eBay purchases I shouldn't regret

It's a dangerous thing to trawl eBay the day after pay day but in fairness I don't think I've gone too overboard. I managed to pick up this bike and bits for two attack bikes for just £5.99! I'm thinking they might look cool on some Dark Vengeance bikes although I can't decide, given the DV bikes are leaning to one side, if I should re-pose the bikes or have the side cars cocked in the air like a puppy fit to burst :) Still, I'll need to get the DV bikes first but I thought this was too good a deal to pass up, the banner, extra rider and clear base just bonuses.

I then went looking for Tyranid bits. I had a plan in my head to convert some monstrous Deathspitters and some extra Scything Talons magnetised for bare-bones Screamer Killer Carnifex. I came across this auction for 'Warhammer 40k bits Tyranid bitz joblot Metal Broodlord' which had Deathspitters - check

Scything Talons - check.

Various Termagant weapons, meh, OK, whatever.

And then these...

I suppose this must be the Broodlord then? A metal Hive Tyrant. Now the interesting thing is, I have a sets of plastic Hive Tyrant legs and extras not used when I made my Flyrant and another sprue the same from another bits purchase. Essentially I had everything to make a Tyrant and this auction was at 99p with one bidder and 20 hours to go. OK we all know that was going to change and it did. My winning bid was £10.51 with £4 postage, which I still think is good value and I got the added adrenaline rush from the auction closing. Sure I'd always imagined I'd get a 'start collecting' box to fill out my 3rd Tyrant slot and remaing Gargoyles but as we no longer have that formation theeres no point. Also three Tyrants is less of desire with more unit options available but this on it's own I think is worth £14, thanks to the bits already in my collection.

But also a couple of plastic Termagants, plus two original metal gaunts. 4 Hormagaunts and some Hive Nodes [always useful]there were even some Carnifex heads, a carapace and Crushing Claws!

A load of carapace armour pieces, Flesh Hooks and six Rippers and whatever that metal thing is in the middle [ironically some Zoanthrope back vents that would fit the ones missing on my second Zoie!].

Plus extra Deathspitters to add to my conversion plans. Spinefists - I couldn't give a F*#~ about pistols zero use to me, they'll join the rest of them - perhaps I should just make a reclamation pit with them in ;)

And the final bonus in thiss haul - Genestealer heads and look at all those feeder tendril heads! I could sell those individually at £2-£2.50 each. But with 4 of them I'll put together a Brood that matches the one I already have and then swap it out for a brood of their own.

So a little over £20 for a lot of bits that actually is worth far more than it initially seems.

'nids part 216 - Genestealer Hybrids - basecoats and shading

With the Dark Angel Assault Squad TO DONE! it's time to return to the Hybrids. It's really interesting how my mindset has readjusted to these. When you consider how my last efforts felt so demotivating and chore like, now I am on a mission. I continued to finish up all the metals, added the yellow dynamite sticks and there were a couple of other bits and bobs I needed to pick out. Essentially 90% of the base coating was done in preparation for Army Painter Soft and Strong shades. Bizarrely the Soft [sepia] shade had started to go a bit weird, almost milky but it went on fine mostly. There were a couple of deep recesses that almost echoed the horrors of Seraphim Sepia but the Strong Tone covered that up in a jiffy.

I love models when they're just washed. I wish I could leave things alone at this point but my 'hind-brain' compels me to do more. You can just make out the Mining Laser Hybrid has had the first set of Stonewall Grey highlight added to his environment suit.

And while I was at it there's another three here that had their highlights done. Four in one evening and then I randomly threw in some highlights on a couple of the orange robes. So this has given me all kinds of things to think about:

• a baseline for progress - I managed 4 sets of highlights but did do other things, I've another 24 to paint so I estimate 4-5 nights work on the first highlight. Multiply that by two for the 2nd highlight as well, 8-10 nights work ahead and then we'll deal with the next part of the process.
• this process should feel really dull and monotonous, yet it doesn't. Picking out all the ridges on the environment is a nightmare. I keep missing and covering up the shading between them. I'm trying to be neat and tidy but mistakes still happen, I hope the white highlights will help mitigate where I went wrong.
• although picking out the ridges is tedious it doesn't feel half as bad as painting a Termagant as each brush stroke is sufficient to do what's needed. It's like tiny bite-sized chunks, every stroke is a tick of completion, it feels as easy as counting.

I'm really digging the orange uniformed hybrids, it's a popular look, no doubt because of how well it goes together. I'm still glad I've got half the force in red coveralls but the orange are clearly my favourite. I subsequently managed to do all other orange Acolyte hybrid's first highlight in one sitting. So let's imagine that I can do the orange clothed Neophytes and red clothed hybrids in a further three sessions, with second highlights 3-4

With these estimates of 14 days max to do all the clothing. Then I'll just have:

• weapons - weathered and rusty
• claws and teeth
• chitin
• bonewhite
• bandage detailing
• eyes and skintones
• all the other fiddly bits

OK, so not clear yet, there are some details that need clarifying but definitely looks doable this month, let alone by the end of the season. At this rate I'll have to see what I may have to fit in after these. My head is telling me it should be the Deathwatch guys but my heart is saying Deathwing Knights...

Still, perhaps I shouldn't count my chickens just yet...

Dark Angels - Assault Squad - MOAR SHOTS

OK, the 'good' shots were a bit poor. Luckily the phone cam shots came out a bit better. These first few are in the light box. I've two 1500 lumen daylight LED bulbs now so it's pretty bright.

And a bit of filter jiggery-pokery make sit quite dramatic.

I'm really pleased with the finished models, they have so much character for an otherwise generic squad.

The use of the Sanguinary guard legs adds so much and I love the idea that for the Blood Angels these are for their elite and crafted in gold where here they're used by a standard Assault Squad in their traditional green :)

These were the simultaneous day shots, so again the colours are a bit ropey but better than the digital camera.

The 90° rotation of each model, yep there's a shed load of pics to follow, get a cup of tea!

And individuals as well, in case you want to look in detail?

Moar filter shots.

I'd been quite worried about the dark skin tone on the sergeant, I always do, and his human eye but I really like how they turned out. I think I managed to create a different skin tone altogether than my previous efforts which is good as making it up every time means there's more diversity

Given just how busy the models were with detail I kept the litanies to a minimum. With all the purity seals and tribal making it just seemed too much. The company numbers were a bit of a variety too - each of the three came out OK but ranging from tiny to 'mahoosive'!

Here's the clearest look at the jump pack glow effect. Not entirely sure of it's what I was after but there are some bits I like and most of the gaming views won't get to see them anyway so it'll more than do.

Again the Blood Angel chainsword really helped here allowing me to put an Assault Squad marking on the hand where his Heresy era shoulder prevented it. And yes the squad do not feature the Dark Angel chapter badge, just the white blade and on the wrong shoulder. At this minute I cannot explain it but that Heresy shoulder pad I think is the key to their fluff.

Perhaps they removed their chapter 'wings' until they've captured the Fallen half of their squad and only then will they add them back in and return their Chapter shoulder pad to their left?

Although the second from the left with his re-purposed Space Wolf left shoulder pad probably isn't going to switch it to the right ;)

Still love the genius of those quartered knee pads perfect for the 5th company :)

This guy is such a bad-ass.

OK, enough already, next up lets get back to some hybrids, see you next week :)