WIPs

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WIP: The Littlest Blood Bowl Team

Posted by johnnya10 on 19/03/2021
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , . 2 Comments

Stupid (yet entirely necessary and sensible) lockdown. There’s a brand new edition of Blood Bowl launched and I haven’t played a single darn game of it. Those nights, sat in Bugmans, enjoying some beers as my orcs were demolished by, well, pretty much everyone, were great fun. We will get there again. But, this break has meant that I’ve got time to work on a brand new team. However (boy, this opening paragraph has a lot of twists!) the team that I wanted to work on has spent a lot of time out of stock. I’m talking about the magnificent little Snotling team, who I think are just great. I know I’m unlikely to win a game with them, but I struggle to win with top tier teams, so I figure if I’m going to lose, I may as well have a lot of fun doing so. 

Like I said, the Snotling team have been out of stock for a while, and a little while back, I posted the above on Twitter, mentioning that I would reveal what it as all about. I can tell you now – I’m working on a Chaos Familiars Blood Bowl team. Here’s a few more of them:

Well, I had the minis. Most of them anyway, and it only took three ebay purchases to bring me up to 12 tiny dudes. Why 12? Well, because I’m going to be basing the way these guys play on the Snotling team and trust me, with the amount of dead snots you end up with on these super stunty teams, you’re going to want plenty of subs (especially as you can also swarm the opposing team with them when the ref’s back is turned). Anyway, these are the three retro dudes I picked up:

So, I had the basis of my team, but not all snotlings are created equal. As well as your bottom-of-the-bog standard linemen, there are Fungas Flingas (who essentially throw mushrooms like bombs at the enemy), Stilty Runnas (who have a little more speed due to the fact they’re on stilts) and Fun Hoppas (who, despite sounding like some sort of marital aid, bounce around on Squigs). These are pretty useful to have at your disposal in a team that needs every bit of help it can get, so I wanted to make sure my little weirdos had the same access to these types of players. Obviously though, I couldn’t mount any on squigs, and mushrooms, while kind-of witchy, aren’t really chaosy, so it was time to get the brain bubbling, and crack open the greenstuff.

Fun Hoppas were pretty easy. I wanted to give them wings, but not big wings that implied flight was possible, but more vestigial wings that with some frantic beating, might carry them off the ground for a step or two. I used the wings from the Graveguard banner pole on the tiny skeleton chap, and I used plasticard to fashion some small dragonfly like wings for the daemonette (who I also gave some clothes – because it’s 2021, and far more practical for Blood Bowl besides). 

Fungus Flingas throw bombs, so I just went with old-school cartoon-inspired round bombs with fuses. I piled up the round balls on the bases, glued on the fuse holes, and then finally the flimsy little fuses. All made from green stuff, and I’ve given these to the two most wizardy looking guys. It’s important in a game of blood bowl for your opponent (and for you) to easily work out which player on the team does what, and both the wings and bombs should do this pretty well.

The brainwave for the Stilty Runnas though is what I’m most proud of. I thought about making stilts but that just didn’t seem right for familiars. And then it hit me. Tiny Balewind Vortices. It will elevate them (like the stilts) and you could see these little dirt devils zooming around the pitch too. A twist of greenstuff and an eight pointed star from one of the Chaos vehicle kits, and there you go! I’d also suggest running a pin through these – I didn’t and they feel mega flimsy so I’m just waiting for them to topple over.

Here’s a close up of some of my favourite paint jobs. I’ve completed six so far, so we’re half way through the little guys!

The bases are representative of a lava-field – probably one of the few sorts of “fields” that are available to play on in the Chaos Wastes. The cracks represent the lines on the pitch, and the height of them help to make these teeny-weeny familars stand up a little taller (making them easier to see and pick up during the game). And you can learn how to create them in yesterday’s post!

There’s a lot more to come though. Along with the six more familiars, you’ll be aware that Snotling teams also get access to a couple of tamed trolls and, of course, the infamous Snotling Pump Wagon (again, two of them). I’ve got ideas for these but I’ll keep that to myself for just a little while longer – they should be a lot of fun though. But I can show you their manager:

So that’s one of the fun little projects I’ve got on. I’ll keep you posted with any more news. Fingers crossed, by the time we’re allowed to play Blood Bowl in Bugmans again, I’ll have a brand new team to enjoy. Until then, onwards!

Just finished this guy before publishing!

Road To Warhammer Fest – Update 3: The Duel – 3rd WIP

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/02/2018
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 2 Comments

It’s actually starting to come together. The duel is getting closer and closer to being done, and it’s getting rather exciting. I’ve not had too much time to work on it recently, and I’ve got a bit of artistic block going at the moment, but it won’t be long before this project reaches its finale.

Let’s start with the base, and as you can see here, it’s done:

duel base

All of it is now painted up, and I put more care into this one than I have with any base before. Those edges aren’t dry-brushed – I painted the highlight on each lip of that rock. It took a while to do, but it was worth it. I was very conservative with the grass, and I even added some cascading shells made from clipped bits of paperclip. It’s hard to pick it out in the above image, but eventually you’ll see a picture where one of those bullets looks like it’s still tumbling.

And with the base completed, it was time put the terminator together, and add some weathering…

emperors children terminator wip

I didn’t go heavy on the weathering at all. There are a few small patches of grime here and there, and a few small patches of blood (obvs not his) dotted around, as well as a very light dusting of his feet with grey – the iPhone camera doesn’t really pick it up in the above shot but it does help to dull the lower regions down.

I placed him on the base to mark out where he’s going to stand upon that rock formation, and he promptly dived for cover. I had to get out some super glue and redo an arm after that.

You can see in the above image the wound in his torso (to the right hand side of the first spike if you go right from the ring in the cen… the big hole in his middle with the blood coming out). I wanted to have some blood spurting from this as the monofilament is extracting itself. Well, here’s my solution:

blood and hair

They’re hard to see in this image, but those are two strands of my own hair, that have had Blood For The Blood God painted onto them. The glossy paint naturally beads up on the hair, and I”l be cutting off small sections of this to use as spurting blood. And spurting blood isn’t nearly as gross as blue tack with hair stuck in it, and no-one can say I don’t put my all into these projects!

the thinnest wire ever

Speaking of thin strands, this is what I’m using for the monofilament wire, and for all intents and purposes, this pretty much is monofilament wire. I was going to use fly tying wire from the fishing industry, but instead, I got this stuff. They use it to make really fine mesh for vapes. How fine? Well, if you look at the image above, look at where it says ’30’ on the right hand side – that’s the 30mm spot obviously. Now the thick line that runs up to the top corner, next to the ’30’ – there’s a tiny break in that line just there near the ’30’. You see it? That’s the wire. ‘Thin’ isn’t the word.

converted solitaire

After a long time spent painstakingly converting my solitaire, and worrying about how I’m going to paint him, I’m now ready to paint him, though I don’t quite know how to do his jacket which I want to be a bit of a freehand piece. There’s not a huge amount of room, but I should be able to get some sort of pattern in there. At the moment I’m still weighing up paisley, Chinese embroidery, William Morris print, peacock feathers… So although I’m ready to paint it up, I still have that choice to make. Hopefully I’ll make a decision soon.

It’s all getting very close now. It’s really exciting and I have sort of been able to mock up the final pose once, and I likes it. If I can find some time this weekend, I may actually get this done! We’ll see though. No promises – I’m taking my time with this guy. I hope you’re having plenty of fun with your painting too. Onwards!

Road To Warhammer Fest – Update 2: The Duel – 2nd WIP

Posted by johnnya10 on 22/02/2018
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , . 3 Comments

csm terminator wip

It turns out that things move fast in the world of duel building. It’s already time for my second update, and I have plenty of progress to show you already – it has been a rather busy week. Let’s start with where the action has been most focussed – the terminator.

Jes Goodwin Emperors children slaaneshi renegade

I always remember the original drawing that Jes Goodwin did of an Emperor’s Children Chaos Space Marine where there’s a note about how the Emperor’s Children raided and stole a lot of their gear, allowing them access to lots of different marks of armour, weapons, and why their look was so chaotic and colourful. I wanted to bring some of that to this miniature, and so when it came to the arms, I tried to add a bit of variety and nods to other Chaos Space Marine warbands in there as well (well, I figured they stole from other warbands as much as they raided Imperial fleets and planets).

csm terminator arms

The combi-weapon, I imagine, comes from an Alpha Legion operative (it’s hard to tell in the gloomy photo above, but it’s a dark turquoise colour), while the chain blade was taken from a fallen Iron Warrior. That big skull shoulder pad was taken from a slain World Eater, perhaps on Scalathrax, while the power fist came from a trade with a Night Lords champion. They all lend themselves to that colourful and chaotic look that I mentioned earlier. Also, I’m so happy with the lightning on the power fist, I may actually do a bit of Night Lords work at a later date – a legion/warband that I’ve always been a little scared of in terms of painting.

csm terminator head

What’s more, I’ve found the head I want to use. I had wanted a face that could looked defiant, yet in a lot of pain (he has just had his insides mangled by a strand of monofilament wire after all). But because it’s Slaanesh, pain is pleasure, so I settled on having a characterful face, full of feeling. That’s why I was going to hack the head out of a Dark Apostle. It’s got some mutations going on, it’s a bit more modern so no worrying about the sculpt being too dated. I thought it would be perfect, but in the end, it just didn’t look right. It was too shouty, and it almost looked a little pleading when I looked at it up close. So, instead, I picked the bare head from the CSM terminator box set. Why mess with a classic kit, right? I should also mentioned that I’ve tidied up the pink on the horn since taking the above picture – it no long looks like he has a gentleman’s appendage growing out of his temple.

The last thing to do is a spot of weathering, and then I’ll mount him onto the base.

display base wip 2

And speaking of the base, that’s come on a little too. Yes, that’s another skull – like I wasn’t going to have one on there, right? Everybody loves skulls! Hell, GW’s core marketing concept for the last 20 years has been ‘needs more skulls’ so I’m hoping to curry favour there. I’ve also added a mix of sand, small rocks and some cork to give the base some texture, and I think I’m going to try and use some GW tufted grass too – not tried that before so will be interesting to see how that works.

harlequin build

After some rummaging around, I finally found my Harlequin. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve had this idea for a while now (a couple of years at least), and that’s when I bought the Solitaire. Well, the past version of me was not quite as careful with hacking the arm off as the present version of me would have liked him to be. It’s a bit scratched up and hacked apart, but I reckon I can rescue it. Though I’m not going to risk it – if I can’t make it all look clean, I won’t use it – I’ll just have to go and buy a new one. We shall see.

Lastly, and just for fun, I pulled out an old terminator from the Emperor’s Children army I had built many years ago. I literally just plunged my hand into the draw where they all languish and plucked out a model that felt terminator sized. Well, it turned out to be my old champion that was kitted out with the same legs, torso, arms and head as the miniature I’m building now. It was spooky – had my tastes in EC terminators really not moved on in all these years?! Apparently not. Fun to see how far I’ve come in painting terms though.

old new paint job comparison

That’s your update for today done. I hope your projects are going equally as well, and that you’re having lots of fun with you paints. Onwards!

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Road To Warhammer Fest – Update 1: The Duel Begins

Posted by johnnya10 on 19/02/2018
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 8 Comments

This is is my first update for you on the work that I’m doing on projects to take to Golden Demon at Warhammer Fest this May. And to start with, I’m going to take you through the very early stages of my first project – a duel.

So, I’ve kind of had this idea for a couple of years now, though I’m now adapting it to make it more thematic and in line with the fluff and the current stories running through the 41st Millennium narrative. I wanted to paint up a Harlequin Solitaire using his Harlequin’s Kiss weapon, but in the original iteration, he would be facing off against a T’au Crisis Suit. But I don’t have any experience painting T’au, and it’s not very story driven – these guys have no long running specific beef. That’s why I’ll be working on…

solitaire vs slaanesh

I never could stay away from Slaanesh for too long, and in this case, I’ll be using a crazy-colourful Emperor’s Children terminator – one of my favourites. This guy won’t be having a fun time though, as he’ll have been hit by a lightning fast attack by a Solitaire who is now leaping away and leaving him for dead.  I’m hoping to create something quite unique and dynamic to take to the show – it has its risks but if I get it right, it should look very cool.

I’ve started work on the base. It’s going to be simple, but I’m going to stick to what I know, and play to my strengths. Here’s an early snapshot for you:

making a display base

Of course it’s going to have some flock added to it, and there will be a few more smaller details to be help give it some personality, but this is the basis of the base. The Terminator will be standing atop of the rock formation, and the Solitaire will be using the terminator to spring forward – that might be a little hard to imagine, but hopefully you’ll see the finished work before too long.

wip slaanesh terminator

It’s not the best of pictures, but you can see that I’ve started work on the crazy colourful terminator armour. I’m working from his boots up and I’ve already reached the belt. I’ve learned new methods for painting metallics, and my animal skin/pattern game is happily on point at the moment. So far, I’ve got space tiger, space zebra, and space snake all in the mix.

One other thing that I need to be on point is my freehand game. I wanted to include a portrait of daemon Fulgrim on one of the shoulders – something a little different to a classic Slaanesh symbol, and I started off by picking this illustration to work from:

daemon fulgrim

And my first attempt didn’t go very well…

bad freehand

Now, if I was trying to paint Eddie for a new Iron Maiden album, this might not be so bad, but this didn’t work for me. It’s far too sloppy, and the colours don’t work – it’s not good enough. So, I covered it up, and started again, approaching things from a different way.

fulgrim freehand

Again, not the best shot – gold always seems to mess up my iphone camera, but this is much, much better. It’s far more in keeping, and it actually looks like the illustration of the daemonic Phoenician. It’ll look great when the whole thing is put together.

So, that’s the WIP of my duel so far. When I bring you my next update, I’m hoping to have the terminator and the base done. The Solitaire will be coming later when I’ll have to work out how to model monofilament wire – that should be interesting. I hope you’re having fun with your projects too, and until next time, as ever; Onwards!

Bits And Bobs – Random Hobby Thoughts In July ’17

Posted by johnnya10 on 06/07/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Silliness and Stuff, Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 2 Comments
Every now and again, as my regular readers can attest to, I like to put up a post that isn’t really about one thing. It’s about lots of things that maybe don’t deserve their own posts. The little bits and bobs of hobby-related ideas and activities that are worth voicing (well, I think they are and it’s my blog, so there) but not stretching out to a full post. So, here goes…
WoundWangs
Bits And Bobs - Random Hobby Thoughts
Heard of a WoundWang before? Well, now you have. These little bits of pointy plastic are the genius brainchild of Mönk Stevens and they are incredibly useful for tracking wounds in 40k now that there are some beasties out there with dozens of wounds on them. They come in a wide range of different sizes to cater for models with just a few wounds, to the really big stuff as well. The project is now backed on Kickstarter (and I count myself among the backers) but seeing as it’s such a darn good idea, it’s worth spreading the word a bit more. And if nothing else, you can giggle at the name. Wang. Lol.
Back the Woundwang project on Kickstarter today!
WIPs
I have found a little more time to paint recently and my Blood Bowl team, Da Mighty Redz, are progressing, though slowly. I’ve added three more linemen since the last time I posted, and I’ve also done their turn/score icons as well.
orc blood bowl team wip
I’ve also got a crazy plan for their cheat tokens, but more on that later.
And hot on the heels of last week’s Primaris Lieutenant, I’ve decided to get my grossness on again and I’m having a crack at the big bell bloke from the Dark Imperium box (I’ll learn his name later). He’s in his very early stages right now, but you can get an idea of what I’m working towards here:
nurgle marine wip
Some classic Nurgle green, and plenty of tainted metallics as well. Yuk, but yay. A few more bits to base layer and wash before highlighting happens, but I’m hoping to get a chance to work on it this weekend.
Orks & Primaris 
orcs and space marines
This is just a shower thought I had about how the appearance of Primaris Marines must have affected the greenskins. We know that Orks associate a great deal of importance with size. The bigger the Ork, the more authority he has. Snotlings are at the bottom of the food chain, then grots, then boys and then Nobs. Well, for all these millennia, presumably the Orks have considered the Space Marines to be the Nobs, and the Guardsmen the grots, right? So how did they react when they saw the new Primaris Marines? Surely these new humies must be the real Nobs! They’re so much bigger! Which of course to orks means that there’s more humie to kill, which is all well and good, but they still must have had a shock when they realised that what they thought were humie nobs were just boys and that the nobs have only just now arrived. Just one of those random thoughts that pops into your head when you spend too much time hunched over your paints and minis. Has anyone else thought this, or had a similar sort of thought recently?
Codices Are Coming
And what a schedule to look forward to. For those indignant that the Space Marines get the first book, you need to hush up a little. A) Often times the first book is the weakest (Baby, I know the first book is the weakest / But when it comes to rolling lucky I’m cursed / When it comes to learning rules I’m the worst… *cough* sorry about that. Anyway…) and B) Of course they were going to get the first book! They’re the poster boys and they just got a load of new fancy units. It would be weird if they didn’t go first.
8th edition codex
But by the end of the year (and that’s not that long) they’re talking about having 10 books out, which is darn good. While the index books have been fine for getting us all familiar with the new rules, they lack personality, they’re a bit bloated and cumbersome, and obviously, they don’t include the fluff or miniature galleries either. This will be a busy and very interesting schedule and I’m sure I’ll cover it in more depth as the books get released – I will definitely be getting a copy of the Space Marines book though, so I’m looking forward to that.
And that’s sort of that. Not too much specific, but plenty going on. I hope your own hobby efforts are going well. Onwards!

WIP – Blood Bowl Orc Team

Posted by johnnya10 on 01/06/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 2 Comments
blood bowl team wip
Yes, I am taking a break from 40k, albeit a brief one, because I am getting into Blood Bowl again with my Orc team – Da Mighty Redz. In an homage to old-school basing practices, and my beloved Liverpool FC, this team will soon be taking to the pitch, and I even hope to get a couple of tournaments under my belt by the end of the year. So let’s meet the players…
Only four players have passed through the paintbrush process so far, but I was happy enough that I wanted to show them off. Two linemen and two throwers are ready to take the field, and I’m very happy with them so far.
orc blood bowl players
Starting from the bottom, yes, those are goblin green bases. Well, Skarsnik Green (as it is these days) to be exact, but it’s as close as I’m going to get. It suits the “field of play” look that a Blood Bowl team should to have, and is gloriously retro to boot. I’ve been able to use flock again for the first time in years, and there are a few rocks on those bases too – well, this is an orc pitch. To them, the rocks just make the game more fun.
Their bases also feature their names; Brute Goblar, Hip-Prya, Stabya Lonzo and Burnz. For those of you who don’t get the references, that’s Bruce Grobbelaar, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso and John Barnes – a selection of my footballing heroes. The rest will have equally orc-y monikers too.
orc blood bowl models
So of course, they have a red strip (well, the armour is red), and their kit sponsor is Orcidas. Their team badge is a flaming torch, and they all feature their numbers – the same as those of their name-inspiring Liverpool players. Goblar even has “YNWA” painted on his chest plate, but rather than standing for “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it stands for the far more orc-appropriate “Yu’ll Neva Walk Again”.
I didn’t know how I’d feel about there being two of each model in this team, but I’ve found that with some minor mods, and a few change ups in the paint jobs, that this isn’t an issue. As someone who briefly played American Football, a uniformity in stances is actually a good thing. What’s more, I like my Orcs being different shades of green. It really does help to give them each an individual look.
blood bowl player names
And finally, I wanted to show these guys off against my old Dark Elf team. These particular Dark Elves were only painted (by me) perhaps four years ago (too many models have passed over my painting table since then to recall exactly) but you can see how far I’ve come since then. At least I hope you can – I can and that’s what’s important. Not only that, but it gives you an idea of how much larger and more impressive the new models are. I can’t wait to see the Elven Union team and, dare I dream, a Dark Elf team in the future too.
old new blood bowl painting
That’s your lot for now. More Scouse Orcs (Scorcs?) to come in the near future. But for now, that’s all on my models.
-=-=-=-
On a sadder note, I just wanted to pay my own little tribute to Alan Bligh who unfortunately passed away a few days ago. I had the privilege of meeting him on more than one occasion at Forge World Open Days and other GW events, and he was such a nice person, and a genuine fan of the game as well. He was funny too – some of his Q&A answers at the Warhammer Fest I attended a couple of years back had the room in stitches.
badab war books
For me, his work on the Badab War books was a glorious achievement. I read those two hefty tomes from cover to cover and loved every word of it. Thanks for that, Alan.
Onwards.

WIP – BA Veteran Squad

Posted by johnnya10 on 13/04/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

hh ba vets wip

So, it’s been a little while since I gave you an update on my hobby progress and I wanted to share with you where I am with my BA Vets. The good news is that the torsos and weapons (between them the longest, most time consuming and frustrating parts of the process) are now almost complete. As you can see above, these guys are a little fancier than the standard tactical squads, and I’ve added plenty of yellows, and even a dash or two of gold to help them stand out.

IMG_2382

And yes, you can see two heavy flamers in this squad. These are Blood Angels vets – they know a thing or two about shock and awe, and they do like setting fire to things, so I expect to have some real fun with these fellows drop-podding in and burninating everyone around them. It will of course make this one hell of an expensive squad to bring to the table, but the rule of cool dictates that it must be done. But what of their own mighty leader…

blood angel power fist

Yep, that power fist is going to make them even more expensive. But it looks so cool. I can win games with ‘cool’, right? Also happy with the helmet on his base there. Is it Sons of Horus, or is it Alpha Legion…? Well, instead of trying to be mysterious, I’ll just say that it kind of works as either. Which is fine. I mixed the paint myself so it’s a little too green for Alpha Legion and a little too blue for the SoH. Works either way, so I’m calling that a win. And what will my sergeant have in his other hand?

forge world hand flamer

Yes indeed, that is a hand flamer. Because why have two template weapons in a squad when you can have three? And again, it looks cool. Winning.

Once this is painted up and put in place, it will be shoulders, backpacks and heads. Of course, I will keep you up to date with progress here as and when I can. I hope your own hobby-related endeavours are going well for you. Onwards!

BA WIP & More

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/02/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Silliness and Stuff, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 2 Comments

This is one of those annoying ‘something and nothing’ sort of blog posts that all bloggers are forced to do from time to time. When we don’t have anything amazing to show off or anything interesting to really talk about. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. So let’s get this show on the road.

First up, in an effort to prove that I’ve actually been doing something, here’s a quick snap of the next unit that I’m working on:

wip ba vets

Unfortunately, this paltry offering is the most that I’ve been able to drum up in the last two weeks. Four torsos, four pairs of legs and a bunch of other guys waiting for similar treatment who will one day be my Veteran Tactical Squad. While I’m happy with how these chaps are turning out, I’m not particularly overwhelmed with my progress. In fact, I’m barely even whelmed.

Things have come up, I’ve been busy, and in truth, my love for Mephiston Red has cooled ever so slightly in recent weeks. I need a break from it all so that I can come at it again fresh and full of beans, because at the moment, I ain’t got no beans, man. But that’s not my only problem though…

messy hobby desk

Now, that is a messy desk. But more than that, it’s full. Like, you can’t fit anything else on there. So I need to sort out either a display cabinet or some sort of chest/trunk to store my grey tide. However, given that I have work, a holiday coming up, and a billion other things to do, I can’t find the time to sort either of those things out. Give me a couple of weeks, and I’ll hopefully have something sorted out because the above is unacceptable, and in no way conducive to a productive hobby.

But in better news, I’m still finding time to be creative. I’m attending life drawing every week which is good – I hadn’t done any in a couple of years so it’s good to get the sketch book and pens out again. This is the sort of stuff that I’ve been knocking out of those sessions:

John Ashton Life Drawing

Of course this activity takes up an evening each week where I could be painting, but I’m enjoying it greatly. Furthermore, just being creative in any way is good for one’s hobby efforts. And soon, my love for Blood Angels will return and I can finally finish with Phase 1 of my Heresy era army. Then I’ll put the Mephiston Red away for a little while and work on something else.

So there you have it – a classic something and nothing post. Hopefully I’ll have something a little more exciting to share with you in March. I hope your own projects are going a little quicker than mine. Onwards!

WIP 2: BA Spartan

Posted by johnnya10 on 06/02/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 6 Comments

spartan top wip

Just a quick update for you on where I’m at with the Spartan which is, in truth, not a lot further, but I do now have the top of the tank done. Which, by the way, is no mean feat. There are a billion and one edges to highlight up there and that takes its time. The white stripe was pretty nerve racking too – now if anything has ever required a steady hand, it’s that, but it’s turned out looking alight. Didn’t go overboard with the paint chipping either, and yet it still looks busy. Nice.

Annoyingly, I’ve just realised that these pictures were taken before I finished working on the ramp, and the inside, which are also now done. I can’t be bothered to put too much love into the innards of this tanks as you can’t really see into them, and I’ve done enough so that they look decent. That’ll do for those, though the ramp looks a lot nicer – you’ll see some shots of that in the future.

spartan engine stack

I’ve also done the beast of an engine stack at the back there, which was fiddly as hell, but it’s turned out looking alright.More weathering has gone into this since the images were taken too – I really must get better coordinated when taking these images. The above images makes the colours look a little flat, but there’s a bit more definition in there which will come out when I take the glamour shots of the finished tank. And yes, those are orange indicator lights at the back. Safety first. 😉

spartan rear top

And finally, here’s a top down view from the rear, so that you can see all of that lovely edge highlighting that in no way took bloody ages and certainly didn’t drive me near insane.

It’s getting there, but it is taking some time. Next up will be the sides, then the tracks, and finally the guns which I’ll paint separately and stick on afterwards. After that, I final bit of weathering. I’m also going to see if I think I can add any more blood drop symbols or ‘IX’ markings anywhere – don’t want to overdo it with those, so we’ll see.

Anyway, that’s how far I’ve come. Just wanted to reassure you that I am working on it, albeit slowly. I might sneak in another WIP before it’s completed but we’ll see how it progresses. I hope your own projects are moving ahead at a faster pace than mine. Onwards!

WIP: BA Spartan

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/01/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

As it’s going to take me a little while to get this finished, and as a nice Friday treat, I thought I’d share with you a couple of images of my latest project – A Spartan for my IXth Legion. Here it is in very little of its glory:

spartan wip

Thankfully, a lot of the leg work is done here. All the base coats are on, and the silver areas, and the top of the hull, have all seen some wash, but boy did it take some effort to get to this point. You know when you get a perfect storm of issues that lead to a project being a lot less fun than it ought to be? Well, that’s what I’ve been going through with this.

It started on Boxing Day (26th of Dec for those who don’t box), when I put this kit together. I was hungover and grumpy from a lot of festive celebrations so I was less than caring when assembling things. Entirely my own stupid fault, and I have plenty of regrets. It’s a gorgeous kit, and I owed it more TLC during assembly. But I will forever be reminded of this as there’s a little bit of wonkiness running through everything. Not overly noticeable to most (I hope) but I’ll know. There are also a lot of mould lines that I have spent a lot of time removing and this thing is now more green stuff than resin in some places, and some of the lines are still there. Weathering will save the day in the end, I’m sure.

Blood Angels Land Raider Door

I wanted to get one bit of it finished just to have some sense of true accomplishment, and so I have done the upper front door, which is one of the Forge World upgrades meant for Land Raiders. This is ever so slightly wonky, as it was a tad too thin and so I had to add a couple of millimetres of green stuff down one side. But that is literally the one bit that is done. All the rest of the tank is still to do and it’s going to take a while. I haven’t even built the guns yet!

fullsizerender-2

So this is what will be keeping me busy for the foreseeable future. And speaking of those guns, they’ve come in classic curly FW styling so they’ll be getting a dunking in boiling water before I even start with those. But yeah, it’s a beast. A huge kit that will be fun, but I am realising more and more that I do prefer working on smaller miniatures. I don’t mean epic scale or anything like that – but I get a lot more enjoyment out of working on a single character than a big tank. I’ll still enjoy the tank, but I’ll enjoy painting a single dude a lot more. It’s important to learn these things about oneself.

There you have it then. That’s what I’ll be struggling through, and you will see the completed monster here soon(ish). May your own projects go well and speedily for you. Onwards!