# Matcap's painting Corner; Knight Incoming!



## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Hey all,

As the title says, I was gone from the hobby for the last ten years, only following the BL publications and such. However due to the girlfriend being interested in wargaming and the DV set coming out I decided to try my hand at (re)painting some Dark Angels.

Here is the first squad almost finished.


















Noticed the smartphone camera is a bit dodgy so sorry about the quality of the pictures.

Any feedback, tips/tricks are very much appreciated!


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Looks like you retained some skills over the break.

Your edge highlights are a little wide. I suggest putting them on by drawing the side of the brush along the edge instead of using the point to draw them in. Glazing/washing the whole area will also draw them together.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks for the tip. I will try to blend them some more, the highlight on the knees was done this wide because I usually find some of the details get lost on the tabletop when you make them too small. Might just experiment a bit more. Would you recommend a glaze or wash?

And an update on 5 of the boys with improved (toned down) highlighting and details finished.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Matcap said:


> Would you recommend a glaze or wash?


A glaze would work better as it is designed to create an even transparent layer over the surface, so would be best if you have/are happy to make one; however a light wash over the area would be effective enough I would not bother buying a glaze especially if I had a wash already.


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

Those are very nice, inspiring for an upcoming project I have in mind.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Jace of Ultramar said:


> Those are very nice, inspiring for an upcoming project I have in mind.


Thanks for the kind words, will you be starting a DA army as well? (Edit: I think I found it, expanding the DV set into a proper army?)



Dave T Hobbit said:


> A glaze would work better as it is designed to create an even transparent layer over the surface, so would be best if you have/are happy to make one; however a light wash over the area would be effective enough I would not bother buying a glaze especially if I had a wash already.


Made do with a wash now and quite pleased with the results 









And finally made some headway with my first Deathwing termie. I find that getting the bonecolour right is really, really tricky


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

Matcap said:


> Thanks for the kind words, will you be starting a DA army as well? (Edit: I think I found it, expanding the DV set into a proper army?)


You're welcome, good work should always see recognition. But, since the +rep button is gone... I do sincerely hope you consider posting a step by step description of how you accomplished your end result.

Yes, sir. You found my thread and there is work to be done with it still. I'm hoping to have it sorted soon and not see a drastic change when the new DA 'dex issues.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right after dropping off the radar for a while because of moving to a new place, a quick update with a WiP DV sergeant










Jace I'm up for doing a step by step, however I'm currently kinda swamped with unboxing and all that so after the dust has settled I will make one.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

A small update: 

The finished DV Sergeant:










And a DA veteran kitbash based on a model I saw on another forum WiP:










Hope you enjoy them!


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## LTP (Apr 15, 2009)

Matcap said:


> Thanks for the kind words, will you be starting a DA army as well? (Edit: I think I found it, expanding the DV set into a proper army?)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey. Love the models. Good highlighting and neat. The termie looks good but the paint looks a little thick. Maybe try watering the paint down some more. Some devlan mud or whatever the new named wash equivalent is in the recesses would make it really pop.

Personally for bone I use a base of khermi brown then build on it with dheneb stone and white highlights. 

Keep up the good work.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

LTP said:


> Hey. Love the models. Good highlighting and neat. The termie looks good but the paint looks a little thick. Maybe try watering the paint down some more. Some devlan mud or whatever the new named wash equivalent is in the recesses would make it really pop.
> 
> Personally for bone I use a base of khermi brown then build on it with dheneb stone and white highlights.
> 
> Keep up the good work.


Thanks! 

Also thank you for the tips. The termie looks so thickly painted because it has about 10 bazillion layers of broken white on it to get past the black undercoat... I'm actually thinking of stripping him and his compatriots and starting over in quite a similar way to what you described.:grin:


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## LTP (Apr 15, 2009)

Matcap said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Also thank you for the tips. The termie looks so thickly painted because it has about 10 bazillion layers of broken white on it to get past the black undercoat... I'm actually thinking of stripping him and his compatriots and starting over in quite a similar way to what you described.:grin:


I always undercoat black even when painting white. I use the foundation paints so that I get a well covered layer as they have more pigment in them. Then just follow the colours I mentioned in my post. It's all trial and error really


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right I keep getting bogged down by all sorts of stuff (work, girlfriend.. you name it..) So my painting is going slow as #[email protected]#.

However to keep the thread going here is another picture of the some DA vets (semi finished):









And some guys ready to get primed:









Will try to speed up the painting now 

As always any pointers, tips, critiques or even praise are welcome!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

And as a quick side note:

Damn the basillica from the Imperial Sector is HUGE!!

Just finished constructing it, now wondering if I'll ever paint it...


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

A shot of the first 6 DV marines finished:









And my first attempt at sculpting with greenstuff:










On a second hand DA veteran with combi wep.


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## G8Keeper (Jan 24, 2013)

Matcap said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Also thank you for the tips. The termie looks so thickly painted because it has about 10 bazillion layers of broken white on it to get past the black undercoat... I'm actually thinking of stripping him and his compatriots and starting over in quite a similar way to what you described.:grin:


A white undercoat works wonders with Deathwing imho. There are a few subtley different ways of going about our beloved first company termies out there, my advice would be find one that suits your, time, skill and most importantly patience level and go with that. 

I look forward to more


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

G8Keeper said:


> A white undercoat works wonders with Deathwing imho. There are a few subtley different ways of going about our beloved first company termies out there, my advice would be find one that suits your, time, skill and most importantly patience level and go with that.
> 
> I look forward to more


Thanks for the tips, I have already researched a few options, and tried out one using the zenithal highlightning technique used by the artist who runs the fromthewarp blog. Only problem now is I need to strip my mini's and restart from scratch because I'm losing details if I put any more paint on them. 

But expect more to come soon! I struck some gold in a secondhand sale and still have this to paint:

3 Land Raiders (1 crusader/2 regular)
3 Land speeders
2 Razorbacks
1 Predator
15 Tactical marines
8 Devastators
7 Veterans
10 DW termies (after they've been stripped)

Excluding 5 tacticals and 5 termies (from the DV set) I bought this lot for a grand total of... 50 euros.:grin:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right after moving, switching jobs and all sort of non important malarkey another quick update! The DV tac squad is finally finished!










In the background my first CoD building based and almost finished but I don't seem to be able to photograph it right without looking rubbish.:ireful2:

Almost forgot to post pictures of my paint stripping experiment!

Result of the first test run:









Poor marine didn't know what hit 'm.

Second run went a lot better and now my butchered DV Termies are good as new!:so_happy:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

After 20 green blokes, time for something different!

Black!










I'm still doubting some details, like the ravenwing logo on the helmet and some other parts but he is coming along quite nicely.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

And here we are again!

This time an update on one of the veterans, still WIP, trying some more work with inks and glazes on this one. 










And the finalised ravenwing biker:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

And my first ever proper powerweapon painted! Pretty pleased with the results.  The Smartphone camera does botch up some of the layering so it looks better in real life.. no really!

Edited for better picture


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

Power sword looks amazing!

My only gripe (although, feel free to ignore) is the white designs on the purple part of the robe look a little blotchy :/

Still, trumps anything I could do!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Orochi said:


> Power sword looks amazing!
> 
> My only gripe (although, feel free to ignore) is the white designs on the purple part of the robe look a little blotchy :/
> 
> Still, trumps anything I could do!


Thanks for the kind words! You are totally right about the white by the way, still a work in progress and they need another coat to clear them up .


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

For a change of pace! 

As someone who has almost never worked on terrain I thought lets start small: 

Lets build my own gaming board because the Realm of battle boards are hella expensive and have wayyy to much skulls for my liking.

Yesterday after hours of painstaking detail work and cursing the first plate is done. (Pro-tip kids: plan ahead, last time additions of corkplate, hand painted, while the rest of the board was done, are a pain in the arse and take a LOT of paint). 

Behold, I'm well chuffed 










And another angle:










Combined with my first imperial sector building, based to blend into the table









The theme I am going for is ash wastes/urban waste land. Mostly because the grey/brown tones contrast nicely with my and my brothers main armies of Dark Angels and Tau.


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## Hydraulix (May 5, 2013)

OMG i love that table, thumbs man!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks! I'm planning on updating the log this week as I made some progress on scenery, the veterans and my shiny new droppod. Stay tuned 

Edit:

-Damn! I just started work on my Deathwing which I stripped earlier and it seems I didn't really look closely enough. With white primer the dreaded bubbly texture came into view... Might try and scrape some of it off but I doubt I'll be using these models anymore


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right! Back from holiday and here is a sneak peek of what I've been working on: my wet blending/layering technique, very WIP ofcourse:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Look he made some friends! Ready to be primed










These assault marines where all kitbashed and heavily inspired by Mad Max' brilliant Black Templar army thread:
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=93499&highlight=Barbarossa+crusade

They contain parts of BT and DA upgrade sprues and some tactical marines. Also my first ever sculpted helmet! I couldn't get hold of more of the BT helmets which are MK3 I believe so decided to make one myself. 

Other work finished today: a simple landspeeder tornado conversion. I don't really like the box shape of the landspeeders and this way it looks a little more like something that can fly. :grin:



















Finally a WIP of some terrain I have been playing around with. Inspired by the crashed aquilla lander I went looking around in my bits box for stuff I could use as walls/los blocking terrain and make the board more visually interesting:


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

Really nice, looking forward to seeing some paint! I really need to get my hands on some BT upgrade sprues (already have some DA as its easy enough to convert to BA insignia. I'm going to steal the idea for the Sentinal too because I don't use the two I have in games.

keep it up


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks Hellados  BT upgrade sprues can be pretty expensive I found. I try to get the BT stuff from ebay/second hand places. 
I'm interested in how you will position the sentinels, it took me a while to find a "natural" crash pose for this guy.

As always my attention quickly jumped to the next thing I wanted to try out.

Inspired by the earlier link I posted, I tried to do something to my DA that could make them a bit more menacing:










After a lot(!) of experimentation I finally found a way to give my boys in green the glowy red eyes with a very subtle OSL! Very pleased with the result. Now I only need to find a way to remove the shiny from the transfers I used... (edit, well that kind of resolved itself as I set the model away from taking the picture with half of a transfer flaking off..)


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## Dragblud da scrunka (Mar 26, 2009)

That marine is sick as hell the OSL is so subtle but amaazing plus the battle board too vey nice stuff going here! +rep


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

Oh yeah that's some very nice OSL there, I'm not a lover of it as such but you're use is very nice.

With the sentinels I reckon Star Wars could be good for inspiration for the AT-ATs and the little ones the Ewoks kill (although everything 40k is better then the SW universe in every way!). I think it may take some careful placing of battlefield wreckage and/or some green stuff to bend the legs a bit.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks guys, comments like those really help with the motivation! 

Another part of the gaming board done! Only 4 more to go after this one.









Another angle









Next to the earlier board









For some reason flickr decides my photos need to be on the dark side, so in real life it's a bit lighter but these pics get the point across


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right I've been playing around with my assault marines again. The first one is pretty much finished, just a matt varnish to take the shine off a bit and make him usable in game. Still doubting about the left shoulder pad if I should put a transfer on there or keep it plain... I really dislike the assault marine marking though:










Also playing around with building barricades from bits I have laying around:

Front









Back









And the mail man delivered my broken promise of not buying anything till the rest was painted :laugh:









As always comments and critiques are welcome!


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## Entarion (Oct 25, 2009)

Like it, like it , like it ! Simple coversions are great and like your highlighting. For the deathwing bone colour I would recommend to give first thicker layer and then water down paint so it has wash consistency. Then give 2-3 layers of "wash" colour and you get absolutely smooth surface. Anyway +rep :so_happy:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks for the tips and comments Entarion!  Will try the washing technique you described, as the army painter bone colour primer I bought seems to give the dreaded grainy texture.

Some quick WiP on the deathwing knights and two deathwing command squad members.

I didn't like the faces on the hooded heads so was thinking about using regular termie heads on them but then I saw a blog post where the blogger had cut out the faces to make them look more like the watchers in the dark. Genius! Now I think they have a proper menacing/brooding vibe. Also not a fan of the flail for the master so I positioned the included powersword to look like it's in its scabbard and he is resting his hand on it.









On the standard bearer I disliked the idea of him having a revered/priceless banner strapped to his back. So I combined the flail holding arm with the banner in the set and voila! a proper deathwing standard bearer. I'm also using the famous guide found around the internet to convert the regular terminator heads to look more like the grey knight ones.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Righto, strike from the skies! Droppod finished 










After long deliberation I have decided to do something else with my deathwing terminators. Having always liked my Dark Angels to lean towards the knightly/black templar side and painting (off)white being the bane of my existence, I have decided that my DA will be timed right after the heresy and the breakup of legions into chapters during the Great Scouring. So whereas the chapter already painted their armour green, the deathwing did not yet paint their armour bonewhite but retained the original legion colour. I'm also planning on using more older armour mark items throughout the army. Another change I made is departing from cork plate and working with bark for the bases. I think it's a change for good.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Quick Wip update on the Deathwing knights/TH/SS termies. Based and ready to go!










And a better shot of the DW test termie: 










Quite happy with how he turned out, feathering in the grey highlights took a crapload of time but that will get faster as I get more practice


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Hooraah! Updates! Been neglecting the whole taking photos and showing my work to you lot of late, so here is some new terrain.

A new small building on which I experimented on with some of my lesser used greens: 
Front









Back









And what is a building without somewhere to put it on...? So I finally finished my home-built battle board!

Finally!!









Detail shot









Top-down (had to climb on a chair to get this shot and still couldn't get it quite sharp)









Hope you guys enjoy them :victory:


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

That gameboard is looking ace - Good going!


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## JAMOB (Dec 30, 2010)

Wow, this is absolutely fantastic mate! Nice painting, nice converting, building, pretty much everything :shok:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks guys, shoutout to @Nordicus for giving me helpfull tips and tricks while I was struggling with finishing the board!


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Matcap said:


> Thanks guys, shoutout to @Nordicus for giving me helpfull tips and tricks while I was struggling with finishing the board!


It was my pleasure mate. Glad to have been of help!


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

Great stuff in here. From well-painted minis to very nice trerrain, this is an inspiring plog!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks Kjell!

A quick sneak peek on what I'm working on:








Kitbashing my bitsbox/DA veterans with the new sternguard.

Yes I know I said I wouldn't buy anything new before everything was painted... I'm sorry I lied to you okay?:grin:


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I'm seeing that Deathwing Knight head show up more and more on PA marines and it does look good! Nice kitbashes.


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Matcap said:


> Yes I know I said I wouldn't buy anything new before everything was painted... I'm sorry I lied to you okay?


Welcome to the "Club of he who says he won't buy anymore until everything is painted, and ends up lying". You're officially member number 824 on this site


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Jacobite said:


> I'm seeing that Deathwing Knight head show up more and more on PA marines and it does look good! Nice kitbashes.


Yeah, I was running out of regular hooded heads and the deathwing knights hoods fit very well I think. Not a big fan of the faces they made in the hoods though, so out comes the hobby knife  



Nordicus said:


> Welcome to the "Club of he who says he won't buy anymore until everything is painted, and ends up lying". You're officially member number 824 on this site


Hello, I'm Matcap.... and I'm... a plastic crack addict...


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Matcap said:


> Yeah, I was running out of regular hooded heads and the deathwing knights hoods fit very well I think. Not a big fan of the faces they made in the hoods though, so out comes the hobby knife


Luckily they hang low enough that it's not too much of an issue?


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Jacobite said:


> Luckily they hang low enough that it's not too much of an issue?


Well I still don't like the chins jutting out from under them. :laugh: They do hang low enough that when you hollow them out, as I've done here and with the DW knights earlier, you get a more menacing look I think.


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

How do you manage your OSL? I've been having a helluva time getting mine to look so smooth  I always have small color "rings"


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

4thswasi said:


> How do you manage your OSL? I've been having a helluva time getting mine to look so smooth  I always have small color "rings"


I know the feeling, it took me ages to find a way to do it to my liking. 
My current method is a sort of reverse glazing which looks really bad until the final steps. :laugh:

- Start by using Scab red on the eye and around it. The area you're painting scab red around the eye is the complete extent of your OSL and we'll tone it down. So don't worry about it looking like a clown now!
- Highlight the eye with a brighter red, I use vallejo blood red here.
- Give a final highlight with white in the part of the eye where you want the glow to emanate from (I use the middle of the eye).
- Blend everything inside the eye down with a red glaze, I used bloodletter here. Make sure to keep it relatively bright. 

To really create the OSL, you want to glaze down the scab red around the eye with several thin layers of waywatcher green in this case or a corresponding colour if your marines have a different main colour. Using this method I find you can more easily control the location and intensity of your OSL, you can use less layers of glaze the closer you get to the source of the light so you get the impression of the light becoming more diffuse the further it gets from the source.

Hope this helps! If not, feel free to ask. k:


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

I'll have to try this out! I paint and collect blood angels so I'll have to use the greens accordingly for their eyes. Looking forward to giving this a shot. Thanks for the quick tut!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

4thswasi said:


> I'll have to try this out! I paint and collect blood angels so I'll have to use the greens accordingly for their eyes. Looking forward to giving this a shot. Thanks for the quick tut!


No problem, looking forward to the results!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Update! Already?? Yes!
Because I have just made (in my opinion) the best time/money - result investment yet.

Behold! My smoke markers.









these can be used as destroyed vehicle markers or just for los blocking terrain.

However, they are a bit more fancy than you would expect:









It does not photograph well but the effect is really quite good. The guy I stole the idea from has put a small video online so you can see it in action.

http://santacruzwarhammer.blogspot.nl/2009/09/great-way-to-watch-your-models-burn.html

In essence they are just stacks of cotton/pillow filling given a light spray of black paint and glued on top of a led candle. This gives the effect of a fire on the inside of a whole lot of smoke. Cost for these six was about 3 euros for me and took 15 minutes. All in All just brilliant.


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Oh I wanted to make these for so long, and every time I forget about it again! Damnit!

Thanks for reminding me. I'll be sure to...




Oh look, a cat!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

I've been neglecting this thread (again) so as part of my newyears hobby resolution I'm going to try to keep track of my hobby backlog on here as well.

After reorganising and cleaning my hobby space:









I came to the conclusion my backlog built up like crazy in a year.

I have several projects going at the same time as I suffer from the same condition as Nordicus described above.

*The stuff that I have in varying stages of building/priming:*
- Droppod
- Razorback
- FW legion Praetors
- 3x landspeeder
- 1x landspeeder typhoon
- Wall of martyrs (the big box)
- Vengeance weapons battery
- 5 ravenwing bikers
- 3 Cities of death buildings
- 10 veterans
- techmarine + servitors
- 10 Forgeworld Iron armour legionnaires

- DV Chaos space marine set

*Built and first basecoats applied: *
- 10 man assault squad
- 20 tac marines
- 6 deathwing termies
- another razorback
- land raider
- land raider crusader
- predator
- 5 deathwing knights
- Crashed Aquilla lander
- 14 old school ruined building corners

*Currently on the work bench:*
- 6 assault squad member conversions basecoated and in varying stages of painting. 
- Wall of martyrs box set, first try out piece done in a way I approve of, just 20+ left to go. I did not like the piles of dead guardsmen all around so I'm also converting these pieces to make them appear to be sticking out of the game board I did earlier.
- Redoing old tactical marines. I can't help myself and I keep going back to stuff I painted earlier to improve them with new techniques I pick up along the way. The latest of these jaunts involve the correct use of decals on the shoulders of my earliest marines. Of course when I'm doing that I see all the other little mistakes I made so I feel the need to tidy up some more... Hence productivity suffers.:laugh:

Pictures of the WiP's will follow when I get home.

(edit because I forgot a bunch...)


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Bah after I took pictures of my WiP's I got frustrated with the paintwork on the assault marines and threw them in the paint remover. I'm going for a smooth finish but some experimentation, sloppy GS work and secondhand bits gave a really bad bumpy look. So back to the drawing board for those I guess :angry:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right! One step closer to completion on my backlog:

A quick snap of my terminator praetor in pre-heresy deathwing colours. 









I did some small conversion work.
This guy was secondhand from ebay and unfortunately the leather straps on his left shoulder were miscast and the sword was a mess. So I resculpted the straps and took the blade of a grey knight to fix his sword. Finally I added the bearded head from the Sternguard kit. 

Hope you like him!

Once again the mental note to get a better camera and photo setup; the feathering of grey highlights into the black and other details are invisible with these kind of pictures..


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right so I'm kind of dumbfounded here. I just started using the army painter angels green basecoat spray. However I just can't seem to get a smooth finish on the mini no matter what I do. It almost always comes out powdery and gives a grainy texture to the mini like in the example below. I tried it inside the house, outside, when it is cold, warm, short burst, long bursts... Anyone have some tips on this?


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Hey great project log 
I enjoyed going through every page a lot of inspiration for a fellow Unforgiven.
Could you post hq version of the OSL marine picture?
Also could you please give some explanation on how did you make the gaming board, me and my mates have the same thing planned but no idea what materials to use or paints?
I want to make destroyed district on a deathworld with volcanic ash and lava here and there. So blacks with dark purple highlights for volcanic crystals and black/grey for ground.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks @Stormxlr!

I'll try to get some better pictures up in the weekend, work permitting. 
On account of the battle board, I built it using this guide:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/6397-how-to-make-modular-terrain

It is quite brilliant and really takes you by the hand on how to build it. 
The only real thing I deviated from is the colour scheme which was kinda inspired by this thread on dakkadakka: 
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/blog/308095.page

Hope that helps! :good:


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

@Matcap
Wow mate, you dont even know how much help that was! This 2 links are golden I was looking for a good guide on how to make a proper gaming board with inbuilt terrain but couldnt find one that was worth a damn. This ones are amazing though.

I will be starting my own project log in few weeks when I get back to uni. Wait for scratch built DA vehicle pool (already started) and perhaps even a Thunderhawk in a few.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

@Stormxlr 

Great! I always need more project logs to keep me inspired and motivated to keep my own going 

Quick update in between work (gonna have to pay for those imperial knights somehow): 
Experimenting with zenithal highlighting on this guy, it works but I really need to keep it dark enough so I don't turn them into salamanders :laugh:


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

It's clearly not Salamanders, fantastic job! Out of interest, as a Pre Heresy Marine, is there a particular reason why he's wearing the green, but not the black of the Legion pre Heresy?


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Vaz said:


> It's clearly not Salamanders, fantastic job! Out of interest, as a Pre Heresy Marine, is there a particular reason why he's wearing the green, but not the black of the Legion pre Heresy?


Thanks!
Well I love the pre heresy models, however I wanted a bit more variety to it than a black pre heresy marines army which I think ravenguard/iron hands do better at the moment. So I decided to situate my army during the great scouring with ravenwing and deathwing still in black and the rest of the legion having repainted to the dark green armour we know and love.

Also keeps the look fluffy when I play either 30k or 40k :grin:

Still undecided if they are pre or post destruction of Caliban though...:scratchhead:


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Matcap said:


> Thanks!
> Well I love the pre heresy models, however I wanted a bit more variety to it than a black pre heresy marines army which I think ravenguard/iron hands do better at the moment. So I decided to situate my army during the great scouring with ravenwing and deathwing still in black and the rest of the legion having repainted to the dark green armour we know and love.
> 
> Also keeps the look fluffy when I play either 30k or 40k :grin:
> ...


Great looking marine! Love the green you got there. How did you manage to do a highlight like this?
I have one problem with it though... Where the hell are the high res pictures :ireful2:? No seriously we need those mate, great stuff in here and I want to see them in all the splendor on a fullscreen!

Do you use DA in 30k?


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## fatmantis (Jun 26, 2009)

nice work..keep it up


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks again guys, I know I should get some sort of decent photo shoot set up, but I'm swamped at the moment. The green is just alot of feathering and a bit of wet blending, starting with a very dark green and working up towards the light. 

As I have a the attention span of a chipmunk, here is another little project. I loved the Librarian that came with the DV box but thought his sword arm was in an odd position so I kitbashed/sculpted him a new sword + arm. It's the first time I have done a bit of basic sculpting and I'm quite pleased with it. Especially happy I managed to perserve the original shoulder pad.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice work on the Librarian! :good:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Now for a change of scenery, I (re)painted the x-wings and Tie fighters from my x-wing miniatures. A nice little distraction which mostly entailed playing with washes and glazes and a bit of osl experimentation 


































I know the Tie fighter engines are off from the canon, but I feel the rule of cool trumps all :grin:


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

What a sweet project log! i have the billowing smoke markers too, i just need to get round to painting them! 

I've also been frustrated by the army painter sprays, they are extremely grainy and range from dissatisfactory right up to completely unusable. Shame, because they would be such useful things if they worked.

OSL looks great on the X Wing models, great job.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

@Iraqiel Thanks for the kind words! 

Painting the smoke markers takes very little time; just a quick spray with a black spray can and you' re done.

I was also very disappointed with the army painter cans. They could've made getting that first basecoat smooth so much easier, now it resulted in my tanks taking a paint stripper bath :angry:. Now I might have to save for an airbrush or just take my time on every mini... 

Some hobby progress has been made, and reverted again. It seems I just can' t help myself when I botch certain parts of a mini, so the libby, which was about 70% done went back in the paint stripper. Can't have a grainy effect to the 10 layers of blending I was doing on his robe now can we? :laugh:

Did build a wet-pallette though so that's some progress I guess :grin:


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

Matcap said:


> I was also very disappointed with the army painter cans. They could've made getting that first basecoat smooth so much easier, now it resulted in my tanks taking a paint stripper bath :angry:. Now I might have to save for an airbrush or just take my time on every mini...
> 
> Some hobby progress has been made, and reverted again. It seems I just can' t help myself when I botch certain parts of a mini, so the libby, which was about 70% done went back in the paint stripper. Can't have a grainy effect to the 10 layers of blending I was doing on his robe now can we? :laugh:
> 
> Did build a wet-pallette though so that's some progress I guess :grin:


Uscks to hear that bro. I would honestly make the investment into the airbrush if i was you. Especially if you plan to continue in the hobby. They are great for large models and to get a basecoat on a model. Ive moved away from spray cans entirely. Wet pallette is also very useful. youre really talented so tehe learning curve on the airbrush shouldnt be that bad for you.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

SwedeMarine said:


> Uscks to hear that bro. I would honestly make the investment into the airbrush if i was you. Especially if you plan to continue in the hobby. They are great for large models and to get a basecoat on a model. Ive moved away from spray cans entirely. Wet pallette is also very useful. youre really talented so tehe learning curve on the airbrush shouldnt be that bad for you.


It does seem like a good idea... though on account of buying a house soon I think my funds will be invested otherwise for the forseeable future :laugh: (Also the reason the updating has been even slower than normal)

Good news though, the libby is done! Still no decent camera so you lot will have to make do with my crappy phone pictures :grin:. Any C&C is more than welcome as I feel like I'm hitting a ceiling skillwise. I just can't get paint to thin in such a way that it is still managable but won't feth up a model when I try to get smooth transitions with 5-6+ layers.


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Matcap said:


> Any C&C is more than welcome as I feel like I'm hitting a ceiling skillwise. I just can't get paint to thin in such a way that it is still managable but won't feth up a model when I try to get smooth transitions with 5-6+ layers.


Bloody awesome mate, you are doing a much better job than I! Perhaps scan the project logs section and look for people who's skill you'd like to emulate, then approach them for advice.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Iraqiel said:


> Bloody awesome mate, you are doing a much better job than I! Perhaps scan the project logs section and look for people who's skill you'd like to emulate, then approach them for advice.


Thanks man  that's a good tip as well, been working off of tutorials so far, so might need to start becoming a bit more pro-active with asking people their methods.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Small update with some progress on a company master conversion. De-skullifying a chaplain is taking ages. :laugh:


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Now that is a marine! Nice! You got a bitz rundown lf what you used?


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

torealis said:


> Now that is a marine! Nice! You got a bitz rundown lf what you used?


Thanks! And sure :grin:

- Chaplain Seraphicus for the main body (I dislike all the skulls so am spending alot of time taking the skulls off and hiding chopping work.
- Head from Chapter master Balthasar from the Dark Vengeance set, heightend with a greenstuff neck.
- Relic blade from the ravenwing command set
- Small bits from Dark angel veterans set (the cape clip on his shoulder is a part that is attached to a belt on that sprue) 
- Bits and bobs from the new sternguard set; like the grenades. 
- Small amounts of greenstuff work.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Thanks bud! You might see something similar in my blog soon!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Looking forward to it! :good:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right, for a quick update what is coming: 

Currently working on some command squad members that have been inspired by this artwork from the DA codex. 










I'm pretty much done with building the guy in the front and I hope to be able to up some pictures after work. 

Other than that I'm trying to find a space marine banner that is being held in the left hand... :scratchhead:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Didn't have a chance to do so yesterday so here is the promised WIP shot:


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Looking good so far mate :good:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks! :grin:

Armour basecoated and the robe pretty much done now on the outside:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right, another bit of progress! making a bit of headway with the armour highlighting and starting OSL on the eyes. Also metallics are in the works.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

And a late evening photo with dodgy lighting to finish off today:
Some small details and the shield remain to be done.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

That's coming along nicely.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks man  Close to finishing now! Final touchups and deciding how to paint the scrollwork on the shield and other shoulder pad. Don't really want to go gold on them as well...


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Some solid greens you got on that guy - The shading and transparencies are really nice. Great job on him! :good:

Only thing I noticed was that the robe is missing some contrast compared to the green armor. Perhaps a single highlight more might help a bit?


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Nordicus said:


> Some solid greens you got on that guy - The shading and transparencies are really nice. Great job on him! :good:
> 
> Only thing I noticed was that the robe is missing some contrast compared to the green armor. Perhaps a single highlight more might help a bit?


Good point, thanks! 

Done:









Still doesn't show that well as I seem to have too much light here... Will fix when I get a proper lightbox.


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Amazing =) DA veterans are awesome , how do you do those highlights? just colour blending right?


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Stormxlr said:


> Amazing =) DA veterans are awesome , how do you do those highlights? just colour blending right?


 thank you. Yeah it's a mix of blending and a bit of feathering to create zenithal highlighting.

Edit: Quick tutorial on feathering for those interested:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1273


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Matcap said:


> thank you. Yeah it's a mix of blending and a bit of feathering to create zenithal highlighting.
> 
> Edit: Quick tutorial on feathering for those interested:
> 
> http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1273


Thanks =) I really should look up more stuff on cmon , always forget they have amazing tuts there =/
Btw, been fan of your stuff for awhile, i like you colours for DA and the models are represented right =) i think you really capture the grim brooding darkness DA supposed to give off.
=)


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Stormxlr said:


> Thanks =) I really should look up more stuff on cmon , always forget they have amazing tuts there =/
> Btw, been fan of your stuff for awhile, i like you colours for DA and the models are represented right =) i think you really capture the grim brooding darkness DA supposed to give off.
> =)


Wow thanks! That means a lot to me, I'm kind of introvert on the hobby towards others (outside of the internet) so reading this kind of praise really motivates me!


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

This guy looks amazing. Very good work. You deserve a cookie for this one.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks lads! Better pics will be up on a later date because the missus and me just bought a house! So it will be packing and moving time now. Still wondering how to transport this: 









Any tips and/or tricks to get that across safely?


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

So we moved house, and now I have a complete painting desk instead of a cupboard! 

Next up on the to-do list, my wall of martyrs set. I'm not too keen on the 100's of dead bodies all over it, so I might change them up a bit...

Also thinking about a colourscheme for pre-heresy Dark Angels... I might try out the old-school GW way of painting dark angels, which appear almost black but with hints of dark green. Like this:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

And here is a first WIP look of some de-deadcadian'ified (yes that is a word now) pieces of the wall of martyrs:


















The only real problem I face now is which finish to give the rocks, as I had to sell my gameboard (it wouldn't survive the journey) and though plans to make a new one are there, they won't be set in motion for quite some time...


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

If doing PreHeresy Dark Angels, they were black armoured .


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

True, though I have been seeing some pre-heresy DA which have black armour with a greenish hue to it. This appeals to me instead of the standard black, as there are already quite a few black armoured legions out there.

Still might want to hold off to see what FW does with them (in a few years). I'm a bit anxious, as I don't like the Asterix and Obelix asthetics of the helmets you see here and there in the art.

Edit: on another sudden flash of inspiration: I will attempt some truescale marines seeing as all the bases are going to be bigger anyway :grin:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right we're back in the game! (Never really left, but always forgot to take pictures.)

Finished my Deathwing Banner bearer for the monthly painting comp here on heresy: 










And because I finally got to playing with my GF's camera, as promised some higher quality pictures of some of my older work as well:


























It does bring out a lot of flaws in the mini's... Must.. resist.. to do touch up's. :nono:

Other than that, I magnetised my first model! My predator can now wield any combination of weaponry. Pictures of that later. 

Oh and I also broke apart the chapter master/azrael model I was building earlier, some things are bugging me about it. So I'll have to get back to it.


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Interesting to see green deathwing, and great job with that painting too, it looks swell! I am also a huge fan of the inclusion of the gray knight sword, it really gives that veteran character.


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## Stormxlr (Sep 11, 2013)

Iraqiel said:


> Interesting to see green deathwing, and great job with that painting too, it looks swell! I am also a huge fan of the inclusion of the gray knight sword, it really gives that veteran character.


Pretty sure his Deathwing in that picture is black? 
@Matcap nice to see your updates finally =) how did you shadow the wings on the shield? I'm painting the storm shields on my knights now and they look very flat.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks! 

The green dude is indeed my company champion from earlier this year. So no DW there I'm afraid. 
@Stormxlr my recipe for the wings is: 
•	VGC Ghost grey + VGC bone white basecoat in 3:1 ratio
•	Mix 2:1 Badab black (I have an old pot still but I read at several places that Army painter dark tone is a dead on match) + agrax earthshade
•	Wash all the basecoated area
•	Highlight back up the original mix

At step 3 you might think you ruined it because it looks really messy, but I find with highlighting it back up again you clean that up nicely. 

Hope that helps! Looking forward to seeing your work.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right, birthday came and went, and I think I have a new love: 










Thanks @Sethis and @LazyG for the tips on what expansions to get :grin:


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

Nice work! Can't wait to see your repaints of the X-Wing stuff! :good:

If you want to ask anything, or are looking for tips on lists and so on then throw a post out into the FFG section. Always happy to help!


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

Awesome! You will love it methinks. Though it is a bit of a web list, try out superdash (Dash Rendar, Outrider title, Heavy Laser Cannon, Kyle Katarn, Push the Limit) for a laugh, and the doom shuttle (Shuttle with Darth suicidal damage dealing on the heavy HP for the Lamda shuttle). Both are pretty amusing.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Sethis said:


> Nice work! Can't wait to see your repaints of the X-Wing stuff! :good:
> 
> If you want to ask anything, or are looking for tips on lists and so on then throw a post out into the FFG section. Always happy to help!





LazyG said:


> Awesome! You will love it methinks. Though it is a bit of a web list, try out superdash (Dash Rendar, Outrider title, Heavy Laser Cannon, Kyle Katarn, Push the Limit) for a laugh, and the doom shuttle (Shuttle with Darth suicidal damage dealing on the heavy HP for the Lamda shuttle). Both are pretty amusing.


Thanks guys, I know where to find you for more info! :grin:

Repaints are upcoming as soon as I decide on colours and I'm also playing around with building proper asteroid fields, more on those later!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Right, to prove I haven't been idle of late, some WiP's to show!:










From left to right: 
My half built Nephilim.

My now fully magnetised and operational predator with its first basecoat:









My current painting WiP an assault marine that is way overdue:









And last but not least my chapter master/captain conversion I started some time ago but took apart and started over again. This time making him look leaner and with more DA gubbins. I removed pretty much all of the chaplain's skulls and greenstuffed the resulting damage. Also removed the censor bearer thing on the side, which I really didn't like, hopefully creating a more knightly look:









Also new 32 mm bases! Got 50 of the buggers, so now to rebase everything! They do look a lot better in my opinion. Makes the marines look bigger and gives more room to create on the bases themselves.

I am running into a problem with my slow painting though. The assault marine is the second of a squad I'm painting, but I've switched techniques along the way between the squad members.. So might need to repaint the old one. :scratchhead:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Woohoo, update time!

I finished another assault squad member and started rebasing my units. Also redid the original assault squad's guy armour to fit in with the new guy. Some small touch up work to do here and there, but they are mostly finished. 

Started using a slightly different colour scheme for the bases, as well as a bit of weathering pigments to blend the boots in with the bases. Also redid the way I paint the OSL in the eyes a little bit. 

The pictures are quick phone camera pictures as the lady of the house has taken the good camera with her. C&C are as always very welcome.


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

So I've been absent a bit, had a bit of a low motivation/other priorities period. But then it started itching again because my little brother got back into playing and painting and the taxreturn this year gave some financial leeway. So I might have gotten a little carried away in my "Hooray I'm back" spending...:


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

I have returned! Though still active on the hobby side of things, I was too lazy to snip any pictures or post about it on the forums. So here to remedy that a view of what I've been up to:

What's that you say, you don't like the legs on the Knight Warden kit? Sure cut up your 120 Euro model into bits, hoping it will turn out alright.










Note: I decided to post about this build when it was halfway through, so I don't have pictures of all phases, apologies!

Well after a lot of cutting and wailing and gnashing of teeth we got a set of legs going! 
I really didn't like the saggy stance of the original pose, so opted to put the legs closer together and in more of a striding pose.










To get what you see above a lot of work had to be done. The balls that the Knight uses as ankles needed to be cut away and redone completely from greenstuff. The support rods on the sides of the ankle also needed resizing. To do this I cut away the original support rod and replaced them with plasticard rod. 

Also shown in these puctures is the resculpting of the hip joints. These where the main culprits in the saggy look of the original model, so I cut them off (wincing all the time), then resculpting them in greenstuff. Something I found lacking in some of the other knight reposes is that people tended to leave the hydraulic rods and tubing around the hip area out, because it can be hard to reposition those. 

The solution to the hydraulics was to reuse some of the leftover plasticard rods to cut the piping to size and fiddle it in there. For the tubing I just put a blowdryer to the parts to make them more malleable and position them how I wanted them as they cooled down. I do feel these details add a lot to the model and it would be a shame to let them out.

A front view of this part of the construction:









And with the first part of the body on top. 









Having reposed the legs, I wanted to maximize my use out of the kit, so lets magnetise everything!

The build continued as a regular knight kit build, but I followed an excellent how to guide at From the Fang to make sure I could use all the pieces: http://fromthefang.blogspot.nl/2015/06/magnetising-imperial-knight-warden-kit_20.html

This converting was a stage which I didn't photograph, and which he explains a lot better so I'll leave you with the part I'm at now: with several arm pieces, the backmounted guns, faceplates and the stubber/melta magnetised. All the armour parts come off to facilitate painting later on.



















Cheers!:grin:

(Better shots of finshed other models seen in the pics will be sure to follow)


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

A progress picture! It's starting to look like an actual knight:
I added a bit of greenstuff to the pin holding the upper body and legs together so it would have less of a slouch. The knight was almost falling over forwards due to the forward tilting position I placed the hips in.










All armour is still removable due to the awesome way the kit works.


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Matcap I just went through your blog again from page 1 and it is awesome to see how far you have come and what an awesome DA force you are assembling - Almost time for an Army shot, don't you think?

The Knight is looking excellent, an imposing sight striding into any battle!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks @Iraqiel !

I must admit my forum attendence has been a bit low, and my hobby work has also progressed slowly. But time permitting I might be able to get a proper update going this weekend. :good:


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Matcap said:


> But time permitting I might be able to get a proper update going this weekend.


Awesome mate, looking forward to it!


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## Medic Marine (Jun 28, 2009)

Great looking DA!


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