Blood Angels Army Project (pic carpet bombing)

[Meph]

That's some high praise indeed, cheers! :rolleyes:
Don't forget to post some stuff when you start the army!

[Meph]

In the mean time, some progress on the Land Speeders. The end is in sight. these pictures are right after the decals and some weathering done with a little sponge. I applied some dark grey, some tin, some boltgun metal, and some light brown.
The decals might shine a bit too much in these pics as they all have a little coat of gloss varnish on them to seal them.
At the moment the models are coated in satin varnish and I'm ready for the oil paints. I decided to go with satin instead of gloss as I don't want the surfaces to be tóo slippery for the wash with oil paints.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5004.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5014.JPG

[Brakkart]

Nice going Meph, those Speeders are looking great. Such fiddly models too, I've been painting up a Land Speeder Storm and urgh, the amount of tiny little control panels and such inside them is ridiculous. Any more progress made on the Big Bird?

[Meph]

Cheers mate! yeah, they are fiddly models but painting them partly disassembled did help a great deal. And i don't regret going through the hassle of painting even the shoulder pads separately. it made the whole blacking-out-of-details and detailing process so much smoother.
The control panels inside, I though 'screw the glowy buttons' and went with an all bronze keyset. ^^ Maybe I'll paint up some of them as if lit up but we'll see.

Well, I've had some good news from the mate who printed the decals, he said they came out great. I'll have them somewhere this week and then it's onwards and upwards with the bigbird!

[Meph]

So, here they are after the oil wash (mostly black, with a little bit of dark brown)and dried out. I did some small corrections using pointy cotton sticks damp with turpentine. I cleaned up some plates, the shoulder pads, gave the yellow helmets a light 'polish', etc. This really helped to brighten up some areas, and using the flat bits of the ear swabs I lightened some too-darkened areas while leaving the wash neatly in the recesses.
Now I need to seal it with a coat of of satin varnish and then I can go to work with thinned inks to add some heat distortion to engine- & weapon nozzles, and pipes. Seal it again and then some more oil paints for grease stains, seal that layer with varnish and then add some weathering powders.
Oh and I just saw i need to give the two silver areas of the crests on speeders 2 & 3 with an oil paint wash using purely black, to keep the tint of the light blue/purple wash intact.

Enjoy! C&c welcome as always. :)

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5021.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5030.JPG

[Meph]

Yay! The decals got printed!
Crap! I already managed to frak up two of them! Maybe because it's Chinese waterslide paper, possible because of the reasons outlined below.
As you can see it's rather dark and cracked although in real life it does appear more crisp than on these photos. The dark probably comes from the fact that the white waterslides are ever so slightly transparent, probably warranting a white undercoat. And as you can see it's also cracked. But that probably comes from the fact that to try out, I just gave the decals one coat of satin varnish from a can because that was easy and fast. Also, considering the size of it, it also has to soak for quite a bit until it comes loose from the paper. Yesterday, I coated them with a second and third satin varnish and just now with a coat of gloss. This will probably seal in the ink strongly enough. I'm going to leave this to dry overnight and then put on a new decal. luckily I added those side panels 7 times per sheet I printed, so I have 5 left and can always print some more.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5040.JPG

[wargasmic.experience]

very nice work indeed! Thanks for sharing.

[Meph]

Cheers, mate! Anytime. ;)

So apparently the few coats of gloss were the key. ^^

Ta-daaa!

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5055.JPG

So obviously they still need some work in terms of a few coats of Micro Sol, and the pilot's name needs some trimming. The pilot's name is a tribute to the generous Texan who sold me his pre-order extension kit for the errrr Thunder Raven!...?
There's also a request for another Texan coming onto the missile pods. :D

Funny how all these Texans ended up involved in a Belgian build... Must be the beer.

[Sinsinatus]

Great build. My Angels are languishing in a box while other projects (like a new bathroom for the wife) take priority.

[KrewL RaiN]

Time to make some high speed wooshy noises while carrying it around the house and your LFGplace xP

[Meph]

Great build. My Angels are languishing in a box while other projects (like a new bathroom for the wife) take priority.

Cheers mate! Well, if your angels are temporarily boxed up. Go nuts on the bathroom. I mean, what woman can resist a bathroom with red walls and black, bleeding wings? She'll throw you over her shoulder, march straight to the bedroom and keep you home from work for a week! :D


@KrewL RaiN: Only in a padded room, mate. I would want to risk falling over and damaging the flyer. ^^

[Meph]

Decals complete! I just need to do some light touch-ups here and there. The home-printed decals are a tougher breed than their regular cousins. Days of furious stabbing and applying Micro Sol and rubbing, stabbing, rubbing, coating... still left me with the off air bubble here and there that won't go away. I already camouflaged most with some paint but the close up pics revealed some more.
But basically, this birdy is ready for weathering! :D


http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5059.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5065.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5072.JPG

[Brakkart]

Looking really nice there Meph. I love the "We Brake For Kittens" on the rear hatch. Too funny!

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Gods damn it Meph, why are you so good? :D

[Meph]

Looking really nice there Meph. I love the "We Brake For Kittens" on the rear hatch. Too funny!
Cheers mate! lol yeah, I couldn't resist. ^^


Gods damn it Meph, why are you so good? :D
'cuz I chucked haste out of the window, that's wot! :D But still the temptation is hard to resist, hence the occasional mold line or messy bit. Progress is worth sacrifice sometimes (or that's what I tell myself at those times anyway.) :D

[bloodangel 83]

Hey Meph, ur SR looks good. Nice work. BA83

[Daveisdvd]

This is by far one of the coolest painting and modelling threads I have ever read. I have so many questions to ask but I fear I would disturb your natural genius. I'm subscribing to this and look forward to this beauty being finished.

[Meph]

Cheers BA83! :D


This is by far one of the coolest painting and modelling threads I have ever read. I have so many questions to ask but I fear I would disturb your natural genius. I'm subscribing to this and look forward to this beauty being finished.

Ah, but nononono, ask any and all questions you want. Forums are there for more than just procrastination, it's for the community o' peeps, it is! I'll gladly elaborate on materials and techniques. Just don't ask me how to iron a shirt, I'm really horrible at that...

[marcus]

cool job Meph now back to work :)

[Meph]

Aye aye, sah! :D

Here's some progress. I'll take some pictures later on today or tomorrow of the Stormraven, that's received it's first weathering, but first:
The speeders are 99% finished. They just need some light weathering powder and then they're done. Enjoy!

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5086.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5096.JPG

[Force21]

We brake for kittens

Wow... I love that,


I am sorry but I am going to have to use that... :D


The paint, decals & all the little details are amazing...great work.

[SotonShades]

Awe inspiring as always! Dunno why, but I really like the helmet of the pilot in the second pic. Don't get me wrong, the others look great too, but that one just seems to stand out for me!

A couple of the decals still look like decals, possibly only in the pics, but I'm sure I'll never be lucky enough to see this army in the flesh, so I am going to give that one small criticsm anyway. The rest of the detail looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing them 100% done, as I know what that last 1% is like for you and your models.

Grand job mate, keep it up!

[Meph]

Cheers, guys!

SotonShades, well, funnily enough I'll be in Warhammer World in Nottingham from the 3rd until the 5th of August. With my army. ^^ I'll be attending the Librarium-Online meet, just a casual gathering folks from over at LO with open invite. Seemed like a fun thing to do, just a weekend of gaming and hanging out. Take a few thousand points worth and hop over, I'll gladly have a game with or against. Or just for a pint. ;)

And lol, indeed, the last 1% often bites me in the butt. Although the currently the main goal is to get some stuff painted for that weekend. Next up is the all-Heavy bolter dev squad. That needs to be painted up enough to assemble so i can use them in-game.

[SotonShades]

The Emperor obviously doesn't like me... That is the weekend I am in London to see some Olympic Hockey! If I can make it up for the 5th, it'd be great to shake your hand, but there is deffinitely no garauntee I'd be able to do that lol.

[Meph]

Garr! Bad timing indeed! Ah well, perhaps the hangover on the 5th will be mild. :D If so see ya there, if not, another time then ;)

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

That's a shame, I'm not there until the 23rd. xD

[LittleSilverGuys]

Wow, I just went through all 28 pages. Impressive stuff man, awesome. I am jealous, impressed and inspired. keep it up.

[Meph]

Ah well, won't be the last time I'll visit the UK, as my brother's been living in York since over a decade. ^^

@LittleSilverGuys: Cheers mate! I'm glad I could capture your attention for the entire thread. Oh, when you set the forum options to max #posts per page, it's only 7 pages. ^^ I never understood the ridiculously low amount of posts per page per by default, that's so 90's. We're living in the age of broadband baby yeah!

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Hahahaha! Nice.
Whenever you're in Britain next I'd love to have a game against you. :)

[Meph]

Right-o, sah. Consider that glove picked up! :D

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Awesome! :p

[Meph]

Here's the birdy after the first few weathering passes. Just some brown, grey,boltgun metal, and black stippled on with a little sponge, and some streaks with thinned boltgun metal. And I must say, getting nice streaks with acryllic paint ain't easy. Quickest compromise I found between look & speed is applying a thin line of the thinned paint along the edge of a plate and then, using a large flat brush, streak it backwards in one smooth go before it dries. On some parts it looks very good, on others, not so much... It'll need some adjusting and correcting here and there but I think I also can camouflage the dodgy bits with some more hand-painted detailed streaks. And once I hit that puppy with oil paints, I'm sure I'll be able to to add some nice black re-entry burn streaks using the larger metallic streaks as a base to work on.

Thoughts & comments are always welcome.

I thought to take some pics of the fully finished speeders but the weather outside is ****e as usual. It's kind of annoying/scary to read here and there that this summer weather shift might be more and more frequent thanks to the Gulf Stream being pushed south because of the warming of the planet's poles...

Anywhooo

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5115.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5126.JPG

[SotonShades]

Love the weathering so far. Deffinitely looking forward to the re-entry streaks!

Alas, having discussed timings today, I'll be back in the midlands (leicester/nottingham area) about the same time as Warhammer World closes... Deffinitely won't be making it up there in time to see these beauties for myself . Plus I'd be knackered anyway lol.

[Meph]

Yarrr, too bad! Ah well, there's always a next time.

[bloodangel 83]

Looks good Meph. BA83

[Meph]

It's been a while, but I'm back! Time went by pretty quickly with some holidays, busy days at work and general busy-busy.
But here's some progress. Just before going to Warhammer World in the UK last weekend I managed to finish the 2nd devastator squad. Well, finished... they need bases and two of 'm need bolters, but still. They were ready for gaming and saw some good action. :D

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5616.JPG

And I peeled off the masking tape on the Stormraven's cockpit. The bird's ready for oil paints now and since the cockpit seams need some dirtying up as well it seemed like the time.
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5635.JPG

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

No Meph, NO! You are NOT allowed to do this to me!
Stop making me want to do Blood Angels! :D

Excellent work mate.

[Wolfshade]

Brilliant.
Your painting makes me hide my models in shame

[Brakkart]

Thought I'd post to say thank you Meph for the paint scheme you used for the cockpit of your Stormraven that I have totally just copied for use in my Imperial Fist's Stormtalon gunship. I was stuck for a good scheme for it, and remembered this thread and thought I'd take a look and see how you'd done yours.

Also kinda hoping you might post some pics on what you've done recently on your army (if anything) as it's been almost 5 months now since your last update. Love the Dev Squad, but curious why you went for 4 Heavy Bolters, do you fight a lot of horde armies?

[Red Skullz]

That is some sublime weathering on that flyer! Oh and them marines look good as well ;) Now I need to read through more of this plog :)

R

[Meph]

Oh, crikey, sorry for the long hiatus guys. I got rather sidetracked with work and other stuff. This project's not dead yet and I hope to resume it during the following weeks. I've did some work on my large scale terminator and a few other large scale models, just for a change of pace.

@Wolfshade & Red Skullz: Cheers guys! I'm glad you're liking the stuff. Seeing these pics myself again definitely wants me to start on some of the other stuff I've got lined up. But so many choices, some more infantry, the terminators, another LR and Rhino, or a Spartan :D

@Brakkart: Cool! Got a link to your SR? I'm curious to see. And for the Dev squad... Well, I actually picked the heavy bolters more on a whim rather than game experience at the time. I kinda wanted to build a balanced fighting force and it made sense to have an all anti-tank squad (the plasma cannons and lascannons) and an anti-infantry squad. That way the weapons strengths and ranges are nicely balanced game-wise, and it felt practical and plausible for the 'fluff' of the strike force.


So Tcheentch, how are those BA's coming along? Muhahah :D

[Brakkart]

Good to see you back with us Meph. As to your question I stupidly forgot to have any pics taken of the Stormtalon before the canopy got glued on and then the canopy kinda misted up when the vehicle got it's matt varnish coat. Still the interior is somewhat visible, as you can see from this pic:

http://imaginechat.com/memberpages/Brakkart/Images/stormtalon.jpg

I also converted it from an idea in this thread (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?22375-Stormtalon-Conversion) by plawolf. I have to admit 4 guys with heavy bolters and the others carrying ammo cannisters and such looks very striking and could lay down a serious wall of fire. Really tempted to do a squad like that myself.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

So Tcheentch, how are those BA's coming along? Muhahah :D

They're very dark, and robe-y. :p

[Meph]

Good to see you back with us Meph. As to your question I stupidly forgot to have any pics taken of the Stormtalon before the canopy got glued on and then the canopy kinda misted up when the vehicle got it's matt varnish coat. Still the interior is somewhat visible, as you can see from this pic:

I also converted it from an idea in this thread (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?22375-Stormtalon-Conversion) by plawolf. I have to admit 4 guys with heavy bolters and the others carrying ammo cannisters and such looks very striking and could lay down a serious wall of fire. Really tempted to do a squad like that myself.

Cool, that smaller turret really does look a lot better.
Is the cockpit misted on the inside? A layer of gloss varnish might clear up the misting somewhat.


They're very dark, and robe-y. :p

But... zoo zey vant soo to suck your blud?

[Deadlift]

Always been a big fan of your BA, the dev squad is awesome and the attention to detail is really good. Love the blue helmets, they really pop.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

But... zoo zey vant soo to suck your blud?

Nope, they want to find the Fallen. :p

Dark Angels. :D

[Meph]

Sneak peak! :D After some slow painting of some large models, I felt I needed a change. ^^

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5868.JPG

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Nice, I like dead Eldar.

[Meph]

Nice, I like dead Eldar.

They're squishy ^^

[Meph]

Here's the start on the right arm and erm.. decoration. ^^
I drilled out a hole right through hos torso, rather than try to get two parts of the blade perfectly aligned. And that way I can paint the victim separately before sticking him on and adding some guts/blood.
I'm actually doubting whether I should magnetize the weapon arms or not. Any extra weapons from FW do not come with the large shoulder pads and the small shoulder-joint-elbow seems too small and fragile to accept any magnets large enough to hold the weight.
Anyone any experience in magnetizing contemptor weapon arms?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5879.JPG

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Love the idea of an Assault Cannon bayonet! xD

I haven't any magnetising experience unfortunately...

[Brakkart]

I'm actually doubting whether I should magnetize the weapon arms or not. Any extra weapons from FW do not come with the large shoulder pads and the small shoulder-joint-elbow seems too small and fragile to accept any magnets large enough to hold the weight.
Anyone any experience in magnetizing contemptor weapon arms?

TDA might not, but I do! I have a regular Contemptor and have magnetised both arms on it, the trick is to put the magnets in the elbow not the shoulder as you are right the extra weapon arms do not come with the big shoulder piece. I put my magnets into the bottom of the bit that slots into the shoulder pad (the L-shaped sorta piece). I found that the circular bit at the bottom of that was plenty thick enough to take an embedded magnet and so is the opposite piece on the weapon arm itself.

My Contemptor has a power fist and khere's cannon currently, and I've almost finished twin plasma cannons for it. I have a second khere's cannon awaiting assembly too.

Granted my assault cannon doesn't have a bayonet and a dead Eldar on the end of it (Love the decoration!), but the two magnets have a pretty strong grip and I don't think that it would be a problem. Just be sure you have the same polarity facing down in each of the shoulder pieces, and the opposite facing up in each weapon arm and you will have a strong connection that can be freely swapped about, and leaves the dread open to adding other arms in future.

[Meph]

Progress so far, I've decided to glue the weapons. Magnetizing will be better suited for a less posed model. That, and I was unwilling to search & wait for the suitable magnets. But I'm pretty sure I'll but more contemptors, and those will be magnetized fo' so'!
The arms themselves are just temporarily attached. I'll paint them separately. The 'fist' is not attached to the arm either, but the eldar is firm within its grasp. ^^

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_5882.JPG

[SotonShades]

The right leg looks a bit odd. Not quite a punt/kick, not quite a stamping motion. Could just be that it looks a little out of place with the motion of the torso twisting into a back handed grab with a forward stab. Then again, it could just be me or the angles the photos were taken from. I would have thought it would work a little better if the contemptor was stamping the xenos flat into the floor, making the thrust of the epic bayonet look more powerful.

Just my two pence (it would also make the pose of your dread far too similar to the pose of mine :P)

[Brakkart]

Yeah stomp those Eldar! Loving the mini diorama you've done there Meph. I absolutely love the Contemptor model, even if sticking the legs together is a pain. I have two of them now and honestly I cannot see me getting a regular GW Dread at all. I sold the one that came with my Black Reach box to my housemate as he's gonna hack it up for scenery for the base of his Tau Riptide. I'm tempted to try and convert my next one into an Ironclad Dreadnought.

I know GW don't grab FW models anymore but I wish they would make an exception for these, cos they would be awesome in plastic.

[Meph]

Oh wow, long time no update... Sorry for that guys. ^^

Progress!

the pipeline for the following months, quick photos.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6109.JPG

I decided to ditch the stock Spartan tracks as have no love whatsoever for those 'old' style Land Raider tracks, they never made sense to me. So after searching around on the net a bit I decided to go for 1/35 scale tracks from a Merkava II, which had the right width. I decided to with tracks from the modeling company fruilmodel, which seem to be very good as they can easily be found in many model webshops, and ebay .

For those of you who might be interested in something like this; older tanks like a T-55, and the larger WW2 tanks would suit a Rhino nicely, as the more modern MBT's like Merkava 2 and above, Abrams, T-90, Leopard 2 suit the width of a Land Raider.

A T-55's tracks in 1/35 are 15mm wide, which was too small for the Spartan. And I found that modern MBT's tracks are 61-65 cm, so I guestimated that they would be around the desired 20mm for the Land Raider/Spartan. Luckily, that was the case.

So I ordered two sets, 800 grams of Merkava II tracks, from Djermany. Arrived in two days. :) Together with the huge weight of the resin brick which is the Spartan, this is going to be a mighty model indeed, capable of crushing any styrofam hill on the table. But luckily it turns out I actually need just one set. Guess I have spares for another tank. ^^

http://www.military-resin.com/boutique/images_produits/atl_66.jpg

One track completed, 42 centimeters worth of little links put together one by one. It took me 3-4 hours I think. I made them over a few sessions and kinda zoned out each time as those links and holes are rather tiny. :S But after a while I got the hand of it; clip off 5-10 pieces of wire with a few mm to spare, chain up tracks using flat nosed pliers because sometimes you need to apply gentle pressure to pierce through a little membrane of metal in the 'hinges', and repeat until you run out of wire. Then cut some more wire.

But the result is sure worth it, looks a million times better than the stock tracks. Even though they do have a lot of leeway between the running wheels, they do stay on track quite nicely when going round. Depending on how it goes during the painting progress, I might even leave them loose. The little kid in me grins at the sight of moving tank tracks. :)
But with weathering powders 'n all... ah well, we'll see.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6116.JPG

Now the second one...

[Dave Fothergill]

Meph how did you attach the backpack wings to these marines backpacks? As I'm doing a BA army and wanted to shamelessly steal your idea

8344

[Meph]

Well, basically just some light trimming so they fit snugly in the grooves on the backpack, and the glue them into place. The fit, and the stickiness of the glue hold 'm in place nicely. :D

[Dave Fothergill]

I thought that would be the case just wanted to check

[Meph]

Wehey, progress!

Base coat
Wash
4 Drybrush highlights
Varnish
Glaze
Highlight touch-up
Varnish
Removed masking tape.

Now they're ready to have the metalics and details blacked out.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6125.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6126.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6128.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6129.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6130.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6133.JPG

That spartan does look better with realistic tracks, doesn't it? :D

[Brakkart]

That spartan does look better with realistic tracks, doesn't it? :D

Sure does!! If I ever get a Spartan I might just have to borrow that idea.

[Meph]

Don't hesitate. Once you get the hang of it, assembling those tracks goes pretty quickly. For the second track I pre-cut over 20 wire lengths in one go and then it goes really fast to assemble sections and with a fine-tipped superglue bottle just lightly dab each end tap-tap-tap... Done! To close them you do have to stretch them a bit over the running wheels to fit the last piece because the first fit will be very tight, but you will get a little bit of slack afterwards.

[Darren Richardson]

wow I just read all 32 pages in one sitting....

Damn your BA's are amazing, the troops look great, Really loving the metalic tint to the red on your DC.

The SG look astonishing in that bronzed statuelike armour.

the tanks and landspeeders look great as well....

But for me the pimped out Storm Raven really is the top drawer of your army Meph, and I love the "We Break For Kittens" :D

oh and I almost feel sorry for the eldar kicked on the chin by that contemptor.... almost :D

[Meph]

Thanks for the kind words, thank you for the effort & courage to go through it all at once. Cheers, mate! :D

[Darren Richardson]

Thanks for the kind words, thank you for the effort & courage to go through it all at once. Cheers, mate! :D

no problems, it was interesting seeing the different versions of your uh "Storm Raven" :D

I really like it, may try something similar myself one day.

[Meph]

Oh wow, time sure flies. Snap, snap, snap, and gone are a few months... I managed to get some painting done here and there so here's the current progress. The Spartan and Contemptor are ready for weathering, the most fun and casual part of the painting process. :)
Personally I can't wait to see the tracks weathered up evenifIdosaysomyself.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6136.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6147.JPG

- - - Updated - - -

And just for good measure, a high res piccie. :)

9655

[Darren Richardson]

Wow glad your back with your thread, damn they look beautiful painted up even to that standard, I really can't wait to see them dirtied up and grimey :D

[Meph]

Hehe, cheers, mate! Yeah, I'm getting eager as well. I hope I find some time to paint next week. :-P

[Meph]

Here's a top-down view of the Spartan, to better show the drop.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6161.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

is that freehand or by stencil?

either way it's fine work indeed.

[Meph]

Cheers, mate. Well, stencil. I stuck two broad strips of masking tape together to allow for the circle to fit. stuck that to the spartan and trimmed it and then made the point of the drop with more masking tape. And lots off little pieces to fit around the form of the hull.

Some progress; first few layers of weathering. So far just some dry-sponging and drybrushing of some dark greys and metalics.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6163.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6174.JPG

[Meph]

Gaaaah!!! Frosting!! brand new can of Purity Seal...
The spartan is after the frosting and attempt to smooth it out after a coat of Klear. Which improved it slightly.
The Contempor is àfter the attempt to further rectify the fix. I mean, WTF??!!! I'v had some run-ins with frosting before, but never, ever something like this.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6179.JPG

Currently I will attempt a polish with some pure alcohol or turpentine, see how that goes...

[primeministersinister]

DUDE. That's terrible.
I hate when that happens.

[Thornblood]

Where did you get the can from? GW tend to be pretty good at customer service stuff if your buying direct from them... def show them the pictures

[Darren Richardson]

WOW that is bad, he looks like he's been left out on Valahain for a decade or so :p

seriously though I've never seen frosting so bad from a spray can, which make did you use?

One a side note, did you say you use a sponge to weather your model, how do you use that? I've never tried it before.

[DWest]

Ouch! Although, I wish there was a way to make clearcoat do that on command, as it kinda looks like it's covered in a thick layer of frost. That might be cool to do on a Furioso Librarian- rime ice is one of the common side-effects to heavy use of psyker powers.

[Meph]

Phew... worst case scenario averted...
First attempt was moistening with airbrush cleaner and then gently applying the Dremel with a felt polishing head. Not a good idea as you can see from the removed paint. So I moved onto manual polishing using some turpentine and some old stockings.

That worked somewhat but was too slow, considering the amount of surface on all models. Next up, same fluid, but with an old toothbrush. Still not getting what I wanted I took my electric toothbrush with an old-, all-brush, head. That gave the good compromise between gentle & firm, plus the speed desired.

I managed to get everything up to an acceptable level. Most parts are fully clean again, some parts need just some re-deepening of the colours using some inks and perhaps a touch-up highlight& weathering.
The main body of the Contemptor is as clean as I can get it I'm afraid. Still, it's salvageable but I'm reasonably confident I can restore it without having to resort to stripping the model and staring over.
The white crap, even when removed, left some texture in the paint here and there and I think I might even be able to incorporate that into the weathering.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6180.JPG



DUDE. That's terrible. I hate when that happens.
Yep, this was the worst I've ever seen, for sure.


Where did you get the can from? GW tend to be pretty good at customer service stuff if your buying direct from them... def show them the pictures
Well, the can was bought from my local games store, but it's a retailer, not a GW.


WOW that is bad, he looks like he's been left out on Valahain for a decade or so :p

seriously though I've never seen frosting so bad from a spray can, which make did you use?

One a side note, did you say you use a sponge to weather your model, how do you use that? I've never tried it before.


Ouch! Although, I wish there was a way to make clearcoat do that on command, as it kinda looks like it's covered in a thick layer of frost. That might be cool to do on a Furioso Librarian- rime ice is one of the common side-effects to heavy use of psyker powers.

lol, yeah, it does look like convincing rime, doesn't it? It got on there fat enough to cut it with a scalpel...
It was GW's Purity Seal. In general I've rarely had any trouble with their spray cans but it seems I beat the odds.

As for the sponging; in principle it works exactly the same as with drybrushing. Take a bit of sponge, cut to size and shape of your desire, dab some paint on it, swirl/dab around on some newspaper until almost nothing comes off and gently start dabbing it on the model. Using different colours, you can build up a nice layered effect. Blacks, greys, browns, metalics, ect.
Because of the nature of the dabbing on, you can't really get into grooves of somewhat covered parts, but you can touch using a drybrush and the same colours, to get into the nooks & crannies.

[kajohnson09]

Sorry to see the frosting. Always one of my biggest concerns when applying varnish. Good recovery, though.

[elmir]

Gloss varnish over it at this stage... Sucks... but a gloss can fix it.

Also... If you have an airbrush, do as I do. Get a cheap as chips €15 singe action, external mix airbrush with suction feed and get some vallejo airbrush varnish. That stuff clogs very fast if you use it in an internal mix airbrush, but never in an external suction feed. I've yet to see those frost up (maybe because they are water solluble?)

[Meph]

Sorry to see the frosting. Always one of my biggest concerns when applying varnish. Good recovery, though.

Cheers, mate! :)


Gloss varnish over it at this stage... Sucks... but a gloss can fix it.

Also... If you have an airbrush, do as I do. Get a cheap as chips €15 singe action, external mix airbrush with suction feed and get some vallejo airbrush varnish. That stuff clogs very fast if you use it in an internal mix airbrush, but never in an external suction feed. I've yet to see those frost up (maybe because they are water solluble?)

Well, gloss varnish was the first thing I tried. Johnson's Klear, straight through the airbrush. The frosting diminished but came back in full force when it dried. I've never come across such stubborn frosting before. What causes the frosting is either the propellant gasses from the can reacting with the humidity in the air or reacting in the can itself, which can come from bad storage. Too hot, or way too cold and the gas might react with condense inside the can. Considering the severeness of the frosting, I'm suspecting the latter.

Up until now I've always applied gloss using an airbursh, mainly because Klear is so cheap and trustworthy. But I guess from now on I'll also be applying satin varnish with my airbrush...
Cheers for the head's up about Vallejo's. I do have a half liter bottle satin sitting around since quite a while but I've been using GW cans because of the quick-use. I'll dust off the GW paint gun again for the satin coats. :)

[Darren Richardson]

Phew... worst case scenario averted...

As for the sponging; in principle it works exactly the same as with drybrushing. Take a bit of sponge, cut to size and shape of your desire, dab some paint on it, swirl/dab around on some newspaper until almost nothing comes off and gently start dabbing it on the model. Using different colours, you can build up a nice layered effect. Blacks, greys, browns, metalics, ect.
Because of the nature of the dabbing on, you can really get into grooves of somewhat covered parts, but you can touch using a drybrush and the same colours, to get into the nooks & crannies.

I'm glad you've managed to recover from that bad varnish.

Thanks for the advice, I'll try that on my termies and tanks.

[Meph]

Oh, I just noticed asilly type about the sponging, it's; "...you CAN'T really get into the grooves..." :D

Here's the post-restoration. This morning the frosting was a little bit more present this morning, after night's drying and curing. So I misted some oil paint thinner on with the airbrush and then immediately followed up with a coat of Klear, to capture the moist state (which made the white disappear). Then I needed to touch up some areas; basically again a thin basecoat, wash, highlights, glaze, and then re-apply the weathering.
And now the model is sealed with Klear again for a black oil paint wash.

As you can see on the Contemptor's body, the frosting did leave some texture behind on some parts of the model but actually I don't mind. The picture's don't do it justice because of the gloss glare, but the texture is fine enough to pass off as layered paint of an old and battle-worn machine.

I had absolutely no desire to strip and start again so I decided to roll with the punches. :)

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6181b.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6184.JPG

[Charon]

Where did you get the can from? GW tend to be pretty good at customer service stuff if your buying direct from them... def show them the pictures

And what they are going to do about it?
Send a new can of crappy varnish? Give me the few € back?
They are not going to clean the model for me or compensate the time I spent on a now ruined model.
Happened to both my Posessed and Inccubi with 2 different cans of GW varnish. Never ever again.

[Greyseer]

I used to hate Purity Seal due to the frosting risk. But then I learned why it happens and how to avoid it.

Purity seal is one part gloss varnish, and one part matte additive. If the spray is not mixed well enough, you'll either get a blast of gloss varnish, or a blast of the matte additive. The matte additive is what dries white. I nearly ruined an Imperial Knight model completely because it did exactly what happened in the pics in this thread.

Then I read an article in the recent White Dwarf that explained how best to avoid it. Not only should you do the commonly known thing of "avoid spraying in humid areas", but you also need to shake the can rather extensively. This isn't some "shake for 30 seconds and spray" thing. This is more like "shake for AT LEAST 2 minutes before you spray."

Now when I seal, I start my stopwatch and shake the can for 2 minutes and continue to shake between sprays. I've yet to have a fog issue return, and I've been through at least three cans of Purity Seal since (prior to learning this, every spray job I did has some level of fogging). Also, I live in Kentucky, where the humidity during the spring and summer is oh-so-stifling, and my recent models have not fogged.

[Thornblood]

First up, amazing job at restoring Meph. Really brought it back from the brink. I would have been on the verge of tears.




http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/images/styles/VisionCollision/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Thornblood http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/images/styles/VisionCollision/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?p=436141#post436141)
Where did you get the can from? GW tend to be pretty good at customer service stuff if your buying direct from them... def show them the pictures







http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/images/styles/VisionCollision/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Charon http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/images/styles/VisionCollision/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?p=436141#post436141)
And what they are going to do about it?
Send a new can of crappy varnish? Give me the few € back?
They are not going to clean the model for me or compensate the time I spent on a now ruined model.
Happened to both my Posessed and Inccubi with 2 different cans of GW varnish. Never ever again.





Actually my local GW store (with a good manager) has replaced a box of Grey Hunters for a friend, and used the stores undercoat on them when they were built and ready (which the friend did in store). He gave him a new can of Purity Seal too. It didnt replace the time or the paintjob, but it helped.

If Meph was to have a chat with his FLGS, possibly between the two of them (Meph and FLGS) they could send the pics to GW, and in a well worded professional email, possibl get some vouchers. It dosnt fix the issue, but it does help. Also, the hassle may not be worth Mephs time/ not having fun painting ratio. But its worth bearing in mind. Ive had one or two issues with GW in the past and each time they have gone above and beyond to help me. Its also worth emailing Forgeworld, as Ive had a problem with a FW kit before and they really helped me out, and then a few years later I really messed up a FW kit, completely my own fault, and they went above and beyond to help me that time too.

[Meph]

Wehey, I noticed the page over on FB front page, cheers! :)

@Charon & Thornblood: Yeah, if it was a direct buy I might have considered going back. In general my experiences with both GW and Forgeworld are above excellent when it comes to shipment- and/or product problems. But for just a can of varnish, bought through a retailer, I didn't feel it was worth the time invested. Also, if it just boils down to pennies, driving to shop and making international phonecalls costs money too. If it was a model, would have been something different.



...This isn't some "shake for 30 seconds and spray" thing. This is more like "shake for AT LEAST 2 minutes before you spray."...

Cheers for thàt advice! Following your advice, I took that demon spray can of Purity Seal and shook it hard for a good 4-5 minutes and tested it on an old model and lo and behold, no frosting.

So lesson learned; when buying new cans, or using ones that have rested for a long time, shake it like you're single.

Last night I applied a black oil paint wash, some slight touch-ups here and there while it was drying and let it fully dry out overnight. And then sealed it with the exact same can that produced the post-nuclear frosting. :D

Now it's on to the next layers of weathering.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6201.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6217.JPG

[elmir]

I have a feeling the weathering stage might just make the model contemptor "get away with it"... Good job on that.

The damage on the land raider is hardly noticeable anymore.

[Darren Richardson]

excellent job, that frosting damage now looks like battle damage with that little bit of extra work you've done...

[Jose A. Fabian]

Phew... worst case scenario averted...
First attempt was moistening with airbrush cleaner and then gently applying the Dremel with a felt polishing head. Not a good idea as you can see from the removed paint. So I moved onto manual polishing using some turpentine and some old stockings.

That worked somewhat but was too slow, considering the amount of surface on all models. Next up, same fluid, but with an old toothbrush. Still not getting what I wanted I took my electric toothbrush with an old-, all-brush, head. That gave the good compromise between gentle & firm, plus the speed desired.

I managed to get everything up to an acceptable level. Most parts are fully clean again, some parts need just some re-deepening of the colours using some inks and perhaps a touch-up highlight& weathering.
The main body of the Contemptor is as clean as I can get it I'm afraid. Still, it's salvageable but I'm reasonably confident I can restore it without having to resort to stripping the model and staring over.
The white crap, even when removed, left some texture in the paint here and there and I think I might even be able to incorporate that into the weathering.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6180.JPG



Yep, this was the worst I've ever seen, for sure.


Well, the can was bought from my local games store, but it's a retailer, not a GW.





lol, yeah, it does look like convincing rime, doesn't it? It got on there fat enough to cut it with a scalpel...
It was GW's Purity Seal. In general I've rarely had any trouble with their spray cans but it seems I beat the odds.

As for the sponging; in principle it works exactly the same as with drybrushing. Take a bit of sponge, cut to size and shape of your desire, dab some paint on it, swirl/dab around on some newspaper until almost nothing comes off and gently start dabbing it on the model. Using different colours, you can build up a nice layered effect. Blacks, greys, browns, metalics, ect.
Because of the nature of the dabbing on, you can't really get into grooves of somewhat covered parts, but you can touch using a drybrush and the same colours, to get into the nooks & crannies.

Forget GW for your sprays, I use acrylex matt varnish.

[Meph]

I have a feeling the weathering stage might just make the model contemptor "get away with it"... Good job on that.

The damage on the land raider is hardly noticeable anymore.

Cheers, yeah, the Spartan survived all its trials and tribulation the cleanest. The contemptor is really layering up...


excellent job, that frosting damage now looks like battle damage with that little bit of extra work you've done...

Yeah, it does, doesn't it? I'm really, ermm, content, that the damage is manageable and transformable into weathering. :)


Forget GW for your sprays, I use acrylex matt varnish.
Mmmyeah, finding US brands here can be a bit troublesome, or expensive, so I've looked around for some more 'local' brands, i.e. European :)


Alright, little progress over the past two weeks. I started on further weathering, which was going well, but I had yet another frosting incident when sealing the models.
And I really had to awaken my inner alchemist. After several other attempts, following some advice i read somewhere, I resorted to a rubbing with olive oil...
And amazingly, this cleared up the frosting 100% while leaving the colours intact. But then of course, I had to seal that olive oil in when it had dried and cured as much as possible.

The big bottle of Vallejo satin varnish had completely shifted after sitting still for too long and even laborious shaking did not re-mix it properly. This seemed to work but it became clear there was too much risk with matte flakes, or whitening.
I tried all of my other satin spray cans on one part of the models and all of them resulting in frosting; requiring further olive oil treatments, further waiting and drying...
Seriously It seems as if I'm stuck with some painting pixies who peed in all my spray cans...

So I went out and bought a satin spray from Motip, non water based. Works great, but needs 24h to fully dry and harden, and is a bit too shiny for my taste. The models are currently coated with this.
I also bought a water-based can from Liquitex, which I think I'll give a try soon. Fingers crossed for no more frosting.

I think I'll keep further weathering to a minimum, as the model already had a lot of varnish coats, more than it should have had. So I think I'll just do some heat colouring on the lascannons, black weathering powder around vents and exhausts, and then weathering powders for mud and dust

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6218.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6223.JPG

The positive side of all this is that to keep busy during all the waiting, I assembled and undercoated a Vanguard Squad (front) and an Assault Squad (back). Muhahahaha

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6229.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

man it sucks that your STILL having frosting issues, still at least you've found a way of "repairing" the damage, who would think Olive Oil?

from what I can see of the two squads so far, they look amazing, posing wise.

[Struna]

Cool effects on red. Armour looks like a red stone with a satin finish, really nice!

[Meph]

man it sucks that your STILL having frosting issues, still at least you've found a way of "repairing" the damage, who would think Olive Oil?

from what I can see of the two squads so far, they look amazing, posing wise.

Cheers, mate. Yeah, olive oil was the miracle as it really, 100%, cleans up the frosting and restores colour. Much to my surprise, it dries pretty decently but still I'd only use it as a last resort.
Even though subsequent coatings of varnish coated nicely, it did leave some funky spots here and there that are a bit too greasy. The coatings required some help of a brush to smoothe it out after the airbrush/can.


Cool effects on red. Armour looks like a red stone with a satin finish, really nice!

Thanks! Yeah, the many coats of varnish the models received during the entire process did enrich the colour depth a lot. I'm liking it as well. :)


Here's some progress on the Contemptor. It's almost finished. I just need to touch up the black weathering powders here and there and I'm calling it done. Now I just need to paint up the Striking Scorpions.
I'm leaning towards a very deep, dark green to lend some credence to their alleged sneakiness. ^_^

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6230.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6236.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

wow after all that hard work that dready looks amazing, the posing really gives character to him.

well done!

[Meph]

Cheers, mate!
I think I'll tweak the poses here and there a bit. The one good thing about Failcast or Finecrap is that it's really bendy when soaked in hot water.

[Meph]

Well, I did some painting over the past few weeks, just haven't been online much.

Thanks to all the varnish problems I had maybe there are a few spots here and there that aren't 100%. Because of the olive oil polish they needed there some tiny area's that kept giving trouble during the weathering, but I plowed through them as these models are intended for gaming purposes, and not for competition.
So I call these two finished. :)

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6249.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6259.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6265.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6269.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

they both look amazing despite all the varnish problems.

I would be proud to place them on any gaming table.

[Meph]

Cheers mate! One never knows when I might next hop over the pond ;)

In the mean time I decided to give these old fellas some lovin'. They've been lying around undercoated since a few years and base coated since several months. There are some mold lines here and there, but since they're just gaming models...

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6274.JPG

[Wolfshade]

Those termies are dreammy

[Darren Richardson]

very nice for basic gaming figures, I assume they are standard Plastic Termies with FW shoulderpads?

[Meph]

Thanks guys. Yup, those are bog-standard termies with FW shoulderpads. The heavy weapons guy is magnetized at the right arm and the top.

[Meph]

Almost done :)
I applied the decals, did some light sponge-weathering, sealed the models and gave them a wash with thinned black oil paint.
There are just some spots to clean up here and there, and then I can seal them, paint the lenzes, and base them.

Considering my usual painting rhythm, they're going pretty fast. Probably because it's only a 5-man squad.
The 20 troopers with jump packs will probably take a wee bit longer. ^_^

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6284.JPG

[Brakkart]

They turned out really nice. What with all of these new additions you've finished in the last few months Meph, any chance of a combined army shot of the whole force sometime soon?

[marcus]

Excellent work Meph

[Meph]

Cheers fellas! Hey, that's actually a good idea, Brakkart! I guess I need to clear a cabinet top during the weekend. Could be the perfect opportunity to base the rest of my infantry and give the Storm Raven the final few percentiles to being finished.

[bloodangel 83]

I agree we need a picture of your army. BA 83

[Meph]

Dun-dun-dunnnnnn!

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6334.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6343.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6350.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6356.JPG


Not all photos are fully stable. Sadly I don't have a large tripod available, the cupboard isn't deep enough to stably set my mini-tripod. :-/
Still they came out not tóo bad.

And for your enjoyment, I whipped up and imgur gallery with the full-res photos.

http://imgur.com/a/6ysJH

[Brakkart]

Wow, that is a truly beautiful army you have got there. Looking forward to what you're going to add to it next, pretty sure there was a Baal Predator and a Godhammer Land Raider a couple pages back all base coated ready.

[Darren Richardson]

that is indeed one fine army there that you have painted and modelled, I am indeed envious.

[Meph]

Cheers, guys! Well, there are a couple of things in the pipeline:

-Baal Predator, basecoated. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of marking to give it. I'd like to break up the red a bit and seeing as it's already sporting the FW Death Company extra plates there will already going to be a few black or copper crosses. Maybe just a broad stripe over the length of width of the vehicle., Perhaps a large chevron?

-Land Raider: I'm really blocked on this one. I have the urge to paint it in some kind of camouflage but I'm unsure as to which path to take. I did a quickie experiment during basecoating but I'm not happy with it. So I see several possibilities: -Screw the camo and go for red, perhaps with some large marking as on the rest of the vehicles. -Keep the abstract red/black camo alive and fix the pattern. Perhaps some pure clack camo bands (angular or rounded?), maybe even introduce a contrasting colour such an ochre, or maybe that khaki colour I use for the infantry cloth. -Go all-out with camo and give it a mud/rock/forest camo to stay in the style of the weathering mud I used on all vehicles. I could even do a 'washed-on' technique as they did with quick winter-camo in WW2 etc. Y'know with parts of the camouflage washed off and the original red coming through in places?


So I'd like to pick your brain on this. I feel the need to see a SM vehicle in camouflage, both as homage to the good ol' Rogue Trader days when Marines still used camouflage, and just because I think it would be interesting to see a Land Raider in some camouflage. So then there's the dilemma to go with a 'dazzle' camo with red, black, and a third calour to stay more into the sci-fi theme, or go with a realistic Cold War style forest camouflage. What are your thoughts on this?

-A normal assault squad, mostly FW MKIV marines.

-And then there's a Vanguard Squad, half of them are the failcast/finecrap ones, and the other 5 are kitbashed from the plastic vanguards and BA box.



http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6364.JPG

And unpainted I still have a FW librarian to convert to Blood Angel, as I realized I do not have a HQ characted painted new (I do have quite a bit of choices of older, painted models but I want something new and in tune with these units). And I also have more than enough stuff to kitbash a kickass captain, but then I need to decide on a loadout. Any ideas on that? Also for the libby's equipment. I'm a bit out-of-tune with the two last editions of WH40 so I'm not sure on how to best equip them.

Oh, and there's a Storm Talon hiding in a box somewhere. Sometimes I like to freak it out by tapping a hacksaw on the box, or rattling some plasticard. He knows what's coming...

[Brakkart]

Hmm well with the Baal perhaps go for a large black cross over the whole vehicle, so that it can be seen looking top down onto it. Not sure how to do that with the turret and all, I know I'd mess it up but would look pretty cool if it can be done I think and would tie in nicely with that front plate cross.

As to the Land Raider I'm not sure a full camo scheme would fit with the rest of the army. Good idea, but perhaps break the red up with a couple large chevrons instead, like how you have with the stripes on other vehicles. that would make it look different but still keeping with the same overall theme of red with angular/geometric black patterns on it.

[Darren Richardson]

Cheers, guys! Well, there are a couple of things in the pipeline:

-Baal Predator, basecoated. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of marking to give it. I'd like to break up the red a bit and seeing as it's already sporting the FW Death Company extra plates there will already going to be a few black or copper crosses. Maybe just a broad stripe over the length of width of the vehicle., Perhaps a large chevron?

I would suggest going with the big cross on top as Brakkart suggested.


-Land Raider: I'm really blocked on this one. I have the urge to paint it in some kind of camouflage but I'm unsure as to which path to take. I did a quickie experiment during basecoating but I'm not happy with it. So I see several possibilities: -Screw the camo and go for red, perhaps with some large marking as on the rest of the vehicles. -Keep the abstract red/black camo alive and fix the pattern. Perhaps some pure clack camo bands (angular or rounded?), maybe even introduce a contrasting colour such an ochre, or maybe that khaki colour I use for the infantry cloth. -Go all-out with camo and give it a mud/rock/forest camo to stay in the style of the weathering mud I used on all vehicles. I could even do a 'washed-on' technique as they did with quick winter-camo in WW2 etc. Y'know with parts of the camouflage washed off and the original red coming through in places?

You know what, I really want to see an urban camo scheme on a Land Raider.... Just my opinion :D


Oh, and there's a Storm Talon hiding in a box somewhere. Sometimes I like to freak it out by tapping a hacksaw on the box, or rattling some plasticard. He knows what's coming...

Stop tormenting that bird, buy the conversion kit and treat her properly :p

[Meph]

Conversion kit? Is there a conversion kit for that thing out there? :-P

Hmmm, a cross on the Baal Predator, that seems like a good idea. It'll take some careful masking, 'inverted' as the base colour's already on, but should be doable.

The camo thing, yeah, I'm still out on that one. It would break the all-red theme a bit, but then again it might also give some nice variation... Pondering, pondering...

[DWest]

I believe he might be thinking of the Chapterhouse Stormraven extension kit, but there are also a lot of interesting mods for the 'Talon out there.

Random odd thought with the Land Raider- what about a Sanguinary Guard gold color scheme?

[Haineko]

Well, Meph, your epic painting skills just forced me to register to BoLS, sub to this thread, and reply to the thread with this:

Holy Heresy, I've read through all pages in one sitting, and it's now 5 in the morning, and I don't even regret it!

Aaand now I'm just gonna return to the shadows to stalk silently again.

[Darren Richardson]

Conversion kit? Is there a conversion kit for that thing out there? :-P

sorry I was thinking of the Storm Raven kit, I keep getting those birds all mixed up :D

[Meph]

I just hope they don't come up with something like a 'Blood Raven armed with blood cannons' or something silly like that with the upcoming new codex. Poor Space Wolves, they got beaten by the silly-stick hard this time...

Meanwhile, slowly getting there... Over the past few days I've been basing 40 marines, as well doing some more weathering on the Storm Raven, as well as (finally) finished painting the front weapons and magnetized hurricane bolters.
Obviously, one of the heavy bolters dropped down while I was focusing on the lenzes, but they're just manually stuck in so I can switch between the missile launcher, heavy bolters, and multi-meltas.

The bases are not finished yet, this is just bare flint and flock. I'll go over them with weathering powders to make them more brown and tie them in better with the vehicle weathering.

Whaddayathink?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6375.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6380.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6385.JPG

[primeministersinister]

Man, coming back from a frosting like that on the contemptor is incredible. You should be really pleased.

[40kGamer]

I just hope they don't come up with something like a 'Blood Raven armed with blood cannons' or something silly like that with the upcoming new codex. Poor Space Wolves, they got beaten by the silly-stick hard this time...

That's ok mate! Us dogs are used to a solid beating every now and again! :D

I love the redesigned storm raven... and the mural on the sides is awesome.

[vharing]

Man I wish my BA army looked half as good as yours. I espacially love the gold on your sanguinary guard and trim on other marines and was wondering what your recipe is for it.

[Meph]

Well, Meph, your epic painting skills just forced me to register to BoLS, sub to this thread, and reply to the thread with this:
Holy Heresy, I've read through all pages in one sitting, and it's now 5 in the morning, and I don't even regret it!
Aaand now I'm just gonna return to the shadows to stalk silently again.

Wehey! Welcome to the Forum, have a beer, stay a while. :D I'm sure it was quite the marathon to read all of it in one go. Tip o' the hat to you, sah!


Man, coming back from a frosting like that on the contemptor is incredible. You should be really pleased.
Yeah, that was touch and go there. i really, really dreaded the prospect of stripping and starting over...


That's ok mate! Us dogs are used to a solid beating every now and again! :D
I love the redesigned storm raven... and the mural on the sides is awesome.
Ah, the Wolves were always stalwart allies! Yeah, I'm very happy about the Storm raven myself to be honest. I hope I can pull a similar rabbit out of the hat for the Storm Talon...


Man I wish my BA army looked half as good as yours. I espacially love the gold on your sanguinary guard and trim on other marines and was wondering what your recipe is for it.
Cheers, mate! Well, that bronze was actually relatively simple:
-Base coat is a 50/50 mix of Vallejo's Tinny Tin and Bright Bronze
-Apply a fat layer of Vallejo's Smokey Ink (it's a thick ink) and almost immediately rub it off with you fingers. this creates a nice feathering effect and is really the 'secret ingredient' to the look of it.
-Drybrush with Shining Gold
-Drybrush with Burnished Gold
-If needed, some very subtle highlights with drybrushed silver.

In the mean time, it's been slow progress. I spent a bit too much time fiddling around with weathering powders on the bases and the result was a bit too flat. So I gave the rocks some drybrushed highlights and re-applied some flock here, just to add some contrast.

Oh, and I've been look all over for the two banners but can't find them anymore... :( I'm sure they'll pop up sooner or later but until then those hands will have to remain empty.
*Ahem* and 10 black backpacks still need to be magnetized and painted as well.

For the moment a flu is preventing me from holding a steady brush so maybe it's time for some assembly and cleaning. I still have a librarian and storm talon lying around... :)

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6400A.jpg
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6400B.jpg

[EDIT] Typo's typo's...

[Meph]

In the mean time I've started work on the Assault Squad. They've been basecoated, four drybrushed highlights, a dark wash, a light glaze, a drybrush-highlight touch-up, and another thin wash & glaze.
Ready to start blacking out the details and secondary colours.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6423.JPG

[Meph]

In the mean time I've managed to black out 5 marines already. Damn, this is tedious, really a job where you have to force your mind to shut off...

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6427.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

you have some interesting designs in those armoured torso's, are they FW or Third Party?

[Meph]

They're all from FW. Most of them for the MKIV Assault Squad, one from the MKIV power weapons set, and the sarge is sporting one from the GW Death Company kit

[DWest]

The middle one is DC with the DC stuff scraped off, yeah?

[Meph]

Nope, on the last photo, the middle one is a torso from the MKIV power weapons set.

[Meph]

Finally, the blacking of details is done. I painted a two or three marines a day for a total of of 6 or 7 hours of painting.
Rather slow, but any care taken now makes it easier down the road. Even so, because it was so repetitive my concentration, and thus also my brush, slipped here and there but it's so little it will be easily absobed into the weathering later on.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6522.JPG

[40kGamer]

Very nice! Blacking everything in is a painstakingly tedious task! :)

[Meph]

Aye, 't is verily so! :S
But we're through it! The secondary colours are painted in. Some touch-ups are needed here and there but I'll see how the oil paint was goes later on.
Currently they're a bit shiny as they have a coat of Klear on them, the decals are applied and received two coats of Micro Sol. Some stabbing and more Sol is needed to blend 'm in nicely.

So that means I can get started on the helmets so I can assemble the models and then they'll be ready for an oil paint wash and some weathering.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6529.JPG

[Meph]

So, first coat on the helmets, Valejo's Flat Earth. I can't remember at all if I gave the speeder pilots' helmets a brown coat or not, so I'm going to leave it at this second coat, with some of the black still coming through. I also found the yellow mix I had made for them in an airbrush jar, which apparently doesn't seal 100% anymore so well, erm, at least I have a perfect colour sample of the base colour to try and emulate again.
Alrighty, off the alchemy shed...


http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6534.JPG

[energongoodie]

Looks delicious!

[40kGamer]

Thanks for posting step by steps... I'm going to follow them to do up the Blood Angels in my shiny new Space Hulk box. :)

[Lord Ezekial]

Blood angels was my first army ever and I have been slowly repainting all of my stuff. I absolutely love your paint jobs and those heresy era assault squad looks great!. I may need to steal that idea..... Would love to see how you paint up the space hulk mini's as I just got a set myself!

Keep up the amazing work!!

[bloodangel 83]

Your BA's are nice. Now you need Commander Dante to go with your Sang, Guard. I will post a pic later of my Space Hulk marine that I just got this past week.

[Meph]

Thanks for posting step by steps... I'm going to follow them to do up the Blood Angels in my shiny new Space Hulk box. :)

Blood angels was my first army ever and I have been slowly repainting all of my stuff. I absolutely love your paint jobs and those heresy era assault squad looks great!. I may need to steal that idea..... Would love to see how you paint up the space hulk mini's as I just got a set myself!
Keep up the amazing work!!
Well, those are actually still waiting for some paint since when the first run of the Space Hulk 3rd edition came out. They just need decent round bases, and well, paint. :)



Looks delicious!
I was tempted as well... :D


Your BA's are nice. Now you need Commander Dante to go with your Sang, Guard. I will post a pic later of my Space Hulk marine that I just got this past week.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the new BA codex. I hope they bring out some new versions of old minis without going overboard by giving them Blood Swords, or Blood Cannons, or making them cry all the time. I mean the Sanguinor and the Sanguinary Guard's wings were already waaaay over the top for me. I weep for the Space wolves and Dark Angels (frost cannons, flyers that create darkness... please... spare the Blood Angels)

For the short term, I've got a Librarian and a Captain to assemble. I bought the red scorpions libby, and went a bit nuts by ordering bitz off of ebay. :)

[phoenix darkus]

All right, I've just gone through all nearly 40 pages of this thread and your models are just plain f*****g epic! The level of detail and effort is mindblowing (at least for the amateur I am) and you sir have some serious painting skills. By far the best BA army I've seen to date.
Love the Spartan with the metal tracks and the Contemptor is awesome. Now I don't usually like the explosion effects at the nozzle of the guns/weapons but this would be one exception: if the contemptor would blow the brains out of the impaled Eldar with the Kheres assault cannon I may just start venerating you as a new deity.

Congratulations on a wonderful army, I'm subscribing to see your progress.

[KhorneFlakes888]

Awesome painting, and I must ask how you do your gold?

Cheers

[Meph]

All right, I've just gone through all nearly 40 pages of this thread and your models are just plain f*****g epic! The level of detail and effort is mindblowing (at least for the amateur I am) and you sir have some serious painting skills. By far the best BA army I've seen to date.
Love the Spartan with the metal tracks and the Contemptor is awesome. Now I don't usually like the explosion effects at the nozzle of the guns/weapons but this would be one exception: if the contemptor would blow the brains out of the impaled Eldar with the Kheres assault cannon I may just start venerating you as a new deity.
Congratulations on a wonderful army, I'm subscribing to see your progress.

I'm humbled by your effort and words, mate! Although if, in your user CP, you put the # of posts per page to max, it's only 10 pages. ^_^
The firing assault cannon actually crossed my mind during the build, but a firing effect for this minigun would have been huuuuge and I felt I would never have conveyed it as cool as it needs to be. One can't paint transparent flames... :(


Awesome painting, and I must ask how you do your gold? Cheers
For the gold. Well, that was deceptively easy to be honest. As a base coat i use a +- 50/50 mix of Vallejo's Tinny Tin and their copper colour (basically two shades lighter than Tinny Tin). And then the magic trick is Vallejo's smokey ink. That ink is really thick, I just smear that on pretty thick on the gold/bronze parts (taking care not to soil the surrounding areas) and then... immediately rub it off with a finger in the desired direction. This removes the ink from the raised areas, leaves it in the recessed areas, and gives it a nice feather in the transition areas. And after then I just give it a two drybrushed highlights using two different GW golds.
And that's it. It's really the smokey ink and finger rubbing that do the trick. But you have to be quick and work one one detail at a time as you don't want to leave smears all over your model. But it's a method that goes really fast and produces great results.

[Meph]

In the mean time...

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/JessesExperiments.jpg

This week, oi 'ave been mostly painting 'elmits!



http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6537.JPG

The camera's colour balance does goes a bit haywire with such a big block of yellow, but especially the last row is pretty close to the true colour.

I think it took around 8 coats to lay down the base colour. Yellow's notoriously transparent, and then it needed to be thinned more for the airbrush, but it came out pretty nice. It's basically a 1:1 mix of GW's Sunburst Yellos and Golden Yellow (now thóse are some old pots, lol), and then thinned again to roughly 1:1 paint to thinner/Klear/demineralized water. Too much thinner would have faded the delicate yellow colour too much, hence some Klear and demin. water.

Then I drybrushed 6 consecutively lighter highlights on. Sunburst Yellow, SY+Vallejo's Ice Yellow, SY+more IY. Then cleaned the palette and continued with pure IY, IY+white, pure white.

Next up was a wash of 1:1 sepia and yellow inks, thinned to 1:1 paint:demin. water & some Klear. I mixed this with a tiny, tiny drop of dishwashing detergent to better mix the inks and the water. Especially the gryphonne sepia ink tends to be a bit too coherent and the detergent really mixing everything smoothly together. Tiny drop means the tip of a toothpick moist with detergent.

And finally they received a soft drybrush of Ice Yellow to lighten up the edges again.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6538.JPG

I'll let it sit for a show while and then decide if they another glaze or wash. In any case they'll get an oil paint wash the colour will be deepened a bit by that.

[Brakkart]

That's a really nice yellow there Meph, Wish I had your patience (and an airbrush) I just tend to use Army Painter's Daemonic Yellow spray personally for my Imperial Fists and then touch up if needed later with the bottle version of it (which is totally not a 100% colour match no matter what their lying adverts say!).

[Lord Ezekial]

Meph, I want you to paint all my blood angels. Your work is so good! I am trying to paint up some space hulk terminators

[bloodangel 83]

Lord Ezekial, your termie looks good to me. Nice looking blood drops on the models.

[Meph]

That's a really nice yellow there Meph, Wish I had your patience (and an airbrush) I just tend to use Army Painter's Daemonic Yellow spray personally for my Imperial Fists and then touch up if needed later with the bottle version of it (which is totally not a 100% colour match no matter what their lying adverts say!).
Yeah, that's probably a good idea, if there is a yellow you like in spray can, use that. The coverage will undoubtedly be better than thinned yellow through an airbrush. It doesn't show well in the first photo, but even after 8 coats the coverage was not perfectly 100%. Luckily the thin-ness of the paint also meant it didn't start pooling up in the details, yet, but I wasn't far off. Luckily the subsequent drybrushing and washes did fill out the colour.

And, psssst... for the price of just one big GW model kit... (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AS-186-Complete-Airbrush-Kit-Compressor-With-Tank-/200600974912?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item2eb4bff640) What's holding you back? :)


Meph, I want you to paint all my blood angels. Your work is so good! I am trying to paint up some space hulk terminators

Lord Ezekial, your termie looks good to me. Nice looking blood drops on the models.

Good stuff indeed, good colour tones. At first sight it seems very well done, but it also looks like you're still drybrushing not dry enough. I'm just basing myself of what I see on the crux terminatus and the skull on the knee. And maybe redefine some edges here and there. Also, with a very, very dry drybrush.

[Lord Ezekial]

Thanks for the advice Meph! Its appreciated

[Meph]

So here's the last two steps before assembly. (I also updated the close-up photo strip)
Of course, I was a bit eager to glue them together and so I can do the weathering separately...

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6554.JPG

Aaand here they are stuck together with a coat of Klear on top. I'll have to redefine some edges here and there as the varnish muted it a bit. The sarge already received his freshen-up.
And then it's on to some light sponge-weathering..

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6563.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6567.JPG

[Brakkart]

And, psssst... for the price of just one big GW model kit... (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AS-186-Complete-Airbrush-Kit-Compressor-With-Tank-/200600974912?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item2eb4bff640) What's holding you back? :)

Ohhh... bookmarks that link for the future after xmas shopping is all done and I deserve a treat! Thanks for that and hot diggity damn that squad looks nice, those helmets really pop! Might be a pain having to do them seperate and all, but the finished result sure is worth it!

[bloodangel 83]

And nice use of Sang. Guard jump packs

[Meph]

Cheers, guys! Well, the jump packs are actually the ones that came with the MKIV assault squad from Forgeworld.

[archimbald]

might i add one suggestion? something to remove the gloss from the transfers? unless thats happening at a later stage, other than that they look great, if a bit dark redwise for my taste, i would happily drool over them irl


Rar

[Levaticus]

The assault squad is coming together nicely.

[Meph]

Ah, no worries, they'll lose their shine in the end. After the sponge-weathering, they'll receive yet another gloss coat so the oil paints can run at their best. Only waaaaay at the end will the gloss be removed by a satin coat.

[Haineko]

Wehey! Welcome to the Forum, have a beer, stay a while. :D I'm sure it was quite the marathon to read all of it in one go. Tip o' the hat to you, sah!

Well, I was hearing birds chirping outside my window, and could see the sun rising as well.
Needless to say, I was a bit tired after looking through it all.. But it was well worth it!

Also, bookmarking that spray gun kit. Question however: What's your setup at your paint station like to avoid paint stains on things that are not meant to be paint stained?

[Meph]

Well, I'm currently stuck with painting on the coffee table in front of the tv. I've got a comfortable apartment but no superfluous room where I can leave a 'dirty' desk out of sight.
So I paint in the living room on a folded open newspaper, assembly on an old cutting board. And I've put a 4000K LED light in a normal flexible standing lamp and use that to complement the lights of the room. As for spraying, and the airbrush, well, the terrace door. :)

I've got one of those airbrush holders screwed onto the window sill, and when I'm going to need it, I just put the compressor next to it and take out the airbrushes from their boxes. usually I just airbrush standing up or sat on my desk chair, and I use the (low) inside window sill to put the minis that need to be sprayed. For the rest, one surgical glove on the left hand and hopla!

Actually the whole painting setup itself doesn't hamper me at all, it's just a bit annoying to deploying and cleanup. That's why I always try to prepare a little 'mini' kit with the minimum of paints I'll need immediately for whatever I'm doing the next few days; the brushes I'll need, a cloth, two water containers and the two tiny, flat, porcelain cups I use as a palette. So I can keep that out of sight but within quick reach.
The rest of my stuff I manage to store relatively efficiently in one of them standard foldeable plastic carrying crates, and take it out when needed.
When painting longer sessions, the coffee table tends to explode with paints and modeling equipment. :)

[Meph]

Here's the continuation of the Assault Squad. A before, and after the oil paint wash. I'm doubting a bit if I should deepened the shadows on the helmets a bit, especially next to the top, erm, 'mohawks' or what would one call such an air scoop on top the helmet. And of course, the oil wash needs some cleanup here and there where it pooled a bit too much. I'm really such a fan of an oil paint wash because of the adjust and correct it.

Before

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6575.JPG

And after :)

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6583.JPG

[Levaticus]

I think they look great with the wash on them. It really brought out the detail of their helmets nicely.

[Meph]

Cheers, mate!

Alright, decision time. I'm itching to assemble the HQ units but I'm stumped on the loadout.
First up is the captain. The power fist is a pretty sure thing, seeing as I gave the sarges power fists as well. The cap can't go running around carrying any less, now can he? :)
I though of maybe giving him a gun, but it's visually less interesting than a big sword. But then which one?
I like the katana look of the two top one, plus they have BA iconography. The two bottom ones are from the Grey Knights kit and have a nice beefy feel too them.
And then there's the helmets. The three choices are;
-A Ravenwing helmet with antenna and wings on the forehead.
-A ravenwing helmet with a laurel wreath.
-A beakie with stud on the forehead, and then the plan is to transplant the spiked halo from the right helmet.

Next up is the librarian. For the left hand I think I'll just take the two-finger pointing arm. That's just too good-looking to ignore.
And for the right arm I definitely want to change the standard force axe by a force sword, in order to change the look sufficiently from the standard model.
I was thinking of one of either one of the three that are also on the short list for the captain, or either the BA sword held in a back hand pose. That's easily converted so there's only one hand on them.

And I can either mount a sculpted BA wing & drop or an angelic shoulder pad.


Soooo, which ones would you chose?


http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6592.JPG

[Levaticus]

Fro the captain I'd say go with the conversion on the beakie helmet with the ironhalo, and the powersword with the spiked handguard. For the librarian i'd try converting the backhanded sword.

[Brakkart]

for the captain I'd go with the iron halo bit on the head with the brow studs, as it seems to me that the aerial and laurel wreath on the other two heads would get in the way of it sitting well on them. I'd go for the sword with the fancy winged handguard though, seems more captain-ish to me and that arm has an extra purity seal on it too.

For the librarian I'd go for the bottom most sword of those pictured which would be held somewhat across his torso as in a guard position, while his arm is outstretched casting psychic death etc. Also memo to self, must get me that Sevrin Loth body and arm when Bitzbox next get him in stock.

[Lord Ezekial]

Hey Meph

For the captain I agree with Brakkart, I like that sword and head combo. As for the librarian, I like the idea of the sword in the back pose. I think that would give him a lot of motion. I imagine him fighting though a huge crowd of enemies, swinging his sword while casting.

[BigGrim]

Just gone through the whole thread. You have a glorious army here Dude. The frosting on the Contemptor was horrifying but you saved it beautifly. I do wish I knew how to create custom transfers. Yours are brilliant!

All in all, you ought to be proud of this army! Can't wait to see more!

[Meph]

Cheers guys! Thanks for the feedback, it helped a lot to make tje final decisions. For the Cap, I went with the blade with purity seal on the arm, and cut it below the shoulder to reposition it. I thought for a minute to position the sword off to the side, and down, but I went with up, and pointed forward instead. Seemed more dynamic to more or less be pointing in the same direction as the power fist.

And for the libby, I went with the backhanded sword, but removed the blade and transplanted the short-bladed force weapon on it.
I'll post some pics after work. The greenstuff's still hardening since yesterday evening (gs to fill in the mm the saw cuts removed from the arms.)
I still have to rebuild the heft on the backhanded sword, and start pinning the parts to corks.

I'm guessing these will be the most disassembled marines I'll have painted so far. Considering the posing, the legs and torso of the Cap will need to be painted separately to ensure access to the legs and loincloth. So that means I might as well paint the arms separately in order not to unbalance the torso sticking on a cork. And the head's already pinned to a cork for ease of access. Oh, and I need to prep a backpack with some bling, which will also be painted separately.

@BigGrim: welcome to the thread, mate! It might be too late but if you go into your User CP, you can put the # of posts per page to maximum, makes for easier reading. It always pleases me greatly if somone makes the effort of going through a thread completely. It shows that all that verbal diarrhea is not for nought. :D

[Meph]

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/Lenzes.jpg
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6596.JPG


Now just a satin varnish coat to get rid of the gloss, regloss the lenzes (oiii), and then base up! W00p! W00p!

[40kGamer]

Coming along nicely! Really like the packs!

[Meph]

Cheers! Here's the as-is on the HQ units, temporarily stuck together. I'm happy with the overall pose, but as you can see I'm still on the fence with the helmets. Those Ravenwing helmets are just so nice and massive. I've actually used a wrong one, I also have one with the DA icon, which can be easily converted to a BA icon. I think I'll make the final decision when I've finished the cleanup of the arms so I can glue the shoulder guards on, and temp fix the backpack. And then see how the helmets suit the overall figure. But I'm curious as to what you guys think?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6603.JPG

[Brakkart]

Loving the captain and I think he works equally well with either of those heads. I'd go with the iron halo one myself but I can see what you mean about it being a bit big. Can't say I like the look of that backwards sword on the libby though, if he was in an action pose it might work, but just looks like he's forgotten how to hold the thing right.

[Meph]

Indeed, the more I look at it, the more the longs sword of the captain is bothering me. It really is just a bit too long.
i'll keep the long pommel, but will replace the blade by a similarly shaped, shorter one.

And I'll tweak the position of the Libby's sword a bit and see how it looks with a pommel attached.

And on the other note, I just placed an order on the CMON shop of 4 miniatures for our Warhammer Fantasy roleplay crew. And to compensate the purchase cost and the shipping cost from Yankeestan to Belgistan, I went bananas and bought this one as well (https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/tools-and-misc/6x6-rapid-assault-vehicle-complete-kit.html). Mainly because of the rumours that the Blood Angels will get a wheeled vehicle with their upcoming new Codex. Best to be prepared, no? :)

https://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/media/catalog/product/s/w/sw-mod001_1.jpg

[Meph]

Hmmm... conversion idea. How about if I integrate a melta pistol into the power fist?

[40kGamer]

Hmmm... conversion idea. How about if I integrate a melta pistol into the power fist?

Sounds like a cool idea. Are you thinking back of the hand, underslung or something else?

[Meph]

Underslung seems to be the best place I think. I just have to remove or relocate the cabling, file it flat a bit, et voila. :)

[40kGamer]

Sounds like a plan... you could possibly incorporate the cable or sculpt a new one to attach the melta to the armour. 40k loves exposed cables... :p

[Levaticus]

Sounds like a good conversion.

[Meph]

Well, I'll definitly try to incorporate the cable but the melta pistol is surprisingly long and since I don't want the barrel to portrude from the knucles of his closed fist I need to mount it well back.

Underslung on the 'judo-chop' bit of the hand this doesn't impede the movement of the arm. But even after shortening the pistol it's still sticking out quite a bit across the elbow. The greenstuff to fill up the cutout of the pistol grip is still hardening. I'll post some pics after work.

[Meph]

Here it is. I shortened the body of the melta pistol, as well as the barrel and it suits the fist quite nicely now. And the captain's sword got switched for a smaller blade.
This is just a temp assembly but I think I'll roll with this. I gave 'm both winged backpacks, for the librarian to distinguish him from the standard model, and to keep the captain in line with the rest of the army.
Probably I'll remove the bar of the hand guard of the captain's sword, it will make it look lighter and more balanced with the smaller blade. Oh, and a mold line to clean on the libby's left leg I see.

What do you think?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6612.JPG

[Levaticus]

Awesome. I think they'll both fit in very well with the rest of the army.

[Meph]

Cheers!

Alrighty, first coats of paint are on, plus the first highlight. It's a bit rough here and there but it'll be toned down.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6619.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

looking good Meph, really like your captain kitbash.

[Meph]

Captain Kitbash, lmao :D
Ah, some Monday-itis relieved with that laugh. Cheers!

[Meph]

Well, tadaaa! The models received their usual barrage of drybrushed highlights and washes & glazes.
I gave them a light coat of Klear to protect the paint during the next stages so it is a bit too glossy in the pictures, and they're just quickie photos.

I've been thinking about some more blue... I'd like to avoid a blue helmet for sure, so he can't be confused with a Devastator.
That being said, perhaps the left knee pad, and maybe even those three bands on his left thigh might look good in blue, giving some nice counter-balance to the blue right arm...

Whaddayathink?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6624.JPG

[40kGamer]

First thing that come to mind. :p


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AdeeMJhYtA

[Meph]

lmao! I can see them falling to pieces in slow-motion. :)

[40kGamer]

Glad to see that you are getting so much done! Loving the progress... although it makes me feel lazy! :)

[Levaticus]

That red though.

[Brakkart]

I think I'd probably go with blue from the knee down on both legs and possibly on the outstretched hand as well. Had you asked for colour suggestions at the start I'd have suggested maybe all blue with a red helmet, the total opposite of the Devastator scheme. Might look good with some blue on the backpack too, perhaps the bit at the top with the all vents in.

[DWest]

What about doing the Psychic Hood cowl itself either in blue, or some suitably arcane metallic color?

[Meph]

Cheers, fellas!


Glad to see that you are getting so much done! Loving the progress... although it makes me feel lazy! :)
Half an hour or an hour per day, that's all I do :)


That red though.
4 drybrush highlights, one wash, two drybush highlights, one glaze :)


I think I'd probably go with blue from the knee down on both legs and possibly on the outstretched hand as well. Had you asked for colour suggestions at the start I'd have suggested maybe all blue with a red helmet, the total opposite of the Devastator scheme. Might look good with some blue on the backpack too, perhaps the bit at the top with the all vents in.
Hmmm, I'm not to eager to give him two blue wellies, though the backpack bit is a very good idea. I think i'll do that.


What about doing the Psychic Hood cowl itself either in blue, or some suitably arcane metallic color?
Hmmm I was tempted by this myself, but I don't want to 'cut up' the look of the helmet with psychic hood. making the hood blue would 'separate' the two, ifyougetwhatImean.
I've got a wicked blue metallic from P3 paints, really pretty and I had to bite my lip really, really hard not to use it for the blue parts. In the end I decided I don't want the blue to steal too much attention from the rest of the model.

[Meph]

The blacking out has been done. I took some quickie photos.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6639.JPG

After seeing them like this, the decision was easy; I'll make the tabbard blue with yellow markings, the left kneepad, and top part of his backpack. That should balance out the colours nicely I think.

The helmet still needs some pondering though. I'm doubting whether to paint his ear pieces black(and thus bronze) or not. Not to do it makes the halo look perhaps a bit too 'stuck on'. Making them bronze might make the rest of the helmet seem a bit wide perhaps..?

And I'm actually thinking about putting either a horizontal bronze band on his brow, or a vertical stripe across the helmet. The idea is to give it a nod to the old Rogue Trader rank badges, but because his brow studs the space is a bit too limited for the classic Captain's badge. Personally I'm leaning towards a vertical stripe broad enough so I can put a mini blood drop on his forehead. (The same kind I put on the combat veteran in my assault squad.) Whaddayathink?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jmOK7LTupII/U7OW38O6rII/AAAAAAAAf9A/bjNZkUagNY0/s1600/RT_RankBadges+(1).jpg

[Levaticus]

The plan for the Libby sounds good. I'd also go with the vertical stripe.

[Meph]

Yeah, the more I'm staring at that helmet, the more it starts to look appealing to put on a vertical stripe. It will really help to give the cap a unique look between the rest of the models.
My gut feeling says to make an attempt to mask the stripe using very thin strips of masking tape, but my practical sense tells me it will be next to impossible to get a straight line. There's just nothing like the 100% crisp line of a masking tape compared to any freehand. If i can't get the tape right, the only solution is to test my über-ohm-zen-sniper-jedi-fu breathing skills to paint straight lines between heartbeats. :)

Oh and I found two other images that sparked a bout of nostalgia. :)
Black Dark Angels, grey Space Wolves, the first bling on the Ultramarines, and frickin' Field Police! :)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mXEQFQwLKjc/UePyHjgVrQI/AAAAAAAACC0/cvnFzTGM0fc/s1600/RTmarinecolours.jpg

And this one, love the camo schemes and the funny chapter symbols.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bUYN9HxGbDc/UePyHy3HPwI/AAAAAAAACC4/ladGGOjUG2o/s1600/WDmarinecolours.jpg

[Meph]

I went with a stripe, a golden one. ^_^
Some progress on the secondary colours. What do you guys think so far?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6642.JPG

[Lord Ezekial]

Looks Awesome! Continually impressed with your work

[Brakkart]

Glad you didn't go with my idea of "blue wellies" on the libby (what was I thinking?), the blue bit on his backpack works really well though as does the blue tabard/loincloth. I love the gold helmet stripe, great way to tie him in with your sang guard and such.

[Levaticus]

looks great. I especially like how the librarian is shaping up.

[Darren Richardson]

hmmm, I guess that I'm the only one who thinks the Libby's sword arm looks too far detached from the shoulder to look natural then....

[Brakkart]

hmmm, I guess that I'm the only one who thinks the Libby's sword arm looks too far detached from the shoulder to look natural then....

Pretty sure its being painted in sections, like the captain and hasn't actually been stuck together yet.

[Darren Richardson]

Pretty sure its being painted in sections, like the captain and hasn't actually been stuck together yet.

it could be, but the photo isn't too clear on it.

[Meph]

Then my posing is successul! Go-go-Gadget!

Indeed he's being painted in sections. Once the secondary colours are painted in I'll stick him together. :)

[Meph]

Secondary colours and assembly complete! (The lenzes and gems will come last.) Maybe some tiny touch-ups here and then and then I can prep 'm for the oil paint wash.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6649.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6656.JPG

[Levaticus]

Amazing!

[Brakkart]

Looking really nice Meph. You got any plans to add any of the BA's special characters to your force at all? I'd love to see your take on Astorath and Lemartes.

[Darren Richardson]

ahh, that's so much better then poor dismembered Marines :D

Your work is an insperation to us all Meph.

[Meph]

Cheers, guys! The oil paint is on since yesterday. Today, after cleanup and sealing with varnish I'll post some pics. Haven't done much over the weekend...
@Brakkart: well, I've had Lemartes lying around since a while but I don't really have a place for him in the army, my DC will not get jump packs as that makes them waaaaay too expensive. maybe I'll paint him up for the fun of it though.
Astorath, nope, never. For me he symbolizes the downfall of the BA's into campiness... I already has some issues ith the original Mephiston (too much of a old campy black&white drama-vampire), and Astorath takes it a lot further. The fluff of him is ok, I guess, a Chaplain hunting down DC's that got away from the rest of his brethern. I'd say; meh, so that means the rest of the Chaplains didn't do their jobs well enough? But the miniature just doesn't do it for me. Those ridiculously large wings, his stupid little circlet on his forehead... I can accept his nippled tendon armour though, with some effort. Hmmm perhaps a future conversion to give him a helmet and lose those barn doors on his backs perhaps...?

[DWest]

I could actually see his wings working on a Dante conversion- using the plastic Sanguinary Guard as a base model, having the larger wings would help Dante stand out from the crowd. As for the rest of Astorath, he almost looks more like he fits with the Space Wolves, with the wet-meat look and the "berserk leap" pose.

[Brakkart]

But the miniature just doesn't do it for me. Those ridiculously large wings, his stupid little circlet on his forehead... I can accept his nippled tendon armour though, with some effort. Hmmm perhaps a future conversion to give him a helmet and lose those barn doors on his backs perhaps...?

Well there's a challenge for you, redeem Astorath, bring him back to the proper grimdark! Lose the wings and the nipples, add a helmet etc.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it...."

[Meph]

I could actually see his wings working on a Dante conversion- using the plastic Sanguinary Guard as a base model, having the larger wings would help Dante stand out from the crowd. As for the rest of Astorath, he almost looks more like he fits with the Space Wolves, with the wet-meat look and the "berserk leap" pose.
Yeah, it could be that the whole 'wild-mane-bezerk look' doesn't suit the BA's that much. But really it's mainly the wings that don't do it for me. And in general, unhelmeted marines rarely get any love from me. :)


Well there's a challenge for you, redeem Astorath, bring him back to the proper grimdark! Lose the wings and the nipples, add a helmet etc.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it...."

Wellll.... I've been staring at the astorath mini for two days now, and... challenge accepted! I'll add it on the to-do list. Because next up will be 5 minis for use at our monthly WHFRPG session, the old minis we were suing were so shamefully old and ill-kept by the gamesmaster I offered to look for, buy, and paint 5 new minis for the party.
Then I urgently need to finish a bust for someone's birthday and I'm over a year late with it, lol, and the it's the Vanguard Squad that's prepped for blacking out the details.

[Meph]

Alrighty! My apologies for the lack of responses. Just went through a two-week painting torpor induced by some work and RL issues. But here and there I managed to squeeze in enough time to finish the Captain and Librarian, as well as base them and the assault squad.
So wizout further ado, ze photographs, yes?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6659.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6664.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6669.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6674.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6686.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6687.JPG

[DrLove42]

As ever Meph....just wonderful work

[Levaticus]

The Librarian really looks good with the blue only in portions. Great work.

[Darren Richardson]

ohhh, I'm so in love with your beaky captain....

Great Conversions as ever Meph.

Do post pictures of the RPG figures once they're done.

[Meph]

Cheers, guys! Yeah, I'm rather proud of how they turned out.
Now I just need to paint up the banners so they can pose with their command squad. :)

[Blackadder]

You've probably posted it somewhere in these forty six pages but what brand paint do you use and proportion of thinning and what type of applicator?

Anything else Blackadder?????

:blush:

Well yes, outstanding painted details on such tiny figures.

[Meph]

hehe, cheers, mate!

46 pages?! Yaiks! I'd suggest to go into your profile options and max out the number of posts per page, then it's an easy 12 pages. ^^

I use both GW and Vallejo paints. My reds are GW only as I feel that Vallejo's are more transparent. To thin them I use roughly 1:1 Klear and demineralized water (the cheap unscented kind used for ironing). I think I'm roughly somewhere between 50/50 or 40/60 paint/thinner. Depends a bit from paint to paint. Some are a bit thicker than others, but they need to be runny enough to pass through the airbrush without clogging or drying out too fast.

Basecoats, washes, and glazes are done by airbrush, the rest is mostly drybrushing in between, and some near-heart-attack blending on the lenzes & gems.

[Blackadder]

Twelve pages or forty six it still comes down to 462 posts (now 463) but thanks for the info I guess lack of technique and not the quality of paint is my principle nemesis.

[Meph]

Well, I think the main component to technique comes down to layering. Due to the thinned paints, I need to put 3-4 base coats on to get a good red coverage, but the thin-ness and evenness of airbrushed layers already give a clean & neat look.
Frankly I don't want to invest the time to patiently build up my high-lights in dozens and dozens of layers, so I layered up with very, very dry drybrush highlights. Usually 4-5 consecutively lighter highlights, then a dark red wash to add depth, a red glaze to bring out some brightness again, then another dryburshed highlight with just the lightest colour. I apply another glaze to blend in the contrast, and then finally a very light drybrush accent on some edges to emphasize the depth again.

Then a layer of sponged on weathering, seal with varnish, and oil wash, seal again, paint in the lenzes.

[Meph]

So I decided to dig up the cardboard box that was holding this metal bawx. I felt the need for some frantic drybrushing, but almost got a heart attack after masking so many tiny bits of masking tape. The 'X' is not perfectly 100% but I stuck to a nice middle ground between zen-style-, tongue-sticking-out-, belly-breathing practice of patience and -control, and throwing that thing out of the window and watching fly over the horizon with a renewed sense of peace and justice.

The Metal Bawx is magnetized so it can be run as a Rhino, Razorback, or Baal Predator.

Whaddayathink?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6690.JPG

[Brakkart]

Okay when I suggested the idea to do that design on the Baal I had no idea it would look quite that good. That is fricking brilliant!

[Meph]

Yeah, your idea stuck immediately, but I assure you, I was getting a headache when first contemplating how to apply the masking tape.
But then it clicked and it was pretty smooth after that. First I found the center of the top section by crossing from the corners. Then I applied some masking tape as a positive 'X' and used that as a guide to apply the more accurate negative cross. I was pleasantly surprised that using just the standard width of the masking tape on the 'positive' gave such nice lines to mask out the negative. Besides some very fiddly bits here and there, I could work with pretty long strips of tape for the most part.

[Brakkart]

I have to almost pity a horde army facing off against your lot when this is done, as 4 heavy bolter armed Dev's and a full dakka Baal pred can lay down a serious wall of flak! Perfect considering the Nids are en route to Baal in this big latest campaign series.

[Darren Richardson]

Great work on that Tank Meph, so it's harder then it looks getting an X on a tank, remind me never to try that myself when I finally get round to doing my Marine army, whenever that is LOL :D

[Meph]

I have to almost pity a horde army facing off against your lot when this is done, as 4 heavy bolter armed Dev's and a full dakka Baal pred can lay down a serious wall of flak! Perfect considering the Nids are en route to Baal in this big latest campaign series.

Hehe, yeah, that did turn out quite nicely. :) When I first read about the possibility of a box of Nids + BA, I knew I'd be probably suckered into buying and painting some opposition. And so far, the army does have a somewhat defensive edge to it.


Great work on that Tank Meph, so it's harder then it looks getting an X on a tank, remind me never to try that myself when I finally get round to doing my Marine army, whenever that is LOL :D

Well, you can shave off a lot of time by just applying a positive masking after the undercoat. The predator had been basecoated a looong time ago so I was forced to make the effort of a negative mask. And you can be sure I'll be whispering chevrons and X's in your ear. :D

[Meph]

I thought I'd take some quick photos as even just a few secondary colours already add so much character, dontchathink?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6703.JPG

[Blackadder]

One thing I need to do is show my work on a professional background, how do you do that?

[40kGamer]

The tank looks ace mate! I'm starting to get motivated! ;)

[Meph]

Well, I got me one of these and use the black background:
http://www.lightcase.co.uk/

It's basically rather thick black, flexible plastic that has a fine pitted texture to it. The Lightcase is such that you stick in the background into some lips and it bends gently in the lower back corner so you don't have a crease or fold.
I also stuck a white A4 sheet in 'landscape' to the top of the large opening to block off more direct light and photograph through the lower half.

The whole lightbox is from the semi-transparent matte plastic which diffuses most light nicely, but since I'm using two LED lamps with a 4K colour wamth (almost daylight), I use the extra transparent- and white background as extra covers for the sides to remove any glare as much as possible. I also take the photos somewhat under-exposed so there are no other bright glares on the model. For the WIP pics I just use any combination of auto-contrast, auto-colour, and auto-tone to adjust the photo back up to realistic lighting. Sometimes I have to do all three, sometimes just one or two, depending on the actual lighting conditions.

I think for your work you'll have to look around for something larger. I have seen A3 backgrounds out there, either with a cloudy airbrush-like background, some flat colour.

Quickie google search: http://www.hangar18miniatures.com/hangar-18-miniatures-photo-backgrounds-bigger-and-better-in-a2-size/

- - - Updated - - -


The tank looks ace mate! I'm starting to get motivated! ;)

Good! have at it! Muhahahaa :D

[Meph]

Wehey, Slow progress, but progress nontheless.
After finishing the secondary colours, I applied the decals, and took my time applying about 10 coats of micro-sol to blend 'm in real good. Since I only managed to put in a half-hour or an hour on most days, it went kinda slow.
I then sealed the model with Klear and added some chipping with a black-grey, a grey-brown, and gunmetal. I think I'll seal it again and give it it's oil wash. :)

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6710.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6715.JPG

[Blackadder]

Nice colouring and the 'wear' is spot on :groan:

[Darren Richardson]

she is really turning out to be a beauty, the black contrasting X really make this baby stand out from the crowd....

Keep up the excellent work!

[Meph]

Nice colouring and the 'wear' is spot on :groan:

Don't let the result fool you! I just dabbed on three colours with a piece of foam leftover from a miniature carrying case. And a few touch-ups with GW's small drybrush brush (because of its wild hairs) with gunmetal)
Seriously, grap a pice of cardboard, spray on any colour, give it a quick but dry drybrush. Take a pice fo sponge or foam, dab on some paint, like dark grey or a dark brown, rub it on some old newspaper until almost nothing is coming off, give ti some test-dabs, and try it out on the piece of cardboard.


she is really turning out to be a beauty, the black contrasting X really make this baby stand out from the crowd....
Keep up the excellent work!

Yeah, it really does strike the eye, doesn't it? :D it was definitely worth the headache of masking out that X.

[Haineko]

Ehrmahgerd, I'd love to get my models even a tenth as good looking as this! Absolutely LOVING the Metal Bawx, in all its "variants".
Anywhere that a newbie could get critique to improve? Like.. beginners section or something? I can see here that I need to up my skills -quite- a bit :p

[Darren Richardson]

Ehrmahgerd, I'd love to get my models even a tenth as good looking as this! Absolutely LOVING the Metal Bawx, in all its "variants".
Anywhere that a newbie could get critique to improve? Like.. beginners section or something? I can see here that I need to up my skills -quite- a bit :p

With talent like Mephs' we all do :D

[Meph]

Ehrmahgerd, rofl! :D

But have no fear! I'd like to get it across to you all that my technique is not based on skill per se, but more on method. I guess you could boil down the philosophy to persistence, patience, and layering.

Persistence and patience can be applied to the techniques I use, which is mainly just drybrushing and washes & glazes. Also you may have noticed that I use a limited colour palette throughout the army; red, black, bronze/gold, metallic, khaki, two colours for all cabling, and some green used sparingly. This already ensures a unifying looks and keeps everything visually tied together.

And believe me before putting down the 'X' on the predator I was procrastinating for weeks, feeling daunted by the complexity. But then at a certain point I said 'screw it', took a pencil and a ruler and crossed out the center of the hull, stuck on two perpendicular pieces of masking tape with the middle of the tape drawn with a pencil stripe so the lined up nicely and then just went to work. First the large section, taking care to line them up and then put in all the little bits with scissors, a modeling knife, and pincers and a cocktail stick to put 'm into place; Fiddly work, but worth it.

My red is just base coat, 4-5 consecutively lighter drybrush highlights, a dark wash, a light glaze, touch-up the highlights, another wash, another glaze, touch-up highlights again, a final glaze, and a light touch-up on some edges. I make sure I drybrush very, very dry to avoid any streaking and I thin my inks and glazes so I don't risk overdoing it in one go and build up the layers. The amount of layers really add depth to the colours.

Blacking out details can be tedious and stressful, but it must be done. And if you take your time to do it calmly and methodically, the accuracy achieved pays of on the finished model. And cleaning up messed spots is just depressing and annoying, so best to avoid them in the first place. And when I do have a tiny slip-up or lack in concentration (I tend to watch series while painting), I can blend them in with the weathering down the line. One of the benefits of doing a lived-in and weathered look is that it doesn't hàve to be absolutely 100% perfect to the micrometer.

For decals I take the effort of putting down a gloss cote, and using Micro Sol and Micro Set to apply them. And I use like 10 layers of Micro Sol so the decals really melt and blend in. And I use a little bit of paint to further blend in the edges.

Same goes for the dry-sponging when weathering. Do it very, very dry, with almost nothing coming of when you dab the cut-to-shape piece of foam on a piece of newspaper. The whole idea is to avoid any unwanted streaks and blotches as with drybrushing. And I usually use three colours; a dark grey, a dark brown, and boltgun metal. Each layer again adds depth to the look.

The oil wash is a technique that sounds daunting but is actually very simple. Coat your model in gloss to protect underlying layers and help the flow of the wash, and apply with a relatively large and soft brush. When applying you can wash and smear it where you want, ensuring relatively clean surfaces while the wash suck itself into every nook & cranny like nothing you can ever hope to achieve with acrylics. When it's starting to become touch-dry (anywhere after 3 minutes to a few hours) I take a firm cotton stick, moisten it with turpentine and gently clean up wash that has pooled too much, and some panels which have been darkened or obscured to much.

Weathering powders; again apply in layers. Use an absolutely desert-dry brush to apply, or even a little flat make-up brush, dust it on as subtle or liberally as you like, gently dab with turpentine or pigment fixer and let it dry at least a night or full day, add another layer, fixate, add, etc Just until you're satisfied with the effect.

As you can see, they main recurring thing here is layers, and lots of them. Sure, it takes longer, but in each stage you can do as many layers as you like. And be assured, there is nothing really difficult about it, at all. You just have to restrain yourself from rushing. Also be aware that since you are already painting miniatures, no matter the years of experience, you already have skillset.

Never be intimidated or daunted by unfamiliar sounding techniques or materials. I prefer not to do wet blending or layering blended highlights in 50-80 layers (which the réally awesome painters do) because I don't want to invest thàt much hours on a single model for competitions. My weekly painting time is limited with a full time day job, and plenty of other stuff to fill my private life, so when I picked up the hobby again in 2008, and started this army in 2009, I deliberately experimented with techniques that were not overly time consuming and not requiring tóó much accuracy so I could make the army and units grow within the limited time I devote to painting.

The techniques I use can easily be adapted to large batch painting in case you want to get a full army on the table as soon as possible. The basecoats, highlights and washes can be done in one big batch, giving an already nice looking coat of paint, the blacking out can be done whenever you have time and the you can choose to pick out units for finishing off, or to keep continuing the entire army one colour at a time.

So there you have it, if you scrutinize my techniques you'll see that no individual element has a great amount of difficulty involved, just restraint and time. The S.A.S motto 'Slow is smooth, smooth is fast' comes to mind. I mean, from time to time I have to really have to fight the urge to rush things because I want to see more results of what I'm doing. But the thing is that when layering your stages like this, there are always points when something just goes 'click' when applying a certain highlight or wash that just suddenly makes it look good while before that, nothing much seemed to change whilst doing the first few highlights or washes.

Wow, this exploded into a wall-of-text... but as with painting, once you're in the zone... ;)

[Peter Zuidgeest]

Really nice work on that thank!
Love it! :)

[Meph]

Cheers, mate!

[40kGamer]

But have no fear! I'd like to get it across to you all that my technique is not based on skill per se, but more on method. I guess you could boil down the philosophy to persistence, patience, and layering.

Don't be silly, method is a skill all of it's own! :p

Beautiful work on the tanks.

[Meph]

lol, alright, alright. I'll try to clarify :D

*Cracks open a can o' semantics*
The way I see it; A skill has to be learned, a method can be applied.

Although the more skill you have, the easier it will be to apply a certain method. And I feel that my technique has a much more forgiving learning curve than, let's say, very smooth highlight blending, or very accurate airbrush shading. :D

[40kGamer]

Fair distinction! :D I have found nailing down the method/process to be crucial to the success of any project. Since I drift in and out of projects over many years I've learned to use notecards for consistency. ;)

Are you going to convert anything over to the new 32mm basing? It's a godsend for me as I can finally fit my Space Wolves on the base! I'm waiting on the base release to start playing around with the next couple squads. :p

[Meph]

Rebase my minis? Oh hell no! :D I'll just finish with all the regular bases I have lying around, maybe use the larger ones for future HQ units, or units that need it. And then gradually shift to the larger ones over time.

I bought the Deathstorm boxed set although originally I didn't think it would be worth it. But then it hit me, 75 quid, or 100EUR for the amount of models you get. The captain is worth a conversion, the termies can nicely enlarge my current squad to 10 men, the Death watch marines can be used for bits, and the dread's always nice. Tyranids are 'just' a bonus for me. Good to use with Space Hulk, or who knows, paint up a 40K adversary force over time. The Carnifex... well, he might just go on the chopping block for a Deathwatch diorama I've got in mind and have been slowly buying models for. Muhahaha!

[Lord Ezekial]

Meph every time I look at your gloriously painted blood blood angels, it makes me sad because I will never get to that level with mine but you have made me go back and repaint some of my minis. Keep up the amazing work!

Cheers!

[Meph]

Cheers, mate! Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been rather busy. The Baal Predator is nearing completion. I just need to seal the weathering powders and paint the lenzes. i'm hoping to get that done tomorrow.
And while the pigment fixer was drying today, I felt like drybrushing something. ^_^

For months it's been vexing me but I decided to jump in just camo up that Land Raider.
WW2-style camo didn't seem to suit Space Marine vehicles so I decided to take some inspiration from the French Lecrerc MBT.
I've added some rough banding from left to right in the same khaki I use for the robes, and I'm going to add black banding from right to left.
So if all goes well, black should be the dominant colour, with khaki as secondary and red as the least prominent. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6722.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

that's an interesting take on a Space Marine Tank, harks back to the crazyness of the old Rogue Trader rulebooks.....

[Meph]

Yeah, it does, doesn't it? :D
As this thing progresses I'm getting more and more the sense that with camouflage, you have to let go the idea of pretty aesthetics.
Frankly, I'm worried about the colour combination myself but I've decided that, no matter what, this will be an exercise in making ugly look good.

So, here goes nothing... :)
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6728.JPG

[Meph]

I'm pretty ok with the result. Should look interesting with the secondary colours put on. Whaddayathink?

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6733.JPG

[interrogator_chaplain]

Space Marines practicing the art of camouflage? I don't know what you're trying to pull here Meph, but this must not be the same 41st Millenium I know! Space Marines, being practical? INCONCEIVABLE!

(But seriously, make sure the Blood Angels insignia looks good and I can dig it.)

[Darren Richardson]

I think it looks quite striking myself, ....


Space Marines practicing the art of camouflage? I don't know what you're trying to pull here Meph, but this must not be the same 41st Millenium I know! Space Marines, being practical? INCONCEIVABLE!

You know they used to go all Camouflaged back in the days of Rogue Trader, I like to think that period RT was set in was the 32nd Millinnuim and somebody got excuted for a typo in the date :p

[Meph]

Hehehe, lol, indeed. Like some captain stumbled across an ancient chapter in the Index Asartes, and went 'By the Emprha, this is.... this is just.... woah... ' :D

With this one I guess the desire to do something different with a space marine vehicle. And also to bring back some flavour of the Rogue Trader era when I first started painting. I was always intrigued by those outlandish camo schemes.

It makes sense for marines to use camouflage in exceptional situations. To ambush enemy heavy armour for example. Or have jump troops and light forces herd an enemy force into the jaws of the heavy guns. Even if it makes more than one chaplain or techmarine frown and lament.

I could have gone for more present day, 'realistic' camouflage schemes but I felt the need to stay with the current colour palette. And well, it can easily be explained a way as a world-specific camouflage. Alien landscape, or some combination of the planet's star and landscape. It can probably work as a night time camouflage as well

[Darren Richardson]

since we're talking about BA's I can just imagine Dante saying to on of his Captains

"you know what we need, we need some old school Camo on our tanks!"

I can just imagine the horror on that captains face, but who's gonna argue with the oldest non dread space marine huh?

[Meph]

Hehehe, and after the paintjob, Dante standing proudly grinning with his fists in his side.
'Now, about planning that ambush.'
'Planning that what, my Lord? You mean hide and wait for the enemy? That's so crazy it might actually work.'

[Meph]

I finally finished the Baal Predator. To be honest, I'm not overly happy with the weathering powders but it'll have to do. The fact of needing to seal them with varnish so they can be used for gaming and transport really messes with the look of them. Although it's not necessarily bad-looking, the look of weathering powders that are just fixated with turpentine or pigment fixer is a whole lot better. But practicality trumps looks this time.

http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6746.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6756.JPG
http://postwarvandal.com/Meph/Land_Raiders/BA/IMG_6761.JPG

[Darren Richardson]

She is a beauty!

Even so dirtied up like that, she's a beauty :)

[Meph]

Chaars, mate! Just for the kick of it, I made a high-res imgur gallery (http://imgur.com/a/zN5nc). :)