Dude i seriously love this thread. Your technique of creating bold and bright models is awesome. You apply the colours well and your battle damage is brill.

I cant wait to see more.

Your plan sounds good for the army.

Keep up the great work.

LTP

Hehe you think you got it bad...



(they are all unpainted ;) )

He turned out just as I had hoped, awesome! The fuff also made him a lot more interesting, giving him some "character"

I feel your pain on not painting stuff fninished... Maybe you saw my space wolf plog here once? Well, its back at page 20-30 by now I guess <.<

"Happily awaiting your next painted model"

EDIT:
Woho, the thread has passed 100 posts!

Haha, I won't start a competition, let me just say that I know how it is. Had to move my boxes around since I'm doing some redecorating at home (basically tearing down the walls) and I have a lot of boxes not even opened

I believe I did, you should get that up and running again! Even if you only update once a month it's still fun to follow the progress!

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Alot of things going in, sadly this update is just a teaser (mwahaha). I do have 2 miniatures that are near completion but I'll post them tomorrow instead (hopefully along with a "How to do dirty white"-tutorial )

I've a few other things to show you, first of I suddenly had a flash of insight on where to go with the transportation for my death company (ie the rhino/razorback, I'm planning for a land raider crusader later on (ie in a year or so at the rate I'm painting now) which I already have grand ideas for).

Basically I want it to be evident that it is a death company vehicle (hence the red X/cross comes in). But at the same time I also want the vehicle to pop and scream fanaticism - so I'm going to try to paint hints of small phoenixes within the red colour (as if the red colour where alive, that is). Along with that a gritty and VERY dirty white. Hopefully it will look good and not just.. suck.

Try to envision it on this picture, and I'll see how much I have time to paint tomorrow:


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Since I'm not posting the two marines I'm working on now I figured I'd just post the final 2 marines for the Ember Squad. To make them different (yet similar) I decided to give them chaos arms (with obvious chaos markings trimmed away), their chainswords look "death company" enough. And my "bitz-vision" helped one of them get his hand on a grenade instead of his trustworthy bolt pistol (which he has on his belt instead)



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Teaser project is slowly moving in the right direction (he will probably start out as a death company member and later on progress to become a chaplain):


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Comments, insight, tips and opinions are most welcome!

I like the ideas you have about the red on the rhino, if you could make your ideas a reality it would be quite the show.

The Ember squad marines look interesting (not painted argh!).
I "think" the chaplain is going to look great, but I can't tell before I see him with a weapon and at least a basecoat, as he is (in my eyes) looking kinda static at the moment. It is you though, so I expect he is going to look good anyway

Best of luck and happy painting!

Most people just think....'i'm going to paint it red'

Last lot of models are looking awesome, and i enjoy reading your creative process. The combination of that, plus tutorials and the great work you are doing is making this a really enjoyable log to follow.

this is such an amazing journey! and the god-damn bird you're doing is amazing.

Oh, promises, you know how real life can be! I haven't had any time to paint, so I guess some of you will be disappointed with this rather short update.

We are starting up a campaign tomorrow, discussing the final rules we will use and setting up the Planetary Empire tiles to get a map going. So I'll need to have about 3-400 pts ready by the start of October. My death company miniatures will help a lot to reach this milestone, yet I feel it might not be the most optimal 1000 points army I can produce it will still be lovely to actually play for once!

I'm going to make a few changes and try to push to finish the following before october starts:

• Chaplain
• 5 Death Company Marines (1 done, 2 almost done, 2 built)
• Death Company Razorback
• 10 Tactical Marines
• Normal Razorback (the one with the wings)
• 2 Dreadnought Autocannons
• 2 Twin-linked Assault Cannons (for razorbacks)

As you can see it looks like a though task for someone that paints as slowly as I do :D

But since I'm pushing I figured I had to move along with the chaplain. Seeing as a chaplain is either a HQ or an elite choice for at least 100 pts its a good filler (that can still pack some punch if used correctly!).

And while thinking about the different weapon options available to a chaplain I finally gave in and decided to use a weapon I have my doubts about (the hand flamer). However it suits my concept for the particular miniature very well. I'm not 100% sure on the fluff about this particular character and the chapter as a whole and their tight connection to these Huma birds (or Phoenixes). What I've considered is (please know I have limited knowledge into the actual warhammer 40k storyline, so I might be making some unacceptable assumptions):

• The feathers from these birds is a symbol for the chapter (the feather of a huma bird is said to glow brighter than a torch and it will glow forever, hence the lonely white feather that you will see more of on coming miniatures). It acts as a bringer of hope on a planet otherwise mostly covered in ash wastes with extreme temperature variations (and perpetual darkness where only volcanoes and a few choice creatures would emit light at all).
  
• The birds themselves are highly intelligent (I consider them in ways comparable with double-headed eagles that librarians keep as familiars, but self-reliant to a greater extent) and are trained as a part of induction into chaplaincy (and replaces their crozius arcanum as a badge of office). They would fight along the chaplains much like a trained attack dog and their incredible body heat and sharp claws mean they are considered to be like power weapons in game terms.
  
• The birds would be born of fire (and die in fire) and are therefore drawn to it, meaning that chaplains and battle-brothers of the chapter more often prefer to use melta weapons and flamers in order for the birds to have something to home in on (and join the fray).

I felt like I just had to equip my chaplain with a hand flamer to go along with his "pet". I've done some work on him since last update, added a "scroll" along the groin (which would be odd when your pet is a burning bird, but.. Well, I don't know - pretty much every chaplain miniature has one of these scrolls).

I decided to incorporate some skulls onto him, since that's the most consistent imagery for chaplains. So I built one into one of his greaves and added one to the backpack. I believe the skulls are both from Chaos Space Marine boxes.

Apart from that I continued on the flowing fabrics hanging out from the back of his armour. The plastic part is actually from the Empire General/Standard Bearer box and the other pieces are from a soda can. They help to add a little movement to the miniature (which was needed). Another part from Empire boxes is the "vials" on his belt, they are ammo boxes from Empire handgunners, but I will paint them as blood vials.

And, Tossidin, you mentioned that the miniature was a little stale (static was your choice of word), this is actually something I did on purpose. He will be the leader of the death company for now, and all other miniatures in that squad has running legs. I figured that the chaplain (at least in my chapter) would actually be the calm one in such a squad. Slowly but purposely moving along his frenzied brothers, letting his bird be a symbol for what awaits them (should they die with a burning heat they will be reborn anew to once again fight for the emperor) and therefore they would fight even harder!

Those of you with keen eyes might notice the melted piece of the backpack. The shoulderpad is equally melted as well as parts of his armour along the arm, I imagine that these birds are periodically so hot they actually inflict melta damage the armour of their owner!

Wow, wall of text!
Here he is! And I've almost done what I need to do before I can start to painting him:


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What do you think about the bird, is the legs to wide? Should I try to redo them (thin them a bit, maybe add more definition to the feet/claws?)? I'm leaning towards at least making the legs thinner - but I'd like your input!

Just realized the pictures might not be good enough to even answer the question

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Tomorrow we're having an evening dedicated to painting warhammer. Hopefully I'll finish of two marines then and progress on the death company rhino! If I do, there's a tutorial for you!

Hold your thumbs for an update tomorrow then!

Till next time

You have some wery good stuff going on here!
I said he looked a bit "static" because of how you have posed the legs. It is just something about it that buggers me, but maybe it will look better when it is painted (I really can't tell before it has colour or if I see it in real life). I really like the consept of a "calm" figure in the middle of the death company, and have actually used the same idea for my Librarian in my angels sanguine project (which will take some time -.-).
Other than that, I like your "fluffy stuff". I like the melted armour idea, and the waving clothing makes him much more dynamic (as you said).
Only really negative thing I can say is that yes, to be honest I think the bird has too thick legs, though I guess it is tricky to get them thinner, I would have preffered it if you are able to do it.

Now I am really looking forward to updates of painted models and your tutorial, which I am quite interested in. Good luck and happy painting!

my internet dies for a bit and i see you've been a busy little painter/modeler! im diggin the beaks and the red "X" tid bit :D

and the fact you spent so little time on the tanks scares me because you can pull something off so well with so little time

you my friend scare me with your skills :D

Working on the legs of the birds. I'll have to see if I can accomplish my creative vision, it's pretty delicate work even with good tools. Might have to try some other putty than green stuff (have some grey stuff and brown stuff around here somewhere. Might even try some of the copper thread I have around here which gave me an idea earlier).

Only thing that puts me of with the chaplain at the moment is that his left foot looks of in certain angles, but I also realise it's my mind playing tricks with me since it's the same size as a regular marine foot

And you shall recieve pictures in this update!

Well, thank you!

What's scary to me is that I think 24 hours on a vehicles is a pretty long time to "sacrifice" (even with the result) for every single vehicle. Yet I'm a bit allergic to bland vehicles so I guess I have to put up with myself

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So, here we are.
How to pain a dirty white armour, a huge picture and a pretty easy explanation.

Dirty white:

1. Undercoat (Preferebly grey) alternatively undercoat with white spray and skip step 2.
2. Repeated Layers of Skull White (till you get coverage)
3. Wash with Gryphonne Sepia wash (Not complete coverage, don't be sloppy (it will give you headache later on, like it did on these marines) and take your time).
4. Wash with Ogryn Flesh wash (try to get it only into the recesses, don't be sloppy!)
5. Wash with Devlan Mud wash (tiny amounts only in the recesses!)
6. Wash selected recesses with Badab Black wash (shoulderpad corners, a few angles on the backpack and so on)
7. Add watered Skull White wherever needed.

To see TURORIAL PICTURES:
CLICK HERE


Even dirtier white with battledamage:

1. Add drops of washes on select spots (Gryphonne Sepia, Ogryn Flesh, Devlan Mud).
2. Paint small pieces of edges with tiny amounts of Chaos Black, when dried fill them in with Boltgun Metal (leave a tiny edge of Chaos Black showing).
3. Paint small chips at random locations over the armour in Chaos Black and perhaps even Codex Grey. If needed, highlight one of the edges of these "chips" with Skull White (if you paint it in a "dirty area").

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I'm mostly finished with these, realized now I'm not all that pleased with the shoulderpad on the second one. I will most likely go over them again tomorrow to see if I can make more tiny adjustments.





Does the dirty chainswords work?
Should they perhaps have been in another colour (black?)?

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Squad so far:


Painting these marines has forced me to learn a lot about how to use washes and what to expect from them. It's also taught me even more about how skull white behaves when painted on different shades and colours beneath.

2 marines left before the squad is done.

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Till next time!