Ultramarines 2nd Company Standard Bearer

Ultra2nd02
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

Still not the best photo - as I haven't set up the photo box in awhile - but I'm getting pretty near to finished with this guy. I'm going to set him aside for awhile as I'm a bit burned out with him.

The tutorial I wrote for the banner is up on the Relic Forum - Tutorials board.

Before/After - Ultramarines Standard Bearer 01

Before/After - Ultramarines Standard Bearer 01
Originally uploaded by misterjustin

The photo isn't the best but I wanted to give a before/during shot of my standard bearer. There's still a long way to go before he's finished -- not counting the banner -- but I'm quite pleased so far.

I added the 2nd Company icon to his leg today as well. The process was identical to the cape... only smaller. There is still some clean-up to be done on it, and lots of highlighting on the blue, but here he is so far...

Competition - Imperial Guard Psyker

I've jumped in on another of the Relic painting competitions. This time I think I actually stand a chance.

I am very pleased with the colour and highlighting on the red coat, the glowing effect on the green eyes, and the sallow colour of his skin - especially the shading. I used Chinese hexagramatic icons for the wards on the hem of the coat - with weathering to blend the whole thing together. Other than black and white for highlights and shading this is also the first time I've used only three colours on a model.

The base leaves a bit to be desired but I haven't gotten motivated enough to do anything about it.

I'll post an update when the results are in at the end of the month.

Capasus Commission - Finished

This is probably my most elaborate commission to date. While I have done larger models, with more detail, this was the first full conversion and paint job on commission.

I know that I've detailed the model in other posts - but I'll recap here: The wings and all of the weapon arms magnetically attach. You can lift the model by the wings or the lance - although it should, of course, be moved by the base. He has STRIPY PANTS, with which I am very happy. There is freehand on his legs and checks on much of the cloth.

This one shipped out this week and, much like my original magnetic general, I'm sad to see it go. The fella I painted this for went to great lengths to find me in order to get this model though and I'm glad I could meet his expectations.

Tutorial Update

I posted a new freehand tutorial,Ultramarines 2nd Company icon on a cape, on the Relic forums as part of the freehand banner contest.

Commission Thunderbolt Finished

This long time project is finally finished, packed and out in the mail to Niroe. Although I started his Valkyrie first I still have that one on the table - it should also be finished this week.

Although the snow wound up a bit thicker than I had intended I'm still pleased with the base on this one. The model uses more rare earth magnets to attach to the base.

This was also the first time I'd put my trust in to decals and tried the gloss coat/decal/gloss coat/paint method that I have recommended to so many others. Turns out it works just fine... which I suppose I knew. I simply hate applying decals.

There are a lot of detail shots for this guy floating around and I'll see what I can do about putting together some better composite images.

Commission Tech Marine

Commissioned Black Templar Tech Marine that I'm pretty darn happy with. I'm going to go in and clean up the BT icons on his shoulder and knee but otherwise think that he turned out quite well.

I am especially pleased with the armour chipping and the limited rust on the exposed metal of the servo backpack. The rust was accomplished using the "Rust All" product which I'm becoming happier with the more I use it.

I'll get some better photos online the next time I break out the light box. The blending and highlighting on the red don't come through particularly well in these shots - although you can see some of it in the third photo down.

Green and blue were chosen as the split contrast colours for the red on this one. I did not, however, make any specific attempts to apply them as spot colours.

It's been awhile since I updated my Leman Russ project so I thought I'd post another WIP shot. I did the snow on this one at the same time as the Thunderbolt base... and managed to get the snow weathering BACKWARDS on the treads. Oops. Note that all of the snow is at the FRONT of the vehicle and not the back. I'll be fixing that shortly.

I also intend to add mud to the tracks, undercarriage and track marks - as well as water effect to the engine compartment to show where snow has melted on the hot metal.

I had originally planned to add several guardsmen slogging along behind the tank. I'm going to save those for another project and just get this one finished so that it's not distracting me much longer. I have far too many big projects on the table right now.

An early update on the Thunderbolt project.

I am quite pleased with how the split urban camo scheme worked out - although I think that the snow on the base is a bit thick.

There is still a lot of work to be done, of course. I'll add all of the detailing, weathering, chipping, wind streaking along the wings... some techniques that I've never applied before. This project has been a real pleasure and I intend to re-use the base idea for every future flyer.

Flyer Display Stand for Forge World Thunderbolt

Materials:

Wooden Base - craft store
3/4" x 10" square acrylic rod - plastics shop
Glue, gravel and base materials
1/2" rare earth magnets - K & J Magnetics
Two part plastic to anything epoxy

I measured the base to find the center and simply epoxied the bejebbus out of the rod. I added two of the 1/2" magnets to the top using the same epoxy and one of them to the bottom of the Thunderbolt.

After the epoxy was dried (I waited 10 minutes) I went back in with my gravel and debris.

I was hoping that the magnets would be just strong enough to allow me to lift the entire display, base and all, by the flyer. It's not. It's strong enough to survive the customary bumps that come with life on a shelf.