Gallery - Got Guns, Will Travel

Last time I brought you images of a squad leader, now here is his unit. A pair of Leman Russ tanks armed to the teeth with Heavy Bolters! Here again I've tried to add some unique details which extend beyond the simple addition of stowage from a range of sources. One of the tanks carries a big tin of paint, I haven't worked out how I'm going to mark this up yet, but suffice to say I imagine they get through a lot of Desert Yellow! I'm also a little annoyed that the techniques I use seem to show up mould lines where I thought I'd got rid of them!!! (not quite sure what to do about that)

Looking at the images again and thanks to my own personal paranoia, I can see ways to improve some elements, namely the cola bottle. It could definately use more of a green tinge to it as well as some more highlighting and glossing to bring out the idea that it is actually made of a glass / plastic material.

Gallery - Leman Russ

You're probably sick of all... these... tanks by now... but my latest 3000pt Armoured Battlegroup List includes no less than 17 of them. This guy will be one of the squad leaders, the stowage on the back is again a mix of different stuff, plastic and resin... the bucket is from a Tamiya kit and I filled it to help add some interest. You'll hopefully also spot the tow cable, its not the first one I've done, but the idea is to cut the ends off of the standard plastic cable and then part drill them so that string can be partly inserted. This can then be bent naturally around the form of the tank, here left to dangle under its' own weight.

I probably should have used a more nylon based cable as it would give the idea of a metal cable rather than this which gives the impression of an actual rope. Having said that, this string is incredibly easy to form to the contours of the model so gives a great impression of weight. In any case, I'm pretty happy with the result and try to tell myself that the 41st milleneum might well have a rope material just as strong as a cable would be.

Gallery - Company Commander

Any Company Commander worth his salt will go to battle in his own personal Vanquisher! Being a Commander, 8 kill rings doesn't seem too far fetched, so lets just hope that he can live up to his reputation!

The kill rings themselves were my first attempt at using decals (transfers) in more than a decade. These ones came from the Imperial Guard transfer sheet, applied over a gloss finish. I couldn't help but fiddle with them so some rings have a bit of chipping. Once dry I covered them with another coat of GW Gloss Varnish and the matt finish spray helps to blend it all.

Given the ease with which the transfers were completed I began to think why I ever stopped using them! (Probably something to do with trying to put transfers on Space Marine shoulder pads) Needless to say, I think that I'll be using more transfers in the future, not least of all to create custom tank designations (you'll note none of my tanks are numbered yet). The great thing is that I should be able to simply apply transfers to my tanks at a later date... To help them fit in I can chip away at them using a sharp blade and then gloss and matt varnish them to make them seem like they've been there all along!

You can check out more tanks using my Gallery.

Gallery - Plasma-tastic

You may remember that I previously painted a Leman Russ with Plasma Sponsons. They aren't always to everyones taste, but I love them... and I've now painted TWO more! I spent a bit more time concentrating on some details, as you can see if you click on the image to the left!

I don't think I'm good enough to paint the words, but I think that you can all recognise the brand of soda can... This might be the far future, but some things stay the same!

You should be able to make out the continued theme of adding blue and red wash to the metal of the plasma in order to give it that heat effect you'd expect. The Russ above and the previous one both included sand bagged turrets from the GW classic range, whilst below you can see the third tank belonging to the squad leader... it's been loaded with other sandbags from a resin kit. The sand bags are a recurring feature of the Plasma Russes... perhaps they are useful for soaking up reactor leaks or, heaven forbid, putting out fires!

I'm also thinking about trying to add some scorch marking around the front of the tanks to give the effect of the Plasma Cannons constantly firing next to the hull, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about this.

Gallery - Commissar Tank Commander

So a little while ago I posted work in progress pics of the Commissar Exterminator I was working on. It's done... but also you'll be happy to know that the reason I've not really been posting so far this month is because I've been frantically spending free time painting not just this tank... but seven others too! They are done, so you can expect a flurry of posts showing the labours! Sorry Mordian7th, but I haven't ventured to painting the lenses yet!

Unfortunately, the pictures were taken whilst the matt spray varnish was fresh from drying, it seems to bring out these small white fibres, though they can be brushed off easily enough once the thing is absolutely and completely bone dry! Seeing the picture of the Commissar up close now I can see that I want to go at the medals and add some colourful bands to them.

Armies - Commissar Turret

As usual, I'm making what appears to be slow progress, but my defence is that I am working on about 7 tanks at once! The other night, I started on the turret of the Commissars' tank. Who'd have thought that painting black would be so difficult, but I was eager to stop this looking like something out of Tron. I spent a long time looking around for different ways to paint black. Most tips centre on using greys to highlight, though I also found lots of ideas about using different colours to provide highlights to black surfaces and generally speaking the colour chosen can have a profound effect on the result!

I needed something that would fit well with the desert colour scheme of my Tallarn, so I was finally convinced to try highlighting within the brown spectrum thanks to some chaps over at 40KOnline. To keep things simple I used only three colours;

Chaos Black;
Charadon Granite;
and Graveyard Earth.

Mixing them in lighter quantities with each step, and helping to blend the lot together using a mix of opacity control and Badab Black washes. The highlights were concentrated on the top surfaces and top portion of the vertical surfaces, to give the idea of the source fo the light. It's actually quite difficult to make out in teh pictures because it mostly just looks like black.

I suppose that means I should be quite quite happy with the progress so far, though can see that there is certainly improvement to be made. I plan to continue the highlight a little further, as I have not yet reached neat Graveyard Earth which can be used as a final extreme edge highlight. Of course, there are also transfers and the like to help decorate the turret, these will also help disguise the less than perfect transition in colour along the turret sides.

Still, who'd have thought that painting black was so hard!

Armies - Vanquisher

Tanks! Yes, I'm working my way through them. First to whet your appetite is the Vanquisher for the Commander of my Armoured Company. Vanquishers are often used by Commanders, and it certainly looks imposing! I'm currently at the stage where I've just applied weathering with a sponge. I use Charadon Granite for this, over the Army Painter Desert Yellow base colour. I'm working on what seems like a bajillion tanks at once, so I'll keep updating with WIP shots so things don't stay too quiet!

As usual, the trick with sponge damage is to concentrate on areas that are likely to receive wear. This not only includes edges of hatches etc. but on this tank I've also paid a bit of attention to a section of the track guard to represent where the crew usually get on and off!

Gallery - Executioner

They are coming in thick and fast now. Here's the executioner that I let you guys peek at a little while ago. I still have to sort out the lenses for all the tanks as discussed on that previous post, though I need to fully settle on the dark blue as suggested by Mordian7th. As the army needs to be done for the 40Konline Tournament on August 21st I might have to come back to do them later... The tournament is going to be at Triple Helix Wargames near Bath. 4x 1750pt games, so if anyone is interested in coming then head over to that link.

A close up of the most uninteresting part of the model. The only point of this is to show you the painting of the armour, including the progress I've made with my paint chipping & highlighting. You can also see the colour tinting on the exhausts to try and replicate the effects of heat on metal.

Gallery - Leman Russ

The Leman Russ with plasma sponsons has been quietly painted alongside the other stuff. Packed with stowage on the rear to add more detail really helps bring the tank to life. None of my vehicles have markings yet, I'm figuring out how I am going to number them all - both in terms of their identification and the method! For now though you can check out other finished items in the Gallery.

Armies - Execute that turret!

Its done! ...well, nearly. I think I might have to give the plasma a little more white highlighting, and the viewports aren't painted either - though I'm not sure what colour to do them (I'm thinking black at the minute - highlighted with Charadon Granite in order to keep the colour palette I've been using up to now).

The tanks hull is well on it's way too... But I'll save that for when I've finished the thing completely. I'm still waiting for the English summer to decide it wants to stop raining... I have spraying to do!