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@Ephrael - Sir that is a stunning link, thanks for bringing that to my attention, and still looking forwards to hearing more about these rub and buff things!


Right guys so no update for a while because the PhD has really started in earnest now, every evening I have come back exhausted and wanting to do nothing buy lounge around, so you'll have to excuse me if progresss is shakey and intermittent from here on in, but I will try my hardest!


So some of you may well remember my crows that I did a while ago? For those that don't here is a pic:



Now I always really liked these but for whatever reason never got round to making any more, so I thought I would fix that! Now I like my dolosian paint scheme so I initially thought I would stick with that, but I have also played around with grey armour as it gives definition, but I really cant decide which I prefer, I need help Dakka! GREY or BLACK or another colour armour altogether? If you need you can zoom in the gallery.

BLACK:



or GREY?

Oh.... Now that is a most welcome return of a theme.
The black green scheme looks very good too...
To answer your question: I would do it this way, keep both schemes, use them on different units. The look of the crows is very distinguishable so more than one scheme would work in a crow army. Grey for command, black for he, red for karskin? Etc...

First, both look awesome! However, I think the black looks bolder and may help define them a little bit more. I also prefer the way it starkly contrasts against the bone color hair (?). It pops against those neutral tones a little more than the neutral grey does. (If that makes sense) Black against the olive drab and off-white is more prominent than grey against the fatigues and such. Glad they're getting more attention. I was a fan of those guys when you did them months back.

Yeah, a PhD eats time...and sanity. What are you working on?
If you haven't seen these yet, they will make a lot more sense after a while: PhD Comics

I'm liking the grey, but I don't know why...

As for buffing paint, I recently showed an example of what I have;

This is using Humbrol enamel "Metalcote" paint.
Paint it on, let it dry, buff with a soft cloth, tissue or cotton bud.
It's important to have a smooth layer underneath as it shows up any roughness.

@Thanks Vik, yeah these were overdue a return tbh, they are cool! And oh thats an idea, do you like any of these?

@Moltar - Thanks Moltar, I know what you mean about the black, it works better on almost every level except the head shape becomes a bit of a shadow whereas ideally i want it to stand out, any of these better?

@Dr H - Ah i'm doing microbial biosynthesis, so lots of mucking about with bacteria and getting more and more annoyed when they don't behave! That link is hilarious btw, I have stumbled across them before, they are sheer genius. And ooh, a vote for the grey, you rebel! everyone I have spoken to so far has said black, and oh wow that buffing stuff really is quite dramatic, I will have to get some and play around a bit, seems cool!

So just spent a few mins on paint messing around to see if there is anything I particularly like, for me the purple and gold (bottom right) are really sticking out for me out of these, as well as the standard black, do you think the gold or a brassy gold would be ott?

As Wesley Snipes said, "always bet on black."

The other colors just seem to be "forcing" the issue of NOTICE ME; I'M DIFFERENT. That's not what we (I) want. The cohesion plays an important role. Obviously, it's your decision, but put more faith in the Monday-Friday crowd for opinions other than my own. Dakka gets a lot more traffic during the week.

If you want something different the right side looks good, ofc without repeating Moltar I'm sure whatever you chose it'll look great.

Looking at a previous post I have to say the grey ... If only because thats my scheme bare metal doesn't show up as well with grey tho

so lots of mucking about with bacteria and getting more and more annoyed when they don't behave!

I feel your pain, I know what that's like having worked as a chemist in a collaboration with bioscientists. Just trying to get a peptide to behave in a predictable way was a PITA. I'll stick to chemicals, they're much more predictable.

The black is nice and there's nothing wrong with it. It was just when I first looked at them, my first instinct was the grey one and I don't know why.

Bare in mind the Humbrol paint I'm using requires white spirit to clean up. I don't know if there's a water based equivalent out there, but it's probably worth a look first.

The "new" colours, as they are there, are a little bright compared to the rest of the mini's colour scheme.
If they were darkened down to almost black they might work, but then why not just stick with black...

It depends on the fluff you have decided on for the forces.
1: Are they the same army, but different elite units?
2: Are they different regiments supplied by the same forge world/supply chain?
3: Are they entirely separate and will never fight in the same army?

1: means they would probably have the same uniform colours and therefore the black makes the most sense
2: means that you can justify both colour schemes, because clothes mad from the same material in bulk amounts would probably be the same colour (mechanicus logic and production quotas) but the armour being of a different style for both forces means they could quite easily receive different colour finishes.
3: never together? Do whatever you want! Th browny bronze sounds interesting and is something you don't normally see, and the masks have a vaguely ceremonial look to them so it makes sense.

Personally I would choose the grey, it's different enough that the models side by side won't look the same, but not so different they will clash and draw you eye more to one force than the other.

I am going to have to say black. Its striking. And of course elite looking.

J-paint....for what it's worth, I'm going to cast my vote for the original grey and red scheme. I love the dolosians but unless you are going to field these guys in the same army, I think they grey and red really works well and makes them distinctive. I fact, grey red and black would look even more awesome.

Of course, if they ARE Dolosians, well then I vote for the black with the bone head piece.

Pretty impressive Doctorate mate.

@Moltar - lol I know what you mean about the overly bright colours, did seem a bit forced, hopefully this is a bit less brutally trying to inject character but still gives a bit more of a striking appearance

@Onemannoodles - This is very true, the damage is immensly easier on black, thanks for the input sir!

@Dr H - I would tend to agree with you, I'm actually trying to do nice controllable reactions but the bacterial context is the equivalent of throwing ten thousand spanners in the works! Its interesting you went for the grey, and I agree the bright colours were too much, hopefully this is a good compromise

@Sheep - As ever Sheep your posts are incredibly insightful and always encourage me to look at things in a slightly different way, I am currently thinking they will be in the same army but a different regiment, so I think following your logic the green greatcoats make sense, and the bone helmets are unique to this regiment, so can be justified pretty easily, I did actually try the bronze, but for whatever reason it didn't grab me as much as i expected.

@Comrade - (Y)

@San - You have to be difficult don't you San! And I'm not sure if this is what you meant with your last comment, but if it was then its very spooky because I decided on this final scheme independently, great minds hey!



So as I unfortunately warned you guys the PhD has been sucking my time from me like some sort of evil sponge, but I have finally managed to get a bit of time this weekend to do something for me, and I have decided that you were all right, black armour is the way forwards, BUT the head needed to be accented slightly so I have decided on this, and I am actually pretty happy with it! By the way I hope you all like the pose etc, as I only had one DKOK body left it took me a while to settle on it, but I think it looks pretty badass! If I ever get anymore time my next plan is to do a whole squad.

Although I havn't had any time I have had a small amount of money spare so I have gone and blown some on a valkyrie, which I'm insanely keen to start painting, I have wanted one for years now! I am planning on having the pilots using the same heads as these latest crows guys, an avian theme for a flier is pretty appropriate me thinks!

Also I have been very intrigued by the latest inquisition ecodex thing, i may well end up getting it, just because its EXACTLY the sort of customisable/small project I love to do, will start planning!

Anyway, enough rambling, here is the finished prototype for the new 'crow' regiment which will be fighting alongside the Dolosians:

That looks great, J! The bone does work out as a nice, lighter neutral tone. I like it.

Awesome stuff.

Damn those pesky prokaryotes

Yeah, that crow looks nice. Works well. Good job.

I like it. Nicely done.

He looks fantastic J! A whole squad of these would be so striking on the table. Looking forward to the Valkyrie ...

Looks both regal & creepy.. I love it !

Nice crow stuff j-paint. Love your different guard.

Wow that model is awesome
Love the head

Bizarre, creepy and totally unique. very well done sir

@Moltar - Thanks yeah the neutral colour was definitely what I was missing

@Paradigm - (Y)

@Dr H - Thanks H!

@Gits - Cheers Gits

@San - Me too! Just unfortunate that it seems it will be a while away yet

@Yggdrasil - That is what we aim for!

@comrade - cheers panda

@sageheart - Once the last of the eldar die off I will make good use of their armouries!

@bebop - Wow, these really are going down well, thanks for the encouragement!

So I feel very inadequate with the amount of praise you guys have given me that I have so little to offer you in return. I have decided that I will do a whole platoon of these guys, and to tie them to the dolosians, the troopers will have bone crests, the sarges will have red crests ans the platoon commander will have a purple crest, and on which note I will leave him here, you will have to forgive the slow progress, hopefully christmas will bring a reprieve and a large painting window!

Wow, you actually made the DKOK commissar model cooler. I wasn't sure that was possible. A whole platoon of these guys is going to be awesome.

They are looking great J. I am always impressed with how consistent the quality of your models are and at the same time, how you manage to keep the colour themes so in line. These guys will look awesome with the dolosians; can't wait to see it!

Quick question: given the unusualness of the helm are you planning to make any bareheaded, to show they are human? I could imagine a vox caster guy crouched down with helm at his side..

You know... those guys just scream "professional soldier" to me. Very un-guard like. (I love it... it's a refreshing change.)

purple head is the best. I like your choices.

I like your purple headed warrior!




..........Yep, I said it :-)

Oh nerdy.... *sigh* You can send the Slanesh (army) out of Tasmania, but you can't take the Slanesh out the Tasmanian....

Purple crest looks great with the green coat.

J-paint, the Crow Kreig are just great, the bone masks really draw the eye!
The green you've achieved on the coats is awesome.
Some really nice models in here!

@Paradigm - cooler? definitely not! just a bit different-y!

@San - Lol how do I do it? lol its mostly due to me seeming to be unable to use any other colours! i keep going, ooh this would look nice in blue...yet sure enough in about a week it appears in the same green and bone and brown =p And the bare headed idea is a great one and something I had thought about too, the short answer is yes definitely! The idea of a vox with his helmet on floor is genius, I will be shamelessly stealing that!

@Gits - thats really weird gits, that's just what i was aiming for, I wanted troops that might be able to do high level missions for inquisitors etc, but who were effectively still just guardsmen, just ....dignified!

@comrade - why thank you

@nerd - you have brought down the tone of this whole thread, get back to your own depraved corner of the interweb!

@Lamby - Thanks, yeah i was struggling to get the helms looking like enough of a feature, when in doubt just paint it brighter than everything else! Thanks very much for dropping in btw!


So then guys an update is well overdue, but i'm afraid I actually have very little to offer you! But i will pad out my meagre finished oferrings with some WIPs, something this thread really has lacked so far! so stay tuned for half-formed ideas and basecoats galore!

So my only real finished offering is this chimera which some of you will remember i used as an example for the tarp tutorial a while ago, well before I moved on I wanted to get it finished otherwise I never would, the end result is OK, but im not overjoyed, it suffers because it didnt have the attention the large battle tank had lavished upon it: Also I need a new matt varnish, the bottom of this can seems to be a bit glossy and the glare totally masks alot of the weathering effects, anyway:







Now onto the WIP padding for this post! Now my little hobby mind has been wandering lately....as long time visitors will know it is wont to do, and I have found myself drawn in by the inquisitor28/inquisimunda crowd, whose creativity and customisation skills are beyond comprehension! For those who have not seen any such blogs I will gladly direct you. But i digress, I was then tempted to start my own little inquisitorial band, and chose the ordo xenos, because i feel they are the least loved by GW, and decided that a borderline renegade inquisitor with close ties to the eldar, particularly the harlequins would be awesome, because the warband could have all sorts of cool alien models I don't normal get to think about from a model perspective, being a loyal member of the imperium.

So far a hobbyknife and blu-tack has got me to this embryonic stage of WIP, so please note that EVERYTHING is liable to change, but I am currently quite sold on the harlequin mask and claw/digital weapon combination, but any other thoughts, ideas would be very welcome. let the creative juices flow.......(I said creative juices nerdfest....)





Now whilst making this inquisitor I came to the conclusion that if he is friends with harlequins it would really be a crime to not make any, and just to make it difficult, i intend to kitbash them:

[/spoiler]


Not content with this, my imagination then decided i would need a whole small force of eldar allies, so I also did this to one of the rangers that came with my inquisitor body:




And then to top off a fortnight of ADD hobbying I started on this: Please note this is still PIP!