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Hello Everyone,

I have been collecting the parts for, and working on, my deathwatch army for going on 7 years now. I have painted nearly every model I have at least 2-3 times as my abilities change or I find that I don't remember how to paint it in that style. In addition with an increase in the variety of bits available has made it so I can make the dream deathwatch army I had always wanted. However the primary factor contributing towards this initiative is that I have very little time to attend tournaments, but have a lot more hobby time(funny how that happens). My plan is to try and do a combat squad a week from start to finish. If I am painting a character than I will do all versions of that character and it will count for the week (Such as a foot version, a bike version, etc)

I have also invested in a lot of new gear for this project for my workstation. I will be sharing which items I purchased as I get them, and will then incorporate my thoughts and reviews as I use them. I have found that the tiniest thing can make a HUGE difference in my willingness to work on hobby materials, so I figured I would share with the hopes of helping other novice hobbyists.

In addition over the course of this project I will be experimenting with a lot of different techniques and tutorials until I find one I am happy with and will be posting my results. I hope that I can provide some insights from the perspective of a decent painter and hobbyist as well as some of the lessons I have learned in my 18 years of playing this game(started at the ripe old age of 10).

So here is a picture of my workstation


It took me awhile to get everything I needed to make it work. There is a lot of little things, but it has a really functional feel to it for me so far.

However the most important aspect is these Furniture Lifters

As a taller hobbyist I found that my posture was really abysmal, I would crouch over to be low enough to the table, or I would slouch in my chair. This would result in back pain after an hour or so, making it really hard to get started. These make it so the table I got is now at perfect elbow height with my chair. While it is currently still unpleasant that is mainly because I am using back muscles that have atrophied after years of bad posture. Eventually that will go away and it will be much more superior.

Next is a combination of both Sunlight Bulbs and Light to increase my ability to actually see the details. The number of times I painted with a bad angle or missed something obvious because the lighting was not good enough. In addition the light is not harsh nor is it unpleasant.

Now, when it comes to get my different chapters I have gone through many third parties, acquired individual pads from different places etc. However what really made it all possible was an artist involved in 3D printing service called Matt Sweitzer on shapeways.com. He not only had a great selection of chapter pads, but you could ask him to mix and match, which was crucial for my deathwatch theme. In addition he will design any custom pad for free regardless of how many sets you actually plan on buying. I was super ecstatic and have ordered a large number of pads from him. I ordered the regular plastic pad option and they look great. They are a little delicate during shipping but shapeways was great about crediting me so I could order another set without issue. Matt has told me that he will tell them to package them a little better going forward so should not be an issue anymore.

Here are pictures of some of the pads I ordered, as well as the deathwatch pad next to the old metal and plastic pads.


With his help my chapter count is over 70 official Canon Chapters. (can be seen at the Thousand Chapters Challenge)

So I look forward to working on this, I really appreciate any insights, advice, etc that people might have as I work through this project.

Combat Squad One will consist of:
Ultramarine SGT
Minotaurs Special Weapon trooper
Death Spectors, Exorcists, and Guardians of the Covenant tactial marines

If you are interested in getting some parts to make your own deathwatch, let me know. I will see what I have extras of and we can try to work it out. In addition I will be magnetizing many of my guys so I will have lots of left overs from my old redundancies from combi to heavy and special.

 Leth wrote:
However the most important aspect is these Furniture Lifters

Oh yes, this is such an important point! I even sit on a Swiss (exercise) ball to keep me from slouching.

 Leth wrote:
Next is a combination of both Sunlight Bulbs and Light to increase my ability to actually see the details. The number of times I painted with a bad angle or missed something obvious because the lighting was not good enough. In addition the light is not harsh nor is it unpleasant.

Another crucial point! I suggest purchasing a diffuser for each lamp (this actually made a noticeable difference). "Kids, don't do this at home", but in the past I've actually clipped parchment paper to the lamp fixtures.

I believe a solid workstation is a vital part of the hobby, especially for a large undertaking as this one is described to be. Enjoy!

Thanks for the support!! I appreciate it

So first update: I assembled the first 5 man squad, painted the shoulderpads, completed the bases and finished my first marine. Here is everything in different stages of completion. I magnetized all the weapon options so I could run any combi-weapon or special weapon. I find it is helpful since I can now run them bare bones or fully equipped with minimal changes. I just need to figureout how to do melta bombs now lol.

And below here you can see the first completed marine - A tactical marine from the guardians of the covenant chapter. You can see the 3D printed shoulderpad looks like a perfect fit for this marine.



Here is my planned basing scheme and steps, I used the airbrush to do the base and I really like it, I always found that using the paintbrush would knock off a lot of rocks and things and so this way there were minimal issues. I am really happy with how these scheme came out. However I found that once I painted my first marine it required that I use a bit of weathering powder on the entire marine to make it so that it looked more tied together.

Always cool seeing Deathwatch projects, I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

EDC

Hello Everyone!!

So I have completed my first combat squad. Here are some pictures







I am really happy with how they turned out, Look forward to any comments you guys have. For the second squad I will be doing the other half of tactical squad one. I magnetized all the heavy weapons(other than missile launchers because its not worth it). Will be updating tomorrow once I get it all done. I am also going to get a bunch of bases done so that way they are just complete and sitting, letting the glue harden.

The next 5 chapters will be:

Black Consuls
Red Hunter
Dark Hands
Black Templar
Salamander

I have to keep track of everything in a spreadsheet lol. Eventually I want to have most models in a full company with a few repetitions. So for example once I get to the Assault Squads they will have the same models for bikers, land speeders etc. For many chapters I have more shoulderpads than I can use so this is a good way to hit those limits without duplication in the basic company.

I am also looking forward to getting started on my CMD squad. The plan is to give them all of the options. So they can be on foot, with assult packs(blood angels) or on bikes. They can be CC, ranged, etc. I have had practice magnetizing bodies so that should not be a problem for transfering them between bikes and on foot, I also have a set of sanguinary guard backpacks for the flying versions. I will be making them a unit of black shields with the company champion shoulderpads replacing the chapter symbol(I had to gather like 20+ of them, craziness) So they will have all the options, that project is gonna be a doozie.

Also for my Terminator Veterans, and i(f I can swing it), my regular veterans I will have the deathwatch pad on the left shoulder to signify their status. All depends on if I have enough pads that don't look weird. I wont be doing an entire first company, but it will be close in model count with the number of redundencies(such as 10 stern guard, vanguard, terminators, etc). Those I will do all of one model at the same time so I can be sure that as much matches as possible.

Finally, units that are not from codex space marines will still be in deathwatch colors and themes and be incorporated into the main army just like any other unit.

Cool looking dudes ! Keep up the good work! Some closer photos would be nice.

Can you please write some details how are you doing such amazing bases?
Where are you buying rocks / grass?