Task Force 18 - Death Dealers WIP

[Gunmonkey88]

Good afternoon fellow guardsmen,

I've been hanging around this forum for the past month or so getting things in order to begin my new guard army. While things are still not 100 percent ready in real life, I wanted to get started before ETL expired. Thus begins the work in progress for what I hope will be the full 2000 point army found here. My goal in the next couple of months is to get first a 1000 point army built and painted.

And finally, proof of my first vehicle:

And, yes WarriorFish, it has been vowed for ETL

Hopefully the Wyvrn will be painted by the end of the week although travel and a pending move might disrupt the plan a bit.

[WarriorFish]

Good good, looking forward to seeing your army come along ;) Have you fully devised how you're going to paint the Wyvern, or will you be seeing how it goes?

[Gunmonkey88]

I'm thinking a splotch patter similar to the standard cadian splotch camo but with a dark blue-grey and medium grey, the details will be boltgun metal, blue, and red. Need to pick up some flesh colors as well, more than half my paints seem to have dried up since last I used them a few years ago lol.

[WarriorFish]

Sounds good to me, I hope to see some progress soon :tu: They weren't third edition paints were they by any chance? Useless things unlike their predecessor - I'm still using some of my second ed paints!

[Gunmonkey88]

Some of them were, probably about 10 years old at this point. Some of them are still good though!

 

After about 3 hours of painting, the colors aren't coming out quite like I expected  but they're looking good. Need to do a few more metal pieces, details, and finish up the optics and clean up the camo and highlighting. Probably another 2 hours to go, I forgot how long it takes to paint vehicles lol.

 

 

[WarriorFish]

I agree, very nice! The colours are relatively subtle in differences which I think looks rather good, but if you wanted a bit more contrast a wash could be an idea? Keep up the good work, but be aware that I will now be demanding more vehicle from you after this display ;)

[Gunmonkey88]

Finished the Wyvrn this afternoon. I was aiming for a high table-top quality and I think I mostly got it, not bad for being the first thing I've painted in 5 years lol.

 

 

The only things I'm not really sold on are the faces and the camo on the guys in the back, I used them as test beds for what the armor and the cloth are going to look like on my infantry and, while I think the armor came out well (you can't really see it but it's the same color as the blue-grey camo on the vehicle), I'm not sold on the splotch on the cloth. How do you guys feel about it? Any suggestions?

[WarriorFish]

I think the camo stripes are a good start but more could be done. With this style of camouflage I think a third colour helps a lot - black would be my recommendation or close to it. It could offset the other colours. I'd try and make the swishes a little thinner perhaps - experiment on something to see how different methods looks.

 

It's solid work for a five year gap so you should be pleased. Have you thought about further developments on the paint scheme? Washes are very good these days so could be a quick and easy way to add last touches to your models. A black or a blue wash would work well I reckon.

[hendrik]

5 years of no painting and such lenses? i hadn't painted in a couple of months and already lost my feeling with it! can't wait to see what you paint when you're on a roll again! ;)

[Gunmonkey88]

I think I'm going to try to do larger splotches and add in black. There are actually three colors to that camouflage but one of them is a grey that is so similar to the base that it gets pretty washed out. Ill also experiment a bit with washed, I have a blue one that should work nicely.

 

I also received in the mail today a Valkyrie, Wyvrn and 2 boxes of scions. I assembled the Valkyrie this afternoon (that thing takes FOREVER to put together) and have vowed it, the Wyvrn will follow. The scions will have to wait for some other bits that are currently on order; legs and heads from anvil industries, torsos from Eisenkern stormtroopers, and a sheet of small imperial eagles brass etch. My vets will also have the legs and heads from anvil, I can't wait to put them together, they should look really cool.

 

In the meantime, to whet everyone's appetite, I have included pictures of both the Valkyrie I vowed for the ETL and so Warriorfish doesn't summarily execute me and the sweet crew chief I converted from pieces from the shock troopers box. The left arm is from the heavy weapons hand from the Valkyrie crew, the lasgun is one of the loose ones from the shock trooper box, and the right arm is the grenade arm also from the shock trooper box. I cut the grenade out of the hand and will glue it to the interior of the Valkyrie. The idea is that he will be hanging slightly out of the door ready to provide cover fire for troops running in and out of the aircraft.

 

 

What do you guys think?

[WarriorFish]

Looks promising Gunmonkey, keep us updated :D

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

That gives me an idea. Next Valkyrie and Vendetta I build will have the Heavy Bolters, and they'll be manned, as door gunners, but I'll do the Crew Chief/Flight Engineer at the back of the bird supervising the upload and download of troops (acting as Loadmaster/Jumpmaster).

[Gunmonkey88]

That sounds great Ulrik! glad I can inspire creativity. Speaking of the crew chief, his completion is the highlight of this evening's efforts. I also finished the interior and glued both the crew chief and top into position (with a little trouble) and base coated the outside in dark grey. I see the guy as almost an easter egg, it's not that easy to see from a standard gaming perspective but up close a lot of the detail really comes out.

 

 

Next for the Valkyrie are the base coat for the blue-grey camo stripes and the cockpit followed by the engines and remaining detail work. Hopefully, the end of this weekend will see the completion of my second vow.

 

Also, a quick shoutout to WarriorFish for his advice on the camo, the black looks much better and I think this is what I'll be doing for the rest of my guys.

[WarriorFish]

Very nice progress, the crewman is looking good :tu:

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Indeed, very nice work.

[Vel'Cona]

That's a neat conversion.  Great job!

[Gunmonkey88]

Thanks for the comments. Just finished the Valkyrie and I must say it was a mothering, God , pain in the to put together quite a challenge to complete. I'm not sure how GW managed to decide that the cockpit was large enough for the pilots' arms when they released the kit. Needless to say, the next Valkyrie I complete will be sans-crew. Now, without further ado:

I learned a fair amount doing this model, chiefly that my idea for stencils was a complete and total failure. I had to change the grey I was using, the previous paint was getting chunky and pretty difficult to mix. Next up, another Wyvrn. What do you guys think?

[morroccomole]

I like the Elysian doing the airborne shuffle.

[WarriorFish]

It's a bit of a pain but worth it in the end :tu: The camo on top looks great, if your paint is getting lumpy try a drop of water and a good shake :)

[our_baz]

Real nice finish to that Valk very impressive as you've not painted in years. 

[Gunmonkey88]

Thanks for the feedback, it was a lot of work but the final product I think looks really good. The flash brought out a lot of the contrast in the paintjob, I promise it looks more put together in person lol. I'm putting my second Wyvrn together as we speak to submit as my third vov.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I like the Splinter camo on the Valk. I feel your pain, there is apparently a trick to doing the cockpit, I'll be damned if I know what it is though.

[Vel'Cona]

For me, I used a pair of rubber clamps to hold the cockpit down and I actually sanded down the pilot's arms a bit to help it all fit. Took a repaint and some fiddling, but the end result worked OK. I'd highly recommend waiting until absolute last to finish the pilots/cockpit as this is a huge sticking point for the model.

In either case, great finished product!

[WarriorFish]

Yes, leave the cockpit until last - and in bits. That's what I did. Just be careful about plastic glue on the clear plastic so you don't get frosting.

[nismogrendel]

Great looking models!  I really like your camo scheme.  Your post about Valkyrie assembly is making me dread putting mine together :)