oileanach

I've never claimed to be a fast painter... 😬 The first issue of Imperium came out 25th August, 2021. It included these fine little chaps. I've painted a few of the other minis that came with the subscription, but these wee guys got completely ignored. Which is a shame, because they were an absolute joy to paint. The Necron (the robot/terminator figurine) is a custom paint scheme my daughter came up with. The marine is a metallic take on the standard Ultramarine colour scheme. I think the mini was unique to the magazine subscription? My plan is to dig out a few more of the models from the collection over the next few weeks. They should be ready around 2027! 😁 Why do I hear "I am the Law!" when I look at this pic? Ye Gods, miniature photography is brutal! I've just picked up on a whole bunch of details I need to finish on them! I guess three years wasn't quite enough after all! 😄 Thanks for viewing. As always, any comments, criticism or general mickey taking is more than welcome.

Top tip actioned: And tidied up, gold plated, all that George, along with some attention to other parts of the mini I wasn't happy with. The plasma pistol came out pretty well, I think? (Engages smug mode... ). Not sure it shows on the photos... Talking of such, is that any brighter on your 'phone, Mike?

That's looking great already! I'd be inclined to weather it and call done- lazybones! How about this, is it Foss enough? I love tiger schemes. Here's a crab air Jag that really tickles me: It doesn't have to be a conventional scheme. I love the two tone on this, I might steal it as inspiration for something of my own at some point:

Is it just me, or does the baldy one look a bit like Scott Manly? First time I've noticed that...

I've been collecting and painting minis for a ridiculously long time. If you include Airfix soldiers then my first efforts were in the 1970s! In 1986 Citadel released this wee fella and he sold out everywhere. I think they might just have realised they were on to something! This is his original state- Humbrol enamel paint, or maybe Airfix, did they ever have their own brand? I'm afraid I missed out on the whole 'Warhammer 40,000' thing. I bought a copy of 'Rogue Trader', but real life got in the way and pretty soon I'd left home and given up on any kind of hobby activity. Fast forward to 2013 and I'd just left HMF and finally had time and a place of my own. My kid asked me to build and paint some minis for him, which I really enjoyed doing. Then I found these guys, still in their original packaging. I could have punted them, but I had some new brushes and paint, not to mention an actual painting desk... well, it'd be rude not to! It's kind of addictive, this model building and painting malarkey. I found myself picking up toy soldiers of my own when I went to pick my kids up from the local games store. I discovered Forge World. The wee guys even have hi-tech 'jeeps' to blat around in. I've posted this one before (I was really chuffed at how well it came out)! Unfortunately, I was really struggling with my eyesight. These were the last Ravens I painted before it deteriorated so badly I couldn't paint any more. I went completely blind in my right eye, the left wasn't great either. Cataracts suck! Luckily we live in an age of miracles and wonders. My cataracts were destroyed and replaced with astonishingly clear acrylic inter ocular lenses. The operations weren't cheap, but there isn't a day passes that I don't feel incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to see again. It's been a long time since I painted a Raven. To be honest I've been putting it off- what if I've lost the (modest) ability I used to have? What if I just can't get back to where I was? It'd be wasting the opportunity I've been given to carry on thinking like that! So I dug out a few minis, tried some new paint and finished these three this morning. I'm really pleased (relieved?) with how they turned out. I hope you enjoy them too. Thanks for watching. Comments, critique and general mickey taking welcome.

Beautiful!

It depends on how dark your grey is and whether you want the primed part to show. I base my priming decision on what I'm going to be painting over the prime. For Han and the Taunton most of the finished model will be light colours, so a dark prime (grey, dark brown, black or even dark blue) + bright highlight/zenithal will create interesting shadows and a natural variation in tone as long as you're careful when applying your additional layers. Having said that, it's easy enough to cover even the darkest prime with enough patience and layers. Looking forward to seeing what you end up with- I'm pretty sure it's going to be great, I've got a good feeling about this...

Fabulous repair job on the main mini- your sculpting looks better than the original! I'm really looking forward to the underwater paint job. I love something a wee bit different, even although it sounds quite challenging. Good luck!

It was a rush job on the pics- like I said, it was a limited time competition, I paint really slowly, the pics were grabbed on the night before we submitted entries. When I get around to tidying up the mini I'll take some against a better background. They should read a little brighter. Watch this space!

Fantastic work! The jet exhaust has come out particularly well, although I'm pretty sure it's her goggles/shades that are my favorite part. Like I said, just fantastic all around.

Good idea (and a top tip!), but there's no hurry any more. I was thinking of sketching out the lettering in a gothic font in a dark brown, then overpainting with a dark gold and highlighting (carefully, less-is-more kind of idea) in silver. If I ever get around to it I'll post more pics. Like I said, I paint at a pace that makes snails look like speed freaks!

One for the Warhammer fans out there. There are a surprisingly large number of sci-fi nerds, er, modellers, where I work. We decided to have a wee painting competition, just for fun. I'm not expecting to win, the standard is way too high for that, but it was a fun exercise and padding out the numbers should give the eventual winner more of a sense of achievement. (Yeah, I'm an insufferable team player. Sorry about that. ). The rules were simple- basically one 32mm mini, W40K or W40K adjacent, 16 days to complete the entry. We were allowed to assemble and prime minis prior to the start date and got a couple of days extra grace to submit entries in the end. I really appreciated them! I picked this handsome fellow from my Imperium collection. If you're not familiar with the name, it was one of those part works magazine subscriptions sold by Hachette. Weekly magazines with interesting stuff like lore/fluff, painting and assembly guides, a copy of the then current W40K rules and a bunch of scenarios to play, with minis, paint and modelling tools accompanying each issue. I really enjoyed it, although it almost doubled my pile of shame... If you like the mini, I believe Games Workshop are still selling it on line, although I haven't seen one in their brick and mortar store for a while. I ran out of time- I paint really slowly! At some point I might revisit the golden halo thingie over his head, fill in the scroll on the shin and finish off the plasma pistol (it could do with more contrast on the bit that's supposed to glow). But for now it's into the cabinet for this wee chappie. I quite fancy painting up a few of his men and some opposition for them to face. Thanks for reading if you got this far. As always, constructive critique and mickey taking comments welcome. I'm mostly here for the craic!

Quality thread. I've always shied away from nmm, looks way too technical for me, but maybe I'll give it a go some time this year. Call me 'inspired'! 😄

Wow, time flies! I had the camera out last night, taking pictures of something else completely, when I remembered this thread. Sorry about the lack of updates, it completely slipped my mind... Anyway, I'm calling the marines done for now. I'm not happy with the blood splatter, more practice needed there, but they came out ok otherwise: Thanks for reading. As always, any comments or critique welcome. 🙂

I remember it well! My ship was docked in Aarhus on the night of the final- the party lasted three days! Just so the Brits weren't left out, our hosts came up with a 'Motson'* chant for us to send at our German pals (their ship was in port at the same time): "Deutschland, Deutschland, alles ist vorbei..." Great times. *"Germany, Germany, it's all over", from the commentary on the '66 World cup. It was actually Kenneth Wolstenholme who came up with the immortal line "they think it's all over, it is now", but Motson usually gets credited with it. Turns out the Danes know quite a lot about us and share our enjoyment of making our German brothers squirm on occasion. Don't worry, the boys took it in the spirit intended. At least they made it to the final with their one and only team, we couldn't manage it with four!

Those eyes...

I love it Wiesiek. Masterful work, even back then.

Er, yeah, about that... I enjoyed this wee beastie so much I've ordered one of these: There's no hope for me, is there?

Ok, I've taken a wee break from figure painting and started on the tank. The poor wee thing was a mess of hardened glue and multiple layers of thick, gloopy paint. A reminder from above: It took a fair bit of elbow grease to get down to smooth plastic- lots of filing and buffing, all that good stuff. Not quite 'new', but close enough for some paint. I wanted to go with a World Eaters chapter scheme, to match the rest of my Khorne stash. That means red and white, but how do you highlight when you're starting with white? I thought I'd try a bit of underpainting. If nothing else it gave me some airbrush practice. I chose two light sources, front left for the primary, with a weaker rear right. It came out ok, but 'twas doomed to be obliterated with the red and white topcoat. I'd love to show you the way she looked after applying multiple, lovingly applied thin layers of white and red, carefully maintaining the bright highlights and subtle shadows... but I got so wrapped up in things I forgot to take any pics! The same's true of the different weathering steps. Pity, it's my first time using enamel washes, a few reference shots would have been good to have. Ah well, maybe next time? The rest of the weathering was more familiar territory- an oil pin wash to black line some details, some painted and sponged on chipping, pigments on the tracks, running gear and lowers. I'll paint the tank commander with the Khorne Berserkers, tidy up a few details and base it next, but it's mostly done. I feel like I'm actually making some progress now- happy days! Thanks for viewing. As always, any critique, or even just bants, is more than welcome.

So on to the rest of the legion. First up a little bit of prep work- tidying up, sanding down, some filling here and there: A nice pale undercoat- this is lemon yellow ink, over grey primer: Then some details sketched in prior to laying down the main colour. Here's the chaps after airbrushing with Flesh Tearers contrast and shading with a Vallejo Game Color Deep Blue: And tonight, mostly done, just the finishing touches on the swords still to do: After that, there's this wee fellah. He's kinda old school- remember where the 'Golden Demon' started? But blue is definitely not the best shade colour for him, so there's a way to go before he'll be ready. I guess he's this month's project? Thanks for getting this far. Comments, criticism and general bants welcome!

Superb, mate, just superb!

I recently had something similar. I got myself a bottle of Mig Ultra-Matt Lucky varnish. The name's a bit of a mouthful, but the varnish itself did the trick. It's pretty cheap, £2.96 from my preferred online seller (not sure if we're allowed to plug them?). Even with postage you'll be looking at less than a fiver.

Ok, some progress. I've restored one of the minis to pretty much original, tidying up here and there, reassembling the poorly positioned legs and hips. It's in a rfi in the figure painting section here if you fancy a peek. I also finished a test mini. I'm not particularly happy with the result, but that's why we test, right? The latest victim is this standard bearer. I gave him a pre shade of indigo and lemon yellow... or so I thought! The yellow went on just fabulously, glitter all over the shop! Turns out I was spraying pearlescent yellow, rather than the lemon one. Oops! Still, the effect was kind of interesting, so I decided to run with it. A light dusting with GW's 'Flesh Tearer' looked quite snazzy, saving the wee fellah from another visit to the paint stripper! The indigo pre shade still shows in the recesses, giving me a decent base for the next coat. Here's where I'm at tonight. His sword was broken, so I've used a dab of green stuff to create a burning brand. I'm still tweaking the look of the flame and applying a reflection on the mini. Shadow colour is a Vallejo deep blue, which seems to work better than the hull red I used on my test piece. The blood effect is a GW paint called 'Blood For The Blood God'. Horrific stuff. He's almost there. I'm going to lighten up the horns and the banner, pick out a few details here and there and build up the torch reflection a little, but another couple of nights should see him done. The next one will get a slightly less flamboyant pre shade, but I think I'm getting closer to the look I want. Happy days. Thanks for watching. Comments, critique and mickey taking welcome!

I've recently become the proud recipient of a box of old Warhammer models. They used to belong to my friend's son. They were about to be binned when someone remembered that I'm an uber-nerd who'd really appreciate a pile of badly assembled, glue covered 15 year old minis! I've never done a miniature rescue before, so this is all new to me. It's surprisingly satisfying, much more than I expected. I've got a work in progress in the sci-fi section, but I think I'll post up these little guys here as I complete each one. First one is kind of special. It's a mini my son painted for his friend when they were kids. I had to re-pose it- it was particularly poorly assembled- then find a colour match for the paints they used. That was the hard part, touching up and tidying the paint job was a real pleasure. The next one is my first test piece. It shows. I didn't do enough clean up on the mini before attacking it with hairy sticks and the glowing sword didn't quite come off. Both to be sorted on the next one, hopefully! I also wasn't happy with the paint work. It came up desaturated, dusty and a bit too orange for my tastes. Again, something I can adjust on the next one or three... I'll keep posting up the minis as I go- hopefully I can show a bit of improvement, but even if not, I'm having a great time with the little chaps, which is kind of the point, eh? Thanks for watching.

Those are fantastic, Mike! Are those photos new? Do you still have the wee guys? I love the old school green bases and the colours really work on those classic minis. (Totally not jealous, uh-uh, not even a little bit... ) Also, if the photos are new, what's your photography set up? I find it insanely hard to get decent pictures of 28mm minis...