Project log: Torburnides

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job.

[Charlo]

Looking great! Really like the skin colour diversity!

 

If only GW gave us some lady electro Priests :(

[Magos Takatus]

 

As promised, I've attempted to take some clearer pictures. You should be able to see the muscle definition a bit better now. Also, you should also see the bits of flash that I was too lazy to file off. I'll have to clip and repaint those methinks.

 

That's an interesting idea Charlo, some priestesses would have added a bit more variation to the squad. Speaking of variation, it seems that there's a lot less mix and match in the Adeptus Mechanicus range in particular. In space marine armies you can swap almost anything and it will fit. Even the Electro Priests have arms and heads in fixed poses. To re-pose them you need to fiddle about with lots of wires. I am happy to put up with a few niggling flaws for such impressive models though.

[JeffTibbetts]

I really like those skin tones! Not one of them looks like a parody or unnatural to me at all. Care to share your recipes at all? 

 

I think the models themselves do look too healthy, but it's not because of your skin tones. It's the sculpt itself. A sickly skin tone won't make them look less like pro wrestlers (the belts aren't helping. I swear they did it on purpose). I think you did a great job of keeping them sensible and I like the idea they're recruited to the cause from different populations or planets as they go. 

[Battybattybats]

I really like those skin tones! Not one of them looks like a parody or unnatural to me at all. Care to share your recipes at all? 

 

I think the models themselves do look too healthy, but it's not because of your skin tones. It's the sculpt itself. A sickly skin tone won't make them look less like pro wrestlers (the belts aren't helping. I swear they did it on purpose). I think you did a great job of keeping them sensible and I like the idea they're recruited to the cause from different populations or planets as they go. 

I too would like to know how the skin was painted.

On the belts and muscles, there's also the electric-shock belts sold by those informercial type companies that zap your abs to make them contract lots, some say that Bruce Lee's use of electric-shock muscle-excercise might have caused his heart trouble. So i thin k that might have been where GW's designers decided to mix that in.

[Magos Takatus]

I was experimenting with the scale 75 flesh paint set. http://scale75.com/en/scalecolor-range/174-flesh-paint-set.html

 

I avoided the golden skin paint because it sounded way too healthy for Electro Priests!

 

I would start by selecting a light an a dark colour, so I'd go for African Shadow and try mixing it with Basic Flesh or Pink flesh and then mix them together on a palette. I'd paint the darker colours into the recesses, under the arms and so on. I'd apply the lighter colours to the raised areas as expected. I started off with a colour midway between the light and dark so I could darken or lighten the skin as I needed to. I would mix in light skin and possibly a tiny amount of pale skin for highlights to facial features.

 

I found I couldn't get the African type skin to look right so I checked the Warhammer TV tutorials since they have quite a few skin tutorials. It suggested using a purple wash so I mixed my purple wash with some Agrax Earthshade and it helped a lot.

 

I know that's not very specific but I was blending the colours on a wet palette and using trial and error. Since I mas mixing gradients of colours on a wet pallet I don't know the exact paint ratios that I used but as long as you pick a pinkish paint for painting reddish skin  for example it should match reasonably well.

 

I also suggest taking a quick look at this link http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones since it gives some guidelines on different skin tones. I didn't have any of the paints they suggest using but I would recommend using the guide anyway.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Flame Boy

[JeffTibbetts]

I've been wanting to try out Scale 75 for some time, but I don't paint a ton of flesh tones. My two main armies are marines (and Raven Guard successors at that, so very pale) and Adeptus Mechanicus. But maybe I should try that set when I paint my Gorechosen models or something. Thanks for the tips! 

[Magos Takatus]

Hey all. I've finally managed to finish my Kataphron Breachers after hitting a painting wall pretty hard. The worst part was when I decided to varnish my models in direct sunlight on a very hot, sunny day. The models have frosted quite severely sadly and I haven't found a way to repair the damage. I tried re-varnishing the models which improved them somewhat but never really fixed the problem. I've re-painted some of the brighter details but I've decided I'm done with them for the time being. Here's some pictures:

 

You can tell the difference between the damaged paintwork and the correctly varnished areas by looking at the arc claws and the washed out colour of the green armour and metallic on the torsos of the servitors.

 

Over all I am happy with my progress in this Adeptus Mechanicus army now that phase two of the army is finally complete. I've experimented with new paint ranges, finding that Scale 75 do some really nice metallics, even if they seem a bit fiddly to work with at times. I've also painted flesh shades for several different ethnicities plus some sickly looking skin for servitors. I've learned the scary, arcane arts of magnetism, and though I've not mastered it, I have two squads of Kataphrons and an Onager that are assembled with magnets. I've also learned that having a blog to cultivate really does help with motivation (even if the last 3 models were a slog). Thanks for the feedback, advice and motivation so far. :D

 

As for phase 3 of my army? I haven't decided yet, but I have both a plastic Imperial Knight and a Castigator that will need to be started, I'm considering another Get Started set or I might keep an eye out for Forge World releases. However, I've got an Archaon model that is long overdue being finished so I'm going to strive to finish that while I figure out how I should venerate the Omnissiah next.

[Ammonius]

Excellent work! Your weathering and mud-work are very nice, and really work well on those Kataphrons! Keep up the good work!

[MithrilForge]

great work here !

I feel your pain on the bad weather and varnish fiasco... i dread varnishing models sometimes as i had that happen Once...once is all it takes to give you a fear of wrecking your models 

i think your weathering is perfect and gives off that gritty realistic look, the breachers especially have a nice "we've driven speedily through mud n dust to make contact with the enemy" , it makes me think of those scenes of real footage where you see a leopard tank or Abrams pounding across open ground kicking up dirt in its wake as it tracks it guns at a target ....

just like your breacher here 

Cheers, Mithril 

[Magos Takatus]

Thank you. I was trying to apply weathering according to what the Tech Priests would deem as important units. Most of the weapons are kept pristine to keep the machine spirits appeased, but I figured combat servitors would be quite low priority for repainting and general cleaning. Kastellans are relics that have their own Datasmiths who I assume would be very proud of their charges and would try to clean them up between battles. Tech Priests would probably be indifferent to how dusty they got but would prefer not to be on the battlefield unless it is imperative, allowing less dust to accumulate on them. I would say the Skitarii have to march further than most mortal troops but on the other hand they would want to keep themselves in good order to please the Tech Priests. Hopefully that explains why I have weathered the servitors more heavily in particular. That, and the track units are bound to make a mess grinding their way through dust and ash rather than nimbly stepping over it like Siciarians.

 

Oh, and a quick update, Since the admin have allowed us to discuss xeno races recently, I may be uploading some pictures of my Orks for anyone that is curious. 

[Vel'Cona]

 

Oh, and a quick update, Since the admin have allowed us to discuss xeno races recently, I may be uploading some pictures of my Orks for anyone that is curious. 

 

Please do!  Feel free to post a link in here when you do.

[Magos Takatus]

 

 

Oh, and a quick update, Since the admin have allowed us to discuss xeno races recently, I may be uploading some pictures of my Orks for anyone that is curious. 

 

Please do!  Feel free to post a link in here when you do.

 

Thanks! I have started a thread at http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/335275-flame-boys-orky-horde/?p=4790583 to show off my orks. I've not uploaded everything yet, but there was a lot to do, so hopefully I'll have images of the kans uploaded to my gallery soon. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The servitors look great.

[Magos Takatus]

It's time for me to blow the dust off this project log of mine since Belisarius Cawl is now available seperately from his triumvirate. Here's my take on the Archmagos.

 

 

As I've said elsewhere, this model looks terrifyingly fragile. I think I may have bent the keychain but I don't mind, now it just looks like he's jingling the keys out of impatience or trying to attract the attention of his favorite C.A.T. unit.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job.

[Charlo]

Crushed it.

[Magos Takatus]

My internet died for the last two days and I wanted to get some painting done so I have painted a Magos Dominus. He's a bit more colourful than my first effort. I'm hoping it's not gone overboard.

 

 

I also decided to take a photo of the Magi I've painted up. I have no idea what to do once I get a second start collecting box. :p

[WarriorFish]

Great to see them all together, excellent work you should be pleased with them :)

[Magos Takatus]

Hey all, just a quick update. Since this forum's gone absolutely bonkers over Imperial Knights I caved and got myself an Imperial Knights Renegade box and I've just finished working on the terrain that came in the box. I'm surprised how quickly it goes together and it even left me with a few spare parts for further terrain building or for base decoration.

 

Here's a delightful image focusing on my carpet but blocked by some inconsiderate servitor placing a small industrial outpost in the way. (sorry for the lame pic quality)

 

I will be going on holiday to visit family soon but in the meantime I'll get started on the first Knight. Expect me to start asking a lot of questions about building and painting these chaps. They are still "new" to me even though shockingly the kit is about four years old now. Where did the time go?

[Vel'Cona]

I think it looks lovely!  Do you have more of the Sector Mechanicus terrain about?

[Magos Takatus]

I don't have any other Sector Mechanicus stuff but I do have some MDF terrain that needs to be assembled. I'm currently trying to figure out what kind of magnets I will need for the Imperial Knights. I think the mid-bicep placement is the priority, then the magnets for the rocket/missile pod. 

[Magos Takatus]

Greetings,

 

I find myself once again plagued by indecision, this time toward my Imperial Knight colour scheme.

 

I really like this guy and I wouldn't mind using heraldry of my own devising with this colour scheme. To me it looks like Rakarth Flesh and Jokeaero Orange and it looks a lot like my original Magos test model. 

 

However...

 

A few months ago I got some colour shift chameleon paints from Green Stuff World and I've just got round to playing with them using my airbrush.

 

Since the effect is hard to capture on camera for some reason, here's my tests on some old spare parts.

 

The reason that I like this paint is that it's green (and therefore fits in with my Mechanicus army) and it also shifts to red (therefore appeasing more orthodox members of the Adeptus Mechanicus). 

 

What do people think about using these paints on Knights? Is it too gimmicky? Will making transfers stand out be an issue? Will silver work better on the borders than a gold or brass colour? This is my first Knight model so I'm pretty hesitant about messing the paintjob up. 

[WarriorFish]

I think it looks nice, but I'm not sure how well it'd work on flatter surfaces? It'd be a larger surface area though so that would probably lend itself to such an effect as it'd have more room to play with? I'd be wary of using it on the model itself, maybe try it on some test cardboard or something first to get a better feel for it.

[Magos Takatus]

Hey there. I've got a work in progress update for my first Knight. I've pretty much got the airbrushing done, here's what I've got so far.

 

 

As before, the effect looks a bit odd on camera but being able to view it in person I am happy with the appearance so far. Apart from transfers I am trying to find ways to make this stand out as a Mechanicus aligned Knight house. I'll work on some custom decals eventually but I want to make sure the basic Mechanicus heraldry looks passable first.