Thallax cohort

I finally got around to ordering some Forge World stuff and are they gorgeous, a bit steep on the price but the level of detail is amazing. I bought some mechanicum stuff that I will be painting parallel to the plastic kits I started some weeks ago. The paint scheme will be similar to my Scitarii and the Skitarii rangers/vanguards. I really like the more classic military colours with a uniform green that I can chip and rust and that in itself brings out the details of the model without adding to many clashing colour fields to distract the eye. My mechanicum forces are growing and it might be that they end up being the largest of my factions.

Talking mechanicum sort of ties in to this weeks large reveal, the Warlord Titan, which is sort of one of those things that I never thought would become a reality. And I think it will remain a fantasy for most people as the price-tag for that model is staggering. It is actual more than what I paid for all three of the titans I already have, which where a lot of money, so it truly is a collectors piece.

Well, I will stick to the slightly more affordable kits for now and we will see what happens in the future.

Skitarii

 Well, I just had to try out the new skitarii models from GW. Sadly they do not really keep to the aesthetics of FW mechanicum, which is to bad as the FW ones really look nice and unique. I suppose GW had to fall for the pressure and make the models we expected, i.e. the robed Rangers and Vanguard. This in itself is not to bad, but the weapons look so out of place I am not really sure what to say. I also expected them to be more machines than humans, but that would have put them to close to necrons I guess. Also the 3D sculpts reduces the re-paintability of the models, as every box will look more or less the same and there is no real way of altering the pose of the models. But it is better than the chaos cultists as there are at least 10 models and some weapons interchangeability. That being said, the level of detail is very high, almost to high for rank soldiers as they take quite some time to paint but I like them. I will see if I am going to get one of each kit and paint them up just to try them out.

When it comes to the paint scheme I stayed with the Northen Ghosts theem of wood colours, painting armour and metal green and any fabric a brown leather. As with the necron scitarii I made earlier the leaders will have red robes so that you know whom to shoot. Talkeing about these, they actually fit quite nicely to the stalker models so they are not completely out of place and I could see some nice cross overs conversions between the kits. This is certainly a way to make more mechanical skitarii troopers if one is more inclined to that look. I am tempted to use some of the leftover bits from the rangers/vanguard together with some necrons to see what can be done.

I have also ordered some FW mechanicum models so expect to see some more small green men on this blogg, There might also be some larger green men as I am sorely tempted to get some more Knights, especially with the new upgrade sprue.

Light box tests

I finally got around to playing a bit with the light as I am taking pictures of my models. All in all I have to say I am both impressed and a bit disappointed. In the over all scheme of things the pictures tend to loose a lot of vibrancy and colour as I am increasing the homogeneity of the lighting and intensity. But what really impress me is what happens with the over all detail of the photos, zooming in really reveals the details... and it shows what I am getting right and where I have to improve my technique.  In the above picture I have zoomed in on the left foot in the picture below, and if I did know what what was painted and what was not I would have trouble telling what is what. The painted foot and tabard of the model really match the natural stone of the picture in both colour saturation and a illumination making the painted parts blend in with the natural parts in a realistic way.

The picture above is taken with a Canon ixus 12015 without flash, the model is in a IKEA white semi transparent plastic recycling container with two 500 W lights illuminating it from either side trough the plastics.

Adding a front flash restores the colours to the pictures without adding to much of a shadows. But it distorts the colour balance and adds to much contrast to the picture, emphasising the different colour fields. I thin I will have to work a bit with the light set up ... I think.

Bloodthirster, done

 Finally! These new CAD sculpts are great, but there is almost too much details. I think my take on the bloodthirster turned out ok. I gave him two axes instead of the whip/chain hammer thing and added the whip as a tail instead. I thin k this gives it a more aggressive and dynamic look. I also opted not to have to much of the armour on the chest as I was so happy with how the skin turned out with al the muscles and such on the torso. This also gives it a more feral/barbarian look with just the loincloth, belt and thigh armour. I am also very happy with how the wings turned out. I was afraid that the khorne symbols would look to out of place on the membranes and that the membranes would look to different from the skin colour of the wing-bones. There are some small things to touch up and so but in essence it is done.