Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Great stuff!

Very well done on the Terminators. I especially love the bases you did for them.

 GrimDork wrote:
Got some really slick terminators there

They look good, I like the power weapons--the glow is obvious but not too in-your-face. It also pops right out against the bone armor.

I think you've done a pretty good job with your storm shields. They might look a little better if they had more of a curve to better match the way the armor is done, but I still like them. Maybe some guitar-string power cables or something, there's just a lot of flat space on 'em.

Really nice terminators I'll have to check back in sometime to see what else you're working on.

I tried to keep the shields busy, and I just couldn't figure a way to curve the plasticard that wouldn't eventually unfurl over time.

As far a the backs... I suck at greenstuff/sculpting. The handholds they have is just vaguely formed greenstuff left primer black so that it is negative space and doesn't get looked at too much. Though the guitar string isn't a bad idea for if I try something like this again in the future.

I feel I learned a lot about painting/modeling from this though. Compare these guys to the first post in this thread... at least in my eyes it's a world of difference.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 G. Whitenbeard wrote:
Great stuff!

Very well done on the Terminators. I especially love the bases you did for them.

Thank you. The bases are presculpted from an eBay shop called Fantascape. They've got some pretty nice choices there. From there it was a matter of painting, weathering lightly, then adding some flock.

Ok, so I'm trying to figure out what to paint next. I know I need to do my terminators, but I need a quick break from Deathwing Bone after what I just did.

And that's with 20 terminators + Land Raider left to go.

Going to work on 4 power armor special weapons tacticals to switch back to black for a bit and play with some zenithal armor highlighting. 2 melta gunners, a plasma gunner, and a flamer to be added to my assortment of choices for my tactical squads.

So far, I think my order of stuff to paint is:

4 Tacticals
20 Deathwing Terminators (5 Knights, 5 extra DV Deathwing, 5 TH/SS Terminators, 5 Deathwing Command/Extra DW)
1 Land Raider (Godhammer Pattern)
1 Belial
1 Company Command (Banner, Apothecary, extra tacticals)
1 Nephilim Fighter
2 Swappable Special Weapons Troopers for my Assault Squad (it currently has 1 plasma pistoleer and 1 flamer, I'd like 2 of both to swap as needed)
1 Razorback/Rhino
Azrael
Asmodai
Ezekiel

This will leave my remaining marines as:
3 extra DV bikers
1 extra DV Tac squad
Extra of Turmiel
2 Balthazars
Box set of old Devastators with metal weapons/plastic bodies
A few spare random tacticals and assault troopers, but largely that's it.

Things I don't have, but might grab in the future:
DA Vets box - to make Command HQ troopers with CC/BP
Drop Pods (don't have any)
Land Raider variant (Redeemer/Crusader)

Any thoughts on what I should prioritize ahead of what I have now? Anything that stands out?

The things that I see that will be fun to paint:

My apothecaries for my Command HQ are MK2/MK4 from Forgeworld. Great, great minis.
Belial is getting magnetized between PS/SB and TH/SS.
Land Raider - never got to put one of these big boys together before

I also found a full Cypher mini in the closet after the organizing. I am DEFINITELY painting him as something fun to do after a large squad/whatever.

So its kind of a clip vs magazine quibble, but the stock land raider pattern is Phobos, its lascannons are of the godhammer variant

I think the land raider sounds really fun. I traded a buddy for a chaos one and am looking forward to reclaiming it for the emperor, kind of daunting though. It seems like the crusader has the most synergy in DA lists when coupled with a dakka banner, though the standard variant may make a neat power field hub to surround with predators and razorbacks. Having death wing vehicle and power fields available really opens up your land raider options.

It's on the backburner now, but I was having fun with my storm talon, nephilim is just its big brother so I'm sure that will be fun.

That seems like a lot of terminators to do all at once, but if you can get them done, most of the rest of your list is easier single-model projects.

 GrimDork wrote:
So its kind of a clip vs magazine quibble, but the stock land raider pattern is Phobos, its lascannons are of the godhammer variant

I think the land raider sounds really fun. I traded a buddy for a chaos one and am looking forward to reclaiming it for the emperor, kind of daunting though. It seems like the crusader has the most synergy in DA lists when coupled with a dakka banner, though the standard variant may make a neat power field hub to surround with predators and razorbacks. Having death wing vehicle and power fields available really opens up your land raider options.

It's on the backburner now, but I was having fun with my storm talon, nephilim is just its big brother so I'm sure that will be fun.

That seems like a lot of terminators to do all at once, but if you can get them done, most of the rest of your list is easier single-model projects.

My GF (who's been painting WM/H Trolls lately) has been telling me that I'm going to drive myself batty with all those terminators. I want them done, though, as they're a major part of what my army is missing. The cataphracts were the 'first wave'. I'm also not planning on devoting quite as much time to each individual mini. I'm probably going to start the base color one step lighter on the armor and then pull it up to off white in three-four layers and then shade for depth.

My Cataphracts were 5 layers of blended armor, 1 layer of highlight, and 1 layer of shading. That takes a LONG time to do on a termie sized mini, let alone four at once.

Thanks for the info on the LR. I thought Phobos was the old RT variant of the LR. The more you know, I guess. I am looking forward to it, though. I love building tanks. Very fun part of the hobby. I'm at home with my hands slathered in glue.

Basically, if I get the things together I want, the only things I wouldn't have available to me would be:

The Storm Talon (which I do not like)
Landspeeders (just don't have any and HATE the Vengeance)
Black Knights (too expensive - need 4 boxes for a full squad)
Sammael
Techmarine(s)

The only thing from that list I feel I might want is the Black Knights or the Techmarine.

I like the concept of a tough shooty force with lots of Terminators, hence the Deathwing. I do have a squadron of Ravenwing with Attack Bikes. Rad Grenades from the Knights are a very nice synergistic thing, allowing Plasma to ID MEQ and weaker.

I like the look of knights too but the cost is daunting. I may see if I can convert some kind of plasma talons for the DV bikers, its not even an actual plasma gun so I predict leeway. However those models are preeety static.
The grenades are awesome, you can do what you said, and you can drop their init down with the stasis grenades to go first

I think the old RT land raider was a phobos too, think they have more or less the same guns.

Techmarines can be really fun to convert, and being the cheapest way to get a powerfield, I recommend at least one

I like the way the chibi-talon looks, but the DA flyers are how it should have been. I may try to model mine into one via some extensions... Seems silly allying in nilla to take the thing.

 GrimDork wrote:
I like the look of knights too but the cost is daunting. I may see if I can convert some kind of plasma talons for the DV bikers, its not even an actual plasma gun so I predict leeway. However those models are preeety static.
The grenades are awesome, you can do what you said, and you can drop their init down with the stasis grenades to go first

I think the old RT land raider was a phobos too, think they have more or less the same guns.

Techmarines can be really fun to convert, and being the cheapest way to get a powerfield, I recommend at least one

I like the way the chibi-talon looks, but the DA flyers are how it should have been. I may try to model mine into one via some extensions... Seems silly allying in nilla to take the thing.

If I was going to ally for a better flyer, I'd ally with IG, get me a guard blob, some Valks, and park Azrael in the blob for a 4++, Fearless blob and use Deathwing Assault for one hell of a hammer to that anvil.

That's exactly what I'm painting right now!

That being the main reason I wanna convert my Talon. I use my DIY chapter for both DA and nilla, but the new DA list is more forgiving in terms of list building (smaller units viable, better splashable stuff like powerfields for leman russ etc). I have a TFC and a storm talon, but I don't really see myself tapping the C:SM codex as much as I used to.

I shall have to construct a suitably epic azreal to lead my IG blob, better visual appeal if the marine is towering over the guardsmen!

 GrimDork wrote:
That's exactly what I'm painting right now!

That being the main reason I wanna convert my Talon. I use my DIY chapter for both DA and nilla, but the new DA list is more forgiving in terms of list building (smaller units viable, better splashable stuff like powerfields for leman russ etc). I have a TFC and a storm talon, but I don't really see myself tapping the C:SM codex as much as I used to.

I shall have to construct a suitably epic azreal to lead my IG blob, better visual appeal if the marine is towering over the guardsmen!

Micro Art Studio used to have Robed Terminator Legs (might have gone to Basicks.eu during their split) that you could build up from. Close to True-Scaled marine size and robed so you didn't know they were Terminator legs into of Power Armor. Put a Chapter House chest on it, sculpt the robe up, pose some arms with the sword and a helm-less sergeant head... voila... Azrael.

Intriguing concept. I have a bucketload of space marine bitz laying around, I may stick with DA/marine parts and perch him on a suitably dynamic rock I'd kind of like to have him wearing the lion helm too, the watcher maybe with a scroll or something.

 GrimDork wrote:
Intriguing concept. I have a bucketload of space marine bitz laying around, I may stick with DA/marine parts and perch him on a suitably dynamic rock I'd kind of like to have him wearing the lion helm too, the watcher maybe with a scroll or something.

Found the bits. They've moved to 'Basicks' when Micro Art split:

http://basicks.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=219&controller=product

Widen the chest a bit and then you can fit normal size shoulderpads and arms to it. In the end it's true scaled, but looks very impressive next to a guardsman.

Also, it's handy that they've got plastic watchers now for conversions.

Now that I see them, they do look pretty spiffy. I'll have to keep those in mind, thanks.

Quick update. Painted four tactical marines to "cleanse the pallet" before starting in on about a bazillion more Deathwing terminators. Put together four special weapon troopers real quick and tested how fast I could paint them to a good tabletop level. These are not at the level of my Cataphractii, but that's intentional. I was working on finding ways to do things quick but still looking respectable. Take a look at these:





Spoilered below, for comparison, one of the first minis I did on returning, another tactical marine. Hopefully, you see some improvement:




Automatically Appended Next Post:
And, now it begins:




Automatically Appended Next Post:
And all those boxes of terminators devolved down to:

Thought I'd post what I've done to magnetize a couple of Cyclone Missile Launchers. I'm using standard SB/PF terminators from the Dark Vengeance box set. I'll be magnetizing a couple of TH/SS terminators in a similar manner as Deathwing has that option. This allows me to field just about any configuration of Deathwing squad that I want with Cyclones.

I drilled straight down through the roof of the top of the armor (which I'll putty over later) with a 1/8th inch bit. I used super glue to hold the magnet in place (the center bulge that holds the head of the armor serves as a handy spot to rest the magnet on). I then drilled very lightly into the bottom of the cyclone, just enough to dig out the shape of the magnet in the interior sides of the struts. I glued the opposite magnet into the space between said struts.

I think the marines look good. The highlights are subtler which keeps them dark and menacing. Nice weathering around the barrels and plasma glow too.

Magnets look good on the terminator, everything looks better with magnets!

 GrimDork wrote:
I think the marines look good. The highlights are subtler which keeps them dark and menacing. Nice weathering around the barrels and plasma glow too.

Magnets look good on the terminator, everything looks better with magnets!

Thanks for the feedback on the marines. That's, ultimately, what I was going for. I was able to get painting down to about 2 hours per model (usually I sit at 4). Halving my speed and still getting good quality is definitely a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I did try some new colors with the plasma glow and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Magnets are fun! I love having hot swappable stuff on my models.

When I get to my Nephilim, I'm thinking of magnetizing the mount for the Mega-Bolter and the TL LCs if possible.

You had me at "hot swappable"

I may have to try out that green for plasma, blue fits my scheme better but It always ends up washed out/not bright enough.

I'm a bit magnet-crazy myself, I've got at least 5 terminators that are more articulated than some action figures.

As for the nephilim-- there's a lot of area there, I'm sure you could hide a magnet or two pretty easily. I was going to say I've done the ones on the storm talon but the mount is completely different. If I were you I'd do the missiles/hurricane bolters too, never know when you may wanna try sticking a dark talon next to a banner of devastation.

 GrimDork wrote:
You had me at "hot swappable"

I may have to try out that green for plasma, blue fits my scheme better but It always ends up washed out/not bright enough.

I'm a bit magnet-crazy myself, I've got at least 5 terminators that are more articulated than some action figures.

As for the nephilim-- there's a lot of area there, I'm sure you could hide a magnet or two pretty easily. I was going to say I've done the ones on the storm talon but the mount is completely different. If I were you I'd do the missiles/hurricane bolters too, never know when you may wanna try sticking a dark talon next to a banner of devastation.

Since I'm doing black armor on my Dark Angels I try to fit in dark green (to light green) wherever I can as a nod to the current color scheme.

I tried it once on the plasma coils and it seemed to work. The new greens I'm using though are the P3 line (still use Caliban Green from GW as the base as P3 doesn't have a dark/hunter green color). The top end color is Necrotite Green which is a nice, neon/dayglo green without being too pastel. The final tier of highlight is a 1:1 Green:White mix.

I'm definitely liking how magnetizing things work. I will be magnetizing Belial as well, so I can swap weapons. also dumping the crappy finecast posed arms and using the plastic oversized power sword and left handed bolter from the Deathwing command box set. I like that look/pose better for him than what they have (so he's posed like the commander that comes on the box art). That will come off and be swappable with a TH/SS combo using the nice DW Knight shields and the DW specific hammer in that same box.

I just got my replacement Belial from Games Workshop due to more problems than I can count (the worst of which being holes right through the sides of the vertical armor plates that run to each side of the back generator vents - just absolutely unworkable without using greenstuff to replace it).

Guess what? It's WORSE than the original model. WHAT THE feth GEE DUB!? There are even MORE holes in the same place on the model. Do you check this thing at all before putting it in the package? HOW MUCH DO YOU WASTE ON REPLACING THESE OVER AND OVER?! COME ON!

Ouch! Sorry to hear about that dude. I can't get behind the whole finecast thing it seems kinda lame in general. Not that the old metals were perfect or anything but still. Good luck on your uhh third try?

Two major things to update concerning my Dark Angels army. The first is that I just got a Land Raider Crusader reclaimation off eBay. Poorly assembled sponsons (the pivot/support that holds up the guns are updside down in both sponsons), and a wretched paint job. It was cheap, though. Sponsons came magnetized, too. That's a nice bonus.

It's here and here's how it looks five minutes before "bath time":




Lots of gaps throughout the model on first inspection as well. Also notice the raw plastic showing through on the guns? Anyplace primer couldn't easily reach, it wasn't painted. This was obviously assembled with no attempt to perform a partial assembly followed by painting. The interior is also raw, grey plastic. As I type this, it is soaking in Simple Green.

Now, for the next thing to show. I have completed first step assembly on the full list of Deathwing Terminators. 20 models now ready for priming. Most arms are removable and held on with poster tack for now (for ease of painting). One box of terminators was the generic Terminator Assault Squad. When it comes to torsos/legs, I mixed it up a bit so there's also some sort of Deathwing adornment on each of them. There were plenty of shoulderpads between too boxes to keep them kitted out, too. Here we go:

There are a lot of terminators sitting on my table right now --



Squad of 5 TH/SS terminators. The sergeant is a Knight wielding a thunder hammer. Two of the TH/SS terminators have magnets embedded into them so they can cart a Cyclone Missile Launcher around.



The squad of Knights. I dislike how only certain legs work with certain torsos. this really limits the posing. Also, my Sergeant is the exact same pieces from the box art and the left shoulder still required me to build it up with putty. Unacceptable.



Here are my shooty terminators. 2 Heavy Flamers, 1 Plasma Cannon, several SB/PF options (one with chainfist). Two of the SB/PF terminators have magnets for Cycolnes (as shown here). I did a minor conversion on the Dark Vengeance sergeant (as I didn't need any more of them). Cut the power sword and gauntlet off, then replaced with a PFist from the DW Command box. Also cut off its headdress and removed the feathers from the robe adornment (because of how they connected to the headdress). Closeups further down.




And finally, the Watchers in the Dark. I added Azrael's watcher in so I can just do all three at once. The device without a base is a teleport homer from the Assault Terminator box set.



So there we go. I've been busy, but haven't picked up a brush in several days.

So... huge assembly line, or smaller batches? Thoughts/opinions?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Test model for my attempts to speed up the painting process. This is using Army Painter's Skeleton Bone as a primer/base. I will touch up any spots that the primer missed, highlight the armor, then seal it with Testor's Dullcote, then apply a wash of thinned oil paint (Van Dyke Brown). I will use thinned down mineral spirits to clean excess wash off, and then reseal with Dullcote.

Hopefully we can get one terminator's armor plating done in only an hour or so when I start. let's see how this goes.

Thats a lot of TDA! I would think batches of 10 as a max and maybe 5 at a time even. I'm painting my first 5 dw individually but batches of 5 seem to fit larger terminator models better. The only way id consider more than 10 at a time is if I was gonna do base coats dip then seal, and even then it seems like a soul-mauling chore.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing some more painted nators.

 GrimDork wrote:
Thats a lot of TDA! I would think batches of 10 as a max and maybe 5 at a time even. I'm painting my first 5 dw individually but batches of 5 seem to fit larger terminator models better. The only way id consider more than 10 at a time is if I was gonna do base coats dip then seal, and even then it seems like a soul-mauling chore.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing some more painted nators.

Thanks, man.

I've completed the armor on the first, test terminator. The highlighting took about 90 minutes (and I've already figured how to cut it to 60) and then I tested out how to use an oil wash for the first time. I used Van Dyke Brown with Odorless Mineral Spirits thinning it out. Here's the results:




Thoughts, opinions?

Some better images of the Deathwing WIP

Completed armor and oil wash across all 8 WIP terminators (bringing total to 9 with the armor test model). Detail work is what remains.

Here's what I was able to do in about 6-7 hours of work:






Once I sat down and did it, the armor is doable in four steps:

1) Primer Bone/Beige color
2) Use Menoth White Highlight (very thin) to build up a couple of layers of highlight on raised parts.
3) Oil wash of Van Dyke Brown.
4) Cleanup using a Qtip dipped in Mineral Spirits.

The fastest part was application of the oil wash. If I had an air brush the first two steps could have probably taken 1/3rd to 1/2 the time.

EDIT: Oh, and before anyone can say it; yes, the Apothecary's face looks plain. That's because I haven't put any paint on it. It's getting rebased with Blue/White and built up to pure white for a cold white to reflect his position. Basically, very similar to the studio paint job.

Thats some pretty sweet bone. I find the airbrush *can save Time but mine likes to cause complications so it only really saves me time on a good day.

Armor done is a good place to be, the newer terminators are festooned with detail, but its a significant step

 GrimDork wrote:
Thats some pretty sweet bone. I find the airbrush *can save Time but mine likes to cause complications so it only really saves me time on a good day.

Armor done is a good place to be, the newer terminators are festooned with detail, but its a significant step

Thank you, thank you. I went with a much, much lighter bone color than the studio scheme. I've really liked how it turned out. It's much more reminiscent of the old Deathwing illustrations from 2E than the current images. Everywhere that the text talks about Deathwing colors, it's a "bone" color or a "bleached bone" (meant to point at their original color in the color line). Well, these are what bleached bones look like:



I think I'm a lot closer to that than I am to this:

Definitely. The studio could be redubbed the creme crusaders as off white as they are. They're almost tan. It doesnt look bad but you are a lot closer to the actual bone.

Another quick update. Did the cold white on the Apothecary's narthecium and helmet. The occulus piece will be silvered with a gem for the glass. Here we go:

Thanks for posting the picture of the bones. I have been arguing for lighter Deathwing termies for a looong time.