Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Last of the Greys

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. It was May last year when I last posted on these, there was just something about the grey that meant given any opportunity they were easier to overlook.

Ultimately I finished a lot of other things instead, but I've had them for perhaps more than two years so really they need finishing. 

Luckily I was able to approximate the grey on the left to the one on the right that I'd already got close to completion.

The thing is quite often a project has 'it's time'. The moment when you say 'yep, these are getting done now'. So I'm fully motivated to complete them.

And not just the Warhound, the Reaver too, which felt like even more of a chore, given the extra leg and toe plates.

Now it's not perfect and it's certainly been a much more convoluted and time consuming process than I envisaged, but I'm beginning to like the results even if they're not quite what I was expecting.

I'm thinking if I was to get some more I'd want a bit more blue on them as it feels overwhelmingly grey at the moment.

The yellow alone feels not enough to break up the colour palette. Of course there are weapons to add too and they have a few splashes of colour, with the las-blasters and plasma weaponry but I'd enjoy adding some more on the carapace and enhancing the use of yellow too.

It's worth remembering I had delayed painting these because I was missing the Legio Gryphonicus decals. Liam had them prior to lockdown [another reason it took so long to get them].

I added a bunch of other decals on the back of the Warhound.

And the sides - I used some old Imperial Fist decals to get the perfect red circle, filled it with yellow and then added the War Griffon decal on top. A small amount of wash to dull it down. I did find out there were higher detailed Forgeworld decals available for £10 but then realised I've enough plain white ones for my entire future maniple so why spend any more money on them?

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Lighter Greys

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. With the Aberrants out of the way I'm looking at some of my WiPs and thinking what to do. Well that Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer is bottom of the list for sure. The Macragge Tactical Squad and Ravenwing Talonmaster are only just begun so lets ignore them too. So it must be back to the Reaver titan. 

So I tried applying some Stonewall Grey. I thinned it with some Instar Water+, hoping that would prevent the complete break-up of pigment I been experiencing previously. I even used one of my bullet tipped rubber clay moulding tools to try and get the dimpled effect on the armour.

Firstly I tried it mixed with Skavenblight Dinge, you can see the lighter spots on the back [left] leg.

I just wasn't convinced though. The fade between colours wasn't there and it just wasn't feeling right to me.

I even went back to the other side of the carapace and tried to scrub out a lot of what I'd done :(

And then in comparison to my [almost completed] Warhound I discover I went much lighter on my spots/grey. I think at this point I tried to make Lahmian Medium/Stonewall Grey glaze to try and lighten the Reaver's leg. It wasn't quite there.

I'd also attempted a little of the Skavenblight Dinge/Stonewall Grey mix spots on the second Warhound.

But you can see if it's to match the original most of that will be covered up. It felt altogether frustrating.

This was not what I was hoping for. When you take into account these were all pre-shaded and light and I've effectively darkened them all and now need to redo all that light grey that was there after the priming stage!

Very frustrating. So, this did actually kill my momentum. My mojo was in the bin and I could not think of anything to do next.

I'd been so productive I'm left with very early days WiPs or, dun, dun, durrrrr! The Dark Angels Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer... 😨

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Greys

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. The advantage of having numerous projects on the go is you can always jump onto something else when your motivation wanes. So as I avoid the Land Raider Redeemer I tried adding some of the Legio Gryphonicus spot pattern on my titan carapaces and although the Warhound came out really well the Reaver is much darker and less convincing.

I was really quite pleased with the result, I don;t know how much of the zenithal priming is still apparent on it now but the patterns on both the grey and yellow seem consistent, the scrollwork also looks cool.

I even managed to keep both sides patterning consistent.

But then the Reaver somehow is just too dark. Part of me is trying to convince myself that that's acceptable and that all my Titans can have different greys and yellows. But another part of me is not having it. The blue shield came out OK though. Hopefully I'll one day get the decals to put on them.

The spots are much more defined, showing the priming more. The problem is I can't quite recall what I did on the Warhound to achieve it's effect, there was a good few days between painting them and my lack of hobby just meant I forgot the process.

I did however put some effort into the weapons. They have their yellow done and all the bronze panel edges have been shaded and highlighted. I've more highlights to go but these are super tedious.

The net result - having lost motivation on the Land Raider and jumped to these I've not stalled ont he Titans and gone back to the Nurgle Blood Bowl team.

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Yellows

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. |These are on of a plethora of projects that I'd been working on simultaneously alongside my Deathwing Knights. With the Knights being so challenging I needed many different things on my palette to keep my mojo ticking along. I've done all the metallic highlights and got to a point where I wanted the armour panels on. Typically I'm not sure if that's premature and I'll suffer for adding them too soon.

I think previously there were orange panels, I've added a thinned Iyanden Dark Sun to begin the Legio Gryphonicus yellow panels.

Added some sepia on all the trim and it also helped blend the yellow with the orange base.

I'll be looking to stipple on more yellow in a diffuse mottled effect akin to the original War Griffons colour scheme.

There's so much here that I had achieved in the preparation of these Titans I know I'm going to end up covering, it's infuriating I can't just leave things as they are.

An additional frustration is that I had intended to follow Duncan's guide to painting War Griffons on Warhammer TV but typically I've just gone with how I would paint these things myself.

It would have been so good to just follow each step, come out with something new, with new skills and knowledge and no need to make decisions, which I fear I'm going to end up doing as I make my own way.

Here you can see mottling effect with further spots of Iyanden Dark Sun and then Valejo Game Color Sunburst Yellow.

It's not entirely what I was after but I still have some battle damage and some line highlights to add which will help define the shapes and give the impression of more detail which will then change the perception of what the mottling is.

I think I have to shade the entire grey pieces with black. The grey primer is very different to Stonewall Greyand as such I can't use it as it looks odd.

The primer is a cool grey, while Stonewall is a warm grey.

I also picked out the blue shield, still have to done the bone scrollwork.

The shoulders have come out OK, like I say, the damage should help tie everything together.

I mean these are great and everything but once they're done I've all the weapons to do! 😳 Anyway, I'll keep chipping away at these, literally and figuratively for now.

What's on my palette?

Nearly six weeks since my last confession...and how've I been doing?

• Capillary towers - painted and complete
• Skyshield Landing Pad - painted and complete [pictures to follow next week!]
• Finished the Epic Reaver Titan
• Started painting 10 Termagants [and added a further 10 last night that will be primed soon]
• I also primed and base-coated 5 Deathwing [well I have to at least pretend I'm interested in them]
• Added a further 4 Spore Mines to my painting list [for giggles]
• Won a Tervigon on ebay and have set about trying to remove it's CC claws and head [only bled once so far]
• Stripped the Land Raider Proteus
• Started the walls to the Skyshield

So there are some pics to follow for most of these. But first up here's the last aborted attempt for the Skyshield walls that resulted in me 'keeping it simple' and familiar with the frame and Milliput process. I tried using Silicone Sealant which I probably would have gone with except for one thing - it's Silicone, nothing sticks to it! I thought a coat of Vernidas might 'set it' hard, but it cracked when I flexed it. Equally Tamiya Clear Red X-27 wouldn't stick to, or harden it. So although I can create a nice organic shape that looks like alien excretions it's not going to solve my problem. I'd just like to point out the ultimate solution would be to create the walls in Milliput, then make a mold and cast clear resin for the ideal effect I imagined. But that's not the simple answer, which, given the time available I need to go with. So that leaves us where we're at - with building the five remaining frames.

I'm going to base the gaunts first and then add the colours after, the advantage being the rough and ready drybrushing is covered up by the neatly applied Termagant colour scheme.

 I thought I may as well start the final 10 at the same time, no point waiting. Three needed paint stripping with Fairy Power Spray and two needed remedial repairs to their base. Had some fun putting adrenal glands on the base of their tails. They're more for identification purposes really than upgrades.

5 more snapfit Termagants with Adrenal Glands on their tail!

The Dark Vengeance Deathwing, again I'll do the bases at the same time as the gaunts. At least they've progressed since my last 'confession'.

Dark Vengeance Deathwing

 Another Tervigon... I don't know why either? It was £24 and it was one of those ebay auctions that you bid on and suddenly find you're winning and then hope someone else will snipe it before the auction ends. Still, for Throne of Skulls we're not supposed to have proxy models, so I'm not sure whether I can still justify my Carnifex/Tervigon conversion any more. It's new rules so maybe a new regime. Either way I'm going to try and magnetize it so I can maybe use it also as a Tyrannofex. I've applied Fairy Power Spray to all the joints. It does help to break down the Poly Cement weld a bit, sufficient to remove the head so far. I'm replacing the Tervigon head [which I've already used on my other Tervigon] with my spare Tyrannofex head, but, I'm removing it's lower jaw and adding the spare Mawloc mandibles. The T-fex jaw has a blade underneath that obstructs the Termagant spawning sack. The Mawloc mandibles will frame it instead, although those 'bamboo' crests may have to go. Either way the opening may make a decent representation for a mouth mounted Miasma Cannon - given it makes a Miasmic 'Spit' attack and it'll look cool and different too!

New Tervigon, for £24!

Four new Spore Mines

I had plans to make a couple of Tyranid Void Shield Generators for Throne of Skulls too. This was the final epiphany from my last 'What's on my palette'. I'd thought to create a couple of them, based on the following  concept but I can't take them AND my Imperial Strongpoint so they're hanging fire and I may well reconsider the design. I actually added the 'battlements' with suitable room for 10 gaunts to 'man' them, but then noticed they're 'impassable' buildings so didn't need to add space. Anyway, they may or may not get done, we'll see. I also took out the bits for my Tyranid Icarus Las-cannon emplacement but have decided not to pursue that just yet as it uses the T-fex Rupture Cannon I may need to magnetize to create my Tyrannofex.

I also picked up 3 more Tyranid Warriors and a Carnifex on ebay. I intend to make 2 of the Warriors into Hive Guard and have the remaining one either with a Venom Cannon or Deathspitter. The Carnifex was also a bargain, I think in total I may have made something like a 65-75% saving and this came fitted with a Fleshborer Hive to make it a Dakkafex, which was my intention anyway, bonus! I also plan to pick up a Venomthrope, two more Zonathropes and one or two Biovores, depending on availability. To cap it all I may go insane and look at something from Forgeworld too! I might be able to get a good deal on something so we'll see. So much for my Winged Tyrant being the 'treat to myself to celebrate finishing the Tyranids'.

And THIS is why the Dark Angels are languishing! So I've still got to get the following done:

1. 20 termagants
2. Skyshield Walls
3. New Tervigon
4. 4 Spore Mines
5. Deathwing

That's the priority order. Everything except the Termagants would be nice to have, the gaunts are essential.

PS, I also broke the 200 follower barrier and had an increase in the amount of hits this month by 25%! High Score again - you guys rock!