Armored for the cleanse..

 I only painted for about an hour last night so I just worked on the BA Termies a little bit. I got most of the base coloring done and worked on the beginnings of the blends. I have a ton of Termies that I'd like to get done. Maybe I'll try a mostly Termie army though sadly Sang Priests can no longer take Termie Armor.

 With most of the base colors down I can start working on some of the details. I added a little blend to the purple but didn't go very far. I also added some black wash to the recesses.

 When they are done by hand I'll probably go back in with the air brush and try some power weapon glow effects. I don't usually do that a ton but I think it will look good on the Terminators.

 The Lightning Claw guy has a pretty bad ass pose. He looks like he means serious bidness. Even if I don't run man lists with them my Space Hulk game pieces will at least look cool haha..

 And who doesn't love the Assault Canon? Makes you feel like you playing Blain from Preditor. Just like him these guys also don't have time to bleed. haha.

I'll be added some wreckage to the bases when the texture is dry to make it still have a bit of the Space Hulk feel. Not a lot but figured it would be a break from all the Eldar Tankness 8)

Grinding on..

 Sorry if you are getting bored of the tank updates but it's a good bit of stuff to do on just ones of these let alone both. But they are getting closer .. I changed the red/orange blend to a teal/white blend on some of the highlight panels on the Scorpion so those areas are finished up. I think the Teal blend goes more with the color schemes though it kind of blends in a bit more then I wanted.. oh well. I also started some of the purple engine/energy coloring. It's pretty basic at the moment but I'll be going in to blend them with some darker and lighter colors.

 The end sections have the most of the teal white blend so you can really see them. You can also see some of the purple areas that have started.

 And here are the start of the engine sections. Like I was saying they are pretty basic at the moment. I'll be going in with a darker purple on some of the areas and a mix of light purple/magenta to add the edge of the burn areas. I did the same on the Wave Serpents Engines but didn't take any pictures of them.

 I also worked on some of the smaller bits since that was pretty quick. I already had them taped so it was just spray. Though sadly the tape slipped on on of the gun guards so I'll have to redo the blue on that one. All good though, I need to do the blue sections on the antenna thing and I'm going to make some kind of design on the vanes.

 I blended up the turret so that section is done

And here are the other gun guards. It's getting close to the whites lines. I'm actually going to try a look of some of the mid teal mix I made first then the white over it so it looks more like a glow instead of a white painted section. I may test it on another Falcon Shell first to see how it looks. I don't want to screw up a blend and then have to re tape an entire section. ha..  I like how they are coming out and I'm look forward to getting these done!

Touching up the under carriage ..

 I had some stuff go down on Monday night so haven't gotten to do too much. I had the bottom of the tanks taped so I blended the blue on them. On the normal table quality I paint I only hit up the bottoms a little but since I want these to be a bit more I figure they should get a little more love. I'll be adding some metallics and also some purple colors for energy over bleed. Sadly I had more paint on the Wave Serpent pop off so I'll have to touch it up .. again..  damn thing.

 As I was taping this I was thinking about what Greg said and almost pulled out the video camera. I thoughts it would be funny just to watch the sped up version of me taping the crap out of the tank. I didn't but I thought about it. Down the road I'm going to paint up a few Vypers so when I do I'll break out the VC.

The look is so much different with the tape on and then with it removed...

I was sitting down a lot yesterday so I started trying to de sprue the Deathstorm box I picked up and I noticed that I rocked through the BA bits .. the Nid bits were taking me awhile and had me thinking. It's funny how much faster you can clean a sprue you know rather then a new one.. I had to look at the pieces to figure out exactly what I was cutting so I didn't chop something off that I needed. I got through the stealers and then ran out of juice. I was thinking I'll probably end up trading them away .. I wouldn't mind to paint something different up but honestly I have so much crap atm I would never get to them haha,..

A mixture of assortedness ..

 When I was working with some of the reds I also sprayed some of the Space Hulk Terminators. I've been wanting to get these guys painted but never seem to get to them so I'd like to get these guys done sometime soon haha.. I also got the Termies from the Deathstorm and I'd like to pick up a pack of the new BA Termies..  the only thing is I hardly ever run them. I like the idea of them but I can't seem to get them into my lists hah..  I for some reason picked up Dark Angels to run Termies.. so now I'm thinking about getting rid of my DA since I can just run some BA Termies..

I also sprayed the Wraithblade's axes and head when I was spraying some blue on the tanks. I've been on the airbrush mostly so I really want to sit down and get out the brush. So I think that will be working on here in the next few days..  I just want to get brush work in 8)

None may challenge Serpentor!

 The Wave Serpent progressed a bit more, I got most of the blues sprayed .. though there are a few more areas on the back and bottom of the hull. I attached the scyths to the hull since they are mostly done and want to have less of the bits floating around. The tank isn't glued together yet as it's easier to spray sections separate and I still have more masking to do.. argh .. The Warp Hunter vanes aren't attached yet as I didn't have the time to spray them. But they will be bone as will the tips of the scyths.

 The main part of the turret sadly lacks attention. I sat it aside when after I glued it and there it sat until I looked to test the magnet fit and colors. Then .. poop .. where did I put that..  haha

 The back tail section came out looking pretty cool I think. It's pretty smooth and I had to fill in one section of the lines in it. There are still a few areas that could be a little smoother but I think it's very slight.

 The vents have the metallics sprayed on and I think it looks good but very low key which might be good once the rest it painted. I guess we'll see.

 And here a the bits in blue ..

 Magnet'd guns..  the front of the covers still need the bone color added as well.

Underslung hull bits..
When all is said and done the serpent should be a upgraded to look more like my Falcon..

Like I was saying I wanted to upgrade the Tanks for this year's Nova.. so my Serpents should match up..

So.. upgrading from this..

Gravity aint got not'n on me..

 Last night was full of more masking and blending. My wife is sick so after I put the kids down to bed I had the rest of the night to work on it. I blended the rest of the black/grays .. which came out looking pretty good I think. Sadly I miss-taped the larger side panel and had to re tape and spray it again to go edge to edge. I'll most likely be applying some kind of symbol in that area, I'm thinking a black symbol will give it a ghosted look that should look cool.

 I also added in the color highlights and while I think the blends came out looking smooth I'm not sure if I like the color. I'm not sure if it really goes with it. I'm thinking I might go with a white to teal blend. I did that on the one section next to the cockpit.. it was quick and at the end to see how it would look. What's your opinion?

 The areas that look like vent sections will have the tin bitz coloring, I'll have to mask them up and get to blending them. It's moving along ..

 Here are some more of the pics of more masking .. whoot. So much tape. I'll be happy to have the main sections done and I can get into some of the details which will require no taping 8)

But come to think of it I want to paint the bottom of the tank as well. Bah.. more tape.

It seems that I love me some tape..

 But I DONT! .. ok well maybe a little .. at least when I'm starting the process and by the end of it I loath it. If I would have full taped the tanks I wouldn't have had to do this step but hey .. who doesn't want to tape yo tank some mo.. This is to fix the peeled black sections and some of the over spray I had (from not fully taping it haha). The little bits were new to the taping process.. I'll be going back in with blues for the small bits then I'll be taping some of the highlight colors I want to do.

 For my Wave Serpents I usually highlight with bone so that will probably continue on as it goes pretty well with the color scheme.I'll so be adding some of the Bronze/Tin Bitz coloring I use for what I would think would be a good Eldary metallic look.

I'm in debate for the color accents for the Scorpion .. I usually seperate the tanks with color highlights. I think I'm going to try a yellow/golden color but if that doesn't look right I'll just go on to red. I use that for my Prisms but I think it might look good on the Super Heavy.

Tonight hopefully I'll get to spray the black fade and the main sections will be done.

What happened to that guy..

 I picked up the new Sanguinary Priest model over the Christmas holiday and started to put him together. Right now he looks a little nuts as he just has the most basic of colors added..  or maybe hell with it.. this is my new painting style ..  just kidding 8) I like the new model and the detail it has.. it is a bit more costly then I think is appropriate for a single plastic miniature. But sadly I couldn't resist. As usual I preferred to avoid the non helmeted head.. I went with a DA Vet head to keep the robed look that I think makes sense for the Priest ..

 I chopped the back nub and will be adding a magnet for swap ability. I was on BnC where they were talking about this model not really having the look for a Jump Pack. I agree in reference to its pose. The pose looks planted and solid, not very fluid but that is just me .. I'll still be trying the Sang Guard JP as I think the wings will give it more of what it needs..

Another pick up was a set of the Blood Angel dice .. I got it off Ebay but thankfully it was only a few dollars more .. I'm hoping that some Eldar Dice come out down the line as well..  8)

Tonight I might be working on taping up the Tanks some more.. it's going to be more tape grinding action.

Hit's like a hammer..

This weekend I got a good bit of work done on the Scorpion and Wave Serpent. I'm pretty happy with the look of the blue fades and I think it has the look I was going for though sadly there is also some misfortune. The fades took me the least amount of time to do then most of the other work on these guys so far haha..

 I used about six different blues and may mixtures of those. The more variantions you mix the smoother the transitions will be, I guess that is a well of course but when I use to blend I'd just work two colors back and forth. While it will work adding in the different shades will really make that difference.

 The long parts of these so far have been the sanding on the Serpent and making the Warp Hunter tail section fit on the back of the Serpent. There was a pretty large ridge that I couldn't accept so I used Mr Surfacer and Greenstuff. Then I sanded and sanded to get it smooth. I honestly put about three hours into the sanding of it. Using my Dremel and numerous files and sand paper grits. But in the end it came out pretty smooth and while I think it could be a little smoother I'm good with it.

 The next time consuming part was the masking of the tanks. That funny enough also took about three hours to complete but for both tanks. I should have masked off all of the areas because this is the sad part. As I was blending the blue I was doing some high passes for the final blends and I got some over spray on a few areas. That stinks but might be able to wipe if off since I cleared it a few time before I masked it.

 The Scorpions main body wasn't that bad to tape but the turret had a ton of little bits and that was time consuming. Once I get the other color details done on the top I'm going to mask the bottom and spray some of the sections on the bottom of the tank as well..

 I also have to do the smaller bits so I'll be taping them up soon.. besides tape I use silly putty for the round and weird sections.

 I do enjoy the spraying on these but man is the masking a total total pain haha.. It is hours and hours of pulling the tape and snipping it with siccors OVER AND OVER! .. but you can't argue with the results. It makes the blends work so much better when they are crisp. When I'm working on the blends I'll sometimes question the look .. the tape will throw it off in my mind but then when you remove the tape it is like a present being unwrapped (to go with a Christmas Reference haha) just makes it pop. I might just be a little crazy though .. haha..

Sadly the other unfortunate thing is that when I removed the tape from the Wave Serpent I pulled some of the black/grey blended area. When I worked on the Greenstuff for the back section I used Vaseline to smooth it out and I think I must have gotten on my thumb and as I moved it around I must have gotten on the body of the serpent. Either way I'm going to have to mask again .. bah ..  oh well ..

Presentation is the key..

 I finished up the Tiered Paint Rack design and made the different cuts for the different sized bottles. As I mostly use Golden and Vallejo paints now  I made a mixed shelf for both. Greg has been throwing me ideas as I've been making these designs and he was crying .. um.. I mean mentioning the lack of ability to hold the clippers or larger tools. So to stop his cries I meant listening to his wonderful recommendations 8)..

 I wanted to keep the rack pretty compact so figured a good way would be to add a small shelf with two trays that would sit underneath the paint rack. That way you don't need the bottom tray if you don't want it and/or it can be added later if you would then need it. The paint rack just slides into bottom section.

 It's two drawers that can holds your clippers or tools that don't fit in the back which is for brushes, files.. or things of a long thin shape... urm .. only hobby related things in that shape. But ..  anyway.. I had a piece of foam paper that I cut to use a a liner which worked very well. I'll have to head back to Michaels for another .. they are only 60 cents a sheet or something ..  you don't need it but MDF is a little slickery so this keeps some of those tools in place.

I'm really happy with the outcome and this one is pretty much done. I made some mods to the larger modular racks but I haven't had a chance to cut them to see if they work the way I want. That rack is more of a storage rack that holds all your over flow. This is designed to be more of a main paint/tool rack. I already have a few friends that have seen it and so far everyone seems to like it.

Below are just the rack and a the larger cut holes..