# Overcoming Magpie syndrome - A log for finishing the unfinished



## melsaphim (Jan 1, 2010)

Afternoon Heresy, it's been a long time since i posted anything painting or modelling wise upon these here pages yet i am ashamed to say i have nothing to show for this time. I have started several projects and finished none of them succumbing to magpie syndrome every single time, shiny new things distract me from what is really important, finishing a damn army for once.

And so i make this log with a solemn promise to finish the things i start within these pages. The main reason for my turning point has come in the suspension of my source of income for the moment and so i have no funds to purchase any more models/kits, and as such im going to work with what i have to make as much as i can, including scratch building and loads of greenstuff work. and so we begin with a few 40k pieces i am working on at the minute;

Dark Vengeance; I bought the DV box set on the day it was released but don't really like dark angels that much, so they went away in a drawer to gather dust, now though i have decided i want to make a SW force using the DV pieces. I dug out my bitz box and started sifting through the pieces till i found a rather large selection of SW pieces i can use. The Librarian was the first model i started on, replacing his shoulder pad and sword arm with a SW version and greenstufing fur over his cloak at the front as you can see below, i also Gs'd a rune on a rope to cover the keys he had hanging there;










Whilst on my search for SW pieces i found enough to whip up a wolf guard model to lead the grey hunters i am going to turn the DV tac troops into. This guy was my first attempt at truly following a GW painting guide from white dwarf step by step and took far longer than i thought it would but i think the guy looks cool and is worthy of being fielded;










The next guy is a Pre-heresy Imperial Fist guy i am working on, probably to be my praetor. The model uses legs and torso from FW along with the commander culn head i had in my box. The sword drawing arm is created from a sheath off a chaos knight, i believe, and pieces from several GK arms i had available. Overall i like the effect and i am currently using the yellow scheme from the SW shoulders above to paint the IF scheme on him;










Fantasy; I found whilst digging through my model filled drawers that i had an unbuilt mortis engine/coven throne and the dreadfleet box lying in hiding. SO it got me thinking of a Dark Elf blood cauldron conversion i wanna try using the terrain from dreadfleet and a few coven throne pieces and so was born the begginning of a blood cauldron. At the minute i have only a picture of the base to show with a piece of dreadfleet terrain and the flying skulls from the coven throne attached but soon i will hopefully have a few pictures of the 'floating' blood cauldron;










After grabbing the pieces i needed to make the cauldron i found i had aot of the engine still spare but not enough to make the actual engine, i used the steps and other important parts. i still however, had the bansees the vampires and the necromancer guy to play with and so i cut them out and started making them into single characters/models on bases. The first one i can show is the WIP of my vampire on horse, the horse has been removed from the ghostly part of the throne/engine and will be trimmed and greenstuffed to the best of my abilities to make it simply look like a vampire horse thing. Then i placed on of the vampire on it as if she was sitting side saddle. The weapon options havent been modelled on yet and the piece is very very WIP but i hope you can see how i am making the most of the bits i have available;










Well that is all from me for now guys, i hope i haven't bored you all into not finishing this post with all the writting and not many pictures, and also i apologise for the photo quality as the weather is crap here today and i had trouble getting any usable shots at all.

Comments and criticism is, as always, welcome and appreciated. i am always looking to imrove and you guys have far more skills than me in most if not all areas 

Cheers
Liam


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Great looking models. The IF is fantastic. Keep it up.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Good start; keep at it.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

The title of this thread had me worried for a moment. :wink:

Nice work mate!


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## melsaphim (Jan 1, 2010)

Khorne's Fist said:


> Great looking models. The IF is fantastic. Keep it up.





Dave T Hobbit said:


> Good start; keep at it.





Magpie_Oz said:


> The title of this thread had me worried for a moment. :wink:
> 
> Nice work mate!


Thanks for the encouragement guys :grin: I've been hard at work with pieces and digging through my bitz box (it's a huge box now after 11 years collecting bits) and think i may well start an inquisitorial army with all the models i could make. But anyway enough talk, it's time for pictures.

First is the base for my DE cauldron of blood conversion, ive changed the grass out for snow and have painted the floating skulls in light grey with a couple layers of purple wash;










And now for the Cauldron conversion itself. Here is a top view of the model showing the steps and cauldron from the coven throne kit. The 'statue' is a banshee with daggers raised rather than the normal khainite statue you get, i see this as more of a small scale cauldron altar for portability rather than large statued temple cauldron say. There is also two flaming brazier like things from the empire wizards kit and a sword rack from, well i don't know where that came from lol;










On the steps leading upto the statue lays a dead elf. the model is from the mantic range i grabbed awhile ago and looks suitably dead for my uses. i used liquid greenstuff to attempt blood flowing down the steps from his open wounds;










From the side you can see the bottom of the cauldron conversion. I used more dreadfleet terrain to make this and hopefully once painted and pinned to the base it shall look like a floating piece of land dragged up by foul magiks;










Finally there is the work i've completed so far on my necromancer from the throne/engine kit. I had to trim the bottom of his robes/cloak off to fit him on a base and as such am in the process of modelling these back on in such a way as to still fit on the base well (this one is very WIP);


















Once again C&C is always welcome, and i shall retire once more to the modelling table to continue work on these and more :grin:

Cheers
Liam


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## melsaphim (Jan 1, 2010)

Morning all, i know it's been rather a long time since i updated this log but i have been working away on things and haven't just given up like i do with alot of my other projects. so i'm here to show you what progress i have made.

First up is my Nurgle CSM Lord converted from the Chaplain guy in DV. I removed the head and backpack, removed as much DA iconography as i could find and set to work with my greenstuff.

Below are several angles of the miniature but i'll explain in one go here what i did. The head was replaced with a SM head, a IG breather was attached to the face and i GS'd a strap around the head holding the mask on. I sculpted a face with open mouth and a tongue on the left shoulderpad and attached a power fist to that arm. The right arm was attached pointing down and the arm part then removed and replaced with a lightning claw cos i like the chaplain skull shoulder pad. I GS'd over the belt in the middle at the front to make it look like one solid tabbard. The skull pins holding the cloak in place were trimmed and replaced with horns from a csm helmet and the backpack from DV with the tentacles reloading the bolter replaced the standard backpack. Hope all this is evident despite my shoddy photography.


























Next is another plague marine i am GSing from parts i have lying around;










I have also been working on my DE and have a squad of corsairs built and underway alongside the cauldron, i will have to wait till xmas for alot of the models for the army but oh well not long now

C&C welcome as always
Liam


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

Nice, very nice. I quite like the eclectic mix of different armies you're working on projects for.

The floating cauldron and the Fisticlaws Lord were especially well-handled. I've been considering doing a similar thing to that model with Fisticlaws on that DV model, and I think you've convinced me.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Looks like you've got some good stuff going-- the Imperial Fist in particular is very cool.


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## melsaphim (Jan 1, 2010)

Mossy Toes said:


> Nice, very nice. I quite like the eclectic mix of different armies you're working on projects for.
> 
> The floating cauldron and the Fisticlaws Lord were especially well-handled. I've been considering doing a similar thing to that model with Fisticlaws on that DV model, and I think you've convinced me.


Why thank you, eclectic is one thing i can certainly manage. As for the fisticlaws lord i spent ages trawling the web for some ideas on decent weapon options for lords and this seems a popular one, i'm glad i went with it though as the model certainly works well. I'm glad my efforts have convinced you :biggrin:



The Son of Horus said:


> Looks like you've got some good stuff going-- the Imperial Fist in particular is very cool.


Thank you, the Fist is one i'm particularly fond of as I've never really got the yellow colour down but i feel it's worked well on this model.

Liam


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## melsaphim (Jan 1, 2010)

Morning all, i have been slogging away on my projects of late but have only just really had decent enough light to grab some photo's so prepare yourselves for a large amount of picturey goodness :so_happy:

Okay so to begin i have taken better pictures of the space wolf i showed you all in the first post, i have been back to him and touched up a few bits and pieces but so far he is my favorite piece and the one i think i have done the best on, i mean the guy has an actual decent looking face lol;


















Now we have what progress i have made on my floating cauldron of blood conversion/scratch build. all in all the model is going well although i am having some trouble with the sand on the base coming off in a sheet with the glue for some reason >.< which is annoying as hell and also happening on my corsairs;


















Speaking of corsairs here are some of the conversions i'm working on for them using the Dark Eldar wych sprue pieces i have laying around. I'm trying to give them a more slaver feel so nets and hooks fit the bill perfectly. I'm also using some of the Dark Eldar heads to add some variety;


































Here is a small example of a skin tone i was working on for my DE trying to make them look more drow or traditional fantasy dark elf but i feel it looks to blue with the armour colour and such;










The guy below is a dark elf master on dark steed i converted using a high elf dragon prince horse and other various pieces from bits and kits who i use for all my parts needs now. There are several other pieces on there including a shoulder cloak from a chaos manticore lord, a dark eldar head and the sword arm from a high elf dragon noble i believe;


















Finally i have the dark elf sorceress that my girlfriend is painting for me to use in the army i'm building. She loves to paint the models but doesn't want to learn to play or to build a full army so she likes to paint the models to go in my armies;


















Well that is all for today folks, hope i didn't destroy your eyesight too much with my efforts. C&C is always welcome as almost everything i show is in some form of WIP stage (minus the SW guy i like him too much to change him now)

Cheers
Liam


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