Loki's Dark Angels: Scratchbuilt Thunderhawk, ETL V + more!

[LokisSword]

Hey guys!

Loki here back again for another crack at this hobby.

Long story short - stopped playing in 2nd Edition, used to play Eldar. Before I stopped I bought a few marine bits with thoughts of making a Dark Angel army. Roll forward 17 or so years and we are in 6th Ed and I've decided to come back to the hobby.

I joined the B&C back in 2010, did some work on my DA for the 2012 ETL (see sig) and then got distracted and wandered off into the wilds again.

I've since decided to procrastinate a whole lot less and actually get myself going in this hobby again.

I've sold the Eldar and put some funds into Dark Vengance, a DW knights squad, some ebay terminators and the like...

So here's what I'm working on right now:

First up the meat, a few troop choices:

Tactical squad 1 - these guys were painted up for the ETL. Now they are getting based and a few last details touched up that were missed back then.

First time trying 'fancy' basing, back in 2nd it was Goblin Green painted sand and be done with it

Tactical squad 2 - These guys were painted back before I stopped playing.... Only now are they getting based and finished, backpacks weren't highlighted lots of details missing.

Ok so onto the more interesting stuff...

Belial. So I'm not keen on the GW Belial model, the pose is very much 'hey look, I got a sword and a storm bolter for christmas!".

Luckily I found an ebay auction for a lot of 3 un-opened scibor miniatures for less than £30, quite a bargain.

I quite liked the models and thought they had DA potential. On receiving them I wasn't disappointed and chose one model to serve as my Belial replacement.

http://sciborminiatures.com/i/2011/big/templar_4p_01.jpg

And here he is as stands currently - slowly removing the more "templar'y" bits and obviously a few weapon swaps to bring in the DA aesthetic more.

I'm going to be casting a Crux or a DA/DW symbol to replace the large dangling templar symbol, some significant controlled scraping will be required there.

Sword of Silence made from the DW command squad sword blade and a banner pole topper as the hilt.

He's pretty imposing on the scenic base, but I'll have to make a regular height one for using during games and magnetise the heck out of it.

Still not sure if I can make casts of the shoulder pads and actually model all 3 of Belials weapon combos.

Exo Terminator. So talking of casting - I'm in possession of two old school EXO armoured terminators from the late 80's / early 90's. They were some of the first miniatures I received for 40k (I started with Fantasy) and tbh I love them. I thought it would be cool to have a squad of them in my DW, but people want silly money for them on Ebay. So I picked up some Liquid Blu stuff and some 2-part Epoxy Glue and had a go at making some 2 part moulds and casts. I wasn't expecting much but have been pleasantly surprised with the results:

Top left to bottom right being my casts in order from first to last (excuse the random beat up terminator legs - you'll see about those shortly).

As I said above these are cast using essentially glue, not fancy easy flow resin. In fact the clearish amber one was cast using pound/dollar store epoxy glue.

My best cast so far:

I'm sure anyone with a background in casting will probably snort with derision, but I'm pretty happy considering it's my first time and the materials were less than ideal... It has however inspired me to buy some proper RTV Silicon and Casting Resin come the following pay day. I have to admit to it being quite a magical experience seeing a fresh model pop out of the mould!

And I might need some casting to replicate this:

This is my attempt to 'heroscale' the old EXO terminator to better fit the new size terminators. My first attempts at converting really and my first ever time with greenstuff. I've today received a set of sculpting tools so hoping to continue working on this a bit more now.

Ok so last up for now...

Scratchbuilt Landraider(s)

So here is my other side project. Born more out of a "I wonder if I have the ability to..." than a desire to separate GW from my wallet, although I have to admit the savings from scratchbuilding are pretty massive compared to buying these things new.

I want 4 land raiders total, 2 crusaders for my DW and two in heavy support for my greenwing.

Having seen some of the awesome scratchbuilds in this forum I kinda had to have a go. For now it's mount board and superglue rather than styrene and polycement but its proving a good learning experience.

I'm using Eli Patoroch's papercraft patterns and trying to adapt them for thicker board.

I've bought a couple of landraider accessories from ebay and these will be moulded and cast across the 4 raiders.

So far this single raider will have cost about £8.00 in bitz and £4 in card. The second, third and fourth one will cost £4 in card and maybe a couple of quid in casting resin to duplicate the 'bitz'. A nice saving.

Ok I think that's it for now guys. Well apart from the 35 DW termies, 9 bikes, another tactical squad, etc, etc lol

Thanks for now, will report back soon. So long brothers.

[Deathstrike_Chimera]

Dang this is all sorts of cool. From the awesomely painted models to the sick Belial to the homemade Landraider this is legit. +1 for you.

[Urael]

Brother Loki.... You bring Honor to the 1st Legion. :)

[dveillo]

Very nicely done brother!

[Ch@oZ]

That land raider is looking pretty much perfect so far. Great job.

[Cactus]

Wow, tactical squad 2 is a real trip down memory lane for me. Those models were the first unit in my Dark Angels army 20 years ago. We even have some matching poses, but there's not a lot of choice with those old plastic arms! However mine still have goblin green bases and your squad is far better painted. :tu:

 

I'm one of those people who paid silly money for an ancient terminator on e-bay but casting your own copies to make a full squad is genius.

[LokisSword]

Cheers all, many thanks for the kind words - Nice to know people are liking what I'm posting, I'll try and get some stuff up reasonably frequently!

Cactus / Urael: Praise from fellow members of the Unforgiven is high praise indeed, many thanks Brothers.

Cactus - They were the first Marines I bought as well, maybe 18 years ago... I bought them as a side project to the Eldar I used to play. Some of the poses are damn stupid, especially compared to the modern Tac Marines, however there are still one or two casts in there that just scream out "Classic" Space Marine to me!

Ch@oz: Cheers - Apart from the fact it'll need a kilo of milliput to gap fill I think its going OK! All credit to Eli Patorach (sp?) who made the templates, they really are good.

Dveillo / Deathstrike_Chimera - Thanks both

So since last time I've started assembling all my DW:

5 x Knights are 60% done

5 x Dark Vengeance Tactical set is together (with the duplicate member swapped out)

5 x Tactical plus a Champion & Apothecary made from left overs from the Knights Dual kit + AOBR ebay termies (to be used as a Command Squad / normal squad)

5 x TH&SS

5 x "pea head" Tactical

I'm also considering stripping the 10 x metal DW I did for my ETL vow a while back, because....

I'm testing a new way to paint DW "quickly" - relative term!

My old paint scheme was:

Prime white.

Brush basecoat Ushabti Bone.

Wash all over with Devlan Mud / Agrax Earthshade.

Have to repaint 80% of the miniature with Ushabti Bone again in multiple thin coats.

Highlight up with 2/3 mixes of Ushabti Bone and Skull White.

Base, shade, highlight all detail parts.

TBH this was a pain in the butt and not something I fancy repeating on 25 more models. Mainly due to me not having the patience to paint multiple thin coats of the same colour (Ushabti Bone) over large areas!! I've been reading a fair bit and decided it's time to "update" from my 2nd Edition painting techniques!

New plan:

Prime white.

Air brush Steel Legion Drab all over.

Air brush Ushabti Bone from 45 degree angle.

Air brush Skull White from top.

Base coat all details.

Wash the whole model with Johnson Klear / Seraphim Sepia 50/50 mix.

Wash/paint recesses of the model with Vandkye brown oil wash.

Seal with Matt Acrylic varnish.

Edge highlight armour with thinned Ushabti Bone / Skull White.

Highlight details.

Whilst the new method has more steps it's actually going to be considerably faster over a large number of models.

I've tried the technique on a scrap ebay marine I bought for the kids, please ignore the mould lines, etc!

This is after washing a white primed (no basecoat) model with Johnsons Klear / Seraphim Sepia and oils:

And here it is after a very rushed wet blend of the highlights. It looks better to the naked eye - my lighting is pretty harsh!

I've started on the DV squad as my first real test subjects. Unfortunately my application of the white highlight from above went a little speckley - didn't get my mix right in the Airbrush. I'm hoping the washes will tie everything together:

And finally... I've sorted my desk out, so on the rare occurrence it's clutter free I thought it was worth sharing an image of the momentous occasion.

Plus I always love "desk" threads - love to see where other people spend their hobby time.

Aware that's a wall of text, I promise more pictures less talking next time

Cheers for now,

Alex

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

This brings back memories of the way GW did their display armies in 2nd and early 3rd ed. Very clean and very nicely done.

 

And that last pic is the kind of clean my work desk wishes it was, but will never be.

[LokisSword]

Hey all, making steady but slow progress on the Landraider.

 

Push moulded a couple of details from my Predator and from DA bits lying around. My major success though was pulling off a useable mould from the Landraider engine block and casting this in 2-part epoxy glue. It's got a few air bubbles and a bit of gap filling required on the stacks mind, but nothing terrible.

 

At the moment I'm in the laborious process of having to cast individual track links, which isn't much fun! However the number of push moulds will grow exponentially as each batch is completed!

 

Once the track links are done it will be time to try and seal this card / paper ready for filling with Milliput / Greenstuff. I want it sealed so that any water I use to aid filler-smoothing doesn't ruin the card or make the paper peal. I'm thinking of dusting it with a couple of light coats of primer and then hitting it with varnish through the airbrush...

 

Here's the latest progress:

 

 

 

 

And here's a quick hint of what I'm going to build next, now I've got my confidence up a little working on this.

Bought 30 sheets of Plasticard and going to do things a bit more professionally. 

 

 

Just mocking up in thin card at the moment as I'm intending to use the existing templates as a guide for proportion but redraw the plans in CAD to be a little closer to the FW model.

 

Cheers all,

 

Alex

[Razblood]

Welcome back to the money pit that is 40K mate ;)

 

Love the classic DA scheme and the DW scheme looks like it'll work a treat, but that LR takes the cake.

 

Awesome work :tu:

[Blissful Brushes]

Nice raider there!!

Lucius Pattern? Goodluck

Keep it coming

[Greyall]

Love the dark green. Keep it up, man.

[Secretpaintgeek]

Great job on the land raider! Always tempted to try something like that for myself but never plucked up the courage yet

[deathspectersgt7]

Gorgeous looking DA. 

[The_Chaplain]

The scratchbuilt land raider in particular is really impressive; but I think you have a very appealing dark angels army going on on the whole.  The bone color for your deathwing and green for standard DA infantry are both really well done.

[LokisSword]

Cheers again for the nice comments. To anyone thinking of having a go at this - I say go for it, the price of entry is so cheap you haven't got anything to lose. All the templates I've seen so far are relatively easy to follow, just make sure you have a sharp blade and a steel ruler. If anyone wants further info on how I approached it just ask or PM me.

 

Made some more progress on the tracks, tried a few in epoxy glue but suffered a few bubbles. I decided to hit the model with a coat of primer to see what the surface finish was like...

 

 

Pretty happy, a bit more filler and it'll be nearly done. Picked up some textured plasticard for the rear vents at local model railway shop, plus styrene tubes for pistons on the warhound.

 

Now to decide whether on not to magnetise....

[deathspectersgt7]

Great Job

[Armond]

Call me jelly, that and raider is awesome!  Keep it up!

[rat of vengence]

Great stuff happening there mate, well done :)

 

RoV

[The_Chaplain]

Picked up some textured plasticard for the rear vents at local model railway shop

 

Oh, I'm eager to see how this turns out.

 

 

Now to decide whether on not to magnetise....

Might as well get the most bang out of your buck. 

[LokisSword]

So... <cough> I've been gone for a... while?

I've been a bit of a hobby butterfly (macho huh?) in the last year or so, switching between PC gaming, programming (game development), electronics (designing a 3D printer) and general titting about not getting a lot done. I've got my little men out probably once a month, looked at them, smiled and then put them back in their case - not really finding motivation to sit down and paint.

Besides all that family and work life have been pretty busy.

 

But hey, you aren't here to hear about all that, you want the money shot... you want models!

 

So good news, I've found my painting mojo and I've promised myself that I'll actually get a game of 7th with 1250 points of painted miniatures by the end of the year.

 

So here we have the Dark Vengeance Terminators I started above, they are coming along nicely and I'm very pleased with the chosen technique... It produces a nice range of shades without too much work and manual black lining. I'm still trying to get used to wet blending - I'm very much used to 8 stage highlights for smooth transitions. I'm getting there but not happy yet.

 

I also hadn't completely settled on the colour mixes at this point so there are subtle variations between them (note only the bone areas are final, everything else is just base coat and washes):

 

Heres the last two who have been klear-coated and oil washed:

 

 

And I'm also bringing my metal deathwing into the same colour range, here they are after the first stage wash (complete with helpful cat fur - damn it!):

 

 

And - some of you might have noticed something out of place in the pictures above... Something not of the unforgiven.

Yes my hobby ADHD kicked in and I started wondering about a Codex SM allied detachment. In a random act I dug out 2 of the marines I'd primed up for the kids and painted one yellow and one orange. No real plan, just wanted something bright and contrasting to paint.

Imperial Fists seem like a nice contrast (both colour and character wise) to the unforgiven so I'm tempted to read some more of their fluff and see what they have to offer.

 

Here's my first attempt at scary yellow:

 

 

Have to say I'm digging it so far :) He's not going to stay pristine for long though - I think I might use these guys as an opportunity to change up my painting style. My unforgiven are pretty much "from the showroom" but I fancy going to town on the weathering on the Fists.

 

And last but not least I've managed to make some more progress on the Land Raider.

Fixed on the engine block, made the sloping box section that joins it to the body. Made a heavy bolter turret mount and cover from scratch in styrene, added some detail strips to the engine moulding to hide some dodgy edges, added the engine vents using textured styrene and edged that in. 

I've also just bought all the correct diameter styrene tubes to make the lascannon side weapons and twinlinked assault-cannon turrent.

I plan to make a liner for each sponson which the alternate weapons will clip into.

 

Here it is as is:

 

Right, think that's all the new stuff for now. Now to keep this thread alive with more regular content! 

Wish me luck.

[Pearson73]

Nice looking Deathwing, great Raider too - always good to see some more scratchbuilds!

[LokisSword]

Pearson73: Cheers :) Really enjoying pottering along with the Land Raider... I don't think its dawned on me that I've got another 2 to make! And 3 rhinos.... And a titan.... and err, a sicaran, spartan, thunderhawk, etc .... 

[Raztalin]

Pearson73: Cheers Really enjoying pottering along with the Land Raider... I don't think its dawned on me that I've got another 2 to make! And 3 rhinos.... And a titan.... and err, a sicaran, spartan, thunderhawk, etc ....

Well it'll keep you off the streets!!!

Great work, following this thread with interest!

[deathspectersgt7]

Sweet looking DW.