I'm Still Here!

Aye, I'm still kicking about.

Apologies for the general lack of updates and major progress of late. Few reasons I guess; works been kicking my arse of late and while I'm now getting on top of my new responsibilities, I've had little thought of doing much when I get home let along model. 

Aside from that, I've also been practicing with my band in preparation for recording a few tracks, so that takes up some time as well.

Picking up 'Destiny' probably didn't help either...

...

Anyway, update time.

I've started putting together the next four Marines as you can see from the below picture. No conversions planned, I'll stick with what Forgeworld has done with these guys. 

Here's a pair of shots of the test mini as it stands (and has stood for some time in all honesty) just now.

Got to get more definition on the inside of the Fist symbol. Smarten it up a bit.

Not entirely happy with the eyes either, but I've not had to paint anything that fiddly in years, and it'll come back to me soon enough once I've done some more.

Need to figure out how to do the backpacks and give them a bit more going on than the yellow and occassionally metallic tubes and fans. Anyone got any ideas for this?

That aside, I'm actually satisfied with the urban base the test minis on. I'll chuck on some scorched grass nearer the end, but I think I'll be keeping it. Found some old resin bases from when I did my Fire Wolves, so I'll get them involved too for some variety.

Cheers for looking. Hopefully won't be as long until the next update!

Paint. Actual Paint.

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. I have painted something!

So, as mentioned in my second post, I'd be following this method to paint my Imperial Fists. Now, it's certainly a very clean scheme and I know one or two expressed that it might be needing 'dirtied' up a bit.

Well, given the outcome of the test mini as it is so far, I'm not sure that I'll need to do much to tone the yellow down. It's clean, but not overpowering. Partly that's down to the fact that I'm running a Heresy era Marine with lots of armour panels and segments compared to a quite spartan looking 40K era Marine with plain and relatively unblemished armour as shown in the how-to guide, so I've got more shading and such to do.

I'm also not being as neat as possible with the highlighting and 50/50 mixes either.

So, here's a couple of shots that I took as I was mucking around with the paints.

Please excuse the quality of the photos, I've got an iPhone and an environment with lights and wall colouring that tends to mean the photo's aren't picking up the colour gradient as well as it should. The ones where the yellow's on are a prime example of this, they look far too flat. I'd have to say the last photo though, is probably the closest to what it actually looks like.

But still, I'm very satisfied with it as it stands. I've started on the black trim and metallic parts and I'll have a look at what else I need to do tomorrow and see if any new paints need picked up.

Still not sure over the urban basing folk are wanting though...

Spray painted with the Army Painter Bone.

Agrax Earthshade painted into the recesses. Tidied up a bit with the new Bleached Bone equivalent.

Highlighted up to white now for the edges and such.

Washed with the Lamenters Yellow.

Washed with the Lamenters Yellow.

Probably the most decent photo of the model as it stands just now.

Cheers for looking!

The Third Album - Battle Brother Something, Something Bob

One Down...

I can't stress how much annoyance and frustration trying to line up both arms when you're not planning to attach the bolted until after the undercoat generates. Oh how I've missed such aggravation.

That said, now that I've got the models out their bags, cleaned up and ready to be built, I've actually now taken the time to go over how detailed they are. They're fantastic. All the panels, rivets, joints; it's superb. So much going on with them, I can barely summon the thought of ever going back to the 40K era Space Marines sprues. They're far too boring now.

So, here's the first Battle Brother I've made up. I'll be basing him with some fine gravel/sand tomorrow, though I've yet to fully settle on whether they'll be urban, desert or something else entirely different. 

Anyone have any ideas/recommendations? 

Here's a few shots of him though. I've got nearly all the paints I need to get him done, so over the comings days, I'll try out the scheme and see what happens!

So, cheers for looking!

It's A Start...

An update of sorts...

Well, it's not quite like I'm going to be dropping a set of painted Imperial Fists on you all of a sudden, but I've started off down the road that will lead to there.

That's right, they're now unbagged! Cleaned, even.

...

I know, hardly akin to unveiling the Mona Lisa, but for me, this is quite the deal just now given how utterly dispassionate I've been for a good number of years now when it comes to modelling.

So, these are the first 5 of 10. I'll select one or two and try out the scheme I have in mind, potentially even dragging out a spare 40K era-Space Marine and trying it on them first.

For those that are interested, here's the method I plan to try out.

Imperial Fists Scheme

Quite a nice yellow, not too over-powering in my eyes, and above all else, seems easy enough to replicate. Before I took the hobby hiatus, I was no Golden Daemon (does that even exist nowadays?) finalist, but I could certainly do better than just table-top quality. So I'd like to get back to that stage, but I'm not fool enough to expect that straight out the box. So better to start off with something along these lines and make good progress I feel, rather than demoralising myself by expecting top notch outcomes straight away.

Anyway though, pep-talks aside, I'll build up these guys over the next few days. My spray paint's on order, should arrive in the next day or so, then I'll pick up the paints from my local store and get on it!

Cheers for reading! And Si, shut it.

What Have I Done?

"I WENT AND DID STUPID THINGS THAT I NOW REGRET FOR EVER AND EVER AND EVER AND I HATE SI AND I BLAME CHINA FOR IT."

Sharon's face if she knew I bought models... and she was black... and male...

The above.

Yes. It's entirely true. I blame Si and China and have regret over spending stupid amounts of money on things at the Horus Heresy Weekender. Frankly, MBNA chose entirely the wrong weekend to upgrade my credit limit; the fools. 

And Sharon (the girlfriend, long may she suffer without snapping) will literally eat me alive should she know that a bit more than just written prose made it's way into the house that Sunday night when I got home from Nottingham...

That said.

Regardless of regret/fear, I now have my hands on some Heresy era Space Marines. Mark II armoured Space Marines to be precise. Ten, of what I hope will become a substantial force.

Given I've been out the hobby for a few years, even ten models is quite a daunting amount, never mind when they're Forgeworld miniatures, so I'm expecting to take some time on these. 

First hurdles.

But let's not kid ourselves. I have frankly zero motivation at the best of times, and can already feel what motivation I did gather from the wonderful little catch up with Si, Dan and Matt at the Weekender slipping away to curl up in a den alongside all those games I said I'd Platinum on my PS3, which have been busy buggering my gym membership but can probably go another round or so with newcomers... 

So, strike while the iron is hot.

What Chapter?

Those yellow, intractable bastards called the Imperial Fists.

Really?

Yes, really. Never been one for yellow, so may as well challenge myself, and a good looking Imperial Fists force really does stand out.

So, without much further ado, here's some photos of what I've got; to prove if anything that I do actually have stuff to do. Next up will be cleaning the damn things, not to mention obtaining paints and such given I'm as good as starting from scratch again hobby wise.