Dark Angels - Ravenwing Talonmaster - TO DONE!

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer my Ravenwing Talonmaster. This feels like ages ago. I think it's about 2 weeks since I finished the Talonmaster. I've since picked up the eldest from uni, so my hobby time has been reduced and it feels odd to be writing this post [I;ve a Blood Bowl tournament to report on too and that was like 3 weeks ago!]

Anyway, with my epiphany regarding the simplicity of my black highlights I cracked on no bother. All the red's got highlighted, parchments and purity seals and any additional glow or lense effects.

It was only two or three sessions after the last update to get it finished and I was really chuffed as it's a big deal. Unfortunately I hadn't got any of my attack bikes or other Ravenwing up to speed so it's a retrograde step to be starting them from the beginning of the metallic stage.

But back to the Talonmaster and you can see I opted for the currently en vogue molten lava/red hot power sword. I watched a number of tutorials from the likes of Artis Opus, the one and only Duncan Rhodes, Vince Neturella and 2brushes1cup.

Given the wealth of research one might expect better results but I'm really pleased with it. It totally does not stand up to close scrutiny and there are so many subtleties from those tutorials that I just didn't do. BUT, from a tabletop perspective I thinks it's perfect.

I really can't see what difference hours of additional blending and glazing would have added to the sword. Even the quick and dirty additional glow FX feel bob on. It's amazing how some rough stippling hast achieved this. That's nto say I might not try to be more careful next time, that is practice afterall, but I'm over the moon with the end result.

I also got the Typhoon Launchers finished, I'd forgotten to do all the orange missiles for so long, so that was a last minute thing.

I do like a Squadron of these.

I don't think these can be armed with Power Swords, but I wasn't going to magnetise his weapon, not everything has to be 100% W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.

I do like how the blade echoes the missiles though.

That trophy banner will inevitably get snapped off.

This will at least be something new for my #ArmiesOnParade2022 Ravenwing Vs Death Guard, so that's another bonus.

But I also envisage if I ever play with my Dark Angels the Talonmaster will be an essential choice to support the rest of the Ravenwing. So it's a major achievement [even though I don't always differentiate that in my stamps of approval...).

So, here's my Great Big BLESSED VERDIGRIS Stamps of Approval! White pics to follow.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing Talonmaster - Highlights

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer my Ravenwing Talonmaster. And so it comes to edge highlighting black, a task I have been avoiding like the plague and I can't seem to figure why. Having committed to finally finishing this Talonmaster I learned something:

Black highlights are nothing to be afraid of!

The recipe is quite simple really:

• Incubi Darkness
• Dark Reaper
• Fenrisian Grey•

I do have an Anita's Baby Blue craft acrylic that is an alternative to the Fenrisian Grey, it's paler and naturally more blue, but it's thinner so I stuck with the Citadel paint.

Eventually when I'd done all the highlights I like to go back in with some more AP Matt Black, to try and tidy up the highlights, particularly the chunky Incubi Darkness ones. Whether it adds the occasional 'tide mar' that you see in matt black on flat surfaces is somewhat of a gamble.

But really, there's mothing to be afraid of. Is it the greatest black highlight ever painted? No. Will it do? Absolutely, and far from something I should fear it's relatively simple and easy to do.

Fingers crossed I can hold onto this knowledge and power through the 3 Attack Bikes and 3 Ravenwing Black Knights too. They're a bit behind, I haven't even done their metallics, but it'd be nice to ride this crest. With them done it'll be a nice set of nids and Dark Angels that will have been done on the bounce. Then it's new challenges?

The highlights on the front of their helmets need a bit of tidying up, red areas need highlighted and I've still to decide on what colour to do the power sword.

But I am back in the saddle and I am going to get this done, mark my words!

Dark Angels - Ravenwing Talonmaster - Blessed verdigris and glow FX

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer my Ravenwing Talonmaster. I have, but technically these are not what I painted. These parts were painted of July last year and for reasons I can't recall I didn't share the progress. 

Having completed the fussy bits of blessed verdigris and orange glow FX I was left with highlighting the black which killed my progress stone dead.

In fairness I was building a lot of stuff and finished off my Macragge Tactical Squad, which was a challenge in itself. But something about the prospect of the black highlights did nothing for my mojo. Luckily I did have plenty of projects to keep me busy, it's just a shock when you realise this has been on hold for 9 months!

Now, I went a bit overboard on the blessed verdigris, far more than I previously added to my Land Speeders, but this is a special one, so deserves more blessing.

It looks worse than it does in reality actually, but even so I was shocked how generous I'd been with the AP Hydra Turquoise.

But it works on angel 'hood ornament'. I was dubious about using it but I think it works, so I'm happy now.

I know I'm a little inconsistent with my plasma, jet and maglev glows. Actually I'm consistent as I use orange for all of them when they're different tech, but it looks cool and I'd rather not have loads of blues, purples, reds and green glows [he says with red light glows].

Whatever, the palette didn't need a load more colours and I surprise myself sometimes with how this orange comes out.

Of course, it's underneath so you're not really going to see it, which is a shame as I think it's pretty good.

Anyway, I have started the black highlights so we'll be more up-to-date with our pics next time

'nids part 335 - Tyranid Primes [and Spore Mine] - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on these #Oldhammer Tyranid Warriors, now Tyranid Primes. Definitely worth updating them and upscaling the base from 40mm to 50mm for yet more height.

I did get lazy and not add any yellow highlights to the Adrenal Glands on the join between abdomen and thorax. All the Termagants are highlighted this way and it looks cool, but I thought it would create an unnecessary focal point.

Really the gland is only there to bulk out that area, as it looks a bit weedy otherwise. I'm honest, as much as I like the design there are some parts that don't quite work and I'm sure there are much better ways to bring them in line with the new design but my efforts are easy and still effective.

For instance I added Tyrant Guard crest piece on it's back. This wasn't on my original kitbash, but I had the piece and fit really well on this one. I did leave the boneswords untouched from the original paintjob. 

I mean it wouldn't have taken much to highlight it improve it a little but I wanted to hold onto some of what I had done so long ago. It's not perfect, but it's a true reflection of what I did then.

The second Prime I kitbashed and there wasn't room for the crest on the back. I did swap out original bonesword kitbashed lash whip. The weapons themselves I am happy with.

But the arms are a bit too chunky, which is odd as they don't appear so obvious on the smaller Warriors. I guess it comes down to build - these Primes are taller and more slender, whereas the Warriors are shorter and stockier. But it was the right decision, for consistency across the models.

Here's my progress diary, a month for 11 medium sized models is OK for me I think. I mean it felt neverending and that's despite my being 'at peace' with my scheme and the process. The diary helped and hindered. It let me understand how long things would take, but it also estimated how much I still had to do and when I would finish. When you're in the middle and know there's still 2 weeks worth of work left that can be daunting.

But, it wasn't just Warriors and Primes, I did this Spore Mine too.

I played a bit with the pink, alongside the lashwhips. It's nothing special but I no longer have to look at it's stupid unfinished 'face'.

Upon completion of all these I took some time off. All Marvel shows on Netflix were being removed so I thought I'd try and catch some of them and binge watched The Punisher. I was actually angsty to get onto my Talonmaster - a motivation I was surprised by and worried it would dissipate while I was taking a break. Luckily that would not be the case... 

'nids part 334 - Tyranid Warriors - White pics

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Tyranid Warriors for what seems like forever now but they're finally done.

 

These are the five 'new' ones I got 2nd hand off a variety of ebay auctions quite a few years ago now.

They were a mixed bag of condition that I've really pleased show almost no sign of their previous incarnation, paintjob or build quality.

That's the added bonus of nids, any stray glue globules or mould lines can easily be adapted to fit the paint scheme.

The 4 from the right are all 'glow-ups' - 12 year old models that have had their paint scheme refreshed with my awesome current painting skills.

The one on the left is the Warrior I painted alongside two Hive Guard conversions in December 2020.

That was the benchmark for these, which I could see the improvement since they were first painted over a dozen years back.

The fact they're all now consistent and almost identical to the lone Warrior is such a relief and feels like an amazing achievement.

Here we go with front, back and side view of each model. There's 36 pics so strap in. First up one of the repaints.

Another repaint, I didn't really touch the bases, so they are subtly different with colours, which feels slightly annoying, but it shouldn't because the ground doesn't always perfectly match.

The Barbed Strangler.

The last of the 'old ones' although I think this was the newest of the bunch, painted a couple of years after the previous three, but still outdated in the scheme.

I may regret some of the basing of the newer ones, as I didn't pin all of them to the slate. I'm sure if I drop them I'll soon find out which ones I was lazy with and only relied on superglue...

Rending Claw Warrior. I do wonder what one would have looked like with the Deathspitter in the upper arm section. I was really surprised to realise I hadn't made that option. Certainly on this model it would make more sense as trying to get those claws down to human [prey] height and not interfere with the gun is a challenge.

Every nid player ends up with a load of infestation nodes [as well as Carnifex head halves and gaunt Spinefists]. Having used them for objectives I now need to start using up the rest on bases.

Still a little annoyed about the green glow on the barrels not being quite in the right place, but I'll live with it.

First of the Lash Whip and Bonesword Warriors. A reminder that these are the Tyrant Guard arms, which I got a sprue of in another ebay auction. 

They're chunkier than the standard Warrior ones and thankfully I don't think that detracts from them or makes them look out of place. The two poses are a bit like they're about to over balance, but I was kind of stuck with their second hand poses.

And there we go, hope you enjoyed the closer look at them, the pics needed to be done for my showcase anyway. Prime white pics next and then we can move onto something new, what could it possibly be?