Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Banged up but I'm good..

 Hey all,.. A little more work on the Sicaran.. I'm pretty happy with hows it's progressing. I got some more layers of enamels applied and start on some of the oils. The tracks for a good bit of love with layers and some of the wear makes. I'll probably do a little more streaking on it but they are close.
 I added the purple and red lens and they are almost done. I have the tiniest of OSL on the edges .. I don't want it to be much. I'll add a little purple to the gun shields as well.
 The other areas got some more layers as well and some oil streaking but not too much so far.
 I think the auto cannons/turret came out looking good.. I'm happy with the bone colors and the rust and grime on the guns. Pretty much just the water streaks on the turret.
 


So over all it's close.. I need to powder up the stacks and the base some more but it's getting there. I'll also be adding oil streaks to the body of the tank... I usually use raw umber and blue to give it some color variation and then white for water streaking..  one more painting session and I should be done.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

New to Old

 Worked a little more on the Sicaran and the Leviathan .. They both need their heavy weathering so I figured I figured I'd finish them up together. I mostly just have the first few layers of rust and much on the treads. I did hit some of hull but that wasn't really what I was working on.
 As the tracks were drying I also worked on the guns .. I wanted to get the base weathering down and ready.
 The Lev's arms got a few coats as well. I start with a few base layers .. now that the base is down I'll be adding layers to make it have a lot of variance and depth. When I'm done I usually have around 10 layers of weathering .. not including the powders oils.
I'm also working on putting together the Nids from the Deathstorm box ..  I'm going to build them up and paint them then I think they are going to go up on eBay .. I'm trying to clear out models I don't plan to play..  I have SOOOOO many models that are just sitting here! .. time to clear up some of it haha

Monday, November 6, 2017

Killa Kanz 3

 Hey All.. This weekend Greg and I headed up to Philly to play in Killa Kanz 3. It's a friendly Tourny that raises money and can goods for Philabundance.. Jason, Collin and Joe from the Nova Narrative run it which is awesome and how we heard about it. We wanted to go up and hang out plus support them by bringing some Kans and moneys! Jason said it was a very successful year for donations which is great! Thanks for putting it together.. was an awesome event!

This was my first games of 8th and I had a hell of a time building a 1000 point list (it's a 2K team Tourney) with the Raven Guard. They are spec'd for 30K and man stuff is expensive. The Fire Raptor is 420 points, I probably should have took other stuff but I love the Fire Raptor and said so be it. I had a great time, all the people we played against and talked to were very cool and it was a nice atmosphere! Thanks to Redcap's Corner for hosting it and offering up prizes,. was very cool. We even ran in to some other people from Nova..  Dave whom I met in the 30K events this year and Scott who we know from the Narrative events. Thankfully Scott gave us some pointers as I didn't really do any reading or research on 8th .. didn't look at any of the CP stuff or Warlord Traits..  haha..  I was in super chill I don't care mode..
 Here's a picture from our gave vs Dave.. he brought some Alpha Legion and his friend had Necrons. All of the games were fun and somehow we went 2 and 1 .. coming in 4th overall.. I have no idea how that happened. Thanks Greg and Scott for the pointers 8) ... I know a lot of people really like 8th ED... sadly... I'm not one of them. After reading all the rules and looking at it before I had even rolled some dice I had a lot of doubts. After playing they were confirmed. I'll put up another post about that later. But that didn't matter, I was having a good time just throwing some dice and BS'n with people.
 Greg won a Tri of the Primarch box and being the super awesome guy he is let me have the Gulliman model... I was hoping to win that box as I want to paint up big G.. It's a cool looking model and looking forward to painting him up in the future.
I also won Best Painted for the Raven Guard which was pretty cool as there were some other really nice looking armies there.. I got a gift card for Redcap's and picked up another Eldar flyer since I don't know when I'll be able to get back to the store since I live in Bmore. Plus you can never have too many Eldar flyers... I want to make an Exarch CH and a Hemlock so now I have the second flyer I needed. I will pick up the Dark Eldar flyer down the road as I want to kit bash some of the pieces if possible ...

But .. anyway..  it was a great time!! I'm a slacker and only took one picture but Greg was shooting a ton of pictures as usually so I'll link to his when they are up!!! haha I think my Raven Guard will be sticking to 30K and I'll build up a new Eldar list for 40K games... 8th is not my fav but most people are playing and liking it so I'll have something to mess around with for local fun games.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

I'm just plain huge..

 DreadTober is coming to an end and I really wanted to have this guy complete but sadly it's been a super busy month. He's pretty close to being complete but I didn't want to rush him to get him completely done.
 The arms aren't weathered at all and the metals aren't complete.. I haven't done any oils or powders either.. and they take some time to apply properly..
 The claw is mostly done but I need to do highlights on the arm and then bring it down a little bit..
 The cabling will have a little more highlighting and a lot of grease and what not added.
 Sadly nothing was done to the driller arm. I'll be adding rust and grim to the drill as well as some bright edge highlights to show where it just ripped through some stuffs..
 I think he came out looking pretty cool so far..
He is a massive model .. I mean crazy big! .. As I was putting him together I was realizing how massive the model is.. He should be a good add to the RG and I'm looking forward to using him. Sadly I don't getting to use him soon.. I'll be playing a tourny in Philly but it's only 1K points and I can't squeeze in to much.

Monday, October 23, 2017

DreadTober : Getting something done

 It's been a busy October ..  kicked DreadTober off and then headed off to Disney for the family Vacay..  it was a good time but it tired me out..  I haven't had much time to put in at the table but I did get a little work done. I was trying to figure out how I wanted to mark the Dread... I finally went with one chest guard bone and the other black .. going with a Raven symbol and then the XIX.
 The main sections are black blended as well as the bone coloring.. I started to hit all of the steel bits but I haven't finished them yet. But once that's done I can start the main weathering process.
The knee guards got a little work as well. I kept the theme going from the Knight and went with the same style.

I'm hoping to get some solid work done on them this week to hopefully have them wrapped up maybe by the weekend.

Also .. Greg and I will be participating in Killa Kanz (Greg is probably down with the name).. it's a team event in Philly ..  The guys that run the Narrative Event at Nova. The event also raises food for a homeless shelter! If you are close sign up and have fun while helping some people out!

https://www.redcapscorner.com/event/killa-kanz-2017/

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

DreadTober - All your base..

 Yesterday I finally got around to working on my DreadTober entry but it wasn't the Dread yet 8) .. I picked up a box of the Sector Mech bases that I wanted to try out and mix up the industrial bases for the RG.
 I took some pictures as the base started to come together. First is just the base steel and brass colors.
 Next I started to add the wire and pipe colors and started on the deep rust.
I added and chipped a red block on the base to give it a little more color and start to grime up the base pretty heavy. The final layer added is the oil grease which has some gloss to keep the wet look. Sadly that makes it a but shiny in the pic..

I clean the dread and start to put some of the sections together .. hopefully I'll have some more work done on it this week but I'm getting ready to take the kids to Disney next week so we are pretty busy.. not to mention trying to keep track of all of the DreadTober stuff!

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

DreadTober 2017

Hello All,.. It's that time a year again and it looks like we are going to kick off DreadTober 2017..  If you haven't taken part before and have no idea what DreadTober is let me write out a quick history. At the Nova Open 2015 Greg and I came up with the idea of everyone working on a Dread of some type during the month and keeping track of the progress as a group event that anyone could take part in. This would promote communication and create new friends in the hobby. Joe took it over last year as Greg and I were both wrapped up with life stuff. This year we are all going to coordinate to run it again! If you are interested in participating in DreadTober hop over to the new Blog we made for it and throw your name in the hat.

DreadTober2017 <--------------- Click me 

Hopefully you'll take part and make something awesome! Greg and Joe should also start to promote as well... October is almost here.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Almost ready to get dirty..

 After the initial annoyance that has been the Sicaran I sat down and got some more work done. The tank is getting close to dirty time.
 I decided to go with bone stripes .. of a sort. The main body stripe goes from the sides to the center main view area. The second is on the turret and is on the gun guards. I think there is enough secondary color so that is where I'm going to stay.
 I painted the vehicle and legion numbers keeping the same theme of legion on the front right and the vehicle left rear.


 I've had a lot of good feedback from the army and people are really liking the weathered look. I've also been asked a bunch of questions on how I do it. So I'm going to try and take progression pics and write up a how to on it .. what I use and the process. It's not too complicated really..  I wasn't thinking about it before I started the chipping but didn't take pics of it. Above I have the chipping fluids I use, The process is pretty simple.
Spray your base color and then clear coat it. Let that clear coat dry. Then coat the area with the chipping fluid. Let that dry. Then apply the top color, use some water on a tool like a toothpick or a finger nail and start to chip the color .. this isn't a hard process but it does take some time to get use to make the chips look right. Practice on something you don't care about but chipping the edges of the second color and breaking up a hard line will make it look more realistic. The look I go for is more realistic so take a look at some old pictures of tanks .. Space Marine tanks are made of Ceramite so the tank panels themselves wouldn't actually rust. So I like to keep true to that fact and only rust addon areas like the tracks some on the guns but they are more maintained as they are required to kill in the Emperors name! ..

The airbrush work is done and most of the initial hand color work is almost done.. now I need to see what areas I want to add the brass color to. I'll also add some edge highlights to it since when I apply the weathering it will bring down the highest levels.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Wonky Times..


 Last week I was working on the Sicaran.. I was blending out the black shades and after doing that I cleared it many times and let it dry for a day. Thinking it should be ok I masked off the area I wanted to have the white line. Well.. when I started to chip the white it was pulling off in huge sheets. That got me nervous.. I had soaked the model and even scrubbed it with a toothbrush and dish soap but it appears that wasn't enough this time. So I had large pieces start to pop off as I removed the tape for the mask. I was annoyed so I cleaned my airbrushes stood up and left the table for about a week haha.. I was pretty bitter. It might not look like much blending on to keep the color black I usually fade from black up to about 30% black and then work back down. It takes awhile but I like the final blend so when it started to pop off I was understandably annoyed 8/ ..

Yesterday I did finally get back to it .. I had to actually sand a large area of the model .. going rough and then ultra fine. So now it's mostly back to where I was before the paint popping. The one side still needs more blending to fix the areas affected so once I get that done I can move on to the next step. I'm still trying to figure out how much white I want to add to other areas.. I like the large strip but I think its going to need at least one more section. I'll also be adding numbers and what not like the other tanks.

Friday, September 8, 2017

WHooooo's Next? Whooooo wants some?

Since NOVA I've been thinking about some of the things I want to work on. I'm going to stick to Raven Guard and Eldar as my armies so I'll be unloading more of the old armies I have that I don't plan to play or work on. I was working on the Dusk Wolves but after moving my display cabinet I really started looking at them and I think they are going to get retired and some stuff even getting a repaint.
The weathering isn't as good as the Raven Guard and I don't think they are anywhere as good. Plus my goal is to really cut down all my stuff to being only Eldar and Raven Guard. Sure I'll have some painting things here and there but no more armies.. at least for now haha

I was also looking at my Blood Angels and they look even worse so I think they will also be going away..  The colors are so all over the place since I was painting them all over the place. The reds are different and the styles are different so I'm either going to just straight sell them or I'll be painting them to uniform look and throw them up on eBay .. it just comes down to do I feel like doing it haha
I pulled these guys out to hit them with some Matte Clear... for some reason they were crazy gloss haha

So anyway.. this year what am I going to be working on .. this is the list I came up with quickly..

Raven Guard

- Sicaran Battle Tank -- the original one.. Everyone asks when I mention it haha..
Whoever designed the flash connection points on the side .. I hate you a bit man.. to not destroy the rear tracks I was sawing, cutting and sanding for like an hour on those few pieces.
- Leviathan Dread
- Dread Drop Pod
- Replace the Mark IV Tacs with converted Recon Squads - I really just want to get rid of all the Mrk IV armor. I know it does work but I'll feel better rocking all beakys 8)

I had an amazing time at Nova this year and I originally I thought I'd be RG burned out but winning some of the painting things got me motivated so there are some things I'm going to work on 8) I also want to add some pieces into my lists that will help against Drop Pod lists..  I don't give a poo about a W or L but against DPs I really stood no change and I want the game to at least be a game haha..

I haven't forgot about my boys...

Eldar

- Wraithseer - I've had this guy for years and always want to work on him but this year he needs to get done. At NOVA I was talking to Mark H and he gave me an idea I might go with for the coloring of the model.
- Flyer - Love them ..
- Yvraine - I might play around with some free hand on the cloak..

Blog
I haven't updated the look or pages on the blog in awhile so that's going to happen.. removing some of the armies and updating the tools and links lists..

I have some other things in mind but we'll see as the year goes on..

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

NOVA 2017 pics...


Short post today just wanted to upload the pictures I took.. Sadly it's not a ton and I missed a lot at the Cap Palette ..  it seems like as soon as I started to take pictures I'd start talking with someone and then had to head off haha .. so ..  sadly I didn't get many of the Cap Palette entries..

Click Me < < <

Monday, September 4, 2017

NOVA 2017 Aftermath ...

 This weekend past was the payoff for all of the work I've been doing for the past six months. It was honestly the best gaming experience I've had at NOVA. The 30k crew was awesome and honestly I can't even remember how my win loss total was.. it didn't matter. I met and hung out with so many people this year it was wild. Sadly again I think I think I played too much doing the team game and then the Big Blam that night and it pretty much crushed me haha..  But it was awesome playing on beautifully painted tables with great armies.. all of the events were fun and had some craziness too!

I got a ton of great comments about the army and the displayboard! It was awesome chatting with people about it and talking with people about their armies..  There were many and awesome looking. I won the Best Appearance for the Opening Salvo event and that was very cool! I also for a RAD army badge haha.. which looks like a RAD grenade..  nice.
 I entered the Imperial Knight and Fellblade into the main painting Comp - The Capitol Palette and scored a Silver and Bronze metal which took me completely by surprise. I usually just hope for finalist..  when they read out the names for the finalists and I wasn't on there I was thinking damn... I didn't make it to the final round. But when they started calling our the medals I had scoured a Bronze for the Fellblade and Silver for the Knight. Greg who was sitting next to me said my face was great.. I'm sure it was a mix between stunned and excited haha.. honored to have placed.
 The swag and awards for nice .. I got 2 Contemptors and Termies..  sadly .. I don't think they really fit in the Raven Guard I'm making. Neither really seem stealthy haha.. All good, I'll figure something out to do with them.
I did breakdown and pick up a Sicaran Battle Tank at the Forgeworld booth.. I have always loved the look of them but wanted to see one in person. Seeing all the ones on the table of the 30k events made it a lock. And no it's not a new version.. it's the original .. I know you were thinking the new one? Every time and said I picked it up the next question was the new one? EVERY TIME.. haha..

So ... a great time.. now it's time to switch over to family time...  and to plan whats next for the year ahead! 8)

PS.. if you are interested Michael from St. Andrews Gaming  did a feature on my Blog .. I answered some of his question and you can see a picture of me sitting there looking dumb 8)

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

A long and unremembered dream was his...

 Well... it's been so long but the painting table is now officially empty .. Monday night I finished up the last of the touch ups I wanted to work on.
 The Proteus is complete.. it's definitely the quickest model I built for the RG haha.. I think it was 2 days of total work .. building and painting.. It was rushed on some areas but overall I think it looks pretty decent 8)
 The only list I put it in was the Big Blam so that is all the table time Ithink it will see. Unless I tweak a list but right now I'm printing them and damn ... all the copies my take a whole ream. sheeeesh.
 The guns are magnetized ... so it's not glued on limp haha.. makes it easier and safer for travel.. plus can be removed if it get's blown off.

The army is packed up and about to be loaded into the car.. the display is already in there chilling .. I'll be on my way to Nova around 6 tonight and hoping to arrive around 7 ish depending on traffic ..  makes it a ton easier to unload the day before .. the day of is always crazy with everyone coming in! Plus I'll get to BS on a smaller scale..  I doubt I'll go to the GW thing tonight. Easier to just get everything into the room and setup.

If you are going and see me hit me up... I'll be rocking my BMD shirt and probably be wearing an Overwatch hat..  so be safe and see everyone there!