Dakka (Unofficial) Painting Challenge Round 40 June 2018: Blades in the Dark

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**Tim 121RVC**

Chris56 wrote:

And that skull your feral ork is leaping off, Tim121RVC - what is that? It looks very cool and I want one!

**Kustomer D**

@MG Thank you, mate. It's a pretty cool conversion. It looks was better than the normal XV25 Suits. The gun, by the way, is the standard burst cannon.

**Power Elephant**

Proof pic and WIP.

**Chris56**

Love the shadows of the bars on the drone's top! Very cool.

**ZergSmasher**

@Power Elephant: That is an awesome little mini-diorama taking shape! I'll echo Chris above and say I love the shadow effect! It really adds a touch of realism to the scene.

My entry is finished, so here are my final pics of my Dark Angels Scouts, appropriately (for the theme) wielding large blades:

These were fun to paint. Regardless of whether you vote for them in the challenge poll, feel free to vote for them in the Dakka Gallery!

I look forward to seeing what everyone else has for this month, so I'll continue to drop in on this thread from time to time. Good luck everyone!

**Power Elephant**

Chris56 wrote:Love the shadows of the bars on the drone's top! Very cool.

ZergSmasher wrote:@Power Elephant: That is an awesome little mini-diorama taking shape! I'll echo Chris above and say I love the shadow effect! It really adds a touch of realism to the scene.

Thanks for the praise. If you're ever going to do something similar though, I would suggest you put the source of the shadows (metal grid in this case) as well as the source of the light on one of the sides rather than above. That way it will be way easier to see what's going on. And since this effect only shows up in real life when a strong light illuminates a dark space, use bright highlights and dark shadows. Bonus points if the light source is coloured.

**Paradigm**

Lots of good stuff in here! Nice to see a few new entrants as well.

@ZoBo: Love how awesomely over-the-top that piece is! The colours, the background, the lettering straight of an 80s album cover! Nice work!

@Zerg: Nice clean work on those! I'd just suggest tidying up the bases a bit, some of your texture seems to have overlapped in a couple of places.

Edit: Forgot to, y'know, actually post the entry I came here to post!

Here they are, a trio of Predators. On the whole, I'm happy with them, though I do still think the first one is the strongest paintjob (possibly as it's just the most dynamic sculpt). More individual pics over on my blog, where I'll also have some Aliens/Colonial Marines going up soon as well if anyone's interested /shameless plug!

Any thoughts/feedback/gallery votes ect welcome!

**feltmonkey**

Lots of great stuff appearing as usual! Those predators are amazing, Para, and I really like the little diorama from Power Elephant too.

I haven't been sure what to paint, personally. I have a pile of shame that would amaze you, but even in amongst the hundreds (yep, really) of unpainted miniatures, I couldn't think of anything that's really stealthy. I had some Reivers, but I already painted them a few weeks ago. In the end I settled on a Super Dungeon Explore mini. He looks sort of stealthy to me, but reading his bio apparently he's not really. Hopefully he'll fit the bill! You guys might have to cut me a little slack.

Anyway, having decided on him, and having filled and primed him, I set about starting the base colours on Saturday. I came back to do a bit more work on Sunday, and literally a couple of hours later he was finished! For me that's extraordinary. I'm a very slow painter, and some of my entries on here have taken dozens of hours. I'm starting to wonder if I should go back and tinker with it for another three days or something. I feel sort of guilty about it, like I've rushed it or phoned it in or something. It does seem finished though. It's no Treelord Ancient, and I can't see it winning, but I don't think I could do much better with it either.

So I guess my next post will probably be both the proof and finished pics

**Paradigm**

Poll for next month!
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/759376.page#10037968

**Chris56**

I love those predators, Para, they look awesome.
Your style really brings out their savagery and violence...now I'm off to go and re-watch the Predator movies! Danny Glover - what a legend...

**Power Elephant**

Finished. I'm glad such a small project has been getting such good reception.

**craggy**

Gonna enter my Death Company. Been working on them this weekend and tonight. Should be finished by the cut off. Have the proof pic I took when they were primed at the start of the month but won't be able to upload it til tomorrow

**Nevelon**

Almost done. Just the final touch-ups, basing, and glueing the arm on that shotgunner.

**CREEEEEEEEED**

I've ended up going for the scouts rather than the inquisition Stormtroopers because I'm trying to blast through all 20 (non-sniper) scouts I have at once.

**Gulgog TufToof**

Finished; tried a lot of new stuff on this one. I hope you like her, she was a lot of fun to paint.

and to give you all a sense of just how tiny these minis are, I cut a wooden match for a scale shot (Paradigm, please don't include this last image in the voting thread):

Spoiler:

Great entries from everyone so far, and good luck to everyone still trying to get one in before the deadline!

**Jadenim**

Paradigm, please include that last photo in the voting thread, otherwise it looks like an averagely painted 28mm model, not an incredibly well painted, insanely small miniature!

You deserve the votes Gulgog!

**CREEEEEEEEED**

Jadenim wrote:
Paradigm, please include that last photo in the voting thread, otherwise it looks like an averagely painted 28mm model, not an incredibly well painted, insanely small miniature!

You deserve the votes Gulgog!

NGL I was looking at it thinking 'I'm sure I've seen way better stuff from him.'

Also, could we have a cent for scale rather than a broken matchstick?

**Gulgog TufToof**

I guess I have a few days left; I’ll try to take a scale pic that I like enough to add to the official set. Thanks for the comments!

**Kustomer D**

Finished my entry.
I´m pretty happy with it ... but on the pics it showes some issues with the paint, or so. I can´t see it on the figure itself but it looks textured and as if there is some kind of dust on it...

See you guys in next months challenge

K D

**Chris56**

She turned out really well, Gulgog! Those details are TIIIIIIIINY! Very well done.
Loving your conversion, Kustomer D. That base is exceptionally good - how did you make it/paint it, please?

My entry is also done! I have only attached a couple of photos, 'cos the other angles don't really look right. I'm happy to post other pics, if people want to see the backs of the characters, etc.

I really enjoyed painting these. They were originally McDonald's Happy Meal toys, and I found one in an opportunity shop 'free' bin. The paint didn't want to stick to the plastic very well but we got there in the end. All of the set was homemade, using greenstuff for the coke can, plasticard for the pizza box and barrels of mutagenic ooze. Perhaps my favourite bit was the graffiti on the alley wall showing Rocksteady's artistic side...
I hope people like it, 'cos I had a blast painting it.

See you all next month!

**JustALittleOrkish**

Finished, yay! Pretty happy with the end results.

**Modock**

Damn Chris, what a jewel! Gorgeous diorama, I love the work you did with the wall and graffiti. The rest is also amazing.

**Power Elephant**

Superb diorama there Chris.

**Kustomer D**

Thank you Chris. It´s just 3mm Foamboard and some kind of mesh. Added a decal to make it more tauish - I plan to do a AoP-Board with this kind of style.

Very awesome dio you bring this month. Thumbs up!!!

K D

**Gulgog TufToof**

Ok, here's a better scale shot, Paradigm, if you would be so kind, please include this one with my final entry (Not the one with the match). Thanks!!!

**ChaosDad**

Here are my gobbos!

I'm very happy with them and how the whole teams turned out with bases and mushrooms and all that jazz... it all gave me a furious yearning for getting my hands on the Goblin BB pitch and playing tossing the Squigskin around....

**LordRahl**

lol ive only ended up painting one of my ladies, then got distracted by my redhood model that wanted paint and my captain marvel model that i just picked up, god damn distractions lol

**craggy**

my proof. Got the squad finished but will need to wait til after work tomorrow to take decent pics.

**Nevelon**

Final pic.

These guys did not want to photograph. Had to break out the lightbox a second time to take another round of pics. I miss having the space to just leave it set up.

The scout box pretty dated. Soft details, bad mold lines. Just not the best kit out there. Spiced it up with some spare parts from when I built my scout bikers, which helped. One of the guys is also a rescue from the back of the LSS. And of course the old lead sarge. Odd assortment overall. Ignore the fact that two of the guys are sarges. Once they disperse to the shelf, they will take command of their respective squads.

**Suzuteo**

Okay. I was travelling for business all month. So 10 hour painting challenge accepted! (I am going to bed now. Haha.)

I will be painting everyone's favorite psychic vampire, Mephiston:

Mine is truescale, and it was kitbashed from:
-Dark Elf Corsair Champion head
-Blood Angels Upgrade chest
-Dark Angels Veteran robed legs, torso back, and backpack
-Skitarii robes
-Blood Angels power sword, left shoulder, grenade pouch
-Vanguard Veteran plasma pistol
-Chaos Terminator right shoulder
-Stormcast Eternal shield (for debris)