Magnetizing Contemptor Weapons and Joints

I've had several Contemptors in my FW stash for some time, but despite loving the model, I had carefully avoided building them due to the difficulty of contraction. Yesterday I sat down and magnetized the weapons as well as the major joints. This solved the posing problem in addition to the weapon load out problem. It is also kind of fun reposing the dreadnought by rotating the shoulder and moving the elbow on two axis.

Now the legs..... What I can say? Contemptors have really difficult legs to build. I felt like I was juggling balls covered in super glue. At one point I had the legs just right and then progressively got the pieces glued to my hands until I was basically wearing the dreadnought like a demented pair of gloves. Needless to say the legs are not as dynamic as I would like, but they are set.

Now all I have to do is boil some water so I can reshape the bent weapons and I am good to go. The added benefit is that I can easily add Contemptors to my collection now and share some of the weapons I have painted.

Now to paint this guy up as an Ultramarine and the other two up as Emperors Children.

Telion & His Ride

Despite catching a horrible cold just before New Years, and having loads of time to paint, I've found that I really don't enjoy painting while sick. It must be something to do with the fact that I lick my brushes. Yep, brush licker here. I know it is gross, and I don't know where I picked up the habit, but I think I am going to try to cull it. We'll see how long that lasts.

I finally based sniper scout squad Telion. I am not as happy with my 25 mm bases as I am for the larger bases, but I had already cast them, and I wanted to experiment with powders directly on models. I added a soupy concoction of secret weapon green earth weathering power to the lower portions of the boots. When dry it was too thick, so I wet a brush and moved the powder around. That has to be one of the nice things about powder. Don't like it? Wipe it off.

After painting these guys up and basing them, I find myself thinking wishfully about the old metal scout models. These new-ish plastic ones are really iffy in terms of design, pose, and execution. The details are really soft which makes it less enjoyable to paint them. This scout heavy project has drilled into me that I really don't know how to paint cloth. Hopefully I'll learn some new skills as this progresses.

I just heard a buzz, which means the ultrasonic jewlery cleaner I bought my wife is don't cleaning off some MK III marines. (I know I know--horrible to buy a gift knowing it has a better more awesome usage for the gift giver)

Ultramarines Terminators

I added decals and based the terminators this morning, while recovering from a late night. We had several friends stay the night at our place, one of whom is a Marine, so he was particularly thrilled by my decision to paint up some boys in blue.

I know I haven't finished painting the purity seals yet, but I really wanted to see these guys on their regular bases. Weathering almost always makes things look much better, but I think I am going to put these guys on the shelf for now.  I used vallejo gloss and then matte as part of my decal process. I am loving the vallejo dull coat. It is just so easy to cover just the part of the model that needs the gloss removed. I think I am done with spray varnish.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Ultramarines Last WIP 2012

I started my first Ultramarines Terminator squad yesterday. Despite being hit with this seasons turbo cold, I managed to cast up and paint the squads bases. At this point I am getting really close to being completed. In the last photo you can see a power weapon test that I think was successful enough to become the standard look for all power weapons in the force.

I changed my blue recipe again. (sorry) Finding a way off of the old range was important. I think I was able to use Maccrage Blue instead of Ultramarines blue in order to get the rich blue of the original tac squad.

If I complete the squad I will post photos up before the end of the year!


Armor Recipe.

• Black primer
• 50/50 Black & Kantor Blue
• Kantor Blue (not maccrage blue as one might think!)
• Maccrage Blue
• Calgar Blue 
• Edge armor plates with badab black (use like paint, not like wash)

UltramarinesSo Far

I've finally added all of the transfers to the shoulder pads of my nascent Ultramarines army. For some reason the testers dull coat I used to dull down the transfers after applying them left the miniatures with a slight gloss of its own. Maybe I used too much dull coat? Whatever the case, I thought it would be fun to share a quick shot of the army so far. This the the first of the ground forces, as the army already air superiority covered. There is a lot of touch of work to do, which I just don't feel like doing. I like these guys, and if the armor repainting servitors were a little sloppy painting on the gold trim, then who am I to complain. :)

I am not sure I'll post any more photos before the new year. Happy holidays to everyone, and best wishes for the new year.

More Ultramarines Painting Progress

Another weird kit to cross off my list! I really like parts of the siege dread.  The dread is going to get all kinds of white ultramarines markings which will make it look less generic I hope. I have a slew of purity seals to add as well after the transfers are on.

Raiding my bits box produced enough marines for a weirdly spec'd out devastator squad as well. So long as I was going to get the airbrush all setup for the dread, I might as well paint a squad right? I think I might pull a couple of guys out and put tactical markings on them instead of devastator markings so I have some heavy weapons in my tac squads.  I really like the devastator marking more than the tac marking and since it is a transfer I have never used, I must abide by the try everything once rule for this army and officially make the remaining guys devastators.

I've been seen all kinds of checker patterns showing up on miniatures all over the place and am longing to do the same. Some white checkers would look kind of cool interspersed on these models. I am just not committed to ruining the paint jobs just yet!

Scout Bikers

All of the base colors and detail have been added to the scouts now. The weathering of the tires and chipping and weathering of the bikes has not been started. Despite this, I am really pleased with how these guys are turning out. Once all of the weathering is done and all the packs and extra gear are a added I think I will have a really stellar unit. I struggled with the cloth portions on the bikers, but in the end it is just nice to finally paint these guys.

A while back I painted up three ultra storm talons, and Last night I placed the talons up next to the bikers and my completed marines.  It was a blast just to see the models together.  I really do need to finish the basing and get all of the miniatures based. That will tie the whole army together and let me take one of those coveted whole army photos. I am not not sure how much further I should go in my painting before actually finishing something. Saving all the weathering and decals for last makes sense to me, but now I am itching to get these guys on the field. Just one more troops and an HQ unit and I can do it!

Ultramarines Dreadnought

I took a brief pause in my LS Storm painting in order to add some details to my first ultramarines dreadnought. (I also needed a break from that complex model!) At this point I am ready to add transfers. Once those are done and set, I'll add chipping and weathering. I changed the base out a bit on this guy to see how a flatter ruined street would look. I love the stepped base, but I really think I should have reposed the dread before painting. This model has sat unpainted but primed in a plastic baggy for so many years, it is a real joy to finally see it coming to life.

The last shot is a picture of my painting desk. for years now I have layered poster board on my work area in order to provide a disposable painting/modeling surface. It is such a small thing, but since I've never seen anyone else do it, I thought I would point it out. My work area consists of an ikea desktop sitting on elfa storage bins with three poster boards covering the top. When a board gets too dirty (or covered in mid-century modern home decor destroying weathering powders) I just cut up the board and throw it away. Replacing it from a stash in my closet. I've noticed that a clean work area encourages me to work on models, and my productivity goes up when there is a clean space to paint. having a near instantaneous way to restore my work area has really helped.