247 replies to this topic

[Chaeron]

 

I’ve been involved in the hobby for around 20 years or so: I was fortunate enough to start young with Chaos, and Nurgle was my first love. Since then, I have added and added to a sprawling collection of Death Guard that spans comfortably over twenty thousand points and now has a further twelve thousand points of Heresy era Death Guard (and counting - as of June 2016), and gone through myriad editions of the game we know and love, with success on the battlefield a priority over how my minis actually looked.

 

After a brief hiatus from painting, I returned to find that if I wasn’t so impatient, I could produce a decent, tabletop quality miniature that was relatively pleasing to the eye – at least, to mine! However, with the new edition in-bound, I had resolved to repaint basically everything that I owned, and have stripped model after model… and am starting to repaint each of my armies, to a good standard complete with basing, to take the world by storm. This blog will be will and testament to my Death Guard army, whilst others will chronicle the various other armies I’ve owned that require a similar level of TLC, but won’t be a priority until everything here is done.

 

I started with stripping all the metal models in a job lot, which took a couple of hours even using NitroMors, because of all the cleaning of junk and poor painting for the past two decades. These, sparkling clean, in addition to the models from my Dark Vengeance kit, will be the first to receive this love and attention, with the long-term ambition of competing on the tournament stage. So, with your blessing, I’ll take your tutelage and advice wherever possible to make my minis the best that they can be.

So, following stripping and taking apart minis that have been together for ten years or more, I’ve been prepping them once again. Some of the oldest models have flash from fifteen years ago or so, when they were originally bought, for my shame. Chaos Terminators were the worst culprits (although not the oldest) and I can’t believe I actually thought that keeping it on just made them “more spiky”… I don’t subscribe to that now.

So, I have 36 rebased and re-armed, with backpacks to be put on once they’ve been cleaned up off the sprue. These will form the crux of the army for the time being – as I’m still in the process of going to strip the models that are predominately plastic (see Dettol stripping process thread imminently!). This gives me a lot to do – as I’ll have the Dark Vengeance set ready to go to be painted also – but means hopefully in a month or so, I’ll be able to start playing properly, with a nicely painted army. Obviously, when trying to paint about 10k+ of Imperial Guard and about 12k+ of Iron Warriors, this makes it a difficult proposition – in addition to the Dark Angels force I’m cultivating, but long-term, it’ll totally be worth it.

The scheme I’m going for is a variant on the Pre-Heresy style, similar to what many of the members on the site have done in past. To you, I tip my hat – that is what I aspire to do. The intention is to get it to a similar standard… but who knows? As ever, any constructive criticism will be welcomed with open arms throughout!

Without further ado, some starting pictures!



Housemates believe I’m building an army… little do they know…



More progress:



Chosen and Lord have been glued - and Liquid Green Stuff covered any problems. It is literally the best thing since sliced bread - hooray!

Lord's sword hasn't been glued yet, so I can paint then stick - same with helmet of Chosen Champion.

I've now clipped and prepared all bits - ready to be glued together, before this lot gets primed.

Today, I got two things in the post:

 

I proceeded to devour the Codex and magnetise the Heldrake, which you can find more information about here. I've tidied it into there, making this front page a little cleaner...

Thanks for looking!

C.

Edited by Chaeron, 11 January 2019 - 08:33 PM.

[RolandTHTG]

I notice that the helldrake's wings are mounted on ball joints. It there any chance of repositioning the wings or changing the sweep of them? Or is it just one possible mounting position?

[Chaeron]

Ball joints in question - one fits into a cuboid/square specifically, so you're limited to four options - that's the main wing.

The second, smaller, wing has a similar pyramid to lock into, but certainly appears to have a bit more of a choice with that.

[Thunder Knight]

Beautiful!

After reading the Salamanders Tome of Fire novels, I decided a few months ago I wanted to start a Dragon Warriors Warband, and so you can imagine my look of absolute "Yesssssssss!" when I first saw this big metal Dragon, flying off the new White Dwarf front cover.

All I'm wondering is if the neck is fixed in place too? Looks like the Heldrake is always swooping to one side.

I do like to give my set-piece units a unique pose with a bit of converting, to differentiate them from my peers, (am currently working on uniquifying a plastic Terminator Lord who all tend to look the same) but I wonder how much of it would be too much to ask with the massive Heldrake?

I get the feeling you'd need ample patience, greenstuff and metal rods to put this bad boy in a different pose. As far as the neck is concerned, it looks like you might have to slice it up and rebuild it with GS sculpting... Am I right about that? Or is it poseable enough if I wanted to have mine swooping in the opposite general direction?

Thanks a lot, and keep up the good work! (I think I got into the hobby in 1995 as well, now that I think of it. Look how far we've come!)

Edited by Thunder Knight, 07 October 2012 - 02:04 PM.

[Milez]

The neck sits inside the body with a ball and socket joint , so it have movement. Same for the head tot he neck. these are glues n place, not snapped in so it will be fixed, but you have the freedom to make it look unique. the wings are the same thing, just more limiting due to the size of the wings and how deep the ball joint is

[Chaeron]

Rebuilding a Legion

Without further ado, some starting pictures!



Housemates believe I’m building an army… little do they know…



I stripped these bad-boys over the summer, but have countless more models that need a signifcant proportion of work done to them. I decided it'd be a really good idea to take a vow to get on with them, given that I intended to start painting them from the start of October... and basically didn't! You can view that vow here!

This will hopefully provide the impetus I need to finish it - and thus far, I've made some good progress - and will post some pictures WIP pictures soon!

Anyway, that’s the start – big updates to come in the next few weeks. Thanks for looking!

C.

++++++++++++First Update - 02.01.13++++++++++++++++++

As promised, the first update shows the Plague Marines starting to take shape. Please excuse the poor quality camera phone pictures - because this'll hopefully just give a gist of the progress being made:





Thus far - the majority of work centred around tidying up the spray, picking out weaponry/coils in orange, the trims in green, boltguns in red, wood in brown and any skulls in bone. Those with flesh have also been done! It's been quite quick work in the scheme of things, but lots to do, and I've spent even more time after that ensuring that the colours do not bleed that much onto the white, with any necessary "touch ups" performed at this stage.

As an example, this is what one looks like... As you can see - I've been sloppy in some cases (and gone back to correct such indiscretions, such as the knee and the orange since!):



My next stage, is to cover them all in Badab Black on any coloured part or dark recess:





Full credit to nurglephill for his fantastic tutorial that makes it easy for someone like me (who is quite poor at painting in comparison to others!) to follow, and have his models look vaguely effective. Yay!

So, next step is to do the other 33 with black ink... but progress!

 

(*Edit - removed text now in main post).

Edited by Chaeron, 13 August 2018 - 01:51 PM.

[Chaeron]

Despite the fact I stripped these bad-boys over the summer, I've not really done anything with them. I decided it'd be a really good idea to take a vow to get on with them, given that I intended to start painting them from the start of October... and basically didn't! You can view that vow here!

This will hopefully provide the impetus I need to finish it - and thus far, I've made some good progress - and will post some pictures WIP pictures soon!

++++++++++++First Update - 02.01.13++++++++++++++++++

As promised, the first update shows the Plague Marines starting to take shape. Please excuse the poor quality camera phone pictures - because this'll hopefully just give a gist of the progress being made:





Thus far - the majority of work centred around tidying up the spray, picking out weaponry/coils in orange, the trims in green, boltguns in red, wood in brown and any skulls in bone. Those with flesh have also been done! It's been quite quick work in the scheme of things, but lots to do, and I've spent even more time after that ensuring that the colours do not bleed that much onto the white, with any necessary "touch ups" performed at this stage.

As an example, this is what one looks like... As you can see - I've been sloppy in some cases (and gone back to correct such indiscretions, such as the knee and the orange since!):



My next stage, is to cover them all in Badab Black on any coloured part or dark recess:





Full credit to nurglephill for his fantastic tutorial that makes it easy for someone like me (who is quite poor at painting in comparison to others!) to follow, and have his models look vaguely effective. Yay!

So, next step is to do the other 33 with black ink... but progress!

Merged from alternate thread elsewhere - oops! -C

[Chaeron]

Quick update:

So on the 2nd January, I was up to:



I've since started on the OSL effects. All those with helmets have been done (bar a few touch-ups) - and will try to do those without helms in the coming days.

The Plasma Weaponry has been started too - but still more work to go on that - pleased with how it has started though! A lot more to do though to ensure it is uniform and that the glow (particularly onto the legs) looks right.

Apologies for the slightly blurry picture (cameraphone) - but you may like how bright things shine:



Comments and criticism welcome as ever - still lots more to do (little bits to tidy, etc.) on them - I think they do also look better in real life - the eyes glow from a metre away!

Now in the process of basing.

[Chaeron]

NEARLY DONE - like 95%. There's one guy who hasn't had his eyes done (poor fella), a few bits that need a bit more black ink - and I'd like to add some water effect (if I can find it cheap... - any ideas?!) to the bases for a bit more depth, and maybe a final highlight on them - and then, 'ardcoat!

Comments and criticism wanted as ever - I've changed the contrast due to it being a camera phone, and trying to make them look like the man with the mohawk from White Dwarf took them:





Thanks for looking!

[Chaeron]

Now my next project...

 

[Chaeron]

VOW COMPLETE:

 

 

Very happy.

 

And now?

 

[Chaeron]

Right, what I'm working on now... in addition to finishing the Heldrake and Forgefiend, which should be done in a couple of weeks, the following is reading to get going with:





Some of these will need some serious repair and TLC - but dammit, this legion is running low on geneseed and needs to keep being built. Two lots of 7 x 3,  and one of approx 30-33 models...

Keeps me out of trouble when I'm not working hard

[Chaeron]

Okay - nearly there on both of these - pretty happy all told. Bit more weathering to do, and some work on the bases - but looking mostly decent, huzzah! Apologies once again for the poor photos - but hope you enjoy my Heldrake and Forgefiend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chaeron]

Here we go - my latest addition to the legion, a Daemon Prince (as yet, unnamed...). Frustratingly, I used my new big tub of Army Painter's Strong Tone... alas - it acts as a varnish too, which is different to the paint in the little pots. Means the effect comes out glossy, a la the picture below. I'm hoping it'll dull some when fully dry, and whilst it has the benefit of protecting the model - I think it seriously needs some matte varnish.

 

I'm thinking realistically I'm going to have to buy the little pots now... not so much of a money saver as first planned! Thankfully, it was the black on top - as two levels of varnish might be excessive...

 

Anyway, enjoy!

 

[Grazcruzk]

Fantastic stuff you have here. I really like the Helldrake and the Prince, also the high-contrast pictures look pretty damn good.

[Chaeron]

Fantastic stuff you have here. I really like the Helldrake and the Prince, also the high-contrast pictures look pretty damn good.

 

Thanks Grazcruzk - means a lot. Loads more to do - but at least it's starting to take shape and progress!

[fredjansen25]

Is it just me or something is different because I notice that the helldrake's wings are mounted on ball joints. Is there any chance of repositioning the wings or changing the sweep of them?

[Chaeron]

You certainly can - I had to, as I accidently broke one of them off whilst transporting them... d'oh. Can change it a reasonable amount, depending on how you position the others.

 

 

 

[PipX]

Army Painter'd stuff always has a high gloss, but testor's will cut it right down. I was using Windsor Newton matte varnish but thinking about going back to Testors for when I start painting and dark toning more of my stuff, glossiness all over makes it hard to notice details and stuff. If you haven't, I recommend finding a glass jar you can transfer the contents of the can into, unless you are really fastidious about keeping the lid air tight. If it builds up around the lid and lets air in, it'll start to congeal really fast.

 

That daemon prince looks great by the way, I'm still trying to find the right way to do glowy eyes right that works when Army Painter'd,and you have it nailed.

Edited by PipX, 26 April 2013 - 10:45 PM.

[Chaeron]

Army Painter'd stuff always has a high gloss, but testor's will cut it right down. I was using Windsor Newton matte varnish but thinking about going back to Testors for when I start painting and dark toning more of my stuff, glossiness all over makes it hard to notice details and stuff. If you haven't, I recommend finding a glass jar you can transfer the contents of the can into, unless you are really fastidious about keeping the lid air tight. If it builds up around the lid and lets air in, it'll start to congeal really fast.

 

That daemon prince looks great by the way, I'm still trying to find the right way to do glowy eyes right that works when Army Painter'd,and you have it nailed.

 

Thanks for the advice Pip! Was pretty surprised (through my own fault) - and I think it's just something to adapt to. Seemed to get more positive comments through my misuse of a product than anything... so I guess I must be doing something right!

 

Highly recommend the Vallejo Fluo Paints - they really help to bring it out, especially doing it in stages. That'd be my tip! Although, this time - I did start with painting the main eyeball (and little eye) - which I don't normally do.

[Araziel]

You've got a great looking force in the works here, Chaeron. I'm particularly fond of you're Prince, and (I'm surprising myself here, I can't stand the model like so many others), you're Heldrake. It looks really evil and sinister, something I think the kit lacks. Kudos!

[Chaeron]

You've got a great looking force in the works here, Chaeron. I'm particularly fond of you're Prince, and (I'm surprising myself here, I can't stand the model like so many others), you're Heldrake. It looks really evil and sinister, something I think the kit lacks. Kudos!

 

Thanks Araziel - it's weird rebuilting it after so long. Means a lot to have so many positive comments, so thank you!

[franzdietrich]

Oh man. Oh, man. You'd give the Bluetablepainting guys a run for their money. Beautiful work

[Chaeron]

Oh man. Oh, man. You'd give the Bluetablepainting guys a run for their money. Beautiful work

 

Going to have to quote this for posterity - thank you, huge, huge compliment! Means a lot!

[Chaeron]

Right, I've obviously also thought it would be a great idea to increase my productivity through pledging to participate in E Tenebrae Lux II over at the B&C (our thread is here)

Seems only appropriate to put forward a huge unit... therefore, I vow:

I, Chaeron, answer the call of E TENEBRAE LUX and vow to complete a total of 20 Death Guard Plague Marines (including Aspiring Champion with Lightning Claw and two Plasma Guns) from Codex: Chaos Space Marines of total value 525 Points on or before August 15th. Success will bring eternal glory to The Fallen and Godfather Nurgle and failure will doom me to bear the Badge of Shame and to rot silently like the corpse emperor until the year-end.

And, having just finished putting on lots of arms (missing a single shoulder pad) and making sure that they look suitably cool, may I present to you:



Game on!