Dark Angels - Deathwing Knights - BONE!

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer Dark Angel Deathwing Knights. Having been disappointed by my last wash it took some significant willpower to finally get back to these and thankfully it has paid off - in getting me motivated at least.

It turns out it takes me around 40-60 minutes to do the first highlight on the bone. Not sure if I should be embarrassed about that but I can't hide the fact. 

In part this made painting all 5 that little bit harder because on the plus side I knew how long it would take, on the negative side that's 5 nights/sessions work... 

And that's not including the 2 or 3 extra terminators I'm doing at the same time as the knights!

A lot to do and as my pace is so slow it's also frustrating because this highlight covers so much of what had just been added in the wash and the original primer/basecoat.

I wish I was either a little braver to keep more of it or less impatient and applied wash more sparingly - a line wash where needed.

As it is I'll probably go back in and apply a line wash to achieve better shading.

With 5 days work under my belt, but still the shields to do I'm also predicted the second set of highlights will take the same time/effort.

But thankfully, despite all the negatives, I finally have the motivation to crack on and complete these.

Even though the 2nd highlight takes up less area it requires more finesse so whatever time savings I make in reducing coverage is made up in being more careful - actually painting.

I need to do all the reds, greens, grey/white, skin, verdigris and glow FXs on the mace's. So much to do it, feels like the opportunity to get stuff done in lockdown isn't quite getting there for me because this is so laborious and slow, but in actual fact these haven't been awaiting completion for 4+ years for no reason.

And here's the other terminators I'm doing alongside.

This was the Dark Vengeance sergeant, that I kitbashed as Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, when they were highly popular for Terminators and before we got Knights which always seemed better. Still, he looks cool.

And my odd Space Hulk Terminator. You can still see some of the Blood Angel iconography . I cut some away but left the rest as I'm confident they won't detract form the model if I don;t draw attention to them  - painting the blood drops as gems for instance

He's got a load of purity seals that's for sure

I also have an old school metal Grey Knight Terminator with lightning claws that I've done a little bit on but don't know if I'll finish that, we shall see.

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Base colours

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. 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.

Washes needed to be added to the metals, but the edging on the armour panels need a bit of highlighting too before that gets to be done.

Now as Legio Gryphonnicus I should be doing these yellow and grey but I do always start with orange. This is the Instar paints IV-17 - a replica of the Macharius Solar Orange Foundation paint. Now the colour matching is looks bob on, it is a great comparison to my original. 

However, straight out of the pot the coverage is nowhere near the same, but that might be because it's not quite mixed thoroughly. I really need to get a stirrer in there to see if there is thicker paint at the bottom. I bought a 50ml pot which was a little extreme, I should have gone with 20ml and got a load of other sample pots to try the range - experience for next time.

The Reaver has not had it's armour plates glued on just yet but it's progressed at the same pace. On the one hand this is going to be a huge success at the end but right now it's a little overwhelming. I'd focused on the Titans for a while but thankfully it helped me return to my Deathwing Knights.

With all the highlights to do on the Terminators I'd been put off and switched to these, now it's time to switch back.

But, when the Deathwing are done I need to get all these metals up to scratch, then shaded so I can focus on the fun of the armour plates... oh and all the weapons. It's weird because with so few figures in a Titan army I was deluding myself into seeing this project like a Warhammer Underworlds Warband, but with 2 Warhounds, Reaver, Knight AND all the weapon options I should have seen it more like painting a 40k Imperial Titan. Or at least it's been as big as doing both my Armigers! Mistakes about the task at hand were made, still we'll get them done in the end.

Dark Angels - Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer

Afternoon #warmongers I've been #paintingwarhammer Dark Angel Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer [what a mouthful] and it's a mess, but I think that's what I was going for. I cranked out the dark umber art acrylic and stippled it into all the crevices. I think I know what I'm doing and will able to employ the same technique of stippling to get texture on it without the need for line highlights, although I will probably do some extreme line highlights but the texture will mean they don't have to be perfect - at least that's the theory.

There's a lot of washes still to be done - the metallics in particular have had none and I'm hoping the sepia wash might blend some elements together and then a 'strong' wash might create the contrast I usually apply.

Then I think whatever the flat panels look like after stippled highlights I can always add weathering/battle damage to get it to a place I'm happy with.

It's an odd one and I keep nibbling away at it so once again, when I focus on it specifically I might be in a place where I've either resolved all the questions I have about the scheme and approach or I've reached a point where I can just get it done without worrying.

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Big Build - Prime and Base TO DONE!

As much as I wasn't feeling the hobby there are always some things I feel comfortable doing and priming is one of them, because as sure as eggs is eggs I'll get my mojo back eventually and if I've got stuff ready to go then I can speed things along immeasurably.

So on top of the priming and basing I did a quick pass of vermilion. The Warplock Bronze is going to be a nightmare but still more progress than I planned.

The Reaver got bronzed [even though I planned on doing them silver I just couldn't]. Those arms need doing...

Warhounds also got done. They were primed black and then I did a quick grey prime for the armour panels but it was a much lighter primer than I expected and satin too. It won't be an issue in the end but it was a setback when it happened.

All the bases have been further highlighted since this. I am discovering I hate doing all the metallic armour edges - it fills me with no satisfaction whatsoever. I'd be even more stressed but I have now clung to that most important rule of painting.

I'm convinced I can cover all the crap bits, and everything that's gone wrong in the end. I have to be patient which is frustrating as I actually just want to get them done. They were completely off-list but they look gorgeous and will be awesome when they're finished - I have no doubts... although the guns I'm not so sure about ;)

Big Build Galactic Stamp of Approval for basing these puppies.

Dark Angels - Deathwing Knights - SHADE!

Afternoon #warmongers and I am #paintingwarhammer Dark Angel Deathwing  Knights - bane of my life. Having completed the metals I did my all-over wash using Army Painter Soft Tone. I had kind of forgotten that this is no longer their Sepia wash [I believe that is Flesh Tone...?], as such is actually gives a much darker brown than I expected, certainly on the bone...

I'll be honest I was gutted. It was too dark on the bone and not dark enough on the metals. It was enough to quell any enthusiasm for this project. I was also painfully aware of just how scruffy some of my other details were and it was killing it for me.

The fact is it looked nothing like this when it was we but the bone was just all wrong and I steadfastly refused to acknowledge my most important rule of painting - don't judge the finished quality of the model you are painting until you have finished painting it or more simply - don't judge your miniature until it's finished.

The fact is I eventually put paint to these, adding the  first set of bone highlights and it's not beyond saving.

I'll share those pics eventually but these 2 Terminators, and the Deathwing Knights are still a challenge for me.

I've noted it takes around 40 minutes to highlight one terminator. I manage about one a night and fit in some of my Adeptus Titanicus bits too. I've 3 more to highlight before I can share their current WiP shots - I just want these done and off the pile.

Blood Bowl - Troll Big Build - TO DONE!

Although I have a metal Blood Bowl troll that my friend Pete [he who got me into Blood Bowl in the first place] gave me, he's really only going to fit with my old skool BB teams. If I want a Troll with my Ork team, as and when I paint them, then it has to be this gorgeous beast. And fittingly Pete was the one who gifted it to me for my birthday - he's such an enabler.

Once again I end up feeling you get a lot for your money in this model. When in actual fact is I'd ordinarily balk at the cost of this thing but compared to some of the other single HQ units it's comparatively good value.

Think he'll be my Tyranid turquoise with a pale belly [similar to the existing Troll/Troggoth approach I suppose]. Way down on my list of things to do but it was something to keep me occupied while I felt I couldn't do anything else...

And so I get my Big Build Big Galactic Stamp of Approval - yay!

Adeptus Titanics - Titans in Manufactorum - Big Build - TO DONE!

It seems like ages ago now when I visited Liam's to drop off his Adeptus Titanicus, we spent the evening building Titans and then I crashed my car on the way home. Here are the fruits of our labors. Liam was responsible for the Warhounds and Reavers...

I somehow only had to build the Cerastus Lancers. We're going to be sharing painting duty so we can get them done quicker, but he was also going to be magnetising all the weapons [which eventually took an entire day].

For the Knight I would paint I tried to emulate the pose of my own Lancer.

Funnily enough the legs are oppositely position to my full scale version but the pose is indeed similar - braced for impact.

He passed on the Reaver and Warhounds before lockdown so I got the base done, using Valejo Red Oxid paste for the majority of the basing material.

Some bits of slate and granny grating added some variety.

And some pipe work and the odd bit of gravel and these babies are already for priming.

And so I get my Big Build Big Galactic Stamp of Approval - yay!