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 Argive wrote:
Yo catbarf what brushes were you using in the shrimp nid tutorial?

Raphael 8404 size 1 for almost everything, plus a random synthetic rigger brush (I think they're on Amazon under "D'Artisan Shoppe") for the spots.

I highly recommend either the Raphael size 1 or a Da Vinci Maestro size 2; I've been using the latter almost exclusively for the last couple of months.

Awesome thanks I will check it out.

I got some W&N and they are good however carry low volume which isin't great if im trying to do 5-10 dudes at once. I am on a hunt for a largeish/long brush with a good point and really liked the look of that brush.. .

That's one fleshy boy! The glaze really helps tie the tones together. Look forward to seeing your progress on him

Amazing work on the ogre skin, full size it already looks great, but after resizing to "actual" size it looks incredible!

Got the Ogre done! It took a lot longer than it really needed to, simply because I was experimenting with recipes. The tiny bit of wood on the sword handle along consumed three hours...

Oh, and then I dropped it and the sword hand broke off. And then when I glued it back on, the superglue frosted up. (Wait, why didn't I just use plastic glue? It's not resin...) Frustration. Oh well.

Anyways, that's a minor setback, because this model represents a huge breakthrough for my technique- discovering that Vallejo's glaze medium dilutes Army Painter washes perfectly, preventing them from building up or staining even when slopped on, while also providing a subtle glazing effect to smooth out the highlights, and drastically extending the working time to boot. The pants, for example, received two coats of a 1:2 mix of AP Dark Tone and glaze medium after the highlights were all finished. Once I figure out the suitable ratio, I'll probably be replacing my use of VMC Black Glaze with some ratio of this mix.

Excellent Ogre catbarf.

Exalted.

Cheers,

CB

Awesome work catbarf! The skin really looks great, certainly fits the ethnicity you were going for. Given the weather, he seems to have made an odd choice of clothes though

Awesome work catbarf! I like the blushed nose and that woodgrain is very well done

A first trio of Thallax are done. I went with a solid black for the faceplate, with about eight layers of thinly-applied gloss varnish to build up a nice shine. I can see my lighting setup in the reflection, so I'm going to say that it worked.

Those bots look scary, heads work very well!

And great work on the finished ogre, I would never have the patience to do such detail on the wooden handle

Beautiful work on the Thallax catbarf. I'm really liking those muddy bases and the black beetle-like faces are great

Awesome maniple, love the contrast of the high gloss vs the heavily chipped armor. Did you add the purity seals? I can't remember if those are FW stock, but either way, solid squiggling there too

Now i am even more tempted to work on that Dark mech army i once planned....

Darn. Job well done catbarf.

 Boss Salvage wrote:
Awesome maniple, love the contrast of the high gloss vs the heavily chipped armor. Did you add the purity seals? I can't remember if those are FW stock, but either way, solid squiggling there too

Purity seals are my addition, just simple plasticard + green stuff. I can't figure out whether or not purity seals are 'period-correct' for Mechanicum in 30K (I know they aren't for Marines), but scrolls and wax seals on robots is so fundamental to the grimdark Blanche look that I felt I had to include them.

I've got a Thanatar currently in progress, and am recording video to make a tutorial out of it, if I can stop getting sidetracked by videogames. Should hopefully have the model done by the end of this week and then the tutorial a week after.

Looking forward to that tutorial catbarf. I agree with you on the purity seals, even if they aren't period correct they add that Blanchitsu vibe

What do you use to take your photos chief ?

Have just spent a glorious time catching up on your amazing work. Your tutorials are also really, really well put together.

Very glad I came across your stuff.

 Argive wrote:
What do you use to take your photos chief ?

For the Renegade Militia and Death Korps it was just my Pixel 2's camera; subsequently I got a Canon G9 X for photos but still use the Pixel for video.

I have found that the lighting setup and camera settings matter a lot more than the camera itself for photographing minis. I used a lightbox initially but have switched to a pair of free-standing lights with umbrella diffusers (you can see them reflected in the Thallax faceplates, amusingly).

One trick that's really helped is to put a scrap piece of blank white paper somewhere in the shot, then adjust exposure so that it looks nearly pure white. Then I can open the photo in paint.net, use the scrap paper as the reference point for a white balance plugin, and then crop it down.

Thanatar is done, right on schedule. It's a bit of an awkward model to pose, but I'm going to see if I can get something a bit more dynamic on the next one.

I made up a new batch of my oil wash, this time using W&N Artist oils rather than the cheaper Wintons I'd been using previously. It makes a considerable difference- the Artist oils seem to have a much finer pigment that stays in solution even when significantly diluted, avoiding the grit I'd been seeing in the previous wash mix. Lesson learned.

Anyways, I recorded footage of the whole thing so plan to make a tutorial shortly.

That is an awesome robot. I don't know if you intended it, but there is something sinister about the way you have done the helmet. Sort of a "you don't want to actually look whats underneath" vibe coming across to me.

Top notch weathering! You really nailed the gritty look.
The shine on the Thallax trio's helmets worked out perfectly too!

Now that's a robot you don't want to cross. Love the green glow, subtle yet effective!

Wow catbarf, that is spectacular.

Exalted.

Cheers,

CB

Whilst I agree with everyone on the weathering, it’s the green lights that win it for me! The orange plasma that you use is lovely too

Really nice work catbarf, the colours and the weathering all work really well together. I also like the duckboards on the base, gives a nice sense of weight to the model

Thanks all for the feedback; particularly Archer's comment about it looking sinister as that is exactly what I was going for.

I got a group shot together while I finish up the tutorial video for the Thanatar.

And here's the video:

Looks absolutely incredible together. Need more of the little guys though. They look very outnumbered.....

 Archer wrote:
Looks absolutely incredible together. Need more of the little guys though. They look very outnumbered.....

Hah, yeah. Another trio are next on the agenda, along with a Tech-Priest to lead them.

At this rate I should be up to 2000pts by Christmas.

Hah hah just kidding the Forge World updates motivated me to get back to my Tyranids.

I got The Red Terror more for collecting than gaming reasons; it stood out to me when I first got the 3rd Ed codex back in 2001. I started painting it back in July and got about halfway through when I realized that having the arms attached was going to make patterning impossible. I threw it in a tub of isopropyl alcohol and forgot about it.

Well, painting with the arms separate made it considerably easier, so I got it knocked out in about four hours over three days.