Inquisitor Alpha (Part 3)

 

Inquisitor "Alpha".

This guy was more challenging than my initial assessment of the model led me to believe it would be. There are odd wires and minor details I didn't catch until I really started working on him. And whatever the hell is going on with his gun arm confused me throughout the process. 

I finished the cape by using Folk Art Baby Blue*. Then a thinned layer of White Scar before highlighting it with a thick layer of White Scar.  Quite a bit of the blue shows through but creates a nice contour effect  which is what I was going for. 

The gold was finished by using the '90s era Citadel Colour Shining Gold. It's still the best gold color I own. It's perfect and I will be lost if I ever lose it. 

The sword was kept intentionally dark. I liked the contrast and juxtaposition of having the main focus of the model be a dark and sinister looking blade. 

The 'writing' on the scrolls and parchment was done using a Micron.  A very small tiped Micron. 

And that's essentially it; he is done! 

OK, so we only have a few days left in the month. If you are intending to participate in the 2023 Inquisitional Conclave you have until September 1st to get your images and links over to me. I am planning to post the Conclave on Sunday the 3rd. 

*For the record, this color has never been used on any of my Space Wolves models. Seriously. 

The Hivefleet Neverness Repair Prioject (Part 1)

 As told in the most recent battle report, a lot of my tyranid force was damaged due to heat exposure. The damage was done mostly to their bases (thankfully) and only one model was truly damaged.  

Other models had their tabs warped and malformed when their base shriveled up around them.  I will talk about this a bit more below. 

It seems that the models that had painted bases were the ones that took the most damage.  This would become more apparent when tried to remove these warped bases. 

Even my old hybrid models were shown no mercy from the heat, as their bases were slightly warped as well. 

My old Primarch, Papa Claws, had some slight damage to his base. It looks like it was dented in a minor accident... I am trying to decide how to proceed with this model; do I replace his base or just smoothe out that dent with green stuff?

Once I got started on the repairs, it seemed to be a fairly straightforward process. Just clip off the damaged base and pop on a new one. 

But things became complicated when I got to the models that actually had painted bases. Not only were they shriveled up but the Slotta base tabs on some of them were severely warped as well. 

For a few of them I had to cut apart the tabs in order for them to mount properly into the new base. 

All-all this was definitely a new modeling experience for me, and not one I hope to ever repeat. 

Inquisitor Alpha (Part 2)

 Just a small update showing the small amount of progress I was able to make on this guy since the last post. 

This top picture shows the progress just past the basecoats stage. I used Contrast Paints on his clothes and skin. I was, again, less than impressed with Spaces Wolves Grey Contrast Paint. This time I used it on his cloak and robes, and I just hated it. I used Catachan Flesh on all the armored bits. I sometimes like to use a dark brown as a base for gold as it gives it extra depth. I painted over that with a classic from the '90s: Tin Bitz. 

Here we are at the early stages of the mid-coats. Retributor Armor was applied here and finally the gold is beginning to come together for me. Model Color Azure was painted over the Contrast Paint on the clothes which I think is now starting to work the way I visualized it. I generally dislike Vallejo paints as I find them to be too runny for my style but this one worked out for this situation. 

Alright, a short update indeed. Remember, the month is flying by fast and the Conclave will gather on the first of September. So if you want to be a part of it this year there is still time! 

My '90s Space Marine Challenge

Here is my entry in the #90smarinechallenge. 

If you read my post announcing my intent to participate, you night know that I was not sure how to paint my model.  After hearing everyone who offered an opinion, it was clear that the masses wanted me to paint an Ultramarine, so who was I to stand against the will of the masses?*

Here are the stages I went through:

Primed. 

Basecoats.

For the basecoats I used a very old color  one of the oldest paints in my menagerie of paints: Space Marine Blue. It came in the "89 Space Marine Paints set, and it still works great. 

Attachments basecoated. 

On the gun, the eye lenses and aquilla gem stone, I used Khorne Red. 

Macrage Blue.

Macrage Blue, the modern Ultramarines base coat, was the midcoat color of choice. 

The '90s Ultramarines Blue 

Then came another oldie, the "90s era Ultramarines Blue. I think itt has a "kick" that modern blue colors in this tone seem to lack. 

Highlights.

Fenrisian Grey is the final highlight on the armor. It was at this point I painted the trim on the paldrons in the third company red. 

And some final details.

Without going into the full saga of it all, the decals proved to be their typical challenge. But Microset, 'Ard Coat, and pure tenacity eventually got me results I could live with. 

Chapter badge applied.

Sadly, I had forgotten that the bolter covers up the gemstone on the aquilla. A revelation all too evident after the fact. -And I thought I had done a decent job on it too! All well, if I decide to paint up more of these guys I will try to keep that fact in mind. 

Tactical Marking applied.

Finished with tufts.

The temptation to add additional decals on his greaves was very appealing. A campaign badge,, or roman numeral three, etc. But this fanciful idea was thrown out by the challenge of the shoulder pads. Sure, they're flatter areas and more susceptible to the decals, but I was just over it. And that's okay, as I think the legs have turned out good. And sometimes, less is more, and it's best not to make the model appear too busy, right?

Stay tuft. 

All-in-all I am very pleased with how this chap turned out. He is a vast improvement over the his battle brothers of the same design that I painted way back in the late '90s. If you look at the post from way back when I got these Ultramarines from my brother, you can see a ten-man squad of these guys painted as Veterans. Feel free to compare and contrast**. 

 

It's been a fun challenge, and I hope Darren throws another one out there soon. 

*Alright, it was like five people. Maybe six.

**Pun not intended, but there it is!

Inquisitor Alpha (Part 1)

GW stock photo from the blister pack.

 I have selected my Inquisitor for this year's Inquisitional Conclave. This year I went for this generic Inquisitor.  He looks like he might be fairly quick to paint (famous last words, right Blood Axe Orks?), and he is often the cover model for the Imperial Agents. I decided to name him Alpha, who was the mysterious Inquisitor that my players worked for in the Dark Heresy game I ran about 10 years ago. 

The 25mm base. Yeah, not feeling it. 

This miniature is a white metal miniature, and I was relieved to find him locally last week,  and even more relieved that he wasn't in Finecast. He comes with a basic 25mm base, and as you can see from the stock photo and the one I took above, he just spills off of the thing. So I decided to put him on a 32mm base. And he's still a bit big for it, but at least now I have room to add stuff to it. I cut a slot into the base and accidentally shattered it. No problem really, but I did have to wait for it to glue together. And for some reason the bolter was being difficult about gluing into place also. I had to balance it against my exact-o blade for a while while the glue cured. 

The gluing.

Here he his glued together and looking like he was born too soon and missed out on the 'Tactical rock" craze of the previous decade (who are kidding, it's still a thing!). 

Rocking a new base. 

I wanted a small stack of skulls on his base. Inspired pretty much from the classic Blanche Sisters of Battle art. I'm even planning on putting red Xs on their foreheads. 

Skulls for the Golden Throne!

Ok. Just waiting for the TN  humidity to be on my side so I can get him primed, and then it's on to the action! 

'90s Space Marine Challenge

 I already have one challenge to meet in July,, but here's something I just can't resist jumping on the bandwagon for: #90spacemarinechallenge. This challenge was thrown out to all by Darren Lathem on Instagram. Thebob brought it to my attention, well, I just happen to have a few of these things kicking around, so what the heck, let's do it! 

Darren stated on Instagram while following up on some questions that he didn't want to see any conversions, just the stock model. And that we are to use the original 25mm base. I have enough of these guys to do a squad or three. I have been wanting to model these guys on 32mm bases, and I have been flirting with the idea of doing a send squad of Celestial Lions. But  it's just a single guy for this competition and I can always use extenders once it's all over to get him in line with the rest of the squad, assuming I chose to do a full squad. 

I have chosen the model.

So how should I paint my guy? My choices are:

• Ultramarines

• Celestial Lions

• Space Wolves

I could do Dark Angels or Legion Of The Damned but this old miniature just won't conform with models I already have for these factions. So it's a pick from one of those three. If you want to try to influence my decision just leave a comment below.

These things can be found throughout my Warhammer 40,000 collection.

Inquisitional Conclave 2023 (Kick Off)

 Is it that time of year already? Dang! 

A  Blanche work for your inspiration. 

Well this is the fourth annual Inquisitional Conclave.  The rules are simple: 

The rules (more like guidelines really); all you have to do is obtain for yourself an Inquisitor miniature or any Imperial Agent model and throughout August, paint it up and send me your a pic of the finished miniature and or a link to where you might be sharing this online (a blog, Instagram, whatever). Also, please leave a comment below announcing your commitment to this challenge (this is not required, but it does provide motivation to the rest of us). 

Inquisitor Draco, my 2021 Conclave Inquisitor. 

You're not just limited to an Inquisitor specifically, you can paint members of their retinue to accompany the one you might have painted for a previous Conclave or any Imperial Agents your Inquisitor may requisition. A good gauge of this to check out the Imperial Agents index cards, but you're not limited to those. Heck, the more Blanchitsu you getz the better! 

And Inquisitor and retinue from 2020 by Da Masta Cheef. 

You can message me directly at neverness92@gmail.com, and send to me either pics or a link to your own blog (Instagram, whatever social media platform you prefer). Of course, I'll post my own updates here as well. We will kick this off on August 1st, with the Conclave itself (the post where all the final finished pics are showcased) to happen on the weekend of September; I will know more as we get there. That should be plenty of time for most of us -I hope!

Now I got to figure out what I want to paint... 

And figure out who gets a Mohawk this year.