Stabbin' and such: Triumphant at Last! 2/9/17

[Firepower]

I picked up a bottle of Liquitex flow-aid.  I couldn't find any local stores that carried W&N.  I just tried it out (watered down of course) on a dollop from my all important 4 year old pot of gray-black mix.  It works like a dream.  I can paint with 1 brush load of paint what used to take me 8.

 

I'm actually kinda pissed off.  This problem has been ongoing for over a year, and played no small part in sapping my enthusiasm, because it slowed down painting by a huge margin.  I coulda just used this the whole time.  And it's not even as though I'd never heard of flow improvers.  I'd look into it, read around, get a lot of conflicting information, and said 'Meh.'  Good call, me.  Way to go.  Not to mention the gradual damage I've been doing to my precious W&N brushes by using overly thick, dry paints.  Paddlin's are due.  

 

Anyway, I still have to work up the stomach to pour the stuff directly into the pot.  Pulling out dollops won't work out well, because much of it dries on the palette.  Yes, I've head of wet palettes, and yes those I actually have tried.  No luck there.  

Edited November 27, 2014 by Firepower

[Flint13]

I'm a big fan of the flo-aid myself. 

 

If you don't want to dump it directly into your pots, many folks online suggest keeping a little separate bowl from your water pot, just with watered down flo aid. Dip your brush in flo-aid mix, dip in pot, paint, clean, repeat ^_^

 

Something I've found out though over a couple years using it though, flo-aid is essentially just thin dish soap. If you have some Dawn or Ajax sitting around, experimenting with that will give you a really good idea of how your flo-aid will mix with other things without wasting it.  

[Firepower]

The future of our Chapter. It's hard to believe, looking at these young whelps. In their almost innocent ignorance, they think they'e overcome the most trying of challenges just to don death's black and purity's white. Inspecting them now, before their first taste of a battlefield's mud in their teeth, they stand proud and straight. They don't know fear anymore, but they are cautious now that they fall under the eyes of a Chaplain.

I do not know their names yet, because they have not earned any. Each carries a moniker from their backwater worlds' slurred imitations of Gothic, but they are not the names of knights. I know them by the tokens they carry; choice pieces of scripture, an honor scroll, a crested shield, all tokens from their Initiates. I take note of these with great interest. I need to know which Brothers to rebuke, should any of these boys prove lacking in the field. Wonder of wonders, I even see Brother Krent's colors flying as a banner above one's back. I'd be having words with them both about arrogance, later.

I complete their sanctioning, as is my duty, and send them to their masters. But for this burden of my calling, they are a concern for their masters alone. I don't envy my Brothers such a responsibility. Keeping the young in line outside of war is trying enough on my patience. Blessedly, I'd have nothing to do with them again, for the foreseeable future. Or so I thought.

Right then. Our dear brother-mod Acebaur challenged me to paint these for the ongoing competition over in the P&M blogs. They've been on my desk for quite a while. There's good reason for that: I hate them. They're ugly models, incredibly static, fumbly. On top of all that, my sweet stupid self some 5-ish years ago decided on a labor intensive color scheme, when I could've just gone with black and dark browns.

And as a fun little kicker, when I finally had them all finished up with an hour to spare...well, 2 of the 10 Neophytes are armed with Shotguns. Or they would be, if the arms were actually correct. At some point the bitz got rearranged, and now I have two armless Neophytes waiting for me to find replacements for their misaligned limbs. I would've just given them swords and pistols too if I had any to spare

So after a day or two of recovery for my arthritic claw of a painting hand, I'll be getting on that last bit of business. Then I will never paint a Neophyte again!

And also, a moment of silence please for my deceased jar of Bleached Bone. She served me well for years. My Templars will never quite be the same. Seriously, getting that exact shade from any other supplier (even GW) is impossible. The closest I came was P3, and it's a bit on the yellow side :(

Edited March 15, 2015 by Firepower

[deathspectersgt7]

Some beautifully painted Templars.

[Marshal Mattias]

Loving your neophytes, they look the epitome of reckless youth ;)

[Metic]

I like how you replaced the normal Scout arms with the power armored ones, it gives it a more Templar feel with the chains and it gets rid of those ridiculous looking suppressors that the scout bolt pistols have on them.

[Adeptus-Alaska]

holy crap man! those are awesome.

[Acebaur]

I like the Bretonnian bitz on them, nice touch. The faces are excellent(even though I know you hate painting then :lol:)  I'm not a fan of the yellowish color on the pads though, it just doesn't feel Templar to me. However, I do like it on the chests. Also the leather pouches look like they could use some more highlights in certain places, as they look a little muddy in places. 

 

Overall though they came out really nice. A job well done on your vow brother!

[Arkangilos]

I've never been a fan of the scout models, but man your neophytes changed my mind about that! Sweet stuff man!

[Firepower]

I like the Bretonnian bitz on them, nice touch. The faces are excellent(even though I know you hate painting then )  I'm not a fan of the yellowish color on the pads though, it just doesn't feel Templar to me. However, I do like it on the chests. Also the leather pouches look like they could use some more highlights in certain places, as they look a little muddy in places. 

 

Overall though they came out really nice. A job well done on your vow brother!

 

Unfortunately, that yellowy beige is my new Bleached Bone, meaning the new shade for all my off white, shoulder pads included.  It looks closer to the old color than Ushtabi, and the pics make it a bit yellower than real life, but not by much.  I hear Vallejo Game Color has a very good match to Bleached Bone, and I'm gonna order a bottle off Amazon and hope for the best.  

 

The leather is indeed muddy.  That was around the point where I stopped caring  The aquillas are actually pretty messy too, compared to my normal standard.

 

I've never been a fan of the scout models, but man your neophytes changed my mind about that!

 

No!  Hate them!  They are terrible models!  The last thing I want to do is convince people to endure painting these abominations.  Bear in mind, only the chests and legs are Scout bits.  Well, and the two pairs of shotguns, which explains a bit in itself.  I had to do a whole lot of pain in the ass drilling to make sockets for Marine heads.

 

Thanks much for the praise everyone.  Next up, 3 Flamer Initiates.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Firepower

[Firepower]

Sooo, funny thing. Well, I would find it funny if I weren't so annoyed. Those mismatched arms on the shotgun Neophytes? They were the right arms.

Between frustration, carpal tunnel stricken hands, and some awkward angles, the arms weren't going on right when I first tried to glue them into place. I had to pop off one guy's torso and turn it to make his arms fit, but the other was fine as it was.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Here.

The skull on the guy's extra shoulder armor got a bit of its highlights rubbed off during gluing, I think. An easy fix, just a minute's work. Other than that, they're done.

The browns are unusually muddied in those pics. More so than in the flesh. They aren't super crisp, but in these pics they are just sort of amorphous blurs, especially around the hands. Weird.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Firepower

[Tekman]

The mud daemon is playing tricks on your camera.

[Brother dean]

I would put money on the White Balance Imp actually...

[Adeptus-Alaska]

man, I wanna crusade sooo bad. but I am compiling bits for a super-not-so-secret Black Templar project.Hin't it's something I started and never finished when I first started on B&C around 2010.

[Honda]

man, I wanna crusade sooo bad. but I am compiling bits for a super-not-so-secret Black Templar project.Hin't it's something I started and never finished when I first started on B&C around 2010.

 

 

Reason #728 Why it's called the "Eternal" Crusade. ;)

[Firepower]

Ladies and gentlemen, it's a momentous day.

Today marks the 5 year anniversary of my Crusade's first completed models. A big thanks to all of you who helped encourage its development all along the way. It's thanks to the support of this insane little corner of the BnC that I became the notorious forumite I am today, and it's thanks to that same support that I ever painted more than a handful of these psychopathic boys in black. That's right, you have only yourselves to blame.

A (rather large) picture of the whole happy family is due. Well, Grim is absent. He's 'in the shop,' at the moment. But he sends his regards

And now I gotta spend an hour putting them all back in their boxes :teehee:

Edited March 31, 2015 by Firepower

[Acebaur]

Awesome!  Now got get a game in with them! ;)

[Firepower]

Awesome!  Now got get a game in with them!

 

My place is at a workbench, surrounded by half painted models and rapidly withering paint supplies

 

Oh, speaking of, I got my Vallejo Bonewhite in the mail.  Much, much closer to Bleached Bone than that custard-yellow paint I had to use on my Neophytes.  So that's awesome.

 

But one day.  After these 3 Flamers I'm working on, Ludoldus, and (the real hang up) a pair of Storm Talons, I will have the 1500 list I've been working towards.  Those Talons are probably gonna be for the ETL.  Of course, this is all assuming the big wigs at GW don't read this thread.  If they do, I'm sure a new Codex or rulebook will be coming out within the month to torpedo my plans yet again 

Edited March 31, 2015 by Firepower

[Brother dean]

Dude.  You know how to get ahold of me...  That is more than 1500...

 

With the proper suplications and sacrifices to She Who Must Be Obeyed I can meet you most any time.

 

 

BTW I think I am running 3-12-5...

Edited March 31, 2015 by Brother dean

[Adeptus-Alaska]

wow FP, that's the first time I've seen the Army/crusade that I was doubting the existance of......wait, I don't have an army right now......imma shut my trap before i risk an epic paddlin.

 

 

for real though, that is impressive. well done.

[Firepower]

Of all the powers man wields, all the chained elements of plasma, fusion, even warp travel, none are as pure and blessed as fire. Fire is what set us apart from beasts so many thousands of years ago. The first blades and first flames held in human hands set the path for our domination of all things. Fire purifies, illuminates and purges. What better weapon to wield in the Eternal Crusade?

Tried a couple of new things here, the candles and lantern specifically. The candles were surprisingly simple, nothing but some plastic rods with a few sloppy vertical layers of liquid green stuff. A trio of flamer wielding marines seemed the perfect opportunity to try out this neglected Templar motif. I'm pretty happy with the result, and I gotta remember to use it whenever I get around to painting more infantry. The fiery lantern was attempted for the same reason as the candles. In the past, I always simply painted them metallic. Not sure if I'll do it this way from now on, though. It would work a lot better if I did some OSL around it, but that's not a skill in my toolbox. Maybe one day.

Not so sure if it shows in the pics, but the washes I used on the flamers are still a bit glossy in places. That'll be fixed when I varnish the models.

Now that I've done it a few times, what do you all think of my new tabard painting technique? I developed it partly for models with much deeper, darker recesses, and partly as a sort of simulated cloth-like texturing. I came up with the idea when I was painting my Sword Brethren, and thought of a model I saw Krikey paint a while back. I simplified it a bit, though. And to be totally honest, it's a lot less stressful and time consuming than the blending I used to do.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Firepower

[CastellanDeMolay]

Looks good at this distance. What specifically is the technique involved? 

[Marshal Mattias]

Agreed, the tabards look great, so I'd certainly be interested in how you created that effect. Your candles have also turned out really well, was it that simple? Thinking about it, the (always more complicated) tutorials I had found were all aimed at making larger vehicle-sized candles. By keeping them small, perhaps it is simpler. I have a pile of thin brass rod (1mm) that I could perhaps have a go at some candles with...

[AndrewChristlieb]

Agreed, the tabards look great, so I'd certainly be interested in how you created that effect. Your candles have also turned out really well, was it that simple? Thinking about it, the (always more complicated) tutorials I had found were all aimed at making larger vehicle-sized candles. By keeping them small, perhaps it is simpler. I have a pile of thin brass rod (1mm) that I could perhaps have a go at some candles with...

Shameless plug time. I did some on my Helbrecht counts as and they were super easy. I just cut down some tooth pick to size and then used green stuff to make the dripping wax. For painting I just went a shade or two lighter on the wax drip from the candle base when I painted it. Pictures of the build can be found here.

[Firepower]

Thanks folks.

 

Mattias, I'd recommend plastic over brass.  I used liquid greenstuff, which doesn't cling with the same tenacity of the regular stuff.  I don't know how well it would adhere to brass, if at all.  I used 1mm and 1.1mm rods.  I found a slight difference in sizes between them helps it look more 'natural,' for lack of a better word.  After drilling holes to plug them into, just take the liquid GS and give them a coat up and down.  If the stuff is a bit dried out, it may help, because it'll have tiny chunkiness that will help form the shape of wax run off and the lip of the candle.  My pot is very dried out, which helped with chunks, but made it a royal pain to get off the brush.  Anyway, it will take a couple of layers, because the stuff constricts and shrinks as it dries.  With the last one or two coats you want to focus specifically on shaping up the lip and a few vertical rivulets of running wax.  To form the lip, it's easy if you have a slightly narrower rod (I used the butt of a very narrow drill bit) to just poke a dimple into the top of the wet GS.

 

Oh, and be sure to splatter a layer or two around the bases.  It'll seal up the hole where you stuck the rods into the model, and also make for a convincing pool of wax around the candles.

 

At any rate, I find it better fitted to the task than regular GS, because it's a very, very fine detail thing, and much easier to manipulate.  Some people make flames for their candles, but that seemed too troublesome, and to be honest, a bit silly, so I just painted the divots a glowy shade of orange instead.  The wax is just Bestial Brown with a sharp highlight of my new Bleached Bone equivalent.  The contours are so small that it helps to have such a stark light/dark contrast.

 

As for the tabards, it's Bestial Brown to base, then a base of Steel Legion Drab. From there, I do rapid horizontal strokes of Karak over the raised parts, as narrow and close together as I can make them.  You gotta try to gauge the width right the first time around, because if you go back to make it wider later on you will be able to see the different layers of misaligned brush strokes.  Anyway, after that it's the same thing, just painting the raised areas of Karak with Bleached Bone.  I first tried it on Brother Falco back on page 11.  The pic is a lot larger, so you can see the individual stripes much more distinctly.  Hartwig in the same post had the same method, but the pics aren't as good.

 

 

 

For painting I just went a shade or two lighter on the wax drip from the candle base when I painted it. Pictures of the build can be found here.

 

Wish I saw this earlier, so I could have rebutted Kage with a cutting remark of my own.  Not that he's wrong, mind you.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Firepower