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@ amazingturtles: Lol. Chicken hats. That's a pretty good one. My sister calls them peacock helmets. They do look a little silly, but I am a big fan of the roman aesthetic for space marines so I just kind of embrace it.. Plus it saves me having to agonize about a different way to paint for sarges and other important company officers. Downside is, I'm just delaying this, as I don't have enough crests left to deck out the primaris.

Nice conversions!- I think its an awesome thing to do vs buying pre-made as that way you are going to have completely unique models that noone else has.

Are you going to get any of the collectible termis and convert to DW? I keep looking at them and am getting increasingly tempted

Nice kitbashes again, is that a Reiver head on the Chaplain? The new head and arm on the SMH Sgt looks neat too. I need a bigger bits box I think

@Eeps: Not sure what DW stands for in this case. I do have some of the terminator minis. They're pretty nice. Unfortunately as I play vanilla marines I can really only add one or two to each squad as how they are equipped doesn't lend well to a single squad unless you play Dark Angels.

@gobert: It is indeed a reiver helmet. Looks close enough to the one on the old metal jump pack chaplain that I don't think it will stand out too much when painted.

So I took Eeps advice and bought a lightbox off amazon. Took a WIP shot of my apothecary to test it out. Photo is edited slightly, but I think still true to what it looks like IRL.


Any feedback on my photography or general tips would be appreciated.

Cheers1


Automatically Appended Next Post:


The gang's all here! Finally finished putting together the last of my infantry squads. I can finally put away the mess of sprues and bitz boxes that had taken over my work area. I still have some stuff coming for the motorpool and a couple of dreadnoughts, but its still a feeling of accomplishment to have made it thus far. and now comes the part where I have to start slapping paint on the models...

Nice work! With most of your guys already primed, you’ll moving along in no time. Keep it up. What’s the plan for vehicles?

@ Kavika0311: I've got a decent motor-pool lined up. I have a land raider redeemer, a whirlwind, the pred, a stalker/hunter and a rhino/razorback already in my possession. I've got two more rhinos on the way and one each of dreadnought and venerable dreadnought. Eventually I'd like to get another predator so I can do the all-lascannon variant, along with a vindicator and enough rhinos for the whole company to ride ( minus the assault squads) but my wallet is crying already, so I need to slow down and paint what I've got for a bit.

Just found this thread and scrolling through it that's some great work and nice seeing the company coming together. And congrats on getting the Space Marine Heroes captain. As with gobert he eluded me and unfortunately Barnes & Nobles doesn't want to ship Space Marine Adventures Recon Mission with him internationally, something about some virus going round

 brushcommando wrote:
@Eeps: Not sure what DW stands for in this case. I do have some of the terminator minis. They're pretty nice. Unfortunately as I play vanilla marines I can really only add one or two to each squad as how they are equipped doesn't lend well to a single squad unless you play Dark Angels.

Lightboxes turn out to be great!

I meant Deathwing - Sorry, I thought you were doing Codex - Dark Angels for some strange reason rather than Vanilla. I think I just have them on the brain...

Whats your recipe for white? Yours looks a lot better than my first attempt and I want it

Good name! Always like Penitents.

The lightbox pixture is really nfity looking! One of these days i'll get me one of those

That's a lot of bros. I can't wait to see more paint on them!

@Viterbi: Welcome to the blog! Sorry to hear you're having difficulty getting that limited captain. Hopefully this stuff passes eventually and you can get that recon mission box. Or they just straight up do a German release.

@Eeps: Yeah sorry. I wasn't sure if you meant deathwing or deathwatch, both of which seemed like equally viable question in context. With Penitent in their name I can definitely see why they come across as Unforgiven. But my real world nemesis plays dark angels, and thus I wanted to go vanilla so there would be an in-universe reason for our chapters to be at odds. Also, the recipe for white is as follows: I primed white (I used Citadel Corax white spray. It's pricey, but it's definitely the best white primer I've ever used.) Make sure you get complete coverage, as it serves as a basecoat. Then I covered the whole thing in a very thin glaze of russ grey. I used vallejo glaze medium. You want it really thin so it stains the armor the tiniest bit, but doesn't make it blue-grey. Then you allow the glaze to settle more heavily in the recesses. In some areas I went back and and applied a slightly stronger version of the glaze directly into the recesses to get more definition. Then you can use uluthan grey or a white paint to apply edge highlights. Hope that helps. Also, practice on some test minis first. It can take some practice to get your glaze game the way you want it.

@Kestral. Thanks! I can't actually take credit for the name. They are mentioned in official GW lore, but not fleshed out with ANY details. So I thought it would be fun to give them a backstory and color scheme and whatnot. Maybe if I flood the internet with pictures via the dakka gallery, I can get canonized like the sons or orar. Probably not, but a guy can dream...

@amazing turtles: Yes lightboxes really do make a difference. Also, discovering that my iphone will let me edit the photos to fix lighting issues. Eeps put an Amazon link to the one I'm using on his blog, which you should check out if you haven't already. He does good work. And I did promise to actually start painting soon so....





I finished the first combat squad with bases and decals and I'm very nearly there on the second. I'm pretty proud of the five o'clock shadow on the bare-headed marine. I like my dudes to have a Sgt. Rock feel to them.
Also, I was toying with the idea of writing some short stories to flesh out the chapters fluff. If you'd like your dakka avatar to be turned into a character, just let me know.
Disclaimer: the 40k universe is more dangerous for characters than game of thrones, so if your character meets a horrible end, please do not read into it.

Till next time,
Cheers!

So the WIP tactical squad is pretty much done, save applying transfers. The bases need a wash and a drybrush, but that should be very quick work. While I was waiting for the pumice to dry on their bases I knocked out my Captain. Unfortunately I painted him as multiple sub-assemblies that didn't quite mesh so I had to fix a super-glue related gap disaster. I don't think it's too noticeable, but the cape draped over his arm definitely looks a bit odd where I had to file it down.





The pics are a bit... odd. Still trying to nail down the lightbox technique. C & C from anyone who knows what I'm doing wrong would be appreciated.

I've got the second tactical squad base coated in red, hope to have time to start picking out the black and metal colors soon.

Cheers!

Nick Fury comes to 40K. Captain looks very cool.

The squads and captain came out perfect! Is the one marine sporting some stubble? if so, I like it. The green on the captain's plasma gun turned out well again

youwashock wrote:Nick Fury comes to 40K. Captain looks very cool.

Lol. I didn't realize until you said something, but he does look uncannily like old-school nick fury. I just need to make a jump-pack captain chomping a cigar and the look would be complete.

amazingturtles wrote:The squads and captain came out perfect! Is the one marine sporting some stubble? if so, I like it. The green on the captain's plasma gun turned out well again

Thanks! And yes that is indeed stubble. I learned how to do that effect from a white dwarf article a number of years ago and I add it to a lot of models as I think it adds an extra layer of detail. Also, when would space marines get time to shave during a battle? Actually, that may be why they keep their combat blades so sharp...

That’s some really nice work. I like the band of grey in the captain’s hair.
I’ve got nothing on the light box use.

Great job on the Captain, the stubble is really cool, would you be able to share the recipe? The first Combat squad looks awesome with all its markings too. Good stuff!

Very well done on the captain. The lightbox is producing some great photos as well.

kavika0311 wrote:That’s some really nice work. I like the band of grey in the captain’s hair.
I’ve got nothing on the light box use.

Thanks! I was quite proud of that detail. Also I realized I used the exact same head on a line trooper and was trying to make sure they looked visually different. Whoops

gobert wrote:Great job on the Captain, the stubble is really cool, would you be able to share the recipe? The first Combat squad looks awesome with all its markings too. Good stuff!

No problem. It's actually pretty easy. You just mix a little dark grey into whatever flesh tone you are using and then thin with water till it's roughly the consistency of milk. (For record's sake I used Mechanicus standard grey and cadian fleshtone) Then you apply to the areas a beard would grow. When it dries, it should staiin the whole area it was applied to, but settle more darkly in the lower recesses. I hope that helps.

416_SpaceWolves wrote:Very well done on the captain. The lightbox is producing some great photos as well.

Thanks! I'm going to see if using the black background that came with the lightbox produces less washed out effect. I'll try to post some soon.

So, it doesn't look like it, but I was fairly productive hobby-wise today. I managed to get all the metallics and washes applied to the 2nd tactical squad.


I think applying the metallics and the subsequent cleanup it necessitates is usually what takes me the longest, so I should be able to get another squad ready for tranfers in the next few days. After that, I can't decide what do next: The Space Marine Heroes tactical squad or an assault squad. What would you all like to see?

Till next time.
Cheers!

The captain looks amazing and nice start on the next squad, that army is growing fast! And I vote for SMH next, your captain shouldn't be lonely And because they are lovely sculpts and a joy to paint.

Thanks for the recipe, I need some helmetless heads to test it on now!

Love those MkIV Word Bearers, I mean Brothers Penitant. The old Mks of armour really suit the scheme. Still though I’d like to see the Space Marine Heroes too! They’re great sculpts and as Viterbi states a joy to paint... I really should finish mine!

You have a lovely shade of red for these fellas. They are already shaping up into a handsome force.

Aye that dull dark red is beautiful. It's very warm next to the black!

Good project and good conversion friend!

Mark me down for Space Marine Heroes, too.

Thanks for the kind words all! Space Marine heroes will definitely be the next Brothers Penitent squad I paint. I am however, slowing in my momentum a bit. Variety really is the spice of life.... I've gotten the second tactical squad close to completion. All of the armor edge-highlighting is complete. I just need to finish the lenses, basing and weapons. Also the transfers, but I tend to do these in large-batch sessions, so I will likely do the ones for this and the previous squad in one go.



In the meantime, I've been considering what to do with my Primaris Marines. In the interests of having something different to paint and thus keep me engaged, I've decided to do my primaris contingernt, (along with the beautiful new indomitus models, in the colors of the salamanders chapter. I knocked out a test model today.





C and C are, as always, welcome.

Cheers!

Test model looks good, but I would consider doing the holster more brownish to get a bit of contrast to his backpack. And for the eyes will you do orange or red? I think orange might work better with the fire theme.

The second squad is looking good, only the fiddly bits to do now. The Salamader looks fab too, variety really does help with motivation I find (5 squads of marines from 5 chapters says it all). The green should give a welcome break from all of that red, that’s for sure! The freehand flames look cool, will it also be getting a freehand skull?

Looking good.

My general advice for projects of this scale is to mix things up. 5 brothers, HQ, 5 more brothers, tank, etc. Helps prevent burn out.

Although splashing Salies in there will also help there.

Everything looks great BC. The Salamander. Before I got on this site, I didn't like green or salamanders. This is one of several green salamanders which I've seen on the site which has seriously pushed back on my feelings.

 Nevelon wrote:
Looking good.

My general advice for projects of this scale is to mix things up. 5 brothers, HQ, 5 more brothers, tank, etc. Helps prevent burn out.

Although splashing Salies in there will also help there.

I agree with Nevelon. Until last night I had four or five different units requiring paint. I still have three, but I've managed to get two done!

I get the desire to do the primaris a bit differently too. I didn't go all the way to a different Chapter, but as you know, I do have a very different paint scheme on them.