Progress Log: Alpha Legion Warband: "The Last Surprise"

[hd3]

I decided to do a second wash of agrax along the ushabti bone for the exo-skeleton. Ive coloured in the last bits of armour and tidied up the trim with the blue mix. Finally, Tamiya- X-17 pink for the tongue with a carriburg crimson wash. (Although I spilled some aethernatic blue on part of it and now will have to wash it again ) I wanted a really garish note of colour to draw the eye to the skull/power armour helm. I might go back and use it again on the tongue for the other greater possessed .

 

Next, I'm going to use Balthazar gold and some seraphim sepia mixed down with lahmian medium for the brass chains and then edge highlight the armour with runefang steel. Finally I was gonna use nuln oil gloss and iron hands steel  along the metal portrusions on the top

Edited September 30, 2023 by hd3

[Grotsmasha]

Looking great

[hd3]

Finished! I decided to try adding a warpflame effect around the skull bursting out of the right gauntlet. But I honestly think it looks really bad. Does anyone have any suggested guides on how to do burning effects? I also repainted the tongue on the other Greater Possessed to Tamiya x-17 pink. Again, I like how the super bright colour draws the eye to the centre of the model.

 

Now the last Greater Possessed is done,  I can finally move onto starting my HQ: The Master of Possession. 

I used the same combination Leadbelcher spray and Tamiya Bright Silver spray for the backpack. Chaos black spray over the main model. I've put on a first coat of zandri dust over the skulls, fetiches and totem. The power armour is Leadbelcher with ironbreaker over the top. I decided to paint the centre of the head metallic and am going to delict it as a power helm with horns. I really liked the look of the second Greater Possessed where the skull and the Power Helm have fused together. 

 

I'm not sure how to paint the flames though. I'm torn between doing traditional red and orange or some weird warpflame green to offset the bright red robe he wears over his armour.

Edited October 1, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

 

Finally did the plasma effects! I just followed the Hidalgo guide Cordova sent for warm green, white undercoat, dorn yellow and moot green 1:1, then drybrushes of moot green and Caliban green and warpstone glow 1:1. Then I did a edge highlight of dorn yellow. I'm happy with the pistol and rifle for a first try at this. The obliterator gun might need to be redone. Far too heavy on the Caliban green

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by hd3

[Pearson73]

Ace work on the plasma! Might try that style myself, can never quite get plasma guns right.

[hd3]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:42 PM, Pearson73 said:

Ace work on the plasma! Might try that style myself, can never quite get plasma guns right.

I can endorse the video cordova sent. In the hands of someone who actually knows what they're doing I'm sure, it would come out even better.

[hd3]

Finally made some progress on my master of Possession!

For the robes I wanted a really dark fetid colour, so I went with mephiston red over chaos black primer and then a carriburg crimson wash with lahmian medium. Then black templar and medium for extra shadow before finally a dry brush of evil sunz. 

 

I used the same formula as before for the armour but I was proud of how I picked out the neckline in the blues but kept the ironbreaker edging intact.

 

Finally rakarth flesh for the first base of the feathers.

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks good to me. I like the fade to a darker colour at the bottom of the cloak  

[hd3]

I used a reikland wash follower by a dry brush of pallyd wych for the feathers. I think I might have overdone the pallyd though? Finally kantor blue and just a touch of druchi violet for the big feathers. But I think they need rn edge highlight of..... something? I don't know what to pop out.

 

I managed to get carriburg crimson to sit really nicely in the recesses of the front totems but the skull on the stave and the back kept spilling it everywhere.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

He's definitely coming along.  I think you're right, in that the feathers could do with an edge highlight. If you're careful, you could probably do this with a very controlled drybrush to just catch the edges.

 

Personally, I find pelts a little bit of a pain - they're highly textured surfaces, so wash-and-drybrush should work, but I've found that getting a wash to sit nicely on the is annoyingly difficult. I think the area might benefit from being lightly re-washed with a thinned wash (i.e. using Lahmian Medium for the 24ml pots or Contrast Medium for the 18ml pots), which should help it sit in the recesses and bring out the texture a little? (it might also be worth mixing a little Agrax Earthshade into the mix just to darken it down a little?)

Edited October 15, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

53 minutes ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

He's definitely coming along.  I think you're right, in that the feathers could do with an edge highlight. If you're careful, you could probably do this with a very controlled drybrush to just catch the edges.

 

Personally, I find pelts a little bit of a pain - they're highly textured surfaces, so wash-and-drybrush should work, but I've found that getting a wash to sit nicely on the is annoyingly difficult. I think the area might benefit from being lightly re-washed with a thinned wash (i.e. using Lahmian Medium for the 24ml pots or Contrast Medium for the 18ml pots), which should help it sit in the recesses and bring out the texture a little? (it might also be worth mixing a little Agrax Earthshade into the mix just to darken it down a little?)

 

Ok, I'll try reikland with agrax and a a little contrast medium over the feathers again. Then maybe a really soft drybrush of pallyd again?

 

I'm not sure what colour to use on the big colour led feathers though. Maybe the pink I used for the tongue? Or blue mixed with white for a really soft blue edge highlight and white scar down the raised middle of the feather?

[Firedrake Cordova]

Hopefully the Pally Wych Flesh top-up won't be necessary, if the Contrast Medium does its' job and makes the wash stay in the recesses.  

 

For the feathers, I think I'd just go with a lighter blue on the edges (mainly because pink would likely be a pain to blend), but just go with whatever looks good to you.  Picking out the quill in White Scar sounds like a good idea, if rather fiddly.

[hd3]

Taking a break to decide how to expand my warband next. I'm hoping to pick up some Warp Talons next but I've gotta get so many of them for the list I was looking at. So I was trying to think of how to make them look different since there will be 20 of them or so.  I was thinking of getting some mark vi helmets or the forgeworld alpha legion helmets to swap out some of the heads. I was hoping to go further but I don't know how to repose or stuff like that.

[Firedrake Cordova]

There's a few things you can try to increase the perception of variation without resorting to surgery:

• adding different heads
• switching weapon arms to create new poses (if they're interchangeable - I'm not familiar with the Warp Talons kit)
• swapping backpacks around if there's multiple designs
• painting details different colours

Don't know if that's any help?

Edited October 20, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

I finally made some real progress on the Master of Possession. Another wash of reikland to give the feathers on the coat more definition. And ushabti bone and agrax over all the bones. I'm debating if I should dry brush something more pale over them now though?

 

I used retributor armor gold for the head of the stave and the circle on the power pack, which I then washed with reikland. The cables in runelord brass don't contrast quite enough for my taste so I was gonna do cryptek atmotshade over the cables to make them darker.

 

Finally for the leathers, I used rhinoz hide for the gloves and the side puch which I'm going to edge highlight with either xv88 or skrag brown. For the rest of the staff, I used goregrunter over xv88  to go for a teak sort of look.

 

Finally for the cloth grip, I'm planning to use administratum gray which I'll then dirty up a bit with  thinned black templar .

 

I'm still really struggling to do the eye lenses though, I have to use nuln oil gloss to cover up the red spill over and make it look decent.

 

I used iron hands for the clips on the bones and the trinkets because I wanted a really bright shade to draw the eye in.

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

Just as an aside, my alpha legion warband was featured by my local game WH shop on their Twitter, along with my Necrons and for some reason a can of Pringles. 

 

P.S.Pringles have not paid me anything.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

I haven't had much chance  to do painting but last night at least, I did accomplish something; I magnetized all the Alpha Legion models I've made so far! 

 

I used two part Tamiya epoxy putty, with super glue before the putty and inside the putty before the neodymium magnet. I used a single magnet for the Legionnaires and two for the 40 mm models.

 

I also finally got a new chaos model so I was able to finish the decals on the second Obliterator, combining 30k and 40k era AL icons. Now I just need a decent size plastic tub to super glue my steel rubber sheet into. Also some of the super glue or putty seems to be scraping off onto the rubber.

 

I'm going to paint the sides of the base again and then apply a spray on coat of Mr. Hobby matt top coat varnish to finish these ones.

 

I also learned I'm definitely going to magnetize my bases before I do the model in future.

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by hd3

[hd3]

Finally made a little progress! I used super thinned goregrunta for the leather over a corax white base, tidied up the helmet eye lenses with evil sunz and nuln gloss and did a dry brush of ironarch skin to emphasize the ridges on the horns a bit more. I did some ti the central skull fetich on the necklace but it didn't come out as brightly as I wanted. I think I might use a brighter shade.  As always C&C or suggestions welcome.

 

Also my daughter snapped off the totem head of the staff but thankfully it was a clean break on the haft so I can just fix that with super glue.

 

I also desperately need a good firm brush with a decent sharp point and to learn how to improve my edge highlighting. I really want sharper, thinner lines e.g with the runefang steel along the armour edges.

 

I want some way to bring out the details on the leather gloves. I was thinking maybe a wash of a thinned down brighter brown? Or a highlight of a light brown along the edges? I don't want anything too garish though 

Edited November 23, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

It's good to see some more progress on him.  Although sorry to see what your daughter did to the staff (are you sure she isn't an inquisitorial agent? ). Whilst superglue may work for bonding it back on, there'd be a distinct risk of a band of visible glue if I did it - is it worth considering something like Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Set plastic glue?

 

I think you're right on the bones - using a brighter shade would bring it out a bit more.

 

On the gloves, I think you're looking at adding a highlight to them, rather than a wash, as they're already pretty dark. If you're out of ideas for which colour to use, you could try adding a light yellow or ivory to the base colour until you get something you like.  

 

If you're looking for brushes, GW's Artificer brushes are Winsor & Newton Series 7s with aesthetic changes, and GW's normal quality control - they're very good brushes, but quite expensive (there again Series 7's are just as expensive). I can't comment on other GW brushes, as I'm not familiar with the rest of the line.

 

Other popular options would be Raphael 8404, Da Vinci Series 10 (narrower) or 35 (larger belly), and Rosemary & Co Series 33. They're all European companies though, so I'm not sure what availability or pricing of those would be in the US - to be honest, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a good American brush manufacturer (I think I heard Dick Blick's "Master" brushes were good). I wouldn't go smaller than a size 0 or 1, as going smaller doesn't really get you a finer point, but it does mean the brush holds less paint and dries out quicker. I would note that sable brushes are more delicate than synthetic ones (it's a good idea to apply conditioner after washing them), and they have a little less spring to them, generally.

 

If you were looking at synthetics, W&N Cotman and Escoda Perla/Jackson's Artica are worth a look.

[hd3]

Finally made some progress on the Master of Possession, thinning up some goregrunta fur with rhinox hide for the straps on the bolt pistol holster and adding runefang steel on the metal highlights on the back pack. My edge highlighting is still not great and I realize it's really tough with a soft brush. 

 

I finished the head of the staff but I cant reattach it to save my life. The superglued is having real trouble adhering to such a tiny surface and now it's left the white dried out glue. Does anyone have a solution?

I should've used the Tamiya like Cordova said instead of trying to save money 

Edited December 2, 2023 by hd3

[Rogue]

Pinning?

 

A short length of paper-clip, and a hole drilled into both pieces. The pin gives increased surface area for the glue, and prevents shearing.

[Pearson73]

I'd probably recommend pinning too, though it might be a bit tricky to get a good alignment on the staff. 

 

You've done a cracking job on the head of the staff, those burning eyes in the skull look really cool.

[hd3]

2 hours ago, Rogue said:

Pinning?

 

A short length of paper-clip, and a hole drilled into both pieces. The pin gives increased surface area for the glue, and prevents shearing.

That sounds possible but the staff is really, really narrow. How small is the pin?

 

P.S 

I magnetized my Venomcrawler, even now though, I dunno if 3 magnets is enough. This thing is huge!

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

Oof. Sorry to hear re-attaching the staff head isn't going well.  

 

As @Pearson73 and @Rogue have said, pinning could work - if you've got a fine drill, you'd need to drill a small hole into each part, insert some thin wire into one part, and then put the other part on. I think that the traditional favourite of a paper clip is likely going to be too thick, and you'd likely be looking at brass wire instead. The down-sides with pinning are that it can be exceptionally fiddly to do with small parts, and sometimes getting the alignment right is hard.

 

If you go the plastic glue route, then you'll need to get the join clean before proceeding (I'm not sure the best way of doing this, as I don't use super-glue - super-glue de-bonder is a thing; apparently super-glue becomes brittle after being frozen and can be picked off; isopropyl alcohol is also supposed to work, but also acts as a paint stripper). 

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Oof. Sorry to hear re-attaching the staff head isn't going well.  

 

As @Pearson73 and @Rogue have said, pinning could work - if you've got a fine drill, you'd need to drill a small hole into each part, insert some thin wire into one part, and then put the other part on. I think that the traditional favourite of a paper clip is likely going to be too thick, and you'd likely be looking at brass wire instead. The down-sides with pinning are that it can be exceptionally fiddly to do with small parts, and sometimes getting the alignment right is hard.

 

If you go the plastic glue route, then you'll need to get the join clean before proceeding (I'm not sure the best way of doing this, as I don't use super-glue - super-glue de-bonder is a thing; apparently super-glue becomes brittle after being frozen and can be picked off; isopropyl alcohol is also supposed to work, but also acts as a paint stripper). 

 

I don't think I have the skills or the tools to pin it, alas. It's really small. 

 

I can try the plastic glue route? Any brand suggestions? Alternatively, I can admit defeat and ask the local hobby shop to fix it for a commission