40k Wordbearers and Deathguard

[frankendoodle65]

Hi guys, I posted an introduction of sorts over in the new members subforum earlier today, and thought I'd get started on my wip thread now. I'll start off with a bit of an image dump, just so you know what to expect from me, and then we can move on to the current projects!

I'll start with some word bearers;

Dark Apostle

Chaos Lord

Chaos Lord made from AoS Khorne character

Chosen made from AoS khorne guys

Chaos space marine squad

I've worked on these guys on and off over the last few years, and there's plenty more to come for them; I'm planning another squad of marines, possessed, some terminators and possibly havocs in the not too distant future (unless I get distracted again!)

And speaking of distractions, dark imperium happened last year! Holy cow were there some nice deathguard models in there, and then even more came out in October! Luckily I came upon a nice, fast way of painting them, so there's plenty to show!

Lord of Contagion

Blightlords

Blight drone

Plague caster and Blightbringer

Plague marines

More Plague marines

Start of the third plague marine squad!

The plague marine squads come from dark imperium and one pack of plague marines, with various spare parts used to bulk them out to three units of seven (five are still on the painting bench)

I've forgotten to take a photo of my Abbadon conversion, so I'll post that later as well as some shots of what I'm working on now. however, the dog is demanding my attention now, so I'd best wrap this up quickly!

I look forward to hearing any thoughts from you guys, and let me know if you want close up photos of anything and I'll see what I can do. Apologies that this looks more like a hall of honour post, but that's only for now...

Edited February 25, 2018 by frankendoodle65

[Pearson73]

The Dark Apostle is fantastic; well painted and good choice of parts.

[steamius]

Very nice stuff you have here! 

[Markus_]

Great conversionwork and paintjobs! I might have to nick that chaos lord idea.
The third from the right on the first set of plague marines has got to be my favourite, very sinister looking and great mix of bits.

[frankendoodle65]

Thanks for the comments guys! As a long time lurker it's very satisfying to see people responding to my work - part of the reason I never posted before is because I thought there'd be no interest!

Markus, that's my favourite plague marine too! It was a fairly simple conversion, body and head from the dark vengeance lightning claw guy, deathshroud legs and arms from a dark Imperium plage marine, all tied together with a little green stuff!

As promised before, here's my Abaddon conversion;

He's made from obliterator legs, the front of a cataphractii torso, Kranon the relentless' sword, and a pile of other bits and green stuff...

And my first posessed for the worldbearers, made from a primaris

He still needs a bit of work, I'll probably give him some kind of loincloth, most likely an oversized impurity seal. I may rework his feet too, as I'm not entirely happy with them at the moment.

I'm also working on a terminator. I have a bunch of dark vengeance models lying around, but indomitus terminator armour doesn't really do it for me... I'm a sucker for punishment so I'm resculpting it to look more like cataphractii, though I'm undecided yet whether I'll go for chaos style trim or the usual cataphractii detailing

One nice advantage of reposing the legs like this is that I get some extra height, so this should be a really chunky, imposing model when finished (and then I'll have a bunch more to make! Why do I do this to myself?)

EDIT; completely forgot, here's an image of some more plague marines that I've (barely) started painting

Edited February 25, 2018 by frankendoodle65

[Pearson73]

Your Abaddon's nicely executed, nice choice with Kranon's sword, it fits the bill just right.

 

The possessed is looking great as well, your greenstuff skills are solid! I've also used Primaris as a base for possessed; I find they provide the right scale for bulked up, warp-infused daemon legionnaires without too much extra work.

[Greenz]

Solid work there! Those are some great conversions, and you have some sweet sculpting talent. While I enjoy the DG, it’s your WB conversion that I’m really drawn to. Especially that possessed marine. Keep it coming!

[frankendoodle65]

Thanks guys!

 

Pearson, I'll have to check out your possesed! And your right, the scale and proportions of the primaries marines are great for this sort of conversion, going off size comparisons they seem to line up pretty well with gal vorbak (and if I could afford those, I wouldn't be making these guys!)

 

Greenz, glad to hear you like the word bearers, they're definitely my true love of the 41st millennium, death guard are just a fun distraction, so plenty more sons of lorgar to come!

[DarkApostle7]

Very very nice, always great to see more Word Bearers

[Khornestar]

Love them! I’m embarking on a Word Bearers project in a few months, and I’ll be using your work as inspiration.

[Markus_]

Fantastic sculpting!

[brettfp]

These are looking great!! That possessed is amazing! :)

[Sagentus]

Wow your work is inspirational. I really like the lightning claw plague marine and have a plan to use my spare dark vengeance lc chosen model mixed with a khorne beserker.

 

You DA and abadon are awesome and you gs work is something else on the possessed. Great idea using the primaris i have a couple from the starter box that could be used for something similar.... the khornate blood in me is flowing with inspired vigor!!

[frankendoodle65]

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone!

Just a small update for now, I've added a loincloth and impurity seal to the posessed, he might be about ready for painting now unless any more ideas come to mind!

And I've started detailing the terminator, going for a cross between the usual cataphractii trim and some chaos detailing

Let me know what you guys think!

[Blindhamster]

really really lovely stuff here, great work

[Sagentus]

The possessed char looks amazing, the only thing I can see being a problem is that possessed dont have guns, so the Plasma pistol is kkind of redundant. Tbh i think he would look perfect in a squad captain of plague marines. Also really  like how the terminator is coming on, Im jealous of yor gs skils tbh ;) 

[KrautScientist]

Oh my, looks like this could become one of my favourite threads! Everything so far is brilliant, although the Word Bearers characters, kitbashed Abaddon and "homecooked" Gal'Vorbak stand out. Fantastic job, more please! :)

[Shovellovin]

As others have said, you have a real talent for sculpting with green stuff. Any tips for a beginner?

 

Keep updating your work; so much good stuff here.

[frankendoodle65]

Thanks so much everyone!

 

Sagentus, thanks for the kind words.

I'm not too worried about the load out on the posessed, I've not played a game in at least ten years and have no plans to start now.... 

Interesting that you see him as a plague marine champion, though he's definitely intended for the wordbearers- I'm aiming for something along the lines of the gal vorbak... I'm sure a coat of red will sort that misconception out!

 

KrautScientist, I've been a big fan of your worldeaters for a long time now, so I'm absolutely chuffed to hear your praise of my wordbearers! Thank you

 

Shovellovin, I can't really say much that hasn't been said before by others here, the main "trick" to sculpting is just time and practice. I've been doing this for nearly 15 years now, it's been a long ride with plenty of frustration along the way, but if you keep at it you'll see yourself improve over time.

If I could offer one piece of advice though, what I find works for me is getting the shapes roughed in with a metal tool and then refining and smoothing with silicone clay shapers - and always lubricate your tools! (I use nivea hand cream, some people use vaseline or even just water)

 

 

Nothing new to show just yet unfortunately, but I'm hoping to make some decent progress on the terminator this weekend, and I may even get started with painting the posessed soon

 

[ToyShip]

Man, those Word Bearers are some of the best I've seen, if not the best! Some really inspired conversion work there, and that Possessed is already shaping up to be an incredible model. It could easily stand side-to-side with FW's Gal Vorbak and look right at home. Can't wait to see more work from you!

[Chazzmos]

Love these models!

 

Can you talk me through how you painted the glowing eyes on the Death Guard?  I'm thinking about nicking it for mine

[frankendoodle65]

Thanks Toyship, very kind of you :)

Chazzmos, the glowing eye effect is pretty simple, and I'm sure there are others on here who do it far better than me and could explain it much better.

If it helps though, I use three paints; a dark green (Caliban green), a bright green (warpstone glow) and white.

Paint the whole lense Caliban green, then cover that with warpstone glow, leaving just a dark line around the edge.

Then you want to mix warpstone glow with white, gradually getting brighter towards the middle of the lense, with a final white dot right in the middle. This creates your bright light source.

Then it's just a case of painting the glow, I use a watered down mix of 50/50 warpstone glow/white, and carefully paint it onto the armour. Do this in several thin layers so it's transparent, gradually getting brighter closer to the source of the light. I then do a final, super thin highlight of 25/75 warpstone glow/white just on the edge of the armour, closest to the light source.

Hopefully that makes sense? There are plenty of guides online if you Google it, and I can try and take a few photos next time I paint eye lenses.

Just a quick update on the posessed, painting is coming along nicely so he'll be finished any day now.

The shards of armour on the mutated arm need refining, as they currently blend into the flesh a bit - if it's still an issue I may have to repaint the flesh a little brighter.

I really need to figure out a way of taking better photos, hopefully I'll have it sorted by the time this guy is finished!

[Pearson73]

The bone's nicely done there.

[Vairocanum]

WOW, totally stunning work! Both your sculpting and painting amazing, some really top quality models! The possessed looks so well done, could definitely compete with forgeworld, looking forward to seeing more!

[frankendoodle65]

Thanks Pearson and Vairocanum, always nice to hear some encouragement! :)

Just a quick update - the first posessed is finished! It's been a long time since I've painted a word bearer, so I felt a little rusty working on this guy. And to make matters worse, the varnish clouded up a little! I fixed it up as much as I could - I really didn't fancy stripping the model to start from scratch!

And a size comparison

Now I just need to make 4 more or these guys!

I'm trying to figure out how to get better photos, I've knocked together a simple light box but I'm still getting better shots just sat on the shelf! Any photography tips or a link to an easy to follow guide would be appreciated!