167 Trying Freehand Details

Well hello!

I've almost finished my next batch of Guardsmen (3Pl, 2Section - with a meltagunner generously donated by Col. Corbane) and because (a) I'm starting to run low on transfers and (b) I have to cut out tiny, fiddly digits to make the regimental number, I decided to try it free hand.

After a slightly shaky start, I'm actually quite pleased with the majority of them:

Yes that's right - the two with proper bases are actual transfers. Sorry for the quality of the light - I didn't want to wait 'til tomorrow.

I'll also be doing the aquilas on the right shoulders, as that worked out well with the last squad:

Thanks for your support in my painting exploits so far, gang: it's always really appreciated!

- Drax.

163 Lascannon Sentinel Finished At Last!

Here you go, then: it's a while since I got anything painted!

Actually, I might touch up a couple of bits - like some DA Green around the edges of the transfer - but she's pretty much finished...the first of my A/P lascannon sentinels, Hope:

For more details of Hope's history, see the post for her sister sentinel, Faith, here.

It ain't flawless, but I'm very pleased with how my ability to paint freehand nose-art is progressing (especially compared to that on Faith, which was my first ever freehand attempt):

Two other angles:

If you look very very carefully, you may even be able to spot some traces of her old black-on-olive disruption camouflage. I often like to keep certain of these such details to retain a bit of history in my models.

Thank The Emporer - at last some progress on painting. Woo-hoo!

More very soon,

Cheers,

- Drax.

088 Dogs of War?

Hooray for family.

My wife has the patience of a saint when it comes to putting up with my hobby - even to the point whereby she doesn't object to the thousands of little bits of transfer backing paper that litter the floor around my desk like so much pale blue confetti.

But she did object when, the other day, Cadfael came downstairs in the morning bearing an Imperial Guard squad marking...on his nose.

The worst of it was that because his nose is so wet it had actually activated the transfer!

I love my corgi.

- Drax.

[Who needs to teach his dog that the Cadian 24th wear '24' on their shoulder pads - not '50'.]

075 Glad Tidings of Great Joy I Bring

(Or 'Frosty the Arilleryman - Redux')
[NB: Please see below for anti-frosting tips]

Good news! FIRSTLY, comrade Koloth has finished building his Wyvern after my design - and it's come up a treat! View this and his other models over at: http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm190/SentinelV/ or by clicking on his name, above. Koloth is, officially, an awesome person, and I'm jealous. I'll start back on mine again soon.
SECONDLY, great news! If you remember poor old Frosty the Aritlleryman, commander of my basilisk/griffon 'Ubique', then you'll remember that he got well and truly coated with 'frost' from a spray-varnishing incident. AFTER lots of friendly advice and hints from you lot, I fixed him. In the end, I figured, "Ah, sod it - I'll just strip it and start over," so I plunged Frosty himself into a tub of surgical spirit (rubbing alcohol) and Lo! The frosting disappeared! Fearing that the remaining paint would just drip off anyway, I removed him and blew him dry - and he was fine!

The next day I painted surgical spirit onto the rest of the vehicle with a broad brush and that - likewise - was fine. All was a little tacky for a day or so afterwards, but it's absolutely great now. The only lasting and noticeable difference is that the transfers have had to be removed. Some peeled off when it frosted, but others I had to scrape off. They'll be replaced soon.

Pics below. 'Ubique' as she was:
Then as she was frosted:

And as she is now. Note the front panels on the port side, which I left frosted for comparison; also, this aquila transfer wouldn't come off:

Plus, of course, a cute picture of Cadfael on Christmas day:

FINALLY: Bad news about Ron, over at FromtheWarp: he's quitting the blogging. Thanks for all your efforts and help, mate, and good luck with stuff! NB: This is no longer the case - Hurrah!(Feb '09).

Here's a little song, just for fun:

Frosty The Artilleryman

Frosty the Artilleryman
Had a bright new grey jumpsuit
With an intercom and two shoulder pads
And a stormbolter to boot,

Frosty the Artilleryman
Was a sad old tale they say
‘Coz his new paint job, so crisp and clean
Got frosted one cold day.

It must have been the weather
Or I shook too little time
But when the varnish had dried out
He was covered in a whitened rime

Frosty was rescued
By a dip in surgical spirit
Now his tank is looking good as new
So he’s glad to be back in it.

Cheers, especially to Koloth,

- Drax.

034 Armoured Fist Squad 1

First pic:
Well... I'm not going to wax too lyrical about these lads. It was supposed to be a side project whilst I did other stuff, but because these old metal Cadian models are so shoddy (seriously: some of these guys have hands like moose antlers!) and because I do like at least a tidy finish on my models, I've actually had to expend effort on them in the closing stages. Damnit.

Some of the few things to note (the 3rd pic is slightly different!) include:

(a) the blue-white-blue insignia and identification flashes. Yes, I know blue looks awful against dark green, but it goes with their Chimera transport (you'll note their fatigues are also predominantly Dark Angels too, like the transports). So there.

(b) the Cadian '1' transfer on their left shoulder pads: again, this ties in with the four Chimera transports;
(c) the hastily (if fairly effectively) converted vox on one guardsman; and

(d) the awesome old plasma gunner model. I've a story about one of these...but it'll wait.
Strangely, they actually look better after being varnished - that really didn't fill me with love for these models!

Oh, and these were the Guinea pigs for my patented new Indian Ink Basing Formula-X (I think that's what I'll call it!) - which worked like a dream.

The old order changeth / Yielding place to new.

- Drax.

WHO'S ACTUALLY GOING TO PLAY HIS MATE'S DAEMONS TOMORROW!
and, doubtless, lose!

003 Introducing 1 Platoon.

[21/06/09 - Please note: 1 Pl has now been superceded by the new codex version 'tactical' platoon. Follow this link for more details.]

Okay...let's see how this works then. First, what I'm putting on this post is a series of pictures of B Coy's 1 Platoon. For reference (and by way of excusing myself) I'm not really in it for the painting. Heresy, I know - especially with an infantry-heavy Guard army, but that's my excuse for the lack of artful painting. Also, a lot of 1 Platoon (naturally!) were amongst the first to be painted, just when I'd got back into the hobby a few years ago, so that didn't help. You'll note a lot of the men have surprised expressions on rather blank faces...

...but please don't concentrate on that. What I really like is converting stuff, and I'll put up more of this anon - some of my vehicles and my veterans, for example. Nothing fancy, really, but most of it cleanly done at least.

Right then. This first one is the Pl HQ. This was the first officer I painted - the others don't have the frou-frou red trim. I like the grenade launcher on the right of the pic.
Below you'll find some hyperlinked detail shots of the medic - note the regimental numbering on the left shoulder pad. All the troops have these, which is fiddly, as I have to cut them from two separate transfers. Joy. There's an aquila on the right pad. Some models have other designs with the numbering - hence the medic's insignia.
Note the squad marking on the back of the base: all my lads have these, as the uniform makes them very...er...samey - the colour depends on the platoon, then 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 for each section respectively (with HQ being '0').
...And this is 1Pl 1 Section, armed with a plasma gun. The sergeant's modelled on a mate of mine.
So I'm mostly happy with how the photos went on, and now I even understand (mostly!) how to ensure the hyperlinks work - although until I'm more conversant with html it's only likely to be certain detail shots.

Anyway, here are the second, third and fourth ("remnant") sections of 1 Platoon. They're armed with melta gun, grenade launcher and a flamer respectively. Nothing really of note, except you may have noticed I really like grenade launchers. I find the assault 24" rule and their ability to punch through AV12 armour (on a roll of a 6!) really useful!

This next one is the whole platoon. I'm going to repeat this exercise soon with 2 Platoon, who are identically equipped (so it's a little self-indulgent), but a couple of the models are a little more interesting.
Lastly, this is my infantry transport case, with 10 guardsmen in each hole. There's an entire heavy weapon platoon in each of the holes at the bottom! This is part of the reason each of the lads has his base labelled and colour-coded - it makes identifying and sorting them far easier. Varnishing them helps, too!
Tune in next time for 2 Platoon - with less waffle - then it'll be time for my lovely, lovely vehicles. Yay!