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Thanks JH! My first wife accused me once of being able to find a brick walking home from work and then having planned the Taj Mahal to build in my head by the time I got home. In this instance, there's a lot more I want to do to add to this piece, I just might not live long enough to get everything done! Glad you like it- it means a lot to me when fellow Dakkanauts take the time to comment (even with constructive criticism) on something I've worked/tried hard on.

The evil sadist in me wants to find where you live, figure out your route home and leave little obscure items along the route to see what comes up next . Kind of like a DakkaDakka white elephant present , but instead of just seeing their expression once you get to watch their blog every update to see what you caused.

You guys don't have to waylay me on my home- I read your blogs! Do you know how hard I've been resisting getting into Bushido because of you and Gits? Every time I read a new entry by any of you- I'm already off to the races! Dakka is better than the small group I used to paint with oh-so-long-ago: there's a lot more of you, you're all more dedicated to the hobby and you have a lot more interests. I'm home, man, really home!

Gatehouse is looking good, nice work.

Love your found object work!

It comes from being half packrat- once you get caught hoarding all your treasures, you have to come up with a justification or else people just hink you're crazy

The next project for me is the Marksman Fire Team from the Empire of Men Kickstarter. I've got the five figures for the section plus the platoon leader, so lots of options for using them if I ever get to game again. I hadn't counted on them being 28mm 'normal' scale, instead heroic, like GW and others- they are very small. But amongst all the figures I got (female and male stormtroopers, commandos, heavy weapons, psykers, rough riders, vehicles, etc) I can field a homogenous force of up to 2500 points, I reckon, so all good. The detail is excellent and the animation is truly top notch (I think). Three of the six have their pistols (M1911's, from the look, although possibly Browning Hi-Powers) out, so I think they must be particularly bloodthirsty Valkyries and- having deliberately dropped their target with a non-instantly fatal shot to the A Zone, have now sauntered up to put the finishing coup de grace in the head, up close and personal.

Here's my palette I intend using for them:



And here's the section on painting bases primed and the start of base coating:



Learning objectives for this project are:

* Make best use of time to get them done fairly quickly (not speed painting, per se, but get 'em done as I have a lot more to do- there's all the Dominion stuff I got that has to be got to)
* Detail the bases a bit more realistically and in a more substantial fashion than I have done in the past
* Don't start any other projects until these gals are done

These to me are reasonable objectives.

More follows soonest.

Dakka is a wonderous and terrible thing. Has been a real and genuine home and friend and also a serious task master. No one ever pressures you, but you feel you must try harder, must give an update.

Latest are looking super straight away. For a bit of speed, play with washes a bit more. You can get a model to a happy standard in quick order and can always go back later and add more detail. Even with not being heroic scaled the guns are awesome looking.

I'm finishing up basecoating now Cam, and will be relying heavily on washes after that (hard not to get sucked in and start painting the small details though- these figures are really fine!). It's funny though, these figures are better proportioned, but fit right in with Rogue Trader era Imperial Guard. It must be all those growth hormones in the food- "28mm" has gotten bigger over the last thirty years!

Hope to have some completed basecoating pics tomorrow.

Interesting models, who are they made by?

Het Theo- these are by Archon Studios, from their Empire of Men kickstarter. The seem to be a proper design studio, in that they have two previous kickstarters, plus EOM and have recently completed their Ramparts KS with Empire cathedral and Aztec temple pieces- really cool. They also launched a board game, Chronicle X (aliens trying to take over the Earth, what shall we do?) and provide figure ranges for other companies' kickstarter campaigns.

I don't think they run their own production, but I'm pretty sure they do their own design work.

Working on figures this small and fine takes me back to my Napoleonics days!

 Meer_Cat wrote:
Het Theo- these are by Archon Studios, from their Empire of Men kickstarter. The seem to be a proper design studio, in that they have two previous kickstarters, plus EOM and have recently completed their Ramparts KS with Empire cathedral and Aztec temple pieces- really cool. They also launched a board game, Chronicle X (aliens trying to take over the Earth, what shall we do?) and provide figure ranges for other companies' kickstarter campaigns.

I don't think they run their own production, but I'm pretty sure they do their own design work.

Working on figures this small and fine takes me back to my Napoleonics days!

That’s why I am partly familiar with them. Archon Studios IS Prodos Games. The same owners and employees who did the Aliens Kickstarter, just in another company banner. Fishy business practices.

I like some designs they have done, but I have stayed away because of their issues with Prodos.

You’ll do an excellent job on them I know .

I've heard something about this fracas with Prodos- didn't realize that it was Archon involved. I'll perform some greater due diligence before I back them again- thanks for the heads up!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Base coating nearly done- caps to do and then highlighting and washes can begin.




The large blank areas at the hips are the turnbacks on the coatees- I painted them graphite blue (a very pale Prussian Blue) which is nearly my own Infantry sky-blue, nut under any kind of light through the camera it looks almost white. Hopefully better with some 'low-lights'.

The sniper fire team and their officer is complete:



The officer:


Trooper:



With sniper's hood up:





The Sergeant:



Trooper:



Trooper:


New things tried:

* First time gluing the figures to a bit of sprue to act as a stand whilst painting; I've seen several of you do that and it proved very handy
* Tried a different way of 'rapidly' scenicking the bases- it turned out okay, but I'll try something different next time
* Dynamic posing- some of the figures lent themselves to very dynamic poses, I tried to 'compose' the shot I wanted and based/built towards that
*Outlining- a trick I was taught when painting Napoleonics was to paint a belt, strap, button,etc black first, then to add the primary color into that, so that it came out 'outlined' i black to emphasize the item. It's hard to see, but I used that technique in a couple of places on each figure in this set
* Bluing- I tried using a metallic blue acrylic thinned heavily as a wash to 'blue' the rifle barrels, but it didn't work too well, I may repaint as just flat black
* Angled flashlights on packs- I thought these were a terrific detail, so I spent more time painting them than probably was needed

Thanks for letting me share here. As always, your criticism, suggestions, advice and observations are most welcome.

I've a couple of things in mind to paint next, we'll see what grabs the fancy when I actually sit down to start something!

More follows soonest.

I really like the shading on the coat sleeve and sniper hood.

I’ll give you one piece of advice that I don’t follow very well, that’s better lighting on the picture. I’ve started putting my figures up closer to the light and on the other side of the bulb than I am on. I think it helps, and as I will not invest in a light box it’s a simple improvement that will let us see more detail.

Sniper team is looking good!
color scheme fits, and the posing is very nice.

Looking good, but that's especially cool how many new things you tried.

Good work and nice to see you trying all the new things.

I shall echo Theo' and cry "Aziz...!"

Thanks all for the feedback- I learn something with each new effort. I've something new in mind for the next project- an older piece from Tehnolog/Robogear that will probably wind up being a 'counts-as' Sentinel- but it's not the T-Rex walker! The specific 'new thing learned' will be to try something new with pattern stencils and using light better.

For these snipers, the castings looked good to the Mark I Eyeball (with my eyeglasses) and also under my magnifier that I use for painting. But looking at the close up pics from even my chap little Canon camera, while some details come through amazing (the angle flashlights on the packs) others (the hands/gloves) have molding seams and flaws that I just couldn't see until the pic was taken. The stormtroopers (male and female) that are part of this release are a bit more robust, so maybe a bit better cast.

And Doc- thanks for The Fifth Element reference- one of my favorite movies.

All I can say in response is Multipass!

Good job on the sniper team!

Sorry for being late to the party - but that castle came out wonderfully. From vines to the very English rose and from very gradual water depth shading to the walls - very well executed, sir! The result is a very pleasing _fantasy_ castle. Overdone, but not too much. This, in my eyes, is how the tabletop games should be played!

Regarding snipers - very nice, but personally... I'd have swapped heads of the last two troopers. This wave long hairdo is indeed very dynamic, but it suggests that the trooper moves in the direction she is looking towards while her body implies she is crouching or changing position, not running towards the target. Ponytail is more "direction-agnostic".

Or... spray her white and orange from the front, like she is blasted by a huge explosion triggered by her shot, anime style.

Great work bud, really nice team, the rifles really look the part on those sculpts. Good work all round.

Merry Christmas sir, hope you have a great day.

 monkeytroll wrote:
Good job on the sniper team!

Thank you Monkeytroll! Really though, this effort was more for the learning than the outcome. It's been awhile since I've painted 'true scale' 28mm figures- these are _almost_ big 25mm- like some Napoleonics were back in the day. I have to chuckle, because the Nap purists hated Games Workshop and their heretical "big 25's"; now GW is having to creep up as more and more manufacturers go to 30, 32 and even 40 or 45mm scales (heroic or otherwise).

Wirecat wrote:
Sorry for being late to the party - but that castle came out wonderfully. From vines to the very English rose and from very gradual water depth shading to the walls - very well executed, sir! The result is a very pleasing _fantasy_ castle. Overdone, but not too much. This, in my eyes, is how the tabletop games should be played!

Regarding snipers - very nice, but personally... I'd have swapped heads of the last two troopers. This wave long hairdo is indeed very dynamic, but it suggests that the trooper moves in the direction she is looking towards while her body implies she is crouching or changing position, not running towards the target. Ponytail is more "direction-agnostic".

Or... spray her white and orange from the front, like she is blasted by a huge explosion triggered by her shot, anime style.

Thank you for the kind words regarding the castle Wirecat! That one was a lot of fun and long overdue (I'm pretty sure I built and primered that thing back in 2015). I always intended it for a gatehouse, but given the size and weight, I may make a companion piece that fits against the back and it can be a playable keep. I'll still have to build some wall units and a (smaller) gateway to get in, but it's all fun.

I like your idea of adding the OSL anime effects. These figures didn't come with separate heads- what you see is pretty much what you got; the arms and rifles had to be glued on. I didn't even think as I was laying out the posing how the hair would look- body in motion one way, hair running off on its own another direction.... But I've always wanted to try OSL, have been ogling the blogs here and watching a lot of YouTube vids- this might be very do-able. If not now, when? If not me, who?

 Camkierhi wrote:
Great work bud, really nice team, the rifles really look the part on those sculpts. Good work all round.

Merry Christmas sir, hope you have a great day.

Thanks very much Cam- but I know I've done better work. Tried some new things (and now have even more ideas to try) and had some fun. Not least in that I could move a unit from "concept" to "finished" in less than a month. I remember when I was stationed in Yorkshire there was an Irish pundit- I think his name was Steve Irwin (possibly Allen) and his closing line for his show was: "And may your God go with you." Except on Christmas he would say: "Let's hope for better things- may our God go with us."

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Dave Allan. And indeed, may your God be with you. Truly funny man, would be hung for a bigot now.

To me one of the best things about this hobby is how much you will always have to learn. Always new challenges.

I found these wannabe Transformer mobile rocket launcher tanks at the dollar store and couldn't stop myself saying out loud in the store "I can make something out of these". They're about the size of a standard Matchbox car. Here's a shot in the various incarnations- 'mint in box', as a tank and as a (sort of) robot:



Amazing what you see in the photo that you didn't see in the viewfinder- I had the 'robot' version (on the left, in the pic) turned backwards- I'll take another so you can see the Transformer-like 'face'.

Here's the Games Workshop heavy bolter, lascannon and auto-cannon pieces cut out, trimmed, mold lines removed (more extensively than I've done before, really put some effort in this time) and barrels drilled out:



Next will be to cut away the fittings currently on the models and see how I'm going to arrange the bigger GW weapons. I'm hoping to run a new bit of styrene pipette through the stand piece in the middle, and insert magnets so that I can swap weapons with the ground mount versions I've yet to put together. That way, I can have a ground or self-propelled battery of whatever I want, if I ever get to play again.

Once layout is established, it's time for primer and painting.

More follows soonest.

are these for Titanicus or will they be some sort of go cart servitors?

Hey Kid- thank you for looking in. I don't play Titanicus (at least, not yet); I actually did have making a servitor-type model in mind when I snatched these up and ran chortling to the check out. This picture shows that they are a little bit big for that- even for the DreamForge Panzerjaeger on the left (old school GW Beaky Marine and newer Cadian Sergeant on the right):



I was then going to make them into counts-as heavy weapons teams, using the chassis like the figures from Mad Robot and others- but they don't fit on a 60mm base too well, so I wasn't too thrilled with that idea (hard to fit crew on there with them). But what I think I will do is make each platform a dual weapon (2 lascannon, autocannon or heavy bolter, or a mixture of all three- they will be magnetized to swap around) and call 'em counts-as either Rapiers or mobile Tarantulas.

Here's a shot showing the front of the 'robot' extended out:



I removed the existing armament (and I'm saving those suckers, they'll be perfect for something!):



Now that I look at the one chassis partly unfolded, I could probably make a battery of self-propelled mortars. If the dollar store still has more of these when I go back.....

And I fitted a piece of styrene tube into the slot that was just the right size to not have to drill out the slot and also accommodated the 3mm magnets I had left over from building the Robogear SPAAG:



A trick I learned from a Dakkanaut here about magnetizing was to keep the magnets all together as a stick, so that you could make sure that the orientation was correct and that the different armaments loadouts for a vehicle could all be moved around to the different attachment points. In this case, I not only want to be able to move the guns around on the [platform, but amongst the battery and even with other ground mount sets, so they _all_ have to be oriented the same polarity. So I added the bit of tape, with the end arrow pointing towards which end of the stack goes 'in' to the vehicle or mount, with the other side facing out. Theoretically, everything should line up. I've heard guys say here also that they paint one side red, the other blue when they first get the magnets in from the post, so they can achieve the same universal polarity.

That's about it for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to build the gun yokes and maybe get everything base coated, but we'll see.

More follows soonest.

Those are a great basis for weapons platforms. I did something similar with some clearance bin dystopian wars tanks, but you win with dollar store buys.

What about mounting torsos of some sort with weapon arms? Basically the AM's go cart guys but for the IG?

@Kid_Kyoto: Are you suggesting mechanicus Kataphron destroyers and breachers? When you mentioned servator torsos, that what I thought of.

@Meer_Cat: Looking good so far, I like the ideas for the swap-able turrets.