Broken Paintbrush

So with the long, holiday weekend I spent a bit of time finishing up the two Traitor Russes.

Here is the finished Traitor Leman Russ #2.

At first I was going to paint the lenses green to match my Iron Warriors but through it clashed a bit too much and decided on the blue instead.

I also thought the cargo boxes looked a bit funny being empty so I painted up some bitz to add some details. This one has an extra gas can (for those torch wielding fanatics), an extra lasgun and a rusty shovel.

And Russ #3.

This one got a camo cloth and broken down  stubber.

Hope you all like how they turned out. I have the two Leman Russ Demolishers still to do but first I have a surprise. The next unit has been sitting on my desk for a few years now begging to be painted and all you old school Chaos players might remember this character

So the second Russ went a lot faster even though I did a bigger Chaos star. I also was more careful with not rubbing the masking medium and it paid off.

In trying to keep the stars more free-form and chaotic I choose different centers and angles for each but kept the same size to give some coherency.

Next up is some more detailing and the final weathering (dust/mud splatter)

So I’m hoping that I’m starting to pick up the pace a bit now that I’m getting back into the painting but it still feels like I’m slogging along. Anyway, on to the new work:

I spent this last week to add a chaos star to the tank to add some color and break up the large side. As I said in the last post the idea came from the amazing Dave Taylor’s work and tutorial. The base coat is Tausept Ocher, then adding Dheneb Stone and finally Skull White for the highlights. I wanted to set off the yellow from the red as the two colors somewhat blue together at the edges so I added a fine line of Necron Abyss.

I wanted to add some wear to the markings but without having to go back and repainting it on so I tried using a masking medium that “paints” on and once dry allows you to paint over it, and when done just rub it off. It didn’t seem to work to well on this tank as I tended to rub it off while working on it so the other Russ I plan on handling a bit more careful.

The close up of the back o the turret you can see some of the masking fluid’s work.

The last Russ is almost complete with it’s chaos stars and both will be moving on to the last weathering stage before completion.

So I’ve been able to change my schedule up to get some free time in the morning to start (finally) painting again. After getting over the hand cramps and the loss of muscle memory in the hands, I have managed to get some work done on two more Leman Russ tanks for my traitor guard.

Both of these tanks are fairly simple in the conversion sense as they are support tanks for the lead Russ. To add some character (and color) to the tanks I plan on adding some Chaos stars ala Dave Taylor thanks to his great tutorial.

Its kinda weird seeing the interblogs all up in flames about the price raises, the finecast (or not so finecast), and European stores in chains. Maybe its been too long since I’ve actually played a game to be too concerned about it all but I have no plans on dropping GW or their products. Personally I’m going to wait a few months or a year before buying any finecast so they can work out their production issues but I’m excited for the possibilities.

Just finished the second Obliterator.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It has been a good step in learning how to sculpt, hopefully I will eventually be able to sculpt all the parts. Until then I have boxes full of bitzs to use.

I also put together a stage-by-stage picture, I think it is pretty inspiration for me, especially as I’m about to start the third, and last for now, obliterator.

click for larger picture

until next time…

I was able to get some paint done on the second obliterator. It is amazing what a bit of primer can do for a sculpted piece…

Next up was the base coat. This was mostly to block out the colors and give a base coat to the follow up colors. Ugly at this stage is ok…

After a black wash to deepen the shadows I focussed on the flesh, both the daemonic as well as the human(ish). The skin was a mix of ice blue, space wolf gray, grave yard earth, and elf flesh. The blue was a mix of ice blue, space wolf gray and mordian blue. The blue was then highlighted with a mix of blue and mithril silver to blend it into the actual metal.

Next up is the metal areas and then the robe. As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated.

As promised, here is some build up shots of my second obliterator. One of the things I wanted to change on the second guy was adding more bulk to the body. I wanted it to look closer to a full terminator suit rather than a scarecrow with a robe. I started with bending a couple paper clips to create the wire-frame with proportions of a terminator, including the width and hight of the square body section. I added the arm bits and the head. The coper wire was used to hold different paper clips sections together.

I then started to bulk up the wire with blobs of green stuff. I added in some bitz around the head from an extra terminator front (from the lord box I think). I also added some exhaust pipes to the back using some plastic tubes. The daemon claw hand was cut and bent to close it up a bit, gs was added to fill the gaps.

After letting the first layer of green stuff dry more was added to the legs to create a bulkier area for the robe to rest against including a small flap to help shape the robe. Daemonic flesh was also added to the flamer and the back.

Finally, layers of Procreate Putty was used to create the worn and tattered robe. To create the robe a rolled out a chunk of putty until it was fairly thin. This was then super glued onto the model where I wanted it to connect. I then used a pick to pull out strips and create folds. The next section of robe was then added and blended into the first. This was done over a few separate drying stages, keeping the extra procreate in the freezer to help it keep longer. Some extra flesh was added to the claw arm to tie in the other daemonic flesh.

I wanted to the robe to look almost alive and flowing with the movements of the obliterator itself. I attempted to do this by pulling the tatters in the direction of movement and letting them dry. This is a great advantage of the Procreate over green stuff as it can be moved into place and actually stay there without sagging down.

As you can see in this shot I added a lot of bulk to this obliterator over the previous one and it has nearly the same outline as a terminator.

Next up is primming and painting! Hopefully I can get this finished over the new years weekend!

Comments and criticisms are always welcome

With some nice time off from work I was able to finish the Obliterator that I had sculpted. Paint wise there wasn’t much left to do, just some touch-ups and finish the base.

I had also started the second obliterator a few days ago while waiting for some paint to dry. For Christmas my wonderful wife got me a package of Procreate Putty which I have to say is a fantastic alternative to green-stuff. The procreate is not nearly as sticky as green stuff is but adheres very well to the model. It is also stiffer than gs which made creating the robe much easier as I didn’t have to ‘paint’ super glue onto the end of the tatters to keep them in place.

Here is a quick teaser shot of the two of them together:

I will be posting some more pictures of the second WIP obliterator tomorrow with some of the steps I took to build him up.

So it has been a while since I picked up the brush… well continuing on then.

Did some more details on my Obilterator which brings him to a nearly finished state. I still need to finish the base and perhaps something more on the robe, but not yet sure what.

I had thought about adding the XIV to the shoulder plate but remembered that oblits don’t have an allegiance and just fight for who ever pays them the best. Instead I opted for the yellow chevrons on the chain blade to tie in with the rest of my army.

I was struggling with separating the sash and robe since they are supposed to both be red. I have tried using different temperatures of red along with the yellow border to separate them. The sash was highlighted and shaded with cooler shades of red, the highlight was almost more blue than red actually. The robe used warmer shades of red to highlight and shade. I’m not sure if I like how it turned out, but perhaps it is just that the robe doesn’t look “finished.”

Any ideas?

Spent some time painting the Obliterator. After priming it black, it is amazing how all the details (and mistakes) pop out.

I then did the base coat of all the colors to block it out. Mechrite Red for the robes, Mithril Silver to the steel, Dwarven Bronze for the piping, and Ice Blue for the metallic flesh. The whole model was then washed with Devlan Mud.  The blue ended up looking nasty, dirty bubble gum, but thats ok since I will be repainting it anyway.

Which I did next. I wanted to try a blue, lava-like texture that blends into the metal. Not sure of the result, it looks too shiny. Any ideas for fixing it?

Next up is the red robe, which will the much more difficult piece to paint as I am hoping to do some freehand trim.