Queen Bee Knight -- Thank you! Please read the new post

[Battybattybats]

It's not just been worth your money, it's been worth a lot of other peoples money too whose knights are better because they saw yours and put a bit more effort into their own. Mine included!

I had thought of putting the bell on the battle cannon of Quod Erat Demonstrandum right near the start then dismissed it as too difficult. Looking thorough your thread pushed me to put that extra effort in to get that magnet into that part, and it was well worth it. Certainly the work i'm doing on The Betrayed owes a lot to the encouragement that your work has given me to really flesh out the history and personality of each knight and especially The Betrayed's unique heraldry.

The Lady of House Cydonia's cauldron of untainted Martian soil too may not have ended up in it's full floating blade-limbed glory if i wasn't spurred on to just take the leap and stick to the original artistic vision because of the detailed efforts you've gone to and the regular updates to this thread.

So when my knights stride over my friends tables, and fight for the attention of the Lady or to rescue that wounded Noble Knight pilot the quality and detail of that is partly due to you.

So thankyou.

And the latest pics are looking great.
That weathering has taken the maker-plate back nicely where before it's strong colour was over-dominating. Now it fits in nicely (and i agree about it being painted on!) as does the symbol on the reaper. Good work on the glass on the hatch too. :)

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks, man. It's been a lot of fun watching your knights take shape as well, so thanks for saying all that. :D 

[zefig]

This has been an incredible and inspirational project so far. Super kudos. Your technical skill is amazing and really serves to highlight the creativity and passion involved in the project.

 

It got me thinking a lot about theming for a small house of my own, and your work on the awesome pinup might inspired a wave of grimdarking up more contemporary symbols and themes. It certainly is for me.

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks a lot, man. It was really fun to think about how to 'grimdark' a pinup in the first place. The thought wouldn't have taken shape without the helpful members of this board. I think it would be really fun to think up a whole range of icons and symbols with a 40K look. The new Adeptus Mechanicus decals come to mind, but the icons created for the Alien film might actually be a cool middle stepping stone. They were called Semiotic Standard if you want to look them up. It's a detail many missed about the film, but once you know about it it's really cool to see how they came up with the symbols. 

[zefig]

Ooh that sounds cool, I'll definitely have to take a look. I'm in the vagaries of planning at the moment, but the thought is to make a few Knights of the highest ranking nobles of the four families of House Rouennais. I'll be starting with the Jack of Hearts.

[JeffTibbetts]

That sounds like a great idea to give them some personal heraldry to correspond to the cards. I like it! 

[Daemon2027]

The pin up is great, really well done, fits the model perfectly, and isn't 'to much' like I was worried it would be when it was first brought up. I didn't realise the Alien films created thier own icons from Semitic, but then in Prometheus the robot dude learns a constructed an Indo-European language so I gues Ridley Scott has put a lot of thought into the birth of language.

[JeffTibbetts]

The pin up is great, really well done, fits the model perfectly, and isn't 'to much' like I was worried it would be when it was first brought up. I didn't realise the Alien films created thier own icons from Semitic, but then in Prometheus the robot dude learns a constructed an Indo-European language so I gues Ridley Scott has put a lot of thought into the birth of language.

 

Yeah! I'm under the impression it was actually the art director's brain child. He just figured in the future there would be a set of icons that didn't use any text since people spoke different languages. It's not exactly ground-breaking in the world of icon design, but that set happens to be A ) done very well in a nice clean aesthetic and B ) sci-fi based and made for a space ship so it includes stuff like icons for an airlock. 

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Damn this thread's an inspiration. You've worked more personality into a single model than I've seen in many armies.

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks, buddy! I've been a big fan of your Hrud (and those Umbra!) for a while. They've got some real personality, so I'll take that as a strong compliment. 

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Thanks, buddy! I've been a big fan of your Hrud (and those Umbra!) for a while. They've got some real personality, so I'll take that as a strong compliment. 

Wow, thank you! It's funny you should mention them, some aspects of the Queen Bee have influenced their (slow) revival. Usually when I think of showing "history" on a model, it's purely scars and battle honors, but details like the outline of the removed aquila and the layers of chipped and fresh paint has really got me thinking on different ways to show off how a model "grew".

[JeffTibbetts]

 

Thanks, buddy! I've been a big fan of your Hrud (and those Umbra!) for a while. They've got some real personality, so I'll take that as a strong compliment.

 

Wow, thank you! It's funny you should mention them, some aspects of the Queen Bee have influenced their (slow) revival. Usually when I think of showing "history" on a model, it's purely scars and battle honors, but details like the outline of the removed aquila and the layers of chipped and fresh paint has really got me thinking on different ways to show off how a model "grew".

That's truly awesome to hear. I love it when we all feed off each other's hobby energy. It's the opposite of a vicious cycle, but I'm not sure what you'd call it.

[WarriorFish]

Starting to look tantalisingly close to completion now, the hatch looks great with the window. I think a better term would be a feedback loop? A feedback loop of awesome :P

[Teetengee]

Specifically positive feedback, as it promotes its own activity.

[JeffTibbetts]

I don't mind a little constructive negative feedback as well, if its justified. I work in a creative field, and it's shocking how much flat-out unhelpful feedback I get sometimes. I can't stand "I like it, but it's not quite right" or "Can we get something similar, but just different" comments. This community is excellent for saying "I think you might try X" or "Have you thought about maybe going in X direction?" 

 

I've said it before, but I really feel like the Queen is a community project, because of the incredible feedback and suggestions I've gotten from all of you. 

 

@WarriorFish, you're right. So close. I've finally glued the rails on the carapace and I think they're almost done now. I can't decide how to paint the Freeblade symbol, though. It's set against a patinated, pale brass color. I was thinking maybe a deep bronze, similar to the one I used on some of the exhaust pipes around the torso, might pop pretty well. Nice and dark. 

 

After that, I need to finish up the bronze trim and then I can start gluing armor plates on. *SQUEEEEEEEE*

[Teetengee]

I meant positive feedback loop..
 

ALSO GLUEEEEEEEEEEEE

[W.M.Painted]

Looking forward to seeing the Queen glued and standing tall! As a suggestion for the freeblade symbol, perhaps a clean silver might work as the armour metalics are quite dark and any yellow/brown tints are already present in the rest of your model. I can imagine a knight pilot being especially keen on keeping his hood ornament polished after each fight.

[JeffTibbetts]

Looking forward to seeing the Queen glued and standing tall! As a suggestion for the freeblade symbol, perhaps a clean silver might work as the armour metalics are quite dark and any yellow/brown tints are already present in the rest of your model. I can imagine a knight pilot being especially keen on keeping his hood ornament polished after each fight.

Hmmmm. I was all set on brass but maybe I should do bright silver. Good call! I can even blue it a bit because my spot color is blue. I like it.

[Battybattybats]

 

Looking forward to seeing the Queen glued and standing tall! As a suggestion for the freeblade symbol, perhaps a clean silver might work as the armour metalics are quite dark and any yellow/brown tints are already present in the rest of your model. I can imagine a knight pilot being especially keen on keeping his hood ornament polished after each fight.

Hmmmm. I was all set on brass but maybe I should do bright silver. Good call! I can even blue it a bit because my spot color is blue. I like it.

 

It'd be less weathered after all, it's in place of the old aquilla.

[Spinsanity]

And now, the moment a dozen of you are waiting for...

Had to like your next post in the thread just 'cuzz it's impossible to like this one twice... Really like the results you've gotten so far, very inspiring and makes me want to get a knight of my own...

[JeffTibbetts]

Thanks a bunch for the kind words again, everybody. I posted some progress pics on Twitter but I can't be bothered to get my computer out and post them here til tomorrow. :P

 

I got the rails and the Freeblade badge done for now. A bit more on the brass and I'm calling the carapace done soon. Just need to work on the shoulders and brass trim on the rest of the armor plates. A few other details notwithstanding, she's getting very close.

[WarriorFish]

Bronze is a good colour, and fits well I think with the colours and theme (but don't ask me why I think bronze is good with bees).

Also I'm happy to take some credit for the Queen, many hours of hard work looking at pictures and clicking the like button...

[JeffTibbetts]

It's been a while since I posted progress pics. Here's where I'm at right now. The top carapace is nearly finished, with the rails and Freeblade badge now in place and painted.

It's really hard to take good pics of metallics without a lightbox, but I snapped a few angles to give you sense of the brightness.

This one's a bit out of focus. I didn't notice until later.

And the other side.

And head on. It's significantly more shiny than the brass, but when the light's catching them both it has a bit less pop.

And a shot in shadow so you can see the highlights.

This was Leadbelcher base, wash of Drakenhof Nightshade thinned with Lahmian Medium, layer highlight with Ironbreaker, spot glazing with Guilliman Blue, pin shading with full Nightshade again, and then Runefang Steel edge highlights.

I'm pretty pleased with it. I do think Bronze would have looked good as well, but I like the bright silver because it just doesn't show up anywhere else and it pops a bit.

As for the rails, they were pretty simple: I mixed a little Leadbelcher into black for the base, shaded with the older black wash, stippled on Ironbreaker and then a little stippled Runefang in the bits that would get the very most rubbing and contact. I then went in and glazed on Seraphim Sepia to represent dirt and oils accumulating, and then a bit of Agrax Earthshade because I love it and I want to marry it to give it a bit more depth and shade in some spots.

Carapace is pretty close to done. I'm not finished with the brass trim, but that's about it there. Need to touch up around the window where the gloss has pulled up due to capillary action, but I'll get that when I'm finishing the brass.

EDIT: Also, now you can see how little of the old Aquila outline is visible under this badge. I think the effect is very subtle, and I'm hoping if I show this model to someone who hasn't seen it yet, it might be a cool 'Ah-ha!' moment when they realize what those weird triangles are with the holes in them. I bet a lot of people would never notice it or think it's a mistake, but I'm cool with that. This model will reward people who put the time into looking it over carefully. :D

[KrautScientist]

Looking excellent! Using silver for the Freeblade symbol was definitely a good decision!

 

Don't glue that top carapace to the body just yet, though! I know I may have put you off the idea of adding an interior a bit, but don't close that door (quite literally, come to think of it...) just yet! ;)

[Ace Debonair]

The level of detail on the Queen is both tremendously inspiring and slightly frightening.

Definitely more inspired than frightened, though!

That's going to be one amazing-looking model when she's put together in all her glory.