K0rtmer's echo chamber: mechanising the vintage DG

[Dr_Ruminahui]

For me what's throwing me off on the mechanicum one is the rectangle around the catches (on the right side of the model it kind of looks like a huge lapel) on the front of the coat - none of the mechanicus have that.  Maybe if you got rid of that (just the rectangle, not the catches).

[K0rtmer]

@DuskRaider: Good idea to replace the right arm with something with an actual hand. Considering, especially seeing there's a good bionic arm bit that comes for one of the pox walkers. I like the multi-joint arm as it is too, but ... yeah. Not sure yet. Thank you

@Rd_Ruminahui: I see what you mean, but I'll leave it on. It'd be too hard to take it off and do it well, and it doesn't bother me too much. It'll make it right with an appropriate paint job.

In the meantime: further incremental progress on a couple other characters of the Carnival. Plague Marine with blight launcher, to be converted from Heresy-style heavy bolter. Plague Marine with cleaver. Random pox walker clown. All rough mock-ups with Blu-Tac and wire and only some glue, but I've managed some green stuff work on the pox walker in the meantime.

While I was at it: I also built a retinue for my Oldhammer Chaos Lord. 5-man squad, will probably run them as Veterans (by the second-edition codex), which is how the two power axes and one chainsword & power fist is justified. Not that I care much. I wouldn't really let a rule book get in the way of a modelling opportunity.

I've also made some progress setting up a spray booth at my work space. Little chance of getting a meaningful amount of painting done in the next couple weeks, especially not considering the obscene amount of Oldhammer I've got sitting on my desk, still awaiting primer. But I should be able to spend some time getting to know my Harder & Steenbeck. Expecting a steep learning curve. But it'll be good.

[K0rtmer]

Brief update: Blight launcher coming along.

[K0rtmer]

Lots going on IRL leaves little hobby time only. Marginal progress with green stuff:

[K0rtmer]

I've spent a lof of time just practicing techniques and skills when I felt I hit a motivation low with the Carnival. Then, with my new workstation set up and the Harder & Steenbeck running mostly smoothly, I decided to start painting the Oldhammer daemon horde.

All have seen an undercoat of brown-red spray primer, then a dark green from the bottom and light-grey (and at times white) from the top.

I spent a fair bit of time masking the bases with tape. Major hassle, and I was wondering if it's worth the effort. In hindsight I think so. It's reasonably easy to finish off the bases over the brown primer. Proof: I did the 15 for the Necromunda Goliaths and the Black Legion CSM in about 30 minutes.

For the moment, I'm focussing on the Nurgling bases. There are 28 of them (which is four squads of 7 each), and with little hobby time in between a busy job and family life I've planned out the process of painting them to be maximally efficient, while still producing an outcome that's coherent with the Plaguebearers I already have. As it stands, I've put approx. 10–12 minutes into each – including putting the masking tape on and off again. I'm reasonably happy with where they're at after this little time only. Clearly, the challenge is now to detail them efficiently.

[Markus_]

Love those old nurglings, great stuff.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Great looking models, love the old school Rhino!

[K0rtmer]

Brief update:

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

They look great, keep up the good work!

[K0rtmer]

I felt I needed a break after picking details on seven bases o Nurglings. (I counted: one of bigger ones has 38 individual maggots - all to be basecoated bone-white. The smaller ones aren't much better.)

Fixed up some not-so-great OSL on a shoulder pad of my old plasma gunner, and added decals while I was revisiting him anyway. Also swapped a bolt pistol for an actual bolter on another, and added a decal to a shoulder pad too.

Furthermore, some progress on more weapon specialists. I now have a flamer, a rocket launcher, and a chainsword. Yes, I know, I need to drill those gun barrels and I will. At least they're almost fully painted.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Nice job love the bases!

[K0rtmer]

When batch-paining that many Nurglings, even an incremental progress is a significant progress. (For me anyway.) I've got 50% of all individual maggots, teeth, horns, and eyes picked out with Screaming Skull. Probably the bottleneck. Painting the sores and weapon details won't be too much trouble. I think I'm still on track for Call of Chaos.

[K0rtmer]

Got bored, painted up the Space Crusade Ultramarines. Not yet finished, but I need to get back to the Nurgling horde. Call of Chaos is like, what, six weeks away?

[Krakendoomcool]

What an eclectic mix this thread is.

 

Lovely weathering on the Deathguard and you've got some absolute classics in here. The Plague Marine with the plague bearer head from Rogue Trader being amongst them. That epic GUO as a Nurgling is so nice.

 

Great use of decals, those checks look great. Fanastic and realistic bases your doing too.

 

Love the Space Crusade project. Space Crusade was the absolute start of my decent into 40k addiction.

 

Great stuff!

[K0rtmer]

What an eclectic mix this thread is.

 

...

I do realise this thread is increasingly random. I take it as a compliment though - thank you very much indeed. 

 

Currently aiming at painting bone (white) on at least one Nurgling base a night on average. At that rate I'll have that step done on Sunday in a week. LOL! 

[K0rtmer]

Painting the Nurglings is a lot more soul-destroying than I anticipated. In between that, a sick baby at home, and a lot of marking for school, I can confidently report that I'm only at 50% of what I timetabled for my painting for Call of Chaos. 8 more Nurglings to be detailed at the basecoat stage ... before I get to the washes, glazes, and inks. LOL

To distract and motivate myself, I did finish the Space Crusade Ultramarines though. Made a couple mistakes and learned a few things, and I don't think they're as good as I could do them if my life was on the line. But seeing that I'm working with limited hobby time, and that I'm actually rather happy with how they came out - I'm calling them done.

The commander is magnetised for both the weapon and the backpack. (Should make storage and transport a lot easier.)

They're obviously in good company. It's a matter of perspective who the good guys are, if any.

Hopefully updating soon with progress on the daemons.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Ohh man the nostalgia of those mini's lol! They look great!

[K0rtmer]

With some much-needed discipline I managed to catch up alright. All 28 Nurglings bases have horns, teeth, and maggots - yes, all the maggots! - basecoated in Screaming Skull. (This is where I wanted to be last Sunday.) That's the bottleneck of the process done. Only washes, glazes, and inks to be done from here, then finishing off the bases. All rather easy and straightforward and fun work.

I now have a chance to finish them for the Call of Chaos ... Maybe. Push on.

@Kolgrim DeathHowl: Thank you for the compliment. Much appreciated!

[K0rtmer]

Look what was in the mail today:

Major recovery operations to put together a fully functional Predator from the bits and pieces, but I think everything's there. Mostly undamaged also - couple minor issues when pulling apart parts that had been cemented together with plastic glue. (I hate plastic glue.) Main challenge will be to magnetise side hatches and sponsons. But I'll get there eventually. First up, finish those Nurglings now ...

[K0rtmer]

I was really trying to batch-paint the whole lot of 21, but it was too much for me. I had to pull out the first squad of 7 and finish them in advance of the rest. There's something about a squad of coherently painted models that ... somehow helps with the motivation to do more. And I need motivation. I'm really struggling through the project, not without disciplines and not without outcomes, but I do feel burned out and empty when I sit down on my desk and look at the Nurglings.

Anyway, the first 7 are done.

They're too dark, darker than I wanted. I did use a very strong, very black ink to build up high contrast - because the models are so small, I was worried they wouldn't show their detail well enough if I painted them exactly like the Plaguebearers that I want them to mimic. So, instead of a simple watered-down Army Painter wash I went for a strong ink. I was excited about that step in the process and got a bit trigger-happy with it. The black Nurglings are alright, but the grey-ish ones came out too dark. Ah, well. Seeing that I have another 21 to finish, I'll leave them like this.

Unlikely to make it before December 15, but I'll give it my best shot!

[DuskRaider]

Stop, those are awesome! I really dig the darker tone of them in general, I think it works well and is quite unique for Nurgle - something of which I'm a big fan of. The darker coloration also helps the wounds stand out better.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

They turned out really great, love the color scheme it's different then what you normally see!

[K0rtmer]

It is done. Almost burned out completely over the Nurglings, but they're done. Couple weeks over the deadline, but considering that I have a life, and that it wasn't exactly easy to motivate myself through soul-destroying episodes of batch painting details on virtually identical models ... I'm actually really proud of myself. Not just that I finished them at all. I'm reasonably happy with the outcome. I do think I could have painted any individual one of them to a higher standard, but seeing I wanted the same standard across all 28 bases ... No, I'm happy with them.

There's a chance of almost 100% that they'll never see a game in their life. But they found a good home. Committed them to deep storage now, and fully intending to break them out again at the first opportunity that presents itself, however unlikely that is.

It's been a couple of days now. But I still feel dead on the inside when I look at my paints and brushes. I'll finish up a couple lose ends here and there, and maybe try a few simple one-off projects just to distract myself and relocate my painting mojo. This is before I have a go at the remaining Plaguebearers and Epidemius. Any progress I'll log in here.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Nice work they look great!!

[K0rtmer]

Finished the last three Plague Marines for some time to come ...