Gallery - Got Guns, Will Travel

Last time I brought you images of a squad leader, now here is his unit. A pair of Leman Russ tanks armed to the teeth with Heavy Bolters! Here again I've tried to add some unique details which extend beyond the simple addition of stowage from a range of sources. One of the tanks carries a big tin of paint, I haven't worked out how I'm going to mark this up yet, but suffice to say I imagine they get through a lot of Desert Yellow! I'm also a little annoyed that the techniques I use seem to show up mould lines where I thought I'd got rid of them!!! (not quite sure what to do about that)

Looking at the images again and thanks to my own personal paranoia, I can see ways to improve some elements, namely the cola bottle. It could definately use more of a green tinge to it as well as some more highlighting and glossing to bring out the idea that it is actually made of a glass / plastic material.

Gallery - Leman Russ

You're probably sick of all... these... tanks by now... but my latest 3000pt Armoured Battlegroup List includes no less than 17 of them. This guy will be one of the squad leaders, the stowage on the back is again a mix of different stuff, plastic and resin... the bucket is from a Tamiya kit and I filled it to help add some interest. You'll hopefully also spot the tow cable, its not the first one I've done, but the idea is to cut the ends off of the standard plastic cable and then part drill them so that string can be partly inserted. This can then be bent naturally around the form of the tank, here left to dangle under its' own weight.

I probably should have used a more nylon based cable as it would give the idea of a metal cable rather than this which gives the impression of an actual rope. Having said that, this string is incredibly easy to form to the contours of the model so gives a great impression of weight. In any case, I'm pretty happy with the result and try to tell myself that the 41st milleneum might well have a rope material just as strong as a cable would be.

Gallery - Company Commander

Any Company Commander worth his salt will go to battle in his own personal Vanquisher! Being a Commander, 8 kill rings doesn't seem too far fetched, so lets just hope that he can live up to his reputation!

The kill rings themselves were my first attempt at using decals (transfers) in more than a decade. These ones came from the Imperial Guard transfer sheet, applied over a gloss finish. I couldn't help but fiddle with them so some rings have a bit of chipping. Once dry I covered them with another coat of GW Gloss Varnish and the matt finish spray helps to blend it all.

Given the ease with which the transfers were completed I began to think why I ever stopped using them! (Probably something to do with trying to put transfers on Space Marine shoulder pads) Needless to say, I think that I'll be using more transfers in the future, not least of all to create custom tank designations (you'll note none of my tanks are numbered yet). The great thing is that I should be able to simply apply transfers to my tanks at a later date... To help them fit in I can chip away at them using a sharp blade and then gloss and matt varnish them to make them seem like they've been there all along!

You can check out more tanks using my Gallery.

Gallery - Plasma-tastic

You may remember that I previously painted a Leman Russ with Plasma Sponsons. They aren't always to everyones taste, but I love them... and I've now painted TWO more! I spent a bit more time concentrating on some details, as you can see if you click on the image to the left!

I don't think I'm good enough to paint the words, but I think that you can all recognise the brand of soda can... This might be the far future, but some things stay the same!

You should be able to make out the continued theme of adding blue and red wash to the metal of the plasma in order to give it that heat effect you'd expect. The Russ above and the previous one both included sand bagged turrets from the GW classic range, whilst below you can see the third tank belonging to the squad leader... it's been loaded with other sandbags from a resin kit. The sand bags are a recurring feature of the Plasma Russes... perhaps they are useful for soaking up reactor leaks or, heaven forbid, putting out fires!

I'm also thinking about trying to add some scorch marking around the front of the tanks to give the effect of the Plasma Cannons constantly firing next to the hull, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about this.

Gallery - Commissar Tank Commander

So a little while ago I posted work in progress pics of the Commissar Exterminator I was working on. It's done... but also you'll be happy to know that the reason I've not really been posting so far this month is because I've been frantically spending free time painting not just this tank... but seven others too! They are done, so you can expect a flurry of posts showing the labours! Sorry Mordian7th, but I haven't ventured to painting the lenses yet!

Unfortunately, the pictures were taken whilst the matt spray varnish was fresh from drying, it seems to bring out these small white fibres, though they can be brushed off easily enough once the thing is absolutely and completely bone dry! Seeing the picture of the Commissar up close now I can see that I want to go at the medals and add some colourful bands to them.

Armies - Commissar Turret

As usual, I'm making what appears to be slow progress, but my defence is that I am working on about 7 tanks at once! The other night, I started on the turret of the Commissars' tank. Who'd have thought that painting black would be so difficult, but I was eager to stop this looking like something out of Tron. I spent a long time looking around for different ways to paint black. Most tips centre on using greys to highlight, though I also found lots of ideas about using different colours to provide highlights to black surfaces and generally speaking the colour chosen can have a profound effect on the result!

I needed something that would fit well with the desert colour scheme of my Tallarn, so I was finally convinced to try highlighting within the brown spectrum thanks to some chaps over at 40KOnline. To keep things simple I used only three colours;

Chaos Black;
Charadon Granite;
and Graveyard Earth.

Mixing them in lighter quantities with each step, and helping to blend the lot together using a mix of opacity control and Badab Black washes. The highlights were concentrated on the top surfaces and top portion of the vertical surfaces, to give the idea of the source fo the light. It's actually quite difficult to make out in teh pictures because it mostly just looks like black.

I suppose that means I should be quite quite happy with the progress so far, though can see that there is certainly improvement to be made. I plan to continue the highlight a little further, as I have not yet reached neat Graveyard Earth which can be used as a final extreme edge highlight. Of course, there are also transfers and the like to help decorate the turret, these will also help disguise the less than perfect transition in colour along the turret sides.

Still, who'd have thought that painting black was so hard!

Armies - Vanquisher

Tanks! Yes, I'm working my way through them. First to whet your appetite is the Vanquisher for the Commander of my Armoured Company. Vanquishers are often used by Commanders, and it certainly looks imposing! I'm currently at the stage where I've just applied weathering with a sponge. I use Charadon Granite for this, over the Army Painter Desert Yellow base colour. I'm working on what seems like a bajillion tanks at once, so I'll keep updating with WIP shots so things don't stay too quiet!

As usual, the trick with sponge damage is to concentrate on areas that are likely to receive wear. This not only includes edges of hatches etc. but on this tank I've also paid a bit of attention to a section of the track guard to represent where the crew usually get on and off!

Photoshop It - Commander

Red over at Reds' Corps was asking about creating army shots like you see in Forge World publications. I used the enthusiasm generated to try putting together a very quick piece as a reminder to myself of all of the different tools that I tend to use, as well as the process that I go about. It should be said that Photoshop is so versatile that there are literally dozens of different ways to do one thing! Using a recent picture of my commander I decided to try my hand at putting him into a desert background. This isn't a step by step guide, but I will highlight a few useful tools.

Rather than cutting out the model, I tend to delete the background. This is a subtle difference, but allows me to create more natural blurred edges. I used combinations of the Quick Selection and Erase tools. With a range of different Default Brushes in terms of their size and edge. Using smaller size brushes lets you get into the finer folds, larger brushes with feathered edges lets you create more blur, which will come into effect once the model is placed in its new setting.

This picture was pinched from the Interwebs, courtesy of R.Pelisson from www.saharamet.com. Using this as the Background Layer, the Commander was pasted in as a separete layer. Some Colour & Lighting Adjustments were made to the background to help the model blend in and mute down the vivid image. This isn't a holiday brochure! 

I also added a shadow for the Commander on yet another Layer, using the bush as a guide for the light source and shadow length. This helps cement the model into the image. As the background image has a wide Field of Vision (focus runs deep into the image) I also decided to use the Blur tool to set some of the background out of focus. The result?

Well, not 100% perfect, but not bad for about one hour twiddling! Self criticism is always important, and things that would definately need improving are the rock to the rear of the Commander as well as the general scale of the chap himself... a bit smaller might help him fit better - though its always difficult to get the true sense of scale without any other references. Once the base picture was done, I tried out some of the Filters. Adding Noise to the image and some Artistic effects as well as changing the colour levels again. I also used another source image from my computer, this time of an old paper, and overlayed this as a new Layer. I adjusted the Opacity so that it was almost transparent, giving the effect of a very old photograph.

As there are literally dozens of different ways to do one thing, the best advice is always to experiement using different tools and brushes etc. Combine different things to see what effects you can get and remember to use Layers! 

More!?

Imperial Guard Painting Chart - Sept '11

OMG! I've got bucket loads of Guard to paint. I mean, I knew I had a lot... but I didn't realise just quite how much! Credit has to go to Admiral Drax, who was kind enough to e-mail me a template for his excellent painting chart. So, I got about adapting, and adding, to it...
I found a whole additional platoon of Tallarn sitting in clear bags! Looks like my own cupboard of doom might yet be able to rival Mordian 7ths'! I've re-arranged the units into new platoons, including the veterans, their command section could be fielded using the CCS as opposed to a PCS. A shout out goes for some help in accurate designations for the army...


Also, a fresh e-bay purchase struck gold! 4 Chimera that need re-painting to my scheme are included above (though they are pretty well... and thinly painted currently). I originally bid on these because of the Autocannon turrets. I got the lot for only a little more than buying the turrets new from Forge world... when they arrived, it turned out that two of them also had forge world rear ramps!!! Result!

The Autocannon armed tanks will form part of my mechanised veteran platoon, whilst the one armed with a dual Heavy Bolter turret will go to my Company Command Squad. The other one will slide into my other mechanised platoon. Of course, I need to add some more heavy Flamers, so I'm going to have to raid my boxes! Thinking about it though, I'll probably have to do a bit of modelling work anyway, adding stowage to my liking and that sort of thing.

Aside from the mechanicum section, which will include a converted Atlas (I have some parts for this already), I think that I will only be after a few sentinels for the Reconnaissance Section and I like the thought of converting some truck transports for the 3rd and 4th Platoons.

A bit like these!

That's all for now folks... And on that bombshell, I guess I need to get on with terrain building & army painting!!! lol!

Gallery - We got infantry too!

Yea, I've been building and painting tanks... lots of them. But I just want to remind everyone that I also have infantry! After all, the terrain that is currently taking a bit of a back seat wouldn't be half as fun if all I could do was drive around it! Here is just a small snippet of the completed infantry thus far. Unfortunately, for every guy that is finished, it seems another two are waiting to be painted!

Gallery - The Devils Advocate

A lone Devildog helps round out my army list as a relatively inexpensive, ranged anti-tank unit. In the past I've not had good experiences with the Devildog, but I thought it was about time to give things another go. Being a fast moving attack tank I decided against adding stowage, after all I doubt others in the force would want to have their stuff blown to smitherines!

The barrel of the Melta Cannon gave me another opportunity to practice and refine the effects of heat on metal. I'm relatively happy with the process of washing that I use now and will be applying it to future models.

Gallery - Scout Trucks

These awesome looking scout trucks are from a shop brought to my attention by Mordian 7th. A little known independent called Ramshackle Games. They do a range of miniatures including multi part resin kits. This is particularly novel, as you can buy pretty much any bit they do individually, and combine the parts however you want! As such, this should be useful when I come to detailing my buildings, I've got a few ideas already.These trucks make for great counts as models for the Tauros, of Imperial Armour Vol.8. (I had planned on using them as stand ins for sentinels, though they are a bit longer than the 60mm base, and the Tauros fits the style so much better!)

I added some Games Workshop Stowage to help tie them into the Imperial Guard Army and fashioned a magnetised turret mount to be able to fix a weapon on top. Simple, yet effective. You can see the heat effects quite well on the exhaust shot, and as with my other tanks, following the matt varnish I went in with brown ink to help add some interest to particular areas. In this case, around the fuel caps. The last shot shows you all the size comparison.

Gallery - Chimera(s)

Like a rip off Alien sequel this post is a little like the first "Chimera" gallery, except that there is more of the cool stuff... and less Sigourney Weaver (so perhaps better than Aliens). This time two Chimera with all their stowage kit ready to engage the enemy, as well as one vehicle assigned to a squad of vets and a final tank assigned to the Battle Psyker Squad... it's unique turret colour setting it apart from the others! Again, the stowage is a mix of bits from GW and Tamiya, as well as some resin bits from a Legend kit. Apart from the GW stuff, everything else was purchased new through e-bay for pretty good deals - you can check out some useful e-bay stores on the left.

Gallery - Executioner

They are coming in thick and fast now. Here's the executioner that I let you guys peek at a little while ago. I still have to sort out the lenses for all the tanks as discussed on that previous post, though I need to fully settle on the dark blue as suggested by Mordian7th. As the army needs to be done for the 40Konline Tournament on August 21st I might have to come back to do them later... The tournament is going to be at Triple Helix Wargames near Bath. 4x 1750pt games, so if anyone is interested in coming then head over to that link.

A close up of the most uninteresting part of the model. The only point of this is to show you the painting of the armour, including the progress I've made with my paint chipping & highlighting. You can also see the colour tinting on the exhausts to try and replicate the effects of heat on metal.