Warhammer Empire General 01

The new Warhammer Empire General comes with so many modeling options that I was immediately drawn to the model. The sculpting is excellent, especially for plastic, and so I had to pick one up. This seemed like the perfect model to experiment with rare earth magets on -- and now each of those arms, heads and even the cape can be attached to either body.

Like most first projects I learned a lot about how to (and not to) work with tiny, tiny magnets -- but I'm very happy with the result and plan on making a habit of this.

A few weeks to paint him up and he's eBay bound.

Commissioned Vindicare Assassin - Final

Another four hour model - this one managed to come in slightly under the allotted time. Unfortunately my lighting doesn't let me capture the various shades of blue that build up on the black armor and this will ship back to the client before I can fix that.

While I'm pleased with the final result it's not a very exciting model. As GW seems to be moving more and more to plastic models I hope to see an assassin boxed set at some point. The conversion possibilities would be interesting to play with.

Commissioned Inquisitor - "Final"

With the exception of not knowing whether the base rim should be white or black I'm ready to call this one finished. The piece came in at almost exactly the four hour mark and I'm happy with the results.

Between this model and the Vindicare I am also finally feeling a real need to upgrade the lighting I use for photos. A great deal of the layering and highlighting is totally lost in the picture. The red looks passable in the photo - but includes five layers before the final highlight that are largely invisible.

Leman Russ Update

The first of the Cadian guards for the display base is finished. I started with the tank commander that came with the model and I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Now that the model is starting to come together I no longer plan on keeping the "CADIA" text on the dozer blade. I will probably strip this and replace it with the Cadian flag or similar iconography.

Commissioned Inquisitor

I received a second commission order from Jacob - this time for an Inquisitor and his retinue. I got to spend an hour working on this one to get the base colours set and give me a better direction for the rest of the work. In this case I was given free reign on colour decisions and plan on doing the armour in a dusty black - some freehand on the cape - and otherwise in what is present.

I chose a blue shading on the cape to add some additional depth and make it look a bit cooler. While there is still a lot of clean up to do I am happy with the overall effect and think it will look fantastic with a nice Inquisitorial symbol in the middle of it.

I'm rather pleased with how the flesh tones turned out but they're not as sooth as I might like.

Leman Russ Update

I finally had an opportunity to put some time in to the Leman Russ project again. In this case I based all of the gun barrels in a gunmetal blue;added the Cadian gate iconography to the front of the tank; and completed the highlighting and first round of details on the turret.

I also managed to get a GIANT RED FINGERPRINT on the finished black side of the turret. I will correct this when I go back in to highlight and detail the body.

The turret took about two hours to get from the base colour to the current state. I expect to put in another hour before I decide it's finally finished... not counting the application of snow when the model is finished.

It's likely to be awhile before I come back to this one, however, as the next commission models just arrived.

Leman Russ Update

Not a lot of progress at this point but I am very happy with what has been done. Overall I think that the model is progressing very well and may well be competition worthy if I ever manage to finish... and stop changing my mind about the details and little touches.

Something learned: if you're going to attach a vehicle to a display base mark out the location before adding any basing materials... and leave that area bare. I had to go back in with a screwdriver and clear spots for the tank to sit - otherwise it was sitting too high, didn't rest on the tread marks I had added, and ultimately looked like an afterthought.

I plan to make some additional progress tonight and should have an update to post in the next couple of days. I would like to have this one finished within the next couple of weeks so that I can focus on other projects. Here's hoping.

Maybe it's a little silly....

By this time next week I will own one of every colour in the Vallejo Game Color range.

There were six I thought about passing on - but after a year of constantly ordering paints because I keep finding a project for that ONE MISSING PAINT! I decided to give in.

My current commission money is officially spent... and I'm feeling, for some unknown reason, just a touch naughty.

I can live with that.

Testemonial

Well I just received my tank back and am very happy with the work. Can't beat the workmanship or shipping; it arrived in one peice and not crushed at all. I will be sending you some figures next and cant wait to see the finished product.
Thank you very much -- Jacob (Black Templar Predator)

And thank you, Jacob.