Toddius 4th Company Dark Angel Thread

[Master Toddius]

I had a pred and extra armor sitting in front of me for the last month or so and the temptation to stall the tac squad and work on it got the best of me <_<

So here it is primed and ready to be painted. All the weapon mounts have magnets, including the turret mounted ammo/battery hoppers. I personally don't like the narrow turret so I widen it for a better proportion, in my eyes. And of course the turret free-spins. Now that its primed I'm going back to the tac squad bases and place the pred in a box carefully until I figure out a paint scheme. I'm thinking I'll do the Death wing sword from the second edition codex iconagraphy across the front and then a mixture of green and bleached bone for the rest.

The rest can be seen here.

C&C welcomed. ;)

[Undertaker]

Nice Predator <_<

[Master Toddius]

Thanks undertaker. There's also 2 dread conversions coming up next. I was tempted again... I'm still working out one piece that actually can't be glued on until the end of the paintjob. I'll post pics tonight or saturday of the prepainted version. :D

[Desert Eagle]

That tank looks very nice indeed. I really like all your work with plasticard on this one, especially the add-ons to the exhaust pipes. Neat and well done. Also, the pointy finger looks really good by what i can tell from the picture, it's a bit hard to tell without close-ups. What kind of material have you used? Plasticard aswell? Please share if you've got some nifty tricks for doing something like that without having to curse and swear trying to do it with that damned green stuff...

 

Anyway, i personally would have liked a little more bling stuck on to the hull, the odd purity seal here and there the least, as it looks sort of naked inspite of your lovely work with plasticard and the fw-extra armour. But then again, thats just a matter of taste, so if you prefer it without then just go with it. Looking forward to see more, brother.

[Master Toddius]

I got back to the tacticals after screwing around this weekend and did all the bases. I made them with the same material as the test mini. I had alot of fun building these.

And then I went ahead and used the natural positioning that the mini's out-of-the-box provided and positioned them on the bases. The mini's haven't been sanded or prep'd yet but I just wanted you to see how slight differences in the base's hieghts and subtle material changes can make all the difference in how the legs look. And then when I add the rest of the model and bitz the result should have a healthy amount of variation. You be the judge. :P

You can see the Rest here.

I'm beggining the contrustion of the models tonight. First is the joyous part of sanding and possible GS clean up work. Should hopefully get them done pretty quickly.

Will keep y'all posted. :)

C&C welcomed. :)

[Master Toddius]

D Eagle:

 

The finger didn't get a close up shot before priming. I'll take closer pic's later so you can see the tank commander pose. This model (like my others) is going to be more about the Paint Job then alot about a heavy conversion. More to come :P

Thanks for the compliments.

[captain_shrike]

:jaw: I LOVE those bases. Are they simply plasticard?(apart from the gridded bits)

[Master Toddius]

captain_shrike:

 

Thanks. They are plasticard and a aluminum light cover. The tubes, tiled and regular sheets are from a company called plastruct. I also used other bitz from left over rhino parts. I just quarted, third or halved the design on the base and created different levels with either the flat, tiled, or grid and then added rivets and bitz where desired. It went pretty quickly once I sat down and sketched out each design. The concepts were the time consuming part.

 

I used a dremel spin tool with a sanding bit and rounded out the edges. The aluminum is soft enough to be shaped by the bit as well. You just need to be careful while sanding the aluminum becuase it gets so hot from the bit that it will actually melt and deform the plastic its glued to. Which I learned the hard way :)

[Hertz]

M Toddius: I really like what you did to the pred. When I read what you intended, I didn't though it could work out well, but apparently it did. Makes it look much more heavy and "real", somehow. good job. And the bases... It surely looks like you enjoyed making them :)

otherwise I would have dropped a link to a few good precast resin base manufacturers, but I believe that wouldn´t be necessary. :no:

 

Keep up the steam!

[Marovingean]

Soo beautiful. The predatoris very well converted, and love the bases. Can't wait to see your dreadnought.

 

M

[Rizara]

wow master toddius, the army is looking nice. I love the basework, it gives your mini's that extra WOW. Also nice color scheme offshoot from the original DA color. It gives them a nice Campaign feel to the army as well.

Look forward to seeing this army progress.

[Tyrannicide]

Wow, just an all-around spectacular job, Master Toddius! The predator is amazing looking (i like tanks), and the marines with only legs attached to the bases are cool too. There not even done yet, but look sweet. I want to see some more of these guys. I'll watch this thread.

[Master Toddius]

Hertz:

Thanks for the kind words.

I looked at the pred a long time ago when the new rhino's came out and the first thing that entered my mind was that it just looked like a over glorified razorback. The turret just didn't have enough meat one it. I think a tank should look like a tank. The only cross-over I could think of is the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Its bit of a true tank And a transport. But the rhino is supposed to be more of a trnasport with an option of some added firepower with a basic top mount turret. So when i decided to do this project I made the demand of making the extra armor a must and to bulk up the turret to a more "tank" statis. I should've added something to the front armor as well but I'm on a time deadline for myself so I pushed forward with the model. I still think it looks like more of a "Predator" now than before but it still needs more meat IMHO. I wish GW would sell added bitz to do a heavier look.

The bases were very fun. I think more because it was a chance to do seomthing a little more me than regurgetating GW stuff. I did consider going for premade bases but i have all this extra plasticard and tubing so I went for my stuff. :)

 

Marovingean:

Thanks. The dreads is being worked on a bit more. They're mostly for my DW army that I'm reconstructing as well. Should have around a 3500pt DW army when its all said and done. :)

 

Midnight Angel:

**And from the shadows steps forth Midnight Angel to speak kind words of wisdom (echo echo)**

Thanks bro.

I went through alot of paint configurations before settling on that one. I wanted a DA feel but also with a bleached bone 4th company feel. I also wanted some black in there as well so that the general scheme tied into the RW and DW which I'm hoping when the army is done all the parts will relate in one way or another. Plus it helps breakup the monotone DA green. I love green but... :)

 

Darth Potato:

Thanks man.

The legs aren't attached yet, I just placed them in a logical way and took pics. I'm going to paint the marines and bases seperately because its just easier for me. I hope I can spark some enjoyment in the thread for ya. :)

 

Thanks again. :)

[Master Toddius]

Well, its been a little while but I've finally found the time to get my Tac squad constructed and primed. I've got one more tac squad member thats getting a heavier conversion to show but here is the other 8 + test mini.

Album.

As far as the priming goes everything looks good so far (no bubbles). I'll continue to update as the painting begins. Now I just need to remember the formula of the test mini... :(

C&C welcomed.

[titan136]

yeah those industrial bases are pretty badass, looking forward to seeing the whole squad painted to the standard of the test mini. oh and that widened predator turrent idea is pretty neat

[Gillyfish]

Those miniatures are exceptional Master Toddius. Utterly brilliant!

 

This leads me to ask you if you'd be interested in helping me write a DA painting tutorial. I've offered to do one for Isiah to go in the DA forum, but I'm very much aware that my painting skills are not as good as everyone else's. Plus my DA have extremem highlughts - again, not to everyone's taste. So I was wondering if it would be accpetable if we both did a tutorial so that incoming DA players and painters have a choice. What do you think?

 

The sort of DA I paint are below. Not a patch on yours, I admit!

 

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/Gi...10/101_0525.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/Gi...10/101_0524.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/Gi...10/101_0523.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o126/Gi...10/101_0522.jpg

 

Oh, I also have a mini with a bayonet - he's my homage to the womble marines of old (I also have a squad of them!).

[Desert Eagle]

Not much to add, they look great. The bases totaly kicks ass, i'm very impressed by them. Also nice to see you've done more of those toddius-pattern bolters. Looking forward to see some paint on these guys.

[Master Toddius]

titan136:

Thanks bro. The bases were really fun to make. I've only done exterior terrain and did so for a zillion games; 40k, WHF, Battle Tech, Lot5r, Heavy Gear (i miss that game), D&D, Shadow Run, ect ect.. and this by the far more interesting. I don't think i'll ever go back to organic terrain. Even in WHF I'm probably going with a castle feel.

The pred was an easy mod. Just plasicard and a basic idea. But I like a more beefy look on what should be a tank set apart from the rhino transport. :yes:

 

Gillyfish:

Thanks for the compliments, sir.

Undertaking a painting tutorial for DA would be an interesting challenge. Seeing as how there are so many different colored units. I was intending on sharing the formula and technique for my 4th company near the end but a full DA tut would be fun, but time consuming. Let me get a handle on my army a bit so I can get a squad of termies and some new RW bikes done and we'll talk. :D

~Your DA are really well done, brutha. They remind me of the wonderful 2nd edition codex paintjobs. Deep green with highbright highlights. Almost white in some areas. I personally feel the 2nd ed dex has some of the better DA paintjobs than any other dex. And the conversion you have are really nice. The knight with the power lance is awesome. Great work there. :)

 

Desert Eagle:

Thanks bro. I can't wait either. :) "toddius-pattern"... I like the sound of that :sweat:

 

My plan of attack is to do all the base coats, blending and common metalics altogether. So I'll post pics as its coming together. I think the only ones out of the loop will be the two robed members. I'm still working on what color or colors the robes will be. I don't want them to be straight white linen looking like everyone else. Plus I already did white with my AoA. :)

 

Stay tuned.

[Gillyfish]

Thanks Master Toddius! I was just planning to do standard marines as a starting point. Would that do for you as well?

 

I actually did base my paint sheme on the devastator squad in the 2nd edn Codex - they just looked the way I had always imagined they would!

 

Let me know by PM!

 

Thanks again!

[Master Toddius]

OKay, I apologize for the huge break but thats what happens when you're going for a promotion at your firm... :ph34r:

I'm going to get this tactical squad rapped up and should post every night now until its done. So heres the next guy I painted up last night. Almost done with another one and I'll post that one little later. Hes still WIP because I'm going to free hand paint thier should pads all at the same time.

3 more pics of him.

Also theres a wip of my vet serg:

Linky

His robe is done barring any trim I decide to do.

C&C is very welcome ^_^

[Master Toddius]

Well heres the next member of the tactical squad Delta:

More pics.

More to come. I'm in "its-been-long-enough-get-them-done" mode right now :)

C&C Welcomed.

[Desert Eagle]

Good to see you back. ( Kind of puts some pressure on myself to get out of the state of hybernation im currently in...) So, how did you do, got the promotion?

 

The minis are all nice and crisp. The paint seems very smooth and nice. I would like a little bit more highlighting however. Can't decide about those eyebrows, wether i like 'em or not, it just feels so strange since you hardly ever see eyebrows on minis for some reason. I think maybe you need to pick out some more details on the face to really make them look natural aswell as shading the area around the eyes a bit more. But don't get me wrong, i like where you are going with these guys. They will surely look awsome when they see action, and the very nice freehanded da-badge like on the test-mini will make them stand out a bit.

[Master Toddius]

And another one for your viewing pleasure :drool:

Working on Mr. Beakie right now. Should be up in a little while.

more pics

C&C always welcomed. :)

[Master Toddius]

Thanks Mr. Eagle. YA I agree on the highlights now that I'm seeing them digitally. I need to go over these with a little more jade-green/da-green. More to the jade side.

 

And Yes I did get the promotion. :drool: More reasposiblities and daily fires to put out but its all part of the process.

 

I'm working on these in a production mode. Get all the green done. Then the chest plates, then bolters and pouches. Then the bleached bone. Then the eye lenses... so on and so forth. It seems like you're not getting anything done after a couple days but then it all comes to gether very quickly in the end. :)

 

No more hybernating! Get to work, I dare you! ;)

[KYR GKIKAS]

excellent looking marines my friend a love the Predator and the amazing bases.really well done