Ultramarines Tactical Squad

I started work on this Tac Squad for the annual Relic forum competition. I'm using it as an excuse to try zenithal highlighting with an airbrush and to showcase the helmet crest conversion bits from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

The fourth photo down, of the Tac Marine without his gun, does a decent job of showing the airbrushed highlights. Using an airbrush is an easy way to create smooth transitions for directional lighting. The style isn't for everyone but I'm a fan.

I have also included a shot of the sergeant with his squad to show the combination of the Greek and small Roman style helmet crests in action together.

Vostroyan Army: Leman Russ A01

I have started re-painting the first tank in my old Armored Company. This allows me to recycle those tanks AND work on the techniques I'll be using on my Games Day 2010 entry... without having to improve them while painting my Forge World model.

Sorry about the shine but there's a layer of gloss on there.

I took some step-by-step photos but I've gone back and redone much of it so I'll get a new series when I settle on the process. This guy still has quite a ways to go AND WILL BE PART OF MY ARMY! This model WILL see game play.

Feedback is very welcome and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thanks in advance!

Photos of the original Armored Company can be seen in the "Armored Company" tag.

I may still sell a couple of those tanks since they don't really fit the Vostroyan army... but for now I'm glad to have finished tanks to start painting.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - FINISHED

That's all she wrote. I haven't had the time here at the end that I would have liked. This means I'm leaving a few things "unfinished" on this guy. I am, however, very happy with the end result.

Final feedback is quite welcome - but I don't know that I'll be able to change anything this late in the game.

Thanks for following along. The competition will be posted next week:

http://forums.relicnews.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - Banner Edition!

The front of the banner is finished and the model is one step closer to being ready for the competition. I still need to do a few small things:

1. Touch up the tabard
2. Finish highlighting the storm bolter (which is now metallic blue)
3. Add mud to his feet
4. Paint the back of the banner

I really am happy with how this has come together even if the highlights/blending still miss the mark I was aiming for. There's nothing here for me to complain about and I think it'll make a nice showing in the competition.

Of course the prize support is being provided by Secret Weapon Miniatures... so I'm not sure what happens if I win. I might just need to send myself a gift certificate.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!!

What I've done:

1. Added mud to the cracked earth base
2. Re-applied the mud on the Rhino
3. Re-painted the right shoulder for a smoother blend (12 layers now)
4. Added the base colours for the metal
5. Added a blue wash to all of the white armor
6. Added a blue wash to all of the blue armor


Things I still need to do:

1. Clean up the mud in the gravel on the base
2. Re-paint the script on his leg
3. Finish the storm bolter w/ blue glazes
4. Paint the banner
5. Take your feedback into account


I know that I have more than one shade of blue on this guy - but that's the result of trying to improve my methods from section to section. That's also one of the reasons I re-painted the right shoulder; it looked VERY dark and should be the brightest.

All-in-all I'm quite pleased. It's not a Games Day model but it's certainly my best effort so far. I've spent more time on this model than anything else I've painted. The Titan will be finished in less time than this guy. Thanks to the feedback I've gotten I know what I still need to improve on and look forward to my next attempt.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - The Home Stretch!

I finally feel like this guy is really starting to come together. There are plenty of things I'm not happy with - the dual zenithal lighting effects, for example - but I think it'll be a good showing for the competition.

If nothing else this model has been a real stretch for me. I know that I can create a strong model when I slow down and take my time a bit.

I would, of course, love some feedback. Don't be shy. Nitpick. Please!

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - DOUBLE UPDATE EDITION!

It's AMAZING! Two updates in the same weekend and on the same model. I honestly can't remember the last time I've done this.

I'm still really pleased with the lenses on the helmet and I'm beginning to be happy with the blue. At this point I would consider his right side - the power fist side - finished except for the detailing. The blue is a lot brighter than I had intended but the upper left image gives a decent look at how it's turning out. I can't really complain even if I'd planned for it to be much darker.

I still have nearly a month to go before the competition closes. I've already spent more time on this model than I have on any model in the past. I'm really trying to slow down, take my time and go back to correct tiny imperfections. Of course at some point I have to draw the line and decide it's good enough - which I've done a couple of times already.

And now... hell, I actually have more time to paint!

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - the Blue Edition

I've finally been able to make some time to start in on the blue. The bottom left image is the only one that does any justice to the transitions - but the top left does a fair job of showing the three layers of blue that I used.

I'm.... reasonably pleased. Barring feedback to improve the blues I would consider his right arm and helmet finished. Of course it's likely that I'll come back and change this entirely when I start work on the rest of the blue and wind up happier with the newer sections. That's the curse of painting in shifts though.

Vostroyan Sniper - Snow Theme Competition

There are a lot of things about this guy I would change if I were going to start over - but given that I'm painting him in quick and dirty strokes I'm fairly pleased. I do need to get some better photos but I wanted to get something up for feedback while I had some free time.

All of the basing was done with the Instant Scenery Kit - Winter from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I'm really pleased with how well the products work and how easy it was to get a detailed base finished in a hurry. I still haven't made a dent in the mock-up box even though I've done this base and covered one of my display bases in snow.

On to the next project for a bit... goodness knows I have enough of them!

Vostroyan Sniper - Snow Theme Competition Mini

This guy is getting into a winter theme competition but I decided to paint this guy army fashion - meaning quick and with little or no mixing - to see if I could develop a decent recipe for my army I'm a little over an hour into this guy and I'm pretty pleased.

I'm not using a Secret Weapon base for this guy (GASP!) because I wanted to see what I could do using just the materials in the new Instant Scenery Kit: Winter -- so this is a stock GW base with materials from that kit.

I'd hoped to finish him in under two hours but I think I'll break that by just a bit while I play with getting the snow and weathering right. I can live with that.

Feedback is very welcome - and I'll try to get some better photos, of course.

Competition Mini - Power Fist Redo

The longer I stared at the power first the more I realized that while the blending was good the highlighting didn't provide enough contrast. I've added several new highlights and actually did bring it up to GW Blazing Orange - even going so far as to add a touch of white.

The white accents - being the laurels and skulls - still need some work. And I'm likely to add a bit more highlighting to the fingers. The freehand on his shoulder spells "RYNN," the homeworld of the Crimson Fists, but I'm not pleased with how it turned out and will redo it. Hopefully I can come up with something more interesting to freehand there too.

I am much happier with the model at this point. I have now spent more time on this power fist than I do on most of my models. I hope that the effort shows when it gets to the competition.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor - Power Fist Edition

At this point I consider the power fist more or less finished. I'd love some feedback though.

I'm going for a darker red on this one so I didn't want to go up to pure orange. The area next to the laurels on the fist is intentionally dark to help balance the colour since the laurel will be white when it's finished.

Competition Mini: Pedro Kantor

And so it begins...

This is the start of my Pedro Kantor for the "Single Mini" category of the quarterly competition over at Relic News. There is a long, long way to go and only the eyes are finished at this stage... and those may change if I get some feedback.

The accents will all be in white. On the armor this will be shaded with grey and on the cloth with brown. The blue on the armor will be shaded by mixing the dark red with the base blue. Likewise the red will be shaded using the blue. This gives me a palette limited to red, black, white, brown and blue.

I have some stiff competition and would love some feedback.

Commissioned Krieg Army - Command Vanquisher

I haven't posted a lot of photos of the Krieg army - at least not WIP shots - so I decided to post the start of this Command Vanquisher.

The model was put together by the client - Niroe if you're on Boot Camp or WIP - and the conversion work is his. I did a little bit of quick work on the seams for the double track guards but it's still a bit visible.

All three colors on the tank came out of Krylon spray cans - the camo colours tan, green and brown. From here I'll add a filter wash to blend things a bit and then drybrush. The work on this one should be reasonably quick.



More Krieg under the label...

Dark Angels Champion - Take 5

The last post was "Dark Angels Champion 02" and I'm jumping right in with number five.

Well, except for the first frame the photo quality is rubbish - but I re-painted the arm and shield on this guy and I am MUCH happier with the results.

I have NOT done the shading....

So the arm isn't finished. I think the eyes are though. I managed a very small Blazing Orange highlight in the bottom corners. Pleased doesn't begin to cover it.

Next up are the midtone touch-ups and the shading.



It didn't get a post of its own - but the "before" version of this arm is in my flickr stream.

Cadian Rough Rider Conversion 01

I entered a conversion competition on the RelicNews Community Forums - and while I have until October to get this guy finished I decided to jump in and get to work.

The horse and legs are those of an Empire Outrider. The torso was a simple swap. I used the greatcoat sans pistol arm and replaced it with the Sergeant chainsword. The laspistol arm is a simple swap and the head is a WFP Empire Pistolier.

The pants were sculpted with Magic Sculpt because I couldn't find my greenstuff. I like working with Magic Sculpt anyhow so I shan't cry. I decided to do the pants rolled because when I rode Western we never put our pants in our boots - because it's a good way to get stuff in your boot!

I found my greenstuff so I may add the Cadian shirttails. Otherwise there's not much left for this guy except the base and painting.

Dark Angels Champion 02

I posted the Champion to the RelicNews Community Forum and got some good feedback. I took the advice and made some changes to the model -- my self criticism follows the image:



The highlights are much, much too thick. The elbow is especially sloppy. I'm not sure why and I didn't notice it until I took the photos.

Adding Snakebite to the hood made the transition much smoother - I like this change.

I need to work on smaller highlights although I think it will help to tackle the other arm from start to finish without pause. I would have been hard pressed to match any of the color I used previously to clean up the mistakes I made here so I had to leave them. I could create a NEW midtone and go backwards... but this is a practice model so I'll just do the other arm.

I would love some additional feedback! Chime in here or click through the link to RelicNews above and comment in the thread.

Bring it on, folks. Get nitpicky, be blunt and help me get to the standard I'm aiming for. In the interim I'll get to work on the next arm....

Dark Angels Champion 01

I've been feeling like my painting has really plateaued lately and I'm trying to work on the fundamental techniques -- thin paint, blended layers and attention to detail.

This means I'm doing a lot less with my army -- which wasn't much to begin with -- and taking a break from vehicle weathering for a bit.

In deciding to focus on quality painting I'm going to stick with basic models -- most likely Space Marines until I get into flesh tones -- with no conversion, etc.

This first project is a Dark Angels Champion I've wanted to do for awhile. My targets:

Bone cloth
Armor with an extreme highlight
Lens effect on the eyes
SMOOTH BLENDING!

Of course my photos don't help but I took shots from several angles so that some idea can be gleaned:

GM 2.5 ton 01

It's time for an update on the 2.5 ton truck:

Although not strictly accurate I'm going to paint the canvas over the cargo as an American flag.

The truck was painted using the oil filter and pigment weathering methods - the latter of which I've already posted a tutorial for. I hope to have the oil filter tutorial finished shortly.

There will also be a generous coating of mud in place before the model is finished -- complete with a mud tutorial.

Mmm, it must be tutorial season....

Blood Company 01

Blood Company 01
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

My "Not Dante" model is still going to be leading a Death Company. Because my army is black/white I decided to call these guys the "Blood Company" and put them in all red armor. For the sake of fluff I'll say that these are original suits of Blood Angels armor from the second founding.

Conversions are simple arm swaps and removing the silly bits of terrain some of their feet were attached to. The latter gives a better impression of landing and also eliminates the image of these highly trained soldiers landing on sharp piles of rubbish.