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Welcome back to posting, trying to be good and do the same after a very busy and/or lazy (for hobby stuff) November/December.

Colour me intrigued on the screamers I love the possibilities they present with their shape, so many different ways to approach them.

But of course a great big centre piece like the titan is what I'm really looking forward to, who doesn't love seeing a giant model painted

Thanks a bunch!

And IG, you might notice that the screamers look.... familiar xD

FIRST A BIT OF BACKSTORY!

After having been internet-less for a few days, I decided to take a break from the Titan and my many hours of mulling over the mammoth machine's many metallic machinations.Whoo gratuitous alliteration!

and so I looked over the many projects on my table, and noticed I still had a half dozen Screamers all assembled and ready to paint. Pushed aside by the Titan and other assorted projects, it had been gathering dust for weeks. And so I set forth on my Daemonic journey.

From previous conversations, I remembered that WM wanted the regular GW schemes on the Daemons. Without any connection to the internet, I relied on memory of the "stock" paint jobs. A vivid magenta and electric blue sprung to mind. I was pleased with this development, as I seldom had the chance to use such bold colors, plus this would give me some practice with the airbrush!

Cut to a week later, and Im putting the final touches on the base colors when i find the box buried in my crate of projects... with the official art on them. As it turns out, the colors I had -thought- were stock ended up being far brighter than they were supposed to. The very reason the colors stuck out as much as they did was because I had remembered IG's work on his screamers, and had subconsciously linked them with the standard color scheme xD


Sooooooo.... I ran with it, giving me this suspiciously familiar color pattern:




And MAN did I have fun with the eyes!


In retrospect, and perhaps if I were to do more of them later, I would do different colors, perhaps even some kind of different pattern overall on the different models. Still though, Im happy with the final colors... big and bright, just how I like painting!

Welcome back Ramos.

Those screamer eyes are a bit creepy , very spider like.

Oh and whats that chanting I can hear. Titan, Titan, Titan, Titan, Titan

Welcome back. Looking forward to seeing the time well spent!

Those screamers look great!

Excellent screamers. Really love the eyes.

Those are fantastic Ramos!

Ohmigosh get the cease and desists ready! They do look lovely in blue and pink though, much better than the current official black and blue. Dunno if I'll ever progress beyond the nine I've already got but I imagine I'd keep extra squads in those colours too. Shame the old ones don't have the eyes to play with, just lots of scales.

Those came out great. The remind me of the net creatures in Reboot. Some of my favorite CD models for sure.

@GX: Excellent! The eyes were my favorite part to paint as well, so Im glad they turned out so well.
And dont worry, you'll get your Titan pictures soon enough

@SL: Thanks! No ME progress to show in pictures, but a bit of RS stuff... Gonna be another fun year of blitz painting!

@Cyp: Thanks! Hopefully should have some decent pics for your stuff soon. Lotsa bugs need lotsa little highlights! Having fun with the models though.

@cormade & Gits: Thank you!

@IG: I REGRET NOTHIIIING! I definitely think its worth getting some of the new ones though, if not purely for the eyes xD Then again, I love painting gems and lenses and stuff, soooooo.... xD

@WM: Duuuude Reboot. Back in the day, man. Good stuff! (at least what I remember!) Really liked painting these guys, and glad they meet your expectations!



And now to Super Catch-Up Week Day II!

Another project I worked on was the Mk I Rhino kit for WM. In a previous update, I had already shown how bent the side panels were as well as my progress bending them back to normal.
I proceeded to build it up to paint the interior, albeit somewhat awkwardly, due to the way the kit is designed. Rather than leaving one side off and putting on the top panel last, I needed to instead leave the bottom panel off while assembling the rest of the chassis. A bit of fighting with it and I primed and painted it up!



I decided to really weather the floor down, like its seen a lot of activity and whatnot. (the Techmarine must be getting lazy- if hes not careful the floor'll rust through!)


As I assembled and based more models, it dawned on me that I'd need to mix up more of my basing grit. So I figured, why not do a mini tutorial? Its quick, easy, and gets great results (and is cheap to boot!)

All it takes is:
> Concrete sand (avoid the sands with rounded pebbles in them- really breaks the scale! The sand I use has a nice jagged grain to it.)
> GF9 coarse basing grit
> Woodland Scenics Medium ballast


In a pint-sized mason jar, I mix together roughly 1 cup of Concrete sand, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the medium ballast, and about 2 tbsp of the coarse basing grit, leaving me with something that looks like this:



Shake to combine and you're all set to base your minis!

I use this stuff straight for 40k and other applications where I want a rougher terrain. For filler bases, like those for Warmahordes and Brushfire, I mix a bit in with spackle or plaster to get a stucco-like putty. Simply glob this mixture onto the base and let cure. Once it sets up, I clean the edges with a hobby knife and whipe it down with a damp cloth, both clearing the plaster dust and exposing some of the grit's sharp edges. When painted, this looks more like rocky soil or hard desert terrain.

Glad your having fun with the bugs, got more to send your way after this as well.

Thanks for play testing too!

Man, the inquisitor is gunna be pissed when he sees that mess

@Cyp: Heyyy any time!
My brother and I had a blast doing it, and its given us a good story (though as Alf can tell ya, we tend to give every game an absurd narrative ) In this case it was the tale of "Team 'Cheap Date'" (my mob of single crystal-cost models) and the Dread King Bloop (a lone Gel Warrior who stole the Boss kill)!

@WM: Shhhhhh! Maybe he wont notice!


Super Catch-Up Week Day III

In addition to painting models while the internet was out, I also experimented with a number of techniques and new products.

The biggest issue at the time was figuring out how to shade the huge metal areas on the Titan's legs. I didnt want to purely use a wash, as that would not only take a long time, but would also leave rather inconsistent results (unless I took even longer!). And so I began to experiment.

First off, I took the unused sides of WM's Rhino and sprayed them similar to the metal areas on the Titan. A boltgun basecoat, highlighted with chainmail and then just a slight touch of mythril silver.



I then turned to a handful of paints that I thought might do the trick (these are listed in order from left to right).
First I tried Secret Weapons' Soft Body Black, then an ink wash I had mixed up a few months ago (1 part black ink to 11 parts thinned matte varnish), and finally VMA Black.



From my results, I figured that the custom ink wash was too thin and didnt want to spray well at all, while the VMA paint gave me too opaque of a finish. The Secret Weapon wash on the other hand got me exactly the effect I wanted, and this would be what I eventually chose for the project.


I also had the chance to play with some Minitare ghost tints borrowed from Alf. These are similar to candy paints in that they are translucent, even when sprayed thickly. Through further experimentation I also determined they can be washed off with water unless you seal them. Very similar to spraying an ink shade.


I sprayed them over the same metallic base as above. Colors from left to right are: Purple, Plasma Fluid (blue), Midnight Blue, and Fresh Blood (red). The Midnight blue is very near black, and I actually went back and shaded the other colors with it. The final effect is rather nice, as the translucent nature of the paint gives it real depth when applied over metals. Painted up pretty quickly too.


Finally, I tested a few new paints in order to determine VMA blends to use for Red Scorpions. This would let me premix large batches without needing to play with the various mixes and thinning the paints.
I started with VMA Grey-Green, and mixed in various amounts of VMA Light Gray.



Gray Green is pretty close to Charadon Granite, for those interested.... It sprays much better too!

Hopefully the expiration has given you faster ways to do things, always a plus. Rhino should be black, btw. Its for the Inq squad.

Of course of course! Its gonna get primed next time I have stuff to spray. It was just the handiest thing I had nearby to test paint on!

I like the Rainbow Coalition look...

Inquisitor Bling and his technicolour Rhino

Speaking of the Inquisitor....


Super Catch-Up Week Day IV

In between playing Minecraft, Terraria, and GTA V, Painting progressed without internet. Included in the mass of painting was the Inquisitor and his retinue.

After getting the black armor down though various sprays and washes, I set to work on the parchment and cloth.


Then the reds:


The browns, including the furs and pelts


And further along I knocked out the metals, skin, and other various spot colors.



Very nearly done with these guys. Just a few minor areas to paint, like the eagle and the one acolyte's mohawk. They were just pushed aside briefly as I worked to get other projects a bit further along. shouldn't be long till theyre finished!

Those look fantastic Ramos!

Looks like the Catachan arms worked out well (thanks SL!). Look different enough to SM to not be confused for sure.

Very nice indeed.. serious looking dudes!

Day 5

So December/the first weeks of January seem to have been very black armor-centric. Not only did I have the Inquisitor and his retinue, but also a group of models from On The Lamb!

Specifically, Legion from the Cult of Exomorphism:



As these guys are ants, I decided that I would paint a large portion of them black, particularly modeled after a group of giant carpenter ants I find around my house. Some seem to get into my room every year (Mostly the big winged males... Almost look like wasps!)

They're big, black, and mean, So i set out to capture this in these minis.
I decided to attempt what Ifalna (wonder where she ran off to...?) managed to do on "Delilah", a massive black widow spider she painted a few months ago. She seems to have gone with a pure black base, then only a faint edge highlight of a dark blue in order to keep it as dark as possible. A bit of experimenting later, and I came up with my take on it, albeit a bit lighter, due to my tendency to brighten paint schemes more than normal.




And a close up:


From here, there are 4 others which will be painted in different schemes, including red and brown ants.

Those are funny looking nids

Looks great!

Man, I was excited to see what smartass response I got from Cyp, now I'm sad.

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Man, I was excited to see what smartass response I got from Cyp, now I'm sad.

I can't give you too much gak. Decepticons Forever.

Decepticon? I am merely a gentlemen in glasses with continued Christmas spirit....

 whalemusic360 wrote:
Those are funny looking nids

Well I've gotta confess I was expecting nids when he said bugs

Inquisitor band is looking good, arms are indeed spot on. Would love to see some more work with ghost tints as I was thinking about grabbing some for myself.

Oh no, is he going to ruin his streak! Day 6 is running out.

@WM: Never! My streak shall continue! Just took a bit longer to get photos of such a large subject

@Cyp: Oh come oooooon! You gonna take that? Dont let Decepticon ties stop you! After all, everyone needs to do a little Starscreaming now and again

@IG: Hehehe aye, a bit of a bait and switch, though I think I have a bit of nid stuff on the bench (way pushed off, mind, but its there!)- MechaFex 2 has been sitting half painted for ages xD
As to the ghost tints, They probably have their uses, though its a method/technique all itself when using them. They seem to be best used to cover a large area with a tint... Could be used to very quickly paint a SM army after preshading a white or gray primed model with shadows, although to me it would take too much control out of my hands. The paints are in a very specific set of colors, and though they mix easily enough, they just cant match as many colors as traditional paints.

If I can think up some experiments for them, I'm definitely up to it. That'll have to wait till after Adepticon, though... Im already starting to run out of time!





And now, to Day 6 of Catch-Up week.
I was originally going to fluff up today with another project, however it seems that I planned the seventh day of Catchup week to coincide perfectly with my birthday. Though I probably will do nothing (things are increasingly and painfully mundane around here, birthdays included), I didnt want to take that chance and break my combo... SO! Its the moment everyone has been waiting for.




Ladies and Gentlemen, at long last May I present...
THE TITAN!






Do forgive the lack of a backdrop. nothing I had could fit this monster! Also, I had to use my little brother's DSLR, so the color balance and overall quality of the photos may be a bit less than normal. That said, however, the photos are huge and VERY zoomable!


The weapons.... First the Plasma:


And then the Big ass laser! aka, the Dirty harry pose

"Feelin' Lucky, punk?"



The now attached interior spaces:






A close up of the crushed tank:




And a close-up of the shin eagle- Really pleased how the marble effect came out!






Now it is important to note- this is Mark One of the Titan. To be added later are the various cables (which are a pain in the ass to bend) and a few decals (for which I need to order/acquire clear decal sheets!
After those are finished, I will be able to call this guy done and done, and I will take better photos... with backdrops, even!