# Resurrecting Languishing Chaos Projects



## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

So I've had a chaos list since early in 2nd ed, and I was drawn to it all those years ago as a challenge. The chaos minis of yore were the hardest thing to paint that workshop made. They were the most bizarre, the most intricate, the mot difficult, and when done well the most spectacular. Since then I've had many droughts of time, money, and interest. But along the way there have been a number of projects that I planned, collected the pieces for, and still have half finished on the art-desk . . . while other less demanding projects have come and gone.

I'm hoping that starting a project log here will motivate me to finish a few of them.

Among the notable ones are a quadrupedal hellcannon, an Iron warriors vindicator, a number of heavy obliterator conversions. 

My new goal is to finish not 1 but 2 chaos vindicators. I have 1 in process, it needs more details and sculpting but most of the major pieces are there.

The second one will cannibalize the unfinished hellcannon-monster, and use its upper half and a rhino chassis as the basis for a new possessed vindcator. . . . I'm going to try to build a sunken deck in the back and have, perhaps some daemons or chaos squats shoveling fuel/corpses/ammunition into its gut.

Pics of raw materials to come.

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

There can be something very invigorating about finishing something that's languished half-finished for a long time, it feels nice to clear the decks. I'd had a Forge World Death Guard Dreadnought sat in the back of my paint station for about 2 years, I put some spikes on it just after I got it then I kind of never did anything with it...earlier this year I thought 'what the hell' and set to finishing it off, extending the armour and adding a few other custom touches. It felt great to get it finished and usable at last, so I say go for it - get to work finishing off your Chaos guys


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Project Logs without pictures have a limited life span so hurry hurry with some pictures.



The Wraithlord said:


> Before posting/starting a project log here on Heresy Online, we would ask that you actually have something to show before you start the thread. Posting a log that says "I will be doing so and so army, stay tuned" quickly clutters the forums and leads to disinterest from other members. Also, when posting pics of your work, instead of just naming the model, try to describe the work that went into it, the things you might do differently the next time around, what you liked about the over all finish and what you didn't, etc. Things like this will lead to a better quality of log and also to better feedback on your work from others. Logs that are begun in the above manner, with no pictures or progress shown from the start will be deleted.


That aside I love the older CSM minis and look forward to seeing them in your Plog.

What Legion are you going for?


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Duly noted!

My apologies. That's what I get for impulse posting. Should this be deleted I absolutely understand.

I started this thinking about what I want to finish while away from my minis and without access to my my photos or digital camera.

My army has long been a mix of things. In second ed I had an Iron Warriors army with some god troops and a mix of more generic renegades. My older squads of more generic rogue trader type renegades are in sort of a dark metal. It was originally a mixture of dwarf bronze, blood red, chaos black, and some brown wash, but the results could be inconsistent and labor intensive. By the time I finished the most recent of those units I'd switched largely to tin bitz, with some washes and highlights. While it's not great for characters, it looks good on units. The overall dark desaturated look is suitably evil, and it makes an excellent foil for accents . . . horns, crests, tentacles, weapons, trim, they all stand out nicely.

The vindicator that's partially done I plan to paint up in Iron Warriors colors.

The other will likely be in the dark metal scheme. Or a crossover of the two. The units I painted in 3rd and 4th ed were a mix of iron warriors and that dark metal. So there might be a happy mix for a vindicator as well.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

So here goes. I'm going to start this with the project log I made of my scratch obliterators. They were concieved and completed in 2004, it just so happens that I documented the process. =) They were my first real 'from-scratch' project. 

I started with three of a single body of the original obliterators and three pairs of the same 2 arms. Clearly not a compelling way to assemble a squad that is supposed to be infinitely mutable. Those obliterator models simply became the armatures for the rest of the proejct. Mutable indeed!

So here's the first obliterator early in the process.

*Obliterator 1*










- The first obliterator is . . . my least favorite. All three suffer from the poor pose of the original model-armature, but I think this is the most staid and static of the three. I began all three by bulking out the body and getting the essential cylinders in place to represent the greaves and sabatons, and bulking up the chest and shoulders. Under the shoulder pads on are the original; obliterator weapon arms. The new gear sprouted out from the old. I'm still dissatisfied with the way the more 'organic' right arm+shoulder ended up. At the time I didn't have any really striking solutions on how to make that big conglomerate of barrels ands spikes mesh with the torso in a believable way.

There are a number of details I like about this guy. This is the first of two of the obliterators who use old epic titan heads that were spares when I bought an old Banelord. (Which makes a brilliant dreanought!) The backpack powerplant is simply 2 ork bolters trimmed down and fitted together. The smoke stacks are actually the banner poles from an old lead Juggernaut. I never linked them and left them off my Juggers, but they were perfect for this guy. Most of the visible guns however come from a metal weapons pack from Warzone. I don't know how many folks here played warzone, but the US headquarters for the company that made it was right outside of Philadelphia and they promoted it pretty heavily around here. Anyone reading this who would like to rehash old battles feel free to let me know! But I digress. There is some Brotherhood multibarreled gun with a flamer attachment that makes up most of the right arm. Along with a cylinder from a circuit board and a cannon arm from the original obliterator. The left arm is sporting a pretty clear chunk of 2nd edition terminator chainfist, a few smaller barrels on the inside of the arm from the original obliterator arm, and a warzone 'dethlockdrum' heavy machine gun.

Hmm. It might just be that using Both original obliterator arms on this guy is what makes him weak. Those old models were horrendous. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I used them as the armature. It was either laziness or that was the boundary of my confidence for this level of miniatures work.

Anyway, the left shoulder, the greaves, and the sabatons I am much happier with than the right arm. Sculpting trim on chaos armor is a chore. =/ And I could do a much better job of it now.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Alrighty, on to Obliterator number 2!

I think this guy is my favorite of the 3. All the parts came together the most fluidly here. The arms strike a good balance between organic and 'marine armor.' His chest and leg plating decorations worked out well. The only part that isn't as successful I think, as Obliterator 1 is his butt. Obliterator 1 has a square armored plate on his ass, and this guy I . . . was vague. I think perhaps I was too keen on using the 'chaos goo' to cover up parts of the model.

*
Obliterator 2*










There he is . . . okay the overall process was the same with this guy as the first one. I worked on all 3 simultaneously, which may have added to the distribution of good ideas, no 1 model has all of my better design choices. 


First the bad. His butt is poorly defined. And overall the back of the model is weak.

The good - The proportions of body and head work well. I think the arms are a suitable balance in styles, and they have a nice amount of motion. In retro-spect I think I got the amount of added detail correct to blend the weapon into the rest of the arm. The left arm with the 'ray-gun' is forward with the opposite foot; while the right arm is back. I'm also happy with how the skull shoulder pad turned out. It was the first big skull I attempted.

Construction . . . Ok, the left arm is completely scratch built. There is a chunck of wire in there as an armature, but the whole thing was built around that. The hand was built with a 'finger' from an old power-scourge and 3 marine combat blades, and two rhino axel caps. The head was salvaged from a singularly awful Dark Legion Warzone model (Nepharite warlord #2 I think). And the main part of the weapon in the left arm is from a dark legion metal weapons pack. The front dish is an old saurus shield inverted with a las-barrel snipped off and glued into the socket. Again, I have the same duel ork bolter power plant. The gear set into the right shoulder is from an old adding machine. 


Alrighty more to come later!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Before I finish the Obliterator tanget to this project log, I want to take a moment and back track to the reason I started it.

The Aborted Hellcannon & the unfinished vindicator.

So here is the quadrupedal hellcannon, and a good'ole heavy bolter marine for scale.





















This started as a kit bash. The rear legs, the body, and the barrel are all built around pieces from a few old star wars model kits . . . a B-Wing, a Y-wing, and X-Wing I think. And over that are a series of 'bulking layers' of plumbers epoxy putty, green stuff, and kneadatite white stuff. The rounded block of white putty at the base of the barrel was going to be the beginning of a head. The barrel was to be coming through the mouth of the daemon engine and there would have been teeth surrounding it, not unlike the old armorcast Cauldon of blood.


The vindicator on the other hand is based on the current imperial rhino kit, with a series of emptied receipt tubes from my old job as the smokestacks and the barrel. 

When I started on this I was envisioning something mixing the old slaanesh vehicle upgrade, a massive smoke belching daemon engine, and a WWI railway gun. Though I think my vindicator #2 will be closer to a railway gun than this guy.






















There are plenty of spikey bits and the old glue trick for texture. About half the tank still needs a first pass at the spikes and details. And the rest of course needs more detailing. I had planned a few layers of greenstuff to add texture, ripples and warps in the hull, some nice leering faces, etc. Enough detail to really suggest texture. The corrosion of the machine that only comes from a long time of use . . . from the long war.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

You have some seriouslu impressive stuff here. The custom oblits are very well done. I wish I had the confidence and ability to tackle sculpting projects like that. Love the old beetleback warlord titan head. Brought back some memories. The vindicators are impressive. I will be watching to see how they progress. Rep+


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Obliterators, continued.*

So the next intermediate stage of the obliterators was when they had a basic paint layer. I spray primed and then hand painted them black. Which for wuite a while now has been my standard operating procedure. I found over time that even if I wanted to shade down with washes later, almost everything I painted made more sense to start from a dark base coat. And it by passed the obnoxious little white primer spots a lot of people get. Anything that would have been a recessed white primer spot was now, by default, a shadow. Ironically, I almost always spray prime white. I find that the quality and texture of a nice flat white spray tends to be finer than black spray.

In a previous post I mentioned a 'dark metal' scheme, and these guys are a pretty standard example.











I primed white first. Then used a mixture of chaos black and black wash, and maybe a little water to make a pretty opaque blakc base coat, but one that was thin enough not to clog or obscure the models detail (also a process I had been using for a while). 


Then over that I built up successive layers of my old dark metal mixture . . . at the time I think it was brown wash, dwarf bronze, blood red, and a touch of black. In these photos more so than the forthcoming finished product ones, the tone is much more clear. Its a warm, dark, rich aged bronze color. It's more complex than tin bits, but was a bear to keep consistant. I had to constantly remix the colors. I kept a puddle of it more or less constantly going adding more pigment as I went to keep the over all 'pot-cooking'.

At this stange the proejct is really coming together. And I think the painting process really underscores a lot of what I posted earlier. That parts that work, continue to work. And the ones that don't still don't. I might be lucky though, the paint may soften the awkwardness at this stage of some of those areas that I could have done better.

More to come!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Hey thanks Shaantitus!

I've largely been away from everythin but the painting and modelling aspect of warhammer for quite a while now. But I changed careers recently and it means I end with long work days and a lot of commute time on the highway. So having something to relax and work on for myself has really been a blessing.

So this project log (and to a large degree participating here at H-O) is part of jump starting my hobbying again. 

Back in the proverbial 'day' I actually ran a warhammer league at a flgs for a few years, so I was teaching the painting, rules, and sportsmanship. But now I'm sort of grinding the rust off my skills.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Oblits Finished Up*

I have a few minutes at the end of an evening so I can finally post the end of the obliterator (back)log. Woot!

Obliterator 1











Obliterator 2











Obliterator 3












Once these guys were all painted the greaves seemed more plain than ever. I think that's the biggest down fall. I tried to keep the color palette limited and generally I think that's working for me rather than against me. Even painted Obliterator 1 is still my least favorite. The paint job can't save his awkward pose. His breastplate, despite being the busiest, I think is the least effective. The proportions of it are off compared to both the other oblits.

The 'chaos goo' works fairly well. I still think that in retrospect I may have been too fond of it . . . as a way to cover up additional detail sculpting. the smokestacks/powerplants worked out pretty well. And generally I am still okay with the shine guards and shoulder pad trim/decoration. They're about the right scale. I'm not sure if the square rivets I used on these guys was a good choice or not. They're definitely easier to sculpt, and 'heavier' looking, but I'm not sure that's a benefit.

Obliterator 2 is still my favorite. His pose and sense of motion or purpose works. I also really like the scratch built right arem/claw. Sculpting all the small trim around the wrist was possibly the hardest part of the entire trio of models, but it turned out well. And the gears I incorporated in Oblits 2 & 3 suggest industry or steampunk without actually going there.

Oblit 3 also has a few things going on that I am still proud of. His arms are largely scavenged. The right arm is a 2nd ed reaper autocannon, with a section cut out of the barrel to bring it in close to the model. The left arm as I mentioned earlier I think, is made from an old dreanought power scourge (best type of dreadnought close combat weapon in 2nd ed.) 

I think looking at them now they're not nearly as creative as they should be. Their armor isn't bad it's just 'ho hum' . . . . what should be strange and arcane is kind plain. But I learend an awful lot doing them.

@Shaantitus - it is almost certainly worth trying a project like this even if it turns out 'meh' becuase if you see it through to the end it can be a hell of a learning experience!


Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Lucius The Typhus (Apr 5, 2009)

Amazing. Hope you keep this all up, and looking forward to seeing more.


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## DrinCalhar (Jul 10, 2010)

I just love Oblits.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Well finally an update to my project-log!

I finally got the next few members of my fantasy chaos army done. First damn things I've painted in too long!

So first the work in progress pics. No weapons or shields. Just major areas of color blocked in.

Next up the finals



chaos_knights_wip_front-right by the warped forge, on Flickr


chaos_knights_wip_rear-left by the warped forge, on Flickr


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Alrighty, now for the complete knights!

I was pleasantly surprised that these came out better than I expected. Its been a while since I actually completed a painting project of any scale, so Iw as worried I was a bit rusty byt the time I got moving on these guys.

C & C is always welcome!

Cheers,
Kreuger

edit - Yes, the guy on the left is leaning a bit, while the knights are themselves glue together, I haven't glued them to the steeds yet.



chaos_knights_front-left by the warped forge, on Flickr


chaos_knights_rear-left by the warped forge, on Flickr


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## Mortigar (Oct 5, 2010)

nice work on those obliterators


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

sweet jesus


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## CLT40k (Jun 18, 2010)

sweet work...


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## alasdair (Jun 11, 2009)

Love the models, but those green bases sting my eyes!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

On their own they can be a bit much. Though I always use bases like that. The base blends in more with the gaming table, and the models separate out visually.


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## aquatic_foible (Mar 17, 2010)

The Obliterators are indeed "winning" [to quote Charlie Sheen], sir. The third one is my personal favourite. There is some very creative thinking being displayed on this thread so far, and I look forward to seeing some more.

Also, have some rep for the old school green bases on your Fantasy Chaos - seeing those always brings back fond memories of the Old Days... :grin:


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Ah ha! I knew there had to at least one kindred spirit out there!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Just finished my Iron Warriors Warsmith! Woot!

I love this model. I think the Iron Warriors miniatures are really evocative. They combine the oddness of chaos with a businesslike love of destruction. I'm pretty happy with how he came out. 

As always C&C is welcome!

Cheers,
Kreuger



warsmith_02 by the warped forge, on Flickr


warsmith_01 by the warped forge, on Flickr


warsmith_05 by the warped forge, on Flickr


warsmith_04 by the warped forge, on Flickr


warsmith_03 by the warped forge, on Flickr


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Gotta love the Warsmith model, you did an excellent job at it. Very crisp yellow/black stripes.

On the 3rd picture, though, it looks like there's a random blue (maybe purple, I'm colourblind) tube that seems a bit out of place. Is it connecting his backpack to something or is it the colour you used for the joint?


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Alrighty, next up is this ancient Rogue Trader-era Adeptus Mechanicus officer in power armor.

I've had this guy for years and years, and half painted him a handful of times. This iteration has been languishing incomplete on my desk for a few years now. I started working on him when I started building my Iron Warriors force during 2nd Ed . . . but I never quite got around to finishing him. I've taken a few licks at him with a brush lately, especially once I got going on the warsmith. He's just such an awkward mini. He's got a ton of detail for a Rogue trader era model . . . but . . . .

I'll be working on him on and off with my other projects.

I'd like some thoughts and/or suggestions on what to do with this guy, because as may be evident I'm at something of a loss . . but slowly hammering it out. But if one of you has a brilliant idea let me know!

Cheers,
kreuger



IW_mechanicus_wip_01 by the warped forge, on Flickr


IW_mechanicus_wip_03 by the warped forge, on Flickr


IW_mechanicus_wip_02 by the warped forge, on Flickr


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Hey Boc, it connects a sub-structure of the backpack to his leg.

I have a few brighter colored hoses on him, to break up the colors a bit. There are a few more on the wrist of his bionic arm.

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

It looks like his chest is too dark, and the detailing kind of gets lost in it. Although I am by no means an expert painter, I'd say try to highlight it with a brighter metallic, maybe chainmail, to bring out the piping more from his chest.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Yeah, the chest is part of the model's overall awkwardness. And the chest is ALL tubing. I'm not even sure how much of the typical Iron Warriors ' metallics I want to keep. *Shrug* I'm still pondering it.

Thanks for the suggestions though!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

And now for a little threadomancy . . . 

Its been a while I updated this project log. It has been quite a while since I did any miniature work, the better part of the last year has been eventful change of jobs and the addition of a daughter to my family!

Since she was born, the Mrs and I have been home a lot more, and so I've had time to pick up my miniatures work again.

Attached here are my updated projects.

First up, a new chaos troll body with the head of an old fiend of slaanesh. I they happened to be parts I had around that worked together. Trolls are always welcome in my warriors army, as it is I use 2 units in 2000pts.



20120205_212826 by the warped forge, on Flickr

Next is additional work on my possessed chaos vindicator. The earlier stage is shown on page 1 of this log. I still have a ways to go with the detailing and mutating. I still need to add many more eyes to the hull and more mutation.


chaos_vindicator_WIP_front-left_2012_02_05 by the warped forge, on Flickr


chaos_vindicator_WIP_side_2012_02_05 by the warped forge, on Flickr


chaos_vindicator_WIP_possession_2012_02_05 by the warped forge, on Flickr


Following the Vindicator is a pair of Obliterators summoned from the secondary market. They've been stripped and cleaned up and the detailing is growing. I still need to work out the plates and gubbins on the scratch-built chest, but the arms are coming along nicely I think. The two sockets in the upper chest will each have a chaos warrior head - each sighting along and arm weapon. The second obliterator has a different warrior head already in place. The big change for him are his arms, which started with normal obliterator arms without any weapons. The photos for his arms will have to follow with my next update.



obliterator_WIP_front_2-heads_2012_02_05 by the warped forge, on Flickr


obliterator_WIP_front_2012_02_05 by the warped forge, on Flickr


C&C is always welcome!

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The Slaaneshi Troll is an excellent conversion.

I find the arms on the first Obliterator a little long although that might be solved when all the plates &c. are on.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks Dave! Who would have thought you have a soft spot for fantasy chaos monsters :grin:

I think I'm going to rein in the extra long barrel on the left arm. That arm started life as a lascannon conversion on a havoc a number of years ago, and was later recycled to the bits box. I think I like the bulk of the arms but I think you're right the barrel is too far out from the center of the models gravity.

I do intend on making his shoulders and chest a bit bulkier than a stock Obliterator to help balance out his weapon arms.

More to come!

Kreuger


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Obliterators . . . bit by bit*

Time for another update. Doing little bits here and there on the vindicator, daemon prince (who is still too rough to show anything), and my two new heavily modifier obliterators.

Up first is a largely stock obliterator, who was without head or weapons. He had arms, torso, and legs. Last time I just showed his head/body assembled, today I have photos of the arms. This guy hasn't changed a whole lot once i got his head in place, the arms have been mostly done for a while. 

I'm not a huge fan of the way stock oblits just bristle with weapons. It may fit the background, but it makes for dopey models. These aren't guys whose bodies are just in flux like possessed or a spawn, they're active participants in the changes happening. As the situation demands they change and adapt. They don't randomly sprout one weapon or another. If they were that chaosy they might just sprout plastic forks and christmas balls every so often. With that control in mind, I much prefer to think of Obliterators morphing tidier, more focused weapons, not just a mix of blasters and chain attachments. So each arm is design to be much more straight forward.



*Arms 'top' view* - 










*Arms 'bottom' view*










*Assembled with blue tack*












Next up the two headed obliterator. Who has a head, albeit small ones sighting down each weapon. The heads aren't in place yet, but I did mold the spot for the to socket in. Greenstuff + pre-made part + water/oil = making a socket without the GS sticking to the part. Awesome =) 

After Mr hobbit's comment I revised the left hand gun and decided to make it more organic, still bulky, but not nearly as long. I still have hoses and other details to add yet.

*Generic front view*











*Side View*











*Into the Gun . . . view*











C&C always welcome.


More details as the come!

Cheers,
Kreuger


p.s. - The Languishing Chaos Projects list:

 Possessed Chaos vindicator
 2 obliterators
 Fiend headed chaos troll
 Plastic bloodletter unit
 Daemon prince (metal one being slowly converted to have a scale appropriate servo-arm)
 Daemon prince from inquisitor scale, Inquisitor Tyrus
 Armorcast Cannon of Khorne
 Warriors of chaos chariot
 (I also have the parts and a plan for a second possessed vindicator . . . that's partially like a hellcannon growing out of a rhino chassis)


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The shortened gun makes him look much more stable.

Solid work, and your to do list is looking interesting; I am particularly looking forward to a Rhino Hellcannon cross-breed.


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

Some good stuff going on your filthy thread!! The Malevolents are watching you!! :wink:


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Obliterator Shoulders*

Just a small update tonight.

I've been working on more of the finishing details on my obliterator with 2 heads. I think the other guy is mostly done. His weapon arms are in good shape. I haven't decided if I want to add more to him to make him less stock. We shall see.

So the obliterator with 2 heads is coming along pretty well. I decided as I built up his shoulder pads to make them asymmetrical. They aren't totally symmetrical on a stock obliterator, but they normally have the same silhouette. I wanted to use the more ornate trim style of normal oblits on right pad, and something more blocky on the left.

The right pad borrows the raised trim of an oblit, and the asymmetry of the points. As it worked out I used the reverse colors of putty to sculpt the pads and the decorations. It wasn't really planned this way, but it does nicely show each level of work: inner pad shape, raised trim, arrows/points, curved chamfer, and finally studs.











The left pad I decided to be blockier, both in the chamfer around the pads, and also in the studs themselves. For the right pad I was pretty delicate with the studs so they looked finer, and more at home in the available area within the curve of the trim. On the left pad by contrast, I made larger more square studs (neither pad has had a clean up trim/file pass yet) and along the top I used sections of plastic rod as the bigger rivets. The rod actually came from the hand rails of a classic rhino. (Who thought up those rails anyway? They were so delicate and prone to breaking.)











By next update I hope to have this guy's upper back, chest, and left arm all worked out and completed.


C&C welcome as always.

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Amazingly crisp edges on the pad sculpts


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Well, the baby is in bed for the second time tonight, and I got a little more done on my second obliterator.

My apologies for the graininess of the photos, my cell has a nice camera but it doesn't do macro work very well.

First up is the frontal shot with the heads blue-tacked into place. They're old plastic chaos warrior heads from the hunch-back era. They're the same head actually trimmed of the tall top spike. I plan to have some cabling and chaos-goo linking the heads to the body a bit more once they're actually in place. Conjuring the image of all that weird striation that surrounds the heads of obliterators in the illustrations.

His left side needs a little more work, but that will have to wait until all the new detail on the collar, waits, chest, and left are cures.

I'm pretty happy with how he's turning out. I think the heads on their own would look laughably small compared to the bulk of the body, but I think having 2 works out well and occupies the head-space nicely. I also think the more organic and shorter left arm is working a lot better. (Thanks for the input Dave). Its a little hard to read, but the upper section of the back is pretty much done. Though I may add some more hard angles to it, to make it more suggestive of terminator armor and other oblits - haven't decided yet.

The cabling sections in the chest now nicely align with the heads. Each head and each half of the chest work together visually. And with the jutting out oif the heads and the sinking back of those cables in the chest there'sa lot of depth and 3-dimensionality that's going to look pretty good painted up, I think.











Here we have the outside view of the left arm. I think the guitar cable snaking in and out of the meat of the body is working pretty well. It syncopates both the machined forms inside the arm and the amorphous fleshy mutation around it.











Comments and critique always welcome.

Now to bed! :lazy2: 
No matter how late I stay up the little one always seems to wake up at the same early hour.

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

It is coming along well.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Update 2012-02-26*

Alright, another update!

Its a late night. The wife is out of town visiting friends, and I moved a few more things along after the little one went to sleep.

First up, obliterators. They're now primed, ready, and waiting for the army painting challenge to kick off. Not much different except they've been spray primed, hand blacked, and are ready to go.











Next, a vintage armorcast daemon engine Cannon of Khorne! Not a whole lot going on with this, except its primed and ready to go for the painting comp too. Not surprisingly this will most likely be a stand-in possessed vindicator.











Here we have my evolving Iron Warriors daemon prince. Instead of two backpack exhaust vents fused to his back I'm using one and replacing the other with a 'servo arm', which came form an ork model.

Here he with all his pieces blue-tacked together, and me holding up the servo-arm despite the bluetack for the picture.










One of the real downsides to this older model is I have to pin basically everything: the legs, the backpack exhausts, the servo arm, the head, etc. But he is a solid impressive model - much more so than the new plastic daemon princes.

Here he is with the servo arm, pack exhaust, and head pinned on.










Here's a similar shot with more distance. As you can see in the second two DP shots, I have trimmed down the join where the servo-arm meets the backpack.









I haven't done any mutating to the servo-arm, and rest assured I will! 

The servo-arm has been fitted to the body using Apoxie-sculpt. I formed it around the end of the servo-arm then, dunked the whole arm into my paint water, and pressed it against the daemon prince's body. The water prevented the putty from adhering to the metal, and allowed me to form-fit the end of the servo arm to the available depression. This almost solves the big problem with this model - that nothing fits nugly and everythign needs to be pinned.

I'm planning on treating the servo-arm with a skin of chaos and maybe some additional hoses. I also plan on adding some jump jets to the back of the daemon prince's backpack.

Exhausting is setting in. Bed time. 
Comments and critique are welcome - the more honest the better.

I also have an old terminator captain primed up, but since there isn't anything special or converted about him, he's just waiting in the wings for the painting comp.

Cheers,
Kreuger


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## Red Corsairs (Jun 8, 2008)

This is a good project log you have going here. I really like your custom Obliterators and can't wait to see them painted. The Daemon Prince is very interesting and I look forward to seeing where you go with it. I don't like the positioning of the servo arm though, I think it'd look better if the top half of it was pointing more towards the ground in a similar direction to the way he is facing. Just my opinion though.

Great work.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Yeah, I've been considering that with the servo arm, but I'm not sure I have a good modeling solution.

I think the angle of the elbow-hinge would be better if it were more acute thus pointing the claw more forwards, but I'm not sure how stable that piece will be if I change it. I would almost certainly have to cut it. I don't think the elbow-hinge will bend without distorting the 'bones' of the servo-arm. I also don't really want to change the angle it is coming out of the pack because it maintains the same basic angle as the exhaust vent would.

This is all complicated by the fact that everything here is metal, pins, and putty. That servo arm comparatively weighs a lot and is currently pretty solid because most of it is one piece. The claw was originally a separate piece, but it attached at an angle that didn't really work for a servo arm. The servo-claw is double pinned, and otherwise light enough to hold; and it will eventually get puttied/textured over.

Thank's for the critique and the support!

Hmm, maybe if I add armature wire on either side of the servo arm from the body to the claw to thicken the whole thing and add more mass to putty over it might be strong enough. 

Anyone with more experience building with extended heavy pieces I'd be interested in input. Thanks!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Obliterators, Done!*

So the Obliterators from page 4 are finally done! they were my entry for the May 2012 installment of the army painting competition.

All in all they turned out well. As I said in my companion competition post I need to refine my sculpting. I'm certainly competent at covering gaps and joining parts with putty, pins, and armature wire - but I just don't have the definition, detail and finesse that I want to (and that the GW sculptors mostly have). 

These started out as a cheap eBay find. They were missing pieces and stripped of paint, but otherwise ready to go. 


oblits_01_front by the warped forge, on Flickr

The left Oblit started with legs, arms, back, and chest - no head, no gun attachments. 


oblits_02_front by the warped forge, on Flickr


The right Oblit started with legs and back - everything else I converted, built, or sculpted. I happened to have matching Dark legion guns from a Warzone weapons pack conversion kit . . . from the 90's and they formed the inner basis of both arms, along with armature wire, and the guitar string+green stuff. 

And I think it really show's on the shoulder pads. They aren't bad but the trim is comparatively thick and that still sort of bugs me when the two models are side by side at this magnification. 


oblits_04_left by the warped forge, on Flickr



oblits_03_right by the warped forge, on Flickr


I was happy with the chest as well. All the organic edging is my sculpting, and the tubes running vertically are varying sizes of guitar string next to each other.

In previous threads discussing custom obliterators a number of people here decried their low sitting squat - it might be hard to tell but I built up the ground under each of their leading foot to help elevate their gaze and re-angle the models perspective up.


The heads are all from the previous generation fantasy chaos warriors, the one with the horns is the champion head, and the double heads are two of the same head trimmed of its ridiculous top-spike. I realized the double head was a good solution, because the shoulders I sculpted sat a bit wider and away from the torso than the original ones GW made - and these two heads are both a bit smaller than average for 40k (and fantasy for that matter) so they looked about right when doubled up.

All comments and criticisms welcome!
Cheers!


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Loving the oblits, the flesh-texturing and colouring on the "growths" is spot on, especially the one on the right in the top picture. His cannon arm looks phenomenal, good job


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*April 2012 Army Painting Comp Entry*

So I realized I have neglected my log despite finishing projects for the monthly army painting competition.

So moving backwards through my entries to April! My daemonically possessed vindicator.

I had been heavily converting this for a while, off and on for more than a year. 

The smoke stacks and the demolisher barrel all came from receipt paper tubes. They were empties from when I managed in retail. Otherwise its a rhino with a few chaos bits, a lot of bone spikes carved from sprue, guitar string, and a putty.

I am particularly happy with how the distorted face turned out on the hatch and how the various eyes that sculpted ended up.

I also used the "old glue trick" for more of the added texture and general chaos grossness and decay. The old glue trick for anyone who doesn't know involves adding a drop of pva a glue to a base or model, spreading it out a bit and while it is still wet adding a little superglue to the middle of it. As the superglue dries and cures it flattens and expands drastically increasing its surface area (this is why some models with too much super glue on them end up with a whitish haloing around glued joins. It makes a wonderful brains-like texture. Its one of my favorite techniques for partially basing nurgle marines and plague bearers - it adds a wonderful puddle of dripping ooze to wherever they're standing.

Since the pictures were taken I have actually continued to add additional detail, and shading to the tank. I think this is going to be a while before its really Done-Done. It took over a year to make and with all the detail I added I'll be finding things to tweak and refine for a while.

All comments and criticisms welcome!


vindicator_front by the warped forge, on Flickr


vindicator_left by the warped forge, on Flickr


vindicator_right by the warped forge, on Flickr


vindicator_top by the warped forge, on Flickr


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks Boc! I wanted to keep the colors warm and suggestive of 'energy' because when I built these I didn't stick to the energy weapons only concept. 

I did consider it though. Svartmetall workshopped his Oblits for quite a while and while I loved the result, I felt there was enough art and styling to easily justify using projectile-style weapons as well, even if they fire bullets of daemonic BodyOdor (or fire) or something.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*March 2012 Army Painting Comp Entry*

OK! So going back another month to March, I completed a unit of the new plastic Bloodletters.

These guys were a work out for a few reasons. I got them used and for a great deal, these guys plus the original chaos marine daemon prince model for 25$. BUT they all needed serious stripping and cleaning. None of the models have mold lines removed or filed, things were glued sloppily and using plastic cement.

So I had to repair a bunch of things, sculpt around many of the waist joins because there was a bizarre gap, and there were sooo many mold lines. And when painting them there aren't clear 'areas' for each color like there are on a vehicle or an armored model, even a tyranid is designed with more differentiation. So painting such large areas of color and where necessary making the blending work was a challenge - I must have redesigned and repainted some of the hellblades 4 or 5 times.

I really didn't want just solid red Bloodletters, I wanted more variation. I had to pay particular attention to the horns, hands, and feet which I blended from red to a dark ashy grey. And the spiny crests on their backs, which I blended in fiery colors.



bloodletters_finished_2012-03-24_1000x659 by the warped forge, on Flickr


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

The horns, the flush red and the swords are amazing mate!


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The blending is good and really adds interest to the models.


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

Great stuff, really enjoying watching these come together.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks for all the support!

Sooner or later I'm going to write a tutorial on Bloodletters. I took a ton of pictures during the process.


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## CLT40k (Jun 18, 2010)

Models are great... Superb work... However, I don't get why the bases are so simple.

+ rep (the paint job is amazing)


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks man!

Heh, its a preference really. There is a method at work. 

I know a lot of members here prefer a base that is significantly more scenic. 

I find those bases look awesome on a shelf or in a display case or even in a travel case, but when I put my models on the table I want the base to disappear as much as possible. 

Most tables I used to play on start with a simple green mat, and if I were to base my models on ash wastes with a bit of broken girder (or something) I feel like that becomes a little traveling blot under the figure. 

Conversely, when I place my models on my table or the flgs's table, the green blends in with the mat and my models look much more like they are standing freely on the table about to do some mayhem.

It might be an antiquated view but I've been basing my models in the most unassuming way for over 15 years, and I think the effect still works in my favor, but to be fair I haven't really been out and gaming in a while. The last few years have seen marriage, home purchase, career changes, and baby - so while I can still paint at night, I don't get much time to play anymore. I'm hoping 6th ed will be a fresh start.


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## ondskapt (Feb 16, 2011)

I love yours Obliterators, especially the one with the Plasma Cannon, he's really excellent ! Good job !


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## Bermynuts (Apr 9, 2012)

I really like your Bloodletters you did a amazing job with them and you found a great deal also….If you ever would like to do a painting tutorial on he blades I would really appreciate it. I’m new to the hobby and play strait Daemons and the things you talked about in the pic. I never even notice before. You are a great modeler and fell free to pass on your knowledge.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Absolutely freaking awesome man! Being able to take models that are missing parts and convert them to your own taste and actually making them look kick ass deserves some Rep from me, well done Sir!

As for the Demonic vindicator, fantastic mate! You have def captured the essence of chaos in that bad boy, well done again! Thanks for the tip with the super glue/PVA glue, I may have to try that out some time.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Regards,
DoE


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks everyone!

DoE, I'll try to get some pics of my nurgle daemons and plague marines with glue-trick ooze on the ground posted for comparison.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Well I'll have more updates coming soon from all my other projects, but for right now I intend to make good on my promise to Disciple of Ezekial.

Attached you will find a front and back view of a vintage Plague Marine. (My favorite edition of plague marines by the way.) While he needs to be stripped and repainted in less saturated colors he does have the 'glue trick' goo on his base I mentioned earlier.


nurgle_marine_w-goo_front_20120831 by the warped forge, on Flickr


nurgle_marine_w-goo_back_20120831 by the warped forge, on Flickr


So the 'glue trick' is accomplished by making a thin puddle of PVA glue on a section of base or model. Then adding a drop of super glue into the pva glue. Super glue cures by absorbing moisture. As the Super glue cures it absorbs the glue's moisture binds to the surface of the glue-puddle. The remaining super glue continues to expand out as it binds to glue and cures, until all the super glue has absorbed moisture from the pva glue or from the air.

What this means:
The footprint of your goo-puddle will be determined by how the size of the area you spread the pva glue. The number of folds or ripples will depend on the ratio of the volume of the super glue and the pva glue.


 Too much superglue and not enough pva and you'll get unsatisfyingly small folds/ripples. 
 Too much pva glue and not enough superglue and it might not ripple over the whole foot print.

As you work pay attention to the level of the surface you intend to goo. As you work you want the surface to remain level so the pva glue doesn't flow over the surface of the base or model

For instance, on the vindicator I did a few months ago, all the flatter areas of mutation are this glue-trick. In the photo here they are either purple/metallic or are orange - but are flatter or more 'bubbly' looking than the areas I sculpted on.










The glue trick is also the green-slime filling in a lot of the smoke stacks.










Cheers!
Kreuger


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

I love the havoc launcher in particular on the Nurgle Vindi, it's all good but the uneven placement of the launcher tubes really says Nurgle to me for some reason.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I think from a graphic design perspective that Nurgle themed things tend to have more rounded asymmetrical forms.

Ironically, I hadn't intended the vindicator to be dedicated to nurgle - just possessed. If I were aiming for nurgle I would have skewed my color palette more towards the diseased colors incorporating de-saturated greens, browns, and reds.

As it is I was going for a generally warmer palette.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*New Life from Old Projects*

Ahoy mateys!
Hail heretics!
Greetings!
Salutations!

I have been wishing I had more free time to dedicate to miniatures work and I realized it has been some time since I last updated my Chaos PLog. And much to my dismay, I now realize I wasn't even up to date on projects I had completed when I let this lapse into dormancy! So, the first order of business will be to update my log with my former projects, and the second will be to start working in some new ones.

The last year has been incredibly busy, as I have said in many places on the site the combination of career, family, and graduate school leaves little time for my evil spacemen. Doubtless, some of you will remember the first few projects I'll post up because I completed them as a part of the last yearly painting competition (back when I had free time! :headbutt: ) but new ones will be on the way as soon as I can manage. 

Expect to see some daemon engines and other fun chaos monstrosities coming this way.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

*Iron Warriors Daemon Prince*

Alrighty, I have a few minutes to breathe and get a project update into my loooong out of date plog!

Here is one of my last projects before the great hack of '12, a converted Iron Warriors Daemon Prince with a servo-arm. The servo-arm came from some old Ork model. It was a crane arm on a vehicle or on an Ork dreadnought. I honestly forget which. On the original model the claw was a separate piece designed to fit on at a 90 degree angle to the length of the arm, as opposed to being in line with it. That was a fairly simply process of trimming and pinning . . . and then hiding with guitar cable and greenstuff.

The really difficult part of this model was building up the greenstuff base of the arm to socket into the joint in the back where the backpack's vent arm would usually go. AND to ensure that the pins holding this big awkward metal crane arm were strong enough to keep it in place. I used a process of using 2 pins at slightly different angles to ensure that there was enough strength to hold it up and keep the servo-arm at the correct angle even before I glued it into place.


IW_daemon_prince_done-top-angle by warped forge, on Flickr


Daemonf_prince_side by warped forge, on Flickr



Daemon_prince_front by warped forge, on Flickr



daemon_prince_back by warped forge, on Flickr

I also added some detail to the back pack. I had intended to try and make it a more subtle jump pack, but it didn't quite work out. It ended up more as added detailing.


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

Nice work there Kreuger!
Good to see you back on the tools!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Thanks! Though I am sorry to say I am not really back at the tools yet. At this point I'm playing catch-up with my project log. The daemon prince was a project from summer 2012 in the BGS era (Before Grad School).

I do have a bunch of projects planned though.

In no particular order:

Converting the dark angels bikes from dark vengeance into chaos bikes.
Converting the dark angels terminators from dark vengeance into chaos terminators/obliterators.
Converting the dark angels space marines from DV into chaos marines.
2 dark vengeance helbrute conversions 1 with a plasma cannon arm and another with . . . maybe an ectoplasm cannon from a forgefiend, or some other thing I haven't decided.
5 possessed . . . might just be used for parts in other units.
5 Forge world heresy era MKIII Iron Armor guys for conversion into Iron Warriors
5 3rd party Iron Warriors from a conversion kit from a company in the Ukraine who @Deneris found, Hobbyworld.ua.
I also picked up a set of Kromlech bionic legs to go along with the Iron Warriors conversion kit.
1 Armorcast Cannon of Khorne (my second) in a Simple Green bath to strip the old paint.
1 Decimator daemon engine

Now all I need is enough time . . .


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Love that DP! It's a great model to begin with and you just made it better. That's a fairly hefty log of stuff to convert. Looking forward to seeing how you go with it.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Jac, I have more than that in bits boxes and tool chests. I probably won't get to all of it before I retire. :shok: I had enough for my own projects but a friend recently moved and gave away all his gaming stuff, dividing it between a few of us. It was a little like a wake before he moved . . . we all paid our respects to the end of his 'gaming life' and he gave away all his models and books.

I also a number of projects to redo the finishing touches on. Among them my heldrake and forgefiend. Oh, and the DV, cultists, chosen, and characters.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Alrighty, so I'm going to try and pump some unholy life into this plog, before I am once more submerged with grad school, work, and family for the fall. I want to try and get a few things off my desk. 

In this case 2 new-old-stock Armorcast Cannons of Khorne, e.g. possessed Vindicators.


Cannons_of_Khorne_2015-08-23_(IMG_3936) by warped forge, on Flickr

I've been slooowly working to clean them up for a while. One needed a Simple Green bath first. I just primed these and now I have to make a mad dash through painting them.


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