Nova 2018: Projects complete

 Whelp.. Only a few more days and I'll be off to Nova 2018. Thankfully I've gotten the pieces completed I wanted to bring to Nova this year. I wanted a model for Captain Alvarex, replace my tacticals with Recon models with RG bits, Leviathan Dread and it's Drop Pod and finally the Sicaran I purchased at Nova last year. I'm pretty happy with the way they came together since my move really cut my hobby time and place out of the mix most of this year. Thankfully I worked on the Dread for Dreadtober last year getting it started and also did most of the work on the Sicaran but basically only had about a month to finish the RG Tacs, Alvarex and the Drop Pod.

 The first squad is most in a hunkered down position and are going with white accents on their bases.

 The second squad is up and moving and have the red accents.

 Alvarex is a Praetor with Dark Fury Wings and the PS from the Deathwatch box. I mag'd the backpack so I can swap it to a standard BP but with an antenna. I would have liked to get a little more detailed on him but time was short. I did give him a little sword glow to him and the rocks. I do need to clean up some of the bases a bit more but that is mostly it.

 I'm here suckers and I'm going to bust you up! ha.. I think it makes a cool looking entrance for sure. The Dread will be entered into the Painting Comp and hopefully will at least make finalist.. again my only real aspirations. 8) I added a couple of wear streaks and more soot to the stacks. I think he looks pretty cool ...

 The Dread's ride is all wrapped up and I think it looks decent.. even with Mag'd doors it's still a pain in the butt. I have can not tell you how many times I've picked it up only to have at least one door fly off and go shooting somewhere. So now when it's just sitting there I have a rubber band wrapped around it.

 Done with his annoying transport he's out!

 The Sicaran will also get entered into the Painting Comp.. again just want to get a finalist pin. I think it looks pretty decent as well.

 This year I wasn't able to put much time into display work so I decided to add a lift to the existing display. I was thinking The ship would need a lift to raise or lower vehicles or dudes.. and it made it easier to add something off the front of the existing board.

I love me some lights so figured I also had to add some more. I was watching Bladerunner recently and figured smaller landing patterns would look cool .. so went with rolling lights.. one going clockwise and another going counter CW. Last year I had some marines on the edges of the bunker and was a little so so looking so wanted to add a little more space for people to stand.
With this addition it takes the board to 130 LEDs being powered by 4 UNOs.

Well.. this will probably be my last post before NOVA as tonight I have parent student night and I'm pretty much done all the stuff I really needed finished. I'll be playing in the 30K events for most of the weekend  or walking around. If you see me stop on by and chat ! Looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new peoples. I'm ready to roll some dice!

NOVA 2018... BOOM!

Oh yeah,,,.. and Dave sent this to me. Pretty Cool... my Eldar is the first pic that pops up on the left 8)...
https://www.facebook.com/WarhammerTVteam/videos/321116495113194/

Nitty Gritty

 Last night I got some more work done on the Leviathan. I'm started smoothing some of the blends on the armor and brought up some of the metals adding some brighter highlights. The metal on the base was a little muddy and wanted to add a light brighter areas. I will be adding some more weathering to it though as I need to blend in the red.

 I also started playing around with the claw arm a little more. I added some blue energy lines on the arm, I think it looks pretty cool and adds a little bit of detail. I did a little more glow on some parts but I'll still need to hit that up more.

 The cables will get a little highlight as it's a bit too mono color. I'm going to add more soot to the stacks. I added a little more metal fatigue.

 I brought the metals up a bit on the drill but that will also be getting weathering to level them off.

 Since I had the soot our I also started adding some to the Drop Pod. The bottom thrusters and the doors.

This pretty much finishes the Pod up. There really isn't more I need to do to it. Pod is complete. I'll be clearing it a few more time to make sure it's protected but then it will be moved over to the shelf waiting to jump in the bag.

Glowy hands..

 A short post today, yesterday after I finished up the Tac/Recon squad I started working on detail on the Leviathan. It looked decent but needs a little more love and some special options. Honestly I was all over the place while painting on him haha.. I was blending some grey and then was touching up some other parts but then I kind of zeroed in on the blue. Which honestly I should have worked on other blending first as it might affect the blue.

I don't want the blue glow to be too much so it will be lite. I still have more to do with the blue but I'm going to work on the other parts first so I don't have to start over on the blue and paint it twice 8) .. you know ..  the smart thing. So.. tonight I'll be working on that... hopefully.

Stuck in it

 Thankfully the boys are pretty much 99% .. I think I'm going to do one more black pin wash but that is really it. I think they came out looking good. Gritty ... dirty ... out in that thick of it.

 I think the the bases match really well with the gritty look. I did add a little verdigris to the copper areas to add a little more detail and color.All the detail took time but I think it was worth..

 Pics of the second squad. One has the red markings and the other white plus I went with most of the guys crouched down in one squad with the standing in another.

 I gashed their cloaks a bit to make them look even more worn.

 I went with purple lens for the gun scopes.

I was playing around with the model I'm making for Strike Captain Alvarex, I just started playing around with the sword and it's not showing up too well in the pic but I'm pretty unsure of it.I'm going to keep playing around with it and see if I can make it look better. The sword has cool designs on it so I want to do something different with it.

Digging in the Dirt

 The Recon/Tacs are almost done.. thankfully! Last night during the Hobby Hangout I pretty much worked on annoying little bits haha.. I missed a few straps which I finished up as well as an internal battle as to whether to paint the grips of the combat blades on the BPs.. which I was thinking about going with leather for ease but it already had too much brown so I went with a red.. I didn't want to add a completely new color so since the lens and seals are red I stayed with that.

 But .. (as John mentioned last night) it's pretty hard to see after the weathering haha.. I got the first coat of weathering done on half of them which is drying in the pictures.. I'm pretty happy with them as I took a long painting break and on a short time schedule they are really coming out nice.

 This weekend I should be able to wrap them up which is keeping me on schedule.. other then the weathering I need to finish the bolter lens and a few other small details so it shouldn't take too much time.

The highlights are strong so they are still visible after the weathering. I'm also up in debate about the sides of the bases.. I normally paint them black but they also look good metallic as the GW bases also have details on the side. But will it looks weird not matching ..  I'l probably pull the others down and line them up for a visual..

Rough enough..

 It won't looks too exciting but I've been working on the rough blending on the Armor and Cloaks. Since I apply heavy weathering to them I have to exaggerate some of the blending or it will be washed away. I learned that the hard way when I blended everything just to watch it disappear .. 8(

 I'm almost done this step.. I only have 5 more to blend (the five guys on the right in the pic). Once it's done I'll start working on the digital camo on the cloaks and the final details like the lens and some brass bits.

 I'm pretty happy with the so far and I'm hoping to have them done by this weekend so I can finish up details on the Pod and Dread.

And here is a cool pic of my daughter who is painting one of her Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) figures. ... She is very crafty and is super awesome at drawing. I don't know if it's because Daddy paints little models or the LPS videos she's been watching (I'm saying its me 8) ) .. she's been into customizing them so I've been priming and then airbrushing them a color. Then she is going in and painting the eyes and other sections, plus making accessories like a phone and books .. she's a crafty girl 8) ..

So many pockets to fill...

 I wanted to mix it up so I figured I'd work on the Recon/Tacticals .. Holy crap.. painting 20 of these dudes is killing me! They have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many bags.. it's crazy haha...

 To really get all of the BPs I have to do them off of the models so I can get the backs and what not .. Each guy has at least two but mostly three packs on their belts and then four on the back .. so about 120 packs to blend .. Boo..

I'm getting some real use on the new wet palette and I'm still really liking it which is nice 8)

Once I'm done will all the leather packs I'll start on the metal and bone accents then all of the cloaks.. This is more then I thought it would be for sure but they should look really cool as my Tacticals when I'm done..  well I hope so at least haha

Ya load up.. you party..

 The Dread Drop Pod is getting close to being done thankfully.. I haven't been feeling so hot this last week so it's slowed me down some.

 Siph asked if this was the new kit but sadly no.. it's old and as bad as ever haha .. I Mag'd the doors making it slightly better only marginally .. There are still big ol gaps even with a ton of sanding and soaking. I think it's just the way of the kit.

 But so far I'm pretty happy with the look of the pod. I'm going to clean up some rust pods and pretty much down to oil streaking and washes ...

 When I was putting it together I had to pin the spines.. it wasn't going to hold without it. Not it's decently sturdy..

 A shot of the pins..

 Here you can see the back gap as the light is peaking through haha.. oh well.. I don't think there is much more I could have done.

 And here is the Pods passenger .. I had worked on most of him for Dreadtober last year and he's pretty far along. He also needs the oil treatment so I'll be doing them both at the same time (keep you mind out of the gutter!) .. I'm also going to add a little color to the base as I think it got too muddy and I want to refine the claw and reflections/glow.

 The top and bottom will be getting a little soot added as well...

 It's just a little too clean at them moment 8)...

 While waiting for layers to dry on the pod I built up a kit based model to represent Strike
Captain Alvarex. Last year my flyers refused to come into play in a timely manor so I figured I'd up my chances haha

 I mag'd his backpack in case I wanted to use him as something else as well..  I added an antenna to a RG BP..

And also have a Dark Fury JP to go on if needed 8)

Danger Strips are a go..

 As Nova quickly approaches we are now under one month.. yikes. Thankfully the Dread is getting closer to be done. I got the Hazard Strips done on the edges of the doors.. it looks good but man what a pain haha

 I chipped and scratched them a bit.. it's now pretty much ready for weathering oils and enamels. I'll go over it with one more coat of clear then let the weathering being in earnest.

 Added a little more metallic to some bits ..

 The turbine is pretty much done as well. I'm going to make it looks pretty greasy.. hard to see here but did a little heat fatigue on the thrusters.

 Put a red stripe in the base to add a little pop of color.. sadly the reflecting is washing it out in the pic but once the matte is on you'll be able to see it easily.

More metallics on the bottom as well... again the gloss is wonky but I like to have a couple of protective coats before enamels. The next set of pics should be matte and also some or most of it together. I'll probably also weather the bases at the same time.

Nova is coming quick peeps..  get to them tables!