Inspecting the kit: Greater Demon of Nurgle

So, the greater Daemon of Nurgle. We have already seen a few cool unboxing posts on the web (see for instance Kristian Simonsen's thorough review).  Instead of doing the same, I will just add a few comments to get kit and then get back to the hobby table and work on the model!

So far, I have built the main body and arms. And chopped the antlers of the head with the big grin and glued this in place. Also, I have cut up the sword to have it resting on the ground (just as this awesome guy does it). That is where I am.

This is my 3rd big model of recent date. I built and painted an Imperial Knight three years back and I have just finished an Eldar Knight. Like the other kits, the Great Unclean One builds like a dream. However, as far as I can estimate it actually comes in bigger and fewer pieces, which makes the building process faster. Nice! Obviously the actual model differs a great lot to both the Imperial and Eldar knight being literally almost just one single big fat and bloated daemon. Which certainly fits the name!

As usual when building these kits I get surprised at the way the kits are engineered and go together. Building both the regular head and the cyclops head had an awesome gimmick as a surprise.

Mould lines are easily removed and the joining surfaces and nicely worked into the design hiding them nicely. I will be going over the joins with modelling putty, but to be honest, with some care you could just clean up the pieces and glue them carefully, and you would probably only need very limited putty work for a regular tabletop quality model.

I will leave my praising here, and get back to the model.

The forgotten Oak - Paintjob and Process

We showed my lastest Pilgrym model on ironsleet.com yesterday. But I also want it shown here.

The model is almost finished. Still need to add servo skulls, and a bit of tweaking colours with the rest of the warband. The post on the Pilgrym-site produced a lot of great comments asking into the process, the actual building of the model, and the mindset behind the concept.

Thoughts on starting on a project with several uncertainties...
Getting from the concept sketch to the model took both courage and compromises. Especially going from the open 2d-concept with a lot of suggested details to actually building the model deciding on all shapes and details was a great process.

The sketch had very few explicit details, so making the model took a lot of bitz research and texture exercises. But at some point it was just about committing and running with the idea…

When building bigger models like these I find myself going through phases of sketching, planning, sketching again, collecting bitz, frustration, thinking, and finally: Gloves off! Just get stuck in!

A word of advice would probably be to try to get ”stuck in” as early as possible.

Modelling the Tree
Building the tree I used wire-frame for the main branches for strength and balance issues. For this model it was important with the wires because I wanted the tree floating along.

 Around the wire-frame I added a layer of green stuff for extra stabilty and oon top of this I mocked up the main shape simply by using tinfoil that I worked roughly into place.

Over this I added modelling putty to get a solid outer layer. Actually in a few places there is still access to the inner tinfoil core. From here I started to add the thinner branches using cut up dryad bitz. These were glued into place with superglue.
On top of this “aggrax earth” – the technical crackling paint from GW – thin in some places, thicker in others. And a few places were left bare.

Going into ”production”...
For a tree production setup for a Mordheim table or similar I’d recommend that you cut down the process to make it easier and faster.


Maybe take out the greenstuff layer and work out something else to get the same effect. Try wrapping the tinfoil with a layer of thin bandage rolls and seal it with pva glue. And if you go this route – maybe the texturing step can also be replaced by sprinkling fine sand straight onto the glue. That combines two steps and saves time…

The mood of the model
Getting praise for a miniature is always fantastic, but the wording of the comments is pretty interesing. I always appreciate when fellow hobbyists take the time to add a comment - it is extremely encourageing and makes you want to produce more and improve your skills. Words like beautiful and perfect are the ultimate compliments, but the really interesting thing is the meaning behind the words.

Is this miniature perfect? Technically it might be and it might not. Depending on your goal. I think it has the perfect level of openess to it. The model suggests a mood, rather than spells it out. And this is what I strive for in my miniatures these days. I what you to look and think and look again when you see the miniature. To activate memory and imagination, think back to other models, pieces of art, places and moods. That is the goal. And if I suceed I think the miniature can be called both perfect and beautiful.
But it is getting that mood and imagination going that makes it so...

The Organ Oak - model follows sketch

Following the sketch shown some time ago, here is the model.

I have used a lot of new things here. Wire-frame in combination with tinfoil to build the basic mass. GW technical paints repurposed for a special task at hand. Also, falling back to trusting gut feeling and my many years of practice.

In short, a lot of work has been done, a lot awaits ahead - and I know just enough to keep going, and still have unsolved issues and ideas that will fall in place along the way. Exciting!

A lot has happened on ironsleet.com. I recommend having a proper look!

Wicked Daemon Flora

Wicked Growth of Unholy Seeds. The Flora of Ancient Terra. The Spring of Decay.

I build these creatures in a long hobby night. I have been wanting to do these conversions since The End Times were published and I read the Glottkin book (Autumn 2014). I thought it was an obvious conversion opportunity. Dryads and Plaguebearers. To fuse these plastic kits in a bizzare way. Some sinister daemon growth...

I want to use these as either Dryads and Nurgleesk daemon beasts in AoS. For 40K they will be wicked daemon Flora from decaying seeds sprouting by summoning from in the deep catacombs of Ancient Terra.

Pink Space Marine

By chance - the inks on the table, and a hunch to experiment - the Space Marine turned pink:

Pre-heresy Emperor Children or maybe another Chapter in that direction, featuring pink plate armour and golden suns as their heraldry. Not sure yet. But I am pretty happy with the model. A little less than 2 hours of work. Quick and fun. All done in one session. A pretty good hobby start for the new year...

Here is a studio style image with a few men for scale:

The pink plate was stipples over a zenith base spray (black spray from below, white from top creating instant pre-highlights). First a stipple of old trusty Elf Flesh from the hexagonal bottle, then pure white (WIP image underneath). Blister pack sponge work, nothing fancy. Over this the armour was washed with W&N artist ink Deep Red. From there I worked in the other details. Washed the deep creases of the armour while washing other areas, and carefully brushing on some thinned white highlights. The crazy thing about these inks is that they bleed a little though the highlights. Thus the white highlights on top are actually somewhat subtle because the seem to be blended in... I really like the overall effect using sponge followed by inks. Could work quite well on vehicles...

Bye 2015, Welcome 2016

Greetings 2016. Looking forward to everything. Also a goodbye to 2015, which to me was an exiting year in the hobby.

The picture here sums stuff up my current take on the hobby: Collaborative terrain-building. A marine construct fusing plastic bits from both the past and present. And a pitch black doorway into the unknown.

WIP images: Eldar Farseer

Not finished yet, and I already want to paint this model again...

I still have runes and borders on robes and cloak left to do before I will call him finished...

WIP: 5 AoS Liberators

5 Liberators on the go...

I am trying to do these without too much fuss and perfection. Just want to get some model done so I can have a go with the new rules.

However, I am debating whether the shields and shoulders should be white or a light blue-green...
I like the idea of the black hammer and lightning heraldry since it gives a very strong and graphic result.

Chaos Champion of Tzeentch, WIP #3

Alright. Almost there. And then again I really have trouble with the robes. Maybe that knife also could benefit from a little extra. Adding static grass to the base after posting this, and then next session will be about adding those extra final touches to make him work...

Chaos Champion of Tzeentch, WIP #2

As mentioned, the face got some more colour and contrast worked into it...
Next up is finishing the belt and pouches, then the feathers (what colour?!).
After that I will do the base, and finally rework the robes...

Chaos Champion of Tzeentch, WIP #1

First images of the next old-school project. Another Chaos Champion. Now a follower of Tzeentch:

Instead of describing colours or writing them down, I am starting just to snap a photo of the colours involved in a certain area. So here we have the colours used for the robes. Actually, now, I am working my way over the area with another colour, but the general idea of just having an image of the paints used on a piece appeals to me. Then, if I need to get back to the colour I know where to start, but will have remember or just dinve in an improvise with the colours as the starting point.

After some work on the robes I am moving onto the skin and head to end the painting session with some nice details. Cool figure so far...

Chaos Champion of Slaanesh, WIP

Work in progress - almost there, actually. Still the base to do.

Vallejo Model Color Transparent Red mixed into most colours and areas...

Wraithguard, WIP #2

Almost there. Just need a second layer of paint on the heads. Some touch up work. And possibly a symbol on the heads at a later stage...

Wraithguard, WIP #1

Fast-paced army painting...

Death Jester, WIP #2

Almost there. I have started taking pictures as a technique to look for mistakes and final details for improvement, so I will not say that he is done yet. Pretty close though...

 

I think the waystone on the ribcage armour needs to be painted purple as the gems on the gun... And maybe the blue gem should go purple also... Definately some slightly starker shading in the grills on the helmet, red/purple I think. The brown pants could do with a bit of jazz also... Anything else?

I am really happy with the way the gun looks, and also the yellow came out very much like I envisioned it.

Death Jester, WIP #1

I have been painting this guy over the past few evenings. A fantastic miniature kit.

I am going for a yellow/purple colour scheme. So the yellow part of the jacket is actually going to be a lot more vibrant, but I have yet to come to that part of the model. I consider the shuriken blaster done for now, but a lof the areas are very close, but not completely done in this image...

I hope to have him done by the end of the week.

INVITATIONAL - WIP

Not much time left to work on these. I am saving the colour images for the final post on the ironsleet-site when the event closes. But not I have this B&W image to show.

Both my wife and my eldest daughter have given some input though: The colour for the head of the wraithguard must change...

WIP - Dire Avengers' weapons

So, with the INVITATIONAL project I am doing not only the 3 models required for the challenge from the ironsleet-crew, but actually starting an army. A Dire Avenger trooper is one of my model for the challenge but I am actually doing the whole squad now. 

My overall plan for my Eldar army is to have a colour scheme of white wraithbone armour, bold bright red for helmets and decorative areas (sashes, gems) and with black weapons. I have chosen these colour to go bright and light - and at the same time it corresponds nicely with the strong classic colour scheme that I favour. I want these models to really stand out on a gaming table.

However, the colours for the Dire Avengers are reversed having white helmets, bluish black armour and a red/black pattern on the hemlet crest. That leaves the weapons that should be black (according to my colour scheme), but this gets a little tricky because of the dark armour.

Thus, I tried out several ways of painting the shuriken catapult:

Left to right:

1. Exarch - no shuriken catapult.
2. Copper with a chaos black wash. Finish off with a light drybrush of copper.
3. Bone + white for basecolour. Shading using Vallejo Model Color Burnt cad. Red mixed with Army Painter jumpsuit shader (a red wash). Highlights with white.
4. Black base colour. Edge highlights using GW Dwarf flesh with a bit of magenta ink. Followed by a stipple of black (dupped on with a sponge), and final highlights with white.
5. Copper mixed with Army painter orange (Prison jumpsuit). Shading using Vallejo Model Color Burnt cad. Red mixed with Army Painter jumpsuit shader (a red wash). Highlights adding white to the basecolour.

As you can see I also explored different base edge colours but have since this settled for classic black, which might go high gloss black. Not sure yet, but black is decided at least.

INVITATIONAL - part 1

Back in January I was invited to join with the IRONSLEET-crew and a few others on a project about creating miniatures with focus on scale and bases. These are the words and images for my first contribution to the INVITATIONAL:

The past years I have been investigating the 40K universe mainly from the side of the imperium. Various characters from inquisitors and their bodyguards to thugs and other hired guns. But I never really focussed on building an army. My contribution to the INVITATIONAL is my first take at starting an army for 40K. And while I love the dystopia that is the Imperium I have also always loved the elegant and iconic Eldar range.

So my approach for the INVITATIONAL is more about getting into the game and building an army, than creating fluff. But I believe the fluff will follow, when I delve into painting and gaming with my eldar force. I ahve already had a first test game with a local friend. This is so different to WFB!

For the INVITATIONAL my three different models will be a Dire Avenger warrior, a Wraithguard, and a Vyper. All will be on a warm dessert-style base with slate rock. Quite basic - but basics are important when planning to build a whole army. It can easily get too complicated, which will slow the progress of the army.

So far I have built the Dire Avengers, the Vyper and I also have a war walker kicking about. The Wraithguard are on their way, so I will have to build these and paint them during the next few weeks. So plenty of stuff to do, but I am really looking forward to it.

Garden of Morr - WIP #1

Started working on some terrain. So far I am well underway doing the Garden of Moor and have started a tower. When assembled terrain is awsome to do. It does not have to be that precise, there is a lot of drybrushing and washing, and it really enhances your minis. I really look forward to having these first terrain pieces finished and do some miniature photography in the new setting.