Hobby Update

Recently I have been trying to catch up with the plan I made for myself to get my armies painted. Life happened so I am a few months behind on this. Not entirely happy, but it is a hobby not a job so long as I keep getting back in the saddle who cares right? Building on the last post I have accomplished a few things, so at least progress is happening if only slowly.

I got a new airbrush table with filter and suction fan. So now when I airbrush my 40K models I won't have to worry so much about fumes and paint splatters.

My new transport cases from KR Multicase for my Angels of Vengeance army for 40K showed up. MUCH better than the older cases, and I even have room to spare! With an army that large you would think I shouldn't add to it.

Got a couple of Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts with custom bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures for my Deathwing army, and new bases for my regular Contemptor Dreadnoughts for my Angels of Vengeance army. I am looking forward to having the time to put those together, magnetize them, and paint them. Also the Limited Edition model from Forge World. So now I have ANOTHER Company Master. The Contemptor Dreadnoughts for my Angels of Vengeance army already have their bases magnetized. Those bases just need to be primed and painted.

Still waiting on my other paints to show up so that I can finish some projects I have. I am going to try out a new Israel Desert Sand color from Vallejo for my Deathwing and see if I like it. The Army Builder paint is nice, but I'm not sure if I will want to keep using it as it is very easy to spray too much onto a model. I like the control an airbrush gives me.

I enjoy the zen feeling I get when I am lost inside of modeling and painting.

As for the TH&SS squad that needed to be put in an alcohol bath they came out wonderfully. The alcohol bath worked amazingly! I am thinking that the formula for Army Painter is more like make up than paint. Which would explain why alcohol worked so well where simple green did not. They look a little worn, but once they are primed it should not be noticeable

I am about half way done painting the 3 Assault Cannon Squads and Heavy Flamer Squad. I have the TH&SS squad ready for prime, and the Plasma Cannon team has been converted and put together. They are also awaiting to be primed. As for the Company Master I put him to the side so I could focus on him later when I have the time. I want the army done first.

Little by little things are getting completed and done to where I will no longer need to add to an army. I am looking forward to that day.

Angels of Vengeance and Deathwing Update

It has been some time since I posted last. I ended up having to take courses over the summer at college, move from one apartment into another, and somehow get my life in order before I was able to focus on anything hobby related. Yet now that is done, and I have finally been able to get some hobby related progress done.

I have mainly been focusing on getting my armies squared away and completed one at a time. I have my Angels of Vengeance 99% of the way done. All models fully assembled and painted. With that said I have a few new additions and upgrades that I am finishing with them to make them complete. All of the below either needs to be primed or painted. Only the arm options on the Contemptor Dreadnoughts needs assembly as they are being magnetized.

- Stormeagle missile launchers
- Forge World limited edition model primed and painted
- 2 CC arms for Contemptor Dreadnoughts
- 2 Assault Canons for Contemptor Dreadnoughts

I also got new bases for my Angels of Vengeance army Contemptor Dreadnoughts to make them stand out a bit more. They fit in very well with the rest of the basing of the army, and since they are now magnetized a quick prime and paint job will see these models one step closer to completion.

Yet with my Angels of Vengeance being more or less painted I had time to focus on my next army. I chose that army to be my Deathwing as I felt it would be pretty straightforward and quick. Most of it has been assembled, and the only additions I needed to make to it were able to be bought. One thing that bothered me however was that I had far too many Assault Cannon squads. Yet as luck would have it I found a way to solve that problem.

In my trade with my old roommate I ended up getting his old Terminator Squad. It was 6 Terminators (1 Sergeant w/ Power Sword, 1 Assault Cannon, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher, and 3 Storm Bolter & Powerfist Terminators) and they were in fairly good shape. However with this squad and the other 5 man Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield Terminator Squad I got in the trade something bad happened. The primer I sprayed on them was too thick, and worse yet it was Army Painter primer.

After a bath in simple green the first 6 Terminators were mostly free of the primer. The TH&SS squad barely anything had happened. So once they were cleaned off and dried I did some research for the TH&SS squad, and they are soaking in rubbing alcohol to see if this will solve my primer problem. The other squad was clean enough for conversions.

I quickly took the Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminator apart. No more CMS or arms. This Terminator is now to be another Company Master for the Deathwing. I am still debating if I want him to have a Storm Shield or not. The Assault Cannon Terminator stared wielding a Plasma Cannon, and one of the Storm Bolter & Powerfist Terminators ended up wielding a Chain Fist.

Once the components are dry, and the models I need painted on my table are painted, I will start the assembly of my 2 new Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts. I really like these models. Yet what I have to paint is quite a lot, but since I am painting it assembly line style it is going very smoothly. So far I have the following to paint.

- 3 Assault Cannon Squads
- Heavy Flamer Squad
- Interrogator-Chaplain
- Librarian
- Company Master Conrad
- Terminator Command Squad w/ TH&SS
- Terminator Command Squad
- Land Raider Crusader
- 2 Ravenwing Bike Squads (1 w/ Melta Guns; 1 w/ Plasma Guns)

What I have left to assemble and/or prime is:

- Company Master Garth
- Plasma Cannon Squad
- TH&SS Squad
- 2 Relic Contemptor Dreadnoughts

Currently I'm painting the Assault Cannon Squads and the Heavy Flamer Squad at once. Company Master Conrad, the Interrogator-Chaplain, and the Librarian will be next. Followed by the Land Raider Crusader and Bike Squads. This is my tentative plan while I find time to acquire some more primer and prime what is needed to be primed, Hopefully I am able to get my Contemptor Dreadnoughts assembled in time so I can prime everything all at once. Living in an apartment has its disadvantages.

Yet my hope is to be completely done with these armies by the end of October. I am a few months behind on my schedule, and in fact have thrown it completely out the window. I need to finish college first, and get a job after. Once that is done I intend to focus more time to this hobby and complete the projects I have made for myself.

Pictures of finished models, and whole armies (if possible) to come as I am able to get them.

Company Veteran Squad WiP

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had kit/bitz bashed a couple of Company Veteran Squads. Well tonight I just finished painting one of them up. Company Veteran Squad Valeris! This squad was a lot of fun to paint. I have bionic legs, 2nd Edition bitz, an old metal Dark Angels Plasma Cannon, and a few other things that just give this squad a lot of personality.

Now equipment wise they are just a glorified Tactical Squad. The Sergeant only has a power weapon and melta bombs, there is a plasma cannon, a flamer, and a plasma gun. That is all this squad has for equipment.

The bases they are standing on, which I am quite happy with, are 32mm Urban Rubble bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures.

The Bionic Legs were from Anvil Industry, and I got the 3 pack. They have a decent selection of bionic bitz even for Imperial Guardsmen. If that is something you are going for.

Here is the squad in all of its glory!

For Sergeant Valeris I took the power sword from the Deathwing Termainator kit and gave it to him. This is the Assault on Black Reach Tactical Sergeant model. I really do like how versatile this model is when converting. Simple changes end up giving his model a lot more personality.

The Space Marine on the left has a Sternguard Bolter from the Raven Guard Upgrade kit from Forge World. While the one on the right has a pair of bionic legs. 

Complete kit/bitz bash here. This is the Plasma Cannon I salvaged from my Deathwing Dreadnought, and put back together. You have to look very close to even tell the plasma cannon was cut off. I am not sure if this model is even available anymore. He also has a pair of the bionic legs.

The Marine on the right has a 2nd Edition Bolter. I have a better shot of it below. I am almost out of all of my 2nd Edition bitz, yet I feel it fits into this squad and the Angels of Vengeance quite well.

The Marine on the right has the third pair of bionic legs. I also really like his pose and stance. Plus a detail shot of his auspex.

Again I really like the bases for these models. I feel that 32mm bases for Space Marines are fitting and amazing. It really makes them look, and feel, more massive than a Guardsman or other model that would be on a 25mm base. 

For now this squad is table top ready. I do not feel like I will be painting over them any time soon. I might go back and touch up some things once I give them a fresh look over. I hope to have either Company Veteran Squad Exalta or my Storm Eagle painted for the next update.

Dreadnought Drop Pods

This has been an project that I have been wanting to finish for awhile now. I had put it off because of the simplicity that is needed to paint these models. Putting them together is far more difficult. Yet one I bought from Forge World proper, the other I got off of eBay hoping that it was a better deal.

It wasn't. I had to do a lot of green stuff work just to get it to work. It was a knock off, and I should had known better, but I didn't. It is maybe 1 - 2mm off in scale at most. So since it looks a little... off... it has been dubbed "The Short Bus". At least I can tell which pod is with on the board just by looking.

To paint them is easy, well for my army. Prime them black, sponge brush the inside and bottom of the main engine at the top with Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher, paint the intake fans on top of the main engine with Boltgun Metal/Leadbelcher, and the Aquila paint gold. Sponge brush some other accents as desired, and done.

In total it took me about an hour to put together the Forge World Drop Pod. About 3 for 'The Short Bus'. Since the wash didn't work so well I needed to reprime the spots that didn't hold, so the prime took about 2 - 3 hours. Even with Vallejo Black Airbrush Primer it still took a bit to dry. Simply for it was such a large model.

To paint them as I described above only took 30 minutes total.

From this experience I learned a couple of lessons.

1. Always buy Forge World from Forge World. It is worth the extra cost.

2. Ensure that your models are clean. A 24 hour dip in full strength Simple Green and quick scrub might not get all the release agent off. So a double check on that point will save you pain later.

3. Don't get discouraged if things are not working as well as you would like. You are a hobbyist and can find a way around this with the supplies you have. If you want to put the effort into it.

So here are my Dreadnought Drop Pods in all their, finally, finished glory!

Deathwing and Librarians WIP Update

In making of my new Company Veteran Squads I needed to dismantle my Deathwing Venerable Dreadnought Jophiel's custom made Plasma Cannon. It was the old metal plasma cannon, and one of the first conversions I ever did. Yet one of the squads needed a Plasma Cannon, and I had the rest of the bitz left in my bitz box.

Let this be a lesson to never throw any bitz part away no matter how insignificant it may seem.

So I put in a Forge World order with a friend a while back, as in a couple of months ago, and in that order I got some new Contemptor Dreadnought weapons. I also got a Dreadnought Plasma Cannon. So with that here is Jophiel with his new Plasma Cannon!

Also in the back I am was working on my three new Librarians for my Angels of Vengeance army. I got a lot of bitz in the deal with my old roommate, so these are all kit bashed! 

Ok well not the legs on Asteroth. Those are Death Company legs and I bought them because I needed them. Also not their backpacks because I bought them special so they would fit in and stand out better. So bitz bashed? 

Anyways I finished them up in about 5 hours after finishing up the Plasma Cannon. I took breaks to do real life stuff like laundry while painting. Here are the three newest Librarians to my Angels of Vengeance army. From left to right Hebron, Zamiel, and Asteroth!

I also had a couple of Watchers in the Dark I had yet to paint so I painted them up while I did the Librarians.

I hope to be able to meet the challenge I set for myself in one of my last posts. I am so far a week behind, but that is alright because I have some stuff in my daily life that is more pressing, like family and school. So I hope to at the very least have some progress every week. Let's hope that happens! I'll keep you updated!

Interrogator-Chaplains Completed!!!

In my last post I mentioned that I made 2 new Interrogator-Chaplains with just the bits I had left over. Well I just got done painting them. Overall I am happy with how they turned out, and honestly much better than I thought. Either my modeling skill is improving, my painting skills are improving, or both. Either way I'm happy to present the newest additions to my Angels of Vengeance Army, Interrogator-Chaplains Morgan and Caleb!

Morgan

I am not sure if you can see it here but the head I used in this model had a lot of build up I could not fix on the right eye. So instead I painted is Space Wolves Grey and left the pupil out. 

He got into a fight with a Ork Big Mek Iron Hoof on top of his Stompa and nearly lost his eye. He tricked, and tripped, Ork Big Mek Iron Hoof into falling off the top of his own Stompa during a duel, thus ending the Waaagh! that he started. There are bionics underneath his eye that allow him to see, but his eye has lost all color due to the injury. A full bionic replacement was not needed, or wanted. Morgan refuses to go by the unofficial nickname of "One-Eye Morgan" for it too closely resembles the Tyranid of the same nickname. He is noted with finding one captain of The Fallen, and bringing him back to The Rock.

Caleb

He is as fierce as they come. A master of single combat he has taken down a Ork Warboss Big Toof, Chaos Sorcerer Bastiel, and Eldar Farseer Landriel in challenges. Caleb is also noted with hunting and finding two of The Fallen to be taken back to The Rock. His hatred for the Heretic, the Traitor, and the Xenos knows no bounds.

Long Overdue Hobby Progress Update!!!

Last time I posted was quite a while ago. College and life in general got in the way. I did not stop painting or modeling however! In that time I painted up my roommate's custom Shrike model, his "Shrikes Wing" Vanguard Assault Squad, all custom built, and the rest of his army was painted. I was given until the end of May to complete it, and got it done a week ahead of schedule by request. I do not have the models with me, or pictures of them as of yet, but once I do have them I will be sure to post them!

For my own armies I ended up adding a few things to them. I bought a second Dreadnought Drop Pod, weapons for my new Contemptor Dreadnoughts which were traded from my roommates army, and a Deathwing Terminator box from the new-ish kit. I also received all the bitz left over from my roommates army. Whatever he didn't use I got. With all the bitz I got from the trade I dug through all of those bitz and my own. I was able to make some really nice units! In total I was able to make the following:

- Company Veteran Squad
10 man, Sergeant w/ Power Fist, Multi-Melta, and 2 Melta Guns

- Company Veteran Squad
10 man, Sergeant w/ Power Sword & Melta Bombs, Plasma Cannon, Plasma gun, and Flamer

- Interrogator-Chaplain x 2
Jump Pack optional

- Librarian x 2
Force Claw, Jump Pack optional

- Librarian
Force Sword, Jump Pack optional

- Deathwing Command Squad
Standard, Apothecary, Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

Also in the final trade with my roommate for painting his army I got his Terminators.

5 Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield Terminators. I just added a Cyclone Missile Launcher to them to have them fit my Deathwing better.

6 Regular Terminators: 1 Sergeant w/ Power Sword, 1 w/ Assault Cannon, and 1 w/ Cyclone Missile Launcher.

With all of this my armies have grown. I now have a full 120+ Terminators in my Deathwing army alone! Plus the growth of my Angels of Vengeance I am having to find new transport options. If I were to field my whole Angels of Vengeance army it could be on Apocalypse scale, but I'd want to throw a titan in for kicks.

For the Company Veteran Squads above I needed some bases for them. I ended up ordering some bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures, and they were 32mm. I was on the fence about them at first, yet as I started to model with them it did make the marines I was putting on them stand out a lot more. I really like that Space Marines are moving to the 32mm base size. I am unsure of how this effects them game wise, but I like the aesthetic it gives them.

I also got some custom bases for the Deathwing Command Squad and, they make them really stand out! I really like it and cannot wait to have time to paint them.

On that note as I type this my 2 Dreadnought Drop Pods, Company Veteran Squads from above, and the Chaplains and Librarians from above are currently drying from their prime. I found out that Vallejo makes an air brush primer and I love it! The only downside is that it is really expensive, but living in an apartment this is better.

With only a year left in school I have decided to focus on that and to stop working. This will, hopefully, give me a lot more free time to be able to focus on my armies. My hope is that by the end of the year to have transport options for all of them. Also to have as much painted as possible. So with that I have given myself the challenge that every week I will have a new squad painted. Having so much to paint is putting a damper on my ability to game. I also really like seeing a fully painted army on the tabletop.

My goal is that by the end of the year to have 30 units/vehicles painted. Only 10 of them will make a fully painted Deathwing. I will not paint Independent Characters over a week, I will paint multiples of them so the process gets sped up a bit.

Since I am in the middle of painting right now I will get back to it. I will post more when I have pictures.