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.

That Hirophants coming along nicley, and I think the Orange Looks fine in the photos,
It's a good contrasting color to the rest of the body and works really well .

I keep looking for the airbrush you suggested on the UK Amazon, but its not there :(

 M0rdain wrote:
I keep looking for the airbrush you suggested on the UK Amazon, but its not there :(

Did you click his link? I did and they show in stock.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004KNDQMM/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
I got mine on Friday their shipping time is slow and the case was all jacked up, but it is working great for base coating my genestealers . They don't look as pretty as these, but still very buggy.

I'm not sure what has happened but I can't see any of your images any more, I just get some text that looks like a link to a jpg but that link leads nowhere. Are you hosting your pictures differently than you were?

You probably won't find the Point Zero Air Brush on the UK Amazon.

I only have a link for the US Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Airbrush-Valve-Crenelated-0-2mm/dp/B004KNDQMM

I don't know what the shipping would be to the UK but it shouldn't be much. I believe the brush is worth the extra cost.

InyokaMadoda:

No same image host but someone else in Jakarta also is/was experiencing problems with the images. The problem resolved itself in a few days.

Must be testing the new 'quality' of service once the internet is taken over by the UN.......... Another reason to thank our Fearless Leader.

What Big Teef You Have:

I wanted to show the teeth on the Hive Tyrant before I oil washed it. The teeth on the Gargoyle is done with just AVMC White 70951 but the Tyrant has three paints applied in order; AVMA Light Brown 71027, AVGC Bone White 72034 and AVMC White 70951

I really can't see much difference:

http://i.imgur.com/KJqPHhx.jpg


What is showing up to a distressing degree is the yellow fluorescing of the Orange highlight which I hope is being caused by the combination of Curly Fry lighting and digital flash.

http://i.imgur.com/Kc8umZ4.jpg


In this third image I turned off the flash and the proper colour is somewhat restored but still looks much more orange than it does in natural lighting.

http://i.imgur.com/XEhaeLo.jpg


The Hive Tyrant also has a coat of AV Acrylic Clear Satin Varnish with which I am experimenting. It seems a bit expensive to force water based Varnish through an airbrush when a perfectly adequate Acrylic Satin Varnish is available in aerosol spray cans. Anyone have experience using either?, and the pluses and minus' of each?

Home Stretch:

I'm about three quarters way through the second Buypainted video on all my Tyranids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJha39IUztU

Where I just applied the satin varnish to the models, Jaro can talk your way through this much better than I can.

http://i.imgur.com/ycrd3c6.jpg


Now I need only finish the claws, teeth and mouths, apply the wash and seal the models.

http://i.imgur.com/Zx9tvZS.jpg


This is but a small sampling of the models; missing from the photos are the Harridan, Tyrannofex, Gargoyle Brood, Ternagant brood, and Hergamont brood.

http://i.imgur.com/11N6pfX.jpg


Following Jaro's Trygon instructions and transposing them to the rest of the menagerie I managed a reasonable facsimile of his work; not perfect but better than I hoped for.

http://i.imgur.com/jqD09Y4.jpg


Interesting that the Trygon head is about the same size as the much larger Hierophant's head.

http://i.imgur.com/ztH32OK.jpg


The rest of the models after the varnish finishes drying.

They look amazing . I copied off your/Jairo's color scheme, but brushed most of it on my meager bunch of bugs. I didn't go nearly as bright with the yellow, but looks decent, not close to this though.

I thought you bought an Airbrush?

Thanks,

Some brain droppings as I wait for the paint to dry................

Tyranid Dentition:

It strikes me as I work on these monsters that they are not all carnivores.

True the Carnifex and Tryannofex have the teeth of meat eaters Theropods e.g. Tyrannosaur, Tarbosaur.

http://museumvictoria.com.au/images/featureimage.jpg?&i=/pages/11035/Tarbosaurus.jpg

likewise the H. & T. 'Gants and the Gargoyles being analogous to Raptors and Pterosaurs although there is speculation that some Pterosaurs were fish eaters.

The Tyrgon and Harridan have the dentition of fish eaters

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Mounted_Spinosaurus.jpg

The Hierophant is decidedly a vegan having small peglike teeth similar to herbevorous Sauropods e.g. Apatosaur, Camarosaur etc:

http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.954.1319710272!/image/Dinosaur.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/Dinosaur.jpg

This goes along with the small head and huge abdomen which would be a fermenting vat to break down fiber the resulting methane could be modified into toxic weapon chemicals and of course flatus........ they never mention this in the codex.

--
E. Blackadder

Trust Me, It's Not That Yellow:

Well at the suggestion of one of my readers I messed around with the white balance and ended up with a blue Hierophant:

http://i.imgur.com/cbHDFwO.jpg


You would think the yellow would change but no just the rest of the model has this weird blue glow instead, Ha!

So I put the setting back and changed the venue and we're back to the orange highlights looking yellow.

http://i.imgur.com/MDgduYn.jpg


Meanwhile the Varnishing continues after a deluge of biblical proportions yesterday where I daren't apply varnish in that type of humidity.

http://i.imgur.com/zfj5fb6.jpg


Putting the time to good use priming the Chaos Titan.

The blue looks good with it too, but not enough to repaint .

I did indeed buy he airbrush you suggested, and it worked great for the basecoating. I just haven't messed around enough with it for detail work. Plus when I started brush painting I got into the groove, and finished all I had

All your taste is in your mouth

Blue bunnies indeed!

Hey a Rabbit skeleton might be just the thing for a basis for my Nuln Queen Bio-Titan but I think I'll stick with the giant centipede on the first page. That would make a fantastic Nuln Queen.



Picture that rearing up 2/3 meter tall against the Warlord................

Meanwhile:

Meanwhile: ????????? Either the centipede got you or something didn't take. I hope for the later, but will take pictures of the action if it's the former.

Yeah, it's a tease

Isn't it Norn Queen, not Nuln Queen?
Nuln is a province of the Empire.

Giant centipede titan sounds cool.

Not so much a tease than sloppy editing however that dangling "Meanwhile" has provoked more responses than any of my updates lately.............. ?

If you google nuln queen images you come up with dozens of 'Alien' style figures likewise with Norn queen however none are of sufficient stature to take on any of the Main Battle titans such as the Warlord. The carbonifous arthropod 'Arthropleura' is sufficiently alien in appearance to fill the bill on both counts.

Thanks for the replies...

Theophony, I'm anxious to see/hear of your airbrushing progress since I so heartily recommended that particular brush.

Well unfortunately he kids are out of school for the summer so getting enough time to break away and airbrush doesn't happen too much. It was going to be a jump start for me getting many things basecoated in short order. It worked as I got 50+ nids basecoated and then did the details with a brush. It was the first considerable sized force I've done in quite some time (decades). My current projects have been working from a white primed basecoat using just washes and inks so I haven't tried spraying those. I've been hoping through armies lately just painting what I feel like at the time, but think I'm going iron warriors again, with a non standard color scheme which is all inks and washes. I'm really excited to see you create the bio titan as I wanted to build a giant centipede robot about two years before forgeworld came out with their necron centipede.

I always thought the nids would take the titans on by swarming them

King Kong movie style.

But I would definitely be down for giant centipede

Eaten by wetas, not a good way to go.....

Hierophant Attaching the Legs:

I used Locktite 5 minute epoxy to attach the legs.

http://i.imgur.com/R6Cl3Rq.jpg


The rear legs have a huge attach point cup and knuckle to apply glue so modification was not necessary

http://i.imgur.com/Iz1PxTz.jpg


but the front legs attach point is rather flimsy so I did the following. When I first received the model there were vent plugs moulded into the front attach knuckle; I left those and instead drilled receiving holes in the cup socket.

http://i.imgur.com/zHvkLFA.jpg


Being rather paranoid about the durability of such a heavy yet delicate model I went further and drilled reinforcement rod holes in the vent plugs and inserted coat hanger wire rods through the body and into each shoulder to strengthen the joint.

http://i.imgur.com/T5PZ75H.jpg


Note the hole through the body at the second shoulder recess in this off colour image.

http://i.imgur.com/V3TgazN.jpg


Now that this process is documented I can proceed with the actual gluing.

Flashdance 40K

Needs leg Warner's and 80s music

Looking great

Attaching the Front Legs:

Here we see the right front leg attached; I really like this pose compared to most I've seen of the Hierophant. It has an aggressive quality whereas the usual pose has a more submissive/defensive aspect.

http://i.imgur.com/zRIq09o.jpg


The left side view shows of the more belligerent stance to good advantage.

http://i.imgur.com/elTAeBg.jpg


And a close up shows the coat hanger rod protruding from the shoulder ready for the arm attachment.

http://i.imgur.com/JMuJ4GD.jpg


I probably will be putting the guns on pivots so the can be trained up and down. The model is very limited in how it can be posed so the gun elevation is about all you can make variable.

Life Imitates Hollywood:

Rambug
http://i.imgur.com/WpS1Zl5.jpg


Rambo
http://i.imgur.com/9ABWCes.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/ups0mQA.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/Jj5TN03.jpg

So nice to see this thing finally come together, and the paint scheme has worked really well.

Are you planning on doing anything special for the base?

Some Trial Bases:

So after years of modeling I've finally decided to learn how to make bases for my work.

Even though my Titans have screaming need for display stands I figured the Tyranids would be best to experiment on so here's a couple couple I played with last night and early this morning I thought, "Why not 'Skulls'?"

http://i.imgur.com/GqMdgdC.jpg


Rummaging though the bitz box I found dozens of skulls on various Chaos sprues, clipped them, primed with bone white and placed them on the newly primed bases. Hmmm? thinks I, "Something's missing..... Skeletons"

http://i.imgur.com/PIAG7gb.jpg



So I whipped up a rib cage out of wire; it's a tad over-sized but not too bad for a first attempt.

http://i.imgur.com/2DpKwZg.jpg


Once I get the procedure down I'll present a demo on how to make 'em.

http://i.imgur.com/VXnUrZW.jpg


I need to find coarser cork but the sand gravel came right out of my driveway apron.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
No updates until I get someone to run interference please.

I hate that silly 'auto append...'

Dry Brushing:

Dry brushed bases with grey primer. Time to call it a night.......

http://i.imgur.com/6kCHeCC.jpg


G'night


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mistakes were made:

Well my first attempt at wash was a wash out. Either I did not dilute it enough or I used the wrong wash but the Hive Tyrant has a bad case of Yellow Jaundice. Fortunately it is my experiment model so worst case scenario I strip and repaint it but since it's metal I'm not going to bother.

The Tyrgon will have to wait until I get the wash right.

Meanwhile the bases seem to have turned out okay:

http://i.imgur.com/TXpY8x3.jpg


In order of application:

A Black overall Prime

Grey Prime dry brushed

VA Game Color Cold Grey dry brush

" " " Bone White Highlight dry brush

VA Model Air Earth Brown Airbrushed fissures

VA Game Color Bone White dry brush rock high lights.

http://i.imgur.com/lyNfwyp.jpg


Still have the Trygon mandibles to install but painting wise it's done except for the wash.

http://i.imgur.com/ry6fS2k.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/9QQ46jM.jpg

The bases look great. Myself I'd be tempted to add some kind of Tyranid "creep" to them but I think they look fine as they are.

The nids themselves are looking great too! I love the satin finish on the carapaces. I wish I could get such smooth finishes on my models (maybe I should THIN MY PAINTS a bit more).

Bases look great , exactly what I think tyranids bases should be, devoid of everything. As scavengers they strip all possibly usable matter from the planet surface to use to feed the hive. The skulls....well they are GW models and therefore require skulls somewhere.

 Squigsquasher wrote:
The bases look great. Myself I'd be tempted to add some kind of Tyranid "creep" to them but I think they look fine as they are.

Still some nasty detail yet to add, never fear.

The nids themselves are looking great too! I love the satin finish on the carapaces. I wish I could get such smooth finishes on my models (maybe I should THIN MY PAINTS a bit more).

The satin finish is no mystery, right out of an aerosol Krylon spray can 'Clear Satin Varnish' but alas the 'old style nozzle':



The new style nozzles suck and I don't buy Krylon paint anymore; I'm just grudgingly using up my old stash.



It deposits too much detail obliterating paint and wastes much more than is used. Worst 'executive' move ever. Do not use this nozzle unless you are painting a barn.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You're Taking Recycling Too Far Blackadder:

No, it's not what it looks like!

Looking for all the world like a dried meadow muffin but in point of fact a wall plaque with cork sheeting and detritus from the end of my driveway.

http://i.imgur.com/qetsBCC.jpg


Close up shows the fine sand, coarse sand and pea gravel used to add texture to the fissures

http://i.imgur.com/ODmGEUa.jpg


The Hierophant posed on all fours in this instance shows that even a base 12 inches in diameter is inadequate to display this sprawling Arthropod.

http://i.imgur.com/o3qLhrv.jpg


So the Hierophant is capable of assuming it's intended pose as well as the more dynamic one I prefer.

http://i.imgur.com/BbXSRGX.jpg


And the 'cow pie' in black prime.

http://i.imgur.com/Vh7nADb.jpg

Trygon and Carnifax bases:

First the bases for the two smaller tyranids:

http://i.imgur.com/gqhO5RY.jpg


These ar pretty much done except for grasses and carnage.

http://i.imgur.com/68b2rwd.jpg


I was thinking a small toxic waste puddle in the center but the dry basin seems enough. I do need to make more skeletons....

Lost in the Shuffle:

I took these images a week ago but forgot to post them:

http://i.imgur.com/XJMSB7y.jpg


A closeup of the base with assorted remains and a few Gargoyles:

http://i.imgur.com/VfrTOFQ.jpg


A few tufts of vegetation would not be amiss:

http://i.imgur.com/OUar94H.jpg



I greatly prefer this pose to the standard submissive one advocated by FW:

http://i.imgur.com/EVaYgAJ.jpg


Of course this type of lunging pose could not be maintained statically any more than a runner can sustain a full trot stance at any split second of his step cycle. It is an instant frozen in time:

http://i.imgur.com/y8nr30j.jpg

Fantastic positioning and love your bases!