The SM heroes are looking spiffy. Really heroic, appropriately enough. Like an Imperial PR campaign. If you were watching these lads doing their job the words you'd choose would be the more golden shiny ones.

Really looking forward to the pick of that mighty RT haul in propper old school Crimson Fists livery. It'll be a sight to bring a tear to the eye of even the deadest enthroned corpse.

That green contrasts nicely with the purple and gold, loving it! And I might have missed it, have you already decided on a chapter symbol?

And nice haul with the oldmarines. As my hobby time was short-live the first time around (ca. 1999-2004) with my very slow restart in 2014 I don't have a real connection to those minis, but they have a lot of character which really shows when they get modern paintjobs, like your terminators. So excited to see what you do with this lot.

SMHeroes are really looking good. The green makes for a great spot color.

theCrowe wrote:The SM heroes are looking spiffy. Really heroic, appropriately enough. Like an Imperial PR campaign. If you were watching these lads doing their job the words you'd choose would be the more golden shiny ones.
Really looking forward to the pick of that mighty RT haul in propper old school Crimson Fists livery. It'll be a sight to bring a tear to the eye of even the deadest enthroned corpse.

Cheers theCrowe! Yeah, their poses are really quite dynamic from the right angle. The Sgt in particular I hadn’t noticed how heroic he looked until the low photo from the side. Very spiffy, and yes very golden shiny! The RTB01 Fists may well be next in my queue depending on how the stripping goes

Viterbi wrote:That green contrasts nicely with the purple and gold, loving it! And I might have missed it, have you already decided on a chapter symbol?
And nice haul with the oldmarines. As my hobby time was short-live the first time around (ca. 1999-2004) with my very slow restart in 2014 I don't have a real connection to those minis, but they have a lot of character which really shows when they get modern paintjobs, like your terminators. So excited to see what you do with this lot.

Yeah, the green, purple and gold is a good combo, quickly becoming my Chaos equivalent of your Imperial colours, except these guys are Loyalists... I think... for now... I was planning on using up some RT Space Wolves transfers, but Don Qui Hotep posted some cool US college sports team logos that might look cool too, if I can freehand them.

I just caught the tail end of the RTB01 box being on the shelves, but I’m really liking the different options they have. I might cast up some more shoulder pad symbols to go with the paint job! To make up to complete marines I might have to make some GS backpacks too as quite a few are missing them

youwashock wrote:SMHeroes are really looking good. The green makes for a great spot color.

Cheers, they’re really cool minis to paint. The green will be getting even brighter next time out!

I forgot pics as my hands were covered in dettol but I cleaned up the first 10 minis. The paint came off all of them pretty easily apart from one of them who was glued together very strongly. The rest also came apart dead easily. Unfortunately that resulted in me losing a couple of parts, one bolt pistol pouch, an arm and worst of all a torso. That’ll teach me for cleaning them out of the loft sky light! They still had a few bits of paint and the weird gummy glue went even more weird, so they went back in to the dettol along with the next squad. One of them is prime for reposing as his knee is already cut!

Edit: Roll over pic

That is a very snazzy green! And yeah, it's a great color combination, quite noble looking.

The purple looks fantastic as a contrast to the gold. I would not have expected it to look so good, but it looks very regal.

The green glow with the purple and gold is brilliant, really helps the miniatures to pop.

Sounds like the great clean up on the RTB-01 marines has gone generally well, sad that you lost a couple of pieces but I am sure you were prepared for that before you started.

amazingturtles wrote:That is a very snazzy green! And yeah, it's a great color combination, quite noble looking.

Cheers turtles, snazzy and noble is what I was going for

Fifty wrote:The purple looks fantastic as a contrast to the gold. I would not have expected it to look so good, but it looks very regal.

Thanks Fifty, I liked it on my Chaos guys so wanted to try it on some “loyalists”

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:The green glow with the purple and gold is brilliant, really helps the miniatures to pop.

Sounds like the great clean up on the RTB-01 marines has gone generally well, sad that you lost a couple of pieces but I am sure you were prepared for that before you started.

Cheers LTMW, I’m pleased with the green to purple contrast, they really help each other shine. I suppose I was expecting to lose a couple of bits, just daft that it was off the roof!

Not much progress to report. I looked through my transfers and realised I didn’t have the old Space Wolves chapter marking in black or white.. so I decided to try some freehand symbols. I think white would be the brightest contrast, but I like the idea of black, so I did a tactical squad arrow in each. I also tried to replicate this logo on another shoulder pad



I’ll do a bit of highlighting before I make the decision on the colour. The chapter marking doesn’t look too bad, but I need to sort out the swoosh and outline the ear. I’ll also try it in black and might have a go at the old Space Wolves logo, or maybe the Lunar Wolves logo too

Thanks for looking, comments, criticism or advice is encouraged!

White provides maximum contrast, but the black is intriguing. Maybe that is the way to go. Looking forward to seeing the symbol develop.

Oh, I really dig using green as an accent color. Echoing people's description of the scheme as regal, the green puts me in the mind of an emperor's laurels. Nice haul on the beakies too!

Nice go at the freehand symbol as well. Not to make things more complicated than they have to be, but maybe a white arrow with a black outline, or visa versa?

youwashock wrote:White provides maximum contrast, but the black is intriguing. Maybe that is the way to go. Looking forward to seeing the symbol develop.

Yeah, the black fits the theme quite well, so I’m hoping that works out, if not I’ll go with the white.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Oh, I really dig using green as an accent color. Echoing people's description of the scheme as regal, the green puts me in the mind of an emperor's laurels. Nice haul on the beakies too!
Nice go at the freehand symbol as well. Not to make things more complicated than they have to be, but maybe a white arrow with a black outline, or visa versa?

Yep, it gives a stark contrast to the purple, and yeah, it is a bit Julius Caesar! I was planning on a bit of a highlight on the symbols, but I might have to give the outlines a go too.

Nothing much to report, but after mowing the lawn this afternoon I spotted a stone on the ground. Turns out it was actually the torso I dropped off the roof the other night! Back of the net! Probably no painting this weekend with beers and F1 getting in the way. Maybe mid week if work doesn’t suck too much!

Nice freehand, personally I would opt for white, but I always like the big contrasts If the chapter logo is white, black for squad role might work.

 Don Qui Hotep wrote:


Nice go at the freehand symbol as well. Not to make things more complicated than they have to be, but maybe a white arrow with a black outline, or visa versa?

This gets my vote. Specifically a black tactical arrow with a white outline. You take your shoulder pad with the white arrow on already and crisp up those lines with some purple around the edges. Then you hit the inside of the arrow with some neat black ink and a tiny brush leaving just a sliver of white outline. That's how I do my all my 1:300 scale balkenkreuz.


But take care, those curved shoulder pads can make a mockery of your straightest lines.

Marines are looking great in the classic purple and gold. Nice job on the freehand, you've certainly not picked an easy chapter symbol to replicate on each model. I think the white looks best, though if it was me I'd go with the black for easier paint coverage

Viterbi wrote:Nice freehand, personally I would opt for white, but I always like the big contrasts If the chapter logo is white, black for squad role might work.

Cheers, the White is bolder, but black would be easier. One of each might be a good compromise!

theCrowe wrote:

 Don Qui Hotep wrote:


Nice go at the freehand symbol as well. Not to make things more complicated than they have to be, but maybe a white arrow with a black outline, or visa versa?

This gets my vote. Specifically a black tactical arrow with a white outline. You take your shoulder pad with the white arrow on already and crisp up those lines with some purple around the edges. Then you hit the inside of the arrow with some neat black ink and a tiny brush leaving just a sliver of white outline. That's how I do my all my 1:300 scale balkenkreuz.

Spoiler:

But take care, those curved shoulder pads can make a mockery of your straightest lines.

Those are neat Luftwaffe markings, it might be a good way to go. Thanks for the technique tips, I’ll have to put them to use on another test pad.

Maharg wrote:Marines are looking great in the classic purple and gold. Nice job on the freehand, you've certainly not picked an easy chapter symbol to replicate on each model. I think the white looks best, though if it was me I'd go with the black for easier paint coverage

Cheers, it really is a classic. Yeah, the chapter symbol is gonna be a to replicate But hopefully it’ll be more fun than annoying!

Speaking of freehand I was volunteered to refurb a bookcase for my daughters school library. It kinda fell in to the annoying bucket, but I think it turned out ok.

The animals represent the class names, being Hedgehogs, Rabbits and Owl. It wasn’t all my own work, my wife drew the characters in pencil but the paint was all me. Some of the emulsion didn’t enjoy the white satin wood which meant I needed to do 2 coats on all of the lines.

In other news I’ve done ok on eBay this past week. I got a 30th anniversary Marine and I’m waiting on a squad of Marine bikes. The 30th anniversary marine is really well painted, better than I can manage, but the hobby is about painting, not collecting. As such, I’ll be sending him to a dettol bath soon to lead my horde of beakies! He’s on a resin base, does anyone know if it’ll survive the dettol? The Bikes are still on their sprue and they’ll be joining the gold and purple Marines. With all of these coming in I really should paint some more... maybe later in the week?

Fun painting. Look forward to some gold bikes!

That's some pretty cute critters on the shelf there. Nice to hear about your ebay grab, also. I love bikes on the tabletop and think they'll look smashing in purple and gold.

gobert,

Good on you for volunteering (or being volunteered).

Cheers,

CB

Congrats on the refurb, looks great. Your wife has some nice cartooning talent.

I also agree on repainting the anniversary marine. It would be just odd to have someone else's work on your shelf or gaming table unless it was a gift or present.

Bookcase is great, well done you and Mrs Gobert.
Looking forward to seeing your latest additions getting some paint

youwashock wrote:Fun painting. Look forward to some gold bikes!

Yeah, it turned out well, I hope the school like it. I’m not sure on the bike colours. I’m thinking the black with purple highlights, at least for the Sgt, maybe the whole squad.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:That's some pretty cute critters on the shelf there. Nice to hear about your ebay grab, also. I love bikes on the tabletop and think they'll look smashing in purple and gold.

Cheers Don, they came out cute in the end which was a relief! I’m looking forward to painting them, they didn’t come with bases, so I might have to source some oval sector imperialis ones to match the SMH boys.

Captain Brown wrote:gobert,

Good on you for volunteering (or being volunteered).

Cheers,

CB

It was definitely a case of being volunteered, but I’m pleased it’s done for sure!

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Congrats on the refurb, looks great. Your wife has some nice cartooning talent.

I also agree on repainting the anniversary marine. It would be just odd to have someone else's work on your shelf or gaming table unless it was a gift or present.

Cheers LTMW, she always sells her drawings short, but they’re usually pretty cool cartoons for the kids. As an ecologist she’s pretty good at realistic plants and animals too.
Yeah, it’s a shame to undo such good work, but it’s probably for the best. As you say it would be odd to display someone else’s handy work.

I was going to do some painting this evening but by the time I’d fitted a replacement light in the loft (old fluorescent fixture replaced with daylight LED strip) I decided build one of the bikes instead. They didn’t come with a box or instructions but they’re dead simple to put together so it was fairly straightforward to figure out. There were however some pretty huge gaps between the two halves that needed filing. As I mentioned above they came without bases, so for now I’ve kept the wheels free to move, the kids won’t be able to resist playing with them though! Here’s my progress so far with 30th Anniversary Marine, plus my BSF Chaos Marines come to visit their “Loyalist” cousins.

Cheers for looking

Snazzy job on your Space Marine Heroes! The Gold is quite strong and the purple pops against it really well. I love that the plasma gunner has a bionic arm. 40k dark humor at its best. Also nice work on the Imperial Space Marine. I love seeing crisply painted ultras.

Looking forward to seeing how you tackle the old bike. Do you think it'll be a more purple bike to contrast the gold rider or will it be all full on goldwing with purple accents? I always loved the old SM bikes. I had 5 of them but sold them off because I rarely used them and whenever I did they just died. (Gloriously for the Emperor!)

Also, nice artwork. It gets the Hedgee seal of approval.

brushcommando wrote:Snazzy job on your Space Marine Heroes! The Gold is quite strong and the purple pops against it really well. I love that the plasma gunner has a bionic arm. 40k dark humor at its best. Also nice work on the Imperial Space Marine. I love seeing crisply painted ultras.

Cheers brushcommando, welcome to my plog! That bionic arm really is a cool touch, the whole Set is really cool. I need to get the Adventures games to complete the collection... and series 2, but that will have to wait! Sadly the Imperial Space Marine isn’t my handy work, he was a recent ebay win. Despite being probably the best painted figure I own, he’ll be joining his RTB01 brothers in taking a dettol bath to join my Crimson Fists.

theCrowe wrote:Looking forward to seeing how you tackle the old bike. Do you think it'll be a more purple bike to contrast the gold rider or will it be all full on goldwing with purple accents? I always loved the old SM bikes. I had 5 of them but sold them off because I rarely used them and whenever I did they just died. (Gloriously for the Emperor!)

Also, nice artwork. It gets the Hedgee seal of approval.

Hmmm, I quite like the idea of a gold wing, that gives me some more to think about. As these Heroes of the Imperium will be of questionable loyalty I’m thinking the bikes will be black and gold to signal the leanings of the Chapters Elites. I never had any bikes for my Space Marines back in the day, l remember them coming out and wanting them, but never having the money to build a squadron. Now I just need to find the time to build and paint them! I’m glad that Hedgee approves of the artwork!

Black and gold is a good mix too, though i hope there's a purple or two in there for style points. Got to have style.

That Imperial Marine is a very nice sculpt, excited to see how you will tackle him once he's out of the bath. And I fear that now I have to hunt him down too, I need him in my collection.

amazingturtles wrote:Black and gold is a good mix too, though i hope there's a purple or two in there for style points. Got to have style.

There’ll definitely be some purple, at least as part of the black highlight. Maybe the Sgts bike will get a purple go faster stripe?

Viterbi wrote:That Imperial Marine is a very nice sculpt, excited to see how you will tackle him once he's out of the bath. And I fear that now I have to hunt him down too, I need him in my collection.

Yeah, he’s really cool. I was bidding on the original sculpt too, but he went for twice what I got the young version! Apologies for providing the temptation (not really, he’ll look cool with your imperial colours!)

Not much painting, but the first bike is all put together and filled then filed smooth. The rider is built stock and removable so he’ll be easier to paint. I’ve drilled the barrels on the bolters and done shallow holes for the exhausts. Not sure how that will look once painted, but they should be ok I hope! I also drilled the other two whilst still on the sprue. I was going to drill them all through to get a nicer hold, but I bottled it... until I accidentally drilled right through! Doh! I’ll see how the look with something covering the base of the hole. If they look good I’ll drill them all through. I might see if I can get them all built tonight and spray tomorrow between trying some more freehand chapter symbols.



In other news, I gave in and ordered Indomitus. In my defence I got a good deal even if I have to wait until December. Hopefully it’ll spur me on to paint more minis...

Seeing him on that grid makes me think of Tron. Couple boltguns make a huge difference out on the Game Grid.

 youwashock wrote:
Seeing him on that grid makes me think of Tron. Couple boltguns make a huge difference out on the Game Grid.

They are a bit tron like on the cutting board, not sure their turning circle would be quite so digital though!

Speaking of turning circles, I’ve completed my second bike. I’ve tried to model him turning right and aiming his bolt pistol off to the right.



I’m pretty happy with him, though his pistol seems slightly off axis. I’ll just pretend he’s compensating for the relative motion of the gun to target! Yeah, that’s it, it was intentional! Other than the obvious hand swap he’s had some shoulder surgery to change the angle of his arm. He’s also got duplicate Brother Garos’ head plus a backpack from one of the other duplicate Space Marine Heroes. A couple of minor tweaks and leaning the bikes as if they’re turning will hopefully give them a bit of individuality. I’ve picked out the head and chain sword that the Sergeant will have, he’s tomorrow’s project! Hopefully I’ll get them primed this weekend, I’ve decided it’ll be black for the bikes and grey for the marines, as I’ve decided to go for the black and gold bike.

Thanks for looking!

Nice, I love dynamic bike poses. Bikers and 40k just fit so well together for some reason. Hope they're doing sick tricks and flips off of rocks and things.

I think the exhaust holes look just fine, the muzzles are large enough that going through still leaves enough plastic that it looks realistic. The first time I read your post I thought you meant drilling the exhausts of the bike, and spent too long looking at the pipes saying "well I don't see any holes here. Looks fine to me!"

Bikes are looking pretty cool. I like the use of the space marine heroes helmet on the pistol marine. It looks like he's got an extra targeting lens to help with that motion compensation that you totally intended for him to making. Excited to see you slap some paint on these guys.

Nice work on the bikers, the reposing with the pistol looks great!

 gobert wrote:

Yeah, he’s really cool. I was bidding on the original sculpt too, but he went for twice what I got the young version! Apologies for providing the temptation (not really, he’ll look cool with your imperial colours

Found one in eBay but lost the auction by 50 cents. Wasn't inclined to pay too much, because I have no immediate gaming use for him and with Indomitus and other stuff on the horizon a weeping wallet But will keep looking.

Hope you don't have to wait too long for Indomitus. I already got one of my two boxes I split with my friend here and can't wait to get to the new Space Marine models. Although the new bikers are of course partly already modeled on the bikes, I have yet to check if subassemblies are possible, will leaf through the assembly guide later.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Nice, I love dynamic bike poses. Bikers and 40k just fit so well together for some reason. Hope they're doing sick tricks and flips off of rocks and things.

I think the exhaust holes look just fine, the muzzles are large enough that going through still leaves enough plastic that it looks realistic. The first time I read your post I thought you meant drilling the exhausts of the bike, and spent too long looking at the pipes saying "well I don't see any holes here. Looks fine to me!"

Cheers, I need to get some bases so that I can have them leaning for permanent dynamism! The Sgt has extra 40k by having his Chainsword swinging! I did mean the exhaust exits getting drilled, though I’ve not taken any photos from the rear to show it. I’ll get one tomorrow whilst priming. I’m getting a decent system going with the barrel drilling, they’re quite satisfying to do!

brushcommando wrote:Bikes are looking pretty cool. I like the use of the space marine heroes helmet on the pistol marine. It looks like he's got an extra targeting lens to help with that motion compensation that you totally intended for him to making. Excited to see you slap some paint on these guys.

Cheers brushcommando, the targeting lens was actually intentional unlike the motion compensation . All 3 are ready now, but the weather is a bit so they’ll have to wait!

Viterbi wrote:Nice work on the bikers, the reposing with the pistol looks great!

 gobert wrote:

Yeah, he’s really cool. I was bidding on the original sculpt too, but he went for twice what I got the young version! Apologies for providing the temptation (not really, he’ll look cool with your imperial colours

Found one in eBay but lost the auction by 50 cents. Wasn't inclined to pay too much, because I have no immediate gaming use for him and with Indomitus and other stuff on the horizon a weeping wallet But will keep looking.

Hope you don't have to wait too long for Indomitus. I already got one of my two boxes I split with my friend here and can't wait to get to the new Space Marine models. Although the new bikers are of course partly already modeled on the bikes, I have yet to check if subassemblies are possible, will leaf through the assembly guide later.

Cheers Viterbi, they’ve been pretty fun to put together even if there was a bit too much filing to close the gaps! 50c, that’s what I hate about eBay, could be worse, I think I won the bikes by 1p over another bidder... sorry if that was anyone on here!

I was actually hoping that my Indomitus box would be shipped in December as the site advertised, but they shipped it today, so there’ll be no chance to clear some of the backlog first. Oh well more toy soldiers and shiny books! I’m pretty excited about the Necrons, as I want to give John Prins’ Necron recipe a try. The Primaris won’t be joining any of my existing Marines, so I need to figure out what chapter to go with. I enjoyed the sharp highlights on my Crimson Fists and they’d be front runners to cross the Rubicon Primaris. I want to do a different colour, probably dark green, making a Dark Angels or Salamanders Successor quite likely. We’ll see when the box arrives... black is also quite tempting but I’m worried it might be a bit boring. Decisions!

Anyway, enough rambling about what to do about my pile of shame growth issues. Progress has been made with the bike squad, and they’re all built and ready for priming. The Sergeant got his raised Chainsword as is demanded by 40k and his helmet is from another duplicate Space Marine Hero.



So that’s the squad ready to prime and join my other new old marines in the painting WIP pile. Next up will be to finish the Space Marine Heroes, I’m clear what to do on the marines, but I’m thinking the grey/steel of their bases is a bit dull. I’m not sure what to do there, maybe some beige stone or black and white tiles on some of the bases. Any ideas?

Thanks for looking!

The bases probbably just want a big dip in black ink really. Darken them way down.

Bikers are looking good. Much more dynamic than the usual Sunday drive pose.

theCrowe wrote:The bases probbably just want a big dip in black ink really. Darken them way down.

I like it, though I’ve selectively darkened the bases, it seems to to work well. Cheers for the direction!

youwashock wrote:Bikers are looking good. Much more dynamic than the usual Sunday drive pose.

That’s what I wanted to avoid on most of them, they’d get a bit monotonous otherwise!

The weather wasn’t good today, so no primer applied to the bikes yet. Instead I did the chapter and squad symbols on my New Old Marines and a bit on the green trims. I decided to go with black, whilst white would probably be easier to see, the black was much easier to get smoothish. I did a few attempts at the outline of the shapes, but couldn’t get it right. I had much more success filling the rough outline in black, then painting the purple back in.


Rough outline

Filling in the mouth

First “swoosh”
I then missed photos of a few steps. Next was the second swoosh, followed by the ear. I then decided to put line the symbol using dawnstone grey as it looked good on the squad symbol. I’m pretty happy that I managed to do it, I think it helps define the image a bit better, but some are a bit sloppy or too busy.

What do you guys think? I’m pleased I gave it a go, but might see about getting to decal paper to print the symbols instead.

The tactical squad symbol was much easier, I started with a symmetrical cross, then added diagonals at the top. Then horizontal lines half way along the arrowhead. Then vertically up to create the arrow. Most of them seem to look pretty similar


After I’d done that I cracked on washing the green with Ork flesh and bits of the bases with black ink. Then I reapplied Emerald green and called it a night. Here’s a few snaps of where I’m at;




Only a bit more work on the green, the plasma glow, parchments and base details to sort out. Oh and a second highlight on the Sgts newly added black helmet stripe. Hopefully I’ll get w bit of time to finish them off before we go to visit my brother for a few nights next week.

I need to sort out a name, I’m thinking something like Royal/Regal/Imperial Panthers/Wildcats. Or perhaps their High Gothic/Latin equivalents. Not sure yet, I should probably pick something before their done. Suggestions welcome!

Cheers for looking!

Solid work on those symbols.

Can't help with the name. Everything I came up with sounded like Regis Pantalones.

Woah, excellent freehand work! I wouldn't blame you for picking up some custom decals to help speed things along, but I'm super impressed with the freehand chapter symbol you've done. Showing progress shots across three different marines only demonstrates your skill.

I think the white (or rather, Dawnstone) outline really helps things pop, but I was surprised how well the black stood out on its own over the purple. If you were to decide to nix the outline to save time I think you'd still have a very good looking set of marines.

Re: names, for some reason I'm stuck in the heavy metal tradition. All the names i come up with are different iterations of Panteras Rex, which I think is neither proper Latin nor any kind of Linnaean taxonomy. That's what I get for spending too much time with Cowboys from Hell, I suppose!

Great job on those shoulder pad free hand paints . Look every bit as good as a decal could.

When I saw your bike posings I remembered years ago someone posing the biker doing a handstand while staddling the bike . All because the bikers got the toughness buff back then.

Post

youwashock wrote:Solid work on those symbols.

Can't help with the name. Everything I came up with sounded like Regis Pantalones.

Thanks youwashock! I quite like that name, Royal Trousers has a nice ring to it too!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Woah, excellent freehand work! I wouldn't blame you for picking up some custom decals to help speed things along, but I'm super impressed with the freehand chapter symbol you've done. Showing progress shots across three different marines only demonstrates your skill.

I think the white (or rather, Dawnstone) outline really helps things pop, but I was surprised how well the black stood out on its own over the purple. If you were to decide to nix the outline to save time I think you'd still have a very good looking set of marines.

Re: names, for some reason I'm stuck in the heavy metal tradition. All the names i come up with are different iterations of Panteras Rex, which I think is neither proper Latin nor any kind of Linnaean taxonomy. That's what I get for spending too much time with Cowboys from Hell, I suppose!

Thanks Don, I’m pleased I gave it a go to prove I could do it. The whitish outline was stressful but successful on the whole, the purple and black are a bit shiny so the black was hard to see. The outline helps with that I think. I spent the day trying to figure out how I might sort custom decals, but I’m currently trying something a bit different. Panteras Rex isn’t too dissimilar to what I’ve been coming up with, and my only Latin comes from google translate.

Theophony wrote:Great job on those shoulder pad free hand paints . Look every bit as good as a decal could.

When I saw your bike posings I remembered years ago someone posing the biker doing a handstand while staddling the bike . All because the bikers got the toughness buff back then.

Very kind of you Theo, I’m pretty pleased, but might be switching things up. That meme is awesome! I might have to get an extra bike just to give that a go, especially the multimelta aimed shot! It’s a shame the Indomitus bikers don’t seem very poseable certainly not without a bigger bits box...

So whilst thinking about the freehand symbols I couldn’t help but feel they had more of a Lion than a Wildcat feel to them. So after deciding printing my own decals would be a faff as I don’t have a laser jet. That got me thinking about 3D Printers, but I don’t have a spare £500+ on printer plus computer. Getting them done via a website would be silly money too, I saw $65 for one website! Then I remembered how well the Crimson Fists casts turned out, and wondered if I could make my own.



I think they came out really well. The Wildcat is pretty spot on to the original image. I’m desperate to cast it up, but I’m old and can’t handle 2 late nights in a row! It was pretty fiddly, but I printed a few copies of the cat at 8mm width (based on what the internet said the width of GW transfers were). I used a photo paper version as a base, then used some thin card to cut out the raised shapes. The ear was too fiddly to have a recessed outline, so I overlaid a photo paper version. There’s a bit of overhang on the top layer, so I’ll probably have to cast one, fill and sand before making the final master (though maybe I could do that on the card version?). I’ll finish the Space Marine Heroes with their freehand symbols but the I’ll try the cast symbols on the Bikers and see how I like them.

After some of the problems getting the Crimson Fists Terminator bits out of their moulds I thought I’d try something new. So I’ve bought some Oyumaru (multicoloured blue stuff), it looks really good for making moulds and thought I’d give milliput a try. If they work well I’ll try similar on some other stuff, so printed this bunch;



Thanks for looking... and now I realise that the Bikers need assault squad markings.

Wow. That works pretty good. Will Milliput work with the Oyumaru? Will it stay flexible enough to not break coming out of the mold?

Nicely done! Excited to see your casting progress.

Very cool work on the symbols! I'm impressed by the highlights. Also, if you're still working on a name, I suggest something along the lines of void lions or void panthers. I think both are officially still up for grabs.

youwashock wrote:Wow. That works pretty good. Will Milliput work with the Oyumaru? Will it stay flexible enough to not break coming out of the mold?

Yeah, I was surprised too! It’s going to need work to smooth some imperfections before I keep the master. I’ve never used either Milliput or Oyumaru, so I’ve no idea on how they’ll work together. I’ll find out next weekend!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Nicely done! Excited to see your casting progress.

Cheers, I was worried it’d look but it turned out ok. Hopefully the casting works for me

brushcommando wrote:Very cool work on the symbols! I'm impressed by the highlights. Also, if you're still working on a name, I suggest something along the lines of void lions or void panthers. I think both are officially still up for grabs.

Thanks, the highlights were particularly stressy! Void Panthers sounds cool I like it!

Minor update... not content with Indomitus arriving today I bought a copy of Space Marine Adventures so I can finish my squad of Space Marine Heroes. Squad 2 will have to wait until I have a few more kitbash options for regular Marines


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Oh so close to finishing the Space Marine Heroes now. I focussed on the greens tonight, and got them done. The green plasma looks pretty good in the pics but is a bit disappointing in real life. The scorpion green wash was too thin to show up so I added some white. That was too thick, but thankfully I managed to rescue it but thinning it in situ! I could then wick away the excess. All of the parchments and bones got Skeleton Bone from Army Painter (it’s don’t but it!) followed by Seraphim Sepia and highlighted back to Skeleton Bone. The bases had their metallics touched up and some of the pipes and spent ammo got a brassy colour (GWs Brass recipe from their app). The rims got my standard black coating. I finished by touching up the outlines of their lenses with nuln oil. That didn’t cover all my sins, so I need to touch up their helmets around the lenses with purple. That should be it to finish them off.

They’re looking pretty good and I’m liking the extra details on the bases too. If I get more vanilla Marines for these guys I need to get some sculpted bases. I think Sector Imperialis bases would match, do you guys think they would? Before calling it a night I mixed up some GS to make press moulds of the shoulder pad icons I made yesterday. I’m worried the card won’t like the process so I painted it last night then soaked it with oil. Fingers crossed it doesn’t ruin the original!



Bonus pic of the squad with the moulds.

Thanks for looking!

The freehand on the shoulderpads is amazing and cool to see the process. But I really love the glow of the plasma gun, it looks nearly translucent
Good luck for the last push on these and with the moulds!

I know i already said it, but i just love this color scheme.

And for a name, how about the Princely Pumas?

(maybe not, ha)

Nice work gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Your work on these guys is showing a lot of love. They look awesome. Good luck with the molds!

A+ on the green accents; love the plasma glow and the targeting monocles. Chapter badges look fresh.

Just waiting for that last push on the SM:Heroes, they are nearly there. It is odd how the monopose Heroes sculpts have a lot more life and movement to them than the traditional Tactical kit.

That gold, purple and green scheme really looks beautiful altogether...always good to see the birth of another glorious chapter of Space Marines.

Viterbi wrote:The freehand on the shoulderpads is amazing and cool to see the process. But I really love the glow of the plasma gun, it looks nearly translucent
Good luck for the last push on these and with the moulds!

Thanks Viterbi, they’ve been good fun to paint, the plasma glow probably looks better in the photos than it does irl. That’s ok as more people see them here than irl!

amazingturtles wrote:I know i already said it, but i just love this color scheme.

And for a name, how about the Princely Pumas?

(maybe not, ha)

Thanks Turtles, hmmm not too sure about Princely Pumas! Void Panthers, as suggested by brushcommando, is my current favourite, it sounds cool and works with the black symbol.

Captain Brown wrote:Nice work gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers Captain!

youwashock wrote:Your work on these guys is showing a lot of love. They look awesome. Good luck with the molds!

Yep, they’re lovely models so deserve the attention, really pleased I got the rest of the troop choices too.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:A+ on the green accents; love the plasma glow and the targeting monocles. Chapter badges look fresh.

Cheers Don, the monocles are looking pretty nice if I do say so myself! Some eye lenses need a bit of a touch up though.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Just waiting for that last push on the SM:Heroes, they are nearly there. It is odd how the monopose Heroes sculpts have a lot more life and movement to them than the traditional Tactical kit.

That gold, purple and green scheme really looks beautiful altogether...always good to see the birth of another glorious chapter of Space Marines.

I’m hoping to finish them tonight, fingers crossed my girls are good at bedtime! They really are very dynamic, I’m hoping to mix up my 5 duplicates to create a few more decent poses. I seem to recall you did similar? I might need to wait until I get a tactical box to give me a few more options though. Either that or get an eBay win of 3 or so marines and hope to reuse some of the arms.

No painting progress so far tonight, but hopefully you guys have some ideas to help me. I pride the GS press moulds off the shoulder pads. Whilst the concept worked really quite well it seems that the GS and card like each other too much as it came off with the mould. I’m tempted to drop the moulds into some dettol as the card was painted I’m thinking it might brush off quite easily. I could also scrape off the card, but I fear damaging the mould. Do any of you have ideas? Will the dettol destroy the GS?

Thanks!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So I finished off the Space Marine Heroes, but didn’t get around to setting up my camera. Instead I set about building stuff for priming over the next week of decent weather and ahead of having next weekend to myself. I set off by building the 2 squad mates for the Space Marine Heroes squad;

They still need their barrels drilling, but I still needed more building. So I turned to Chaos and built the Cultists of the Abyss from Blackstone Fortress: Escalation;

As with the main box they’re all really cool models. The leader chap is going to be a to paint what with his head hiding in his horn crown thing. Still not content, I started building the Adventurers too;

After the slow progress of the past couple of months, I’ll be cracking out the Mid Winter Minis speed painting tutorials to get Escalation done quickly. At some point next weekend I also want to get as many of the RTB01 beakies stripped ready to build. I’m tempted to build a squad of Necron Warriors from Indomitus too. Then again I’m probably over estimating what I will have time/motivation to get done. I will though get some pics of the Space Marine Heroes

Thanks for looking and reading my ramblings

No idea how Dettol will react to anything, having never used it. However, all the new stuff coming up looks like fun.

Excited for the Escalation stuff! The cultists look really cool, but I resisted buying them, because a friends has them. I already had the adventurers separately from combat arena so we just bought the escalation gaming stuff on its own. Although they are cheap enough to pick up, maybe I change my mind later

youwashock wrote:No idea how Dettol will react to anything, having never used it. However, all the new stuff coming up looks like fun.

I’ll find out and report back! The builds have been fun, can’t wait to get the priming stick out!

Viterbi wrote:Excited for the Escalation stuff! The cultists look really cool, but I resisted buying them, because a friends has them. I already had the adventurers separately from combat arena so we just bought the escalation gaming stuff on its own. Although they are cheap enough to pick up, maybe I change my mind later

Yeah, they’re really cool minis, they have a few gaps between parts but I’m not sure I can be bothered to fill them.

So whilst catching up on the F1 (what a last lap!) I built a few more minis, getting all of Escalation ready for Primer. I even started a few Necron Warriors;


Once the race had finished I grabbed my camera to get some glamour shots of the Space Marine Heroes Series 1 Marines. I’ve really enjoyed painting these guys, and I’m pretty happy how they’ve turned out. Clearly the chapter needs a name and brushcommando came up with something way better than I could, so I’m sticking with Void Panthers. I’ve even picked a motto for them; Power & Grace. So here they are;

Brother Castor

Brother Gaiun

Brother Titus

Brother Vanial

Brother Garus

Brother Promethor

Brother Remus

Brother Sergeant Sevastus

It looks like I forgot to add the second highlight to Sevastus’ helmet stripe, nevermind, maybe I’ll do that when I finish the squad. I started taking all round shots of them individually, but my battery ran out, so only got 3 of them done so far. Spoilers for the full size pics and to hide the mistakes!
Brother Sergeant Sevastus

Brother Garus

Brother Remus


I’ll do the rest of the all round individual slots when I finish the other 2 squad members from Space Marine Adventures. They’ve been a fun bunch to paint and took a lot longer to finish than the hours that went in to them. Hopefully I’ll pick up the pace next weekend!

Thanks for looking!

Looks great with striking colors. Wonderful to see it all come together!

They look beautiful, man. The gold has a great tonal range, the greens are nice and vibrant, and they play so well off the purple. A solid victory.

Good job on the space marine heroes, freehand symbols are well done and the lenses came out really well.

It's always nice to see custom chapters.

Also cool work on the free hand, something I found usefull for highlighting fiddly bits was to just paint it the highlight colour and then fill it in with the intended base colour leaving the edges.
It's actually how I did the boots on most of my guardsmen as the angle was to hard to get into half the time.

They look great! Excellent work on the lenses.

Go Void Panthers! Congrats on finishing the squad, they look amazing! Hadn't noticed the green purity seals before, really cool look.

I like the dynamic trio of bikers. It is a shame to not build movement into a squad that is moving at high speed! You'll see mine at some point.

The Heroes range is nice. I ought to paint some of mine, but I can't decide which army to put them in.

The Hero marines are looking Golden! Literally. And figuratively. They're great. Gold standard. Five gold stars. Olympic Gold. All of your gold are belong to gobert!

And the shoulder pads are looking very subtle and expertly rendered. Fantastic work on those lads.

Nicely done gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Void Panthers is a great choice for a chapter name! (and i'm not just saying that because my own chapter is named the Void Otters)

I like their green eyes, it sets off the other colors quite well

Great name and the green on the lenses, power cords and honor braids all turned out amazing

Gobeeeeeerrrttt! Heroes Marines look great, splendid job!

CaptainWaffle wrote:Looks great with striking colors. Wonderful to see it all come together!

Cheers, CaptainWaffle, they are pretty high impact colours!

youwashock wrote:They look beautiful, man. The gold has a great tonal range, the greens are nice and vibrant, and they play so well off the purple. A solid victory.

Thanks youwashock, I tried a new (to me) approach on the gold by not edge highlighting it, instead highlighting where the sheen from my lights was. I’m happy how it’s turned out!

Maharg wrote:Good job on the space marine heroes, freehand symbols are well done and the lenses came out really well.

Thanks Maharashtra, the freehand was a bit stressful, but I think you can tell what they’re supposed to look like! The lenses were fun to do too!

Guardling wrote:It's always nice to see custom chapters.

Also cool work on the free hand, something I found usefull for highlighting fiddly bits was to just paint it the highlight colour and then fill it in with the intended base colour leaving the edges.
It's actually how I did the boots on most of my guardsmen as the angle was to hard to get into half the time.

Thanks Guardling, welcome to my plog! A few others have suggested reversing the highlighting process, I might give it a go sometime. I tried it with a test shoulder pad this time, but couldn’t get the final product to look right. More practice is what I need!

brushcommando wrote:They look great! Excellent work on the lenses.

Thanks brushcommando, and thanks for the name! The lenses did come out pretty well on some of the

Viterbi wrote:Go Void Panthers! Congrats on finishing the squad, they look amazing! Hadn't noticed the green purity seals before, really cool look.

Thanks Viterbi, they were a while in the making so it’s good to be finished. The purity seals follows my less is more concept. That said, Sergeant Sevastus will have his changed to ultramarines blue so I can more easily play Space Marine Adventures. The Sgt from that box will be getting a conversion of some description.

Fifty wrote:I like the dynamic trio of bikers. It is a shame to not build movement into a squad that is moving at high speed! You'll see mine at some point.

The Heroes range is nice. I ought to paint some of mine, but I can't decide which army to put them in.

Thanks Fifty, I think the bikers are so old their novelty at the time was enough dynamic! I think they’re pretty similar age to the Bolter Huggers from 2nd! I look forward to seeing your Bikes and Heroes, you do have quite a few armies to choose from, good luck picking who gets the reinforcements

theCrowe wrote:The Hero marines are looking Golden! Literally. And figuratively. They're great. Gold standard. Five gold stars. Olympic Gold. All of your gold are belong to gobert!

And the shoulder pads are looking very subtle and expertly rendered. Fantastic work on those lads.

Thanks theCrowe! High praise indeed, now where’s your gold!?!?

Captain Brown wrote:Nicely done gobert,
Cheers,
CB

Thanks Cap!

amazingturtles wrote:Void Panthers is a great choice for a chapter name! (and i'm not just saying that because my own chapter is named the Void Otters)

I like their green eyes, it sets off the other colors quite well

Maybe the Panthers are a successor to your Void Otters... hmm now where to source a tiny cat?

Theophony wrote:Great name and the green on the lenses, power cords and honor braids all turned out amazing

Thanks Theo, I have to thank brushcommando for the name, but I’m pleased so many are liking green accents!

MegaDave wrote:Gobeeeeeerrrttt! Heroes Marines look great, splendid job!

Thanks MegaDave, not spotted you on Dakka for a while, hopefully see some new bits from you soon!

So I’m hoping this weekend will be a paint filled weekend. I’m without family (visiting MIL) so in between chores and DIY (and F1) I’ve Set myself a 48hr Painting Self Motivational Challenge. I’m aiming to at least get these guys all painted up;

Maybe more, though with the weather being SO HOT this weekend I might need to find a cooler location than the loft! Join the other thread if you fancy coming along for the ride. I’ll be following a similar scheme to my Traitor Guard, based on the Mid Winter Minis speed painting tutorial, so it might be doable!

Right, lunch is over, time to go back to work

Good luck knocking out the Cultists!

Thanks youwashock, I’m more than half way through in terms of time and progress. They’re having their wash dry ready for a few highlights in the morning;



It’s been a fun hobby day, lots of painting and now I’m up way too late, but then again there won’t be any small people waking me up early! The DIY I had planned was to build some extra shelves for my little guys. I also built a paint rack to go in my drawers, I got fed up of them falling over every time I opened the drawer! It was great working with wood again, but all I can smell is mdf! Luckily I’ve got another rack awaiting drilling as my drawer is full and I’ve got a load of paints inbound on Monday. I forgot to get a pic, I’ll try to remember tomorrow morning!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here’s my new drawer insert, the dropper bottles fit perfectly but the inks sit far too low in there. I need to stick something underneath them to raise them some more. I think it works pretty well!

Really good job on the Void Panthers! Love the colors you have chosen, and well executed too!

Full on hobby weekends are the best. They surely are too far between.
Good luck on finishing these guys! You are making great progress.

Ah, green hair. you gotta have green hair. That's why people join the cults, they just got more style than the imperium.

Yes, those Void Panthers look great. Amazing how moopose marines can look better than the multi part Tacical kit. The gold, purple and green just complement each other so well. And brave to do so much freehand with the chapter insignia, great stuff.

Ezki wrote:Really good job on the Void Panthers! Love the colors you have chosen, and well executed too!
Full on hobby weekends are the best. They surely are too far between.
Good luck on finishing these guys! You are making great progress.

Thanks Ezki, I’m liking the Panthers’ look on the shelf

amazingturtles wrote:Ah, green hair. you gotta have green hair. That's why people join the cults, they just got more style than the imperium.

What more reason could one have to sell your soul to eternal living hell? Not only green hair, but the mother of all undercuts to the point you only have enough left for an awesome top know/pony tail!?! (I think they might be using extensions)

So it was a bit of a mad rush to get them done before collecting the family from the airport, but done they are. No Glamour shots as yet, they’ll have to wait until I next get my camera out.

Not my best work, but certainly my quickest!

Not sure why the attachment about my drawer didn’t work but here it is again for anyone that’s interested

Well done! The fire stick is killer.

Drawer attachment looks really cool, nice DIY!
And congrats on finishing the challenge and minis, they look great and I fear, that I have to get them myself, they look so much fun to paint. And that flame really is amazing, the gradient of the greens is superb and the black really gives the flame the perfect look!

youwashock wrote:Well done! The fire stick is killer.

Thanks youwashock, they’re not bad for a weekends work!

Viterbi wrote:Drawer attachment looks really cool, nice DIY!
And congrats on finishing the challenge and minis, they look great and I fear, that I have to get them myself, they look so much fun to paint. And that flame really is amazing, the gradient of the greens is superb and the black really gives the flame the perfect look!

Thanks Viterbi, I’ll be making another one soon I think. My new paints for Indomitus have arrived, though I forgot the basing stuff. Will have to formulate another plan! The flame came out pretty well for a quirky job, though the front looks better than the back!

As I mentioned my paints arrived, and I might’ve gone a bit mad buying minis. My Void Panthers will be getting a Start Collecting Space Marines addition, BSF will be getting a Zoat and I bought some Ambots because they’re cool! I missed out on no respite which now seems to be OOP but I got some ETB plague marines and pox walkers for the complete mini collection. I got some sector imperialis bases for the Panthers too. M

After all of that I was done with buying minis for the year... or so I thought! eBay reminded me that I was about to win and Attack Bike and a job lot of marines! They were low bids so I thought I’d lose! Oh well, more fun stuff to paint!

Somebody say Zoat? Exciting stuff ahead!

Love those cultist sculpts, and a great job getting them painted up quickly. Suitably Slaaneshi colourscgiven their theme as well, and that green ethereal flame looks excellent.

Given your ebay win I can see classic marines ongoing cheap for the foreseeable future...so you may "accidentally " add to the pile soon

Nice work on those cultists! and that drawer fill me with envy, my desk is a nightmare at the minute need some order ...

 maxwin wrote:
Nice work on those cultists! and that drawer fill me with envy, my desk is a nightmare at the minute need some order ...

What do you use the binoculars for ,never seen a pair on a painting desk before, not knocking it,just wondering if I’m missing something that could help me.

youwashock wrote:Somebody say Zoat? Exciting stuff ahead!

Yep! Need to figure out where he fits in the painting queue

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Love those cultist sculpts, and a great job getting them painted up quickly. Suitably Slaaneshi colourscgiven their theme as well, and that green ethereal flame looks excellent.

Given your ebay win I can see classic marines ongoing cheap for the foreseeable future...so you may "accidentally " add to the pile soon

Yeah, they’re a pretty cool bunch, the flames were fun and it was cool getting them done so quickly... not quite your pace mind! I need to stop watching ebay, I think I’ve now got a big enough bits box to keep me going for a while!

maxwin wrote:Nice work on those cultists! and that drawer fill me with envy, my desk is a nightmare at the minute need some order ...

Thanks maxwin, I see you’ve given in to the organisation gods! Your station looks pretty sweet post rack installation!

Theophony wrote:

 maxwin wrote:
Nice work on those cultists! and that drawer fill me with envy, my desk is a nightmare at the minute need some order ...

What do you use the binoculars for ,never seen a pair on a painting desk before, not knocking it,just wondering if I’m missing something that could help me.

I hadn’t spotted those, but now you mention it... maybe that’s The trick for doing eyes... have you see the eyes on maxwins latest creation?!?

So after last weekends rapid progress it was back to my usual pace. That said I spent a good while decanting my new paints in to dropper bottles. Only then did I realise that I forgot to order Zandri Dust! :Facepalm: I’m more and more thinking Dark Angels for my Indomitus Marines, so the Blade Guard will have to wait to join the Deathwing. I did get the paints I needed to sort the Assault Intercessors out. I also got what I need to try to replicate John Prins’ Necrons. Though since buying the paints I’ve been tempted to go dark metallics and red Terminator-esque eyes. I guess I’ll have to paint a couple of warriors to see which I prefer.

Anyway, I started some more Void Panthers tonight, getting the Retributor Gold on the Space Marine Adventures BA & SW as well as the 3 Bikers. The BA & SW also got their Liche Purple down. I think I might progress these 2 first, then come back to the Bikers. I’m hoping it will show me quicker progress that way. Here’s a pic of where I got to;

Thanks for looking!

Cool gold Marines all over, today. Nice!

gobert,

Well done on the challenge. I echo youwashock that the green flames look fantastic.

I think I have the exact same small cabinet with drawers you have, but mine has bits for terrain, pill bottles, scarp chip board, bent copper sheets, and old sprue just tossed in. So Mrs. Captain Brown must never see that picture or I will be directed to clean up.

Cheers,

CB

Those golden bikers will look ace, can't wait for you to finish both pedestrians and then get to them.

Great work on the cultists!
It's no small feat to get them all done over the weekend. As others have said, the green hair is a winner's choice!

Looking forward for those bikers. Keep it up champ!

The bikes are going to look so cool. I can feel it.

Belated congrats on finishing the Heroes Series 1, the Void Panthers look brilliant! Really nice work on freehanding the chapter icons on all those shoulderpads, that's something that I don't think I'd have the patience for!

youwashock wrote:Cool gold Marines all over, today. Nice!

Yeah, but mine come to life much more slowly than ListenToMeWarriors’!

Captain Brown wrote:gobert,

Well done on the challenge. I echo youwashock that the green flames look fantastic.

I think I have the exact same small cabinet with drawers you have, but mine has bits for terrain, pill bottles, scarp chip board, bent copper sheets, and old sprue just tossed in. So Mrs. Captain Brown must never see that picture or I will be directed to clean up.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks Captain, they were a fun challenge. I’ll be sure to not show Mrs Captain Brown my Drawers! To be fair though mine were a complete mess until the other day!

Viterbi wrote:Those golden bikers will look ace, can't wait for you to finish both pedestrians and then get to them.

Still some waiting to do I’m afraid Viterbi.

Ezki wrote:Great work on the cultists!
It's no small feat to get them all done over the weekend. As others have said, the green hair is a winner's choice!

Looking forward for those bikers. Keep it up champ!

Cheers Ezki, they were fun to attempt, though I won’t be doing similar again for a while I think!

amazingturtles wrote:The bikes are going to look so cool. I can feel it.

Me too, their bases are all primed ready to set their poses soon... well, soonish

mcmattila wrote:Belated congrats on finishing the Heroes Series 1, the Void Panthers look brilliant! Really nice work on freehanding the chapter icons on all those shoulderpads, that's something that I don't think I'd have the patience for!

Thanks mcmatilla, the symbols weren’t too bad, but I think I need to get a press mould of them sorted for after the first squad!

Sadly no painting to update you with. Instead I spent my evening stripping paint. I need to find something less stinky that dettol, it’s just too much! I stopped cleaning minis about 2.5hrs ago and I still reak! Still, I now have roughly 20 odd RTB01 beaky marines all stripped and disassembled! I even tried out the Oyumaru so that I can make spares of bits I’m short on like the Missile launcher with its broken wrist arm too! I’ll give my milliput a try next hobby session.

Blast from the past. Have fun tinkering with those oldies!

 youwashock wrote:
Blast from the past. Have fun tinkering with those oldies!

Yeah, it kinda hits you right in the nostalgia! Then you start on the mahoosive mould lines. I spent an hour or so today scraping them clean and got 5 Marines ready for building. 1 combat squad including a missile launcher and flame thrower. The “Commanders” bead looks kinda goofy so they’ll all be getting helmets. The Sgt will be getting a power fist and as his leg is broken I’m thinking a minor conversion to make him stand on an Ork face down in the mud. Question for you guys though, do I go for a 2nd Ed boxset boy or a boy from the more recent box?

Thanks for looking

2nd ed is more suitable, but will look like a mannequin laying on the ground without a bit of work. New Ork will be easier to pose. Tough call, but 2nd will be way cooler.

You’re probably right on the coolness, shame I don’t have any RTB13 Orks for the job! I might do a cast of and Orks back to have him really stomped in to the mud!

I got another hour or so tonight and finished the other half of the first RTB01 squad. All Bolter Marines this time, mixing and matching legs as they’re the only variables equipment wise. These guys will be my stock squad, and might not get loaded up with pouches etc. I think from the haul and my bits box I have 1 of each pouch available in the original kit. They’re damned fiddly to clean up though!

The Void Panthers are looking fierce. Great job on the cultists.

Very excited to see so many ranks of beakies! Can't wait for them paints. Also would vote for a 2nd edition ork.

nice cultist squad, green flames are really good. Looking forward to seeing those bikers finished and the oncoming beakie horde

my desk is a nightmare at the minute need some order ...

maxwin - call that desk a nightmare? I'm ashamed to say mine never looks that neat, even after a tidy up . I might need to invest in some storage like Gobert, though I expect things would somehow end up migrating from the drawers to the desk anyway..

I say recast the back of a 2nd ed boy so it's proper buried in the mud. I could see it looking a bit disappointing though... Maybe something else orky like an ork skull or a weapon? Simpler, cleaner.

Those are a lot of not Oldmarines, but VeryOldmarines Will be fun seeing them being put together again and getting modern paintjobs!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:The Void Panthers are looking fierce. Great job on the cultists.

Very excited to see so many ranks of beakies! Can't wait for them paints. Also would vote for a 2nd edition ork.

Cheers Don, I’m looking forward to getting some beakies done, and that 2nd Ed Ork is gonna have to get stomped!

Maharg wrote:nice cultist squad, green flames are really good. Looking forward to seeing those bikers finished and the oncoming beakie horde

my desk is a nightmare at the minute need some order ...

maxwin - call that desk a nightmare? I'm ashamed to say mine never looks that neat, even after a tidy up . I might need to invest in some storage like Gobert, though I expect things would somehow end up migrating from the drawers to the desk anyway..

Thanks Maharg, I need to get some better pics of the cultists, so I’ll have to get these Space Marines done ready for a photo shoot! Regarding gear migrating to the desk, I’ve been pretty good so far, but I think that’s because it also doubles as my work space. Were that not the case I’m pretty sure the drawers would be mostly empty! In any case, I think maxwin wins the hobby storage competition now he’s invested!

theCrowe wrote:I say recast the back of a 2nd ed boy so it's proper buried in the mud. I could see it looking a bit disappointing though... Maybe something else orky like an ork skull or a weapon? Simpler, cleaner.

Yep, I’m worried it’ll be a bit disappointing, but I’ll give it a go, if not I could always do a severed head!

Viterbi wrote:Those are a lot of not Oldmarines, but VeryOldmarines Will be fun seeing them being put together again and getting modern paintjobs!

Yeah, they’re pretty ancient. It’s going to be a shock to move from the Space Marine Heroes/Adventures casts to these guys! I need to figure out some poses for them, one guy will be reloading I think. There’ll obviously be some classic poses, might have to look at the box art for those

I did a few trial casts with the onymaru the other day. After my failed attempts the other day I’ve got a few very useable components. I think a few parts of the mould had too much flex and others I used too much milliput. Still I’ve got some packs for belts and other trinkets plus a few spare arms. I’ll redo a few moulds and make sure I use enough onymaru. I also need to be careful with the milliput, it’s hard to shave bits off as it snaps. It files down really nicely though! The head came out wierd, I must’ve cut the mould, but I reckon I can use it to supplement bases in the future.

After cleaning up the beakie bits I slapped some paint on my next two Void Panthers. Just the blacks and the Boltgun Metal. The latter behaved surprisingly well, probably because it’ll be replaced with Leadbelcher after this squad is done! Then a bit of Nuln Oil before calling quits.

Thanks for looking!

Those bits look pretty serviceable. Nice work. Excited to see more Panthers, too.

 youwashock wrote:
Those bits look pretty serviceable. Nice work. Excited to see more Panthers, too.

Yeah, some bits came out really well.

I’m having a bit of a build theme to my hobby at the moment. I also had a couple of quiet meetings today so built a few easy to build poxwalkers. I cleaned their mould lines whilst fixing my laptop too. Here they are resting a while, this plague really takes it out of you!

That's one way to get around the productivity software!

Yeah you can’t beat a bit of the plague to drop productivity! My PC is now running sweeter than ever! A new SSD are drive with a fresh install of Windows has done wonders, it boots almost as quick as my iPad! Wish I’d have done it years ago. Now I just need to resist getting a 3D Printer until I’ve reduced my stash somewhat! Some of which I did whilst transferring files from old hard drives. First up were the Plague Marines to accompany last nights Poxwalkers. I forgot to take a pic though, but I reckon most know what an unprimed Plague Marine looks like!

Whilst watching the end of the F1 Qualifying I got layered back the armour on the 2 Void Panthers. I really like how they look at this stage, it feels like they’re coming together. After ListenToMeWarriors revealed his dry brush approach to his lions, the Panthers bikers might get the same. Hopefully it’ll speed them up a bit! Now the Laptop is back up and running I’ll have hopefully get some more time to paint and finish the first squad of Panthers!

Thanks for looking

Almost ready for those sweet green lenses. They look good.

I don’t know what’s going on with this post but it’s done something weird 3 times now! Anyway, great work.

I'm excited for these old marines now, keep up the good work!

Congrats on the newly working 'puter and on clearing out a little bit of your stash there, some good updates on the VPs as well!

I really like the gradiated (have i just invented a word?) purple on the shoulder pads on the Void Panthers. Is that a product of a wash or multiple layers?

Kudos to you on all the black lining/pin washing on the Marines, the damn things have so many nooks and crannies!

youwashock wrote:Almost ready for those sweet green lenses. They look good.

Cheers, they are nearly done with their green lenses now, just the white dots to go

darkkt wrote:I don’t know what’s going on with this post but it’s done something weird 3 times now! Anyway, great work.

Thanks datkkt, welcome to my plog, hopefully there’ll be something finished at some point!

Guardling wrote:I'm excited for these old marines now, keep up the good work!

Which ones? The Old Marine Void Panthers or the Old Old Marines that will join my Crimson Fists? Anyway, thanks Guardling! Welcome along for the rides, the slow painting ride!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Congrats on the newly working 'puter and on clearing out a little bit of your stash there, some good updates on the VPs as well!

Yep, it’s a relief and opens up 3D Printing possibilities down the road.... wait, I need to tone it back! Maybe if I finish BSF this year and Indomitus and some Beakies? Then It’ll be ok right?

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:I really like the gradiated (have i just invented a word?) purple on the shoulder pads on the Void Panthers. Is that a product of a wash or multiple layers?

Kudos to you on all the black lining/pin washing on the Marines, the damn things have so many nooks and crannies!

Not sure the purple is intentionally gradiated (kinda thought that was a word anyway!) it was a heavy Nuln Oil wash over the edge of the trim, I kinda see what you mean though. I should give that sort of highlighting a go on the pads, but so far I’ve stuck to a semi edge highlighting on them. As for the lining and pin washing, that’s just the magic of Nuln Oil again. It loses some of the effect when I highlight up to silver. The nooks and crannies are made even worse now I can’t get their arms off anymore! Thankfully the Fire Controller Marines screen arm is still loose!

Last none school night for about 6 months. Eldest daughter goes back to school on Wednesday, so we’ll actually have a time to be up and ready that’s a challenge again! Hopefully all goes well!

To commiserate myself I did a bit of painting on the 2 Panthers. They’re not far off now, their gold is all done as is there boltgun metal. The Purple is restored after the wash but needs its 2 edge highlights doing, which I hope I don’t mess up as I painted their lenses too (Emerald Green, Ork Flesh wash, Scorpion Green, just the white dots to finish them off). I started on the screen of the Fire Controller and got the base colours for their purity seals done, which will be to match their Space Marine Adventures chapter colours (SW for Knife charger and BA for Fire Controller). So there’s not much left on the Marines themselves, followed by the bases.

I think 2 or 3 minis is probably my ideal batch size, it’s been fun seeing how much progress I can make in one sitting. I might keep close to that with Marines, only growing when I have a horde army unit to get through or simpler paint scheme.

Thanks for looking !

Nice progress on the latest marines. Good luck starting up the school run again!

Armed and ready! Or, auspexed and ready at least. I have a similar preference for 2-3 models at a time, it's about enough time between each layer for it to dry before adding the next.

Good progress gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Yay, more panthers nearly done! Nice detail work on the leaping marine's helmet. So there should be time for the bikes soon

Maharg wrote:Nice progress on the latest marines. Good luck starting up the school run again!

Thanks Maharg, I think we’re gonna need it!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Armed and ready! Or, auspexed and ready at least. I have a similar preference for 2-3 models at a time, it's about enough time between each layer for it to dry before adding the next.

I like to think the Auspex is calling in a Big Gun somewhere nearby, so Armed works for me! . 2 seems to be almost wet blending, 3 should be spot on I reckon!

Captain Brown wrote:Good progress gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks Captain

Viterbi wrote:Yay, more panthers nearly done! Nice detail work on the leaping marine's helmet. So there should be time for the bikes soon

Getting there, the bikes will probably be next as I’ve got their bases primed now. I think I messed up one of the studs on the knife guys helmet, I’ll have to touch it up before do the highlights.

I coulda/shoulda finished off the marines tonight. A spot of evening work though led to me wanting to build something, so Zoat it is!

He/She’s a bit fiddly to put together but despite nearly screwing up their head I think I’ll be able to rescue it. Apparently I was supposed to put the two halves of the head around the breathing apparatus. I’d been poly cementing the pieces but thankfully I could get the halves apart. Phew! Hopefully I’ve not ruined Zoaty’s little face. We’ll see when the primer goes on, I think it should be ok!

Thanks for looking

The Zoat population around here is booming! Can't wait to see how he turns out and for the two new VP's to take their place with the rest.

New marines are looking good Gobert, I like the color scheme you picked out for them. And I see you have a Zoat, that is a cool model looking forward to see how it turns out.

youwashock wrote:The Zoat population around here is booming! Can't wait to see how he turns out and for the two new VP's to take their place with the rest.

Yeah, they must be breading or something!

Yorkright wrote: New marines are looking good Gobert, I like the color scheme you picked out for them. And I see you have a Zoat, that is a cool model looking forward to see how it turns out.

Thanks Yorkright, welcome back, good to see you’ve been busy!

Grabbed 30mins of paint time last night and did the edge highlights on the purple and the white dots on the lenses. Just the purity seals, bases and freehand symbols to go now! With the office/hobby space now also our spare room I won’t be doing anything this weekend with MIL staying over.

Agh, invasion stopping up progress. I got the same, man. House guests for the weekend. Sure to cramp my style. Almost there, though!

Yay for the zoat! I'm very curious to see how you paint it, and glad that nothing went too wrong in putting it together. Nothing like messing up a fifty dollar figure (which i had... definitely done)

Approaching that finish line! Zoat looks good to me - looks like your emergency surgery was successful.

I took a look back at your older posts. Love the elves Gobert very cool to see those old models. The purple effect on the silver is good, I tried using the purple magus contrast on metallics but yours turned out better. I may go back and try that sometime.

One more Zoat, one more Zoat! And yeah, it was weird to put together with this mixture of gluing and push-fit. Excited to see how you will tackle the lizard.

youwashock wrote:Agh, invasion stopping up progress. I got the same, man. House guests for the weekend. Sure to cramp my style. Almost there, though!

It was a really good weekend in the end, we even got to meet our new nephew for the first time, so it was worth it I suppose! I then managed a bit this evening after MIL departed.

amazingturtles wrote:Yay for the zoat! I'm very curious to see how you paint it, and glad that nothing went too wrong in putting it together. Nothing like messing up a fifty dollar figure (which i had... definitely done)

Me too, I haven’t yet decided, but I quite fancy a classic green zoat, dunno yet, I’ll have to look around for inspiration.

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Approaching that finish line! Zoat looks good to me - looks like your emergency surgery was successful.

Close but no cigar yet Don. I had another look at Zoaty tonight, I think he survived reasonably well!

Yorkright wrote: I took a look back at your older posts. Love the elves Gobert very cool to see those old models. The purple effect on the silver is good, I tried using the purple magus contrast on metallics but yours turned out better. I may go back and try that sometime.

You did go back a while! You reminded me that I have some mostly finished Spearmen. I got them out and started the 3 that I need to complete the unit. I’ve been a big fan of the Druchi wash over Boltgun Metal since I saw godardc‘s Emperors Children, dead simple but effective!

Viterbi wrote:One more Zoat, one more Zoat! And yeah, it was weird to put together with this mixture of gluing and push-fit. Excited to see how you will tackle the lizard.

They’ll be taken off the endangered list at this rate! I agree the whole push fit that doesn’t quite fit so you need to glue it and squeeze it together is a bit odd. He’ll get primed at some point, but will probably wait for something else to join him on the stick

So, as I mentioned above I managed a bit of painting this evening. The Space Marine Adventures guys got their purity seals finished off. Ushabti bone and screaming skull seem like good paints, I might try some text squiggles on the parchments next time out. The bases got a drybrush of Celestra and Ulthuan grey, the latter did a good job despite being a Citadel Air version. They then got a Agrax wash all over before a Black ink wash on the tarmac and black tiles. The metal work got some boltgun metal and the skull got its colours down too. Just a wash for the metal and the bases will be done. That will leave just the freehand symbols to finish them off (I’m glad I took pics of the steps now!)


I now notice that I got some black inc on the Auspex chaps leg. I’ll fix that next time

Whilst waiting for the washes to dry I decided to start my next project. Having slowed down considerably since the start of the year, I thought I’d cheat and finish off some minis started about 20+ years ago! Yorkright got me thinking about Elves so I dug out my second Spearmen unit and laid some Mithril Silver on them. I also got some on my Silver Helm and started to repaint the Marauder High Elf Mage on Unicorn. They’re all hiding in the background of the pic above.

Anyways, thanks for looking!

Marauder Unicorn Mage. Now that's some old school. Black spot could be weathering?

I really like the bold color scheme. So much gold! But that purple accents it well.

Nice work, super neat lenses! my only gripe is the moulding draft that base skulls teeth, make it stop!

Marines look good gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Ah, the good old "missed spot before taking the photo" syndrom. In truth it isn't a real pic, if you don't post it and immediately go "dang, where does that splash come from..." Will they be the last Space Marine Heroes sculpts or do you have some tucked away?

Excited for the classic elves.

youwashock wrote:Marauder Unicorn Mage. Now that's some old school. Black spot could be weathering?

Yep, she’s probably the oldest mini I own! I’m looking forward to having her fit in better with the army. Young gobert went for many colours is better!

DJJazzyJeff wrote:I really like the bold color scheme. So much gold! But that purple accents it well.

Thanks DJJazzyJeff, it’s pretty bling, but what can I say... I like Gold!

maxwin wrote:Nice work, super neat lenses! my only gripe is the moulding draft that base skulls teeth, make it stop!

Thanks maxwin, I had thought something looked a bit off as I painted the skull, but it wasn’t until you said that I realised what! Hopefully you approve of the updated version;

Captain Brown wrote:Marines look good gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Thank Cap!

Viterbi wrote:Ah, the good old "missed spot before taking the photo" syndrom. In truth it isn't a real pic, if you don't post it and immediately go "dang, where does that splash come from..." Will they be the last Space Marine Heroes sculpts or do you have some tucked away?

Excited for the classic elves.

Yep, I’m pretty good at the missed a bit game! I got him tidied up though. I have the Heavy Bolter (Grimm/Toriad) and Flamer (Infernus/Callistus) dudes. They’ll join the next squad along with my duplicates. As I have only 2nd Ed marines my kitbash options are limited, so I’ve gone and bought a Start Collecting Space Marines Box when I bought the Zoat. Hopefully I can come up with something decent

So I managed some painting time last night and finished the Space Marine Adventures additions to my Void Panthers squad. In the game their names are Brother Frostclaw and Gabriel, but I’m the Japanese Space Marine Heroes they’re Aethor and Dolor. Gabriel kinda works but Frostclaw only really works for Space Wolves, so I think I’ll dub them Aethor and Gabriel.

Brother Aethor






Brother Gabriel








Other than a bit of touching up there wasn’t much to do besides the freehand. That left me some time to make decent progress on my High Elf Spearmen. The chainmail and armour embellishments got a their blue washes, the faces got Basecoats and Flesh Wash as did the Red. Young gobert was liberal with the colours and the Champion, Musician and Standard Bearer got some touch ups and I started the removal of the Green and Yellow. They’re already starting to look more in keeping with the rest of the unit;


Once I’d finished with painting I got the whole Void Panther squad together for some photos. I didn’t bother with my proper camera so please excuse the iPhone pics





On that note, Thanks for looking

Love the pic of the squad together. Purple and gold works really well together and the green lenses effect makes me jealous. Are these part of a larger force or the start of a new army?

I mean, i already liked the color scheme for the void otters and now i like it even more! The green bits really pull everything together.

Great job on the squad! Is that all of the Space Marine Heroes?

That's one good looking squad, gobert. I look forward to the special weapons guys.

Loving the squad pic and always good to see closeups of the chapter symbol, that freehand always amazes me.

Very nice Marines gobert. Who needs camouflage when you are a Space Marine.

Cheers,

CB

Yorkright wrote: Love the pic of the squad together. Purple and gold works really well together and the green lenses effect makes me jealous. Are these part of a larger force or the start of a new army?

Thanks Yorkright, but the lenses were pretty easy, just Emerald Green , wash of Ork Flesh awash, scorpion green towards the bottom and a white dot opposite the light green. The photos make them look bette than they are! So far the pic shows all I’ve painted of them, but I’ve accumulated a decent sized force via duplacte Space Marine Heroes, an eBay haul and a Start Collecting box... probably about 2 years of painting only them at my current pace! I must stop buying stuff!

amazingturtles wrote:I mean, i already liked the color scheme for the void otters and now i like it even more! The green bits really pull everything together.

Glad you like them, but they have an animal theme so that probably helps!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Great job on the squad! Is that all of the Space Marine Heroes?

I have the heavy Bolter and flamer chaps who were part of the Japanese SMH collection but in the Space Marine Adventures game over here. I’m sorely tempted when Amazon do a price drop on the Series 2 box.

youwashock wrote:That's one good looking squad, gobert. I look forward to the special weapons guys.

Thanks youwashock, they’re built, but need some squad mates. Maybe post bikers?

Viterbi wrote:Loving the squad pic and always good to see closeups of the chapter symbol, that freehand always amazes me.

Thanks Viterbi, the freehand wasn’t so hard this time as I’ve broken it down in to simple steps, though I was glad I had step by steps earlier in the Blog!

Captain Brown wrote:Very nice Marines gobert. Who needs camouflage when you are a Space Marine.

Cheers,

CB

Indeed, when you’re a superhuman you just need to bring the bling!

As I’ll not be getting any painting in this weekend, as we have my parents visiting, I squeezed in a short mid-week session. Nothing too exciting, just removed the goblin green from the feet of the old Spearmen and gave them a Red/Flesh Wash wash. Then the newbies got their pouches painted Enchanted Blue and the Champions dragon vanes got a Nuln Oil wash and the trim and hair on the newbies got a coat of Abaddon Black before I finished the session giving everyone’s face a layer of Elf Flesh. Here’s where I got to;

Oh and it looks like I added Boltgun Metal to the Newbies Spears. I also appear to have forgotten the gold bits on the Champions hair which should be black! They’re coming together, probably another session or 2 on the minis then another for their bases I reckon

Thanks for Looking!

Space marine squad looks great. Green lenses are really nicely done, as is the freehand on the shoulders, well done with replicating such a complicated design so consistently.
Nice to see some classic elves getting some love too

Let's hear it for the old guard. Looks good!

The marines are looking great! As other's have said, the green bits are well done and really make the models pop!
The effect on the lenses is also well executed.

Ah! The first box I bought for Warhammer Fantasy as a kid was a unit of those same spearmen! Lot's of nostalgia there.
For some reason, they never really grew on me. After painting them, I sold them to my friend and transitioned to Orks when the Battle for Skull Pass was released.
I regret selling them now

Edit: I realized that the ones I bought were apparently 6th edition spearmen. So not completely the same.

Love the return to classic high elves. That banner is beautiful; looks like it was freehand as well?

Recognised some of your void panthers on the highest rated this week page in Dakka galleries. A Well deserved shout out to a top class squad. Reping the gobert goodness in some mighty smart company.

I like how the last elf in the front rank is completely hidden behind the standard. Maybe he's protected by it? Maybe he's reading a dark elves manga and doesn't want the champion to find out? Maybe he's such a dedicated and professional spearman that he never breaks position for any reason and relies on the reflections of the enemy in the mirrored armour of his companions to provide all the visual input he needs to fight. And of course he still strikes first! Some proper high elf skills on display.

Maharg wrote:Space marine squad looks great. Green lenses are really nicely done, as is the freehand on the shoulders, well done with replicating such a complicated design so consistently.
Nice to see some classic elves getting some love too

Thanks Maharg, the freehand consistency seems to be all about getting the process right and remembering the marker points. The latest pair do look a little different, but not noticeably so.

youwashock wrote:Let's hear it for the old guard. Looks good!

I felt I needed a bit less detail after the Space Marine Heroes!

Ezki wrote:The marines are looking great! As other's have said, the green bits are well done and really make the models pop!
The effect on the lenses is also well executed.

Ah! The first box I bought for Warhammer Fantasy as a kid was a unit of those same spearmen! Lot's of nostalgia there.
For some reason, they never really grew on me. After painting them, I sold them to my friend and transitioned to Orks when the Battle for Skull Pass was released.
I regret selling them now

Edit: I realized that the ones I bought were apparently 6th edition spearmen. So not completely the same.

The nostalgia hits me hard whenever I do these guys, it’s always good to get some more Elves on the shelf!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Love the return to classic high elves. That banner is beautiful; looks like it was freehand as well?

Hi Don, the banner isn’t completely freehand. It was proper old school though as it’s a photocopy from the HE Army book which I then painted over. It seems to work pretty well. Not sure about the Yellow and green though, I might have to change that.

theCrowe wrote:Recognised some of your void panthers on the highest rated this week page in Dakka galleries. A Well deserved shout out to a top class squad. Reping the gobert goodness in some mighty smart company.

I like how the last elf in the front rank is completely hidden behind the standard. Maybe he's protected by it? Maybe he's reading a dark elves manga and doesn't want the champion to find out? Maybe he's such a dedicated and professional spearman that he never breaks position for any reason and relies on the reflections of the enemy in the mirrored armour of his companions to provide all the visual input he needs to fight. And of course he still strikes first! Some proper high elf skills on display.

You got me all excited there theCrowe, I went and checked and I made the highest rated thanks to 1 vote! : D. So whoever it was, thank you for making an old(ish) man happy!

It is pretty silly the bloke hiding behind the banner, I like to think it’s incredible discipline and confidence in his Elfish skills!

Your void panthers are fantastic; some great work with that gold. Love that high elf banner too

Old elves are coming along nicely. Love the banner, I didn't play in the 90's, but there was a GW in the mall and I always swooned over their display cases, so much nice stuff.

darkkt wrote:Your void panthers are fantastic; some great work with that gold. Love that high elf banner too

Thanks darkkt, the good has been pretty fun. I need to decide soon whether to tweak the banner or not. If anyone has ideas to help it fit in with the unit some more I’d be happy to hear them!

Viterbi wrote:Old elves are coming along nicely. Love the banner, I didn't play in the 90's, but there was a GW in the mall and I always swooned over their display cases, so much nice stuff.

Cheers Viterbi, they’re moving along slowly!

Slow was definitely the name of the painting game tonight. I painted their bases black to match the rest of the army and boy was it fiddly! Hopefully worth the effort as so far only 1 boot got any significant black on it... he’ll be easily hidden in the middle ranks! . The only other main progress was to wash the 3 newbies spears, then drybrush the whole unit. The dragons on the horn and champions knife sheath got a Red wash. The champions dragon wings got a touch up of Khorne red and a highlight of Wazdakka. Some of the filigree on the leaders got some Mithril Silver highlights.

Looking at the pic I think the Champions spear needs more blue. Not much left to do, red trim on the newbies, a bit of gold on the Champion, white robes on the newbies (plus touch up on the oldies), but probably next will be drybrush of the bases. My other unit of Spearmen got brown spears, I wonder if I should go white for these boys? The champions looks cool and not painting the banner brown will be a faff! What do you all think?

Thanks for looking!

The spiffening continues. Looks good, man!

I like the idea of white spears for these guys, i think it would fit the look of the unit overall.

Looking good Gobert, I do like the idea of the white spears on this unit.

Thirding white spears! Seeing that whole unit together just gives me big nostalgia waves. Oh WHFB from the 90s!

Really beautiful work on the new marine chapter mate. Lovely colours, posing and work on the bases. Such a diverse range of things you can do with purple!

Green flame on the cultist a few pages back really stands out as well.

Can't wait to see what you do with the beakie marines!

Keep at it gobert.

Doing regiments could be a pain, as just when you think you are finished you notice that little slip-up you forgot to fix when doing the group.

Cheers,

CB

PS: White shafted spears gets my vote...unless you are mostly finished with the brown.

I actually would go the way of brown spear shafts, do give another color spot that doesn't clash with the rest of the color scheme. Although having said that, the white shafts integrate more seamlessly...

 gobert wrote:

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Love the return to classic high elves. That banner is beautiful; looks like it was freehand as well?

Hi Don, the banner isn’t completely freehand. It was proper old school though as it’s a photocopy from the HE Army book which I then painted over. It seems to work pretty well. Not sure about the Yellow and green though, I might have to change that.

Ah, gotcha. Nicely done, regardless. I like the yellow and green; I zoomed out to try and get a sense of table-top standard and I think they stand out very effectively at distance, helping to keep the silhouette clear across the table.

Latest round of highlights coming in sharp!

Edited for formatting.

theCrowe wrote:Recognised some of your void panthers on the highest rated this week page in Dakka galleries. A Well deserved shout out to a top class squad. Reping the gobert goodness in some mighty smart company.

gobert wrote:You got me all excited there theCrowe, I went and checked and I made the highest rated thanks to 1 vote! . So whoever it was, thank you for making an old(ish) man happy!

They're Dakka front page news now! Well deserved spot.

Those Void Panthers are amazing Gobert. The gold and purple complement each other fantastically along side the green splash colour. Great models too, those space marine heroes.

Shame about the troubles with the Zoat. Hopefully it comes out alright, as it's a great looking model!

And nice to see some old school high elves!

I love those old elves. Even though I never played as elves, I held on to mine (I reckon I still have about two boxes worth of them) as I planned for a loooong time to convert them into Dark Elf fellas with halberds. I painted up a couple of test models as they were enjoyable to paint, by the standards of the time, but most are still grey plastic!

So many memories with those High Elf spearmen. That set was my first ever big box GW purchase. And even though the Elves and Goblins were formed of just a few sculpts across 80+ miniatures they were so exciting, cardboard cutouts of Eltharion and Grom The Paunch were not a letdown either.

Then you added metal command on diagonal slottabases that never looked right...ahhhh memories.

Anyway, I am digging the old school vibrant blue and red on the spearmen and bonus points for the classic photocopy banner (for personal use only! as the warnings always proclaimed).

youwashock wrote:The spiffening continues. Looks good, man!

Cheers, planning to get a spot of painting in once the kiddos are in bed tonight. Will make a push to get them done

amazingturtles wrote:I like the idea of white spears for these guys, i think it would fit the look of the unit overall.

Cheers AT, the White seems popular: White 1-0 Brown

Yorkright wrote: Looking good Gobert, I do like the idea of the white spears on this unit.

Thanks Yorkright; White 2-0 Brown

tzurk wrote:Thirding white spears! Seeing that whole unit together just gives me big nostalgia waves. Oh WHFB from the 90s!

Really beautiful work on the new marine chapter mate. Lovely colours, posing and work on the bases. Such a diverse range of things you can do with purple!

Green flame on the cultist a few pages back really stands out as well.

Can't wait to see what you do with the beakie marines!

Welcome back tzurk, these High Elves are pure nostalgia for anyone who was around at the time! White 3-0 Brown

Thanks for the kind words on the new old marines. Sadly I can’t take credit for the posing or the bases, that was all GW. I think it’s fair to say that purple is now my favourite colour to paint, I seem to add it to everything at the moment! . It’s also because I want a link between the Void Panthers and my Chaos units, something about a Dark past or future slide.

At some point I’ll get to the beakies... hopefully this year!

Captain Brown wrote:Keep at it gobert.

Doing regiments could be a pain, as just when you think you are finished you notice that little slip-up you forgot to fix when doing the group.

Cheers,

CB

PS: White shafted spears gets my vote...unless you are mostly finished with the brown.

Yeah, they can be a slog, but as most were nearly done it’s really just touch ups, the worst part is base coating all of their bases, but that’s done now! That said young gobert was a bit sloppy so there’s a fair bit of touch up needed! White 4-0 Brown

Viterbi wrote:I actually would go the way of brown spear shafts, do give another color spot that doesn't clash with the rest of the color scheme. Although having said that, the white shafts integrate more seamlessly...

Not sure how to score that one White 4.5-0.5 Brown

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Ah, gotcha. Nicely done, regardless. I like the yellow and green; I zoomed out to try and get a sense of table-top standard and I think they stand out very effectively at distance, helping to keep the silhouette clear across the table.

Latest round of highlights coming in sharp!

theCrowe wrote:They're Dakka front page news now! Well deserved spot.

Ha! Yeah I spotted that over my morning coffee! I think it’s my first pic to get 5 votes now too

Snrub wrote:Those Void Panthers are amazing Gobert. The gold and purple complement each other fantastically along side the green splash colour. Great models too, those space marine heroes.

Shame about the troubles with the Zoat. Hopefully it comes out alright, as it's a great looking model!

And nice to see some old school high elves!

Cheers Snrub, the good models help and they’ve been fun to put together. Thanks to LTMW for his Lions as inspiration too. I need to get some primer on Zoaty to see how he looks, but need something else to prime with him

Fifty wrote:I love those old elves. Even though I never played as elves, I held on to mine (I reckon I still have about two boxes worth of them) as I planned for a loooong time to convert them into Dark Elf fellas with halberds. I painted up a couple of test models as they were enjoyable to paint, by the standards of the time, but most are still grey plastic!

They’re pretty iconic minis, simple but somehow just right! It sounds to me like you should get your High Dark Elves on the hobby table post your Mantis Warriors, the conversions sound cool to me.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:So many memories with those High Elf spearmen. That set was my first ever big box GW purchase. And even though the Elves and Goblins were formed of just a few sculpts across 80+ miniatures they were so exciting, cardboard cutouts of Eltharion and Grom The Paunch were not a letdown either.

Then you added metal command on diagonal slottabases that never looked right...ahhhh memories.

Anyway, I am digging the old school vibrant blue and red on the spearmen and bonus points for the classic photocopy banner (for personal use only! as the warnings always proclaimed).

Ha! Those cardboard minis were great! They inspired my next purchase after the boxset itself! The diagonal musicians really are odd, I tried him straight front to back but he was stabbing his mates on the next row! The photocopy banner (obvs for personal use only ) was a no brainer to keep, still undecided on any changes though

First minis I ever bought was a box of the 4 spearelves and 4 archers and for some reason a WL command group. Even if they are monopose they look fantastic ranked up and your paint job is a real beauty. Love that banner too!

 Olthannon wrote:
First minis I ever bought was a box of the 4 spearelves and 4 archers and for some reason a WL command group. Even if they are monopose they look fantastic ranked up and your paint job is a real beauty. Love that banner too!

Cheers Olthannon, welcome to my plog! I remember the box with 4 of each, I guess it was the ETB kit of its day! Sadly I never really ventured beyond the Spearmen and Archers, so I’m rather jealous of your White Lion command group!

So not as much progress as I’d hoped this evening. I decided I wanted to try a quicker scheme for my avoid Panthers; dry brushing them instead of layers. I didn’t have any suitable minis already primed, but I had a couple of Jump Marines from a job lot that don’t have a whole squad available. Sadly the mould lines detracted from decent posing and interesting use of bits. As a result I spent about an hour taking 1 apart and putting him back together again

It looks pretty good I think and it was certainly quicker, but it’s much paler than my first squad. I really liked the different tones on the first squads gold and this seems flatter. I’m not sur how LTMW achieves the range of tones, mine just seems washed out. I’ll stick with the layers for now, but will highlight based on one light source I think.

Back to the Elves; whilst there’s not much visible progress I have made some. Their bases got a couple of dry brushes and their white areas got touched up. I had hoped to get them all done, but there was too much touch up. I took the vote result and the spears got a Celestra grey base coat.



Just a couple of highlights on the white and the Champions helmet to call them done I think, unless I decide to tweak their banner.

Thanks for looking

Elves are coming along nice. They have a wonderful classic feel to them. Apologies if I missed it, but what about their shields? If you don't have the, there's nothing wrong with getting a cheap sheet of plasticard or something similar and cutting tear-drop shields from them. Slap some paint on those and they'd fit in just fine.

 CaptainWaffle wrote:
Elves are coming along nice. They have a wonderful classic feel to them. Apologies if I missed it, but what about their shields? If you don't have the, there's nothing wrong with getting a cheap sheet of plasticard or something similar and cutting tear-drop shields from them. Slap some paint on those and they'd fit in just fine.

Cheers CaptainWaffle, they’re slowly getting there, very slowly it seems! Yep I have some shields, and I made a few casts to fill in some blanks. I think every Spearman I own has one now, as do my Silver Helms. Applying the shields is pretty much all that’s left now.

So another Sunday evening painting with the F1 on in the background, it’s getting to be quite a habit! If only Sky would consistently allow downloads of the race once my kids are in bed! Anyway, I digress! I slapped a bit more paint on the Spearmen, and I mean a bit. Pretty much all I managed was 2 coats of celestra grey! Man, was it time consuming! When I bought this paint the store I buy from had run out of the normal stuff so I thought I’d try the Air version... well its like stepping back in time and trying to use Bad Moon Yellow! Basically it seems too thin to be useful by brush, and it kinda drys quickly in places too. It could just be me though! I also gave the Champions dragon helmet a highlight of Squig Orange to get him close.

I’ve just remembered there is a bit more to do on these guys; their trim need tidying up, first with black then a bit of red, plus their bases. I probably should go full white, at least on the front row, but I’m not sure I can face it after the celestra white!

Clearly in need of W palette cleanser I decided to do a test on my Indomitus Necrons. John Prins’ Necrons is likely to be the basis for my Necrons, but wanted to try something slightly different. Theres also a few dark Necrons out there that I fancied incorporating. This is my first foray into a Contrast paint, it’s wierd stuff and may take a few practices to get right. I started with Leadbelcher (miles better than my old Boltgun Metal!) then slapped on a mix of Teranadon Turquise, Basilicanim Grey and Comtrast Medium. My first guy came out really dark, so I tried adding a bit more medium. I think I added a littlE too much, but I’m not far off. The guns then got a straight Black Templar Contrast

I think Mr Prins must’ve also used an airbrush to get his stuff looking so smooth. I think the lighter guy is where I’ll be heading, and I quite like the dark guns. I might try a drybrush over the whole lot to see how that looks.

Thanks for looking, sorry for the ramblings!

Oooh...I like where the Necrons are heading. The drybrushed gold does seem to lack the snap of your previous method. I think you are making the right choice to keep doing them the old way.

Great start on the murder robots! And yes, Contrast takes some getting used to, but it's wonderful stuff for certain applications. Have fun experimenting!

Ramble on, Gobert. Looking great.

Nice finished unit of plastic elf spearmen.

My advice is to add weight to the underside of the base (or magnets and a metal movement tray. I remembered moving two large units of those around the table. In the end I did the conversion where half of them had and spear arm cut at the should and repositioned on an angle to create a different pose and mount them on the diagonal base and alternating them with the untouched ones and together that stopped some of the shifting when moved.

My two cents,

CB

Love your plog Gobert!
I saw your mention about lead beltcher and boltgun Metal; I’ve been really happy with Mecha Color Gunmetal as a replacement for Boltgun. Gunmetal Blue in the model color line is super smooth too. With brush or airbrush the Mecha color metallics are pretty killer. I’m less stoked about light steel and copper but they are smooth and they work.
Sorry to invade your plog with a picture. The hatch on the left is Boltgun from circa 2005 the one on the right is MC Gunmetal applied tonight.

I’ve been generally really happy with the Vallejo air paints. I just got a Tin Bitz replacement that I actually like a ton more than the coat d’Arms version. It’s not air modulated so it’s not as smooth out of the dropper but it applies really well.

I like that color on the robo-skellingtons! I've never tried contrast but they seem to be coming along nicely.

Liking where your going with the crons. I love using the contrast paints, looking forward to see what you do with them.

Sadly, I doubt I will ever be able to follow your suggestion and actually build a Dark Elf army, which is a shame as I do have enough antique models for a small force.

After the Mantis Warriors, which will hopefully be finished with a month, I'll go back to either my Executioners or Nighthaunt, probably.

Your 'crons have a nice colour to them. Very different to the elves! I'm always wary of drybrushing, but it is normally okay for metallics.

Those spearmen are coming on nicely Gobert. I'm interested to see how your necrons turn out, I'm struggling to come up with a scheme I like for mine and need some more inspiration

Hey mate,

Drybrushed gold looks good to me - would be interesting to see a side by side with the others.

Crons are an interesting take - I have always been a big fan of colours on top of metallics

I do like the darker guy myself, but interested to see where you take the two of them. That teal patina would be really interesting over a copper/bronze...might have to steal that recipe!

What are you thinking for basing? I immediately had red Mars earth in my head for a nice contrast and then realised I was thinking that because of John's crons!

Re: elves, any progress is good progress, especially with kids around! I have accidentally bought an air paint in the past and found it awful to work with too. They will look brilliant all done up with their shields!

youwashock wrote:Oooh...I like where the Necrons are heading. The drybrushed gold does seem to lack the snap of your previous method. I think you are making the right choice to keep doing them the old way.

Cheers, I thought John Prins’ were amazing, and really quite quick. I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but have a few ideas. The drybrush didn’t end up being as bright as the previous unit, or as bright as LTMW’ Lions. I’ll stick with the layers for now.

Viterbi wrote:Great start on the murder robots! And yes, Contrast takes some getting used to, but it's wonderful stuff for certain applications. Have fun experimenting!

Cheers, I’ll figure them out at some point, I think I need more medium to get them working right.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Ramble on, Gobert. Looking great.

Cheers, I will do!

Captain Brown wrote:Nice finished unit of plastic elf spearmen.

My advice is to add weight to the underside of the base (or magnets and a metal movement tray. I remembered moving two large units of those around the table. In the end I did the conversion where half of them had and spear arm cut at the should and repositioned on an angle to create a different pose and mount them on the diagonal base and alternating them with the untouched ones and together that stopped some of the shifting when moved.

My two cents,

CB

I like the idea of repositioning some of their arms, I just can’t picture how you might’ve done it. Do you have any pics? I think I might have some more to paint at some point, so I may be able to sprinkle them around the 2 units I have. Sadly I don’t play, so they’ll be joining the rest of my minis in the shelf gathering dust!

AustonT wrote:Love your plog Gobert!
I saw your mention about lead beltcher and boltgun Metal; I’ve been really happy with Mecha Color Gunmetal as a replacement for Boltgun. Gunmetal Blue in the model color line is super smooth too. With brush or airbrush the Mecha color metallics are pretty killer. I’m less stoked about light steel and copper but they are smooth and they work.
Sorry to invade your plog with a picture. The hatch on the left is Boltgun from circa 2005 the one on the right is MC Gunmetal applied tonight.

Spoiler:

I’ve been generally really happy with the Vallejo air paints. I just got a Tin Bitz replacement that I actually like a ton more than the coat d’Arms version. It’s not air modulated so it’s not as smooth out of the dropper but it applies really well.

Hi AustonT, welcome to my plog, I’m glad you like it! Thanks for the comparison Pic with the Vallejo range, it’s pretty close, though as it’s name suggests a little bluer. I’ve heard good things about their metallics, but haven’t sampled their paints. I’ve tried a couple of Army Painter paints, but I’ve been pretty underwhelmed, especially when compared to the new GW stuff. I’ll see if my usual store has any of their paints in next time I make an order.

amazingturtles wrote:I like that color on the robo-skellingtons! I've never tried contrast but they seem to be coming along nicely.

Cheers turtles, it’s my first time with the contrast paints, they’re different but certainly have potential. I’ve a few more ideas to sample to get them right I think.

Yorkright wrote: Liking where your going with the cribs. I love using the contrast paints, looking forward to see what you do with them.

Thanks Yorkright, I’m hoping they end up looking half as good as John Prins’, if they do I’ll be happy!

Fifty wrote:Sadly, I doubt I will ever be able to follow your suggestion and actually build a Dark Elf army, which is a shame as I do have enough antique models for a small force.

After the Mantis Warriors, which will hopefully be finished with a month, I'll go back to either my Executioners or Nighthaunt, probably.

Your 'crons have a nice colour to them. Very different to the elves! I'm always wary of drybrushing, but it is normally okay for metallics.

Shame you won’t be able to make them, I’ve enjoyed rejuvenating my antiques. I’ll be watching your blog anyway to see how the other Armies get along. I’m also steering away from drybrushing for the main, metallics, hair and fur aside, though usually it’s because I find it hard to keep within the lines!

Maharg wrote:Those spearmen are coming on nicely Gobert. I'm interested to see how your necrons turn out, I'm struggling to come up with a scheme I like for mine and need some more inspiration

Cheers Maharg, were it not for John Prins’ Necrons I doubt id have picked up or certainly not kept the Necron half of Indomitus. There’s only 1 other scheme I saw that was tempting and I can’t remember who’s it was, but it was quite Terminator-esque but with a really dark metallic, which looked great with the red glowing eyes.

tzurk wrote:Hey mate,

Drybrushed gold looks good to me - would be interesting to see a side by side with the others.

Crons are an interesting take - I have always been a big fan of colours on top of metallics

I do like the darker guy myself, but interested to see where you take the two of them. That teal patina would be really interesting over a copper/bronze...might have to steal that recipe!

What are you thinking for basing? I immediately had red Mars earth in my head for a nice contrast and then realised I was thinking that because of John's crons!

Re: elves, any progress is good progress, especially with kids around! I have accidentally bought an air paint in the past and found it awful to work with too. They will look brilliant all done up with their shields!

I’ll see if I can get a side by side with one of the originals, he doesn’t ‘shine’ quite as much, looking quite washed out in comparison. As for basing the Crons I too thought of Martian red, but wanted to not 100% copy John. So sticking with the copying theme I’ll be trying to replicate Ezki’s snow themed bases, though I may cheat and use Valhallan Blizzard instead of his baking powder recipe.

Phew! That was a lot of comments to get through! Thanks guys, I really appreciate the interaction and advice/questions, it means a lot. Just waiting on the little one to go to sleep and will get my paint sticks out to hopefully finish these Elves.

Those necrons look great, I like that hint of colour to the bare metal, looks like an oil sheen effect. I've yet to partake in any contrast paints so I'm keen to see how they work out.

Necrons and contrast experiments? Sign me up. I like how both turned out, esp. the black tone on the guns; I liked the darker Necron better just looking at the picture, but when I stepped away from the monitor the lighter model popped way more effectively. What ratio of medium are you using for each? I think two to three is a pretty good ratio for medium to paint, but contrast paints are surprisingly versatile; several thin layers of different colors can create a really interesting effect. A fun project, and I'm eager to see how it develops.

Olthannon wrote:Those necrons look great, I like that hint of colour to the bare metal, looks like an oil sheen effect. I've yet to partake in any contrast paints so I'm keen to see how they work out.

Thanks Olthannon, I can’t take the credit for the colour scheme, but I’m looking forward to learning with contrast paints!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Necrons and contrast experiments? Sign me up. I like how both turned out, esp. the black tone on the guns; I liked the darker Necron better just looking at the picture, but when I stepped away from the monitor the lighter model popped way more effectively. What ratio of medium are you using for each? I think two to three is a pretty good ratio for medium to paint, but contrast paints are surprisingly versatile; several thin layers of different colors can create a really interesting effect. A fun project, and I'm eager to see how it develops.

Hey Don, nothing else on the Necron experiments in Contrast today. I think the Darker was about 2:1 Contrast:Medium. I was after a more subtle effect, so probably went about 1:1 for the lighter one. I think I’ll try something in between. The black though was just straight Black Templar over boltgun. That definitely needs a bit of Medium. Now it’s dry there’s little difference in tone. I reckon I’ll try drybrushing Stormhost Silver before I apply the Contrast next time, hopefully it’ll give a bit more contrast

So I pulled out the paint sticks tonight and finished off the High Elves. There wasn’t much to do; I lined their trim with black, touched up the base rims, then painted the trim Wazdakka Red, glued their shields on and they were done;


I’m reasonably pleased with how they turned out. They’re a bit tough in places, but overall I think I’ve improved them. I need to get a new Ulthuan Grey though before I do any more elves, as the Citadel Air stuff was too thin I think. Knowing how much everyone loves a good Army shot, here you too;

The lighting is poor, but you get the idea! It’s cool having so many of them done, my painted Elf army was never this large.

These guys tipped me over the 100 mark for the year, which also beats my total from last year. To celebrate I decided to paint up a character. I asked my daughter which of the Blackstone Fortress Escalation character I should do and she chose Gotfret De Montbard. I think she liked his shiny armour, and who can blame her! I quite liked the studio scheme for him so have gone for that blue steel look, but a bit less subtle! I mixed some Regal Blue in to Leadbelcher for the base, then a bit into Nuln Oil. I then dry brushed up from the Blue:Belcher through Leadbelcher, to Mithril Silver and finishing on Stormhost Silver. I think he looks pretty cool, the Regal Blue gives a bit of a smokey feel to the silver. His cape and tabard got a base of Khorne Red which will match the rest of the Imperial bods colours;

I’ve got a day off on Monday so if I don’t manage to do much tomorrow evening I might get an hour in on Monday to move him along some more.

Thanks for looking

I do love an army shot. Great Ulthuan, that one brings back memories. The Crusader looks quite nice, so far. You are going to have a nice warm/cool thing going with the blues in the armor and the red cloth.

The Crusader does look nice. And who doesn't love an army shot?

Lovely army Gobert, glad you went with the white spears on the new unit. Crusader is looking good, that blue gives the shield almost a powered effect. Daughter did good picking that model.

Congratulations on getting the elves done! I've still got some affection for seeing a nicely ranked up unit like that.

youwashock wrote:I do love an army shot. Great Ulthuan, that one brings back memories. The Crusader looks quite nice, so far. You are going to have a nice warm/cool thing going with the blues in the armor and the red cloth.

Thanks youwashock, they really are a blast of nostalgia, if only I’d stick with the Goblin Green bases . Hopefully you like him now he’s running fully hot and cold!

DJJazzyJeff wrote:The Crusader does look nice. And who doesn't love an army shot?

Heretics, they don’t love an army shot!

Yorkright wrote: Lovely army Gobert, glad you went with the white spears on the new unit. Crusader is looking good, that blue gives the shield almost a powered effect. Daughter did good picking that model.

Thanks Yorkright, me too on the spears, they look pretty good, but they are quite an effort especially those that were already brown! It does look a bit powered, maybe that’s how he faces off against space marines!?!

amazingturtles wrote:Congratulations on getting the elves done! I've still got some affection for seeing a nicely ranked up unit like that.

Yep, me too, I like a good solid unit of square bases!

Last night was spent on the sofa watching Lovecraft Country and High Maintenance (check them out if you haven’t seen them!). However, today was a day free of kids but with an appointment in the middle, plus a long lunch with Mrs gobert. Nice! Either side of the trip out we took to our hobby spaces which allowed me to plough on with the Crusader and get him done!

I’m tending to stick to just a few main colours of late as it speeds things up and keeps things from looking too busy. Look at what most people wear, it’ll only be a few colours at a time after all, and the Military even more so (apart from the corduroys of the off duty officers). As a result he’s mainly 2 colours, Blue steel and Red, with a hint of gold and spots of green and parchment. Red and Blue is pretty much the theme of my Imperials from BSF, so I’ll be sticking with it for the Rogue Trader from Escalation. Mars is different though, so I’m tempted to go Yellow for the techpriest and servitors. Anyway, here’s a few pics of the Crusader Gotfret de Montbard:




Thanks once again to mcmatilla for the awesome purple-red recipe. It’s tricky to do around the details on his cape but it looks great. Interestingly the Aquila on his cape is just Retributor gold washed with Druchi Violet. I was going to redo it, but I like the colour it’s gone.

As I had a bit of time this evening too I decided to do some more experimenting with my Necrons:

So top right was my first try, I thought I wanted the pipe work, recesses, orbs and blades to glow. They all got a coat or two of Sybarite Green, but I don’t think it works too well with the black. What I do like from this guy is the light dry brush over the Black Templar. Either the guns will get a lighter coat of Black Templar or a drybrush. I need to try the former as neat Black Templar doesn’t really show the metallic underneath and it’d be nice to not have an extra step. In real life i also like the slight OSL on his eyes, though in the images the other set of eyes look pretty decent too.

Next I tried the middle right hand side, applying Sybarite Green to the recesses only, I think it looks cool around the orbs, but a single lowlight seemed a bit flat. I also accidentally got some Iain a damaged piece and thought it looked cool, so I went to town on all the spots of damage on his gun! Next I watered down the Gails Blaster Green 1:1 with airbrush thinner and dotted it around some of the recessed areas, see bottom right then all of the left hand side. I also decided to apply the effect to the recesses in his rib cage, I think I’ll stick with that and I might try extending the glow to the damaged bits of his body. I might also try doing his eyes like I did around the orbs instead of the OSL. I think I’ll also try Abaddon black for the orbs and a couple of layers of Ardcoat on them to get a shine going.

Not sure what I’ll paint next, maybe more Escalation adventurers, maybe the Void Panther bikers, maybe something else altogether! I will probably try to redo my avoid Panther Chapter symbol cast, hopefully it’ll stand up better to Oyumaru than it did GS! That’ll be at least 1 hobby session I reckon

A long post again, hopefully someone is still awake by the end! Thanks for looking

I'm a little late to the High Elf lovefest, but they turned out really nice. Hits me right in the feels!

Crusader is coming along nicely, I like the highlights on his cloak.

Can't wait to see where all of your necron experiments end up

Solid work on the Crusader! Texture work on the cape is a great touch. You have consciously chosen a limited pallette, but have not omitted any detail in the process. Nice job. Necron tests look cool, too. Can't say which I prefer yet.

Congrats on reaching 100 for the year. Nice work on the elves, the army is looking great. Have you got any silver helms to complete the classic look?
The cloak on the crusader is really well done, really nice texture there

Crusader is great. The cape really works. I like the Aquila on the cape, too. Turned out really nice.

Good luck with the Necrons, and I like the walkthrough.

Congrats on finishing the elves and nice work on the Crusader, he is a lovely sculpt, I had fun painting him last year.

Top right pic of test necrons is my favorite pic, the dark metal and the glow contrast grey. A squad of those will look amazing!

Congrats on finishing the High Elves, gobert! They look stunning together mate, like something out of an old White Dwarf. There's a group to be proud of

The texture work on the Crusader's cloak stuck out to me as well, really nice work there. The way you've painted the armour makes the filigree pop. He's a nice piece!

The cron experiment is looking good so far. I think an army painted in the bottom left scheme would be very visually striking.

As always, admiring your constant productivity! You are an active inspiration mate.

Great work with the Crusader! Steel and red always works, and that red cloth is absolutely wonderful!

Also, on shading gold with purple: lots of people do it. It works rather well as purple is the complementary color to yellow.

Great work on Gotfret De Montbard. Congratulations on passing 100 painted models in 2020.

Cheers,

CB

MegaDave wrote:I'm a little late to the High Elf lovefest, but they turned out really nice. Hits me right in the feels!

Crusader is coming along nicely, I like the highlights on his cloak.

Can't wait to see where all of your necron experiments end up

Cheers MegaDave, glad you liked the Elves. There’ll be more at some point!

youwashock wrote:Solid work on the Crusader! Texture work on the cape is a great touch. You have consciously chosen a limited pallette, but have not omitted any detail in the process. Nice job. Necron tests look cool, too. Can't say which I prefer yet.

Cheers, he was pretty straightforward with plenty of drybrushing on the metal that came out pretty well. I too am undecided on the crons, probably erring towards bottom left for now

Maharg wrote:Congrats on reaching 100 for the year. Nice work on the elves, the army is looking great. Have you got any silver helms to complete the classic look?
The cloak on the crusader is really well done, really nice texture there

Thanks Maharg, I’m pretty happy to break 100 again, I’ll push on for a few more. I do have a small unit of Silver Helms, they’re mostly done with just their Horses and the Banner Bearer to do. I hope to get them done before the year is out. If we don’t escape the building site it might be a nice Christmas project.

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Crusader is great. The cape really works. I like the Aquila on the cape, too. Turned out really nice.

Good luck with the Necrons, and I like the walkthrough.

Thanks Jeff! I love it when a happy accident occurs!

Viterbi wrote:Congrats on finishing the elves and nice work on the Crusader, he is a lovely sculpt, I had fun painting him last year.

Top right pic of test necrons is my favorite pic, the dark metal and the glow contrast grey. A squad of those will look amazing!

Thanks Viterbi, I think the top right is my least favourite, I probably should highlight it as it was my original plan but I’m not sure how best to do the blades.

tzurk wrote:Congrats on finishing the High Elves, gobert! They look stunning together mate, like something out of an old White Dwarf. There's a group to be proud of

The texture work on the Crusader's cloak stuck out to me as well, really nice work there. The way you've painted the armour makes the filigree pop. He's a nice piece!

The cron experiment is looking good so far. I think an army painted in the bottom left scheme would be very visually striking.

As always, admiring your constant productivity! You are an active inspiration mate.

High praise tzurk, thanks very much! The Crusaders armour was just dry brushing, so the filigree credit should go to the GW designers . I think bottom left is my favourite so far too, I’ve a couple of other bits I’d like to try, but he’s nearly the one. If you are in admiring my productivity, you should check out ListenToMeWarriors’ plog, now that’s impressive!

mcmattila wrote:Great work with the Crusader! Steel and red always works, and that red cloth is absolutely wonderful!

Also, on shading gold with purple: lots of people do it. It works rather well as purple is the complementary color to yellow.

Thanks mcmatillla, doubly so for the red recipe! Having used Gold and Purple a lot this year I should’ve twigged on the gold for shading purple sooner! I’ll have to try it again some time

Captain Brown wrote:Great work on Gotfret De Montbard. Congratulations on passing 100 painted models in 2020.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks Captain Brown, 100 is a good number for me, not a prolific as some but enough for me to be happy!

Sadly no painting updates, but I wanted to reply to everyone. Here’s a couple of pics for the page rollover;

That Crusader looks great, as do the High Elves, but I adore the necron the most. That is a gorgeous test mini and use of contrast.

Also congratulations on the century for the year.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
That Crusader looks great, as do the High Elves, but I adore the necron the most. That is a gorgeous test mini and use of contrast.

Also congratulations on the century for the year.

Thanks man, the Necrons have been fun so far, I’ll dip in and out of the tests as the mood or timings allow.

During a meeting today I did some mods to my bikers. I was noticing that I’d rubbed a bit of paint off them on their base layer, so I decided on a slaaneshi paint handle

I tried with blutac at first but they were too wobbly so I super glued them on place. To get them to stay in the handle I drilled a small hole whilst the clamp was pulled back. This seems to hold the marines and their bikes in place pretty well. So much so that got on with painting them.

I tidied up the black on the bikes where I’d missed with the spray and to Matt the bits that will be black. The Marines with their weapons out got them painted black . Then I broke out the Retributor Armour to tidy up the bikers and add the gold trim to the bikes. I finished with a spot of Leadbelcher where appropriate on the Marines.


I’ll get the leadbelcher on the bikes next time out before breaking the purple out then washing with Nuln Oil.

Someone asked for a side by side with one of my original marines and the one I drybrushed the other day;

In my head I’d begin to think maybe the dry brushing wasn’t too far from the original, but side by side the layered Marine looks much brighter. Hence I’ll be sticking with the layers.

Thanks for looking!

Gold riders, go! Looking good, man. You could always experiment with a mix of the two gold methods. Build up with drybrushing then go back in with a few whacks of the brightest layer on the highest points/areas you want emphasized.

Riders are looking golden Have you thought about a spot of silver on your highlights? I’ve tried it a few times with some success.

youwashock wrote:Gold riders, go! Looking good, man. You could always experiment with a mix of the two gold methods. Build up with drybrushing then go back in with a few whacks of the brightest layer on the highest points/areas you want emphasized.

Cheers bud, I might give that a go, probably not on the jump marine as he’s too washed out with the silver dry brush I think.

Yorkright wrote: Riders are looking golden Have you thought about a spot of silver on your highlights? I’ve tried it a few times with some success.

Cheers, yeah the brightest spot of the finished marine is highlighted silver. I wasn’t sure when I first did it, but it looks pretty good in the end.

Spent this evening getting everybody ready for a nuln oil wash. I did the metal parts on the bikes, the purple on the marines and the bikes tanks. I gave the seats a nice Zandri dust coat as well, then I got the nuln oil out and they just need to dry now;


And now it’s time for bed! Thanks for looking

Bikes looking aces mate. Zandri dust seating fits well, reminds me of the seating in my parents' starwagon growing up...

My eyes must be going (wouldn't surprise me...) because I think the drybrushed mini stands up to the old one, bar missing a few shadows around the joins. Either way the gold is glorious. I still double take at how striking this scheme is. Inspired colour choice mate.

Good to see that the bikers sprang for the C-level upholstery Love the purple color dose on the bikes, looks perfect!

Good progress gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Thos ebikers are shaping up nicely. I liek the non metal heads, that really makes them stand out in contrast against the metallic paint.

It's crazy how old these SM bikes are in 2020, yet they're still holding their own. Back in the GorkaMorka days I always wanted to do a really bad-ass ork biker gang using lots of SM bike parts. That was before they redid the ork bikes, which shows you how old these kits are! Crazy that the basic SM bike has never had a redesign in all these years. All time classic.

Nice job on them all so far. You've laid down some solid work.

If you're gonna ride, may as well do it in style. Looking forward to the group shot you will take after finishing the bikes. Nudge, nudge.

tzurk wrote:Bikes looking aces mate. Zandri dust seating fits well, reminds me of the seating in my parents' starwagon growing up...

My eyes must be going (wouldn't surprise me...) because I think the drybrushed mini stands up to the old one, bar missing a few shadows around the joins. Either way the gold is glorious. I still double take at how striking this scheme is. Inspired colour choice mate.

See I was going to agree with Viterbi and the C-level upholstery, but it does kinda have that 80s/90s beige leather kinda look about it! I wish I had some crackle paint to really go for the effect! I had another look at the gold on the drybrushed guy now I’ve re layered the Retributor on the bikers. He seems to have lost the golden yellow/brown of the base colour, possibly from the other colours being applied too heavily.

Viterbi wrote:Good to see that the bikers sprang for the C-level upholstery Love the purple color dose on the bikes, looks perfect!

Tzurk spoiled the C-level upholstery idea, it has to be beat up plastic leather now! . Though really the Emperors finest and heavily belonged marines really should have the best for their ceramics posteriors! As for the purple, I’d seen a few others do a spot colour on the tank and had to follow suit.

Captain Brown wrote:Good progress gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Cheers CB, slow and steady is how I roll!

Mephistoles20 wrote:Thos ebikers are shaping up nicely. I liek the non metal heads, that really makes them stand out in contrast against the metallic paint.

Thanks Mephistoles20, welcome to my plog. I’m glad you like how the old marines are shaping up, the non-metal helmets was really from ListenToMeWarriors’ Celestial Lions, they made me want to do similar, and after always following Chapters that others had conceived, I wanted to make them my own. It’s been fun bringing them about!

theCrowe wrote:It's crazy how old these SM bikes are in 2020, yet they're still holding their own. Back in the GorkaMorka days I always wanted to do a really bad-ass ork biker gang using lots of SM bike parts. That was before they redid the ork bikes, which shows you how old these kits are! Crazy that the basic SM bike has never had a redesign in all these years. All time classic.

Nice job on them all so far. You've laid down some solid work.

Yeah they’re really ancient! I remember them coming out way back in 2nd. They stand up pretty well I think, though when I break out the outriders from Indomitus I’ll probably change my mind! I like the idea of using SM Bikes for Orks’, a job lot off eBay came with a few partial SM bikes.. and I still have a few 2nd addition Ork bikes to complete... ideas! Thanks!

youwashock wrote:If you're gonna ride, may as well do it in style. Looking forward to the group shot you will take after finishing the bikes. Nudge, nudge.

Exactly! These guys have been fun to bling up, I’ll definitely get a group shot together. Though knowing my rate of paint, it’ll be November sometime!

Whilst it doesn’t look much I managed one of the more time consuming bits of these guys tonight; reapplying Retributor Armour over the Nuln Oil Stains areas. I’m not sure why but the last two Panthers I did cake out less vibrant than the first bunch. Happily these guys are coming out bright! I did the trim on the bikes too;


Liberator and Stormhost next I think. Then the Leadbelcher through iron breaker to Stormhost, then purple and black highlights before breaking out the green! Which just made me realise that these guys don’t have any purity seals yet. I might have to rectify that, they’re not complete Heathens... yet!

Thanks for looking!

I can live with beat-up plastic upholstery, still very fitting

Are the viewscreens on the bikes going to be that sweet green like the other lenses?

That's a lovely strong gold on those marines, the finished bikers will no doubt look great! And I can't help but love that excellent block of old school High Elf spearmen

Green view screens would be awesome! But, I have no doubt that the bikes will be awesome either way; because they already are!

Nice work.

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
Green view screens would be awesome! .

I second that motion. Green sat nav for the win.

Imagine a SM Mod on a scooter but instead of all mirrors and lights on the front it's all purity seals! Ha ha, Who are the most Mod SM chapter?
Not Void Panthers really, They're too glam rock.

Viterbi wrote:I can live with beat-up plastic upholstery, still very fitting

In the grim darkness of the far future there is only beat-up plastic upholstery! . Those the bikers’ hasn’t changed since last pics yet!

youwashock wrote:Are the viewscreens on the bikes going to be that sweet green like the other lenses?

Yeah I was planning on green again. I hope I do a better job than the scanner on the last Panther I did!

Ragsta wrote:That's a lovely strong gold on those marines, the finished bikers will no doubt look great! And I can't help but love that excellent block of old school High Elf spearmen

Cheers Ragsta, and welcome to my plog! Everyone loves a bit of old school every now and then! It’s been fun revisiting the Elf scheme I chose many moons ago!

DJJazzyJeff wrote:Green view screens would be awesome! But, I have no doubt that the bikes will be awesome either way; because they already are!

Nice work.

Hopefully they’ll be doubly awesome with green screens

theCrowe wrote:

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
Green view screens would be awesome! .

I second that motion. Green sat nav for the win.

Imagine a SM Mod on a scooter but instead of all mirrors and lights on the front it's all purity seals! Ha ha, Who are the most Mod SM chapter?
Not Void Panthers really, They're too glam rock.

Green it is guys! Sounds like they’d be rivals with the Goff Rockere! Maybe an Angry Marine bike perhaps? Though they’re not, glam, but they do love a good purity seal! Damn, I meant to fish out a purity seal each for these guys! Hopefully I remember now!

Some solid progress tonight, the gold and silver bits are done, I tried going more for the highlighting volumes approach and I think it looks great from head on, but I’m not convinced from the side. Maybe my 2 light source approach for the fire bunch was better? I also cleaned up the purple and black bits ready for highlighting.

The Black will get a hint of purple, and both colours will finish up with pallid wych flesh highlights. Then it’ll be on to the green and bases. Then I need to figure out how I’m going to affix them to the bases if they’re to lean and not break. I might have to try my hand at pinning, anyone got any pointer?

Thanks for looking

If there's space under the base you can add extra weight to offset any lean but the base should be wide enough not to need it. To pin with added strength you can put a hole right through the base for a longer pin wire to loop it underneath and back up into the bike. That's how my big forest dragon in a tree stays... In his tree. Two loops of paper clip wire go up about an inch into the tree trunk from below and then do a big loop under the base in oposite directions and then back up into the tree. I could show you a pic but honestly you don't need quite that level of extra support for a marine bike. 5mm of a hole is all you need really. Its just to strengthen the joint.

I am working on the new outriders and though I like them the old school bikes have a lot more character to them, in my opinion. Going to be a great addition to your army Gobert.

Gold looks pretty darn good from here. Pinning may not be necessary if you are using plastic cement. If you are concerned, just a quick pin through the tire will be good. After glue, pin, paint and basing material, it should hold.

theCrowe wrote:If there's space under the base you can add extra weight to offset any lean but the base should be wide enough not to need it. To pin with added strength you can put a hole right through the base for a longer pin wire to loop it underneath and back up into the bike. That's how my big forest dragon in a tree stays... In his tree. Two loops of paper clip wire go up about an inch into the tree trunk from below and then do a big loop under the base in oposite directions and then back up into the tree. I could show you a pic but honestly you don't need quite that level of extra support for a marine bike. 5mm of a hole is all you need really. Its just to strengthen the joint.

See, I figured your dragon was half way up the tree by magic! Thanks for letting us behind the curtain . My concern wasn’t about toppling, just being able to secure them to the bases at a funny angle. I’ll give paper clips a try for the turning dudes. Cheers for the pointers

Yorkright wrote: I am working on the new outriders and though I like them the old school bikes have a lot more character to them, in my opinion. Going to be a great addition to your army Gobert.

Yeah, the new bikes are cool and all, but the Old school ones are still pretty rad!

youwashock wrote:Gold looks pretty darn good from here. Pinning may not be necessary if you are using plastic cement. If you are concerned, just a quick pin through the tire will be good. After glue, pin, paint and basing material, it should hold.

Does plastic cement work through the paint? I’ve always been dubious, though I have t experimented that much. Both base and wheels have paint on them which has given me cause for doubt. I’ll try a paper lip pin just for added piece of mind and something new to try.

As ever with me, they’re not quite finished yet! All of the main colours are done so it’s just accent colours on buttons and the like left to do. Tonight was highlighting and neatening up the blacks and purples, I also tried a bit of contrast on the bases. Nothing special, just Basilicanum Grey and Black Templar on the tiles and tarmac bits. Then instead of going to bed at a sensible time I decided to do the greens. I did the view screens and a button on the bikes.


As my memory always fails me, the Black was highlighted Liche Purple and then Dawnstone. The purple was highlighted Genestealer Purple and Dawnstone too. I should probably add an index of recipes to my first post! Once again I forgot to find some purity seals for these guys. Question though; one for the Marines only or 1 for the Marine and one for the bike?

Bedtime now, thanks for looking!

The bikes need purity seals too, can‘t let the machine spirits get any wrong ideas

 Viterbi wrote:
The bikes need purity seals too, can‘t let the machine spirits get any wrong ideas

Good point, well made!

A bit late congrats on finishing the 100th model this year.
I'm far far behind you

The red on the crusader's cloak is astonishing.
Really like the effect! The model is neatly done all around.

Can't wait to see those bikes done, they will look really awesome in a group. And like youwashock hinted, a group shot is strongly recommended

 Ezki wrote:
A bit late congrats on finishing the 100th model this year.
I'm far far behind you

The red on the crusader's cloak is astonishing.
Really like the effect! The model is neatly done all around.

Can't wait to see those bikes done, they will look really awesome in a group. And like youwashock hinted, a group shot is strongly recommended

Thanks Ezki, as the saying goes, it’s quality, not quantity and you’ve got me beat on that front! . The Crusader was a nice quick palette cleanser that came out pretty well for the speed. I fancy another adventurer once these bikers are done, and since everyone loves a group shot I’ll get the SMH Tactical Squad out too.

I didn’t do any painting on Sunday, but I did a bit of crafting and mould making instead. I tried my card templates again but this time with Oyumaru instead of GS. It seems to have been successful and delivers much neater (if not smooth) results. It’s also a bit thick at the top, but it’s pretty decent I think. I might use some GS in this mould then try to smooth it either before or after it cures in order to make another mould. Alternatively I might try again with the card but maybe on a flat surface and use the Oyumaru’s flexibility to press it on to a pad. Any thoughts on how to smooth and reduce the thickness? I did a tactical marking and an assault marking too, so will mark up the bikers this way I reckon.

Thanks for looking

PS do I paint the sides black and edge highlight them or leave them purple?

Hmmm. I think maybe roll out some GS nice and thin. Cut a card template of the overall shape and transfer that onto a shoulder pad. Smooth it into shape and then sculpt the design into it.

When it cures you can make a mold of the thing. Using the mold you carefully fill the shape with GS and press a new shoulder onto it, let it cure, remove mold.

I'm tempted to try it myself just to see if I'm making sense.

What theCrowe is suggesting makes sense. In that you have a single master shoulder pad to make a mold. One that you used only a thin layer of GS to create.

Once the mold is created, you can spray in a little release agent...let that dry...then impress a small amount of GS into the chapter badge of your mold and then push in a new blank should pad.

The GS will adhere to the blank should pad and be easily removable for the next copy.

Now the trick is to let the release agent appear to try, because if you push in some new GS and the release agent gets on both sides it will not stick to the blank shoulder pad.

I did something similar for my first batches of forage caps for my Imperial Guard...except that I just pushed in the GS into the mold and remove it once dry (the release agent made it so the GS did not stick to the mold - I used PAM as the release agent spray). I used two part epoxy to glue the cap to the cut down head...so I had a deeper GS mold, but the concept is similar.

My two cents,

CB

theCrowe wrote:Hmmm. I think maybe roll out some GS nice and thin. Cut a card template of the overall shape and transfer that onto a shoulder pad. Smooth it into shape and then sculpt the design into it.

When it cures you can make a mold of the thing. Using the mold you carefully fill the shape with GS and press a new shoulder onto it, let it cure, remove mold.

I'm tempted to try it myself just to see if I'm making sense.

Captain Brown wrote:What theCrowe is suggesting makes sense. In that you have a single master shoulder pad to make a mold. One that you used only a thin layer of GS to create.

Once the mold is created, you can spray in a little release agent...let that dry...then impress a small amount of GS into the chapter badge of your mold and then push in a new blank should pad.

The GS will adhere to the blank should pad and be easily removable for the next copy.

Now the trick is to let the release agent appear to try, because if you push in some new GS and the release agent gets on both sides it will not stick to the blank shoulder pad.

I did something similar for my first batches of forage caps for my Imperial Guard...except that I just pushed in the GS into the mold and remove it once dry (the release agent made it so the GS did not stick to the mold - I used PAM as the release agent spray). I used two part epoxy to glue the cap to the cut down head...so I had a deeper GS mold, but the concept is similar.

My two cents,

CB

Thanks guys, I’ve been holding off trying to sculpt the symbol, but using the card as a template might just work, kinda half again on from what I’ve done so far. My lack of sculpting tools was putting me off, but I reckon using the templates should just allow me to use a sharp knife once the GS starting to firm up. I’ll give that a go next I get some hobby time. For the press mould I’ll use Oyumaru which doesn’t seem to stick to the GS. I’ve been impressed with it so far, it’s just my skill that is letting me down so far!

I got the old painting sticks out tonight and made decent progress on the Bikers. I started off with the bases, a bit of dry brushing over the contrast which didn’t seem to work too well with my matt primer. Then I slapped on some boltgun metal followed by gehennas gold for some of the fancy bits. I’m calling them done after their Agrax wash.

I then moved on to the green bits, getting the corners their white dots. I figured I’d do a bit of writing on the screens and 1 got a targeting screen. I did a bit of red on the bikes buttons too before fiddling with poses whilst gluing the bikes to their bases. Here’s a few snaps;




Seeing the gold biker on the black bike, I’m liking the combination. The gold assault markings on the bike add a bit of the Black Legion vibe I was aiming for too. I’ll try to push on now as I want to see them done and move on to something else.

Thanks for looking!

Oh and I messed about with some GS but if can’t seem to get my head around the stuff. It sticks when I don’t want it to and won’t when I do! I’ve given the current press mould a go with a smaller blob and without a pad, so we’ll see how that goes!

That's good stuff. The whole lot is working for me. The green really pulls it all together, for some reason. The highlights on the bikes are great. Excited for the big finish.

Liking the bikes, the black with gold trim makes it fit in with the gold marines without being over the top like a straight up gold bike would be.

Looking good.

They are looking amazing, finally bikes and bikers together. Target screen looks extremely cool and the tilting makes the models very dynamic and really hides their age.

Bikes and bases look great!

Excellent progress on the bikes! Even if the one guy is pointing his gun right at us. Rude!

Those bikers are outta the park. Love the gold on black scheme - they do happen to be my college colors, but also I always thought the combo looked grand and imperial and intimidating. Looks like you mixed a bit of purple into the black for edge highlights? I love that choice. Helps tie the bike and rider together really well.

The black and gold bikes really do work well when paired with the purple and gold marines. The sector mechanicus bases look excellent with them as well.

Very nice bikes. Good decision to make the bikes a different colour to the riders.

I did a little work on modelling my Astral Claws bikes this afternoon. Planning to paint them after I finish my Executioners, I reckon.

youwashock wrote:That's good stuff. The whole lot is working for me. The green really pulls it all together, for some reason. The highlights on the bikes are great. Excited for the big finish.

Thanks youwashock, i suppose the green and purple are the consistent colours, the rest was just a sway of the primary and tertiary colours. I feel the highlights on the bikes went well, probably the straight lines helped with that! Though there was a decent bit of cleaning up to do.

Guardling wrote:Liking the bikes, the black with gold trim makes it fit in with the gold marines without being over the top like a straight up gold bike would be.

Thanks Guardling, hopefully they fit in with the Tacticals too, I’ll have to get a group shot together to confirm. Hopefully the bikes are still bling, but I think your right that a gold bike might be a bit much, even in 40k!

Arakasi wrote:Looking good.

Cheers Arakasi

Viterbi wrote:They are looking amazing, finally bikes and bikers together. Target screen looks extremely cool and the tilting makes the models very dynamic and really hides their age.

I’m getting there, though this bit always seems the slowest for me. I’m glad the pose of the bike comes off as dynamic, hopefully that carries through once it’s all done! Should I add a red “enemy” dot on the target ting screen?

Yorkright wrote: Bikes and bases look great!

Thanks Yorkright, I’m glad I stumped up for the bases!

amazingturtles wrote:Excellent progress on the bikes! Even if the one guy is pointing his gun right at us. Rude!

Thanks turtles, I guess wearing ceramite armour makes one a bit more cavalier when it comes to gun safety! I can only apologise on his behalf!

Don Qui Hotep wrote:Those bikers are outta the park. Love the gold on black scheme - they do happen to be my college colors, but also I always thought the combo looked grand and imperial and intimidating. Looks like you mixed a bit of purple into the black for edge highlights? I love that choice. Helps tie the bike and rider together really well.

Thanks Don, it sounds like your college is a bit regal! I always felt they were quite opulent colours, kinda perfect for Marines. Yes, the mid tone on the black is purple, I’ve followed it on from my BSF Black Legion dudes. I want the Void Panthers’ First Company to be Black and Gold, hinting at a dark past/future.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:The black and gold bikes really do work well when paired with the purple and gold marines. The sector mechanicus bases look excellent with them as well.

Thanks LTMW. The bases are Sector Imperialis, they’re quite nice, but they lack variety, far too many duplicates for using with a whole army. I reckon I’ll have to modify some of them, but I think doing so might tie them in more with the Space Marine Heroes bases.

Fifty wrote:Very nice bikes. Good decision to make the bikes a different colour to the riders.

I did a little work on modelling my Astral Claws bikes this afternoon. Planning to paint them after I finish my Executioners, I reckon.

Cheers fifty, I’m enjoying seeing these guys develop, I only wish I could get them done sooner! I look forward to seeing you smash out your Astral Claws bikers. Will they be getting more modelling attention than the Mantis Warriors?

Speaking of modelling attention my bikes and bikers got some tonight. I’m giving my crafted pad markings another chance. I had to redo the tactical and assault markings as i did them in the middle of a blob so couldn’t get them in to position on a built Marine. I think the bike Sgt will still have issues with his Chainsword getting in the way sadly. I’ll have a gander at what they look like tomorrow.


For some reason I dived straight in with the stock built biker...

I think the assault markings might have too much GS In the mould, hopefully it’ll be easy to rescue! Not sure how the revised Chapter Badge will turn out. Despite starting in the first proper pad recipient, I’ve also got a new pad en route from Northern Ireland, courtesy of theCrowe. I’ll be giving that one a go when it arrives, maybe I can make a mould that fits the Sgt!

They got even more modelling attention after that. I used up some GS purity seals and some plastic ones from my start collecting box. Each bike got a seal as did each marine. I even cracked out the painting sticks and got some Zandri dust on them followed by a sepia wash. Before calling it a night I painted the base rims too.

They’re getting closer.. I promise! If I get a quiet meeting tomorrow I’ll sort out pressing bolt pistol bikers pads too (assuming they first pads come out ok!

Thanks for looking!

Fingers crossed for your press moulding success. More yellow than blue in the mix might help as it'll make the greenstuff a bit softer and easier to press thinner.

Bikers are looking super cool already.

Waiting to see how the experiment turns out. Looking great so far.

Pic of the giant yellow "pads" is great. Good luck!

Hope your moulding (is that a proper word?) works out! And yeah, a red dot for enemy contact would look cool on the screen.

Oh boy the bikes are looking good!
The details on the screens is a nice touch.

In a "morning coma before coffee" I saw the picture with the yellow chunks on the biker and rubbed my eyes a few times, until I finally realized they were not the actual shoulder pads

Hopefully it works out well!

Bikers are looking good gobert.

Cheers,

CB

theCrowe wrote:Fingers crossed for your press moulding success. More yellow than blue in the mix might help as it'll make the greenstuff a bit softer and easier to press thinner.

Bikers are looking super cool already.

Thanks bud, the new pad arrived today


The Sgt will be the first recipient of it. The thinness of your sculpting is way better than what my paper attempts could muster, thanks so much! The mould looks like it may have slipped so I might need a couple of goes, I’ll check in the morning.

Yorkright wrote: Waiting to see how the experiment turns out. Looking great so far.

Hopefully you’ll like them, though I’m more excited at the new pad on Sgt Crowe/Corvus.

youwashock wrote:Pic of the giant yellow "pads" is great. Good luck!

Yeah, they look pretty comedy! The Sgt has gone pink and yellow because he’s more bling!

Viterbi wrote:Hope your moulding (is that a proper word?) works out! And yeah, a red dot for enemy contact would look cool on the screen.

Yeah, moulding works, though Americans would say molding. Google reckons that both are fine though. I forgot the red dot... I’ll try to remember next time.

Ezki wrote:Oh boy the bikes are looking good!
The details on the screens is a nice touch.

In a "morning coma before coffee" I saw the picture with the yellow chunks on the biker and rubbed my eyes a few times, until I finally realized they were not the actual shoulder pads

Hopefully it works out well!

Cheers man, the screen details aren’t up to the quality of some, but I’ll take it! Ha ha! I hope your coffee was strong to clear the coma!

Captain Brown wrote:Bikers are looking good gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks cap!

Oh so close now! As I noted above I got the press moulds done on the 2 Marines, the Sgt is in his casts right now though. He’ll be getting a fancy pad courtesy of theCrowe (see front of the image below for the original). The assault markings came out ok but they’re fiddly to get painted with tired eyes. Keeping with the modelling I decided to pin the bikes to their bases as I kept knocking the leaning one off!. As such the painting was limited. The headlight bars got reinstated, the pads got re base painted, whilst the icons got painted and edge highlighted. I also got all of the purity seals painted up and attached, with each bike and marine getting one.

Just reapplying highlights to the shoulder pads to do on the 2 marines and they’ll be done. The Sgt will need his pads repainting too, and his spike removing too! They’re jobs for another day as it’s WAY past my bedtime

Thanks for looking!

You'e very welcome. I do love to go all dakka community active when the opportunity arises to help a brother in need.

That's some right snazzy bikers...
Also shiny enough to draw in any Bad moon on the planet. Job well done gobert

So close you can smell it. And it smells like awesome. Strong finish!

The bikers look fantastic. The little screens and buttons are icing on a really shiny, gold cake.

It really is a strong colour scheme you've achieved with these Void Panthers, I do like them muchly. I had a similar metallic intensive SM force in the early pages of my own thread, maybe part of the reason I like yours! :E

Watching your moulding experiments with interest - perseverance is the key.

theCrowe wrote:You'e very welcome. I do love to go all dakka community active when the opportunity arises to help a brother in need.

So I was taking a look at the press mould and the original... you outlined each shape! That’s some serious skill! Sadly the press mould seems to have split as well as slipped so I’ll have to have another at making the mould. I think I’ll be able to rescue Sgt Corvus’ pad. I gave it a bit of a patch up where it slipped and cut and filed the bits where the GS went in to the split. If I get an evening this week I’ll see how it looks with some paint. Despite the miscast, it’s noticeably thinner than my attempts. Cheers!

Not Online!!! wrote:That's some right snazzy bikers...
Also shiny enough to draw in any Bad moon on the planet. Job well done gobert

Thanks Not Online!!! Always good to attract some xenos, all the easier to deal out the exterminatus!

youwashock wrote:So close you can smell it. And it smells like awesome. Strong finish!

They’ve been going on so long they probably do smell! Still a little longer to go I’m afraid

DJJazzyJeff wrote:The bikers look fantastic. The little screens and buttons are icing on a really shiny, gold cake.

Mmm cake! Cheers Jeff, the screens were actually fun this time, my previous attempts just kept going wrong! Sadly I’m none the wiser what the difference was

Ragsta wrote:It really is a strong colour scheme you've achieved with these Void Panthers, I do like them muchly. I had a similar metallic intensive SM force in the early pages of my own thread, maybe part of the reason I like yours! :E

Watching your moulding experiments with interest - perseverance is the key.

Thanks Ragsta, they’ve been fun to do. I’ll have to scour your plog to look up your Marines. Sadly you’re right on the moulding, if only these things came easily, but then where would the fun be!

No painting since Friday, but I’m pretty much done with the moulds on these guys. I’ll get Sgt Corvus to the same stage as the other 2, then push through with the highlights on the pads before I call them done. Note to self for the next lot, get all of the moulding done before painting next time! Since these guys are nearly done what should I do next? Indomitus Necron Warriors, 2nd Edition Orks, Mechanicus dudes from BSF Escalation?

I’ve been thinking of adding to my pile by buying a copy of BSF: No Repsite, they’re going for insane money right now. I don’t need the minis as I got the ETB Poxwalkers and Plague Marines. I’m tempted by the Spanish version as I mainly want the tokens and game boards. Google translate should be enough to sort out the rules. If I wait do you think the prices will get more sensible or more insane?

Is there really any choice? (Hint: it's 2nd Edition Orks)

Admire your patience with the pads mate, hope it pays off! Fiddly bits have never been my strength but it's good to see you have another crack.

As a sidenote - thecrowe, you are the man! Stuff like that makes me really proud to be a part of this community.

The bikers are really breathtaking as an (almost) finished product. Your skills have really improved (or rejuvenated!) over the course of this blog - had to flick back to page 1 to make sure I wasn't dreaming. This Void Panthers army looks like it's shaping up to be a real feather in your cap mate.

I think every time you've floated 2e orks as an option I've chosen them...but this time I'll throw my vote to the necrons. I am hooked on your paint schemes and want to see more!

Arakasi wrote:Is there really any choice? (Hint: it's 2nd Edition Orks)

Orks 1 - Necrons 0 - BSF 0

tzurk wrote:Admire your patience with the pads mate, hope it pays off! Fiddly bits have never been my strength but it's good to see you have another crack.

As a sidenote - thecrowe, you are the man! Stuff like that makes me really proud to be a part of this community.

The bikers are really breathtaking as an (almost) finished product. Your skills have really improved (or rejuvenated!) over the course of this blog - had to flick back to page 1 to make sure I wasn't dreaming. This Void Panthers army looks like it's shaping up to be a real feather in your cap mate.

I think every time you've floated 2e orks as an option I've chosen them...but this time I'll throw my vote to the necrons. I am hooked on your paint schemes and want to see more!

It was certainly easier painting the pads with tired eyes! TheCrowe really is ‘the man’! Thanks for the vote of confidence of improving skills, it’s good to see others think I’m progressing, I think it’s more improvement than rejuvenation! I’ll thank other blogs and YouTube for that! . If I do go with Necrons I’ll have to figure out the rest of the scheme and what to do with the bases, I’m thinking scorched earth and snow.
Orks 1 - Necrons 1 - BSF 0

The Bikers are finished! The pads didn’t take too long just highlights and icons. The edge highlighting is WAY easier than outlining a flat shape! These guys have been fun and I’m really liking the end results, so without further ado a very pic heavy post:

Biker Brother Garrulus








Biker Brother Picave








And finally Biker Brother Sergeant Corvus








And what’s a completed squad post without a group shot or 2;



Then because a few have asked I got out the other squad too for a shot of the whole Void Panthers Force that are done so far;


There are a few more in the gallery, though they’re very similar to that one. After I took the picture I changed the Space Marine Heroes Sgt’s purity seal from green to blue and added some writing. He’s now ready for playing Space Marine Adventures;


I decided to watch some of the election night instead of picking another project, so get your vote in! In any case let’s hope this evening passes peacefully

Thanks for looking!

Necrons!

Biker squad is a pleasure to behold. As is the group picture. They have all turned out really well.

Strong finish, what a sight! They all look fantastic. Enjoy a well earned break.

All that work has paid off Gobert. Great looking squad and army pictures thanks for sharing those.
My vote is for Necrons!

gobert the golden (and purple) wrote:Cheers fifty, I’m enjoying seeing these guys develop, I only wish I could get them done sooner! I look forward to seeing you smash out your Astral Claws bikers. Will they be getting more modelling attention than the Mantis Warriors?

Speaking of modelling attention my bikes and bikers got some tonight. I’m giving my crafted pad markings another chance. I had to redo the tactical and assault markings as i did them in the middle of a blob so couldn’t get them in to position on a built Marine. I think the bike Sgt will still have issues with his Chainsword getting in the way sadly. I’ll have a gander at what they look like tomorrow.

Yeah, my bikers have already had a lot more modelling attention than the Mantis Warriors ever had. Once I finish my Executioners and get back to Astral Claws properly, I'll have a lot to show on here before I start painting them. I'll be starting with a fairly basic Biker Squad a a nice-ish Captain to supplement some Tac Squads in their Rhinos, so won't get the fancy bits painted straight away, but once I get rolling hopefully I'll get through it quickly.

Great job finishing the bikes! The shoulder pads are really cool and give them a lot of depth.

all looking great Gobert - those shoulder pads are rocking.

youwashock wrote:Necrons!

Biker squad is a pleasure to behold. As is the group picture. They have all turned out really well.

Thanks youwashock, they look good on my shelf!
Orks 1 - Necrons 2 - BSF 0

theCrowe wrote:Strong finish, what a sight! They all look fantastic. Enjoy a well earned break.

Cheers theCrowe, they’ve been good fun

Yorkright wrote: All that work has paid off Gobert. Great looking squad and army pictures thanks for sharing those.
My vote is for Necrons!

Thanks Yorkright, the Army is slowly building and I'm liking how they look, cheers

Fifty wrote:

gobert the golden (and purple) wrote:.

Yeah, my bikers have already had a lot more modelling attention than the Mantis Warriors ever had. Once I finish my Executioners and get back to Astral Claws properly, I'll have a lot to show on here before I start painting them. I'll be starting with a fairly basic Biker Squad a a nice-ish Captain to supplement some Tac Squads in their Rhinos, so won't get the fancy bits painted straight away, but once I get rolling hopefully I'll get through it quickly.

I see what you did there! I’ll stay off the gold and purple for a project or too now... I promise!

Viterbi wrote:Great job finishing the bikes! The shoulder pads are really cool and give them a lot of depth.

Cheers Viterbi, the pads came out ok in the end. Hopefully I can figure out a system to get them done easily and consistently for future squads

darkkt wrote:all looking great Gobert - those shoulder pads are rocking.

Thanks darkkt, my efforts weren’t up to you standard (though theCrowe’s are up there) but I’ll take it!

So the Necrons won the vote and I won’t be suing to stop the count or to request a recount! Contrast really is fast stuff! I’ve got the squad nearly halfway down in a couple of hours! Of course now the slow bits will begin! I took pics each step of the way to help me to remember for next time. I started with a base of Leadbelcher

I wanted them a wee bit brighter so I added a drybrushing of Storm Host Silver

Then I cracked out John Prins’ Contrast Mix, I used 1:1:1 Basilicanum Grey: Terradon Turqoise: Contrast Medium. I think John used 2 Contrast Medium so I have to mix more medium (1:1) in

Then I threw down 1.5 coats of BlackTemplar 1:1 Contrast Medium and called it a night

I went back in on places where the Black Templar was quite thin, hence the 1.5 coats. For the next squad I’ll try a 2:1 mix of the Templar:Medium. Next up is picking out all of the damaged bits, and energy glow bits. Then it’ll be black orbs and eyes which will also get some Ardcoat. Then the minis will be done. I think I’ll add some sand and some sprue rubble to their bases, give them as dark grey finish before adding some Valhallan Blizzard.

Thanks for lookig

Great start Gobert, got to agree contrast paints help get projects done much quicker. That green looks good over the silver, might be getting ahead of myself but I can’t wait to see how the characters turn out.

These lads are very nice - the eye/gun glow on that guy in front is great.

Yep yep, lovely colour work. Agree that the weapon glow looks great! Really nice minimalist colour scheme that still manages to look aces - well executed.

These new Necron minis are brilliant. The warriors are 1000x better than the old squatty robot sculpts. Bring on the snow bases!

Very cool. The technique is paying off big in speed and appearance.

Great work on the Marines gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Yorkright wrote: Great start Gobert, got to agree contrast paints help get projects done much quicker. That green looks good over the silver, might be getting ahead of myself but I can’t wait to see how the characters turn out.

Thanks Yorkright, I can’t take credit for the scheme, so if you want to see a version including characters check out John Prins’ plog.

darkkt wrote:These lads are very nice - the eye/gun glow on that guy in front is great.

Yeah, he’s my test mini, I’ll be doing similar on the whole bunch. I still need to decide how to do the eyes, wherther to go subtle OSL like this dude or do it like his gun orbs, where I’ve tried to do a light/power source within, but black Orbs on the outside. Which reminds me the orbs need some black and a coat of Ardcoat

tzurk wrote:Yep yep, lovely colour work. Agree that the weapon glow looks great! Really nice minimalist colour scheme that still manages to look aces - well executed.

These new Necron minis are brilliant. The warriors are 1000x better than the old squatty robot sculpts. Bring on the snow bases!

Thanks, John Prins needs the credit, but I’m liking the low effort of Contrast! And yes the new guys look pretty cool, nice and The Terminator-esque

youwashock wrote:Very cool. The technique is paying off big in speed and appearance.

Thanks, hopefully they continue to look cool when I finish them!

Captain Brown wrote:Great work on the Marines gobert.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks CB, I like them, sadly my daughters broke the Sgts Chainsword and have lost it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Whoops! I seem to have ordered Space Marine Heroes Series 2. It now seems to be quite widely available as will Series 3 which is available for pre order now... I’ll probably be getting that too I suppose.

In other news I found the missing Chainsword whilst I was vacuuming today so it’s been reunited with Sgt Corvus

Top notch work on the bikers! Still in love with that color scheme.
They look amazing.

Liking the direction where you are going with the Necrons.
And snow bases are always cool!

 Ezki wrote:
Top notch work on the bikers! Still in love with that color scheme.
They look amazing.

Liking the direction where you are going with the Necrons.
And snow bases are always cool!

Cheers bud, the bikes took a while but I’m liking how good they look on the shelf!

I got a bit more paint on the Necrons tonight, I feel like they’re progressing fast, especially compared to my normal production rate! First up was hitting the recesses of orbs, weapons, damaged areas and eyes with Sybarite Green. It’s already quite a thin paint but I added 1 drop of thinner to 5 drops of paint to help it run in to the recesses better using a Medium Layer brush. I also outlined the eyes for a basic OSL

Next up was an even thinner pass of 4:1 Gauss Blaster Green:Thinner. This was done with a small layer brush focussed on the depest part of recesses and the centre of rib cage slots;


If I get 5mins during the day tomorrow I’ll paint the Orbs black and add some Ardcoat. I’ll try the eyes in the same manner to see how that works. Not sure if I’ll get time to do more than a sample, so here’s the lads so far

I’m gonna go old school on the bases, not goblin green, but applying PVA then sprinkling sand on. I don’t want a thick layer of sand/paint like
I normally do. I might throw some sprue rubble down too. I’m thinking a dark brown/Black dry brushes white to simulate frost (alla tzurkian bases) as well as some Valhallen Blizzard.

Thanks for looking

Coming along quickly Gobert! I like that glowing effect on the weapons and eyes. Good to hear the sergeant retrieved his weapon.

'Crons look great, especially considering how quickly you're getting them finished.

Those murder robots are progressing fast and looking good while they do it. Love that it looks like a mixture of patina and glow, they will be a fearsome bunch.
Did you buy the display box of SMH2? I got one this year and was very lucky too have the captain and the ancient in it, hope yours has everyone too!