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Dude, you are improving extremely quickly! I absolutely love the latest termie!

If you continue imroving at this pace, you'll be in the eavy metal team soon lol

heh, definitely something to aspire to :p thanks for the kind words!

your welcome, and im glad your not as opposed to the idea as you where in the beginning

ugh, son of a b... my spray sealer frosted my last two termies :( curse you, purity seal! I'll have a go at recovering from disaster using a gloss spray (when I find one). sigh.

edit: on that note, does anyone have a gloss varnish spray recommendation? I think I've had my limit of GW sprays...

varl wrote:ugh, son of a b... my spray sealer frosted my last two termies :( curse you, purity seal! I'll have a go at recovering from disaster using a gloss spray (when I find one). sigh.

Dude.. Thats the exact reason I stopped using it :( It's not worth the chance. Sorry to hear that happened.

Brush on matte varnish takes longer but avoids this completely bullcrap.

varl wrote:edit: on that note, does anyone have a gloss varnish spray recommendation? I think I've had my limit of GW sprays...

thearmypainter.com has some really awesome sprays

just a quick update:

I picked up some gloss varnish and a different matte varnish (trying out testors glosscote and dullcote, respectively) in hopes of rescuing my terminators. I tried it out on the sergeant, since he was the most frosty and, while it did improve things, it wasn't a complete success. the original texture from the purity seal (think teeny-tiny bumps all over) is still there, but the frostiness is gone. good enough that it's not a total loss, but I'm definitely retiring my can of purity seal.

on another note, assault marines are coming along:



I've got almost all the bits I'll be using cleaned up and reading for priming. I still have to remove the mold lines from most of the shoulder pads and probably a couple of grenade bits as well. one set of arms is missing because I'm waiting for the unit's flamer to arrive in the mail, along with the tactical marine arms to hold it.



here you can see my botched attempt to fill in the gaps on a jump pack with green stuff. green stuff and I are not on speaking terms right now, as I had a hell of an unpleasant morning with it. I'm going to pop by my FLGS tomorrow and pick up a pot of liquid green stuff and see how that works out. based on reviews I've read, I don't have super high hopes for it, but for $5 I'm willing to try it out if it saves me from working more with "real" GS

also in this shot (upper left), you can see that I've magnetized one of the torsos and 2 arms. this will be for my sergeant; I figure he's the only one that may need to change wargear at some point. I'll probably also be giving him melta bombs. they look rather large on the sprue; way too big to hang off his belt. where do people typically attach them to the model?

varl wrote:also in this shot (upper left), you can see that I've magnetized one of the torsos and 2 arms. this will be for my sergeant; I figure he's the only one that may need to change wargear at some point. I'll probably also be giving him melta bombs. they look rather large on the sprue; way too big to hang off his belt. where do people typically attach them to the model?

I like to have the marines holding the melta bombs. You can remove the chain sword from the straight arm version (opposed to the bent arm version), cut out the middle part of the handle of the MB, and "Voila"! Now you have a marine about to blow up a land raider

Good luck!
Rawson

ive tried liquid greenstuff on jumppacks but with little success. feel free to try it yourself but the problem with liquid GS is that while it might be good for filling small airbubbles its absolutely terrible for filling large gabs as it reduces in size as it dries.

wish GW had some chainswords without the arms attached. then if you would do what Rawson suggested you can have a chainsword attached to his belt or sticking in the ground or something without having to resculpt the handle

Some really nicely painted Marines here. Love the green, it just works. And everything about your paint job just looks right.

update time... assault marines are fully primed (again; had a false start with some white primer and had to do it over) and awaiting painting. while I was waiting for the primer to set, I started color-blocking my aobr captain to test out the color scheme:




this is just a quick slap-and-dash paint job, obviously, but what do people think about the colors? is the red too overpowering against the green armor? should I use the same red on the robe or stick with the same cream color as the cloak lining? I'll be adding some freehand edging to the cloak lining in the same red color. thinking about doing the edges of the shoulder pads in gold rather than green, to help signify the artificer armor he'll be using. maybe also the ring where the gauntlet and the forearm join (it's the white area on the sword arm in the top photo)? not sure what other embellishments to add to make it look more artificer-like.

curious to hear what people think

The captain is looking really good, i just love the green that you use, it looks so clear and crisp, keep up the good work

Young Logan

and back to the assault marines... jump packs are nearly done:



I still have to apply decals to four of them and spray them all with matte varnish (probably won't do that until they're on the models), which is why the black looks so shiny.

I tried my hand at a bit of OSL for the thrusters, based on a tutorial I found here, but I'm not completely happy with how it came out. for one thing, the way I filled in the cracks with GS (intentionally) took away some of the details in the thruster rings so I had fewer edges to work with. second, I feel like the tutorial author blended his colors somehow because color transitions in his photos look way smoother than what I ended up with. at any rate, I like the idea and if/when I do this again I think I'll just simplify it a bit - use 3 colors instead of 5.

I'll be moving on to the assault marine bodies next. instead of my usual GW goblin green for my base color, I'll be using Vallejo's goblin green. three factors led me to this choice: 1) I've been wanting to compare vallejo paints with the GW paints I already have, 2) vallejo uses dropper bottles, which I love and 3) GW doesn't make goblin green anymore. vallejo's goblin green it's a bit darker than GW's when it dries (while dakka's color comparison chart lists them as equivalents, they really aren't), but I'm hoping it will still work with the rest of my color scheme.

we'll find out soon

small update tonight. I finished the heads for my assault marines:




apologies for the crappy lighting. the colors are cooler than what you see here, but I had to add some frontal lighting to make the highlights visible

I feel like these helmets need a wash. what do you think?

good looking heads! win!

update time and a special treat!



work on the assault marines progresses, ever so slowly. heads & jump packs are done. I'm most of the way through base coating the torso & legs and then it's on to arms & weapons and final assembly. I think I may end up magnetizing my flamer marine so I can swap in a standard load-out for him. will probably also magnetize the meltabomb for the sergeant (his arms are already magnetized). they might get finished some time this month :p normally I work on a single model at a time (which seems really slow), so for this squad I decided to do them assembly-line style. ironically, I think this is turning out to be even slower for me than working in a single model at a time. the results should be more consistent between models, though, so there's that.

I was originally thinking that I would do some blending (from the base armor color down to a darker shade) on certain parts of the armor, like the legs and arms, but I've taken a step back from that. after a lot of failed attempts at blending (and glazing) on scrap bits as well as doing some more research, the technique seems a bit overkill for marine-sized models. maybe on a terminator or walker... if I ever figure out how to make blending work. instead, I'm going to try a 2-step highlight instead of my usual 1-step edge highlighting. time will tell if my hand's steady enough for that or not

on an unrelated note, something that's been challenging me lately is working with black. I have a hard time keeping track of the tip of my brush when I'm painting black onto a dark surface. I can't see the tip of the brush unless I hunch over and get really close to it (and I already use a magnifier!). I'm not sure if it's the position of my light, my eyesight going or what, but it's definitely frustrating. I feel like I'm painting half-blind and I don't know where the brush is until I start seeing paint appear on the model. not really sure what to do about it, though.

and now, a special treat of sorts. way back in the mists of time, I tried my hand at painting minis. I think there was a D&D table-top wargame that had caught my interest, so I was doing some units for that (never got around to playing). my interest didn't last for more than few months, but I kept those minis in a shoe box ever since, faithfully moving it from apartment to apartment without ever really looking inside. well, the other night I stumbled across the box, opened it up, and lo and behold what I found within:

I painted these (poorly) when I was about 16 years old. in 11 days, I will be 39 years old. I had no idea what 40k was back then, but 20+ years later these were a treat to find. this is why you don't throw old boxes out (and don't let your parents do it, either)

good evening dakka,

just a quick note to confirm that I am not, in fact, dead

no progress to share at the moment due to a couple things... firstly, I did some experimenting with washes on the assault marines I had base-coated to try out some different techniques. on the whole, they came out rather terrible :p I'm in the process of re-applying the base coat, so in the next day or two I'll be back to where I was... 2 weeks ago. I did learn some things, though, so I consider it a worthy sacrifice (I did it for science!). the second reason is diablo 3. I think you can all empathize with me on that one

in other news, I took the plunge today and ordered an airbrush. I went with the badger khrome from chicago airbrush supply (yay, free shipping!). I was leaning towards buying a cheapo (masters g23 or something similar) off ebay, but after a bit of research I had concerns about their defect rates and decided to just go with a quality tool instead of taking my chances. I'll be hooking it up a 5lb CO2 tank (no compressor; I live on the 4th floor of an apartment building and don't think the neighbors would be keen). very much looking forward to getting this set up, as I've got a pair of rhinos that I've been putting off building simply because the thought of painting tanks with a brush again was giving me a headache :p

What problem did you have with the wash?

I haven't been happy with the shading I've been doing, so I tried out 4 different washing techniques so I could compare results:

1. slop on badab black
2. slop on secret weapon miniatures (swm) soft body black
3. apply a gloss varnish and then slop on secretweaponminiatures soft body black
4. apply swm soft body black directly to crevices with just the tip of my brush

for #1, I expected sub-optimal results and I was not disappointed in that regard. while the recesses were nicely shaded, the rest of the armor looked like it was covered in soot. no surprises there, but it gave me something to compare the swm soft body black wash to.

for #2, I was quite disappointed with the results as it didn't look anything at all like the product photos on the swm website. it came out much darker and thicker than the badab black wash and dried glossy.

#3 was a similar result to #2, though partly that's due to my gloss coat not being very good. I should have done two layers of gloss varnish, I think, because when I was cleaning up the excess wash with mineral spirits, I ended up stripping some of the base coat off.

#4 came out ok and is the technique I normally use, though in the past I've used badab black. while it confines the wash to where I want it, the issue I have is that there's no gradient to the shading. it's either base color or dark shadow with no graduation leading from the mid-tones to the dark shadows. that's why I was experimenting with other techniques.

after my poor experience with the swm wash in methods #2 and #3, I emailed misterjustin over at swm to ask him about it. he's been super, super helpful in showing me where I went wrong and how to get better results. turns out I was using the wash completely wrong. while the product photos make it look like you just slop it over the whole model, the reality is that that look was achieved by a very careful, directed application of the wash. he's got a great video up on youtube explaining the technique. I can't say enough positive things about swm customer service; he's amazingly responsive to customer questions and such.

based on justin's feedback and suggestions, I've tried applying the swm soft body black wash the "right" way. the results are better, but it's still not quite what I want. I'm having some issues with tide markings where the wash starts. I can clean those up with the base color, of course, but then I start to ruin the gradient effect. I think it's just a matter of practice on my part, but I've got another email in to justin to clarify a few points.

assault marines will be done "soon"!

work has been kicking my butt of late (10-12 hour days), but I'm still trying to squeeze in an hour or so of painting at the end of each day. all I have left on the marines is edge highlights, decals, final assembly, basing and varnishing. I'm hoping to at least get through the assembly stage this weekend, but I haven't decided how to base them yet so that may take some time. can't wait to have these done because I'm honestly getting tired of looking at all the bitz :p

Pretty flames!

weetyskemian44 wrote:Pretty flames!

ha, oh yeah... need to do some of that, too :p

progress!



nearly done with these guys. was hoping to get them finished this weekend, but I'll have to settle for assembled :p

I ran into an issue with putting the arms on the flamer guy and had to greenstuff some gaps in his armpits, so I still have a bit of painting left to do once that GS dries. beyond that, I just have to figure out bases and seal 'em and they're done. more photos when they're finished.

at long last, my assault marine squad is finally done:






these guys took me so long to finish that even my girlfriend was getting tired of seeing them on my desk!

fairly happy with the results, though towards the end I just couldn't muster up the energy to add more detail. only two guys got fiery shoulder pads (not happy with how either one came out) and just the sergeant ended up with some scripture detail. the grass on the bases isn't quite right, either. one of these days I'm going to have to teach myself how to make a static grass applicator so I can make tighter and taller clumps of grass. still not brave enough to try any weathering, though I know I have to get over that to get to the next level. some day...

anyway, after a looonnnnng delay, I will be getting back to work on my captain. he'll hopefully be the last model I base coat with a brush I've got my shiny new air brush and my CO2 tank; just need a regulator and I'll be ready to learn how to paint all over again. I'm hoping it boosts my productivity significantly, so I can get cracking on everything else I've got piled up (2 razorbacks, another 10 man tactical squad, scout squad, command squad).

cheers and thanks for looking

They look really cool as a groop,but I can't make out much of the detail. But if they look as neat as their heads, great job, dude!

here's a wip shot of my aobr captain:



the armor, metals and face are done. I'm working on the cloak and tabard now and still have to do the leather bits, the hair and the sword and a few other odds and ends (purity seals, cable coming out of his head, etc.). oh, and the backpack/standard thingie. at the rate I'm moving these days, should take me another week or two to finish :p

here's the "finished" captain:



I say "finished" because I still have to seal him and I'm also not 100% sure I'm happy with painting the cable coming out of his head yellow. I though I'd do it red at first, but didn't want it to get confused with the cloak and ropes. black would blend in too much and blue didn't really seem to fit. so, yellow... I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a better idea, though.

lots and lots of learning experiences on this model, which is partly why it took so long. it didn't help that I did an abysmal priming job, either (part of the first batch of models I ever spray primed and it came out heavy and bubbly in places). here's a rundown of what I did differently:

Armor
I changed up how I do shading on the armor. instead of using a black wash in the recesses, I followed the technique outlined in this video from JudgeGudge. I didn't use colors with enough contrast between them, though, so the highlights (not the edge highlights) aren't quite as pronounced as they should be. I've picked up some new colors to remedy that for future models. still, given the colors I had available I'm pretty happy with the end result. pretty easy to do, too

Use of Layering
for the tabard and the inside of the cloak, I used layering for the first time. I more or less followed this technique from ron's From The Warp blog, except that I added a white/bleached bone glaze at the end because I thought the shadows looked too deep. while the technique itself is pretty easy to do, I think the colors I chose made it harder than it needed to be. GW's bleached bone is particularly chalky, which makes doing thin layers with it hard (or I'm just thinning it wrong). also, in hindsight, I think I started with too dark a color for the shadows.

for the back of the cloak (the red), I did multiple layers of highlights on the folds and washes across the entire cloak. I didn't want to use layering because the folds were so close together I didn't think I'd have enough room to work. really happy with how this technique turned out, because it's pretty easy to do. the only catch is making sure your wash doesn't pool where you don't want it to. you can see a couple spots near the bottom edge of the cloak where I didn't catch it in time, but it's not too bad.

Power Sword
painting this sword was a nightmare. I literally painted it nine different times. the plan was to try wet blending (for the first time) and go from necron abyss at the hilt up to near-white at the tip and then put lightning effects over that. the first three attempts, I tried to do wet blend using a method from girlpainting (no retarder; just watered down paints). needless to say, I failed I either ended up with no blending or a swirly mess. I made three more attempts using a different method I picked up from awesomepaintjob (using retarder, this time). those also failed (super streaky, lost the white). at this point, I had so much paint on the sword that I had to strip it back down to bare plastic with my knife. after doing some more research, I made two more attempts with wet blending and got a result that was kinda ok at a distance, but still looked crappy up close. at that point, I gave up on wet blending entirely and found this video from Brush And Bolter. so, so much easier then wet blending and the result is even better than what I'd original envisioned. and on the first try, no less! this will be my standard approach to power weapons going forward, I think.

Leather
rather than my usual scorched brown base coat and edge highlight with a lighter brown, I tried out this idea (From The Warp, again). I think it came out well, despite my first wash being a bit blotchy. it gives a nice, warm and worn feel to it. I'll probably use this again in the future.

Hair
I haven't had to deal with hair before. I'm not keen on the orange/red color that salamanders have in the fluff, so I decided to make him gray (captains are old, right?). I base-coated with white and then took thinned down codex gray, wiped most of the paint off on a paper towel and then made rough streaks from front to back. surprisingly easy and looks fair.

Basing
I've decided to stick with a desert rock theme for all my bases (will have to re-base my first tac squad one of these days, to keep things consistent). the only thing new for the captain's base is the use of tall grass. static grass wasn't giving me the look I wanted, so I followed this technique from mr. justin at secret weapon miniatures. it's not quite what I wanted (not bushy enough), but I'm happy with it for a first effort.

overall, I'm really happy with this model. I had a lot of false starts and a lot of re-painting various bits to fix mistakes/failed experiments, but I also learned a lot along the way. I think this represents my best work to date. I believe this means I finally have a playable army, too :p

next up for me is tanks! I've had two razorback kits sitting on my desk for months, but was putting off starting them until I bought an airbrush. well, I bought an airbrush (and finally got all the fittings sorted out. ugh), so now it's time for the tanks. I'll be magnetizing all the weapons and bits so that I can use them as rhinos or razorbacks, of course. I'll try to remember to take some WIP shots along the way, but updates may be few and far between while I'm in the early stages of clean up and assembly.

cheers and thanks for reading,

v

great stuff, cant wait to see the tanks, loving the green and the skin tones, keep up the good work.

based on some feedback I've gotten in the P&M showcase forum, I'm probably going to make a couple minor tweaks to my captain (try to add part of the chapter icon to the shoulder, re-paint the white scrollwork on the bolter to silver or gold, possibly try adding in some scripture lines on the armor). I won't get around to that until I'm done prepping the tanks for assembly, though.

on that note, here's a couple WIP shots of said tanks:





I've got the first tank completely cleaned up and dry fit (all the extra bitz are inside). I magnetized everything except the side doors. I considered magnetizing those, too, but decided it wasn't worth the effort since there was just a closed interior door right behind it. I did make a point of gluing the side doors in very lightly, though, in case I ever decide to spring for forgeworld replacements (love the products, hate the shipping costs). the weapon turrets for both are done and are magnetized such that I can use the heavy bolters or the lascannons. I've only just started cleaning up the second tank. you can see some of the magnetizing work I did last night in the second photo. mostly all that's left now is sprue removal and cleanup. I'm hoping to have both tanks ready to base coat by this weekend.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how easy these kits go together. based on my first vehicle experience (land speeder), I expected assembly to be much worse in terms of warped panels, il-fitting joints, etc. my only real issue is that the assembled tank seems laughably small when you imagine 10 marines crammed into the back...

you have some nice Salamanders here,

which colours do you use??

keep up the good work!!

Gr, Kjell