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I touched these up for the painting competition coming up this weekend. They will be my entry for the 'unit' category and I was hoping the cinematic effects would help make them stand out. I had some other options for entries but I wanted to ensure one of my three entries was Ultramarines based as that is my primary and first ever army.

If you found a way to get rid of the white X on those guys they'd look a lot better I think. They'd certainly look less like Death Company.

Good job on making the squad very dynamic. Very well executed and nice use of the firing effects though I have to say the blue fire reminds me more of a plasma weapon.

 CuddlySquig wrote:
If you found a way to get rid of the white X on those guys they'd look a lot better I think. They'd certainly look less like Death Company.

I chose the Death Company models on purpose actually. I play Ultramarines, my Ultramarines are "Alpha Company" by name and I thought the X's looked cool for a DIY sub-chapter. If I didn't want them I'd have simply bought good ol' bland generic tactical squads, but those look very boring :-/

Why are the melta's blue pellets?

 TheAngrySquig wrote:
Why are the melta's blue pellets?

I imagined a melta burning at a heat level that would be blue rather than a typical flame color, afterall it is design to punch armor and I figured a blue ball of death looked more practical than a white/yellow/orange one that would be far less as hot if it was real.

They look pretty cool! Really like the cinematic effects on the guns.

 Darth Bob wrote:
They look pretty cool! Really like the cinematic effects on the guns.

Thanks, I received good feedback on Deviantart as well, I hope these rate well at the painting competition.

Nice avatar, lol.

 6^ wrote:
Nice avatar, lol.

Yeah...considering I caught some flack for using Death Company models to represent my DIY Ultramarines Company...it makes it more funny =D

Oh flower of Macragge
When will we see your like again
What fought and died for
The Im-pe-ri-um
What stood against them
Dread chaos' armies
And sent them eyeward
To think again

Awesome! I love the aesthetic. Never really been a fan of the muzzle flash add-ons but you pulled it off really well. Much better then just having them brandish their weapons. Love the X's too. Great job filing off all of the ridiculous blood drops and pimp cups.

Awesome!

The melta shots look more like plasma to me.

Overall very cool looking.

The cinematic/dinamic effects you did onthe models are absolutely top man. Greetings for the great effects.

The only little critics I may point to the models is that a lot of hard lining (ie the grey lining of the MM in the high-left portion of the picture) are too much strong when a finer line would have been more accurate and realistic.

Of course I'm exagerating, in real life at a game-distance, this should be considered as a fantastic model but in a painting competition.. you know.. they have to be a little cleaner than that.

Very good job however.

 Baldsmug wrote:
Awesome! I love the aesthetic. Never really been a fan of the muzzle flash add-ons but you pulled it off really well. Much better then just having them brandish their weapons. Love the X's too. Great job filing off all of the ridiculous blood drops and pimp cups.

I certainly tried to get as much of the iconography off as possible without making the models look goofy, I am glad someone noticed

 Toban wrote:
The cinematic/dinamic effects you did onthe models are absolutely top man. Greetings for the great effects.

The only little critics I may point to the models is that a lot of hard lining (ie the grey lining of the MM in the high-left portion of the picture) are too much strong when a finer line would have been more accurate and realistic.

Of course I'm exagerating, in real life at a game-distance, this should be considered as a fantastic model but in a painting competition.. you know.. they have to be a little cleaner than that.

Very good job however.

I definitely agree with you, when I highlight black now I also use a darker gray as opposed to the bright gray I've been using. As for lines, these models are about a year old and I've progressed since then, my LoTD are older as well, hence the hard highlights. I only recently started tinkering with the squad again because this painting competition allowed for pre-painted models, so I got out my tactical squad, dropped the cinematic effects on them, bored out the tips of their gun barrels, did a few touch ups while painting the cinematic effects and called it a day.

(I'd have considered painting a fresh unit for the competition but with college, commissions, and the amount of time I had available when I found out about the competitions, it just wasn't practical :-/ )

Finally, I did a bunch of ordering this past month and I have the 'Psycho' and 'Insanity' brushes from Army Painter, so I should definitely be able to get some spot on highlights in the future

Competition was today, my Alpha Company lost out for first place by one vote...the guy who won first had 8 friends with him...so that didn't help my case lol but it was still fun.

Plasma colour varies based on the type of fuel used, so it would be safe to assume that Meltas would have variable colours based on the type of fuel they use. Originally they were described more like microwave-based weapons.

Looks awesome anyway, you know you've done pretty well when the most common criticism is the colour of a weapon blast.

I'll just restate what many others have said. Those firing effects are top notch. Whilst I agree the Melta looks a little peculiar based on what I imagine it would look like (Orange/Red) your interpretation of what it really looks like would probably be more accurate. Hope you score well.

The effects on their weapons brings them to life in a way. They'd look nicer if the flashes extended to them, but they already look pretty awesome as they are. Good luck in that comp.

Thanks for the kind words/suggestions/critique however the voting was yesterday and I lost by one vote for first place.


GW store allowed everyone in the store to vote, I came with one friend, the guy who won came with like a total of 8 other people, so I was a little upset that he was allowed to parade his family and friends' votes to win, but I guess it happens.

WOW they look amazing. If you dont mind me asking, how did you get the armor that dark blue before highlighting?

IronFrog wrote:
WOW they look amazing. If you dont mind me asking, how did you get the armor that dark blue before highlighting?

Thanks!
The paints available are different now, but it is Mordian Blue and Badab Black wash. The new Nuln Oil is good, but it acts very different in comparison to their old Badab Black wash.

It pains me to say it (being a follower of chaos) but they are some gorgeous minis! I'd love to try something like this with my nurgle stuff but MASSIVELY too scared to even fathom thinking on how to do it lol

 GalePrime wrote:
It pains me to say it (being a follower of chaos) but they are some gorgeous minis! I'd love to try something like this with my nurgle stuff but MASSIVELY too scared to even fathom thinking on how to do it lol

The cinematic effects are easily obtained, Armorcast (google for the site, not sure if it was actually armorcast.com). Prices are good, shipping is good, and painting the stuff isn't too bad. Honestly, those flashes were done 99% with dry brushing and with a little bit of black wash near the tip of the gun to add some darkness.