Muskie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 In contemplating my army as I was fooling around with pics for our historical tome... it really started to bother me that the librarian... as with Knightley's apothecary... just didn't fit the feel of the rest of the army. While it wasn't as physically large as the apoth, it just had the feel of a modern figure... and not the OP feel I've spent so much time and effort cultivating. So I dove into my mini case and pulled out my favorite apothecary from the olden days. Gave it a bath in acetone & re-painted it. Yes... the whole figure in less than 24 hours... in-between working on the historical tome... and shooting things to pieces in post-apocalyptic Nevada. I know the eye-glow is a bit over the top but I wanted him to look menacing. There are a myriad of other flaws that I won't point out... however in spite of them I think this is a better fit for this particular army. For your entertainment... Brother Artemic. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/4/15/353752_sm-Librarian,%20Mantis%20Warriors,%20Out%20Of%20Production,%20Space%20Marines,%20Warhammer%2040,000.jpg That is one of the first GW models I really, really, liked and I eventually painted my friend's copy as a Salamander, I'm not sure I made the helmet blue, I think I made it red, with green armor, plus of course flames. I wonder if Paul still has that model, a classic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee265 Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I haven't been here in a while but the dual weilding chainswords is awsome, Theaegis defense line is also brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted January 16, 2013 Author Share Posted January 16, 2013 Thank you gentlemen! I've been working to finish up my list for Adepticon this year. You'd think with all the minis I have I'd just be able to pull whatever army I need from the box, but no... more painting to do every year (it's a good motivator). So... this year, I needed some las cannons and some extra tac marines. Friend of mine gave me some early Forge World marines that'll fit right in and really add some spice. Here's how they turned out. You can *really* see the size creep from the old heavy weapon guys to the new FW minis. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/1/12/451357_sm-Mantis%20Warriors%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Warhammer%2040%2C000.jpg I also converted my two razorbacks into rhinos. Not very sexy, but new top doors, magnetized dreadnought storm bolters and some "decals" (actually just printed on paper). I may re-paint the side doors but that's not a "must do" job. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/1/14/452529_sm-Mantis%20Warriors%2C%20Rhinos%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Warhammer%2040%2C000.jpg I'm working up a pair of LS Typhoons... one of which is a rescue of an old, crappy LS of mine (modern style). I'm converting the driver and gunner to Mk VI armor... which is working fine but is a tedious PITA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdannan Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Very cool squad and the Rhino's look good. Thanks for the propaganda sheet as well, will definitely add that to my defense line! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kierdale Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Very nice work! Such a lovely shade of green. And it always brings a smile of nostalgia to my face when I see old minis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 @Brother Syth: Thank you. Once I started accumulating and standardizing the posters... it just didn't make much sense to keep them all to myself. I hope you find them useful. They were a really fun add to a rather repetitive task. @Kierdale: Thanks! It's funny, my army has about 3 or 4 different variations of "Mantis Warrior green" in it as my formula has changed over the years. I like this one the best though. Very vibrant... cartoony too, but that's OK with me. Kind of indicative of the era I started playing 40k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Long time since an update... The LS Storms are "done". I put that in quotes because there's more that needs to be done on them (edge highlighting, wear and tear, etc). They do, at this point... match the rest of the army though so I'm going to call them finished for now as the deadline for Adepticon is looming. If I get everything else done, I'll come back to these and the two rhinos and finish them off. For now though... here's where they stand. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/2/25/467835_md-Land%20Speeder%20Typhoon%2C%20Mantis%20Warriors%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Warhammer%2040%2C000.jpg There's quite a bit of conversion here. New Mk VI crewmen, magnetized guns & re-arranged and magnetized Typhoon launchers. Note that there is one too many heavy bolters on them. That's because I want to be able to use them as normal LS as well as Typhoons. The traversing mounts actually work (the gun slides along the rail). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kierdale Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Great work. Just the change to mark 6 crew helps make them look retro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdannan Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I agree as well. The crew are fantastic. I also quite like the underslung heavy bolter as well. Great job all round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Thanks guys, I very much appreciate your continued support even though I don't update very often. I should have another rhino update for you soon. I started fiddling with them & now I can't seem to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonedog Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I love what you are doing with these models. Very clean painting, which I prefer and use with my BAs. The color scheme is sweet as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqui Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 And Gitsplitta is back! ^_^ Awesome work as usual mate ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Thanks gents! Hopefully updates will come a little more frequently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathspectersgt7 Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 cool looking mantis warriors really regretting giving away my rt marines now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 You know, I really like the Mk VIII armor and new vehicle designs... I just can't ever seem to get to them! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 I decided to re-visit my Razorbacks, which for this year's Adepticon have been converted back to rhinos. Up until now they were pretty dependent on the airbrushing/zenithal lighting for their pizzazz. I thought they needed to be spruced up a bit in order to bring them into line with the rest of the army. A few days worth of work and here's what I've come up with. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/3/2/469406_sm-Mantis%20Warriors%2C%20Rhino%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Warhammer%2040%2C000.jpg Lots of extra bits painted, edge highlighting, tread plates made from scratch & the grab bars of course. I also toned down the yellow so it's much more gold in feel than bright yellow. The grab bars are just barely glued on by the middle two stanchions so they can be easily removed or replaced. They were notorious for failing & breaking in the center (and I'm sure these will too) but I'm hoping they'll make it through Adepticon. They really change the look and feel of the vehicles. Very old school (which is the point of the entire army after all). Hope you like them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kierdale Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Very nicely done! I remember how fragile those grab-bars were. They look great in yellow. And I only noticed the tread plates beneath the side hatches after you mentioned them. Great additions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Yeah, they were fun to make. Here's a close-up of a tread plate... this was before I added the stripey little hazard strip bit. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/2/28/468582_sm-Mantis%20Warriors%2C%20Rhino%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Tread%20Plate%2C%20Warhammer%2040%2C000.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachdannan Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Very nice. The thread plates are a great addition and those grab bars look very striking. Impressed they are still on one piece after all this time. Mine usually tend to break due to handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Well, I just put them on (they've been stashed for a while). I don't expect them to last unfortunately. But perhaps if I'm careful and don't put any pressure on them they'll hold up for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Anvilus Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 really love the rhino's Gitsplitta! Maybe could've pinned the grabbars into the chassis itself? that way there's only a little hole that's not totally unexplicable when they are converted back to Razorbacks... just my 2 cents :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 @Anvilus: Thanks for the comment... interesting idea. Though I don't intend to pull the grab irons for the conversion back. I mean they still transport troops so the grab irons would still be necessary, and they don't interfere with the turret operation either. I finished the first of the LS Typhoons. I don't know if you can see the difference but there's a lot more work on this one from the last photo. About the best edge highlighting I've ever done, more details painted, some lining, lenses, etc. This is "finished" save for any damage/weathering I want to do later. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/3/5/470292_sm-Land%20Speeder%20Typhoon%2C%20Mantis%20Warriors%2C%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Warhammer%2040%2C000.jpg I snapped these shots as the speeder was making a patrol run. Hope you like them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Anvilus Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 love the balance between the 2 colours, really found that exact treshold between the 2. About my sugestion; yeah, now you mention it, disregard my idea, wasn't really 'with it' when I typed it :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitsplitta Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 I appreciate any and all feedback my friend, don't give it a second thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinful eyes Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Dude these are awesome; very inspiring! My local gaming club is going to play Forge world's Badab War in a few months time. I was reading through my friends copy of the IA books and saw Ahazra Redth, the Mantis Warriors special character. Having an entire army that can infiltrate just seems to cool to pass up, and so I called dibs on the Mantis Warriors for the campaign! This means that I will be working on a army of my own for them for the foreseeable future :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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