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jaxom

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I started the prep work for Loyalty and Treachery today. I have a number of sprues and unfinished models that are Heresy related, but then 8th edition came out, etc. However, it's time to jump back into those darkest days of the Imperium.

 

 

http://www.fortressoftheunforgiven.com/L_T_Legion_01.jpg

 

"Loyalty is it's own reward."

 

- Lion El'Jonson, primarch of the first legiones astartes, the Dark Angels

 

Contemptor-Dreadnought

 

I came to feel these sons of Caliban are true brothers within the legion. We have fought together, we have bled together, welcomed extant humanity into the Imperium together, and destroyed worlds together. Yet, we cannot hate together. We are betrayed, together, and have sworn the same oaths of vengeance and punishment against the traitors. Yet, they are not the brothers with whom I built the foundation for the Emperor's realm. So few of us remain.

 

I had started this a while back.

dAMIXz2m.jpg  F44SYpJm.jpg  HCoD8UPm.jpg

 

Since then the twin-linked heavy bolter is really not an option for 40k. I decided to redo the magnetization on the weapon arm and take a page from, well, everyone and re-position the torso.

 

SkwWVEIm.jpg  xjLEyAhm.jpg

 

Use the drill hole as a guide for marking the other side of the ball joint.

 

e3j8Y6Lm.jpg

 

A lot of patience and careful slicing with an X-acto knife got a clean separation.

 

e3j8Y6Lm.jpg

 

Veterans

 

In my guide to the GC&HH era Dark Angels I talked about how important heraldry was to the visual their identity compared to the other black-clad legions who, shall we say, established early market share. The real kicker though is the robes. Two images, in particular, are what I think about when I visualize the First Legion: the cover of Fallen Angels and that one picture of Merir Astelan and a few others looking like knightly versions of Batman. So of course I want all my infantry to have some form of robe. One massive trawl through every Games Workshop space-marine-with-cloth-on-them-image I could find and I had a visual sketch guide.

 

mGjz5y3m.jpg?1

Edited by jaxom
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Green stuff! Magnets!

 

Contemptor-Dreadnought

 

I set the magnets in GS and gave them a long while to dry.

 

01DFrz7m.jpg  LQaeJbMm.jpg

 

a5UzfeAm.jpg

 

The annoying thing is that the magnets are not quite strong enough to deal with some of the stranger center of balances (hollow plastic, thicker areas on one side, etc). The converted heavy bolter arm may end up consigned to "good idea, not the best execution." Ditto for the leg/torso pair. I reset them to be more flush, but we'll see if that helps or if I just need to accept it'll require gluing (and I won't be able to spin it around 360 degrees like in Dawn of War).

 

Most important tip I can give people looking to work with GS. Have a press-mold with common things (like purity seals) or project specific for any excess GS you made up. Mine resulted in some nice Legion additions to the otherwise very plain plastic chassis.

 

DRt1dzYl.jpg

 

Veterans

 

Primaris and all the wonderful truescaling on this board have ruined me. I can't use the stock Mk4 plastics. They're too squat. I don't have the patience to full GS truescale marines, but I will be tall-scaling them. I had a pair of legs I was experimenting with and used that for the test model.

 

jmlBnDKm.jpg

 

The breastplate overhanging the belt means I can't go straight to one of the robe designs were it's tucked into the belt (though thinking about it now, I could GS a belt over it...). So I decided to try out the poncho/cape style first.

 

34HtRyum.png

 

I did the front portion to make sure the arms and bolter would still fit over the torso. I then put down the "backbone" of the cape to build off of. I'm waiting for it to fully cure before doing the next layers.

 

aFtG2Npm.jpg  TtpwC8Vm.jpg

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Excellent stuff! The poncho-style cape looks very challenging to do but so far you’re pulling it off. :tu: I’m sorry to hear about the magnets and the difficulties with the weapons’ weight distribution... The heavy Bolter looks so good, I’d glue it on and the hell with everything! :lol:

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Contemptor-Dreadnought

 

When we left Caliban and took to the stars our brothers brought their weapons with us. The corvus  with its hammer and pick. The aper with its axe and spear. And their swords, reluctantly, as they had been promised a quest of unification. We Terran brothers Are proud of their swords - both gifts from the personal forges of the Emperor and legacies of the Throneworld's industry. The Calibanites were askance. The sword is a poor weapon for the hunt they said. On Caliban it is reserved for men; those who are oath breakers, traitors, and betrayers of their feudal lords. Each sword-compliance was considered necessary, but not celebrated. Yet now it seems we have entered the time of the sword; brothers of the Lion, sons of Caliban and sons of Terra both, united against treachery. I gave away my sword when I was interred in the ironform. Instead, I pledge my word - my existence is now that of the sword.

 

I decided to try one last thing - a pin on either side of the magnet to help. I am very happy to say it worked.

 

 

YSZpRWLm.jpg

 

I don't have any pictures of it in, but after giving the glue time to fully dry I'm going to assemble the torso. That will let me test out the reset waist magnets as well.

 

Veterans

 

Woo, this was a test of mettle. I added a black line to help differentiate between the poncho and the GS in the leg.

 

nPykh0hl.jpg?1  

 

k8Relynl.jpg

 

tvjKTqrm.jpg  LIyXmp5m.jpg

 

I think I can do the underlying GS in a batch (but mixing the GS per model). The overwork is going to be one-at-a-time though.

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Contemptor-Dreadnought

 

All glued (other than arm, that's blutac) and ready for priming. Magnets are working out, a bit wobbly, but not unworkable.

 

4zsIJGYm.jpg  mPMcvVYm.jpg

 

I then I have this shot:

 

oJx3FAUm.jpg

 

It was bugging me how familiar it looked and then I realized why.

 

mlW1oVum.jpg

 

"You're coming with me: dead or alive."

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Contemptor Dreadnought

 

Similar to robes, I always thought the black-over-metal look in the Dark Angel artwork helped them stand out from the two and a portion legions that are also black armoured. I put down a metal base layer and then worked through five black washes.

 

The starting point:

 

sQU95PUm.jpg

 

The end point:

 

wHfiMwxm.jpg  YwoyYw2m.jpg

 

I plan on finishing the the black areas (highlights, etc) and then going back to do more work on the veterans.

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Veteran Tactical Squad

 

I've just been working on the utilitarian GSing of legs and torsos. I decided to add a little more height by adding a 1 mm spacer between torso and legs.

 

hM7KOjXm.jpg

 

Just glue the bit of plasticard in place and then re-create the socket with some GS. I left space at the edges so I can stuff the top of robes in there if needed.

 

Okay, GS learning curve continues. I've finally developed the patience where I can tell myself, "That part looks good. Let it cure before trying to fix the bit over there." Here's what I mean:

 

1v9nzycm.jpg  9QJ3hMWm.jpg

 

These two both have parts of the GS filling that looks okay, but there's gaps and the like elsewhere. I let them cure and then went back in:

 

Xrlu0Z8m.jpg  b7zWw4tm.jpg

 

I also couldn't decide on a special weapon so I went with all of them. A 1 mm width magnet fits with some careful drilling.

 

6ZNux3Jl.jpg?1

 

qz66JTVm.jpg  SJ72H9Pm.jpg

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And I lost everything I had typed when my browser glitched :wallbash:

 

I did the first round of green stuff on the Veterans for their cloth.

 

DjdWPIbm.jpg  fuqbf7Rm.jpg

 

This guy needs a belt and then I'll add things like pouches and grenades.

 

The next one I'm tentatively thinking of as the Ragged Knight.

 

nH1HeEVm.jpg  E16g91sm.jpg

 

He's going to get a cowl, maybe a hood, in the next round of green stuffing. His buddy doesn't have a cognomen yet.

 

fO13oDxm.jpg  fPrCdsBm.jpg

 

This guy is going to get a cape like the FW Dark Angel Praetor.

 

The sergeant didn't get any GS luvin' because I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do as I magnetized the arm. I hate the Mastery of the Blade rule from HH6: Retribution for a variety of reasons; so I want the ability to give him a harder hitting weapon if it gets changed or if I end up using this squad in 40k.

 

bvSI3WWm.jpg  3KLCb6lm.jpg

 

I settled on going for that over/under cape style where one side is anchored under a pauldron and the other is anchored over the other pauldron with an escutcheon. The GS cape can go over the pauldron, anchoring it, and then I can slip the arm in and out from that pauldron.

 

And here's some shots I took with blu-tac to put up in the L&T thread:

 

Fr2PfPxm.jpg  5DXImO9m.jpg

 

aF0PInhm.jpg

 

It is absolutely silly what the extra 3 mm total (two in the upper thighs and one under the torso) does to the proportions. Seriously, I don't know if I'll ever be able to just build (non-Primaris) Marines again.

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I finished the modeling work on the Veteran Squad members, but not the Sergeant. I put them up in the L&T thread.

 

Some personal observations from the process:

  • Consider the width of your saw when choosing spacer size. The cuts remove material roughly equal to the width.
  • An x-acto or modeling blade is not a good choice for chopping through legs unless you have a very steady hand and can maintain an even pressure the entire time.
  • It was easier to use a spacer smaller than the leg and fill in the area than it was to clip down excess.
  • Stop when you're happy with how something looks and give it time to cure so you don't accidentally wreck it while working on another part of the mini.
  • It's simpler to add more than to have to remove excess.
  • Have something to watch or listen to while waiting for capes to cure enough that you can put the miniature down or have a set up for orienting the miniature so the cape is oriented perpendicular to the ground (so gravity helps keep it in place rather than mess it up).
  • It took about 3 pairs of legs before getting the rhythm down for the GS.

They don't hold up to true scale marines, but they also didn't require as much work or extra parts. The extra height did enough to give me a result I'm pleased enough with.

 

zxmnZwcm.jpg  sgTQhEnm.jpg  miyxi16m.jpg

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The Veteran Sergeant's cape is underway! I did the initial work, next up is taking it over the left shoulder and adding an escutcheon. In this particular case, I was able to use an unusual approach in getting the cape where I wanted it.

 

Jn2L8AEm.jpg

 

Ended up as I wanted:

 

R1Wh52sm.jpg  dOKxOOAm.jpg

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Looks good, especially the cape - very dynamic.  I feel the escutcheon should be bigger and/or lower, though as (at least from this angle) it doesn't really protect the shoulder joint and armpit, which as a piece of armour is its purpose.  Right now IMHO it looks more like a clasp for the cloak than a functional piece of his armour.

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Edit 2: I meant an escutcheon in the classical sense - a place to display heraldry - rather than the conflation it gained from rennzeug (the joust of peace) with targets they wore. I took a look at it with one from a terminator, but I thought it looked a bit too big. Edited by jaxom
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Praetor

 

Been taking the past few nights slow - intense week at work. However, I've made some progress on the Praetor.

 

NaV8Izlm.jpg

 

I will never own a replica of (Edward,) the Black Prince's sword, but when I saw the Empire Knight sword arm in my bitz I had a moment of catharsis knowing at least this knight would go into battle with a type XV sword (I don't want to take my chances on actually going for a type XVa by converting the grip).

 

I also found an Empire Knight head and now am torn between it and the head I was originally considering.

 

OGBMWHNm.jpg  fIi9UIWm.jpg

 

I would greatly appreciate any opinions on the two options.

 

EDIT: Originally had the wrong image sizes.

Edited by jaxom
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Praetor

 

The Weeping Lion WIP - I've got the body all done, now it's a case of figuring out his cape/cloak. Once that's done I'll add the gubbinz around the waist (grenades, pouches, etc) to thicken it out. Here's the mock up with shield, pauldrons, head, and reactor blu-tac'ed on.

 

5H0MTdTl.jpg

 

m1tKwalm.jpg  MrB9oBom.jpg?1

 

 

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