'nids part 240 - Trygon - TO DONE!

The Trygon is complete, although I hadn't glued his head on at this stage [yeah I don't know why either?].

Annoyingly when I did glue it in place I still got the torso out of whack, which meant the head still isn't straight and more importantly couldn't position it completely in the neck socket for a perfect join.

Instead it's just the pin, a whole load of Super Glue Gel and two super glue joins to where the head crest touches the Carapace

Close-up of the base, you can see the claw highlights and the additional spot third highlight on the Chitin just to define some of the more important ridges.

Another little bit of debris, Deathwatch or Ravenwing? You decide which was the unfortunate rider.

And the other side of the base where the BBQ chips were used to great effect to represent the way the Trygon thrashes along the surface to move about.

Obviously the biggest changes since my last update are the extra highlight on the Chitin, the black talons and claws highlighted and seeing the toxin/plasma effect in context with the rest of the model.

I had originally planned to do a video of the green being applied but foolishly shook my Dark Green Valejo paint just before I began, which given how the process specifically requires the paint to remain un-mixed rendered the whole process redundant.

Still it came out OK in the end I think. Obviously it's bold choice to retain the the Trygon plasma as green like it's Toxin but I didn't want to introduce another spot colour as the green on the red/bone/blue/turquoise is enough. Recently my Carnifex had blue bio-plasma head so I could try a new style but the green came out so well.

I could have highlighted the green more at the front, like a Doppler effect going down the containment spine but opted for an edge, but still front weighted with how much is highlighted towards the tip of the spine.

Finished pics on the white background, y'know in case I can ever be bothered to send these to White Dwarf. Ha, ha.

The irony is I'd be sending them through my gmail address but I really only access that by phone which means I can;t be bothered to type anything up :)

Maybe one day I'll pull my finger out but it'll be while I'm in the shed, which is time away from painting and it's bad enough finding time to take these pictures than then writing about them too [he says, writing about these pictures!].

Moar pics tomorrow, of the phone variety and there are some absolute doozies!

In the mean time Great Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval!

'nids part 239 - Rippers - Moar pics

Moar pics of the Rippers, once again Camera 360 making these far more vibrant so they look good enough to eat. Sometimes I wonder if these additional pics add anything but in this case I think they do, and wait until you see the Trygon pics, these one I think equals my Dark Talon for awesomeness. Anyway, I'll leave you to enjoy without any further interruption.

'nids part 238 - Rippers - TO DONE!

I've had four bases of Rippers for so long now that the 4th base, which was done at a later date than the the original 3 still looks like they were painted at the same time.

But I collected a fair few Rippers from bits and other assorted ebay purchases but always wanted swarms to look more like the Forgeworld variety. 

Their rules may be lacklustre but those piles of little gribblies look cool.

I'd put off making some green-stuff press molds for a long time but the need to have two broods of three for GT3 meant I had to crack on and make my attempt at press-molding.

I also piled some Spinemaw Rippers on a base to make up the second base.

I'm not a fan of Spinemaws, from a model point of view so I'd rather they sit on one base than have them infect another with their presence. But these don't look too bad really.

The tunnelling swarm is made up of 7 green stuff casts.

As well as three plastic Rippers and the Tyranid Warrior face at the the front.

As a first attempt at making these bases I was really chuffed with the result.

I've just done another round of casts and I'll see what I can do with twice as many on one base!

Ultimately I'm taking these because they're cheap Troops choices that allows me to take two Battalions. In game they're only function is objective grabbers.

Although I understand they have the ability to swarm the likes of Imperial Knights so they can't Fall Back from combat - so they have their uses.

They look really cool though and I'm pleased with how the evolved scheme has made them look much better than their older siblings. Although these pictures are making them look much more blue than turquoise.

My other beef with the Spinemaws is I can't seem to find the sweet-spot to take their picture.

OK, that's more to do with how I placed them on the base but evens so.

But their disposition at least shows a little variety as I'd added some plasticard at the front and you can see the nearest Ripper has his tail submerged in the ground to give some height difference to what is four copies of the same model.

So there we go, I'm not entirely sure it was the case but these seem to have been done really quickly. Of course they were stagnant for a VERY long time but they've gone from build to completion quite quickly. I think mainly because I've been busy doing many projects simultaneously I know that the time spent has been significantly less than the time that has passed. Now, despite these being 'off-list' I still get the Great Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval - voila!

'nids part 237 - Trygon - Toxin/Plasma

Toxin Sac and Plasma effect next. I had originally planned to do a video of the green being applied but foolishly shook my Dark Green Valejo paint just before I began, which given how the process specifically requires the paint to remain un-mixed rendered the whole process redundant.

The Dark Green just dries flat.

OK, so sue me this is one of those step-by-steps that misses out three steps ;) Lime green, followed by lime green/yellow and lime green/yellow/white.

Same deal with the head, Valejo Dark Green

Side view, almost decent OSL already.

Then fully OTT.

Pleased with the result and that's it pretty much done now.

All I need to do is glue it together, varnish - matt and gloss and then Tamiya Clear Red X-27 and it's TO DONE!