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Hi all, I'm Adrian and I've been a bit of a lurker on this site for a few months now. During a terribly dead patch with work as a freelancer early in 2015 I had a lot of time on my hands. During those interminable hours of trying to drum up work and surfing the web, I came back across this old hobby and an old light switch was flicked on.

 

Subsequently I became insanely busy with work but I guess I'd already been hooked in. I spent a lot of time looking at all the great work in the WIP threads. Whilst reading about the Space Marine Chapters (there's a lot more fluff than there was in 1995 when I last played 40k) and becoming more interested in Raven Guard as a chapter, I came across SCC's lovely Shadow Force Dragomir and decided I'd give this a go again.

 

So after much sitting on eBay, I found some Marines for the princely sum of five English Pounds:

 

11-Squad-0.jpg?raw=1

 

And off I went...

SaveSave

Edited by NiceGuyAdi

Having sat the marines in Dettol for a day, I could gently prize apart the backpacks, bases and weapons from the bodies and scrub off all the paintwork with a toothbrush. After priming them (they had just been painted straight onto plastic when I bought them) I started trying a few recipes to paint black power armour. I had a couple of aborted attempts (mainly because I hated how I'd done the eyes and aquila) at before settling:

 

11-Squad-1.jpg?raw=1

 

Sticking with them, I got my first two marines just about finished, short of Chapter and Squad markings:

 

11-Squad-2.jpg?raw=1
 
To be honest I think they still look too dark and monochrome, but I have to keep telling myself these are the first miniatures I've painted since I was a teenager (I'm 34 now) and improvement will come if I stick at it.
Edited by NiceGuyAdi

After probably a month of faffing, restripping and repainting, trying to work out how to do everything from eyes to purity seals from scratch again, I've got painted up the Space Marines I bought from eBay. So here's 11Sqd:

 

11-Squad-3.jpg?raw=1

 

I know I'm short of the ten marines needed to field a Special and Heavy Weapon in the same squad, but there was a mismatch on the Marines I'd bought: push fit marines with multi-part weapons left three of them without left hands. I'm not building an Iron Hands army so I've bought three more push fit marines to round out the Squad.

Edited by NiceGuyAdi

Those Raven Guard look pretty good. I like the look of the black armour in your test shots and the Dark Vengeance snap fit marines are some of the nicest sculpts for Space Marines, it's pleasing to see them painted up as well as you've done here. What have you attached to the Sergeant's cord belt in place of the Dark Angels Symbol?

Wow, you put some stuff up expecting nothing but a place to log your own progress, and end up with a ton of help and encouragement! Thanks all, I wasn't expecting this. Getting back into this hobby, I think the internet's (B&C included) had such an positive effect on finding inspiration and getting help, without all the trolling that seems to plague everywhere else. Makes me wish I'd never left.

 

Those Raven Guard look pretty good. I like the look of the black armour in your test shots and the Dark Vengeance snap fit marines are some of the nicest sculpts for Space Marines, it's pleasing to see them painted up as well as you've done here. What have you attached to the Sergeant's cord belt in place of the Dark Angels Symbol?

 

Thanks Soric. After I clipped off the Dark Angels symbol I Green Stuffed in a Raven's skull in its place. This was my first go with Green Stuff so it could definitely be improved. I'm a few thousand miles away from my desk and camera so can't show you the end result, but I nicked the idea from SCC here.

On another note, for finishing the Tactical Squad up, I still have to put in Chapter and Squad markings. I've gone down the freehand and decal routes. I think the Raven Guard symbol must be one of the tougher ones to get right, and I think my freehand abilities aren't at the stage of doing it justice, so decals are the way to go. These need tidying up around the edges still, but I'd welcome any comments and criticism:

 

11-Squad-4Decals.jpg?raw=1

Edited by NiceGuyAdi
  • 5 weeks later...

I've left the idea of freehanding the Chapter symbol, but I'm not happy with the decals I'd printed, so I'm going to have another crack at them using a clear transfer sheet, rather than the white one I'd used before. Whilst I wait on the new sheet to arrive, I'd better get on with some scouts...

 

It wouldn't be a Raven Guard force without 10th Company elements, but I cannot say how much I hate the scout models. They remind me of Desparate Dan from the Dandy. After a lot of thinking and Googling I realise it's the heads and shoulders that bother me. I came across another solution (credit to Titan on another forum), so time to chance my arm:

 

22-Sqd-dry-fit.jpg?raw=1

 

This is just a dry fit. I still need to:

-take off the Chaos Space Marine's top knot.

-take off the arrow beneath the top knot. Or maybe I should keep this?

-shave the bottom of the head/drill into the neck cavity to make the head fit properly.

-convert the Bolter to a shotgun.

 

This will be my first attempt at kit bashing, let alone modifying. What could possibly go wrong?

 

If anyone's got any advice, comments and criticism, I'd love to hear it.

Edited by NiceGuyAdi

I've left the idea of freehanding the Chapter symbol, but I'm not happy with the decals I'd printed, so I'm going to have another crack at them using a clear transfer sheet, rather than the white one I'd used before. Whilst I wait on the new sheet to arrive, I'd better get on with some scouts...

 

It wouldn't be a Raven Guard force without 10th Company elements, but I cannot say how much I hate the scout models. They remind me of Desparate Dan from the Dandy. After a lot of thinking and Googling I realise it's the heads and shoulders that bother me. I came across another solution (credit to Titan on another forum), so time to chance my arm:

 

22-Sqd-dry-fit.jpg?raw=1

 

This is just a dry fit. I still need to:

-take off the Chaos Space Marine's top knot.

-take off the arrow beneath the top knot. Or maybe I should keep this?

-shave the bottom of the head/drill into the neck cavity to make the head fit properly.

-convert the Bolter to a shotgun.

 

This will be my first attempt at kit bashing, let alone modifying. What could possibly go wrong?

 

If anyone's got any advice, comments and criticism, I'd love to hear it.

@NiceGuyAdi - Very nice models you have painted there! My name's also Adrian.

 

I'd say keep the arrow and keep the bolter as scouts come with them as base

 

@NiceGuyAdi - Very nice models you have painted there! My name's also Adrian.

 

I'd say keep the arrow and keep the bolter as scouts come with them as base

 

 

Thanks man, and always nice to meet another Adrian! Oddly enough I was also an Army reservist years ago. What are the chances, eh?

 

Too late on keeping the Bolter; I've already converted it. I wanted this squad to take a Land Speeder Storm and, game-wise, I think shotguns are the better option for assaulting out of one. The conversion's actually pretty simple. I'll get another pic up when I've glued 'n' green stuffed him all together.

  • 3 months later...

Progress! I've just come back here to see it's taken me three months to get anything done. I'll blame it on the baby in the knowledge that it's a bit of a one-hit-wonder as excuses go, and I must now try harder.

 

I got the Scouts cut down, glued and Green Stuffed. I also converted the Bolters to shotguns, which was surprisingly easy to do. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

 

22Sqd-2-assembly.jpg?raw=1

 

I've got them painted up, and then sculpted some bases with Milliput in the same style as the Tactical Marines I did before. However they just came out looking a sandy mess. The Agrellan Earth didn't come up very well, the metal fragments I'd placed didn't stand out. Just No.

 

22Sqd-3-basing.jpg?raw=1

 

So I got some new bases and made these up. I sculpted broken cobblestones interspersing the sand (sawdust), and think it has a lot more going for it than the blobs I'd done before.

Aaaaaaand they're done. Five miniatures in less than four months. Think I might need to speed up a touch, here...

 

That said, I'm happy with how they've come out. C&C welcome.

 

22Sqd-4-finished.jpg?raw=1

for a first time kitbash those have worked out really well, good job. 

Thanks man. I've a long way to go before I'm at the level of trying to pull off anything like as accomplished as your Khornate Knight!

 

On to the next one, then. This time for an ETL vow. What fun would Scouts with shotguns have without a ride, after all?

 

22-Sqd-LSS-1-primed.jpg?raw=1

 

Not much of a kit bash to go in, here, but I will have to modify the pilot and gunner somehow to get them to fit in with the Scouts they're carrying. I haven't made up my mind whether they'll be in the same vein as the scouts, or fully power armoured like regular Land Speeder crew. It may depend on what bits I can source.

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