the Fleet Grows

I haven't been posting as much as I've been busy with work and starting work on some boring conversions
(at least, they're boring for now...). I have managed to start work on some more gaunts (repaints of some older ones I had lying around which I cleaned up as best as I could) and a mwaloc (the first of 2 planned ones), though I have tried magnetising it so I can use it as a trygon/mawloc. I've so far done the head and still need to do the magnets for the arms... In hindsight I'll do the magnetising on the second one before I start painting next time..,.

I'm very happy with the way the blue turned out (excuse the pics, I'll take better ones once its done), though am really not looking forward to painting the back plates, a fact that is probably responsible for the week of inactivity on the painting...

the gaunts are in the same state of progress, though finsihing them off will take a lot less time than the mawloc, though then again they only account for about 50 points (6 fleshborers and 2 devourers). the Fleshborers have had their old arms (spinefists) removed and changed with new fleshborer arms. the rest of the models were cleaned up as best as I could (you can still see painted bases on some of them).

next up are three zoanthropes that I'm working on as a commission. looking forward to finishing these off.

And finally, I'm working on the first 2 of 6 planned hive guard. They're coming together nicely and are being built in a similar way to the tyrant guard, though using the larger tervigon crushing claw as a tail rather than the smaller carnifex one. their weapon is built from a warrior venom cannon stuck to the bottom of the torso, with middle arms made from the large warrior scything talons. the upper arms are atrophied and are part of the weapon. the upper carapace is extended, its shape changed, with milliput/GS. I wont post any pics until after they're done ;)

WIP

Here's a quick post, just showing you that I'm still working on this army. I've started painting up the tyrant guard:

and am converting some older warriors and gaunts that I'm recycling from my older (pink) tyranid army - where available I'm repalcing parts with new unpainted ones (arms, heads mostly) and will be priming them soon. im hoping to finish off work on the tyrant guard over the weekend

Prime time

I received the parts I ordered for the Prime yesterday, and started work on work on him today.

I cut down the hive tyrant legs (reducing the size of the ankles and shortening the thighs) and scratch-built a bug-like abdomen to match those of the other beasties I've converted. the abdomen still needs the addition of armour-plates on the top and work done to the tail tip.

I'm looking forward to starting work on the thorax - I'm imagining a larger bulkier version of a warrior, with the head nested inside a hollow surrounded by plates. We'll see how that works out!

also, to anyone interested in the abdomen's basis, it's just made from 7 layers of plasticard (not sure if its 1.5 or 2mm) roughly carved into shape:

tyrant guard... or warriors... or lictors

so here's some WIP shots of the tryant guard im working on. theyre based on the ubiquitous tyranid warriors (they are to me at least - love em! if the rules for them werent such dross id have an all warrior army, but thats a rant for another day).

they use carnifex crushing claw arms for the main limbs, with the addition of spare carnifex carapaces to bulk them out and make them look tougher. the claws are monstrous creature rending claws, the arms of which were used as the base for the secondary limbs, which in turn use warrior scything talons. this makes both pairs of arms larger than those on normal warriors. the legs are unconverted for now (might bulk them out, not sure. i quite like the top-havy look tbh). the abdomen is made from spare crushing claw claws (much like the zoanthropes, leading me to think that this hive fleets' variant warriors have that sort of abdomen (so expect lictors and hive guard to have similar tails, should i make them).

here's a close up of the claws, both sides. the ones with lots of GS on them show the underside. im thinking of painting them in the normal blue/black of the rest of the fleet, though blending the blue into black on the forearms, sort of softer carapace giving way to hrder, or just painting them black, to convey the thicker armour. possibly the latter (easier to do, as well).

as theyre converted model im free to use them for a variety of roles, most obvious being tyrant guard (meaning ill need to get me a tyrant!) though at a stretch i can also use them as normal warriors with talons/claws, or maybe even as counts as lictors (maybe a stretch, but i think the idea of these hulking things skulking around enemy territory is pretty cool).

im hoping to finish off the GS by the end of the week. I still need to finish the carapace (whats visible behind their heads is just a skeleton so the proper sculpting has something solid to adhere to), the arms and the waists, and possibly bulk out the legs in some way.

let me know what you think

ok, im pretty much done on these guys now:

Epistolary Balaam

i'm really pleased with the way he turned out - the tabard, the details on the waist, the hood (which i was dubious about at first). just need to wait for the staff to dry so i an bend it back into the proper angle. 

Veteran Brother Venator, Ultramarines Tyrannic War Veteran, First Company

still missing some detail-work on the hammer and, of course, the storm shield, which is going to be based on a cast i made using an instant-mold of this:

ill be adding a chain and lots of parchment and purity seals to it, thoughthe whole head crest will be the shield, which i think is quite cool 9i know ultramarines arent much for keeping trophies but i figured it wasnt entirely out of character

Brother Vassago of the Howling Griffons, & Brother captain Nelchael of the Mentors

Vassago is still missing equipment, but is otherwise done and Nelchael is ready to be primed (really looking forward to painting the Mentor colours on this guy too. again, im pleased with the tabard on the first model - i think im finally getting the hand of cloth (to a certain extent... see below :p)

and finally...



Brother Captain Nathanael Garro; Captain of the 7th Great Company of the Death Guard

well, ive always been a fan of the Death Guard, and Garro in particulat (nothing to do with the fact that we share a name :p)


im still not too sure on the chest - apart from the fact that its description on the books is open to interpretation, i think it might have come a bit too big. though this was my third (and best) attempt at the chest i decided to keep it as is. im rather pleased with the model overall, particularly the shoulder pads and the cloak (which still requires some work on it), though ill post up pics as i mmake further progress. looking forward to painting the pre-heresy DG colours on this guy. 

update

so a small update on these; getting closer to completion. they just need some small GS details (piping on chest, filling in dents in the armour etc), and addition of equipment and pouches etc.

brother shooty (howling griffon)


quite pleased with the pose on this one. will probably add a tabard to him and the same sort of pouches that featured on the other griffons. unfortunately, though, like most of these new models, i dont think the poses are quite as good as the first batch, thats probably as i made these as more of an assembly-line rather than one-at-a-time liek the others. i tried the assembly line to save some time but think ill go back to individually making them in the future (the bodies at least - the arms and fiddly bits can always be done together)

Mentor Legionnaire


im gonna flat out say it - my fave of these guys so far, though unfortunately the pics are not coming out well - they all look somewhat squashed and the pose is not translating well to a flat image - looks a lot better when you can rotate the base in your hands. maybea vid? :p

librarian



the model with the most amount of work left to do - cloak, tabbard, lots of work on the staff, more GS detail on the torso and random gubbinz. those shoulder pads are just placeholders - ill be adding slightly more ornate ones with rims.

corvus tyranid veteran

still need to do the last of the piping detail on the torso and trophies and equipment as well as the tyranid details (head-crest shield, skull-thunder hammer and other details).

progress

well here's another marine almost done - just waiting for the brown stuff (stop it...) to dry on his left hand before adding the fingers; need to hollow out the barrel on the plasma gun, and am waiting for a pointy terminator hand to arrive to add to his left arm. im rather pleased with the way the squad is shaping up, though am thinking that the proportinately the torsos turned out slightly large for the legs; i think this might have somethin to do with the fact that ive not enlarged the legs as much as i used to on the world eaters (no spacer on the shin and no extra Gs added to bulk out the shin), though i do like the overall shape and bulkiness of the models.

ive tried to add a lot of equipment to the models - pouches, grenades, etc as ive always liked those extras on the sprues though found theyre too large for the normal models, especially if you want to add more than one to each model. i do intend to add more purity seals and possibly tabards to some of the models, though will wait until ive finished the 5-man squad to see what they look like together before doing that (also, ill be able to see the worse GS work and find a way to cover any glaringly bad bits with stuff :p)

im about halfway through the standard bearer, have started the legs on the 4th model and am waiting for parts to arrive to start the 5th.


also, heres a pic of the chest eagle before being applied to the model:

and a pic of the base chest (taken for the assault marine sprue) with the eagle attached, awaiting GS:

and now time for something completely different...

well, not quite.

Its still a marine, but a slightly different scale to the last ones. This is the first of a planned 5-man Howling Griffons squad; knightly and covered in various equipment and stuff. I've always loved their colour scheme and thought that the yellow/red quartered scheme was reminiscent of brettonians and so i always imagined them as a knightly chapter. further research (particularly Imperial Armour 9) revealed that they were actually a  very busy fleet-based chapter which valued nobility, honour and knightly virtues who had well-equipped armouries; perfect!

the models im making are smaller than my previous so-called artscale marine army (the world eaters, for anyone who remembers/knows) though larger than the terminators that featured in a previous post. so slightly more sensible :p

The legs are a normal terminator legs with a 1mm plasticard spacer added to the top of the thigh and GS used to fill in the armour struts on the legs, add detail to the top of the greave and replace the feet after the original plastic ones were hollowed out so i could achieve a pose I was happy with. the belt was widened with GS, also. The body is made from GS with the addition of an imperial eagle from a normal tactical marine added to a blob of GS around which the cuirass was sculpted. The arms are normal terminator arms with the piping removed and replaced with lead tubing of various sizes; while the shoulder pads are a cast of some masters I made a while back for another truescale marine army. various accesories from dark angel, black templar and scout kits were used around the model.

I intend to paint them pretty damaged as though theyre in the middle of a campaign, with lots of dust on their legs and chips and worn areas. Models will have individual heraldry (in the form of paint and, once the parts i need arrive, shoulder shields, in the fashion of grey-knights.

Other models will include a banner bearer, a flamer dude (based on the below model, from my truescale world eater army), and another 2 guys i havent decided yet.