Wakko's Wacky Gallery: Chronicles of a Journey

[Wakkomaster]

Prologue

 

Greetings, brothers of the Bolter and Chainsword, and welcome to my humble little Painting Log of my finished works (which means, there's going to be a Work-in-Progress one in the appropriate forum).

Before delving into it though let me spend a few words to introduce myself.

 

I started painting Warhammer 40.000 miniatures seven years ago, in July 2011, when I moved to my new home and started living on my own. As a kid I used to love scale modeling and I even manage to buy, assemble and paint a couple of World War II aircrafts, so I guess I had it in me. Unfortunately, as I suffered from asthma, I was allowed to do it only in summertime, when I could do it outside (because of the oil/enamel paints and smelly glues), so I promised myself that once I grew up and could have my own place, I would be modeling again.

 

When I started anew, I decided to pick Warhammer 40.000 mostly because of the Dawn of War PC games, which I used to play at the time, though I've been aware of it since the boardgame Space Quest hit the shelves (I had Hero Quest by the way). As an "army" to focus on, I picked the Grey Knights because they looked cool and, judging from the videos on youtube, they didn't seem that hard to paint. But as I said, they were cool with their huge swords and maces and the medieval-knight look. And rule of cool can't be trumped, you can quote me on that.

 

Things though took an unexpected turn when I received a box of tactical marines for my birthday (instead of the Nemesis Dreadknight I was hoping for - oh well...). I decided that I was going to collect all kind of space marines, at least a unit from every space marine codex. Before I could reconsider my plan, I was already on a shopping spree, thanks to a friend of mine who just started selling GW kits in his shop and wanted to help.

So I ended up painting Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Space Wolves. It was fun, for sure, but after a while I realised I was spreading too thin and all the jumping from one project to another was hindering me. There were times when I sat down and stared for hours at my grey, unpainted miniatures trying to decide which squad to paint first.

 

But, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

Every journey has a beginning.

 

Here's the beginning of mine

 

 

Unknown Ultramarines Veteran

 

 

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 1: and here's how it all started

 

When I started painting, back in July 2011, I bought one of those "Start Painting" boxes GW used to sell. The Warhammer 40k one had five easy-to-fit space marines, a few pots of paint and a horrible "starter brush". I set my eyes on Grey Knights, but I had to start somewhere, so those five, oddly posed tacticals were my first.

 

I found out that painting was not as easy as it seemed on youtube: how much paint should I use? How much water? What's the best way to load my brush? Why this cursed thing can't be pointy? where some of the questions I asked myself in my first painting session.

Now I know that those questions can only be answered with experience, and you're the only one who can answer them: what's good for someone else may not be the ideal for you, I found out. And to be honest: I learned my right way to load the brush only last year, so yes it does take some time.

 

Anyway, in August I managed to get the five chaps finished, and based too (as you'll see, 99% of my minis are not based as I can't decide how I'm going to base them).

The shading was disappeared after the second coat of ultramarine blue, the eyes were odd to say the least and the highlights... I managed a few, just around the shoulderpads where you just have to drag the brush against the edge. They were a mess, but they were my mess. And I finished them.

 

After those five I painted ten Grey Knights (5 terminators, 5 power armour), a whole 10-man Ultramarines tactical squad and ten Ultramarines Terminators. While doing it I decided to improve my gear, so I bought more paints and some of those old, bad GW brushes (nothing in common with the newest, clearly better line). For the records the "Base" brush, the one with the red trim, only lasted through the 10-man tactical squad. That's around the time when I found out about the Bolter and Chainsword, where nice folks praised DaVinci, Winsor & Newton and other funny-named brushes that I couldn't find in stores - but I could buy on Amazon, which must have some connections to the Omnissiah...

As I got better those early minis seemed worse and worse, so I decided to strip and re-paint them.

But not the first five. Not those.

 

In November 2012 my first Ultramarines came back home, after having spent around a year in my friend's shop (apparently GW advised him to show some finished minis in the shop as a way to attract customers, and I was happy to lend them to his cause).

Of course I couldn't strip them.

But... what about a little touch up?

Besides, after all the time, maybe they earned their veteran honours, so I could give them a nice white helm and a few purity seals...

 

 

 

Five grizzled veterans

 

The paint is chipped in a few spots

 

I added some modifications too

 

 

 

Sure, they aren't exactly as I painted them the first time. Plus I tinkered a bit some spare bits, added some combat knives, purity seals and parchements to give them some characters.

Once more I was very happy with them.

 

 

So, that's how I Painted back in 2012. But what about now, you ask.

 

Well...

 

 

Watch Captain in terminator armour, formerly of the Black Templars

 

 

 

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 2: Fast Forward

 

Greetings again, Brothers of the Bolter and Chainsword and welcome to the second chapter of my chronicles.

 

Last time I left with a cliffhanger, the picture of a Watch Captain in terminator armour, so today I'll delve deeper into the subject.

Of the different Adeptus Astartes Codexes... Codexes? Codex? Codici? Err nevermind, let's say "Armies" and let's move forward... I was saying, of the different Space Marine armies the Deathwatch shines for the numerous modeling opportunities it can offer - as all the models are fully fledged veterans, you can add all the blings and frills you like and treat each one of them as character and not rank-and-file units.

Not only that, but since most of them keep their old gear you can go crazy and put together teams from different chapters and add all the chapter insignia you find in your bitsbox.

 

Kitbashing. Scratchbuilding. Converting.

Glorious.

 

The first Deathwatch veteran I built followed that logic: a Black Templar Sword Brother in terminator armour.

 

 

Black Templars are known to often wear tabards and such, and I happened to have just the right thing, a piece from the Deathwing Knight kit. The legs and the back torso are from the old Terminator kit, but with just a bit of shaving they fit perfectly. I had to shave off all the Dark Angels symbols as well, but with a good file it was easy work.

In the beginning he was armed with a custom Thunder Hammer, made of a Deathwing Knight flail (the shaft) and a standard Thunder Hammer (the head), and a heavily modified Deathwing Storm Shield, but then I changed my mind as I already had too many models with the same setup.

So I went with the storm bolter & powerfist combo, a classic with an undeniable charm.

 

 

Next I went for a Hammer & Shield Deathwing terminator. 

 

 

 

 

I tried to go for a dynamic pose, like he's quickly turning right to face another foe. The hammer is a standard one: probably his old one broke, or he used a power weapon, so he got a plain one from the Deathwatch armoury. Since he's a Dark Angel we'll never know the truth...

Now, as you probably noticed both veterans don't sport the usual chapter insignia: the Black Templar, being a Sword Brother (a veteran) ears the red maltese cross on black background, while the Dark Angels has the Deathwing badge. Reading the Deathwatch Codex and looking at the pictures in it I came to the conclusion that veterans keep their home chapter badges as they were at the moment of the induction, though you can see a Black Templar terminator with the black cross on white background - probably because they had to use a decal instead of the sculpted shoulderpad.

 

 

The Deathwatch is also a brotherhood. Brothers from rival chapters develop new bonds of mutual trust, so why not putting a former Wolf Guard shoulder-to-shoulder with the aforementioned Dark Angel?

 

 

 

 

 

Slowly approaching his prey, lightning claws ready.

Nothing special, all the pieces came from the Wolf Guard kit. I have two or three more Space Wolves Terminator I can add to my Deathwatch force, maybe I can convert one to some other chapter like White Scars, Red Wolves and such.

 

Last, but not least, the two HQ units, the Watch Captain you already saw before and a Blood Angels Librarian. Because yes, what's more funny than pairing a Dark Angel with a Space Wolf? But a Librarian with a Black Templar, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minor conversion: the helmet. I should warn you, I love helmets, and I like to go the extra mile to give one to each model. Librarians included.

The conversion itself was quite easy, it's just a matter of trimming, fitting and filing (not just the psychic hood, but the helmet itself as well). Unfortunately I couldn't pose the helmet like the default head (which looks to the right, aiming the bolter), so I went with plan B: use the unarmed/casting hand and keeping the head to look ahead, like he's spinning to his left to hurl a spell with his right hand. Not what I had in mind, but I think it still works.

I'm quite happy with the Force Axe, I think Idid a good job there.

I experimented a bit painting the tabard/loincloth, because I wanted to do a bit of practice before tackling the Captain's cloak.

 

Talking about the captain...

 

 

 

 

Now, that was a lot of work.

First, the conversions: it's the Terminator Captain model, with a helmet (because I think helmets are cool, and Rule of Cool always wins) and a Black Templar sculpted shoulderpads. As the default plain shoulderpad is firmly attached to the arm, I had to shave & file the thing so I could fit the new one.

Since I was on a roll, I went further: you see, the model has a big flaw as the cloak is fused with the left leg. You won't notice when looking at it straight in front, but you will when looking from the side. So once again, armed with hobby knife and files, I sculpted the cloak and part of the leg so that they were no more one whole bit.

Oh, and the leather thing on the bolter is gone too.

Then, the painting. The one thing I'm really proud of is the cloak. It was the first time I tried layering and I think it turned out rather good. It was one of those "what the heck I'm doing?" moments when you think you botched it every odd second, just for every little thing fitting into place at the right time.

 

Time for a group picture before bidding you farewell

 

 

 

 

And of course, if you have questions, tips or critics you're welcome to leave a comment.

 

Farewell, till next time

 

 

 

 

 

[Axineton]

Nice! I have also put a hat on my terminator captain but only because I hate painting faces. Great looking minis mate

[Wakkomaster]

Thanks Fr33Dom, much appreciated! 

 

I admit I tried to paint a couple faces in the past, I think it was some Chaos Cultists from the Dark Vengeance set, but since I wasn't planning on collecting them I didn't really put effort in it. Probably I'm not good enough to pull out good results. But anyway the helmet thing is a quirk of mine, I just prefer the idea of a Space Marine clad in iron (or ceramite, or whatever you have in store in your favourite forgeworld) from head to toes.

 

On a sidenote, I just learned how to properly post pictures from Imgbb, so I'd like to know if you prefer larger pictures or you're fine with the ones currently on (uploaded to the B&S Gallery and then placed in the post). It shouldn't be a hassle to replace them.

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 3: Look Before You Leap

 

To recap what happened in the past 10 weeks, I decided to take part in the yearly ETL and pledged a vow for a few models from the Dark Imperium boxset, a grand total of 19 miniatures. After a couple fo "crunch" sessions in the last days I managed to complete my vow with flying colours:

 

 

As we'll see shortly, that's a Captain in Gravis Armour, an Ancient, two Lieutenents, two 5-man Intercessor squads and one 5-man hellblaster squad. Now, when I made my pledge I was confident I could make it on time as I was going to take two weeks off work in August, but secretly I was hoping to complete it well ahead of time and pledge another smaller vow, such a single character like the new Marneus Calgar or Guilliman. Unfortunately work got in the way, real life got in there a well so I managed to be done only yesterday, while in two days I'm off for a short holiday and I won't be able to paint.

 

So the first question is, am I satisfied with my work? Honestly, not fully: the deadline put some pressure on me which on one hand was great to get the job done, but on the other hand I feel like I couldn't "take my time" with it and use the extra care as I did with my previous Deathwatch models.

The one thing I'm pretty proud of is, once again, the captain's cape:

 

 

I used to be very bad at painting capes, doing the colour transitions right, placing shadows and highlights, but I'm getting it. The inner white side is decent too, but since it's mostly covered by the main figure I took a couple of shortcuts with the layering.

 

A piece that started really bad and ended up okay is probably the banner:

 

 

I had to re-do the cold white/grey parts once, there was Rakarth Flesh spilled all around the parchments that had to be cleaned up and the gold trim wasn't neat as well, but once I took care of that it didn't look so bad. The laurels in the middle are pretty straightforward, just based in Dark Angels green, a first Moot Green highlight and a couple of Biel Tan washes. Maybe I can add a few other touches of light green but for now I'll keep it like that.

 

To complete the HQ/Elite package there are two lieutenents:

 

 

And yes, I modified one of the lieutenents to have his helmet worn instead of hanging by his magna-belt (the same fate fell on two sergents). I should mention (maybe I already did) that converting these models was extremely easy, just carefully cut away the helmet from the waist and you're done, since the armour beneath it (cod piece, soft armour etc.) is already there, no need to sculp it. Just cut the helmet very slowly and carefully, or shave it one thin slice at a time, and have a file ready. I bought some extra bits, pouches and granades to glue them on and cover any mess but it wasn't really needed. You have to appreciate GW's new molding system. Anyway, the stripes were free-handed after I lost my mind over trying to place some masking tape to get the lines straight. Could have been worse I guess.

 

Finally the bulk of the lot:

 

 

The keenest of you will notice that the Hellblaster sergeant still has a blue helmet in the group picture. Aye, I noticed the mistake just as I was taking that picture, but I corrected it in time for the close-up.

Not much to add here. The armour is Macragge Blue and the shading was done with a 1:1:2 mix of Nuln Oil, Drakenhof Nightshade and Contrast Medium in that order, then Painted over the whole blue basecoat (except the shoulderpads) with a glaze brush: I felt I needed a brush with springy bristles, as it helped a lot removing any pooling. The wash is very light and if applied carefully doesn't tinge the colour too much (it still does a tiny tiny bit, that's why I avoided the the shoulderpads and touched up the upper helmet), while the medium has the pigments going right into the cracks and stay there while drying, so despite being light it does darken the recesses. I did a few tries with the first couple of models and then settled with this, otherwise you can use less medium (1:1:1 ratio should be fine) and do a faster recess shade which would dry smoothier than using pure shade paint (and stains a little less).

The highlight is just Calgar Blue, and I did no final highlight in Fenrisian Grey. The gold trims are Retributor Armour - shade - Retributor Armour - Stormhost Silver (mostly drybrush). Weapons and equipment have no highlights beside the natural one that comes with shading - as before I might go over them again later in the future to give them a little extra care, but for now I call them done.

 

 

So, what now? I enjoyed painting these and getting them done was a great satisfaction, but I do need a few days off the painting table (by the way, I bought some new furniture and now I finally have a dedicated painting table, huzzah for me). After that, while I do have some Ultramarine models to be painted I'm also getting interested in Imperial Fists and White Scars: while they're not my favourite First Founding chapters, they have amazing colour schemes which happen to be a pain to paint, but with the new Contrast range I might be able to get fair results.

 

 

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Excellent painting!!

[Wakkomaster]

Excellent painting!!

 

 

My thanks! Much appreciated! I'm resuming my space marine wip's in the next days, so hopefully I'll have something more to post here before the end of the month.

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 4: a Lone Knight

When it comes to painting, the Bolter & Chainsword contests and challenges are just what I need to pick up a brush and get to my working desk (which, by the way, was cleaned last week but it's still full of paint pots). Last year's ETL taught me to be cautious with pledges and vows, and I learned my lesson well: so for my January Entry of Grotsmasha's 12 Months of Hobby Challenge I went for a single model (but mostly because it was pretty late in the month when I got news of it).

The model was just basecoated and washed (awfully) with Nuln Oil Gloss, so it was like starting from the beginning.

And here it is now:

I'm really proud of it! It's a Grey Knight Paladin, but maybe I meant it to be a Captain. The model lost the book/banner on the back, but I never replaced it as I'm not really a fan of those. Instead, to mark him as a Paladin, there's the elaborate relic/insignia shield on the shoulder and the white & red painted shinguard.

The armour is pretty basic, it's Ironbreaker washed with a 1:5 mix of Black Templar and Contrast medium, with a few edge highlights in Stormhost Silver. Then I glazed a few selected plates with a mix of Thalassar Blue and medium to get that blueish steel tint. Everything by the book in the end, I just used Contrast paints instead of regular washes and they worked really great. I used the same blue glaze on the falchions and the eyes. I used Black Templar over Mechanicus Standard Grey for the black parts, Thalassar Blue on cables and psychic hood and Flesh Tearer Red on more cables. The rest is pretty much standard stuff.

Hope you enjoyed this brief recap! See you until next time!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work.

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 5: more knights and a lot of books

 

A couple of days ago I finished my February pledge for the "12 Months of Hobby Challenge", and with flying colours too!

That was a whole six models this time, that you can see in this group picture:

 

 

One scratch-build librarian (well, build using mostly GK pieces but hey, original character!), three Paladins, two Terminator Justicars and one lonely Terminator (who's probably in charge of cleaning the other five's armours at the end of the mission). The models were half-painted when I started, but since some colours and the style didn't match the Brother Captain I painted last month I had to go with a make-over. And you know what? I really enjoyed painting them. I feel like I finally got to a point where my skills are reasonable enough to paint detail-rich miniatures with confidence, having fun while doing it.

 

And man, Grey Knights are such busy models!

 

 

There are parchments, scrolls, engravings, librams, small librams, tiny librams… lot's of books. Painting them require steady hands and good brushes, but the upside is that you don't have to go crazy on them: just be tidy, a bit of shade, a little highlight (if you can) and it will look good no matter what. For instance, I decided at the last minute to give the librarian one of those overhead librams, so I painted a spare one from scratch. I think it took me twenty minutes, when years ago it would have taken me one hour, at least.

 

It was satisfying.

 

Oh, by the way. Usually I listen to music when I paint (I live in a condo and my neighbours are very very very loud and noisy, so there's no such thing as "silence" anyway). My playlist is… extravagant, but mostly it's classic rock, no metal, no hip-hop. This time, as an experiment, I listened to ASMR videos while painting.

 

Yes, heresy, I know…

 

However I think it helped with keeping my hands steady. Least I can say is I felt very relaxed, more relaxed than the alternative - painting edge highlights while your head is banging to mr Brightside is kinda hard. Not to mention while playing air guitar during Comfortably Numb...

 

So yes, guess I'll try that again in the future.

 

What more… oh yes, what did I learn this month? First, I learned that painting Grey Knights is not as atrocious as I recalled, it's actually quite fun (now). Then i learned what I like and what I don't like about the models: keep in mind these were very old miniatures, I got them between 2011 and 2012, and some of them have gone through different strip/paint cycles already, so I didn't risk doing any conversions.

But if I could build more Gk terminators, new from the box, I'd probably keep the classic helmet for all models - in other words, the Paladin helms have to go. They're too bulky and painting the eyelenses is a bit of a pain because they're not as defined as their standard counterparts. Second - overhead librams. It's a big no. GW says you should put them on Justicars and Paladins (probably to better identify them), I know I can paint them if needed, but I don't like them. I'd try converting them into books to hang to the waist, the back or the codpiece. Finally, the shields (can't recall the actual name, was it Aegis shield?). They're simply too large, if you check the official illustrations you can see they're actually small. The small ones for Strike Squads would be perfect, though you get only one every five models. Bummer.

Naturally, this way it would be hard to tell terminators from justicars and paladins, so I should be looking for another solution. Maybe painting some details on paladins white, like the Purifiers for example? Or they could have one of the shinguards Painted in red and white like I did on the Captain.

Could work, I suppose.

 

Before I end this chapter, let's see some close-ups right?

 

This is Brother Librarian Jenvis Alsoon (bonus points if you get the… hidden tribute) of the 3rd brotherhood

 

 

 

This here is Justicar Lyanthor Zelthar (named after some friends of mine's characters of World of Warcraft), still of the 3rd

 

 

 

Finally, two yet-to-be-named characters, a Justicar (initially Arvann Thawn of the 5th edition) and a Paladin squad leader.

 

 

 

A couple more group shots, just because

 

 

 

And that was all for today.

Next month - Ultramarines. Because I'm a lover of the blue…

Until next time!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good jobs.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

They all look fantastic!! Great work!!

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 6: when you got the blue

Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of my… err… record of finished works? Maybe? Yup, this time we have a reprise.

Last Summer I took part in the ETL and, well, you can see my finished pledge just a few replies above. As I mentioned somewhere though I wasn't totally happy with the final result but the deadline was approaching so I called it there.

After a few months left brewing I decided to pick up the blue guys again and get the job done because hey, probably I got better in the meantime. The chosen piece was one of the two Primaris Lieutenents, the one slightly converted to have his helmet on.

Here it is how I left it last August:

While here is how I left it last night:

I did just a tiny bit of cleanng up, then I went on all the edges of the armour again with a first highlight of Calgar Blue and a few spots gere and there with a touch of Fenrisian Grey, as per protocol. It definetely makes a difference.

Oh, and I'd like to spend a few words for my trusted Small Layer Brush, who gave its last bristles for the cause. *Salutes*

Then I added edge highlights everywhere, from the boltgun to the pouches, which were lacking. Just Eshin Grey and Dawnstone with a few spots of Fenrisian Grey on the black, though I later notice on the Dark Imperium booklet that I should have gone with Dark Reaper and a lighter turqoise instead. It's okay, I don't mind it.

Finally - transfers! It was the first time for me. It didn't turn out half bad though, the Chapter marks are perfect, while the squad assignement badge has a tiny little wrinkle, guess I got cocky on that one. I used Micro Set and Micro Sol, of course, after watching a good number of tutorials on YouTube. I cut out the transfer from the paper with my hobby knife and left it soaking in water, till the transfer qould move. Then I applied some Micro Set on the miniature and let the transfer slide on it.

Boy, that thing stinks.

Like, stinks real bad, way worse than vinegar.

Like spoiled vinegar, if it could get spoiled.

Anyway, I moved the transfer on the wet surface with a wet brush till it was right on place, and then gently pressing it. This is the tricky part, as the transfer might move at every tingle press. The goal is to remove as much moisture as possible between the surfance and the transfer, without moving the transfer, hoping it will conform to the curved surface at the same time. I did this with the chapter symbols, but not really with the veteran mark, as it kept moving and I ran out of patience.

After everything was dry, there still were wrinkles and the transfer didn't bend enough, so I hit it with Micro Sol, just a brushful at a time (beware, it will melt your transfer if you're not careful, even if it's not spoiled vinegar), let it dry and repeat as needed. Works like magic, and doesn't smell too bad. I'd be tempted to use just Micro Sol, though all the tutorials I watched told that they should always be used together.

And that was it. Base as usual (Agrellan Earth and Agrellan Badlands, drybrush of Tyrant Skull, bit of Agrax Earthshade and another drybrush). There you have it.

Before I go, a bit of "news". Last night I posted pictures of this lieutenent on my Twitter account (still learning the "etiquette"), and I got two likes from people I don't even know. Crazy uh? I'm probably doing something right. Not much going on at the moment, buuuuuuut if you're interested the account is sill @Wakko_g and who knows, maybe I'll be more inclined on posting pictures there.

As per usual, thanks for tuning in. Until next time!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Ultramarine is competently done. Good job.

[Wakkomaster]

The Ultramarine is competently done. Good job.

 

Thanks! 

[Wakkomaster]

Chapter 6 bis: reprise

Well, I don't think there's much to say, so let's get straight to the point.

An Ancient.

I think these Astartes are really cool. They inspire their borthers in arms with their sole presence - even Chaplains can't do that.

So when it came to paint this one I really wanted to, you know, "do it right".

I think it's one of my best pieces so far.

As the Lieutenent, I re-did the highlights on the power armour, and added new ones on the weapon and equipment. The banner was improved too, using a combination of Ceramite Scar and Apothecary White for the white accents, and all the parchments are new. Probably I went a bit too far, but I added some lettering ("Ultramarines", just like in the Dark Imperium pictures). It's not great, but as a first go I don't think it's too bad. After a few tries to get the spacing, I used a black micro-pen and then I "shaded" the letters with brown washes to get some kind of faded look.

So really, not much to tell but as you can imagine it took some work.

Here's other pictures:

So yes, that's another character done. I'm so very tempted to do the Captain next month, but I'll try to do one or two squads instead because getting just one or two figures done in a month make it feel a bit neverending.

Anyway as per usual thanks for checking and see you next time!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Ancient and his standard.

[Wakkomaster]

Thanks!