On patrol - "Over there, beyond the tress"

Just a bit of fun now my trees are finished and the Deathwing are progressing nicely thank you very much. Took some pics of the Deathwing on patrol through the Ferron Fire Firs [flufftastic to follow ;) ]

I'll have to see what the darker battlemat looks like under these lighting conditions. This is a metre square piece of the lighter Mk1 mat with matte laminate, seems a bit washed out on under the halogens. Still the Deathwing look nice and bright.

I also think I need to do something to the Storm Bolter muzzles just to differentiate them a bit from the rest of the gun... 

Foreground and background focus shots.

Terminator sergeant with his ruddy complexion, still may need a couple more sepia washes to make him darker skinned. Which leaves me with one decision [sodding decisions again] regarding their heraldry shields...

Medieval like this

Pic from EPK over at bolterandchainsword

or the original Deathwing native American totems like this:

Deathwing Progress - a little damage here and there

Here's my test terminator with a bit of damage, first peaking through the gloom...

...and here we can see where it went wrong! Like I said previously I've read enough tutorials to know where I should put the damage but for some reason I went with painting it [instead of sponging] on places I could easily get to instead of  where you would realisticaly find it and as such I'm less than convinced.

Really, this just makes him looklike a giraffe

I'm slightly happier with the scratches I did, I'd seen some on another terminator and wanted to see if it worked, it sort of does, although it would have scratched through the Deathwing symbol too, if I'd painted it on that is! I still need to practice this, or forget freehand altogether and go with decals.

There's the other 'chip' on the front that is also OK as battle damage goes but I'm getting the impression this is looking like rust now and that annoys me because of my belief that Ceramite isn't metallic but a ceramic composite.

The power fist also had some scratches. I don't think this is a failure per se but maybe I can rescue this with a bit more in places, but that means running the gauntlet of doing all five with damage and making sure I get all five right whereas to return this to pristine fashion may be an easier job... Saying all that the Crux Terminatus is looking cool. 

And some more battle scars which work OK. What say you folks? Carry on regardless and take it back a step?

Deathwing Progress - they're on Ferron Proxima

Just a little update, but what a difference it makes - Vermillion art acrylic is in place and these are starting to make a bit more sense visually, regardless of any reservations I may have with the actual style and cohesion with the rest of my Dark Angels. Ron at From the Warp discussed the topic of painting bases first. Much like painting faces/eyes on a model they can really set the tone but equally you run the risk of spoiling your efforts by paint catching in the wrong place. It's a difficult choice, maybe we should just be better alround huh? Should we try that?

Still to work on the lenses and the Sergeants skin tone, not so comfortable with my brown paints, the mix isn't very good but we'll get there.

Up next, some battle damage *eek!* I've never done it before and if I cock it up it's going to be a bugger to fix. I saw some Crimson Fists on GW's website that resolved how I would tackle the battle damage. Each chip on their armour was rendered in the darkest shadow colour used on the armour with a highlight. I figure if i follow the same idea I should be OK, fingers crossed...

Let's just say my experiment isn't a huge success...

Better off Dread - Dark Angel AoBR Dreadnought Update Update Update

Here's how Brother Cask is shaping up. Some of the metals have been 'verdi-gris'd', which is cool. I've managed to make a dirty Bonewhite so it's not the same as the Deathwing for parchments and the sculpt on the front of the sarcophagus. The Ferron Red is in place but due to it's shiny nature is 'telling me' not to add any highlights as it will just go orange. Equally the Dark Angels green is telling me the same. I'm thinking messing about with it now will just make it stand out and I don't want that neon feel for my Dark Angels.

Side view, and I love the parchment and the seal actually looks like wax, hence my reluctance to add anything else to that. Also the base has been done [uncharacteristically early], but not the Mechrite Red edge as there is still a bit to paint and the edge will be handled a lot which won't help the finish.

The back view, where the verdi-gris comes into it's own. A mix of the bronze/brass effects I like with a touch of weathering, so I may be able to add it to the Tactical squad afterall, so long as I am subtle about it. Still might make the skull on the back 'dirty white'...

The other side and the red is just a bit too shiny here, I need to take it down a bit, Devlan Mud anyone?

Couple more shots, with better lighting and close-ups. I'm pretty sure this is not far off complete but I know I haven't actually done a lot of painting on the green and the finish is a bit lumpy which I'm sure I could make it work for a bit of battle damage. However, with all the metals and effects so far I'm convinced the plain green makes those bits work better and if I add to them the whole model will be just too busy. So another model 'on hold' for the time being while I make more terrain.

Deathwing Progress 2

So right when I was coming up on the anniversary of the blog and feeling the least motivated to actually do any painting I suddenly had a flurry of activity only for it to blow as I once again reached a 'painters block'. I did all the antique bronze and then applied my verdigris washes to the Deathwing and I think they came out awesome, but they now don't fit the look of the rest of the army, in particular the Tactical squad. Anyway these pics show how the verdigris looks, under natural light and I even attempted some glow effects on the eye lenses.

I'm not entirely convinced with my efforts on the Crux Terminatus. The Ferron Proxima stone effect doesn't look like stone, it's particularly reminiscent of my old Empire army figures, not sure how to tone it down or whether some drybrushing might make it more dusty, therefore more stone-like...

The other issue is battle damage, which I want to do, but it's going to be tough as I don't want to put silver in any scratches. I want perhaps black to show through as the fluff suggests that underneath all the Bonewhite there's black but what's underneath that? Again a decision that is choking any further progress.

And here lies the other side of the equation. The antique brass here is great, I don't want to touch it but it looks odd next to the Deathwing, although the verdigris being greenish does tie in with the tac squad colouring I wouldn't want their brass to have this effect. The same brasses are on the drop pod and dreadnought. Too much thought is stifling this whole project, no wonder I haven't touched it in weeks.

 The sad thing is that aside from the battle damage, targeting lenses, chapter markings and bases I think these are nearly done. There's not a whole lot left to finish the Deathwing off which I know would be a real boost to my motivation. The Tac squad isn't too far behind either. The fact is my priorities are fixed for the next few months but come April I may well be spending a lot more time and effort getting these things done but any little bit I can do between now and then will just make things go smoother.

Deathwing Progress

That aim to produce a years worth of content has been a bit of a killer. I hoped to still have plenty of content to share with you but Dawn of War, the new kitchen and the slow progress on any Dark Angel material has brought the blog to a standstill pretty much, or it will do. I still want to keep up with blogging and my painting but a number of other projects really need priority, not least an update to my Kendo Club's website. What's frustrating is my desire to do 40k/hobby stuff  is still very much there, I just don't have the motivation to translate that desire to action... still here's an update on the Deathwing.

As you can see they all now have Ferron Crux Terminatus, although I think they need a Devlan Mud wash to bring out more contrast.

I've also added the bronze items, still need to do another highlight, then Devlan Mud and Badab Black to bring back the shadows and I'm going to do some Turquoise for a bit of verdigris patina which should age the weapons nicely, though I'm concerned it'll be a colour too far. Still to debate the use of Dark Angels green anywhere, it's questions like these that are delaying progress.

Eye lenses will be green, I think [?], but there's targetting lenses, all the odd rivets and bolts etc. the whole thing is just building into a chore to get even the smallest detail resolved. I'm happy with the Bonewhite but the battle damage will be another risk, which stalls that too.

On top of this I worked out I could have scratchbuilt an assault cannon from my Ravenwing upgrade sprue, which would have been useful and so would a Cyclone Missile launcher, which I could also make from the upgrades, or try to use the launcher from my Drop Pod.

G.O.D. knows what I'm going to do for the Sergeants Power Sword. I really want to progress with these but I'm spending ages on them. They're by no means Golden Demon, but I'm taking more care on them than the nids and the slow decision making is hampering progress from the beginning. Which obviously slows down the blog. Anyway, progress is progress, we'll get there in the end.

Apologies for the colours in the pics, night shots again in the garage. Hopefully I'll get some better ones at the next update.

Tactical squad update

Having just teased you with close-up shots of the tactical squads eyes I thought it would be appropriate to showcase my progress so far. For some reason I chose a new backdrop as these were photographed outside. Aside from the glossiness it puts these Space Marines truly in space, even if it is the packaging from an X-factor playset [but we won't tell anyone that...] 

There's not a huge amount to say really. The Orkhide shade has been put on and washed with Badab Black and Dark Angels Green 'dry-buffed' in place. Tin Bitz for all the metallics [washed with Badab Black] and Mechrite Red for the seals and terminator emblems.

My intention was to do a bit of the battered metal effect from my drop pod on all the metal elements but we'll see as I'm digging the darkness of the Tin Bitz.

I'm not sur ejust how much more highlighting I want to do. Part of me thinks if I do some line highlights they'll end up being 'Tron-esque' or a bit Dark Eldar. However I think once I've done all the detail bits, purity seals, metals etc. perhaps another Badab Black wash and a thin DA Green or DA Green and lighter green mix highlight might end up with the effect I'm after. As you can see still got plenty of highlights to go on all those details, particularly the Ferron Proxima Crux Terminatus.

Lastly the Space Marine Captain. Lots to do on this guy and he's going to be very different with the huge cloak. not sure if Deathwink colours will work on him as it wouldn't be very dark. Much the same as the robes on my Ravenwing, so many decisions and every one preventing me from moving forward. that's what happens when you don't have a plan, procrastination and delay. Must try harder.

The second most important rule of painting [perhaps] - The eyes have it!

Well I think it's as good a rule as any - get the eyes painted as soon as possible. Bearing in mind you don't want to be doing things like drybrushing after you've done the eyes, there's nothing like getting it just so only to smear paint onto the focal point of your miniature. As it stands I continue to plug away at my Tactical Squad and I finally took the plunge and thought I could do the eyes because any efforts on the Dark Angels green is purely highlighting. That isn't going to be achieved without careful effort and that control shouldn't result in any mishaps round the eyes, so I was pretty safe to continue.

I'm going old-skool Epic Space Marine with the lenses. Sure the red lense stands out and is awesome but that box is my original inspiration that I want to hark back to and I think it sets them apart from the rest of the Dark Angel crowd. Obviously it enters into Salamander territory, even more so when you take into account I will be painting all my bare-headed Marines with the white hair off the Epic box cover but the dark Native American Indian Deathwing skin tones of  my 3rd Generation Dark Angel I better get that green just right!

So there was obviously some yellow involved, Some Gryphonne Sepia Wash a few times and some Badab Black and Chaos Black to sharpen the outlines. Finally a dot of pure white in the corners, just like th ehow to paint Space Marine guides tell you to do. The end result may actually look better than those close-ups suggest. Certainly for my table top standards, you'll see in the next post anyway as you can see each of the figures painted thus far. To end with, the inpiration that started it all!