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Making the circular pad for the heraldry is easy.

1. Make a small ball of green stuff by rolling it around in your fingers.
2. Push it on to the shoulder pad.
3. Wet your finger slightly and push down on the ball, flattening it.
4. Roll your finger around on the flattened area in order to smooth out the edges.
5: Take a shaping tool or something like it and gently "brush" the surface of the GS to remove any fingerprint marks.

Voila!



This one is actually on the large side... I prefer them a little smaller in relation to the size of the pad. The raised area also makes them very easy to paint. Undercoat white, then whatever layers & shades of yellow you like.

Neat tip git. Thanks!

Now you tell us!! Yup neat little tip, like it.

All the comp entries are amazing, might have to just revisit mine before deadline is up.

Anything on this weekend Gits?

Well, Thing-1 and I were going to participate in a team tournament at Gamehole Con in Madison this weekend. But all the 40k events are two-day affairs and we're unable to attend on Sunday. Given that we couldn't actually finish the tournament, the $60 cost was just too much. Too bad though, Thing-1 and I had a pretty interesting combo going... not "competitive" by any stretch but pretty unorthodox & it might have given people fits.

So, I'll probably work around the house. It's supposed to snow on Monday so I'll need to get the garage organized so I can get the ATV out easily (our snow-plow) and get our best vehicle inside. My cold has set up camp in my chest, which will just make everything more difficult. I hope to work on the centurions though... I really need to get my act together and start getting some models painted. Might even fiddle with something orky if the whim strikes me.


Here's another useless update for you. (Sorry... I was initially expecting to spend the day gaming... so now that I'm not it's left me chatty and in need of 40k stimulation.) A couple of months ago I got a new, very up-to-date computer (this coincided with my reappearance on Dakka, not surprisingly). Among the other benefits... I was finally able to play Dawn of War II, which I've owned for years but could never get to work on my old machine. Well, I just finished it. Very fun, though I wish there was an option for some kind of pick-up battle like the old DOW.

I think I'll go work on the cents now & maybe an orky bit just for fun. Laters y'all!

Winter is coming . Looking forward to your progress on the Mantis Warriors.

YOUR AVATAR! I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, BRADLEY!

Finally made some progress on the centurions. Basically I'm working my way through one of the sergeants, trying to figure out the color scheme. Haven't worked on the arms yet... thinking I might paint the large parts of the not-power-fists purple. No idea what I'm going to do with the guns or the banners yet. But... progress is progress.

I really, REALLY like that combination of green and that purple.

As far as banners, hmmm... Perhaps a creamy white/tan color with various squiggles and chapter iconography? Kill markings? Battlefield Honors?

Or perhaps a large version of the MW heraldry, split down the middle with half of the bug face on either banner? Iffin ya catch my drift

It is a puzzlement... Those are excellent suggestions Ramos. I'd originally intended to do something heraldic (which would appropriate), however the more I look at them, the more I'd like to do calligraphy. Like so.



These would be more traditional for battle standards I think.

I would like to see your sashimono as litanies of penance - all squiggly - personally. Metals looking good!

Looks spectacular, to me, the metals are really popping.

Think I ma with Graven on the penants.

Imagine THIS on the right one banner, and mirrored on the left one?

Looking great. That is a lovely purple.

Caligraphy on the sashimono sounds good to me.

Or maybe calligraphy on one, with the other having a single icon on - chapter symbol, squad or company marking....

Thing-1 walked in and looked at the figure... he immediately stated that they needed to be done in kanji. So that's it. He's found me a good kangi site with meanings, so my reasearch is done. I think I'll combine that with a bit of graven's suggestions. If I can figure out how to do heraldry on the sergeants, I might do that as well, but I'm not confident I can render the design on the shoulder pad (i.e. the realistic mantis) on a 2-d painting. I'm just not much of an artist.

Here's where I finished (noonish). Have to go get some work done around the house & earn my kibble!

Good work Gits'. He's looking very posh with all that purple.

Good work, TSL on keeping the blood translucent, and not just painting him red. Looks good.

As an extension to the making of neat circles, I had an idea while reading Gits' GS explanation above:

If you paint the surface yellow (the colour of the circle) and then use a blob of blu-tack (poster tack) in the same way as the GS, you can then paint the rest of the surface green (the colour of the surroundings). Remove the blu-tack and you should have a perfect circle.

Ah! Very smart! Excellent suggestion Dr H!

Here is my entry to the Mantis Maker II challenge...



And the entry description:
Brother Sargent Waldorf, of the Mantis Warriors.
Mantis Warriors are masters at using their environment to their advantage. Here is one of Waldorf's prepared sniper positions. One key to being a successful sniper is to realize that your location will be discovered. Another key to surviving is to no longer be at that place when it is discovered. Buried in the moss, Waldorf has left an explosive surprise for any who do find it.

That is an amazing purple, you're doing such a great job making these terrible centurion toys look great.

@anpu-adom:

THAT PURPLE IS FREAKING TRIPPY MAN! DETAILS, I DEMANDSES THEM!

Agree, that purple is sweet. Loving the centurion models.

Also loving what I see so far on the entries for the competition.

Can I add a further option to painting the perfect circle on a shoulder pad?

As Dr H said paint the pad yellow and then pick up some of those round stickers you see all over the place (which can be all different sizes) stick it where you need it and paint over.

Then carefully peel it off and hey presto there is your spot.

Just like masking up a tank for quick camo patterns, just perhaps check the strength of the stickers adhesive that it won't take paint with it....

Lot of nice looking entries for the comp. Interesting to see peoples takes on the subject matter.


The purple on the cents is a great choice of secondary colour, Gits. Love it.
Will purple be sneaking onto more of your rank and file Mantis Warriors?

Hi Gang, I'm back! Thanks for keeping the blog going in my absence!

First thing's first...

@Anpu: *Very* creative and out-of-the-box interpretation of the contest rules. Nicely done.

@TSL: It's ridiculously easy. First a solid coat of dark purple (GW Liche or P3 Beaten), then several very thin coats of watered down light purple (GW Warlock), dabbing it unevenly in the center of the plates & avoiding the edges. Let each application dry thoroughly before applying the next. Then apply a coat of purple wash. Finally, one more dab-coat of the lighter purple in the very center or high spots of the plate.

More progress on the Cent. It won't look like much but there was actually quite a bit added on. Have to re-do the blue part of one side of the grav gun... wasn't sure how I wanted to handle it so I experimented with a couple of different things before deciding.



Have also been working on a grot tank. You can see that over on my ork blog (linky below in sig).

Thanks, Gitz. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. The white and red striped legs were a bit of a clue as to what I was intending. This oldie, but goodie is also a bit of an inspiration.

I assume you will add the Mantis symbol on those flag with underneath the Monty Python's litany of the importance of not being seen?

Sashimono of Repentance.

Great execution, will they be getting a wash afterwards or remain as is? I don't think they really need it but I'd be interested to see how they'd look if you matched them to the purity seals.

Not sure if you can use that kanji just on its own.
Need to be 2 i think "後悔"

Likely true Jehan, but I didn't have room. I may try it on another one though. It's my first attempt at a kanji so I kept it simple. Thanks for the tip, I'll see if I can't do better next time!