15 Shades of Grey, A new start.... with Primaris,

[Dantay VI]

Believe  me, I'll be glad to see this thing finished too. I was sweating bullets on the house symbol...

 

Next time, I think go-go gadget decal maker!!

 

Edited February 12, 2015 by dantay_xv

[Vykryl]

Looking good. Nice job on the family coat of arms.

 

Keep it coming. I'm enjoying your work while I'm too busy to play with my toys. Hopefully this weekend will see the bulk of my task completed.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Vykryl

[FenrisWolf]

Great painting!

[Dantay VI]

I got a bit bored & fed-up with my slow progress I have been making and decided to do something I probably shouldn't have done.

 

I built and glued the arms on to the Knight. He looks a bit goofy just now, like he is walking a tightrope, but I am hoping the base when it is done will bring it all into context...

 

 

I wanted to have the torso more forward facing and him turning his head, but the carapace leaves you pretty limited in what you can do, or the head kinda disappears..

Around his back foot, I will make a ground and just after the plate will be the lip of a crater. unk into the crater will be the front foot on top of the Knight plate, plan is he is crushing the princeps to death while surveying for more victims... The arm poses, well I tried to make it look like a "Come and take me on if you think you are Brave enough"

 

Let me know what you think...

[pedrogzc]

Awesome is a little adjetive for these freehands Dantay!!!

 

Absolutely gorgeous!

 

Have you decided "her" name yet?

[Dantay VI]

Hi Pedro,

 

For the Sicaran, I opened it up to the guys here and in WIP forum. It seemed the most popular name was for her was Togn (which means silence).

I am guessing the longer barrels make her look like a sniper or a hunter who moves with stealth and kills from range.

 

The Knight? The steed is named Serpents Breath, after the sword used by Bernard Cornwells character Uhtred Ragnarsson, (sometimes known as Uhtred Uhtredsson).

I considered naming the pilot after the character also, but Vykryl had suggested a house name and a pilot name of Sir Danth from the House Morhain. The Dark Castellan of House Morhain :)

 

Not much done, but I am taking part in Augustus' challenge, and I have been 'challenged' to do my Praetor (Logan counts-as)

 

Not much has happened, except a rework of the cloak and going to redo the front skull, oh and tried making knee pads from dwarf shoulder pads.

 

[Dantay VI]

Hey guys, sorry it has been a few days... Work has been manic and I have felt more like building than painting just now.

 

I am also in Augustus B'Raas new challenge and I have been challenged to finish building and to paint my praetor by March 23rd!!

 

So I will show the Praetor later, as I have made a few changes to him, but I have also been working on something else.

 

My recon team. 3 of them I am really chuffed with, 2 of them are a bit meh! I would appreciate ideas on how to make them stand out a bit more...

 

Any hoo pictures

 

I'd appreciate your thoughts.... Especially on the last 2 recon guys..

 

Thanks for looking.

[marvmoogy]

I'm a sucker for stealth-stylee space marines....so these, I love!  Best thing for me is the backpack on the last image.... you've thought of everything!!

 

Can't wait to see some paint splattered on them ;-) 

[Vykryl]

I don't know what a recon team is in this game, a 30k unit? They all look good to me. What is bother you about the last two? They all look geared up and ready for a stint without direct support.

[Dantay VI]

Recon Marines are 30K equivalent to scouts, elite marines ranging ahead of their brothers.... So in 40K I will use them as scout or Wolf Guard accompanying my scout squads.

 

I think it is because the first 3 have a bit of "personality" to them.

 

1st guy is the unit commander striding purposefully out of concealment. Gruff tougha nd a proven killer.

2nd guy is the tracker. Kneeling down with axe and pistol, looking for traces of his quarry, whom he can hunt and kill.

3rd guy is the muscle. Foot resting on the rock cradling his stalker bolt gun, casual menace.

 

The other 2? well they don't aim their guns straight ahead, but at a slight upwards angle, so what would they aim at? The standing guy is looking in the opposite direction to the gun as if peeking or looking to something but to me the pose is slightly "wrong".

 

I dunno, maybe I can heat and bend the arms slightly or something.

 

Hopefully they will make other recon marines in other marks of armour at some point.

[Vykryl]

Ya, the forth one is kinda odd. Almost like he heard a noise or saw something from the corner of his eye and is distracted. #5 looks like he just sniped someone and is watching the resulting confusion.

[Dantay VI]

Slightly modified number 4.

From this:

To this:

 

Any better?

 

[Vykryl]

That's a better pose. No more "what was that?" look.

[Dantay VI]

Sorry for taking so long, like I said at the start I will be a bit cyclical on here as I tend to not be online when I am off work and at home.

As I work offshore, I get a lot of free time to model and paint, but when I get home it is family time.

I kinda owe it to the missus as she takes care of business and works full time when I am not around, so doing my bit and giving her a break is the least I can do. Besides me and the wee man usually have a lot of catching up to do

 

I had an idea to do a little bit of prose to got with the models I was working on and as I have gotten the first few done its time to see how it goes. Feel free to criticise or give pointers, as this is pretty new to me.

The idea was to build up a strike force to take part in the Korianna campatgn, but as that is not really happening now, it will be more of a stand-alone piece, but with references to Korianna.

 

So here is part one of hopefully many

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img540/7443/MBdhcp.jpg

 

The beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?

 

 

In the flames he found old memories which until recently he remembered with fondness, now they were like ashes in his mouth.

 

His mind casting itself back to Fenris, to a simpler time, before this internecine war broke out between brothers and once brothers.

 

Fafnir Vol'kyr

 

Out on the ice… by the fire rested Fafnir & Keldane. They were in the midst of a hunt, looking to take down a great white-maned wolf, which had been terrorising the people of Asaheim and had even dared to attack the Aett itself.

Some said it was more than a wolf, others that it was a daemon of Hel taken of a feral aspect… One thing was for certain, it had to be taken down.

 

Sounds like just the task for Keldane… One of his many trials, maybe this one might actually see his thread cut… thought Fafnir

 

Fafnir started to flense some meat from the legbone of a grox that he had bloodily taken down earlier in the day. Keldane had asked why the need to kill the beast, but Fafnir so far hadn’t responded… Keldane was a bad star, an ill-omen. Nobody who waked the ice with him seemed to come back… As far as Fafnir was concerned the less he had to do with Keldane the better… Maybe this way his wyrd wouldn't infect Fafnir’s and they might make it through the hunt.

 

Let Keldane think the wolves an ignorant bunch of mjod swilling, hog feasting heathens, he will see through that illusion soon enough…

 

He hacked at the meat with one knife, he put strips of it on the end of the other and placed it over the fire… The flames sizzled and popped as the fat and blood fell away from the flesh and melted into the fire, adding a new aroma to the thick smoke.

 

“Why are you looking into the firelight Fafnir? It will destroy your night vision you know” came Keldanes sibilant voice.

Fafnir ignored him. Always questions he thought.. Why this? Why that? Why, why, why? Always followed by a statement of fact… He is like an oversized mewling child, what did I do wrong to be saddled with him? Thought Fafnir.

 

As Keldane opened his mouth to ask another question, Fafnir raised his hand and gestured silence. In a low rumbling voice Fafnir spoke.

 

“For the love of the AllFather, would you please stop with these incessant questions. Your ceaseless yapping is giving me a headache…Look at you in your midnight armour with your fancy lightning bolts and your fancy words. You think you are so much smarter than I, but I am interested to know. What you have learned from today on the ice?”

 

As Fafnir glared at Keldane from across the fire, Keldane sneered back.

 

“I have learned that you are a messy killer and a messier eater Fafnir of Fyth” replied Keldane “Look at your face, you should be named Bloodmane. Why have we stopped here, when we should be tracking this beast? Then we could At least go back to the Fang, get some real food and out of this biting cold?”

 

“Hmmph, so not much has penetrated that hard Nostraman head of yours then?” muttered Fafnir “Maybe a story to pass the time?”

 

Fafnir's shield

 

“A Fenrisian saga from the venerated Fafnir, I can hardly wait”

 

The flames crackled and after a moment or two Fafnir sighed & broke the uneasy silence.

 

“One spring day, a fox was prowling through the woods, looking for prey. He comes across a squirrel looking for nuts on the forest floor”

 

“What is it with Wolves and their stories of animals.. Don’t you have any women?” sniped Keldane with a malicious grin

 

“Silence whelp” growled Fafnir as he cuffed Keldane across the side of the head. “Listen & you might just learn something"

 

"The fox tried to catch the little squirrel, but it darted away and climbed up a tree branch and to safety.

 

You should leave said the squirrel a wolf is coming…

To which the fox replied. I am not afraid of the wolf little squirrel. You only have one plan to escape, and will not always succeed, but I am a fox. The most intelligent of animals and I have a thousand ways in which I can escape from the wolf”

 

“I always did like foxes, such cunning little creatures” said Keldane, eyes gleaming in the firelight

 

“Then you had better be fast, said the squirrel for here he comes…. The fox looked around and considered how best to escape the wolf, but it was too late, before he could make up his mind what to do, the wolf had caught him and made him his supper. When the wolf left, the squirrel climbed down from the tree and escaped”

 

“Stupid fox” sneered Keldane

 

“I thought you liked foxes” said Fafnir with a smirk “Maybe that will be your name, Blackfox. With your midnight armour. Besides you are much too small to be a true wolf”

 

“Stupid story then”

 

“But what does the story teach you?”

 

“Besides that squirrels can outclimb wolves and foxes?”

 

“Now you are being facetious” retorted Fafnir “Yes I know words which consist of more than 2 syllables, we aren’t all complete savages”

 

Keldane gave Fafnir an incredulous look as he continued.

 

“It teaches that sometimes 1 simple plan can be better than having a thousand elaborate plans, and often simplest is best”

 

“Like you, you mean? Sniffing like a dog at the outpost and thrashing in the snow with that beast like a wild canine all smeared in blood. The stupidly easy to follow drunken tracks you left behind us.That wolf thing could easily……” Keldane's voice trailed off as comprehension dawned on him.

 

“Easily what Keldane?" whispered Fafnir with a feral grin.

 

“It could track us here”.

 

“Exactly” replied Fafnir with a triumphant tone. “All that grubbing about at the outpost, I was checking its spoor, its fur the scents it left behind, its tracks. All things a good hunter should be able to do. Intelligence is the first thing you gather about your enemy before you strike”

 

“And what did you find out?” Keldane asked despite himself

 

“It is no ordinary beast and what we hunt here, you can never speak of outside of our great company, if we survive the night. It is a revenant. A ghost of what may come to pass. What we hunt is a wulfen, part man part beast and a lot more besides. I have learned that the wulfen is sick, it is weak and it is hungry. It must also have been truly desperate or suicidal to have directly attacked the Aett”

 

“If it is sick and weak, why not go out and hunt it down?” Asked Keldane

 

“Because it is still part man and I would see it die an honourable death, not like a trapped & cornered beast” spat Fafnir. "You forget that this wulfen was once like us and as such deserves our respect. The messy kill, makes it look like me and the animal are stricken, easy kills. He will smell the blood on the air and be attracted to it. So rather than chasing him over the ice for days on end, we lure him here and take him down. He can die with honour in battle”

 

“Or we die screaming” deadpanned Keldane

 

“Or there is that”

 

“Why Fafnir, was that an attempt at a joke? You know of all the Wolves I think I might actually grow to like you” smiled Keldane in a tone whih was not completely insincere.

 

“I bet you said that to all the others who went out on these quests and had their threads cut” said Fafnir trying not to smile despite himself.

 

“No, just you… So let’s see if we can break this wyrd thing of yours and try to get us both back alive eh?”

 

A hand rested on Fafnirs shoulder breaking his reverie.

 

Starkadr

 

“It is time to hunt Fafnir, Vykryl calls. Are you ready?”

 

As Starkadr walked away to join the pack, Fafnir slowly rose from his haunches. He unclipped his cloak & white maned pelt from his armour and tossed them on the fire.

 

Starkadrs shield design.....

 

“Our friendship is ashes, like this pelt of the wulfen we took down together on our first hunt, now I must take you down, like the beast you have become. You are my brother no more. I have been sent with my brothers to watch over the 13th and ensure their loyaly. But I know you are here and by the Allfather I will find you”.

 

With that he turned his back to the flames and stalked away to meet with Vykryl and to face his brothers....

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2015 by dantay_xv

[Amarog]

Those shields are awesome!!

[Dantay VI]

Thanks Amarog, and thee are a butt-ton more of them where they came from :D

 

Well another model another painting challenge.

 

This is entered into Augustus B'Rass and also the Space Wolves very own arena of painting combat!!

 

First Captain and former Legion Master of the Vlka Fenryka, Lord Gunn of Onn Company.

 

Very PIP and sweating a bit hoping my matte varnish doesnt leave a shiny sheen :s

 

Dong a Valknut design on his cloak, now to do the highlights on black and its done I can do a very basic paint job on his hind-side and then tack it in place and sculpt up the fur at the back :)

 

Lemme know what you think!!

[Argyle]

Looking good. Like the freehand a lot. Definately a good start to a worthy challenge entry.

 

P.S. I quite shamelessly inform you to consider your scouts copied.

[Dantay VI]

Hey Argyle, go for it. The FW recon marines are an ace kit. The only thing is that the body and legs are one piece with an arm attached, so unless you are happy chopping resin there isn't much room to play with poses.

 

For example:

Above is his original arm position as FW intended, but with a bit of cutting you can change it up slightly, like below.

 

This guy got dippedin boiling water to bend his running le upslightly so it looks as if he has his foot perched on rubble .

And the tracker.. I cut away his empty hand and added a SW bolt pistol, took the handle from one of the shotguns, attached it to his bolter 'n' stuck it to his back. The other hand is from GK's with a dwarf hand-axe attached.

 

I would be intrigued to see if they can be matched up to the plastic scouts sniper rifles?

 

[Dantay VI]

Got chatting as part of the SW painting challenge and ended up offering to do a tutorial on painting Space Wolves grey.

 

Its not stellar, but I think its alright

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/304588-painting-space-wolves-grey-the-taylor-way/

 

I wouldn't mind some honest feedback though. Is it alright? Where can I improve? Is it helpful? Are there other things you would like to see?

 

Thanks for your time...

 

Edited March 14, 2015 by dantay_xv

[Dantay VI]

A friend was asking about painting wood.

I am not trying to be showy, or anything. I have been trying to learn how to do tutorials and maybe, well I can practice on you?

Lets get cracking!!

 

Get your stuff together:

Dark medium and light brown (xv-88, skrag brown and scorched brown)

Washes: flesh shade and agrax earth shade (or devlan mud, same thing just tastes nastier)

Gloss varnish or ardcoat

Brushes

Water

Stuff to paint and music, tonight I am going for the quintessential Led Zeppelin.

 

I am using a british 1p (22mm dia. and a knight of chaos lance. I apologise in advance, I haven't painted sticks before just shields.

 

Base coat wood with XV-bb (or snakebite leather, same colour essentially)

 

Shield only mark out your slats with dark brown (scorched brown). I generally go for 5-6, but this is easier for tutorial purposes

 

2 coats each of devlan mud and flesh shade. (I alternate the wash each time, the devlan darkens, while the flesh keeps the warmth of a wood)

If you want darker then just add more wash till you are happy.

 

Next you will lines to represent wood grain to the shield and the spear. Less is generally more when doing this. Especially so for the spear, 1 or 2 lines is enough to convey the feeling of wood, or the spear will just look like a rainbow made of browns.

If you go for a ton of rings, lines etc for wood grain it will look messy.

XV-88 for the lines

 

For the wood effect, we will add a wee shadow. Choose which is top and bottom of the shield and consider how thew spear is going to be held to determine where the shadow should go, you want to go to the underside of the lighter line, if I have a lot of verticals, then I might run the dark line up 1 side of the light line also.

And you get something like this.

 

Next up I will do some more washes again, for me I alternate between flesh shade and devlan mud, I think I did 3 of each, but do as many as you are happy with. Do it different on each shield if you are doing a batch of them

 

You'll notice that there is a slightly milky looking layer developing? Thats the washes. At this pint glue to the model. The reason being is that if you apply varnish now. Depending on the glue, the fumes will interact and you get this frosting effect which isn't great.

However as I am not gluing this to anything, varnish is applied.

Looks great on the shield as it looks nicely maintained and revives the colours, not so good on the spear.

Maybe matte varnish for the spear eh? You live and learn.

 

Whaddya think? Is it helpful at all?

[marvmoogy]

Hope everything is ok, Dantay.....no update for month!

[Vykryl]

Hope everything is ok, Dantay.....no update for month!

Last I heard from Dantay he was home and only Internet connection was his phone. Been about 2 weeks. With his work schedule I don't blame him ignoring us while making the most of his family time. Dantay should be back on his oil rig soon and showing us more knotwork and encouraging everyone to keep their paint flowing.

[Dantay VI]

Hi guys, yep I am not dead or anything.

 

Sorry for the long delay, between illness and Easter I havent had any time near a model or a computer, but I just got back to work yesterday, so expect a few updates.

 

Of which my ETL models arrived YAY!!!

 

Yesterday BOOO!!!

 

SO waiting at home for me is a FellBlade, A Knight Castigator, a Spartan, 20 FW Assault marines Marks 2, 3, 4 & 5 and 10 breacher Mark 3 & 4(using destroyerbodies cos they are nice and chunky)

 

My plan this trip is to finally get cracking on Vykryl, to that end I have made the molds for his armour and just dabble with my half done stuff.

 

Updates to come soon 

[Dantay VI]

So, not too much of an update really.

 

Gotten the first part of Vykryl out of the way and will do pics maybe tonight, but I really need some advice on the Knight.

 

1. Should I put all the house heraldry down one side and all the personal heraldry down one side or keep them split as they are now?

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20150415_122818.jpg

 

2. Should I do the helm quartered red and black or do split red and black like the house and personal heraldry. I was also considering doing an antique brass mask behind the helm, but the more i consider it, the more I am thinking to do it bone, like a skull? Your thoughts

 

Also the chest plate and carapace, I really want to do something fun like the personal heraldry across the chest, but I am worried it will be overkill and maybe should do it plain. Also for the carapacedo I go plain or go daft. I want it to look cool but not a mess of designs which confuse and confound. I want cool, dark and sinister... Something to strike dread..

 

Anyways more pics to give you an idea.

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20150415_122831.jpg

Personal heraldry leg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20150415_122919.jpg

Personal heraldry shoulder

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20150415_122904.jpg

House heraldry leg

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20150415_122845.jpg

House heraldry shoulder

 

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb456/dantay_xv/20150415_122935.jpg

Helm chest & groin

[Vykryl]

I'd say split color on the helm, flipped layout of chest plate. It should give the center of the Knight a quartered look while keeping the split scheme of each plate intact. Quartering the helmet alone looks odd in my minds eye.

 

Edit: With the shin guard's and pauldrons you have some really good details going all ready. Leaving the chest plate blank should help the heraldry stand out more. Maybe a badge of rank on one side if you really want something on the chest. Nothing big as you don't want to draw attention from the other details or make him look cluttered.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Vykryl