Blood Axe Kaptin (Part 4)

 At the end of Part 3 I had stated that I felt that this guy was mostly done, but that it needed something else...

"Sumfink! Go git 'em!"

That's right, an attack squig. Which definitely meets the criteria of "some thing".  And the one I chose was this classic Rogue Trader era ork squig. Well, technically a tyranid squig. It's a bit of a complicated piece of lore that was only ever published once (White Dwarf #145 specifically). But nevertheless this classic freaky squig fit perfectly on my Blood Axe Warboss' base and gives a sense of menace. Mirthful menace mind you, but menace. 

Bare metal.

Unfortunately the tab had to go!

Primed.  

For such an old squig, it's still fairly large. Here he is on equal footing being compared to a Dark Eldar warrior. 

It kind of looks like a fleshy battle-bot in a way...

I based-coated this thing using Contrast Paints. Skeleton Horde for the claws, teeth and spikes, and Blood Angels Red for the skin. 

Contrast Paints basedcoat. 

Next I washed the model in Agrax Earthshade then gave it a layer of Khorne Red. The boney bits were given a layer of Screaming Skull with Wraithbone highlights. 

Mostly done.

Once he was done it was just a matter of affixing the squig, now names Sumfink, to the base of this Warboss, which a bit of superglue took care of in no time. 

Left side details

I'll work out a name for this big git eventually. But like many of my characters, sometimes they earn their names during a game.  With all I got going on, that may be a while. 

Rear details.

To end this project I added a few grass tufts to the base.  The final thing left to do is to add a clear coat to help reduce the chance of chipping the paint.

The job's done!

And now my Blood Axes have a dedicated leader. WAAAAGH!

Blood Axe Kaptin (Part 3)

I was distracted a bit here and there, and real-life keeps complicating things, but finally I managed to finish this guy.  Mostly. 

Of course I had to make this Blood Axe Kaptin carry an actual  blood red axe. Well the head of it anyway.. But what really helped me get this guy done was Cryptek Armourshade Gloss. I used it on the mechanical parts of the axe, the big shoota and the two holstered guns on his back, as well as the metal plates on his boss pole and his body armor. I love that stuff and it has become a crucial ingredient for metallic rust effects. 

The leather straps were done using Khorne Red, Nuln oil and Pink Horror. This is the first time I have used this scheme of an ork model. Usually I use it on Imperial models such as Assassins and Space Marines. But I've found that I like to use this scheme to contrast against other colors, like in this case where is contrasts nicely against the green colors of this model.

The only things left to do is to flock the base and seal the model with a protective coat (part of the joy of metal models is trying to avoid chipping). But I can't help the feeling that he still feels incomplete...

I hope you agree, but I think it's looking good for a miniature that was released way back in 1999. Come back whenever part 4 is posted where I'll reveal this model in his truly finished state! 

Blood Axe Kaptin (Part 2)

Continuing now from Part 1, I applied a wash of Tesseract Glow all over his flesh. And wow did I love the result of this! Remember, the formula for his flesh up to this point was an Olive Drab Prime, Caliban Green basecoat, and Gretchin Green Foundation Paint. The next pic shows only his right arm with the Tesseract Glow so you can see the difference. 

Tesseract Glow on one arm.

And here is the front of model with Tesseract Glow all over the flesh. 

Tesseract Glow layer.

And here is the back side. Back in the '90s I probably would've called this done, as it looks very close to the scheme I was using back then. 

View of left arm. 

But I can't leave well enough alone.  So added Apple Barrel Kiwi as a next level coat, first level thinned down the next solid, before finishing it off with a highlight of Sunburst Yellow. 
 

"Me flesh is done!"

Next came some more details, In this case, his mouth. The tongue and gums were based with Khorne Red, then Screamer Pink before next a final coat of Pink Horror. Two layers of Screaming Skull were applied to the teeth and bone areas. 

Teeth cleaned by dental squig. 

And this looks like a good place to stop. Look out for part 3 sooner than later (hopefully). 

Blood Axe Kaptin (Part 1)

Here's a miniature I have been procrastinating on for.... gosh, make that two decades now! This is the first of the big Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition era Ork Warbosses which came out in the summer of 1999.  I liked him, but he didn't quite suit the Goffs whom I was running at the time. In fact when the 2nd version (the one with the attack squig arm) came out, that was the model I decided I wanted to build first. And this poor guy just sat in his opened blister pack bidding his time. 

Waaagh?

At some point I decided to make him a Blood Axe Warboss. This was mostly on account of that big axe of his. Seemed obvious to me that a Blood Axe guy would be obsessed with big axes, right?  But he needed something but I didn't know what...

Oy, me 'ead's cold!

And one day,, like a bolt out of the blue,  Warhammer Community came to the rescue with an article about Bad Krumpany. I was totally inspired by the Ork Warboss Wade Price made for his Blood Axe Army, and I had to seek out that hat for my guy.  He had the perfect head for it too. After some scouring of bits sites online I managed to locate it. It's part of the Nork Deddog options from the Ogryn plastic kit, a Vox caster with a skull wearing a Commissar hat. 

Da Boss hat.

Having acquired this bit, I set about carving off the skull and speaker stuff to leave just the cap. Then I worked on hollowing out the hat enough for it to fit on the Warboss' domed head. 

Assembled! 

Next I primed him using an Olive Drab spray paint. It's not the best coverage job I've ever done,  but I got the areas I needed to. 

Primed!

Onto the basecoats. I used Caliban Green for the flesh base, and picked out the metal areas and boots using Abaddon Black. The interior mouth area and the wrap on the axe handle was based with Khorne Red. There are more details to pick out but I will deal with those as I proceed with the paint job

Basecoats! 

Onto the mid-coats! Yeah I was going to save this for Part 2, but I'm eager to share the progress. So I touched up all the areas. Then I washed all the recess areas if the olive drab with Agrax Earthshade. Then I used Gretchin Green Foundation Paint on the skin. Ontop of the Caliban Green, it gives the Warboss a weird pale look. It's almost freaky, especially with the  brown teeth. 

Gretchin Green flesh layer. 

I was really tempted to leave the axe Olive Drab colored but I decided that a Blood Axe Boss should be carrying a blood red axe. Also, It contrasts well with all the shades of green that the rest of this model is mostly going to be. I might put some Olive Drab back on the gun, but I'm not there yet.. 

Ok, let's stop here. I am excited to be  painting this guy, and I hope to get him done soon. We'll see in Part 2.