Brother Christopher

I, Brother Christopher, continue the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge, and for the month of August pledge to complete 6 Jump Pack Marines and 1 TDA Captain by month's end.

Yeah, that's definitely cool. I mean, the structure has already been 'good enough' without the fine details but you're taking it to another level. For whatever reason, I really like the use of real nuts - they work very well with the valves in this scale.

@ThePenitentOne A man after my own hear. That's exactly my pace of work. Congrats!

Right, this definitely isn't what I expected after reading the title. While personally this isn't my kind of thing, I appreciate the dedication to this unique and fun project. The vibrant colour scheme is great, the idea is there and the army has a consistent look. I'm digging the project and will lurk around to see where this goes.

I would buy models looking like yours but I wouldn't dare trying to pull something like this off on my own. I believe that I don't have the right kind of creativity in me. Also, at this point in life, I want to stick to painting more vanilla models. With my plasticard stuff taking so much of my hobby time, I feel I'd rather focus on painting. And because of that it's particularly fun to follow your progress - it's like a fun kind of windo shopping (for hobby projects). That's another level, to be honest. I've never considered painting grass/tufts before.

Don't tell the Chaplain, but I love these. The colour scheme is very fresh - the purples, golds, whites and blues make for a striking combination and the capes add make the models feel custom and characterful.

I'm glad to be able to join! And I'm sorry for the mistake - I don't know where that came from - maybe a typo on the numpad or just being in the middle of work. Regardless, I feel ashamed for this silly mistake. Thanks for catching this.

I also think that the skin is great, particularly on the grenade-tossing ork.. If you highlight some bits at a later stage, the result should be stunning. I also very much like the texture on the pistol. I'm not sure how intended the result is, but the pistol casing has a nice, worn look with some clearly visible 'scratches.'

As always, excellent stuff. The painted Chaplain with servitors squires are characterful and look great. I very much like the greyish tone on the faces suggesting that the squires can grow awesome bears but fight the elements and keep their chins tidy. An excellent choice fitting the overall aesthetic. You also keep surprising me with your creativity. I particularly like the jaw (is it from an ork kit?) I must confess that I'm quite prone to wanting stuff I see and I think I'd really love to have a kill team of wicked-barbarian-themed Templars. Kudos for the consistently impressive output. And, once again, many thanks for sharing this unique project. By the way: I'm quite surprised that you base your models before priming, grass and tufts, too.

I, Brother Christopher, heed the Call to Arms and pledge to paint 6 jump pack marines and 1 Marshal in Terminator Armour, for 15 pts for the Glory of the Black Templars and the Astartes Stronghold on or before September 15th, or bear the badge of failure until year's end. @Dr. Clock I love the conversion you did. That's a very cool modification and a striking paint scheme.

It's about time for me to finally post my first ever homebrew chapter Primaris Marines:

July vow complete!

Thank you all for the immensely positive feedback! It means a lot and adds to the feeling of satisfaction at finishing my first ever modern GW Marines. I didn't expect that it'll take me this much time to get them painted but I hope that the next batches won't take as long as these - I have some decisions made, after all. Having said that, it was fun and refreshing to try paint different skittles Space Marines and have some fun with new colours. I must say that the battle damage elevated the models to a higher level. I ended up liking the aesthetic a lot and there's the added bonus of the damage helping distract from the subpar edge highlighting. By 'subpar' I mean that it didn't end up 'eavy metal style, as I initially hoped/intended but, as you may remember me mentioning earlier, I don't want to get bogged down my doing super-fine lines that are still probably beyond the scope of my skill/brushwork. Because of highlights and battle damage that are not as fine as possible, the style is a bit more cartoony (?) than I hoped for but I've grown to enjoy it a lot. I suppose I must admit that I've found a happy medium with the models. And I can't express how helpful you were in this process. *** Final upgrades following the most recent posts: @gaurdian31 I tried following your advice with the pupils but I think I've failed a bit. Maybe die to my skills, maybe due to the weather (it's hot!) - I struggled a lot with getting the paint off the brush. I did something but got worried that my attempts will result in more harm than good. Also, following others' advice, I added another layer of highlights - this time with some yellow. I think it helped with the definition of the detail and general feel of the colour. I also realised that I forgot to paint some lightning effect that I planned so that's another small update, together with some text/scribbles on some of the models (and on the tilt shield of the guy reloading his boltgun). Since I haven't had anything specific in mind with regards to the lightning/power effect, I'm quite pleased how it turned out. Maybe the lines could be more subtle/refined but at the moment, I'll stick with what I have. On the topic of the sergeants' helmets: I like this feedback a lot. It's mixed but skewing towards the positive so I'll settle with this: the choice of colour isn't obviously bad. And that's enough for me at the moment. Given my experience with wacky colour ideas that I have had while painting my squat-marine Templars, I know that some concepts don't age well - I'll give the green helmets time to mature and give myself the time to reconsider should I come to regret this in the future. That's why I won't be gluing on the helmets. Yeah, that was my initial concern - the original concept included a dark green for the helmets but the chapter markings were supposed to be more neutral (black or white). But at the time of typing this, this isn't a big issue. Haha, that's an effort that I appreciate but one that I haven't thought of! Thank you for the litany of purification, though. Again, thank you for the mock-up. I think this is a reasonable idea, given the choice of secondary colour, but in real life, there's something off/wrong with the light blue helmet. However — as I've remarked — I'm reserving the right to change my mind - I might do my best to see how it looks like properly painted, instead of the base colour and a rough recess shade. *** Many thanks - it's always good to be on the inquisitor's good side ;) And he even has green stones/crystals! *** And here's a group photo, with the base rims painted black and some grass added here and there: The sergeant and the updated helmet: The lightning/power 'effect:' Some scribbles on the tilt shield - the intention was to make better use of the empty surface: And the updated face: Since I've probably posted too many photos of the other guys in the process, I decided not to spam more with just the updated bases ;)

Almost done! These are control photos and I think I still need to touch up the tilt shields and the face of the helmetless guy. Some close-ups: I think I should try and redo the eyes and brows. I'm not quite happy with the yellow halo-thingy (it turned out a bit too oval for my taste) but I don't see a way to fix it so it'll stay as-is. And here the blue is a bit uneven; I'll also perhaps brave improving the yellow chequers but that's not without its risks. Do you think that this green for the sergeants' helmets works better? The heads aren't fixed in place yet so I can easily replace it. Having said that, I feel it's quite okay - definitely better than the original, jade-like one.

@Rusted Boltgun, @space wolf, @Firedrake Cordova and @gaurdian31 - Thanks for dropping a post. I appreciate the feedback. I'm also glad you like the half-arrows. I was considering extending them to the back of the leg armour (to make 'full arrows') but I suppose the armour panel makes a natural border for the arrows (and, in the future, other squad designations). No, thank you! I sometimes feel like oversharing but this forum is basically my only interaction with a broader hobby community and I'm very much glad whenever people drop by. I think you might be right. I suppose that in my case, these nuances get lost due to a skill threshold I'm unable to break. Then again, similalry to your experience, this might be a good thing: using/trying different methods should make painting Marines that much more interesting. Currently, I'm painting the helmets and am doing (what probably will be) my last foray into the green territory. This time with a more neutral (warmer?) dark green that I mixed. Also, thank you for the paint recommendations: I'll look into them. I absolutely hear you here: that's my underlying concern with the idea for colour designations for battle roles. On the whole, you're absolutely right. My 'but' is the subjective motivation for my current plan: after doing my ~300 Firstborn Templars, I'm a bit tired of painting identical Space Marines (...but apparently not as tired to drop them altogether). My hope is that by doing different arms, I'll be able to keep things interesting by trying new things out for the ~70 Primaris Models - instead of opting for doing squads from different chapters, I want to 'cheat' a bit by mixing up the colour scheme and incorporate designs that I liked or hope to enjoy painting within the structure of my homebrew chapter. But here's a but to the 'but' above: nothing's set in stone: it seems that I have to see things with my own eyes before making a decision. I might take the more reasonable/safe way you suggested. I appreciate you taking the time to post this - I'll make sure to use some of these ideas since they're a great way to elegantly introduce more colour variety.