of the reasons I fell for my girlfriend is she has a Stalenhag print in her front hall, and I was like "Is this a Simon Stalenhag?" and she was like "You know who Simon Stalenhag is?" and the rest is history)

That's nothing short of brilliant.

Love the bug riders, too. Also a late bit of praise for the inquisitor and DW team. They look great.