Brother Christopher's Purple Marines Project

[Pearson73]

These look ace, the adjusted leg armour and kneeplates look so much better than the more smooth and rounded design of the original models. The extra cabling is also nice and overall throws the mind back to the original Tactical Marine boxes. Great job!

[Brother Christopher]

@Sir Clausel Thanks! This means a lot coming from you!

 

@MoriyaSchism I'll make sure to try this out for the next batch of models. These guys were proper test models: I wanted to see how much time and effort it takes to do certain things and, with the limited time, I relied on GS due to how quick it is to work with. I fear that anything involving Milliput requires more planning: for me this means at least a 30-minute session. I'll use it, though, when I have more models to do at the same time.

 

@Brother Argent Thank you, I appreciate this. Seeing some planning to do a similar thing is extremely reasuring: this means that putting all this work to mess some Primaris models up isn't as stupid as it may seem. Sure, it would've been way easier to rely on the single, ready-made armour mark, but apparently I'm very stubborn and don't learn from my mistakes. Consequently, I get myself involved in quite extensive hobby projects again and again even though I've sworn not to do this and instead paint models as they are or get into 3D printing. (Or this isn't a mistake and time sink and I just like some oldschool converting and scratch building, who knows?).

 

20 hours ago, Brother Argent said:

I don't have any experience with sculpting, at least not half decently, so hats off to you and your amazing work

 

Oh, I'm rubbish as sculpting, too. Luckily I have a horde of Oldmarines to steal details from. Instant mould (I think it's called blue stuff now) really helps a lot with copying details.

 

@Pearson73 Thanks for leaving a comment, I'm glad you like these. I was aiming at making them more like the old Tac Marines.

 

***

Here are some more photos: modified backpacks and an arm for the missile launcher guy.

 

I've extended the arm by 1mm and added some armour to make it more like the updated Primaris arms.

 

 

***

 

So, after converting the first 5 models I've revaluated and updated the scope of the project. As I've already remarked earlier, I'm cutting down on some of the originally planned modifications, most importantly the ankle joints and, I think, the backpacks. Given the time it takes, I feel I'm unable to modify them to a satisfactory standard.

 

I consider this a failure since I'm pulling out of things I considered to be fundamental to the project. Life often verifies our plans in unexpected ways, right?

 

However, I have an excellent explanation that somewhat lessens my self-imposed shame. The Primaris models have a distinct aesthetic; the main differences are the extra armour (the additional 'layer' of armour on the chest plate, on the thighs, and even greaves; the inbuilt 'shield' on melee marines; tassels) and an introduction of circular bits (ankle joints; backpacks). Given the target size of the Primaris collection, I can't expect to 'fix' all of that for all the models. I might still redo some models to the degree I did these but this will be more sparing. This should also make painting them easier.

 

Consequently, I'll keep these features as they are because Space Marines in this "alternate universe" of mine happen to use this kind of armour (as a reminder, I don't consider these to be Primaris Marines; they are distorted versions of the Space Marines from 'my days:' before gathering storm; from the Dawn of War and Space Marine video games era). After all, artworks and video games don't recreate the old models 1:1. Call it creative licence. These guys will use longer bolters, bigger plasma guns, meltas and flamers and will have more circular details.

 

Nonetheless, I intent do introduce more variety to the backpacks. I'll just stick to the circular shapes more.

[Brother Christopher]

Life, am I right?

 

The last however many weeks it has been were quite brutal and left me pretty drained. In addition, the absolutely garbage heat wave in an urban environment left me with little to no motivation to do anything 40k. I managed to get some of my Firstborn Templars ready but with the Primaris, eh, I felt overwhelmed by the project.

 

It's probably due to being overworked (and slowly steam-cooked by the bloody weather) but I found myself a bit under the weather, mentally speaking. Even though I am curious about how the Primaris models will turn out, I found myself a bit depressed by 'getting it wrong' the first try.

 

You see, while converting the first five models (see above), I wanted to apply the same treatment to most of the marines. However, reworking the round bits on the ankles and backpacks has turned out to be a bit too much. I must be rubbish at these kinds of things time-wise ;) Because of this, I have decided to pivot and keep the round bits on the ankles and backpacks. It's just how my marines will be like in my "alternate universe" (I still refuse to treat these guys as proper Primaris!). That's all great, I think, but what about the 5 guys that I've already altered?

 

Yeah, you see, sometimes people get overly fixated with stuff. And I did just that. For over w week I've been pondering what to do with these. Keeping them as-is was a problem: after all, I want to keep the models in the project uniform (unlike my Black Templars who are a mishmash of models, ideas, styles and whatnot) and these guys will stand out a bit. Forsaking or selling them is a problem since I've invested time and effort in them. At the same time, intellectually I now that these are trivial problems but I felt like I've made a mistake in a project that was supposed to work pretty much flawlessly. After all, I was to take advantage of my previous experience and mistakes to avoid these kinds of stumbles.

 

But in the end, after waaaaaaaay too much time spent on this, I did what I have to do: with an almost superhuman effort, I forced myself to sit at my desk and do something with the models!

 

I decided to keep these 5 guys more or less as they are. I intend to add some oldschool cables to the legs and, I think, I'll give these five guys oldmarine backpacks. I'm also considering arming them with bolters, instead of bolt rifles, but I'm not entire sure about that. While they will be distinct from the rest of the more modern brethren in the collection, I suppose that I'll treat them as prototypes and reminders an early, too ambitious concept.

 

On a very positive note, I think I just might have broken the hobbyist's block and am determined to start painting these guys this week. Fingers crossed!

[gaurdian31]

Maybe make them Sternguard or the equivalent in that they are veterans to explain why they have slightly different armor? 

[DemonGSides]

1 hour ago, Brother Christopher said:

I suppose that I'll treat them as prototypes and reminders an early, too ambitious concept.

 

I think it helps to remain positive!  I think prototypes or as Gaurdian suggested, use them as a vet squad who does have slightly bespoke armor.

 

I applaud you for doing this the way you want, but I think the Primaris armor really shines in it's additive ability; they are VERY PLAIN marines, so they take any sort of upgrade sprues or extra bits or, as you've seen, green stuff-ing quite well!

Excited to see more.  I think it would be cool (And probably ambitious), to put your effort on converting one fo the vehicles into a tracked vehicle.  You seem skilled and capable and most importantly, have a good mind for the project direction; you've been beating yourself up for the past few posts but I'd like to give you a commendation as even if the project wasn't successful, you displayed good talent, you shared your experiences with a community that can learn from them, and you learned some things yourself.  Nothing to beat yourself up over, with that as the outcome!

Good work, once again!  Keep it up!

[TheArtilleryman]

Personally I think you should leave the conversions as they are - they look great. Don’t go back and reverse engineer them. Like others have said, if you don’t want to do any more conversions you can use these guys as a veteran squad or something. That way it doesn’t matter if they stand out a bit.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Sometimes taking a break is the right thing to do - if you've got no motivation, forcing yourself is sometimes counter-productive and can lead to sub-par results.

 

I think if you can justify them being different, then just leave it at that - you could either have them as a single unit, or spread them throughout, just like how the Tactical Squad box has a mix of armour patterns in it.

[Brother Christopher]

15 hours ago, gaurdian31 said:

Maybe make them Sternguard or the equivalent in that they are veterans to explain why they have slightly different armor? 

 

That is a great and simple idea, I just need to see if I have enough bodies for non-elite roles.

14 hours ago, DemonGSides said:

I applaud you for doing this the way you want, but I think the Primaris armor really shines in it's additive ability; they are VERY PLAIN marines, so they take any sort of upgrade sprues or extra bits or, as you've seen, green stuff-ing quite well!

 

Thanks, and I think you're quite right about the Mk X potential for retro-fication.

 

14 hours ago, DemonGSides said:

Excited to see more.  I think it would be cool (And probably ambitious), to put your effort on converting one fo the vehicles into a tracked vehicle.  You seem skilled and capable and most importantly, have a good mind for the project direction; you've been beating yourself up for the past few posts but I'd like to give you a commendation as even if the project wasn't successful, you displayed good talent, you shared your experiences with a community that can learn from them, and you learned some things yourself.  Nothing to beat yourself up over, with that as the outcome!

 

I hope to get this thread updated more than I did. Regarding vehicles, I've been pondering conversions of Primaris Vehicles but ended up with a different decision: for the centrepiece vehicle, I got a Spartan and for small transports, I intend to pimp my old plasticard Rhinos up. And many thanks for the kind words.

 

5 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

I think if you can justify them being different, then just leave it at that - you could either have them as a single unit, or spread them throughout, just like how the Tactical Squad box has a mix of armour patterns in it.

 

That will work well, too. I'm now leaning towards guardian31 suggested or use them as a dedicated Tactical Squad.

 

5 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Personally I think you should leave the conversions as they are - they look great. Don’t go back and reverse engineer them. Like others have said, if you don’t want to do any more conversions you can use these guys as a veteran squad or something. That way it doesn’t matter if they stand out a bit.

 

I left them almost as-is, with some more minor things, namely I added some wires (that I'm sure get in the way of movement, but this was a staple of the older marks and appears to be present in the new HH refresh, too):

 

And I braved adding some rivets:

 

 

 

These are an experiment: the base for the shape is a drop of paper/wood glue sealed with superglue and a layer of brush-on gloss varnish.

 

The glue rivets work well; I use the method on my DIY vehicles; however, the rivets are quite susceptible to accidental damage. That's why I tried to 'reinforce' them on this model. When one rivet gets damaged on a large surface, that's a negligible thing. If I were to accidentally damage these, that'd be a pain to fix.

 

I'm curious how it'll look after I paint it; right now, the extreme close up shows a bit of undesirable texture but I remain hopeful that some primer and paint will change that.

[gaurdian31]

Cabling looks good and the rivets came out really well. I've been watching both your templar project and this one and I have to say you do some amazing work. 

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks! Being a room-dwelling hobbyist, I appreciate that! I'm glad I can share my work with this community ;)

 

I started painting my first model. As always, I messed up :D In a rather derp move, I forgot to do a zenithal highlight before applying the base coat. Well, I think I'll have to live with this mistake an will keep this model. After inspecting the photos, I see a couple of rough spots. Overall, though, I think it's quite decent. I'm still looking for ways to improve the paintjob; maybe I'll brave a more pinkish layer of fine highlights. Dunno. Decisions - this is where I struggle the most.

 

 

 

 

Also, I I think that despite trying to hit the right white balance, I failed to get the hue of purple right in the photos; in real life, the colour is a bit warmer.

 

All in all, since I will have around 70 models to paint, I'm roughly happy with this 'standard.' Sure, I could spend more time to blend the colours but I'm happy to cut some corners.

 

At this crucial stage, I'll appreciate your feedback.

[Terminatorinhell]

That's actually the precise purple I really like on marines 

[TheArtilleryman]

9 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

Thanks! Being a room-dwelling hobbyist, I appreciate that! I'm glad I can share my work with this community ;)

 

I started painting my first model. As always, I messed up :D In a rather derp move, I forgot to do a zenithal highlight before applying the base coat. Well, I think I'll have to live with this mistake an will keep this model. After inspecting the photos, I see a couple of rough spots. Overall, though, I think it's quite decent. I'm still looking for ways to improve the paintjob; maybe I'll brave a more pinkish layer of fine highlights. Dunno. Decisions - this is where I struggle the most.

 

 

 

 

Also, I I think that despite trying to hit the right white balance, I failed to get the hue of purple right in the photos; in real life, the colour is a bit warmer.

 

All in all, since I will have around 70 models to paint, I'm roughly happy with this 'standard.' Sure, I could spend more time to blend the colours but I'm happy to cut some corners.

 

At this crucial stage, I'll appreciate your feedback.

This looks really great. Nice depth of colour. I’m not even sure you need the zenithal highlight; jury’s out for me on whether it’s a technique worth doing. Nice touch with the brown belt too - if you’d asked me at the start if you should, I’d have said no, but now you’ve done it I think it looks neat.
 

Oh, and painted up like this, you can’t even tell it is a conversion. 
 

One quick check because I know you like feedback - it might just be the angle of the photo but have you accidentally painted the top edge of the chest armour silver when it should be purple? Can’t tell if it’s the eagle or the armour.

 

Awesome work though and can’t wait to see the squad finished.

[Rusted Boltgun]

Looks great to me! I wish I could highlight like that. If you're happy with the result I'd skip the zenithal highlight of you have 70 more to do and any time saving would be a bonus.

 

I wasn't sure about the (nicely painted) brown but it might be because it is in isolation. With other models sporting holsters it will pull together and break up the mass of purple armour. Will it key in to the base colour too?

 

I wouldn't go for an extra pinkish highlight but then I'm not great at pushing the contrast on models so maybe don't listen to me! Also, as you mentioned the model may look slightly different in the hand.

 

Also, those rivets are great! Those guys feel like Sternguard to me. A small band of hardy veterans.

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

It looks really nice to me.  If you want to push the highlighting, maybe a couple of key points on the helmet to draw attention to the face? Otherwise, I don't think it needs pushing much more.

 

It might just be the photos, but it looks like the backpack isn't highlighted quite as much as the rest of the marine?

[Brother Christopher]

 Thank you for all this amazing feedback. It seems that I'm on the right track with the purple formula which is very important. I also think that you're right about the no harm in skipping the zenithal highlight. I'm trying to stick to the way I painted the first guy; however, progress has been slow.

 

On 7/20/2024 at 9:49 AM, TheArtilleryman said:

One quick check because I know you like feedback - it might just be the angle of the photo but have you accidentally painted the top edge of the chest armour silver when it should be purple? Can’t tell if it’s the eagle or the armour.

 

I think it's a poorly-trimmed green stuff mould.

 

On 7/22/2024 at 2:26 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

It might just be the photos, but it looks like the backpack isn't highlighted quite as much as the rest of the marine?

 

Thanks, I think it's the way light reflects on the model in the photo.

 

***

Project updates: Professional life has been quite tough recently and the situation which led me to once again revaluate my place in the hobby and my stance on this project. I think that life has trodden on my dreams on a highly-customised and de-Primarised army to the point of that I'm very close to admitting failure and moving on to doing pretty much vanilla Primaris dudes. I'm making contingency plans but I am defnitely warming up to the idea of succumbing to GW.

 

The contingency plan is to further step back on the extent of conversions and focus my limited hobby time on actually painting models. Even if I decide to go with this approach I still intend to sprinkle some individuality to the models but more on a per-squad basis, rather than on a per-model basis.

 

In the end, I think, @LameBeard was right all those months ago ;)

 

  

On 2/18/2024 at 10:38 AM, LameBeard said:

3) I feel you can get a lot of variety mixing in helmets and shoulder pads from older ranges. It really isn’t worth converting backpacks, I don’t think. Even chest eagles could be a lot of work. You’re just gonna have to learn to love the weird knee and neck rims if you’re joining the Primaris world!

 

Regardless of the final direction of the project, concerns about letting GW win and doing almost vanilla Primaris pushed me to go the extra mile with these models.

 

The current idea for the squad is to add another member to end up with a 6-man tactical squad. I also intend to fiddle with their weapons - maybe replace the bolt rifles with actual bolters and sprinkle in some oldschool special weapons. In the worst case scenario, these guys will be my 'what-could've-been squad.'

 

Despite my doubts about the feasibility of conversions, I must say: painting these guys is super fun at the moment!

 

Edited July 26 by Brother Christopher

[Firedrake Cordova]

Sorry to hear work life's been a pain and impacting on your hobby time  

[TheArtilleryman]

4 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

I think it's a poorly-trimmed green stuff mould.

OK cool. Doesn’t look poorly trimmed at all; looks like it’s meant to be sculpted that way :)

 

4 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

The current idea for the squad is to add another member to end up with a 6-man tactical squad.

Watch out - points wise that’ll cost you the same as a 10-man squad… it’s that same issue I had with my firstborn guys at the start of this edition. If you want a 6-man to fill a transport, maybe have 5 dudes and add a character? Unless you don’t care about the army list and are just doing this for the hobby/collecting side of course.

[gaurdian31]

As has been said sorry that RL is impacting your hobby time, hopefully it isn't causing too much stress. The painting came out lovely, I really like that purple. I think adding tactical marine parts to primaris bodies will spice them up enough to not be "vanilla." I agree with @TheArtilleryman I think a character added to the group would be a bit more fun, maybe a lieutenant? Having one of those lead a veteran unit makes sense, at least to me. 

[Brother Christopher]

All of this support is truly lovely! Admittedly, I'm choosing RL to impact my hobby. While I'd definitely prefer to do more Warhammer stuff, I can't blame anyone, particularly I can't blame a manger or boss :P As a freelancer, I elect to take advantage of the available orders and as a person I elect to devote free time to other things, such as exercising or reading. Having a job which involves a lot of sitting at a computer I find it more and more difficult to squeeze another hour or so for painting stuff. Regardless, all is well. With the exception of the slowish progress, that is.

 

@TheArtilleryman and @gaurdian31 Thanks for the feedback on the organisation of the squad. After reconsidering the purpose for these models (again!), they will be a 5-man Tactical Squad, armed with a missile launcher, a CCW sergeant (I think I'll go with a classic chainsword) and perhaps a plasma gun or flamer (either oldschool or Primaris). I'm still buying time before making the final decision; at the moment, I think I'll go with the Primaris variety and maybe use a spare plasma incinerator from the hellblaster squad. If I'm not mistaken, there should be 5 of those - 5 for shooting marines and 1 held in an outstretched arm.

 

Apart from being a Tactical Squad, these guys are excellent proper test models that provide me with a lot of insight as to what I want to do. Over the weekend, I managed to paint most of the armour. I think I'm pushing my skills and efforts further than I planned but, at the same time, the process still is very rewarding. I'm dreading a bit how the models will look under magnification/in photos.

 

But painting colour in 2024 is really fun! My modified 4th-edition recipe for black is quite limiting in terms of 'range' of colours; here, I have way more flexibility.

 

@Firedrake Cordova Once again, many thanks for the excellent youtube recommendations. By watching, digesting and bastardising them, I think I found a painting goal and a workable approach to reaching it.

 

There's a small part of me that regrets that I'm not brave enough to try something properly modern/crazy (in terms of techniques or exotic paints and effects) and opted once again for a wannabe 'eavy metal style. But, yeah, that's probably just me.

[TheArtilleryman]

20 minutes ago, Brother Christopher said:

Thanks for the feedback on the organisation of the squad. After reconsidering the purpose for these models (again!), they will be a 5-man Tactical Squad, armed with a missile launcher, a CCW sergeant (I think I'll go with a classic chainsword) and perhaps a plasma gun or flamer (either oldschool or Primaris).

No problem! I always find reading your blogs and following your progress really interesting. Watch out though - it’s 1 heavy/special per 5 in a tactical squad so you have to pick between the heavy or special if you want it to be a legal squad.
 

Interestingly, in 10th you can now have two specials in a 10-man if you want, rather than 1 special and 1 heavy. This is quite a nice change I think as it suits more mobile armies better.

[Firedrake Cordova]

9 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

@Firedrake Cordova Once again, many thanks for the excellent youtube recommendations. By watching, digesting and bastardising them, I think I found a painting goal and a workable approach to reaching it.

Glad they were helpful!  

[Brother Christopher]

On 7/28/2024 at 10:40 PM, TheArtilleryman said:

No problem! I always find reading your blogs and following your progress really interesting. Watch out though - it’s 1 heavy/special per 5 in a tactical squad so you have to pick between the heavy or special if you want it to be a legal squad.

 

I am honoured! And I'm glad I can offer some entertainment ;)

 

Geez, GW really tries to make my life complicated here. I think I'll just forget about the current official rules and make this a self-contained squad. And in-game, I'll just field 10 guys and combat squad these, alongside a LT or other character.

 

Also, I can't stress enough how happy I am with these initial stumbles. It seems that further retaining my ambitions has gotten something off my chest. And that something is excessive decision-making. Following GW's simplistic limited simple formula for squad compositions and keeping to more uniform armour marks will definitely help me in two major areas: quality of sculpts (and ease of painting) and integrity of the force and flame-proofing the army. I expect GW to release updated vanguards, assault termies or even perhaps tacticals/devastators and if that comes to past, the new models will have the ball-joints on the ankles and other hallmarks of Primaris armour.

 

While I don't intend to buy any more models at the moment, I anticipate that I'll add the 11th edition starter box.

 

I've also planned out the wargear options for, what feels like, 80% of my collection.

[gaurdian31]

Glad to hear that you are having a good time with painting them! What you have posted so far has looked great and every time I see that purple I love it! You can never go wrong with a sergeant with a chainsword. 

[TheArtilleryman]

@Brother Christopher I’m glad you’re feeling more positive!

 

The tactical squad weapon loadout of 1 per 5 has been the same for a very long time, like several editions. Even before primaris existed, I think. You only get 2 if you have the full squad of 10 and that’s been standard for years. I think they changed it in the first place to mitigate against “power gamers” taking lots of 5-man squads to maximise the number of special weapons they could get.

 

I think it’s liberating when you realise you don’t need to overthink every little detail or conform to the whims of James Workshop. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that much. If you like it, that’s fine. For example, the whole thing with my firstborn guys made me realise I don’t need to fit the mould and can proxy what I want as long as it works for me. My current Raven Guard project is doing just that, and I will use heresy assault marines as jump intercessors, tactical guys as intercessors, cataphractii as terminators, a praetor as a captain, missile launcher squads as desolators, plasma gun squads as hellblasters and a contemptor as a regular dread. Not only does it save time it is also a much cheaper way to build a 40K army.

 

Your converted guys look ace and it will be great to see them get finished. You’ve already photographed them at very close range and the highlighting stands up well. You might find the range of purple shades is more forgiving than the more stark contrasts on the black models. If RL permits (and prioritising RL is absolutely a great call of course, especially if it’s making you money), see if you get just one done and see how you like it - at the end of the day, one is infinitely more than zero!

[Pearson73]

Digging the reinforcement that you added to the missile launcher guy's arm. Love all these small details. Speaking of which, the moddifications to the powerpacks is a great way to throw the Primaris sculpts back to the original space marine style. I'm sorry to hear that you had a bit of a mental battle with the direction of the project, but I'm glad that you're back on track and with a fresher perspective. It's all too easy to see these changes in direction or realisations about projects as failiures, but they're not! Protoypes is a great way to view them, and I'm glad that you'll keep the squad as a veteran tactical squad.

 

Love the purple, it's a great colour and the highlights are looking sharp!