Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Ezki,

I see now. A unified paint scheme will also reduce the association with Orkiness.

Cheers,

CB

Thank you guys! Glad you like the walker so far.

theCrowe wrote:I'll admit I wasn't totally sold on the arm with a gun concept as I thought it would look too much like a leggy killa kan. But the two arm concept with the beyonette really makes it. Well played.

I think just slap an almighty great Aquilla on that front hatch and it'll look plenty less orky. Or even a big Krieg cross or winged skull or something.

You and me both. I was really hesitant all the time while building the thing, but it's growing on me. Good idea with the aquila!

Syro_ wrote:Congrats Ezki! I just saw your grave yard on the front page of Dakka

Wow, cool! Thank you to everyone who contributed for that.

gobert wrote:Great reconstruction of the inspiration, really cool idea, well executed. I think theCrowe is right that it needs and Aquila, Guard or Kreig symbol on the front

youwashock wrote:Agree with the call for an Aquila or two, but other than that it is a great concept and build.

I agree, Aquila it is!

Captain Brown wrote:Ezki,

I see now. A unified paint scheme will also reduce the association with Orkiness.

Cheers,

CB

That is very true. I'll try to make it match the rest of my Krieg army. Albeit there will be a bit more weathering, as that's something I want to practice. And enjoy doing.


Quite a bit of progress has been achieved with the "not killa kan sentinel walker thingy".

But first, I'll show you a couple of test pieces I did the other day:

I played around with the enamel paints and pigments just a bit.
Base coated the area with the same chipping technique as I did with the Stompa (sponging some brown tones, liquid mask, base color, peel off mask). After that, I covered the area with a thinned down dark brown enamel paint.
I let it dry for a while (30 mins or so), and wiped the area with a cotton stick covered in white spirit.
The yellowish areas are done with the same technique.
Lastly, I quickly tried some of the pigments on the bottom parts, just to see how they look.




I really like the effect and it was surprisingly easy to do.
Not sure about the pigments yet. They look kind of cool, but are really messy to work with. Then again, it was my first time using any of this stuff, so I need to play around a bit more.

One thing is for sure: the paints produce a horrible smell. The fumes are not very good for you.
For that reason, I wore gloves and a respirator, and got our old fan out of the storage to blow the fumes away. At this scale, there is hardly any danger without these precautions, but at least it's a bit more comfortable that way.
Though the gloves and the respirator bring a few new challenges to the delicate work.




As for the model itself, I first covered it yet again with the same sponging technique with different brown tones and added some liquid mask.
Then I painted the base coat: same dark and light grey as for the rest of the army so far. At this point it looked really bland.


Tonight I got a bit more done.
Removed the liquid mask, base coated the details and sponged the first layers of "rust".
Also, added an Aquila! It's just a transfer sheet, as I'm not very good at painting that delicate free hand patterns. Plus I'm running out of time if I aim to finish this for the painting contest.
Hopefully the weathering will make it look more fitting.



Next up is the "hit or miss" stage: brushing it over with enamels and trying to make it look really worn and weathered.
This will most likely be more beaten up than the rest of my Krieg army. But that's the way I like it

Thanks for looking!

Great looking experiments in weathering Ezki. Not sure I like the sound of the precautions needed for the enamels, but the results are great. The Aquila works well in making the big Kan look to be some long forgotten STC design. Good luck getting it done for the comp

There's something too perfectly funny to my about Winnie the Pooh in that one picture looking a little shy and embarrassed, like he was the one that accidentally unleashed the killakan on the world The kan is looking good btw.

Your weathering process is really producing superb results. Fantastic!

This is an awesome build you have going. Really was getting the vibe you were trying for. I think it would fit any sort of WWI inspired army nicely.

Nice rust effects you are achieving with the enamels.

Great weathering tests Ezki, could definitely see those effects pulled off on some modern military vehicles. I've yet to try enamels, as I find oils do much the same thing, but with longer working times. The smell is always terrible, I end up having to leave the study I paint in due to the lack of ventilation. I don't like the pigment powders for how messy they are, but they're nice for final touches on display models.

Liking the walker too, it's suitably un-Orky now and has a backwater Imperial planet feel to it, I like the inspiration from the game too, I'll have to look it up.

Pooh bear looks approvingly upon your work. Love that rust so far. Can't wait to see how dingy it gets.

That’s some nice rust work Ezki!

You make weathering look easy, loving how the Sentinel is coming along!

Thank you guys!

gobert: Yeah, me neither. The respirator was a bit of an overkill, I noticed that the fan was enough to blow the fumes out. At least on the scale which I'm working with. Gloves are not mandatory neither, but I'd rather use them than have my hands smell like white spirit for a few hours
And thank you!

Syro_: Ahahaha! I did not even realize that. I spilled some spirit on my regular painting cover so had to put that one to dry. My girlfriend donated her old desk cover to me. It has now become part of my hobby area

Theophony: Thanks Theo! That's the look I was aiming for. Death Korps of Krieg is the obvious choice (at least for me), but yeah, it could work for any really.

Tyranid Horde: Thanks TH! I think oils will be next on my list at some point. I almost messed the paint job once or twice because of pigments. Had to try them again.. Will need a lot of practice with them too, or just them for terrain!

youwashock: Thank you youwashock! I can tell you, that it became very dingy!

Viterbi: Thanks Viterbi! The streaking effects were in fact quite easy to do (at least in theory). I messed up the painting process a few times, but luckily you can "reset" your progress with the white spirit.


Phew, it is done.
Got it done just before the deadline (like I usually do). Some of you might have seen it already in the competition thread or in Reddit, but I was too tired yesterday to do a write up.
Will fix that right up!

After the last pictures, I started playing with the enamel paints.
I don't have very many of them at the moment: a dark brown "track wash", dark grey "engine grime", a random orange brown and some pigments.

I regret not taking any WIP shots between then and now, but I will do later on with the next project.

The steps were somewhat the following:

- Cover the whole thing with the dark brown wash
- Let dry for an hour or so (does not necessarily need that long)
- Wipe the area randomly with a cotton stick dipped in white spirit. This way you can get pretty cool looking "dirty and grimy" surface
- Use the orange brown enamel cover the chipped areas, let dry and tip them with a cotton stick / brush dipped in white spirit
- Add a thicker layer of paint where you want to get the streaking effects and "drag" it down

...

- Use too much white spirit to mess the whole thing
- Decide to wipe it all away and start over
- Do the same thing AGAIN
- Start the first layer for the third time, but don't let it dry long enough and make a mess
- Almost throw the miniature out of the window
- Eat something
- Take a walk
- Start over for the final time

So yeah, it did not go that well for the first few tries. I almost had it a couple of times, but then messed it up because "if I just fix this one bit a litt.... GAH the paint is streaking down everywhere!".
In the end, I followed the first five steps to get the results. Had to go back and fort with different tones a bit to get the final result.

Even though the enamel paints require a lot more preparation and patience than acrylics (and DEFINITELY NO licking brushes, which is hard for me), this project taught me a lot and was a great start for the year!
After reading a bit about the chemical structure of acrylic and enamel paints, I learned that the white spirit does not affect the acrylic paint at all.
This is a really good thing, as you can paint all the other colors before starting on the weathering.
Even though you mess up with the weathering, it's easy to start over by wiping the enamel paints away without affecting the acrylic paints at the bottom.

I'm not sure why the salesman told me that the spirit would "melt" the acrylics away. Either they did no know for sure, or had used some other acrylic paints, can't say for sure.

With that, I present to you "MK (Mechanischer Kundschafter) Ausf. F 'Gertie' ":
(The first part was translated by my cousin, hoping it makes sense).



I'm for once actually happy how it turned out. It is a lot more weathered than the rest of my Krieg army, but the whole point was to play around with different weathering techniques.
Still a lot to learn about enamels, but I can say for sure that I will be using them in the future. Not for smaller miniatures, but for vehicles and terrain pieces.

I was also surprised that my friend contacted me and wanted me to send some pictures to be displayed at the Warhammer Helsinki store's Facebook site. I'm genuinely flattered!

And now my gaming group has demanded that I have to make a squadron of these. I'm happy to oblige.
At least one of them will be a bit different to break things up a little, but most likely the third one will follow the same design. They could be different iterations of the same vehicle: Ausf. F and Ausf. E or something

When I get to painting, I will try to take more pictures from the different steps to explain it a bit better. And of course to document it to be referenced later.

Thank you for looking!

It worked out pretty well there Ezki.

Cheers,

CB

Fantastic! And for all it's messy rusty charm it doesn't look a bit orky at all. 100% win.

Brilliant work, great break down of your process too!

This looks great! So what would you say is the most interesting thing about working with enamels, the opacity / finish, or that you can manipulate them with white spirit afterwards, etc.?

Wow Ezki! You put so much work into that since the last time we saw it. It looks great, and you continue to show your skill with weathering

Fantastic end result, the enamels have finished up with a very heavily worn look. He really looks to have survived a long battle in the trenches. Great job

Very nice work there Ezki - I agree the enamels are a great weathering tool. I've only recently started using them myself and wouldn't say I've quite got the most out of them yet, but you've certainly gone more all-in on that one miniature than I've tried so far. It looks great!

And your gaming group are correct to demand a squadron.

It looks amazing, you can't believe it will move two more steps before the rust takes it apart And I love the base, very realistic with the stone and wood bits covered in snow.

For a rust-crusted metal box, it sure is beautiful. Awesome work.

Love it, can't wait to see the next ones

Thank you so much guys! Glad you liked the final result.

MobileSuitRandom wrote:This looks great! So what would you say is the most interesting thing about working with enamels, the opacity / finish, or that you can manipulate them with white spirit afterwards, etc.?

So far I think the best part is that the paint is fairly easy to manipulate with white spirit (if you are patient enough). The matte finish is also a good thing for weathering, but I think that's just for the current colors I was using.
I have a couple of glossy ones too (came with the set), but I have not given them a shot yet.
Can't say much more than that after only painting one miniature with them, but when I get some more experience, I'm sure to elaborate this more!

Bellerophon wrote:Very nice work there Ezki - I agree the enamels are a great weathering tool. I've only recently started using them myself and wouldn't say I've quite got the most out of them yet, but you've certainly gone more all-in on that one miniature than I've tried so far. It looks great!

And your gaming group are correct to demand a squadron.

Thank you! I have watched a lot of pictures of rusty miniature vehicles and real abandoned cars, so I got inspired going all in
Still a lot to learn with the enamels, but I'd say that it might be even a bit harder to create just a slightly weathered look.

Viterbi wrote:It looks amazing, you can't believe it will move two more steps before the rust takes it apart And I love the base, very realistic with the stone and wood bits covered in snow.

Thank you Viterbi! You are right, it surely looks like it's going to fall apart at any second
I really enjoy doing the bases. Making the barbed wire and small blown up planks from balsa wood is oddly satisfying.


Just a quick update on the progress.
I'll do a longer write up on the different steps when these are done.

My friend borrowed me his Astra Militarum bits box, which was quite extensive. I easily found all the bits I could hope for!
So, I started building while we were in the game room.


And made a mess..


Had to take a few days off from the hobby, but I moved my project to the garage. Here I can sand without care and don't need to mind about the mess.
I also decided not to break down any more of my old Killa Kans, and just bought a new box. I needed some bits for fixing the current ones as well that have broken in storage years ago.


And this is where I'm now.


The left one is an experimental "different iteration" of the same walker. We'll call it MK Ausf. E (so an earlier version).
I used a Ogryn shield for the front plate.
On the right side is a very similar build to the first one. I wanted to make it look like it came from the same "mold", but there are slight differences to make it have some sort of individuality.

This time I took some pictures from the build steps.
I will do a more extensive write up when these are done, and I'm not at the dusty garage

The two sentinels have finally been built!

The progress was a bit slower than I first imagined.
Working at the garage has one disadvantage: I will have to drive there to do any modelling work.
I can't just glue one part, leave it for a while to dry and then glue another piece in between home chores etc.
When I get to a point where the model has to dry a solid few hours before continuing (like gluing the legs), I usually leave for the day.
Plus I got distracted once or twice with my summer car just sitting there with the hood open shouting for some attention.

I already started doing some metal base coating.


The left one is the experimental one, that needed some filling with greenstuff. Still needs a bit of cleaning.
The right one follows the same design as the first one.
Still thinking about the positioning of the arms on the left one.


I was asked a few times over different platforms that how I built the first one.
Decided to take pictures from the different steps if anyone wanted to do a similar build:

The body is form a Killa Kan kit. All the orky markings and the fitting holes for the spikey bit were filed and sanded off.


I used "water sanding" in order to limit the amount of dust (wear a mask!) and to get a smoother surface (not visible here yet).


Filed some areas from the back as well to fit the exhaust piece later on.
Accidentally got some of the bolts, but that happens.


Attached some details to the front. The handle is from a Leman Russ kit.
The bolted round piece on the left is from a random Krieg kit, but the right one was made out of plasticard (lacked the pieces).
The leg mounting points (the rounded areas) were also flattened with a file, to better attach to the Sentinel legs later on.


Attached the exhaust piece from a sentinel (still painted, tore it off from an old project).
Also the mandatory shovel, a Krieg backpack and a canister piece (not sure where this is from).


The gun arms were mainly done from these two pieces.
The killa kan arm was cut just above the "machinery bit". Also the rear part was cut, to be used as a stock later on.
The Sentinel Autocannon had to be trimmed just a little: the drum magazine needed to be filed a bit from the other side, and the rear had to be flattened.


To make the barrel a bit longer, I changed it with an Autocannon from the Heavy Weapons Team kit. This is not necessary, but I wanted a bit longer barrel.


Arms ready with stocks attached.
The bayonets and their handles are made out of 1.5mm thick plasticard.
The round metal "holders" are also plasticard, albeit a lot thinner. This was not the cleanest of solutions, but I lacked similar bits that were used on the first one.
Also had to cut small pieces out of a radio antenna (Sentinel kit?) to extend the gas tubes (under the barrel). They are a bit wonky though. Not necessary, but did that nevertheless.


The supporting arms are just basic Killa Kan close combat arms, but with their spikes cut off (missed a couple it seems!).
When I have decided the final positioning of the arms, I will attach the "hands" to the end of the arms. They are just some gun mounts from the Leman Russ kit, for the Heavy Stubber I think (regrettably not visible in the pic).
The legs are unmodified Sentinel legs, that were just glued in place. Depending how well the mounting surfaces align, they might need slight filing to fit properly.


Hopefully that process made some sense.
It's the first time I've built another converted model with pretty much the exact same steps as before.
It was very interesting and quite fun actually, as most of the thinking was already done. I could just focus on cutting and gluing the parts!


Hopefully I get these guys painted soonish.
Thinking about fielding them in a game next weekend, if they just make it in time.

Thanks for looking!

Edit: oh, the barrels will be drilled!
Left my drill to the garage, so I'll have to fetch it.

Really really cool. Doubly cooler in fact. Imagine a line of these clambering over barbed wire doing a bayonet charge!

I could see these becoming a must-have kitbash for Kreigers in the know.

Fantastic progress and great to see the workflow in making something like this!

Just awesome work.

This kit-bash EXACTLY matches the Krieg feel! Very clever.

I like the sentinel a lot. Really great.

Mass production of your Steam Punk Sentinels.

Nice tutorial Ezki.

Cheers,

CB

Yes! One metal can kill bot is never enough!

Great walkthrough Ezki! I hope you manage to get them painted up in time for your game