Wednesday 6 January 2010

178 Penal Legionnaires - Completed!

Hullo!

Well now, I said they'd be quick and nasty, and I finished 'em today (a snow-day helped!):
[If you're wondering, they're posing on Baby's changing mat].

Thanks to everyone who gave me their suggestions in the last post - especially to Hephesto and harreh for the idea of using the barcodes [okay, they're maybe a little excessive and impractical, but when they're lined up as a squad the barcodes really work!] - and thanks also to Ron who (yonks ago, if memory serves) noted that he often didn't bother detailing the faces of grunts...I tried it for these, just relying on my new bottle of Devlan Mud wash.

Strange to be forcing oneself to paint in a more sloppy manner. It did make it far easier to include the last four of my six three-piece click-together guardsmen I bought on a whim last year though: can you spot them?

I've been working en passant on something special too, to be revealed next month. Watch this space...

Cheers, all,

- Drax.

15 comments:

  1. Nice work! The barcodes in particular. You have an impressively steady hand.

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  2. VERY nice - I like them a lot. Your barcodes turned out much better than mine did - I may have to revisit them at some point... Keep it up!

    Oh, and snap! My better half had that pattern...

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  3. Awesome stuff! The barcodes are a nice touch, it definitely enforces the Penal Legion look. Nice work all around!

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  4. Are those the barcode decals that someone mentioned from the IG decal sheet? No way can one person paint straight lines that well surely :P

    Nice work!

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  5. The barcodes are a great touch and perfect for the grim darkness fluff of 40k!
    I for one cannot pick out the snap-together guardsmen at first glance. It took a bit of a detailed look to decide which ones they were.

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  6. Dear Admiral, I think they look great. Very jailbird.
    John

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  7. great job on the penal troops drax! It is a good balance of details (with those flashy bar codes) and simple (which is good for the thousands of foot troops guard tend to have).

    personally, I'm a big fan of guardsmen in orange :-)

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  8. Looking good mate, the barcodes turned out well, as did the jumpsuits.

    I'm interested in this something special, you've got me wishing the month away already.

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  9. Yeah, they're transfers, after Harreh's excellent suggestion.

    If I were starting over (and could be bothered) I might cut them in twain lengthwise, but otherwise I'm happy with them.

    Thanks for the comments, and sorry about the quality of the pics: late-night-post-nappy-change flash photography at its best.

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  10. Love how the barcode turned out, very unique and characterful addition!

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  11. Thanks!

    I'll assume the use of 'unique' and 'characterful' to describe models defined with the anonymity of barcodes is ironic...

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  12. Wow they are really good Drax, how did you get the barcode transfers from?

    I am thinking about making some smaller barcodes in their foreheads, like in the codex, but i wonder if its possible to make them yourself? I think i recall a technique vaguely lol... or maybe not

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  13. Hey, Rasmus:

    They're tucked away on the standard Cadian transfer sheet.

    If I were to do these again though, I'd cut them down so they were only half the height.

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  14. @Drax Thats a Brilliant idea...! Mind if i steal it? I just ordered some cool faces for some more options on my own penal legionairs so i would prolly put the barcodes somewhere on their skin since the new heads have masks on:)

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  15. Good thinking, mate.

    If you want them blue on skin rather than white you may consider staining them once they're in place with some blue ink or wash.

    Drop me an email with your address and I'll try to send in some mortar reinforcements...

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Thanks for taking the time to comment!