Mechanist's Plog, Chaos Knights (yes Plural)

[Mechanist]

Thanks guys.

The plan last night went down the pan a bit as I got carried away with scrubbing terminators. All 11 bodies and the full Abaddon have been cleaned up, next will be the fiddly weapon arms and trophy racks.

 

I've just been on ebay for some cataphractii as well, since I'm not that fussed about a bucket load of Mk4 marines it seams the sensible option. I really wanted some since HH has the sons of Horus 1st company in cataphractii and the twin lighting claws look amazing.

 

Needless to say my terminator bitz box will be overflowing with Tartaros from Burning of Prospero, cataphractii, plastic Chaos Terminators, Plastic Terminator Lord and a host of metal parts.

Out of this I need to have a plasma combi armed unit, a melta combi armed, options for the two heavy weapons, a Sorcerer in Terminator armour and the big Bad Abaddon himself.

Then I definitely want some CC terminators even though the two previous units are all I need for both my 100 and 200 power level lists so god knows when I'll use them.

After that Ebay may find itself helping to recoup some of my spending (obviously that's what I'll tell the wife, though more terminators with combi bolters and combi flamers should fill out my options some more).

[Mechanist]

I had last week off work and manages a whole host of building Terminators finishing late last night with the intention of getting a game in this evening.

However my opponent had a big project deadline moved to this Wednesday instead of last Friday and is also moving house this coming Friday so the game has been postponed a week and I have more time to finished the conversions.

One of my first jobs was to dig through a whole host of bitz to find suitable parts to steal details from.

Lots of skull details and chaos stuff from my WFB spares along with a few CSM donors.

One of the first jobs was to find some nice small Skull emblems for Abaddon himself as I'm working on his belt and leg details.

With the game approaching one of my last jobs last night was to glue him together quickly and with the extra time I'll be attaching some guitar wire to his chest and finishing off his belt and other greenstuff tidy up.

I'm just working through the rest of the photos and uploading to my gallery so expect to see plenty more this week, but I should probably get back to work as lunch time is over.

[hushrong]

NICE! I am sincerely hoping we get a new Abaddon soon but I always love seeing conversions. The details on his belt are looking great and looking forward to seeing the piping added to the chest.

 

I also have to ask, is there a particular type or brand of guitar string to use? Bought some awhile back (cannot remember type or brand off the top of my head) and it s tough to bend smoothly. I got it for cabling for my noise marines but I just didn't like working with it since it would have very straight bends in it instead of rounded. I wonder if I need to get a cylinder to bend them more smoothly around.

[Mechanist]

Thanks. I really hope he gets a look in soon but with the codex out it'll probably be some time before a vanilla CSM model release so I'll not hold my breath. 

 

I'm actually just going to snip off the excess on my guitar which I've barely touched in years but since I can't find any of the old strings I used to have it'll have to do. I basically had it for GCSE Music and never really got any good, for the life of me I can't remember when the strings (or the make) were last changed and the only reason I've looked at it is I was hoping the old string where in the case and though my 5 year old would enjoy seeing it (it's only a squire strat anyway).

[Vairocanum]

Abaddon is looking awesome! Meshing the old parts with new works really well and gives him some good height. Looking forward to seeing more!

[hushrong]

Yeah, I am hoping this is the year of Chaos. I would love to see Emperor's Children get a release like the Death Guard. However I would take a new CSM kit and Abaddon just as happily.

 

Guitars are sweet. I wish I took the time to learn to play one.

[Mechanist]

Thanks Vairocanum, I'm hoping to crack out the greenstff tonight and get him tidied up. with the game postponed from last night he'll get dismantled again to give easier access but I should get some more pictures in the next couple of days.

Yeah, I am hoping this is the year of Chaos. I would love to see Emperor's Children get a release like the Death Guard. However I would take a new CSM kit and Abaddon just as happily.

I expect a lot of Nurgle over the coming months with 40k deathguard through till early October and a mix of AOS and 40k for daemons as I have seem a leak of the new GUO. Who knows what will roll through into next year but in the fluff Fulgrim is taunting Girlyman and Angryron has apparently been stomping around so I don;t expect to see Abaddon till after the Primarchs.

Guitars are sweet. I wish I took the time to learn to play one.

I know that feeling, I can only remember smoke on the water nowadays.

Now I have limited time to write up and talk around the images so I'll just leave this guy here today and cover the sorcerer later.

I need a Chaos lord with Black mace and combi Plasma to foot slog with my core of marines and since I have 2 Kranons it seamed like a good place to start. The Combi Plasma is from the Space Marine Commander kit and an arm from a WFB Chaos Knight finishes the weapon options.

The head wasn't to difficult to dig out and obviously had to be replaced to differentiate from Kranon, at the moment I'm actually quite liking the Chaos space marine champion helmet with it's big horns so I think that will do nicely.

I've since added a bit more chaos details to the gun and a backpack, no need to greenstuff this guy I'll try to get some more pics tonight of him finished ready for undercoat.

[Sagentus]

The Scorcerer looks great! The head is pergect for this model and it is a great use of Kranon. Wish i had never glued mine together when i got it years ago lol. Look forward to seeing how it come on 

[Mechanist]

The Scorcerer looks great! The head is pergect for this model and it is a great use of Kranon. Wish i had never glued mine together when i got it years ago lol. Look forward to seeing how it come on

Thank you though he's actually a chaos lord not the sorcerer, his job will be to accompany my core chaos marines and chosen, which between 3 units is going to have 11 plasma guns so I really want to get those reroll 1s to hit.

My sorcerer is going to be in terminator armour to he can deepstrike in and warp time one of the terminator units and get them into a better position. With an expected game Monday evening I bodged this guy together Sunday night from various left overs.

Now he's much to busy for my tatas and would need stripping back and starting again however I also have this guy from some years back,

Based on a metal terminator space marine captain I got for a Christmas or birthday present he's currently in the Nailvarnish remover having had the majority of the paint removed by detol and the plastic bits stripped off.

I'll be using my bosh multi tool this weekend so I'll grab that and get the left arm cut off, then I can use the arms, weapons and head from the plastic version to chosify it without the clutter. I'm also tempted by the book from the Chaos lord sprue.

It's been quite hand postponing the game and shortly I'm going to grab the box of bits down and hopefully finish up the work with plastic bits, though I'm stuffed up with a head cold so my ability to be arsed may fail. On the up side if I don't feel much better when my alarm goes off tomorrow I'm emailing work and going back to bed and spending some of the afternoon doing stuff.

[hushrong]

That lord is sweet. My favorite thing on him is the extra touch you added to the bolter and its belt feed.

 

The sorcerer also looks great. I like the way he looks and the use of the plastic cataphractii shoulder pads. I used some on a termie chaplain I built for an upgrade and love the look but I can never find those pads for sale individually.

[Mechanist]

That lord is sweet. My favorite thing on him is the extra touch you added to the bolter and its belt feed.

The sorcerer also looks great. I like the way he looks and the use of the plastic cataphractii shoulder pads. I used some on a termie chaplain I built for an upgrade and love the look but I can never find those pads for sale individually.

Thanks. I picked up a full set of Cataphractii off ebay as I felt that Abaddon needed to be accompanied by remnants of his Justaerin.

Speaking of which this is a WIP shot of the Melta armed Terminators

They have since had a bit more work including tidying up and all Barrels drilled out but the basic form is there.

The same is also true of these Plasma Combi Terminators

Again they have all had their barrels drilled and a mould line tidy up and a little bit of filling on at least one.

I've got individual photos of them all ready for paint but I'll sort and upload all ten of those at a later point.

I've also finished the characters,

Now a quick side by side with the old metal captain shows that he clearly isn't big enough and would be over shadowed by the other models which isnlt the worst thing and it could be explained by fluff but the newer arms would look silly on him.

so I've cleaned up the plastic model and taken the cloak off him as well and now it look like this.

Along with that the Lord has had his barrels drilled and a little bit of attention on the trim round the gun, unfortunately the effect of the poly cement makes the exact detail tougher to see but here he is.

Last but not least the big man himself has had his cables added to the front of his armour and much of the details completed. Now I could go further and as I type this I think it would be the right thing to do so I'll be spraying the rest this afternoon I hope but Abby has one more tiny batch of greenstuff due to really sort out the Icon in the middle of his chest and the pistons on his legs.

I'll get him sprayed up over the weekend and maybe even some paint on him, depends largely on evenings and how I feel. Having had yesterday and today off work sick painting may not be the ideal plan and also the Primaris squad is in my painting box and I should probably finish that unit off before painting these guys so I can at least pack them away finished.

[Mechanist]

 

 

I like the way he looks and the use of the plastic cataphractii shoulder pads. I used some on a termie chaplain I built for an upgrade and love the look but I can never find those pads for sale individually.

 

If it helps I just found this tutorial for scratch building your own.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/pre-heresy-terminator-shoulder-pads.html

 

Looks like a great way to use the spare arms you get with the Calth sprues. 

[hushrong]

The terminators are coming along nicely! Also need you to heal up and paint those primaris so we can see Abaddon with some paint.

 

I remember that blog but its been awhile since I've checked it out. Last I remember that fella took a break and I stopped going there when I saw nothing too new.

Making those shoulder pads would be sweet. I like the bulky look and the strips of material hanging from the shoulder with those cataphractii bits.

[Mechanist]

Thanks. Back at work today and got a little carried away with some chosen yesterday evening so I'm one step closer to having my 2k list built. Just need a couple more plasma guns for the second csm unit and to build 2 more combi plasma guns.

Pictures later as on my phone in the car park (no key holder which is fun).

[Mechanist]

 

I remember that blog but its been awhile since I've checked it out. Last I remember that fella took a break and I stopped going there when I saw nothing too new.

Making those shoulder pads would be sweet. I like the bulky look and the strips of material hanging from the shoulder with those cataphractii bits.

I think it's an old post from when he was posting. I found it searching round for a way of using up the spare arms I have since I've now run out of shoulder pads yet have 2 bodies left from the conversions (plus I want to make the most of the lightning claw arms). 

[Mechanist]

I've got 5 minutes while waiting for a response from a customer at work so I though I;d throw up and Picture of the chosen.

I was going to have the champion with just a sword but since I found out the FAQ allows for power weapons and combi I'll be paying a few more points and upgrading to a power sword or maybe even something like lightning claws.

Hmm things to think about now.

[Blindhamster]

I always enjoy seeing people tackle Abaddon, he's a character that needs a new model more than almost any other, purely because of his importance. I think you did a clever job in updating the model whilst using enough of the original bits for it to be easily identifiable.

[Mechanist]

Thank you. I've since then had a bit of a go at him but no pics yet. I Cut his thighs and added in a few more mm as he seemed a bit squat legged especially with his championship belt added.

Since then however I lost my job after the probation period didn't work out. While I wasn't happy and it wasn't the best role for me losing it was a bit of a blow.

Now we do occasionally see on here comments about mental health and it's important to talk about it more in the open. For a long time I've had mild depression and it's really kicking me in the teeth right now, added to some tendency toward being a hobby butterfly anyway and the effort of painting an army hasn't been something I've been able to face. I did however have all of the black legion models assembled at least and can field a 2k 8th edition list which has seen the gaming table a few times so I don;t feel to bad about taking a pause from that while I sort myself out.

Now in the last few weeks I've been trying to get some Mojo back so grabbed a model that I felt like working on and got to work.

I'm just preparing the photos so far but I'm actually making progress and will share them later.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

Caught up on over a year's worth of posts. Crazy stuff.

 

I made the old SM Termi Captain into an Inquisitor; it was the only plausible way to explain the marked size-difference IMO.

[Mechanist]

It's a good idea that. Not got a great deal of use for one at the moment but will ponder, the 11 Terminator bodies went up on E-Bay in the end and give me a little budget to look into Necromunda possibly or at least some sector Mechanicus. 
I'll spend so time going over the rest of the photos tomorrow along with a number of other jobs on the computer including job stuff and planning so expect to see some nice progress shots of the greater Daemon then. 

[Mechanist]

So job hunting and getting a cold delayed my sitting and going through all the photos. As a slight break after reading over my next cover letter I've sorted the nest three photos.

First up is the assembled model that should give an idea of the pose and the few details I changed from the stock model using parts from Kairos Fateweaver's options.

It's a shame the head isn't more poseable as It would have been nice to follow the line of the weapons and look towards the sword. However I didn't want this to get bogged down in conversion work and greenstuff so I've stuck with the slight compromise. Still the day I built it I moved on outside since the weather was reasonable and got both this guy sprayed, my unit of chosen and the lord with mace sprayed.

I've not got pics of the marines just yet but here is the Lord of change with zenthial undercoat

From there it didn't take me long to block out the main colours.

Since then I switched to working on one wing at a time, I've finished one and am very close to the second. Been hit with colds though so by evening I've not had the energy to get the paints out. without the cold I should have had the second wing finished before the weekend and got somewhere with the body, still there isn't much left on the second wing and I'll sort through the pictures shortly to share a finished bit.

I did get a little distracted writing this up though and have given him a name.

Dak'tali Uv'allion Balamak'

[Mechanist]

So work on the photos Dak'tali Uv'allion Balamak' are completed and I can now share them.

First job was to paint the whole of the feathers and skin with regal blue before a drybrush of regal/enchanted blue mixed. I really am going to need to update some of these colours at some point. Next up came the washes, I knew I wanted to have some variation of colour so the whole of each wing got a Blue wash to start. Then the long feathers received a heavily watered down Purple wash to about 3 quarters of the way down followed by another much stronger wash to about a third of the way from the tip.
I spent some time re-highlight the blue feather with the 50/50 mix (I have a pot of it as a vital part of my nids) before moving onto my pot of enchanted blue/Ice blue which had some slight improvements made to the tone as I always found the Ice blue final highlight quite stark and the 3 stages of the two mixes with enchanted blue in the middle too similar and not enough difference to warrant all three. After my initial tests with the blues the pair of wings turned out like this.

From this point I moved onto doing a single wing at a time and having visited GW to sort my selection of purples out I started with Xereus Purple then genestealer Purple with a final of Dechala Lilac towards the edge. One of the things I try to do is something new for each project and with this one appropriately enough it was feathering. Having worked on edge highlights I figured it was time to also get feathering down or at least passable.

Once I'd finished on the purple I went back to the blue for a final finish of the previous stages and then a band of Ice blue final highlights on the largest of the blue feathers to help distinguish them from the smaller ones.
With that done it was time for a basecoat of the details ready for the final touches.

After this, the first wing was completed fairly quickly and I moved onto the second. So right now the two look much like this

The second wing is further along though and looks much like the previous picture but yellow has been applied to the flames. I'm looking forward to getting this assignment out of the way so I can finish the second wing up and move onto the body. While there are some larger feathers I realy shouldn't need half the number of fine lines and so should get though much quicker.

I'll ensure I get more photos as and when I get a move on I'm determined to not let this one slip and to actually finish a project this time before moving back to a previous one.

[Sagentus]

This is coming along amazingly ... the wings look superb. Cant wait to see the rest of it done ! 

[Mechanist]

Thank you. me to, late one tonight to get this assignment done and then prep for the in laws visiting Thursday through till boxing day but I'm determined to get the wings finished before Christmas. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The wings are an excellent example of your painting skills.