Jun 8, 2011
Jun 5, 2011
more nids
amazing... i take pics with my phone today and they turn out better than yesterday's... taken with my actual camera. yay for HTC :p go figure
todays work - the last of the 3 zoanthropes. need some more work on their necks, though its enough for today. im having fun making skeletal parts in press moulds for use on the bases
todays work - the last of the 3 zoanthropes. need some more work on their necks, though its enough for today. im having fun making skeletal parts in press moulds for use on the bases
Jun 4, 2011
carnifex!
well after what feels like a day of hard work toiling on those oh so hard to paint carapaces i think i'm almost done with the carnifex (just need to add some tufts of grass on the base once the snow is dry). actually it took me (a shameful) 8 hours start-to-finish to get this model done and well over half of that was the many layers on the armour plates...
the blue is simple hawk turquoise drybrushed on in a few layers with skull white added to it for another two or three layers (mostly to the tail, head and highlight areas). very quick and dirty and simple - just the way i like it :)
the armour plates are a base of chaos black with skull white added for about 8 consecutive layers until i was applying pure skull white. the paint was applied in a stripey fashion with an old flat brush, which helped speed up the process somewhat. but still... a very painstaking progress that i dont particularly enjoy (and it shows on the vents on the back too - they were the last part i painted), which is a shame as i love the final effect. the scything blades are just black and gloss varnish.
the fleshy areas between the armour is dwarf flesh overbrushing with some wkull white added for the second layer. an old black ink was added after
the tongue is just red gore with added tanned flesh. the base rim is vallejo charred brown (exactly the same as GW scorched brown) while the earth is a mix of chaos black thrakka green, vermin brown and shadow grey applied in patchy sections for variations, all highlighted with fortress grey though truth be told its probably not worth it as i end up covering most of it up with snow anyway, so ill likely just stick to a simpler method with other models. the snow itself is pva with baking powder sprinked on top.
the blue is simple hawk turquoise drybrushed on in a few layers with skull white added to it for another two or three layers (mostly to the tail, head and highlight areas). very quick and dirty and simple - just the way i like it :)
the armour plates are a base of chaos black with skull white added for about 8 consecutive layers until i was applying pure skull white. the paint was applied in a stripey fashion with an old flat brush, which helped speed up the process somewhat. but still... a very painstaking progress that i dont particularly enjoy (and it shows on the vents on the back too - they were the last part i painted), which is a shame as i love the final effect. the scything blades are just black and gloss varnish.
the fleshy areas between the armour is dwarf flesh overbrushing with some wkull white added for the second layer. an old black ink was added after
the tongue is just red gore with added tanned flesh. the base rim is vallejo charred brown (exactly the same as GW scorched brown) while the earth is a mix of chaos black thrakka green, vermin brown and shadow grey applied in patchy sections for variations, all highlighted with fortress grey though truth be told its probably not worth it as i end up covering most of it up with snow anyway, so ill likely just stick to a simpler method with other models. the snow itself is pva with baking powder sprinked on top.
May 26, 2011
slow progress...
well my crappy work-hours, coupled with lots of overtime recently has slowed down my modelling work over the past weeks. lots of evening and night shifts mean im either too tired to do much other than eat and sleep at home or leaves me with a mornings off, which i havent been able to get my head around working in yet. but anyhow, i managed a bit of work on the librarian and something else.
Librarian
i repainted most of the blue and, on the whole, am a lot happier with it this time round. the highlights are a lot better than before (still far from perfect, but good enough for me) and the colour is better, though i suspect most people wont notice the difference. originally it was painted with a base of necron abyss over a white overcoat, feathered up to regal blue, ultramarine blue and finally highlights painted on with ultramarine blue + skull white. a few layers of black ink and badab black were applied before early coats. the second time round i started with a base of 50/50 necron abyss/regal blue with a single black ink wash painted to the recesses before feathering with regal blue, regal blue/ultramarine blue, ultramarine blue and final highlights with ice blue. i think the new colour i not as dark and a bit colder than the original one, which offsets the red/yellow and warm base...
im happy with the robes. pretty simple and rough, which is how i like them. i like to imagine marines in really rough burlap tabards - cheap coarse stuff - so i dont take too much time on them. keeping mind that the tabard is scratch-built from milliput im quite happy with it. finally i can say im getting the hang of sculpting robes (though full on cloaks are still defying gravity somewhat, as youll see when ive finished the other howling griffon characters and especially garro...
the howling griffon shoulder pad turned out nicely, though theres not much to it. i did mess up with the quartering, giving too much to the left (front) side than the right (back), but luckily, thanks to the shield it doesnt show. this was also my first experience using home-made transfer sheets and i think i done pretty well for myself considering its my first attempt, and on a curved surface to boot. i feel confident i can apply them to the rest of the unit without problems. i also intend to use a larger griffon on the banner, once i decide exactly what else ill add to it (thats why the brown on it isnt exactly up to par - ill most likely be covering it up anyway later on).
thinking too add something to the right shoulder pad - maybe the librarian horned skull, though not sure how to do it (plus havent done freehand in a while, so need to practice more)
EDIT: as always, in my haste, ive realised ive left loads of bits unfinished - the book on the shield, the piping on the force weapon and other details. they can wait until i paint the rest.
Tyranids
well, i had so much fun painting the zoanthrope that i had to think about what to do next... and here it is:
so its two big boys up next. im going to really enjoy painting these guys in that black/turquoise colour scheme and applying baking soda and weathering powder to the bases. maybe ill actually finish this army one day!
Orks
my long gestating orks are slowly coming back to life, in the form of this monster:
i scratchbuilt this about a year ago and never got round to painting it as i wasnt entirely satisfied with with end result - felt a bit too flimsy for a proper ork vehicle. though im more than pleased with the technical aspects of the model - the hydraulics and mechanical parts, for instance - i really think it could be more orky. well ill keep that in mind for when i make the next one :p for the time being ill paint this up in my bad moon scheme and see if i can sell it off.
painting the chrome and applying the badab black / devlan mud rust was a breeze with the airbrush, really saved a lot of time and gave me the confidence to go ahead and maybe make that transformer model ive been wanting to make for a while - from a proper lamborghini car kit, chopped up and reassembled in transformery fashion - ive got the kit, just havent started yet. ah so many projects, so little attention sp...
Librarian
i repainted most of the blue and, on the whole, am a lot happier with it this time round. the highlights are a lot better than before (still far from perfect, but good enough for me) and the colour is better, though i suspect most people wont notice the difference. originally it was painted with a base of necron abyss over a white overcoat, feathered up to regal blue, ultramarine blue and finally highlights painted on with ultramarine blue + skull white. a few layers of black ink and badab black were applied before early coats. the second time round i started with a base of 50/50 necron abyss/regal blue with a single black ink wash painted to the recesses before feathering with regal blue, regal blue/ultramarine blue, ultramarine blue and final highlights with ice blue. i think the new colour i not as dark and a bit colder than the original one, which offsets the red/yellow and warm base...
im happy with the robes. pretty simple and rough, which is how i like them. i like to imagine marines in really rough burlap tabards - cheap coarse stuff - so i dont take too much time on them. keeping mind that the tabard is scratch-built from milliput im quite happy with it. finally i can say im getting the hang of sculpting robes (though full on cloaks are still defying gravity somewhat, as youll see when ive finished the other howling griffon characters and especially garro...
the howling griffon shoulder pad turned out nicely, though theres not much to it. i did mess up with the quartering, giving too much to the left (front) side than the right (back), but luckily, thanks to the shield it doesnt show. this was also my first experience using home-made transfer sheets and i think i done pretty well for myself considering its my first attempt, and on a curved surface to boot. i feel confident i can apply them to the rest of the unit without problems. i also intend to use a larger griffon on the banner, once i decide exactly what else ill add to it (thats why the brown on it isnt exactly up to par - ill most likely be covering it up anyway later on).
the base im not too sure about. the rim is dark flesh, which i used to good effect on the angels of censure. its difficult to tell as of yet as the majority of the models are going to be red/yellow - warm colours, which might complement that choice of base colour. not sure yet. i can always repaint it later. maybe scorched brown or chaos black?
thinking too add something to the right shoulder pad - maybe the librarian horned skull, though not sure how to do it (plus havent done freehand in a while, so need to practice more)
EDIT: as always, in my haste, ive realised ive left loads of bits unfinished - the book on the shield, the piping on the force weapon and other details. they can wait until i paint the rest.
Tyranids
well, i had so much fun painting the zoanthrope that i had to think about what to do next... and here it is:
so its two big boys up next. im going to really enjoy painting these guys in that black/turquoise colour scheme and applying baking soda and weathering powder to the bases. maybe ill actually finish this army one day!
Orks
my long gestating orks are slowly coming back to life, in the form of this monster:
i scratchbuilt this about a year ago and never got round to painting it as i wasnt entirely satisfied with with end result - felt a bit too flimsy for a proper ork vehicle. though im more than pleased with the technical aspects of the model - the hydraulics and mechanical parts, for instance - i really think it could be more orky. well ill keep that in mind for when i make the next one :p for the time being ill paint this up in my bad moon scheme and see if i can sell it off.
painting the chrome and applying the badab black / devlan mud rust was a breeze with the airbrush, really saved a lot of time and gave me the confidence to go ahead and maybe make that transformer model ive been wanting to make for a while - from a proper lamborghini car kit, chopped up and reassembled in transformery fashion - ive got the kit, just havent started yet. ah so many projects, so little attention sp...
May 16, 2011
a bit more paint and stuff
so i had some time to do a bit of painting today. i managed to get about halfway through the Howling Griffon librarian and done some painting on something new; a wasp zoanthrope.
Librarian
i had some problems with the blue on the librarian. apart from not being happy with the highlighting (quite messy), i also thought the blue was a bit too dark; especially with the yellow/red from the Howling Griffon scheme on the shoulder and shield. so i decided to leave the armour alone for now and concentrate on some other parts - the tabard (not that clear in these pics) and small details. ill most likely re-base most of the blue (some parts, like the arms and torso im pleased with; as theyre smaller surfaces than the greaves, the proportionately larger number of highlights make them look paler). ah well, i am a bit out of practice. better pics as i continue work on the librarian.
Tyranid wasp zoanthrope
i always loved the 2nd edition zoanthropes with warrior-like bodies and big flat heads and have never been too keen on this iteration of the beast (both the 3rd edition and 4th/5th edition floaty versions). its not so much i dont like the idea, its more i dont like the execution so much. i love the idea that theyre modified warriors, as essentially, standard 40k creatures seem to be based on gaunts and warriors, which i think is great.
using that philosophy i decided to make my zoanthropes more warrior-like.
ive always loved the carnifex crushing claws and thought they were just an interesting shape, and just thought theyre one of those parts that has potential for something other than a claw... which i found out they do; as fat insect-like tails (well, abdomens technically). after some messing around with GS and some warrior and hormagaunt parts and a 3rd edition dark eldar jetbike prow that was heavily converted with GS (regular viewers will recognise the head from tyrannic war veteran im working on), i had something that i was actually really pleased with, so i made three of them...
and forgot about them for a year :p
until today!
the painting is really simple - just a hawk turquoise drybrush, with some skull white added for consecutive layers. no proper painting at all on the blue. the armour was just chaos black and painted in lines, highlighted up in about 5 layers mixed with more skull white until the final layer. the armour was finished off with a gloss varnish.
Librarian
i had some problems with the blue on the librarian. apart from not being happy with the highlighting (quite messy), i also thought the blue was a bit too dark; especially with the yellow/red from the Howling Griffon scheme on the shoulder and shield. so i decided to leave the armour alone for now and concentrate on some other parts - the tabard (not that clear in these pics) and small details. ill most likely re-base most of the blue (some parts, like the arms and torso im pleased with; as theyre smaller surfaces than the greaves, the proportionately larger number of highlights make them look paler). ah well, i am a bit out of practice. better pics as i continue work on the librarian.
Tyranid wasp zoanthrope
i always loved the 2nd edition zoanthropes with warrior-like bodies and big flat heads and have never been too keen on this iteration of the beast (both the 3rd edition and 4th/5th edition floaty versions). its not so much i dont like the idea, its more i dont like the execution so much. i love the idea that theyre modified warriors, as essentially, standard 40k creatures seem to be based on gaunts and warriors, which i think is great.
using that philosophy i decided to make my zoanthropes more warrior-like.
ive always loved the carnifex crushing claws and thought they were just an interesting shape, and just thought theyre one of those parts that has potential for something other than a claw... which i found out they do; as fat insect-like tails (well, abdomens technically). after some messing around with GS and some warrior and hormagaunt parts and a 3rd edition dark eldar jetbike prow that was heavily converted with GS (regular viewers will recognise the head from tyrannic war veteran im working on), i had something that i was actually really pleased with, so i made three of them...
and forgot about them for a year :p
until today!
the painting is really simple - just a hawk turquoise drybrush, with some skull white added for consecutive layers. no proper painting at all on the blue. the armour was just chaos black and painted in lines, highlighted up in about 5 layers mixed with more skull white until the final layer. the armour was finished off with a gloss varnish.
May 6, 2011
Brother Nelchael
Not a Howling Griffon, but at least some paint
my first time usinga brush in well over a year and im pretty pleased with it. its a quick job, more to get paint on the conversion than anything else, though i like the result. ive always been a fan of the Mentor colour scheme (actually, come to think of it i tend to like segmented marines with white - pre-heresy death guard and world eaters and mentors, as well as sons of guilliman and howling griffons) and really enjoyed painting this model.
the model was painted with GW paints and Mig weathering powders. It was sprayed white with my airbrush. the green areas were bascoated Orkhide Shade and highlight stages included Snot Green and Scorpion Green with Badab Black. i tend to be frugal with highlights, which shows in the pics, though the more subtle colours tend to look better in the flesh (or at least i think so!). the white is just the spray undercoat with Black Ink and Badab Black shading painted back up to Skull White. the pouches are Scorched Brown with Calthan Brown highlights and the eyes/lenses are Blood Red highlighted with Golden Yellow. the chapter symbol/squad marking are just Blood Red.
the legs received some Russian Earth and Ashes White weathering powder rubbed into it as well as watered down badab black.
the base is a base of chaos black, drybrushed with charadon granite highlighted up to skull white (and some Russian Earth weathering powder rubbed into it and the pipe in the back was painted Boltgun Metal and then washed with Scorched Brown, Vermin Brown and Blazing orange with a light dusting of Sharpened Rust weathering powder before a matt varnish was sprayed onto the entire model
EDIT: damn, just realised i forgot to paint the grenades...
my first time usinga brush in well over a year and im pretty pleased with it. its a quick job, more to get paint on the conversion than anything else, though i like the result. ive always been a fan of the Mentor colour scheme (actually, come to think of it i tend to like segmented marines with white - pre-heresy death guard and world eaters and mentors, as well as sons of guilliman and howling griffons) and really enjoyed painting this model.
the model was painted with GW paints and Mig weathering powders. It was sprayed white with my airbrush. the green areas were bascoated Orkhide Shade and highlight stages included Snot Green and Scorpion Green with Badab Black. i tend to be frugal with highlights, which shows in the pics, though the more subtle colours tend to look better in the flesh (or at least i think so!). the white is just the spray undercoat with Black Ink and Badab Black shading painted back up to Skull White. the pouches are Scorched Brown with Calthan Brown highlights and the eyes/lenses are Blood Red highlighted with Golden Yellow. the chapter symbol/squad marking are just Blood Red.
the legs received some Russian Earth and Ashes White weathering powder rubbed into it as well as watered down badab black.
the base is a base of chaos black, drybrushed with charadon granite highlighted up to skull white (and some Russian Earth weathering powder rubbed into it and the pipe in the back was painted Boltgun Metal and then washed with Scorched Brown, Vermin Brown and Blazing orange with a light dusting of Sharpened Rust weathering powder before a matt varnish was sprayed onto the entire model
EDIT: damn, just realised i forgot to paint the grenades...
Apr 30, 2011
a little bit of everything (but no punctuation)
so to those of you who are new to the vorro/synapse/duchotomancer/nathan experience, here's a post with a some old (and some very old...) work ive done over the years. truth be told, im not very prolific but when i do do work i tend to do a lot at once, and then fall into a laconic state (the last one of which lasted well over a year - you have my long-term GF to blame for that :p).
Other than that, ive been modelling and painting on/off since the summer of 1992, when i first discovered GW - blood bowl! i went into a toy/hobbyshop with my parents looking for a birthday present. i was torn between rollerblades (a big craze at the time) and blood bowl, based on the amazing GW leaflets they had at the store. there was also one of 2nd edition 40k with blood angels and the egg dreadnought facing off against goffs and their own, ahem... egg dreadnought! i was hooked.
but the craze prevailed and i got the blades, but there was this niggling thought in the back of my head and couldnt stop thinking about the cool brightly coloured (this was GWs infamour red phase!) fantasy/sci-fi models. so i made a 3 mile trek in the scorching maltese sun through a foul valley of filth and a slaughterhouse to the store and bought the 40k boxed set (20 marines, 20 goffs, 40 gretchin and lots of cardboard buildings and a card stand-in ork dread. in all fairness i had some limited experience with this type of game the previous year (i was 8) when i got a heroquest clone game (similar thing but not MB/GW but it did have a cool dragon):
i also got a box of old purestrain genestealers and the tyranid paint set. this is the result of my labours:
that was the beginning of my torpid love affair with GW. at the time, i was foolish and young. i pronounced genestealers in a way that sounds more like general stealers and thought tyranids were immune to all pistols (and not just needle pistols) due to the tricky wording in the 2nd ed codex. ah sweet memories.
since then ive had many armies (well not that many actually).
my babies, my labour of love. i always loved marines, though it was their idea, their fluff,rather than their models. these are paragons of the human race; rendered apart from that which they were created to protect. they are super-human, giants, adonic figures, clad in the armour of gods and equipped with the best that mars can produce. they are the space marines, the adeptus astates.
yet they have teeny tiny models and stats that put themto shame...
though i had made simple 'truescale' marines in the past (adding a spacer to the shin) these were my first serious attempt. and i really went off the deep end, using terminator legs, slicing each leg in two places and sculpting the chest from scratch. that first unit was a real bitch to make, but it was so rewarding (especially the comments i got on forums :p). at first i decided - no more, but decided to continue and make a whole army. the initial idea of two 10-man tac squads, 10-man assault squad, 10-man dev squad, jetbikes or land speeder, dread and spartan landraider never quite materialised though i got damn close.
in particular, though, im proud of the dreadnought (below), which was really a bitch to make - i started from the legs with no plan or drawings of any sort (usual for me actually. youd think id have learnt my lesson by now... ) and for a long time, the thing just lay on my table gathering dust, little more than the skeletal frame of legs and hips. then inspiration struck and i continued to what you see below. its a bit odd in design (the Horus Hersy artbooks are very contradictory when it comes to art, especially dreadnoughts, so i had my pick of the litter, so to speak), though if there's one thing id change it would be the width of the torso - its a tad too thin for my liking, though its nothing i cant live with. overall i get a great feeling when i turn this model around in my hand, which is the best result i can get from a big conversion like this (and, thanks to the cheesy new Grey Knights codex, i can use it as a dreadknight rather than a crappy dreadnought - result!)
in hindsight they were far too big, a scale onto their own (35ish mm), but i do like the result. thats why i decided to make the howling griffons - to be something more in-sclae with 40k, but still conveying the bulk and gravitas of the marines.
then came the terminators.
and i thought the power-armoured marines were difficult. the terminators were a real saga to get made. making the masters, the trials and tribulations of RTV casting, the money wasted on dud moulds and dud casts... but i love the end result and i think it was worth it... save the fact that theyre to scale with the world eaters and NOT the howling griffons, which means when (if) the time comes for me to make howling griffon terminators, ill have to start from scratch...Grr! but the idea, even of a single griffon character makes me giddy with anticipation. maybe, who knows
Orks
one of my fave armies, orks (like nurgle hosts) are a great army for convertors (and a great army for bad converter to hide behind :p). ive had a few ork armies over the years (three in all) all of which, oddly have been sold. my first was a death skulls army with lots of bone trophies, random vehcile and weapon parts and a really cool battlewagon that i sadly sold (one of the few non-commissioned models ive sold that i wish id held on to). following that came a bad moon army that i sold pretty much the moment i mad it and then, about 2-3 years ago (just before i started work on the world eaters) these guys. sadly i cant find pics for all of them but heres the 'best':
Tyranids
Sadly, ive lost my tranid pics though un-sadly, i still have the models (most of which are unpainted). i have what some people have lovingly termed wasp zoanthropes (head like the old 3rd edition hivetyrant and a tail made from a carnifex crushing claw) and a bunch of warriors (about 24) and 3 carnifexes waiting paint. this is the only picture i have of the paint-scheme i chose for the army (the final product is more hawk turquoise than jade green though, though im pleased with the resultt.
Lion Rider
i think, one of my fave models. as soon as the high elf lion chariot model was released (what an amazing model and a prime example of what can be done with the 3d sculpting tech that GW now uses), i knew i had to convert a model as a lion rider. the inspiration came from the fantasy world that ive been slowly fleshing out over the years (the map-background on the blog title is one i made for that world), where one society has many cuktural links with lions. so here's the model:
Death Guard
probably my fave chapter of marines both pre and post-heresy (and the original chapter/legion i was going to use for my first truescale project that later turned into the world eaters). i love death guard and nurgle in general and have made a few TS DG models. now that ive started work on Garro what id love to do is 2 5-man squads of truescale DG - one before and one after nurglification, with before/after models in the same poses. that would be cool! anyhow, heres some pics of past DG models.
the penultimate model is not finished yet, though id love to go back to him and finish him off. still happy with the chains on the last example
Eldar
my shortest-lived army, probably to its radical departure from things i like (sloppy painting and converting - generally i dont see eldar as a converters army though id love to be proved or, better, prove myself wrong), though ironically, the only squad i painted is probably my finest squad ever... and i gave it away to a decentish bloke ive never seen ;)
Other than that, ive been modelling and painting on/off since the summer of 1992, when i first discovered GW - blood bowl! i went into a toy/hobbyshop with my parents looking for a birthday present. i was torn between rollerblades (a big craze at the time) and blood bowl, based on the amazing GW leaflets they had at the store. there was also one of 2nd edition 40k with blood angels and the egg dreadnought facing off against goffs and their own, ahem... egg dreadnought! i was hooked.
but the craze prevailed and i got the blades, but there was this niggling thought in the back of my head and couldnt stop thinking about the cool brightly coloured (this was GWs infamour red phase!) fantasy/sci-fi models. so i made a 3 mile trek in the scorching maltese sun through a foul valley of filth and a slaughterhouse to the store and bought the 40k boxed set (20 marines, 20 goffs, 40 gretchin and lots of cardboard buildings and a card stand-in ork dread. in all fairness i had some limited experience with this type of game the previous year (i was 8) when i got a heroquest clone game (similar thing but not MB/GW but it did have a cool dragon):
the box in all its glory
i also got a box of old purestrain genestealers and the tyranid paint set. this is the result of my labours:
holy shit! paint asplosion!
that was the beginning of my torpid love affair with GW. at the time, i was foolish and young. i pronounced genestealers in a way that sounds more like general stealers and thought tyranids were immune to all pistols (and not just needle pistols) due to the tricky wording in the 2nd ed codex. ah sweet memories.
since then ive had many armies (well not that many actually).
- about 3000 points of 2nd ed tyranids - amazingly multi-coloured and horrendously jarring in their greatness.
- when 3rd edition rolled around i switched the nids to that system (i had no hormagaunts previously and needed a lot.. of expensive metal ones) and started blood angels. i accumulated about 3000 points of 3d edition blood angels.
- about 2000 points of death skulls orks
- i scrapped the 2nd ed tyranid models and began a new one with the lovely 3rd edition plastics (atill think the gaunts and warriors are amazing models now)
- i retired the blood angels round the end of 3rd and repainted them as ultramarines, which i amassed to a lovely 10,000ish size before selling them off a few years back.
- a huge nurgle lost and the damned and death guard army featuring loads of deamons, nurgle beastmen, imperial guard and death guard. this army probably came to about 6000 points (3k LatD and 3K DG). the army was never really finished as the latd codex was rendered obsolet before i got halfway through it, though the models were all purchased
- this when what i call my wilderness years began and i started to drop out of the hobby (friends dropping out due to other commitments and my group slowly starting to unravell). slowly, i started a bad moons army which i also sold off around the turn of 4th/5th edition. i think those bad moons are the army im most proud of - really looke coherent and i lvoed the colours/conversions (more on those later)
- hee we come to the current era of Vorro models: my truescale pre-heresy world eaters (again more pics later)
- the angels of censure featured on this blog
- the howlign griffons and other random models
my babies, my labour of love. i always loved marines, though it was their idea, their fluff,rather than their models. these are paragons of the human race; rendered apart from that which they were created to protect. they are super-human, giants, adonic figures, clad in the armour of gods and equipped with the best that mars can produce. they are the space marines, the adeptus astates.
yet they have teeny tiny models and stats that put themto shame...
there, that's better
pity. id love for GW to take their heads out of their arses and make a proper amrine codex - where a 1500 army gives you 2 squads an hq and a small vehicle likea speeder or attack bike or a dread. each marine should be the equivalent of another army's character, yet sadly theyre not. 
I love the smell of flamers in the morning
thats what these are and, with the inspiration of doghouse and apologist who frequent warseer and bolter and chainsword, i decided to make models that live up to that ideal.
no, not the axe!
in particular, though, im proud of the dreadnought (below), which was really a bitch to make - i started from the legs with no plan or drawings of any sort (usual for me actually. youd think id have learnt my lesson by now... ) and for a long time, the thing just lay on my table gathering dust, little more than the skeletal frame of legs and hips. then inspiration struck and i continued to what you see below. its a bit odd in design (the Horus Hersy artbooks are very contradictory when it comes to art, especially dreadnoughts, so i had my pick of the litter, so to speak), though if there's one thing id change it would be the width of the torso - its a tad too thin for my liking, though its nothing i cant live with. overall i get a great feeling when i turn this model around in my hand, which is the best result i can get from a big conversion like this (and, thanks to the cheesy new Grey Knights codex, i can use it as a dreadknight rather than a crappy dreadnought - result!)
pre-heresy dread
Varren? who knows
in hindsight they were far too big, a scale onto their own (35ish mm), but i do like the result. thats why i decided to make the howling griffons - to be something more in-sclae with 40k, but still conveying the bulk and gravitas of the marines.
then came the terminators.
my babies!
whose a big boy now?
and i thought the power-armoured marines were difficult. the terminators were a real saga to get made. making the masters, the trials and tribulations of RTV casting, the money wasted on dud moulds and dud casts... but i love the end result and i think it was worth it... save the fact that theyre to scale with the world eaters and NOT the howling griffons, which means when (if) the time comes for me to make howling griffon terminators, ill have to start from scratch...Grr! but the idea, even of a single griffon character makes me giddy with anticipation. maybe, who knows
groupshot
Orks
one of my fave armies, orks (like nurgle hosts) are a great army for convertors (and a great army for bad converter to hide behind :p). ive had a few ork armies over the years (three in all) all of which, oddly have been sold. my first was a death skulls army with lots of bone trophies, random vehcile and weapon parts and a really cool battlewagon that i sadly sold (one of the few non-commissioned models ive sold that i wish id held on to). following that came a bad moon army that i sold pretty much the moment i mad it and then, about 2-3 years ago (just before i started work on the world eaters) these guys. sadly i cant find pics for all of them but heres the 'best':
Tyranids
Sadly, ive lost my tranid pics though un-sadly, i still have the models (most of which are unpainted). i have what some people have lovingly termed wasp zoanthropes (head like the old 3rd edition hivetyrant and a tail made from a carnifex crushing claw) and a bunch of warriors (about 24) and 3 carnifexes waiting paint. this is the only picture i have of the paint-scheme i chose for the army (the final product is more hawk turquoise than jade green though, though im pleased with the resultt.
Lion Rider
i think, one of my fave models. as soon as the high elf lion chariot model was released (what an amazing model and a prime example of what can be done with the 3d sculpting tech that GW now uses), i knew i had to convert a model as a lion rider. the inspiration came from the fantasy world that ive been slowly fleshing out over the years (the map-background on the blog title is one i made for that world), where one society has many cuktural links with lions. so here's the model:
Death Guard
probably my fave chapter of marines both pre and post-heresy (and the original chapter/legion i was going to use for my first truescale project that later turned into the world eaters). i love death guard and nurgle in general and have made a few TS DG models. now that ive started work on Garro what id love to do is 2 5-man squads of truescale DG - one before and one after nurglification, with before/after models in the same poses. that would be cool! anyhow, heres some pics of past DG models.
Eldar
my shortest-lived army, probably to its radical departure from things i like (sloppy painting and converting - generally i dont see eldar as a converters army though id love to be proved or, better, prove myself wrong), though ironically, the only squad i painted is probably my finest squad ever... and i gave it away to a decentish bloke ive never seen ;)
sexeh dragons
scale shot
well that concludes my tour for tonight :p
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