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.

Hobby Progress Update!

Recently I've found myself with a lot of free time due to the winter break of college. So I'm using that time as best I can to do all the things I didn't get to do while I was studying. One that is high on my list is get some hobby stuff done.

Just created a white and dark blue airbrush paint / primer for my 40K hobby table. So far I'm happy with how they came out. The dark blue especially. Vallejo model color is absolutely near perfect.

Also got a start on priming the tips of some drop pods for my roommate's Raven Guard army, and my Valkyries / Vendettas for my Imperial Guard /Astra Militarum army. I've had these Valkyries / Vendettas in storage for months now.

I also was able to prime white my priests for my IG/AM army. This is all after I finished painting up my roommates Masters of the Forge part of his army. 1 Master of the Forge with Servo-Harness, 2 Techmarines with Servo-Arms, and 8 servitors two of which have Plasma Cannons.

Here are some in progress pics. Sorry about the potato quality.

The white came out as I expected. I ended up just using a 100 ml dropper bottle and put in 1/3 Liquitex Basics Titanium White mixed with 2/3 water. I leave a little bit of room at the top so I can shake it up. Not sure if adding a BB or two would help with the mixing process or hurt it.

The dark blue came out near perfect. It is the color I wanted it to be, or the best I could expect. However it is a lot thinner than I expected. I am sure I'm going to have to do a few layers of this in certain places if not over the whole model.. Yet this was done the same way as with the Liquitex, only it was a full bottle of Vallejo game Color Imperial Blue. Absolutely no issues with mixing in water with this one. I just think I used too much. Which is fine because I can always add more paint into the dropper bottle. Also this is a test run so I'm really happy so far with the results. 

Hopefully with all the free time I've had lately I'll be updating more often. At least until school starts up again. Oh boy to I have a lot to build and paint =)

Hobby Progress Update

It has been a long time coming for this update. Life got in the way. Working full time and taking a full load at College sucks up a lot of my time. However when I do have free time I use it well. Over the Thanksgiving break I got a handful of things accomplished. Mainly my roommate bought a lot to add to his Raven Guard army. Yet in the trade in agreeing to paint them I got a couple of Contemptor Dreadnoughts with weapons! Plus I've found a way to quickly paint his army to where it looks good on the table top.

Also I've bought some new tools. Some have gotten here, and some I have just ordered. Recently I ordered a heat gun for some Forge World orders I foresee myself and my roommate getting here soon as well. Most of these hobby purchases have been to help expedite the completion of my armies now that I know I don't have that much time to focus on them. The rest have been just normal upkeep of new brushes as mine are wearing out, even with cleaning, and some more paint to complete upcoming projects.

As for my armies I haven't made much progress on them. However I did acquire some second hand Valkyries/Vendettas from eBay. Currently in the process of ensuring I have all the bitz I need for them, and magnetizing them. This brings my current total of Valkyries/Vendettas up to 4 for this army. Currently my Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum army can be fielded either as an infantry horde, tank company (with artillery support), or as Air Superiority. As I complete progress on them, and my 4 other armies, I will post updates.

Current progress so far has been:
Scout Team with Heavy Bolter
Landspeeder Storm
Scout Bikers with Grenade Launchers, Sergeant with Melta Gun and Thunder Hammer
2 Tactical Squad Sergeants
1 Tactical Marine

This is what I have left to paint in this batch of priming:

10 man Sternguard Squad with 

- Plasma Gun

- 1 of each Combi-melta, flamer, and plasma

- 1 Marine magnetized with Plasma gun, Multi-melta, and Missile Launcher

- Sergeant with Power Ax

8 Servitors

- 2 with Plasma Cannon

2 Techmarines with Lightning Claw, Servo Arm, and Power Ax

Master of the Forge with Lighting Claw and Servo Harness

The Drop Pods have been painted. However I will be painting the tips of the fins white. They are magnetized to come apart almost completely. Which is really cool and handy for painting them.

Next batch of priming will be another Sternguard Squad and Devastator Marines. After that will be the tanks, more contemptor dreadnoughts, and possibly (certainly) more!  

A couple of months ago I bought a wet pallet after reading up and hearing how awesome they were. I need to say they are awesome. I have had these paints on here for a week and they are still good to use. I may need to add a wet brush to them to get the paint just right. However I'm still learning how to use this properly. Plus some of the paints I have in bottles are 5 years old if not older. So far this has been one of the best purchases I have made for my hobby tools.


Here is the Scout Team:

The Landspeeder Storm

The Scout Biker Squad

Tactical Sergeants and Tactical Marine

Now the whole army is designed to be subdued. To not be flashy, and to have very little heraldry. If there is any to not have it be displayed like it would be on say an Ultramarine Sergeant. This is nearly the opposite of how I paint my own armies so I enjoy the challenge. Also from how I have been painting it seems to be quite easy. Even though I have had to learn a lot of new techniques and tricks to have the desired effect come through. I enjoy painting this army.

I'm also in the process of reorganizing my To - Do list for my projects so hopefully that will help me get better at getting armies accomplished. Hopefully life doesn't get in the way too much. 

Thanks for reading and I hope to have a new update before the end of the year.