Something big this way comes... McFarlane Chaos!

[Xanthier]

Well, it's certainly been a while since I've posted here. I've painted odd projects here and there, usually skirmish ones, but after seeing some of the latest releases from GW I figured a... bigger project beckoned.

After picking up the McFarlane artist proof blank, I made a start on him a couple of days ago and progress has been going great! I usually find painting either a chore or I'm ambivalent about it but this guy's been great fun so far! So much so that I'll be picking up more...

Initially he was going to be a Night Lord, but then I remembered that, decades ago, my chaos marine army as a fresh faced kid was navy with cream trim, so why not paint him in that scheme for nostalgia? So here's a series of wip shots of my progress thus far.

[Naryn]

God, he looks so insanely good. Like a true veteran of 10,000 years of war.

[Grotsmasha]

 

 

AMAZING

[Xanthier]

Cheers guys!

Managed a bit more progress, got the backpack, waist and the helmet conversion for the second guy all painted up.

Not likely to get much time to paint till the weekend now, but pretty stoked at how it's all coming together. With any luck I'll get able to get the legs and maybe weapons finished up then, before making a good start on the second member.

[TheWarmaster]

This looks awesome so far! Great job! 

[Trysanna]

That helmet looks so rad, great job. The lenses are particularly nice, mind sharing how you went about that?

[Xanthier]

Cheers!

21 hours ago, Trysanna said:

That helmet looks so rad, great job. The lenses are particularly nice, mind sharing how you went about that?

Sure, it's not too bad - I started with the old citadel Warlock Purple, couple of coats to get a solid coverage over the grey primer I use. Then it's basically just mixing in Emperor's Children (pink) till you get to pure pink, then doing the same by adding white. Standard gem painting, crescent of the lighter colour in smaller increments before a thin line of the pure white and white dots. Gloss varnish to finish. In place of Warlock Purple any vibrant magenta would look pretty similar I'd guess.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Xanthier

[Xanthier]

Some more progress - got a leg finished and currently working on the other. Test print went well for the heavy bolter, rescaled and then had 2 print failures in a row annoyingly enough, but the third one worked out. I need to add trim and detailing, but it's a good base to work from!

[Brother Carpenter]

Glorious is all I can say.

[N1SB]

Brother Xanthier, just wanted to let you know this project is being talked about so much, it's appearing in our Warhammer Store WhatsApp chat.

And we're in Hong Kong.  I don't think my kindred here even lurk on B&C, so I think they got it from OTHER sources referencing your great work. 

[Xin Ceithan]

Wow, these are gorgeous! The bare head and eyes in particular are simply amazing! 

[Dosjetka]

Phenomenal work. The face is particularly praise-worthy! Can't wait to see the whole model completed.

[Xanthier]

Thanks everyone, that's really gratifying and encouraging to hear!

Over the last couple of evenings, before a work trip this week, I did sacrifice a bit of sleep to get him finished! Got the maul done with a relatively simplistic brutal scheme, and went for a less weathered, more prestigious look for the plasma pistol.

Fingers crossed I'll be able to get some prep work done on the next figure as I brought a small hobby case with me.

[Brother Dallo]

That is a really impressive “mini”.

To the point that I’m considering purchasing my own.

Keep up the great work.

Dallo

[Xanthier]

Cheers Dallo! If you do, it'd be great to see what you do with it.

I'm somewhat contrained by not having all my hobby supplies with me, but I took enough to make a dent in the next marine at least! I'm missing silver rivets and some chest decorations, purple glazing on the blue panels and varnish, but otherwise the torso, arms and shoulderpad that I brought along primed is 'done'!

I also brought along a knife and the other pad, and was able to trim off the lower pad rim to mimic the trim on the first guy's spikey pad. The rubbery plastic does a number on a blade, it blunted a fresh hobby knife blade just removing a relatively small amount. Regardless, I was able to smooth out the cuts and it's ready for priming etc when I get home.

[Xanthier]

Another update after a productive Saturday! Managed to get the bulk of the second marine finished, with just the backpack and gun left to do, so some progress shots -

I'm pretty happy with how the converted shoulder pad and shin came out too, especially the skull removal on the shin. It looks close to normal I reckon, though not all of the angled cuts were seemingly smoothed over.

[Xanthier]

Finished up the second marine, opted for a nice retro chunky heavy bolter compared to my starting ideas.

Also made a slight start on the next marine, going to go for a balefire acolyte-ish specialist.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Xanthier

[Brother Dallo]

Looking class.

At what point are you just going to play a really big game of Kill Team? 
 

Dallo

[Xanthier]

The idea is definitely tempting!

Not the most of time available to paint this week, but I've managed to at least make a slight start and get the head painted for the acolyte.