'nids part 364 - Leviathan bone

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Leviathan Tyranids this has been a slow process over the last few months and even then limited progress. The Neurotyrant has just had it's bone applied.

But I also spotted a chitinous armour plate on its back that needs to be blue, you can just make out how bright it is - that will need shading.

OMG how tedious are Von Ryan's Leapers? All the detail of a Lictor [and more] squashed into a 33% smaller model.

Genuinely these made me rethink  how 'easy' I thought my Tyranid scheme was. It's another reason why I've not been painting much recently.

The tedium and endless detail just killed my mojo. That said, I bet Contrast paints work amazingly well on these...

What's worse though is I did get issue 2 of Combat Patrol and now I have another 3 of these to build and try to catch up as I dare not think about doing another 3 down the line when these are completed. I may as well get the paint out of the way now.

And the Barbgaunts weren't much better, makes me wonder why I'm doing 'nids for DreadTober.

And lastly the Winged Prime, but he's got his second layer of bone highlights.

Only marginally more entertaining. How many times have I heard people say painting shouldn't be a chore? Sure, I've not been painting recently because this was chore-like but eventually you have to wade through this and overcome.

Who knows when I will be motivated to finish these off but 'progress is progress'!

'nids part 363 - Leviathan bases and basecoats

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Leviathan Tyranids but this was from the beginning of July! I shaded them alongside my Adeptus Titanicus Lancers

Now I'm starting their highlights but it was handy to have done this menial task to help streamline the next stage.

But on top of that I also did the bases as well. Still to do the bonewhite chips but that's a later step.

Von Ryan's Leapers, and I;ve just discovered the new Combat Patrol magazine has another 3 of these in issue 2, so if I can get that there'll be another 3 to add to the brood.

Alternatively I could add the old Lictors as they're almost the same size now. My Deathleaper and painted Lictor with this one makes a full brood of 6! Not that I'll ever play them! 😂

While I still can, here's a whole bunch of Bloody Great Big Bloody BASE Stamps of Bloody Approval 

'nids part 335 - Tyranid Primes [and Spore Mine] - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on these #Oldhammer Tyranid Warriors, now Tyranid Primes. Definitely worth updating them and upscaling the base from 40mm to 50mm for yet more height.

I did get lazy and not add any yellow highlights to the Adrenal Glands on the join between abdomen and thorax. All the Termagants are highlighted this way and it looks cool, but I thought it would create an unnecessary focal point.

Really the gland is only there to bulk out that area, as it looks a bit weedy otherwise. I'm honest, as much as I like the design there are some parts that don't quite work and I'm sure there are much better ways to bring them in line with the new design but my efforts are easy and still effective.

For instance I added Tyrant Guard crest piece on it's back. This wasn't on my original kitbash, but I had the piece and fit really well on this one. I did leave the boneswords untouched from the original paintjob. 

I mean it wouldn't have taken much to highlight it improve it a little but I wanted to hold onto some of what I had done so long ago. It's not perfect, but it's a true reflection of what I did then.

The second Prime I kitbashed and there wasn't room for the crest on the back. I did swap out original bonesword kitbashed lash whip. The weapons themselves I am happy with.

But the arms are a bit too chunky, which is odd as they don't appear so obvious on the smaller Warriors. I guess it comes down to build - these Primes are taller and more slender, whereas the Warriors are shorter and stockier. But it was the right decision, for consistency across the models.

Here's my progress diary, a month for 11 medium sized models is OK for me I think. I mean it felt neverending and that's despite my being 'at peace' with my scheme and the process. The diary helped and hindered. It let me understand how long things would take, but it also estimated how much I still had to do and when I would finish. When you're in the middle and know there's still 2 weeks worth of work left that can be daunting.

But, it wasn't just Warriors and Primes, I did this Spore Mine too.

I played a bit with the pink, alongside the lashwhips. It's nothing special but I no longer have to look at it's stupid unfinished 'face'.

Upon completion of all these I took some time off. All Marvel shows on Netflix were being removed so I thought I'd try and catch some of them and binge watched The Punisher. I was actually angsty to get onto my Talonmaster - a motivation I was surprised by and worried it would dissipate while I was taking a break. Luckily that would not be the case... 

'nids part 334 - Tyranid Warriors - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Tyranid Warriors for what seems like forever now but they're finally done.

 

These are the five 'new' ones I got 2nd hand off a variety of ebay auctions quite a few years ago now.

They were a mixed bag of condition that I've really pleased show almost no sign of their previous incarnation, paintjob or build quality.

That's the added bonus of nids, any stray glue globules or mould lines can easily be adapted to fit the paint scheme.

The 4 from the right are all 'glow-ups' - 12 year old models that have had their paint scheme refreshed with my awesome current painting skills.

The one on the left is the Warrior I painted alongside two Hive Guard conversions in December 2020.

That was the benchmark for these, which I could see the improvement since they were first painted over a dozen years back.

The fact they're all now consistent and almost identical to the lone Warrior is such a relief and feels like an amazing achievement.

Here we go with front, back and side view of each model. There's 36 pics so strap in. First up one of the repaints.

Another repaint, I didn't really touch the bases, so they are subtly different with colours, which feels slightly annoying, but it shouldn't because the ground doesn't always perfectly match.

The Barbed Strangler.

The last of the 'old ones' although I think this was the newest of the bunch, painted a couple of years after the previous three, but still outdated in the scheme.

I may regret some of the basing of the newer ones, as I didn't pin all of them to the slate. I'm sure if I drop them I'll soon find out which ones I was lazy with and only relied on superglue...

Rending Claw Warrior. I do wonder what one would have looked like with the Deathspitter in the upper arm section. I was really surprised to realise I hadn't made that option. Certainly on this model it would make more sense as trying to get those claws down to human [prey] height and not interfere with the gun is a challenge.

Every nid player ends up with a load of infestation nodes [as well as Carnifex head halves and gaunt Spinefists]. Having used them for objectives I now need to start using up the rest on bases.

Still a little annoyed about the green glow on the barrels not being quite in the right place, but I'll live with it.

First of the Lash Whip and Bonesword Warriors. A reminder that these are the Tyrant Guard arms, which I got a sprue of in another ebay auction. 

They're chunkier than the standard Warrior ones and thankfully I don't think that detracts from them or makes them look out of place. The two poses are a bit like they're about to over balance, but I was kind of stuck with their second hand poses.

And there we go, hope you enjoyed the closer look at them, the pics needed to be done for my showcase anyway. Prime white pics next and then we can move onto something new, what could it possibly be?