# N00B in progress?



## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, first off, let me say, I've never built a model in my whole life. I've never painted in my whole life, and as such, I expect this to be teribad but perhaps humourous. I've also just gotten into WH40K... and am still completely oblivious to the rules and what not... anyway, I'm getting started... yesterday that is.


Anyway, I've been reading a crap ton of tutorials and articles on this stuff... and this is the start of my very first space marine and the very first base I've tried.

This base is not for this mini, just an idea I had for a base. I just stood him up on top of it to give an idea.

He's also not done, I need to go back and correct some places that got spots on them, like the face grill where the red is. I also need to go back and do some highlighting and more detail work.

The paints I'm using were super cheap Testors paints. Everyone says to water them down, but they arent mixing with water, so I'm not really sure how to thin them out.

Constructive criticism would be awesome. I know they suck, but dont forget, I've been at this for a whole day now.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Oh yeah, forgot to mention... the base spikes are made of a busted CD case cover. The idea was to make it more like a frost shard similar to the lava basing... just frost instead. I'm probably going to add some snow piles to it too, just havent bought any yet.

Are there any home replacements for snow? Like using salt or something... but preferably inedible?

I'm certain the paints I have are enamel / oil based since they dont mix with water. Am I supposed to be using acrylic instead? Would that be a better option?


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Valuable lesson learned today for me... Enamel paint sucks. Acrylic paint is WAAAAY better.


I grabbed the old craft paints out of my mothers craft closet over at her house... and they work a million times better than the enamel Testors paints I was using.

I'm such a nub.


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## Chocobuncle (Feb 5, 2009)

The ice is really kool and your marine isnt that bad, really shiny and could use more detail but its good

The base is what really looks good


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## Franko1111 (Jun 25, 2008)

if anyone tell you you suck they don't know what they are talking about, one kid in my FLGC has being painting for seven years and I can almost do as good as him, paintings a skill and all skill need to be learnt.

nice to see you have the balls to put your stuff up(I haven't) +rep


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

The shine is from the enamel paint. I've dropped that crap. Its really difficult to work with, and I have no way of thinning it out any... so all I get is mega gloss.

I'm goofing off right now with another couple bases, and waiting on the mini to dry. I've added a little more to it. I'll post more in a bit.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

This particular space marine is just for learning.... and I've learned alot already... dont use enamel paint... dont paint white on top of the red helmet... gold looks terrible up close....

Anyway, I thought I'd try out some gold paint that I had in the box o' craft paints, and from a regular viewing distance, its not to bad.

he's still not attached to the base, just sitting there for fun.

These actually look a lot worse in the pictures because I'm using my camera's built in flash... right at the table where I am working... and in the other room I have actual good studio lighting and gear... maybe tomorrow I'll break that out and take decent pictures.


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## unxpekted22 (Apr 7, 2009)

the cd case pieces for ice is a really neat idea.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, so I've also learned that painting each piece before you glue it together lets you have a greater amount of control over the finite details... and not mess up the other parts while you paint it... So, I've decided to paint the next 2 marines before glueing everything together other than the torso.

Anyway, here's 2 backpacks I painted this morning. I primer'ed them black, highlighted in a blend of silver and black. The pictures show it to be pretty shiny, but in person its not that bad at all. The flash reflection just made it look like that.

The little skull is done in white and shaded with black.


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## Tensiu (Aug 15, 2009)

Well, I must say thay you learn pretty fast  First picture was so-so, as for completely beginner. Second looked a bit better, and that's progress! I guess your painting skill will be getting better and better with every unit 
And I'm gonna steal your idea with cd pieces, it looks well!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Thanks, I'm trying. My biggest problem to start with was using enamel based paint. Now that I'm using acrylic, it seems to be going a lot better.

Go for it with the CD pieces. Its a great way of getting some shard / spikey plastic. I have other ideas that I'm going to try out soon, and I'll post them up when I get them figured out and what not.


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## Shaun_wi (Oct 8, 2008)

I am also gunna steal the base idea . As for the painting, I have seen a lot worse from beginners (thats a compliment by the way) you will find that the more you do it the better you will get. I admire the fact that you would put your first minis up, I still havn't and I'v been painting for a year now. +rep


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## Shadow Hawk (Apr 26, 2009)

You've definately gotten better!
Have you started to use a proper miniature acrylic, such as Games Workshop? If not, invest in some, I promise you, they will make your models look better. Also, get some sable brushes, such as Creative Models Red Sable Kolinsky. Google it. They last for ages, and are great for applying paint. They are a bit on the expensive side individually, but they last longer, so they are a good investment.
The main thing when painting minis is to take your time. A single model could take _hours_, but when you see the end product, it will be amazing. A general rule is the longer you spend the better it looks. However this is not always true. Such as the Marneus Calgar By Joe Tomwazeski. I hate the way it looks, It looks much too metallic. It's amazing painting, but the metallic look of it looks horrible. Even though Joe Tomwazeski is a great painter. The model is just too over the top.
Here are some tutorials to help you out -
http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/
http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_painting_welcome.html
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~djcook/itec745/final/index.html
http://www.coolminiornot.com/go.php/go/articlephp/levels/99/expand/all?
http://minipainting-guild.net/
http://www.videojug.com/user/youtube__rallyRays
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/191378/painting_warhammer_and_other_miniatures.html
http://www.warhammervideos.org/paint-warhammer-miniatures.html

Or you could go to Games Workshop, keep asking for help painting, and they usually give you a free marine. Go 5 times, your painting skills improve, and you get 5 free marines!
It's a win-win situation:grin:


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I'm gonna have to figure out where to go to ask for help on GW's website... Free Marines would be awesome... especially if I can get up to 10 of them.

I'm using acrylic craft paints. Mostly random brands. I plan to order the GW citadel paints, but that'll have to wait a little while, they're expensive and payday isnt for a couple weeks. I'm using paint master's paintbrushes. They're pretty good, and its what the local hobby lobby sells, and they were on sale pretty cheap and outside of the enamel paint ruining a few, they seem to be doing fairly well. I'll absolutely be looking into the red sable brushes though.


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## Shadow Hawk (Apr 26, 2009)

To get the free minis you have to phisically go to GW. GW's Website is so rubbish now, you they have taken everything helpful off, and now it is just a shopping catalouge. There are still some articles, but not too many.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I went out yesterday and bought some Master's Touch Sable paintbrushes.... no joke they are expensive... about 12 bucks a piece for a tiny one... but they seem to work pretty nicely. I spent about 2 hours this morning painting 4 heads. I dunno. There's something about seeing them in person... they look tons better than they do in the picture... but alas, here we go.

I only have 4 torso's left, so I only painted 4 heads.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Woot! Finally got one done... Almost. I need to base it still, but I havent figured out what I want to do yet.

How do you guys do the little script writing? A friend told me to use a sharpened toothpick, which I tried, and the text is still to big. I might try a straight pin next.

I'll probably redo the shoulder symbol, but anyway, until then, here it is. My first mini, my first model, my first complete paint job.


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## jack (Oct 30, 2008)

I like these a lot. They are almost as good as mine and i have being doing it for a over as year. LOL. The colour scheme looks nice as well. +Rep for being a quick learner.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Hey thanks! If I could just figure out how to do the script writing like I tried to do on the knife blade, I'd be happy. That junk is tough to do, and I can't find a brush small enough, and toothpicks are still to large of a tip, even after I sharpened it.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Last night I ordered a Battleforce box, and a predator. I don't know how useful the predator will be, but I think it looks pretty badass, so I bought one. Hopefully they'll be here in a couple days.

I still cant figure out how to do the scripting and make it look good. Also, I saw a rhino with actual writing on it. It looked like it was out of a printer, like someone made a decal themselves... is there some kind of inkjet paper for that or something?


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## Imperial Dragon (Dec 22, 2007)

Your next lot of marines look alot better, the paints you use make a big difference don't they?

Trying adding a little bit of water and doing a couple of coats if your not already, red and white are colours you need to do that with.

I like the colour scheme, and th chapter symbol looks pretty good, will you be doing company markings and such?

You need to do the eyes another colour, i say something like a nice bright green to draw the attention to the models face.

Fantastic work though on your space marines, the guys at GW can help you with highlighting and that script work.

You are off to a great start to the army. the battle force and a predator are a great pick, all you need to do now is buy the commander box and you will have a nice little army going on there for your first game.


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## Masito (Jul 17, 2009)

i think the scripture looks nice the way it is on the blade, but maybe you are talking about doing it on the purity seals? 

i think you have done an amazing job on the marine, and i have never seen that color scheme before so thumbs up for originality =) but yeah, like Imperial Dragon said, try doing the eye lenses in another color

+rep mate =)


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## Tensiu (Aug 15, 2009)

Heh, man. Soon you will have more rep than posts xD
Of course, +rep for fast learning, and gratulations, it looks nice!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

i had thought about doing the eyes in green, but had originally decided against it because it's not used anywhere else in the color scheme. Sadly, I'm using terrible paints at the moment. It's a blend of a bunch of acrylic craft paints made for clothing and such. They seem to be working alright for the most part.

The wings on the chest have 16 coats of red on them.... Giving it about 20 minutes to dry between coats... and still the color is subdued because of the black undercoat.

I still have 3 marines left to paint from the assault squad I bought. I'm using them for testing and learning, so hopefully before my battleforce gets here I'll have it figured out.

I'm a little unsure exactly what's supposed to go on each shoulderpad. I havent acquired my space marines codex yet. It's been ordered for a while and just hasnt arrived. Someone wanna give me the run down on whats supposed to go on each shoulderpad before I screw it up totally? heh.

I appreciate the comments and thoughts. I'll give the next marine some different color eyes and see how it turns out. Hopefully I can do a better paint job next time around and go a little faster. I think I spent about 14 hours working on that one =(


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Yet another update.

My battleforce and predator arrived today... I couldnt wait to get started assembling the rhino...which, I wanted to do before I started the predator, just for practice...

Anyway, here's what I have painted so far. I hope someone gets the joke here... There's nerd humor involved...


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## CMDR_VELIK (May 20, 2009)

well your a quick study for sure. the second marine is a lot better and yeah the helmet lenses should be a different color


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I found some green today, so I'm going to be painting the eyes in a lime green color. I'm actually going to go work on that in a little bit after I get more of this Rhino glued up.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Alright, well, even my closest and nerdiest friends arent getting the humor. One friend got the blue monitor... the windows blue screen of death, but none of them figured out the Gentoo linux logo painted on the green monitor. /sigh ... feeble attempt at a nerd joke.

I used to work for a government contracting company that tested software called AFATDS, and one day I found myself at a fire support conference, sitting in the back of a Bradley, watching the operator attempt to get the system online. This was in 2004, and the Bradley was still running on windows 98... and naturally, we had several blue screens of death, which I found incredibly humourous.... seeing as how the Bradley is supposed to be a badass on the battlefield, but cant get the thing to boot up...


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, a bit of an update. Pics to come later. 

I got a space marine commander box, cleaned it up, and began assembling him. I have him primed up and a little bit painted. I was doing some dry fitting and noticed a problem though. It came with one arm bent at the elbow, which I decided to use along with one of the cooler looking guns (not sure which one it is exactly) and with the gun attached, the shoulder pad isn't going to fit. I'm going to have to cut a huge amount of it off to make it work, and am afraid it'll look like crap, so I'm going to abandon that particular ideaand use the straight arm instead.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, here's the powerfist pix I promised. almost 3 days worth of painting time... which is really about 4-5 hours of after work time... I think it's alright. Lots of freehand details I could add, but I dunno what to put on it. I'll think of something soon.

This is for my space marines commander btw.


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## Trevor Drake (Oct 25, 2008)

For doing script, I find a black paint pen after the paint has dried does wonders. You can just get one with a fine tip, and scribble away, and it will look great. Keep up the good work.

Also, paint pens are a great way to get into recesses while painting.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I've been thinking a good bit about the play style I'd like my army to use, and I'm going to definitely lean more towards a strong melee with a few good long range. I'd like to create a couple unique characters, but have been told that for the most part people wont play you if you are using a unique character, and that they definitely arent usable in a tournament, so I'll still make them, but probably not use them.

In light of that, what'd be a good codex for my army to go by?


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

I'd suggest browsing around on the net a bit to check what kind of space marien army appeals to you.

Lexicanum has a big collection of fluff (background story) about just about anything 40k. Just browse the paged about space marines, and read about the 20 legions and how they work, and just pick yourself an army/kind of army from there. Depending on what you choose, there's a few codexes that might be interesting. (if you decide you want to have a Dark Angels succesor chapter, you'll obviously need that codex, while you need the regular codex if you're going to play something in the way of Ultramarines or Salamanders)

Other than that; nice looking models mate  You're definatly building up fine painting skills  And the predator is indeed badass, but don't let it get creamed in the side or in the rear


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I figure it's time for a little bit of an update. I had some time to sit and do some modelling last night. I assembled my 5 man assault squad minus jump packs. The jump packs were slightly messed up, so GW is sending out some new ones. Then I assembled my 5 man scout squad, which was all there and fine as far as I can tell so far... then I started on my 10 man tactical squad. 8 of the backpacks, the ones with the little flat spot empty, where there would otherwise be a skull or vent, the plain ones had holes in them that weren't supposed to be there. GW is now sending me 2 whole new sprues to replace them. When I got done with my 10 man tactical squad, I started the 10 man combat squad, got the torso's assembled, and had no more legs... so yet another call to GW. They're supposed to be sending me a leg sprue. 

The part that's confusing... I'm supposed to have a 5 man assault squad, 5 man scout squad, 10 man tactical squad, 5 man combat squad, so 25 legs all together. All that accounted for (after GW gets me my 5 more legs...) I've still got 15 full torsos, and one extra front half torso... is that normal for a battleforce kit?

All this is out of the battleforce box btw.


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## Salio (Mar 29, 2009)

Great work. It's really nice to see you're work from beginning to current. You have improved a thousand times, i remember when i started painting, it sucked hardcore, you are much farther out there than i was, and you'll only get better. Keep up the great work + rep!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Thanks for the +Rep. 

I just primered pretty much everything I have left. 5 assault troops, 5 scouts, and all the torso's and marines... backpacks, busted jump packs, etc. Hopefully Thursday I'll be able to get started painting it all up.


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## Muffinman (Aug 31, 2009)

It is normal to get extra torsos in the boxes so that that you can mix and match the fronts and they give you the backs cause they come in a pair. I remember when I got the SM Megaforce(when they still had it) and I still have extra bodies(this was 2 1/2 years ago). Your painting skills are also great you're alot better that i was when i started.


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## bizantium (Jul 19, 2009)

Wow you really improve quickly. each picture I've seen seems to be progressively better than its predecessors. Your latest shot of your commanders power fist looks awesome and i look forward to seeing the full model.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I think I'm going to be soaking my commander in some simple green for a few days to strip his paint back down. I'm a lot dissappointed with the failed blending on his cape.

Its been suggested by several people that I check out space wolves since their codex is being released, so I'm kinda waiting on it to finish up my army. If I go with SW, I'm sure I'll be wanting to do a bit of conversion, though I'll likely keep my same painting scheme.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I'll try to get some pics tonight, but since I'm waiting on the SW codex release and all the new stuff, I've been kinda holding off on painting so I can do some conversions. Since I'm holding off, I decided to start working on some terrian. I've gotten 3 crater type terrian pieces in the works, one of which is in the first stages of being painted, the other two I am still doing textural work.

Last night I picked up a long fang squad... the heavy weapons guys. I've decided that I dislike working with superglue. I had a whole tube of the superglue gel explode in my hand... and it doesnt nearly dry as fast as my plastic weld does...which means I have to hold the damned pieces together forever till they dry.

Anyway, I'll try to get some pics posted up tonight.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Well, I said I'd post some pix tonight, so here they are. This is one of 3 crater terrain pieces I've started on. It's not nearly done though. I'm going to be adding some flock and grass to it soon. I have to wait till payday to go buy some though. C&C always welcome... and requested =)

the marine is there for size reference btw...


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## Churlton (Nov 23, 2007)

jlevan said:


> Last night I picked up a long fang squad... the heavy weapons guys. I've decided that I dislike working with superglue. I had a whole tube of the superglue gel explode in my hand... and it doesnt nearly dry as fast as my plastic weld does...which means I have to hold the damned pieces together forever till they dry.
> 
> Anyway, I'll try to get some pics posted up tonight.


Superglue is an awkward thing to work with, I find different batches vary a lot. On top of that, I have dropped those "cheap" brands and go for the Established ones, prefering the gel type.
To help the bonding I also rough up the metal surfaces usually cross-hatch scoring them (very carefully with a scalpel blade) and a quick scrub with dilute detergent and rinse. It may be the releasing agent or oxidising on the metal that stops the bonding.
Larger (heavier) pieces, I always pin. Check out pinning posts/articles.
Try that.

Good work so far; as has been commented before ..... you are a hell of a lot more advancd in techniques than I was at your stage. 
Ahhhh, the fruitless use of enamels ......

Keep going, the craters ar excellent are they scratchbuilt or bought? The painting is spot on so far.
Rep for you, fella :good:

PS. I hope the fists do get to you.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Still no fists 

The crater is scratch built. The base is cardboard and I used blue insulation foam, a piece I found blowing down the road, to build the shape. The I put sand and rocks from my driveway on for texture.

I have 2 other craters I've been working on. One using a cd base and the other is a half crater. I just don't have them very far along and the half craters base kinda warped pretty badly.. So most likely it's a gonner.

I painted up the majority of the long fang squad last night. I haven't gotten the weapons attached yet, so I'll try the whole pinning thing for sure. The superglue I've been using is the superglue brand gel... I had a tube pop in my hand... Sucked pretty bad hehe


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Alright, picture time!!

I just realized I was only allowed 15 attachments per post, but thats ok, I'll just post another one.

Here are a couple of finished marines for my space wolves army.

I also have 2 plasma cannon and 2 multimelta long fang marines in the works. The ones that are painted most of the way, but missing their heads have pewter weapons / arms / backpacks... I had to do a lot of pinning work on them to make them stand up. They're so damned heavy.

I also have a couple conversion marines in the works. One is a flamer marine... I figured it'd be way cooler to have some hoses running back to his backpack, so I used some cat5 wire, stole a couple wires out of it, twisted them up, cut up a melta bomb, did some drilling... viola! flamer with hoses.

The other conversion piece is going to be a wolf lord that I have no idea if I'll be able to use or not. He's got 2 power fists, and he'll have a banner attached to his backpack. The backpack is still drying up, as I have attached a bunch of extra purity seals and some other stuff to it, so it's not pictured in any of these.

The red and black space marine captain will be seeing a bucket of simple green soon because I've decided to go with the grey color instead of the black for my space wolves army.

I went yesterday and pre-ordered my codex, a space wolves battleforce, and Tuesday I'll be adding 2 boxes of terminators, and 2 wolf pack boxes to that preorder. Hopefully that'll give me enough to have a good sized army.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Here's the rest of the photos.

C&C Requested =)


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Also wanted to say - keep in mind that none of this is completely done. I have lots of touch ups to do. I have to decal all the yellow shoulder pads... plenty to do.


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## Chocobuncle (Feb 5, 2009)

I really like it but I think the scope on that flamer in your last batch of photos looks too high

but I like the rest of the models, keep up the work


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## Crude (Mar 15, 2009)

yarr!!!! you're an asshole lol  just jokes

i'm a bit dyslexic when it comes to painting. I'd wager that your painting right now is a bit better then mine... never beat yourself up about your painting, once you have the whole army painted and all arrayed before you they look totally amazing! keep up the good work.

two plasma cannons and two multi-meltas?! cant say ive ever used anything like that, I have no idea how it'll play.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

the premise of 2 meltas and 2 plasmas is that so long as the seargent doesn't shoot, the long fangs can shhot at 2 different targets. I'll be building 2 heavy bolters and probably 2 lascanons so I can swap out depending on what I'm fighting


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## STATIC (Feb 11, 2008)

You have come a long way in a short time as far as painting goes mate.
Keep it up and keep on searching for ways to better your skills and i can guarantee you that by the end of painting your army, you'll want to go back and do them all again. Or start a new army.........

Keep it up mate. I'll be following this thread.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

That's some really good painting and some really incredible improvement, well done. + Rep
For scripture try one of the ink washes, I've not done it myself but one of my mates has and his came out really defined.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Another picture update again. 

I picked up 2 space wolf terminator boxes, and 2 wolf pack boxes. Here's the first of my wolf guard. He's still a WIP. Needs his head, and to be finished being based. He'll also be getting one of my wolf pelt capes. Also needs his shoulder pads still

C&C please.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I just realized how bad the pic is. Too much backlight. I'll take more and repost later


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## liforrevenge (Oct 6, 2009)

Did you name that poor marine who had to go through all of your tests while learning about your paints? I feel he needs a name! (please forgive this pointless post) also, i like your work! keep it up!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

liforrevenge said:


> Did you name that poor marine who had to go through all of your tests while learning about your paints? I feel he needs a name! (please forgive this pointless post) also, i like your work! keep it up!


Eh. I haven't really thought about a name yet. I've been too busy trying to get just one whole squad painted yet. I'm one multi-melta marine and 1 shoulder pad away from being done with the painting of my Long Fangs Squad (130 points). Last night I assembled the rest of my 15 man blood claw pack (flamer + melta + power fist = 250-255 depending on whether the flamer is calculated first, or the melta is calculated first).

I need to get my blood claw pack painted up, then do a complete other troop squad, and an HQ and I can have my first complete army.



No post is pointless. I enjoy just knowing that people are continuing to read this and check out what I'm posting.


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## omgitsduane (May 14, 2008)

You've certainly come a long way from the first mini... this is a good effort and its only getting better.


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## gazza001 (Oct 3, 2008)

Wow massive improvement from your fist attempt, keep up the good work!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Thanks for all the +rep guys! Feels good to be noticed!


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## Sangus Bane (Jun 17, 2009)

Wow... those guys are awesome...

What is that chapter called? It looks a bit like my previous self made chapter : 
'Eternal Templars'. I stopped doing them because I now have a paint scheme which I like better on my captains 'Space Angels':victory:

I hope to see more soon. Good luck!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Sangus Bane said:


> Wow... those guys are awesome...
> 
> What is that chapter called? It looks a bit like my previous self made chapter :
> 'Eternal Templars'. I stopped doing them because I now have a paint scheme which I like better on my captains 'Space Angels':victory:
> ...


Well, I've actually been thinking about my chapter name a good bit lately. I am pretty set on naming my chapter "Stormriders" ... This doesn't have fluff yet, but it is named after a world of warcraft guild I was in for a long time (and recently quit playing the game) and it's just a really cool name and I think it goes along with the idea of the space wolves pretty nicely. 

Plus, I just bought a couple of the DND miniatures, namely the Dire Wolf, Vampire Dire Wolf, and Timberwolf, which I will hopefully be using to make my Thunderwolf Cavalry out of, and potentially a bunch of Fenrisian Wolves... I'm going to avoid using Swiftclaws and I pretty much refuse to use bikes... I think they look completely unfeasible... but that's just an opinion.

I'm hoping to get a 5 man Thunderwolf squad put together, my wolf lord on a thunderwolf mount, and I'd like to have atleast 1 full unit of fenrisian wolves, plus a few extra's as wargear upgrades.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Alright, update time. No photos just yet, but an update all the same.

I picked up Assault on Black Reach last night and now need to find someone to swap me some marine stuff for these Orks.

Anyway, I assembled the 5 terminators as wolf guard. I assembled the 10 man tactical squad - dropped the missile launcher guy (he'll go into my long fang squad if he's needed) and put the captain into the squad - assembled as Grey Hunters with a Flamer and Wolf Standard. The Dreadnought obviously got assembled as a Dreadnought.

So far my army list - at best - is looking something like this -

HQ
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Wolf Lord - Power Armor / 2 x Power Fist - 150 points

Troops
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Blood Claw Squad - 15 marines - Flamer / Melta / Power Fist / Plasma Pistol - 265 points

Blood Claw Squad - 15 marines - 2 x Plasma / Power Fist / Plasma Pistol - 275 points

Grey Hunter Squad - 10 marines - Power Weapon / Wolf Standard - 175 points

Heavy Support
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Long Fang Squad - 6 marines - 2 x Plasma Cannon / 2 x Multi-Melta / 1 x Heavy Bolter - 140 points

Elites
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Dreadnought - Twin-linked Heavy Flamer - 105 points

Wolf Guard Pack - 6 marines - 6 x Terminator Armor / Frost Axe / 4 x Power Fist - 248 points

Lone Wolf - Terminator Armor / 2 x Wolf Claw / 2 x Fenrisian Wolf - 60 points

Dedicated Transport 
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2 x Rhino - 70 points

Thats a total of 1488 points. Still need quite a bit more.... Which really just means I need to get it assembled heh. I have 8 more terminators and probably about 30 more marines to assemble still. I also need to get a Land Raider for each of my blood claw squads. Damned Rhino's can't hold the whole squad so they'll have to get packed into Land Raiders. I also need to pick up a couple drop pods and another Dreadnought or two. And, I still need to figure out what I'm going to do for my Fenrisian Wolves. I have a couple of the D&D miniatures that'll make great Fenrisian Wolves for my Lone Wolf, but I'd like to find a bunch more ... preferably GW models so that they're tournament legal... because I'd like to get atleast 2 squads of 15x fenrisian wolves for fast attack.

Oh yeah, forgot - I have 5 x Wolf Scouts - 75 points - I don't like them though.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

Speechless. Lovely work and such an improvement in a short time. Outstanding


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## A1i3nz (Apr 1, 2009)

your painting skills are amazing!!!! Love to see more pics +rep for awesome painting and terrain:victory:


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I scrambled a bunch last week and got the worst army list possible stuck together so that I could finally go play a game. Here's a shot of one of my opponents setting up his orks.

It was a 4 player game, 2000 points each. Space Wolves + Ultramarines vs Ork + Chaos Marines. Who knows....

Anyway, we only made it through turn 2 before everyone scooped and walked off because of someone cheating and just being absolutely no fun. What an amazing first game....

I'm not great at memorizing or even remembering stuff, but I learned a LOT and still had a good time for the most part.

Anyway, here it is. Space Wolves are the closest to the camera, not even close to being done getting painted, and having borrowed a bunch of Rhinos, a Predator, and a Drop Pod.


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## Ebsolom Dhaark (Jun 5, 2008)

What a vast improvement in your painting skills in such a short time, I salute you. Keep up at this rate and your army will look excellent.
It's a shame your first game had to end because of someone being an ass, people like that deter others interest in the hobby. Hope your next game is more enjoyable and fun although I do recomend starting off with a smaller list, say about 1,000pts so that you can familiarize yourself with each units strengths and weaknesses.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Alright, photo update time.

The lightning claw terminator you've all seen before... but here he is, a little bit better picture quality, with a head and shoulderpads... 

Ok, here's the update - 

63 points - Ulrik Firemaw - Wolf Guard (Gets assigned to the Long Fangs)
----------------------------------------
Terminator Armor
Assault Cannon
Power Weapon

48 points - Yngvarr Brandr (Norse for Warrior; Blade) - Wolf Guard
-----------------------------------------
Terminator Armor
2 x Wolf Claw

188 points - Arjac Rockfist, The Anvil of Fenris - Wolf Guard
-----------------------------------------
Terminator Armor
Foehammer
Anvil Shield
Wolftooth Necklace
Saga of the Bear

These are definitely still WIP, especially now that I have seen close up pictures and noticed how messy a lot of things are. There are a few pieces missing still, but it's all on the way... C&C please.


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## Sunderblade (Oct 18, 2009)

Nice job! When i painted my first mini I used all metallics and...no basecoat:... if i remember correctly it ended up in my fireplace:biggrin:


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## STATIC (Feb 11, 2008)

WOW!!!!
I haven't been here for a while. I gotta say mate, you've definately come leaps and bounds in such a short time.
KEEP AT IT!!


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## pchandler43 (Nov 28, 2008)

+ rep man, could use some touching up, but overall a very good start (and a lot neater start than mine haha)

Looking forward to seeing more from you!


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## Fumble Tumble (Oct 3, 2008)

sigh..... only a short time you have been painting, and your already probably better than me


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Don't think you guys have gotten rid of me =) 

It's been a while since I've posted due to the purchase of a house. We've been moving and cleaning and repairing and all the other wonderful CRAP that comes with buying a house.

I've had a little time to do some work though. I'll try to get some pictures up soon, maybe tonight or tomorrow. I started working on some Grey Hunter squads using Chaos Warriors as the base, with added Wolf Pack bits and accessories. They look pretty sharp though not painted yet. I've also started work on my Bjorn the Fell Handed. I made a plasma arm out of a Devastator Squad plasma cannon, and so far have added a single wolf pelt. I have quite a bit of work left to do in order to get him ready for paint. I want to add a loin cloth and a few other things with some GS... anyway, teaser text to bump my thread and let everyone know I'm still here. Pics incoming soon!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, pictures as promised.

The dreadnought is my Bjorn the Fell-Handed conversion. The plasma gun was made from a devastator plasma cannon, some bass guitar string, and as always, green stuff. The base was an assault on black reach dreadnought melta arm that I cut up and operated on. 

The wolf head marine with the melta is one of an entire squad utilizing the same front / back torso, head, backpack, and right shoulder pad. I havent decided what I'm doing for the left shoulder pad yet, but I do have an entire squad mostly assembled the same way. You know, for coherency.

The next marines are converted from Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Warriors. I dremeled out the arm sockets and used space wolf bits for the backpacks / head / arms / etc. I have about 30 of these assembled. I'm trying to use as many of the chaos melee weapons on these guys as I can, in order to maintain a variety.

Njal. painted in mega crappy craft store - anita's acrylic - paints. yay for terrible paint jobs done in terrible paints. He may see a bucket of simple green sometime soon.

C&C Welcome ... and requested. Let me know what you think!


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

That Space Wolf guy is Ace mate  Nice to see your progression 

I like your basing. I've been painting a while and still haven't gotten round to doing basing such as your first post


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

I supposed to be getting a set of Reaper Master's Series paints for Christmas, so I'm gonna hold out until then for more painting I think. I've only got a select few colors of Citadel paint and they're definitely better than the craft store stuff. The consistency is better, they dont dissolve in water, and the pigments are much nicer.


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## toffster (Dec 13, 2009)

wow, your really improving, the first picture was ok for a beginner. The second was imrpoved a little. And now the backpacks really show how much you have improved. Keep at it mate, you'l get better as you learn, and to learn you need to keep practising  Practise makes perfect.

Looking good so far, keep it up.

The terminators are wicked! Talk about improvement mate.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Thanks. I'm hoping to take home a slayer sword some day =) preferably sooner than later.


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## edd_thereaper (Oct 21, 2008)

your conversions continue to amaze me

and your painting is looking good too

cheers

edd


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Update time again, finally. This is the powerfist grey hunter I've almost got completed. There's a whole squad that match this guy, they just aren't as close to being done as this guy. There'll be 2 melta's, plasma pistol, and some bolter / close combat weapon guys to equal 11 - so I can have options to trade out. All this guy needs to be finished is the great company shoulder pad, which I'm still in the process of trying to figure out which company he'll be in.

C&C please. Chat it up, let me know what you think.

*edit* I just realized that the dang bolt pistol is out of focus a little and you can hardly see the kill marks on the pistol... but there are hash marks in there.


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## Shadow Hawk (Apr 26, 2009)

Woah...
In just a few months you came that far. It took me almost a year to be able to paint at that standard. 
+rep


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

The converted warriors are very good; did you need to do any cutting to fit the backpacks over the cloaks or do they rest there?

+ Rep


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## piemaster (Oct 9, 2009)

Really like the pose of your Bjorn. Nice conversion work. +rep
Oh, and the wolf pelt on your termie is really good!


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> The converted warriors are very good; did you need to do any cutting to fit the backpacks over the cloaks or do they rest there?
> 
> + Rep



They are just glued right over the pelt section. I'm kinda glad I did it that way, because when I am painting them, I am taking the backpacks back off. After painting, they just glue right back on. It'd probably be a lot better if I'd GS them on. I'm not trying to win a golden daemon yet though.

I did however, have to cut out the arms of the Chaos Warrior models to fit normal space marine arms in. I'm also contemplating trying to chop some of the legs off so I can fit SM legs on the torso also, just to change up the pose a little.

Thanks on the Bjorn comment. He's a compilation of a regular dreadnought, his claw is nid talons, and the plasma cannon is converted from a AOBR melta arm, chopped up and refit using a devastator squad plasma cannon. I added some extra storm shields to his legs for some more detail and armor. I am still debating on adding a wolf pelt to the top of him.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

You just keep getting better. I don't doubt that soon you will be one of the go-to guys for painting advice. Very impressed. Do you still have your first mini? Or has he been upgraded?


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## BrotherYorei (May 9, 2009)

OK, let me just say............awesome. your progress over only about 5 months or so is awesome. i have been painting 40k models for 5 years now and am about where you are skill wise. im gonna give you some rep. keep up the great work.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

shaantitus said:


> You just keep getting better. I don't doubt that soon you will be one of the go-to guys for painting advice. Very impressed. Do you still have your first mini? Or has he been upgraded?



Thanks for the compliments! 

Yeah, I still have my first mini. He never got completely assembled and I'm not entirely sure where he is lol. but he's here somewhere.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, first off, my goal is to create all of the companies within the Space Wolves great company... in the end anyway.

The first that I am attempting to build is that of Egil Ironwolf. A friend of mine isn't super interested in investing in the game, and for sure wouldnt enjoy painting, but does REALLY enjoy building lists and dealing with the rules and the numbers. He's interested in playing, just cant really afford the game, so I told him he could play my army, mostly since I have probably 5000 points worth waiting to be assembled, most of which is in the form of marines. Anyway, he'll be playing Egil Ironwolf's Company primarily, so I figured I'd start with his.

So, without further adu'... or whatever that word is... Here's my first 100% done and finished Grey Hunter... or model... or both... He'll actually be getting played as a Wolf Guard with Power Fist, but he's getting painted to match the squad he'll be running with.

Comments and Criticism are not only welcome, but desired. I don't care if it's brutal criticism or not, let's hear it. If I suck, enlighten me as to why, and what I can do to get better. This isn't golden daemon, but hopefully not sucky for table top either. Anyway, bring on the comments.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Finished up a total of 5 wolves. Moving along nicely now... it feels nice to actually make some progress finally.

Anyway, C&C please.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Well, it's been a while since I posted an update. I only have 1 new photo for now, and it's terrible. I took it with my cell phone in probably the worst possible environment. Anyway, this is my Arjac Rockfist conversion. He's currently got a forgeworld torso and shoulderpad, and a repositioned set of space wolf terminator legs. His storm shield arm is a modified wolf claw arm. I liked the larger hand and since his shield grants him an extra attack, I thought it fitting to make it more potent and possibly powered... so I took a terminator wolf claw arm, shaved off the claws, and stuck a chaos warrior shield on the back of it. I took all the chaos stuff off the shield, and then attached a regular terminator storm shield to that one, thus providing a rather neat storm shield... anyway, there'll be pictures of it posted soon.

Foehammer is made of a terminator thunderhammer, but I chopped the power cable off at the wrist. I then cut the head of the hammer off, and replaced it with the one from the regular wolf pack sprue, and extended the handle a little with the help of a chaos warrior banner pole.

I'm currently debating whether to use the terminator wolf cloak or to get another Njal Stormcaller, and use the cloak from that model on this Arjac. Not sure which I prefer better. The flow of this cloak seems to fit the pose nicely, but it looks like it might just be a bit too much. We'll see.

Anyway, C&C please.


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Ok, as promised, here's the long awaited update containing my Arjac Rockfist conversion and my painted up Forgeworld Dreadnought. Please C&C. I do appreciate the +Rep, but I'm more interested in hearing what you guys think about them and what I can do to get better.... so C&C > Rep =)


Ok, here's the Dreadnought up first. The only big thing I'd like to point out is that his left leg is standing in some murky water. It was a pain in the rear trying to build something to contain the water resin. I wound up super gluing a piece of plasticard around the base and then shaving it off afterwards. To make it murky, I poured the resin and allowed it to dry prior to spraying the mini with testors dull coat.

















































And now, Arjac Rockfist. The special thing about this mini is that it's my first ever attempt at OSL. Happy reading.










































EDIT - Also wanted to add that I need to get some more detailed pictures of Arjac. His hammer is a conversion of the power axe from the wolf guard sprue, with the wolf pack thunderhammer head, with a bit of chaos warrior banner pole in between. The power cable has been unattached from the hammer but left in tact to the arm, thus giving the appearance that he could throw it.

The shield is a chaos warrior shield, shaved down, attached to a converted lightning claw arm (because I like the size of the thing and I wanted it to look powered since he gets a bonus attack from it) and then a wolf guard storm shield on top of the chaos shield.


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

Sweet job on the dread, and Arjac looks cool. I'm toying with an idea for a conversion of him myself.


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## Inquisitor Varrius (Jul 3, 2008)

Arjac looks sweet, but I'd ink his beard or something. It looks a little flat, though that may be the picture. :victory: Very well done!

As an aside, what does "OSL" stand for?


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## jlevan (Aug 20, 2009)

Inquisitor Varrius said:


> Arjac looks sweet, but I'd ink his beard or something. It looks a little flat, though that may be the picture. :victory: Very well done!
> 
> As an aside, what does "OSL" stand for?


OSL = On Source Lighting. I've tried to make the shield glow and the light reflecting off the rest of him.


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