Let's Streak ..

Getting there.. I worked on the main body of the Fire Raptor this weekend and got some good progress. Right now it's still a little glossy and a little raw as I haven't finished up all the cleaning of the streaking. It needs to be toned down a little bit .. it's enamel so I can still work it tonight. I'll basically just wipe away some heavy streaking.

I only glued on one of the wings last night, I wanted to let it full dry before I started to move it around. I want the wings attached so I can make sure they match up with paint while I'm finishing up the weathering.

I like adding on the weathering/streaking after the edge highlights to tone them down. I don't prefer the extreme edge highlight look and I think the streaking really breaks it up nicely. I brought the grey down on the hull to keep with the black look.

I'll also be cleaning up the front a little as well. I started working on the front and side guns. They are almost done and can be added on pretty soon. I'm pretty happy with the look of the gunship and I think when it's finished it will have a solid look. I wasn't going to go heavy weathered but I felt the black plane needed it. I'll have to see how the models themselves look and if they need some mucking up as well. But,..  once this one is done I have the Storm Eagle to jump onto..

I originally was going to use it for my Dusk Wolves so I painted up the base coat in the Sons of Horus colors so I could then paint it White and then chip down to this but now that I'm going with Raven Guard it will be getting painted over with Black. A little sad as I like the blends I have started on here haha.. but it is what it is 8)

I traded a friend for the Storm Eagle so it was already built but I'll be removing the stubby little tail to replace it with the larger rear tail fin I made.

It really surprised me how much bigger the Storm Eagle looks compared to the Fire Raptor.. maybe it's because the FR isn't completely built or the front side fins. Now looking at it I think it is the front side fin. It really makes it look wide. Hopefully some more progress tonight ..

Catch the wind..

 So.. the wings of the Fire Raptor are almost complete. I took them to a very dirty place 8) ..  I added the white stripes I mentioned and chipped and gritted them up. I'm pretty happy with the way they came and out and I think it will add a little extra to the mostly black flyer.

 I gunked up the engines pretty heavy adding some purples and blues to the rear for heat fatigue and brought it down with some streaking, light rust and then soot. I may have a few more fuel stained areas to bring down some of the copper areas but I think they also look decent. I didn't want to do too far just a little splash of color to the engines.

The Raven Guard is truly going to be a test for me. I keep wanting to add things but then have to pull back since I want to keep them very dark to keep with their stealth motif I have to be wary of going too far. I'm in debate about the lights on the wings. I was originally thinking of making them have a glowing looking but that might really be too much so then I'm back to a dim light. I don't know .. still thinking on it haha..

You can be my wing man any day!..

 Look.. some wings. I've been pretty busy as of late so I haven't had a lot of extra time to hit the painting table but yesterday I did squeeze in an hour or so. I've been working on the Fire Raptor. I thought was done cleaning up some flashing but as I worked on the wings I noticed I missed a section on the fin. I'll need to scrape that down a bit and re-blend. I was in debate about lining the edges. I don't usually do that but with it being black I figured I'd give it a try and see how it looked. When I finished I wasn't really liking it but when I came back later I started to like it more. I do need to clean it up some but over all I think it adds to the look.

 The other side.

 The other wing which I didn't line. It looks cleaner but I think it needs more. I'm going to add a white line to the top of the wing to give it a little more excitement. With these guys I'm in a constant battle of the mind. I want to keep them dark as they are stealthy and the darker more dull and muted makes sense. But! It's boring haha..   That's my battle. I also started working the metal on the engines but they will still need a lot of work. For the engines i'll probably be adding a lot of soot and other weathering to add some interest as again don't want it to be too boring.

The body is also main blended so I'll be going back and lining it as well. I'll be adding a section of white to the front sides as well. It's coming along and I'd like to get it knocked out somewhat soon. NOVA is a good ways off but I have a whole Legion to paint to paint so I want to start much sooner this year. I have the Raven Guard to build, their display board and whatever I'm going to enter into the Capitol Palette.

If anyone is interested we put up a new Kickstarter...   It's Asian Inspired 28mm terrain.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1446285098/black-maria-designs-asian-inspired-terrain?ref=user_menu

I'm not complete

 I got a little more work done on the Dark Fury. Sadly I contracted some horrible Flu type bug this weekend and was pretty wrecked so didn't get as much as I would have liked done. I got a nice start on the claws though and they need a little recess and highlight work but they are close to being done.

 I'll also be adding a little OSL blue to his body but now too much as I have a ton of guys to paint .. these guys will be high table quality with some special attention here or there but I have a lot to do.

 Started working on the backpack and wings a bit but I need to smooth the blends a little more.

 I also did get the other base colors on the rest of the Fury Squad, Mor Deythan Squad and ICs. I want to get one model completely done so I know how I'm going to be working the colors but after that I should start rocking and rolling!

 The final body work is done on the Fire Raptor so I can start the paintjob in earnest. I'm basically just grabbing whatever I feel like messing with when I get to the table. So I never really know what's going to get some paint until I sit down. Progress is progress I suppose.

While in bed and after the worst of the flu had passed I set to getting the rest of the troops started. I de-sprued two Horus Heresy boxes and sorted them in to baggys for easy building. Glue jacks me up pretty bad so I'll probably wait for my head to completely clear up before I start building the rest of the Raven Guard. So far the black hasn't driven me over the edge but I can definitely see that being a thing as I move ahead. The Black - Grey - White blending isn't too exciting haha

Who else picked up their Nova Passes areadly? I jumped in quick as usual and came away with the SuperNOVA. I also picked most of my events.. I'll be playing most of the 30K events and a couple of the Narrative events. I really did enjoy the Narrative last year but I can't take the schedule of playing the whole thing. Last year I felt like I was even more busy and didn't get the chill / BS time I did the year before. This year Sunday will be for painting classes and chilling. No gaming on Sunday..