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PROGRESS!

Added more filler to the base. I'm calling it finished for now. I would have like to have smoothed out the hill a bit more, but if I add any more body filler to the base the weight is going to be too much I think.





The Knight is mostly built. Just sitting in sub-assemblies at the moment. I wanted it to be posed with one leg resting on the Aquila, but that's proving to be a little tricky. The knight is a gorgeous kit to work with. Everything goes together seamlessly. However, a downside to the knight is that it isn't awfully poseable in the leg department and any re-posing requires a bit of chopping to the legs. The left leg I've already assembled in the stock pose (maybe prematurely, don't know yet) while the right leg has been cut up.

Like this...


That should allow me to get the bend I need for the pose a want. But the angle is all wrong.

A bit more cutting around the ankle and the lower leg goes from this....


To this...


Now I just need to fill out ankles movement ball with a bit of GS and the hydraulic struts will require some chopping before they're glued in place.
I'm taking this one slow. Cutting up a big kit like this is ever so slightly nerve-wracking.

Any advice, comments or criticisms? I appreciate them all!

Every time I see someone trying to re-pose a Knight, I'm reminded of why I don't try to do it myself. Seems like a ton of work, and it's probably beyond my skill level currently. That said, kudos to anyone who can do it successfully!

If you are making the leg more upright, do you have any plans to modify the joint at the hip? Otherwise, nothing to add currently other than I'm watching - to learn from your successes and/or failures

Looks good so far. Just keep going as you have and remember to test fit everything. Twice.

ZergSmasher wrote:Every time I see someone trying to re-pose a Knight, I point and laugh while calling them a fool for getting well out of their modelling depth. "Haha! You've ruined an expensive kit you daft clod."

Oh i'm with you. It's a bit of a gamble that's for sure. But for something as big and centre-piecey as a knight, I think it's worth having a crack at going all out.

Arakasi wrote:If you are making the leg more upright, do you have any plans to modify the joint at the hip? Otherwise, nothing to add currently other than I'm watching - to learn from your successes and/or failures

Bugger. I was hoping to watch and learn from your successes/failures.
I was actually about to pop back into your blog and check how you handled the legs so as to avoid any feth ups. Something I probably should have done before I started gluing gak together! Still, haven't ballsed it up catastrophically yet, but there's still time!
As to the hips, yes I had planned on doing a bit of modification on the hips. Thinking the upper leg needs to be cocked out a few degrees from the hip to lined up with the foot/lower leg. So i'll probably end up pinning it to the... "groin"? and just greenstuff in some tubing.

youwashock wrote:Looks good so far. Just keep going as you have and remember to test fit everything. Twice.

"Measure twice, cut once" always had a strong presence in my house. My mum was a seemstress years ago (and still sews all her own clothes) and my dad is a fitter and turner. So half measures and shoddy workmanship were not acceptable behaviours when my siblings and I were growing up.
So I tend to dry fit things a lot (probably excessively) before the cap ever gets taken off the glue. Even things mundane like the arms on a marine or guardsman get tested many times.

Looking good Snrub. Remember the toes as well! Though it might be a bit more involved altering the angle of the toes will really helps create a realistic pose. This will be especially true for the foot resting on the crashed lander. Look forward to seeing how you go

Hey folks. Sorry the absence. Had a made few weeks and it's left me with very little hobby time. I'm actually in the process of moving, so most of my stuff has been packed away already. Might not see light again for another week or two.

I did however have enough time the other day to finish of the camo on the scout.



I..... Hmm.... well I'll post it and see what you all think.





So... honest opinions?


Let me go first.
It's fething gak is what it is!

That was not what I was hoping to achieve when I started it, let me tell you.
What went wrong? Lets break it down.
1. Squares are surprisingly hard to "just do".
2. Wrong colours. The yellowy colour didn't nearly look as good as I thought it might. Not really sure why I went with it in the first place. That odd pink shade is actually straight dheneb stone. Not entirely sure why it's pink. Also, the black wash I gave the cloak to darken it down a little actually made everything look really patchy.
3. No "pattern". It's just a mismatch of coloured squares rather then actual camouflage.

At the moment I'll probably just repaint the cloak black to match the other 4 scouts because i'm really not happy with it.

Digital camo is one of those things that looks nice when someone else does it. Theoretically it can be awesome, but practically it’s got a ton of things that can go wrong.

I agree with all of the points you bring up. On point 2 I think a lighter green would help bridge the gap between the dark background and the lighter squares. Right now it blends in too much with the black, so the whole effect falls apart. You end up with a square pattern on black, like some drapes from the 70s, rather then an integrated digital camo fabric.

If you like the concept, I think it still can work. It’s a complex concept, so might take a few tries to get something that meshes.

Good work experimenting and pushing for new techniques. If we don’t try new things, we never get better. But rarely do we hit them on the first try. Don’t give up.

I think you might need much smaller squares - perhaps even just dots. Might want to try on another piece of paper first

I reckon maybe try going for tiger stripe pattern similar to the Imperial Guard Sniper's cloak.

At least you tried, as Nevelon says it seems like one of those ideas that is better for other people to do. Your difficulty has certainly put me off the idea. Maybe try just randomly placed, and sized, splodges?

You don't know if you don't try.

Painting squares: I've found that the best results for sharp corners is to point the tip of your brush into the corner as if to make it a spike...
Rather than trying to paint 2 lines at 90^o to each other and get a perfect corner, approach the corner with your brush at 45^o from the inside of the square (after doing the sides as normal).
You almost exaggerate the corner in it's point-i-ness, and I find that makes my squares sharper if not squarer.

However, I think what you are missing is that your squares are too isolated from each other within each colour layer.
Take this for example:


Notice that even though it's made of squares, each colour layer has shapes made of those squares.
Even though you're using larger squares, you still want to join several into odd-shaped blocks before overlapping the next colour.

Doing this will also take the pressure off for getting perfect squares as you can hide the less perfect ones by giving it a neighbour.

You also want a higher density of squares over your base colour.
You have too many isolated squares floating about a black sea. You need enough to make the black also look like it's made of squares.

Hope that helps. that's how I would approach it.

The first thing i though of seeing the cloak was Klimt, funnily enough



Anything with sharp lines is always a massive pain to paint... I think it would look pretty decent if you sorted the colours out, that being said, it's a lot to go back and do it all again!

Maybe a simple blend could have a nice effect? Start from black at the top of the cloak, and blend down to a brown colour, maybe dust a bit of weathering powder or a lighter drybrush colour at the bottom of the cloak? Like it'd gotten dirty and discoloured from being out in the field. I think that'd look pretty outdoorsy and kind of camouflaged, and it should be pretty simple to do.

Feel like I have stitched you up Snrub… Have you thought about stippling rather than block painting?

Hey guys. Been a wee while.
Been gone a few weeks because, as I mentioned in passing, i've moved into a new place with my girlfriend. I've finally got the painting desk and computer set up, so i'm hoping to get painting and posting again real soon.

I'm expecting this move to be quite beneficial to my hobbying, as I now have more space to work, and more space to organise and store all my unnecessary crap essential hobby related materials.
Everything bar one of my lamps survived the transfer intact, which i'm overall pleased by. The lamp was old-ish anyway.
I now also have room for some display cabinets, which is nice. My last place really lacked for size.

So does anyone have any good recommendations for a) Lamps? I'm leaning towards one of the big deck-mounted swing arm lamps, but i'm open to anything really. b) Display cabinets. With or without lighting, i'm not fussed. Is Ikea's Detolf still the go to cabinet?


~~~~~

@Nev - Probably didn't help that the piece I used as guide was Talys work, who utterly crushed it. No way I was going to get anything resembling that on my first try. I will have another attempt at it though, that's for sure. Do you mean for light green squares or just light green to highlight the dark green squares? Because highlighting the squares wasn't something i was real sure on. It almost felt counterproductive to highlight the camo.

@Arakasi - Smaller squares would probably help. Might be trickier to get all nice and neat, but I can imagine it blending in a lot better with small squares.

@Zahnib - That's actually amazing and I will defo be giving that a try. I think it'd suit the scouts really well. Much easier to do too!

@LTMW - Random splodges could also be interesting with the right colours. It's not something I necessarily think would look good on marines, but guardsmen, yeah it could be a goer.

@Doc - If I understand you then spiking (lets call it spiking) is actually how I do the quartered company symbols on the knee pads of my marines, although I tend to come in from more then one angle. I hadn't thought of using it for the square camo. That might make it a bit easier to achieve consistent results, even if they're overall not the best. Which will do me.
I agree that the patterning certainly needs improvement. I'll take what you've said and utilise it on my next attempt.

@shmvo - I don't know whether that says more about me, or Klimt! Weathering on the scouts is on the cards. It worked reasonably successfully on the predator, so i'm keen to repeat that, hopefully.

@ingtaer - Eh I wouldn't feel too bad. Stippling is not something I've tried either to be honest. I'll hunt down a tutorial or two and maybe give it a whirl.



Anyway, thanks for sticking around. Hopefully have something for you all in a day or two.

 Snrub wrote:

@Nev - Probably didn't help that the piece I used as guide was Talys work, who utterly crushed it. No way I was going to get anything resembling that on my first try. I will have another attempt at it though, that's for sure. Do you mean for light green squares or just light green to highlight the dark green squares? Because highlighting the squares wasn't something i was real sure on. It almost felt counterproductive to highlight the camo.

I’ve always had a deep respect for Talys’ work. Good person to set your goals on, hard one to match. I meant a lighter green instead of the dark, not as a highlight. Looking at the colors you picked, you have some bright ones, and then a very dark one. I think the mid range could use a bit more. This is, of course, only my semi-competent opinion. I’ve never actually tried the technique, so am just shooting from what my artistic habits are telling me. And they are not the most reliable of things.

Nice to hear you alive, well, and moved in. Moving is always rough, even when it goes smoothly. I’m quite happy with my Brightech lamp. A few of us here got free ones to review, thread here. Coupon code might still be good. I honestly didn’t shop around, so you might be able to get better cheeper, but it’s a solid lamp.

Wooooo, house moving. Fun times. IKEA has a pretty great range of desk lamps. I've got the Aröd and am pretty happy with it. There's some that probably have a bit more possibility but I'd just go have a browse. And their display cabinets are pretty good too. I don't own any but they seem to be pretty common choices.

Look forward to seeing some more stuff once you're back in action

Glad to hear the move went well.

"Wh-what's that Games Workshop?"
"whisper whisper"
"You want me to start an army of the Lost and the Damned using the new Blackstone Fortress renegade guardsmen?"
"whisper"
"But... they're renegades, traitors and heretics. And I'm a good God-Emperor fearing man!"
"whisper whisper whisper"
"O-oh. Mr Roundtree says it's ok? Well alright then, I guess if he says it's fine."
"whisper whisper whisper whisper"
"What do you mean I already collect an army of traitors!?"
"whisper whisper"
"You take that back!"

*Sounds of a scuffle break out and quickly ends with the plastic crack-fiend subdued by his dealer's brand new and awesome product.*


Yes, I instantly succumbed to the lure of the new renegade guard in BSF. Those melon-fethers are sexy.
Time to break out the old Eye of Terror codex and mash up some debased muties and assorted scum! Might need a small force of stalwart Adeptus Arbites to crack some mutie heads too! /future plans/

I couldn't resist the lure and so set about 6 ETB pox walkers with clipper and knife. Initial results are promising. Shuffling plague zombies are now skanky mutant degenerates.



I've done away with all the overt nurgle gak, like any symbols and the maggots and and bizarre pointy growths. The headless dude up front needs something done with his exploding stomach though. He has a hammer and chisel, so I might sculpt him an apron or something and give him a tradesman vibe.


@Nev - Thanks mate. I'll have a gander at Brightech. Thanks for the link.
@Zahnib - Cheers bud. I had a look at the Ikea lamps last time we were there. I neglected to look at the globes though, because they are the telling factor at the end of the day. I'm not sure what brand either of my current lamps are. Neither of them have any markings....
@Monkey. Thanks mate. Appreciated.

On the lamp - I bought this one from Jaycar a few months back. Currently on clearance for nearly half what I paid for it :(

Magnifier takes a bit of getting used to, to find the 'sweet spot', but otherwise has been fantastic.

And another blog succumbs to shiny model syndrome and the filthy taint of chaos.

How many chaplains do you have for your DA? Due to your actions I’m guessing “not enough” but you might want to consider adding one to the queue.

 Nevelon wrote:
And another blog succumbs to shiny model syndrome and the filthy taint of chaos.

Don't they/we all?

Smooth work on removing those horny growths from the Poxwalkers. I imagine the amount of maggots was a pain though, they are everywhere. Blackstone Fortress does look great, cannot wait to see where a LATD army takes you.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
And another blog succumbs to shiny model syndrome and the filthy taint of chaos.

Don't they/we all?

Some of us just betray our species and turn to xenos. I’d say I’ve never heard the call of the Dark Gods, but I do paint them for fantasy. Although the dark song of blood and brass is always whispering in the dark corners...

Hmm, Chaplain is calling again. Wonder what he wants?

Those skanky mutant degenerates are looking good Snrub! I also really liked the look of those traitor guardsmen, and cool that they've brought beastmen back!

With the lamp you can just pop a daytime globe in and you're ready to go! Or were you meaning something else?

Sensible man, the only true path is to turn from the hateful light of the false emperor.

Love a good mutie, so looking forward to this.

They aren’t traitors, they are just the Fuggly loyal arm of the god-Emperor. Thrown to the front lines of conflict with poor armaments and terribly made clothing because they don’t fit the poster child look of the pretty boy primaris marines. Besides who wouldn’t have unusual growths on them after working next to warp field generators and toxic chemicals in the protein recycling pits? TRUE loyalists don’t care what you look like, they just have you fight in the darkfar away from the glory hounds in blue.

@Insaniak - That's bang on for the sort of lamp I'd like to get. One question though, what is the mounting bracket made of, metal or plastic? The magnifier is no issue, I've already got one with a lens in it.
@Nev - Chaplains... Not nearly enough. 2 now. A metal termie chaplain (one of the best models they've ever put out.) and the DW:OK chaplain. Chaplains and Commissars. Don't have enough of either!
@LTMW - Thanks! The maggots weren't so bad. The boils and pustules were the real pain in the arse though. The work continues on removing those.
@Zahnib - The Ikea lamps only take Ikea style bulbs and I'm not sure if Ikea do a day light bulb (that's what I forgot to check last time I was there.) If they do one, then an ikea lamp might be a good option too.
@Monkey - Thanks, mate. The 3rd ed EoT codex had a fantastic guide for kitbashing muties with just orks, zombies and catachans and the chaos mutation sprue. Now 15+ years on, the utter wealth of kits available should make making a mutant horde easy and unique.
@Theo - I'm not entirely sure how to reply to that so i've going to nod my head and say yes! Yes!

 Snrub wrote:
@Insaniak - That's bang on for the sort of lamp I'd like to get. One question though, what is the mounting bracket made of, metal or plastic? The magnifier is no issue, I've already got one with a lens in it.

It's plastic (or at least has a plastic outer casing) with a metal screw clamp. It's pretty solid, though.

They also have (or at least had) an optional wheeled base for it, if you want to avoid having it clamped to the desk. I actually have mine clamped to an old wooden bookend, as my desk top is 3 inches thick and just a fraction to thick for the clamp, but this lets me shuffle it around the desk as needed, which is handy.

Very cool!

My lamp just has a regular screw bulb, I'm pretty sure they all come with standard sockets