Crimson Fists part 2

This is the AOBR dread but I replaced the multi melta with an old lascannon arm I had from a previous Dreadnought kit

Heres a better picture of the Crimson Fist version of Captain Lysander

Librarian in terminator armor. I decided that I wanted him to have a storm shield so instead of placing the large banner on top of his armor I used it as the storm shield which works well because it still has that librarian feel to it.

This is one of my favorite figures I have painted thus far. I painted him the same as I have done with all my Crimson fists I think he just turned out pretty well.

Ultramarines Tactical Squad - WIP

So, as the title says, I've been working on my Tac Squad, and decided to put a couple of pictures up.

I'm also getting the supplies to build a wet pallet. I found a guide to making one in Freeboota Magazine (40k Radio's ezine) using a peanut butter lid and parchment paper. It's pretty cheap and worth a shot; if it works, sweet; if not, no big loss.

So, after finishing this squad, I think I'm going to convert one of the AoBR captains I have into a Librarian.

Also, I found this podcast called "Deep Strike Radio" I've been listening to while I paint. I like it more than 40k radio. Give 'em a shot if you're looking for something new.

For now, here's some of my current work.

Just a table shot of the combat squad I'm painting.

These guys still have Rhulic Gold on them; I'm repainting it with Shining Gold.

I put the test model in here for comparison; the second to the left has hard edging done.

Only have a highlight before I finish the blue.

Left: Hard Edging. Right: Without. It adds a lot for such a little thing.

And it's back to the trenches for me.

-Esh

Random Ramblings

I've been trying to figure out a few things before I move on in my painting. Here they are, in no particular order.

Shoulder Pads: I haven't had issues with transfers (well, not horrible ones), but I'm trying to figure out if it would look better to have a green stuff sculpt for my chapter markings (a la AoBR tac markings). I found a pretty easy tutorial, but I'm not sure it's even worth the work.

Sergeants: I've been thinking about cutting off my sergeants heads and swapping in helmeted ones. who fights without a helmet? I'm not sure I would continue this trend to the commander. Still thinking on this one.

Vehicle markings: Along with the shoulder pads, I've been thinking of how to greenstuff up some vehicle markings. One thing might include putting an Ultramarines symbol on the vindi's shield, around the cannon.

Magnetizing Vehicles: I wanted some transports for my tac squads, so I bought a few razorbacks. I figure they cost $5 more than a rhino, and I can magnetize them and use either configuration. Well,  looking at guides for this, I can magnetize them to be whirlwinds also if I want.

Out of all of them, the sergeant helmets and the shoulder pads are the two I need to figure out to finish my tac squad. Once I figure those out, I'll start painting again!

New Scheme: Finding the Right Blue (Ultramarines)

So this post will bring us to my current status. I had issues getting my gold to come out with consistency so that helped me put off painting for a while  When I started back up, I managed to paint the armor and gold trimming on the entire second squad before deciding that they were coming out too dark. I decided to use a new scheme, with a much lighter blue.

The last thing I need to decide before I move on is whether I prefer Cygnar Blue Highlight, as pictured, or do I want to see what Ultramarines Blue looks like?

Lighting is still being learned. When I get it figured out, I might repost some of this stuff, but I'll still put things up now.

Anyways, here's the current scheme:

Cygnar Base Blue in recesses.
2 thin coats of Cygnar Blue Highlight
Cygnar Blue Highlight : Morrow White 4:1 Highlight
Shining Gold on trim/aquila
Cold Steel for Silver areas (not drybrushed) (and battle damage)
Codex Grey to highlight gun
Blood Red for eyes/wax seal
Bleached Bone for Parchment
Snakebite Leather for Leather
Devlan mud on leather and parchment
Scorched Brown for base

With the finished squad; I think this shows exemplifies why I want the lighter scheme.

I changed up the way I paint the backpack up. I think the extra silver helps break up the sea of blue.

A shot with tabletop play in mind; helps put things in perspective for how much time to invest.

Another tabltetop shot

This was under my other light sources; more light, but it's all colored. If only Seattle got daylight!

Finally, someone else painted these in Ultramarine blue. I haven't seen UM blue up close, but I think it's too slate for me. Any opinions? Is it worth checking out?

And that's where I am currently; painting up my second Tactical squad with a brighter color scheme. Next time I sit down to paint, I'll get pictures of my WIPs, but it's not too exciting.

-Esh

Ultramarines - Tactical Squad

Here's a few pics of my first Tac Squad. I moved to Space Marines around the time of the 5th edition changeover. After playing a horde army without heroes or tanks, the space marines seemed like a good change of pace. I decided on Ultramarines because I still wanted a tyranid connection (and at the time, I planned to use Tyranid Hunters in my army). And despite that people claim "everyone plays Ultrasmurfs", I've only seen one other player with them.  He and his son had just bought AoBR, and were learning the hobby.

So far, I've only finished one squad (and I'm working on the second). I've found more time and started to focus better. I'm going to do this army the "right way", and paint up a squad at a time, before moving on to playing with them. I hope this will help me to finish painting everything.

Most of these pictures were taken before I revamped my light source.

I've also been revamping the paint scheme; in the next update I'll compare models from before and after the paint scheme change. Originally I liked the dark scheme quite a bit, but I just started feeling it was too "grimdark." From far away you couldn't tell they were even blue! Plus, the updated scheme makes them look less like Crimson Fists.

Here's the old scheme:
Armor Base Coat: Regal Blue
Armor Next Coat: Cygnar Base Blue (leave recesses)
Armor Highlight: Cygnar Blue Highlight
Gold Trim: Rhulic Gold mixed with Brown Ink
2nd Layer: Rhulic Gold
Silver: Cold Steel
Eyes/Purity Seals: Scab Red, with a tad of Blood Red to highlight
Base: Scorched Brown

First marine I've ever painted.

I planned on replacing this smaller transfer with a larger symbol.

One of the purity seals.

I painted the tips of the missiles; not sure if I will keep them or make them silver in the future.

I'm trying to find how I did the flamer. I believe it was Chaos Black, then Scorched Brown, then a Regal Blue watered down to a wash.

Group shot; My first painted Ultramarine squad. Well, until the revamp is done.

Yea, so I noticed I painted the frag grenade like a pouch instead of silver. Oops!

I chose to paint all of the skulls/decoration on the squad members silver, and all the matching iconography on the Squad Leader gold. I'm not sure if I will keep this decision, but I like it. I also like the gold pommel instead of the bleached bone skull.

I think I used Elf Flesh followed by a wash and highlighted with bleached bone for the skin.

Ready to rock and roll!

Ready to take the fight to the enemy...

with a little bit of covering fire.

And lastly, under more lighting.

In the next update (probably tomorrow) I'll post the old scheme by my new scheme. Until then!

-Esh

Photo Update - Cygnar Charger

So, I found a new camera, adjusted lighting, and built a mini light box.

I'm not sure if any will improve my pictures, but here are a few of the Cygnar Charger taken with the new set up.

As a side note, I had to reduce picture size to 25% to make it more manageable.

These first ones are under direct light.

Just noticed those blue marks. Guess I gotta fix them now.

These next two in the light box.

I don't think the box is helping yet, so I'll work on it a little more. But I think the extra light is a big improvement.

-Esh

Cygnar Charger

Still after a better lighting system/camera. Once I get one I might repost some old stuff, but here's the next update:

After staring at the awesome warjack models for a while, we got into a little bit of Warmachine. There are a lot of things I like, but it just didn't stick as well as 40k for us. Here's the one model I've painted up so far, a Cygnar Charger. Still developing my painting, but you can see a bit of improvement over the Tyranids. I think the main thing I forgot here was thinning my paints enough.

I used P3 paints for the most part. I'm no expert on the different paint brands, but P3 ones seem easy to thin down, pretty vibrant in color, and make sense from an "I have basic color theory knowledge" standpoint.

I primed black, and followed with a Cygnar Base Blue layer. Then I mixed Cygnar Blue Highlight and added another layer. I pretty much continued this for a couple of layers, until I began mixing Cygnar Blue Highlight with Morrow White. For the gold, I used Rhulic Gold (which I have had a lot of bad issues with sense; this might be the only model I ever keep it on) and a second layer of it with some brown ink added. The hammer and metal areas were done with Pig Iron and a Cold Steel highlight.

The base has a tan ballast that I added some muddy brown paint. I think it was scorched brown, but I can't be sure. I also used static grass for the first time. Actually, I think this was my first time basing a model!

At this point, I sprayed him with a glass cote. I thought that as a metal warjack, he might as well be shiny. After I did this, I realized I wanted more of a blend in the color changes on the blue armor, so I added some paint layers over it. It didn't seem to make a difference, and I'm happy I retouched it.

He came out lighter than the pictures show, which is a good thing! Well, that's it for this update. I'll post my old marines alongside my new one and then I'll be caught up to works in progress. Looking forward to it.

-Esh