++ AUGUSTUS b'RAASS ++ pre-heresy BRASS SCORPION p.247

[BubblesMcBub]

That skull on the front is such a cool idea!
You are like the first guy i have seen who made the night lords logo with a xenos skull instead of a human skull but it looks so cool on the Cockpits!

[Hydra Dominatus]

Long time lurker and follower of this thread but since I've made an account I have to say that I don't think you've made a model that I haven't liked the look of. The storm eagle looks great and I'm still amazed that you are capable of churning out models at this astounding pace whilst still retaining such a great level of quality.

[Inquisitor Engel]

 

[Augustus b'Raass]

Done with the Storm Eagle build, including Night Lords symbols, skulls and trophies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Done! Hurray!

 

Replies:

 

@ BubblesMcGub: Yeah I figured them being Chaos Night Lords, their iconography would have suffered some mutations from all that warp-infested raiding.

 

@ Hydra Dominatus: Thank you so much! THat's a very cool thing to read. I'm glad you liked so much of my work!

 

@ Inquisitor Engel:

Edited January 21, 2018 by Augustus b'Raass

[hushrong]

I may have to give that two part epoxy a shot in the future. There are a few big tanks from FW I want to buy and super glue loves to run wild on those resin kits.

 

The storm eagle also looks rad, so my hats off to you for the speedy and awesome build. My favorite detail is the mk8 torso. Definitely a nice addition among the skulls and helms.

[Ranker]

Yes yes yes!

 

Even the Tarot cards are in this build!

[gaurdian31]

Man that Storm Eagle looks great. How's the Spartan coming along? The last shot I've seen it was primed and ready to receive an awesome paint job.

[Augustus b'Raass]

I lied! I didn't completely finish the build as I had an idea today when I got home and immediately set to work making it happen. 

 

you see, I had the Night Lords symbol of the original Legion Night Lords Rhino front door to spare, and didn't have any plans for it on the Spartan. So I set to work on cutting off the wings and sawing two plastic human skulls from the citadel skulls set in twine, and glue them on the Storm Launchers of the Eagle. Hey presto:

 

And now it is done. Here's some shots of the entire finished vehicle with landing gear withdrawn, but not on its flight stem:

 

 

 

Funny thing is, now that I finished its build, I realize I really like this plane. Even more so than I like the Fire Raptor, even. I'm sooo looking forward to painting it.

 

But I have to earn that treat. First, I gotta finish the Spartan's paint job. Been procrastinating on that one.

 

Thanks for looking and commenting, team!

 

Cheers! 

 

Replies:

 

@ hushrong: You should totally try it. It's as much a game changer in the world of resin kit building as an airbrush is in the world of miniature painting. Also, glad you spotted the torso! I figured some Night Lord sew an officer, couldn't salvage the breast plate due to damage but still wanted to show off his prize ;)

 

@ Ranker: Glad you like it so much!

 

@ guardian31: Cheers, buddy! The Spartan isn't coming along. I painted the tracks and gave it its first coat of WMA Insigna Blue, and then got side tracked by the Storm Eagle. Now that that thing is build, I really will commit to painting the Spartan :tu:

[The Traitor]

Sexy! I must say it's a really cool flyer, though I don't know if as much as the Fire Raptor... And the wing and skull in the storm launcher was a really inspired idea!

[BubblesMcBub]

Plane looks good so far!
I am digging those night lord symbold on the top as well again you make amazing "custom" night lord logos!

[malcharion]

Really nice looking beauty right there !

When we arrived to the full beast with all the trophy stuff so masterly added and all go along so nicely..

Perapse my favorite part.. but enaugh said budy.. Now paint this ! :p

[Augustus b'Raass]

Cheers, guys

 

I finally started actually painting the Spartan. Base colours laid down for now.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully I'll be able to finish it by the end of Friday.

 

Thanks for looking and commenting!

 

Replies:

 

@ The Traitor: Thank you! The Fire Raptor might be sleeker, but the Storm Eagle is more brutal, methinks! :D

 

@ BubblesMcGub: Augustus b'Raass: making custom Night Lords symbols since 2013 ;) Thanks buddy!

@ malcharion: Cheers, Malchy! And congrats on your feature in the Eternal Hun awards :D 

 

 

 

 

[Mitsman]

Fantastic Blue!!!

 

More please...

 

Mitsman

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You're making good progress.

[gaurdian31]

The Spartan is looking very nice so far. Can't wait to see the trophies paint up!

[Hydra Dominatus]

The Spartan is gonna look BRUTAL when finished! Really looking forward to seeing the storm eagle painted though.

[DuskRaider]

Oh man, I can't wait! You've managed to master a color I just can't wrap my head around... blue.

[Mechanist]

Looking grand. Always handy to have some motivation to get over those hurdle's.

[KrautScientist]

Excellent work all around, mate! Although, as I've told you elsewhere, it's hard for me to get excited over boxy Astartes vehicles, so I am really looking forward to seeing some new infantry from you -- World Eaters or Death Guard, anything will do ;)

 

That being said, I really admire the way you've managed to turn that warped nightmare into a functional vehicle, and the accessorising and detail work on the various tanks and fliers? That I can really get behind. Except maybe for that giant alien skull NL emblem -- it's great fun, but also maybe a little too Masters of the Universe for my taste ;)

 

Anyway, really looking forward to seeing more excellent work from you this year, buddy! :)

[hushrong]

Love the extra additions to the storm eagle. As for the epoxy I will try to see if some local shops have it. I have a leviathan waiting assembly and I know its not as big as a tank but it's still a hunk of resin. As for the armor-plate trophy, it makes me think of a line from Talos in Soul Hunter.

 

Also, the blue on that Spartan. Seeing paint jobs like that wish I had skill with an air brush (or at least some skill with a regular brush for that matter). Always looking forward to seeing more work on that beast. Especially since I want to see what legions/chapter colors those helms had so I know what poor suckers stood in the VIII's path.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Hey guys, I'd like to share some thoughts I penned down via PM in a convo with KrautScientist here too. they involve a deepening of my thoughts about why I sold my two biggest armies and why I had to step away from the hobby for a while. 
 

Part of the reason I was away for about four months was of course was to engage in courtship with my GF. But I also thought long and hard about my hobby and its role in my life and the influence it had on myself, as well as about the way the changes to the game and fluff affected that. I came to the conclusion that my hobby had gotten a bit out of hand - it was taking too much of my time, my thoughts, my life - time I could also use learning new skills, meeting new people, developing myself. I knew that I had to do something drastic, and that turned out to be sell a large part of my collection, my Night Lords and my Imperial Fists. I've already told some of this in a previous post in my thread, but now that some time has passed, I've gained a deeper understanding of my reasons, as well as how it affected me. Many people (including myself in my profile text!) say to never sell an army. But in my recent experience, selling the army was quite cathartic. Let me explain those, here.

 

I long had had ideas about selling a portion of my Night Lords, but the more I thought about it, the more selling all my Night Lords stuff made sense to me. Like my Word Bearers before, they all had different paint styles, that had developed as I was collecting and painting the army. The collection thus looked mashed together visually. In addition, there wasn't any sense to the collection from a crunch point of view - it just reflected my collecting all CSM units and converting and painting them in Night Lords colours. They didn't 'feel' right, didn't feel like the Night Lords. (That last point is actually the same as Brother Heinrich's reason for selling his Night Lords.) So I decided to sell all of them - which felt great, actually. I had lost all connection with that army, was even somewhat annoyed by it at times, and so I have zero regrets. My shelves are empty, which saves me what had become an annoying sight an army without thought. I understand that it was an impressive army, that almost all the miniatures looked good to great individually, but for me, personally, it wasn't working anymore. In that respect, having sold the army to about eight different people was a plus: other people are happy with the different miniatures, and the breaking up of the collection allowed the differences between the different parts I sold to not stand out as much. I'm just glad others are happy with them, now :)  

 

The selling of my Imperial Fists is a slightly different, and more convoluted story, though. I had build my Imperial Fists purely for gaming purposes - I could use each and every unit, and had built and planned all units so that they fit in the most competitive 7th edition Imperial Fists special rules, formations, and the lists I had build around those - while at the same time this collection fulfilled an almost life-long wish to make a codex compliant space marine army with full regalia and markings. The funny thing is that I had come to feel a sense of completion of the army around the same time that 8th was announced. I was just adding for laughs - beginning a ten-man librarius conclave, for example. Basically I felt that I had done it: create the army of my dreams. And with that sense of completion, I was starting to loose interest in them. For the first time in years, I was starting projects that I couldn't find the will or motivation to complete.  I was just adding miniatures I liked to paint, while some projects I had in minds for competitive play were put on hiatus, as I wasn't sure I could actually  field them - 8th was around the corner - like the Imperial Fists command squad on bikes (which your biker libby was to be a part of), or a terminator squad with shields and hammers in a Caestus ram. That didn't bother me, actually: I felt like I had done it, and proved to myself that I could do it - and do it again, if I wanted to.

 

And then 8th actually hit the shelves. Suddenly, almost the entire collection didn't make sense to me anymore! The meta had completely shifted - the entire way the game worked had changed! I realized learning the game to the same competitive level I had reached about a year ago would take far too much time  -time I didn't have anymore what with a new job and a woman in my life. Plus, cven as a casual gamer, I want to be good and wield good lists. That meant -for my Imperial Fists army- getting into the Primaris Marines miniature line, which I hate both from a visual standpoint and even more so fluff-wise.

To sum up, I had three reasons to make the decision to sell my Fists:
- I had completed my wish to create a 'perfect' space marine collection

- 8th made the standing collection non-sensical from a crunch POV

- to make them competitive I had to add units that I didn't like the look of

And the funny thing as, moments after I had made the decision to sell them, I mentioned it to the buyer who had bought the largest chunk of Night Lords. He asked me what was in the collection and how much I wanted for it, I made the list and decided on the price, and he quickly agreed. It was literally a matter of one or two days between the decision to sell and the actual sale! 

 

There was only one issue: I never did do 'perfect' Night Lords. So when two buyers of my Night Lords asked me to do some vehicles, I used those two commissions as a way to prove to myself that I could make the perfect Night Lords as well! And now that I had freed myself of those two armies, I had the physical and mental space again to create something new, and to see the hobby as it should be: as something to enjoy in my spare time. I have really come to appreciate the hobby again - as an outlet of creativity. I'm dying to start working on my Death Guard, which I see as a reward for finishing the commissions. 

 

Thanks for reading. TLDR: selling your collection can also be cathartic, and opens up funds, space, and energy for new projects!

Replies!

@ Mitsman: Thank you! Blue is beuatiful!

@ Bjorn Firewalker: Cheers, buddy!

 

@ guardian31: I'l prolly do them tomorrow!

 

@ Hydra Dominatus: haha thanks for the vote of confidence! The Storm Eagle is a proejct I look forward to as well. Painting that thing will be a lot easier than the Fire Raptor!
 

 

@ DuskRaider: Haha really? It's so funny how different folks have different challenges. I still find red to be the most difficult  colour. The dirty white you're using for your brilliant, fantastic, awesome [insert other hyperboles] Death Guard also looks very challenging to me. y contrast, blue is easy to me! :)

 

@ Mechanist: Isn't it? Lol

 

@ KrautScientist: Krauty returns! Thanks for commenting again, buddy! Ié missed you here - although I understand and respect your lack of enthusiasm for the Metal Bawkses. About World Eaters: I have a plan to convert Red Butchers into normal terminators with combi weapons. Stay tuned for those! Also, I literally LOL'd about your Masters of the Universe comment! haha :D 

 

@ hushrong: You can order that epoxy online, at many arts and crafts stores, as well as online DIY stores. Any Chapter suggestions for the helmet trophies?

[Sagentus]

Great read Aug ... I totally agree that selling an army can be he best thing. I sold my Black templars on ebay and one buyer kept winning close to where i work. So i mailed him privately and gave him a list and pics of what i had left. He offered a fair price and i accepted. It was an army i built way back in 2005 and it wasnt my best work. But the buyer was extactic to recive them and it felt good to let go of something that was just stored away

[NOOBIENOOBLET]

Congratulations on you, your life and moving on. I cannot speak from experience what it would be like to sell and cleanse what must have been a large part of your life. I wish you all the best for whatever comes.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Cheers, guys! Don't worry, I haven't left the hobby! Far from it :)

 

But I have to say painting a Spartan is a drag! Base colours done. Now one bit Agraz Earthshade wash, highlights, the trophies, and some weathering, and I'll be done!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Spartan.