From the Warp

Stepping away from blogging for a while

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:10:00 +0000

I know, this isn't exactly 40k related, but I wanted to break from the normal stuff and talk about something that has been following me in the shadows for some time now. It's the idea that your blog gets a hold of you and you feel as though you have to do certain things at certain times (posting, updates, pictures. etc) or you'll suddenly crash and burn and drop out of the 40k universe.

I don't know where the feeling comes from since we don't enter the blogging world knowing or feeling like that. I know I didn't... but somewhere along the line I read something or saw something that told me that how it was. Don't keep up and you'll be lost in the void.

The more that I blog, the more I don't think that's the case. Miss a day of posting and the world does not come to an end. I think it's nice to have a schedule for posting and it helps if you have tons of stuff you want to post about, but it's not the only thing in the blogging world. There are tons of blogs I follow that don't post on a schedule or anything that could be considered consistent, but I keep track of them.

How does this apply to me?
This year has been a tough one for me. Enough that I've decided that I need to step away from blogging for a little while at the start of the new year and focus on my family and real job. Having been recently promoted at work, I find myself looking at a bigger change than I anticipated and lots more work.

The time I normally carve out of my day for blogging has always come out of my family time. Don't get me wrong, I love to blog, but I love to do stuff with my family more and I'm not doing that as much as I would like to these days.

So what does it all mean?
I putting this site on hold for a while to spend my free time doing family stuff. I do have a few projects for folks that I've taken on that I'll be finishing and some others who are waiting. I'll be working on those as time permits after the new year.

I know or I'm pretty sure that lots of other folks struggle with this kind of thing as well. Where to spend your time and how much time at one thing is enough. I think the break will do me good. I don't have a return date in mind. I think I am going to see what the new year brings.

I struggled with turning the comments off on this post, but I have decided to leave them on as I think it might help folks talk about this kind of thing and their thoughts about blogging. I appreciate the huge amount of support I get from the online community through blogging and I only hope that folks understand.

I've always said family should come first.
Now it's time to live what I preach.

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Tyranid Parasite of Mortrex conversion WIP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:46:00 +0000

It's not often that I get a chance to tackle a Tyranid model, but this project was done for a friend of mine in our local gaming group who plays Tyranids. He runs a Parasite of Mortrex and I offered to see what I could do with converting one up for him.

This is only my second "bug," my first one being the Spore Mine thingy I built from scratch. I had hoped I would have some leeway here like I did with the previous model and the organic nature of the figure, but this one proved to be a little more challenging.

I tried to keep this one like the artwork in the book or at least as close as I could get to it. Some smaller elements were left off and certain things were added because I thought they helped convey the overall feeling of the image.

Here's the completed model (still needs to be painted)

Let's see if I can explain some of my thinking behind the construction of this guy.

I kept him about the size of a Warrior based on what the info in the codex said. I didn't want him to be super big, just big enough to be a credible threat. I bought a Warrior body thinking it would make the perfect starting point for scale. For the wings, I opted to use a set of Chaos Possessed wings.

The wings were a bit of gamble since I was afraid they were going to be too small in the end. Turns out, they are the perfect size for this model. Much bigger and the wings start to become the focus since they'd be the dominant feature.

My initial plan was to mount a wing and then three arms in each of the three sockets on each side of the torso. Then I got to looking at the artwork and it looks more like he only has two arms on each side. This allowed me to use the top socket as the attachment point for the wings. A little bit of greentuff around the joints and I was set there.

The only other conversion I did to the arms was to modify the upper set by bending them back more as though he was flying and then moving the thumb claw over to the side of the wrist instead of on top. It's a small thing, but I think it helps with the overall look of the model as most folks recognize the thumb claw as being on top with most Tyranid models.

I opted to do some things to the head of the model as well to try and set him apart from the other Warriors in the army with similar heads. I added the fangs to the sides of his jaw and then sculpted a huge ridge of greenstuff along the top. I let that cure and then cut out a series of spikes from it. I figured that would mimic the artwork and really help set him aside as different.

I also added a few spikes down his back for good measure. It sort of helps tie the body in with the head once I added the spikes on there.

The tail was a huge challenge for me. It can be very difficult to sculpt a tail on a creature without it looking like a poorly shaped greenstuff log. I tried to blend it into the spike at the end and the torso at the other end. I was very careful to watch the thickness of the tail overall and then add some texture to is so that it blended in with the musculature of the creature.

The key is making it blend in overall. I think I came close enough here that with a little bit of paint, it will appear as though it's not a conversion and part of the model as it should be.

And here's one last look at him compared to a Space Marine for comparison. Not too bad... looks like a flying Warrior I guess. He's going to be mounted on a killer base to help the illusion. I'm using one of the Urban Invasion bases from Secret Weapon minis. I used one on my Spore Mine model and the combination of the urban rubble base with the Tyranid like tendrils creeping over it is perfect for this guy.

Once I get the paint scheme from my friend, I'll get him painted up and post pics of the completed model.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Scratchbuilt Tyranid Spore Mine
Conversions live and die by the details

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to protect yourself when selling online

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:57:00 +0000

I'd like to talk about a few of the things you can do to protect yourself when selling things online. I posted an article the other week about what steps you could take to protect yourself when buying online and there were some questions about the other side of the deal: selling.

Most of us at some point or another have sold something to another hobbyist in order to make room for more stuff. It's a vicious cycle. There are some things you can do to protect yourself if you decide to sell things online.

I must confess that my experience selling online is somewhat limited as I don't sell much overall preferring to keep things. I have sold on eBay (which I'll never do again) and through my blog here. That's pretty much it, but I have learned a few things along the way.

So what do I do when I sell something online?
There are a couple things I make sure I do when I sell something online. I've found them to be helpful in minimizing the potential for problems later on in the process.

1. Represent the item accurately.
Make sure you describe the item or items correctly and don't sugar coat it. A buyer will appreciate knowing exactly what they are getting and will be much happier. Believe me. If it's damaged or missing parts or whatever, let the buyer know. Don't leave something out because you fear a buyer will pass on the item. Better for them to pass now than to buy it and want their money back later after they discover the little bit of info you left out. They may not even care in the first place since they may be buying your item for another reason all together.

2. Pictures and make them good ones.
This can be huge pain in the backside, but it's worth every minute you spend. Take good pictures showing the items. Think about what you'd want to see if you were buying it online. This goes with the first one and not hiding anything. You may not be able to show all the pics depending on what service you use to sell the item, but keep the extras pics handy and let buyers know you have more to show them if they want to see it.

A few extra pictures emailed on request might be all it takes to seal the deal for a buyer who is sitting on the fence and just wants to get a better idea of what the item looks like.

Remember, they need to be in focus, no camera flash that erases all of the detail on the item and no crazy busy backgrounds to distract from the item either. The idea is to show exactly what it is that you're selling.

3. Set your price and make it reasonable
Decide what you'd like for your item and then what you're willing to take for it. They may not be the same amount. You might have someone offer slightly less and you should know what your bottom line is without having to haggle for 3 weeks by email.

Along the same line, make your asking price reasonable. Can someone get the same thing for cheaper elsewhere? The whole concept of pro-painting comes into mind here. Just because you invest six thousand hours into the HQ model for the army you're selling does not mean the HQ alone is worth $800 now. Someone may be buying the army and they don't care about the HQ model at all.

4. Look at the service you are using
It worth a few minutes to see what the guidelines are if you are using someone to sell something for you online (eBay for example). Look over what their costs are and the guidelines they expect you to follow as well.

Inform yourself before you use the service so that you can get the most from it. They are making money off you using them, so make sure you get the most from them.

5. Figure out Shipping and handling ahead of time
In this day and age, things go around the world. Buyers can be anywhere on the planet and you need to know what it's going to cost to ship something. You can pass the cost along to the buyer as long as you are up front with the cost ahead of time.

You can take your item to the post office and ask them to give you some prices for areas around the world. At least you'll have an idea of the cost and you can tell a buyer ahead of time. And don't go looking to make any money off this part of the deal by "up charging" for S&H. It's a cheap stunt and will certainly turn buyers off.

6. Get confirmation when possible
When you ship an item to someone, get confirmation that it has arrived. Most of the time, you can do this at the post office for a small fee. They will have the item signed for and you will have proof that the item was indeed received and signed for.

While this may not be practical if you are shipping out tons of small things, it's certainly worth doing for any high value items that would be difficult to replace.

Selling online doesn't need to be scary
The best thing to do is take a few minutes to inform yourself and be prepared. Whether it be with extra photos or good email communication, taking a few minutes to help your buyer make an informed decision will help you out in the long run.

You need to protect yourself as best you can from problems, but it shouldn't be anything that prevents you from making a few dollars unloading you extra stuff so that you can buy more. Selling stuff online is more than just throwing a quick pic of your item up on eBay with a title and price. Do your homework and you'll come out better in the end. Remember, a little time invested in the beginning should yield a little more money in the end.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
4 ways to protect yourself when buying online

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

I may be losing crisp details when I paint

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:12:00 +0000

I think my method of painting may be obscuring more detail than it's bringing out on some models. I'm not sure, but I feel like I'm losing the crisp edges I sometimes see on other models. It's not a big thing, but it's enough to catch my eye and make me look at what I'm doing.

I think I need to adjust the way I prime. I may be applying too much primer over the model and killing some of the sharper edges. I use a spray paint when I prime and I usually end up with a good, solid coat of paint to work from.

I fear that may be too much though. That layer combined with a few more as I add the base colors looks like it's killing some of the crispness to my models.

I think I am going to cut back ever so slightly as to the amount I use when priming my models and focus a bit more on thinning my paints as well. The model above is a good example. He's been primed white, but not as heavy as I would have normally done before.

I like my priming technique... I just think I may be a little heavy handed overall.

I already thin most of my paints as I apply them in order to minimize surface texture, but I think I'm going to push that a touch further as well to keep the layers from building up as quick.

Hopefully this small change will help me recapture some of the crispness to my models I feel like I have been covering up as of late.

Since my next project is the Dark Vengeance Librarian I just converted, I thought this would be the perfect model to test my new theory on. I gave him the lightest of priming and I like to think it made a difference.

I've since started adding the base colors to the model while trying to thin my paints a little more and I honestly think it's working. The end result will tell me how well I did and it will be interesting to see if it takes any longer going this route.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
The actual process I use to prime my models

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Using Necrons to put basing theory to the test

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:00:00 +0000

As all of you know, I'm a big fan of basing and really looking at what it can do for your models. I want to take a minute to share some Necron Deathmasks that were shown to me by a reader who was looking to go that extra step with his Necron force.

Looking back at the previous post I did on basing color concepts, we can see that he's gone with the dark model on the dark base. A perfectly suitable look for Necrons if there ever was one. But now that the two elements blend together since both are dark, the question becomes how to differentiate between them so the model and base don't appear as one undefined blob.

Drybrush to emphasize texture
Texture is the way to go here. Color could be introduced, but just bringing out the difference in texture between the smooth surfaces of the Necron model and the rough surfaces of the base will add that extra dimension and help finish off the model.

Here's what the model looked like before and after changes were made. I went in and did some photo editing to simulate the effect of simply drybrushing the textured base with a lighter grey color to bring out the rough texture on it.

Doing this brings a little bit of contrast to the base, emphasizes the texture so we can quickly identify the "world" or environment he is in, and helps us see the model separately from the base. Sure, they both are dark and blend together, but we are moving away from them looking like the blob shape we don't want.

Introducing a bit of color
Nothing says you have to stick to light grey for drybrushing the base texture. You could introduce some light blue or tans to your drybrushing to create a cooler or warmer feeling to the environment as well.

If drybrushing doesn't introduce the amount of color you want, you could try a wash over the base to add some color to it as well. We aren't looking to color the whole base, just add a hint of it to bring it to life.

You could add some warmth (using warmer colors when drybrushing) to a base with a cool colored model to increase the contrast and make the model pop even though both are dark overall. And the same goes for using a cool color which would unify the model and base.

The edge of the base matters too
Lots of folks switch over to autopilot with this important part of basing. Whether you have a preferred choice or a default color you use all the time, it can be worth the effort to try a different color or two when you're all done to see what the effect is.

In this case, painting the rim of the base a medium grey color instead of black lightens the whole model overall. While you may end up going with black, it can't hurt to see what some others colors do for the overall feel of the model and army.

In the end
It comes down to taking a minute when you're doing your basing and looking at what one or two things you can do to really push your model that last step. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, complex or time consuming since all we did here was simulate a quick drybrush and painting the rim of the base.

Adding that last touch might take your army from looking good to great and it shouldn't require a huge investment on your part.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
A look at some basing color concepts

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

A look at painting Chaos Word Bearers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:03:00 +0000

I got a great email the other day from Henchman Miniatures where he showed me how he put the Word Bearer tutorial I posted the other week to use. Since I thought he did a great job with it, I figured I'd share what he was able to do here.

The picture above is his finished model and I think he was able to capture the perfect shade of red on his Word Bearer. There are tons of ways you can paint red and it almost always comes down to one thing in particular... what shade of red do you prefer.

Then it's just a matter of finding or developing the technique to get that certain shade without driving yourself crazy in the process. I've got my fair share of red techniques as well. Looking back now, I might have done better to mimic my Flesh Tearer technique to get a closer red, but I would not have been able to use the quick spray paint method that I ended up going with (and that was a specific request I got from a reader).

I posted the step by step I used to break the symbol down into manageable parts. Not anything earth shattering, but a different way of seeing things and using an overlapping style to create a complex design instead of trying to paint it in one pass with all its complexities.

Here's the chapter symbol he freehanded onto the shoulderpad of his model. I like that he made some changes and turned the horns down in addition to giving the flames a little more life. He even went as far as to shade the bottom of the flames with orange leaving the tops yellow. It's a subtle change, but a nice one for something like this.

Freehand work like this is not without it's dangers. When you do freehand work over a base color that has already been shaded and highlighted (giving you an uneven surface in terms of color consistency to work on) you need to be confident and very careful.

I mentioned this once before a while ago in this post and it's worth repeating here. There are certain things you'll be able to do and certain things you'll have to work around all depending on when you apply your freehand to your model. And sometimes, that decision (when you will do it) will be based on how you're painting your model or the particular process you're using.

All that being said, don't let freehand scare you. Once you can break down your image into manageable shapes and you know what kind of surface you'll be working over, you shouldn't have any trouble at. A perfect example is that Word Bearer marine that Henchman Miniatures painted up.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to paint Word Bearers quick and easy
Some of the ways I paint red
How to paint Flesh Tearers

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to model your Company Champion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:52:00 +0000

I like this guy from Forge World, but there are certainly ways to make your own Space Marine Company Champion without going out and buying this model. The pose is pretty cool and I love the stylized armour, but I look at this and start thinking about what I can do with the stuff I have to make my own Champion model.

There aren't many things on this guy we couldn't reproduce without too much trouble. The simple eagle backpack is a nice touch. The helmet crest is another popular item these days to set character models apart. You can make your own (I have), but I'd suggest buying them third party as it's not worth the pain to try and make them from scratch.

I know Secret Weapon minis has them in different shapes and sizes. I mentioned it the other week when I posted about some of the things you can do to make your own Command squad upgrades.

Adding smaller elements like Terminator honors and skulls is always a winner. You can never go wrong with the occasional skull thrown in there. Nothing says you're dangerous more than a skull hanging from your belt. As you can tell from the guy above, he means all business having two of them hanging from his.

It doesn't have to be much
You don't have to make huge changes to a model to make him stand out from the rest of the army. It might be as simple as different painted shoulderpads or a slightly converted helmet that no other model is sporting.

Another easy option is a weapon swap. I recently did it with the Dark Vengeance Librarian I'm currently working on. Nothing else was done to him other than to swap out his weapon for a different one. Completely new feel to the model now.

One of the lesser seen changes you can do to a model is to add a tabard of some sort. You can create a simple armour one with some spare plasticard like I did with my World Eater model above or you can take it as far as making a studded leather strap tabard which is not that hard to do either. I used that on my Alpha Legion model the other week.

Don't forget the base
Maybe one of the easiest ways to make a model stand out is to look at what you mount him on. Changing his base and elevating him on a small rock outcropping or toppled wall can change the look of a model in an instant.

The FW guys did it with their model. He's not standing on the basic flat base there, he's on top of some debris he no doubtedly caused with his coolness.

Did I do it wrong?
A while ago, I set out to write a article on HQ models (Champions would fit in here too) and it turned into a three part series talking about modeling and painting your HQ model and what you can accomplish by adding or leaving out certain aspects.

For those looking for a little more on the whole idea behind the "why" we should or shouldn't model certain things, it might be worth the read. You can find the series here. Each one links to the next article and it's a quick read. There's even some tactical advice in there as well and I don't write anything on tactics.

Setting your Champion apart from the rest of your force doesn't have to be hard or expensive to do. Sure you can buy the model, but it's just as easy to look at what you have, think about how you want him to stand out and be creative. You'll probably save yourself some money in the long run too.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to make your own Command squad upgrades
Did I build and paint my HQ wrong?

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Imperial Armour Vol. 1 Second Edition for Guard

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Looks like the fellas over at Forge World have decided to update the old Imperial Armour books. We all just got notice that Volume One is being released in a Second Edition format that is supposedly "rewritten and expanded to be fully compatible with the 6th Edition of Warhammer 40,000."

Sounds good to me.

I haven't thumbed through my what is now "old" IA1 in a long time. Mainly because I don't do too much with Guard or the Imperial Navy aside from drool over their cool tank options.

I do think it's kinda nice to have all the new stuff collected into one book. If nothing else, it will clean up everything and you no longer need to keep up with errata sheets and updates and such. At least for the time being.

I saw the list of contents as well in the FW email, but I didn't compare it to the previous book. I think they mentioned including a couple new things, but most of it looks like it's going to be old stuff just "updated" and brought in line with 6th edition.

Maybe they'll squeeze in some new artwork too.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
The Forge World Imperial Avenger Strike fighter ideas
Do you even need to buy Imperial Aeronautica?

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Thoughts on painting Marine helmet lenses

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:45:00 +0000

I know, this is one of those Forge World heresy heavy weapon guys and this is a post about helmet lenses. But to be honest, that was the first thing I saw on this guy. I'm not a big fan of the weapon conversion (in fact I think it's horrible), but I love the subtle look to the helmet lenses done here.

When I paint my helmet lenses, I normally go much brighter overall. Here's the process I use (and even more important is when you paint them), but after seeing how the Forge World guys went with the much more muted look, I'm considering changing how I paint mine.

Now I do have a method I use when I want them to appear as though they are glowing and that is done by painting the whole lens a bright color and then washing it with a similar shade followed by a bright highlight in the very center of the eye to simulate the glow.

The Grey Knight troop above shows the effect. I used a bright blue-green color for the base color, wash it with GW Drakenhof Nightshade and then add a tiny bit of the original base color back into the center of the lens as the highlight.

I do like this look, but I don't like to use it all the time.

I already try to push the contrast when I paint my gems. I try to work from black all the way up to the bright reflected light on the bottom inside surface of the gem. if you look at the gem on the chest armour of the Eldar Guardian there, you can see what I mean.

I think I'm going to try and apply this higher contrast look to my helmet lenses from here on out. Instead of painting the lens a solid base color like I've done so far, I'm going to treat them like gems and work on adding that subtle reflected light along the bottom edge.

I don't see it saving me a ton of time, but I do see it giving me a better look overall and making the lenses appear more like glass instead of some non-descript material.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to paint Space Marine helmet lenses

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to convert a Space Marine MK4 helmet

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:16:00 +0000

Now that I've built one, there are certainly some changes I would make, but I don't think I'll need to buy any more MK4 helmets now that I know I can make my own using a normal Space Marine helmet and some greenstuff.

The conversion is quite simple really and I'm certain I'm not the first one to share the idea. Hopefully my experiment and explanation will help some of you all overcome the hurdle of finding enough of this particular style helmet to outfit a Space Marine squad without going broke in the process.

As far as converting goes, it's a fairly simple and straightforward process. The only thing is making sure you do things in a certain order to make it as easy as possible.

We start with a regular helmet as our base. You can see what the MK4 style looks like next to it. We're going to add that stylized, sloped nose to the front of our regular helmet.

We start by adding a small blob of greenstuff to the front of our helmet. It doesn't take much. Don't worry if you added too much, we can (and will) cut off the excess at a later step.

The order is important
What portion you focus on first is important. Once you have your greenstuff in place, focus on the cheeks first. Make sure your greenstuff blends into the sides of the facepiece first before worrying about the shape of anything else. Get those sorted out now so you're not trying to "fix" them later on and run the risk of messing up your work.

Once you have the sides blended, focus on the ridge of the nose. Get that straight and crisp down the center. Don't worry about any excess greenstuff as you work, just push it downward... we're going to remove it shortly.

The nose ridge is created by pressing in on either side at an angle and going back and forth between the two until you can shape the ridge and get it situated correctly.

Once you have the sides blended and the nose ridge sculpted in place, you can add the vents. I used the pointy end of the standard GW sculpting tool to press mine in place. In hindsight, I should have made them a bit more pronounced and maybe thought about adding three instead of two, but this will work just as well.

Now for the tricky part
I know this part may give some folks some trouble, but it's the key to getting this done in one pass. If you don't want to try this, skip it, wait for the greenstuff to cure and then cut away the excess. It just means the hlemt will take slightly longer to sculpt. Not a big deal at all.

Taking a brand new X-Acto blade that is very wet, carefully cut (using a sawing motion) away the excess greenstuff from the bottom of the facepiece. Taking your time, you should be able to do it without disturbing your sculpting work above.

Once you have the bottom cut off flush with the bottom of the regular helmet, you can use your sculpting tool and make a small indentation for the mouth vent if you want.

Here's the completed helmet compared to a real one. Not too bad and it should certainly pass normal inspection. If it were 10 of these on a squad or spend a ton of cash for real ones, I'm going this route every time.

And just for good measure, here's the helmet painted up. You can't really tell it's conversion and that's perfect for me.

I think I may try the process again and let the greenstuff cure before cutting away the bottom excess material. I want to see if I can get a nice, crisp edge along the bottom there. That and I want to see if I can squeeze three vents in along the nose ridge instead of just two.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Power armour Chaplain helmet conversion
Grey Knight Terminator half-helmet conversion

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to make your own Pre-Heresy jump packs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:35:00 +0000

A while ago I posted this Pre-Heresy World Eater Space Marine with a normal jump pack. After seeing Forge World release their Legion MKII Assault squad to go with their ever expanding Heresy era bits, I figured it was time to see if I could make my own jump pack on the cheap.

This project is more about seeing if it could be done quickly and cheaply more than anything else. You could expand on this quite easily and probably come up with something pretty convincing. A little more detail and these would most certainly pass first inspection and tabletop use. Maybe not the exact detail the Forge World ones have above, but close enough for me.

The only bit that I used that might be hard to get a hold of would be the two drop pod exhaust vents. That's right, drop pod bits. You really only need one if you are the casting type and then you could make a simple press mold and come up with enough for a whole assault squad army.

What you're going to need to do this conversion
You're not going to need much. Aside from the drop pod vents, it's a single plastic pen tube, a Chaos Marine backpack and some cardstock. The pen tube is from the cheapest pens I could find that had no printing on the sides of them. I bought a pack of them a while ago for the tubing for various projects.

The pen tube is 8mm wide from outside edge to outside edge in case you're wondering... pens come in lots of different sizes and such.

The pen tube is cut to 3/8 inch or 10mm long depending on what side of the pond you're on. The length could be anything really, it comes down to looks. The cardstock is cut to a suitable width as well as its only purpose is to bulk up the top of the tube so the vent does not look out of place glued on top.

Once I had my two engines built, I cut the vents off my Chaos backpack. I cut off the vents and made sure my cuts were straight up and down so I could mount my engines and they didn't look odd or at a weird angle. I also pinned my two engines in place for stability. I drilled through the seam of the cardstock in order to hide it under the connection point with the backpack.

I chose the Chaos backpack for the way the vents were attached. They are set out from the body of the backpack where Loyalist ones are kept in close. This made it much easier to mount my new engines. That and the pair of cables over the top helps bulk it out as well and lend a little bit of credibility to the conversion.

And what it looks like attached to the model. I think the scale is spot on myself. Like I said, it could use some more detailing on the engine housings, but other than that, this thing is a perfect fit for my purposes.

Since I had the spare drop pod engines and needed bits lying around, the cost for me was absolutely nothing to build this. If you had to buy it, you'd have to consider what it would cost to buy enough Chaos backpacks and then at least one drop pod exhaust vent (if you were willing to cast enough). The casting wouldn't be hard at all since it's a simple press mold at that.

Add detail for effect and if you're feeling crazy, you could even magnetize them for some truly functional jump packs. I think the magnets might cost more than the rest of the bits combined though.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Magnetized Flesh Tearer jump packs
Pre-Heresy World Eater Space Marine

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Which is better, Legion or Chapter?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 17:30:00 +0000

With Forge World releasing the start of the Horus Heresy books providing us gamers with a whole new world, I started thinking about the time period that I enjoy the most as it relates to the background or more simply, what's more cool... a space Marine Chapter or Legion?

For me, I have to say it's a Legion.

As luck would have it, my friend let me borrow his copy of Book One: Betrayal to look through. He told me his initial impression was that it was "alright," which is not what I expected him to say about the book. Turns out, my copy arrived the very next day.

I've spent the last few days going through the book from a background and "look at the pretty pictures" perspective and I have to say that I am not disappointed. It only covers four Legions, Sons of Horus, Death Guard, World Eaters and Emperor's Children, but I'm a sucker for little nuggets of background info and pretty pictures.

After building that one Sons of Horus terminator I did the other week, I'm really starting to like them as a force. I think their color scheme is cool and the whole idea of a Legion just connects with me and how I view Space Marines.

I do like the shade of blue they used for the World Eaters though, that slightly lighter and a bit more muted blue gives them a completely different feel. That and the ornate armour for the Emperor's Children makes them stand out as well.

I did look at some of the actual rules for the Legions ( I was looking for more artwork), but I'll be honest, I get more excited about the stories and images more than anything else.

I love the idea of massive Legions moving throughout the galaxy in a time when they knew what had to be done and they had a clear goal. These guys were on a mission and nothing was going to stop them. They were expanding the limits of the Imperium and destroying whatever got in their way that ran counter to their goal.

Space Marine Chapters today just seem so watered down. Like they're living off of their past victories and history. Nobody stands out like they used to. Each chapter is just another one like the previous one. Maybe it's just me. I like that each Legion has a certain feel and look to it. From combat style to armour and everything in between. It feels like a time when you could be proud to say you belonged to the Sons of Horus or the Emperor's Children.

Saying you're part of a particular chapter now just doesn't have the same effect for me.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Army building: Do you build what you really want to?

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Simple Dark Vengeance Librarian conversion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:43:00 +0000

With the opportunity to paint a few models from the Dark Vengeance set, my friend asked that I paint up the Chaplain and the Librarian models for his DIY chapter. The Chaplain is already complete and it's time to get cracking on the Librarian.

The one small conversion that was done to this model was a sword swap. Sounds simple, but swords can be a huge pain to do with trying to get all the pieces lined up correctly so it looks like one solid weapon and it's not bending in ten different directions.

The sword I am using is a Daemon sword from a Bloodletter I think. At least that's what it looks like given the arm that was attached to it. It took some fiddling around to get the new weapon to match up with the Librarian arm given the position it's in. I wanted to be careful how much I hacked it apart as I wanted to keep some stability in the arm.

Once I had my new blade and hilt in place (and pinned of course), I added some greenstuff work to the inside and outside faces to bulk up the fragile joint and hide the new connection. On the inside, I added the power cable back in place. I like this one since I'm able to use what is already there to hide the new bit.

On the outside, I added a small swirl that I will paint in a metallic color. It's shaped like the effect Librarian's have on their traditional power weapons. The new sword is meant to be a relic of some sort that's not normally carried and so it will be painted to look the part as well.

After looking at it for a little while, I opted to add a small band around the hilt just under his hand to bulk out the lower portion of the hilt. It's not much, but I think it helps balance the weapon out.

This guy is going to be painted to a higher standard than the normal tabletop level so I'll be posting some pics of the finished model once I get him done.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Dark Vengeance Space Marine Chaplain
Painting glowing eyes on psykers

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Dark Angel combat squad paint touch ups

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:31:00 +0000

Every now and then I get a request to do some touch up work on a model. Sometimes it's a model I painted, sometimes it's a model someone else painted. This is one of those cases.

With all of the commission work I do, models begin to show their wear after extensive use. In the case where someone decides they would like for me to fix chips and such, they simply send the model back to me and I do the repairs for them.

In this case, I had a friend who had a unit painted by someone else and after some gaming with them, he decided that he wanted the iconography moved over on their shoulderpads and some minor chips repaired. No problem.

When it's a model that I've painted, I just have to go back and look at the color scheme and the paints I used. When someone else has painted it, it get's a bit trickier. In this case, I had to match the green on the shoulderpad to repair some chips around the lower edge. It took a mix of four colors to get close enough that you don't notice the repair work.

The red was easier to do only requiring two reds and a pair of washes to get it to blend in. The new iconography was done with thinned white in the new location to match the rest of the squad.

All in all, you'd never notice the change unless it was pointed out, so I'm considering this one a win. If people miss the alteration all together, then my repair work was a success.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How I paint Dark Angels fast and dark

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Converted DKOK Grenadier squad complete

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:47:00 +0000

It's been a while, but I finally managed to get my converted squad of Death Korps of Krieg Grenadiers done. The squad is for my friend who plays IG and he has been waiting patiently for some time now for me to finish this unit off.

I think he's going to run them as regular Imperial Guard, but I'm not exactly sure how he's going to incorporate them into his army. Either way, I built them as a challenge for myself to see if I could do something this involved. He was kind enough to provide me the bits to practice on.

In the end, I think they are close enough to be seen as Death Korps models. They aren't exact by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel like I managed to get enough of the major characteristics to make them easily identifiable.

A little while ago, I posted the "how to" for converting these guys. Now that I have the squad done, I'll cover a some of the painting I did on them in this post.

I have to say they are done to a very basic tabletop level. Nothing fancy at all on these guys. Maybe some soot stains on gun barrels, but that's it.

They start with a black prime and basecoat. From there, I lightly drybrushed GW Leadbelcher over a few elements on the model. I focused on the gun and armour plates. This allowed me to weather them fairly quickly without worrying about the rest of the model. Meaning it didn't matter if I got metallic anywhere else since I would be covering it with a different basecolor shortly.

After that, I moved onto my base colors. A dark blue (P3 Coal Black) for the coat, GW Mechanicus Grey for the pants, old GW Scorched Brown for the leather pieces and old GW Khermi Brown for the gas masks. I added in my metals like the gun barrels and such using GW Leadbelcher again once I had all my other base colors down.

With all of my base colors dry, I washed my models using a mixture of 4 GW shades. Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade, Seraphim Sepia and Reikland Fleshshade. I used more browns on the lower portion of the model and kept the black up towards the top. All this did was give me some variety overall and tie things together a little bit.

Once my washes were dry, I went back in with my base colors and gave the model a few highlights in some key places. The only model with any other color is the officer who has a tiny bit of gold on him to make him stand out in addition to the hat instead of a helmet.

The basing and weathering were fairly quick as well. The weathering on the armour was done in part with the light drybrush of GW Leadbelcher in the beginning. I added some more wear and tear by stippling some more metallic along the edges of the armour plates.

In order to tie the model to the base, I used by mud color and thinned it considerably with water. I used that as a "wash" and applied it to the lower portion of the legs on each model. This helped simulate the mud and dust that would collect along their boots and pants.

I have a more involved way of making a mud base, but like I said, I wanted to keep it super simple for these guys. They are on Blasted Wetland bases from Secret Weapon minis which are slightly recessed and would allow me to do the more involved mud base quite easily if I chose to.

The last thing I did was paint the rim of their bases a brown that is similar to the mud inside it. I did this t add a little more color to the model overall since they are a very dark unit when see from a distance. I had the rim black at first, but the unit appeared way too dark when you looked at them as a whole.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to convert your own DKOK Grenadiers (with some work of course)
Some color concepts when it comes to basing models

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

4 ways to protect yourself when buying online

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:23:00 +0000

Now that I build and paint more than I play 40k, I tend to need specific items. If I can't get them from my FLGS, I go online. I don't love shopping online, I love the convenience of shopping online. I don't do it that often, but the ease at which I can get things for the hobby makes it almost essential in this day and age. Everything is online now.

But, shopping online is not without its pitfalls though.

With the holiday season coming up, I thought I might break from the norm and offer a few tips that I've found and follow when it comes to shopping online. While these are not going to "save" you, they might help you avoid problems when it comes to buying something online.

My experience with one company may be different from another person's dealings with the very same company. There are companies out there that I use all the time that some folks will never buy from and there are companies out there that others use all the time that I will never run into.

This is about making sure you are an informed buyer when shopping online and that you're smart about where and with what businesses you spend your money. With the hobby costing more and more each year, none of us can afford to run into problems after we've saved up our money for that one figure we've been dying to get our hands on.

1. Understand how PayPal or your credit card works.
No matter what method you decide to use, you need to know how they work. You should have an understanding of the complaint procedure and how you can get your money back (if possible) should you discover the business or seller is not following through on their end of the deal.

This might take some research, but it's worth looking into before you find yourself trying to figure it out in the middle of a problem.

2. Look for signs of security.
Legitimate sites and businesses will display these indicators. Many times businesses will display seals from Verisign, GeoTrust, SSL.com or others. Another thing to look for is the lock at the bottom or top of your browser indicating a secure site when it comes to ordering and transmitting private information. Many sites will be listed as https: instead of just http: in the top bar as well indicating it is secure in terms of information being transmitted online.

Want an example? Go to Forge World, order anything and then go to checkout (you don't have to buy it). I use Firefox for my browser and I get a green lock at the start of the URL address at the top in addition to the site changing over to https:

This helps verify that the information you are sending to them is being transmitted securely and is not as easy to get a hold of by folks who are trolling the internet looking to steal individual's personal financial information.

3. Research your merchant and check their reputation.
This may be the biggest one of all. I do this every time I order something from someone new. Whether it be an online store or an eBay seller or whoever it is. Do your homework! Look around at what others are saying about the company. Anyone can set up an online storefront these days.

Take a look at what folks are saying about the company or seller. Both the good and the bad. You want as many different opinions and experiences as you can find before you spend your money. If something doesn't seem right to you or you're not comfortable, then don't do it! Walk away and look around for someone else who has or is selling something similar. Trust your instinct here.

If you don't see anything on a particular company or buyer, then ask around. What's the worst that will happen? You'll get some info and decide not to buy from them and keep your money?

Another thing to look up is their return policy. This information should be posted on their site as well.

4. Keep receipts and other documentation
I do this one all the time with stuff I buy online. Save your emails, letters, receipts and such until the transaction is complete and you have your stuff in hand (and are happy with it). Save any bank or Paypal information that it sent to you as well. Once everything has cleared, then you can delete all of it.

It's better to keep that information and not need it than it is to need it and not have it.

All of these things or hints fall on the buyer's shoulders to take care of. You need to be looking out for yourself when you're spending your hard earned money online. The last thing you want is to run into any problems and have to deal with that hassle when you should be building and painting your new model.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to find a good artist to do your commission work for you

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your tips and tricks you use when buying online in the comments below!

Making your own Command squad upgrades

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:53:00 +0000

With Forge World releasing their Legion MKIV Command Squad upgrades, I thought I might take a look at how you can make something similar and much cheaper.

I like the idea of Command squads even if they aren't the most effective choice. The idea of representing the unit that is commanding your force appeals to me for the modeling and painting opportunities most of all. The chance to convert something slightly different so it stands out on the table is one I rarely pass up.

That being said, the Forge World conversion bits are suited for a very specific time period and MK armour. I've been a bit more free in my interpretation and tried for something that was close, but maybe not exact.

This might be more for the budget conscious hobbyist who wants to represent their Heresy era command squad without dropping a ton of cash for a couple models.

Let's look at the helmet crest
These are nothing new. I used to make my own until I found them already made by Secret Weapon minis. Buying them is the way to go hands down. It's not worth trying to sculpt this little piece when you can pick up a pack of them. It can be done, but it's one of those things you're better off buying and saving yourself the modeling headache.

All I did for my Champion model is simply glue one of the roman style helmet crests in place. Add a leather strap tabard which is super easy to do (you can make this part) and you've got a completely different model in a few seconds.

Converting your own nuncio-vox caster backpack
This piece is a bit more difficult, but not impossible to recreate. You don't have to be spot on, just close. This is because Space Marine backpacks are so iconic, all you have to do is alter it slightly and folks will recognize it as being a "different" model used for something else.

I started by finding a suitable head to go along with it. If you had the MKIV helmet and wanted to convert it with the addition of some optics and such, you could. I cheated a bit and went with something already done and available.

You could use any style really, all you need is a helmet with all the fancy optics and such on it. You just need something to represent the modification, it doesn't have to be exact.

And now onto the backpack itself. I used the top half of a regular Space Marine backpack and the bottom half of an Imperial Guard vox caster turned upside down. You could probably use just about anything that was box shaped and the right size. Add a few rivets, some plugs and a cable and you'd be all set.

I added the antenna from the Imperial Guard vox to the top of my backpack and sculpted a cable to run down the back as well for good measure. Besides, the cable helps hide the hack conversion work which is a nice feature.

All in all, I'm calling these a win for the time involved and the look I get in the end. They're not exact, but they are close enough that I'm comfortable with them and I know that a little bit of paint will help sell the illusion as well.

It took no time at all to do these (the helmet crest is no real work at all) and the backpack took ten minutes tops if I count all the time I spent looking through my bits box at stuff I'd forgotten I had. Spend a few more minutes on them and you could have a conversion that is even closer to the Forge World bits just put out.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to make super simple leather strap tabards
Converting a Space Marine backpack for a slightly different look

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to paint Alpha Legion and scales

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:54:00 +0000

When I was asked how to paint Alpha Legion in the dark style I like to do by a reader recently, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out my spray painting technique and see how it would work with a two-tone color scheme.

I opted for the post heresy Alpha Legion scheme of that bluish-green color. Instead of choosing just one color, I wanted to see if I could blend the blue and the green spray paints I have on one model. I thought I could use the blue for my "shade" and the green for my "highlight." In my mind, I figured it would work because both colors are somewhat close in terms of value and it would just be a change in hue that I would end up with. I wouldn't really have highlights and shading as much as I would have color shifting.

How did I paint the armour
I started out by painting the whole model blue and then adding the green over that using the zenithal approach. This gave me the green on top as though it were the highlight on the armour. And here's where I changed my process slightly. Normally, when I'm done with my base colors, I go right into the shading and then work on the other parts of the model last. This time I flipped that around and blocked out all the other parts with black first. I did this so I would know where my darkest areas were.

By blocking out the metals and other elements in black, I could better tell where I wanted my shading to go without making it too dark. I knew where I wanted my shading, I just didn't want it to get too dark too soon. Using my spray paint approach, I'm learning how to apply my shading selectively so that I can keep my highlights in place and not cover them up. I used to cover the whole model with a few washes and call it done. Now I've discovered that I can create highlights by being selective in where I shade. Having the black on the model before I started shading (as opposed to after like I normally do) helped me map it out.

Painting the scales
Adding the scales was going to be important. I wanted them to be there, but not overpower the model and become a focal point. I wanted them in the background of the amrour. In order to do that, I chose a blue color (GW Kantor Blue) that was slightly darker than my blue on the armour. The diagram below shows how I mapped them onto the shoulderpads and leg armour. Basically, I chose a blue that would be the same as my shadow color. That way, the lines of the scales and the final shadow color would match and blend into each other.

It's important to start in the middle (where it is most easily seen) when drawing scales or any design like this so that you can build from that visible central spot and all of your scales line up and are set properly. If you start off on one side, you may not have them lined up properly by the time you are in the middle of the shoulderpad where it really counts and you see them easily. I started with number 1 and worked left and right to finish that row first.

The next row was number 2. All you have to do is shift your scales slightly so they attach at the bottom of the previous row. You can make your scale shape whatever you want too. Repeat this process for each additional row of scales until your surface area is filled up. Always work off that central point so all of your design is correct.

Getting the scales to blend in
There are a few different ways to paint scales, some draw them out like this, others paint in the negative space inside the scale... it comes down to what you prefer. I chose the line method like this and the slightly darker blue color so that when I shaded along the lower areas with GW Drakenhof Nightshade, the lines would disappear into the armour. The only place you'd be left seeing them is over the green and then they would fade away into the blue.

The other parts of the model
Since I was keeping this guy dark, I opted to keep everything else black. Easy enough to do, I highlighted a few key spots with a dark grey color for a little bit of contrast. I didn't see may Alpha Legion models with gold, so I kept everything on this guy silver. A basecoat of GW Leadbelcher followed by a wash of Nuln Oil was all it took for those areas.

The armour was given a slightly distressed look by adding a very light drybrush of GW Leadbelcher over the prominent edges that would normally see wear and tear from use and fighting.

The chapter symbol was painfully freehanded in black as well and if I were doing an army of these guys, I'd opt for decals no questions asked. The design is too complex to do it justice and get it done in any reasonable amount if time. Decals would make this part of the model so much easier. You might have to make your own, but I still say it would be worth it rather than trying to paint each symbol in place.

The base as the final touch
Again, knowing the base finishes off the model, I opted for the light color to contrast against the dark model and kept the colors muted here as well. I thought the slightly destroyed city scape looked appropriate for an Alpha Legion model and their covert operations. The bases are the Ruined Temple range from Secret Weapon minis.

A few last thoughts
Since my green spray paint is a gloss color, I needed to get rid of the gloss by giving it a wash. I used a thinned pass of GW Biel-Tan Green to remove the gloss without darkening down the green areas overall. In addition to the blue shading, I also went in and blacklined the lower portions of the model to reinforce the shadows. I didn't do it everywhere, only the few places where the model started to go flat and I wanted things to have some dimension.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
When you add your freehand to your model matters
The trick to painting small iconography
A few thoughts on adding freehand and decals to models
7 things to remember when using decals

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to make super simple leather strap tabards

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:24:00 +0000

In the process of building my Sons of Horus terminator, I stumbled upon a super easy way to make leather strap tabards. Here's the process.

What you're going to need to do this
You're going to need your model, some cardstock, your hobby knife and superglue.
If you use something in particular for rivets, you'll need that too.

Make sure your hobby knife has a new blade, you don't want to try this kind of detail with an old, dull blade. As far as cardstock, this is the secret part. I use cereal box cardstock when doing this. I've found it to be the perfect thickness for this. It's slightly thicker profile gives the leather some heft and the straps don't appear to be made of paper strips and super fragile. You could use just about any cardstock when it comes down to it... you just want something that is slightly thicker so you end up with some heft.

Another really nice option I've found is the cardstock on the back of notepads. It's about the same thickness as a cereal box but it has the added bonus of not having that silly, gloss surface on one side. I prefer this when I can get my hands on it.

Getting the right shape to your tabard
You start out by cutting the approximate shape you want your tabard to be. Have your model nearby for scale purposes. You have two options when it comes to mounting your tabard to your model. You can cut it to fit and mount it under the model's existing belt buckle or you can remove what's there and make your own. I've done both and it comes down to the look I want in the end as to which method I use.

It's worth noting that you may need to cut away some of the front of the groin area on the model to allow for the tabard to be glued in place without it sticking all the way out and looking out of place. It's easy enough to do and you don't have to be worry about being perfect since you're covering the area up anyway.

In this example, I'll be mounting it under the existing belt buckle. That means once I have the width I want my tabard to be, I need to cut a small notch out of the top to allow the tabard to fit right up against the underside of the buckle without a gap. A few cuts later and some test fitting I have just enough cut away so it fits in there perfectly.

Cutting the individual straps is easy enough to do as well. Sine the object is small, you can simply cut a series of lines into the material making sure to keep each one the same width for visual consistency. If you mess it up and end up with one that is too narrow or make a mistake elsewhere, it's nothing to cut a new tabard real quick and start over. If you're not sure from the beginning, use a pencil and draw in some lines for the straps before cutting away.

Gluing the tabard in place is simple. I give mine a very slight bend so that it conforms to the surface of the model a little better, but it's not necessary. Once the glue has dried, you can use your fingers to shape the straps in the direction you want by pushing them backward or pulling forward to give the tabard a sense of movement. Match the movement of the tabard up with the model and presto, it looks like it's been there all along.

Adding rivets can be done to taste. I use a very thin piece of plasticard rod and cut off small cross sections that I glue in place.

When it comes to painting, I paint it up as I would any other part of the model. Prime as normal, basecoat along with highlight and shading. Nothing different. And don't feel like you have to use the same shape for your tabard every time, I made ones that were squared off on the bottom and some that were angled. It all comes down to what you think looks best on the model.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to sculpt a greenstuff cloth half tabard
How to cheat and create a faux half tabard with just paint

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Sons of Horus Pre-Heresy terminator

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:30:00 +0000

I started this conversion the other day as a way to see if I could convert my own style of Cataphractii terminator armour. I have to say that painting him has certainly helped with the conversion. I used Forge World's scheme since I really like how the darker green looks. Normally these guys are seen as a much brighter and pale green, but I think the dark green looks pretty sharp.

As far as painting, I started out using the exact same approach I used for my Dark Angels. The green spray basecoat over the black primer. Form there, I added my metallic details and spent a little bit of time working on the face since it is the focal point of the model.

I opted to make his base a light color to contrast against the very dark model. A good discussion on that concept can be found here. I also toned my weathering down considerably on this guy and really tried to make sure I didn't over do it.

The painting does help hide some of the model's imperfections and gives you a much better feel for how he looks in the end. Sometimes it can be hard to imagine how a model is going to look in the end.

I think my favorite aspect is that this guy actually feels Pre-Hersy to me. I like the idea of Space Marine legions and not tiny chapters. There's something about that idea that is more "40k" to me than what Space Marines are today. I'm hoping to get my hands on the new Betrayal book from Forge World to see what else is out there from this period.

As a small side note, I was careful in how I applied my shading washes as well so that I could keep the highlighting effect I had with the spray paint. I think it helps the model much more than just covering the whole thing with a couple washes. It takes a few more minutes since you have to think about where you're applying your shading, but it's worth it in the end.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Here's the WIP conversion for this model
How to apply an overhead spray basecoat

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Cataphractii Terminator armour conversion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:06:00 +0000

As soon as I saw these guys, I wanted to see if I could mimic something close. I've done some previous Pre-Hersy style armour before, but nothing this complex. I wanted to see if I could take what I'd done before and expand on it to get something that would be passable for Cataphractii terminators.

Let me back up a second and say that this guy is more of a test model to see if it could be done in the first place. He's got some really rough edges and could definitely use some more work overall. But... the idea is there and with some refining, this could produce a fairly respectable conversion I think.

Update: Check out the "Art Scale" Terminator conversion
I did on my new blog.

So let's look at what I did and what can be improved.

This guy has had a few things done to him. From truescaling him up slightly (truescale tutorial can be found here) to bulking out his legs and then adding about a million extra rivets. I took what I saw as some of the key elements and tried to incorporate them into my conversion.

Starting at the top and working down, I removed the sensor array attached to the head piece. Far too advanced for this MK armour. The chest piece would not normally be sporting the eagle either. If I were to make an adjustment here, that would be shaved off and some basic trim and rivets would be added in its place.

I opted to go with a bare head since I did not have a suitable MK helmet I could use. I know they are out there as thrid party bits, I just didn't have one on hand. I suspect with a bit of filing away, you could get it to fit in the collar opening without too much trouble.

I added the neck armour but kept it simple and brought it straight across. The addition of a few rivets tie it in with everything else. An improvement would be to add some trim and match that up with the trim on the chest armour.

Nothing was done to the arms other than to change the shoulderpads. Instead of making my own, I cheated and used some from Maxmini that I had lying around. I could have made my own, but I was in a converting frenzy and went with what I had. I like these shoulderpads and buying them instead of making them can save you a good bit of time overall. The only downside is that you have to pick from the styles they have (of course that's true for any company out there). One issue I did run into with these was how they fit over the arms, I had to shave the shoulders down slightly in order to get the shoulderpads to fit correctly. Not a big deal, but not a hassle you want to deal with.

I added small leather straps using cardstock from under each shoulderpad and attached rivets to the ends. The tight fit of the shoulderpads made it tough to get the straps up under there and I spent some time fiddling with them to get them in place.

Like I mentioned, the torso has been extended by 2mm as well.
I absolutely love that little conversion.

The legs or at least the upper portion (thighs) have been bulked out. This proved to be a little bit of a challenge, but not as hard as I thought it was going to be overall. I had to cut away the side hip plates and I added a giant blob of greenstuff that I worked around the thigh. I tried to keep any rough areas on the inside where they wouldn't be seen as easily. The hardest part was getting the little tab that extends upward. I had to push the blob of greenstuff up and let it cure in place before cutting away the shape after it cured.

This little tab piece is not that big of a deal in the end since his arms block most of that area anyway, BUT it does help tremendously with bulking out his waistline and keeping the model looking "correct." I think the bigger thing here is getting rid of the hip plates and bulking out the overall thighs. That one change alone makes a huge difference in the final look of the model.

I gave him a leather strap half tabard which was super easy to do and I'll be covering in another tutorial. It's silly how easy it is to make one. I added some rivets to the bottom of the straps as well. The half tabard does two things for the model, bulks him out, and even more importantly, hides some imperfections which is great on projects like this.

The lower portion of the legs have had additional armour plates added to them to give them a different shape. I had to clean off some iconography already on the legs, but that was no big deal. I think an improvement here would be to use plasticard instead of cardstock for a smooth surface and prevent the splitting seen along the edge of the cardstock. That and adding a bit more detail to the surface of the armour with one more band of trim.

The trick is to make it look convincing by adding enough detail. I could even match the style of trim up with the chest plate so the design flows down the model.

The feet have had a thin spacer added to them to give the model a tiny bit more height overall. I like this small touch and may start including it on all my termies. It makes their boots look a little more heavy duty.

Overall, I'm going to call this guy a successful test model. There are a number of things I can improve on, but the idea is solid and it can be executed. Now it's time to paint him up. I think I'm go paint him up as a Sons of Horus like Forge World did with their squad.

Here's the finished model.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
How to make Pre-Heresy Terminator Shoulder armour
How to make Pre-Heresy Terminator leg armour
How to make terminator combi-weapons

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How I paint tabletop level metallic gold

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:09:00 +0000

I was asked the other day how I painted the gold on the crozius for the Dark Vengeance Chaplain I posted. I've actually got a couple different ways I paint gold. This is the method I use for quick, tabletop results.

There are tons of ways to paint any metallic, but this is my "go to" method for quick and basic gold. It's worth noting that this method yields a warm, bright gold in the end. While it might look like a bunch of steps, they are super easy and the biggest problem you'll have is waiting for your washes to dry.

What you'll need to do this
You aren't going to need much and I'm almost certain you have the four colors/washes already in your collection. For the base, I use GW Shining Gold. I believe it's Gehenna's Gold now in the new range. Other than that, you'll need a dark brown and two washes, Seraphim Sepia and Agrax Earthsahde.

Here's the step by step
Priming can be any color based on the predominant color your model is. This is not a worry for us because we're going to go over our gold areas with our dark brown anyway before we start applying any metallics.

Once we have our model primed and we've come to the point where we are going to work on the gold sections, I base those with a dark brown color. Any brown will do and depending on what shade you choose, it has the potential to affect your final gold color.

I've used light browns, reddish-browns, greens, blacks... all kinds of colors under gold for different effects. Each has their own pros and cons and creates and slightly different look in the end.

Once we have our gold areas based with brown, it's time to add the gold. I don't worry about getting perfect coverage since my dark brown can act as my shadow color in the recessed areas if I miss a small spot.

Once the gold dries, I go over it with two washes. The first one is Seraphim Sepia and I cover the whole gold area liberally. Once that dries, I apply Agrax Earthshade to the deeper recessed areas only. In this case, it was right around the skull.

Make sure you give your washes plenty of time to dry. When they're dry, it's one last step of a light drybrush using our original gold color to give the gold some contrast and make it pop.

It's a simple method that get's pretty good resutls quickly. Those are my favorite techniques. You can expand on this one to include any number of additional steps, but if I had to add one more, it would be a second (very light) drybrush of silver over the most prominent edges only. This will make the gold look even brighter.

And for those folks wondering how this technique scales up from an icon to a whole infantry model (say you were doing a Custodes force)... it works perfectly.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Creating various metal effect with washes
How to paint bronze (Minotaurs Space Marines)

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

How to paint Word Bearers quick and easy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 14:24:00 +0000

I got a request on how I would paint Word Bearers using the same "quick and dark" method I used on my Dark Angel and Ultramarine. It really was a question of could I use the same approach with red spray paint and black like I did with the other two models.

In the end, I think I came close to producing a decent model, but missed the mark slightly. Not because the technique failed, but because my weathering was a bit too heavy handed overall and the finished look suffers because of that. I wanted a truly battered and war torn look, but I should have used a variety of techniques instead of relying on just one to carry the look.

That being said, let's look at what I did to get here.

I started off by priming him black and then giving him a zenith spray coat of the red spray paint I had on hand. It wasn't so much red as it was brown, but I figured it would work just the same. I should note that you could use any shade of red really, it comes down to personal taste in the end.

Here's the step by step for the zenith spray painting technique.

After that, I gave the model a few passes with GW Carroburg Crimson to blend everything together and give it more of a red look than brown. I considered using other colors, but opted to keep adding red to see just how much I could alter the original color.

Once I had my armour done, I cut in everything with black paint to see how he would look before I added the final details.

At this point, I noticed something I'd missed before and that was the wonderful change in color from the basecoat to the newly shaded areas. In some places, I'd simply forgotten add a layer of wash and because of that, they retained their original lighter shade of brownish-red. The best example is the top of the backpack.

It might have been an accident here, but it's something I'm going to actually try and do next time I have a model to paint. I really like the variation and I'm going to see if it's something I can push next time around.

Once I had my silver areas painted in over the black, I set about weathering him. I used a combination of powders and a pencil to really distress his armour. This is where I went a bit too far. I comes down to a combination of things for me. I should have paid attention to my highlights when was shading so I had the smooth transitions and I should have gone a little lighter on the weathering overall.

I have to admit, Word Bearers are fairly straight forward to paint. Red armour and silver for everything else. There aren't many steps there.

That being said, he does look war torn... just a bit muddy as well.
Here's the finished model.

I'm certain this technique would work for any "red" model. Simply adjust your spray paint color accordingly. Next time I'll focus on controlling my shading and then watching how I apply my weathering across the model.

The Word Bearer's chapter symbol
After looking at the Word Bearers iconography, I can tell you I would be seriously tempted to go either the sculpted shoulderpad or decal route. Freehanding this thing is going to be very time consuming. It's not impossible, it's just going to eat up a good bit of time. You're going to need a really nice brush and a steady hand in order to be able to get the fine detail.

That being said, here's how I would break it down into manageable shapes in order to paint it. This might help those folks looking to add the image to a banner or the side of a vehicle where you only need to paint one or two of them. I'll add that it's well worth thinning your paints slightly so that you don't leave any surface texture when you paint. It might take an additional layer or two, but the smooth finish is worth it.

First thing is to get your yellow flames down. There's no magic to the shape or size, it's just what works in the area you have. I kept mine kind of square as it mimics the shape of the skull inside it.

Second we block out the overall shape of the skull with a rectangle. The overall rectangle should be slightly smaller than the flames and what you want your final skull to be. As we flesh out the image, we will be adding to the outside of the rectangle and want to make sure we still have some yellow surrounding it when done.

Third we add the top part of the skull and upper jaw. Just make the top edge of the rectangle rounded and add a few teeth on the upper inside edge of the rectangle.

Fourth we add the horns and sides of the upper jaw. The horns are the harder part to add since you need to keep them symmetrical. The sides of the upper jaw are nothing more than small protrusions on each side of the rectangle even with the upper teeth.

Fifth we finish out the lower jaw. This includes some teeth along the bottom and filling out the lower jaw by extending it down slightly and adding similar protrusions on the sides like we just did for the upper jaw.

Sixth is the eyes. Since there was no need to try and add them in the beginning and having to work around them the whole time, we can add them now quite easily. Going back in with your yellow, you can lay in the basic shape for each eye. You don't have to be perfect since you can use your black to correct the shape as needed until you have exactly what you like.

And there you have it, a perfect Word Bearer icon broken down into a rectangle and built back up.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
A look at some ways to paint red in all of it's different shades
How to apply an overhead spray paint basecoat

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Dark Vengeance Chaplain painted

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:57:00 +0000

I recent got the chance to paint up the Limited Edition Chaplain that comes with the super special boxed set. I've actually got the Librarian to paint as well, but I figured I'd share some pics of the Chaplain now that I have him painted up.

He's been painted to a pretty basic level to match the existing army he's going to be a part of. He's another model for a friend of mine and his huge DIY Space Marine Chapter.

This model was a blast to paint with all of the detail on him. I was a bit worried at first about how I was going to get into the tight areas, but found myself leaving the arms off until I painted the inside of the cloak and then gluing them in place. I don't do much work using a sub-assembly approach and it can throw me off my game sometimes.

I didn't do anything fancy with this guy. There is no conversion work or modifications. Just a simple paint job. The one thing that did catch me off guard was the smoke coming from his backpack. At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to paint it so that it read as smoke and not some kind of nondescript blob.

I ended up painting it black and then dabbing a dark grey followed by a slightly lighter grey over the prominent protrusions. That created a mottled look I hoped I could pass off as "smoke." Over that went a heavy wash of Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade which worked perfectly in pulling it all together.

When it came to painting the robes, I knew I had to use purple since that was one of the main colors in the army. I wanted to keep the model somewhat dark since he's a Chaplain as well. That's when I figured I would highlight his armour a basic grey color and use P3 Coal Black for the other side of his robes to give it a dark blue look. I think it contrasts nicely against the purple and does well as another dark element on the model at the same time.

My friend doesn't usually run a Chaplain in his force, but this should give a decent model to use when he does decide to try one out.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
A look at some of the ways I use to paint black
How to make your own Chaplain skull helmets

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Do you paint using only one color at a time?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The other day when I posted my Nurgle Cultist troop, I mentioned mixing the washes when I shaded him. I wanted to expand on that idea today and talk more about breaking out of the one color at a time mindset.

I'm willing to bet you, like me, paint using one color at a time. In fact, I'm willing to bet it's what 99 percent of us do. It's probably how we were taught and it's certainly how GW explains the painting process to us with the new Base, Shade and Layer paints.

I even do it myself. I work with one color for the base and then move to a darker shade of that same color for the shadows and then a lighter version of that very same color for the highlight. What makes this weird for me is that I'm used to using multiple colors or mixes of multiple colors at a time instead of sticking to shades of just one color. I did it all the time in art school. My oil painting palette was a sea of colors that you could never get by painting one color at a time.

The variety of shades and hues is endless once you start using multiple colors instead of shades/tints of one particular color. This is what we are missing on our models. This is what you see on some of the higher end model painting out there. The subtle blending of numerous colors to give a wonderful look to a model.

You can see it (additional techniques to introduce a variety of colors into our models) starting to work their way into our painting today. Folks are starting to use different primer colors on models (and by that, I mean something other than black or white), zenithal highlighting creates wonderful value changes to show light and dark surfaces on a model and people are starting to learn that Agrax Earthshade for all it's great qualities is not the best wash on the planet.

Try using green or blue to shade red armour, the effect can be quite nice and it doesn't turn out as flat looking as it would if you'd used just black.

His left arm is another good example. If you look at it in the pic above, it's green, but has a pink hue at the top, a green tint in the middle and is somewhat brown at his hand.

My Nurgle Cultist model is my best example of this to date. Had I just used one wash for the shading, he would have never turned out like this. If I'd painted his shirt the same base color and then washed it with just Agrax Earthshade or just Nuln Oil, the final effect would not be anywhere near the same.

Now I'm not saying that you need to use multiple colors/washes/layers/whatever and if you don't, your model is junk. I'm saying that it's worth trying. Try shading your base colors with more than just one shade. Try painting a red helmet with something other than bright red for the highlight and Carroburg Crimson for the shading.

This is what a "red" helmet looks like when you shade it with Agrax Earthshade, Carroburg Crimson and then highlight with a bright red and give it a final line highlight using Ushabti Bone. It's not a big step, but it's a little change that makes a big difference in the final look.

It's still red, but the use of a tan color for the final line highlight gives the helmet a completely different look than if I'd just used another shade of red. You don't have to go far with paint to get an improvement. Try a slightly different color for a final highlight to see what the effect is on your next model. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Make sure to check out these posts as they might help:
Highlighting with a different hue
I only paint what I can see on a model
Success and failure when it comes to painting

If you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!