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He is excellent and very american. Possibly overwhelmingly so.

Maharg wrote:Gem of a blog here - great variety and all really well painted. Looking forward to seeing what you do next

Thanks for the praise Maharg, and welcome to the blog!

amazingturtles wrote:He is excellent and very american. Possibly overwhelmingly so.

Cheers turtles! I was humming the Team America theme song the whole time I was painting him

Wow, I really enjoy the shoulder pads!
Infact the whole mini looks very good. Very close to the source image.

Cool mini, that shoulder pad is so neat and smooth, great work!
The Devs finished up really nice too

The chipping on his armour looks great!

Great stuff since I last checked in. I honestly hadn't realised those were guard bodies on your skaven! I'm blind apparently

Ezki wrote:Wow, I really enjoy the shoulder pads!
Infact the whole mini looks very good. Very close to the source image.

gobert wrote: Cool mini, that shoulder pad is so neat and smooth, great work!
The Devs finished up really nice too

aku-chan wrote:The chipping on his armour looks great!

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it! Painting the freehand design was fun, and the chipping really tied the model together. I maybe went a bit overboard with it, as I originally was going to just do something very subtle. But it was so fun to do that I did a bit more, though I don't think it's too much..

Tyranid Horde wrote:Great stuff since I last checked in. I honestly hadn't realised those were guard bodies on your skaven! I'm blind apparently

Cheers Tyranid Horde! It's probably nothing serious, but I'd get your eyes checked just to be sure!

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Haven't had too much time to paint lately, but there's some progress at least. The Ironclad has now been started, with the steel done and gray basecoating started. I hope to get the "clean" version done by the end of the week, and then do some weathering with my new chipping skills! I just have to try and keep it pretty subtle this time, as the rest of my marines are all clean.

Modelling-wise, the Dread will be very basic and utilitarian, which I think fits the brawler nature. I thought about magnetizing the hunter-killer missiles and some other accessories, but I should've done that before gluing the body together, so I ended up not doing it. Also, I'm not too keen on the Ironclad faceplates, but as I don't have any others on hand, I used a small dab of super glue to attach the current faceplate so I can later easily change it if I want to. Maybe the design grows on me though..

Work on the Ironclad continues, and I feel pretty good about the progress. The armor is now basically done (apart from that one edge on the right arm that I missed when highlighting..). Layering took a whole lot longer than I had anticipated, but at least edge highlighting was fun and easy. Next up will be the weathering, and after that just a couple of small details, lots of rivets, the base and assembly.

One important thing to note! If you're using MicroSet/Sol when applying your decals (you should be), don't be lazy and apply some gloss varnish before laying down the decal and the chemicals. I wanted to try if it was really necessary to use gloss varnish first, especially as I had only smooth surfaces on the model. Everything went fine until I decided to use a paper towel to dry some excess MicroSol. I noticed that MSol had softened the paint as well, as the paper rubbed of some paint (fortunately I didn't touch the decal). Now, this wasn't a serious issue, I just waited for the chemical to dry off and repainted the spot, and then gloss and matt varnished the decals. But it is something to keep in mind, and from now on I'll be sure to always use gloss varnish before applying these chemicals.

Wow mcmattila,

That is a very smooth grey finish on the Dread.

Good advice on the transfers, I always take the extra step with the GW ard'coat before first applying them.

Cheers,

CB

Captain Brown wrote:
Wow mcmattila,
That is a very smooth grey finish on the Dread.
Good advice on the transfers, I always take the extra step with the GW ard'coat before first applying them.
Cheers,
CB

Thanks CB! The gray did take some doing, but I got there in the end I had also used 'ardcoat every time before this one, but it was late in the night, I was lazy and a bit curious.. Won't be skipping that step anymore!

Wow, that gray looks oh so smooth!
Thanks for the tip regarding the decals. I will keep that in mind if I decide to use them in the future. Never have tried them before, but there is always a first time.

 Ezki wrote:
Wow, that gray looks oh so smooth!
Thanks for the tip regarding the decals. I will keep that in mind if I decide to use them in the future. Never have tried them before, but there is always a first time.

Cheers Ezki! Decals are really nice to use if you can find suitable ones. Of course, you miss the opportunity to hone your freehand skills..

Alright, another model done! This guy took quite a bit longer to paint than I though it would, it's a fairly simple model after all. But I did lose two weekends to travelling, and a couple of days to a flu (insert a Nurgle joke here). And as I said, layering the armor took ages! Well, it's ready now and that's all that matters. Overall this was a fun project. I tried a couple of new things and learned some important lessons.

This was my first vehicle in my current Space Marine collection, and I thought I'd have to do some battle damage so it wouldn't look too boring. I'd have to keep it from going too extreme though, as my marines have no weathering. I think I overdid it a bit, again, but I'm happy with most of it. Another new trick I tried was masking: I did the soot on the flamers/exhaust pipes after finishing the (clean) armor, and not wanting to mess up that I tried some Faskolor tape that I have left over from my RC hobby. Worked out nicely!

In hindsight, I probably should have improved the base a bit with some fine sand and such. Well, at least I've got an example of the OG (at least to me) pre-molded scenic base in my collection!











Finally, as with most of my models lately, I was able to claim a square in the hobby bingo: "paint a vehicle".

Excellent and congratulations! And i like the advice on decals from earlier, i've always been so bad at applying those that i usually never try

 amazingturtles wrote:
Excellent and congratulations! And i like the advice on decals from earlier, i've always been so bad at applying those that i usually never try

Thanks again turtles! I used to be wary of decals too, but when I started painting these marines, and wanted to give them proper insignia too, I knew I had to give decals a serious try. Happily it has been working out really well! I still have to check if I can leave the chemicals out on flat surfaces, only using varnishes. Reducing the number of steps is always good!

Nice dread! Though it’s bugging me where the spent brass on the base came from. Did his enemies fumble a reload in fear of his awesome visage!?!

gobert wrote:
Nice dread! Though it’s bugging me where the spent brass on the base came from. Did his enemies fumble a reload in fear of his awesome visage!?!

Thanks for the comment gobert! I did think about the brass on the base while painting. To me, they're just random debris on the battlefield. And while the shells seem big enough to fall close to the gun (assault rifles and such throw the casings pretty far), they could be anyone's, friend or foe. I thought about drybrushing them with the base's highlight color to make them look dusty, like they've been there a while, but then thought that they would look better from a visual point without it.

Really crisp paint job on that dread! Love the weathering

That's a classic duel setup right there. I'm cheering for the Ork dread

 mcmattila wrote:

gobert wrote:
Nice dread! Though it’s bugging me where the spent brass on the base came from. Did his enemies fumble a reload in fear of his awesome visage!?!

Thanks for the comment gobert! I did think about the brass on the base while painting. To me, they're just random debris on the battlefield. And while the shells seem big enough to fall close to the gun (assault rifles and such throw the casings pretty far), they could be anyone's, friend or foe. I thought about drybrushing them with the base's highlight color to make them look dusty, like they've been there a while, but then thought that they would look better from a visual point without it.

Given how close he is to the Ork Dredd I guess he’s catching some brass from the Autocannon!

Ezki wrote:Really crisp paint job on that dread! Love the weathering

That's a classic duel setup right there. I'm cheering for the Ork dread

Cheers Ezki!
Trash can vs. washing machine, an epic battle!

gobert wrote:Given how close he is to the Ork Dredd I guess he’s catching some brass from the Autocannon!

Haha, you might be right!

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I've been working on my Captain for the Revelators. And it's about time too, I built the model last November! I wanted to try some new techniques with this one, as it's going to be sort of a centerpiece model. Inspired by a Ben Komets video, I wanted to try out some panel modulation. Not really NMM, but maybe a bit more reflective armor than what I've done so far. This was a relatively easy model to practice on, since I didn't need to do the backs of the legs! Painting the armor was surprisingly enjoyable, and felt like I got it done pretty fast. I don't think it was faster than what I normally do, but I don't think it took that much longer. Also, I only used a wash for the three studs on the collar! I'll probably do some blacklining at places, but I was surprised that I didn't really need washes for any part of the armor.

I also wanted to do a freehand design on the cape, so as not to be too boring. I was a bit nervous about painting a white design on black, but it worked out pretty well. I did put the small triangular rays to the wrong place and need to correct those, and do some refining, maybe an extra highlight on the black, but it's coming along nicely.

Still have quite a lot to do, and I'm not quite sure about all the colors on the small details, but I guess I'll just have to lay down some basecoats and see how it looks. All comments and critique are welcome!

Well done with the new armour technique, looks really effective. None of the reflections look out of place so you have a good eye for this style. Maybe the left shoulder pad could do with an extra highlight to my eye. Good job with the free hand too, particularly as it's on a wavy cloak surface. I always chicken out of doing this sort of thing on an already highlighted surface as I don't want to have to rematch the highlight mix when I cover up mistakes, hope this doesn't give you too much trouble when you fix those triangles

Maharg wrote:
Well done with the new armour technique, looks really effective. None of the reflections look out of place so you have a good eye for this style. Maybe the left shoulder pad could do with an extra highlight to my eye. Good job with the free hand too, particularly as it's on a wavy cloak surface. I always chicken out of doing this sort of thing on an already highlighted surface as I don't want to have to rematch the highlight mix when I cover up mistakes, hope this doesn't give you too much trouble when you fix those triangles

Thanks for the comment Maharg, it's much appreciated. There's a highlight on top of the left shoulderpad, which isn't showing on the photos, but I think you're right, it could be enhanced a bit. I got the freehand fixed without too many issues, though I guess it helps that I only used two colors on the cloak (I did add a third after it was done.)

That’s a really nice finish on the highlighting technique, you’ve executed it really well. Looking forward to seeing him complete with head!

I think the freehand bit looks great! it is very smooth and well defined.

Great looking dread and the base makes it pop nicely!

Keen to see more progress on the Captain, that freehand is very nice

gobert wrote:That’s a really nice finish on the highlighting technique, you’ve executed it really well. Looking forward to seeing him complete with head!

Thank you! Shouldn't be too long before I get this thing finished..

amazingturtles wrote:I think the freehand bit looks great! it is very smooth and well defined.

Cheers! It's even better now, I reckon.

Tyranid Horde wrote:Great looking dread and the base makes it pop nicely!
Keen to see more progress on the Captain, that freehand is very nice

Much obliged! You're in luck, here's a progress shot:



I got the body basically done, just have to fix one finger and maybe some other stuff. I'm pretty happy with it, though there are a couple of things that could probably be improved. The weapon sling for one. I also wasn't sure about the yellow rope, as it's on top of the gold aquila. But I think it works well enough. Now it's onto his backpack and banner, followed by the head.

Looking great now with all the details added and good job fixing the freehand. Finished model is gonna be awesome

The freehand on the cloak is looking really good.
I love the effect on the armor, good job.
I gotta check out that tutorial and give it a shot

Maharg wrote:Looking great now with all the details added and good job fixing the freehand. Finished model is gonna be awesome

Thanks! It's finished now, and it is pretty awesome!

Ezki wrote:The freehand on the cloak is looking really good.
I love the effect on the armor, good job.
I gotta check out that tutorial and give it a shot

Thank you! I do recommend the tutorial! Even if you don't end up following it, it's amazing to see mr. Komets paint such a nice model quickly, and make it look easy!

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The Captain's now finished! A couple of unexpected work days slowed me down a bit, but no matter. With this, I’ve finished what roughly equates to a Start Collecting! box plus some extras, giving me a game legal army (at least what was legal back in 4th..). I’m not planning on playing any time soon, of course, but that’s neither here or there..

I've talked about painting the armor already in previous posts, so not much more to say about that. The backpack of course had more flat surfaces, which had to be approached a bit differently, but I think it looks pretty good. With the face I decided to try doing the "eye liner" to define the eyes more. Worked out well enough, though doing it was somewhat messy.





I also took a picture of my Revelators collection so far. They're starting to look respectable! Just look at all them banners!



And claimed a square in the bingo card, by painting a new version of one of my old character models:

Oh man, I haven't updated in a while.. There has been some progress on the painting front, however, so I come bearing photos of newly finished Retributors! These were supposed to be a two-three day job, but for some reason they turned into two-three week project..

So what's been going on in my life lately, and why have I painted so little? Quite a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, which has cut into my hobby time a little. First, I started a summer job, which is the most time consuming part, and the new schedule takes a little adjusting to. I also got my master's degree done, which has been a long time coming. And finally, I had my birthday too! So lots of nice events, but some nights I've just been too pooped to paint at all.. Hoping to pick up the pace a bit though.