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Alright, here's another pic of the Vanquisher at this stage.



At this point, I've done some airbrushing of the ground color on the lower part of the track section and on the bottom of the hull. You can't see it well in these photos because of the shadows, but it's clearly visible in real life. Next I did a drybrush highlight with VGC Bonewhite.

That set me up to start addressing details on the model, starting with a pin wash. On the older vehicles I did pin washes with straight burnt umber oil paint. But it came out too light and I was never satisfied with it. So this time I used a mix of burnt umber and black to make the details "pop" better. I also did more pin washing with the brown-black mix on the older Russes.

You can see that I also did some weathering. This included some sponge application of a dark grey, some splattering with oil paint/pigment mixes (again, protecting the paint with a layer of Dullcote first), and then some edge chipping with dark grey.

It's funny how vehicles come together with this stuff. When you start working on them, they'll look plain for a while, but once the effects start getting layered on top of each other, there's that moment where it seems to suddenly round into shape.

Oh...I almost forgot. I decided that the back half of the Russes needed a little color, so I made the back panel of the track sections blue (VMC Prussian Blue, IIRC). I duplicated this on the older Russes too.

Like I said, I think you guys can see things coming together now.

Fantastic army - glad to see it's still in progress!

Why thank you!

Almost done with the Vanquisher now. I installed the tracks and track guards, added the tank commander to the cupola, and added decals. I'd like to go on a little bit of a tangent here about applying decals, but I think I'll save that for the Chimeras.

Next steps include sealing it with Dullcote and adding weathering powders.




In case someone's curious, I still have the dozer blades for these. Later on down the road, I'll magnetize them so that I can swap them on and off (this is another why-didn't-I-do-this-the-first-time-around thing).

Next time I'll have some "glamour pics" of this and the other Russes with my good camera.

I like the soot at the end of the vanquisher's muzzle break.

You've bitten me with the GS Cult bug, man. I think I might start one once I've finished painting the rest of my Night Goblins (so in about 10 years).

Very cool. I especially lover your buggies and trucks.

Thanks man!

As promised, here are some quality pics of the Russes with the DSLR.

"Compensating? Who's compensating?"




Here's the Exterminator...




...and here's the Executioner.



I decided against doing OSL on the plasma weaponry, since then I'd want to go back and add it to the glowy bits throughout the army. I don't need more projects right now, so I kept it basic and consistent.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I think the darker pin wash and the extra weathering were successful. And while the updated older Russes might not be quite to the standard of the new Vanquisher, they're close enough and blend well. I'm a big believer in revisiting previously painted models, provided that you left them in a state where you can cleanly make revisions without needing to strip the model and start over.

If the GCult codex happens (and we get a limo/transport with some sexy bits), I'll probably take a little time to 'cult up' these tanks a little more. But I'm good to move on for now.

Next up...Chimeras.

On to the Chimeras.

To refresh your memory, I'm planning to take those crazy Battlewagon conversions I did a while back and transform them back into regular Chimeras. The two main steps involved are replacing the turret, and closing up the hatch area. Like so.



The hatch fix isn't perfect, but there isn't going to be a perfect solution given all the cutting and sawing I did to the model. I do like the idea that I can pop the roof off to display the interior details. And it'll blend in better when I'm done with it. Note that I'll also have to replace the front rocket launcher with conventional Chimera weaponry, which is easy enough.

Some other general, rambling thoughts...right now I feel like there's a definite lack of contrast in the model. Without the side armor pieces, it's kind of a big mass of khaki, and the oil pin wash I did doesn't pop the way that it does on the new Russ (again, due to my use of a pure burnt umber instead of burnt umber + black). So I'll give the body another pin wash when I work on the turrets and roofs. I also think I'll add some blue to the back half of the model like I did with the Russes, to spread some color around the piece. And I definitely cut a few corners to get these done the first time around, so I'll do more detail work on certain parts of the hull, especially in the rear.

Just went through this blog. Great theme and colours! Weathering on the last tank was really well done

Looking forward to seeing more.

Thank you for the kind words.

Been really busy and have fallen a little behind with this blog. I'll try to catch up here over the next few days.

So I'm going to skip the filter on the Chimeras, since we're well past that stage on the hulls already. The first steps are a drybrush highlight on the new bits, and the pin washing with oil paint on everything. Which gives you something that looks like this.



Even though one of the beauties of oil paint is how you can manipulate it after it's been applied to the model, you can still end up with some cleanup work. But that's no biggie. Already, I like how the details are popping much more with the brown/black mix.

After a little cleanup, I did some sponge work, which gets me to this.

Okay, time to catch up a bit.

So here's one of the chimeras with edge chipping added to the sponge weathering. I also felt like there was too much khaki from a top-down view, so I added the stripe of color across the hatch.



And here you can see some of my work around the back hatch, which was admittedly not finished properly the first time around. Oh...you might notice (or not) that the treads have lost a lot of their dirt. That was intentional...I felt like I applied it too heavily the first time. A light spray with matte sealer did the trick and got the dirt back to the level I'm looking for. (Matte sealer tends to make weathering powder disappear.)



Here's one of the chimera with the Acolyte turret guy added. Also, you can see that I've started to apply decals. More about that next time.

Transfers.

I see a lot of people using them, and more often than not they don't use them well. You see bubbles, wrinkles, or edges of the decal. You even see it on stuff featured in GW publications!

Now, that might be because they avoid using varnish on their models for photography reasons. At least, that's what I've heard. But there's no reason more hobbyists can't get better results and decals that look painted on.




If you think I'm going to say that technique is everything...you're wrong. Or at least partially wrong. What you need most is stuff. Namely, a good decal setting solution, a good decal softening solution, and some good flat and gloss varnishes. Micromark has a good kit with all the above that costs about $20. If you're doing a bunch of vehicles, it's well worth it.

My basic process is that I brush on some gloss varnish where I'm going to apply the decal. I loosen the decal as usual in water, then apply it to the spot, moistened with setting solution. I use a brush to maneuver it in place and let it dry. When dry, I carefully apply a little more setting solution. Then I let that dry. Next, I carefully apply softening solution, let it dry, then repeat. At this point, the decal usually looks pretty good but not quite painted on. That's where the flat varnish comes in. Two coats will do the trick. I often find that my final seal with Testors Dullcote works fine as the second coat.

I know this sounds like a lot of steps, but it really goes quickly, and if you handle your decals all at once it really isn't a big deal. Up your games with your decals, folks!

Here are some shots of the Chimeras after I've gone back and done some sponge work over the decals to make them look weathered and flaky.




I'll get some final, sexier shots of the Chimeras up shortly.

Awesome work. You're absolutely right about the decals. They really do give a vehicle a nice, professional look.

Thank you!

Forgot to get the higher-quality pics posted. Here you go...












Enough of the reworks. How about some new stuff? Sentinels!

Fantastic work, as always.

Thanks!

The first pic shows the Sentinels with filter and drybrushing. The second two pics show the oil pin wash and the start of some work on various details.

More updates.

A little more work on the details...



...and then the weathering.







And there's the moment where they start rounding into shape.

So here are some higher-quality pics of the Sentinels -- all detailing, basing and weathering completed.









Hope you guys liked this most recent batch of minis. I've been working on my regular Tyranid army (Hive Fleet Gorgon) recently...maybe I'll show off a few pics of that stuff before getting back to the GCult.

Sentinels look great. Very well done.

I agree. These look absolutely awesome. One question, though: why are the leg pistons so shiny? You'd think that they'd have more weathering on them, considering the condition of the rest of the vehicle.

I've been a little delayed in getting to the next batch of GCult stuff, so in the meantime I'll share some (off-topic) pics of stuff I've done recently for my regular Tyranid army. Hive Fleet Gorgon has been with me since the late '90s. You'd think I'd be done painting minis for that army at some point, but GW won't stop making stuff.

Here are some quick phone pics. It's an old army...more of a simple, high-contrast scheme than the subtle stuff I do with the GCult.

Looks fantastic. I'm not quite sure how I like the green base rims, but now that I think about it, they complement the orange and khaki nicely. Do you have any shots of the GS alongside the rest of your Tyranids?

Some absolutely wonderful stuff here. Your bit on decals is a big help, thank you for sharing

 youidiotkid wrote:
Looks fantastic. I'm not quite sure how I like the green base rims, but now that I think about it, they complement the orange and khaki nicely. Do you have any shots of the GS alongside the rest of your Tyranids?

Ha! The green edges are the telltale sign that this army started in the '90s...when all bases were green. And honestly, the overall color scheme shows its '90s roots. Bright was in back then...now you tend to see more muted colors on Tyranids. But like an old tie, you just have to wait for it to come back into style.

I don't have shots of my armies alongside each other. The schemes don't really complement each other, but that's intentional. When I started the GCult, I was really sick of painting the green and bone scheme (so imagine how sick of it I am now!) and wanted to do something different. And more muted. The old blue and purple scheme is classic, but it can come out really garish-looking if you aren't careful. So I ended up going with a neutral primary color, with blue as a secondary color and purple as a spot color.

And thanks!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Brother-Captain Scotti wrote:
Some absolutely wonderful stuff here. Your bit on decals is a big help, thank you for sharing

Thanks to you too!

There are plenty of techniques that are hard in this hobby, but decals shouldn't be one of them, especially when you're working with flat surfaces. I hazard to guess that if GW had decal softening and setting solutions to sell us, we'd have articles about decals in WD and more educated hobbyists everywhere.

Those Nids look very nice, goblin green edge bases for the win

Ha! You know it!

I actually bought several pots of Cote D'Arms Goblin Green to match the paint I used when I started this army. The most recent iteration of Goblin Green was a little brighter than the original, which had more brownish tones.

So...Wyverns.

Here are the Wyverns, primed and ready to paint. The assembly (and lack thereof) you see in the pics seemed the best balance between "getting as much assembled as possible" and "being able to paint it." I left off the extra rings for the mortars so that I can just insert the autocannons anytime I want to run them as Hydras.



I was actually surprised a little by the kit. It's not a hard kit to build by any stretch, but it's more fiddly than I expected based on my assembly of the current Chimera kit a while back.

Anyway, here are the Wyverns with the basic colors blocked out. (Insert still more praise for Vallejo Game Air paint here. ) It's not very visible in the pics, but I did a little color modulation by spraying a khaki/bonewhite mix from above, to simulate the fading that takes place on surfaces that get the most sun exposure.

Image code got a little weirded up?

 gorgon wrote:

Bam! Looking nice

- Salvage

Thank you sir!

Something got goofed when I pasted from the gallery. It's weird...it was 100% fine in the preview...

So now that I finished the Wyverns, I...what? I haven't shown them yet? Really? I know it's been a while with the vacation in August and getting slammed at work now and...

Okay, here they are. Meet the PEACE and LOVE.



I got away from the slogans in the last batch of stuff, so I thought I'd get back to basics. And what says "peace and love" better than a stormshard mortar round perforating your body like Swiss cheese?









I also finished the Hydra barrels, which I can insert into the mortars for a quick unit change.



Those were quick cam phone pics. At some point I'll do some high-quality ones with the good camera.