Monday, 27 March 2017

Dark Angels - Ravenwing - Turquoisewing

I did my first 'true' Ravenwing feathers near enough a year ago and now I'm back doing them again. I just went with the Army Painter Turquoise first. I did refer back to the original post and was reminded of the two techniques I'd employed and for some reason chose this as my preferred option. So far I have six of the standard bikers done, not to mention all of them have now had their black elements neatened up and even done the highlights for the red seat leathers.


As you can see the Ravenwing banners come in quite handy for resting the bikes as they dry. I'm not sure if I mentioned the whole sprue underneath thing, probably thought it was self-explanatory. However, you can see all the bikes have a piece of sprue glued to the nifty little cuboid underneath the bike footrest. This is to hold the figure while I paint it. Then when the bikes done I can snap/cut it off and a quick dab of black will remove any trace it was there. Of course that means it's a bit difficult to rest as thin paint dries but I discovered this handy tip - hooking the banners on some wire.


Before I finished for the night I did a qquick highlight on one of the bikes. 2nd gen Anita's provided the 'pre-thinned' turquoise I needed. As you can see, particularly on the back banner, the Army Painter turquoise has quite the contrast with the black. It's not smooth blending at all so I'll have to work out how to feather that in as a coat or two of Army Painter Dark Tone won't quite transition that degree of contrast. I'm sure I'll figure it out, I may even try some Baham Blue in there as there's sufficient room to feather things.


It does seem a bit odd to highlight the bottom edge of each feather but nothing makes sense in the grimdark universe. They all look incredibly bright at the moment, again beecause of the large surface area of each feather on these older back banners.


Hopefully I can tone it all down, it's odd to do these bikes with the original Ravenwing upgrade sprue - slighty different challenges to the Dark Vengeance and Ravenwing Command Bikes who all share similar front wing and back banner feather sculpts. Bottom line I found my muse/mojo again. Although I took a night off following these [to be fair I'd had  the day off so had finished the black during the day as well] I'm really eager to get all the feathers done all the bikes, get the colours shaded right back and start highlighting/shading the actual black. Again it's weird as the Land Speeder Dark Shroud or even the Genestealer Cult should be the items I'm focussing on in an attempt to throw them into the Double Trouble mix. The Dark Shroud was achievable but I can't reconcile the mounting of the Icon of Caliban and whether to magnetise it alongside the Plasma Battery for the Land Speeder Vengeance - so it's stalled completely. Likewise the Genestealer Hybrids if completed could potentially make a 750pt GSC alongside my existing kitbashed Cultists and genestealers. But, it;s the bikes that are occupying my thoughts and efforts and they'll be a welcome addition to my Dark Angels if I can get them done.

Friday, 24 March 2017

Dark Angels - Ravenwing aged METAL!

What a difference a day makes... actually the difference is marginal but pivotal. I have applied 'liquid gold' my Army Painter Strong Tone and all the doubts I had about the brass effect has been resolved. You can see how unrealistic and 'blobby' the gold paint had been on the left model. However, I washed half my Ravenwing with Strong Tone and you can see just how much the wash has evened things out and brought the sheen down to manageable levels. It's filled me with confidence and with all the METAL! brought to the same point I'm eager to move things on.


I did need to resupply all my washes just in case - £7.50 added to my growing hobby spends but I still think it's the best value available


With the bronze/brass done is finally moving onto the black. This basecoat should be mind-numbingly unpleasant but having suffered through the previous METAL phase the simplicity of a basecoat is wildly appealing. I’m not daft though and after 30 minutes getting this guy’s basecoat completed I recalled that the process is much easier if I break it down further – do all the wheels, then the wheel fairings, the marine, then all the other bits and it seems less onerous. It’s still going to be around 13.5 hours on a process I’m not sure I even need to do. I have some recollection having done this last time with the Ravenwing bikers that after the highlights I shaded it with black [much easier than blending the highlights]. So I essentially covered up all the black anyway.


That said there’s nothing like having a reset and starting from a tidy point having covered up all the previous processes mistakes. So although it might be a waste of time and effort I’m just going to enjoy the monotony but very evident progress in basecoating the black.

Monday, 20 March 2017

Yet moar pics from GW Manchester

I was passing by GW Manchester the other day so had to nip and photographanything of interest, you're all worth it! This doggy was really cool.


A REALLY big dreadnought - Bjorn the Fellhanded?


Such a subtle stule of painting, no dark contrast edges like I usually do. This impresses me so much.


That new Eldar G.O.D. thing, Yncarrne?


The other dude.


and the lady and her cat!


The rest of the Eldar host, with some pretty cool jetbikes and their bases.


Some cool AoS Urruks.


Again an impressive style.


Some weird Tau/Necron/Chaos hybrid.


The scale and ingenuity of the conversions are insane.



Even the little drones are pretty cool and the bases are fab too.


Lets not overlook the quality of the painting as well


The muted purple with the yellows, greens and deep glossy red, really cool





Friday, 17 March 2017

'nids part 209 - Genestealer cult - Hybrid METAL!

With Warplock Bronze on the brush I started the METAL! on my Hybrids. Their weapons are going to be distressed gun metal but I start with bronze just to get a dirty base.



You should be able to pick out some Gun Metal debris too. I want a variety to the METAL! in the army so I'm throwing in a mix of starting points just to make it different and interesting.


1st and 2nd gen [still can't remember which are acolytes and which are neophytes] also had some METAL! added. They need orange fatigues to mix up the rabble too and bring them up to the same stage as their younger generations.


Slowly, slowly, little bits here and there so it's not much to see but tiny bits of progress. It's not overly pleasant mainly because I'm not batch painting just 12 models, there's 28 here, not to mention the 12 in Deathwatch Kill Team Cassius, the five Assault Squad guys and the 13 Ravenwing bikers. Essentially I have 58 models on the go and it feels like hard work. Normally I'd be finding a way to flit between tasks to mitigate any feeling of discontent but the current METAL! work is blurring that distinction.




The solution has been to take a break when I feel like it, not paint of an evening if the prospect fills me with dread. However, I think if I mix up the elements I'm painting - orange fatigues or grey hazard suits I may well feel more productive. These are menial basecoating tasks but they give the impression/illusion[?] of significant progress and that makes me feel productive, which in turn makes me feel happier. It really is important to remember when the compulsion is there but the feeling isn't you have to try all sorts of tricks on your own mind. I wouldn't say I've lost my mojo by any means but every element is a challenge and failure to acknowledge the challenge and seek to overcome will rapidly allow it to overcome you.

Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Dark Angels - Ravenwing and Assault Squad METAL!

I was reminded a few times at the Birthday Bash I did not have enough Ravenwing - well I was running all I had painted but these are WiP. They're on my To Do List and all of them have had Balthasar Gold and Runelord Brass highlights. The paintwork is shocking but I trust washes and subsequent highlights and verdigris will mitigate any problesm, in fact they'll probably obscure most of the effort. The process is flawed, far from efficient and one of the reasons I have grown to dislike painting brass [despite my initial enjoyment when I first started my drop pod so many moons ago]. Still, once the bronze bits are done I can then start on tidying up and doing the black - just as unpleasant no doubt ;)


I also added some highlights on the Assault Squad. They're very low priority but it's just tacking on some progress as I had the paint going. Hopefully when they do suddenly take centre stage in earnest, I'll have once again stolen a significant head-start and find progress swift and enjoyable.


I did some moar METAL which I'll fill you in on on Friday...

Monday, 13 March 2017

Deathwatch

I've been tied up with a number of intensive but dull projects recently. They haven't been particularly photogenic but as a potential hurdle came up I was lucky enough to sidestep onto my Deathwatch. In truth it wasn't just the Deathwatch but I'll do some micro-blog posts on those just so I keep them separate. The main focus is - METAL! First and second basecoats - Warplock Bronze and Balthasar Gold.


Ironically, as I jump ship on one project as I approach a hurdle I face a completely different hurdle on the Deathwatch that had kept me from progress - the silver left arm. So I did a few tests on some back packs. From the left was 
  1. Bahama blue, drybrushed silver with a Bahama Blue wash
  2. Silver, Army Painter Strong Tone wash [Agrax equivalent]
  3. Gun Metal, Bahama Blue Wash
  4. Gun Metal, Army Painter Strong Tone wash

So I deduced a Silver base with a Bahama Blue Wash [none of the above] would potentially give me the look I was after. I added the silver and did a Runelord Brass highlight on the brass bits.


I did a rough drybrush with Valejo Shining Gold and after this hit it with a sepia Soft Tone wash.


I've been doing so much metal work recently. I wish I could either get my recipes down or accept that the metals are going to be different because despite a certain sense of success I find the metal process quite dispiriting. There's still lots to do on these, some more Warplock bronze and Gunmetal not to mention the various other projects I'm moving on with their metals too, come back Wednesday to find out.

Friday, 10 March 2017

Birthday Bash best army pics

Here's some pics of the best army and Unknown Soldier entries and first up is inevitable eventual winner Liam's Khorne Daemons ;)




Tau


My own Dark Angels.


Hendrik's Dark Angels, painted by Den of Imagination [he didn't enter them into the painting competition].


Space Wolves


BIKES!


Moar Space Wolves.




Dark Angels.



Adeptus Mechanicus



Otty's Inquisition.





PeteB's Khonre Daemons [and borrowed Crone as he forgot his Heldrake].


Nids.


Tournament winner Michael Corr's Deathwatch.




Martin's Dark Eldar.



Moar nids.




Ben's filthy Necrons.


Moar Deathwatch



LEDs



Blood Angels and Space Marines.


Ravenwing!


Unknown soldier award - best troop model.






So, a great event, not too many problems, hopefully we'll be bigger and better next year, thanks for coming :)