And they shall Know No Fear...

[_GingerBat_]

About a year ago I bought the Typhus copy of Conquest after seeing it in WH Smiths and realising the price difference was ridiculous. I hadn't painted any models in years but a steal is a steal. Besides, I never really needed an excuse to get back in to the hobby... Decided to get the getting to know 40k book with free Primaris marine to make sure I could still paint; in a typical display of over-confidence I then bought the Know No Fear box and Conquest issue with the Dark Imperium lieutenants and banner bearer. So now I have a shed-load of models to get me started!

Since then, I've painted 3 of them. I always start out with the intention of doing my own custom chapter (in this case, The Lost Sons) so I'd done a couple of test schemes but was never happy with the execution.

 

Cue Indomitus being announced and despite my lack of progress I knew I had to get it. But I've promised myself that I won't start any of the new models until I've painted my whole backlog - this plog will hopefully be the best way to do that. If I say I'm going to do it here, I can't back out! Now, instead of painting them all up in batches and getting it done as soon as possible, I want to use them to improve my painting skill. I want the first model from Indomitus to be the best I can do.

 

First up, a Storm Warden. This guy is the first that I painted after deciding all this and is the base level of my painting skill. I finished him up in a day, basic shading and highlighting. Still took my time with the eyes and freehand as I was always pretty bad at those.

 

 

Full gallery so I don't clog up the internet: https://imgur.com/gallery/NtpqpQP

 

Next up, Sons of the Phoenix using Darren Latham's white armour tutorial.

Edited November 20, 2020 by _GingerBat_

[BadgersinHills]

Excellent work! Welcome to the forum! 

[_GingerBat_]

Sons of the Phoenix WIP.

Needs some cleanup and a couple of elements finishing off but I'm happy with how the white armour's come out at least.

 

 

Edit: I'm going to have a look into compressing the images a bit, they're way too big!

Edited August 3, 2020 by _GingerBat_

[_GingerBat_]

Brother Illios of the Sons of the Phoenix:

 

 

Full gallery here: https://imgur.com/gallery/QxUShDj

 

Quite happy with how this turned out, I think it's clearly better than the Storm Warden so that's one goal achieved. Pretty glad I won't have to freehand that chapter badge again...

 

Next up, Scythes of the Emperor

[BadgersinHills]

Great painting!

[Freakshow668]

Excellent work, can't wait to see your Scythes of the Emperor, always loved those guys.

[_GingerBat_]

Thanks guys.

 

I'm going to be 100% honest with you, I kinda gave up on the black power armour here. Don't know what it was but I was really enjoying painting this guy right up to that point. So this is the way he'll stay. Still, I think I've nailed the way I do purity seals and leather from now on, and the whole purpose of this exercise was to learn something with each new model. Not a waste in the end.

 

 

Full gallery: https://imgur.com/gallery/JnGvyWw

[abraxus]

For black power armour I've found that base leadbelcher, wash with nuln oil, overbrush ironhands, recess wash drakenhoff, drybrush stormhost.  Then just hit with Black Templar contrast.  Might be even better with the grey knights silver base instead of ironhands, but I don't have any of that.

[Armament81]

The model looks great!  Black is a really challenging color ironically.  As is yellow.  My Destroyers project took a lot to get my process down for both.  Keep it up, and always happy to talk about what I learned (much of it was from other painters on here!).

[_GingerBat_]

For black power armour I've found that base leadbelcher, wash with nuln oil, overbrush ironhands, recess wash drakenhoff, drybrush stormhost.  Then just hit with Black Templar contrast.  Might be even better with the grey knights silver base instead of ironhands, but I don't have any of that.

I'm not usually a fan of the metallic coloured armour on space marines, but this sounds like it wouldn't be too bad. Might give it a try on a future model. Thanks!

 

 

The model looks great!  Black is a really challenging color ironically.  As is yellow.  My Destroyers project took a lot to get my process down for both.  Keep it up, and always happy to talk about what I learned (much of it was from other painters on here!).

Thanks! I think the main issue was that I was getting a bit impatient, started the yellow first (which wasn't part of the plan!) and was relatively happy with it so rushed in to the black and... yeah, it just didn't work out. Impatience is always going to be my worst enemy in trying to get through this mountain of plastic but I am hoping I can stop myself in future.

 

 

Speaking of future models, got started on the next, a Necropolis Hawk. Undercoat came out all fuzzy, definitely blaming the weather on that one. Still, I'm painting it up as is since there's so many to do.

[_GingerBat_]

Managed to scrape/file/generally flatten the fuzzy primer, so I got to work on the main armour. Way too hot to paint really but I'm stubborn so I pushed through. Really happy with the way the low gothic numbers turned out, though looking at the squad number now I'm sure it's slightly crooked  C&C welcome and encouraged!

 

 

 

[_GingerBat_]

Long time no post! Not long after my last post our protracted house move went in to overdrive and I had to pack up my hobby stuff fairly quickly. I did manage to finish the Necropolis Hawk first but in all the excitement didn't think to put it up. So here he is in all his glory:

 

 

As usual, full gallery is here: https://imgur.com/gallery/bOvWh1D

 

 

Now that I've got some free time again I'm getting started on the Iron Snake, who I've decided to call Brother Angren Lyg. As you can see I'm getting a little more involved with the conversion and base with this one, inspired by the awesome Primaris Project on instagram, who is basically doing the same thing I'm doing with a different chapter each time, but a LOT better. Go check him out: https://www.instagram.com/the_primaris_project/.

The idea is to have the shield and spear attached to the powerpack and have him walking out of the sacred waters of Ithaka. C&C welcomed and encouraged.

 

[_GingerBat_]

Moving at a steady pace now, managed to get the spear converted and attached and everything sprayed so I can hopefully start getting some paint on him tomorrow.

 

 

 

And some close ups on the base as I'm pretty happy with it...

 

[BadgersinHills]

Good stuff! :) :) 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Decent job on all efforts thus far. Good attention to detail as applies the highlighting, and that nice, even white on the Necropolis Hawk must have been quite the ordeal to produce.

Base for the Iron Snake looks pretty good, too. And the candles on the Son of the Phoenix is a nice touch. 

I gotta say, every time somebody posts a good miniature with a brief disclaimer of "I was out of the hobby for years, and this is one of  the few first miniatures since getting back in" - well, it brings a bit of a smile. Especially when it's a quality effort. 

 

[space wolf]

Your freehand is actually pretty good. And you'll only get better! Btw, love the scythes if the emperor, they hold a special place in my heart for some reason, and you did a great paint job!

[_GingerBat_]

Thanks guys, nothing like a little encouragement to get you painting again.

 

Haven't been able to get much done recently but put in some effort this afternoon. Tried a new technique with the metal (part of the reason I chose the Iron Snakes actually) following a tutorial by Jon Ninas here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HYsVt0gbcw&ab_channel=Ninjon

Was fairly happy with it until I put the other colours on, now I can't see much difference to the usual method... Guess it was never going to be perfect first time, this is why I'm taking on this project after all!

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Iron Snake is beautifully painted.

[space wolf]

The Iron Snake is beautifully painted.

i agree...i don't know what particular technique you were trying to use...but it looks beautiful and clean!

[_GingerBat_]

Thanks guys. Brother Angren Lyg of the Iron Snakes is complete!

 

 

 

Full gallery here: https://imgur.com/gallery/fgjzQOZ

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with him. Think they're the best lenses I've done, and I do feel like the freehand is improving with each model.

 

Any suggestions for the next chapter? I was thinking Patriarchs of Ulixis, but if there's a particular chapter people want to see I could be swayed...

Edited October 23, 2020 by _GingerBat_

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The sea lance is a good touch. Excellent work on the Iron Snake.

[space wolf]

beautiful!

[_GingerBat_]

Played around with my photo set up this afternoon as I figured if I'm going to be making a lot of these I might as well make them look good on the internet... Think I got it figured out, so here's a much better look at the Iron Snake; think this definitely represents the colours on the model better. Still a ways to go obviously but a marked improvement on the last pictures!

Also added a bit more water effects to make it look like his footstep made a bigger splash, though it did shrink quite a bit!

 

[_GingerBat_]

So I was all set up to do a Patriarch of Ulixes for the next guy but looking at their background reveals that they're sword masters, so I want to use one of the Assault Intercessors and convert it to carry a sword...

Which meant that I was on the hunt for a new chapter. I'd cleaned up the next model, stuck it to my makeshift painting handles and was fairly sure the Void Tridents were the way to go when I stumbled on the Angels Eradicant. Almost no backstory but the colour scheme struck a chord somehow. I got so excited about it I forgot to take any WIP pictures and I've just been working on this guy whenever I could recently. Wanted a very subtle chipping as well to break up the solid blocks of colour. Just got some final details to go before he's done.

 

[_GingerBat_]

Finished. Really enjoyed this guy, though I did forget how much I dislike freehand wings...

 

Any random chapters people are dying to see in miniature form?

 

 

 

 

You know what to do: https://imgur.com/gallery/e5thWXF