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Silver Skulls Army


GAR

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Howdy,

 

So with the new codex coming out soon and me always running behind on projects, I have decided to give my self a bit of a challenge. I am going to attempt to get an entire army complete in less than or equal to 2 weeks.

 

To keep things simple and moving I had my daughter pick the chapter and she liked the Silver Skulls " Cause they have shiny heads and skulls".

 

I am going to begin with 3 troops choices to start with, I have 2 AOBR sets and will add another unit of BFM marines to give me the three to start with.

 

I have already converted assembled most of the troops and even converted a couple of the flamers to Plasam guns.

 

so my question to you guys is...

 

Given the new rules and what you guys know of the new codex, what would be an essential to have in the army?

 

I tend to like rather in your face armies, a throwback to my Space ork days, but I open to any and all tactics and strategies. Do you guys have any suggestions.

 

I will be posting pics of the asembled plastics this evening. Thanks!!

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Youve gotta have some of teh new assault vets (vangaurd i think?) there rules such as assaulting after deepstrike are definitely in your faceand mayb the new landspeeder storm scout transports drop on the enemies heads but i doubt you'll b able to get your hands on that in the nxt 2 weeks but the assault marines you could convert bell of lost souls has an index with all the new rules might be worth you taking a look at.
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@Martok

Thanks for the heads up on the verts. I may have to model some up.

 

I also found the Razorback with the linked AC very interesting. I think I may have my command squad deploy in one of those.

 

One question, would a LR Crusader be viable now with the new rules?? I have not play marines in several ( more like 2 editions ago) years and am curious as to how well they do. I have one and I am debating whther to bother building it this evening or not?

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Yeah that new weapon mount for the razorback will pop up in a few armies i think but bare in mind they have dumbed down the rending rules a lil so they're no longer the all conquering beasties they were. (Roll of 6 on wound now rends, not to hit)

 

Crusaders are brutal if it all goes to plan... A squad of close combat terms all with lightning claws led by a chaplain will result in re-rolled to hits for the unit (from chappies litanies of hate) and re-rolls to wound (from lightning claws) and no saves cept invulnerable. The close range fire from the crusader will then pound any units hoping to jump in and bog down your termies. But not all plans go the way they should and an artillery shell landing on your landraider and annihaliting it will end up with you having lost over 500pts in one shot... OUUCH... I've had it happen and it was annoying lol. Cheaper option command sqd with chappie but you dont get quite the nastiness of the terms. I'd say its worth it tho its one me many games even charging in with a normal landraider full of terms. (Used to have death wing 3 land raiders(one crusader) and 3 squads, i never one lol but those charges were awesome terms jump out kill everything then you get ripped apart with no covering fire :( )

 

Also worth bearing in mind there going to release the land raider redeemer which has inferno cannons instead of hurricane bolters but you use tehm as normal template weapons unlike the hell hounds inferno however troops trying to assault your flanks while your deployed terms butcher will have to think twice or get incinerated ;)

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Howdy.

 

So last night was kind of a bust in terms of getting a lot of thing built, but progress was made.

 

I got 3 tactical squads cleaned and almost ready for priming. I dug up some older metal assault marines and an old dread I had stripped to repaint. I found a landspeeder I was going to use for a raven wing army and added them to the pile of stuff. I also grabbed some AOBR termies to be modified and added them to the army pile.

 

One of the things that kind of got me going on this as it has developed is what to do with all the Macragge marines and oddball figures I have picked up over the last few years. Some were started for painting contests, some on a whim, while others were just given to me cause I happened to be at the right place at the right time. That being said, a lot of this army will be recycled or did'nt quite fit in anywhere else in my other projects.

 

So on to the pictures. There are a couple of figure assembly shots of all the tacticals. I was short one Sgt so I put one together as well as multimelta marine for my 3rd tactical squad. I have 3 sgt figures for my assault marines, so one of the powerfist guys is going to lose his arm this evening. Also, I have a couple of converted Macragge marines. What I did was to remove the bolter and replace it with either a plasmagun or a melagun. They turned out pretty decent I think.

 

Also, I think I read somewhere the Silver skulls were headhunters or trophy hnters or something, so I grabbed some old skulls from skeleton sprues and and banners and a few chaos figures and glued them onto the back packs. Several of the skulls were chopped off of the Chaos terminator spikes. One of my other projects is a Worldeaters army and I am using the Forgeworld conversion kits so the spikes are'nt going to be used. Other came from the Dark angels back pack as well.

 

I have an idea to put skulls on the shoulder pads rather than paint them on. It won't look exactly like the ornamental skull shown in the artwork, but I think it will work and maybe help not get them confused with iron warriors.

 

Anyway, if you have sugestions or ideas I would love to hear/read them. Thanks!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSArmy1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSArmy2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSTactSquad3Sgt1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSAssaultSquad1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSTactSquadMissleLauncher1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSPlasmaConversion1.jpghttp://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSRecycleDread1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSRecycleSpeeder1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSAOBRDread1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSAOBRTermies.jpg

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All looks good surprised by the plasma guy thought it might look a bit dodgy but fits well :yes: One thing to bare in mind with all the pwerfist sgts is under the upcoming codex rules power fists hammers and lightning claws must be taken in a pair for the extra attack working out very expensive so power weopons are the cheapest way to get the extra attack. That being said although expensive all of em with dual powerfists would look cool :D
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Howdy.

 

So last night I was kicking around how to do the silver skull emblem. I have in mind to keep with the headhunter/trophy-taker theme and want to have lots of skulls all over everything ( As if anything GW did not have enough skulls already LOL). I came up with an idea using the skulls off of the cities of death set that I have. There are a lot of skulls all over everything and with some effort and a sharp knife I cut a few dozen varying sized skulls of the floor tiles and walls.

 

What I realized is that a lot of the smaller skulls, while lacking a lower jaw, would well as a Silver Skull shoulder pad symbol. it would not neccessarily be the same as the GW design, but it would be close and I like the raised emblem instead of the decal look.

 

My question is would it look to awkward to just have a silver skull on the shoulder instead of the more stylized emblem or should I use a bit of green stuff and sculpt the bottom portion on to make it look more in line with the established design?

 

Also, I found a plethora of Dark Angel Assault cannons and I am going to assemble a Razorback with the linked Assault Cannons this evening. I think it will be a great transport for the command squad.

 

I was also talking to a friend and he recommended using 3 drop podding Dreads and a LRC with veterans/termies inside with the tacticals suporting them as "extremely" rude and a nasty in your face kind of style of marine play. Is this feasible with the new codex? I am trying to keep the points down to 1750 so I don't know if this is even doable with the 3 tacticals I am wanting to use.

 

I figure base/starting point for list is

 

1 HQ with command squad & Razorback( maybe a master of forge?? so I can choose dreads as heavy or elites? is this right/possible?)

3 tacticals with plasmaguns and missle launchers/rhinos if points alow

LRC

3 dreads with CCW & Assault cannon or multimelta

Squad of stern vets or Assault termies.

 

Any Ideas or suggestions are more than welcome as I continue this flurry of assembly and painting. Thanks!

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HOWDY. Been a busy week but still I have managed to keep the progress going.

 

So given the lack of decals or shoulder pads ( ok there may be shoulder pads, but navigating the GW website ranks up there with going to the proctologist) I decided to make my own.

 

From the cities of death sets I shaved off as many skulls as I could from a broken building I have. I then trimmed around them so they were nice and neat. next I glued the skulls onto the shoulder pads, waited for the glue to completely dry and then applied a small dab of green stuff where the lower jaw should be.

 

Next I shaped the jaw and let it set for about 8 - 10 minutes so the shape was not going to be easily mis-shapen and added the slits for the teeth.

 

None of this was done with exacting detail or great precision. I want to get this army done and spending hours and hours on GS is not the way to go with this in mind. So overall I am pleased with the results, it looks pretty good and did not take to much time, maybe about 15- 20 seconds per marine to get the GS to look right.

 

Last night I added a 9 man unit of vanguard vets to the mix. Lots of power weapons and plasma pistols along with a guy with 2 powerfists just cause I thought it would look cool.

 

Also added is a Captain character, one of the older metal figues who recieved a plasma pistol instead of the stock stormbolter.

 

Skulls were also added onto the dread and the same GS technique applied.

 

Plan is to try and get the razorback and a landraider assembled today. For the razorback I am using a Baal predator. It make look a little funny but it my army and I think it will be an awesome addition to the army.

 

 

 

Captain, no name yet, maybe will be Argentius...

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSCaptain1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSCaptain2.jpg

 

Dreads, still need skull trophies draped across front

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSAOBRDread2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSDreadAC1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSDreadAC2.jpg

 

Tactical Squads, still need to get the 3rd squad worked on but 2 is enough for now.

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSTactSquad3Sgt2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSPlasmaConversion2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SStactSquadBolter2.jpg

 

Vanguard vets, used older metal assault marines. Some will recieve purity seals and various do-dads but those will be glued on later today. I kinda went from memory after looking the the SM codex at local GW so if something is wrong it will be proxied correct in a game. ;)

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets10.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets4.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets5.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets6.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets7.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets8.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardVets9.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSVanguardvetsJumppacks1.jpg

 

 

Thoughts? C& C welcomed and encouraged.

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Looking good mate :)

 

I am using Argentius as the Chapter Master name, as I took Commander to mean Imperial Commander of the planet Varsavia.

 

As Varsavia is the latin name for Warsaw, I have been dabbling with Polish names for "real world" angels for my guys.

 

I am going to call my Prognosticator Maximillian Kolbe for example.

 

Keep up the good work Brother.

 

While vile mutants still draw breath, there can be no peace. While obscene heretics' hearts still beat, there can be no respite. While faithless traitors still live, there can be no forgiveness.

 

+++ Legiones Astartes Silver Skulls' Catechism of Hate Verse I of XXV +++

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Excellent start sir! I think you really pulled off the lower jaw part on the shoulder pads and I think in the long run, this will be a very distinguishing feature of your army.

 

What will be interesting is seeing how you bring all the disparate pieces of your list together on the table as a fighting force. Based on the metallics I've seen you do on other figures, I am quite certain that these guys are going to look outstanding...no pressure, though. :)

 

I'm looking forward to seeing these guys come together and get painted.

 

Cheers,

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Twin powerfist guy looks sweet. The list looks good for the "in your face" play, will make the opposition pretty worried when you get 1st turn with everything charging with onoly 1 turn of shooting before a lot of it hits thier lines. Good stuff. The emblem looks really nice
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Howdy all.

 

Saturday was a bust assembly and painting wise. Life is what life is. Still I had a good time Saturday watching my son play soccer, taking the wife and kids out to a nice lunch and then off to see a Taiko show here in Houston Saturday night. Very cool stuff!

 

Sunday I found that my LC is missing parts, but I had a good friend who supplied some of my missinf parts from on of the new LC models. How he got a new LRC I don't know, but since he built a redeemer I was in luck with the bolters.

 

Additionally I got 2 tactical squads primed, along with the vanguard and one of the dreads. I then painted upo the dread during the Sunday night game, or during part of it. All in all it took about 2 hours or so to paint it, which is crazy fast for me since most of my painted pifgures take 3 or 4 hours to paint each, and that is for a regular marine!

 

I am trying to keep the "head hunter" theme going, so I added some skulls and a rope with skulls and bones on it to give it a bit more feral look.

 

Overall I am pleased with what I have. I keep thinking I should do this or that and highlight or shade more, add in some artwork or freehand details, but that all defeats the point of getting it done. So keeping in mind my goals to actually finish an army that will look good on the table top, I think I am off to a good start. I may go back and add some of the litanies Marius Perdo has provided. I like them and they would be good on a shoulder or something. I am for sure going to put on my vechicles.

 

Thought and opinions welcome! Thanks!

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSACDreadFinishedfront1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSACDreadFinishedfront2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSACDreadFinishedfront3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSACDreadFinishedLeft.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSACDreadFinishedRear.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSACDreadFinishedRight.jpg

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looks cool maybe some weathering to break up the silver but not essential just nice ^_^

 

and maybe a chapter marking or something on the leg armor as well, seems a tad too metallic (even for a silver skulls army :jaw: )

 

really diggin the rope with the bones on it, definently adds some flair to the piece.

 

++EDIT++ when can we expect wip pics of the land raider crusader?

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looks cool maybe some weathering to break up the silver but not essential just nice :huh:

 

and maybe a chapter marking or something on the leg armor as well, seems a tad too metallic (even for a silver skulls army :P )

 

really diggin the rope with the bones on it, definently adds some flair to the piece.

 

++EDIT++ when can we expect wip pics of the land raider crusader?

 

 

I will see what I can come up with to add to the legs shin guards. Maybe another skull, I don't think there are enough on him. ;)

 

The LRC WIP is coming as I add to it over the week. I broke out some of my FW reinforced armor to use on it, and once I got it all cleaned and trimed I found out that it doesn't fit. So after much time spent sanding, shaving and triming both side I finally got everything to fit, but I won't ever buy another one of those sets, Looks good on paper and in the pictures, the reality is much different. The tank track guards did'nt even rech from one side to the other, they look like they were sized for a leman Russ, not a landraider.

 

I think this evening I will do a little work on the Tactical squads and do some more work on the LRC. Suffice to say currently it looks pretty typical.

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Looking good Gar!

 

One comment on the dread. Did you consider doing the shoulder boxes on the dread in black so they match your troopers? Then you could do the body, legs, and arms in silver and they might look a little more consistent across the army.

 

For some reason, the black on the torso didn't blow up my kilt.

 

I too am really looking forward to the LRC.

 

Keep up the great work!

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I took a good hard look at the dread last night and I agree that it needs something else.

 

What I am kind of leaning towards right now is doing some tribal tatto patterns on the legs and shoulders to break it up. What comes to mind is doing the "thorn" looking patterns that are so popular nowadays. I am thinking to make it work theywould need to be whitewith a black border or red with a white border to stand out from the metallic.

 

I could also just do a simple pattern in black to break it up a bit, but I am not sure that would be enough to change it up.

 

I could of course add more skulls on the legs. Never seem to have enough of those. ;)

 

Thoughts?

 

Additionally more work has been done on the LRC. I added a large skull to one of the side doors. Added a relief pattern to the top front door from the cities of death set ( that was a pain to cut out and trim down but it looks really cool).

 

Sorry for no pics but that is what happens when you forget to charge your camera. Pics coming this evening.

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I could also just do a simple pattern in black to break it up a bit, but I am not sure that would be enough to change it up.

 

I would vote for this option because it contrasts less, but will stick out more than you might think. Also, you could add some highlights to it to give some definition.

 

My two yen...

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Howdy.

 

Last night I went raiding through my WHFB bits and came up with more skulls and zombie heads to add to the SS project.

 

One of the things I did to the LRC was to chop up more of the cities of death bits to add some detail to the model. I cut out one of the Adeptus Mechanicus skulls and the carved out the mechanical portion and attempted to get to look pretty close to the original. I think it turned out alright. I then took a portion of one of the wall sections and cut out the lower section and then cut it down so it was not so think. This was placed over the top of the landraider assault ramp door, the top part. I like this a lot and am very pleased with this.

 

Next was to remove some of the "skull pillars/columns" from the remaining wall section. This was attached near the back door on both sides behind the hurricane bolters.

 

Then skulls and head were draped across the front. The plan is to make some GS rope and tie them together so they are hanging on a rope across the front sides. So far all I have done is to glue the skulls and heads in place. GS work gets doen tonight.

 

Overall I am pleased with how the LRC is turning out, given the missing pieces and fill in I have made. I still think it needs something else, but I also think it is bordering on being to cluttered so I will think about it for a day or two before I get to painting it.

 

I also started half a tactical squad. 5 marines, based with P3 paints pig iron, washed with badaab black ink, dryrbushed with more pig iron, washed again with Devlan mud ink and then drybrushed again with Pig iron. The helmets were based with P3 paints quicksilver, then washed with Asurmen blue, and then highlighted with Vallejo Model Color Silver. I did'nt like the contrast between the P3 silver and pig iron as I felt they were too close to the same color so I went with the vallejo as it is a brighter and lighter color by comparison.

 

The marines are not done yet, but they are a little more than halfway. I think they are turning out pretty decent and they are painting up fast, about an hour to get all 5 guys to where they are in the pictures, maybe a little less.

 

Anyhoo, thoughts and opinions appreciated.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPRight1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPRight2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPRight3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPFront.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPLeft1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPLeft2.jpg

 

5 man tactical

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/TactSquad1WIP1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/Bolter1WIPFront.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/Bolter1WIPBack.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/Bolter1WIPLeft.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/Bolter1WIPRight.jpg

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that lrc is lookin pretty good so far mate, and I do agree with the gs rope idea for tying the skulls together.

 

i can see what you mean about the fw extra armor kit, looks like a pain in the arse to slap on there.

 

Im curious though, why did you use the old metal assault launcher and assault cannon? other conversions in the works? :P

 

also, a bit iffy about the former mechanicus skull on the rear door, but im sure it'll look better with some paint.

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Im curious though, why did you use the old metal assault launcher and assault cannon? other conversions in the works? ^_^

 

also, a bit iffy about the former mechanicus skull on the rear door, but im sure it'll look better with some paint.

 

 

the metal assault luancher, I don't have my originals ( lost in the warp somewhere along with the AC). I got those old ones from a bitz bin. The MM is from a landspeeder kit. it does need some work, so my plan is to put some skulls on the tops that have been filed down so it looks a little better.

 

The skull still needs some GS work to make it look like the SS emblem, but for now it is good enough for me. I may do a little detailing on it to spice it up a bit. I does look kind of bland sitting there though. :P Still, it is better than trying to sculpt one from GS or trying to paint one one. Remember, my goal is not to get bogged down in details and to get stuff done.

 

My biggest weakness is going all out on a figure, goldem demon quality ( in the interest of full disclosure I have won 2 demons), and then I am burned out on it and little else gets done. So for this project I am focused on getting something that looks decent enough and can be done relatively quickly.

 

However I did manage to pick up a couple extra AC bits for LRC so I am definitly going to mock up at least 1 Razorback with AC for my command squad and maybe a second if there is time. Yippee!!

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Howdy.

 

Last night I did some GS work on the LRC. Added the ropes for the hanging skulls/heads and did some work on the Silver Skull Emblem. I think I am going to do a little more on it, pretty little detail work around the Skull like the FW doors, but for now I think it looks pretty good.

 

Also added some base material to the tactical squad so I can begin the basing and put on the fist coat on the 2nd half of the tactical squad. the base color is P3 pig iron. It is similar to GW boltgun metal, but it has a bit more brown to it I think. A very nice color in my opinion.

 

Also, I dug up my Iron Hands Scout squad and I am going to convert them over to SS skulls. I may go back one day and finish out my Iron Hands, but for now they are collecting dust, so they are getting thrown into the hopper and changing chapters. Plan with them is to paint over the IH logo and clan markings and paint on the Silver skull emblem. Then the armor with be painted to be more in keeping with the SS army, so the black armor goes metallic and the metallic goes black or a different metallic depending on where it is.

 

Tonight I am going to finish up the LRC work and then prime it. I am also going to clean and finish my Assault terminators.

 

For now, pictures of last nights progress.

 

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPLeftGSRope.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPRightGSRope.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/SSLRCWIPRightSSEmblemGSwork.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/TactSquad12ndhalfbasepaint.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/garness/Silver%20Skulls/TactSquad1WIP2.jpg

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