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So I cracked open the box of tainted biomass and extracted some samples. These are the newer of the ‘gaunts. Some realy old guys, some still NIB there, but these are half of the little guys.



Cleaned the mold lines off of one and gave him a quick coat of Grey Seer. No primer, as he’s a test bed and slated for the reclamation pool. I’ve give him a second coat later today to make up for the fact he’s not primed white. Then I’ll experiment with some skin tones and weapon treatments. Base troops must be all contrast/wash/drybrush. I’ll do feathered edges on bigger bugs. Small guys need speed to live.

Some Sister’s progress:

Doing some washes. Need a bit of cleanup. Face needs work.

Sisters are looking good. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the old bugs.

Classic metal Gaunts, have not seen those since the last time one of our group brought out his Tyranids...which was around 3rd edition I think.

CB

Lurking down with the Zoats. Waiting.

So a few things. One, was a treat in my mailbox. Was not expecting these until some time next week.


And some tests:


The carapace is just filler at this point. I’ll be picking up a pot of Shyesh purple with my next drop. But I didn’t want to leave those parts base grey for comparison pics. Should be deeper, more vibrant, and actually purple.

I might hit up the base of the claws with some nulan oil or darken them up a bit.
Not sure is the flesh is too dark. Might give it a drybrush of something like bleached cone.
Need something for the tubes. Pink? Different shade of flesh?
While the red gun is classic, not sure how I feel about it. Might nulan is down a bit.

Nulan oil on the red. Much better
Bleached bone drybrush on the skin, with another layer of the contrast on the textured areas. Not bad, but I’m wondering if I could just get the same effect by stepping down to a paler contrast?
Beady yellow eyes.
White base, just to give the right balance. They will be snow flocked like my Ultras.

And because they are destined for table top use, an arm’s length shot:


Thoughts?

It gives a nice iridescent color to the chitin .

I haven’t used the painting handles, how are they now that they have been out for a while? I just use old empty medicine bottles with poster tack and it works well.

3rd ed plastics were my nids, but I do enjoy looking at oldshool gaunts. There's a charm and extra gribbliness about them. Nice work!

 Nevelon wrote:
[url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1062895-nid%20zoom.html]
Bleached bone drybrush on the skin, with another layer of the contrast on the textured areas. Not bad, but I’m wondering if I could just get the same effect by stepping down to a paler contrast?

Dunno. I think all the joints and grooves on nids benefit from a bit of, ah, contrast. Would a lighter contrast paint fill those to a similar degree?

Theophony wrote:It gives a nice iridescent color to the chitin .

I haven’t used the painting handles, how are they now that they have been out for a while? I just use old empty medicine bottles with poster tack and it works well.

The iridescent look is me slapping some red contrast paint on a blue base while it was still wet. Because I can’t remember the last time I owned a purple paint, if ever.

I love the handles. Would not go back to just holding the base. Last month when I was batch painting RTB01s, I really missed them. Which is why I bought the 5 pack. Going to give 2 to The Boy, keep the others (which brings me up to 5 normal, 1 large) For $10 a pop, I’m willing to shell out for something pre-built. They keep a firm grip on the model, even when I’m flipping old metals upside down to get a good angle on the,.

Vermis wrote:3rd ed plastics were my nids, but I do enjoy looking at oldshool gaunts. There's a charm and extra gribbliness about them. Nice work!

 Nevelon wrote:
[url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1062895-nid%20zoom.html]
Bleached bone drybrush on the skin, with another layer of the contrast on the textured areas. Not bad, but I’m wondering if I could just get the same effect by stepping down to a paler contrast?

Dunno. I think all the joints and grooves on nids benefit from a bit of, ah, contrast. Would a lighter contrast paint fill those to a similar degree?

I figure if I want darker and the lighter contrast doesn’t give that to me, I can always use the one I have now to accent things. I’d just rather not plonk down 8 bucks for a pot of something that’s “Meh” Of course, I could use it for actual people flesh... Guiliman flesh is what the paint app recommends for their tutroial.

Gulliman is a solid color to have around. Maybe some Volpus Pink for the ribbed areas? And for 'Nids en masse, you can probably skip the drybrush on the flesh and have them look good enough on the table. Unless you are compelled to satisfy your own sensibilities for painting, which I completely understand. Shyish for the plates sounds pretty good.

 youwashock wrote:
Gulliman is a solid color to have around. Maybe some Volpus Pink for the ribbed areas? And for 'Nids en masse, you can probably skip the drybrush on the flesh and have them look good enough on the table. Unless you are compelled to satisfy your own sensibilities for painting, which I completely understand. Shyish for the plates sounds pretty good.

I am fine with a table top level on the little guys. I’ll spend more time on the centerpiece models. But for little gribblies who’s main job is to leave the table in double handfuls, I’m OK with a little corner cutting on quality.



Testbug two is go!

Hit the store, quick surgical strike for 2 pots of paint. Decided against getting a new grey to edge; what I have should work. Forgot about the pink while I was there. Might be able to just thin the red if needed. They didn’t have a whole lot of ’Nids on the shelf, or I would have impulse bought a box of hormagants. Really kicking myself for not doing this 6 months ago and getting the megaforce from last Christmas. It’s exactly the core of the army I want.

Once the base dries, He’ll get the contrast. See how he compares with his buddy

Put the second black layer on one sister this morning. I should do the other. I’d like to finish both of them this weekend.


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So this is straight up contrast paints. I still think the nulan oil is needed on the reds. The purple is DARK. I had heard this. And frankly, am OK with it. Will be interested to see what happens when it dries completely if there is any change. But as rich as it is, I don’t see a whole lot of the vaunted “base, shade, highlight, one coat” that is supposed to be the contrast motto.

I could do a swarm of these guys.

And boom.

No time wasted here. The Gulliman looks good. The Shyish is indeed dark, seems to be an issue with some of the colors. I have encountered the same with Leviadon Blue. Dark as it is, I think it will work as-is.

So here is the old stuff that might show up.

A bunch of GSC stuff, 2 chimeras. Unlikely to join the swarm, unless I try to scape a kill team out of it.
3 biovores, 9 spore mines. These guys seem good. I like the way the look, will get paint. Might scratch build more spores.
26 assorted genestealers. Some broken. Might get paint, low priority. Planning on getting new ones in the SC box, have 6 painted already.
6 more termagaunts. Old ones, no carapace, weird little guns. unlikely to join the swarm, as they just look completely different
(6 more modern but still metal ones on the bench as test subjects will join)
one old metal hive tyrant. I built one once before for a friend, they are not fun to assemble. Low priority, as the scale is WAY off. Might build as a warrior prime?
8 gargoyles. not the best unit to have in metal. Eventually might reinforce a newer squad of plastics.
3 old, broken warriors. Might attempt to fix. Don’t really match the modern aesthetics.

So this month is “In a Supporting Role” so going to do up a pair of banner bearers.



I want to get the ancient done before the new box drops, and will use any excuse to help motivate a sister across the bench. From the 2 DI boxes I got, I’ve got 5 hellblasters, the ancient, a gravis captain primed and waiting for paint, and an inceptor is the last thing on sprue. I should probably build him to join the Deathwatch just to finish that up. In an ideal world I’d finish all of them before the new edition, but don’t know if that’s in the cards. I feel I’m behind on the sisters, and want to catch up.

I’ve been doing a lot of retail therapy lately. Little things I wanted or could use, but never bothered to pick up. Some paint racks (multi tiered nail polish shelves). Supplies to keep my basing material together (crayon and pencil boxes) with some additional supplies to go in them. I always figured why pay for rocks, but my supply is dwindling. And it was only ~$10 for a pound, which should last a good while. Also more frozen tufts, as the nids are going to use them in addition to the Ultras. A pair of bent nose fine tipped tweezers for decal work. And lastly a box of hormagaunts, because let’s get this show on the road.

Sisters I think are ready for the touch up pass with the grey seer, and then the white and highligihts. Getting there.

I love this combo for the contest this month. I'll be doing an Imagifier as well, so I'm going to watch closely... mine's not built yet, so I should be able to monitor your week-ahead progress as we go. I'm doing the one from the Celestian/Dominion box, and she's got about a miliion pieces.

First layers down on the contest minis. Started another sister while I was at it. The two active sisters got their clean up pass with the base coat. Contrast white is their next step.

Found my kill jar and bottle of acetone. Which had mostly evaprorated. Not enough to cover the nids, but they are soaking. I want to prime them with the rest so the squad is uniform. And metal models really need a good layer of primer.

Edit: Contrast on the older sisters, just need white edges and base work.

Gave the two little nids a quick scrub. Diluted the goop so they are totally submerged and will let them go overnight. Going to be rainy a bit, so won’t be able to prime soon anyway.

Some classic metal in those bags Nevelon.

Cheers,

CB

Some of it is going to get some use, we’ll see how much. The newer plastics are pretty good looking, and metal has some issues. Also as a WYSWYG kinda guy, I wonder how playable it is. One thing I’m going to try to keep myself to is paint a unit, buy a unit. Or maybe box, as a unit for these guys might take 2 boxes of gribbles. I want them to not linger in the pile of shame, or add to the backlog. I might allow myself an extra box in the fall to keep me painting through the winter, or just work on other projects. We’ll see what my motivation looks like.



Put some blacks down this morning.



Reuse, reduce, recycle. It’s the Tyranid way. Test minis stripped down and ready to prime. Well, will be once I glue them back on their bases. Last of the acetone, will need to grab more if I need to strip any metal. Not that I do that often...


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So some organization showed up in the mail today. A 2 pack of 3x shelf nail polish racks. Probably should have gone with a bigger model, but they will work. Also some stacking crayon boxes and a pencil holder to help sort out my baseing stuff. Before, as part of how I base, I’d swish the wet base through loose flock. The flock was just in an open blister pack, so prone to spillage and hard to store. These have little clip on lids. I’ve filled them enough that I can take the bulk containers and stow them away, to save workspace.

Two sisters off the handles and got their bases backed, ready for rubble. Two infiltrators move down to take their place, got their grey seer base. Plugging away at the basecoats.

I’m enjoying the extra handles for WIP space. After I started using them, they really restricted how many things I could have ongoing at once.

Nids are back on their bases and into the to-prime pile. I should build some stuff to join them. Make it worth breaking out the rattlecan.

Nice to see you making good progress. SIsters in white really look great, excited for your painting comp entries!

Did I mention that I’ve been impulse buying stuff for projects? I think I have. More stuff showed up today:



With a horde army on the plan, more tufts were going to be needed. Not like they go stale. And for terrain, some cheep craft paint. Bought the assortment pack, even though I’ll probably only use 4-5 of them. Who knows, and good to have on hand.

Put a few more base coats down this morning. Plugging along.

Edit:

Another day, another supply drop!


Slate for baseing, tweezers for decals, gribbly bugs for hugs. This should be the end of the impulse spending for now. The only package outstanding is a kitchen scale, which probably won’t get used for the hobby. (and something my mom is sending, no idea what, but again, probably not hobby).

Put another later on the the guys on the bench this morning, and rubble on the sister’s bases. I should do more, but am doing laundry and playing Dawn of War instead. It would be nice to finish with the basecoats by today.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Part of me thinks it might have been better to go with the slate one size up. Mostly because this is pretty thin. Little worried about it just getting buried in the snow.

Progress;

Hugs?


Tippy is going to be so happy she has some new friends. I also forgot how painful it is cleaning mold lines off spiky models. Considering the age of these sprues, it could have been a lot worse. There was a little mold slippage, but I’ve seen a lot worse.

Some progress on the paint side:


Nothing earth shaking, just basecoats going down

And because I can’t have too many projects going on at once, this is what we know about The Farm:


Now, I’m working up an arctic table, so don’t really have the right theme for an agricultural farm. The plan is to take the layout, and transform it into a refinery/pump station/outpost.

Elements:
Bultha’s Rise, generator. This can remain the same. Hill will be painted insulation foam. The question is size. Maybe 12” long? And how high? With one inch thick foam, I was thinking of using every other contour line. The bulk of it will be 2” tall, which will block LoS for infantry. Was thinking of finding/3D printing a generator. I’d like something akin to the DoW plasma generators, but might go with a wind turbine. We’ll see what I can find.

Main building, 2 out buildings. These are going to be typical ruins. Might go with a second floor on the main one, or at least more on the roof to provide cover. Question of size, particularly the outbuildings. From a game PoV, who do I want to be able to fit in there? If I make the interior 2”x 3” you could fit a character or two, and a 5 man squad on small bases, but not 32's. Space for an eliminator squad 3x40mm? Changes to the cover system might affect this call. If they switch it (guessing blind here) to majority of unit in cover for bonus, rather then all the unit, I’d not have to make is so big as to fit everyone. So this might wait.

Cattle Pens. The defining feature of this space is the walled enclosure. Part of me would do this as a chain link fence, encircling piles of barrels and crates. One problem with chain link is that it doesn’t look like it will stop a bolter round like a nice rock wall. The other thought was to make this a collections of pipes connecting the buildings/going into the ground. Having some around the perimeter would provide the hard cover that you’d expect from walls.

Orchard: This will probably be the other option not chosen for the cattle pens. It should be difficult to move though, and make it hard to see though, but not necessarily impossible. Chain link full of scatter could do that, but so could a mess of pipes.

As I write this out, I’m leaning towards pipes for the cattle pens and storage for the orchard. Seems that would capture the feel of the game aspects of the farm better. But it will be interesting to see what they do with the mechanics. I might start on the hill before 9th drops, but will wait for the other parts.



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Just finished assembling another 4 guants. Rather then build another 4 guys off the same identical sprue as the first 8, I think I’m going to reserve the last one for when I grab a box of termagaunts. The arms look they like are interchangeable, so will help mix up the squads. A few running terms, a few crouching horms.

Cleaned up the biovores as well as I could. Ready to prime them. A third of the spore mines had snapped off their bases. I think I’m going to add an extra green stuff tendril to all of them (even the ones still intact) to take some of the stress off the tiny metal contact point. Better to do it now before they get painted.


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Ready for paint

Looking forward to seeing how fast you knock out those bugs. Also how the color scheme will look on the biovores.

The biovores are going to be the first test on a larger bug. I’m interested to see how it works myself. Might end up having to do more detailing, as the contrast probably won’t work as well on the larger surfaces.

Having these guys ready will help keep the project pile of shame neutral. Once I paint a dozen of them, I can buy the next box. Assuming the next box is termagaunts, which is the plan. After that, I think it will be a start collecting box. At that point I’d have 3 troops, a HQ, and a few support units. But could still use more of everything. I don’t want to have a lot of redundant units on the shelf, and hope to pick up the next mega box they offer.

I’ve noodled a few lists around, but with the new edition around the corner, everything is up in the air. The things on my short list to pick up are:

One more box of homagaults (give me a squad of 25)
Two boxes of termagaunts (blob of 30)
SC box (broodlord, trygon, genestealers)
Carnafex box (get two, build one as OOE, other generic)
Flying Hive Tyrant

That’s my HQs, 3 troops, and some heavy hitters. That’s the core. Then it’s a question of what I like and what I need. Which includes things like:

Hive Guard (good ranged AV)
Raveners (I like the snake guys)
Gargoyles (random harassment unit, the 8 I have are probably not enough to be worth fielding)
Zoenthropes (everyone loves brain bugs, might need 2 boxes if I want to build one as the HQ)
Exocrine (Biovore’s big brother in looks, solid ranged AV)

Little morning WIP. Almost done with the basecoats. Still need to bo the banner pole, and the un-helmeted sister’s head. Plus start on the marine banner. Did a little drybrushing silvers.

Finished the bases on the 4 done sisters, moved them to the YTD shelf. I should do a Q2 report, probably later this month. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Another week ahead, stay strong everyone!

Quick WIP of the contest entry. Lack of stabbed ‘Nid head on the banner with be compensated for on the base. Once I prime the bits.

Nice! Looking forward to seeing that banner turn into something special.

More slow progress.

Some building. GS’d some extra tenticles for the spore mines. Waiting for them to cure before glueing the broken ones back on their bases. I’ll add a little disk of GS for them to sit on. The snow base should hide it and give them a little extra stability.


At the point in painting where a lot of work goes down, but you don’t notice anything. I should ptobably just do the second major base color on them and move to the wash stage.

Still blocking in the banner.

At the point in painting where a lot of work goes down, but you don’t notice anything.

Always an annoying part in a project. Still looking good so far.

So besides slow progress, I got some paint on this guy.


As my large monster base wsa empty, I thought I’d slap some paint on a biovore. Rushed a little, as I had to log onto my RPG session.

Lessons:
The purple needs to go on first. Then a cleanup pass. There is no way to hide sploches of it. The brown can be sloppy and red/purple will just override it. But I’d rather not brown -> patch up slop -> brown again.

Not sure how I feel about the red guns still. I suspect when the swarm gets together, it will even out. Right now seems a bit garish. Of course, I still need to give it the nulan out. And do his eyes and teeth. And on something his size, probably edge a little.

In other news, I need to decide on the hearldry on the marine banner.

I think once you give the red a wash it’ll help tone down that garishness quite a bit.

For the heraldry on the banner, are you not going to go with the 3rd Company’s sword through a Nid head?