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 GiraffeX wrote:
I just looked at your deviant art page, I'm now even more excited to see these Nids painted

Haha thanks!

Well another update. Think I'm pretty much ready to get painting now. Heard about not priming in high humidity, and apparently its 81% here, which does sound kind of high, so I think I'll wait to prime all the models tomorrow. I've also done the basing on them, using cork and some small rocks. Will prime all that black as well.
I wanted to have a rock for my trygon to curl around, and I found the perfect one today in the garden, its kind of got an overhand too, so I could put icicles hanging off it, which should look pretty cool.
Here come the pics!

Primed the models! Seemed to work fine. The first gant I sprayed got a bit too thick of a layer of spray on it, so he lost a bit of detail, but the others were fine since I got the technique right after that. I did the Trygon last of course
I ordered Temple Guard Blue paint which I'll need for the tongues and the exposed muscle type spots for the nids. Will start airbrushing the base coat, highlights etc tomorrow

Almost there getting excited!! lol

Looking good , get some paint on !!!

Ok, so I've been busy painting! I'll outline the steps I took under each image. First though, I'm having a slight problem in deciding between two designs. I decided to get some Sand Texture Gell, which you mix with the acrylic paints, and it will give a nice grainy texture to the surface, I planned to do this on the carapace of the tyranids. However, I'm not sure about its effect now. It could be due to the fact that its on such small units, it may look better on a the larger ones. But it also gives a shiny effect to the carapace. I continued to paint 2 of the Gants, one with this texture, one without, so I could compare the end results. Looking at them now, I think I'm leaning back towards keeping the texture, but what do you guys think? I also decided to add some extra things to the design. Also, the two Gants are not quite finished yet, I need to tidy up some of the shade, and also do the eyes and re-highlight the vent areas. Oh and yes I'll be doing the carapace pattern next as well! Will need to blend on to the model, so it will be quite difficult, but I'll manage

I think the textured armor looks better with the highlights then the smooth one. It gives it an almost icy feel, or something similar to beetles carapace. very nice

I like the paint scheme, and that textured carapace does look good, but i think it will look even better on some of the bigger models,
With the larger carapace area.

Hive Fleet Lazarus wrote:I think the textured armor looks better with the highlights then the smooth one. It gives it an almost icy feel, or something similar to beetles carapace. very nice

Thanks!

hk1x1 wrote:I like the paint scheme, and that textured carapace does look good, but i think it will look even better on some of the bigger models,
With the larger carapace area.

Thanks, I agree it would look nicer on the larger models, but had to test it on the Gants first, didn't want to ruin the Trygon yet xD

Ok the two Gants are pretty much done now. I forgot to paint the eye on the weapons, will do that next. Will start basing these now, will dry brush the ground for details, then will be adding snow, mixed with water effects, plus some grass.
Really do need to figure out how to take better photos of miniatures though, they look a lot better in real life than in these photos, but it will have to do for now

They are looking really nice, whats the texture paint your using for the carapaces looks really interesting.

The texture is done by using Winsor & Newton Galleria Acrylic Mediums: Sand Texture Gel. You just mix it with your paints, in my case the black I used for the carapace, and it puts these grains in it for the effect

 Glaiceana wrote:

Hart wrote:Planning on starting a Tyranid army in the next couple of weeks, definately gonna keep an eye on this thread.
Interesting color pallette too, looking forward to how that turns out.

On the off chance its of interest, Peregrine achieved some epic (IMO) snow effects on the bases here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/526208.page
he explains how he did it a few posts into the first page.
:bounce:

Thanks for the link! I was going to use a tutorial I found here, I think it was in the article section on how to make snow bases, but I can't find it now which is really annoying.

Since I was mentioned, http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=6 might be the tutorial you're thinking of (it's the one I used, specifically the "water effects mix" method). For materials you want Woodland Scenics "soft flake snow" and "realistic water", most gaming products are just Woodland Scenics stuff re-labeled and increased in price.

Oh, and one last tip: I'd suggest waiting to glue your models down until you have the wet snow mix on the base. You want it to be crushed down and pushed aside realistically, what I do is put a blob of snow down and use the actual model to make footprints to stand in, and then immediately glue it in place so the snow mix dries around the model.

I like the color scheme, the spots on the limbs and carapace really give the gaunts an animal feel. Also your green stuff work is pretty awesome for your first time out. I'm terrible with green stuff and generally shy away from it as much as possible.

I do kinda feel like the color scheme is a little flat and wonder if just adding red, yellow, or orange eyes might make the whole thing pop. Just my 2 cents.

Peregrine wrote:Since I was mentioned, http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=6 might be the tutorial you're thinking of (it's the one I used, specifically the "water effects mix" method). For materials you want Woodland Scenics "soft flake snow" and "realistic water", most gaming products are just Woodland Scenics stuff re-labeled and increased in price.

Oh, and one last tip: I'd suggest waiting to glue your models down until you have the wet snow mix on the base. You want it to be crushed down and pushed aside realistically, what I do is put a blob of snow down and use the actual model to make footprints to stand in, and then immediately glue it in place so the snow mix dries around the model.

Thanks for the link! Think I'll be using the water effects and snow mix, looks like the effect I'm going for. Will test it out of course. And yep none of the models are stuck down yet so I can work on the bases easier

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I like the color scheme, the spots on the limbs and carapace really give the gaunts an animal feel. Also your green stuff work is pretty awesome for your first time out. I'm terrible with green stuff and generally shy away from it as much as possible.

I do kinda feel like the color scheme is a little flat and wonder if just adding red, yellow, or orange eyes might make the whole thing pop. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks! And yes I was wondering about another colour, I might just enhance the temple gaurd blue. Wondering if I should paint the guns a slightly different colour. Not sure if red or orange will work out with the icey cold theme I'm going for. Perhaps purple though.

Update: I've bought some new Hormagaunts, so I'll be assembling those next Will upload some photos of the bases on the two Gants once they are completed

Well, that's looking very nice!

Nice scheme! Loving the blue highlights.

Thanks guys!

Ok, I've done the two bases now. Had a slight problem with the GW snow clumping together in the water effects liquid.
Figured out how to fix that now, I just need to add more liquid, less snow lol. Also finished the detail on the weapons. Actually managed to get the see-through jewel type effect on the eye I think!
Also, I've assembled 12 new Gaunts, they are ready for painting. I used some greenstuff under their bases so they were a bit more balanced. I see people with gaunts falling over all the time lol. Its partly due to mixing the wrong body types with the wrong scythe arms. There's the body where it is jumping further forwards a lot more, you can tell by the leg it stands on, its a lot more stretched out. Therefore, with those ones, do not put the far reaching scythe arms on to it! You'll mess the balance up even more. Save the stretched out arms for the body types that are have the leg more crouched!

Nice work on the Nids !

I like the stretched out "Leaping " ones, I made some like that and glued pennies into the bases , no falling over then !

These look absolutely brilliant

Or, you know, you could glue a little bit of metal on the underside of the base on the most troublesome Gaunts.

Should do the trick.

I am going to start expanding on the 'ice' theme on my Glacier Serpents, so it'll be interesting to see how you do it.

Big H wrote:Nice work on the Nids !
I like the stretched out "Leaping " ones, I made some like that and glued pennies into the bases , no falling over then !

Thanks! And yes I heard about the penny idea

matapata98 wrote:These look absolutely brilliant

Thank you!

BrotherHaraldus wrote:Or, you know, you could glue a little bit of metal on the underside of the base on the most troublesome Gaunts.
Should do the trick.
I am going to start expanding on the 'ice' theme on my Glacier Serpents, so it'll be interesting to see how you do it.

Luckily mine weren't that unbalanced to begin with, so just a bit of greenstuff was enough.

Ok so I have a question. Wondering about introducing a different colour to the scheme. I'm thinking something for the hooves and claws/scythes. Just something to make them pop a bit more.
What do you guys think to a shading of purple on the hooves and scythes? It would be a brighter shade towards the edges, and then fading back to black closer to the body.
Red seems like it wouldn't fit my theme, same for yellow and green.

Love the spots on the gaunts' skin! Very nice

 Glaiceana wrote:

Ok so I have a question. Wondering about introducing a different colour to the scheme. I'm thinking something for the hooves and claws/scythes. Just something to make them pop a bit more.
What do you guys think to a shading of purple on the hooves and scythes? It would be a brighter shade towards the edges, and then fading back to black closer to the body.
Red seems like it wouldn't fit my theme, same for yellow and green.

How about the pale blue close to the body fading to pure white towards the edges ? Or yellow to white ? Or even pure gloss black like glass or obsidian ?

Personally I think anything brighter in purple or red would be too bright for my subdued tastes !

I liked your idea, and gave it a shot, looks pretty good! Also, I've made the blue center of the spots a bit brighter, by using a small amount of the temple guard blue.

Sweet ! Pics or it didn't happen !

 Big H wrote:
Sweet ! Pics or it didn't happen !

Ok here's the pics XD

Nice colour scheme. Very unique.

and good work on the GS horns and spikes.

Hey awesome work keep it up!
Look forward to seeing more

The green stuff horns on the termagaunts are a really nice touch

And very cool colours, has a light but dark feel

Claws look great . Only part that jars me just a little is the blue on the carapace- rather than putting it on the center ridge, I feel like it should go along the trailing edge of the armor plates.