Space Marines? .. Iron Hands!

[hushrong]

Awesome Iron Hands, especially that last fellow!

[SCC]

Very nice work, very nice indeed. I love that base, great idea very well executed. The bionics look good too, a nice mix of different metals helps details to stand out and to make it look more 'real' than if it'd been monotone, I'll definitely be stealing that method when I paint my Apothecary's bionics :D

 

I like all the results, but this figure is pushing 5hrs now and beyond the limits of what I wanted to spend on a rank and file figure, so I need to finish it off quickly and move on.

 

I know that feeling, it can be hard painting to limits like that but I think the result, a figure/squad/army on the table, will outweigh the pain in the end. Now, get cracking on the next figure so I can steal more ideas from you! ;)

[Brother Argos]

Stop taking my ideas you!!!!

 

<laughs> Your more than welcome to take any ideas chris :)

[Brother Argos]

Well it was quite a good weekend :)

On Saturday morning I got the following two deliveries: -

There should be enough bits for me to make some very interesting pre-heresy armour Iron hands and plenty of Bionic parts for hands/arms :)

The brushes are for the Holidays ... luckily I am not working after the 24th ... till the 4th of January, so I wanted to get some new brushes for a good 10 days of fun during the holidays.

You might be surprised to note the size if you can make it out ... I paint with size 2 brushes, most people use size 1 or 0 ... but the important thing to note is that you paint with the "tip" of the brush and the Series 7 brushes have the finest "tips" of any brushes I have tried (sadly thats a lot of brushes). The heft of the size 2 brush fits my hand nicely and I can paint detail just as well as I can with a 000 size brush from any other brush maker.

If you haven't tried Windsor & Newton Series 7 "Miniature" brushes ... I recommend them completely, I first used one years ago when Bobby Wong and I met up in New York to do some painting together. Once I had used them I never looked back!

I also did some work on my breastplate and a new Shoulderpad ... both of which I hope to get moulded after the holidays

I need to put an "end" on the new cable I ran on the breastplate ... but thats just minor greenstuff work and should take minutes.

[Brother Caedrius]

Superb looking pieces! Can't wait to see the finals and then the casts!

 

Lucky you getting post on Saturday, in Cardiff we had about a foot of snow on Friday and serious amounts of ice by Saturday, and most surprisingly NO GRITTING!! Shocking!! So since Friday we've had no post and I doubt we'll get any tomorrow, unless there's a thaw!

[Brother Argos]

Sunday was quite a productive day ... I finished the base for my wounded marine, added the blood effects I wanted to try with Tamiya Clear Red, started work on a new marine and a new base.

First off here is the finished base / blood effects top shot: -

and a more normal shot ... but this time with some underlighting to try and bring the weathering / metallics out a little more: -

My feeling after the shot was that it was too "harsh/garish" and I need to diffuse the light source to get the effect I wanted ... we live and learn!

I thought it was about time for a small group shot to show progress ... one of the things I like seeing most in other peoples blogs is a "group shot / progress shot" ... it gives the feeling of moving forward, so here is mine: -

There is definitely a rewarding feeling to seeing the progress one has made ... that warm glow of achievement, I know a lot of people finish armies quickly, but I always make slow progress normally and this is a good pace for me.

Lastly the base for the next marine was created, the marine has the claw foot from the IH box set of bionics and I wanted to try and emphasise that. I came to the conclusion that while crossing some pipes the marine had stood on them with his claw foot and started crushing them while stepping over. I also wanted to "wrap" the claws around the pipes to emphasise the foot more.

So I started by choosing the square tiles plasticard and building the pipe work on it, I used tubes of plastic 2mm in diameter, with a strip of plasticard over the top to "bind" them together. It took a couple of wasted attempts to work out how to deform them well ...

In the end I used another set of legs, held them with snub nosed pliers and heated them with a lighter till they were "hot". The first attempt failed as they were not hot enough (trial and error), so I heated them more till I got the imprint I wanted as can be seen above.

I also cut out a panel and did the same trick as I had on the last base, but this time with a panel being unscrewed and just not returned to its original position. I was going to have to find some small screws to finish the base properly :P

Here you can see all the assembled pieces with the claw foot in place, note the claws on the marines foot had been bent to wrap around the pipes: -

Now I just needed to find some small screws!

@ Brother Caedrius : I suspect things are better weather-wise in London than Cardiff! ... I have more supplies en-route for the christmas paint-a-thon so wish me luck :)

[Gillyfish]

Nice to see how they're coming along. These shots have definitely helped to emphasise the metallics. You should have a good looking squad very soon. In fact, two more mariens and you have your first combat squad! Will one of the two have a special or heavy weapon or will you do a sergeant (or is he is the prize at the end of the squad?).

[Brother Caedrius]

Fantastic pieces Brother Argos! They really are coming along nicely and the bases look superb! I especially like the squished pipes on the new base, a nice touch!

 

Yes, the weather does seem to be better up your end, woke up to a new blizzard this morning so definitely no post! What are you expecting for your Xmas model-a-thon? I am expecting about 20 FW and plastic bodies, various weapons, legs, arms, Land Speeder and Whirlwind parts!!

 

What part of London are you based in? I spend a lot of time in North London, the girlfriend lives there

[Brother Argos]

@ Gillyfish : My immediate aims/stages are as follows: -

 

Paint 5 tactical marines, my reward will be to go to town on a Sgt. for them. After the Sgt I get another 4 tactical marines (one heavy weapon and one special weapon in that set) and my reward for completing them will be to paint a Rhino/Razor Back (magnetised). Note all the rewarding stuff comes after the normal stuff <grins>

 

I haven't thought beyond that point yet ... but logically its a repeat exercise with the reward of having a cool HQ (likely to be a master of the forge (iron father)) to paint after that for a "minimum army".

 

@ Brother Caedrius : I am hoping to get a couple more of the pre-heresy variants from FW and a Razor back from GW. Oh and I am based in South London :P

[Brother Argos]

The Fourth Marine finished and I went and got my lamps from the loft to take some better photos ;)

Here is a group shot ... the eyes on the very first marine I did still bug me .. compare them to the left most marine and they appear "flat" .... I am going to go back and shade them as I did on the remainder. Apart from that I am very pleased with the way they are looking ... the blue lenses, rusty bases, the FW decals and the weather technique are working well together!

Here is the fourth Marine most probably in terms of painting the one I am most pleased with ... all the experiences from the previous three came together for him.

The minor bolter modification also worked nicely too .. its almost subtle, feels like it was part of the original model which is the usually a sign of success.

The weathering is possibly too subtle ... I might go back and add a little more .. especially on the legs.

Finally here are the current items for moulding, I have added a new breastplate and finished the old one with greenstuff and a small rivet. I decided to use a hex nut as a belt emblem as it felt appropriate given the company clan emblem.

With the lighting set up correctly, I got much clearer photo's, my only problem is no place to keep the lights outside of the loft ... going to have to think about that one as I definitely prefer the pictures taken with them.

[kapturowski]

I really like how much effort you put into the small details. I think it brings your models to a whole new level, very impressive and inspirational. I can't wait to see what you're going to do for the sergeants :).

[Brother Argos]

Oh the Sgt's are making me think a bit to be honest ... need to step up to a whole new level of detail and not quite sure where/how to do it ...

 

I suspect the breastplates above will be involved !

[Cyrox]

Excellent work!

 

Really looking forward to the Sergeant now

[SCC]

Coming along beautifully Argos. They look suitably bionicised and hard-core plus the bases are a lovely touch to really turn the detail factor up

 

Incidentally what sort of time did the 4th guy take to paint? I'm also looking forward to seeing what you do with that Mk VIII breastplate, looks like you'll have plenty of room for some nice detailing there. As an aside I picked up some of those lovely MiG rivets and hex nuts online the other day, they seem like the perfect way to add minor details to my RG to differentiate Marines as individuals, even if the RG don't have as much call for bolts and bitz as the IH it should help to personalise armour. So, again, thanks for another idea I can steal, keep 'em coming!

[Brother Argos]

4th guy was about 3hrs to paint .. 30 mins extra for decals .. and 30 mins to paint the base ... all told 4hrs roughly and stop stealing my ideas!!

Last night I finished the next marine (apart from his purity seal I noticed while taking pics) ... working on his base tonight/tomorrow night but here are some progress pics. Sorry for the poor lighting .. once again my lights are back in the loft, however I will get them down for the holidays again :)

The Forgeworld bolter ... although a pain to paint and fiddly actually really looks good in place .. I will get more of these!

Instead of my own "steel armour" wash I made years ago ... I tried badab black and tamiya clear on the back pack .. looks a little darker but quite similar ( I think its important to always try doing things in a different way when ever you can to broaden experience and more importantly have fun)

I ran a dark filter over the tactical decal on the leg to "fade" it a little into the armour ... looking closely I think I will do it again to add more tonal variation.

The "Money Shot" ... Eye, Bionic Eye & Camera Lens ... I am really pleased with the way it all looks and also like the "bronze" skull bionics as well. Once again all items mentioned were "glossed" with tamiya clear.

Interestingly you can see some of the "Tonal" variation on the Chapter Decal ... giving it that "Was white to start with" feel .. before it met the battlefield.

No updates tomorrow ... I am out tonight with friends in the run up to Christmas :D

[Dosjetka]

Looks great! I should get some of that gloss, looks like it works really well.

 

Ludovic

[Brother Argos]

The gloss isn't making the eye look gemlike ... thats down to the painting ... it does however add some lustre

[sniperous]

Had to reply to this, loving your work Brother Argos, specially the camera len's and the scope sight's look amazing, did you purchase the forgleworld missle launcher, i was keen to buy this set for a tactical squad im hoping to paint during the holidays.

Keep up the good work, you do this site proud :)

[Dosjetka]

The gloss isn't making the eye look gemlike ... thats down to the painting ... it does however add some lustre

Oops :D It reminds me of that "Citadel Miniature Painter" that GW came up with for April Fools.

 

Oh, well, I'd better get practising to get that effect some day ^_^

 

Ludovic

[Brother Argos]

@ sniperous : I have indeed got a missile launcher from FW .. and thank you for your gracious comment :)

Ahh a night of relaxation ... good food ... and I saw Tron Legacy :tu: ... but no Iron Hands were painted!

There is one small redeeming feature to the day as far as hobby work goes, I got to go to my favourite Modelling shop ... "The 4D Modelshop".

This shop has such an enormous stock of modelling materials it feels like being a child and going into Toys R Us, you name it and they seem to have it ... Plasticard, Glue, Tools of all kinds and so on. I had only one hour to shop, I was supposed to helping a large legal firm increase their security ... but I spent all morning looking forward to going to THE model shop ;)

I got a haul of new stuff in that hour ...

3 new types of plasticard treadplate

brass photoetch grid & diamond

2 sheets of plasticard with "tiling"

3 different sizes of plastic strip for "cogging"

2 variants of super glue (one slow set, one gel)

1 pack of UHU glue (for interesting blood effects - more later)

1 set of micro-drills (0.3 mm - 1.6mm)

4 pots of paint (they now stock citadel much to my surprise)

1 spray can of primer (black)

1 new retractable swan and morton scalpel

I also took the time to discuss getting some cutting time on their laser cutter, checking costs for an idea I have ;)

So even though no Iron Hands were painted, I still feel as though I replenished my stocks and moved forward!

Tonight should see the final purity seal decal on the bionic marine head finished, and work begun on his base hopefully to make sure he is finished for tomorrow.

Oh and making a few new decals for the next stage :no:

[Cyrox]

Those lenses are exquisite (sp?), I wish mine were as good as that

 

Stealing your Tamiya Clear technique too! B)

 

Really really like this thread

 

I'm glad those phobos pattern Bolters look good as i just ordered 10 from FW

[Brother Argos]

I got the base for Marine #5 done last night, I cut a circle of treadplate using the base template I made right at the beginning (about 22.5mm diameter) and then cut that again into 2 sections (roughly 2/3 & 1/3). To support the smaller section I used some 2mm high plastic beams and glued them to the base and then mounted the treadplate on top. I ran a strip of plasticard round the edge to hide the internal cavity and then added some corner strip to the "step" section. Once that had all dried and was solid I worked my way down the step adding small photo etch rivets using super glue. I used a thing superglue for this but washed the step with it and then dabbed it irregularly with a tissue to create a "corroded" uneven texture, this would give the rust pigments something to cling to and work with later.

Recently a purchase from eBay had arrived, oddly this came from a different section of ebay from normal. I had purchased a bag of TINY old watch parts, with lots of very very small cogs and wheels in. I took 3-4 of them and glued them into a heap in front of the step and one on top of the step, I then used the same trick as above to create a slightly corroded texture on the top of the cogs which the rust pigments could cling too as watch parts are often quite smooth. Creating textures like this adds significantly to the micro-detail of any miniature / base and if done sympathetically can really help the paint-job that comes later. As you will see in the following picture the step looks battered and worn, most of that is due to the irregular surface created by the superglue being dabbed as it dried.

I followed up the modelling work with a quick spray of black primer/undercoat and left well alone to dry. When it was dry I painted the whole base in a dark brown and set about using my rust pigments to create the feeling of depth I wanted. I use a rough brush for this as it destroys normal brushes. Using a stippling motion I added the rust in the order of darkest first (and consequently broadest coverage) ... building up with a lighter mid shade ... and then light shade sparingly on top.

After washing the brush out and drying it, I then got my Boltgun metal out and lightly dipped the same rough brush in to it, and wiped almost all the paint off as I was about to start drybrushing. With drybrushing its important to remove almost all of the paint first and then lightly flick the brush back and forward over the "textured" part of the model to highlight the text. I was doing the treadplate first, so I wanted the movement of my brush to match the directions of the raised flooring, so in this case up and down and left to right, importantly no angled strokes as that could ruin the effect I wanted. Once done with the tread plate I ran the drybrush back and forth across the raised step and rivets, this was done slightly unevenly to match the pattern of people walking, if you think about it no one will step over the large metal cogs on the floor to step up, therefore there would be little or no visible metalwork in that area and the rust would be solid. Thinking about usage like this really helps with all weathering work and makes or breaks the believability in my opinion.

Lastly I ran the brush lightly around the very tips of the cogs and lightly across the surface this then left me at the "consideration phase". This is the point where I review my work and decide if it matches my expectations, if not I go back and keep working till it does. This time I decided that I wanted to build up some rust in the areas where the model wouldn't be standing, so using the mid and light rust pigments I went back and touched up those areas again (on the left of the base in the picture and slightly around the cogs). I then considered again and decided I was happy with it, I grabbed the black paint and finished off by tidying the sloping sides of the base in black paint.

This may sound like a lot of work per base, but when you have done it a few times it can be done quickly :blink:

Here are a couple of pictures of the model and base ... once again I forgot to do the purity seal ... so looks like that has now been moved to the top of my to-do list.

From the side: -

and from the front: -

The rust nicely offsets the black of the armour and creates a suitable frame :)

Finally here are a couple of group shots :)

Next up will be the work on the Sgt ... although I am tempted to do the special weapons perhaps :)

[Dosjetka]

Next up will be the work on the Sgt ... although I am tempted to do the special weapons perhaps :blink:

Maybe do the Sergeant last? Just a thought.

 

Great Iron Hands, the bases are amazing, I like the cogs on Marine #5's base, great idea!

 

Looking forward to the next update!

 

Ludovic

[SCC]

Next up will be the work on the Sgt ... although I am tempted to do the special weapons perhaps :P

Excellent work as always David. I'd suggest doing the Sergeant only when you're happy with your basic techniques, that way you can ramp them up to make him something special. Having said that it looks like you've got your bases, black and customisation processes down pretty pat so if you're happy with everything then rewarding yourself with the Sgt and saving the special or heavy weapon 'til last would work too.

[onipunk]

I usually always save the sergeant until last as a reward for ploughing through all the normal marines. It's nice to see someone put this much effort into the bases, which is something I should really do more often, and your efforts with individualising each Marine without going over the top with bionics are coming along fantastically. I've never really been a fan of overly-bionic Iron Hands, and you're accomplishing my ideal look with startling ease. Can't wait to see the rest of the squad and the sergeant, then maybe, possibly, hopefully, some Terminators? :P