Space Wolves Gallery (part 3)

Who are you call'n VENERABLE?!!!

This bad-ass old School mini has been appearing in my army lists pretty much since the day I sealed him! He's old, but definitely has a lot of character. I got a pair of these over a decade ago (ebay I think?). I can not recall what color this one was, I just remember it was in a bowl of paint stripper within the hour! (The other one is Ultramarines blue, and I have left it untouched and gave it to my brother for his Ultramarines army). All of the Space Wolf Icons are hand painted, and the runes were done with a micron. I painted this up around 2000-2001.

I get a real kick out of the 'Taz' look these older Dreadnought had. I know there is a, mostly-dead, guy stuffed into it, and I have often wondered just how much of the guy is in there...any way, he's on the proper sized base, however, as time rolls on I'm less impressed with it. Rubble made from a chopped up sprue looks OK I guess, and the tube cut from a thick drinking straw does too I guess, but it's bit distracting. However this is the thin base from the Epic range, and the newer thick bases are a lot more appealing.

Those of you familiar with this classic model, will realize that the twin linked lascannons are not the ones that it came with. The guns provided for this model sucked (except for the missile launcher, it was cool). If you read my previous post (Space Wolves Gallery part 2) you'll know that I had an old Predator Tank that I opted not to use the lascannons, glued them together to look similar to the original Land Raider's twin-linked lascannons, and stuck 'em on 'Venny'. (note that I had painted 'Rex' on the model, but everyone else always calls him Venny... usually right before their Tyranid MC rips his Dreadnought CC off and beat him over the head with it, but I digress...), Back in 3rd Edition, the Spotlight was an extremely valuable vehicle upgrade, and it made sense to have it on a thing that was totting a twin-linked las cannon (I sometimes count it as a twin-linked Autocannon, I mean, who can tell right?). There was an awkward smooth spot on the top of the top cannon to allow for the swivelling effect of the sponsons on the original Predator kit. The spot light fit in that spot perfectly, and just ups the coolness of this model in my opinion.

Ok, how's this for old:

The kids are all going OMGWTF? when they see this little bastard hit the table. Especially when it starts throwing flamer templates about. This is the original RT era Space Marine Land Speeder. It even as the original hex flying stand! I have recently affixed that hex base to current scaled flying stand for both balance and game purposes, but I have yet to model it up. I painted this up right around the time I painted up Venny. (2001?). The 2nd edition version was bigger and had less of a suicidal-fast-moving-chairlift-with-guns -look about it -It had big metal plate in the front!

The banner is the from the '89 Space Marine Paint Set booklet. It's OK, the other side is smaller and has a black trim. I'm thrilled about that, but I've moved on enough to not let it bother to the point of wanting to redo it. Maybe when I do up the base I might redo it...

I miss the beaky marines, and want to see more of them! I think I make a crewman for Land Raider Crusader be a beaky.Note the old school Space Wolf Chapter markings on their shoulder pads. When I was scrutinizing this model recently, I remarked on how well those look on these guys. I'm seriously considering using them on my ground troops. Yes, I do have the newer 'blackmane' style icon on the sides of this model, and on other models, but I think it might mix well. Note the minimal usage of the pack markings on both the Landspeeder and the Dreadnought above. Where it appears here, I have placed a yellow runic number decal over it.

Hope you enjoyed this!

-Joel

Space Wolves Gallery (part 2)

And here's part 2 of what will be a lot of Space Wolf galleries from me. Above is a classic Thudd Gun, which I was able to get painted just in time for 3rd ed to roll around the corner and invalidate it! I like it a lot however, and I consider it one of the first models that I was finally satisfied with my ability to get the Space Wolves paint scheme down right. One day, it might finally get it's day of glory....

OK, what we have next are a pair of original RT era plastic Predator tanks. This kit was discontinued in the early days of 2nd edition along with with the Land Raider ( and for no real good reason that I ever heard). The Predator tank was eventually re released as a plastic/metal hybrid kit, but I never thought it 'felt' right.

The color scheme was a virtual repeat of the Vindicator, right down to the grey hunter pack markings on the cannon barrel and goldy/bronze trim on the exhausts and handrails. I'm still quite pleased with this and it holds up well.

As with the vindicator, I have hand painted the scroll work and used a technical pen for the lettering. 'Embrace Death" was a random line from one of the rule books and it seemed simple and threatening enough to put on a tank. The twin-linked bolters on top (admittedly, a poor man's attempt at a Storm Bolter) are just that: two Rhino tank bolters stuck together. The original RT era rules had only a single gun on the top, but it's been a Storm Bolter in the rules since 2nd edition.

A good side view here of the mighty lascannons. I have always preferred this incarnation of the lascannon over all that followed it. It just looks like a mean piece of sci-fi weaponry to me. The sponsons themselves are quite a bit wonky, and serve more of a toy function (i.e. the cannon moves) then a true 'model' function. Not long after it was pulled, the Imperial Guard Leman Russ hit the market with it's very much more awesome sponson design.

This particular tank was a bit lighter, again using elf grey in parts, which I later chose to move away from. With this next tank you can see that I have gone to a darker, more dabbled effect for the paint scheme.

Although the Grey Hunter pack markings are still there, they aren't nearly as flamboyant as they were on the Vindicator or the previous Predator. This tank was something special. Back in the '90s there was a 40K mailing list that was all the rage and a member of it was constantly hosting auctions. When I won this tank it arrived on the day my younger brother graduated High School. I opened the box to find that it was busted all to hell. It was painted olivedrab and had a few decals on it. I did not clean off the paint, but just painted straight over it. It was a single layer and spray-painted on, so I saw no harm in just using it as a primer. However I was careful to paint around the decals on the turret, which were from the very rare original RT era decal sheet, not the 2nd edition one.

Again, I turned the Rhino bolters into a Storm Bolter. The light to dark tone works marvelous well on this kit, especially the turret. The side sponson I took from a 2nd ed era Predator Annihilator kit, as by this time it was 3rd ed and side sponsons were just a bad idea (the Annihilator is still not built, let alone painted. It's on the short list! LOL). However, I really like these metal sponsons, even though they don't join up to the model as well as they should. The original sponsons were just ruined by the previous owner (probably why I used these) and the lascannons got used on another model (which I'll share with you next time).

Again I repeated the scroll work, although at this point I had discovered Microns, which are a lot more user friendly then my old technical pens. Also my battle damage was a bit more bold, however, still not to the level I'd like it to be at. (Reminds me of those bullet hole stickers I've seen on the back of cars locally.) You can also see the dabbling in full effect, which still appeals to me quite a bit.

By the time I finished this model, it was damn near the dawn of 4th edition. I was not a big fan of 4th edition, and maybe only played a few games of it, and this tank was used in those games.

Hope you enjoyed this gallery,

-Joel

Space Wolf Gallery (part one of probably many)

Still on the road until the end of the week, so it's time to dump some more photos on you guys! Here is the first part of my Space Wolf gallery. This first entry is a little small due to the how long it's taking me to upload the pics using the hotel Internet connection. Above is a work in progress Whirlwind. Only the launcher itself is finished, which I'm generally happy with. I'll finish this one soon enough along with a small fleet of Rhinos that I need to complete.

This is the first vehicle I have ever painted for the Space Wolves. It is a Rogue Trader era Vindicator, which at the time I painted this (late 2nd edition 40K...I'm thinking '96?) it did not have official rules, but the rules that Epicast provided with this conversion kit. Unlike future paint schemes, I was using another mid-tone between the Shadow Grey and Space Wolves Grey (Elf Grey) which I ultimately decided to drop from palate. Never-the-less, I'm still pleased with it.

Being that this was my first vehicle paint-job for the Wolves, I wanted to add some elements of epic glory. The idea of the scroll work being affixed to vehicles was nothing new when I did this, however having molded parts to represent it was. So I hand painted this, and adapted the 'pseudo-scripture' from a book I have on Norse mythology. Once I had the background painted, I hand lettered this using a rapidiogragh (sp?). I seriously sealed the hell out of this, as rapidiograph ink is not water-proof at all. So far, this has held up very well. Interesting note, having never taken photos of these tanks with such a high quality camera, I'm now finding mistakes that I just overlooked on the physical model, however I was pleased to also see details that I have forgotten about. The kill markings on the inner track assembles, no doubt recording kills that this tank crew must have racked up, were a delight to rediscover. I think I'll repeat this theme on the landraider when I get back to it.

This top view reveals the pin-holes on the hatches where I have converted two sets of stormbolters that I can insert and remove during the game. Also, at this time I was using a Ral Partha bronze metallic paint for edging a trimming on my Space Wolves but not long after this I ditched this style. Also, after painting this, and with the on-set of 3rd edition in '97, you'll start to see a withdrawal of the overwhelming pack marking styles that were all the rage in  mid-'90s Space Wolves chic on my models. Or as a local gamer kid recently remarked: "What is that? It looks like a circus cannon!" Yup, I'm still using this in my games!

More later in the week...

Orky Love

I was recently asked "when are you going to show us some Orky love?" So, knowing I was going out of town and wanted to post some gallery pics, I took a few pics of some more recently finished ork models.

This is my Ork Warlord, Ror Ruk. This is the 2.0 version however. The original was a very old Ork Chaos Renegade (google it) that never got a paint job. However, the Orks have grown over the years and he was starting  to look quite weedy compared to his peers. So along came this slight conversion complete with, um. ammo squig.

The powerklaw is from the 3rd ed metal Ork Dreadnought. I just hacked off the attacksquig, pinned it, put an old plastic Space Marine comlink over the hole, and green-stuffed the join on the leather bit connecting to the arm and klaw. I'm thrilled with how well this model came out.

But every Ork needs a ride, right? (and make it red so it can go fasta!)

This is a Gorkamorka trukk, one of many that I have, that I finally got around to painting last summer. I do like the new trukks better, however, I'm of the might set that ork vehicles come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. My other trukks have bits from the new style trukks on them. (the boarding planks work well on these smaller trukks.)

On the scrap sheet metal parts welded all over this trukk, I thought it would be cool to have as a bit of contrast a colored part from a Space Marine vehicle, so I chose an Ultramarine icon for this honor. And considering how many Ultramarines my orks slaughtered over the past 20 years, it only seemed fitting... :)

Here's a fantasy ork from the 6th ed Warhammer Fantasy Battle starter set that I'm quite proud of.

The rust on his blade (sword of tetanus) I'm particularly fond of. This was given to me by a friend who was flirting with becoming an Outrider with GW, but ultimately dropped the idea. He did something cleaver by using metal rods that holds the torso to the body allowing it to be separated from the legs and joined to another set of legs on a war-boar:

Quite ingenious, and very handy in the WHFB game as well!

Probably a good spot to talk about the flesh tones that I use for the Orks. The first Ork models that I ever saw painted in White Dwarf look a lot like this, and the guy who convinced me to play Orks (Trev) had a pre-painted fantasy orc that he got from a shop in England. We based our technique off of that model. Over the years i have refined it as so: Base Coat of Dark Angels green, a thin semi-watered down coat of bilious green, followed by a solid highlight of bilious green. Then a I generate a mix of green and yellow ink, mixed to about the same color of anit-freeze. I thin this and use it as a glaze. I will then pick out the highlights with bilious green again, apply a highlight of Applebarrel Kiwi, and lastly a very thin highlight of sunburst yellow. As you can imagine, it takes quite a bit of time. Here's a unit of troops I've been dabbling on for close to 2 years now:

I hope you enjoyed this. I will return with more Orky Love in the future, but it may be awhile as I'm currently focused on finishing up some Space Wolf items, which I can only get to between business trips it seems...

-Joel



My other armies

I'm away on business, and had the foresight to take some gallery pics before heading off. So while the Landraider project is close to completion, there won't be an update on it for another week or more. So, I've decided to show a completed sample of other armies (that aren't Space Wolves or Orks) that I have for 40K that I'm hoping to be able to work on in the near future. In order of origin we'll start with:

1. Chaos Space Marines.

My Chaos Space Marines army started back in my 2nd year at the Kubert School. Two of my room mates and I played a hybrid version of 1st and 2nd edition 40K using only Chaos armies, and we did a campaign using the original Realms of Chaos books. It was incredible fun. My faction started off as a Nurgle Deathguard army, but as the years went on I found myself collecting a mixed army focused on Nurgle and Slannesh. This chap above is my first test model for an Emperor's Children color scheme. I'm not sure how much I like it, but I haven't messed around with these guys since 2004, although the other color-test models linger on my painting table. My primary reason for my lack of interest in Chaos is a result of the decision in the 4th ed Codex to split the Daemons away from the Chaos Space Marines into their own army. It may be a long time before I got back to these guys.

2.Imperial Guard.
This color scheme is a direct copy of my pal Trevor's original Necromunda army (from the back of the original Rogue Trader era plastic box). He was happy with his paint scheme and got me to paint a few units for him, I thoroughly enjoyed painting these guys, and when my brother picked up a 2nd ed Cadian army, I chose to use that same paint scheme and it worked really well.  However this is the only troop model I painted for it (I ended up painting some odd-ball models for it like Primaris Psykers etc.) In recent years I have bought the army from him and I have also bought a Valhallan army as well that I'm also testing this paint scheme on. I think they might mix well. Meanwhile I'm trying this color scheme on current plastics.

3. Legion of the Damned
Although they were only a full-blown army briefly in 2nd edition, I have always been fascinated by these guys since their White Dwarf Magazine appearances in the late '80s. I have a full 10-man squad of these guys comprised mostly of original '80s era metal marines. I entered this squad in the '99 Baltimore Games Day but they were unloved by the judges...

4. Eldar (Saimhann)
The Eldar have been my eternal nemesis since my first Rogue Trader game in late '88, but over time I have developed a fondness for them. My old pal Mark has an Eldar army that he's been collecting for about as long as I've been collecting orks, and has had me painting the odd model of his off an on for years. Saimhann has been his army craftworld of choice and I got really good at painting them. So much so, that I started a small army of my own. These guys are what my base troops look like.

5.Celestial Lions
This is my Codex: Space Marine army of choice based upon the awesome background that GW developed for the 3rd war of Armageddon campaign. I whipped up this guy for a local painting competition (I lost to a vastly Superior painting of Typhus) but I guess the lack of challenge in the paint scheme sort of bored me so I have the rest of the models hanging out on the painting table. This will be a small army that I don't intend to make too big, but allow me to use models and tactics that aren't available to my Space Wolves. Shame that I accidently cut the back-banner out of this photo, I think some of you might have appreciated it....

6. Dark Eldar
I loaded up on this army 10 years ago when Serious Hobbies closed down (they weren't so serious after all apparently) and it's where I first met my pal Charlie whose first words to me were a comment on the mountain of Dark Eldar that I had in my arms ("They die in droves you know..."), However, I never did anything with this army, but with the new Codex and models, I'm very keen to get this army going. This is my first paint scheme attempt that I recently completed on one of the original plastics from the 3rd ed starter box. I like it a lot (although I'll probably not go so over-board with the cast-light glow from the eyes on future models.

Other armies that I have that I haven't got around to building or painting example of yet are the Sisters of Battle, Chaos Daemons, and Tyranids.

I hope you enjoyed this,

-Joel



Pods to drop and Lands to Raid (part five)

I've managed to come a long way with this since my last post, staying up later and tinkering away at it. Actually, this stage tends to go fast for me, assuming I actually apply myself. The pic above shows the mid-coat on the hull, but here I actually mixed with 1 part brown ink, 2 parts flesh wash ink, and 2 parts water and ink wash over all the tracks. In the next pic you'll see why I did this, as the Frag Defender explosives that attach to the front of the track section was blending in way too much with the tracks.

I'm still not satisfied with these however. You can see a 'crux' pattern on the Frag Launchers, and I think I will pick them out with a bit more color...

The next batch of photos show the application of the mid-coat along the hull sections:

In between this stage and  the next, I dabbled a bit on the Lander Speeder crew and one of the crewmen for the Land Raider:

Next I applied the same technique as I did for the mid coat to the top coat. I did this by taking GW Space Wolf Gray, watering it down, and liberally 'dabbled' it on top the areas of the mid coat closer to an edge. At the edge I applied a solid line of Space Wolves Gray.

Oh, and I assembled the front twin-linked Assault Cannons as well!

The Space Wolf Gray stage went fairly quick, the next stage will be to add the highlight of Skull White to select edges, and the bolts,then the hull will be done and at which point I'll have the final detailing to do. (Have you noticed all the skulls dotting this damned thing?) Also I want to add either a unit marking or something else colorful on this tank, as I want it to look a bit more interesting than it currently does...

And finally, this is it's current state with the addition of the housing that covers the Assault Cannons.

Let's see what I can get done before I leave town again for business...

Pods to Drop and Lands to Raid (part four)

It has been a very busy week for me! So what little of my free time that could devote to the Landraider project, was spent trying to figure out how to magnetize the side sponsons. The reasons for doing this is so that I can swap the weapon types for the game, also remove them during play (when they get blown -or ripped- off) and to help get a better look inside of it. In the pic above, you'll see elements of my first attempt to magnetize this. I used really small rare-earth magnets that I drilled and inserted into the 'jam' part of the threshold and door insert. Although these would hold the door panel just fine, when the rest of the sponson (i.e. the guns) was glued on it was just too heavy.

So put a bigger, more powerful magnet on top the jam from under the track-guard (you can see the silvery semi-circle in the pic above), and although this would hold it, it still wasn't stable enough. So, I added another of the bigger magnets on the back of the door itself, and this seems to do the trick rather well.

And here is a snap-shot of both sponsons staying on the sides of the tank. BTW, I had to tear apart and rebuild the first sponson since I last posted due to how stiff the guns moved. It is now no longer an issue!

Ok, since my first blog post (Genesis) I've bought a new cam, and tonight I retook pics of the minis in that post. Here they are:

I intend to show-case more of my miniature collection as this blog continues. Enjoy!
-Joel

Pods to Drop and Lands to Raid (part 3 -and speed)

Here we are at the Land Raider's current state. I've been working on it off an on for over a week now, but this week so far I've devoted very little time to it due to work. Over on the right side of the pic is a Landspeeder Typhoon.

I painted up and inserted the headlights into the track guards. These things are annoying to paint right as the metal bars that shield the lamps catch all the paint, yet are themselves so hard to paint. I tried to use some clever to toning techniques with them but I'm afraid they just look wretched. I saw some examples today using solid colors for these that work well, and will try that with the thing I do with lights like this.

The first of the Hurricane Bolter sponsons. I'm finding these frustrated. Having seen the metal one, which the parts move very smoothly, I'm frustrated that these plastic parts are so stiff. So much so that the damned guns popped off when I was playing around with it later on.

And here is the Land Speeder. This is currently painted up to the 'mid-coat' standard. I have a few more layers to apply before it's done. I decided to bring it out and paint it along side the Land Raider so I can get them to the same standard, and get them both done at the same time. This will be one of three Land Speeder Typhoons that I have. This particular land speeder was not built by me, and if you look closely you can see some horrible mistakes. I found this on the top of a trashcan at a (now closed) local gaming store. It was beat to hell and clearly unloved. I adopted it and decided to 'polish the turd' so to speak and restore it to a prominent glory. It has served in most of my Space Wolves armies ever since.

So what do you think of the new camera?

-Joel

BTW, if you know me but don't know Corey, check out his blog:
http://dlwdg.blogspot.com/
It was the inspiration for doing this one!