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Painted this guy up as a one-off, to try out a few new things (quartered schemes, different weathering styles, this particular style of Power Weapon) and thought I'd post him up here as well.



Any thoughts, feedback, comments and gallery votes most welcome! Thanks for looking!

Love how dirty it looks.

Very nice, feels more real than bright and shiny yellow with red. A few things I noticed are the damage on the kneepad, it looks a bit like chalk and I'm not sure that's your intention. I also can't quite determine what's going on on the little shield protecting the armpit: freehand and/or weathering? Then more generally and a little hard to put my finger on: the model or at least the picture veers towards being a bit of a blur of weathering, meaning it lacks a focus point. There seems to be a fair bit of glare in the pics which may cause some or all of this impression, not sure. Anyway, don't take any of this as harsh criticism as it's all relative really, it's a great paint job. I particularly like the yellow shoulder pad.

Lovely work. I really dig the weathering.

Love it! Especially the realism!

Would love to know steps!

Really nicely done, keep them coming

I think this is potentially my favourite painted space marine ever - I love the grittyness, how you've managed to make him look...exhausted from fighting?

Thanks guys!

@Sgt Oddball: All totally fair criticisms! Really trying to push myself at the moment, so having stuff like that pointed out is most welcome. The knee weathering is probably the weakest point as far as damage goes, at least in the pics, it's not as noticeable in reality. The tilt plate is freehanded (quartered red and yellow with the Griffon symbol on) but I think some weathering ended up over the top, kind of hard to fix without redoing the whole thing. To me at least, the sword and eyes are the focal points, but that's not immediately obvious which is definitely a shortcoming of the overall composition.

@Elthran: Wow, thanks! I'm sure there are hundreds of minis more deserving of the accolade just on Dakka, but it still means a ton! Cheers!

Next addition to what is now probably eventually going to end up a collection of Chapters that fought in the Badab war is a Red Scorpion. Where the Griffon was very much built as an ostentatious sergeant or commander, this guy is a little more grounded and practical, kicking through a door he's just melta'd and looking for his next target.


Any thoughts welcome as before! Hope you like him!

Poor door Everyone should do their space marines like this, this dirty look is refreshing in it's unfreshness.

Digg'n it

Thanks again guys! One more now, a Star Phantoms Devastator:


And some more compact pics of the other two:




Thanks for looking, any thoughts welcome!

That's some good stuff, Para!

 Paradigm wrote:
Thanks again guys! One more now, a Star Phantoms Devastator:

That rocket launcher looks like it has earned a couple service studs, or maybe even a Venerable upgrade!

The Star Phantom might be my favourite. Tiny pic though!

Definitely happy this is turning into a Badab showcase

Get away from those Tax-collectors though, and show us some true marines, loyal to the true creed and warrant of the Astartes, followers of the visionary Lugft Huron, who sees the true path the Emperor intended for the Space Marines.

I think my favourite composition is the Star Phantoms, though it is hard to decide between him and the Howling Griffon. The Red Scorpion has a nice pose, but the paint job lacks something that the other two have. I think your weathering techniques for lighter/brighter colours work better than for the black of the scorpion. I agree with another poster that the Howling Griffon seems to lack a focal point, as the eyes and sword don't pop out, but honestly, it is so much better than I can do I feel bad even repeating it from someone else! The Star Phantom's missile launcher acts as one focal point, but the fact he is looking away seems to give another clear focal point, off of the model. He really does seem to be looking at/for something rather than just staring off into the middle of nothing, the way most models do. Very characterful. Yes, I think I can say I like the Star Phantom best.

Thanks guys! Sorry about the small Star Phantom pic, I'm still playing around with the various composition options in my photo editor, is this one any better?



@Fifty: Oh, there will be Traitors... erm, visionaries eventually, up next is a Fire Hawk Assault Marine and then I'm out of parts until I buy another SM box, probably some time towards the end of March.

These three so far have been a 'learning process', as much as that term is a cliché, both in terms of composition (the Griffon was 'let's put some Space Marine bits together and paint them, the Scorp ad Phantom have more of a story behind them, as does the upcoming Hawk) and in the paintwork, I'm trying new things on each one so while most will hopefully get better as I go along, there will probably be the odd misstep (like the Scorp lacking a real standout point, something I am trying to figure out a solution for) which you guys should feel free to point out, I'm posting here for honest feedback after all!

 Paradigm wrote:
(like the Scorp lacking a real standout point, something I am trying to figure out a solution for) which you guys should feel free to point out, I'm posting here for honest feedback after all!

Maybe make the eyes super glowy? I've no issue with the scorp myself, the way it's walking over the door and looking in a certain direction and being a cohesive model works well I think. With the griffon the various different ways of weathering seem to draw some attention away from the beak/eyes bit of the head, that is comparatively plain. Or maybe I'm totally babbling nonsense here (Edit: the pic you now use for avatar has less of an issue for me, because the shiny bits aren't so shiny, so might have just been a glare thing.)

And enter the Fire Hawks:


Let me know what you think!

Such dynamic feel. What a freakin' awesome pose, well done! It has been a treat to look at such interesting space marines, it's always a joy when it's chapters rarely seen painted.

I am NOT a fan of weathering space marine armor, I like mine shiny and sparkling, but I do love what you have been doing here Keep up the great work!

Tutorial on the Howling griffin please. Pretty please? All are really good but thats my favorite. Unlike the guy above me, I prefer weathered armor that looks like it has been used and the guys have been in a warzone awhile.

They look fabulous, Paradigm! Really nice, with the weathering.

Ta chaps!

@Col. Dash: My methods are largely based around the principle of 'making it up as I go along', and I don't make exact notes for one-off minis that I won't need to replicate, so I'm not sure how useful this will be,, but:

Yellow: Starting with a 1:1 mix of VMA Dark Earth and Iyanden Darksun, work up in layers adding more Iyanden until you reach your mid-tone. Then, hit all of it with Agrax Earthshade, and start over, this time, adding Sand/Ivory to your original mix rather than yellow. This takes some of the strength of the yellow away, giving it the muted look.

Red: Basically the same method as above, but with dark blue-grey and red in the first mixes, wash Nuln Oil and then work in some pale grey to the second round of layers.

Metals are just painted in standard silvers and golds and given the relevant wash, re-highlighted with the base colour. Eyes are a pale blue dot in the centre of the lens, then a green wash for the mini-glow (make sure it doesn't go outside the eye lenses, this isn't OSL).

Weathering: The larger chips are first mapped out with a mix one shade lighter than the brightest armour colour, then black or gunmetal is applied into the centre of that, so it looks like the paint is peeling around the edges. Smaller chips are then sponged on in black or silver.

Hope that's of some use. The key bits are using browns/greys rather than colours to highlight, as that's what gives the muted look, and the weathering to bring it all together.

Thats excellent, thank you. The muted look was what I couldnt figure out and you started darker than I thought.

And another addition to the project, as I found a few more Marines that I'd forgotten about. This one's a Carachadon Astra, or Space Shark to use the 'Low Gothic' name, wielding a pair of kitbashed 'chain hatchets' (from a CSM chainfist) and generally looking rather angry.


As usual, any thoughts/comments/feedback/votes welcome, thanks for looking!

Oh wow! I love those meat cleavers! He looks suitably brutal and the blood on the shoulder pads is a very nice touch. The base is rather... basic the red eyes are sweet looking but maybe a bit OTT? Not sure if Carachadons were ever specified to have red lenses? Not that it matters. The grey and bone on the backpack are solid. Nice work on this one Paradigm.

Cheers! The trouble I think with the red lenses is that a) the helmet is actually a CSM one, and the eyes are for some reason a totally different size/shape to loyalist ones, and b) the method I used to apply the blood spatters, flicking it on from an old brush, ended up with a glob of blood landing right on one of the lenses, which made it look a lot more over the top than it actually did. Not sure whether they're 'supposed' to have red lenses or not, I just picked that as I thought it fit the look best.

Dude. So nice. Gotta share your methods

Thanks! Anything in particular you're after? My methods vary from mini to mini, but I can certainly write up specifics on a certain armour colour or type of weathering or whatever. Let me know what you're looking for!

Another addition to the ranks, a Minotaur:


With this guy's pose I wanted to create something that almost mirrors the Carachadon, who is very 'direct'. The Minotaur, thus, is a little more regal and refined, but has a very different kind of menace to him, I think. As far as painting goes, the armour was mostly washes, drybrushes and weathering, the rest all fairly standard.

That's all for now, another one coming soon! Thanks again for reading, any thoughts welcome and any gallery votes appreciated!

All these marines have awesome grittiness and realism. Amazing work.