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Yeah, I thought that they were counts as jump packs, sorry.

The auspexes work, but might be unclear unless pointed out before the game.

White can be a b**ch... I suggest prime white, wash with a watered down black in the recesses, re-apply a 50-50 white codex grey, then a pure white again in a really thin layer.

I also think that the doing the green darker would contrast a bit more strongly and help definition. Maybe have the base color be the darkest green you can get your hands on and leave a lot of it showing?

Keep trying with the white, it's all just practice! hours and hours and hours of frustrating, coats so thin i can't tell if it did anything practice!

Hey graven, don't know if you've seen it... but Ifalna's been working on a Shrike model and has a blog on her progress. Her white is really astounding... you might check it out if you haven't already.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/307516.page

That being said, your current version looks very nice. The figure really pops now. Good going!

Okay, so, in order to try to stay on top of stuff I'm merging my blogs together. Recent distraction has been this Doom Eagle Dante for Gitsplitta's Thing#1:


Bit of touch up required, but nearly there and pretty happy. Rubbish photography as ever. More to come - Hellhammer, Ogrun and Mentor Legion a-go-go!

Looks gorgeous graven, he's gonna love it!

So, put together a rudimentary light box, which still needs work but nevertheless strikes me as a good plan (basic idea stolen from Blackhand). Been finishing of a Great Marine Swap figure, here's a bit of a detail view:

Had hoped you could see my primitive first attempts at OSL from the plasma coil, but no. Still, it worked well enough for me to continue to work with. This guy was done shading Cream up to white, which has produced a very crisp finish.

My other idea, which will be the next experiment is:
Prime Vallejo Grey
Badab Black wash
Airbrush White
... and detail accordingly. I don't know if this'll work, any comments or experiences appreciated.

From a construction point of view, most of the army is now built, although I need to make gorgets for 2 Dev squads, Command Squad and a couple of randoms. Am going to be salvaging a conversion beamer from an old mini of gitsplitta's for my MotF, whilst gradually cobbling together another techmarine with servo-harness from spare parts.

Also finishing off a swappable turret for my one and only tank, a whirlwind/razorback (lc/twin-plasma); I noticed that there's a little blob on top of the whirlwind's mounting plate that could easily be replaced with a magnet; the mount for my razorback turret (which is all made from bits) fits over the top and has a magnet for security. Pics anon, alongwith a semblance of a list.

Hey graven, great to see the Legion getting some love. He looks really great!

Glad you got a light box, that will help tremendously, my photography has really improved since I got mine. Just from looking at the picture I can give you some advice. The yellowish cast to the photo is due to the white balance being out-of-kilter. There are several ways you can address this issue.

1. Change the bulbs to "full daylight" bulbs.
2. Adjust the white balance on your camera (I can do this on mine including manual tweaking of the setting. I just changed the bulbs in my lamps & then took a bunch of "bracketing" shots, where you take a pic at every setting so I could choose the most natural looking exposure.) From the looks of it, having your white balance set on "incandescent" should help.
3. If you have it... use the "remove color cast" feature on photoshop to make the whites white again...

Like so...

Very cool Dante conversion!

@gits: Cheers for advice on lightbox; I've tried to take that on board on new pics (vid. Mantis packs)

@Cain: ta!

Slightly distracted by stuff for gitsplitta today. Was going to look at making these into servitors and thieving the arms for my techmarines:

Thoughts?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I should've specified - by arms, I meant the pointy ones on the back of the Cephalyx (fetish dude).

chaos medic

Very much so; but actually thinking of using it as a mystic for my inquisitor.

Okay, some WIP work on Techmarine:



So parts from all over the place, but really happy with how he's going; need to add more detailing on the halberd and pistons/teeth to the giant arm; tempted to have some xenos or other in there, though I'll need to go on the bits scrounge...


This will be my MotF; the lovely gitsplitta's providing me with a classic conversion beamer, so that be going over the shoulder.


In keeping with fluff, wanted a funky turret; had picked up a cheapo whirlwind, and this fits over the top of the hatch cover. In the end this'll be a fully swappable rhino hull, hopefully.


And lastly, as made by my not-quite 3 yr old (all parts chosen by him, some help with glue by me:

Sorry bud, I think the dozer is the best of the lot!

I do like the way the techmarine is consulting a dataslate instead of watching the battle going on around him

Sweet Graven. Soon as that sanguine backpack arrives I'll get your bits packed up (including the con beamer) and get them off to you! Would hate to think that your fine MoTF was being held up on my account!

Dozer is great BTW!

Hey bud,

Just read through your blog and really impressed with you Mentors, Sculpts ands Conversions..

Will be following this one..

Jim.

inmygravenimage wrote:

Hi Im just wondering where you found these. They look ideal for electro priests / Arco-flagellation victims.

p.s. Its great seeing some of the older lesser know chapters getting some love .

Cheers for support lads. The pictured models are a Cephalyx and drudge slaves from warmachine. The Cephalyx minus back bits will be a mystic for my =I= retinue, and the drudges are getting turned into servitors.

It's fun doing a proper old chapter: I remember getting issue 99 of WD (adverts for other companies!) and being blown away. Ah, youth, etc. In order to make my vehicles look a bit more high tech, I've decided to file off all the rivets - yes, we have knowledge of WELDING! I might even invest in some mk4 armour and a LR Prometheus to continue the rare/high-tech theme.

Until someone does a rainbow marine army, I shan't be swayed by all this old school wave.

That said, loving the mini's. Techmarine seems a bit OTT though.

Inspired by the mighty Blackhand, I decided to try to knock together a owl-style helm:



I'm worried that it's rather more parrot than owl! I wonder about making it more tapered at the front and adding a ^ groove about half way up to create a more defined V beak below it. Thoughts? C&C?

In other news, the first of the new test batch of marines has been part-painted and I'll try to get a photo up of him soon as.

graven

You've got some great stuff here, really liking the MotF.

For the owl helm, it might make it a bit more owl-like with "ears" like the Night Owl suit: http://www.scifiscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/watchmen_night_owl.jpg

Just an idea.

Good call. I've experimented with adding owl-like brows on a vanguard too, which I might do on this guy. It's very WIP; I just don't want to over do it. Once settled, I've got some polymorph, which I'll try to do a mould from.

Glad you like the MotF, too; whilst I love my crazy techmarine, the MotF has a (relative) simplicity which I'm really happy with.

Great start to the helm, definitely think the "eyebrows" are the way to go, have you thought about enlarging and "rounding" the eye a bit..not too much but enough to suggest the owl's large eyes?

As for the beak, narrow and hooked is what I think of when I think of owls parrots have a wider more rounded shape...not that any of that helps

Oh and your package arrived today! gotta say thanks again! I will do my best to get some thoughts down on paper and GS in the next few weeks for the banners.

Mentor legion, the brainy marines! funny i was looking at this pic the other day thinking they would be a nice chapter to create. and i also noticed the olw logo. great work here on bringing ghosts to life.

Looking forward to more on this. Grreat work. So much inspiration in the P&M blogs.

Looking good graven. I concur with the rest on modifying the eye area, either with brows or brows and rounding. Keep in mind that in many species the "brows" actually continue around the eye all the way back to the cheeks, forming what look like plates that frame the eyes. Google a photo of a Barn Owl if I'm not describing it well. It's more extreme but on such a small object it might get you a more recognizable image.

I'm going to try to do a broad arching V across the brows, going down the sides in a sort of 7 shape - much like the Night Owl look, though adapted. If I get some time tonight I'll give it a whirl. Cheers lads!

Okay, a revised helm:






The roughness around the edges is super-magnified, it's smoother in the flesh, as it were. How do folk feel about this version?

Definitely more owl - less parrot, I'm liking it.

Good job!

An attempt to photo what's on my desk just now:

We are space teachers, therefore we must have... Librarians!

I'm using only power/force axes (just cos, right?) and liked the look of the HE Lion axes for force; quite pleased with how they look.

Not a lot going on with this old chief librarian, but the axe head's a nice fit, I think:



Rubbish photo notwithstanding, very happy with this, my counts-as Korvyddae:


Termie Lib off a classic GK:


Chapter Champion - love the Calgar Guard models:


A very WIP counts-as Sicarius:

Like the glaive here, will probably do something similar to AOBR commander.

Termie Serg WIP:



And for variety, a Sternguard Heavy Flamer (who I've just noticed has lost a cable).


So, toddling along!