Lost in the Eye - NiceGuyAdi's Raven Guard

[Soric]

Scouts wearing helmets have always sat uneasy with me in the past but yours look pretty good. I especially like your shotguns made from standard bolters.

 

As for your speeder, I would say you should keep consistency with the rest of your scouts and give them just the armoured arms from the original speeder crew.

 

I've often wondered whether the normal landspeeder crew would fit in the Storm's chassis. Keen to see what you do with it :)

[Mechanist]

I'd definitely look at matching the pilots to the scouts for the finished effect.

[NiceGuyAdi]

I'd definitely look at matching the pilots to the scouts for the finished effect.

 

 

As for your speeder, I would say you should keep consistency with the rest of your scouts and give them just the armoured arms from the original speeder crew.

 

I've often wondered whether the normal landspeeder crew would fit in the Storm's chassis. Keen to see what you do with it

 

I think you guys were right, consistency with the squad they're carrying is the way to go. It was a bit tricky though. I looked at using the standard Land Speeder crew, but decided against in the end, because they're fully power armoured.

 

Instead I used as much of the standard crew as I could, but cut off their pauldrons, instead using Grey Knights right arms for a close match to the LSS posing; for the gunner a Tactical Marine's missile launcher left arm; and for the pilot a Command Squad pointing left arm. It took quite a lot of shaving and GSing to make it all fit, but I think it's about there. The gunner's hand is magnetised as well in case I want to swap his weapon:

 

 

The only thing I think I might change is the pilot's left arm. I think it needs rolling around so his thumb is a bit more horizontal. Thoughts?

 

[edited for spelling]

Edited June 16, 2016 by NiceGuyAdi

[Race Bannon]

Yeah.  Try that pose IRL, it's awkward.  Then again, in the heat of the moment (versus in an office chair, with co-workers looking at you funny), that may be appropriate.

[Major_Gilbear]

Nice work! I do still spot a little DA sword dangling from a Tac trooper's backpack, but I'm overall impressed at their transformation.

 

 

The only thing I think I might change is the pilot's left arm. I think it needs rolling around so his thumb is a bit more horizontal. Thoughts?

 

I thinkt he reason it looks off is because the helmet is not tilted far down enough for him to be looking where he's pointing. Raising the arm a little and turning the hand at the wrist a touch may be all you need.

[NiceGuyAdi]

Well I seem to be getting slower, not faster, but I've nearly completed my ETL vow. Repositioning the pilot's arm was needed, so thanks to Race and Major Gilbear for convincing me to deal with it.

 

Just need to prime the base and assemble the last bits, now. Surely I can manage that in two weeks to not make myself an oathbreaker...

 

[NiceGuyAdi]

Basing done, and with it my first ETL vow done, too. Relief!

 

Vehicle painting is very time consuming with a brush but I feel like it's been a good learning exercise.

 

 

 

Onwards and upwards...

[AlphariusOmegon108]

VERY well done!

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Great basing and great black. Looks awesome. Mind if I ask what you used for a background?

[Major_Gilbear]

Looks great all painted up - well done!

[Svartmetall]

Really nice to see one of the less-well-represented legions getting some love here; particularly enjoying the work you're putting into re-posing them. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

[NiceGuyAdi]

Thanks for your kind comments, all.
 

Mind if I ask what you used for a background?

 
 Yup, just some grey A3 card from the art store, bent into a ramp. I mocked it up again for you:
 

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

What a setup that is. Cheers brother. Must be a joy to work/play there ;)

[NiceGuyAdi]

What a setup that is. Cheers brother. Must be a joy to work/play there

Thanks Arkhan. I'm a video editor and work from home a fair bit. I used to have a great big desk until my daughter arrived and my office became 'her room'. I don't know, some people.

 

Anyway it necessitated moving a ton of equipment into the narrow space by the chimney breast in the living room, and if I was ever going to be able to use it for paid work (and hobbying) it was going to need a fair bit of work. I got a palm router for my birthday last year (my family give me DIY gifts, then get me to do jobs for them) so it got some good use on this!

[Dosjetka]

You're doing a nice, decent job with these. Keep it up! :tu:

[NiceGuyAdi]

True story: When I was coming towards the end of painting the Land Speeder Storm, my wife leaned over my shoulder and, indicating to the Heavy Bolter, said: "Oh that's good, I like the grey. I prefer it to the black." Unfortunately for me, the grey was just where I'd primed it. I hadn't even touched it with a brush, yet.

 

Annoyingly she has a point. Painting black pulls in light and it's really difficult to define the shadows and detail. So after coming across Uginius' beautiful Raven Guard which are much lighter, I think I'm gonna try basing dark grey, then working down to black in the shadows and up through grey on the highlights. So I've mixed up a dropper bottle of 50/50 Abaddon Black/Eshin Grey. Let's see...

 

So, Scouts done, it must be time to cover that other quintessentially Raven Guard unit: Jump Pack Marines. These guys will make up 32 Assault Squad.

 

 

Edited August 23, 2016 by NiceGuyAdi

[NiceGuyAdi]

When I started out on this army, I spent quite some time struggling with the symbols on Raven Guard pauldrons. The chapter badge has to be one of the trickier ones going and, frankly, my freehand isn't up to it. I took a look at the official Raven Guard decal sheet, but thought there was a lot on there I'd never use, the symbols were too big for my taste, and I'd rather make some up myself. But getting white decals made up is tricky and expensive.

 

After some trial and error I came up with a workaround for making white decals on black armour. A lot of this has been covered elsewhere, but I never came across this method as a whole, so I thought I'd share it here for anyone who might find it useful. 

 

DIY decals on black background tutorial

 

The basic idea behind this is to print only a black outline guide for the decal. The model is base coated in white and once the decal is applied, the outside edge of the decal can be cleaned up.

 

Requirements

- image editing software. I used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, which are expensive but I have them for work anyway. GIMP should work fine and is free.

- a printer

- clear decal paper (I used Expert's Choice)

- decal sealant. I've used Winsor and Newton Gloss Varnish aerosol, but don't think it's the best (Micro Sol makes the ink leak). I'll be trying Prism Clear Glaze in the future.

- Micro Sol and Micro Set

- Lahmian Medium or other paint on matte varnish.

- white and black paint

 

Step 1 - Design your decals

The technique here is to make the actual shape of the decal white, and stroke the outside of the shape in black. This way your printer will ignore the shape itself, and instead print a thin 'cutting in' guide you can paint up to the edge of. If you're not confident in your brush control, make this thicker. The colours below just indicate what would happen if you laid this decal strip over different colours:

 

 

Step 2 - Print the decals

Allow an hour or so for them to fully dry

 

Step 3 - Seal the decals

This will stop the ink running when you get them wet. Give it two or three very light coats of decal sealant, allowing 15 minutes between each. Then leave for 24 hours to fully seal.

 

Step 4 - undercoat the miniature

Paint the area the decal will sit on white. I've found a few thin coats of white allow a much smoother finish. Allow plenty of bleed area so that the decal will completely sit inside the white:

 

 

Step 5 - apply the decal

- cut out the decal reasonably close to the outside edge (1-2mm); no need to be precise.

- using the edge of an x-acto blade, drop it face up in clean water.

- whilst the decal is in the water, add a blob of Micro Set

- after 20-30 seconds, lift the decal from the water on the back of an x-acto blade, and gently brush it on to the miniature with an old brush. My drybrush works well here.

- place the decal and leave it to dry, Keep an eye on it in case it wanders.

 

By now it'll look like this:

 

 

Step 6 - preparing to cut in

- to help deal with visible edges where you cut the decal, add some Micro Sol to the edges only. Micro Sol on the decal caused the ink to start to run for me (better decal sealant might prevent this).

- seal the decal to the miniature with a brush coat of Lahmian Medium (or other matte varnish) or two. This will also remove the glossy look.

- Micro Sol followed by Lahmian Medium can leave a waxy residue. Use an old brush to wash over the now sealed decal with clean water.

 

Step 7 - cutting in

Now using a detail brush, paint around the outside of the decal in black. Because you have a black stroke around the edge, you can paint into this without affecting the shape of the symbol itself, I find Micro Sol can make the first layer of paint a pig to put down, so it's best to use multiple thin coats here (they're also easier to clean away if you accidentally stray inside the decal). Once this is done, so are your decals:

 

 

Hope this is of use to someone out there!

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

Great read, but the last pic doesn't display for me.

[NiceGuyAdi]

Well, I'm not getting any quicker at three months for five miniatures. But I feel like I'm improving slowly. 32 Assault Sqd finished:

 

 

Close-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still not fully happy with how I'm getting my blacks. I tried a lot of wet blending here which I'm a long way from mastering. Once I moved to the heads I found glazing up was easier for me. The Sergeant's head was the last one I did and that's the one I was happiest with. C&C most welcome.

 

Onwards and upwards!

 

[edited to add close-ups]

Edited November 19, 2016 by NiceGuyAdi

[Kierdale]

Very nice work! :tu:

[deathspectersgt7]

Very Nice . 

[NiceGuyAdi]

Thanks guys. Next up will be an HQ slot to round out a CAD. He's only bits so far, with a few more to be added, yet, once they arrive in the post:

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by NiceGuyAdi

[Mechanist]

thats some really nice progress and I wouldn't be to worried about model count, I've been playing for the last 20 years and am still to finish painting an army. 

[cephalopod]

I may steal your scout idea. Also nice work.  Who knew ebay was a thing.  

[NiceGuyAdi]

I may steal your scout idea.

 

Fill yer boots, although I'd best be honest and say I stole the idea first!

Edited November 28, 2016 by NiceGuyAdi