Broken Arrows- 8/21/13 That Oldschool Black Magic

[War Angel]

yaye! more! more!!!!!

[Firepower]

The Arrows are known to wear a variety of esoteric trophies, many of which are taken from beasts of their home world; jawbones the size of a man's head with razor sharp teeth, tusks that run nearly the full length of a Marine's leg, and bright feathers which seem almost laughably delicate when strung and tethered to a living weapon of war. Within the Chapter, these icons serve as a loose analogy to honor badges. Warriors are sometimes allowed to briefly shirk the mantle of their burdens as Space Marines and return to their roots as a simple hunter on Lacrum's peaks, either as reward for a particularly outstanding accomplishment, or simply after a lengthy duration of service. Although the beast from which trophies come and the nature of the trophies themselves carry their own outwardly indecipherable tiers of spiritual and martial significance, one can simply count the tokens and gain an understanding of any given Arrow's past deeds.

Although the Broken Arrows are descendants of the White Scars, their typical approach to war is practically an inverse of the saddleborn Chogorins'. The Arrows wage war much as they would carry out a hunt on Lacrum's peaks, where mobility is extremely limited, using carefully positioned parties to create overlapping fields of fire. Coordinated volleys from the dug in fire bases funnel, confuse, and dissect enemy forces into manageable fragments. The masters of this favored tactic form a small clique within the Chapter known as Longbows: individuals who set aside the familiarity of a Bolter for the cumbersome bulk of heavy weapons. Longbows are a somewhat fluid coterie, joining squads or forming their own ad hoc teams as needed, and bringing with them the firepower necessary to properly anchor the war parties' most critical beachheads. Though most any Arrow dreads at the thought of putting aside their Bolters, the idea of waging war without the firepower of the Longbows is a far worse prospect.

That's all I got for now Have to finish up my landspeeder, drop pod, and Librarian. They're all in the final stages really, so it shouldn't be long at all

C&C welcome as always, and thank you for the praise so far

Edit- Whoops, forgot the family pics!

[Madwolf Shadowmane]

Where did you get the feathers on the backpack?

 

Awesome work by the way.

 

Madwolf

[Firepower]

Where did you get the feathers on the backpack?

Awesome work by the way.

Madwolf

Thanks

All of the feathers and most of the trophies in general come from Lizardmen bitz, chopped off of those big banner poles, weapons, arms, etc.

[Firepower]

Some pics of where the rest of the current project is currently at:

Librarian Atawi...dumb, I know :D

My Speeder-

The edges are a bit dinged up from assembling the model (all the little gray spots), and it still needs the final weathering touches. The top piece was a bit warped, which made getting it to glue on in a solid seal more or less impossible without the use of a rubber band, which would've rubbed off even more paint...sooo, yeah.

One of the Drop Pod's completed doors. Well, the exterior is done. All the yellow tape is masking the interior for some hazard chevron painting :P

And now something I really need some input on. I was going to spray this big orb a solid shade of green, then a lighter shade, and a lighter, to make it look like a big glowy ball. In my haste, I watered down the first blast of green paint too much, and it did this:

I don't know if it works or not. It does kinda look like it's glowing, but it also looks like it was just stained with a wash...which is kinda what happened, really. So, basically, should I make it a proper OSL mess, or go with this weird necron sorta thing that it is now?

[Tyrannicide]

Sweet!

 

Great fluff and I see your practice with the airbrushing is starting to pay dividends. The edges of the drop pod and speeder look like something a veteran would be able to achieve. My one area of critique is the blue tribal arrows. Those could certainly be a little more fluid. The sleeker you can make those the better, I think. They certainly don't look bad but I figure the more you do the better you're going to get anyways. 

[Firepower]

Thanks Spud of Wisdom ;) What exactly do you mean by "fluid" in reference to the arrows, though? I do know they get a bit sloppy here and there, that's true. Sometimes I would just get tired or impatient, or let the paint get a bit too dry on the palette, and that would cost me. Other times I just honestly messed up. That much freehanding is hard :teehee:

The one advantage to stripping the shoulders was in getting a chance to redo the iconography. I managed to set up a reliable eyeball-measurement system to make the icons look pretty uniform across the range of them. The first time the arrows were all different sizes and angles, and looked an awful mess :P

Anyway, tonight I finished up the battle damage on the speeder body today, and finally got around to the dangerous trials of bright shiny lights. Some turned out better than others.

First, the easiest one. Of course with the very last touch up, the white paint had to spittle and land a few ugly flecks on the dome :verymad:

Now, the speeder. Kinda iffy on how this turned out. I'm pretty happy with the battle damage though.

And a little teaser of what's to come with Atawi the Librarian :)

[Zsoulless]

Some really nice OSL.

The speeder is a little heavy handed, but the rest is just great.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Some really nice OSL.

The speeder is a little heavy handed, but the rest is just great.

 

Agreed with Z on the speeder. If you did a soft mask spray of the speeder's base color to kill some of the OSL that flooded way over to the right (as the marines see it), it would really sell the effect.

 

Something about like this:

 

http://i.imgur.com/e19tKzL.jpg

[Firepower]

Yeah, probably gonna give that a try.  It was a bit of a mess to do, really.

 

'Ok, add some white...good.  Next layer, add some white....ok, not bad.  Next layer, add some white....:cuss how the hell did it get way over there?!  OK, back to step 2.'  Did that maybe two or three times before I just gave up.  There were probably 6 different shades of green total, and you can kinda see...maybe 2. :P

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I've got a fair bit of airbrush experience and still haven't tried OSL yet, so you get points for jumping in with both feet. :D  It's a very subtle thing getting the OSL just right and even a touch of overspray can kill it. The effect on the drop pod piece turned out really well, despite the few paint sputters.

[Grizzly_bear]

These are really good fella, loving the little fluff write ups

[Aqui]

I wouldn't worry about the white specks on the Drop pod part. Before I read what you'd put, they reminded me of when dust catches the light and was deliberate

Good stuff in any case! (OSL and airbrushes are still far beyond me )

[Firepower]

I've got a fair bit of airbrush experience and still haven't tried OSL yet, so you get points for jumping in with both feet. It's a very subtle thing getting the OSL just right and even a touch of overspray can kill it. The effect on the drop pod piece turned out really well, despite the few paint sputters.

Yeah, I'm going all out with this project. I am doing everything new that I can- oil washes, battle damage, cork basing, airbrushing, OSL. There are of course bound to be a few stumbling blocks along the way (and God have I hit a lot of them). The annoying thing about the OSL is that it's at the very end of the process, when everything is so nice and pretty and easily destroyed by mistakes :P That's why I chickened out on doing OSL on the Plasma Gun guy. I just made the weapon glow. One day if I actually get confident in my OSL skills I'll go back, pop the gun out of his hands and give him a lil green glow, too.

It is a brutally delicate thing to do, though, and as the Pod core shows, even a something as simple as a teeny and sudden lack of cooperation from the airbrush itself can screw up everything. Wish I could blame the speeder light on the airbrush :D

Anyway, once I (hopefully) fix that, all I have to do is some final touch ups, and then everything - the pod, Atawi, speeder - will be done! And then I just have to wait a few weeks to get the new Space Marine toys and start phase two :P

Thanks for the kind words and help folks :tu:

[SickSix]

These guys look great! Loving the battle damage/weathering on the vehicles. I didn't want to mess with the harnesses for my DPs so I left them out. I actually liked the darker green inside the pod.

[Lysimachus]

Deeply impressed with these guys, love the individual nature of each Marine. Also, as a new airbrusher myself, really inspired by the OSL, definitely gonna use this technique when I get some tanks (I also chickened out on the plasma glow for my specialists, the squad was for the ETL and I didn't want to screw it up!).

[Firepower]

Thanks folks

Now, the good news is, I finished the speeder! Yay! The bad news is, it got 'snowy' from varnish Really, that's just cruel. I'm more than a little upset by it. Anyway:

Without beasts of burden or even flatland terrain, it is hardly surprising that these second-born of the White Scars have no connection to their ancestors' affinity for the saddle. This is not to say that the Broken Arrows are lacking in mobile warfare. The winds of Lacrum are so fierce and oppressively constant as to be considered an entity in themselves by the Tribes of the world, as key and ever present to life as water. Harsh and mercurial as they are, the winds of the Arrows' home world creates a daunting challenge for aspiring pilots of the Chapter. Those that master aerial maneuvers in such unforgiving skies are an invaluable if limited cadre of the Chapter, making for a collection of pilots to rival any in the Imperium. Although the Chapter and the Tribes are intimately familiar with one another, the darting machine-beasts of burnt chert in the volatile skies will forever be things of marvelous, magical nature to the Arrows' mortal kin. In truth, the Arrows' pilots find it no less of a religious experience.

The assault cannon and melta arms are magnetized. Unfortunately, due to rushing for the ETL, I didn't go ahead and magnetize the second pair of arms. It's going to be a real doing it now.

Edit- Forgot to put on the stepping-stair thingies prior to taking pics. They're on now

I'm curious to hear all your feelings on the heat-glow method I used for the two guns. I'm not 100% sure if I like it or not.

Second Edit- Can't believe I forgot to include a fluff-blurb! Amended :)

[NightHunters]

That is still very good brother!

 

Not a huge fan of the heat burn effect on the assault cannon/mm, bit too blue, not enough brown for my liking but hey, really just nit picking, especially bearing in mind all the new techniques you are using. Respect sir!

[Unknown Chronicler]

I really like your marines so far as I seem to be constantly drawn back to this thread, I feel ashamed I have not posted a lot earlier but now it is better late then never. Keep up the good work and I really want to see your marines on the battlefield some day your OSL work is fantastic as is your colour scheme! Nothing more to say

[Firepower]

Thanks kindly ColdWinter and NightHunters :)

I haven't got a fluff blurb for this one. It's a pretty straight forward deal.

BLAM!

This was actually surprisingly easy to assemble. The point where all the fins meet at the turbine was terrifying, but it went together without much issue.

The problem is that the fit is surprisingly snug. Closing the doors takes a bit of effort, which makes it kinda funny that I went through the trouble of magnetizing them Unfortunately, the snugness is very apparent where the doors meet the base, and they where the paint right off the primer when they open and close. Perhaps over time the fit will be better and I could then repaint and varnish them, but for now there's no real point. It's a flaw that I can't be blamed for, and so I don't feel an aching need to try and fix it.

One point where I did mess up- the damage on the metallic part of the fins in some places is kinda ugly, and is clearly deliberate sponging rather than an organic wear n' tear look. Oh well

All I have to do now is oil wash and varnish the backpack I forgot to paint for my Librarian, and I'm all done! And then..well, and then I will be very bored until the new models are released.

[Zsoulless]

Amazing DropPod! Great work Firepower!

[Knight of the Raven]

*whistles* These look very good. I love the faces especially, and the weathering's well done.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Good stuff Firepower, I'm looking forward to more awesome from you!

Also, any sign of the parts for your Force Bow Libbie arriving yet?

[Firepower]

Thanks all :)  I was actually quite anxious over the drop pod for a number of reasons, but it turned out to be surprisingly cooperative...barring the overly snug fit of the doors.  I didn't ever know just how big those damn things are either. That's a freaking ton of surface area!  I never would've even tried painting something that big and complex before I got me an airbrush :D

 

As for the bits SanguiniusReborn, sadly, no.  It's been nearly two months now.  I gave up hope, but I got a refund.  Looking at other bitz stores, I may be out of luck, because the bits I need are rather popular, meaning they're 1- expensive and 2- very unlikely to all be found on the same site, or sometimes found at all.  Just finding the damn Corsair scaled cloak I want to use is something of a nightmare.  I'll be popping around bits sites now and again to look for what I need, but for now the Bow Librarian project is effectively shelved I think.

[ephrael]

I'm a fan of everything that you have done with your marines.  I don't believe I've ever seen this color used on power armor before and you make it look really good.  The battle damage and weathering look pretty realistic and not too over the top like some people tend to get and I like the heat effect on the weapons on the speeder.  Even your OSL looks good for your first go at it with the air brush.  I've seen a fix for the clear coat "frosting" on the dakkadakka forums and if you want a link I'm sure I can dig one up for you.  The only thing that I wanted to comment on was the streaking effect on the metal colored panels of your drop pod.  While I think that it looks very well done and pretty realistic wouldn't it look more "realistic" for the streaks to flow from the bottom of the panels towards the top?  All of your other chips and scratches are oriented in this direction and give the impression that the pod has just dropped from orbit and through the atmosphere.  That would suggest to me that the staining on the metal panels should run in the same direction.  I know that it's science fiction and not very realistic in the first place but I think it would look cool.