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So I have finally finished my honor guard and Chapter Master for my Cathartes Aura Space Marine Chapter. There are a few things that I need to touch up, as usual, that I wasn't able to see until I put a camera on my figures. Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Cathartes Aura is the scientific name of the red headed Turkey Vuture by the way. Also, Cathartes means purifier.


Group shot


Chapter Master


Standard Bearer along with shots of the banner and the Vulture. A special thanks to BuffaloChicken for the axe. He looks better now that he actually has a weapon.






Here is the Champion. I am really happy with how this guy turned out.


For the most part I plan on running them as having Relic Blades. Most of them are modeled with axes, but I did use swords as well.


Yeah, yeah, I know. Drill my barrels. Unfortunately my drill bit broke and my exacto knife doesn't have a point on it anymore so I wasn't able to drill the barrel yet because money is short. It will get drilled though.

These look great so far! Any pics of the rest of the amry to follow?

Definitely. I have started work on a Dreadnought in order to cleanse my pallete so to speak before painting up a tactical squad. I also have a Storm Raven with conversion kit about 90% painted. I just have to do the detail work.

Some great stuff man! Really grim dark and I like it! Btw you did an amazing job on the champion, his sword is fantastic!

Thank you. I was waffling for an entire afternoon about how to do the sword and I am really happy with how it turned out.

Nicely done. They look suitably grimdark, and the color scheme is pretty cool.
I really like the champion. He looks like he means business.

Now for CC:
1. The basing could use some work. It's...boring. Looks like a little bit of texture paint was used and done. There appears to be little to no drybrushing to highlight the texture.
2. The eyes on Coteaz, er, your chapter master. It would look better if he had been just washed and the eyes left dark and shrouded. It would also fit the darkness of the models. As is, he's got cookie monster syndrome - googly eyes.
3. The banner/standard. It looks like you need to thin your paints. You've posted a very up-close picture, so the details really stand out, for better or worse. The edges need work. Maybe tape off sections so you have clean, crisp edges, and not wobbly ones. The bottom of the standard, the three 'parts' as it were, are especially good examples of this. Those purity seals look sloppy and weird.
4. You already identified bolter barrels, so get those done. But I don't get it when people say funds are tight for these sort of things; you can get an entire set of pin vise drill bits on amazon for less than 5 bucks. An entire set with the drill and extras can be had for under $20.The same goes for exacto blades.

All in all, a nice looking group of models. Keep it up!

Yeah, I intended to go back and reduce the eye size a bit. And those purity seals definitely look bad.

As for the cash, I just spent my last warhammer $ on a Dreadnought 2 days ago and my bit broke today when I was finishing up. I have to wait for my next paycheck. I mean, I have the money, I just don't have the money in the 40k budget.

And thanks for the CC. I really do appreciate it and you have definitely pointed out some things that need a bit of touching up.

Love the colors.

Very cool stuff!

Not a scheme I was expecting after reading the phrase 'turkey vulture'.

I really like the heavy washed, dark look you've got going on there. Please show more!

The Champion's blade looks really cool, nice job on the entire lot so far.