Celestial Lions Land Speeder (Part 2)

After many months of neglect, time was ripe to turn my attention back to the Celestial Lions Land Speeder. I must confess that I sorta forgot about this model. But when looking through my 2017 posts for my year end review, this caught my attention again. And my imagination, as I still think this would be a fun thing to include in my Kill Team games.

After assembly, of course.

After far too much contemplation regarding the undercarriage gravplates, I chose to just make them a darker metallic color. The gold kind of shines through creating this weird tonal effect that I like.

The grav plates.

I worked on the interior next, if you can call the crew compartment of an open topped vehicle like this an "interior". I made the buttons and switches an assortment of colors, as the rules of old school sci-fi dictates. I used Dark Reaper on the seats, which amused me a bit because it reminded me of the seats in a car I used to own. Granted my car didn't have docking ports for power armor, but then the idea of Space Marines chill'n in a comfortable ride makes me grin. After all, there is no way they could actually feel that comfort through that power armor, right?

They don't recline, but they are heated.

Satisfied with things at this stage I turned my attention to the rear jet exhausts section of the speeder. I painted it in a few tones of metallic using Bolt Gun metal and Nuln Oil.

Ready to assemble the hull. 

Everything regarding the main body of this thing was ready to be assembled. You may have heard the tales of woe regarding this original Land Speeder's challenging assembly. Really, you just need Plastic Cement, patience, and lots of rubber bands.

No such thing as too many rubber bands.

And this is where we leave off for now, with this model banded up and the glue curing.

Space Wolves Iron Priest (Part 3)

With the icon drawn on the yellow knee guard, and few minor touch-ups, I declare this model done!. Time for some natural lighting shots, outside in the moss patch:

Iron Priest in natural lighting.

Again, this was a very challenging miniature to paint. And I originally thought I could knock this out in a few days? Hahaba! Hell no! Still, I am very satisfied with the end result even though my decision to embrace Mars Red on an Iron Priest may be slightly controversial to the fluff police.

So much stuff to freeze with my icicle gun.

I drew the knee icon on with a micron pen. It took me a few attempts until I settled on this one as "close enough."

Still working on a name for this guy. Keen-eyed readers of this blog might have spotted the name Iron Prieat Wotton over on the Rogues Gallery page. That is name of my original, metal, Iron Priest whom I have yet to paint. But finishing this guy has inspried me to put him into the queue so he may one day make an appearance.

Ageir Ironjaw the Iron Priest is the name I am leaning towards for this guy at the moment, but I could be influenced to change that (no, not gonna name him Lager, sorry Cheef ).

Space Wolves Iron Priest (Part 2)

I have dabbled off an on, here and there,  on this miniature since I posted part-1. Not enough I thought to justify a "part 2" at any of those times, but finally I think we have arrived at that point. In fact, after a new hours of concentration, he is all but done.

The assembled Iron Priest.

I feel like this was the hardest single miniature I have ever painted. This model is practically over-loaded with details. I don't know how someone could assemble him first and expect to reach all the details when painting it.

Backpack and head attached.

Granted, I made things harder on myself by chosing to make him predominately red with Space Wolf gray and yellow details instead of just Space Wolf grey like all the example GW have presented, but even then,  this would still be a challenging model to paint. During the course of assembly I was applying touch-ups to the paint job that I knew I wouldn't be able to reach later.

Gun arm attached.

The model fits together well, but it is still something of a puzzle. I suggest putting the backpack on first as everything else attaches to it. Then the gun arm followed by the shoulder pad that goes on it. I made the mistake of putting the shoulder pad on last which ment I had to maneuver it past the hydraulic claw arm and cables while the pad was wet with glue. I pulled off this feat, but had I put the pad on first it would have been less stressful.

Rear details.

A lot of the rear details get obscured or covered up when the left arm and hydraulic claw arm arm attached. I made sure to put my Space Wolf decal on prior to the final assembly.

Assembled.

And here he is, assembed! To think, I thought I could do this in less than a fortnight! It's probably possible for me to do but I would have to have been a total hermit to make it work.

Stay frosty.

The frost gun and the hammer's frosty bits both have these ice runes that are another insane detail the sadistic sculptors added. These were a challenging detail to paint also as I kept screwing them up until I was finally satisfied with them. I think I have worked out a better solution for handling it, in case I encounter this sort of detail on another model.

Still one thing left to do...

The only thing left to do is draw a Space Wolf badge onto his yellow knee guard. But I was too tired to do that so I will have to continue that in Part 3. And I could not find a Space Wolf decal small enough for it either. Which is weird as other chapters have them, but whatever.

And a name, got to come up with an appropriate name.... (Yellow Knee the Technician has already been rejected).

See you in Part 3.

The Snowy Ruins (Part 3).

After an afternoon of what felt like frenzied drybrushing dedicated to the pursuit of completing this ruin, I have these results to show for it.

Pass thru this egress, assuming you can open it.

And here is the final piece:

Nearly birds-eye view.

It went so quick that I didn't take many 'work in progress' pics until nearly the end.

Patina and Rust.

I drybrushed Patina over the entire model.

Patina coat.

Then I picked out the areas that were clearly metal support structures and painted them with Indian Red which is sort of a terracotta color. These were Function vs. Form features such as I-beams, plates, wall sections etc. and I wanted their rust to contrast from the patina/copper look of the rest of the model.

The old roof. 

I then light drybrushed on Apple Barrel Cloudless on the raised areas of the Patina colored areas.

Cloudless layer.

All the hatches, vents, control panels and consoles,  as well as hinges and latches, were all liberally washed with Orange Ink. I applied lines in some areas to give the appearance of rusty run-off stains.

The rusty hatch. 

Rusty doors, controls and panels.

Finally I applied White as the final high highlight on the Patina colored areas of the building.

Rusty areas on top.

Patina and copper touch-ups on the doors.

After a few touch ups on the front door, it was now done as well. I love all the details the sculptors put into this model. The control panels were a lot of fun to paint, as were all the Saint statues. I couldn't help but wonder if there are design notes in the studio somewhere that might reveal the names of these forgotten holy characters...

Saint Bannon vs. The Led Zeppelin Hermit.

The project was a quick and fun one to do. I wouldn't mind doing another one, but I will have to see what the shop has laying around.

The Snowy Ruins (Part 2)

It warmed up enough outside for me to get this thing primed. After that, I base-coated the ground with Folk Art Patina. At this stage it kind of gives the model a weird look as it was based with aquarium rocks or something...

Patina base coat. 

Here is another pic, a bit closer with the lighting dimmed so you can get a better sense of the Patina's intensity.

Intensity.

I then began the application of Apple Barrel Cloudless (I love the implied positivity of that name). It's a lighter blue but is still intense enough to not dull the Patina too harshly.

Cloudless on the corner.

Cloudless all around.

With that done I started on the White. The camera has a way of white-washing the color out. To better demonstate the contrast this next pic shows a section half painted with a White top coat.

Right side has the White coat.

And the base is now done. Next I started on the ruin proper by painting the doors and other ornamental fixtures with Copper. And with that I called it a night.

Base done and copper bitz painted.

In between my starting this post and finishing it, I managed to get the whole project done. (A rare feat for me.) I will reveal the final piece in the next part, but for now here is a preview:

Saints fighting over a sword. 

The Snowy Ruins.(Part 1)

Terrain projects have always been an aspect of this hobby that has thrilled me. But in my current living situation I can not really work on them nor do I have the space to store them. Let alone do I have a game table set up at home. Luckily my local game store, Hobbytown USA of Johnson City, has many gaming tables with some great terrain. You can see these tables in most of my Battle Reports. One of my favorite tables is the Snow Table upon which my Chaos forces recently battled the Lions of Harlech.

Ruined building painted by Patrick.

The table, like most of HT tables, was built, painted and modeled by HT's Patrick. He has done brilliant work on these tables and they are a joy to play on. The Snow Table is lacking in terrain however. I have always felt a tad guilty about not having contributed to these tables like others have, which is why I painted the street lights for one of the other tables recently.

Close up details.

But I felt like I could do more.

At the end of the last game session I had there, I took home one of the uncompleted pieces that had been donnated by one of the players. I intend to paint it for the snow table but I need to match it as close as I can to Patrick's models. I asked him what paints he used but his answer ("a lot of different blues!") wasn't particularly helpful, so these pics I took will hopefully guide me.

I took pics of the table itself as well as some of the other features, so that I could try to match the ruin's base as close as possible.

Here the model I brought home. It clearly could use some attention, yes?

The humble dusty model.

The first thing I wanted to do was apply grit to the base. In the end, most of it will be painted to appear like snow.

The grittier the better.

There were a few parts I added to it. Obviously that unpainted part on the very top, and a small buttress on the side.

The backside.

I wanted to spray primer on the base but it not only is far too cold outside to do it, but it is also snowy out there. Fun coincidence, huh?

And it's 10°F as well.

Also, at this time I have a line of miniatures waiting to be primed outside: 20 plastic Daemonettes, Concord c3-strike-troopers, and few other odd-ball minis and models. They'll just have to wait for now. 😀

Feeling Khorney (Part 10)

The decal project on the 1st squad has been completed, with only one model not getting any decals. That model being the very first model of the group that I painted and that I still feel is the example that I hold all my Khorne paint-jobs up against. You can see an example of that in Feeling Khorney Part-1.

The berserkers are pretty-much done!

In these pics, their bases have been flocked and all that is left to do is touch up a few bases that had some ink splashes on their rims and spray a fixative on them. But otherwise, they are now, finally, done.

A mob of pure crazy.

I wanted to take a moment to show the Icon Bearer for this unit. He is totally kit-bashed, with his body being from the marine sprue from the 3rd edition starter set, a fantasy Khorne head, and an old metal arm bit that I think was from the late '90s Chaos Marauder. Anyway, I love how he has turned out. Here he is from four different angles:

Look'n at you!

The big banner.

Marauder arm.

Backside and view of decal.

He is a unique figure in my World Eaters force and I am glad he is now fully assembled.

And as promised in Part 9 here are the dancers & prancers with their Blood Red mid-coats.

I still need to build up their bases before doing anything else with them, like sticking arms and heads on them. I should have them done in approximately 3 years....

Feeling Khorney (Part 9)

I have been putting off the decal stage of this project for far too long. My initial excuse, as I briefly ranted about in my 2014 year-end review, was that I had lost the World Eaters decal sheet. It eventually did turn up, but I also had recieved some kind donations from a few local players (Mike, Scott and Skylar -thanks again) who were generous enough to help out.

Decals for the Blood God!!!

I fricking hate decals.

They are such a pain in the ass, are a lot of focused and intense work, and often times the results are sort of...lacking.

So I procrastinated, and worked on other things. But, while looking back through my extensive catalog of unfinished projects, this one stood out as one I had neglected for far long. So, to start this new year I am determined to get these guys done.

I put the first one on, and it came out great. Only to discover that teeth were transparent and that I would have to paint them in with White paint.

First Icon applied.

Needless to say that was a disaster (no, not sharing those images!). But it did present a solution: Paint the colors first, then apply the decal.

Success! 

And this was a total success (comparatively).

I used the same technique on the chaos icon with a transparent skull as well, and it also worked out great.

Both sides complete.

I have managed to get a few more done before time was up, but I am pleased with how they are turning out. Notice the small chaos symbol on the skull hanging from the chain on the far left mini.

More finished guys. 

This is what the colors look like prior to applying the decal by-the-way:

More guys ready for the Icon.

The unit's Aspiring Champion, who was the subject of Part-2's drill and pin feature , is now finished. Considering how much time I have put into this model, I suspect he'll 'spawn-out' in his first post-painted game.

The Aspiring Champion. 

And here is the metal Icon Bearer, featured mostly in Part-8, also now done and complete.
He is actually going to be the Icon Bearer for a the other Berserker unit, the chaps I call the dancers and prancers...

Finished Icon Bearer.

The dancing berserkers, yes, it's been ages since I worked on them, but their time has arrived! When I first got some of the secret-weapon-conversion-rings I tried them out on two of the guys from this unit before sanity prevailed; these minis simply didn't justify them. They just were not in a state that didn't warrant giving them 32mm bases.

The two guys with extended bases. 

And I decided to rip the others from their 25mm round bases instead.

Bases detached. They make good wounded guys huh?

I then reattached them to proper 32mm bases.

New bases.

Afterward, I was compelled to give the whole squad a coat of Blood Red, No pics of that yet, but the project continues on for both Berserker units, and you'll see more of these guys soon!