Madeleine's Project Log - III Legion, XXVIII Millennial

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

6 hours ago, Brother Kraskor said:

I feel instinctively like the top transfer of the two is for tactical support, and the bottom is definitely for tacticals. But I have no idea where this instinct comes from. I hope it's right. 
 

Re: the brass III, you could keep it as an honorific yeah, that would be cool. I'd say maybe they could represent some of the original 200, but I wonder if you'd end up with that many still as regular grunts, and in the same squad too - they'd probably be at least centurions. Terrans would work, I always like how being Terran-born wasn't as reliable an indicator of being loyalist for the EC as in other legions (see Eidolon!).

glad we had the same instinct haha. i think it's something about the bottom symbol pointing forwards while the top symbol kind of points to the sides, indicating more of a support role imo!

 

About the original 200, it's true that this many in one squad and as tactical support marines would be improbable; but I actually do plan on have two veterans of the Unification Wars in my company (which is already kind of improbable, although let's not forget that a random distribution is not an even one), and I believe there's a symbol (the eagle head) for such marines!, but i might be mistaken. One of them is now interred in a Deredeo, and another is the Novaetor (though having been gifted the honorary rank of Centurion) of the 299th's Sun-Killer squad, refusing to let go of the thrill of personally hunting down his enemies' largest war machines.

[Pearson73]

Nice work with the blue stuff, I do the same for my Iron Hands. As you say, the raised details are just that much nicer than the flat transfers. These honourifics would be really part of the armour, not just painted on! 

 

As for getting the shoulder pad details right, I find it helps to use a file to thin down the greenstuff, rather than a knife. A curved or triangular file also helps get the curved profile sorted too.

 

Cool experiments with armour markings and meaning. It's a great way to add more personality. You could always add unit specifications to knee plates? I see that in some art and projects.

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

@Pearson73 thanks sm for the kind words and the tip!! I should have a suitable nail file somewhere and I'll give it a try next time, though honestly I'm fairly satisfied with the result using just a hobby knife: looks much better painted!!! Your iron hands look awesome btw, even if they ARE my guys' mortal enemies...

 

FINALLY - Tactical Support Squad done

Speaking of things looking better painted, I FINALLY finished my tactical support squad. I don't even have a "life got in the way" excuse I am just that slow at painting haha. One thing I decidedly can't do is take a good picture, but here are some of the more okay ones. It's just that the purple is a biiiit different irl, but that's just photography I'm afraid!

 

(I have absolutely no idea how to rescale images so apologies if they're absolutely huge lol)

 

 

And you know what, even if they're not perfect (sorry, Fulgrim), I'm pretty proud of them :> 

 

Also, I used a total of 21 paints and 5 other products (microset, microsol, a gloss varnish, a matte varnish, and black weathering pigment). Just a fun lil statistic :D

 

Future Plans

 

Next up is what I'm calling, in my head, the "robot project": two Castellax, a Domitar, and a Praevian! I should get this done a bit quicker bc it's less models, and I find it slightly more amusing to paint lone models compared to lots of similar ones, plus, the paint scheme should be simpler.

 

For the automata, I'm going for a simple gunmetal scheme with some purple armour panels thrown in. This idea was suggested further up by @Brother Kraskor along with the lore justification that, as the 28th Millennial slowly came to accept their mechanized battle-brothers, damaged armour panels came to be replaced with those bearing the legion's colors / insignia. So thanks a lot for the idea, Kraskor, I mulled it over a lot in my head while I was painting my tactical support squad and I've really come to like it!!! It makes total sense and I think it'll look awesome!

 

Thus, an automaton with many purple/gold bits would be a long-serving, veteran war-machine, while a fresh-out-of-the-forge robot would be all gray (though I doubt I'll ever not include at least ONE purple armour panel). This is such a great way to add some diversity to what would otherwise be a pretty standard scheme (thanks again Kraskor!!)!! Of course, I'll make great use of both the Emperor's Children transfer sheet and the Mechanicum-specific ones that came with my Castellax! :D

 

That's about it for now :D

[W.A.Rorie]

Looks great!

[Brother Kraskor]

Very nice, the palatine eagles have come out very well, really enhance the overall look.

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

thanks @W.A.Rorie and @Brother Kraskor for the kind words :D glad you like these guys :3

 

i've assembled my castellax and started kitbashing the praevian to put him in his rightful Mk III armour (instead of the Mk V that he comes in). I've named my castellax Ashley (right) and Autumn (left), and i've magnetized Autumn's multi-melta (in case I change my mind and want a mauler-bolt canon on her shoulder instead). this was actually my first time magnetizing something!! It works quite well!

 

 

i'm still very much hesitating as to the weapon I should give my Praevian. I have some phoenix power spears which would be awesome, but maybe a good ol mechanicum-style power axe would be better? if so, I'd have to buy it online from a bitz seller or smth. what do u guys think?

 

and yes, I know that giving him any power weapon would make it illegal in 3.0 but honestly i play so rarely that I don't care that much. This guy's a veteran! He wouldn't just carry around a bolt pistol, imo. He's also going to have the Mk VI Emperor's Children helmeted sergeant head (the 'Phoenician Helm'), when i can find the damn thing online lol. I'm considering buying the whole Mk VI EC head upgrade box (which is out of stock rn anyways) just for the Phoenician Helm, which I will copy-paste with bluestuff of course, and maybe sell the rest of the heads online, idk

 

this was also the first time i used heat to bend resin bits (had to bend the cable slightly) and i was worried it'd break but thankfully it all went smoothly! :D

 

now I just have to build my Domitar and my "robot project" will be all assembled and I'll move on to painting!! :D

Edited Tuesday at 03:52 PM by PerfectChocolateMadeleine

[W.A.Rorie]

Hot water works for bending as well

Edited Tuesday at 03:53 PM by W.A.Rorie

[Urauloth]

That Praevian kitbash looks great. Nice work!

[Pearson73]

The support squad looks cracking, the gold faceplates and aquilas look really nice. 

 

Love the Praevian build, I think the kit really shines when divided up rather than as whole.

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

thank you for the kind words, @Urauloth and @Pearson73!! it genuinely means a lot to me  i do love me some prosthetic limbs haha, and thanks for the tip, @W.A.Rorie!! :D

 

my domitar is all assembled now! I was waiting for some superglue i ordered (sidenote, the bottle is very well designed!! i love it) and it arrived yesterday! i think the Domitar might be one of my favorite ever warhammer sculpts, if not my all time favorite. there's just something about it, i can't explain, it's just so so cool.

 

i had lots of fun posing it, even if I had to do a little snip-snapping to get the legs right. I wanted it to look like she was winding up to punch something, but it ended up looking like she was just running, which is still fine lol. I think I'll call her Clementine (an ironic name as she shows NO MERCY to her foes!!!), or Christine, or smth like that (I quite like to name my automata).

 

 

Clementine with her (more awkwardly posed (we'll just say they're a bit shy)) little sisters :D they can all stand upright on their own so that's cool! i'll glue them in place once I've painted the bases

 

now, i did not glue the carapace, because i'm still hesitating: with or without showing missiles?

my reasoning is: since she's in the middle of running, her carapace would be closed to minimize drag, right? It just feels a bit sleeker. but I LOVE missile launchers!! idk, lmk if you guys have a preference or smth.

 

anyways, now it's time to paint these guys!!! I think I'll hold off on painting the praevian until I get the right-hipped holster bit that I ordered online, but the robots are definitely getting some color on them soon!!

 

for the scheme, I might ditch the lore tidbit I had previously accepted, that their steel armour panels slowly get replaced with purple-lacquered ones as they gain recognition / veterancy. it's a great idea, but I think I might like the full gunmetal + two coloured shoulders too much not to do that for all three of these (not) girls. I'll try it on one castellax and see how I feel :>

 

so yeah, just a little update :D, i'll post again once I've done some painting!!

 

 

Edited Thursday at 07:33 PM by PerfectChocolateMadeleine

[Corswain]

Pose looks great and I vote missles out. Rule of Cool beats logic in Warhammer every time.

I found the Castellax difficult to pose dynamically but at the end of the day they are robots and I think that any awkwardness is actually spot on.

 

Here's a sentence that I never expected to type - tell me more about your "well designed" super glue bottle!

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

well, before this i had always used soft super glue tubes, which always seemed to squeeze out way too little or, more often, way too much, in which case the glue would dry out on the grooves of the cap, making twisting it off/on difficult and eventually making it impossible to open (perhaps it's my fault and I should take more time cleaning out my superglue caps, but i just get wrapped up in completing the assembly and then forget about it haha).

 

now, this may be nothing special, it's not like i'm an expert in the various types of super glue bottles, but this bottle is made of hard plastic and the glue flows down to the end of the nozzle (no idea if "nozzle" is the right word) with gravity, staying there until you lightly squeeze the bottle and a small drop comes out: it just gives me way more precision than with previous tubes!! it feels like i have way more control than before.

 

Additionally, the cap is made in such a way that it only has like, two grooves, and it attaches to the bottle very smoothly (and satisfyingly!). also the nozzle is quite long and thin so it's relatively easy to reach anywhere i need to. it's also transparent, which is a plus since you can see how much glue is left and stuff.

 

again, take this "review" with an approximately apple-sized grain of salt as i have no idea what a "well-designed" superglue bottle actually is haha, i just really like this bottle! i also just like the shape of it, aesthetic-wise. :D

 

 

(i'd actually never heard of loctite until buying this bottle and i've looked it up and it's apparently quite a big brand!! maybe less so where i'm from then. not sponsored lol )

 

Edited Thursday at 11:09 PM by PerfectChocolateMadeleine

[StratoKhan]

Nice work on the marines.
That rigid bottle dose of loctite has been my go-to superglue ever since I started hobbying as a kid. As you said, way easier to control than the soft tubes.

[Corswain]

Yeah, Loctite is a big brand in Australia, mainly in threadlocking applications (probably why the cap is designed that way).

I used to sell a lot of Loctite products but never seen their super glue. I will keep an eye out. Cheers!

[PerfectChocolateMadeleine]

thanks @StratoKhan, glad u like them :D 

 

i just realized i assembled the Domitar a bit wrong  the cables should feed into the back of the arms, not the front!! i didn't even question this while bending the cables into place lol. i'm wondering if i should just leave it like this (it doesn't look THAT off tbh) or put it in the freezer and try my best to snap off the cables and the arms to swap them around. I could also snap off just the cables and bluestuff-cast the little cable plug hole thing, copy it with greenstuff, glue it on to the back of the arms, and shave off the ones on the front. not sure, though now that i've noticed it does sort of stick out to me whenever i look at the model

Edited Friday at 12:53 AM by PerfectChocolateMadeleine

[LameBeard]

+1 to missiles out

 

plenty situations you might quickly switch from shooting to running without carefully closing your carapace.

 

I have that loctite and still have to drill out the dried up super-glue every time I want to use it. I agree it’s still better than soft tubes, which are asking to split at the bottom and create what we call “a total shampoo mega-disaster”.