Mechanicum Tech Thralls

It is spring and the garden is not taking care of itself, which means I do not have as much hobby time as I would whish I had (and also, hobby mojo is a bit low). But I still managed to get some Mechanicum Tech Thralls pained. At first, and still, I am sorry to say, I do not like these models. The way the legs are done and the left arm, it make them to reminiscent of mindless zombies, just shuffling along. I would have like a more determined stride, so I tried to reposition the feet, but the way the models are constructed it is almost impossible to correct this without major cutting and green stuffing (I had hoped I could just dipp them in warm water and bend them into a better position), and there is way to many to do that. So I will bite the bullet and paint them as is. But I removed the bayonet as it looked to goofy to be left on.

So, once again I managed to pull of a decent batch jobb. The models are not that detailed and can easily be broken down into colour fields that can be handled separately, so no need for to much neat brush work. There are still 15 of these guys still in the box and they are a repeat of the first 5 so I do not know when and how I will gather the drive to make more of them. However, once they are painted they look quite nice with the rest of my Mechanicum troops, and it would be nice with a full blob, so I might just try to use that as a motivator. I still have a lot of other mechnicum models to do so who know when that will happen.

Skitarii done

I am really happy with these Skitarii. It was some time since I batch painted models, but these turned out nicely. I would say they are basically the same standard that I do if I do them one and one. This gives me some hope that I actually can start finishing of some squads that I whish to add to my armies with out it taking forever.

I like these sculpts. They look a bit more like cyborgs than the rangers/vanguard and add something of a distinct look to the mechanicum. Might be due to their non human proportions. To bad that they are so limited in the poses that having to many of them will look strange. I painted these with the same brown leather robes that I have for my ranger squads. I think they will fit in nicely with these. The next eight will be done in red to tie into the Vanguards that I have.

I also have some more Cybernetica models to paint, both resin and plastics and perhaps I can do them also in batches going forward.

Opus AEW and skitarii

I finally started work on the last (I think) member of the Opus flight wing, an airborne early warning (AEW) craft, similar to the E-2 Hawkeye. I have had the model for some time but I could not figure out how to make the wings fold as the need to fold back along the body. This was extra tricky as I was using the Valkyrie as a base, and the model has wings that angle down so they had to fold with the tips going inwards and not outwards. That meant that the wings needed to fold downward and rotate, and that is kind of the same way gravity works on the wings which makes it tricky to keep them up. I solved it by friction and two small latches that can swing in beneath the wings to prevent them dropping when I want the model in flight mode.

Another obstacle was what to make the radar disc from. I did not have any suitable disc that could be used. I was thinking about using a large round base, but I did not have any spare so I decided to make the disk from scratch. The center is a plane 2 mm thick 10 cm diameter plasticard disk. The top and bottom disks were made from disks of 0.5 mm plasticard, with sections cut out to make them angle up a bit. Over all I think it is coming together nicely. Need to make a more permanent attachment for the disk and start with the wheels. Then I need to make some internal operator stations where combat command can lead the airwing operations and guide the Opus Magna's artillery. There is still a lot to do on this, but I guess that it will have to mature a bit at a time as the rest of the flight wing.

I also started work on the 30K Skitarii I got for my birthday from the Wifey. I really like the look of these models. Sadly there are only four poses, and there are 16 models in the box, but it turns out the arms are interchangeable so basically the four set of arms can be permutated through the four poses to get all individual looks. The bodies were prepped and painted in my standard rusted metal look. For the coats I tried a new technique, egging. This was also a present from the Wifey, it is a makeup sponge in the shape of an egg that has very fine pores so that one can get smooth blending's on flat and textured surfaces without dry brushing. I hope this can be a solution to a problem that I have been having, namely that to get smooth blends with dry brushing I usually need to use 6-10 layers of paint, and it has a tendency to stripp the paint back to the base coat on raised sharp surfaces. In this way I can get a base blend without wearing the layers down. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, but I still need to do some more experimenting with this to see how far I can take it. I also need to see how long the sponge holds upp before it is to clogged with paint to work properly. 

Fulgrime done

Now this model that has left me somewhat confused as to whether I like it or not. I mostly like the design apart from some details like the big open wound at the front. But my biggest issue is with painting this thing (I do not see how you could do that with it fully assembled). I tried breaking it down into subassemblies, as I usually do with big models, but there were not god way of doing this for the body. Either I had pieces where I could access all necessary parts, or I could assemble the model so that I did not get big seams at the front of the model, but I had to choose. Here I really think the sculptors should have a good discussion with the painters, so that they place joints where they can easily be hidden for breakdowns.

I am also not sure about the contrast in the face so I might need to go back and add some inks to give it some more depth, it might also be that the lights I used to take the pictures saturated the colours a bit and that's why it looks so bland.

Over all I am happy with how it turned out. I gott to play around with some new techniques, and I think the result is ok, but it is getting more and more obvious that I need to start working with the airbrush as it is to hard to get to all the places with a brush for smooth blending on these new complex models. I did not follow the box art colours for the model, instead I tried to match it to the Keeper of secrets that I have (which needs to get its base fixed). In particular I am happy with the combination of the dark and bright gold. The wings also came out nicely. I am also glad that I did the base and not just let him slither around on the ground.

It was an intense journey painting this thing. There are so many details and things to paint that it is easy to forget or miss something so you have to constantly go back and fix things, and when you think you are done you notice some more things that need sorting.

Well that is it. Now I have all the big four Demon Primarchs painted up. Next will have to be the Lion. 

But I have some other things to do first. Just need to figure out what it is.

The base of Fulgrim

Just a short update. Once I finished the Liaisons for my Forge Lord I started painting on Fulgrim. I am not really sure what to think about this model. Appearance wise it looks cool, but it is very difficult to break it down for painting and this makes it a bit of a pain to paint. But once the colours are down the result is very nice. My main issue is the snake body. As it coils around itself there are some places that are very hard to reach but are still highly visible from some angles. I decided to go for a blue purple colour for the main body with a pale, skin toned underside. Blending the colours were not easy and I hade to try some new techniques which is nice. I am still not fully done with the body as the fins need some more attention and the scales on the back are still not painted. I am at a bit of a loss on what colours to make them. Either I keep them blackish or I go for a bone colour. The later would tie in nicely with the base.

The model also do not come with a scenic base as most newer large scale demons do. So I had to build something so that he does not look so out of place with the other ones. I played around with some ideas of ruins etc but in the end I decided to go for a more simple platform. This was painted in rusted metal with some marble inlays. Once again I had to try some new techniques to get the marble effect I wanted. I am not sure how much of this will be seen once Fulgrim is on there, but it was nice to paint.

Once the body is done I will need to move on the the wings and try to colour match them to the snake body. Lets se how that turns out.

Forge command

So it is a new year, and I hope it will be a better year than last, but I have my doubts.

The first entry of the yea is actually the last project of last year. I had hoped to finish these guys over Christmas but that did not happen. These are some models that I have been looking forward to paint as they are all full of character but I have been stalling for inspiration. Most of the models comes as surplus models to my titans and knights and they make up the strategic advisory board (SAB) to my forge lord. The board consists of the liaisons to the; fleet, titan legion (Northern Ghosts), knight house (Northern Knights), legio cybernetica and the skitarii forces. The board is also joined by the ever present secretary taking notes.

Fleet Liaison

Legio Titanica Liaison

Legio Cybernetica Liaison

Knight house Liaison

Skitarii host Liaison

Ever present secretary.

The models coming with the titans are what appears to be hand sculpted resin cast models, and they feel a bit out of place compared to the high detail plastics of the knight pilot and the skitarii general. But I think they make an interesting group. Paint wise I stuck to how I have painted my other titan crews and mechanicum servants, so not really any new stuff. For some reason the models look a bit shiny, not sure if it has anything to do with the resin. I have seen similar stuff on the titans where the paint almost look wet, but that have not shown up until a few months after painting and some warm weather.

Next up on the painting table is Fulgrim. He is a present from my wife and I hade hoped to have been painting him over the vacation, but I decided that finishing the SAB would need to be done first. Lets see if I can keep up a more stable flow of posts this year.

Random builds

Since I finished the Dreadtober challenge I have been building things. However, nothing is painted yet.

Building and painting the Saturnine dreadnought really got me inspired to paint more walker, and since I had a whole bunch of Armiger war glaives sitting half build on the shelf I decided to try and get them done so that I finally can close the Armiger project. First of I build the legs. The Armiger legs are very boring and possibility is almost zero, unless you start cutting. So this is what I did. Some legs are still in the original configuration, others are cut at the upper joint to re-angle the lower leg and some got the full treatment with separation at all joints. The hipp joint also needed some modifications to allow changes in the leg angle. Then I went for as dynamic poses as I could, as I would like these to be charging forward at full tilt while the Hellverins are providing suppressive fire. I also extended the torso joint to allow the upper body some more movement. I also built some bases providing some things for the Armigers to jump on, further empathising the running motion. Once that was done I rebuilt the glaives, extending them so that they can hit something at ground level. As soon as I have cleaned up the legs and glaives I will start painting these, while I finish up the armour panels, which needs a lot of GS sculpting to bring everything in line with the previous models.

In parallel to this I had another idea concerning the Opus build. The accelerator cannon turret that came with the Saturnine box is really cool but it is kind of a strange model with the legs. If it had been mounted on some movable/vehicle platform I would probably have left it alone. But as it is I thought it could come to better use on Opus. The top of the island is already a gun platform with battel cannon turrets and AA guns, so another big gun would not look out of place. Problem was that I had already built the communication disk onto the back, which was the only place this could go. So I had to join them. This was not easy as I had already glues the disk support together, and that is a solid piece of plastic. So I had to bring out the jeweller saw and cut it free. Then I could insert the accelerator turret beneath it and re-sculpt the supports to fit on top of the gun turret. The ascetics is not super matched as the communication disc is more crude compared to the design of the accelerator cannon turret. I might need to do some small alterations but in the end I am happy with how it turned out. I really gives the top platform a 1st/2nd world war battel ship vibe to it. I still have not tested it mounted on Opus as opus is still disassembled as I am also working on the underside and internals.

Another thing I also did for Opus was to build some alternate weapons for the gunships in the form of twin linked assault cannon pods. First I intended to use these on the air superiority fighters but I changed my mind and are going for missiles there instead. That meant that I hade some left over for the gunships (in the end they are interchangeable so I can always swap things around). And I really like this load out. It is what you need to get infantry to disappear, so I might keep to of they like this. I also have other weapons that I do not have enough of to equip all of them with so I might do other special load out versions.

Well that is what I have done so far. Now I just need to get something build far enough so that I get something to pant.