Dark Angels - Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer - Last chance to dance

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I'm still #paintingwarhammer on my Dark Angels Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer. But these will be the last pics for a while. It is almost finished, I've applied all the blessed verdigris, lenses etc. However, I wanted to see if a big number and text would look OK.

So I Photoshopped it on. Now the left is how I originally envisaged it, but the right is how Titans would see it. I can't decide which would be better. Regardless I'd need printable decal paper if I wanted to go down this route.

 

I was also speculating about a number in the centre of the quartered heraldry on the front.

And yes, a big number 1 will make that look better.

I bit the bullet and went with red lenses on the tank hatches, but they seem a bit lost. Do you think green ones would be better?

Green ones?

Red lense on the Multi-melta sill stay red.

Orange and red lenses on the heavy flamers. I'm not sure I want to Tamiya Clear them...

I'll lose some of the effect if I do.

The lights will definitely have Tamiya Clear Red X-27 added, but the lenses don't seem to need it, just a drop of gloss varnish.

This light will also be Tamiya Clear Red X-27.

And the back, still debating whether to add orange weathering powder in the grooves of the tracks.

It might be perceived as rust, which it's not. It's the red dust from Ferron Proxima. I may try and Photoshop that too...

Dark Angels - Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer - Battle damage

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I'm still #paintingwarhammer on my Dark Angels Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer. That's right I've not been put off  again and why would I? I'm painting loads of scratches on my Land Raider. Now this is just Citadel Rhinox Hide, or VGC Charred Brown. In fact I put both on my Pringles lid palette and the slight difference meant there was subtlety to the scratches. I'd only done the scratches on the left hand side at this stage, but sponged on damage  over most of the model.

It was then to go in with some pure white to add highlights to the scratch edges. However, the more I did, the more I felt it was unrealistic in places. So I did not do very much at all. I'll admit this is far from actual realism, but it's more realistic than I'd normally do and artificially adding depth with highlights just seemed too fake.

That said, some of the sponging is proper obvious and yet I couldn't bring myself to find a way to fix it.

The front access door got more chipping and scratches but made me realise how is a Terminator supposed to disembark from this. I know the top bit rises up, but not that much or it'll hit the Assault Cannon and even so the termie will have to duck to get under the door hinge. I won't even mention the Deathwing Sergeant with the massive angel wings on his carapace...

It's at this stage I start to feel it's the final stretch, but there is still loads more to do.

I want to add some sepia stains and marks to add some extra depth to the darker browns I've just added.

I just spotted that Mechanicus symbol needs highlighting, and the nameplate on the engine cover. 

I need to reconcile all the blessed verdigris and decide about the tracks - verdigris and red weathering powder, just weathering powder or none at all?

All the lenses need doing and smoke and heat bloom on respective weapons.

Are there any decals to add - that white/red quartered heraldry is looking mighty empty and clean, maybe even some scratches just to tie it in.

Do these tracks need anything else?

The door is ok, the track fairings work a lot better than the door though.

And do I consider that big number 1 and litany script on the top of the track covers?

I'm stuck though as I have momentum and I'm thinking too much about this. It is now considerably better than I hoped it would be and I must remember I kept on saying not to have high hopes for it as I may never even use it. Even if it was rubbish it'd be finished and it is far from rubbish now. I still wish I had done a massive off-centre angled Deathwing badge on the top but it just wouldn't work with the details on the doors.

Dark Angels - Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer - Moar bone

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity It comes to something when the project you were doing to avoid your most avoidable project becomes so much you tackle the more challenging one. Yes the Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer is back on my painting table.

I have been avoiding this for so long and yet I knew that this next drybrush/stippling of the pale cream colour would potentially solve most of my issues with helping it to progress.

Part elitist snobbery over drybrushing, but also partly genuine  dislike of the finish. But I am going to weather and battle damage it so I'm not entirely sure why I'm fretting.

This is part of the process and a reminder not to judge the model until it is finished. I do now had some new reservations about the inordinate amount of bone. Those two track covers in particular are screaming out for a big 1 on one side and perhaps some litany script with a decorative capital letter on the other.

That'll be another delay as I work out how to do it - print my own decals, make a mask?

Anyway, I think I've managed to get past this initial hurdle to a point where I can think about adding paint chips.

I am also hesitant [again] about the blessed verdigris. I always am. Part of me is always convinced it will spoil the finish but I have to be strong. I'm not going Sanctum Imperialis green so no need to worry so much. I can be selective if I want.

I'm umming and aahing over the [currently unpainted] turret lenses. I have the three choices of:

Tamiya Clear Green X-25
Tamiya Clear Orange X-26
Tamiya Clear Red X-27

Since these pics I basecoated them in Khorne Red in preparation for X-27 but I'm now thinking green would be more interesting. The Deathwing eye lenses are green...

The rest of the lenses are red and orange for sure, it's just the turret ones to think on...

Adeptus Titanicus - Titans in Manufactorum - Lighter Greys

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer #AdeptusTitanicus. With the Aberrants out of the way I'm looking at some of my WiPs and thinking what to do. Well that Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer is bottom of the list for sure. The Macragge Tactical Squad and Ravenwing Talonmaster are only just begun so lets ignore them too. So it must be back to the Reaver titan. 

So I tried applying some Stonewall Grey. I thinned it with some Instar Water+, hoping that would prevent the complete break-up of pigment I been experiencing previously. I even used one of my bullet tipped rubber clay moulding tools to try and get the dimpled effect on the armour.

Firstly I tried it mixed with Skavenblight Dinge, you can see the lighter spots on the back [left] leg.

I just wasn't convinced though. The fade between colours wasn't there and it just wasn't feeling right to me.

I even went back to the other side of the carapace and tried to scrub out a lot of what I'd done :(

And then in comparison to my [almost completed] Warhound I discover I went much lighter on my spots/grey. I think at this point I tried to make Lahmian Medium/Stonewall Grey glaze to try and lighten the Reaver's leg. It wasn't quite there.

I'd also attempted a little of the Skavenblight Dinge/Stonewall Grey mix spots on the second Warhound.

But you can see if it's to match the original most of that will be covered up. It felt altogether frustrating.

This was not what I was hoping for. When you take into account these were all pre-shaded and light and I've effectively darkened them all and now need to redo all that light grey that was there after the priming stage!

Very frustrating. So, this did actually kill my momentum. My mojo was in the bin and I could not think of anything to do next.

I'd been so productive I'm left with very early days WiPs or, dun, dun, durrrrr! The Dark Angels Deathwing Land Raider Redeemer... 😨

Imperial Knight - Warglaives to Helverin quick conversion

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I had an idea the other week that individual Questoris Icarus Autocannons could have been alternate Helverin Autocannons all along. I shared the concept on Twitter but had to record it on the blog for posterity too, it's just genius!

On inspection they are much smaller but I did suddenly think as I'd magnetised the carapace weapons would my twin Autocannons match up with the Armiger magnets and lo-and-behold they did! I was so lucky. Although smaller than the Helverins Autocannons, they are doubled-up so I think it'd make a convincing alternative. I've seen quad guns used before but I've never seen Icarus autocannons. 

I then realised my carapace rocket pods were also magnetised the same and would also fit. Slightly oversized, but I definitely think there should be rules, two different missile options would be cool. Help thin out Horde armies perhaps.

Dunno if the actual Ironstorm or Stormspear rules would make the model viable but it's a start...

Also, why no option of replacing the heavy stubber/Melta-gun with a Hunter Killer Missile? Anyway, at some point I'll get onto the actual Helverins. I really do love Armigers, I think moreso than Knights themselves.

40kaddict 40,000

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've said many times that I'm not chasing numbers on the blog. I'm not saying numbers don't matter because they do, in a small way. They at least give a sense of achievement, even if they are not the primary motivation for the blog. I always tried to acknowledge milestones as it's a motivation in itself. It gives me a reminder that people see value in what I post and keep coming back. However, I've always questioned just how accurate those figures are, whether they're real people or not. Certainly my Google analytics produce different results than blogger's own stats. But I can only go with the data I have and for the first time ever I've managed to get more than 40,000 views in a single month!

You can see from the graph it's been a long time coming. Back in 2016 I got very close with a few months breaking the 35,000 barrier, but for the last four years I've been getting less than half that monthly. I know a lot of people might want just those numbers but it was a bit of a shock to see it fall like that. It bothered me insomuch as I was under the impression 'blogging was dead' that YouTube had overtaken it as a medium to share the hobby. But I think there's a resurgence. I'm seeing quite a few new blogs start up and I hope that's a trend. Twitter is also growing the community and I think that then encourages people to carve out their own space in the blogging world.

Some might think this is a humble-brag or [the new phrase] flex, hopefully not though. I just need to recognise that even among the inevitable bots, there are a lot of people coming back to the blog. I know it's not always easy and I am never as brief as I'd like to be, but hopefully it's a rewarding experience and there's something worthy of your attention. Thanks for visiting and we'll no doubt be having another milestone celebration shortly [going by these stats]. For a blog named 40kaddict, about Warhammer 40k, that 40,000 view milestone was always something I hoped for, just for the synchronicity. Thankfully, now I can go back to ignoring the numbers and likes again etc. 😉