Wednesday 3 September 2014

Dark Angels - Techmarine - TO DONE!

This is almost embarrassing, just a few days into my Hobby Season and I've completed something and already it's 'off list'. If I'm honest it was mainly done in 2013/14 season and in actual fact was completed 4 days before the new season rolled over but due to the unique way the blog is scheduled it'll get the 2014/15 stamp. 


It's also a bit weird because this guy seems to have appeared from nowhere. He's only really been seen here. What's happened is that after a Red Oxide undercoat and assorted washes and Vermilion drybrushes his armour has pretty much painted itself. Whatever I did it just happened organically so there was little to indicate when I should take interim pics.


When I finished the Devastator squad I looked at the Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad and was slightly disheartened at the 10 marines that needed to be green and this red fella just called out to me. All I needed to do was get to a point where is backpack was ready to go on and I could tackle the metal elements. The build/paint order got messed up and I had to do a number of separate sets of bronzing and red armour but over the course of two or three days during the loft conversion he got complete.


I did have a bit of a disaster near the end where I big blob of VerniDas gloss varnish went all over his face, instead of the tiny dot in his bionic eye! Must remember - use a cocktail stick in future. Thankfully a second coating of Anti-Shine solved that.


I'm a little concerned that the yellow pipes seem to have the same level of highlighting as the plasma glow from his backpack, or Power Field Generator as I'll probably run it. Also the Chapter symbol is a bit wonky, or perhaps it's a bit 'tribal' the wings are rustic at the least and that sword blade is more like a kipper tie but I like it. He has few litanies, just the dots on his Dark Angel shoulder pad and these are meant to be written out as 'binary cant' - his Astartes oaths written in the language of the Ad-Mech.


I didn't want any other markings as he's already a bit busy. I added more Bronze/Verdigris in the joints because when it was all red it was a bit dull but it certainly 'punctuates' the red... a lot!


The glow effect isn't quite as successful as the Dark Vengeance Plasma but I'm happy with it


Even trying to cast the OSL onto the servo arms, it's a bit hit and miss but overall I'm really chuffed. This is an awesome model and relatively cheap for what he brings. Even if you don't take the Servo Harness this model rocks. 


I did have a Rogue Trader Techmarine that my mate Liam gave me a Zinge Industries Robotic Servo Arm for. I was super keen to get on with the conversion until the 'no 3rd party parts' rule came up for Warhammer World, which prompted this purchase.


I'll still go ahead with my old guy at some point, but until then this will fulfil my Techmarine needs. Hopefully I'll share that with you, the Techmarine needs to be stripped as its currently metallic green! Just of note is the Auspex on this guy, it turned out a bit pants, but at least some Tamiya Clear Orange X-26 and coating of Vernidas helped salvage it, as with all the other lenses.


If I'm honest I wish I'd got the one with the helmet as it's bad a$$ but we make do with what we've got.


And thus I get the first deserved/undeserved [you choose] off list red stamp of approval for 2014/15. Fact is I'll be completing a lot started in the previous season so, as Dr Sheldon Cooper B.S., M.S., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D. once said "Cathedra mea, regulae meae. That's Latin for 'my chair, my rules'". Hope you enjoyed the pics at least :) another 70 to 100pts at least for the Dark Angels.

11 comments:

  1. I love techmarines. You'd think I would be an ironhand player. :) Yours looks fantastic!

    I thought about chopping off the head and giving him a helmet...but I was terrified of messing up all the awesome detail if I slipped.

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    1. I miss the days when you needed/could take one for every vehicle in your army list and they were only 17pts each! Much the same as Librarians, Apothecaries [or did I make that up?] and Chaplains/

      If I'm honest his head/face came out quite well, even that slip on his eyevball looks a little like a scar. It's always a worry that I'm painting all my force in a darker skin tone to fit the old Deathwing mythology that is mirrored with my Ferron Proxima fluff but the models aren't overtly 'ethnic' and so would look liek they'd been 'blacked up'. But I think this one actually works, so although I wanted the helmeted guy because the helmet looks cool I actually think I'm better off without because the end result has much more character.

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  2. Techmarines really are one of the best marine models imho & you done a first class job on him Dave, so as you done so good a job on him we'll all over look the fact that you had him painted before the challenge began LOL.

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    1. Thanks Frank, your permission is all I need to purge my guilt and not a single Hail mary in penance!

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  3. I agree with the guys, your techmarine is awesome. The Chapter symbol reminds me of some of the very early Dark Angels artwork. Definitely setting the bar high for techmarines; I have an Iron Snakes one due pretty soon and I am dreading that servo-harness ;-)

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    1. I painted it all , basecoats and washes and then focused on the marine himself leaving all the other parts separate. I may have tried a few highlights on the arms and back pack but it was quite fiddly so didn't do too much.

      Once I'd got his back and 'undercarriage' done and most of the areas requiring detail I could add the back pack and the top two servo arms. This gave me stability to those parts but still allowed me access to other areas.

      Once the majority of the inner model was done I could add the remaining two arms. As you can imagine this isn't a particularly efficient process and I was repeating the same painting bits which felt frustrating but it was the only way I could get my head round it and still get the brush in where it needed to go.

      One other element of note is where possible I always try and add extra bonds to expose elements. For instance the plasma cutter is glued to the back pack but also as it curves round the power axe I've glued it to the haft of the axe too. Similarly the pincers above it also touch [and therefore are glued] to the axe. It just makes it more durable for me. The other two arms didn't have anything to bond to so fingers crossed they stay attached.

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  4. Great Techmarine Dave and its kind of putting me to shame as I've had mine on my desk for months waiting to be painted, to be fair though I've only got the serve harness to do.

    Loving the use of verdigris on the model especially on the axe head, works really well.

    I've been meaning for some time to paint black skin on a model but to be frank I think I've only just about cracked caucasian skin tone, yours looks good Dave could I trouble you for paints/washes used so I might give it a blast myself.
    Cheers.

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    1. There's really not much to his skin tone at all. It's a Vallejo Beasty Brown as a base, not sure what the GW equivalent is but I'd guess it was once Beastly Brown, given Vallejo's way of naming things as closely as possible.

      Washed with Devlan Mud, or black, I'm not sure it makes much of a difference.

      Beasty Brown highlight and then if I want anymore highlights I add some Leather Brown.

      I don't want to add too many highlights as it'll just start looking like someone who is very tanned, I want the dark skin tones to come through, and it just seems right to me. I may add another wash of sepia, if I want a richer colour but each is coming out a bit different, which is as it should be.

      I see plenty of amazing painted faces with ultra realistic skin tones that I can't comprehend how painter get that detail and changes of tone on such a small surface. These are just very simple, with very little highlighting but it somehow works. I look forward to seeing your Scythes Techmarine.

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  5. It seems less is more as is often the case, thanks for the tip Dave I'll give it a go.

    and yep the Scythes Tech will have to be completed soonish, its a bit of a kitbash and is meant to accompany the TF Cannon I painted months ago, the shame, lol.

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