# Wolfbane's Space Wolves project kicks off.



## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Hey all, for those who have not seen my introduction thread. Im Chris from Wiltshire in England. I used to have a Space Wolves army back in the mid nineties, and loved them so much, that Ive decided to start another one.
Its been over a decade since I daubed paint over power armour so dont expect miracles. Though I hope to see improvement in the coming months.
I purchased the SW codex on release, for a bit of nostalgic reading, and caught the bug. Though its been a while for it to come to fruition.
My darling wife wanted to get me a present, as I was bored at home with busted toes, and she vaguely remembered me with the codex, so I was surprised with a box of wolf guard termies. She didnt want to go ork or eldar, as she wasnt sure what I wanted/needed, so she took the easy option of an army I had nothing for.
Long story short, I was happy and very eager to get on. So threw the guys together, one with TH/SS and four with twin wolf claws. As I have been decimated by assault termies a number of times.
As it was spur of the moment, I have run into a few problems already, though they should all be fixed now for future additions. The first problem being undercoat. I had a part tin of white kicking about the garage, so I used that. Sadly something had gone wrong with it at some point, which made it all blotchy, but some very fine sandpaper resolved the problem mostly. I have seen quitea few colour schemes for the SW recently, and really wanted the light blue style, like my previous SW force. Though not the solid block of SW grey I used previously. I think I only used like 5 colours to paint my guys back then :laugh:
So White was my prefered undercoat. With a base coat of shadow grey, which was dryer than a nuns chuff. As expected, I over thinned it and ended up with more of a glaze than a base coat, but it worked out alright. After the base, I washed with badab black. Then a layer of 1;1 Shadow grey/SW grey, for the much lighter look. Then a Highlight of 3;1 SW grey/ Shadow grey. And a final extreme highlight of SW grey.
Heres some pics of the first guys armour.
















I am no expert when it come to painting, so feel free to give me a few pointers. Although I am happy with the overall colour scheme.
Im used to batch painting orks, which are less taxing to paint when fully assembled. The power armour on these guys is horrid to get in under the arms. But luckily, as I had no plastic glue when assembling, I easily managed to pop the SS off of one guy to allow access. I will probably paint them without arms in future. 
Basing them was the least of my worries when assembling, but now having seen some cool water effect ice bases, and other types, Im glad I used superglue to assemble them. As I will be popping them off and doing something pretty with the bases at some point. 
So thats it for now, I do plan on getting the battleforce soon along with some razorbacks, and the forgeworld rhino doors etc. I will get some more pictures up as I paint, untill then, please feel free to offer tips and advice. It will be greatly appreciated.
Oh yeah, I am considering wether or not to wash the armour with asurmen blue, or a glaze of a slighter darker mix than the second basecoat to add definition. But Im apprehensive about ruining what I have achieved so far. If anyone has seen a similar technique applied to light blues, can you please link me to it. Cheers :grin:


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## demon bringer (Oct 14, 2008)

not a bad start, think that painting beats mine


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## lunawolf (Sep 30, 2011)

Nice start even if i dont like the baby blue scheme in general  Subscribed !


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Thanks guys!
Im still chugging away with the armour on the other 4 guys, so no update pics yet. But hope to have something to show for my hardwork in a couple of days.


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

Looking good so far. Nice pose. The only thing is you have the shoulder pads on the wrong shoulders.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Oh crap!
I didnt realise they had a specific side to go on. Once again, I am happy I didnt use plastic glue.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Fixed. Three of them were wrong.


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## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

nice job!

yeah the shoulders have specific sides for the termies, the hole goes on the front, as it were.


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## Asamodai (Oct 19, 2008)

He looks good to me. Have a little rep.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Very nice looking start mate, loving the more muted tones. Keep up the good work.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Thanks guys!
And YAYAYAY finally finished the armour.
Not much of an update, but here they are.









The only kind of fluffy thing I had for my army so far is my concerns about headware. Why on earth would you be trusted to such powerful armour, if you are too stupid to keep your helmets on? Go figure.
But anyway, thats why all my termies have their heads covered. Hopefully, depending on the heads in the battleforce, all of my greyhunters will have helmets too. Bloodclaws can be the young impetuous ones with no helmets, same for the longfangs who have been doing this so long they no longer give a crap. Its always been one of my pet hates with space marines. IC,s obviously will be as they come, unless I feel a helmet would look better.
Due to my complete lack of gymnastic ability, I will paint termies with their arms and pads off in future. Probably the troops too, depending on their pose.
I also put together a wet pallette using a lidded chinese box, which I think is seen on the left of the picture. It is simply one of the greatest discoveries since joining heresy. I love the damn thing!
Now I am spoilt for choice as to what fun bits to paint.


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

Great looking stuff ... + Rep


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

Very nice work, I am digging the color of the armor, very smooth. Looking forward to seeing them finished.


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## Tossidin (Dec 10, 2008)

They look wery good, I like how you paint your armour.
I am definitely following this log!

On the fluffy part about helmets, it is known that the wolves function better without their helmets (sight, smell and such is improved), but that doesn't stop them from putting them on if they deem it is needed. And yes, I hate the unhelmeted seargant stuff and such myself


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## stuff (Jan 16, 2010)

I think these are some sweet terminators. Seeing as you have taken a break from the hobby this is quite some way to come back. Personally I think that you could maybe take this colour scheme to the next level and maybe have slightly more progressive highlights, blending up to the colour you have used for your most extreme highlights more subtley, you clearly have the skill required!


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

Great looking termies!!

I follow a similar idea and make all my Grey Hunters have helmets, it helps distinguish them from Blood Claws if nothing else. My Wolf Guard are a mixture of helmeted and unhelmeted though. 

And let us know how you get on with the wet pallette

Rev


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Thanks again guys.

I never took into account the heightened senses, but again fluff wise I think it still works. I imagine the sight and hearing would be improved further, by the addition of whatever tech is inside the helmets. But I can imagine long fangs wanting to be able to sniff out sneaky buggers creeping up behind them etc.
I was concerned about the level of blending when doing the armour, but this wet pallette has opened my eyes to some of the more delicate taskssuch as that. I am currently having a play with the yellow shoulder pads, using more subtle changes, and mixing it up with the previous blend. So I have no idea what ratios the mixes are, but it seems to be working out ok so far. I will try and get a snap up later, if I get them finished. The shoulder pads that is, not the whole minis.


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

Damn but you are brave ... I am not ready to try a wet pallete yet.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Im not sure why you would find the wet pallette daunting. I just looked at it as a way to keep paints wet for longer, and it is so far. Ive not experienced problems like others have.

Well, Im not at all happy with my yellow pads. See them in the picture. Im not sure if its me or the paint, but I just couldnt get golden yellow to do a nice coat. It was always blotchy, even straight from the pot. I wanted a darker yellow, and I thought I caught it to my liking. But the finish is crap. I do rather like the deep red I used on the claws and left pads, so I may use that on the right pads as well. Failing that I will get a different pot of yellow and see if it makes a difference.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Actually, they look a lot better in the picture. They are actually a lot lot worse.


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## Turnip86 (Oct 7, 2011)

Did you paint the yellow straight over your basecoat? Because I always found puting a single base coat of brown over the area before going yellow works well. 

I used to use snakebite leather or occasionally vomit brown although the vomit brown was always very thinly pigmented. 

It just helps give better coverage and should stop the blotchyness although to be honest it doesnt seem bad in the pics.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Yeah, I started with a base of vomit brown and blended it up with golden yellow. Which I now found (google search) is also a very low pigment paint. So Im guessing the paint choices were my main problem. I keep looking at them, and the pads are starting to grow on me. Oh I also applied a thinlayer of Gryphonne sepia over the top to try and mute the blotchy bits. 
So update with colours before I forget.
The red pads and claw parts.
Two layers of thin scab red, for an even coat then two successive layers, brightened with blood red. Then a highlight of the same with a little more blood red, with a blood red extreme highlight.
Im not sure what you call the markings on their left pad, so I will call them termie honours. Started off with a very dark grey mix of Chaos black and skull white. With a wash of badab black. Thats how I paint my Goffs trousers. Then a layer of codex grey, a highlight of fortress grey, and an extreme highlight of 1/1 fortress grey and bleached bone.
Ive also gone through and base coated all of the gold bits with scorched brown. Its definitely a lot more fun doing the detailed bits than the armour. Only a week before my battleforce arrives, so Id better pull my finger out and get these finished soon.
Sorry my updates dont really show much progress, Im a very slow painter.


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

Very nice so far, yellow is a notoriously hard color to paint anyway. GW does make a yellow foundation that will cover much better, I suggest picking some up.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

I will definitely give it a go when I get the chance to swing by the hobby shop.
Well,Ive been procrastinating recently with my termies. Ive been playing COD :wink:
But I have put some time into them over the last couple of days. One guy is finished except his wolf claws. Im going to do all of them at the same time with the glowy lightning type effect I used on my necrons many moons ago.
And the other four guys are coming along nicely. I have also had in a delivery of RTV silicone, 3 feet of green stuff, Some water clear casting resin, sculpting tools and am expecting a battle force in the morning. So I have to crack on and get these guys finished so that I can play with my new goodies. Im looking forward to some serious conversion work, and pretty base detailing.

Off topic a little. Should I start a seperate topic for the next squad of men, or keep it all in this one? I wasnt sure of the etiquette to project logs. Individual projects from an army vs the project of the whole army scenario.


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

Keep going in this P-Log man, it helps keep things organized and other on track to follow your work. Every now and then when I do a random mini, or what to showcase a certain unit I pop it in the modeling and painting threads, but I keep everything in my plog. 

p.s keeping going at the terms i want to se them finished lol!


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

:shok:
The battleforce arrived this morning.
And not one single MM or ML in there!
Im not too pleased with any of the options to be honest. There are lots of choices. But no repeats of the bits I want to use. Good job I got some greenstuff to play with.
Guess I had better get some work done, then can have a fiddle with the bits later on.


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

im liking them a lot mate, cant wait to see your detailing


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

No ML at all that’s surprising. You’re going to have to hit Ebay up then.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

On the sw sprue you only get bolters/bolt pistols, one storm bolter, plasma pistols and one plasma gun. Not even a lowly flamer.
The scout sprue has a heavy bolter \m/ ROCK ON!
I cant see the SW marine sprue in the database, but I would assume this is the same one used in that. Oh well, fingers crossed someone sees my post in the trade section and can help me out. I begrudge paying 5 or 6 quid for one weapon. Its absurd.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

YES!!! Finally!
The termies are finished, apart from the bases. Which I will start today :biggrin:


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)




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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

I have also popped them off their bases now, in order to experiment with the ice effect bases. So todays mission is to get to grips with the waterclear resin and see what effects can be achieved with it. Woohoo fun stuff!
I also got some meltaguns and an ml guy courtesy of crabpuff. Manythanks my good man.


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

Really like the effect you have got on your claws, I still haven't found a effect I can do myself


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Its actually pretty simple to do. I saw it in a tutorial somewhere years ago, where a guy was painting lightning inside a bottle. Though its done in reverse and with different colours.
The claws were based black and then thick edge highlighted in dark angels green. Also do the tips and add a few lines across the claws. Then go over that again with a thinner highlight of dark angels green with a bit of bad moon yellow, then again with more yellow added. Finally a very thin edge highlight of skull white. And when you do the bits going across the claws, try and make it jagged like lightning instead of a straight line. Its a technique I picked up with my necron army, and I love it.
So I have done a trial run with the ice bases. Heres a pic of the before shot.








I used three plastic shotglasses I found in poundland, with the bottoms cut off, and stuck them to a piece of plastic.
One is painted straight onto the plastic using a variety of blues. One is painted over gravel, and the middle one is just a test one where I can try adding streaks and other effects to the resin. 
They have now been filled with resin and Im just waiting for it to set before I have another play with it.
The painting is quite rough as I just wanted to see how the colours worked out. I will probably try a more intricate pattern when doing the final things.


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

Very nice work man, the claws are sweet. I'm looking froward to see how the bases turn out


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

Fantastic looking Termies you have there. Nice and crisp look to them.


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

Looking great. Those claws look fantastic. I have to say though, that the pelts look a bit flat.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Thanks for the kind words guys.
I get what you mean about the pelts. They didn't turn out quite as expected. Monochrome wasnt working for me. When I get some primer, I will have a go at one of the spare pelts in the battleforce and see about coming back and repainting these differently.
Update on the ice bases. They still have not set properly. Im guessing because of a bad mix ratio or cure temparature. They are near a radiator now, so hopefully will harden off a bit by this evening. 
I have also had a go at making a mould of the wolf style helmets from the sw sprue. If all gos to plan, then my greyhunters can all have cool helmets. And the final task last night was to customise one of the backpacks. I quite like the wolf head backpack that some of the ic's have. I think it comes with the sw extra bitz sprue from gw. But I wanted a crack at making my own. So I used the wolf heads from the back of the two handed frost axes on the sw sprue. Along with one of the backpacks. A bit of cutting and shaping, some pins and greenstuff and this is what I came up with.








I started with them facing upwards, but they just looked a little ridiculous, so I bent them back downwards a bit. I like the look of it, its chunky. I will paint the teeth up as metal to imitate a stylised exhaust grill. This was my first attempt with green stuff. Other than blobs to help hold necrons together. Im not overly keen on it, as it is supposed to look like a pipe. I will have a play with it tonight and see if I cant sort it out a little better. Then make a mould of it for the rest of my guys.


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## jamesknouse (Oct 28, 2009)

I like the packs!


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

Nice little conversion on the packs man


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## jamesknouse (Oct 28, 2009)

If you wanted you could cut out that bit of handle between the hands on the thunder hammer and use it to connect the wolf heads to the packs. Just be sure to use a wire to hold it in place. It would have that finished look that you are wanting I bet.


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

I think that they might look better if they are actually facing down a little bit. The conversion is a good one though.


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## Wolfbane (Oct 22, 2011)

Thanks for the feedback on the pack guys 
I thinned the greenstuff back and smoothed it into more of a tube looking appearance. But Im still not too happy with it. The idea is sound, but I cant quite get the look Im after. Its currently inbetween some layers of silicone, so I dont have a picture yet. I had some left over from a little project I was volunteered/forced to do with the kids, so I thought Id get a copy of it as is, just in case. Tommorrow I will pull it apart and have another go at it. Those handle parts and maybe downward facing is a very possible idea.
I made a major cock up with my mould for the wolf head helmets. It was my first foray into rtv silicone, though I have made one part latex moulds before. And everything was going perfectly. But being over eager with it, I forgot to apply a release agent between the first and second cast of the mould. Which left me with a one part mould as you can see below. If you look carefully, there is a colour difference between the top and bottom of the picture, as that is where the two parts were supposed to come apart. But the heads popped out easy enough, so I thought I would try it as it was. Lacking any resin other than the water clear stuff at present. I used some of that to test the muould out. Shockingly enough, it worked out ok. But this damn clear resin is giving me trouble. The heads came out ok, and were really well cast, except one which had a huge buble in the nose. But the resin was still tacky, so I left them to one side to cure properly. And they proceeded to run slightly and the details were lost. But they still look cool. I will have to find a use for them.

















So on with the ice bases which had finally set earlier on his evening. Thats 48 hours for the plastic consistency I was expecting from it. Here they are after some more experimentation.









The one on the left is the one that had the sand base to it. I sealed the sand as best I could and didnt think there would be any bubbles but I was wrong. There were none when it was poured, but they appeared overnight. The photo doesnt quite capture it properly, but the bubbles are almost glittery in that one. So sand bases are not recomended. Im not sure if it shows in the photo but its also full of fingerprints as that one became the mess around one as soon as air bubble removed it from the running for best base option. So onto the other two.









These two are much more useful to the learning curve. The lips from surface tension have been trimmed off then they were rubbed smooth with successive grades of sandpaper, or abrasive paper if you want to be a specifics nazi. 100-120-180-320 in that order. I can go further than that, but Im not after the perfect clear look.
So the one on the right of that picture, is the one painted straight onto the smooth plastic. The left side was finished in matt varnish, and the right was done with gloss (ard coat). The right to me looks more like water, and the pattern under it would have to be significantly different in order to look realistic. The left however looks more ice like in my opinion, so matt varnish it is.
The left in the picture, is the test piece. Straight fenris grey was used here. I intended to try adding streaks to it with citadel paints on toothpicks, but it failed miserably. I dont doubt that there are resin tinting products that could achieve that effect, but Im not going to buy any to experiment with. As I accidentally found something I much prefer. Its not obvious in the picture, but that section of resin has multiple particles of paint in it. Skull white, fortress grey and ultramarine blue. After the streaking attempt failed, I just gave it a darn good stirring to see what happened. The paint seperated into lots of smaller particles, which kind of frosted the resin. I broke a piece off and have been looking at it and through it, over other colours. And I am surprisingly pleased with the effect. Again, the left of this one is ard coated and the right is matt varnished. Now the right section of that looke to me more like ice thn any of the others. Now in my head, I can picture the look that will be achieved by basing using pattern from the right example, and using the mixed resin over the top, but thinner layer of resin. They are about 8mm thick at the moment, which is overkill, plus pouring them thinner will allow the pattern to show through the frosted resin a little better. So I am starting a final test piece now, using the thinner layer of frosted resin (without the blue) and using multiple shades to find the best colour combo. A thing to be aware of if you are going to try the paint resin mix, is that some of the paint settles at the bottom. So you will have to have your mix a little more coloured than you want the final piece, as some of it will settle. That also has the knock on effect of lightening the base colours. Hence why I am going to try another piece before I start on the actual bases. Now, to get this painted and poured before I go to bed. Oh and the mix for the resin I was using is correct, the manufacturer thinks it is my current room temperature that caused the slow setting times. They recomended an extra 0.2ml catalyst and keep near a radiator. Fingers crossed it works this time.


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## troybuckle (Nov 24, 2010)

The ice bases are a very cool idea and with some more practice I think that you will be turning out come sweet customs bases. However, the paint scheme under the ice seems a little unrealistic, I think that if you tried stipling the colors on instead of painting them on it might have a better effect.


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