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I'm sure you said something wonderful Gits but it's hiding behind page roll over again.
*shakesfistlikeanangry50sgentleman*


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I can see it now!

Looks solid, man.

Wow! I am in agreement with some previous posters when they say this thread always shoots up when im not looking, looks like you had your share of fun with those tournament games! As always your models never fail to please

I see I see.
That pic really gets rid of the gray color I was seeing. I'm really digging the color now. Great work!

Awesome shade of yellow on that tank Gits. Where do you keep getting these old school rhino/razorbacks from?

Thanks guys, glad you approve. It's coming along. It'll still have a lot of detail missing when I pass it on to Yellowbeard, but the basics will be done to a decent standard.

Well, I had a good number of vehicles left over from the old days, but most of those were re-painted for my son's Doom Eagles. Since then, I pick them up when I can. I was also the recipient of a very generous gift from Nicroex last year. That helped. Still, I'll multi-purpose as many as I can so the rhinos/razorbacks/whirlwinds can be switched easily (not too tough). I think I have enough hulls to do all the Preds individually, and of course the Vindis need to be separate as well.

Kind of mind-blowing (in a bad way) when I think about how much work there is yet to do on this army... I can see it getting to 10k points before it's done.

Loving the simple yet effective paint secheme!!

Good job, thou we expect nothing less. Still the picture is way to yellow for me to comment on the color. The sepia wash will help. We trust you got it right. Looking forward to the next update!

No, that pretty much is the color, and it's already gotten the sepia wash.

Wow, Gits, that looks fantastic. I'm really loving the color you achieved. And you've done way more than I thought you were going to do. Thank you!

Of course, at this point, all I can do is botch it....

I'd like to know more about how you did the wash, when you have a chance. I know you said you were going to "stain" the model with Sepia and then remove some of it, and in your post you say that you sprayed the wash. I've never tried airbrushing (?) a wash on a model. Can you tell me abit more about what you did in that step?

Glad you like it. It'll look better when I'm done, hopefully tonight.

The process in short.

Used a Vallejo Olive Drab as the primer. It is yellowish brown but has a bit of a greyish tinge to it which I think showed through on the first pic. Since I didn't have the brown you originally suggested, I used a medium reddish brown as the base coat... sprayed at 0 degrees & higher (i.e. all the easily visible parts of the model). I didn't try for perfect coverage as it seemed a bit of unevenness would help give the model some character. The next brown (from your progression which I can't find at the moment) was sprayed at 45 degrees and the final golden yellow sprayed at 90 degrees. I still thought the blend was a little too flat so I added some bright yellow to the golden yellow and just hit some of the edges and corners of the model to give it some bright points.

Washing vehicles is tricky... you can't do it like you would a regular figure, the big flat plates just mess up how the wash works. I've tried spraying washes on before but this doesn't always work well because the wash tends to clog the nozzle and you've got to really hose it down to get it to pool in the cracks and crivices. So, what I did was to take something that was clear that I knew would flow properly (in this case, Vallejo "Satin" laquer) and add sepia to it to give it color. I then sprayed the model. I did NOT hose it down. This mellowed the colors and gave them a very natural hue. It warmed the sides considerably and toned down the yellow highlights. Resulting (I think) in a very subtle but very natural looking vehicle.

Since the pic was taken, I took some regular sepia and lined it into some of the cracks and crevices where yellow plate meets yellow plate. This gives some of that clear distinction between raised areas that you're used to getting when you wash a regular figure. I'll probably do a little bit of edge highlighting too. Not as much as I'd do on one of my own vehicles, but I think if I hit the long edges, it'll really help things pop a bit.

When I'm done, I'll hit it with some dull coat, which will be the third coat of sealer that it's gotten (gloss after the airbrushing, then satin, finally dull). The metal parts are especially prone to chipping so I wanted to make sure everything's gotten a few coats. Even so, I suspect that turrets will need to be touched up as you play with them. (my razorback turrets are all banged up) You're welcome to gloss then dullcoat it again... a little extra protection can't hurt.



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Didn't have as much time to work on it tonight as I'd hoped. Still... progress is progress.

Thanks, Gits.

What ratio of Satin Varnish to wash did you use? Or did you just eyeball it?

And, do you use this technique kn figures, too? Or just on vehicles?

By the way, your "not much" work is still excellent. I didn't get much done tonight either, but you still got a lot more done than I did. How do you paint so fast and so well at the same time?

What you did do is very nice. The OSL on the PGs looks good, and I really love the red around the vents. Is that the Mahagony/Black wash/Carmine Red I suggested?

I eyeballed it. I use a straight wash on figures (brushed on) because they don't have the big, flat surfaces that cause the problems to begin with. This was a first-time experiment, but I'm glad it worked out.

Well, it was really a morning and an evening. Been having trouble sleeping so when I'm up like now at 4:30 I'll do so painting to occupy my time. Not really OSL on the plasma coils (no "glow" effect on the surrounding bits), but the color turned out fine.

I used mahogany followed by two applications of standard red as an edge highlight, then a red wash (not black). Figured it was dark enough already & could use some more saturation of red pigment. It looks like it's been washed black doesn't it? But no, that's just the red wash on the mahogany. I think a black wash would be way too dark.

One more bout of painting and it'll be ready for the "decals". I'll have to think about where to put them. Pretty sure I'll finish the first tank tonight. Hopefully, now that I know what I'm doing, #2 to will paint up pretty quickly.

Looking good gits!

Here's the finished Fire Hawk Razorback. I might add a bit of color to the plasma cannons depending on the feedback I get from Yellowbeard, but that's about it. I decided to keep to a basic paint job without any decoration so YB could do that himself, keeping the style and execution consistent across his army. This is good enough to field though, so he should be covered. I'll begin tank #2 tomorrow night. I haven't been sleeping well so I think I'm going to call it a night.

Looks like a very soft yellow which I particularly like. You can see it's missing that "Git's Flair" we are all familiar and I do look forward to seeing what YB can do with it

Please Mr Gits do a Pre Heresy Imperial Fists force! PLEASE! you could seriously knock it outta the park dude! that Razorback is snazzy even to that level!

Why sure nerdfest... I'm just dying for yet another army to paint!


I put a bit more color on the plasmas... the deep red from the piping on the screens. Looks nice... just that last little touch to make them stand out. Started work on the second one this morning.

If nothing else, this has made me realize how easy it would be to get a couple of my used vehicles painted up quickly. I've got two old predators that, with a little fixing up could be ready to go quickly enough. Funny thing is with all those models I've painted I only have two heavy choices (1 dev & 1 vindi). Knocking out a couple of quick preds would help that part of the equation.

 nerdfest09 wrote:
Please Mr Gits do a Pre Heresy Imperial Fists force! PLEASE! you could seriously knock it outta the park dude! that Razorback is snazzy even to that level!

Buy me the pieces and I'll do it

I claim all the "clever" for today. Sorry folks... none left.


I hate Rhinos riding around with figures representing the unit inside sitting on top of them. I mean it's only fair for your opponent... but it looks stupid. So I got the idea to build open hatches and a platform for a figure to stand on so that the rhino looks more realistic. I would have preferred to set things up so two figures could stick out, but the platform would have to be so high that the figures are only knee deep in the Rhino (which is about the same as them standing on top).

Note that while I'm using one of Yellowbeard's Rhinos/Razorbacks as the model... these are really intended for my rhinos (they're just packed up and I'm too lazy to unpack them for the picture).



Did some painting tonight as well. Pretty much done with the turret on the second Fire Hawk Razorback and worked on fixing up my broken razorback turrets. Also painted a lot of the details on my turrets that I'd left undone until now.

Pic's tomorrow probably and I hope to have this little beauty of a hatch painted up as well.


I've also had those Predators running around in my noggin. I think I'm going to disassemble and strip both of them, then use the parts to build a single, fully magnetized Pred so I can switch out the turret and side sponsons as I see fit. Not an easy task given that the side sponsons are metal, but I have a plan...

i like the build. Looks sweet.

is so


sorry but your miniatures are so awesome, here is a 10/10 from me blown away by your dedication to the mantis warriors

if only i could stick to my custom legion (because i didn't really like the main chapters or very many of the custom or minor chapters),
Skull Hornets, of unknown origin, only known reference (custom fluff) is a small isolated battle during the Piscina IV campaign.

they were noted as being Nocturnal Cannibalistic Beserkers (nightlord/world eater??), soon thereafter the inquistion sanction's for the immediate destruction of their home world (much like DA, although it is not known because records were either purged intentionally or unintentionally, exact location of homeworld remains a mystery except for a few veterans within strike force Deathwind of the 4th Co. Skull Hornets), it was believed the entire chapter were destroyed. except for strike force Deathwind 4. nothing else is known except rumour to scare imperial citizens to behave and always serve His Light (Edit: flagellates himself for some typos, the emperor will not forgive unless i flail and flail i shall). May the Beacon of Terra burn forever brightly.

well any way enough about me and my dudes, yours drew tears to my eyes. to think of the dedication here is a + but it's 10/10 from me (new guy- to this thread)

Slick build, bro.

@Orkimedes: (great name by-the-way) Welcome to the thread! Sounds like you've got a really good handle on your Skull Hornets. Interesting background, some idea of lineage, place to start your story line, best of all they're insect based! I didn't build 4000+ points in a day, far from it. Start small, keep it manageable. Do one or two things that really peak your interest and go from there. Take time to develop you models and painting skills along the way. You'll get there if you stick with it. In any case, glad to have you on board. Please don't hesitate to comment or give suggestions on what you see.

@graven & panda: Thanks mates! It's not like it's a complicated build... just the original doors and two strips of "L-bracket". But like I said... I get the clever points for the day. Got it primed last night and will do the airbrushing this morning. I'd like to do something decorative on the inside of the doors but I'm not quite sure what yet. Will have to think on that. Can't be too complicated though, still lots to do.

Very nice, Gits. I like it a lot. I was actually toying around with oing a make-shift "Razorback" w/o a turret but with open hatches and marines wielding lascanons and plasmaguns. (That was before you so generously offered the Mk I Razors!). This is a breat idea, though, and I agree, it is much better than putting the figure on top.

Good shout. An elegant and aesthetically pleasing solution. Bravo!

Cool idea for the Rhino hatches.

Agreed, that is a brilliant idea for the top hatch. I like how you made it slide open rather than swing open doors that you usually see.

Are the hatches able to open and close?

And... the finished product! Quite happy with it. Feel free to tell me I'm a genius.


One of these days I'm going to have to re-do the side doors... but that'll have to wait for the next Adepticon re-paint.

lsd art, really? XD

looking nice though^^
however I get the feeling now that the rhino is
a giant driving cookbook that you could read from space