Legion Rising

[Lord Commander Eidolon]

That Land Raider armour looks fantastic! I'll be holding off a Land Raider squadron until they arrive! Sad yet glad that I'll be a while off! I've way too much backlog!

 

Keep up the awesome work!

[Augustus b'Raass]

Look great! I do think the lascannon rotating armour plates shouldn't be rounded in the back like that. Tke MkIIb kit is a better representation of the original British MkI tanks that the Land Raider is originally modelled on.

[Quixus]

The Land Raider sponsons look great. Will they also take hurricane bolters or flamestorm cannons? Do you plan to make bits to make weapon magnetization easy?

 

Will the sponson kit work without the armour kit?

[Subtle Discord]

Look great! I do think the lascannon rotating armour plates shouldn't be rounded in the back like that. Tke MkIIb kit is a better representation of the original British MkI tanks that the Land Raider is originally modelled on.

 

Thanks! Not to be cheeky, but go look at some images of a British Mk.1 Tank and try to tell me that the Land Raider isn't only very loosely based off of it, borrowing the silhouette, some of the rivets, and not much else. See, that's what happens when an inspiration gets flung thousands of years into the future of a science fiction fantasy setting. Indeed, I don't want to emulate the British Mk.1 of World War 1 too closely, and conversely, I want to do my own take on the idea and not too closely mimic FWs creation. Either way, the basic forms (a 'box' enclosing a cylinder that has a weapon mounted in/on it) used by both designs aren't all that far removed from the sponsons on the Mk.1 inspiration. True, the radius of my cylinder seems to be a bit smaller, mainly in an effort to keep my design lean and tight to the hull, but I also consider them an unmanned turret that the gunner operates remotely. Beyond that, because of the tight tolerances, the round shape is required if the weapon is meant to rotate, and mine is designed to rotate well past the 90° point, not that it matters anymore within the rules. Now, if I'm not quite getting your point, please feel free to clarify, but it's also still a work in progress so there's still much room for the design to evolve over time. All feedback is good feedback, as it forces me to consider outside perspectives I may completely overlook.

 

 

The Land Raider sponsons look great. Will they also take hurricane bolters or flamestorm cannons? Do you plan to make bits to make weapon magnetization easy?

 

Will the sponson kit work without the armour kit?

 

Again, thanks! While I haven't done anything beyond what I've shown here the current design is already modular; the weapons are a plug that inserts into a socket in the rotating component. Magnets are a fetish of mine, my kits will make use of them for both component swapping and kit articulation, and they will be included in the kit. I'm still not sure what weapon systems will be available when it first goes into production, but at the very least I plan to include blank plates that fit the mounting socket (along with the Las'Cannons) so the builder can covert whatever weapons they're interested in. I also see no reason why I can't do my take on some of the more common variants and provide other weapon systems; what they might be and the order of their release is hard to say right now, but I can't see why not.

 

Currently, the sponsons are an additional 'plugin' components for the Heavy Loricatus Armour kit since the kit is so well suited to adding them. However, now that you ask the question (thanks for that) I don't see why I can't do a simplified mounting plate, without all/most of the armour bits, that can attach to the Land Raider model and provide a connection to attach the sponsons by themselves. Not have a 'naked' Land Raider to hand (still need to rebuild a new official studio model)I'm not sure if the plate could simply glue right to the hull after removing a few details to make it flush. Good food for thought, thanks.

[Verux]

The colors on your Mechanicus are looking great. As for the digital work, its stunning.

[The Traitor]

The Havoc Launcher is truly inpired, specially the chaos one, love how you add trims and star points to every chaos bit ;). Also the different missile heads are impressive, will you have to choose beforehands or will all of them come with the model? If it is the first option, won't that be a bit difficult to manage production-wise?

I'm not a fan of the Land Raider armour though, but I'm not of the FW similar version either, so I guess it is the general idea that I don't like, the diagonal doors just don't fit the rest of the tank too well in my opinion, but it's just a matter of taste, the design is looking sharp! 

And some WIP shots of those skitarii aren't going to be enough, we need to see finished models!!! :P (that shade of blue is looking excellent though, I have a friend that paints them similarly and it's a gorgeous colour scheme for the army).

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

 

Yep, no accounting for taste. If it doesn't suit your preferred style it would be disingenuous (Ooo... a $2 word) to act like it did. Thanks for appreciating the execution, however.

 

Chaos wouldn't be Chaos without the arrows and points. In the future, I hope to be able to do a few more styles using a few more round elements to suit a broader range, but this is a good start. Choosing the missile type will likely be made at purchase. The builder can only insert one missile type, after all. I'll simply assemble the kit in a bag and keep the extra bits with them; place the order and it's a simple matter of tossing the right bit in the otherwise complete bag before closing it up. there's a very good chance I won't be wholesaling to anyone so packaging for me is a minimal concern. I actually want to keep needless packaging and printing to a minimum to avoid the cost and to avoid pointless garbage. It's by no means my only unique business philosophy, but that's a story for another time.

 

You'll be happy to know I've kept my promise to myself and actually schedule my weekends for painting time and more progress has been made. Most of the black cleanup work is done on both squads and I've started to do some highlights; hoses and weapons aren't giving me problems but I'm still trying to figure out if I want to do much effort with the black cloth, so I'm pondering on it while I do other highlights. It still leaves heads and backpacks to do, but more tangible progress has been made. I really want to have a painted army that I can actually play with so I'm very motivated to get paint on plastic.

[Augustus b'Raass]

 

Thanks! Not to be cheeky, but go look at some images of a British Mk.1 Tank and try to tell me that the Land Raider isn't only very loosely based off of it, borrowing the silhouette, some of the rivets, and not much else. See, that's what happens when an inspiration gets flung thousands of years into the future of a science fiction fantasy setting. Indeed, I don't want to emulate the British Mk.1 of World War 1 too closely, and conversely, I want to do my own take on the idea and not too closely mimic FWs creation. Either way, the basic forms (a 'box' enclosing a cylinder that has a weapon mounted in/on it) used by both designs aren't all that far removed from the sponsons on the Mk.1 inspiration. True, the radius of my cylinder seems to be a bit smaller, mainly in an effort to keep my design lean and tight to the hull, but I also consider them an unmanned turret that the gunner operates remotely. Beyond that, because of the tight tolerances, the round shape is required if the weapon is meant to rotate, and mine is designed to rotate well past the 90° point, not that it matters anymore within the rules. Now, if I'm not quite getting your point, please feel free to clarify, but it's also still a work in progress so there's still much room for the design to evolve over time. All feedback is good feedback, as it forces me to consider outside perspectives I may completely overlook.

I would never tell you that the Land Raider isn't only very loosely based off of a British Mk.1 Tank - I would tell you that it is based on a British Mk.1 Kit. But that's not just me being cheeky, that's me being a grammar nazi. But seriously, the designers of the original RTB05 Land Raider admitted in multiple interviews and conventions that the land raider was based on the Mk1 British Tank, and the FW designers of the MkIIb upgrade kit have said they took that inspiration a step further.  On topic: I didn't mean to criticize your design choice and I totally understand why you made it: for rotational purposes. I just don't really think the round shape jives with the rest of the armour you're designing. I guess my point was that the FW MKIIb kit's turrets look more like the original Mk1 British Tank they are based on, and yours wavers even further from that design - which isn't a bad thing at all! I guess my mind is just stuck n the MkIIb kit because I recently build one and still have one to go with Maarten's Mk1.5 LR tracks, and I'm a stickler for those.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Augustus b'Raass

[JeffTibbetts]

Looking great as always, my dude. I love seeing all these digital files but a part of me is also really eager to see them realized in resin. I'm a patient man, however, and I want to let you do your thing... Or at least that's what I keep telling myself so I don't start whining. 

[Subtle Discord]

@ Augstus b'Raass: You can go and take your hair-splitting somewhere else, I'll have none of it. Since it's a design that could be considered an 'offshoot', 'branching off', or ‘a deviation off’ from the original inspiration I'd argue that my grammar isn't really flawed, but perhaps a little awkward. So yes, your wording is a better way of conveying the idea. However, while I’ve discovered that I’m actually not a half bad writer, English was never a strong subject so I accept that I may be wrong about the formal grammar of the sentence. I know the story of the Land Raider's design inspiration and didn't contend it was otherwise, only that when you compare the two vehicles they don’t really share all that many design traits. Personally, if I didn’t know the history I think I would struggle to see how one inspired the other in anything but the loosest sense. You’ve got the right idea, with the full wrap around tracks it takes a definitive step closer to the British Mk.1 tank.

 

@ JeffTibbetts: You and me both! I’ll be honest, part of me is at a bit of an indecisive point that sometimes happens with a project; I get to about 90% done and it’s almost a psychological barrier that slows my progress. The holidays also didn’t help me, pulling me out of a nice groove I’d gotten into. However, in this case, a significant part of it is that I want to make sure everything is exactly correct before I send stuff off to the printer. If I screw something up it’ll cost me more than just hobby time and I really want to avoid that right now. That actually leads to some good general information…

 

If anyone is interested in knowing, I’ll be starting with the 4 versions of the Ineritus Missile Launcher (counts-as Havoc Launchers), the Certamen Weapon Systems (counts-as Pintle Weapons), and the 3 Trim Kits for the Rhino chassis. Each of these kits is reasonably small and tests several design elements that I need to confirm in order to know if the level of detail I’m aiming for is suitable to the scale. It’s tricky working on something in close when it’s going to be rather small in the real world, it’s so easy to add too much detail that is all but lost once you have it printed. Exactly one of the things that caught me off guard with my first try at 3D printed masters. Other kits will be put up with my ‘Adopt-a-Kit’ idea in place to help ease some of them into production faster but depending on how things go I’ll also continue funding kits myself when I can afford to.

 

Since I’ll be working with a local 3D printing company turnaround time is not going to be any kind of an issue. I worked with them a few times during college and their service is excellent. I could contact them and have prints in-hand in roughly 24 hours if need be. That’s part of the reason why I’m being cautious, getting the prints will be the easiest part, so I’m not rushing to pull the trigger. Now that the holiday season is completely over and 2018 is upon me, trust that I’m getting back in gear. I plan to be contacting my printer in the next few days and hope to have the first prints by next week with mould making commencing right away; another reason why I want to get my design work done first, mould making will take all my time so I want designs in the barrel and ready to fire off to the printer even if I’m making moulds.

 

If I keep telling myself I’ve got a plan, I hope I can convince myself.

[Dragonlover]

That list of starting products is music to my ears, I'll have to start squirreling some cash away.

 

Dragonlover

[Subtle Discord]

*In a cold dark corner of a frozen wasteland in the north Subtle sits bathed in light, magnifying lenses sitting low on his nose, he sighs deeply*

 

'ing lenses. I knew I was going to hate the lenses. Must not be discouraged...

 

*Subtle grabs another tiny head on a stick and returns to his task*

[Subtle Discord]

Wheeee... Friday!

 

Must... paint... moar...

 

Two by two in robes of blue. Try to hide and they'll find you.

 

Still WIP with a little ways to go (*sigh* backpacks... aren't backpacks great?), but they're starting to actually look like something.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

 

That blue's looking good, man. 

[Subtle Discord]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhdan07kzC1qf188xo1_1280.gif

 

Thanks. Still haven't done anything but basic cleanup on the blue and I'm very pleased with it. It'll get a bit of highlighting from here, but only a little, to define it some more.

[Subtle Discord]

From the forest of paint bottles, they emerge. Super organized painter, I is not. Maybe I should consider changing that habit...

 

So close to being finished the base paint job, it's painful to have to stop working on this squad, but my hobby ration for the week has been consumed.

 

It's odd that the camera seems to make the highlights on the weapons seem a bit brighter then they are in person. They really do 'pop' much more in the images. Just one of those side-effects of pixellating the image, I suppose.

 

I'm reconsidering doing the eyes bit brighter and with a bit of glow. I used a very tiny bit of transparent blue to give the lights on the chest a bit of OSL and I think it worked out well considering how painless it was. A little fiddly, but not all that hard so I guess I'll try it on the eyes and see. I'm the first to admit it's a very straightforward colour scheme that's not taking too many risks, but I think it's working well to give them a calculating clinical look.

[The Traitor]

They're looking awesome, really like the "mostly blue" scheme, as it is known in this forums I'm a huge fan of limited palettes ;). Also making a OSL on one of the chestplate lights is a great idea, should have done that with mine... And I like a lot how you're painting the galvanic rifles, though it must be a real pain to edge highlight all of them!

[Subtle Discord]

Thanks. With this case, in particular, I think a minimal colour palette makes sense. It's not a stretch to think that Mechanicus would be practical and not give much regard to embellishment. That said, I am considering changing the chest light from blue-white to green to add a bit of visual interest to the model. The original logic was to consider it a bright light that would be practical for the soldier to use, but I forgot that the backpacks have a shoulder mounted light that suits that logic better. While I'm pleased with the simple OSL I achieved, I'm finding it hard to ignore that I think green would suit the presentation of the miniatures better. I hate the idea of redoing the work because if I backtrack too much I'll never get anything done! Grrr... damn my hobby-OCD and perfectionist's eye.

 

As I've mentioned a few times, I really want to reinforce the autonomous Forge World narrative of the force so I steered away from the wooden elements in the weapons. It's not a hard to believe that Atrum Laboris would have limited access to wood so I went with what I suppose would be a polymer. If there's one thing I have practice doing, it's highlight black, and it's not so bad since the weapons have reasonably well-defined edges that I can scrap the side of the brush tip along. For now, the highlights are only two steps, a dark grey and a mid-grey, but the camera is really losing the dark grey and pumping up the mid-grey. Not that it looks horrible in the photos but it's a bit more subdued in person, especially at arm's length.

 

Right now I'm more nervous about making the Carbines look good. The 'coil' poses an interesting challenge on how to best present it. I want to make the glow in between the coils to look like its coming from inside the weapon, but I don't want to be too fussy. I know making the coils themselves glow by building up the highlights on the edges will be much easier, but I don't think that's the look I'd prefer. *Sigh* Decisions. Decisions.

[TheOneTrueZon]

It's odd that the camera seems to make the highlights on the weapons seem a bit brighter then they are in person. They really do 'pop' much more in the images. Just one of those side-effects of pixellating the image, I suppose.

 

Most modern DSLRs (and point & shoot cameras), when writing out to a JPEG format will do an on the fly compression into a color space that will often "bump" the color gain, in particular blue and reds will become artificially saturated unless you use a RAW format and apply a color LUT onto it that will emulate a color space closer to what you would consider "natural". Most camera bodies (going back about 4-5 years) will have adjustments that allow the user to tone down the saturation if that is desired. 

[Subtle Discord]

Good to know, thanks. What you describe makes complete sense. Unfortunately, I'm using an older Canon PowerShot SX150 that's got to be 5+ years old by now. A quick search shows that it doesn't have the ability to shoot RAW images, which is a shame. I like it because it has all the resolution I need, a decent Manual mode for controlling the depth of field and light levels, a good macro, and it runs on standard AA batteries. Battery packs are such an annoying money grab and guaranteed planned obsolescence. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get by. I'll play around at some point and see if I can adjust it a bit in Photoshop. It indeed tends to oversaturate the reds as well, and it always makes my golds look much deeper in images than they are in real life.

 

Edit: Typo made my brain hurt. Must fix!

Edited January 18, 2018 by Subtle Discord

[The Traitor]

Hmm... you mean green like the eyes? It wouldn't really pop out that much, as it isn't that different from the green, I would sincerely leave them as they are.

[Subtle Discord]

I mean green like this...

 

I took a bit of time and did some backpacks in the planned green and it forced me to do at least one test model to see what it looks like.

 

While I'm happy with how I executed the blue lights, I still think it's a bit too much blue on blue. I think the green just breaks up the monotony of so... much... blue... Even the eyes I'm thinking of brightening a bit to add a bit more punch. Naturally, input and feedback are always welcome. Everyone should know by now that a big part of me enjoys overthinking details and feedback makes me do that in spades.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Hey, that looks great. I admit I was a bit sceptical on the idea of green lights on the breast plates - but the green looks suitable ghostly and somewhat high-techy and alien. Love it! 

What colour are you going to do the eyes? Green as well or just blue? I don;t think red would be good - it's make the mini's look too christmassy ;)

[Magos Kasen]

The green lights with the blue and steel is a very nice combination. Green glow is hard to pull off but you've nailed it. 

[Subtle Discord]

I should give credit where credit is due. I've mentioned these Transparent paints from Vajello a few times the last while but until now I hadn't used them.

 

I picked these up when I got my airbrush hoping that they will compliment it and I'm happy to finally discover that they do.

 

I've only just started playing around with them so I can't provide really in-depth feedback on how to best use them but so far they're working as I was hoping they would. Subtle glow effects are most effective when the colour that is being projected on a surface is staining the surface and letting the base surface/colour show through. Thinning paints to get this effect can be tricky since many colours have additives that are meant to help the paint cover and be opaque; from what I can tell these paints are simply the colour pigments in acrylic binding medium, minus the opaquing additives. Many painters would use inks to achieve this kind of effect but inks are water-like in consistency, so I prefer this product because it has a little more body and it acts more like paint when you attempt to blend the edges.

 

In this case, I brushed the colours on the chest pieces and did a bit of blending to get the desired effect and I used my airbrush to add it to the backpacks so it could do the blending work for me. Both times it was used straight from the bottle and built up to get the desired effect. They look very bright and vivid in the bottle and when you initially put them on a surface, especially if it's heavy, but they mute down as they dry and become more transparent. The pigment is very concentrated so a very tiny bit can go quite far. So, a light touch and using a small amount is best while you get used to how they'll affect a surface they're being used on.