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Star Phantom's Fifth Company


TemplarCoyote

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So I've taken to writing a blog to try and motivate me to keep painting. I have a decent sized Black Templar force and a DraigoWing Grey Knights force. As I explain in the blog, I'm just burned out on painting Templars and the local backlash against Grey Knights (and large amount of other Grey Knight players) has led me to shelve them for the time being. I've wanted to play Blood Angels but didn't want to paint red (or variations of red) and deal with all the Angely bling that's associated with the models. At any rate, I've started down a new army path and have been painting and making progress. This will have to be a tease for the moment, as I plan to take photos tonight. The two blog entries should help lay a foundation and I'll leave you with that. I plan to get some photos tonight as well to show what I've been working on what I have yet to come! I have twenty-one marines finished (well, three of them need a few extra details and then they are done) which I've done in about three or four weeks, which for me is pretty impressive when compared to my Templars or Grey Knights!

 

http://starphantoms.blogspot.com/

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P-mAXfNbQCw/TlwzZ7hoOdI/AAAAAAAAAAY/Nyo7dZxxNzA/s350/Star_Phantoms_Chapter_Banner.jpg

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I think Fantasy Flights Games already created Star Phantoms scheme before ( I could be wrong). I think theirs was a blue/black/and white? Seemed cool enough. I like your information and design. Are you going to freehand the emblems? or get custom shoulderpads and markings? Your design reminds me of a hourglass and all I picture them saying is, "Your time has run out." hah.

Hmm, yeah, I'm not sure there! I know my buddy that was going to start his for Kill Team/Combat Patrol liked the scheme from Bell of Lost Souls and went with that. I liked Forge World's scheme from Imperial Armor X and am going with that. I have a another buddy who is making me decals for the white and the black pauldrons. I can paint alright I guess, but my sculpting skills are terrible or I'd try to get get someone to cast me special hour-glass pauldrons!

 

The hourglass design comes from the ForgeWorld book as well; it would be nice to take credit for it, but I can't! I like the Phantoms for this project because they have some information in the book, but there is not a lot of "hard" information like variations to the color scheme that let me improvise and play with the armies apperance to my satisfaction!

I have a another buddy who is making me decals for the white and the black pauldrons. I can paint alright I guess, but my sculpting skills are terrible or I'd try to get get someone to cast me special hour-glass pauldrons!

 

 

I have you covered, use these guys.Custom Minis They will do your custom work for shoulders, etc.

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/AMSgtPW.jpg

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/AMSquad3.jpg

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/AMSquad31.jpg

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/AMSquad32.jpg

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/SPhantoms.jpg

 

Anyway, here's my first pictures of the first squad I did up for this project. I had roughly a full assault squad laying around for my Templars that I decided wanted a faction change. Took me roughly two weeks, although it was more because my work started up again (I'm an art teacher) that the time got streched. I also included a picture of where my Phantom's hang out...

Those are some good looking marines so far. The white is nice and so is the battle damage, not too overboard. I love that shelving setup you have there. I think I might have to make one this weekend to display my marines as I finish them. The wife won't let me keep them in the china cabinet at all.

Nicely done TemplarCoyote!

I really love the simple colour scheme on these guys. It really makes them look like a cohesive unit and the lighting on the plasma weapons, power weapons and eye lenses are all excellent sources of 'spot colour'.

Very well done. Keep it up :tu:

Really nice models man, like the weathering and OSL - also good to see another teacher into 40k - completely understand how work interferes :P Only thing I would say is you need to paint over the transparent parts of the transfers with black as they're looking pretty shiny :D

Thanks guys! I'll have to check out the custom bits thing a little more.

 

The decals are an annoyance as all of my GW decals do that, but other companies decals I have don't. Might try to gloss coat, then dullcote again and see if that helps... or I guess I could just paint over 'em. Haven't decided yet! I have a five mand devestator squad finished minus a dullcote and the sergeant of the next devestator squad at the same level. Finally I have five more assault marines minus jump packs in about the same state, though they need a few extra things painted and decaled

The GW decals are awful. The film is incredibly thick and a real pain to get it to conform to even a mildly curves surface, like a marine shoulderpad. Back when I was still playing Blood Angels, for the shoulder decals, I would first trim the film as close to the decal as I could, and then make 4 slits in the film between the blood drop and the wings, top and bottom, before putting it in the water.

 

Decal solvent can help, but I still ended up painting over the edges of the film. What galls me is seeing 'Eavy Metal painted vehicles with this huge, shiny stripe of film around every decal.

I think Fantasy Flights Games already created Star Phantoms scheme before ( I could be wrong). I think theirs was a blue/black/and white? Seemed cool enough. I like your information and design. Are you going to freehand the emblems? or get custom shoulderpads and markings? Your design reminds me of a hourglass and all I picture them saying is, "Your time has run out." hah.

 

FFG hadn't created the Star Phantoms scheme.

 

It is entirely from Imperial Armour 10, icon and all.

Brother Melice: Tomorrow I'm hoping to photograph the five man devestator squad (four rockets and a sergeant who was my initial test piece for the scheme) I also assembled my Stormraven, though that will take some time to complete. I also primed five tactical Devestators (aka boltgun guys) and five assault marines without jump packs to try and crank out this week and fulfill my local community vow. As far as how big? Well, I have a 2000 point list in on paper that I'm building towards, but I'm making painting a requirement for this army, so it might build up slower than if I just ran out bought the models and started playing. BUT, I have lots of crazy ideas like trying to get 3 or 4k for Apoc games and such... BUT, again, I want a fully painted army, as several local buddies have some nicely done stuff and I'm jealous! :P

 

Tellos05: On a one-off, I wouldn't be afraid to freehand the insignia (my LRC mural should hopefully be proof of that in the last painting challenge at the first of the year,) but with roughly a thirty-one count (I hope) in the next week or so, decals are the way to go!

 

Brother Chaplain Kage: Thanks! I'll end up painting over them; I'd just gotten lazy and wishfully thinking about brush-on gloss cote and dullcote.

 

YoungWolf7: If you are the YoungWolf I'm thinking of (BrushThralls) I'm honored you'd be monitoring me! If it is the right person, I've been watching your stuff since I got into PPress back in 06... my only claim to painter fame is being a CamoSpecs.com member since it's founding, though I even missed out on the BattleTech diorama this year for GenCon :)

 

Okay, I think I answered everyone's questions! If not, I'll respond at some point!

 

Also, to note, I'm painting this army as quickly as possible for me and trying not to stall on the small details like I did with my Templars and Grey Knights. So I consider most of this "table top quality" and am trying to cut as many corners as possible! My local group asked for a "glowy" tutorial so I'll probably add that later in the week as well...

 

Thanks for the response guys! Helps keep me motivated! ;)

  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, so I got busy and didn't do much updating. Here's a look at what I've done since then (or have managed to snag a few photos of)

 

First up is the footslogging Assault Squad that will get shoved in a Stormraven.

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/RAS2.jpg

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/RAS2trooper.jpg

 

Yes, I still have several things to go back and do with this squad, but I'll probably hit them when I touch up the other five in it and get the whole thing completed at once. The decaling worked out a little better, but I'm afraid I'm just going to have to bit the bullet and really get those areas painted. How it goes I guess.

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/DevSquad1.jpg

 

http://www.solaris7.com/files/members/3402/TestModel.jpg

 

Star Phantoms have a thing for Devestator Squads, so I'll have at least two in my company. The Sgt is also the original test model I did for the army and really enjoyed the speed at which I got him painted though still to a decent quality.

 

Now that I've gotten most of my last commission out of the way, I hope to really focus on these guys more and knock some more squads out. I'm looking to:

 

1) finish the footslogging assault squad

2) start/finish the five bolter devestators to round out the first Dev squad

3) assymble the last five jump pack assault marines to go with the other five I assymbled last week

4) keep working on my Librarian "conversion" and get him done up as my main HQ (I simply snipped the staff off of the book-wielding Librarian and added a Grey Knights PA sword.)

5) Prime and start my Stormraven, as I want to do two murals on the side and enter in my local stores modeling contest...

 

Not too big a list right?

I don't know if it has been addressed or not, but there is a quick and easy method that I use for my decals and they turn out great;

 

Step 1- Cut the decal as close to the edge of the print as you can, the less decal you have to work with, the better it will look

 

Step 2- Surface prep; decals apply best to semi-gloss to gloss surfaces. Get some future floor polish and brush a thin coat on the area the decal will go, it takes about 20min to dry.

 

Step 3- Apply the decal, get some Microsol solution, the red bottle, this soften the decal nicely to conform to Marine Shoulders. After you have set the decal on your surface, brush some more Micrsol on the decal, let it sit for a moment. After it has had a moment to soak, take a damp paper towel and gently press the decal down on the surface, after it is in the position you like, add another coat of Microsol and let sit about 5 minutes.

 

Step 4- Hatching the decal. By hatching I mean, cutting the decal. In the case of most shoulder icons you are going to cut a simple "X" pattern on the decal, this will relive the stress of the bend or wrinkle and allow the decal to lay flat. I can not stress enough that you need to apply this cut with a fresh blade, and dont use a pulling motion, use a chopping motion, set the cutting edge of the knife down on the decal, and gently push or chop, you will fill when the blade has gone through the decal.

 

Step 5- Top coat. No matter how flat you get that decal to lay, there will still be an "edge" between the decal and the surface of the model. Take some more Future Floor Polish and apply a layer or two over the decal and surrounding area, this will level out the surface and provide a painted on look.

 

Ste 6- Clean up, sometimes it helps to clean the decal up a bit, make the whites whiter, and the blacks blacker...

 

Step 7- Dull coat- once the model is finished painted, dull coat to get rid of the gloss.

 

Here is a image of decals applied using the above method;

 

IMG_5701.JPG

 

And here is an image after it has been hatched and had a layer of future on top, if you look closely you can see the hatching marks....

 

IMG_5703.JPG

 

Hope that helps!

 

Ashton

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