Wednesday 4 July 2018

Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Chosen Axes Basing TO DONE!

Don't worry, after the big show of prioritising the Hierophant I've not immediately lost interest. This is where I was at on the Fireslayers before I got focused. As usual I did the bases first as I knew I'd be scruffy with the drybrushing.


I wanted something a little weird, hence the Coelia Greenshade and Purple washes. I'm not sure if it works and the drybrushing is a bit untidy when it's solely on plastic and not sand. However the white highlights brought some semblence of intent that tied it all together.


Obviously I went grey, but I think teal/turquoise might have been a bit better. As I intend to sell these the one silver lining that is helping me to part with them is I see it as an opportunity to play around with different colour schemes. These learning opportunities mean I have to part with them to move on to the next one.


The big skull turned out OK, no doubt because I'm used to painting bone so much. Next [when I've finished the Biotitan] I'll be doing the metallics and hair base colours. That seems odd not to do the skin but the plan I have for that requires the hiatus to help me accept the route I want to take. Patience will be my friend.


I still have to do the base edges, which will be black, that will be done at the end but in the mean time I get the Big Build Basing Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval.


Monday 2 July 2018

'nids part 258 - Biotitan Tyranid Hierophant pt.12 - Bonewhite complete

Oops, spoiler. Obviously this is the pic that gets into the blog feeds so it helps if it looks good.


Which is obviously better than this WiP of the legs.


Which I finally got through and what a relief.


So I got a full built photo shoot so we can see how she is progressing.


And despite the hardship of getting to this stage it tipped me over the edge - the good edge and I can foresee how this is going to play out. Having recorded my efforts [show at the end of the post] I can see the second Chitin highlights will take possibly another 18 days.


Then the second Bonewhite highlights another 10. So I have 28 days worth of work, and I will be doing some additional 3rd highlight on both and not including the red fleshy bits, claws and talons all the glow effects and varnishing.


It's 62 days until the Hobby Season ends [when I wrote this]. I want this done and so it'll be my priority and if I crack on then the Razorback might just sneak in at the end. Shadespire Fireslayers and future containers seem a stretch at this point but who knows. Regardless this is big prize, and getting this out of the way in a timely fashion will provide opportunity for the others.


With at least 28 days worth of work it seems like a big slog but I'm up for the challenge and think now with a more positive attitude I might struggle less. With the first highlights done it's slightly quicker tracing over them with a second highlight. There's less to think about, which speeds things up but I have to take a bit of care that I don't obliterate all the first highlight - else what was the point. So I'd estimate it's 75% quicker to do.


But I have a deadline now and an overall guide of how long things take that I aim to beat, so although there's a lot and it'll take a significant amount of effort I'm raring to get it done.


Here's my updated log, which has been marked up so I can track the different parts to do again.


And finishing up the first set of highlights.


And there we go, almost a 'What's on my palette'!

Friday 29 June 2018

Terrain is everything - 40k future container scatter terrain - Detailing!

With the Armigers out of thesurprisingly it was the future containers that drew my attention. The orange ones requiring four coats of paint to achieve the orange I was after and that's not including all the priming, shading etc. Strong Tone picked out all the shadows and then my pumpkin craft acrylic edge highlights.


Then I noticed that some Aquila decals would fit perfectly in the top space so they both had gloss coats, decals and then matt varnish [can't find my Lahmian Medium :( ], two side on both.


I've shipping company logos to add yet and then some more weathering and damage, probably not as much as the OOCL ones but we'll see.


The third container - I decided on grey.


Once again BIG numbers look awesome, painted some scuffs too.


Maersk Line shipping company, I did consider switching it for Magnus but decided to leave it as is.


The other big number. A simple stencil, tidied up and then scuffed.


The Maersk logo - a stencil with grey dots for the centre of the A, R and nicks in the S. The blue square was stencilled, then the white star stencilled and tidied up afterwards. Again still more weathering to do, as I say I got carried away with the amount of sand in the basecoats, it's a bit too rough but there's not much I can do with it now.


I then went and did the Hapag-Lloyd logos. Obviously with less success - stenciling the name was really difficult. Given the spacing between the letters I only really cut out the H, p, g, L, l y, and d and then hand painted the a, a, - and o.


Then I went back and filled in all the 'counters' [the holes in all the letters, like the o and d]. I tidied it all up, added some shading'highlights to the blue logo and although it's not perfect it'll do. Some weathering will help but I do need some additional decoration on the sides.


These last two pics were originally going to form the start of the next post update but I've since realised these will have to go on hiatus while I focus on the Bio-titan, so thought I'd share them now. And one day I still need to create an STC for a foamcore cube to replace the OOP Mentos cubes that form the base for these, one day...

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Warhammer Underworlds Shadespire Chosen Axes Big Build TO DONE!

Now I know my love for the new Night Haunt models was almost uncomfortable and gave the impression I might want to dip into Sigmar but this is as far as it goes. I'd been mulling over Shadespire and in particular fancied painting something different inbetween all the things I feel I 'have' to paint. In fact I decided to go with the Fireslayers because there are only 4 in the box and they seemed a little more interesting than the Stormcast.


In actual fact I bought these specifically to paint and sell. I've never done that before. I'm a hoarder by nature so the very thought of selling something I've completed, it's like selling a child. However, I hope this will be sufficient to cover the cost of buying the game itself - even though I'm not sure we'll ever play it...


I really like the box though, and once the models are built they fit right back in too, which is a handy transport system in itself.


They're unbelievably easy to build, three snap-fit pieces for each model - highly ingenious.


I have a rather left field idea of how to paint them. I see them selling from £45 to £70 on ebay, invariably in the standard style on the box. I'll be going a little more left-field just to entertain myself. They might stand out a bit more when they go up for sale, who knows.

They were so easy to put together it feels almost a crime to get a Big Build Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval, but tough I take what I can get....

Monday 25 June 2018

Warhammer World Pilgrimage and Brian the Sewer Vent

Last week I took the wife to Nottingham to see Stone Sour at Rock City, it was her Christmas present, she's a huge fan of Corey Taylor.


We even met the band!


So the next day she was still so happy that she didn't mind stopping off at the 'hobby Mecca' of Warhammer World on the way home.


As you can see it didn't take long for her patience to wane ;)


Once inside I took a few pics, the new Sigmar Malign Magic items look amazing.


The painting is sublime too and the Night Haunt models are also spectacular.


The Studio Night haunt models are amazingly painted. I know there are a couple of new Technical Paints that make painting these much easier but seeing how the 'Eavy Metal team do it is stunning.


I couldn't get enough of them.


And then there was the store versions which utlised the new paints.


Pretty cool Sigmar board.


I will NOT be getting into Sigmar... honest.


So simple to paint...


Obsessed much?


I swear I just find them cool, I've no interest in buying them


I think doth protest too much!


Nah, that's the last of them, it's out of my system now.


Back to my safe space - Knights and I love the Acheron pose. The Studio Valliant is also a wonder to behold in person. The line highlights do not look 'man-made' at all. I don't know how they do it, the rest of the colours are completely flat too, it's insane.


A couple of Helverins.


The Castellan, again stunning to see in person.


Inside the main hall there was a pretty cool T'au army on display.


I don;t think my pics do them justice sadly, I'd somehow switched to a filter I never use?


40k GT heat and Final winner photo's including my Warhammer TV opponent Morgan Cole.


Back in the chop and there was a cool Dark Imperium display board, I liked the windows.


And the front view.


Some really nice touches.


And the 'pièce de résistance' - I give you Brian the Sewer Vent. I cannot convey just how excited I was that Nick from the Warhammer Community Team allowed me to see this little terrain in person.


He even let me put the Ferron Splinter fleet on it.


How cool is that? Nick revealed it was created by Chief Terrain Designer Dave Andrews for Apocalypse [I'm guessing it's in the rulebook somewhere].


It's currently stored in the 'camera room' and the photographers particularly like it because it's the ideal height to display models on, as you can see.


I was physically shaking doing this, I have no idea why but it was such a 'moment'.


I will definitely be looking to make my own at some point.


And Nick took a picture of me with the blessed Brian - such a treat.


Nick even tweeted about it, I cannot thank him enough.


A great couple of days, some major highlights, both hobby and normal life, looking forward to seeing Brian pop in print again :)