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

[JeffTibbetts]

I can't really say much at this point, but I think they might be reeled already. In a good way.

[Lexington]

I'm sad to have missed out on this effort, but that is friggin' amazing. Congratulations!

[slipknotzim]

now u just need a finished painted pic of the queen to show them/us nudge nudge

[Battybattybats]

Oh Yeah! :D
Now that's a nice post to see!

[Son of Carnelian]

Oh man! The Queen continues to amaze. Glad our tweets and stuff got noticed. 

[JeffTibbetts]

now u just need a finished painted pic of the queen to show them/us nudge nudge

 

 

Funny you mention that... I've done a ton of work today/tonight, and I would have posted a bunch of pics if my phone didn't die. I'm not trying to be coy, it really did die. I need to rig up a ghetto lightbox and have a little photo shoot with my baby.

 

 

I'm sad to have missed out on this effort, but that is friggin' amazing. Congratulations!

  

 

Why thank you, sir. Maybe one of these days I can bring her up there for a little road trip.

 

Oh man! The Queen continues to amaze. Glad our tweets and stuff got noticed.

 

 

 

Noticed is just the start, sir... More on that later.

 

 

Oh Yeah! :D

Now that's a nice post to see!

I thought you'd like that, Bats.

[Mithrilforge]

Yawn!... not a bored one but a tired one from reading the start all.... the way to the finish

this work is fantastic,your time and dedication are well understood by a lot of us and we really love the effort you put into this...and its not yet even finished

will it win a demon?...no! ....it's better than that in so many ways,i would fall on my arse if it did win cause that would mean GW is bucking a boring trend which we all can see. demons nowadays are for flexing airbrush,osl, and all other over the top ways of painting...are any of them playable figures(which they should be)no!, apart from magmatrax (what a great model)... your model is a work of love,enthusiasm,story and fun...you can't beat that golden demons...

i'm really awed by your effort and the love of your hobby ! well done sir. the queen bee is the best Knight iv'e seen ever!!

cheers Mithril.

oh and congrats on the getting married part, welcome to the "one ring" club!.

[JeffTibbetts]

Okay, another photo dump post! Oh, how I've missed these. :D

First up, I rebuilt her chain ladder finally, after the great cattastrophe of '14. The white thing is a bit of rebar she welded onto the stump of the bar back there. It's thin enough that she can loop it through a link of the chain to anchor in place if she needs to, and tall enough to coil a bit around it. I want to keep the newer chain looking really shiny to show that it's new, while a few links of the crusty old chain remain.

And then with a bit of color to darken it down a touch, here's how it looks now.

It's also glued into this position to reinforce the weight of the stomping action, with a jaunty little swing to the right.

I wasn't totally satisfied with the color of the light brass trim. I got all of it to about this point:

And then I went in and layered in some Seraphim Sepia in two steps. It helped bring some of the color back to it, since the Runefang Steel highlights really washed it out.

Here's what it looks like now.

The lighting was goofy this morning (my phone died last night so I couldn't take any pics). I'm pretty happy with the metal trim now. I still haven't decided 100% how much, if any, scratch/damage effects I'm going to add. I kind of like that it looks relatively cleaner, since the damage and whatnot can be more easily buffed out than on other bits, and frankly these armor plates get replaced while the underlying metal chassis really doesn't, very often.

Also, now that it's coming together I was able to finish off another small detail that only made a brief appearance early on in the build. The servo-skull rear-view mirror and repair drone!

Cool silhouette, huh? I like the implied weight of the power line connecting him to the torso machinery.

There's a bit of subtle OSL on the green eye, and some more pronounced red, but somehow I didn't include a shot from the side. You'll see it soon when I go crazy with a light box.

And I had to include one more shot of her face, because I can't get enough of it.

This pic came out all washed out and grainy, and frankly I dig it.

Enjoy, peeps. This may be your last chance to weigh in with feedback. I'd especially like your opinion on how much damage to add to the trim brass. Also, how? Just stripes of Runefang? Strips of darker colors to imply depth? If so, what darker color do you think would work?

I do plan to add lightning arks on the crushed necron bit, but that will come later. I need to get pics of this bad girl to email a very important new acquaintance of mine, if you catch my drift.

[GhostMalone]

Dude it always amazes me seeing this model!

 

I so wish you would do some drone bees or a king bee to fight alongside her.

[Stercus]

Well, she's looking pretty special Jeff. I think you could get away with just a few scuffs on that metal trim. Seems any more might cover up too much of the nice colour you've achieved there.

[JeffTibbetts]

Dude it always amazes me seeing this model!

 

I so wish you would do some drone bees or a king bee to fight alongside her.

 

If I do any more Knights, they'll be in House Tibbetts colors. She's as free as a Freeblade, son! I did write it into her fluff that there are other Knights from her original lance, and some day the house may send pilots to take them back. So, maybe if I win the lottery, and finish my marines. Like, in 20 years...

 

Well, she's looking pretty special Jeff. I think you could get away with just a few scuffs on that metal trim. Seems any more might cover up too much of the nice colour you've achieved there.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Maybe just a few here and there to break up some of the larger areas and tie them in to the rest a bit. Any thoughts on a good color for the scuffs? I think if I just do Runefang they'll be lost, yet Seraphim Sepia isn't quite dark enough, maybe?  

[Stercus]

It's a tough call. I'd usually use leadbelcher but it's a bit dark for the shade of metal you've got.

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Looks great. Keen to see the finished project.

[JeffTibbetts]

Okay. Messed around with a lightbox I made, ghetto-style. I don't think it's very good, so I may end up paying for one. I don't know. The pics are intresting, but it took a lot of Photoshop to get the colors to look right instead of being sort of pale and washed-out. Have a look at the results. I haven't painted anything new since that last post earlier today.

[Battybattybats]

Oh these pics have been so worth the wait!

[Forté]

She looks amazing

[WarriorFish]

Wow. BRB, quitting my job so I can immediately get to work on my Knight...

[JeffTibbetts]

Wow. BRB, quitting my job so I can immediately get to work on my Knight...

Haha! Nah, just take a year and a half to do it exceedingly slowly in your free time, whilst getting sidetracked by a dozen other projects.

[WarriorFish]

Getting sidetracked is something I can do ;) Mostly it's a time issue, work is rudely taking me from my projects.

[Teetengee]

prettty.....

[Augustus b'Raass]

She looks amazing! It's so awesome that she's going to be a skin in the freeblade game. Wow.

 

About the scratches on the trim, i'd suggest Rhinox Hide scratches with a light metal highlight?

 

Then, the light box. I think your setup is good enough, except that you could benefit from some bulbs from the left side of the box. Not her, the box. Also, to prevent the washed out colours, which are basically caused by overexposure to light, might I suggest a different background, i.e. Piece of paper she's standing on? I use a big printout of the backgrounds Forté once suggested, like on A2 paper. It'll cost you, but dude, it's so worth it. Plus Queen Bee deserves some proper, proper glamour shots.

[Daemon2027]

I think the metals need some scratches, looks a bit to clean compared to the rest of the model, but you don't want to over do it. Maybe focus it mainly on the bottom, where small army fire would likely hit.

[Grandmaster damion]

Firstly I am in total awe of what you have achieved here and you should be rightly proud of the Bee

 

Secondly the battle damage on the metal trim have you considered what the metal is? I ask as if it is steel that has been plated with a fancy brass top coat any damage would allow the elements into the base metal which would then rust. May allow you to show battle damage nothing to extreme just the odd spot.

 

Just my two pence

[JeffTibbetts]

She looks amazing! It's so awesome that she's going to be a skin in the freeblade game. Wow.

About the scratches on the trim, i'd suggest Rhinox Hide scratches with a light metal highlight?

Then, the light box. I think your setup is good enough, except that you could benefit from some bulbs from the left side of the box. Not her, the box. Also, to prevent the washed out colours, which are basically caused by overexposure to light, might I suggest a different background, i.e. Piece of paper she's standing on? I use a big printout of the backgrounds Forté once suggested, like on A2 paper. It'll cost you, but dude, it's so worth it. Plus Queen Bee deserves some proper, proper glamour shots.

Thanks! We don't know 100% about the game. We're in talks but nothing's certain until you see it, you know? You read my mind about the colors. I was thinking Rhinox would be good, just very, very thin with Runefang underneath. As for the light box, I did have a bulb on the left. Odd that it didn't look it? I had one above, to the left and to the right. I do think I need a different backdrop, though. I'll look into that.

 

Firstly I am in total awe of what you have achieved here and you should be rightly proud of the Bee

Secondly the battle damage on the metal trim have you considered what the metal is? I ask as if it is steel that has been plated with a fancy brass top coat any damage would allow the elements into the base metal which would then rust. May allow you to show battle damage nothing to extreme just the odd spot.

Just my two pence

Thank you! You pose an I nteresting question. Here's my initial take on it but I'll think about it a little more. I was captivated by the lore in the first Knight codex and companion that described the original making casting armor slabs using primitive sand-casting methods and similar, so I think coatings and electroplating are too advanced. I mean, my 21st century mind knows they're not, but my idea of these machines in 40K makes me think it really is a massive, heavy, solid chunk of some brass-like alloy they trim the iron or steel armor plates with. Second, I think the effect would be tough to pull off in scale, and it would look too much like a mistake if the brass had a base silver-metal below, especially if it was rusting. I do really like the thought, though, in the sense that they probably really would be like that in real life.

 

I think the metals need some scratches, looks a bit to clean compared to the rest of the model, but you don't want to over do it. Maybe focus it mainly on the bottom, where small army fire would likely hit.

Yeah, I'll be careful to moderate it a bit. I do like to add some good damage around the upper areas though, to represent the Knight's vulnerability to fliers. I'll play around with it a little and get back to you guys.

[Brother Excedis]

I have followed this on and off since you originally started this project. I usually ended up not returning to this thread for a few weeks or up to a few months and would come back to this almost divine piece of work. This took a miniature for a game and turned it into a work of art at the highest form. My absolute favorite part is the accidental melting of the base that you took and turned into an immensely dynamic and well executed piece of the overall picture without distracting or detracting from the miniature as a whole or the other details. Just bravo sir, bravo.