MBA++Blood Angels 5th Company - into the Leviathan's maw

[Majkhel]

Thanks Rhavien!
Your VV Sarge looks really well :)
I have a little gripe with traditional Storm Shields as they unfortunately look more like "Storm Bucklers" on Primaris-scaled marines. Which is a real shame cause they have fantastic detail. Those Vindictors' shields are nicely proportioned and I'm really happy I found them. Removing the stylized bearded heads from their centers is a bit of a pain but doable. Once I sort the posing on a 5-man squad, I will sit down to embellishments. Hope it will not be too taxing. Fortunately I can always just cover them in purity seals as long as there is a golden helmet sticking out of them and call it a day :D

[Xenith]

I have a little gripe with traditional Storm Shields as they unfortunately look more like "Storm Bucklers" on Primaris-scaled marines.

 

They always were a little small, but this is due to their fluff - the thing that actually blocks the attack is a force field that projects from the force field generator mounted in the shield - same as like a rosarius - so the size of the shield had nothing whatsoever to do with it's ability to block damage, however that got lost somewhere in 4th ed, and rule of cool took over. 

 

My thoughts about making Terminators (visually) great again are now in full spin, but I need some more time to settle on anything. I definitely don't want to use Gravis-based ideas - to my eyes they are too different aesthetically. I do have some unpainted termies to try some things out, so we'll see.

 

I added 1mm plasticard under the feet and tiny spacers at the waist in some chaos term conversions I made. Arms are already big and dont need extending. I love the terminator silhouette and didn't want to mess with it too much. 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Xenith

[Majkhel]

All good points, Xenith, thanks!

I have also recently found a project upscaling existing sculpts and I really warmed up to the idea. I totally agree that the classic Terminator silhouette is a precious thing. I'm thinking of elongation (and perhaps a bit widening ) of the torso area, especially the chest. This would be coupled with a waist spacer and maaaaybe slight work on the legs. My sculpting skills are still on the early learning curve, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

In the meantime my true-scale VanVets projects has picked up speed and I already have 5 built.
Pictures will come in a couple days when I'm satisfied with the level of bling and do some initial undercoating.

[Xenith]

It's noce, but I think that link results in models with weird proportions - maybe use the SM heroes s2 as a base? Otherwise you might just be able to cut the termies legs to they're walking rather than squatting - cut at the groin piping, straighten the leg then resculpt the piping - might be easiest to cut the whole foot away then resculpt it also - or cut it off, pin everything together then resculpt. 

[Paladin777]

Damn, you guys are far beyond my abilities!

[Majkhel]

On 3/28/2022 at 4:17 PM, Xenith said:

It's noce, but I think that link results in models with weird proportions - maybe use the SM heroes s2 as a base? Otherwise you might just be able to cut the termies legs to they're walking rather than squatting - cut at the groin piping, straighten the leg then resculpt the piping - might be easiest to cut the whole foot away then resculpt it also - or cut it off, pin everything together then resculpt. 

Some good points again... and I'm certain even more problems and questions will arise once I sit down to actual work. 

SM Heroes route for the moment are not that appealing. For once they are not easily available at my location. Second thing is that I'd like to avoid buying new toys if i can help it and work on those I already have, especially if they're otherwise unused. And I do have 5-6 unpainted Termies.

 

@Paladin - hah, I wonder if I'm not beyond my own abilities even considering this daring plan   Still, only one way to find out 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

I have the poses sorted out for the first 5 VanVets:

All arms are magnetized. Some with shoulder pads, some without (shoulder pads glued to the torso).
Also I've been testing 2 JP options (classic and the ones from the 30k Dawn Breakers) and came to the conclusion I can't really decide and so they will sport a mix of both types 
 

I did some filing on the initial shield idea - removed the death mask, filed upper portion to form a crown-like shape, filed sides and bottom, to make it slimmer and shorter. I think it looks better now. Initially I thought of ditching it and using the newer variant, but decided to keep it for variety's sake. After all 1st Company Veterans have almost unlimited access to chapter's armouries and often customize their gear heavily. New shields while fantastic also look basically the same, so a change of shape is a welcome addition and will look even better when combined with 2 JP variants and different helmets the guys will have. I plan to use at least one 'beakie' but I'm generally spoiled for choices when looking into my bitzbox.

Since the picture was taken, I did some work on the bases, primed the lot and started work on the first guy:

Cheers! :)

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[Paladin777]

Whoa! That/those look awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing how they end up turning out!

[Majkhel]

Cheers, Paladin! 
I'm eager to have them painted too :D Had a little burnout after last ATV (correcting an earlier paintjob is an onerous task) and this little project really brought the hobby mojo back up :) 

[Majkhel]

The first one is done :)

 

I'd say he came out nicely considering all things (that jump pack almost literally killed me - so many details to consider!). Trying to move out of my comfort zone with metallics too and move more towards TMM as opposed to simple metallic+wash aproach I usually did.
But I'm really happy with the Claw's blue-green shade :D It came out so well in fact I had to repeat the shade across the model on the blood-gems and on the knee. Glow in the JP's exhausts also came out OK.

Looking forward to the next guy (already started applying layers of pre-reds)
:)

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[BloodyB]

Loving the shield device, the chalice symbols are some of my favourite for BA. The glowing blues on the jump pack thrusters are a great choice, they really bring to mind classic scifi in a setting that normally acts in opposition of traditional scifi rules.

 

Those claws look exactly how I would imagine a Blood Angel's power weapon should look. The arcing energy almost looks like the light cast on a gentle seafloor in a turquoise sea, so much beauty that you almost forget about the lethality of them, any Blood Angel artificer would be proud to create such works of art!

[Majkhel]

Awesome feedback! Truly inspiring to making better works, thank you very much BloodyB!  
I finished another one - this time a Sergeant (for no particular reason)

 

3 more to go.
...forgive my dog's hair... already removed...

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[BloodyB]

Looking good, the green glow from the eye lenses is very intimidating. Don't get me started on random hair on models. I think my dog needs Rogain or something.

[Majkhel]

Same goes with cats I hear...

[Paladin777]

Same goes with cats I hear...

Cat owner here: I can confirm.

[Majkhel]

Managed to catch some hobby time and rolled on with another one (3/5):

 

Nipples came out rather large in the end  So I opted for muted highlight, not to make them pop too much.
Also the blue wash in the JP's exhausts is a bit too heavy. I could have worked on that one a bit more but in the end this section is not really that visible on the table.
But color-scheme definitely works for me and I'm happy for the prospect of having a full unit of these boys 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[BloodyB]

I think that BA may be the only army that has nipple-painting issues... Love the crystals on the base, they complement the red really nicely. That scrollwork on the shield is excellent too. I agree, a unit of those would look great, maybe you would kind enough to upload a group photo of the squad when they're finished? Pretty please?

[Majkhel]

I'm really happy you like him! I strongly believe in repeating successful color combinations on a single model as well as across unit and army. There is always place for variations too, so individual models are not boring in repetitiveness of the scheme. That's why I use cyan-green, yellow, purple and yellow alongside black elements and preferably - more than one detail will be in the same color but dispersed across the model.

Yellow indeed works really nice with both red and black. It can be darker or lighter too. I'm currently really fond of the deep, dark but saturated yellow like Averland Sunset (I'm using VGC Filthy Brown which is almost identical). Takes any brown really well for shading and VMC Ice Yellow for highlights if needed.
And crystals are simply fun to make :D

And oh yes, I'm definitely going to make a group shot of the whole squad! 

[Paladin777]

I love Averland sunset! I use it for the helmets on my close support squads.

[Majkhel]

It's been some time, but I'm happy to be back with some content.
4/5 VanVets are done now: 

 

While I was off, I managed to play 2 games with them and while they died to a man in each (as befits new models), they performed well accounting for a unit of genestealers, Hybrids and Atalan Jackals.
After 3rd mission of our mini-campaign, my Blood Angels (successors) are so far undefeated against my friend's GSC.

My hobby plans for the moment are limited to finishing the 5th member of my Vanguard Veteran squad. After that I will probably paint a single unaligned figure to act as objective marker/relic (I have Espern Locarno the Navigator, Sanistazia Minst the mdeic and Larsen van der Graas the tech-priest to choose from)

 

Cheers! 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[Majkhel]

Final (for the moment) squad member done:

 

 

 

 

And full squad in all it's sangy glory :)

 

Happy to have them completed :D

Edited June 27, 2022 by Majkhel

[Paladin777]

Those look amazing! I love the individuality that the varied jump packs gives them. It gives a sense of 'I like this jump pack because of X.' Edited May 28, 2022 by Paladin777

[Majkhel]

Happy you like them! Cheers :)

[BloodyB]

The whole squad is looking good there!

 

I love the different Marks of armour and wargear on display, it adds to the venerable feel that veterans should have. The jump packs especially, the older marks feel like they are there for their distinguished machine spirits, as if they are as famed and fearsome as those they carry to battle. You have managed to build a squad that I would almost expect to be the focus of a BL novel, each member looks like you have spent hours finding, making or converting just the right piece for each component. Bravo, good sir, bravo!

[Majkhel]

Thank you!