Great Crusade Thousand Sons

[NightHunters]

Wow, that is a lot of progress!

 

Ramtut, classic, great GS work!

 

Khaldun, lovely conversion, especially the flail.

 

And just FYI, i will be copying the Libbys screaming skull book!

 

Top work brother!

 

FTE

[Lachdannan]

Love the idea for the command squads helmets and you've pulled them off well. Looking forward to seeing them complete.

[Kierdale]

Thank you very much Nighthunters and Brother Syth! Nighthunters, I wanna see that skull-book! :)

Here are two more WIP shots of the command squad...

You can just about make out their heads on stakes in the background of the second shot :P

The standard bearer and librarian still need their robes washed with diluted Gryphonne Sepia (I did a wash at full-strength but it came out looking far dirtier than I wanted).

Started a little work on their bases, namely the two trees.

Still have to paint weapons and lapis/turquoise parts, legion insignia and put some hieroglyphs and squiggles on their robes. Oh, and that crystal ball. I may add another colour to their chest-scarabs too (the wings) to glitz them up a bit. They are a command squad after all.

I'll be doing a Devastator squad counting as Havocs for the E Tenebrae Lux challenge, as soon as the command squad are finished (which will hopefully be this weekend, if the Changer of Ways is willing).

[Nightpaw]

You are implementing your army with so much creativity - just awesome. I wish I had your ideas. A very inspiring thread.

[Kierdale]

You are implementing your army with so much creativity - just awesome. I wish I had your ideas. A very inspiring thread.

Thank you very much Nightpaw!

The captain, librarian and command squad are finally finished...but for their flags (which I'll probably do after my next project is complete).

I give you captain Ramtut...

The second shot shows the aux. grenade launcher on his right forearm. Looking at these pics, the GS on the handle of his storm shield looks pretty rough...I might stick a scarab-seal over there.

It did come to mind that if I ever make a Chaos Space Marine army, basically of this army post Heresy, I could make a nice daemon prince Ramtut from the WFB Necrosphinx.

And librarian Har-Khebu summoning something nasty...

And command squad Hathor lead by sergeant Hathor-Mnevis and accompanied by apothecary Nif En-Ankh...

I like how the horns make them look almost-chaosy.

Hard to see but the apothecary has an ankh dangling from the hilt of his chainsword, the sergeant has a crow's head within his legion symbol (denoting his membership of the Corvidae cult) and the two marines with chainswords have the eagle-heads of their swords painted black as crows too.

Thanks to those who commented in my slings thread for advice: the standard bearer has his plasma gun on a 2-point sling and the apothecary has his Phobos bolter on a one-point sling.

And here is my next project, for the E Tenebrae Lux Dark Angels' challenge:

As far as the challenge is concerned it's a havoc squad: aspiring champion, four missile launchers and one bolt gun marine.

As far as my army is concerned it's a devastator squad.

The sergeant/champion will be made from the metal WFB Tzeentch champion with book and no face. This head has been hacked off and will be replaced with a marine one. The mace will be replaced with a khopesh, his armour will be modified with marine shoulder pads and backpack. Depending on how well (or badly) I pull it off the bolt gun marine might end up being the squad sergeant game-wise and this mini regarded as an experiment. We'll see. Either way, it's in the challenge, so it gets done.

The others are all Mk.2 FW marines, with the old-style missile launchers. Bolter-guy will have a Phobos-pattern.

[Kierdale]

A quick WIP of the Havocs/Devastators from yesterday:

I got a lot more work done on them yesterday after taking that picture and now, aside from purity/scarab-seals, they're done. Hopefully can post a `Vow Completed` picture later today. Had to chop off the right-side vents from four backpacks as they just didn't fit with those big ol' missile launchers.

Not sure if I'm going to start the Sternguard as part of the E Tenebrae Lux challenge (counting as CSM Chosen) or not, as I anticipate summer being busy.

[Kierdale]

And that's my E Tenebrae Lux vow completed!

Devastator (for the purposes of the ETL, Havoc-) squad Resheph.

Sergeant Resheph's backpack sits rather low on his back due to the position of his shoulder pads, but hopefully it doesn't look too bad. He does still look a bit slim in the waist-department, but I'm pretty happy how he turned out. The Mk.2 marines were great to make and I'd love to get more in the future (quite possibly to bulk out the squad).

The first bit of work on my second vow...

Sternguard squad Menthu. For the purposes of the ETL: a squad of Chosen CSM lead by an aspiring champion, all five members armed with combi-meltas.

Will have a shot of the Mk.3 sprues up soon as they're washed.

EDIT:

And here they are

Though my tactical squad (Nehebkau) do look flashy (with their big helms) and perhaps could be converted into Sternguard, I'm intending this Sternguard squad to be tougher-looking. The Mk.3 armour bulks them up, and I want to give them lots of pouches, grenades and other gear to make them look like they're ready-for-anything vets.

I'll start cleaning them up tomorrow. Will start on their bases now.

[Kierdale]

Just a quick WIP of the Sternguard. Most of the parts have been cleaned (shoulders and backpacks still to do). Torsos have been pinned to legs. Bases build and basecoated. Combi-meltas done.

Also got a bit of work done on a Contemptor conversion beamer which I'm going to be mounting on an attack bike as my Master of the Forge's ride. Will be picking up the techie himself and the AB kit this weekend.

Would've got more done but I slipped with my modelling knife and jabbed myself good in the left thumb yesterday. Claret everywhere. Khorne would be most pleased. ;)

[NightHunters]

Looking forward to these Kierdale, really need to get hold of a couple for myself!

And regards Claret, quick dab of Super Glue works wonders, but looks like you have the ever present danger of a Teddy boom lurking in your work area, not sure what to suggest if that goes off :P

[Kierdale]

Thanks Nighthunters. Next time I might try that bit of 'medical' advice :tu:

 

No photo today but the Sternguard are coming along well. Got the red on them finished, and started the first coat of gold on one. I wonder if the newer golds cover better than the old? I'm currently still using Burnished Gold and it'll take a couple of coats at least. Still, there's no hurry.

I want to paint up some gear to put on them too: pouches, holsters, grenades...I think I have a grapnel line somewhere from a scout kit. Make them look properly tooled up. I also chose the half-cyber head for the sergeant to make him look well 'ard.

 

Bought an attack bike for a couple of reasons: the first being that I wanted the multi-melta for my Land Speeder Storm and secondly to convert it into a Master of the Forge's bike. Just brainstorming how to attach the (Contemptor) conversion beamer to the sidecar so it's nicely elevated above head-height. Suggestions welcome!

[Kierdale]

Had a fair bit of free time today so I got out everything I've done (for the TS) since getting back into the hobby almost a year ago...and thought I'd take a pic. Not great but it shows what I've got done so far.

The Sternguard obviously aren't in there, but I should have them finished tomorrow or next weekend at the latest. There's a distinct lack of vehicles in that army pic. Must do something about that...though with the release of 6th Edition there seems to be so many new things I need (Telion and snipers, more bolter scouts to replace the BP&CCW ones, a drop pod or two, some rhinos...and I really need another tactical squad or two!).

[Kierdale]

At last finished sternguard squad Menthu.

It's night so I'll try to get some better photos another time. This completes my second (and final) ETL vow. Pretty happy with how they've turned out.

And some closer-in shots

I'll get some more another time. I'm glad I chose the `Terminator` half-cyber head for sergeant Menthu as, though I've never really liked that head, it makes him look well 'ard. The bulkiness of Mk.3 armour helps too. Oh, Menthu needs some kind of decoration on his shoulder-flag, but I'm undecided as to what to put on there at the moment. I might wait until after the squad has seen combat and I'll put some honours on there.

I've got a bit of work done on my Master of the Forge...and picked up an unboxed but still on the sprue scout squad for 26% off, so I'll be building them with bolters (I figure my BP&CCW scouts are going to be left in the storage box for a bit, battle-wise).

[Kierdale]

Took some more photos of Sternguard squad Menthu in better light, plus some photos of my current new projects...

First guy

Second

Third - I think this guy's my favourite

Sergeant Menthu himself, with Phoenix-rising-from-flames Pyrae emblem

He still needs something on that arm-flag. Hmm...

And the last one

Looking at these photos I can see a few places (on the sergeant and the last guy in particular) which need touching up (where the gold meets the red on their left shoulder pads in particular). The kind of thing you don't notice until after you look at it on a monitor!

And my Master of the Forge slowly coming together. Rather than making it an attack bike (as I had planned) I'm going to build up the rear of the bike and put the conversion beamer on a mount there (so it would point over the rider's head). The MotF himself is watching his kill on that little hand-monitor (perhaps peeking over cover with his backpack servo-peeper) and pumping his fist victoriously.

Need to add a coiled wire from the cameras atop his backpack down to under his right arm so it looks like a continuous connection from there to the handset. He'll also have (guitar wire) pipes from his backpack to the beamer itself.

Aaand my WIP new scouts. Have a fair bit of GS filling to do. Four will replace the BP&CCW scouts in squad Kemnebi so they can shoot their bolters from the land speeder storm, the fifth guy will be added to my footslogging scout squad Wepwawet to bulk them out a bit.

Two guys are basic poses. As with the other scouts, I cut up their bolters to make them Sten-pattern bolters.

This next one is tossing a grenade. The throwing arm is actually the bolter-reloading arm from the LSS kit. He's probably get the open-mouthed, yelling head.

Next one will have his bolter on a sling in front of him and will be swinging a grapnel hook with his left hand, hence he's got his pistol out.

Last scout seriously overestimates his own BS.

Comments and advice most welcome!!

[Nightpaw]

Very impressive, I love your conversions, your colours and your bases. But the Bike won't fit. In my opinion, you should look for an old Vincent Black Shadow.

[Lachdannan]

Really love those Sternguard. They are really well executed. Hope mine come out half as nice when I do them!

 

Scouts look like they have some good poses there as well. Looking forward to the next update!

[Pacific81]

Wow, really stunning work! That's a lovely shade of red you have achieved, and great use of bits to 'egypt 'em up' !

 

Lovely stuff and as others have said some wonderfully imaginative modelling ^_^

[Kierdale]

Thanks for the comments! I should be able to get some more work done on the scouts tonight/tomorrow. I'm thinking of repainting the fatigues of all my scouts to brown/tan so I can mix-and-match them as games demand, rather than my original plan of one squad with brown/tan and one with forest-camo.

I'm a bit concerned that my red has changed since the new paints came out too. My command squad, devs and sternguard are the nice, darker shade...and these new scouts will be...but the older scouts and tacticals are brighter. Some repainting is in order I guess. That'll keep me from spending, anyway! (Until the starter box comes out)

 

Nightpaw, I dearly wish I could get my mits on a Vincent' (or that when I quit the hobby over a decade ago I didn't sell the one I had!) but they seem as rare as butterfly droppings these days. I hope to clutter the bike with gizmos and sprockets sufficiently to 'disguise' it a bit. One idea I have is to get my hands on a toy digger/crane with small support legs and, cutting them off, fix them to the bike as stabilizers for when the Beamer is fired. It'll all depend on what I can find in model or toy shops.

[Kierdale]

Some progress on the scouts...

Bases have only just been basecoated. Second-from-the-left scout still needs his grapnel hook and bolter on a sling...oh, and evidently all need their heads gluing on :wub:

As for the grenade thrower, his left hand is not yet glued in place. I'm not sure what angle would be most natural, so took three sets. Which do you think would be best?

1. Bolter pointing upwards

2. Bolter pretty much level

3. Bolter pointing downwards

Looking at the photos, that last one does look a little extreme...as if the guy's dropping it! :P

[Nightpaw]

Hi,

 

in my opinion, no. 1 looks best (dynamic) but in no. 2 the "belt" (?, sorry, I'm German, is that the right word for the thing you use to carry a gun on your shoulder?) falls more realistic.

 

Best regards

N.

 

edit no. 3 looks yuk. :wub:

[Lachdannan]

I vote for number one as well. The gun sling does look more natural in the second pose though.

[Kierdale]

I went with pose 1.

The sling does look more natural, I think, in pose 2 if he's static, but since he's lobbing a frag the left arm is most likely in motion too (counter-balancing the throw, bringing up his bolt gun for shooting afterwards, etc) so I went with pose 1.

Have painted lenses and added other details. I'm just making the grapnel hook and line for one then need to do their legion insignia...and they're done! Will post photos then. I really like this squad.

I'll just leave this here too... :lol:

[Nightpaw]

Congratulations! :lol:

[fivepointedstar]

It looks alot smaller than I imagined... :) JK, awesome job on the squad.

[Lachdannan]

Very well done! Congratulations!

[Kierdale]

Thanks! In the week before the GD I redid some parts of the Sternguard (their blue cloth-parts had only a single, all-too-obvious highlight, re-painted the scarab-seals, etc) and thought `What the hell, I'll see if I can get anything`. I'll post some updated shots of them sometime. Also did sergeant Menthu's shoulder-flag with a large eye above an `M` and `XV`. Perhaps I'll write up some fluff sometime that it was presented to him by Magnus himself or some bollocks like that.

Anyway, the bolter-scouts are complete!

And some solo-shots:

Since no one ever sights down their bloody weapons I gave this guy a smartlink-style cable from his scope to his eyepiece.

Grenade lobber

Overconfident? Perhaps, or maybe he sneaking forward, ready to pop that one enemy with his silenced pistol, yet still ready to rock it with his bolter if the :) hits the fan.

Simple shooter-pose. This time I did the script on the side of his weapon with a trick I got from the 40K Squad Gold winner (I chatted a bit with him after the GD last week). He had super-fine squiggletext on his Ultramarine command squad and he said he did it by cutting down a toothpick to an extreme point and using that. This was my first attempt.

And lastly, the one I particularly like, the grapnel-thrower. The line was made from guitar wire as I wanted it rigid...and it was a pain in the rear to do. I like how it turned out though: him looking up to where he's going to throw it, his pistol ready in case he needs to pop off a shot.