Switch Theme:

Captain Brown Paints Forge World Elysian Drop Troopers - 250+ pictures  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


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.




Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

This Painting Log is a little different from many of my other GW army showcases. Instead of attempting to build an army on the cheap and create one from other players discards and cast offs, my Elysian Drop Trooper Army was pure Forge World Gamer porn. With almost every model coming directly from their shop in Nottingham (the exceptions being a couple of eBay purchases and a trade or two), now granted all purchases were made during Forge World free shipping windows, the figures were still very expensive and Mrs. Captain Brown still does not know how much I paid for them. The army was started in 2006 when the Taros Campaign and the Anphelion Project books were recent Forge World productions. It began when my former roommate Kelly (then of Sorcerer Studios) traded me 11 Drop Trooper bodies and parts for some other gaming books a few years before. These 11 were far from complete with missing shoulder pads and not enough right arms…but they started an idea to build a new Imperial Guard army, complete with air support. Now at this time only a couple of flyer models existed, they were all Forge World products and exclusive to the Imperial Guard (not like today were every army seems to have several flyers and they are a regular part of the game). The army was also inspired by the gamer Chaos & Evil who was a regular poster and his take on Elysian Drop Troops…sadly his PLOG is also gone as far as I know. I lost my original PLOG with the demise of WarSeer, but will try to rebuild it from the images I captured during the building and painting process. This was quite a while ago, so if some of the rare earth magnet work seems quaint just remember that almost no one used them over a decade ago.

Some shots of the army as it moved from D-99 formations into a complete Elysian Battle Group.

The start of my battle with the army of grey resin

More units added

More units added

More units added

More units added

More units added

The army continues to grow

Army with two of the flyers

Army without the three flyers.

Completed Army:



Now parts of my army have appeared all over the net with many photos being used by Russian and Chinese websites to sell re-casts of Forge World models. I have not given approval to any of that, but if you see some models you think look familiar that is likely why.

The long painting war continues…

CB

Edit: So while the army is complete, I have made additional updates like building a way to mount the all resin FW aircraft onto GW flying stands, etc.

This message was edited 10 times. Last update was at 2017/09/14 15:33:51


   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




Fantastic work, love to see a good Elysian force, don't see enough love for these guys in my book. Have a squad that I've started but never finished.
Keep meaning to get my Elysians to take off ( no pun ) may have to dig them out from the pile. Now get those wheels done. Shame forge world don't do a wheeled troop carrier like the troop hog in halo.
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

 xKillGorex wrote:
Fantastic work, love to see a good Elysian force, don't see enough love for these guys in my book. Have a squad that I've started but never finished.
Keep meaning to get my Elysians to take off ( no pun ) may have to dig them out from the pile.


Thanks xKillGorex, never too late to start a Forgeworld army...just keep in mind the price.

Now down memory lane.

So I began my Forge World purchases with a Command HQ Squad, two Special Weapon Squads (Flamer), a Veteran Squad, a Drop Trooper Squad and a Valkyrie model. This would let me build a small D-99 detachment when coupled with the almost squad I already had (and it would fill in some of the gaps like the missing arm, head and shoulder pads). Which item did you think I started on? The troops to start me on the path of the filling the Force Organization Chart…of course not I jumped into building the kick-ass aircraft model…even if that aircraft was a glorified transport…remember there just were not many flyers in 2006.

Some of the models (all purchased with the free shipping offer, but still far more expensive than I was planning…damn you Kelly and your pawning off Foreworld models to me!)

Parts

Parts

Valkyrie assembled in record time.

Crew painted first.



Now some of the things I learned was that the Command HQ pack was far better than the PCS pack as it gave you more options for the same price, but the Special Weapons (Flamer) packs gave you extra torsos which when matched to spare legs suddenly added some more Drop Troopers to my growing army.

The long painting war continues…

CB

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:19:49


   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




Ah I've had the pleasure for forge world pricing by doing a Dkok force. How did you find putting the resin valk together, I've one still sat in a box as the two halves don't line up. Nothing a bit o a file won't cure I'm sure.
Damn you I spent some time last night looking at drop troops on the forge world site the wife will love this I'm sure.
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

 xKillGorex wrote:
How did you find putting the resin valk together, I've one still sat in a box as the two halves don't line up. Nothing a bit o a file won't cure I'm sure.
Damn you I spent some time last night looking at drop troops on the forge world site the wife will love this I'm sure.


xKillGorex,

While it is a little out of order, my second Valkyrie had exactly that problem.

So one side was not only longer than the other, but it was warped in two directions



So once I had lined it up as best I could I drilled several holes in each side for some brass rods, that way I could fit the pieces together and they would hold as I sanded away the excess and started to see where I needed to add putty.


I did all my internal painting before gluing them together (but another post later for that), the main goal was to line up the detail of the fuselage, as one end would join with the cockpit and the other was more critical as it had the rear ramp to fit and make certain it could swing closed...which was the reason for the pre-pinning. The pre-pinning meant that when I was ready to join the two halves it was easy with some 5 minute epoxy as the pins held both halves in place. After drying some epoxy putty but added in the cracks to fill the gaps.


I added more putty than necessary as then I could sand it down to match the other side.


Hope that helps.

Now back to the original start, I started fitting the Drop Troopers together and found some chronic issues, the heads tended to be hunched over (so the back necks needed some trimming) and the running legs would need to be pinned or the model was bent into an impossible position.



Sometimes I found troopers I assembled did not seem right (like the models on the left and right of this photo.



So I would break those up (used superglue for the first fitting) and try again.

I also looked for some regular GW models that were the same size as the Elysians and the First and Only Commissar fit the bill.



Loads more to come.

The long painting war continues...

CB

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:25:08


   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




Looks like I'm going to have a bit of work on that resin valk. That God for the plastic one although I do like the look of the talon lifter.
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

xKillGorex,

Good luck on the resin Valkyrie, there is something rewarding about completing on of them, even though there are plastic one available now.

Back to the PLOG, I knuckled down and painted a complete Drop Trooper squad for my first Troop Choice under a D-99 list.



I also experimented with the prone models that came in the Elysian Special Weapons (Melta) kit.





Including building some of the longer converted basis for those Special Weapons Troopers, but they really looked odd when compared with the regular infantry models.

The long painting war continues...

CB

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:26:17


   
Made in au
Sword-Wielding Bloodletter of Khorne






I think those bases look pretty good, actually. It does seem odd to have a sniper pose on a meltagunner, though, as they practically need to shoot someone from 2 foot away

   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




Well dug out my squad of troopers. As they came with chute packs, a couple are modelled as if landing on the old size bases am I right in thinking gw have changed the base sizing now.
Had a thought for when I pick up some snipers to change the heads over to bare heads and sculpt boonie hats, think it could look pretty cool. Just need a suitable size head. Anyway keep up the good work. Sorry to jack your thread with countless questions lol.
   
Made in gb
Pious Palatine






Beautiful looking army!

EDC
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

 Cap'n Facebeard wrote:
It does seem odd to have a sniper pose on a meltagunner, though, as they practically need to shoot someone from 2 foot away

Cap’n Facebeard, thanks for the comments and I agree with you, fortunately I found another player who liked the prone poses and we worked out a trade that provided me with some extra troopers and a Weapon sprue that had only had the sniper rifles taken off it.
 xKillGorex wrote:
Well dug out my squad of troopers. As they came with chute packs, a couple are modelled as if landing on the old size bases am I right in thinking gw have changed the base sizing now.
Had a thought for when I pick up some snipers to change the heads over to bare heads and sculpt boonie hats, think it could look pretty cool. Just need a suitable size head. Anyway keep up the good work. Sorry to jack your thread with countless questions lol.

xKillGorex, thanks for the comments. No worries more than happy to share and you took the time to post comments. 
 evildrcheese wrote:
Beautiful looking army!

Thanks evildrcheese.

So back to the PLOG, next thing I painted was the Command HQ squad for the mandatory HQ choice.



I shot them later in the evening and this photo seems to be a favourite of Russian Forge World sites, it has been posted without permission on a couple of them. No even a great photo with the flash exposure.


Then like all gamers I rewarded myself by getting yet another model on eBay for the army before finishing what I had (that and the price was right, one did not see Forge World go for low prices that often and this model had some damage according to the auction notes).

Thanks for all the comments, the long painting war continues…

CB

   
Made in au
Sword-Wielding Bloodletter of Khorne






Captain Brown wrote:
one did not see Forge World go for low prices that often


Unless you buy from Russia

   
Made in ca
Battle-tested Knight Castellan Pilot







I love your army. I had a drop trooper army also. I miss them I should of never sold them. I had the same problem with the Valk not lining up either but the Vulture cast was much more gooder.

Very nice looking army I can't wait to see more.
   
Made in ca
Fresh-Faced New User




How much does the resin valk differ from the plastic version?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/09/08 05:14:23


 
   
Made in gb
Pious Palatine






Command squad looks great dude.

EDC
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

 Cap'n Facebeard wrote:
Captain Brown wrote:
one did not see Forge World go for low prices that often

Unless you buy from Russia

I always trying to avoid that, otherwise we might see Forge World disappear.

rhesusforbreakfast wrote:
How much does the resin valk differ from the plastic version?

rhesusforbreakfast, not a whole lot different…it did not come with any sort of plastic stand and the canopy is more of a “do-it-yourself” plastic glass exercise, it does come with External Fuel Tanks which the plastic model does not have.

Thanks FabricatorGeneralMike and evildrcheese for the positive comments.

So back to the progress on the Elysians, first the Vulture Gunship. It arrived relatively intact with just some excess glue and the rear struts and one landing strut knocked off. Nothing some pinning and sanding could not fix. Removing the original colour took longer as it was such a large model.



Since the model had been so securely put together I ended up only getting off the Rocket Pods and installed some rare earth magnets to make the secondary weapons swappable.

Being on a aircraft kick I also started installing magnets in the Valkyrie and using old duo tang clips for the metal connection on the Missile and Extra Fuel Tanks.



A look at the hard point with the two magnets on each side.
Finally the rear ramp was also magnetized. You can also see I did paint the interior of the fuselage prior to assembly.


The long painting war continues…

CB

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:29:40


   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

Returning to sanity I got back to painting infantry and completed a Veteran Special Weapons Squad.




The thought of two Flamers and a Demo Charge coming down with Deep Strike was one of the great attractions of a Drop Troop Army.

With three squads painted it led to my first progress shot:



More to come.

The long painting war continues...

CB

   
Made in au
Sword-Wielding Bloodletter of Khorne






Looks good, I think I my fave part of these models is the special weapons.

   
Made in ca
Roaring Reaver Rider






What a gorgeous force. It's so nice to see a mass of bodies and the horses they rode in on. You did great work here Captain Brown.

1500 1000
Please check out my project log on Dakka here  
   
Made in us
Douglas Bader






Very nice work. It's good to see someone else giving life to those poor old Valkyrie kits!

There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




Great work again. Hope this thread keeps going for a long time. Pulled my half built vulture down from the loft to give it a bit of love. Need to make a stand as its from the days before the resin/ plastic hybrid.
Packed this stuff away as my first littleone was born. He's loving looking at the cool spaceships now lol.
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:Looks good, I think I my fave part of these models is the special weapons.


Thank you Cap'n Facebeard, the trade for the Elysian Weapons sprue was an unexpected bonus and allowed for some experimentation, like this Elysian Officer, heavily converted to double grip on a Plasma Pistol.



Plasma Guns on kneeling bodies. This picture also shows how my heads looks up (usually by trimming the back of the neck), which is different from the Forge World standard poses.



Or whatever I could think of, in this case a Plasma Gun being held by a standing trooper.



Inevitable_Faith wrote:What a gorgeous force. It's so nice to see a mass of bodies and the horses they rode in on. You did great work here Captain Brown.


Thank you Inevitable_Faith.

Peregrine wrote:Very nice work. It's good to see someone else giving life to those poor old Valkyrie kits!


Thanks Peregrine, more work on the flyers is coming, although I decided that I should start on a smaller model as a test, so the Drop Sentinel is looking like a good starter.

xKillGorex wrote:Great work again. Hope this thread keeps going for a long time. Pulled my half built vulture down from the loft to give it a bit of love. Need to make a stand as its from the days before the resin/ plastic hybrid.
Packed this stuff away as my first littleone was born. He's loving looking at the cool spaceships now lol.


Thanks xKillGorex, if you keep taking a look at the PLOG I will continue to post.

Four more Drop Troopers painted up:




Thank you for all the views and comments.

The long painting war continues...

CB

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:33:28


   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




Rugby

Likeing these guys a lot, looking really good
   
Made in au
Sword-Wielding Bloodletter of Khorne






It was particularly the standing plasma gunner I liked! That's the problem with guard conversions, only those who know the models well will realise how clever they are.

   
Made in gb
Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja




Il keep watching for sure. Absolutely love the Elysian miniatures. Shame forge world haven't added more to the range.
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

Alaricuk wrote:Likeing these guys a lot, looking really good

Thank you Alaricuk.

Cap'n Facebeard wrote:It was particularly the standing plasma gunner I liked! That's the problem with guard conversions, only those who know the models well will realise how clever they are.

Thanks Cap'n Facebeard, this is why I circled the parts to help out.

xKillGorex wrote:Il keep watching for sure. Absolutely love the Elysian miniatures. Shame forge world haven't added more to the range.

xKillGorex, I am sort of happy they have not, otherwise I might be tempted to get more and that is why I still have the Tauros Venator to paint still.

So next up was the Elysian Drop Sentinel, I had built several Catachan and Steel Legion ones and the basic chassis was the same...I just wanted to magnetize it for some extra flexibility.






Now one thing about rebuilding a PLOG is you can cut out your mistakes...I painted and then striped the model clean and started again as I was not happy with the first scheme, here is a WIP on the second that I was happy with.


However remembering the Imperial Guard (even Elysian Drop Trooper armies still need lots of PBI to do the dirty work I worked on some more. Some Special Weapons and a VOX Operator.




Just enough that when added to what I had already painted my Special Weapon Squad being broken up for a few days to allow for a legal D-99 Drop Troop force with Command HQ and two Veteran Squads. As D-99 did not have PCS units or the two minimum infantry squads per platoon.



With the painting of two more troopers I was able to re-add the Special Weapons Squad.





The long painting war continues...

CB

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:37:45


   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

So I finished the Drop Sentinel...or at least the Heavy Bolter and Hunter Killer Missile version with the Multi-Melta and Advanced Comms on the way.



And some close-ups of the army shots so far.
Command HQ:

Special Weapons Squad:

Veteran Squad D-99

Veteran Squad D-99


Now I started to look at add more models to make a proper regular Drop Troop Army, but that would require a pair of PCS and two more Infantry squads...so like all gamers I picked up the Veterans with Shotguns to paint next.

The long painting war continues...

CB

   
Made in au
Sword-Wielding Bloodletter of Khorne






Love that Sentinel

   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

 Cap'n Facebeard wrote:
Love that Sentinel


Cap'n Facebeard, so do the Russians, just Google Drop Sentinels and you will see Forge Worlds as mine (hosted by all4wargames(dot)com)..without permission of course.

Back to the PLOG.

Veterans and Special Weapons WIP:


PCS and Special Weapons WIP:


Slow progress:



The long painting war continues...

CB

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/08/04 14:40:10


   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka





Surrey, BC - Canada

So the Junior Officer and Squad were finished next.




Completing these on the promise that I would get to work on the Shot Gun armed Veterans next.

The long painting war continues...

CB

   
 
Forum Index » Dakka P&M Blogs
Go to: