My Christmas Challange; Space Hulk Terminators

[SotonShades]

Happy Holidays you most festive/festering inhabitents of the Space Hulk BoLS,

With recent upheaval in my life I have been seriously neglecting my hobby time recently. So, I decided to set myself a little challange to achieve before Christmas Day. I am going to attempt to finish painting all 12 of the Space Hulk Terminators. I have a little advantage in that I started painting Lexicanium Calistarius to enter in to Golden Deamon UK a couple of years ago. However, due to time constraints he got put aside in favour of a couple of other entries.

For those of you who don't know, I play Codex Space Marines, rather than Blood Angels, so these guys are not going to be painted to match what you would normally find in the Space Hulk box. Not only that, but I have removed almost all of the Blood Angels iconography (carefully trying to maintain as many skulls and wings as possible). I've even converted Librarian Calistarius to carry a Buckler and highly customised Force Halberd; with a spear point, axe head and built-in Storm Bolter.

So, without further ado, here is what I have so far.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6520564253_45afaf6f8b_b.jpg

The mighty 12. I am also planning on magnetising them so they can be placed on 40mm round bases for regular 40k. I've just noticed a couple of mould lines that need removing, and I have still got to drill all the barrels on the weapons... Quite a way to go still!


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6520566769_f06bd952a2_b.jpg

Librarian Calistarius; I have done a multi-tonal blue across his torso and arms, as I've done for the rest of the Librarians in my collection. I would love to tell you which paints I used, but as I said, I did this a couple of years ago, and I may have had a few beers between then and now! I've highlighted the Psychic Hood to a much brighter blue than the rest of the armour, and even added a few forks of electricity sparking from the leading edges in Ice Blue and Skull White.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6520568227_7d1367efd9_b.jpg

The Buckler was made from a spare Storm Shield I had left over from a squad of Assault Terminators, cliped back to leave just the attached hand and the central skull and star motiff, which I felt was particularly appropriate for a Librarian.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6520569559_79b2936bee_b.jpg

The Custom Force Weapon was made from the Librarian's original Force Axe and his Storm Bolter, and used a Space Marine Power Sword for the Spear blade. I had originally planned to just Have the spear, without the axe head, but the Weapon looked weirdly too short and unbalanced (not to mention not Force-weapony enough). As you can see in the the first picture of the Librarian, I turned the magazines for the Storm Bolter around so it's top loading, but curling back toward the user, instead of forward like on most Storm Bolters.

General plan for this guy is to give him Blazing orange legs (which fits with the other terminators in my Chapter,) and painting his robes a nice, deep Red to fit with the rest of my force. Unlike the rest of the Space Hulk Terminators, I will picking out most of his metalics in bright Silvers and Golds. For his face, I will probably go for and old, geryish/pallid look, but with bright, yellow glowing eyes to further suggest his power. I might even repeat it in the eyes of the skull on his buckler if I can get it to work properly.


Right, I had best be getting on with it! There is a slight alterior motive for getting these guys painted in time. Hopefully I will be able to get my younger cousin interested in 40k if I can get him to play a game or two of Space Hulk while he is up for christmas. I reckon I have a much improved chance of that heppenning if they look a little more complete than the bare red plastic they currently display so proudly!

Hopefully this will be a daily update. Wish me luck!

Shades

[wittdooley]

His power weapon does not make any sense to me. Then again, i'm a bit stupid...

[gendoikari87]

His power weapon does not make any sense to me. Then again, i'm a bit stupid...

twinblade.

[SotonShades]

Afternoon all

Well I managed to get a couple of hours painting done last night. I've even started undercoating the non-psychic terminators, so for now all seems to be going well. Sorry for the quality of today's photos; I really couldn't be bothered to take too long on them as this is just a quick update and the librarian is still very much WIP. Speaking of whom;

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6525495275_2bec1fa445_b.jpg

As you can see, he has a bit more colour on him now. So far it is just base colours and a quick wash of Talent in a Pot (aka Devlan Mud). The exceptions being the chest decoration on his armour and his face, which I started with Astronomican Grey, and added Tallern Flesh (because the rest of my flesh coloured paints have wandered off during moving...) on successive highlights, and a little Bleached Bone on the final highlight. I also painted a thinned Ogryn Flesh wash into the recesses around his mouth. This pic doesn't show it very well, but it really helps make the detail pop when you see the model in the flesh. For the gold on his chest, wanting it to be a nice bright metal, I started with Iyanden Darksun (yellow Foundation paint), washed it with Devlan Mud and then went back over it with Shining Gold, leaving just a hint of the base coats showing in the recesses. I will probably highlight with a Mithril Silver and Shining Gold mix to bring it to a brilliant shine, possibly with white or silver point highlights as well, depending how it looks.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6525496353_e207c10bd3_b.jpg

I've attempted to do a little OSL from his eyes, using Golden and Sunburst Yellows on the eyes themselves, with a small dot of Skull White in the centre of the eye. The flesh around the eyes was washed with very thin Golden Yellow, with a light highlight of Sunburst Yellow on the cheek bones under the eyes. Seems to have worked for the most part, though I will need to soften the edges of the glow around hir right eye, just a tad.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6525497281_bbe0e2df65_b.jpg

For the Crux Terminatus and the Buckler I wanted a nice bright silver metallic, so I started of with Codex Grey base (leaving the undercoat showing in the deepes recesses) followed by Mithril Silver, again letting a little of the grey show through in places for deffinition. The plan is to use a thinned Badab Black wash on some of the areas that would be naturally shaded and highlight with a Mithril Silver and Skull White mix, with a few point highlights in Skull White. I tried to go for a stylised white on the skull, starting from Astonomicon Grey, and layering up to a final Skull White highlight. I also tried to replicate the OSL from the Librarian's eyes on the skull, but with the more recessed eyes, I'm not sure it has worked too well. Not so bad that I'd want to paint over it, but not quite as effective as it could have perhaps been. Again, the right eye needs the lighting softened slightly, especially on the underside/cheekbone. It would appear I have an inability to do right eyes at the moment lol.

Right, lots more to do, so hopefully I can get a few good hours to have a go at it this evening. I'd like to try to get the Librarian finished tonight so I can concentrate on the 2 squads from tomorrow onwards, but we will see :) Let me know what you think! I promise I will get some better pictures when I have finished this guy.

See you tomorrow,
Shades

[SotonShades]

Interesting mini update now... Well, depending on how you define interesting :p

Due to the wonderful british winter weather, the black spray coat I have applied to my terminators today seems to have an odd rubbery/spongey feel, though the finish looks decent enough. Hopefully leaving them overnight will help them dry out a little more before painting.

See you later folks :)

[SotonShades]

Good news! It may have taken about 6 hours longer than normal, but the spray coat on my terminators has dried to it's normal finish. Hopefully now I will be able to motor along with these guys, rather than getting bogged down in the Librarian's details.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6530695451_7b7fb895e0_z.jpg

Just a teaser of how I've been getting on. Expect a proper update later this evening.

[SotonShades]

Right ghouls and gribblies of BoLS, today's proper update!

Well, unfortunately I didn't manage to get as much done in the last 24 hours as I would have hoped; helping my sister get home from uni for christmas, hanging a handful of pictures and cooking dinner for my entire family and cleaning the house doesn't leave the greatest amount of time for hobbying. However, here's what I got up to.

The librarian doesn't really look all too different so far. I've brightenned up the orange on his legs and have blended up to Necron Abyss at the waist. I will possibly highlight this later, but I will wait until I get a bit further with the rest of the model. I've also brightenned up the red robe and the yellow on the Librarian's gauntlets. The book and parchment has also been brought up to a mix of bleached bone and skull white and I have also done some scribbled text on the pages of the book.

Newho, that was a few minutes work last night, but most of my hobby time today has been working on the rest of the Terminators. Here's where I've gotten to so far;

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6534047997_7324d0b907_z.jpg

As you can see (possibly better if you are drunk!) I have started on the base colours of red and yellow, using the Foundation paints. I will also be doing orange below the knees, with other mettallics.

It occurs to me at this point that very, very few of you (possibly 2 or three people on BoLS in total) have seen the other Terminators in my force, so here is a lovely example; the Sergeants from my Terminator Assault Squads!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6534062727_2a4861b45f_z.jpg

However, unlike these lovely fellows I will be going for a darker, more battle-weary look to the models. They do give you an idea of what I'm aiming for though.

Some of the more sharp eyed of you may have noticed a couple of Terminators (aside from the Librarian) with a noticably divergeant paintscheme from this,

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6534054499_0b907eefa6_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6534059029_d5c062a6ee_z.jpg

I should explain that my chapter, the Brotherhood of Fire, are successors of the Imperial Fists and follow the teachings of Dorn almost as ferverently as many Chapters follow those of Gulliman (essentially they follow the Codex Astartes, but with a much greater emphasis on defense and attack in sieges). As such, veterans who have served with particular distinction in that area are often seconded to their brothers in yellow as a pilgrimmage and bear yellow armour upon their return to the Brotherhood to signify that they have undergone such an honour.

Newho, that is all I have for today. I'll probably finish off the yellow base coats on the rest of the models before heading to bed, so I might have that as an update for tomorrow. Let me know what you guys think,

Shades

[bloodangel 83]

they look great. keep up the work.

[SotonShades]

Not much of an update today. Sorry for missing the post yesterday; family commitments and the oppertunity to see an old friend for the first time in 5 years took over from hobbying somewhat... as such I didn't get a lot done and forgot to post anything on here!

Only thing I did manage to get done was the base yellow on the remaining models. As such, I haven't even bothered taking any lovely pictures for you all.

I am, however, fairly free tonight (minus a little unpacking from moving house) so I should get the base orange done on the legs, as well as possibly getting on to some of the mettallics. Still not entirely sure how I will paint the molded bases yet; any suggestions?

Newho, that's it from me for now. Another update in a few hours I hope, so see you lovely BoLSers then

[SotonShades]

Behold the angry skittles!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6546182663_3c57c1da62_z.jpg

Yeh... once again, I didn't manage to get a huge amount done. Tomorrow is Vet's night at my LGS, so I will try to pop down a little earlier and get some painting done without family distractions :D Well, that might be the plan. Subject to change as always

Shades

[Snyderson]

Cheers mate!

Some close ups would be welcome - up to now the pictures seem to be a bit blurry... or should I go see my doctor and get specs? ;) But as far as I can discern it's to look good!

Greetz,
Sny

[SotonShades]

Lol yeh they are a bit out of focus. Rather rushed them as you can't see much detail at the moment with the naked eye (or glasses-lensed eye in my case) because of the flat foundry paint colours. I'll do some close ups once I have something worth doing a close up of other than the librarian :P

[SotonShades]

Well, thanks to the christmas rush (got to love having the whole family around for christmas!) I haven't been able to pick up a paint brush since my last post... I think it is fair to say I won't be getting these guys finished before the big day!

Still, maybe in time for the new year. So Merry Christmas BoLSers. Have a great festive season and I hope you all get all the plastic crack you are hoping for under the tree and in your stockings :)

[SotonShades]

Well, I may not have made Christmas, I probably won't make New Year's Eve, but I'm full of turkey and christmas pudding, so here goes nothing!

As I'm sure you can imagine, the christmas weekend was more or less a no hobby time zone with most of both sides of my family around from Christmas Eve onwards. Today however was AWESOME TUESDAY at my LGS, so I managed to sneak away for a few hours and, around the auctions, raffles and confectionries, I managed to get a little work done on my Squads;

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6583212499_3de86004ab_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6583216409_4086603e02_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6583220293_980ab557b8_z.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6583227577_4aae7d1609_z.jpg

I've now finished the main basecoats and metallics, and even given everything a good Devlan Mud wash. I've differentiated between the two squads by painting the bases of the first squad with Brazen Brass and giving them Boltgun Metal Crux Terminatusses. For the second squad I have done more or less the opposite, with Boltgun Metal bases and Shining Gold Crux Terminatusses (I have no idea if that is infact the plural of a Crux Terminatus; answers on a post card to... )

Next is the midtone colours and neatenning up whereever I have been a little messy. Hope you have all had a very merry christmas, hopefully I will get at least another couple of updates before the new year. As always,

Shades

[SotonShades]

Good News everyone! I've actually started working on these guys again (damn tournament army taking up my hobby time...)

Maybe I will have them done in time for next christmas?

Newho, the batteries in my camera have decided they are flat as a grot after being punched by a dreadnought, so I'll have to let you wait a little longer before I can show some pics. However, if you ever wanted to see Ron Weasley in terminator armour, stay tuned!

[alshrive]

they are coming on very nicely, can't wait to see the next waves of updates.

ALShrive

[alshrive]

and for the plural of Crux Terminatus, i would like to propose Cruces Terminatodes. Crux is latin so would go to Cruces, Terminatus- no idea. i have gone with greek etymology (like on octopus where although people use Octopi this is incorrect as the word was originally greek- it's octopodes people!) so would have Terminatodes! i know i have pluralised both of the words but meh, nobody else seems to have entered this competition!

ALShrive

[SotonShades]

Cheers alshrive. Personnally I'm almost tempted to go with Crucii Terminatussesesseseseessesesssesss :p

Newho, I promised photos, and photos I shall post!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7213/6970001656_1c7536ece4_z.jpg
Yo Man! there's no need to feel down...

As you can see I didn't get too far, mostly adding the turquoise on the weapons cowlings and eye lenses. Think I still need to give it a blue wash as it currently looks a bit flat. Should probably do it first, but I want to see how it looks after I've done the decorations on the weapons first. Might just be me being lazy though.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7091/7116084753_6034a29ff1_z.jpg
You know when you've been Tango'd!

I've started brightenning up the orange on this guy (and only him so far). I'm kinda praying it won't seem so garishly bright once I've brightenned up the red and yellows. If it is, I'll just have to give them all another wash to tone them down. Might even have a play with the new glazes. We'll see. Again, I might wait until I have done a bit more of the decoration, see if that tones down the look of the model when the bright colours aren't in direct contrast to pure black.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7093/7116083857_2fed27c347_z.jpg
Harry told Ron that Hermione's 'Chamber of Secrets' was on board the Space Hulk. "Bloody Hell!"

I only really planned on doing the undercoat for this guy's face and hair, but kinda got carried away. The hair started off as a red ink (remember those?!?) over a Khemri Brown base, highlighted up through various mixes of Blazing Orange and Khemri Brown, then Blazing Orange and Tausept Ochre and finally Tausept Ochre and Bleached Bone. Unfortunately I over did it a bit with the undercoat, so lost a load of detail on the face. Think I've managed a fairly decent job of painting it back in (with stupidly thin paints). The eye in particular was placed as much by guess work as following the contours of the model. Ok, so he isn't as pale as Rupert Grint, nor does he have the freckles of a real ginger, but I'm pretty pleased with how his face came out. I'm planning on doing the same eye lens effect on all the terminators, starting at Hawk Turquoise, with a shade of Enchanted Blue, a wash of Blue ink right in the lower corner and a couple of dots of skull white as a highlight (one in the same corner as the ink and one in the opposite corner).


Right, so not quite as much progress as I'd like, but I'm hoping getting back in to posting on here will motivate me into action a bit more. Because it worked soooo well before?

Newho, comments and crits welcome as always, as well as cups of tea and biscuits.

Shades