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Space Marines? .. Iron Hands!


Brother Argos

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Sometimes you just get tired of painting Green ... Or so I kept telling myself for the last 2-3 years.

It had been ages since I had the urge to paint one of my Salamanders, I had dabbled with the Imperial Guard, done some nice work with Battlefleet Gothic and generally mucked about without actually painting anything even vaguely Space Marine orientated.

New toys kept arriving and going into the "Space Marine" box, money spent on a pile of plastic that was getting bigger and bigger. It is disconcerting to be the owner of one of the biggest Space Marine websites in the world and not have the urge to play or paint Space Marines. You feel in some strange way disloyal, a bit of a failure, almost like living a lie. I have always liked Space Marines, loved my Salamander Marines, I created the best space marine painter program on the web ... hell my namesake even got a place in the Salamander books by Black Library. But I could not stir any interest in picking up and painting a Space Marine, "Sometimes you just get tired of painting Green ..." kept going around in my head.

Maybe that is the problem, perhaps I am too hooked up "Painting Green", being THE "Salamander" player. So I am going to try and paint some other Space Marines and try not to feel oddly guilty and importantly I am not going to try and make them "works of art". The nearest I ever got to the Demons was making the cut in 2003 at Baltimore, its time to put that dream away and just enjoy painting some stuff to whatever standard takes my fancy.

So I started thinking about what I would like to paint that wasn't a "Salamander", I decided I like old Chapters as they have cool looking old armour etc.

So a founding chapter perhaps? ...

Well to cut a lot of self analysis waffling short, I decided this week to try and paint an Iron Hand Space Marine.

Here is the work in progress ... still need to work on the purity seal and I am not happy with the bolter casing either ... but its a start and my first Space Marine in over 2 yrs. I am waiting for Forgeworld to deliver the Decals for the shoulderpads!

ih1.jpg

I used a metal bolter (because of the bionics) and the surface is uneven and the white casing sure as hell shows it! not happy with that ... next one will be a Plastic bolter and should be better.

ih2.jpg

I am using the "chipped" weathering look because normally I paint "pristine" space marines and I wanted a change! (its also VERY quick)

ih3.jpg

Its taken me 2 hrs painting to get this far and that's about the fastest I have ever painted any marine, so I am quite pleased by that :tu:

ih4.jpg

I need to decide on some kind of basing theme next, I am tempted to go for steel plate with significant rust and oil ... but I will test that later.

Overall I am pleased with the result, its fast and a little dirty ... but its a space marine in under 3 hrs and that is unheard of for me.

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Maybe that is the problem, perhaps I am too hooked up "Painting Green", being THE "Salamander" player.

I think you may be on the money with that statement, it's easy to get caught up (especially in your situation) or holding onto an ideal.

Sometimes in order to be free you must let go and allow yourself to be be re-inspired.

 

I love the Iron hands model. Especially the wear and tear! I also like the way the lenses are painted. Very nice.

 

Chaplain Hiltraud

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It probably is the ''Painting Green'' thing.

 

 

I had about 1500 points of space marines lieing around, with only about 10 painted, that i just couldnt bring myself to paint because id chosen a really time consuming colour scheme.

 

 

Ive restarted with a new one about a year later, and its alot more fun, and im actually getting them painted.

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It probably is the ''Painting Green'' thing.

 

 

I had about 1500 points of space marines lieing around, with only about 10 painted, that i just couldnt bring myself to paint because id chosen a really time consuming colour scheme.

 

 

Ive restarted with a new one about a year later, and its alot more fun, and im actually getting them painted.

 

I am in that exact position right now :D .

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Having a Salamanders and Iron Hands army myself - what can I fault? ^_^

 

I find that working exclusively on one army is quite challenging if you plan to put a lot of attention into it - so I bounce around a bit myself.

 

I have a squad of Salamanders Assault Marines and 4th Tactical Squad that had been sitting WIP for months as I focused on other projects. Time is at a premium for me right now, so all of my projects are sitting on a back burner, but when I get more time, I will continue bounce around. It seems to help keep me interested.

 

Nice looking Iron Hands Marine. Update us on how well the FW decals work out for you. :blink:

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I find that working exclusively on one army is quite challenging if you plan to put a lot of attention into it - so I bounce around a bit myself.

 

Other than lack of ability as a painter, this is why I'm comissioning what I want, regardless of the cost and lengthy time frame involved!

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@ Captain Mick : Me too!

@ Chaplain Hiltraud : Thank you!

@ bannus : I will indeed report back on the FW decals when I get them B)

@ Captain Juan Juarez : Don't hate the player ... hate the game!

Well today I have been busy at home but tried to allot an hour to painting / modelling.

First up is the test base for the Iron Hand Marine, I decided in the end to go for a "mechanical/industrial" flooring. With the monochrome of the Iron Hand colours I wanted to add some colour to the base to act as a "frame", so I decided to use an iron base with rust and stains.

First I searched for some old buried plasticard "tread-plate", which when I found I cut in a 22mm diameter circle, to fit the top of a standard 25mm base. Gluing this to the plastic base I then under-coated it black and topped it with a layer of dark brown. I then switched to Tamiya smoke to add some stains, which I left to "almost" dry and then switched to using "MiG" pigments/powders to create three layers of rust, each lighter and smaller than the previous one. The almost dry Tamiya smoke created a nice stain texture and I concentrated the darker rust there. Once finished I had a VERY rusty treadplate with no hint of iron showing anywhere, so it was time to use a very light drybrush of Boltgun metal on the areas not covered by the "stain". I did this very lightly and built it up slowly till I had the correct density of iron showing.

Overall I am very pleased with the result: -

ihbase.jpg

Once the base was complete I switched to working on a Company Pad ... The three hex bolts insignia appealed the most to me and I wanted to make a pad that I could cast in resin.

To start with I grabbed a "tech-marine" shoulderpad from the vehicle sprues and filed the skull from it. This left a nice cog and I had some photo-etch hex bolts from my work on the Imperial guard tanks, using a small pin I made a minor hole in the centre of the cog. I then carefully added each hex bolt to the shoulder pad based around the pin hole evenly, I used very thin super glue to make sure no marks would be visible and the hex bolts would be flush to the surface of the pad.

You can see the final result here: -

ihcompanypad.jpg

I am pleased with how things are coming on and have a number of ideas for further bases and an urge to try and improve on the sculpting of the "Iron Hand" on the Iron Hand shoulder pad found in the IH Space Marine squad box. I am also waiting for the Space Marine Character Conversion set from Forgeworld for the bionics, and some of the older Heresy armour too.

At some point I also need to work on Bionic conversions too :lol:

And more importantly I need to paint more Marines!

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The white boltgun case looks great and so does the IH overall. I really like the base and that shoulder pad makes me jealous :D

 

Overall, I'm glad your back with Space Marines, especially Iron Hands!

 

Looking forward to the next update!

 

Ludovic

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Thanks for the great comments guys ... its very encouraging!

I have been working for up in London at the British Museum for the last 3 days and didn't have time to paint AND post about it. The good news is I have finished at the museum till monday and had the time tonight to take some pictures!

In my never ending search for decent pads / decals can I present the following: -

ihpads.jpg

On the left is the Ravenwing Techmarine pad with the hooded skull removed and smoothed down in anticipation of more hex bolts! ... However the quality of the Forgeworld Decals evident on the rightmost shoulderpad may well have swayed me away from making/casting my own pads for the moment.

The middle pad is the metal Gw iron hands shoulderpad in the box set, personally I think it looks way to "chunky" to be used, while next to it lies the Forgeworld decal pad which I am very pleased with!

With regard to the Decals, they take some significant time to deform to the curve of the shoulder pad. I use Microscale Industries "Micro Sol" to soften and deform decals and normally its fairly easy work, but for the FW decals I had to leave the decal on the pad and soaked in "Micro Sol" on top of it for a few minutes before it would start to deform sufficiently. Having said that the FW Decal sheet has a lot of excellent decals just right for the Iron Hands and I would definately recommend it to anyone with experience in using Decals. Beginners might find them a little annoying!

In addition to preparing and painting pads, I have begun work on the second base, I wanted something a bit more complex this time and used some of the small scale photo-etched eagles from Forgeworld to create the following look: -

ihbase2.jpg

I was looking to create the feeling of a recessed track on my "Tech" flooring, and the eagle "embossed" rail next to it worked for me!

Up next is the first space marine I worked on with finished pads! ... from this angle a couple of interesting things are visible, firstly the company shoulderpad from the FW IH decal set, which I loved the look of! ... and in addition some my old stock of bolter shells, the shells I use are no longer available and I was lucky to buy a stock of them. They are made of aluminum tube on a microscale lathe and are actually hollow! I use them sparingly and only have about 40 or so left, but they do look good on Marine bases! Annoyingly the "metallic highlights" on the treadplate don't show from this angle in either picture so they look overly "rusty" .. however if you look at my previous post you can see what it looks like!

ihsm1.jpg

The next picture shows the other shoulder pad and the iron hands tactical designation on the lower leg armour (as per the IA : IH) ... I think personally its a little too large, but thats the size supplied on the FW Decal sheet for the leg. In tomorrows post you should be able to see my next marine and he has a different insignia on the leg which I think I prefer.

ihsm2.jpg

You should also be able to see the "bronze" purity seal ... its possible to use was as a carrier for metal filings and I thought this colour would look good for my purity seals. Sometime at the weekend I will be doing the Decals for the text on the purity seals!

More pictures tomorrow of the second painted space marine ...

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Very nice work, Argos. This level of quality never seems to be lacking from the models I have seen from you.

 

The FW decals seemed to have worked great for you, and those customs shoulder pads look brilliant. And as you noted that metallic purity seal looks great, I've never even thought to paint one in gold before.

 

I'm eager to see the next Iron Hand. Also, the first one needs a name. ;)

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I'm eager to see the next Iron Hand. Also, the first one needs a name. ;)

 

Hmm, I think Brother Haearn would work quite nicely. (whoever understands why gets a cookie and the Emperor's blessings ;))

 

Excellent work htus far Argos! Proves you're great at both digitally painting and physically painting. ;)

 

Cambrius

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As promised here are a few more shots showing the next marine in progress!

ihsm4.jpg

The white bolter casing on the plastic bolter worked well for me and I refined the technique using an undercoat of the GW Ice Blue .. then the white .. then a very fine filter wash of the ice blue to finish.

ihsm5.jpg

I darkened the eyes on the second marine .. as I found the bright orange/red of the first marines eyes a little too bold.

ihsm6.jpg

From this final angle you can see the two tactical emblems on the legs ... the one on the left is the "offical" leg sized emblem, the one on the right is supposedly the "knee" emblem. I found the official one a little too large for my liking, however the question I have is ... which do you think looks best .. Large or small ?

As with all my work I am trying to think of a thematic location for my units and so far my favourite is on a Tech recovery mission for the Adeptus Mechanicus in a Space Hulk. This fits with the rusty tech flooring I chose and lets me do some interesting things with floor panels in the future.

Lastly I will have to think of names for my squad/squad members ... I am just about to re-read HH:Fulgrim again for the Iron hands info ... will pick up the naming scheme from there!

Anyway the question is tactical emblem on the leg .. which do you think looks best .. Large or small ?

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Hmmm, I think the eyes should be bold, drawing the attention to the face and such.

 

And if you ever get bored with a color scheme, just do Chaos. You can paint whatever you want, and you really won't get called on it :) It's Chaos after all...

 

I do look forward to seeing more Iron Hands though. Worthy advesaries are always nice B)

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