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Once again, it's time to pick a winner! In April, the theme was 'Travelling in Style', calling for entries that get around the battlefield more swiftly, or at least in a more interesting way than their footslogging brethren. We've got a real gamut of vehicles, mounts and equipment bearing our entries into battle, but only one can be first across the finish line!

As always, you can vote for as many entries as you like, and for any reason that you feel merits recognition, be that the quality of the paintwork, an interesting conversion, an artistic technique or the effort on show in a particular piece. You are also encouraged to leave some feedback here for the entrants if you wish, and many of the images click through to the Dakka gallery, so do head over there and drop a vote or two if you're so inclined.

The entrants:


Nevelon: Tyranid Hive Tyrant


Rybrook: Dreadnought


Tyranid Horde: Crawlocke The Jailor and Chainghasts


Reavsie: Primaris Interceptor


Warpig1815: P-40C Tomahawk and Mk. IV Matilda


Arakasi: Ork Stormboy



Jamie Shred: Tau Riptide


Flinty: Andromeda Initiative Kodiak


Captain Brown: Shining Spears


queen_annes_revenge: Bane



JoshinJapan: Mech



DV8: Miles Morales and Ghost Spider


MobileSuitRandom: Sisters of the Thorn


Graphite: Orlock cargo transport


Horla: Chaos Space Marine Rhino


vejut: Basti chariot


kurhanik: Demonhost


viterbi: Cherubs


lifeafter: Telemon Dreadnought


DrGiggle: Ork Trukk


DJJazzyJeff: Warp Lightning Cannon


The_balloon_dog: Goblin Knight


Jadenim: Leman Russ Tanks


Llamahead: Gaslands Car



Tallandra: Dark Angels Interceptors:


Don Qui Hotep: C'tan Nightbringer



Yorkright: Assault Marine


Ezki: Dark Elder Haemonculus


Pariah Press: Leman Russ Tank



Maharg: Kharadron Overlord


Chris56: Vampire Sorcerer


Turaxa: Grot Bomma


Midget Gems: Looted Piranha


Paradigm: Knight of the Blazing Sun


E3DD: Gaslands Cars

Great job, everyone! Really great spread of entries. Hard to choose a top three, but I'm going with:

Warpig1815: Wonderful diorama, has a strong sense of motion and top-notch painting.
Midget Gems: Fun and characterful, I love seeing non-Imperial looted vehicles and you hit the right balance of Ork to Tau bits.
Flinty: Wonderful paint job, looks really lived-in. I like the stencil work.

Wow. So many entries this month. Great work all, and I hope you are all basking in the happy glow of hobby progress

Voted for DJJazzyJeff: Warp Lightning Cannon.

Quality work from everyone, even me.
My top five (in no particular order) would be:

Tyranid Horde: These are visually striking, and really pretty. An interesting take on GW's ghosts.

Warpig1815: I can almost hear that Tomahawk! The scene is well composed and the aircraft is a dynamic contrast to the more static scene on the ground.

Ezki: The limited colour scheme draws all the parts of this conversion together. The glossy black face plate is a nice touch.

DV8: The main colours have wonderful gradients and contrast nicely with the spot colours.

queen_annes_revenge: The camoflagued bat mobile is good, but Bane is amazing. I thought it was a film still when I first saw in the main thread.

My votes, in post order:

Warpig1815 - P-40C Tomahawk and Mk IV Matilda

Great piece; very dynamic and I love the narrative it tells. I do have a few issues with it though; I don't like the Tomahawk mounted to the palm tree; it looks like it's kinda just stuck there. Is it also me, or does the palm tree, esp the trunk, also feel out of scale?

Arakasi - Ork Stormboy

Nice clean paintjob. I think some parts like the skin (particularly the face) could do with another highlight or two, and the base trim (personal preference) I'd do a black or dark brown, but noice.


QAR - Bane

Do you feel in charge? I love it! Great model, and I love the gritty execution!

There was really excellent work this week which made it very hard to choose! In the end, I always go with 5, but as always - a thoroughly deserved 'Well done' to all participants. Not one was without it's merits!


- Tyranid Horde: Wow. I was immediately struck with these in the WIP photos and the finished product is stunning. I can’t fault the blends and the play between the iridescence and the gold shawls is wonderful. Brilliant work!

- QAR: Another of my favourites this week. I’ll be honest in saying I’m ‘meh’ on the subject matter (Comic book characters not being my thing), but I don’t think that opinion means anything regarding the stellar paintjob you’ve produced. I’m very envious of how you manage to pick the folds of fabric out, the skin is flawlessly convincing and the soft colour shift of the fleece is incredible. Oh, and the batmobile (?) isn’t half bad either (Especially the glass!). Truly great work QAR

- Don Qui Hotep: I was really struck by this entry. The colour pallette is very well suited to the model and gives it a perfectly spectral look without trying too hard. The overall effect is also well executed with drybrushing, because it gives it a nice soft but gritty feel (again emphasising that ghostly vibe). Excellent work Don!

- Flinty: Ahhh yes. This hits the nostalgia spot juuust nicely . Brilliant subject choice, and an excellent paintjob to boot. It really does remind me of the Alliance paintjobs in Mass Effect and your stencilling is both creative and well executed. Top effort!

- DV8: What can I say? Flawless. As with QAR, the subject matter is not the draw for me, but you’ve perfectly captured their motion (And your GS work has blended in seamlessly). The paintjob is… ‘of the usual standard’ - by which I mean vibrant and pretty much masterful in all aspects. I think we’re done here. Stunning work DV8.


Thanks for the kind votes and words regarding my own - much appreciated!

@DV8 regarding my palm tree

Another month of stellar work, everyone.

Nevelon: Another lovely 'nid. You've really mastered Contrast paints.

Rybrook: A very nice Dread. The transfers might have benefited from a little weathering or scratching, but they'll look just fine at tabletop distance.

Tyranid Horde: Fantastic blending of ethereal and metallic on those ghosts. They really seem to shimmer.

Reavsie: Solid work on the Ultramarine. I think the photo would work better with more lighting from the front, though.

Warpig1815: We don't see a lot of scale models on Dakka, so this entry really stands out.

Arakasi: The skin tones on your ork look far more natural than the bright green I (and many other hobbyists) use.

Jamie Shred: A nice clean paintjob on that Riptide-- very tau. The warm metallics really pop against the cool blues and greys.

Flinty: I really like the stencil work against the otherwise solid blue.

Captain Brown: It's the end of an era! I'm amazed you have managed to keep your shining spears so consistent over so many months.

queen_annes_revenge: Bane came out great-- you managed to keep all they grey and brown from looking boring. No mean feat!

me: I tried a couple of new techniques-- pin washing and weathing with oils and a toothpick-- and I'm pleased with the results. I just need to paint up a few more mechs so I can finally give Gamma Wolves a try.

DV8: The pointillist highlighting on MIles' jacket is impressive.

MobileSuitRandom: Lovely work. The bright greens are an effective contrast to the dark reds, without seeming Christmas-y.

Graphite: A simple but effective kitbash/conversion. I like the teddy bear on the front grill.

Horla: Your work on the pustules is great-- they look ready to burst.

vejut: As I said in your P&M blog, the freehand on the shield is very nice. I really enjoy seeing your Aegyptus (sp?) models.

kurhanik: Solid work on this model. The green energy around her hands might benefit from more lighting effects.

viterbi: Winged cyber-babies? What's not to love.

lifeafter: I like the regal colors you chose, as well as the glowy energy fingers-- a small but effective detail.

DrGiggle: I like that you made all the metal grimy, but not rusty. I always imagined that Orks wouldn't care about oil leaks, but their equipment sees too much use to actually rust.

DJJazzyJeff: I'm glad that you got this model finished in time. I like the non-standard purple warpstone.

The_balloon_dog: a very colorful, eye-catching model. I'm not sure the lighting effects work, but I don't know enough to say exactly why.

Jadenim: Your weathering is much more subtle than mine. I wonder if the tracks shouldn't be darker?

Llamahead: It looks like that car has seen some action. I'll have to actually try the game someday.

Tallandra: I don't think I've ever seen blue DA before. These guys look like they've seen some action.

Don Qui Hotep: The high contrast between the lights and darks really sell the ethereal nature of the model.

Yorkright: A nice, solid BA model. He needs nine more friends, I think.

Ezki: A very effective kitbash. I like the limited palette, and the glossy black faceplate is a nice touch.

Pariah Press: Nice work on a divisive model. The mud spatter looks a little too even to me. Shouldn't it be a little more directional?

Maharg: You're tarnished bronze is nice, but I think the OSL needs something more.

Chris56: All the warm colors contrast nicely against the cool blue skin.

Turaxa: That grot looks so happy to be flying to his doom.

Midget Gems: The wire mesh and giant exhausts are nice details.

Paradigm: The dark metallics and muted colors make this guy look like a veteran knight.

E3DD: A nice set of cars. The yellow one reminds me of Speed Buggy.

I'm looking forward to seeing all your work again next month!

Already thought so when I saw it in the thread, but for me Warpigs diorama really is at the top this month.
I also like both of the Ork models (Turaxas Grot Bomma and Midget Gems Looted Piranha) a lot, very different from one another but both really capturing that "Orkiness" imo.

@JoshInJapan: It's a custom successor chapter, thus the unusual colours.

@JoshInJapan "Jadenim: Your weathering is much more subtle than mine. I wonder if the tracks shouldn't be darker?" Maybe? I was trying to go for a North African campaign look, but there's not a huge number of colour reference photos. Rust can actuallly be a pretty bright colour in some of them. I'm still not convinced about the desert dust weathering powder I was using, but that seems to be the primary form of weathering; just dust, dust everywhere!

I do think I need to paint the track pads darker to represent rubber, and maybe some metallic highlights on the pins; they seem to get polished.

As the great (hah) Haydn Christensen once said

Congrats everyone, some real style to these entries

Thank you very much for the comments Don Qui Hotep, JoshInJapan, Tallandra. I'm glad you liked it, sadly its been a while since i've done a proper conversion so this was nice for me. One I've had planned for quite some time now.

Nevelon: I think this might be your best work Nev, the bone and wings have come out really well and the red barbs give it a nice bit of colour

Rybrook: looks like you have a nice red colour to the model but can’t see many of the details due to photo size

Tyranid Horde: Now these are interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever seen those colours in a combination before. The gold looks like a really special type of paint (or you have just done the effects really well)

Reavsie: good clean colours and lines, congrats Reavsie

Warpig1815: That is awesome, wonderful details all over the diorama from the weathering of the plane to tree itself

Arakasi:. The base fits the model very well and good detailing with the chequers

Jamie Shred: Great white with some really poping dark blue and gold. My Orks have already looted one white Tau vehicle……..

Flinty: Very futuristic looking and great attention to detail.

Captain Brown: That white is so white!, great detail on the banners too. Congrats

queen_annes_revenge: great scenic piece and the details looks really small. The Glass has come out really nicely.

JoshInJapan: really nice weathering on the mech.

DV8: Very vivid colours on these 2 and cool poses on the models.

MobileSuitRandom: great freehand on the flag and the bolder colours draw attention to it against the more natural earthy browns,

Graphite: Very creative, the bear FTW

Horla: Very good conversion for pap nurgle, and well done on doing the inside as well.

vejut: It looks a cool model but quite hard to see, the base has good texture.

kurhanik: nice contrast between the lighter green and orange. I did think she was throwing lettuces at first glace

viterbi: small photos with small models so some of the detail has been lost but the look good from what you can see.

lifeafter: I really like the blue fingers they stand out and draw my eye to them.

DrGiggle: Good to see you DrGiggle, a nice solid orky truck. The tiny check pattern looks hard to do.

DJJazzyJeff: I really want to loot one of these. Nice work and the base is great too.

The_balloon_dog: Really cool use of colours and OSL effect.

Jadenim: Very well painted, nice you took the time to add all the unit markings etc

Llamahead: That looks tiny!, impressed you managed to get so many strips on it.

Tallandra: A nice consistent paint job across the models and good freehand on the pads.

Don Qui Hotep: The ethereal green with the darker purple is a good match and makes the blade stand out.

Yorkright: Well done for getting the model finished Yorkright, he looks really to jump into the fray and of course arriving by jumpack is very cool.

Ezki: The shinny head/face is very interesting effect and the draws my eye even to the black. The wings have a cool veins effect.

Pariah Press: good painting and highlights with good weathering too, well done.

Maharg: I really like the weathering and Verdigris, the Yellow (OSL?) doesn’t look quite right

Chris56: Nice jade green on the weapon and smooth red

Turaxa: Very cool little dude and a nice vehicle to arrive in

Midget Gems: happy I managed to do a half decent conversion for once. Painting could be a bit better in places.

Paradigm: the model looks very detailed and your painting really shows that

E3DD: some tiny vehicles but good detail and painting on them despite the difficulty of their size.

@Jadenim - One thing I found while doing some desert research for my submission was that weathering in the desert is suprisingly varied. You'd think it was just dust, but because the sand was so pervasive vehicles needed quite a lot of lubrication and greasing - with all the smears, stains and fuel spills that comes with it. Rust is also still an issue because all it requires is bare metal to oxidise to. Water hastens it, but if you leave it long enough it's going to accumulate regardless. Your desert weathering powder looks really similar to Vallejo Desert Dust (which I found way too bright) but, if you mix in some yellow powder and a little brown it'll tone down nicely (And you can always splatter a variety of shades around to mimic variation). Also, if you're wanting some darker tracks (An issue I was dabbling with), I found that simply rubbing graphite powder onto the tracks was great for giving it a dark cast iron colouration.

Anyway, that's just some of the stuff I deliberated with for my own diorama, but to be honest I think you've nailed it pretty well. Cracking job!

 Jadenim wrote:
@JoshInJapan "Jadenim: Your weathering is much more subtle than mine. I wonder if the tracks shouldn't be darker?" Maybe? I was trying to go for a North African campaign look, but there's not a huge number of colour reference photos. Rust can actuallly be a pretty bright colour in some of them. I'm still not convinced about the desert dust weathering powder I was using, but that seems to be the primary form of weathering; just dust, dust everywhere!

Thanks for the photo reference-- I get what you were doing now. I guess I'm just used to big, big contrast for gaming pieces rather than the more subtle effects of scale modelling.

 Warpig1815 wrote:
@Jadenim - One thing I found while doing some desert research for my submission was that weathering in the desert is suprisingly varied. You'd think it was just dust, but because the sand was so pervasive vehicles needed quite a lot of lubrication and greasing - with all the smears, stains and fuel spills that comes with it. Rust is also still an issue because all it requires is bare metal to oxidise to. Water hastens it, but if you leave it long enough it's going to accumulate regardless. Your desert weathering powder looks really similar to Vallejo Desert Dust (which I found way too bright) but, if you mix in some yellow powder and a little brown it'll tone down nicely (And you can always splatter a variety of shades around to mimic variation). Also, if you're wanting some darker tracks (An issue I was dabbling with), I found that simply rubbing graphite powder onto the tracks was great for giving it a dark cast iron colouration.

Anyway, that's just some of the stuff I deliberated with for my own diorama, but to be honest I think you've nailed it pretty well. Cracking job!

Thanks for the tips Warpig and good eye, it is indeed Vallejo Desert Dust! This is the first time I’ve ever used weathering powders, so still figuring it out. Interestingly in some of the photos the dust does seem quite bright, but I think the issue on the model is there’s no variation/shading to it. I hadn’t realised it until you said, but mixing in some other colours will give it that “texture”. And take your point about some spills and stuff, to be honest I was running out of time for the deadline! Thanks for the feedback guys; I might tweak the undusted one this weekend. I’ll post pictures if I do, just for comment.

No problem, just figured that what I'd learnt might be of some benefit On a sidenote, when I said 'mix' the weathering powders, I tend to blend them into a consistent sandy tone. But other scale modellers mix them gently so there are still clumps of different colours which you can dab on for a randomised mottled/variegated effect - might be worth experimenting with if texture is what you're going for Do post your results, I'd love to see the end results!

Hi all! Sorry I wasn't able to participate this month. I've been painting for 10-12 hours per day every day in order to hit a deadline, so I couldn't fit in time to get something done for the challenge. Good stuff from those who did enter though, as ever.

Nevelon - Very nice. I like the green on the tube that leads to the gun. Perhaps the gun and chitin armour could use an edge highlight, but it looks great.

Rybrook - A very vivid red, and decent details. The base is a bit plain, and again some edge highlights would make a big difference, even if only to the upper armour panels. Nice clean work, though.

Tyranid Horde - These guys are pretty fabulous. Very bling.

Reavsie - Neat and tidy, and I see you've done a really good job of recess shading him. He's crying out for some edge highlights though.

Warpig1815 - This is fantastic, I love the realism in every element. There's something about the positioning of the plane on the palm tree, coupled with the expression on it's face, that makes me think the title on the base should be "Owww! My coconuts!" That's probably just my warped mind though.

Arakasi - Quality work. Great details and highlights. The blacks are particularly good.

Jamie Shred - Tau should always be clean and sharp, and you've nailed that. Lovely stuff. White is always super difficult too.

Flinty - Great colours, and all the text and designs really works to create a kind of cyberpunk feel.

Captain Brown - Clean and neat work. How many of these guys do you have now?

queen_annes_revenge - Great painting, and nice muted colours.

JoshinJapan - Excellent weathering. You're probably going for a camouflage look, but I think the overall piece suffers a bit from the colour of the armour and the base being so similar.

DV8 - Gorgeous painting. I love that blue-black tone on the jacket. The Miles Morales miniature is great, isn't it? So full of character.

MobileSuitRandom - I really like these models, and I love what you've done on the banner.

Graphite - Nice weathering, and I like the teddy bear stuck to the front.

Horla - Great conversion work chaosifying this Rhino.

vejut - Nice colours, and neat painting.

kurhanik - The red hair is great, other areas need a bit of highlighting. I thought at first glance that she was holding large round sandwiches with lettuce poking out, but that's probably just because I'm hungry.

viterbi - I kind of think these cyborg cherubs are one of the defining parts of 40K's horrific lore. These look great.

lifeafter - An eyecatching model. The reds and golds look good.

DrGiggle - Good solid work. Nice weathering and decent metallics. I'd like it to be a bit more colourful, but maybe that wouldn't fit with your army.

DJJazzyJeff - Very cool, the green goo on the base is great, as are the purple crystals.

The_balloon_dog - Really nice. The diorama base is particularly great.

Jadenim - Very clean and neat, with well-placed transfers.

Llamahead - These cars are cool. They remind me of the really old GW game Dark Future.

Tallandra - I painted 15 of these in the last two weeks. I like your freehand symbols and colour scheme. Doing another coat of the base colours will help you get a smoother finish. Did you drybrush white on to highlight them? That's not a great way to highlight space marines, generally.

Don Qui Hotep - I really like this. You've got a really nice ghostly green and an atmospheric purple.

Yorkright - Your base colours are neatly-applied and the black lining is well done. I think your paints are a bit thick though, as they look like they might be obscuring some detail.

Ezki - Cool blending on the wings and layering on the dress. The gloss on the faceplate works as well. Very nice work.

Pariah Press - Really neat and precise. The dusty weathering is great.

Maharg - Good painting, especially on the brass. The OSL needs to be layer up a lot brighter though. For yellow OSL, it's a good idea to make the spot where the light is coming from completely pure white.

Chris56 - A pretty spectacular mini. The blade looks really good. A few other areas, like the gems, look a bit unfinished by your high standards if I'm honest.

Turaxa - I like the checks and mouth designs which add character to the model.

Midget Gems - This is great. I like how you've made use of the practice on painting red on some of your other models onto this one. My favorite think about it is the simple orkification of the whole thing that is achieved simply by adding wheels. Of course Orks would add wheels.

Paradigm - Great work on the metallics. A knight like this surely would benefit from some insanely intricate freehand details on the horse's dress though, right?

E3DD - More Dark Future style cars. Nice repurposed transfers.

Great work, everyone! If I can fully assemble and paint a Primarch in the space of two weeks, perhaps I'll be able to join in again next month!

Thanks feltmonkey. The cyberpunkiness was accidental, but I think it works well

Deadlines suck, and I hope yours comes just quickly enough to let you finish nicely but not dragging out too long.

Thanks for the feedback feltmonkey.
Yeah, I might have skipped an extra layer (and maybe a couple details) due to time restraints and that really shows on a closer look.
And I agree on the white drybrush, not entirely happy with what it does. I mostly used what I still had from before my break from painting, but some new colours (including drybrushes) are high up on my list once the stores here open up again.

Did we just get a 6-way tie for third?

Glad I don’t have to do the write up for this one.

Oh wow, crowded podium!

Au-Miles Morales and Ghost Spide
Ag-Bane
Cu-Tyrant

CuSn surely

 Nevelon wrote:
Did we just get a 6-way tie for third?

Glad I don’t have to do the write up for this one.

Wow 6 way tie is awesome, think thats the most ever. Another record set

Wow, what an interesting outcome!

Congrats everyone for finishing their entries, awesome work as ever!

And once again huge thank you to the awesome guys running the show!

Thanks for the comments JoshInJapan, Midget Gems and Feltmonkey!
The Haemonculus was an interesting challenge to paint with a limited palette and different tones.

JoshinJapan - Excellent weathering. You're probably going for a camouflage look, but I think the overall piece suffers a bit from the colour of the armour and the base being so similar.

Actually, I almost never put any thought into my basing. Sand, drybrush a couple shades of brown, tufts or foliage-- that's it for pretty much any model. I may have to start pushing myself a bit more.

I know Para is back to running these, but I’m going to step in and write this one up so we can tie a bow on it and focus on finishing out this month. And this month might have been more than he was expecting coming back! We have a 6 way tie for 3rd, which I’m pretty sure is a record. 25 votes each


If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. 74 times. After all these years I finally managed to eek out a podium spot, in a VERY tight race with an amazing group of painters. Glad you all like the Flyrant. There might be more like it emerging from the void...
Nevelon: Tyranid Hive Tyrant


Next with the bronze, and all sorts of other metals, are Tyranid Horde's metallic chainghasts. A unique take on these otherworldly spooks.
Tyranid Horde: Crawlocke The Jailor and Chainghasts


Few things travel in style like the swift and deadly Shining Spears. Captain Brown’s clean smooth whites and flapping banners earn a well deserved place here.
Captain Brown: Shining Spears


QAR continues to impress with Bane and the Tumbler.
queen_annes_revenge: Bane


But wait there’s more! Ezki’s Dark Eldar haemonculus is appropriately kitbashed from a variety of sources, ending up with a composite greater than the sum of it’s parts.
Ezki: Dark Elder Haemonculus


And last for the 6 way tie, but in no way the least, is Midget Gems’s looted piranha. Also bashed together, but not with dark fleshcraft, but just a bit of ork know-whats and some rivets.
Midget Gems: Looted Piranha



Traveling in style does not require wings, or wheels, or fancy vehicles. Sometimes it’s just a hoodie and an attitude. DV8’s amazing spider pair bring the style as they navigate the streets stopping crime and foiling plots. “With great power comes great paint jobs” or something like that. A well earned second place with 30 votes.
DV8: Miles Morales and Ghost Spider


And coming in first, with 35 votes, is Warpig’s amazing diorama. No surrender, just tenacity and amazing paintwork and weathering. Every aspect is full of detail, all executed superbly, tying the whole piece together in an excellent entry
Warpig1815: P-40C Tomahawk and Mk. IV Matilda


As always, amazing work from everyone who entered. Keep pushing yourself to improve. And don’t forget to enter in this month’s contest!

Congrats to a very crowded podium! Lots of good stuff this month, and especially to Warpig! That diorama is just money, and while I do have some issues with it as prior mentioned, overall it's such a wonderful, thematic piece! Really well deserved!

Well done to the winners!

Wow, what a spread of results to wrap up the vote and I'm honoured to be among some amazing and creative entries.

Didn't get the time myself to add some comments/feedback on entries but thank you to Turaxa, Warpig, JoshinJapan, Midget Gems and Feltmonkey for the kind comments. My entry has a couple of mistakes but glad the effect works and keen to make an army in the style.