# Xenobiotic's continual madness (Updated 20160816)



## xenobiotic

*Welcome to Xenobiotic's Brethren of the Phoenix log!*








To follow the progress better and for newcomers to see how far I've gone in the process of creating my envisioned army of Blood Angels Successors I decided to include this list in the first post. To see the first initial post please continue down this post - Thank you.
Key: Gray = Conceptualized | Red = Built | Orange = Painting Started | White = "Done" (click to go to the post)

Blood Angel Successors - Brethren of the Phoenix
*ARMY PHOTOS:*
Legal Army
1000 pts

*HQ:*
Captain Vespillo (Counts as Tycho)
Reclusiarch-Chaplain Sabinus
Epistolary Librarian Favius
Librarian
Honour Guard - Veteran, Meltagunner, Meltagunner, Techadept + Sanguinary Initiate
Honour Guard magnetized for jump packs - Veteran (?), Veteran (?), Veteran (?), Veteran (?) + Sanguinary Initiate

*ELITES:*
Furioso Dreadnought w. Magnetized Weapons 
Furioso Dreadnought w. Magnetized Weapons (Blood Talons vs Blood Fists + Magna-grapple)
12-man Sternguard unit
(Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized Backpack/Jumppack)
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized Backpack/Jumppack
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized melta bombs and power weapon
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized melta bombs and power weapon

TROOPS:
10-man Assault Squad w. 2 x Meltaguns & Powerfist
5-man Assault Squad w. 1 x Meltaguns, Powerfist & Magnetized Backpacks/Jumppacks
5-man Assault Squad w. 1 x Meltaguns & Magnetized Backpacks/Jumppacks
5-man Assault Squad w. 1 x Flamers, Powerfist & Magnetized Backpacks/Jumppacks
5-man Assault Squad w. 1 x Flamers & Magnetized Backpacks/Jumppacks
5-man Death Company Squad w. Powerfist & Magnetized Special Weapons
5-man Death Company Squad w. Powerfist & Magnetized Special Weapons
5-man Death Company Squad w. Magnetized Special Weapons
Death Company Dreadnought w. Magnetized Weapons (Blood Talons vs Blood Fists + Magna-grapple)
Death Company Dreadnought w. Magnetized Weapons (Blood Talons vs Blood Fists + Magna-grapple)

*DEDICATED TRANSPORTS:*
Repressor - *The Auspice*
Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades or click here for a weathered version
Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades
Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades
Death Company Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades - *The Salient*
Death Company Land Raider Crusader
Land Raider
Drop Pod
Drop Pod
Drop Pod

*FAST ATTACK:*
5-man Vanguard Squad w. Thunder Hammer
5-man Vanguard Squad
Baal Predator w. Dozer Blades & Magnetized Sponsons - _*Gloam, of the Dusk-Bringers*_
Baal Predator w. Dozer Blades & Magnetized Sponsons
Baal Predator w. Dozer Blades & Magnetized Sponsons

*HEAVY SUPPORT:*
5-man Devastator Squad
5-man Devastator Squad
Vindicator w. Siege Shield
Vindicator w. Siege Shield
Vindicator w. Siege Shield
Predator Annihilator w. Dozer Blades & Sponsons
Whirlwind
Stormraven

*SUPER HEAVIES:*
Knight Warden
Fellblade

*OBJECTIVE COUNTERS*
Phoenix/Huma Bird Nest
Phoenix/Huma Bird
Phoenix/Huma Bird
Unnamed objective / Undecided
Unnamed objective / Undecided
Unnamed objective / Undecided

*HOW TOs:*
Dead Mans Hand Counts As
Beaked Helmets
Mud
Dirty White Armour
Jasper effect
Deep Blue Armour

*Original Introduction:*
I've been a member on Heresy for a few years now, albeit a very passive one. Up till now I've mostly been checking out the occasional project log or modelling tip. Lately I've grown more addicted and started to log on every day, following project logs as I found it boosted my own imagination and creativity. I've also started to write my first posts (success!) so go easy on me :cray:

I'm mostly into the collecting/painting/modelling side of the hobby. Playing is mostly a "Well, if I have to" sort of thing for me. Although this attitude has put me in a lot of trouble with my gaming buddies, seeing as how I've been trying to complete a worthwhile 1000+ pts army for ages now and I'm always distracted by something else (a valkyrie here, a greater daemon there sometimes even a painting or a drawing). If you don't believe me have a look at half of my desk:









So, inspired by the very dedicated minions and overlords of the Heresy Forums, I've decided to put together a playable army of at least 1000 pts within a reasonable amount of time. Seeing as I need to keep the model count down to actually manage (since I have studies and other artwork to do as well) I decided that some kind of Space Marines would probably be my best choice to fill out points quickly. I also have a lot of Space Marine miniatures since before. So I put the old painted ones in a box filled with pine tree oil ("Såpa" in Swedish, don't know the exact translation), ordered a bunch of boxes to fill out my ranks and started searching for a suitable colour scheme.

Having looked through some sources I liked the Iron Hands (I love their background), however their scheme isn't all that inspiring which led further down the search of successors eventually stopping at the Iron Fists (Metallic Blue armour with Gold arms). So I painted a Tactical Squad in their scheme and tried my luck on a converted Master of the Forge but they didn't really stick with me.

*Conclusion:*
At the same time I read through the rumours of the coming Blood Angel Codex and was a bit confused about which way to go. I liked the Blood Angels back in the 3rd edition, the furioso dreadnoughts, the close combat waves and the Death Company. But I never really fell for the "all red" armour (even with the differently coloured helmets). Their successors didn't help me much to spice the scheme up (seeing as how they are mostly all red anyway). Flipping through even more examples of chapters and trying some combinations with red out I came up with a scheme I like. Red and White. Now I just have to perfect painting it and paint 1000 points. Clobbering the Iron Fists in pause for the time being.

Without further ramblings here's the start of my Blood Angels Successors Chapter (still some finishing touches to do on the models I have painted - no squad markings and chapter symbols, purity seals not all that well painted in these pictures):
Assault Squad 1:








































I choose skulls on the "arm shields" on my meltagunners on this squad and ironically I accidentally chose a powerfist with the exact skull for my squad leader, proved to be a fitting way to tie the squad together a tad more.

Assault Squad 2:








And in keeping with the previous squad I had to "align" the squad leaders powerfist with the assault weapons in the squad. An easy cut'n'scrape on a space wolf powerfist with the addition of some "green stuff mold'n'press" solved that problem:









Back to painting marines and building dreads.
Hopefully I'll have something a bit more interesting than just marines to show next time I post.

The chapter needs a name, any ideas or suggestions? Chapter symbol will most likely be very similar to the blood angels symbol (red on white shoulder pad, or perhaps another colour? Black?)
I tried painting battle damage on white armour and found it a bit tricky. Any suggestions on that?

C&C is welcome!


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## Viscount Vash

I have edited your post a little to stop multiple pictures on one line as it was making the post a bit too wide.


Tidy colour scheme and a good start on it.

For those damage holes I would normally paint the hole Boltgun and carefully wash it with Badab Black, if you want you can then highlight the edges in Chainmail and/or Mithril Silver depending on how far you want to go with it.


Look forward to seeing these progress and get named.


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## Dagmire

nice green stuff on the last guys powerfist.
Like the colour scheme alot.
Kepp up the work, i will be following this one.
D


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## Varakir

Have to say, i really like both the colour schemes you've come up with.

Painting is very tidy, and you've done a wicked job on the white.

Looking forward to seeing this progreess, and good luck with it :good:


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## xenobiotic

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement!

I'll experiment more on the battledamage front when I start painting the second assault marine squad, I'll see how your suggestion works out then Viscount Vash. I like the look of the damage, I find it adds alot of character to the miniatures.

----

I still have no conclusive idea on the chapter name (most ideas I get sound to cheesy for my own taste). I'll see what next week brings me on that front.

On the painting side I've done a few assault marines and started on my first rhino (my first real attempt at freehanding) aswell as tweaking with the first of many dreads to come:

Rhino (Right side; Aiming for some kind of "flowing fabric" feel with this one. Personally I think the photo lets it down a bit):









Dreadnought (Furioso, magnetized the end of the arms (I can switch them for 2 chainfists making it look eerily similar to a khorne dreadnought. I'm thinking about converting suitable blood talon stand-ins when I get a better idea of how I'd like them to look):









Marines:

















Squad 1, sofar:









----

I'm hoping that the rhino provides me with enough insight about freehanding to make something worthwhile on my dreads (aswell as the other rhino-chassi tanks and even drop pods).


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## Inquisitor Varrius

Love that wavy rhino! Your battle damage is great too, nice to see some BA! :victory:


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## Salio

These are fantastic! Great work, I'm looking forward to more freehand like on that rhino!


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## LordKorik

That freehand on the Rhino is amazing.

I look forward to seeing more


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## itsonlyme

i love the art work on the rhino! army is looking great, cant wait to see the ven painted up, idont know if i like that more than the forge world one yet however..


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## xenobiotic

Sorry for the delay on posts, I've been busy with RL. Studies are a pain in my back at the moment. Should clear up within a couple of weeks so I'll just have to keep my head floating and paint as much as I can on this army.

----

I have made some progress since last time. Apart from painting I'm soon to be overwhelmed with unopened boxes from the new BA-line. I've already recieved the first boxes and I'm putting together my first batch of death company marines aswell as converted HQ-choices and sergeants from the sanguinary guard box (which I do not plan to use in my army so I figured I could spread their lovely pieces around).

I've also decided to paint my death company in a white scheme (like Angels Encarmine in the codex) to keep at it with the white (perfection is a must to reach ). This will prove an interesting challenge aswell since it means I have to paint a white rhino (with freehand art), 2 white dreadnoughts and, sometime in the future, a white Land Raider Crusader. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it of!

I've been fidling around with names for the chapter (this appears to be the hardest thing thusfar :angry and came up with a few options for now, at the moment I'm considering: Carnelian Wings?

----

Anyway, that's just about enough blabber from me, on with the pictures, as 'promised' here's the other side of the rhino (as you can see the rhino is still not completed, weathering to be done, hatches to be done, highlighting isn't completed and so on and so forth):

















And here's the big surprise for this update, Battle-Brother Mavolent in his Furious glory (Where I tried both ways of painting battledamage on white - I think the CCW look great personally. Small things still to be done, highlight on the feet isn't what I want it to be, no text on the scrolls, no basing. Still have to convert Blood Talons for him, other than that he is pretty much finished now):
































If you have a keen eye you'll notice the pattern on some of the plating, I stole inspiration for it from the mineral jasper. I thought that it would break the red surfaces a tad and give him a more ancient and personal feeling. It's however very hard to reproduce patterns of minerals without alot of fiddling, but you can see what I was aiming for here:









And to finish of the pictures and to keep the troops coming, a lonely assault marine:


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## Dar'kir

good work, post more soon


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## Tossidin

That looks serioudly awesome man! I like that it is so original k:

Have some well deserved +rep


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## Asamodai

Love the dreadnought. You're right, those Close Combat Weapons look awesome.


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## Masstadon

those are amazing! wow... how do you do the white? idk if i missed what you said but i was just in awe at the picks man great job!


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## imm0rtal reaper

What a great log so far/ Your execution of both red and white is very very well done. I love the scheme too.

The freehand rhino is funky, no idea whether the waves are meant to be something but it looks great anyway k:

The marble style effect on the dread looks really good from what I can see, though some detailed shots would be great.

Good job :victory:


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## xenobiotic

First of all, thank you for the kind comments, PMs and rep!

Secondly, some answers:
I'm still experimenting with the way I paint white (considering I've sofar only painted small areas of white where my method works very well). The way I do it these days is -
1. Basecoat of *Astronomican Grey* 
2. Repeated _milk thin_ coat of *Skull White* (the milk thin part is more important than you think, cause think skull white leaves ugly brushmarks on every following layer).
3. Thin wash of *Badab Black* in recesses, the more time you spend here the less time you have to spend on the cleanup that follows.
4. Repeated layers of milk thin *Skull White* till you're happy.

Third, as you will see the pictures I take from now on will look slightly differnt from the previous ones. This is due to the fact that I've purchased som 6700K lightbulbs which are considerably more blue in their tone. This helps me keep my focus when painting at night (not turning every color into yellow, orange or brown). 

Fourth, pics of the marble effect on the dreadnought (which for some reason appears to be dusty now, I don't know why):

















This updates *special attention* goes the first completed HQ (Librarian, I know he can't have a deathmask and an angelus pattern bolter, but since I'm not using any sanguinary guard or special characters with that equipment I shamelessly use these parts to make my counts as librarian, since I took the pictures I've done some minor adjustments but basically this is the look I'm going with):

































This puts me at a staggering armycount of:
Librarian
Furioso Dreadnought
8 Assault Marines
If I'd just finished painting 4 white arms I'd actually have a legal army to play with, and then I could start adding up points for a distan 2000+ goal. We'll see where it goes.

Till next time!


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## imm0rtal reaper

Again, he Marble on the dread is awesome man.

I'm really liking the librarian too. My only problem with it is the marble effect. I don't think the execution is as good as the dread. To me it just looks like the white is a little messy. I think if you used some other colours for the marble veins, such as blues or greens (instead of what I assume is black) it would be more obvious as marble. That being said though, super kudos to you for even attempting that effect, as it isn't easy. You've executed it really well on the dread but I just think the librarian isn't up to the same level, which is a real shame because if it were, you'd have a fantastic looking HQ (don't get me wrong, the rest of the libby is top notch, love the red and the flat white, and the axe is badass)

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this army, especially some more vehichles :victory:

All the best

Reaper


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## Fallen

good god that rhino is AMAZING!!!! :shok:

on a side note id recommend you try the same effect diagonally on the dreads, theres not a lot of retail space to do that effect vertical/horizontally imo

please post more pics please


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## xenobiotic

Sorry for the delay, exam studies and GF had priority, thank you for the comments!

*imm0rtal reaper:* I agree that the execution of the marble effect on the librarian could be better (found it sloppy on some places myself when looking at these pictures), I will go over him again soon and see what I can do to make it look better.

However, while talking about white marble, the colors included in white marble vary with the type and origin of the stone, as some of you may know, some are almost grayscale, others have lots of blue and red/brown streaks in them. Google has alot of good examples, all at a different degree of difficulties to copy. Then again I see why you gave the suggestions you did since when people think marble they see a certain type of it in their mind (which would be the best one to attempt to reproduce for it to be recognized by others and not just be a blurry/dirty piece of armor).

Experience will provide excellens, I'm thinking I won't do any kind of white marble on infantry models for the time being and instead try to get it right on my upcoming white vehicles (on smaller areas to start with). The red marble effect might look good on infantry though, I'll give it a go on my vanguard sergeant (probably) and see what you think.

*Fallen:* I hadn't even considered doing a flowing fabric pattern on a dreadnought but now that you mentioned it I might try it out!

I've spent some time to finish of the Rhino, I'm not fantastically pleased with it. When you first look at a Rhino it doesn't feel like it's full of detail and life, but man I was going crazy for a while, finding details I'd forgotten about all the way to the finishingline. I must also admit that I am a noob in the area of weathering vehicles so I did very little on this one. I didn't have the courage to try anything and fail misserably. I'll work up the courage for my upcoming vehicles.
*
Rhino*:

































Here's the WIP picture of my *Sanguinary Priest* models (they are arm and headless since those parts are going to be white). If you'd like to give me some response on the wing effect I'm trying out it would be very appreciated (middle figure, figures left wing). I didn't want them to have a typical angelic paintjob, but I'm still not sure if it will work:









Also a lonely assault marine (only one left now!):


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## Sgt Pasanius

Absolutely amazing!
your red is really vibrant.


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## Khorne's Fist

Beautiful dreadnought. I love how you get the paint to seem so smooth and even, especially on the rhino.


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## Baltar

Your battle damage is really excellent.

It's cheeky to ask, but I think that it would be really awesome of you to make a tutorial, if possible.

I also like the pointing power fist; is it a conversion or a part you found?

I agree with much that has been said; I like your colour scheme. It's both simple and affective - two great qualities. Your rhino is fantastic, and your dread' is even better. I am not personally keen on the Sanguinary guard in white, but at least it's original (or at least the only actual white model I have seen so far).


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## Mortalis

Very nice. All the models look great. Keep it coming.


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## Munky

Im very very impressed with the work i've seen here, it's great to see some originality going into a project.
Im loving the red and white contrast and the level of detail you are putting in.

Awesome stuff I'l be watching this closely.


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## xenobiotic

It appears that reality conspires against my warhammer 40k ambitions. Having set out to get alot of things done this past week I instead found myself almost bedridden with the flu or something with similar effect on the body. 

To top it all of EVERYTHING that could go wrong has gone wrong with the miniature I've been working the past week. Parts falling off, dropping it on the floor breaking pieces and so on. Green stuff and alot of patience while pinning almost everything appear to have saved the day, till I realized that the colours I had chosen for some parts did not work at all with the model as a whole :angry:

*Baltar:* I was considering doing a tutorial on the battle damage (or at least a series of pictures of the process) but I haven't gotten around to do more than a start at the moment. I'll see what amount of strength I can muster over the weekend.

The pointing powerfist is straight from the Assault Marine box (I think).

Honour guard *Sanguinary Initiate* (be nice to him, I've been close to tear him apart so many times for being a royal pain in my behind) When looking at the pictures I notice that the wings look odd (most likely due to the varnish) and the paint look thick on the helmet (sadly):


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## Viscount Vash

Looks good.
Keep at it, don't let a bit of plastic beat you. 

Hope you feel better soon.


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## Asamodai

Yeah I like him. Good effect on the wings. It's cool to see the different ways they can be done.


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## BrotherYorei

i think the sang preists are awesome. im doing the same thing for the jumpacks on mine.


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## xenobiotic

*Quick update:*
Tried a new way of mass painting white, however it went _horribly wrong _so now all those parts are soaking in green goo to get the paint of :shok: 
While soaking I continued on the path of vehicle production/assembly.

I have a small assembly line on my desk, atm constructing 2 vindicators, 3 dreadnoughts, a stormlord/shadowsword and 2 baal predators. Not much to show at the moment tho since they are basically just plastic.

On the painting side I've been discussing my next tank with a friend to come up with a concept for it's freehand. I also ravaged through my bitbox and came up with something (while in the process I also came up with a possible chapter name) I think compliments the freehand and the vehicle (although my friend is still a tad iffy on the side doors).

So here are some PIP razorback pictures, C&C&Tips are most welcome:


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## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

very very nice freehand work, liking the moon/planet motif here + rep and keep it up


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## xenobiotic

*First Troop Choice Completed*

First of all, thanks for all the comments and kind words (I usually forget to say thank you, so time to remedy that mistake!). They keep me going when I slow down, as I inevitably do.

The production line paid of, here's a few dreadnoughts ready for painting (they all lack only a few small plasticard pieces to make the magna grapples). 

The top one, as you can see, has a choice between weapons: Blood fists x 2 or Frag Cannon + Blood Fists. I stole the frag cannon idea from Ancient God over at warseer (Check his Blood Angel army out here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256215)
He also has two "fists", the right one converted out of a left hand fist (pretty easy conversion when you actually sit down and plan ahead - something I usually don't do).

The bottom ones are my soon to be Death Company Dreadnoughts (with a fitting amount of battledamage to simulate the "None can stay my wrath"). They will most likely be painted in a white scheme (which I consider to do all my Death Company figures in).

Also, all close combat weapons are interchangeble between arms so I can change the tips between any dread in any combination if I want to. This is mostly in anticipation to whenever I get around to make about 5 pairs of Blood Talons.

Anyway, enough typing, here they are:









Finally finished the first troop choice (10-man assault marine squad):


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## imm0rtal reaper

Looking really good man, I've got a couple suggestions though (excuse any incoherencies in this post, quite tired lol)

While I think the red and the white are both fantastically done, seeing the squad together I can't help but think they look a bit bland. I think if you painted the chest eagles a different colour (silver, gold, even white) I think it would break up the model and make them look a little sexier.

I'd recommend changing the wax colour of your purity seals to something else (Green is always a good choice, purple looks really good too) This will add just another elemnt of colour.

I think the various skulls on the models (the sergeant's back pole, heads, on the backpacks, hands, anywhere with a skull that's not conncted to the chest eagle really lol.) Would look better in another colour, bone is a wise choice and should look very nice.

I'd like to see some scroll work on those purity seals. After all, they haven't been awarded for nothing :wink:

You may want to consider painting the belts a brown colour to further break up the mass red. Or if not, I'd at least suggest painting the buckles silver.

I hope this post doesn't seem too negative, I really like these guys, I do. I Just think with a little extra detail they would be that much more impressive.

Cheers 

Reaper


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## Varakir

Agree with mr reaper on all points. The paint on the squad looks excellent, but as a unit they seem bland and unfinished, especially compared to the standards you've set with your rhinos and dread.


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## xenobiotic

imm0rtal reaper said:


> I hope this post doesn't seem too negative, I really like these guys, I do. I Just think with a little extra detail they would be that much more impressive.


Quite the opposite, since you nailed something I've been considering for a while but didn't do. But now I have this whole unit complete infront of me and I can play around a bit with them and see what I can achieve to make them better.

I did a few blood drops in purple on my sanguinary priest model and when I did that I was thinking about maybe making the wax on the purity seals in purple aswell(?). I'm not to keen on including to much green in the scheme, mostly since I think it suits a bright red armor better (guess the best way to go about is to try both out and see what looks best). Then again complementary colours suggests I'm wrong:









And yeh, some scribble and tiny freehands on the purity scrolls will be added down the line - I'm just not trusting my ability for that just yet  (I'm denying the fact that I have to start somewhere to learn, lol).

*Edit:*
After looking through the codex and successor chapters and considering where I want to go with my death company I'm going to try out a black chest eagle and see where that takes me. Follow that up with another highligt on the red and then I'll move on with bibs and bobs (skulls, metal parts and so on). I'll see what I can manage tomorrow and where it ends up.


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## imm0rtal reaper

Sounds like a plan :biggrin:

And though the colour wheel may suggest otherwise, colours close to the origional on the chart can look _really_ nice when they are used in small amounts.

As far as the scroll work goes I sugest picking up a micron .005 Black pen. Then you can simply draw some thin lines on the parchment to represent text.

Out of curiosity, are you going with black or white with the death company???

Keep up the good work :victory:


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## xenobiotic

Hm, borderline _thread necromancy_? Perhaps one should not dabble with forbidden magic? :angel:

A long hiatus from this plog. Life keept throwing the odd up and down at me. In the last 2 months I've been finishing this semesters exam, started on what might become my big "hand-in" for next year (which will save me 10 weeks in the spring to do other stuff k aswell as started my internship for the summer. I have however not been totaly inactive so expect a few updates after this one as I sort out what I have been up to.

On to the the W40k side of life. I've taken the comments given by you to heart and tweaked my assault squad (and sanguinary priest) a bit, when comparing them to the old pictures the difference jumps out from the screen (I was getting blind, thought they looked almost exactly the same at first till I went to this log and looked at the first pictures). I've learned a few things from this experience which I think will carry on to the rest of the army as I proceed. Some minor tweaks left (as always) and basing ofcourse.

Old version on left hand side - New version on right hand side:



























That's it for now, just a quick update. I'll return shortly with some other goodies that I've been working on, just need to take some good pictures and get my laptop to work with me and not against me (stationary computer being broken atm).



Immortal Reaper said:


> Out of curiosity, are you going with black or white with the death company???


They will eventually become white, not a top priority squad to finish however.

C&C always welcome!


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## OIIIIIIO

Good work and remember just have fun with it.


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## xenobiotic

*Sternguards and HQ.*

Thanks, Talthewicked!

"_[...] to boldly go where no man has gone before!_" - An obvious lie in this case since many people have made their version of *Sternguard Veterans*. However that didn't put my spirit down so I thought I'd do my take on them (mostly since I have a huge bit-box with space marine parts at hand).

This also gives me a unit with alot of character and flavour. So I decided to write up some fluff and name each individual squad member. More on that later on as I paint them. For now you'll have to do with a squad pic of unpainted marines (with every named marine present yet 2 are missing :scare: - "12 marines in a squad?" You might be thinking, you'll get where I'm going with this soon enough).

Keen eyed readers can look for parts from the following boxes in the pictures:
- Space Marine Commander Box
- Space Marine Tactical Squad Box
- Space Marine Assault Terminators Box
- Space Marine Devastator Squad Box
- Space Marine Command Squad Box
- Space Marine Techmarine with Servitors Box
- Space Marine Rhino Box
- Forge World Red Scorpions Shoulder Pad Bag
- Dark Angels Veterans Box
- Blood Angels Death Company Box
- Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Box
- Chaos Space Marines Box
- Necron Warriors Box


















I've also been working on a replacement for the previous HQ-choice I made (not to keen on how that librarian turned out) and having looked through the Codex yet again I came up with some ideas. 

I decided to make the perfect leader for a squad of sternguards (the one just above) and get a pretty well balanced (compared to the other BA characters) HQ-choice. I present my version of Tycho, soon to come with own fluff for my successor chapter (more on that later). I wont bore you with how many kits his plastic pieces came from :grin: 

Brother-Captain Vespillo (Counts as Captain Tycho):









Brother-Codicier Faustus, the Lucky:


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## LiamDawson27

All of your models are amazing. I really like the sanguinary priest!


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## Asamodai

That Librarian looks like the shit. Looking forward to seeing him finished.


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## Varakir

I was just thinking yesterday i wonder what happened to this log. Excellent progress and i can't wait to see those sternguards painted up. Awesome stuff :victory:


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## xenobiotic

*Forge World vehicle restoration*

*Thank you*, guys! It's good to know you didn't completely forget about me! I'll try to keep a more even tempo from now on.

Waiting to see how your assault marines progress aswell, Varakir 

----

I think most W40k gamers have some miniatures from Forge World they adore and would like to include in their collection. For me it's mostly from the Elysian and Imperial Navy collection (although I like many of their vehicles, such as the Medusa). One piece of resin machinery has however always been my absolute favorite - the SoB Repressor.

So when looking through Ebay for the occasional bargain I finally stumbled upon this:










And I managed to win the auction for less than the price of the upgradekit (in effect getting a free rhino!). I prepared myself for the worst and awaited it's arrival. 

When I opened up the packaged I noticed it was just as bad as I had expected. We're talking gap filling with superglue, bent and crooked resin parts having been glued on with almost no flash cleaning at all. But there where upsides aswell, not mentioned in the description of the item was the extra armor resin pieces aswell as the rear door rhino resin piece (with the imperial eagle). Bonus items in my cheap bargain!

I spent a total of 5 days, removed the sponsons (why they where on there in the first place I don't know) stripping it down, removing old glue, glueing the pieces back again and fixing the armor green stuff. These pictures where taken in the "pre-re-riveting" stage:


































After that I proceeded to put rivets where I had been forced to cut them of to be able to repair the resin/armor damage from when I had to take it apart. All I can say is - Thank God for Battle Damage (since it saved me the hassle of trying to make it "as new"). So here are some pictures of the Repressor in its current state of painting, which I think proves what you can do with a kit in pretty bad shape:


































I will most likely be using it as a counts as Rhino for my Sternguards (have to use this gorgeous vehicle) even though it has a higher profile and since is easier to hit with the current LoS-rules.

Any suggestions on what kind of free-hand I should aim for on this one would be most welcome. I was considering doing many smaller "moon" images with one larger (similar to the razorback PIP I showed earlier). Or should I do another one with flowing fabric? Perhaps both? Something completely different and mind blowing? The options are endless :shok:


----------



## b00ml3gsh0t1988

Hello there, i'm new to this forum but have been on several others looking for inspiration into Blood angels or any form of angelic models, your's by far have been the best, i was was wondering if you would put some step by step guides up as to how you A. got the beaks done on the Sternguard Veterans, B. the hand on the captain tycho replacement, i will be watching your thread with keen eyes!


----------



## ownzu

absolutely stunning, loving the freehand on the dread and rhino:good:


----------



## ClassyRaptor

Very, Very nice work you have here mate. Keep it up and get those Sternguard done. +Rep


----------



## Fallen

ive forgotten how awesome this tread is...its making wanna spend time on actually finishing what i have (still no where close) been too focused on playing lately


----------



## xenobiotic

*Thank you* for all the encouragement, it helps to keep my motivation from lagging behind!



b00ml3gsh0t1988 said:


> A. got the beaks done on the Sternguard Veterans
> B. the hand on the captain tycho replacement, i will be watching your thread with keen eyes!


Since I'm an odd person I'll start with *B* and post *A* when I've gotten around to fisnish of the next batch of helmets (I might even include a tutorial with many different helmets as base). It's a fairly straight forward thing I came up with in the middle of the conversion, worked out ok I think - yet my green stuff skills are still quite noobish (working up the courage however).

*Dead Man's Hand Tutorial: (free with blurry pictures :headbutt*








Supplies needed: Sharp Scalpel, Plasticard Rods (2 appropriate sizes, available from ebay stores among others), sculpting tools (I use clay shapers, they are amazing!), glue, green stuff (or similar putty), a base hand (my hand being based on a ghould hand I'm using one for the tutorial aswell).









Cut a few pieces of rod from each of the two different sizes using the scalpel. You'll want them thin (thinner than in this picture actually) cause otherwise it will look bulky on the hand later on.









Glue the bigger rod slices on the knuckles of the hand on each finger.









Glue the smaller rod slices on the middle joint of the fingers (apart from the thumb, it doesn't need one (it doesn't fit on the small hand).









Depending on how much of the hand you want to show you can make another mechanical joint such as this.









Add greenstuff to the back of the hand.









Use a sutible tool to make impressions in the greenstuff to make it look like mechanical parts connecting to the pieces of plasticard you just added. You only need to achieve roughly the shape you want at this stage.
Let the greenstuff harden a bit (30-45 min or so) and then push it around to make the final effect. Let the greenstuff harden.

You can then cut this hand off and pin it to any arm you like (preferebly one with alot of armor unless you want to sculpt more mechanical parts). If you want you can add some "ribbing" (or what ever the "rubber part" between the plates of the power armor is called) to the hand (like I did on my Tycho). 

Hope this helps somewhat.

On the painting side I've started with Tychos armor, giving him alot more time than the average marines, hopefully it shows on this WIP, the red parts are mostly done (not the backpack, I know) :wacko::









Till next time I'll make sure I have a beakie tutorial for you! 
C&C always appreciated and considered when moving on with this project.


----------



## OIIIIIIO

Fantastic work ... I got no skills with greenstuff. I also am quite jealous of the rhino. Looks good. Keep it up so I can steal more ideas from you.:biggrin:


----------



## stuff

haven't looked through this project log until now.. and that is a great shame for me! i really like your rhinos and the "Brother-Codicier Faustus, the Lucky" model is the coolest thing i have seen in a while!

+rep!!


----------



## xenobiotic

I have a deadline to try to achiece with my painting, so I took up my razorback once more and doodled a bit to keep myself up late at night so that I'll sleep at work tomorrow (not recommended). Freehanding is alot of fun once you get going and figure the concept out. I might even have something for my repressor now (Thank you, Mr Hubble!).

I'll leave you with this teaser:









More to come. :victory:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Well worth staying up for. Beautiful work.


----------



## dark angel

I _really_ like the different coloured wings and the beaks on Page 4! Utterly epic mate, the paintjob is nice as well, of course :wink: keep up the good work, have some rep as well.


----------



## xenobiotic

From the folklore of a forgotten people:
_[...] And on *wings of fire* they descended, these birds of paradise, the *Brethren of the Phoenix*. Their armour coloured red as the surface of the moon they had taken as their home. Their armour stained by the speckles of blood cast from both friend and foe alike. And as they disembarked their rugged vehicles and took their helmets off we could see in their eyes what they had seen. Ever since we have been eternally thankful for their sacrifice and have prayed for their fallen brethren [...]_

----

All your comments are appreciated, and all critique is taken to heart, so keep them coming :so_happy:

The doodling continues:









And sadly, I have not finished the beakie tutorial :scratchhead:
More to come, till next time.


----------



## omgitsduane

This has been an amazing look-through so far! I can't wait to see the wing for the otherside of the rhino above and definately thrilled to see the beaks for the sternguard and the dead mans hand. Frigging awesome!


----------



## ItsPug

Beautiful work, absolutely love the freehand!


----------



## xenobiotic

Warhammer 40k is getting a little bit less time and focus right now, I have some other commissions to finish (non-wargaming commissions, look below). This is the proof that I actually do things when I'm making up excuses why I haven't made the tutorial yet. Spent a good 4+ hours on this project today after work, thought you might appreciate it, or maybe not, here it is anyway yet another WIP-picture in my log:









Continuing my slow pace on the Warhammer 40k front I have done some work on the rhino/razorback (which is getting harder and harder to document, the bastard just won't take a good picture). The other wing is started and the top armour freehand is getting to a point where I have to continue it down both sides and come up with something for the rear end before I make the finishing touches overall (on the freehand, then we have the rest of the process). Oh, darn, it never ends:










And yes, I am schizophrenic about leaving the stormbolter and hatch on vs off when I paint and take pictures :crazy:


----------



## OIIIIIIO

Beautiful ... just beautiful, Now I have to throw rocks at my stuff. I am very jealous of your skills.


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

NOOO!

...

What did you do to Harvey Birdman!?!?!?

Nice freehadn btw it looks amazing.

Grish


----------



## xenobiotic

*Beakie tutorial* will be up asap, I had some trouble with the pictures I took and even more trouble finding a good way to explain the process, but I believe I got there now, just need to take some new pictures with better light. But right now, it's 02:21 here, I need to get up for work in 5 hours and my camera ran out of battery, I'll just take the message life is throwing at me and go to bed 



omgitsduane said:


> This has been an amazing look-through so far! I can't wait to see the wing for the other side of the rhino above and definitely thrilled to see the beaks for the Sternguard and the Dead Mans hand. Frigging awesome!


I'll give you a nice look on how it's progressing with this very post. Sternguards will have to wait till after _Vespillo_ and the razorbacks, I'm most likely going to do them one by one to be able to overload them with goodies, hopefully it will be worth the wait.



Talthewicked said:


> Fantastic work ... I got no skills with greenstuff. I also am quite jealous of the rhino. Looks good. Keep it up so I can steal more ideas from you.:biggrin:


Go ahead steal everything you like, I get alot of my inspiration from people all over the internet (and some guidebooks, the Imperial Armour Masterclass being one of them). You often need inspiration to try your own wings, oh, and courage helps. 



Talthewicked said:


> Beautiful ... just beautiful, Now I have to throw rocks at my stuff. I am very jealous of your skills.


Well that's not very constructive, is it? :laugh: I spend so much time on some of my miniatures yet I still find myself being a newbie compared to some of the skilled painters on this forum. One must never give up, patience helps - A virtue I find myself lacking huge chunks of every year.



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> What did you do to Harvey Birdman!?!?!?
> Nice freehadn btw it looks amazing.


Indeed made by me as a commission for a friend. I have buttloads of pictures like it to finish for other people, so I need to weave in a bit of warhammer and a bit of painting/drawing aswell to get back on track. I find it relaxing and it helps my freehanding skills, which is always nice. Might think about doing some warhammer 40k drawings for this thread, to weave in with the fluff.

Hopefully you'll like the pictures in this post even more 



ItsPug said:


> Beautiful work, absolutely love the freehand!


Glad you like it Pug 

Here's the continuation of the freehand, starting to work on the sides now (not anywhere near completion but you get a sense of where I'm going):









Please notice my first real attempt at weathering (the dozerblade). I'll try to refine my skills on the other dozers I have and then carry it on to the tanks, this army will get ALOT more gritty from now on, so you better like it :crazy:









Hours spent on this tank now reaching double digits


----------



## Kobrakai

This log is incredible. Can't believe I hadn't seen it til today.

Well worthy of rep! This is wonderful stuff, well done!


----------



## Otep

i saw this forever ago but forgot about it...

after spending a good while re-reading posts and eye humping your minis.... i really like how you cannibalized several different kits for a truly unique feeling army!

have some much deserved rep!


----------



## papa nurgle

That is Truly FANTASTIC work! Can't wait to see more:victory:


----------



## The Wraithlord

Some very impressive work in here, definitely going to be watching this log from now on.


----------



## LTP

Just read through the whole log. I love this stuff..makes me want blood angels...uh oh :/.

Your freehand is great and very neat. Great job on the blending too. With your last tank I love the wings and I love the planet but I don't know if it looks too busy when they are put together. 

Keep up the great work. I shall be following this thread. 

Have some rep 

Regards LTP


----------



## xenobiotic

First of all, thanks to all of you for the rep and encouragement, I'm truly not worthy of all these kind words :no:



LTP said:


> Just read through the whole log. I love this stuff..makes me want blood angels...uh oh :/.
> 
> Your freehand is great and very neat. Great job on the blending too. With your last tank I love the wings and I love the planet but I don't know if it looks too busy when they are put together.
> 
> Keep up the great work. I shall be following this thread.


I believe someone has a Reaver Titan to finish before getting any other ideas :wink: Also, for my sake I wouldn't want you to come outshine my work with your skills and talents with the brush, LTP!

I'm not entirely sure about that rhino myself just yet. I bet it will be more obvious as I'm closer to the finishing touches (forcing me to redo the whole damn thing if it doesn't work, doh). I will see how it goes, at the moment it's resting (a small hiatus can sometimes help you figure these things out, something I often use when drawing).



Otep said:


> I saw this forever ago but forgot about it...
> 
> After spending a good while re-reading posts and eye humping your minis.... i really like how you cannibalized several different kits for a truly unique feeling army!


Cannibalizing is what I do best :spiteful: I find that the more you do it the better you get at spotting just the right pieces, sadly I'm sometimes a tad overenthusiastic when it comes to the possibilities of a certain bit (oh, the pile of abandoned projects). Thank God for bit sites and friends with bitboxes though! 



Kobrakai said:


> This log is incredible. Can't believe I hadn't seen it til today.
> 
> Well worthy of rep! This is wonderful stuff, well done!


Means a lot to me, your project is an inspiration for me to keep going! Sadly it will be ages before I reach something even close to your SM-army with these boys.



papa nurgle said:


> That is Truly FANTASTIC work! Can't wait to see more


More you shall see!

First of all, please excuse me for the shitty pictures, this update is not done from my usual workbench!

I've been fiddling around with weathering. I'm not entirely sure on the results but the gritty white armour is starting to appeal to me more and more (also much easier to paint, heh). Here are some more dozers in some kind of WIP stage (the feather might be a chapter symbol or just a squad designation, I haven't decided yet):

















Being addicted to freehanding I started to doodle on my Repressor even though I probably should have finished the Razorback before staring this one, ah well. 

Inspiration is taken from pictures taken by the Hubble telescope. I'm thinking of painting a Phoenix bird at the end of each of the "lines" that emerge from the swirl (3 in total). Which would give me a bird on the back and each side. I think that would be a nice way to tie the vehicle in with the "planets/universe" motif as well as the angelic motif of the Blood Angels and the hint of bird imagery my chapter has.

Here's the current stage of the freehand (about 2 hours of work :headbutt:
















And one with the dozer on:









Sadly, updates will be absent for the coming 2 weeks, I'm taking a long and well deserved vacation to celebrate my B-day amongst other things. Next updates should be within a week after I get back.

Fly safe and what not. Keep the brushes at work.


----------



## LTP

> I believe someone has a Reaver Titan to finish before getting any other ideas Also, for my sake I wouldn't want you to come outshine my work with your skills and talents with the brush, LTP!
> 
> I'm not entirely sure about that rhino myself just yet. I bet it will be more obvious as I'm closer to the finishing touches (forcing me to redo the whole damn thing if it doesn't work, doh). I will see how it goes, at the moment it's resting (a small hiatus can sometimes help you figure these things out, something I often use when drawing).


Yeah  i know i do lol just cant help myself haha. I wouldnt upstage you lol im too nice to do that. I like the latest freehand you have done. 

I know what you mean about taking a break, ive just just back off a short deployment and im all refreshed and ready to paint again so have fun and relax.


----------



## edd_thereaper

Amazing work, both converting and painting

also have you used the imperial armour masterclass techniques?

I picked up a copy of it and it is truly amazing, although i don't feel confident in using any of the things in there just yet 

keep it up

cheers

edd


----------



## xenobiotic

LTP said:


> Yeah  i know i do lol just cant help myself haha. I wouldnt upstage you lol im too nice to do that. I like the latest freehand you have done.
> 
> I know what you mean about taking a break, ive just just back off a short deployment and im all refreshed and ready to paint again so have fun and relax.


This is the truth 
Love the Reaver, your skills makes the "miniature" pop 



edd_thereaper said:


> Amazing work, both converting and painting
> 
> also have you used the imperial armour masterclass techniques?
> 
> I picked up a copy of it and it is truly amazing, although i don't feel confident in using any of the things in there just yet


It's all more or less from the imperial armour masterlass book. I've used the basic "non-airbrush" requiring tips. I've looking into getting an airbrush after my vacation, so hopefully I can try it all out then  It's worth having a go at some less delicate parts, just pop them in a bucket of green goo should everything go wrong.

A quick update, couldn't resist the brush when I was home for a day!




























And yes, the phoenix is headless at the moment, heh.
Worktime on this vehicle is now 4 hours.

See you in about two weeks or so!


----------



## LTP

> Love the Reaver, your skills makes the "miniature" pop


Thanks dude. I love your latest freehand. If i may suggest one thing that i think will make it look that little bit better? 

Where you have done the "swirl" if you add a thin yellow/white line around the outside edge of it where its the smoothest i think it will really Pop. It will just finish it off i think. 

Great work and i look forward to your next update. 

+rep if i can 

:bye:


----------



## edd_thereaper

xenobiotic said:


> I've used the basic "non-airbrush" requiring tips. I've looking into getting an airbrush after my vacation, so hopefully I can try it all out then


I have an airbrush at my house at the moment, it is an absolute lifesaver, the smoothness of the coats is magical

awsome work so far, and have a good holiday

cheers

edd


----------



## xenobiotic

LTP said:


> Thanks dude. I love your latest freehand. If i may suggest one thing that i think will make it look that little bit better?
> 
> Where you have done the "swirl" if you add a thin yellow/white line around the outside edge of it where its the smoothest i think it will really Pop. It will just finish it off i think.


I'll most likely add another layer to the swirl with a mixture of blazing orange/bleached bone and later on topped with bleached bone, I'm still mostly doodling it in to get a good feel for it before I add depth to it.

Critique is still welcome 



edd_thereaper said:


> I have an airbrush at my house at the moment, it is an absolute lifesaver, the smoothness of the coats is magical
> 
> awsome work so far, and have a good holiday


I'm thinking it would save me ages when I'm going back to painting infantry (if not with this army then at least with my daemons when I decide to finish them). 

*This update:*
Spent some time with the repressor. Sorry if you had your hopes up for something else but I'm not at my "home base" so I make due with what I have around and the repressor is keeping me busy at the moment. I do have alot of infantry waiting around, and some more on different levels of conception (preparing for a campaing my group is in the process of starting up asap). 

As soon as the semester starts again I'll have no more of these shoddy pictures and hopefully I'll be able to spread the love all over the army again 

On topic again: 
I added another bird design on the left side, decided not to do one at the rear. Did a marble (jasper) effect pattern along the roof extension and the turret. Hope you like it, input is welcome:



















Time spent on this tank: 10 hours :shok:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

xenobiotic said:


> Time spent on this tank: 10 hours


Is that all?:shok: Christ man, that is unbelievable. It looks good enough to have taken at least a couple of days worth of work.


----------



## Deggers

only 10 hours.. wow its looks sick, well done..


----------



## LTP

> I'll most likely add another layer to the swirl with a mixture of blazing orange/bleached bone and later on topped with bleached bone, I'm still mostly doodling it in to get a good feel for it before I add depth to it.
> 
> Critique is still welcome


Looking good buddy, I like the extra definition now. I can Imagine that the tank would stand out on the gaming table. 

Keep up the good work.


----------



## grim reaper

Just read this from start to finish (slow day at work) and damn :shok: Thats some fine work, love the progretion through out, plus my max rep, and again amazing keep it up.


----------



## xenobiotic

Khorne's Fist said:


> Is that all?:shok: Christ man, that is unbelievable. It looks good enough to have taken at least a couple of days worth of work.





Deggers said:


> only 10 hours.. wow its looks sick, well done..


10 hours of painting, yes. The rebuilding of the tank after I got it from e-bay took me almost 5 days, however I had to wait for GS to cure and the paint to soften up for stripping - but still!



LTP said:


> Looking good buddy, I like the extra definition now. I can Imagine that the tank would stand out on the gaming table.
> 
> Keep up the good work.


Hopefully you wont think I've ruined it now then 



grim reaper said:


> Just read this from start to finish (slow day at work) and damn :shok: Thats some fine work, love the progretion through out, plus my max rep, and again amazing keep it up.


Thank you for the kind words!

Here comes another "boring" repressor update, spent 4 more hours on it today, starting to see the end of the tunnel aswell as getting aggrevated for accidently wearing the paint of as I work on it. Need to finialize the paintjob so I can spend my time on weathering the armor.

Let us see if you see any differences from last time:

























Time spent painting: 14 hours

One thing that did come out very shoddy was the stormbolter on the turret, I might have to give just the bolter a soak in green goo. It had been pretty abused by its previous owner and my paintjob got all messy trying to get it white. Will have to think about it.

*Left to do:*
Front Icon
Bare metal areas
Highlight all the red parts
Wash on rivets and plates
Lenses and spotlights
Battledamage & Weathering


----------



## Varakir

Tanks this pretty shouldn't be used for war 

It looks absolutely stunning from the top down, can't wait to see it finished.


----------



## Pirate Metal Troy

Dude, how the hell...It took me 9 hours to paint some dreadnought legs, and that's all simple highlighting. I am ashamed.

+rep


----------



## xenobiotic

*Repressor finished, another 55 pts to the total!*



Varakir said:


> Tanks this pretty shouldn't be used for war
> 
> It looks absolutely stunning from the top down, can't wait to see it finished.


Although these marines share your love for the arts they apparently do not share your thoughts on leaving them for display at the chapter armoury.

Also: Ask and you shall receive, the Repressor is "finished" after a total of 24 hours spent painting it.



Pirate Metal Troy said:


> Dude, how the hell...It took me 9 hours to paint some dreadnought legs, and that's all simple highlighting. I am ashamed.
> 
> +rep


I guess I have learned something from my dabbling with watercolours  It goes faster the more freehand I do, which is a great reward to keep going as well!

----

_Famous even amongst the *Brethren of the Phoenix* themselves this vehicle has since its induction into the chapter had a web of mystery over it. Initially a vehicle used by the Sisters of Battle this shrine and many others had to be abandoned during some of the most intense battles seen by the Sisterhood. The Birds of Paradise, nowadays the most elite of the Phoenix brethren, was then but a contingency of tactical and assault squads led by the chapters masterful tacticians, managed to reclaim the vehicles left behind, sadly many brethren had to give their lives for this to be accomplished. The Sisterhood while thankful in the more official manner fitted for the Inquisition also made sure these sacrifices did not go completely without reward. Given to the Master Forger of the Birds of Paradise company was this repressor, for the chapter to utilise as they see fit. Marked twice with the blessing of the Emperors aquila as well as the blessing of the Sanguinary Priests it was to become a beacon of light to all of the Brethren of the Phoenix. Since then it has been known to be a bringer of hope and an omen of victory wherever it travels. Because of this it has earned its name: *The Auspice.*_​









----

The Birds on the side of this vehicle can be interpreted as Phoenixes or perhaps the Huma bird of Persian origin. They can represent the rebirth after ones life has come to its end. But also the bringer of an everlasting source of light, which is the key element in the battle against darkness within the human mind and the the flickering of the true belief (in the Emperor and the sacrifice that Sanguinus did). 


































The weathering is made from a drybrush base of Khemri Brown mixed with Devlan Mud wash drybrushed along the lower edges of the vehicle, The splatter was made from a mix of Grey Ash weathering powder from Forge World mixed with Water and Devlan Mud wash and splattered across the vehicle. A number of other techniques from the Imperial Armour: Masterclass Volume One was used as well.

I like the light colour of the weathering, think it suits well with the deeper red I have going. I also envision these guys doing alot of "desert" fighting in their sector, often stumbling upon ash planets of different types where mud and sand would have a lighter hue.

C&C welcome as always. :angel:


----------



## LTP

:O I LOVE it! It looks awesome!. 


Well done. I will have to give you rep if i can .

Cant wait to see what else your gonna paint .


----------



## primeministersinsiter

I will cut off your head to gain you abilities. KTHNXBI!


----------



## Pirate Metal Troy

primeministersinsiter said:


> I will cut off your head to gain you abilities. KTHNXBI!


There can only be one. Unfortunately, I fear he may be stronger than you, and you would only serve to have your own head severed from your body, thus adding to his already impressive skill.


----------



## xenobiotic

LTP said:


> :O I LOVE it! It looks awesome!.
> 
> Well done. I will have to give you rep if i can .
> 
> Cant wait to see what else your gonna paint .


Thank you, glad you like it!
Now I'll just have to dublicate the weathering on all vehicles and infantry I have done so far and will do in the future :shok:



primeministersinsiter said:


> I will cut off your head to gain you abilities. KTHNXBI!


I'd like to keep my head for the time being :thank_you:



Pirate Metal Troy said:


> There can only be one. Unfortunately, I fear he may be stronger than you, and you would only serve to have your own head severed from your body, thus adding to his already impressive skill.


We are the xenobiotic. You will be assimilated. Your inventive and creative distinctiveness will be added to ours. Resistance is futile. :wink:

----

I've been painting my commander (counts as Tycho, Mr. Vespillo) and can't decide where to go. I'm having problem deciding on whether the birdskulls on the backpack should be painted white (like the arms) or if they should have "bone" beaks along with highlighted feathers in red/orange. 

My personal take on it is:
- White bird skulls might make it become to much white on the miniature as a whole(?)
- Bone beaks and red/orange feathers might be to detailed and steal focus away from his face(?)
EDIT: - Was suggested to make them green, like the knee. Green being a complimentary colour already on the miniature it could work(?)

WIP pictures:









Any input in the matter would be most welcome!

Live long and prosper :victory:


----------



## Tossidin

UUUH he looks awesome! Love the pose!

I actually don't know what I would do with the "birdheads".
I would not make tthem bone, I would have liked them white, but the white arm will make it look off. Maybe have a colour in the shoulderpad? 
You could also, since it's a counts as Tycho, have 1 bird white and the other black, as a symbol for his state as either a madman or honourfull captain (Make the eyes on the black glow orange, and the white yellow/gold/blue)? Just something that popped up in my head.
I would say that green gems fit nicely (gonna use that for my angels sanguine), but I dont know how it would fit with the kneepad, maybe make them more bright?

Anyway, thats my humble take/ideas on it, hope it can be of some use/amusing rubbish 
Looking forward to see how he ends up looking!


----------



## xenobiotic

*Brother-Captain Vespillo*

Thanks for the input *Tossidin*, it pushed me into making a decision and staying with it till it was finished, +rep!

----

_Now we call them the Grim Days. Our Brother-Chaplains have lived to spread these wisdom of old. The might of fleets of battle barges rained fire upon the battle fields as we waged war. Some claim these where our days of glory, that the way we waged war was exemplary even amongst the legions of old days, now we know better. We know that we raged war. The toll upon our souls would be a heavy burden to bear and some where destined not succeed._



> _Some of us carry the marks of our strain on their very flesh, such as myself, others carry them only in their mind, whatever the form they are flickers that can set us on fire when we least expect it. Be prepared Brothers, and know that when you burn you must burn to till your very last ember - before you are reborn anew. For the Emperor!_
> 
> *- Brother-Captain Vespillo*, talking to his Battle-Brothers before commencing yet another campaign in the name of the one true Emperor.


_Battle-Captain Vespillo, severely wounded in combat losing his complete right arm and left hand as well as his eyesight on his left eye. Scarred by this experience he let the Chapter Forge-father rebuild all parts of his body with bionics apart from the eye, claiming that he had already received greater sight than before by the Emperor himself.

Depicted here with his artificer armour with built in combi-meltagun (dubbed "Old Faithful" after a peculiar incident including an ork battlewagon and one very lucky shot) armed with a sternguard pattern roundhouse magazine capable of choosing varying kinds of ammunition as the situation requires. 

Vespillo usually strides into war with his faithful sternguard veterans from the Birds of Paradise company, some of which he has served with from his very induction into the chapter.

Even with his spirit forever altered by the scars received throughout his long service he is still one of the Brethrens most valued tactician and will probably remain in that positions for long, unless his flicker awakens sooner than expected that is._

----

Counts as Tycho (converted from plastic sets and GreenStuff):

















Tried out a new "dirty white" recipe that I might carry over to new squads I'm making. It's actually quicker than trying to make it look splendid and polished (and it fits my gritty vehicles perfectly aswell!) therefore *C&C are especially welcomed and asked for* on this miniature!


----------



## xenobiotic

Oh, another occasion worth celebrating, I have reached a milestone,
*LEGAL ARMY ACHIEVED!*
(at least when looking at the minimum force organisation chart)









Slots filled:









Not the best armypic but it's good to know I'm getting somewhere. 
Now I just need to weather that razorback and dreadnought and do all the bases and [...]

:angel:

*Points Painted:
700*


----------



## LTP

Absolutley great stuff! I really do like these. I don't normally like weathering but you pull it off so well that i can't help but like it haha. 

How many points do you plan to do altogether? 

Have some more rep if i can.


----------



## Varakir

Awesome sauce mate, a very nice army pic :victory:

The weathering on vespillo is brilliant, but it makes the rest of your guys look really clean now


----------



## OIIIIIIO

Great work ... I like your version of Tyco better than GW's. Keep it going man, you are on a badass roll.


----------



## Masstadon

These guys look AWESOME nuff said


----------



## ChaosJunkie

love your tycho, how do you do your muddy weathering? oh, and +rep


----------



## xenobiotic

*Mud & How to Make a Beakie:*



LTP said:


> Absolutley great stuff! I really do like these. I don't normally like weathering but you pull it off so well that i can't help but like it haha.
> 
> How many points do you plan to do altogether?


Thanks for the continuing support!

I have 4 major milestones for this project:
1. Playable army (Achieved)
2. 1000 pt army (300 to go)
3. 2000 pt army
4. See the list in the revised first post (mostly to fill a display cabinet with goodies).

We'll see how long I can keep my motivation up. I have other warhammer 40k projects and other artistic things I wish to do as well. 



Varakir said:


> Awesome sauce mate, a very nice army pic :victory:
> 
> The weathering on vespillo is brilliant, but it makes the rest of your guys look really clean now


I know :wacko: I'm going to have to rough them up a bit, make them one of the cleaner squads, maybe mix them up with the others as I make more. I'll come up with something :grin:



Talthewicked said:


> Great work ... I like your version of Tyco better than GW's. Keep it going man, you are on a badass roll.


Thank you, glad you like him!



Masstadon said:


> These guys look AWESOME nuff said


:thank_you:



ChaosJunkie said:


> love your tycho, how do you do your muddy weathering? oh, and +rep


My *MUD* is an experiment based on the Imperial Armour Masterclass Volume One book. 
Recipe:
2 parts tap water 
1 part Devlan Mud wash 
2 parts Grey Ash weathering powder (from FW) 
If you want the mud darker - use another weathering powder or more Devlan mud wash in the mix.

On tanks:
Paint it into grooves and armour plate recesses.
Then I flick it onto the tank (takes some practice to get it right) to give it the splattered look.

On miniatures: 
Carefully paint the mix on with a small brush (thinking about grooves and such where dirt would collect). 

Good thing about this mix is that if you get to much on the miniature (something you notice once it's dried) you can go over it with a wet brush (you have to rub it a bit to get the pigments of) and that way you can remove the excess!

And another thing someone asked for way back which I forgot about:
*How to make a "BEAKIE" *(out of just about any helmet):








To show you the principle I'll show you on a corvus helmet first
You'll need -
Helmet
Scalpel/Knife
GreenStuff
Pointy clay shaper

Start by cutting of the round shape of the corvus helmet (see second pic). This gives you a basic shape to put your green stuff on (when making a beakie out of a non-corvus pattern helmet you need to build this basic shape up yourself otherwise you risk getting a crooked and uneven looking beak).

Put on your GreenStuff, use your fingers to get a smooth and pointy shape. Take your time, you might even benefit from letting the GreenStuff harden 30 min - 1 hour before you try to get the shape right.

After letting the green stuff harden a bit more (about 1½-2 hours from initial mixing) you take your pointy tool and make nostrils for your beak. This might take a few attempts to get right, but it's worth it. You might have to redo the whole beak before you get what you want.

For inspiration about shape and what to aim for, look at pictures of different birds. The implementation of the general idea has many possibilities.

Sadly, I appeared to have lost one of the stages of the non-corvus helmet (on the first pictures):

















The biggest difference here is that you first have to remodel the mask by cutting pieces from it (so that they wont ruin your beak shape) and then build up a basic shape again for the final layer to rest on.

I hope that you can extrapolate a good enough tutorial by combining the corvus part with the non-corvus part. Feel free to ask if I didn't explain something good enough.

----

Project:
I've been working on a test miniature all day, hopefully I'll be able to post him tomorrow.

----

*Another thing, does anyone know about any bitz or kits (any kits or bits, even non-warhammer boxes) that contain small birds or birdlike creatures?
I'm looking for something to base conversions of and I'd appreciate any input in the matter!*


----------



## Viscount Vash

There is a crow in the plastic WHFB Empire general box, cyber raven on the old metal Njial Stormcaller. Another option is Rackham Confrontation, theres a celt type mini with falcons some of which are seperate.


----------



## prairiehawk

I's sure i just overlooked it somewhere, but is there anyway you could give a quick walkthrough on how you did the stone on the dred? Is effing amazing


----------



## Tossidin

The count as Tycho looks really great! I really like how he turned out. "Thumbs up" 

Edit: seens I have to "spread some rep....", oh well


----------



## Scathainn

These look excellent! You've made my least favourite chapter look good (or at least you made their successors look good :biggrin

As for birds, of course the everloving Coteaz has that two-headed eagle on his arm that you can probably chop off easily.


----------



## xenobiotic

Viscount Vash said:


> There is a crow in the plastic WHFB Empire general box, cyber raven on the old metal Njial Stormcaller. Another option is Rackham Confrontation, theres a celt type mini with falcons some of which are seperate.


Thanks alot for reminding me about that crow! :thank_you: 

I've had the empire general box lying around which proved to be a goldmine of things I could use (in conjunction with some feathers from the other empire boxes).



prairiehawk said:


> I's sure i just overlooked it somewhere, but is there anyway you could give a quick walkthrough on how you did the stone on the dred? Is effing amazing


I'll try to remember to take some pictures when I do it next time, a block of text probably wouldn't be very helpful, even if it's pretty quickly done with out of the pot colours and washes. Poke me should I forget about it xD



Tossidin said:


> The count as Tycho looks really great! I really like how he turned out. "Thumbs up"
> 
> Edit: seens I have to "spread some rep....", oh well


Your advice helped me through, glad you like him!



Scathainn said:


> These look excellent! You've made my least favourite chapter look good (or at least you made their successors look good :biggrin
> 
> As for birds, of course the everloving Coteaz has that two-headed eagle on his arm that you can probably chop off easily.


Heh, one must keep an open mind sometimes? Thanks!

----

So, I haven't finished anything just yet, but I've been full of creativity nonetheless. I've started painting my death company (need more troop units for a campaign my group is starting soon) so here is where I'm at:










Does the dirty white work in this amount? Should I maybe make the arms red? Give me your opinion and input and I'll take it into consideration!

----

I'll leave with this teaser - mostly as a thanks for the tips:


----------



## Tossidin

Aww I hate teasers, makes me wanna see more..... 

The death company model:
I like how you use much "dirt", as it emphasises (spelling lol?) the fact that it is the death company. They should/could look a kinda dirty and gritty, as it fits their "nature"
Red arms could be a good idea, though it would detract from the red crosses, which is imo a really bad thing.
It is impossible to say without seeing it together with the rest of your force, but I have a feeling that he should be exactly like he is now (awesomesauce). He is really distinguished from the rest of your army, while still keeping the same feel

All my own speculations of course

Now do what I have always failed at, paint moar!


----------



## Masstadon

haha d00d i totally agree with my fellow Norwegian above me! the large amount of dirt goes with the death company! and it looks AWESOME! please...please tell me how you painted that model... i must know. and Ehh to the red arms.. i mean yeah it could be a cool idea but hes right it could detract form the red crosses. it looks amazing as it is! keep up the amazing awesome work!!! :victory:


----------



## xenobiotic

*First member of the Ember Enraged (Death Company Marines)*



Tossidin said:


> Aww I hate teasers, makes me wanna see more.....
> 
> The death company model:
> I like how you use much "dirt", as it emphasises (spelling lol?) the fact that it is the death company. They should/could look a kinda dirty and gritty, as it fits their "nature"
> Red arms could be a good idea, though it would detract from the red crosses, which is imo a really bad thing.
> It is impossible to say without seeing it together with the rest of your force, but I have a feeling that he should be exactly like he is now (awesomesauce). He is really distinguished from the rest of your army, while still keeping the same feel
> 
> All my own speculations of course
> 
> Now do what I have always failed at, paint moar!


I shall try to paint more, but I'm having trouble actually finishing things :angel: As you'll see on the first post of the thread I have a lot left to do and many units started, ah well.



Masstadon said:


> haha d00d i totally agree with my fellow Norwegian above me! the large amount of dirt goes with the death company! and it looks AWESOME! please...please tell me how you painted that model... i must know. and Ehh to the red arms.. i mean yeah it could be a cool idea but hes right it could detract form the red crosses. it looks amazing as it is! keep up the amazing awesome work!!! :victory:


Thank you both for the input, as a token of gratitude you shall have cookies.. Erh, I mean pictures!

----

_Severus served with the Birds of Paradise since his inductions. Some claim he joined the ranks of the chapter upon it's very creation as a successor of the Blood Angels. Being around at the time when Sanguinus where still alive to bless his faithful champions of the Emperor. Many marines believe this just to be fool-hearted superstition yet some of them secretly carry with them the hope that at least some pieces of these stories are true.

He carries with him a veil of mysteries and his name have been mentioned more than once in the hall of heroes. Phoenixes has blessed him on countless occasions and his valiant service has yielded a fierce reputation for his Chapter amongst the inhabitants of the sector, friend and foe alike.

Sadly Severus himself no longer talks about the past. As he slipped into the Ember decades ago, he pushed his faith closer to true fanaticism and dedicated his flickering ashes to the Emperor and Sanguinus. As his final wish his armour was painted white and his birds of honour returned to the chaplains as he joined the ranks of Ember Enraged._

----

Battle-Brother, Severus, of the Ember Enraged (Death Company Marine): 









C&C welcome!

----

I also took advantage of my teaser project to take better pictures on how to make a beakie, so I will add this strip to the tutorial above:









Tutorial for dirty white coming up as I paint the other Death Company marines!

Till next time!


----------



## LTP

Dude i seriously love this thread. Your technique of creating bold and bright models is awesome. You apply the colours well and your battle damage is brill. 

I cant wait to see more. 

Your plan sounds good for the army. 

Keep up the great work. 

*LTP*



> I shall try to paint more, but I'm having trouble actually finishing things As you'll see on the first post of the thread I have a lot left to do and many units started, ah well.


Hehe you think you got it bad...










(they are all unpainted  )


----------



## Tossidin

He turned out just as I had hoped, awesome! The fuff also made him a lot more interesting, giving him some "character" 

I feel your pain on not painting stuff fninished... Maybe you saw my space wolf plog here once? Well, its back at page 20-30 by now I guess <.<

"Happily awaiting your next painted model"


----------



## xenobiotic

EDIT:
Woho, the thread has passed 100 posts! 



LTP said:


> Dude i seriously love this thread. Your technique of creating bold and bright models is awesome. You apply the colours well and your battle damage is brill.
> 
> I cant wait to see more.
> 
> Your plan sounds good for the army.
> 
> Keep up the great work.
> 
> *LTP*
> 
> Hehe you think you got it bad...
> (they are all unpainted  )


Haha, I won't start a competition, let me just say that I know how it is. Had to move my boxes around since I'm doing some redecorating at home (basically tearing down the walls) and I have a lot of boxes not even opened :nono:



Tossidin said:


> He turned out just as I had hoped, awesome! The fuff also made him a lot more interesting, giving him some "character"
> 
> I feel your pain on not painting stuff fninished... Maybe you saw my space wolf plog here once? Well, its back at page 20-30 by now I guess <.<
> 
> "Happily awaiting your next painted model"


I believe I did, you should get that up and running again! Even if you only update once a month it's still fun to follow the progress!

----

Alot of things going in, sadly this update is just a teaser (mwahaha). I do have 2 miniatures that are near completion but I'll post them tomorrow instead (hopefully along with a "How to do dirty white"-tutorial k

I've a few other things to show you, first of I suddenly had a flash of insight on where to go with the transportation for my death company (ie the rhino/razorback, I'm planning for a land raider crusader later on (ie in a year or so at the rate I'm painting now) which I already have grand ideas for).

Basically I want it to be evident that it is a death company vehicle (hence the red X/cross comes in). But at the same time I also want the vehicle to pop and scream fanaticism - so I'm going to try to paint hints of small phoenixes within the red colour (as if the red colour where alive, that is). Along with that a gritty and VERY dirty white. Hopefully it will look good and not just.. suck.

Try to envision it on this picture, and I'll see how much I have time to paint tomorrow:









----

Since I'm not posting the two marines I'm working on now I figured I'd just post the final 2 marines for the Ember Squad. To make them different (yet similar) I decided to give them chaos arms (with obvious chaos markings trimmed away), their chainswords look "death company" enough. And my "bitz-vision" helped one of them get his hand on a grenade instead of his trustworthy bolt pistol (which he has on his belt instead) :laugh:










----

Teaser project is slowly moving in the right direction (he will probably start out as a death company member and later on progress to become a chaplain):









----

Comments, insight, tips and opinions are most welcome!


----------



## Tossidin

I like the ideas you have about the red on the rhino, if you could make your ideas a reality it would be quite the show.

The Ember squad marines look interesting (not painted argh!). 
I "think" the chaplain is going to look great, but I can't tell before I see him with a weapon and at least a basecoat, as he is (in my eyes) looking kinda static at the moment. It is you though, so I expect he is going to look good anyway :grin:

Best of luck and happy painting!


----------



## Varakir

> Basically I want it to be evident that it is a death company vehicle (hence the red X/cross comes in). But at the same time I also want the vehicle to pop and scream fanaticism - so I'm going to try to paint hints of small phoenixes within the red colour (as if the red colour where alive, that is). Along with that a gritty and VERY dirty white. Hopefully it will look good and not just.. suck.


Most people just think....'i'm going to paint it red' 

Last lot of models are looking awesome, and i enjoy reading your creative process. The combination of that, plus tutorials and the great work you are doing is making this a really enjoyable log to follow.


----------



## omgitsduane

this is such an amazing journey! and the god-damn bird you're doing is amazing.


----------



## xenobiotic

Oh, promises, you know how real life can be! I haven't had any time to paint, so I guess some of you will be disappointed with this rather short update.

We are starting up a campaign tomorrow, discussing the final rules we will use and setting up the Planetary Empire tiles to get a map going. So I'll need to have about 3-400 pts ready by the start of October. My death company miniatures will help a lot to reach this milestone, yet I feel it might not be the most optimal 1000 points army I can produce it will still be lovely to actually play for once!

I'm going to make a few changes and try to push to finish the following before october starts:

Chaplain
5 Death Company Marines (1 done, 2 almost done, 2 built)
Death Company Razorback
10 Tactical Marines
Normal Razorback (the one with the wings)
2 Dreadnought Autocannons
2 Twin-linked Assault Cannons (for razorbacks)

As you can see it looks like a though task for someone that paints as slowly as I do 

But since I'm pushing I figured I had to move along with the chaplain. Seeing as a chaplain is either a HQ or an elite choice for at least 100 pts its a good filler (that can still pack some punch if used correctly!).

And while thinking about the different weapon options available to a chaplain I finally gave in and decided to use a weapon I have my doubts about (the hand flamer). However it suits my concept for the particular miniature very well. I'm not 100% sure on the fluff about this particular character and the chapter as a whole and their tight connection to these Huma birds (or Phoenixes). What I've considered is (please know I have limited knowledge into the actual warhammer 40k storyline, so I might be making some unacceptable assumptions):


The feathers from these birds is a symbol for the chapter (the feather of a huma bird is said to glow brighter than a torch and it will glow forever, hence the lonely white feather that you will see more of on coming miniatures). It acts as a bringer of hope on a planet otherwise mostly covered in ash wastes with extreme temperature variations (and perpetual darkness where only volcanoes and a few choice creatures would emit light at all).

The birds themselves are highly intelligent (I consider them in ways comparable with double-headed eagles that librarians keep as familiars, but self-reliant to a greater extent) and are trained as a part of induction into chaplaincy (and replaces their crozius arcanum as a badge of office). They would fight along the chaplains much like a trained attack dog and their incredible body heat and sharp claws mean they are considered to be like power weapons in game terms.

The birds would be born of fire (and die in fire) and are therefore drawn to it, meaning that chaplains and battle-brothers of the chapter more often prefer to use melta weapons and flamers in order for the birds to have something to home in on (and join the fray).

I felt like I just had to equip my chaplain with a hand flamer to go along with his "pet". I've done some work on him since last update, added a "scroll" along the groin (which would be odd when your pet is a burning bird, but.. Well, I don't know - pretty much every chaplain miniature has one of these scrolls). 

I decided to incorporate some skulls onto him, since that's the most consistent imagery for chaplains. So I built one into one of his greaves and added one to the backpack. I believe the skulls are both from Chaos Space Marine boxes.

Apart from that I continued on the flowing fabrics hanging out from the back of his armour. The plastic part is actually from the Empire General/Standard Bearer box and the other pieces are from a soda can. They help to add a little movement to the miniature (which was needed). Another part from Empire boxes is the "vials" on his belt, they are ammo boxes from Empire handgunners, but I will paint them as blood vials.

And, Tossidin, you mentioned that the miniature was a little stale (static was your choice of word), this is actually something I did on purpose. He will be the leader of the death company for now, and all other miniatures in that squad has running legs. I figured that the chaplain (at least in my chapter) would actually be the calm one in such a squad. Slowly but purposely moving along his frenzied brothers, letting his bird be a symbol for what awaits them (should they die with a burning heat they will be reborn anew to once again fight for the emperor) and therefore they would fight even harder!

Those of you with keen eyes might notice the melted piece of the backpack. The shoulderpad is equally melted as well as parts of his armour along the arm, I imagine that these birds are periodically so hot they actually inflict melta damage the armour of their owner!

Wow, wall of text!
Here he is! And I've almost done what I need to do before I can start to painting him:









----

What do you think about the bird, is the legs to wide? Should I try to redo them (thin them a bit, maybe add more definition to the feet/claws?)? I'm leaning towards at least making the legs thinner - but I'd like your input!

Just realized the pictures might not be good enough to even answer the question :wacko:

----

Tomorrow we're having an evening dedicated to painting warhammer. Hopefully I'll finish of two marines then and progress on the death company rhino! If I do, there's a tutorial for you! 

Hold your thumbs for an update tomorrow then!

Till next time k:


----------



## Tossidin

You have some wery good stuff going on here!
I said he looked a bit "static" because of how you have posed the legs. It is just something about it that buggers me, but maybe it will look better when it is painted (I really can't tell before it has colour or if I see it in real life). I really like the consept of a "calm" figure in the middle of the death company, and have actually used the same idea for my Librarian in my angels sanguine project (which will take some time -.-).
Other than that, I like your "fluffy stuff". I like the melted armour idea, and the waving clothing makes him much more dynamic (as you said).
Only really negative thing I can say is that yes, to be honest I think the bird has too thick legs, though I guess it is tricky to get them thinner, I would have preffered it if you are able to do it.

Now I am really looking forward to updates of painted models and your tutorial, which I am quite interested in. Good luck and happy painting!


----------



## Otep

my internet dies for a bit and i see you've been a busy little painter/modeler! im diggin the beaks and the red "X" tid bit  

and the fact you spent so little time on the tanks scares me because you can pull something off so well with so little time

you my friend scare me with your skills


----------



## xenobiotic

Tossidin said:


> You have some wery good stuff going on here!
> I said he looked a bit "static" because of how you have posed the legs. It is just something about it that buggers me, but maybe it will look better when it is painted (I really can't tell before it has colour or if I see it in real life). I really like the consept of a "calm" figure in the middle of the death company, and have actually used the same idea for my Librarian in my angels sanguine project (which will take some time -.-).
> 
> Other than that, I like your "fluffy stuff". I like the melted armour idea, and the waving clothing makes him much more dynamic (as you said).
> Only really negative thing I can say is that yes, to be honest I think the bird has too thick legs, though I guess it is tricky to get them thinner, I would have preffered it if you are able to do it.
> 
> Now I am really looking forward to updates of painted models and your tutorial, which I am quite interested in. Good luck and happy painting!


Working on the legs of the birds. I'll have to see if I can accomplish my creative vision, it's pretty delicate work even with good tools. Might have to try some other putty than green stuff (have some grey stuff and brown stuff around here somewhere. Might even try some of the copper thread I have around here which gave me an idea earlier).

Only thing that puts me of with the chaplain at the moment is that his left foot looks of in certain angles, but I also realise it's my mind playing tricks with me since it's the same size as a regular marine foot :laugh:

And you shall recieve pictures in this update!



Otep said:


> my internet dies for a bit and i see you've been a busy little painter/modeler! im diggin the beaks and the red "X" tid bit
> 
> and the fact you spent so little time on the tanks scares me because you can pull something off so well with so little time
> 
> you my friend scare me with your skills


Well, thank you!

What's scary to me is that I think 24 hours on a vehicles is a pretty long time to "sacrifice" (even with the result) for every single vehicle. Yet I'm a bit allergic to bland vehicles so I guess I have to put up with myself :crazy:

----

So, here we are.
How to pain a dirty white armour, a huge picture and a pretty easy explanation.

Dirty white:

Undercoat (Preferebly grey) alternatively undercoat with white spray and skip step 2.
Repeated Layers of Skull White (till you get coverage)
Wash with Gryphonne Sepia wash (Not complete coverage, don't be sloppy (it will give you headache later on, like it did on these marines) and take your time).
Wash with Ogryn Flesh wash (try to get it only into the recesses, don't be sloppy!)
Wash with Devlan Mud wash (tiny amounts only in the recesses!)
Wash selected recesses with Badab Black wash (shoulderpad corners, a few angles on the backpack and so on)
Add watered Skull White wherever needed.

To see TURORIAL PICTURES:
CLICK HERE


Even dirtier white with battledamage:

Add drops of washes on select spots (Gryphonne Sepia, Ogryn Flesh, Devlan Mud).
Paint small pieces of edges with tiny amounts of Chaos Black, when dried fill them in with Boltgun Metal (leave a tiny edge of Chaos Black showing).
Paint small chips at random locations over the armour in Chaos Black and perhaps even Codex Grey. If needed, highlight one of the edges of these "chips" with Skull White (if you paint it in a "dirty area").

----

I'm mostly finished with these, realized now I'm not all that pleased with the shoulderpad on the second one. I will most likely go over them again tomorrow to see if I can make more tiny adjustments.



















Does the dirty chainswords work?
Should they perhaps have been in another colour (black?)?

----

Squad so far:









Painting these marines has forced me to learn a lot about how to use washes and what to expect from them. It's also taught me even more about how skull white behaves when painted on different shades and colours beneath.

2 marines left before the squad is done.

----

Till next time! k:


----------



## Otep

my basic rule of thumb is the swords and the bolter's casing should be the same colour give or take a few details as to taste...

think about it, your working in the 40k equivilent of a weapons shop, your not going to change the colours its going to be rank and file and if the owner so wants they can get off their lazy ass and order/paint their equipment within the unit's SOP

that basicly boils down into, yes, i dig the white chain sword


----------



## Pherion

xenobiotic said:


>


You have redefined beaky!!! I love it  His right foot (in the picture) looks a little large. Not sure if you GSed it from scratch or over the original. Just seems out of proportion from the other foot. Other than that this guy is fantastic!



xenobiotic said:


>


I think you might have been better off keeping the blood splatters closer to the blade itself. Granted running a chainsaw through someones chest is going to make a mess, but it just seems unnatural. Otherwise, I think it looks great. The whites are nice and crisp, the browns seem to run pretty naturally. Great work.


----------



## sethgabriel1990

nice scheme! Painting white armour can be a bitch, (i had a failed attemp at a white scars tac. Squad years ago, but nice work!


----------



## xenobiotic

Just a small update to prove I'm not dead (yet). :don-t_mention:



sethgabriel1990 said:


> nice scheme! Painting white armour can be a bitch, I had a failed attemp at a white scars tac. Squad years ago, but nice work!


I know, it's one of things you regret even trying after you've started it! :grin: I decided that how I did it at the beginning of this thread would not work out in the long run. That's why I came up with the multi-wash method, now I just need to perfect it a bit and then I'll keep on doing it with the rest of the army.



Pherion said:


> You have redefined beaky!!! I love it  His right foot (in the picture) looks a little large. Not sure if you GSed it from scratch or over the original. Just seems out of proportion from the other foot. Other than that this guy is fantastic!
> 
> I think you might have been better off keeping the blood splatters closer to the blade itself. Granted running a chainsaw through someones chest is going to make a mess, but it just seems unnatural. Otherwise, I think it looks great. The whites are nice and crisp, the browns seem to run pretty naturally. Great work.


I did repaint those Death Company soldiers somewhat, tweaked the splatter amongst other things. Will post them up again once the final 2 are done.

The problem with the foot was that I originally put the leg up about 1 mm to high, making the connection between the armour and the foot a bit off (making it look a lot bigger than it was). So I trimmed down the foot a bit and added some length to that greave. It looks better now (see below).

Started painting the chaplain, some of you asked for a picture with some paint on (and I do think 2 foundation colours and 2 washes constitutes "some paint"). Fixed the miniatures left foot and greave a bit and I thinned down the birds legs as much as possible. I think he looks a lot better now. 

I'm considering painting his armour black with white arms. I want him to be an obvious chaplain but still have an obvious connection to my army (I guess we will see how he fits in):










----

On another side I've been thinking about the death company rhino. I tried to make the X continue down the sides of the vehicle and to be honest it looked like crap. So I came up with another idea - making the ends of the X dissolve into splatter of blood and even though I've only finished one of the four ends of the X I'm liking it!










Now I just have to give the top armour some life with tiny birds, hm.

----

Comments and input are most welcome!

Till next time!


----------



## xenobiotic

All right, here we go again. Lots of things going on, as usual. I'm trying to paint at least a couple of hours every day (which reminds me how slow I am at this seeing as I have yet to finish of even the miniatures I'm working on). I guess I won't be able to achieve my October deadline, well well..

I've been doodling on my chaplain, aching to see if it will work out. But the birdfeet have been mocking me, so I started to redo them, leaving the left arm of for easier access. That did not stop me from painting what I could:









I am however not sure on the black. It might clash to much with the other miniatures in my army - but it's hard to tell when lacking one arm. I'll push on tomorrow meaning hopefully I'll finish him (along with the bases on the death company miniatures I've already done). Safe to say I won't be doing any radical changes in the colour scheme but input is still welcome! 

----

We've started up the campaign I mentioned earlier. I was given responsibility of the thread (to keep track of each other while the campaign goes on). We are currently 3/5 matches played in round one. You can see what's done so far here. I'm mostly responsible for the fluff part so input about that would be welcome. I'm not a very well read player so there might be many faulty facts. Funny thing is that the name of the planet where our campaign takes place on was randomly generated (Korsk II is mentioned in the actual fluff, even if only in passing).

----

Surprise!









One of my friends playing the campaign just started his tyranid army, he's however a notoriously bad painter (can't be forced at gunpoint to paint more colours then 4 on his miniatures) so I've agreed to convert and paint one of his hive tyrants.

So it will most likely pop up more times in this log (just for a bit of variation). Hopefully I can make a Hive Tyrant justice with my abilities.

----

Till next time! :training:


----------



## general

The army looks incredible, can't wait to see more. Your freehand work is fantastic.
+rep.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Reclusiarch Chaplain Sabinus*



general said:


> The army looks incredible, can't wait to see more. Your freehand work is fantastic.
> +rep.


Thank you, General 

----

*The Chaplains of the Brotherhood.*

The Chaplains of the Brethren of the Phoenix are specialist officers and spiritual leaders much like chaplains from other chapters. They fulfill the role of being a warrior-priest as well as a guardian which ministers the spiritual well-being of his Battle-Brothers. He works to seek out influences capable of thwarting his comrades faith in order to quench them before they get a foothold. Teaching his Brothers about the values and beliefs of the Chapter and it's rich history is another important obligation. It is from these stories that inspiration can be drawn to help new recruits bond with their fellow Battle-Brothers, seeking to let courage and bravery bloom.

Many other Chapters use their Chaplains as fiery orators in battle, rousing them with words and action. A Chaplains should always be on the front line, ready to empower his comrades. The Brethren have not adopted this stance fully, for in a chapter full of fiery rage they instead let their Chaplains be the calm within the storm. Calming their Brothers until they need their fires to burn with a pure white flame. For rage uncontrolled is chaos, and chaos is taint. One must control fire in order to be truly consumed by it – to be able to be reborn by the caress of the Ember Enraged. Because of this Chaplains of the Phoenix are sometimes compared to calm spectres, black ghosts slowly moving across fields of white and red marines fighting with the Fury of Sanguinus in their veins.

This is the reason for a strong presence of Chaplains within the chapter. Their numbers far exceed those of other Chapters (apart from legions that fell in the time of traitors). 

----



> _Words won't purify these heretics, only PURE FLAMES WILL DO!_
> 
> - Sabinus, Keeper of Feathers at the campaign on Korsk II


----

Reclusiarch Chaplain, Sabinus of the Ember, Keeper of Feathers.
Shown here with his black armour, signature of the office, adorn with a bird skull helmet, worn by many veterans of the chapter. Noted should be the Phoenix Bird on Sabinus arm, affectionately called 'Fervor'. She has been with Sabinus since she was but a hatchling (and have been reborn in pure white fire many times since then). 'Fervor' has been seen ripping enemies apart as their armour simply melt from the touch of her feathers. Many Chaplains adopt Phoenixes of their own as a badge of office and a test of faith and commitment. For it takes the patience of an angel to gain the trust of one of these incredible birds.









----

This conversion definitely has some flaws. First time I attempted to redo feet from scratch - it proved to be very hard to get them right (I'm somewhat happy as they are now, there is a fine line between obsession and insanity). Doing battle damage on black (or in this case - very dark grey armour) was harder then I had assumed. All in all it's good fun and you learn by each attempt.

Should I add some burn marks to the left side of the helmet? Any other input? Comments welcome!

Till next time!


----------



## Zodd

A fantastic log. Here are some outstanding examples of modelling and painting. Most rep-worthy.
And burn marks on the helmet ? Maybe just some scorching of the paint. After all, it is Astates Armour


----------



## The Wraithlord

White is an absolute BITCH to paint but you have done so nicely here. Call me impressed.


----------



## Tossidin

It looks awesome! I actually didnt think it would look that good, I'm impressed


----------



## Pherion

Very nice man, looking forward to that Tyrant! How did you make the combi-flamer?


----------



## rich11762

I really like your colour scheme i think your work is amazing and i will take note of it when doin my own work, look forward to seein more,


----------



## xenobiotic

This is one of them "intermediate" posts in between completed miniatures. But lots of pictures nonetheless!

----



Zodd said:


> A fantastic log. Here are some outstanding examples of modelling and painting. Most rep-worthy.
> And burn marks on the helmet ? Maybe just some scorching of the paint. After all, it is Astartes Armour


Thank you, I try my best to keep the plog going! Well, his armour is a bit melted after all so I assume the helmet would take some damage then. I think I'll leave it as it is for now and finish up the squad he's going with before I make up my mind! 



The Wraithlord said:


> White is an absolute BITCH to paint but you have done so nicely here. Call me impressed.


While I am most grateful and thankful for these kind words from a superb painter I must admit that some parts of these white miniatures look better in the pictures then they do IRL, at least when compared to how they look in sunlight (damn that light's a bitch) which I noticed while painting today.



Tossidin said:


> It looks awesome! I actually didnt think it would look that good, I'm impressed


Glad I could convince you otherwise :wink:



Pherion said:


> Very nice man, looking forward to that Tyrant! How did you make the combi-flamer?


It's actually a hand flamer directly from the sprue (Death Company box), one of them pretty "useless" weapons - but I love it. And Hive Tyrant is progressing (if ever so slowly), pictures below!



rich11762 said:


> I really like your colour scheme i think your work is amazing and i will take note of it when doin my own work, look forward to seein more


It's always nice to spread some inspiration! The main reason I read other peoples plogs are to see if I can get an idea of what I'd like to do and where to go with my own miniatures. Without the many great plogs out there I would have been lost :blush:

----

I've been working on the final two for my first group of Death Company Marines. It's taking a lot longer than I remembered from the last two I did, yet I can't figure out why. Washes aren't doing what I want them to at the moment so I have to go back and repaint with white all the time, which sucks.










I'm also working on some magnetized options for the squad members I've already completed. So here's a plasma pistol and a power weapon, the pistol is pretty much done, but I think I'll have to go over the power sword one more time (highlighting the edges up again).










----

Work on the Hive Tyrant continues! I'm only showing what I've been up to on the main body, the weapons will have to wait till I get a bit more flesh and bone on them. I'm trying to extend the carapace to give it a good "armoured shell" look, it's not as easy as I had first envisioned, but I'm starting to get the hang of it (alternating grey stuff and green stuff to figure out the difference).


















----

On a more crazy note I've started gathering pieces for a side project (or a new teaser project if you will!)! It will fit into my Successor army but most likely not in average games. So far all I have is a picture of some of the pieces.










----

Questions: 
Does purple power weapons and plasma coils work?
Does the Hive Tyrants extended carapace look ok so far? 
Can you guess what I'm starting to build from the pieces in the box?

----

Thanks for reading, till next time icknose:


----------



## Varakir

The purple is definitely working, the coil looks ace.

How WIP is the sword? 

I have no idea what you are building, but i'm very, very intrigued


----------



## Fallen

purple works

a defiler? / brass scorpion?


----------



## OIIIIIIO

Purple works very well on the coils ... Me thinks to steal this idea.


----------



## Baltar

Are you building a Storm Raven?


----------



## Zodd

The purple coils are ok, you're right, the sword need just some "edge", like the coils have.
The carapace is good. I had to look twice to see where you had been around with the grey stuff.
You are building a Warhound or the likes ?


----------



## Otep

im also diggin the purple, its not that widely used of a colour and it fits so swell for the plasma coils and the power sword 

im also curious as to what you got up your sleeve.... a defiler body, oil drums... fans... two razorback heavy bolter turrets? and more rhino pieces.... tell me so my tiny little mind dosnt go "ZOMG WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS IS IT!?" *boom!* too late


----------



## xenobiotic

I've come home from my first played match in the campaign aswell as the first ever match played with my "Brethren of Phoenix" and their 4th Company "the Birds of Paradise".

It was fun to play for once. Alas sadly my Birds of Paradise lost the battle (due to Wipeout turn 6).

As I'm not a very experienced player some of my moves where perhaps not the brightest ones (like positioning myself so that I could be tank shocked and rammed by a death rolla battlewagon), but at the same time it's these mistakes that makes you learn (the hard way). 

We played the smallest point sum allowed in the campaign (versus Neutral Orks which gave me a 50 pts "advantage" (see the campaign thread for details)) meaning I had 550 pts Blood Angels and my opponent had 500 pts orks. I decided to go with a "fun" army including my Death Company which meant I would not win by controlling objectives (I knew that going in).

The best moment of the game was when my death company squad (5 soldiers) joined by Chaplain Sabinus managed to cause 16 wounds(!) to a squad of ork boyz (in assault) before the greenskins even had a chance to strike back. Sabinus was however badly wounded by the surviving Nobs Power Claw (but survived in the campaign since I didn't roll 1 on a D6 in the aftermath). 

Final conclusion: 500 pt games are tricky, things can change VERY fast and Dawn of War deployment didn't help me out. Also tricking out your squads with special weapons and such aren't always the best way to go.

Hopefully I'll get a lot better as time goes by.

----



Varakir said:


> The purple is definitely working, the coil looks ace.
> 
> How WIP is the sword?
> 
> I have no idea what you are building, but i'm very, very intrigued


The sword was about 2 highlights away from being finished, it's done now (see below).



Fallen said:


> purple works
> 
> a defiler? / brass scorpion?


Good guess, it's a walker, but none of those options are Imperial enough 



Talthewicked said:


> Purple works very well on the coils ... Me thinks to steal this idea.


Feel free to do so. A tip when doing it on the plasma coils:
1. Undercoat
2. Paint Tentacle Pink (or similar pink colour, YES pink!)
3. Wash with Leviathan Purple (over all the coils)
4. Wash with Leviathan Purple (along the edges of the coil (the edge between the coils and the rest of the pistol))
5. Wash with Badab Black (only slightly along the edge of the coil)
Quick and easy! Compared to individually highlighting the coil (which is MADNESS!)



Baltar said:


> Are you building a Storm Raven?


No, it's a lovely unit and I will probably get/build one or two of them in the future! But I'm building a "walker" unit this time.



Zodd said:


> The purple coils are ok, you're right, the sword need just some "edge", like the coils have.
> The carapace is good. I had to look twice to see where you had been around with the grey stuff.
> You are building a Warhound or the likes ?


Thanks, I've added the highlights now, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. It needed to "pop".

Warhound is close, it is a super heavy (although a light one) but it will be smaller than a warhound and less kick ass (but good enough for it's point value.



Otep said:


> im also diggin the purple, its not that widely used of a colour and it fits so swell for the plasma coils and the power sword
> 
> im also curious as to what you got up your sleeve.... a defiler body, oil drums... fans... two razorback heavy bolter turrets? and more rhino pieces.... tell me so my tiny little mind dosnt go "ZOMG WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS IS IT!?" *boom!* too late


Exactly my thought! Green has been done till death, blue is not my cup of tea and orange is more of a "force weapon" colour. A power weapon is a point of focus for the miniature as well so I didn't want it to draw to much attention (colour wise). Looks good with purple.

Heh, I don't want to give it away just yet, it's fun to keep you guessing 

----

To continue the tradition of having something to show each time I post I now give you, magnetizable weapons:









I've also manage to stress paint the final 2 marines in the Ember Squad (Death Company Marines), I've also named each one of them. But I figure I'll go through all of that once I've based them and painted their Transport, Ill most likely update the army picture then aswell. So, for now, here are the final two:









And here's a picture of the whole Ember squad led by Reclusiarch Chaplain Sabinus:









----

*Not so Secret project:*
It's not a Warhound (it's smaller) but it is a super heavy walker
It will have 2 Twin-linked heavy bolters aswell as a "whirlwind launcher" on the back (which will not count as a whirlwind launcher in game).

That must make guessing easier? 

----

Currently painting death company rhino and building a foot-slogging sanguinary priest.
Till next time :blackeye:


----------



## Medic Marine

Your death company makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... thats to legit to quit!


----------



## Zodd

The sword is just dead on.
I think You are planning to build a Knight, maybe a Warden ?


----------



## xenobiotic

I've not been up to all that much lately but I still have something to show you later on (unpainted (Sorry, Tossidin!)). But I can't resist the urge to update when the thread has reached - :drinks: *10 000 views!* :friends:

Thank you all for the continuing support of this Project! 

Thank you for the +reps and kind comments and input in this thread as well as the private messages. They are what keeps me at it - without you I'd probably have put this project on ice a long time ago.

Once again, thank you all :thank_you:

----



Medic Marine said:


> Your death company makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... thats to legit to quit!


There will be more of them in the future, the long term plan is a unit of 15 Death Company Marines and a land raider crusader transport for them. But before I commit myself to free-handing a white land raider I need to fill out my army with other units! 



Zodd said:


> The sword is just dead on.
> I think You are planning to build a Knight, maybe a Warden ?


Woho! Exactly! You shall receive an internet cookie!
I've seen some knights on warseer that are just superb (such as the one in "Sheep"'s log or the one in "the damned artificer"'s log ) but when browsing, through the BOLS rules, the fluff and old epic miniatures, the one that caught my eyes was the Warden. Although I'm not going to stay true to the epic miniature (which looks pretty organic and, to say the least, odd) but rather more hard-edged approach (such as the Imperium is "nowadays")

The pieces I'm lacking for now are on their way via mail (whirlwind, basilisk gun shield, thicker plasticard and such). Hopefully it will be a side project that I'll build on for quite some time ahead and actually finish. If it turns out well I'll most likely build another knight (because I just love them!).

----

I promised you some unpainted miniatures. A little background to these two: the Sanguinary Priest I made earlier (the one with wings seen here) just didn't make it for me when I sat him on the table to play so I decided that I need to make some new priests that would be dedicated "foot sluggers" (i.e. no magnetized backpacks and no angelic wings). 

After a ramble through the bit boxes and some cuts here and there I was able to make some rough poses. My favourite is the one with the power sword (both miniatures have magnetized right arms so I will be able to change their load out if needed) as I'm very pleased with the way he's holding the weapon. I will of course green stuff in the gaps and add some details to them but I think you get idea of where they are going:



















----

Till next time! :stinker:


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

I can't remember when I last, or even if I have, given you rep for this amazing log xeno. So here we go anyway, have a delicious rep cookie 

It really is amazing to see how far the project has come between page 1 to 14. What are your current plans for the army? Are you just collecting and painting as you please, or are you aiming to achieve a set list?

Keep up the great (and motivating) log, mate.

Grish


----------



## Kobrakai

Some more super work Xeno, they are looking amazing.

Have some more rep if I can dish out some to you. Keep up the wonderful work.


----------



## sanguinius noob

very impressive, your kit bashing skills are second to none! 

quick question, where are you buying your apothacary arms? 

cheers


----------



## xenobiotic

I have something odd for you today!

----



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> I can't remember when I last, or even if I have, given you rep for this amazing log xeno. So here we go anyway, have a delicious rep cookie
> 
> It really is amazing to see how far the project has come between page 1 to 14. What are your current plans for the army? Are you just collecting and painting as you please, or are you aiming to achieve a set list?
> 
> Keep up the great (and motivating) log, mate.
> 
> Grish


First goal is 1k points, which I'm closing in on! I need to paint my Death Company Transport to reach that goal (lol, I realy should finish that one).

The next goal after that is 2k points. Which units I do paint is pretty much up to the whims of the Gods. But I'm trying to stick to Troop units as much as possible now (before I get carried away by Sternguards and more tanks). Then again I can't give you any promises, which I guess is one reason to follow this plog - you never know what I might do next.

The final goal can be seen at the very beginning of the thread, I have a list of units I which to add to the army there (which changes from time to time).

Thanks for the +rep and comment. 



Kobrakai said:


> Some more super work Xeno, they are looking amazing.
> 
> Have some more rep if I can dish out some to you. Keep up the wonderful work.


Thank you for the kind words and +rep, Kobrakai. I'm glad to see you continuing your work on the Iron Lords, they keep me motivated to struggle on with finishing of actual UNITS and not just single miniatures. 



sanguinius noob said:


> very impressive, your kit bashing skills are second to none!
> 
> quick question, where are you buying your apothecary arms?
> 
> cheers


Thank you for the comment!

And the answer to the question I already sent to you as a PM.

----

I've been fiddling around with basing, trying to come up with something that's pretty fast to make and looks ok. This proves to be the perfect opportunity to try things out on bases that aren't going to have miniatures on them - in comes objective markers (of which I need at least 6 in theme with the army)!

I had some initial ideas that all of them would include birds of some kind, then I realised that would require way to much sculpting for something not worth any points. Almost every birds needs a nest though...? 

I figure that an abandoned Phoenix/Huma Bird egg at risk of falling in the hand of the enemies would make a rather tasty objective for my Brethren: 









----

The look I'm trying to get is "ash waste/desert".

What do you think about the basing? Does it look convincing or is it still to much "badly painted pieces of flock/grain"?

----

As soon I'm done with the Death Company Squads basing I'm reposting them with fluff on every marine. Hopefully I'll have time to do that tomorrow!

Till next time :security:


----------



## Chaosftw

xenobiotic said:


> I figure that an abandoned Phoenix/Huma Bird egg at risk of falling in the hand of the enemies would make a rather tasty objective for my Brethren:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> 
> The look I'm trying to get is "ash waste/desert".
> 
> What do you think about the basing? Does it look convincing or is it still to much "badly painted pieces of flock/grain"?
> 
> ----
> 
> As soon I'm done with the Death Company Squads basing I'm reposting them with fluff on every marine. Hopefully I'll have time to do that tomorrow!
> 
> Till next time :security:


Love it. Looks great! I wish I could do bases 
+rep

Chaosftw


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

OMG this rock is alive!!!!
View attachment 8547


Are those dryad limbs?
This looks sweet.


----------



## Chaosftw

Wow, Thats really cool I did not even see that. Excellent! I wonder if it was intentional?

Chaosftw


----------



## xenobiotic

*Ember Enraged*

TIP: Don't miss the objective marker on the previous page.

----



Chaosftw said:


> Love it. Looks great! I wish I could do bases
> +rep


It's mostly a trial and error for me at this point. The few bases I have painted before this army where mostly pieces of crap in retrospect. I also need to tie the miniature bases together with the weathering on my vehicles to complete the look of the army. 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> OMG this rock is alive!!!!
> 
> Are those dryad limbs?
> This looks sweet.





Chaosftw said:


> Wow, Thats really cool I did not even see that. Excellent! I wonder if it was intentional?


The face is actually a piece from a basing kit made by scribor. But I think it fitted in with the piece nicely and gave it much needed character. The running tears are made from the same weathering mix I use on my tanks, it also adds to the mystical feeling of the warm and glowing egg. So the face was intentionally placed there, but not made by me, sorry :blush:

And yes, the branches are pieces from the dryad kit.

----

Without further ado, here are the first five of the Ember Enraged, Battle-Brothers from the Birds of Paradise, 4th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix. The first fully painted and based squad in the army (I noticed a few things I'm not fully satisfied with when taking the pictures, you know how it is). Each one is named and given a short fluff piece for your amusement (if you like that kind of stuff:

*Quartus*, the fourth son, of simple heritage and lineage. A boy brought up in the inhospitable wilderness of the planet of origin. He earned his rights as a protector of the clan by bare hands in bloodied combat versus the carnivorous reptiles that plague the area these clans claim as their homes. Defending his own when hunters and gatherers where out in search of food. Because of this he was branded with the feather on his chest as a mere youngling, a great honour for anyone, an honour shared with but the few fiercest warriors or the most wise of elders.

When the marines came to recruit new neophytes Quartus was reluctant to leave his home, knowing the dangers that lurked in the shadows of their ashen world. But his clan had foreseen this future and knew that should he not take place amongst these warriors of the sky and serve their Emperor the clan would suffer losses even greater when the next end time drew closer. A prophecy that rings within his mind, each day he wonders if the end time has come. If he will give his final sacrifice for his Emperor and the ultimate sacrifice for his people, to be able to be reborn and join them anew.

Battle-Brother, Quartus, of the Ember Enraged:









*Nonu*, the Ghastly, of unknown origin and heritage. Little is known about Nonu and little does he share with his Brethren. In his records there are large gaps of hundreds of years. Some fear that he has a dark past and claims him to be tainted by Chaos. The Chaplaincy and Apothecaries consider this to be mere outbursts of envy or misunderstanding amongst the younger Battle-Brothers. 

For Nonu's heart is pure and his will is strong. Perhaps his silence and the lack of and deletion of records serve a purpose of protecting those around him. Some indications points to him having served in the Deathwatch, which might be a why his records are sealed and he doesn't share his history with anyone, however even all attempts to confirm this has turned out unfruitful.

Wherever he hails from and whatever he has done still does not change the fact that now he continues to serve and struggle in combat to be able to be born anew. Maybe to be forgiven for past sins.

Battle-Brother, Nonu, of the Ember Enraged:









*Merte*, the bloodied feather, another member drawn from a simple heritage and lineage. Merte used to be calm and calculative, the embodiment of many of the virtues usually sought after in squad leaders and captains. He quickly arose to the standard of a tactical genius that won many battles. He was considered to be Vespillos right arm in many situations but continuously withheld any opportunity to rise in rank as he did not wish to leave his battle squad behind on the field. 

This would prove to be the beginning of his decent into the Ember. His squad quickly became fraught with unlucky circumstances, and losses where heavy. As many of the Brethren Merte had been inducted with where killed in action or so severely injured that they had to be places in the sarcophagus of the chapters Dreadnoughts to continue to serve he finally gave way to his Ember and joined the Enraged.

Since he joined the Ember Enraged he has been a voice of reason within an inferno of fury. Slowly pushing himself and his brethren into more tactically advantageous positions while still letting rage flow almost freely. It takes the willpower of a thousand men to even begin to understand the determination required to pull of this feat in the heat of battle.



> If you offer everything you have, I still want more! Let not your fire be in vain! May souls of the slaughtered heretics fall as ash on the fields of battle! WE WILL BE REBORN! DIE, SCUM, DIE! The Emperor [...]


- Marte, as leader of the Ember Enraged on the Battles of Korsk II

Battle-Brother, Merte, of the Ember Enraged:









*Otho*, the eight flame. Even a marine amongst marines aren't average. Every single one of these brave warriors have stories to tell. Some are bitter and reluctant, taught by age and wisdom what hubris can do to even the most brave of men. Otho has no such fear. Otho never feared. Wholeheartedly he accepted the chapters truth and his purpose in this life, and every life after it. While his deeds are many, most of them pass by unheard, apart from one.

As an assault marine he used his strong and pure voice to taunt a raging daemon prince away from his battle-brothers enabling seven of them to be saved from certain doom. As he deftly manoeuvred the Daemon through ruins he was able to give the Baal Predators enough time to reach the area and home in on the target. Fighting valiantly to keep the prince in their sight Otho was severely wounded but miraculously survived as if by divine intervention.

Battle-Brother, Otho, of the Ember Enraged:









As previously posted - here:
*Severus* served with the Birds of Paradise since his inductions. Some claim he joined the ranks of the chapter upon it's very creation as a successor of the Blood Angels. Being around at the time when Sanguinus where still alive to bless his faithful champions of the Emperor. Many marines believe this just to be fool-hearted superstition yet some of them secretly carry with them the hope that at least some pieces of these stories are true.

He carries with him a veil of mysteries and his name have been mentioned more than once in the hall of heroes. Phoenixes has blessed him on countless occasions and his valiant service has yielded a fierce reputation for his Chapter amongst the inhabitants of the sector, friend and foe alike.

Sadly Severus himself no longer talks about the past. As he slipped into the Ember decades ago, he pushed his faith closer to true fanaticism and dedicated his flickering ashes to the Emperor and Sanguinus. As his final wish his armour was painted white and his birds of honour returned to the chaplains as he joined the ranks of Ember Enraged.

Battle-Brother, Severus, of the Ember Enraged:









The First Five of the Ember Enraged:









I hope you like them! C&C welcome as always!

----

Till next time I'll try to have something new and something old (but progressed) to show opcorn:


----------



## Otep

gimme more gimme more!!!! j/k man

yet again you amaze me with your painting.... and yet again with your random bursts of fluff O_O

what else do you have on the work table? i'm very curious as to what else you have in store for the people diligently watching this log


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

xenobiotic said:


> So the face was intentionally placed there, but not made by me, sorry :blush:


 
Don't apologise...you sucessfully hid an item on a base which already hinted at the presence of an easter egg. This is some sort of Davinci code situation right here.


----------



## xenobiotic

Here we go, crappy update!

----



Otep said:


> gimme more gimme more!!!! j/k man
> 
> yet again you amaze me with your painting.... and yet again with your random bursts of fluff O_O
> 
> what else do you have on the work table? i'm very curious as to what else you have in store for the people diligently watching this log


Thank you, I try to do as good as I can on every miniature (but sometimes I give in and do thing quick just to get it done). Many miniature painters out there do a lot better paint jobs then me, which is good as it gives me a lot of inspiration and makes me want to get even better!

What's not on my plan to make? I have shit to do for years ahead when it comes to this army :laugh: 

On my table I have:
2 sanguinary priest
1 rhino
10 assault marines with jump packs
2 dreadnought twin-autocannons
2 razorback twin-assault cannons
1 objective marker

Then we have all the tanks & units built but not painted (see first post in this thread).
Then we have the boxes on their way right now...
And finally we have the Forgeworld order I'm about to make 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Don't apologise...you sucessfully hid an item on a base which already hinted at the presence of an easter egg. This is some sort of Davinci code situation right here.


:secret: You probably shouldn't say that out loud.

----

I'm done green stuffing my second sanguinary priest and started painting him (in pieces). Notice the shoulderpad on his left arm (the one with the nartecium) inspired from the art work of the sanguinary priests in the codex, aswell as the chapter symbol I did myself with green stuff (instead of buying more red scorpion ones from FW and scraping the scorpion off, which would have been pretty expensive in the long run). Other stuff I have done on him: Reshaped one knee-pad. Added details to the sword hand and did joint rubber on the same arm. I also added purity seals.









Apart from that I've been pretty lazy, only painted one side of the front on the rhino:









----

C&C always welcome!

----

Till next time :wild:


----------



## sanguinius noob

disgustingly good as always! just love this log, rep!


----------



## xenobiotic

sanguinius noob said:


> disgustingly good as always! just love this log, rep!


Thank you, I'll try to do my best!

----

Another short update!

It's been a busy week, I've been doing more warhammer in my mind than with my hands. Planning ahead and considering what unit to prioritise and such.

Slowly painting my second sanguinary priest (notice the theme in these pictures, he's always lacking one or more parts )








White being as good as done I'm now moving on to other details. I'm going to try my hand at some freehanding on the sword, I'll keep you updated on how that goes!

Now to the main reason for an update, got this in a package today:








Surely nothing can stop me now? :biggrin:

----

Till next time :music:


----------



## Azwraith

maqn i so want that paint kit!!! but its expeno.. jealousy! 

(and cose the paints are in good pots so they wont just dry out... damn you GW cant you do that for your normal paints!!! not that it really matters i use vallejo!)


----------



## ShadowMatt

Those Ember Enraged are badass, I particularly love the weathering effects. +rep


----------



## xenobiotic

*Exemplar Terentius (Sanguinary Priest)*

*Woho, this is not a crappy teaser update!*

----



Azwraith said:


> man i so want that paint kit!!! but its expeno.. jealousy!
> 
> (and cose the paints are in good pots so they wont just dry out... damn you GW cant you do that for your normal paints!!! not that it really matters i use vallejo!)


It was well worth it for me. Considering I paid *132,3£* for Citadel Mega Paint Set and only ONE paint pot costs *3,8£* here (in Sweden at the LGS). That means just the 73 pots of paint in the case would have cost me *279£* to buy separately! And that's without the case, the brushes, the flock and the glue!

It's so nice to have all the paints in one convenient place as well, now I can try every tutorial I come across should I want to. And as you said, they'll last for a long time, the pots themselves appears to be of good quality! :biggrin:



ShadowMatt said:


> Those Ember Enraged are badass, I particularly love the weathering effects. +rep


Thanks, ShadowMatt, they're the infantry unit I'm most pleased with so far. I learned a lot when doing them, many things which I used on the miniature I've finished now (see below).

----

The initiates of the Blood Angels are given the Gene-seed via a process called insanguination. While most of their successors follow in their footsteps it's inevitable that as time passes these sibling chapters form their own rights of passage. The religious beliefs of the people of the planet of origin would inevitably effect their traditions. The Brethren of the Phoenix came to view the gene-seed, or Ember as they call them, implanted as a catalyst to heat their stagnant souls and make their final transformation into a Brother. Implantation is preformed by injecting the seed into one of the thoracic vertebrae of the receiver (a very painful process done without anaesthetic), a ritual called "Birth". As an Ember has been implanted, or born, it transforms the carrier in the process called "the Burning". When this process is finished the marine has fused with his seed which can only be extracted should his physical form die. If this happens the Ember can be passed into a new marine through the process called "Rebirth" (when an extracted gene-seed is given to another recruit or marine). While dormant, non-implanted, Embers are kept in special containers called "Kettles" which are guarded by the Keeper of the Embers, which is one of the most prestigious task a Brother can be given.

It is said that when an Ember is passed to a new carrier that person gains the collected wisdom of all the former carriers. In some cases the new carrier has even gained personal traits, both physical and psychological traits of the old carrier, thus making the Embers a form of collected wisdom of the chapter. This is the main explanation for the firm belief and theories about the ability to be reborn that circulates within the chapter. Because of this Embers from true heroes are only given to the most promising of recruits.

The Brethren do not see the Black Rage as a curse or a cause to their inevitable fall but rather a possibility for longevity. In fact, the Rage doesn't appear to have the same pattern of infliction within the Brethren as it has within many of the other Chapters of the same lineage. Amongst the Brethren it is often the most ancient and faithful warriors that fall into the Rage. It also appearslike these warriors more often then not have chosen to take "the next step" in their belief. When an Ember Enraged is killed in combat it is therefore of utmost importance for the Sanguinary Priests of the Brethren of the Phoenix, called Exemplars, to extract the Embers of their fallen for "rebirth" so that the wisdom and experience they carry aren't wasted. For some reason rebirth of these Enraged Embers does not bare with them any extra risk for Enrage in the implanted Brother. The puzzle of the rage has thus not been completely understood.




> [...] and as such the enemies shall tremble as our glowing embers fall from the sky. They will meet our fierce warriors, on the surface of the planet, in bloody combat face to face. And as they draw their dying breath they will have felt what it is like to burn from the inside out, to have been consumed by an ember of pure light! For we have the embers of old burning in our very [...]


- Exemplar Terentius on the battlefields of Korsk II

Exemplar, *Terentius*, of the 4th company of the Brethren of the Phoenix, Servant of the Master-Exemplar Keeper of Embers.









----

Most of the inspiration for Terentuis was taken from the Blood Angels Codex (English version) page 48, the picture of the Sanguinary Priest. The shape of the left shoulder pad, the extra purity seals, the extra details on the greaves, the shield shaped knee pad, the bird face on the power weapon (even having a power weapon at all was an homage to the picture) and so on.

Here's a comparison with the old sanguinary priest I did (05-05-2010 - click here to see post):








I think it gives a good view of how my miniature painting has progressed since I started out this endeavour!

Which one suits my army best? (I'll harvest your soul and give it to the chaos gods should you give me the wrong answer!)
Does the sword look ok?
How about the Company markings (Green knee with a "4" on)? 
Should I do them on my other marines (maybe not the ember enraged?) and vehicles?

----

Since I have so much on my to do list for this army, is there wishes about what you'd like to see me finish next?

I'm not that fond of the Scout miniatures as they look at the moment so I have an idea about making a squad of Sisters of Battle (5 women to start with) and using them as Scouts with bolters, locator beacon & camo cloaks in my list. Fluffwise they'd be an Ordo Strike Force squad pointing out vital objectives for the Brethren (or similar to that). I think they fit the scout profile ok (even with the str 4 t4 4+ save).

I haven't decided exactly on what parts to use for the conversions if I decided to do them. I'm considering the new Dark Eldar Wyches as a base(?) along with bitbashing them with chaos marauder shoulder pads, scout weapons and accessories and then green stuffing the haircuts and helmets on them).

Do you think that such a Sisters of Battle squad would work miniature-wise and fluff-wise?

----

C&C always welcome!
Till next time :yahoo:


----------



## Varakir

Far too much great stuff in the post above, love reading your log :victory:

Also that sword is awesome.


----------



## Azwraith

yeah wowzer that sword is completely awesome!!

id love to buy the paint set but the outlay is to great.
and i can buy vallejo for AUD 2$ if i get it from the UK if i bought locally its 6$ AUD.. so i can get quite cheap.


----------



## Dan1111

Hi Xeno,

Feel free to take my comments with a pinch of salt given the disparity between our painting abilities 

To address your questions



> Which one suits my army best? (I'll harvest your soul and give it to the chaos gods should you give me the wrong answer!)
> Does the sword look ok?


I love the new version of the Sanguinary Priest, it definately fits the army and , to follow on from the other posters, the sword looks sensational. I particularly like the eagle effect at the edge!

for the next two



> How about the Company markings (Green knee with a "4" on)?
> Should I do them on my other marines (maybe not the ember enraged?) and vehicles?


I love the green knee with a 4 on, but I wouldn't put it on everyone as I fear it would lose its dramatic effect. Personally I'd probably keep it for key characters/squad leaders and vehicles to tie them into the theme.

What would I like to see next? Do you have any dreadnoughts? Would quite like to see one of those (particularly interested to see how you tie it in with the Phoenix bird theme - winged dreadnought anyone?!)

Just one last point, and I'm almost embarrased to say this, I'm not a huge fan of the motiff on the left knee of the model. I think maybe it's because the feather is black and doesn't really stand out to me. Would it be possible to pick out individual strands of the feather in white? (obviously that would be impossible for me!)

Cheers

Dan


----------



## Tossidin

As per usual, your stuff is made of awesome and win! :grin:

I reaaaallyyy like the power sword, it is so characterfull! Good job on that.

The new priest fits wery well, and the green company markings fit your theme well. The older priest with wings, he should (imho) have something done about the wings, as they and the backpack are all red! Some contrast maybe?

As for what I would like to see, I would like you to paint MOAR, FASTER!!


----------



## Advertise

Damn!

You sure gave me alot of inspiration for my BA army.
Can´t paint as awsome as you do but hey!


----------



## Fallen

Advertise said:


> Damn!


'nuff said.


----------



## Winterous

...holy Crap, The Painting On The Auspice Is Amazing.


----------



## omgitsduane

It appears you are clearly Agent Smith and have hacked the Matrix to make your painting appear impossibly awesome.


----------



## Winterous

omgitsduane said:


> It appears you are clearly Agent Smith and have hacked the Matrix to make your painting appear impossibly awesome.


Agent Smith doesn't hack the Matrix, he's an admin.
When he kills people? Banhammer.


----------



## unxpekted22

absolutely incredible work xeno. Only discovered this thread after seeing your name under the new heresy online award winners. Wish I could have helped you get there BEFORE you got it haha. But yes, great work. The big dreadnought and the two marines with non-power weapons are my favorite so far, the death company I mean. oh and the free hand on the rhino is insanely nice.

edit: The back part of the librarian I thought was the best part on him. It looked like urban camo on marine armor or something. I thought it was beast.


----------



## Munky

I have just revisited this thread from the same place as Unxpekted22, absolutely blown away with the look and the dynamism of the models.

The Pheonix is just instant win for me too:king:.
The freehand is getting better and better as the log progresses, and I think you deserve the award.

Keep it going.


----------



## xenobiotic

First of all I must thank you all for the support and the nominations for the award I received! It was very touching and it warmed my heart, I'll make sure I do my best to live up to the medal and what it stands for!

----



Varakir said:


> Far too much great stuff in the post above, love reading your log :victory:
> 
> Also that sword is awesome.


I'm glad you like it! It's very fulfilling to dabble in more than just painting and converting, writing some fluff and tutorials and what not!



Azwraith said:


> yeah wowzer that sword is completely awesome!!


It was a bit touch and go there for a while, wasn't all that happy with the first head, then I did the other one and it clicked for me. Now I'm very pleased with the outcome.



Dan1111 said:


> [...]I love the green knee with a 4 on, but I wouldn't put it on everyone as I fear it would lose its dramatic effect. Personally I'd probably keep it for key characters/squad leaders and vehicles to tie them into the theme.
> 
> What would I like to see next? Do you have any dreadnoughts? Would quite like to see one of those (particularly interested to see how you tie it in with the Phoenix bird theme - winged dreadnought anyone?!)
> 
> Just one last point, and I'm almost embarrassed to say this, I'm not a huge fan of the motif on the left knee of the model. I think maybe it's because the feather is black and doesn't really stand out to me. Would it be possible to pick out individual strands of the feather in white? (obviously that would be impossible for me!)


The 4 would be the company number (4th company of the Brethren of the Phoenix) so I would assume it should go on as many as possible really (according to codices). I'll have to think about fluff vs looks on this one.

I have 3 dreadnoughts built at the moment. They've been on ice for about half a year though. I might save them for the Army Challenge (more on that later).

The left motif was a spur of the moment thing, I wanted the shape of a feather, like a suggestion more than an actual image, on his knee, but it was hard to get the colour dark enough to make it visible yet light enough not to make it come forth to much. I don't think picking strands out with white will get it where I want to, perhaps picking them out in a brighter red might do the trick, I'll have a look at it.



Tossidin said:


> As per usual, your stuff is made of awesome and win! :grin:
> 
> I reaaaallyyy like the power sword, it is so characterfull! Good job on that.
> 
> The new priest fits wery well, and the green company markings fit your theme well. The older priest with wings, he should (imho) have something done about the wings, as they and the backpack are all red! Some contrast maybe?
> 
> As for what I would like to see, I would like you to paint MOAR, FASTER!!


I can't paint faster! :cray: Most of the time I get bored when painting, so I have to mix it up. It's however easier to paint kick ass miniatures, might have to convert more cool marines for me to pick up the pace. 

The old priest will probably be scrapped, won't bother repainting him, will just use him till I have newer miniatures to replace him with. That's just life sometimes!



Advertise said:


> Damn!
> 
> You sure gave me alot of inspiration for my BA army.
> Can´t paint as awsome as you do but hey!


Half of the reason to post things up here, to inspire, and to get feedback :wink:



Fallen said:


> 'nuff said.


:don-t_mention:



Winterous said:


> ...holy Crap, The Painting On The Auspice Is Amazing.


My best vehicle (to this day) was such a fun motif to paint! Will have to do something similar to that soon just to keep me rolling 



omgitsduane said:


> It appears you are clearly Agent Smith and have hacked the Matrix to make your painting appear impossibly awesome.





Winterous said:


> Agent Smith doesn't hack the Matrix, he's an admin.
> When he kills people? Banhammer.


We'd better not dwell deeper into that subject [...] :security:



unxpekted22 said:


> absolutely incredible work xeno. Only discovered this thread after seeing your name under the new heresy online award winners. Wish I could have helped you get there BEFORE you got it haha. But yes, great work. The big dreadnought and the two marines with non-power weapons are my favorite so far, the death company I mean. oh and the free hand on the rhino is insanely nice.
> 
> edit: The back part of the librarian I thought was the best part on him. It looked like urban camo on marine armor or something. I thought it was beast.


I've been at it for a while and learned a lot by the way thanks to Heresy-online. And you know what they say, better late then never :wink:



Munky said:


> I have just revisited this thread from the same place as Unxpekted22, absolutely blown away with the look and the dynamism of the models.
> 
> The Pheonix is just instant win for me too:king:.
> The freehand is getting better and better as the log progresses, and I think you deserve the award.


I feel the same way about the freehand and it's very rewarding to see the progress documented myself. It's remarkable how much you can pick up from reading about how others do things and how much inspiration they can give you. Internet truly is fantastic that way!

Thank you all for the support!

----

So what have I been up to this week? Sadly, not much tbh. Time flies by, I'm writing my final essay (trying to do it beforehand so I can get 9(!) weeks off at the beginning of the year) mixed with "practice" and studying for this semester combined with continuing to fix up my apartment, ah well, these aren't the reasons you're reading this *plog* for!

Because of this I've not been painting as much as I'd have liked to. Mostly I've been dabbling a bit with the freehand on the Death Company Rhino painting small phoenixes such as these:
















I'm going to fill up the red areas on the roof with these tiny birds, giving the vehicle a bit of life. Though I actually have to do some research into how birds look from different angles in flight so that I don't keep repeating the same shape over and over again.

----

The conversion corner got a healthy boost of pieces from an incoming order of Forge World the other day (made me pretty happy for a while till I realized some of them had been broken in the packaging process, probably due to small air bubbles right at connecting parts :angry:, mailing with FW to get replacements):

















And on the workbench in the conversion corner is a new concept for a special character / honour guard I'm working on. I decided to mount them all (honour guards that is) on 40 mm bases with smaller bases made into inserts so that I'd have more room for scenic add-ons for when I get a nice display case to put my army in.

Anyway, these pictures are just a basic pose, in fact nothing is glued but the hands to the arms. Both arms are magnetized (and can be exchanged with previously magnetized arms). I'm working on the real legs for the miniature (reposing and adding details as we speak) but it's the same basic legs and I wanted to be able to glue on the weapons without having to finish the legs. The idea of chainaxes came to me from all the artwork in the BA-codex (where many soldiers have them yet none of the actual boxes contain any axes). Since the axes are resin the handles are very fragile so I did a preempted strike and drilled them out and put in steel wire - enabled me to do some conversion work as well:


----------



## Chaosftw

Very nice pose! Really liking that free hand on the rhino too!

Great Job!

Chaosftw


----------



## sanguinius noob

there is so much win in this log i can barely look....


----------



## Zodd

Those freehand birds are pure win. And those FW-parts are interesting. Looking forward to see how the chain-axes turn out. What are You planning them to count as ? Lightning Claws ?


----------



## xenobiotic

Short update, looking for some pose and kit-bashing feedback!

----



Chaosftw said:


> Very nice pose! Really liking that free hand on the rhino too!
> 
> Great Job!
> 
> Chaosftw


Thank you, I've been tweaking the pose a bit now, hopefully it looks even better at this stage! (see below)



sanguinius noob said:


> there is so much win in this log i can barely look....


But I want you to look! So I guess I'll have to do some "losing" as well then... 



Zodd said:


> Those freehand birds are pure win. And those FW-parts are interesting. Looking forward to see how the chain-axes turn out. What are You planning them to count as ? Lightning Claws ?


I'm planning on using them as something very unorthodox - close-combat weapons! :scare:

I'm mostly after the variation of the theme, there are only so many chainsword arms to come by, mixing them up with chainaxes will help individualising the squadmembers and bring some "character" to the army.

----

I got a %?"#load of pieces from FW (and replacement pieces are on their way also, which is nice!) and some from Bits&Kits (more on the way!) so it's been hard for me not to build stuff (when I should be painting). Starting on one miniature inadvertently made me start building and planning a whole squad (of Honour Guards this time). So far I've completed converting/kit-bashin one and I'm getting closer on the second (shown first in the post above).

So what is an Honour Guard? Basically it's 5 veterans that accompany the leaders as their retinue of advisers and bodyguards. One of the represents the Sanguinary priests, in the form of an adept which is not yet fully experienced to take an independent role on the battlefield. The rest of them are veterans and champions in some shape (blood champion, standard bearer, designated driver and so on). 

Some of you know that in the previous versions of the blood angel codex the honour guard contained a tech adept, which was the Techmarine version of the Sanguinary Adept, which where removed (for some reason Blood Angel leaders apparently don't need advice on their machinery anymore(?)). Sadly that removed the opportunity for a great miniature... Or did it?

There is a way around it since Honour Guards have so many choices of equipment. When looking at the Techmarine as a unit entry the thing that stands out the most is the servo-arm. A weapon that, when equipped by a marine (not a servitor), has pretty much exactly the same special rules as a power fist(!). This means that I could make a servo-arm armed Tech Adept and use him a counts as power fist equipped Honour Guard in game terms!

Another good thing about this is that I can use him as a sergeant in smaller games, since he's equipped exactly like my sergeants are - win-win:








Funny thing about building the tech-adept: Since he has a Servo-arm I suddenly had an arm that needed to be "empty" and I don't know if you realize how hard it is to find a right arm for a space marine that does "nothing". Hence the multi-melta canister (which I fluffwise explain as extra fuel for the meltaguns in the squad :angel in the right hand.

The other miniature I've been putting together started as a concept for a counts as Gabriel Seth, as I read the character description the conversion just popped up in my mind. A skilled marine utilizing to chainaxes in a blazing dance of fury (to represent the rules)! 

However as I built the miniature it more and more dawned on me that he will probably just end up as a normal Honour Guard (sadly probably being the first one of the squad to die :biggrin since he doesn't have that "special character aura" about him.

A good thing about him though is that both his arms are magnetized, so I can give him any equipment upgrade I'd like should I want to (standard for example):









----

What do you think about these two Honour Guards?

----

I'm going to visit my parents this weekend, will probably take the rhino and the honour guards with me along with the mega paint set and hopefully get some painting done, no updates till after the weekend!

Till next time :lazy2:


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

I likey, very dramatically posed. About your large bases for display purposes.
Have you considered making a large display base that holds the whole army with sections cut out for each model, that way when they are in a display case you can still have your display terrain and each model with have it's specific place to stand. 

I did this using a drill, a sheet of mdf and a sheet of slightly thinner mdf. I measured and cut holes in the thinner mdf board using the drill to make space for each of the models (used a jigsaw for the vehicles). Then i based it as if each model was stood within it's designated hole. Stick the thinner sheet with fresh holes to the big mdf board and your sorted. It did help that i knew exactly how big i was planning on making my chaos marines but you could get around this by making progressively larger outer boards and not base them untill you have the squads to live in them.

I'm really loving your freehand work, i wonly wish i could paint that nicely. On the plus side at least fine art isn't somthing that us orks are known for.


----------



## Chaosftw

Ya, I think I like it more.

Well done!

Chaosftw


----------



## prairiehawk

Perhaps i just missed it, after all your blog is full of goodness. Anyways, a while back i asked how you did the stone on the dread, and to poke you if you forgot to show how to do it, so *poke*


----------



## Sgt Pasanius

Absolutely fantastic, although i have very similar conversions in mind for my BA.
Keep coming back to this thread again and again.

Have some rep+


----------



## Midge913

Your army is beautiful! The freehands on the vehicle left me in awe, and your "dirty" white armor is incredible. Keep up the good work sir!


----------



## aquatic_foible

you are irritatingly talented, sir. this thread is just a big bucket of win, and rapidly becoming one of my favourites... +rep if i haven't already! :grin:


----------



## Warpetrie

wow stunning work here! ^_^ 

Ive been trying to find conversion possibilities with the Death Comp. box for my Dark Angels and you have definitely given me some ideas =D


----------



## Dan1111

Xeno, slightly off topic question, when you're painting the details on your model do you use a lamp with a magnifying glass, or do you just eyeball it all?

Cheers

Dan


----------



## Midge913

I just took the opportunity to read this entire thread and I must say that the award you received was well deserved. I just started a BA army and I have only one model 'test' painted in the standard red scheme. Reading your whole thread has inspired me to consider going back to the drawing board as far as color-scheme and conversions so that my BA army can too standout amongst the hordes of them showing up as more original. Your work is incredible and I am sure that I can't hold a candle to you as far as free-hand painting but I wanted you to know that it has inspired me to get outside the box and do something different with mine. +rep sir! Excellent work! I will be following your thread very closely in the future for inspiration and motivation.


----------



## RTJ

Very nice! I particularly like the tech-adept kitbash - beautiful!


----------



## xenobiotic

Wow, long time without an update!
And I only have a few things to show you guys this time.

----



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> I likey, very dramatically posed. About your large bases for display purposes.
> Have you considered making a large display base that holds the whole army with sections cut out for each model, that way when they are in a display case you can still have your display terrain and each model with have it's specific place to stand.
> 
> [...]
> 
> I'm really loving your freehand work, I only wish I could paint that nicely. On the plus side at least fine art isn't something that us orks are known for.


Agreed, that does make for very good display bases/terrain and the way you suggest in making them is probably the best one out there. However I'm still debating on the size of this army (how many years I want to spend painting red, lol) so I'm not really able make an elaborate display base yet unless I make one for each squad... 

So in the meantime I'm just making these large bases with smaller on top for my HQ choices and other miniatures I've spent a lot of time on. It makes them stand out when I put them amongst my throng (lol, 3 squads) of already finished marines. I've also found that it's a good way to put some more consideration into the bases (because I want them to mend with the bigger ones). I will most likely not be using them when gaming (unless I feel particularly cocky).

And also, the orks might not have "fine art", but they have their ways - checker patterns and what not :grin:



Chaosftw said:


> Ya, I think I like it more. [...]


We'll see what you think about the finished product later on then 



prairiehawk said:


> Perhaps i just missed it, after all your blog is full of goodness. Anyways, a while back i asked how you did the stone on the dread, and to poke you if you forgot to show how to do it, so *poke*


No, you haven't missed it. It's just that I haven't been painting anything I wanted the stone pattern on lately. However you might be in luck now (just scroll down a bit :grin



Sgt Pasanius said:


> Absolutely fantastic, although I have very similar conversions in mind for my BA.
> Keep coming back to this thread again and again.


I'm glad I can inspire you. I've been inspired by many of the great ploggers out there on the net so I'm happy to be returning the favour. One of the biggest reason to keep at it in my point of view!



aquatic_foible said:


> you are irritatingly talented, sir. this thread is just a big bucket of win, and rapidly becoming one of my favourites... +rep if i haven't already! :grin:


Xenobiotic, irritating you till the end of time :so_happy:



Warpetrie said:


> wow stunning work here! ^_^
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> I've been trying to find conversion possibilities with the Death Comp. box for my Dark Angels and you have definitely given me some ideas =D


I have a "love-hate relationship" with the Death Company box these days, which my friends have heard about so many times they'll probably start hitting me soon.

I like the many different pieces (particularly the abundance of poses) but after a while all of these purity seals and other minor detailing that are moulded on limit the variation in a squad (6 marines in the same army that has purity seals flowing the same way... That's unacceptable!). So I have to spend a lot of time cutting them off and sculpt "better ones" myself. Ah well.



Dan1111 said:


> Xeno, slightly off topic question, when you're painting the details on your model do you use a lamp with a magnifying glass, or do you just eyeball it all?


No worries, I enjoy answering to questions (have in mind my solutions are not always the best ones). I have a magnifying lamp at one of my workplaces but I use it only for the light it gives. I find that I get thrown off if I try to do things in magnification. Maybe it's because I've painted so many tiny things before I restarted the whole warhammer thing.

Ehm, so, in conclusion, I do eyeball everything and paint it on with a Detail brush from army painter.



Midge913 said:


> Your army is beautiful! The freehands on the vehicle left me in awe, and your "dirty" white armor is incredible. Keep up the good work sir!


Thank you, at the moment I'm still tweaking my painting methods as I go, I figure that I'll have a more consistent look as I head further into my squads (the first 10 assault marines aren't painted in dirty white for example). This process is a welcome addition for me as it shows that I'm still growing in my potential - it's nice to see yourself that you're making progress.



Midge913 said:


> I just took the opportunity to read this entire thread and I must say that the award you received was well deserved. I just started a BA army and I have only one model 'test' painted in the standard red scheme. Reading your whole thread has inspired me to consider going back to the drawing board as far as color-scheme and conversions so that my BA army can too stand out amongst the hordes of them showing up as more original. Your work is incredible and I am sure that I can't hold a candle to you as far as free-hand painting but I wanted you to know that it has inspired me to get outside the box and do something different with mine. +rep sir! Excellent work! I will be following your thread very closely in the future for inspiration and motivation.


There are many great Blood Angel plogs out there (on warseer for example). But sometimes it's nice to make something "your own" twisting a concept and fleshing a backstory out yourself (depending on your creativity of course). Space Marines lend themselves very well to this - only having some similarities between all chapters but still have a lot of differences as well (warfare, religious beliefs and so on). Glad I could inspire you, I've been meaning to comment your plog but haven't gotten around to it yet, hopefully soon.



RTJ said:


> Very nice! I particularly like the tech-adept kitbash - beautiful!


Thank you, it's one of those kit-bashes that just appeared to me when I looked at the pieces (I bought a pair of the legs of B&K because I liked how they looked, wasn't sure until I got them what I'd use them for). I think I managed to capture the techmarine look somewhat without making him look like a full blown artificier armoured & servo-harness armed one.

----

So finally I've made that jasper tutorial you've been asking for, please ignore the thick paint on some of the pictures - the super-macro really picks out every shitty detail there is:









Basecoat - Mechrite Red
First defining lines - Badab Black
Second defining lines - Devlan Mud
Fill in red areas with - Watered down Blood Red (make it blotchy and patchy)
Add thin layers of - Blazing Orange (within the red areas)
Add spots of - Fortress Grey - to some of the black lines (optional)
Refill black lines with - Badab Black (over the grey spots) 
Fill in red areas again with - Watered down Blood Red

----

I've also been slowly doodling on the freehand on the Death Company Rhino, it's starting to go where I want it to go ...








What I'm thinking about now is perhaps painting some small birds on the sides of the vehicle (where the blood splatter goes down on the sides) and most likely some birds on the rear end of the X/vehicle.

----

And on the gaming side of the hobby I played my second match with the Brethren today, also my first WIN! 750 points Blood Angels vs 750 points Tyranids, game ended at turn 6, with one Hive Guard left on the opposite side of the table. The Dice-Gods where with me! :so_happy:

It was a fun game overall, I was very impressed by one of my squads (7 assault marines accompanied with Reclusiarch-Chaplain and Sanguinary Priest) which managed to shrug off about ~30 shots and ~80 close combat attacks before they finally caved in and died (having taken roughly 12 Genestealers (with Brood Lord) as well as 4 Warriors with them into the grave).

Sadly I lost Reclusiarch-Chaplain Sabinus in the campaign, but at least he managed to actually USE his hand flamer this game (and killed one genestealer with it, woho!). Then again it might just have been his alter ego Sunibas that was killed :wink: (it's not such a big deal overall though, it just means I lost more points this round).

Brethren of the Phoenix:
Win 1 / Draw 0 / Loss 1

----

Till next time :music:


----------



## Midge913

Every time you post that DC rhino it gets better! The freehands are looking great, and it is my opinion that your jasper stone technique is looking more finished than it was on the dread! Good work mate!


----------



## Master of Sanctity

Absolutely outstanding work! Nuff said! :grin:


----------



## Marneus Calgar

This... Is... Incredible...


+Rep


----------



## unxpekted22

how do you concentrate the badab black to those lines? just a little bit at a time I guess? I still have a ways to go in mastering the usage of washes tbh.


----------



## Tossidin

Long time since an update? I blame you for keeping me waiting lol! 

So, it gets even more awesome! I really like your freehand and the overall look, it just fits perfectly in my eyes, especially the "blood splatter" that the X ends in, nice detail. Only thing I wonder, is the turret going to be white like the rest of the tank?

Looking forward to see it finished, and congrats on your first win!


----------



## sanguinius noob

xeno, your tank sickens me. 


in a good way. keep up the good work! have some rep if i can give it (need to spread it round...)


----------



## Khorne's Fist

That razorback is stunning. Keep it up. +rep.


----------



## Mike3D6

Rading this post the only thing I can do is +rep.Your work is amazing and inspiring, love the Tycho, can't wait to see more!


----------



## The Wraithlord

That is one wicked looking Razorback.


----------



## xenobiotic

The days just keep on rolling by, time flies and I get almost nothing done!

----



Midge913 said:


> Every time you post that DC rhino it gets better! The freehands are looking great, and it is my opinion that your jasper stone technique is looking more finished than it was on the dread! Good work mate!


Thanks! And I think I agree with you about the jasper technique. It looks different from my dread but it's more focused now, I've tuned my brush technique a lot since my first miniatures in this log. 



Master of Sanctity said:


> Absolutely outstanding work! Nuff said! :grin:


:thank_you:



Marneus Calgar said:


> This... Is... Incredible...
> +Rep


Thank you, kind sir!



unxpekted22 said:


> how do you concentrate the badab black to those lines? just a little bit at a time I guess? I still have a ways to go in mastering the usage of washes tbh.


I use a small brush and some patience, learned quite much about using washes when I came up with the way I paint my white death company so I've refined my methods since I did my first stone patterned dread. If you keep at it you'll figure out your own tricks 



Tossidin said:


> Long time since an update? I blame you for keeping me waiting lol!
> 
> So, it gets even more awesome! I really like your freehand and the overall look, it just fits perfectly in my eyes, especially the "blood splatter" that the X ends in, nice detail. Only thing I wonder, is the turret going to be white like the rest of the tank?
> 
> Looking forward to see it finished, and congrats on your first win!


Sorry, dude, I've just got so many other things going on right now, stupid university and life in general! 

And you are a perceptive little devil, my friend, nothing gets past you, does it? The turret is supposed to be white but this particular turret is not supposed to go with this particular razorback. It's a quickly painted one that I did just to have a twin-assault cannons to play with in the smaller games and it was painted before I came up with the "dirty white"-recipe so that's why it looks different from the rest of the white armour on the rhino, heh. Then again there will be huge amounts of dirt added to this vehicle in the weathering process so I'm not all that certain how the white will come out in the end :shok:



sanguinius noob said:


> xeno, your tank sickens me.
> 
> in a good way. keep up the good work! have some rep if i can give it (need to spread it round...)


Thank you, hopefully I'll be able to keep it up all the way and get a kick ass tank out of it in the end.



Khorne's Fist said:


> That razorback is stunning. Keep it up. +rep.


Doing my best, sir, glad you like it 



Mike3D6 said:


> Rading this post the only thing I can do is +rep.Your work is amazing and inspiring, love the Tycho, can't wait to see more!


I'm happy to inspire you! Hopefully I'll keep the miniatures coming (have my first honour guards on the table, the squad all fleshed out).



The Wraithlord said:


> That is one wicked looking Razorback.


Thanks, Wraithlord! I'm very happy with the result so far, it was kind of a long shot in the beginning!

----

So I have nothing finished to show this time around either, but to compensate (and do a preempted strike) I put together a small picture tutorial on how you can paint a red freehand on a red background. As usual the details on the miniature look all wacky in the supermacro (got to resolve that issue sometime) but I hope the message goes through.

Phoenix freehand:

Undercoat Mechrite Red.
Use thinned down Blazing Orange to make a rough shape.
Use thinned down Blazing Orange in painted lines (drawing them in a specific direction is great to give the bird a sense of movement) to fill out the shape.
Use thinned down Blood Red to define feathers (ie paint lines of Blood Red amongst the lines of Blazing Orange) and also make "eye-sockets".
Redefine the orange areas with thinned down Blazing Orange.
Add more thinned down Blazing Orange if needed. Dot the eyes sockets (carefully not to completely cover up the Blood Red socket you recently painted).
Add thinned down Vomit Brown along edges hit by the "light source", define the beak and dot the centre of the eyes.










----

And while on the subject of birds, here are the latest additions to the transport:

















So with the freehand done I'm moving on to metal parts, lenses and other minor details, then comes the wrecking ball that is weathering!

----

On a side note, feel free to check out my *art thread* (if you want to see real "freehands" ). There you can wish for sketches and see what I'm up to when I'm not painting miniatures :clapping: Oh, happy days!

----

Till next time :spiteful:


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> And you are a perceptive little devil, my friend, nothing gets past you, does it?



Not much. You have been asking for our opinions, so I make it my business to point out the small details :grin:

It's looking seriously good. Good job man, and good luck with the university (which I am failing in atm... Damn you video games! "Back to CoD :gamer2:")!


----------



## sanguinius noob

again xeno, you make perfection look easy! your definately keeping it up, always a joy looking at your work mate!


----------



## Midge913

As alwasys Xeno you continue to impress! Thanks for throwing up the tutorial on your freehands it is great to see your process! I have been following your art thread and there is some seriously cool stuff going on there as well!


----------



## dthwish09

a true inspiration to artists on this forum


----------



## Widowmaker666

Hey Xeno, Could i bother you for an army photo? Everything looks AMAZING so far and i would like to see how it all fits together.
Cheers

Widowmaker


----------



## xenobiotic

*The Salient*



Tossidin said:


> Not much. You have been asking for our opinions, so I make it my business to point out the small details :grin:
> 
> It's looking seriously good. Good job man, and good luck with the university (which I am failing in atm... Damn you video games! "Back to CoD :gamer2:")!


Hehe, I know. And I depend on you, so you better not stop! After a while when you've been looking at the same miniature you go blind and it's easy to miss things. 

And don't let the university beat you, we need our games! :grin:



sanguinius noob said:


> again xeno, you make perfection look easy! your definately keeping it up, always a joy looking at your work mate!


Oh, I'm very happy you like my miniatures but I'd hardly call them perfection. There are so many miniature painters out there that I find my self looking up to, trying out new things to get closer to what they achieve and so on. But that's what's so good about the internet, if you know where to look you can find inspiration to push yourself forward (as long as you don't let all of them awesome people out there bog you down, that is).



Midge913 said:


> As always Xeno you continue to impress! Thanks for throwing up the tutorial on your freehands it is great to see your process! I have been following your art thread and there is some seriously cool stuff going on there as well!


I had a sudden surge of insight, figured someone would probably ask about them sooner or later so I figured I'd just knock a tutorial up while I was actually doing some freehand work.

I like it when people throw up a couple of "in progress" shots as well, it gives you insight on how they achieve their looks, which is very helpful when you're trying to figure out your own!

And since art is my biggest passion in life it makes me very happy that you like it :so_happy:



dthwish09 said:


> a true inspiration to artists on this forum


Thank you.



Widowmaker666 said:


> Hey Xeno, Could i bother you for an army photo? Everything looks AMAZING so far and i would like to see how it all fits together.


Soon™, my friend. I just have a few more things to do on the miniatures I've already painted before I update the army picture. So hang in there!

----

Superior Tech-Brother Alournius was reviewing and completing the last rites of battle to "the Salient" prior to deployment. He had much pride in the old vehicle he heartily referred to as "my own piece of junk". Just as he finished of the rituals he was approached by another Battle-Brother. 



> Tech-Adept Brother Kaithas reporting for duty, sir! I've been assigned to aid you in the continuation of the Korsk II campaign, all my expertise is yours to use as you see fit.
> 
> - Tell me, young Brother, have you ever driven the enraged before?
> 
> No disrespect, sir, are you questioning my skills? I have the seals to prove my experience. I have manned Rhinos and Razorbacks on countless occasions, sir! During the raids against the Sor'ko and...
> 
> - You misunderstood my question, Brother Kaithas. I am not interested in knowing what vehicle you have driven into what enemy of the Emperor. I am simply asking you if you have ever driven the Enraged before?
> 
> No, sir!
> 
> - Then I can tell you two things, Brother. One: You can forget everything you thought you knew about driving in battle. Two: Strap yourself in hard, cause it's going to be a hell of a ride!


_Vehicles are essential in warfare, there is pretty much no way around that. Be it siege tanks, troop transports, walkers or flying machinery. Many of them have purely logistical uses, supplying the front line with anything from troops to medical supplies and food. They are a constant in any war. Battles are won and lost simply by the presence or lack of, vehicles.

While there are some times a more non-vehicle puristic profiling can be advantageous, the use of machinery is somewhat solidified in the structure of the Brethren of the Phoenix, especially in the 4th company, the Birds of Paradise.

All squads are assigned a Rhino APC, with crew capable of exchanging the armaments into a Razorback prior to a battle. All crew members have reached the status of at least Tech-Adepts, via training of the Chapters Forge Masters (only those whom have reached status of Techmarine or higher have actually undergone training within the Adeptus Mechanicus. These are few and far between considering the strained relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus concerning the Baal Predator technology). All squads are also assigned a number of drop pods, available at pretty much all times from the Chapters cruisers. Most marines take great care of their vehicles and adorn them with artwork and give them names that fit their achievements. A practise that sometimes have grown to extreme lengths in order to prove grander artistic abilities than their comrades could achieve.

*The Salient*, a.k.a. "My own piece of junk", has a long service record with the Ember Enraged. While the crew themselves are not enraged as such they have been specially assigned and chosen to have suitable personal characteristics (i.e. reckless and risky). Whether by some sort of special bond between the vehicle and it's crew, skills or even pure luck, the Salient has managed stay as a frontline vehicle for decades, miraculously never having been damaged beyond repair it has taken the Ember Enraged into the inferno of battle. Each time the vehicle survives a particularly devastating battle the crew paints another Phoenix bird on it, as a memory and a promise that it will serve at least one more time._










----

A piece of history:


xenobiotic said:


> Basically I want it to be evident that it is a death company vehicle (hence the red X/cross comes in). But at the same time I also want the vehicle to pop and scream fanaticism - so I'm going to try to paint hints of small phoenixes within the red colour (as if the red colour where alive, that is). Along with that a gritty and VERY dirty white. Hopefully it will look good and not just.. suck.





Varakir said:


> Most people just think....'i'm going to paint it red' [...]


I now give you more views of a white rhino with "red paint" on:









----

So what am I thinking about this vehicle myself? My main concern is the Dozer Blade, feels like the white is a bit off compared to the rest of the tank. I tried blending it in with a few washes of Gryphonne Sepia but I'm not sure if it's good enough. I've changed my painting style since I did the dozers (apparently). I've also not painted any weapons for this vehicle, so the current setup would be illegal in game terms (since it's lacking a stormbolter). But that will be rectified soon enough with a pair of twin-linked assault cannons.

Here's a short list of the things I might consider changing or adding:

Add more smoke/charcoal weathering around the smokestacks?
Repaint the dozer to match it better with the white on the tank?
Add a layer of dark weathering to the vehicle?

----

And on to other ideas and projects. I've been thinking about my boxes of Tactical Marines which would be nice to get built and painted sometime. Though at the same time I'm considering how many Tactical Squads I'd actually use as a part of this army, and it would probably not be more than 1 or 2 (and I have parts to build closer to 50 of them by now).

What I'm considering is adding 2 x 10-man tactical squads to my collection but paint them up as another Chapter (simply using them as Tactical marines from my Blood Angels Codex should I ever want/need to). Preferably I'd like to base them on a chapter mentioned in the actual fluff. So if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. It would be nice to do something different from the Brethren every no and then (so preferably not red or white).

If you have no suggestions I'll wait for IA10 and look through the chapters there (the Minotaurs look promising?) and choose one from either IA9 or IA10.
Another good thing about this idea is that I can easily paint a HQ and something more and I'd have 2 different Space Marine armies later on.

Ah, well, enough blabbering, thanks for reading!

----

Till next time :gamer2:


----------



## Midge913

I actually like the dozerblade a slightly different color. It looks like it has been plowing through debris and muck and in my opinion it should look dirtier and more banged up for that reason. 

I would agree that some more weathering and smoky soot around the smoke stacks would be good.


----------



## Unsuitably

The tank is absolutely superb, and I almost don't feel right giving any criticism to it. But the top hatch just looks a bit bland at the moment, it would be fine if the rest of the tank wasn't so unbelievable. I feel it just needs a little something extra at the moment.


----------



## Azwraith

i want to ask you use MIG correct?
i recently bought Martian Dust for my orks and IF and i am not sure how to use it could you please advise?

also in regards to chapters i think you can either go 2 ways. a blue army or a yellow army.

(YELLOWW!!!!)) well since i love all things yellow i suggest doing that.. maybe a black yellow.. like a certain persons awesome Marines Malovent. (spelling?) 

ive been trying to think of a colour scheme that doesnt use red or white... which is actually quite hard to get something that looks nice that doesnt use those colours all i can think is black/yellow.. you could do a green/brown.. but im not sure.. it just seems like it would be kind of dull.. and if you go like pink+anything its to slaanesh.. i was thinking maybe purple/black.. but still that seems slaaneshi to me aswell..

ive always thought that orange/blue is a really cool contrasting set of colours but im not sure how it would work on minis? i think you should attempt a quarter scheme because i think that would be cool and be something very different from what you currently have. ive always thought of trying to do a fading style.. perhaps from lightning blue to dark blue from top to bottom.. not sure how it would look

well ive crapped on long enough. to summerize.

yellow/black
lighting blue/navy blue
blue/white
blue/orange

quartered scheme?


----------



## unxpekted22

i think the vehicle fine dude haha. No but really I like how the dozer blade is darker than the rest of it, it only makes sense really. so id say no to another layer of weathering over the whole thing, it think THAT might push it over the edge to being just straight up messy. smoke stacks are pretty dark, not sure they need more of a charcoal look.


and its not illegal to have no turret on a rhino, they dont have to have any weapons on them, unless its different for blood angels, i dunno.

aaand ooh ooh ooh! do executioners!!! pleeease do executioners!!

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Executioners


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I actually like the dozerblade a slightly different color. It looks like it has been plowing through debris and muck and in my opinion it should look dirtier and more banged up for that reason.
> 
> I would agree that some more weathering and smoky soot around the smoke stacks would be good.


I see your point, it's grown on me, also I really don't feel like repainting the entire dozer either, hehe.



Unsuitably said:


> The tank is absolutely superb, and I almost don't feel right giving any criticism to it. But the top hatch just looks a bit bland at the moment, it would be fine if the rest of the tank wasn't so unbelievable. I feel it just needs a little something extra at the moment.


There's actually a "good reason" for that. The hatch is just a place holder till I manage to paint a set of weapons for it. Also I want the top hatches and weapon systems to be free of freehand so I can change them between vehicles without messing up the entire look to much. I figured the Techmarines would have a similar view, being artisans, artists and mechanics. So while I agree it can look somewhat "odd" it's still "supposed to" (for now, at least).



Azwraith said:


> I want to ask you use MIG correct?
> i recently bought Martian Dust for my orks and IF and i am not sure how to use it could you please advise?
> 
> also in regards to chapters i think you can either go 2 ways. a blue army or a yellow army.
> 
> (YELLOWW!!!!)) well since i love all things yellow i suggest doing that.. maybe a black yellow.. like a certain persons awesome Marines Malovent. (spelling?)
> 
> ive been trying to think of a colour scheme that doesnt use red or white... which is actually quite hard to get something that looks nice that doesnt use those colours all i can think is black/yellow.. you could do a green/brown.. but im not sure.. it just seems like it would be kind of dull.. and if you go like pink+anything its to slaanesh.. i was thinking maybe purple/black.. but still that seems slaaneshi to me aswell..
> 
> Ive always thought that orange/blue is a really cool contrasting set of colours but im not sure how it would work on minis? i think you should attempt a quarter scheme because i think that would be cool and be something very different from what you currently have. ive always thought of trying to do a fading style.. perhaps from lightning blue to dark blue from top to bottom.. not sure how it would look
> 
> well ive crapped on long enough. to summerize.
> 
> yellow/black
> lighting blue/navy blue
> blue/white
> blue/orange
> 
> quartered scheme?


I actually use Forge World Powders, but from what I've heard the MIG powders are equal to them (perhaps even better), I'd assume the techniques to apply them would be fairly similar as well. I'm pretty much a noob in that area, only using the very basic methods I've found, there are quite a lot of guides up on the net, and there's also the Forge World Imperial Armour Masterclass Volume 1 book which I use for reference and tips all the time.

My weathering with powders thus far has been limited to mixing powder with water and wash then flicking it onto the miniature (to get the splashed look) as well as painting it in some areas (to get build up along edges). When applying smoke damage I've just rubbed the powder into a paintbrush and then rubbed the brush against the smokedamaged part (note that you can get a pretty similar effect by just drybrushing chaos black on there, sometimes I do both). 

There are shitloads of techniques in the end, using alcohol solutions and thinners and such, I've just started out with the powders.

And about colourschemes: It's a tough choice, I've been eyeing through the books I have and there aren't many chapters that stick out in a good way. The thing I mind with yellow is that it's hard to do without giving that Imperial Fist wibe (nothing wrong with that though). Quartered schemes are cool but hard to find good colour combinations (just like you're saying).

At the moment I'm leaning towards waiting for IA10, there are some chapters in that book that could be promising, fluff wise and colour scheme wise (Executioners, Mantis Warriors and Minotaurs). It would be nice to have a small force with "official" background!

Thanks for the input!



unxpekted22 said:


> i think the vehicle fine dude haha. No but really I like how the dozer blade is darker than the rest of it, it only makes sense really. so id say no to another layer of weathering over the whole thing, it think THAT might push it over the edge to being just straight up messy. smoke stacks are pretty dark, not sure they need more of a charcoal look.
> 
> and its not illegal to have no turret on a rhino, they dont have to have any weapons on them, unless its different for blood angels, i dunno.
> 
> aaand ooh ooh ooh! do executioners!!! pleeease do executioners!!
> 
> http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Executioners


Actually, a rhino comes with a stormbolter, so it "has to" have at least one. Then you can buy another one for a few points. Ah well.

Executioners would be cool, but since they are in IA10 I'd have to wait for that book to see if their colourscheme has changed (which is fine, it gives me time to do some other units for the Brethren before I paint something completely differently). I like the few lines of background I could find for them, so I'm actually leaning towards them for now - hopefully they'll get a nice special character also, meaning I could use them as a C:SM army should I want to play something different.

----

I did some minor adjustments to the smoke stacks, I like them better now (which, I guess is what's important in the long run), hope you like it:









----

Till next time :aggressive:


----------



## LTP

That is quite possibly the sexiest tank i have ever seen .

Really nice job there. What paints do you use? 

Have some rep.


----------



## Tossidin

LTP said:


> That is quite possibly the sexiest tank i have ever seen


This 

On the more serious stuff, I didn't like the dozerblade at first. But then again it does make sence, and if you have seen me painting, you will know I really like it symetrical and (more importantly) clean! I really need to learn to weather my models sometime....
So, I will go against myself and tell you to keep it as it is 

On the tacticals, you know you want to paint them space wolves grey and yellow! Hehe. I would actually do what Azwraith suggested, a quarter scheme. Though if you want a chapter mentioned in the fluff, I dunno. Salamanders? 

By the way, the university hasn't beat me yet! I actually painted for 30 minutes on a model yesterday! 
Looking forward to next update :grin:


----------



## Varakir

It occurs to me i haven't posted here for a while despite looking at your log rather a lot.

The DC tank is superb, striking from a distance and even more interesting as you get up close. The freehand is beautiful as usual, but my favourite part of the tank has to be the way the 'blood' of the X filters onto the edge of the tank. Amazing stuff!


----------



## Midge913

I realized that I failed to throw some input into your search for a new chapter scheme. I have always been a fan of the Novamarines scheme. 










Not to mention the proud history of successful martial campaigns. The quartered blue and white is very crisp. With your skills you could do that justice.


----------



## Scathainn

First off: I must say your army is truly an inspiration to me and if the site lets me I shall sling my full +rep prowess in your direction. It still amazes me that you have managed to take my least favorite chapter ever (Blood Angels) and made them into something that blows my Space Marines out of the water. 

Speaking of space marines...and water...I had an input idea for your next chapter.

This may be a bit biased due to my own opinions, but...Space Sharks!

You have the best of numerous worlds:

1. With Imperial Armour 10 on its way, you're sure to get some Sharky recourses sooner or later with which to draw upon (rules, conversion packs, etc).

2. You can appeal to your convertive side with some little mods here and there that add some flavor to the minis (for example, I added sharktooth necklaces, fins on my commanders, etc).

3. You appeal to your inner geek of yesteryear by remembering the good ol' days of Rogue Trader and the original Badab War supplement.

4. With their murky grey/white/red scheme you can experiment with colors while still remaining in your area of expertise.

4a. Rogue Trader-era Camoflague! You know you want to!

And finally 5: We all know how awesome sharks are. But in SPACE?!?!?!??!?! SHIT GETS REAL!!!!! :shok:

EDIT: Some motivation:

Space Sharks in IA10:









Space Shark blurb:









IA10 Space Sharks quote:
_"We surrender...by the mercy of the God-Emperor, the war is over...we have surrendered...."_
Final Vox-Intercept, Void Colony Sigurd VII


----------



## Azwraith

i actually agree with the above.. i dont know if space sharks is the right thing

but having your current army based around the pheonix (kinda) and birds.. i think your supplement army should be based around another animal (mythical or not) 

not a bird though.. maybe like the Minotaur, Centaur? i love Centaurs.. ha

but a aquatic animal is cooll.. you could do blue schemes to match. .. and sharks are cool.. like maybe you could do Tiger Sharks.. and have a similar scheme to that of the Executioners..

i know you want to do IA10 or something but i htink that your real talent lie in homebrew chapters.. 

and again with sharks you get to do fins and iconography of sharks and can make your tanks look like aquariums.. and stuff. which is cool.

SHARKS WITH FRIKKIN LASERBEAMS ATTACHED TO THEIR HEADS!!!

nuf said


----------



## unxpekted22

there is a minotaur chapter as well, also with a cool paint scheme, and battled the executioners once.


----------



## Warpetrie

xenobiotic said:


> Thanks, Talthewicked!
> 
> 
> Brother-Captain Vespillo (Counts as Captain Tycho):


 
Would we be able to get some other pictures of him? 
like some side shots and stuff? 
that would be great ^_^
im really just lookin at another pic for his combi melta XD if you could explain how you make it that would be great as well hahaha XD


----------



## Scathainn

Well he could always do a Space Sharks successor then...

Makos? Blacktips? Whitetips? Hammerheads?

:grin:


----------



## Winterous

Scathainn said:


> Hammerheads?


Chainswords are replaced with headbutting.


----------



## Sgt Pasanius

Winterous said:


> Chainswords are replaced with headbutting.


Ha ha brilliant, but i think a Nova Marines style colour scheme would be awesome, and if you go with Nova Marines you can use all those skull in star burst/corona/sun type shoulder pads tou get with all those Red Scorpian kits.
I say this because this is what i was thinking of using them for myself.


----------



## Varakir

Winterous said:


> Chainswords are replaced with headbutting.


Surely that's an angry marine tactic?

To throw an idea out of left field - One thing i've been thinking about recently was a firehawks army, obviously before they vanished.

The scheme is demanding and will require a fair bit of freehand, but i know you could pull it off. Plus i think it'd be an interesting army to bring to the table.


----------



## Broken Sword

Hey, Xenobiotic, AMAZING work! I hope you don't mind, but I featured your work on this army on my blog, Dark Future Games (link found in my signature)! I steered all the links back here, so folks can keep up with it here if they want. Drop in on the blog if you'd like to comment for the readers, Xenobiotic and in any case, here is a healthy dose of rep++


----------



## Scathainn

Varakir said:


> To throw an idea out of left field - One thing i've been thinking about recently was a firehawks army, obviously before they vanished.


Hmmm lets see, his chapter is already based around the phoenix....so he should play another fire bird chapter? :shok:

I tease, I tease :grin:


----------



## Varakir

Scathainn said:


> Hmmm lets see, his chapter is already based around the phoenix....so he should play another fire bird chapter? :shok:
> 
> I tease, I tease :grin:


I am a human moth, drawn to anything involving flames :wink:

But seriously i think it's an interesting concept that i haven't seen done before. Also painting flame adorned yellow armor will probably be a good artistic challenge, and i don't think they'd look massively out of place if he wanted to play the 2 chapters side by side.

Also @ Brokensword: Great article! I already knew this thread was exceptional, but seeing everything back to back it really hits home. Hopefully more people will get to see it now.


----------



## unxpekted22

Varakir said:


> To throw an idea out of left field - One thing i've been thinking about recently was a firehawks army, obviously before they vanished.
> 
> The scheme is demanding and will require a fair bit of freehand, but i know you could pull it off. Plus i think it'd be an interesting army to bring to the table.


hahaha, their symbol was a mushroom cloud? That's so legit, and for some reason i didnt know thats where the legion of damned came from.


----------



## R3DM0H4WK

Wow! i've just spent the last 2days going through this thread thoroughly, and now i've had to use a mop to clean up the puddle of drool i was sitting in, this thread is something truely inspiring, i plan to use many of the techniques seen in this thread on my current true scale project, will post log soon, as for a new chapter scheme, you've just done the sons of sanguinus successors so why not the Ultramarine successors - the Sons of Guillimen or even the sons of Orar, which ever chapter you choose i merely hope that it is as visually fulfilling and inspiring as this one. Well done to you for an incredible miniature thread.


----------



## warsmith7752

Why not try your hand a chaos? In the words of child of the emporor "it is inevitable" 

The cleaved and some slanneshi forces are in your area and your could do some really good things with them if you ask me. Nothing lends itself to conversions like chaos does.


----------



## Winterous

warsmith7752 said:


> Nothing lends itself to conversions like chaos does.


Orks beg to differ.


----------



## xenobiotic

Woho, over 200 replies, time for a celebration!
So, to honour this occasion and all the lovely support you guys have given me, this will probably be the longest post so far in this thread 
I'd like to thank you all for the suggestions you've given me. It has truly spurred my imagination and given me lots of inspiration, more on that further down.

----



LTP said:


> That is quite possibly the sexiest tank i have ever seen .
> Really nice job there. What paints do you use?
> 
> Have some rep.


Just what the Brethren would want you to think, kind of the Slaanesh approach to warfare ”If they just stand there and stare at us in awe then they'll be easier to kill.”

I'm a ”home-boy” so I'm only using citadel paints (and washes, foundation paints, couldn't resist that Mega Paint Set, heh) along with vallejo paint thinner for longevity and Forge World Weathering Powders (Mostly Black Soot and Grey Ash) for when I need those effects. 



Tossidin said:


> On the more serious stuff, I didn't like the dozer blade at first. But then again it does make sense, and if you have seen me painting, you will know I really like it symmetrical and (more importantly) clean! I really need to learn to weather my models sometime....
> So, I will go against myself and tell you to keep it as it is
> 
> On the tacticals, you know you want to paint them space wolves grey and yellow! Hehe. I would actually do what Azwraith suggested, a quarter scheme. Though if you want a chapter mentioned in the fluff, I dunno. Salamanders?
> 
> By the way, the university hasn't beat me yet! I actually painted for 30 minutes on a model yesterday! Looking forward to next update :grin:


One goes the dirty road other goes the crisp clean road, it's all preferences realy. As long as you like your miniatures it's all good in my book!

And I'm leaning towards quartered scheme, I'd really like that challenge (not even sure if I'll be able to pull one off). And I might go down the grey road, just not completely grey...



Varakir said:


> It occurs to me i haven't posted here for a while despite looking at your log rather a lot.
> 
> The DC tank is superb, striking from a distance and even more interesting as you get up close. The freehand is beautiful as usual, but my favourite part of the tank has to be the way the 'blood' of the X filters onto the edge of the tank. Amazing stuff!


Thank you, I'm very proud of my tank(s) and this one was a real challenge painting that much white (and weathering it). I'm very happy with the results though, most of it being touch and go for me as I proceed (the blood splatter being the biggest spur of the moment decision). 



Scathainn said:


> First off: I must say your army is truly an inspiration to me and if the site lets me I shall sling my full +rep prowess in your direction. It still amazes me that you have managed to take my least favorite chapter ever (Blood Angels) and made them into something that blows my Space Marines out of the water.
> 
> Speaking of space marines...and water...I had an input idea for your next chapter.
> This may be a bit biased due to my own opinions, but... Space Sharks!
> 
> You have the best of numerous worlds:
> 1. With Imperial Armour 10 on its way, you're sure to get some Sharky recourses sooner or later with which to draw upon (rules, conversion packs, etc).
> 2. You can appeal to your convertive side with some little mods here and there that add some flavor to the minis (for example, I added sharktooth necklaces, fins on my commanders, etc).
> 3. You appeal to your inner geek of yesteryear by remembering the good ol' days of Rogue Trader and the original Badab War supplement.
> 4. With their murky grey/white/red scheme you can experiment with colors while still remaining in your area of expertise.
> 4a. Rogue Trader-era Camoflague! You know you want to!
> 
> And finally 5: We all know how awesome sharks are. But in SPACE?!?!?!??!?! SHIT GETS REAL!!!!! :shok:





Scathainn said:


> Well he could always do a Space Sharks successor then...
> Makos? Blacktips? Whitetips? Hammerheads?
> :grin:


You might be on to something...



Azwraith said:


> i actually agree with the above.. i dont know if space sharks is the right thing but having your current army based around the pheonix (kinda) and birds.. i think your supplement army should be based around another animal (mythical or not)
> 
> Not a bird though.. maybe like the Minotaur, Centaur? i love Centaurs.. ha
> 
> but a aquatic animal is cool.. you could do blue schemes to match. .. and sharks are cool.. like maybe you could do Tiger Sharks.. and have a similar scheme to that of the Executioners..
> 
> i know you want to do IA10 or something but i htink that your real talent lie in homebrew chapters..
> 
> and again with sharks you get to do fins and iconography of sharks and can make your tanks look like aquariums.. and stuff. which is cool.
> 
> SHARKS WITH FRIKKIN LASERBEAMS ATTACHED TO THEIR HEADS!!!
> 
> nuf said


But lasers are sooo Imperial Guard, aren't they? I guess I'd have to give every squad a lascannon to fit the theme then? :grin:

I hear what you're saying about homebrew, it is my kind of work (I assume). And it would tie in neatly with the theme I have going for my Brethren. I bet I could tie some themes together to get a good successor chapter going...



unxpekted22 said:


> There is a minotaur chapter as well, also with a cool paint scheme, and battled the executioners once.


All of those will come in IA10, might provide me with some awesome ideas (and special characters)!



Winterous said:


> Chainswords are replaced with headbutting.


But I like the chainswords (and axes and...)! 



Midge913 said:


> I realized that I failed to throw some input into your search for a new chapter scheme. I have always been a fan of the Novamarines scheme.
> 
> Not to mention the proud history of successful martial campaigns. The quartered blue and white is very crisp. With your skills you could do that justice.





Sgt Pasanius said:


> Ha ha brilliant, but i think a Nova Marines style colour scheme would be awesome, and if you go with Nova Marines you can use all those skull in star burst/corona/sun type shoulder pads tou get with all those Red Scorpian kits.
> I say this because this is what i was thinking of using them for myself.


Two voices for the Novas I see!
I like their paint scheme, it looks challenging. 
I also did some reading up on their fluff in IA9, they would do fine even if they are a bit to... Honest and codex adhering over all. More on that further down! 



Warpetrie said:


> Would we be able to get some other pictures of him? Like some side shots and stuff? That would be great ^_^ I'm really just lookin at another pic for his combi melta XD if you could explain how you make it that would be great as well hahaha XD


Ask and you shall recieve, since you're mostly after the bloodsong I've compiled pictures of it from every side:








Let's see, a parts rundown:
1 x Combi-melta from the Vehicle command sprue (which is actualy a chaos upgrade part)
2 x left arms from the sanguinary guard box (the ones with angelus pattern bolters on them, one to get the round magazine from, and one to use as the actual arm holding the gun later).
1 x left hand (I took mine from the Death Company box, the Thunder Hammer holding bionic one, but you can use any hand you like, preferably a sanguinary guard one) 

Apart from that you need to shape up the arm a bit, fill in some gaps with greenstuff and perhaps a rivet or two, I found it pretty easy to do once I'd gathered the parts I wanted.



Varakir said:


> Surely that's an angry marine tactic?
> 
> To throw an idea out of left field - One thing i've been thinking about recently was a firehawks army, obviously before they vanished.
> 
> The scheme is demanding and will require a fair bit of freehand, but i know you could pull it off. Plus i think it'd be an interesting army to bring to the table.


It would be challenging (all those freehands) but it is very close to what I already have – Fire Hawk vs Phoenix, wouldn't it beat the point of diversifying? Also the "dissapearing makes it kind of iffy why they'd show up alongside the brethren in their old armour (if they truly are the Legion of the Damned nowadays).



Broken Sword said:


> Hey, Xenobiotic, AMAZING work! I hope you don't mind, but I featured your work on this army on my blog, Dark Future Games (link found in my signature)! I steered all the links back here, so folks can keep up with it here if they want. Drop in on the blog if you'd like to comment for the readers, Xenobiotic and in any case, here is a healthy dose of rep++


Glad you like it, very lovely read! You did miss a few factual pointers in the text, I believe you refer to my rhinos (and my repressor) as Predators, but that's just nit picking! If anyone of them have any questions I'd be happy to answer them!



Scathainn said:


> Hmmm lets see, his chapter is already based around the phoenix....so he should play another fire bird chapter? :shok:
> 
> I tease, I tease :grin:


Even if it's just teasing it is a valid point 



Varakir said:


> I am a human moth, drawn to anything involving flames :wink:
> 
> But seriously i think it's an interesting concept that i haven't seen done before. Also painting flame adorned yellow armor will probably be a good artistic challenge, and i don't think they'd look massively out of place if he wanted to play the 2 chapters side by side.
> 
> Also @ Brokensword: Great article! I already knew this thread was exceptional, but seeing everything back to back it really hits home. Hopefully more people will get to see it now.


You truly are all about the heat, aren't you? Better watch out so you don't get burned!
I'll have to include all of these pointers in my list at the bottom of this post.



unxpekted22 said:


> hahaha, their symbol was a mushroom cloud? That's so legit, and for some reason i didnt know thats where the legion of damned came from.


You can learn things when you least expect it!



R3DM0H4WK said:


> Wow! i've just spent the last 2 days going through this thread thoroughly, and now i've had to use a mop to clean up the puddle of drool i was sitting in, this thread is something truely inspiring, i plan to use many of the techniques seen in this thread on my current true scale project, will post log soon, as for a new chapter scheme, you've just done the sons of sanguinus successors so why not the Ultramarine successors - the Sons of Guillimen or even the sons of Orar, which ever chapter you choose i merely hope that it is as visually fulfilling and inspiring as this one. Well done to you for an incredible miniature thread.


Thank you, watch out so you don't slip on the drool!

Interesting points, the Sons of Orar are very neat, but they are red and white – a tad to close to what I already have.
As many of the chapters are successors of Ultramarines their is a pretty big chance of my new chapter belonging to that linage.



warsmith7752 said:


> Why not try your hand a chaos? In the words of child of the emporor "it is inevitable"
> 
> The cleaved and some slanneshi forces are in your area and your could do some really good things with them if you ask me. Nothing lends itself to conversions like chaos does.


While Chaos is interesting and do offer a lot of exciting opportunities (paint schemes, conversions) I want something I can run along with my Brethren without having a real hard time to explain their alliegance. These tactical squads will be used in as counts as Blood Angel Tacticals, I'm just not sure chaos would do...



Winterous said:


> Orks beg to differ.


The Orks never beg, they say funny things and shoot a lot 

----

I've done the bases for all my painted miniatures and I've weathered the first rhino I ever did to keep them all cohesive, as you can see here:









----

On the topic of a Companion Chapter:
Ok, so I've done some pre-IA10-release soul searching. I took some time to make a tiny list of pros and cons for different chapters suggested and considered, feel free to give me input extra on my horrendous assumptions to follow:

*Novamarines*








*Pro:*

Quartered Scheme (awesomesauce every time and a real challenge!)
Colours I haven't painted a lot before (Blue and Bone)
Fluff mentions each warrior having tattoos on large proportions of their bodies (which gives some painting/freehand/conversion opportunities)
Can use Red Scorpion pieces for them (which I'm already utilizing for the Brethren)
IA9 chapter, have resources and fluff ready to go now(!)
*Con:*

Ultramarine successors – Not that I mind the Ultramarines, but the entire ”purity” thing the Novamarines have going can get to much
Strictly Codex adhering and reinforcing fluff – I'm betting that they wouldn't lend themselves well to conversions showing some skin (and therefore tattoos) if I wanted to stay true to the fluff. On the other hand I can still use the tattoo idea on something else...
Special Character – I'm not sure his ”terminators become scoring units” special rule is the way I'd like to play normal marines (also, I don't have any terminators so I'd have to buy them, and half of the idea was to use a lot of pieces I have laying around)


*Raptors*








*Pro:*

Special Character – Loving the whole ambush theme, beating around the bushes. Would make for an interesting army to use should I want to play C:SM sometime.
Ties in with the whole ”animal/mythological animal” theme already going with the Brethren
IA9 chapter, have resources and fluff ready to go now(!)
*Con:*

Boring colour, their scheme isn't really the challenge I was looking for even if the contrast with the brethren would work well (I imagine).

*Fire Hawks*








*Pro*

Interesting Scheme
Lots of freehand and minor chapter details
Cool Special Character 
IA9 chapter, have resources and fluff ready to go now(!)
*Con*

Red and Yellow scheme – A bit to similar to my Brethren?
Fire Hawk aswell as Phoenix – repetative?
Lost chapter – could be a corny thing to motivate why they'd suddenly turn up to fight along my successor chapter (?)
Special Character rules makes them very similar in gameplay to Blood Angels

*Executioners*








*Pro:*

Suiting fluff (repenance crusade amongst other things)
Old colour scheme is very different and unusual for marines (as many rogue trader schemes are)
*Con:*

IA10 chapter, colour scheme bound to change when the book hits the shelves
Odd Chapter symbol, most likely bound to change
Unknown special character and how that will influence their playability

*Minotaurs*








Preview of their new scheme:








*Pro:*

”Mythological Creature aspect”
Preview of the color scheme and chapter symbol (Land Raider Achilles), metallic scheme would be a challenge
*Con:*

IA10 chapter, colour scheme bound to change when the book hits the shelves
Unknown special character and how that will influence their playability

*Space Sharks (Carcharodons)*








Oh, and by the way, here's a sneak peak of a little space shark between the legs of a phantom titan








*Pro:*

Cool fluff (the fragments I could find)
”Animal aspect”
Preview of colour scheme and chapter symbol looks good (but not that challenging(?))
Tribal patterns on the armour is a great opportunity to do freehands on the soldiers
*Con:*

IA10 chapter, colour scheme bound to change when the book hits the shelves
Unknown special character and how that will influence their playability

*Space Sharks (Carcharodons) Successors*
*Pro:*

Use whatever pieces of influences I like, such as:
Quartered Scheme
Grey and Bone quartered with helmet designations
Grey and White quartered with helmet designations
Grey/Blueish skin with converted features (hairless, ridges, fin-like structures, black eyes), I'm thinking actually doing a lot of marines without helmets and with broken armour to get to show these features)
Tattoos (marines showing skin adorned with art)
Tribal patterns on armour
Tribal influences in adornment and chapter structure
Only use certain types of helmets (such only Maximus and Corvus helmets)
Great opportunity to learn more converting skills (skin, bigger battle damage, different equipment and mimicking shark features)
Not bound to a specific character should I want to try something different (perhaps the Raptors special character along with some squads with rogue trader camouflage? Ah well, let's not get carried away again, I already have one huge army to finish)
Could use them with any Space Marine army list I'd like to
Could use any Space Shark releases in conjunction with them (such as transfers, which would be my first attempts with them)
Original?
*Con*

Semi-official support
Grey isn't that far from my confort zone (comparing to other options mentioned)?

----

Since this post was so long I've decided to give you another one in just a few minutes, so hang in there!


----------



## Unsuitably

An absolute mammoth post there, I like the consideration that you have put into choosing the chapter. 

Personally, I think you should go for a Space Sharks successor chapter. As you've argued it allows you to use the IA10 stuff if you end up getting more marines to match, it also will be something very unusual and if you're conversion techniques end up to be as good as your painting skills we are going to get to see some incredible models.

Also, I feel if you model quite damaged armour it will allow you to have some sort of continuation between the two armies as your current Brothers have a worn look to them. 

Though it is of course up to you.


----------



## xenobiotic

Another occasion worth celebrating:
New milestone reached!
*1000 POINT ARMY ACHIEVED*









*Slots filled:*









*Points Painted:
1135*

*HQ:*
Captain Vespillo (Counts as Tycho) - click here to go to post
Reclusiarch-Chaplain Sabinus - click here to go to post

*ELITES:*
Furioso Dreadnought w. Magnetized Weapons - click here to go to post 
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized Backpack/Jumppack - click here to go to post
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized melta bombs and power weapon - click here to go to post

TROOPS:
10-man Assault Squad w. 2 x Meltaguns & Powerfist - click here to go to post
5-man Death Company Squad w. Powerfist & Magnetized Special Weapons - click here to go to post

*DEDICATED TRANSPORTS:*
Repressor - *The Auspice* - click here to go to post
Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades - click here to go to post
Death Company Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades - *The Salient* - click here to go to post

Damn it's hard to take good armypics :shok:

What's on the plan next?
- Honour Guard Squad

After that?
Who knows :biggrin:

----

Till next time


----------



## Warpetrie

Sweet thanks for the pics ^_^ 
ill have to see if i can incorporate that into my Dark Angels army ^_^


----------



## Sgt Pasanius

Xeno, Xeno, Xeno as always you don't fail to impress me with your colour scemes and freehand work.
The 1000pts milestone is awesome.
I am just about to start a couple of my vehicles (2xBaal pred, Razorback and Land Raider) so i may be stealing your weathering techniques.
Oh and one more thing, NOVA MARINES for the pure awesomness of the colour scheme.


----------



## Midge913

Lovely work on the other Rhino Xeno. As far as the color schemes go, you could do some interesting things with a quartered scheme with a Space Sharks successor. I would actually change my vote to that depending on the fluff from IA10.


----------



## Tossidin

Wooooh awesome! Congrats!!!

Oh, and, Nova marines :grin:


----------



## LTP

I seriously try not to drool when I read this thread. Theres hardly and occasion when there isn't at least one thing wrong I can pick up in threads but on here I just read away happily staring at awesome freehand and battle damage/effects (which I suck at) Plus red's my favourite colour so you had me from the get go lol. 

Seriously awesome log. Congrats on getting to 1000 pts I need to do the same lol. 

If you do an honour guard squad next I will be uber happy. You gonna go crazy with the conversions? 

In regards to the paints I thought you used Vallejo. It's awesome the effects you get from just using GW. (i tend to use both for different things)

Anyways have some well deserved rep and gimme moar pics! 

*LTP*


----------



## dark angel

Awesome work, as per always. Also - The Executioners are my (Newly found!) favourite Chapter. Their new fluff, makes me smile. So yeah, go for them, mate.


----------



## Master WootWoot

I agree with doing honour guard! Your army is one of the most awesome i have seen, and both painting and converting go far over my level. Did i post somthing similar in this thread earlier?


----------



## xenobiotic

I have some ideas to run by you guys.

----



Unsuitably said:


> An absolute mammoth post there, I like the consideration that you have put into choosing the chapter.
> 
> Personally, I think you should go for a Space Sharks successor chapter. As you've argued it allows you to use the IA10 stuff if you end up getting more marines to match, it also will be something very unusual and if you're conversion techniques end up to be as good as your painting skills we are going to get to see some incredible models.
> 
> Also, I feel if you model quite damaged armour it will allow you to have some sort of continuation between the two armies as your current Brothers have a worn look to them.
> 
> Though it is of course up to you.


Well, I think it should be a well thought decision, after all it's part of what's going to keep me motivated when I don't feel like painting but should (which is also another good reason to make have two slightly different projects to jump between). 

I have been tweaking around with a Space Sharks Successor Chapter for a few days now (good use of university spare time, I hate having to sit around not being able to do anything other than wait). See further down this post for more about that, thanks for your input.



Warpetrie said:


> Sweet thanks for the pics ^_^
> ill have to see if i can incorporate that into my Dark Angels army ^_^


No problem! Hopefully you'll be able to extrapolate a good enough description from the pictures and the parts list. You might even be able to improve on the design.



Sgt Pasanius said:


> Xeno, Xeno, Xeno as always you don't fail to impress me with your colour scemes and freehand work.
> The 1000pts milestone is awesome.
> I am just about to start a couple of my vehicles (2xBaal pred, Razorback and Land Raider) so i may be stealing your weathering techniques.
> Oh and one more thing, NOVA MARINES for the pure awesomness of the colour scheme.


Feel free to steal ahead, most of my techniques comes directly from the Imperial Armour Masterclass volume 1 anyway - hardly any secrets 

People keep saying Nova Marines, spooky.



Midge913 said:


> Lovely work on the other Rhino Xeno. As far as the color schemes go, you could do some interesting things with a quartered scheme with a Space Sharks successor. I would actually change my vote to that depending on the fluff from IA10.


I've been working on something, have a look below and give it a rip with the old chainsword - I feel it needs some critique!



Tossidin said:


> Wooooh awesome! Congrats!!!
> 
> Oh, and, Nova marines :grin:


Thanks!
And there goes the Nova Marines again, hm.



LTP said:


> I seriously try not to drool when I read this thread. Theres hardly and occasion when there isn't at least one thing wrong I can pick up in threads but on here I just read away happily staring at awesome freehand and battle damage/effects (which I suck at) Plus red's my favourite colour so you had me from the get go lol.
> 
> Seriously awesome log. Congrats on getting to 1000 pts I need to do the same lol.
> 
> If you do an honour guard squad next I will be uber happy. You gonna go crazy with the conversions?
> 
> In regards to the paints I thought you used Vallejo. It's awesome the effects you get from just using GW. (i tend to use both for different things)


Guess I had an unfair advantage then, maybe you can give a few pointers at my attempt at something completely different further down this post 

I've built the squad, it's pretty conversion free, just a few reposes and some FW parts to mix it up. But I'm probably going to do some squiggly freehands on them if I have the patience for it.

I like the GW paints, feels like I can achieve what I envision, might have to give Vallejo a go further down the line (just to get an idea about the pros and cons).



dark angel said:


> Awesome work, as per always. Also - The Executioners are my (Newly found!) favourite Chapter. Their new fluff, makes me smile. So yeah, go for them, mate.


I'll definitely give them a thought once IA10 hits, for now I've tried my hands at something completely self composed though! 



Master WootWoot said:


> I agree with doing honour guard! Your army is one of the most awesome i have seen, and both painting and converting go far over my level. Did i post somthing similar in this thread earlier?


Thank you! I've actually already built the Honour Guard, they are eagerly awaiting their turn at the paintstation. And no, you haven't posted anything before in this thread :grin:

----

All right, where were we?

It went to heart that perhaps my game lies in making Successor chapters and fleshing them out. My creative process tends to lash out and tangle up what it can find in the vicinity. So after thinking more about the whole Chapter ideas it sank into heart that I would try to do a Space Shark (Carcharodons) Successor Chapter, and see what you thought about it.

I scoured the vast ocean that is internet and more or less as if by faith I ended up where Scathainn had already pointed me: _Mako Sharks_. What's so fascinating about them? Well, for one thing they are pretty compact (almost as if they where bullet shaped) "little" buggers with a punch. But there are also some far more sinister connections.

The few pieces of pre hand information I have about the Carcharodons are that their culture is roughly based around the Mãori people and this shows on their armour (with typical Mãori patterns adoring parts of it). I figured that these where things I could "steal" when translating into a Successor Chapter. Also, guess what, the Mãori word for Shark is _Mako_ (I sense a pattern?).

The Mãori have many interesting aspects that could be included in a chapter. The most prominent being tribal tattoos used do designate companies and Chapter structure as well as sergeants and other more prominent Chapter officials. The hard thing would probably be to paint these (most of them retaining some form of organic feeling (round shapes and patterns that interact), I'm betting they would cause a lot of headache but be awesome if pulled off.

And while considering the chapter structure I was inspired by the 13th(?) Space Wolves company (the one with the "werewolves"?) and their, how should I put it, difference in appearance(?). It would be nice to fuse some kind of genetic instability/variation (such as the Black Dragons chapter for example) or abhuman recruitment into the background to explain sharklike visage and characteristics.

On to Successors and colour schemes. I had some spare time (for once) and took a few minutes of to paint a test miniature. I started out with quartered Adeptus Battlegrey and Bleached Bone, however I couldn't stand the colour tone of the Bleached bone (I can't really explain why either). It just looked to "warm". Most sharks (and other creatures living in the ocean with similar appearance) have a kind of glittering blue sheen to them (which would probably be mimicked most accurately with metallics, I think) which makes them "colder", this wasn't getting across at all. Back to the drawing board.

After a while I figured I could try Adeptus Battlegrey and Astronomican Grey (double grey?!) and while it looks better I wasn't satisfied. So I started to experiment with washes (namely Asuremen Blue) while I'm still not sure if it looks good at all (this is all very new to me for some reason, grey was a harder colour to work with then I first imagined) it does look better then my first attempt.

So enough blabbering! Basically I'd like some input on the colour scheme, before I spend any more time on the miniature to finalize it. Evidently this miniature isn't finished 100%, the bolter arm, some highlights, details on cords and coils etc aren't done yet (also noticed that the helmet needs tweaking, darn it) there are also no free hands at all (of which there should be plenty later on) - but the general outlay is done: 








Specific questions:
What do you think about the blue hue? It's very different from what I'm used to, I'm starting to think my mind is playing tricks on me.
What do you think about the quartered colours? Is grey and dark grey ok?
Any suggestions on what colour to paint the bolter? 

----

Till next time, swim safely!


----------



## unxpekted22

i think the powerfist is looking really sweet. the blue and Aquila look pretty space wolfish but the blue is still a bit bright. In my opinion I think a darker shade of blue would look nicer. Actually the blue half of the powerpack looks really neat, maybe just more like thats all around, using that rocky mineral effect you know how to do on the blue sections. 

I prefer bolters and guns that are realistically colored gun metal colors. But seeign as like more than half of him seems to be cybernetic I can see why you'd want to give it some color. I think the dark gray and purple to match the power fist might be the way to go.


----------



## LTP

Hmmm. I like it but theres something... I dunno lol. The colours look good together. As far as the bolter is concerned I think you should pick a completely contrasting colour. 

I'm all for quartered schemes (since I have one XD) So thats cool. 

The light blue looks a little, patchy? Like it hasn't quite blended if you get me? 

The helmet is looking good and the powerfist is sweet not just cause it has purple on it . 

Good scheme and I look forward to seeing this guy finished .


----------



## Scathainn

Oh sweet jesus yes, Space Sharks.

Anyhow, as self-proclaimed master of sharkiness P) I have these to say about your successor.

First off, KICKASS idea about the Maori and such. Major props and, if it lets me, +rep.

Second, the scheme:

A. If you can make the blue the same colour on the backpack as everywhere else it would look a lot better, but it looks almost too "Space-Wolfy" to me. I would go for a deeper blue like on a real Mako.










Perhaps successive blue washes would do the trick?

B: The grey is fine as it is, maybe a bit more highlighting but that's just me. I like 'em crispy.

C: This is just me, but my suggestion is that the top of the helmet should be a blue and the "face" part would be white, imitating real sharks which are white on the bottom. Alternatively, a blue stripe down the helmet would echo the original Space Sharks scheme.

D: The bolter should be red. It's how it was old-school and, being Space Shark based, you DEFINITELY want old-school. :victory:

EDIT:


> You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again.


----------



## Hellados

1st if that's something you 'knocked up' in your spare time i hate you so +rep on that

i was thinking that the weapons should be bone, its a shark, sharks have teeth, teeth are bone 

dunno how that'll work, as for the rest of it its amazing


----------



## Tossidin

He looks quite good, but I don't know if I like him yet. Theres something about him, but I can't really explain it.... Maybe he will turn out awesome (I expect it!) anyway, so I wanna see the end result before I start my eventual critizism :grin:

Other than that, on the good side I like the scheme, the blue hue really fits in, and the model has great potential. Dunno about the bolter, as I said I want to see your end result, but as LTP mentioned, you need some contrasts, so red could be an idea. Maybe purple.. meh... dunno.. 

Happy painting!


----------



## Midge913

I think you are off to a good start, but I think that the blue needs to be a little darker, maybe a few more washes with the blue to deepen it. I think that red on the bolter would work well as a contrasting color. Keep up the good work buddy!


----------



## xenobiotic

Ok, here we go again!
First of all, thank you all for your posts and input - it helped a lot, goes a long way to prove what venting your ideas can do for you! :friends:

Took your tips/pointers to heart and decided that I needed to redo the whole miniature (except the powerfist which is magnetized so it could be saved!) was only a couple of hours of freetime down the drain, win some lose some as they say :fool:

----



unxpekted22 said:


> I think the powerfist is looking really sweet. the blue and Aquila look pretty space wolfish but the blue is still a bit bright. In my opinion I think a darker shade of blue would look nicer. Actually the blue half of the powerpack looks really neat, maybe just more like thats all around, using that rocky mineral effect you know how to do on the blue sections.
> 
> I prefer bolters and guns that are realistically colored gun metal colors. But seeign as like more than half of him seems to be cybernetic I can see why you'd want to give it some color. I think the dark gray and purple to match the power fist might be the way to go.


Indeed, the miniature was to bright, that was probably what was bugging me as well. I could quite get my mind on what I didn't like but when I tried something else today it all came together much better (in my opinion). 

I'll continue the bolter discussion further down.



LTP said:


> Hmmm. I like it but theres something... I dunno lol. The colours look good together. As far as the bolter is concerned I think you should pick a completely contrasting colour.
> 
> I'm all for quartered schemes (since I have one XD) So thats cool.
> The light blue looks a little, patchy? Like it hasn't quite blended if you get me? [...]


I know, bled my mind out about the "there's just something about it..." thought. I hate when I can't put my finger on it. So I slept on it and let the input I got sink in and now I've done something I feel better with!



Scathainn said:


> [...] Anyhow, as self-proclaimed master of sharkiness P) I have these to say about your successor.
> 
> Second, the scheme:
> A. If you can make the blue the same colour on the backpack as everywhere else it would look a lot better, but it looks almost too "Space-Wolfy" to me. I would go for a deeper blue like on a real Mako.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Perhaps successive blue washes would do the trick?
> B: The grey is fine as it is, maybe a bit more highlighting but that's just me. I like 'em crispy.
> C: This is just me, but my suggestion is that the top of the helmet should be a blue and the "face" part would be white, imitating real sharks which are white on the bottom. Alternatively, a blue stripe down the helmet would echo the original Space Sharks scheme.
> D: The bolter should be red. It's how it was old-school and, being Space Shark based, you DEFINITELY want old-school. :victory:


It's hard to get accurate pictures of their "real" hue, since pictures taken underwater will be more tinted blue than those taken above sea surface. I did find some illustrations online which where a better pointer to me than what I had found so far:








Also found this:








Anyway, I first tried with more layers of blue wash, but the wash didn't work (it was unruly, came out uneven and didn't give enough difference in the hue) so I looked through my Mega Paint set and came up with something that's (in my opinion) better than what I had made before!

I was having doubts about the helmets, thinking about company/squad designations and such. And now I do think mask colour could be the way to go, with perhaps different colours like white, black, purple and red could be designators for such as veterans/sergeants, tacticals, devastators and assault marines(?).

Also, since I adjusted the colour scheme, old school red might very well be the way to go on the bolter! :grin:



Hellados said:


> 1st if that's something you 'knocked up' in your spare time i hate you so +rep on that
> I was thinking that the weapons should be bone, its a shark, sharks have teeth, teeth are bone
> Dunno how that'll work, as for the rest of it its amazing


Well, it still takes me a few hours to complete the miniatures but you know, half an hour here and half an hour there ends up with a finished miniature. 

I'll be more than happy to hear your opinion on the new scheme below!



Tossidin said:


> He looks quite good, but I don't know if I like him yet. Theres something about him, but I can't really explain it.... Maybe he will turn out awesome (I expect it!) anyway, so I wanna see the end result before I start my eventual critizism :grin:
> 
> Other than that, on the good side I like the scheme, the blue hue really fits in, and the model has great potential. Dunno about the bolter, as I said I want to see your end result, but as LTP mentioned, you need some contrasts, so red could be an idea. Maybe purple.. meh... dunno..


I think we've started to pinpoint that the "something about him..." thing probably was the light grey/blue. It didn't fit in at all just made it weird. But now I'm much happier with what I've managed to produce. 



Midge913 said:


> I think you are off to a good start, but I think that the blue needs to be a little darker, maybe a few more washes with the blue to deepen it. I think that red on the bolter would work well as a contrasting color. Keep up the good work buddy!


Yepp, definitely needs to be darker, I agree with that. And as I changed it suddenly things started to come together with all the other details as well! I guess it was one of those "aha"-moments. Hope you like the result! 

----

So, Attempt no. 2, what have we (I) learned?
I have learned that sometimes your guts are right, when things doesn't look like something you could live with at first then you're most often right. You should also stick with colours/schemes that appeal to you and tweak them rather than the other way around. If the miniature looks all screwed up after half the painting is done then you can be pretty sure you still won't like it after fiddling out all the details.

I found Hawk Turquoise in my paint set which proved to be a good base to start from, after a wash of Asuremen Blue it got a really nice hue to work from. Specially when combined with Adeptus Battlegrey in the quartered scheme.

As you can see I did have some trouble with the aquila this time around, I wanted it to be muted and dull but it appears that the paints got a little thick on me and it lost some of it's definition 

Finally it proved that a red bolter probably is the way to go, it complements the miniatures nicely (imo). Anyway, here's the new scheme - have a look and blow it to pieces with your harsh critique!

Old vs New:









Bla bla bla, what do you think? :biggrin:
Should you all be happy I'll post a full view of the sergeant asap!

Maybe I should make a separate thread for these guys? Or perhaps ask to have this one renamed into something more suiting? ("Xenobiotic's dabble with the Imperium"?)

----

Till next time :dunno:


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

xenobiotic said:


> Old vs New:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bla bla bla, what do you think? :biggrin:
> Should you all be happy I'll post a full view of the sergeant asap!
> 
> Maybe I should make a separate thread for these guys? Or perhaps ask to have this one renamed into something more suiting? ("Xenobiotic's dabble with the Imperium"?)
> 
> ----
> 
> Till next time :dunno:



The second scheme is worlds better dude.

I think it would look great if you did all the amour that blue and then picked details to to in the white/bone colour of the face. Perhaps it could be blue all over except for the face part and the chest maybe?

Keep up the good work.


----------



## Scathainn

New = 10,000,000,000,000 times better than old. Keep up the excellent work.

And I support the renaming of this log. "Xenobiotic's Shark n' Bird stuffs?"


----------



## Midge913

Definitely better! I could see a whole force of these guys looking pretty sweet on the table. I like it.


----------



## unxpekted22

can i see a pick from the side? mainly for the bolter


----------



## xenobiotic

Oh, btw, I'm impressed that this thread now passed 20'000 views, thank you all for the support!

----



imm0rtal reaper said:


> The second scheme is worlds better dude.
> 
> I think it would look great if you did all the amour that blue and then picked details to to in the white/bone colour of the face. Perhaps it could be blue all over except for the face part and the chest maybe?
> 
> Keep up the good work.


Hm, perhaps it would look good, though I'm quite fond of the prospect of the challenge that comes with a quartered scheme. 

There's always the possibility to paint squads in different schemes (quartered, halved and perhaps fully turquoise, could be something to consider). 



Scathainn said:


> New = 10,000,000,000,000 times better than old. Keep up the excellent work.
> 
> And I support the renaming of this log. "Xenobiotic's Shark n' Bird stuffs?"


"Xenobiotic's Imperial Surf'n'Turf"? 



Midge913 said:


> Definitely better! I could see a whole force of these guys looking pretty sweet on the table. I like it.


It would have to be a small force to begin with (like 20 tacticals and a special character from IA9 or something like that). Maybe do some of them halved and some of them quartered, like if they recently changed scheme but didn't repaint all of their armours yet. Converting a few of them with "mutations" showing :spiteful: and of course kitting them all out with combat blades to go along with their bolters (even if the rules doesn't allow them to actually have combat weapons - unless I'd go Codex: Space Wolves on them, hm, na).



unxpekted22 said:


> can i see a pick from the side? mainly for the bolter


Ask and you receive, be gentle about some of the minor details though, such as the skull on the backpack and some of the highlights which aren't done (like the Power Fist).










----

Till next time :laugh:


----------



## Tossidin

Much, much better man! :victory:


----------



## Scathainn

For the combat weapons sitcheeation, you could do what I do and put bayonets on all of their bolters. That way I can use C:SM or C:SW at my leisure.


----------



## Kreuger

Hmm, I agree with everyone else the new scheme is worlds better. I even usually hate quartered schemes and i think it works really nicely here.

My one dissent is that I think the red on the bolter is too saturated. Red is good accent color and works with the shark theme, but I find it distracting. My eye goes to it immediately every time I see the model, and I don't think that's the result you're going for.

Cheers,
Kreuger


----------



## warsmith7752

Yup yup, new one is much better, just wandering how you are going to incorporate sharkyness on your individual minis. And I second scathians suggestion of the xenobotics shark and bird stuffs.


----------



## Asamodai

The new ones definatley better though I'm not 100% convinced on the grey though I'm not sure if its the colour or just that it looks a little flatter then the blue.

I'm not sure of the red bolter, I wonder if black, blue, grey or white would work better.

I'm a fan of the two-tone helmet though. I've been thinking of using it for a chapter myself.


----------



## unxpekted22

warsmith7752 said:


> Yup yup, new one is much better, just wandering how you are going to incorporate sharkyness on your individual minis. And I second scathians suggestion of the xenobotics shark and bird stuffs.


haha yeah, see if you can free hand some shark silhouettes on the armor. thatd be pretty insane. if the armor looked like you were under water looking up with sharks swimming above you with sun overhead the surface....well you'd probably be surpassing the new found expectations you have from us. even if it was just on the vehicles


----------



## Hellados

i will contradict and say i like the red bolter, yeah it draws the eye but then if you were a genetically engineered super human hell bent on terrifying everything that stepped in front of you, drawing the eye to the ‘mini cannon’ in your hands wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world

although i did have the idea of a bone colour for the guns so maybe blood spattered bone? (may look tacky but i have confidence in you pulling it off  )


----------



## Deathly Angel

These are great! For power weapons and the likes, maybe you could give the power field a light on water effect like this:









http://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...n6asI&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

I don't know, I think it has great potential; just imagine what you can do. You could apply it to the leg plates of a librarian to give it a mystic effect, for example. If you can give it a brooding colour and blend it into the blue armour it could make the model look fittingly sinister for a deep sea predator...


----------



## xenobiotic

Here we go again!
Where have I been?
Well it time for final exams for this semester, I did 2 out of 4 this morning, the rest will be done tomorrow morning. So I've been studying as much as I can (which isn't a lot after almost 5 years of non-stop university, you're bound to lose your focus after a few years). Let's just say I'm getting fed up with it - but the upside is that soon I only have one semester left before I get my certificate and can start my search for 18 months of practise before I can become a fully fledged doctor. I damn sure hope it's going to be worth all the studying.

Anyway, that's my excuse for not getting any painting done.

----



Tossidin said:


> Much, much better man! :victory:





Kreuger said:


> Hmm, I agree with everyone else the new scheme is worlds better. I even usually hate quartered schemes and i think it works really nicely here.
> 
> My one dissent is that I think the red on the bolter is too saturated. Red is good accent color and works with the shark theme, but I find it distracting. My eye goes to it immediately every time I see the model, and I don't think that's the result you're going for.





warsmith7752 said:


> Yup yup, new one is much better, just wandering how you are going to incorporate sharkyness on your individual minis. And I second scathians suggestion of the xenobotics shark and bird stuffs.





Asamodai said:


> The new ones definatley better though I'm not 100% convinced on the grey though I'm not sure if its the colour or just that it looks a little flatter then the blue.
> 
> I'm not sure of the red bolter, I wonder if black, blue, grey or white would work better.
> 
> I'm a fan of the two-tone helmet though. I've been thinking of using it for a chapter myself.





Hellados said:


> i will contradict and say i like the red bolter, yeah it draws the eye but then if you were a genetically engineered super human hell bent on terrifying everything that stepped in front of you, drawing the eye to the ‘mini cannon’ in your hands wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world
> 
> although i did have the idea of a bone colour for the guns so maybe blood spattered bone? (may look tacky but i have confidence in you pulling it off  )


On the subject of Warhammer 40k I must say you're one tough crowd to please! It's lovely to see how much voice of opinion one space marine can raise just by showing his ugly face.

I also know everything can't appeal to everyone. As it stands at the moment I'm very pleased with the way the colour scheme came out, baring a few minor adjustments (more highlights on the grey (I agree with that one Asamodai) and minor details that I will have to work out later - freehands mostly). I enjoy the old-school touch with the red bolter (something I remember vividly from when I first set my eyes on Warhammer 40k, chequered orks and red bolters(!)) which I think will work very well on a squad basis (better than on individual miniatures). I'd also like to avoid the whole "paint the boltgun black"-syndrome that appears to have taken over most 40k chapter schemes when eyeing through the books. 



unxpekted22 said:


> haha yeah, see if you can free hand some shark silhouettes on the armor. thatd be pretty insane. if the armor looked like you were under water looking up with sharks swimming above you with sun overhead the surface....well you'd probably be surpassing the new found expectations you have from us. even if it was just on the vehicles





Deathly Angel said:


> These are great! For power weapons and the likes, maybe you could give the power field a light on water effect like this:
> 
> I don't know, I think it has great potential; just imagine what you can do. You could apply it to the leg plates of a librarian to give it a mystic effect, for example. If you can give it a brooding colour and blend it into the blue armour it could make the model look fittingly sinister for a deep sea predator...


I'm thinking I'll have to bash my head against the wall for some time to good solid ideas for the Shark theme, freehands is a good, I'll also take a look around for good pieces from to kitbash with (already stole a whole lot from CSM).



Scathainn said:


> For the combat weapons sitcheeation, you could do what I do and put bayonets on all of their bolters. That way I can use C:SM or C:SW at my leisure.


I think I'm going to stick with C:SM and C:BA for now, stand in tactical marines for my Blood Angels till both armies are big enough to split and stand alone.

----

So, here I go along with (probably) the most boring update in this thread so far. Due to my studying I haven't been able to produce anything really worth mentioning (but I will anyway since I don't like it going to long between updates) unless you count a few conversions and some preparation work.

What's your pet peeves with Warhammer miniatures? One of mine is the lack of different poses amongst the Space Marine legs. the ones that are different are often cluttered with static but very special additions (of purity seals and flowing cloth and what not) making them very hard to use for conversions or in average squads.

I set out with the idea to make different poses for all my marines in this squad (10 different poses/legs, none the same in the squad). When your miniatures are pretty much wearing the same pieces of armour you need something to diversify them. So here are some of the attempts I'm working on. Some of you might react on the blood angel pieces (why are Space Sharks wearing blood drop gems?), the quick and easy explanation is simply that they are on a crusade together/share the campaign and have therefore exchanged trinkets to symbolize their alliance.








And here are some of them put together (pre-greenstuff):









Sadly I'm starting to run out of Corvus and Maximus pattern helmets, not sure I want to put out cash to keep the Sharks in Maximus and Corvus helmets (even if I'd prefer it).

----

Oh, and by the way, here are two honour guard miniatures I haven't shown you, kitbashing ftw :victory::

















----

Oh, I have a major conversion coming up (going to make a certain character from IA9), so keep your eyes out for that.
Till next time :angry:


----------



## Warpetrie

so for the first 3 marines that you showed are those legs made of other leg bits that you cut and found other leg bits to convert up a new pair of legs? sorry if that a little confusing... its hard to discribe what im asking


----------



## Winterous

O_O
ONE OF THEM IS USING A CHAOS PLASMA GUN, HERESY! *killitwithfire*


----------



## xenobiotic

Warpetrie said:


> so for the first 3 marines that you showed are those legs made of other leg bits that you cut and found other leg bits to convert up a new pair of legs? sorry if that a little confusing... its hard to discribe what im asking


When I make new legs I try to look at the current poses and see if they can be tweaked into a different one. If that's possible I just cut of one of the legs and repose it and fill in the gap with greenstuff ribbing. Tip: Some of the Sanguinary Guard legs are very easy to give a whole different pose just by cutting of one of the legs and pinning it back into another position.

If I can't make them look different just by repositioning one of the legs I try to see if I can make something interesting out of repositioning both the legs (in relation to each other). Again, some legs are better for this task then others (Sanguinary Guard legs comes into mind again). 

If you can't make something interesting out of just the one pair of legs I splice two pairs (ie take the right leg from the first pair to replace the right leg on the second pair). This can be done by splicing Assault Marine legs with Tactical Marine legs, or even Death Company legs. Just changing one leg can make it into a whole different miniature.

Hope that was a better explanation. 



Winterous said:


> O_O
> ONE OF THEM IS USING A CHAOS PLASMA GUN, HERESY! *killitwithfire*


It has sharp points (shark teeth!) which I figured would fit the shark theme perfectly, so don't you go callin' no 'eresy on me, brotha! :smoke:

----

And with this post I'll leave you with only a teaser (which I know you all hate):








As keen eyed individuals might see I've been tuning my recipe for red armour on individual miniatures (to be used on HQ-choices, retinues, ICs and such) and I think I've arrived at a point I'm very satisfied, recipe as follows:
1. Mechrite Red
2. Devlan Mud wash
3. Wet-blended Blood Red highligt
4. Wet-blended Blazing Orange highlight
5. Wet-blended Vermin Brown highlight
6. Baal Red wash
Even if I'd like to paint all units this way (Troops and such) it would be extremely time consuming, we'll see if it spreads to other units (I might get shitloads of time on my hands all of a sudden).

More to come on this particular miniature very soon, hopefully he'll have something spectacular about him when done. I'll try not to disappoint you guys and gals!

----

Till next time :boredom:


----------



## Warpetrie

ohh ok cool thanks! ^_^


----------



## Scathainn

Corbulo perhaps?


----------



## warsmith7752

Scathainn said:


> Corbulo perhaps?


It can't be Corbulo, it's the brethren of the phoenix not blood angels, if anyone is interested I'm writing a short story about a clash between my army (the scale wardens) and xenobotics brethren.


----------



## Scathainn

Well, I meant a count-as Corbulo...


----------



## xenobiotic

*Exemplar*

I have some good IRL news:
Got the results from all of the 4 exams I took recently and I've passed them all! I should actually have some more time to paint in the coming 2-3 months! AWESOME!

----



Warpetrie said:


> ohh ok cool thanks! ^_^


:victory:



Scathainn said:


> Corbulo perhaps?





warsmith7752 said:


> It can't be Corbulo, it's the brethren of the phoenix not blood angels, if anyone is interested I'm writing a short story about a clash between my army (the Scale Wardens) and xenobotics Brethren.





Scathainn said:


> Well, I meant a count-as Corbulo...


It could be a counts as Corbulo (he is pretty whoopass, I wish every sanguinary priest had a 2+ FNP and a rending chainweapon (axes :3)) yet to be named, but for now this marine will have a less significant roll (yet still important in the army game wise). 

----



> My name is Atheos of the Twin-feather. I am an Exemplar of the 4th company of the Brethren of the Phoenix and a Servant of the Master-Exemplar, the Keeper of the Embers. I have served for countless decades as a warrior and a refuge for those wounded and killed. The things I have seen go beyond mortal believes and the hardships I have endured with my Brethren would surely have killed the weak minded outright. I have served in many great battles as a liaison and a diplomatic link between the Brethren and other chapters. My aim is to embody the very believes we as a chapter, as a force, share and fight to uphold.
> 
> May our Embers burn bright as the darkness of the universe descends upon mankind! For the Emperor! For mankind! For our Brethren! May we be reborn!
> 
> - Exemplar *Atheos* of the Twin Feather, Servant of the Master-Exemplar, Keeper of Embers.


Some say it a blessing, others believe that the Twin-feather is some kind of secret society within the chapter structure, possibly meant to combat signs of doubt in the mind of the warriors - perhaps yet another tool in the combat versus corruption. There are close relations of those whom are Twin-Feathers and the Exemplars of the Chapter, for reasons unknown to most Brethren. Some brothers are sceptic to this assumption about a secret society seeing as the number of Twin-Feathers reach approximately a tenth of the chapters numbers it would be hard to sustain such an organisation without their agenda leaking out to the fellow Brethren. Truth be told, many of the Twin-Feathered battle brothers themselves do not know fully what the true secret behind the name is.

While there always are flickers of truth in assumptions most of them elude the facts. Twin-Feather is a mutation within some the Brethrens gene seed that enable them to be implanted with two differing seeds, most spectacular is the fact that they can be implanted with different gene seeds (such as one from a Brethren and one from an Ultramarine). While the Brethren gene seed appears to be dominant the other one stays all but dormant within the marine but still, for unknown reasons, manage to create Progenoid Glands with seeds of it's own lineage. The effectively not only doubles the amount of gene seeds available to the chapter but also enables them to become incubators for other chapters, making Twin-Feathers very valuable (but still frowned upon by some chapters and the inquisition). Speculations have been made as to how this was discovered in the first place (what goes on in the secrecy of the Exemplars chambers are not something spoken of), but records have been sealed on that matter. 

Another interesting aspect often utilized by the Brethren themselves is to implant a normal Brethren seed into marines with the Twin-Feathered mutation, giving them access to more mature seeds to harvest later on. This has birthed the spiritual aspect of being able to carry a "Twin-Ember" increasing the chances of regaining knowledge from their fallen Brethren.

This mutation would later on prove pivotal for the survival of the chapter as well as their longevity and cooperation with other chapters in campaigns in which they would partake.

Exemplar *Atheos* of the Twin Feather, 4th Company; Servant of the Master-Exemplar, Keeper of Embers.









*What are my thoughts on painting this miniature (so far)?*
I think I'm starting to push the limit I'm willing to spend on a single miniature (which is the reason I haven't painted any text on the purity seal papers yet). I believe this particular miniature has approached 15 hours (give or take an hour or two). I am, however, pleased with the new red armour I've achieved, it does look superb in person. Oh, and I'm loving the chainaxes even thought they are quite a lot of work to get on the miniatures (cutting up other arms, using their hands, drilling the handles, pinning everything together). I'll have to go back later on and clean up the base and smaller details.

Feel free to comment.

----

*What's up otherwise with the Brethren of the Phoenix?*

We're closing in on the year 2011 and the *Army Painting Challenge* which I will participate in with my Brethren. I've decided I need to complete my armoury in a timely fashion and I think it would be awesome to get 10-11 vehicles done over the course of a year (all with huge amounts of free hands of course, so you don't feel like I'm taking the easy way out in the challenge ).

If you're interested in a list on what my unpainted armoury contains it looks something like this:
Vindicator x 3 (Linebreaker Squadron)
Baal Predator x 3 (??? Squadron)
Drop Pod x 3
Whirlwind
Predator Annihilator
Dreadnoughts x 3
Rhino/Razerback x 2
Land Raider Crusader
Land Raider
Fellblade
Knight Warden

Total: 20 unpainted vehicles. Impressive, no? :shok: It sure is a buttload of cash in unpainted miniatures.

On the subject of infantry I'll try to keep my focus up and get as much as possible painted alongside the "armoury". Hopefully getting about 30-40 marines done within the next 6 months for the Brethren. The list for future infantry squads can be made pretty long and recently I've started to dislike painting them (not a good combination).

To rekindle my love for infantry painting I've been thinking about a good way to represent The Red Thirst "miniaturewise" and I believe I might have something which I'll be starting to convert up and see if I can make use of it later on - actual miniatures you exchange in the squadron to visualize the rule (one member per squadron effected).

----

*What's up with the Space Shark Successors?*

With the prototype sergeant being completed I've settled on a painting scheme and started to flesh out what elements I'd like that army to contain. I'm thinking I'll let this army have a slower pace (probably to some contempt from some of you guys) since I want to make them truly stand out and convert each marine at least a little bit to make them special. 

I'm anticipating IA10 greatly since it will influence my choices for that army. I might actually consider getting some terminators for them (seeing as how their special character will have a terminator armour).

To sum up: I'm building the 2 tactical squads and I'll be converting up a MotF but not actively painting any of them until IA10 drops through my mail slot - then who knows? :so_happy: 

----

Till next time :yahoo:


----------



## Midge913

I love the way that Atheos turned out Xeno!:clapping::good:. I also am digging the fluff about the Twin Feathered. It is a really cool touch that I think sticks with the feeling of the history of the Blood Angels and their successors. They have a flaw in their gene-seed that creates the Red Thirst and Black Rage, why not one that the benefit from on a more positive note. Good work. I also really like the change to the red armor. It has a deeper and more expansive palette, that really grabs the eye and guides it around the model, excellent work all around. The pose and the base are also nicely executed! He looks very heroic striding up the back of that broken statue head. Did you sculpt the face or was it prefab? Either way it is excellent. 

10-11 vehicles is a mighty endeavor indeed, and with your talent for free hands, speaking of I forgot to mention above that I love the twin feather free hand with the company number on the back pack, it should be very impressive to see them all completed. 

I can't stress how much your work amazes and inspires me in my own painting. Keep up the good work mate!:victory:+rep


----------



## curlybeard

The weathering on that model is amazing.


----------



## Jayeldog

Well I started reading this log and told myself I'd pause at page 10 and finish it later.. then I looked up and was on page 26. Xeno, you have amazing talent, never stop posting! These posts have inspired me to get back to work on some 2 month neglected projects. I swear! Just cleaned off the work table..

Oh, and have some +rep.


----------



## Tossidin

He looks awesome! You sure did keep us waiting though


----------



## Grins1878

Love it man. The way you can still see all the colours and shades even though he looks like he's grimed up quite a bit. Looks like he's properly been through the wars.

The scroll bits on the seals is great too!

Going to be watching this one


----------



## xenobiotic

*Hi again, hope you all had a festive Midwinter, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.*
As you've noticed I've taken a somewhat of a sabbatical for a few weeks since I've been visiting my parents and juggling studies with time for my GF. Hopefully it will be business as usual soon enough!

----

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has been sending me PMs with questions, feedback and +rep! I hope I have been able to answer all of your questions, feel free to send me more PMs otherwise!

*I'd also like to say that without comments and feedback this thread wouldn't have become half of what it is! I don't think I can thank you quite enough! I wish I had more time to post in other plogs to give more back to you all!*



Midge913 said:


> I love the way that Atheos turned out Xeno!:clapping::good:. I also am digging the fluff about the Twin Feathered. It is a really cool touch that I think sticks with the feeling of the history of the Blood Angels and their successors. They have a flaw in their gene-seed that creates the Red Thirst and Black Rage, why not one that the benefit from on a more positive note. Good work. I also really like the change to the red armor. It has a deeper and more expansive palette, that really grabs the eye and guides it around the model, excellent work all around. The pose and the base are also nicely executed! He looks very heroic striding up the back of that broken statue head. Did you sculpt the face or was it prefab? Either way it is excellent.
> 
> 10-11 vehicles is a mighty endeavor indeed, and with your talent for free hands, speaking of I forgot to mention above that I love the twin feather free hand with the company number on the back pack, it should be very impressive to see them all completed.
> 
> I can't stress how much your work amazes and inspires me in my own painting. Keep up the good work mate!:victory:+rep


That's a lot of kind words in one post!

I think you need to add something that twists it around a bit in the background. It makes things interesting and also explains why you'd be willing to keep more unstable chapters at large (homicidal blood drinking maniacs for example). 

All the faces I have used on bases thus far are prefabs from scribor miniatures, excellent set of terrain pieces that I bought on a whim (figured I could incorporate them soon enough, which I could!).

I've settled on that red armour variant from now on for my honour guard and single miniatures. Will need to see what I'll do for the rank and file assault marines...

Again, I'm very glad you like my miniatures and inspiring others is probably the most rewarding thing you can do with a thread like this. Thanks for sharing, it drives my modelling forward!



curlybeard said:


> The weathering on that model is amazing.


Thank you! I try always experiment a bit with each new miniature, hopefully I'll get to the high standard I've seen elsewhere on the forums someday!



Jayeldog said:


> Well I started reading this log and told myself I'd pause at page 10 and finish it later.. then I looked up and was on page 26. Xeno, you have amazing talent, never stop posting! These posts have inspired me to get back to work on some 2 month neglected projects. I swear! Just cleaned off the work table..
> 
> Oh, and have some +rep.


Thank you! I'm very glad you like it and that I could inspire you, that's the biggest for sharing my work here! I'll hopefully be here to provide you with another 26 pages as soon as possible! 



Tossidin said:


> He looks awesome! You sure did keep us waiting though


Tss, if you look at the post date you'll see that I didn't keep you waiting that long. Well... At least not until this post :laugh:



Grins1878 said:


> Love it man. The way you can still see all the colours and shades even though he looks like he's grimed up quite a bit. Looks like he's properly been through the wars.
> 
> The scroll bits on the seals is great too!
> 
> Going to be watching this one


Even a well polished superhuman artist in a power armour will get dirty soon enough in war. Glad I could portrait that 

----

What's new?
Not much, another sad update for the thread, but *the Army Painting Challenge* has started and I wanted to post my entries in this plog as well to keep you up to date before the PIP pictures start showing up! 

I'll continue my work on the honour guard alongside the challenge miniatures so you should be seeing more updates the coming months  At the moment I'm painting the techmarine adept, but you wont be seeing him just yet :threaten:

As I 've mentioned before I'll be focusing my efforts on the armoury for the challenge - so mostly, (probably all my entries will be,) vehicles. You can see a list of vehicles I have unpainted in the *start of the thread* or in a *recent post* I made. I have some spectacular freehand plans for some of the vehicle squadrons I'll be doing later on (Linebreaker squadron in particular).

My first submission to the challenge is a Baal Predator, with all the options magnetized, unpainted it looks like this:

















*My plans are:*
It needs a phoenix, probably a big one(?)
Surrounded by either

Tiny phoenixes (already done on the Death Company Rhino)
*OR*
*[*]*Falling stars, lots of them, with "shine" (think camera lens shine) effects (if I can pull that off).
It will also need dirt, lots of it!

What do you think about that plan?

To inspire me in my Phoenix freehands I have some pictures that I managed to take in my parents garden the other day, mighty impressive creatures to behold in person:

























----

Till next time :training:


----------



## Tossidin

Not sure what I should say. Grey tank is grey 
(I really should stop complaining and paint something myself.....)

The pictures look good though, particularly the one in the middle, which would make a great model for some freehand.
As always, I'm looking forward to see more of your work!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too! :king:


----------



## Marneus Calgar

Nice stuff, where do you live to see birds like that? :O


----------



## piemaster

Atheos looks amazing. The objective markers are a really nice touch and you are inspiring me to paint some of my marines differently so all in all this thread is amazing. +rep for your sterling efforts (when I can again). I have been following this by email for ages but hadn't had enough time to come on the forum and post up anything.

Those pictures of the birds look amazing. I can see where your inspiration comes from now. Everything looks amazing.


----------



## JAMOB

Dude this is amazing! I have Blood Angels, trying to make a successor Chapter, think im doing good, look at yours and literally freeze up for like five minutes
Just wondering how do you do battle damage? I could make my guys cooler if i could find that out... anyway keep up the good work im definitely hooked on this one


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## Sgt Pasanius

Looking good man, love the birds.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hello, here we go again, a quick update from me with coloured pictures! :wild:

----



Tossidin said:


> Not sure what I should say. Grey tank is grey
> (I really should stop complaining and paint something myself.....)
> 
> The pictures look good though, particularly the one in the middle, which would make a great model for some freehand.
> As always, I'm looking forward to see more of your work!
> 
> Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too! :king:


Can't you tell it's urban camouflage?  I've always said grey is the new black, heh. I'll begin working on the baal predator shortly, I just have the miniature you can see further down the post to finish of first.

I was very happy to be able to snap a few pictures of them (I have about 50 or so on the computer that have good focus and such). It saves me some work having seen them with my own eyes as they flew away, really makes my mind tick with imagination for the next freehand I have planned. 



Marneus Calgar said:


> Nice stuff, where do you live to see birds like that? :O


I live in the South of Sweden, my parents live in the southernmost village in Sweden. My brother had cooked a lot of meat that day so he decided to hang out the scraps in a tree for the birds - let's just say we didn't expect one of these birds to show up only 5 minutes later.

I've seen plenty of predatory birds around here (they appear to have regained numbers since you hardly ever saw them before) but you seldom get to be less than 5 meters away from one with a camera in your hands!



piemaster said:


> Atheos looks amazing. The objective markers are a really nice touch and you are inspiring me to paint some of my marines differently so all in all this thread is amazing. +rep for your sterling efforts (when I can again). I have been following this by email for ages but hadn't had enough time to come on the forum and post up anything.
> 
> Those pictures of the birds look amazing. I can see where your inspiration comes from now. Everything looks amazing.


Thanks, piemaster, for you encouraging words! Glad I could spur you into action!



JAMOB said:


> Dude this is amazing! I have Blood Angels, trying to make a successor Chapter, think im doing good, look at yours and literally freeze up for like five minutes
> Just wondering how do you do battle damage? I could make my guys cooler if i could find that out... anyway keep up the good work im definitely hooked on this one


I'm very glad you like my miniatures! I hope I could inspire you in some way to take your own successors to "the next level".

Also it depends on which battle damage you are referring to:
Red paint weathering?
White paint weathering?
White dirt?
Red dirt?
They are similar yet different (and some of them I haven't mastered yet )



Sgt Pasanius said:


> Looking good man, love the birds.


Thanks! There will be many more birds to come! 

----

So, where were we?
I promised you pictures with painted miniatures?

As most of you know I'm slowly painting up my first Honour Guard squad and I've begun working on the second miniature - the Tech Adept. Last time you saw him he looked something like this:








and here is where he's at thus far (excuse me for the dark pictures, my GF is hogging one light so the setup is suboptimal for the time being):








Red armour is working out fine (I'm happy with that). I'm doing some kind of dirt effect on the helmet which I'm not sure about - might look to much like it's badly painted camouflage? The cog freehand on one of the legs was a nice thought but I'm not sure I pulled it off, might have to revisit it tomorrow(?).

*Plans for this miniature:*
Paint the grenades, do the gems, continue to add freehand (if I can come up with a good one), I'm thinking about adding the company green to another part then the kneepad (mostly just to break it up a bit but still keep it within the theme). Considering the lower part of the right shoulderpad at the moment, with the signature "4" freehand in white to go with that (and maybe something more)...

Lastly I haven't decided at all where to go with the servo arm, I'm thinking hazard stripes on the "claw" part but otherwise (keep it red - go metallic?) on the arm itself I'm a bit stumped, we'll see.

Do you guys have any input?
Feel free to C&C as usual!

----

Stay tuned for the final miniature and fluff text!
Till next time :grin:


----------



## Midge913

For the servo arm I think that the caution stripes would be good, as far as the arm just keep it simple, make it metallic silver, give it some grime and weathering and bub's your uncle I think it will look great. 

I like the weathering on the helm, but I wouldn't do too much more as it will overshadow the actual colors of the helmet. 

Finally to the cog free hand. I didn't notice it at first until you said something but after you mentioned it I found it and I like its design and placement. It just needs to pop a little more without being an eyesore. Maybe if you outline the exterior of the freehand with something like Dark Flesh and then add a little more highlighting to it the design will stand out more, yet still be part of the overall scheme. I like it, I am just not a 100% sure how to make it standout more.


----------



## xenobiotic

Things are moving faster these days!
I'm hoping to finish this miniature of tonight, so far the fluff is unwritten bar his name - Haeteor.

----



Midge913 said:


> For the servo arm I think that the caution stripes would be good, as far as the arm just keep it simple, make it metallic silver, give it some grime and weathering and bub's your uncle I think it will look great.
> 
> I like the weathering on the helm, but I wouldn't do too much more as it will overshadow the actual colours of the helmet.
> 
> Finally to the cog free hand. I didn't notice it at first until you said something but after you mentioned it I found it and I like its design and placement. It just needs to pop a little more without being an eyesore. Maybe if you outline the exterior of the freehand with something like Dark Flesh and then add a little more highlighting to it the design will stand out more, yet still be part of the overall scheme. I like it, I am just not a 100% sure how to make it stand out more.


I see what you're saying. I have this perpetual idea of how I want to freehands to look on my red armour. I've started to master the lighter freehands (those seen on my tanks, working their way up from red to vomit brown/skull white) but I'd also like to master the opposite - making darker areas into freehands. First I tried different hues of red but since I'm already using mechrite red as a base that's pretty hard. But when I tried using Dark Flesh it pretty much didn't show at all, so I tried highlighting it a bit more... I'll continue to test it out as I go along.

----

Onwards!
The right arm is done (apart from the freehands) and I must say I like how it's coming together. The green shoulder pad part was a nice addition and the company champion shoulder pads are just awesome in so many ways (I wish I had more of them). Speaking about parts I wish I had more of I recently put in a FW order together with a friend so I should be getting another batch of Mark IV helmets (AWESOME!) along with some other conversion goodies (Rogue Trader Weapons :3) and let's not forget IA 10 for my Space Sharks Successors. Ah, well, just figured it would be nice to show more WIPs, hope you don't mind.
Haeteor Work-In-Progress:









----

Fluffwise I'm working on the chapter structure trying to pounce out some of it so I'll have an easier time later on when writing the fluffpieces for my miniatures/squads/vehicle. More on that later (probably along with some preliminary structure pictures).

----

Cya soon again :wink:


----------



## Bane_of_Kings

hey, nice work .


----------



## Sgt Pasanius

Again you astound me with your originality.
That tech adept is looking sweet, although im not sure about the yellow on the servo arm, but that is just personal taste.
Your Baal Pred reminds me that i need to put the two i have together.
As always i wait with baited breath till your next post and the finished article.


----------



## Midge913

Looking good! The green is a nice addition!


----------



## Scathainn

Excellent work as usual.

Although I will be the first to admit I'm hoping your IA10 copy gets there quick-like.

Enough of these pansy bird warriors, on with the manly Space Sharks! :wink:


----------



## xenobiotic

*Flamen Minoris, Haeteor, of the Emblazoned Feathers*

Things are moving fast these days!

----



Bane_of_Kings said:


> hey, nice work .


:victory:



Sgt Pasanius said:


> Again you astound me with your originality.
> That tech adept is looking sweet, although im not sure about the yellow on the servo arm, but that is just personal taste.
> Your Baal Pred reminds me that i need to put the two i have together.
> As always i wait with baited breath till your next post and the finished article.


Hopefully this post will live up to your expectations!



Midge913 said:


> Looking good! The green is a nice addition!


Thanks, I also think so. It's the chosen colour for the 4th company and it's nice to get it in on some more soldiers to get that message across. Red – green – purple works well in tandem.



Scathainn said:


> Excellent work as usual.
> Although I will be the first to admit I'm hoping your IA10 copy gets there quick-like.
> Enough of these pansy bird warriors, on with the manly Space Sharks! :wink:


Thanks 

I sense your mind is clouded by love for grey toothy sharky men. You shall have your fix soon enough. Personally I'm all itchy, I'd like the book in my hands now and I'd also like to see the character releases they promised for the book (Space Shark terminator character <3) going to have to put in another FW order very soon after their release. I'd also love it if they made a CC weapon kit so I can change my units up a bit (I'd love some different chainswords and what not) but that might just be wishlisting...

----



> I've heard them say that some Astarte have steel running through their veins. Apparently this would explain an affinity for machinery and creation. As if such attributes where to be simple given bodily functions one could command as if lifting an arm or blinking your eye. But we know, the Brothers of the Emblazoned Feather know. What has been given to us is a blessing, but not one of genetics or mystical power over machines but rather an affinity for beauty and passion which leads us to dwelve deeper into the crypts of technology where we find the knowledge needed to craft the very machines and tools of war that lends us, as a chapter, the power to dominate our enemies. With this love we bind ourselves to each and every creation and they respect us for it. We share spirit and if we die they grieve for us until we are reborn, and should they perish we rebuild them in order to let them serve once again.


 - Flamen Minoris, Haeteor, of the Emblazoned Feather.

The Machine cult of the Blood Angels have a tense relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus because of their reluctance to surrender the Baal Predator to them. This tense relation have been passed on to all of their Successors meaning they have to rely on other supply routes for a continuance of machines and equipments. Most of them therefore have a highly capable and self-sufficient Techmarine staff. The Brethren of the Phoenix share this trait, and their subdivision of techmarines call themselves *the Emblazoned Feather*. Within this organisation is a hierarchic cult containing of a few supreme leaders, called Flamen Majoris of the Emblazoned Feather, which rule and oversee a large number of skilled artisans and craftsmen, called Flamen Minoris of the Emblazoned Feather. These Flamen Minoris serve as advisers to commanders in battle and are always present in campaigns in order to maintain a respectable level of functionality in armoury and weaponry. 

Flamen Minoris, Haeteor, of the Emblazoned Feathers








Shown here with standard servo-arm equipment. Along his belt you can see extra shells for his rogue trader bolt pistol (it is common that Flamen Minoris carry particulary ancient and revered equipment into battle since they are one of the few able to maintain them), these particular rounds are colour coded yellow. This tells us that they are in fact signal rounds containing a mixture of reactive elements which produce illumination used either as a visual aid during combat or to signal for reserves or artillery to home in on, though most often they are used only as a reserve or backup option to more conventional methods of signalling. Amongst the Brethren it is always the Flamen that are responsible to carry such extra equipment - yet all marines are trained to use them correctly should the Flamen fall casualty.

Other equipment worth noticing would be the melta fuel canister, not to be mistaken by a meltabomb since it's lacking a trigger mechanism (even if it's possible to improvise such a device should the need arise). Emblazoned have an tendency to carry a lot of extra equipment into battle, Haeteor has in this case brought along extra fuel for the squads meltagunners. Fuel like this can also be used to inject into their Razerbacks system for added bursts of speed, should it be necessary.

Note the Cogwheel pattern, which is the symbol of the Emblazoned Feather, alongside the company number 4, which every brother of the Emblazoned Feather have to indicate their duality in duties. These cogwheel patterns are repeated on his armour (hard to see in these pictures) along with other minor artwork painted on by the marines themselves to indicate seniority and experience.

----

Here's the current status of the Honour Guard Squad:









----

Now that Haeteor is done I can move on to the Painting Challenge Baal Predator so hopefully you'll be seeing some painting in progress pictures of that soon along with another honour guard marine perhaps. Other then that I have my perpetual box of started conversions and projects to gnaw on.

C&C are welcomed as always!

Till next time :wink:


----------



## Midge913

Love the way that he turned out! The rogue trader bolt pistol adds a lot of character to the model and I love the fluff that you have come up with. 

That honor guard is really starting to shape up and I can't wait to see the whole thing painted! As always excellent work Xeno. +rep


----------



## Asamodai

Really nice model and some really well written fluff to go with it.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

The techmarine is looking awesome Xeno. I'm a big fan of the Rt pistol though by now you guys are probabley well aware that i love anything that sucessfully combines old and new models. I'll rep you if it lets me.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hello, again!

----



Midge913 said:


> Love the way that he turned out! The rogue trader bolt pistol adds a lot of character to the model and I love the fluff that you have come up with.
> 
> That honor guard is really starting to shape up and I can't wait to see the whole thing painted! As always excellent work Xeno. +rep


Thanks a lot, Midge, always nice to read your input and comments. Now that the squad is starting to shape up I think I'm more keen on painting up the rest (but I am easily distracted so we'll see).



Asamodai said:


> Really nice model and some really well written fluff to go with it.


Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy the fluff. I think I'm starting to like it more and more as I type it out. I might have to go back to the stuff I've already written later on though - I might write myself into corners otherwise 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> The techmarine is looking awesome Xeno. I'm a big fan of the Rt pistol though by now you guys are probabley well aware that i love anything that successfully combines old and new models. I'll rep you if it lets me.


Oh, we do know! FW has really given us Space Marine players a lot to play with now that they released all those kits of old armours and weapons. I've got more of them on the way now so there will be more old-school weapons as I progress with the army, so there will be something for you to see later on 

----

Why update now?
Sadly, for some of you, this update contains pictures of unpainted WIP converted miniatures. I'm reading, translating and analyzing a pretty boring disputation for school (121 A4 papers about leadership and feedback) which means my imagination is running free with things I want to do as I'm doing the things "I have to do". 

So what have I been thinking about?
I've read the rumours about IA10 and there where discussions about the origin of the Space Sharks. Apparently there where a hint about them possibly being descendants of the Raven Guard Weregelds. If you haven't heard about them before the short version is: They where altered space marines brought into existence by genetic experiments preformed by Corax himself. However they proved to be unstable and far to mutated and story has it that Corax destroyed them himself personally (or did he?).

Anyway, as I where thinking about the weregeld and the Raven Guard geneseed I also thought about the 13th company of the Space Wolves and there "werewolves". Instantly I thought, if the Space Wolves became werewolves then the Raven Guard weregeld could have become werebirds - Wouldn't it be cool to have mutated birdmen? :grin: It certainly felt like something that could fit in my army in some way.

So now I had a vision of what I wanted to create but a hard time finding out a use for such a conversion (suitable rules, you know?). As I looked through the codex I noticed the Sanguinor and his Blessing, and that's when I realized I had one solution. The other one could be Red Thirst representation. After that I was happy for the time being and set out to make something that would resemble my artistic vision.

Here are some pictures of the first WIP:








At the moment I'm thinking that I would probably explain the difference in appearance (compared to the other marines) by a psychic manifestation rather than mutation (which fit the entire background of the Sanguinor). Perhaps some kind of psychic instability amongst the Twin-feathered or something like that. 

The miniature is magnetized so I can replace the right arm with other options (bolt pistol) as well as shift between a jump pack and a normal backpack should the need arise.

Well, that's about it for now, I won't bore you with all my ideas (just yet). :boredom:

Feel free to C&C!

----

Till next time k:


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## Winterous

Looks heaps cool!


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## Midge913

I love it! It is really cool to see you get so into the fluff you have created for your chapter and then watch you realize that vision in plastic. I think that you have definitely taken a cool route with the bird guy and I think that as a psychic manifestation it would fit as a 'count-as' for the Sanguinor very nicely while still tying into all of the bird imagery that is so prevalent in your work. 

Now that I have gotten the praise out of the way, I have an uncharacteristic criticism to offer. I am not sure how I feel about the hands. It just feels like there is something off about them, something that just doesn't mesh quite right with the proportions of the rest of the body. I can't quite put my fingers on what exactly is bothering me about them... they just look off. It might be the comparison of the one hand free and the other encased in what was a power fist I assume. I think the bulk of the remainder of the Fist throws the balance off just a little. Its a small thing, but since I noticed I wanted to throw it out there. I love the theme of the model and the pose.

What sort of color scheme were you thinking here? As a Sanguinor 'counts-as' would you be taking a different color approach?


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## warsmith7752

Very.... Grotesque, although I guess that's what your going for with them being mutated and all that eh?


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## Master WootWoot

I really like that thing! Now i want to make something similar myself!


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## Bane_of_Kings

Wow, more amazing work :victory:


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## Sgt Pasanius

Again amazing! The cog symbol on the leg of the techmarine is so subtle but awesome.

The weregeld is a fantastic coversion. Cannot wait to see it painted up!


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## Scathainn

xenobiotic said:


> I'd also love it if they made a CC weapon kit so I can change my units up a bit (I'd love some different chainswords and what not) but that might just be wishlisting...


There's a picture floating around the intertubes of some Space Sharks from the FW army that are wielding one-handed chain knives, almost like some of the Ork Choppas :shok:. If that's part of a kit a kit.... :wild:


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## xenobiotic

Woho, 30 000 views! :bye:

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Winterous said:


> Looks heaps cool!


:victory:



warsmith7752 said:


> Very.... Grotesque, although I guess that's what your going for with them being mutated and all that eh?


Well, towards the twisted and sinister side of the "good" spectrum at least :grin:



Master WootWoot said:


> I really like that thing! Now i want to make something similar myself!


Go ahead, I'm still tweaking out the conversion myself. Tell me if you want a bits rundown or similar. 



Bane_of_Kings said:


> Wow, more amazing work :victory:


It's only a piece of plastic (and resin) thusfar. I wouldn't say it's amazing just yet :blush:



Sgt Pasanius said:


> Again amazing! The cog symbol on the leg of the techmarine is so subtle but awesome.
> 
> The weregeld is a fantastic coversion. Cannot wait to see it painted up!


I'm starting to get those minor freehands where I want them, I'll have to keep at them to get them perfect. Would be nice to make some awesome freehand of a fully painted armour (as if it had feather freehands all over or something like that).

You'll have to wait a bit longer for that, still have to bash it out.



Scathainn said:


> There's a picture floating around the intertubes of some Space Sharks from the FW army that are wielding one-handed chain knives, almost like some of the Ork Choppas :shok:. If that's part of a kit a kit.... :wild:


I've seen those, if they prove to be a kit I'd have to order at least 2 of them (oh, my wallet, I feel your pain) within an instant of their release 

----



Midge913 said:


> I love it! It is really cool to see you get so into the fluff you have created for your chapter and then watch you realize that vision in plastic. I think that you have definitely taken a cool route with the bird guy and I think that as a psychic manifestation it would fit as a 'count-as' for the Sanguinor very nicely while still tying into all of the bird imagery that is so prevalent in your work.
> 
> Now that I have gotten the praise out of the way, I have an uncharacteristic criticism to offer. I am not sure how I feel about the hands. It just feels like there is something off about them, something that just doesn't mesh quite right with the proportions of the rest of the body. I can't quite put my fingers on what exactly is bothering me about them... they just look off. It might be the comparison of the one hand free and the other encased in what was a power fist I assume. I think the bulk of the remainder of the Fist throws the balance off just a little. Its a small thing, but since I noticed I wanted to throw it out there. I love the theme of the model and the pose.
> 
> What sort of color scheme were you thinking here? As a Sanguinor 'counts-as' would you be taking a different color approach?


Lovely with some feedback!

First of all this conversion won't be the actual Sanguinor. It will be a representation of his blessing (the one that increases the statline of a random sergeant in your army). I.e. this miniature will replace the sergeant that he blesses. 

But for now this particular conversion will just be an assault marine sergeant with counts as Powerfist (as all my sergeants have powerfists) and bolt pistol in a holster. Hopefully this starts to explain why the miniature looks like he does in the current state.

Anyway. The reason for the broken powerfist is simply that I want it to look like a psychic manifestation has taken over the sergeant and burst free from the confinements of the power armour. So the visage (the skull) isn't his actual helmet but rather a blurry vision of the phoenix bird now ruling the body. The clawed hands are a representation of the burning claws of the phoenix which makes it ok (at least for me) that they aren't absolutely correct in size compared to the miniature itself.

Overall I didn't have much time on my hands today but I did make a few alternatives for him, maybe some of the alternatives will make him look better in your eyes?
The representation would be something like
Lightning Claws
Powerfist + CC weapon
Powerfist + CC weapon








Random information about the miniature:
The jump pack is from the FW Red Scorpion Vanguard kit
The cogs on the base are watch parts (awesome basing material).
The axe is a FW Chaos chainaxe
The skull is from the Wood elves Dryad kit

About the colour scheme it would most likely be the usual colours but most likely I'd try (if I dare) to do some kind of OSL from the helmet and the hands. If I'd to that I'd be keen to make them light blue - ghostly. But I'm not sure that would look good. Doing it in orange/red would be pretty boring though, wouldn't it? (even though that is the colour of the Phoenix)

As for the actual "the Sanguinor" miniature I have some ideas of what I'd like to do to represent him. I'm considering an actual phoenix with widespread wings and a sharp beak (which would be awesome but REALLY hard to make) or a birdman with feathers protruding through a broken power armour and large birdwings on the back (not the sanguinary guard ones though - that's for sure).

Feel free to bombard me with ideas and comments! 

I also learned that my oven can be of good use when I want to do GS work on one miniature in a faster pace. Put that baby up to 70 degrees C then turn it off once it's hot and then put the miniature in there and watch and do some reading while the GS cured in no time! Suddenly I have far more energy over for GS requiring projects I've promised to help my friends with!

----

Another thing I might as well ask you guys about. I came across an awesome inspiration for a sanguinary/apothecary on another forum but I couldn't find just that arm I'd need for a reasonable price on ebay. I'd prefer it if I didn't have to buy the servitor to get the arm (since I have no use for the servitor). 

If you know of any place to get this arm for around 1-2£/€ +P&P I would be very happy (the cheaper the better of course)!









----

Till next time


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## Midge913

Those new pics actually confirm for me that it was the angle of the photos that made the proportions look odd as those views above look just fine.

As far as that being a representation of the blessing I like that concept even more. It will really make that Sgt. model stand out in the squad. I think that the OSL idea from the head and hands will look fantastic especially in blue, it will provide and excellent contrasting color to what you usually use making the mini stand out even more! 

As far as that bit goes I may actually have one of those laying around at home. I have bought many a servitor for my Witch Hunter army and I prefer the ranged sort to the CC variety so I have no need of it if I can find it. I will take a look around and let you know by PM if I have one.


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## Scathainn

Oh yes....sexy Space Shark goodness....

And I've finally started working on painting my own Sharks, so we may be fishy comrades!

Oh, and your bird stuff looks good too :wink: I actually really like the mismatched hands of the Sanguinor count-as, it makes him look so primal and feral. The chainaxe kind of ruins it in my opinion, so I would stick with the regular hands. Don't get me wrong, I love chainaxes, but I think we need a bit more of a feral image for this guy.


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## Djinn24

What about using the wereeagles as legion of the damned fill ins?


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## Winterous

djinn24 said:


> What about using the wereeagles as legion of the damned fill ins?


It's a BA army.
So, you mean Death Company?


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## unxpekted22

just looked at the first page of this thread in a while. sweet desk set up haha. I think it would be worth your time to get some more chapter symbols on your troops' shoulder guards. Just sayin.


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## magnus962

To mix up the hands and helm you said you were thinking of doing ghostly blue, why not try a blue that is more in line with very hot fire. Rather than the flaming red which seems to be everywhere in the army (obviously), you could use the super hot blue flame to keep the theme but add some different flavor in there.


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## Son of mortarion

if you are comfortable sculpting hands and are experienced with making molds and using water effects, i think that making a mold for the hands of your 'death company" psychic manifestations would be awesome. use orange and yellow, for a fiery glow, but keep it translucent so the underlying hands can still be seen.


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## warsmith7752

I have a spare Serviator set, including that arm, pm me you address and I will send it over for you.


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## xenobiotic

Wow, 30 pages of replies, mighty impressive!
I'm very happy you continue to support my thread and give me feedback!
Let's make it another 30 pages, shall we?

----



Midge913 said:


> Those new pics actually confirm for me that it was the angle of the photos that made the proportions look odd as those views above look just fine.
> 
> As far as that being a representation of the blessing I like that concept even more. It will really make that Sgt. model stand out in the squad. I think that the OSL idea from the head and hands will look fantastic especially in blue, it will provide and excellent contrasting color to what you usually use making the mini stand out even more!


Glad you like him better now! There are only a few details left to knock out in GS then he is ready for painting, which I dread, first time I'm going to be painting blue and first time I'll be trying to do OSL :shok:

I might post some pictures before painting him depending on how many posts I make about the Baal Predator painting.



Scathainn said:


> Oh yes....sexy Space Shark goodness....
> 
> And I've finally started working on painting my own Sharks, so we may be fishy comrades!
> 
> Oh, and your bird stuff looks good too :wink: I actually really like the mismatched hands of the Sanguinor count-as, it makes him look so primal and feral. The chainaxe kind of ruins it in my opinion, so I would stick with the regular hands. Don't get me wrong, I love chainaxes, but I think we need a bit more of a feral image for this guy.


Like a pair of predatory fishes lusting for the tender meat of the weak! BLOOD FOR THE.. No, wait - that's not right? You'll have to post some pics of your sharks as you progress. We could be even nerdier and make a joint plog thread :grin: "Two Fishy Comrades - The Space Shark Story" :yahoo: 

At least they've released the space shark special character (that pretty much everyone knew was coming). I'm really hoping they will release such a CC-weapon kit but I felt a tad discouraged today as I thought they'd release it along with the character :S

I kept the axe for my other magnetized miniatures, gotta love those magnets  I'm liking the axes more and more for every miniature I convert one for. I decided to go back to a squad I had built and exchange one of them (to start with), they mix surprisingly well.



djinn24 said:


> What about using the wereeagles as legion of the damned fill ins?





Winterous said:


> It's a BA army.
> So, you mean Death Company?


Oh, the ideas, must keep sanity.. 
I'm definitely doing one bird as my counts as Sanguinor, it's just a question of when... Other then that they will probably stay as freehands and chaplain pets for now.



unxpekted22 said:


> just looked at the first page of this thread in a while. sweet desk set up haha. I think it would be worth your time to get some more chapter symbols on your troops' shoulder guards. Just sayin.


Here's another workspace shot (I've moved my stuff around a bit since last time):








And it's going to change soon enough again since I'm redecorating my room in about 1-2 weeks now 

About the troops that squad is pretty much the first batch of marines for this entire army. At that time I didn't have a chapter symbol (or a chapter name for that matter - as seen in the name of the plog which I should ask to have changed into something else ). As I progress along the army I'll add chapter pads on about 80% of the miniatures and mix the squads with each other so they look better. So I get your point, I'm just in perpetual WIP to get to the end result! 

As a matter a fact, that squad is starting to become so different in respect to weathering and how I painted the white areas that I might just scrap them as soon as I've finished about 20 new assault marines to replace them with.



magnus962 said:


> To mix up the hands and helm you said you were thinking of doing ghostly blue, why not try a blue that is more in line with very hot fire. Rather than the flaming red which seems to be everywhere in the army (obviously), you could use the super hot blue flame to keep the theme but add some different flavor in there.


It would most likely be white tips on the claws that progress from light blue to blue into blue reflections on the red armour (purpleish). So you're idea is pretty much incorporated :victory:



Son of mortarion said:


> if you are comfortable sculpting hands and are experienced with making molds and using water effects, i think that making a mold for the hands of your 'death company" psychic manifestations would be awesome. use orange and yellow, for a fiery glow, but keep it translucent so the underlying hands can still be seen.


That would be awesome, perhaps not something I would do for this army though. But if I ever make reality of many of the other ideas I have that one would be nice to try out!



Midge913 said:


> As far as that bit goes I may actually have one of those laying around at home. I have bought many a servitor for my Witch Hunter army and I prefer the ranged sort to the CC variety so I have no need of it if I can find it. I will take a look around and let you know by PM if I have one.





warsmith7752 said:


> I have a spare Serviator set, including that arm, pm me you address and I will send it over for you.


I sent you a PM warsmith so Midge won't have to rummage through the entire house just yet 

----

All right, what up, dawgs?
I believe you once wrote that you liked reading about creative processes? Well, whether you like it or not, I'll force this process down your throats! This will be an odyssey into how I paint my tanks, hopefully I'll be able to update it after each day I've done something on the tank (if significant changes has occurred). 

Now keep in mind that some of these pictures might look offensively ugly compared to other things I've done in this thread, but let's just bear with me and we will see where this goes. I might not be happy and scrap the entire thing (and fail the January part of the challenge, lol).

So, last time you saw said tank it was grey. Since then I have been considering what I want to paint on the tank. Going through the plethora of images I'd like to do, piecing stuff together and trying it out in my mind. The thing I had to consider with this particular tank is that it will belong to a Spearhead unit of 3 Baal predators. That means I have to come up with a joint fluff piece with individuality as well as freehands that share some kind of theme so that the squad looks united. I won't give away all the details just yet. But the darker parts on the tank will most likely be there in some way on all the squadron vehicles.

Since then I have:
Undercoated it Mechrite Red x 3 (thin layers with a large brush).
Added fields of Chaos Black x 2 (thin layers with semi-large brush).
Done initial Freehand Shape in Blood Red x1 (thin layer with medium brush).
Started defining the Freehand Shape (face of the bird) with Blazing Orange x1 (thin layer with small brush)










Time spent: 1½ hour(s)

If you have any questions as this project goes along, then shoot and I'll reply next time I post!

----

Till next time! :rofl:


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## Midge913

Looking good so far on the tank there! Love the way that the freehand is shaping up:good:. 

As to that bit, glad you found one as I haven't been able to scrounge mine up yet.


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## Warpetrie

wow tank looks great already XD 

hey have you seen the new FW Termi commander? 

he's epic i want him for my Deathwing haha 

Link 
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/TYBEROS-THE-RED-WAKE.html

Pic


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## The Wraithlord

Wow man talk about some damn nice work in here!


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## Scathainn

xenobiotic said:


> Like a pair of predatory fishes lusting for the tender meat of the weak! BLOOD FOR THE.. No, wait - that's not right? You'll have to post some pics of your sharks as you progress. We could be even nerdier and make a joint plog thread :grin: "Two Fishy Comrades - The Space Shark Story" :yahoo:


Must....resist....temptation....for....dual....project....log.... :grin:

I'm by no means as good of a painter as you but I like to think I can at least paint at tabletop quality or perhaps slightly above, so with the Army Painting challenge underway I can perhaps show my Sharky goodness. I've gone classic with their old-school scheme however, so it will be interesting to see our different approaches.



xenobiotic said:


> At least they've released the space shark special character (that pretty much everyone knew was coming). I'm really hoping they will release such a CC-weapon kit but I felt a tad discouraged today as I thought they'd release it along with the character :S


I suspect if they release the kit it would be alongside the full IA:10 release. I mean, Tyberos has been around the interwebs for ages, which IMO is why I think FW released him first. Because unlike GW, Forge World actually listens to their fans 



xenobiotic said:


> I kept the axe for my other magnetized miniatures, gotta love those magnets  I'm liking the axes more and more for every miniature I convert one for. I decided to go back to a squad I had built and exchange one of them (to start with), they mix surprisingly well.


Makes sense. I'm tempted to pre-order Tyberos and pick up some chainaxes and MKIV armor while I'm at it. Sad, sad wallet.  :grin:


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## xenobiotic

Thanks for the support and +rep!
Also, warning for the massive pic in this post :shok:

----



Midge913 said:


> Looking good so far on the tank there! Love the way that the freehand is shaping up :good:


More progress in this post! Remember to keep a critical eye on the process, feedback is always welcomed!



Warpetrie said:


> wow tank looks great already XD
> hey have you seen the new FW Termi commander?
> he's epic i want him for my Deathwing haha
> 
> Link http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/TYBEROS-THE-RED-WAKE.html


Thanks, but it really wasn't much to look at yesterday, at least the front plate is starting to take shape now! 

Yeh, noticed him yesterday as I got the FW letter in my inbox. Will definitely be adding him to my Shark Successors, but I'm not putting in an order just yet, I want to see what they release the coming weeks for the Badab Wars books.



The Wraithlord said:


> Wow man talk about some damn nice work in here!


Glad you like it, Wraithlord!



Scathainn said:


> Must....resist....temptation....for....dual....project....log.... :grin:
> 
> I'm by no means as good of a painter as you but I like to think I can at least paint at tabletop quality or perhaps slightly above, so with the Army Painting challenge underway I can perhaps show my Sharky goodness. I've gone classic with their old-school scheme however, so it will be interesting to see our different approaches.
> 
> I suspect if they release the kit it would be alongside the full IA:10 release. I mean, Tyberos has been around the interwebs for ages, which IMO is why I think FW released him first. Because unlike GW, Forge World actually listens to their fans
> 
> Makes sense. I'm tempted to pre-order Tyberos and pick up some chainaxes and MKIV armor while I'm at it. Sad, sad wallet.  :grin:


Would have been fun to gather up some shark painters and do a joint effort to flesh them out a bit, no matter the level of painting skill or fluff wisdom present 

I'm hoping you're right. They usually post new items on Thursdays so we might see something new then! I'm going to wait until Tyberos is actually being shipped (ie post 24th jan) before I order anything more.

While you're wallet might be crying you have good taste in what you order Mk. IV is my favourite!

----

Tank PIP No. 2
Got some time spent on painting (and a lot of time wasted on games / studying also for that matter) and the freehand is starting to take shape which is always nice since it's the most demanding part to get right (you know, the proportions and the "general setup"). I did notice a few things that I'm not all that sure about though.

I want a kind of "floating in space" feeling at the front (and at smaller parts of the back) of the tank. So before I started to paint today I spent some time just looking at the vehicle, thinking about how the entire freehand would come together. I knew I needed to add stars and some kind of colour infiltration to break up the black a bit, which I did, but the vehicle looked like an insult and I could get grip around it, so I took a break.

When I came back I realised I hadn't highlighted the black parts and so I did that which proved to solve the issue. I then proceeded to mock about with the bird head till I was pleased with it. The tank looked good on it's own!

Now I had to face three new problems - one of which I managed to solve:
1. The vehicle has a black front. Non of my other vehicles have any black parts so it's going to stick out. Question is, will it look like it belongs amongst them? I know that as soon as I progress with the other 2 tanks they will look like a squad together but it's still important to make it fit in with the rest of the army - which I'm concerned that it doesn't and I'm not sure how to fix that problem (if it is a problem and I should try to fix it?).
*Solution:* ?

2. It will have a dozer, which on every other vehicle is white - black front and white dozer - will that work?
*Solution:* ?

3. Initially I was planning on doing only one big bird on the tank but as I finished of the head I noticed it had a very dominant orientation on the tank which needed to be broken.
*Solution:* Find inspiration for two (or more) smaller birds which will be painted alongside it.









Time spent: 3 hours

Colours breakdown:
*Blue Star:*
Chaos Black (base) --> Enchanted Blue (shaped like *) --> Ice Blue (same shape but smaller) --> Skull White (dot the middle).
*Red Star:*
Chaos Black (base) --> Blood Red (shaped like *) --> Blazing orange (same shape but smaller) --> Vomit Brown (dot in the middle).
*Phoenix bird:*
Mechrite Red (base) --> Alternate between Blood Red and Blazing orange to give a feathered look, the key is to do many tiny strokes with thin paint in many layers. Highlights can be added with Vomit Brown if/as needed.

Ninja pre-post update:








Time spent: 3½ hours

----

That's it for now! :bye:
Till next time :so_happy:


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## WinZip

The tank is beautiful. :shok: YOU my good sir have amazing free hand skills and artistic skills :clapping:


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## Warpetrie

wow that free hand looks great ^_^ 

Are you going to make another thread for the Sharks? if you are post the link =D


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## Azwraith

unsure tbh about your worries.

i think that having the black along side the white wont be too much of an issue (especially if you do another tank with some black on it.. which is a good idea cose it wont limit your options as much) i think though if you do have the black front your only options for the dozer are either A) black. which i think will be overwhelming or B) metalic/grey

once again i think its okay with the black because the red of the phoenix ties the armoury together.


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## Winterous

It's....
Beautiful :cray:


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## Astorath333

dude, you're insanely amazing at this, keep it up.


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## Midge913

Azwraith said:


> unsure tbh about your worries.
> 
> i think that having the black along side the white wont be too much of an issue (especially if you do another tank with some black on it.. which is a good idea cose it wont limit your options as much) i think though if you do have the black front your only options for the dozer are either A) black. which i think will be overwhelming or B) metalic/grey
> 
> once again i think its okay with the black because the red of the phoenix ties the armoury together.


I agree with Azwraith. I think the black will work very nicely and I wouldn't worry too much about army cohesion because the tank still has a fair amount of red and orange in the phoenix, as well as the phoenix image itself, to tie it to the rest of the army. If you want to lighten it a bit to try and mesh it with the white of the rest of the army I would do so sparingly. Maybe some sort of nebula like design on the back of the tank near the birds tail, in the open black spots, in brighter captivating colors to break up the dark scheme even more. 

For my own reference I lined the pictures up side by side, and I think that they all fit very nicely together so far.










































Looking at the other rhino you did way earlier in the thread, there is plenty of dark color tones. I think that the two looking smashing together! When you finally get your armory completed you are going to have one hell of a lot of sexy mech rolling around. :good:

As to the dozer I don't think that white is going to work well. I would echo Azwraith again and say that you should go for a grey or metallic look, with caution stripes on it to break up the large flat space of grey or silver that you are going to end up with on the dozer. You have evidence of those stripes else where in the army so I think that my help tie it all together.


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## unxpekted22

my suggestion for the dozer is to have flames rising on a black background, like the phoenix is diving into them. It would blend with the black on the front of the rhino.


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## Scathainn

Perhaps the dozer blade could have some sort of foe cowering in fear, so it would look like the phoenixes are sealing his fate. A demon perhaps?


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## xenobiotic

:bye: Here we go again!

---



WinZip said:


> The tank is beautiful. :shok: YOU my good sir have amazing free hand skills and artistic skills :clapping:





Winterous said:


> It's....
> Beautiful :cray:





Astorath333 said:


> dude, you're insanely amazing at this, keep it up.


:drinks:



Warpetrie said:


> wow that free hand looks great ^_^
> 
> Are you going to make another thread for the Sharks? if you are post the link =D


I was debating that earlier in this thread and I haven't decided just yet. I'm leaning towards keeping them all in one thread (and asking a mod to rename it) so I have only one thing to focus on. I guess the main reason not to keep it to one thread could be that some people are only interested in the Brethren(?).

I do have lots of plans for what to add to my collection (and what miniatures to paint that I already have) so you might even see some non-Astartes in this thread soon™

----

A quick recap since last post, I had a couple of problems which I wanted to throw out to the hungry wolves to see what would be left of them, the problems being:


xenobiotic said:


> Now I had to face three new problems - one of which I managed to solve:
> 1. The vehicle has a black front. Non of my other vehicles have any black parts so it's going to stick out. Question is, will it look like it belongs amongst them? I know that as soon as I progress with the other 2 tanks they will look like a squad together but it's still important to make it fit in with the rest of the army - which I'm concerned that it doesn't and I'm not sure how to fix that problem (if it is a problem and I should try to fix it?).
> *Solution:* ?
> 
> 2. It will have a dozer, which on every other vehicle is white - black front and white dozer - will that work?
> *Solution:* ?


and the suggestions:



Azwraith said:


> [...] I think that having the black along side the white wont be too much of an issue (especially if you do another tank with some black on it.. which is a good idea cose it wont limit your options as much) i think though if you do have the black front your only options for the dozer are either:
> A) black, which i think will be overwhelming
> B) metalic/grey
> 
> Once again i think its okay with the black because the red of the phoenix ties the armoury together.





Midge913 said:


> I agree with Azwraith. I think the black will work very nicely and I wouldn't worry too much about army cohesion because the tank still has a fair amount of red and orange in the phoenix, as well as the phoenix image itself, to tie it to the rest of the army. If you want to lighten it a bit to try and mesh it with the white of the rest of the army I would do so sparingly. Maybe some sort of nebula like design on the back of the tank near the birds tail, in the open black spots, in brighter captivating colors to break up the dark scheme even more.
> 
> For my own reference I lined the pictures up side by side, and I think that they all fit very nicely together so far.
> 
> Looking at the other rhino you did way earlier in the thread, there is plenty of dark color tones. I think that the two looking smashing together! When you finally get your armory completed you are going to have one hell of a lot of sexy mech rolling around. :good:
> 
> As to the dozer I don't think that white is going to work well. I would echo Azwraith again and say that you should go for a grey or metallic look, with caution stripes on it to break up the large flat space of grey or silver that you are going to end up with on the dozer. You have evidence of those stripes else where in the army so I think that my help tie it all together.





unxpekted22 said:


> my suggestion for the dozer is to have flames rising on a black background, like the phoenix is diving into them. It would blend with the black on the front of the rhino.





Scathainn said:


> Perhaps the dozer blade could have some sort of foe cowering in fear, so it would look like the phoenixes are sealing his fate. A demon perhaps?


First of all I'd like to thank you all for the input and the feedback, it's one of the reasons I like heresy so much and remember that you can always poke me if you want me to punch out feedback on anything you've produced - I'd love to return the favour (I should do it more often to be honest). 

Anyway, I'll reply to your suggestions by typing out my solution (inspired in some way by all of your replies) so don't feel bad about me not answering directly to everyone's post like I usually do, allright?  

Let's start with problem 2 (makes for a better order of pictures) - The Dozer. 

The other dozers I have used in this army where all painted around the time I did my Repressor. Keep in mind that they actually pre-date the Death Company Miniatures, which where around the same time I punched out how I wanted my white parts to look on everything (I.e. death company was the miniatures that made me settle on a certain recipe for white). However I had spent quite some time on those dozers and I really didn't feel like redoing them so I let them be "whiter" than my death company soldiers (because the old way I did white came out a lot cleaner and brighter). So that explains why the new dozers white looks a little off but as I progress down the squads all dozers will have the same hue of white which will bring them together nicer then the current ones. 

Anyway, the white colour change wasn't the issue! I considered your thoughts about the dozer and decided that I'd probably prefer it to be black if I had to choose myself. That way I could continue the space freehand down on the dozer which I thought would look neat. At that time I also got the idea not to paint the entire dozer black but rather leave a trim of white to tie it in better with the other vehicles in the armoury (which I think works).

However I still felt I had to fill it out (the black space) with something more (as some of you suggested). At the same time I didn't want to clutter it with another creature (which might have been hard to pull off). After thinking about flames a while I figured I could probably incorporate the chapter symbol in a new version with some "flamy" action. Results can be seen below:


















As far as problem 1 goes, I'll let you be the judges of that (though keep in mind that the current machine isn't weathered at the white parts, hence the dozer looks a lot more brown hued now than it will later on):









Time Spent: 5 hours

----

Till next time k:


----------



## Midge913

I think that your solution to the dozer worked out brilliantly! My only quibble, and one that I believe that you pointed out already, is that the white on the new dozer in noticably different from the others. Against the DC rhino it isn't a problem in my opinion as there is plenty of 'brown' in the white on that rhino and it ties together fine. My real issue is the comparison to the other blade. That being said, I am really not sure how to fix it other than to add some touch ups with your new white technique to the old dozer. But that being said I am not sure how much of a problem that is going to be as they, in theory, shouldn't be sitting right next to each other on the gaming table as they do in your example photo.

Even with the slight difference in the white I still think that they look ruddy brilliant, even sitting side by side where the difference is most notable. 

Onto the freehand on the dozer. It is very nice, simply composed as to not draw the eye to much away from the rest of the model, and superbly executed. The corona fire effect around the star and feather is very subtle, but reads very well.


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

xenobiotic said:


> :bye:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Time Spent: 5 hours
> 
> ----
> 
> Till next time k:




Hey dude. I've been keeping an eye on you for a while but not posted, for that I apologise.

Now, onto the vehicles. 

The latest one looks brilliant. The freehand, particularly the dozer is truly something to be proud of and is quite inspirational.

However, I think there are a few issues that need to be sorted out.

1. The white. On each vehicle, the white looks great, but when places together it makes them look "messy" is the only word I can think of to describe it. I think for the black chassis to work, the white must be uniform across the _whole_ army. Using the army pic at the start of the thread as reference. You'd need to bring the white on the original marines, one of the priests, the dread, and the two right hand vehicles in line with your new recipe. This will make your army look more uniform and even more impressive than it is at the moment.

2. The turret. The turret of the predator is also something that is standing out to me. If you look to the razorback, you have painted the weapon casing white, same as the chassis. I think the predator turret would look better in black. As explained in the next point. 

3. Uniformity. I understand why you have painted the turret red, in an attempt to bring some uniformity to the vehicles. But I think this would look better if you applied the red to a less prominent area. The inlays on the side armour of the tank, front and back, would be a better place for this I think. (where the red is on This) this why it is clear that this tank is its own unit, but also part of a larger force. Think of it like the spot colour that ties an army of various uniforms together.


I am in now way trying to sound harsh here. You've done a fantastic job, far better than I could have done. But to me anyway, it seems a shame to stop half way, instead of doing the absolute best you can if you know what I mean?

Keep up the amazing work dude. And maybe when you're done, I'll call on you for some more drawings


----------



## Tossidin

"What Reaper said"


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I think that your solution to the dozer worked out brilliantly! My only quibble, and one that I believe that you pointed out already, is that the white on the new dozer in noticably different from the others. Against the DC rhino it isn't a problem in my opinion as there is plenty of 'brown' in the white on that rhino and it ties together fine. My real issue is the comparison to the other blade. That being said, I am really not sure how to fix it other than to add some touch ups with your new white technique to the old dozer. But that being said I am not sure how much of a problem that is going to be as they, in theory, shouldn't be sitting right next to each other on the gaming table as they do in your example photo.
> 
> Even with the slight difference in the white I still think that they look ruddy brilliant, even sitting side by side where the difference is most notable.
> 
> Onto the freehand on the dozer. It is very nice, simply composed as to not draw the eye to much away from the rest of the model, and superbly executed. The corona fire effect around the star and feather is very subtle, but reads very well.


I'm very pleased with the freehand, specially since I didn't have the foggiest clue of what to do a couple of days ago. This space theme will definitely carry over onto all the Baals in the squad (3 of them).

Yes, I agree. The dozer is an eyesore at the moment since it's the first thing you see and the difference is very noticeable and therefore set's them apart. Where it only a minor detail such as a stormbolter it wouldn't have been such a big deal but now it is. I've tried to change them a bit. Have a look down here and see if they fit better together now, will you? 



imm0rtal reaper said:


> Hey dude. I've been keeping an eye on you for a while but not posted, for that I apologise.
> 
> Now, onto the vehicles.
> 
> The latest one looks brilliant. The freehand, particularly the dozer is truly something to be proud of and is quite inspirational.
> 
> However, I think there are a few issues that need to be sorted out.
> 
> 1. The white. On each vehicle, the white looks great, but when places together it makes them look "messy" is the only word I can think of to describe it. I think for the black chassis to work, the white must be uniform across the _whole_ army. Using the army pic at the start of the thread as reference. You'd need to bring the white on the original marines, one of the priests, the dread, and the two right hand vehicles in line with your new recipe. This will make your army look more uniform and even more impressive than it is at the moment.
> 
> 2. The turret. The turret of the predator is also something that is standing out to me. If you look to the razorback, you have painted the weapon casing white, same as the chassis. I think the predator turret would look better in black. As explained in the next point.
> 
> 3. Uniformity. I understand why you have painted the turret red, in an attempt to bring some uniformity to the vehicles. But I think this would look better if you applied the red to a less prominent area. The inlays on the side armour of the tank, front and back, would be a better place for this I think. (where the red is on This) this why it is clear that this tank is its own unit, but also part of a larger force. Think of it like the spot colour that ties an army of various uniforms together.
> 
> I am in now way trying to sound harsh here. You've done a fantastic job, far better than I could have done. But to me anyway, it seems a shame to stop half way, instead of doing the absolute best you can if you know what I mean?
> 
> Keep up the amazing work dude. And maybe when you're done, I'll call on you for some more drawings


Let's see now, first of all, there's no bad feelings, critique is just good and developing (at least in the form you and Midge in particular give it). One of the reasons I decided to put a lot more time on my miniatures was the feedback you gave me at the beginning of this project log. Much of the development was founded in thoughts brought into the light then.

Secondly, I agree with general points that you have made but I'll give a few comments still.

1. Definitely, and after your comment I did some quick adjustments to the dozers (and some minor details) and they are all included in a picture further down this post - feel free to judge the difference - obviously I didn't finish the weathering on the new dozer just yet, but I tried to add as much as I could without hindering me from completing it later on. 

The assaul marines will be left unadjusted for now, I've got more motivation in actually making new units to replace them with rather then going back to them again at the moment. They all have pretty stale and uninteresting poses compared to what I'm able to do now with the skills I've picked up, and nice miniatures makes for fun painting 

When it comes to the Sanguinary Priest he will be replaced and left out of the army. I'm not at all happy with how that one turned out (won't be using the wings on any miniature for now).

The Dreadnought is a problem I'm going to have to face which I'm not certain about just yet. I'll probably wait for the new kit (Furioso) and adjust him as he get's new arms. It's pretty much my first miniature for the army so he has some sentimental value but as you pointed out he needs to "be fixed".

3. About the turret I had actually painted it red as the basecoat (and put in the uncoated assault cannons because they are shorter than the flamestorm cannon which hid details when I took pictures), as in I haven't decided which colour to paint it in. Funny enough I was contemplating how to do it without disturbing the rest of the flow of the tank and I hadn't considered doing it black/space colours. But now that you mentioned it I realise it would probably look a lot better than doing it in red.

The whole squad of 3 Baal predators will be done with roughly the same type of freehand and colour scheme (black) which I think would work out awesome with black turrets.

As far as the red fields on them goes I'm not convinced. Seeing as the vehicles will be covered in phoenixes I'm inclined (for now) to think that will be sufficient amount of red/orange birds to tie them to the army (even if loosely compared to other units). I'll see how my thoughts develop as I proceed.

And about the drawings :blush: I'll put some coals in as soon as possible.



Tossidin said:


> "What Reaper said"


Now you're just lazy :rofl:

----

Armoury part 2 - better?








There's still a minor difference in the fact that the new one is a bit brighter (warmer) then the others. I might have to give it a light wash of badab black to bring it down just a tad(?)

----

Till next time


----------



## Midge913

I have tried to come up with something more to say than it looks much better now. The difference isn't nearly as noticeable. I think that your idea for a light Badab wash will fix it entirely. 

As to the black turret vs. red turret issue, I think that you have the right of things with the black. Continuing on the space theme with the stars and such will definitely look cool, and I agree with Reaper that the red on the turret doesn't quite look right on the black once I took a second look. I really wouldn't worry about the models fitting together because you use enough red in your free hand designs that the over all tone of the vehicle reads as red even with the large blocks of black.


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

xenobiotic said:


> Let's see now, first of all, there's no bad feelings, critique is just good and developing (at least in the form you and Midge in particular give it). One of the reasons I decided to put a lot more time on my miniatures was the feedback you gave me at the beginning of this project log. Much of the development was founded in thoughts brought into the light then.
> 
> Secondly, I agree with general points that you have made but I'll give a few comments still.
> 
> 1. Definitely, and after your comment I did some quick adjustments to the dozers (and some minor details) and they are all included in a picture further down this post - feel free to judge the difference - obviously I didn't finish the weathering on the new dozer just yet, but I tried to add as much as I could without hindering me from completing it later on.
> 
> The assaul marines will be left unadjusted for now, I've got more motivation in actually making new units to replace them with rather then going back to them again at the moment. They all have pretty stale and uninteresting poses compared to what I'm able to do now with the skills I've picked up, and nice miniatures makes for fun painting
> 
> When it comes to the Sanguinary Priest he will be replaced and left out of the army. I'm not at all happy with how that one turned out (won't be using the wings on any miniature for now).
> 
> The Dreadnought is a problem I'm going to have to face which I'm not certain about just yet. I'll probably wait for the new kit (Furioso) and adjust him as he get's new arms. It's pretty much my first miniature for the army so he has some sentimental value but as you pointed out he needs to "be fixed".
> 
> 3. About the turret I had actually painted it red as the basecoat (and put in the uncoated assault cannons because they are shorter than the flamestorm cannon which hid details when I took pictures), as in I haven't decided which colour to paint it in. Funny enough I was contemplating how to do it without disturbing the rest of the flow of the tank and I hadn't considered doing it black/space colours. But now that you mentioned it I realise it would probably look a lot better than doing it in red.
> 
> The whole squad of 3 Baal predators will be done with roughly the same type of freehand and colour scheme (black) which I think would work out awesome with black turrets.
> 
> As far as the red fields on them goes I'm not convinced. Seeing as the vehicles will be covered in phoenixes I'm inclined (for now) to think that will be sufficient amount of red/orange birds to tie them to the army (even if loosely compared to other units). I'll see how my thoughts develop as I proceed.
> 
> And about the drawings :blush: I'll put some coals in as soon as possible.


Dude that looks much better. I'm not exactly sure what you've done. But they look much closer in colour now. A slight black wash on the newer one to remove some warmth is all that is needed I think.

And to comment on your comments lol

1. I understand your feelings about the assault marines. And if I'm correct you did comment on either phasing them out or replacing them?


I look forward to seeing what you do with the new dread kit, no doubt you won't disappoint. 

3. With the turret. Now that I've seen it without the turret on, I'm sure of the fact that black would work better. Without the block of red that is the turret I actually think the tank fits with the others better. I think black/ space colours will work really as long as its subtle and doesn't subtract from the pheonix (dictionary be damned!)

Also with seeing it without the turret and alongside all the other tanks, I think you don't need the red inlays. They are now clearly part of the same force, and when finished will look just amazing.

I look forward to more concept drawings and stuff from you also. The ones you did for me were a massive help. And on a related topic. I've just started editing that novel from November :biggrin:


*EDIT: I also think it would be awesome if you added the chapter symbol to the left hand rhino's dozer, like you have on the DC rhino :grin:


----------



## Azwraith

well my post is not going to be as impressive as the other but what i might point out ot you that you may have not noticed is that...

all your rhinos base colours are Red
death company.. white
heavy tanks... black

so i think that is the way to base your gun/weaponary off
the space tanks real base colour is black.. with a pheonix as a secondary.

basically in all your tanks/vehicles the phoenix red is a secondary colour and your base colour is what should be done for all your block colours like the dozer/gun shields etc.

hope that makes sense


----------



## Dan1111

Just a quick post from me. I love the freehand on the new black Rhino, especially on the dozer blade. My initial thought however is that it looks like the black Rhino has been repaired and put through a car wash whereas the rest are still in their rough and ready battle condition. It sounds sacraligious but would you consider 'damaging' the front of the black Rhino and the dozer blade a bit more, and adding some mud (or equivalent?)


----------



## RTJ

Looks good!


----------



## JAMOB

I absolutely love all the tanks, but I agree with azwraith. Unless youre going to use the same basic theme with the rest of the squad, with the black undercoat, you should make red a bit more dominant. However, I do love the way every single tank is different completely, because it adds more character to the army. Also you might want to add some more white as this would tie it in more with the others.

Also, can you please take an updated full army picture when you finish this one? Or even now. It would let all of use see how it phases in with the whole army, not just the mechanized infantry.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hello again, hope you've had a good week, I've had time off and went to visit my GF in the capital of Sweden. Lovely time although no warhammer related things. 

----



Midge913 said:


> I have tried to come up with something more to say than it looks much better now. The difference isn't nearly as noticeable. I think that your idea for a light Badab wash will fix it entirely.
> 
> As to the black turret vs. red turret issue, I think that you have the right of things with the black. Continuing on the space theme with the stars and such will definitely look cool, and I agree with Reaper that the red on the turret doesn't quite look right on the black once I took a second look. I really wouldn't worry about the models fitting together because you use enough red in your free hand designs that the over all tone of the vehicle reads as red even with the large blocks of black.


You're most likely right, and I guess it will flesh out as the painting continues. I think that as long as I keep an eye on the other vehicles I've done before as I continue to make more they will fit well together while still expanding on my skills and freehand motifs. The key would be to evolve but not evolve completely away from what I've already done (which happened to my assault marines sadly).



imm0rtal reaper said:


> Dude that looks much better. I'm not exactly sure what you've done. But they look much closer in colour now. A slight black wash on the newer one to remove some warmth is all that is needed I think.
> 
> I understand your feelings about the assault marines. And if I'm correct you did comment on either phasing them out or replacing them?
> 
> With the turret. Now that I've seen it without the turret on, I'm sure of the fact that black would work better. Without the block of red that is the turret I actually think the tank fits with the others better. I think black/ space colours will work really as long as its subtle and doesn't subtract from the pheonix (dictionary be damned!)
> 
> Also with seeing it without the turret and alongside all the other tanks, I think you don't need the red inlays. They are now clearly part of the same force, and when finished will look just amazing.
> 
> I look forward to more concept drawings and stuff from you also. The ones you did for me were a massive help. And on a related topic. I've just started editing that novel from November :biggrin:
> 
> *EDIT: I also think it would be awesome if you added the chapter symbol to the left hand rhino's dozer, like you have on the DC rhino :grin:


I gave the "white" ones a light wash of Gryphonne Sepia, and those that where warmer I washed of some of the pigment (which is an odd technique I discovered by mistake: If you add to much wash to something you can take a wet piece of paper (or a large wet brush) and actually wash away some of the pigments (giving you somewhat of a natural highlight). Odd, but it works!

And yes, those assault marines will be replaced with new ones to fit the current look better. I might give them a soak later on to repaint them but it just isn't worth the time at the moment.

I've been given a lot to consider and now that I've tried it out a black turret works very well and I think it will look awesome when I've done the entire squadron of 3 Baal Predators.

I'll just have to sort out my motivation and my schedule and then I'll hopefully be back to the drawing board (literally)  

And about the dozers I agree, I'll give all those freehands a look and make them all a bite more suitable to the theme (will tie the bad boys together).



Azwraith said:


> well my post is not going to be as impressive as the other but what i might point out ot you that you may have not noticed is that...
> 
> All your rhinos base colours are Red
> Death company.. white
> Heavy tanks... black
> 
> so i think that is the way to base your gun/weaponary off
> the space tanks real base colour is black.. with a pheonix as a secondary.
> 
> basically in all your tanks/vehicles the phoenix red is a secondary colour and your base colour is what should be done for all your block colours like the dozer/gun shields etc.


I actually hadn't considered it that way. I was making the weapons white for all my razorbacks and just happened to put the assault cannon on the death company rhino for the picture. Now that you pointed it out it makes perfect sense and definitely something I'll do! 



Dan1111 said:


> Just a quick post from me. I love the freehand on the new black Rhino, especially on the dozer blade. My initial thought however is that it looks like the black Rhino has been repaired and put through a car wash whereas the rest are still in their rough and ready battle condition. It sounds sacraligious but would you consider 'damaging' the front of the black Rhino and the dozer blade a bit more, and adding some mud (or equivalent?)


Hehe, you have to keep in mind that the black rhino chassi isn't done yet, I'm still painting it and I do my weathering as a final step in the painting process. It will be A LOT more dirty when done, to keep it in line with the other vehicles (it will most likely have a heavy cover of dirt seeing as it's a scout vehicle that sees a lot of action).

Glad you like where it has gone thus far! 



RTJ said:


> Looks good!


:victory:



JAMOB said:


> I absolutely love all the tanks, but I agree with azwraith. Unless you're going to use the same basic theme with the rest of the squad, with the black undercoat, you should make red a bit more dominant. However, I do love the way every single tank is different completely, because it adds more character to the army. Also you might want to add some more white as this would tie it in more with the others.
> 
> Also, can you please take an updated full army picture when you finish this one? Or even now. It would let all of use see how it phases in with the whole army, not just the mechanized infantry.


It's a tricky scale to wander upon. It has become a lot darker than I initially set out to make it (but that's the wonder with creative processes) which made me a bit scared about it (the black) being to dominant and alienating the vehicle from the army as a whole. But thanks to the feedback here I'm starting to warm up to the idea and I definitely think that squad of these beasts will look awesome in the armoury. I might even come up with a use for the darker scheme on some kind of infantry unit in the army (vanguard veterans perhaps?). We'll see.

It wouldn't be very fulfilling to take another army shot just yet seeing as I've completed 2 marines since the last photo :stinker: Maybe after this vehicle and the honour guard! Or if I wanted to take a "demotival" 

----

And while on the subject of vehicles...
I've started on the turret and while it isn't finished yet I think it's starting to come together and I like it a lot so far! I wanted to show you guys what it looks like with a black turret since we've been talking so much about it:









Feel free to comment as usual!

----

What else has happened since last time?
I've received some packages, containing goodies such as:

IA10 :biggrin:
Phobos Bolters
Rogue Trader Era Special Weapons
Red Scorpion Veterans (Mk IV helmets! :so_happy 
Dozerblades(!)
Assault Terminator Squad
 (giving me the possibility to build 5 lightningclaw terminators, 5 Thunderhammer & SH terminators as well as a squad of 5 normal terminators. I'm going to squeeze in some Space Hulk Terminators in those squads also but I have yet to decide in what army I'm going to use them)

So when I got home I pretty much took up the IA10 book and gave it a quick once over and suddenly I was more confused then ever! There sure are some awesome schemes in there (Exorcists in particular, that deep red metallic is just eye candy in every way! Along with Sons of Medusa and the Minotaurs also). Then I came to the special characters and I must say I really didn't like the rules for Tyberos the Red (the Space Shark leader) at all, so I'm not sure I'll be using him (sadly).

The ones I liked the most was (without any particular order):

Bray'Arth Ashmantle, *Salamanders Dreadnought* (Combine him with the Siege Vanguard army list in the same book and you can make an army consisting of 7 dreads (that can never win... But still!)).
Thulsa Khane, *Executioners High Chaplain* (I have a lot of visions of what could be converted up to represent him, and his rules are pretty good!)
Vaylund Cal, *the Sons of Medusa* - Bionic behemoth with kick-ass attitude, how can you resist him? Though I'm not sure if I'd make much use of his special rule to buff devastators he would sure be cool to make a conversion for.

Evidently I'll have to make some new tough choices before I set out to flesh out my next successor chapter. Since they are C:SM I guess I can use any special character I want even if I say they are "Space Shark Successors" - but that might be cheating? I could also just take inspiration from the Space Sharks (their visual appeal with references to the Maori people, with tattoos-like markings on the armour) but make use of what I like to boil out something good?

Give me your thoughts on the subject if you like to!

----

Another thing waiting for me in the mail was a tiny metal arm from a servitor, sent by warsmith7752, thanks again for that! I stole the idea from Kharangar Lamenters log over at warseer and wanted to mimic the use in my own army to create a bit of variation to the theme within my own infantry.

Some of you know the importance of Sanguinary Priests (called Exemplars amongst the Brethren of the Phoenix) when you play Blood Angels. They are pretty much an obligatory choice to include and I can vouch that many of the battles I have won thus far have been due to their Feel No Pain aura (to my opponents nailbiting anger).

Sofar I have constructed and painted 3 of them, but overall I'm going to need at least 5 to fill out the army (possibly even more as we go along, but 5 is a nice start). However the first one I did just isn't up to my current standard so it has been/will be replaced as I make new ones meaning I'm back to 2 finished priests (which is just enough for 750-1000 pts matches as I'm playing atm but I'd like to be able to vary my list a bit more). 

Anyway, the servo arm looks just like an apothecary nartecium although it's mechanical which serves the twist of making it look like even a wounded priest is "fixed" with bionics and allowed to continue to serve. This added variety is what gives an army character since you'll notice pretty fast if every single miniature representing the same choice holds his arm the exact same way (refering to my rant about leg poses).

After some time I put the bit to use and came up with another Exemplar, consisting of: 

Servitor arm
pair of mk VI legs
Mk IV Red Scorpion torso
Mk V bolter holding arm modified to hold a pistol at another angle
Rogue Trade Era Bolt Pistol
Mk IV hemlet from the Blood Angel boxes (which all my Exemplars use)
Pouches and Grenades (I believe they are from the Scout section)
Blood Drop gem from Death Company torso
Magnetized Apothecary backpack
Magnetized FW jump pack
I hereby present you with some construction pictures:








And another picture with a jump pack:









----

Till next time! :spiteful:


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

Loving the progress on the tank dude, might I request a top down shot?

In regards to the new army, I'd go with whatever you think looks good and plays well. As it'll be a successor chapter your free to fill in the gaps with fluff 

Keep at it!

*Edit* Meant to mention this before lol. 

I like the exemplar, but after the awesomeness of Atheos, I feel like this new one isn't nearly "special" enough. He looks OK, but he lacks the WOW that made Atheos such an awesome model.


----------



## unxpekted22

Lets see if I can finish my three remaining assault terminators before you finish at least five of the ten haha. I really need to get a good camera to my apartment so I can update my progress more often.

I'm telling you man go with the executioners chapter, they are BEAST.


----------



## JAMOB

I absolutely love the turret. I know youre not done with it yet, and you might anyway, but I think you should add some more stars on it. And a feather like on the shield (above the assault cannon?) but anyway definitely a nice job.

For the Exemplar (love the name by the way!) Im not sure if bionics still exist (ie old rule, from gen. 2 if killed might not die, might have hit bionics) but if it does can he have it? That would make him alot better... and love the differences in everything.

One last thing. Could you maybe do a tutorial on the legs? I tried it with my new assault marines and it worked pretty well, but one of them is messed up so Im gonna have to find that green stuff you keep referencing. Where would that be by the way?

Keep up the great work! still loving it


----------



## warsmith7752

@jambob greenstuff can be bought at Gw for £6 here in the uk or you can look on the Internet at some different sites, I know miniwargaming does a decent gs deal.

As for the exemplar, I really like what your trying to do with it but I'm not a fan of the fw stuff to be honest which ruins it for me. Doesn't stop me liking the hard work that went into it and maybe you can change my mind with a good paintjob.


----------



## Winterous

JAMOB said:


> Im gonna have to find that green stuff you keep referencing. Where would that be by the way?


Recently I picked up some epoxy putty from Bunning's Warehouse, which is a hardware store.
Green Stuff is just epoxy putty, but it's very suitable for very fine details; the stuff I bought was cheaper (infinitely cheaper), and is much firmer, meaning it's far less suitable for fine details.
Depending on what you need it for, you might want to consider just buying something like that.


----------



## Midge913

Xeno the Baal is looking incredible. I think that you should add some more stars and things to it just to lighten the overall feel of the turret, but that is personal opinion as it looks fantastic so far. Can't wait to see the end result. 

I haven't read IA10 so I really don't have much advice to offer regarding the chapters in it, but I have always been a fan of the Executioners. That being said I really liked where you were going with your Space Shark successors and I would hate to see you scrap that idea. If Tyberos was a disappointing rules wise you could use his model if you like it to represent one of the other Codex Specials, or just come up with your own rules for him. 

As to the new Exemplar I love what you have done with the servitor arm. Good looking stuff, can't wait to see him painted up.


----------



## Scathainn

Count-as is your friend, don't let the Space Sharks die in vain!


----------



## JAMOB

Thanks to Winterous and Warsmith, but i live in the US... ill look at miniwargaming though. Thanks. Mainly I need it for filling in legs (i stole Xenos legs idea...) and that would be detail... but if i ever get something bigger ill look that up. Thanks!

And definitely dont scrap the space sharks. You could make them something like Gabriel Seth, with the whirlwind of gore that would work well for shark teeth, as is could be like a mass shark attack or something. Either way, keep them at least as an idea. Keep up the good work!


----------



## xenobiotic

I have an idea...

----



imm0rtal reaper said:


> Loving the progress on the tank dude, might I request a top down shot?
> 
> In regards to the new army, I'd go with whatever you think looks good and plays well. As it'll be a successor chapter your free to fill in the gaps with fluff


I managed to do some more painting today (and damn it takes a long time to highlight a turret, all those angles are starting to drive me mad and I'm going to make 3 of these?!) so I took a few more photos including a top down view for your pleasure!



unxpekted22 said:


> Lets see if I can finish my three remaining assault terminators before you finish at least five of the ten haha. I really need to get a good camera to my apartment so I can update my progress more often.
> 
> I'm telling you man go with the executioners chapter, they are BEAST.


Terminators are not a priority, they where bought just to fill out some other parts I had and to take advantage of a sale over on maelstrom (I know, I'm not actually saving money - I'm just spending less, but it felt good! :sad



JAMOB said:


> I absolutely love the turret. I know youre not done with it yet, and you might anyway, but I think you should add some more stars on it. And a feather like on the shield (above the assault cannon?) but anyway definitely a nice job.
> 
> For the Exemplar (love the name by the way!) Im not sure if bionics still exist (ie old rule, from gen. 2 if killed might not die, might have hit bionics) but if it does can he have it? That would make him alot better... and love the differences in everything.
> 
> One last thing. Could you maybe do a tutorial on the legs? I tried it with my new assault marines and it worked pretty well, but one of them is messed up so Im gonna have to find that green stuff you keep referencing. Where would that be by the way?
> 
> Keep up the great work! still loving it


I think I'm going to leave the turret relatively empty for the time being, I want to see how it works with the rest of the freehand before I consider adding more details to it (probably since I spent a couple of hours on it already). 

Bionics aren't in the rules any more but they are in the fluff and I try to use the fluff as I bring about my miniatures so this is purely an visual experience rather than an actual benefit in rules.

When I buy greenstuff I buy it at maelstrom when I'm ordering other stuff (spend over 10£ and you get free P&P). The ones in the link lasts me for about a year on average and the tubes are great storage! 

Also, if you're considering doing modelling with greenstuff you should try get yourself some clay shapers. They are silicone tipped tools that doesn't stick to clay and gives smooth finishes that are hard to achieve with metal tools (even if you keep them wet).

I could do a tutorial but I'm not sure when I'd be able to get around to it so it might take a while...



warsmith7752 said:


> As for the exemplar, I really like what your trying to do with it but I'm not a fan of the fw stuff to be honest which ruins it for me. Doesn't stop me liking the hard work that went into it and maybe you can change my mind with a good paintjob.


Don't go down to hard on the FW pieces, it's pretty much the same as any other GW-parts only that they are made in resin. He'll probably look good once I've gotten some paint on him. I hope you'll like him better then so you don't feel like you sent me the piece in vain :shok:



Midge913 said:


> Xeno the Baal is looking incredible. I think that you should add some more stars and things to it just to lighten the overall feel of the turret, but that is personal opinion as it looks fantastic so far. Can't wait to see the end result.
> 
> I haven't read IA10 so I really don't have much advice to offer regarding the chapters in it, but I have always been a fan of the Executioners. That being said I really liked where you were going with your Space Shark successors and I would hate to see you scrap that idea. If Tyberos was a disappointing rules wise you could use his model if you like it to represent one of the other Codex Specials, or just come up with your own rules for him.
> 
> As to the new Exemplar I love what you have done with the servitor arm. Good looking stuff, can't wait to see him painted up.


You could say I've taken up on your advice on the turret, have a look at the pictures and tell me what you think about it now!

I might be able to hammer something out, I had a momentary lapse of judgement and was considering abandoning the entire paint scheme, but I might have something better in the works now...



Scathainn said:


> Count-as is your friend, don't let the Space Sharks die in vain!


That's true, counts as is a winner in the long run (and a converters best friend!)

----

Another wroom-wroom WIP:
So I've spent the day on and off again painting the turret. I'm starting to go insane since I've been wet blending grey onto the turret for hours now and I've still got some spots left to do. I'm starting to get a hang of the star/space pattern so at least that's getting done quickly. But there's still a lot left to do before I'm getting any closer to the finish it. I'm going to have to keep at it so I don't miss out on the challenge!
















It's not the easiest miniature to take good pictures of 
Time spent: 8 hours

C&C welcomed and asked for!

----

About the other successors, let's see if I can type my thoughts out...
When I first started this Plog I told you about my dabbling with a Iron Hand successor chapter which ran out into the sand since Blood Angels where released. I always liked the Iron Hand chapter structure and their affinity for vehicles and bionics though. They have an awesome part of the fluff.

As I was reading through IA10 I suddenly knew that making a Space Shark Successor chapter with Tyberos the Red as a leader and their chapter structure wasn't going to fit well into the scenario I had figured out in my head. They where to much like my Blood Angels and that's something I wanted to avoid!

However the Sons of Medusa character was pretty much the embodiment of what I had in mind. He represents an army filled with bionics and infantry (devastators in particular) as well as my most favoured unit of them all - Dreadnoughts! I could build a semi-functional army around that concept (which could be used in special boarding scenarios mentioned in the IA9 book as well as a foundation for the armylist in the IA10 book which contains loads of dreadnoughts).

So as the day progressed I was considering if and how I could tweak the Space Shark Successors that way. I was pondering which parts from the Space Sharks I like and what parts I wanted to steal from the Iron Hands and the Sons of Medusa.

I also knew wanted to shift my terminology away from the Roman/Greek based names and stories that I use for my Brethren of the Phoenix and focus more on my own cultural heritage (the Norse mythology). Some of you know that the Space Wolves use this but I've dug up parts that I haven't seen represented and tweaked it around a bit. 

Anyway, for the structure I'm thinking of using the Iron Hand chapter structure with 3 Iron Thanes ruling a Clan, each clan consisting of 3 companies. My chapter will focus on the first of these Clans, being the first clan of the chapter. I've still yet to decide if this structure hails from any lineage to the Iron Hands or if it's just a chaotic structure that the chapter has adopted to bring order to somewhat irrational marines hailing from the Space Shark lineage (it could remain undecided and just be a plot twist).

They will have a heavy focus on the weakness of the flesh and they will be using a lot of bionics to try and rid themselves of that weakness. They have an almost religious belief that the less human they are the better - giving them nicknames like "Specters" and "Wraiths" amongst other chapters, since they have little regard for life or emotions. Their Chapter Master, Jötna, is more machine then human and is affectionately called "the Draugr" which is a norse mythological creature which they hold as an ideal because they "walked after death" (they walked after they had been released from the burden of the flesh). Possible Chapter name: The Ættir of Draugar (Losely translates into: the ones hailing from Draugar, or the Draugar Spirits).

I think the story could fit the somewhat cold colour scheme I came up with and I think it would be possible to tie it in to the water theme somewhere (since the Draugr mythology contains some aspects of dead sailors and such). If you've forgotten about the marine I painted he looks like this:









The Armylist I would work towards would be something like this:
HQ:
Vaylund Cald counts as (Master of the Forge Special Character)
Elites:
Ironclad Dreadnought x2
Terminators(?)
Troops:
Tacticals x 2
Scouts x 2
Heavy:
Devastators (with bionics)
Riflemen x2

That's what I have so far, still a lot of details to pound out and a chapter symbol to come up with. Enough of my ramblings!

----

Till next time :friends:


----------



## Midge913

I totally think that the new direction you are going with your chapter will work well, and since it was really the paint scheme I was loathe to see you abandon I think that it will work well with the new fluff that you are incorporating. The Iron Hands are a great chapter and I too have always been fascinated by their heavy use of Dreads and bionics. Lots of good conversion opportunities there. 

To your Baal, the additional highlighting and small freehands that you have added to the turret were just the tick. It looks much better now and it blends much better with the rest of the piece. Excellent work buddy!

I feel your pain on the challenge count down. My Dwarfs are progressing much more slowly than I had wanted, but hey, there is a week left right:biggrin:!


----------



## JAMOB

Thanks for the tip Xeno will be helpful and i like the idea. Not sure but you might want to change the word Baal in Baal predator to something else, or maybe not, as this is a Blood Angels term, and Baal is there home planet. I know this army is BA, but either way it might work. Your call though, I know im changing it.


----------



## The Wraithlord

That is one bad ass looking rhino!


----------



## DrinCalhar

Dude I love this. Thanks for giving me so many ideas and cool ways of displaying my work on Heresy Online.


----------



## unxpekted22

can you explain this "wet blending"? I mean I'm sure I can come up with a general concept as to what that means but it'd be good to make sure I have a better plan for doing it properly.

I like the fluff set up you've got swimming around in your head....heh...and that marine still looks really awesome even after not seeing it for a while. I'm guessing that Aettir word eventually turned into ether which made me think of Draugr Ethereals, but then you've got that whole Tau idea sticking you in the brain whenever you say it. I think something along the lines of what you got would be a good name though for sure.


----------



## Varakir

xenobiotic said:


> Enough of my ramblings!


Never stop rambling  Just like Svart's log, your commentary on the creative process is just as interesting as the incredible work being produced.

Baal predator is gorgeous, and loving the ideas for the new chapter :victory:


----------



## Scathainn

Well.

Being a Space Sharks fan, I'm certainly having some mixed feelings regarding your changing in the background. However it's your army and I'm determined to keep the sharky spirit alive, even if it means helping you with some fluff  .

Also, being originally born in Norway myself, I dig the ideas you had with the Draugr and I wanted to give my opinions on chapter fluff.

First off, as for a chapter name, I think going short and simple would be the best: The Draugr. According to the myth of Norway at least (can't say for you silly Swedes :grin: ), there are two distinct types of Draugr: Sjøendraug, or "Sea Draugr", and Jordendraug, "Land Draugr". The Draugr were described in Norse Myth not as undead, but warriors who "refused to die". This could be explained in your background as the bionics bit, as these warriors all experienced tremendous amounts of pain only to "refuse to die" and recieve bionics to bring them back to health. So, then, keeping with the bionics the Sjøendraug could fit the sense of immortal bionic warriors while keeping the sense of being a Space Sharks successor. In addition, perhaps high-ranking members of the chapter (captains perhaps?) could be called Sjövættir, which in Norse myth were spirits who guarded specific waters and were sometimes considered the keepers of the Sjøendraug.

Just my thoughts as one Scandinavian to another. Keep the shark spirit alive! :victory:

EDIT: Additional tidbits. Sjøendraug were sometimes described as headless fishermen dressed in oilskins; perhaps a special character ala your Sanguinor count-as? And another interesting fact: the Draugr's only weakness (besides decapitation) was fire; seems a bit at odds with your Phoenixes :biggrin:


----------



## JAMOB

Varakir said:


> Never stop rambling  Just like Svart's log, your commentary on the creative process is just as interesting as the incredible work being produced.
> 
> Baal predator is gorgeous, and loving the ideas for the new chapter :victory:


Really never stop rambling it makes it interesting. And i think that Scathainn's fluff works really well with this
Keep up the good work!


----------



## xenobiotic

And ideas need to be processed...

----



Midge913 said:


> I totally think that the new direction you are going with your chapter will work well, and since it was really the paint scheme I was loathe to see you abandon I think that it will work well with the new fluff that you are incorporating. The Iron Hands are a great chapter and I too have always been fascinated by their heavy use of Dreads and bionics. Lots of good conversion opportunities there.
> 
> To your Baal, the additional highlighting and small freehands that you have added to the turret were just the tick. It looks much better now and it blends much better with the rest of the piece. Excellent work buddy!
> 
> I feel your pain on the challenge count down. My Dwarfs are progressing much more slowly than I had wanted, but hey, there is a week left right:biggrin:!


The paintjob will not be abandoned, it will just be tweaked with better highlighting and possibly more shading (darken it a bit, maybe, I haven't decided yet). I also need to come up with a chapter symbol and a definite name to work with... There are a lot of conversion possibilities, yes, though I'm not sure my skills are up to making bionics just yet... I can steal the Iron Hand influences I like whether or not my chapter hails from them, it's definitely something I want to do since I had that idea about a year ago and abandoned it then (but now I have more skills!). 



JAMOB said:


> Thanks for the tip Xeno will be helpful and i like the idea. Not sure but you might want to change the word Baal in Baal predator to something else, or maybe not, as this is a Blood Angels term, and Baal is there home planet. I know this army is BA, but either way it might work. Your call though, I know im changing it.





JAMOB said:


> Really never stop rambling it makes it interesting. And i think that Scathainn's fluff works really well with this
> Keep up the good work!


The Baal Predator is pretty much a name of a design, because the Blood Angels refused to give up the SCT and therefore it hails from Baal. The name of the chassis with turret doesn't need to be changed in my army (since they still are Baal Predators), it's the "nickname" that I have to come up with.

I will never stop rambling. Often I'm stopped only by the fact that it's in the middle of the night over here and I have to sleep 



The Wraithlord said:


> That is one bad ass looking rhino!


Rhino with twin-assault cannon turret and armoured front  But she will be able to stand in as a rhino as well since she's all magnetized. I'm hoping the complete unit of 3 will look even more awesome then the individual tanks (of which this is the first).



DrinCalhar said:


> Dude I love this. Thanks for giving me so many ideas and cool ways of displaying my work on Heresy Online.


I'm not sure what specific things I've inspired you to do but I'm glad I could help out! I was actually thinking of making a post on how to make an interesting Project Log but I'm not sure where it could be posted to make it easily visible and if it would be interesting for anyone to read...



unxpekted22 said:


> can you explain this "wet blending"? I mean I'm sure I can come up with a general concept as to what that means but it'd be good to make sure I have a better plan for doing it properly.
> 
> I like the fluff set up you've got swimming around in your head....heh...and that marine still looks really awesome even after not seeing it for a while. I'm guessing that Aettir word eventually turned into ether which made me think of Draugr Ethereals, but then you've got that whole Tau idea sticking you in the brain whenever you say it. I think something along the lines of what you got would be a good name though for sure.


Basic Wetblending tutorial hope that's of some help. I could try explain it better but I'd have to make pictures and I think that guy has it pretty well explained (the bottom tips in particular with many layers of thinned paint).

I might have a more "Space Marine"isch name in the works for you, some suggestions will be mentioned further down!



Varakir said:


> Never stop rambling  Just like Svart's log, your commentary on the creative process is just as interesting as the incredible work being produced.
> 
> Baal predator is gorgeous, and loving the ideas for the new chapter :victory:


I won't stop, I just need to know when enough is enough and when I start to type in circles  It's a good thing if it makes sense for someone at least. I type out all my thoughts here on heresy, I've mirrored my plog on warseer but it's basically just pictures there with links to heresy. I get a lot more and better (more useful) comments here then I do on warseer - that's what typing out the process gives you (and that's my way of trying to lure some of them over here as well, hehe).



Scathainn said:


> First off, as for a chapter name, I think going short and simple would be the best: The Draugr. According to the myth of Norway at least (can't say for you silly Swedes :grin: ), there are two distinct types of Draugr: Sjøendraug, or "Sea Draugr", and Jordendraug, "Land Draugr". The Draugr were described in Norse Myth not as undead, but warriors who "refused to die". This could be explained in your background as the bionics bit, as these warriors all experienced tremendous amounts of pain only to "refuse to die" and recieve bionics to bring them back to health. So, then, keeping with the bionics the Sjøendraug could fit the sense of immortal bionic warriors while keeping the sense of being a Space Sharks successor. In addition, perhaps high-ranking members of the chapter (captains perhaps?) could be called Sjövættir, which in Norse myth were spirits who guarded specific waters and were sometimes considered the keepers of the Sjøendraug.
> 
> EDIT: Additional tidbits. Sjøendraug were sometimes described as headless fishermen dressed in oilskins; perhaps a special character ala your Sanguinor count-as? And another interesting fact: the Draugr's only weakness (besides decapitation) was fire; seems a bit at odds with your Phoenixes :biggrin:


Very interesting read, I'm trying to paste together a good comprehension of the myth from pieces of information on the internet - and I must say that a lot of the nuances gets lost in translation from Scandinavian languages to English, the mythological words just aren't translatable in a good way (hence the undead appearance in the story, I believe).

I'm definitely mostly after a feel of power beyond the flesh which I think the myth captured very well. And with the pieces of fluff stolen from the Sharks further down in this post I think there is a reasonable enough connection to make them shark successors and still make them heavily influenced from the Iron Hands as it comes to use of Dreadnoughts and Bionics which is probably where I want to land.

Perhaps I could use a spin off on the headless stories as I make my Vaylund Cal counts as (could be cool, you've definitely sown some ideas about that concept).

About the vættir in general they are pretty much my favourite part of the Norse/Scandinavian cultural heritage. The diversity of their presence and stories are so cool and I can understand why people had such strong respect and belief in them.

I think I'll be able to tie the chapters together. If not by some cool fluff story then at least via the old "Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer".

----

And the tracks keeps on...
Even though I have a lot of time on my hands these days my painting is progressing painfully slow at the moment. We all have these periods I guess. I think my main quarrel was the fact that I wasn't to sure about how to finish of the bird freehand which made me put it aside a lot to work on what was going through my mind (the other successors and IA10 a lot these days). It's still a slow climb for me, and I'm going to have to push to be able to finish it and weather it before the end of January.

At the moment I'm trying to give the birds structure (remove all the completely red areas) on top of the tank before I decide how to do with the sides. The doors are magnetized and will pretty often be replaced with the sponsons which have a lot of detail in them so I think the sides are going to work with my plan of doing just the wings of the big bird there. Possibly I'll do the rhino doors with freehands similar to the one on the dozer, just to give some details to them (I think it will look a bit booring otherwise). 

Here's a top down view of the current status, with and without the turret:








Time Spent: ~9 hours

----

While on the subject of IA10...
So, as time goes by I'm still tossing around ideas and I've gotten a lot of good input from you all, which is very nice since it helps me condense a better result in the long run.

There are a few things I like a lot about the Carcharodons, here are a few quotes from IA10 which are pretty much dead away stolen into my successors when drawing up the concept in my mind:


Imperial Armour Volume 10 said:


> Those that fought besides them remarked upon their ability to seemingly erupt from absolute stillness to fury in a moment and without warning, and then equally without warning withdraw *like ghosts* from the battlefield [...]





Imperial Armour Volume 10 said:


> [...] *eerie silence during their attack*. Their officers' commands issued via a locked and encrypted vox-net, not a word or sound were being uttered during battle to friend or foe save out of extreme necessity.





Imperial Armour Volume 10 said:


> [...] when viewed in the flesh, [they] were also singular, displaying a greyish-pale, *almost deathly pallor*, with their more venerable members possessed of liquid-seeming *black eyes* without a visible iris or sclera.


*Bold* emphasis is my own markers.

The things I like about the Iron Hands/Sons of Medusa is the clan structure (I like things that differ from the codex) and their affinity for ancient machinery and bionics (No specific quotes for this just yet but I might find some later on). I'm guessing these aspects won't be hard to steal and infuse into my chapter which I'm now pretty sure will remain as a Space Shark Successor chapter. Perhaps they found a way to still their bloodlust by removing the weakness of the flesh(?)

Possible new chapter names to fit the theme:
*Void Specters
Void Sharks
The Specters
or maybe even
Ghost Sharks :shok:*

Chapter symbol suggestions are welcomed!

As you could read in the previous post what I'd like is a force where everyone wears some kind of helmet (which leads me to another problem later on with the scouts) with a heavy focus on infantry and walkers to simulate the "Ghastly Specters" feel. I will try to embody a boarding party/unit (to perhaps possibly play scenario in IA9 sometime) but the bases will be more heavy industry with dirt added to it - not to confine the army only to industrialised/ship environments (which isn't available at the time where I play anyway so I'll make that sacrifice). I'm thinking of doing some of the scenario specific units as conversions just to have smaller projects to work with on the side  (there are some attack drones and explosive drones available as well as tiny shields for marines to avoid heavy fire).

Basically I want to include units that my Blood Angel army doesn't have a lot of or ever will include. At the moment that stands to be Tacticals, Scouts, Terminators and Devastators with the addition of dreadnoughts (since they are so cool).

I'm going to need a lot of bionics for the Power Armoured marines, which I'm not sure how to get a hold of just yet. There is the Iron Hands conversion pack which I guess I could get pieces from. I also have the FW character conversion pack which contains a few arms and a pair of legs (as well as a head without a helmet). But I'm going to have to convert some of the stuff by hand so I'll be experimenting with plasticard rods and gears and cogs from old watches as well as alternative miniature suppliers (tips would be nice!).

I've finally got a reason to make some scouts, which I've had a lot of ideas for very long but no need for in my BA army. I want to make at least a 5-man bolter unit with cammo cloaks. I want them to have helmeted heads (as if they where able to operate in low-/no-oxygen environments) which I have no idea of where to get, the sites I know about doesn't make decent helmeted heads that would fit my taste (tips on this would be welcomed as well). I'll also be making custom cammo cloaks with urban/ship camouflage in greenstuff for them - which I've been envisioning for a long time and I think it could be an awesome conversion/addon. If the first 5 turn out well I'll buff the unit up to 10 with a heavy bolter for good measure. I'm pretty sure they will be crap on the field but hey!

Considering the Dreadnoughts I'm going to use the ones I'd planned to make into Death Company dreads as Riflemen/Normal dreads. This decision has also given me use of the Autocannon arms I bought ages ago from FW, which is a neat bonus! MAYBE I'll buy one or two of the MK IV ironclads from forgeworld to represent my Ironclads in this army. I'd love to have at least one MK IV dread in the army (since they are just so wicked in so many ways).

Some of you might recognize this fellow:









Right now I'd sure like to paint him to get the ball rolling but I'm going to keep focus on the Baal for the time being.

That's all my rambling for tonight! Comments on this is of course very welcomed! and I'm sorry if I keep changing my mind back and forth, that's the problem with sharing the creative process I guess... :russianroulette:

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Svartmetall

Loving the paint job on that Predator; the only suggestion I would make is to darken down the central bird's plumage where the two side birds meet it, to give a greater sense of the side birds being above the central one; at the moment the area where the two meet is a bit flat. Have some rep for taking some risks paint-scheme-wise.

And name-wise, I'd go for *Void Spectres*...


----------



## sanguinius noob

sorry i've not posted in a while xeno, i was busy gaping at all your stuff again, SUPERB doesnt even cover half of it.

love whats going on, your army in the end if going to be one amazing army, i cant wait for the final army shot!

as for your chapter.. i think void specters sounds best, as for the symbol, i dont know, something sinister with a pair of black eyes on a grey triangle? i dont know thats just a quick thought, liking the dread, you see too many stand in riflemen dreads because of the forgeworld kit, good to see one!

+rep if i can!


----------



## JAMOB

Ok. So i think you should use the deathly hallows sign (yes i did say that) with two circles instead of one, higher up so they look kindof like eyes. If you dont ill think of w way to use that. And i agree with void spectres, but if so youll have to make your no open heads idea be perfect with no exceptions, to show silence of the void. Nice work as always.


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


> And the tracks keeps on...
> Even though I have a lot of time on my hands these days my painting is progressing painfully slow at the moment. We all have these periods I guess. I think my main quarrel was the fact that I wasn't to sure about how to finish of the bird freehand which made me put it aside a lot to work on what was going through my mind (the other successors and IA10 a lot these days). It's still a slow climb for me, and I'm going to have to push to be able to finish it and weather it before the end of January.
> 
> At the moment I'm trying to give the birds structure (remove all the completely red areas) on top of the tank before I decide how to do with the sides. The doors are magnetized and will pretty often be replaced with the sponsons which have a lot of detail in them so I think the sides are going to work with my plan of doing just the wings of the big bird there. Possibly I'll do the rhino doors with freehands similar to the one on the dozer, just to give some details to them (I think it will look a bit booring otherwise).
> 
> Here's a top down view of the current status, with and without the turret:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Time Spent: ~9 hours


I think that the Baal looks absolutely fantastic! The birds are shaping up nicely and they are really beginning to fill the space and blend the model together. All I can say is excellent work. 



xenobiotic said:


> While on the subject of IA10...
> So, as time goes by I'm still tossing around ideas and I've gotten a lot of good input from you all, which is very nice since it helps me condense a better result in the long run.
> 
> The things I like about the Iron Hands/Sons of Medusa is the clan structure (I like things that differ from the codex) and their affinity for ancient machinery and bionics (No specific quotes for this just yet but I might find some later on). I'm guessing these aspects won't be hard to steal and infuse into my chapter which I'm now pretty sure will remain as a Space Shark Successor chapter. Perhaps they found a way to still their bloodlust by removing the weakness of the flesh(?)
> 
> Possible new chapter names to fit the theme:
> *Void Specters
> Void Sharks
> The Specters
> or maybe even
> Ghost Sharks :shok:*
> 
> Chapter symbol suggestions are welcomed!
> 
> As you could read in the previous post what I'd like is a force where everyone wears some kind of helmet (which leads me to another problem later on with the scouts) with a heavy focus on infantry and walkers to simulate the "Ghastly Specters" feel. I will try to embody a boarding party/unit (to perhaps possibly play scenario in IA9 sometime) but the bases will be more heavy industry with dirt added to it - not to confine the army only to industrialised/ship environments (which isn't available at the time where I play anyway so I'll make that sacrifice). I'm thinking of doing some of the scenario specific units as conversions just to have smaller projects to work with on the side  (there are some attack drones and explosive drones available as well as tiny shields for marines to avoid heavy fire).
> 
> Basically I want to include units that my Blood Angel army doesn't have a lot of or ever will include. At the moment that stands to be Tacticals, Scouts, Terminators and Devastators with the addition of dreadnoughts (since they are so cool).
> 
> I'm going to need a lot of bionics for the Power Armoured marines, which I'm not sure how to get a hold of just yet. There is the Iron Hands conversion pack which I guess I could get pieces from. I also have the FW character conversion pack which contains a few arms and a pair of legs (as well as a head without a helmet). But I'm going to have to convert some of the stuff by hand so I'll be experimenting with plasticard rods and gears and cogs from old watches as well as alternative miniature suppliers (tips would be nice!).
> 
> I've finally got a reason to make some scouts, which I've had a lot of ideas for very long but no need for in my BA army. I want to make at least a 5-man bolter unit with cammo cloaks. I want them to have helmeted heads (as if they where able to operate in low-/no-oxygen environments) which I have no idea of where to get, the sites I know about doesn't make decent helmeted heads that would fit my taste (tips on this would be welcomed as well). I'll also be making custom cammo cloaks with urban/ship camouflage in greenstuff for them - which I've been envisioning for a long time and I think it could be an awesome conversion/addon. If the first 5 turn out well I'll buff the unit up to 10 with a heavy bolter for good measure. I'm pretty sure they will be crap on the field but hey!
> 
> Considering the Dreadnoughts I'm going to use the ones I'd planned to make into Death Company dreads as Riflemen/Normal dreads. This decision has also given me use of the Autocannon arms I bought ages ago from FW, which is a neat bonus! MAYBE I'll buy one or two of the MK IV ironclads from forgeworld to represent my Ironclads in this army. I'd love to have at least one MK IV dread in the army (since they are just so wicked in so many ways).
> 
> Some of you might recognize this fellow:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Right now I'd sure like to paint him to get the ball rolling but I'm going to keep focus on the Baal for the time being.
> 
> That's all my rambling for tonight! Comments on this is of course very welcomed! and I'm sorry if I keep changing my mind back and forth, that's the problem with sharing the creative process I guess... :russianroulette:
> 
> ----
> 
> Till next time :bye:


I like everything you are going with with your new chapter and I am glad that you are going to continue to incorporate the Space Sharks into the imagery and background. I am particularly taken with the chapter name the Void Sharks. I think that one really ties together all the fluff that you are keen on. 

I love the idea for the scouts but off the top of my head I can't think of anything that will really suit what you are going for. I will keep an eye out for things in my jaunts around the internet and if I come across anything I will give you a shout. 

As for the chapter symbol: I have really been taken with your space imagery on the Baal and as such I think that you should go with a lot of that imagery with your Shark successors as from what you have said it sounds like they are going to spend most of their time among the stars. However to differentiate them from the work on your Brethren, you should go with mostly cool tones. Blues and whites, grey swirls, and the like. I am rubbish with the photo shop but I found a couple of images that really took me.


































all of these hit on the cooler color tone that I think would be fantastic alongside the current color scheme you have for the new chapter. Perhaps something like one of these images:


















or this with more color:










superimposed on the swirling star vortex thing would be pretty cool as a chapter symbol. 

Just some thoughts.


----------



## unxpekted22

Are you allowed to use models with forge world parts like that in games? just wondering, not sure for example if the SM codex has rules for adding twin linked auto canons to dreads or anything like that.

I'm kind of confused about the carcharodons, is that the NEW name for the space sharks? or is it a separate chapter entirely? I've read a summary if IA10 but dont actually have the issue myself.

Pred additions looks amazing as usual haha.


----------



## Npf6

Great Freehand work, LOVE IT!


----------



## Scathainn

Void Sharks! Cheesy marines - go!

Or even better - ROBO-SHARKS! :grin:


----------



## Asamodai

The only bit I have to comment on right now is the helmeted scout heads. I've seen alot using heads from Pig Iron but personally I think the Forge World Elysian Drop Trooper helmets would fit well.


----------



## Battousai1184

WOW :shok:!!! Absolutely amazing work. You make me want to quit painting...or paint more to try and get better.

+Rep. Keep it up sir.

Battousai


----------



## xenobiotic

And ideas need to be considered...

----



Svartmetall said:


> Loving the paint job on that Predator; the only suggestion I would make is to darken down the central bird's plumage where the two side birds meet it, to give a greater sense of the side birds being above the central one; at the moment the area where the two meet is a bit flat. Have some rep for taking some risks paint-scheme-wise.
> 
> And name-wise, I'd go for *Void Spectres*...


I keep going back and forth with the colours, I'm probably going to land somewhere when I have a good enough distinction between the individual birds. I mustn't get stuck in it for to long though cause then I'll miss out on the challenge!



sanguinius noob said:


> sorry i've not posted in a while xeno, i was busy gaping at all your stuff again, SUPERB doesnt even cover half of it.
> 
> love whats going on, your army in the end if going to be one amazing army, i cant wait for the final army shot!
> 
> as for your chapter.. i think void specters sounds best, as for the symbol, i dont know, something sinister with a pair of black eyes on a grey triangle? i dont know thats just a quick thought, liking the dread, you see too many stand in riflemen dreads because of the forgeworld kit, good to see one!


Thanks!

You're going to have to wait for a while for that photo because the end for this army is not even close at this rate. Probably at least a year (possibly more) if I keep at it with this rate and try to keep my purchases at a low rate and not get distracted by other shiny things.



JAMOB said:


> Ok. So i think you should use the deathly hallows sign (yes i did say that) with two circles instead of one, higher up so they look kindof like eyes. If you dont ill think of w way to use that. And i agree with void spectres, but if so youll have to make your no open heads idea be perfect with no exceptions, to show silence of the void. Nice work as always.


I have some ideas about the helmeted concept, should work out just fine. There will be a lot of room for minor conversions and tweaking in that army, something I've been wanting to do for a long time but really didn't have the skills or know-how (or even the tools for) before.



Midge913 said:


> I think that the Baal looks absolutely fantastic! The birds are shaping up nicely and they are really beginning to fill the space and blend the model together. All I can say is excellent work.
> 
> I like everything you are going with with your new chapter and I am glad that you are going to continue to incorporate the Space Sharks into the imagery and background. I am particularly taken with the chapter name the Void Sharks. I think that one really ties together all the fluff that you are keen on.
> 
> I love the idea for the scouts but off the top of my head I can't think of anything that will really suit what you are going for. I will keep an eye out for things in my jaunts around the internet and if I come across anything I will give you a shout.
> 
> As for the chapter symbol: I have really been taken with your space imagery on the Baal and as such I think that you should go with a lot of that imagery with your Shark successors as from what you have said it sounds like they are going to spend most of their time among the stars. However to differentiate them from the work on your Brethren, you should go with mostly cool tones. Blues and whites, grey swirls, and the like. I am rubbish with the photo shop but I found a couple of images that really took me.
> 
> all of these hit on the cooler color tone that I think would be fantastic alongside the current color scheme you have for the new chapter. Perhaps something like one of these images:
> 
> Superimposed on the swirling star vortex thing would be pretty cool as a chapter symbol.


You're just full of spurring ideas aren't you? You're almost making me want to paint my marines in space patterns  Or at least darken the grey areas and do it on them and maybe some other kind of pattern on the turquoise side. Oh, the danger of ideas!

I'm liking the shark symbols. I *might* be able to greenstuff a suitable icon on a shoulderpad and make a press mould out of it to duplicate it across the squads. Maybe even do a few variants to make them a bit different but still very similar... Then I could paint freehand space phenomena around that...



unxpekted22 said:


> Are you allowed to use models with forge world parts like that in games? just wondering, not sure for example if the SM codex has rules for adding twin linked auto canons to dreads or anything like that.
> 
> I'm kind of confused about the carcharodons, is that the NEW name for the space sharks? or is it a separate chapter entirely? I've read a summary if IA10 but dont actually have the issue myself.
> 
> Pred additions looks amazing as usual haha.


Riflemen dreads are in the normal SM codex, costs 125 pts and has 2 twin-linked autocannons. You might not be aware of it since you're playing Black Templars and they can't have that configuration 

And yes, the Carcharodons is just a new name for the old Space Sharks 



Npf6 said:


> Great Freehand work, LOVE IT!


:victory:



Scathainn said:


> Void Sharks! Cheesy marines - go!
> 
> Or even better - ROBO-SHARKS! :grin:


:spiteful: Or maybe not Robo-sharks 



Asamodai said:


> The only bit I have to comment on right now is the helmeted scout heads.  I've seen alot using heads from Pig Iron but personally I think the Forge World Elysian Drop Trooper helmets would fit well.


Yes, I'm thinking that as well, they look space suit:y enough and with some modifications to the scouts I might have been able to pass them off. I think I'm going to try one other option before I resort to that one though.



Battousai1184 said:


> WOW :shok:!!! Absolutely amazing work. You make me want to quit painting...or paint more to try and get better.


I'd suggest the latter of those two options :O

----

Isn't this starting to get annoying?
As you might have suspected I've done some more painting on the Baal Predator, pretty much finished of the top freehand. Now I've run into some new problems - I have no idea if I should continue it down the back. The tailfeathers will look short if I don't but the steep angle might make them look odd anyhow(?). Your input into the matter would be welcomed.








I'll also have to speed up my painting the coming days.. Oh my oh my...

----

About them Sharkies...
It feels like we've fleshed out the chapter pretty well in our discussion now, hopefully I haven't ignored anyone totally in my dictatorship that is this thread.

About the chapter name I was first more inclined to go with *Void Specters* (which I think sounds very much like a typical space marine chapter name) but then I realised I had no chapter symbol ideas what so ever to fit that theme which made the *Void Sharks* more appealing for me (since I have some ideas for that). One thing doesn't rule out the other I guess, they could be the Void Sharks and still be called the Void Spectres or just Specters.

I think I'm going to try my hand on a Shark chapter symbol, if possible I'll try to sculpt it on a shoulderpad and make a press mould to make more of them which would save me to freehand a more complicated symbol over and over again.

About the scout heads I had some ideas, going about the net I figured that it would probably have to be Elysian Drop Trooper heads or Cadian Respirator heads. Both have different upsides and downsides.

*Elysian Droop Trooper Helmets:*
Example miniature not done by me and picture not taken by me








Pretty small (as many FW things are when put into comparison with other GW plastics)
I don't like the glasses
Does indeed look very "space suit" like and have a sci-fi/high-tech appearance (then on the other hand space marine suits aren't very super high-tech).

*Cadian Respirator Helmets:*
Example miniature not done by me and picture not taken by me








Bulkier (which is both good and bad)
Has cooler googles
A bit to much "guardsman"?

As I was pondering these ideas I happened across the B&K-site which I do from time to time and I saw that he had a lot of the Iron Hands bionic helmets in stock so I bought a bunch of them and while I was ordering stuff anyway I went ahead and bought a batch of cadian respirator helmets. I figure I might as well give them a try and see what I can do with some minor adjustments (I have some ideas but I'd rather toss them to you with an actual attempted picture rather then spill them all now).

I also decided to order a big mix or plasticard rods of different smaller sizes (0.6 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.0 mm) which I'll be using to make bionic pistons and such on my marines but ALSO on my scouts, which I figure will need some kind of reinforced armour to withstand low pressure environments on a spaceship. We'll see how that goes. Suffice to say it will be an expensive scout unit with a lot more conversions going into them then any troop choice should get...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

As far as the tail feathers go I think you should continue them down the back. The angle may be weird but I think that as it stands right now the design just stopping there at the back of the rhino looks unfinished. 

I think that your best bet may be the cadian helmets. I have been keeping an eye out for something suitable as a suggestion, but no luck so far. I will let you know if I find anything.


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## unxpekted22

my opinions are:

If you have the wings going down the sides you should probably have the tail going down the back. I don't think the angle will be too much of a problem, and if you put that tank on a game table and someone said anything other than holy shit that tank looks amazing or something similar then you'd have the right to hit them. '_hrm I dunno looks pretty good I guess, but that angle of the feathers on the back really brings down the model for me, I've seen better'... SMACK*_ haha j/k I know as a fellow painter that its more about your own satisfaction with the model than anything.

Void sharks is so much better than void specters zomg

Those Arbite helms would probably look pretty legit. Definitely give them a try. How would you do one of those 'molds' of something you painted?


----------



## Warpetrie

yeah i say go for painting the tail feathers, a blank back would look off even if you did the stars. Take a look at these heads, they look pretty cool and ive seen them used on scouts before 
http://chapterhousestudios.com/webs...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=78&category_id=35

heres a pic 









sorry about the really bad pic i dont know what happened 


you could also try Pig Iron heads


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

The pred is looking great Xeno. I think you should carry on the tail onto the rear door also.

Scout heads. Here's a shot of one of my imperial fists with some pig iron heads:



















Not a _Great_ picture but you get the idea for what pig iron heads can look like. 

Keep it up bud.


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## JAMOB

I like either the Pigs or the heresy ones the best personally. The other one just looks weird in general. Excellent work as usual.


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> Isn't this starting to get annoying?
> As you might have suspected I've done some more painting on the Baal Predator, pretty much finished of the top freehand. Now I've run into some new problems - I have no idea if I should continue it down the back. The tailfeathers will look short if I don't but the steep angle might make them look odd anyhow(?). Your input into the matter would be welcomed.


You always annoy me. You get stuff done!...

You wouldn't have had that tail problem if the bird wasn't so fat... No, really 
I would continue with the tail. It looks more wierd when it's unfinished than going down at a bad angle. Now maybe you will make a plan so it won't hapen on the next tank? 
As always, wery high quality on your paint job, looking forward to see it finished.


----------



## Midge913

If you want the Chapter House ones I would hurry up before GW shuts them down for IP violations:biggrin:


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> As far as the tail feathers go I think you should continue them down the back. The angle may be weird but I think that as it stands right now the design just stopping there at the back of the rhino looks unfinished.
> 
> I think that your best bet may be the cadian helmets. I have been keeping an eye out for something suitable as a suggestion, but no luck so far. I will let you know if I find anything.


I'm holding my thumbs that the cadian helmets will work out, after all I'll only need around 10-20 of them depending on how many units of scout equivalents I want/need in the army. While expensive I guess it can be worth it to get the look I'm after (the unhelmeted scout heads are just so big and.. well, bad).



unxpekted22 said:


> my opinions are:
> 
> If you have the wings going down the sides you should probably have the tail going down the back. I don't think the angle will be too much of a problem, and if you put that tank on a game table and someone said anything other than holy shit that tank looks amazing or something similar then you'd have the right to hit them. '_hrm I dunno looks pretty good I guess, but that angle of the feathers on the back really brings down the model for me, I've seen better'... SMACK*_ haha j/k I know as a fellow painter that its more about your own satisfaction with the model than anything.
> 
> Void sharks is so much better than void specters zomg
> 
> Those Arbite helms would probably look pretty legit. Definitely give them a try. How would you do one of those 'molds' of something you painted?


Heh, the people I play with have hard time seeing what I've painted on some vehicles actually. The rear of the first rhino I did for this thread is a mystery for them (which I find odd). They might actually be one of those hypothetical persons you just brought up :russianroulette:

I wouldn't do a mold out of something I've painted. I would make an icon out of greenstuff and make a press mold to duplicate it onto other items (such as the helmets) in greenstuff. Sorry for the confusion.



Warpetrie said:


> yeah i say go for painting the tail feathers, a blank back would look off even if you did the stars. Take a look at these heads, they look pretty cool and ive seen them used on scouts before
> http://chapterhousestudios.com/webs...page=flypage.tpl&product_id=78&category_id=35
> 
> heres a pic
> 
> sorry about the really bad pic i dont know what happened
> you could also try Pig Iron heads


While visually interesting (I've looked at those particular heads before for other reasons) they aren't really what I'm looking for. The biggest problem is perhaps that they are very different from each other and I'd like this particular unit to have a cohesive "standardized" look with some personal mods and extra equipment added to them (lenses, freehands, chapter icon sculpt - such things).



imm0rtal reaper said:


> The pred is looking great Xeno. I think you should carry on the tail onto the rear door also.
> 
> Scout heads. Here's a shot of one of my imperial fists with some pig iron heads:
> 
> Not a _Great_ picture but you get the idea for what pig iron heads can look like.
> 
> Keep it up bud.


There's just something about those particular heads I can't wrap my mind around which makes me reluctant to use Pig Iron heads for my scouts. I've found they look better on IG bodies and I'll be using heads from Pig Iron when I do my IG army (ages from now most likely).



JAMOB said:


> I like either the Pigs or the heresy ones the best personally. The other one just looks weird in general. Excellent work as usual.


I have some heads from Pig Iron lying around (enough to make an Imperial Guard army of them, actually) and they suffer from being pretty small when compared to other space marine helmets and heads which is one thing I don't like. The other thing is that they lack the feeling I'm looking for in this particular scout unit.

Reference here is a trial IG soldier I've been mocking about with from time to time to try out cammo patterns:









I have a feeling these scouts might end up as a very iconic unit in the army.. Which is kind of odd for a 5-man Scout squad. Ah, well.



Tossidin said:


> You always annoy me. You get stuff done!...
> 
> You wouldn't have had that tail problem if the bird wasn't so fat... No, really
> I would continue with the tail. It looks more wierd when it's unfinished than going down at a bad angle. Now maybe you will make a plan so it won't hapen on the next tank?
> As always, wery high quality on your paint job, looking forward to see it finished.


Actually I do have plans for all my freehands as I start them out, and this one was planned as a "fat bird" from the get go. Actually, the initial idea contained only the big bird along with a massive field of falling stars going in the same direction as the bird. 

Thing is, as you work with a miniature of this size you tend to change your concept as you go along (since you're actually seeing how it comes together). So I dropped the falling stars and I added another 2 birds. Another thing about painting such a big freehand with many different angles (which makes it hard to see what you have painted already - in order to compare it with what you are painting at the moment) is that you tend to do things a little different which can screw the overall feel up quite a lot.

It's a complicated process - much easier to make a painting on a flat surface (a canvas). I'm definitely going to need to do something vastly different after this tank because I'm just exhausted by this particular freehand.



Midge913 said:


> If you want the Chapter House ones I would hurry up before GW shuts them down for IP violations:biggrin:


Hehe, I was thinking about that as I read the suggestion, not much of a surprise though :biggrin:

----

Since last time I've gotten some more freehand work done. To be honest I'm all emptied out on this vehicle now, I'll have to push to get it done but it should be possible. I know there are some areas that could use touch ups but I'm fed up with the birds and I'll try to cover some mistakes by wear and tear instead in the weathering process. I still have some stars to do on the rear and the front sides (along with highlights on those black areas). After that it's minor details (lenses, lights and metal parts) then it's all weathering (the tracks will stay black till the very final step of the weathering process which is when they get a metallic sheen, I've found that to be the easiest way to "paint" them).








Time spent: ~13 hours

----

Hopefully I'll have another update to show you soon™
Till next time :bye:


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## Midge913

I like it. It definitely looks finished as far as the freehand goes so I wouldn't worry too much fiddling about with it. The wings down the sides and the tail down the back are really nice. Excellent work buddy!


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## Tossidin

Changing the consept as you go? It was a bad plan then? (yes I am kidding) 

Looks wery good man, you managed to make it look even better than I had thought, good job!


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## CLT40k

I think the Cadian helmets would look awesome... Just as long as it's not the scout head... They're aweful and make the scouts look like hunchbacks...


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## JAMOB

Amazing job on the bird i like the extensions on it. Whatever heads you want should work fine. Anyway, i was looking through my personal Black Library (containing our 3rd gen codexs/rulebook + fluff books) at the BA ones in particular. I read in Red Fury (by James Swallow) that the Angels Sangiune never show their faces: they always wear helmets in presence of others, to a man. Are you going to do something like this with you sharks? Was that your inspiration? Nice work as always, +rep if i can

*Edit* vBulletin Message
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again.


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## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I like it. It definitely looks finished as far as the freehand goes so I wouldn't worry too much fiddling about with it. The wings down the sides and the tail down the back are really nice. Excellent work buddy!


Weathering will balance a lot of the minor issues out - I'm very thankfull I started to dabble with that right now otherwise it would have been hell to get it finished tomorrow. 



Tossidin said:


> Changing the consept as you go? It was a bad plan then? (yes I am kidding)
> 
> Looks wery good man, you managed to make it look even better than I had thought, good job!


You are a very angry man 



CLT40k said:


> I think the Cadian helmets would look awesome... Just as long as it's not the scout head... They're aweful and make the scouts look like hunchbacks...


Compared to many other heads GW have done the scout heads are probably the at least amongst the worst. I also dislike the fact that they'd throw recruits into warfare without even the option to have helmets on :shok:



JAMOB said:


> Amazing job on the bird i like the extensions on it. Whatever heads you want should work fine. Anyway, i was looking through my personal Black Library (containing our 3rd gen codexs/rulebook + fluff books) at the BA ones in particular. I read in Red Fury (by James Swallow) that the Angels Sangiune never show their faces: they always wear helmets in presence of others, to a man. Are you going to do something like this with you sharks? Was that your inspiration? Nice work as always, +rep if i can
> 
> *Edit* vBulletin Message
> You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again.


Actually I have a very firm idea of what they would look like without helmets (since they are related to raven guard and charcharodons they'd have pale skins with very dark eyes (even black eyes on some of the oldest marines)). The reason I want to portrait them with helmets on is that I want them to represent a boarding party fighting in low/no oxygen and/or gravity environments. There is a particular mission you can play in IA9 that portraits such a boarding action (there are even rules for what happens should there be a hullbreach as you fight). You can't walk around without a helmet there even if you're a kickass scout so I figure they'd have the equipment.

Another reason for it would be the chapter themselves living up to the rumour of being "Spectres". In order to keep the aura of mystery around them they communicate on encrypted lines and add to that fact that their helmets are on at all time and they'll simply look like huge ghosts walking around in silence as they fight with utmost devastation to the enemy.

Another reasons is quite simply the challenge to create them. It's going to be fun to try to sculpt cloaks since last time I tried I was an utter green stuff noob and it went horribly wrong.

----

I was hoping to get more done on the predator today (I was hoping to finish it actually) but it took me AGES to do the highlights on the black parts. This is where it stands at the moment. I've started to weather it, done some dust effects on the bottom and some paint chipping. Tomorrow I'll be adding metallic weathering, smoke stack ash, finish of the lenses and the lamps as well as doing the final "mud" cover to tie it together with the other vehicles better.








I'll also add a short fluff piece to go with the vehicle in tomorrows post.

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Ok then that makes sense. Nice job on the Tank yet again I love how it phases up and out. Has it just been ideas so far? Not much actual modeling on your spectres? Anyway love where youre going with this it looks really good and keep having fun with it!
-JAMOB


----------



## Boc

As always, I'm blown away by your free hand painting.

Any chances of a tutorial at some point? I'd love to be able to do half of that haha.

Top marks, mate


----------



## xenobiotic

Hi again! :bye:

----



JAMOB said:


> Ok then that makes sense. Nice job on the Tank yet again I love how it phases up and out. Has it just been ideas so far? Not much actual modeling on your spectres? Anyway love where youre going with this it looks really good and keep having fun with it!
> -JAMOB


No actual modelling apart from the sergeant and a few tactical marines. Just been doing a couple of legs and some bases on my spare time when I've had pieces of greenstuff over from other projects. Been gathering pieces for the first squad and I've ordered most of the things I need to produce the scouts (hopefully). Other then that I've been eyeing through the codex looking for nice units, upgrades and concepts, trying to tweak out an armylist to work towards (I feel I need a more definite goal with this army compared to my Brethren which are truly a more ongoing "never ending" project). Sometimes it's good to keep eyeing as much as possible and see what sticks out (sometimes you get your craziest, but coolest, ideas when you do things like that).



Boc said:


> As always, I'm blown away by your free hand painting.
> 
> Any chances of a tutorial at some point? I'd love to be able to do half of that haha.
> 
> Top marks, mate


I did a tiny walkthrough example when I did my Death Company Rhino, is that enough of would you like a more extended example? I could try to do something as I do my next vehicle if you'd like. And if there's something in particular you're after it'd help to know what you're interested in knowing/seeing.

----

Some of you might remember Battle-Brother Otho, or at least one of the stories of his heroism which this particular Baal Predator held a key roll in.

There was fire on the horizon as the angels of death descended upon our planet in a desperate attempt to save the sanctum from the daemons. Our defences close to failure. Our chances where slim for survival and the daemons had our lives within their deadly grasp. But just as our hope had begun to flicker a red hailstorm spread out across our position which then shattered into hundreds of warriors in shining armour with death as their liaison. Valiantly they fought the forces of Chaos and managed to repel a large proportion of their army.

But fighting Chaos takes it's toll. A demon prince, of unknown name to our scholars, put up heavy resistance and wounded and killed many battle-brothers. His rampage would surely have kept on going had it not been for the selfless Battle-Brother Otho who managed to lure the, now reckless, Daemon within the Baal Predators range bringing their assault cannons to full use. As if by intervention from the Emperor himself Otho managed to survived the daemons onslaught as bullet after bullet tore the daemon asunder and sent him back to the warp. And as such, the crew painted yet another star on their hull, a Brother saved in battle by the might of their machinery and its machine spirit.

*Baal Predators*, within the Brethren of the Phoenix, along with their crews typically serve in squadrons of 3 vehicles. With a crew unit of between 2-4 Battle-Brothers serving with every vehicle. Most common configuration is a squadron of 3 vehicles with a total of 10 marines, the additional marine being the squadron commander which is usually drafted from the veteran company. This particular configuration is called a _Hesperides squadron_ and acts as a front-line scout and reconnaissance utility with a broad and powerful short- to midrange fire capability should it be needed.

*Gloam* is the name of this particular Baal Predator and she is a member of one of the many _Hesperides squadrons_ utilized by the Brethren during conflicts in urban territories. Her particular squadron was named "Dusk-bringer" after their brutal front line assaults with flamer weapons in the Hive city of Arellexion IV which was a turning point in the war against the planets corrupt leaders.

The crew members of Baal Predators are used to proceed to forward positions and set up their tanks in deep cover while they await further orders or send out smaller squads for reconnaissance missions. To pass time they often spend it painting patterns on their tanks in order to bond with and please the machine spirit of the vehicles. This is no easy feat seeing as they also have to at least try to take camouflage into consideration as they adorn their vehicles. Because of this many of them choose to paint their tanks in darker colours.

When you first set your eyes upon her she looked like this:









_*Gloam*_, of the _Dusk-Bringer_ squadron, Baal Predator pattern armoured scout tank:








Time spent: ~18 hours

And here she is with the other vehicles (yes, the repressor has lost it's dozer - it fell of at the last game I played). For those curious, it's the exact same mud mix used on all these vehicles - you can definitely see what difference a background colour can do to anything applied on top of it:









C&C welcome as always.

----

So...
This proved to be quite the challenge for me. This was my first vehicle with black parts on it since I restarted my interest for Warhammer 40k and since I've taken a real interest in painting these soldiers to a high standard. It was a very time consuming to highlight the armour and it was harder to do compared to red highlights. On the other hand I also found out that black fields lend themselves very well to freehands (the space pattern came out fantastically well in my opinion).

That's about it for now, my mind is a bit tired. 

I'm not very keen on doing another vehicle for the February part of the challenge, mostly since I'm going away for a vacation and I have quite a lot of other things to get done that month so I'd be pressed to be able to finish it in time (seeing how long this one took me to complete).

Most likely I'll be doing a painting a Sanguinary Priest or a Librarian (or similar one man unit) just to get the ball rolling for me again.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Wonderful Xeno! Simply wonderful! I love the time you take to give everything a bit of fluff as well! Congrats on doing that amazing job in just a months time. Looking forward to the next installment as always. :good:


----------



## CLT40k

Awesome weathering... as usual


----------



## JAMOB

I love it. The pred is looking great and i love the stars/weathering. I would love to see you do a mephiston counts as, or something similar thats slightly different or something. Love the fluff bits, sounds great to me. You should post all the fluff with drawings of the squad/vehicles with it in a new thread, to make it more organized but keep it coming here. Or if youd rather just take pics of the guys instead of drawing them, but already existing drawings would be preferable. Amazing work as usual, id get to work just based off of this if i had more time... maybe if another snow day... love it and cant wait for more. once again ill try for rep, fingers crossed


*Edit* once again
vBulletin Message
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again.


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> You are a very angry man


Yeah, where are the side sponsons by the way?!!!! 


Anyway, it looks stunning. And... 18 hours..... I have used 30 hours on a tank that doesn't look as good as this... I hate you so much! :grin:


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions update: Void Sharks*

It's been a while but now I'm back with a construction & conversion update!
*SPECTRES A-HOY!*
Enter *the Void Sharks*! :aggressive:

----

I'd like to say thank you to everyone following this project log! Special thanks to all those that have taken time to write in the thread or PM me with your thoughts and input! I do my best to answer what I can when I can!

----



Midge913 said:


> Wonderful Xeno! Simply wonderful! I love the time you take to give everything a bit of fluff as well! Congrats on doing that amazing job in just a months time. Looking forward to the next instalment as always. :good:


Thanks a lot, Midge! I'm a bit surprised myself that I managed to pull it off, it was a strain in the end but worth it. Now if I just could juggle my everyday life with my hobbies better...



CLT40k said:


> Awesome weathering... as usual


Thanks, CTL40k, I'm glad you like it!



JAMOB said:


> I love it. The pred is looking great and i love the stars/weathering. I would love to see you do a mephiston counts as, or something similar thats slightly different or something. Love the fluff bits, sounds great to me. You should post all the fluff with drawings of the squad/vehicles with it in a new thread, to make it more organized but keep it coming here. Or if youd rather just take pics of the guys instead of drawing them, but already existing drawings would be preferable. Amazing work as usual, id get to work just based off of this if i had more time... maybe if another snow day... love it and cant wait for more. once again ill try for rep, fingers crossed
> 
> *Edit* once again
> vBulletin Message
> You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again


I would have to go trough all the fluff as well, there are some grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that I've missed as well as some conflicting info here and there. It's hard to keep it all up to date in your head as you write for each finished unit. I guess a summary could be cool. At the time I just don't have enough time on my hands to do any drawings at all 



Tossidin said:


> Yeah, where are the side sponsons by the way?!!!!
> 
> Anyway, it looks stunning. And... 18 hours..... I have used 30 hours on a tank that doesn't look as good as this... I hate you so much! :grin:


I thought 18 hours was way to long. Would have preferred if it could have been done in around 10 hours or so. I tend to lose my momentum if a single miniature progress to slowly which is was happened with this tank, kind of took my breath away and it took me a few days to pick up all of my other projects. But it's nice to have finished it.

The heavy bolter sponsons as well as the flamestorm cannon and the heavy flamer sponsons are in my "to do"-pile along with about 5 magnetized weapons for other miniatures and a whirlwind turret and twin-linked assault cannons for my razorbacks and other things I should do but keep putting of since they are "just bling bling" for miniatures I've already completed (sort of).

I did play a game with Gloam the other day (with heavy bolter sponsons and twin-assault cannon) and she preformed pretty well over all even if she didn't make her points back (but the terror factor is pretty big when playing vs orks with that load out).

----

You mentioned the Void Sharks?
Right. I was a bit put off by the amount of time I spent painting that baal predator so I felt I needed to get away from painting for a while (hopefully I'll be able to complete my ONE miniature for the challenge this month anyway ) so I decided to get some building done. While waiting for bitz shipments I spent an hour scrounging through the bit boxes I have amassed through the past year and picked out the pieces I felt could fit into my envisioned Void Shark Scout Squad.

The pile I came up with is pretty small but still full of variety (seeing as most pieces are pretty small that is). Hopefully I'll be able to get to use most of them (usually the process ends up in picking out 25 items and placing 23 of them back into the bin). And a few days later the first bitz shipment came through the mailbox so I set out to construct a few examples (just to see how they would come together). Here's the result of that experiment:








I think that the cadian respirator helmets fit the theme very well and they suit the bodies pretty well (especially when I scraped of the wings and skull emblem, at the front of the helmet, for some reason). The thing I dislike with these miniatures is pretty much the stale normal scout legs, they are just wickedly uninspired and makes for dull miniatures. Minor gap filling needed. Greenstuff detailing needed.

I decided not to try and make camo-cloaks on these miniatures just yet (thought I'd wait with that till I had a full squad built). These are pre-greenstuff, so no gap filling or detailing has been done - just basic kit bashing and bit scrounging. I'd be the first to admit that these are not very original nor exceptional in any way.

A day or two passed and I got another package in the mail, this time it contained 3 of the Land Speeder Storm Scout bodies! Now these offer some kind of interesting poses with only minor adjustments and equipment changes. I was pretty impressed by the very tiny work required to change their appearance quite a lot. Originally designed to sit/ride on the Land Speeder Storm they have a lot of movement and character in their posing - which I like. As I was working on these miniatures with these parts I realised I could probably be able to construct more poses out of them so I went ahead and ordered a full set of the scouts from that kit for future additions to this squad (or another).

Anyway, without further ado I give you 3 more members of this squad:








I'm not fully convinced by this one so far. His point of weight appears to be a bit off (as If he would fall) but it could be my eyes fooling me. The bipod sadly looks a tad to large and out of place for me so I might have to take that off even if I'd prefer to have a few of them in the squad (well, 2 at least, one with the legs spread out and one like this). Major gap filling and reconstruction needed. Greenstuff detailing needed.









This one will probably be a stand in sergeant for the time being (should I actually finish the squad quickly and play with it). His pose came out well with the base I constructed for him (which probably needs a bit of sand/gravel to meld with the others). Probably the easiest of the Land Speeder Storm scouts to convert to a normal one. Minor gap filling needed. Greenstuff detailing needed.









This one looks a bit odd to me, his hunchback pose was hard to adjust to a horizontal surface and I'm not convinced I succeeded. I guess I'm trying to make it look like he has huddling along in a semi crouched stance and noticed a target as he proceeded. Minor gap filling needed. Greenstuff detailing needed.

And here's the full Spectre squad so far:








Over all they need to be kitted out with tiny pouches and extra equipment (seeing as they are a front-line unit they need to carry a lot of their own equipment with them). I'm also thinking about kitting them out with something in the vein of bionics but I'm not sure how at the moment. A bionic arm on one of them would be cool later on (as the squad expands).

Right now I'm thinking I could try my hand at making a "count-as Telion" when my other pieces arrive, could be a nice challenge to splice something unique together. Before that I'll need to make the basic greenstuff work done and then think about if/how I'll do the cloaks. Then maybe I could... Or if I...
[...]

C&C welcomed and asked for.

----

Till next time


----------



## Midge913

I think your scouts are ruddy brilliant! I really like the way the Storm Scouts poses worked out on a horizontal surface. Even hunchback looks good! I totally by that he is trundling along trying to stay in cover. Good work mate! Though about color scheme for these guys?


----------



## unxpekted22

With the color scheme you've done for this new army, those will probably be the coolest scouts I've ever seen. Good call on making them from the land speeder scout models, definitely way more interesting than the standard ones. Reminds me why I like the tau fire warrior models so much. oh and I THINK the bipod looks fine, but your right it is hard to tell.


----------



## Varakir

Using the storm scouts is genius!

I have some scouts ready for assembly and i wish i'd thought of this to be honest 

Hunchback looks a little odd, and i think the addition of something to crouch under would help get the idea across, though the amount of space you have on the base probably wouldn't allow that.

The other 2 are excellent, and i think the kneeling guy looks better than any of the current scout poses out there.


----------



## Scathainn

Yes!

Enough of these birds, on with the fish! :biggrin:

But seriously, the Cadian Respirator heads look awesome. I actually think the hunchback looks good, too; he has that sort of predatory stalking feeling that I feel the Space Sharks embody.


----------



## Winterous

First of all, where the hell did Space Sharks come from?
I mean, I've seen mention of them a few times in this thread, but I could never see what the hell you guys were talking about.

Second, the crouching guy's main problem is his head's position, it just looks awkward at that angle.
And he should probably be crouching behind something, like a rock.

Third, what did you use for the stocks on the Boltguns?


----------



## Warpetrie

Winterous said:


> Third, what did you use for the stocks on the Boltguns?


 
I believe they are plasma gun stocks no?


----------



## warsmith7752

Scouts look like "pure sex" to use my friends vocabulary, the respirator helms and the gun attachments you put on really make it them look like geurella marines which is brilliant. Better have a good paintjob to finish them off or gork will send some orks after you for tarnishing the "kunnin"


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions update: Void Sharks pt 2.*

Yet another Construction & Conversion update about
the *VOID SHARKS*
_They will never know what's coming..._

----

Thank you all for the encouragement and comments!

----



Midge913 said:


> I think your scouts are ruddy brilliant! I really like the way the Storm Scouts poses worked out on a horizontal surface. Even hunchback looks good! I totally by that he is trundling along trying to stay in cover. Good work mate! Though about color scheme for these guys?


I was surprised how well most of themselves worked out. I've only seen them been used for this in one other project log so it was quite new to me but surprisingly easy to do compared to some of the more advanced pinning and reconstructing I've done before.

About the colours I'm thinking about doing the helmet as the marines (split with lighter nose/faceguard) along with yellow goggles. Then I'm keeping the chapter colours true on the shoulderpads and the chest/groin armour. The cloth/cloaks is what I haven't chosen colour for yet. They are supposed to be urban/desert warfare in the setting I'm utilizing them in so I might just have a look at http://www.kamouflage.net/ to see if I can find a nice scheme to copy...



unxpekted22 said:


> With the color scheme you've done for this new army, those will probably be the coolest scouts I've ever seen. Good call on making them from the land speeder scout models, definitely way more interesting than the standard ones. Reminds me why I like the tau fire warrior models so much. oh and I THINK the bipod looks fine, but your right it is hard to tell.


The bipod is made for heavy bolters so it should be a tad to big. Then again most things in warhammer 40k is so it doesn't look that odd compared to other things. I think I'll keep it for now - it adds some variety and individuality to the concept and the squad which is always nice. 



Varakir said:


> Using the storm scouts is genius!
> 
> I have some scouts ready for assembly and i wish i'd thought of this to be honest
> 
> Hunchback looks a little odd, and i think the addition of something to crouch under would help get the idea across, though the amount of space you have on the base probably wouldn't allow that.
> 
> The other 2 are excellent, and i think the kneeling guy looks better than any of the current scout poses out there.


You should have, they make excellent additions even if you only one or two of them for sergeant or something like that. Some of their arms are good to splice with other scout bodies as well just to spice things up - there definitely are many possibilities in the scouts in that kit!

You could always add some more scouts later on  or use some of the parts when you make a Telion counts as!



Scathainn said:


> Yes!
> Enough of these birds, on with the fish! :biggrin:
> 
> But seriously, the Cadian Respirator heads look awesome. I actually think the hunchback looks good, too; he has that sort of predatory stalking feeling that I feel the Space Sharks embody.


Fishmen a comin'!
The only downside about the heads is that they are very expensive just to make a cheap unit look better (point-wise) 



Winterous said:


> First of all, where the hell did Space Sharks come from?
> I mean, I've seen mention of them a few times in this thread, but I could never see what the hell you guys were talking about.
> 
> Second, the crouching guy's main problem is his head's position, it just looks awkward at that angle.
> And he should probably be crouching behind something, like a rock.


It's a secret society, fishmen talking fish language. It's also the start of an add on Space Shark (Charcharodon) successor army to give me another thing to work on when I can't stand painting red birds any more. They will be based on the normal SM codex with characters from IA9 and IA10. 

I see your point and I did experiment a bit with the base and I might have solved the issue. I'm not completely sure though and it was hard to take pictures of the miniature in question to provide the same "look" that it has IRL. A hint of what I've been working on can be seen in this update.



Winterous said:


> Third, what did you use for the stocks on the Boltguns?





Warpetrie said:


> I believe they are plasma gun stocks no?


That is correct, sir! When I first started to build Space Marines I had quite a lot of plasma guns but I could make the marines hold them without cutting of the stocks, naturally I did by my hamster genes kicked in and so I saved them for no apparent reason - which proved to be a good move since I have had a lot of use for them now, hehe.



warsmith7752 said:


> Scouts look like "pure sex" to use my friends vocabulary, the respirator helms and the gun attachments you put on really make it them look like geurella marines which is brilliant. Better have a good paintjob to finish them off or gork will send some orks after you for tarnishing the "kunnin"


Pure sex = High praise, good to know :mrgreen:

Minor conversions changes a lot, it's something every modeller should dabble with. As you go along you learn new tricks and soon enough you can tackle the bigger projects (which still daunts me - such as sculpting cloaks ...).

I'm going to be doing my best to give them a good paintjob when I come to that point.

----

So I took your input to heart and added a terrain piece to the crouching scouts base. He's sadly lacking his arm in this picture and the angle is to show the green stuff additions I'm trying to add to their helmets so I understand if you can evaluate the effect. I'll try to take some better pictures of him at a later date.

I spent some time today trying out the InstantMold I got in the mail (first batch of pressmolds have their items curing in them as I type) and if they work I'll be kitting these guys out with many tiny pouches very soon! 

I also decided to use some of the GS left from the moulding to try my hand at making tiny shark icons on the helmets of these guys. A steady hand, silicone tipped sculpting tools and a razor-sharp scalpel was the tools I used. I'm not sure I succeeded very well, I think I'll let your words weigh in (if you can see anything in these pictures) but they definitely look more "Sharky" than a skull with wings. The surfaces looks a little rough in these pictures (camera tends to exaggerate stuff like that): 









C&C welcomed and asked for!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Master WootWoot

What? A scout with terminator honours, which means he is allowed to wield a tactical dreadnought armour? He haven't even got his black carapace yet! 
But they are very cool, though!


----------



## Midge913

I like the start on the GS shark motifs, the middle one and the one on the right are really nice, but the one on the right is a little amorphous and doesn't really read as a shark. The addition of the terrain piece on the crouching guys base was a nice addition and helps the flow of the models pose. 

Nice work as always Xeno!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Those are seriously impressive scouts. The shark emblems must have been a pain to do, but look well worth that effort. Well done.



Master WootWoot said:


> What? A scout with terminator honours, which means he is allowed to wield a tactical dreadnought armour? He haven't even got his black carapace yet!


Scout Sgts can be qualified to wear termie armour. Their role means they will invariably be on a position to carry out some deed or act deemed impressive enough to be inducted to the 1st company, whilst remaining to train scouts.


----------



## Marneus Calgar

They look awesome, can't wait to see them painted up


----------



## Winterous

Master WootWoot said:


> What? A scout with terminator honours, which means he is allowed to wield a tactical dreadnought armour? He haven't even got his black carapace yet!
> But they are very cool, though!


First of all, which one is this? I can't see anything indicative of that.
Second, just because they haven't accepted Power armour yet doesn't mean they don't have the Black Carapace.


----------



## HorusReborn

nice work, though to be honest that head makes him look more IG than a marine.. even a lowly scout! I'm lovin the pose though!


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## JAMOB

I love it. The emblems on the head were nicely molded as you always seem to be able to do. Im just wondering, how would you adapt telion for BA? I know these arent, but that would be really useful... obviously a BA squad must have red thirst and not combat tactics (which by the way would be very interesting to play with...) and im curious. I love the poses, especially with the added terrain on the crouching man. I love how you fit that into the base so well, and I cant wait to see what you do for telion. Ill be watching carefully for sure.
-JAMOB


----------



## Winterous

JAMOB said:


> I love it. The emblems on the head were nicely molded as you always seem to be able to do. Im just wondering, how would you adapt telion for BA? I know these arent, but that would be really useful... obviously a BA squad must have red thirst and not combat tactics (which by the way would be very interesting to play with...) and im curious. I love the poses, especially with the added terrain on the crouching man. I love how you fit that into the base so well, and I cant wait to see what you do for telion. Ill be watching carefully for sure.
> -JAMOB


Space Sharks.
Note the SHARKS on their heads.


----------



## R3DM0H4WK

Winterous said:


> Space Sharks.
> Note the SHARKS on their heads.



Read your quote again friend, he clearly states he knows they aren't BA, Merely asking how you would do it for a BA army.


----------



## Winterous

Oh I see, so if he wants he could incorporate these guys into his BA army.

Alright then, apologies JAMOB


----------



## JAMOB

no problem. any ideas?


----------



## Grins1878

Much as it guts me to see painting that is far superior to mine (shows how far I have to go :biggrin: lol), it has to be said, your work is amazing. All three of those tanks are spot on. Looking forward to seeing the scouts painted!

Keep it up man :grin:


----------



## sphere830

Great project log. I really enjoy the free-hand and conversion work. This is a really inspiring collection of progress. So are we going to get to see a great looking Storm Raven for your Angels anytime soon?


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions update: Void Sharks pt 3.*

I know, I know, enough of these ramblings about building things and what to do with what piece where and when. You wan't to see painted things, well, I'm not giving you anything just yet. So if you're one of them browsers just for painted miniatures this update won't be something for you :biggrin:

----



Master WootWoot said:


> What? A scout with terminator honours, which means he is allowed to wield a tactical dreadnought armour? He haven't even got his black carapace yet!
> But they are very cool, though!





Khorne's Fist said:


> Scout Sgts can be qualified to wear termie armour. Their role means they will invariably be on a position to carry out some deed or act deemed impressive enough to be inducted to the 1st company, whilst remaining to train scouts.





Winterous said:


> First of all, which one is this? I can't see anything indicative of that.
> Second, just because they haven't accepted Power armour yet doesn't mean they don't have the Black Carapace.


We're talking about this picture:








The one on the left (at the front of his gun).

The background story of the Void Sharks will cover much of that debate. Particular routines and heraldry of individual chapters tied of from the Imperium for long times can be hard to imagine compared to say the Ultramarines. At what stage a recruit is allowed to serve as a particular role in a detachment of Void Sharks is something I have good ideas of but haven't completed in their fluff. All I know for sure is that those that serve as recon soldiers are NOT "fresh" recruits there to earn status - they are experienced space marine battle brothers that have taken another shape to perform a very different tactical role.

The loss of 1 WS/BS could be explained by their suits lack of exoskeleton, lack of high-tech data input from the power armour or even the bulk of the cloaks and their special way of fighting with this equipment (having to be more careful then you can be when using a tactical dreadnought armour for example). Pretty much technological drawbacks rather then purely explained by an "unskilled soldier". The Veteran Sergeant is better equipped and probably has the most experience (hence his WS/BS of 4) having served in this role exclusively for decades or even centuries.



Midge913 said:


> I like the start on the GS shark motifs, the middle one and the one on the right are really nice, but the one on the right is a little amorphous and doesn't really read as a shark. The addition of the terrain piece on the crouching guys base was a nice addition and helps the flow of the models pose.
> 
> Nice work as always Xeno!


Thanks!

Seeing as this was my first attempts at iconography of this size I take that as high praise 



Marneus Calgar said:


> They look awesome, can't wait to see them painted up


First test miniature will be painted soon™ 



HorusReborn said:


> Nice work, though to be honest that head makes him look more IG than a marine.. even a lowly scout! I'm lovin the pose though!


I think I've managed to remove most of the IG factor by taking of their original emblems. In my eyes it would make sense to use standardized equipment (for easy access) along with your carpace armour. The greatest users of that armour would be IG stormtroopers so it makes sense to derive your equipment from that source and modify it to meet your demands (which is what I assume they have done).

What I also love about these helmets are that they remind me of the mark IV power armour helmet which is my favourite by far!



JAMOB said:


> I love it. The emblems on the head were nicely molded as you always seem to be able to do. Im just wondering, how would you adapt telion for BA? I know these arent, but that would be really useful... obviously a BA squad must have red thirst and not combat tactics (which by the way would be very interesting to play with...) and im curious. I love the poses, especially with the added terrain on the crouching man. I love how you fit that into the base so well, and I cant wait to see what you do for telion. Ill be watching carefully for sure.
> -JAMOB


I wouldn't adapt him  I use each codex on it's on (apart from Apocalypse which I have yet to try). Mixing codex special rules and characters isn't something my friends would allow in an average game.

But since you asked I'd probably just change his Combat Tactics for The Red Thirst and then nothing more. I find him pretty balanced for his point cost and he has his uses.



Grins1878 said:


> Much as it guts me to see painting that is far superior to mine (shows how far I have to go :biggrin: lol), it has to be said, your work is amazing. All three of those tanks are spot on. Looking forward to seeing the scouts painted!
> 
> Keep it up man :grin:


Sad to be gutting you  Glad that you like what I've done. I believe that the most important thing about logging is showing things with each post as well as typing out your thoughts and your methods - that way you can get better input and you can inspire others to try similar things which inevitably leads to 



sphere830 said:


> Great project log. I really enjoy the free-hand and conversion work. This is a really inspiring collection of progress. So are we going to get to see a great looking Storm Raven for your Angels anytime soon?


Thank you 

You'll see a freehanded Storm Raven as soon as there's a discount on Maelstrom-games again. MAYBE I might be persuaded to buy two of those birds, haven't decided yet. I'm planning ahead for how I want the army to look in a display cabinet and two of them with some kind of awesome tank/commander diorama in the middle would be wicked (or even 2 storm ravens and a warhound :shok: oh, my wallet.. Ouch..)

----

Void Sharks, the camocloak technology.
This update is pretty much to hammer out the details about cloaks and to get some suggestions from you guys (should you have any). Therefore there will be a lot of babbling about materials and folding as well as some references to "future" technology in development.

There are some issues with making your own cloaks. If you want your miniature to look good you have to take many things into consideration.

Folding. Different fabrics fold differently as you wear it depending on how it is sown, how thick it is, what properties said fabric has and under/over what you wear it. There are many books on the subject of rendering good folds for artists when drawing and painting. Still the best examples are taken from real life. What makes folding even harder is that it changes A LOT as you move around and you have to make use of the folds to portrait the MOVEMENT of the miniature. If you have conflicting movements in the miniatures pose and the cloak itself the beholder of said miniature will notice something is wrong and it will look odd.

Another issue is the nature of your sculpting material. Greenstuff is very far from textile fabric in it's behaviour so you will have a hard time mimicking fabrics unless you have a lot sculpturing experience. Then again there is no textile fabric with small enough fibers to mimic a textile fabric in the 40k scale so using actual fabrics won't make it easier. The one good thing about GS is that you can make it into a a one piece that you can remove from the miniature when painting once it has hardened.

To add to it all you have a 3-dimensional object meaning you have to take a lot more things into consideration compared to when drawing. An object can look real and convincing from one side and utter crap from the other one.

The codex explains the camo cloaks as a light absorbing material that blends the user into it's environment. At our level of technology there are some examples of what that could look like (even if they are far from the "real thing" and only work in experimental setups with projectors). The effect would look like something like this:








Now, when looking at this picture you notice that the areas most prone to "give away" the cover are the ones that fold a lot (around the armpits and shoulders). Seeing this I realise that you'd want a material that doesn't fold very much and instead keeps as straight as possible while still retaining flexibility. This would have to be portrayed into my miniatures.

So, contemplating about these cloaks and the technology the Void Sharks could have I'm thinking of something called "Shimmerskin" for now on, that will utilize a light absorbing technology as it blends the wearer into the surrounding. While not directly powered as such I want it to have a "off"-mode and an "on-mode" mostly because that enables me to paint a cool freehand effect of how it looks in the off-mode. Areas with a lot of damage would show some kind of honeycomb pattern to portray that.

As I came this far I decided to make a first attempt at constructing a cloak. This is a one step prototype without any additions and refining. This was done as a one piece green stuff addition pushed into place and then manipulated. As such there are some areas (particularly at the top around the neck) that will need extra detailing later on. What I'd like to know is your opinion on the look so far and if you have any ideas of what needs to change?
EDIT: Some added explanation - the hole is supposed to be there (I want battle damage on the cloak)








You can also get a better look at the modified based I have constructed for this particular scout. If you have a keen eye you can notice the bolts with boltnuts that I've made to keep the armour plating upstanding, the amount of detailing I put into the base is over the top compared to what I have done before. 

EDIT:
I decided to add some comparison pictures along with a normal SM sniper I had laying about. Here you can see how the normal plastic coat looks when compared to this rough GS shape I've made so far. I'll let the images speak for themselves.









C&C welcomed as always

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Winterous

That cloak doesn't look too good, looks more like skin or mucous than fabric.

I think perhaps a better thing to do than using epoxy putty would be a very thin piece of actual fabric, dipped in PVA glue or something.
This allows the fabric to not only be manipulable in a fairly realistic way, but can also be dried in place so it stays how you want it.

Obviously it'd be tricky to get right, but I think it could work very well.


On a related note, the camo cloaks have always annoyed me.
They wear the things on their back, what good is that if you're facing the enemy?
You'd have the thing draped over your shoulders, and there would also be a section of it in front of your neck/chest; otherwise the benefit of wearing it is too minimal in a non-static position.
When you move around, far too much of the cloak will just be behind you, but when you're lying on the ground it'll work fine.
The cloaks should cover a large portion of the body regardless of movement.


----------



## Midge913

I on the other hand think the cloak is off to a decent start. As it is still a WIP I am going to ignore the hole in the back and some of the other fiddly stuff along the hems. I think that you have captured the scouts movement correctly in the cloak and with some clean up it will look spot on. For a start you are on the right track.


----------



## warsmith7752

Winterous said:


> That cloak doesn't look too good, looks more like skin or mucous than fabric.
> 
> I think perhaps a better thing to do than using epoxy putty would be a very thin piece of actual fabric, dipped in PVA glue or something.
> This allows the fabric to not only be manipulable in a fairly realistic way, but can also be dried in place so it stays how you want it.
> 
> Obviously it'd be tricky to get right, but I think it could work very well.
> 
> 
> On a related note, the camo cloaks have always annoyed me.
> They wear the things on their back, what good is that if you're facing the enemy?
> You'd have the thing draped over your shoulders, and there would also be a section of it in front of your neck/chest; otherwise the benefit of wearing it is too minimal in a non-static position.
> When you move around, far too much of the cloak will just be behind you, but when you're lying on the ground it'll work fine.
> The cloaks should cover a large portion of the body regardless of movement.


I have tried the thing with fabric before, it was an absolute nightmare to fit into position and the glue kept running off the fabric and onto the cobbled bricks I had used for this particular models base. It is possible but very fiddly and a high chance of failure if you ask me.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions update: Void Sharks pt 4 - Camo Cloak*

Short WIP update.

----



Winterous said:


> That cloak doesn't look too good, looks more like skin or mucous than fabric.
> 
> I think perhaps a better thing to do than using epoxy putty would be a very thin piece of actual fabric, dipped in PVA glue or something.
> This allows the fabric to not only be manipulable in a fairly realistic way, but can also be dried in place so it stays how you want it.
> 
> Obviously it'd be tricky to get right, but I think it could work very well.
> 
> On a related note, the camo cloaks have always annoyed me.
> They wear the things on their back, what good is that if you're facing the enemy?
> You'd have the thing draped over your shoulders, and there would also be a section of it in front of your neck/chest; otherwise the benefit of wearing it is too minimal in a non-static position.
> When you move around, far too much of the cloak will just be behind you, but when you're lying on the ground it'll work fine.
> The cloaks should cover a large portion of the body regardless of movement.


I think I'm going to agree with warsmith here. There are many problems with using actual fabric. One of them being the mess factor. The other one, and probably the most important one, is that 28 mm scale isn't big enough to actually make real fabric (at least average fabric) look very realistic or good. Specially when you compare it to the other cloth pieces on the miniature (the pants) - you have to keep some kind of congruence between the different parts of the miniature otherwise it will look off as a complete miniature even if the cloak would look "realistic".

While I hear your argument about the cloaks themselves it wouldn't be very nice to have miniatures that where just a cloak with a rifle (hehe). 

Other than that the best use you'd have from this kind of camo would be in a static position. While it certainly isn't a very reliable defence when it's not covering the entire body at the entire time when you're moving it can make a good enough difference (hence explaining the +1 cover save modifier) in a combat situation (where you being flanked would be a high risk as a infiltrating unit).



Midge913 said:


> I on the other hand think the cloak is off to a decent start. As it is still a WIP I am going to ignore the hole in the back and some of the other fiddly stuff along the hems. I think that you have captured the scouts movement correctly in the cloak and with some clean up it will look spot on. For a start you are on the right track.


It's probably the trickiest sculpt I've ever attempted, right now I'm fearing I'll run out of patience before I even complete the first one. 



warsmith7752 said:


> I have tried the thing with fabric before, it was an absolute nightmare to fit into position and the glue kept running off the fabric and onto the cobbled bricks I had used for this particular models base. It is possible but very fiddly and a high chance of failure if you ask me.


I hear you!

----

I've spent a good portion of the day trying to sort out different GS project I needed to get done. I can finally say I'm done with the body of my friends Hive Tyrant (that some of you might remember), only took me about 6 months - I need to get it off my to do list and off my desk!

Other then that it's been gap filling and re-ribbing on a lot of magnetized arms and weapon options for the Brethren of the Phoenix. Many tiny projects. I managed to complete most of them simply because I used my oven to cure the GS faster (about 30 min at 70 degrees C does the trick very nicely!).

This also enabled me to TRY and get something done on my camo cloaks as doing one fold every 8 hours wasn't going to work for me...

Here's where I'm at now and I'm all kinds of uncertain how it looks. Placing folds and doing the cloak justice is probably the hardest sculpting I've ever tried to do and it's starting to piss me off that I'm not getting it right. I've looked at tons of different pictures on google of different kinds of clothing (cloaks, ponchos and such) but it's still incredibly hard and tedious work.
Current status:








Comparison picture:









----

Till next time, hopefully with some PIP pictures then :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Definitely moving in the right direction mate! I like the addition of the hood it helps blend the cloak into the neck better. I also like the way that the fabric is affected by the terrain of the base on the rear view. It adds more realism to the movement of the cloth. Keep up the good work mate and don't let the tedium get you down as it is looking good.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

I'm loving the cloaks dude, i'm really curious to know how you are planning on getting the cloaked effect. I remember seeing a tau stealth suit that had been painted in stealth mode before but can't seem to find an online shot. Hmm guess i'll just have to wait and see.


----------



## Winterous

GrimzagGorwazza said:


> I'm loving the cloaks dude, i'm really curious to know how you are planning on getting the cloaked effect. I remember seeing a tau stealth suit that had been painted in stealth mode before but can't seem to find an online shot. Hmm guess i'll just have to wait and see.


I know the one you're talking about, and I can't find it either.
The one in the little diorama that was pretty close to invisible, right?


----------



## JAMOB

I like it alot. The one thing that really sticks out to me that is different between yours and the others is that there is that air thing on all the scouts backs and you cant see that as much in yours. There is like a square box on the others that sticks out a lot. Definitely coming along well though.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Exemplar pt 1*

Hi, everyone!
400 posts 

----



Midge913 said:


> Definitely moving in the right direction mate! I like the addition of the hood it helps blend the cloak into the neck better. I also like the way that the fabric is affected by the terrain of the base on the rear view. It adds more realism to the movement of the cloth. Keep up the good work mate and don't let the tedium get you down as it is looking good.


Thanks for you continuing support, Midge, sometimes all you need is someone pepping you when you're down in a rut for some reason. There's definitely some more folds to work out before I'm satisfied with it. I might try starting up some more cloaks to get a feel for it and keep the unit cohesive.



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> I'm loving the cloaks dude, i'm really curious to know how you are planning on getting the cloaked effect. I remember seeing a tau stealth suit that had been painted in stealth mode before but can't seem to find an online shot. Hmm guess i'll just have to wait and see.





Winterous said:


> I know the one you're talking about, and I can't find it either.
> The one in the little diorama that was pretty close to invisible, right?


Errh, hehe. I'm not sure I'll be able to make such an effect. I'm thinking more in the line of doing gradients of colour that appears like the immediate surrounding and then a couple of places where the cloak is flickering to show the "real" pattern of how the cloak looks when it's inactive.



JAMOB said:


> I like it alot. The one thing that really sticks out to me that is different between yours and the others is that there is that air thing on all the scouts backs and you cant see that as much in yours. There is like a square box on the others that sticks out a lot. Definitely coming along well though.


I think that's mostly an optic illusion brought about by the pose of that particular miniature... We'll have to compare the other scouts once I get around to do their cloaks that is.

----

It's been a few days since last time. I haven't worked on the cloaks any more. I felt it was necessary to take a hiatus from them to let the project sink in a bit and see if I'll change perspective on it. Sometimes it helps to put things away for a while (as long as you don't forget about them and let them rot in a box somewhere).

So, what little hobby time I had I've spent painting. Seeing as how I thought I was going on a vacation with my family next week I figured I'd only do a one of miniature for this months painting challenge - a Sanguinary Priest (Exemplar). However life has taken an unexpected turn and my mother suddenly needs to get eye-surgery rendering us unable to go on our vacation. On top of it all she's suddenly come down with the flu so now they have to postpone the operation and it's a bit iffy how her eye will manage. While the whole situation is very sad it also means I have a bit more time to spend painting this month, painting is a good way to keep your mind of things. I should be able to squeeze in a member of the honour guard along with the Exemplar! I've been pushing the Honour Guard in front of me for far to long now.

So, I guess all in all this is one of the more boring updates only showing a PIP (painting in progress) picture of my Exemplar. However I'm hoping that your initial reservations about this miniature are swayed a bit now that colour is making an entrance. Also, if you'd like me to do something special (a particular freehand or so) on him - this is the time to come with suggestions :wink:

Exemplar *Vitus*, 4th Company; Servant of the Master-Exemplar, Keeper of Embers.









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

Vitus is looking good so far man. 

Maybe for freehand, bring back the marble effect that captured out hearts so long ago :wink:

I think if you gave him a company champion shoulder pad, the upper part would be perfect for some marble effects. 

Also, I like the way the cloaks are coming along so far, very promising stuff. It's made me think about putting my storm scouts on magnet bases :grin:

Keep up the fine work dude.


----------



## Midge913

I am with Reaper. I think that one of your feather motifs on the marble champion shoulder pad would be ace.


----------



## unxpekted22

the feather symbol on one of the lower legs might be cool as well.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Winterous said:


> I know the one you're talking about, and I can't find it either.
> The one in the little diorama that was pretty close to invisible, right?


Yeah he had painted it with an eye closed so that he could make sure it matched the surroundings better. The closest i can find is this which appears to use the same effect but isn't as well painted.


----------



## Winterous

Yeah, like that one.
Except more impressive.

I think it won a Golden Daemon or something.


----------



## troybuckle

Hey Xeno, I’ve been following your thread for a while now and I got to say that you army is bad-ass man. Love the theme you got going on here, even though you have done a lot of epic work up to this point I have to say that the scouts you have put together are the best yet, I cannot wait until you got these guys painted – keep up the good work and don’t let those cloaks get you down - they are turning out sweet man.


----------



## warsmith7752

Paintjob has indeed swayed my opinion on the model xeno, I am opposed to having a shoulderpad, I think it makes the mini look much more techy(?).


----------



## Blueberrypop

Winterous said:


> Yeah, like that one.
> Except more impressive.
> 
> I think it won a Golden Daemon or something.












There ya go...

Or would It be this one


----------



## HorusReborn

aah yeah, that's a good one right there!


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Blueberrypop said:


> Or would It be this one


Yup, that's the kitty. This thing looks awesome.


----------



## Winterous

That is it indeed, nice find


----------



## Siskin

I am new to project logs .
This is some insane painting I love your work the white/red death company, the tanks.

Great job +rep(most I could give )

Siskin


----------



## JAMOB

Definitely no shoulder pad on that arm, maybe the champion pad on the other arm (?) either way its looking great. I think the marble effect would look great on him, and keep up the good work!


----------



## sphere830

omgitsduane said:


> this is such an amazing journey! and the god-damn bird you're doing is amazing.


I with the lot in awe of this thread. The free-hand is something to behold and strive for. 

I also wanted to say that this cat's enthusiasm just brighten my day significantly (however pathetic that may seem).


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Exemplar Vitus Completed*

Hey, all! :bye:
Thanks for all the support and comments!

----



imm0rtal reaper said:


> Vitus is looking good so far man.
> 
> Maybe for freehand, bring back the marble effect that captured out hearts so long ago :wink:
> 
> I think if you gave him a company champion shoulder pad, the upper part would be perfect for some marble effects.
> 
> Also, I like the way the cloaks are coming along so far, very promising stuff. It's made me think about putting my storm scouts on magnet bases :grin:
> 
> Keep up the fine work dude.





Midge913 said:


> I am with Reaper. I think that one of your feather motifs on the marble champion shoulder pad would be ace.


Do it! Most of the storm scouts can be placed on a nicely adapted base with no trouble at all. Also gives you an excuse to make more elaborate bases which can be fun to do every once in a while!

I was pretty decided on how which shoulders to use (as can be seen in the old picture of the miniature built) and sadly I think I only have one pair of company champion shoulderpads left (which I'm saving for later unless I can get more of them cheap somehow/somewhere...) so I didn't want to use them for this particular miniature (rather saving them for more tech adepts ans such). I also need to keep some kind of similarity between all the sanguinary priests specially now that I've begun making them with magnetized backpacks so I can change between the normal apothecary backpack and a jump pack.

Also, when it comes to marble effects it strictly a red armour effect and the arms + shoulderpads are always white on my miniatures (only exception sofar is the tech adept with company champion shoulder pads) which kind of rules it out for this particular miniature.

Anyway, now that I'm done with this miniature I can move on to my many other projects (sculpting and building). 



unxpekted22 said:


> the feather symbol on one of the lower legs might be cool as well.


Taken, using the big spaces on the legs is a superb idea!



troybuckle said:


> Hey Xeno, I’ve been following your thread for a while now and I got to say that you army is bad-ass man. Love the theme you got going on here, even though you have done a lot of epic work up to this point I have to say that the scouts you have put together are the best yet, I cannot wait until you got these guys painted – keep up the good work and don’t let those cloaks get you down - they are turning out sweet man.


I'm glad you like what I have done so far! Half of it probably wouldn't have been made if it wasn't for the continuing support of the Heresy members, so a lot of kudos goes right back to all you guys!

It will probably be a while before I paint my first scout, I want to finish of the cloak first but after that I probably won't be able to hold myself off any longer (knowing myself, hehe). Then again I have to come up with how I want to paint them also, which I haven't decided yet...



warsmith7752 said:


> Paintjob has indeed swayed my opinion on the model xeno, I am opposed to having a shoulderpad, I think it makes the mini look much more techy(?).


Then I'm probably going to disappoint you again since I want to use a shoulderpad on him 



Blueberrypop said:


>


That's lovely and impressive and all, but I'm not going to try such an effect on 5-10 scouts (they're not worth the time vs points quota). :laugh:



Siskin said:


> I am new to project logs .
> This is some insane painting I love your work the white/red death company, the tanks.
> 
> Great job +rep(most I could give )


Project logs are the best thing on the forums, I just love browsing through them, reading about peoples ideas and stealing inspiration!

Thanks for your comment and rep 



sphere830 said:


> I with the lot in awe of this thread. The free-hand is something to behold and strive for.
> 
> I also wanted to say that this cat's enthusiasm just brighten my day significantly (however pathetic that may seem).


Freehanding actually comes pretty easily after a while, as long as you keep to less exact symbols (no perfect cirles or rectangles) it's just trial and error. Of course any painting experience helps a lot at the start.

----

Stories? You want me to tell you stories? You should know I'm not a storyteller, young brother. 

What did you whisper under your breath, recruit?! You think I am a bitter sceptic, do you? Oh, I wouldn't say the fact that I lost my arm has made me bitter, brother, but rather the fact that my arm reminds me of the Brethren I couldn't save that very day in that gruesome battle. But that aside I don't think there's any reason to uphold each and every battle-brother in here to the status of heroes by telling younger brothers, such as yourself, about the fanatic exploits and heroism of our chapters veterans.

You know, at the end of the day, each and every one of us is a hero, apart from you, and you should know that even if you might be reluctant to acknowledge it. But don't worry, if you're such a storyteller then you'll have plenty of time to tell future recruits stories about our exploits as time passes, and you know why? Because I'll make sure you'll survive each and every wound you'll manage to suffer as you propel yourself straight into the enemy lines with the vigour of a flock of phoenixes and an ember burning brighter than a star. And I will abide you with that service because that is my calling and that is my honour. Or as you would have put it, *my story*.

Exemplar *Vitus*, 4th Company; Servant of the Master-Exemplar, Keeper of Embers.









Exemplars of the 4th Company:









On a side note I'm overwhelmed by how many different colours I'm using for these miniatures:









C&C welcomed as always.

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## sanguinius noob

loving it xeno! literally my favourite project log at the moment. vitus looks amazing, as does the group shot of all the priests. 

i kinda hoped you would do the stealth thing on the scouts, but your only mortal (?) so i realised it would be way too time consuming.

still, it would be cool if you did it at some point!

+rep if i can


----------



## Midge913

Excellent work mate! I love the way that he turned out and I don't see any disparity between the bionic arm and the shoulder pad. They group shot is fantastic!

On a completely unrelated note..... 2,000 posts!


----------



## unxpekted22

Vitus seems to be missing a few purity seals, at least in comparison to his brothers there haha. 

The one on the left could use some touch up on the spotlight, only pointing it out in case you looked over it or something. 

Nice fluff piece!

I forget what you're working on next. Guess I'll find out next update.


----------



## HorusReborn

I really like the white and red you've got going. I'm becomming a huge fan of "dirty" white armour and your work is convincing me more and more... However, I do think that the edging of your shoulder pads and the shading of your white could be cleaned up a bit with a glaze or two of a sepia wash or something, just to eliminate some of the chalkiness! Have some rep


----------



## Tossidin

I was going to say that he looked a little bland. Then I read the fluff piece, and realised that he really fits his fluff, if you know what I mean. And he also looks better when paired up with his brethren. It's actually really interesting, and something I will try to incorporate (is that a word?) in my painting from now on. So you won't only get the usual "Job well done", but also a "Thank you" for showing me another perspective, intended or not


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions update: Void Sharks - Boarding/Siege Marines*

*Hi, again, these days I'm all over the place!*
I'd like to thank everyone who commented, PM:ed and/or +rep:ed me - you make all the difference and you're the reason Heresy-Online is such a great place! 

I'm also happy to announce that this Project log has now passed 50'000 views as well as the recent 400+ posts. I'm very proud of what this log has become and you all deserve a thank you for hanging in here with me!

----



sanguinius noob said:


> loving it xeno! literally my favourite project log at the moment. vitus looks amazing, as does the group shot of all the priests.
> 
> i kinda hoped you would do the stealth thing on the scouts, but your only mortal (?) so i realised it would be way too time consuming.
> 
> still, it would be cool if you did it at some point!
> +rep if i can


Thank you for your kind words, Sanguinus Noob!

I do believe I am mortal and I don't wish to challenge the assumption just yet (should I be right). Realistically I can't spend the 10+ hour per scout with a cloak, worth 18 pts each. It'd also require them to have some kind of background which most of them doesn't have. It will be a more generic effect but I'll try to keep it in the same vein. 



Midge913 said:


> Excellent work mate! I love the way that he turned out and I don't see any disparity between the bionic arm and the shoulder pad. They group shot is fantastic!
> 
> On a completely unrelated note..... 2,000 posts!


I like how he turned out as well, similar yet distinctly different from the others. Although they will never be joined into one unit it's still nice to know they are unique.

And man, you've really been at it lately, your name is all over the place :wink:



unxpekted22 said:


> Vitus seems to be missing a few purity seals, at least in comparison to his brothers there haha.
> 
> The one on the left could use some touch up on the spotlight, only pointing it out in case you looked over it or something.
> 
> Nice fluff piece!
> I forget what you're working on next. Guess I'll find out next update.


It's to fit in with his fluff actually - he's one of the bitter ones that refuses to put a lot of official jewellery on :wink: He does have a blood drop gem on his belt - his way of showing respect to the Brothers he failed to save.

The difference on the lamps is that the one on the left has his turned on while the other ones aren't - so that explains why it looks differently even if it doesn't come across as that...

Well, I'm hardly ever working on ONE thing - rather 12 or 13 of them at the same time...



HorusReborn said:


> I really like the white and red you've got going. I'm becomming a huge fan of "dirty" white armour and your work is convincing me more and more... However, I do think that the edging of your shoulder pads and the shading of your white could be cleaned up a bit with a glaze or two of a sepia wash or something, just to eliminate some of the chalkiness! Have some rep


Thanks 

I'm not sure of what you mean with "chalkiness" to be honest, so if you could elaborate on that I'd be grateful.



Tossidin said:


> I was going to say that he looked a little bland. Then I read the fluff piece, and realised that he really fits his fluff, if you know what I mean. And he also looks better when paired up with his brethren. It's actually really interesting, and something I will try to incorporate (is that a word?) in my painting from now on. So you won't only get the usual "Job well done", but also a "Thank you" for showing me another perspective, intended or not


I know what you mean. And you have to keep in mind that as you're making an army every sergeant and soldier can't be "unique" all over the place. Because then the bling-bling will take over and go over the top and you'll end up with units overly cluttered with details (which is ok for some of them but not all). That kind if balancing acts also gives a lot of flavour between the individuals - which I find nice. 

----

Update!
So, poking about the bit boxes and considering you guys mentioning the company champion shoulder pads a lot in the last few posts of the thread I guess it stuck in my mind and so I decided to try out the InstantMold I got a few weeks ago to do something more complicated then pouches.

So after a few trials and back and forth (and some headache) this is the result I came up with:








Two of them are original pads and 3 of them are made of grey stuff (along with one in green stuff).
They did need quite a lot of cleaning up and trimming to make them look as they do in the picture but they are definitely usable! And as I gained some success with the shoulder pads (saving me about 1-1,5£ on each pad had I bought them separately) I now realised I had some things I wanted to try out...

Ages ago I came across this thread on B&C which has some impressive conversions for Honour Guards and Veterans which I liked. I saved the page since I wanted to use the method before but back then I didn't have any spare company champion shoulder pads nor did I have a dremel (or plasticard rods for that matter) so I couldn't do it.

Here's an example from that thread for those afraid of links:








*Miniatures in this picture where not made by me, all kudos goes to the original artist, picture is used without permission from original artist.*

But with a, now seemingly, endless supply of these shoulders I could get to work and try some things out. Now, the thing is I couldn't really find any use for such a shoulder pad in my Brethren Army meaning I instead turned to the IA9&10 lists for counts as options (I always feel better doing conversions that can actually counts as something). Therefore I would have to use them with my Void Sharks, which even though they will be used in conjunction with my Brethren (tacticals and scouts to start with) they would later on be used on their own.

Anyway, in IA9 we have the boarding action mission which enables marines to use:


Imperial Armour 9: Badab Wars part 1 said:


> *BOARDING SHIELDS [GEAR]*
> Shown on Models. Chose a single squad in your army with the infantry type, that squad is now equipped with boarding shields. Boarding shields provide their users with a 5+ invulnerable save. However they are cumbersome and models equipped with them may not opt to run in the Shooting phase, and cannot claim the extra attack for being armed with an additional close combat weapon.


In IA10 we have the Siege Assault Vanguard list which enables tactical marines to take:


Imperial Armour 10: Badab Wars part 2 said:


> *Siege Mantels (Additional Tactical Squad Special Rule)*: Space Marines with Siege Mantlets must be modelled appropriately with a large shield of some kind. A Siege Mantlet equipped squad may re-roll failed armour saves against Shooting attacks only. Siege Mantlet equipped squads may not run or make Sweeping Advances or be transported in Rhinos or Razorbacks. Independent Characters joining a Siege Mantlet equipped unit gain their benefit while part of the unit, but also must abide their restrictions.


Both of these options use shield like structures to protect themselves from the enemy, most likely using them to protect from incoming fire in tight situations where transports might not always be usable. I figure they would work well with the Void Sharks preferred method of fighting... [bla bla bla, this is starting to get a bit to long now]

So I spent the afternoon putting together a prototype marine for my Void Sharks tacticals:








I'm going to add some more details to the shoulder pad, I want it to look like the shield is hinged somehow - enabling some kind of movement in the lower portion of the armour plate (which is why there is a gap in the current position of the plates). 

On a side note I've been reading up on some of the space marine honours and badges which led me to an interesting read about the Imperial Fists and their use of the scrimshaw which is a tradition and handiwork I could foresee my Void Sharks using as a way to add individuality between themselves...

Anyway, enough blabbering, feel free to C&C as always!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Interesting looking stuff mate. Makes things a little to unwieldy for my own personal tastes but the fluff and rule set is pretty cool. Would love to see it finished and painted. Execution wise the conversion is very nice. Keep it up man.


----------



## JAMOB

I think the finished apothecary turned out really well, and it fits the fluff beautifully. As for the prototype marine it looks good. Would that be the 5+ invulnerable or the re-roll missed saves? Either way it fits the part. and amazing job with this.


----------



## piemaster

I've not been on HO for ages but have been following your plog via email since p27 and all I can say is that its nice to see your army grow. Lots of lovely images and whatnot. Keep it up.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Honour Guards*

Hideho, all!

There's been an absolute explosion in activity in the project log these last few days, which is superb and a lot of fun! It also pressures me to keep at it so that I can push my log to the top again. At the same time I have a vow to myself always to have something to show you guys, so, here we go.

----



Midge913 said:


> Interesting looking stuff mate. Makes things a little to unwieldy for my own personal tastes but the fluff and rule set is pretty cool. Would love to see it finished and painted. Execution wise the conversion is very nice. Keep it up man.


Compared to them carrying a bulky rectangle with a vision slit I think I prefer something looking like this actually. And then we have the whole power armour discussion, hehe. But it would be cool to add some kind of exo-skeleton structure to some of them just to get the message across (and fit in with the bionic theme).



JAMOB said:


> I think the finished apothecary turned out really well, and it fits the fluff beautifully. As for the prototype marine it looks good. Would that be the 5+ invulnerable or the re-roll missed saves? Either way it fits the part. and amazing job with this.


That would be the extended left shoulder pad (the green and white parts on the picture). Which could be an extended armoured plate with an incorporated field generator (to provide more protection then meets the eye).



piemaster said:


> I've not been on HO for ages but have been following your plog via email since p27 and all I can say is that its nice to see your army grow. Lots of lovely images and whatnot. Keep it up.


Thanks, piemaster, always nice to know that there are people following the progress even if they don't do it "out loud" so to say. Unless some unforeseen event happens I'll be adding to this army (and the space sharks, but I've come to view them as one unit these days) for at least another year (probably a lot more) so there should be plenty to see as we go along.

----

Progress!
There's a lot of different projects going on at the moment.

For the Army Painting Competition next month I'm thinking I might be up to the challenge of painting an *entire* 5-man assault marine squad (being led by the mutated bird man you have all seen), impressive for me, huh? I feel I ought to give it a try mostly to challenge myself but also to finish of some of those desperately needed troop choices for future games (I know jump infantry aren't the best of the best but they do present some interesting tactical choices which I would like to try out sometime).

Some of you know that I'm easily persuaded by ideas I get (and I have a lot of ideas). I had an initial thought of doing as much vehicles as I could in the Army Painting challenge, but after seeing how much time I spent on one Baal and how I really should push myself into doing more infantry units I'm tweaking my list for the challenge a bit if I can pull this first squad off. All in all I'm thinking about producing an actual playable army by the end of the challenge (so, an army within the army(?)).

*Here's how the list is looking at the moment* (green = done)*:*

_Secret surprise project_
Furioso Dreadnought
Drop Pod
Sanguinary Priest (magnetized for jump pack)
5-Man Assault Marine Squad with jump packs
5-Man Assault Marine Squad with jump packs
Baal Predator
Baal Predator
Vindicator
Vindicator
Whirlwind
_Secret surprise project_

Obviously there are 12 items on the list and we only need to produce 10, but it's nice to have a plan for all of them if I have the momentum to achieve it. We'll also see how long I can keep my mouth closed about the secret projects  (I'm hoping my IRL friends won't drop the bomb and ruin the surprise for you guys)

So with that goal set I finished up the building process with the first assault marine squad (i.e. making the bases, pinning everything that needs pinning and finishing off details) and as soon as march hits they are ready to be painted!

Have a look at their current status:








By the way, I was thinking about how to paint my marines now that I'm getting a fresh start on the troop choices with these Assault Marines. Should I paint their helmets in any other colour? If I did them as I did before they would have red helmets but I guess this opens up possibilities - the Blood Angels have yellow helmets on their assault marines - should the Brethren adopt a similar viewpoint?

As a warm up for next month I'm going to try my hand at painting 3 marines at the same time to complete the Honour Guard squad I've been dragging behind me for ages now. I've just started but I'm working my way down all the different highlights for the red armour:









Other than that we have some minor progress on the Void Sharks, the first average Tactical Marine prototype has moved on to painting and the scout cloaks are getting more folds. Not very much to show you visually just yet though, so hang in there!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

I understand its the white thing on their arm, but you talked about two things it could be which is it? I must say i love birdmen, and the assault marines in general are coming out great. For their helmets I think do something similar but different. Perhaps try white helmets with some yellow symbol on it or something like that? They should be different but easily distinguishable. Nice job on them so far. What are the 3 redmen?


----------



## Djinn24

They are looking good. I like the white thing in their armor. It has a certain flow to it.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Honour Guards, part 2*



JAMOB said:


> I understand its the white thing on their arm, but you talked about two things it could be which is it? I must say i love birdmen, and the assault marines in general are coming out great. For their helmets I think do something similar but different. Perhaps try white helmets with some yellow symbol on it or something like that? They should be different but easily distinguishable. Nice job on them so far. What are the 3 redmen?


Oh, I misunderstood then, I'm thinking it's neither nor and it can be both. Seeing as those are both equipment types used either in special scenarios or with a particular special army list from forgeworld to be used for space marines I can go either way depending on what I want to try out.

Up till now I had the organisational view on the Brethren looked like this:
Non-veteran: Red helmet
Veteran: White helmet

Now, since I painted my first assault squad I've pretty much exclusively done units with white helmets so it's safe to say that they have grown on me quite a lot. Doing different symbols on helmets might actually be a good idea for diversifying the army instead of just doing helmet colours. Now I just need a suitable symbol...

I am however thinking about giving the Death Company marines (or Ember enraged) red helmets instead of their current white ones. I have an idea that it might make them pop even more if I did that.

The miniatures I'm painting at the moment are the 3 remaining marines for an Honour Guard unit (I've previously posted the tech adept and the sanguinary initiate from the squad).



djinn24 said:


> They are looking good. I like the white thing in their armor. It has a certain flow to it.


Thanks, djinn!

----

Painting?
I basically just wanted to show that I've gotten some painting done on the honour guards:








As you can see I'm pretty much done with one of them (so far). I got a little carried away with the armour highlights and instead of stopping myself I let go and did as much painting as I wanted to which proved to be a good tactic. We'll see how it goes the coming days and I might have a good structure to adapt to the Assault marine squad I'll be doing for March.

Here's a better look at the one I've been working the longest with:









Hopefully I'll have another update for you soon™
Till then :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Looking good Xeno. I am always amazed at the depth of tone that your red armor has. The bionic leg looks great and the yellow on it really helps to break things up on the model. Nice touch. Can't wait to see the finished product.


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> Hopefully I'll have another update for you soon


You better make sure you do! :wild:


----------



## JAMOB

I love it, nice job on the bionic leg especially that was done amazingly. Keep it up!


----------



## warsmith7752

*drool* red armour *drool* bionic leg is really nice also and gives the army a bit more flavour.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Secret project No. 1*

Hi, all, it's been a while since last time!

----



Midge913 said:


> Looking good Xeno. I am always amazed at the depth of tone that your red armor has. The bionic leg looks great and the yellow on it really helps to break things up on the model. Nice touch. Can't wait to see the finished product.





JAMOB said:


> I love it, nice job on the bionic leg especially that was done amazingly. Keep it up!





warsmith7752 said:


> *drool* red armour *drool* bionic leg is really nice also and gives the army a bit more flavour.


It took me quite some time to get it the way I wanted it, experimenting back and forth, looking at other peoples logs and suggestions until I came up with the recipe I'm using now which I'm very satisfied with. It's actually pretty quick to learn and to use (user friendly), the washes are what brings it together so nicely (the miniatures look pretty odd and bright before the final Baal Red wash). 

I tried some of that Midge magic on the metallic parts (up till now I've left metallics pretty much at a basecoat + badab black stage), experimenting with boltgun metal base with different washes and a highlight of chainmail and even a touch of mithril silver is in there. I see now that pretty much every colour can become better with just a few spots of highligts.

The yellow and black cords is something I enjoy doing ever since I did a few test miniatures of a Iron Hands successor chapter and I found it added some life to the miniatures. It's pretty easy to do on smaller items and it ties in with the old school kind of comic relief that warhammer 40k used to have without it taking the overhand. I guess it also makes sense to put some kind of warning on some cables seeing as how they might be crucial for function or even dangerous should they be damaged (easier to replace them if you can see them clearly I guess).



Tossidin said:


> You better make sure you do! :wild:


You'll just have to learn to wait 

----

Update :friends:
I had planned for this particular miniature to be a Secret Project until I was finished with it but it's a somewhat trial and error miniature and I feel like some input would be good for me (I've almost come to depend on it :spiteful before I pick up the brushes some time in the future.

This is a Librarian for my Brethren of the Phoenix (if that wasn't clear by looking at the picture). He's a splice between Shadow Captain Korvydae and the Sevrin Loth miniatures from Forgeworld along with a Raven Guard veteran helmet and some parts spliced together to become a two-handed force axe.









I'm making him with a jump pack since I want to include him in a Jumper-list I'm slowly progressing towards (the first squad of which I'm painting this month) and don't worry, I'll be making a foot-slogging Librarian as well. I just didn't want to magnetize this miniature for a couple of reasons and I think the flow of the miniature is better this way (with the jump pack).









Now. What I've done so far is that I've tried to add a psychic hood made out of grey stuff and green stuff to represent that actual piece of equipment. I have however made no adjustments to the helmet meaning it's a pretty tight fit in there but hopefully it works(?).

I've also adjusted the right arm and spliced together and Honour Guard axe with a normal handle from the sanguinary guard box in order to create the Force Weapon/Staff. I'm worried the handle might be two long as it is? Or maybe I should change the head of the weapon into something other than a blade to make it into a staff instead of an axe?

Thoughts?

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Midge913

I think that you have an excellent conversion there Xeno. I wouldn't change the axe/staff at all. It is a very impressive weapon and I think that it works really well. I think that you have done an excellent job meshing the two kits, but I think the psychic hood needs to come up over the helmet just a little more. It kinda gets lost behind the helmet, especially once you get the jump pack on there. I see that this may be a bit of a problem with the beak of the raven icon on the JP hanging over into that space, but I really think that the hood needs just a little something more to make it read. Paint may do that in the end, but in the raw it gets lost. 




Xenobiotic said:


> I tried some of that Midge magic on the metallic parts (up till now I've left metallics pretty much at a basecoat + badab black stage), experimenting with boltgun metal base with different washes and a highlight of chainmail and even a touch of mithril silver is in there. I see now that pretty much every colour can become better with just a few spots of highligts


Glad to help! I wouldn't call it magic though, just experimenting with suggestions from others. Adding colored washed to metallics really can make them pop. 

Keep up the good work man, I really Think that you have managed a really nice conversion there, keeping the movement and presence of both models, while incorporating the bird motifs of the Korvydae piece. Can't wait to see it painted up.


----------



## Zodd

The Librarian is wonderfull. The haft of the axe has just the right lenght, because being two-handed, the librarian can better balance when air-borne.
And the psychic hood is fine, it don't always have to be the large hood, as often seen lately, imho. This is very WYSIWYG. +rep.


----------



## Npf6

The hood looks great. and the staff / axe looks fine.


----------



## Warpetrie

That is an awesome looking model  :shok:

I think the length of the handle is fine and so is the head of the weapon. The axe balances the model out instead of having a thin sword blade. Also with the hood i think it should come over his head a bit more, it’s been said before but it does kind of hide once the JP is on. 

It’s such a clean conversion....I’m kind of jealous ^_-


----------



## unxpekted22

lots of cool little pieces there from all sorts of different kits it looks like. Maybe most of it comes from the raven guard pieces I dunno haha, Haven t ordered any myself. Is that like a MK V jump pack? I'm a fan of the MKV armor a lot, its just too bad the forces of chaos make much more use of it than the loyalists, due to the timing of the horus heresy and all that...

I think the axe looks great as well, wouldnt bother changing it and risking any unnecessary frustration. I have to agree with midge that the hood is a bit too hidden. I didnt even notice it at first to be honest, as strange as that may seem since its definitely not a normal thing on these models.


----------



## JAMOB

I agree make the hood a bit more visible. I do have my own thoughts of course. Is a librarian allowed a two handed force weapon? Im pretty sure theyre not, but I guess you can just count it normally or whatever. Is there any bonus to having it being two-handed? I thought at one point it made it better someway not just taking away an attack, but i might be wrong. excellent conversion though, youre making me hungry for more. Glad you didnt keep it secret  keep it up


----------



## Midge913

JAMOB said:


> I agree make the hood a bit more visible. I do have my own thoughts of course. Is a librarian allowed a two handed force weapon? Im pretty sure theyre not, but I guess you can just count it normally or whatever. Is there any bonus to having it being two-handed? I thought at one point it made it better someway not just taking away an attack, but i might be wrong. excellent conversion though, youre making me hungry for more. Glad you didnt keep it secret  keep it up


There really is no such thing as two-handed/one-handed weapons anymore. They got rid of that with the newer editions of the codex.


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> You'll just have to learn to wait


Bastard! Learn to paint faster! :grin:

Anyway, I like the librarian. Only thing that irks me is that the left shoulderpad seems a little out of proportion (but hey, hows it gonna fit?), and the psychic hood is a little small so it is hard to recognise. Lucky me using sevrin loths body for this purpose 

Looking forward to seeing this progress


----------



## Scathainn

This might be just me but I think the hood should stay small. I think the giant psychic hoods are really overdone and it's a nice change of pace to have a smaller one.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Scathainn said:


> This might be just me but I think the hood should stay small. I think the giant psychic hoods are really overdone and it's a nice change of pace to have a smaller one.


seconded. Size isn't everything it's all in how you use it.


----------



## Boc

Can't wait to see that Libby finished, the pose is amazing, and the axe's dimensions are perfect.

I really need to start buying FW bits, your models just look too badass.


----------



## JAMOB

Midge913 said:


> There really is no such thing as two-handed/one-handed weapons anymore. They got rid of that with the newer editions of the codex.


False
Glaive Encarmine


> A Glaive Encarmine is a two-handed master-crafted power weapon


----------



## Midge913

True, I was thinking of the old system for equipment. Anyhow, two-handed really doesn't give any bonuses.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

JAMOB said:


> False
> Glaive Encarmine


I think the point he is trying to make is that being two handed makes absolutely no difference as far as the rules are concerned. 









This librarian has a 2 handed force staff.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Construction & Conversions Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Secret project No. 1*

Hi all :bye: I'm back with the librarian after having taken your suggestions into account and spent some time tweaking the build. I'm fairly satisfied right now (but I could be missing things simply because I've been looking at it so much lately).

I must say that I am astound by the huge amount of input this miniature have gotten in such a short time! Very impressive to see you all share your thoughts and suggestions, it's the reason I love Heresy so much k:

I'm very grateful for all the praise you've given this build so I'm going to focus my answers and quotes around the more critical points you've made - hopefully I won't step on any toes because of that.



Midge913 said:


> [...] I think the psychic hood needs to come up over the helmet just a little more. It kinda gets lost behind the helmet, especially once you get the jump pack on there. I see that this may be a bit of a problem with the beak of the raven icon on the JP hanging over into that space, but I really think that the hood needs just a little something more to make it read.


I do see your point and as soon as I had read it I started thinking about how I could achieve it. The main reason I didn't do it from the start was that I knew it would be harder to make (taking the easy way out) which is also the reason I didn't make the coils that usually run down from the collar and under the arms to the backpack...



Zodd said:


> The Librarian is wonderfull. The haft of the axe has just the right lenght, because being two-handed, the librarian can better balance when air-borne.


I didn't even think about that but it makes sense! The main reason I changed the weapon was that the Sevrin Loth force weapon looks like a dagger on a stick in comparison to some of the other weapons... 



Warpetrie said:


> [...] i think [the hood] it should come over his head a bit more, it’s been said before but it does kind of hide once the JP is on. [/SIZE]


Yepp, I realized that problem myself as I put the miniature together, the JP is not only in the way of a lot of things it also hides many details.



unxpekted22 said:


> lots of cool little pieces there from all sorts of different kits it looks like. Maybe most of it comes from the raven guard pieces I dunno haha, Haven t ordered any myself. Is that like a MK V jump pack? I'm a fan of the MKV armor a lot, its just too bad the forces of chaos make much more use of it than the loyalists, due to the timing of the horus heresy and all that...
> 
> I think the axe looks great as well, wouldnt bother changing it and risking any unnecessary frustration. I have to agree with midge that the hood is a bit too hidden. I didnt even notice it at first to be honest, as strange as that may seem since its definitely not a normal thing on these models.


The jump pack in the previous post would be a MK VI jump pack (Captain Korvydae has a Corvus pattern armour which often had a studded left shoulderpad to symbolize a connection to those wearing mk V - heresy era armour)

As the miniature is in this post the pieces are:
Captain Korvydae Body
Red Scorpion Vanguard JP (Previously it was Captain Korvydae JP)
Sevrin Loth Left Arm
Sevrin Loth Shoulderpads
Sevrin Loth Honour Guard Power Axe
Raven Guard Helmet
Sevrin Loth push mould Psychic Hood
Copper Wire
Steel Wire
Grey Stuff
Green Stuff
Scout Belt Pouches
Superglue
Patience



JAMOB said:


> I agree make the hood a bit more visible. I do have my own thoughts of course. Is a librarian allowed a two handed force weapon? Im pretty sure theyre not, but I guess you can just count it normally or whatever. Is there any bonus to having it being two-handed?


A force weapon isn't explicitly described as anything other than a power weapon with access to the force weapon ability. I'm pretty much taking a converters freedom of choice and making it bigger. It doesn't change anything in the rules.



Tossidin said:


> Only thing that irks me is that the left shoulderpad seems a little out of proportion (but hey, hows it gonna fit?), and the psychic hood is a little small so it is hard to recognise. Lucky me using sevrin loths body for this purpose


Well.. It might look that way but it isn't, hehe. I'm also thinking about using this very setup of shoulderpads on all my librarians (to keep them similar, which I kind of like in a almost perverse kind of way) so you better get used to it!



Scathainn said:


> This might be just me but I think the hood should stay small. I think the giant psychic hoods are really overdone and it's a nice change of pace to have a smaller one.





GrimzagGorwazza said:


> seconded. Size isn't everything it's all in how you use it.


Then you'll both be saddened by this post 



Boc said:


> Can't wait to see that Libby finished, the pose is amazing, and the axe's dimensions are perfect.
> 
> I really need to start buying FW bits, your models just look too badass.


The only downside with FW bits is that some pieces are VERY fragile, and I'm not joking - blades and handles are easily cracked of by normal game usage. I usually drill out ALL my weapon handles (axes and such) and glue in a piece of steel wire to ensure that they don't break off!

Another thing to keep in mind is to be vigilant about odd looking pieces. It helps to have a good camera with a macro function because then you can send the pictures to FW and ask for replacements. All the times I've been disappointed about the quality of a casted piece I've just tossed them an e-mail with a picture and they've sent a complimentary replacement kit! That service alone makes the prices a wee bit more acceptable i.m.h.o.

----

A lot of you voiced concerns about the somewhat semi-visible psychic hood when the JP was on the miniature. Seeing as how this miniature would have a jump pack on at all times I decided I should try to do something about it. First of all I would have to change jump pack as the one I had chosen before did not leave room enough to extend the hood. I took a generic resin jump pack with aquilas on it that I have lying around for projects just like this.

It did however look a little bland compared to the Captin Korvydae JP so I decided to steal some details from said JP and put them on the new one. Some press mould later and I had made myself some wing details!

The hood was then extended by the use of InstantMold creativity as well as some steel wire. Later I added details (copper wire) and I ensured a snug fit with the chosen helmet (which meant cutting out a small piece in the back (which isn't visible unless you're really examining the miniature for faults).

Without further ado, here he is once again:








Close-up on sculpted details:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

I definetly think that that works much better. The hood is easily visible and it definitely reads as a librarian now. I think the new jump pack also works nicely as it doesn't seem to obscure as many details. That insta-mold seems to work well, as the molded pieces reatain a lot of detail. Good work all in all mate! Can't wait to see him painted up.


----------



## Zodd

Okay, that extension of the hood is a good move. Likewise the JP. Paint ?


----------



## JAMOB

It looks alot better now, as difficult as that is. Its now easy to tell its a librarian. Keep it up, and i cant wait for paint


----------



## Djinn24

Very awesome, my only concern is the amount of icons on him. To me he still looks like a Ravenguard. The pose is top notch, I love the movement of it all, how he looks like to be about to blast someone.

I can not want to see him painted!


----------



## Siskin

I like the new librarian model, there is no doubt that it is a libby now . I have been lurking around but I am keeping the hawks eye on this log.
The thing I find the most impressive is that you make each model count,with converting and painting. Great attention to details, keep up the great work.

Siskin


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Honour Guard Meltagunner No 1.*

Hi, faithful followers and minions of Heresy! :bye:
You've guessed right, it's update time! BOOOYYYAAAAH!

----



Midge913 said:


> I definetly think that that works much better. The hood is easily visible and it definitely reads as a librarian now. I think the new jump pack also works nicely as it doesn't seem to obscure as many details. That insta-mold seems to work well, as the molded pieces reatain a lot of detail. Good work all in all mate! Can't wait to see him painted up.


Glad you like it better now, it was tricky to do but well worth it in the end I believe. InstantMold has increased my courage to try new conversions which in the long run proves to be worth more then the actual product itself since it makes me gain experience and confidence!

Imagine my initial feeling of despair as I saw the new GK plastics all having psychic hoods though. What a way to make my efforts worth less (it seems), but at the same time I got about 15 ideas of what I could use those plastic kits for... More to come on that later.



Zodd said:


> Okay, that extension of the hood is a good move. Likewise the JP. Paint ?





JAMOB said:


> It looks alot better now, as difficult as that is. Its now easy to tell its a librarian. Keep it up, and i cant wait for paint





djinn24 said:


> Very awesome, my only concern is the amount of icons on him. To me he still looks like a Ravenguard. The pose is top notch, I love the movement of it all, how he looks like to be about to blast someone.
> 
> I can not want to see him painted!


The answer to you all is - most likely paint next month (I'd like to include him in the challenge). But I might finish him of as a reward to myself if I produce the assault marine squad in time.

It's hard to remove all the raven guard stuff from the miniature, it's covered in them in every conceivable way. I got rid of a lot of them simply by changing arms and jump pack, I've even removed some of them from the body - there are just so god darn many of them...



Siskin said:


> I like the new librarian model, there is no doubt that it is a libby now . I have been lurking around but I am keeping the hawks eye on this log.
> The thing I find the most impressive is that you make each model count,with converting and painting. Great attention to details, keep up the great work.
> 
> Siskin


By the looks of it I'll need every ounce of psychic defence now that my friends will be picking up the GKs. I'm going to have to take a hard and long look at my marines and my lists before I face them though, with +2 initiative power weapons my marines would be charging in and FnP and FC would make no difference what so ever 

----

Update!
I've been finishing up the last details on one of the honour guard marines. I can't say I've done a fantastic job, maybe I'm in a bad mood or something. There are some details I haven't done yet such as adding weathering to the nozzle of the meltagun and doing some more paint scratches, also the base is left untouched (I'll do all the bases simultaneously) but overall he's good to go (far over tabletop standard at least).








Notice the company marking (the 4) placed up on the shoulderpad since the leg has been blown off. Other marines with Mk 6 legs have had a 4 painted on the bottom of the shin-guard.

There will be some fluff and background posted for this marine as I finish up the squad (I'll do a gathering post like I did with the Death Company Marines which some of you might remember).

----

On a side note I'm very excited about the GK plastics getting released. Most likely I'll be investing in one kit each of them (Marines, Terminators and DK) to use for conversions.

I have something special in mind for the marine bodies. Since they have psychic hoods, I was thinking of making them into an Honour Guard squad for my newly constructed librarian, fluff wise linking the squad together via some obscene psychic power enabling them to share skills and knowledge (or something to that effect). Fluff wise that would make for a unit oozing with character. I might even paint the whole unit in some other colours then simple red/white just to reflect this. We'll see.

Terminators will be used to make a sanguinary priest with terminator armour along with some nasty variation for a terminator squad in general (just to spice things up).

DK could be used to speed up my Knight Warden project A LOT, so while I don't like the miniature in general I do see a huge potential for the parts it consists of!

----

Till next time! :king:


----------



## unxpekted22

That guy looks so real. The powerpack and bionic leg and melta gu are my favorite parts. Actually I've never liked the look of bionics much but it is very nicely painted! I feel like this model is like going baxk to your threadis beginnings haha, like a reminder of the simpler days before that baal pred and the space shark idea.btw are you going to start a seperate thread for those or keep them in this one?


----------



## Tossidin

A fast update? What is this heresy! I must be a heretic since I like it then but oh well.



xenobiotic said:


> By the looks of it I'll need every ounce of psychic defence now that my friends will be picking up the GKs. I'm going to have to take a hard and long look at my marines and my lists before I face them though, with +2 initiative power weapons my marines would be charging in and FnP and FC would make no difference what so ever


So do like the wolves and SHOOT THEM! Obvious solution :wink:

The honour guard dude looks good. I agree it's not your best work, but he looks good. I would maybe concider black rims on the shoulders (like the 1 in your avatar) to break up the white (not that the white is a bad thing!), but its hard to tell from the pictures. Or are all the honour guards having white rims? 

Till next time!


----------



## piemaster

I really like how your Librarian has turned out. Is he going to be all blue or mostly red/white? I can't wait. Those FW pieces are superb. I know the painting will do that level of detail justice. As for bionics, I always love bionics.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hi, Heretics and servants of the great pink one! :bye:

----



unxpekted22 said:


> That guy looks so real. The powerpack and bionic leg and meltagun are my favorite parts. Actually I've never liked the look of bionics much but it is very nicely painted! I feel like this model is like going baxk to your threadis beginnings haha, like a reminder of the simpler days before that baal pred and the space shark idea.btw are you going to start a seperate thread for those or keep them in this one?


Simpler time? Oh, the agony! I've come such a long way since I stared this thread, which is painfully visible when I compare my first marines with the newer ones. You live and you learn, progress is a good thing.

While on the subjects of vehicles I'll soon be doing some to return to the freehanding. I just need to bash out these squads first then I'm good to go!

I was thinking of keeping the sharks in this thread as the main idea was to use them as tacticals and scours in my BA army. But if someone thinks it's a good idea to keep them separate I'm all ears!



Tossidin said:


> A fast update? What is this heresy! I must be a heretic since I like it then but oh well.
> 
> So do like the wolves and SHOOT THEM! Obvious solution :wink:
> 
> The honour guard dude looks good. I agree it's not your best work, but he looks good. I would maybe concider black rims on the shoulders (like the 1 in your avatar) to break up the white (not that the white is a bad thing!), but its hard to tell from the pictures. Or are all the honour guards having white rims?
> 
> Till next time!


I can be quick, sometimes  It's just a matter of having enough time on my hands to produce something worthwhile to actually post here in the thread. I tend to do many things at ones or just deep dive into a single miniature till it's done.

Hm, shoot them you say? I'd still have to survive all those rending weapons but I guess it's as good as anything. If you whether them down a bit before you rush in you won't lose that many marines I guess.. Still stings that they get a storm bolter and a power weapon (force weapon) for 2 pts more then my assault marines cost me :shok:

The guy you're referring to is actually the only marine in the army (yepp, the only one) that doesn't have white trims  and that's because he has ornate shoulder-pads with metallic rims. Over all the meltagunner has grown on me as he has been keeping me company (standing beside the keyboard) for the last few days. Maybe I'll make some minor adjustments later on.



piemaster said:


> I really like how your Librarian has turned out. Is he going to be all blue or mostly red/white? I can't wait. Those FW pieces are superb. I know the painting will do that level of detail justice. As for bionics, I always love bionics.


Well.. There's a teaser for you in this post :biggrin:

----

It's a sad day...
I'm a turd  I keep breaking my promises to myself. I was supposed to keep the librarian on hold till next month (maybe doing him as my entry for the painting challenge since I'm such a slow painter and I have a hard time finishing things for the challenge) but I just couldn't leave him be - I haven't painted any blue space marines since I first started way back so I wanted to see what I could achieve with the skills I've learned.

So I sat down, rummaged through my mega paint set and found a combination of colours that I liked and so I decided to try them out, here's the result so far:








For those interested his arms and helmet will be white. The bulk of the JP will be blue but it will have white.. Turbine(?) casings.

Thoughts? Comments?

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## LTP

I'm ashamed to say I havn't checked this for a while, however, I am throughly impressed by what I see. I don't think anyone I know can weather models quite like you can xeno. Keep up the great work. 

Oh and have some rep


----------



## Warpetrie

thoughts? Cant wait for it to be completed! ^_^


----------



## JAMOB

Ditto^

How did you learn highlighting and stuff? I always find that really hard because it just is... and the fact that theyre so small doesnt help. Amazing job with both the honor guard and the libby, i cannot wait until he and the squad are done.


----------



## Midge913

Looks great Xeno! I love the tonal quality of the armor nice, deep, and rich. Can't wait to see it finished.


----------



## Asamodai

Yeah the blue on that Librarian is looking ridiculously good. A tutorial may be required.


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Librarian pt 2*

PROGRESS! 

----



LTP said:


> I'm ashamed to say I havn't checked this for a while, however, I am throughly impressed by what I see. I don't think anyone I know can weather models quite like you can xeno. Keep up the great work.
> 
> Oh and have some rep


You've missed so much in your absence and promotion and birthday and Christmas and all. My Baal Predator to start with (my pride and joy!). Always looking for input from you LTP, I'll be sure to swing by your log now that you're painting again (love the achilles miniature).



Warpetrie said:


> thoughts? Cant wait for it to be completed! ^_^


Soon™



JAMOB said:


> Ditto^
> 
> How did you learn highlighting and stuff? I always find that really hard because it just is... and the fact that theyre so small doesnt help. Amazing job with both the honor guard and the libby, i cannot wait until he and the squad are done.


Hm, what can I say? It's a combination of trial and error with input from forums (mostly Heresy) and tutorials (books and internet) and add some colour theory. 

I might be able to show you the basics in the coming tutorial (at least how I do it step by step). It takes a lot of time and it's fiddly - a good paintbrush helps a lot!



Midge913 said:


> Looks great Xeno! I love the tonal quality of the armor nice, deep, and rich. Can't wait to see it finished.


It's a very similar process to the one I've developed on the red armour, turned out very well if I'm allowed to be a little... Euhm, I forgot the word.



Asamodai said:


> Yeah the blue on that Librarian is looking ridiculously good. A tutorial may be required.


I've been asked about a tutorial from a some people now so I will make one as soon as I've started painting the jump pack - I think it has surfaces and edges enough to be a good and easy subject for a step-by-step.

----

The main body is basically finished now. Moving on to the other parts asap:








It's been a lot of experimenting with colours. First time for a long time since I used gold colours but I think it works very well with blue giving it a much needed warmth contrast. The claw on the right shin armour is an original detail on the miniature which I've decided to keep and add to my list of fluff groups and societies within the chapter (ref: Twin-feathers). The other shin has the characteristic number 4 which all the Mk 6 armour have.

Euhm.. I think that's about it for now!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## xenobiotic

*Deep Blue Armour Tutorial*

*Tutorial for your pleasure:*
Blue armour on librarian. There are some colour theory thinking involved in the concept (whether it's right or wrong I can't really say since I'm not an expert on the subject) but all in all a fair bit of experimentation also.

There's a little background to the idea which came to me as I proceeded with painting my red marines. I started to adjust the way I painted red, slowly tweaking it. I wanted a darker red from the get go which was why I decided to rely heavily on Mechrite Red. I initially darkened it with a Devlan Mud wash and then proceeded to highlight it with Blood Red only and did so via dry-brushing. I have since come to rely less on dry-brushing and more on glazing when applying highlights (which I'll hopefully be able to convey in this tutorial).

I wanted the highlights to be more prominent so I scoured the internet to see what others had come up with. The combination of Blood Red, Blazing Orange and Vomit Brown was settled upon after a while. However there was a quality to the final highlight of Vomit Brown that stuck out to me and I wanted to bring it down. That was when I decided to was the entire miniatures with Baal Red wash, this proved to tie all the colours of the highlight together and gave it a rich varied tone which I've loved since.

When approaching the blue colour I decided to take a similar approach:

Use a dark (primary colour) base
Wash it to deepen recesses and hint a colour variation
Highlight 1
Highlight 2
Highlight 3
Wash with origin colour wash (red wash for a red base, blue wash for blue base and so on) to soften the highlights together
It was just a matter of choosing the colours I wanted and trying it out.

Deep blue armour:
Start with your usual primer procedure (whatever it may be). I have a tendancy to use my watered down foundation colours as "priming" mostly since I dislike having to spray (never ends well for me) and I find they grip quite well to the miniatures and after 2-3 layers they have a good coverage.

Step 1:
*Necron Abyss* - watered down to a nice consistency. Might need 2 layers to get a good coverage.









Step 2:
Wash with *Thraka Green*. I understand if you're scratching your head a bit about this choice of colour. Many Blue colours has a tendancy to lean towards red (becoming "warm", giving it a purple hue). I want this armour to go towards a nice "cold" armour to put other "warmer" elements/colours on top of to create contrast and visually interesting effects (gold details for example). A hint of green darkens the blue without disturbing the temperature of the colour as much as a red wash would, it also makes it more rich then just washing it with *Asurmen Blue*.

The rest of my army is very "warm" so a character with a contrasting colour palette will look better amongst them!









Step 3:
Broad glazed highlight with *Regal Blue*. You might not have thought about it but *Regal Blue* leans towards green (turqoise) which is why I've chosen it over *Ultramarine Blue* (which has a purple element).









Step 4:
Slightly thinner glazed highlight with *Enchanted Blue*.









Step 5:
Thinly glazed highlight with *Ice Blue*. Some of you might have thought the next step would be *Hawk Turquoise* here, but that colour is in fact TOO turquoise, making the entire appearance of the armour shifting towards Turquoise which isn't what I'm after. I'm trying to get a deep blue with a green hint!









Step 6:
Wash entire armour with *Asurmen Blue*. This is a very important step since it ties all the highlights together and give them a rich palette and gradient which looks good.









See you soon :bye:


----------



## nooker

I have to say, even though you weren't planning to do this model right now, I'm glad you are. I had been wanting to see this one painted when I saw the model you had come up with.


----------



## Midge913

Good looking stuff as always Xeno, and great tutorial!


----------



## Jacobite

I've been watching this log for a while and hot dam I'm floored every time you make an update. Your ability with a brush is staggering - better than many Golden Deamons. It was primarily because of you and IlikeBMX's over on Warseer that got back into painting SM's again.

Again amazing, I can't say it enough.


----------



## ckcrawford

Wow man. Nice work, you've actually taken time to write your armies progress. Thats a lot of work. I think you may have just motivated me to get to my painting. lol.


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

Excellent work so far sir. I'll defiantly be referring to this tutorial next time I need to do a librarian.


----------



## xenobiotic

Teaser update!

----



nooker said:


> I have to say, even though you weren't planning to do this model right now, I'm glad you are. I had been wanting to see this one painted when I saw the model you had come up with.


That was kind of the problem, once I had finished it I couldn't resist painting it! I need to come up with something similar for all my miniatures so I get them done any time soon!



Midge913 said:


> Good looking stuff as always Xeno, and great tutorial!


Glad you liked it, I tried to make it as clear as possible, I'm always surprised by how hard it is to take good tutorial pictures.



Jacobite said:


> I've been watching this log for a while and hot dam I'm floored every time you make an update. Your ability with a brush is staggering - better than many Golden Deamons. It was primarily because of you and IlikeBMX's over on Warseer that got back into painting SM's again.
> 
> Again amazing, I can't say it enough.


IlikeBMXbikes on Warseer is epic! I'm always astound by the amount of miniatures he can't paint in such a short time to such a high standard. And he just keeps on doing it, like he never gets tired!

I'm glad I could push you into painting again, always nice to inspire others!
Thanks! 



ckcrawford said:


> Wow man. Nice work, you've actually taken time to write your armies progress. Thats a lot of work. I think you may have just motivated me to get to my painting. lol.


I'm pretty sure that had I not started this log I would either have:
1. Painted a lot of miniatures to a subpar standard
2. Stopped painting a long time ago
All in all I owe much of what I've learned to the community on heresy!



imm0rtal reaper said:


> Excellent work so far sir. I'll defiantly be referring to this tutorial next time I need to do a librarian.


Glad you like it, hopefully you can make good use of the tutorial when you need it  

----



> _Demonic voices and whispers try to overwhelm my mind as birds warble in the distance. The daemons are trying to lure me into their web. But I can hear the phoenixes, calling my spirit, they ask me to walk amongst them. I touch their feathers and they envelop me in their wings, the purest of flames burning away the darkness of the warp, keeping the daemons at bay. For now..._












----

More to come soon™
:bye:


----------



## Midge913

Definitely an intriguing teaser mate! I can't wait to see the finished product!


----------



## JAMOB

i hate teasers... it looks really good though, nice work
is he on heresy?


----------



## Al3X

amazing! I think I will use this blue scheme for mi new termies, great tutorial

looking forward to see more work of yours


----------



## Siskin

Great job there the libby is coming up nicely. I have read today new GK codex you should probably consider making another libby for your army :shok: I just love my farseer even more now 

I want to add that your work inspired me enough to take a step back to my SM army and re-paint them I will be posting some test models shots soon.
Keep it up 

Siskin


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Librarian Flavius Completed*



Midge913 said:


> Definitely an intriguing teaser mate! I can't wait to see the finished product!





JAMOB said:


> i hate teasers... it looks really good though, nice work
> is he on heresy?


You shall not have to wait any longer!



Al3X said:


> amazing! I think I will use this blue scheme for mi new termies, great tutorial
> 
> looking forward to see more work of yours


Glad I could help out! 



Siskin said:


> Great job there the libby is coming up nicely. I have read today new GK codex you should probably consider making another libby for your army :shok: I just love my farseer even more now
> 
> I want to add that your work inspired me enough to take a step back to my SM army and re-paint them I will be posting some test models shots soon.
> Keep it up
> 
> Siskin


Then again GKs are geard towards killing Psykers as well, damned if you do damned if you don't I guess. 

Apparently I'm steering a lot of people towards SMs which really wasn't my intent, I just like to inspire people to have fun painting any army - not just marines 

----

_The choir started their hymn. Voices joined together to form a unison. Joined by the song of my brethren I descended deeper into a meditative trance, searching for the beacon they had told us to look for, a signal of hope that would be lit when the time had come. This is a ritual we do every passing, and we shall continue in such a manner until we can be rejoined with those whom we lost. 

Demonic voices and whispers try to overwhelm my mind as birds warble in the distance. The daemons are trying to lure me into their web, dilute my strength and connection to my body. But I can hear the phoenixes, my kindred, calling my spirit, they ask me to walk amongst them and we can search together. I touch their feathers and they envelop me in their wings, the purest of flames burning away the darkness of the warp, keeping the daemons at bay. For now. Without the phoenixes the search would truly have been in vain, for what hides in this realm would surely consume the strongest of us, mere mortals. As my spiritual form slowly walks in this erratic existence of nothing and all I try to hone in on subtle differences in the voices around me. Sometimes I think I hear a women whispering amongst the daemons. Her voice is profoundly human and the few words I hear are not promises of ecstasy beyond belief such as those that comes from the others...

'I have been told that we where driven from our home. The different nomadic tribes of the planet of origin had grown into a totally different society compared to the olden times. The darkness of technological advances destroyed much of what we had but at the same time saved us from each other and from those whom came from above to bring us harm, to take our people away. We where forced to leave, to flee. As the planet shrunk in size before my eyes and the fires of phoenixes ravaged the planet I knew I was leaving something important behind, somehow this was not an end but rather a beginning of something much more important...'

I can't help feel there's a connection to someone out there, someone important, if the birds could speak I think they would tell me whom I'm looking for. The prophecies held by the Exemplars are cryptic at best and they speak about this beacon. Therefore we continue to search. I can only hope my mind will hold up long enough for me not to, at best, crumble into dust or, worse, fall deep into the maw of madness._

Epistolary Librarian Flavius, of the Claw, Mystic and Shaman of the Brethren of the Phoenix, member of the sect of the Fallen Star: 








Pieces of notice:

the Claw symbol on the right hand shin armour.
the 4 on the left hand shin armour.
the star symbol next to the chapter symbol on the left shoulder-pad.
the "water" effect on the Force Weapon / Power weapon.
the engine glow (after a long debate back and forth I believe I have settled for yellow for this army).
Pink psychic powers - because that's the real and only way to say "BURN HERETIC!! BURN!!" with style
the reinforced chain wrapped handle on the Force weapon - reinforced for extra blocking ability and weight adjustment while flying.

----

*Fun facts:*

43 colours where used in the making of this miniature (I'm not joking - I counted the pots), some of them where mixed in order to create more tones and hints and glazes.
The Forgeworld jump pack gave me a lot of headache when it started to show flaws in the resin as I painted (damn those near invisible mould lines )
This is the first miniatures I've used gold on in a large amount since the last time I painted warhammer a couple of years ago - it turned out a lot better this time around.
This is the first time ever I tried glow effects - be gentle with me.
This is the first single infantry miniature that I've probably spent over 20 hours making (construction --> painting).
This is the first miniature for this army equipped with a jump pack that I've finished.

C&C welcomed as always!

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Looking amazing dude, i really like the force weapon and hint of glow around the helmet plug. 

i'll + rep you if i can.


----------



## Djinn24

A bit of OLS on the forceweapon maybe. He looks awesome. I love the outreached hand and the glow on it.


----------



## Midge913

Fantastic buddy! Truly fantastic! I am with djinn, the outstretched hand with the glow is awesome.


----------



## Kreuger

Nice job dude!

He turned out spectacular!

I don't usually like weathering, but its really well executed here. And its not so pervasive as to obscure the quality of the work. And no worries on the glow, it looks really good, and the use on both the hand and the helm is spot on. The glow on the psychic hood feels like it should be brighter, or more white maybe. But its all good!

Cheers,
Kreuger


----------



## Varakir

Very nice, that is a beastly bit of conversion and painting work. Easily better and more characterful than any of the GW libby sculpts!

Unbelievably though, I think I might actually have some criticisms:

Firstly, the grenade looks a bit flat - but this may just be the angle of the picture. Can't see it in close up so may well be fine.

Secondly, the force weapon doesn't seem bright enough to me. The patterning of the 'lightning' is insanely good, but it seems like it should be a couple of shades brighter.

That's pretty much it. If i can rep you again i'll be giving it all for the glow alone....love the effect you've pulled off there :victory:


----------



## Tossidin

Outstanding work mate! 

Varakir has some ideas I would look into. I am not sure if I like the force weapon or not. Other than that, is is way to awesome!

:victory:


----------



## JAMOB

This is easily the greatest model I have seen in my entire life. Like you Im not joking. I googled all others that might have compared. Its incredible how much detail you put into these guys, especially the new librarian. I showed this to my friend, and he said amazing. I showed him a space marine head, then a whole model, Then i showed him this again. and he flipped out at how much detail you put into this. He almost collapsed, so i think that means he liked it? Ill tell you when he wakes up :biggrin:
And Im REALLY sorry but it wont let me give you rep yet 
Amazing work, keep it up, so glad you didnt wait. Maybe some more jump packs?
JAMOB


----------



## Something Yellow

nice work man! fantastic stuff 
The librarian is most triumphant


----------



## Vaz

The OSL on the helmet is done very tastefully. The Weathered Gold is outstanding. The Blue Armour is very rich.

My favourite part - the Water Effect Axe. How was this achieved? Looks a bit like the salt trick.


----------



## Cato

Very nice indeed!

Trevligt att se ännu en Malmö bo som mest gillar att måla/bygga.
Om du rör dig i "figurspels-kretsarna" här i stan borde jag ju veta vem du är..

Sorry for the Swedish there it had to be done.


----------



## JAMOB

Just wondering, what are you supposed to do if you dont have all those colors? Just make it up, or what? I have ultramarine blue and enchanted blue. Not nearly enough i guess...


----------



## ChaosRedCorsairLord

xenobiotic said:


>


These are not the droids you're looking for.


----------



## xenobiotic

*What a long strange journey it has been...*

I'm a few days early but seeing as how I had painted a few miniatures before I posted them here I think now is as good a time as any to post this One Year Celebration Post! opcorn:
Thank you all for the positive comments and feedback on my librarian! I'm very happy with how he came out, I might do some minor tweaks but all in all I'm very satisfied!

----



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Looking amazing dude, i really like the force weapon and hint of glow around the helmet plug.
> 
> i'll + rep you if i can.


Thanks, GG, a lot of experiments on this character, gladly most of them turned out fine!



djinn24 said:


> A bit of OLS on the forceweapon maybe. He looks awesome. I love the outreached hand and the glow on it.


Hm. Wasn't really considering the forceweapon as glowing (the whole blade that is) but I do see your point at the same time. Glad you liked the hand, was sure someone was going to comment on my choice of pink psychic powers but apparently it worked out fine, hehe.



Midge913 said:


> Fantastic buddy! Truly fantastic! I am with djinn, the outstretched hand with the glow is awesome.


Thanks! It's been a hell of a motivator to see him done! Got all fuzzy inside even if there are some tweaks left.



Kreuger said:


> Nice job dude!
> 
> He turned out spectacular!
> 
> I don't usually like weathering, but its really well executed here. And its not so pervasive as to obscure the quality of the work. And no worries on the glow, it looks really good, and the use on both the hand and the helm is spot on. The glow on the psychic hood feels like it should be brighter, or more white maybe. But its all good!
> 
> Cheers,
> Kreuger


I'll see if I can do some minor tweaks and post more pictures later on, thanks for the input!



Varakir said:


> Very nice, that is a beastly bit of conversion and painting work. Easily better and more characterful than any of the GW libby sculpts!
> 
> Unbelievably though, I think I might actually have some criticisms:
> 
> Firstly, the grenade looks a bit flat - but this may just be the angle of the picture. Can't see it in close up so may well be fine.
> 
> Secondly, the force weapon doesn't seem bright enough to me. The patterning of the 'lightning' is insanely good, but it seems like it should be a couple of shades brighter.
> 
> That's pretty much it. If i can rep you again i'll be giving it all for the glow alone....love the effect you've pulled off there :victory:


It was a daring conversion with a lot of cash and hours put into, I'm insanely happy he turned out so well! I have a real zest to do more units with character and conversions... Hm.

I think the grenades are an effect of the pictures actually, they are highlighted (each little square is) and washed and when I look at them IRL they look fine - the green colours are just a bit blended together in the photos.

And about the weapon I wasn't really aiming for Lightning  but I see your point. When I look at it I think more "light hitting water" as a contrast to all the fire and phoenixes of the chapter I felt that it was fitting.



Tossidin said:


> Outstanding work mate!
> 
> Varakir has some ideas I would look into. I am not sure if I like the force weapon or not. Other than that, is is way to awesome!
> 
> :victory:


He sure is awesome, in his first game he put some dents into a Necron Lord and killed some Necron Warriors, very brave  (he looks more awesome than his rules are - sadly)



JAMOB said:


> This is easily the greatest model I have seen in my entire life. Like you Im not joking. I googled all others that might have compared. Its incredible how much detail you put into these guys, especially the new librarian. I showed this to my friend, and he said amazing. I showed him a space marine head, then a whole model, Then i showed him this again. and he flipped out at how much detail you put into this. He almost collapsed, so i think that means he liked it? Ill tell you when he wakes up :biggrin:
> And Im REALLY sorry but it wont let me give you rep yet
> Amazing work, keep it up, so glad you didnt wait. Maybe some more jump packs?
> JAMOB





JAMOB said:


> Just wondering, what are you supposed to do if you dont have all those colors? Just make it up, or what? I have ultramarine blue and enchanted blue. Not nearly enough i guess...


Hope you friend woke up ok 

More jump pack miniatures are on their way. Building a small Jumper list with tank support for the painting challenge so hopefully it will be done by the end of this year 

Everything is possible with basic colours (yellow, red, blue, white and black) but you would have to mix the different shades yourself using black and white. It would be harder to get a good reliable result in the mixing (which is why I rely mostly on premade colours since it makes life easier when you're doing one miniature at a time with a lot of time between them).

If you're going to mix colours yourself I would suggest using a wet palette to ensure longevity of the paint-mix.



Something Yellow said:


> nice work man! fantastic stuff
> The librarian is most triumphant


Thank you! 



Vaz said:


> The OSL on the helmet is done very tastefully. The Weathered Gold is outstanding. The Blue Armour is very rich.
> 
> My favourite part - the Water Effect Axe. How was this achieved? Looks a bit like the salt trick.


Thanks!

The Water Effect is painted on, freehanded squiggly lines. It's based on a lightning effect from WD masterclass painting but I took some license with the finish which apparently suits some people better than others.

1. Chaos Black Base
2. Blotchy Regal Blue
3. Lines of Hawk Turquoise
4. Hawk Turquoise glaze of the the blade edge
5. Thin filling of previous lines with Hawk Turquoise : Bleached Bone (1:1)
6. Hawk Turquoise : Bleached Bone (1:1) glaze of the the blade edge
7. Thinner filling of the lines with Hawk Turquoise : Bleached Bone (1:3)
8. Hawk Turquoise : Bleached Bone (1:3) glaze over the blade edge
9. Edge highlighting with Skull White.
10. Glaze the bladed edge with Skull White
11. Thin wash/glaze with Thraka Green
12: Thin wash/glaze with Asuremen Blue

The last two steps are my own and it dulls the blade down a bit transforming it somewhat from lightning to "light hitting water" effect.



Cato said:


> Very nice indeed!
> 
> Trevligt att se ännu en Malmö bo som mest gillar att måla/bygga.
> Om du rör dig i "figurspels-kretsarna" här i stan borde jag ju veta vem du är..
> 
> Sorry for the Swedish there it had to be done.


I'm not a usual in the "circuit" but I do play with my friends down at Playoteket from time to time so you might have seen me there with my Blood Angels. It was a long time ago (back when "Avalon" existed) since I knew a lot of people in the Gaming circuit in Malmoe.



ChaosRedCorsairLord said:


> These are not the droids you're looking for.




----

*ARMY STATUS*








(Librarian missing from this picture)

*Slots filled:*









*Points Painted:
1'470*

*HQ:*
Captain Vespillo (Counts as Tycho)
Epistolary Librarian Favius

*ELITES:*
Chaplain Sabinus
Furioso Dreadnought w. Magnetized Weapons 
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized special weapons
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized special weapons
Sanguinary Priest w. magnetized Backpack/Jumppack

*TROOPS:*
10-man Assault Squad w. 2 x Meltaguns & Powerfist
5-man Death Company Squad w. Powerfist & Magnetized Special Weapons

*DEDICATED TRANSPORTS:*
Repressor - *The Auspice*
Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades
Death Company Rhino/Razorback w. Dozer Blades - *The Salient*

*FAST ATTACK:*
Baal Predator w. Dozer Blades & Magnetized Sponsons - _*Gloam, of the Dusk-Bringers*_

----

A trip down memory lane...
So it all started about a year ago. Having picked up a new army to restart my interest in the hobby with I set out to do what others had done which had inspired me for so long - a project log. So I returned to the forum which had many of the logs that had inspired me (Viscounts Slaanesh Knight Titan for example) and started my own. With unsure steps I started posting and eagerly awaited your comments which proved to be full of useful viewpoints. Digging back and forth a bit and regrouping I revived my interest for colour theory and painting and went at it with new zest! 

To those of you who haven't followed this project log from the beginning or just don't remember it here are some comparisons of the first few miniatures and conversions with the latest ones, hope you like it:

















----

Here's an update on how the list for the army painting challenge is looking at the moment for those interested (green = done, orange = next project)*:*


_Secret surprise project_ Librarian
Furioso Dreadnought
Drop Pod
Sanguinary Priest (magnetized for jump pack)
5-Man Assault Marine Squad with jump packs
5-Man Assault Marine Squad with jump packs
Baal Predator
Baal Predator
Vindicator
Vindicator
Whirlwind
_Secret surprise project_

----

What does the future hold?
I'm going to try to do some tutorials in the next few weeks:
Dirty White Armour (redone)
Deep Red Armour (like the blue one but red)
Repositioning:
- Hands (smaller adjustments)
- Arms and Hands (bigger adjustments)
- Arms and Hands (bigger adjustments and resculpting)
- Legs (smaller adjustments)
- Legs (bigger adjustments with resculpting)
- Legs (bigger adjustments, splicing and resculpting)
Any tutorials other than these you'd like to see me do?

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Happy Birthday:biggrin:
Youre doing an amazing job with all of this, and I cant wait to see more jumpers! A few concerns though. WHY isnt that beautiful libby you just spent so much time and money on in the picture? And that sanguinary guard guy next to him below is also strangely missing. Thats all though. Excellent work, I cant believe its been a year :thank_you:
For tutorials... I dont know... er how about glow? Thats always good to know... but you did say you were new to that... er... maybe basing... youre always good at that...
Oh I know bullet holes. I, er, accidentally put too many in my BR tacticals and the only way to rectify that is to make them look good.
Anyway amazing job i should go write my history essay, but keep it up this is amazing!
and hes fine, he said that yes its definitely good.


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> Happy Birthday:biggrin:
> Youre doing an amazing job with all of this, and I cant wait to see more jumpers! A few concerns though. WHY isnt that beautiful libby you just spent so much time and money on in the picture? And that sanguinary guard guy next to him below is also strangely missing. Thats all though. Excellent work, I cant believe its been a year :thank_you:
> For tutorials... I dont know... er how about glow? Thats always good to know... but you did say you were new to that... er... maybe basing... youre always good at that...
> Oh I know bullet holes. I, er, accidentally put too many in my BR tacticals and the only way to rectify that is to make them look good.
> Anyway amazing job i should go write my history essay, but keep it up this is amazing!
> and hes fine, he said that yes its definitely good.


Well, the librarian isn't there cause he was still in pieces when that photo was taken. The "sanguinary guard" which is actually my first attempt at a librarian isn't there because he's banned into the pile of miniatures I don't care for anymore. Maybe some day I'll strip him from paint and reuse the parts but he didn't turn out that well in retrospect.

----

Just sharing some more photos of the librarian since I took a bunch for another purpose anyway. I've adjusted the force weapon (sadly it doesn't show very well in the pictures) and the grenades slightly. I considered doing some glow from the force weapon but I wasn't sure on how to do it just yet and I didn't want to risk ruining the gold I had achieved on the weapon - saving such experiments for laters 










----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Varakir

> And about the weapon I wasn't really aiming for Lightning  but I see your point. When I look at it I think more "light hitting water" as a contrast to all the fire and phoenixes of the chapter I felt that it was fitting.


Once Vaz had mentioned 'the water effect' I saw it in a different light. I'm so used to seeing power weapons glowing that it's difficult to see it in a different light 

Looking forward to the upcoming dirty white tutorial :victory:


----------



## unxpekted22

I missed an awesome update while away on break I see. Librarian looks incredible. 

I remember thinking you couldn't get much better looking at the early photos, its been a lot harder to notice the differences in improvement with your models because you started at a much higher level of skill than what I stared with. Your improvement has been much more gradual I think as well. The free hand work on your vehicles has always been amazing I suppose, but the baal predator shows a definite improvement for the vehicles, and coming back tome infantry models I could actually see the improvement with the librarian, a noticeable jump in skill. and that was before seeing your comparison pictures.

I think the axe blade is one of my favorite parts, seeing as some people were unsure about it for some reason. I like the jetpack glow effect, but it doesn't really look like after-burn to me, I feel like it should be a bit more orange/brownish around the edges and such. the blue armor as a whole looks amazing, and the pink glow for the psychic powers was a sweet idea. This might seem odd, but my second favorite piece is probably the pistol and holster on his left hip and parchment under it. Maybe because I think about black paint so much I dunno haha.

Hopefully I can get back to painting this week, I'll keep in touch.


----------



## Al3X

I have no words to describe such a good job, this librarian is really amazing, I like him unpainted and I love him painted


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Honour Guards, part 3*

Long time no see!

----



unxpekted22 said:


> I remember thinking you couldn't get much better looking at the early photos, its been a lot harder to notice the differences in improvement with your models because you started at a much higher level of skill than what I stared with. Your improvement has been much more gradual I think as well. The free hand work on your vehicles has always been amazing I suppose, but the baal predator shows a definite improvement for the vehicles, and coming back tome infantry models I could actually see the improvement with the librarian, a noticeable jump in skill. and that was before seeing your comparison pictures.
> 
> I think the axe blade is one of my favorite parts, seeing as some people were unsure about it for some reason. I like the jetpack glow effect, but it doesn't really look like after-burn to me, I feel like it should be a bit more orange/brownish around the edges and such. the blue armor as a whole looks amazing, and the pink glow for the psychic powers was a sweet idea. This might seem odd, but my second favorite piece is probably the pistol and holster on his left hip and parchment under it. Maybe because I think about black paint so much I dunno haha.
> 
> Hopefully I can get back to painting this week, I'll keep in touch.


There is a huge difference between the first miniatures I painted for this and the ones I'm completing now. Since I have my first assault marines still with me I can compare and it pops out when you put them next to each other.

Most of the difference stems from method of painting and actual knowledge about the medium. Having experimented quite a lot the past year some things have stuck with me and these elaborations has proven fruitful.



Al3X said:


> I have no words to describe such a good job, this librarian is really amazing, I like him unpainted and I love him painted


I'm glad you like him!

----

Update!
It's been a long time since last time. The paintbrushes have been resting. I'm attending the final semester before becoming a doctor (well, kind of the final one) and since we're closing in on the final exam I've got less time for "hobbies" now then ever before. On top of that my mother had surgery 3 times since last update AND I've applied for a job and I'm going on an interview for that next tuesday. Let's just say less stress would have been most welcome!

Progress has therefore been slow but steady on the painting front. Having done some layers on the painting challenge squad but most importantly finished another Honour Guard Meltagunner (apart from the base). I now have but one honour guard member left to do before I can put that squad amongst the finished ones:








Note the infinity symbol, the white bird, the feather, the kill count and other similar minor details. All things to add character to the miniature. Many Brethren being artistic I imagine some of them spend time to adorn their armour in these tiny symbols.

On the building front I'm trying out some terminator parts and kit bashing, hopefully I'll have something to show you in about a weeks time on that subject. For now I'll keep it hush-hush.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Its good to see some red again. As always the white is amazing, as is the highlighting of the red. What really catches me though is the meltagun. You picked out every detail and made it noticeable. Nice job on that! The smaller details everywhere are nicely done as well. You seem to have a flair for unnecessary details that you dont have to do but add a level of mastery to the model that says "experienced painter"
I cant wait to see the whole squad together. Keep it up! And good luck with finals and your job. I hope your mom ends up ok.


----------



## sanguinius noob

good to see an update! 

the red you've got going at the moment is amazing, a really full deep red, wish mine looked like that..

keep it up mate!


----------



## unxpekted22

A docter eh? At least I know you'd be good with a scalpel :laugh: or maybe its because you're good with a scalpel that you're good with the brush...

The kill count detail is sweet. All my attempts at that in the past have been kind of bad. Big fat white marks... I'll have to try it again sometime.


----------



## Midge913

Nice looking piece Xeno and I am glad to see that you got a few moments to put brush to model. I really like all the little freehand details that you have added, gives the model a lot of individuality!

Good luck with your Doctor stuff!


----------



## Hammer49

Melta marine looks very good. Look forward to see what you do next.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hi, again all!

----



JAMOB said:


> Its good to see some red again. As always the white is amazing, as is the highlighting of the red. What really catches me though is the meltagun. You picked out every detail and made it noticeable. Nice job on that! The smaller details everywhere are nicely done as well. You seem to have a flair for unnecessary details that you don't have to do but add a level of mastery to the model that says "experienced painter"
> I cant wait to see the whole squad together. Keep it up! And good luck with finals and your job. I hope your mom ends up ok.


It's good to be painting red again, but I'm going to be changing it up a bit from now on (I have grand plans, I think). I do think that it's the minor details that makes the finish of a miniature, scratches and dirt and such tends to make it all go together in harmony.

Thanks, my mother is already doing a lot better, hopefully she'll be able to reach full capacity again.



sanguinius noob said:


> good to see an update!
> 
> the red you've got going at the moment is amazing, a really full deep red, wish mine looked like that..
> 
> keep it up mate!


It's dark, but it's growing on me. A lot of other painters are doing brighter reds so it helps to differentiate a bit from all of the others 



unxpekted22 said:


> A doctor eh? At least I know you'd be good with a scalpel :laugh: or maybe its because you're good with a scalpel that you're good with the brush...
> 
> The kill count detail is sweet. All my attempts at that in the past have been kind of bad. Big fat white marks... I'll have to try it again sometime.


Yepp, a medical doctor, but I'm leaning towards specializing as a shrink when time comes to make a decision. Probably about 3 years till it's time to choose though!

I don't think you did such a bad job on your raider. The only thing I try to keep in mind with such details is that I like to keep them in a place where the gunner could reach them easily (so that they can put more marks on without to much of a fuss. I'd like to imagine my meltagunner just dragging some soot of the meltagun and drawing a line on the wristguard when there's a lull in the battle.



Midge913 said:


> Nice looking piece Xeno and I am glad to see that you got a few moments to put brush to model. I really like all the little freehand details that you have added, gives the model a lot of individuality!
> 
> Good luck with your Doctor stuff!


Painting is slow, I'm much more of a minor converter I guess. I'm always leaning towards converting. Probably finish about 3-5 miniature conversions for every marine I paint at the current rate. 



Hammer49 said:


> Melta marine looks very good. Look forward to see what you do next.


Next? More conversions!

----

Update:
Well, since I did bought the Sevrin Loth miniature with Honour Guards I figured I might as well put it to use. I know I can paint librarians now so that won't be a problem.

Most of Sevrin is put together from the get go. His axe is pretty puny and realistic compared to other warhammer miniatures so it had to go if he was to look like he belonged in the army. The left arm was used in my previous Librarian conversion meaning I had to find 2 new arms. The more I went back and forth with Sevrin I realised I really don't like his pose all that much. It's pretty stale and boring (to be honest) even if the details are superb (as they often are with FW miniatures). Anyway...

Having bought the GK kits I had some bits to play with, trying out a few combinations and coming up with something. After over a year working with this project I figured I'd actually start DRY FITTING my miniatures with blue tac meaning I could easily change things back and forth till I was satisfied.








Now, as you see I settled on the Warding Staff arm (I like the handle) combined with an Angelus pattern bolt gun (which will be acting as a bolt pistol in game). I'm not using any Sanguinary Guards so there won't be any doubt about what it is.

I'm considering maybe changing the top of the staff into the Honour Guard Axe Blade (like I did on the other miniature) but then again I like that this foot slogging Librarian has a more defensive pose meaning I might save the power axe for later (when I need another Jumper Librarian) to keep some kind of theme for them.

C&C welcomed if you have any.

Other than this miniature I'm planning conversions for an Honour Guards Squad (5-man), to accompany the foot slogger, using a combination of normal marine pieces and GK pieces. I also have some plans for Terminators using GK terminator pieces with slight modifications. More on them asap.

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Glad about your mom.
Hmmm... the axe has an appeal for similarity, but this one looks more magical that combative. Its nicely different from the other one. The boltgun is nice too. A not of interest what are you painting on his shoulder pad? Are you giving him his own symbol? do you know what the writing on the legs says? Alltogether I really do like him though.


----------



## Zodd

It's a nice Libby and I like the staff You have chosen. But the way he holds the bolter look a little off to me. If the arm just was straight down the side, pointing towards the ground ? Anyway I'm looking forward to see him painted. Any pink power-waves around the skull ? :grin:


----------



## Midge913

I really like him Xeno! I think that you should stick with the Stave instead of the axe. As you already his on this one is much less aggressive in his posture than your previous Libby, and it just seems to fit to me. Can't wait to see some paint on him!


----------



## xenobiotic

*Painting Update: Brethren of the Phoenix - Honour Guards, part 4*



JAMOB said:


> Glad about your mom.
> Hmmm... the axe has an appeal for similarity, but this one looks more magical that combative. Its nicely different from the other one. The boltgun is nice too. A not of interest what are you painting on his shoulder pad? Are you giving him his own symbol? do you know what the writing on the legs says? Alltogether I really do like him though.


I'm leaning towards keeping the axes for jump pack librarians (of which I will have 2) and leaving staves and the likes for the librarians walking on the ground/riding transports (of which I will have 2).

Feather freehand on the left shoulder pad (in the circle). There are lots of room for individuality on the other details he has (book, staff, scrolls and so on). I'm not sure what the writing on the legs are supposed to say, might have something to do with the original Sevrin Loth miniature, I haven't read his background story very well.



Zodd said:


> It's a nice Libby and I like the staff You have chosen. But the way he holds the bolter look a little off to me. If the arm just was straight down the side, pointing towards the ground ? Anyway I'm looking forward to see him painted. Any pink power-waves around the skull ? :grin:


I tried using a bolt pistol or infernus pistol held straight down but it looked odd. His leg is at and odd shape and kind of ruins any weapon dangling down the side. I'll tweak the position of this arm a bit when I actually put him together but I'm going for the "I'm overlooking the battlefield and I'm about to grab the staff with both hands for some psychic power kick-ass action!"

And, yes, the skulls on the staff will most likely be done in a glowing pink (with gold details on the rest of the top of the staff). I think it will look good!



Midge913 said:


> I really like him Xeno! I think that you should stick with the Stave instead of the axe. As you already his on this one is much less aggressive in his posture than your previous Libby, and it just seems to fit to me. Can't wait to see some paint on him!


Yes, it's one of the best equipment replacements I could find for him (and I tried a lot of them in my head). The miniature has a passive "overwatch" stance about him and I think this combination puts emphasis on that. As soon as I tweak the kinks and do an actual fitting without loads of Bluetac it will most likely come together nicely!

----

Update:
I spent some time with the Honour Guards today seeing as I only have one member left for the squad I want to finish them up. I had done about half of the steps on the red armour on him so I completed that. Now it's just detailing left on the armour and then it's time for the lacking body parts (head and arms) before I'll finish up the bases on everyone. I expect to squeeze in another WIP update on this guy before the squad is completed sometimes next week hopefully. On the painting challenge squad I've done the base layers and the first wash, slowly moving on to the highlights (going to take a while with 5 marines at once).

Current status:








And the whole squad together:









All this talk about Librarians have got me thinking about using a bit more blue in the future (since I managed to get a shade I liked a lot when experimenting). What about using it on a vehicle or two? I foresee the individuality level growing in my army very soon...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

The Honor Guard is looking great buddy! I like that you have done scenic bases with removable 28mm bases for game play. Every time I see that Sang Priest I am so thoroughly impressed with the pose and the paint job. The whole squad just looks fantastic. Have you decided on weapon load-out for the new guy?


----------



## Hammer49

The squad is looking very good. The scenic bases look like there going to be great when there finished.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Dammit everytime i look at this plog there are new pieces of awesome. I'm running out of platitudes to throw your way dude and i don't like repeating myself. 
On the one hand the horrid Jealouse side of me hates you but on the other side the artistic appreciation gene kicks in and says "these are awesome". Just when i've decided that i'll let hater Grimzag win out, you give awesome advice or are really friendly. Damnit!!!
It's like Aldus Snow from forgetting Sarah Marshal.

I think you should do a badly modelled/painted model next just to make the rest of us feel better.


----------



## Arcticor

Wow. I just finished reading through all 50ish pages of this, all your work is absolutely astounding! I just have 2 questions. You mention using grey stuff and green stuff throughout this, ive heard of green stuff. But what is grey stuff? Also, where can i find this 'green goo' paint remover stuff? Looking forward to seeing more pictures


----------



## Al3X

Looking great this squad. Are you going to use the components of the new Grey Knights in your next squads? I think the new components are fantastic


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> The Honor Guard is looking great buddy! I like that you have done scenic bases with removable 28mm bases for game play. Every time I see that Sang Priest I am so thoroughly impressed with the pose and the paint job. The whole squad just looks fantastic. Have you decided on weapon load-out for the new guy?


Thanks, friend! He's going to have a standard load-out, bolt pistol and chainaxe. I'm having a little trouble with my load-outs over all and in the army so it's a bit iffy. The good thing about that particular miniature is that both his arms are magnetized so I can do the switchies whenever I want to 



Hammer49 said:


> The squad is looking very good. The scenic bases look like there going to be great when there finished.


Thank you 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Dammit everytime i look at this plog there are new pieces of awesome. I'm running out of platitudes to throw your way dude and i don't like repeating myself.
> On the one hand the horrid Jealouse side of me hates you but on the other side the artistic appreciation gene kicks in and says "these are awesome". Just when i've decided that i'll let hater Grimzag win out, you give awesome advice or are really friendly. Damnit!!!
> It's like Aldus Snow from forgetting Sarah Marshal.
> 
> I think you should do a badly modelled/painted model next just to make the rest of us feel better.


I like being friendly and nice 

I've done my fair share of bad miniatures over the years, it just happened to be at a time in my life when I didn't have a camera or a computer, hehe. I bet I could dig some of them out from and old box somewhere though I assume most of them have been stripped in attempts to save the parts. I have way to much ¤"#! in my bit-box.



Arcticor said:


> Wow. I just finished reading through all 50ish pages of this, all your work is absolutely astounding! I just have 2 questions. You mention using grey stuff and green stuff throughout this, ive heard of green stuff. But what is grey stuff? Also, where can i find this 'green goo' paint remover stuff? Looking forward to seeing more pictures


Wow, that's resilient, this is really starting to become a monster project log and to sift through it in one sitting!

To answer your questions, GreenStuff and GreyStuff are both 2 component epoxy but they have different properties. GreyStuff is a bit harder and less flexible than GreenStuff when dried which makes it better for sanding and filing down when dried. It's a matter of experience and choice which one you use to what purpose. There are also other alternatives out there (brown stuff for example).

The goo I use is a Swedish housecleaning product made out of pine oil (In Swedish it called "Grön Såpa" or "Gul Såpa", it's organic and 100% non-toxic; in fact it's even healthy for your skin (I use it in my foot-bath). It's good for stripping basic colours from miniatures but it has a hard time getting through tougher paints (in particular Army Painter spray paints). I'm not sure if there is an international equivalent but I assume there should be one...



Al3X said:


> Looking great this squad. Are you going to use the components of the new Grey Knights in your next squads? I think the new components are fantastic


To answer your question here's a tiny preview of what's in progress while painting:








Those are WIP terminator legs from the GK box, covering up and cutting off all the details I don't want to have on them when I'm using them. I'm doing the same with the torsos and the arms. Also going to add some minor details (rivets and bolts) on these legs and I'm going to mimic the side knee armour shields on the normal terminator legs as well to complete the look throughout the squads. To finish it all of I'm going to try my hand at adding blood gems and bird skulls and similar details. It will be a long term project since I don't have much need for them game-wise.

As it stands at the moment I have parts to complete 12 terminator miniatures using GK torsos on different kinds of terminator legs. 5 of them will have TH/SS and 5 will have LCs (I'm leaning towards using the Falchions from the GK set to represent these but I haven't decided yet) along with 2 Sanguinary Priests in TDA to finish the squads off.

I'm going to do something similar with the PAGK parts. They will most likely be used for a librarian honour guard squad. At the moment I'm pretty convinced I'll use most parts apart from the storm bolter arms (which aren't really used by BAs a lot).

More on the progress of these as soon as I have anything worthwhile to show.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

xenobiotic said:


> I like being friendly and nice
> 
> I've done my fair share of bad miniatures over the years, it just happened to be at a time in my life when I didn't have a camera or a computer, hehe. I bet I could dig some of them out from and old box somewhere though I assume most of them have been stripped in attempts to save the parts. I have way to much ¤"#! in my bit-box.


Pictures won't be necisary  i've now decided that your painting abilities are more akin to a superpower which means you were probabley painting at golden demon standard before you could walk. This makes me feel better, i can cope with not being as good at painting as a superhero.  

Keep em coming dude i love seeing what you have up your sleeve next. :grin:


----------



## JAMOB

Nice to see youre making those awfully thin legs a bit thicker. They just dont suit terminators at all... Can wait till the next update (this is great, two in 2 days keep it up,
-JAMOB


----------



## DivineArchitect

Wow....that was well worth the 50 minutes and a box a tissues it took to read through.

the free hand on the tanks, those dishy conversions.....you sir should write a book.

may this thread never end. 
reprepreprep.


----------



## Midge913

I like the way the Gk Termy legs are turning out. I think that they will look really nice alongside the mk IV armor that you are so found of on your tactical marines.


----------



## Scathainn

xenobiotic said:


> All this talk about Librarians have got me thinking about using a bit more blue in the future


*cough*YourSpaceSharkssuccessorshaveaquarteredgreyandbluescheme*cough*


----------



## Al3X

simply great, I'm looking forward to seeing builded those transformed Grey Knights


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Scathainn said:


> *cough*YourSpaceSharkssuccessorshaveaquarteredgreyandbluescheme*cough*


This is a cough i would definately seek medical advice over.


----------



## Arcticor

What happened to the tyrant? I havnt seen any other pictures of him... maybe i skipped over it on accident.


----------



## Yoritomo Jiriki

Xeno, did I read correctly that you don't play, just conversions and paint? May I borrow your troops then?


----------



## turel2

Wow your army is awesome. It makes me want to set fire to my blood angels. + all the rep I can give.

Could you do more tutorials for us mortals plz?

How did you paint the red armour on your tacts?


----------



## xenobiotic

I've run into a problem! :wasntme:

Apparently you can't edit a post when 1 year has passed since it was originally posted. This means I can't update my first post in this thread any more - meaning it has lost it's index function  I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this at the moment since I'd sure like to keep adding to this thread and also use the first post as an index post for myself and others interested in seeing what have been done or looking for a particular unit post.

Input? 
I promise tasty (internet) cookies to anyone that can come up with a solution.

----



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Pictures won't be necessary  I've now decided that your painting abilities are more akin to a superpower which means you were probably painting at golden demon standard before you could walk. This makes me feel better, i can cope with not being as good at painting as a superhero.
> 
> Keep em coming dude i love seeing what you have up your sleeve next. :grin:


I hardly consider myself painting at a golden demon standard, those painters are insanely talented and good and put in huge amounts of time in their entries. I'm not sure I have the patience let alone the skill to win a golden demon. I might have a chance if I did an elaborate freehand painting on a tank but otherwise I think I'd be toast. Warm, buttery, toast.



JAMOB said:


> Nice to see youre making those awfully thin legs a bit thicker. They just don't suit terminators at all... Can wait till the next update (this is great, two in 2 days keep it up,
> -JAMOB


That was just a fluke since I have so many project on my desk at once that I happened to split them up into many updates. Don't expect me to post each day. I'm not fast enough for that - or rather - I wouldn't have anything worthwhile to show most days. 



DivineArchitect said:


> Wow....that was well worth the 50 minutes and a box a tissues it took to read through.
> 
> the free hand on the tanks, those dishy conversions.....you sir should write a book.
> 
> may this thread never end.
> reprepreprep.


I'm glad you like my work. I'm actually in the process of writing a minor collection of tutorials on basic conversions for space marines that I hope to finish of in a couple of months (realistically). It will mostly cover repositioning in different shapes and sizes.



Midge913 said:


> I like the way the Gk Termy legs are turning out. I think that they will look really nice alongside the mk IV armor that you are so fond of on your tactical marines.


They have potential but they are pretty sloppy in their details. Some of the moulding details are wonky and wrong and I have to correct it. I don't mind that much but I've come to expect more when paying as much as I do for this hobby. Safe to say people won't think "GK" at first when they see them - apart from the revealing torso shape.



Scathainn said:


> *cough*YourSpaceSharkssuccessorshaveaquarteredgreyandbluescheme*cough*


My what? Surely your hallucinating because you have such a high fever!



Al3X said:


> simply great, I'm looking forward to seeing builded those transformed Grey Knights


Hopefully they will progress nicely soon™



Arcticor said:


> What happened to the tyrant? I havnt seen any other pictures of him... maybe i skipped over it on accident.


It's standing on my desk with the first layer of paint on it... I should finish that sometime soon...



Yoritomo Jiriki said:


> Xeno, did I read correctly that you don't play, just conversions and paint? May I borrow your troops then?


Actually, I do play. However it's on rare occasions. I use the hobby as a way to wind down and be creative. If you live in the South of Sweden then maybe I'd let you borrow them sometime under my watching eye 



turel2 said:


> Wow your army is awesome. It makes me want to set fire to my blood angels. + all the rep I can give.
> 
> Could you do more tutorials for us mortals plz?
> 
> How did you paint the red armour on your tacts?


I can do more tutorials, it'd just take some time to do them with pictures 
The recipe for the red armour is:
1. Mechrite Red
2. Devlan Mud wash
3. Wet-blended Blood Red highlight
4. Wet-blended Blazing Orange highlight
5. Wet-blended Vermin Brown highlight
6. Baal Red wash
It's the same method as the blue librarian armour but with red colours.

----

I promised you an update (I think) on the marine. Progress has been slow, I find myself distracted easily these days, ah, well. I've managed to get some painting done and it's basically detailing left (and the bolt pistol). A couple of freehands, a shiny button or two and some gore then he's all done and I can do the basing for the final 3 members to finish the entire squad (and then I have to move on to my assault marines to actually get them done for the challenge!).








I've already started to type out the fluff for the squad post, there's a short excerpt of a story just to change it up a bit (veteran marines squabbling) along with the tiny fluff pieces fleshing out the chapter as usual. We'll see when it all comes together!

C&C welcomed as always.

----

Adieu for now!
Be safe till next time! :bye:


----------



## TheReverend

Love the red armour, and that Axe! Is that one of the forge world chain axes?


----------



## Midge913

I am with Rev the use of the FW Berserker axes has always been something I have loved about your conversions. Adds a lot of character to these assault based troops. I was going to say that the right shoulder pad looked a little bare and plain, but after I re-read your post about not being done with all the details I will leave that comment to the side. I would really love to add something other than 'it looks fantastic' but there really isn't anything else I can say so...... It looks fantastic buddy!


----------



## xenobiotic

*Brethren of the Phoenix - Honour Guards*

Finally a squad is finished!

----



TheReverend said:


> Love the red armour, and that Axe! Is that one of the forge world chain axes?


Yes, indeed they are. Cut, drilled and pinned on different assault marine/blood angel arms to make them more sturdy. Hopefully they won't break when I use them to play.



Midge913 said:


> I am with Rev the use of the FW Berserker axes has always been something I have loved about your conversions. Adds a lot of character to these assault based troops. I was going to say that the right shoulder pad looked a little bare and plain, but after I re-read your post about not being done with all the details I will leave that comment to the side. I would really love to add something other than 'it looks fantastic' but there really isn't anything else I can say so...... It looks fantastic buddy!


I prefer the axes over the swords but mostly since there's such a lack of poses amongst the chain swords and those that do have alternate poses have cluttering details such as purity seals that ruin them for me (you can't use them on many miniatures without repetition becoming obvious). 

I like the bare shoulder pad from the Mark V armour so I decided to leave it without any further detailing. I find it gives it a good vibe but I might change my mind later - who knows?

----



> [...]
> [The Veterans are slowly proceeding towards the objective building through an area of craters and ruined buildings. As experience and procedure dictates they are approaching their goal in a well-structured manner. As the squad ventures forth through denser terrain bullets start to soar past them. They reflexively head for an edge of a crater nearby to take cover. As the leader marine goes into cover his leg armour is hit with armour penetrating shells and a large fragment gets blown off.]
> *Brother Germanus* - "By the Emperors hammer! I just repaired my armour!"
> *Brother Tullius* - "Haha, another piece broken? You're going to anger your armours machine spirit if you keep at it this way. Surely it must suspect you're not the best master around, having a ragtag armour compromised of almost every mark ever made!"
> *Brother Germanus* - "Quiet, Brother, you're no saint yourself!"
> *Exemplar Atheos* - "Now, now, don't get all upset with each other over some brotherly bantering, Brother Germanus! After all Brother Tullius couldn't help he stood in the way for that lascannon shot, could he?"
> [The marines start taking pot shots at the enemy from their improvised cover]
> *Brother Germanus* - "Well it's not like I can dodge every bullet either when you're always dragging me down and hiding behind me!"
> *Brother Tullius* - "Can't really blame me for lagging behind with this peg leg. As Brother Atheos said getting my leg blown off wasn't an active choice."
> *Flamen Minoris Haeteor* - "Do we always have to have conversations like this one while we are under fire?!"
> *Brother Tullius* - "It's not like we have anything better to talk about, Brother Haeteor. And seeing as we are usually under radio silence otherwise I can't really imagine us talking at any other moment then those like the current."
> *Flamen Minoris Haeteor* - "Well, at least you could call for reinforcements then, clearly we've spotted the enemy now."
> *Brother Tullius* - "Already done, Brother, as procedure dictates."
> [...]





> As a unison we become one as we roar into battle. The claws protruding from our feathered visages of burning fury. We are the embodiment of the chapters Honour. We are the Veterans of ages past and with that comes the responsibility to share our common history with our younger brethren. They rely on our skills to show them the way of battle with honour held high. As reward for our sacrifices we shall be amongst the first to be reborn should we fall fatality.


Honour Guards
There are many different constellations of veterans within the chapter of the Brethren of the Phoenix. Most often veterans make use of their skills to lead their fellow Brethren into battle. Using their greater tactical senses to provide guidance on the field. Others are put together in squads according to their primary skills to form squads such as those called Sternguards and Vanguards within codex chapters. 

Depending on the personality traits and achievements of the veteran battle brother they continue to hone themselves to serve where they are best suited. Therefore the spread of veterans amongst the squads are never fixed and veterans are often moved from one company to another as needed.

Some leaders of the chapter have an even more unorthodox approach to their veterans and select them to form so call Honour Guards, also called Aves, which are basically veteran strike times often serving as body guards or sentinels for the major task force. Their constellations are often chosen in such a manner that each tactical approach is covered in their arsenal, meaning that they can act alone and independently from the rest of the army should it be needed.

_Aves Quartus Decimus di Quartus_, the fortieth honour guard squad constellation of the 4th company of the Brethren of the Phoenix, picture captured during the escalation of *the Battle of Korsk II* where they would serve as a vital element in hit-and-run tactics responsible for taking out one of the Ork Stompas:











> I am null and void. My mind has only silence. Others fight the voices of fear and uncertainty while my mind is clear. Some consider it a curse but I have found it to be a blessing. I do what is necessary and I get the job done.
> 
> - Veteran Sergeant *Germanus*


Veteran Brother, Veteran Sergeant, *Germanus*, of the Brethren of the Phoenix.









Veteran Brother, Assault Weapon Specialist *Tullius*, of the Brethren of the Phoenix.



















> I am an artist. My tool is my blade and my blade is sturdy and as sharp as my wit. But as an artist I acknowledge that some materials cannot be shaped by neither mind nor dagger - and that is why I carry a meltagun.
> 
> - Veteran Brother *Rufinus*


Veteran Brother, Assault Weapon Specialist *Rufinus*, of the Brethren of the Phoenix.



















> I've heard them say that some Astarte have steel running through their veins. Apparently this would explain an affinity for machinery and creation. As if such attributes where to be simple given bodily functions one could command as if lifting an arm or blinking your eye. But we know, the Brothers of the Emblazoned Feather know. What has been given to us is a blessing, but not one of genetics or mystical power over machines but rather an affinity for beauty and passion which leads us to dwelve deeper into the crypts of technology where we find the knowledge needed to craft the very machines and tools of war that lends us, as a chapter, the power to dominate our enemies. With this love we bind ourselves to each and every creation and they respect us for it. We share spirit and if we die they grieve for us until we are reborn, and should they perish we rebuild them in order to let them serve once again.
> 
> - Flamen Minoris, Haeteor, of the Emblazoned Feather.


The Machine cult of the Blood Angels have a tense relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus because of their reluctance to surrender the Baal Predator to them. This tense relation have been passed on to all of their Successors meaning they have to rely on other supply routes for a continuance of machines and equipments. Most of them therefore have a highly capable and self-sufficient Techmarine staff. The Brethren of the Phoenix share this trait, and their subdivision of Techmarines call themselves *the Emblazoned Feather*. Within this organisation is a hierarchic cult containing of a few supreme leaders, called Flamen Majoris of the Emblazoned Feather, which rule and oversee a large number of skilled artisans and craftsmen, called Flamen Minoris of the Emblazoned Feather. These Flamen Minoris serve as advisers to commanders in battle and are always present in campaigns in order to maintain a respectable level of functionality in armoury and weaponry. 

Flamen Minoris, *Haeteor*, of the Emblazoned Feathers











> My name is Atheos of the Twin-feather. I am an Exemplar of the 4th company of the Brethren of the Phoenix and a Servant of the Master-Exemplar, the Keeper of the Embers. I have served for countless decades as a warrior and a refuge for those wounded and killed. The things I have seen go beyond mortal believes and the hardships I have endured with my Brethren would surely have killed the weak minded outright. I have served in many great battles as a liaison and a diplomatic link between the Brethren and other chapters. My aim is to embody the very believes we as a chapter, as a force, share and fight to uphold.
> 
> May our Embers burn bright as the darkness of the universe descends upon mankind! For the Emperor! For mankind! For our Brethren! May we be reborn!
> 
> - Exemplar *Atheos* of the Twin Feather, Servant of the Master-Exemplar, Keeper of Embers.


Some say it's a divine blessing, others believe that the Twin-feather is some kind of secret society within the chapter structure, possibly meant to combat signs of doubt in the mind of the warriors - perhaps yet another tool in the combat versus corruption. There are close relations of those whom are Twin-Feathers and the Exemplars of the Chapter, for reasons unknown to most Brethren. Some brothers are sceptic to this assumption about a secret society seeing as the number of Twin-Feathers reach approximately a tenth of the chapters numbers it would be hard to sustain such an organisation without their agenda leaking out to the fellow Brethren. Truth be told, many of the Twin-Feathered battle brothers themselves do not know fully what the true secret behind the name is.

While there always are flickers of truth in assumptions most of them elude the facts. Twin-Feather is a mutation within some the Brethrens gene seed that enable them to be implanted with two differing seeds, most spectacular is the fact that they can be implanted with different gene seeds (such as one from a Brethren and one from an Ultramarine). While the Brethren gene seed appears to be dominant the other one stays all but dormant within the marine but still, for unknown reasons, manage to create Progenoid Glands with seeds of it's own lineage. The effectively not only doubles the amount of gene seeds available to the chapter but also enables them to become incubators for other chapters, making Twin-Feathers very valuable (but still frowned upon by some chapters and the inquisition). Speculations have been made as to how this was discovered in the first place (what goes on in the secrecy of the Exemplars chambers are not something spoken of), but records have been sealed on that matter.

Another interesting aspect often utilized by the Brethren themselves is to implant a normal Brethren seed into marines with the Twin-Feathered mutation, giving them access to more mature seeds to harvest later on. This has birthed the spiritual aspect of being able to carry a "Twin-Ember" increasing the chances of regaining knowledge from their fallen Brethren.

This mutation would later on prove pivotal for the survival of the chapter as well as their longevity and cooperation with other chapters in campaigns in which they would partake.

Exemplar *Atheos* of the Twin Feather, 4th Company; Servant of the Master-Exemplar, Keeper of Embers.










----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Zodd

As always, a wonderfull sight, the Brethren of the Phoenix . :victory: +rep


----------



## Hammer49

Great work. The bionic looks really good.


----------



## Varakir

I seriously don't know how you keep up the quantity and quality of your updates.....but please keep doing it :victory:

The mix of fluff, insight and eye candy is really compelling. If there was stuff like this in White dwarf I think a lot more people would buy it.

Finally, I hate to be crass, but Exemplar Atheos looks fucking badass :biggrin:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

They just keep getting better and better. Xeno, please tell me you're gonna take a leaf out of the Reverend's book and enter these guys in the GW elites competition. The wider 40k world needs to see them.


----------



## Npf6

Such an impressive army. maybe I'll have to take a "buisness trip" to sweden!


----------



## Midge913

Excellent work buddy. Not only are the models top notch as always, but the addition of the fluff and personal quotations adds so much character and depth to each model and your project log as a whole. Keep up the good work man!


----------



## xenobiotic

Zodd said:


> As always, a wonderfull sight, the Brethren of the Phoenix . :victory: +rep


Thank you, kind sir!



Hammer49 said:


> Great work. The bionic looks really good.


Thanks!



Varakir said:


> I seriously don't know how you keep up the quantity and quality of your updates.....but please keep doing it :victory:
> 
> The mix of fluff, insight and eye candy is really compelling. If there was stuff like this in White dwarf I think a lot more people would buy it.
> 
> Finally, I hate to be crass, but Exemplar Atheos looks fucking badass :biggrin:


And here I am always thinking I'm a slow poke with the updates, I'm glad someone has an opposite viewpoint! I find that the more time you spend on your plog and how you approach it the more feedback you get - which is what I'm after so it's really a win-win for me!

It would be awesome if there was a magazine that had a couple of project logs with ongoing insights and process thoughts. I'd definitely read something like that!

Thank you for the kind words!



Khorne's Fist said:


> They just keep getting better and better. Xeno, please tell me you're gonna take a leaf out of the Reverend's book and enter these guys in the GW elites competition. The wider 40k world needs to see them.


Well, I'm afraid I can't enter the competition with this squad since they aren't elites (and there's no way for me to pass them of ass elites in the codex, I even looked through the alternatives I had, Sanguinary Guards or Sternguards, but none of them could reach the equipment I've modelled for them). So unless I magically make another unit that fits in the ELITE FOC I can't enter the competition 



Npf6 said:


> Such an impressive army. maybe I'll have to take a "buisness trip" to sweden!


Be sure to warn me so you don't catch me in a busy week 



Midge913 said:


> Excellent work buddy. Not only are the models top notch as always, but the addition of the fluff and personal quotations adds so much character and depth to each model and your project log as a whole. Keep up the good work man!


Thank you for your kind words! And I'll do my best not to let my work go down a slippery slope, Midge! Just need to get this months painting challenge squad done and then I can give back to the community again with some tutorials!

----

What am I up to?
Painting?
4 heads (one went a into goo treatment since I was unhappy with where the result was going) on a painting stick. I was a bit iffy at first since the white appeared to go on to thick but I think I managed to save it in the end (I know it's not the best picture I just wanted to show you something).









Converting?
I suddenly fell for that devilish peer pressure and bought myself a limited edition Boarding Marine. I have some plans about what I'm going to do with it but that includes restoring the shield and removing all the nonsense pieces on it. Sadly it was to thin to withstand my treatment so I now have to rebuild some of the details in order to thicken it up - this picture is taken somewhere mid process. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end though... And the Void Sharks will thank me for it.








More to come.

C&C if you feel like it.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Jacobite

oohhhhhhhhhhhh Boarding Marine - so very sexy! very much looking forward to seeing what you come up with for it!


----------



## JAMOB

Sorry I havent posted in a while, I forgot to log on. I love the squad, and the fluff is remarkably... remarkable. There were a few typos in the fluff, easily fixed, but altogether this is better than alot of the crap GW puts out. Kudos to you, and rep if I can

*EDIT*aww... guess not


----------



## Yoritomo Jiriki

xenobiotic said:


> Converting?
> I suddenly fell for that devilish peer pressure and bought myself a limited edition Boarding Marine. I have some plans about what I'm going to do with it but that includes restoring the shield and removing all the nonsense pieces on it. Sadly it was to thin to withstand my treatment so I now have to rebuild some of the details in order to thicken it up - this picture is taken somewhere mid process. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end though... And the Void Sharks will thank me for it.


can you make some for me, please?


----------



## piemaster

Hey. I've been keeping a keen eye on this thread and now I get to comment [yay!] on your marvelous efforts. I really like the honour guard squad earlier (+rep for that) and the librarian looks cool. If he isn't glued together yet I would prefer that his left hand was outstreched and sort of pointing. I know there is a GK terminator arm that does that but not sure if a power armoured equivalent exixts.

Aside from that there isn't much else. Everything is great, I love the bases and basically everything. Fluff is really cool and I love Librarians a bit too much.


----------



## xenobiotic

It's been a long time since last update. There's been a lot going on and I haven't had any capacity left to get a lot of painting done (which is why I didn't manage to finish my assault squad this month). But even when things are going on a back-burner there's some activity.

----



Jacobite said:


> oohhhhhhhhhhhh Boarding Marine - so very sexy! very much looking forward to seeing what you come up with for it!


I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the actual body (and I'm not sure which helmet and weapons to use with it either for that matter), I just knew that I'll be able to figure something out for the shield once it's done 



JAMOB said:


> Sorry I havent posted in a while, I forgot to log on. I love the squad, and the fluff is remarkably... remarkable. There were a few typos in the fluff, easily fixed, but altogether this is better than alot of the crap GW puts out. Kudos to you, and rep if I can
> 
> *EDIT*aww... guess not


Seeing as English isn't my first language I'm satisfied with just a few typos. It's hard to get all the grammar done, specially when I keep typing at the end of the day. I try to always read my posts in this thread the day after to iron out typos and illogical sentences and I do find quite a lot of them - which is a lesson to everyone actually  (it also forces me to learn about my common errors so I can keep them in mind as I proceed).

I try to make it special but at the same time I want my marines to keep a human touch with strong personalities. Makes for better stories. Glad you like it!



Yoritomo Jiriki said:


> can you make some for me, please?


I could, but it would most likely be very illegal, so I won't 



piemaster said:


> Hey. I've been keeping a keen eye on this thread and now I get to comment [yay!] on your marvelous efforts. I really like the honour guard squad earlier (+rep for that) and the librarian looks cool. If he isn't glued together yet I would prefer that his left hand was outstreched and sort of pointing. I know there is a GK terminator arm that does that but not sure if a power armoured equivalent exixts.
> 
> Aside from that there isn't much else. Everything is great, I love the bases and basically everything. Fluff is really cool and I love Librarians a bit too much.


I've tweaked him a bit. His pose is actually pretty odd, I changed him around somewhat and I think I'm a little more pleased with him now (pictures later). He'll be joined by an honour guard as soon as I get around to it (so.. In a while).

I'm glad you like my work!

----

So, what's happened since last time?
I've been slowly painting my marines and fiddling around with minor conversions, but mostly I've planned ahead and prepared myself mentally for what I want to do (a Sisters of Battle army for one thing - when/should they get plastic boxes, but also things related to the Brethren (of course!)).

The Boarding Marine Shield is done - all the purity seals removed and details resculpted. I think it looks a lot better this way but I was nervous when it started to give in to my treatment (seeing as how it's a edition miniature which I paid a lot of money for compared to my other marines):









You've already seen the heads of the assault marines, so here is the body of the sergeant and the arms painting-in-progress pictures. I'm not done with either, I don't know why they have taken me such a long time to get done, must have become a mental block for me - I'm not used to do more than one miniature at a time (which takes ridiculously long time though):

















That's about it for this time, I'm hoping this update will get my motivation up and running again so I can get more painting done! 

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

Get your butt into gear Xeno!!! (friendly motivation)

The in progress shots look great. The posing of the sergeant looks really nice. You need to paint more so we can see :biggrin:


----------



## R3DM0H4WK

Seriously everytime i look at this log i always start at the beginning, these models are awe inspiring!!!!


----------



## Scathainn

Lookin' good buddy.

Two things though:

1. When are you gonna get your Void Sharks started? :wink:

2. What are the FW chainaxes like? I'm thinking of getting some for my World Eaters and I wanted to know your impression.


----------



## xenobiotic

imm0rtal reaper said:


> Get your butt into gear Xeno!!! (friendly motivation)
> 
> The in progress shots look great. The posing of the sergeant looks really nice. You need to paint more so we can see :biggrin:


Paint, paint, paint! However much I actually do you all just want more anyway... Vicious circle that is!



R3DM0H4WK said:


> Seriously everytime i look at this log i always start at the beginning, these models are awe inspiring!!!!


It's going to become a terrible strain on you when the thread reaches a couple of hundreds more replies, hehe!



Scathainn said:


> Lookin' good buddy.
> 
> Two things though:
> 
> 1. When are you gonna get your Void Sharks started? :wink:
> 
> 2. What are the FW chainaxes like? I'm thinking of getting some for my World Eaters and I wanted to know your impression.


1. Whenever inspiration strikes me.
2. Their handles are awesomely flimsy. They WILL break unless you take precautions to avoid such a thing. And while taking precautions you will break 2/3s of them anyway. I drill out the handles (all the way from the bottom to the top of the handle) in order to strengthen it with steel wire. That also makes my converting attempts much easier since I can stick a hand with a handle together with the handle from the axe.

All in all they are worth the effort but they are very fragile and you should know that going in!

----

Anyway!
I was looking at my unpainted miniatures and I realised that the second 10-man assault squad I built (of which I'm in the process of painting 5) isn't really looking up to date concerning my recently acquired skills. As can be seen in this old picture the sergeant in particular isn't that impressive:








So I rummaged through my bit box in order to make him a bit more alive. I noticed there is a complete lack of interesting power fists in my boxes at the moment so I decided to be creative - hence the bit-bashed thunderhammer (using parts from the PAGK kit for the first time!):








He has a jump pack on this picture simply because the whole squad is magnetized (being painted as jumpers to begin with). I chose to pose his head looking to the miniatures right side simply because I noticed a lot of my miniatures are looking to their left. Other insights I acquired is that most interesting arms I have are right arms and the only hands available that are not holding something are left hands...

Also here's a building in process of the Librarian which I forgot to add to the post yesterday, after the previous discussion about him I redid the left arm and reposed it a bit. It's a hard miniature to put together since the left leg makes him look strange from some angles. In a frontal view he's pretty awesome now. I also scrapped the Angelus bolter idea I had previously seeing as the miniature has a bolt pistol in it's holster he shouldn't need another one strapped to his arm...









Hope you like them!

----

Till next time! :bye:

EDIT: Added some more information.


----------



## Warpetrie

cool I like the Tac squad. If the other model is going to be the new sarge for them why does he have a Jump Pack? Or did I read that wrong?  

I like the liby too, but I think more work could be done on the left arm. It looks a bit out of place with the rest of the pose...maybe he could be shooting something? I guess the other one you have is already pointing so I dont think you wanted to repeat that again on that one... 

Well can't wait to see what you show us next ^_^ 

-Warpetrie

:Edit: wow that was weird...it took me 5 tries to get this to be posted >_< kept saying it was too short -_-


----------



## Varakir

Loving the big hammer mate :grin:

As usual your work continues to impress and astound, what's freaky is you seem to be getting better and better as you go as well...can't wait to see what kind of modelling insanity will be going on when we get to page 200 :wink:

Librarian is oozing character, though the arm still looks a little off to me. It looks like he's conjuring a fire ball but his hands the wrong way up (to me anyway)


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

Looking good bud. I'd be quite interested in seeing the librarian resting his left hand on his left leg, might make a wicked pose!


----------



## Midge913

Looks really good xeno! I think that his left hand turned palm upward with sculpted flames in it would look really good. Provide some interesting OSL opportunities as well.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

very nice dude...though to be fair that's what i expect whenevr i come to visit your log.


----------



## JAMOB

Yeah I think i read that wrong too. The Tacticals look amazing, cant wait for the painting. It should also be interesting to see you paint a second libby. Alot to live up to, but you can do it.


----------



## nooker

*Warseer*

I also followed your thread on Warseer (because I think these models are that cool). In case you haven't noticed, the forums are back up. Of course given why they went down, I can see why people might be wary about returning.

nooker


----------



## xenobiotic

Time for a small update!

----



Warpetrie said:


> cool I like the Tac squad. If the other model is going to be the new sarge for them why does he have a Jump Pack? Or did I read that wrong?
> 
> I like the liby too, but I think more work could be done on the left arm. It looks a bit out of place with the rest of the pose...maybe he could be shooting something? I guess the other one you have is already pointing so I dont think you wanted to repeat that again on that one...
> 
> Well can't wait to see what you show us next ^_^
> 
> -Warpetrie
> 
> :Edit: wow that was weird...it took me 5 tries to get this to be posted >_< kept saying it was too short -_-


As I edited in later the whole squad is magnetized for jump packs, that's why the sarge has a jump pack now but didn't have one in the first picture.

About the librarian it's not that much that can be done, I can move the arm around a bit but since I don't want him to be holding a pistol (he has one in a holster) and I don't want him to point forward (since the other librarian is already doing that) there are only so many possibilities left to choose between. When I do my next librarian I'll definitely be doing one holding his weapon in his left hand (to spice things up).



Varakir said:


> Loving the big hammer mate :grin:
> 
> As usual your work continues to impress and astound, what's freaky is you seem to be getting better and better as you go as well...can't wait to see what kind of modelling insanity will be going on when we get to page 200 :wink:
> 
> Librarian is oozing character, though the arm still looks a little off to me. It looks like he's conjuring a fire ball but his hands the wrong way up (to me anyway)


It all depends on me getting crazier ideas and being able to complete them - I guess sooner or later you'll encounter a point close to madness (repositioning every limb and doing custom sculpted details on every squad member in an entire army for example - I'm looking at you Svartmetall :wink



imm0rtal reaper said:


> Looking good bud. I'd be quite interested in seeing the librarian resting his left hand on his left leg, might make a wicked pose!


I'll try it out when I paint him, that would just require me to glue it on in a different angle (which I'd prefer seeing as how I've tried a couple of different alternatives already and I'd like to stop now )



Midge913 said:


> Looks really good xeno! I think that his left hand turned palm upward with sculpted flames in it would look really good. Provide some interesting OSL opportunities as well.


Tbh sculpted flames aren't my thing in this particular army (while I do see it's applications in other circumstances). I'd like to keep any OSL on this particular miniature to the skull on the staff (as if projecting a force field around him --> Shield of Sanguinus)



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> very nice dude...though to be fair that's what i expect whenevr i come to visit your log.


Glad I can keep up a high standard 



JAMOB said:


> Yeah I think i read that wrong too. The Tacticals look amazing, cant wait for the painting. It should also be interesting to see you paint a second libby. Alot to live up to, but you can do it.


A lot to live up to and a small amount of time available. I have a lot of ideas will be plenty to keep me busy for many months to come! (Dun dun dun duuun!)



nooker said:


> I also followed your thread on Warseer (because I think these models are that cool). In case you haven't noticed, the forums are back up. Of course given why they went down, I can see why people might be wary about returning.
> 
> nooker


I usually keep my in progress posts mostly confined to heresy and share the finished work on both sites. I'll be posting on warseer soon enough though 

----

Here's a minor update on the assault marine arms (well, 3 pairs of them at least). Painting has otherwise progressed very slowly for many reasons combined into a general lack of interest at the moment. But seeing these results have kind of spurred me for now and I'm hoping to keep a small momentum going from this point. 








Yes, the axe will get a purple power node and cable with some minor OSL, I overlooked that before I took these pictures.









As you can see from their icons (which are sadly hard to take pictures of - the difference in the white paint is there but close-ups in bright light tends to wash them out) on their shoulder pads, one member of this squad is a Twin-feather and another one is actually a member of the seventh company that has been placed into the 4th company for the squad to meet minimum operational strength during the campaign on Korsk II.

5 marines to paint:
3 pairs of arms "done"
4 heads "done"
A lot to go...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Looking good! Gotta love purple. These are coming along fine: cant wait for the other 4 arms and the last head. I really do love how far your work has progressed, its made for an interesting few months. That coloring is simply amazing. You used what, 5 colors in the red part of the shoulder pad? maybe 4 on the purple of the purity seals? Your blending and shading are amazing. Keep it up, maybe add just a bit more purple 
cheers
-JAMOB


----------



## Midge913

Looking good buddy! I hear you on the lack of motivation. RL is kicking my ass at the moment and I am having a hard time getting behind the brush as well. Keep at it bud because I love seeing your progress as it motivates me to make progress of my own. Looking forward to seeing the squad complete.


----------



## piemaster

Just thought I'd sop by and say how great everything is coming along. It is hard with long haul projects but I can plainly see that it is worth it. I do have one request, can we get a group photo? I'd like to see where you are at exactly. Oh, and +rep for your remarkable efforts [when I can at least].


----------



## xenobiotic

Another small update! (I can here you rejoicing!)

----



JAMOB said:


> Looking good! Gotta love purple. These are coming along fine: cant wait for the other 4 arms and the last head. I really do love how far your work has progressed, its made for an interesting few months. That coloring is simply amazing. You used what, 5 colors in the red part of the shoulder pad? maybe 4 on the purple of the purity seals? Your blending and shading are amazing. Keep it up, maybe add just a bit more purple
> cheers
> -JAMOB


*Red* is:
Mechrite Red foundation
+ Devlan Mud wash
+ Blood Red
+ Blazing Orange
+ Vomit Brown
+ Baal Red wash
= 6 colours  

*Purple* is:
Liche Purple
+ Liche Purple:Tentacle Pink (1:1)
+ Tentacle Pink
+ Leviathan Purple wash
= 3 colours, 4 layers/shades

I'm happy you're enjoying my log!



Midge913 said:


> Looking good buddy! I hear you on the lack of motivation. RL is kicking my ass at the moment and I am having a hard time getting behind the brush as well. Keep at it bud because I love seeing your progress as it motivates me to make progress of my own. Looking forward to seeing the squad complete.


You appear to have better discipline than I have! I'm going back and forth between trying to do a squad step-by-step and doing one miniature at a time. I see benefits with both methods but all I really need is to keep at it a tiny amount each day...



piemaster said:


> Just thought I'd sop by and say how great everything is coming along. It is hard with long haul projects but I can plainly see that it is worth it. I do have one request, can we get a group photo? I'd like to see where you are at exactly. Oh, and +rep for your remarkable efforts [when I can at least].


You'll get a new army update as soon as I've finished up another unit (or maybe two). I want there to be significant change between the army photos, otherwise there's no use for them (seeing as there have only been a handful of newly painted miniatures over the last month).

----

Update:
First of all I finished painting the arms (apart from the lacking shoulder-pads obviously), I added some splatter and a tiny glow effect and other bits and bobs:









Suddenly I was swept away and I pushed on a bit further. Before I knew it I had completed all but a jump pack for one of the marines in the squad. He's a promising member called in from the Seventh Company (hence the purple knee pad) to fight with the Birds of Paradise (the 4th company) in order to gain more experience (almost all the other marines in the squad are veterans as many of the marines in the 4th company are - more on that later).









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

xenobiotic said:


> *Red* is:
> = 6 colours
> 
> *Purple* is:
> = 3 colours, 4 layers/shades


Ok fine, off by one each time

I love the way you used purple on the weapons, but is that alien blood? thats what it seems like but im not sure. That dude looks awesome, i like the eyes shoulder pad and gun arm especially. All of its very good Keep up the good work, and dont keep us waiting too long (dont rush though)
-JAMOB


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> Ok fine, off by one each time
> 
> I love the way you used purple on the weapons, but is that alien blood? thats what it seems like but im not sure. That dude looks awesome, i like the eyes shoulder pad and gun arm especially. All of its very good Keep up the good work, and dont keep us waiting too long (don't rush though)
> -JAMOB


The blood is somewhat hard to see in these pictures but it's mostly on the blades themselves and it's a darker mix (gloss varnish, baal red wash and a drop of badab black) as to emulate coagulated blood rather than fresh blood.

----



> ... And my axe!











I'm starting to see the benefits of the PAGK-kit. The only thing that nags me are the pre-moulded purity seals and all the arms with storm bolters (that needs to be replaced with arms without them if you are to use them in any other "normal" squad). You'll definitely be seeing more two-handed chain-weapons from now on, they'll make a nice addition to add character to the squads.

This conversion took about 30 minutes to make (and only needs a small amount of green stuff to finish). I'm going to try some more interesting (i.e. lively) poses as I progress through my assault squads in the future.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Carna

Looks awesome! Your work is very inspiring.


----------



## Midge913

The finished marine is looking great Xeno! I love how the purple knee pad stands out. The guy with the two handed axe looks nice but he feels a little more static in his pose compared to most of your other marines. It could just be the angle of the shot of course. Looking good as always!


----------



## Karak The Unfaithful

Wow, that paint scheme is really effective


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> The finished marine is looking great Xeno! I love how the purple knee pad stands out. The guy with the two handed axe looks nice but he feels a little more static in his pose compared to most of your other marines. It could just be the angle of the shot of course. Looking good as always!


It's probably because I took a pretty static marine, ripped his previous arms off and put these on. Mostly I wanted to see if it was doable. I have some other poses in my mind that I'd like to try out (more aggressive ones). Over all the tactical marine legs are sub par when it comes to good poses (sadly).

----

I've been sifting through my boxes, planning ahead and trying to pound out some question marks. I have a lot of unopened and unbuilt stuff laying about that has been piling up to such an amount that it's starting to give me anxiety (it's just as sad as it sounds ). Seeing as how I've managed to paint only a handful of miniatures over the past year I feel that I need to unload some of them and keep focused on the rest.

Starting off I'll be selling all the boxes of daemons I've gathered up over the past years. I'm getting them sold for minimum loss to a friend (which I might be picking up WHFB to play with, more on that later). There's just no way I'll be able to finish those Daemons at my current rate and I've felt that I have lost interest for them (so away they go!). 

Other then that I've tried to write down what I want to build/make as far as it comes to Space Marine armies since I'm starting to wonder where I'm actually going with this plan. Feel free to give me input on these lists - if you have any.

*Brethren of the Phoenix*
*HQ* 
Librarian (4) Jump Packs (2) 
Reclusiarch-Chaplain	
Honour Guards Squads (2)	(One squad magnetized for Jump Packs)

*Elites* 
Furiouso Dreadnought 
Sternguard Squad
Sanguinary Priest (3)	Jump Packs (2) 

*Troops* 
Assault Squad	Jump Packs 
Assault Squad 
Death Company Squad

*Dedicated Transports*
Rhino/Razorback (4)
Repressor 
Land Raider Crusader	(2)

*Fast Attack*
Baal Predator (3)

*Heavy Support* 
Linebreaker Squadron (Vindicator x3) 

*Void Sharks*
*HQ* 
Bray'Arth Ashmantle (Dreadnought Special Character)
Vaylund Cal (Techmarine Special Character)

*Elites	* 
Siege Dreadnought Talon (Ironclad Dreadnought x3)

*Troops* 
Tactical Squad	Siege Mantles/Boarding Shields
Tactical Squad	Siege Mantles/Boarding Shields
Scout Squad	

*Heavy Support* 
Devastator Squad	Rogue Trader Missile Launchers
Devastator Squad	Rogue Trader Missile Launchers

*Others/Undecided* 
Knight Warden 
Fellblade
Predator Destructor
Drop Pod (3)
Terminator Squad
Terminator Assault Squad
Sanguinary Priest in Terminator armour?

*Green indicates that I have all the parts needed to complete construction for said units.
*Numbers within parenthesis indicates the numbers of such units "Drop Pod (3)" = 3 drop pods

Now, the major issues with these lists are in fact the "Others/Undecided" section (so tips for any of these units are welcomed). For example I have no clue which army I want to paint my terminators as. If I do them for the Brethren I will most likely need to make at least one Sanguinary Priest in Terminator armour (which might be pretty neat).

At first I was leaning towards making one unit of Assault Terminators for the Brethren and a unit of normal terminators for the Void Sharks but I can't make up my mind. Any input in the matter?

About the drop pods I've found them to be pretty boring to paint and I'm not sure how/if I'll use them in any list. At the moment I think I'll leave them be and prioritize other units.

----

Some might remember this guy, although the last time you saw him he had a different head and arms. I'll toss this change to creative process. There was something about the configuration that bugged me and I felt that I hadn't given the initial concept enough attention to achieve what I had wanted to in my mind. Therefore I made these adjustments to make him into a normal trooper (or combat squad leader in this case). Hopefully you like the change, these pictures are Painting In Progress, should have more to show tomorrow:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

xenobiotic said:


> Now, the major issues with these lists are in fact the "Others/Undecided" section (so tips for any of these units are welcomed). For example I have no clue which army I want to paint my terminators as. If I do them for the Brethren I will most likely need to make at least one Sanguinary Priest in Terminator armour (which might be pretty neat).


I would split them like this
*Brethren of the Phoenix*

Knight Warden 
Fellblade
Predator Destructor
Drop Pod (1)
Terminator Assault Squad
Sanguinary Priest in Terminator armour?
*
Void Sharks
*Terminator Squad
Terminator Assault Squad
Drop pod (2) --at least

Specifically along fluff lines. i added a second termi assault squad in as lets face it termi armour is meant to have been developed specifically for boarding actions and the sharks are meant to specialise in that role. 

If you want to spread the units out a bit more then i'd switch the knight warden into the sharks, it means you keep your tanks together and push the armoured assault concept you had going on the bretheren to start with. Might be nice to give the sharks all of the drop pods in that situation as well. 

try to imagine both armies deploying for battle, the bretheren powering forwards on jump packs and tanks whilst the sharks dev teams lay down covering fire. Then the shark drop pods arrrive and deliver the close fire boarding teams straight into the thick of the battle. Catching the enemy between the advancing red line and the vice of the blue sharks.


----------



## JAMOB

I agree with Grimzagorkyguy give sharks termis and pods. They seem, as void sharks, perfectly fitted with termis as they are as said for boarding, but your brethren need termis too otherwise theyre devoid, and thats not good D: all armies (aka army lists not army for a battle) should have at least five. No idea what Warden or Fellblade are, but maybe spread it around? anyway definitely predator for brethren theyre really tanky, put sharks as space battles brethren as land mass tanks and stuff. As of now that list rivals the guards for firepower.
And yes the pose looks static but still better than mine so i cant talk, and tactical legs only suck if theyre the only thing youre using (ie mix legs, right/left, stole that from you)
and a Termi-priest would be awesome: walking fnp with 2+5+ save? amazing
For an rp i developed a type of assassin I call a ghost (yes after sc) theyre a mix of Vanus (work from the shadows) and vindicare (snipe) the character was in Vanus and faked her own death and was trained by her vindicare father who had done the same thing...
http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=89338&page=3
its about halfway down. You could use that... at least in fluff. It works with Void theme... your choice


----------



## Scathainn

Seeing as I play Sharks and suggested the original shark idea I figured I should give my input :grin:



xenobiotic said:


> *Others/Undecided*
> Knight Warden
> Fellblade
> Predator Destructor
> Drop Pod (3)
> Terminator Squad
> Terminator Assault Squad
> Sanguinary Priest in Terminator armour?
> 
> -


I'd say split it up like this:

*Bretheren:*
Fellblade
Predator
Drop Pod

*Sharks:*
Both Terminator Squads
Priest in Termie Armour (Could easily be a count-as Apothecary in Termie armour)
Drop Pods (2)

Other:

I think the Knight Warden doesn't really fit in either army, personally. Perhaps it could be on-loan from the Mechanicus?


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Love the work you have done on all these guys Xeno. Super! Wish I wasnt so paranoid about weathering my own stuff, maybe I would be able to get more done...lol.

I have always been a fan of axes to swords, so, I love the chain axes...SWEET!


----------



## Varakir

xenobiotic said:


> *HQ*
> Bray'Arth Ashmantle (Dreadnought Special Character)


ooooh, I am very excited by this. What are your plans for him, or are they a sneaky secret?


----------



## xenobiotic

GrimzagGorwazza said:


> I would split them like this
> *Brethren of the Phoenix*
> Knight Warden / Fellblade / Predator Destructor / Drop Pod (1) /
> Terminator Assault Squad / Sanguinary Priest in Terminator armour
> 
> *Void Sharks
> *Terminator Squad
> Terminator Assault Squad / Drop pod (2) --at least
> Specifically along fluff lines. I added a second termi assault squad in as lets face it termi armour is meant to have been developed specifically for boarding actions and the sharks are meant to specialise in that role.
> 
> If you want to spread the units out a bit more then I'd switch the knight warden into the sharks, it means you keep your tanks together and push the armoured assault concept you had going on the brethren to start with. Might be nice to give the sharks all of the drop pods in that situation as well.
> 
> try to imagine both armies deploying for battle, the brethren powering forwards on jump packs and tanks whilst the sharks dev teams lay down covering fire. Then the shark drop pods arrive and deliver the close fire boarding teams straight into the thick of the battle. Catching the enemy between the advancing red line and the vice of the blue sharks.


I like the idea of keeping the walkers (no matter their size) in the Shark army, gives them a theme to run by (even if it would be hard to fit a Knight into a Boarding Action party ). The other option is to go Scathainn way and give the Knight a separate scheme. I could follow the old Knight Titan fluff where they are actually driven by "rich landlords" and painted in their heraldry. It could be some young "prince" aiming to make a name for himself. But I think I'd prefer it in blue/grey rather then one of those old rogue trader schemes (even if they are charming), I'll have to take a look at them again and see what I can come up with.

Considering my lack of enthusiasm for the Drop Pods it would probably be a good idea to postpone them for the Sharks. I think they are of more use in that particular army setup anyway (with more dreads and static squads without mechanized support).

I also have to keep in mind to round off the planning at a reasonable level (something I can actually complete in a not to far away future).



JAMOB said:


> I agree with Grimzagorkyguy give sharks termis and pods. They seem, as void sharks, perfectly fitted with termis as they are as said for boarding, but your brethren need termis too otherwise theyre devoid, and thats not good D: all armies (aka army lists not army for a battle) should have at least five. No idea what Warden or Fellblade are, but maybe spread it around? anyway definitely predator for brethren theyre really tanky, put sharks as space battles brethren as land mass tanks and stuff. As of now that list rivals the guards for firepower.
> And yes the pose looks static but still better than mine so i cant talk, and tactical legs only suck if theyre the only thing youre using (ie mix legs, right/left, stole that from you)
> and a Termi-priest would be awesome: walking fnp with 2+5+ save? amazing
> For an rp i developed a type of assassin I call a ghost (yes after sc) theyre a mix of Vanus (work from the shadows) and vindicare (snipe) the character was in Vanus and faked her own death and was trained by her vindicare father who had done the same thing...
> http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=89338&page=3
> its about halfway down. You could use that... at least in fluff. It works with Void theme... your choice


I have some Space Hulk Terminators, I could use those to make a 5-man squad for the Brethren and then I could use my GK terminator conversions for the Void Sharks, perhaps...

A Knight Warden is a Knight Titan which is basically a smaller titan than a *Warhound*. They where common in Epic and received rules with the Apocalypse fan made extra rules for units. The Knight Warden is a slow walking support titan with a bit missile launcher on it's back and twin-linked heavy bolters on each "sponson"/"arm" on the sides.

Fellblades are the Space Marines answer for the Imperial Guard Baneblades, they are very uncommon in the fluff (most of them lost during the Heresy) but some are still out there and used in larger confrontations (Apocalypse).

Hope that's enough explanation for you 



Scathainn said:


> Seeing as I play Sharks and suggested the original shark idea I figured I should give my input :grin:
> 
> I'd say split it up like this:
> 
> *Bretheren:*
> Fellblade / Predator / Drop Pod
> 
> *Sharks:*
> Terminator Squads / Priest in Termie Armour (Could easily be a count-as Apothecary in Termie armour) / Drop Pods (2)
> 
> Other:
> I think the Knight Warden doesn't really fit in either army, personally. Perhaps it could be on-loan from the Mechanicus?


Since the plan from the beginning has been to be able to use the armies separately or in conjunction (mostly in the eventual apocalypse battle) I do see your reasoning with the "Apothecary" which could easily represent a Sanguinary Priest rule wise even if painted in other colours (had I played the Void Sharks as Red Scorpions I could actually have taken Apothecaries as sergeants for the squads, but let's avoid getting carried away for now).

I was just in doubt about the Terminators since I could envision them in both schemes...



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Love the work you have done on all these guys Xeno. Super! Wish I wasnt so paranoid about weathering my own stuff, maybe I would be able to get more done...lol.
> 
> I have always been a fan of axes to swords, so, I love the chain axes...SWEET!


Weathering is my way of hiding that my miniatures are full of faults, hehe. So sometimes weathering can be useful for you. 



Varakir said:


> ooooh, I am very excited by this. What are your plans for him, or are they a sneaky secret?


I have a basic plan figured out, but rumours about an eventual release of an actual miniature for Bray'arth makes me a tad nervous and makes me inclined to wait before I convert up my own version. The fluff text in IA 10 mentions him being put into the "Iron Dragon" dreadnought which is described as a prototype for all the ironclad dreadnoughts. The difference being that it has even heavier armour and a unique reactor system.

I figure that a good basis for the conversion would be a Mk IV Ironclad dreadnought body:








I've then got some small metallic parts that could be used to represent muzzles for outlets of flames (which could represent one of his rules) if inserted into the armour plating at some chosen locations. Maybe adding some cogwheels and other miscellaneous bits and bobs to chosen locations will make him look unique without having to resort to heavy cutting and converting.

I'd also like to give him some kind of iconic weapons (differentiating him further from other dreadnoughts) and therefore I'm considering the possibility of converting the FW seismic hammer into both a left and a right arm with a modified head on the weapon to resemble something more "fishy" (still uncertain on how to do that but I think it's managable (but expensive since I'd have to buy 3 arms to do it)):









That's the plan so far and I hope the description conjures up some kind of comprehensable image in your mind. I have yet to purchase the pieces from FW. No need to hurry though, I have a lot of thoughts going about in my mind (*Chaos Dwarves* are trying to lure me into their web) and I'm about to receive some extra cash. Ah, well...

----

Update:
Painting is progressing slowly through the squad. The ironic thing at the moment is that I've only got 3 bodies left to highlight and then 5 jump packs before I'm done. For some reason highlighting has become utterly boring at the moment which I guess is what drags the time out.

This miniature was supposed to be the "bird man" but as I painted him I realized I hadn't made the miniature in my mind to it's full potential, so I decided to change things around for now (and produce a better miniature later on): 








Comparison picture with last time you saw this particular miniature:









Painting Challenge *May* - *Squad status*:








I probably need to step it up a notch to complete the squad in time. I'm going to leave the bases for later (I think) so I don't have to worry about them just yet. As matter stands right now I have 3 bodies to highlight and then 5 jump packs to paint and then I should be done. Keep your fingers crossed!

On a side note I've updated my "Captain" (counts as Tycho) which have since his last appearance achieved the feat of increasing his intelligence to a level where he felt it was appropriate to wear a helmet when fighting in a warzone (yes, I hate marines without helmets). He also polished his gems to make them gleam a bit more then before and painted the chapter symbol on his shoulderpad rather than the golden chalice he used to have there. Note that it's a Grey Knight helmet (first one used in this army), it looks suitably unique I think:








Here's what he looked like before:








Sadly for him I have realised that Tycho will be utterly useless overall in my army the way I play it at the moment so he will be degraded to a Sternguard veteran sergeant or a Sergeant for a suitable squad (honour guard perhaps?)

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


>


Where as I had looked forward to seeing the "birdman" painted up, this guy turned out really well mate! The pose is very dynamic and I think that the standard weapons suit it much better. 



xenobiotic said:


> Here's what he looked like before:


The difference in the gems on this guy is absolutely amazing. They have so much more vibrancy to them than before and they read muuuuuch better. The addition of the Grey Knight helm does wonders for the model. The unique shape, as compared to the rest of your guys, really sets him apart and works very well with the lines of the model. Excellent work all in all buddy.

Keep it up on the challenge front. You have plenty of time to finish those guys up as there is still about a week and a half to go!


----------



## Warpetrie

That Tyco model looks like pure awesomeness now with that head swap =D 

I can't wait to see what you come up with for the dread converison (if they dont make a model for it) 

Keep up the great work ^_^


----------



## Mike3D6

Hmm...I liked it when it was Tycho, although in gaming concept was not very good, the upgrade is superb anyways


----------



## Hammer49

Your tycho conversion looks superb.


----------



## docgeo

xenobiotic said:


> Current status:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And the whole squad together:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All this talk about Librarians have got me thinking about using a bit more blue in the future (since I managed to get a shade I liked a lot when experimenting). What about using it on a vehicle or two? I foresee the individuality level growing in my army very soon...
> 
> ----
> 
> Till next time :bye:



I really love well done bases...and these look great. The color scheme is great as is the battle damage. What can I say about the free hand Rhinos....brilliant!! I just began looking through your blog and it is great.

Doc


----------



## Legoss85

Xeno, I just spent the last six...ish hours reading this log, and I have to say that you have ridiculous skills. I am rather jealous of your talent, quite motivating. If I am able, +rep


----------



## Wathier

This is just breathtaking! One of the nicest painted armies I've seen in a while!

Good to know that a (incredibly talented) fellow scanian is on this forum!


----------



## ElciD

This thread made me do all the registeringstuff! I srsly think this is one of the most awesome armies i've ever seen (well, that doesn't mean anything, but, you know, it's the spirit that counts!)!! 
I'll keep an eye on you, so, work hard!  (Rly loving this <3)


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Where as I had looked forward to seeing the "birdman" painted up, this guy turned out really well mate! The pose is very dynamic and I think that the standard weapons suit it much better.
> 
> The difference in the gems on this guy is absolutely amazing. They have so much more vibrancy to them than before and they read muuuuuch better. The addition of the Grey Knight helm does wonders for the model. The unique shape, as compared to the rest of your guys, really sets him apart and works very well with the lines of the model. Excellent work all in all buddy.
> 
> Keep it up on the challenge front. You have plenty of time to finish those guys up as there is still about a week and a half to go!


While I enjoy a nice comment just like any other member on here I do have to admit that some of that "gem" magic is the cameras work. It catches those nice gradients and blends them together even better than I can do with my brush (some of the gems look like actual gems on the pictures I've taken but hardly do so IRL). I do agree that compared to before they are MILES better, so it's definitely a step up! 



Warpetrie said:


> That Tyco model looks like pure awesomeness now with that head swap =D
> 
> I can't wait to see what you come up with for the dread converison (if they dont make a model for it)
> 
> Keep up the great work ^_^


Dread is on hold for now, I have more pressing conversions to make (assault marines with two-handed axes and boarding terminators...)



Mike3D6 said:


> Hmm...I liked it when it was Tycho, although in gaming concept was not very good, the upgrade is superb anyways


Thank you!



Hammer49 said:


> Your tycho conversion looks superb.


Thanks!



docgeo said:


> I really love well done bases...and these look great. The color scheme is great as is the battle damage. What can I say about the free hand Rhinos....brilliant!! I just began looking through your blog and it is great.
> 
> Doc


Free hands is what I do, I'm eager to make some more actually. I have all these ideas in my head that I need to try out! Glad you like the plog!



Legoss85 said:


> Xeno, I just spent the last six...ish hours reading this log, and I have to say that you have ridiculous skills. I am rather jealous of your talent, quite motivating. If I am able, +rep


Obviously you are insane to spend that amount of time in one row  Makes me realise how long this plog has become. It also makes me realise how little I have accomplished in all this time. I should speed things up, shouldn't I?



Wathier said:


> This is just breathtaking! One of the nicest painted armies I've seen in a while!
> 
> Good to know that a (incredibly talented) fellow scanian is on this forum!


Nice to see someone else from the south of Sweden on heresy, hardly ever meet any of the fellow warhammer/40k players online. I guess they are all out doing other stuff or hanging on some other forum? Hopefully you'll enjoy your stay here! Thanks for the comment also!



ElciD said:


> This thread made me do all the registeringstuff! I srsly think this is one of the most awesome armies i've ever seen (well, that doesn't mean anything, but, you know, it's the spirit that counts!)!!
> I'll keep an eye on you, so, work hard!  (Rly loving this <3)


I guess it would depend on how many AWESOME armies you have seen to this date  But I'll take it as a compliment that you felt you needed to register to tell me you enjoyed my project log that much - I hope you'll have a pleasant stay on heresy-online!

----

Now that I've done THE final exam of my entire education (don't have the results yet thought, which is nerve wrecking to say the least!) and the only thing left is for me to present my paper I've been able to squeeze in some painting time (and hopefully I'll have some more available before the end of the month so I can finally finish this squad!).

The miniature I've painted now is a normal marine with a chain axe. He has mark V greaves (otherwise he would have had a green knee) and as you will see from the other pictures that I will post later this week he has quite a lot of scratches on his armour. Many details came out very crisp on this miniature and I do think I'm settling in on a new standard of my painting which feels great once I actually complete something (but not the long way before I get there). Let's just say I'm happy I'm painting marines...








I hope to have the rest of the squad (2 members 5 jump packs) done by Wednesday. More pictures of each marine, couple with fluff pieces, should arrive some time after that:
Squad Status:









----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Hammer49

Execellent work. Looking forward to seeing the squad finished.


----------



## Midge913

Looking good Xeno! My only comment is that on the new guy the weathering around the face grill makes the helmet look a little odd proportionally. It may just be what the camera is doing, but it somehow looks unfinished. Maybe keep the scratching right above the edge of the face grill, but paint in the outline of the grill itself. Just a little nit pick, other than that he is a fantastic addition to the squad!


----------



## unxpekted22

Finished your last exam ever eh?I did the same a couple weeks ago. Feels pretty good to have a degree I have to admit. I hope you get the results you're looking for!

The new model is definitely off to a nice start. Helmet looks great in particular and the highlighting of the purple bits and the orange on the knees looks a bit more crisp than usual.


----------



## uzmnetosere

I've gone through whole thread and I'm speechless. Stunning work. Keep posting, please!


----------



## Kaiden

Outstanding army you have there


----------



## Zodd

It's good to see that real-life-obligations don't keep you totally away from painting. I really like those axe-wielding marines and the way you paint them.


----------



## Hellados

dude your army is epic!!

it's also just made me want to tidy up or just re-do my entire log


----------



## Tossidin

Impressive, I really like it. You are just getting better and better! :victory:

Now lets see if I can't get some paint on my own models soon :3


----------



## gally912

Xeno, I've always admired your work. Far better on this side of the hobby that I could ever be, but the one thing that bugged me from your first postings was the "over large" battledamage that appeared on the shoulders of most models. It always felt excessive.

I'm extremely glad to see your progression to the newer way you weather. Truly makes for awesome models.

+rep and all that.


----------



## Legoss85

*Accomplishments*

Xeno, in regards to spending the time looking through your blog at one time, maybe I am more than a little nuts. But as far as accomplishing things, your army is done to such a high standard that slow progress is better than none. You've set the bar so high with each individual marine, I've spent weeks on a character and not had results like these. You have just traded quantity of minis for quality, and these guys are so inspiring and motivating. 
+rep, if I can


----------



## xenobiotic

Hammer49 said:


> Execellent work. Looking forward to seeing the squad finished.


Thanks!



Midge913 said:


> Looking good Xeno! My only comment is that on the new guy the weathering around the face grill makes the helmet look a little odd proportionally. It may just be what the camera is doing, but it somehow looks unfinished. Maybe keep the scratching right above the edge of the face grill, but paint in the outline of the grill itself. Just a little nit pick, other than that he is a fantastic addition to the squad!


Probably just the camera, it looks good in person (imo). I want the helmets to show wear and tear, mostly since it's a piece of equipment you handle a lot with your hands and it's also a given focus of enemy firepower (if they are smart that is). 



unxpekted22 said:


> Finished your last exam ever eh? I did the same a couple weeks ago. Feels pretty good to have a degree I have to admit. I hope you get the results you're looking for!
> 
> The new model is definitely off to a nice start. Helmet looks great in particular and the highlighting of the purple bits and the orange on the knees looks a bit more crisp than usual.


Finished it and passed it. Took a huge load of my back. Starting my first real employment in July. My income will take a huge step up and I'll have roughly as much spare time as I have had when studying so there's really no downside either (as far as I've been able to figure out thus far at least). 

I'm glad you like the miniatures!



uzmnetosere said:


> I've gone through whole thread and I'm speechless. Stunning work. Keep posting, please!


I'll do my utmost to keep the thread going. I still have a lot of units left to finish and I'd hate to have to stop now!



Kaiden said:


> Outstanding army you have there


Thank you! 



Zodd said:


> It's good to see that real-life-obligations don't keep you totally away from painting. I really like those axe-wielding marines and the way you paint them.


I do my best to squeeze in some painting. I find painting and converting relaxing as it gives me an outlet for my creativity. Sadly it makes me draw less, I only have so much time to go around. Perhaps I should stop getting stuck in front of the computer so much...



Hellados said:


> dude your army is epic!!
> it's also just made me want to tidy up or just re-do my entire log


Would be a tad extreme to start all over, wouldn't it? As long as your posts are less then a year old you could always edit them to structure it up a bit (and ask for a mod to change the title should you require to). There are some things I wouldn't do if I started this thread today, but hindsight's a bitch and all that. Sometimes perfection isn't the best thing either...



Tossidin said:


> Impressive, I really like it. You are just getting better and better! :victory:
> 
> Now lets see if I can't get some paint on my own models soon :3


Thanks! And I'm eagerly looking forward to your progress 



gally912 said:


> Xeno, I've always admired your work. Far better on this side of the hobby that I could ever be, but the one thing that bugged me from your first postings was the "over large" battledamage that appeared on the shoulders of most models. It always felt excessive.
> 
> I'm extremely glad to see your progression to the newer way you weather. Truly makes for awesome models.
> 
> +rep and all that.


Some of those miniatures are still hanging around. One or two of them are supposed to be painted asap. I've actually removed some of the more "over the top" shoulder pads, as you mentioned they looked a bit to damaged not to have been replaced sooner rather then later. Battle damage is always a balance between reasonable and excessive amounts which can sometimes be crossed with only a minor addition. I'm slowly working on mastering it.

Thanks for posting!



Legoss85 said:


> Xeno, in regards to spending the time looking through your blog at one time, maybe I am more than a little nuts. But as far as accomplishing things, your army is done to such a high standard that slow progress is better than none. You've set the bar so high with each individual marine, I've spent weeks on a character and not had results like these. You have just traded quantity of minis for quality, and these guys are so inspiring and motivating.
> +rep, if I can


I've done similar things with other peoples threads (a couple of threads with over 1000 posts in them), it's hard to stop when you get inspired and shocked by awe by almost every picture.

The funny thing is actually that the bar has been raised just by me posting the miniatures here on heresy. Since others have given me feedback I've adjusted my methods as I have gone along and I've been able to work out most of the kinks and started producing on a higher level then I first set out to do. Obviously it would have been nice to have a larger army completed, but I'll get there eventually even at this pace.

----

Mostly I remember my past only as a distant flicker in the darkness that has come to settle in my mind. War takes its toll. Indoctrination takes it toll. However, most of all, seeing the brutality and zeal of the enemies inside ourselves withers the psyche the most.

I remember stories told when I was young about the men of the burning feathers. Titans fallen from the skies that drove back the serpents. I remember when such a titan saved my family from the cultists blades, backed into a corner of a house I desperately tried to fend them of with only a stick. A towering hulk of crimson armour stained with blood then burst through a wall and fell the men with one brutal sweep. Blood soaring through the air as throats and arteries where slashed. Even before the titans feet had both touched the ground all the cultists had died. He then turned upon me and my family. At first I was sure he had come to claim all our lives, I screamed the phoenix battle-cry and prepared to be reborn, but as I did he stopped in front of me. His green lenses shimmered as I could feel his gaze meeting my own and I felt compelled to lower my improvised weapon. He then kneeled down and said 'Brother of the Phoenix, I have come for you'. That was the last time I saw my mother and sisters. Sometimes I wonder what happened to them, yet my Brethren tell me not to dwell...

Veteran Assault Marine, Pevsos, of the 4th Company:








There are still some minor details to do (scribblings and the occasional battle damage and fix-ups, but seeing as how he was done for the challenge I'm very pleased). The jet glow in particular needs some adjustments but.. You know, I'll fix that "later".

----

More squad members will be posted when I feel like writing fluff for them. On other notes I've also begun working on the second Baal Predator for the Hesperides Squadron, more on that later though.

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> Thanks! And I'm eagerly looking forward to your progress


Just don't hold your breath, I take my time 

Anyway, looks good as usual. The update took way to long time though..... 
I was going to say the yellow glow looks off, but I see you are gonna fix it. 

Good luck, happy painting


----------



## WinZip

Excellent work on the army, Xeno. Been awhile since i checked in and all the minis are top notch! +rep


----------



## JAMOB

I look at this guy and im like dude cant handle it 
Nice job, this is one of your best models yet. I cant wait for the next one. Keep up the good work!


----------



## Midge913

Wonderful looking mini Xeno! I am actually a big fan of the glow from the jump pack. Top notch work as always. I look forward to seeing the next Baal Pred.


----------



## xenobiotic

Tossidin said:


> Just don't hold your breath, I take my time
> Anyway, looks good as usual. The update took way to long time though...
> I was going to say the yellow glow looks off, but I see you are gonna fix it.
> 
> Good luck, happy painting


You take your time yet you complain about me taking my time? 



WinZip said:


> Excellent work on the army, Xeno. Been awhile since I checked in and all the minis are top notch! +rep


Thanks, WinZip, always nice to know that people are checking back and still liking what they see. It makes you want to push onwards! 



JAMOB said:


> I look at this guy and im like dude cant handle it
> Nice job, this is one of your best models yet. I cant wait for the next one. Keep up the good work!


I hope not to disappoint in the future.



Midge913 said:


> Wonderful looking mini Xeno! I am actually a big fan of the glow from the jump pack. Top notch work as always. I look forward to seeing the next Baal Pred.


It's just a minor tweak with the exhaust glow, even it out a bit, get some white in the middle. I'll see if I bother putting up new pictures.

----

So, I've started working on another Baal predator. I chose it mostly since I have a firm idea in my head on how I want to do it which keeps things simple and avoids to much "trial-and-error" which I'd rather avoid at the moment.

As I started the freehand work on the dozer I noticed how much I enjoy freehanding. It's a process that resonates very well with how I create. And to finally be able to distil the ideas I've pushed about in my head for over 2 months onto an actual surface was very rewarding.

It's kind of ironic how much I like painting vehicles now since I used to consider them absolute nightmares before. All those empty spaces that looks flat and a lot of techniques that I hadn't tried or mastered (usually I tend to remain in my comfort zones, or at least I did before I started this project). These days I've come to dislike infantry more than vehicles when it comes to painting them. As far as converting goes I still have a lot to learn when it comes to vehicles (particularly scratch-building with plasticcard, I assume I'm using incorrect tools but that's another days headache).

For this Predator I want a "reflection" of the old one. They do belong to the same squad and both of them are "normal" Baal Predators (whereas the third will be a command tank so it will require some special details, but we'll all have to wait for that one). So far it's just a feather on a basic "starpattern" background, but I hope you like it. This is about 30 min or so of painting (including drying time):








Some of you might remember the dozer of the previous Baal Predator, and can sense the pattern emerging, no?









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

It looks good. I like how it spreads out beyond the boundaries you had last time (you kept that part white), it shows you can differentiate which is really cool. And are you sure thats only 30 minutes? Not like 30 hours? It would take me at least 10 hours to get something half that good...


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> You take your time yet you complain about me taking my time?


Well of course I do! It is so you won't end up like me :3

Dozer looks good. Needs more paitn though, and a tank...


----------



## Pirate Metal Troy

Aww dayum. Just went through all 60 pages of this beast of a thread. It is full of win. I was a WIP of the legendary sallies dreadnought and it would take a LOT less work for you to convert the MK IV ironclad. Personally, what I saw of the sallies dreadnought, i did not like, and will probably end up buying the ironclad for my 6th dreadnought.


----------



## spanner94ezekiel

Awesome stuff dude :shok:
Haven't seen everything yet, but that freehand is amazing. +rep


----------



## Otep

holy crap your up to 60 pages now O_O

outstanding work as always man. cant wait until your next pictures


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Looking good Xeno. I always love seeing your freehand work, really looking forwards to seeing what you pull out of the bag next.


----------



## xenobiotic

I'd like to thank for all the comments and rep whether they are sent as private messages or posted in this thread!



JAMOB said:


> It looks good. I like how it spreads out beyond the boundaries you had last time (you kept that part white), it shows you can differentiate which is really cool. And are you sure thats only 30 minutes? Not like 30 hours? It would take me at least 10 hours to get something half that good...


I had a fix idea of what I was doing (and some very good points of reference) which helped me immensely in speeding up the painting on this very dozer, the other dozer I did today was a whole other matter.

Oh, and the boundaries you're mentioning is actually just me doing one thing before the other. I intend on having the same boundaries on the first two Baals and maybe slightly different on the squadron leader.



Tossidin said:


> Well of course I do! It is so you won't end up like me :3
> 
> Dozer looks good. Needs more paitn though, and a tank...


You want the tank, here she is:








She doesn't have that much to show for herself just yet, though...



Pirate Metal Troy said:


> Aww dayum. Just went through all 60 pages of this beast of a thread. It is full of win. I was a WIP of the legendary sallies dreadnought and it would take a LOT less work for you to convert the MK IV ironclad. Personally, what I saw of the sallies dreadnought, i did not like, and will probably end up buying the ironclad for my 6th dreadnought.


My dilemma is that I'd probably like the arms from the sallie dread on a Mk IV ironclad dreadnought body, I'm guessing that would be a very expensive exploit though. Thanks for the comment and salutations to your resilience of going through 60 pages! 



spanner94ezekiel said:


> Awesome stuff dude :shok:
> Haven't seen everything yet, but that freehand is amazing. +rep


Have a look around, you don't have to take it all in at one time like all the other "freaks" 



Otep said:


> holy crap your up to 60 pages now O_O
> 
> outstanding work as always man. cant wait until your next pictures


It really is incredible isn't it, 60 pages and not even that big of an army points wise. Ah, well, thanks for stopping by yet again! 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Looking good Xeno. I always love seeing your freehand work, really looking forwards to seeing what you pull out of the bag next.


Oh, nothing special to pull out just yet... [dun dun dun DUN!]

----

Minor update, I kept going with the flow as I figured I needed to paint all the dozers at the same time to keep them coherent (and I also wanted to get the idea out of my head).

First there's a picture of the current status of all the dozers (compared to the previous baal), then there are individual pictures of each dozer yet again. Since the dozers aren't done the camera is having some trouble to get the colours right even with adjustments so keep that in mind when assessing minor colour discrepancies:








Hesperides Squadron Member - Codename: Gloam - Dozer Detail:








Hesperides Squadron Leader - Codename: Horizon (Unconfirmed) - Dozer Detail:








Hesperides Squadron Member - Codename: Unknown - Dozer Detail:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Djinn24

Looking sweet Xeno, Your project log is what inspires me to update mine.


----------



## Midge913

loving the dozers Xeno! They look great in series as well as individually. Good work buddy!


----------



## gen.ahab

I might not be a huge fan of the over all look, but fuck if that isn't some magnificent art work.


----------



## Tossidin

Epic! Looking forward to see the squadron put together


----------



## JAMOB

This i like. I cant wait to see them with their tanks! After the first one im really excited about the other two


----------



## ElciD

I love how you take something simple as a little plastictank and make it to something i like to call a pice of art. I mean, ur freehands are the stuff u should put in a gallery. I like it, and it's allways exciting to see what you have done when i get my mail that a new post showed up


----------



## Saulot

Good thing I have epic music playing in the background to fit this epic log! Amazing work!


----------



## xenobiotic

So, it's been a while, hasn't it?

----



djinn24 said:


> Looking sweet Xeno, Your project log is what inspires me to update mine.


Thank you, Djinn, that's high praise indeed!



Midge913 said:


> loving the dozers Xeno! They look great in series as well as individually. Good work buddy!


Thanks, Midge, it's exactly what I was heading for. Someone suggested I should have 1, 2 and 3 feathers on the dozers but I feel that's straying from the initial point. I want them to look as a squad together while not just numbering them (also, I would have imagined "1" should have been the leader in that case and not "3").



gen.ahab said:


> I might not be a huge fan of the over all look, but fuck if that isn't some magnificent art work.


I guess it depends on what you mean with over all look? It's pretty much only the sun and the feathers that are done on said dozers, there's still a lot of work to do to finish them.



Tossidin said:


> Epic! Looking forward to see the squadron put together


Thanks, Tossidin  (I'm looking forward to it as well, will be a nice feat to have accomplished).



JAMOB said:


> This i like. I cant wait to see them with their tanks! After the first one im really excited about the other two


I hope not to disappoint!



ElciD said:


> I love how you take something simple as a little plastictank and make it to something i like to call a pice of art. I mean, ur freehands are the stuff u should put in a gallery. I like it, and it's allways exciting to see what you have done when i get my mail that a new post showed up


Not that many galleries that exhibit warhammer miniatures... At least not that I know of. I'm intrigued to try my new found skills on a normal canvas with acrylics just to see what I'd manage to produce now (also I need some art to hang on my walls and I might as well paint it myself!)



Saulot said:


> Good thing I have epic music playing in the background to fit this epic log! Amazing work!


Hehe, epic music is the key!

----

Long time no see and not that much painting done. I've had a long (and needed) vacation to try clear my mind before I start my first job (full time job that is) next Monday. Finally I'll be paid to hang around the same place 9 hours a day (which will probably, and sadly, mean more backlogged warhammer projects unless I man up and spend more time painting what I already have)!

I did have a little time to start of the freehand on the tank. I have a rough idea that I'm working towards and I'll spend a few more hours today painting so hopefully I'll progress along nicely the coming days. The big bird looks a little ghastly at the moment which I actually like. I'm however uncertain how it looks from the front (might have crooked his neck to much) but I'm going to see where it goes with one or two smaller birds added to the front (hopefully it will even it out balance wise), tell me what you think so far:

















----

More thoughts and updates next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

So far I like it, but you are right about there being something funky about the neck. We will see what it looks like when you get the other birds on there. Keep at it buddy and congrats on the job!


----------



## unxpekted22

heh, the eyes look kinda goofy to me, but I dont know if you are planning on doing more of them. Most of it looks awesome though, you definitely still have the space painting stuff down.


----------



## greenee22

very awesome sir. I want more!


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> So far I like it, but you are right about there being something funky about the neck. We will see what it looks like when you get the other birds on there. Keep at it buddy and congrats on the job!


Thanks!

And now, I give you, funky bird! I'm moving things about all the time, nothing set in stone just yet but I'm slowly getting there.



unxpekted22 said:


> heh, the eyes look kinda goofy to me, but I dont know if you are planning on doing more of them. Most of it looks awesome though, you definitely still have the space painting stuff down.


I like him goofy :laugh: but I'm slowly moving things about. I think I got the head in a way I like but I'm going to have to move the eye a bit to make him less silly (at least that what I'm leaning towards right now).



greenee22 said:


> very awesome sir. I want more!


And more you shall have!

----

So I've been poking about, moving forward at a slow rate and trying to get things right. It's harder than you might think so I ended up moving the entire head around. Now I'm at a point where I'm happy with the beak but I do believe that the eye in it's current position is giving the bird a lot of character but also making him look stupid - so I'll probably have to move that first thing tomorrow and hopefully I'll be happy with the head then so I can move on to the rest of the body and finally the sides which are just black at the moment... I'm starting to wonder if I'll be done till Thursday at this speed.

















----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## unxpekted22

aw yeeaaahh. The goofiness is long gone.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

I think the new eye position is a vast improvement on where you had it possitioned before. I wouldn't say he looks stupid so much as concerned and dissapointed. Like he's judging the souls of all the poor heretics who would turn from the emperor's light.


----------



## demon bringer

xenobiotic said:


> Thanks!
> 
> And now, I give you, funky bird! I'm moving things about all the time, nothing set in stone just yet but I'm slowly getting there.
> 
> 
> 
> I like him goofy :laugh: but I'm slowly moving things about. I think I got the head in a way I like but I'm going to have to move the eye a bit to make him less silly (at least that what I'm leaning towards right now).
> 
> 
> 
> And more you shall have!
> 
> ----
> 
> So I've been poking about, moving forward at a slow rate and trying to get things right. It's harder than you might think so I ended up moving the entire head around. Now I'm at a point where I'm happy with the beak but I do believe that the eye in it's current position is giving the bird a lot of character but also making him look stupid - so I'll probably have to move that first thing tomorrow and hopefully I'll be happy with the head then so I can move on to the rest of the body and finally the sides which are just black at the moment... I'm starting to wonder if I'll be done till Thursday at this speed.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> 
> Till next time! :bye:


nice work +rep and thread subbed look forward to seeing this progress


----------



## Winterous

Beautiful, perfection at its finest.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Winterous said:


> Beautiful, perfection at its finest.


Wait... if there is Finest grade of perfection does that mean there is lower grade perfection?


----------



## Winterous

GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Wait... if there is Finest grade of perfection does that mean there is lower grade perfection?


Yes, yes it does :biggrin:


----------



## xenobiotic

Winterous said:


> Beautiful, perfection at its finest.





GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Wait... if there is Finest grade of perfection does that mean there is lower grade perfection?





Winterous said:


> Yes, yes it does :biggrin:


Soo... While you talk amongst yourselves I'll just sneak in an update.

----

As you can see I decided to move the eye slightly and I've began to dress the entire shape in finer details (but still a lot left to do). I'm pleased with the general shapes of things and hopefully I should be done with the freehanding tomorrow (if I can just keep focus). I might have to skip the weathering for the painting challenge and do it as I do the final tank for the squadron next month (which will hopefully have more time at my disposal):









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

The new position of the eye is much better mate! Much more natural looking. I look forward to seeing the finished product.


----------



## Winterous

Ok that new eye position does look a lot better.


>_>


----------



## JAMOB

The new eye is much better... alot more like an eye. I think youll be fine even without the weathering, but it couldnt hurt


----------



## papa nurgle

only having just finished what may only be described as 62 pages of unadulterated awesomeness and beauty, i can merely lean back nod in happiness. :mrgreen:

there is a wonderful rustic quality to your work. juxtaposing the neat, pressed and shiny nature of most marine paint schemes with grit and valor, your work shows them in the thick of battle. there is such a sense of movement and, to me most importantly, a reason for that action. 

clicking through the largest thread i have ever seen, was a progression from... wow to oh my god to that's... but how?... are you freakin' kidding me and by about page 30 i was completely speechless.:clapping:

there are no words that come to mind that do justice to your work of genius.

YOU

ARE 

AMAZING

:shok:

nuf said...


----------



## imm0rtal reaper

The tank is looking phenomenal mate. It would be mighty spiffy of you if we could get a tutorial (with pictures ) of how you do the nebula and actual "space" of the space background :grin:


----------



## piemaster

Really freakin' ridiculously good. The birds look great and the stark contrast with the foreboding black always looks great. I love all of your vehicles, gives me insspiration to get me some treads


----------



## xenobiotic

Time flies when you have a lot of things on your table. 

First of all I'd like to thank you all for your support and for keeping this thread alive with your replies. We've passed 100k views now and it's just unimaginably impressive to have achieved! 

Sadly I haven't been able to do much more work on the tank. I just managed to finishing it up enough for the painting challenge. It's lacking weathering and it's dozer isn't done either and since it's currently located elsewhere I had to start on the next tank just to keep the "baals" rolling (pun intended). I'll see if I'm able to get some pictures up as soon as I manage to relocate it to my place again.



Midge913 said:


> The new position of the eye is much better mate! Much more natural looking. I look forward to seeing the finished product.


I will try not to keep you waiting for long 



Winterous said:


> Ok that new eye position does look a lot better.


I agree, it made a world of difference.



JAMOB said:


> The new eye is much better... alot more like an eye. I think youll be fine even without the weathering, but it couldnt hurt


I'll add weathering, I just didn't prioritize it. The main focus was on getting it representable enough for the challenge.



papa nurgle said:


> only having just finished what may only be described as 62 pages of unadulterated awesomeness and beauty, i can merely lean back nod in happiness. :mrgreen:
> 
> there is a wonderful rustic quality to your work. juxtaposing the neat, pressed and shiny nature of most marine paint schemes with grit and valor, your work shows them in the thick of battle. there is such a sense of movement and, to me most importantly, a reason for that action.
> 
> clicking through the largest thread i have ever seen, was a progression from... wow to oh my god to that's... but how?... are you freakin' kidding me and by about page 30 i was completely speechless.:clapping:
> 
> there are no words that come to mind that do justice to your work of genius.
> 
> YOU
> ARE
> AMAZING
> nuf said...


Thank you for your very kind and inspiring words. You can't help be spurred by answers such as this one. I'm very happy that you like my work and my approach to my own space marines. I hope to keep the thread up and running for at least another 60 pages 



imm0rtal reaper said:


> The tank is looking phenomenal mate. It would be mighty spiffy of you if we could get a tutorial (with pictures ) of how you do the nebula and actual "space" of the space background :grin:


I'll add it to the list and try to remember it as I do it on the final tank for the squadron!



piemaster said:


> Really freakin' ridiculously good. The birds look great and the stark contrast with the foreboding black always looks great. I love all of your vehicles, gives me inspiration to get me some treads


I'm glad I can inspire you! I've found much inspiration from others threads on heresy as well as other forums and it's nice to be able to pass that on!

----

The final tank, and command vehicle, for the squadron is supposed to be painted this month. Rather than building a new rhino chassi (I still have some unbuilt) I decided to reuse an old one that have been standing on my desk unfinished for a long time now (I wasn't quite happy with the freehand on it). Some of you might recognize it from earlier in the thread:








After a soak in liquid pine soap it looked like this:








I still haven't decided on whether or not to keep the angel wings on the turret or not. The other ones don't have it but this is the squadron leader after all...

And because I had some parts laying about I just had to take a picture with my very own "Storm pattern Baal Predator":








Looks kind of vicious doesn't it? Imagine that beauty on crowd control duty, yummy!

----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Very cool man!!! I love the hurricane bolters. I definitely looks like a horde armies worst nightmare. I hear my nids screaming in pain already!


----------



## JAMOB

It looks good. I really liked the old one though... it was really good.


----------



## arumichic

Love your freehand work. Amazing stuff in this thread. +rep to you sir.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Nooooooo, you should have sold it, I am sure someone out there would have loved to have had what you painted! Well, I wish you luck with the repaint as I am sure it will turn out looking super as usual.


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

Xeno, had a gander at Pg 1 again, and I must say your improvement from Pg 1 to Pg 63 is epic! I always look forward to an update on your log here, as it is an awesome motivator for my own painting. Can't wait for the new tank. Keep up the excellent work mate!

+ rep


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Very cool man!!! I love the hurricane bolters. I definitely looks like a horde armies worst nightmare. I hear my nids screaming in pain already!


Somehow they suit the tanks better than the heavy bolters imo. And seeing as how they are defensive weaponry they might even have been useful in someway on a baal predator as well (if you had been able to take them).



JAMOB said:


> It looks good. I really liked the old one though... it was really good.


Perhaps, but just like LTP warned me the tank got a bit to busy with the wings and the planet at the front. I should have done either or in retrospect. Another thing that struck me is how much I've changed my colour use since that tank. These days I hardly ever use skull white in my red/orange freehands which I used back then.



arumichic said:


> Love your freehand work. Amazing stuff in this thread. +rep to you sir.


Thank you 



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Nooooooo, you should have sold it, I am sure someone out there would have loved to have had what you painted! Well, I wish you luck with the repaint as I am sure it will turn out looking super as usual.


It's pretty hard to sell stuff and get your time spent back in money. I was asked about doing a commission on an eldar wraithlord in harlequin colours with freehands on it. When we came to discussing eventual price for the work required interest cooled. Seeing as how every freehand art I do on these miniatures makes them a work of art in more than one way I do feel I need to be adequately compensated. Sure, I'm willing to go lower on the first couple of commissions to get the ball rolling, but there is a limit nonetheless.



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> Xeno, had a gander at Pg 1 again, and I must say your improvement from Pg 1 to Pg 63 is epic! I always look forward to an update on your log here, as it is an awesome motivator for my own painting. Can't wait for the new tank. Keep up the excellent work mate!
> 
> + rep


I know! I sometimes go back just to see where I started at about 1 year ago, it's very motivating to see how much I've picked up since then! Thanks for the support 

----

I still haven't gotten my second baal predator back from my folks house yet, I did however find a WIP picture that I had not shown you (with some slight adjustments to the phoenix!):









Apart from that I've been fiddling around mostly with dozers and trying to put together a few assault marines (not going very well at the moment though) with weapons from the new FW assault marine sets (couldn't resist getting some of those chainswords). I've also been pondering about getting a Contemptor Dreadnought for my Void Sharks (but the expense is currently putting me off it since I won't get any salary till august I should save my cash for now even though I'd feel like spending some).

And apart from that I tried to make the Command Tank a little bit more special by adding a tank commander to the hatch and some skulls on the tank. At first I was a bit worried that the skulls might give to much of a Khorne wibe but I'm quite comfortable with them at the moment:








Tank Commander Close-up:








Once again I realize how much I hate the fact that GW hasn't produced any empty right hands. They are all supposed to be holding some thing or weapon. On the left hand department you can at least choose amongst the ones in the GK box (which are pretty much the same as the ones from the Sanguinary Guard box with the addition of the one holding the daemonette head).

----

Till next time :bye: hopefully more painted pictures by then, perhaps even the second tank in it's finished state if I can just relocate it


----------



## Saulot

Your freehand is just plain sexy! You have loads of talent, thanks for sharing it here! Very inspirational! k:


----------



## xenobiotic

Saulot said:


> Your freehand is just plain sexy! You have loads of talent, thanks for sharing it here! Very inspirational! k:


Thank you!

----

So painting has commenced on the final Baal Predator and I thought I should show you the basic process just so you get a feel for how the freehand develops as I go along. I hope you realize what a trial and error process this is. I'll also try to remember to take a lot of photos once I've started with the space background since you asked for that.

When doing freehands on these black tanks I undercoat them with Chaos Black and start the freehand process with thinned Blazing Orange. You might be sceptic at this stage but I find the end result is much better this way compared to when I based the freehands with Mechrite Red which proved to do very little for the over all finish and depth.

Another thing you might notice is that I've highlighted the black parts already. I realized that it's beneficial (counting time spent) to get a basic highlight from unorthodox drybrushing (of Codex Grey) before I detail the tank with freehands and starpatterns. Later on I can just fill in eventual gaps in these highlights and it will save me countless hours of highlighting by hand (you can't do a drybrush highlight once everything else is done since it risks ruining the freehand).

Early freehand, basic highlight, rough shapes and contours:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## InkedDnA

Love the freehand!! but I especially like the pattern on the dreads at the beginning of your thread! Your work is very inspirational. Can't wait to see more


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

WoW Xeno, another great tank coming along! I don't understand how your not exhausted yet from all of these tanks your doing. Howlong do you think it takes from start to finish?

Keep it going man, always great to see you progress!


----------



## JAMOB

So far so good! I think the skulls add a nice touch. Very fluffy... they could be like slain commanders or something?


----------



## ComisarGhost

great pics


----------



## Zodd

Nice to see that you will make a "tut" on your freehand tecnique :victory:


----------



## xenobiotic

4thswasi said:


> Love the freehand!! but I especially like the pattern on the dreads at the beginning of your thread! Your work is very inspirational. Can't wait to see more


That dread appears to be partly responsible for boosting this thread into what it has become. I'll probably have to make an homage to it sometime in the future. His paintjob is a bit bland compared to the newest infantry soldiers I've produced - he deserves better 



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> WoW Xeno, another great tank coming along! I don't understand how your not exhausted yet from all of these tanks your doing. How long do you think it takes from start to finish?
> 
> Keep it going man, always great to see you progress!


The short and quick answer is that I am exhausted. It takes a lot of time and concentration to pull off a paintjob like that (at least for me), I reckon it takes at least 20+ hours from basecoat till final weathering (per tank) when the freehand is this complicated. And that's not including magnetized sponsons (which all these tanks will have as soon as I get around to paint them...). 



JAMOB said:


> So far so good! I think the skulls add a nice touch. Very fluffy... they could be like slain commanders or something?


Maybe that, or perhaps battle brothers killed in action, I'll have to come up with something.



ComisarGhost said:


> great pics


Thanks



Zodd said:


> Nice to see that you will make a "tut" on your freehand tecnique :victory:


It won't be a full fledged tutorial (I made a miniature one back when I painted my death company rhino anyway). It'll be more like a slide show of the progress that might give someone a decent idea of how the freehands are made.

----

Command tank update:








The Freehand at the front and top of the vehicle is now fleshed out and need but some minor filling before I start working with the other colours on these parts.

The next step however is to continue the preliminary outline down the sides and rear of the tank to get a good feel for how the entire freehand looks as a whole before I put to much work into it (easier to correct mistakes at this stage without risking the paint becoming to thick).

It is also during this stage I start the process of the starpattern. I will show the first few steps later tonight (I think, depending on how much time I have at my disposal).

Currently the tank put together look like this:









In other news I'm working on the dozers and I'm closing in on finishing one of them (just weathering left, which is in the process right now) and the other one needs one or two layers of white before it's ready to become dirty), hopefully more pictures of them later tonight as well:









And just a teaser of what I have access to as I continue to make more assault marines (need to make 10 more for a jumper list):









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## InquisitorTidusSolomon

I'm just blown away by how amazing a job you've done here, Xeno. Have some rep.


----------



## xenobiotic

InquisitorTidusSolomon said:


> I'm just blown away by how amazing a job you've done here, Xeno. Have some rep.


Thanks, ITS! 

----

I'm just tossing in a quick picture of one of the dozers today, managed to get the weathering done before I had to go to bed. I'm awfully tired these days when I'm working and my friends keep me busy at the weekends so time for painting is not that common...








I might have gone over the top with the mud this time, what do you think? Also, notice the tiny leaves stuck on the dozer, just had to add some of the SkullCraft leaves now that I have them.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## InkedDnA

Very cool dozers! Although the mud is a little overwhelming and takes away from some of the detail, but either way it's still an awesome piece of work! Everytime I look at this thread I'm blown away at the detail and quality of your work. Excellent work and anxiously waiting the next update


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Damn, I would be way to nervous to weather a nice freehand dozer blade like that.


----------



## xenobiotic

4thswasi said:


> Very cool dozers! Although the mud is a little overwhelming and takes away from some of the detail, but either way it's still an awesome piece of work! Everytime I look at this thread I'm blown away at the detail and quality of your work. Excellent work and anxiously waiting the next update


That's the beauty of this particular mix - you can rub it away after it's applied. So I can go back and remove some of it later on should I change my mind about how it looks.

I'm glad you like my thread, I will try not to disappoint in the future!



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Damn, I would be way to nervous to weather a nice freehand dozer blade like that.


You get used to it after a few tanks. Believe me, I was nervous as hell when I did this process the first time. I was so anxious I would mess it all up and end up having to repaint the entire tank (and that was even after I had tried it on some spare sprue pieces before just to learn the process).

----

Star patterns, step 1 and 2:
Start out with a black background such as can be seen in the other pictures of this tank. Then proceed to stripple thinned down Enchanted Blue and Blood Red onto the tank in random blotches (go with your gut feeling). It may then look something like this:








Now what you notice is that these blotches are way to strongly coloured so you need to tone them down and adjust them a bit. This can be done by strippling thinned down Chaos Black in a random manner on the areas you just painted. If you happen to make them to dark (ie they disappear completely) you can just add some more thinned down Enchanted Blue or Blood Red again.

When I did this I noticed I had used a big brush at first but the result wasn't that good. Possibly the brush had loaded up to much paint that was not thinned down enough. When I redid the patterns a bit before the second photo was taken I used a smaller brush for the strippling and the result was much smoother.








Next step are the stars themselves! But we'll take that another time!

One final update before I leave for today.
I fleshed out the phoenix on top of the tank with some Blood Red, making sure the strokes of the brush are following the flow of the bird (to ensure that any structure created by the paint enhances the freehand rather than disturbing it).

As I went about my painting I noticed that the paint behaved a bit odd on the area around the rear right side smoke stack. As I looked at it I got an idea and that's why it has that blotchy look back there right now, more to come on that particular influx as we go along!









Before and after:








To recap the freehand process so far:
1. Rough Outline with thinned down Blazing Orange
2. Full Outline with thinned down Blazing Orange
3. Structure with thinned down Blood Red

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Amazing work Xeno, she's coming along quit nicely!


----------



## xenobiotic

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Amazing work Xeno, she's coming along quit nicely!


Thanks 

----



> Many call the Adeptus Astartes the Angels of Death. They see us as a unity and as an omen and a tell tale sign that a conflict will not be won unless blood is spilled. To them we are all the same, a blunt and brutal tool used to quench any enemy to the heart of the imperium. In some ways that's a very accurate description, yet I can't help but noticing it isn't always that way, perhaps because my own experience tells a different story.
> 
> Beneath layer after layer of indoctrination and conditioning that me and my brethren have all gone through lies the embers of the people of origin. And even if some do not share this opinion I believe they burn brightly even after the many hundreds of years that have passed since some of us entered the brotherhood and officially lost any connection to our relatives and our old lives.
> 
> Certainly this lingering connection to the epiphany of humanity is what makes us truly unique amongst the selected few of the Astarte. Sceptics will always try to paint every anomaly as a flaw and a fall from the grace that is perfection. We surely carry our burden, both blessing and curse from the progenitor. But at the same time I have seen what this connection can do. Commanders have swayed bitter enemies into kinship with nothing but the use of words. Our presence and our charisma can be denied no less than our prowess and might.
> 
> So while my training and parts of my psyche might call out for battle, there are other entities that burn inside me who are truly powerful - that even indoctrination and conditioning cannot control - fully.


Veteran Assault Marine, Special Weapon Expert, Gallus, of the 4th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix.









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

:shok:

Umm... wow. just wow :shok:

Thats amazing! That is one of the best fluff writings Ive ever read! And English wasnt your first language too! You should go into fluff and write a story about your chapter :biggrin:

The model is also great, easily up to your usual standard.


----------



## InquisitorTidusSolomon

Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ, that's a beautiful fluff piece. The Assault Marine is also great.


----------



## Midge913

Wonderful fluff piece and a beautiful addition to the army Xeno. Each incarnation of the yellow glow on the jump pack gets better and better. I look forward to the next piece buddy.


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> :shok:
> 
> Umm... wow. just wow :shok:
> 
> Thats amazing! That is one of the best fluff writings Ive ever read! And English wasnt your first language too! You should go into fluff and write a story about your chapter :biggrin:
> 
> The model is also great, easily up to your usual standard.


Well, to be fair I've been studying English for quite some time now. In Sweden they teach English as a second language for all children. We are also frequent users of subtitles meaning we hear spoken English all the time on television, movies and computer games. Put that together with English roleplaying games and warhammer rulebooks and you've got a fairly decent chance to get a good enough grasp of the language over time. I've also enjoyed reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and Terry Pratchet in the original language which surely have added to my vocabulary in some way.

I'm painfully aware of my flaws though. I'm know I have trouble with the use of "than" compared to "then" (even though I've read about it time after time it hasn't sunken in yet). And for the love of God it's almost impossible for me to learn how to spell "definitely" correct at the first attempt.



InquisitorTidusSolomon said:


> Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ, that's a beautiful fluff piece. The Assault Marine is also great.


Thank you! Glad you like it 



Midge913 said:


> Wonderful fluff piece and a beautiful addition to the army Xeno. Each incarnation of the yellow glow on the jump pack gets better and better. I look forward to the next piece buddy.


I'm warming up to it as well. It's not airbrush good but it's good enough having been painted on by hand. Hopefully I'll knock the flaws out as I progress on the jumper list (somewhere around 24 jump pack glows to go or so..).

----

Progress has been made. The pictures speak somewhat for themselves. Initial detailing has started on the front (eyes, nostrils and such). Placements are still a bit iffy and can change. It's hard to get these things right on the first attempt. Specially when you're aiming for a "top down" view like I am this time around (you learn by challenging yourself).








As you can see from these pictures I'm trying out an unorthodox "ending" on the feathers. I'm aiming to achieve the look of a burning bird. Combining elements from the Death Company "X" with the Birds from the other Baal Predators. Hopefully it will work!
















Rundown of the detailing layers is pretty much just alternating strokes of thinned down Blood Red, Blazing Orange and Vomit Brown. I play around with it to see what I like and how I like it.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## arumichic

Looking really good actually. Though it might be better to do a more reddish "outline" where the bird's looking like it's burning, just a suggestion. Keep up the good work!~


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Have you thought about maybe a bluish glow?

I don't think I am feel'n the yellow, it looks great, however on the model just doesnt feel right...

But what it comes down to is what you like and want!


----------



## Mr.Malevolent

I have got to say *Xenobiotic* your work on this and all your projects is so inspiring to me. I've oogled over all your conversions and amazing paint jobs. I have definitely come away from this thread with a fresh vigor to work even harder at my Knights of Blood and I thank you for sharing this with all of us. + rep


----------



## xenobiotic

arumichic said:


> Looking really good actually. Though it might be better to do a more reddish "outline" where the bird's looking like it's burning, just a suggestion. Keep up the good work!~


The thing is. The only colour on the side of the tank right now is Blood Red painted on Chaos Black - i.e. it's about as red as it gets. However the camera is having problem picking it up combined with the fact that Blood Red is a very translucent colour unless painted on another red or on top of itself (layered). I'm pretty confident that I will make it work in the end (still a few steps missing).



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Have you thought about maybe a bluish glow?
> 
> I don't think I am feel'n the yellow, it looks great, however on the model just doesnt feel right...
> 
> But what it comes down to is what you like and want!


What you are referring to as yellow is actually Vomit Brown, so it's more of a light biege/orange colour. It might be hard to tell the difference on the photos (depending not only on my camera, my picture editing but also on your computer screen) but IRL the difference between a gradient with Vomit Brown and one with Sunburst Yellow is HUGE. Had I used Yellow I'd probably have agreed with your suggestion.

A blueish glow where? I'm mostly trying to keep the 3 tanks as close to each other as possible - schemewise. They are a squadron after all 



Mr.Malevolent said:


> I have got to say *Xenobiotic* your work on this and all your projects is so inspiring to me. I've oogled over all your conversions and amazing paint jobs. I have definitely come away from this thread with a fresh vigor to work even harder at my Knights of Blood and I thank you for sharing this with all of us. + rep


It makes me very happy that I have been able to inspire you. As many other project keepers that is one of my motivations to keep updating this plog. I wish you success with your endeavours with the Knights of Blood (I'll be sure to stop by your thread every now and then).

----
Minor progress on the tank (life keeps screwing me over when it comes to time able to spend painting):








I'm still not 100% satisfied with the head. Something about the eyes I think. Will have to take a look at it again tomorrow.

I have a somewhat odd story to tell you. When I graduated from my studies I decided to treat myself with a "present". Seeing as how there was a sale on a particular webstore I picked up a box of "Citadel Finecast Vanguard Veterans". But seeing as Games Workshop have odd ideas sometimes they put a limit on the number of Citadel Finecast boxes independent retailers could buy each week. Therefore I knew I would have to wait quite a long time to get my marines. But with a hefty discount I saw no problem with that.

As faith would have it I recieved the box yesterday (almost two months after I ordered it, but still - a hefty discount). I was very excited to have a look at my first finecast miniatures myself - having heard so many differing rumours out on the net.

Sadly, my conclusion is somewhat a negative one. ALL the jump packs have what I consider major faults on them (see pictures for examples), some are crooked beyond repair and all of them have air bubbles in details you can't realistically repair with "superglue" or greenstuff (as suggested by GW themselves).
























Anyway, the sentiment is that when your not satisfied you should "complain". So I sent a kindly worded e-mail to the store I bought them from, and attached the pictures you see above, airing out my concerns. Believe it or not, a few letters back and forth and now I've got another box of veterans on the way - free of charge! In effect getting almost 2 boxes (I can use all the parts but the jump packs from the first box without having to do any major repair work) for less than the price of one. Hopefully the casting quality is better this time...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Cold86

Xeno- Awesome stuff as always!
Im very interested in seeing pics of the next set of van vets you get and if there continue to be issues.


----------



## demon bringer

xenobiotic said:


> The thing is. The only colour on the side of the tank right now is Blood Red painted on Chaos Black - i.e. it's about as red as it gets. However the camera is having problem picking it up combined with the fact that Blood Red is a very translucent colour unless painted on another red or on top of itself (layered). I'm pretty confident that I will make it work in the end (still a few steps missing).
> 
> 
> 
> What you are referring to as yellow is actually Vomit Brown, so it's more of a light biege/orange colour. It might be hard to tell the difference on the photos (depending not only on my camera, my picture editing but also on your computer screen) but IRL the difference between a gradient with Vomit Brown and one with Sunburst Yellow is HUGE. Had I used Yellow I'd probably have agreed with your suggestion.
> 
> A blueish glow where? I'm mostly trying to keep the 3 tanks as close to each other as possible - schemewise. They are a squadron after all
> 
> 
> 
> It makes me very happy that I have been able to inspire you. As many other project keepers that is one of my motivations to keep updating this plog. I wish you success with your endeavours with the Knights of Blood (I'll be sure to stop by your thread every now and then).
> 
> ----
> Minor progress on the tank (life keeps screwing me over when it comes to time able to spend painting):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm still not 100% satisfied with the head. Something about the eyes I think. Will have to take a look at it again tomorrow.
> 
> I have a somewhat odd story to tell you. When I graduated from my studies I decided to treat myself with a "present". Seeing as how there was a sale on a particular webstore I picked up a box of "Citadel Finecast Vanguard Veterans". But seeing as Games Workshop have odd ideas sometimes they put a limit on the number of Citadel Finecast boxes independent retailers could buy each week. Therefore I knew I would have to wait quite a long time to get my marines. But with a hefty discount I saw no problem with that.
> 
> As faith would have it I recieved the box yesterday (almost two months after I ordered it, but still - a hefty discount). I was very excited to have a look at my first finecast miniatures myself - having heard so many differing rumours out on the net.
> 
> Sadly, my conclusion is somewhat a negative one. ALL the jump packs have what I consider major faults on them (see pictures for examples), some are crooked beyond repair and all of them have air bubbles in details you can't realistically repair with "superglue" or greenstuff (as suggested by GW themselves).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, the sentiment is that when your not satisfied you should "complain". So I sent a kindly worded e-mail to the store I bought them from, and attached the pictures you see above, airing out my concerns. Believe it or not, a few letters back and forth and now I've got another box of veterans on the way - free of charge! In effect getting almost 2 boxes (I can use all the parts but the jump packs from the first box without having to do any major repair work) for less than the price of one. Hopefully the casting quality is better this time...
> 
> ----
> 
> Till next time :bye:


nice free hand mate

and i don't blame you for sending those back mate i think that is a bit much for you to be expected to green stuff yourself. i've only had one fine cast model and it had a few problems but they where easily fixable so there was no issue there, even with the problems i think it'll all be worth it once gw sorts them out. i'm really coming round to using resin in general.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Well I was refering to the glow effect on the jump pack, as for the Miscasts....DAMN! I feel ya on that. I don't know how many models I have repaired or lost due to a shistty molded products...I guess you can say that Quality control doesnt exist for GW or FW.


----------



## Zodd

Nice development Xeno. Regarding the eyes, i think it's more how the feathers on the head looks like now, kind of "flat", that makes the eyes look a little odd.
And you did right in complaining. I have done the same with a figure casted with more than a few bubbles. GW need the feedback so they can get it right .


----------



## Winterous

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Well I was refering to the glow effect on the jump pack, as for the Miscasts....DAMN! I feel ya on that. I don't know how many models I have repaired or lost due to a shistty molded products...I guess you can say that Quality control doesnt exist for GW or FW.


They did a really bad job on the Finecast stuff, it also warps at unreasonably low temperatures (like 30* Celsius, or something).


----------



## mutronics

I think personally for the price we pay for GW stuff, we should complain if their is one miscast on the model. 

But that's just me. AWESOME work btw.


----------



## Mr.Malevolent

mutronics said:


> I think personally for the price we pay for GW stuff, we should complain if their is one miscast on the model.
> 
> But that's just me. AWESOME work btw.


I completely agree with *mutronics*. I've been on the fence lately about Finecast and if I do ever buy some and they come out with even one defect I will be e-mailing GW or the store I got them at. Of course in the nicest way possible :wink:




xenobiotic said:


> It makes me very happy that I have been able to inspire you. As many other project keepers that is one of my motivations to keep updating this plog. I wish you success with your endeavours with the Knights of Blood (I'll be sure to stop by your thread every now and then).


Thanks for the kind words. I would be honored if you did venture onto my thread :biggrin:


----------



## xenobiotic

Cold86 said:


> Xeno- Awesome stuff as always!
> Im very interested in seeing pics of the next set of van vets you get and if there continue to be issues.


Thanks. I'll be sure to post pics of the new ones as soon as I've gotten them!



demon bringer said:


> nice free hand mate
> 
> and i don't blame you for sending those back mate i think that is a bit much for you to be expected to green stuff yourself. i've only had one fine cast model and it had a few problems but they where easily fixable so there was no issue there, even with the problems i think it'll all be worth it once gw sorts them out. i'm really coming round to using resin in general.


I didn't have to send them back  They let me keep them and still sent me new ones. I can save the bodies (just the back packs that where abysmal) which I can use for conversions!



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Well I was refering to the glow effect on the jump pack, as for the Miscasts....DAMN! I feel ya on that. I don't know how many models I have repaired or lost due to a shistty molded products...I guess you can say that Quality control doesnt exist for GW or FW.


Ah, now I follow, I misunderstood you. The thing about the jump packs is that I settled on yellow when I painted my Librarian (which has blue armour) and I went back and forth trying to choose a colour. Blue wasn't a good choice because of the librarian. Purple is the colour I use on gems and power weapons. Orange would look odd on the red marines. Red wouldn't work at all. White would be hard to paint as a glow. Green is the colour I use on the lenses of the helmets.. You get the drift. Yellow was about all that was left really.

And yes, they should have quality control. Forge World I'm used to (and I've been sent many a free substitutes because of shoddy casting, but I kind of like getting a decent batch with a few faults and then get a good cast as compensation since it equals more parts for me!)



Zodd said:


> Nice development Xeno. Regarding the eyes, i think it's more how the feathers on the head looks like now, kind of "flat", that makes the eyes look a little odd.
> And you did right in complaining. I have done the same with a figure casted with more than a few bubbles. GW need the feedback so they can get it right .


I'm toying around with it. I did some minor changes today. I think I've got it mostly right and I'll leave it as is to finish the rest of the tank before I do more changes.

My mother taught me to complain when I'm not satisfied, so far it has helped me many times and I've gotten a lot of compensation for writing polite but firm e-mails.



Winterous said:


> They did a really bad job on the Finecast stuff, it also warps at unreasonably low temperatures (like 30* Celsius, or something).


I've yet to test it's resilience to heat, but I'm betting it will be interesting...



mutronics said:


> I think personally for the price we pay for GW stuff, we should complain if their is one miscast on the model.
> 
> But that's just me. AWESOME work btw.


Pretty much my sentiment, at least when it comes to "Finecast"!



Mr.Malevolent said:


> I completely agree with *mutronics*. I've been on the fence lately about Finecast and if I do ever buy some and they come out with even one defect I will be e-mailing GW or the store I got them at. Of course in the nicest way possible :wink:
> 
> Thanks for the kind words. I would be honored if you did venture onto my thread :biggrin:


Yes, the key is to be polite but firm, that usually yields the best results!

I'll do my best 

----

Finally had some time to spend with my tank. Slowly painting up the layers 
of the freehand (topping of with a wash of Baal Red). It's now mostly done at the front/top not counting the stars in the starpattern, but those are pretty much a finishing touch before the weathering comes along. I've therefore been able to start detailing the sides.








You'll notice a subtle difference in some of the more detailed parts of the vehicle (the hatch for example).








Hopefully I'll be able to finish the tank before the deadline of this months challenge...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Scathainn

Good work on the tank as usual.

That's a bit odd about the Finecast though, I just got some Sternguard the other day and I had very minimal problems with them...


----------



## xenobiotic

Scathainn said:


> Good work on the tank as usual.
> 
> That's a bit odd about the Finecast though, I just got some Sternguard the other day and I had very minimal problems with them...


Thanks

It appears that finecast is somewhat of a lottery. I sure am hoping the second set will be better quality. I'm still glad I'm able to keep the old ones though, there must be some clever was of using them for parts/conversions and still make them unique enough even when I do get the second set.

----

Slow progress on the tank. Freehanding takes time and patience. Spent the evening slowly adding layers after layers. Finally done with the left side of the tank (the freehand is done that is). Now I can move on to finish of the right side and then it's details on the hull (metallic parts, door decorations, starpattern and so on). After that it's just the turret and the weathering left. I _should_ be able to finish it before the month ends.
















For those still interested in the process (if there's anyone out there). The freehand now consists of:
Undercoat: Chaos Black
1st layer: Milt thin Blazing Orange
2nd layer: Milk thin Blood Red (it will not cover fully, it's not supposed to)
3rd layer: Milk thin Blazing Orange
4th layer: Milk thin Vomit Brown
5th layer: Baal Red Wash
Done.

----

On a side note I've recently been sold on putting Lightning Claws on some of my Vanguard Assault Marines/Sergeants. But there is a distinct lack of claws for power armoured miniatures and the ones that are out there are pretty terrible in my opinion. I'd like to have something smaller and more... Vicious(?) (birdlike preferably) but I'm out of ideas currently. Any ideas?

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Hey Xeno, I thought about a great idea for your Marines, tho it might be out of place now. It also would require extra money but it would def give your army that bird appearance.

You could start giving all your SM's the beaky helmet which in an essence resembles your army theme. What do you think? Unless I missed the idea already else where in your log.

Still thinking of other ideas at the moment for ya.


----------



## Midge913

Pred is looking phenomenal buddy! Freehand is really shaping up nicely. I am not quite sure what to tell you about the lightning claw issue but I will keep an eye out for anything interesting.


----------



## Scathainn

xenobiotic said:


> On a side note I've recently been sold on putting Lightning Claws on some of my Vanguard Assault Marines/Sergeants. But there is a distinct lack of claws for power armoured miniatures and the ones that are out there are pretty terrible in my opinion. I'd like to have something smaller and more... Vicious(?) (birdlike preferably) but I'm out of ideas currently. Any ideas?


A friend of mine uses Necron Flayed One claws for some of his LC's. Might want to look into that.


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

I suppose you'd be looking at something inbetween the looks of the 2006 Captain Sicarius:









And the Chaos Raptor Lord:









Like this?









Not sure if that's the angle your looking at. But the Chaos Lightning Claws do pose the right modelling aspects to be made to look more like a talon.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with.


----------



## xenobiotic

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Hey Xeno, I thought about a great idea for your Marines, tho it might be out of place now. It also would require extra money but it would def give your army that bird appearance.
> 
> You could start giving all your SM's the beaky helmet which in an essence resembles your army theme. What do you think? Unless I missed the idea already else where in your log.
> 
> Still thinking of other ideas at the moment for ya.


So, kind of like this?








The thing with Mk 6 helmets (or 'Beakies' as they call them) is that they are pretty expensive to get in large amounts. The ones that come in the tactical squad box (only 1 per box if I remember correctly, or is it 2?) aren't of very good quality. The ones from forgeworld are better but very expensive if you're going to buy them of bits-sites (the Raven Guard upgrade kit ones are awesome though). So for me to be able to pull such a feat of I'd have to find some of those helmets on sale of rely on the kindness of strangers.



Midge913 said:


> Pred is looking phenomenal buddy! Freehand is really shaping up nicely. I am not quite sure what to tell you about the lightning claw issue but I will keep an eye out for anything interesting.


Thanks Midge! Always nice to see you pop by even if you don't have any suggestions at this very moment.



Scathainn said:


> A friend of mine uses Necron Flayed One claws for some of his LC's. Might want to look into that.


Perhaps I should wait for the Necron release later this year. If they release Plastic Flayed Ones that could be just what I'm looking for... Thanks for the tip.



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> I suppose you'd be looking at something inbetween the looks of the 2006 Captain Sicarius:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And the Chaos Raptor Lord:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Like this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if that's the angle your looking at. But the Chaos Lightning Claws do pose the right modelling aspects to be made to look more like a talon.
> 
> Look forward to seeing what you come up with.


Definitely more like the raptor lord then the old Sicarius. I prefer to have the actual fingers as claws rather than knuckle-claws. But if I'm to pull that off it looks like I'm going to have to make them myself...

----

Only a limited amount of painting today. Didn't have much time and I spent some of it poking around trying to come up with good ideas. Anyway I started detailing the tank. The side doors have seen some progress. I still haven't decided on the colour for the wings. I'm leaning towards leaving them black with grey highlights (since that's how my marines have it) but I'm not 100% sure yet.
















Hope you like them 

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## xenobiotic

Minor update, detail painting has started. It's unfocused and slow (i.e. not much to show). I did however take a comparison shot of the doors. It shows the difference of highlight vs no highlight very well (I think at least) and speaks for walking that extra mile giving yourself time to do these final touches on your more important pieces.








Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Looking great Xeno! I completely agree that taking the extra time to hit the small details is always worth it.


----------



## Kingfield

I would just like to say your painting skills are incredible, I found this thread yesterday and just spent the last three hours reading through everything, your work is exceptional and keep it coming. :biggrin:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Ummm WOW, well if you did those conversions on your own then you don't need to buy any helmets, as those look badass dude! As for the side panels, super job again! That gem looks worthy of pluking from its socket!


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looking great Xeno! I completely agree that taking the extra time to hit the small details is always worth it.


Indeed, seeing the beards on your Dwarves I know we are talking on the same wavelength, hehe.



Kingfield said:


> I would just like to say your painting skills are incredible, I found this thread yesterday and just spent the last three hours reading through everything, your work is exceptional and keep it coming. :biggrin:


Thank you, glad I could kill a couple of hours of your time :biggrin:



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Ummm WOW, well if you did those conversions on your own then you don't need to buy any helmets, as those look badass dude! As for the side panels, super job again! That gem looks worthy of pluking from its socket!


Those are my Sternguards. I did them ages ago but have since moved on to more important units (list wise). I'm actually not even sure if I'm going to use them in the Blood Angel list anymore. At least I can salvage most of them for other uses should I change my mind. It's a fairly simple conversion, there's even a "how-to" in this very thread that I made when I did the beak on my chaplain (also in this thread).

----

Almost done with the detail work on the rhino chassi. After that I just need to do the stars in the starpattern and touch up a few of the highlights on the black areas.
























Hopefully I can get a move on with the turret tomorrow, finish the dozer on saturday and then complete the rest on sunday. That's the plan...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## InkedDnA

Looking good!


----------



## Midge913

Shaping up to be another fantastic addition Xeno! The phoenix's head on this one really captures my attention, I think it is the added detail in the eyes them being a bit bigger and all. Can't wait to see it finished.


----------



## xenobiotic

4thswasi said:


> Looking good!


Thanks 



Midge913 said:


> Shaping up to be another fantastic addition Xeno! The phoenix's head on this one really captures my attention, I think it is the added detail in the eyes them being a bit bigger and all. Can't wait to see it finished.


I'm experimenting more and more as I go with these tanks. It's almost sad that I'm pretty much done with the squadron now. But I might have some plans for the future that will enable me to resurrect the scheme again. So keep an eye out for that 

----

"Stay a while and listen", I have an odd story to tell. As you've seen and heard I ordered a box of Citadel Finecast Vanguard Veteran quite some time ago at a sale on a Independent Retailer webstore (yey, for discounts!). Due to the Games Workshop Independent retailer arrangement the there was a pretty long delay before I got them and having heard all the stories about Citadel Finecast I was anticipating their arrival a lot just to find out what the fuzz was all about.

Well, I was quite frankly disappointed and here are the pictures I posted earlier describing why I was so disappointed:

























I sent those pictures to the independent retailer and they quickly arrange for me to get a replacement. I figured it'd be interesting to see what kind of condition the second set of miniatures was in and to be honest I was hoping that the first box would prove to have been just a "fluke" in the system.

After a couple of days I received the package and proceeded to open the box once again with a lot of anticipation. However I was yet again disappointed by the quality, which quite frankly was even worse this time (wth?). I sent a letter to the independent retailer explaining my situation and offered to send them the pictures just for reference when dealing with GW in the future.

Here are a few of the pictures from the second set of miniatures:

































Now, the whole situation has made me quite content, between the two boxes I would be able to build a half-decent Vanguard Squad and use the rest of the pieces for spare parts and decorations on bases. I didn't want to burden the Independent retailer with yet another replacement set since I think it's GWs responsibility after all.

Therefore I proceeded to send a letter to GW explaining my situation (mostly just airing out my disappointment and shock at the abysmal quality). I wasn't even thinking they would respond to the e-mail (thinking they might not care for what happens with sets sold by independent retailers that have already been "replaced" as well). But as luck would have it GW offered to send me yet another replacement set... Now I was laughing out loud.

I've yet to receive the third box, we'll see if they keep their promise.

----

On the painting side of the hobby I'm now as good as finished with the Squad Leader. She's just lacking a few stars and some tidying up before the mud weathering. But as far as the painting challenge goes I don't have that much time on my hands to be able to do the weathering in time. Since she's in more than a tabletop standard I'll just call her done as far as the challenge goes. Hope you like her:

Hesperides Squadron Leader, Horizon, of the 4th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix.









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Love the Baal man! I love the addition of the skull piles and the turret and dozer really make the piece. On a side note I am sorry to hear about your poor experiences with the fine cast stuff. It really sounds like it is hit and miss with them. The couple of kits that I have purchased have been fine. Well I like the way that you are looking at it. More parts to play with. Looking forward to seeing the libby see paint!


----------



## arumichic

Love the freehand that you do.  Looking forward to seeing more!~
And sorry to see the finecast pieces in such bad shape as we've been having decent luck other than some minor bubbles easily fixed with either millput or GS.


----------



## Kingfield

spectacular work Xeno, Ive heard a lot of bad things about finecast models but my first two were nearly perfect, good luck with your third set man, if all else fails you could always try to find some metal ones on Ebay.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Love the Baal man! I love the addition of the skull piles and the turret and dozer really make the piece. On a side note I am sorry to hear about your poor experiences with the fine cast stuff. It really sounds like it is hit and miss with them. The couple of kits that I have purchased have been fine. Well I like the way that you are looking at it. More parts to play with. Looking forward to seeing the libby see paint!


Thanks, even though she isn't 100% done yet (still haven't gotten around to the mud weathering) I'm still very happy with her current state and she's one fine tank. I'm keen on tackling land raiders soon seeing as how I've learned so much doing the Hesperides.

I'm surprised by Finecast but as long as they replace their mistake without extra cost for me I don't have any problem waiting for a good box. At least they take my complain seriously which I find admirable even if I really shouldn't have needed to complain to begin with. 



arumichic said:


> Love the freehand that you do.  Looking forward to seeing more!~
> And sorry to see the finecast pieces in such bad shape as we've been having decent luck other than some minor bubbles easily fixed with either millput or GS.


Might be a while before you'll see more freehands... But with so many things happening at the same time you never know...



Kingfield said:


> spectacular work Xeno, Ive heard a lot of bad things about finecast models but my first two were nearly perfect, good luck with your third set man, if all else fails you could always try to find some metal ones on Ebay.


Glad to hear that other have had more luck! The funny thing is that I bought these as finecast simply because I didn't want them in pewter...

----

Life is a bit of a hassle at the moment. There have just been so many ups and downs the last month that I'm hardly able to keep my thoughts straight any more let alone getting into the hobby at all. As a minor step I picked up the librarian and splashed some paint on him, one blue leg and blue groin done, rest of the armour left:








As I was painting this miniature I realised I might have gone about it all wrong on my Void Sharks, I remember someone suggested a darker colour combination and I might have caved in finally. Seeing the blue armour of the Librarian made me realize that what I need is a quartered black and dark blue combination with starpatterns on the black parts. Obviously way overambitious but awesome none the less.

Here's the starting point for the first real Void Shark project that I'll try to actually complete, dare to take a gander what miniatures will fill the slots?









----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Kingfield

yea pewter is crap. Everytime you post its something new and cool, very inspiring in my own work with space marines. As for your mystery base im thinking a terminator captain and honor guard or maybe a dreadnought with some techmarines, I dont really know honestly. Whatever it is ill be awaiting its arrival eagerly.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Hmm large base and 2 smaller bases says artillery piece and crey to me, with that in mind i'm voting thunderfire cannon, techmarine and servitor.


----------



## Midge913

The blue is very vibrant man! I am totally stealing your technique for my own libbys:biggrin:


----------



## jaysen

I've tried to have some ultra highlighted librarians before but never started with black. I might try this method. It would look awesome on my terminator librarian.


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

xenobiotic said:


> Life is a bit of a hassle at the moment. There have just been so many ups and downs the last month that I'm hardly able to keep my thoughts straight any more let alone getting into the hobby at all. As a minor step I picked up the librarian and splashed some paint on him, one blue leg and blue groin done, rest of the armour left:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As I was painting this miniature I realised I might have gone about it all wrong on my Void Sharks, I remember someone suggested a darker colour combination and I might have caved in finally. Seeing the blue armour of the Librarian made me realize that what I need is a quartered black and dark blue combination with starpatterns on the black parts. Obviously way overambitious but awesome none the less.


I understand your sentiments on life getting in the way of hobby, something I've been dealing with alot over the last few months.

The libby looks very good thus far, and I can't wait to see him finished. And I love your idea for the Void Sharks, from the sounds of the scheme, it will look kickarse on the table especially if fielded next to the Brethren of the Phoeni, the blue and black is an excellent contrast to the red and white of the Brethren.

Grish


----------



## InkedDnA

The color scheme is awesome on your libby. I've always liked the way black and blue look together.

Sorry to hear about the issues goin on. Hope everything works out for you. For me, painting is sort of a "get away from it all" kinda thing. It helps relax and calm me...you know...before I crush someones wind pipe or somethin along those lines.


----------



## xenobiotic

Kingfield said:


> yea pewter is crap. Everytime you post its something new and cool, very inspiring in my own work with space marines. As for your mystery base im thinking a terminator captain and honor guard or maybe a dreadnought with some techmarines, I dont really know honestly. Whatever it is ill be awaiting its arrival eagerly.


It's somewhat close but not entirely right. Perhaps you'll be able to take a better guess after seeing the progress I've made.



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Hmm large base and 2 smaller bases says artillery piece and crey to me, with that in mind i'm voting thunderfire cannon, techmarine and servitor.


I admit the smaller bases are a bit misleading. I currently own no Thunderfire cannons of any kind so it's not that...



Midge913 said:


> The blue is very vibrant man! I am totally stealing your technique for my own libbys:biggrin:


Well, you know the recipe :grin:



jaysen said:


> I've tried to have some ultra highlighted librarians before but never started with black. I might try this method. It would look awesome on my terminator librarian.


Actually the base colour isn't Chaos Black, it's Necron Abyss foundation colour washed with Thraka Green. It looks black in the pictures but it's not 



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> I understand your sentiments on life getting in the way of hobby, something I've been dealing with alot over the last few months.
> 
> The libby looks very good thus far, and I can't wait to see him finished. And I love your idea for the Void Sharks, from the sounds of the scheme, it will look kickarse on the table especially if fielded next to the Brethren of the Phoeni, the blue and black is an excellent contrast to the red and white of the Brethren.
> 
> Grish


I imagine that as well. It just came to me as I was painting. I hadn't even considered that it would be almost an inverted scheme (black - white, red - blue) but your right about that as well  Can't wait to get time to paint up some test miniatures now!



4thswasi said:


> The color scheme is awesome on your libby. I've always liked the way black and blue look together.
> 
> Sorry to hear about the issues goin on. Hope everything works out for you. For me, painting is sort of a "get away from it all" kinda thing. It helps relax and calm me...you know...before I crush someones wind pipe or somethin along those lines.


Issues come and issues go. I tend to draw when things go totally awry and I have no other outlet. Draw or walk for miles on end. One of those two.

----

Having celebrated my birthday I had little time to spend painting, but there has been some progress! Librarian now has two blue legs (woho!):








Mystery base is getting some definition (and have been joined by some more bases to ease the guessing process, perhaps?):









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Scathainn

Huzzah, the Sharks arise!

And I'm throwing in my guess as a Dreadnought/Vendread/Contemptor and some veterans of some sort.


----------



## jaysen

Hmm, crashsight with victims laying about. Maybe an apothecary giving aid, a sergeant directing triage, and a dreadnought securing the sight?


----------



## Fallen

your stuff is awesome Xeno.


kinda shocked that you dont have any Libby Dreads, any potential for one of these? 







*tries to think of a way to kidnap Xeno and have him paint my models*


----------



## Kingfield

ok well looking at the update id have to say the mystery bases are going to involve those vanguard vets that you had some trouble with but i still cant figure out the large base, it could be a dreadnought seeing as how comparison from your pictures to the models on my desk isnt much different but even if i dont get it right i still cant wait to see.


----------



## xenobiotic

For those whom have guessed, you can see how close you where below :biggrin:



Fallen said:


> your stuff is awesome Xeno. Kinda shocked that you dont have any Libby Dreads, any potential for one of these?
> 
> *tries to think of a way to kidnap Xeno and have him paint my models


Not any Librarian Dreadnoughts in this army, none planned either. I don't like the miniature for it (so I'd have to "come up with something" if I was to use it).

Seeing as I like to do my own projects you might be disappointed if you kidnapped me... Just saying.

----

*EVEN IN DEATH, I SERVE!*
















Took me ages to put him together. Got no painting done tonight because of him. There are just so many moveable pieces it's overwhelming. And even though I don't think this was the coolest pose ever created I was soon finding myself moving on since I was fiddling for almost an hour with almost no progress initially. Arms are magnetized for weapon swapping (for future releases).

Another thing I noticed is how hard it is to take good pictures of the Contemptor, The legs look odd in almost every angle in pictures but they look very nice IRL.

More construction pictures to come as I have the smaller bases to fill also...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Winterous

A fantastic model, I think you've done a good job posing him; he looks more like a Marine, standing like that, than the traditional clunky Dreadnought.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Really looking forward to seeing this painted up, xeno. Should make a fabulous center piece. 

As an aside, I've been thinking of buying the contemptor arms to fit to a normal venerable dread, as I think they'd look cool being so big, but I don't know if the arms would fit on to the shoulders of this dread. Can you tell me if they would fit? Thanks in advance.


----------



## Midge913

Sweet! I absolutely love the contemptor dread and I look forward to seeing what you do with it buddy.


----------



## xenobiotic

Winterous said:


> A fantastic model, I think you've done a good job posing him; he looks more like a Marine, standing like that, than the traditional clunky Dreadnought.


That would be the correct analysis. The kit is more like a very big marine than a dreadnought when you think about it. Hard to work with but lovely when finally put together. I like working with resin and the last batch of stuff I ordered from FW where very high quality casts!



Khorne's Fist said:


> Really looking forward to seeing this painted up, xeno. Should make a fabulous center piece.
> 
> As an aside, I've been thinking of buying the contemptor arms to fit to a normal venerable dread, as I think they'd look cool being so big, but I don't know if the arms would fit on to the shoulders of this dread. Can you tell me if they would fit? Thanks in advance.


The arms come without the proper shoulder mount (that piece is included in the contemptor body kit). Other than that I assume it would be fairly easy to get a fit as long as you had something else to mount the arm on (spare dreadnought parts) or possibly if you bought a complete contemptor set just to steal the shoulders as well (which would be quite a waste though) which would need some modification anyway seeing as how the connection between body and shoulder on the contemptor is a ball joint.



Midge913 said:


> Sweet! I absolutely love the contemptor dread and I look forward to seeing what you do with it buddy.


Will quartered blue and black with star patterns suit the gentleman? Admit it, you're mouth is watering already! 

----

Baby-step updates continue! More blue has been added to the librarian. Time to do the blue on the backpack and then move on to details on the body:









Slowly building the Void Sharks to accompany the Contemptor dread. Not much to show other than hacked miniatures and weaponry. Hopefully I'll have more to show tomorrow, and probably another rant about Finecast as well since the package has arrived at the post office...

Till then :bye:


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


> Will quartered blue and black with star patterns suit the gentleman? Admit it, you're mouth is watering already!


You're right, it is.:biggrin:

Libby is looking good man! I am absolutely enamored by the contrast your blue method produces.


----------



## Kingfield

haha dreadnought guess was right! looks great, i plan on buying a contemptor as soon as i have the funds, and the librarian looks amazing even in this stage so i cant wait for the finished result.

stay creative its what makes your skills so interesting :victory:


----------



## troybuckle

Dude that dread is sick + rep.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> You're right, it is.:biggrin:
> 
> Libby is looking good man! I am absolutely enamored by the contrast your blue method produces.


Oddly enough it was just a lucky guess. I've found out that the Thraka Green wash is crucial for the final effect (Necron Abyss is just to purple otherwise as can be seen in some of the pictures below). Sometimes you're lucky.



Kingfield said:


> haha dreadnought guess was right! looks great, i plan on buying a contemptor as soon as i have the funds, and the librarian looks amazing even in this stage so i cant wait for the finished result.
> 
> stay creative its what makes your skills so interesting :victory:


The contemptor kit is one of the best kits from forgeworld I've bought. I'm actually happy I haven't bought any of the other dreadnoughts from them now (seeing as how I'd probably wouldn't have painted them yet anyway and they'd just be gathering dust).

Creativity is my middle name :smoke: I think.



troybuckle said:


> Dude that dread is sick + rep.


Thanks, troybuckle!

----

Just couldn't keep the paint off the Contemptor. Librarian has been on hold for a while now. I guess I'm eager to get an idea of how my new colour scheme will work out for the Void Sharks. I'm not 100% convinced yet, but then again the miniature is far from completed so a lot of things can happen!








I also realize that this contemptor is pretty plain (straight build from the kit). Maybe I should have put some conversions on it. Then again if I know myself correctly I'll probably by at least 2 more for the army (to fill the Elite slots with these cool beasts of machines).

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## TheReverend

loving the pose and scenic base on the contemptor, and I really like the blue scheme.

Rev


----------



## TheReverend

*edit* double post, sorry 

Rev


----------



## InkedDnA

That contemptor is awesome. I can't wait to see the modifications you add to make em look less "plain"


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

Contemptor is looking promising Xeno keep it up mate :good:


----------



## Scathainn

Just out of curiosity, how do you prime your models? Because the contemptor's arms and head aren't primed (but I'm sure you know that).


----------



## Midge913

Looking great so far buddy! I knew you weren't going to be able to resist him once it was assembled


----------



## xenobiotic

TheReverend said:


> loving the pose and scenic base on the contemptor, and I really like the blue scheme.





TheReverend said:


> *edit* double post, sorry


No worries, you where just eager 
Thanks for the comment!



4thswasi said:


> That contemptor is awesome. I can't wait to see the modifications you add to make em look less "plain"


Won't be any modifications on this one, unless you count the peculiar colour scheme...



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> Contemptor is looking promising Xeno keep it up mate :good:


Thanks!



Scathainn said:


> Just out of curiosity, how do you prime your models? Because the contemptor's arms and head aren't primed (but I'm sure you know that).


I usually only give them a coat of a foundation paint or chaos black. And I have a tendency to remove parts that are magnetized as I work meaning that sometimes they don't get any paint on them till later. 



Midge913 said:


> Looking great so far buddy! I knew you weren't going to be able to resist him once it was assembled


You know to much! :wasntme:

----









Dark pictures, I know, but it's a dark colour-scheme lacking highlights and details on most of it. I do however think you get a better idea of the supposed scheme at this point. Obviously I have a lot of work left to do. I'm starting to get worried about the blue sections. Since the black will be filled with pink/purple starpatterns I might need something to fill out the blue parts with as well but I'm not sure on what just yet.

Also I'm considering doing an homage to the rogue trader/2nd edition era by painting the fingers brightly red, like I did with the bolter casing on the test miniature sergeant here:









Ideas?

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## unxpekted22

"I'm starting to get worried about the blue sections. Since the black will be filled with pink/purple starpatterns I might need something to fill out the blue parts with as well but I'm not sure on what just yet."


Time to start practicing painting shark shadows haha. Deep sea patterns on half, outer space on the other. Maybe throw some nice little starfish on him too XD. Nah I do think shark stuff would be neat though, since you seem to be able to paint birds well.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the contemptor dread model (I dont mean yours specifically, I mean I dont like the look of them in general), but perhaps you can make at least one that I like the look of. We shall see!


----------



## Midge913

I am not sure about the red on the fingers mate. It works well on the bolter due to the fact that it is a totally separate piece on the Marine. It is obviously not part of his body, and there for the sharp contrasting color does a great job of drawing the eye and breaking up the focus. On the fingers of the dread however, they are part of the same structure and as such I think that painting them red might be to garish and distracting. I think that you might be better off using the lighter grey/blue that you used on the Marine's facemask to break up the overall dark tone of the piece. It will provide the contrast that you desire while still keeping with the overall color pallet. 

The other thing that I wanted to mention is that the blue on the dread is not quite as bright in tone as the blue on the marine. In the case of the dread you are not getting the contrast between the two halves that you do on the marine model, and in that case I think that the contrast between the lighter blue and the black is what makes the color scheme so striking. On the dread both halves of the scheme are very dark and as such you are losing some of the distinction that makes the scheme work so well on the Marine. 

Just my two cents.


----------



## jaysen

Yeah, the pink/purple parts on the powerfist might not fit the realism part of the model. It depends on if you plan to use that color to represent power weapons across the board? Those are the parts that make the knuckles when the hand is closed into a fist, right? The ridges are the impact surface in a punch. So, I would think they either need to look rough and damaged from punching through armor or encased in an aura of glowing power.

If the pink represents the power aura of the PF, then once the armor plates are done, you'll need some reflected light on the surrounding plates.

The color scheme looks amazing and as always you have an accurate and smooth touch to your surfaces.

Can you briefly talk about how to get a smooth surface on the primed areas, or redirect me to to a section that talks about this?


----------



## xenobiotic

unxpekted22 said:


> "I'm starting to get worried about the blue sections. Since the black will be filled with pink/purple starpatterns I might need something to fill out the blue parts with as well but I'm not sure on what just yet."
> 
> Time to start practicing painting shark shadows haha. Deep sea patterns on half, outer space on the other. Maybe throw some nice little starfish on him too XD. Nah I do think shark stuff would be neat though, since you seem to be able to paint birds well.
> 
> Personally, I'm not a fan of the contemptor dread model (I dont mean yours specifically, I mean I dont like the look of them in general), but perhaps you can make at least one that I like the look of. We shall see!


Not a bad idea. I might do shark shades in the blue colour, I'll have to play around with my pot of Ice Blue...

I like the contemptor miniature, the pictures of it are actually not making the miniature justice in my opinion.



Midge913 said:


> I am not sure about the red on the fingers mate. It works well on the bolter due to the fact that it is a totally separate piece on the Marine. It is obviously not part of his body, and there for the sharp contrasting color does a great job of drawing the eye and breaking up the focus. On the fingers of the dread however, they are part of the same structure and as such I think that painting them red might be to garish and distracting. I think that you might be better off using the lighter grey/blue that you used on the Marine's facemask to break up the overall dark tone of the piece. It will provide the contrast that you desire while still keeping with the overall color pallet.
> 
> The other thing that I wanted to mention is that the blue on the dread is not quite as bright in tone as the blue on the marine. In the case of the dread you are not getting the contrast between the two halves that you do on the marine model, and in that case I think that the contrast between the lighter blue and the black is what makes the color scheme so striking. On the dread both halves of the scheme are very dark and as such you are losing some of the distinction that makes the scheme work so well on the Marine.
> 
> Just my two cents.


I see your point. I want them to be dark and grizzly, they are Void Sharks after all, night fighting all out warfare marines with brutality in their blood. Yet at the same time I'm sitting on insider information so I'm not worried at the moment. The Necron Abyss base is dark and a simple Necron Abyss / Chaos Black quartered scheme would be underwhelming visually. I am however not content with those simple colour combinations, I'm taking them both up a notch by super highlighting the blue areas and infusing the Chaos Black parts with a purple/pink space pattern that for some reason is incredibly hard to take pictures off. Add to that later additions of details in other colours and battle damage and I think the piece as a whole will be visually interesting enough to pop out superbly.

If my words cannot convince you maybe these updated pictures can?











jaysen said:


> Yeah, the pink/purple parts on the powerfist might not fit the realism part of the model. It depends on if you plan to use that color to represent power weapons across the board? Those are the parts that make the knuckles when the hand is closed into a fist, right? The ridges are the impact surface in a punch. So, I would think they either need to look rough and damaged from punching through armor or encased in an aura of glowing power.
> 
> If the pink represents the power aura of the PF, then once the armor plates are done, you'll need some reflected light on the surrounding plates.
> 
> The color scheme looks amazing and as always you have an accurate and smooth touch to your surfaces.
> 
> Can you briefly talk about how to get a smooth surface on the primed areas, or redirect me to to a section that talks about this?


I'm not sure what you're talking about regarding the smooth surfaces, you'd have to explain for me to give you an accurate description of the process.


----------



## The Wraithlord

Wow it has been so long since I checked in with this log that it took me quite some time to catch up lol. Xeno, this is a stunning army with some amazing work, colour me most impressed.


----------



## Midge913

Those pictures, and progress, are made a big difference man. I take back my previous comments about the contrast between the blue and the black. The addition of further highlights on the blue and the infusion of purples into the black did wonders. Looking forward to seeing the star patterns and stuff on the black side.


----------



## Scathainn

Void Sharks are looking good...nice to see the original idea finally reach fruition 

On another note I saw your picture on the Forge World Facebook page. Pretty radical hair I must say :biggrin:


----------



## jaysen

xenobiotic said:


> I'm not sure what you're talking about regarding the smooth surfaces, you'd have to explain for me to give you an accurate description of the process.


I've had problems with my primer going on the model all gritty and rough. I've had to take a toothbrush to the primed models and scrub them down to where they are smooth. Otherwise, all those bumbs show through the paint.

Have you had this problem before? Know a good way to correct it?


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

jaysen said:


> I've had problems with my primer going on the model all gritty and rough. I've had to take a toothbrush to the primed models and scrub them down to where they are smooth. Otherwise, all those bumbs show through the paint.
> 
> Have you had this problem before? Know a good way to correct it?


I believe whats happening in your case Jaysen is that the primer is drying before it gets to the model causing a grainy effect, I have had this happen before and believe its related to the temprature outside.

Xeno...WOW man, you really are doing a stunning job as usual, the blues and purple look wonderful man! I need to build my confidence up in painting vehicles!


----------



## xenobiotic

The Wraithlord said:


> Wow it has been so long since I checked in with this log that it took me quite some time to catch up lol. Xeno, this is a stunning army with some amazing work, colour me most impressed.


Thanks, Wraithlord, always nice to see you've stopped by. Even though I'm a pretty slow painter I have been able to finish quite a lot of things recently. I'm only lagging behind in weathering and fluff texts at the moment.



Midge913 said:


> Those pictures, and progress, are made a big difference man. I take back my previous comments about the contrast between the blue and the black. The addition of further highlights on the blue and the infusion of purples into the black did wonders. Looking forward to seeing the star patterns and stuff on the black side.


There won't be any huge difference in the black parts. Just the occasional star twinkle and falling star where it's suitable. At least that's what I'm planning at the moment. I could go overboard and add planets and what not but I don't want to spend forever on this miniature 



Scathainn said:


> Void Sharks are looking good...nice to see the original idea finally reach fruition
> 
> On another note I saw your picture on the Forge World Facebook page. Pretty radical hair I must say :biggrin:


Radical times. Old picture. Still have a very similar haircut though. At the moment it's my natural boring colour but I'm thinking of doing something with it soon...



jaysen said:


> I've had problems with my primer going on the model all gritty and rough. I've had to take a toothbrush to the primed models and scrub them down to where they are smooth. Otherwise, all those bumbs show through the paint.
> 
> Have you had this problem before? Know a good way to correct it?


I don't use spray paint as primer at the moment so there's not much for me to say about spraypaints - sadly. I tend to use foundation paints for the first layer. I stripple it on in thin layers. I'm considering getting an airbrush though to use for priming and varnishing. So far I haven't gotten one of those though...



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Xeno...WOW man, you really are doing a stunning job as usual, the blues and purple look wonderful man! I need to build my confidence up in painting vehicles!


I'm glad you like him. I think vehicles can develop your skills quite a lot just because they are challenging with all the empty spaces. I've decided to go overboard on mine and freehand them - which is kind of the easy way out if you're good at it. I'd be a bit more reluctant to just paint them red and then try to weather them to a good look tbh :biggrin:

----

Quite a lot of work gone into the dread now, but most of it doesn't show that much in pictures. I'm slowly trying to finish of the legs so I can secure the miniature to the base to facilitate the painting of the rest of the miniature. Right now there are only a few highlights left to do! What I've done is basically picked out specific details in the armour plate colours (blue/black) and done the metal parts on the legs as well (with loads of washes, looks really good IRL - not so much in pictures). I've also done a basic spacepattern on the shin armour (as you can see on the added picture on the side). I'm still considering if I should add any designations to the Dread (company number, words and such) - I'm not quite sure on where I want the fluff to go on these guys as far as that matter goes.

I'm also realizing that I'm going to need to varnish this piece but I have no good way of doing it (spray varnish is a bitch for me and painting on the varnish will disrupt the weathering)...

Anyway, here he is once again!









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Tossidin

The painting looks wery nice, I really like necron abyss for some reason, though it can't hide that it must be an alpha legionneire in disquise! 

Oh, and the freehand work you have done has made me believe that it is going to look really awesome when you finish him, so you had best get to it! 

Good luck, happy painting


----------



## xenobiotic

Tossidin said:


> The painting looks wery nice, I really like necron abyss for some reason, though it can't hide that it must be an alpha legionneire in disquise!
> 
> Oh, and the freehand work you have done has made me believe that it is going to look really awesome when you finish him, so you had best get to it!
> 
> Good luck, happy painting


Necron Abyss is a strange colour. It's quite hard to get a grasp on unless you was it with Thraka Green, then it starts to behave like a normal colour. At least that's my experience with it. I'm glad I tried it out when painting my first librarian though, it's been a trustworthy companion since 

I do have a secret crush on Night Lords (which are also blue) but I swear that my decision to alter the colour scheme has nothing to do with neither them nor Alpha Legion, which is not my cup of tea at the moment (things can change though, you never know).

----

Painting has been slow. I've been in a rut feeling somewhat inadequate when viewing so many other talented painters work on the forums. Top that of with being on-call and not getting enough sleep and you start to fail at even the most basic painting task - at least that's how it feels. I did however finally get around to finish one of the old assault marines base & weathering and fluff, so at least that's one more 100% completed miniature.



> Stand back, brothers in battle, and see what the wrath of the burning wings of the phoenix can do!
> - Veteran Assault Marine Cnaeus at in battle on Korsk II


Chainaxes where commonly in use amongst all the legions before the Heresy. A wide variety of patterns where created by artisans amongst the legions to accommodate the slight difference in preference of weight and threat span. For unknown reasons they have since fallen behind for the much more common chainsword which lends itself to easy adaptation to the combat training that all adeptus astartes must go through. Individuality in the style of close combat techniques has since faltered in many chapters. The Brethren of the Phoenix however still maintain a large variety of close combat weapons, of which the chainaxe in various shapes and forms are but one. They are common amongst more experienced veteran assault marines, as they lend them advantages over enemies that the chainsword do not, at the same time they are cherished relics tended to with great care even though their parts eventually wear and tear as ages pass.

Assault Marine, Cnaeus, of the twin-feathered, of the 4th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix.









----

As far as the librarian goes I've started working on the details and I'm slowly moving on to the other parts of the miniature. Hopefully I'll have more time to spend on him this weekend. I really need to get him done, if only for my confidence!

















And while simply mocking about I noticed the miniature I gave a two-handed chainaxe earlier (click here for previous incarnation). The critique I got from Midge stuck in there so I decided to alter him a bit, changing the pose and the legs. I think the result speaks for itself:









----

I hope something in this update was to your liking.
Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


> Assault Marine, Cnaeus, of the twin-feathered, of the 4th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix.


Looking great buddy!The purple glow on the axe seems to get better and better every time you apply the technique.



xenobiotic said:


> ----
> 
> As far as the librarian goes I've started working on the details and I'm slowly moving on to the other parts of the miniature. Hopefully I'll have more time to spend on him this weekend. I really need to get him done, if only for my confidence!


Details are looking nice. Only critique so far is that the silver on the chest eagle is a little glaring. I know that this is WIP but it the only constructive criticism I could come up with at the moment. 



xenobiotic said:


> And while simply mocking about I noticed the miniature I gave a two-handed chainaxe earlier. The critique I got from Midge stuck in there so I decided to alter him a bit, changing the pose and the legs. I think the result speaks for itself:


I had to go back and find the original in the thread, back on page 56 for those wondering, and I must say that this is much better. Conveys a much better sense of movement. I also read my comment and even though it wasn't much, I am glad it prodded you in a direction that you like better. Looking forward to seeing these guys finished up.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Your Liby is coming along great Xeno and your assualt marine looks like a badass with that 2-handed chain axe.


----------



## arumichic

xenobiotic said:


> Painting has been slow. I've been in a rut feeling somewhat inadequate when viewing so many other talented painters work on the forums. Top that of with being on-call and not getting enough sleep and you start to fail at even the most basic painting task - at least that's how it feels.


Wait.......Seriously?
I was about to ask you to re-train me how to paint...and you're going off about feeling inadequate... >.<
Someone hand me a 2x4 now so I can smack xeno in the head please and get some sense back into him.

I think your stuff looks great. One little tiny thing is that your eagle looks a bit too bright in the gold department compared to the belt on the libby. But that's nitpicking.


----------



## Chaosftw

Sooo Finally caught up on this thread. Really liking the work! I am still really impressed about how the colour is very consistent through the whole army. I also am really impressed with how your white turned out. I rarely see white painted well so its very nice to see!

Keep up the good work! will def. be checking back more often!


----------



## Zognutz

I must have scrolled this thread at least 5 times through now. Your army is absolutely stunning! I like your artwork too. I'm partial to the macabre [Bacon is a favorite of mine].

I'm almost ashamed that I havent repped you sooner, so have my measly portion


----------



## Arcticor

I'm really curious as to how you do the texturing effect on the last tank. specifically the lower right where you pointed out something about the paint? I've tried doing something like it but no luck. Looking forward to more posts! Still no Hive Tyrant..... *grumble grumble* 
.
.
Oh, have some rep too.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looking great buddy!The purple glow on the axe seems to get better and better every time you apply the technique.
> 
> Details are looking nice. Only critique so far is that the silver on the chest eagle is a little glaring. I know that this is WIP but it the only constructive criticism I could come up with at the moment.
> 
> I had to go back and find the original in the thread, back on page 56 for those wondering, and I must say that this is much better. Conveys a much better sense of movement. I also read my comment and even though it wasn't much, I am glad it prodded you in a direction that you like better. Looking forward to seeing these guys finished up.


You live and you learn. I'm finding painting glows are very difficult. I imaging they are easier to achieve with an airbrush (at least it looks easy on the tutorials on youtube, heh).

Indeed the silver was a bit to over the top, I adjusted it as I went along, obviously I had put that highlight on to thick and hastily.

It wasn't a harsh comment, just a mention, but it stuck with me and I felt the miniature could do a lot better and so it did :grin:



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Your Liby is coming along great Xeno and your assualt marine looks like a badass with that 2-handed chain axe.


Even if a 2-handed weapon is even more retarded in a universe where guns are always blazing they do look cool.



arumichic said:


> Wait.......Seriously?
> I was about to ask you to re-train me how to paint...and you're going off about feeling inadequate... >.<
> Someone hand me a 2x4 now so I can smack xeno in the head please and get some sense back into him.
> 
> I think your stuff looks great. One little tiny thing is that your eagle looks a bit too bright in the gold department compared to the belt on the libby. But that's nitpicking.


I think it's a combination of overwork, not enough sleep and not enough time for the hobby. Then I get on Heresy and Warseer and see all these other great painters and modellers that achieve things to my standard or higher in a tempo I possibly cannot fathom and I feel.. Well inadequate by comparison. Not having time to try things out and develop messes up with your self-esteem sometimes.

And if you're serious about "training you" I'll do my best 



Chaosftw said:


> Sooo Finally caught up on this thread. Really liking the work! I am still really impressed about how the colour is very consistent through the whole army. I also am really impressed with how your white turned out. I rarely see white painted well so its very nice to see!
> 
> Keep up the good work! will def. be checking back more often!


Well, if you compare the first miniatures to the last ones the colour isn't all that consistent after all, but it doesn't show much on the table. I'm going to phase out those marines as I progress through my infantry though 

Must have taken quite some time to go through the whole thread, it's huge by now... :shok:



Zognutz said:


> I must have scrolled this thread at least 5 times through now. Your army is absolutely stunning! I like your artwork too. I'm partial to the macabre [Bacon is a favorite of mine].
> 
> I'm almost ashamed that I havent repped you sooner, so have my measly portion


You obviously have to much time on your hands, hehe. Glad you like my work though and hopefully I've inspired you somehow. Personally I like Francisco de Goya and Zdzislaw Beksinski a lot, wish I had more time to do traditional art each time I look at their work.



Arcticor said:


> I'm really curious as to how you do the texturing effect on the last tank. specifically the lower right where you pointed out something about the paint? I've tried doing something like it but no luck. Looking forward to more posts! Still no Hive Tyrant..... *grumble grumble*
> Oh, have some rep too.


I'm not quite sure what you're referring to actually. Could you give me a more in depth description on what part of the pain tjob your referring to and I'll do my best to describe how I achieved it?

The tyrant is staring at me, it's base coloured and washed at the moment... Painting challenge has been forcing me to push it in front of me for now.

----

I've been able to spend some time painting my on my second Librarian this weekend. I've also spent quite a lot of time trying to sort out my warhammer collection (i.e. the pile of plastic) and I've thrown out 24 empty cardboard boxes (just think what their content has costed me, scary). Because of this I've realised that I really do need to put some time into finishing up what I already have before I go on any more stupid spending sprees (which I can now afford - damn). As it stands right now I have more than enough to last me for over another year...

Detailing is soon coming to an end on the Libby. Left shoulderpad is not done (that's why it looks undone ) and obviously some of the powernodes are supposed to be glowing. I've also yet to decide whether or not to add any more freehand details on the blue parts of the armour (perhaps a 4 somewhere and a little feather, we'll see):









I've also started on the staff. I've decided to take a little different route compared to what I had planned first, but I think it will work out superbly anyway (heavy WIP in this picture):









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## arumichic

Yeah I do understand that. I sometimes get too demotivated to paint because I see awesome work floating out there on the net and feel like I shouldn't be painting. And then I feel bad because I have commissions that sometimes I feel I'm not doing very well, and two whole armies of mine to paint. I'm slowly trying to get there, but sometimes I just get overwhelmed. Mainly for me though is the ability to imagine things, but not have the ability to apply that onto the models. I mean I've been pretty good at art in general, but painting models is just a whole other story.

But yeah, any comments or critiques you have on any of my models or any other tips would be awesome.  So far Midge and Djinn have been helping me a bit and it's been helping a LOT.

Anywho, enough about that. Love how the libby's coming around! Hope to see it done soon!~


----------



## Kingfield

your librarian is looking great Xeno, thanks for reminding me I still need one for my own army :victory:


----------



## xenobiotic

arumichic said:


> Yeah I do understand that. I sometimes get too demotivated to paint because I see awesome work floating out there on the net and feel like I shouldn't be painting. And then I feel bad because I have commissions that sometimes I feel I'm not doing very well, and two whole armies of mine to paint. I'm slowly trying to get there, but sometimes I just get overwhelmed. Mainly for me though is the ability to imagine things, but not have the ability to apply that onto the models. I mean I've been pretty good at art in general, but painting models is just a whole other story.
> 
> But yeah, any comments or critiques you have on any of my models or any other tips would be awesome.  So far Midge and Djinn have been helping me a bit and it's been helping a LOT.
> 
> Anywho, enough about that. Love how the libby's coming around! Hope to see it done soon!~


Internet is both good and bad for your motivation. It's all about channelling it and doing the best of the situation I guess.

I'll make sure to comment your projects in the future as you progress!



Kingfield said:


> your librarian is looking great Xeno, thanks for reminding me I still need one for my own army :victory:


Well, I'm happy to be your personal reminder 

----

Got some work done on the staff (as well as the backpack but I'm not going to show you that just yet). Still have all the tiny highlights to do on the handle, the ones that are there now are just trial runs. I'm also considering doing some brass oxidation on the gold parts but keeping it light. All in all I think I'll be able to finish the libby by the deadline on friday 









Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Looks really nice Xeno! The diamond pattern on the shaft of the stave stands out really well and looks awesome! Good work bud!


----------



## Arcticor

Sorry if i was being unclear Xeno, what i was talking about was this:








the upper left corner of the tank (viewed like in the picture) where the wing is open-ish? i hope that makes more sense. Basically just how the texture on the bird was made. Great job on the librarian by the way!


----------



## JAMOB

:shok: I go away for a month and this is what happens... I can honestly say my mind is blown. Great work on everything, from something with a C dread to the librarian to the veterans youve been working on. I will try to condense a month of posting into this.

The blue and black is amazing you should totally stick with it, maybe put some sharks on the blue (someone mentioned that earlier...) or maybe a shark tooth or something, like the feather for the brethren. I don't know... it would look amazing.

The C thingy is amazing, maybe you should make two "plain" then a third super converted like a squad commander or something, or you could say this one has the lowest rank and convert the other two more or something... The painting looks amazing though. I can understand about the pictures... they rarely do anything justice.

The Librarian is... quite simply... amazing. I thought it would be for the sharks at first (shows how out of it i am :scratchhead but it is amazing. I still personally like the other one better just because it has a jump pack and is amazing but i think the painting on this one is much better, and that is saying alot.

The veterans in general have been great. I like the new legs, and was happy to see the "here" link had my post in it... It looks much better though, like he is getting ready to swing hard and destroy something. What are you making the Axe count as? A power weapon, Thunder Hammer, chain fist (not power fist, one of the other two) or just cc weapon? I think hammer of chain fist would be the best...

Amazing work on everything for the last month, I cant believe I missed it :shok: but keep it up, I am ever inspired and you give me so many great techniques. Now to fix our house after the hurricane... Yay


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looks really nice Xeno! The diamond pattern on the shaft of the stave stands out really well and looks awesome! Good work bud!


It's one of those details that feels like your spending eternity on it to get it right (going back and forth with multiple colours) but then in the end it makes a whole lot of difference for the look of the miniature which makes it all worth it! I just wish that the detailing was as good all around the staff (and not shallow in some parts and very deep in others), but that's just me nagging.



Arcticor said:


> Sorry if i was being unclear Xeno, what i was talking about was this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the upper left corner of the tank (viewed like in the picture) where the wing is open-ish? i hope that makes more sense. Basically just how the texture on the bird was made. Great job on the librarian by the way!


It's pretty much just experimenting with colours. Instead of painting with the colour as a solid entity (covering the background colour more or less completely) I use a wet brush with watered down paint and I drag the pigments around creating the effect you mentioned. It's done in many layers (each layer dries pretty quickly), I'd think all in all it's about 4-5 layers of Blood Red and then 2-3 layers of Blazing Orange before a final tiny highlight layer of Vomit Brown. It's not easy to describe how I do it, you'd probably need to see it on video or similar to understand it completely. 



JAMOB said:


> :shok: I go away for a month and this is what happens... I can honestly say my mind is blown. Great work on everything, from something with a C dread to the librarian to the veterans youve been working on. I will try to condense a month of posting into this.
> 
> The blue and black is amazing you should totally stick with it, maybe put some sharks on the blue (someone mentioned that earlier...) or maybe a shark tooth or something, like the feather for the brethren. I don't know... it would look amazing.
> 
> The C thingy is amazing, maybe you should make two "plain" then a third super converted like a squad commander or something, or you could say this one has the lowest rank and convert the other two more or something... The painting looks amazing though. I can understand about the pictures... they rarely do anything justice.
> 
> The Librarian is... quite simply... amazing. I thought it would be for the sharks at first (shows how out of it i am :scratchhead but it is amazing. I still personally like the other one better just because it has a jump pack and is amazing but i think the painting on this one is much better, and that is saying alot.
> 
> The veterans in general have been great. I like the new legs, and was happy to see the "here" link had my post in it... It looks much better though, like he is getting ready to swing hard and destroy something. What are you making the Axe count as? A power weapon, Thunder Hammer, chain fist (not power fist, one of the other two) or just cc weapon? I think hammer of chain fist would be the best...
> 
> Amazing work on everything for the last month, I cant believe I missed it :shok: but keep it up, I am ever inspired and you give me so many great techniques. Now to fix our house after the hurricane... Yay


I will definitely be getting more contemptor dreadnoughts (I want 3 in total) but I'm going to have to wait a while before I buy the others. I'd like more weapon options to be released but also the chapter specific variants they mentioned before (at least see them before I convert something suitable for myself). I'd also like to cut my Warhammer spendings a bit for a while - I simply have to much unpainted plastic and I need to clear some of that backlog before I get even more...

The 2-handed axes will just be close combat weapons for now. There is no equipment in the BA codex that normal assault marines can take that suit them so I'll just have them for variation of the theme and nothing else (for now).

----



> Hope, the shield of the people, I prefer to call it naivety. I now know that they cannot fathom the impending threat hanging just outside the gates of humanity, slowly but surely clawing it's way in. A threat that has time to spare, for time is not important to these kinds of beings.
> 
> I have stepped outside the gates and I have seen the face of darkness and stared into its eyes. Lackluster orbs of angst with monsters beneath the surface. A void trying to fill itself with human emotion. At first I quelled at it's supposed might, my inexperienced almost allowed it to overwhelm me before my imprinted defence awoke, by the choirs song, and saved me from damnation. Since that day I have become more reluctant to show passion. I have been trained well and I have been lucky, but even luck runs out sooner or later.
> 
> I still have the nightmares though. I believe others of us have them as well but many are reluctant to speak of them. There is an aura of secrecy amongst the Brethren, we feel something other astarte don't and fear repercussions from the Inquisition should it become common knowledge. These nightmares have increased in frequency and intensity and while I do not fear them I cannot deny that I worry about the cause of this change, something is moving in the darkness. As our search continues and we dwell deeper into these murky waters of the abyss we cannot be certain what creatures lurk there any longer, the old teachings might no longer hold every truth...


Epistolary Librarian Lucianus, of the Claw, Mystic and Shaman of the Brethren of the Phoenix, member of the sect of the Fallen Star:









----

So, what do I think of this Librarian? Well, over all I'm very satisfied yet there are details I'm not 100% content with (the lettering on the book pages for one) and some parts I think I should revisit some time in the future if I feel like it. Over all you reach a point where you have to remind yourself that this is still mostly a tabletop army / display army for my own cabinet and not something I'm going to enter into Golden Deamon (where I would most likely get my arsed kicked anyway). I'm glad I tried out some oxidation on some of the brass/gold parts, I think it adds to the over all weathered look of the miniature. By not doing it on the entire piece you get a sense that some parts are newer then others (the force weapon would pretty likely be a very old piece of equipment while parts of his armour could have been more newly replaced/refurbished.

----

Now I have to decide what to paint this month. I should paint more infantry but it takes me so long to do that I'd probably miss the deadline if I did and I don't want to paint a single infantry miniature again. Perhaps I should add to my death company squadron (3 miniatures is after all the minimum size for Death Company) but I have no particular use for them at the moment in the army so I'm reluctant for that reason. I have more vehicles to paint but I've run out of ideas on how to paint them (freehand patterns)... It's all just a mess and I should get started right away to be able to pull if off with my busy schedule 

----

Well, till next time I guess :bye:


----------



## Minizke1

I'm in no position to give you advice, so I'll just leave it at...

That's the single most epic model I have EVER seen.


----------



## Midge913

Another brilliant model man! The oxidation on the imperial eagle on the back of the book really adds a ton of depth and realism to the piece and it ties into the weathering on he armor really making the piece look whole. Seeing your Libby has gotten me thinking about my Angels an some things on my Chappy I want to go back and change as well as get back to working on that tactical squad that has been languishing on the corner if my painting desk. Kudis on another sweet addition to the army!


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

xenobiotic said:


> ----
> 
> So, what do I think of this Librarian? Well, over all I'm very satisfied yet there are details I'm not 100% content with (the lettering on the book pages for one) and some parts I think I should revisit some time in the future if I feel like it. Over all you reach a point where you have to remind yourself that this is still mostly a tabletop army / display army for my own cabinet and not something I'm going to enter into Golden Deamon (where I would most likely get my arsed kicked anyway). I'm glad I tried out some oxidation on some of the brass/gold parts, I think it adds to the over all weathered look of the miniature. By not doing it on the entire piece you get a sense that some parts are newer then others (the force weapon would pretty likely be a very old piece of equipment while parts of his armour could have been more newly replaced/refurbished.


I really like the painting on this guy, the nice contrast between the white and blue works really well. I really like the little bits of damage you've applied to th lower legs, makes it seem like he's duffed his armour up kicking rocks whilst he's been walking. 

The only thing i can see that nags at me is the pose of his left hand. Before when you pictured him without his force rod i assumed he was going to have the staff across his body and that his open hand was going to be resting on it. He's kinda got a weird air grab thing going on at the moment, like he's using the force to try and levitate something off of the ground. 



> I have more vehicles to paint but I've run out of ideas on how to paint them (freehand patterns)... It's all just a mess and I should get started right away to be able to pull if off with my busy schedule


Well not content with getting a star wars referance in this response i'm going for broke and getting a star trek one in as well. Have you ever seen the intro to star trek voyager? for a long time it was one of my favourite intro's on tv thanks to the beautiful starscapes it portrays. maybe something on there will spark some inspiration.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/7HNtfu_QurU

EDIT: Hmm i had planned to rep you but my miserly ways with rep has led me to need to spread it around a little more first.


----------



## Winterous

Looks fantastic!
You're right about the lettering though, it looks a touch thick.


----------



## unxpekted22

Oh man, looks great dude!

Couple responses of mine: I think the book pages looks great. Though some of the lettering does look a little messy it makes sense to me. In fact his overall look (as you aimed for) is weathered, and weathered in such a way where I cant help but picture him standing in rainy weather. So if anything it looks like the pages have water damage, which is sweet.

I like the oxidation but I think its either a bit too much, or a bit too blue in some areas. The front of the staff is one example, around the the little studs there.

Something I think would be a cool addition and have something on the model that pops a bit more contrast to the overall miniature is maybe adding some of that pink/purple psychic glow you've done before to the head of the mace and some of the upper portions of the staff. A very subtle amount would probably do it.

Cant think of any other suggestions. Thanks for continuing to inspire!


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Another splendid peice to look at Xeno.

His left arm looks a little stiff tho...?


----------



## Fenrisian

E.P.I.C . i normally dont like libby , but your model is too awesome to not like it. Kudos


----------



## Asamodai

I think he looks awesome. I don't think I like the pose as much as the previous Librarian but I get the different roles.

As for what to do next, how about Terminators? It's infantry but it's different to power armour.


----------



## xenobiotic

Minizke1 said:


> I'm in no position to give you advice, so I'll just leave it at...
> 
> That's the single most epic model I have EVER seen.


Thank you, that's very kind!



Midge913 said:


> Another brilliant model man! The oxidation on the imperial eagle on the back of the book really adds a ton of depth and realism to the piece and it ties into the weathering on he armor really making the piece look whole. Seeing your Libby has gotten me thinking about my Angels an some things on my Chappy I want to go back and change as well as get back to working on that tactical squad that has been languishing on the corner if my painting desk. Kudis on another sweet addition to the army!


Glad you like it. It was a spur of the moment trial, I like it even if it came out somewhat harsh on some parts. But then again that kind of oxidation often looks very bright in real life as well so I guess it's all right all in all. Thanks for the comment.



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> I really like the painting on this guy, the nice contrast between the white and blue works really well. I really like the little bits of damage you've applied to th lower legs, makes it seem like he's duffed his armour up kicking rocks whilst he's been walking.
> 
> The only thing i can see that nags at me is the pose of his left hand. Before when you pictured him without his force rod i assumed he was going to have the staff across his body and that his open hand was going to be resting on it. He's kinda got a weird air grab thing going on at the moment, like he's using the force to try and levitate something off of the ground.
> 
> Well not content with getting a star wars referance in this response i'm going for broke and getting a star trek one in as well. Have you ever seen the intro to star trek voyager? for a long time it was one of my favourite intro's on tv thanks to the beautiful starscapes it portrays. maybe something on there will spark some inspiration.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/embed/7HNtfu_QurU
> 
> EDIT: Hmm i had planned to rep you but my miserly ways with rep has led me to need to spread it around a little more first.


I've adjusted the left hand somewhat today but it has proven to be hard to find a pose that agrees with the general feel of the miniature. I'm afraid that the parts I used wouldn't let the staff rest across the miniature, and he would be a hassle to transport if the staff was horizontal.

Oh, Voyager, one of my favourites. You're absolutely right about inspiration for new stuff though. I usually look at pictures from NASA telescopes/satellites for the space pattern freehands. 



Winterous said:


> Looks fantastic!
> You're right about the lettering though, it looks a touch thick.


Thanks. Well, I think I'm going to leave it as it is for now. It doesn't stick out that much to me today compared to when I did it yesterday. Maybe it's sinking in slowly.



unxpekted22 said:


> Oh man, looks great dude!
> 
> Couple responses of mine: I think the book pages looks great. Though some of the lettering does look a little messy it makes sense to me. In fact his overall look (as you aimed for) is weathered, and weathered in such a way where I cant help but picture him standing in rainy weather. So if anything it looks like the pages have water damage, which is sweet.
> 
> I like the oxidation but I think its either a bit too much, or a bit too blue in some areas. The front of the staff is one example, around the the little studs there.
> 
> Something I think would be a cool addition and have something on the model that pops a bit more contrast to the overall miniature is maybe adding some of that pink/purple psychic glow you've done before to the head of the mace and some of the upper portions of the staff. A very subtle amount would probably do it.
> 
> Cant think of any other suggestions. Thanks for continuing to inspire!


I see your point with the lettering, looking at it from that point of view I'm more content with them. It's surprisingly hard to do convincing scribbling on such a large piece (first time for me on a surface that big). I'm glad I made the book all dirty and old 

As I mocked about with the left hand I did some kind of glow on it. Other then that I think I'm going to leave it be for now. Mostly because I don't feel like it, heh.



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Another splendid peice to look at Xeno.
> 
> His left arm looks a little stiff tho...?


Thanks!
Everyone just goes on and on about the arm :russianroulette:



Fenrisian said:


> E.P.I.C . i normally dont like libby , but your model is too awesome to not like it. Kudos


That's high praise indeed, thank you!



Asamodai said:


> I think he looks awesome. I don't think I like the pose as much as the previous Librarian but I get the different roles.
> 
> As for what to do next, how about Terminators? It's infantry but it's different to power armour.


Very different roles. One is a jump librarian with a huge axe, the other a footslogger with a oxidized staff, can't really compare those two even if I bet they would have a pretty epic fight if you pushed them against each other, hehe.

I have specific plans for my terminators though and I haven't begun working on them just yet so it would be far to much work for me to convert 5 of them and then proceed to paint them within a month. It's a good suggestion though - I might work a bit on them when I have time to spare so I can paint them as one of the final squads later this year.

----

Well, you should try new things, shouldn't you? I played around with some alternatives only to find out that the tubes librarians have along their chests blocks most standard marine arms in such a way that it's hard to pose the arms in front of the chest. I then proceeded to look for alternatives with what I already had. Some digging in my bits box and I came up with what I have now. Granted, the pose isn't a 100% winner (I'd like to have been able to move the head to be honest but it's a one piece legs/chest/helmet) but it works for me:








Hopefully it deals with some of the problems you all had with the arm.

----

I still have no clue what to paint for the painting challenge this month. Standing on the painting table at the moment is 2 vindicators, 5 assault marines and a Hive tyrant - not very inspiring in other words. I might have to bite the bullet and try to do the assault marines (to finish the jumper squad).

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## unxpekted22

whats in his hand?


----------



## xenobiotic

Can't you see it's a tiny bird skull with glowing eyes?  A fitting fetisch for a Librarian of the Brethren of the Phoenix, don't you think?


----------



## Scathainn

xenobiotic said:


> I still have no clue what to paint for the painting challenge this month. Standing on the painting table at the moment is 2 vindicators, 5 assault marines and a Hive tyrant - not very inspiring in other words. I might have to bite the bullet and try to do the assault marines (to finish the jumper squad).


First off, the new libby looks great! Love the little bird skull in particular.

As for your painting challenge, at some point didn't you mention you were putting together some Void Shark Terminators? If so that would be a nice challenge entry. Not as repetitive as your jumpers but not as worrisome as doing yet more freehand on another vehicle. 

The Hive Tyrant would be good, if it wouldn't be for the fact that if you painted him you couldn't paint your marines for the rest of the challenge. Personally I'd either go with the termies above or, if they aren't built yet or whatever, you should probably, as you said, bite the bullet and beef up that squad.


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Great work, the repositioned hand makes a massive difference. There's a real sense of contemplation about the model now.


----------



## Tossidin

I like him especially the bird fetish thingy, nice attention to detail, but there is one thing that irks me.

When I look at a model, I am instantly attracted to the eyes, and this models eyes seem kinda dull, making the whole model look a little monotone. I think that if his eyes were brighter, it would make the whole model look more "alive".

That is, of course, my personal prefferance, but you don't need me to tell you "nice work fuck yeah" everytime do you?


----------



## Khorne's Fist

The attention to detail is stunning. This army has gone to the top of my list of best painted armies. The models just keep getting better and better. I'm going to google for forums specifically for ham fisted painters. I might not feel so inadequate on them.


----------



## Winterous

Until you showed that second picture, I thought it was a pigeon in his hand :laugh:


----------



## arumichic

For a second I thought that it looked like a dead morning dove, the lil skull I mean. Looks great though.


----------



## shaantitus

Your work is beyond a level where I can give advice and criticism. Although to be honest that usually happens when people graduate from preschool. That said I find you work to be spectacular. I am disapointed that for some reason I have totally missed this thread up till now. Truly exemplary.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

MUCH MUCH better! I dont know how you do it, but it looks kick ass!


----------



## xenobiotic

Scathainn said:


> First off, the new libby looks great! Love the little bird skull in particular.
> 
> As for your painting challenge, at some point didn't you mention you were putting together some Void Shark Terminators? If so that would be a nice challenge entry. Not as repetitive as your jumpers but not as worrisome as doing yet more freehand on another vehicle.
> 
> The Hive Tyrant would be good, if it wouldn't be for the fact that if you painted him you couldn't paint your marines for the rest of the challenge. Personally I'd either go with the termies above or, if they aren't built yet or whatever, you should probably, as you said, bite the bullet and beef up that squad.


Well, you inspired me a lot with your response so I started to work on both the assault marines and the terminators (see below for a huge ass answer to your idea).



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Great work, the repositioned hand makes a massive difference. There's a real sense of contemplation about the model now.


Glad you think it worked 



Tossidin said:


> I like him especially the bird fetish thingy, nice attention to detail, but there is one thing that irks me.
> 
> When I look at a model, I am instantly attracted to the eyes, and this models eyes seem kinda dull, making the whole model look a little monotone. I think that if his eyes were brighter, it would make the whole model look more "alive".
> 
> That is, of course, my personal prefferance, but you don't need me to tell you "nice work fuck yeah" everytime do you?


It's most likely the photos fooling you. The eyes are exactly the same to the last librarian when you look at them IRL. The angle of the head combined with the difficulty to light up the miniature makes some details darker than they really are. It's possible that the miniature would pop more had I made glowing eyes on him but I don't feel like taking that step just yet.

And no, fuck yeah can be boring in the long run. Communication and suggestions are what plogs are all about.



Khorne's Fist said:


> The attention to detail is stunning. This army has gone to the top of my list of best painted armies. The models just keep getting better and better. I'm going to google for forums specifically for ham fisted painters. I might not feel so inadequate on them.





Winterous said:


> Until you showed that second picture, I thought it was a pigeon in his hand :laugh:


I didn't see the resemblance to a dove at first but now that a lot of people have mentioned it it does have the shape of a bird body (if you just remove the eyes) - lacking a head though isn't it 



arumichic said:


> For a second I thought that it looked like a dead morning dove, the lil skull I mean. Looks great though.


I had never heard about a Morning Dove before (had to google it) but I do see the resemblance to one now  Uncanny how our minds fill out details with what the brain think is reasonable!



shaantitus said:


> Your work is beyond a level where I can give advice and criticism. Although to be honest that usually happens when people graduate from preschool. That said I find you work to be spectacular. I am disapointed that for some reason I have totally missed this thread up till now. Truly exemplary.


Thanks a lot, Shaantitus! Quite impressive that you've missed it till now since it's been around for over a year now  



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> MUCH MUCH better! I dont know how you do it, but it looks kick ass!


I pick up the grey stuff. I put it into one of my many instamold forms. I let it dry. I peel it off. I trim it. I position and I paint it. Voila!

----

I've started to realize more and more that some miniatures have certain angles and details that come out better IRL while others are more photogenic. As I've been working with the librarian I noticed that as soon as I was satisfied with the general pose IRL it looked odd when I photographed it. The general pose of the sculpt also makes some details appear dulled in the photograph - for example the eyes are a lot darker in pictures compared to looking at him while holding him in your hand. 

Anyway, I made some slight adjustments to the arm (changing the angle ever so slightly) and now I have reached a level where I'm content with the miniature IRL and can pass him off as finished (with picture evidence):









----

And since it's now September I have to go on with my projects in order to actually build something to paint. This will most likely be a very tight month miniaturewise as I have little to paint. Since I had some time to spare yesterday thanks to a short work day I returned to the converting side of the hobby once again. 

First off I made some minor conversions for the assault marines (let's face it, the marines I built at the beginning of this plog weren't the most inspiring in poses), it's parts from the FW assault marine kit combined with a dagger from the FW Character Conversion kit. I felt that it would be nice to represent some more unorthodox weapons of choice (might paint it up as a power knife just because I can (and that would probably be equivalent to a chainsword in effectiveness):








Just one marine left to adjust before the squad is ready for paint.

----

While working on the marines I couldn't help myself. Out came the box of terminator parts and I started the path towards insanity. After MUCH consideration I decided that I want my Void Shark terminators to have GK terminator torsos. Mostly because they look more agile and I do believe that close-combat terminators would prefer them if they had a choice. The legs will be a mix between normal legs and GK legs but I will add details to them to make them similar (specifically the tiny "shields" covering the side of the knees).

The one thing I do know is that I will have to use different heads in order to get rid of some of the GK feel. I tried different alternatives (some wasn't possible simply due to the fact that this will be an all helmeted force) but nothing looked good and appeared to fit. That is until I found some helmets in the Bit-box, I think they have a retro-pre-heresy feel to them that works well with the miniatures.

Another thing that bugs me is the fact that if I am to use them as Carcharodons (and use the Red Wake as HQ) I would have to equip them with Lightningclaws to make one squad count as troops (yey!). Nothing particularly bad with that other then the fact that I hate the current lightningclaws for terminators. They are bulky and far to big. How a powerfist with claws can go from double STR I1 to normal STR re-roll to wound is beyond me. I'll have to come up with a solution. For now I'm thinking of using the Nemesis Falchions but they do have a strong GK wibe which isn't good at all. I was thinking about some kind of chain-weapon (dual wielding Chain swords? Chain axes? Or similar?) but they are somewhat lacking the "ignores armour saves" portion of the rules. The final option is waiting for Necron plastic in order to see what kind of parts they have (should they release flayed ones in plastic I might be in luck). Suggestions?

Here are a two mock ups (notice they are lacking shoulder pads and a lot of detailing), thoughts?

















I have quite a lot of thoughts about what kind of details to add to the chest pieces but this post is starting to get long so I'll write them out later on.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

Looking really good xeno, have you considered using dual power weapons (like the ones you;ve already made) to represent your lightning claws? Gladius style short swords were meant to be used for the press of battle where a longer weapon was a disadvantage, i would imagine the same would be true on tight ship to ship boarding. Have your guys weilding paired short swords and you have a variance to tell them apart from normal power sworders and they won't be as clunky as the new lighning claws.


----------



## unxpekted22

sick poses!

Oh and I realized one thing I miss from this thread is the neat little fluff pieces over finished models


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

It's coming together very nicely Xeno. Love the Libby. I like Grim's idea of the short swords. The mockups lool ace. An idea is that you could stick the Nemesis Falchions on a normal Termie body and see what they look like. With the knight-style helm and using GK termie legs and torso, its logical that the Falchions will look very Gk-esque on a GK model. Just an thought.


----------



## Midge913

I am with the others man, so far I like the mock ups. My only issue with them is that the helmets on the guys in the last photo look a little odd without the top vent, something is just a bit off about them.


----------



## JAMOB

I agree completely. First of all the painting is inspiring. Second, the poses are great. I think you should totally use the swords, maybe a little conversion to make them look different or something... I dont know. I dont like the helmets but you said you werent keeping them so it doesnt matter.


----------



## Scathainn

The Void Shark termies look great!

As for your imput on the blades, personally I would go with the chainblade idea. Personally I think Void Sharks (or any successor chapter) should scream _brutal_, and nothing seems more brutal than chain weapons IMO. If you're worried about the rules, take a page from Kharn's book: building the chainblades out of a powerful material (such as mico-dragon teeth...or even better, some sort of hyper-shark tooth :grin and you're all set. Perhaps the blades could be painted bone, like teeth, or they could have some OSL work to represent energy-infused chains or depleted uranium teeth.


----------



## Fenrisian

y not building you own chainclaws with 3 chain fist ? you surely have the talent to make it look nice


----------



## xenobiotic

I guess some miniatures are a dead deal split in opinions on whether or not the components work as is apparent with these miniatures - that's the general vibe I get when reading your comments.



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Looking really good xeno, have you considered using dual power weapons (like the ones you;ve already made) to represent your lightning claws? Gladius style short swords were meant to be used for the press of battle where a longer weapon was a disadvantage, i would imagine the same would be true on tight ship to ship boarding. Have your guys weilding paired short swords and you have a variance to tell them apart from normal power sworders and they won't be as clunky as the new lighning claws.


Definitely a good suggestion, it makes fluff sense as well. Although I must admit I like the general idea of lightning *claws* - I have yet to see something that actually resembles claws (apart from on that chaos lord miniature). My ideal choice would be to convert something that looked like actual claws (on the fingertips). Another thought would be different combinations of a sword/buckler in one hand and a clawed "power" glove in the other but I think that might look to busy on the miniatures.

For now I think I'll keep mocking them up with GK Falchions till I can come up with something better...



unxpekted22 said:


> sick poses!
> 
> Oh and I realized one thing I miss from this thread is the neat little fluff pieces over finished models


Actually there are still fluff pieces (the libby had one when he made his first finished appearance). The thing is that I only write fluff pieces when the miniatures are completely done (including weathering) seeing as how I'm backlogged on weathering at the moment (2 tanks, 2 miniatures) there are a few fluff pieces missing - naturally you take notice. I'm actually glad you're missing them as it suggest I'm doing them right somehow.



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> It's coming together very nicely Xeno. Love the Libby. I like Grim's idea of the short swords. The mockups lool ace. An idea is that you could stick the Nemesis Falchions on a normal Termie body and see what they look like. With the knight-style helm and using GK termie legs and torso, its logical that the Falchions will look very Gk-esque on a GK model. Just an thought.


Of course, it comes with the pieces which is why I'm trying to remove as much of the GK details as possible - more work for me but better end result I feel. I've already come a long way and I can see a lot of improvement already. I'll see in the long run if I can come up with an alternative to the Falchions and get rid of that influence at least. I'm afraid normal terminator armour is out of the question at the moment, I just can't get the same feel with them.



Midge913 said:


> I am with the others man, so far I like the mock ups. My only issue with them is that the helmets on the guys in the last photo look a little odd without the top vent, something is just a bit off about them.


And that's the helmet I'm falling in love with. Such a smooth and nice finish along with an elongated look and it fits in the head space given. I'm actually considering getting more of them since I feel they work for the Sharky look. I guess taste differs.



JAMOB said:


> I agree completely. First of all the painting is inspiring. Second, the poses are great. I think you should totally use the swords, maybe a little conversion to make them look different or something... I dont know. I dont like the helmets but you said you werent keeping them so it doesnt matter.


I think you misunderstood me, these are the helmets I'm going with 



Scathainn said:


> The Void Shark termies look great!
> 
> As for your imput on the blades, personally I would go with the chainblade idea. Personally I think Void Sharks (or any successor chapter) should scream _brutal_, and nothing seems more brutal than chain weapons IMO. If you're worried about the rules, take a page from Kharn's book: building the chainblades out of a powerful material (such as mico-dragon teeth...or even better, some sort of hyper-shark tooth :grin and you're all set. Perhaps the blades could be painted bone, like teeth, or they could have some OSL work to represent energy-infused chains or depleted uranium teeth.


I'm more worried about making the chainweapons look different enough to be easily distinguishable even without a paintjob. I don't want to just slap chainswords on there and be done, it has to be different in some way to make sense... The Space Wolves chainswords have those old school looking ones with teeth on both sides of the blade... I haven't used those on any miniature so they might work.. Otherwise I'm out of ideas.



Fenrisian said:


> y not building you own chainclaws with 3 chain fist ? you surely have the talent to make it look nice


It's harder than you think actually. Creating a one of weapon is doable, creating 5 pairs of them (and try to make them similar) is a lot harder...

----

So I've spent some time every now and then with my terminators, slowly adding green stuff to them as I went along. I'm trying my hand at doing some custom detail patterns in green stuff - taking inspiration from the thunder armour iconography as well as Tyberos the Red Wake. I'm trying to get a feel of what I'd like to include on the chest plates in particular when it comes to amount of details and choice of them. It's definitely not as easy as it would appear.

Along with that I'm copying some details from the GKs that are present on only one side (arm shield) and putting them on the left side as well. I'm stealing details from the legs to add to the normal legs in the squad - yet I've not come to the final stages of the process just yet (more to come in other words).








Other then that I'm still trying to come to some kind of conclusion on the weapon situation...

----

Till next :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Those guys definitely are looking good man. Nice dynamic poses, and although it sounds like I am just jumping on the bandwagon I am going to have to admit, despite my earlier comment, that the smooth helmets are beginning to grow on me

The GS details are really starting to shape up nicely as well. I look forward to more progress buddy.


----------



## Scathainn

xenobiotic said:


> I'm more worried about making the chainweapons look different enough to be easily distinguishable even without a paintjob. I don't want to just slap chainswords on there and be done, it has to be different in some way to make sense... The Space Wolves chainswords have those old school looking ones with teeth on both sides of the blade... I haven't used those on any miniature so they might work.. Otherwise I'm out of ideas.


Then simply take a page from Forge World's book....use Ork chain choppas


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

xenobiotic said:


> I'm trying my hand at doing some custom detail patterns in green stuff - taking inspiration from the thunder armour iconography as well as Tyberos the Red Wake. I'm trying to get a feel of what I'd like to include on the chest plates in particular when it comes to amount of details and choice of them.


And so far so good mate, is there anything you can't do well? 

Did you shave off the details on the chests?

Your Librarian on the other hand :shok: FANTASTIC!


----------



## LTP

Why hello there xeno. I go away for 5 months and come back to loads of updates which is awesome btw. This thread continues to impress me and I wish green stuff would be that kind to me lol. 

Keep up the awesome painting and modelling and I can't wait to see moar.

+rep


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Those guys definitely are looking good man. Nice dynamic poses, and although it sounds like I am just jumping on the bandwagon I am going to have to admit, despite my earlier comment, that the smooth helmets are beginning to grow on me
> 
> The GS details are really starting to shape up nicely as well. I look forward to more progress buddy.


I've always known you've always been a "bandwagoneer" deep inside, nice to see your finally showing your true colours :wink: I'm going to try to get more of these heads without cracking my budget in two (spending 20+£ on the remaining heads I need feels somewhat wasteful so I'm going an alternative route (never travelled by me before) that will hopefully work out (first experiment will hopefully be done by tomorrow) )



Scathainn said:


> Then simply take a page from Forge World's book....use Ork chain choppas


I think I have a better, far more expensive and incredibly hard to achieve option now - that I can't get out of my mind which I therefore will have to try out - oh, how I love being obsessed by random ideas that could ruin me if I didn't have cash saved.



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> And so far so good mate, is there anything you can't do well?
> 
> Did you shave off the details on the chests?
> 
> Your Librarian on the other hand :shok: FANTASTIC!


There are a lot of things I can't do well, some of them related to the hobby - others aren't. Custom sculpting with GS is probably the thing I have the least experience with. Lightning bolt patterns are very forgiving to make (lucky me!). I'm glad I didn't decide to do tiny GS sharks all over their armours... Geez!

I did indeed shave of most of the details on the chest and filled in the resulting gaps where the lettering had been with GS. It's a messy job but can be done relatively quickly if you do it in batches. It also removes most of the GK vibe to the miniatures if you prefer something less obvious!



LTP said:


> Why hello there xeno. I go away for 5 months and come back to loads of updates which is awesome btw. This thread continues to impress me and I wish green stuff would be that kind to me lol.
> 
> Keep up the awesome painting and modelling and I can't wait to see moar.


Hi, LTP :bye: Glad to see your presence on the forum again!
I hope you didn't expect me to wait 5 months to update just so you wouldn't be behind 

I find that GS isn't very kind to me at all. I'm still a novice in it's applications. The thing that helped me the most when dealing with it was actually when I bought my very own set of clay shapers and started to experiment 

----

Another long and boring update with no painted pictures? Yes, indeed! I hereby present, Wall-of-Text vol 238 on the progress of many minor projects on my desk and in my mind.

The first picture is the final jump pack assault marine for my squad of which I have painted 5 earlier in the painting challenge (as some of you might remember 2 of them are still lacking weathering and have therefore not gotten their 15 minutes of fame as solo pictures in the thread yet), only minor conversion work done here, slightly modified positioning, FW arms and weapons and some extra equipment to hide the ball joint on the back for the marine peaking through because of the angle of the torso.








And here's the completed 5 man squad with Thunderhammer Sergeant and Melta gun as seen previously:








Hopefully I won't have to paint these guys till next month, I have a hard time finishing off 5 different miniatures when I have a full month and being more then a week behind already makes it even iffier.

When it comes to the Void Sharks I've had quite a lot of thinking done but only minor progress on the miniatures. Curing time and consideration makes for small but steady steps in the right direction though.

Most of what little time I've had I spent on producing minor details on the normal legs in the squad. Notice the added green stuff protection to the knee joints to mimic the appearance of the Grey Knight legs. The thigh shields are placed slightly differently from the two miniature lines but I think it adds another level of individualisation to the squad (as well as the added groin shield does to the miniature in the bottom two pictures). I've also added some rivets to the thunder bolt details. They look big, I don't have any way to produce smaller ones at the moment. I might remove the ones on the chest plates but keep the ones on the legs - it's touch and go at the moment:









I've also started my experiment with the heads, first time ever I've used a silicone product so there are many things that can go wrong. I'm going to see tonight if I did it right. Here's hoping I did..

As far as the weapon situation goes I was thinking about different lightningclaws and I realized that one I liked a lot was the one Lugft Huron has on the Forge World miniature:








Why do I like it? Because the *fingers* are claws. If you where to remove the blades from the top of the hand you'd have a wicked "clawed" power fist which I feel is a suitable representation of a lightningclaw!

The next problem would be: He only has a right handed claw. I'm going to need left handed ones and I'm going to need *at least* 10 pairs all in all (for all my planned terminators with lightning claws). I could buy two miniatures and convert one of the claws into a left handed one, but that would only give me one pair and cost me about 45£ (I'd rather spend 450£ on a Warhound and other suitable FW trinkets) as well - not a good option. I could buy the claws from bits-retailers but that would run me at least 16-18£/pair - not a very efficient alternative either. So I have devised a devilish plan which I hope will work out...

First step? This:








Then..?

More to come...
See you next time :bye:


----------



## papa nurgle

Holy sun of a................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Sorry, just passed out there from OVEREXPOSURE TO PURE AWESOMENESS!:shok:

My god man, you are magnificent!k:


----------



## Arcticor

you're scaring me. and making me feel awful about my own work ... You're doing great thou, keep up the amazing work! love the ideas for the lightning claws.


----------



## Chaosftw

Very cool stuff! Really like the claw power fist too! I think it will add a little bit of extra flavour and a crap load of extra winning to that model!


----------



## hocky

Yeah the claw powerfist is a great idea and will just make him stand out from the rest beautifully.


----------



## Winterous

hocky said:


> Yeah the claw powerfist is a great idea and will just make him stand out from the rest beautifully.


It's actually representing a Lightning Claw.


----------



## hocky

I know. It would also still make a really cool clawed powerfist though!


----------



## JAMOB

AHH I HATE THE SCHOOL COMPUTERS theyre not showing your pics


----------



## Tossidin

That is going to look awesome, fuck yeah!


----------



## xenobiotic

papa nurgle said:


> Holy sun of a................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Sorry, just passed out there from OVEREXPOSURE TO PURE AWESOMENESS!:shok:
> 
> My god man, you are magnificent!k:


This forum user needs immediate medical attention! Give him the awesomeness antidote, stat! Thanks for the comment 



Arcticor said:


> you're scaring me. and making me feel awful about my own work ... You're doing great thou, keep up the amazing work! love the ideas for the lightning claws.


I only wish to inspire rather then scare people away from trying. I've been learning all these processes slowly over the year now and there are still many hobbyists which best me in many ways. It's all about the learning process and the courage to try things out. Sometimes you fail miserably - hopefully you didn't fail on a kit that costed you 40+£... 



Chaosftw said:


> Very cool stuff! Really like the claw power fist too! I think it will add a little bit of extra flavour and a crap load of extra winning to that model!


Thanks! Now I just have to turn theory into reality, which proved to be a lot harder then I had first assumed...



hocky said:


> Yeah the claw powerfist is a great idea and will just make him stand out from the rest beautifully.


Not just "him" all of the terminators will have those lightning claws, the captain will have Tyberos the Red Wake's claws though - to differentiate him.



JAMOB said:


> AHH I HATE THE SCHOOL COMPUTERS theyre not showing your pics


Well then, don't hang around on the forums in school then  You need to study to become a superb mastermind of the.. Something... Something..(?)



Tossidin said:


> That is going to look awesome, fuck yeah!


They are going to be - for lack of better words - whoooopaaas!

----

So... I got my Forge World package, which was a nice surprise but sadly many of the miniatures where faulty so I had to e-mail them about replacements. I haven't gotten an answer yet - probably due to the fact that they are most likely swarmed by calls and e-mails before GD next Sunday - which is kind of sad for me since I kind of rely on their reply before I move along with some of my projects. So right now I'm unable to paint for that reason (I know it's as odd as it sounds) meaning I have to move my many modelling projects along to try and finish something for the painting challenge (and to paint I need to have something other than a 5-man squad built) meaning I set out on a scavenge for a suitable project!

As many of you know my Void Sharks will start their existence as a units in my Blood Angels army (Brethren of the Phoenix) i.e. using quartered blue/black marines as some of the choices in my Blood Angels list (Tacticals, Terminators, Land Speeders and so on). So I'm trying to make everything fit in the BA codex at the moment while building units for the Painting Challenge as well. Later on my Void Sharks might be used as an army for themselves but at the moment they will only be "allies" to my Brethren to fill out unit choices that the Brethren might not have or utilize.

All in all I need a captain for them that can later on assume the roll of the special character "Tyberos the Red Wake". But for now he'll have to be satisfied with being one of the worst codex choices in the BA codex - a Captain with Terminator armour and Lightning Claws. With this in mind I set out on my hunt for suitable pieces to modify (I think I'm starting to get a hang of this shit!) - first obstacle to combat? Legs. Solution? Cut a miniature I payed 20£ for in half with a saw.

Result?








This is obviously early posing stages, I will have to make a waist (hope you didn't think I was going to let it be made out of Blue-tac, lol) and custom details (I will of course need to get some skulls in there - after all Warhammer 40k is all about skulls, heh) to make the torso a little bit more alive but also to make the helmet look unique, or at least special (seeing as how he has the same helmets as about 3 of the terminators will have later on). I do however believe that it will be a good conversion once finished.

Talking about terminators and conversions I've solved the head issue for now (and have enough heads to spare for all my future Void Sharks and even some of my eventual future Brethren veterans) but I'm still in a drawing stage with the lightning claw conversions. I need to await the reply from Forge World mostly since if they'll send a replacement for my madly misshapen Lugft Huron I might get another claw to play with "for free" which would help a lot if I made a mistake (... Which I hope I won't).

And while on the subject of Void Sharks I decided to order another weapon for my Contemptor. At first I was reluctant about the look of the Kheres Assault Cannon (I think some of the other weapons look cooler) but it's very good rulewise (even if I will have to buy the Heavy Conversion Beamer at some point just for looks!). Suffice to say I was happily surprised when I saw the gun mounted on the miniature. It's a truly wicked piece of weaponry that will - no doubt - look awesome when painted (I'm thinking about doing a superheated barrel effect... Could be a good challenge for me!).









I also rummaged ebay (as I sometimes do) and manage to get myself a Land Speeder Tempest (will use it as a Land Speeder Typhoon mostly) for my Void Sharks for a bargain. Sadly it was somewhat damaged at the back end (I have no idea what the previous owner was thinking... Some people really shouldn't buy FW kits) so I'm in the process of repairing it right now - it will probably be very time consuming and it might not have been worth the saving in the end but now I have it and I have to make the best of it...









Hopefully I'll have made some progress at the end of the weekend and I might even have something painted to show you by then! :bye:


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


> Not just "him" all of the terminators will have those lightning claws, the captain will have Tyberos the Red Wake's claws though - to differentiate him.


!!!! My wallet feels your wallet's pain from thousands of miles away....


Lots of really nice projects shaping up here buddy! The Contemptor is really looking fantastic. I am trying to restrain myself from getting one at the moment, hoping the chapter variant ones come to being soon. Between you and me (and the 30,000 other people on this forum :biggrin I don't know how long I am going to be able to hold out. 

Sorry to hear about your FW product issues, hopefully they will take care of you soon!


----------



## Arcticor

> Originally posted by xenobiotic
> I only wish to inspire rather then scare people away from trying. I've been learning all these processes slowly over the year now and there are still many hobbyists which best me in many ways. It's all about the learning process and the courage to try things out. Sometimes you fail miserably - hopefully you didn't fail on a kit that costed you 40+£...


woahwoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH. past year? ive been painting for three and im nowhere near you  
On another note, loving the way the dreadnought is coming out. i wanna see those LC termies too, hope FW responds soon.


----------



## Scathainn

The Contemptor looks much better with the Assault Cannon, methinks 

Also I'm hoping that's just a temporary head for Tyberos...it doesn't seem epic/brutal enough as it stands.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with Ebay, seems to be a hit and miss with me. Sometimes you get some great stuff, others times things are all jack up.

Well, I think that that termi squad will be freaking awesome with all those special (lightning claws). You cant just buy the parts you need from FW can you, you have to get the whole model right?

As for the hot metal glow effect on the assualt cannon...SWEET! Ive wanted to try something like that for a while, but your a little better then I am so you can have first crack...lol....:grin: If you have access to the Citadel: How to paint tanks (I have it because Im a pussy when it comes to painting vehicles) page. 64 has a great heat effect, if ur looking for ideas or what not.

Anyways, your stuff is looking cool as always dude.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> !!!! My wallet feels your wallet's pain from thousands of miles away....
> 
> Lots of really nice projects shaping up here buddy! The Contemptor is really looking fantastic. I am trying to restrain myself from getting one at the moment, hoping the chapter variant ones come to being soon. Between you and me (and the 30,000 other people on this forum :biggrin I don't know how long I am going to be able to hold out.
> 
> Sorry to hear about your FW product issues, hopefully they will take care of you soon!


I'm going to try some wallet friendly alternatives to lower the cost, will be interesting to see if the idea pans out...

If I where you I'd try to stall till they start putting out those chapter specific variants cause if they are up to the other FW dreadnoughts in detail standard they are sure to be even more awesome than the plain one!



Arcticor said:


> woahwoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH. past year? ive been painting for three and im nowhere near you
> On another note, loving the way the dreadnought is coming out. i wanna see those LC termies too, hope FW responds soon.


Most of my progression in the hobby has been made since I started this project log. Before that I had only dabbled in painting miniatures and was more into drawing and painting on canvas which is a very different subject and medium to work with. All in all it's been roughly 1½ years now since I began this journey and it's been a steady learning curve ever since (and I've been spending WAY to much time on each individual marine...).



Scathainn said:


> The Contemptor looks much better with the Assault Cannon, methinks
> 
> Also I'm hoping that's just a temporary head for Tyberos...it doesn't seem epic/brutal enough as it stands.


Helmets seldom are, except the khorne berserker ones from FW... [shoo crazy thoughts, shoo!!]



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Sorry to hear about your misfortune with Ebay, seems to be a hit and miss with me. Sometimes you get some great stuff, others times things are all jack up.
> 
> Well, I think that that termi squad will be freaking awesome with all those special (lightning claws). You cant just buy the parts you need from FW can you, you have to get the whole model right?
> 
> As for the hot metal glow effect on the assualt cannon...SWEET! Ive wanted to try something like that for a while, but your a little better then I am so you can have first crack...lol....:grin: If you have access to the Citadel: How to paint tanks (I have it because Im a pussy when it comes to painting vehicles) page. 64 has a great heat effect, if ur looking for ideas or what not.
> 
> Anyways, your stuff is looking cool as always dude.


Yah, you have to get the entire miniature unless you buy the parts from Ebay/Bitsellers. The thing with bit sellers is that you can get pretty shoddy casts and you have no way of getting a replacement which sucks. But I have a plan anyway.

I'll be sure to check out the Citadel guide, I have them in my bookcase for inspiration along with Imperial Armour Masterclass Vol 1 (eagerly awaiting Vol 2 )!

----



> [...] As dawn had once again come the darkness fled into the shadows an uneasy rest for a handful of hours had come to an end. We had survived the night without retaliation, our nightly raids had been a success in deteriorating the enemy.
> 
> There was no sign of the Assault force that reconnaissance had warned us about. In fact there had been no reported activity at all in the region. Clearly our efforts to keep the enemy away had succeeded, and here we thought the stories about the Astartes where true. The Burning wrath of the Emperor? Hah, what a joke! They didn't even try a counter-attack [...]












----

Weathering has commenced. More to come soon. :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

I love those tanks together Has it really been 1 1/2 years already? Wow... Well, thats 1 1/2 years of inspiration for me to draw on, time for me to get painting  I saw your post in the best conversions thread. I was wondering when you would show off your guys there... Keep it up, and thanks for being so incredibly awesome, inspiring, and inspiringly awesome :biggrin:
-JAMOB


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> I love those tanks together Has it really been 1 1/2 years already? Wow... Well, thats 1 1/2 years of inspiration for me to draw on, time for me to get painting  I saw your post in the best conversions thread. I was wondering when you would show off your guys there... Keep it up, and thanks for being so incredibly awesome, inspiring, and inspiringly awesome :biggrin:
> -JAMOB


Time flies and I hardly get anything done. I sure was hoping I had come a lot further with the army by now. But that's what I get for keeping my standards high. Happy I can be of inspiration! Thanks for your continuing support!

----



> The crew members of Baal Predators are used to proceed to forward positions and set up their tanks in deep cover while they await further orders or send out smaller squads for reconnaissance missions. To pass time they often spend it painting patterns on their tanks in order to bond with and please the machine spirit of the vehicles. This is no easy feat seeing as they also have to at least try to take camouflage into consideration as they adorn their vehicles. Because of this many of them choose to paint their tanks in darker colours.
> 
> The praxis however nests deeply within all the Brethren whom often adorn their equipment and machines of war with elaborate designs of their beliefs. Many consider it not only as an artistic outlet but view these paintings as if they had magical properties. Admittedly some vehicles have been known to survive extraordinary amounts of punishment as if by miracles while some machine spirits have awoken anew even after disastrous damage and almost complete destruction of vital parts. These events have of course fuelled the beliefs that some of these spirits of war are actually the spirits of phoenix birds "inhabiting" the machines and capable of rebirth after destruction. While there is no proof to the fact few Brethren would dare to contradict this belief, most of them because they have witnessed events such as those mentioned with their own eyes.
> 
> At a particularly extraordinary event a destroyed land raiders machine spirit awoke to defend Brethren pinned by enemy walkers that where slowly closing in to finish the job. With no anti armour weaponry left in the squad they where surely doomed. However, slowly but methodically, the land raider moved it's guns into the arc of fire before single-handedly destroying 3 enemy walkers while it was near annihilated itself.





> _Gloam_ is the name of this particular Baal Predator and she is a member of one of the many Hesperides squadrons utilized by the Brethren during conflicts in urban territories. Her particular squadron was named "Dusk-bringer" after their brutal front line assaults with flamer weapons in the Hive city of Arellexion IV which was a turning point in the war against the planets corrupt leaders.


*Gloam*, of the Dusk-Bringer squadron, Baal Predator pattern armoured scout tank:











> _Eventide_ is the name of the second Baal Predator in the Hesperides configuration known as the "Dusk-Bringers". Her records shows that she has been active in many conflicts. She has often used as a mobile screen of cover and anti infantry weaponry for her comrades and she is responsible for saving many Brethren lives in close encounters with opposition in urban fighting. In the other end of the spectrum most of the lives she has taken have been those of genestealer cults. Though, over all, the lives she has exstinguished by the Emperors will are indeed both many and heterogeneous in origin if you consider her long service.


*Eventide*, of the Dusk-Bringer squadron, Baal Predator pattern armoured scout tank:











> _Horizon_ is the Squadron leader of the Hesperides configuration called the "Dusk-Bringers". Her heraldry is long and she is a faithful servant of the Brethrens cause and the Emperors will. Her crew is especially skilled and trained. Their combined experiences far surpasses many of the veterans in the Chapter and even some of the Captains. Responsible for daring raids within her Hesperides squadron as well as the strategic killing of vital enemy commanders she is an asset of utmost importance to the chapter and revered almost as a relic. When possible the crew bolt the skulls of killed enemy commanders to her hull. A practise some consider unorthodox and even borderline heretic even if few would dare say so out loud.


*Horizon*, of the Dusk-Bringer squadron, Baal Predator pattern armoured scout tank:











> Baal Predators, within the Brethren of the Phoenix, along with their crews typically serve in squadrons of 3 vehicles. With a crew unit of between 2-4 Battle-Brothers serving with every vehicle. Most common configuration is a squadron of 3 vehicles with a total of 10 marines, the additional marine being the squadron commander which is usually drafted from the veteran company. This particular configuration is called a Hesperides squadron and acts as a front-line scout and reconnaissance utility with a broad and powerful short- to midrange fire capability should it be needed.


And the Hesperides Squadron documented together (I apologize in advance for the bad picture quality):








I'm afraid that's all for this update! I have some other smaller weathering projects to finish to get some other things to the 100% done stage. Hopefully I'll be able to combine those with some of the painting challenge projects. Time is starting to run out, after all! Forge world still hasn't answered my mail, I guess they must have a lot to do at the moment (went ahead and resent it again just in case).

All in all I'm pretty happy with these tanks now. There are some minor adjustments that needs to be made with the smokestack weathering (and we also have the issue of the sponsons, but that's a headache for tomorrow) but all in all they are definitely looking good. They are quite a fearsome trio IRL, which for some reason is hard to capture in a photo.

----

Anyway!
Till next time :bye:


----------



## Tossidin

Awesome, they look really good as a squadron. Would like to see them as part of the army though 

On the forgeworld matter, when I had a faulty part on my vampire hunter, they just sent me a new one right away (after picture of course), so I guess you are right with them ahving alot of mail, as I have only experienced really good customer support from them.


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

They look awesome together Xeno, I echo Tossidin's sentiments about seeing them alongside the rest of the Brethren.

Good luck on the Forge World front. They'd be swamped with mail at the moment with people preordering stuff to pick up at the UK and AUS Games Days. They'll come through soon enough, I don't hear that people have negative experiences/opinions of their customer support all that often


----------



## Minizke1

Those are actually my favorite 3 tanks I've ever seen.


----------



## Midge913

:shok: wonderful work Xeno.... Aboslutely breathtaking.


----------



## Arcticor

beautiful. i'd love to see what magic you can perform on a bigger tank.... like a land raider....


----------



## hamzorz

Stunning work, sir.

It's good to see so much hard work finally finished and lined up for a proper photo shoot.

Well done indeed.


----------



## xenobiotic

Tossidin said:


> Awesome, they look really good as a squadron. Would like to see them as part of the army though
> 
> On the forgeworld matter, when I had a faulty part on my vampire hunter, they just sent me a new one right away (after picture of course), so I guess you are right with them ahving alot of mail, as I have only experienced really good customer support from them.


I'll be sure to post a new army overview as soon as I'm done weathering some marines I've been dragging behind me. If you're lucky I might finish them by the end of the weekend but no promises.

The same goes for me. Usually FW answered my e-mails about orders in less then a day - which is why I'm a bit bummed now even if it's GD UK and GD Australia soon™. I figured you'd like your customers happy even if you've got a lot to do - and if you've got time to check e-mails for orders you shouldn't miss a question about a messed up miniature - imho.



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> They look awesome together Xeno, I echo Tossidin's sentiments about seeing them alongside the rest of the Brethren.
> 
> Good luck on the Forge World front. They'd be swamped with mail at the moment with people preordering stuff to pick up at the UK and AUS Games Days. They'll come through soon enough, I don't hear that people have negative experiences/opinions of their customer support all that often


I hear you. All my contacts with FW until now have been very pleasant. I've always received quick answers to my queries and questions. This is somewhat of a special situation I assume but it still nags me that I haven't gotten an answer yet. 



Minizke1 said:


> Those are actually my favorite 3 tanks I've ever seen.


Why thank you, Minizke!



Midge913 said:


> :shok: wonderful work Xeno.... Aboslutely breathtaking.


Glad you like them :grin:



Arcticor said:


> beautiful. i'd love to see what magic you can perform on a bigger tank.... like a land raider....


I need a Land Raider Crusader painted to complete my first Apocalypse Formation so there will definitely be one soon™ I'd like to do it justice though so it would be a long project (first conversion with FW multi melta turret and FW doors and then a killer paintjob). I still haven't even decided what colours to paint it in but I guess I'd have to do something similar to the Baal Predators if I'm going to use it as an Apocalypse Formation.



hamzorz said:


> Stunning work, sir.
> 
> It's good to see so much hard work finally finished and lined up for a proper photo shoot.
> 
> Well done indeed.


I think this one is a little better (albeit a tad blurry). The papers kind of failed me in the previous pictures. Seldom I take pictures of something as big as this squad  Glad you like them though!









----

Work progresses on my Counts as Tyberos the Red Wake/Captain in Terminator armour with lightning claws (and melta bombs, perhaps, for that extra AT effect). It's a slow process (as with the Terminators) since I have to fix some slip ups with the miniature (damn mold misalignment) as well as adding the details I want. I put a skull on the chest plate and started a thunder bolt pattern. There's one bolt on each side for now and I'm going to add one more to each side (smaller ones) to get a layered effect. I might also ad a small edge to the bottom of the chest armour just to make the soft armour parts a bit more differentiated from the harder carpaces. Other then that I'm going to remove the small pointy pieces on the side of the knees and replace them with something more akin to my other terminators. I'm also going to add a small curved dagger to his belt (just a symbolic dagger all Void Sharks carry - something that units in terminator armour can't really use to any effect but the powered armoured ones do!). Then we have the head issue (headless horseman at the moment). I'm keen on trying out a FW World Eater helmet (without bunny ears) but I can't get a hold of one angry so that will have to wait.









Also built (and fixed after much cursing) is this Tarantula that I figure I'll paint for the Army Painting Challenge. If I'm in any luck it might get a "brother" or two to join it soon™.









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Oakley

Everything about your project so far has been so completely inspirational, I'm amazed!

I love your painting, just in general, but your freehands are just wow. Awesome job xenobiotic, keep up the awesome work!


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

Looking good as usual Xeno. Tyberos is coming along awesomely. The lightning is looking nice, as does his base. The tanks -still- look smashing. And its nice to see someone with a Tarantula. It's a nice model and there doesn't seem to be an abundance of them about.


----------



## xenobiotic

Oakley said:


> Everything about your project so far has been so completely inspirational, I'm amazed!
> 
> I love your painting, just in general, but your freehands are just wow. Awesome job xenobiotic, keep up the awesome work!


Glad you like it Oakley and thanks for the kind comment. I hope to continue to inspire 



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> Looking good as usual Xeno. Tyberos is coming along awesomely. The lightning is looking nice, as does his base. The tanks -still- look smashing. And its nice to see someone with a Tarantula. It's a nice model and there doesn't seem to be an abundance of them about.


It's probably because the Tarantula rules are somewhat ambivalent and strange. I'm going to get a couple of each type though (I think). I'm considering using them in smaller games as a way to annoy the enemy and fill up odd points (when everything is riding transports it's hard to add one marine sometimes). As long as it isn't a killpoint game it should be fairly ok and even usefull. 

----

The one thing I hate about mixing mediums (green stuff, plastic and resin) is that the different properties of the mediums makes it harder for me to quickly harden the green stuff in the oven (since resin in particular is more heat sensitive than plastic). So I'm forced to do 2-3 layers of green stuff work each day, making sure I only add one layer to each part of the miniature and let it harden before I move on (one thing on the legs, one thing on the chest and so on).

Well, today I think I'm one step closer to finishing up the chest of my Tyberos counts as. He now has the dual layered lightning bolts on there which was my main goal for the chest plate. I also managed to tweak the abdominal soft armour into something I can live with!

On the legs I've only done a small but still important change - adding the curved dagger and a tiny belt to attach it to his armour. It's details like these that make character models pop by comparison to their fellow soldiers.









The helmet in these pictures is more of a place holder. I'm still on a look out for a better helmet (still no signs of FW World Eater helmets on any of the bits sites ). Another thing that I need to work out (for this miniature and my terminators) is some kind of tube tool. I was considering getting these: http://masq-mini.com/aid-240-TubeTool-Set.html but their webstore appears to be down at this moment and I'd rather not spend 30€ if I could (20+10 shipping) but it's a neat tool to have as tubes are a big roadblock otherwise.

----

So all in all, lot of things left to do!
See you soon!
:bye:


----------



## Midge913

Looking really nice Xeno! I like that helm with the model a lot even if it is a place holder. I think it works really well with the lines of the model. The GS details are really starting to shape up, especially the ribbing around the midsection. Look forward to watching him progress.


----------



## DocB

I've loved watching your army develop. You make me want to start converting. Perhaps someday you'll see my troops up here with yours!


----------



## Djinn24

Really awesome looking so far. I would suggest removing the shark fins, something about them just look off to me, but that is a matter of personnel opinion . I love the conversions you have done it him so far though, stunning work so far as normal.


----------



## Scathainn

Great looking work on Tyberos!

This may be my own personal opinion but I think a helm you should look at for Tyberos is the Chaos Havoc Head A (aka this one):










It's always been one of my favourite bits and I'm not really sure why but the combination of the tusks and the simple, brutally direct shape of the helm itself really makes me think it would work for him. Obviously GS work would be necessary to bling it up or add a crest but I think it would make a perfect base.


----------



## Legoss85

This thread just continuously blows my mind xeno, insane skills.


----------



## Arcticor

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHWWWWWWWWWWWWW i thought it was an update  
...


----------



## jaysen

How many different chapters are represented in this thread? You've got the red with white shoulderpad guys, the black and purple ones, and the black tanks?


----------



## Arcticor

I think the black tanks are part of the Brethren of the Phoenix, cause they have giant Phoenixes on them.  Just 2, the phoenix one and Void Sharks. (correct me if im wrong xeno)


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looking really nice Xeno! I like that helm with the model a lot even if it is a place holder. I think it works really well with the lines of the model. The GS details are really starting to shape up, especially the ribbing around the midsection. Look forward to watching him progress.


I'm glad you like him. He's started to warm up a lot for me. I've even added some details to the head now so I might keep it! I'm just waiting for that tube tool now so I can do the final details then I might enter him into the conversion contest... 



DocB said:


> I've loved watching your army develop. You make me want to start converting. Perhaps someday you'll see my troops up here with yours!


I sure hope so! The sooner you start the more time you'll have to perfect the craft 



djinn24 said:


> Really awesome looking so far. I would suggest removing the shark fins, something about them just look off to me, but that is a matter of personnel opinion . I love the conversions you have done it him so far though, stunning work so far as normal.


Hm, I didn't even consider taking the fins off. Guess they spoke to me in some way. It's not like I can take them off and try without them either - what if I like them better on? :grin: I've been adding a tiny bit more detail but that will have to wait till next update.



Scathainn said:


> Great looking work on Tyberos!
> 
> This may be my own personal opinion but I think a helm you should look at for Tyberos is the Chaos Havoc Head A (aka this one):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It's always been one of my favourite bits and I'm not really sure why but the combination of the tusks and the simple, brutally direct shape of the helm itself really makes me think it would work for him. Obviously GS work would be necessary to bling it up or add a crest but I think it would make a perfect base.


Hard bit to track down, I don't think it will work on Tyberos though because the tusks will interfere with the collar on the chest plate. I'm trying to get hold of one for other projects with the Sharks though  I also managed to get hold of some World Eater heads from FW which I think will suit some of my other Void Sharks after a decent bunny ear shaving!



Legoss85 said:


> This thread just continuously blows my mind xeno, insane skills.


Thank you, Legoss85!



Arcticor said:


> AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHWWWWWWWWWWWWW i thought it was an update
> ...


Sorry to disappoint you :wink:



jaysen said:


> How many different chapters are represented in this thread? You've got the red with white shoulderpad guys, the black and purple ones, and the black tanks?


There are two chapters represented in this thread. The first and main army represented thus far are the Brethren of the Phoenix whom are Blood Angel Successors specializing in mechanized warfare and jump infantry.

Along with the Brethren we have a Space Crusading chapter of ravenous beasts know as the Void Sharks. They are Carcharodons Successors (at least it is believed) and they are an exclusively space faring chapter with a large and mobile fleet. They try to maintain independence from the Imperium in such a way that they try to maintain self-sufficiency in order to be able to go on long crusades. As such they specialize in drop insertion rapid-assault tactics to overwhelm the enemy at weak points and not only cripple them but steal resources at the same time. They favour using drop pods, land speeders and assault rams in their warfare.

Brethren of the Phoenix have, as you stated, a red main colour with white arms. Most of the marines have white helmets but some have other colours on their helmets depicting various artistic choices as well as ties to certain campaigns. They also like to make all their vehicles individual (hence many different paint schemes all revolving around phoenixes in some way).

The Void Sharks have a quartered scheme (still WIP) of black and blue with no specific markings to differentiate themselves other than tribal markings some of them paint on.

----

So I've been giving the Lascannon tarantula some attention. It doesn't have any weathering and I'm still not 100% sure on the colour scheme. It's basically a space sky black without a lot of details and stars. I figure it could be used with both the Sharks and the Brethren if I used that scheme (after all I'm using them to represent a joint force). In whatever way I may tweak it later on I'm satisfied for now and for the Painting Challenge:









----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

SWEET! Nice tarantula brotha, is that a satin varnish that you used?


----------



## xenobiotic

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> SWEET! Nice tarantula brotha, is that a satin varnish that you used?


No, it's just a matt varnish painted on. I think the shine has to do with an error in my wash mix. I accidently dipped a paintbrush loaded with Boltgun metal into my badab black mix and everything got a minute sparkly sheen to it because of that. Fits the space background theme very well though so I'm not complaining (you live and you learn).

----

In other news the many tiny conversion projects are slowly moving along. I'm just glad I'm doing something because it's harder and harder to come up with things to paint for the painting challenge. I'm a bit pressed on time and I don't have a lot of things ready that I feel I can do justice in the amount of time I have available this month. We shall see if I can come up with something.

While working I stumbled across and idea of some normal 'shooty' terminators. I think it's a suitable representation of a chain fist. I also like that it's a right handed one (for variation - I love variation!). It's just a quick mock-up however. I won't be doing any normal terminators for a while, I feel I need to sort out the assault terminators first.









I've also modified the first assault 'kitty' pattern lightning claw so I decided to do a dry fitting test on one of the terminators. I think I'm on to something. Obviously a lot of tweaking needed:









And here we have the workshop. I just recently got more pieces so I'm slowly but surely building my own version of these lightning claws which will be somewhat poseable to add some variety to the terminators in question. I just hope I have the skill to pull this sculpting puzzle together. A lot of tiny steps is probably the best way to go 









And talking about sculpting projects I've made some progress on Tyberos. He's starting to warm up a lot to me and I'm quite happy with most of the details I've added. I know the shark silhouette isn't very imposing but I think it works well even if the shape could use some tiny adjustments. Now I just need to wait for those tubetools to finish the conversion!









Comments and critique welcomed and asked for, as always!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

All up to your usual high standards, xeno. The only thing is the GS shark on the shoulder pad. TBH it reminds me more of a mackerel than a shark.


----------



## Midge913

Looking fantastic! Love what you did with the Kitty Claw! It looks better than the original.


----------



## Arcticor

you know what i think we all would love? a shot of the full army!


----------



## Tossidin

Wonderful sculpting work. I hope I will get as good as you when I start up again!


----------



## JAMOB

Arcticor said:


> you know what i think we all would love? a shot of the full army!


Yes. Quote the above in a response to this thread if you agree  lets make history... or something :search:k:


----------



## xenobiotic

Khorne's Fist said:


> All up to your usual high standards, xeno. The only thing is the GS shark on the shoulder pad. TBH it reminds me more of a mackerel than a shark.


I tweaked the fish slightly, hopefully it looks more.. Vicious (if a silhouette can look vicious) now.



Midge913 said:


> Looking fantastic! Love what you did with the Kitty Claw! It looks better than the original.


Thanks! The original has a problem with those flimsy blades for the claws, I can imagine they would snap of easily in transport. They where also badly warped on one of the claws I got and hard to correct even with hot/boiling water and a lot of patience. They are just so thin that any major force on them will warp them - sad really on such a nice figure. Not that it matters to me since I cut them off, but still.



Arcticor said:


> you know what i think we all would love? a shot of the full army!


It just keeps coming up, doesn't it..?



Tossidin said:


> Wonderful sculpting work. I hope I will get as good as you when I start up again!


It's all about learning the tricks. I just love it when experiences sculptors share their wisdom so I can suck it all up and try it myself!



JAMOB said:


> Yes. Quote the above in a response to this thread if you agree  lets make history... or something :search:k:


Mkaaay...

----

Slow progress on Tyberos. Small detail refinement. Added another pattern to the helmet, I think it frames in the tribal adornment aspect well and compliments the helmet. I also tweaked the shoulderpad icon, giving the shark a bit more bulk and some extra fins that some of the larger shark species have. Still waiting on them tube tools to finish him up for a final assembly before painting.









Finally did the weathering/bases on these to guys (but as I uploaded the pictures I also noticed that I had missed the black on the rim of the base - doh, ah well).



> I had to lower the auido settings. The sound of the threshing winds almost blew the helmets circuitry. This was intense warfare. Death everywhere. Spirits being released from captivity of the flesh. You could feel it crawling along your skin as the squad progressed over the battlefiel, soaring through ruins and enemy gunfire. The couldn't hit us in here. The ruins of the city far to dense and the fog of war as thick as a brick wall. Our manoeuvres far to quick for them anyway. Pesky heretics, they should have know not to pour fuel on this ember, my fire burns strong. They should have surrendered at the whim of our captains words. But no, apparently they had an ace in their sleeve. Well, puny humans, my zeal is nigh indestructible, toss your ace at me and I shall rip it apart. One day I will fall, but that day has not yet come.
> 
> - 'BROTHERS! UNLEASH THE FURY!'


Assault Marine, Martinus, of the 4th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix.









As initiates learn the trades of warfare amongst the Brethren they progress within the structure of the chapter. They are given tasks suited to their experience level, often challenging engagements that push them to the limits, forcing them to learn and adapt in order to keep fighting for the Imperium. It is common praxis amongst veteran marines, specially jump assault marines, to include initiate Battle-Brothers from other companies to enable them to learn by doing quicker then ever possible if they had followed a more orthodox, Codex Astartes, approach.

Vibanus is the name of a promising Battle-Brother from the 7th company of the Brethren of the Phoenix. For daring acts with his Brethren he has been given the honour to fight with the fellow Brethren of the 4th company assault marines to show his worth with more experienced comrades. So far he has been proven to be quite an asset, showing ingenuity and quick reflexes with his chainsword. As a reward for his fervour his fellow comrades might soon commence training him in using more unorthodox melee weapons. 

Assault Marine, Vibanus, of the 7th Company of the Brethren of the Phoenix.









And since you've been pestering me about it I snapped a quick shot of the miniatures I've finished thusfar (excluding the tarantula for some reason, I always forget to put something into the picture) which are surprisingly few (in my opinion). As I took these pictures I realised I need a better set-up for army shots.









----

Till next time!
:bye:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

The macker... I mean shark does look a lot better, much beefier. That army shot looks great as well. 

Good to see you finally get the Artisan medal as well. Well deserved mate.k:


----------



## Arcticor

Yay! a full army shot! We aren't pestering you Xeno, we just cant get enough of your work!  Everything looks spectacular, your constant dedication to your project log has motivated me to focus more on painting, and to start my own log! Keep up the amazing-ness.


----------



## Minizke1

The shark on Tyberos looks absolutely fantastic.


----------



## Mr.Malevolent

Sweet baby jesus!
Void Sharks = EPICNESS!
You dont know how much that inspires me (I'm part of a Badab War group going to Adepticon 2012 here in the States and I chose Space Sharks). I just cannot stop staring at the detailed green stuff work you've done. Amazing.


----------



## jaysen

Wow, thanks for the group shop and the explanation of the two armies.


----------



## xenobiotic

Khorne's Fist said:


> The macker... I mean shark does look a lot better, much beefier. That army shot looks great as well.
> 
> Good to see you finally get the Artisan medal as well. Well deserved mate.k:


Happy I could shapeshift it into something more suiting, hehe!

I'm very humbled by the reward and I'm glad I received it, thanks to whomever it was that suggested me for it!



Arcticor said:


> Yay! a full army shot! We aren't pestering you Xeno, we just cant get enough of your work!  Everything looks spectacular, your constant dedication to your project log has motivated me to focus more on painting, and to start my own log! Keep up the amazing-ness.


Me for one feels army shots are somewhat disappointing since you can't see the details of the miniatures. Perhaps I would change my attitude if I had a better set-up for taking pictures of larger numbers of miniatures.



Minizke1 said:


> The shark on Tyberos looks absolutely fantastic.


Thank you!



Mr.Malevolent said:


> Sweet baby jesus!
> Void Sharks = EPICNESS!
> You dont know how much that inspires me (I'm part of a Badab War group going to Adepticon 2012 here in the States and I chose Space Sharks). I just cannot stop staring at the detailed green stuff work you've done. Amazing.


I'm glad I started working on my terminators for my Void Sharks. I've learned so much about GSing and I've just started with them. I feel that I have found new confidence in my sculpting abilities and I'm willing to try more advanced techniques as I go along now!

I'm very happy that you like the Sharks, they been on the back burner for a long time now since I needed to sort out some ideas in my head as well as get my skill level up to where I think I can do the ideas in my head justice. 



jaysen said:


> Wow, thanks for the group shop and the explanation of the two armies.


No worries! Half the fun of having the plog is to explain my thoughts and process!

----

You can say I've been bitten by something. Most of my spare time has been focused around army lists and planning for the Void Sharks. I have some expensive ideas that I need to think some more about before I commit myself to but the cheaper things I can start out with.

Amongst them is a overwhelming need to get some normal infantry done (however normal the tactical marines for the Void Sharks actually are remains to be seen). So I'm fighting my illusions of grandeur and I've started with a small project of assembling 25 different pairs of legs. So far I've made the first 10 (with about 7 more in the works) so I'm certainly getting things done. I've also decided to add some combi-meltas to the sergeants (since they are having power-fists anyway they might pack the one shot only extra punch) and I resurfaced that old conversion I did for my Tycho - but this time with a slight twist. Nothing is completed yet but I felt like showing you guys anyway since I know some of you like to see my WIPs just to get some ideas yourselves!
















Those with keen eyes will note that I've gotten use of all those crooked and bad finecast miniatures I got a while back. Hacking them up for legs is just the kind of conversions I love to make! 

Hope ya'll like 'em!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Shame...because I would LOVE to REP ya, but alas, restrictions force me to wait!

SUPERB my friend and gratz on the medal as well!


----------



## JAMOB

They are amazing  I especially love that metal head. Where did you get that? It is AMAZING :biggrin: Anyway cant wait to see what those legs end up as, they really interest me and I am super excited.
-JAMOB


----------



## Zodd

You have a lot of very good modelbuilding and painting here Xeno. The army has developed fantastic over time and is a big inspiration to my own modelbuilding. And your latest kit-bashing look very promising :biggrin:


----------



## Scathainn

JAMOB said:


> They are amazing  I especially love that metal head. Where did you get that? It is AMAZING :biggrin:


It's from the Iron Hands tactical squad


----------



## Midge913

A wonderful conglomeration of parts my man. The poses are dynamic and characterful, and the use of so many different kits, yet being able to bring them together as a cohesive whole is quite impressive.


----------



## JAMOB

Scathainn said:


> It's from the Iron Hands tactical squad


Thanks  ill use them if I find something it would work for...


----------



## hocky

Love following your blog. Really like the new models and the poses look great as they are so dynamic. Your conversions and the white armour on your angels are super inspiring and pushed me into using white to armour up my guard so thanks!!!


----------



## piemaster

Well I thought I'd better make a post as it's ages since I last did. I have been following through weekly updates and have quickly flicked through your pictorial endeavours during my lunch breaks.

It's great to see how much effort you're still putting in. I still thing you're making improvements. I like the tarantula heavy bolter, that looked both in keeping with your armour and ace to boot. Again, this thread has been really inspirational.


----------



## Djinn24

Stellar work as normal. You really did improve the model a lot but I am more interested in the kitty pattern lightning claw, how was that made?


----------



## xenobiotic

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Shame...because I would LOVE to REP ya, but alas, restrictions force me to wait!
> 
> SUPERB my friend and gratz on the medal as well!


Thanks, DoE!



JAMOB said:


> They are amazing  I especially love that metal head. Where did you get that? It is AMAZING :biggrin: Anyway cant wait to see what those legs end up as, they really interest me and I am super excited.
> -JAMOB





Scathainn said:


> It's from the Iron Hands tactical squad





JAMOB said:


> Thanks  ill use them if I find something it would work for...


That is correct, it's from the Iron Hands tactical squad set, I got the parts I was interested in back when they where still frequently available from bit sellers. They are somewhat harder to come by these days unless you buy the complete set directly from GW, which is a bummer since I don't need any more tactical marine parts.



Zodd said:


> You have a lot of very good modelbuilding and painting here Xeno. The army has developed fantastic over time and is a big inspiration to my own modelbuilding. And your latest kit-bashing look very promising :biggrin:


Glad I can inspire you, I like giving back to the community, I've drawn so much inspiration and knowledge myself so any contribution from me to others makes me a happy camper!



Midge913 said:


> A wonderful conglomeration of parts my man. The poses are dynamic and characterful, and the use of so many different kits, yet being able to bring them together as a cohesive whole is quite impressive.


It's all in a days work. I'm getting more and more out there, cutting pieces of and splicing things together. It's fun to add variety to the force, and I'd like to give these marines as much attention I can muster without it becoming boring or to much of a time drain. I have a more cohesive plan with the Voids though, which I hope I can keep up. The Brethren is more of a free for all that can go either way when it comes to unit additions.



hocky said:


> Love following your blog. Really like the new models and the poses look great as they are so dynamic. Your conversions and the white armour on your angels are super inspiring and pushed me into using white to armour up my guard so thanks!!!


I've come to many conclusions about white armour. There are a few different routes to go. Pristine white, with grey/black shading, which can look superb when done right - but it's a fine line and it gets very messy easily. Then we have the dirty white, shaded with browns and other warm colours, it's somewhat easier and you can cover your mistakes easily. And finally we have the cold white shaded with blue hues, which can also look awesome but I find it wickedly hard to pull off mostly since it clashes with many other colours. Makes me happy to hear that you've been able to get something out of my plog!



piemaster said:


> Well I thought I'd better make a post as it's ages since I last did. I have been following through weekly updates and have quickly flicked through your pictorial endeavours during my lunch breaks.
> 
> It's great to see how much effort you're still putting in. I still thing you're making improvements. I like the tarantula heavy bolter, that looked both in keeping with your armour and ace to boot. Again, this thread has been really inspirational.


I keep on trucking! I've been idling and changing my mind so many times my friends started to go mad. But now I'm sticking to my marines for the foreseeable future. I'm starting to get the hang of it, the converting side of the hobby that is - and it's growing on me. I just need to focus enough to actually paint up usable units. 



djinn24 said:


> Stellar work as normal. You really did improve the model a lot but I am more interested in the kitty pattern lightning claw, how was that made?


The first kitty claw is just Lufgt Hurons lightning claw without the top blades. I'm working on another version (both left and right handed) that's based on the same design (cutting his claw up to make my own) that I'm going to cast in pieces and use on my termies (to enable me to position them individually). It's a big project though, so I'm taking my time with it, slowly adding green stuff when I have some to spare from my other projects.

----

I sat down and saw an empty ocean in front of me. The deep blue colour was calling out to me. I had some ideas but they where vague and I wasn't sure they'd fit into what I had imagined in my mind. Shades and flickering light would go better on a bigger piece and I had one of them in mind for these guys (more on that another time). I remember the origin of the idea. Flicked through some pages. Did some research, found some patterns, adopted them, tweaked them around in my head to try and break them into their basic components before I set to work - it would be messy.

And messy it has been. The colours are not behaving like I wanted. The details are small and the brush has a mind of its own sometimes. You can see the brush strokes. The lines are different in build-up and thickness. Mostly visible when you examine it closely or take macro pictures. At the same time it has a raw feeling to it, home made if not, which I suppose would fit in with the reason behind it. Honour. Rituals. Wisdom... 









I'm a big tease. C&C welcomed. In fact, feel free to cut the work in half with criticism while I still have chance to repaint the piece...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Djinn24

Midge913 is sitting next to me and I think he wrapped it up nicely, holy shit, are you fucking kidding me!

Amazing work on the paint. Now finish it.


----------



## hocky

Holy shit are you kidding me?!!

There may be an echo in this world!!!


----------



## Zodd

Waves from paintings of a certain japanese vulcano used on a certain dread...i think 

it would be good looking and you could work some of the chapter-mythology into some of the bigger parts of the "grafics" .

Like reverse Delft-tiles tecnique maybe, several shades of blue/white kind of,.. well i don't know, but it's definitely an idea worth developing k:


----------



## Scathainn

It does my heart good to see my original Space Sharks suggestion reach this level of fruition :cray:

Keep up the good work k:


----------



## Arcticor

.................................... 
whoops, im sorry, my jaw must have dropped again. *pop*
There we go, much better. One question though, where is that painted on the mini?


----------



## Midge913

Arcticor said:


> ....................................
> whoops, im sorry, my jaw must have dropped again. *pop*
> There we go, much better. One question though, where is that painted on the mini?


It appears to be across the chest plate of the Contemptor Dread. running on the left side, underneath the 'neck' plate.


----------



## xenobiotic

djinn24 said:


> Midge913 is sitting next to me and I think he wrapped it up nicely, holy shit, are you fucking kidding me!
> 
> Amazing work on the paint. Now finish it.


High praise coming from you guys!



hocky said:


> Holy shit are you kidding me?!!
> 
> There may be an echo in this world!!!


I'm dead serious! :ireful2: 



Zodd said:


> Waves from paintings of a certain japanese vulcano used on a certain dread...i think
> 
> it would be good looking and you could work some of the chapter-mythology into some of the bigger parts of the "grafics" .
> 
> Like reverse Delft-tiles tecnique maybe, several shades of blue/white kind of,.. well i don't know, but it's definitely an idea worth developing k:


I like you ideas! I will have to try them out after they've sifted through my processing plant - which can take a while as you all should know by now... I'll have to make some simple drawings and try my hand at creating patterns of my own to incorporate more detailed imagery within the pattern.



Scathainn said:


> It does my heart good to see my original Space Sharks suggestion reach this level of fruition :cray:
> 
> Keep up the good work k:


:victory: Them fishies be' coming, my friend!



Arcticor said:


> ....................................
> whoops, im sorry, my jaw must have dropped again. *pop*
> There we go, much better. One question though, where is that painted on the mini?


Hold yourself together, man! unish: Don't make me come over there and glue you together! :grin: Midge is right on the location, as you shall see below.

----

I've been low on time so the brushes have been resting a lot. But I've worked hard on bases and legs and I'm starting to accumulate enough of them to build 25 marines for my Shark list (which should last me to around 2000 pts if I complete my terminators as well!). I'm also eyeing some FW purchases when I get my salary this month, but I started of with the Imperial Armour Apocalypse 2nd edition so I can have a look at the units in there first.

I've slowly added more patterns to the dread. I'm starting to feel that it would suit him to have some kind of pattern on each blue part. It definitely gives the blue parts some much needed attention to break the tension of the rather harsh edge highlighting I've got going at the moment. I'm starting to feel my momentum gaining again on this miniature (I was putting it off since I didn't get anywhere with the blue shade). Sometimes all you need is to put it away for a while and then you're good to go!

WIP Pictures (obviously the arms aren't anyway near being done, in fact they are just basecoated):









C&C welcomed!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## InquisitorTidusSolomon

Sweet Jesus, Xeno. That Contemptor is beautiful!


----------



## Midge913

Looking fantastic my man! I think the pattern is just what it needed to add that last punch to the scheme and it complements the star patterns on the purple side wonderfully. I am also quite impressed with the base. How did you achieve that crumbled slate look on the rocks under his foot?


----------



## Khorne's Fist

InquisitorTidusSolomon said:


> Sweet Jesus, Xeno. That Contemptor is beautiful!


:goodpost: Says it all.


----------



## Vanchet

Dude if it's anyway of saying how amazing your army is-I was beginning to lose hop on my own marines till I saw yours


----------



## Minizke1

Anyone curious about where Xeno's extended cab rhino came from, I figured it out. 
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Witch_Hunters/REPRESSOR-COMPLETE-KIT.html


----------



## Vanchet

Minizke1 said:


> Anyone curious about where Xeno's extended cab rhino came from, I figured it out.
> http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Witch_Hunters/REPRESSOR-COMPLETE-KIT.html


Most of us knew man 
It was one of the few things I wish was thrown in the sister's codex (the poor wd one anyway) But yes it's one I would love to have in my marine army.


----------



## Minizke1

I figured most of you knew. Don't get me wrong, this community is full of people who amaze me. I just noticed a lot of people didn't know what it was.


----------



## jaysen

I'd love to see that tribal pattern across the entire model. I'm not as sold on the nebula star pattern. I think I'm going to steal your method for making my Carcharadon Astra marines.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

That is dead sexy Xeno, I love what you have done with the pattern and yes having it through out the blue areas looks great on it.

On the shouders, why does it look so grainy, the texture of the shoulders that is?


----------



## xenobiotic

InquisitorTidusSolomon said:


> Sweet Jesus, Xeno. That Contemptor is beautiful!


Thanks, ITS!



Midge913 said:


> Looking fantastic my man! I think the pattern is just what it needed to add that last punch to the scheme and it complements the star patterns on the purple side wonderfully. I am also quite impressed with the base. How did you achieve that crumbled slate look on the rocks under his foot?


It's a cut up champagne cork (at least I think that's what you're asking about) I saved from the trash bin. There is no particular secret to it. There are all manner of different items on the base. Cogs and parts from watches, some resin skulls from Mother Russia and my very own gravel mixture! 



Khorne's Fist said:


> :goodpost: Says it all.






Vanchet said:


> Dude if it's anyway of saying how amazing your army is-I was beginning to lose hop on my own marines till I saw yours


Why did you lose hope in your own marines to start with?



jaysen said:


> I'd love to see that tribal pattern across the entire model. I'm not as sold on the nebula star pattern. I think I'm going to steal your method for making my Carcharadon Astra marines.


Each to his own, if they where completely blue they'd look like tribal Ultramarines or pre-heresy Alpha legion, which is not the look I'm going for.



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> That is dead sexy Xeno, I love what you have done with the pattern and yes having it through out the blue areas looks great on it.
> 
> On the shouders, why does it look so grainy, the texture of the shoulders that is?


It's just an uneven surface from the cast probably (or from my base painting). Nothing to worry about 

----

I've been pushing along modelling between work and school. Not much time (I fear I might have to use my second RL card in the painting challenge this month ). Over all there has been some progress:

25 marine legs are now done (just lacking some green stuff ribbing on some of them) as can be seen here. Hopefully I won't be needing more legs for a while now:









Meanwhile I finally got the tubetools I needed to finish Tyberos. Now all the sculpting is done and I can move him on to the "to be painted" pile:








I'm a little worried that the tubes might be a tad to thick though. I guess I'm never happy :russianroulette: Maybe I should redo them...

I'm also managed to salvage the Land Speeder Tempest (although it's lacking weaponry at the moment) from the God forsaken state I got it in. As you can see in from the front view everything looks fine. Then in the rear view it shows what kind of work I had to do in order to restore it to a state of what it should look like - still far from perfect but it's the best I can do at the moment:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Arcticor

Loving everything xeno! I cant wait to see Tyberos painted!! Are the legs for tactical/assault marines, or more elite marines?


----------



## Vanchet

Mainly due to the extensive losses against DE Vemon Spams, hard time getting around it


----------



## JAMOB

I am going insane waiting for Tyberos to be painted... AHH nope just kidding 
Excellent work on the LS... it looks good. Very close to normal.
i dont think you should change the chord things unless you REALLY hate them, in which case go ahead. I think they are fine, but I am also more easily impressed... yeah... Well good work, cant wait for these marines to finish, they will look epic. Thats all folks... Goodbye, see ya later, this thread is amazing.
Cheers!
-JAMOB


----------



## Fallen_Veteran

I think you should go ahead and send that Tyberos my way and start over. I'll deal with the imperfect power cords. I would hate for you to have to field that model the way it looks...

Did you buy that at all? No? I didn't think so... Looking forward to seeing it painted up!


----------



## troybuckle

What happened to these guys? Did you finish them? (Also I new that they were in your plog so I back tracked from the last page to page 42 the got tired and figured they were at the start, so I went to the first page and moved forward to find them on 38, so I just reviewed your whole p-log again lol. Oh yeah - you’re an awesome modeler and painter by the way lol.)


----------



## Asamodai

Looking really forward to your Tyberos. The green stuff work, especially on the helmet is great.


----------



## xenobiotic

Arcticor said:


> Loving everything xeno! I cant wait to see Tyberos painted!! Are the legs for tactical/assault marines, or more elite marines?


They are going to be tactical marines and some extra special weapons for good measure, the constellations will be something like this:
- 2 marines with Heresy era multi-meltas
- 8 marines with Phobos pattern bolters
- 2 sergeants with powerfists and combi-meltas
- 2 marines with meltaguns
- 6 marines with bolt pistol and close combat weapons.

And then... 5 guys for something else. You see, Tyberos the Red Wake enables me to take tacticals with ccws instead of bolters. With a Drop Pod based army you can drop the squads in and combat squad them into a CC squad and a fire support squad.



Vanchet said:


> Mainly due to the extensive losses against DE Vemon Spams, hard time getting around it


I see. Well, the meta can do that to you. Either you should find other peeps to play with or BREAK THEM WITH THE HOLY MIGHT OF THE... Erh. Well. I usually play with the same people and if we find something a bit broken to play against all the time we simply ask for a more friendly game and we can steer away from the spam-lists.



JAMOB said:


> I am going insane waiting for Tyberos to be painted... AHH nope just kidding
> Excellent work on the LS... it looks good. Very close to normal.
> i dont think you should change the chord things unless you REALLY hate them, in which case go ahead. I think they are fine, but I am also more easily impressed... yeah... Well good work, cant wait for these marines to finish, they will look epic. Thats all folks... Goodbye, see ya later, this thread is amazing.
> Cheers!
> -JAMOB


Done and done  Glad you stopped by, hehe!



Fallen_Veteran said:


> I think you should go ahead and send that Tyberos my way and start over. I'll deal with the imperfect power cords. I would hate for you to have to field that model the way it looks...
> 
> Did you buy that at all? No? I didn't think so... Looking forward to seeing it painted up!


I need your address if I'm.. Oh, you weren't serious? Ah, well, I guess I'll have to keep him myself then!



troybuckle said:


> What happened to these guys? Did you finish them? (Also I new that they were in your plog so I back tracked from the last page to page 42 the got tired and figured they were at the start, so I went to the first page and moved forward to find them on 38, so I just reviewed your whole p-log again lol. Oh yeah - you’re an awesome modeler and painter by the way lol.)


They are in a box waiting for attention. I realised I won't be using them much and I also faced a to steep a challenge to finish the cloaks. I'll have to revisit them when I feel my sculpting is up to the test!

And thanks for the kind words :so_happy:



Asamodai said:


> Looking really forward to your Tyberos. The green stuff work, especially on the helmet is great.


Thanks, Asamodai! I'm very pleased with the helmet myself. I'm considering carrying on doing minor patterns on all the terminator helmets - for even more uniqueness!

----

I fixed the cords, I'm a lot more pleased with him now:









I also finally got hold of FW, they are now sending me replacement parts for the order I got over a month ago. So hopefully I'll get a tarantula in better condition than the last one. I'm also getting a new Lufgt Huron (the one I converted into Tyberos had TERRIBLE mould lines - half of the GS work was needed just to repair the damage - good for practice but not ok for a company that charges as much as FW does).

As I'm getting salary and a tiny bonus tomorrow as well as getting my hope for FW back with the e-mail response I'm considering putting in a big FW order to add to my pile of shit. More on that later...


----------



## Cold86

xenobiotic said:


> As I'm getting salary and a tiny bonus tomorrow as well as getting my hope for FW back with the e-mail response I'm considering putting in a big FW order to add to my pile of shit. More on that later...


What!?!?! more awesomeness to come! insanity. FW probably has their own assembly line just for when you make orders!


----------



## Djinn24

Paint...... it...... PLEASE.......


----------



## Minizke1

He's taunting us with beautiful green stuff work, but isn't following through with the finished product. That sick bastard.


----------



## Midge913

You have infected me with your love of forge world my man. For the new IF successors that I am starting I will be using quite a large amount of FW pieces. My wallet hates you

That being said your group of guys are looking really great and the new cords look much better than the last ones. Still looking forward to seeing Tyberos painted.... hint, hint:wink:


----------



## xenobiotic

Cold86 said:


> What!?!?! more awesomeness to come! insanity. FW probably has their own assembly line just for when you make orders!


Heh, not really, I don't order that much from FW and the things I tend to order are the ones with a more humane price (this order being an exception to that rule but one can splash money on centre pieces).

I bet they have a special customer support line just for me though, I am meticulously scanning my purchases for unacceptable loss of detail or annoying miscasts. I've been granted many replacements because of this so I guess the costumer support must agree with my claims but I can see them pulling their hair out each time I send them an e-mail, hehe.



djinn24 said:


> Paint...... it...... PLEASE.......


:shok:



Minizke1 said:


> He's taunting us with beautiful green stuff work, but isn't following through with the finished product. That sick bastard.


Indeed. Sick bastard. We should show him that he.. Wait, you're talking about me? There are so many "slow" painters on this forum (no names mentioned no names forgotten )



Midge913 said:


> You have infected me with your love of forge world my man. For the new IF successors that I am starting I will be using quite a large amount of FW pieces. My wallet hates you
> 
> That being said your group of guys are looking really great and the new cords look much better than the last ones. Still looking forward to seeing Tyberos painted.... hint, hint:wink:


Your wallet has no way to budge me :yahoo: You should support FW so they continue to make great products even after all my annoying replacement requests!

----

So. Roadblock. Started to paint Tyberos. I want to keep the palette toned down and keep away from to many regal combinations (gold and such). I'm not sure at all in what way to paint the lightnings. I going back and forth between silver - gold - yellow. They all have their individual benefits but in the end I want the miniature to look good.

Another part I'm a bit confused about is the loincloth. I'm not sure at all which colour to paint the trim and the scales in. I don't want them to draw to much attention away from the head area.

Talking about the head area I'm considering doing a glowing effect along the nodes. Possibly yellowish (just to differentiate between the sharks and the brethren) to tie in with the power weapon idea below.

As a side note I'm thinking of doing the lightning claw blades in a glowing yellow style (much like the eyes on my contemptor). I think that would fit well with the overall composition.

PIP pictures:









Thoughts? Suggestions?

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


> So. Roadblock. Started to paint Tyberos. I want to keep the palette toned down and keep away from to many regal combinations (gold and such). I'm not sure at all in what way to paint the lightnings. I going back and forth between silver - gold - yellow. They all have their individual benefits but in the end I want the miniature to look good.


I would go with silvers personally. I think the gold may pop too much and if you are trying to avoid that silver does a great job, you can make it as dull or shiny as you want.


----------



## Turnip86

Might I suggest silver claws with a hint of gold at the tips, nothing OTT but enough to give them a menacing glint.

Great work on everything so far though, I'm slowly (v.slowly because the site takes ages to load and often times out) reading up on the plog and it's making me want to have my BA's sent over from the UK with next day international delivery


----------



## Zodd

Silver would be good for a toned-down theme of colours.


----------



## Chris Guard of Mardat

Love what I've seen so far, haven't read through the whole log yet but I'm getting there, can't wait to read more and see Tyberos finished

+rep and subscribed


----------



## Tossidin

Paint them BRIGHT RED AND SPARKLING! :3

I am thinking that if you want a toned down look, you gotta decide if you want attention drawn to the lightning claws or not (you mentioned not wanting it drawn away from the face). If they are silver, they could end up kinda "hidden" on the model, though it could also look wery characterful. A yellowish tint would make them pop out, which I think would be awesome (kinda fits my style of painting better), but it depends on what look you are going for. I wouldn't go for gold, it just doesn't seem right to me, though you could convince me otherwise, as you have done before 
If you wanna go with something really unorthodox, maybe a bone colour on them could work? You know, like shark teeth. Just an Idea I had, though I don't know if it would fit at all.

As for the loincloth, I am having trouble coming up with good ideas. Bluish tinted silver could work, but seems wierd? Bronze? 
What colour is the head going to be? It would help me alot to come with better suggestions than this if I knew.

Sounds like you have alot of good Ideas going on, I like the node idea. Oh, and the paintjob you have done looks really good, and I am a sucker for the freehanding you have going on, makes me want to try something like it myself. 

Good luck, happy painting! :victory:


----------



## SynthNine

Beautifully done mate! I love the bloodiness of it all.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I would go with silvers personally. I think the gold may pop too much and if you are trying to avoid that silver does a great job, you can make it as dull or shiny as you want.


Indeed. I should probably stay away from gold on these miniatures, it has a feeling to it that doesn't fit with the overall aesthetics (compared to my Brethren Librarians for example). The muted silver plays along nicely with the black armour parts and adds some pop to the details. I guess I was stuck with the thought that lightnings should have a yellow colour as an homage to the artwork but now when I look at it I'm happy I didn't go that way.



Turnip86 said:


> Might I suggest silver claws with a hint of gold at the tips, nothing OTT but enough to give them a menacing glint.
> 
> Great work on everything so far though, I'm slowly (v.slowly because the site takes ages to load and often times out) reading up on the plog and it's making me want to have my BA's sent over from the UK with next day international delivery


Hm. I'm leaning towards yellow on the claws now. Mostly since I need something to break up the darkness (along with the silver). A muted yellow on the claws will tie in well I believe (look below for a trial picture).



Zodd said:


> Silver would be good for a toned-down theme of colours.


Indeed, but I still need an accent colour to make the miniature interesting.



Chris Guard of Mardat said:


> Love what I've seen so far, haven't read through the whole log yet but I'm getting there, can't wait to read more and see Tyberos finished
> 
> +rep and subscribed


Glad you like it, good luck on catching up with the thread, it has become quite long-winded by now 



Tossidin said:


> Paint them BRIGHT RED AND SPARKLING! :3
> 
> I am thinking that if you want a toned down look, you gotta decide if you want attention drawn to the lightning claws or not (you mentioned not wanting it drawn away from the face). If they are silver, they could end up kinda "hidden" on the model, though it could also look wery characterful. A yellowish tint would make them pop out, which I think would be awesome (kinda fits my style of painting better), but it depends on what look you are going for. I wouldn't go for gold, it just doesn't seem right to me, though you could convince me otherwise, as you have done before
> If you wanna go with something really unorthodox, maybe a bone colour on them could work? You know, like shark teeth. Just an Idea I had, though I don't know if it would fit at all.
> 
> As for the loincloth, I am having trouble coming up with good ideas. Bluish tinted silver could work, but seems wierd? Bronze?
> What colour is the head going to be? It would help me alot to come with better suggestions than this if I knew.
> 
> Sounds like you have alot of good Ideas going on, I like the node idea. Oh, and the paintjob you have done looks really good, and I am a sucker for the freehanding you have going on, makes me want to try something like it myself.
> 
> Good luck, happy painting! :victory:


YOU'RE RIGHT! BRIGHT RED (PINK) IS THE WAY TO GO! PINK UNICORNS VOMITING RAINBOWS FOR EVERYBODY! AND LOVE! LOTS OF LOVE!!!

I'm leaning towards an idea in my head where "Tyberos" activates his claws with his mind (in fact his entire suit can be activated this way enhancing his reflexes and movement, which is represented on the model by the powernodes) which then makes them activate their dispersion fields and start to glow yellow. When he needs his fists he simply disengages the claws and start up the dispersion field on the fists instead making the fist glow and the blades go dully brown-ish. He can of course do this almost instantaneously as he's fighting making his fists/claws flicker with light as he fights and grow pale and dark while he walks around... At least that's how I imagine it.



SynthNine said:


> Beautifully done mate! I love the bloodiness of it all.


Thank you!

----

Update on Tyberos
I've been pushing along. I'm hoping to have him in a tabletop state by Thursday (tricky, I know, but it should be doable) and then I can finish him up as I go along (minor glazes and base painting at a later date). I've poked about with the chest plate and I'm starting to get satisfied with it. I also started and finished the head but then realized it was crap because the details I had sculpted on it was uneven and crappy so I decided to exchange it for a similar copy of the head without the details (painting that up tomorrow hopefully).

Work on the claws has commenced and this faded yellow is growing on me. I think I can do all the claws this way and it will look pretty good. I decided to do some minor glow effects along the nodes and other details on the back to break up the colours a bit. At a later date I might add some maori patterns to the blue areas but that is not a priority at the moment.

I'm still confounded by the loincloth and I'm also undecided on which colour to use on the chainswords for the chainfists - ideas and suggestions on that is very welcomed.









I'm also doing some mock-ups with the Void Shark tacticals with close combat weapons. I want them to be brutal and mid action. As if the had just landed with the drop pod and are drawing blades to jump on the enemy and get into the frenzy. It's a bit tricky but it's a load of fun to make more complicated stances then the usual "I am holding a blade and a pistol and looking straight ahead"-poses:

















And for those interested in what's to come, have a peek at this:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Arcticor

For some reason Heresy did not show the yellow envelope that shows a new post like usual, so i though no new posts. I decided to check up. good thing i did. Tyberos is looking bad ass. For the claws, I like the idea of either silver or the 'shark tooth' look. Also, I was looking through your plog again (i swear, its like heroin) and was wondering where you are purchasing your chainswords/bolt pistols from? I checked FW, but they only have axes. Again, everything is phenomenal. 
-Arcticor

-----------------------------------
AAAAh xeno you and i posted at the same time  above was going towards ur post before this one. I like your idea with claws/fists on tyberos, very original. Stuff is looking great as normal.
-Arcticor (again)


----------



## Midge913

Shaping up nicely my man! As to the sneak peeks, some cool stuff in the pipe it appears.


----------



## troybuckle

I love the blue and purple together, it looks equally as good on the terminator as it does your dread. When I do a SM army I think I might have to borrow this idea from you lol. Keep up the good work!!


----------



## JAMOB

Well... me gusta  The claws pop nicely but not so much that it is annoying, i think it will work well. I think the yellow on the hood and feet are what makes that true... otherwise it would be like a flashlight in a cave... or a trygons mouth... either way, a single light is weird a couple makes it brighter  Anyway, nice update, really glad I didnt miss this. And that it wasnt at school... the internet there sucks...
Nice poses... Seem to remind me of some scouts you painted a while ago. you know, with how dramatic the poses are. So, when are you coming back to them 
Amazing work as usual, cant wait to see tyberius' head.
Cheers!
-JAMOB


----------



## jaysen

That last one looks a little like a traditional kabuki stance.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

You never cease to amaze me Xeno and I really look forward to seeing your Assault Ram started!


----------



## xenobiotic

I meant to answer all your comments but the clock is ticking and my patience is wearing thin because of the miniature - I will do my best to answer all the comments above when I add the next update, I hope there are no hard feelings.

This miniature is testing my patience in more way then one. The head I had sculpted details on (shown in these pictures) is just a mess when paint was added to the mixture. The detail I had sculpted proved to be uneven and messy and the chosen colour I had for it made the whole thing worse. This head will be replaced as soon as I have time to do so (i.e. not now).

The lightning claws from the Tyberos miniature ARE PAIN THE BEHIND TO PAINT. They are full of angles that are IMPOSSIBLE to reach without doing all manners of strange things to your paintbrush and your body. My hand is aching, my neck is aching and the claws looks like pale yellow shit - well spent 7 hours indeed.

I received a lot of harsh critique on the glow on the cowl and the feet from a friend of mine so I set aim to make them look a bit better. Now as I look at the picture I find they look pretty crappy, don't know what happened there - and here I was thinking I had improved the effect.

All in all, it's been a shitty day for my motivation for this miniature and it will be a battle of will if I am to present him in any tabletop manner before saturday morning (when the October army painting challenge entry is due).

Now, before I go to sleep and dream about spewing profanity all over the place, here are some pictures:









Ideas for colours on the loincloth is still sought after with shiny light and huge amount of gratitude!

----

Sorry for the hissy fit - till next time :bye:


----------



## yoyoyo12365

Hey Xeno, sorry to hear that you're having it rough with this guy. I would like to share that this is one of the few threads on this forum that I follow, and it's because I like the premise of your chapter, and the way you paint your miniatures. Your tutorial on painting "cold" blues changed the way I'll be painting my entire army, and your conversions are great.
BTW, I would normally go with a crimson for most loincloths, but I want to say that a metallic grey would fit it perfectly... If not that, then maybe just paint it black (not how it is, but proper painted black). Just some thoughts.


----------



## Midge913

I am actually quite fond of the design on the face mask to be honest with you, and I think that the glow on the hood and feet look much better than they did before. I feel your pain when it comes to the lightning claws man, they suck to paint. Hang in there as I feel that he is going to be a wonderful looking piece in the end.


----------



## Turnip86

Crimson loincloth! that way you'll have all of the primary colours on one model and if you keep it dark it wont stand out too much. Just a thought, probably a terrible one.

Also, regarding your multi-dimensional problems, I recently discovered a local shop sells angled paintbrushes so you dont kill your wrists getting to those hard to reach areas, maybe you should invest in one


----------



## Minizke1

Xeno, the lightning claw looks fantastic, don't be mistaken.


----------



## yoyoyo12365

Turnip86 said:


> Crimson loincloth! that way you'll have all of the primary colours on one model and if you keep it dark it wont stand out too much. Just a thought, probably a terrible one.


Good sir, I actually said that a crimson would be my choice for my chapter, but that it wouldn't do well on this guy. I didn't mean for there to be any confusion there, sorry. :victory:


----------



## Turnip86

yoyoyo12365 said:


> Good sir, I actually said that a crimson would be my choice for my chapter, but that it wouldn't do well on this guy. I didn't mean for there to be any confusion there, sorry. :victory:


I actually missed you mentioning the loincloth in your post, selective reading at it's finest  and thought I was being original in suggesting crimson. 

I actually think it would tie the model together and look pretty good while not sticking out too much, an alternative would be a parchment colour but only if it wasnt highlighted to the extreme - something like graveyard earth blended up to kommando khaki so it's very matt. Again, I'm probably coming up with horrific ideas that will ruin your figures but at least you'll know what NOT to do


----------



## xenobiotic

Arcticor said:


> For some reason Heresy did not show the yellow envelope that shows a new post like usual, so i though no new posts. I decided to check up. good thing i did. Tyberos is looking bad ass. For the claws, I like the idea of either silver or the 'shark tooth' look. Also, I was looking through your plog again (i swear, its like heroin) and was wondering where you are purchasing your chainswords/bolt pistols from? I checked FW, but they only have axes. Again, everything is phenomenal.
> -Arcticor
> 
> -----------------------------------
> AAAAh xeno you and i posted at the same time  above was going towards ur post before this one. I like your idea with claws/fists on tyberos, very original. Stuff is looking great as normal.
> -Arcticor (again)


It was bound to happen sooner or later 
I'm glad you like my ideas, I just have to put them into the miniature now...



troybuckle said:


> I love the blue and purple together, it looks equally as good on the terminator as it does your dread. When I do a SM army I think I might have to borrow this idea from you lol. Keep up the good work!!


Which one of my ideas? Blue and Purple? Purple was just a way for me to break up the Black colour, it's supposed to be Blue and Black originally but it looked a bit flat and dull with those huge areas of black. You have to remember to make the miniatures interesting. I guess I'm never able to escape from my artistic side.



JAMOB said:


> Well... me gusta  The claws pop nicely but not so much that it is annoying, i think it will work well. I think the yellow on the hood and feet are what makes that true... otherwise it would be like a flashlight in a cave... or a trygons mouth... either way, a single light is weird a couple makes it brighter  Anyway, nice update, really glad I didnt miss this. And that it wasnt at school... the internet there sucks...
> Nice poses... Seem to remind me of some scouts you painted a while ago. you know, with how dramatic the poses are. So, when are you coming back to them
> Amazing work as usual, cant wait to see tyberius' head.
> Cheers!
> -JAMOB


Hehe, they'd just be glowing mid swing really. Normally he'd keep all the equipment off. I'm still sorting the fluff out in my head but I'm shaping up some general ideas that I like. I just need to weave them all together without making the chapter "the most special chapter of them all"-like so many other home-brew chapters out there.



jaysen said:


> That last one looks a little like a traditional kabuki stance.


I did not know that, you live and you learn! 



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> You never cease to amaze me Xeno and I really look forward to seeing your Assault Ram started!


So do I! It looks like a wonderful kit, I'm impressed by the quality of the casting on it now that I've got it in my hands. Looks easier to put together than a Land Raider!



yoyoyo12365 said:


> Hey Xeno, sorry to hear that you're having it rough with this guy. I would like to share that this is one of the few threads on this forum that I follow, and it's because I like the premise of your chapter, and the way you paint your miniatures. Your tutorial on painting "cold" blues changed the way I'll be painting my entire army, and your conversions are great.
> BTW, I would normally go with a crimson for most loincloths, but I want to say that a metallic grey would fit it perfectly... If not that, then maybe just paint it black (not how it is, but proper painted black). Just some thoughts.


I'm very happy that you like my thread, it's the main reason I "keep on trucking" after all these doubts and going back and forth with miniatures.

I kind of went with your idea in the end, so you did good :victory:



Midge913 said:


> I am actually quite fond of the design on the face mask to be honest with you, and I think that the glow on the hood and feet look much better than they did before. I feel your pain when it comes to the lightning claws man, they suck to paint. Hang in there as I feel that he is going to be a wonderful looking piece in the end.


The problem is that the detail is uneven on the surface and it shows a lot when you look at it in person. It just looks slapped on and unfinished. I'm thinking it would probably be better to paint these details on on the future!



Turnip86 said:


> Crimson loincloth! that way you'll have all of the primary colours on one model and if you keep it dark it wont stand out too much. Just a thought, probably a terrible one.
> 
> Also, regarding your multi-dimensional problems, I recently discovered a local shop sells angled paintbrushes so you dont kill your wrists getting to those hard to reach areas, maybe you should invest in one


Hm. I'm afraid crimson would clash to much with the palette on this miniature.

Angled brushes? Now there's something unorthodox!



Minizke1 said:


> Xeno, the lightning claw looks fantastic, don't be mistaken.


Why thank you 

----

So. I have a problem. This miniature is acting all strange on me. First I spend ages painting the damn thing and when I take pictures nothing of what I see on the screen matches what I'm seeing when I look at the miniature itself. I've spent the last 20 minutes trying to take pictures of the loincloth to actually show what I'm seeing. Granted I've worked out some odd metallic effects on it - but it's still odd. Same deal with the lightningclaws, whom I will have to keep adjusting, I'm guessing I should have done more extensive trials on other pieces before I set out to do these claws yellow but I really thought I had it when I did a test run on one of them. Oh well...

In the end the loincloth (thanks for the input, it was helpful even if I ended up going another way) was painted with Mithril Silver followed by washes with Asuremen Blue, Thraka Green and Badab Black. It was then all covered with a Gloss Varnish. I was aiming for a fish scale effect but it looks kind of dull in the pictures and much more alive in person (I hate when that happens):









I'm going to sit down and have a good look at Tyberos and see if I can save the pieces I'm not content with at the moment. I'm going to take my time and really think about each step. First of all something needs to be done with the head. I'm going to paint another one of the same basic look and see if I like that better. I might also try a whole different head altogether. Then I'm going to have to adjust the lightningclaws, I'm thinking a yellow glaze might do the trick but we'll see. I also need to add minor details such as stars and maori tattoo patterns to the armour and to top it all of some gore and battle damage - of course. But all in all he's at tabletop standard for me now so I'm putting him into the challenge as done. November will have to bring something relatively easy for me, I might do another tarantula sentry gun to add to the squad. Then I can produce something more demanding in december perhaps (a 5 man squad of Void Sharks perhaps).

In other news I got my FW order today, I was planning on tossing up some random pictures of the pile of resin but I got a bit carried away and now I can't be arsed to do it. I'm very happy with the kits I've looked through so far though. The Deathstorm Drop Pod with Missile Launchers is particularly wicked looking - I'm glad I finally took the step and bought the kit even if it's somewhat expensive compared to the amount of resin you do get. Oh, I'm also somewhat disappointed that FW doesn't send you a flyin base with the Caestus, it's another splurge you have to take when you've just bought a kit for roughly 100£. Luckily I have some for spare that I can use.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## troybuckle

The mini looks great man, the head is very nice IMO. Sometimes a mini just kicks our ass, it happened to me with an elder model a while ago. However, I wouldn’t use the yellow glaze on the lighting claws. I use yellow glaze a lot on my nids and even sparingly it over powers what I paint with it, and it also tend to leave a shine, but that just my experience.


----------



## xenobiotic

troybuckle said:


> The mini looks great man, the head is very nice IMO. Sometimes a mini just kicks our ass, it happened to me with an elder model a while ago. However, I wouldn’t use the yellow glaze on the lighting claws. I use yellow glaze a lot on my nids and even sparingly it over powers what I paint with it, and it also tend to leave a shine, but that just my experience.


You're right. Yellow glaze is/was far to overpowering, it kills the highlights all at once (doesn't behave at all like other glaze mixes I'm more familiar with, you live and you learn I guess), I shall have to reconsider my ideas on the claws. Perhaps I could add a tiny amount of yellow on the glove and fingers around the blades to give them a "glow" effect which would get the message across that they are power(ed) weapons and not just yellow claws. Will take a hell of a long time to paint that though with all those narrow angles. Something to do in the coming chilling winter nights I guess.

While thinking about that I was tinkering, slowly, with some patterns on the blue parts. These patterns won't be all over the place but I'm going to get some of them on each major blue part of the body (chin guards, thigh shield, chest piece, helmet and left arm). It's tricky to make good patterns on smaller surfaces and still get the idea across. I'm guessing I could have done a little better to get the wave pattern on here but hindsights a bitch:








For those whom are wondering where his head and arms went since last time I removed them to enable me to paint these patterns and redo some minor details (dagger handle for one) easier.

On another note I couldn't keep myself from dry fitting the Caestus, so here she is (nothing glued together just yet, simply resting on the table). Most of the parts fit together snuggly. It's just the middle section that's about 1-2 mm shrunken on the width and height making for some nasty fits in some areas (depending on how you put it together). I'm probably going to be able to solve it with some minor plasticard and green stuff work. No major miscasts discovered yet but I haven't looked that closely yet to be honest. It's a very impressive piece, it's somehow smaller and larger than I had assumed at the same time (Void Shark Tactical marine and Terminator for Scale purposes):









Hopefully back soon with more updates and random pictures of resin.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

I can't believe that I missed the last update!!!!

Anyway I would agree with Troy's assessment about the yellow glaze. 

Tyberos is really starting to look fantastic!!! I love the patterns on the leg and I think that it compliments that space type patterns on the other side. Very nice work and design decision. 

The Caestus is awesome looking and I can't wait to see that bad boy painted up.


----------



## troybuckle

Can't wait to see that thing painted


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I can't believe that I missed the last update!!!!
> 
> Anyway I would agree with Troy's assessment about the yellow glaze.
> 
> Tyberos is really starting to look fantastic!!! I love the patterns on the leg and I think that it compliments that space type patterns on the other side. Very nice work and design decision.
> 
> The Caestus is awesome looking and I can't wait to see that bad boy painted up.


It's a bloody hell to paint the patterns though, my Kolinsky Masterclass size non-existence is making it somewhat easier but it's still annoyingly small details to do. At the same time I'm glad I'm sticking to them because they compliment the darker details very nicely! I'm glad you like them.



troybuckle said:


> Can't wait to see that thing painted


Oh, it's going to be a while before I get around to paint the Assault Ram. While it has made it into my 1500 pts list for these guys I can't really see myself painting it right now (before I've gotten some of the Troops and Drop pods sorted out).

It also feels like a dauting task to make something that big visually interesting with nothing but a paintbrushes (but I'm not getting an airbrush any time soon so I'll have to bite the bullet, hehe). I have some general ideas on how I want to transfer the Void Shark schemes to the vehicles though. I'm thinking of making it a halved scheme on them, mostly since quartered can be darn tricky to make on vehicles but also to distinguish the "blocky" vehicles from the biped marines and dreadnoughts. When it comes to the drop pod it's still on the drawing board.

----

I haven't had a lot of time available to paint on but I've made some minor progress on Tyberos. I've added some patterns to the leg, the back and, most importantly, the hand. When I did the freehand pattern on the hand I decided that "glow" was the thing lacking to pull off the yellow power blade effect on the lightning claws so I decided to give it a go. Some time later this was the result. A lot of trial and error here but I think it's pretty convincing for most parts right here. Now I just need to get some blood platter on the chainblades (and perhaps a tiny tiny amount on the blades) and then I'm good to go! I guess I have to start to consider some battle damage also (sorry about the badly edited and busy picture):








The head is a FW World Eater head with the bunny ears shaved off. I just wanted to see how it would look on him. Still debating the head issue somewhat. I'll come to a conclusion soon enough.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## troybuckle

I like the shape of the new head its very menacing!


----------



## Midge913

I like the new head, and the glow on the claws is very convincing. I really like it.


----------



## Asamodai

Like the new head too. Kinda looks like it has gills, which works.


----------



## Arcticor

Loving the freehand on tyberos (i bet uve heard that before ) but seriously. The freehand white markings really are mind blowing. The claws really do look like they are glowing, you have captured that effect well. The head.... well, eh. I'm not really loving it as much as before. I just dont think it fits.


----------



## unxpekted22

New head defintiely looks scarier. More intimidating and void sharkish.


----------



## JAMOB

Amazing as usual  just saying though post 1000 is coming up sort of soon. Got anything planned for it?


----------



## InquisitorTidusSolomon

JAMOB said:


> Amazing as usual  just saying though post 1000 is coming up sort of soon. Got anything planned for it?


There's still over a hundred posts to go before he hits the 1000 mark...

Honestly Xeno, I like the new head a great deal more. Unxpekted is right; it seems more fitting with the theme and definitely makes Tyberos look fiercer.


----------



## xenobiotic

troybuckle said:


> I like the shape of the new head its very menacing!


ARRR!!! Or GRRR... Or whatever sound sharks make 



Midge913 said:


> I like the new head, and the glow on the claws is very convincing. I really like it.


Glad to get your stamp of approval! It was seriously challenging to pull it of with a brush. The patience some of these Golden Daemon painters must have seeing some of the glow effects they manage to paint. Then again they spend multiple amounts of time more then I do on my miniatures.



Asamodai said:


> Like the new head too. Kinda looks like it has gills, which works.


It has a "fishy" character to it once the bunny ears are shaved off, doesn't it?



Arcticor said:


> Loving the freehand on Tyberos (i bet you've heard that before ) but seriously. The freehand white markings really are mind blowing. The claws really do look like they are glowing, you have captured that effect well. The head.... well, eh. I'm not really loving it as much as before. I just dont think it fits.


Each to his own, I think it fits rather nicely, I don't think I'll use them on any other of the terminators (possibly to denote sergeants/veterans). I have a few different alternatives to work with on the rest of the army so I'll have to see what kind of feeling I'd like to catch.



unxpekted22 said:


> New head defintiely looks scarier. More intimidating and void sharkish.


It has a certain feel to it, doesn't it? I knew I would have to use the FW World Eater heads sometimes down the line since the first time I lay eyes upon them.



JAMOB said:


> Amazing as usual  just saying though post 1000 is coming up sort of soon. Got anything planned for it?


Hm, as ITS mentions below there are still a lot of posts left (unless you guys start spamming me for some reason). I figure that the "best" thing I could do would be to paint something big and unusual such as the Caestus Assault Ram. Then again that's a huge undertaking and I'm not sure I'd be able to finish it before we hit 1k posts. I'll have to think about it.



InquisitorTidusSolomon said:


> There's still over a hundred posts to go before he hits the 1000 mark...
> 
> Honestly Xeno, I like the new head a great deal more. Unxpekted is right; it seems more fitting with the theme and definitely makes Tyberos look fiercer.


A hundred posts roll by quickly! I remember when this thread was only about 300 posts and now it's thrice the amount, scary indeed!

I think the head fits better also. My initial assessment proved even more truthful once I slapped some paint on it also!

----

There are still some final touches left on Tyberos. First of all there is hardly any battle damage on his armour yet. Secondly, and most importantly, there is no blood splatter or effects on him. I want some on his face (in the grills and splashed over one eye) and I want a tiny amount on the claws and some more on the chainfists in the palm of his hands - hopefully it won't ruin the miniature (what a "doh" moment that would have been).

I'm however having doubt about the sculpted shoulder pad icon. I'm leaning towards scraping it off and painting one on instead. I'm starting to get a lot more confident with freehanding and I think I prefer a stylized freehanded shark rather than sculpted details, thoughts?








The right arm is just blue tacked on, that's why it looks somewhat strange at the connection between the chest and the arm.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Scathainn

Very nice! The new head looks wonderful!

The only criticism I would have is the OSL on the claws (the right claw in particular) doesn't blend in very well with the rest of the gauntlet. But keep up the good work!


----------



## Midge913

I think it looks great buddy! 

As to the sculpted detail....... I would leave it as a sculpted relief. I have a personal preference for sculpted details as I am not as good a freehand artist as you are, so my natural inclination is to sculpt something if I can. However, I am sure that something stylized would look nice as well.


----------



## yoyoyo12365

In my opinion, I think that having a freehand on it instead of the sculpt would look good, especially after what I've seen on your tanks. Either way you go though, it looks good how it is now. Can't wait for the next update.


----------



## Minizke1

Is that source lighting on the claws? I like that, a lot.


----------



## JAMOB

I really like it. you have given it a personal flair, which I like, it is painted well, which i like, and the head looks pretty awesome, which i like. All in all, I HATE IT  lol just kidding of course  Scared you there for a second. its amazing.


----------



## jaysen

He looks awesome. The only thing I would suggest is that the bright yellow lightning claws detract from the beautifull black and blue work. The eye is irresistably drawn to the super bright yellow and then held there, even though it definitely is not the most interesting part of the model. You want the audience to be drawn to the parts you spent the most time and effort on.


----------



## Minizke1

Why is everyone hating on the claws? I think they're fantastic....


----------



## yoyoyo12365

jaysen said:


> You want the audience to be drawn to the parts you spent the most time and effort on.


From what I could tell, those were the part that he spent the most time on...


----------



## Khorne's Fist

xenobiotic said:


>


Just when you think this thread can't get any better... it does. That WE head looks excellent. It really matches the feral, tribal feel to the Sharks that you've got going. Well done.


----------



## Hellados

I have been following this thread since day 1 and i tell ya the title is a little. . . . . . now :biggrin:


----------



## Minizke1

yoyoyo12365 said:


> From what I could tell, those were the part that he spent the most time on...


This.


----------



## jaysen

Hmm... I would think the intricate patterns freehanded onto the armor, as well as the wonderfully detailed highlighting on the armor itself rather than the washed lightning claws?

Either way, the super bright claws draw the eye and they are all I see when I look at the model, which in my humble opinion, does discredit to the wonderfully painted armor pieces. It is still a great model, just lacks some in compositional balance causing the viewer to manly focus on the claws.


----------



## Turnip86

I think the claws are really nice and seem to act as a sort of frame due to the pose which helps focus attention more towards what's in between them. Although I do think the right fist doesn't look quite as good as the brighter blue left fist due to the the better contrast on the left, whereas the yellow is a tad overpowering against the darker purple on the right. 

Other than that it really does look awesome, have some rep


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I think it looks great buddy!
> 
> As to the sculpted detail....... I would leave it as a sculpted relief. I have a personal preference for sculpted details as I am not as good a freehand artist as you are, so my natural inclination is to sculpt something if I can. However, I am sure that something stylized would look nice as well.


I'm just not getting a good vibe from the sculpted detail. Painting it made me realise the effect I was looking for isn't coming across. Then again I have no concrete idea of how I'd like to do it should I have painted it on, meaning I will probably wait till I've painted some more Void Sharks so that I've had time to try some other freehanded patterns out. I really shouldn't experiment this much with an HQ choice...



yoyoyo12365 said:


> In my opinion, I think that having a freehand on it instead of the sculpt would look good, especially after what I've seen on your tanks. Either way you go though, it looks good how it is now. Can't wait for the next update.


I think so too but I'm keeping the sculpt for now. A freehanded shark in white would probably look similar so there would only be a minor change when looking at the miniature.



JAMOB said:


> I really like it. you have given it a personal flair, which I like, it is painted well, which i like, and the head looks pretty awesome, which i like. All in all, I HATE IT  lol just kidding of course  Scared you there for a second. its amazing.


You never scare me 



Minizke1 said:


> Is that source lighting on the claws? I like that, a lot.





jaysen said:


> He looks awesome. The only thing I would suggest is that the bright yellow lightning claws detract from the beautifull black and blue work. The eye is irresistably drawn to the super bright yellow and then held there, even though it definitely is not the most interesting part of the model. You want the audience to be drawn to the parts you spent the most time and effort on.





Minizke1 said:


> Why is everyone hating on the claws? I think they're fantastic....





yoyoyo12365 said:


> From what I could tell, those were the part that he spent the most time on...





Minizke1 said:


> This.





jaysen said:


> Hmm... I would think the intricate patterns freehanded onto the armor, as well as the wonderfully detailed highlighting on the armor itself rather than the washed lightning claws?
> 
> Either way, the super bright claws draw the eye and they are all I see when I look at the model, which in my humble opinion, does discredit to the wonderfully painted armor pieces. It is still a great model, just lacks some in compositional balance causing the viewer to manly focus on the claws.





Turnip86 said:


> I think the claws are really nice and seem to act as a sort of frame due to the pose which helps focus attention more towards what's in between them. Although I do think the right fist doesn't look quite as good as the brighter blue left fist due to the the better contrast on the left, whereas the yellow is a tad overpowering against the darker purple on the right.
> 
> Other than that it really does look awesome, have some rep





Scathainn said:


> Very nice! The new head looks wonderful!
> 
> The only criticism I would have is the OSL on the claws (the right claw in particular) doesn't blend in very well with the rest of the gauntlet. But keep up the good work!


So, on the hot subject of the claws (oh, yes, I piled all your replies into one response because, face it, if I didn't I'd be writing the same thing over and over again. Here goes. It's the first attempt I've done with yellow OSL, and it has proven to be harder then I had first assumed (yellow acting entirely different on black and blue basecoat). The general shape of the claws are very unforgiving and hard to work with. I think that once I get the "kitty claws" of the ground it will fit much better (since their claws are smaller).

And on the subject of framing the miniature and what not all I can say is that I looked at this miniature for a long time now and before I painted the lightning claws yellow the miniature was lacking something, it wasn't interesting at all. Now the freehanded patterns helped but I still believe the yellow claws are crucial to "lighten" up the colour scheme somewhat. Maybe I didn't make a good call with the colour combination after all (blue and black) but this is somewhat of a special character and a special case so... Yeah... I have no idea where I'm going right now...



Khorne's Fist said:


> Just when you think this thread can't get any better... it does. That WE head looks excellent. It really matches the feral, tribal feel to the Sharks that you've got going. Well done.


Oh, gosh, you make me blush! :blush:



Hellados said:


> I have been following this thread since day 1 and i tell ya the title is a little. . . . . . now :biggrin:


... I know. Sadly most of the first part of the thread can't be edited any longer and that might apply to the title as well? I'll take it up with a mod, it should be renamed into something more suiting.

----

So, battling chronic fatigue and other projects I had some time to spare for warhammer in all shapes and forms (thoughts, ideas, realisations and actualisations). 

Thoughts have circled mainly around my inability to keep my production rate up, which is unnerving since I'd like to keep my focus and keep a high production rate with the Void Sharks, at least when it comes to a modelling basis. Right now I haven't done any work at all with the bodies for all the power armoured marines, it's just endless amounts of legs and a lot of arms that are going to need green stuffing. Same goes for the customised lightning claw project. But that might change as soon as I can finish of the other project I'm working on (painting an image for a friend).

Ideas are a bit split at the moment and not only focused on the Void Sharks (or the Brethren for that matter, which happen to be on ice for the time being). I've been toying around with the idea to take the plunge and try my hand at painting some Warhammer Fantasy miniatures, so to that end I threw some money at Forge World just to see what I might be getting into:








Now I know some of you are going: "_Duuude, you got enough to do already, finish something before you start something new!_" and to those all I have to say is "_Midge913_". On a more serious note it would most likely revolve around a character miniature or squadron command to start with, I'm not clinically insane (yet). We can evolve this discussion as needed (I have some general ideas that might work out as soon as I can have a look in the book and get a feel for the Chaos Dwarves).

As far as actualisations go I've been toying around with Tyberos even more. I've finally been able to get my hands on a pretty convincing blood mix that I've used on his chainfists and some other places. I'm afraid it might have screwed up my OSL (which I realise is now looking a bit odd) but I kind of like the effect overall and I'm leaning towards putting him in the "totally completed pile" so I can move on to other interests:








C&C is of course welcomed since you guys have been with me through the entire process of this creation.

I've also decided not to use my Contemptor Dreadnought as an actual Contemptor in average games. While the rules for the Contemptor Dreadnoughts are very good I simply cannot justify the cost to have one in my non-apoc army (since it's a drop pod army and they can only use dreadnought drop pods for even more points...). Therefore I've decided to kit my Contemptor out as an Ironclad Dreadnought with 2 x Hunter killer missiles (each missile being represented by 6 tiny rockets). Painting should hopefully commence yet again once I've decided if and how I am to magnetize the missile launcher and a meltagun:









----

I believe that is all for now!
Till next time :bye:


----------



## Hellados

yes mate! Tyberos looks perfect now! just the right thing to do to the claws imho. also love the free hand! (don't think i've said that about these guys yet  )

I've alsoi been meaning to ask (although i'm sure it's here somewhere) what paint do you use and do you use a particular brand of flow improver?


----------



## troybuckle

Tyberos look awesome man, good job on ya, for sticking it out to the end!!


----------



## unxpekted22

I think he would look a lot better with no blood on the mouth grill, personally. Based on the pictures of him before, at least, I think it looked better. But the stains on the chest and eye lense look very realistic.


----------



## Midge913

I actually really like the blood effects Xeno! I think that it adds a lot of character to the miniature, and definitely conveys the frenzied feel to the Sharks.


----------



## Zodd

And something happened to Tyberos :shok:
That blood have really pulled everything together on the model. Truely Masterclass :victory:


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

i was a little scared just then when i couldn't find the Blood angels sucessor page. I'll have to remember that it's here now. Looking good Xeno. I'm looking forwards to seeing some more fo your shark boys.


----------



## jaysen

Awesome character, conversion, pose, and stellar paint! I think the blood solved all the balance issues I saw. It looks great, a real show winner.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

And I think I just spooged in my paints! Damn man, lovely piece Xeno!

I almost picked up that book as well...but figured I needed the new Apoc book from FW and a centaur. Let me know what you think of that book, Im sure it will be enjoyable.


----------



## JAMOB

:shok: name change...

nice work on those two though. The blood is great and the dreadnought is just amazing


----------



## Vaz

Likey Like.


----------



## kickboxerdog

hi im just wondering is there a tutorial to how u paint the white on your marines i really like it?


----------



## uzmnetosere

Breathtaking work. I really looking forward for any group photos.


----------



## Npf6

Xeno, I dunno if you have ever tried but I would be sending some or your pics to games workshop as I am sure they would love to showcase some of your work. Keep up all the good work man!!


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Where did you go Xeno?


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

I got a message from him a couple of days ago, he's super busy at the moment. It' s my theory that Xeno is actually Santa.


----------



## xenobiotic

It is high time for a monster update. Monstrous in the sense that it’s incredibly long and filled to the brink of destruction with text of doom and suffering (getting carried away here). It has taken me a couple of days to get the pieces for this update together and well presented, it is still somewhat lacking but I’m sensing you’re all afraid that I’ve died and that there will be no more updates so I figured I better get a move on. There might be some spelling and grammatical errors in the text, but I’m only human and English is my second language so bear with me!

---



troybuckle said:


> Tyberos look awesome man, good job on ya, for sticking it out to the end!!


Thanks, Troy, it’s always nice to finish of a miniature that you’ve been working on for a long time and that has been nagging you – this has certainly been one of those miniatures seeing as how I’ve been taking my sweet time converting it…



Hellados said:


> yes mate! Tyberos looks perfect now! just the right thing to do to the claws imho. also love the free hand! (don't think i've said that about these guys yet  )
> I've alsoi been meaning to ask (although i'm sure it's here somewhere) what paint do you use and do you use a particular brand of flow improver?


Thanks, Hellados, I think I improved them a lot from whence I started. They were pretty trouble to get right, I wanted them to stand out from the rest of the miniature but still try to balance them together. I was first reluctant about using yellow but I think it turned out ok. I’m convinced that the effect will be even better and more prominent once I get around to do my other terminators with lightning claws (if I could just finish of the conversion, that is).

I use this very special flow improver that I’ve gotten from a venerable monk in the northern mountain regions of Sweden. Or, more seriously, I tend to use nothing but water and saliva. What I mean with saliva is that I have a nasty habit of forming my brushes into a point with my mouth, I can’t really recommend it since you tend to get paint in your mouth and even if these are water solvable acrylics it can’t be healthy for you in the long run. 

Sometimes I spit in a tiny bowl and use some of my spit to get a different flow in my paints. I recently ordered some glaze and mix mediums from Vallejo though and I’m very keen on trying them out to see if they can keep me from putting the bristles in my mouth…



unxpekted22 said:


> I think he would look a lot better with no blood on the mouth grill, personally. Based on the pictures of him before, at least, I think it looked better. But the stains on the chest and eye lense look very realistic.


It was my intention to gore up the grill as soon as I had decided on using that head, so I guess I didn’t think about it all that much. Personally I prefer it this way, the teeth looked a bit goofy to me when they were bone coloured.



Midge913 said:


> I actually really like the blood effects Xeno! I think that it adds a lot of character to the miniature, and definitely conveys the frenzied feel to the Sharks.


Cheers, mate! They turned out pretty well in retrospect, a lot better than my previous efforts at least! It’s all in the mix of colours really!



Zodd said:


> And something happened to Tyberos :shok:
> That blood have really pulled everything together on the model. Truely Masterclass :victory:


I’m very glad you like it, Zodd!



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> i was a little scared just then when i couldn't find the Blood angels sucessor page. I'll have to remember that it's here now. Looking good Xeno. I'm looking forwards to seeing some more fo your shark boys.


Well, I’d been considering a name change for quite some time now but I never got around to arrange for it. The title was more and more untrue for each update and as I branch out my projects it would be a misnomer. Sadly I can’t change the OP any longer so the thread will still be somewhat confusing for first time readers, I should have planned ahead better… Well well…



jaysen said:


> Awesome character, conversion, pose, and stellar paint! I think the blood solved all the balance issues I saw. It looks great, a real show winner.


I was a bit afraid that I had overdone the blood effect at first. The chainfists are truly gory but since the blood is pretty dark it doesn’t show all that much so it needs to be almost over the top to show. The claws where a completely different subject matter but somehow I got that layer upon layer effect I was aiming for a lot easier then I had feared (would have been a true mindfuck moment should I have botched the blood and be forced to repaint the claws…).



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> And I think I just spooged in my paints! Damn man, lovely piece Xeno!
> I almost picked up that book as well...but figured I needed the new Apoc book from FW and a centaur. Let me know what you think of that book, Im sure it will be enjoyable.


Thanks, DoE!

I got Tamurkhan, IA Apocalypse 2 and ‘eavy metal masterclass so I’ve had a lot to read (sadly not much time for it) and a lot of new ideas to fight off while I’m trying to complete what I have already started (it’s truly a curse) and bought. I’ve been trying to iron out some plans for the next year so that I can speed up my process without necessarily sacrificing a lot of detail/fun – we shall see if it comes to fruition.



JAMOB said:


> :shok: name change...
> nice work on those two though. The blood is great and the dreadnought is just amazing


And think, the dreadnought isn’t even done yet, hehe!



Vaz said:


> Likey Like.


Smilie smile!



kickboxerdog said:


> hi im just wondering is there a tutorial to how u paint the white on your marines I really like it?


There is, it can be found in this post: http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?p=732620#post732620



uzmnetosere said:


> Breathtaking work. I really looking forward for any group photos.


It will be quite some time before I’ve painted enough new marines to warrant a group photo worth calling a group photo, but I’ll keep it in mind for sure!



Npf6 said:


> Xeno, I dunno if you have ever tried but I would be sending some or your pics to games workshop as I am sure they would love to showcase some of your work. Keep up all the good work man!!


I’ve sent them some on their Photobucket page. I think I’d have better luck if I had a better background for my pictures and took pictures of complete squadrons rather than single miniatures (the way I edit my single miniature pictures appears to be frowned upon by the web-team). Maybe I should make a push for it someday, at the same time I don’t want to be one of those hobbyists showing my work down their throats just to get 5 minutes of glory on their webpage…



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Where did you go Xeno?


Home? I guess that wasn’t the answer you were looking for 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> I got a message from him a couple of days ago, he's super busy at the moment. It' s my theory that Xeno is actually Santa.


I believe your theory is correct, until I shave my beard off, then I’m just an elf.

---

*Hobby news?*
Time flies when you’re having… Fun? I’ve been keeping myself busy with all manner of projects. Christmas time has its own set of “duties” on top of the everyday life side of things. My miniatures have been pushed aside simply because I’ve been lacking motivation to even doodle with them or put the occasional arm on. What little motivation I’ve had I’ve used to read the unusual amount of hobby related literature I’ve purchased lately (more on that further down).

As a side-effect to all these different things I’ve been indulging in the Warhammer Fantasy side of the hobby for the first time in about 10 years and I’m starting to warm up to it. But before I make any commitments to an actual army I decided I should read up on the rules to see if I could ever be persuaded into actually trying it out sometimes. So I went ahead and ordered the WHFB rulebook to have something to read over Christmas. We’ll see what comes out of that endeavor…

All these things being said I haven’t left the Warhammer 40k world completely alone. I have a plethora of tiny projects all progressing forward at once, tiny steps in the right direction. While battling with my own convictions of not having the right kind of backpacks for my Void Sharks I have done some minor green stuff work on some miniatures (their arms (taken from the MK II Forge World Assault Marines) are pretty flimsy and needed bulking up) and planning a whole lot more on some others.

I’ve also dwelled deeper into casting my own parts (such as modified heads) to speed up the process of building my marines both for the Void Sharks and for the Brethren of the Phoenix veterans. I have some promising results using RTV-silicone and 2 component resin from a local arts dealer. I’ve manage to perfect my casting method to a reasonable standard without the need for a vacuum chamber which is nice if I may say so myself! As I progress down my conversion path I reckon I can use the knowledge gained here to make copies of my future conversions (such as arms/weapons/shoulders) to produce larger numbers for my own armies. Copyright would stop me from selling/distributing any of these parts (since they are converted GW parts), so don’t ask about that.

Now to actual modeling stuff and pictures, which I know is the major reason for reading the plog (although the pictures in this update is somewhat non-descript):

*VOID SHARKS*

Amidst all the reading and chronic fatigue I’ve been pondering over my army list alternatives for my Void Shark force (and hoping there won’t be any major changes to the basic foundation of the Vanilla Marine lists once 6th edition and it’s Vanilla codex hits the selves (seeing as how I won’t be finished with this till it’s launch time…)). I reckon I’m going to need at least 6 drop pods for any 2000+ pts army (which is the aim here after all). When I started this project I had 3 drop pods “in stock” at home. I needed more.

So I went ahead and ordered a Deathstorm drop pod from FW. And as if by a stroke of faith the parts for my Deathstorm drop pod I ordered where in somewhat shoddy condition so they replaced not only the resin parts but also the drop pod! So suddenly I now had 5 drop pods – meaning I only lacked one! As a Christmas present to myself that pod is now ordered and on it’s way.










Now, I reckoned I want these pods to look as similar as possible, with only slight modifications to small freehand patterns and possibly squad numbers to tell them apart from each other. Therefore I’ve decided to embark on my most crazy project thus far – building and painting 6 drop pods at once. I know it’s wacky but I think I can pull it off if I just give it an hour or two each day for a couple of months (3 should do)!

The only problem with this superb idea is that I have no clue on how to paint the drop pods. I know for sure I don’t want to paint 30 drop pod doors in quartered schemes but possibly halved schemed could be fairly easy and still retain the aesthetics of the chapter (halved blue/black that is). The halved scheme is also my work in progress scheme for all the vehicles of the chapter (land speeders and assault ram) so it would tie in nicely!

So far I’m not even close to start painting, one drop pod is still on its way but the rest are cleaned of mold lines and ready for the first layers of paint. I must say that I am impressed by the look of the Deathstorm Drop Pods, they look vicious when constructed!










---

*Feel good story of the week!*

There are many reasons to like heresy-online, sure, we have the occasional whiner and sometimes people get lost in arguments that simply relate to preference and perception. Some like the aesthetics and others don’t, we obviously can’t all agree which miniatures are superb and which aren’t, but I digress. Why I like heresy so much? It’s all about the people, in my opinion, at least when it comes to the bulk of the people that frequent the project log area. Helpful individuals with spurring comments and ideas that can be the difference between actually finishing a piece or just letting it rot on a shelf for years. Another thing I have to applaud the Heresy members for is their giving nature, on several occasions I’ve been sent hard-to-find pieces I’ve been looking for free of charge. That’s nothing short of incredible and I applaud all those generous enough to do that. The latest piece of warhammer given to me can be seen here:








I’m already putting it to use but I’m having some problems with it since it’s a wee bit flatter compared to other helmets it doesn’t suit every miniature. I shall have to save it for something special...

---

*Thoughts and Reviews of Recent Purchases:*
Initially I was aiming to write a short review of all my recent purchases (IAA2, Eavy metal masterclass and Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos) but I don’t feel like pushing back this update any further so I will post the Tamurkhan review later on.

*Imperial Armour Apocalypse 2nd Edition*
*First Impression* – It’s a hardback book similar to the ones we are used to from the Imperial Armour line. It has suitably impressive cover art, if somewhat confusing seeing as how it portraits a Reaver Titan yet the rules for Reaver Titans are not in the book. Arguably it would have been better to use the Phantom Titan for the cover art, but I’m not the one calling the shots. The pages follow the usual “apocalypse data sheet” layout and are, most of the time, easy to read and understand. A new addition to this book is the “stickers” which show if a particular entry is balanced for normal 40k games, apocalypse games or is an apocalypse formation. A very quick and easy way to distinguish different units and get a feel for when they can be used.

*New Units & Formations* – Here follows a quick rundown of the units presented in the book. I can’t tell you any specific details about the units but it can give you an idea of how much goodies you get. I’ve marked each unit with the same marking as the “stickers” in the book.



*Imperial Guard*

Stormblade (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Stormsword (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Gorgon (Super heavy transport) – Apocalypse
Macharius (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Macharius Vanquisher (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Macharius “Vulcan” (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Crassus Armoured Assault Transport (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Dominus Armoured Siege Bombard (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Praetor Armoured Assault Launcher (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Tauros Squadron – 40k
Malcador (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Malcador “Annihilator” (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Malcaldor “Defender” (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Malcaldor “Infernus” (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Macharius “Omega” (Super heavy tank) – Apocalypse
Death Korps of Krieg Death Rider Company - Apocalypse Formation

*Space Marines*

Thunderhawk Transporter (Super heavy flyer) – Apocalypse
Space Marine Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought – 40k
Blood Angels Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought – 40k
Space Wolves Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought – 40k
Space Marine Contemptor Mortis Pattern Dreadnought – 40k
Siege Dreadnought – 40k
Land Raider Achilles – 40k
Caestus Assault Ram – 40k
Lucius Pattern Dreadnought Drop Pod – 40k
Automated Defence Force – Apocalypse Formation
Ancient Assault Force – Apocalypse Formation
Caestus “Trident” Assault Force – Apocalypse Formation

*Forces of the Imperium*

Aquila Lander – 40k
Marauder Destroyer – Apocalypse
Valkyrie Sky Talon Transport – 40k
Arvus Lighter – 40k
Imperial Fortress Walls - Apocalypse

*Orks*

Big Squiggoth – 40k
Warkopta – 40k
Fighta – Apocalypse
Kustom Meka-Dread – 40k
Lifta Wagon – 40k
Kill Blasta / Kill Bursta – Apocalypse
Grot Tank Battle Mob – 40k
Grot Mega-Tank – 40k
Grot Bomm Launcha – 40k
Tanka Mob – Apocalypse Formation
Squiggoth Battle Herd – Apocalypse Formation

*Eldar*

Fire Storm – 40k
Wraithseer – 40k
Phantom Titan – Apocalypse
Hornet Squadron – 40k
Vampire Raider – Apocalypse
Vampire Hunter – Apocalypse
Lynx – Apocalypse
Warp Hunter – 40k
Guardian Serpent Rider Host – Apocalypse Formation
Skyreaver Corsair Raiding Force – Apocalypse Formation

*Tyranids*

Schyted Hierodule – Apocalypse
Harridan – Apocalypse
Malanthrope – 40k
Meiotic Spore – 40k
Stone-Crusher Carnifex – 40k
Spore Chimney Infestation – Apocalypse Formation

*Tau*

Orca – Apocalypse
Manta – Apocalypse
Tiger Shark AX-1-0 – Apocalypse
Tiger Shark – Apocalypse
Piranha TX-42 – 40k
DX-6 “Remora” Drone Fighter – 40k
Tau Battlesuit Commander R’Alai – 40k
Pathfinder Search And Destroy Cadre – Apocalypse Formation
Drone Perimeter Defence Team – Apocalypse Formation
Kroot Knarloc Raiders – Apocalypse Formation
Manta Death Blow Cadre – Apocalypse Formation

*Necrons*

Necron Tomb Stalker – 40k
Undying Legion – Apocalypse Formation
Gauss Pylon Network – Apocalypse Formation

*Dark Eldar*

Dark Eldar Reaper – 40k
Dark Eldar Tantalus – 40k
Dark Eldar Raven Strike Fighter – 40k

*Chaos*

Daemon Lord An’ggrath the Unbound – Apocalypse
Daemon Lord Zarakynel – Apocalypse
Daemon Lord Scabeiathrax the Bloated – Apocalypse
Chaos Warhound Titan – Apocalypse
Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought – 40k
Giant Chaos Spawn – 40k
Spined Chaos Beast – 40k
Hell Talon – Apocalypse
Hell Blade – 40k
Dreadclaw – 40k
Vraksian Renegade Attack Force – Apocalypse Formation
Dreadclaw Talon – Apocalypse Formation
Daemon Engine Summoning – Apocalypse Formation

*Alternate Apocalypse Missions*

The Lion and the Hawk
Fortress Assault
Shattered City
Rampage of the Beast
*Apocalypse Rules Appendix*


*Conclusion* – It’s a nice book but I feel that it has been rushed in some places. It’s unusually full of typos and minor errors in the layout. References to rules from 4th edition should arguably be gone when we are closing in on the 6th edition (unless "target priority tests" is making a come-back…). Other than that I think it’s a reasonably priced book for its cost. I realize some players (particularly those only playing Necrons , Tyranids or Dark Eldar) might not have much use for the book (and would probably prefer borrowing another players copy) but it has it’s uses.

---

*‘Eavy Metal Masterclass*
*First Impressions* – It’s a standard GW softback (that’s the opposite of hardback – right?), papers are glued to the back, no spine or hard covers. The cover has a black glossy finish with a Chaos Daemon Prince on the front and the name around it. Eyeing through the book you find all the tutorials and tips from the ‘eavy metal teams. The book is filled with coloured pictures (as would be expected) and they have the same appearance as the articles from the WD series (in which most of these miniatures are covered). Apart from that we have some random examples of different miniatures painted by ‘eavy metal. Most of the hobbyists that have been into the hobby for a while now have seen pretty much all of these but I guess in context with the techniques shown you can view them in a new light. Over all the first impression is good and, personally, I felt it’s worth the cash already at this point. Having all these articles at one place is really handy! But we shall see as we delve deeper into the content.

*The Content* – It’s a guidebook that takes you through different techniques and tips, so the content is based around as many of these as possible. I’ll do a quick rundown of what is used/described on each miniature to give you a better idea if this book is something for you. The text mentions other parts of the miniatures but I’m just going to give a quick rundown of the actually pictured “tutorials”.



*Captain Cato Sicaruis*

Working with a miniature unassembled.
Painting Blue (Power) Armour
Painting Gold (with Metallic paint)
Painting Red fabrics (Crimson Red Cloak)
Painting White fabrics (Cloak lining)
*[*]Painting Freehands on white fabric.*
Painting Banner (cream fabrics)
*[*]Painting Gold Fabrics (non-metal metallic fabrics (NMM))*
*Skulltaker*

Working with a miniature unassembled.
Painting Red skin
Painting Black cloak with Gold Details (NMM) ))
*[*]Painting Skulls*
Painting Iron
Painting Bronze
Painting Fire (actual sculpted flames)
*Ork Warboss*

Converting an Ork Warboss
*[*]Painting Green Skin (as well as Ork Eyelids/Lips and Ork Talons)*
Painting Brown Clothing
Painting Black Clothing
Painting Brass
Painting Dark Metal
Painting Yellow Armour
*[*]Painting Paint chips on Yellow Armour*
*Chaos Lord (of Nurgle on Chaos Steed)*

Painting Steed Skin (Dark Flesh)
Painting Chaos Armour (Green Armour) and the Barding
*[*]Painting the Metal (Brass and Steel with “Dulling” and “Oxidation”)*
Painting the Cloak (Dark Purple)
Painting the Wood
Painting Fur
Painting Leather
Painting Tentacles (Sickly Human Skin)
Painting Helmet and Mount Horns (Bleached Bone horns)
*Space Wolves Wolf Guard*

Painting Human skin (and Eyes and Teeth)
Painting Hair
Painting Power Armour (Space Wolves – Codex style)
Painting Fur (Wolf Pelts)
*[*]Painting “Wolf Claws” (read: Lightning Claws)
[*]Painting Battle Damage (Space Wolves battle damage)*
Painting Details (Shoulderpds, Backpack)
Painting the Belt (Runes)
*Elrond, Master of Rivendell*

Painting Elven Flesh
Painting Blue Cloth
Painting Metal
Painting the Cloak (White)
Painting the Sleeves (freehanded blue patterns on blue background)
*Urien Rakarth*

Painting Dark Eldar Flesh
Painting the Coat Lining
Painting the Armour (Black Armour with coloured highlights)
Painting the Outside of the Cloak
*[*]Painting Glass Phials*
Painting the Haemovores
Painting Metals
Painting Flayed Skin
Painting Hair
*Vermin Lord*

Painting the Skin
Painting the Fur
Painting the Skull
*[*]Painting the Horns*
*[*]Painting the Hooves (and Claws)*
Painting the Collar (Brass)
Painting the Bells
Painting the Doomglavie (the Blade, the Haft and the Strapping)
*[*]‘Eavy Metal Technique – Directional Light*
Painting the Warp Stone
*[*]Painting Warpstone Glow*
Painting the Tail
*Daemon Prince*

Painting Daemonic Flesh
Painting the Legs (Daemonic Flesh)
Painting the Armour Plates
Painting the Golden Armour Trim
*[*]Painting Daemonic Glow*
Painting Daemonic Blade
Painting the Loincloth
Painting the Wing Membranes
*Dreadlord (Dark Elf on Cold One)*

Painting the Skin (Cold One)
Painting the Scales (Cold One)
Painting Purple Cloth
Painting Dark Elf skin
Painting Steel
Painting Gold
Painting Black (Hair)
Painting the Shield Rune (freehand)
*Games Day 2009 Chaos Lord (Non-metal metallic techniques (NMM))*

Painting Metal without Metallics
Glazing armour (giving hue to other colours)
Painting the Shield
*[*]Painting the Horns*
*[*]‘Eavy Metal Techniques – Non-Metallic Metal*
Painting the Inner Cloak
Painting the Outer Cloak
Painting the Gold Leaf
Painting the Helmet
*Mordor Troll*

Painting Troll Flesh
Painting the Scales
Painting Battered Metal
Painting Leathers
*The Sanguinor (NMM)*

Painting Gold Armour
Painting the Chalice
Painting Parchment
*[*]Painting Jewels and Gems*
*[*]Painting Angelic Wings and Glaive Encarmine
[*]Painting Red Armour and Blood Vial*
*Citadel Colour Chart*

*Conclusion* – As some pointed out this is mostly a collection of articles already published in different White Dwarf magazines. To those whom already have all the articles this will only add one or two miniatures to the lot (I’m not sure which at the moment) and therefore the book might not be worth the expense. To those who don’t have the White Dwarves and would like to learn more about different painting techniques this is a very good book to have. The pictures are good and you get a broad spectrum of examples to look at for inspiration and tips in order to paint your own miniatures better. I think that even beginners looking to advance would find some of these tips very helpful – if not only to get a name and a description on what they are looking to achieve so that they can search the forums for more input and helpful guidance.

---

Much to my dismay I’ve tallied up the last 6 months of Warhammer funds (hobby related stuff, books, miniatures and other related costs) and the figure is now well into 700£. I’m not going to be able to keep this up so I’m going to have to cool down a lot next year on purchases and actually get something finished (and maybe even sell some of my backlog miniatures).

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Hellados

if i had that shit ton of drop pods to paint i would prob do each 'side' or each door if you like half and half using something better then tape. i think i have seen some putty type stuff before, also blue tac works well. try it on one, see if you like the scheme then spray them all up.

I'm sure you'll still get a good effect knowing how epic your painting is


----------



## Midge913

Welcome back Xeno! Glad to see that you are keeping busy both in RL and in hobby related endeavors. Thanks for the break down of both books. I found that info extremely helpful as I have been tossing around the idea of getting the Master Class book. Now that I know what is in it, it will be passing as I already have all the WD Articles. 

IA Apoc 2 on the other hand looks like a must have

Looking forward to seeing the drop pods progress, so get at it mate


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Welcome back Xeno. 

I too have decided to reel in the amount spent on the hobby, especially considering the amount of stuff bought on impulse still sitting in boxes. I was going to start a necron or ogre kingdoms army for next years army painting challenge, but that would make everything so far unpainted a waste of money. The fact we have a baby due in June also helps put the brakes on spending.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

WoW...thats a shit storm of drop pods mate with a shit load of text! LMAO!!! 

For a minute I thought you got the wrong masterclass book or something, I was like, "It's not a soft cover and what are all those units hes listing, those arent in there." Than I realized it was a different masterclass book....DURRRR!

I am severly PISSED now! The Reaver titan rules arent in the Apoc II book? Retarded! I ordered it thinking it would be...great, well at least I should be able to put all the other stuff to use.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> I am severly PISSED now! The Reaver titan rules arent in the Apoc II book? Retarded! I ordered it thinking it would be...great, well at least I should be able to put all the other stuff to use.


The chaos reaver rules are in IA 7. I would say they'd be exactly the same because there's no mention of chaos in the entry beyond the title.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hellados said:


> if i had that shit ton of drop pods to paint i would prob do each 'side' or each door if you like half and half using something better then tape. i think i have seen some putty type stuff before, also blue tac works well. try it on one, see if you like the scheme then spray them all up.
> 
> I'm sure you'll still get a good effect knowing how epic your painting is


I see your point. I'll have to try some alternatives out, I got some ideas while painting today! And just a FYI, I spray nothing these days :angel:



Midge913 said:


> Welcome back Xeno! Glad to see that you are keeping busy both in RL and in hobby related endeavors. Thanks for the break down of both books. I found that info extremely helpful as I have been tossing around the idea of getting the Master Class book. Now that I know what is in it, it will be passing as I already have all the WD Articles.
> 
> IA Apoc 2 on the other hand looks like a must have
> 
> Looking forward to seeing the drop pods progress, so get at it mate


Well, you'll be missing one or two of the articles which are exclusive to the 'eavy metal masterclass book, but I think you'll manage without them to be honest.

I shall commence at once, sir! It is a long process though... 



Khorne's Fist said:


> Welcome back Xeno.
> 
> I too have decided to reel in the amount spent on the hobby, especially considering the amount of stuff bought on impulse still sitting in boxes. I was going to start a necron or ogre kingdoms army for next years army painting challenge, but that would make everything so far unpainted a waste of money. The fact we have a baby due in June also helps put the brakes on spending.


Yeah, I find that even if I have the funds to spare (should I want to) I can't just go amok and let it go out of control. It's tempting to throw money at FW just because I can for once but honestly I have unpainted miniatures stacked to last me at least 2 years at the current rate. I need to be realistic even if I don't have a little one on the way (yet).



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> WoW...thats a shit storm of drop pods mate with a shit load of text! LMAO!!!
> 
> For a minute I thought you got the wrong masterclass book or something, I was like, "It's not a soft cover and what are all those units hes listing, those arent in there." Than I realized it was a different masterclass book....DURRRR!
> 
> I am severly PISSED now! The Reaver titan rules arent in the Apoc II book? Retarded! I ordered it thinking it would be...great, well at least I should be able to put all the other stuff to use.


Tss, you have a shitload of FW-stuff last time I saw your list, so you shouldn't be that impressed 

Hehe, I do have the Imperial Armour Masterclass book but I never did a run-down of it once I got it. It's a totally different league in my opinion since it's based around totally different techniques. 

Just to be sure we need to get our head straights here and make sure we are talking about the same thing:
The rules for the Reaver is in "Imperial Armour Apocalypse II"
Which is not the same as "Imperial Armour 2nd Edition"
It's easy to get confused by all the talk about 2:s

----

I started working on one of the drop pod doors today. I was just rummaging about trying to come up with a good way to do a halved door without getting the line all wonky. It's a tricky process but could probably be reproduced as needed... The one thing that struck me the most is how hard it is to take good pictures of it - the difference from RL and the photo is pretty big which is odd to me.








Another thing that struck me is that I need to strike the Thraka Green wash from my recipe when painting larger surfaces. It has a nasty habit of fogging up surfaces and stealing the hint of the blue colour.

The tiny progress I made today spurred my imagination and took me back to Maori tattoos and I came up with a solution to use freehands in order to enable me to avoid 6 drop pods with identically halved doors but still retain the effect of a halved scheme. I have some basic ideas of using different kind of patterns to vary the point where the black meets the blue. It's hard to explain without pictures but I'll be sure to have something to show soon.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## unxpekted22

"Another thing that struck me is that I need to strike the Thraka Green wash from my recipe when painting larger surfaces. It has a nasty habit of fogging up surfaces and stealing the hint of the blue colour."

Agree completely. Also, are you going to put some of those white stylized markings on the blue side like you did with the dread and tychos? would make the half and half scheme a bit less sore I think.

edit* just looked up maori tattoos


----------



## JAMOB

As usual, I got mad that it was taking so long for you to post, but then didnt care because it looks amazing.

I agree with the wash.

Explain please 

-JAMOB


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Very tidy painting as ever.

The hard lines of the left half make the right look half-done; of course adding harder edges on the left would make the freehand look wonky, so not sure if anything could be done.


----------



## InkedDnA

Everytime I take a look through your works it inspires me to go paint. You're an awesome artist. Lovin the freehand work on all of your works.


----------



## Gothic

Nice work on the drop pod xeno can't wait to see the finished product.


----------



## Hellados

I love the door mate, and tbh you're fucking brave hand painting all those drop pods, it was the thought of painting 9 LR and a Stormlord that made me get my airbrush out, just for the base colour, maybe for the camo but I can't decide on a camo scheme yet.


----------



## apidude

Xeno:
You wrote, "Yeah, I find that even if I have the funds to spare (should I want to) I can't just go amok and let it go out of control. It's tempting to throw money at FW just because I can for once but honestly I have unpainted miniatures stacked to last me at least 2 years at the current rate. I need to be realistic even if I don't have a little one on the way (yet)" 

I suffer from the same problem....just in my Dark Elves army alone I have another year's work to complete it... and then there is my Lizardmen army that is growing steadily...a couple of years at least....my Space Marines ... just started them....and the Necron Army that I am just thinking about..... not to mention the buildings and scenery....

Do you know of any cure? If I stop buying right NOW, I have 5 years pleasant work in boxes. Well, I AM doing my part keeping GW solvent ....


----------



## xenobiotic

unxpekted22 said:


> "Another thing that struck me is that I need to strike the Thraka Green wash from my recipe when painting larger surfaces. It has a nasty habit of fogging up surfaces and stealing the hint of the blue colour."
> 
> Agree completely. Also, are you going to put some of those white stylized markings on the blue side like you did with the dread and tychos? would make the half and half scheme a bit less sore I think.
> 
> edit* just looked up maori tattoos


I don't know what's up with the Thraka Green wash, it just keeps coming off foggy when it dries no matter what I apply it two. At first I thought I had got a bad bottle but now it happened with a completely new one as well, I'm starting to think it's supposed to act like that so I'll just move away from it for these guys.

Yes, there will be painstakingly freehanded white patterns on pretty much each door - I am stupid enough to want to do that on 6 drop pods (and I'm not being sarcastic). However the amount will vary greatly in order to keep me out of the insane asylum.



JAMOB said:


> As usual, I got mad that it was taking so long for you to post, but then didnt care because it looks amazing.
> 
> I agree with the wash.
> 
> Explain please
> 
> -JAMOB


I'll explain with more pictures as soon as I have them.



Dave T Hobbit said:


> Very tidy painting as ever.
> 
> The hard lines of the left half make the right look half-done; of course adding harder edges on the left would make the freehand look wonky, so not sure if anything could be done.


I agree with your analysis, but there's a reason for the look and that's because the black part isn't highlighted at all yet. I'll highlight the black parts as well (somehow) so they will tie better together. I just need to learn a good enough method of highlighting the black parts convincingly so I'll need to do some experimentation first - hence this door as a work in progress test run. 



4thswasi said:


> Everytime I take a look through your works it inspires me to go paint. You're an awesome artist. Lovin the freehand work on all of your works.


Go paint! Do it, I know you want to! Thanks for the comment 



Gothic said:


> Nice work on the drop pod xeno can't wait to see the finished product.


You'll have to wait a long time I'm afraid... Hope your patient 



Hellados said:


> I love the door mate, and tbh you're fucking brave hand painting all those drop pods, it was the thought of painting 9 LR and a Stormlord that made me get my airbrush out, just for the base colour, maybe for the camo but I can't decide on a camo scheme yet.


Brave or stupid, fine line between the two in this case! I understand that you chose to do it with an airbrush, cammo schemes like that are hard to do well with a paintbrush!



apidude said:


> I suffer from the same problem....just in my Dark Elves army alone I have another year's work to complete it... and then there is my Lizardmen army that is growing steadily...a couple of years at least....my Space Marines ... just started them....and the Necron Army that I am just thinking about..... not to mention the buildings and scenery....
> 
> Do you know of any cure? If I stop buying right NOW, I have 5 years pleasant work in boxes. Well, I AM doing my part keeping GW solvent ....


There is no cure, it’s a deadly disease, you only have the next five minutes left (before you make another unnecessary purchase). For example I decided to start a Chaos Dwarf army now, starting out with 6 miniatures to begin with, be we all know what will happen after that… Oh, the pile keeps growing.

----

*Long time no see!*

It’s been over a month since last time and it’s kind of saddening really. Christmas has flown by and my grandma has been hospitalized and is not well at all (although getting better now so there is still hope). My time has been put into a painting commission (I’m making the cover art for a DVD some friends are releasing soon) and it has been stealing pretty much all my spare time (I’m far too inexperienced with painting on the computer which means it takes a lot more time than it should). 

Warhammer 40k has taken a long hiatus but it’s always gnawing in the back of my mind (which I explained to Midge when we had a nice chat the other day). Even if my progress has been slim my ideas have been flowing pretty nicely along in my head and I’m starting to envision where I want to go with a lot of the pieces in the Void Shark army. I’m also starting to feel the painting bug within me which is always a good sign because it means I can get a lot done in a shorter span of time (as long as my back doesn’t kill me from enduring my suboptimal painting stance).

For now my main attention has been focused on getting some Troop choices built and prepped for painting. This is a far more daunting task then it first appears seeing as I’m pretty much modifying every piece of the miniatures (from creating a few custom poses to remodeling arms and legs and gap filling all the torsos as I go), I’ve even added extra armour plates to cover up some nasty effects of my extreme posing. I haven’t yet decided on where to go with the backpacks. Economically I should probably just go with the ones I have in my bit box but I’m leaning towards Mk II / Mk III ones from Forgeworld so I’ll need to source some of those for a good price.

So far I'm up to 6 marines, with a few of them at a more completed state then the others (obviously). I'm no way near done with them but I like the process and I will let it take whatever time it needs to get a good look and a lot of action into the marines:

















I'll see if I can manage to squeeze in some painting time soon... :blush:

----

Till next time (which will hopefully soon) :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Welcome back Xeno! Great to see some new models cropping up and glad to see things are starting to slow down for you a bit. Hope your Granny continues to improve, I will be praying for continued improvement. 

I love the poses especially the guy on the right in the first pic. Wonderfully dynamic pose! Keep up the good work man!


----------



## unxpekted22

I still havn't gotten myself to start experimenting with green stuff. Based on those pictures there, could you explain to me why you have placed it in the areas that you have? Particularly things like around the collars and the upper leg joints. Something to do with how they were cut to pose them, I imagine since you mentioend it. But not all of the areas it covers look like they've been cut.


----------



## Tossidin

Hah, I was just going to send you an angry PM, demanding your return, and here you are! Welcome back! 

The models seems to be coming along nicely, not much to comment on at the moment 

Oh, and best of wishes/luck to your grandma!


----------



## Asamodai

Glad to see you're back. Looking forward to your updates.


----------



## Gothic

> You'll have to wait a long time I'm afraid... Hope your patient


It depends what other pics you put up while i'm waiting for the drop pod to be finished =P


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Welcome back Xeno! Great to see some new models cropping up and glad to see things are starting to slow down for you a bit. Hope your Granny continues to improve, I will be praying for continued improvement.
> 
> I love the poses especially the guy on the right in the first pic. Wonderfully dynamic pose! Keep up the good work man!


I'm glad to be back!

Grandma has improved a lot over the last few days, they've changed the medication and she's going to get rehabilitation so the prognosis is looking a lot better now compared to just a week ago even if she won't be 100% recovered.



unxpekted22 said:


> I still havn't gotten myself to start experimenting with green stuff. Based on those pictures there, could you explain to me why you have placed it in the areas that you have? Particularly things like around the collars and the upper leg joints. Something to do with how they were cut to pose them, I imagine since you mentioend it. But not all of the areas it covers look like they've been cut.


See below 



Tossidin said:


> Hah, I was just going to send you an angry PM, demanding your return, and here you are! Welcome back!
> 
> The models seems to be coming along nicely, not much to comment on at the moment
> 
> Oh, and best of wishes/luck to your grandma!


Thanks, I almost wish you had sent that PM, would have been an interesting read I think!



Asamodai said:


> Glad to see you're back. Looking forward to your updates.


I'm glad to be back and I'll try to update more often now even if it's only tiny things I do manage to get done!



Gothic said:


> It depends what other pics you put up while i'm waiting for the drop pod to be finished =P


A lot of WIP pictures of different projects probably. I'm having a hard time to paint recently so I'm changing it up with some conversion work to keep the fire going. Anything to push the project forward really...

----

Progress is slow but it's nice to be back in the game. There's a lot to be done with the parts I'm using. Forgeworld sure is a nice addition to the Space marine product line but they should do some serious check-up on some of their products. The arms I'm using for some of these marines are from the MK II kit and they are very flimsy around the wrists - oddly enough some are so flimsy that even the hands that are supposed to be used with them are much bigger in diameter then the wrists are. So all these tiny fix ups add up to a pretty hefty amount of time to complete each miniature, but I guess the end results will be worth it (specially compared to an out of the box tactical space marine).

Today I've made progress on a more brutal Void Shark squad member; having thrown away his bolt pistol (I'm not sure I want a holster on him, I have some other ideas) and gone brutal he's caught in the movement of having severed a head from a renegade guardsman (which he's now about to toss away). He has a slight modification (splice) to his legs to convey a small forward momentum as if he had recently stop (to chop the head off) and is now about to move towards his next victim. I want to paint him with blood splatter on the armour to convey the message even more clearly once I paint him. But before that I need to fill his belt up a bit with details and also sculpt some minor details on the neck of the severed head (such as a vertebra poking through):









I'll try to explain the different GreenStuff additions made so far. As you probably figured out it's all part of the conversion progress and every green part is there for a reason. The connective soft armour (ribbing) parts is sculpted to enable more aggressive and interesting poses. The arms are just simply reposed (pinned) and then they get a modified ribbing sculpted between the arm and the shoulder joint. The legs I tend to splice together (pin together two legs from different pairs with a new groin to create diversity) and the new joints are then covered up by the sculpted ribbing. Other parts I've decided to modify is simple gap filling (as the case with the torsos and much of the damage on the resin parts) or more simple cosmetic changes (such as the details on the foot in one of the pictures):









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

Looking good mate!! I love the aggressive pose on the severing the head guy. Is that a cast of the Tyberos head?


----------



## Scythes

Those models are looking great Xeno, it always scares me a little when working on FW models because of how expensive they are, but those are wonderful. Keep it up.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looking good mate!! I love the aggressive pose on the severing the head guy. Is that a cast of the Tyberos head?


No, it's an average Mk V helmet, Tyberos helmet is only suited for normal terminator armour so that wouldn't go very well on a power armoured marine (without major modifications). I think Mk V helmets was a good idea but I don't like how they came out on these test fits. I'm leaning towards other helmets now, staying away from MK IV and normal MK VI and VII helmet which I've used on my Brethren. Right now I'm thinking about using the helmets I had originally planned for my terminators on the power armoured marines instead (going with World Eater helmets without bunny ears for my terminators). As I mentioned earlier, it's a long process...



Scythes said:


> Those models are looking great Xeno, it always scares me a little when working on FW models because of how expensive they are, but those are wonderful. Keep it up.


It helps to have extras (I got some shoddy casts from forgeworld that later was replaced, meaning I had an extra set I could play with) so that you can try stuff without fear. That being said I think it's a good start to learn as much as you can from modding the plastic kits (via kit bashing and repositioning) before you plunge into cutting up forgeworld kits worth 100£. But you'll have to risk things no matter how you go at it, it's part of the learning process. Internet tutorials help a lot though...

----

While on the subject of conversions and modifications I've finally been able to pick up the sculpting tools and continue on a project I started way back when I first set out do start up the Void Sharks (jeez, time flies). Long story short, Tyberos enables me to take a unit of Lightning claw armed terminators as a Troop choice, naturally every army list I'm planing utilizes at least 5 such terminators. The problem is - I strongly dislike the current terminator lightning claws and as such I wanted a more unique albeit fitting look. Therefore I chose Lufgt Hurons claws as a base and I'm now in the process of making them modular in order to be able to cast them and use them on my marines, this process includes restoring details on every finger separately (yes, I am that crazy) and rebuilding a new glove to go with them, one for each hand. Even though it looks like small progress since last time I showed them there is a lot of work put into them since then... Hopefully the progress will start to show more soon:


















Odd update, I know, but better than nothing?

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## piemaster

Wow! 95 pages. What a fantastic log this has been up until now Xeno. Although I haven't posted for ages I still get the odd update by email and I just wanted to resurface again to tell you how much I admire your work and the lavish attention to detail on your marines. Truly fantastic!


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

WOOT! Glad to see your back, sorry I have been out of the loop for a bit and will continue to be hit or miss since I working on paper work to re-enter Italy. You def have a nack for some sweet conversions Xeno, A+ work mate!

Glad to hear that your grandma is doing better and wish her conituned progress.

Regards,
DoE


----------



## Mr.Malevolent

I have to say *Xenobiotic* your work on those Void Sharks has inspired me for my work on my Carcharodons for Adepticon.
Keep up the amazing work!

+++Mr.M+++


----------



## xenobiotic

piemaster said:


> Wow! 95 pages. What a fantastic log this has been up until now Xeno. Although I haven't posted for ages I still get the odd update by email and I just wanted to resurface again to tell you how much I admire your work and the lavish attention to detail on your marines. Truly fantastic!


It's what I do, I feel I need to do it in order to be pleased with the end result, the process of making the army is far more entertaining and important compared to actually playing the game. I'm glad to have your continued support!



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> WOOT! Glad to see your back, sorry I have been out of the loop for a bit and will continue to be hit or miss since I working on paper work to re-enter Italy. You def have a nack for some sweet conversions Xeno, A+ work mate!
> 
> Glad to hear that your grandma is doing better and wish her conituned progress.
> 
> Regards,
> DoE


I've heard a lot about Italy in that sense (strange politics in that country over all) and seeing how hard it is to get ebay sellers to ship to Italy I wouldn't want to live there simply 'cause it would cramp ma style (as I believe they say in da hood (no offence meant to anyone)).

My grandma is now in rehabilitation making small steps towards being able to walk again. My hopes have once again risen and I believe that we will be able to celebrate her 90th birthday this year 



Mr.Malevolent said:


> I have to say *Xenobiotic* your work on those Void Sharks has inspired me for my work on my Carcharodons for Adepticon.
> Keep up the amazing work!
> 
> +++Mr.M+++


Do it! The more brutal albeit non heretic marines out there, the better! Blood for the Sharks! :ireful2:

----

Look what Warhammer Forge (ForgeWorld) have done to their packaging:









I wonder if this will be the format for all coming releases (that aren't to big) and if so, why make this change? The quality of the casts are very good (I'll probably post more pictures later tonight - a nerd cannot stay away from his new toys). To those of you who worry about the Void Sharks update I can say I only have 6 Chaos Dwarves at the moment, so the interruption will be minimal no matter how much time I spend with them.

Till later then :bye:


----------



## xenobiotic

So, here's a testfit for a Chaos Dwarf Daemonsmith. I bluetacced him together to get a feel for the miniature and see what kind of vibes it gave me. I was surprised at how big the dwarves are, and by big I mean that their bodies are pretty massive albeit short. When I put them next to my Void Shark terminators the terminators look scrawny (they must look hilarious next to Dark Eldar or Skeletons...). At the same time I feel that these Daemonsmiths are very true to the origin of the Chaos Dwarf range, they look like modernized versions of the old miniatures in a good way (I must admit that I do not own any of the old range miniatures but from what I have seen in pictures). 

And when your looking at miniatures you automatically figure how you would paint them (if and when you would). My biggest concern is that the army has such a strong connection to red which I want to move away from after all my Brethren. I'm leaning towards bronze/brass armour with lots of verdigris and maybe just use red as an accent colour on the hats and some other minor details, I think that could work (and I personally don't care about the "they are smiths, their armour would never have verdigris"-sentiment, these guys are filled with all manners of dark energies, there is no telling what that can do to metal (and I would obviously keep away from it from the more important details such as weaponry)). Ah well, that's just some random Chaos Dwarf thoughts, it will probably be a while before I manage to paint any of them, back to building Void Sharks for now...

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

xenobiotic said:


> ...... I'm leaning towards bronze/brass armour with lots of verdigris and maybe just use red as an accent colour on the hats and some other minor details, I think that could work (and I personally don't care about the "they are smiths, their armour would never have verdigris"-sentiment, these guys are filled with all manners of dark energies, there is no telling what that can do to metal (and I would obviously keep away from it from the more important details such as weaponry))......


Looks great and I agree with your choice of color scheme. Dwarfs, whether chaotic or not, are all about metallics and accent colors.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looks great and I agree with your choice of color scheme. Dwarfs, whether chaotic or not, are all about metallics and accent colors.


I think so to, we will see when I get around to paint a test piece...

----

There isn't much to show lately, mostly because I'm torn between my different projects and interests right now. Trying to juggle far too many projects at the same time can do that to you. Right now I'm desperately trying to come up with some kind of plan for which order to finish things in just to be able to sit down and actually finish _something_ (and most importantly get rid of the non-warhammer projects so they taking time away from me realizing my warhammer related crazy ideas).

Progress has been made on my Void Sharks, I've now accumulated enough modified heads to last for the entire power armoured division of the army. I've also finally decided on which helmet to use for all my terminators (same one as my Tyberos the Red Wake has). On a related subject I recently ran out of the strangest part this far in my Space Marine modelling career - the rear part of the Space Marine torso, luckily B&K had quite a supply of them in stock so I took the opportunity to fill my bit-box up with them for future additions to my marines (which will come no matter how hard I try to avoid it).

I've also (finally) decided on which backpacks to use, and luckily for me my decision will save me loads of cash and time seeing as how I already have all the backpacks I will need for a foreseeable future. I might still get some MK II/III backpacks for the squad sergeants though (since my heavy weapons will have them, as they come standard with the rogue trader heavy weapons from Forge World). Now that I have 5 marines built I should try to get them painted to see if I like how the modified colour scheme works on power armour (and fill up my first troop choice).

Here's a pretty much finished marine. He has his dagger and his extra equipment in his belt (notice the grenades I've shamelessly stolen from the Grey Knights, I like them better then the average grenades). He is still bluetacced together to enable easier access to some parts for painting:









This guy is a spur of the moment decision. When I was shuffling through alternate arms for some other miniatures I came across a Grey Knight hand (or Sanguinary Guard hand, they are almost exactly the same if you haven't noticed yet) and I remembered a miniature I've seen on another forum with a marine tossing his emptied weapon and rushing into the fight again. At first I was considering having him tossing away a bolter but I found the miniature was unevenly distributed in weight so I went with a bolt pistol instead. The pistol is attached to the hand with a steel wire running through the body of the pistol, then the handle, then the hand and finally the arm (which also happens to be pinned to the body). I did this in order to make it sturdy enough to withstand gaming conditions:









And here's WIP piece I came up with by accident today when I had some time over for modelling. I was just sorting through bits and legs to come up with a second meltagunner and suddenly it all made sense and now I just need to finalize it with some more green stuff additions and extra equipment like the ones I've gotten further along with: 









Finally I have made some progress on my Contemptor. I've now made enough progress to do some battle damage and other details on the body to see where it's going. The paint is starting to get thick though so I can't do more experiments soon...








The damage is hard to make realistic on the black parts (still going back and forth on the process) but the blue parts are looking sweet imho.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

The sense of movement you are able to achieve in your marine poses never ceases to amaze me buddy, another sexy looking bunch of marines.


----------



## Scathainn

It's been quite some time since I've checked out your log Xeno but it's really looking awesome!

Which reminds me, we need to make some progress on that secret project we were talking about... :wink:


----------



## Zodd

That's some interesting poses for the marines. But throwing away a boltpistol ? He will be in trouble after the battle, losing the chapter's sacred weapons of death :wink:
The Contemptor is looking better and better.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Excellent detail on the Contemptor.


----------



## Skari

Very Nice.


----------



## S71GGY

Fantastic work ! The poses you have managed with the marines is phenominal ! will have to keep an eye on this thread definately :victory:.


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> The sense of movement you are able to achieve in your marine poses never ceases to amaze me buddy, another sexy looking bunch of marines.


I'm just trying things out, using the parts I have at hand (I am thankful for my huge bit-box even tough I realize I've payed a lot of cash for it), it's fun and gives me things to contemplate about while at work and on the way to and from work. I imaging Svartmetall uses the same approach to much of his tinkering  



Scathainn said:


> It's been quite some time since I've checked out your log Xeno but it's really looking awesome!
> 
> Which reminds me, we need to make some progress on that secret project we were talking about... :wink:


Indeed we should... [goes into the shadows and mumbles ominously]



Zodd said:


> That's some interesting poses for the marines. But throwing away a boltpistol ? He will be in trouble after the battle, losing the chapter's sacred weapons of death :wink:
> The Contemptor is looking better and better.


Surely one would not keep a spent pistol in the heat of battle even if it is sacred or not..? They could always send a scavenger servitor to pick it up later along with the drop pods.



Dave T Hobbit said:


> Excellent detail on the Contemptor.





Skari said:


> Very Nice.


Thanks to you both!



S71GGY said:


> Fantastic work ! The poses you have managed with the marines is phenominal ! will have to keep an eye on this thread definately :victory:.


Have a look, spend some time here, write a few comments, I'm happy to have your support!

----

Slowly more progress has been made. All these layers of highlights are taking their sweet time to complete and even if I like the result it's a tad to slow for my taste. I've been working mostly on the right arm of the contemptor. Right now the arm is the most completed part of the miniature (it actually has a layer of varnish on it). I noticed that the varnish darkened the purples and pinks even more (see the pictures below) then the actual process I'm using and it might be to dark for my taste. I'll have to evaluate further once I've made more progress (and varnished) other parts of the miniature. It could be that the contrast is throwing me off right now. I've started painting the blue arm right now so I'll hopefully have more progress to show soon...









Apparently my google account is a bit awry at the moment, the images might not show up correctly at the moment.

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## arumichic

It's beautiful! I personally have tried to reach the effect you have there, but I can't seem to get it right at all. I might need to sit you down and pick your brain and then get more practice painting.


----------



## Midge913

Saw this a yesterday when you posted, but was on the mobile and had some issues getting my response to post. 

I love how the purple marbling/swirls have developed on the black parts man. They are really quite striking. Keep at it!


----------



## xenobiotic

arumichic said:


> It's beautiful! I personally have tried to reach the effect you have there, but I can't seem to get it right at all. I might need to sit you down and pick your brain and then get more practice painting.


I could do a quick tutorial someday, I got a lot of vehicles to paint in the Army painter challenge and they lend themselves well to the method I'm using.



Midge913 said:


> Saw this a yesterday when you posted, but was on the mobile and had some issues getting my response to post.
> 
> I love how the purple marbling/swirls have developed on the black parts man. They are really quite striking. Keep at it!


Thanks, and I agree, they make the scheme work on the big guys. Complete and utter darkness just doesn't cut it when the scheme is split, it's way to flat then.

----

So I've put a lot of time into preparations for the Army Painting Challenge. I want to get rid of some of my backlog of vehicles that I've been piling up over the last few years. The list can be made pretty long and even if I only manage to complete half the challenge it would be a welcomed difference in the display cabinet.

As an effort to have more choices come the challenge I put together some of the remaining vehicles, 3 land speeder tempests (/typhoons), 1 vindicator, 2 razorbacks and I did some custom work on one of my land raiders (trying to fit a FW razorback turret on it requires some dremelwork). Currently this is the vehicle park, sans 6 drop pods (wth?) and my Caestus Assault Ram. As you can see I still have some vehicles that I haven't even taken out of the box:









While on the subject of recent builds I did some last minute adjustments to all my land speeders. I scavanged a couple of heavy bolters and assault cannons from a friend of mine (IG and previous Ravenwing army player) so I could magnetize them to my speeders. I can now choose between Tempest configuration and Typhoon configuration according to the games I play. I can't see many having a problem using the Tempest miniature for a Typhoon, mostly since it's quite a bit longer than a normal speeder - thus making it easier to see with the current LoS rules:









I think I'm going to start the Army Painting Challenge with one of these Speeders just to get the ball rolling and give me more time to prep and convert my marines.

Speaking of marines and Void Sharks in particular I had a long and hard look at Tyberos today and decided some things had to go. So I tore off his arm and scraped of some details and repositioned his head - I'm a lot more pleased with him now, the whole flow of the miniature is better. While the stylized shark might not be the best I think it's better than the sculpted icon I had before (which was way to prominent and WHITE!!! imo):









----

Hope you like what you see and that we'll see each other soon again!
Thanks for looking!
:bye:


----------



## RedThirstWill Destroy

realy good work mate i like it alot


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## Midge913

That is quite the vehicle park! Can't wait to see what you do with them.

I actually am of the opinion that the painted stylized shark looks much better than the sculpted shark!! It ties it to the other freehands you have done on your sharks.


----------



## Tossidin

Midge913 said:


> I actually am of the opinion that the painted stylized shark looks much better than the sculpted shark!! It ties it to the other freehands you have done on your sharks.


+1


----------



## apidude

xenobiotic said:


> I could do a quick tutorial someday, I got a lot of vehicles to paint in the Army painter challenge and they lend themselves well to the method I'm using.
> 
> 
> Hope you like what you see and that we'll see each other soon again!
> Thanks for looking!
> :bye:


Xeno..... I would love to see a step-by-step of how you achieve those outstanding effects......

.... you either have the patience of Job, or a really talented and fine paintbrush....

... or both...

:so_happy:


----------



## Tossidin

I choose to think he is just lucky!


----------



## Zodd

A wonderfull sight to behold +rep


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

SWEET!

Dude, see, when your gone for a while and come back it's like christmas, you get to see everyone awesome logs all updated. 

Your work is impressive as always Xeno. You recovered that tempest very nicely. And Tyberos, well, he just looks like a badass. Great job brother!

Rep inbound!

Regards,
DoE


----------



## Arcticor

Xeno, some day I am going to find where you live, kidnap you, and make you paint my stuff. All your work is beyond amazing. Words cant even describe how much I wish I could paint like you. Keep up the amazing work!


----------



## zxyogi

Agree with Arcticor!!!
Very nice work....very nice work indeed!!
:wink:


----------



## Chris Guard of Mardat

Everything in this project, especially the freehand, is amazing! :good: keep up the good work :good:

+rep

EDIT: well apparently I have to spread it around first


----------



## xenobiotic

RedThirstWill Destroy said:


> realy good work mate i like it alot


Thanks, mate!



Midge913 said:


> That is quite the vehicle park! Can't wait to see what you do with them.
> 
> I actually am of the opinion that the painted stylized shark looks much better than the sculpted shark!! It ties it to the other freehands you have done on your sharks.


I like it better, much more fitting. I guess I'm just a bit blind on the fact that all the other stylized patterns are on the blue parts - that's the problem with terminators having their chapter designation on the right shoulder... I'm also somewhat of a novice on the shark shape so I need to improve it as I go along but that will prove to be interesting.



apidude said:


> Xeno..... I would love to see a step-by-step of how you achieve those outstanding effects......
> 
> .... you either have the patience of Job, or a really talented and fine paintbrush....
> 
> ... or both...
> 
> :so_happy:


I'm in the process of making a step by step, I just couldn't be arsed to type all that text and edit the pictures tonight, but maybe sometime this weekend!



Tossidin said:


> I choose to think he is just lucky!


When you fail in games and love.. You paint warhammer? 



Zodd said:


> A wonderfull sight to behold +rep


Thanks, Zodd!



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> SWEET!
> 
> Dude, see, when your gone for a while and come back it's like christmas, you get to see everyone awesome logs all updated.
> 
> Your work is impressive as always Xeno. You recovered that tempest very nicely. And Tyberos, well, he just looks like a badass. Great job brother!
> 
> Rep inbound!
> 
> Regards,
> DoE


You haven't missed out on that much tbh, I've been slow on the updates lately because I had a major picture commission I had to prioritize - it was ruining all my spare time for weeks so it's nice to have it of my backs and be able to spend time on warhammer again!



Arcticor said:


> Xeno, some day I am going to find where you live, kidnap you, and make you paint my stuff. All your work is beyond amazing. Words cant even describe how much I wish I could paint like you. Keep up the amazing work!


South of Sweden, where are sparsely populated so I bet you could find me :biggrin: 



zxyogi said:


> Agree with Arcticor!!!
> Very nice work....very nice work indeed!!
> :wink:


Thanks, Zxyogi!



Chris Guard of Mardat said:


> Everything in this project, especially the freehand, is amazing! :good: keep up the good work :good:
> 
> +rep
> 
> EDIT: well apparently I have to spread it around first


Freehands is, apparently, what I do best (?) and I hardly ever do really complicated motives on my freehands (most of them are only 3-4 colours with a single subject) like some of the more experienced painters do (then again I'm not aiming for competition standard - I just want a nice display cabinet somewhere in the future and possibly a good looking army for when I actually get to use it). Thanks for the comment!

----

I'm just in with a quick update on the first Tempest/Typhoon. Did some work on the black side wing (going to post a step-by-step later this week hopefully). I've decided to do the vehicles for these guys in a halved schemed rather then the quartered scheme the marines have - I think halved suits vehicles better (and it's easier on me). I still haven't decided if I'm going to do a straight split or a pattern split or fade. We shall see as I progress!









---

Till next time :bye:


----------



## xenobiotic

Update!

Progress has been made! Continuation of the purple freehand on the black part is beginning to spread in a suitable fashion. I'm slowly getting a feel for what colours to use where and how I want the squadron to look. I'm dreading all the pattern freehands I'm going to have to make on the blue side, but I think it will be worth it. It's nice to see the transformation in progress and it's nice to have been able to paint as much as I have in only two days even with full-time workload, filling out applications for my final internship (to finish of my education) and a load of personal crap on top of that.

Picture proof: 









Till next time :bye:


----------



## Svartmetall

Your painting is awesome. Even though they're obviously just snivelling worshippers of a mouldering corpse, great Father Nurgle approves


----------



## arumichic

More great work as always. I do like that stylized shark. I always gawk in awe at other ppl's freehanding. 
And PLEASE do a tut; it would be very much appreciated. PLEASE!!!! Or else I'll have to go hunt you down and pick at your brain quite literally. I don't think your family will like that very much.


----------



## xenobiotic

Svartmetall said:


> Your painting is awesome.


Thanks!



Svartmetall said:


> Even though they're obviously just snivelling worshippers of a mouldering corpse, great Father Nurgle approves


Sais the slow smouldering bag of pus to the kettle... :grin:



arumichic said:


> More great work as always. I do like that stylized shark. I always gawk in awe at other ppl's freehanding.
> And PLEASE do a tut; it would be very much appreciated. PLEASE!!!! Or else I'll have to go hunt you down and pick at your brain quite literally. I don't think your family will like that very much.


There shall be no hunting neither up nor down here! I ran into a bit of a dilemma with the tutorial - the first set of pictures I took proved to be total crap, I'll try get some better the coming days.

----

Here's the progress report of today, I'm starting to put paint on the speeder in a random fashion in order to keep moving forward. I'm slowly figuring out what colours to put where. I'm having a bit of a crisis with some of the parts covered in rivets, for some reason they are a nemesis to my painting ability at the moment, ah well:








As you can see I have started to put some paint on the blue side now. I wanted to get a clearer look at how it might look once it's finished. I think there is potential in the scheme I have chosen :gimmefive:

Till next time :bye:


----------



## arumichic

Boo for crappy pictures, but I'm still looking forward to it!! P.S. That looks super pretty.


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> I think there is potential in the scheme I have chosen


You think? Stop acting like a fool, you know it is going to look awesome! Or at least, thats what you should tell yourself, and if you fail, well then we can all have a good laugh at your expense!

Seriously though, I like what you are doing, and agree on the halved scheme, as I think quartered would look kinda wierd. Oh, and your choise of colours is excellent, I really like it, so original from what I am used to seeing


----------



## jonileth

Very awesome paint job!


----------



## Greenskin

Your Brethren of the Phoenix Rhinos were a great inspiration for me when doing mud effects on my own rhino. I really love the way you do weathering. amazing freehand on all your works, as well. Your models always get me excited about painting my little dudes, thanks for doing what you do.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Started? Last I looked, you had just finished repairing this baby, now she is almost all fancied up. =)


----------



## xenobiotic

arumichic said:


> Boo for crappy pictures, but I'm still looking forward to it!! P.S. That looks super pretty.


I'll give it another shot when I start at on the bottom side of the speeder, there are some nice flat surfaces there!



Tossidin said:


> You think? Stop acting like a fool, you know it is going to look awesome! Or at least, thats what you should tell yourself, and if you fail, well then we can all have a good laugh at your expense!
> 
> Seriously though, I like what you are doing, and agree on the halved scheme, as I think quartered would look kinda wierd. Oh, and your choise of colours is excellent, I really like it, so original from what I am used to seeing


There shall be no laughing here, this is a serious thread :wink:
Black and Blue can hardly be that original, there must be some chapter out there already with that combination?



jonileth said:


> Very awesome paint job!


Thanks!



Greenskin said:


> Your Brethren of the Phoenix Rhinos were a great inspiration for me when doing mud effects on my own rhino. I really love the way you do weathering. amazing freehand on all your works, as well. Your models always get me excited about painting my little dudes, thanks for doing what you do.


Glad to hear that my learning process has been useful. I'm still experimenting a lot with weathering, specially on these marines since black is a bitch to weather convincingly! Thank you for the kind words, they are what keep me going when I get into a rut!



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Started? Last I looked, you had just finished repairing this baby, now she is almost all fancied up. =)


She's turning into a real beaut', just think what the full squad will look like flying together with a Caestus Assault Ram later on, it will be jaw-dropping f-f-fabulous (to paraphrase)! A treatment which she deserves after the torture her previous owner had given her! 

----

Progress report for today! Layering has proceeded on the blue side (yes, I'm still jumping all over the place doing things that pleases me for the moment - since it's working fairly well I'm sticking with it even if it can appear erratic). I like how the blue layering makes the shape of the speeder pop out. Sometimes I frown upon harsh highlights but it works well with this combination of colours. Right now I'm dreading the thought of even trying some maori patterns in white on that lovely blue surface - surely it will be a nightmare so maybe I should leave them for last!









----

Does anyone have any tips on awesomely superb spray varnish they swear by? Having tried GWs I'm not impressed at all (snowflakes in a bottle) and I feel I'm going to need one on these pieces (contemptor, land speeders and so on) so that my paintjobs doesn't come off in transport. 

Is it feasible to varnish with an airbrush? If so it might be the push I need to get one 

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

I really am getting sick of picking my jaw up off the floor every time I check out this thread. I have actually directed people on another forum to check out your work as some of the finest on the net.

As to your varnish problem, I too have had bad experiences with spray varnishes, particularly, but not exclusively GWs. So I have gone back to using matt varnish in a tub from Humbrol even on my recent land raider, and haven't looked back since. It adds time to the whole process, but it's far better than seeing all your hard work turn grey in a mist of aerosol.


----------



## Midge913

Speeder is looking fantastic!

I swear by Testor's Dullcoat. I have never had a problem with frosting, in just about any clime, for close to 5 years now.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Xeno, my man, I use Vallejo Air Satin Varnish (airbrush) and swear by it to be the "Shizzy". I have experienced GW's "winter in a can" and freaked the F-out when it happened more than once, I will never touch that crap again.

Regards,
DoE


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Great highlights there.



xenobiotic said:


> Right now I'm dreading the thought of even trying some maori patterns in white on that lovely blue surface - surely it will be a nightmare so maybe I should leave them for last!


I suggest eating that frog; if you leave it it will just hang over you, and make you feel you might damage even more work.



Midge913 said:


> I swear by Testor's Dullcoat. I have never had a problem with frosting, in just about any clime, for close to 5 years now.


I second that; it is easy to apply and nearly impossible to destroy


----------



## Arcticor

oh.my.god. 
I'm really loving the way the land speeder is turning out, can't wait to see the finished result. and the assault ram next to it. Keep up the amazing work!


----------



## Regnear67

i know you posted this somewhere but i cant seem to find the page but i was wanting to know what colors you used to paint your blood angel successors


----------



## xenobiotic

Khorne's Fist said:


> I really am getting sick of picking my jaw up off the floor every time I check out this thread. I have actually directed people on another forum to check out your work as some of the finest on the net.
> 
> As to your varnish problem, I too have had bad experiences with spray varnishes, particularly, but not exclusively GWs. So I have gone back to using matt varnish in a tub from Humbrol even on my recent land raider, and haven't looked back since. It adds time to the whole process, but it's far better than seeing all your hard work turn grey in a mist of aerosol.


That's mighty high praise, don't know if I deserve it since there are a lot of people I'm inspired by that I think is a lot better then my work (not that I necessarily aspire to achieve what they achieve because they have a different artistic vision).



Midge913 said:


> Speeder is looking fantastic!
> 
> I swear by Testor's Dullcoat. I have never had a problem with frosting, in just about any clime, for close to 5 years now.


Thanks, mate!



Dave T Hobbit said:


> Great highlights there.
> 
> I suggest eating that frog; if you leave it it will just hang over you, and make you feel you might damage even more work.
> 
> I second that; it is easy to apply and nearly impossible to destroy


But I don't like eating frogs :grin:




Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Xeno, my man, I use Vallejo Air Satin Varnish (airbrush) and swear by it to be the "Shizzy". I have experienced GW's "winter in a can" and freaked the F-out when it happened more than once, I will never touch that crap again.
> 
> Regards,
> DoE


About the varnish issue in general. Testors appears to be the go-to varnish of most hobbyists out there. For some reason it's very hard to get in Sweden (due to some kind of health effect apparently(?)) and the alternatives doesn't appear very attractive to me at the moment.

For now I've been using a paint on varnish produced by Vallejo (I think) that gives a good enough result on miniatures (used it on Tyberos for example). The problem with it is the fact that you can't use a brush on after you applied weathering pigments since it will distort the pigments.

I think that in the end I'll probably invest in an airbrush setup and use it to varnish my more important miniatures, the added control and versatility of the equipment will most likely be very useful in the long run. 



Arcticor said:


> oh.my.god.
> I'm really loving the way the land speeder is turning out, can't wait to see the finished result. and the assault ram next to it. Keep up the amazing work!


Yeah, I'm trying to keep that image in my imagination to spur me on with these guys. I've been looking over the Assault Ram, trying to figure out a good way to approach it, slowly building up my courage to start it!



Regnear67 said:


> i know you posted this somewhere but i cant seem to find the page but i was wanting to know what colors you used to paint your blood angel successors


Fairly easy process (to remember at least) but I guess I'll have to translate it once the new colours hit.
1. Mechrite Red base coat
2. Devlan Mud wash (other alternatives are Thraka Green or Leviathan Purple if you prefer a different hue on the shading)
3. Blood Red wet edge highlight ("sloppy" highlight)
4. Blazing Orange wet edge highlight (not as sloppy as the Blood Red one)
5. Fine final edge highlight with Vomit Brown
6. Baal Red wash to tie all the colours together and create an awesome gradient.
That is all. Thought it takes quite some time when you're painting marines with all there edges...

----

As luck would have it I had lady xeno over on a visit last week (which always equals to pretty much no hobby time) and after that I happened to get a killer cold. Nothing as effective in killing your artistic abilities like a snivelling nose and a headache from hell. All in all this is pretty much the first evening since the last update that I've been able to pick up my tools and do something.

Rummaging through my pieces did provide me with some progress (more on that later). It also made Valthex resurface. I've owned the miniature for quite a while now but I've always felt there was something off-putting with it visually. And you all know me, I can't leave a challenge like that alone. So after a while I figured out what I didn't like and also which ones of them I could theoretically easily change.
Things I'm was iffy about:
The head (something about it) - Hard to change (dremel work + replacement)
The chest icon (the skull looks off) - Easy to change (more on that later)
The whips and arms (doesn't suit the flow of the miniature) - Easy to replace
The shoulder pads (far to small for a techmarine imo) - Easy to replace
So I doodled around a bit, trying out different weapon combinations and this was the best one I could come up with so far.








Now, I'm not 100% sure on anything at this point but it's better then the original. I could try out some different arm poses, particularly on the miniatures left arm (rummage through the piles again), and maybe add some details to the arms to emphasis the techmarine angle more - but the miniature is already pretty cluttered with extra details. There' are still a lot of possibilities. Right now I'm only sure on the fact that I will change the chest icon and he will have shoulderpads like these ones (Mk VIII pads I believe?).

And here's and old friend (originally planned as a death company dread for the brethren but never came that far apparently) that has been revisited. He will serve with the Void Sharks as a Multi-melta dread / Siege dread depending on what/if I'm playing or not. He'll most likely get a drop pod to suicide gank with. I think I'm going to paint him for next months army painting challenge (because apparently I like painting dreads in the beginning of each new marine army...):









No progress has been made on the land speeder...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

LOL...Xeno, Why don't you just start creating your own line of Space Marine miniatures? Shit, I am lazy enough that I would buy from you...hehehehe! The tech and and dreda both look super cool and I think his arm poses with the swords looks fine.

Whats this I hear about you mentioning another Space Marine army? You still have to finish the void sharks first, this I demand!!! =)

Now that the miss' isnt around and your feeling better "DoE - Cracks the Whip" BACK TO WORK!


----------



## Tossidin

Now that you mention it, the tech marine seems a little bit off indeed. I can't help but think that someone took a giant hammer and smacked his head so hard it is stuck in the ribcage.... or something like that. He looks majorly improved though!
The dread looks nice, can't say anything more complicated than that


----------



## Scythes

Great improvement on the techmarine, the original looks like he's just standing there holding a couple whips at his sides. I like the beefier shoulder pads too, I can't wait to see it painted up.


----------



## Melikor40k

Ahhh! i found this thread half way through last year and could never find it again, i have it bookmarked now so it cant escape, i love everything about all of your work such detail is amazing and those vehicles are a stunning work of art

as everyone else has said, cant go wrong with testors dulcote, i buy all of the cans each time they get them in at the local hobby shop much to the dismay of the other patrons :laugh:


----------



## xenobiotic

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> LOL...Xeno, Why don't you just start creating your own line of Space Marine miniatures? Shit, I am lazy enough that I would buy from you...hehehehe! The tech and and dreda both look super cool and I think his arm poses with the swords looks fine.
> 
> Whats this I hear about you mentioning another Space Marine army? You still have to finish the void sharks first, this I demand!!! =)
> 
> Now that the miss' isnt around and your feeling better "DoE - Cracks the Whip" BACK TO WORK!


Own line of Space Marines, whatever are you rambling about man? Get a hold of yourself!

Wh00t? No, I think there's been a little misunderstanding here, I'm not starting yet another Space Marine army! 

The Brethren and the Sharks are more than enough for now (and probably for years to come tbh). I was simply talking about the siege dread being one of the first units I'll finish for the army and as many of you know a dreadnought was one of the first units I finished for the Brethren back in the days of the start of this thread - so I was just contemplating that history is repeating itself in an odd manner.



Tossidin said:


> Now that you mention it, the tech marine seems a little bit off indeed. I can't help but think that someone took a giant hammer and smacked his head so hard it is stuck in the ribcage.... or something like that. He looks majorly improved though!
> The dread looks nice, can't say anything more complicated than that


It's a rare miss these days to make miniatures with fixed heads (well, space marines at least). I think this is one of those miniature that could really use a moveable head to give it a completely different pose. It's mostly just minor niggles I have but when you compile them together it's a sub par wholeness. Luckily I see the potential so I'm just trying to make use of all the pieces (arms will be used later on other miniatures, harr harr!).



Scythes said:


> Great improvement on the techmarine, the original looks like he's just standing there holding a couple whips at his sides. I like the beefier shoulder pads too, I can't wait to see it painted up.


It's not the fact that they are whips per se, it's just that the whips themselves are oddly done and the arms are almost in the exact same poses - boring. I'm still trying things out so the miniature will be subject to a lot of changes along the way (even if most of them are minor).



Melikor40k said:


> Ahhh! i found this thread half way through last year and could never find it again, i have it bookmarked now so it cant escape, i love everything about all of your work such detail is amazing and those vehicles are a stunning work of art
> 
> as everyone else has said, cant go wrong with testors dulcote, i buy all of the cans each time they get them in at the local hobby shop much to the dismay of the other patrons :laugh:


Oh, it will escape, it will run away and leave you crying like a baby till you remember that you can sort threads by number of posts made into them and then it will pop up amongst the top once no matter what I manage to do with it (renaming). 

So you're the one buying it all... Yarr!

----

I couldn't let sleeping dogs lie. Had a long hard look at Valthex, decided to rip off his arms. Looked at him again. Hard. From the front. When I reached this point I decided that maybe power swords wasn't the way to go. The rules talked about his array which provides him with whip coils (usable as power weapons in close combat) - so whips/coils would be preferable and would also stay within the techmarine theme. Another thing I would like to incorporate would be the bolt pistol he is supposed to be carrying around but isn't present on the miniature. I set to work. Gathered some pieces for new arms and a new skull for the chest icon:









I then spent a couple of hours splicing pieces together, changing the chest icon, test fitting and trying them out until I came across some poses that worked (blue-tac and steel wires are worth their weight in gold here). Now there was just the problem with whips to be solved... Then I realized I had some brass/copper jewellery wires laying about... Hm (more on this later):








The idea is to connect wires to his armguards around his wrist joints. They'll represent the power weapons in close combat and would be suitable for interfacing with vehicles (for repairs for example) when working in the field. I think that will satisfy my needs for this miniature - providing I can make good enough coils and get them not only to stick to the miniature in the first place but also be sturdy enough to handle gaming conditions...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## LukeValantine

Do you have a thunder hawk yet?


----------



## Midge913

Better and better with every incarnation mate!!!! I love the addition of the heavier plates around the wrists and I think they do a wonderful job keeping him very techmariney. Can't wait to see how the whip coils turn out.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

WOOT! 100th Page, gratz dude!

The reconfigurations looks great!


----------



## Arcticor

That techmarine looks amazing xeno! Where did you find the arms you are currently using on him? Keep up the brilliant work


----------



## Tossidin

Ah that looks so much better, the model has a much better "flow" now.
You are going to replace the pistol? Cause it reminds me too much of scouts


----------



## Lethiathan

I looked through the first 11 pages of the blog and then my jaw dropped and I decided that the sceme is now stolen. MEIN. But seriously, I will be using those white techniques! Sorry I don't have anything recent, But the Valthex conversion looks good!


----------



## xenobiotic

As we're slowly closing in on the 1000th(!) reply in this project log it's time for another tiny painting update! I'd also like to say "Thanks!!!" for all the PMs with praise and +rep, it goes straight into my nerdy heart and inflates my head even more then usual!

----



LukeValantine said:


> Do you have a thunder hawk yet?


No, I do not have a Thunderhawk. The problem with a Thunderhawk is that if I get one I'd have to get another Ceastus Assault Ram to escort it, and then I'd have to get 3 more land speeder Tempests to escort the additional Assault Ram - you see the problem? 



Midge913 said:


> Better and better with every incarnation mate!!!! I love the addition of the heavier plates around the wrists and I think they do a wonderful job keeping him very techmariney. Can't wait to see how the whip coils turn out.


I've ordered some smaller drill bits and a couple of different gauges of copper/brass wire, so I'll experiment more as soon as they get to me! In the meantime I'll be thinking about a squad to accompany Valthex thematically (possibly Mk III, perhaps with a Rapier also, but now I'm just spit balling and wasting my money and adding to the unfinished pile...)...



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> WOOT! 100th Page, gratz dude!
> 
> The reconfigurations looks great!


:drinks:



Arcticor said:


> That techmarine looks amazing xeno! Where did you find the arms you are currently using on him? Keep up the brilliant work


The pieces I've used to create the arms are shown in the same post. It's a splice with armguards from FW MK III arms added to FW Mk II arms with their armguards cut off. The left hand has a grey knight hand put onto it while the right hand (holding the pistol) has retained the original Mk III hand it had to start with.



Tossidin said:


> Ah that looks so much better, the model has a much better "flow" now.
> You are going to replace the pistol? Cause it reminds me too much of scouts


You're always nagging on the pieces I've spent the most time choosing  I think you're my nemesis in disguise! I'm probably going to add a wire or two into the pistol. I like the big lens on the 'cause it lends itself well to the illusion of more advanced equipment. I've also always imagined that most weapons that fire hellfire rounds have suppressors mounted on them (for some reason I can't explain) and Valthex gives himself and a squad in the army hellfire rounds...



Lethiathan said:


> I looked through the first 11 pages of the blog and then my jaw dropped and I decided that the sceme is now stolen. MEIN. But seriously, I will be using those white techniques! Sorry I don't have anything recent, But the Valthex conversion looks good!


With the new released paints, especially foundation (base) white, the Brethren of the Phoenix scheme should be even easier to achieve these days since it would save a lot of layers of white (I suspect, not having tried yet)! Anyway, you're welcome to "steal" whatever you like, I'm just happy to inspire people! Just be sure to tell others to stop by the thread if they ask you where you got the idea from :grin:

----

Back from a job interview yesterday (spent the night at my parents summer house which happens to be nearby where I applied for a job) I've been able to, thanks to my recovery from recent illness to focus enough to actually put some paint on the speeder. I find it's far to tedious work though and my patience is spread thin. The bastard is just overwhelmingly full of angles that needs to be highlighted and it's just a huge pain at the moment. I want to try and get the top side done so I can put some varnish on it before I start on the bottom - I fear that my handling might rub the paint off some of the edges otherwise (since this is particularly old resin (being bought on ebay) and the basecoat didn't attach 100% on some parts of it):









Hope you still like her and that you can see that actual progress has been made since last time, hehe!

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Tossidin

xenobiotic said:


> You're always nagging on the pieces I've spent the most time choosing


I am only trying to help you make your models as awesome as possible. And also I kinda hate you! 

Speeder looks awesome, not much more to say since last time though


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

More awesome conversions there Xeno. Love the progress on the Tempest and on Valthex. Look forward to seeing them completed!


----------



## Regnear67

thanks 
yeah i am in no hurry lol


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

LOL...Hope you STILL like her? Pffff, nope it's a piece of painted junk! 

Ehhhmmm, ya right dude, seriously? She's looking super buddy and good luck with the job prospect.

Regards,
DoE


----------



## Midge913

Speeder is looking ace man!! The blue is so vibrant


----------



## Arcticor

I swear Xeno if you ever decide to sell your stuff you will be bloody rich. All masterpieces.


----------



## Scythes

I like the techmarines MkIII arms, the rest of his armour looks like a version of the same so those match really well. Is that the finished product or are you still experimenting with him?


----------



## xenobiotic

Tossidin said:


> I am only trying to help you make your models as awesome as possible. And also I kinda hate you!
> 
> Speeder looks awesome, not much more to say since last time though


I feel your hate, it rushes through me and sustains me! ... Wait, that came out wrong!

It's good to have someone eyeing your pieces with scrutiny and playing hard ball with you, it makes you analyse your work and your alternatives. I wouldn't be where I am today modelling/painting skill wise without the harsh love of Heresy-online! So keep the hate coming, mate! :friends:



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> More awesome conversions there Xeno. Love the progress on the Tempest and on Valthex. Look forward to seeing them completed!


I'm still waiting for tools and pieces for Valthex, he's on hold for now. I remember my slow but rewarding work with Tyberos - sometimes it's good to be forced to wait.



Regnear67 said:


> thanks
> yeah i am in no hurry lol


Cheers! Hope it works as well for you as it has for me! 



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> LOL...Hope you STILL like her? Pffff, nope it's a piece of painted junk!
> 
> Ehhhmmm, ya right dude, seriously? She's looking super buddy and good luck with the job prospect.
> 
> Regards,
> DoE


I knew it! I've destroyed the miniature, I guess I'll just toss her out the window and see if she really is a skimmer!  :wink:



Midge913 said:


> Speeder is looking ace man!! The blue is so vibrant


It kind of grows on you! The more I look at it the more vibrant it gets, self hypnosis ftw!



Arcticor said:


> I swear Xeno if you ever decide to sell your stuff you will be bloody rich. All masterpieces.


Sadly I don't think so  the amount of time I put into each miniature would hardly make it a feasible occupation since no one would pay that much for a miniature (decent wage/hour).



Scythes said:


> I like the techmarines MkIII arms, the rest of his armour looks like a version of the same so those match really well. Is that the finished product or are you still experimenting with him?


I'm still experimenting, waiting on some more tools and wires to create a few "whip-coils" attached to the arms to represent the power weapons he's supposed to have.

----

I've realised I'm a glutton for punishment. I've recently ordered the Rapier Laser Destroyer, the Minotaurs special characters and a set of Mk III marines to.. Add to my project pile. I have some nice ideas for the Rapier (Thunderfire counts as, never used that unit before because it was completely made in metal) and I'm going to see if I can make something useful from the character parts (spears as counts as thunder hammers for some Void Sharks assault termies perhaps?). The Mk IIIs I haven't decided on yet.

As far as painting goes I've continued my long process of highlighting the land speeder tempest/typhoon and I'm now almost done with the top side (woho!). Time is running out so I need to get a move on!









I've managed to find all the poses I wanted for my first tactical squad for the Void Sharks. I also gathered enough pieces to equip them all with the correct shoulderpads to give them a unified feel (left shoulder charges, yarr!!). Anyway, here's a quick image compilation to show them all. They still need minor details added (pouches and grenades) as well as minor greenstuff work (armguards and soft armour additions).

Heavy w. Multi-melta / Sgt. w. Combi-Melta & Powerfist / Meltagunner:








Crazy Void Shark Marines 1-3:








Crazy Void Shark Marines 4-5:








Void Shark Marines with Silencers 1-2:









----

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

xenobiotic said:


> Void Shark Marines with Silencers 1-2:


OMG...EPICNESS! Is that dude tossing his spent bolt pistol "silencer" and if so, thats just badass!


----------



## Midge913

Epic poses my friend. Did you cast all of the lighter resin parts?


----------



## Regnear67

thanks ive just about finished one of my terminators
oh and how did you get all your random marine bits did you buy the model kits or did you buy bits boxes?


----------



## Lethiathan

Ok so 2 hours spent reading 50 pages of mini's. I am blown away by the level of detail and skill that goes into them. Also do you have any advice on how to get an accurate quatered scheme, I have on im planning on doing.


----------



## Scythes

Those look amazing Xeno, I like the great poses, much better than stock ones from GW. I'm can just imagine how good they'll look with paint on them.


----------



## xenobiotic

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> OMG...EPICNESS! Is that dude tossing his spent bolt pistol "silencer" and if so, thats just badass!


Nah, sorry to disappoint you but he's just tossing his spent bolt pistol (already having tossed away the spent ammo clip away and realising he had no more spares he's tossing the pistol to grab his knife from the belt).



Midge913 said:


> Epic poses my friend. Did you cast all of the lighter resin parts?


Yes, that's parts I've messed about with somewhat and they cast to give a uniform look around the army (and to save me money and time from having to by all the pieces and convert them one by one). I have something similar planned for my terminators which I will explain below.



Regnear67 said:


> thanks ive just about finished one of my terminators
> oh and how did you get all your random marine bits did you buy the model kits or did you buy bits boxes?


Well, I did buy a lot of kits and bits (when I find them cheaply, on sales and online retailers, ebay has some good sellers for example) I also "steal" bits from friends (with their permission). I've managed to get a lot of extra bits from forgeworld when they've sent me screwed up miniatures and I get replacements - I always save everything and try to use it as I move along. Miniatures that are unfit for actual use (askew details and such) can be scavanged for parts that aren't affected as much or parts that can be repaired and altered to be used in conversions. Another example was my Finecast Vanguard veteran fiasko which in the end provided me with 3 boxes worth of veterans (for less the full retail price of one box) which I could scavange parts from (most of the marines / jump packs where bad casts but the legs and arms where still mostly use:able).



Lethiathan said:


> Ok so 2 hours spent reading 50 pages of mini's. I am blown away by the level of detail and skill that goes into them. Also do you have any advice on how to get an accurate quatered scheme, I have on im planning on doing.


I've only done 2 miniatures in a quartered scheme so far so my experience is kind of limited right now and I have no good tips yet sadly,



Scythes said:


> Those look amazing Xeno, I like the great poses, much better than stock ones from GW. I'm can just imagine how good they'll look with paint on them.


They will look awesome, of course, courtesy of Xeno :grin:

----

I'm not 100% finished with the land speeder just yet but I'm leaving the weathering details and base for later (I also have to trick around with some engine glow or similar). Note the red heavy bolter, a nod to the old school weapons of Rogue Trader - I know some of you will hate it but I like it on these machines, the alternative would be a boring black casing (or possibly yellow - crazy I know!).

Land Speeder Typhoon (Heavy Bolter / Typhoon Missile Launcher):









As if I don't have enough to worry about I couldn't let sleeping dogs lie and my bit-box cursed me once again with bright ideas. I've been thinking a lot about the terminators for the Void Shark army since Tyberos allows a squad armed with lightning claws to be taken as troops I've been working on converting my own claws for a while now (progress has been made but not enough to warrant any salutations). And when you think about one kind of terminator you automatically think about the other types as well...

Now, there's just something about Thunder hammers that doesn't ring with Void Sharks. A hammer doesn't suit their aesthetics and I wasn't sure what to use instead of hammers until I saw Asterion on the FW page and it all became clear - spears! Thunder spears! I also like the Asterion storm shield. I'm thinking I'm going to cut away the bull and rebuild the shield without it and use it on the entire squad.

Terminator with Thunder spear and Storm Shield prototype:









I also found use for the left over Lufgt Huron pieces I had lying about. Here's his heavy flamer which found a new home on a shooty terminator. Note the right handed powerfist I've adapted to fit the terminator. The entire squad is going to have right handed close combat weapons and grey knight storm bolters. I think it makes more sense to have them wrist mounted in most situations (since you can still use your hand without having to drop the weapon).

Another thing to note on the flamer terminator are the shoulder pads which are taken from spare Tyberos arms I had laying about (already salvaged the fists for other projects). I dremeled out his arms (making sure I had a mask on and the vacuum cleaner nearby when doing it) until I all that was left was the shoulder pads - ready to be used on another pair of arms. I think I'm going to restore these (some of the details have been broken) and then maybe add a smaller piece of armour hanging down (along the middle) to cover the top of the arm. Then, when I'm done modifying them I'll probably cast them for all my terminators and add individual extra details (lightning bolts) to them. I think they suit my terminators much better than the original pads I had considered (normal terminator pads). What do you guys think? 

Terminator with Heavy Flamer and Powerfist









Terminator with Storm Bolter and Powerfist prototype:









Hope you like these concepts!
Till next time :bye:


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Excellent work making off-handed power-fists.


----------



## .Bragg.

Well, my right index finger looks like a young Schwarzenegger's forearm! I've been clicking from the first post all afternoon with a very dry mouth due to jaw dropping period of today! Your conversions and artistic consistency is inspiring! I have a few questions to throw your way, though I am sorry if they have been covered in your thread and I have missed them:

1. What do you use to make your casts/moulds?
2. Have you created any tutorials to date? If so, where are they?  

Keep it up! +rep


----------



## Scythes

It seems like, with the poses of the last two, you should swap those power fists. The one with his arm up seems like he'd be pointing, it kind of looks like he's doing a half-hearted punch. Other than that those all look great, keep'em coming.


----------



## Turnip86

Really good ideas for the termies. I kind of agree with Scythes, but rather than swap them you could just have the head pointed in the other direction so it looks like he's mid arcing-power-fist-smash at a target to his left.

Loving the land speeder too


----------



## xenobiotic

Dave T Hobbit said:


> Excellent work making off-handed power-fists.


Thanks



Awfun said:


> Well, my right index finger looks like a young Schwarzenegger's forearm! I've been clicking from the first post all afternoon with a very dry mouth due to jaw dropping period of today! Your conversions and artistic consistency is inspiring! I have a few questions to throw your way, though I am sorry if they have been covered in your thread and I have missed them:
> 
> 1. What do you use to make your casts/moulds?
> 2. Have you created any tutorials to date? If so, where are they?
> 
> Keep it up! +rep


Well then, with that newly acquired mighty index finger of yours you can wander of on a quest to protect the innocent!

RTV silicone for moulds. 2 part resin mix for casts. I can't go into details on a forum like this 'cause it's frowned upon.

About tutorials it depends on if there's something specific you're interested in a tutorial for. If it's about casting - then no would be the answer.



Scythes said:


> It seems like, with the poses of the last two, you should swap those power fists. The one with his arm up seems like he'd be pointing, it kind of looks like he's doing a half-hearted punch. Other than that those all look great, keep'em coming.





Turnip86 said:


> Really good ideas for the termies. I kind of agree with Scythes, but rather than swap them you could just have the head pointed in the other direction so it looks like he's mid arcing-power-fist-smash at a target to his left.
> 
> Loving the land speeder too


I think you're focusing to much on the fist on the storm bolter terminator. He's actually moving his fist away from his arc of fire (aiming to shoot with the storm bolter that is) rather than punching with it.

All poses can be adjusted almost indefinitely due to the fact of them only being held together with blue-tac at the moment.

----

There's been a lot going on lately in my personal life so my thoughts have been all over the place and I haven't been able to concentrate much the last week when it comes to painting.

As things would have it it's always at these times that the craziest ideas flood into my mind when I desperately search for things to occupy myself with that I'm also able to do without ruining them. I had seen a conversion for a superb imperial inquisitor conversion (imperial guard commander/squad leader/commissar) in another thread (I'll link to it later) that inspired me a lot and as luck would have it I managed to grab the base miniature used for the conversion at a -25% sale on a webpage. The plan is to make something similar (but through my own artistic vein of course) and I've been doodling with it whenever I found my mind drifted dangerously close to "bad country".

I'm going to hold off showing the actual miniature until I've come a bit further. I'm very happy with what I have so far (the main body without head and arms), specially since it was full of casting errors that I had to fix (luckily they where easy to do so). After I was done with the body I turned my attention to the head. The original head wouldn't be usable (far to much of a fantasy feel on it) so I had to find something suitable for a 40k character miniature.

Right about that time I had a lot of thoughts about different heads and that I'd like to continue on my theme with no soldiers showing their head without helmet/cover. To that effect I rummaged through my bit box and found a DKoK grenadier that I'd been given by a friend and at that time I think I found a suitable head! So I set about carving of the helmet and resculpting details and a cover. Obviously the grenadier is going to lose his head soon, right now I'm just waiting for the green stuff to harden before I transplant it to the other body...

Anyway, here's a little teaser of what's to come:









Till next time :bye:


----------



## Lethiathan

damnable teasers... Looks good tho


----------



## Scythes

That mask looks really good, nice and smooth, not bubbly like some GS sculpts get. Great job, keep it up.


----------



## Arcticor

Are you my mummy? 
...mooommmmyyy










I like it so far xeno! I cant believe I missed this :/ Keep up the good work!


----------



## Midge913

Looking very interesting so far..... Damn you and your teaser images:ireful2:

I demand finished work:wink:


----------



## xenobiotic

Lethiathan said:


> damnable teasers... Looks good tho


My quest in life is to annoy you all, mwahaha! icknose:



Scythes said:


> That mask looks really good, nice and smooth, not bubbly like some GS sculpts get. Great job, keep it up.


Well, it's not all my work, stole the base from Forgeworld but it's a good way to flex your own sculpting muscles and learn a few tricks (building on a concept already available, repairing/altering other pieces to fit your purpose).



Arcticor said:


> Are you my mummy?
> ...mooommmmyyy
> 
> I like it so far xeno! I cant believe I missed this :/ Keep up the good work!


What the he... Your insanity is slowly catching up to you, no? :wink:



Midge913 said:


> Looking very interesting so far..... Damn you and your teaser images:ireful2:
> 
> I demand finished work:wink:


THERE SHALL BE NO MORE FINISHED WORK! PROJECTS ARE NEVER TRULY DONE! :shout:

----

Ok, time has come to show the progress that has been made on the miniature whom has now received a head transplant. I started just a few days ago with this fellow:








And I've slowly been cutting my way and adding and removing details till I've reached this point:








Granted he is still not done in any way (for one thing he has a distinct lack of an arm) but I felt like sharing the progress.

My current issues lies in what way I'd like to use him (and therefore how to equip him). I have a distant goal to make some human auxiliaries for my marine projects (imperial guard) but humans can be represented in quite a lot of different ways these days (specially since the introduction of the henchmen list from Grey Knights, the Elysian list in IA8, the DKoK list and the Imperial Guard list and so on). Depending on which codex/rules I'll settle for I imagine he would have slightly different equipment. The safest way would probably be to go with Power Weapon and Bolt Pistol (since that's a fairly widespread option in many codices, it's also fairly cheap and reasonably "good") which means I have to find a good power weapon to replace that Chainsword. I'm having little luck finding a suitable right arm at the moment so it's looking like I'm going to have to build one from scratch using a catachan left arm as a guide.

Oh, and before you go all "He's half naked, he can't be an agent of the imperium, dammit!" on me I have a very suitable explanation for it which will show up better when he's moved to the painting stage - it's simply a kind of Synskin.

Another thing I've considered is to make another character conversion within the same theme based upon this miniature:








I've always liked the idea of female humans on the battlefield (sadly the SoB are metal miniatures) and a female inquisitor or commander would be pretty wicked. Just imagine a gasmask over the face with that hairstyle - that's as grimdark as it could possibly become! 

Hope you likey like like!

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Arcticor

xenobiotic said:


> What the he... Your insanity is slowly catching up to you, no?


 Xeno, I"m not going crazy (I hope). I saw the gas mask and instantly thought of the Doctor Who episode The Empty Child (for those of you who dont know, its a little kid with a gas mask fused to his skin who is brought back to life by futuristic nanobots and goes around asking people "are you my mummy?". its really creepy!). So no, I am not going insane.....*twitch*. Also, it might just be my computer but the 1st and 3rd pictures are not showing up.
Keep up the great work!
-Arcticor


----------



## GrimzagGorwazza

xenobiotic said:


> And I've slowly been cutting my way and adding and removing details till I've reached this point:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Granted he is still not done in any way (for one thing he has a distinct lack of an arm) but I felt like sharing the progress.
> 
> My current issues lies in what way I'd like to use him (and therefore how to equip him). I have a distant goal to make some human auxiliaries for my marine projects (imperial guard) but humans can be represented in quite a lot of different ways these days (specially since the introduction of the henchmen list from Grey Knights, the Elysian list in IA8, the DKoK list and the Imperial Guard list and so on). Depending on which codex/rules I'll settle for I imagine he would have slightly different equipment. The safest way would probably be to go with Power Weapon and Bolt Pistol (since that's a fairly widespread option in many codices, it's also fairly cheap and reasonably "good") which means I have to find a good power weapon to replace that Chainsword. I'm having little luck finding a suitable right arm at the moment so it's looking like I'm going to have to build one from scratch using a catachan left arm as a guide.
> 
> 
> 
> Till next time :bye:


Just a quick suggestion if your going with the bolpistol powersword combo, why not switch out the chainsword for the boltpistol and use the marauder sword arm as the basis for the power sword arm, change the weapon obviously and you'll probabley need to do some skulpting around the shoulder area but you would have a well toned arm for the basis.


----------



## Midge913

Looking awesome!!! Nuff said for now.....


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

An amazing piece of work.

You have married the industrial look of the head with the medieval look of the legs very well.


----------



## Grins1878

Yet more stunning work! It's frustratingly good!  Looking forward to seeing him finished! 

How do you find working with Finecast? I'm pretty impressed for chopping and changing so far, it's a hell of a lot easier to work with than metal (well, for me anyhow!)


----------



## Monkeh

Holy crap! It's taken me the best part of 4-5 days but I've made it through all 103 pages finally!
I have so much to say! I've been slowly working on a flesh tearers army for a while now, the whole push on the army was 100% dynamism. I've converted every marine to be as dynamic and savage as possible so I just LOVE what you're doing with your tactical 'crazy sharks'. 

That being said, the one thing in this entire blog that looks slightly out of place to me is the forearm on the marine on the right. It's slightly too long.. but about 1 maybe 2mm. I've found when cutting and chopping them up that the forearms are typically the length of the shoulder - elbow distance, this appears a little over.



xenobiotic said:


>


And I know I've already bugged you via PM about your red schemes which I'm trying to replicate now but I'd absolutely love to see you do a tutorial on how you use washes. I know, wierd right? But your coverage is so consistent and smooth for them and you shift the tones of the colours down significantly lower than the usage of washes I've seen for most people. I can only assume you have some masterful way to apply them that I'm too feeble in the brain to ascertain!

Your concepts for the void sharks are great. If you still want to tie in the Maori theme's drop me a PM for a few suggestions. I'm from NZ and grew up around traditional carvers of stone and wood. Mostly try incorporating what we call 'koru' (or shapes that resemble ferns) and you'll be bang on


----------



## CLT40k

xenobiotic said:


> Terminator with Storm Bolter and Powerfist prototype:


Thank you... I'm inspired... + rep


----------



## shiftystylin

I've been following your work for ages. Love the spin-off BA and Carcharadon chapter's. In awe of it all and jealous that I don't have the time or money to achieve a portfolio like yours. Amazing!


----------



## .Bragg.

Regarding my tutorial request... I don't believe I can remember what it was about  so you can ignore forgetful me  keep up the work, will be watching closely!


----------



## xenobiotic

Arcticor said:


> Xeno, I"m not going crazy (I hope). I saw the gas mask and instantly thought of the Doctor Who episode The Empty Child (for those of you who dont know, its a little kid with a gas mask fused to his skin who is brought back to life by futuristic nanobots and goes around asking people "are you my mummy?". its really creepy!). So no, I am not going insane.....*twitch*. Also, it might just be my computer but the 1st and 3rd pictures are not showing up.
> Keep up the great work!
> -Arcticor


I've actually seen that episode but I didn't see the resemblance until you brought it up, hehe. Oh, and I changed the pictures to another source just for you viewing pleasure (hope they work now, because I'm getting lazy). 



GrimzagGorwazza said:


> Just a quick suggestion if your going with the bolpistol powersword combo, why not switch out the chainsword for the boltpistol and use the marauder sword arm as the basis for the power sword arm, change the weapon obviously and you'll probabley need to do some skulpting around the shoulder area but you would have a well toned arm for the basis.


Hm, it's a good idea but it brings about more problems then it solves. I have shooting weapons held in right hands for imperial guard and close combat weapons held in left arms. If I change the weaponry around I would have been without a shooting weapon instead. Also the marauder arms are probably way to thick compared to the armoured arm on the miniature which would ruin the balance. Most of the WHFB Chaos stuff is too muscular and thick.



Midge913 said:


> Looking awesome!!! Nuff said for now.....


Thanks, nuff said!!



Dave T Hobbit said:


> An amazing piece of work.
> 
> You have married the industrial look of the head with the medieval look of the legs very well.


Why thank you, kind sir.



Grins1878 said:


> Yet more stunning work! It's frustratingly good!  Looking forward to seeing him finished!
> 
> How do you find working with Finecast? I'm pretty impressed for chopping and changing so far, it's a hell of a lot easier to work with than metal (well, for me anyhow!)


Thanks, mate! I find Finecast very nice to work with. I wouldn't buy spindly miniatures though - or miniatures with pointy swords and details that I need. I find that swords in particular are often damaged beyond salvation even in a good finecast batch. When it comes to cutting and remodelling it's as good as ForgeWorld resin which I'm very used to these days. You just have to keep an eye open for errors and be sure to complain about every single one of them - worst case scenario is that you get an excuse and maybe the next batch will be better - best scenario means they give you an extra set for free which is VERY useful when you're a converter.

I've been complaining like hell on my 25th anniversary miniatures which have all been completely crappy quality, I'm up to 5 miniatures now (2 purchased and 3 replacements) and I believe I have 1 with all parts in decent quality. But I'll be able to take pieces from all the crappy ones as well and use them in conversions as I continue on my projects. If I wouldn't have sent those e-mails I would just have had 2 crappy miniatures instead.



Monkeh said:


> Holy crap! It's taken me the best part of 4-5 days but I've made it through all 103 pages finally!
> I have so much to say! I've been slowly working on a flesh tearers army for a while now, the whole push on the army was 100% dynamism. I've converted every marine to be as dynamic and savage as possible so I just LOVE what you're doing with your tactical 'crazy sharks'.
> 
> That being said, the one thing in this entire blog that looks slightly out of place to me is the forearm on the marine on the right. It's slightly too long.. but about 1 maybe 2mm. I've found when cutting and chopping them up that the forearms are typically the length of the shoulder - elbow distance, this appears a little over.
> 
> And I know I've already bugged you via PM about your red schemes which I'm trying to replicate now but I'd absolutely love to see you do a tutorial on how you use washes. I know, wierd right? But your coverage is so consistent and smooth for them and you shift the tones of the colours down significantly lower than the usage of washes I've seen for most people. I can only assume you have some masterful way to apply them that I'm too feeble in the brain to ascertain!
> 
> Your concepts for the void sharks are great. If you still want to tie in the Maori theme's drop me a PM for a few suggestions. I'm from NZ and grew up around traditional carvers of stone and wood. Mostly try incorporating what we call 'koru' (or shapes that resemble ferns) and you'll be bang on


Only 5 days?! I must be slowing done far to much, should have taken you a week at least by now to get through the entire thread  (you're crazy!)

I think that MOST of your squabble with that forearm comes from the point of view of the camera. While I agree that it could be about 0,5 mm too long the angle of the shot makes it look even longer then it is. The hand itself is angled in a downward position making a row of ribbing pop up between the glove and the forearm armour which makes it look longer than it is. The left arm is also slightly wonky (one of the more odd positioned arms available from ForgeWorld) which accentuates the look of the other arm - so while I somewhat agree with you I also believe that the picture itself is accentuating the matter. It's quite a catch to notice it though, so applauses for that!

I don't think I have some kind of magic way of applying my washes (I don't know what I could do differently to be honest - other then if I had a different batch of washes altogether. I could try to put together a small series of pictures but I'm not painting anything red at the moment so I'm not sure when I'd be able to put it up here, might be a while.

I'd love to see some original/traditional Maori patterns as the ones I've been able to find have a very modernized and restyled feel to fit current artistic trends. So any source material tips or picture references of that would be golden. 



CLT40k said:


> Thank you... I'm inspired... + rep


You're most welcome, inspiring people is the best part of having a blog 



shiftystylin said:


> I've been following your work for ages. Love the spin-off BA and Carcharadon chapter's. In awe of it all and jealous that I don't have the time or money to achieve a portfolio like yours. Amazing!


Small amounts of time quickly add up if you keep doing it. I seldom devout whole days to warhammer. Mostly I put in about 1-2 hours every now and then and let ideas and project grow as time goes by. This is also good since it gives me plenty of time to look for good deals from bit-sellers and ebay 

It's all about patience and having fun while doing it. Although I can admit that I've spent quite a lot of money on miniatures now I do believe that if I had been more focused (i.e not buying all the new shiny stuff and planning ahead better) I would have saved a lot of that money. Thankfully I do find use for most of my purchases as time goes by (and even freebies given to me by friends such as the DKoK mask on the miniature in this post).



Awfun said:


> Regarding my tutorial request... I don't believe I can remember what it was about  so you can ignore forgetful me  keep up the work, will be watching closely!


k:

----

I've done some work on the... I don't even know what I'm working on - Is it an Inquisitor? Is it an Imperial Guard Commissar or Commander? Is it something else? Why don't you help me decide? I might convert a retinue or similar if you can help me pinpoint something specific that could influence my progress a lot. What kind of humans would hang out with the Void Sharks and the Brethren of the Phoenix in your opinion?

Anyway, I sculpted an arm. I figured it was the easiest way to go since I couldn't be sure that any arm I might get from a bits site would fit once I got it and having to order multiples just to try them out is a bit to adventurous for me right now. On the subject of long arms I know this one is slightly longer then usual for GW miniatures but I like it as it stands right now, it has a semi realistic feel to it. On the other hand it might be about 0,5-1 mm longer then the other arm (particularly the forearm) - so if you'd like to voice your opinion on that matter be sure to do so:








As you can see I also pieced together a power sword for him and filled in the tiny pieces missing on the left arm (a small gap by the hand and some chainlinks missing by the elbow). Overall he's pretty much ready to be painted now.

And talking about painting... I want to venture into insecure territory when painting this miniature so I'm going to aim for a yellow armour (yes, yellow, your eyes aren't deceiving you) with a dark black/purple hue to the skin (to represent Synskin). However I'd like to see how the new citadel colours work out so I'm probably going to wait till I get my new paints before I put any on this guy. 

I've also ordered Vallejo primer (that can be painted on by hand) which I'm going to try out. I haven't bother much with primer before since I found spray paints ruined my miniatures more often then not (and I wasn't having any of that with the amount of conversion work I put into them). This is going to be interesting for sure.

Anyway, till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

I think he looks brilliant man! My only bit of quibble is that the bolt pistol looks a bit to large and unwieldy for him. Other than that I think it looks fantastic and I can't wait to see him painted up.

I think that you should go with him being some sort of Inquistorial unit. Where the guard stuff is more plentiful, the Inquistion definitely has more character and flavor.


----------



## Jacobite

xenobiotic said:


> I've done some work on the... I don't even know what I'm working on - Is it an Inquisitor? Is it an Imperial Guard Commissar or Commander? Is it something else? Why don't you help me decide? I might convert a retinue or similar if you can help me pinpoint something specific that could influence my progress a lot. What kind of humans would hang out with the Void Sharks and the Brethren of the Phoenix in your opinion?


God dam it I love that conversion. It truly is quite amazing, I want to steal some if not all of it but I won't don't worry. The gas mask, the cloak, the ornate pattern leg armor - all works a fucking treat.

He's defiantly a =I= agent, maybe not a full =I= though, he looks slightly "Radical" if you know what I mean. How about he's the leader of band =I= henchmen, you know how Eisenhorn has agents and contacts all around the sector he works in who can complete various tasks for him, join him for various missions etc Thats what I think he looks like. Badass, would also allow you to add your other character very easily without having too many big egos in the room. Your other character also looks awesome as a concept, seeing a full squad of guys done in that style would be truly pant wetting.


----------



## Red Corsairs

Jacobite said:


> God dam it I love that conversion. It truly is quite amazing, I want to steal some if not all of it but I won't don't worry. The gas mask, the cloak, the ornate pattern leg armor - all works a fucking treat.


Took the words right out of my mouth. That is one nice conversion mate. I can't wait to see this painted up to your usual standards.


----------



## Arcticor

I agree with Midge, the bolt pistol seems way to large for that guy. The length of the arm seems just fine, it looks very muscular and realistic. Whenever I see your greenstuff work I see little patches of GS here and there along the mini - since I've never worked with GS, what are those for? (Just out of curiosity). Everything seems top notch, as per usual.

*edit: I can see the images now, thank you for switching them for me*
-Arcticor


----------



## Zodd

Absolutely outstanding figure with the light-weight bolterpistol intended for puny Inquisitor-employed humies


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> I think he looks brilliant man! My only bit of quibble is that the bolt pistol looks a bit to large and unwieldy for him. Other than that I think it looks fantastic and I can't wait to see him painted up.
> 
> I think that you should go with him being some sort of Inquistorial unit. Where the guard stuff is more plentiful, the Inquistion definitely has more character and flavor.


Funny thing about the bolt pistol - it's taken from an IG kit, so it's supposed to be used by humans (making me think that they somehow have to be able to actually use them in some kind of manner)...

Inquisition also opens up for a Henchmen unit which could be colourful...



Jacobite said:


> God dam it I love that conversion. It truly is quite amazing, I want to steal some if not all of it but I won't don't worry. The gas mask, the cloak, the ornate pattern leg armor - all works a fucking treat.
> 
> He's defiantly a =I= agent, maybe not a full =I= though, he looks slightly "Radical" if you know what I mean. How about he's the leader of band =I= henchmen, you know how Eisenhorn has agents and contacts all around the sector he works in who can complete various tasks for him, join him for various missions etc Thats what I think he looks like. Badass, would also allow you to add your other character very easily without having too many big egos in the room. Your other character also looks awesome as a concept, seeing a full squad of guys done in that style would be truly pant wetting.


Well, to be honest I stole the idea from someone else (using that particular warhammer fantasy miniature as a base) so it's not a novel idea - just a recycled one - so go ahead and use it as you like!

I probably wouldn't be able to do a full squad based on these warhammer fantasy sculpts turned Inquisition, but I might be able to do a few (like 2-4) and then fill in the unit with minor imperial guard conversions (headswaps mostly) to finish the units. I have some ideas for what I could do for an odd but flavourful Inquisition unit - sad part is that it would be very expensive though, hehe (in IRL cash that is).

I could flesh that idea out if anyone is interested in my random banter.



Red Corsairs said:


> Took the words right out of my mouth. That is one nice conversion mate. I can't wait to see this painted up to your usual standards.


And I shall, as soon as I get my new citadel paints and vallejo primer 



Arcticor said:


> I agree with Midge, the bolt pistol seems way to large for that guy. The length of the arm seems just fine, it looks very muscular and realistic. Whenever I see your greenstuff work I see little patches of GS here and there along the mini - since I've never worked with GS, what are those for? (Just out of curiosity). Everything seems top notch, as per usual.
> 
> *edit: I can see the images now, thank you for switching them for me*
> -Arcticor


Oh, the little patches of green stuff on this miniature in particular is me repairing finecast faults (there was a nasty mould line "indentation" running down the whole body ) and filling out gaps caused by my conversion (such as a slight reposition of the leg which required me to till in a gap at the hip). It's a great way to learn basic sculpting (and reculpting things for that matter). 



Zodd said:


> Absolutely outstanding figure with the light-weight bolterpistol intended for puny Inquisitor-employed humies


Yeah, it's made out of hope and faith, at least I hear that's what keeps imperial units alive...

----

So I don't have that much going on right now. I'm just doodling while waiting for some orders to come in before I proceed with my many projects. But I did decide to start on something while I wait and since a friend of mine is pushing a lot for Warhammer Fantasy at the moment I picked up one of my chaos dwarf miniatures and started to try out some different schemes on it. So far I'm liking this one a lot (for some reason I can't get the metallics to photograph well for me -the highlights in particular are very messy in this picture). This isn't done by any means, other then parts of the brass/gold parts. You can see the difference a couple of washes makes by comparing the miniatures right arm side with the miniatures left arm side:








We'll talk more about these dwarves and the colour theory behind the colours and what not as we go along, I just wanted to update the log 

Till next time (hopefully a fully painted chaos dwarf by then) :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Damn... this is what I get for not paying attention. Amazing work! The landspeeder is remarkable, and all the poses are boss. The only good thing that came out of this is I wasnt teased... Keep it up, we all love your work!


----------



## cirs85

Xeno, def like the right side alot more, the dark bronze with the patina looks great! I really like it with the black scale armor underneath... the yellow not to crazy, looking forward to see a unit of these guys painted up.


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Blasphemy! You destroyed a Kriegsmen!

However, you did it to create an entirely new and kick ass model.........so, I guess I can let it slide. :grin:

Can you make me one? He would be perfect for a Krieg HQ choice! Im serious!

Chaos dwarfs? Nice! So far he looks great and the patina is a perfect touch.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

I agree with cir85; the yellow looks wrong on a brassy background as brass is a yellowish metal. I feel a violet/purple would complement the yellow/turquoise of aged brass better.


----------



## Jacobite

xenobiotic said:


> Well, to be honest I stole the idea from someone else (using that particular warhammer fantasy miniature as a base) so it's not a novel idea - just a recycled one - so go ahead and use it as you like!
> 
> I probably wouldn't be able to do a full squad based on these warhammer fantasy sculpts turned Inquisition, but I might be able to do a few (like 2-4) and then fill in the unit with minor imperial guard conversions (headswaps mostly) to finish the units. I have some ideas for what I could do for an odd but flavourful Inquisition unit - sad part is that it would be very expensive though, hehe (in IRL cash that is).
> 
> I could flesh that idea out if anyone is interested in my random banter.


Interested? Nay I demand to know them! 2-4 is fine - thats a unit to me - anything more than 3 is a unit in my books - not everybody obeys the 5/10 man rule. And yes I feel your pain re cost: some many cool ideas so little money (and time).

You sir are an inspiration.


----------



## Midge913

I agree with both Dave and cirs85, the darker bronze is much nicer and the patina you have added looks awesome. The yellow is just off though, I think that Dave's suggestion of a purple or perhaps a royal blue would look better.


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> Damn... this is what I get for not paying attention. Amazing work! The landspeeder is remarkable, and all the poses are boss. The only good thing that came out of this is I wasn't teased... Keep it up, we all love your work!


The longer you manage to stay away the bigger the surprise once you get back, ey? 



cirs85 said:


> Xeno, def like the right side alot more, the dark bronze with the patina looks great! I really like it with the black scale armor underneath... the yellow not to crazy, looking forward to see a unit of these guys painted up.


Thanks. Yeah, I'm changing the yellow. I tried blue at first and didn't like it but it was just me getting the wrong one, I'm more pleased with the result below.



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Blasphemy! You destroyed a Kriegsmen!
> 
> However, you did it to create an entirely new and kick ass model.........so, I guess I can let it slide. :grin:
> 
> Can you make me one? He would be perfect for a Krieg HQ choice! Im serious!
> 
> Chaos dwarfs? Nice! So far he looks great and the patina is a perfect touch.


To be fair I took a head from a miniature that I didn't have arms for (let alone any squad to go with for that matter), so in a way I was saving him... :grin:

I could make you one, the thing is that he's significantly larger than a Krieg Guardsman (vampire are pretty big compared to 40k humans and Krieg are smaller than the average 40k humans so you can see the problem) so he'd stand out in a DKoK army for sure. I think it would look somewhat odd tbh, he'd probably look more like a mutant bodyguard or something similar to that if you put him in a squad.

And yes, that is the first Chaos Dwarf I'm painting for my army. There will be more of them to come since my friend is picking up Dark Elves and she wants to have someone to learn how to play with so I figured I'd start that army now rather then later so I can teach her about the hobby aspect and keep up with her points wise so we can learn the rules together.



Dave T Hobbit said:


> I agree with cir85; the yellow looks wrong on a brassy background as brass is a yellowish metal. I feel a violet/purple would complement the yellow/turquoise of aged brass better.


Indeed. I was fooled somewhat by my first attempt at a trim colour (which was blue) which failed miserably (it was leaning to much toward turquoise) so I tried yellow but I guess it backfired somewhat. I've tweaked it with blue now and the miniature goes together better now. I'm going to keep the amount of blue down though (only the leaders are going to have larger amounts of it). I still haven't decide how I want to paint my K'daii Fireborn yet either, traditional yellow/orange/red flames is probably something I want to stay away from. Blue/Purple flames would probably look cool with the brass armour pieces...



Jacobite said:


> Interested? Nay I demand to know them! 2-4 is fine - thats a unit to me - anything more than 3 is a unit in my books - not everybody obeys the 5/10 man rule. And yes I feel your pain re cost: some many cool ideas so little money (and time).
> 
> You sir are an inspiration.


Well then, fellow Heretic, have a look down below and you shall be inspired! Huzzah!



Midge913 said:


> I agree with both Dave and cirs85, the darker bronze is much nicer and the patina you have added looks awesome. The yellow is just off though, I think that Dave's suggestion of a purple or perhaps a royal blue would look better.


I have gotten the point, I shall experiment more in the blue part of the colour circle.

----

So I think we've all come to the conclusion that the conversion will represent an Inquisitorial unit. So for now I'll simply call him the "Krieg Inquisitor". I've been eyeing through the GK codex looking at options for Inquisitorial units and I've then tried to combine the rules with the miniatures I have in mind. I think I've come up with a pretty tasteful inquisitorial henchmen unit that will be totally worthless in the game but interesting visually. Worst case scenario I'll have a wicked unit that will never be used much in games (so similar to all of my collection really...). 

Deciding on what miniatures to use was pretty simple, I eyed through the different options available at the GW homepage and tried to think of different ways to use miniatures presented to me. Some will require more conversions than other but I think it will be fun in the long run. Conversions are kind of my fastest growing interest so I'll be happy to keep tinkering away with that even if it means some other projects will be pushed around and delayed. This hobby is after all about having fun, no?

If the links (for example click "Isabella") don't work (i.e. you are taken to the page where you choose language on the GW page, choose a language and then it should proceed to the correct page).

I know for sure that I want to use Isabella as the Inquisitors sidekick (maybe even a second inquisitor). I'd like to try and just add a gas mask to her face (and maybe sculpt some straps going in to that enormous hair which I'd like to keep as much of as possible (because Inquisitors are usually that pimp and arrogant). Her accessories are passable for 40k miniature but I might remove some details and add new, small, ones.

The next conversion will be based on the WoC Sorcerer (being plastic that's a nice bonus) and he'll represent an imperial advisor (navigator perhaps even, he'll be a psychic at least). That should be a pretty straightforward conversion with a head swap and some minor detail adjustment.

Then we have the Imperial Enforcer from FW which I haven't decided what to do with yet. I don't want to convert a special event miniature normally (at least not that much), so I might have to buy a second one and have one for keepsakes and use the other for a conversion basis. The cyber-mastif will of course be used in the unit as well (probably as an arco-flagellant or death cult assassin stand-in). If possible I'd like to get my hands on more dogs somehow (would be a pretty nifty really).

For a more human touch I'd like to add the Acolytes and the light wizard from the Hurricanum kit as normal Acolytes to the Inquisitor. Just shave of some details and add pistol holsters and grenades to them + a head swap for gas masks and they would meld right in that unit no problem. Also fills out the unit nicely with pretty simple conversions.

The final idea I have is also the most complicated one. I'd like to make a servitor unit counts as combining 3 miniatures into a complex unit of two smaller servitors controlling a bigger one. Rule wise they will count as 3 imperial servitors with a multi-melta each but visually they will be two servitors walking behind a bigger one with wires connected between them (magnetized so that they can be removed). This conversion would be based on the Firebelly (with a huge amount of conversion work) and the GK Acolyte and a third servitor which I haven't decided on yet.

As you can imagine a unit such as this will cost well above 100£ but I can't help thinking it's worth it if I actually finish them. They might not me the most usefull bunch but they will make for an awesome character concept. Your opinion on these ideas will actually matter if I take the plunge or not, so comment visely (you have been warned).


On the painting side I've been doodling some more with the Chaos Dwarf. I'm taking it slowly, mostly since I find it relaxing and I don't quite have the stamina to push anything at the moment so I'm just happy doing something. Most of the stuff I've changed have already been typed into the answers to your posts above so I don't have that much to add. Still more work to be done (and more dwarves to be ordered).









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## WarlordKaptainGrishnak

The blue looks heaps better there Xeno. In regards to the Fireborn I think blue flames would work, but on a lighter shade to the blue on the standard dwarf armour.

I like the servitor idea. Would definitely be something unique! Look forward to seeing some concept.


----------



## Jacobite

xenobiotic said:


> I know for sure that I want to use Isabella as the Inquisitors sidekick (maybe even a second inquisitor). I'd like to try and just add a gas mask to her face (and maybe sculpt some straps going in to that enormous hair which I'd like to keep as much of as possible (because Inquisitors are usually that pimp and arrogant). Her accessories are passable for 40k miniature but I might remove some details and add new, small, ones.
> 
> A brother and sister team maybe? Or perhaps lovers? Gas mask is a must, maybe having the straps merge into her hair or perhaps looking like it is kind of under it? Could probably do with a sword replacement (maybe a staff?) and doing some with that cup - maybe replace it with a =I= symbol. Doing something with those hideous shoulder pads?
> 
> The next conversion will be based on the WoC Sorcerer (being plastic that's a nice bonus) and he'll represent an imperial advisor (navigator perhaps even, he'll be a psychic at least). That should be a pretty straightforward conversion with a head swap and some minor detail adjustment.
> 
> A fine choice sir. I think he's possibly too extravagant looking to be a Navigator, how about a very high class psychic?
> 
> Then we have the Imperial Enforcer from FW which I haven't decided what to do with yet. I don't want to convert a special event miniature normally (at least not that much), so I might have to buy a second one and have one for keepsakes and use the other for a conversion basis. The cyber-mastif will of course be used in the unit as well (probably as an arco-flagellant or death cult assassin stand-in). If possible I'd like to get my hands on more dogs somehow (would be a pretty nifty really).
> 
> Not a huge fan of this mini - I was excited when I heard of it but was let down when I saw it. He's big fat for my liking and looks more like a baker than anything. Dog is pretty cool though. If your looking for an enforcer type figure I would use the Valkyrie door gunners as a base personally and maybe use these as a base for some hounds after de-choasifying them
> 
> For a more human touch I'd like to add the Acolytes and the light wizard from the Hurricanum kit as normal Acolytes to the Inquisitor. Just shave of some details and add pistol holsters and grenades to them + a head swap for gas masks and they would meld right in that unit no problem. Also fills out the unit nicely with pretty simple conversions.
> 
> Agree 100% smack some gas masks on them and away you go. That really wide eyed gas-mask look you did on the Kreig =I= is just such a strong image it'd be great to continue it even if only subtly.
> 
> The final idea I have is also the most complicated one. I'd like to make a servitor unit counts as combining 3 miniatures into a complex unit of two smaller servitors controlling a bigger one. Rule wise they will count as 3 imperial servitors with a multi-melta each but visually they will be two servitors walking behind a bigger one with wires connected between them (magnetized so that they can be removed). This conversion would be based on the Firebelly (with a huge amount of conversion work) and the GK Acolyte and a third servitor which I haven't decided on yet.
> 
> This idea really reminds me of a conversion I saw in a WD years ago when the GK first were given a codex. That same servitor mini based up with a conversion based on a sentinel and a plasma cannon. Looked cool. I'd love to see what you did with this idea.


Comments in green. Go nuts.


----------



## Vaz

The "bleudigris" looks cracking, much nicer than the commonplace, and often overdone oxidation that is seen on the newly popular minotaurs.

Much prefer that to the turquoise.


----------



## KjellThorngaard

You have some great ideas for the =I= project Xeno. I can't think of anything that would inspire you, all your ideas are so great already. +100 to Vaz's comment on the oxidation. It is sublte and interesting without overdoing it. well done!


----------



## Midge913

I really don't have much to add on the retinue front either. I think that you have made some inspired choices when it comes to miniature selection and I can't wait to see where they go.

In regards to the Chaos Dwarf, I shall simply say that he is awesome and I can't wait to watch your regiments of Evil Stunites continue to roll out. I am not really familiar with the List choices for the Chaos dwarfs, but from the models available from FW it doesn't look like there is a lot of foot soldiers available. Are there more units that don't have models yet?


----------



## wolflordthor

Amazing Work, Xeno!!!
I Love your Marines!!!
WANNA SEE MORE!!!


----------



## xenobiotic

Happy StarWars day! May the 4th be with you!

----



WarlordKaptainGrishnak said:


> The blue looks heaps better there Xeno. In regards to the Fireborn I think blue flames would work, but on a lighter shade to the blue on the standard dwarf armour.
> 
> I like the servitor idea. Would definitely be something unique! Look forward to seeing some concept.


Yeah, I'm thinking violet / blue on the tips and then going in to icy blue / white at the centre of the flames. Really offset the warm colour of the armour plates. It could turn out way to "cold" but I guess I'll give it a shot and see how it goes before I trash the idea.

The servitor concept was just one of those pictures that popped up in my mind that I have to at least try to do before I die 



Jacobite said:


> [Isabella:]
> A brother and sister team maybe? Or perhaps lovers? Gas mask is a must, maybe having the straps merge into her hair or perhaps looking like it is kind of under it? Could probably do with a sword replacement (maybe a staff?) and doing some with that cup - maybe replace it with a =I= symbol. Doing something with those hideous shoulder pads?
> 
> [WoC Sorc:]
> A fine choice sir. I think he's possibly too extravagant looking to be a Navigator, how about a very high class psychic?
> 
> [Enforcer:]
> Not a huge fan of this mini - I was excited when I heard of it but was let down when I saw it. He's big fat for my liking and looks more like a baker than anything. Dog is pretty cool though. If your looking for an enforcer type figure I would use the Valkyrie door gunners as a base personally and maybe use these as a base for some hounds after de-choasifying them
> 
> [Acolytes:]
> Agree 100% smack some gas masks on them and away you go. That really wide eyed gas-mask look you did on the Kreig =I= is just such a strong image it'd be great to continue it even if only subtly.
> 
> [Servitor:]
> This idea really reminds me of a conversion I saw in a WD years ago when the GK first were given a codex. That same servitor mini based up with a conversion based on a sentinel and a plasma cannon. Looked cool. I'd love to see what you did with this idea.


I don't mind her shoulders that much, but the gas mask will be necessary as well as some kind of hand swap / equipment swap and some minor extra details. I like that sculpt quite a lot so I'm just happy to find some non fantasy use for it. Then again I don't now how often I'll get to use Inquisitorial warbands but I want to turn this idea into reality so I'm doing it anyway.

About the navigator I'm not sure which way to go. Looking at the navigator in the Inquisitor range they do have quite a lot of bling bling on them so I think he could pass for it...

See below about the Enforcer.

Hm, I don't remember that conversion but I bet my idea has been done before many times with marriage of different subject miniatures.

Thanks for the input!



Vaz said:


> The "bleudigris" looks cracking, much nicer than the commonplace, and often overdone oxidation that is seen on the newly popular minotaurs.
> 
> Much prefer that to the turquoise.


Funny thing though, it actually is turquoise (and now I listen to your mind being blown). Hawk Turquoise watered down 1:1 and applied. It's the dark brass that finishes the effect so nicely and tones it down I think.



KjellThorngaard said:


> You have some great ideas for the =I= project Xeno. I can't think of anything that would inspire you, all your ideas are so great already. +100 to Vaz's comment on the oxidation. It is sublte and interesting without overdoing it. well done!


:thank_you:



Midge913 said:


> I really don't have much to add on the retinue front either. I think that you have made some inspired choices when it comes to miniature selection and I can't wait to see where they go.
> 
> In regards to the Chaos Dwarf, I shall simply say that he is awesome and I can't wait to watch your regiments of Evil Stunites continue to roll out. I am not really familiar with the List choices for the Chaos dwarfs, but from the models available from FW it doesn't look like there is a lot of foot soldiers available. Are there more units that don't have models yet?


At the moment Chaos Dwarves core choices are pretty much limited to:
Infernals with 2-handed weapons
Infernals with 1-handed weapon + Shields

Infernals with Fireglavies
Infernals with Blunderbusses

Hobgoblins with Bow
Hobgoblins with 1-handed weapon + Shields
Hobgoblins with 2 x 1-handed weapons

and only 2 of these choices have miniatures currently 
But I'll work it out when I hit that wall. I'm going to start with a block of 1-hand+shield infernals and then add Fireborn. Hopefully by then they will at least have released some Bull Centaurs and then I'll think about my future options.



wolflordthor said:


> Amazing Work, Xeno!!!
> I Love your Marines!!!
> WANNA SEE MORE!!!


Not so many marines in the near future, hope Inquisition works for you instead 

----

So, I got my Imperial Enforcer Event only miniature in the mail today and I was pleasantly surprised that his head is a separate component (no need to gut anything off!) which enabled me to do a quick test fit with a DKoK head. Surprisingly the head looks very nice just blue tacced on like that and the proportions of the entire miniature comes together well. The miniature is a very nice sculpt and does not suffer from a bloated gut as much in person as it does on the pictures that FW put up:









With the enforcer comes the Cyber-Mastiff which is a very nice sculpt. It has a lot of dog features which gives it a convincing vibe but it also has a cool cybernetic spine showing through the skin on the back which is a nice touch. It's quite big though (as you shall see below) so I see why they'd be pretty nasty creatures to meet in a dark alley on some hive world:









I've had this idea for Imperial Guard Soldiers (Acolyte henchmen for GKs if you prefer that) ever since I saw the Autogun conversion on Warseer. Finally I decided to dig some guardsmen out and try it for myself. I decided to shave of the shoulderpads (because I think they are a tad to big) and replace the helmet with a respirator head (because frankly it looks better and the DKoK heads are too small to fit on these guys, which is ironic which you shall soon see...).









As you can see in this size comparison shot they are all wacky compared to one another. The imperial guardsman is shorter than the enforcer yet the head the enforcer has looks correctly scaled on him but waaay to small on the guardsman. Then there's the Inquisitor which, even though he's standing on a rock, is still larger than all of them and his head is actually bulked up a bit so it looks fairly decent over all. You also get a nice perspective on how big that dog is:









So, right now I'm thinking I'll make one warband for the Male DKoK inquisitor and one for the Isabella Inquisitor. The DKoK warband will consist of the servitors and the Enforcer and some Imperial guardsmen. The Isabella warband will be mostly handmaidens and some acolytes. The handmaidens will be constructed out of the vampire and vampire handmaidens from the Coven Throne, the only problem with that is that I'll probably have to resculpt the dresses since they are sitting down on the Throne but I'll deal with that problem once I get the pieces (and you might ask why I would even try to do this, the answer is - because I can).

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Jacobite

xenobiotic said:


> ----



I stand corrected and I apologise for ever doubting you. You, sir, are a genius and should be venerated as such. That head makes it work!


----------



## Midge913

The head swap on that enforcer did wonders for the model! I really wasn't fond of the scuplt before, but the respirator head really draws it together nicely. Great looking group there Xeno! Looking forward to the next installment.


----------



## KjellThorngaard

I want that conversion! Nice model Xeno.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

The enforcer head swap fits well.

However the model's stance looks off to me. I think it would look less comical if the torso was more vertical.


----------



## xenobiotic

Jacobite said:


> I stand corrected and I apologise for ever doubting you. You, sir, are a genius and should be venerated as such. That head makes it work!


Oh, you! You're making me blush :blush: :thank_you:



Midge913 said:


> The head swap on that enforcer did wonders for the model! I really wasn't fond of the scuplt before, but the respirator head really draws it together nicely. Great looking group there Xeno! Looking forward to the next installment.


I've only done a little bit of painting since last time since I have to wait for all of my orders to come in before I can do any more conversions 



KjellThorngaard said:


> I want that conversion! Nice model Xeno.


You are very kind, sir!



Dave T Hobbit said:


> The enforcer head swap fits well.
> 
> However the model's stance looks off to me. I think it would look less comical if the torso was more vertical.


Can't do that though, it's a one piece arm/body/legs miniature. It's just he head that comes loose and if I cut the miniature down the middle a lot of the details would get messed up since he's wearing some kind of apron(?!).

----

So I finally received all my new Citadel Colours which I was saving the Inquisitor for (since I wanted to try out the new yellow recipe on his armour). My first impressions are good, but they aren't exactly a miracle transformation from the old ones, just good shades and combinations, have a first look yourself at the start of the yellow armour (obviously mostly done the miniatures left leg (the one on top of the skeletons)):









----

Till next time hopefully more progress :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

OHH the yellowness! I always wish I could paint yellow well (for assault marine heads). Good job with this guy so far. Question - is his right arm blue? It looks like it is but I cant tell.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

xenobiotic said:


> Can't do that though, it's a one piece arm/body/legs miniature. It's just he head that comes loose and if I cut the miniature down the middle a lot of the details would get messed up since he's wearing some kind of apron(?!).


I was not suggesting you could. I was just commenting that he seems to be in a slightly comical rather than dramatic pose.


----------



## wolflordthor

I love your minis ^^
hope for more to come ^^


----------



## unxpekted22

I dunno xeno that yellow seems so much crisper and brighter compared to the older citadel paint. I still need to pick some up and figure out how to use them.


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> OHH the yellowness! I always wish I could paint yellow well (for assault marine heads). Good job with this guy so far. Question - is his right arm blue? It looks like it is but I cant tell.


I could make a step-by-step on the yellow (with the new citadel colours) when I proceed with the henchmen for this dude, if you want?

Actually, his arm is ever so slightly purple, since I envision synskin being black with a purplish hue, I guess...



Dave T Hobbit said:


> I was not suggesting you could. I was just commenting that he seems to be in a slightly comical rather than dramatic pose.


I see. It is possible that it would remedy the pose somewhat. Mostly I think this miniature suffers from being... Hm, what's the word? Photographically challenged? He doesn't photograph very well that is, IRL his pose has a much better feel to it (in my opinion).



wolflordthor said:


> I love your minis ^^
> hope for more to come ^^


There will be plenty more of this particular miniature until he's done, by then I'll hopefully have come further with the building and sculpting of the other miniatures for the henchmen.



unxpekted22 said:


> I dunno xeno that yellow seems so much crisper and brighter compared to the older citadel paint. I still need to pick some up and figure out how to use them.


Hm. Perhaps you are right, I haven't used the old yellows that much (mostly just for highlighting lenses and similar minor details). I do like these yellows a lot though and I can't really see the issues many of the "pro-painters" appears to have with the new citadel paint line. At least for yellows it's wonderful and as far as I'm aware yellows have been a troublesome colour for many for years... 

----

I've been slowly making my way through layers and glazes and what not and I've come to a point where I'm satisfied with the yellow armour for now and I'm going to move on to the cloak and then the skin before tackling the minor details. Hopefully I'll have him finished by the end of next week but I can't promise anything since there's a lot going on in the coming weeks.









I have however received the pieces from the Luminark and also the GK Acolyte. Still waiting for the finecast miniatures (Firebelly, Isabella + plastic WoC sorc) and the plastic vampire and vampire handmaidens from the vampire coven throne thingy.. No rush in that department though, since I need to sculpt some heads and head modifications for them...

----

:bye:


----------



## khrone forever

that is a very lovely model, and an awsome yellow +rep


----------



## JAMOB

xenobiotic said:


> I could make a step-by-step on the yellow (with the new citadel colours) when I proceed with the henchmen for this dude, if you want?
> 
> Actually, his arm is ever so slightly purple, since I envision synskin being black with a purplish hue, I guess...


That would actually be wonderful... and sorry my bad  though it does look cool

Great job with the mini! Keep it up. And even though you often complain you're slow at painting, you paint really well (and still faster than me...).


----------



## Arcticor

0_0......... 
If you claim that miniature is photographically challenged, I would die to see what it looks like in real life. Maybe you could, I dunno, send it my way? I'd obviously return it and not keep it for myself. Maybe. 

The yellow looks superb, too. It would be perfect except for that one mold line on the arm. I just want to reach through the screen and fix it but I can't! Other than that, I'm still insanely jealous of your skills. 
-Arcticor


----------



## wolflordthor

:suicide:
nothing happens


----------



## xenobiotic

So, it's been a while (almost a month to be exact) and I haven't gotten all that much done really (to be honest). Life has been throwing me some lemons and I've been busy making lemonade (as they say). I've had a lot to do at work and then I went to Wave Gotik Treffen with my friends and finally finalized the contract for my coming employment later this year (which also included a nice little raise for me (more "plastic crack", yey!). Also, there was Diablo 3... 



khrone forever said:


> that is a very lovely model, and an awsome yellow +rep


Why thank you kind sir!



JAMOB said:


> That would actually be wonderful... and sorry my bad  though it does look cool
> 
> Great job with the mini! Keep it up. And even though you often complain you're slow at painting, you paint really well (and still faster than me...).


You'll have to hang in there a bit longer though, I've hardly been painting the last month so I haven't been able to do a how-to yet!



Arcticor said:


> 0_0.........
> If you claim that miniature is photographically challenged, I would die to see what it looks like in real life. Maybe you could, I dunno, send it my way? I'd obviously return it and not keep it for myself. Maybe.
> 
> The yellow looks superb, too. It would be perfect except for that one mold line on the arm. I just want to reach through the screen and fix it but I can't! Other than that, I'm still insanely jealous of your skills.
> -Arcticor


Surely I'll send you the miniature right away, I just have to finish painting him first!

Erh.. That arm is built out of green stuff by me so I can promise you that there isn't any mould lines on it. I think the colours are throwing your mind off a bit (I've been painting it purple in which gives the illusion of a line running down the length of the arm, could possibly be that?).



wolflordthor said:


> :suicide:
> nothing happens


Indeed :suicide:

----

I have managed to put some paint on the cloak of the inquisitor. I'm mostly just toying around with the new colours trying to see what they can produce for me. This cloak is an experiment with the new glazes (using the blue one over the top layer of the cloak to give it a blue hint):








I'm having fun with the new paints thus far, which is good seeing as how it was quite a monetary investment...

I did get all my recent purchases and I've been working on them (slowly) over the last few days with most work put into the Firebelly Servitor. I took a long hard look at the miniature before I set out with my dremel and my scalpel and I've been doing a lot of minor modifications and more are on the planning stage. As you can see I'm bulking out the stomach area with cogs and tubes and I'm going to build up the surrounding tissue with green stuff and then as the layers grows I'm going to add pants (open pants) and build up the belt as opened (so that it makes sense miniature-wise since it would cover up the cogs if the pants where closed and belted). I'm also slowly building a new right arm for him (inspired by the servitor arms) which will incorporate some kind of power fist apparatus when completed. Anyway, there are a lot of details slowly being added and nothing is close to being done yet but I felt like I wanted to show the progress anyway:

























We also have some mock ups of the "Blood Brides" which I haven't put a lot of work into yet. They look somewhat off at the moment but I think most of that issue will be solved when I manage to incorporate gas masks onto their heads (which makes the eyes more ambiguous when it comes to which direction they are actually facing - which will prove pivotal in pulling these poses off):

































Finally we have the boring pimp my robes gang which are not that interesting at all. I tried putting a helmeted DKoK head on one of them and as you can see he lost all his street cred by it so I'll be incorporating the mask into some kind of hood for these guys to make them work.









So that's it for now, I'll try to not let a whole month pass before the next update...

----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Hellados

stunning as always mate, i cant help but think its the dudes helmet that makes it a bit weird so the hoods will make it amazing

are the bits in the other guys belly from a watch yeah?


----------



## JAMOB

Dude... your conversions.... just wow. I am incredibly impressed. It would be enough if it were just your conversions, but no. You paint well too? Not fair  Just kidding of course. Ive watched this from the beginning. Keep it up my friend.


----------



## Midge913

bloody brilliant conversions mate. just stunning.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

Excellent WIP conversions.


----------



## wolflordthor

I love your work!
The minis are on an epic level  
Keep on doing it please!!!
You're a great inspiration for me!:wink:


----------



## TheReverend

wow, that firebelly look amazing, great idea. I was thinking of using some ogres as ogryns myself. 

Like the other minis and what you're doing with the yellows is fantastic.

Rev


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

I dont konw how you do it, but you def have a gift buddy! 

The Firebelly servitor looks sweet and I am assuming you used watch parts for the gears?

The Blood Brides are an intersting concept, I see you used some Dark Eldar leg bits, great work there as it ties the model together nicely.

You gave me a good laugh with the DKoK conversions, however, with your skills you should be able to fix that right up and really pimp them out.


----------



## xenobiotic

Alright, subscribers and heretics and random followers from around the internet whom happens to follow this plog, Xenobiotic is back with a long overdue update to this project log. There are many reasons for me pushing this update in front of me for a long time and as you might suspect most of them are personal (some of you know some of the details). I’ve been struggling to even find enough mental strength to work on one of my favorite hobbies so as you can imagine I don’t have a whole lot to actually show you today but I’ll comment as much as possible on the few images I have and I hope you’ll find this post interesting none-the-less and feel free to comment and ask questions as usual. All your support keeps me motivated to finish things (you have been warned, hehe). Which reminds me to thank you all for your PMs and rep which you’ve been handing me over the last month, the support is heartwarming and very welcomed right now! I’m sorry if I haven’t typed each of you an individual thank you – it’s just been way to much going on lately.

Over all I feel like I’m coming out on top of all these rough changes in my life so hopefully I’ll have more hobby time ahead of me which is surely very welcomed not only by me but also by you since you all appear to love reading my crazy rants and watching my army of unfinished miniatures grow. In about a week I’ll have a couple of weeks off from work. I have a few things planned for that period of time but over all I’m hoping I’ll be able to spend a lot of quality time with the hobby then and my goal is to finish up at least one squad of infantry for my Void Shark army in that time (doesn’t matter if it’s terminators or tacticals or whatever, as long as it’s a _legal_ squad (so minimum 5 miniatures)) because I think seeing a squad finished will motivate me a lot to finish up the rest of them as soon as possible!

While on the subject of time and lack of hobby time specifically I feel like I’ve been lagging behind way too much on many of what you are doing and have been doing lately. I don’t think I have time anytime soon to go through the entire backlog and try to comment but if anyone want me to take a look at their project log or modeling and painting thread feel free to send me a PM about it and I’ll see what I can do!

----



Hellados said:


> stunning as always mate, i cant help but think its the dudes helmet that makes it a bit weird so the hoods will make it amazing are the bits in the other guys belly from a watch yeah?


Yes, hoods are definitely needed on those guys, I’m in the planning process still on those henchmen since I’m trying to cast some additional parts for them. For now I think I’m going to put them on hold unless I manage to go through the casting process quicker than planned.

You are correct, it is indeed watch parts in the firebelly stomach!



JAMOB said:


> Dude... your conversions.... just wow. I am incredibly impressed. It would be enough if it were just your conversions, but no. You paint well too? Not fair  Just kidding of course. Ive watched this from the beginning. Keep it up my friend.


Your continuing support is always welcomed and appreciated. I keep doing this project log just as much for all of you following it as I do for myself. I probably wouldn’t have gotten anything done and hardly made any progression skill wise if it hadn’t been for this! Which is why Heresy will always be a special place for me!




Midge913 said:


> bloody brilliant conversions mate. just stunning.


Thanks, mate! Always nice to see you stop by here!




Dave T Hobbit said:


> Excellent WIP conversions.


Thanks, Dave, I see from the monthly conversion challenge that you’re quite the converter yourself. 




wolflordthor said:


> I love your work!
> The minis are on an epic level
> Keep on doing it please!!!
> You're a great inspiration for me!:wink:


I am going to keep doing them! Hopefully speeding up my updates somewhat from now on, I’ve missed it a lot! And this update is full of marines, which I suspect you might like…




TheReverend said:


> wow, that firebelly look amazing, great idea. I was thinking of using some ogres as ogryns myself.
> 
> Like the other minis and what you're doing with the yellows is fantastic.
> 
> Rev


I’ve spent a lot of time lately looking at fantasy miniatures and ways to use them in the 40k universe. Luckily the Inquisition lends itself well to medieval looks + futuristic weapons which is awesome since it opens up so many unique conversion possibilities!




Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> I don’t know how you do it, but you def have a gift buddy!
> 
> The Firebelly servitor looks sweet and I am assuming you used watch parts for the gears?
> 
> The Blood Brides are an intersting concept, I see you used some Dark Eldar leg bits, great work there as it ties the model together nicely.
> 
> You gave me a good laugh with the DKoK conversions, however, with your skills you should be able to fix that right up and really pimp them out.


Why thank you, DoE, kind words indeed (and they go straight into my heart and my ego so don’t let it swell up too much!).

All the metallic parts (apart from the recently added belt buckle) on the Firebelly Servitor is watch parts. I ordered a bag of them from Ebay about a year ago to use for basing and other minor details on miniatures and I still have plenty left. Some pieces are harder to find use for though, it’s mostly the tiniest that I’ve utilized for this miniature (some of which I had originally planned to use for a dreadnought conversion that I later scrapped around the time the Contemptors first came out (haha)).

The Blood Brides will require a lot of work before they are even close to completed. First of all I have to blend the legs in with the torsos (the pieces are obviously not men to fit each other) and then I have to blend the poses with the bases as good as possible. Finally I’m going to try to add DKoK gas masks to them all to unite the visual feel of the unit (and saving me from having to paint faces – woho!). Still a lot to come on those girls in other words!

---

Just the other day I did manage to do some minor details on the Firebelly servitor. I found that I got stuck when I realized I had to cover up the stomach somewhat and sculpt his pants as open not to obscure too much of the details. Sometimes it’s more intimidating to know you have to try and to something compared to the actual challenge of doing it once you get enough courage. So in an effort to get somewhere with the miniature I added some details to the belt and started on the actual belt buckle (as you can see). I wanted to try an idea I had for a while and I did some of the details in copper wire and I think they came out pretty good. I just have to cover up some of my mistakes with the green stuff once it dries and it should be ok!

















As I mentioned above I’ve been working mostly on my Void Sharks marines lately, hopefully some of you have been waiting for an update on them and I find them to be a welcomed temporary shift from the work with the Inquisition units (which where meant as a temporary shift from the marines to begin with… Erh, I’m complicated, ok?). It’s just frustrating to know that you have about 60 marines that are in different stages of completion and get the urge to paint dark colors (ie not yellow inquisitors) and none of them are close enough to be ready to start putting paint on.

I’ve compiled a tiny series of images on the units I’m working on at the moment. I still have some marines planned for this army that are still in their zip-lock bags from Forge World (Mk III squad + Boarding Action marine + Laser Rapier Destroyer) but I’m waiting for some replacement parts from Forge World before I start cracking that pandoras box open (Forge World is really annoying at the moment by the way, since it’s “convention season” now they are hard to get a hold off). 

So I’m going to show you pictures of each squad as they stand for now and give you some comments on what’s left to do with them and what I’m thinking about them from a hobby aspect and maybe even in gaming term.

First off are my Terminator squadrons (which aren’t standard miniatures at all) comprised of parts from the GK terminators kit, Assault Terminator kit, Terminator kit and pieces from Forge World special characters and units. All of these guys require a lot of work. Many of the GK terminator legs have pretty shoddy details (probably due to the way the moulds are constructed) which I’m trying to adjust. I want these guys to be full of details and really shine as a massive centerpiece of the infantry of the army (considering the HQ is Tyberos the Red Wake in his terminator armour).

Here are my standard shooty terminators. They are armed with Storm Bolters and Power Fists. One of them have a Heavy Flamer, from Lufgt Huron (the Forge World miniature) and another has a Chainfist , from Tyberos the Red Wake (the Forge World miniature). They all have Forge World World Eater heads with the Bunny ears shaved off and they have recasts of the shoulderpads from Tyberos the Red Wake instead of normal shoulderpads. The things left to do with this squad is mostly custom sculpting details on the chest plates as well as covering up other GK details and adjusting details that are bad to begin with. I’m also planning on putting on some minor extra equipment pieces on all my terminator squads so these will obviously get some of those as well. Right now these guys are the ones closest to being finished.









Next up is my Lightning Claw terminators. They are based on the same body configuration as the shooty Terminators (GK bodies and arms + mixed legs). Right now they are lacking weapons – since I’m VERY slowly custom sculpting them for casting. They are also lacking heads and shoulderplates (the ones that are on two of the miniatures now are just test pieces I did before I decided to go with the Tyberos Shoulderpads) and details on most of the chest pieces. I believe this squad is probably the one that will take the longest to finish simply because I have to finish up the lightning claws and cast them for the entire squad. I bet they will be the ones that I’ll be most proud of when they are finished though.









Finally amongst the terminators we have the “Hammer and Storm shield” guys. I’m still not sure on whether or not to use the spear from the minotaur special character (from forgeworld) as weapon for these guys but I do know that I’m going to use his shield (after I resculpt the details on it and cast it for myself). Other than that they are also lacking heads and shoulderpads as well as chest piece details (like all the other terminators).









Then we have the tactical squadrons for the army. Tyberos the Red wakes enables marines with bolters to exchange them for a Close Combat Weapon for free if they want to, so this squad has a lot of Bolt pistols and CCWs instead of bolters (as you can see). I’ve come a long way on these guys and they are mostly lacking extra equipment in their belts as well as some minor details that needs to be fixed with green stuff. This will probably be the squad that progressed to the painting table first amongst the Void Sharks infantry. For once I’m looking forward to painting a squad as well (mostly since they aren’t holding bolters, haha). I’m not sure how good these guys will be in the 6th edition though but I like the miniatures so I’ll stick with them for now.









Next up is the second Tactical squad which is in a far less combat ready state. As you can see we have a lot of missing heads that needs to be casted as well as shoulderpads which need to be casted and repaired (some of the shoulderpads from FW have really shoddy mould lines in them). There are also a lot of green stuff sculpting left (particularly on the sergeant of the squad which needs his combi-bolter fixed). 









Finally we have the sorry as remains. These are extra marines and pieces to fill out and change load-outs in the other squadrons. I’m going to make two of these marines carry flamers and two of them are going to carry some heavy weapon (heresy era heavy bolters possibly (because they are cool)). As you can see these miniatures are in pretty sad shape at the moment and not prioritized just yet.









That was about it for now, if you have any comments or questions or advice or opinions feel free to leave me a reply here or send me a PM. If you feel like chatting sometime feel free to PM about my skype details (I have some of you on there and it’s nice to have people to share hobby experiences with in real time sometimes).

Till next time, :bye:, Xeno.


----------



## .Bragg.

I'm just about to stick my teeth into this healthy chunk of text you've given us  but from what I have grabbed and to what the images are showing you me, your talent is for ever out doing its self.

I'll hold back any questions till I have seen your post through but I wish you all the best for what ever speed bumps you're facing and I hope you're able to flatten them and drive through! All the best!


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## Hellados

jesus wet! now not only are you making bad arse models but you're doing loads at once!!

I was jealous but now it;'s boarder line hatred 

+ rep as always bro


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## Dave T Hobbit

Good to see an update.

Thank you for the mention of my conversion; your Firebelly conversion is one of the inspirations for adding trousers to the Ghorgon kit so it seems appropriate. Continuing my trend of borrowing your ideas, did you make the buckle with pliers or more specialist tools?


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## Midge913

Things are definitely progressing along nicely buddy! The Shark squads are looking good as usual, but the Firebelly is truely looking fantastic. I can't wait to see that one start to get some paint.


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## Grins1878

More incredible work! The firebelly is amazing, can't believe the level of detail that consistantly (or increasingly I think) goes into your conversions!

Top work man!

+ Repatitis


----------



## xenobiotic

Awfun said:


> I'm just about to stick my teeth into this healthy chunk of text you've given us  but from what I have grabbed and to what the images are showing you me, your talent is for ever out doing its self.
> 
> I'll hold back any questions till I have seen your post through but I wish you all the best for what ever speed bumps you're facing and I hope you're able to flatten them and drive through! All the best!


Thanks! I'm really trying to keep myself challenged but still able to complete some project (not to lose interest completely) so I'm very happy to hear that my talent is outdoing itself!

I had to make some very tough choices with my life recently and it effected a lot of people in different ways but it had to be done and I do think I'll come out a lot stronger and happier in the long run.



Hellados said:


> jesus wet! now not only are you making bad arse models but you're doing loads at once!!
> 
> I was jealous but now it;'s boarder line hatred
> 
> + rep as always bro


You should see my cabinet of WIPs... Then you should see my bit-box and my warhammer "shelf of shame" and... I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I have far to many projects going on at the moment (and I'm somehow unable to stop acquiring more on the to-do-list). These marines are probably the ones I've been working continuously on for the longest though and they are also the project that I feel the most in sync with (ie - I find myself coming back to them every now and then). 

Maybe you better check that hatred out, can't be good for your blood pressure 

Thanks for the kind words and the +rep!



Dave T Hobbit said:


> Good to see an update.
> 
> Thank you for the mention of my conversion; your Firebelly conversion is one of the inspirations for adding trousers to the Ghorgon kit so it seems appropriate. Continuing my trend of borrowing your ideas, did you make the buckle with pliers or more specialist tools?


I'm happy you could use some of my conversions for inspiration, that's superb 

I used my normal, run-of-the-mill, nose pliers and wire cutters for it. The wire is really flimsy so it wasn't that hard. I do think I should get some better tools for that kind of work though (jewellers set or similar) because I feel they are a bit to rough for 28 mm scale work most of the time. The hard part was getting the shape to the correct size and then make the tiny pin in the middle - but it was really fun at the same time and I do think details such as those gives a whole new dimension to the miniature.



Midge913 said:


> Things are definitely progressing along nicely buddy! The Shark squads are looking good as usual, but the Firebelly is truely looking fantastic. I can't wait to see that one start to get some paint.


Still a lot of minor details to make on this guy, it will be a huge challenge to paint all that skin realistically. Although I must say I'm kind of looking forward to it since it will be nice to try out the new citadel paints on skins... Which also reminds me that I have to make his 3 servitor controller buddies as well... Hm.



Grins1878 said:


> More incredible work! The firebelly is amazing, can't believe the level of detail that consistantly (or increasingly I think) goes into your conversions!
> 
> Top work man!
> 
> + Repatitis


I do think it's increasing as well. I'm becoming more and more inspired to add more details to all my work lately. I can't stand lack of details on the basic GW miniature plastics so I find myself cutting those out and resculpting them and so on and so forth. It's very rewarding when I look at the finished miniatures though (at least I think so most of the time, I have my bouts of despair sometimes )

Thanks for the +rep!

----

So, in trying to keep up my momentum for a while I'm going to share my progress on the Firebelly, mostly since so many of you appear to enjoy this particular conversion a lot.

I'm still adding details to the Firebelly and to be honest there is pretty much left to do still. This is one of those conversions where there is a lot of room and space for minor details (since he has so much flesh) and I think it's one of those miniatures where extra details will make it come together better and give it a good 40k vibe while still staying true to the original miniature.

Anyway, I've spent some time slowly building up the stomach and preparing the area for the final pieces of the pants which will cover up some of it slightly. I have some ideas of what I want to try and add to the pants but I'm not sure I have the skill necessary to produce said result right now (but I will try). When the pants are finally done I'll do the other end of the belt and hopefully that general area will be.. Done.









There are also some minor progress on the back of the miniature. I've started to add some swollen flesh around the "couplings" on the back (I'm doing them one at a time so I don't mess them up). When I was doing that first detail I decided to add a tiny scar on the shoulder as well (perhaps it's a scar from an old "coupling" that they scrapped(?)) since I had to do a little reshaping of that shoulder anyway (because it was oddly flat..?):









Till next time, :bye:, Xeno.


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## Arcticor

Glad to see your back Xeno! I swear I checked the project log section for the longest time looking for your thread. The servitor looks great and I cant wait until he is finished and painted up. What I tend to do when lacking motivation to paint is either just paint up one marine in a completely new color scheme or tell someone else "do not let me buy anything new or let me leave the basement until I finish this squad". Or, something along those lines. Good luck to you with all your side projects, they're all going to end up being great.
-Arcticor

edit: oh, and +rep


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## xenobiotic

Arcticor said:


> Glad to see your back Xeno! I swear I checked the project log section for the longest time looking for your thread. The servitor looks great and I cant wait until he is finished and painted up. What I tend to do when lacking motivation to paint is either just paint up one marine in a completely new color scheme or tell someone else "do not let me buy anything new or let me leave the basement until I finish this squad". Or, something along those lines. Good luck to you with all your side projects, they're all going to end up being great.
> -Arcticor
> 
> edit: oh, and +rep


I was waaay back in the list since I was out for almost a month yet again. It's impressive to see all the activity on heresy lately - specially in the project log subforum, sadly it pushes my thread into obscurity :wink:

Thing is, if I find myself painting a marine in a different colour scheme every time I have motivational issues I'm going to end up with 100 marines from different chapters - not a superb option in my opinion (at least it I'm aiming - mostly - for a coherent army to put on the table (or in a more likely case - in my display case)). The other option (closing myself in) would probably be better, I'm going to try it as soon as I'm done modding 5 marines/termies.

Thanks for the motivator!

----

Progress pictures for those interested in the Firebelly servitor project. I haven't been putting in that much work in it to be honest (I've been fiddling around with mould making and also been playing way to much minecraft for some reason).

I've added the front "flaps" of the pants. They aren't very detailed but at the same time I don't know if they have to be (seeing as the side that could have some details (the front) is mostly covered by the folded fabric anyway. I'm not imagining these pants as full fledged pants with seams and such but rather pieces of fabric held on with a semi functional belt and his obscenely thick thighs.









Yet again we see the pant flaps from a different angle which also reveals the end of the belt (which I have now added). I made some holes in it but they aren't showing that well from this side so I'll be making them bigger once the green stuff dries. From this angle you can also see some other minor details I've added. I decided to give him a little definition underneath the armpit since I thought that area was looking kind of boring as it was:









Finally I have a picture from the rear where you can see my first attempt at starting the bionic arm. I've just made a ball out of green stuff and put it in with some blue-tac (which is why it's poking out a bit too much at the moment but that will be adjusted as we go along):









As I said, a lot of minor progressions, slowly approaching my goal with this miniature. Soon I'll have to give his operators some attention (luckily most of the moulds needed for them are ready now!).

Till next time, :bye:, Xeno.


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## Midge913

Nice work buddy!for some reason it seems cleaner to me than it did in the previous update. Definitely progressing along nicely.


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## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Nice work buddy!for some reason it seems cleaner to me than it did in the previous update. Definitely progressing along nicely.


Thanks! Could be that my creative vision is starting to shine through all the odd and small layers of green stuff now. The bulk of the work is finally done but there are still a lot of things to do to make the miniature to together nicely. There are a lot of moulding issues with this cast (mostly along the bandages on the feet) which I haven't even started on yet, hopefully all this other additions has given me enough experience to fix those details now 

----

So, while on the subject of slow progress, here's another update on the Firebelly servitor. I've finished the melta exhaust in his mask and connected one of them (the most visible one) with some tubing into his neck. The plan was originally to connect it to one of the exhausts in his back but the tubing looked odd when I test fitted it so I decided against it. I'm just going to blend this one in a bit and it will be fine. I'm also going to add some "fumes" coming out of the melta nozzle to make it look like he's firing from 3 nozzles (2 on the sides and the one in the middle of the mouth) at the same time to create part of the flame effect he's warming his gloved hand with.
















You can also see the start of the bionic arm, testfitted for the purpose of taking these pictures (I can still move the shoulder and lower arm so I can adjust the position of the arm pretty much any way I want). I'm still not 100% sure if I want him to hold something, maybe you could help me out there? As I see it, one option is to make his fist into a mechanical power fist and just leave it be at that. The other option is to make some kind of fuel tank which is connected to the exhausts on his back (as if he's filling up on fuel while firing). What are your thoughts on the subject?

And, as if by magic, I actually picked up the paintbrushes for the first time in what feels like months and put some paint on the inquisitor, I did half his gas mask yellow but now I'm leaning towards doing the top of it yellow as well (ie his forehead above the lenses but before the hood), what do you think?









Till next time, :bye:, Xeno.


----------



## xenobiotic

Quick update on the inquisitor, it's starting to get somewhere. Although I must admit I hate painting horns, they are my nemesis.


















I'm having some trouble deciding on a colour on the bolt pistol casing, any ideas?
Black will probably be a bit boring. White too big a contrast. Yellow might just be too much yellow...
Hm.

Till next time, :bye:, Xeno!


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## Tossidin

Horns are the f... worst, better stay loyalist man! 
It is coming along nicely though, but what colour is the sword going to be? It would be easier to suggest colours for the casing if we knew


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## Zodd

The Firebelly get´s better and better. for starters i was "meh", what's that for a wierd thing, but now it's getting together for me. About the right hand; Some flamer/plasma-thingy to support the meltas ?

The Inquisitor seems to get more balanced with the extra yellow, imho.
And paint the casing of the bolt pistol bone, like the horns. Maybe whith some of the fabulous Xeno-freehand.


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## wolflordthor

I love it <3


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## Chaosftw

109 pages of pure awesome! love everything! keep it up man!


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## xenobiotic

Tossidin said:


> Horns are the f... worst, better stay loyalist man!
> It is coming along nicely though, but what colour is the sword going to be? It would be easier to suggest colours for the casing if we knew


Have a gander below 



Zodd said:


> The Firebelly get´s better and better. for starters i was "meh", what's that for a wierd thing, but now it's getting together for me. About the right hand; Some flamer/plasma-thingy to support the meltas ?
> 
> The Inquisitor seems to get more balanced with the extra yellow, imho.
> And paint the casing of the bolt pistol bone, like the horns. Maybe whith some of the fabulous Xeno-freehand.


I'm still working on the Firebelly. I have constructed most of the parts needed for the right hand but I'm still debating if he's going to hold something or not. I'll probably leave that till later and continue on actually finishing up the details I do know how I'd like them.



wolflordthor said:


> I love it <3


Thanks!



Chaosftw said:


> 109 pages of pure awesome! love everything! keep it up man!


Oh, I will 

----



> _So, you're calling me a radical? I can hear the temptation on your tongue, old friend, wishing to call me a heretic instead, and doing it in the name of the Emperor. Wouldn't it be nice for you to simply brand me as such and drive your sword through my chest? Granted, of course, that I'd actually let you get close enough.
> 
> No, it isn't a threat, not at all. A threat is what you delivered to me as you opened your mouth and questioned my authority in this matter. I have yet to be shown any proof that your claims are in any way real and I'd also like to question why the High Inquisitor would send out a fool such as you to deliver such a message to me. Surely he knows of your history as well as mine, does he not?
> 
> This has no effect whatsoever in the continuing work in the sector. I shall not pass judgement on those you seek to blame for crimes committed by others - had you been here at the time you would also have seen that with your own eyes. Proof? Of course there is no proof left since all of the settlers where killed or dragged away. You have nothing but my word or statements from the very Astarte you claim to be heretical. If you wish to disperse your cloud of doubt I suggest you take these claims directly to their leader, though I must warn you - even though we are enemies, I do not wish the treatment they might afflict on you should you pass judgement quickly or wrongly worded to these gentlemen. While not heretical they have little understanding of the rankings of Inquisitors, I guess that's the downside of them being isolated in their quest and journey for so long...
> 
> - Haxtes, Radiant (and somewhat Radical) Inquisitor of the High-Lords of Terra speaking to a fellow Inquisitor about the Void Sharks and their latest activites._












The bolt pistol casing ended up as yellow because I felt it evened the miniature out a bit and it saved me the trouble of having to try a lot of different options out. Those with keen eyes might notice the white and black pieces of paper stuck to the inside of his cloak - the Inquisitors very own modus operandi in marking things as he see fit on either list (you don't want to be on the black one) as he progresses in his investigations.

The base is obviously not weathered, I'm leaving that till later.

----

Till next time :bye:


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## Midge913

Looks brilliant mate! The addition of the blue to the sword really provides the contrast the model needed. I think he turned out great!!!


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## The Wraithlord

Your log never fails to impress Xeno. I love the leathery look to the cape in particular on this last model.


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## Turnip86

The inquisitor is awesome, I love the cape and the yellow of the armour. The only thing I'm not too keen on is the purple skin, just something about it that doesn't seem to go as it's in between the yellow of the bolt gun and bluey-black of the cape. It's more prominent on that last side-on pic but then again it might just be me 

Loving the firebelly conversion too, keep it up


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## wolflordthor

Every new Post is simply epic  
Extreme nice work keep it up!!!


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## JAMOB

Your badassness is duly noted

[Badabababa] Im Lovin' It


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## Tossidin

Impressive. I really like that the power sword isn't as "flashy" as I often expect them to be, so it doesn't go to war on the yellow for attention, if you know what I mean.


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## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> Looks brilliant mate! The addition of the blue to the sword really provides the contrast the model needed. I think he turned out great!!!


It was a bit of an experiment but I felt it was needed to do something bright yet subtle, kind of hard to balance all that bright yellow in a good way without the miniature turning into a yellow blob. I'm glad you like it, thanks for the continuing support and comments, Midge!



The Wraithlord said:


> Your log never fails to impress Xeno. I love the leathery look to the cape in particular on this last model.


Means a lot coming from you, Wraithlord. I do feel that my time invested in each miniature is taking it's toll on my actually pleasure of painting. I'm starting to approach these ridiculous standards for myself which in the long run means I'm getting very little done, which sucks tbh.



Turnip86 said:


> The inquisitor is awesome, I love the cape and the yellow of the armour. The only thing I'm not too keen on is the purple skin, just something about it that doesn't seem to go as it's in between the yellow of the bolt gun and bluey-black of the cape. It's more prominent on that last side-on pic but then again it might just be me
> 
> Loving the firebelly conversion too, keep it up


It could be the pictures, tbh, the purple is a tad more vibrant on the miniature IRL and it helps break up the yellow sections of the miniature. I fear that if I had painted it in a flesh tone it would have been one giant mess of yellow hues tbh. I also like the though of him wearing Synskin which was the original idea that stuck in my mind I guess..



wolflordthor said:


> Every new Post is simply epic
> Extreme nice work keep it up!!!


I will try to keep it up 



JAMOB said:


> Your badassness is duly noted
> 
> [Badabababa] Im Lovin' It


Always glad to oblige to the noted badassness 



Tossidin said:


> Impressive. I really like that the power sword isn't as "flashy" as I often expect them to be, so it doesn't go to war on the yellow for attention, if you know what I mean.


I felt it was needed, I've done more elaborate designs before but I felt he needed something more subtle as there was just so much going on with the miniature already. Artistic balance perhaps? I'm pleased with him from every angle but one right now, which is probably partly to the way I sculpted the arm - it's bugging me somewhat but I'm not going to change anything now, haha.

----

So, what the hell happened? It's been over a month again, time really flies sometimes doesn't it? In some ways I guess a lot of things happened since last time I updated the plog, sadly not so much on the miniature wargaming side of my life though so I have pretty minimal progress to actually show you. I believe I encountered the phenomenon known as "hobby burn-out" and I completely put away all miniatures for about 3 weeks before being able to pick them up again. I had this abysmal feeling about painting (close to revulsion) and at a few choice moments I was actually considering giving it all up to focus on my other creative projects (which mostly revolve around painting/drawing). However there is a special kind of bond to the universe that is warhammer and I guess that's just one of the reasons behind calling it plastic crack - it isn't that easy to quit and let it go.

I did however manage to finish of this picture while dealing with my doubts:


And while doing that I had this nagging feeling in my head that I - at least - should get some of all this stuff (probably thousands of £ of miniatures) I have accumulated painted before I toss the torch in. In a fit of hobby burn-out rage I was looking over my alternatives and laying out the miniatures I have in my mind looking for a good project to make some headway in the hobby and get my interest back to the level I used to have. I realized I had a lot of Daemons of Chaos still in boxes which I hadn't touched since.. Well, beginning of 5th edition (40k) I believe. Since I have a friend interested in starting up warhammer fantasy I figured I could use those miniatures for that... Now to the issue at hand. I think I can do a reasonably good job painting an entire Daemons army - but I really don't want to do it by hand with a brush only - I don't have that kind of patience right now but I sorely need the motivation I get by finishing something.

My solution? Spend even more money on the hobby of course! I think I'm ready to take the plunge and get myself something I've been eyeing for a long while now - an airbrush - problem is, I know very little about them so I'll need to get some good info first and make an informed decision and take the plunge. I figure I can do some easy - priming (black) - shading (grey from one angle, white from another) - washes/glazes - details - and get away with a decent looking Daemon army for fantasy so I can learn the ropes with my friend and get the ball going. An airbrush would also help immensely when it comes to painting all those drop pods and the Caestus Assault Ram I've planned for my Space Sharks so it would most likely be a good investment.

Oh, another bonus use would be the ability to FINALLY varnish my miniatures (since I've only had bad experiences with spay can varnishes and brushing the varnish on isn't an option with my pigment use for weathering).

So... Any tips on where I start to look regarding airbrushes? I'm a competent googler but sometimes tips from the horses mouth is the best ones you can get. I'm prepared to drop quite a chunk of cash into this in order to get a quality build that can last for a long time.

While on the subject of big animals with big mouths I guess I do have some hobby related progress to show. As you might have guessed I have put some work into the Firebelly servitor and I'm quickly approaching my vision of the finished miniature now. There are some minor details to adjust (resculpting some of the leg bandaging and parts of the head where the tubes to in, readjusting the position of the tubes a bit so they "fall" more naturally) but all in all this is pretty much where it will be before I start painting. I hope you like where this conversion have gone, it's been a long one but I've enjoyed it:









I've also started to work on the control servitors for the Firebelly. They will walk behind him and type things on their "pads" which will then remotely control the Servitor (or at least adjust his behaviour). I'm planning on this first one having a bionic eye on one side so that's why he looks a bit goofy right now:









----

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Midge913

the Firebelly is turning out even better than I had envisioned mate!!! The bionic arm came out fantastic. Something I have noticed about other scratch builds is a lack of symmetry and balance that is found in the humanoid form. You however, have really captured that symmetry in a very dynamic way with this piece. Well done mate, seriously.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Xeno,

Again, great looking conversion work buddy. Sorry to hear about your burn out, I know the feeling, as do most others. Good luck with those Daemons!

As for the Airbrush...well I will swear by it, but I think the Infinity 2-in-1 Harder and Steenbeck is one of the greatest Airbrushs. I picked one up and have never had any issues with it. The controls and spray are flawless. Djinn even went with my recommendation, it really is a quality airbrush and you being an artisit know that quality tools are important...(link attached)

Anyways, stay motivated and good luck with the choices!

Regards,
DoE


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## Lethiathan

Xeno, 

We seem to both have decided to get an airbrush at the same time, and after watching Mini War Gaming's DVDs on airbrushing it's really down to what you WANT from an airbrush over brands ect. The one that DoE recommended is a great airbrush, but does it have what you WANT from an airbrush, If so then buy it, we know your pockets never seem to be empty of money... But remember that an airbrush is just a single part of the entire set up, you'll need compressors, regulators, valves.... often costing a lot of money. From what you said the airbrush DoE recommended should be more than competant, but DoE is the expert not me =-)


----------



## xenobiotic

Midge913 said:


> the Firebelly is turning out even better than I had envisioned mate!!! The bionic arm came out fantastic. Something I have noticed about other scratch builds is a lack of symmetry and balance that is found in the humanoid form. You however, have really captured that symmetry in a very dynamic way with this piece. Well done mate, seriously.


I hate to be proud of my own work and give myself a pat on the back, but I agree with that sentiment. Although I did cheat on the construction of the bionic arm somewhat, I looked for inspiration on the smaller servitor miniatures and then mixed that with my basic knowledge of human anatomy - I'm just happy I managed to piece it together in the end because it was my absolute first attempt at something like that 



Lethiathan said:


> Xeno,
> 
> We seem to both have decided to get an airbrush at the same time, and after watching Mini War Gaming's DVDs on airbrushing it's really down to what you WANT from an airbrush over brands ect. The one that DoE recommended is a great airbrush, but does it have what you WANT from an airbrush, If so then buy it, we know your pockets never seem to be empty of money... But remember that an airbrush is just a single part of the entire set up, you'll need compressors, regulators, valves.... often costing a lot of money. From what you said the airbrush DoE recommended should be more than competant, but DoE is the expert not me =-)


Indeed. There are lots of parts to the set-up, not only the brush and compressor (along with hoses) but also cleaning supplies, paints, thinners and a booth or similar locale suitable for spraying so you don't end up breathing in all the fumes. I have some of that stuff but most of it will be needed to be bought as well.

I wouldn't say my pockets never seem to be empty. I have my limits, as we all do. It's just that right now I have a more disposable income then I used to have (thanks to some fortuitous circumstances and a lot of saving earlier in my life). I also seldom spend money on "other" stuff (I don't drink alcohol, I almost never eat out and so on). My biggest investments have been for creative tools such as my DSLR-camera (and lenses for it), paints and supplies for sculpting (clay, soapstone, watercolours, sculpting tools and so on), scanner and now an airbrush set-up. As DoE mentions you quickly learn that "good" tools are important because bad tools limits your progression (because you have a hard time telling if your using the tool incorrectly or if the tool itself is sub par). Good tools doesn't necessarily have to be the most expensive ones though, which is a though lesson to learn sometimes 



Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Xeno,
> Again, great looking conversion work buddy. Sorry to hear about your burn out, I know the feeling, as do most others. Good luck with those Daemons!
> 
> As for the Airbrush...well I will swear by it, but I think the Infinity 2-in-1 Harder and Steenbeck is one of the greatest Airbrushs. I picked one up and have never had any issues with it. The controls and spray are flawless. Djinn even went with my recommendation, it really is a quality airbrush and you being an artisit know that quality tools are important...(link attached)
> 
> Anyways, stay motivated and good luck with the choices!
> 
> Regards,
> DoE


I'm very thankful for your suggestion, DoE, I take personal experience from people I "know" (for lack of a better definition when it comes to persons you exchange hobby related thoughts with on a forum?) in high regards when looking for different alternatives.

So, in light of your first suggestion, I spent the entire weekend looking up different tutorials and suggestion (on Google, Youtube, CMON, Airbrushing forums (cars/t-shirts/miniatures (of all kinds)) and so on) I was still a little baffled about the entire situation since some of the suggestions where in direct contradiction to each other. Although the people I trust the most did have the same suggestions which therefore weighed more compared to random single comments.

Having decided a rough budget (400£) I went hunting on the web. I quickly learned that buying domestic equipment (ie from Sweden) would ruin me if I wanted anything in the mid-high price range. Therefore I started to look for suitable alternatives and found some in the UK which saves me from import taxes AND we have the same Volt and Hz in our power grids so I could just change the power cord connector thingie and it would work here in Sweden.

I looked up suitable alternatives which ended up at around 450£, which made me somewhat reluctant at first so I decided to wait a couple of days. As if by magic the day after I discovered a discounted combined set-up in the "deals for this month"-section which offered my preferred set-up for a hefty 80£ discount (including some extra pieces!). Then I realized that was a sign for me to go ahead and make my hefty investment:








"This kit includes the following items:

1 x Harder & Steenbeck Infinity CRplus 2 in 1 Airbrush (0.15mm & 0.4mm Headsets)
1 x 3 metre Hose Assembly
1 x DHL-TC-620 Sparmax Mini Piston Compressor With 3.5 Litre Tank
1 x Harder & Steenbeck Table Top Airbrush Stand
1 x Harder & Steenbeck Quick Release Coupling with Air Flow Control
1 x Harder & Steenbeck Airbrush Workshop DVD"

Although I "saved" 80£ on the deal I quickly ate that "profit" up with extra peripherals, the tab ended at around 500£. A lot of money but considering I've put about 1400£ into my DSLR it's not that big of a deal. As long as the equipment holds up to the promised standard and I can maintain them they should last for a long time.

So thank you for the suggestion, DoE, I will personally haunt you if the airbrush fails me, no pressure :wink:

----

I've also managed to get some work done on all my different Henchmen projects. I started to look at some Acolyte alternatives since I'd like some assault weapons in the squads (and some cannon fodder) and I think this quick mock-up of an imperial guard with a head swap and a lion cloak is a good start. I'm going to have to cut the cloak up somewhat to give it a slicker fit but I think it will look good in the end and add some "pimpin'" to them (they are after all Inquisitorial guardsmen):









I've also finally been able to produce enough heads for these guys. I've also started to green stuff the gaps and just add some minor details to them. All their helmets will require cutting and re-sculpting so I've got a lot of that to look forward to...









And finally we have the finishing touches on the Firebelly. I did the cable connection on the back of the head, repaired some lost details on the foot bandage. As a little extra detail and twist I put some skulls on the smoke cloud as an homage to the miniatures fantasy heritage (and to be honest anything Warhammer related - SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!):









----

I hope you all like this minor update and hopefully I'll have something new to show you guys in about a week from now. Till then :bye:


----------



## Varakir

Haven't posted here for a long while, but glad to see it's still going from strength to strength. You are a true artist sir :victory:


----------



## Disciple_of_Ezekiel

Varakir said:


> You are a true artist sir :victory:


Indeed.

WOOT! :grin: I'm nearly 100% positive you will enjoy your new baby very much...except that the compressor is a little MASSIVE!


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

I like the skulls in the flame.

The lion cloak has potential; I await the reshaping.


----------



## elmir

This is very close to the airbrush setup I've got... You won't be disappointed


----------



## Lethiathan

Now this is why I say you have pockets of money, I would be eaten alive for spending £500 on anything remotley like a set of figures


----------



## Midge913

Lethiathan said:


> Now this is why I say you have pockets of money, I would be eaten alive for spending £500 on anything remotley like a set of figures


Well seeing that the 500 quid was on a superior airbrush set up and not figures I think he did very well. I didn't have the extra cash to get the Harder & Steenbeck when I was looking at my airbrush, but if I had that is the one that I wouldhave gotten. As DoE said you should not be disappointed by its performance. 

Like Dave I really enjoy the addition of the skulls in the flames. Something about the lion cloak on the one henchman doesn't sit quite right with me, but since I can't really put my finger on what it is and since you have mentioned that it will undergo some reshaping and whatnot, I will simply wait to see what happens. 

I love the look of that mystic conclave, those gas mask heads look great on those bodies and will really make for a stunning looking unit once all finished up.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hello, everyone!

To get you all up to date on what's been going on since last time I've compiled all the recent posts made into this big one - note that some of the questions and statements in these blocks may be invalid as of now (but I can't be arsed to remove them at the moment). I just want you to see the process I went through before I hit you with the more recent work.

-----

*From 20121002*

What I have been doing, mostly to finally get a chance to try my airbrush out and see what kind of possibilities where available to me, was to put some color on my Caestus Assault Ram – more specifically the interior details. I got a lot of inspiration from the Imperial Armour Masterclass Volume One which I’ve been reading back to front (along with Volume Two). Basically it’s Kommando Khaki airbrushed sparingly over a black undercoat and then highlighted with Skull White. Then there’s some chipping applied with Scorched Brown / Chaos Black. After that I painted all the metallic details with Boltgun Metal and once that was done put Gloss Varnish on top before trying out some Oil Washes. I have to say I’m very impressed with the Oil Wash technique even though it’s a bit of a hassle to work with White Spirits since I need to use a mask so I’m not breathing in the stuff for hours – but I use one when I airbrush anyway so not much of a problem really. The preliminary results can be viewed here. Personally I prefer this off-white interior over a completely metallic version which I find lacks… Something. I will most likely go for something similar on my drop pod interiors. 
























I’m also considering trying out the hairspray weathering technique on the drop pod doors (the inside sto start with) to see if I can achieve that realistic 3D-chipping effect that’s all the rave these days. Hopefully all these ideas will actually lead to something being finished rather than just me trucking along and heading straight for another burn-out. 

It's also been a semi-productive night on the infantry department. I've been playing with the airbrush to see what my limited skills with the tool can achieve at this point in time. Also toying with the idea to keep the concept of the Void Sharks (and see where it goes) but make the colours more airbrush and weathering friendly (since I really want to delve into the weathering aspect of the hobby). This is what the evening gave me after some trials:









I must say at first I was not impressed with my results at all. It was far too bright and grainy (which is my own fault because I didn't thin the pink coat enough and lowered the PSI far too much so it splattered a bit - anyway, water under a bridge and all that, you live and you learn) and I was just getting nightmarish visions about how I won't be able to do the tiny space patterns on my marines now and everything was just going straight to H.

Then again, after looking at the miniature for a while and comparing it to my Tyberos miniature I think I came to understand why I was so disappointed - it isn't because I don't like the gradual shifting in the tones of the armour but rather that I'm so hard pressed into the edge highlight mould that I can't appreciate my own creations without having all the edges highlighted - which beats the point of using an airbrush in the first place. So, while I'm still not sure of the actual tone of the purple I'm a bit more positive overall. The one thing that will be easier with this tone is any weathering effects which will actually show up using normal methods (weathering black is a bitch as we all know). Also any stars and/or tiny patterns can still be freehanded on afterwards so I don't know what I was thinking there really.

On another note - hope you like the new backdrop because I like it and I figure I might stick to them for now on if there aren't any wild complaints about them.

----

*From 20121004:*

So, after another couple of hizzy-fits I feel like there has been no actual progress made so far. I'm still combating with the airbrush, although learning a lot in the process I'm still somewhat lacking results to keep my motivation up high. I'm probably approaching the issue from a wrong angle and trying to see results far to early in the process. It's possible that the effects I'm looking for won't be visible till after weathering but it's hard to know if your doing step 2 and 3 right if you get that nagging feeling that you aren't doing so well after all.

I had this idea that I was going to move away from the combination of blue and purple since I felt the blue wasn't really working all that well with the purple when airbrushed on. My first thought was purple and black but as we all know black isn't all that easy to paint realistically so I was instead aiming for a dark grey. However I did get a little frisky with the trigger finger and it turned out more like a mid-tone grey rather than a dark grey. The camera is also not doing me any favours since it pretty much turned the gradient into a big grey blob, anyway, enough talking:









I want more contrast in the grey (darker and lighter). It's possible that said contrast will show up once I put an oil wash on there, possibly combine it with a tiny edge highlight as well, so I think I'm going to try that approach when I continue tomorrow. I'm still not 100% sure on the combination of colours, if things continue to be this hard for me I might actually give in and do a single colour scheme on the infantry just to give my mind some rest because it's annoying as hell for me to get these results (or lack there of).

Any thoughts and bits of input are most welcomed as usual.
Hopefully I'll have some progress to show tomorrow.

----

*From 20121005*

I find the combination somewhat soothing but still interesting enough although dangerously close to being boring. I think a split with yellow and grey would have been more striking and "in your face" combination but then again I wasn't aiming for that effect (although I must say I like it in some ways). It's hard to keep at it when you're unsure or when you feel that there are other combinations that perhaps would lend themselves to the technique better. But at the same time I'm trying to keep the vehicles in mind and any possibilities given to me by the weathering process and the pigment choice I have there. I think that this scheme would look great on vehicles and which also provide me with enough surface to do some of my freehanding on (I want them space patterns damnit!). I dunno, I just have a nagging feeling that it's a bit boring at the moment.

About the helmets I considered doing them in the split scheme but then painting the grills with skulls like the Night Lords do. Not sure which other way there is to paint them in a lighter colour without making it look odd and misplaced really...

I did manage to get some work done tonight but not much. I settled for some paint chips on the armour and a few extra edge highlights to see where that would take me, I'm starting to warm up to the idea but I think the rest of the process is what will tie it all together (and that entails markings in white, oil washes and finally pigments):








Another way to get more life into the miniatures is to add details such as bionics with cables which can then be "warning striped" (yellow/black) which will add that tiny amount of yellow which will compliment superbly with the purple (I think). I'm not prepared to give up just yet, I just need to find ways to wrap my head around the idea and make it work (or at least finish one miniature before I give it a good analysis).

While on that subject, is there any source available on pre-heresy markings for Space Marines? I'm having trouble finding reference material and I don't have my HH:B book yet so can't check there for inspiration.

Your suggestions and thoughts welcomed and encouraged as per usual.

----

*From 20121011*

So... I got my HH:B book and I've been fiddling around a bit. Decided to try something completely different. Sadly my current photo set-up washes out the colours but here's a WIP of what I'm working on at the moment.








More progress later tonight (hopefully).

----

*From 20121011*

So I did try out some new techniques on the NL marine, mainly Oil-washes on the torso+legs to see what kind of shading and muting effect I could get out of it. I wasn't all that impressed with the wash on this particular scheme though, I think it's better suited for other combinations of colours. The blue I'm doing right now reacted better to traditional washing techniques (GW washes/shades) so if I'm going to make more of these guys I'm probably not going to shade them with a black oil wash (other than the vehicles which are a different subject matter) - you live and you learn, that's what the test miniature is for.








I am also going to have to redo the lightning patterns because they where way muted and dulled by the oil wash and the varnish layers, they need to pop out to add some interest.

Well, I'll be done with this test miniature soon hopefully and if it goes according to the plan I'm going to do more Mk III Night Lords after that.

Comments and thoughts are welcomed as always!

----

*From 20121014*

So, I noticed I forgot to do the verdigris on the shoulder pad trims but otherwise this is pretty much as finished as I'm willing to make the miniature at the moment since I haven't decided on legion markings and symbols just yet I feel that I'll just wait a while (possibly even till the next book comes out which will hopefully portray the 8th legion in all their glory).








Now that I've one miniature painted I guess I'll have to finish the entire squad? Lacking some parts though, probably need to buy more parts from FW... Or maybe I should paint my 3 ironclad dreadnoughts (sadly not MK IV dreads but I'll do them in the NL scheme anyway)?









----

As you can see I'm considering going down the heresy-era Night Lord legion route. I find that they fit the army I'd like to play (both in 30k and 40k) and I'll be using the HH:B ruleset for them for now but possibly bleed into the SM codex as well later on (yeh, I know they are traitors in 40k but I don't want to play them as CSM so hush).

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Chaosftw

Wow I really like the way you did up that night lord! Looks sharp! That will be one intimidating army!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Loving the Night Lords. They are definitely my favourite preHeresy legion. Shame I can't rep you for it.


----------



## wolflordthor

Every new post is simply awesome, I wish i had your skills!!!!
Keep it up!


----------



## LTP

Nice to see this thread still going strong Xeno. You skills have improved since I went away and you have some impressive looking models as always. 

p.s purple and Black rocks  

Keep up the good work


----------



## Lethiathan

Looking Snazzy on the Night Lords Xeno!


----------



## Zodd

It's a thread like this that possibly could get one sad modelbuilder out of a builders/gamers-block that has been going on since the 6th edition rules struck. 

Thanks Xeno :so_happy:


----------



## Chaosftw

I think another update is in order... you should probably not sleep and get some more paint on your models... Priorities man! common!


----------



## xenobiotic

Chaosftw said:


> Wow I really like the way you did up that night lord! Looks sharp! That will be one intimidating army!


Thanks, that's my hope and assessment as well  I'm just hoping they won't turn out to dark in the long run, they are pretty well lit in the photos. And while they are supposed to be dark and brooding you still want something interesting to look at when you put them on the table.



Khorne's Fist said:


> Loving the Night Lords. They are definitely my favourite preHeresy legion. Shame I can't rep you for it.


Glad to have done them justice in your eyes then  I like their fluff and their aesthetics, should be a perfect match for me as I go along and get a bit more daring with conversions and what not. Debating on which units to use (and buy) from FW before I move around to much because of work...



wolflordthor said:


> Every new post is simply awesome, I wish i had your skills!!!!
> Keep it up!


I've been at this for years now and I'm still learning so much each time I paint a miniature. Many of the techniques I've used on these guys are my first attempts, you just have to keep challenging yourself and try out new things then knowledge and experience adds up. I still have so many things to learn and even more to master.



LTP said:


> Nice to see this thread still going strong Xeno. You skills have improved since I went away and you have some impressive looking models as always.
> 
> p.s purple and Black rocks
> 
> Keep up the good work


Indeed, purple and black rocks but it was not for me at this time, hehe. Glad to hear that I've improved since last time, I always fear stagnation and it's nice to get a receipt on your hard work and attempts at new methods. This hobby truly is endless in possibilities which is both daunting and intriguing .



Lethiathan said:


> Looking Snazzy on the Night Lords Xeno!


Them snazzy lil' Night Lords be in tha house! Thanks mate!



Zodd said:


> It's a thread like this that possibly could get one sad modelbuilder out of a builders/gamers-block that has been going on since the 6th edition rules struck.
> 
> Thanks Xeno :so_happy:


It's funny you mention that because I often look at others threads and have the same kind of feeling, although the internet has stolen a lot of time from me it has also been my main input and enabler to improve myself and my skills tremendously so I get what you're saying many times over 



Chaosftw said:


> I think another update is in order... you should probably not sleep and get some more paint on your models... Priorities man! common!


Indeed it was...

----

Now back after a week in San Francisco (went there with my work for a research project) I've finally been able to sit down and get some painting done! I actually missed it sorely while I was gone (maybe even more than I had imagined)!

This marine is yet another new endeavour for me. It was my first attempt at using the Hairspray weathering techniques described all over the internet (see youtube for reference if needed). And just to see if it would work on smaller miniatures I decided to use it on an infantry miniatures. I must say I like the effect the technique offers a lot more than more conventional methods other alternatives when it comes to scratches - such as "sponging".

Admittedly I overdid it on his left shoulderpad but you live and you learn. It will be nice to try out on some bigger miniatures as I go along. I might actually switch over to this method entirely as I go along (since I'm laying all the base colours on my miniatures with the airbrush anyway):








And here's the entire army so far - I got some work ahead of me if this is ever going to get somewhere...









More infantry coming up soon (maybe even later today). After that - probably even more infantry. After that? Well, depends on what I throw cash at since I'm looking at a "free delivery" FW order right now... Suggestions? :wink:

Till next time :bye:


----------



## spanner94ezekiel

Sweet as Xeno! Let's get the old rep count moving shall we?


----------



## JAMOB

Holy shitoki mushrooms well done good sir!

You never disappoint... love the new thread title btw


----------



## Midge913

Really loving the way these guys are turning out my friend! Will we be seeing a night lords Contemptor? because I think that would look fantastic with your scheme.


----------



## xenobiotic

spanner94ezekiel said:


> Sweet as Xeno! Let's get the old rep count moving shall we?


Indeed, let's get 'em rolling! Thanks for the comment btw 



JAMOB said:


> Holy shitoki mushrooms well done good sir!
> 
> You never disappoint... love the new thread title btw


Thanks, mate! Always nice to see you stop by and always nice not to disappoint, hopefully I won't drop the ball as I move into non-infantry miniatures later on... 



Midge913 said:


> Really loving the way these guys are turning out my friend! Will we be seeing a night lords Contemptor? because I think that would look fantastic with your scheme.


It took a while to get the ratios in the recipe down in order to achieve the hues I was looking for. They are sneaky bastards though. In sunlight they look dark as hell but beneath the photo lamps they look almost ultramarine blue on the pictures. Very hard to capture the true aesthetic of this colour combination.

There is a chance that I might re-purpose the Contemptor I started to do for my Void Sharks which have been scrapped for now anyway. The Contemptor fit the pre-heresy theme better so it makes sense in a way, sad to get rid of the maori pattern on it though...

----

I actually completed this marine yesterday but I never got around to varnish him and take pictures so I did that during my session today. So here's the third Legion Tactical marine for the Night Lords:








Lacking Legion Markings and base is unfinished which is the same stage as the other two are at.








They are slowly adding up in numbers and are now slowly approaching a combat squad in size (which sadly doesn't exist in Legion Tactical squads so there's still 7 members to paint for it to be a legal unit).

However, these guys will most likely prove to be part of the solution needed to solve the number issue:








You also get a good look at the different stages (post airbrushing) on these guys, since some parts are without the final highlight, some parts are without the final wash layer and some parts are even weathered (a bit). 

More infantry to come. I'm also waiting for my FW order which will bring me:
- More Mk III Infantry
- Mk IV Infantry
- Mk IV Assault Marines
- Scimitar Jet Bikes

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Dgoody

Dang those look badass! Awesome paint job, keep up the great work.


----------



## The_Werewolf_Arngeirr

Xeno, you go to war in midnight clad with your NL.


----------



## Arcticor

Those look great! even with the camera messing with the blues, still really awesome. And I think its the goal of pretty much everyone on this thread to get your rep up to your old number.... too bad I can only give 1 rep at a time  
-Arcticor


----------



## JAMOB

xenobiotic said:


> Thanks, mate! Always nice to see you stop by and always nice not to disappoint, hopefully I won't drop the ball as I move into non-infantry miniatures later on...


Well based on those BA (in both senses) tanks you did a while back im not too worried :so_happy:



> I actually completed this marine yesterday but I never got around to varnish him and take pictures so I did that during my session today. So here's the third Legion Tactical marine for the Night Lords:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lacking Legion Markings and base is unfinished which is the same stage as the other two are at.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> They are slowly adding up in numbers and are now slowly approaching a combat squad in size (which sadly doesn't exist in Legion Tactical squads so there's still 7 members to paint for it to be a legal unit).
> 
> However, these guys will most likely prove to be part of the solution needed to solve the number issue:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You also get a good look at the different stages (post airbrushing) on these guys, since some parts are without the final highlight, some parts are without the final wash layer and some parts are even weathered (a bit).
> 
> More infantry to come. I'm also waiting for my FW order which will bring me:
> - More Mk III Infantry
> - Mk IV Infantry
> - Mk IV Assault Marines
> - Scimitar Jet Bikes
> 
> Till next time :bye:


:shoka... As always, truly inspired good sir.


----------



## wolflordthor

Well THIS is what i call Night Lords!!!!
Oh my GOD!
They are so amazing!


----------



## xenobiotic

Dgoody said:


> Dang those look badass! Awesome paint job, keep up the great work.


Thanks, always nice to hear!



The_Werewolf_Arngeirr said:


> Xeno, you go to war in midnight clad with your NL.


Solruthis veh za jass.



Arcticor said:


> Those look great! even with the camera messing with the blues, still really awesome. And I think its the goal of pretty much everyone on this thread to get your rep up to your old number.... too bad I can only give 1 rep at a time
> -Arcticor


I honestly don't know if it's messing with it or if it's just a factor of the varnish interacting with the light in a way it doesn't do with your eyes. These are actually the first miniatures I've ever put varnish on and I'm using matt varnish so maybe that explains some of it - I'm thinking about getting a hold of some satin varnish and see if that makes any difference.

I'm glad we have a common goal about the rep then. Sure is going to take a while though...



JAMOB said:


> Well based on those BA (in both senses) tanks you did a while back im not too worried :so_happy:
> 
> :shoka... As always, truly inspired good sir.


It's just a couple of tacticals, nothing fancy thus far. So we'll see what the more advanced units can bring when it comes to inspiration 



wolflordthor said:


> Well THIS is what i call Night Lords!!!!
> Oh my GOD!
> They are so amazing!


Glad you like them, I've had an overwhelming amount of positive feedback on my take on the Night Lords which was kind of surprising to me seeing as I haven't really taken their full aesthetic into the miniatures just yet (no bat wings, no skulls painted on the helmets and so on). But I guess I must be doing something right  

----

I don't know why I haven't put this update up earlier since I finished this miniature a couple of days ago. It's a Mk III miniature taken from the Rapier Laser Destroyer set but I've changed his equipment around a bit (pieced together an alternate right arm) since in HH:Betrayal the crewmembers doesn't actually have bolters (which the miniatures comes with) so I needed to give him a bolt pistol. Anyway, he'll be a squadmate stand-in till I've painted the actual Rapiers (and the rest of the crew for them). 








And here's another "army pick", still loads of legionnaires to paint as anticipated:









I also got my Forgeworld order which was an odd one to say the least. They did not send my Contemptor Pattern Heavy Bolter which I've ordered but instead I got a MK V Heresy Armour squad(?) which is a Mark of power armour I didn't plan to use in this army but I guess I might as well now that I got the squad anyway. While on the subject of missing items one of my MK IV assault squad didn't come with any left arms either...

I also got a lot of miscast pieces, particularly the legs on some of my MK IV assault marines but also on the MK IV tactical marines. Disappointing when it happens but nothing out of the ordinary when we're talking about FW. Kind of a bummer to get a hold of them for replacements though. I even tried calling them yesterday but due to some huge mishap in the local area a lot of their customer support wasn't able to get to work so I gave up after a good amount of time in queue since the price tag for international calls aren't that great with my current phone service. Will have to try again tomorrow if I get some spare time at work...

Anyway. I'm slowly building some MK IV assault marines. I don't want to build them all now though seeing as how FW will probably release Night Lord upgrade kits with the second HH book (problem is I don't know when they'll release it). I'll probably build 5 marines at a time and paint them up and keep repeating that cycle till I either run out of marines or they release the upgrade kits.

Got the following miniatures in the to-build/built pile with a continuing debate on what to finish first:
- Scimitar Jetbike Squadron
- Rapier Laser Destroyer x2
- Mk V Siege Dreadnought x3
- MK IV Assault Marines
- MK III Legion Tactical Marines (with Command Upgrade pieces)
- Mk IV Legion Tactical Marines (with Command Upgrade pieces)
- Mk II / IV Apothecaries
- Land Speeder Tempest x2
- Drop Pods
- Caestus Assault Ram
- Terminators (Converted plastic) with Cataphractii weapons
... Maybe it'd be easier to choose if I didn't have so many choices...

Anything specific you'd like to see me tackle? Leave a comment and I'll see what I can do...

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Hellados

Stunning as always mate, how many armies do you have on the go at the moment??

and ofc +rep if I can


----------



## Vaz

I'd love to see the Caestus, but that is just the brute in me talking liking the big shiny thing. Same for the scimitars - I've not been a fan so far, and I'm hoping your painting sways me.

However on both those counts, they are centrepiece units and deserve love and attention; with large flat areas on to do the lightning design on, I can't help but feel you might need a bit of practise. I have a bit of love currently for LaserDestroyers. They are pretty effective at countering anything short of a Spartan.

As you need the Rite of War requiring you to take anything Rhino or Land Raider shaped under a Thunderhawk Transporter and anything else requiring a Drop Pod; getting started on them ASAP seems like a bright idea. Especially when you then place a S6 AP3 Flamer in some Marines arse.


----------



## Arcticor

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again." Dammit. 
Stunning work as always. I would say finish up that squad, then work on the assault ram.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

What always impresses me _nearly _as much as your painting is how you get the best poses out of your models. Posing seems like a simple thing, but you always manage to get them conveying a sense of motion and menace, just like in that rapier crew model. Excellent as always.


----------



## xenobiotic

Hellados said:


> Stunning as always mate, how many armies do you have on the go at the moment??
> 
> and ofc +rep if I can


Hush, we do not talk about such things.

In all honestly though, current list of projects and ideas look something like this:

W40k - Pre-Heresy Night Lords - Active Project
W40k - Imperial Guard/"Grey Knight Henchmen" Allies Contingency - First planned for the Brethren but now going to be included into the Night Lords Battleforce instead - Active Project
W40k - Chaos Daemons - Semi-Active Project
W40k - Brethren of the Phoenix - Put on ice.
W40k - "Commissions" for friends - Semi-Active Project.
WHFB - Chaos Dwarves - Put on ice.
Specialist Game: Mordheim - Human Warband - Put on ice.
Specialist Game: Inquisitor - Warband - Planning Stages
Specialist Game: Dread Fleet - Put on ice.
NEW! Specialist Game: Battlefleet Gothic - Night Lords Fleet - Planning Stages
NEW! Privateer Press - Hordes - Legion of Everblight starter - Planning Stages
NEW! Privateer Press - Warmachine - Cryx starter - Planning Stages

So I have more than enough on my plate if that's what you're asking.



Vaz said:


> I'd love to see the Caestus, but that is just the brute in me talking liking the big shiny thing. Same for the scimitars - I've not been a fan so far, and I'm hoping your painting sways me.
> 
> However on both those counts, they are centrepiece units and deserve love and attention; with large flat areas on to do the lightning design on, I can't help but feel you might need a bit of practise. I have a bit of love currently for LaserDestroyers. They are pretty effective at countering anything short of a Spartan.
> 
> As you need the Rite of War requiring you to take anything Rhino or Land Raider shaped under a Thunderhawk Transporter and anything else requiring a Drop Pod; getting started on them ASAP seems like a bright idea. Especially when you then place a S6 AP3 Flamer in some Marines arse.


I'll start with my Thunderhawk Transports then... Oh, wait! I wasn't supposed to tell you guys that! :wink:

Good idea about starting with the Laser Destroyers though, will probably be a good enough test subject for the technique on larger miniatures. It's also a logical step seeing as how I'm painting the Destroyer crew now anyway.



Arcticor said:


> "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to xenobiotic again." Dammit.
> Stunning work as always. I would say finish up that squad, then work on the assault ram.


Going to take me a while to finish of the squad so I might have enough inspiration for the Caestus once they are done 

No need to worry bout the rep, I manage fine without it!



Khorne's Fist said:


> What always impresses me _nearly _as much as your painting is how you get the best poses out of your models. Posing seems like a simple thing, but you always manage to get them conveying a sense of motion and menace, just like in that rapier crew model. Excellent as always.


I'm actually very glad that you mention it because I spend a lot of time when I pose my miniatures. Some of them do turn out somewhat wonky because of the inherent restrictions of the miniatures but as time has progressed I've started to hone my skill in doing just minor alterations yet still change the poses radically. Thanks for the comment!

----

There has been a remarkable lack of updates lately. I am however not dead. I also did not get a hobby burn-out or rage-quitted due to some unforeseen event. Although you could argue that I'm approaching a state similar to death seeing as how I appear to be spending more and more time not getting anything done at all. In all honestly work has been taking a load out on me and since I've just recently started working at a new hospital I'm commuting weekly and I have no paint set-up at the place I'm staying at the weekdays (yet). As soon as I put together a small transportable painting set-up I'll be able to get some painting done each day even when I'm working - possibly giving me more time to be creative at the weekends when I'm at the home base. That's the plan anyway...

I did manage to finish the 5th member of my first Night Lord Legion Tactical Squad. I still have 14 members built (and 4 in different stages of painting progress) so there's a lot left to do before I'm even close to finish them off. This excluding all the other infantry I've got planned for the army.









And here's the current squad in all it's glory. This also happens to be the newest army picture - surely haven't grown a lot the last month. Hopefully I'll be able to remedy that over the course of this year.









Other things I'm working on is putting the first part of the assault squad together (the first 10 marines). There's a lot of cleaning up and posing involved in this process and since I've gotten so many miscast pieces from FW lately there's a lot of gap filling and re-detailing seeing as how I hate to let pieces go to waste (free miniatures when the replacements arrive!).

















And finally I'm toying with some concepts of a Night Lord Legion Champion. I took the Forge World miniature as a base and did some thinking. At the moment I'm mostly trying to see if my plan has any chance of coming together nicely. First change was to lean the miniature forward to get a better interaction between the jump pack and the pose of the legs. I do think it's working so I'm going to cut the base of and replace it with something else the champion can step on (such as a fallen enemy perhaps). For weapons I'm thinking lightning claws but I have yet to settle on which kind to use.

















Till next time (hopefully sooner rather then later) :bye:


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

The wings seem a little too organic to me; I feel they would fit the armoured look better if some of the ribbing was smoothed and trimmed to make it more stylised.


----------



## wolflordthor

Finally, a new post of you  
This long time of wating nearly made me cry!!!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

wolflordthor said:


> Finally, a new post of you
> This long time of wating nearly made me cry!!!


Seconded. Good to see some new models.


----------



## Contour5

I'm still rather new here and I just read through the 114 pages of glory of which you call a Project Log. I thank you for the inspiration to get back into the hobby in full swing.

I don't agree with Mr Hobbit the wings look pretty damn awesome, if you look at GW Nightlords they all have the huge ribs but theirs are thicker, I especially like the "tails" at the end of the wing as they give the model an element of flow.


----------



## xenobiotic

Dave T Hobbit said:


> The wings seem a little too organic to me; I feel they would fit the armoured look better if some of the ribbing was smoothed and trimmed to make it more stylised.


I might trim away the cables on the wings but parts of the organic feel has to stay in order to keep the visage of the Night Lords. Most of the ornaments they have are rather organic even in the non-possessed units (such as the skulls and bat wings the chaos miniatures have on them now). I imagine much of that imagery would hail from a similar pre-heresy source even if it has been exaggerated with time after the Heresy.

Think of the wings as a substitute for the sanguinary guard angelic wings and you are close to the concept. I might do minor alterations close to the connection with the armour (possibly add some minor watch gears or similar which might make it more convincing). 



wolflordthor said:


> Finally, a new post of you
> This long time of wating nearly made me cry!!!





Khorne's Fist said:


> Seconded. Good to see some new models.


Thank you both, always nice to have a faithful followers  And please don't cry, surely you have better things to do rather than longing for my updates!



Contour5 said:


> I'm still rather new here and I just read through the 114 pages of glory of which you call a Project Log. I thank you for the inspiration to get back into the hobby in full swing.
> 
> I don't agree with Mr Hobbit the wings look pretty damn awesome, if you look at GW Nightlords they all have the huge ribs but theirs are thicker, I especially like the "tails" at the end of the wing as they give the model an element of flow.


Well, then you are officially mad by now, must have taken quite a while to plough through, no?

Indeed, and I'm stealing my ideas from the GW Nightlords so the similarity should be evident if I've done it correctly. I'm probably going to do some minor tweaks though to sell the wings as an adornment/piece of the jump pack rather than an organic mutation / demonic influence.

----

Not much painting done lately, I spent my weekend building 11 Mk III marines from the "only legs on bases"-state to the "all things attached"-state. Takes a remarkable amount of time when your trying to make the miniatures interesting and doing tiny extra details like the ones I've done below.

Here's the squadron command element of the Legion Tactical Squad - Sergeant, Nuncio Vox Caster and Vexilla Bearer. Pretty straight forward builds all in all but I took the opportunity to make them more complicated because I felt the squad deserved some attention (and differentiation between the mass of miniatures that will fill it out). The Sergeant has a sheathed power sword (Red Scorpion Honour Guard sheathed swords) and a plasma pistol (rule of cool - apparently you can't have them both in the HH:B rule-set for Legion Tactical Squad Sergeants).








The Vexilla bearer got a slight modification in the form of exchanging the pole to steel wire instead of resin thus freeing the details on the vexilla from the pole. While looking at the scroll work on the vexilla I decided to make it actual scrolls instead of stylized scrolls hence giving them a sense of movement by bending them slightly in the direction dictated by the movement of the miniatures pose. Hopefully the effect will come to life fully as the miniature is painted:








The antennas on the Nuncio Vox was so fiddly I realized that - 1. They would snap sooner or later - 2. They would be next to impossible to repair if they did break - so I did a pre-emptive strike and replaced them right away with steel wire with copper wire details and tiny glue blobs on the tops. I also took the freedom to add some details to the helmet since it's quite obviously a Mk II Nuncio Vox helmet (I don't get why they didn't make a Mk III version bet hey) and I wanted it to get a slightly different look which I think I achieved.








The sergeant got Mk V arms instead of MK III, mostly because I have a lot of Mk V arms over but also because I found it fitting that a sergeant - if anyone - would probably be the one to get newer pieces of equipment as they started to spread parts around. Evidently I also magnetized the pistol arms so that I can change between Bolt pistol and Plasma pistol as I see fit (ie if I need to).









Hopefully I'll have some painted pictures to show in the future.
Till then, cya around, :bye:


----------



## The Wraithlord

You know, there is a reason I love this log.


----------



## wolflordthor

As always.
STUNNING! AWESOME! not enough words....
Love your sergeant, really majestic pose!!!!


----------



## xenobiotic

The Wraithlord said:


> You know, there is a reason I love this log.


And that reason would be..?



wolflordthor said:


> As always.
> STUNNING! AWESOME! not enough words....
> Love your sergeant, really majestic pose!!!!


I'm glad you like him, I like him a lot myself, really came together well. Although from a game play perspective I should have let him kept his bolter but them plasma pistols look so sexy!

----

I don't have much to show. I've been working way to much (as usual) and to top it off it has been evening/night shifts + weekends so hobby time has been pretty much non-existent.

When I actually was at my home base with my miniature I spent the time continuing my build of Mark IV Assault Marines along with some airbrushing as well to truck along with the Night Lords. I decided to try the batch approach as far as I'm able to make it stretch. I've also decided to document the process for those interested, some of you might find these updates boring but it's better than nothing in between completed miniatures. Otherwise the updates would probably be very sparse and far between in the following year.

So, for those interested here's how I paint my Night Lords - Part 1.
Primer and Black Basecoat








Hairspray








Basecoat - Chaos Black / Abbadon Black : Mordian Blue / Macragge Blue - 1:1 








First Highlight - Mordian Blue / Macragge Blue








Second Highlight - Mordian Blue / Macragge Blue : Astronomican Grey - 3:1









And that concludes the first airbrush stages of the paint scheme.
More to come as I manage to progress with the brushwork.

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Was the bit about hair spray a typo? If not, what's the reason for using it? I love seeing how some people use weird stuff to great effect in the hobby.


----------



## artofresin

Nice painting jobs and amazing conversions here in this giant thread. Will take me some to check all those 100++ pages, but it is worth it. 

Some rep+ from me bro.


----------



## Grins1878

Always an amazing log to follow, never disappoints! Love all the custom details you give the minis, gives them a more real look somehow! Keep it up man!


----------



## .Bragg.

Hey xenobiotic, hope you're well!

Sorry if this has been covered in the past but I was wondering what camera set up do you use, mainly the camera and its lens. 

Miniatures are looking amazing as usual! Keep it up.


----------



## Farseer Darvaleth

Those minis... I... they're just so freakin' awesome.

*looks at battered old brushes and dried paintpots* Time to start a new hobby. :laugh:


----------



## Zodd

Khorne's Fist said:


> Was the bit about hair spray a typo? If not, what's the reason for using it? I love seeing how some people use weird stuff to great effect in the hobby.


Me too. Hairspray ? :scratchhead:


----------



## Midge913

The Night Lords are looking fantastic! Great conversions as always and the color palette is gorgeous.


----------



## xenobiotic

Khorne's Fist said:


> Was the bit about hair spray a typo? If not, what's the reason for using it? I love seeing how some people use weird stuff to great effect in the hobby.





Zodd said:


> Me too. Hairspray ? :scratchhead:


There is a very specific reason for using it - try searching for "Hairspray weathering techniques" on youtube and you'll probably see the reason for it :grin:



artofresin said:


> Nice painting jobs and amazing conversions here in this giant thread. Will take me some to check all those 100++ pages, but it is worth it.
> 
> Some rep+ from me bro.


Hopefully you'll notice that I get better and better as the thread goes along, I've come a long way in modelling and conversions simply because of the thread here on Heresy and all the comments and input I've received through the years.



Grins1878 said:


> Always an amazing log to follow, never disappoints! Love all the custom details you give the minis, gives them a more real look somehow! Keep it up man!


It's the little things that count, I've come to realize. Although you have to walk a fine line between realism and practicality when it comes to actually constructing what you're after. Some things are just to fiddly for me to make (or I find myself lacking the right materials... I expand my box of useful things pretty much every month - my workspace is slowly shrinking but the miniatures I put out turn out a little better every time. 



Awfun said:


> Hey xenobiotic, hope you're well!
> 
> Sorry if this has been covered in the past but I was wondering what camera set up do you use, mainly the camera and its lens.
> 
> Miniatures are looking amazing as usual! Keep it up.


It depends on what I'm taking pictures of. Right now I have a Nikon D5100 with a AF-S Nikkor 18-55 mm 1:35-5.6G lens on it when I take the pictures with coloured backgrounds on them. But I'm not all that good with it yet, I liked my old camera better since it had better automatic settings for miniatures (ironically) but I'm learning as I go along. I could give more details about the current set-up in another update if you like (like some examples of how I set the photos up and how I process them).



Farseer Darvaleth said:


> Those minis... I... they're just so freakin' awesome.
> 
> *looks at battered old brushes and dried paintpots* Time to start a new hobby. :laugh:


Some of my paint pots are pretty dried out as well, my friend :laugh:
Just keep at it and always try new things out and you'll find yourself besting me soon!



Midge913 said:


> The Night Lords are looking fantastic! Great conversions as always and the color palette is gorgeous.


Thanks Midge! Always lovely to hear that I've found a good combination. I was a bit worried that they'd turn out to dark but at least with the Mk IIIs there appear to be a decent mix of colours. Still not sure about how to tackle the Mk IVs though but that's a problem for future me to solve, hehe.


----

Apparently time flies every now and then and I've totally neglected to update my project logs. Admittedly progress has been sparse but there are still things to show although mostly building and converting progress since although I have been painting I have not finished any miniatures as of lately, there appears to be some kind of mental block at the moment so I'm just doing what I can do to keep the progress up. Hopefully I'll be motivated to paint more soon again (usually I finish one miniature and then I get psyched and do a bunch more so I'll hold my thumbs up for that). Now if I only didn't have a cold so I could actually lean my head forward without it exploding things would get easier...

Next step in painting Night Lords, now painting things by hand.

Highlight the edges with Ice Blue (I'm using a technique similar to wet blending although not exactly wet blending as such. Instead I have a very liquid paint that enables me to drag the pigments along the edges to create a "blended" surface from stark colour at the edge into a blended mix further in):









Next step is simply covering the entire miniature in Asuremen Blue wash, this pulls the colour transitions together (almost perfectly) and gives an illusion of a very deep blue colour (which is very soothing to look at). Any imperfections in the wash coverage can be used later as a basis for battle damage so don't worry to much about it:









The Legion Champion build I showed earlier is as good as complete for now. I'm still debating with myself whether or not to add some tiny details to the "arms" on the wings (thinking about maybe putting some miniscule watch gears within the elbow joint) but it might just be over the top detailing anyway so I'm not sure if I'll bother with it at the moment. Right now he's on hold anyway seeing as I want to finish some actual troop choices before I paint anything else up - and it's quite possible that FW will have released something Night Lords related by then which means that this miniature might be altered once again further down the line. Feel free to see him as a WIP in that sense:









In other news I've been busy building even Legion Assault Marines even though I mentioned I wanted to take my sweet time with them before. I don't know, I just can't find any motivation to hyperdetail them at the moment. I'll most likely add some lightning bolts to their armours though as an homage to the crusade era but other than that I think they are pretty much done (apart from some missing special weapons I'm awaiting replacements for from FW). 








I did put quite a lot of work into the poses of the miniatures. Making sure to mix the legs around as far as possible seeing as I dislike miniatures which have the exact same stance on their legs in a squad - at least when it's approaching 3 or 4 miniatures with the exact same leg pose. I did mostly minor alterations, playing around with interaction with the basing materials - in some cases I did cut them up and reposed them more aggressively though. It doesn't show up very well in these "squad" pictures but I might gather the miniatures with the same "base" legs together in a future update just to show the thought process and slight adjustments.

While on the subject of minor alterations and interactions I'm very pleased with my work on the sergeant in this squad. He's actually the result of a "failed" experiment with some left over arms from the tank commander set which I've used for some other things (the dead marine the Champion is stepping on for example). I wasn't even planning on having him armed with a power fist to begin with but it all came together so fluidly that I decided to keep the set-up, rule of cool and what not. The topknot braid is actually a 5 strand copper wire braid which I braided specifically for this purpose just to give the miniature even more sense of motion.








As you can see I've started to add green stuff lightning bolts on the armour, I'm not done with that process just yet, I just wanted to get a feel for how I wanted the bolts to look. I'll spread them around on more legionnaires as I go along, I think they're a great way to add some individuality to the squad in a fairly simple way, add a couple of rivets to them and they'll look just like original detailing once paint comes on there. Although I'm slightly afraid that they add a White Scars vibe I might not be looking for... Hm.

And so here's another 10 Legion Assault Marines I've been putting together lately (I just kept going while I was in a flow). Kept them within the same vein as the others (I actually did about 40 bases at the same time to ensure some kind of similarity within the infantry of the army). I'm considering making a couple more of them just to have someone to exchange one of the sergeants with should I ever want to run them as a 20-man squad instead of 2x10-man squads. Over all this squad is one of the more straight forward ones I've ever built, I kept bits-blending and greenstuffing to a minimum compared to what I usually do and it was nice for a change - specially considering I've started to build a 10-man Autocannon squad now and they require a lot of greenstuffing just to get back to an acceptable level of detailing (bad castings do that to you sometimes). All in all I'll probably just add some more equipment to their belts and then possibly some lightning bolts on some of their armour and then they are done and ready for painting.









And that's about it for this update, hopefully back with more pretty soon, cya!


----------



## wolflordthor

Finally. The Genius has returned with some awesome work!!! I can't wait to see this mob of marines painted!


----------



## shaantitus

There is littile i can contribute, your painting and modelling standards are so far out of my league it is depressing. Most impressive work all round. Please carry on.


----------



## The Wraithlord

Fucking stunning! Like, wow.


----------



## .Bragg.

Fantastic updates, feel free if you have the time to discuss further details regarding your photography process. Keep up the good work!


----------



## Mossy Toes

Urk. Wow. 

I'm ashamed of my few, pathetic attempts at braiding wire, now. Thanks.


----------



## xenobiotic

wolflordthor said:


> Finally. The Genius has returned with some awesome work!!! I can't wait to see this mob of marines painted!


Yeeesh, it's going to be a while before I have my full squads of marines painted. Right now I have about 70 infantry bases on my table and I'm considering adding a couple more to round the army out... There must be a name for the affliction I have...



shaantitus said:


> There is littile i can contribute, your painting and modelling standards are so far out of my league it is depressing. Most impressive work all round. Please carry on.


I shall carry on, good sir!



The Wraithlord said:


> Fucking stunning! Like, wow.


Thanks, mate!



Awfun said:


> Fantastic updates, feel free if you have the time to discuss further details regarding your photography process. Keep up the good work!


I will make a longer post as soon as I remember to document the process. I'm somewhat disorganized at the moment, lots of stuff going on at work right now.



Mossy Toes said:


> Urk. Wow.
> 
> I'm ashamed of my few, pathetic attempts at braiding wire, now. Thanks.


I'm not a very adept "braider" myself. The key is in the material I believe. I just thin brass/copper wire, which is much (much much) easier to braid compared to steel wires. It does take a long time though, but I find it almost therapeutic once I get a hang of the method.

----

So, I'm finally back with another update. I've come into some painting time recently so I'm actually moving along faster than usual (which isn't doesn't mean that much since I'm so slow to begin with, but hey) and I must admit that I'm finding it more pleasant then usually as well which is a nice change of pace for me since I'm more into conversions otherwise.

After spending the afternoon at a friends house painting I only had the sergeant and some backpacks with me for painting so as the hours went along I suddenly had gotten him almost finished whence I just decided to push along and get him finished. He was remarkably easy to get done even though he's packed full with obscured details. His hand is magnetised which is why there's only OSL on the plasma pistol itself (it wouldn't make any sense to have OSL on the shoulderpad when he's holding his bolt pistol). Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the miniature even though I need to get more experience and practice with OSL (and my airbrush):









And here's the Legion Tactical Squad as it stands right now. Still a few men below legal unit composition but I'm getting there:









More updates to come soon™ :bye:


----------



## wolflordthor

That is a real nice squad that you got there, the composition is really nice with all those shades of blue!!!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Beautiful work as usual. However the blue is a little too Smurf for me. I always imagined them with a deeper, midnight blue with the lightning as a counterpoint. Your lightning seems to be lost in the paler shade of blue.


----------



## xenobiotic

wolflordthor said:


> That is a real nice squad that you got there, the composition is really nice with all those shades of blue!!!


I think it works ok. There's a subtle change in the blue when looking at the sergeant next to the other marines. I think it's due to me "overhighlightning" him one step to far. On the other hand it makes him stand out which might actually work in his favour once he's surrounded by 19 marines with bolters - might put focus in the right place you know...



Khorne's Fist said:


> Beautiful work as usual. However the blue is a little too Smurf for me. I always imagined them with a deeper, midnight blue with the lightning as a counterpoint. Your lightning seems to be lost in the paler shade of blue.


It's an interesting point, I'll open it up for discussion below.

----

Work continues on the Legion Tactical Squad (why did I decide to have 20 marines in this squad? Really, I'll never get them done...). This would be the 7th member of the squad and he's a pretty straight forward Mk III marine, nothing fancy in equipment and details, nothing fancy with his pose - just another ablative wound for the squad.









With him finished I'm one step closer to having my first legal unit done for my Night Lords. I 'm actually looking forward to getting this unit done, specially since that will give me an excuse to tackle the Mark IV units I have built - and they have fewer edges so should be faster to paint (at least that's what I keep telling myself to keep my motivation up...): 









On the discussion about Smurfs vs Pre-heresy NLs I grabbed a pot of Ultramarine Blue and put it beside the latest marine. I get what you're angling at - it's a pretty "light" blue shade in the armour on my marines on some places but I think it's partly the photo light (daylight bulbs at close distance) that distorts the view and brightens all the colours. If I look at my miniatures in a normal light setting they are significantly darker (since the airbrushed gradient between the colourmixes intermingle better in subtler light) - In other words some of the brightness could be due to the photo setup and some of it could be from the photo processing.

About the lightning bolts I keep them thin and discrete because I think that make sense on the scale of the miniatures - thick and white lightning bolts tend to look wonky and unrealistic imho. Artistically it makes sense to me but I might not get the right effect on a visual level at a distance from the miniature. I guess I don't want them to drown in broader white strokes.

As usual it comes down to a matter of taste in the end. Feel free to voice your own opinion on the matter, here's a picture with ultramarine blue next to one of my NLs for reference:









That is all for now but I have some more things that are almost done or at least at a state where I'm ready to show them so expect another update sooner rather then later.


----------



## Jacobite

Dem fools be trippin on some nasty ass shit is my opinion. Your blue is perfect for Pre Heresy NL's, they haven't fully turned to the darkside yet. The lightening bolts are also perfect, it shows skill and as you say fits better.

As others have mentioned the UM's have been darkened up and having their shoulder pad rims changed from bright yellow to gold is not the NL's fault.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

xenobiotic said:


> About the lightning bolts I keep them thin and discrete because I think that make sense on the scale of the miniatures - thick and white lightning bolts tend to look wonky and unrealistic imho. Artistically it makes sense to me but I might not get the right effect on a visual level at a distance from the miniature. I guess I don't want them to drown in broader white strokes.


The lightning is done fantastically well. I agree, thick white lines would overpower the model, and what you have done with the lightning looks great, but the two shades just seem too close to properly convey the lightning. As you said though, it probably comes down to personal taste. I always imagined NLs with almost black armour, with the lightning providing the hints of electric blue.


----------



## Old Man78

Brilliant, +rep of course, I think you have the blue spot on as that is exactly what the night sky looks like when you have lightning! I'm also completely envious of your skill, I spend more time stripping my marines than finishing them. Again inspirational work!!


----------



## Melikor40k

as always this thread give me total eye-boners (in a totally platonic way) great stuff


----------



## Tossidin

That is some mighty good work. It is really cool to see how far you have progressed since the day you started on page 1 :victory:

On the UM blue issue, I can't say I totally agree. I never got the impression of an ultramarine when I saw them. The ultramarines are much more "flashy" and usually have way more decoration, while these night lords are much more "muted and gritty", and "standard" in the way of how they dress themselves. 
Putting the lighting aside, I also think that having painted bases would also help, as there are alot of effects bases can have on a model. They do look wery blue at the moment.


----------



## xenobiotic

Jacobite said:


> Dem fools be trippin on some nasty ass shit is my opinion. Your blue is perfect for Pre Heresy NL's, they haven't fully turned to the darkside yet. The lightening bolts are also perfect, it shows skill and as you say fits better.
> 
> As others have mentioned the UM's have been darkened up and having their shoulder pad rims changed from bright yellow to gold is not the NL's fault.


Yeh, I remember the classic scheme with *bright* Ultramarine blue and screaming yellow trims. Everything is so grimdark these days it melts together (sadly). I'm going to try a satin varnish instead of the matt varnish I'm using now, it might change the photo finish just enough to convey how dark these marines actually are IRL.



Khorne's Fist said:


> The lightning is done fantastically well. I agree, thick white lines would overpower the model, and what you have done with the lightning looks great, but the two shades just seem too close to properly convey the lightning. As you said though, it probably comes down to personal taste. I always imagined NLs with almost black armour, with the lightning providing the hints of electric blue.


I think that's mostly a size problem with the lightning bolts. Thin lightnings like that aren't very visible no matter what colour they are. On the first miniature I actually did highlight the bolts with pure white but it made so little visual difference compared to pure ice blue that I decided to stop doing it to save some time (and fiddly painting).



Oldman78 said:


> Brilliant, +rep of course, I think you have the blue spot on as that is exactly what the night sky looks like when you have lightning! I'm also completely envious of your skill, I spend more time stripping my marines than finishing them. Again inspirational work!!


Now that you mention it it actually does look like a lit up night sky, I hadn't given it that much thought before now (oddly perhaps) 



Melikor40k said:


> as always this thread give me total eye-boners (in a totally platonic way) great stuff


Yeah, sure, totally platonic... There are some men in white coats knocking on your door soonish :grin:



Tossidin said:


> That is some mighty good work. It is really cool to see how far you have progressed since the day you started on page 1 :victory:
> 
> On the UM blue issue, I can't say I totally agree. I never got the impression of an ultramarine when I saw them. The ultramarines are much more "flashy" and usually have way more decoration, while these night lords are much more "muted and gritty", and "standard" in the way of how they dress themselves.
> Putting the lighting aside, I also think that having painted bases would also help, as there are alot of effects bases can have on a model. They do look very blue at the moment.


'dem ultras go bling-bling and whuz 'not, fo' realz! On a more serious note I agree. There are more differences to set them apart rather than just the hue of blue and the lightning bolts. As soon as I get some NL shoulderpads the difference will be even clearer (I assume) and as I progress with more experienced units (command squads, veterans and such) they'll get their own NL-bling which will help set the difference in aesthetics even better.

On the subject of basing I'm leaning towards doing the basing the same way as I did with these nurglings. Hopefully it'll fit the NL scheme:









Anyway! The 8th legion tactical marine is done, this time I bring you the Vexilla bearer of the squad. Suitably detailed scroll work on the standard, as I think the miniature demands. Although the circular indentation is absent of detail at the moment, I'm not sure what I want in there. Either I'll try to sculpt something suitable later on or I'll hang in there for the possibility of brass etch detailing or other possibilities as the next HH book is released along with (hopefully) som NL specific pieces.









That brings us one step closer to the minimum squad number limit! Things are starting to look up (he says, ignoring the 40+ yet to be fully built Mk IV marines he has standing besides him):









Till next time :bye:


----------



## Jacobite

Those Nurglings worked out really well, the purple tongues are a nice touch. Is that slate or bark you have used for the base?


----------



## wolflordthor

I fell in love with your Nurglings  How much do you charge for one as a pet?!


----------



## Ring Master "Honka"

wolflordthor said:


> I fell in love with your Nurglings  How much do you charge for one as a pet?!


i think it cost you one soul or a night in bed with justin beiber. 
really either way costs you a soul. but the second one may cause your nurgling to lose all respect for you.


----------



## wolflordthor

Ring Master "Honka" said:


> i think it cost you one soul or a night in bed with justin beiber.
> really either way costs you a soul. but the second one may cause your nurgling to lose all respect for you.



THIS SIR MADE MY DAY  
I'd prefer the soul instead of one night with this mutant that gets even rejected by slaanesh....


----------



## xenobiotic

Jacobite said:


> Those Nurglings worked out really well, the purple tongues are a nice touch. Is that slate or bark you have used for the base?


On that particular base it's a combination of slate and cork bark. On all the other bases I've done it's just cork bark from a pet shop (very cheap, paid about 1,5£ for a piece that will last for this entire army and then some...)



wolflordthor said:


> I fell in love with your Nurglings  How much do you charge for one as a pet?!





Ring Master "Honka" said:


> i think it cost you one soul or a night in bed with justin beiber.
> really either way costs you a soul. but the second one may cause your nurgling to lose all respect for you.





wolflordthor said:


> THIS SIR MADE MY DAY
> I'd prefer the soul instead of one night with this mutant that gets even rejected by slaanesh....


That's just disturbing in an entirely new way...

----

Hm. Times flies. It has literally been ages since I updated and sadly I don't have that much to show either apart from my usual hobby angst, which I will now vent in futile hope to gain some guidance from my fellow wise and ever so inspiring warseers.

After all that angst about choosing legions I managed to settle for the Night Lords and everything was done and dandy. Then I started to read "Soul Hunter" to gain some insight in their mindset and everything was still done and dandy. Then I read "Blood Reaver" and I started to get sceptic. Not about the books themselves (they are awesome imho) but rather about the Legion I was presenting visually and artistically. There's just something about them that I don't click with. In particular their views about themselves and their future and also the general fluff about their "demise" and "fall from grace". This was further cemented in "Void Stalker" (another great book). I just can't get myself intrigued about them in the pre-heresy/heresy era without being bogged down by their fluff. I'm having trouble putting words on my exact reasons for feeling this way but I've lost some of my motivation for working with them.

All in all I LOVE their visual aesthetics and I find them full of opportunities in that aspect but the fluff and backbone doesn't intrigue me enough to keep working on them. Which just leads me back to the other legion that interested me in the beginning of the HH endevour - the Alpha Legion. I love their fluff, it fits my mindset and enables me to do a lot of things without breaking canonized stories and legion "personality". The thing that bogs me down about the Alpha Legion is pretty much their aesthetics. I don't like the "suggested" pre-heresy colour scheme at all, though I guess that can be worked around by doing a "heresy" era army (with blue/teal instead of purple), could it not? Other then that I'm unsure about how much individuality I'm able to put in to the different characters of the legion. Is it feasible to pimp out Alpha Legion characters, or are they all aiming to look roughly similar to their standard legion brethren? How about honour guards and terminators, feasible? I don't know how much artistic freedom I'm "allowed" to take in a heresy setting without straying from the concept of the legion...

The boring way to decide this would probably be to wait for HH:Massacre pt I and HH:Massacre pt II and read up on them in the official Forge World Rule book sense, but that would probably delay this project with about 2 years most likely and I think we'd all agree that'd be a shame.

Anyway, here's my pile of shame (only the resin pieces):









And here's what I'm working on at the moment (Terminator Squadron/Command Squad with Terminator Praetor with Paragon Blade):









Comments and ideas and suggestions would be very welcomed!

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Hellados

Absolutely stunning and SO inspirational!

How do you do the mud, when i try and mix sand with PVA it always drys thinner then the surrounding and looks crap, is that 'all' you've done?


----------



## wolflordthor

Love your work as usual, but these cataphractii.... 
Breathtaking conversions, can't wait to see them painted!!!!


----------



## piemaster

Hey Xeno.

Wow, 118 pages. What a hobbying triumph. I still get your pictures emailed to my inbox but I wanted to post here to let you know that I still subscribe to this thread and no matter what you do, you're still an inspiration. I hope I can paint even a fraction of what you can and I look at your images when I try to elevate my painting skill.

Peace out,
Phil


----------



## Jacobite

Personally I think you've nailed the PH Night Lords perfectly and I'm talking GC Night Lords, I've always seen your work on them as the Legion maybe 2 years after Cruze showed up so they are only just beginning to get influenced by his personality and the recruits from his hell hole of a world. I think turning them into AL would be a lot of work and possibly not quite worth it.


----------



## Dave T Hobbit

More excellent work.

I am not a fan of sideways crests; however, each to their own.


----------



## Battman

Wow have only looked at a few of the pages in this thread and there is some amazing work showcased here well done with this stuff xenobiotic + rep from me


----------



## xenobiotic

Jeeesh, long time no see?
Where were we?

----



Hellados said:


> Absolutely stunning and SO inspirational!
> 
> How do you do the mud, when i try and mix sand with PVA it always drys thinner then the surrounding and looks crap, is that 'all' you've done?


The mud (as seen on the unpainted miniatures) are simply different variants of the GW texture paints with mixed in extra PVA glue and sand/flock (which I got in huge bags for ages ago in about 3-4 different sizes) for more "crunchyness", then a few drops of water and some extra paint. I paint my bases along with the miniatures so any colour on the mud in the building process is purely coincidental.



wolflordthor said:


> Love your work as usual, but these cataphractii....
> Breathtaking conversions, can't wait to see them painted!!!!


In those pictures the Cataphractii was early in development. They have since been fleshed out somewhat and gotten a few more squad members. More on that on a later date when I've received the latest FW-order so I can complete some weapon conversions. Hang in there!



piemaster said:


> Hey Xeno.
> 
> Wow, 118 pages. What a hobbying triumph. I still get your pictures emailed to my inbox but I wanted to post here to let you know that I still subscribe to this thread and no matter what you do, you're still an inspiration. I hope I can paint even a fraction of what you can and I look at your images when I try to elevate my painting skill.
> 
> Peace out,
> Phil


Thank you for your kind words, Phil, they are very helpful in getting me through my rough patches when I'd otherwise lack motivation completely. Glad to have your subscription, and happy if I can give you anything back, be it motivation or inspiration or something else.



Jacobite said:


> Personally I think you've nailed the PH Night Lords perfectly and I'm talking GC Night Lords, I've always seen your work on them as the Legion maybe 2 years after Cruze showed up so they are only just beginning to get influenced by his personality and the recruits from his hell hole of a world. I think turning them into AL would be a lot of work and possibly not quite worth it.


That's where I'm heading at the moment. I'm thinking Terran marines with a few new Nostraman recruits but somewhat further into the storyline. So they're influenced by Curze but still heavily retain their terran heritage since their company consists mostly of terran marines still.



Dave T Hobbit said:


> More excellent work.
> 
> I am not a fan of sideways crests; however, each to their own.


Thanks, mate. Personally I've started to warm up to the sideways crests (as well as the other crests). Sometimes things grow on you as you go along.



Battman said:


> Wow have only looked at a few of the pages in this thread and there is some amazing work showcased here well done with this stuff xenobiotic + rep from me


Thanks! Always glad to hear! Hopefully I'll be able to get even more amazing work in here as I go along 

----

It's been a while since the last update (obviously). It's not that I haven't done any work on my NLs, it's just that I haven't been on the mood to take pictures and go through the process to get them into the thread - mostly since a lot of things have happened in my personal life that has taken quite a toll on me.

So, all in all, there are more WIP pictures from different squads and units to come as soon as I can be arsed to take more pictures and type out more in depth comments about the process in making them. Till then you'll have to be satisfied by this guy:








Minor sculpting occurred after that picture was taken. I started to get the detailing to a level I'm satisfied with (which is uncommon). Sculpting will continue to fill in gaps and create more minor details. It's all going in baby steps though to avoid putting a big fat finger in the middle of something that took me 1 hour to sculpt to this level of detail. I'm starting to like this project more and more for every step I proceed though, so there's really no lack of motivation:









Night is coming.

Till next time :bye:


----------



## JAMOB

Xeon it's been a long time good to hear from you/notice that you were still going and as always you do not disappoint


----------



## Jacobite

Oh I'm getting all tingly in my special places. That crest looks awesome. Really good to hear that your motivation is back for the boys from the night!


----------



## Zodd

Very Nice to see You're back Xeno. With some delicius details on the Dread.


----------



## Chaosftw

Excellent work man! that contemptor is stunning, I love the GS work! I cant wait to see that thing painted!


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Night Lords contemptor, awesome! Can't wait to see that bad boy painted up. Good to see some new work Xeno.


----------



## Arcticor

You sir, are a wizard. I started following this thread however long ago because I was (and still am) an avid Blood Angels fan. Honestly I think with any other blog if they switched from BA to another scheme I would lose interest - but not here. Your work is so amazing that even if its not the same chapter I play, its still very astounding. Keep up the good work!
-Arcticor


----------



## Dorns Legacy

Been following your work for a while now and i have to say you are one of the most inspiratinal model painters/modders i have come across so big kudos to you 

On a seperate note you were talking about one of your fav legions being the Alpha Legion, me too as well as the EC. Im currently re-reading the horus heresy books and am just about to finish Legion so im all up in their shiznit at the mo 

The thing id have to say about the AL is like you said.....to much likeness to them, they hold secrecy in a high regard and plan with it in mind BUT although they all try to adhere to an extremely similer look there are a few selects that have a difference in appearence.

Take for example the Effrit Stealth Squad led by "Omegon" all black armour with minor details of silver and gold but not only this the first and second companies aswell as the Lernaean termi cohort are slightly different with Sheed Ranko being almost the same size and stature as the primarch s themselves (thats one big termi) 

Without doubt one of the hardest Legions to add so ndividuality too for various members of the Legion but OH SO WORTH IT if it can be done tastefully.
id suggest maybe some first and second companyy squads Pech and Herzog leading the way and maybe the Effrit Stealth squad due to their differing colour scheme and defo the termis. Maybe some psykers and "operatives" (basic human cohorts) into the mix as they also seem to be very prominent in the AL war tactics.

As for the NH your getting stuck with keep it coming, that contemptor is off the hook and thats without paint.
Id defo carry on with the way your going with them but maybe try to implement some sort fearful aura to them, they are after all suppossed to be the embodiment of death and fear (well at least Cruze was) do they suffer the same sort of hellish nightmare premonitions their Primarch does or is soley his living nightmare that he has to endure.

Anyway im rambling now so ill stop keep it up and look forward to seeing more.


----------



## xenobiotic

JAMOB said:


> Xeon it's been a long time good to hear from you/notice that you were still going and as always you do not disappoint



Oh, I'd definately tell you all if I where giving the hobby up! Silence is usually just a sign of slow progress in my case. Recently it has been a case of me being lazy with the updates, probably because progress has been slow and in small increments so I've pushed them ahead of me continously. In any case I'm glad to see your still following the progress!



Jacobite said:


> Oh I'm getting all tingly in my special places. That crest looks awesome. Really good to hear that your motivation is back for the boys from the night!



I like it when you get tingly my friend – or did that come out as way to sexual? I'm also glad to be back at the table in a more serious manner. Now it's just a matter of getting things done and finished – which, knowing myself, will probably take way to long. 



Zodd said:


> Very Nice to see You're back Xeno. With some delicius details on the Dread.



Thank you, kind sir, I'm happy my dabblings are of the delicious kind!



Chaosftw said:


> Excellent work man! that contemptor is stunning, I love the GS work! I cant wait to see that thing painted!



Truth be told, neither can I, but there's still detailing left to do and then there's the manner of deciding how to paint it!



Khorne's Fist said:


> Night Lords contemptor, awesome! Can't wait to see that bad boy painted up. Good to see some new work Xeno.



Aye, he's going to be a beast once done. 



Arcticor said:


> You sir, are a wizard. I started following this thread however long ago because I was (and still am) an avid Blood Angels fan. Honestly I think with any other blog if they switched from BA to another scheme I would lose interest - but not here. Your work is so amazing that even if its not the same chapter I play, its still very astounding. Keep up the good work!
> -Arcticor



Inspiration can come from any source. Limiting yourself to much in which projects you follow can be a bad thing in the long run. Many of the tips and tricks I've picked up for all my space marines have been stolen from non-space marine projects all over the internet. It's all about picking up the small things and turning them into something usefull for yourself. My work with the BA successors have surely laid the foundation that this project would even be possible, so many of the things I'm doing now as if they where the simplest things in the world I struggled a long time with just 2 years ago. You seldomly think about the progress you make but I'm constantly reminded of it as I go back and look over the content in this thread.


Glad I can keep you interested anyway, and hopefully I'll be able to do it for a long time to come still!



Dorns Legacy said:


> Been following your work for a while now and i have to say you are one of the most inspiratinal model painters/modders i have come across so big kudos to you
> 
> On a seperate note you were talking about one of your fav legions being the Alpha Legion, me too as well as the EC. Im currently re-reading the horus heresy books and am just about to finish Legion so im all up in their shiznit at the mo
> 
> The thing id have to say about the AL is like you said.....to much likeness to them, they hold secrecy in a high regard and plan with it in mind BUT although they all try to adhere to an extremely similer look there are a few selects that have a difference in appearence.
> 
> Take for example the Effrit Stealth Squad led by "Omegon" all black armour with minor details of silver and gold but not only this the first and second companies aswell as the Lernaean termi cohort are slightly different with Sheed Ranko being almost the same size and stature as the primarch s themselves (thats one big termi)
> 
> Without doubt one of the hardest Legions to add so ndividuality too for various members of the Legion but OH SO WORTH IT if it can be done tastefully.
> id suggest maybe some first and second companyy squads Pech and Herzog leading the way and maybe the Effrit Stealth squad due to their differing colour scheme and defo the termis. Maybe some psykers and "operatives" (basic human cohorts) into the mix as they also seem to be very prominent in the AL war tactics.
> 
> As for the NH your getting stuck with keep it coming, that contemptor is off the hook and thats without paint.
> Id defo carry on with the way your going with them but maybe try to implement some sort fearful aura to them, they are after all suppossed to be the embodiment of death and fear (well at least Cruze was) do they suffer the same sort of hellish nightmare premonitions their Primarch does or is soley his living nightmare that he has to endure.
> 
> Anyway im rambling now so ill stop keep it up and look forward to seeing more.



Thank you for your kind works, even though it's shallow comments like that helps you push along and get things done.


About the Alpha Legion I still haven't quite finished reading Legion myself but I'm working on it (or through it is perhaps a better choice of words). When I get around to do a small contigency of Alpha Legion I'll dig as deep as I can and make it real good. Depending on where this years mystery release turns out to be (if it really is 28mm Inquisitor/Necromunda) I might start out with a small warband for that specifically and build on from there.


In either case I want to see the FW artwork and fluff pieces before I even start to plan the Alpha Legion pieces – I want them done right if I'm going to do them at all.


----


So... I had this awesome thread update planned for my birthday(08/08). As I was putting in the final words and was getting ready to post "the internet" (you know, the sentient being that rules us all?) decided it would have non of my blasphemy and so all my effort was for naught. A few seconds later I raged and a few seconds after that I decided just to celebrate my birthday and I had cake and all was well once more – till now that is.


Since the planned update was swallowed whole I feel obligated to produce an actual update and I do believe you'd all appreciate the one I had planned so this is my attempt to reproduce it once more. Be prepared for a long update with a lot of pictures and long blocks of text detailing the process and my thoughts concerning my Night Lord legion project. If your only purpose is to view pretty pictures there should be enough to sate your thirst for now. 


*Night Lords Legion Heavy Support with Autocannons*








These are actually some of the FW heavy weapons I've held on to for the longest without building any of the marines to actually use them on. From the first time I saw them there was love in the air, one might say. The thing was that there where some mould misalignment issues on some of the backpacks and ammo-feed belts which I wanted to fix. As with many other things I "plan" to fix things tend to drag on for a long time and before you know it they've been pushed into the very furthest recesses of the WIP-drawers (or shelves as it would be in my case).


Anyway, the plan is to build up the entire 10-man squad of them, all with Autocannons (obviously). The sergeant is based on the recon miniatures (which I've come to use for many of my squad leaders because I like the effect the cloak gives along with the minor changes you can do to these specific miniatures in order to make them different enough to work well even if repeated in the army) and still requires minor adjustments with GreenStuff on the cloak specifically.


I'm glad the flat/plain shoulder pads gave me the opportunity to add the legion number to them (the idea was born just when I had recently received the brass numbers and wanted to give them a try). It breaks up the surface nicely and ties into the "legion era" in a convincing way. I'll most likely continue with the practice on other miniatures if the space for the numbers are present.


As I started to plan out my army I planned on not using any Mark V or newer suits at all in the army. For some reason FW felt otherwise and mistakenly sent me a bag of Mk V marines instead of a Contemptor arm, I e-mailed them and they told me to keep the set and sent me a replacement contemptor arm aswell (You have to love their customer support!). Since I now had the miniatures I felt it would be a shame not to use them so here they are!


*Night Lords Tactical Support Squad with Meltaguns*








Another squad more or less born from the many (and badly) moulded Recon squad marine sets I recieved. Having so many cloaked marines to spare I decided to tweak around with them and did minor changes to poses and interactions with their arms. This sergeant has a lot of minor adjustments but most of them are hidden by the arms and the tiny Mk III groin plate I gave him as a sign of seniority. The other members are just strait forward FW marines (kit-bashed) with Company Champion (plastic kit) shoulder pads. Although those pads aren't exactly Heresy era kosher I like the bulkier look they give the miniatures and I do think they interact well with a unit that's supposed to be "up close" mingling with heavy tanks and the fire-power they bring to bear. 


Once the Night Lord specific sets are released I might add another 5 men to this unit to round them of and make them a "full" unit choice. If nothing else then for "completionists" sake (seeing as they are pretty hefty in the points department).


*Night Lords Tactical Support Squad with Plasmaguns*








Once again a squad leader emerged from the Recon marine set (useful kit that one). Another theme you might notice in these last two support squads is the presence of the Recon marine backpack on one member of each squad. I figured there would always be one member carrying a little extra batteries/ammo/fuel and similar items whereas the bulk of the squad would carry a more limited assortment of equipment. In my opinion it makes sense to carry a little extra with you in larger engagements since you never know what might happen and you might have your squad isolated – then again nothing in particular protects that squad member from being picked off first and getting all that extra bling ruined in the process but you can't be prepared for everything.


I must say that I like the crusade/heresy era plasma guns the best out of all the current special weapons available. They look so much more awesome than the plastic plasma guns and have an almost alien feeling to them which suits the technology. As you might notice one of the marines is holding his hand on top of the coils on the plasma guns – as if trying to get a feel for how hot his gun is (maybe it just overheated?) even though I would assume they'd get that information put into their visors/helmet/lenses it breaks up the monotony of the poses which is always welcome when you put your miniatures together.


As with the meltagun squadron these guys will most likely be recieving some reinforcements as time goes along and should reach 10-man strenght by that time.


*Night Lords Legion Tactical Squadron with Bolters *(10-man)








To compliment all the Mk IV units (support units) and Mk IV assault marine squads in the army I felt a Mk IV Tactical Squadron would be the perfect choice. This is probably the most straight forward unit in the army (apart from the Mk III tacticals slowly being painted). There are only minor adjustments to make them more unique, like using the arms from the Tank Crew set from FW (the Mk IV crew member holding a bolter) or the pieces spliced in from the Recon marine set (the adjusted sergeant, the backpacks, the helmets and such details sprinkled in to the mix). These guys are pretty much ready for painting apart from the antennas on the Nuncio-Vox caster and bits and bobs in their belts (grenades and pouches).


*Night Lords Legion Heavy Support Squadron with Missile Launchers*








One of the more recent WIPs are the Missile Launcher Devastators. I must say I like the look of these launchers a lot (and I like that the new HH whirlwind has launchers with a similar look). The launchers fit badly on the miniatures though and being somewhat of a perfectionist I find myself GreenStuffing a lot of padding to get a more realistic connection between the weapons and the shoulderpads. Not that much of a hassle compared to the minor mould alignment issues that have to be fixed as well. I considered repairing the messed up launcher I got (have about 10 in total) but as it turned out they are far from fixable without any major sculpting and I'll have to order another five to finish the squad (the five I have on the picture is the replacement set which where fairly good casts) once I have enough of a reason to put a FW order in (which, knowing myself will be sooner rather than later) and take them up to 10 marines.


Once again the squad leader is a modified Recon marine, this time with a heavily modified cloak using the "clay" trick in order to sculpt it seamlessly into the existing piece without it being a complete pain in the **** (thank you Warseer for that trick).


*Night Lords Legion Command Squadron in Power Armour *(with Standard Bearer) (Heavily WIP)








And it so happened that I ordered the World Eaters Ravager set even thought I had no particular use for most of the parts other than the weapons and the bodies. I had some kind of understanding with myself that I didn't want to use the Mk II armor – mostly since it has so many edges to paint which slows me down once I get to that stage of the hobby. But these guys just had far to many goodies to be passed by. The axes went to good use (more on that later) and I have some ideas for some of the chained weapons that might surface in this thread as we go along.


The bodies from the set was donated to a Power armoured command squad (because – why not?) and this is a rough mock-up of the squad as it stands right now. I've just done some minor repair work and started to progress on the standard-bearer. The wing is a leftover piece from another project and it's a place holder at the moment but it's groing on me so I might keep it, I do believe it fits in with the theme of the Legion.


Once I get some more casting done there will be a lot of winged mk II helmets in this squad. These guys are going to become quite pimped out as I go along (at least that's what I'm planning right now, things have been known to change drastically).


*Night Lords Legion Terminator Squad with Combi-Bolters and Powerfists *(magnetized)








First batch of the terminators. Spliced together from Cataphractii upper bodies and arms and Tartaros legs. There are still detailing left to do on the legs (I want edge details such as on the chestplates) on all the terminators in the army. All the arms are magnetized and they can therefore change weapons between pretty much all the possible configurations available).


Why mix the part from different kinds of terminators? It was actually an idea that started with my Praetor. You see I had the Minotaurs special characters and I had an extra set since there was some mould alignment issues with the first pair I got. With the spare parts I decided to play around a bit and put a Cataphractii torso on the chapter masters legs and the idea was born. I then decided that he would need a command squad (first just 3 miniatures) then I figured I might as well make it a full squad (5-man). Then I converted one of them into a consul so I decided to add some more which oddly took them up to 8-men + Praetor. By then I figured that if I bought just a few more I'd have a command squad and a normal terminator squadron... Now I have 12 of these in total – Praetor + Consul + Command squad (5-men) + Terminator squad (5-man). It's a slippery slope I tell you.


*Night Lords Legion Command Squad in Terminator armour *(with Standard Bearer + musician)(magnetized)








The Pimpinators to follow the Praetor into battle. Same formula as the other terminators but the legs are taken from the Deathshroud terminators instead. Many of you probably recognize the Standard bearer although in this picture he's pretty much unarmed (just fooling around with the magnetized arms really). There are some new members here with GreenStuffed details (did a quick copy of the Death Shroud groin plates to add to one of the miniatures for visual coherency in the squadron). 


*Night Lords Legion Consul Forge Lord in Terminator Armour *(Heavy WIP) (magnetized)








Now here's an experiment still in research and development. The ring on his shoulder pad is going to be the mounting for a servo-arm once I decide which one to use (or try once again to build one myself even though I failed miserably the first time). The shield is obviously lacking detailing. Right now the only thing being closed to done is the axe, but knowing myself well enough I'll probably find space to add some more details on it later on. The 3+ inv save will be represented by the storm shield visually, but in the rules it's a combination of a cyber-familiar and the Cataphractii armour. I might add a plastic crow from the Empire general set to the miniatures left shoulder pad anyway just to add more character... We'll see.


*Night Lords Legion Praetor in Terminator Armour with Paragon Blade *(magnetized)








Most of you have seen this guy. In this photo he's posing with a lightning claw and his paragon blade. Although I'd never give him both (don't even think you can) when playing him I think it adds a certain kind of oomph that suits a high-ranking commander. There are still some minor stuff to do on him when it comes to green stuff but that's mostly decorations in order to get the right legion look.


I think that's more than enough of an update for now. I do hope there was something to your liking and that you're all eager to see more as soon as possible. Don't be afraid to leave a comment with ideas and suggestions!

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Ddraig Cymry

Night Lords! Awesome  Great project log by the way, the wait is worth the updates.


----------



## Jacobite

Get woken up by ipad sliding of bed onto floor: "RAEG!"

Check Heresy to make sure it works, see Xeno's fecking huge update on my favourite pre Heresy legion Legion: "All is right with the world!"

Love the recon marines as sergeants. Really nice work on the Terminators, are you keeping the flamers on the few deathshroud arms you are using? Have you got plans for the cataphractii legs/tarataros bodies? Going down a kit bash route for them as well?


----------



## Arcticor

wow, xeno, that is some seriously impressive work you've got there. it's always amazing and totally worth the wait. can't wait for them to be painted (hint hint)


----------



## Kreuger

As always excellent work. You're log is always a source of creative inspiration, though at this point I rarely have any time to do miniatures work.

What is your process for basing these guys going to be? I see cork bits and some textured filler. Is that the Vallejo textured paints, another product, or your own mixture?


----------



## wolflordthor

Love the cloaks on the marines, but your terminators.... That praetor is breathtaking, you never fail to get awesome models done!


----------



## jaysen

You continue to amaze me with your blood angels successor chapter.


----------



## xenobiotic

Ddraig Cymry said:


> Night Lords! Awesome  Great project log by the way, the wait is worth the updates.


As long as there are updates every now and then I guess I can agree with that sentiment!



Jacobite said:


> Get woken up by ipad sliding of bed onto floor: "RAEG!"
> 
> Check Heresy to make sure it works, see Xeno's fecking huge update on my favourite pre Heresy legion Legion: "All is right with the world!"
> 
> Love the recon marines as sergeants. Really nice work on the Terminators, are you keeping the flamers on the few deathshroud arms you are using? Have you got plans for the cataphractii legs/tarataros bodies? Going down a kit bash route for them as well?


Glad to ease your pain there 

I bought most of the terminator pieces on a piece by piece basis, so I actually have no left over bits from the terminator kits. I don't think a kitbash between cataphractii legs and tartaros bodies will look that convincing to be honest - just my gut feeling though...



Arcticor said:


> wow, xeno, that is some seriously impressive work you've got there. it's always amazing and totally worth the wait. can't wait for them to be painted (hint hint)


Painting will resume in the later part of October. Painted pictures probably up somewhere around November as I start to get miniatures done. We'll see how well I manage to stick to that plan... 



Kreuger said:


> As always excellent work. You're log is always a source of creative inspiration, though at this point I rarely have any time to do miniatures work.
> 
> What is your process for basing these guys going to be? I see cork bits and some textured filler. Is that the Vallejo textured paints, another product, or your own mixture?


Basing process is pretty easy. I bought a giant piece of cork bark from a zoo shop (used for snake/lizzard environments I believed). I think I paid like 1,5£ for a piece that has lasted me for about 150x25mm bases, 16x40 mm bases and around 20x60 mm bases - and as a matter a fact I still have a huge chunk left!

Then I fill the gaps with a custom mix of texture paints from GW (since I had them from the mega paint set I bought) along with some vallejo primer (for colour adjustment), sand, coarse basing flock (for pebbles and rock) and finally PVA glue. Should be mixed to a paintable consistency and then just apply it with a scrap brush that you don't care about. It's basically home made Texture paint (you don't need to have GW texture paint in the mix, I just wanted to use mine up before I made something else). Before the stuff dries I put some watch gears in there or maybe even some resin skulls or helmets (whatever I feel like).

The plan is to paint the bases with a suitable earth tone and then add a similar pigment to dust up the legs of the marines.



wolflordthor said:


> Love the cloaks on the marines, but your terminators.... That praetor is breathtaking, you never fail to get awesome models done!


There has been a lot of work put into that preator, even more since those pictures where taken, I'm going to have to make a complete run through once he's complete - it's been a labour of love though, that much I can assure you!

There will also be some quirkiness with that "Forge-Lord" terminator, I recently got some parts from FW that I'm going to use on him, but I'm putting that off for now since I have so many other conversions running atm. 



jaysen said:


> You continue to amaze me with your blood angels successor chapter.


These aren't for my blood angel successors though...

----

Short update, a lot of minor projects moving along side by side these days, minor greenstuff adjustments and tweaks going on at the same time. I've been mostly bed ridden for the last week due to a hellish "man-cold", just got back to work today (probably a day or two to soon but can't be away from work more right now) and it has surely taken a toll on me. Figured I get something up not to lose my momentum completely.









First up is my third (yeah, I haven't shown you the second one yet) contemptor dreadnought, being transformed from the Death Guard one into a brutal warmachine for the VIII legion. I spent ages making that chainfist with retractable chains (think of it as drill heads that can be "detached" and used as wrecking balls if needed), still not 100% sure if I like it with the chains like that. I also don't know how the superglued chains will look once they get paint on them but they can't be that much worse than original plastic/resin chains from GW/FW kits so that should be ok.

Obviously still working on the detailing on this dreadnought but I'm getting somewhere with the skeleton. Right now I'm pondering what gruesome trophies to add to where, more skulls to come and probably a pelt and maybe even some human skins, we shall see. I have to let the entire concept sink in before I do something silly.









Next up is three of my 6 Rapier Laser Destroyer crew members. I didn't like them standing slaved to the Rapiers via a lever and a hard-wire so I figured I'd give them all remote control access to the buggers - therefore all 6 crew members have the Master of Signal wrist computers on them (some of them posed to actually use them, others with them closed doing other stuff). These are the crew members that are mostly done, the others are lacking shoulderpads (oddly enough I ran out of the mk III type, more are ordered though so I should have them soon).









Finally we have these two guys. They started out their careers as kneeling recon marines, but since I had two sets of them I wanted to try and do something different to shake the units up - simply put I decided to see if I could make them stand instead. So far so good I would say. I'm obviously going to need to resculpt huge parts of their cloaks but with my recently found method that should be doable. These guys will most likely be promoted to squad leaders for my final 2 support squads (flamers and volkites) but much could happen before those decisions need to be made.

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Jacobite

God that Dread is brutal! What have you done with those chains I'm not sure I quite understand? Have you thought about maybe an Ork skin or something like that?


----------



## xenobiotic

Jacobite said:


> God that Dread is brutal! What have you done with those chains I'm not sure I quite understand? Have you thought about maybe an Ork skin or something like that?


It's hobby chain (made for scale models for nautical themes) held into place with super sculpey while I painted super glue on it to make it firm. It usually works well but these chains are hanging in a very exposed placed so I'm afraid that they'll brake a lot...

----

So... I had a metaphorical aneurysm (as I often do when it comes to Warhammer). As most of you should be able to calculate I'm a hoarder (much like most of us are when it comes down to it). And I have a lot of miniatures I haven't painted or put into an army yet. Most of them are Space Marines. Today I got a delivery containing some of the new space marine kits along with the new codex and some other things. As I sat there eyeing through the codex and pondering about my Night Lords I figures that it would be nice to have an army I could put out at a more steady pace - with less conversions and more plastic (to use some of all the plastic miniatures I already have).

Then I thought about what I wanted to do and figured White Scars might be fun - the sad part about that is the fact that I have 3 bikes in my entire collection. Ah well, they aren't solely made out of bikes but still. So I decided to see what I could gather if I put my miniatures out on the table - and let's just say that this is just most of the plastic infantry and some of the spare vehicles I have:









I'm probably going to do some test miniatures with the airbrush tonight/tomorrow. If I can work out a quick scheme I'm probably going to paint these guys up as White Scars. It would be nice to make something out of all the plastics (specially the new kits - at least the parts from them that I won't be using for my Night Lords).

So... If all ends well you might see some White Marines pretty soon, no promises though... I also have some new Night Lords stuff to show you, soon...

Till next time! :bye:


----------



## xenobiotic

As mentioned before: a Night Lords update! Amidst the piles of plastic there is still time for resin crack (there is always time for resin crack) and more specifically tweaking of my Forge Lord Consul for the Legion Army. I knew I wanted him to have a servo-arm but was unsure about which one to use in order to make it fit on the miniature. The ones that are available right now for space marines are way to thick and clumpy for what I was after.

Then there's the Titan Tech Priest from Forge World... He has some pretty nice, although super slim and fragile, servo arms. Said and done, I ordered him and got the package a while ago. Since then I struggled with how to get the servo arm onto the terminator armour and then I struggled for a while to pin the entire thing to make it sturdier - cause this thing will break in transport otherwise. After a lot of cursing, repairing and what not I managed to put a 0.6 mm brass rod into the entire thing (well, two pieces of it) reinforcing it rather nicely if I may claim so myself (better than the alternative of not pinning it at least). The drilling process did break through the surface details a few times but I've repaired most of it and it's looking suitably convince:able that it's a custom modification to his armour. This solution was way better then the one I was thinking about first where the arm where attached to his shoulder pad instead. 








There are still things to do, mostly decorating the shield and decking him out with other "techmarine"-y details (some which I've yet to figure out even what they would be in a Night Lords case...). Anyway, progress has been made!

Hope you like him :bye:


----------



## Jacobite

Another army? You are worse than me! Forge Lord is looking good. I'm interested to see what you will do with that shield.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Awesome work as usual. Did you make the haft for the chain axe yourself, or is it from an independent trader? Makes the axe look much better.


----------



## Asamodai

Traitor Legions don't normally do it for me but I'm really liking the conversion work you've done on these. Looking forward to seeing some colour.


----------



## Kreuger

The overall effect of the forge lord is pretty good, but I think the servo-arm is too spindly for the rest of the model.

It looks like it might break off if he isn't careful walking through a doorway.


----------



## Varakir

It's been a fair while since i've perused this thread, had to split it up into 2 days to get through what i've missed!

Simply stunning work as always, this has to be the best project log going. I've alwasy had a thing for white scars so I can't wait to see the next update :victory:


----------



## Lucarikx

Awesome work as ever! I've been following this thread since the very beginning, so I finally decided it was time to stop being a lurker 

Will we ever see the return of the Brethren of the Phoenix? I'll always remember them as the main inspiration for my BA army :grin:

Can't wait to see more!

Lucarikx


----------



## xenobiotic

Didn't want to much time to pass between updates so here's a quick one to keep the plog going.



Jacobite said:


> Another army? You are worse than me! Forge Lord is looking good. I'm interested to see what you will do with that shield.


Yeh, and that's just 40k, you know...? Watch this space I guess  We'll see how long it takes before I run into hobby fatigue... The Forge Lord is not a priority at the moment. Working on some other conversions right now (White Scars mostly) along with planning for the third project...



Khorne's Fist said:


> Awesome work as usual. Did you make the haft for the chain axe yourself, or is it from an independent trader? Makes the axe look much better.


Indeed I did. It's brass rod cut and sectioned like that. It was fiddly but worth it in the long run. The haft itself is almost indestructible now though which is good, but I don't know how stable the construction is at the top (specially the connection to the little blade) though but it feels rigid enough. It was mostly out of necessity simply because the axe had a HUGE mould misalignment destroying the haft.



Asamodai said:


> Traitor Legions don't normally do it for me but I'm really liking the conversion work you've done on these. Looking forward to seeing some colour.


These aren't fully traitors yet (or are they?). Might take on this particular "company" that I'm building is that they are mostly Terran Marines still and that they are somewhat agnostic in their approach - doing the bidding of their Primarch but having a mind of their own (at least the Praetor and his closest advisors). I would imagine that they broke off after the heresy and pursued matters of their own making rather than trying to uphold some heresy or terror ideal. Scavengers. Seekers. Predatory Survivors. Now I'm just rambling.

Maybe you'll like my Mk 6 heavy White Scars better? 



Kreuger said:


> The overall effect of the forge lord is pretty good, but I think the servo-arm is too spindly for the rest of the model.
> 
> It looks like it might break off if he isn't careful walking through a doorway.


I like the spindly look. I would imagine the arm would move out of the way should it be close to hitting a doorway, I would also imagine that the doorway would be the one getting boo-boo in that confrontation but what do I know?

What I'm debating right now is actually adding another arm on the other side of the miniature, two of those spindly arms might make more sense in a practical manner, no?



Varakir said:


> It's been a fair while since i've perused this thread, had to split it up into 2 days to get through what i've missed!
> 
> Simply stunning work as always, this has to be the best project log going. I've alwasy had a thing for white scars so I can't wait to see the next update :victory:


And I haven't even posted that often lately so you've been a lazy boy indeed - but I forgive you!

I hope I won't disappoint you with my take on the Scars. As soon as I get some FW bikers I hope I'll be able to show them in their truest form!



Lucarikx said:


> Awesome work as ever! I've been following this thread since the very beginning, so I finally decided it was time to stop being a lurker
> 
> Will we ever see the return of the Brethren of the Phoenix? I'll always remember them as the main inspiration for my BA army :grin:
> 
> Can't wait to see more!
> 
> Lucarikx


Sadly the Brethren are on an indefinite hiatus for the time being. I'm keeping all the miniatures though so there is a possibility that I could return to them some day but don't count on it being any time soon. Still, thanks for the support and I hope you'll stay with the thread anyway! 

----

Update on the White Scars test miniature. The process has been long for a the initial testing but the actual steps are fairly easy to follow. What I did find out is that the old Vanguard Veterans are just smack full of details, in fact so many of them that it becomes annoying. The good thing about that is that you can remove some of them without ruining the miniature and in a way that gives you options you didn't have otherwise. The downside would be that you can't place some of the extra bling yourself (unless you sculpt it, which isn't a thing most are comfortable with due to the scale of the details). Anyway. I want these guys to be rough, mid-battle, mid-campaign. I'm thinking Siege of Terra. I'm thinking post heresy gritty battles. I want to include as much mark 6 as I can possibly muster (and some of the older marks) as if they had time to resupply just before being called into the final battle. I have no clue if White Scars actually did have any particular access to Mark 6 during the end of the Heresy but I don't care - I just need an excuse to make these miniatures - use up a bunch of plastic miniatures that I already have and get a decent Codex Space Marines army going while still being able to use them as an adversary to my Heresy Era Night Lords (I have a friend that enjoys playing marines but doesn't feel like building an army of her own of them so she can use one of them while I use the other and if we switch things should even out as we play and discuss what to add to each army at what time).

I like how the White armour came it. It's a fairly easy process. Next step would be to add more red detailing (ie more tribal markings (this miniature has some but it doesn't show on this picture). I think it would be smart to add those directly after the white armour is done. Just use some masking tape and spray them on with the airbrush then continue with the weathering to tie everything in.









More to come on this particular miniature once I finish his jump pack. There is also more strange things on the horizon. This plog will branch out in many different directions as time goes on. So I hope you're not only here for space marines (that is all I can say for now)!

Till next time :bye:


----------



## Arcticor

Xeno.....that powersword, oh my god. Everything is beautiful but that sword is just like..... wow. Any chance you could tell us how you did it? 
-Arcticor


----------



## Kreuger

Dear Mr. Biotic,
I would agree. 2 spindly arms for the price of one makes sense. I'm not sure it will change how the scale looks to me, that they look too slender for marines. 

But 2 arms definitely makes sense, and would aid his work.


----------



## xenobiotic

Arcticor said:


> Xeno.....that powersword, oh my god. Everything is beautiful but that sword is just like..... wow. Any chance you could tell us how you did it? -Arcticor


It's a version of the lightning claw effect illustrated in the 'Eavy metal Masterclass book'. It's fairly easy to do as long as you have patience and you're willing to mix paints.

Goes something like this:

Black Primer
Thinned-down Regal blue (or similar colour in new range) in a haphazard fashion.
Paint subtle lines with Hawk Turquoise along the blade, trying to keep within the blue of the previous layer (but not a must).
Mix 3:1 Hawk Turquoise and Bleached Bone and paint on top of the previous lines (but thinner lines this time). Then apply a glaze of this mix over the blade - along the edges (kind of like a highlight but with a thin gradient of colour covering the edge of the blade).
Mix 1:1 of the previous colours and repeat the process (thin lines + glaze).
Mix 3:1 Bleached Bone and Hawk Turquoise and repeat the process (even thinner lines + glaze).
Use Skull White (or White Scars) to do edge highlight on the blade, you can also add this to the forks and splitting points of the lightning pattern on the blade to make it pop even more.


If you want you can also do layers of either blue, purple, black or green washes/glazes over the effect and make a subtle shift in colour to differentiate different power weapons.

Helps to have thinned paints, a good brush (Winsor & Newton Series 7 size 00 or even 000 is what I used for this) along with a steady hand and good lighting (daylight bulbs).



Kreuger said:


> Dear Mr. Biotic, I would agree. 2 spindly arms for the price of one makes sense. I'm not sure it will change how the scale looks to me, that they look too slender for marines. But 2 arms definitely makes sense, and would aid his work.


I will add this to my list of things to do, which is now so long that I cannot even see the end of it anymore...  Damned addiction...

----

FORWARD!

There has been no lack of hobby related happenings the last few weeks but there has been a substantial lack of updates. There is no reason in particular for this, I have just not been motivated to type out my thoughts and get things up on the forum. For two weeks or so I didn't even want to pick the camera up because I wasn't up to the editing process and after that work got bat-shit-crazy and I suddenly had no time to do it should I have wanted to. 

As I mentioned there are lot of things on the desk at the moment - to mention a few of them but not all:

Dark Angel Ravenwing Techmarine conversion (for a friend - building the legs for the bike).
Magnetizing and prettying up a Flyrant, maybe building the base as well (for another friend)
Building/Converting a Vanguard Veteran Squad for the White Scars
Building/Converting a Tactical Squad for the White Scars
Building/Converting a Khan/Chapter Master on Bike for the White Scars
Building/Converting a Bike Squad for the White Scars (Mk IV outriders)
Building/Converting a Secret Project for the White Scars (more on that later)
Getting the new FW shoulders mounted on my built Night Lords units
Getting some Warhammer Fantasy Infantry Built (more on that later)
Getting a wicked Warhammer Fantasy Forgeworld monster built and converted onto a custom built base.

As you might imagine I need to cross some of this stuff of the list and believe me, I am trying. I just find myself blocked by all manner of minor obstacles and I keep shifting between them. This is partly the reason for the lack of updates lately - each project is interesting but there isn't enough project (in a unique enough manner) that I find it worthy of a post in this thread.

ONWARDS!










Finally finished! The first miniature for my "Siege of Terra"-era White Scars Brotherhood. Granted this one has fewer tribal markings than he should but there are some that sadly doesn't show up well in these pictures. 

That's definitely one of the more prominent things I will need to consider on the coming miniatures and be more aggressive about as well (more markings and a good variation of them within the Brotherhood - I need a theme). I'm decently satisfied with the white armour right now, it borders on the "too dark" spectrum but it works with the weathering I believe. Most importantly it doesn't look like a big blob of white goo which I was afraid of when I started the project.

I've tried a couple of ways of painting white before, some of them are in this very thread at the very beginning. All of them where before I had an airbrush and as you will see they are brighter than what I have achieved here. The thing is though that I figured I wanted these White Scars to be battle damaged and pretty rough looking (mid-conflict / mid-transit between conflicts) so that any non-critical damage wouldn't have been repaired fully. Priority instead being given to rapid redeployment.

Also, with the weathering techniques I use you need to be able to highlight the damage to make it pop. So that's what I went in with in the back of my mind when I started this process. Admittedly I am not 100% confident that this is a bright enough colour combination to be perceived as a true white - all I can say is that I have the utmost respect for those that can pull white of on miniatures without it looking wonky.

The layers that I used on this miniature are as follows (as much for your pleasure as for my sieve like memory):

Black primer (airbrush) 
Celestra Grey undercoat (airbrush) covering most of the black undercoat but not completely on all areas. Leaving it at a semi-see through state on the bottom most parts of the miniature (if the light hit from above) for shadow.
Ulthuan Grey (airbrush) from a slight angle, making sure to let the airbrush cast the highlight and the shadow interaction for me (as is standard with zenithal highlighting with an airbrush).
White Scars (airbrush) with VERY controlled burst adding VERY thin layers to the topmost parts of the miniature, slowly building up the brightness in the layer. Make sure that it's see-through and not a complete "block" of white colour on top of the other ones since that will ruin the final steps of the process.
With a piece of foam I add weathering effects with a couple of colours (a grey/black mix I have made myself and use regularly, along with chardonite grey and similar colours - depends on what you fancy really).
Gloss Varnish (airbrush)
Light Brown Oil wash (brush) into the recesses and across some of the larger areas. And as it dries I go over it with cotton buds to remove any excess and move the pigments around with that and a brush to create interesting weathering effects.
White Oil Colour (brush) in tiny amounts with a brush I go into the armour and add colour variations by working in the oil colour methodically. This gives a slight variation of hue in some areas and makes the armour look more alive. Usually works better on larger miniatures but I like the effect on the mk VI armour (since it has flat shoulderpads and larger greaves mostly).
Matt Varnish
White Scar extreme highlights (brush) are added where needed (to accentuate some edges and to give more depth to the weathering.


And that's about it for the white armour. I get the red pieces done within this process also but you asked specifically about the white armour so I left some pieces out of the entire process.

And while on the subject of white armour. Here's a hint of my own progress within the hobby. A Death Company Marine from my Brethren of the Phoenix which I painted back in 2010 (right at the beginning of this project log) next to the White Scar marine painted in just now. It's good to see that I've made progress and picked up a trick or two along the way:









There will be more White Scars as this thread progresses. Most of them in Mk IV and Mk VI armour (mix between the new plastic kits and the Forgeworld kits) to create a late Heresy Era feel. I'm thinking about a veteran brotherhood fighting back from the brink of destruction and then coming to prove their mettle at the Siege of Terra once more. Still considering a name for the Brotherhood and some of their own iconography. I also have some ideas of what to include in the army for fluff reasons and for playing reasons (both 30k and 40k). I'm leaning towards a Snow Leopards and Hawk theme but I'm still drawing blanks about the actual name of the Brotherhood. 

Anyway, there will also be more Night Lords to come, building and converting things for them as we speak. 

Finally we have the Warhammer Fantasy Project that just got kicked into life. It's actually more of a fantasy + 40k cross-over hybrid. Only a few things built and planned for this right now.

Would you prefer more frequent updates with varied content and maybe more minor progress reports or do you prefer it to remain a more semi-frequent plog with mostly finished conversions and painted miniatures? I could go either way and I'd like my readers to be... Happy. Share your thoughts.

Till next time :bye:!


----------



## wolflordthor

Xeno, 
As always you know how to impress your readers, and despite the fact that I dont like White Scars, you let them look nice! I hope that all the work you have to put up wont demotivate you, you are an amazing artist and I think I can speak for all of your readers that we are thankful for you sharing your impressive work with us! GREAT WORK!


----------



## xenobiotic

wolflordthor said:


> Xeno,
> As always you know how to impress your readers, and despite the fact that I dont like White Scars, you let them look nice! I hope that all the work you have to put up wont demotivate you, you are an amazing artist and I think I can speak for all of your readers that we are thankful for you sharing your impressive work with us! GREAT WORK!


Thank you, Wolflordthor, for you continuing support and kind words, keeps me motivated. I got some work done today even after a shitty day at work. Trying to keep my focus on the things I've promised to help my friends with since I tend to push that in front of me otherwise. The techmarine is starting to get somewhere but there's a lot of layers on his armour so hardening time is a major factor.

In between other updates I just wanted to toss this one in there since Google was nice enough to automate it for me and I found it kind of funny:









Till next time :bye:


----------



## Vaz

These are outstanding as ever; your Power Swords are unmatched, honestly.

Makes me wish I still was involved with the hobby more than netlisting these days, despite having the finger sensitivity and hand control of an ADHD Gorilla spaced out on a 3 day diet of Red Bell, Gin and Snickers.

I do have Heresy book 2; however, I you need help regarding the NL in that era, just give me a shout.


----------



## Varakir

xenobiotic said:


> Would you prefer more frequent updates with varied content and maybe more minor progress reports or do you prefer it to remain a more semi-frequent plog with mostly finished conversions and painted miniatures? I could go either way and I'd like my readers to be... Happy. Share your thoughts.


My personal preference would be if you came to my house and showed me your finished work, then helped me paint my army :wink:

I think you should continue with your sporadic updates of finished stuff and big wall of text, it's like opening a present when i see you've updated your plog and i know there will always be great stuff in there :victory:

White scar test piece is looking fantastic and can't wait to see more.


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## zxyogi

OH so very very VERY nicely done!!!


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## Zodd

It seems that You have added Unparalled Swordmanship to Your long list of achivements !

Nice job Xeno :victory:


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## Ddraig Cymry

That powersword looks fantastic!


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## Hellados

Xeno I've been following you for what must be years! Still love it! Keep it up! )


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## wolflordthor

Love the Powersword, on the turning photo we can see it in its full brilliance, and the lightning effect does not look overloaded as many people tend to do it, but more a realistic style, something that I really love!!!


----------



## CLT40k

Xeno, you know everytime I think I've learned something about painting I just go to your plog and I'm humbled... absolutly beautiful work.


----------



## xenobiotic

Vaz said:


> These are outstanding as ever; your Power Swords are unmatched, honestly.
> 
> Makes me wish I still was involved with the hobby more than netlisting these days, despite having the finger sensitivity and hand control of an ADHD Gorilla spaced out on a 3 day diet of Red Bell, Gin and Snickers.
> 
> I do have Heresy book 2; however, I you need help regarding the NL in that era, just give me a shout.


I would be more proud of the swords if it wasn't a stolen technique  but kind words nonetheless.

In all fairness this is pretty much all my involvement in the hobby - I build and I paint. I wish I was focused enough to get the other aspects done but playing just doesn't drag me in that much at all. At least I listen to the Horus Heresy audiobooks on the commute to work 

I also have the Horus Heresy Massacre book and I've been soaking up what information there is in that. I've also recently ordered Lord of the Night from print on demand and shall be reading it over the holidays (hopefully), to gain yet another perspective. All in all I'm slowly building up the fluff basis on where I want this army to stand and it's starting to make some kind of sense.



Varakir said:


> My personal preference would be if you came to my house and showed me your finished work, then helped me paint my army :wink:
> 
> I think you should continue with your sporadic updates of finished stuff and big wall of text, it's like opening a present when i see you've updated your plog and i know there will always be great stuff in there :victory:
> 
> White scar test piece is looking fantastic and can't wait to see more.


I shall arrive in my chariot to fulfil your wish! I can be your Christmas miracle!

Well, if you prefer it that way I might just continue on that path. Sporadic updates tends to be pushed in front of me since they are a bigger hassle to make (because of the wall of texts they desire to have). Worst case scenario the wait becomes longer, but in all fairness even the sporadic updates would be more frequent if I could just get things completed fully - but I push things along and I digress...

I'm glad you like the White Scar. I've been meaning to build more of them but I got stuck somewhere in "have to make some moulds for a few parts that I need huge amounts of"-land. It will happen as soon as it's reasonable, I want a counterpoint for my Night Scars (so I can pit them against each other when me and my friend continues to learn the rules).



zxyogi said:


> OH so very very VERY nicely done!!!


Thank you, kind sir!



Zodd said:


> It seems that You have added Unparalled Swordmanship to Your long list of achivements !
> 
> Nice job Xeno :victory:


It's not that long, most of them are somewhat strange as well so not sure if I want to brag with them 
Also, shouldn't it be unparalleled sword paintingship?



Ddraig Cymry said:


> That powersword looks fantastic!


Glad you like it!



Hellados said:


> Xeno I've been following you for what must be years! Still love it! Keep it up! )


It has been years now! The madness never ends! I do enjoy all the continuing support though 



wolflordthor said:


> Love the Powersword, on the turning photo we can see it in its full brilliance, and the lightning effect does not look overloaded as many people tend to do it, but more a realistic style, something that I really love!!!


I'm very pleased with the end result, it's one of my favourite weapon effects (I've done it in a darker version on my Brethren of the Phoenix librarians force weapons), soothing but brooding with power. Maybe the only thing that would make them pop slightly more would be if I did make a tiny glow effect on them (on the surrounding pieces of the miniature) but it would have to be way more subtle then ordinary because I imagine these weapons have faint glow when only activated and glows brighter once they bite into something.



CLT40k said:


> Xeno, you know everytime I think I've learned something about painting I just go to your plog and I'm humbled... absolutely beautiful work.


And I am humbled by your words. Still a lot left for me to learn though  

----

A month as flown by since last update and I'll be damned if I let more time then that pass between updates no matter what I've been up to and able to achieve. So here we go, a look at what's been on the desk lately with the patented and copyrighted ramblings of mister Xeno to go along nicely with the pretty pictures that you've all been waiting for!

First up - I have been painting something from my Night Lords legion! Sadly it isn't done yet but it's still a huge step for me since the Contemptors talon is something I've been pushing in front of me for the longest time since I had done so much conversion work to them I didn't know when to stop. Now I've finally decided to go headlong into the painting process on the first one and the airbrush layers have been finished. Right now I'm slowly trucking along with the edge highlights and even though there are a lot of edges left to do the miniature is transforming quite a lot from it's previous resin state and I remember once more why painted miniatures are so much better:









I've also been building and converting (quite a lot actually). In an effort to work towards a playable army (one centred around a Pride of the Legion Praetor with multiple Veteran Tactical Squads to do most of the fighting). Because of this I need some "strong" miniatures for both the Command Squad and to act as Veterans and in particular veteran sergeants in the squads. A few pimped out marines mixed in with the more regular looking ones should do the trick nicely and still allow for some miniatures to be interchangeable between different units as this army continues to grow.

Some of you might recognize the base miniature for this particular conversion from previous posts a couple of pages back. It's one of the rebuilt/converted kneeling recon marines. I had a lot of thought about his pose and in the end I wanted him to hold some kind of weapon that would put emphasis on it. I debated different special weapons and did some test fits until I finally got this (very unpractical) idea about a spear. I don't know what it'll be in game (probably a power sword or a nostraman chain glaive) but it looks nice. He has swiftly become my favourite miniature in the entire army:









And here's where the Command Squad strands at the moment:








As you can see (if you know your bits) the Spear tip (Lance tip more correctly) isn't the only thing I took from the Vampire riding the Zombie Dragon. The Sword hand with the "flesh" glove is also from that kit. Seeing the new Forge World raptor kit I figured a gloved hand would be a nod to them and the legions more gruesome practises. 

Still a lot of conversions to complete and mould-lines to fix (sadly). Working on some ideas about a Night Lord Breacher squad, might have to do that after Christmas...

Ave Dominus Nox. :bye:


----------



## Ddraig Cymry

Did you hear that? Because the scream of joy I just emitted should have been powerful enough to be heard not only in Sweden but also somehow in the vacuum of space.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Loving that command squad. One of the most characterful units I've ever seen. The banner is genius. Consider the idea robbed when I eventually get around to starting my NL army.


----------



## Jacobite

Night Lords Breacher Squad? Oh giggidy. That command squad looks brutal, nice use of Enkomi's head, it's one of the best heads I think FW has ever produced. That Dread is coming along swimmingly as well. Always love to see your updates.


----------



## wolflordthor

That squad. 
You sir, (AS ALWAYS!!!) created a masterpiece. Those night lords look terrifying and yet they have the Legiones Astartes look, you found the exact balance between conversion and "original" form. Maybe you can decorate some of them with cut-off hands/heads/whichever body parts would suit the models. However, thats some kind of personal impression of the Night Lords that got stuck in my head while reading the Horus Heresy novels.... To keep it short, this squad is awesome, GW should hire you, then everybody is happy! :good:


----------



## NostromanNeckTie

It's nice to see so many Night Lords armies on this site and that Contemptor is fantastic! The model with the big lance is awesome too, did you think about using him as Sevatar? he definitely fits the bill. Keep it up man.
Ave Dominus Nox!


----------



## LokiDeathclaw

First time looking through your log! (well the last few!) The NL models, especially the contemptor are incredible i wish i could convert like that. Can't wait to see them painted!


----------



## Varakir

xenobiotic said:


> I shall arrive in my chariot to fulfil your wish! I can be your Christmas miracle!


Glad to hear it mate - i'm already quite far behind on my painting and I think Santa might have some shiny new tanks en route to my stocking :victory:


Loving the contemptor, and that squad is beautiful. Sometimes NL look a little comical with their winged helmets but these guys are oozing dread and malice. Fantastic work as always


----------



## xenobiotic

Ddraig Cymry said:


> Did you hear that? Because the scream of joy I just emitted should have been powerful enough to be heard not only in Sweden but also somehow in the vacuum of space.


I did not, although we did have a lot of storms and strong winds lately so maybe that has something to do with it. And I have no contacts in outer space so I cannot confirm nor deny that statement, sir.



Khorne's Fist said:


> Loving that command squad. One of the most characterful units I've ever seen. The banner is genius. Consider the idea robbed when I eventually get around to starting my NL army.


Do it, creative ideas in this hobby are made to be stolen and used to spread the love around. 



Jacobite said:


> Night Lords Breacher Squad? Oh giggidy. That command squad looks brutal, nice use of Enkomi's head, it's one of the best heads I think FW has ever produced. That Dread is coming along swimmingly as well. Always love to see your updates.


And I love to have you around in my thread pushing me along!

Yes, Night Lord Breachers. Would be an atypical unit to have in the army (fluff-wise) but I'm not one to be fully bound by the rules or traditions displayed in front of me. I find units and behaviours breaking the norm interesting while still keeping within the traditional aspects for details. Breachers give a lot of space to play around with and adorn which is why the idea stuck in my head. I would probably not use them as a breacher squad though, rather just use them as unit decorations (10-men total and using them as the 5 men in the front of a squad of 5 to 15 normal legion tactical marines each) to add some flavour. Conceptually I love the Breachers in every way though. Right now I'm mostly throwing ideas around in my head to make the army playable in both 30 and 40k (as C:SM in that case), more units that you can use as tactical marines are always usefull I guess.

Then again I'm reluctant to add more units to the pile seeing as I just now finished the first 10 man squad, a year or so after I started it. Adding another 30 marines to the list of things to do for this particular army doesn't help with the speed much... Them good ideas are so tempting and many though, and I have some cash "free for use"...



wolflordthor said:


> That squad.
> You sir, (AS ALWAYS!!!) created a masterpiece. Those night lords look terrifying and yet they have the Legiones Astartes look, you found the exact balance between conversion and "original" form. Maybe you can decorate some of them with cut-off hands/heads/whichever body parts would suit the models. However, thats some kind of personal impression of the Night Lords that got stuck in my head while reading the Horus Heresy novels.... To keep it short, this squad is awesome, GW should hire you, then everybody is happy! :good:


I'm not fully done with them just yet. I have some more ideas I want to explore. Right now I'm thinking about adding more spears to the squad and making that "my thing" for this particular army visually. Some opponents might be reluctant to let me use them as anything other than power spear/lances which doesn't really interest me that much, but visually I find them really attractive and fitting for some reason...

I have some body parts stacked up but haven't added them to any particular unit just yet. I'm also slowly getting more usefull gruesome decorations from ebay and other sources so I have pieces available should I ever need them as I go ahead.



NostromanNeckTie said:


> It's nice to see so many Night Lords armies on this site and that Contemptor is fantastic! The model with the big lance is awesome too, did you think about using him as Sevatar? he definitely fits the bill. Keep it up man.
> Ave Dominus Nox!


I'm glad that you like them. I had not thought about using him as Sevatar, but now that you mention it he might actually fit the bill. I always found it odd that Sevatar didn't have an artificier armour but in this case that could be a good thing.



LokiDeathclaw said:


> First time looking through your log! (well the last few!) The NL models, especially the contemptor are incredible i wish i could convert like that. Can't wait to see them painted!


Thank you for your kind words! This Contemptor is the first one I've ever converted. The process was actually pretty standard and easy to follow. Sculpting the wing was my first attempt at anything like that and it came out very well. Using clay shapers for the sculpting and having reference photos helped a lot. It's mostly a matter of patience (and not putting your finger on top of what you just did...)



Varakir said:


> Glad to hear it mate - i'm already quite far behind on my painting and I think Santa might have some shiny new tanks en route to my stocking :victory:
> 
> Loving the contemptor, and that squad is beautiful. Sometimes NL look a little comical with their winged helmets but these guys are oozing dread and malice. Fantastic work as always


My personal Santa was very nice to me as well, although he didn't bring me tanks – instead he brought me evil elves...

I think you have to achieve some kind of balance between the size and scope of the wings and the rest of the miniature. Many of the GW kits have had waaay to large helmet wings which fit in a cinematic setting (and the artwork) but it's just wonky on the miniatures. Using smaller wings and tweaking them a little proved helpful. I'm still holding out for some official helmets from FW, I've seen them but they might just be personal projects or prototypes so no telling if and when they'll get released. Anyway they won't stop me from making my own no matter what.

----

All right friends. I've been pushing this update in front of me for a while now because I couldn't find the time to actually transfer my thoughts into words. I've been working quite a lot lately and I've found that if I had any strength left in the evening I'd rather spend it painting than typing out long and complicated rants over here. This has in turn built up kind of a backlog in content for the project log which has in turn made it even harder for me to actually finish typing out the update – I believe you call that a vicious circle?

I have now completed the first Legion Tactical squad for my Night Lords Army (the final marine being number 5 in the pictures below for those interested). These are all in Mk III armour and the ONLY thing they are lacking right now are legion markings on their shoulder pads because the Mk III variant wasn't released when I started these and I didn't want to paint them on myself. So once I do get around to order more stuff from forgeworld (ie soon) those pieces will be added to the purchase and I will update this squad and change the left shoulder pads for the "right" kind because I want as many miniatures as possible in this army to have sculpted legion markings. Apart from this fact the unit is completed. As you can see I've also been using these "unit trays" originally made for LotR units (although the ones I have are mdf pieces brought from eBay) which helps me organize my miniatures in my cabinet – I decided to paint the tray up in the same basing scheme to complete the look for the squad:









For those interested in how I paint my Night Lord legionnaires I have compiled this list of colours and steps for you leisure:



Airbrush: Black Primer
Airbrush: *Optional (if you want weathering layer to be different from the primer): Dark Grey or a dark Metallic Colour (I use Adeptus Battlegrey : Chaos Black 1:1 – New Colours: Mechanicus Standard Grey : Abaddon Black 1:1)
Airbrush: *Optional (for weathering techniques) Hairspray layer
Airbrush: Armour - Basecoat Mordian Blue : Chaos Black 1:1 (New Colours: Macragge Blue : Abaddon Black 1:1)
Airbrush: Armour - First Highlight Mordian Blue (New Colours: Macragge Blue)
Airbrush: Armour - Second Highlight Mordian Blue : Astronomican grey 3:1 (New Colours: Macragge Blue : Celestra Grey 3:1)
Brush: Armour - Edge Highlight Ice Blue (New Colours: Lothern Blue)
Brush: Armour - Wash with Asurmen Blue (New Colours: Drakenhof Nightshade)
Brush: Armour - Add details (Lightning Pattern / Legion Markings and such) - this can also be done later (at rehighlight step). Lightnings are done with Ice Blue (New Colours: Lothern Blue) and some of them are then thinly highlighted with Skull White (New Colours: White Scar).
Scratch away layers by softening them with water and then scrape a toothpick or similar tool against them - take care and be carefull, be sure to let the water soak through before you scratch. The layer at stage 2 should be what you're scratching forth.
Brush: Highlight the scratches with Ice Blue (New Colours: Lothern Blue)
Brush: Paint Bronze details Brazen Brass (New Colours: Balthasar Gold – this colour is a breeze to work with, waaay easier than Brazen Brass ever was, I can't recommend it enough)
Brush: Wash Bronze with Leviathan Purple (New Colours: Druchii Violet)
Brush: Highlight Bronze with Chainmail or Mithril Silver (New Colours: Ironbreaker or Runefang Steel)
Brush: *Optional: Add verdigris/patina by mixing Hawk Turquoise (New Colour: Sotek Green) with Faded Green weathering powder and water and glaze solution (about a ratio of 1:1:1:1) and wash the recesses around the bolts on the shoulder pads with that. - Optional solution would be the new weathering product Nihilakh Oxide.
Brush: Paint Lenses as you wish (on mk III armour I don't paint them)
Brush: Paint cables/hoses with Adeptus Battlegrey : Chaos Black 1:1 ( New Colours: Mechanicus Standard Grey : Abaddon Black 1:1)
Brush: Wash cables/hoses with Badab Black (New Colours: Nuln Oil)
Brush: Paint stripes on hoses with Iyaden Darksun (New Colours: Averland Sunset)
Brush: Highlight stripes with Sunburst Yellow (New Colours: Flash Gitz Yellow)
Brush: Wash cables/hoses with Ogryn Flesh (New Colours: Reikland Fleshshade)
Brush: Paint Bolter Metallics with Boltgun Metal (New Colours: Leadbelcher)
Brush: Paint Bolter casing with Adeptus Battlegrey : Chaos Black 1:1 ( New Colours: Mechanicus Standard Grey : Abaddon Black 1:1)
Brush: Highlight Bolter casing with Fortress Grey (New Colours: Administratum Grey)
Brush: Wash Bolter with Badab Black (New Colours: Nuln Oil)
Brush: Highlight Metallics with Chainmail (New Colours: Ironbreaker)
Brush: Rehighlight any colours that need so, add more lightning patterns, add squad markings and other details as you wish.
Airbrush: Varnish to seal the armour (1-2 thin layers of matt varnish).
Do the bases (I use a lot of pigments here so that's why I varnish the miniatures first). Add pigments as needed, fixate them with whatever you prefer to fix them with (I use isopropanol). I also add any other ”final” touches to the bases at this step after pigments are done (dead grass and such products). The pigments I use are as follows:
FW Dark Earth
FW Aged Rust
FW Orange Rust
FW Light Rust
Seal with matt varnish

Airbrush: Seal the miniature (I do 1-2 thin layers with matt varnish, then 1 layer satin varnish and if there's anything that needs gloss I paint that on afterwards as needed).


I've been considering expanding the fluff for this army and I have some general ideas and pointers that I will explore as I get along. I tend to come up with snippets on my commute to work and I quickly write them down on a notepad and I have a few paragraphs now but I want to save them for more significant miniatures before I expand on it in actual publicly viewable writing.

For now I would like some name suggestions for these legionnaires pictured below, the quest is to replace all the "???" with acual names. Feel free to type any that comes to mind with motivations for your choices if you have any. What I'm looking for is suitable first names along with nicknames, as an example: Orn the Craven could have been a legionnaire mocked by his fellows for some accident or bout of unlucky circumstances, now fighting to regain some degree of respect to end the ceaseless "teasing" from his brethren (or just silently plotting to end them all whence opportunity arises). If you have more suggestions than one feel free to type them all out because there are many legionnaires coming as we go along...

1. Legionnaire ???









2. Legionnaire & Honoured Vexilla Bearer ???









3. Legionnaire Sergeant ??? with Plasma Pistol and Powersword









4. Legionnaire & Nuncio vox-caster ???









5. Legionnaire ???









6. Legionnaire ???









7. Legionnaire ???









8. Legionnaire ??? with optics









9. Legionnaire ???









10. Legionnaire ???









Apart from the Night Lord Legionnaires I got these presents from Santa this year!








Those of you that' doesn't know my history with warhammer probably don't know why I have a weak spot for Dark Elves so I'll give you a short recap. Back whence Xeno was but a wee lill' boy (i.e. never ever since I'm a giant) my brother got himself some High Elves along with their army book. Being utterly inspired by the hobby (having built a few model airplanes at the time and enjoyed the sniffing of glue and making the motor sounds as I travelled around in our house with my imagination on the plastic buggers) I also wanted to do High Elves (because I guess that's the way it works when you're the younger sibling). After some quibling it was decided that I should do Dark Elves and those plastic warriors with the stale poses and giant swords where the first ever miniatures I ever got. For years I would long for awesome miniatures such as dragons...

Move ahead a couple of years and some of my friends decided to give Warhammer Fantasy a try (again, for some of us), and due to some stupid idea of me not realising I have way to much to complete already I figured I'd give it a try myself. Apart from the boxes in the picture above I have also bought a couple of boxes of Witch Elves (because I love their concept). The idea I have in mind right now is to do a Cult of Slaanesh inspired army but I could use some input in useful units for actual gameplay and maybe mostly useful unit sizes and combinations. Right now I have no clue about how fantasy even works so these purchases where mostly in the "oooh – shiny" territory (which some of us are lucky enough to be able to afford I guess).

What I have available right now is something akin to this list:



Black Ark Fleetmaster
Dark Elf Sorceress x2
Hag Queen
25 Witch Elves
20 Dreadspear/Darkshards/Bleakswords (is any of these the optimal choice?)
20 Black Ark Corsairs
5 Shades
5 Cold One Knights
10 Dark Riders / Warlocks
2 Scourgerunner Chariots / Cold One Chariot
Cauldron of Blood
Bloodwrack Medusae
War Hydra (Conversion that can be used as a Merwyrm also)


Knowing that I'd like to have a Witch Elf unit with me no matter what kind of army I'll end up building I decided to put them together first. Now you might wonder why I've mounted them on round bases and ruined the entire unit set-up (because round bases are bigger when you rank them up) – this is not only an aesthetic choice but also a thing I wanted to do to be able to use some of these miniatures as 40k daemons of slaanesh should I ever want to. Also - what can I say - I love round bases!








The Avatar of Khaine unit filler is magnetized to the base so I can move it to the Cauldron of Blood as needed. I just had to try this idea out because unit filler opens up a lot of possibilities that you don't have in 30k-40k.

You might also notice that all the Witch Elves currently built are either hairless or faceless which is just me toying around with some ideas on how to paint them to get the best effect (ie making things easier on myself). Do not despair, in the end then won't be faceless.

To add some flavour to the Elves I took an Avatar of War Amazon which I'm now in the process of converting into my Dark Elves Witch Elf Hag Queen. I spent a saturday grinding away the legs and her left forearm to get rid of her axe as well. Now I've started to rebuild her and while there still is a lot left to do (fill out her hair, fill out the cloak and so on) she's starting to look more like the kind of dark elf I want her to look like:









I hope this update was big enough to warrant the long wait and that you should find something in it worth a comment or two.

Till next time :bye:


----------



## zxyogi

Verrrrrrrrry Niicccccccceeeee!!!!!!


----------



## wolflordthor

Extremely supreme paintjob, the lightnings are visible, yet subtle, which makes the entire composition really neat and good looking! Your Night Lords project is truly amazing!


----------



## SwedeMarine

Holy shit Xeno. I always forget how skilled you truly are brother. Very nice work. enjoy this cookie for your Night Lords.


----------



## xenobiotic

SwedeMarine said:


> Holy shit Xeno. I always forget how skilled you truly are brother. Very nice work. enjoy this cookie for your Night Lords.


Yey, cookies! Suddenly my life has meaning again :wink: I am but a humble servant and I always try my best and spend a lot of time on my miniatures, which is both a blessing and a curse.



wolflordthor said:


> Extremely supreme paintjob, the lightnings are visible, yet subtle, which makes the entire composition really neat and good looking! Your Night Lords project is truly amazing!


Amazing perhaps, but sadly very slow also. But good things comes to those whom... You know. I just hope I can keep my interest up in this project so I don't end up changing my mind after 20 tacticals and a dread...



zxyogi said:


> Verrrrrrrrry Niicccccccceeeee!!!!!!


Thank you, kind sir!

----

I'm sadly kind of low on time the coming months, but I try to do something each day to move the hobby projects along. I have some ideas for the command squad but haven't actually built or converted them any more than in the previous pictures show. You'll see them again once I get those ideas hammered out. I also have ordered some of the pieces needed for some of the planned Night Lord units (the Breachers mentioned above), but not all of them. I'm waiting till Jan 31 before I put in my next ForgeWorld order.

While we play the waiting game I've been putting more paint on the first Contemptor Dreadnought. Progress is slow and very "trial-and-error" which is nerve wrecking with a miniature this size, although it does mean that I can use many of the lessons learnt on the other dreadnoughts and in some cases in all of the vehicles that are to follow further down the line.

The skeleton will need a pure white highlight on some edges to tone down the yellow qualities given by the washes I used. But it's kind of nice to have something that breaks up the colour palette. Now I just need to balance it along so it doesn't become distracting (with the helmets and the other details). I tried using the Nihilakh Oxide along with my own mix (mentioned in the last post) and I found it to actually complement my own (darker) mix very well. Might try it out on a few selected spots on the coming infantry squads.










Hope you enjoy, till next time :bye:


----------



## Jacobite

Looking fantastic as always. I am as envious as ever of your ability to paint blue with such depth. What Chapter is the fallen marine going to be? Iron Hands or Raven Guard?


----------



## SwedeMarine

xenobiotic said:


> Yey, cookies! Suddenly my life has meaning again I am but a humble servant and I always try my best and spend a lot of time on my miniatures, which is both a blessing and a curse


I understand exactly what you mean.


----------



## JAMOB

As always, this is inspiring. Those legionaires are fantastic, and I really can't wait to see what you do with those dark elves (I play woodies, myself)...


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## wolflordthor

The dread looks great so far, I cant wait to see which choice you will make for the arms and how they will be positioned!
I really enjoy your Night Lords as they are an army that is filled with a lot of individualistic details that you come up with, making each marine something unique! Keep it up!


----------



## xenobiotic

Jacobite said:


> Looking fantastic as always. I am as envious as ever of your ability to paint blue with such depth. What Chapter is the fallen marine going to be? Iron Hands or Raven Guard?


It's a tedious process, that blue shade (as you can see on the recipe in the spoilertag above), specially on larger surfaces. I have however fallen in love with it ever since I painted the librarians for my brethren. My airbrush helps a lot now though, without that I'd be spending 3 years getting the first squad done instead of 1½... 



SwedeMarine said:


> I understand exactly what you mean.


And we shall both suffer in silence. :cray:



JAMOB said:


> As always, this is inspiring. Those legionaires are fantastic, and I really can't wait to see what you do with those dark elves (I play woodies, myself)...


I have a lot of things in planning stages for the Dark Elves. I need to hammer out a few of them before I proceed any further. So I'm mostly building Witch Elves for now while I ponder. I did get some old-school miniatures (era '89) for them for nostalgias sake, while kind of stale and smaller in scale they are pretty decent.



wolflordthor said:


> The dread looks great so far, I cant wait to see which choice you will make for the arms and how they will be positioned!
> I really enjoy your Night Lords as they are an army that is filled with a lot of individualistic details that you come up with, making each marine something unique! Keep it up!


I'm aiming for a pose close to the unpainted one that showed up a couple of pages back (the one with the chainfist and the assault cannon / power claw). I have a bunch of weapons that I'm painting right now:
2 Kheres Assault Cannons
1 Plasma Cannon
1 Chainfist with Heavy Flamer
1 PowerClaw with Plasma Blaster
1 Multi-melta
+ Cyclone Missile Launcher / Havoc Launcher

The individualism will start to be more prominent within the Legion as I go along. This first squad is just tactical marines. As I go along you should start to see more specialised units and characters so they should diverge from the template and each other more and more.

----

I'm having this thing for spears now, ever since I made that first Mk IV marine with the spear. Basically I'm taking artistic license with the Nostraman Chain-glaive and trying all manner of spear weapons for my command squad and other characters (squad leaders, veteran legionnaires and so on). The latest incarnations include the miniatures below which are from the command squad an in various stages of being completed (the first one more so then the second one obviously):

















Having bought all those Dark Elves gave me a lot of pieces to play with, which is always nice. In other news I did put in a huge FW order recently so you can expect to see more unpainted miniature updates along with sporadic progress on the Contemptor as we move along.

Till next time :bye:


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## torealis

Beautiful posing.


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## wolflordthor

Those Spears are awesome! Not to mention the top-notch positioning. Do you plan on doing assault marines/raptors on a large scale or more regular infantry?


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## Iraqiel

Ahhhhhh this has been an awesome experience to go through Xeno, thank you. Now to start unloading some Rep for the week of rewarding clicking your log has given me.


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## wolflordthor

Hi Xeno! 
Although it is rather quiet here, I had an idea that might have crossed your mind already... Are you planning on using the Imperial Knight model for your Night Lords? There is quite a lot space for conversion ideas on that model


----------



## xenobiotic

torealis said:


> Beautiful posing.


Kind words from a skilled fellow hobbyist, thank you!



Iraqiel said:


> Ahhhhhh this has been an awesome experience to go through Xeno, thank you. Now to start unloading some Rep for the week of rewarding clicking your log has given me.


Glad you like it, I hope I could serve as inspiration for some hobby endeavours of your own and here's a cheers for another couple of hundred posts in this thread :crazy:



wolflordthor said:


> Those Spears are awesome! Not to mention the top-notch positioning. Do you plan on doing assault marines/raptors on a large scale or more regular infantry?





wolflordthor said:


> Hi Xeno!
> Although it is rather quiet here, I had an idea that might have crossed your mind already... Are you planning on using the Imperial Knight model for your Night Lords? There is quite a lot space for conversion ideas on that model


I have many plans, loads of plans, some of them not even remotely related to the Night Lords but still in the 30k Era. Some of them in direct conflict with other plans. Mostly I'm just dumbfounded and can't decide what to do and what to put into which army project - this is the downside of having a load of power armour projects on your mind at the same time - for reference see discussion below.

I have 20 Assault marines and a jump infantry Praetor miniature with wings built and waiting for paint, does that qualify as large scale?
I also have enough pieces to build 20 Night Lords Raptors, does that qualify as large scale? I guess you'll have to decide that, at least I have the units on the docket. 

I bought the Imperial Knight model as it was released. I still haven't decided what to do. I do know that I also want to get the coming Knight Lancer from FW and I will probably want to buy one of each future knight releases as well (Warden? Please make Wardens, I want my lumbering cannon behemoths walkers, please make Wardens!)

Question is, what should I do with the Knights? Should I make a custom household and just go bat shit crazy (and try some totally different colour schemes)? Should I try to tie them in with my future Rogue Trader / Astra Militarum segments (yellow armour with black fatigues)? I'm not fully convinced either way just yet, so I've left her unbuilt for now.

----

Time flies, I'm a f-ing fl-er, same excuses as all the other times (work around the clock, lack of hobby zest, combating fatigue and near clinical depression, my life is awesome in many of the possible conceivable ways yet my head makes me think I and it sucks, yeh uke, let's get on with some news about models since that's why you're here.

I haven't been completely idle lately. Regarding the Night Lords I've been making some silicone moulds for some pieces that I needed, they are mostly done now but the casting is not so I have a bunch of units that I can't make progress on till that's completed.

On the other end I've been building and collecting the pieces I do have. I finished of the 2 spearmen I've been showing of mostly on different forums and instagram. These are quickly becoming my favourites of all the miniatures I've created thus far:








This one has been decked out with Legion markings and the Crimsoned Wings on the knee (my company marking that most Mk IV miniatures will have). He has also been given some slight repair work on his arms and hands as they where odd and damaged. The cloak has been sculpted to represent it being slightly curdled into his hand as if holding it or moving it out of the way.

The other miniature has also been shown before:








He has just received some slight work on the cloak and the Crimsoned Wings marking since last time, these two are now moved to the "to be painted"-pile along with a bunch of other miniatures:

You might also recognise this miniature although he has changed his helmet since last time because I thought this one suited the flow of the miniature better. The top know was resculpted slightly and fits between the shoulderpad and the backpack which was problematic previously. He'll have to receive some extra equipment and details but at least the basics are done for now:









While on the subject of conversions. I was rambling about Night Lords breachers previously and here's a proof of concept, rough WIP still but I think it serves as a pointer to where the idea is heading:








Basically I want 10 of these marines, all with different degrees of hacked up bodies chained and nailed to their shields. Fear and paranoia exchanged for gruesome violence. Grim. Very Night Lordish even if Breachers might not be something associated with them per se. Do you think it's a viable miniature concept? Obviously the bodies will require quite some green stuff work to meld them in and make them even more... Realistically cut up.

----

With the release of HH III I have decided to scrap the White Scars project (sadly). I've just got this thing for Alpha Legion and now that I have more visual input to work with I'm re-purposing all my plastic parts into a side project for them. The project will consist of Mk VI armoured marines (as far as possible) with as little defining markings as possible (might not even have legion markings on them, just other symbols). I have yet to decide exactly which units to incorporate but I'm leaning towards foot infantry (obviously) along with my outriders and jet bike units and then perhaps my flyers also. But I'm still torn about which units to use in which army. I have more than enough infantry for both but the "fun" choices are more limited and far to expensive to get in huge amounts for now.

Any suggestions for which kind of Heresy army list to go for with the Alpha Legion is most welcomed.

I also did a test miniature using the ForgeWorld painting scheme with metallics and Tamiya Clear colours, I must say I'm impressed with how they work - it was different but fun and I learned a couple of things. The metallics on the backpack is a tad to dark but maybe that works well with their subterfuge and anonymity?









Anyway, I'm building them mostly with plastics. I'll have to source a few pieces myself (mostly shoulderpads) but that's doable I guess.









I have a few more newsworthy things down the line. I'll see when I get around to actually finish something up so I have something post-worthy. Till then, hope you like what you see and that you enjoy the progress.

:bye:


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## Varakir

Love the spearmen, Love the breachers, love the alpha legion. Just awesome all round :victory:

Really looking forward to seeing a painted unit of the spears and breachers 

Sad to see the scars will not be taking off, but you've completely won me over with the Alpha Legion test mini. The way you've done the armour works really well and it's the perfect tone.


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## wolflordthor

Excellent work as usual, your standard is really really high! Concerning the Knight, I would try something that refers to your Night Lords, cover him in skin or something like that, but slightly alter the paint scheme!!! Great job on the boarding marine with the shield by the way


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## JAMOB

Gorgeous conversions mate. Pity about the scare though... Bikers have so much conversion potential.


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## xenobiotic

Varakir said:


> Love the spearmen, Love the breachers, love the alpha legion. Just awesome all round :victory:
> 
> Really looking forward to seeing a painted unit of the spears and breachers
> 
> Sad to see the scars will not be taking off, but you've completely won me over with the Alpha Legion test mini. The way you've done the armour works really well and it's the perfect tone.


The Alphas offer me a good counterpoint to the Night Lords, similar challenge skill wise but very different in aesthetics, and I do need to sharpen my skills when it comes to "clean" conversions. Right now the biggest issue is which vehicles to put into which army (artillery, flyers, support and so on).



wolflordthor said:


> Excellent work as usual, your standard is really really high! Concerning the Knight, I would try something that refers to your Night Lords, cover him in skin or something like that, but slightly alter the paint scheme!!! Great job on the boarding marine with the shield by the way


I'm leaning towards getting a couple of knights (probably one of each kind from FW on top of the plastic one I have). But I'm not sure about devoting them to the Night Lords. I figure I want to do some kind of household, probably of my own imagination, just to enable me to try something new out and keep my interest up. We'll see.



JAMOB said:


> Gorgeous conversions mate. Pity about the scare though... Bikers have so much conversion potential.


Do not fear, there will be bikers. Both the wheeled kind and the jet kind. Although they might not be heavily converted to stand out when it comes to decorations (depending on which army sways me for which unit).

----









* 
The Fangs of the Bat and the Coils of the Hydra*​ 
More to come, soon™


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## Iraqiel

Hurray, a xenobiotic update! Look forward to your next post!


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## SwedeMarine

Glad to see you back on Xeno. Amazing work as always


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## AHRIMANNINE

Any Alpha Legion queries - composition or otherwise, I am happy to help.

Your Work is beautiful BTW - a real pleasure to look through this blog at all the great work!


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## Iraqiel

Xeno, your excellent work has inspired (allowed me to shamelessly copy your) space as the undercoat of my thunderbolt, thanks very much for sharing your amazing work and the method by which you do it!


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## xenobiotic

SwedeMarine said:


> Glad to see you back on Xeno. Amazing work as always


I did gone get sidetracked for a couple of months, but I'm going to try to get back to the project now, slowly getting the ball rolling again. Thanks for the support :victory:



AHRIMANNINE said:


> Any Alpha Legion queries - composition or otherwise, I am happy to help.
> 
> Your Work is beautiful BTW - a real pleasure to look through this blog at all the great work!


Glad you like it! I have some thoughts about my A'Legion composition, right now I'm sitting with these miniatures thinking I'll include them in their list:

HQ (unclear which ones to go with for a generic list)
10 Legion Terminators
Tactical squad
Tactical squad
10 Headhunters
3 Rhinos
Outrider Squadron
Jetbike Squadron
3 Speeders (40k Tempest ones)
Sicaran
Medusa Artillery Battery (3 Medusas)

Not sure how playable combinations of the above will be, but I kind of like the units as such since they are way different compared to what I have for my Night Lords (which is mostly infantry, jump infantry and dreadnoughts).



Iraqiel said:


> Hurray, a xenobiotic update! Look forward to your next post!





Iraqiel said:


> Xeno, your excellent work has inspired (allowed me to shamelessly copy your) space as the undercoat of my thunderbolt, thanks very much for sharing your amazing work and the method by which you do it!


That thunderbolt is a beast, you should be very proud of your efforts there. Glad I could be of inspiration 

----










> Born into darkness. Having never seen "the light" but in distant dreams before "that" time would come. We were told that we were refugees. It would turn out that we were condemned for sins that we had not committed and in some wicked way maybe for sins we would commit in time to come. Some would call us "the lucky few", whilst others, whose voices had not yet been allowed to carry words, would damn us for eternity. But these things are yet to come and stories yet to be experienced and told.
> 
> I am a man of many names, much like most of those whom I now call brethren. Call me 'Soothsayer'. Title me 'Oracle'. Define me as 'Prophet'. Curse me as 'Seer'. You can call me whatever you prefer, I do not answer more to any one of them yet there are some I prefer for, dramatic, effect. 'Augur' lies close to heart, it has a certain ring to it, does it not? And should you ask for my real name you shall never have an answer - such things where never given to those that dwelled in darkness, those of 'the lucky few' was never given a true name. And as such, we were and are 'empty', in the truest sense of the word.


-'Augur', of the 55th Company of the 8th (VIII) Legiones Astartes​
Time has passed since last. I had a lot of ambition a couple of months ago but much faltered when I got into MMOs again for a while and work dragged me down for the rest of it. Saying that the warhammer hobby was on a back burner is an understatement seeing as the last time I picked up the brushes (till now) was the Alpha Legionnaire seen in the previous posts. There are however a few things in the workings. Some which you have seen before and some which might be new:ish. I'll trickle what little progress I can achieve as I reach it.

It's good to be back!
Till next time then! :bye:


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## Matcap

:shok: I just found your plog (how I missed it is beyond me) and I'm just blown away by your work. Both your conversions and painting work are brilliant! I especially love your Night Lords, I think they are the best portrayel I've seen of them anywhere. And that's coming from a Dark Angels affecionado :wink:.

Do you have any tips to create the more dynamic poses you have managed with your conversions? I sometimes struggle with that on my models.


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## SwedeMarine

Glad to see you back again mate. Hopefully for a bit longer this time around


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## wolflordthor

A nice update you have there, Sir Xeno!


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## xenobiotic

Matcap said:


> I just found your plog (how I missed it is beyond me) and I'm just blown away by your work. Both your conversions and painting work are brilliant! I especially love your Night Lords, I think they are the best portrayel I've seen of them anywhere. And that's coming from a Dark Angels affecionado .
> 
> Do you have any tips to create the more dynamic poses you have managed with your conversions? I sometimes struggle with that on my models.


I’ve been away from the hobby for a while so that’s probably why you missed my project log (to be fair it has been floating around back in double digit pages on the project log forum for a long while). I was meaning to come back to it earlier but I switched job and fell out of the hobby for a while again. Now I have some more focus and motivation gathered and I feel that I really need to get some units painted so my display cabinets aren’t just resin/plastic grey from top to bottom shelf.

On the subject of conversions I don’t know if I have any awesome tips to give but I’ll just give a rundown on how I approach the matter. Usually I get an idea in my head, then I start rummaging through the pieces I have and collect as many as possible getting as close as possible to the pose I want to achieve – this is where I used to stop before I dwelled more heavily into conversions. With the myriad of pieces available to your right now you can get quite a mileage out of what’s readily available. But the Night Lord in the previous post lacked a few things even after this process was done. The feet/legs where in the wrong pose for the miniature. The torso didn’t fit my vision. There were no hands available to achieve the pose I wanted and so on. This is where I start splicing pieces together. Shins+feet from one pair of legs pinned to another pair. Arms cut up and reposed into the right configuration (again with pins in them to give stability). Another torso to replace the one that came with the legs to start with. Filling in gaps is usually easy on marines since most cuts are in the soft armour anyway. Finally I still had to get the hands done, especially the one to hold the spear. Since there was no good alternative available I cut the fingers of another fist, glued the spear in place and then resculpted the fingers to hold it at the right angle. It was a royal pain, I had to sculpt each finger one at a time not to mess them all up with a slip.

Through the entire process I try to have other miniatures nearby to compare scale and pose so that the conversions still fit the rest of the army in size, scale and appeal. I also frequently look at rough anatomy and feasibility of poses in the mirror, just to get an idea if it’s even manageable to bend your body that way (super-human or not…). I hope that process write-down can be of use to you.



SwedeMarine said:


> Glad to see you back again mate. Hopefully for a bit longer this time around


Hopefully, yes, though life is somewhat sporadic at the moment and I appear to have gone off the rails when it comes to the hobby due to that large gap in the project log. I’m trying to refocus a few things in my life and pick up some of my old habits (in order to replace some new ones I picked up that proved not to be good for me at all).

I’ll have to think about how I want to proceed but I need to do something to keep the posts coming even if I have very little progress to show (it’ll probably be a while till I actually finish miniatures completely).



wolflordthor said:


> A nice update you have there, Sir Xeno!


 Thank you, kind sir!

----

First of all this update was meant to go up about a week ago but alas internet ate my post before it went live and I haven’t been able to re-write it till now. I should return to my old habit of writing the posts outside of the browser again.

Today I have 3 pictures to show you. All of them are from my Alpha Legion project which has been boosted in activity lately. The group of friends I blabber about Warhammer with have started up a campaign in order to motivate us to get miniatures painted and games under our belt. It’s a sad fact that most of us have played none or only a handful of games with the current ruleset. The thing is, in order to play with a miniature you have to have them completely painted (100% finished and based).

This led me to the conclusion that it was unfeasible to focus on the Night Lords for the campaign. Not only are they a conversion heavy force, they are also about 36 steps of airbrushing/painting and weathering, which makes them a far too big time sink at the moment. The Alpha Legions miniatures are, in comparison, only about 26 steps, and most of these steps are with the Airbrush and therefore easily reproduced over larger amount of miniatures. Although I must admit that I can’t stay away from conversions, even with the Alphas, at least they are far small in their extent due to my approach to the legion in general.

The focus for my 30k Alpha Legion is a force in nothing but Corvus Armour power armour (Mk VI). This enables me to make good use of the many plastic kits I have since before and also sets them apart from the Night Lords whom have mostly Mk III and Mk IV. To begin with you can expect mostly infantry, whom will be heavily magnetized to enable me to switch their load outs and decrease the needed number of miniatures for the army.

Right now I’m toying around with pieces for a Consul for the army. I’m not sold at all on this mock-up but I figured I might as well post it so you guys can see the process. At the moment this is the only torso in the army that has the eagle on it, which I still haven’t decide if I should keep or not. I’d like for the miniatures to look very similar apart from smaller details in the armour (and helmet decorations) but even though I envision my Alpha Legion Company to be Loyalist the eagle still bugs me out. The halberd weapon will most likely stay with the army leader though. The question which remains is to find a more suitable pose for it. The legs, for reference, are from the anniversary miniature (which I happened to get a few miscast extras off):








Second picture depicts a work in progress vexilla bearer for a tactical unit. I’m not sold if I actually need these miniatures in my army but the conversion for the banner came to me and I had to build it so now I’m planning for another one in my other big tactical blob to keep the theme up (as similar as possible when possible). I also took the freedom to order pieces for an army standard bearer (that will probably never see actual play) which I’m going to try to make as similar as possible to the standard on the cover of “Sedition's Gate”, more on that once I get going with that conversion:








Finally I have a series of pictures depicting the magnetization process on my miniature and how I can use these to switch between load-outs as needed. Switching between bolter and heavy bolter is quick and efficient, adding the barrel to the heavy bolter turns it into an autocannon. The probability of me using the heavy bolters as actual heavy bolters are slim at the moment and I don’t want the official autocannons in this army since I have them with my Night Lords (and they are a pain to magnetize):








Question remains if the barrel on the conversion is feasible. Adding a flash suppressor might make it more convincing but I can’t for the life of me figure out a good way to do it and then replicate it on all the barrels for the heavy bolters…

----

That is all for now, hopefully more to come sooner rather than later, cya!


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## Iraqiel

Interesting. I've got so used to the snub barrelled look that seeing a long barrel on a heavy bolter is disorienting.

Your dedication to the hobby is amazing, I think I'd go swiftly insane trying to approach your level of skill with green stuff and modelling... I mean, you individually did the fingers!


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## xenobiotic

Iraqiel said:


> Interesting. I've got so used to the snub barrelled look that seeing a long barrel on a heavy bolter is disorienting.
> 
> Your dedication to the hobby is amazing, I think I'd go swiftly insane trying to approach your level of skill with green stuff and modelling... I mean, you individually did the fingers!


I haven't decided on the subject just yet. It's a tempting conversion in order to keep options open though, which I am in dire need of in order to get any progress whatsoever in this endeavour.

Yet it could be argued that I already am insane, seeing as how my many fiddlings with sculpting and bit-bashing is doing nothing but keeping me from actually getting units painted. I fear that I will have forgotten how to actually use a brush once I've constructed my first squads and readied them for batch painting.

And while on the subject of batch painting...








​ 20 Alpha Legionnaires are fully built and have gotten various degrees of equipment tacked to their belts. There's just one guy missing a bolter because I used it to glue arms on other marines (they are magnetized at the wrists) and didn't realize it till I was editing the pictures. As you can see these are bog standard marines. I'll be including a Vox-operator and a Vexilla bearer to the finished unit later on but I lack pieces for the Vox (soon to be released from FW I hope) and my Vexilla standards need some more attention before I'm happy with them and can show them off.

Right now I'm trying to finish another set of marines just like these to give me a solid foundation of 40 bolter marines (able to hold other weapons if needed). Then add another 10-20 more power armoured infantry to that mix and I'll have pretty much what I'll need in that department for a foreseeable future. After that I'll turn my attention to artillery and rhino-chassis.

For now I have a stand in army-leader, rather unsurprisingly going by the nick-name 'Alpharius' at the moment I'm sure he'll get a reputation of his own very soon:







​ His right arm is magnetized at the shoulder joint and the left arm has a magnet in his wrist. I'm going to make a set of different options for him should I ever need another kind of load (mostly thinking paragon blade to represent a Praetor).

Finally we have the beginning of some of the support elements. Having blobs of 20 tactical marines means that add-on options that provides extra survivability is welcomed (and in some scenarios almost a requirement). Keeping true to my original point of order I've constructed my own Mk VI apothecary (still WIP) and will probably add another 2 further down the line depending on how the army progresses:







​ 
That's all for now. Hope to have something new to show shortly but can't make any promises! :bye:


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## alasdair

Lovely work as always xeno. You are truly the master of subtle space marine modelling.


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## dutchy1982

Absolutely stunning work as always. Looking forward to seeing them painted. Also, is it easy magnetising arms? I want to have a go but not really sure how to go about it.


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## xenobiotic

alasdair said:


> Lovely work as always xeno. You are truly the master of subtle space marine modelling.


Thank you, kind sir. Space Marines have become my bread and butter as it where. But I'm branching out behind the scenes and trying other factions as well. Albeit more slowly.



dutchy1982 said:


> Absolutely stunning work as always. Looking forward to seeing them painted. Also, is it easy magnetising arms? I want to have a go but not really sure how to go about it.


Thank you! Magnetising is easy when it comes to Space Marines. Their shoulder to torso joint is perfectly suitable for magnets of many sizes and most mistakes are easily cleaned up and fixed should they arise during the process.

For most arms I use 2x2 mm cylindrical magnets. I drill a hole with a 2 mm drill bit in the torso and the shoulder of the marine. Put in drop of superglue into the torso, push the first magnet it. Then once dry I put the magnets together (the shoulder magnet now protruding from the top of the torso magnet) then put some superglue into the shoulder and push the shoulder hole onto the magnet poking out (while it's attached to the torso - this makes sure that the magnetic alignment is correct). That's the short - written - explanation. Pictures might make more sense though...

----

Progress update. I've built and base coated most of my power armoured marines at this date. Pictures as follows:
















































































In other news. Trying to spur myself on (and also since my friends pushed me into it) I've started to stream some of my painting sessions. The last few sessions spent on painting Planetary Empire tiles for a campaign map for a 40k campaign I'm doing with a few friends (HERE). If you'd like to come check them out, feel free to follow me on twitch to get notifications of future streams - http://www.twitch.tv/littleolof - most likely the next stream will be the first few steps for the Alpha infantry.

Till next time.


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## alasdair

A Xeno update, praise be! MK6 Marines looking great, very tacticool which befits the Alpha Legion. I will make sure to hit up your twitch too.


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## xenobiotic

alasdair said:


> A Xeno update, praise be! MK6 Marines looking great, very tacticool which befits the Alpha Legion. I will make sure to hit up your twitch too.


They are also a mile apart from my Night Lords, which helps when it comes to motivation and possible hobby burnout.

Some progress has been made on the infantry. First few colours have been applied. They are now eagerly awaiting the Tamiya Clear Process (which is about 6-7 layers or so of sticky-and-candy-smelling fun!):









Till next time :bye:


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## Asamodai

That's a lot of dudes. Good luck!


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## xenobiotic

Asamodai said:


> That's a lot of dudes. Good luck!


Thanks! Luck will probably (and sadly) be a major factor in how many of these I'll be able to churn out before the next bout of hobby burnout hits me. But that's life for you.

----

Some progress has been made! Life has, at the moment, proven that a scheduled approach is difficult when it comes to hobby (even when I have time set off for it I don't get that much done), so I take any progress I can get.

Working with transparent colours, glazes and varnish has become somewhat of a roller coaster of emotions for me. The actual look and feel of the colour on the armour not actually present and obvious until the final satin varnish layer has been sprayed makes things iffy along the process. Granted that the differences are subtle and might not be as apparent in photographs as they are in person. The new approach I have yields somewhat darker (grimdark is perhaps the correct word in these circumstances) shades then my previous tester did, which I believe is posted a few pages back in the thread - but I believe I prefer this one. I feel that it is now turquoise enough not to be Ultramarine, blue enough not to be Sons of Horus and the weathering is easy to apply but looks the part. As usual with all my painting attempts - the edge highlighting is the part that takes the most time for me, but I just can't let it go.

Alas I give you the first fully completed Alpha Legion marine for one of my many projects:








Here's also a small sample of the next 9 marines I'm working on at the moment:








In other news I'm gathering/ordering pieces for many other side projects (as usual) that might pop up here as we go along. I'm talking specifically 30k Mechanicum, Solar Auxilia, Epic Miniatures (Marines, Tyranids, Astra Militarum, Tau, Knights, Necrons), Terrain pieces and so on and so forth.

Till next time! :bye:


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## Iraqiel

Splendid work as always mate. That standard reminds me somewhat of the officer's regimental leading poles or guidons on display at the Leeds Tower Armouries. What are you going to do with it in terms of paint?


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## xenobiotic

Iraqiel said:


> Splendid work as always mate. That standard reminds me somewhat of the officer's regimental leading poles or guidons on display at the Leeds Tower Armouries. What are you going to do with it in terms of paint?


The pole will be painted black. Obviously I was thinking about some other colour than turquoise on the serpent since it's silver at the moment, but I have yet to come up with an idea that I like. Easiest solution would probably be to paint it silver metallic. Another option could be white (which will be a spot and detail colour as I move along with more complex miniatures). Not that I'm convinced just yet.


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## xenobiotic

I’m still trudging along with the edgework on my first batch of Alpha Legion marines. I’ve been away on vacation and attending a wedding so time has been kind of at a premium these past few weeks. Feel good to be back to the brushes even if progress is slow. Right now I’m mostly trying to focus on getting ANYTHING done since I can’t seem to stop purchasing new stuff no matter if I get things painted or not (that’s addiction – right?).

When I was painting my miniatures last night I took a long hard look on my Vexilla bearers and was stuck with that gut feeling that something was missing. Since I had recently bought some new tools (hole-punch etc) I figured I could put it to good use and do some new, but minor, additions to my miniatures. So I added the tiny circles to the standards and I think it was needed to get a complete look and feel. 

These are the last few marines that have gotten recent additions and painting progress:









And here’s a comparison picture between my Night Lords and my Alpha Legion for those wanting a direct side-to-side.









Till next time :bye:


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## Kreuger

Those alphas are coming along nicely. It's remarkable how thin and spindly they look in Mark IV compared the the Mark III armor.

I look forward to seeing this progress.


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## xenobiotic

Kreuger said:


> Those alphas are coming along nicely. It's remarkable how thin and spindly they look in Mark IV compared the the Mark III armor.
> 
> I look forward to seeing this progress.


The Mk III is kind of heavy set and wider on the bottom. It does have remarkably thin shoulderpads compared to the plastick Mk VI ones though. With the plastic shoulders you really get a kind of American footballer look. The FW pads for Mk VI is somewhat less rounded and therefore gives a more lean profile but since it's easier to get hold of plastic pads I decided to go with them on pretty much all of my miniatures. This is mostly a plastic army after all.

----

Finally been bit by the painting bug once more and got motivation enough to finish enough steps on one marine to actually get him done. His squad mates did progress a few steps along the line as well but none of them are totally finished just yet. My goal is to have a squad of 5 done before the end of the month and that should be doable. Specially if I include the previous tester model into the mix for the time being. The miniature I did complete happens to be the squadrons Vexilla bearer. At first I was dumbstruck about what to do with the actual Vexilla Icon and the pole. But after browsing around on instagram I happened upon this interesting mixed pattern for metallic surfaces what included glazes of blue and light brown which gave an interesting effect - so I ended up doing that to the Vexilla and I think it fits with the theme:








Those with sharp eyes might notice the Pi-symbol (π) on the shoulderpad which is the nod to the battlegroup/army divisions these Alphas are drawn from. There are also a capital A on his right greave which isn't visible in any of these pictures.

I'll be toying more with white markings on some of the miniatures for this army as I go along. Then again it's a fine balance to strike since I want them to have as little as possible in the way of markings and identifiers yet still achieve a level of individuality in each miniature.

I also managed to finish half of a crater for my terrain collection. It might appear odd to only finish half of it but I take what I can get when it comes to hobby progression:









And finally here's an updated army shot, as you can see I've reached an impressive amount of finished miniatures already:









Till next time! :bye:


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## Loli

I absolutely love your dirt, both on the the two minis and the terrain and seeing them in a single shot makes them both more impressive.


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## Iraqiel

xenobiotic said:


> as you can see I've reached an impressive amount of finished miniatures already


Love your painting and enjoy your wit mate, keep it coming.


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## xenobiotic

Loli said:


> I absolutely love your dirt, both on the the two minis and the terrain and seeing them in a single shot makes them both more impressive.


Best part about that dirt is that it's fairly straightforward to make and only leaves a slight mess on my entire desk behind when I do it!

Basically follows this setup:
Primer – Vallejo Black Primer
1st Coat – Vallejo Air 71.036 Mahagony - Fixate with spray coat with varnish (any type)
2nd – Forge World Orange Rust Powder - Fixate with isopropanol (hence varnish in previous step)
3rd – Forge World Light Rust Powder - Fixate with isopropanol
4th – Forge World Black Soot Powder (if applicable) / Forge World Faded Green Powder (if applicable) followed by Games Workshop Nihilakh Oxide (if applicable) / Forge World Bone Dust Powder (if applicable) - Fixate with isopropanol
5th - Coat with Satin Varnish
Done!



Iraqiel said:


> Love your painting and enjoy your wit mate, keep it coming.


It's sporadic, but I do my best. Even the simplest miniatures appear to take ages to finish these days. Even just putting on a few highlights takes me a weeks worth of evenings. Meh - basically. 

----

I'm doing some tweaking with pictures. I have this super nice thread idea that I'd want to launch in a "better world scenario" (ie if I had time and capability to achieve what I'm looking for). So here's a header picture I took for the Alpha part of that thread, obviously a placeholder till I could get more miniatures painted:









In other news I did manage to finish not one but two* miniatures the past few days. First one is the stand in army leader / sergeant. He's magnetized in the right arm and the left wrist so he can swap weapons if needed. Haven't painted any of his weapon options though (which is typical for me). I must say I'm fairly pleased with him apart from the fact that his armour shade is like 5% brighter than I would have preferred - alas this is something that varies between every miniature so it's not like it's something that's easy to control and or fix:









The second* miniature finished is actually the first Alpha tester that I did some minor adjustments to and completely repainted the backpack on. I'm much more pleased with him now and he doesn't stick out as much when in company of the other 3 finished miniatures:









And I will end this short update with another "Army Picture". This army is now quickly accumulating points. I mean, depending on how I define these marines they could easily approach 200 pts in illegal unit choices now! Are you impressed? You should be, because I am!


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## WARMASTERWILLIE

love your work mate! did you use the minitaire ghost tints for your alphas? the effects looks quite similar.


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## xenobiotic

WARMASTERWILLIE said:


> love your work mate! did you use the minitaire ghost tints for your alphas? the effects looks quite similar.


It's actually layered Tamiya Clear colours. Works pretty well, enables me to stack it into the effect I wish to achieve (green hue with shift towards blue depending on how you hold the miniature). Haven't tried the minitaire ghost range and I haven't tried the forgeworld airbrush colour range. Can't really be bothered to change recipe again, you know? Unless someone showed me a better alternative in person that is.


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## WARMASTERWILLIE

cool i havent tried anything from Tamiya yet i might have to investigate. i was asking coz i plan on doing a little alpha army when im finshed with my death guard. the ghost tints are ok but ive get to fine a model use for them yet only on canvas. dont know about the forge world one i think ill be sticking to vallejo for price reasons lol


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## Iraqiel

Xeno, I feel the need for some envy/inspiration. I think I'm going to go off and start a King Arthur style legend of your one day return (or some norse equivalent - Siegfrid?) to inspire us all to painting glory again!


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## xenobiotic

> - Lord Xeno…
> - Yes, Master.
> - RISE!!!


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I have walked on dirty roads for far too long. My mind boggled and drenched in the pulverized dust of a crushed psyche dead since ages long ago. It’s a wonder that life continues to exist. It’s a wonder that I keep coming back to this place. As if, even though I have tried to leave, there is something pulling me in. Within the darkest corners of a dreadful mind, cogs keep turning and ideas will themselves to life.


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I’ve had this Knight Titan in my possession since they were released, pretty much. But it got lost somewhere in the endless pile of things to finish (read: start), as most things do for years in my hobby space. Somehow it was brought back into the light when I expanded my tool box with piles upon piles of plasticard rods and strips and such along with a jeweller’s saw with one of those little mitre boxes that made cutting angles MUCH easier. This proved to make many pieces of the conversion much simpler.









​ 

As many other times before I tend to approach builds of poseable miniatures placed on bases by figuring out what I want it to interact with. Mostly this means that I build the base up first, with only an idea of what the model on top of the base will look like. Then I adjust the miniature to fit the base – if that isn’t achievable I then adjust the base until it is. This kind of back and forth gives the miniature more realism in my view but probably isn’t for everyone since it tends to get somewhat time consuming.









​ 

The thing that annoyed me with the Knight miniature is that the entire miniature is poseable apart from the legs... I realise why this is so (because of all the support struts and cables and so on) but that doesn’t mean I like it. So I decided to make a conversion with the aim to break up the mono-pose. This was the first real obstacle to tackle with this particular build. This is also something I will have to repeat if I ever decide to get another plastic Knight (which is an overwhelming possibility since I recently got a “Renegade”-boxed set to share with a friend).









​ 

While the process is pretty straight forward it’s still time consuming. Cutting the legs into a multitude of pieces, adding plasticard spacers, rebuilding detail, dremeling out space for some beads to act as ankle joints and then adding tubes and rods to finish the leg build. Now I’m just deciding if I need to change the position of the “big rivet” in the hip joing or not, I will probably do it on the miniatures left leg but not the right one. At least the Knight is now steadily built enough and remains upright meaning it can be shown.









​ 

So far I’ve reposed the legs at the hip joints, the knee joints and the ankle joints. I’ve remade pretty much all the support struts for the legs (down by the ankle joint), either cutting the plastic to fit or replacing the struts with plasticard rod pieces. I’ve also replaced most of the piping and hoses with either brass twine or green stuff tubes produced with a “tube-maker”.

I’ve also magnetized the arms at the weapon to shoulder joint so I can equip this Knight pretty much any way I want with the main weaponry (gatling cannon, battlecannon, chainsword, thunderstrike gauntlet and so on). 









​ 

There are still a lot of things to add and convert – mostly since the aim is to turn this beast into a more defined Mechanicum war machine. The theme will, as one might guess, revolve around cogs to begin with, which will be visible on trims and such that I will add. A process I have already begun by adding plasticard to the carapace. I have some ideas for the helmet/head which are cyclopean in nature, and I want to give a go at converting it before resorting to buying the new ones (soon to come) from Forgeworld.

This is far from the only thing I have to show from the last couple of months. But I must warn you that actually finished pieces/miniatures are still few and far between but there will be things to see in the coming weeks – hopefully months.


Till next time!


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## Old Man78

Welcome back brother, so many heretics returning to the fold, joyous times indeed


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## xenobiotic

Oldman78 said:


> Welcome back brother, so many heretics returning to the fold, joyous times indeed


Joyous indeed! And thank you for welcoming me back, it feels good to be back and updating my progress, even if it, at times, is severely lacking in frequency!

----

Since I've been so distraught with my many projects lately I've been trying to focus on actually finishing bigger projects that require less accuracy with the paint brush and less experimentation with the process (ie - things I know how to do and in which order to do it). This led me to finishing up and continuing with my terrain project, some might therefore recognize the progress made with the quake craters, now completely done:







​ 
The process I use for these pieces is fairly simple. After the basecoat I paint all the details I want to differ from the pigment layers (ie things that aren't supposed to be reddish brown) in their selected colour scheme (mostly metals with multiple washes and/or dark grey with highlights and black wash) before I varnish it all and pile on the pigments before a final layer of varnish. It's quicker than anything else I have (and probably will) paint but it still takes me a tad to long for my own liking. But I'm starting to accept that actually finishing things is more important then worrying about making the process quicker - at least at this point. Every finished piece gives me motivation to do more, and the terrain pieces certainly proves the point that "painted is better".

On that subject I did also finish the ruined Aquila from the Honored Imperium set:







​ 
Next up in line in the many Terrain projects are the trench works from the Walls of Martyr sets. These pieces have been painted with a slightly different technique. For my many coming vehicles I'd like to delve more into oil paint effects which is why these are the perfect test subjects. Using a very light gray/warm white tone I can experiment with dirt effects and pooling so I'm more sure on my approach as I advance to more detailed miniatures. The white is an airbrushed layering of dark grey to white chipped with a dark grey mix later covered with brown and red oil washes and then highlighted with white oil paint. Things left to do is to block in the earth with a base coat of reddish brown and then pile on the pigments:








​ 







​ 







​ 
That was all for this time. Hope you enjoyed this odd update for me. In coming updates there will be some actual miniatures in them (quite possibly even space marines!).

Till next time!


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## Matcap

Great to see your work again! It has always inspired me and I love the terrain stuff as well. Doing something similar with my wall of martyr kits (the removal of the skulls and skeletons). So I'm eager to see your progress :good:


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## Moriouce

Nice to see what you're doing with that Knight! The pose look stunning!


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## xenobiotic

Matcap said:


> Great to see your work again! It has always inspired me and I love the terrain stuff as well. Doing something similar with my wall of martyr kits (the removal of the skulls and skeletons). So I'm eager to see your progress :good:


The martyrs kit skeleton/corpses are a tad too "cadian" as well as a tad too under detailed for me which was the main reason to pile on some texture paint. I'm just glad it looks seamless  Hopefully I'll have finished all the pieces above till the next update. Then I can move on to the buildings and then I'll be almost completely done with my terrain pieces for now!



Moriouce said:


> Nice to see what you're doing with that Knight! The pose look stunning!


It was hard work but it was well worth it in the end, especially when I start building my second knight and already know what to do 

----

While most of my hobby attention lately has been aimed towards terrain and other "bigger" features in my collection I have done some work on my actual miniatures as well. Although I must admit that I am confused (as usual) where I want to take each of my power armour projects (which vehicles and units to use for which legion for example) and it has hampered my progress somewhat. While I could scrap all my other projects and decide to work on only one legion each of my projects have a distinct feel to it's infantry which makes a transition kind of hard. I'm also very much against the thought of only painting turquoise metallic for what feels like the rest of my life. Admittedly it feels like economic suicide to include every vehicle and unit that draws my attention in each army. Bleh. Anyway, enough of those ramblings.

The Alpha Legion miniatures that I have completed I am very pleased with. I think I have found the look I was going for with this project. I like how they come together and how the spot colours I've chosen aren't taking anything away from the miniatures as a hole. I'm also pleased with my decision to go with black eye lenses which I wasn't sure would "work", I like the mute feeling it applies and that it doesn't draw all the attention to the helmets. The hazard striped cables on the backpack is just my way of adding a little color difference to the palette. I like it but it might not be to some peoples liking:







​ 
As it stands now I have about 50 powered armoured miniatures in mk VI armour in different stages of painting for this project. I also have about another 50 in different stages of being built. I need to procure some more weaponry and perhaps a few parts before I'm where I want to be. I also have 10 tartaros terminators dedicated to this project for now. Rumours about more being in the soon to come expansion on the Betrayal at Calth box could boost that number, which is also why I've but the terminators, yet again, on the back burner.

And while on the subject of not getting things done and leaving things in different stages of completion I finally did something with an Elysian equipment pack I bought AGES ago. I decided to turn them into objective markers, which was pretty easy but effective in my opinion:







​ 
I've also started to put some time into my Solar Auxilia project. Up till now I've mostly slowly been adding purchases to the project each time I've placed an order with FW. I still haven't decided on how I want to paint them (which scheme to make) but I'm still considering a yellow armour plate one with dark purple fatigues, because I'd like to see the contrast that would create. But at the same time that's a scheme I was planning for my Mechanicum contingency so it might be a tad much to have them all in a similar scheme. Another option would be a city camouflage scheme in different grey colours and then armour plates that pop - like red perhaps. Once again, it could work, but I'm somewhat iffy if it isn't to close to what I did with my brethren and perhaps what I will do with my White scars (ie white/gray with red).

Anyway, what I have done is add little heraldic shields to all the miniatures, as you can see in the picture. I was inspired by a fellow hobbyist on instagram and once I saw the idea I couldn't get it out of my mind - I think this minor alteration adds a lot to the Solar miniatures:







​ 
Till next time


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