More Stormtalon

Got the pilot done and the body primed. Trying to get all the metal details done first before I hit it with a basecoat.

Stormtalon

Picked up a cheap Stormtalon on EBay and started work on the pilot/cabin.

More to come.

Back At It

After more than a year away (please forgive me), I am trying to get back into the hobby swing of things.  So for now, here are a few things I am sporadically working on:

Hopefully I will be able to devote a little more time to painting and updating this blog.

Painting Imperial Fists, Part 2: Mid-coat and Some Detail

A two-part feature has evolved into a three-part so I hope you will bear with me. Check out part 1 here.

As we continue, we have applied the mid-coat on top of a base of Iyanden Darksun with a Gryphonne Sepia.



The mid-coat consists of a 1-1 ratio of Iyanden Darksun and Golden Yellow. Be sure to leave a little of the base-coat showing in the armor recesses and places that need to be heavily shaded.

The chest eagle is lightly highlighted with P3 Khador Red Base and washed with Baal Red.



I like to premix the mid coat batch so I can get consistent results over multiple figures. Empty dropper bottles are great for mixing up custom mixes or washes.




Next, the helmet lenses were tackled by first blocking them out with Skull White and base of Dark Angels Green. Hit the front corners with a spot of Snot Green.



Finish off the lens with a small spot of Skull White in the back corners. As this zoomed shot can show you, my sloppy painting aside, a little cheat I used to clean up the area around the eye.

A Sakura Pigma Micron Pen, Brown size 005, was used to shade the spot under the lens to clean up any stray white or green paint. It was also used on the shoulder pauldron to give a quick shade on the rim between the black and yellow. The brown ink is quite close to the color of Gryphonne Sepia wash but a little more opaque. If I was a little neater it would look spectacular but from afar the result is adequate.



The backpack is completed in the same fashion as the armor and the bolter is dry fit in place. the bolter is based in Chainmail and hit with a Badab wash. Edge the bolter casing with Adeptus Battlegrey and another wash of Badab.

Next up, I will attempt to highlight the armor without totally ruining the model.

Painting Imperial Fists, Part 1: Base-coat and Wash

After a very long hiatus, I have returned to the 40K blog world. I hope not too many of you forgot about me.

Over the next two posts I am going to walk through how I do Imperial Fists. Hopefully it will give a few people some inspiration to tackle painting the dreaded yellow or to share how they do their fists.

im not the neatest painter nor the most talented but here goes:



Start with an even Iyanden Darksun from the Citadel Foundation range base-coat. It may look a little rough in places but that will be smoothed out in the next step.



Apply a liberal coat of Gryphonne Sepia from the Citadel Wash range and let dry. I like to tilt the model backwards to let the wash seep in to the crevices, dry, and then hit the back of the model and tilt dry again. Next, hit it with another liberal coat of wash.

A word on washes. I have gotten into the habit of adding a drop of Formula P3 mixing medium or Vallejo Model Color matt medium to the wash before applying. It keeps the pigment intact and improves the flow of the wash so it hits those seams in the armor without pooling on the flat parts too much. I used the P3 in this case.



Now, hit the chest eagle with P3 Khador Red Base. This gives a nice bright red without too much trouble.



Next, I apply two coats of Citadel Badab Black wash to the eagle. This tones the red way down and adds nice shadow to the wings and skull on the chest. I've also applied Citadel Chainmail to the armor joints, tubes and arm badge which was also then washed with Badab Black. I may have to apply another coat of wash as they are still a little to bright. I'm sure I could have goten a bit grimier with Boltgun Metal, but I tend to like the results of Chainmail with a wash.

The base was drybrushed first with Foundation Adeptus Battlegrey and then again with Astronomican Grey.

Well, thats all for the base of the miniature. Stay tuned for part two as we wrap it all up.

Organization

Nothing puts me in the mood to model and paint then when everything is in its right place. Having just moved, I was able to invest in some new storage setups and it feels good to have it all unpacked and organized.




I find it is easier to get motivated when things are neat and easily accessible.



Of course, I know when you are knee deep in a project, organization and neatness tends to go straight out the window.



And yes, my office's walls are painted Golden Yellow.

So I turn it over to you, what are your thought on organization and motivation? Any great work area setups to share?

I Have Succumbed...

I said I wouldn't do it, but I gave in to the call of the wolf.



Such a cool bunch of kits out right now, all the more to distract me from my Imperial Fists.

Of course, to complicate matters, I am in the middle of moving, so blogging/painting will be very slow.

I hope you will stay with me as I get back into it/get my stuff out of boxes. Some neat things in the works, including things ramping up over at Orange County Warhammer. If you are in the Orange County, CA area, I invite you to check it out.

Stay tuned!

Painting Yellow

My previous method of painting yellow with Iyanden Darksun over black undercoat has left me wanting a little more.

In leafing through some old White Dwarfs, I came across a masterclass for painting a Bad Moons Warboss in Issue WD350(US) (also available here, but you need to log in).

Basically it calls for an basecoat of Tausept Ochre:


A wash of Gryphone Sepia in the receses:



Then a midcoat of Iyanden Darksun+Golden Yellow (a 1 to 1 mix):



Highlights are an equal parts Iyanden Darksun+Golden Yellow+Skull White. I actually added more white as my mixture was a little watery after adding a drop of water.

Here is the result on a non-test model:






So there you have it, I am pretty pleased with this method and the results give the models a little more depth and character.

The White Dwarf article also gives a great little snippet on painting battle damage that I used to cover up a small divit from clipping the model from the sprue.



And here is a poor picture of my attempt on the shoulder pauldron:

Chaplain Work

Was able to steal a few moments to get some work done on my Chaplain today. Ive got a faint highlight going, but need to work on it some more. I am really pleased with how the skull helm has turned out.



Got a few squad members starting to shape up:

Painting Bone

Here is a quick tutorial for painting bone that I am using for my chaplain. Im sure it could be adapted to Fantasy Tomb Kings, Undead or Legion of The Damned.

After priming black, I hit the bone pieces with P3 Menoth White Highlight. You could also substitute GW Bleached Bone+White or maybe even the foundation Deneb Stone.



I like the P3 paint as it gives great coverage after only two or so light coats and has a great cream color. I find GW's Bleached bone to be too thin and gets very chalky after multiple coats.

Next simply slap on a nice coat of Gryphone Sepia wash cut with water. I used two heavy coats.



After Letting it thoroughly dry, you can go in an highlight the raised edges with your original coat color. I havent done that here yet, but I think it looks pretty good as it is.



So, how do you paint bone?

Disaster!

After sitting in a simple green bath for a day and a half, the rhino emerged in not so great a condition. The paint refused to come off of the plastic of the rhino, while the primer came straight off for the most part of the Forgeworld extra armor.

So I decided to stick it in the freezer to loosen the glue to remove the forgeworld parts. Of course several pieces shattered...



The rhino is a loss, but the forgeworld parts may be salvageable...we will have to see.

On a better note, I finished up the sergeant.

Salvage Work

I pulled an old Rhino out of the Bitz pile/box to transport one of my tactical squads.



It definitely will need a date with a Simple Green bath, as there is something funky with the top half of it.



Ill let it sit all day tomorrow, and get it primed and basecoated this weekend.



As you can see, it is outfitted with extra armor from forgeworld and will include a pintle mounted storm bolter.

Almost There and P3 Paints

Getting there slowly. In between football and normal weekend activities I got the dread to a point where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am a very slow painter.







I am very pleased how the green targeting lenses came out.

There is some small detail work to be done to be sure, but I'll be able to paint the rim of the base and varnish it tomorrow hopefully.

I was able to get my hands on some of Privateer Press's P3 formula paints.



The reds seem like they may make a good system for the Space Hulk Terminators.

Does anyone have any experience with the paints? Tips? Testimonials?

Forgeworld Weathering Powders

Looks like these have just been released after a bit of rumor anticipating them.

You can check them out here.

Looks like they are packaged in the old "Cote d' Arms" paint pots that Citadel Colour was rebadged in back in the day.

Edit: I broke down and bought them, so hopefully Ill have a review when they show up stateside, which should be oh January? Maybe.

Sarcophagus Work

After a long day, I was able to steal some minutes to get some work done on the Dread's sarcophagus.

It's a bit blown out from the flash here, but the wings do have more definition than that, but a few very thin washes of Asurmen should help pick out the detail on the wings a bit better.

I always have a hard time with white, it either looks too chalky or too runny. This came out okay, but could be a bit tidier.

I do like the the white on the black background though.

365 Points Progress

I've made some headway on the Dread with its many coats of yellow:



I am stuck at a point on what the sarcophagus should look like. I am thinking keeping the background black and doing the eagle, skull and scroll in white. Or filling in the back with yellow and doing the wings and skull in red.

What say you?



Here's some work on the sergeant.

Overall its taking a little longer than I am anticipating, but hopefully I can get these156 pts out of 365 pts ready by wednesday.

Tale of Four Gamers

I was lucky to stumble upon a thread on the Librarium Online forums about a group of gamers in my area that were trying to start up a group to take on a Tale of Four Gamers adventure. It had been some time since the thread had been active, but after messaging one of the contributors, interest was again stirred after their efforts had stalled early this year.

We met at the local Battle Bunker and discussed starting it back up. Since two other members had already had an indeterminate number of points left over, we decided to take the first month to have me catch up point wise.

Here is what I have ahead of me this month:

Its about 550 points which should keep me very busy.

Along with Space Hulk, it is a very full hobby month!

Chaos, Undecided

My painting table is in shambles. Too much going on.



I thought my Imperial Fist veterans were coming along okay. Spraying them entirely yellow gets to be a pain having to pick out all the metals first in black, and then hit with a drybrush of boltgun. Same with the white with a base coat of Shadow Grey and then many coats of Skull White. But even with a sepia wash, the yellow just doesn't get a good enough shadow in the transition spaces.



I pulled out some Crimson Fists I had been working on before getting inspired by yellow.



They get better looking every time I look at them.

Anyway, my fate is up to you. What say you; interwebs, Imperial or Crimson Fists? I am in your hands.



Another shot of a War of The Ring army of the dead.