Ultramarine Test Model

I've now painted my third Ultramarine! I used a Grex airbrush that I picked up at NOVA for most of this guy. As a test model this guy got to experience just about every technique there is. Total painting time including basing is under an hour, so I expect a full squad would not be that bad to paint. The problem is that the model is not really speaking to me. It could be that using AoBR models as test models is so overdone now that it colors my view, but I think there is something wrong with the color scheme.

1. Should I darken the model?  I could mix black into my regal blue base and use a darker base color before shading with ultramarines blue.
2. Should I skip the edge highlight? My inclination is to let the airbrush shade the edge, and then use washes to make areas pop. 
3. Should I paint the shoulder pads a color instead of a metallic. That would differentiate the gold chest eagle from the trim. I had hoped all the gold would make the model more regal, but it feels a bit monotone.
4. Do I keep the dusty stone bases? The model looks like he is straddling the base. Maybe I need to make wider ones.

I've got a whole squad stripped of paint ready as a test squad. I may go ahead with it, or I may do a few more test models. Any advice is appreciated!

Thunderhawk WIP2

Someday I am going to have to play Apocalypse, or a really really large game of 30k. In HH, this thing can deliver a 30 man tac squad directly into battle. Too bad I haven't painted any infantry yet!

The hawk has had its first pass of sponged on battle damage. Soot colored weathering powder comes next, however I think I might pause the painting in order to get some troops built.

3 hours till hurricane landfall. Hopefully power won't go out!

WIP Thunderhawk

My Ultramarines air force is coming along nicely. Today I managed to paint up a thunderhawk to the following stage. The decals are drying, and after a quick varnish, I plan to do some heavy weathering using a sponge. I am going to add blast damage along the sides as well. I sill think the storm eagle might look good in Emperor's Children colors.

I rediscovered how much I dislike the boltgun metal replacement. Leadbelcher is just a terrible paint! I advise everyone to stay away from that stuff.

Not bad for 4 hours!

World Eaters

My Astral Claws finally took the big plunge prior to my wife and I going on vacation. After a whole week of soaking in Simple Green I scrubbed the models and they came out sort of chalky, leaving rough white patchy primer residue. Is there a better way to remove paint and primer from resin? Does white primer just behave this way? I normally prime with black, which does not funk up the surface when dunked.

Now that these guys are cleanish, they can john their boss/ex-boss shown in the photo above. The rough texture may end up adding some interesting detail to the models. Angron is going to be fun to paint, though I think his victims present more painting fun. I love the fact that I get to paint a few legions at once. Speaking of that, anyone besides me notice that my minty colored necrons are dead ringers for sons of horus? Vallejo paint is the way to go with SoH!

I feel lucky that my saturday quandry is whether to paint my PH force as Emperor's Children or as Ultramarines. There are so many decisions that really matter, having one that doesn't is nice. Have a great saturday before the storm everyone!

Storm Eagle: Coolest Horrible To Build Model Ever (so far)

This past week, my wife and I decided to do a staycation, and do all of the chores/changes/additions to our condo that had been piling up. As luck would have it the day I started re-painting our living room, was the same day the Horus Heresy book from forgeworld arrived. All week I have been reading the book before in between major house work. It turns out I have enough FW goodies to do a really nice heresy era army. Naturally the question is which army, but we'll come back to that.

Today I finally had time to model. No matter what(or how many) HH army(ies) I decide to paint, the storm eagle needed to be built. It seemed like such a nice relaxing reward for all the work this week.

Wrong.

The storm eagle is bar-none the most painful forgeworld model I have have built. It seems that nothing in the kit was straight. Between boiling water, a hair dryer, and more rubber bands and clamps than I can shake my fist at I think I managed the kit ok. I did not do a great job though, which is kind of sad given how awesome the design is. The front of the model does not fit quite right, the plastic top coming a little too forward, and the I forgot to put in the bulk head, but other than that it is mostly constructed. A few hours until all the glue is solid and I will be able to see how bad the seams really are. Paint and battle damage should cover this less than stellar build.

What should I paint this up as? At the moment I am leaning towards Emperor's Children, but lacking a decal sheet or upgrade bits leaves me a little worried I could pull off all of the elaborate EC designs by hand. On the other hand, it would be really easy to paint this up to match my Ultramarine storm talons and Caestus Assault Ram. The battle of Calth is likely years away on the Horus Heresy publishing schedule, so I won't have any good reference material for Ultramarines for some time.

Screamers of Tzeentch: Back In The Saddle

I've spent so long building my Thunderhawk, that I have had very little time to do some painting, so when a few hours became available I decided to paint up some Chaos Deamons I had tucked away in my GW closet. (yes...a full closet...a mini store....) I learned quite a few things from picking up the brush and air brush after months and months of non-painting.

The first thing is that having a filler army, or an army that you paint in between your 'real' armies is really nice to have. I have two filler armies, Deamons and Chaos Marines. When I am hesitating to paint my blood angels, templars, ultramarines, krieg, tallarn, or voystroyan, I can always pick up a unit of Daemons or CM to brush up my skills, try new things, and generally get myself back into the groove. The reason this is important is that there is no self imposed guildlines on my painting. I don't care if my Deamons are themed or not. I do not care one bit about the army list. I have never played Daemons nor will I likely play them. (well maybe at the 1500 pt range someday!) Basically filler armies or units are no stress. I want my Ultramarine force to look spectacular. That brings a lot of baggage along with it.

The other great thing about filler armies/units that that they introduce a pause in army building. I am going to paint a small Black Templar force soon, but after that I am unsure what should follow. A huge purchase of Tallarn would argue for them to be the next big thing. However the Horus Heresy book has thrown a wrench into my whole plan. All those FW units I have been hoarding for my Ultramarines may have to end up as Loyalist Emperor's Children. (the screamers may have been a test of my purple skills for the ECs)

It feels good to be back in the saddle.

Fake Forgeworld

Two of my winning bids on Ebay arrived today, one for rhino doors, and the other for storm shields. Both orders appear to be fakes. A couple of things make me think this. First, the resin is more brittle than other FW models I have. (I have a lot of FW, so I have seen everything!) Second, the pieces are oily, and have muted detail and lack of density. Although muted, the detail is better than what I have gotten on my own castings of my bases, so it would seem this is from some pseudo professional service. Now I don't know for certain that these are forgeries, but they are off just enough for me to doubt them.

Had I suspected these were forgeries, I would not have bought them. I've been avoiding purchasing any FW stuff from any seller in Russia for this reason. The other thing that made these seem real was that the prices were good but not awesome.

So what do I do now? Should I dump these? Should I mail them off to FW, so they can be reviewed? I could just paint them up.

Any suggestions?

So I lost a bet at NOVA

I lost by so much, that I am now required to paint Necrons or Black Templars. I have Necrons, which means it is only fair if I paint Black Templars.

So what can I do with Templars? I need to paint an allied list. Any ideas what I should paint? I need to fulfill the minimum. I'd like to paint units that have great models as well.