'nids part 333 - Tyranid Primes & Warriors - TO DONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on these #Oldhammer Tyranid Warriors, which I kitbashed into Tyranid Primes and refreshing my Tyranid Warriors. For some reason I didn't feel much need for my usual red pics, so I thought I'd combine them altogether.

There was a small drama with the varnishing at the end, which almost derailed my satisfaction of completing them. If I'm honest though it was a batch too far in some respects and I'd already felt it was becoming tiresome.

That said, I'm really pleased with the results and the consistency across all 9, the Primes, Spore Mine and the previous 'new' Warrior from December 2020.

Plenty of rumours are flying around about improvements to Warriors, which could be timely. I had only envisaged these as paying for a Crusher Stampede Battalion but if they're more useful in their own right that's just a bonus.

I may end up regretting some of the upgrades but with 10 done, meaning with 3 broods of 3 I can drop one heavy weapon if needed to recoup some costs. Otherwise there's variety should I ever consider a Kill Team - I keep saying this but we've only ever played Kill Team once and now I'm contemplating nids as well as my Death Guard for a game we never play! 😆

The Primes came out well. I had got Vallejo Environment Moss and Lichen to add yellow splotches on the slate on the one on the right. Although it didn't quite work on it's own - it looked like spilled paint, id did help blend the yellow flock onto the stone.

I spent far too much time debating the spore mine, the little red triggers and if they should be green when in reality it didn't matter. I've loads of these and never use them so I just took the simplest solution and boxed it off.

Primes and their Warriors, I'm so glad they stand head and shoulder above the norm. 

Just imagine if they'd kept the original Warrior proportions rather than going smaller. All of our nids would be so much bigger.

Although I'm really fond of the Venom Cannon Warrior the glow on the barrel isn't quite right, rushing again with the green highlights on the edges rather than in the hollows.

Nevermind, it's an epic brood by my reckoning and will give me plenty to think about in what needs updating from my other older figures.

There's around 30 Termagants that could do with a refresh, but as I have 40+ that don't, which I use ahead of the ones I do there's no urgency.

Pretty much the only things that need refreshing are the 4 frosted Warrior to Hive Guard conversions.

In the mean time I'm going to take a bit of a hobby break. I had wanted to finish the Talonmaster alongside the Tyranids but it was a disruption that might have derailed my progress. I feel forcing myself to delay going back to it will motivate me further to completing it when I do.

Now to explain why the last minute drama - at one point I was very slightly aggrieved that my Army Painter Anti-shine pooled and cracked, like the AK Interactive Matt Varnish. I think I've become aware this can happen with the batch I have at the moment. So I was trying to make sure that any pools of varnish were dabbed clear, but must have missed this - more haste, less speed! Taking into account one of the prime reasons for repainting these was the Purity Seal frosting, to have the varnish go wrong here was somewhat infuriating. Luckily it was only in a few places and easily covered up with a few dabs of paint, as you can see in the above pics.

Here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamps of Approval! White pics to follow, which are a little more comprehensive as you get 4 profile views of each model.

'nids part 332 - Tyranid Warriors - chitin 2

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #Tyranid Warriors. I'm up to 20 painting sessions to get to this stage, which I'm sure you're aware of because these posts appear endless, sorry. 

In my defence, I'm a slow painter, this is a significant batch job [for me] and some folk like the nid content - so enjoy it while you can, there isn't too much xenos on the To Do List lined up after this.

Once again reminded of how I could do really fine striations on my Trygon but not here. I'm using an Army Painter Insane Detail brush for this. Now I know brush size isn't always an indicator of the ability to do a fine stroke.

As Henry South covered in his blog [yes this will be part of Old Stuff Day], a size 1 brush with a fine tip can do just as fine lines as one with four hairs. But for some reason I just can't get that working either way. At the risk of sounding like a bad workman blaming his tools I think it might be the paint itself. 

The DecoArt Crafters Acrylic is awesome, but it doesn't thin well. It dries quickly and has a slightly rubbery intermediate drying stage. This means I possibly press harder than I should, which splays the bristles more. Thinning with water doesn't give me the coverage I want.

So, I'll look at alternatives and play around with some things in the future. Maybe I need to invest in a new quality brush or two as well? It's funny though, because I've done really fine lines with the cheapest of Taklon brushes.

They just lose their point eventually and then there's no hope for them. I have the Master's Brush Soap and Vallejo brush restorer liquid, but even so I never feel I'm doing a decent enough job of cleaning them, or cleaning them too much!

I'm convinced my continuous cleaning is probably doing more harm than good...

Oh, the Spore Mine too, yeah those individual plates look proper chonky with their highlights.

Not entirely sure how happy I am with this, it feel like there should be some of the dark blue on the plates, rather than just in the cracks. Honestly, what difference does it make though? It's one Spore Mine!

I didn't even want to paint it, I never use them, it was just hanging around getting in the way. As long as it's 'good enough' it'll do.

'nids part 329 - Tyranid Warriors - chitin 1

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #Tyranid Warriors. Coming off the back of how tedious I was finding the bone I'm now onto the turquoise chitin plates. I did adopt an 'outlining approach though. This is where I do the outer edges - they're the easiest to do as you can quickly identify what needs to be painted. Then I'll do the inner ridges.

I then subdivide it again, similar to how a ruler breaks down centimetres, then half, then millimetres. With the striations getting a little smaller as you work your way in. It means they end up with a uniformity to their markings, which is slightly unnatural but I can live with having a system helping me through the process.

Having done all the outlines, the 'inlines' feel a little more manageable to do. Another chunk, was getting the tails done. Again this was a fairly simple part to paint so it didn't feel to much like a chore. 

With each model having somewhat of a headstart it felt a lot easier to do the rest of the model. The head was surprisingly time consuming but the top carapace plates took the longest, because that's where there's more freedom in how the striations form.

The legs are also fiddly trying to get the top top plate which is usually hidden under a Deathspitter or weapon arm.

And lets not forget the front shoulder plates and any bits on their weapons. It's really weird how chunky these paint strokes have become. First highlight isn't so much of a problem, there'll be thinner marks inside these ones. But I look back at my Trygon and see finer paint strokes and I can't understand why.

I don't know whether it's me and my cack-handed painting, the paint itself or my brushes. I have a very old sable brush that has quite a nice point to it but I'm not sure it holds its shape the more you paint with it. The same goes for a number of cheaper brushes.

It's a little frustrating. I'm also a little paranoid about my dots now. I love them, it was an inspired choice when I added them, originally to my first Trygon but first discussed on my kitbashed Tervigon. I think I shared a pic on Reddit once and had some guy claim the 'dot-thing' was a fashion trend, because the coconut crab theme had just surfaced and everyone was jumping on it.

I tried to point out this wasn't that scheme [although sometimes I wish it was] and I'd been doing dots for years just to fill in empty space [mainly] on the carapace. They weren't having any of it though, apparently 'dots were a fad, that would eventually fall out of fashion and then I'd be stuck with this scheme'.

How they couldn't grasp that I'd never done it to be fashionable, so whether it was on trend or not was completely irrelevant. What was I going to do? Repaint my entire army [he says, repainting 9 Warriors... 😝]. And yet it still irks me that they planted that seed of doubt about something that I'm particularly proud I chose to do. However great this community is there are so many that suck big time. The world might be a better place if folk just remembered to follow Wheaton's Law.

'nids part 328 - Tyranid Warriors - bone 2

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #Tyranid Warriors. These were highlighted over 3 and a bit painting sessions [evenings] this is becoming quite the undertaking now. 

I've been keeping a record of my sessions, this is 9 sessions, not including build, prime, base, basecoat and washes. I'm definitely up to the task but the 9 Warriors and 2 Primes as a batch feels a little too much.

I think it drains too much motivation. It's like feathering the accelerator when you're driving - just enough gas to keep your momentum, rather than having to put your foot down and it drains your tank. 

It's frustrating because I have bags of desire to get all of these projects done, I just can't progress quick enough so I can consistently tick things off. That frustration can make things feel overwhelming with so much still to do, which then makes me want to take a break.

 Now, I know a lot of people advocate that if the hobby feels like work or a chore then it's not fun and you should stop doing it. Occasionally I agree, but also if I take a break I still have to come back to these at a later point and everything else has just been delayed that much more.

That said, with the bone complete it's turquoise next, then reds and blacks and finally all the details like teeth, eyes, random pink bits. Hopefully those won't be as time consuming as the bone and chitin as they take up less of the model.

Also, when I come to do the black highlights I'll be jumping back onto my Talonmaster to complete those bits too.

I just think it's handy to paint those things at the same time, just kicking myself I didn't get my Ravenwing Attack Bikes to that stage too, but then if I had all these Warriors would have been delayed to fit them in.

The funny thing is I actually have more time to paint at the moment, I'm just finding more things to do like playing Company of Heroes, after I finished Space Marine. That's one of the reasons I stopped computer games, because it wasn't that productive and then threw myself at the hobby. Now I'm using that distraction a way to not burn out, which is a help, but as explained, is also a hindrance. Nevermind, 'progress is progress'!

'nids part 325 - Tyranid Warriors - bone 1

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer on my #Tyranid Warriors. Boy, did I forget how tedious this part can be! It's not really hard, but it takes a while to do each one and sometimes it can be fiddly.

To help with my motivation I've kept a progress log - just keeping track of what I achieve in a painting session. There's no pressure, but it's handy to see I painted the bone on 2 Warriors in a sitting, for instance. 

Then I know what I can do in the next sitting, or if I'm energised maybe do 3, or tired 1 and a bit. Of course I'm still mindful that there's 9 of these to do, so I'm always thinking about how many are left and if I've completed the bulk of them or not.

The Lashwhips are untouched as yet. I'm not sure when I'll tackle them in the process but I'm both excited and apprehensive about them.

My existing 4 updates were also brought up to scratch.

I had some doubts about why I was doing this initially but I think now it was the right thing to do, well there's certainly no going back.

But I think it'll look really impressive having them all painted to the same standard at the end.

The funny thing is 10 sounded like quite a big brood, or collection of broods, but now it seems like more would be necessary - not that I want to buy, or even paint anymore right now.

Should I need to scratch that itch I can revisit my kitbashed Hive Guard, to fix the frosted varnish at the very least. There's 4 of them that could do with a repair. Then I'd be looking at Termagants... there's at least 30 that are old skool and in need of a refresh. Plenty to keep me occupied for now though.